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Jeremy Lauzon

Predators’ Jeremy Lauzon Week-To-Week With Lower-Body Injury

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The Nashville Predators are facing yet another injury to their blue line, announcing that Jeremy Lauzon is out week-to-week with a lower-body injury (Twitter Link). He’s the third Preds defenseman to earn a week-to-week injury designation in the last week, joining Dante Fabbro and Spencer Stastney on the absentee list.

This is a tremendous blow to what was a very consistent Predators defense, with six defensemen playing in 49 or more games. Lauzon has served in one of the more meager roles among that corps, averaging just short of 18-and-a-half minutes of ice time through his 68 games this season. He’s managed six goals and 13 points in that span – a mark that represents Lauzon’s career-high in scoring, beating out his 12 points in 67 games last season. Lauzon has also managed a career-high 90 penalty minutes this year, far ahead of his previous high of 67 penalty minutes. He’s continuing to establish a day-to-day NHL presence with the Predators, after joining the team via trade at the 2022 Trade Deadline.

With Lauzon joining the list of injured Predators, the team will turn toward recent recall Marc Del Gaizo, who played in the first five NHL games of his career earlier in the season. He’s performed well, managing three assists, two penalty minutes, and a +2. But Del Gaizo’s promotion leaves Nashville without a seventh defenseman, likely prompting a recall soon. But, interestingly, the Predators haven’t relied on any other defenders this year – meaning whoever they recall will be making their season debut in the NHL. Kevin Gravel, the captain of the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals, will likely be the team’s top option – boasting 132 games of NHL experience and a prominent role in the AHL. Nashville signed Gravel to a two-year contract extension earlier this season.

Brendan Smith And Austin Watson Fined By DOPS

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The NHL’s Department of Player Safety had a busy day today levying two fines to two different players. New Jersey Devils defenseman Brendan Smith and Tampa Bay Lightning forward Austin Watson will be both lighter in the wallet after the official announcements this afternoon.

Smith was fined for a dangerous trip in last night’s game against the Seattle Kraken. The incident occurred midway through the third period when Smith tripped Kraken center Devin Shore, which led to a minor penalty. Smith’s fine is the maximum allowed under the collective bargaining agreement and will cost him $2,864.58. Smith’s fine comes just a week after he was suspended two games for slashing Philadelphia forward Travis Konecny.

Meanwhile, Watson was fined for an incident that occurred at the end of regulation in a game against the Nashville Predators. Watson fired a puck at Predators defenseman Jeremy Lauzon and was quickly assessed a minor penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct and a 10-minute misconduct. The penalties had little consequence for Watson as the game was over at that point, however, they did initiate a brawl on the ice. Watson will face a fine of $2,022.57 which is the maximum allowed under the CBA. Lauzon appeared injured on the play and struggled to get off the ice as he slammed his stick in frustration, no word yet on his status.

The money from both players’ fines will go to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.

Nashville Predators Make Several Roster Moves

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After losing Eeli Tolvanen on waivers, the Nashville Predators recalled Kevin Gravel and Roland McKeown to help their bruised and battered defense corps. The team also announced updated timelines for two players with upper-body injuries. Alexandre Carrier will be out week-to-week, while Jeremy Lauzon is now listed as day-to-day.

Adding help on defense is one of the biggest reasons why the Predators were forced to waive Tolvanen in the first place, though neither one of the players coming up should be expected to make a huge impact. Gravel is the more experienced of the two with 109 NHL games under his belt, though his last appearance was in 2019-20. The 6’4″ left-shot defenseman can be a useful penalty-killing option but offers almost no offense, with just one goal and 12 assists in his career.

McKeown, meanwhile has a bit more well-rounded game, though it has landed him only ten NHL appearances so far. The 26-year-old was the 50th overall pick in 2014 and played all ten of those games with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2017-18. He is the right-shot that can help replace Carrier, though certainly won’t be able to fill his shoes entirely.

