Rangers Activate J.T. Miller From Injured Reserve
The Rangers have activated forward J.T. Miller from injured reserve ahead of tonight’s clash with the Sabres, Mollie Walker of the New York Post relays. They have an open roster spot, so there’s no need for a corresponding transaction.
Miller hasn’t played since Dec. 20 due to an upper-body injury, keeping him out of a seven-game stretch that included the Winter Classic. Outside of the resounding outdoor victory, the Blueshirts haven’t fared very well without their captain, going 2-3-2 to fall to a 20-18-6 record on the year that has them third-last in the Eastern Conference.
After missing the playoffs last season, the Rangers’ possession game has improved by several degrees under head coach Mike Sullivan, but has been plagued by a lack of finishing ability. Perhaps no player better encapsulates those struggles than Miller, who’s having his worst offensive showing in seven years. The Rangers gave up a first-round pick and young center Filip Chytil to net Miller from the Canucks last year and named him captain at the beginning of this season, but he’s responded with a conservative 10 goals and 22 points in 35 games.
The 32-year-old Miller is seventh on the team in scoring outright and fifth in points per game despite averaging nearly 21 minutes of ice time. He has provided value in other areas, leading the team with a 59.9 faceoff win percentage and ranking fourth with 74 hits, but his -11 rating is second-worst on the team behind William Cuylle.
For a team missing its starting goalie and top defenseman, as well as multiple depth forwards, they’ll take any help they can get, though. Miller will skate as the Rangers’ second-line left winger with Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafrenière in his return, according to Vince Z. Mercogliano of The Athletic.
Sharks Acquire Nolan Allan, Laurent Brossoit
The Sharks have acquired defenseman Nolan Allan, goaltender Laurent Brossoit, and a 2028 seventh-round pick from the Blackhawks in exchange for defenseman Jake Furlong, a 2028 fourth-round pick, and the contract of retired defenseman Ryan Ellis, both teams announced.
While Brossoit is the highest-priced piece of San Jose’s pickups, Allan’s name is of most intrigue. A first-round selection by Chicago out of WHL Prince Albert in 2021, he’s now in his third professional season. The 22-year-old has been in AHL Rockford for the entirety of 2025-26 but gained a fair bit of NHL experience last season, frequently forming a shutdown pairing with veteran T.J. Brodie and recording eight points and a -13 rating in 43 games.
Nonetheless, Allan’s development hasn’t panned out as the Blackhawks hoped. Drafted as a shutdown D-man, his game hasn’t shown much development since debuting in the AHL in 2023. He ends his time in Rockford with 29 points and an even rating in 109 games, including six points and a -2 rating in 29 appearances this year.
Although it’s peculiar to see Chicago leverage Allan’s name in a move that’s otherwise a swap of negative-value contracts, it’s not surprising to see them move on. He was no longer even considered a top-15 prospect in their pool by McKeen’s Hockey entering the season and had little to no pathway to an NHL role with Alex Vlasic, Wyatt Kaiser, Kevin Korchinski, and Ethan Del Mastro all on the Hawks’ roster or system as more certain long-term options on the left side of their defense.
With the blue line being a bit of a weaker spot in the Sharks’ similarly well-stocked prospect pool, it makes sense they’d take up an interest in a shutdown rearguard with first-round pedigree. While Sam Dickinson is ticketed as their long-term left-side anchor, they don’t have very much behind him in terms of younger pieces aside from 2023 fourth-rounder Luca Cagnoni, who profiles as a high-end power play quarterback but faces questions of how well his defensive game will develop at even strength. Allan will thus immediately take on a significant role with the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda as he works to climb back to the NHL.
As for Brossoit, the 32-year-old gets the change of scenery he and the Blackhawks were looking for after he finally returned to play from a year-plus absence last month. One of the best pure backups in the league earlier in the decade, he signed a two-year, $6.6MM contract with Chicago in free agency in 2024 but sustained an offseason meniscus injury that effectively derailed his career.
After multiple knee surgeries and a hip procedure last summer, Brossoit finally returned to practice with the Hawks in November and started in Rockford on a conditioning stint in December. With no real spot available for him on the NHL or AHL depth chart after such a long absence, he cleared waivers without incident, and Chicago has been looking for a trade partner ever since.
