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Kevin Gravel

Predators Assign Kevin Gravel, Marc Del Gaizo To AHL

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The Nashville Predators have assigned defensemen Kevin Gravel and Marc Del Gaizo to the AHL. Del Gaizo passed through waivers on Thursday. The moves follow the arrival of new trade acquisition Justin Barron, who joined Nashville’s practice for the first time on Friday per NHL.com’s Brooks Bratten. Star defender Roman Josi also returned to team practice on Friday, one day after he was placed on injured reserve retroactive to December 10th.

Nashville will soon get to see what their blue-line looks like at full strength, after parting ways with Dante Fabbro and Alexandre Carrier, and sending Del Gaizo to the minors. Josi and Jeremy Lauzon will fill vacancies on the left-hand side, while Barron brings much-needed depth on the right.

The new look couldn’t come at a better time. Only two Predators defenders – Adam Wilsby (3) and Brady Skjei (2) – have recorded multiple points since the start of December. Josi will quickly address that lacking production, soon to return to his 23 points in 29 games this season. Nashville will hope that scoring can rub off on Barron and Lauzon, who each have just one point in 17 and 23 games respectively.

Meanwhile, Gravel will return to productive years in the minors. He serves as the Milwaukee Admirals’ captain, and has five points in 20 games this season, already halfway to his 10-point total from last year. Gravel will be joined by Del Gaizo, who played in just two AHL games before becoming an injury fill-in on the NHL roster. He hasn’t yet recorded any minor league scoring, but did post 34 points in 60 AHL games last year – a mark that led all Admirals defensemen.

Predators Announce Roster Moves With Roman Josi Out

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The Nashville Predators have recalled Milwaukee Admirals captain Kevin Gravel. He is expected to step into the lineup on Thursday to fill in for Predators captain Roman Josi. Josi left Nashville’s Tuesday loss to Calgary roughly halfway through the first period. He returned a few moments later, and took three more shifts, but left again before the first period ended. Josi has since been announced as out day-to-day with a lower-body injury by the team.

Nashville made room for Gravel’s recall by placing defender Alexandre Carrier on injured reserve. Carrier was designated as week-to-week with an upper-body injury earlier this week. He hasn’t played since December 7th, meaning he’ll be eligible to return as soon as Saturday – though his designation suggests a longer absence.

Josi’s absence adds to a mounting injury list for the Predators. Their blue line is down multiple key pieces, with Jeremy Lauzon and Spencer Stastney joining Josi and Carrier on the absentee list. That’s left summer signee Brady Skjei as the sole pillar of the defense, with Luke Schenn, Marc Del Gaizo, and Adam Wilsby as his top supports.

They’ve already struggled with Carrier and Lauzon out – posting a league-worst 0-2-0 record and four-to-seven goal differential since the former left the lineup. Now, the test gets harder – with the most utilized Predator now at risk of missing a few games with his day-to-day designation. Josi has a team-leading 23 points in 29 games this season while averaging nearly 25 minutes of ice time – over three minutes more than any other Predators skater. Josi is one year removed from a 23-goal, 85-point season where he played in all 82 games, and only four years removed from a 96-point year in 2021-22. He’s proven one of the best Swiss players to grace the NHL, and his absence leaves a glaring hole in every aspect of Nashville’s lineup.

Gravel won’t fill in Josi’s hole one-for-one, but he will offer the stout veteran presence of a 12-year pro. Much of Gravel’s career has been spent in the AHL, where he won a Calder Cup with the Manchester Monarchs in 2015 and the Bakersfield Condors in 2021. He joined the Predators organization in 2022 – suiting up for his sixth AHL club in Milwaukee the sixth AHL team, and his fourth NHL club in Nashville. Gravel appeared in 23 games of Nashville’s 2022-23 season, contributing one assist, two penalties, and a -10 from a limited role. He’s since spent all his time in with the Admirals, totaling 28 points and a +4 through 132 games and three seasons. He was named Milwaukee’s captain last season, and carried the title into this year. Now, Gravel will be called upon to support the top club amidst injuries to an overabundance of talent.

