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Maple Leafs Assign Nicholas Robertson To AHL

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With the Maple Leafs needing to make a move to open up a roster spot and free up the cap space to officially activate Calle Jarnkrok off LTIR, they’ve elected to send Nicholas Robertson down, announcing (Twitter link) that they’ve assigned the winger to AHL Toronto.

The 22-year-old started the season in the minors with the Maple Leafs taking advantage of his waiver exemption.  He fared quite well early on with the Marlies, picking up five goals and six assists in nine games with them, resulting in a recall back to the big club back in early November; he had been with the Leafs since then until now.

Robertson has played in 41 games at the NHL level so far this season, a career-high.  He has put up reasonable offensive numbers with eight goals and 11 assists in those appearances while averaging a little over 11 minutes a night almost exclusively at five-on-five.  He had been playing regularly as of late but once again, his waiver exemption likely worked against him.

Once the trade deadline passes, there are no more limits on roster sizes so depending on what Toronto’s salary cap situation looks like by then, it’s quite possible that Robertson is back with the Maple Leafs by this time a week from now if he is still with the organization at that point.  If not, he’ll have an opportunity to play much bigger minutes with the Marlies which could help him heading into restricted free agency this summer.

Senators Recall Max Guenette And Leevi Merilainen

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The Senators have made a pair of roster moves in advance of their game tonight against Philadelphia, announcing (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled defenseman Max Guenette and goaltender Leevi Merilainen from AHL Belleville.

Guenette’s recall is a bit of a surprise since the Sens had all six of their defensemen get through last night’s game without an issue so it appears Guenette is up for injury insurance purposes with Travis Hamonic listed as out week-to-week.  The 22-year-old has made one appearance in Ottawa this season and has spent most of the season in Belleville where he has 29 points in 48 games.

As for Merilainen, it also might seem a bit surprising that a second goalie was recalled.  Joonas Korpisalo was a late scratch on Friday due to illness, resulting in the Sens not dressing a backup goalie until Mads Sogaard arrived.  But with Anton Forsberg being banged up last night and not traveling with the team, another netminder was needed.  Merilainen has split the season between two minor leagues, putting up a .904 SV% in 16 AHL games and a .926 mark in 13 ECHL appearances.

With the two promotions, Ottawa’s roster is now at the maximum of 23 players.  Meanwhile, cap space isn’t an issue for them in the short term following Friday’s placement of Josh Norris on LTIR so they can afford to carry a full-sized roster, a luxury they haven’t had for most of the season.

Stars Notes: Seguin, Stankoven, Tanev

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While the Stars are currently without center Tyler Seguin and will be for the next several weeks, don’t expect Dallas to put him on LTIR and go on a bit of a spending spree.  Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that the 32-year-old is expected to return from his lower-body injury before the end of the regular season.  Accordingly, they’d have to be cap-compliant before activating him from LTIR so they couldn’t go and spend several million of his $9.85MM AAV at the trade deadline.  That said, they could eventually place him on LTIR to bring up an extra player or two for depth purposes after the deadline with those players returning to the minors once Seguin is able to return.  Dallas has $1.17MM in cap room, per CapFriendly, thanks to Evgenii Dadonov’s LTIR placement so their options to add will be limited in the coming days.

More from Dallas:

  • Speaking of returning to the minors, that’s what Logan Stankoven did today as the team announced that they’ve sent the 20-year-old back to AHL Texas. The forward has been shuttled back and forth in recent days and likely will be recalled before their game on Saturday versus San Jose.  Stankoven has been productive since making his NHL debut last month, recording three goals and one assist in his first four NHL appearances.
  • One player who might not be playing against the Sharks tomorrow is defenseman Chris Tanev. The veteran was acquired earlier this week from Calgary as part of a three-team trade but team reporter Mike Heika relays (Twitter link) that the veteran is dealing with visa issues and may not be available to play in that one.  In that case, he’d be lined up to make his debut on Tuesday on the back end of the home-and-home set with San Jose.  Tanev has 14 points and 171 blocks in 56 games so far and is expected to play a big role for Dallas down the stretch.

