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Sharks Recall Collin Graf, Shakir Mukhamadullin

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The San Jose Sharks have recalled a pair of top prospects in forward Collin Graf and defenseman Shakir Mukhamadullin. Graf could have a clear path to minutes with Alexander Wennberg designated as out, and both Ty Dellandrea and Tyler Toffoli designated as game-time decisions, when San Jose hosts the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday. Defenseman Jan Rutta is also out with injury, and isn’t expected to return until after the 4-Nations break. That could open the door for Mukhamadullin to return to the lineup as well, though he’ll face competition for a role from Henry Thrun and Marc-Eduouard Vlasic.

Graf was with the NHL roster through much of January. He played in 10 games and recorded two assists, no penalties, and a minus-four – perfectly matching his stat-line through seven NHL games last season. He was reassigned on January 22nd, but has quickly taken to proving the Sharks wrong with four points and 12 shots on net in four AHL games over the last two weekends. A wave of nagging injuries in the Sharks lineup could provide Graf a chance to bring that hot streak back to the NHL, and hopefully find his first NHL goal along the way.

Mukhamadullin has also played in 10 NHL games this season, but has just one assist to show for it. He’s performed a bit better in the minor leagues, with nine assists in 21 games this season – but his scoring has been inconsistent all year long. Mukhamadullin is still finding his way through North American pros, and a shot at the lineup in San Jose’s final games before break could be a great chance to find his footing.

Hurricanes Recall Scott Morrow, Reassign Riley Stillman

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The Carolina Hurricanes have recalled top defense prospect Scott Morrow to the NHL. It’s the first recall of Morrow’s NHL career, though he did play two games with the Hurricanes at the end of last season. To make room for the move, Carolina has assigned defender Riley Stillman to the minor leagues. This is the third time Stillman has been sent to the AHL this week.

Morrow has been red-hot as of late. He has 10 points, 17 penalty minutes, and 22 shots on net over his last eight AHL games. The hot streak has helped Morrow earn the AHL’s title of highest-scoring rookie defenseman with 29 points in 41 games – just two more than San Jose Sharks prospect Luca Cagnoni’s 27 points in 39 games. Carolina has made the move to recognize Morrow’s strong play, and could quickly reward him with his season debut per Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli. That might require the Hurricanes to run 11 forwards and seven defensemen in their three remaining games before the 4-Nations break. They could be set up nicely to do that with top winger Andrei Svechnikov day-to-day with an upper-body injury, though the Russian winger did return to practice in full on Monday morning.

The Hurricanes can afford to be a bit relaxed in the days before break. They’ve set a 6-2-2 record over their last 10 games and rank second in the Metropolitan Division with a 32-17-4 record and 68 points. This could be a golden chance to see how Morrow holds up to NHL competition, which will be helpful information with both Dmitry Orlov and Brent Burns headed for unrestricted free agency this summer. Morrow’s minor league performances have more than shown his long-term upside, and strong play over the next few days could earn him a longer NHL stay soon.

Senators Reassign Leevi Merilainen, Activate Linus Ullmark

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Feb. 3rd: According to a report from PuckPedia, the Senators have moved defenseman Jacob Bernard-Docker and forward Noah Gregor to LTIR. The move has allowed Ottawa the flexibility to activate Ullmark and have $105K in LTIR cap space.

Feb. 2nd: The Ottawa Senators have assigned goaltender Leevi Merilainen back to the minor leagues. This seems to be an indication that top goaltender Linus Ullmark is nearing a return from his long-term injury, as pointed out by TSN’s Bruce Garrioch. The NHL media site shows that Ullmark has been activated from long-term injured reserve. Ullmark has missed the team’s last 18 games with a back injury. Ottawa’s visit to Nashville on Monday could be his first game back.

