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Josh Norris Out Several Months

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Oct 26: The results of the MRI are not what any Senators fan wanted to hear. Ian Mendes of TSN reports that Norris will be out long-term (three to five months was a rough estimate), though surgery has not been confirmed yet. Head coach D.J. Smith is not confident that the young forward will even play again this season, though he is holding out hope.

Oct 24: The Ottawa Senators will be without one of their top centers for at least the next two weeks. Josh Norris will miss that time after suffering a shoulder injury over the weekend, according to Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia, who adds that the young forward is waiting on the results of an MRI before getting a more accurate timeline.

Ottawa moved Derick Brassard into the second-line center role, for the time being, quite an opportunity for a player on a PTO just a few weeks ago. He’ll line up between Alex DeBrincat and Claude Giroux, though the team could always move Shane Pinto into that role during Norris’ absence.

It’s a tough start for the 23-year-old Norris, who is coming off a breakout 35-goal campaign and starting an eight-year, $63.6MM contract. Norris did score against the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday but ended up playing just 14:32. Missing a couple of weeks isn’t the end of the world, but if the injury is deemed more serious and keeps Norris out for longer than that, it could be a huge blow to an Ottawa team that has turned things around after a slow start.

With wins in each of their last three, the Senators are now back in the mix in the Atlantic Division, exactly what they expected after an impressive offseason. Their potential was always tied to the forward depth they accumulated but now with Norris on the sideline and Alex Formenton still unsigned, there are some cracks showing.

The team is back in action tonight against the Dallas Stars.

Ottawa Senators Assign Kevin Mandolese To AHL

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Oct 25: It doesn’t matter who is in net for the Senators these days, they’ll win it anyway. After Hellberg secured the victory, the team has sent Mandolese back to the AHL.

Oct 24: After announcing this morning that Joshua Norris would miss at least two weeks, it doesn’t come as a surprise that the Ottawa Senators have moved him to injured reserve. The player the team has decided to recall in his place, however, will certainly cause some panic among the fan base. The team has called up goaltender Kevin Mandolese, and Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia tweets that Anton Forsberg was on the ice ahead of morning skate but did not participate in it.

That means Magnus Hellberg might be in line for his first start with Mandolese as the backup, something that no one would have expected a few weeks ago. As the season approached, it appeared as though the Senators would be going with a veteran tandem of Cam Talbot and Forsberg. After Talbot’s preseason injury and now Forsberg apparently dealing with something of his own, the team is onto a tandem with just five appearances at the NHL level.

Hellberg, 31, has all of them, though just one has come since 2017. The former Nashville Predators prospect left for the KHL at that point and spent five years playing overseas, before making his return as a member of the Detroit Red Wings last season. After signing a one-year deal with the Seattle Kraken, Hellberg was nabbed off waivers following Talbot’s injury and hasn’t yet appeared for the Senators.

Mandolese, meanwhile, has never played in the NHL and has just 29 appearances at the AHL level. The 22-year-old has posted an .863 in three starts this year with the Belleville Senators, allowing 11 goals on 80 shots.

If there is any silver lining, it is that after tonight against the Dallas Stars, the team won’t play again until Thursday. If Forsberg was healthy enough to get back on the ice this morning, perhaps he won’t miss much more time than this evening.

Tyler Ennis Signs In Switzerland

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After lots of discussion about whether he would head to Europe, O2K Sports Management today confirmed that their client, free agent forward Tyler Ennis, has signed on with SC Bern in the NL for the remainder of the 2022-23 season.

Bern is already off to a strong 8-2-4 start, but only three of those eight wins have come in regulation. Ennis essentially replaces another former NHL forward on their roster, Dominik Kahun, who is expected back from a shoulder injury in early December. Kahun had eight points through his first seven games.

Ennis should headline what is already a red-hot offense for Bern to start the year, spearheaded by a trio of former NHLers: Christopher Didomenico (18 points in 12 games), Colton Sceviour (11 points in 14 games), and Oscar Lindberg (10 points in 14 games). In his last stint in the NL (then the NLA) during the brief 2012-13 lockout, Ennis had eight points in nine games with the SCL Tigers.

The veteran of exactly 700 NHL games had a rather productive season last year with the Ottawa Senators in a depth role, notching 24 points in 57 games, but there were no takers for Ennis on the free agent market last offseason. Now 33 years old, the speedy, diminutive forward likely closed the book on his NHL career by heading overseas. If so, he finished with 144 goals, 202 assists, and 346 points across 13 seasons with the Senators, Edmonton Oilers, Toronto Maple Leafs, Minnesota Wild, and Buffalo Sabres, who drafted him 26th overall in 2008.

