Archives for February 2025

West Notes: Flames, Wedgewood, Emberson, Guenther

February 2, 2025 at 7:59 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 3 Comments

Heading into the season, many expected the Flames to be selling before the trade deadline. Instead, they made a move to add, picking up Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost from Philadelphia. But that hasn’t stopped teams from calling Calgary GM Craig Conroy about his top veterans, center Nazem Kadri and blueliners Rasmus Andersson and MacKenzie Weegar. However, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported on Saturday that Conroy is telling inquiring teams that he doesn’t plan to move those players. Kadri and Weegar are signed to long-term contracts but Andersson’s expires in 2026, making him extension-eligible as of July 1st. Friedman adds that Calgary is getting more confident that they can get a new contract in place with the 28-year-old who will be eyeing a sizable raise from his current $4.55MM AAV.

Minor Transactions: 2/2/25

February 2, 2025 at 6:57 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

With the AHL All-Star break now in effect, we could see an influx of paper transactions as teams look to bank an extra little bit of cap space. We’ll keep track of today’s minor moves here.

The Hurricanes continue their daily roster movement. They announced that they’ve assigned forward Ryan Suzuki to AHL Chicago while recalling blueliner Riley Stillman; the two have been trading places in recent days. Despite the numerous recalls, Stillman has only suited up once this season with Carolina. Suzuki, meanwhile, played his first two NHL games earlier this week. It wouldn’t be surprising to see one or both of these players in another transaction in the near future.
The Lightning have returned goaltender Matt Tomkins to AHL Syracuse, per a team release. He has been recalled recently with Jonas Johansson banged up and could be back up if Johansson can’t return on Tuesday versus Ottawa. The 30-year-old has a 2.87 GAA with a .900 SV% in 17 games with the Crunch this season.
The Bruins have assigned center Matthew Poitras and winger Vinni Lettieri to AHL Providence, per the AHL’s transactions log. This move is likely just a paper one to bank a bit of cap space with the two likely to be recalled for Tuesday’s game against Minnesota. Poitras has a goal and eight assists in 23 games with Boston this season while Lettieri has two goals in eight outings at the NHL level.
The Jets announced (Twitter link) that they have assigned wingers Brad Lambert and Parker Ford to AHL Manitoba. Lambert has been up and down a fair bit lately but is still looking for his first NHL point after being held off the scoresheet in his four games with Winnipeg this season. As for Ford, he scored in his NHL debut on Thursday so it won’t be surprising if he’s recalled before Tuesday’s contest against Carolina.

Canadiens Assign Owen Beck And Logan Mailloux To AHL

February 2, 2025 at 6:18 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

Sunday: The team announced (Twitter link) that both Beck and Mailloux have been sent back to the AHL to allow them to play in the All-Star Game; neither played today against Anaheim.

Saturday: The Canadiens have added a bit of extra roster depth as they get set to start a three-game California road trip. The team announced that they have recalled center Owen Beck and Logan Mailloux from AHL Laval. It’s the second recall of the season for both players.

Beck is in his first professional season and has spent the bulk of it with the Rocket. The 20-year-old played in two games with Montreal late last month and was held off the scoresheet. Beck has had a productive rookie campaign in the minors, however, tallying 11 goals and 16 assists in 41 games, good for a tie for tenth in scoring among all AHL freshmen.

As for Mailloux, he got into five games with the Canadiens back in October. He was productive in those outings, picking up a goal and two assists while logging 16:30 of ice time but struggled in the defensive zone. He’s in his second pro campaign and has nine goals and 13 assists in 36 AHL appearances so far this season, putting him close to his offensive pace from his rookie year.

It wouldn’t be too surprising to see both players shuffled back and forth a bit over the coming days. Beck and Mailloux are set to participate in the AHL All-Star Classic on Sunday and Monday with that event being held in California where Montreal will be for a few days. Accordingly, they’ll likely be loaned back down following Sunday’s game and then recalled back to the big club on Tuesday when the Canadiens are in San Jose.

Red Wings’ Jeff Petry Undergoes Surgery, Out 6-8 Weeks

February 2, 2025 at 5:57 pm CDT | by Gabriel Foley 5 Comments

Detroit Red Wings defenseman Jeff Petry has undergone surgery to address an undisclosed injury and will miss the next six-to-eight weeks, per Frank Seravalli of the Daily Faceoff. No specifics of the injury were provided.

