PHR’s Josh Erickson held his weekly live chat today at 2:00 pm Central. Use this link to read the transcript.
Archives for October 2024
Lightning, Lukas Svejkovsky Mutually Terminate Contract
Oct. 30: Svejkovsky cleared waivers, per Friedman. As a result, he’s assumedly terminated his contract.
Oct. 29: The Lightning placed forward Lukas Svejkovsky on unconditional waivers today, per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. Assuming he clears tomorrow, he’ll have his contract mutually terminated.
Svejkovsky, 22, is a new addition to the Lightning organization. A fourth-round pick of the Penguins in 2020, Tampa Bay acquired Svejkovsky from the Penguins for similarly buried depth forward Bennett MacArthur in late June.
Born in Tampa while his father, Jaroslav Svejkovský, was playing for the Lightning, Lukas has just one goal through four games with AHL Syracuse this season. He spent most of 2023-24 in the ECHL with the Penguins’ affiliate in Wheeling, where he impressed with 37 points in 30 games. However, he simply hasn’t managed to break through to the AHL level full-time – he had only four points in 19 games during an audition with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton last season.
While also a Czech national, Svejkovsky has spent his entire hockey career in North America. He played in the British Columbia prep and junior system before playing major junior hockey with the WHL’s Vancouver Giants, Medicine Hat Tigers and Seattle Thunderbirds from 2018 to 2022.
If he clears waivers, he’ll become an unrestricted free agent tomorrow and could sign with any NHL, AHL/ECHL, or European club. With Jaroslav now working as an assistant coach for the Canucks, there might be a home for him back in Vancouver somewhere in the organization, potentially a two-way deal with AHL Abbotsford.
Svejkovsky was in the final season of his entry-level contract. The Lightning already paid him a $92.5K signing bonus for this season, and he was earning a salary of $80K while on assignment to Syracuse.
Wild Reassign Graeme Clarke
Oct. 30: Clarke cleared waivers and will be assigned to AHL Iowa, per Friedman.
Oct. 29: The Wild have activated winger Graeme Clarke from season-opening injured reserve and placed him on waivers to assign him to AHL Iowa, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports.
Clarke, 23, was a third-round pick of the Devils in 2019. The right-winger made his NHL debut last season for New Jersey, going without a point and posting a -2 rating in three contests. Slated to become a restricted free agent last summer, the Devils traded his signing rights to Minnesota in exchange for pending RFA Adam Beckman in June. Clarke went on to sign a two-way deal with the Wild ($800K/$105K) the following month.
The older brother of Kings defenseman Brandt Clarke had an All-Star campaign in the AHL last season with the Devils’ affiliate in Utica, leading them in goals with 25 and adding 24 assists for 49 points in 67 games. The 6’0″, 174-lb winger posted 149 points in 218 career minor-league appearances in the New Jersey organization in parts of four seasons.
There may be some interest in Clarke’s services, given his back-to-back 25-goal campaigns in the minors, but it’s likelier than not that he’ll clear waivers tomorrow without incident. If so, he’ll be a major boon to a weak Minnesota minor-league system. Funnily enough, Iowa and Utica are the only remaining winless teams in the AHL. Through seven games, Iowa is 0-6-1 and has been outscored 36-18.
Clarke will be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights next summer. He sustained an undisclosed injury late in Minnesota’s exhibition schedule, landing him on SOIR.
Avalanche Place Ross Colton On Injured Reserve
Oct. 30, 12:39 p.m.: Colton sustained a broken foot and will miss six to eight weeks, head coach Jared Bednar said (via Ryan Boulding of NHL.com). He’ll look to make his return in mid-December.
Oct. 30, 8:38 a.m.: The Avalanche placed Colton on injured reserve yesterday, per the NHL’s media portal. He’ll miss Colorado’s next two games at least before being eligible for activation on Nov. 4, but will likely miss more action than that. The Avalanche now have only 11 forwards on the active roster ahead of tonight’s contest against the Lightning, so expect them to either dress seven defensemen or make a corresponding recall later today.
