Poehling took a big hit from Dryden Hunt during last Wednesday’s preseason game and is out indefinitely with a concussion. This is a tough break for Poehling, who was likely to open the season on the Canadiens roster. However, it does open up the possibility for Montreal to take a look at Ryan Suzuki early in the season.
Konecny ranks 33rd in the NHL in even-strength goals (43) over the last two seasons while playing 15:05 ATOI. In 2020, Konecny figures to be a staple on the top line with Sean Couturier and Claude Giroux and should see a lot more ice-time. That should allow him to get over 200 shots and 24 goals while chipping in close to 30 assists.
Belpedio had six goals and 15 assists (21 points) in 70 games with the Iowa Wild (AHL) last year. The 2014 third-round pick appeared in two games with Minnesota but is set to start 2020 in the AHL for the second straight season.
Petersen spent the majority of last season in the AHL, where he went 13-22-1 with a 4.02 GAA and .896 SV% in 38 games. The 24-year-old actually posted much more impressive numbers with the Kings, where he was 5-4-1 with a 2.61 GAA and.924 SV%. Petersen will likely be Ontario’s (AHL) No.1 netminder to start 2020.
Deslauriers had two goals and three assists (five points) in 48 games with the Canadiens last season. Deslauriers is a rugged left winger who will likely play the entire 2020 season on the Ducks fourth-line. He has a career-high of just 15 points (in 2015).
Sanheim had a terrific first full NHL season in 2019, scoring nine goals with 26 assists (35 points) in 82 games with the Flyers. Through the first two months of the season, Sanheim played just 16:19 TOI/gm but by February he was second among Flyers defenseman in TOI, averaging 21:42 per game. Even with Philadelphia bringing in veteran blueliners Justin Braun and Matt Niskanen, Sanheim still projects to be a top-pairing defenseman next to Ivan Provorov in 2020.
Braun is entering the final year of his five year deal that carries a $3.8M cap-hit and is a cap casualty after the Sharks signed Erik Karlsson on Monday. San Jose still needs to sign RFA’s Timo Meier and Kevin Labanc and could extend offers to veteran UFA’s Joe Pavelski, Joe Thornton and Gustav Nyquist. As for the Flyers, they continue to beef up the right-side of their blueline. They parted ways with Andrew MacDonald, swapped Radko Gudas for Matt Niskanan and now add Braun, who had 16 points (2G / 14A) in 78 games a season ago.
Abols, 23, was originally selected in the seventh-round of the 2016 draft by the Canucks before spending the last two season in the Swedish Elite League. The Latvian centre had 18 goals and eight assists (26 points) in 45 games with Orebro HK this past season.
Simmonds was forced to leave Game 2 after being hit by a point-shot by his teammate and is expected to miss at least a couple of weeks with a lower-body issue. Simmonds could return to the Predators lineup if they advance past the first-round, but is expected to be replace by Miikka Salomaki in the meantime.
Ristolainen missed the last four games with an illness but will play on Tuesday. Ristolainen will be back on a pairing with Rasmus Dahlin and enters the game with 39 points (5G / 34A) in 75 games but has the worst plus-minus in the entire league (-42).