Predators Assign Three To AHL

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While the Predators were eliminated last night by Vancouver, the season isn’t quite over for three players just yet.  The team announced that they’ve assigned forward Juuso Parssinen, defenseman Kevin Gravel, and goaltender Gustavs Grigals to AHL Milwaukee.

Parssinen split this season between the Predators and Admirals.  With Nashville, the 23-year-old wasn’t able to match the output from a year ago, dropping to just eight goals and four assists in 44 games; in 2022-23, he had six goals and 19 helpers in 45 contests.  Parssinen also got into one game against the Canucks in the first round and was held off the scoresheet.  The pending restricted free agent had a fairly productive year in the minors, however, notching seven goals and 18 assists in 36 games.

As for Gravel, he was just brought back up as injury depth following the injury to Spencer Stastney earlier in the series.  The 32-year-old has 132 career NHL appearances under his belt but played exclusively in the AHL this season, picking up a goal and nine assists in 63 games.  Gravel signed a two-year extension back in January, meaning he’ll be patrolling the back end in Milwaukee for the foreseeable future.

Grigals, meanwhile, served as the third-string emergency backup in the playoffs.  His minor league deal was converted to an NHL agreement back in March, likely for that very reason, allowing Yaroslav Askarov and Troy Grosenick to remain with Milwaukee for the playoffs.  The 25-year-old pending RFA will likely serve the same third-string role for the balance of the AHL postseason.

Predators Recall Kevin Gravel

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The Predators recalled defenseman Kevin Gravel from AHL Milwaukee on Thursday morning, per a team announcement.

Gravel, 32, is expected to serve as Nashville’s lone healthy scratch on defense for tomorrow’s Game 6 against the Canucks. Out of their eight previously rostered defensemen, Spencer Stastney has already been ruled out week-to-week with an upper-body injury sustained in Game 3, while veteran Luke Schenn was a late scratch ahead of Game 5 due to illness. His recall indicates Schenn will likely remain unavailable tomorrow.

Dante Fabbro and Tyson Barrie have entered the lineup in Stastney’s and Schenn’s absences, both serving in top-four roles alongside Roman Josi and Ryan McDonagh, respectively. The Preds trailed Vancouver 3-1 in the series entering Game 5, but a 2-1 road win – including a secondary assist from Barrie on Josi’s power-play goal to tie the game in the third period – kept Nashville alive.

Gravel has 132 regular-season games of NHL experience under his belt, but none came this season. For the third time in the past four seasons, he spent the entire season in the minors.

As he enters the latter half of his career, the Michigan native has lost some of the offense he used to provide for minor-league clubs, but he’s remained an effective leader and shutdown presence for Milwaukee. He served as the team’s captain this season, logging a goal and nine assists with a +2 rating in 63 appearances.

A fifth-round pick of the Kings back in 2010, Gravel will miss the beginning of Milwaukee’s Central Division Semifinal series against Texas in the Calder Cup Playoffs, which begins tonight. The 6’4″, 205-lb blue liner is in the final year of a two-year, two-way contract he signed in July 2022 but signed another two-year, two-way extension in January that will keep him with the Preds organization through 2025-26.

Gravel has one game of Stanley Cup Playoff experience under his belt, coming in Game 2 of the Kings’ first-round sweep at the hands of the Golden Knights in 2018. He recorded no shots and a -1 rating in 20:05 of ice time as Los Angeles fell late in double overtime on an Erik Haula goal.

His last NHL action came last season with Nashville when he posted an assist and a -10 rating in 23 appearances. He solely occupied a depth role, averaging under 15 minutes per game with poor possession results (42.3 CF%, 41.4 xGF% at even strength).