Josh Norris To Have MRI

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  • Earlier this afternoon, Ottawa Senators forward Joshua Norris left their game against the Arizona Coyotes after appearing to injure his arm off the faceoff. Norris immediately left the ice in pain and appeared to throw his stick in the hallway. After the game, no update was offered on the injury itself, and that is still the case this evening. However, Friedman did say on 32 Thoughts that the plan was for Norris to have an MRI once the swelling in his arm went down. No update thus far could be seen as a bit concerning, but an MRI should give more clear results and lead to a timeline once complete.

Senators Interested In Chychrun Still; Won't Discuss Greig, Pinto, Sanderson

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This evening on the 32 Thoughts segment of Hockey Night in Canada, Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek discussed the current market for Chychrun. Marek notes the asking price on Arizona’s end holds firm at two first-round draft picks, “plus,” meaning some combination of additional draft choices, prospects, or roster players. This ask has appeared palatable for a number of teams in theory,  but talks appear to become difficult when the “plus” is brought up. This has become most apparent when it comes to the Ottawa Senators.

Marek reports that discussions on the likes of forwards Ridly Greig and Shane Pinto or defenseman Jake Sanderson are not on the table for the Senators. Considering Chychrun’s talent, age, and cost-controlled contract (three-years, $13.8MM including 2022-23), the player makes perfect sense for an Ottawa team that is just turning the corner in their rebuild, but could use a boost on their blueline.

Still, it’s unclear exactly what the package requested from Ottawa looks like. The Senators aren’t the only team looking at Chychrun, and realistically many teams are likely interested at the possibility of acquiring him given the above, but Marek does list the Los Angeles Kings as another possibility beyond Ottawa, a name we’ve hear before in the Chychrun rumors. With Arizona’s high asking price for the 24-year-old, and the win-now nature of the move, a team like Ottawa or Los Angeles who have a deep system of young talent and are ready to take the next step are two of the most conceivable trade partners in the Chychrun sweepstakes.

Snapshots: Zub, Toews, Megna

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While he might soak up more of the headlines, Alex DeBrincat isn’t the only Ottawa Senator on playing expiring contract. Defenseman Artem Zub, a fan favorite in Ottawa, is a pending unrestricted free agent, and most believe that he is sure to get a sizeable raise on his current $2.5MM cap hit. Zub, 27, is in his third season in the NHL and is now playing top-pairing minutes next to franchise defenseman Thomas Chabot. Zub has gotten off to a hot start this year with two points in three games, and is sure to want to put the best platform season forward as he readies for a potential trip to the unrestricted free agent market.

According to TSN’s Chris Johnston on tonight’s Insider Trading program, he may get to the market, and if he does, he’s unlikely to stick around long. Johnston reports that there haven’t been substantive extension talks between the Senators and Zub, and if Zub does indeed hit the open market he “won’t be an easy player” for the Senators to keep. It’s expected that there will be leaguewide interest in acquiring Zub’s services should he hit the open market, so if the Senators wish to keep their budding star it might be best for them to hammer out an extension sooner rather than later.

For some other notes from across the NHL:

  • Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar issued an update today on defenseman Devon Toews. As relayed by the Denver Gazette’s Kyle Fredrickson, Bednar says Toews is being evaluated for an injury and his status for tomorrow’s game against the Seattle Kraken is unknown. The Avalanche recently found out that they’d be without captain Gabriel Landeskog for quite a while, so they have to be hoping that whatever Toews is dealing with won’t keep him out for long.
  • In other Avalanche news, the team announced today that forward Jayson Megna had been recalled from their AHL affiliate, the Colorado Eagles. As The Athletic’s Peter Baugh detailed, Megna was only sent down for cap purposes and his recall was expected. The Avalanche are one of the many teams trying to manage with extremely limited cap space, so paper transactions such as this are likely to become more common as the season wears on.

Cam Talbot Still Weeks Away For Ottawa Senators

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The Ottawa Senators have played three games so far this season and Anton Forsberg has been in the net for every single minute of action. The 29-year-old netminder has been the only option in town since Cam Talbot suffered an injury in the preseason. When Forsberg missed the morning skate today, alarm bells went off in Ottawa, as fans wondered whether they would need to turn to Magnus Hellberg to carry the load. While Forsberg was just taking the morning off because of his heavy workload, there’s still no firm timeline for Talbot to return to game action.

