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Sabres Recall Isak Rosen, Place Conor Timmins On IR

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The Sabres have added some extra forward depth in advance of their game this afternoon against the Islanders.  The team announced that winger Isak Rosen has been recalled from AHL Rochester.  To make room for him on the roster, defenseman Conor Timmins was placed on injured reserve.

Rosen, a 2021 first-round pick, has been back and forth between the two teams this season; this is his third recall of the campaign.  Rosen has played in a dozen games with Buffalo this season and has fared well, picking up three goals and four assists while averaging just over 14 minutes per night of playing time.  However, his waiver exemption likely works against him as when a spot is needed, sending him down is much safer than potentially exposing a different player to waivers.

Meanwhile, the 22-year-old has been a top-flight producer in the minors with the Americans as well.  He leads the league in points per game at 1.47 thanks to tallying a team-high dozen goals with ten assists in just 15 outings.  He’s certainly playing well enough to earn a longer look with Buffalo, we’ll see if he gets that chance this time around.

As for Timmins, his placement should come as no surprise.  It was revealed on Friday that the blueliner is set to miss the next six to eight weeks due to a broken leg, derailing what had been a solid first half of the season as he is averaging a career-best 19:14 of playing time per night.  He’ll now remain on IR until he returns at likely some point in February.

Devils Activate Timo Meier, Assign Two To AHL

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The Devils made a trio of roster moves before Friday’s freeze.  The team announced that winger Timo Meier has been activated off the non-roster list while winger Xavier Parent and defenseman Calen Addison were assigned to AHL Utica.

Meier had been away from the team for a little more than a week due to a family health matter.  The 29-year-old is a key cog in New Jersey’s attack and got off to a strong start this season with 11 goals and 12 assists in 30 games while averaging a little under 19 minutes per game of playing time.  Considering that the Devils are without five forwards at the moment (headlined by Jack Hughes and rookie Arseny Gritsyuk), his return will certainly be a significant one.

As for Parent, he received his first career NHL promotion earlier this month.  The 24-year-old got into five games with the Devils while on recall but was held off the scoresheet while recording two shots and seven hits in 8:34 of ice time per night.  Parent has been fairly productive in the minors with the Comets though, chipping in with six goals and six assists through 20 appearances so far.

Addison, meanwhile, received his first recall of the season last weekend but didn’t see any game action.  A veteran of 152 career NHL appearances over parts of four seasons, the 25-year-old has gotten into 21 games with Utica, picking up two goals and seven assists.  He and Parent will have to play in at least one game with the Comets before becoming recall-eligible again.

As a result of these moves, New Jersey now has one vacancy on its 23-player roster.  That spot could be filled before long by one of their players currently on IR or a recall later on from the Comets.

Lightning Recall Jakob Pelletier And Jack Finley, Place Brandon Hagel On IR

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The Lightning have brought up a pair of wingers in advance of their game tonight against Carolina.  The team announced that they have recalled Jakob Pelletier and Jack Finley from AHL Syracuse.

Pelletier is in his first season with Tampa Bay after signing a three-year deal with them in free agency.  However, he didn’t make the team in training camp and cleared waivers, paving the way for him to be sent down.

The 24-year-old played in one game with the Lightning in mid-November but has been with the Crunch exclusively beyond that.  Pelletier has been quite productive in Syracuse as he’s tied for the league lead in scoring with 15 goals and 16 assists in just 24 games.  Nearly a career point-per-game player in the minors (161 points in 163 outings), it will be interesting to see if he gets more of an offensive look with some of Tampa Bay’s better forwards banged up.

To that end, team reporter Benjamin Pierce relays that winger Brandon Hagel will miss his second straight game with an upper-body injury sustained earlier in the week against Florida.  While not announced by the team, he has been moved to injured reserve, per the NHL’s Media Site, meaning he’ll likely be out through the holiday break.  The 27-year-old has been one of Tampa Bay’s top performers this season, collecting 18 goals and 13 assists in 31 games.  Meanwhile, winger Nikita Kucherov is listed as a game-time decision due to illness.

Finley, meanwhile, returns from a conditioning stint that lasted just three games.  He did well in those outings, picking up a goal and two assists while getting a chance to play a much bigger role than he did with Tampa Bay.  The 23-year-old has been limited to just 11 games with the Lightning this season where he has a goal and an assist while averaging 8:49 per game of ice time.  More specifically, he had only suited up twice since November 25th so the timing was right for him to go down and get some work in with the Crunch.