Oct. 29: Avalanche forward Ross Colton is “going to miss some time” after blocking a shot with his foot in yesterday’s loss to the Blackhawks, head coach Jared Bednar told reporters postgame, including Evan Rawal of the Denver Gazette. He was mobile after the game but left Ball Arena in a walking boot.
It’s another tough break for a Colorado forward corps without Gabriel Landeskog, Artturi Lehkonen and Valeri Nichushkin for the entire season and Jonathan Drouin for every game except for the season opener. The latter is getting close to returning, with Rawal reporting over the weekend that Drouin has been upgraded to day-to-day with his upper-body injury. But for a team with Stanley Cup aspirations, missing its top four wingers simultaneously, especially for the better part of a month, rightfully feels like an unending and insurmountable challenge.
Colton, 28, had stepped up to fill those voids as best he could. Expected to be their No. 3 center behind Nathan MacKinnon and Casey Mittelstadt, Colton has shifted to first-line left-wing duties alongside MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen. He’s responded with a team-leading eight goals and a league-leading four power-play goals, averaging 18:38 per game while maintaining his physical standard of play. He leads the team with 28 hits and leads Avs forwards with nine blocks, a tendency that’s unfortunately led to what looks to be a multi-week absence.
While Drouin is nearing a return, there’s no indication of whether he’s an option for tomorrow’s game against the Lightning. If he can, it’ll be a one-for-one swap in the lineup, with Drouin replacing Colton on the top line. The Avalanche also have a full 23-man roster, meaning Colton must take Drouin’s spot on injured reserve. If Drouin can’t return, the Avalanche will likely dress 11 forwards and seven defensemen. They have eight defensemen and three goaltenders on the active roster, so they aren’t carrying an extra forward.
Colton scored the Stanley Cup-clinching goal for Tampa Bay as a rookie in 2021 and had a career-high 40 points in 80 games for the Avs in 2023-24. It was his first season in Colorado after they picked up his signing rights from the Bolts for a 2023 second-round pick. After weeks of negotiations, the restricted free agent inked a four-year, $16MM pact to stick around in Denver. He’s in the second season of that deal and will be an unrestricted free agent in 2027.
Canadiens Reassign Logan Mailloux
The Canadiens returned defenseman Logan Mailloux to AHL Laval today, per a team announcement. They now have two open spots on their active roster, one of which will be used to activate Kaiden Guhle from injured reserve in the coming days. The team said he’s traveling on their road trip after missing their last five games with an upper-body injury.
Justin Barron is also nearing a return from the upper-body injury that’s kept him out for the past three games and will be on the trip, per the club. With those two defenders returning to health, Mailloux’s playing time was going to be limited. He’ll instead head back to the AHL to log top-four minutes.
Mailloux, 21, has looked decent in limited NHL action so far. The 2021 first-round pick was recalled nearly two weeks ago in the wake of Guhle’s injury. He’s played in five straight, notching a goal and two assists with a -4 rating. He’s gotten his 6’3″, 213-lb frame involved physically, posting seven blocks and six hits while averaging 16:30 per game. But he still has some work to do away from the puck. His possession metrics aren’t promising given his sheltered offensive usage. The Habs controlled only 44.3% of shot attempts and 39.2% of expected goals with Mailloux on the ice at even strength despite 63.2% of his zone starts coming in the offensive end.
Before his call-up earlier this month, Mailloux scored twice and added a pair of assists in his first two appearances of the season for Laval. He finished third on the minor-league club in scoring last season with 47 points (14 G, 33 A) in 72 games and was named to the AHL’s All-Rookie Team. He’s still on his entry-level contract and under contract through the 2025-26 season at an $875K cap hit.
