Evening Notes: Yakemchuk, Dorofeyev, Marchment
Earlier today, Senators top prospect Carter Yakemchuk left mid-game in the AHL due to injury, as reported by Alex Adams of Sportsnet, who also provided the video clip. The defenseman, coming around the corner in his own end, made a routine pass to start the breakout when Bridgeport enforcer Hunter Drew finished a hard check. Such an impact sent Yakemchuk spilling awkwardly into the boards, and he did not return.
Drafted by Ottawa seventh overall in 2024, the 6’3” defenseman is the team’s top prospect, posting an impressive 18 points in 27 games for Belleville in his first professional season. On the other hand, Drew, 27, was a sixth round selection by Anaheim in 2018, appearing in two NHL games in 2021-22, but since then has been a full-time AHLer, even switching from a defenseman to a forward as a professional. Drew regularly surpasses the 100+ annual penalty minute mark, and after taking out a young star, naturally, his actions drew the ire of Belleville.
Further details have not been confirmed on Yakemchuk’s status, but the Alberta native figures to be a huge part of Ottawa’s future. It was already noted in late November that he is likely untouchable in trade discussions, and hopefully as long as he is able to avoid serious injury, the 20-year-old could soon earn a call up and provide a needed boost to the Sens’ right side defense.
Elsewhere across the league:
- Vegas forward Pavel Dorofeyev left last night’s win over Columbus, not returning for the third period, as reported by Danny Webster of the Las Vegas Review-Journal (Twitter link). The 25-year-old is one of the game’s more unsung top scorers, since breaking out last season with 35 goals. He has maintained such levels so far this year with 13 in 31 games, doing all of it at an absurd value, $1.8MM, with pending RFA status at season’s end. No additional updates on Dorofeyev have come yet, with the Knights out of action until next Wednesday, but if he is set to miss time, the winger’s elite power play production will especially be missed. Eight of his 13 goals have been buried on the man advantage.
- Ahead of tonight’s game versus Buffalo, the Seattle Kraken announced that forward Mason Marchment will not play, however it is noted as due to illness, rather than injury. The 30-year-old was an intriguing cap-dump addition by Seattle last summer given his production with Dallas, but the scoring touch has fallen off a bit since then. Marchment found the back of the net twice on Friday, but prior to that, he had just two goals in 26 games. The power forward is drawing trade interest as a pending UFA, but with a $4.5MM cap hit and a modified no trade clause, such a move may require creativity. In Marchment’s absence, 22-year-old Jacob Melanson enters the lineup for his second NHL game. Melanson was drafted in the fifth round by Seattle and projects as a future bottom six winger.
Afternoon Notes: Misa, DiVincentiis, Team Canada
San Jose Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky elaborated on why top prospect Michael Misa missed the start of Team Canada’s World Junior Championship training camp. Misa is not too injured to miss any World Juniors time, but was still considered recovering day-to-day, per Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now. That was enough for San Jose to keep Misa with the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda for a couple more days, and a couple more practices.
Misa taking in a tad more pro coaching before headed to camp will be no bad news for Team Canada. They will be bringing in a potential tournament MVP in Misa, who scored an incredible 62 goals and 134 points in 65 OHL games last season. That earned Misa the second-overall selection in the 2025 draft, behind New York Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer, who will not head to World Juniors camp. Misa will form a formidable top-line with Gavin McKenna and Porter Martone and look to bring Canada their first World Junior Gold since 2018.
Other notes from around the league:
- The Winnipeg Jets have reassigned depth goaltender Domenic DiVincentiis in the wake of Connor Hellebuyck‘s return. DiVincentiis served as backup for a few days after Thomas Milic – who earned three starts in Hellebuyck’s absence – was reassigned earlier in the month. DiVincentiis did not make his NHL debut. He has six wins and a .915 save percentage in 13 AHL games this season, and will battle with Milic for the Manitoba Moose’s starting role.
- Hockey Canada will announce their men’s Olympic roster on New Year’s Eve per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Team Canada has already locked six players into the lineup – Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Connor McDavid, Brayden Point, and Sam Reinhart. They also hosted an orientation camp that invited 42 players to prep for Olympic selection. The camp roster only featured three goalies – Jordan Binnington, Adin Hill, and Sam Montembeault. All three goalies have struggled in the season since, which could make for some interesting decisions come the last day of the year. With Crosby, McDavid, MacKinnon, and Makar getting ready for their first Winter Olympics, Canada will be the early favorite for 2026 Gold.
