Chris Driedger Terminates Deal With KHL’s Traktor
The rotation of goaltenders between North American and European pros is set to continue. Former Ottawa Senators goaltender Chris Driedger has terminated his deal with the KHL’s Traktor Chelyabinsk after playing in 23 games with the club. His next steps haven’t yet been laid out. Driedger has played in 67 NHL games and 217 AHL games over a 10-year pro career.
Russia was meant to offer the 31-year-old a fresh start after he managed an 11-9-6 record and .875 save percentage in 25 AHL games last season. Instead, his struggles continued overseas, with Driedger posting an 8-9-0 record and a .897 save percentage with Traktor. Chelyabinsk as a club is tied for the most goals allowed (98) in the KHL through their first 30 games.
Traktor will turn to 26-year-old Sergei Mylnikov to relieve Driedger’s starting role. Mylnikov hasn’t played since late October, as Traktor tried to force Driedger onto the positive side by awarding him every start in November. Now, the career backup will get his first chance to step into lofty minutes. He’ll be backed up by 23-year-old Saveli Sherstnev.
Meanwhile, Driedger will re-enter free agency. He seems destined for a return to North America, where he spent the entirety of his pro career prior to this season. He has had moments of genuinely strong play, including a .933 across 35 games with the Florida Panthers between 2019 and 2021. But a move to the Seattle Kraken in 2021 knocked his save percentage below .900. He was able to get above that mark in the minors – and even reached a .917 save percentage in 39 games with Coachella Valley in 2023-24. But it didn’t stick at the top flight, pushing Driedger to move across the world this summer.
Should he return to North America, Driedger would likely be set for a return to the AHL, where he’ll have a chance to earn a starting role once again. He’ll have to find success in that path before a return to the NHL comes into focus, especially after a down year in one of Europe’s top leagues.
Sabres Activate Zach Benson, Assign Isak Rosen To AHL
Ahead of today’s game, the Buffalo Sabres shared that forward Isak Rosen is headed to AHL Rochester, and in a corresponding move, fellow forward Zach Benson has been activated off injured reserve.
It had been speculated yesterday that Benson was nearing a return, and now Buffalo eagerly welcomes back the skilled youngster ahead of a big matinee tilt hosting Carolina. Sidelined with a lower-body injury throughout the month, the 20-year-old returns with a point-per-game pace in eight games so far, all assists. Somewhat unusually for a player drafted 13th overall (2023), Benson wasted no time becoming an NHLer, already with 154 games to his name at age 20. The winger has not yet jumped off the page statistically, with a career high of 30 points, but now healthy, Benson could be in for a major breakout going into 2026.
On paper, the move to send down Rosen is a bit of a head scratcher. The 22-year-old former first round pick has shown serious improvement so far this year, with seven points in ten games, especially while filling in during Benson’s absence. However, with waiver exemptions in mind, the choice essentially came down to Rosen or Noah Ostlund, another first round selection. Head Coach Lindy Ruff has opted to keep the true center Ostlund in the lineup, set to hold things down on the third line today. Elsewhere, 26-year-old depth forward Joshua Dunne also appears set on Buffalo’s fourth line for the foreseeable future, as clearly they chose Rosen to go down, not risking losing Dunne on waivers.
Such a transaction for Rosen may be short-term, but Rochester will be glad to have the Swede for the time being. Despite playing in half the games as his counterparts, Rosen is right amongst the Americans’ leaders in points, with 12 in eight games. Buffalo’s performance this afternoon may indicate if another shake-up is in order, with Rosen coming back sometime before December.
Mammoth Assign Kevin Rooney To AHL
The Utah Mammoth announced today that forward Kevin Rooney has been assigned to the Tucson Roadrunners of the AHL. Rooney has been bouncing between Utah and their affiliate throughout November, being last recalled to the big club last week, only to now be headed back down.
Signed by Utah in October on a one-year, two-way deal, after a PTO stint in camp with New Jersey where he had hoped to return to his original club albeit unsuccessfully, the veteran center figures to be surefire organizational depth to slot in if needed. Despite considerable time spent with Utah so far this season, Rooney has yet to play in a game. In six AHL appearances he had netted three goals out of the gate.
Originally undrafted out of Providence, Rooney made stops with the Devils, Rangers and Flames, establishing himself as a legitimate NHLer with relentless penalty killing efforts but never posting more than 14 points in a season. Despite setting a career high 70 appearances with Calgary in 2024-25, now 32, it appears Rooney’s NHL opportunities are sparse.
