Pacific Notes: Morin, Nesterenko, Turcotte
With his 2023-24 season coming to an end with the Moncton Wildcats of the QMJHL, the Calgary Flames announced that Etienne Morin has been reassigned to the organization’s AHL affiliate, the Calgary Wranglers. Having yet to sign his entry-level contract with the Flames organization, Morin will play with the Wranglers for the remainder of the season on an amateur tryout agreement.
Morin originally came to the Flames organization by way of the 48th overall pick of the 2023 NHL Draft. In his draft year, Morin was a very efficient defenseman for the Wildcats, scoring 21 goals and 72 points in 67 games while also achieving a +/- rating of 29.
While his year-on-year offensive production certainly took a dip in the 2023-24 season, Morin became even more effective as a physical player on the blue line. With the Wranglers having already clinched a playoff spot in the 2024 Calder Cup playoffs, Morin is set to receive valuable experience as the organization prepares for the postseason.
Other Pacific notes:
- After having spent five days with the Anaheim Ducks, Nikita Nesterenko is headed back down to the AHL as the organization announced they have reassigned back to their AHL affiliate, the San Diego Gulls. Nesterenko was able to make his season debut with the Ducks over this emergency recall, suiting up in three games while scoring one goal. Now returning to San Diego, the former sixth-round pick will look to build upon his 15-goal, 33-point campaign in the last few contests.
- Out of the lineup for the Los Angeles Kings for nearly a month, it appears that forward Alex Turcotte is close to returning for the club. In an update today, the Kings organization announced that Turcotte has been assigned to their AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign, on a conditioning loan. Before going down with an undisclosed injury in March, Turcotte was not a heavily utilized player by Los Angeles, scoring one goal and four points in 20 games while only averaging 9:17 of ice time per night.
Pacific Notes: Bellemare, Danault, Turcotte, Pospisil
Close to reaching a milestone of playing in 700 regular season games at the NHL level, it appears that Seattle Kraken forward Pierre-Edouard Bellemare does not want to stop there. In an article from Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times, Bellemare indicated that even if he is unable to reach 700 this season with the Kraken, he would be content with reaching it next year.
In the article, Bellemare was quoted as saying, “So, I feel like it’s more the people that know me and maybe have an idea about my path and the work and everything. But at the end of the day, I’m not planning on retiring, so if it doesn’t happen this year, it will be at another point. And if it takes me 80 more games to pick up whatever’s left it will be what it is“.
Even if Bellemare does not hold the benchmark in high regard, it is quite a testament to his work ethic, as he originally came into the league during the 2014-15 season to the Philadelphia Flyers organization as a free agent. Throughout his 10 years in the league, Bellemare has suited up for the Flyers, Kraken, Colorado Avalanche, Vegas Golden Knights, and Tampa Bay Lightning, earning a total of $10.525MM up to this point in his career.
Other Pacific notes:
- In an update from Eric Stephens of The Athletic, the Los Angeles Kings will be receiving center Phillip Danault back into the lineup this evening. Usually one of the more consistently healthy players in the league, Danault went down with an upper-body injury on March 28th and has missed the last four games for the Kings. Included in the report was an update on injured Los Angeles forward Alex Turcotte, who was spotted back at practice in a non-contact jersey this morning. Compared to Danault, Turcotte has been out much longer for the Kings, as he has not appeared in a contest since March 19th due to an upper-body injury.
- In the Calgary Flames most recent matchup against the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday night, forward Martin Pospisil delivered a check to Jets’ defenseman Josh Morrissey, with Pospisil’s elbow appearing to make contact with Morrissey’s chin. Pospisil was ejected based on the play; however, it does not appear that the league will be giving him supplemental discipline (X Link). Earlier this year, Pospisil hit Kraken defenseman Vince Dunn from behind and was suspended for three games by the Department of Player Safety.
Kings Recall Akil Thomas, Place Alex Turcotte On LTIR
The Kings announced they’ve recalled center Akil Thomas from AHL Ontario. To create cap space, Alex Turcotte was placed on long-term injured reserve, keeping him out until the last week of the regular season.
Turcotte hasn’t played since March 19 due to an upper-body injury, and he isn’t with the team on their four-game road swing, which began last week. Assuming his LTIR placement is retroactive to the date of the injury, he’ll satisfy the 24-day, 10-game absence requirements in a week and a half’s time and will be eligible to return on April 13 against the Ducks, the 80th game of L.A.’s season.