Central Notes: Wood, Heinola, Anderson-Dolan, Lipkin
Even after recalling T.J. Tynan from AHL Colorado earlier today, the Avalanche won’t have a full complement of healthy forwards for tonight’s game against the Lightning. That’s because winger Miles Wood has been ruled out with the undisclosed injury he’s been playing through for the past few days, head coach Jared Bednar said on Altitude Sports Radio this morning (via Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet).
With Wood out but not headed for injured reserve, the Avalanche don’t have a roster spot for another recall. They’ll dress 11 forwards and seven defensemen tonight, but not in the traditional sense. Instead of rotating in on different defense pairs, Oliver Kylington will pinch-hit as a winger in his first appearance since Oct. 16. He’ll skate on the fourth line with Matthew Stienburg and Chris Wagner while Tynan makes his season debut as a third-line left wing with Parker Kelly and Joel Kiviranta, Daily Faceoff projects. Meanwhile, rookie Nikolai Kovalenko slides up to play top-line duties alongside Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen in relief of the injured Ross Colton, who himself had been playing top-six minutes in place of the injured Jonathan Drouin.
Wood’s injury means Colorado will be without a remarkable six regular forwards for tonight’s matchup, joining Colton, Drouin, Gabriel Landeskog, Artturi Lehkonen, and Valeri Nichushkin as unavailable impact pieces for the Avs. With that kind of poor injury luck and a nightmare start to the season for starting goaltender Alexandar Georgiev, it’s remarkable Colorado has been able to tread water with a 5-5-0 record. The 29-year-old Wood had one goal, a -2 rating, 19 shots, and eight hits in 10 appearances to start the season for the Avs.
More from the Central Division:
- The Jets relayed good news on a pair of injured skaters today. Head coach Scott Arniel told Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Free Press that defenseman Ville Heinola has returned to skating on his own the past few days at home while the team is on a road trip, as has forward Jaret Anderson-Dolan. Heinola, 23, hasn’t played since the beginning of training camp due to an infection in his ankle that he had surgically repaired last season. The 2019 first-round pick was expected to build on his 11 points in 35 career NHL games this season after the Jets lost a few pieces on the blue line but has remained on IR. Anderson-Dolan, meanwhile, has been out since the beginning of the month after blocking a shot in a preseason game against the Flames. The 25-year-old had four points in 31 games last season, split between the Kings and Predators.
- Utah left-wing prospect Sam Lipkin suited up for AHL Tucson last night, indicating he’s been quietly activated off season-opening injured reserve and assigned to the minors. Lipkin, 21, had missed the first few weeks of the campaign with an undisclosed injury. The 2021 seventh-round pick of the Coyotes turned pro after a standout pair of collegiate seasons with Quinnipiac, where he had 78 points in 78 games and won a national championship in 2023.
Nashville Predators Reassign Marc Del Gaizo
Oct. 30: It appears Del Gaizo’s demotion was a temporary one to bank cap space. He’s back up with the Preds today, the team announced.
Oct. 28: The Nashville Predators are switching things up on their blue line. The organization announced they reassigned defenseman Marc Del Gaizo to their AHL affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals.
The transaction indicates the Predators are ready to re-insert defenseman Dante Fabbro into a starting role. Five defensemen on Nashville’s roster have played in each of the team’s eight games while Fabbro (five) and Del Gaizo (three) are the only two with less than eight.
Nashville won two out of the three games with Del Gaizo in the lineup with promising results from the defenseman. Del Gaizo failed to crack the scoresheet during this call-up while averaging 14:23 of ice time per game but his possession metrics proved encouraging. His 59.6% CorsiFor% and 0.8 E +/- according to Hockey Reference show that the Predators performed better with Del Gaizo on the ice despite the small sample size.
The results haven’t been as promising with Fabbro. The former 17th overall pick of the 2016 NHL Draft has been held scoreless after five games with Nashville this season and has produced relatively null possession metrics with a 51.6% CorsiFor% and 0.0 E +/- while averaging 13:24 of ice time.
He didn’t perform much better next to captain Roman Josi two nights ago although the team secured an overtime victory against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Nashville must have seen something encouraging in Fabbro’s game giving them confidence to reassign Del Gaizo.