With 330 NHL games under his belt however, Rooney figures to be strong leadership for Tucson alongside longtime AHL star Andrew Agozzino and fellow veteran Kevin Connauton. Still, Utah seems to have Rooney on speed dial, and at some point the center could earn his way into the Mammoth lineup in 2025-26, extending an admirable underdog career in the NHL.
Detroit Red Wings Recall Erik Gustafsson
The Detroit Red Wings have recalled Erik Gustafsson from their AHL affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins. In a corresponding move, the club has placed forward Elmer Soderblom on injured reserve, retroactive to Nov. 9.
These moves place Gustafsson in position to potentially make his season debut for 2025-26. The veteran did not make the Red Wings’ NHL roster out of training camp, and has spent the entirety of the season thus far in the AHL. Through 10 games with Grand Rapids, Gustafsson has eight points, and is the most experienced blueliner available on the Griffins for the Red Wings to call up.
This recall indicates that Gustafsson is above fellow veteran Justin Holl in the team’s call-up priority order. Holl has just three points in 11 AHL games this season, though it’s important to draw a distinction between the style each blueliner plays when comparing the two. Holl has a more defensively-oriented game than Gustafsson, who is a natural puck-mover and power play quarterback.
Gustafsson was also the more successful NHL player than Holl, or at least reached a higher peak at the NHL level. In 2018-19, Gustafsson scored 60 points, leading all Chicago Blackhawks defensemen in scoring. As recently as 2022-23, Gustafsson remained an effective generator of offense from the blue line. He scored 42 points in 70 games between the Washington Capitals and Toronto Maple Leafs, and followed that up with 31 points in 76 games playing 2023-24 for the New York Rangers.
It was after that strong campaign on Broadway that Gustafsson earned the two-year, $2MM AAV deal he’s currently playing out. His tenure in Michigan hasn’t gone to plan, though, as he scored just 18 points in 60 games in 2024-25 and appears to have been passed by several young defensemen, something that culminated in him needing to start the year in the AHL.
With this recall, he gets the chance to return to an NHL roster and perhaps get into some NHL games. While Gustafsson wouldn’t be a natural fit for that role as a left-handed defenseman, his addition to the roster could allow the Red Wings to take veteran Travis Hamonic, who has struggled this season, out of the lineup.
The chance to get back into the NHL and potentially hold down a spot in an NHL lineup is a significant opportunity for Gustafsson. As a pending UFA, spending the year in the AHL would likely do significant damage to his hopes of securing a strong contract in the upcoming free agent market. Assuming he gets the chance to draw into head coach Todd McLellan’s lineup, it’ll be very important that he finds a way to make a positive contribution.
Soderblom, a forward, was also involved in a transaction today, although his was more of a procedural move to clear a roster spot for Gustafsson to occupy. Soderblom has been out for two weeks with an undisclosed injury, and it’s unclear at this point what his timeline is to return.
The fact that his IR placement was retroactive does provide Detroit with the flexibility to activate him whenever he’s ready, though, bypassing the customary one-week waiting period mandated by standard, non-retroactive IR placements.
Senators Activate Thomas Chabot, Assign Lassi Thomson To AHL
The Senators have made a pair of roster moves in advance of their game tonight against San Jose. First, the team announced that defenseman Lassi Thomson has been sent back to AHL Belleville. That opened up a roster spot which will be filled by blueliner Thomas Chabot who has been activated off injured reserve, per the NHL’s Media site.
Chabot has missed a week and a half due to an upper-body injury sustained against Dallas. Before the injury, the 28-year-old was his usual two-way self on the back end, picking up two goals and eight assists in 17 games while blocking 35 shots and averaging a little under 22 minutes per game of playing time, second only to fellow blueliner Jake Sanderson.
Chabot will likely play on the second pairing in his return and it would make sense for Nick Jensen to move back into the other spot on that duo, a pairing that has played a lot together in the early going. Whose spot Chabot takes in the lineup isn’t as certain though as Nikolas Matinpalo left Thursday’s game due to an injury. If he can’t play, then Chabot will take his place but if Matinpalo is available, it could be him or Jordan Spence being scratched.
As for Thomson, the 25-year-old was brought up earlier this week as injury insurance for the first leg of Ottawa’s road trip but didn’t see any game action. He last played in the NHL in the 2022-23 campaign and has five assists in 18 career NHL appearances. In 15 games with Belleville, he has three goals and an assist.
