Lightning Recall Jakob Pelletier
One of the AHL’s top scorers is getting another NHL opportunity. The Lightning announced that they’ve recalled winger Jakob Pelletier from AHL Syracuse.
The 24-year-old signed a three-year contract with Tampa Bay last summer worth the league minimum in each season. The hope was that he could battle for a full-time spot at the bottom of their lineup after putting up 19 points in just 49 games last season between Calgary and Philadelphia. However, that didn’t happen and he instead cleared waivers and was sent to the Crunch.
Aside from a one-game stint back in mid-November where he played just over six minutes, Pelletier has played exclusively with Syracuse this season. Given a chance to play in a top-line role, he has certainly made the most of it, posting 19 goals and 22 assists in 35 games. His 41 points put him third in league scoring although he likely won’t have anywhere near the same role with the Lightning if he gets into the lineup.
Tampa Bay had one open roster spot following the recent return of goaltender Brandon Halverson to the minors so no corresponding move needed to be made to recall Pelletier to the active roster.
Capitals Sign Bogdan Trineyev To Two-Year Extension
Earlier this season, Capitals winger Bogdan Trineyev made his NHL debut. Between that and a solid showing in the minors, he has shown enough to earn a longer look from the team. The Caps announced that they’ve inked the winger to a two-year, $1.8MM contract extension. The deal will be a two-way deal in 2026-27, paying $850K in the NHL and $225K in the minors before converting to a one-way salary of $950K for the 2027-28 campaign.
The 23-year-old was a fourth-round pick by Washington back in 2020, going 117th overall. It took until the 2022-23 campaign for him to become a full-time player in the KHL when he was in the first season of his entry-level deal. Trineyev managed just two goals and 11 assists in 39 games with Dynamo Moskva but he has been a bit more productive offensively since making the jump to North America full-time for the 2023-24 campaign.
That year with AHL Hershey, Trineyev had 16 points in 63 contests before upping his output to 22 points in 62 games last season before adding seven more in eight playoff outings. That was enough to earn him a one-year, two-way deal for this season and he has made the most of it. Trineyev has played in 30 games so far for the Bears in 2025-26, picking up nine goals and 11 assists while already setting a new personal best in the latter category. That earned him a two-game stint with Washington last month although he’s still looking for his first NHL point.
Assuming that Trineyev gets into 78 more NHL games between now and the end of the 2027-28 season, he will remain eligible for restricted free agency with salary arbitration rights. If he doesn’t get into that many outings at the top level, he will instead become eligible for Group Six unrestricted free agency at that time.
Pacific Notes: Myers, Chytil, Sherwood
With the Canucks heading for another postseason miss, they’re a team that’s expected to move out more veterans before the March 6th trade deadline. But one veteran who doesn’t want to be on the move is defenseman Tyler Myers. He told reporters including Ben Kuzma of the Vancouver Province that there’s “no question” that he wants to stay in Vancouver. The 35-year-old is in his seventh season with the Canucks and has largely played on the second pairing during that time, a role he still holds now. With one year left on his deal at an affordable $3MM, Myers is someone that teams will undoubtedly be inquiring about. However, he does control his fate this season with a full no-move clause; that protection dips to a 12-team no-trade list in July, however.
More from the Pacific:
- Still with the Canucks, center Filip Chytil met with the media yesterday (video link) before his return to the lineup. One thing he wanted to set the record straight on is the number of concussions he’s had. While speculation has suggested the number could be as high as eight, Chytil stated that he hasn’t had quite that many, though he declined to set the record straight on just how many he has dealt with. Head injuries (concussion or otherwise) have been an issue for the 26-year-old, especially in recent years as he has been limited to just 73 games since the start of the 2023-24 campaign.
- After acquiring Kiefer Sherwood, the Sharks reached out about a contract extension but there’s apparently a sizable gap to bridge on that front. GM Mike Grier spoke to reporters earlier this week including Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News and wouldn’t rule out the possibility of listening to offers on Sherwood. That said, he was quick to call the winger a targeted acquisition and he’s clearly someone that they envision fitting on the roster beyond this season. But Sherwood’s hot start offensively and his physical prowess could potentially push his next contract past the $5MM per season mark despite the 30-year-old only being a full-time NHL player for three years now. If he remains unsigned leading up to the deadline, it’s possible that Sherwood finds himself back in trade speculation.
Submit Your Questions For The #PHRMailbag
The NHL has passed the halfway point of the season which means the trade deadline is less than two months away. In fact, with the Olympic break also carrying a trade freeze, we’re only a couple of weeks away from a soft deadline. With that in mind, it’s a good time to open up the mailbag once again.
Our last call for questions yielded enough queries for three columns. Topics in the first included a possible sleeper candidate to move before the trade deadline, discussing when the right time for Chicago to move Connor Murphy, and some standings predictions. Included in the second were thoughts on the Atlantic Division and the potential for Nazem Kadri and Jordan Binnington to be moved. Lastly, the third looked at possible trade candidates if the Kraken sell at the deadline, player development, and the worst contracts in the league, among other topics.
