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Atlantic Notes: LeBreton Flats, Norris, Anderson

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There’s no clear timeline for the Senators’ move to a more centrally-located arena in the LeBreton Flats neighborhood in Ottawa. Team ownership announced Friday they’d finally reached an agreement to purchase the land from the National Capital Commission, with the final sale expected to go ahead in 2025, but details past that were sparse.

That means a move out of Kanata’s Canadian Tire Centre is at least five years away. Majority owner Michael Andlauer said Saturday that the soonest he could see Senators hockey coming to the LeBreton Flats development would be for the 2029-30 season, per Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen.

“I honestly, if I could, I would drop the puck tomorrow,” Andlauer said. “It’s a process. I’m going to be diligent and transparent when you ask me what the status and where our hurdles are. But, I think, the sooner, the better. I like to underpromise and overdeliver so once this process gets started, we’ll probably have a better idea as the year goes along.”

More out of the Atlantic Division:

  • Josh Norris hasn’t quite been a full participant in Senators scrimmages after reports claimed he’d be fully cleared from yet another shoulder injury when camp started. But the team told Garrioch today that there are no lingering effects from the injury and that they’re just being cautious by easing him back into game-like action. A trio of shoulder procedures have limited him to just 58 appearances over the past two seasons.
  • Canadiens winger Josh Anderson was busier than usual this summer, working closely with Canadiens staff over the past few months to try and bounce back from a horrific 2023-24 campaign, writes Arpon Basu of The Athletic. His nine goals and 20 points were his lowest totals in a fully healthy season since breaking out as a full-time fixture with the Blue Jackets back in 2016. “I think in a week, I watched 40 of my games, or something like that,” he told Basu. Just my shifts. It doesn’t take that long, just 12 or 15 minutes, and really pay attention to yourself when you don’t have the puck or have the puck, are you doing the right things?“

Snapshots: Norris, Fehervary, Bjorkstrand, Johansson

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After undergoing shoulder surgery back in March, Senators center Josh Norris is expected to be a full participant when training camp gets underway next month, reports Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch.  The 25-year-old has had three separate shoulder procedures done and he has yet to play more than 66 games in a single season.  Last season, Norris played in 50 games for Ottawa, recording 16 goals and 14 assists.  He has six years remaining on his contract with a $7.95MM cap charge and the Sens will be counting on him to stay healthy and play a prominent role in 2024-25.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • Capitals defenseman Martin Fehervary will not suit up for Slovakia in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament, Hockey Slovakia announced. The blueliner recently indicated that he has been dealing with a minor injury and clearly, he hasn’t fully recovered from it to be able to play.  The 24-year-old had 16 points in 66 games for Washington last season while adding 188 hits and 109 blocked shots in 19:38 per night and would have played a prominent role for the Slovaks in the tournament.
  • Kraken winger Oliver Bjorkstrand was a late scratch for Denmark in their Olympic Qualifying Tournament game against Great Britain today. Team radio host Mike Benton relays (Twitter link) that the injury, which occurred in a tune-up game for the tournament, isn’t believed to be serious but GM Ron Francis noted that it’s something that needs to be looked at which means it’s highly unlikely he’ll play in the other two games.  Bjorkstrand, who had 20 goals and a career-high 39 assists last season, is expected to be ready to participate in training camp.
  • While unrestricted free agent Simon Johansson has received interest from overseas (particularly SHL Djurgarden), the blueliner is focusing on playing in North America this season, notes Hockey Sverige’s Mans Karlsson. The 25-year-old spent the last two seasons in Minnesota’s system and recorded 21 points in 72 games with AHL Iowa in 2023-24.  However, he was still non-tendered back in June.

Snapshots: Norris, Contracts, Maple Leafs

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Pat MaGuire of The Hockey News writes that Ottawa Senators center Josh Norris appears to be healthy and set for NHL training camp in September. The 25-year-old wasn’t in the same position a year ago and spent much of the season chasing things before his season ended this past February. Norris underwent his third shoulder surgery, leaving plenty of question marks about whether or not he will be available for the entirety of this season.