Nashville Predators Sign Kevin Gravel To Two-Year Extension

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The Nashville Predators have inked defenseman Kevin Gravel to a two-year, two-way, $1.5MM contract extension. The deal will carry a $775K cap hit at the NHL level. Gravel is currently the captain of Nashville’s AHL affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals. He’s spent all season leading the AHL club, appearing in 36 games and recording six points, 13 penalty minutes, and a +6.

This year marks Gravel’s second in the Nashville organization, with the defender joining the club with a contract identical to this extension in July of 2022. He spent 23 games in the NHL lineup last year, netting one point, four penalty minutes, and a -10. It was Gravel’s first NHL action since the 2019-20 season when he appeared in three games with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Gravel has totaled just 132 career NHL games since making his debut with the Los Angeles Kings in 2015-16. He’s scored 14 points and recorded 16 penalty minutes in those outings, operating as a low-event, shutdown defender with four different NHL clubs over his career. The Kings drafted Gravel in the fifth round of the 2010 NHL Draft, taking him in the same round that yielded Zach Hyman, John Klingberg, and Brendan Gallagher. Gravel is one of 10 different players from that round to appear in at least 100 NHL games.

The Predators secure an organizational leader and long-tenured veteran in extending Gravel. The defender has accumulated 358 career AHL games, netting 93 total points. He will likely continue to serve as a focal piece of Milwaukee’s lineup through the end of his career.

Waivers: 9/30/23

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With the start of the NHL season now just ten days away, daily waiver activity will be continuing league-wide.  Here is a listing of the players that are on the wire today per various team announcements and TSN’s Chris Johnston (Twitter link).

Buffalo Sabres

G Devin Cooley
F Justin Richards
G Dustin Tokarski

Edmonton Oilers

F Drake Caggiula
F Greg McKegg

Montreal Canadiens

D Nicolas Beaudin
F Lucas Condotta
D Brady Keeper
F Mitchell Stephens

Nashville Predators

F Anthony Angello
D Kevin Gravel
G Troy Grosenick
D Jordan Gross

New York Rangers

F Jake Leschyshyn

Ottawa Senators

F Josh Currie
D Dillon Heatherington
F Garrett Pilon
D Lassi Thomson

While Ottawa’s players were announced as being waived on Friday, it was after the 1 PM CT cut-off which means their waiver clock starts today.

Vegas Golden Knights

F Byron Froese
D/F Mason Geertsen
D Dysin Mayo
F Gage Quinney
F Sheldon Rempal
F Jonas Rondbjerg

Most of the forwards on this list have cleared waivers in the past with Condotta being the lone exception as this is his first time eligible for waivers.  He spent most of last season in the minors but scored in his lone NHL appearance.  Quinney and Rempal were productive in the minors last season, averaging just shy of a point per game while Caggiula had over 50 points as well.

Among the defensemen, Thomson could be one to keep an eye on for a potential claim.  The 23-year-old was the 19th overall pick in 2019 and is still on his entry-level contract.  He hasn’t had much success at the NHL level so far but as a young right-shot defender, a rebuilding team or two might be inclined to take a flyer on him.

Mayo logged nearly 21 minutes a night on the back end for Arizona back in 2021-22 but cleared waivers last season and was eventually traded to Vegas in exchange for Shea Weber’s LTIR-eligible contract.  He has two years left on a one-way deal worth $950K per season which could scare teams off.  Beaudin is a former first-rounder himself back in 2018 (27th overall) but has just 22 NHL games under his belt, none of which came last season between Montreal and Chicago.

Grosenick and Tokarski are no strangers to the waiver wire.  Tokarski has cleared all five times while Grosenick has cleared six out of eight times he has been waived over the years.  This will be Cooley’s first time on waivers but while he had a decent season in Nashville’s system last season (posting a .909 SV% with AHL Milwaukee), it would be surprising to see him picked up.

Each player will be available to teams until 1 PM CT on Sunday.