Hurricanes Activate Jaccob Slavin, Reassign Joel Nystrom
A major piece will be back in the Carolina Hurricanes lineup when the puck drops in Sunday’s matchup with the Philadelphia Flyers. Defenseman Jaccob Slavin was activated from injured reserve just before the game, after being designated as a game-time decision before warmups. He will return from a lower-body injury sustained in the second game of the season. He’s missed the last 29 games. To make room for Slavin’s return, Carolina has reassigned defenseman Joel Nystrom to the AHL’s Chicago Wolves. Nystrom signed a four-year extension on Friday.
Slavin only played in 36 minutes of ice time before going down with injury. He managed no scoring, a minus-one, and three shot blocks in those minutes. But two games was hardly enough for Slavin to settle into his usual role on top of Carolina’s defense. He has averaged more than 22 minutes of ice time each game through 11 years with the Hurricanes. He brings a shutdown presence to hard matchups, giving Carolina the flexibility to deploy offensive defensemen like Shayne Gostisbehere.
The Hurricanes had to turn to a committee approach to round out their top-four in Slavin’s absence. Jalen Chatfield and Alexander Nikishin both rotated into the top-four, while Nystrom did well to carve out a role on an open bottom-pair. The 23-year-old rookie recorded five assists, a plus-three, and 14 shot blocks in the first 24 games of his NHL career. He played well enough to earn a multi-year, seven-figure extension just before this reassignment. That’s a tidy bit of confidence for Nystrom, who had only played in seven AHL games before his name was called to fill-in. He spent the last five seasons with the SHL’s Farjestads BK, where he won a league championship in 2022. Carolina drafted Nystrom in the seventh-round of the 2021 NHL Draft.
Slavin’s return will suddenly provide Carolina with a heap of defense depth, after going through a start to the season that saw most of the blue-line banged up. They will carry a confident three pairs, with Slavin watching over rookie Nikishin, into Sunday’s match against Philadelphia. That should only ramp up a Hurricanes squad that’s gone 6-2-0 in their last eight games, including back-to-back shootout wins in their last two.
Nashville Predators Reassign Zachary L’Heureux
The Nashville Predators announced yesterday that the club has reassigned forward Zachary L’Heureux to its AHL affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals.
L’Heureux was originally recalled from Milwaukee in early November, but suffered a lower-body injury before he could see any game action. The club announced a four-to-six week recovery timeline for L’Heureux on Nov. 8, which was just about five weeks ago, meaning L’Heureux’s actual recovery timeline fell right within the Predators’ original projections.
A 2021 first-round pick, L’Heureux will now return to the AHL, the only level he’s actually played at so far in 2025-26. Despite skating in 62 NHL games last season, L’Heureux didn’t make the Predators’ NHL roster out of training camp in the fall. He’s been a strong top-six scorer since his rookie year in the AHL, and he kept up that pace in seven games to start 2025-26, scoring six points.
At this moment, it does not appear as though L’Heureux faces too steep a hill to climb in order to restore his status as a full-time NHL player. The Predators’ fourth line winger spots yesterday were filled by 2022 first-rounder Reid Schaefer and journeyman Tyson Jost. Schaefer has promise, but has just eight career NHL games to his name. Expecting him to hold an extremely firm grip on an NHL role at this stage would be premature simply given his limited experience in the world’s top league.
Jost is a waiver claim who has just five points in 22 games this season. He is the exact kind of player L’Heureux could force out of the lineup with some exceptional play at the AHL level, though the eventual returns of veteran Cole Smith and hard-working younger Ozzy Wiesblatt from injured reserve could complicate things further.
If L’Heureux can continue to produce at the AHL level and continue to mix his signature traits as an agitator and physical winger into his game, it stands to reason that he’ll line himself up to get back to the NHL roster at some point down the line this year.
