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Coyotes Notes: Ritchie, Imama, Injuries

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PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan reported Monday afternoon that Arizona Coyotes forward Brett Ritchie’s status for tonight’s game against the Edmonton Oilers is uncertain for a second straight night due to illness. He will be a game-time decision after missing yesterday’s shootout loss to the Colorado Avalanche.

Ritchie has scored two goals and added two assists in eight games since being acquired in a swap with the Calgary Flames at the trade deadline. The 29-year-old winger is having his best offensive season since he recorded seven goals and 14 points in 71 games with the Dallas Stars in 2017-18.

More from the Coyotes beat today:

  • With Ritchie’s availability up in the air, Bokondji Imama is back up with the Coyotes on emergency loan from the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners. Defenseman Michael Kesselring was papered back to the Roadrunners to satisfy the emergency loan requirements. With Josh Brown ready to return to the lineup, this allows the Coyotes to play 12 forwards and six defensemen tonight, no matter what. Imama is still looking for his first point of the year in five games with the Coyotes.
  • Also per Morgan, forwards Laurent Dauphin and Zack Kassian will remain out of the lineup with upper-body injuries. Kassian, who has just two goals in 51 games this season, has been absent from the lineup since March 21. Dauphin, who has no points in 16 games since being recalled from Tucson, has been out for three days.

Injury Notes: Demko, Raymond, Brown

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The Vancouver Canucks haven’t had Thatcher Demko in net for an entire game since November. More than anything, his absence has been a considerable part of the organization’s collapse this season. Demko’s strong play likely shrouded some of the issues the team faced last year, and when he struggled at the beginning of this season, they were revealed.

His injury, which has kept him out since a game on December 1, went through several levels of severity as he dealt with setbacks. Demko is now, finally, expected to be back for the Canucks in the next few days, according to Sportsnet broadcaster Brendan Batchelor.

  • According to Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press, Lucas Raymond took part in his first practice today since getting injured earlier this month. The young forward wasn’t part of line rushes, so likely won’t return tomorrow, but he should be back soon to continue his sophomore season. Raymond has 15 goals and 33 points through 50 games, and will be coming back to a Detroit Red Wings group that is suddenly in the thick of a playoff race.
  • While Jakob Chychrun was on the ice for Arizona Coyotes practice, Josh Brown wasn’t, according to Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports. The big defenseman is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury. He left Wednesday’s game after just five shifts.

Arizona Coyotes Set To Sign Three Players

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The Arizona Coyotes have signed Troy Stecher to a one-year, $1.2MM contract, according to Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK TV. Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports actually notes that it is worth $1.25MM, but the team has not announced the deal yet. The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta also reports that the team is signing defenseman Josh Brown to a two-year contract. Morgan also notes the team is working on a contract with Nick Bjugstad. Bjugstad’s deal is one-year, $900K.

More to come…

Boston Bruins Acquire Josh Brown

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Last April the Boston Bruins acquired a depth defenseman from the Ottawa Senators for a mid-round pick, and it turned out to be a pretty good move. Mike Reilly ended up signing a three-year contract extension and now is a regular on the Bruins blueline. They’ll try it again, this time acquiring Josh Brown and a conditional 2022 seventh-round draft pick from the Senators in exchange for Zach Senyshyn and a 2022 fifth-round pick. If Senyshyn plays five NHL games before the end of the 2021-22 season, the Bruins will receive a 2022 sixth-round pick instead.

Brown, 28, brings a much different package to the ice than Reilly. This time it’s a 6’5″ 220-lbs defenseman that is an absolute bulldozer on the ice, hitting anything that moves whenever he gets the chance. What kind of role he’ll play on Boston isn’t clear, though it will be certainly bigger than what Senyshyn has done to this point.

One of the infamous three consecutive first-round picks from 2015, the 24-year-old has played just 14 games to this point in his career. That’s fewer than every other player drafted in that round, something that certainly doesn’t bode well for his future even in a new organization. He’ll turn 25 later this month and likely get a chance to show what he can do with the Senators, but he might not be there very long.

Senyshyn is one of the players who will qualify for Group VI unrestricted free agency this summer, meaning the Senators would need to reach a contract with him in the next few months, or else he’d go to the open market.

Josh Brown Out 4-6 Weeks

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The Ottawa Senators were only just getting a semblance of an NHL roster back after a COVID outbreak forced them to play shorthanded, but they haven’t been anywhere near their expected group all season. Injuries have struck several key players, and now Josh Brown is going to be out long-term with an upper-body injury. Head coach D.J. Smith told TSN radio today that Brown will miss four to six weeks.

It’s not that Brown is a lynchpin defender or anything, but the Senators depth just continues to be depleted. He’s been moved to injured reserve alongside Colin White, Shane Pinto and Erik Brannstrom, while Drake Batherson remains in the COVID protocol. Brown played just 2:35 before exiting on Monday night.

What this really means is that Lassi Thomson will continue to get a run here as a rookie, though his play has certainly been deserving of that anyway. The 21-year-old is averaging nearly 20 minutes of ice time through his first five NHL games and has three points to show for it.

Even though their defensive depth has been tested, it’s the goaltending that seems to be the target of Smith’s ire lately. The Senators are near the bottom of the league with an .888 save percentage so far this season, while expected starter Matt Murray has yet to win a game.

Ottawa’s Erik Brannstrom Suffers Broken Hand

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It’s almost becoming comical at this point. On Thursday, the Ottawa Senators placed top-four defenseman Nikita Zaitsev in COVID Protocol, where he joined fellow defensemen Josh Brown, Victor Mete, and Nick Holden. Later that night, fellow top-four defender Artem Zub was knocked out of Ottawa’s match-up with the Los Angeles Kings with an upper-body injury. Now, just 24 hours later, TSN’s Darren Dreger reports that young defenseman Erik Brannstrom suffered a broken hand in last night’s game as well and is out indefinitely.

