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Nick Foligno Suspended Three Games

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The Department of Player Safety has handed out some hefty punishment, suspending Columbus Blue Jackets forward Nick Foligno three games for his hit on Colorado Avalanche forward Pierre-Edouard Bellemare. As the accompanying video explains:

It is important to note that Foligno is in control of this contact. This is an attempted body check, and cannot be classified as excusable or accidental contact where Foligno raises his arm reflexively to brace for sudden contact or to attempt to avoid a collision. If he wants to deliver this hit, the onus is on Foligno to ensure that he takes an angle of approach that puts him in a position to make a legal, full-body check. 

Foligno has not been suspended previously in his 858-game NHL career, which was taken into account in the sentencing. Still, the Blue Jackets will be without their captain for the next three games.

Bellemare meanwhile suffered a concussion on the play and is out indefinitely for the Avalanche, who are dealing with several other injuries up front already.

Latest On Jesse Puljujarvi

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It appears as though the Jesse Puljujarvi saga is over, at least for the next few months. The Edmonton Oilers prospect told Sami Hoffren of Ilta-Sanomat that he would be staying in Finland for the rest of the season.

While the Oilers could still decide to trade Puljujarvi at any point, it’s hard to expect a team to offer full value if they can’t sign him for this season. That deadline is rapidly approaching regardless, as the young restricted free agent would have to sign an NHL contract before December 1st to be eligible to play at all in the 2019-20 season.

Puljujarvi, 21, is dominating Liiga this season, scoring 11 goals and 20 points in 18 games with Karpat. It’s hard to know what that really means for his future though, as he was putting up strong numbers for the same team in 2015-16 even before he was drafted.

The key in this situation is that Puljujarvi is no longer waiver-exempt, meaning any team signing him would have to keep him in the NHL. That appears to only matter for next season however, meaning Edmonton GM Ken Holland may have greater opportunities to move him in the summer.

Arizona Coyotes Extend John Chayka

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The Arizona Coyotes are obviously pleased with the work that general manager John Chayka has done over the last several years. The team has signed the executive to a long-term extension, though did not release the contract details. New owner Alex Meruelo released a statement:

We are extremely pleased to sign John to a long-term contract extension. John is one of the brightest and hardest-working general managers in the entire NHL and over the past four seasons, he has done an excellent job of rebuilding our franchise and transforming the Coyotes into a contender. I am fully confident that John is the right person to lead us moving forward and help us bring the Stanley Cup to Arizona.

Chayka, 30, became the youngest general manager in NHL history when he was given the job in 2016 and has been a part of a complete franchise makeover. Not only were franchise icons like head coach Dave Tippett, captain Shane Doan and goaltender Mike Smith moved out of town, but the ownership also changed several times including the sale to Meruelo this summer.

Not only has the team turned into a legitimate playoff contender, but it seems as though for the first time in quite a while there is real franchise stability in the desert. Chayka’s time has been marked by long-term extensions to his key players, including massive commitments to Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Clayton Keller.

Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic reports that Chayka had a year and a half left on his previous deal, but obviously the organization felt it was the right time to lock him up.

Washington Capitals Place Tyler Lewington On Waivers

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Monday: Lewington has cleared waivers and was assigned along with Travis Boyd to the AHL.

Sunday: The Washington Capitals have placed defenseman Tyler Lewington on waivers, according to the Associated Press’ Stephen Whyno. It could be a precursor towards activating injured forward Richard Panik, who has been out with an upper-body injury and could be eligible to be activated off of LTIR on Monday.

With the Capitals set on defense with their six top defenders, Lewington has become that emergency forward who has just stayed in the press box for more than three weeks. He last played on Oct. 16 while the team was without Michal Kempny. who was still recovering from offseason surgery. Now that he’s back, however, Lewington hasn’t been any use. It could also be stated that even when he did play for five games to start the season, the 24-year-old wasn’t of much use to Washington as averaged just 10:26 in those five games. It’s likely he will clear waivers and be assigned to the Hershey Bears in the AHL.