Norris was initially acquired from the San Jose Sharks in the Erik Karlsson trade and blossomed into a 35-goal scorer in 2021-22, he then signed an eight-year $63.6MM contract extension and has only played in 58 games since then over the past two seasons. The Senators will be counting on a healthy Norris this season as his absence has negatively impacted their forward depth the last two years. A healthy Norris allows for Ottawa to deploy Shane Pinto on the third line which creates a better balance throughout their top nine forward group.

In other notes from around the league.

  • Dom Luszczyszyn of The Athletic released a list of the ten worst contracts in the NHL. Unsurprisingly, Calgary Flames forward Jonathan Huberdeau and his seven years at $10.5MM annually topped the list. Luszczyszyn’s modelling showed that Huberdeau’s projected value was just $4.9MM annually making his contract the worst value in the league. Chandler Stephenson and Tom Wilson rounded out the top three worst contracts. Stephenson’s deal with the Seattle Kraken is just two weeks old and could turn out to be a disaster if the modelling is correct. Wilson on the other hand has seven years left on his deal that will carry him from age 30-37 and the modelling predicts he will be a third-line player by the third year of the deal.
  • Seattle Kraken defenseman Brandon Montour spoke with TSN OverDrive to discuss his recent run through free agency. Montour told Mark Roe and Frank Corrado that he talked with the Toronto Maple Leafs about signing in Toronto. Montour added that he was excited by the possibility and considered signing with the team, but added that he had a ton of options in free agency and was grateful to ultimately sign a seven-year, $49.98MM deal with the Kraken. The Maple Leafs interest in Montour isn’t all that surprising given the focus they put on improving their defense, which they did by signing Chris Tanev and Oliver Ekman-Larsson.

Josh Norris Undergoes Shoulder Surgery, Out For Season

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The Senators will indeed be without center Joshua Norris for the rest of the season after he underwent shoulder surgery last week, the team informed reporters (including Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun). It’s unclear if the team expects Norris, who has had three surgeries on his left shoulder in the past few years, to be ready for the beginning of next season. Depth center Rourke Chartier will also be sidelined for roughly one week with an upper-body injury, per CapFriendly.

Ottawa placed Norris on injured reserve on Feb. 29 and moved him to long-term injured reserve the next day to gain much-needed relief from his $7.95MM cap hit. That relief ensures the Senators can ice a full roster down the stretch after being forced to dress a skater short on multiple occasions this season due to cap constraints.

Norris began the season on IR after sustaining a setback in his recovery from his second shoulder surgery, which was performed in January 2023, during training camp. He made his season debut in mid-October and couldn’t recapture his 2021-22 season form that earned him his eight-year, $63.6MM extension. Over 50 appearances, the left-shot pivot recorded 16 goals and 30 points while averaging 17:38 per game. He posted a -6 rating and recorded 115 shots on goal, a 0.31 shots-per-game decrease from his 35-goal showing two years ago.

It’s another concerning development for the 24-year-old as he deals with seemingly consistent shoulder injuries. They limited him to just eight games last season, meaning he’ll have played only 35% of the Senators’ games since 2022 once this campaign concludes. He has six years remaining on his extension, with a 10-team no-trade list from July 1, 2026 onwards.

Norris last played on Feb. 27. He also missed four games in January with what the team termed an upper-body injury, although it’s unclear if that absence was related to his shoulder. The Senators, who are now down two centers with Chartier injured, will need to recall a forward from AHL Belleville before tomorrow’s game against the Penguins to have 12 available. They’ll be eligible to use an emergency recall, keeping their four post-deadline standard recalls open for later.

Chartier, 27, has three points in 37 games with the Sens this season. He was briefly reassigned to Belleville on deadline day to make him eligible to participate in the Calder Cup Playoffs.

Morning Notes: Senators, Khusnutdinov, Wild/Predators

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The Senators’ top four on defense has rarely been healthy at the same time this season, mainly due to Thomas Chabot and Artem Zub struggling to stay healthy. Zub has missed the last three games with a lower-body injury, and although he appears ready to return tomorrow against the Coyotes, it could be one step forward and as much as three steps back, notes Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch. Chabot, Jake Sanderson, and center Joshua Norris all underwent MRIs for undisclosed (upper-body in Norris’ case) ailments yesterday, per interim head coach Jacques Martin, putting their statuses for the Arizona game in doubt.

