Rangers Recall Benoit-Olivier Groulx, Reassign Brett Berard
The New York Rangers are making a small swap at the bottom of their forward core. The organization announced they’ve recalled Benoit-Olivier Groulx from their AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack, and reassigned Brett Berard in a corresponding roster move.
According to Mollie Walker of the New York Post, the roster move should be short-lived. Walker shares that center Filip Chytil is a game-time decision for tomorrow night’s contest against the Vegas Golden Knights leaving the Rangers without any extra options down the middle.
Should Chytil’s injury prohibit him from playing tomorrow night, Groulx will likely make his debut with the Rangers. He had spent the first four years of his professional career with the Anaheim Ducks organization before signing a one-year, $775K contract with New York as an unrestricted free agent this past summer.
He’s quickly become the top AHL call-up option at center for the Rangers. Groulx has scored 11 goals and 29 points in 32 games for the Wolf Pack this season good for second on the team in scoring behind Alex Belzile.
Berard may suit up for Hartford given they have a few upcoming home games this weekend. He won’t be down in the AHL long given how he’s played for the Rangers this season. He’s scored three goals and seven points in 19 games averaging 11:20 of ice time in the team’s bottom six.
Despite playing nearly half as many games as the rest of his teammates in New York, Berard has already climbed to 13th on the team in hits with 27. He still has a few things to clean up defensively but Berard’s physicality and ability to stay out of the penalty box has made him a solid addition to the Rangers this season.
Utah Hockey Club Recalls Connor Ingram, Reassigns Jaxson Stauber
The Utah Hockey Club has recalled goaltender Connor Ingram from his conditioning stint in the minor leagues. Ingram was assigned to the minors in late December, after recovering from an upper-body injury suffered on November 18th. He has sat out of Utah’s last 22 games, and made his return to the lineup in the Tucson Roadrunners’ Wednesday win over the Coachella Valley Firebirds. Ingram saved 29 of 30 shots in that game, good for a .967 save percentage in his first AHL game since the 2021-22 campaign.
Ingram will return to a very different goaltending room. He served as Arizona’s starter last season, posting a 23-21-3 record and .907 save percentage across 50 appearances. That was enough for Ingram to hold onto the starting role through the franchise’s move to Utah, but he came out of the gates ice-cold in his new setting. Ingram posted a measly .871 save percentage and 6-4-3 record in 13 games prior to his injury. That poor performance put all the momentum behind Karel Vejmelka as he stepped into the starting role in Ingram’s absence and looked to reclaim stake of Utah’s starter’s crease. Vejmelka has seemed to do just that, posting a .915 record and 8-7-3 record since Ingram’s injury. Vejmelka has slowed down in his last handful of games – evident by a 1-4-1 record and .907 Sv% in his last six – but he’s nonetheless made a strong claim to hold onto the starting role. Both goaltenders have plenty of experience serving as an NHL starter, and how Utah decides between them could define the team’s push for a Western Conference wild card.
To make room for Ingram’s return, Utah has also assigned goaltender Jaxson Stauber back to the minor leagues. Stauber played in four games while filling in for Ingram. He recorded a 2-1-1 record and .925 save percentage, bringing his career totals up to a 7-2-1 record and .916 save percentage in 10 NHL games. Stauber has been just as productive in the minors, going 5-2-0 and setting a .930 in seven games with Tucson this season.
Red Wings Recall Ville Husso, Place Jeff Petry On IR
After Alex Lyon left last night’s game against Ottawa after one period due to an upper-body injury, it appears his availability for Friday’s contest versus Chicago is in some question. The team announced (Twitter links) that goaltender Ville Husso has been recalled from AHL Grand Rapids. To make room on the roster, defenseman Jeff Petry has been placed on injured reserve retroactive to January 2nd.
Husso is up with Detroit for the fifth time already this season after he cleared waivers back at the start of the season. The 29-year-old has played in eight games with the Red Wings so far in 2024-25, putting up a 3.47 GAA and a .877 SV%, numbers that don’t come close to justifying his $4.75MM price tag on a contract that expires at the end of the season.
