New Jersey Devils Reassign Brian Halonen
The New Jersey Devils have reassigned forward Brian Halonen to their AHL affiliate, the Utica Comets, according to a team announcement. The move drops the Devils down to 13 forwards on their active roster with 22 of 23 spots filled.
Halonen, 26, has played in nine games with New Jersey this season, his original NHL recall coming on Oct. 12 as part of the team’s response to the injury suffered by veteran winger Evgenii Dadonov.
Of Devils players to play more than one game in the NHL this season, Halonen ranks last in average time-on-ice per game. He’s played in just a shade over seven minutes of ice time per game, with the entirety of that usage coming at even strength. He did manage to score his first NHL goal during this recall, in the team’s Nov. 1 contest against the Los Angeles Kings.
As a depth forward who did not present any special teams utility to the Devils, it is not a massive surprise to see Halonen sent down. The former undrafted NCAA free agent has mostly been an AHL scorer for the Comets since he signed his entry-level deal with New Jersey in 2022.
The Minnesota native has posted solid numbers at the AHL level, scoring 103 points across 168 career games. He’s been especially effective as a goal scorer, notching 27 tallies last season and 20 across just 35 games in 2023-24.
While he’s received just 13 total NHL games in his career, his nine-game stint on his most recent recall was by far his most extensive NHL opportunity so far in his career. His quality goal-scoring performances in the AHL have propelled him to the top of the Devils AHL recall pecking order, and it would be no surprise to see him back on the team’s NHL roster at some point down the line.
Halonen is playing out the final year of a two-year, two-way contract that pays him a league-minimum salary at the NHL level and a $275K salary at the AHL level. If Halonen can continue to earn NHL call-ups and put together another 20-plus goal season in Utica, he could push for a one-way contract (or at least a really high-end AHL guarantee) in his upcoming unrestricted free agency.
Flames Recall Daniil Miromanov, Place Zayne Parekh On IR
6:00 p.m.: Huska provided some more clarity regarding Parekh’s timeline today, according to Flames Nation’s Ryan Pike. Huska told the media that Parekh’s injury is considered “week-to-week.” Pike also noted that while Parekh is on injured reserve, games played by the Flames will still “count” for Parekh regarding the 40-game threshold that would see him accrue a year of service time towards unrestricted free agency.
While there’s still a long way to go before the Flames have to begin seriously thinking about any looming UFA status for Parekh, who is just 19 years old, Parekh’s UFA timeline could come into play in future extension talks. It is generally viewed as more expensive for a team to sign a contract covering a year where a player would be eligible for unrestricted free agency compared to restricted free agency. As a result, even though any unrestricted free agency for the player seems to be far away at this point, it is still an aspect of this injury news that is notable.
11:57 a.m.: After losing defenseman Zayne Parekh to an upper-body injury last night against Chicago, the Flames are bringing up a replacement for him. The team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled blueliner Daniil Miromanov from AHL Calgary. To make room on the roster, Parekh was placed on injured reserve.
Miromanov broke camp with the Flames but playing time was rather difficult to come by as he was in the number eight role. As a result, he was placed on waivers a little under three weeks ago and after clearing, he was sent to the Wranglers. In seven games with them so far, the 28-year-old has done relatively well, picking up a goal and three assists.
Miromanov has 94 career NHL games under his belt, one coming this season. He got into a career-best 44 games with the Flames in 2024-25 where he had nine points and 55 blocked shots while averaging 17:41 per night. In the final season of a two-year, $2.5MM deal, he’s slated to become an unrestricted free agent this summer and might be staring down a possible salary reduction.
As for Parekh, head coach Ryan Huska told reporters postgame including Postmedia’s Daniel Austin that the rookie was set to miss some time, even though they don’t yet know the full extent of the injury. With this placement, he’ll be out for at least one week. Parekh recently officially began the first season of his entry-level contract once he eclipsed the nine-game mark and has one assist in 11 outings in 2025-26 while playing a little under 15 minutes a night.