Petry has been out of the lineup since suffering an injury in the team’s January 3rd game against the Columbus Blue Jackets. He left that game with roughly 10 minutes left in the third period after wrapping awkwardly around Columbus’ Kirill Marchenko while the latter took a shot. Petry went down immediately and took his time getting back up. It wasn’t clear what he hurt on the play. He was designated as day-to-day with injury immediately following the game, then landed on injured reserve three days later. Now, Petry will be a candidate for long-term injured reserve, as he pushes to return before Detroit’s season ends on April 17th.

Petry has dealt with numerous injuries this season. He missed time in early October with an upper-body injury, then sat out with a lower-body injury for parts of early December. In total, he’s only played in 34 of Detroit’s 52 games this season. The 37-year-old has just one goal and six points in the games he’s played in. He’s also recorded 12 penalty minutes, a -7, 56 blocked shots, and 39 hits. Petry was Detroit’s fourth-most utilized defender before falling to injury, averaging just over 19 minutes of ice time – behind Moritz Seider, Ben Chiarot, and Simon Edvinsson.

Petry is just four seasons removed from recording 42 points in 55 games with the 2020-21 Montreal Canadiens. He’s seen a gradual decrease in scoring ever since, netting 27, 31, and 24 over the last three seasons respectively. Those numbers have fallen off a cliff this season. That decrease, during an injury-riddled season, could motivate Petry to retire when his contract ends this summer. That thought may be in the back of his head through the rest of the season, though he hasn’t been ruled out for the year yet.

Canucks Activate Kiefer Sherwood

February 2, 2025 at 5:31 pm CDT | by Gabriel Foley Leave a Comment

The Vancouver Canucks have activated forward Kiefer Sherwood off of injured reserve. Sherwood has missed Vancouver’s last four games with an undisclosed injury. His return brings some sense to Vancouver assigning Aatu Raty and, after he cleared waivers, Phillip Di Giuseppe to the minor leagues.

Sherwood is expected to return to the lineup in Sunday’s game against the Detroit Red Wings. He’ll join a lineup full of new faces, including recent trade acquisitions Marcus Pettersson, Victor Mancini, and Filip Chytil. Sherwood should maintain his role on the team’s third line despite the lineup shuffle. He’s been one of the brightest performers in Vancouver’s bottom-six, boasting 13 goals and 21 points in 47 games this season. Sherwood has also recorded a staggering 273 hits – while no other Canuck has managed even 100 (Noah Juulsen has 99). In fact, Sherwood’s lofty hit totals lead the entire NHL by nearly 80 hits – with Philadelphia’s Garnet Hathaway ranked second with 197 hits. So long as he maintains his current hit pace, Sherwood is on track to finish the season with 453 hits – which would stand as an NHL record.

Sherwood has doubled down on the role of goal-scoring wrecking-ball after recording 10 goals, 27 points, and 234 hits in 68 games with the Nashville Predators last season. He seems to be finding plenty of comfort in his first year with the Canucks, sat just seven points shy of surpassing his career-high in scoring from last year. This news sets him up to continue pursuing new scoring heights, and the hit record, in a Canucks roster with plenty of minutes opened up by the trading of top forward scorer J.T. Miller.

Blues’ Robert Thomas, Colton Parayko Expected To Play Despite Illness

February 2, 2025 at 4:54 pm CDT | by Gabriel Foley Leave a Comment

5:00 PM: The Blues have announced that Thomas and Parayko are both expected to play through their illness on Sunday. Kessel and Walker will step out of the lineup in their place.

4:00 PM: The St. Louis Blues could be without two pillars of the lineup when they visit the Utah Hockey Club on Sunday. Top centerman Robert Thomas and top defenseman Colton Parayko are both questionable for the matchup due to illness NHL.com’s Lou Korac reports. Parayko also missed St. Louis’ Friday loss to the Colorado Avalanche, while Thomas left the team’s Sunday practice early.

St. Louis turned toward depth defenseman Matthew Kessel to fill in for Parayko on Friday. He was paired with Parayko’s typical partner, Cam Fowler, and recorded no scoring and a -2 in the outing. The Blues aren’t carrying any other extra defenders, meaning Kessel will step up once again should Parayko miss another matchup.

How to fill in for Thomas will be a much harder question. He has served as the team’s top-line center for the entirety of the season. The team struggled significantly when Thomas missed 12 games between October and November, posting a 4-7-1 record and getting outscored 3.75-to-2.33 on average. The Blues turned towards their litany of depth forwards to fill in for Thomas’ vacancy, with each of Alexandre Texier, Radek Faksa, and Nathan Walker earning routine ice time in his absence.