The latter will return to an Admirals team after already registering two games played earlier in the season. The team hasn’t missed him much with a promising 6-1-0-0 record to begin the 2024-25 AHL campaign.
Connor McDavid Out 2-3 Weeks With Ankle Injury
Oilers superstar Connor McDavid will miss “at least a couple of weeks” with the lower-body injury he sustained Monday against the Blue Jackets, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. It’s not expected to be an overly long-term absence, though, implying they’ve avoided the worst-case scenario of a left foot or lower-leg fracture. The team later confirmed it was an ankle injury and said he’ll be out for two to three weeks.
The Oilers haven’t yet placed McDavid on injured reserve, although with him safely ruled out for the next five days, there’s nothing stopping them from doing so. They had two open roster spots at the time of his injury, which they filled yesterday with the recalls of forwards Drake Caggiula and Noah Philp from AHL Bakersfield. They’re now at a full roster with ample cap flexibility thanks to Evander Kane’s LTIR placement but they could move McDavid to IR to open up another roster spot if necessary.
Still, any McDavid absence isn’t welcome news for Edmonton. They’re on their seemingly yearly tradition of underwhelming starts before going on a late-November or December tear. After being trounced 6-1 by Columbus earlier this week, they’re back below .500 with a 4-5-1 record, and their -13 goal differential is third-worst in the league, ahead of only the Penguins and Sharks. McDavid was caught in the mire, too, off to a slow start by his standards with three goals and 10 points in 10 games. He was still his usual dominant self in possession play, though, with the Oilers controlling 62.8% of shot attempts with McDavid on the ice at even strength.
A two-week timeline from today, which is likely the best-case scenario as outlined by Friedman, puts his earliest potential return on Nov. 14 against the Predators. The Oilers have six games between now and then. In the meantime, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is projected to shift from wing to center on the first line with Zach Hyman, while Jeff Skinner will move up from a middle-six role to ride shotgun with that pair.
2024-25 NHL In-Season Trades
As with 2024’s offseason trades, we’ll keep track of all the NHL trades completed this season and update this article with each transaction. This post can be found anytime throughout the season on our desktop sidebar under “Pro Hockey Rumors Features” or our mobile menu under the Flame icon.
Trades are listed here in reverse chronological order, with the latest on top. So, if a player has been dealt multiple times, the first team listed as having acquired him is the one that ended up with him. Trades listed in italics have been agreed upon but are not yet official. For more details on each trade, click the date above it.
Here’s the full list of trades completed during the 2024-25 NHL season:
- Maple Leafs acquire F Reese Johnson
- Wild acquire future considerations
- Bruins acquire D Daniil Misyul.
- Devils acquire F Marc McLaughlin.
- Bruins acquire D Henri Jokiharju.
- Sabres acquire the Oilers’ 2026 fourth-round pick.
- Panthers acquire F Brad Marchand.
- Bruins acquire the Panthers’ 2027 second-round pick.
- Condition: the Panthers’ pick will upgrade to their 2028 first-rounder if certain conditions are met.
- Maple Leafs acquire D Brandon Carlo (15% retained) and a Penguins late-round draft pick.
- Bruins acquire F Fraser Minten and the Maple Leafs’ 2026 first-round pick.
- Penguins acquire F Connor Dewar and D Conor Timmins.
- Senators acquire F Fabian Zetterlund, F Tristen Robins, and the Sharks’ 2025 fourth-round pick.
- Sharks acquire F Zack Ostapchuk, F Noah Gregor, and the Senators’ 2025 second-round pick.
- Devils acquire F Daniel Sprong.
- Kraken acquire the Devils’ 2026 seventh-round pick.
- Devils acquire F Cody Glass and F Jonathan Gruden.
- Penguins acquire F Chase Stillman, the signing rights F Max Graham, and the Devils’ 2027 third-round pick.
- Hurricanes acquire F Mark Jankowski.