The only issue with putting Lewington on waivers, assuming the team plans to activate Panik soon, is the team will be left with just six healthy blueliners, something that could be an issue if a player gets hurt. However, with no long road trips coming up in the near future, Washington might be able to get away with just carrying six defensemen for the time being until the Capitals decide which of their 14 forwards needs to be moved out.

Michael Hutchinson Placed On Waivers

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Michael Hutchinson has been placed on waivers today. It appears as though his opportunity as the Toronto Maple Leafs backup goaltender is over, as Bob McKenzie of TSN expects Kasimir Kaskisuo to be called up to take the role.

It’s been a nightmare season so far for Hutchinson, who lost his fifth start last night after giving up four goals to the Chicago Blackhawks in the first period. The Maple Leafs only really play their backup in back-to-back situations, giving Hutchinson the short end of the stick each time, but his .879 save percentage simply hasn’t been good enough.

That’s not to say that Kaskisuo will fare any better, given he has never appeared in an NHL game previously. The 26-year old was an undrafted free agent signing out of the University of Minnesota-Duluth and only really started to find minor league success during last season’s playoff run with the Toronto Marlies. He has a .928 save percentage this season however and has been a rock in net for the AHL club.

For the Maple Leafs, there is some chatter that they could look elsewhere for a different option in net. David Pagnotta of the Fourth Period tweets that they have looked at the market, even reaching out to Scott Darling before he decided to go overseas. The problem is their cap situation that will only really allow the backup to earn a minimum NHL salary of $700K. The team does have some potential flexibility given Mitch Marner will be out at least a month with an ankle injury, but that will come to an end when the star forward returns. Any move for a more expensive backup would complicate things quite a bit.

St. Louis Blues Sign Troy Brouwer, Jamie McGinn To Professional Tryouts

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The St. Louis Blues have decided to go a different route to address their injury woes, signing a pair of veteran forwards to professional tryout contracts in the hopes they’ll show they can still play in the NHL. Troy Brouwer and Jamie McGinn have both been brought in and will practice with the team this week, though neither has been issued an NHL contract yet.

Brouwer skated with the Florida Panthers in training camp this season after playing 75 games with the team last season, but wasn’t able to secure a deal. The 34-year old actually had a nice campaign with them, scoring 12 goals and recording 21 points in limited minutes. Still, it was hard for a Panthers team loaded with talent to justify a contract for the aging forward, especially when they had young stars pushing for playing time in the NHL.

St. Louis fans will be very familiar with what Brouwer can do, after he spent the 2015-16 season with the Blues and was a key part of their Western Conference Finals appearance. Brouwer was actually second on the team in postseason goal scoring behind only Vladimir Tarsenko. Perhaps St. Louis will be able to squeeze some of that magic out of him again.

McGinn meanwhile comes to the Blues after a spending a short amount of time with the Charlotte Checkers of the AHL just to prove he was healthy enough to compete. His goal was always getting back to the NHL, and he’ll try to do just that in St. Louis. The 31-year old has played just 35 professional games since the start of the 2018-19 season, but was once a reliable bottom-six forward that provided physicality and a nice touch around the net.

The Blues are without Tarasenko and Alex Steen for a while, but remain in first place in the Western Conference. Any player trying out for them will have to buy-in to Craig Berube’s system that continues to wear down opponents with relentless physicality and puck pressure.

Chicago Blackhawks Sign Alec Regula

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The Chicago Blackhawks have signed Alec Regula to a three-year entry-level contract after acquiring him earlier this season from the Detroit Red Wings in exchange for Brendan Perlini. Regula is playing with the London Knights of the OHL where he will remain for this season.

Regula, 19, is an intriguing prospect for more than just his size and offensive upside. The fact that he also paired with Blackhawks top defensive prospect Adam Boqvist in junior and had incredible success is likely another reason the team targeted him when trading Perlini. Those two may eventually be teammates in the NHL, especially after Regula has shown this season how he can stand on his own.