The injury is another difficult setback for Turcotte, who was amid his first extended stint in the majors since being selected fifth overall by the Kings at the 2019 draft. He’s remained on the NHL roster since a Feb. 8 recall, aside from a one-day loan to Ontario on trade deadline day to make him eligible to play in the minors down the stretch. The 23-year-old has played in a career-high 20 games, recording his first NHL points with a goal and three assists. While he saw limited time at even-strength up in the lineup alongside Anže Kopitar, his overall ice time has been limited at 9:16 per game.
L.A. has lost its grip on a divisional playoff spot thanks to a recent hot stretch from the Golden Knights, slipping to fourth in the Pacific Division and occupying the second wild-card spot in the West. Still, they have a solid five-point cushion on the Blues and have only a 3.1% chance of slipping out of a playoff spot entirely, per MoneyPuck. They’ve yet to carry a fully healthy forward group all season with Viktor Arvidsson, Carl Grundström and Blake Lizotte all missing double-digit games, and their offense has suffered as a result, dropping to 16th in the league in goals scored after finishing ninth last year. Those injuries have provided a chance for players like Turcotte and Alex Laferriere, who’s played in all but one game this season, to log NHL time.
Thomas now gets a similar chance to Turcotte, as he could make his NHL debut against the Jets on Monday and allow the Kings to dress 12 forwards with Phillip Danault (upper-body, day-to-day) also sidelined. The Kings selected Thomas, now 24, in the second round of the 2018 draft. This is the first recall of his professional career and comes under emergency conditions, per CapFriendly.
After passing through waivers during training camp and missing most of last season with injuries, Thomas has broken out for a career-high 22 goals, 21 assists and 43 points in 61 games with Ontario. The former OHL All-Rookie Team member with the Niagara IceDogs and World Juniors hero with Canada in 2020 has had a rocky development path over the past few years, with injuries and COVID keeping him from playing more than 40 games in a season since turning pro. He signed a one-year, two-way ($775K/$100K) extension to remain in Los Angeles after his entry-level contract expired last summer and will be an RFA at the end of the season.
Afternoon Notes: Clarke, Turcotte, Acciari, Richard
The Los Angeles Kings have recalled forward Alex Turcotte and defenseman Brandt Clarke from the minor leagues. This move was largely expected, with both players getting assigned to the AHL on February 1st, ahead of the NHL All-Star Break.
Turcotte appeared in his first two games of the season just before getting sent down. He recorded two points in the latter matchup – representing his first NHL goal and his first NHL assist through 14 career games. He played in two AHL games during the All-Star Break, recording one assist. Clarke also saw his first appearance of the season in January, playing in six games and recording one assist. He appeared in a career-high 18:38 in his most recent NHL outing and managed one goal in the two AHL games he played during the Break.
Other notes from around the league:
- Pittsburgh Penguins centerman Noel Acciari has been diagnosed with a concussion, per team reporter Seth Rorabaugh with the Tribune-Review. Acciari was on the receiving end of a hit to the head from Winnipeg’s Brenden Dillon, who received a three-game suspension for the hit. It forced Acciari out of the game and will now force him out of the lineup for the team’s upcoming two-game road trip. He’s already missed eight games this season due to a lower-body injury that placed him on injured reserve and an upper-body injury in early-January. He has scored four points in the 39 games he has appeared in.
- The Boston Bruins have recalled centerman Anthony Richard to the NHL. It’s the first recall of Richard’s stint with Boston, who signed the forward to a one-year, two-way, $775K contract with the club on July 1st. Last season marked the first time Richard has played in more than one NHL game in a season, appearing in 13 outings and scoring five points with the Montreal Canadiens. The 27-year-old has been in the AHL since the 2015-16 season, totaling 463 games and 282 points in the league. That includes his 37 points in 41 games with the Providence Bruins this season.
Kings Assign Three Players To AHL
With Los Angeles being off until February 10th, they’ve opted to make a trio of roster moves. The team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve assigned forwards Alex Turcotte and Samuel Fagemo plus defenseman Brandt Clarke to AHL Ontario.