- Predators acquire the Hurricanes’ 2026 fifth-round pick.
- Islanders acquire D Dennis Cholowski.
- Devils acquire F Adam Beckman.
- Sabres acquire D Erik Brännström.
- Rangers acquire F Nicolas Aubé-Kubel.
- Avalanche acquire D Erik Johnson.
- Flyers acquire F Givani Smith.
- Blackhawks acquire the contract of D Shea Weber, the signing rights to D Victor Söderström, and F Aku Raty.
- Utah acquires the Blackhawks’ 2026 fifth-round pick.
- Blue Jackets acquire F Luke Kunin.
- Sharks acquire the Blues’ 2025 fourth-round pick.
- Avalanche acquire F Charlie Coyle and the Bruins’ 2026 fifth-round pick.
- Bruins acquire F Casey Mittelstadt, the Hurricanes’ 2025 second-round pick, and the signing rights to F Will Zellers.
- Red Wings acquire G Petr Mrázek and F Craig Smith.
- Blackhawks acquire F Joe Veleno.
- Jets acquire F Brandon Tanev.
- Kraken acquire the Jets’ 2027 second-round pick.
- Maple Leafs acquire F Scott Laughton (50% retained), the Flyers’ 2025 fourth-round pick, and the Flyers’ 2027 sixth-round pick.
- Flyers acquire F Nikita Grebenkin and the Maple Leafs’ 2027 first-round pick.
- Condition: the Maple Leafs’ 2027 first-rounder is top 10 protected and will slide to 2028 if it falls within that range.
- Stars acquire F Mikko Rantanen.
- Hurricanes acquire F Logan Stankoven, the Stars’ 2026 first-round pick, the Stars’ 2028 first-round pick, the Stars’ 2026 third-round pick, and the Stars’ 2027 third-round pick.
- Conditions: the Stars’ first-round picks are top 10 protected.
- Jets acquire D Luke Schenn.
- Penguins acquire the Jets’ 2026 second-round pick and the Jets’ 2027 fourth-round pick.
- Kings acquire F Andrei Kuzmenko (50% retained) and the Flyers’ 2025 seventh-round pick.
- Flyers acquire the Kings’ 2027 third-round pick.
- Senators acquire F Dylan Cozens, D Dennis Gilbert, and the Sabres’ 2026 second-round pick.
- Sabres acquire F Joshua Norris and D Jacob Bernard-Docker.
- Capitals acquire F Anthony Beauvillier.
- Penguins acquire the Capitals’ 2025 second-round pick.
- Oilers acquire D Jake Walman.
- Sharks acquire the Oilers’ 2026 first-round pick and F Carl Berglund.
- Condition: If the Oilers’ pick falls in the top 12, they can elect to transfer their 2027 first-rounder to San Jose instead. If Edmonton trades their 2027 first prior to the 2026 trade deadline, their 2026 first transfers to the Sharks unprotected.
- Avalanche acquire F Brock Nelson (50% retained) and F William Dufour.
- Islanders acquire F Calum Ritchie, the Avalanche’s 2026 first-round pick, and the Avalanche’s 2028 third-round pick.
- Condition I: If the Avalanche’s 2026 first-rounder transfers to the Flyers – they owe Philly a 2025 first but it’s top-ten protected – or if it’s top 10 in 2026, the Islanders receive the Avs’ 2027 first-round pick instead.
- Condition II: The 2028 third-rounder transfers only if the Avalanche win the Stanley Cup in 2025 and Nelson plays in 50% of their playoff games.
- Ducks acquire D Oliver Kylington.
- Wild acquire F Justin Brazeau.
- Bruins acquire F Marat Khusnutdinov, F Jakub Lauko, and their own 2026 sixth-round pick.
- Rangers acquire D Carson Soucy.
- Canucks acquire the Sharks’ 2025 third-round pick.
- Panthers acquire G Kaapo Kähkönen.
- Jets acquire G Chris Driedger.