However, he has fared quite better in his limited action with the Griffins. In eight appearances with them, Husso has a 1.86 GAA with a .935 SV% in his first taste of longer-term AHL time since the 2018-19 season. He is very close to reaching 30 days on the NHL roster and when that threshold is reached (or if he plays in two more games in Detroit), he’ll need to pass through waivers again before he can be returned to Grand Rapids.
As for Petry, he has missed the last two games with an undisclosed injury. The 37-year-old has had a quiet season offensively, notching just one goal and five assists in his first 37 outings although he’s still averaging over 19 minutes a night of playing time. The retroactive placement means he’ll have missed seven days before Friday’s matchup, meaning that he’ll be eligible to be activated as early as that game if he’s cleared to return.
Ottawa Senators Reassign Jan Jeník
After playing in his first game since last April, and first with the Ottawa Senators, forward Jan Jeník is headed back to the American Hockey League. The Senators organization announced they’ve reassigned Jenik to their AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators.
Jeník is best known for his time as a higher-end prospect in the Arizona Coyotes organization. The Coyotes drafted him with the 65th overall pick of the 2018 NHL Draft and he was quickly loaned to the OHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs. He was a point-per-game player in his first year with the Bulldogs and wrapped up his OHL career with a 22-goal, 56-point performance in 27 games during the 2019-20 season.
He transitioned to professional hockey in 2020-21, when he first played for the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners. Jeník became an above-average scorer at the AHL level for the next four years but never seemed to find his next level in the NHL. He collected 46 goals and 120 points in 165 games for the Roadrunners from 2020 to 2024 but only had four goals and six points in 22 games for the Coyotes over the same timeline.
Since his future in Arizona was seemingly closing shut, he was traded to the Senators organization this past summer for Egor Sokolov. Jeník quickly signed a one-year, $775K contract with his new team but failed to crack the NHL roster out of training camp.
Due to injuries, he’s been limited to only 13 games with the AHL Senators this season. Still, when healthy, Jeník has been a quietly productive forward scoring four goals and seven points good for 14th on the team in scoring.
Canucks Assign Filip Hronek To AHL On Conditioning Loan
The Vancouver Canucks announced they’ve loaned defenseman Filip Hronek to their AHL affiliate, the Abbotsford Canucks, on a conditioning loan. Should he suit up in Abbotsford’s next contest on January 10th, it’ll be Hronek’s first game since suffering a lower-body injury on November 27th.
Since Hronek has been on the long-term injured reserve the transaction won’t have the same requirements as the standard 14-day conditioning loan. Hronek’s loan will last for six days or three games, with an opportunity to extend the loan for another two games. His contract remains on LTIR until he’s activated and placed on the NHL roster.
Given that AHL Abbotsford has three games, with the final coming on January 14th, Hronek will trigger the eligibility requirements on the same day. Vancouver has the option of activating Hronek at any point during the conditioning loan meaning he could feature at any point during the Canucks’ upcoming road trip.
Ultimately, he’ll likely return to game action on January 16th against the Los Angeles Kings should he not suffer any setbacks during the loan. His return to the lineup will help alleviate many of Vancouver’s defensive woes over the last few weeks.
Although the Canucks have the luxury of deploying Quinn Hughes on most nights the team has looked completely different during Hronek’s absence. Vancouver has managed an 11-7-3 record with Hronek in the lineup this year but has struggled through a 7-5-6 run after he suffered the injury.
Hronek should reprise his role on the team’s top-pairing next to Hughes and look to build upon his one goal and nine points already scored this season. He’s coming off a career-year last season in which he scored five goals and 48 points in 81 games and will look to near that 0.60 point-per-game average upon his return.
