The AHL’s Cleveland Monsters, top affiliate of the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets, announced Sunday that the Blue Jackets reassigned goaltender Matiss Kivlenieks to the Monsters from the Taxi Squad and reassigned goaltender Daniil Tarasov to the Taxi Squad from Cleveland. In six appearances for the Monsters this year, Kivlenieks posted a record of 5-1-0 with a 2.31 goals-against average (GAA) and a .925 save percentage (S%) while Tarasov went 3-1-0 with a 3.23 GAA and a .883 S% in four appearances for Cleveland this season.

A 6’2”, 178 lb. left-catching native of Riga, Latvia, Kivlenieks, 24, supplied a record of 32-34-8 with three shutouts, a 3.15 GAA and .895 S% in 83 career AHL appearances, all for the Monsters, spanning parts of four seasons from 2017-21. During the 2018-19 season, Kivlenieks went 5-3-0 with a 2.71 GAA and .923 S% in eight appearances for the ECHL’s Kalamazoo Wings. Prior to his professional career, Kivlenieks posted a record of 36-7-2 with five shutouts, a 1.85 GAA and .932 S% in 49 appearances for the USHL’s Sioux City Musketeers during the 2016-17 season, helping Sioux City claim the 2017 Anderson Cup as USHL Regular Season Champions. Kivlenieks also claimed 2017 USHL Player of the Year and Goaltender of the Year honors, was named to the 2016-17 USHL First All-Star Team, and represented Latvia at the 2018 IIHF World Championships.

Originally selected by Columbus in the third round (86th overall) of the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, Tarasov went 11-3-2 with two shutouts, a 2.07 goals-against average (GAA), and a .925 save percentage (S%) in 16 KHL appearances for Salavat Yulaev Ufa this season. A 6’5”, 185 lb. left-catching native of Novokuznetsk, Russia, Tarasov, 22, supplied a record of 11-4-3 with two shutouts, a 2.13 GAA and a .899 S% in 18 career KHL appearances spanning parts of two seasons from 2018-19 and 2020-21 and went 11-17-9 with one shutout, a 2.72 GAA and a .899 S% in 41 Liiga appearances for Ässät during the 2019-20 campaign. Tarasov also helped Russia claim Bronze Medal honors at the 2019 IIHF U20 World Junior Championship.