Merilainen performed incredibly well in relief of Ullmark. He served as the team’s backup behind Anton Forsberg, but still appeared in 12 games and posted a dazzling 8-3-1 record and .925 save percentage. Should he not play in any more NHL games this season, Merilainen’s .925 would tie for the sixth-highest a Senators goaltender has ever recorded in a minimum of 10 games. Above him are three Craig Anderson seasons, and flash-in-the-pan years from Andrew Hammond and Robin Lehner. Ron Tugnutt (1998-99) and Dominik Hasek (2005-06) each posted .925 save percentages in 43 games of their own.

That’s certainly welcome company for Merilainen, who will now take his red hot play back to the minor leagues. He served as the Belleville Senators’ clear starter to begin the year, posting a 7-2-4 record and .901 save percentage through 13 games before his call-up. That still stands as the winningest record and highest save percentage on the AHL Senators, who have turned towards a rotation of goaltenders to fill Merilainen’s role. Malcolm Subban has been their more prominent fixture – playing in 11 games – though Michael Simpson, Mads Sogaard, and Mark Sinclair have each received their own shots at the AHL crease. All four fill-ins have posted save percentages below .890 – or in Sogaard’s case, below .860. Those numbers set Merilainen up for clear control of the Belleville crease upon his return – and continued strong play could force the NHL Senators to soon reconsider their choice of backup.

Ullmark will be rushed back to the NHL starting role in much the same way. The Senators have struggled immensely to find a consistent goaltender, and made a brazen move to acquire the former Vezina Trophy this summer. Aside from the long-term injury, the move has paid dividends extremely quickly. Ullmark recorded a 12-7-2 record and .915 save percentages in 23 games before getting hurt. After plenty of speculation around how he’d translate to a tougher environment, Ullmark has looked every ounce of cool, calm, and collected for the duration of his Senators tenure. This return from injury will give him a chance to continue that streak, and ramp up the Senators’ 7-2-1 hot streak over their last 10 games.

Minor Transactions: 2/2/25

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With the AHL All-Star break now in effect, we could see an influx of paper transactions as teams look to bank an extra little bit of cap space.  We’ll keep track of today’s minor moves here.

  • The Hurricanes continue their daily roster movement. They announced that they’ve assigned forward Ryan Suzuki to AHL Chicago while recalling blueliner Riley Stillman; the two have been trading places in recent days.  Despite the numerous recalls, Stillman has only suited up once this season with Carolina.  Suzuki, meanwhile, played his first two NHL games earlier this week.  It wouldn’t be surprising to see one or both of these players in another transaction in the near future.
  • The Lightning have returned goaltender Matt Tomkins to AHL Syracuse, per a team release. He has been recalled recently with Jonas Johansson banged up and could be back up if Johansson can’t return on Tuesday versus Ottawa.  The 30-year-old has a 2.87 GAA with a .900 SV% in 17 games with the Crunch this season.
  • The Bruins have assigned center Matthew Poitras and winger Vinni Lettieri to AHL Providence, per the AHL’s transactions log. This move is likely just a paper one to bank a bit of cap space with the two likely to be recalled for Tuesday’s game against Minnesota.  Poitras has a goal and eight assists in 23 games with Boston this season while Lettieri has two goals in eight outings at the NHL level.
  • The Jets announced (Twitter link) that they have assigned wingers Brad Lambert and Parker Ford to AHL Manitoba. Lambert has been up and down a fair bit lately but is still looking for his first NHL point after being held off the scoresheet in his four games with Winnipeg this season.  As for Ford, he scored in his NHL debut on Thursday so it won’t be surprising if he’s recalled before Tuesday’s contest against Carolina.

Canadiens Assign Owen Beck And Logan Mailloux To AHL

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Sunday: The team announced (Twitter link) that both Beck and Mailloux have been sent back to the AHL to allow them to play in the All-Star Game; neither played today against Anaheim.

Saturday: The Canadiens have added a bit of extra roster depth as they get set to start a three-game California road trip.  The team announced that they have recalled center Owen Beck and Logan Mailloux from AHL Laval.  It’s the second recall of the season for both players.

