Central Notes: Khudobin, Reichel, Knak

Stars goaltender Anton Khudobin has been given a clean bill of health, notes Matthew DeFranks of the Dallas Morning News.  He underwent hip surgery in the spring and Dallas was very careful with how they used him in the preseason.  With a trade market unlikely to materialize, it’s likely that the veteran will be on waivers in the coming days, allowing them to free up $1.125MM of his $3.33MM cap hit.  Notably, the return to health takes away any chance of them placing Khudobin on LTIR to start the season which might have aided in terms of freeing up cap flexibility to re-sign Jason Robertson.

Elsewhere in the Central:

• Chicago’s decision to cut top prospect Lukas Reichel raised some eyebrows as the 20-year-old showed plenty of offensive skill in training camp. However, head coach Luke Richardson told reporters, including Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times, that they felt that his defensive game needed considerable improvement and it’s much easier for that development to happen in the minors than in the NHL.  Richardson hinted that Reichel would have been battling for a spot on the fourth line had the youngster stayed on the roster and he’ll get considerably more ice time with the IceHogs than being in that role with the Blackhawks.
• The Predators will be waiting a while to sign prospect Simon Knak as HC Davos of the Swiss NLA announced that they’ve signed the winger to a three-year extension that runs through the 2025-26 season. Nashville selected the 20-year-old in the sixth round in 2021 (179th overall) on the heels of a season split between Davos and Portland of the WHL.  Knak is off to a solid start this season with four points in his first seven games but he’ll be staying in Switzerland for the foreseeable future.