- Golden Knights acquire F Reilly Smith.
- Rangers acquire F Brendan Brisson and the Sharks’ 2025 third-round pick.
- Panthers acquire F Nico Sturm and the Sharks’ 2027 seventh-round pick.
- Sharks acquire the Panthers’ 2026 fourth-round pick.
- Devils acquire D Brian Dumoulin (50% retained).
- Ducks acquire a conditional 2025 second-round pick and the signing rights to F Herman Träff.
- Condition: the Ducks will receive the better of the Oilers’ or Jets’ 2025 second-round pick.
- Predators acquire F Michael Bunting and the Penguins’ 2026 fourth-round pick.
- Penguins acquire D Luke Schenn and F Thomas Novak.
- Sharks acquire D Vincent Desharnais.
- Penguins acquire the Sharks’ 2028 fifth-round pick.
- Lightning acquire F Yanni Gourde (75% retained), F Oliver Bjorkstrand, the signing rights to D Kyle Aucoin, and the Kraken’s 2025 fifth-round pick.
- Kraken acquire F Michael Eyssimont, a conditional 2026 first-round pick, a conditional 2027 first-round pick, the Maple Leafs’ 2025 second-round pick, and retain 50% of Gourde’s contract.
- Red Wings acquire a conditional 2025 fourth-round pick and retain 25% of Gourde’s contract.
- Note I: The Kraken retain 50% of Gourde’s initial $5.166MM cap hit before trading him to the Red Wings as the intermediary. Detroit retained the maximum 50% of the remaining balance before trading him to Tampa Bay. Gourde will cost $1.29MM against Tampa Bay’s cap for the remainder of the season while costing $2.58MM for Seattle and $1.29MM for Detroit.
- Note II: Both first-round picks headed to Seattle are top-10 protected. If either picks fall in the top-10, they slide back one year. If that happens to either draft selection, the Lightning will send a third-round pick to the Kraken for any year it happens.
- Note III: Detroit will acquire the higher of Tampa Bay or Edmonton’s 2025 fourth-round pick.
- Panthers acquire G Vítek Vaněček.
- Sharks acquire F Patrick Giles.
- Oilers acquire F Trent Frederic (75% retained), F Max Jones, and the signing rights to F Petr Hauser.
- Devils acquire the signing rights to F Shane Lachance and retain 25% of Frederic’s contract.
- Bruins acquire D Maximus Wanner, the Blues’ 2025 second-round pick, and the Oilers’ 2026 fourth-round pick.
- Note: the Bruins retained 50% of Frederic’s initial $2.3MM cap hit before trading him to the Devils as the intermediary. New Jersey retained the maximum 50% of the remaining balance before trading him to Edmonton. Frederic will cost $1.15MM against Boston’s cap for the remainder of the season while costing $575K for Edmonton and New Jersey.
- Panthers acquire D Seth Jones (26.3% retained) and the Blackhawks’ 2026 fourth-round pick.
- Blackhawks acquire G Spencer Knight and the Panthers’ 2026 first-round pick.
- Condition: the Blackhawks will receive the Panthers’ 2027 first-round pick if they trade away their 2026 selection.
- Wild acquire F Gustav Nyquist (50% retained).
- Predators acquire the Wild’s 2026 second-round pick.
- Avalanche acquire D Ryan Lindgren (50% retained), F Jimmy Vesey, and the signing rights to D Hank Kempf.
- Rangers acquire F Juuso Pärssinen, D Calvin de Haan, a conditional 2025 second-round pick, and a conditional 2025 fourth-round pick.
- Note: the Rangers will receive the better of their own or the Hurricanes’ 2025 second-rounder and the better of the Avalanche’s or Canucks’ 2025 fourth-rounder.
- Wild acquire F Tyler Madden.
- Kings acquire D Joseph Cecconi.
- Predators acquire F Jesse Ylönen
- Lightning acquire F Anthony Angello
- Ducks acquire G Ville Husso.
- Red Wings acquire future considerations.