Nashville Predators Extend Jeremy Lauzon

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A busy day of signings continues today. The Nashville Predators announced they’ve extended defenseman Jeremy Lauzon to a four-year contract worth $8MM in total, carrying an average annual value of $2MM.

Nashville acquired Lauzon at the Trade Deadline this season from the Seattle Kraken in exchange for a second-round pick (49th overall in the 2022 draft). He was Seattle’s expansion draft selection from the Boston Bruins.

Strictly a bottom-of-the-lineup player, Lauzon tallied two goals and seven points in 66 games combined between Seattle and Nashville this season. While he was in the lineup more consistently in Nashville, he often found himself as a healthy scratch with the Kraken. He averaged 17:40 of ice time per game this season, only a few seconds above his career average.

The veteran of 142 NHL games has some serious career stability now. He is decent defensively at even strength but has struggled on the penalty kill when used there, making more an ideal complementary player to a more high-end, offensively-inclined defenseman. If all goes well, he could end up being a good, cheap solution to partner with Roman Josi, but that’s assuming he maintains his solid defensive play post-trade. He’s known to be inconsistent at times, which raises a few red flags around the four-year term for this deal.

However, Lauzon is still just 25, and will still likely be in his prime at age 29 when the deal expires in 2026. It’s somewhat of a risky deal since the $2MM isn’t fully buriable in the minors, but it could just as well work out just fine. Lauzon was slated to become a restricted free agent with arbitration rights this offseason, and he’ll be an unrestricted free agent at the contract’s end.

Jeremy Lauzon Out Week-To-Week

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As the Nashville Predators look to secure their spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, they will be without their major trade deadline acquisition for the near future. The team announced today that defenseman Jeremy Lauzon will not play tonight against St. Louis and is going to be out of the lineup with a lower-body injury on a week-to-week designation.

Lauzon, 24, had arrived in Nashville via a trade deadline deal with the Seattle Kraken, who acquired him from the Boston Bruins in the expansion draft. The Predators paid a second-round pick to acquire Lauzon, an indication of how highly the team valued the young blueliner as part of the team’s plans for this season and beyond. Lauzon has gotten into 13 games for the Predators since the trade, and has scored one goal, logged 14 penalty minutes, and is a +3, all while playing a touch over 17 minutes a night. The Predators are a team with enviable defensive depth and should be able to absorb this loss, but the team paid a decent price to acquire Lauzon so coach John Hynes and the rest of the Predators organization have to be hopeful that Lauzon recovers sooner rather than later.

For Lauzon, this injury is a disappointment as he may miss time in the playoffs, should Nashville make it there. Lauzon’s hard-nosed, physical style plays better in a playoff environment where officiating is less strict, so if this injury costs Lauzon time in the playoffs it will come as a missed opportunity for him. A good playoff run can greatly enhance a physical defenseman’s reputation across the league, (as the Canadiens’ run in 2021 did for Ben Chiarot) so as a pending restricted free agent with arbitration rights this injury could cost Lauzon an opportunity to enhance his case for this summer.

AHL Shuffle: 03/21/22

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It’s certainly a busy day in the NHL today with the trade deadline just hours away plus four games on the schedule.  There will be considerable roster movement on the trade front while there will be plenty of paper moves made prior to the 2 PM CT deadline made to give players eligibility to play in the minors down the stretch.  We’ll keep track of those moves here.

Atlantic Division

 

Metropolitan Division

  • The Penguins announced (Twitter link) that they’ve sent winger Radim Zohorna to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL. The 25-year-old has three points in a dozen games this season with Pittsburgh while adding 15 points in 31 minor league contests.
  • The Washington Capitals re-assigned forward Brett Leason to the Hershey Bears of the AHL (link). Leason had just been recalled by the Capitals yesterday, but the re-assignment could be to simply keep Leason’s AHL eligibility for the remainder of the season intact.