Brossoit has done reasonably well in his return to play, logging a .901 SV% and 3.38 GAA and a 3-3-0 record in six games with Rockford. For a Sharks team that faced questions about its goaltending depth entering the season, he’s a legitimately impactful pickup. He won’t be supplanting Yaroslav Askarov or Alex Nedeljkovic on the NHL roster anytime soon, but he’s a significant upgrade as their third-stringer and AHL starter over Jakub Skarek, who owns a .894 SV% in 16 appearances for the Barracuda.
Chicago’s return centers around Ellis. The 35-year-old has now been traded twice since effectively hanging up his skates following a pelvic tear in 2021 that ended his career just four games into his tenure with the Flyers. The longtime Predators top-four piece remained on Philadelphia’s books until the beginning of this season, when the Sharks picked up his contract in the trade that sent Carl Grundström to Philadelphia in order to help them stay above the cap floor.
Ellis’ deal, which carries a cap hit of $6.25MM, runs through next season. Chicago pulled a similar move at last year’s trade deadline to help them stay above the cap floor, acquiring Shea Weber‘s deal from Utah. Weber’s contract expires next summer, though, so adding Ellis will give them floor protection heading into next season as they continue to hand the keys to their roster over to their next wave of young prospects on cheap entry-level deals.
As well as a three-round pick upgrade in the 2028 draft, the Hawks land some AHL depth in Furlong to help offset the loss of Allan and to keep the Sharks from exceeding the 50-contract limit, which they’re currently at. A fifth-rounder in 2022, Furlong was a dynamic two-way rearguard in juniors with the QMJHL’s Halifax Mooseheads but hasn’t yet found any success at the pro level. The 21-year-old is in his second AHL season and has been limited to one goal, 10 points, and a -20 rating in 78 games with the Barracuda, including just 12 appearances this year as a frequent healthy scratch.
Image courtesy of Russell LaBounty-Imagn Images.
Kings Recall Cole Guttman, Place Trevor Moore On IR
The Kings announced they’ve recalled forward Cole Guttman from AHL Ontario on an emergency basis. Winger Trevor Moore was moved to injured reserve, retroactive to Dec. 29, in the corresponding move.
If Guttman plays, it would be his first NHL action in nearly two years. A sixth-round pick by the Lightning in 2017, he opted not to sign with them and instead inked an entry-level deal with the Blackhawks after captaining the University of Denver to a national championship in 2022.
Initially, it looked like the 5’9″ pivot would be able to carve out an NHL role. He spent most of his first year in the minors but impressed with 30 points in 39 games as a rookie. He also didn’t look out of place in his time on Chicago’s roster, scoring four goals and six points through his first 14 NHL games.
Guttman has remained a high-end AHL producer in the years since, but a lack of physicality and inconsistent two-way play have kept him from seeing much NHL time. He did get into another 27 games with the Blackhawks in 2023-24, but after recording eight points and a garish -17 rating, he was sent back to the minors, where he remained through last season until becoming a Group VI unrestricted free agent.
The Kings pounced and signed him to a two-year, two-way deal this offseason. His AHL resume was impressive enough to warrant a rather high $475K guarantee – after all, he’d managed 127 points in 148 games with Rockford over the years.
The California native has largely kept up the pace after returning home. The 26-year-old ranks fourth on the Ontario Reign in scoring with 23 points (nine goals, 14 assists) in 31 games.
He joins a Kings forward group that was forced to dress only 11 forwards in yesterday’s overtime loss to the Sharks. Moore, Joel Armia, and Anže Kopitar were all unavailable and are listed as day-to-day entering tomorrow’s matchup with the Jets. Moore has been out the longest, sitting out four games with an illness and an upper-body injury, so he was the logical IR candidate. He can be activated at any time since he’s already missed more than seven days.
Pre-injury, Moore was having a tough year. He’s been money in the bank for at least a 40-point pace since being acquired from the Maple Leafs in 2020, but has just five goals and 13 points in 37 showings in 2025-26. That’s a points per game pace of 0.35, his worst in a full season in Los Angeles.
