The entire hockey world was watching last night as the league’s top two goal scoring talents went up against each other in the race for the Rocket Richard Trophy. Though Patrik Laine is quite the challenger, Alex Ovechkin showed once again why he is regarded as one of the greatest of all-time. Ovechkin scored two, including the 600th of his career, just the fourth player in history to do so in fewer than 1,000 games.
As the league sends out congratulations to Ovechkin for his impressive accomplishment, they’ll continue to try and make minor tweaks to their roster to take him down once again in the postseason. We’ll keep track of all the minor transactions right here.
- The Buffalo Sabres have recalled Linus Ullmark from the minor leagues in time for today’s practice. Ullmark is the future in goal for the Sabres, as both Robin Lehner (RFA) and Chad Johnson (UFA) are free agents this summer. Lehner will bring quite an expensive price tag, and has struggled at times this season.
- The Toronto Maple Leafs have recalled Andreas Johnsson to the NHL for the first time in his career. The young forward has been the best player on the Toronto Marlies for most of the season, and has earned a taste of the next level after the Marlies clinched a playoff spot on the weekend. Calle Rosen has also been recalled under emergency conditions, meaning the sickness Nikita Zaitsev has been suffering from could be more serious than expected.
- The Philadelphia Flyers have assigned Anthony Stolarz to their ECHL team today, which could mean that the goaltender is ready to get into some games finally. Stolarz has been ravaged by injuries for the last year, but remains an interesting option for the Flyers going forward. His 6’6″ frame and relatively good performance at the AHL level shows some potential, but he’ll have to stay healthy and prove that he’s ready for a full workload.
- Interestingly, the Tampa Bay Lightning have assigned Louis Domingue to the minor leagues now that Peter Budaj is healthy enough to play again. Domingue played well in his short stint as the backup for Andrei Vasilevskiy, but will now wait in Syracuse for another opportunity.
- Ville Husso is on his way back down after backing up Jake Allen for the St. Louis Blues yesterday, meaning Carter Hutton is likely ready to return. The Blues play again on Thursday night against the Colorado Avalanche, in a very important game if they have any hope of making a charge at the playoffs.
- The Washington Capitals have decided that Madison Bowey is better off playing for the Hershey Bears than sitting in the press box, and have assigned the defenseman to the AHL. Bowey had been sitting out since the team acquired Michal Kempny and Jakub Jerabek at the deadline, and needs to get back into game action. The 22-year old looks like a big part of the future of the Washington blue line, and will likely be back up if they face any injuries down the stretch.
- Ryan Sproul is on his way up to the New York Rangers, as the team deals with an injury to Anthony DeAngelo and a setback in Kevin Shattenkirk‘s recovery. Sproul has played just four games in the NHL this season, but once again has shown his offensive ability in the minor leagues with 29 points in 49 games.