Central Division

  • The Predators have sent defenseman Jeremy Davies back to Milwaukee, per the AHL’s transactions log. Davies was brought up on Saturday but with Nashville adding Jeremy Lauzon from Seattle late on Sunday, the 25-year-old can head back to the minors.
  • The Dallas Stars have sent goaltender Adam Scheel back to the AHL after acquiring Scott Wedgewood yesterday. Scheel, 22, has up as an emergency backup and never actually saw any NHL action. The young netminder is in his first full season of professional hockey.
  • The Winnipeg Jets have reassigned Ville Heinola, Jeff Malott, and Kristian Reichel have all been reassigned to the minor leagues, making them eligible. Notably, Cole Perfetti is not with this group, suggesting that his time in the minor leagues is over after impressing so far.
  • After making several trades in the past 24 hours, the Arizona Coyotes have recalled two players from the Tuscon Roadrunners of the AHL: forward Michael Carcone and goaltender Josef Korenar. Carcone has played just two games at the NHL level, both coming this season, however he has been a productive AHL player, tallying 24 goals and 17 assists in 48 games with Tuscon this season. Korenar has not played in the NHL yet this season, but did play in 10 games for the San Jose Sharks in 2020-21 and was moved to Arizona this offseason as part of the Adin Hill trade.
  • Having traded goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury to the Minnesota Wild, the Chicago Blackhawks have recalled goaltender Collin Delia from the Rockford IceHogs of the AHL. Delia has had a solid season playing for Rockford, but has only appeared in two NHL games thus far in 2021-22.

Pacific Division

  • The Kraken announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled winger Kole Lind from AHL Charlotte. Lind has played in seven games with Seattle this season after being their pick in expansion from Vancouver but has spent most of the year in the minors.  Seattle has also activated winger Joonas Donskoi off injured reserve.
  • The Edmonton Oilers have recalled Brad Malone from the AHL after he played a game with the Bakersfield Condors over the weekend. The 32-year-old is actually the captain of the minor league club, but after converting his contract to an NHL deal has played six games for the Oilers.
  • Jake Leschyshyn and Brayden Pachal are heading back up to the Vegas Golden Knights. Leschyshyn’s seen a lot of NHL opportunities this year, getting into 27 games this year and notching his first five NHL points. Pachal made his NHL debut recently before immediately getting sent back down, but he may get another chance here in some NHL games.
  • The San Jose Sharks announced they have re-assigned goaltender Zach Sawchenko to the San Jose Barracuda of the AHL. In addition to this, the team recalled forward Sasha Chmelevski and defenseman Ryan Merkley from the Barracuda, and activated Radim Simek off of injured-reserve.
  • After placing Michael Amadio and Zach Whitecloud in COVID protocol and trading away Evgenii Dadonov, the Vegas Golden Knights announced they have called up four players: forwards Paul Cotter and Jonas Rondbjerg and defensemen Daniil Miromanov and Zack Hayes. Of this group, only Hayes does not have any NHL playing experience, spending this season and last in the AHL with the Henderson Silver Knights, and the Prince Albert Raiders of the WHL before that.
  • The Vancouver Canucks also made a flurry of AHL assignments, primarily for the purpose of keeping players’ AHL ability alive. The organization announced it assigned forwards Sheldon Rempal, Vasily Podkolzin, and Nic Petan, as well as defenseman Noah Juulsen to the Abbotsford Canucks. Podkolzin and Petan were immediately recalled back to Vancouver.
  • The Anaheim Ducks announced they have recalled forward Danny O’Regan from the San Diego Gulls of the AHL. O’Regan, 28, has played parts of four seasons dating back to 2016-17, including four games this season with Anaheim.

This post will be updated throughout the day.

