As usual, the Saturday slate of games across the NHL is a busy one with 22 teams in action including Colorado and Los Angeles facing off at the U.S. Air Force Academy as part of the Stadium Series. There is likely to be plenty of roster movement today which we’ll keep track of here.
- The Sabres announced (Twitter link) the recalls of defenseman John Gilmour and goaltender Andrew Hammond from AHL Rochester. Gilmour has spent most of the season in the minors but hasn’t come close to his 54-point output from a year ago with just 13 points in 32 games. He will likely be taking the place of Zach Bogosian on the roster. Meanwhile, Carter Hutton is taking a maintenance day which warranted Hammond’s recall to get them back to two goalies on the active roster. Buffalo is back in action on Sunday against Toronto.
- Joey Keane’s first NHL stint was a short one as the Rangers announced last night (Twitter link) that they had returned him to AHL Hartford. He didn’t suit up against Columbus as the team opted to dress Brendan Smith instead.
- Andrei Chibisov has twice been recalled by the Jets this month but he’ll be waiting a little while longer to make his NHL debut as the team announced (via Twitter) that he has been sent back to AHL Manitoba. The 26-year-old is in his first season in North America after previously playing in Russia and has 24 points (7-17-24) in 47 games with the Moose this season.
- The Flyers announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled defenseman Mark Friedman from AHL Lehigh Valley. The 24-year-old has played in five games this season with Philadelphia where he recorded his first career NHL point (an assist). Friedman has spent the bulk of the year with the Phantoms where he has 13 points in 38 games. The team followed that up hours later by announcing that Friedman has been returned to Lehigh Valley. The team obviously didn’t need him.
- With the return of Steven Stamkos, Anthony Cirelli and Nikita Kucherov, the Tampa Bay Lightning announced they have assigned forward Mathieu Joseph to the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL. The forward was originally sent to Syracuse to find his confidence back in December, but was brought up recently to fill in with all of the team’s injuries. In three games since being promoted, Joseph was scoreless with just three shots on goal.