The Columbus Blue Jackets have recalled defenseman Adam Clendening and goaltender Matiss Kivlenieks from the Cleveland Monsters, Columbus' American Hockey League affiliate, Blue Jackets General Manager and Alternate Governor Jarmo Kekalainen announced today. The team also has assigned goaltender Veini Vehvilainen to the Monsters.
Clendening, 27, has notched four goals and 20 assists for 24 points with 49 penalty minutes and a cumulative +11 plus/minus rating in 90 career NHL games with the Blue Jackets, Arizona Coyotes, New York Rangers, Edmonton Oilers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Vancouver Canucks and Chicago Blackhawks. He was +1 in four games with Columbus during the 2018-19 season and added 0-1-1, two penalty minutes and was +1 in seven games during the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Niagara Falls, New York native was selected by Chicago in the second round, 36th overall, in the 2011 NHL Draft. He currently ranks third among AHL defensemen in assists (tied) and points with 6-23-29, has 38 penalty minutes and is +6 in 35 games. The two-time AHL All-Star has posted 38-189-227 and 403 penalty minutes in 341 career AHL games.
Kivlenieks, 23, is 7-7-2 with a 3.04 goals-against average, .896 save percentage and one shutout in 16 games with the Monsters in 2019-20. A native of Riga, Latvia, he has posted a 25-32-7 record, 3.26 GAA, .889 SV% and three shutouts in 73 career AHL outings with Cleveland since making his professional debut in 2017-18. He was signed by Columbus to an entry level contract on May 25, 2017.
Vehvilainen, 22, ranks fifth in the AHL in goals-against average, seventh-T in shutouts and eighth in save percentage with an 8-10-1 record, 2.22 GAA, .918 SV% and two shutouts in his first pro season in North America. A native of Jyvaskyla, Finland, he went 64-30-21 with a 1.83 GAA, .926 SV% and 13 shutouts in 119 career games with Karpat, Sport and JYP in the top Finnish professional league (Liiga) from 2015-19. Columbus' sixth-round pick, 173rd overall, at the 2018 NHL Draft, he captured back-to-back Urpo Ylonen Awards as the league's best goaltender in 2017-18 and 2018-19. He led the Liiga in wins, goals-against average, save percentage and shutouts in 2018-19 after going 25-8-5 with a 1.58 GAA, .933 SV% and six shutouts in 38 contests with Karpat.
The Blue Jackets return to action tonight when they host the Carolina Hurricanes. Game time from Nationwide Arena is 7 p.m. ET. Live coverage on FOX Sports Ohio begins with the Blue Jackets Live pre-game show starting at 6:30 p.m. All Blue Jackets games televised on FOX Sports Ohio will also be streamed live via the FOX Sports app. The game can also be heard on the Eldorado Gaming Scioto Downs Blue Jackets Radio Network, including Sports Radio 97.1 FM The Fan in Columbus, and online at BlueJackets.com.
CBJ recall Kivlenieks and Clendening from Monsters
Kivlenieks and Clendening return to Columbus for matchup with Hurricanes
© Jamie Sabau /Getty Images