Beck is in his first professional season and has spent the bulk of it with the Rocket.  The 20-year-old played in two games with Montreal late last month and was held off the scoresheet.  Beck has had a productive rookie campaign in the minors, however, tallying 11 goals and 16 assists in 41 games, good for a tie for tenth in scoring among all AHL freshmen.

As for Mailloux, he got into five games with the Canadiens back in October.  He was productive in those outings, picking up a goal and two assists while logging 16:30 of ice time but struggled in the defensive zone.  He’s in his second pro campaign and has nine goals and 13 assists in 36 AHL appearances so far this season, putting him close to his offensive pace from his rookie year.

It wouldn’t be too surprising to see both players shuffled back and forth a bit over the coming days.  Beck and Mailloux are set to participate in the AHL All-Star Classic on Sunday and Monday with that event being held in California where Montreal will be for a few days.  Accordingly, they’ll likely be loaned back down following Sunday’s game and then recalled back to the big club on Tuesday when the Canadiens are in San Jose.

Team Finland Adds Henri Jokiharju, Urho Vaakanainen To 4-Nations Roster

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Team Finland has added Buffalo Sabres defenseman Henri Jokiharju and New York Rangers defenseman Urho Vaakanainen to their 4-Nations Face-Off roster. The duo will fill in after Miro Heiskanen and Jani Hakanpaa each suffered injuries that will hold them out through February. They will join Esa Lindell (Dallas), Olli Maatta (Utah), Niko Mikkola (Florida), Rasmus Ristolainen (Philadelphia), and Juuso Valimaki (Utah) on Finland’s blue line.

Finland was down to the wire in finding replacements for their pair of injuries. There are only 11 active Finnish defensemen in the NHL. With this news, Team Finland has already invited nine of those names to the tournament – leaving Ville Heinola (Winnipeg) and Nikolas Matinpalo (Ottawa) as the only two to not receive a call from team general manager Jere Lehtinen. Heinola and Matinpalo are the only active Finns to play in the AHL this season, excluding Hakanpaa’s pair of minor league outings during a conditioning stint.

While their output pales in comparison to who they’re replacing, Finland will get a nice match of styles in Jokiharju and Vaakanainen. The former has been an aggressive two-way defenseman for the Sabres this season. He only has four points through 36 games this season, but has posted a +6 – just the second positive plus-minus of his seven-year NHL career. He posted his first, a +14, through 74 games last season – and coupled it with a career-high 20 points. Jokiharju is working to rediscover those numbers this season, but nonetheless brings stout neutral zone control to the Finnish lineup. While he controls north of the blue line, Vaakanainen will be tasked with filling Hakanpaa’s stout defensive role. Vaakanainen began this season with the Anaheim Ducks but joined the Rangers after just five games, as part of the deal that sent Jacob Trouba to the west coast. Vaakanainen has since stepped into 21 games with New York, filling a bottom pair role and recording five assists, 10 penalty minutes, and a +2. He’s also been a quietly impactful defender in New York state, bringing physicality and size to a Rangers blue line in need of both. He’ll bring the same attributes to the 4-Nations tournament, and hopefully blend with Jokiharju well enough to somewhat match the top-tier impact lost by Heiskanen’s injury.

Canucks Assign Aatu Raty, Waive and Assign Phillip Di Giuseppe To AHL

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2/2: Di Giuseppe has cleared waivers and will be assigned to the minor leagues, per Ben Kuzma of Postmedia.

2/1: Following their two trades from Friday night, the Canucks continue to tinker with their roster.  The team announced (Twitter link) that they have placed winger Phillip Di Giuseppe on waivers.  Additionally, they have assigned center Aatu Raty to AHL Abbotsford.

Di Giuseppe is on the wire for the second time this season after passing through unclaimed back at the beginning of October.  The 31-year-old spent the first two-and-a-half months in the minors with Abbotsford but was limited to only four games due to injury.  He was recalled in mid-December and aside from a brief papering down over the holiday break, he has been exclusively with Vancouver since then.