Penguins Place Bryan Rust On IR, Recall Jonathan Gruden

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The Pittsburgh Penguins have placed winger Bryan Rust on injured reserve. The team designated Rust as week-to-week on Tuesday, as he’s recovering from an upper-body injury. Many of the details around the injury, including when exactly Rust may return, are still unclear.

This news comes with an extra sting, as Rust’s linemate Jake Guentzel is also out until mid-March with an upper-body injury of his own. This leaves Sidney Crosby as the last healthy member of the team’s top line, now flanked by Reilly Smith and Rickard Rakell. The Penguins have had Guentzel and Rust both healthy for just 37 games this season. They’ve outscored opponents 108-to-103 in those matchups, setting a 15-16-6 record. Guentzel is one of just two Penguins, along with Crosby, still scoring at a point-per-game pace, with 52 points in 50 games. Rust has fallen a bit behind his co-leads, scoring 36 points in 42 games of his own.

Pittsburgh recalled forward Jonathan Gruden in response to Rust’s IR placement. Gruden has already played in five NHL games this season, going without a point and setting a -2. The outings have brought his career totals up to eight NHL games – the other three coming last season – with Gruden still looking for his first appearance on the scoresheet. The 23-year-old centerman has also appeared in 41 AHL games this season, scoring 13 goals and 23 points. Gruden will join a Penguins lineup with spots open – likely set to battle with Jesse Puljujarvi, Valtteri Puustinen, and newcomer Matthew Phillips for key depth roles.

West Notes: Seguin, Ferraro, Duclair, Afanasyev

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Stars center Tyler Seguin missed Saturday’s game with a lower-body injury and he’ll be out for at least a little while longer as Lia Assimakopoulos of the Dallas Morning News relays that Seguin is listed as out week to week.  Head coach Peter DeBoer noted that he has been dealing with a lingering injury that hasn’t been getting better and actually got worse after his last game back on Thursday.  The 32-year-old is in the middle of his best offensive season in a little while with 45 points through 58 games; his 0.78 points-per-game average is his best since 2018-19.  If Dallas believes Seguin will miss at least 10 games and 24, he could be shifted to LTIR to give them some short-term salary cap flexibility.

Elsewhere in the Western Conference:

  • Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro has been a speculative trade candidate. He’s not a typical rental player who moves at this time of year as he’s signed through 2025-26 at a reasonable $3.25MM price tag which would be appealing to several teams.  However, his agent Peter Wallen told San Jose Hockey Now’s Sheng Peng that GM Mike Grier informed him that Ferraro is not actively being shopped.  The 25-year-old is fifth in the NHL in blocked shots so far with 151 in 52 games.
  • Still with San Jose, winger Anthony Duclair told Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News (Twitter link) that there have been no discussions about a possible extension with the Sharks. Duclair, who represents himself in negotiations, is a pending unrestricted free agent and it’s reasonable to infer that if a new contract isn’t in place by the March 8th trade deadline, he’d be a likely candidate to be traded.  Duclair is having a down year after putting up 31 goals with Florida last season as he has just 11 goals and eight assists in 59 games.
  • The Predators announced that they’ve returned winger Egor Afanasyev to AHL Milwaukee. The 23-year-old was recalled two weeks ago but didn’t see much game action with Nashville, suiting up just twice where he was held off the scoresheet.  Afanasyev has been quite productive with the Admirals, however, collecting 21 goals and 21 assists through 42 games so far this season.

Hurricanes Notes: Necas, Rees, Webber

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While the Hurricanes might not be shopping forward Martin Necas, it doesn’t appear as if they’re hanging up the phone either when teams call about him.  Larry Brooks of the New York Post reports that the team has made it known that they’re willing to listen on the 25-year-old.  Necas had a breakout year last season with 71 points in 82 games and has followed that up with 42 points in 53 games so far this season.