Aside from the on-ice impact derailing their recent momentum, it’ll be quite the roster puzzle to make corresponding recalls. Zub is the only extra skater on the Ottawa roster, and despite that, they have no cap space for any standard recalls unless they determine one of their three newly injured players will miss at least 10 games and 24 days, in which case they can be placed on LTIR. For a $0 emergency recall, Ottawa would have to play short a player for one game, meaning they could be limited to just 16 skaters tomorrow. They could then recall two players whose cap hits are $850K or less for Saturday’s road game in Philadelphia.

Other things to keep an eye on this morning with the deadline approaching:

  • The Wild hope to have newly signed prospect Marat Khusnutdinov with the team by the end of next week, GM Bill Guerin told Joe Smith of The Athletic on Wednesday. After inking his two-year, entry-level deal yesterday, the 21-year-old Russian center will now begin the work visa and immigration process. Guerin confirmed that Minnesota would start him in the NHL upon his arrival and forego an initial assignment to AHL Iowa and anticipates him stepping into a center role down the stretch. The 2020 second-round pick had six goals, 14 assists, 20 points, and a -14 rating in 55 games with the KHL’s SKA St. Petersburg and HK Sochi this season.
  • Sticking with Minnesota, their game on the road in Nashville tonight will likely go a long way toward informing trade deadline strategies and playoff outcomes for both teams. The Predators now have a five-point gap between them and ninth-place Calgary for the final playoff spot in the West, while the Wild are looking to swing two points in their favor to draw within four of the postseason cutoff with a game in hand. Minnesota’s 8-2-1 run since the All-Star break has them squarely back in the playoff conversation after falling out of it entirely a couple of months ago, but a similarly scorching stretch from Nashville has helped them tighten their grip on a playoff berth for the 16th time in the last 20 seasons.

East Notes: Rafferty, Norris, Sandin

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The Red Wings assigned defenseman Brogan Rafferty to AHL Grand Rapids today, per a team announcement. Rafferty, 28, was recalled last Saturday but did not see any game action with Detroit.

This indicates defenseman Jake Walman is likely ready to return from an illness that’s sidelined him for three contests. Walman’s absence necessitated Rafferty’s recall, allowing the Red Wings to remain at seven healthy defensemen on the active roster. In the event Walman is ready to return, he would likely reunite with Moritz Seider on the team’s top pairing against the Hurricanes tomorrow.

This was Rafferty’s first recall since signing a two-year, two-way $1.55MM contract in Detroit as a UFA last summer. The right-shooting defenseman has 1-12–13 in 33 games with Grand Rapids this season, a sharp decline from the 9-42–51 he posted in 72 games with the Kraken’s AHL affiliate, Coachella Valley, last season.

Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference today:

  • Senators center Josh Norris skated in a non-contact jersey during an optional skate this morning, Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch said. The 24-year-old has missed three games with an upper-body injury, one the team is surely watching carefully after a shoulder injury with multiple setbacks cost him nearly all of the 2022-23 campaign, as well as the first three games of this season. Interim head coach Jacques Martin said Norris was an option to return during their back-to-back against the Jets and Flyers this weekend, although that seems less likely now, given he wasn’t able to take contact today.
  • Capitals defenseman Rasmus Sandin was upgraded to regular contact at this morning’s practice, per The Washington Post’s Bailey Johnson. Sandin, 23, hasn’t played since Jan. 3 and remains on injured reserve with an upper-body injury. The 5-foot-11 blueliner has now missed six games, but after getting back on the ice last week, he’s trending toward being available by the team’s Saturday game against the Blues. Washington also faces St. Louis tonight, although head coach Spencer Carbery has not commented on Sandin’s availability. The 2018 first-round pick has 11 assists in 36 games for the Caps while averaging over 22 minutes per game.