This time around, Oskar Sundqvist seems like the depth option that’d get the nod, with Faksa and Walker already playing routinely. Sundqvist has been a routine healthy scratch under Jim Montgomery’s reign, and has just three points in 10 games in January and nine points in 38 games this season. He’s fallen to the role of de facto extra forward for the Blues, but Thomas’ absence could force him back into the lineup. That circumstance would likely elevate Brayden Schenn to the Blues’ top line and slot Sundqvist in between Jake Neighbours and Zachary Bolduc on the third line.

Trade Deadline Primer: Anaheim Ducks

February 2, 2025 at 3:21 pm CDT | by Gabriel Foley 13 Comments

With the 4 Nations Face-Off break approaching, the trade deadline looms large and is about a month away. Where does each team stand, and what moves should they be looking to make? We start our look around the league with the Anaheim Ducks.

The 2024-25 season has returned the Anaheim Ducks to a very familiar spot. They’re once again fending off last place in the Pacific Division and being propped up by a dismal San Jose Sharks lineup. Another middling year has meant another year of trying to rebuild the Ducks lineup into a team that’s both capable of making a late-season push and fits the vision of head coach Greg Cronin and general manager Pat Verbeek. They’ve already acquired rough-and-tumble veteran Jacob Trouba and burly depth forward Justin Bailey via trade – pushing a clear message of size and grit that’s sure to carry through their Trade Deadline.

Record

21-24-6, 7th in the Pacific

Deadline Status

Sellers

Deadline Cap Space

$78.49MM on deadline day, 1/3 retention slots used, 45/50 contracts used, per PuckPedia.

Upcoming Draft Picks

2025: ANA 1st, ANA 3rd, TOR 3rd, DET 4th, EDM 5th, ANA 5th, ANA 6th, ANA 7th
2026: ANA 1st, ANA 2nd, ANA 3rd, ANA 5th, ANA 6th, ANA 7th

Trade Chips

Another year of trade conversation inevitably leads to another year of conversation around now-backup goaltender John Gibson. The 31-year-old netminder has been the talk of trade discussions dating back to, at least, 2020 – but Anaheim hasn’t yet found a suitor. That’s in large part thanks to his daunting $6.4MM cap hit – making him the seventh-most expensive goaltender in the league. Gibson has struggled to vindicate the lofty cap hit since signing the deal in 2019. He’s set an 82-138-35 record and .901 save percentage over the course of the deal, which is set to expire after next season. Those are middling numbers but Gibson has finally found relief from them this season, largely thanks to emerging star Lukas Dostal shouldering the starting responsibilities.

Finally relieved from playing at a 50-game pace, Gibson has posted an admirable .913 Sv% through 22 games this season – actually leading the team in the stat, compared to Dostal’s .908 in 30 games. It has been a resurgence for the struggling veteran, but a move out of Anaheim still seems like his only option. Dostal has gained control of the starter’s crease at the young age of 24, and backed his rise with an impressive, Gold Medal performance at the 2024 World Championship. While two strong netminders are a great asset for a playoff team, Anaheim seems far removed from that acclaim – and stands to benefit most from giving Dostal a clear runway. That means Anaheim will continue on in the difficult spot of trying to move Gibson’s hefty deal. They’ll likely be forced to retain at least part of his salary, and may need to ask for a new backup in return – with Calle Clang and Oscar Dansk each posting save percentages below .900 in the minor leagues.

Top forward Trevor Zegras could stand as the more rationale trade chip. He has also been oft mentioned in trade rumors, backed by talks of a stylistic divide between the nimble and skilled Zegras and the hard-nosed coaching of Cronin. Zegras wasn’t helped along by persistent injuries last season. He missed more games than he played – appearing in just 31 of Anaheim’s 82 games. That made it incredibly difficult for the young forward to find a scoring groove. He ended the year with just six goals and 15 points – far below the 60-point pace he managed in his first two seasons. Zegras hasn’t been free from injuries this year – suffering a torn meniscus in December that limited him for five weeks. But he’s been healthier than last year, and mounted 13 points in 29 games as a result. That’s an 82-game pace of just 36 points – still far from his scoring ceiling – but the improved performance could be enough to market Zegras as a scorer with upside to teams in need of a boost to their top-end. The former top-10 draft pick will turn 24 two weeks after the Trade Deadline, and carries a cost-controlled $5.75MM cap hit through the end of next season. While certainly a riskier bet than some on the market, Zegras brings tantalizing goal-scoring upside and youth to a league-wide trade board lacking in both categories.