While that’s not the type of player that they should even be listening to offers on while they’re sitting comfortably in a playoff spot, it’s worth noting that Necas will be a restricted free agent this summer with arbitration eligibility.  He’ll be owed a $3.5MM qualifying offer and could push for close to double that much; if they’ve determined they can’t afford him for next season, then they could decide that moving him now would yield the most value.  Of course, if they did so, they’d also have a big hole to fill in their top six.

More from Carolina:

  • The Hurricanes have re-assigned forward Jamieson Rees from AHL Springfield to Charlotte, per a team release from the Checkers. Carolina doesn’t have its own affiliate this season and Rees had been quite limited with Springfield where he had just three assists in 30 games after putting up 42 points in 65 games last season.  The 23-year-old is in the final season of his entry-level contract and will be a restricted free agent without arbitration rights this summer.
  • Prospect defenseman Cade Webber is in the final season of his college career and has to sign with Carolina by August 15th or become an unrestricted free agent. According to Mark Divver of the New England Hockey Journal (Twitter link), the 23-year-old is leaning toward the latter option of the two.  The 6’7 Webber was a fourth-round pick by the Hurricanes back in 2019 (99th overall) and while his offensive game is quite limited) he has just one goal in his four seasons with Boston University, he’s leading Division I in blocks with 107 and is a true stay-at-home shutdown type of defender.

Stars Recall Derrick Pouliot, Logan Stankoven

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Feb. 26: Pouliot and Stankoven were both recalled to Dallas on Monday morning, per a team announcement. With Seguin not at the Stars’ Monday morning practice, per Bally Sports Southwest’s Brian Rea, Stankoven will play his second career NHL game tonight against the Islanders. Hakanpää and Lundkvist also remain out, per Rea, so Pouliot will play as well.

Feb. 25: The Stars returned Pouliot and Stankoven to the AHL on Sunday, per a team announcement. Both players suited up in last night’s 2-1 win over the Hurricanes, with Stankoven logging a +1 rating and three shots on goal in 15:20 of ice time during his NHL debut. Pouliot played a team-low 9:56, recording one hit. One or both of Pouliot and Stankoven may find themselves back on the NHL roster ahead of Monday’s game against the Islanders, depending upon the availability of Tyler Seguin (lower body), Hakanpää, and Lundkvist.

Feb. 24: The Stars have brought up some reinforcements for their game tonight in Carolina, announcing the recalls of forward Logan Stankoven and defenseman Derrick Pouliot from AHL Texas.

It’s the second recall of the week for Stankoven although his first one only lasted a matter of hours without him getting into the lineup.  That said, it’s worth noting that he was a late scratch for Texas on Friday, suggesting that the 20-year-old might get a chance to suit up this time around.  Stankoven has been dominant in the minors in his first professional campaign, leading the league in scoring with 57 points in 47 games.

As for Pouliot, he returns to Dallas after spending just one day off the roster having been sent down yesterday in a move that at least temporarily delayed his waiver clock.  The 30-year-old has played in just three NHL games this season but has been productive in the minors, collecting 31 points in 44 appearances so far.  With the status of Nils Lundkvist (concussion) and Jani Hakanpaa (upper body) both in question for tonight’s game, Pouliot will once again serve as injury insurance.

With the two recalls, Dallas is now carrying a full 23-player roster.

Central Notes: Vejmelka, Blackhawks, Landeskog, Jankowski

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Coyotes goaltender Karel Vejmelka’s name has come up in trade speculation in each of the last two trade deadlines.  It doesn’t appear as if that will be the case this time around as Pierre LeBrun wrote in his latest column for The Athletic (subscription link) that Arizona GM Bill Armstrong doesn’t intend to break up his current tandem of Vejmelka and Connor Ingram.  Their netminders have played to a combined .902 SV% this season, a number that’s around the league average which isn’t bad for a rebuilding team.  However, Vejmelka’s rate is a career-low .891 so even if Armstrong was looking to move him, Vejmelka’s value wouldn’t be at its highest.