Turcotte was recalled last weekend and got into his first two games of the season with the Kings. The second was certainly a successful one as the 22-year-old notched his first career NHL goal while picking up an assist in Wednesday’s victory over Nashville. Turcotte has spent most of the year in the minors with the Reign, recording 23 points in 28 games so far.
Fagemo, meanwhile, has been shuffled back and forth recently, shifting between Los Angeles and Ontario three times over the past couple of weeks. Playing time during that stretch was fairly limited as he made just four appearances, equaling the number he had with Nashville at the beginning of the season before they put him on waivers in November. The 23-year-old has been quite productive with Ontario though, recording 20 goals and 13 assists in just 24 contests.
As for Clarke, he got off to a hot start with the Reign to start the season, collecting 32 points in 30 games, quite the mark for a rookie blueliner. That earned him a recall four weeks ago and since then, he has been in and out of the lineup with the Kings. Clarke has just one assist in six games so far while logging 16:15 per night, primarily on the third pairing with some time on the second power play unit.
With these moves, Los Angeles is now at the minimum-sized roster. With Viktor Arvidsson still a little while away from returning (meaning he’ll remain on LTIR), the Kings will likely use that space to recall three players for their next appearance. The determination on whether it’s these three or others will come next week.
Kings Recall Alex Turcotte
With the Kings struggling as of late, they’ve decided to give a different youngster an opportunity. The team announced that they’ve recalled center Alex Turcotte from AHL Ontario. They had an open roster spot so no corresponding move needed to be made.
The 22-year-old was the fifth-overall pick back in 2018 after a strong showing in the U.S. National Team Development Program but has struggled to live up to that draft billing so far. Turcotte has played just a dozen NHL games so far – eight in 2021-22 and four in 2022-23 – and is still looking for his first point. This marks his second recall of the season, the first of which just lasted one day. This one could last longer as Los Angeles is one of the few teams that will be playing right up to the All-Star break and will get their bye week after.
Turcotte has shown some improvement with the Reign this season, posting career-bests in goals (seven), assists (16), and points (23) in 28 games, good for fifth in team scoring so this is a merited opportunity.
This is Turcotte’s final season of waiver exemption which is something worth keeping an eye on. It’s not a bad idea to give Turcotte a few games to get a better idea as to if he’s going to figure into their plans for 2024-25. If he doesn’t show well, perhaps he becomes a candidate to be moved before the March 8th trade deadline if a selling team wants someone closer to being NHL-ready over a draft pick that will still be a few years away.
Kings Place Viktor Arvidsson On LTIR
Oct 13, 3:10 p.m.: The Kings reversed the AHL swaps today, per CapFriendly’s transactions log. Kaliyev is back up on the active roster to serve the final game of his suspension tomorrow, while Laferriere is also joined by Jaret Anderson-Dolan and Jordan Spence, who were brought up with the cap space afforded by Arvidsson’s LTIR placement. This move affords the Kings an extra skater on the roster for the time being, a number that will increase to two when Kaliyev is eligible to play.
Oct 12, 2:33 p.m.: The Los Angeles Kings have placed winger Viktor Arvidsson on long-term injured reserve. This will require him to miss at least 10 games or 24 days of action. The Kings have coupled this with a pair of AHL swaps – sending Arthur Kaliyev and Alex Laferriere to the AHL and recalling Alex Turcotte and Brandt Clarke.
Arvidsson, 30, originally suffered this lower-body injury at a team practice and was originally listed as day-to-day. He now finds himself on LTIR and will miss the rest of October. This is a major blow for a player who was slowly working his way back from bouts with the injury bug. Arvidsson played in 77 games last season, the most he’s played in one year since the 2017-18 season. He tallied 26 goals and 59 points in those games, ranking third on the team in goals and fourth in points.
The Kings now turn towards a pair of rookie talents in Turcotte and Clarke – two high-end prospects that have yet to find their way into consistent NHL playing time. Turcotte has seen 12 career NHL games over the last two seasons but has yet to record a point. This is contrary to the scoring he’s managed in the AHL, where he’s tallied 35 points through 59 games since 2021-22. Brandt Clarke appeared in nine games for the Kings last year, netting two points and recording six penalty minutes. This was an exciting cap to a journeyman season for Clarke; a year that saw him play in the OHL, AHL, and NHL. Both players are former top-10 draftees (Turcotte #5 in 2019, Clarke #8 in 2021) and will look to prove their worth as new members of the 2023-24 Kings roster.