Snapshots: Norris, Vladar, Dvorsky

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Bruce Garrioch of The Ottawa Sun has reported that the Ottawa Senators are hopeful centerman Joshua Norris can make his season debut in their Wednesday night game. Norris has been absent for the entirety of the early season and much of training camp, continuing to nurse a shoulder injury that was initially suffered roughly one year ago.

The injury held Norris out of all but eight games in the 2022-23 season, cutting short what would have been his third NHL season. Norris played 66 games in the 2021-22 campaign, scoring a dazzling 35 goals and 55 points. His 35-goal mark was, at the time, the most scored by a Senator in a decade, although Brady Tkachuk tied it and Tim Stutzle topped it with 39 goals last year. Norris showed similar goal-scoring capabilities in his rookie season of 2020-21, netting 17 goals in 56 games, tied for third on the Ottawa roster.

Norris returned to practice centering the Senators’ third line, between Drake Batherson and Dominik Kubalik. Batherson has been one of Norris’ most common linemates throughout his first two NHL seasons, with the duo accounting for 75 goals for and 44 goals against through a combined 1042 minutes of ice time together.

More notes from around the league:

  • The latest episode of the ’Big Show with Rusic and Rose’ shared that Calgary is reengaging in preliminary trade talks for goaltender Daniel Vladar. They also shared that Calgary shopped Vladar this summer, but the cost was too high for interested teams. It’s unsure whether the Flames have changed their asking price now that the season has begun. Vladar has an expensive $2.2MM cap hit but could be a hot commodity for teams looking to bolster their goaltending room.
  • 2023 NHL Draft Top 10 pick Dalibor Dvorsky has mutually terminated his contract with IK Oskarshamn. Dvorsky was loaned to the Swedish club at the start of the year but has gone without a point through their first 10 games of the season. Dvorsky is expected to join the Sudbury Wolves of the OHL.

Morning Notes: Garland, Norris, Arvidsson

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The Vancouver Canucks are receiving interest from multiple teams after granting forward Conor Garland permission to seek a trade earlier this week, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported last night on Saturday Headlines. Friedman singled out the Columbus Blue Jackets, Nashville Predators and Winnipeg Jets as parties that have displayed interest but said there are likely other teams that have called the Canucks.

Garland logged a highlight-reel goal in the Canucks’ season-opener last week, but he’s been otherwise held off the scoresheet through two games and has been used quite sparingly by head coach Rick Tocchet. He’s played less than ten minutes in each of the team’s first two contests against the Oilers, and it’s becoming clear there’s no path to any significant role for Garland in Vancouver. The 27-year-old carries a $4.95MM cap hit through the 2025-26 season and has a history of strong middle-six production, something he’s likely to rediscover in a new environment, given his historically strong underlying numbers.

Friedman also added some clarity on what a Garland trade may eventually look like, noting that GM Patrik Allvin is looking to clear between $1MM and $2MM of cap space in this deal. That could come either via a total contract swap or retaining salary on Garland in a deal for draft picks or buriable players.

Elsewhere around the NHL this morning:

  • Also coming from Friedman last night, the Ottawa Senators expect center Josh Norris to return to practice today in a non-contact jersey ahead of their game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. A return for their former 35-goal man is not imminent, but Friedman reports the Senators hope Norris will be able to return to contact practice later this week and offer a more definitive timeline for his return. The team has held off placing him on LTIR up until this point, signaling optimism that he’ll be able to return by the end of the month. Norris’ shoulder injury and subsequent setbacks have limited him to just eight games since the start of last season. Norris is beginning the second season of an eight-year, $63.6MM deal carrying a $7.95MM cap hit.
  • Things are not looking up for Los Angeles Kings forward Viktor Arvidsson, who remains on LTIR after missing the first two games of the season with a back injury. It seems this could turn into an even more significant absence, as GM Rob Blake told NHL.com yesterday that Arvidsson “may have to have surgery,” which would put him out on a month-to-month basis and extend his stay on LTIR well past the minimum ten games and 24 days. If he doesn’t have surgery, he will be eligible to return for the team’s November 4 game against Philadelphia. Blake said Arvidsson sustained the injury during practice on the first day of the regular season, and subsequent diagnosis revealed surgery may be an option.