More from the Central Division:

  • With the Blackhawks locking up most of their notable pending UFAs to extensions already, Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times posits that their cap space might be their best asset before the March 8th trade deadline. Doing so could allow them to act as a third-party retainer to pick up an extra draft pick while they could also take on a bad contract as they did last season with Nikita Zaitsev to also add draft capital.  However, Pope notes that Chicago won’t be willing to take on a contract that runs past next season, similar to Zaitsev last season with his contract set to expire this summer.
  • Avalanche winger Gabriel Landeskog has become a regular participant in team skates as he works his way back from a knee cartilage transplant procedure back in January, The Athletic’s Chris Johnston noted on the latest TSN Insider Trading segment. The 31-year-old last played in June 2022 but a return at some point in the playoffs this season hasn’t been ruled out yet.  If the team feels that there’s a good chance that he’ll be able to suit up in the postseason, that could affect their trade deadline approach.
  • A day after being sent down, Mark Jankowski is back up with the Predators, per the AHL’s transactions log. The 29-year-old is one of the top scorers in the minors this season, notching 47 points in 40 games with Milwaukee while also chipping in with a pair of goals in seven games with Nashville while averaging a little less than 12 minutes a night of playing time.

Kings Place Viktor Arvidsson On LTIR, Recall Jordan Spence

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It was less than two weeks ago that the Kings got Viktor Arvidsson back from his back injury.  However, after already returning to injured reserve recently, the team has gone a step further, announcing that they’ve transferred him to LTIR for the second time this season.  Meanwhile, the Kings also recalled defenseman Jordan Spence from AHL Ontario.

Arvidsson missed the first four months of the season before returning to the lineup on February 15th.  The 30-year-old picked up two assists in his first three games but then suffered a lower-body injury on his first shift on Tuesday versus Columbus.  The good news is that this injury won’t carry as long of a recovery time as the first one did as he is expected to be back before the end of the regular season.  Assuming that the placement was back-dated to the time of injury (their release didn’t specify the effective date), Arvidsson could be eligible to return as soon as March 15th against Chicago.

As for Spence, his recall was needed due to Michael Anderson suffering an upper-body injury on Thursday versus Nashville.  The exact timeline for his recovery isn’t known but he has been ruled out for tonight’s game against Anaheim already.  That would have put the Kings down to five defenders and they had nowhere near enough cap space to bring Spence up, resulting in them needing to transfer Arvidsson to LTIR to create the short-term cap room.

It’s the fourth recall of the season for Spence, who has spent the majority of the campaign in the NHL.  The 22-year-old has played in 44 games so far with Los Angeles, collecting 16 points (all assists) while averaging just shy of 15 minutes a night on the third pairing.  Spence has made just one AHL appearance with the Reign which was one Wednesday; he was held out of Ontario’s lineup on Friday with his recall pending.

Maple Leafs Assign Marshall Rifai To AHL

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After making his NHL debut earlier this week with a pair of appearances, the Maple Leafs announced (Twitter link) that they have re-assigned defenseman Marshall Rifai to AHL Toronto.

The 25-year-old was brought up earlier in the week to give the Maple Leafs a bit of extra depth on the back end and suited up twice where he had four hits and averaged a little under 12 minutes per contest.  Rifai, who is on his first NHL contract after playing on an AHL deal last year, has spent most of the season with the Marlies where he has 11 points and 38 penalty minutes in 34 games.

William Lagesson (injury) and Morgan Rielly (suspension) both returned to Toronto’s lineup on Thursday which pushed Rifai back to the press box.  Mark Giordano has also been away from the team for a little more than a week following the death of his father; the timing of this assignment suggests he might be ready to return.

Toronto now has an open roster spot which is notable with Joseph Woll’s LTI conditioning loan set to expire in a few days.  With Rifai’s demotion, they could elect to carry three goalies upon Woll’s recall and activation to avoid the risk of having to place Martin Jones on waivers who might be more likely to be claimed this time around.

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