Other potential trade chips: F Isac Lundestrom, F Mason McTavish, D Tristan Luneau

Team Needs

Rough and Tumble Forwards: The Ducks are paving their path with recent trade buzz. Talks of Zegras’ departure, coupled with the arrival of multiple bruting skaters, points towards the team clearly wanting a roster capable of winning games by force. They’ll need more size and grit in the lineup if they want to pull that off, putting the Ducks firmly in the market for some of the market’s heaviest options. Boston Bruins forward Trent Frederic seems like the most compelling bet – offering the flexibility to play center or wing, and bringing plenty of grit to either role. Frederic has just seven goals and 14 points in 48 games this season, but his heft down the lineup has proved helpful for a Bruins team in need of a star-protector. Frederic has four fighting majors this season, and was voted as the clear winner in all of them by fans on HockeyFights.com. He could be a low-cost acquisition as the Ducks look for a physical spark in their bottom-six. Anaheim could also turn towards Montreal’s Jake Evans, or Seattle forwards Brandon Tanev or Yanni Gourde, for a physical presence with more scoring upside – but each of the three are likely older than the team would prefer.

Young Scoring Forwards: Anaheim will need to be careful to not fall too far down the well of bruising forwards as the Deadline approaches. Their bottom-six is averaging just 11.5 points, and that number is helped along quite significantly by rookie Cutter Gauthier’s 21 points. With this season already looking lost, the Ducks can afford to be patient with the impact of whoever they acquire. Main trade rumors haven’t revealed a lot of options for that role – though Buffalo’s Dylan Cozens could be a speedy, high-cost option with the heft to stick in Anaheim’s forward group. But more realistic options could be Toronto’s Nicholas Robertson, or Nashville’s Thomas Novak. Both players bring admirable physicality – particularly Novak – and likely wouldn’t cost Anaheim much to acquire mid-season.

Red Wings Activate Patrick Kane, Place J.T. Compher On IR

February 2, 2025 at 2:05 pm CDT | by Gabriel Foley Leave a Comment

The Detroit Red Wings have swapped forward on injured reserve, activating Patrick Kane and shelving J.T. Compher. Kane has missed Detroit’s last five games with an upper-body injury. He was moved to injured reserve on January 27th, retroactive to his last game on the 21st. Meanwhile, Compher has been nursing his own upper-body injury ever since taking a high hit from Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Emil Martinsen Lilleberg on January 25th. Lilleberg was suspended for two games for the hit, while Compher will miss his fourth consecutive game on Sunday. Both Kane and Compher traveled with the team on their two-game road trip to the Pacific Northwest, but it could be a long while before Compher returns to the ice. He is currently listed as out indefinitely, per Rotowire.

With this news, Detroit receives back the all-offense, no-defense style of Kane. The future Hall-of-Famer ranks fifth on the team in scoring with 11 goals and 30 points in 42 games. That’s an 82-game pace of 52 points, continuing Kane’s gradual decline in scoring after scoring at a 77-point pace last season (47 points in 50 games) and netting 57 points in the year before. Despite ranking near the top of the team in scoring this year, Kane has also posted a dismal -11 and 2.90 xGA/60 (expected goals-against per-60), ranking him second-worst on the team in both categories per Evolving Hockey.

Detroit has often offset Kane’s near-total lack of defense with the stout two-way play of Compher, who has 21 points in 48 games of his own this year. Compher has also recorded a +4, which leads all Detroit forwards and ranks second on the team to Simon Edvinsson’s +13. He has been a stalwart centerman in the Red Wings’ middle-six, clearly benefiting from the addition of Andrew Copp to help shoulder responsibility in the middle lane. Compher has averaged nearly 17 minutes of ice time this year, nearly three minutes fewer than he averaged through the last two seasons. But the decreased minutes hardly indicate a decreased role, with Compher still serving time on both special teams and a go-to option in odd-man situations.

The Wings have so far promoted Michael Rasmussen to fill Compher’s tough minutes – to good effect. Rasmussen has two points and a +2 through his last five games, while averaging stout third-line minutes behind Copp and Dylan Larkin. Rasmussen has scored 15 points in 51 games on the year, putting him on pace for just 24 points – his lowest since the 2020-21 campaign. An extended absence for Compher could set Rasmussen up to boost his scoring up, though he’ll need to do it while commanding the team’s second power-play unit and handling tough, top-nine minutes.