Capitals Activate Ethen Frank, Assign Spencer Smallman To AHL
The Capitals have made a pair of roster moves heading into tonight’s game against Tampa Bay. The team announced that they have activated winger Ethen Frank off injured reserve. To make room on the roster, forward Spencer Smallman has been sent back to AHL Hershey.
Frank didn’t make Washington’s roster out of training camp but was recalled less than two weeks into the season. However, the 27-year-old sustained an upper-body injury in his third game of the year, landing on IR soon after. Frank has an assist in those three outings to go along with four goals and three assists in 24 games with the Caps last season in his first taste of NHL action. He also had two goals and three helpers with the Bears prior to his recall.
As for Smallman, the 29-year-old received the first recall of his career last weekend. However, he will have to continue to wait to make his NHL debut as he was the reserve forward for Washington while on recall. Smallman had two goals and an assist in six outings with Hershey before the recall and has ranged between 21 and 34 points in his last four minor league campaigns.
With these roster moves, Washington’s active roster remains at the maximum of 23 players.
Rangers Place Matt Rempe On IR, Send Connor Mackey To AHL
Nov. 8: The Rangers announced that Mackey has been sent back down to Hartford. He didn’t see any game action while on recall. They now have one open roster slot.
Nov. 3: The New York Rangers have recalled defenseman Connor Mackey from the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack. They have also placed enforcer Matt Rempe on injured reserve, per the NHL media site. Rempe is expected to be out long-term after sustaining an injury in a fight with San Jose Sharks bruiser Ryan Reaves.
Mackey has bounced between the NHL and AHL lineups this season, but has still found his way into all nine of Hartford’s games so far. He’s posted two assists, one penalty, and a minus-five in those appearances, and also serves as one of four alternate captains. Despite the routine call-ups to the Rangers roster, Mackey hasn’t appeared in the NHL since December 2024, when he appeared in two games and recorded no points and one fight. He’s played just three NHL games since 2023, and 42 across a five-year career. He’s posted 11 points, 80 penalty minutes, and a minus-one in the NHL.
Mackey will serve as an insurance option for New York’s extra defenseman Urho Vaakanainen, who is day-to-day with a lower-body injury per Stephen Whyno of AP News. Vaakanainen has played in 10 games and recorded one assist, eight penalty minutes, and a plus-one this season. He is expected to be replaced in the lineup by fellow left-shot defenseman Matthew Robertson, who has one goal in seven NHL games this season.
To make room for Mackey’s recall, the Rangers will now move Rempe to the inactives list. The 6-foot-9 bruiser managed one goal, seven penalty minutes, and a plus-one in nine games before going down with injury. He looked noticeably more impactful when play was moving this season, taking a stride towards impact that helped round out his enforcer presence. New York has turned towards Jonny Brodzinski to fill Rempe’s fourth-line role. Brodzinski has two points in five games this season.
Wild Assign Tyler Pitlick To AHL
The Wild have opened up a roster spot as the team announced (Twitter link) that winger Tyler Pitlick has been sent down to AHL Iowa. They now have 22 players on their active roster.
The 34-year-old was recalled last month and got into nine games. That’s particularly noteworthy as had he suited up one more time, he would have needed to pass through waivers to return to Iowa. By sending Pitlick down now, they can hold onto his waiver exemption a little while longer.
In those nine outings, Pitlick was held off the scoresheet offensively but added 24 hits and 22 penalty minutes in 7:23 per game of ice time. 20 of those penalty minutes came on Thursday against Carolina after he was given a match penalty for a hit on Carolina’s Jalen Chatfield. It appears the league rescinded that penalty as no supplemental discipline came his way.
In his career, Pitlick has played in 429 NHL games over parts of 11 NHL seasons and has 56 goals and 53 assists in those appearances. He had two goals in three games with Iowa before being recalled last month.
Maple Leafs Recall Dennis Hildeby
With Joseph Woll (conditioning stint) not yet ready to rejoin the Maple Leafs and Cayden Primeau’s performance as the backup landing him on waivers where he was claimed by Carolina, they need a new short-term second option. That will be netminder Dennis Hildeby as the team announced (Twitter link) that he has been recalled from AHL Toronto.