Wild Place Tyler Pitlick On Waivers
The Wild have placed forward Tyler Pitlick on waivers, per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.
Whether he’ll be assigned to AHL Iowa if he clears remains to be seen. The Wild have already waived Pitlick once this season solely with the intention of resetting his waiver-exempt clock rather than removing him from the roster.
Pitlick, 34, now has more than a decade of experience in the NHL. Once a journeyman bottom-six staple, he’d faded into press box/call-up territory in recent years but has found a bit more stability in Minnesota this season. He didn’t see NHL ice at all in 2024-25, spending most of the year on an AHL contract in the Bruins organization, before landing a two-way deal from the Wild last offseason.
The Minneapolis native peaked as a bottom-six player with some penalty-killing ability in the late 2010s, once recording a career-high 14 goals and 27 points with the Stars in 2017-18. Overall, he’s averaged 11 goals and 20 points per 82 games in his NHL career, but has just one goal in 23 games for the Wild this year.
Averaging 7:49 of ice time per game, he’s the Wild’s least-used forward and ranks near the bottom of the team with a 41.2% Corsi share at even strength. He does rank fourth on the club with 58 hits, at least bringing a physical element to Minnesota’s fourth line.
He’ll now be available for 31 other teams to grab, but after already clearing waivers once in-season, he’s a safe bet to remain in the organization. With Minnesota’s forward group at full health, he’s been a healthy scratch in nine straight and appears set for a press-box role for the foreseeable future.
Blue Jackets Place Mason Marchment On IR, Dysin Mayo On Waivers
Jan. 8: Mayo cleared waivers and has been reassigned to Cleveland, per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.
Jan. 7: The Blue Jackets announced they’ve placed winger Mason Marchment on injured reserve retroactive to Jan. 4. He sustained an upper-body injury in that day’s game against the Penguins and is considered week-to-week, the team said. They’ve recalled forward Mikael Pyyhtia from AHL Cleveland in a corresponding move. Additionally, defenseman Dysin Mayo has been placed on waivers and will be assigned to Cleveland tomorrow if he clears.
Marchment, 30, was scratched for yesterday’s 5-2 loss to the Sharks due to the injury. He didn’t appear to miss any action against Pittsburgh, so a week-to-week designation without any obvious-to-sight injury comes across as worse than expected. He would be eligible to come off IR as soon as Sunday against the Mammoth, but will seemingly miss several more games than that.
Acquired from the Kraken on Dec. 19, the trade has breathed new life into Marchment’s game. The 6’5″ lefty is tied with Kirill Marchenko for the team lead in goals since the swap with five. That’s one more than he had in 29 games with Seattle to begin the season.
The top-nine spark plug is now up to 20 points in 36 games on the year. That works out to 0.56 per game, his worst pace since 2022-23 with the Stars. Despite that, he’s still shooting a bit above his career average, so he’ll need to focus on continuing to get more pucks on net with Columbus when he returns to avoid a bout of regression.
Marchment had been skating on the Jackets’ top line with Marchenko and Adam Fantilli. Dmitri Voronkov took over those duties against San Jose and was dominant at 5-on-5, with that line controlling shot attempts 13-2.
It’s not anticipated that Pyyhtia will enter the lineup against the Golden Knights tomorrow. Instead, he comes up as Marchment is flexed to IR to give Columbus a healthy extra for the press box. With Marchment, Isac Lundeström, and Miles Wood now off the active roster, the Jackets’ forward depth has been stretched thin.
There are far worse recall options than Pyyhtia, though. The 24-year-old was a fourth-round pick in 2020 and has 66 games of NHL experience, including a career-high 47 appearances last season. After failing to crack the Jackets’ opening night roster this season, he’s put up nearly a point per game with Cleveland while leading the team in scoring (7-15–22 in 23 GP).
Mayo had become expendable after the club’s signing of Egor Zamula yesterday. He had been serving as a press-box defenseman with Erik Gudbranson and Brendan Smith on IR, but with Jake Christiansen set to be supplanted by Zamula in the lineup, Mayo was a redundancy. The 29-year-old righty has one assist in two outings for Columbus this year, as well as seven points and a -2 rating in 19 games for Cleveland.