Minnesota Wild Recall David Spacek

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The Minnesota Wild announced today that David Spacek has been recalled their AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild. In a corresponding move, Daemon Hunt has been placed on IR.

The move comes just a day after the Wild recalled another young blueliner: 2021 first-round pick Carson Lambos. Minnesota is dealing with some injuries on its defense, namely to veterans Jonas Brodin, Jacob Middleton, and Zach Bogosian, as well as the aforementioned Hunt.

Adding Spacek alongside Lambos, who shoots left, gives Wild head coach John Hynes an additional right-shot defenseman to work with. The 22-year-old, who is the son of former NHLer Jaroslav Spacek, is a draft-and-develop success story for the Wild. He was selected in the fifth round, No. 153 overall, at the 2022 Entry Draft.

While he’s yet to make his NHL debut, this isn’t his first call-up. Spacek was recalled in early November, but was sent down five days later after serving as a healthy scratch for the team’s Nov. 11 game against the San Jose Sharks.

Now in his third campaign playing pro hockey, Spacek has emerged as a call-up option for the Wild. He’s climbed the team’s organizational depth chart in that period. The former QMJHL star had an up-and-down rookie professional campaign, scoring only 12 points and spending a little bit of time in the ECHL. But Spacek took a major step forward in 2024-25, scoring 31 points and establishing himself as a two-way, top-four AHL force.

Entering the season, both The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler and the team at Elite Prospects ranked Spacek as the No. 11 prospect in the Wild’s system, with Wheeler saying specifically that Spacek is “on a path to becoming a No. 5-7 D.” David St-Louis, lead scout at Elite Prospects, wrote at the time that “Spacek could give the Wild some good games as a call-up.”

Spacek has now earned another call-up to the Wild’s roster, so it’s possible that St-Louis’ prediction could come true in short order. Should Spacek get the chance to make his NHL debut, he’ll do so in relatively favorable circumstances. The Wild are on a roll, winning five consecutive games and going 7-2-1 in their last ten.

Minnesota lined up with a third pairing of Matt Kiersted and David Jiricek on Tuesday. Kiersted has played in just two NHL games this season and is a candidate to be replaced in the lineup by Lambos.

The Wild have a significantly higher level of organizational investment in Jiricek compared to Kiersted, which may help him stay in the lineup. Minnesota dealt a slate of draft picks, including a 2025 first-rounder, 2027 second-rounder, and 2026 third-rounder, to acquire Jiricek last November. But seeing as he hasn’t registered a point through 15 games and is averaging 12:28 time on ice per game, he could be the right-shot defenseman to exit the lineup in the event the club wants Spacek to make his NHL debut.

New York Islanders Recall Marshall Warren

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The New York Islanders have recalled defenseman Marshall Warren from the club’s AHL affiliate, the Bridgeport Islanders.

The move comes shortly after the Islanders reassigned blueliner Travis Mitchell to Bridgeport after a nine-game recall. Mitchell is one NHL game away from becoming eligible for waivers, so reassigning him yesterday kept New York from potentially needing to expose him to waivers down the line if he was reassigned at a different, later point.

Like Mitchell, Warren also made his NHL debut in 2025-26. Warren was first recalled on Oct. 25 and ended up playing in two games for the Islanders before he was sent down on Oct. 28. Warren made an instant impact in his NHL debut, registering two assists in the club’s shootout loss to the Philadelphia Flyers. He skated 12:56 in the team’s following game before he was returned to the AHL.

Warren was also recalled in November, but didn’t dress for any games, instead serving as a healthy scratch for three contests. A 2019 sixth-round pick of the Minnesota Wild, Warren had a four-year NCAA career at Boston College before spending his final season of college hockey at Michigan. He scored 17 points in 53 games last season, his first playing pro hockey, and has 12 points through 17 games in the AHL this season.

He’s playing out the final year of his entry-level contract, one that pays him a $775K base salary at the NHL level and a $75K salary at the AHL level, with a $50K signing bonus. He’ll be an RFA with arbitration rights in the summer unless he signs an extension before that point.