In fact, Talbot still hasn’t been cleared to take shots, though he’s back on the ice according to head coach D.J. Smith. The veteran netminder was given a five to seven-week recovery timeline when he suffered the upper-body injury (believed to be a cracked rib) at the beginning of the month. It has been just two and a half to this point, meaning fans can at least take solace in the fact that he’s already on the ice.

While they have faith in Forsberg after his performance last season, Talbot was meant to carry a large chunk of the load this season after being acquired from the Minnesota Wild. Now, they’ll have to hope they don’t need to turn to Hellberg and his five games of NHL experience anytime soon.

The Senators don’t have a back-to-back situation on the schedule until the start of December, meaning there’s at least a chance that Forsberg can play every single game until Talbot gets back. Hopefully, with the progress he has made to this point, that date is sooner rather than later.

Latest On Jakob Chychrun

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While defenseman Jakob Chychrun and the Arizona Coyotes are likely shared in their belief that finding a trade for the 24-year-old defenseman is the best path forward for them both, the more immediate priority is getting Chychrun back to full health. And while there hasn’t been much progress on the trade front, it seems that we do have some progress on Chychrun’s health.

On the 32 Thoughts segment of last night’s Hockey Night in Canada broadcast, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that Chychrun is scheduled to rejoin the Coyotes in Montreal and begin to practice with the team. Friedman clarified that the timeline for his return to game action is “not as firm,” but regardless this should be considered a positive development for both Chychrun and the Coyotes.

The Coyotes are currently 0-2-0 in this young season, and while adding Chychrun back into their lineup is unlikely to instantly make them a competitive team, his return to full health could yield benefits in both the short and long-term.

In the short term, getting Chychrun back will bolster the left side of the Coyotes’ blueline, potentially allowing both Shayne Gostisbehere and J.J. Moser to play less demanding minutes and possibly a number of minutes more suitable to their current capabilities. Additionally, Chychrun could provide a boost to the level of offense the Coyotes can generate from their back end, as he is a more dynamic offensive blueliner than Dysin Mayo, the player currently playing as the third left-shot defender.

From a long-term perspective, getting Chychrun back into games could potentially be the factor that speeds up the process of finding a suitable trade for him. Chychrun had a down year in 2021-22 as he battled injuries and saw his offensive production dry up.

With that down year in mind, if Chychrun returns to the lineup and returns to the form that saw him score 18 goals and 41 points in 56 games in 2020-21, perhaps a team will be more willing to meet the reportedly sky-high asking price the Coyotes are demanding in any Chychrun trade.

On that front, Friedman notes that the Ottawa Senators, a long-rumored potential destination for Chychrun, are likely out of the running, at least for the moment. Friedman cites multiple sources to report that there “isn’t a path” to a Chychrun deal between Ottawa and Arizona.

But while the Senators may not end up being the team Chychrun is shipped to in a deal, simply getting him back into the fold should help the Coyotes not only remain competitive but also get to the conclusion of a trade saga that all parties involved would likely concede has dragged on far too long.

Pictures courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Ottawa Senators Sign Derick Brassard

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After being invited to their camp on a PTO, something he had been hoping for this offseason, veteran forward Derick Brassard has indeed signed with the Ottawa Senators on a one-year deal, the team announced. This will officially mark Brassard’s second stint as a member of the Senators after playing for seven different teams since Ottawa dealt the forward during the 2017-18 season. According to Frank Seravalli of The Daily Faceoff, the deal is worth $750,000.

The veteran Brassard finds himself on a growing list of players on PTO’s signing NHL contracts, following yesterday’s announcement of Zach Aston-Reese and Jimmy Vesey signing with the Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Rangers, respectively. Ottawa had perhaps the loudest offseason of any team around the league, acquiring Alex DeBrincat and Cam Talbot, signing Claude Giroux, and extending Tim Stutzle and Joshua Norris, so Brassard’s signing might fly under the radar. Still, the team should be able to count on the 35-year-old to fill a key veteran role in their bottom-six.

This new role might be far removed from the one he previously occupied when the team acquired him from the Rangers in 2016, but that still doesn’t mean he will be without value. As Brassard said himself last week, he hopes he can play a similar role to the one Jason Spezza had been playing for the Maple Leafs, used in different spots in the lineup for different purposes night in and night out. It’s no doubt Spezza’s contributions were much appreciated in Toronto, and if Brassard can do something similar, it could be a quiet, yet valuable element to the continued development of this young Senators core.