Di Giuseppe has played in 20 games with Vancouver so far this season, picking up a goal and five assists along with 54 hits while averaging 11:34 per game.  He has 101 appearances with the Canucks over the past three seasons, picking up 28 points while averaging nearly two hits per contest as he has had several opportunities in their bottom six.  Di Giuseppe is in the final season of a two-year, two-way deal that sees him receive the league minimum of $775K in the NHL and $500K in the minors.  He’ll be an unrestricted free agent this summer.

As for Raty, he has had five separate stints with the big club this season, the most recent of which started on Tuesday.  The 22-year-old has two goals and two assists in 21 games with Vancouver, playing almost exclusively on their fourth line.  That hasn’t been the case in the minors, however, as Raty is averaging a point per game on the farm with eight goals and 15 helpers with Abbotsford.  He’ll return to a much more prominent role with them for now but will almost certainly be among the top recall options whenever injuries arise once again.

Sharks Recall Vitek Vanecek, Reassign Yaroslav Askarov

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The San Jose Sharks have recalled goaltender Vitek Vanecek from a conditioning stint in the AHL. Vanecek fractured his right cheek into “a couple of pieces” and required surgery on December 17th, when an errant puck hit him while he was sitting on the bench, shares Felicia Keller of San Jose Hockey Now. He worked his way back to full health throughout January and was assigned to the minors on January 29th and played his first game since injury two days later. He allowed two goals on 24 shots and won the game – his only appearance of the minor league assignment. In a corresponding move, San Jose has also reassigned Yaroslav Askarov to the AHL.

Vanecek had another spot start in the minors in 2021-22, but hasn’t played multiple AHL games since the 2019-20 season. He was a heavily-used goaltender for the Hershey Bears from 2016 to 2020 – routinely sharing the net with many emerging netminders, including Pheonix Copley and Ilya Samsonov. Vanecek often posted better stat lines than his company, recording a save percentage north of .905 in the 2016-17, 2018-19, and 2019-20 seasons. The lattermost year still stands as his career-best – headlined by a 19-10-1 record and .917 save percentage. That performance earned Vanecek a call-up to the Washington Capitals in the following season, and he’d make the call-up last by again posting save percentages north of .905 in each of his first three NHL seasons.

Vanecek eventually worked his way into the New Jersey Devils’ starting role for 2022-23, and posted a dazzling 33-11-4 record and .911 save percentage in 52 games. It was heavy utilization in the midst of his prime, but he’s struggled to maintain full health or strong performances in the years since. He recorded a measly .890 Sv% in 32 games with New Jersey last year, and has an even lesser .885 in 14 games with San Jose this season.

Where Vanecek will slot in upon returning from injury isn’t as clear. He has played in one more game than his lineup competition – Askarov and Alexandar Georgiev – and his measly save percentage doesn’t look terrible next to Askarov’s .895 and Georgiev’s .879. That could be enough to push Vanecek back into the starting role, though it might not last for long. Askarov has been a force all season long, alternating between dazzling performances only allowing one or two goals; and horrific outings where he’s lit up to the extent of four, five, or even six goals allowed. His year-long save percentage is confused by that inconsistency, but it’s hard to say that the young Russian isn’t still San Jose’s best option in net. He’s recorded a fantastic .938 Sv% in 14 AHL games this season. That’s far-and-away the highest save percentage in San Jose Barracuda history, 12 percent higher than Troy Grosenick’s .926 through 49 games in 2016-17. This assignment suggests that Askarov will be tasked with maintaining that record through the foreseeable future, though he could quickly jump back to the pros should San Jose’s other netminders continue to falter.