Wild Move Kirill Kaprizov To LTIR, Jonas Brodin Expected To Return

February 2, 2025 at 1:36 pm CDT | by Gabriel Foley Leave a Comment

The Minnesota Wild have moved star forward Kirill Kaprizov to long-term injured reserve retroactive to his most recent game on January 26th. This move will open up additional cap space and roster flexibility, which Michael Russo of The Athletic suggests could indicate the return of top defenseman Jonas Brodin. Russo shares that Brodin will likely join the team in Boston this weekend and prepare to make his return to the ice on Tuesday. Brodin has missed Minnesota’s last 12 games with a lower-body injury suffered after blocking a shot in the team’s January 7th win over the St. Louis Blues. Brodin was placed on injured reserve 11 days later, then shifted to LTIR on January 28th. Tuesday’s game against the Boston Bruins would mark the soonest that he’d be able to return.

This news comes as sweet and sour for a Minnesota roster that’s faced terrible injury luck all season long. Brodin has played in just 31 of the team’s 53 games this season, but he’s continued to perform as a top-pair option when he’s healthy. He has recorded four goals and 16 points, six penalty minutes, and a +10 on the season. He’s also blocked 67 shots, second-most on the Wild behind Jacob Middleton. Brodin has managed top-end stats while averaging north of 23 minutes of ice time each game. That number – like many of his stats – ranks second on the defense behind Brock Faber’s near-25 minutes of ice time on average. Brodin will be launched back to Minnesota’s top line as soon as he can handle it, especially after a 6-0 trampling courtesy of the Ottawa Senators on Saturday.

But the sour of the move comes via an extended absence for the Wild’s superstar. Kaprizov has undergone surgery for his lower-body injury that went well, per NHL.com’s Joe Smith. But he’ll now be forced out of the lineup through the rest of February, at least. He has been formally designated as week-to-week, which could stretch his prognosis out even further. Kaprizov was the beating heart of the Wild lineup prior to injury. He led the team in goals (23), assists (29), and points (52) through just 37 appearances. That’s an 82-game scoring pace of 115 points, which would have shattered Minnesota’s previous single-season scoring record – 108 points, set by Kaprizov in 2021-22. He also earned third spot on that list with 96 points in 75 games last year. Minnesota sits firmly in a playoff spot as February rolls around, giving them the chance to focus on getting Kaprizov back to full-health before the postseason begins.

Team Finland Adds Henri Jokiharju, Urho Vaakanainen To 4-Nations Roster

February 2, 2025 at 1:07 pm CDT | by Gabriel Foley Leave a Comment

Team Finland has added Buffalo Sabres defenseman Henri Jokiharju and New York Rangers defenseman Urho Vaakanainen to their 4-Nations Face-Off roster. The duo will fill in after Miro Heiskanen and Jani Hakanpaa each suffered injuries that will hold them out through February. They will join Esa Lindell (Dallas), Olli Maatta (Utah), Niko Mikkola (Florida), Rasmus Ristolainen (Philadelphia), and Juuso Valimaki (Utah) on Finland’s blue line.

Finland was down to the wire in finding replacements for their pair of injuries. There are only 11 active Finnish defensemen in the NHL. With this news, Team Finland has already invited nine of those names to the tournament – leaving Ville Heinola (Winnipeg) and Nikolas Matinpalo (Ottawa) as the only two to not receive a call from team general manager Jere Lehtinen. Heinola and Matinpalo are the only active Finns to play in the AHL this season, excluding Hakanpaa’s pair of minor league outings during a conditioning stint.

While their output pales in comparison to who they’re replacing, Finland will get a nice match of styles in Jokiharju and Vaakanainen. The former has been an aggressive two-way defenseman for the Sabres this season. He only has four points through 36 games this season, but has posted a +6 – just the second positive plus-minus of his seven-year NHL career. He posted his first, a +14, through 74 games last season – and coupled it with a career-high 20 points. Jokiharju is working to rediscover those numbers this season, but nonetheless brings stout neutral zone control to the Finnish lineup. While he controls north of the blue line, Vaakanainen will be tasked with filling Hakanpaa’s stout defensive role. Vaakanainen began this season with the Anaheim Ducks but joined the Rangers after just five games, as part of the deal that sent Jacob Trouba to the west coast. Vaakanainen has since stepped into 21 games with New York, filling a bottom pair role and recording five assists, 10 penalty minutes, and a +2. He’s also been a quietly impactful defender in New York state, bringing physicality and size to a Rangers blue line in need of both. He’ll bring the same attributes to the 4-Nations tournament, and hopefully blend with Jokiharju well enough to somewhat match the top-tier impact lost by Heiskanen’s injury.

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