Oilers Recall Connor Clattenburg, Place Noah Philp On LTIR
The Oilers have made a pair of roster moves in advance of their game on Saturday against Florida. The team announced that they have recalled forward Connor Clattenburg from AHL Bakersfield. To create enough cap space to be able to afford the recall, forward Noah Philp has been placed on LTIR.
Clattenburg was a fifth-round pick back in the 2024 draft, going 160th overall in his second year of eligibility. The 20-year-old had 16 goals and 19 assists along with 108 penalty minutes in 46 games last season with OHL Flint before making his professional debut with one late-season game with Bakersfield.
This is Clattenburg’s first full professional season, one spent exclusively with the Condors to this point. His offensive production has been rather limited thus far with just one goal and one assist in 15 games although his 59 penalty minutes are the fourth-highest in the league. If he gets into Edmonton’s lineup, it’s likely that he’ll be suiting up on the fourth line.
As for Philp, he suffered an upper-body injury earlier this week and while the initial diagnosis was that he’d miss at least the next three games, he’ll be out considerably longer with this move as LTIR carries a minimum absence of 10 games and 24 days. The 27-year-old is in his first full NHL season and has primarily played on the fourth line with the Oilers; he has two goals and an assist in 15 appearances while averaging 10:02 per night.
Panthers Recall Jack Devine
Nov. 19: The Panthers made Devine’s recall official this morning and placed winger Jonah Gadjovich on injured reserve in the corresponding move, per PuckPedia. Gadjovich won’t be back anytime soon after undergoing surgery to address an upper-body injury earlier this month, putting him out through early February.
Nov. 18: The Florida Panthers have recalled top prospect Jack Devine and could award him his NHL debut in Thursday’s matchup against the New Jersey Devils, per George Richards of Florida Hockey Now. Devine currently leads the Charlotte Checkers in scoring with 12 points in 13 games.
Devine has continued the hot start to his pro career that began when he scored seven points in his first 10 AHL games at the end of last season. It continues a streak of scoring that stretches back to his days with the U.S. National Team Development Program in 2019-20 and 2020-21. He scored 34 points in 42 games in the USHL, but had his U18 season cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic. That gave him little runway into a quiet freshman year at the University of Denver. He recorded 19 points and a plus-12 in 36 games while operating from the fourth line of a Pioneers squad that’d run all the way to a National Championship. Still, that performance flew under the radar enough for Florida to land Devine with the third-to-final pick in the 2022 NHL Draft.
He took off after the draft, climbing to 31 points in 38 games as a sophomore, then emerging as Denver’s star in his junior year. Devine posted Denver with 27 goals, 56 points, and a plus-29 in 44 games – leading the Pioneers in scoring en route to their second National Championship in three years. He led the team again last year, with 57 points in 44 games.
Devine has had the arc of a draft gem and will get his first chance to prove it on Thursday. He’s a true playmaker with a strong build and sharp thinking under pressure. That could be an X-factor addition to the Panthers, who have posted a 3-2-0 record across their last five games.
Bruins Recall Michael Callahan
The Boston Bruins have recalled forward Michael Callahan from the AHL. This is Callahan’s second call-up of the season. He played three games in his first stint and posted no scoring, three hits, and six blocked shots. He recorded one goal, a minus-five, and seven penalty minutes in 17 NHL games last season.
Callahan attended Providence College from 2018 to 2022, and captained the school in his final three years. He moved across town to join the Providence Bruins in 2022, and has emerged as a core piece of the blue-line in five years since. The AHL Bruins even awarded Callahan with an alternate captaincy in 2023. He has only scored 38 points across 197 games in the AHL, but stands out at a fundamental defender who uses a strong stick and physical presence to close out opponents.
Now entering him prime years, the 26-year-old Callahan has stepped up as a go-to call-up for the Bruins. He’ll offer a more mobile alternative to rookie Jonathan Aspirot, who has yet to score a point through his first eight NHL games. Neither defender have played many minutes in the NHL ice time they’ve received, though Boston has leaned slightly more on Callahan, who has averaged 16 minutes of ice time this season to Aspirot’s 14.