Kraken Recall Oscar Fisker Molgaard
Fresh off being named to Denmark’s roster for the 2026 Winter Olympics, center Oscar Fisker Molgaard has been recalled by the Kraken, the team announced. They’ve been operating with an open roster spot for quite some time, so no corresponding move is required.
Molgaard, 21 next month, was a second-round pick in 2023. Just two years on from being drafted, he’s already got NHL games under his belt. Seattle recalled Molgaard for a pair of games in November, recording an assist and going 5-for-7 on faceoffs in the process, before being swiftly returned to AHL Coachella Valley when Jared McCann returned from a lower-body injury.
Now, with Jaden Schwartz on injured reserve and Eeli Tolvanen dealing with an illness, Fisker Molgaard will get another crack at entering the lineup. Even if he’s just around for a few games as an extra forward, it’s an indication of how pleased the organization has been with his development. The lanky 6’0″ pivot had a pair of strong seasons in Sweden’s top league with HV71 after being drafted, notching 40 points in 88 games before coming to North America.
In his first season of pro hockey stateside, Molgaard ranks fourth on Coachella Valley in scoring with a 6-12–18 line in 30 games. A good skater with a great shot, he’s been the centerpiece of Denmark’s national junior teams for several years and already has three World Championship appearances with the senior team under his belt, including a great showing in 2025 with seven points in 10 games. He figures to slot into the Danes’ top-six forward group at the Olympics alongside fellow NHLers Oliver Bjorkstrand, Nikolaj Ehlers, Lars Eller, and Jonas Rondbjerg.
Blue Jackets’ Brendan Smith Undergoes Meniscus Surgery
The Blue Jackets announced that defenseman Brendan Smith underwent successful surgery on Tuesday to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee. He’s been given a three-to-four-month return timeline, potentially ending his season.
Columbus’ final game of the regular season is on April 14. They have five games between then and April 6, which would be the three-month mark since Smith’s surgery, so in the most optimistic scenario, he’d be available for the final few games. In the overwhelmingly likely event that the Jackets don’t make the playoffs, those will be his only opportunities to add to a limited games played total for 2025-26.
Smith, 36, went unsigned all summer after spending 2024-25 as an extra defenseman for the Stars. He landed a professional tryout from Columbus in August but didn’t land an NHL contract out of training camp, instead agreeing to a deal with the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters. In late November, with the Jackets needing to add a body from Cleveland amid Erik Gudbranson‘s injury troubles, they opted to sign Smith to a two-way deal instead of recalling someone already under contract.
The 15-year vet stuck on the Jackets’ bottom pairing from the very beginning of his recall before sustaining the meniscus tear against the Senators on Dec. 29. In 15 games, he scored two assists with a -1 rating while averaging just 11:05 of ice time per game.
He largely did his job as a low-event stopgap at 5-on-5. Columbus only allowed 28.0 shots against per 60 minutes with Smith on the ice, the best figure among their seven qualified D, but they also only generated 22.16, the worst figure by a significant margin. All told, they were outchanced 72-49 with Smith on the ice at even strength.
The news of Smith’s surgery won’t cause much of a domino effect. He had already been placed on IR, and they filled in his vacated spot on the depth chart by signing Egor Zamula to a one-year, $1MM deal on Tuesday.
Smith will head into unrestricted free agency next summer. With such a limited resume for 2025-26 and undergoing a significant surgery this late in his career, retirement is far from being out of the question.
Team Slovakia Announces 2026 Olympic Roster
Slovakia became the latest country to announce its roster for next month’s Olympics this morning. Now, only the host country, Italy, has yet to release its full roster for the event, which begins on Feb. 11.