Mitchell played on the left side of the Islanders’ third pairing alongside veteran Scott Mayfield, so his reassignment yesterday opened a spot in head coach Patrick Roy’s lineup. But Newsday’s Andrew Gross reported today that Adam Boqvist skated alongside Mayfield during practice, signaling that Warren is likely to begin his recall as a healthy scratch, at least for tomorrow’s game against the Canucks. Boqvist, the 2018 No. 8 overall pick, has been a healthy scratch in nine of the Islanders’ last 10 games.

Maple Leafs Assign Marshall Rifai To AHL On Conditioning Loan

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The Toronto Maple Leafs announced today that defenseman Marshall Rifai has been assigned to the club’s AHL affiliate, the Toronto Marlies, on a conditioning loan.

Rifai has spent the entirety of this season so far on long-term injured reserve after undergoing wrist surgery in September. He sustained the injury during a preseason contest against the Montreal Canadiens. The 27-year-old didn’t play any NHL games in 2024-25, but was looking to make a push for consideration to land on the NHL roster this year. His injury stopped him from making his case in preseason and training camp, but now he appears to be nearing a return to full health.

Rifai will be able to spend up to 14 days or five games, whichever comes first, on this conditioning loan. For Rifai to be eligible for reassignment to the Marlies on a permanent basis, he will need to clear waivers.

The 6’2″, 211-pound defenseman was an undrafted signing out of Harvard University that Toronto made in 2022. He scored 16 points and logged 118 penalty minutes in his AHL rookie campaign in 2022-23 and earned his first two NHL games in 2023-24, the only two NHL games of his career thus far.

While Toronto has had to deal with several defensive injuries so far in 2025-26, it’s unclear whether those absences will be enough to secure Rifai a spot on the NHL roster. Given his level of experience thus far, it feels as though the far likelier outcome is that he lands on waivers for reassignment to the Marlies permanently.

The fact that Rifai is signed to a one-way $775K AAV contract with an additional year of term on it does make it likelier that, in the event that he is waived, he’ll be able to clear.

While a team such as the Maple Leafs, who are one of the most deep-pocketed teams in the NHL, can afford to pay NHL salaries to key AHL call-up options, other clubs simply don’t have the same level of financial muscle and therefore are more frugal when it comes to expenditures on AHL players.

This impacts a team’s ability to protect its waiver-eligible depth from claims by rival teams, as players with a lower financial commitment required are often seen as more suitable, low-risk candidates to be claimed on waivers.

To illustrate this reality, one can take a look at the nearby Buffalo Sabres, as there is a clear comparable defenseman to Rifai: former Quinnipiac Bobcat Zach Metsa. Like Rifai, Metsa is also a 27-year-old undrafted player who signed out of the NCAA. While Rifai has an additional full year of AHL experience, which does matter, Metsa did have a notably superior college career. He captained Quinnipiac to a national championship and won numerous individual honors.

Both Metsa and Rifai are playing on two-year extensions and spent all of 2024-25 in the AHL; Metsa scored 46 points in 69 games as a two-way blueliner while Rifai scored 13 points in 63 games as more of a defensively-oriented, physical blueliner.

Despite their generally comparable levels of experience and Metsa’s arguably more pronounced level of on-ice value in the AHL, Rifai earned a one-way deal in each year of his extension, while Metsa got a two-way structure on his extension.

Metsa’s deal pays him $250K at the AHL level in its first year and has a $325K guarantee for 2026-27. Rifai, as mentioned, will make $775K per year over the course of his deal, regardless of what level he is rostered at.

There are some notable differences between the two players, to be clear, and one could make the argument that Rifai’s play style is more in line with what a team might be looking for out of a call-up option. But the differences in their levels of compensation do nonetheless serve as a useful illustration of the unique financial muscle the Maple Leafs are able to flex to help them build organizational depth.

While the NHL salary cap does limit player expenditure at the highest level, Rifai is an example of how a wealthier team can leverage its deeper pockets to create team-building advantages for itself on the margins.

As a result, if Toronto does end up waiving Rifai at some point down the line now that he is nearing a return from injury, the contract they gave him will most likely contribute to him clearing.

Atlantic Notes: Tuch, Sabres, Forsling, Bell

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Almost as soon as the Buffalo Sabres formally transitioned to a new regime led by Jarmo Kekäläinen, trade speculation had increased around winger Alex Tuch. On last night’s rendition of TSN’s OverDrive, the crew reported that Tuch is seeking a larger extension than what winger Adrian Kempe signed with the Los Angeles Kings.