Though the Knights brought in San Jose Sharks prospect Ryan Merkley to take on some of the offensive responsibility that Boqvist and Edmonton Oilers prospect Evan Bouchard left behind when they turned pro, Regula has been given a bigger role and responded well. With seven goals and 15 points in 14 games he’s showing why he has an NHL future of his own.

The question is just how high is the upside for the 6’4″ defenseman. The Blackhawks are now in a position where they can allow him to develop slowly, given their glut of defensive prospects. While Boqvist continues to find his feet in the NHL, the team continues to develop Nicolas Beaudin, Chad Krys and others that have bright futures.

Minor Transactions: 11/11/19

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A new week begins by celebrating Veterans or Remembrance Day (depending on your place of origin), a cause linked closely to the hockey world for some time. There are two games on tap around the NHL, including the teams from the capitals of both Canada and the United States. Washington will try to keep their recent hot streak rolling against the Arizona Coyotes, while Ottawa travels to Carolina in search of their third consecutive win. As those and the rest of the league’s teams prepare for action, we’ll be right here keeping track of all the minor moves.

  • The Tampa Bay Lightning have sent Alexander Volkov back to the minor leagues after the young forward played in four games with the team. Volkov, 22, was given an opportunity with some of Tampa Bay’s best forwards, but failed to record his first NHL point. There is plenty of time for that though as he looks to be quite high in the prospect depth chart for the Lightning.
  • After giving him a chance to travel with the Buffalo Sabres to Sweden for the Global Series games, Lawrence Pilut has been returned to the minor leagues. The Swedish defenseman didn’t actually play in the overseas games, but still got to experience the trip as a member of an NHL club. Pilut hasn’t played for the Sabres yet this season, but does have six points in eight minor league appearances.
  • Though there has been no update yet on Torey Krug’s status after he left last night’s game, the Boston Bruins have recalled Urho Vaakanainen from the minor leagues under emergency conditions. That would suggest that Krug is out for at least one game, but we’ll have to wait and see later today.
  • The Detroit Red Wings are on a heater since acquiring Robby Fabbri, and now bring back another exciting young forward. Givani Smith has been recalled by the team for the second time this season. Smith has played in three games for the Red Wings so far but is still looking for his first NHL point.
  • The Vegas Golden Knights don’t play until Wednesday and have completed their usual off-day assignment of Nicolas Roy and Nicolas Hague, but the pair have a third member on the bus to the AHL. Cody Glass has also been sent to the Chicago Wolves today, a curious move given his success so far this season. Glass has seen his ice time reduced significantly over the last two games, playing fewer than 12 minutes in each.
  • Gavin Bayreuther didn’t leave Winnipeg with the Dallas Stars and instead was reassigned to the Texas Stars who play the Manitoba Moose this afternoon. The 25-year old defenseman hasn’t played in a game for Dallas yet this season.
  • Brendan Guhle has been recalled by the Anaheim Ducks, while the team reassigned Simon Benoit to the AHL. Guhle was sent down at the end of October and has played well with the San Diego Gulls, registering four points in four games.

Five Key Stories: 11/4/19 – 11/10/19

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The first full week of November was a relatively quiet one around the league but there were still a few stories of notes from the past seven days.

Little Back On IR: It has been a tough year for Jets center Bryan Little.  He had a concussion to start the season which cost him the first nine games.  After returning, he made an immediate impact with five points in seven games.  However, he is back on injured reserve after taking a shot to the side of the head that required a trip to the hospital and 25-30 stitches to close up.  Little is dealing with vertigo as a result as well as a perforated ear drum.  There is no timetable for his return to the lineup.

Global Series Continues: While the NHL continues to be hesitant on shutting their full season down to participate in the Olympics, they aren’t giving up on the Global Series.  In advance of puck drop in this year’s event between Buffalo and Tampa Bay in Sweden, the league announced next year’s slate of games.  The Bruins and Predators will head overseas for the preseason to Germany and Switzerland, respectively, before playing the season-opener in the Czech Republic.  Meanwhile, the Avalanche and Blue Jackets will be playing in Finland with the dates for those games yet to be determined.