Forwards:
- Peter Cehlarik (Leksand/SHL)
- Dalibor Dvorsky (Blues)
- Marek Hrivik (Vitkovice/ELH)
- Libor Hudacek (Ocelari Trinec/ELH)
- Milos Kelemen (Dynamo Pardubice/ELH)
- Adam Liska (Severstal Cherepovets/KHL)
- Oliver Okuliar (Skelleftea/SHL)
- Martin Pospisil (Flames)
- Pavol Regenda (Sharks)
- Adam Ruzicka (Spartak Moscow/KHL)
- Juraj Slafkovsky (Canadiens)
- Matus Sukel (Litvinov/ELH)
- Samuel Takac (Slovan Bratislava/Slovakia)
- Tomas Tatar (Zug/NL)
Defensemen:
- Peter Ceresnak (Dynamo Pardubice/ELH)
- Erik Cernak (Lightning)
- Martin Fehervary (Capitals)
- Martin Gernat (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl/KHL)
- Michal Ivan (Bili Tygri Liberec/ELH)
- Patrik Koch (Ocelari Trinec/ELH)
- Martin Marincin (Ocelari Trinec/ELH)
- Simon Nemec (Devils)
Goaltenders:
- Adam Gajan (Minnesota-Duluth/NCHC)
- Samuel Hlavaj (Wild)
- Stanislav Skorvanek (Mountfield/ELH)
While most secondary hockey powers that have released their Olympic rosters in recent days have had a clear weak spot on defense, the same can’t be said for the Slovaks. Five of their eight defenders have NHL experience. Three of them are currently playing impact roles in the bigs, with Cernak and Fehervary serving as top-four staples in Tampa and Washington, while Nemec is amid a breakout season in New Jersey. Koch only had a cup of coffee with the Coyotes in 2023-24, but Marincin, now 33, played in 227 games across eight seasons with the Oilers and Maple Leafs from 2013-20.
The men between the pipes are the biggest question marks as they attempt to upset one of Finland or Sweden for a top-two spot in Group B (the host Italians pose little threat to them for third place). None of them has NHL experience, although the two youngest names on the list are both NHL-affiliated.
Hlavaj, 24, was an undrafted free agent signing by Minnesota in 2024 out of Plzen in the Czech Extraliga. He started for them in the Olympic qualifiers last year and is the expected No. 1 heading into the tournament, but he’s having a tough year with a .876 SV% in 13 games for AHL Iowa. Gajan, an unsigned second-rounder by the Blackhawks in 2023, is having a breakout year in college and will compete with the European pro veteran Skorvanek for backup duties.
As for the forwards, the most experienced NHLer on the entire roster is Tatar, who’s no longer in the league after signing in Switzerland last summer. Tatar and Marincin are the only returning members from the 2014 Olympics, the last time NHLers were permitted to attend. The 35-year-old had 496 points in 927 career NHL games before heading off to Zug, where he’s tied for third on the National League club in scoring with 23 points in 26 games.
The rest of Slovakia’s high-profile offensive talent is on the younger side. Dvorsky and Slafkovsky were both top-10 picks in the last four years, with the former just beginning to lock down an NHL role with St. Louis. Pospisil, 26, has back-to-back 20-point seasons in Calgary but hasn’t played yet this year due to an undisclosed injury. Regenda has bounced between the NHL and AHL with the Ducks and Sharks over the past several years, but has been on a tear in San Jose this season, scoring six goals in six games.
Montreal Canadiens Reassign Adam Engstrom
The Montreal Canadiens announced today that defenseman Adam Engström has been reassigned to the team’s AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket.
Engström, 22, finishes what was his first-ever NHL recall with 11 games played. While he wasn’t able to collect his first NHL point, Engström showed some flashes playing in what was a sheltered third-pairing role. He averaged 12:32 time on ice per game, which ranks as the second-lowest average time on ice per game among Canadiens defensemen this season, ahead of only Arber Xhekaj.
Despite the limited usage and lack of any production, Engström doesn’t return to the Rocket empty-handed. He showed flashes of what made him the Canadiens’ No. 6 prospect, according to Elite Prospects. Engström’s game is built around his mobility and his poise, and in December The Athletic’s Arpon Basu wrote that the Canadiens “clearly have a promising talent in Engström.”
Now slated to return to Laval, it’s likely Engström will resume playing a key role for the Canadiens’ AHL affiliate. He scored 16 points in just 20 games before his recall, and could form a formidable top pair alongside 2023 No. 5 pick David Reinbacher. If the Canadiens face an injury to the left side of their defense, expect Engström to be first in line for a recall.