Hildeby appeared to be set to be the backup heading into the season following Woll’s absence and James Reimer being released from his late-camp PTO but Primeau’s claim at the end of training camp ended those plans. Instead, the 24-year-old was sent down to the Marlies with an eye on seeing more playing time than he otherwise would have received as the backup to Anthony Stolarz.
That hasn’t gone quite to plan, however. Hildeby has only made five starts for the Marlies (Primeau made three for the Maple Leafs over that same stretch) so he didn’t wind up seeing much extra action. Over those outings, he has a 2.74 GAA and a .890 SV%, a step back on his career averages of 2.54 and .908 respectively over 78 AHL appearances. Hildeby has six career NHL outings under his belt, all coming last season when he posted a 3.33 GAA and a .872 SV%.
With Toronto kicking off a back-to-back set tonight, it stands to reason that Hildeby will likely get the nod on Sunday against Carolina. But that might be his only action while on this recall with Woll likely to rejoin the big club and come off LTIR within the next week or so.
Hurricanes To Activate Two Off IR, Recall Gavin Bayreuther From AHL
There are plenty of injury updates from Carolina heading into their game tonight against Buffalo. Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News & Observer relays (Twitter link) that wingers Eric Robinson and William Carrier will suit up tonight, meaning they will be activated off injured reserve. However, the news isn’t all good as defenseman Jalen Chatfield is now out indefinitely; head coach Rod Brind’Amour is uncertain if the blueliner is dealing with a concussion after taking a hit from Minnesota’s Tyler Pitlick on Thursday. That resulted in the team announcing that blueliner Gavin Bayreuther has been recalled from AHL Chicago with Chatfield landing on injured reserve as the corresponding move.
Robinson had a breakout year last season, his first in Carolina. He picked up 14 goals and 18 assists (both career bests) in 82 games, earning himself some much-desired job security as he signed a four-year, $6.8MM deal in advance of free agency back in June. The 30-year-old got off to a nice start to this season as well, collecting three goals and an assist in seven outings despite his playing time dipping below 10 minutes a night. He has missed a little more than two weeks with an upper-body injury, landing retroactively on IR ten days ago.
Carrier, meanwhile, was injured in the same game as Robinson last month, suffering a lower-body injury. His first season with Carolina in 2024-25 was injury-riddled as he only was able to suit up in 43 games where he had 11 points and 156 hits, not a great return in the first season of a six-year deal. This season, the 30-year-old has a goal and two assists through his seven outings in a little over 10 minutes a night of action. With Carolina having two open roster spots following yesterday’s demotion of Bradly Nadeau to the minors, no other moves need to be made to activate Carrier and Robinson.
As for Chatfield, he has been his usual steadying presence on the back end. In the second season of a three-year, $9MM deal, the 29-year-old has three assists and 14 blocks in his first 13 games while averaging just under 20 minutes a night. He has once again been a big part of Carolina’s penalty kill, carrying the second-highest ATOI among their blueliners in that situation while they sit well above the league average in shorthanded success rate. Chatfield will now miss at least a week as a result of the IR placement.
Bayreuther returned to North America for this season after spending the 2024-25 campaign in Switzerland, signing a one-year, two-way deal back in July. He cleared waivers at the end of September and has spent the full season so far with the Wolves, tallying three goals and three assists in nine games. Bayreuther has 122 career NHL games under his belt over parts of four seasons, the most recent of which came back in 2022-23 with Columbus.
Hurricanes Reassign Bradly Nadeau
The Carolina Hurricanes have assigned top prospect Bradly Nadeau back to the AHL’s Chicago Wolves. Nadeau played six games and scored his first NHL goal on this recall. That was his only point, though, and he’ll now return to the minor-leagues after no scoring in his last three games.
Nadeau has carved out a reserved seat in Chicago’s top-six this season. He scored four points in three games before being recalled to Carolina. That mark ranked third on the team in scoring at the time, though he’s fallen to eighth in six games since his call-up. He’ll face the challenge of climbing back up Chicago’s scoreboard following this move, a task that should prove easy for the former first-round pick. Nadeau scored 58 points in 64 games of his rookie AHL season last year, the most of any Wolves rookie since 2007. He carved out a top-line spot next to Ryan Suzuki and Justin Robidas, one that stuck around through the first two weekends of this season. He’ll return to that spot when Chicago takes on rivalry matchups versus the Iowa Wild and Grand Rapids Griffins this weekend.
