The Ottawa Senators acquired goaltender Jonas Johansson from the Tampa Bay Lightning for future considerations Friday, one of several moves around the NHL as clubs finalize their rosters ahead of next week’s regular-season openers.
Johansson, 31, has appeared in 105 NHL games since debuting with the Buffalo Sabres in 2019-20 and has also played for the Colorado Avalanche and Florida Panthers. He went 11-10-2 with a 3.29 goals-against average and an .884 save percentage in 25 games for Tampa Bay last season, according to NHL.com. Buffalo selected him in the third round, 61st overall, at the 2014 draft, and he won a silver medal with Sweden at that year’s world junior championship.
Ottawa’s crease turned over further Saturday when the Vancouver Canucks claimed goaltender Leevi Merilainen off waivers from the Senators, TSN reported.
The Detroit Red Wings claimed defenceman Andreas Englund off waivers from the Calgary Flames on Saturday. Englund, 30, was Ottawa’s own second-round pick, 40th overall, in 2014, and has played 200 NHL games across five organizations, with two goals and 20 points. He signed a one-year, two-way contract with Calgary on July 1 and spent most of last season with the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals, recording three goals and 13 points in 52 games, plus three NHL appearances with the Nashville Predators.
Nashville, in turn, claimed defenceman William Trudeau off waivers from the New York Rangers the same day. Trudeau, 23, has yet to play in the NHL. New York acquired him from the Montreal Canadiens on June 26 in the trade that sent forward Brett Berard to Montreal. A fourth-round Montreal pick in 2021, Trudeau had eight goals and 20 points in 62 AHL games with the Laval Rocket last season and signed a one-year, US$850,000 contract with the Rangers on July 6.
Injuries piled up elsewhere. Buffalo goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen left Friday’s preseason game against Pittsburgh in the third period with a lower-body injury, and fellow goaltender Alex Lyon is expected to miss a few days with an upper-body injury from an earlier game against Detroit, the NHL’s status report said. Minnesota defenceman Brock Faber departed the Wild’s preseason finale against Dallas on Friday after taking a puck to the head with 9:36 left in the second period. The team called the injury precautionary but has not set a return date.
In Vancouver, forward Filip Chytil was placed on injured reserve after a shoulder injury suffered late in the first period of Thursday’s preseason game against Edmonton, when his skate caught referee Riley Brace and sent him into the boards. Canucks general manager Ryan Johnson said Chytil’s injury is more of a muscular strain of the shoulder, calling it a week-to-week issue but “nothing at this point that is alarming.”
Dallas forward Tyler Seguin made his preseason debut Friday and remains on track for the season opener after having knee surgery last December.