Senators Prospect Tyler Boucher Out Week-To-Week, Mads Sogaard Back
Belleville Senators forward Tyler Boucher will miss “weeks” with an upper-body injury, head coach David Bell told TSN 1200 on Tuesday. Boucher sustained his injury after tangling skates with a member of the Laval Rockets, and falling hard into the boards, in Belleville’s loss on Sunday.
This is yet another injury for the former 10th-overall pick. Boucher has been limited in every season dating back to the 2020-21 campaign – his draft year. Through the years he has sustained a torn labrum that required surgery, a groin injruy, mutliple knee injuries, and a leg injury from a player falling on him last January. Looking back on his string of misfortune, Boucher told TSN’s Claire Hanna that he felt he was due for a good year during Ottawa’s training camp. 12 games into the season, that sentiment has turned into a jinx.
Boucher seemed to be finding his way in Belleville to start the year. He had six points and a plus-two on the year, including two points and seven shots on goal in his last four games. He was gradually climbing the lineup after posting just 15 points in 68 games over the last two AHL seasons. Now, he’ll land on the shelf once again, though seemingly for only a little while this time around.
In positive news, Bell also shared that goaltender Mads Sogaard is healthy to return to the Belleville after recovering from an undisclosed injury sustained on October 27th. It appeared to be a lower-body injury, caused by Toronto Marlies forward Jacob Quillan tumbling into the goaltender. Sogaard had to be helped off the ice, while Qullian had to answer to Belleville bruiser Jorian Donovan.
Sogaard will be a nice addition to Belleville’s lineup, even after a slow start to the year. He posted no wins and a .830 save percentage in three games to start the year – but also boasts the fourth-most NHL experience on the Belleville roster behind Arthur Kaliyev, Scott Harrington, and Olle Lycksell. Sogaard has recorded 11 wins and a .879 save percentage in 29 career appearances with Ottawa, to go with 50 wins and a .904 save percentage in 107 AHL games. His slow start, and injury, should default him to a role behind Hunter Shepard when he returns. Shepard leads Belleville with four wins and a .911 save percentage in eight games. Sogaard should back him up, especially with teammate Leevi Merilainen currently recalled to the NHL.
Metropolitan Notes: Holmström, Jarry, St. Ivany
New York Islanders forward Simon Holmström will be a game-time decision for Tuesday’s game against the Dallas Stars due to an illness. He would leave a notable hole in the Islanders lineup if he can’t take the ice. Holmström is one of eight Islanders forwards to play in all 19 games this season. He has four goals and nine points in those appearances – ranking him seventh on the team in goals and ninth in points.
Holmström’s scoring hasn’t taken off yet this season, but his lineup role has grown over the year nonetheless. He averaged over 18 minutes in ice time over New York’s recent four-game winnning streak, helped along by three of those games going into overtime. Holmström’s growing role is largely thanks to his impact away from the puck. He leads the team’s forwards with 22 blocked shots, and ranks fifth in takeaways with four. He’s shown a nice bit of well-roundedness after scoring 20 goals and 45 points in 75 games last season. The Islanders will hope to continue getting that toolsy impact on Tuesday. If Holmström can’t play, the team will likely turn towards Kyle MacLean, who has one assist in 10 appearances this season.
Other notes from the Metropolitan Division:
- Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry returned to the team’s practices on Tuesday per Seth Rorabaugh of Tribune-Review Sports. Jarry hasn’t played since sustaining a lower-body injury on November 3rd. He was off to an impressive start before the two-week absence, recording a .911 save percentage and five wins through seven starts. 21-year-old Sergey Murashov has emerged as an interesting piece in Jarry’s absence. He posted his first career win – a shutout – in Pittsburgh’s NHL Global Series matchup against the Nashville Predators on Sunday. Pittsburgh is unlikely to let a rookie goaltender usurp their veteran starter, but Jarry’s return could push Murashov into a competition for the backup role with Arturs Silovs, who has a .918 save percentage and four wins in 10 games.
- Penguins defenseman Jack St. Ivany also returned to practice donning a no-contact jersey on Tuesday, per Rorabaugh. St. Ivany sustained an injury to his right foot in a preseason matchup on October 1st. He was originally designated to the non-roster injured list, meaning Pittsburgh will need to clear a roster spot to activate him from season-opening injured reserve – as they will when they activate Jarry. St. Ivany split last season between the NHL and AHL rosters. He scored one assist in 19 games with Pittsburgh, and 16 points in 37 games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. That deployment could make him a prime candidate for an AHL conditioning loan, or even an AHL assignment, once he’s back to full health.