Kraken Place Jared McCann On IR, Recall Jacob Melanson
The Seattle Kraken have once again placed their top forward on the shelf. Center Jared McCann has been placed on injured reserve with a lower-body injury that is expected to hold him out for three weeks. With the available roster spot, Seattle has recalled forward Jacob Melanson from the AHL’s Coachella Valley Firebirds.
McCann has only appeared in 11 of Seattle’s 29 games this season. The Kraken have found a way to squeak by in McCann’s absence – with an 8-6-4 record in games he’s missed – but it’s clear how much the lineup misses him. Seattle only scored 44 goals in 18 games without McCann, the sixth-fewest in total and second-lowest on average in the NHL on the days that he’s missed.
The slowing offense is no surprise. McCann has led the Kraken in scoring in every season so far. He scored a then-career-high 50 points in 74 games with Seattle during their inaugural 2021-22 season. That was followed by a 40-goal, 70-point season in 2022-23 that still stands as McCann’s personal best. He’s continued to rival 20-to-30 goals and 60 points over the last two seasons. Even better, McCann had only missed 13 games in Seattle’s first four seasons, stamping him as the focal piece of the offense on a nightly basis.
That focus has been broken up by injury this year. Seattle has instead turned towards Jordan Eberle, Matty Beniers, and Vince Dunn to command their scoring – though none of the three have reached 20 points through 29 games this season. That’s pushed the Kraken to try and find a spark out of rookies like Berkly Catton, Jani Nyman, and Oscar Fisker Molgaard.
Melanson would be another rookie in the lineup, though he’s more likely to find a spot on the other side of the scoresheet. He ranks fourth on the Firebirds with 26 penalty minutes through 23 games this season. That’s been balanced with seven goals and 14 points, already more than Melanson scored in 42 games of last season. He has also posted a plus-five, up from the minus-three he carried through 104 career AHL games entering the season. He’s found a spot as a checking-forward and should give Seattle another option for their fourth-line wings.
Sabres Recall Noah Ostlund, Assign Trevor Kuntar To AHL
Trevor Kuntar’s first NHL stint was short-lived. After his minor league deal was converted to an NHL pact back on Wednesday, his time in Buffalo is up for now as the team announced that they’ve assigned him to AHL Rochester and recalled center Noah Ostlund.
Ostlund has spent the bulk of the season up with Buffalo but with the team needing a seventh defenseman earlier in the week, he was the odd player out with his waiver exemption allowing for a quick solution. The 21-year-old has played in 20 games with the Sabres this season, picking up three goals and three assists while averaging 12:45 of ice time per contest. Ostlund has also gotten into seven games with the Amerks, collecting three goals and seven assists; three of those points came in his game on Wednesday, a mandatory outing before he could become recall-eligible again.
Kuntar is in his first season in Buffalo’s organization after coming over as an unrestricted free agent following his being non-tendered by Boston in June. The 24-year-old leads Rochester in goals this season with nine while also chipping in with four assists in 24 appearances. He made his NHL debut on Thursday, playing 5:12. Now that he’s on an NHL deal, there should be an opportunity for him to come back at some point later in the season whenever injuries arise.
Capitals Activate Charlie Lindgren, Assign Garin Bjorklund To AHL
The Capitals have made a pair of roster moves between the pipes heading into tonight’s game against Winnipeg. The team announced that goaltender Charlie Lindgren has been activated off injured reserve. To make room on the active roster, Garin Bjorklund has been assigned back to AHL Hershey; the roster remains full at 23 players.
Lindgren was placed on injured reserve back on Sunday, retroactive to December 5th so he winds up missing just the minimum amount of action. The 31-year-old has played in 10 games so far this season, putting up a 2.90 GAA and a .893 SV%, numbers that are slightly worse compared to a year ago. His best season came back in 2023-24 when he had a 2.67 GAA, a .911 SV%, and a league-best six shutouts in 50 games but was relegated to backup status when Washington acquired Logan Thompson at the 2024 draft.
As for Bjorklund, he received his first NHL recall on Monday but ultimately didn’t see any game action. The 23-year-old is in his fourth professional season with the first three primarily being spent with ECHL South Carolina. That hasn’t been the case this year, however, as he has only played for Hershey so far, posting a 3.01 GAA along with a .895 SV% in nine games.