Atlantic Notes: Norris, MacEwen, Mittelstadt, Brown

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Injury troubles have been a persistent issue for Ottawa Senators center Joshua Norris, as since his 35-goal breakout campaign he’s only managed to play in eight NHL games. Despite undergoing shoulder surgery all the way back in January, Norris’ status remains in question as the Senators prepare for an extremely important 2023-24 season.

Sportsnet’s Wayne Scanlan relays word from Senators head coach D.J. Smith that there is currently still no timeline on Norris’ recovery, though the hope remains that he will be back shortly. At this point, no LTIR placement is being considered and Scanlan adds that Norris will travel with the team to Carolina for its game against the Hurricanes. The Senators’ center depth is currently in somewhat rough shape, as Rourke Chartier and Ridly Greig are the team’s projected middle-six centers (they combine for just 39 games of NHL experience) so getting Norris back in action is going to be a major priority for the team as they look to start the season on the right foot.

Some other notes from the Atlantic Division:

  • Another Senator currently battling injury is winger Zack MacEwen. Scanlan reports that MacEwen is currently unavailable on a day-to-day injury timeline, and as a result, the Senators may be forced to start the season with an opening-night lineup short a player. Ottawa currently does not possess the necessary cap space to recall a replacement player from the AHL’s Belleville Senators, so the club could be forced to play with just 11 forwards tomorrow in Raleigh.
  • According to The Buffalo News’ Mike Harrington, Buffalo Sabres forward Casey Mittelstadt “tweaked something” in his upper body yesterday and as a result sat out of practice today. Head coach Don Granato reassured reporters saying that Mittelstadt’s absence is not expected to extend into the team’s opening-night contest Thursday against the New York Rangers. Mittelstadt is an important cog in the Sabres’ offense, and is coming off a breakout 2022-23 season where he scored 15 goals and 59 points.
  • Just shortly after he cleared waivers and was assigned to the AHL’s Providence Bruins, Boston Bruins forward Patrick Brown was recalled back to the NHL roster today. The 31-year-old veteran forward will likely be in the TD Garden press box for the Bruins’ opening-night contest against the Chicago Blackhawks, though he could end up claiming the fourth-line center role on the team should rookie John Beecher fail to carry over the momentum he built in the preseason into regular-season action.

Atlantic Notes: Norris, Bennett, Red Wings

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It was expected that Senators center Josh Norris would be fully ready for the start of the season after recovering from shoulder surgery that cost him most of last year.  However, he hasn’t seen any preseason action and won’t play tonight against Montreal in their final tune-up.  Now, head coach D.J. Smith told reporters including TSN’s Claire Hanna (Twitter link) that it now looks as if the 24-year-old won’t be ready to start the season.  Now, the focus will shift to him either starting on IR or LTIR.  If it’s the latter, he’d have to miss at least 10 regular season games and 24 days but the placement would at least open up enough temporary cap space to sign RFA Shane Pinto, giving GM Pierre Dorion more time to try to find a way to clear up cap room and give the Sens a capable center to cover for Norris in the short term.

More from the Atlantic Division:

  • Panthers head coach Paul Maurice told reporters including Jordan MacPherson of the Miami Herald that center Sam Bennett is doubtful for Florida’s season opener next week against Tampa Bay. Bennett was spotted in a walking boot prior to practice earlier today.  While Maurice termed Bennett’s timeline as longer than day-to-day, he added that the hope is that the forward won’t miss more than a couple of weeks.  Eetu Luostarinen is likely to move from the wing back to the middle in Bennett’s absence.
  • The Red Wings appear to be leaning toward carrying three goalies to start the season, reports Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press. Detroit signed James Reimer to be the backup with fellow newcomer Alex Lyon presumptively being the ideal third option with AHL Grand Rapids.  However, with how well Lyon finished last season and some teams believed to be looking to add goalie depth, it appears that they’re not willing to risk losing Lyon on waivers at this time.  Detroit sits well below the cap ceiling so they can easily afford to go this route with their roster if they choose to do so.

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