Canucks Recall Victor Mancini

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The Vancouver Canucks have moved to get the full benefits of their recent trade by recalling defenseman Victor Mancini from the minor leagues. The Canucks acquired Mancini alongside centerman Filip Chytil and a protected 2025 first-round draft pick from the New York Rangers on Friday in exchange for J.T. Miller, Erik Brannstrom, and prospect Jackson Dorrington. Miller was a late scratch in Vancouver’s Friday game and made his second debut with the Rangers on Saturday – netting two goals on six shots. Sunday’s game against Detroit will mark Chytil and Mancini’s first chance to debut with their new club.

A move to Vancouver will mark some of the first Canadian games of Mancini’s career. He grew up playing youth hockey across Michigan, before briefly joining the USHL’s Sioux Falls Stampede and U.S. National Team Development Program in 2018-19. He moved to Sweden for his age-17 and age-18 seasons – 2019-20 and 2020-21 – joining Frolunda HC’s youth program and becoming the first non-Swede to captain the U20 team in his latter season. Mancini scored 24 points across 57 games with Frolunda’s U20 club, which wasn’t enough to convince teams to draft the stocky defender in his first years of draft eligibility – 2020 and 2021. That prompted a return to the United States, where Mancini was finally able to earn a fifth-round selection in 2022 after a strong freshman season at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. He played one more year with the Mavericks before turning pro with the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack. Mancini worked his way into an NHL debut earlier this season. Over the last two years, he’s totaled five points in 15 NHL games and 13 points in 30 AHL games.

Mancini is the son of prolific USA Hockey manager Robert Mancini. The eldest Mancini began his hockey career as an assistant coach with Lake Superior State University and Ferris State University from 1985 to 1992, then elevated to Michigan Tech’s head coaching role for the next four seasons. He stepped down from collegiate coaching in 1996 and began serving as an assistant coach, director of player personnel, and eventually a head coach for Team USA at U17, U18, and U20 tournaments – as well as joining the team at the World Championship in 1997 and 1998. He then took on scouting with the Edmonton Oilers for four years, became the general manager and head coach of the Saginaw Spirit  for three years, returned to Edmonton as a development coach, then moved to South Africa to coach the country’s men’s national team for four years. He supported South Africa’s climb to Division 2B, then operated as Romania’s U20 GM in 2018. Robert has since retired from his management career, but now gets to watch his only son suit up for what used to be his division rival.

Victor Mancini will likely slot into Vancouver’s third pairing, competing with Derek Forbort for minutes. That would slot him immediately behind fellow new acquisition Marcus Pettersson, who will also make his Canucks debut on Sunday. The duo are both welcome depth behind superstar defender and Hart Trophy candidate Quinn Hughes, who has dealt with nagging injuries throughout the season.

Kraken Recall Gustav Olofsson, Ryker Evans Day-To-Day

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The Seattle Kraken have recalled defenseman Gustav Olofsson under emergency conditions. The move comes in response to sophomore Ryker Evans’ suffering an upper-body injury that has him out day-to-day, per Mike Benton of the Kraken Audio Network. Evans missed Seattle’s Thursday win over the San Jose Sharks, making the team eligible for this recall. Olofssson is likely to serve as a depth option for the duration of his call-up, with the Kraken carrying six healthy defenders even with Evans out.

Olofsson is playing through his 12th season of pro hockey this year. Every year has been largely the same, with Olofsson earning a spot at the top of his club’s call-up list with stout, shutdown defense in the minors. He’s played NHL games in seven of the last nine years, only being held back by a season-long injury in 2018-19 and a shortened season in 2021. He has totaled 11 assists and 18 penalty minutes in 66 career NHL games over that span but is still searching for his first NHL goal. He hasn’t been much more productive in the minor leagues. Olofsson has totaled 109 points in 349 games in the AHL, with 24 points in the 2016-17 season standing as his career-high. His career has spanned tenures with the Minnesota Wild, Montreal Canadiens, and Seattle Kraken – as well as stints with four different minor league clubs.

Seattle will be able to play Olofsson in upwards of 10 games, or roster him for up to a month, on emergency basis. That should be plenty of time to allow Evans to work back to full health.

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