Engström’s reassignment also signals that top-four defenseman Kaiden Guhle could be nearing a return to the ice. Guhle has been out since Oct. 16 with a groin injury. He underwent adductor muscle surgery on Nov. 14 and was originally given an eight-to-ten week recovery timeline. Tomorrow will be eight weeks since that point, placing Guhle squarely within that originally projected return window.
If the Canadiens do end up getting Guhle back, his return would be a significant boost to the team’s defense. While it wouldn’t be without complications — star defenseman Lane Hutson would likely have to be shifted to the right side, where he has been less dominant than he’s been on his natural left side — the overall effect on the team’s blueline will almost certainly be positive.
Guhle is a key top-four defensive defenseman for the club and should help lighten the load placed on the shoulders of veteran Mike Matheson. Matheson leads all NHL defensemen in short-handed ice time per game with 4:18 per contest, and ranks No. 8 in the NHL in time-on-ice per game despite barely receiving any power play time. If Engström’s reassignment does indeed signal a Guhle return, the Canadiens defensive deployment is likely to soon change.
Luke Schenn Reportedly Open To Trade
The Winnipeg Jets have been arguably the NHL’s most disappointing team this season, as last year’s Presidents’ Trophy winners have fallen to last place in the league standings.
Owners of a 10-game losing streak, the Jets look increasingly unlikely to return to the postseason this Spring, and as a result, increased focus is being paid to whether or not the Jets might look to trade away some veteran assets to help re-tool their roster.
While it appears highly unlikely that Winnipeg would pursue major roster surgery — much of the lineup that got 56 wins and 116 points last season remains intact — it could be that the club looks to replenish some of its lineup by trading away a few pending free agents that it may not have interest in re-signing. One name that looks poised to be a trade candidate is that of 1,100 game veteran Luke Schenn.
Schenn, 36, is playing out the final year of the $2.75MM AAV free agent contract he signed in 2023 with the Nashville Predators. David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reported that while Schenn hasn’t requested a trade, “there is some word” that he “wouldn’t mind a change of scenery.”
Schenn is Winnipeg’s most sparingly-used defenseman, averaging just 13:32 time on ice per game. While he’s still playing a role on the penalty kill (1:44 per game) his usage is well below where it was in Winnipeg (17:28 per game) last season. Schenn has also been a healthy scratch at times this season, including four times in the team’s last eight games.
The Athletic’s Chris Johnston listed Schenn No. 8 on his third trade board of the season today, writing that the veteran will “carry value as a right-shot defenseman ideally suited for third-pairing duty.”
The Jets surrendered two draft picks (second and fourth-round choices) to acquire Schenn, and it’s unlikely, as Johnston noted that they’d be able to get that kind of value back in any Schenn deal.
But even if they won’t end up getting a huge amount back in a trade, a Schenn deal could accomplish two key, useful objectives for the club.
Firstly, if Schenn indeed would prefer a deal away from Winnipeg, trading him would be doing right by a well-respected veteran player. Clubs are always striving to build a reputation as a place that treats its players well, and the Jets would be able to enhance their reputation in that area by giving Schenn the chance to compete for another Stanley Cup ring elsewhere.
Secondly, trading Schenn would not only clear the pro-rated portion of his $2.75MM cap hit off their books, it would also open up a roster spot, and some ice time, for some of the other Jets blueliners. 21-year-old Elias Salmonsson, for example, could benefit from the additional ice time.
In addition, the Jets have a few other defensemen playing at the AHL level that could stand an increased chance at getting an NHL look if Schenn is traded. 6’4″ right-shot blueliner Tyrel Bauer, for example, plays a similar style to Schenn on the Moose and plays a regular role on their penalty kill. The Jets have yet to test him at the NHL level, though he has nearly 200 games on record for the Moose.
He’s a pending restricted free agent, and trading Schenn could allow the Jets to give Bauer a look at the NHL level, which could go a long way in informing what kind of deal they’re prepared to offer him in his upcoming restricted free agency.
Ultimately, while the Jets certainly aren’t in the on-ice position they hoped, or expected, to be in 2025-26, there are still steps they can take to make the most of what has thus far been a miserable NHL season. Trading Schenn, who would be open to a deal per Pagnotta, could be the start of a set of moves in Winnipeg designed to reboot the roster.
Photos courtesy of James Carey Lauder-Imagn Images