It was just the second game of the season for Brannstrom, 22, who has still been trying to carve out a role for himself with the Senators. It could explain why Brannstrom not only played the whole game on Sunday, but skated in an abnormally high 18:56, perhaps trying to impress his coaches who were already short on blue line options. Whether this had any impact on the extent of the injury remains unknown. The Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch follows up on Dreger’s report by adding that the Senators are currently waiting for a determination on whether Brannstrom will need surgery or not. He believes that the blue liner will miss at least two months. It’s a critical setback for the 2017 first-round pick, who has not yet played up to expectations despite ample opportunity in Ottawa.

It will be hard for the Senators and their fans to focus on the long-term damage of the Brannstrom injury though when the short-term impact is so immense. The loss of Brannstrom on top of Zub plus the current COVID absences leaves the Senators with just seven healthy defenseman in the pro ranks, only four of whom are currently in the NHL. Fortunately, workhorse No. 1 defenseman Thomas Chabot is among the living, but the depth falls off immensely behind him. Veteran utility defenseman Michael Del Zotto, who has played in just six games this season, is the next best option, while the other two healthy NHLers are Dillon Heatherington, who made his season debut on Thursday, and Lassi Thomson, who made his NHL debut on Thursday. In Belleville, top prospect Jacob Bernard-Docker is almost a guaranteed recall before the Senators game on Saturday and an unheralded player such as Jonathan Aspirot or Maxence Guenette will likely receive the call as well. In turn, Belleville will have to load up on loans and tryouts in order to get by without their own defenders. The entire Senators organization needs their defense to get healthy as soon as possible.

Artem Zub Leaves Game With Upper-Body Injury

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Things continue to get worse in terms of the amount of personnel available for the Ottawa Senators. Defenseman Artem Zub left Thursday’s game against Los Angeles with an upper-body injury, and head coach D.J. Smith says there’s “no update” on his status.

Ottawa is already without nine players due to COVID-19 protocol, including defensemen Nikita Zaitsev, Josh Brown, Victor Mete, and Nick Holden. The team is down to just nine healthy defensemen under NHL contracts now, as Jacob Bernard-Docker, Maxence Guenette, and Jonathan Aspirot remain with AHL Belleville.

The team’s depth is stretched extremely thin, as many young players are now getting NHL time sooner than expected. 2019 first-round selection Lassi Thomson made his NHL debut Thursday in place of Zaitsev.

If Zub is to miss any period of time, Bernard-Docker is the obvious choice to come up from Belleville. The 21-year-old right-shot defenseman does not require waivers and got into five games with the Senators at the tail end of last season.

Zub himself was having a great start to the 2021-22 season, notching five assists in 12 games while working his way up to the team’s top pairing with Thomas Chabot. He’s been Ottawa’s most responsible defenseman since joining the team prior to 2020-21, now averaging nearly 23 minutes a night this season.

Josh Brown Added To COVID Protocol

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The Ottawa Senators have placed a sixth player in the COVID protocol, adding Josh Brown to it this morning. He joins Victor Mete, Austin Watson, Nick Holden, Connor Brown, and Dylan Gambrell as players unavailable to the Senators currently, along with assistant coach Jack Capuano who is also in the protocol.

Importantly, the team has not revealed whether Brown tested positive for coronavirus or how long he will be held out of the lineup. He did play last night, logging more than 15 minutes in a loss to the Boston Bruins. Through 12 games for the team this season he has yet to score a point.

Hopefully, the parade to the protocol ends there for the Senators, though it has obviously already done some damage to their season chances. Ottawa has lost five in a row now and find themselves tied with the Montreal Canadiens for last place in the Atlantic Division. Losing players like Brown is especially impactful, given his important position on the roster. All the team can do right now is try to get through this stretch without any lingering health issues.

The Senators are scheduled to take on the Los Angeles Kings tomorrow night, before welcoming in the Pittsburgh Penguins and Calgary Flames for a back-to-back over the weekend.

Senators Notes: Chabot, Brown, Murray, Prospects

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Senators defenseman Thomas Chabot left Monday’s game against Winnipeg due to an upper-body injury.  Head coach D.J. Smith told reporters today, including Ian Mendes of The Athletic (Twitter link) that it’s unlikely that Chabot will return this season.  While the injury isn’t believed to be serious, Ottawa has been eliminated from playoff contention so there isn’t a lot to play for.  Chabot had been weighing the idea of playing at the upcoming World Championships but his presence there may be in jeopardy.

Smith also indicated that blueliner Josh Brown is likely to miss the final four games as well due to an undisclosed injury.  His first season with the Senators will end on a quiet note as the former Florida defender had just a single assist along with 30 PIMS in 26 games this season.

More from Ottawa:

  • While Matt Murray was expected to be their goalie of the future when they acquired him from Pittsburgh last summer, Postmedia’s Ken Warren suggests that at this point, it’s unlikely that he will be protected from Seattle in expansion this summer. With both Filip Gustavsson and Joey Daccord also requiring protection and showing some promise in limited action this season, he posits that one of them will be held back from the Kraken with the expectation that Murray’s deal – which carries a $6.25MM AAV through 2023-24 – will be too expensive for them to willingly take on.
  • Prospects Ridly Greig and Roby Jarventie are currently quarantining in Belleville and will see some AHL action down the stretch, notes Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch. Greig, a first-round pick last year, got a brief look in the minors at the start of the season before having to return to the WHL where he had 10 goals and 22 assists in 21 games with Brandon.  As for Jarventie, the 33rd pick last year recently signed his entry-level deal and had 14 goals and 11 assists in 48 games with Ilves of the SM-liiga this season.

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