Blackhawks Recall Nick Lardis
It has been a very promising first rookie season for Blackhawks prospect Nick Lardis. A strong showing with AHL Rockford has now been rewarded as the team announced that they’ve recalled the winger from the IceHogs. With the move, their roster is now at the maximum of 23 players.
It’s the first recall of his young career. The 20-year-old was a third-round pick by Chicago back in 2023 and has quickly surpassed that draft standing. Lardis had a dominant showing last season in his final year of major junior, collecting a league-high 71 goals and 46 assists in 65 regular season games with OHL Brantford before averaging more than two points per game in the playoffs.
While Lardis hasn’t been able to produce at quite the same rate with Rockford, he has still been quite productive. Entering play today, he sits sixth in AHL scoring and tops among rookies with 13 goals and 13 assists in 24 outings. In a league where only a handful of veterans typically surpass the point-per-game mark, having a first-year pro do so like Lardis is particularly impressive.
Considering how impactful he has been in the minors, it will be interesting to see how Chicago chooses to deploy Lardis. It wouldn’t make sense to pull him up to simply be an extra forward so it stands to reason that he should get his first taste of NHL action soon, perhaps as soon as tonight against Detroit.
Wild Recall Hunter Haight
With Minnesota only carrying the minimum of 12 healthy forwards following last night’s trade with Vancouver, it was only a matter of time before the Wild brought up an extra for depth purposes. That move has now been made as the team announced that Hunter Haight has been recalled from AHL Iowa.
The 21-year-old is in the second season of his entry-level contract and made the team out of training camp, though he only got into a pair of games before being sent down to Iowa. Haight was held off the scoresheet in those outings while averaging 9:22 per game of ice time. He has been recalled three other times before now but those haven’t yielded another NHL appearance yet.
In between, Haight has been in and out of the lineup with Iowa and the going back and forth likely hasn’t helped his cause. After putting up 20 goals and 34 points in 67 games last season in his first professional campaign, Haight has been limited to five goals and one assist in 16 outings with them so far.
If Haight gets into a game on this promotion, he’ll be sporting a new number with his 43 from the start of the season now being earmarked for Quinn Hughes.
With this move, Minnesota’s roster now stands at the maximum of 23 healthy players.
Canucks Place Lukas Reichel On Waivers
As a result of yesterday’s blockbuster trade with the Wild, the Canucks had some roster juggling to do after bringing in three players and only sending one out with only one roster spot available. They dealt with one of the extra slots by putting Marco Rossi on their injured reserve. But one player had to come off the roster and it will be winger Lukas Reichel, who will be placed on waivers at 1 PM CT, reports Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK and The Athletic (Twitter link).
Jeff Paterson of Canucks Army relayed (Twitter link) earlier today that Reichel had been removed from Vancouver’s active roster. Players can be waived with non-roster status and that’s clearly the move that the Canucks have made to get back to compliance.
This was not the plan for Vancouver when they moved a 2027 fourth-round pick to Chicago to acquire him back in October. Reichel had gotten off to a good start with four points in five games before the swap but had fallen down the depth chart, resulting in the Blackhawks giving him a fresh start elsewhere.
Reichel played big minutes upon being acquired, even spending time at center with Vancouver’s injury issues at that position. But the production simply hasn’t materialized as he has just one assist in 14 games following the swap. Meanwhile, his role diminished to the point where he has only played once in the last ten games. Over his career, Reichel has 22 goals and 37 assists in 188 NHL appearances.
The 23-year-old was a first-round pick by Chicago back in 2020, going 17th overall. He’s in the second and final season of a two-year, $2.4MM pact and will be owed a $1.3MM qualifying offer with arbitration rights to become an unrestricted free agent. Based on how things are going, it seems likely that he’s heading towards a non-tender.
That said, players with first-round pedigree often get multiple opportunities so it’s not impossible to think that a team might be interested in taking a flyer on Reichel by 1 PM CT on Sunday, hoping that a different fresh start could get him going offensively. If not and he goes through unclaimed, Vancouver will ultimately clear $1.15MM of his $1.2MM cap charge off the books by assigning him to AHL Abbotsford which would allow them to get out of using LTIR and allow them to start banking salary cap room again.