- Predators acquire F Grigori Denisenko.
- Golden Knights acquire future considerations.
- Penguins acquire F Mathias Laferrière.
- Blues acquire F Corey Andonovski.
- Predators acquire D Mark Friedman.
- Canucks acquire future considerations.
- Utah acquires F Samuel Walker.
- Wild acquire future considerations.
- Stars acquire F Mikael Granlund and D Cody Ceci.
- Sharks acquire the Stars’ 2025 first-round pick and the Jets’ 2025 fourth-round pick.
- Condition: If the Stars make the 2025 Stanley Cup Final, the 2025 fourth-rounder upgrades to a third.
- Canucks acquire D Marcus Pettersson and F Drew O’Connor.
- Penguins acquire F Danton Heinen, D Vincent Desharnais, F Melvin Fernström, and the Rangers’ 2025 first-round pick (conditional).
- Condition: If the Rangers’ 2025 first-round pick falls within the top 13, it slides to 2026.
- Rangers acquire F J.T. Miller, D Erik Brännström, D Jackson Dorrington.
- Canucks acquire F Filip Chytil, D Victor Mancini, and the Rangers’ 2025 first-round pick (conditional).
- Condition: If the Rangers’ 2025 first-round pick falls within the top 13, it slides to 2026.
- Flames acquire F Joel Farabee and F Morgan Frost.
- Flyers acquire F Andrei Kuzmenko, F Jakob Pelletier, the Flames’ 2025 second-round pick and the Flames’ 2028 seventh-round pick.
- Islanders acquire D Scott Perunovich.
- Blues acquire the Islanders’ 2026 fifth-round pick (conditional).
- Lightning acquire F Ryder Korczak.
- Rangers acquire F Lucas Edmonds.
- Hurricanes acquire F Mikko Rantanen (50% retained), F Taylor Hall, and signing rights to F Nils Juntorp.
- Avalanche acquire F Martin Nečas, F Jack Drury, the Hurricanes’ 2025 second-round pick, and the Hurricanes’ 2026 fourth-round pick.
- Blackhawks acquire their own 2025 third-round pick and retain 50% of Rantanen’s salary.
- Ducks acquire F Justin Bailey.
- Sharks acquire F Pavol Regenda.
- Jets acquire D Isaak Phillips.
- Blackhawks acquire D Dmitri Kuzmin.
- Penguins acquire D Colton Poolman.
- Sabres acquire F Bennett MacArthur.
- Avalanche acquire F Juuso Pärssinen and the Rangers’ 2026 seventh-round pick.
- Predators acquire F Ondrej Pavel and the Avalanche’s 2027 third-round pick.
- Canadiens acquire D Alexandre Carrier.
- Predators acquire D Justin Barron.
- Penguins acquire D Pierre-Olivier Joseph.
- Blues acquire future considerations.
- Kraken acquire F Kaapo Kakko.
- Rangers acquire D William Borgen, the Kraken’s 2025 third-round pick and the Kraken’s 2025 sixth-round pick.
- Blues acquire D Cam Fowler (38.5% retained) and the Ducks’ 2027 fourth-round pick.
- Ducks acquire D Jérémie Biakabutuka and the Blues’ 2027 second-round pick.
- Avalanche acquire G Mackenzie Blackwood, F Givani Smith, and Sharks’ 2027 fifth-round pick.
- Sharks acquire G Alexandar Georgiev (14% retained), F Nikolai Kovalenko, Avalanche’s 2026 second-round pick, and Avalanche’s 2025 fifth-round pick.
- Oilers acquire F Jacob Perreault.
- Canadiens acquire D Noel Hoefenmayer.
- Ducks acquire D Jacob Trouba.
- Rangers acquire D Urho Vaakanainen and the Ducks’ 2025 fourth-round pick (conditional).
- Condition: The Rangers will receive the lowest of the Ducks’ 2025 fourth-round pick or the Red Wings’ 2025 fourth-round pick.