Sabres, Hurricanes Shopping Defensemen: There are several teams that will be looking to bolster their back end and it appears as if Buffalo and Carolina are willing to move one.   For the Sabres, Marco Scandella and Zach Bogosian are getting closer to returning from their injuries which will create a logjam so someone will likely need to be moved unless more injuries strike between now and then.  As for Carolina, Trevor van Riemsdyk and Haydn Fleury are on the block with the Hurricanes hoping to land some scoring help in return.  While neither are top-four options, they’d bolster the third pairing of quite a few teams around the league which should help attract some interest.

Red Wings/Blues Trade: Robby Fabbri has had a limited role with St. Louis over the last couple of years due to injuries and a general lack of playing time when he was in the lineup.  They decided to give the winger a change of scenery, sending him to Detroit in exchange for center Jacob de la Rose.  Fabbri made quite the impression with his new team as well as he scored twice in his first game.  As for de la Rose, he’ll be counted on to play a checking role with St. Louis and will play an important role right away with Alex Steen out for at least a month.

Stopped Before Ten: The ten-game mark for junior-aged players is an important one as it determines if the player burns the first year of his entry-level deal.  While some teams have shown no issue with their players passing it, others remain hesitant.  We saw that with a pair of players this past week.  Jets defenseman Ville Heinola was sent back to Finland and while he’s eligible to be recalled, it’s highly unlikely he will be so he’ll come up two games short of starting his deal.  Meanwhile, the Islanders returned Oliver Wahlstrom to the minors after his ninth game.  Unless he lights it up in Bridgeport, it’s likely that he has played his final NHL game of the season and will still have three years left on his deal for next season.

Toronto’s Mitch Marner To Miss At Least One Month

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8:10 PM — The team announced via Twitter that Marner will miss a minimum of a month due to the ankle injury.  He will be re-evaluated by the team at that time.  That will make him eligible for placement on LTIR as he’ll miss at least 10 games or 24 days.

3:55 PM — The Toronto Sun’s Terry Koshan reports that Marner underwent an MRI today on his right ankle, but Babcock had no other updates on his injury. “I texted him a bunch of times today. He said it was a little stiff,” said Babcock.

2:10 PM — Injuries have surrounded the Toronto Maple Leafs all season, but the team has another key injury to contend with after winger Mitch Marner went down awkwardly in the second period while getting tangled up with Philadelphia’s Carsen Twarynski and had trouble getting up. While little was known about Marner immediately after the game, head coach Mike Babcock announced that Marner would miss Sunday’s game in Chicago, the first game missed since his rookie year, according to The Athletic’s Sean Fitz-Gerald (subscription required).

“What are you going to do? It’s hockey; injuries happen and you find out more about other guys,” Babcock said. “I don’t know the extent of this. I don’t know if it’s a few days or weeks or whatever. There’s no sense in dwelling on it.”

The replay (video here) showed that Twarynski stick got stuck in between Marner’s legs and then got caught underneath his left skate, sending the 22-year-old sprawling to the ice. It appears that Marner’s weight falls on his twisted right knee and ankle. While there is no word on the severity of the injury and how long Marner could miss, the loss definitely wouldn’t help a team that is trying to gain some consistency. They are 5-2-3 in their last 10 games, but losing Marner is not likely to help. It’s possible, if the injury requires a couple of weeks, that the team could place Marner on injured reserve, which could free up the cap room to activate Hyman and keep some of their depth without shaking up the entire team.

The hope was the Maple Leafs might be fully healthy and active shortly with the expected return of forward Zach Hyman, who has been out since offseason knee surgery. The team recently got back John Tavares, who was out with a fractured finger, and Travis Dermott, who underwent offseason shoulder surgery.

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