The AHL’s Cleveland Monsters, top affiliate of the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets, announced Wednesday that the Blue Jackets assigned goaltender Matiss Kivlenieks, forward Jakob Lilja and defenseman Andrew Peeke to the Monsters.

A 6’2”, 180 lb. left-catching native of Riga, Latvia, Kivlenieks, 23, signed a three-year, two-way entry level contract with Columbus on May 25, 2017. In two appearances for the Blue Jackets this season, Kivlenieks posted a record of 1-0-1 with a 1.49 goals-against average (GAA) and a .946 save percentage (S%) and went 9-7-2 with one shutout, a 2.91 GAA and a .903 S% in 18 appearances for Cleveland this year. In 75 career AHL appearances, all for the Monsters, spanning parts of three seasons from 2017-20, Kivlenieks posted a record of 27-32-7 with three shutouts, a 3.22 GAA and a .891 S%. During the 2018-19 season, Kilvenieks logged a 5-3-0 record in a 2.71 GAA and a .923 S% in eight ECHL appearances for the Kalamazoo Wings.

Prior to his professional career, Kilvenieks went 36-7-2 with five shutouts, a 1.85 GAA and a .932 S% in 49 appearances for the USHL’s Sioux City Musketeers during the 2016-17 campaign. That season, Kivlenieks claimed USHL Player and Goaltender of the Year honors, was named to the 2016-17 USHL First All-Star Team and helped Sioux City claim the 2017 Anderson Cup as USHL Regular-Season Champions while leading the league in wins (1st), shutouts (T1st), GAA (1st) and S% (1st).

A 6’0”, 194 lb. left-shooting native of Malmo, Sweden, Lilja, 26, signed a one-year entry-level contract with the Blue Jackets on June 15, 2019. In 27 appearances for Columbus this year, Lilja posted 2-2-4 with two penalty minutes and a +4 rating and added 4-5-9 with a -1 rating in 18 appearances for the Monsters. Prior to his North American professional career, Lilja contributed 48-51-99 with 71 penaty minutes and a +14 rating in 222 SHL appearances for Rögle BK, Linköpings HC and Djurgårdens IF spanning parts of five seasons from 2012-13 and 2015-19.

A 6’3”, 198 lb. right-shooting native of Parkland, FL, Peeke, 21, was originally selected by Columbus in the second round (34th overall) of the 2016 NHL Entry Draft and signed a three-year, two-way entry-level contract with the Blue Jackets on April 1, 2019. In seven appearances for the Blue Jackets this season, the first of his NHL career, Peeke tallied 0-1-1 with two penalty minutes and a +3 rating and added 5-11-16 with six penalty minutes and a +2 rating in 28 appearances for Cleveland. Prior to his professional career, Peeke tallied 12-40-52 with 62 penalty minutes and a +20 rating in 119 NCAA appearances for the University of Notre Dame spanning three seasons from 2016-19. In 56 USHL appearances for the Green Bay Gamblers during the 2015-16 season, Peeke supplied 4-26-30 with 30 penalty minutes and a +7 rating.