Understandably, that report only served to increase speculation around the possibility of Tuch being moved from his hometown franchise by this year’s trade deadline. Michael Augello of The Hockey News believes that if the Sabres aren’t interested in going beyond an eight-year, $85MM ($10.625MM AAV) extension for Tuch, they should move on sooner rather than later.

In fairness, if that is where the market is at for top-six wingers, Kempe is the best comparable for Tuch to use. Each player is 29 years old and has averaged around 0.85 points per game since the 2021-22 campaign. Still, unless other moves are made, Buffalo will enter the summer months with just over $21MM in cap space, meaning if they gave Tuch what he wants, they would have already used more than half of their financial resources.

Other notes from the Atlantic Division:

  • Staying in Buffalo, on Monday’s episode of Oilersnation Everyday, David Pagnotta of TheFourthPeriod asserted that Kekäläinen wasn’t necessarily the Sabres’ first choice last summer. Pagnotta shared that Buffalo reached out to longtime front office leaders: Ken Holland and Lou Lamoriello. Obviously, neither executive moved forward with the Sabres, as Holland joined the Kings as Vice President and General Manager. At the same time, Lamoriello has yet to find a new job after being ousted by the New York Islanders.
  • According to George Richards of Florida Hockey Now, defenseman Gustav Forsling wasn’t on the ice with the Florida Panthers this morning for practice. The belief is that Forsling is nursing an arm or hand injury after blocking a shot during Monday’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Fortunately, given the line rushes the team was using, there’s no expectation that Forsling will be out long, if at all.
  • In the AHL, the Belleville Senators, affiliate of the Ottawa Senators, are making a move at head coach. TSN’s Bruce Garrioch reported that Belleville fired head coach David Bell and has promoted Andrew Campbell in the interim. Bell had been the Senators’ head coach for the last three years, managing a record of 83-69-12-8. The team didn’t qualify for the postseason last year and is currently in fifth place in the North Division.

Minnesota Wild Activate Marcus Foligno, Reassign Hunter Haight

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Earlier today, the Minnesota Wild made their activation of veteran winger Marcus Foligno from injured reserve official, and reassigned Hunter Haight to their AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild.

Foligno, 34, hasn’t played since Nov. 26 due to a lower-body injury, an injury that ultimately cost him nine games. Foligno is a key defensive forward and off-ice leader for the Wild, someone who provides value to head coach John Hynes even when he’s not producing. That’s been the case this season, as Foligno has just two assists and no goals in 23 games played. He managed 14 goals and 29 points last season, but that offense has seemingly dried up this year.

Foligno is still the Wild’s No. 4 penalty-killing forward in terms of ice time this season, behind Matt Boldy, Nico Sturm, and Joel Eriksson Ek. His return will give the Wild’s penalty kill a much-needed boost, as despite the team’s incredible run of form, their penalty kill only ranks 22nd in the NHL in success rate. Getting Foligno back should help increase that number, even if it may come at the cost of some offensive production.

Now healthy and back in the lineup, the clear mandate for Foligno, beyond just maintaining his level of consistency as a defensive forward, will be finding ways to get back onto the scoresheet with a little bit more regularity. While he could certainly maintain his lineup spot as a leader and pure defensive specialist, the level of investment the Wild have in him changes the expectations surrounding his play.

He’s set to cost the club $4MM against the cap through 2027-28, and at that rate, the Wild are likely looking for a level of production more in line with last season’s numbers. The Wild are unlikely to expect Foligno to do much offensive heavy lifting, but he’s capable of being a more impactful secondary scorer than he’s been so far in 2025-26.

Foligno’s return cost Haight his spot on the NHL roster, but that’s not a massive surprise as Haight has been shuffled between Iowa and Minnesota quite a few times this season.

The 2022 second-round pick has scored five goals and six points in 16 AHL games this season and has dressed for two NHL games, though the most recent was on Oct. 11. Haight’s contract carries a two-way structure with an $800K NHL salary and $82.5K AHL salary. While he didn’t play any games on his most recent recall, his time on the NHL roster did have a notable financial benefit.

St. Louis Blues Reassign Hugh McGing

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The St. Louis Blues announced today that the club has reassigned forward Hugh McGing to their AHL affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds.