Nashville Predators Acquire Jeremy Lauzon

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The Nashville Predators have made a move to shore up their defense. The Predators have acquired defenseman Jeremy Lauzon from the Seattle Kraken. The Predators have traded the Kraken a 2022 second-round pick in exchange for Lauzon. Both teams have announced the trade. Lauzon was one of the Kraken’s picks from their Expansion Draft, and he now moves to the third team of his NHL career, having played a total of 53 games as a member of the Kraken.

As was written in our recent trade deadline primer, the priority for the Predators approaching the deadline was likely to be their defense, specifically their bottom pairing. The team just waived defenseman Philippe Myers and is giving NHL minutes on their bottom pairing to Matt Tennyson, a 31-year-old AHL/NHL tweener, and Jeremy Davies, who has a total of 18 NHL games to his name. For a team that has designs on making the playoffs and potentially going on a run, that was a glaring weakness on their roster, and it seemed as though with every passing hour until the deadline, with players like Mark Giordano, Ben Chiarot, Hampus Lindholm, and more already being dealt, GM David Poile would be harder pressed to find a fit to improve his team. It seems as though that pressure may have motivated Poile, as a second-round pick is a steep price to pay for Lauzon. Lauzon is still only 24 years old and was a well-regarded prospect from his days in Boston, but since arriving in the NHL he has been unable to truly impress in any specific area of the game. He brings physicality and size, which are two admirable traits to have as a blueliner, but has struggled to be a well-rounded defensive defenseman and found particular trouble in the Bruins’ playoff exit against the Islanders last season. He has virtually no offensive element to his game as well, with only 17 career points in 129 games. In all honesty, it seems as though this trade is the clearest reflection of how expensive defensemen have been at this deadline, given the prices Boston and Florida paid for Lindholm and Chiarot, respectively. Lauzon for a second-rounder may be the price giving fans the most sticker shock of them all. Poile is a highly accomplished GM with a long track record of success in building the many Predators’ bluelines he has overseen, so he has earned a lot of credibility when it comes to his evaluation of defensemen. But it is difficult to fully rationalize the second-round price tag he paid for Lauzon. Lauzon is young, and theoretically has room to grow, but his play in the NHL so far in his career leaves more questions than answers.

For the Kraken, this trade is a strong one for GM Ron Francis and one that signals their intention to fully enter a long-term “rebuilding” plan for the team. Some may have expected this Kraken squad to find immediate success, especially given the success of the Vegas Golden Knights in their expansion season. The Pacific Division was viewed to be among the NHL’s weakest, and some observers even believed that the Kraken could come close to hitting the all-important 100 point mark in the standings. But that success did not come for the Kraken, and as a result, it seems as though they are fully pivoting to a more long-term strategy to build their team. They have already traded Calle Jarnkrok, and tonight also shipped Mason Appleton for another draft pick. Francis clearly believes the road to his team being a contender runs through the draft, and the Kraken are quickly building a strong stable of draft picks. In 2022, they now have four second-rounders and are set to pick at the top of the first round. This may be disappointing for the Kraken fanbase that likely wanted to see competitive hockey a bit sooner, but at least tonight the fanbase should rest easy. Getting a second-round pick for Lauzon is a strong return for a team in need of some good news.

Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic was the first to report Lauzon’s trade. Kevin Weekes of ESPN was first on the compensation returning to Seattle.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Jeremy Lauzon, Alex Wennberg Placed In COVID Protocol

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Jan 3: The Kraken have now added Alexander Wennberg to the protocol, joining Lauzon. The team already had their upcoming game against the Ottawa Senators postponed, meaning they will have time to get both back before their next game on January 10, should they test out of the protocol.

Jan 1: The Seattle Kraken have Vince Dunn and Ryan Donato back from the COVID protocol today as they took morning skate, but it’s not back to full strength just yet. The team still has Mason Appleton unavailable and he’ll now be joined on the sidelines by Jeremy Lauzon, who has entered the protocol today.

Lauzon, 24, was the Kraken pick from Boston in the expansion draft and he has played 27 games for the team this season. A second-round selection from 2015, the young defenseman still hasn’t quite come into his own at the NHL level. He does provide a level of physical play that the Kraken defense has become known for, ranking third on the team in hits and first in penalty minutes, but Lauzon has just five points so far on the year.