Predators Reassign Two Players To The AHL
The Nashville Predators announced ahead of their game tonight against Winnipeg that they’ve reassigned forward Ozzy Wiesblatt and defenseman Kevin Gravel to the Milwaukee Admirals of the American Hockey League. The news could mean that forward Tommy Novak and defenseman Adam Wilsby are ready to return to the lineup after missing several games due to injury.
Gravel heads back to the AHL after he was recalled yesterday, the Admirals captain has had two recalls this season with his other stint coming from December 12th through December 17th. In three games with Nashville this season, the 32-year-old has a single assist while averaging 18:19 of ice time per game. Down in the AHL, Gravel has a goal and four assists in 25 games with Milwaukee.
Wiesblatt is just a week removed from getting his first NHL call-up, which resulted in him dressing in two games with the Predators. The 22-year-old made his NHL debut on Friday against Vancouver and played again on Saturday night against Calgary. Neither game went particularly well for the former first-round pick as Wiesblatt was held pointless and was dramatically overmatched against NHL competition. Wiesblatt averaged 10:12 of ice time over the two contests and posted four hits with a blocked shot, however, his underlying numbers were ugly as Nashville controlled possession just 20.6% of the time he was on the ice.
As bad as Wiesblatt’s CF% was, it was a small sample size of just two games, and his deployment was complicated as he started just 7.1% of his shifts in the offensive zone.
Kraken Activate Joey Daccord, Recall Mitchell Stephens
The Seattle Kraken have activated starting goaltender Joey Daccord off of injured reserve. Daccord has missed Seattle’s last five games with an upper-body injury sustained in the team’s December 22nd matchup against Colorado. Seattle has also recalled forward Mitchell Stephens from, and assigned goaltender Ales Stezka and defenseman Cale Fleury to, the minor leagues in corresponding moves.
Daccord has stood as one of the best goalies in the league when healthy. He’s rivaled the top of multiple star categories – ranking 14th in both save percentage (.912) and goals-against-average (2.51). Daccord also ranked 13th in wins (12) and 14th in games played (23) at the time of his injury. He’s in the midst of another strong year after setting a 19-18-11 record and .916 Sv% in 50 games last season – Daccord’s first as a full-time starter in the NHL. He ascended to the role after years if string performances in the minor leagues, collectively recording a 60-27-7 record and .918 through 98 games, and four seasons, in the AHL.
Meanwhile, Stephens will return to his role as Seattle’s depth forward with Yanni Gourde on injured reserve. Stephens has been back and forth between the NHL and AHL lineup this season, most recently being assigned to the minors in mid-December. He’s scored four points in six games since, bringing his season total up to eight points in 18 games. He’s added one assist in nine NHL games. Stephens is likely to hang in the press box for the short-term, but could fight for fourth-line minutes above Tye Kartye.
Jets’ Colin Miller Out Week-To-Week With Fractured Larynx
Winnipeg Jets defenseman Colin Miller has suffered a fractured larynx and will miss at least two weeks of action, per Murat Ates of The Athletic. Miller left Winnipeg’s Saturday matchup against Detroit at the end of the first period, after getting hit in the neck by an Albert Johansson dump-in. He played just nine shifts and 5:27 of ice time in the match. A two-week absence will force Miller out of at least seven games, assuming he returns before the team’s January 22nd match against Colorado.
Miller has served as a depth defenders for the Jets this season, rotating into 34 of the team’s 41 games and averaging 14 minutes of ice time but routinely serving as a healthy scratch. He’s recorded eight points and 22 penalty minutes on the year. Miller’s 0.24 points-per-game ranks low on the Jets’ scoring leaderboard, but actually marks a slight bump in production compared to the 0.2 points-per-game that Miller averaged in each of the last three seasons. That boost is likely thanks to Miller finally finding some stability after playing for four teams between the 2021-22 and 2023-24 seasons.