Nadeau was also a hot scorer in junior hockey. He scored 45 goals and 113 points with the BCHL’s Penticton Vees in the 2022-23 season, the most of any draft eligible prospect in the BCHL since Beau Bennett (120 points) in 2009-10 and Kyle Turris (121 points) in 2006-07. That scoring earned Nadeau the 30th-overall selection in the 2023 NHL Draft. He followed that up with 19 goals and 46 points in 37 games at the University of Maine, again a milestone mark – the most from a teenager in the Maine roster since Steve Kariya (50 points) in 1996-97 and Paul Kariya (100 points) in 1992-93. Nadeau has found impressive scoring at every step from juniors to the AHL, and while his impact away from the game will need to continue improving, his breakthrough in the NHL seems on its way.
Flyers Recall Carl Grundstrom
The Philadelphia Flyers have recalled forward Carl Grundstrom from the AHL. This is Grundstrom’s first call-up in Philadelphia, after joining the organization via trade earlier this month. He was moved alongside defense prospect Artem Guryev in a deal that sent Ryan Ellis’ $6.25MM cap hit, and a 2026 sixth-round pick, to the San Jose Sharks.
The Flyers waived Grundstrom on the same day that they acquired him. That set the 27-year-old up for his first prolonged stint in the minor-leagues since 2020. He’s done well with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, recording three goals, six points, and a plus-four in 11 games.
Grundstrom previously won a Calder Cup Championship with the 2018 Toronto Marlies. He joined the ring-winning squad as only two games of the regular season, then torched the postseason for 14 points in 20 games. Grundstrom maintained the hot scoring through the next two AHL seasons, ultimately earning his NHL debut with the Los Angeles Kings in March of 2019. Since then, Grundstrom has totaled 43 goals and 76 points in 292 NHL games. His single-season best sits at 12 goals and 19 points, scored in 57 games of the Kings’ 2022-23 season.
Recalling Grundstrom will help the Flyers fill their extra-forward role after assigning Jacob Gaucher to the minors. Gaucher recently played in three games with Philadelphia, but managed no scoring and a minus-one in the efforts. Grundstrom’s recent AHL scoring streak – five points in his last three games – could bring a major spark over the minimal scoring offered by Gaucher and Rodrigo Abols, who has no scoring in nine games.
West Notes: Gaudette, Leskovar, Akey
The Sharks have activated forward Adam Gaudette off injured reserve, relays Curtis Pashelka of the Mercury News (Twitter link). The 29-year-old has missed a little more than a week due to an upper-body injury. Signed to a two-year, $4MM contract this past summer, Gaudette has been reasonably productive in limited playing time, picking up three goals and an assist in nine games despite playing less than 11 minutes a night. That usage is similar to last season when he averaged just 10:25 per game but still managed to notch 19 goals in 81 games with Ottawa. With Patrick Giles being sent back down on Monday, they had the open roster spot available to activate Gaudette so no further moves were needed.
Elsewhere out West:
- The Wild announced (Twitter link) that they have activated defenseman Stevie Leskovar off season-opening injured reserve and assigned him to ECHL Iowa. The 21-year-old is in the first season of his entry-level contract but he was dealing with a wrist injury that had kept him out of the lineup. Leskovar had six points in 35 games last season with OHL Brampton and also got into one professional game with AHL Iowa. But for now, he’ll go to the Heartlanders and look to get some playing time in at that level with the hopes of an AHL promotion later on.
- The Oilers have assigned defenseman Beau Akey to ECHL Fort Wayne, per an announcement from AHL Bakersfield (Twitter link). The 20-year-old was a second-round pick back in 2023 and is in his first professional season but hasn’t been able to play yet due to injury. Now cleared to return, he’ll get a chance to get in some game action with the Komets and will likely rejoin the Condors soon after with this assignment being more of a conditioning assignment than a long-term one. Akey had 32 points in 52 games with OHL Barrie last season.