The 27-year-old forward was originally recalled by the Blues from Springfield on Dec. 8. McGing served as a healthy scratch the next day for the Blues’ game against the Boston Bruins, but drew into the lineup for the team’s following three contests.

McGing made an instant impact during his recall, scoring his first NHL goal during the team’s road loss to the Nashville Predators. McGing also added the first assist of his career a few nights later, during the Blues’ second loss to the Predators of December.

A 2018 fifth-round pick of the Blues, McGing played his first NHL game in 2022-23 and got into five games in 2023-24. He spent all of last season in the AHL but earned an early recall this season in part due to his record of steady production at the AHL level.

While he has just six points through 18 AHL games this season, he’s managed to score at least 30 points for the Thunderbirds in every full season he’s played there. He’s become a consistent, reliable presence in Springfield, a development that paved his way to the NHL.

While his most recent recall has come to an end, McGing’s NHL performance put him on the radar for future call-ups. Even as the Blues struggle to build momentum in the standings this season, and are at risk of playing out the latter part of their season outside of the playoff picture, each game would have serious weight for McGing, especially from a financial perspective.

He’s a pending unrestricted free agent who could leave the Blues organization for the first time in his career. He’s playing out a two-year, two-way deal that carries a league-minimum $775K NHL cap hit and a $250K AHL salary. Given his slow start to the season in terms of AHL production, he’ll need to earn as many NHL games as possible if he wants to make a push to earn a one-way contract, or a heftier AHL guarantee, in free agency this summer.

Montreal Canadiens Reassign Sam Montembeault To AHL On Conditioning Loan

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The Montreal Canadiens announced today that netminder Sam Montembeault has been reassigned to the club’s AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket, on a conditioning loan.

According to Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports, Montembeault “agreed to be sent down to finish the week” in Laval, and Lavoie added that “it’s smarter” for Montembeault to get the chance to play for the Rocket later this week in Cleveland and then meet the team on the road in Pittsburgh on Sunday

Montembeault last appeared in a game for the Canadiens on Dec. 9, but has not started a game since Dec. 2. Montembeault has endured the worst season of his tenure in Montreal since arriving as a waiver claim early in the 2021-22 campaign.

Through 15 games this season, Montembeault has an .857 save percentage. That’s a steep decline from the quality .902 mark he posted a year ago, and his form in recent games has been a far cry from the level of performance that earned him a spot on Team Canada for the 4 Nations Face-Off.

So much of the challenge of being a high-end goaltender in the NHL is managing the mental side of the position, as the ebbs and flows of a player’s confidence can prompt wild swings in performance. The position is widely viewed as an inherently volatile one, from a performance perspective, and the wild change in Montembeault’s year-over-year performance is a clear illustration of that consensus belief in action.

Montembeault started off the season poorly, failing to register a .900 save percentage in five of his first six games of the season. Things have only spiraled downwards from that point, and as Sportsnet’s Eric Engels wrote, Montembeault “wasn’t rebuilding confidence in games with the Canadiens,” so now he’ll get the chance to rebuild his confidence at the AHL level.

Despite his struggles in 2025-26, the Canadiens appear committed to Montembeault, something that is unsurprising given the organization’s level of financial investment in the player. He remains under contract for an additional season at a $3.15MM cap hit, and while that isn’t an exorbitant or unfair sum by any means (one could actually make the argument that Montembeault was severely underpaid in the first year of that deal), it’s not exactly the kind of cap hit a team can bury in the AHL or easily move on from.

So the best route for the Canadiens and Montembeault appears to be exactly the route they’re taking, which is exhausting every option to try to rebuild Montembeault’s decimated confidence level.

With Montembeault now in Laval, the Canadiens are left with two goalies on their NHL roster. Top prospect Jacob Fowler was highly impressive in his first start against the Pittsburgh Penguins, but lost his footing a little bit during his second start, when the Canadiens collapsed and were on the wrong end of a comeback victory against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.

Fowler will get the nod against the Flyers tonight, but waiting in the wings is Jakub Dobes, a 24-year-old who emerged as the club’s backup last season. Dobes has been inconsistent this season, at times performing as poorly as Montembeault, and at times showcasing the form that earned him an NHL role in 2025-26. Dobes’ most recent start was a step in the right direction, with the Czech netminder making 27 saves on 28 shots in the team’s win over the Edmonton Oilers, earning first star of the game honors in the process.

Photos courtesy of Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

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