The veteran defender signed a two-year, $3.7MM deal with the Dallas Stars in the summer of 2022, ending his three-year tenure with the Buffalo Sabres – the longest Miller has spent with one club in his 10-year career. He scored 21 points in 79 games with Dallas, and added one point in 10 postseason games, but the team chose to part with him after one year. Miller was traded to the New Jersey Devils on July 1st, 2023 – and then flipped to Winnipeg at the 2023-24 Trade Deadline. His production stalled through the series of moves and nagging injuries, but Miller seems to be finding his footing once again.
The Jets are likely to turn to Dylan Coghlan in Miller’s absence. Coghlan has served as Winnipeg’s extra defender, so far playing in just three NHL games and two AHL games this season. He has one point – an AHL goal – between the five matchups. It’s Coghlan’s first year in the Jets’ organization after spending the last two seasons in Carolina, where he totaled three points in 18 NHL games.
Jets head coach Scott Arniel also told Ates that Dylan Samberg is very close to a return. Samberg suffered a broken foot on November 23rd. He was placed on injured reserve a day later, and hasn’t played since. He’s been productive when healthy, netting six points – split evenly – in 21 games this season. The Jets will need to clear a roster space to activate Samberg.
Minnesota Wild Place Jared Spurgeon On IR, Recall Three
As expected, the Minnesota Wild have placed defenseman and captain Jared Spurgeon on injured reserve considering he’s likely to miss the next two to three weeks with a lower-body injury. Filling Spurgeon’s spot on the roster, and the two additional openings will be Travis Boyd, Brendan Gaunce, and Carson Lambos after being recalled from their AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild.
Whether anticipated or not, Spurgeon’s time on injured reserve has significantly impacted the Wild over the past two seasons. Minnesota’s all-time highest-scoring defenseman played 79 games during the 2022-23 season but was limited to just 16 games last year due to back and hip problems that ultimately required surgery. This year, due to lingering issues from last season’s surgeries, and other injuries including the current one, Spurgeon has been limited to 32 of the Wild’s 40 games.
As the highest-paid defenseman on the roster this season with a salary of $7.575MM until 2026-27, Spurgeon could become a major drain on the Wild’s salary cap picture should he not be able to put together a full season. Spurgeon has recorded four goals and 13 points averaging 20:43 of ice time for the Wild this season.
Boyd and Gaunce’s recall may result in a spot in the lineup but they’re valuable forward depth regardless. The two haven’t combined for any points with the Wild this season over eight games but are one in two in scoring for the AHL Wild with 20 points and 17 points, respectively.
Lambos again earns a call-up rather than new high-end defensive prospect David Jiříček. The former 26th overall pick of the 2021 NHL Draft has struggled immensely since transitioning to professional hockey last year. The Winnipeg native didn’t achieve his NHL debut during his first recall from January 1st to January 5th and has only recorded six goals and 19 points in 96 career games for the AHL Wild.
New York Rangers Reassign Matt Rempe
A corresponding transaction was necessary for the New York Rangers after claiming Arthur Kaliyev off waivers from the Los Angeles Kings earlier today. The Rangers have reassigned forward Matt Rempe to their AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack, to bring their active roster back down to the 23-man limit.
The young enforcer is seven games into an eight-game suspension and will need to miss one more should be recalled to the active roster at any point for the remaining season. Rempe has failed to find the scoresheet in five games for the Rangers this season but has accrued 24 PIMs overall.
Because his only role is becoming increasingly rarer in professional hockey, Rempe has failed to accrue much playing time throughout his brief NHL career. Since debuting with the Rangers last year, Rempe has scored one goal and one assist in 22 games averaging 5:46 of ice time per game.
He returns to a Wolf Pack lineup where he’s largely been tasked with the same role but has had more offensive production to lean on. Since joining Hartford for the 2022-23 AHL season, Rempe has scored 17 goals and 27 points in 114 contests but has also racked up an eye-popping 205 career PIMs.
The Wolf Pack are currently clinging to a playoff spot with a 15-14-2-1 record through the first 40 games and sit seventh in the league with 454 PIMs. Despite still facing a suspension in the NHL, Rempe is eligible to suit up in Hartford’s next game against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Friday.