Notably, Lauzon has avoided Group VI unrestricted free agency by landing a regular gig with the Kraken to start the year. He had just 76 matches to his name before this season, with 80 being the threshold to avoid UFA status. Instead, he’ll be a restricted free agent this summer coming off his two-year deal from 2020. Arbitration-eligible, a good showing this season could result in a healthy raise should the Kraken decide he’s worthy of a qualifying offer.

Injury Notes: Hughes, Dunn, Stars

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The Vancouver Canucks have yet to play with a healthy core this season, and unfortunately, that trend will continue tonight. While winger Brock Boeser will be back in the lineup as reported earlier today, now defenseman Quinn Hughes is injured and will miss tonight’s game, per The Athletic’s Thomas Drance. After signing a six-year, $47.1MM extension prior to the season starting, Hughes has performed well with two points in three games while logging 27:39 a night. Veteran defenseman Brad Hunt draws into the lineup in his place, according to the team’s line rushes.

More injury notes ahead of tonight’s games:

  • After missing the past two games with an injury, The Athletic’s Ryan S. Clark reports Seattle Kraken defender Vince Dunn will return to the lineup. Slotting back onto a pair with Jeremy Lauzon, Dunn has an assist in two games but has played just 15:08 per game, a far cry from the role he was expected to play with the team. He’ll have to work overtime now in order to work his way back into the team’s top-four.
  • The Dallas Stars are missing both John Klingberg and Jason Robertson for tonight’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, per the Dallas Morning News’ Matthew DeFranks. Both remain day-to-day as Robertson has yet to slot into the lineup this season, while Klingberg played just 10:21 of the Stars’ first game. It’ll be tough to knock off the Penguins, who have yet to lose in regulation, without two key players.

Expansion Tracker: Seattle Kraken

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The Seattle Kraken expansion picks were submitted to the league this morning, and after the conclusion of tonight’s Expansion Draft, everything has become official. It was a rather anticlimactic evening, as all of the picks had been leaked accurately throughout the day. It is important to note that considering some puzzling player selections and a large amount of cap space, more moves from the Kraken should happen later this week.

Anaheim: D Haydn Fleury
Arizona: F Tyler Pitlick
Boston: D Jeremy Lauzon
Buffalo: D William Borgen
Calgary: D Mark Giordano
Carolina: F Morgan Geekie
Chicago: F John Quenneville
Colorado: F Joonas Donskoi
Columbus: D Gavin Bayreuther
Dallas: D Jamie Oleksiak
Detroit: D Dennis Cholowski
Edmonton: D Adam Larsson
Florida: G Chris Driedger
Los Angeles: D Kurtis MacDermid
Minnesota: D Carson Soucy
Montreal: D Cale Fleury
Nashville: F Calle Jarnkrok
New Jersey: F Nathan Bastian
New York Islanders: F Jordan Eberle
New York Rangers: F Colin Blackwell
Ottawa: G Joey Daccord
Philadelphia: F Carsen Twarynski
Pittsburgh: F Brandon Tanev
San Jose: F Alexander True
St. Louis: D Vince Dunn
Tampa Bay: F Yanni Gourde
Toronto: F Jared McCann
Vancouver: F Kole Lind
Washington: G Vitek Vanecek
Winnipeg: F Mason Appleton

The Kraken finish with $29MM in cap space, via CapFriendly. Notable RFAs include Twarynski, Dunn, Borgen, and Cholowski. They could be looking at players like Geekie to make the full-time jump to the NHL next season, but for now, the roster looks relatively filled out. It’s got to be expected at this point that some defensemen will be dealt off the roster, as they currently sit with 10 at the NHL level with none of them being waiver-eligible.

This page will be updated as further reports come in, and the official list will be published later tonight.

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