By recalling Turcotte and Clarke prior to placing Arvidsson on LTIR, the Kings made enough cap space to afford the duo’s performance bonuses. They can send the pair down, and recall Kaliyev and Laferriere, prior to their Saturday game with Carolina if they would like.
Snapshots: Team Canada, Kings, Carolina Injuries, Fabbri
Team Canada’s U20 roster has announced that Alan Letang will serve as the team’s head coach, while Pete Anholt and Brent Seabrook will serve in management roles.
TSN’s Gord Miller quips that Letang has been a “gold medal magnet” in recent years, leading Canada to gold at the 2023 Hlinka Gretzky Cup this August and serving as an assistant coach for the championship-winning Canadians at the 2020 and 2023 World Junior Championship. Pete Anholt has served as the Lethbridge Hurricanes’ general manager since 2015. He also served as a head coach in the WHL for 15 seasons between 1989 and 2007.
This will be Brent Seabrook’s first involvement with the Canada U20 team since he played for them in 2004 and 2005, appearing at the World Junior Championship in both years. Since his NHL career ended in 2019-20, Seabrook has served as an assistant and development coach with the Vancouver Giants.
Other notes from around the league:
- The Los Angeles Kings have sent Alex Turcotte and Brandt Clarke to the AHL and recalled Jaret Anderson-Dolan, Arthur Kaliyev, Alex Laferriere, and Jordan Spence. The Kings previously swapped Turcotte and Clarke for Kaliyev and Laferriere, in an effort to make cap space for Turcotte and Clarke’s performance bonuses. Along with this news, Spence has shared that he will be changing his number from 53 to 21.
- The Carolina Hurricanes have shared an update on Vasily Ponomarev and Ryan Suzuki‘s injuries, with head coach Rod Brind’Amour saying that both players are, “still a ways away.” Suzuki is recovering from a shoulder injury, while Ponomarev is nursing a knee injury.
- Robby Fabbri has been announced as day-to-day and won’t play in the Red Wings’ Saturday game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Detroit will need to recall a player in the wake of Fabbri’s absence, although if they’ll opt to ice 12 forwards and six defensemen versus 11 forwards and seven defensemen is yet to be seen.
Los Angeles Kings Loan Three Players To AHL
All around the league we’re seeing players sent back to the AHL for the upcoming break, to save money for their NHL club and stay fresh with minor league action. For the Los Angeles Kings, that means Tobias Bjornfot, Samuel Fagemo, and Alex Turcotte are all on their way back to the Ontario Reign.
Despite still having one of the deepest prospect pools in the league, it’s not development that the Kings are focused on these days. The club is tied for first place in the Pacific Division and is looking to avenge its first-round loss from last year’s playoffs.
They have moved young players on and off the roster all year, with these three, in particular, totaling just 19 appearances. Fagemo leads the trio in scoring with three points in nine games, while Turcotte continues to look for his first NHL point.
It has been a struggle for the fifth-overall pick, whose career so far has been disrupted by injury and inconsistent play. He’s suited up just 23 times this season at any level, and has 12 points to show for it.
Los Angeles Kings Make Several Roster Moves
The Los Angeles Kings have completed a handful of moves, starting with the placement of Carl Grundstrom on injured reserve. He is expected to be out through the All-Star break, according to team reporter Zach Dooley. With Gabriel Vilardi also dealing with a minor injury, the team has recalled both Samuel Fagemo and Alex Turcotte from the minor leagues. Tobias Bjornfot is coming with them, giving the Kings another body on defense.
Grundstrom, 25, is having a season just like his first two, chipping in some offense while generally being a pain on the forecheck. Through 37 games he has six goals and ten points while racking up 93 hits. The Kings signed him to a two-year deal worth $1.3MM per season to be exactly that, and his absence will certainly be noticed.
Still, it’s not a huge loss for a club that has so many young prospects to fill the void. Fagemo, 22, has 12 goals through 27 games with the Ontario Reign this year and has been excellent when given a chance in the NHL. Turcotte, meanwhile, is still trying to find his way after being the fifth-overall pick in 2019. The 21-year-old has 12 points in 19 games for the Reign but is still looking for his first at the NHL level.