Training Camp Cuts: 10/10/22

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A very happy Thanksgiving to all of our readers who are celebrating! Today marks the deadline for NHL clubs to become cap compliant and submit their opening night rosters. More specifically, the 5:00 pm ET deadline is now less than six hours away. With that in mind, we expect to see plenty of players sent to the minor leagues, returned to juniors, or released from their PTOs today, and we’ll keep track of them here.

Arizona Coyotes (via team tweet)

D Cam Dineen (to Tucson, AHL)
G Jon Gillies (to Tucson, AHL)
F Laurent Dauphin (to Tucson, AHL)
F Bokondji Imama (to Tucson, AHL)

Buffalo Sabres (via team tweet)

D Lawrence Pilut (to Rochester, AHL)
G Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (to Rochester, AHL)
F Olivier Nadeau (to Gatineau, QMJHL)

Carolina Hurricanes (via team release)

F Jack Drury (to Chicago, AHL)
F Jordan Martinook (to Chicago, AHL)

Colorado Avalanche (via team tweet)

D Wyatt Aamodt (to Colorado, AHL)
F Mikhail Maltsev (to Colorado, AHL)

Columbus Blue Jackets (per team release)

F Emil Bemstrom (to Cleveland, AHL)
D David Jiricek (to Cleveland, AHL)

Detroit Red Wings (per team release)

D Jeremie Biakabutuka (released from ATO)
F Kyle Criscuolo (to Grand Rapids, AHL)
F Taro Hirose (to Grand Rapids, AHL)
G Jussi Olkinuora (to Grand Rapids, AHL)
F Givani Smith (to Grand Rapids, AHL)

Edmonton Oilers (via team tweet)

D Jason Demers (released from PTO)
F James Hamblin (to Bakersfield, AHL)
F Devin Shore (to Bakersfield, AHL)

Los Angeles Kings (per team release)

G Pheonix Copley (to Ontario, AHL)
F Rasmus Kupari (to Ontario, AHL)
F Andre Lee (to Ontario, AHL)
D Jacob Moverare (to Ontario, AHL)

Montreal Canadiens (via two team tweets)

F Rafael Harvey-Pinard (to Laval, AHL)
F Jesse Ylonen (to Laval, AHL)
D Justin Barron (to Laval, AHL)
D Otto Leskinen (to Laval, AHL)
G Cayden Primeau (to Laval, AHL)
D Arber Xhekaj (to Laval, AHL)

Nashville Predators (via team release)

F Jimmy Huntington (to Milwaukee, AHL)
F Mark Jankowski (to Milwaukee, AHL)
F Philip Tomasino (to Milwaukee, AHL)
D Kevin Gravel (to Milwaukee, AHL)
D Jordan Gross (to Milwaukee, AHL)
D Roland McKeown (to Milwaukee, AHL)

New York Rangers (via team release)

D Matt Bartkowski (released from PTO)
F Julien Gauthier (to Hartford, AHL)

Ottawa Senators (via team tweet)

F Ridly Greig (to Belleville, AHL)

Philadelphia Flyers (per Olivia Reiner, The Philadelphia Inquirer)

F Jackson Cates (to Lehigh Valley, AHL)

Seattle Kraken (via team tweet)

F John Hayden (to Coachella Valley, AHL)
D Michal Kempny (to Coachella Valley, AHL)

St. Louis Blues (via team release)

F Josh Leivo (to Springfield, AHL)
F Jake Neighbours (to Springfield, AHL)

Toronto Maple Leafs (via team tweet)

F Kyle Clifford (to Toronto, AHL)
F Adam Gaudette (to Toronto, AHL)
F Pontus Holmberg (to Toronto, AHL)
D Filip Kral (to Toronto, AHL)
D Victor Mete (to Toronto, AHL)
F Nick Robertson (to Toronto, AHL)
F Wayne Simmonds (to Toronto, AHL)
D William Villeneuve (to Toronto, AHL)

Vancouver Canucks (via team tweet)

F Linus Karlsson (to Abbotsford, AHL)

Vegas Golden Knights (via team release)

F Pavel Dorofeyev (to Henderson, AHL)
F Sakari Manninen (to Henderson, AHL)
F Jonas Rondbjerg (to Henderson, AHL)
D Jake Bischoff (to Henderson, AHL)
D Kaedan Korczak (to Henderson, AHL)
G Michael Hutchinson (to Henderson, AHL)

Washington Capitals (via team tweet)

F Henrik Borgstrom (to Hershey, AHL)
D Lucas Johansen (to Hershey, AHL)

Winnipeg Jets (via team tweet)

D Ville Heinola (to Manitoba, AHL)

This post will be kept updated throughout the day.

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