Predators Reassign Kevin Gravel

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Apr 10: The Nashville Predators announced Kevin Gravel has once again been reassigned to the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals after serving as a healthy scratch in Saturday night’s game.

Apr 8: Defenseman Kevin Gravel has been no stranger to being recalled this season and he is once again rejoining the Predators as Nashville has recalled him from AHL Milwaukee, per the AHL’s transactions log.

It is the seventh promotion of the season for the 31-year-old, all of which have been on an emergency basis.  The recall is needed with four blueliners – Roman Josi, Alexandre Carrier, Jeremy Lauzon, and Mark Borowiecki – all banged up and the team hesitating to play college free agent signing Jake Livingstone in a regular role while the Predators remain in the hunt for a playoff spot; they’re one point out of the final Wild Card spot with four games left in their season.

Gravel has played in 23 games with Nashville this season, picking up an assist along with 36 blocked shots and 23 hits while averaging a little over 14 minutes on the back end.  It has been his first taste of NHL action since getting into three games with Toronto back in 2019-20.  Gravel will likely reprise his typical third pairing role in what is basically a must-win game against Winnipeg tonight.

Predators Recall McCarron, Gravel

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The Nashville Predators announced they have called up Michael McCarron and Kevin Gravel from the Milwaukee Admirals of the AHL. Emma Lingan of NHL.com added that both will be in the lineup tonight when the Predators take on the Boston Bruins tonight. The Predators will be looking for two points against the league’s best team as they look to stay in the Western Conference playoff race. They currently sit five points back of the Winnipeg Jets for the final wildcard spot.

McCarron is a big, physical forward who has already played 22 games with the Predators this season. He has scored one goal and two points in that time, while also scoring two goals and six points in 16 AHL games this season. He will slot in on the team’s fourth line and use his 6-foot-6 frame to add some energy to the lineup for the Predators.

Gravel adds a physical presence himself at 6-foot-4 and 205 pounds. The 31-year-old defenseman has one point in 18 NHL games this season as well as two goals and 13 points in 48 AHL game for the Admirals. Gravel has bounced around many teams over the years, but has 127 games of NHL experience under his belt and will provide a physical, defensive presence for the Predators.

West Notes: Blues, Sharks, Predators

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When the New York Rangers clinched the playoffs last night, thanks to losses by the Buffalo Sabres and Florida Panthers, there must have been some smiles on a Western Conference club, too. The St. Louis Blues will now receive a 2024 third-round pick as part of the Vladimir Tarasenko trade, instead of the conditional fourth that was initially announced.

The Blues now have ten picks in the first three rounds over the next two years, thanks to their trades of Tarasenko and Ryan O’Reilly. That gives them a chance to retool quickly, with considerable draft capital to flip this summer if they are trying to contend in 2023-24.

Predators Send Michael McCarron, Kevin Gravel To AHL

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As Ryan McDonagh re-enters the lineup in tonight’s game against the Buffalo Sabres, Nashville Predators general manager David Poile announces that the team has sent defenseman Kevin Gravel and forward Michael McCarron to their AHL affiliate Milwaukee Admirals.

Filling into the lineup for the injury to McDonagh, Gravel managed to play in four games for the Predators, averaging about 14 minutes of action a night. Over the entire year, that makes 18 games played for Gravel, only mustering one point this season. Playing in the minor leagues for most of the year, Gravel has put up two goals and 11 assists in Milwaukee. The transaction made by the Predators today marks the fifth time this year that Gravel has been sent down to the minors, clearing waivers twice.

Much like Gravel, McCarron has been caught in a call-up carousel of late. Having returned to hockey from a stay in the NHLPA player assistance program, this will mark his second demotion in one week. Although a valuable depth option for Nashville last season, McCarron’s production in the NHL has undoubtedly dipped this season. Playing in a total of 22 games for the Predators, McCaron has one goal and one assist. He’s fared a bit better in Milwaukee, scoring six points in 13 games, a 38-point pace over an entire season.

 

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