- Wild acquire D David Jiříček and the Blue Jackets’ 2025 fifth-round pick.
- Blue Jackets acquire D Daemon Hunt, the Wild’s 2025 first-round pick (conditional), the Avalanche’s 2026 third-round pick, the Maple Leafs’ 2026 fourth-round pick, and the Wild’s 2027 second-round pick.
- Condition: If the Wild’s 2025 first-round pick falls within the top five, it slides to 2026.
- Predators acquire G Justus Annunen and the Avalanche’s 2025 sixth-round pick.
- Avalanche acquire G Scott Wedgewood.
- Predators acquire F Ryder Rolston.
- Blackhawks acquire future considerations.
- Penguins acquire F Philip Tomasino.
- Predators acquire the Rangers’ 2027 fourth-round pick.
- Capitals acquire F Lars Eller.
- Penguins acquire the Capitals’ 2027 third-round pick and the Blackhawks’ 2025 fifth-round pick.
- Kraken acquire F Daniel Sprong.
- Canucks acquire future considerations.
- Oilers acquire D Ronald Attard.
- Flyers acquire D Ben Gleason.
- Sharks acquire D Timothy Liljegren.
- Maple Leafs acquire D Matt Benning, a 2025 third-round pick and the Sharks’ 2026 sixth-round pick.
- Condition: The Maple Leafs will receive the higher of the Avalanche’s or Oilers’ 2025 third-round pick, both of which the Sharks previously acquired.
- Utah acquires D Olli Määttä.
- Red Wings acquire the Rangers’ 2025 third-round pick.
- Canucks acquire D Erik Brännström.
- Avalanche acquire D Tucker Poolman (20% retained) and the Canucks’ 2025 fourth-round pick.
Penguins Place Bryan Rust On Injured Reserve
The Penguins placed right winger Bryan Rust on injured reserve Tuesday due to his lower-body injury, according to the NHL’s media site. They haven’t made a corresponding transaction yet, but with an open roster spot, they could make a recall ahead of tomorrow’s game against the Ducks. Rust’s IR placement is retroactive to Oct. 26, so he won’t be eligible to return until Nov. 2, but he will likely miss more time than that after being labeled week-to-week yesterday.
Rust already missed yesterday’s 5-3 loss to the Wild and has now been officially ruled out for tomorrow’s game. He left Saturday’s loss to the Canucks after getting awkwardly tangled up with Vancouver winger Nils Höglander and did not return. His absence caused Pens head coach Mike Sullivan to reshape his top line completely, bumping up Evgeni Malkin to play left wing alongside Sidney Crosby at even strength and promoting Rickard Rakell from second-line duties.
In eight games this season, the veteran Rust has scored three goals and added an assist for four points. He’s sitting on uncharacteristically poor possession metrics, logging a career-low 46.3 CF% and 41.0 xGF%. He also missed the first two games of the season with a different lower-body injury.
With Rust on the shelf for the next little while, the Penguins will rely even more heavily on that new-look top line to turn things around defensively. Primarily, they’ve performed up to expectations offensively or outperformed them entirely. Malkin has turned back the clock with 14 points in 11 games, while Rakell leads the team in goals with six. Crosby has been underwhelming with just one goal but has added nine assists for 10 points in 11 games. But the Penguins are allowing a league-worst 4.27 goals per game. While suspect goaltending shoulders some blame, Pittsburgh has also controlled just 38.2% of expected goals when their usual top line of Crosby, Rust and Anthony Beauvillier are on the ice together, per MoneyPuck. Crosby has never logged an expected goal share under 50% since the stat’s been tracked – marking a sharp drop-off in his defensive effectiveness, at least in the early going this season.
The 32-year-old Rust is in the third season of a six-year, $30.75MM contract that runs through his age-35 season. His offensive performance has been up and down over its beginning, posting an underwhelming 46 points in 81 games in 2022-23, but he rebounded last season with 28 goals and 56 points in only 62 appearances.