You can submit a question by using #PHRMailbag on Twitter/X or by leaving a comment down below. The mailbag will run on the weekend.
Central Notes: Robertson, Wild, Ott
With a big contract negotiation on the horizon this summer, Stars winger Jason Robertson has switched agents. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported on the latest 32 Thoughts podcast (audio link) that Robertson (and his brother Nicholas Robertson) are now being represented by Octagon’s Andy Scott; they had both been previously repped by CAA’s Pat Brisson. The winger has 56 points in 49 games with Dallas this season, putting him on track to hit the 80-point mark for the fourth straight season. He’s owed a qualifying offer of $9.3MM with arbitration rights in late June but will likely make a few million more per season than that. Notably, Scott also represents Mikko Rantanen, Wyatt Johnston, and Thomas Harley, all of whom have signed long-term deals with the Stars within the last year.
More from the Central Division:
- After moving out a young center as part of the return for Quinn Hughes, it appears the Wild are keeping tabs on another young middleman. David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports that Minnesota is a team that’s believed to have some interest in Hurricanes center Jesperi Kotkaniemi, though he’s not viewed as their top choice to add down the middle. Kotkaniemi is believed to be getting shopped by the team, recognizing that he needs a change of scenery after recording just seven points in 29 games so far this season. However, the 25-year-old still has four years left on his deal after this one with a $4.82MM cap charge, a price tag the Wild can’t afford at the moment.
- The Blues have made a coaching change with their AHL affiliate in Springfield. The team announced that Steve Ott will take over as head coach with the Thunderbirds, replacing Steve Konowalchuk, who has been let go. This will be Ott’s first time as head coach after serving as an assistant or associate coach in St. Louis since 2017. He has been a speculative head coaching target over the past couple of offseasons and some experience running a bench might help give him a boost for future vacancies. Konowalchuk, meanwhile, departs with a 47-50-12 record over parts of two seasons with the Thunderbirds.
Capitals Have Started Extension Talks With John Carlson
Heading into the season, the Capitals weren’t planning on holding extension talks right away with their longest-tenured blueliner, John Carlson. The thought was that both sides would see how things go at the start and reassess from there.
It appears those assessments have been completed. Speaking at Friday’s press conference (video link), GM Chris Patrick indicated that he has had some discussions with Carlson and his agent about the possibility of sticking around beyond this season and that those talks will continue.
The 36-year-old has spent his entire 17-year NHL career with Washington, who drafted him 27th overall back in 2008. In his prime, he reached the 70-point mark three times, topped by a 75-point effort in 2019-20 that saw him finish as the runner-up in Norris Trophy voting. While his eight-year, $64MM contract looked expensive at the time, it’s fair to say that it has aged rather well for the Caps.
In recent years, his offensive numbers have dipped a bit but he still entered this season coming off back-to-back years of more than 50 points. Still, with Jakob Chychrun beginning the first season of his eight-year, $72MM pact, it felt like the torch was being passed and that Chychrun would take over from Carlson as the undisputed top defender.
That hasn’t entirely happened, however. While Chychrun already has 15 goals (second-most among NHL rearguards), Carlson is actually three points ahead of him with 36. Meanwhile, Carlson is still second on the team in playing time at just under 23 minutes a night and still plays a key role on both special teams units. He may not be the player he was in his prime but he’s showing that he’s still an impactful defender.
But given his age, it’s fair to wonder how much longer that will be the case. Carlson has a lot of mileage under his belt (1,269 NHL games between the regular season and playoffs with heavy usage) and it’s unlikely he will sustain playing at a top-pairing level well into his next deal. Accordingly, even with a rising cap and a rather thin list of pending unrestricted free agent defensemen, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Patrick trying to get Carlson to sign below his current price tag. This is one of those situations where adding years could get the AAV to a more reasonable amount but would also carry more risk toward the back end of the deal.
The Capitals have ample cap space heading into next summer with $36.5MM in projected room, per PuckPedia. A big chunk of that comes from Carlson and Alex Ovechkin’s expiring deals so there’s a path for Patrick to reshape his core or keep it together. While Ovechkin isn’t ready to decide on his future yet, it appears Patrick intends to keep his veteran group intact with these efforts to get Carlson extended.
Golden Knights Recall Jaycob Megna
The Golden Knights have added some extra defensive depth in advance of their game tonight against Philadelphia. The team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled Jaycob Megna from AHL Henderson. To make room on the roster, newly acquired defenseman Rasmus Andersson has been moved to non-roster status.
It’s the fourth recall of the season for the 33-year-old but the first few stints with the big club haven’t yielded much in the way of playing time. Megna has played in just three games so far with Vegas, averaging 10:29 per game while posting a minus-five plus-minus rating. For his career, he has suited up in 196 contests over parts of eight seasons at the top level, notching four goals and 23 assists.
Megna has spent the bulk of the campaign with Henderson, playing in 27 games where he has three goals and seven assists. That production is at a similar rate to last season when he was with Charlotte and had 16 points in 64 appearances with the Checkers.
As for Andersson, the non-roster designation shouldn’t be any cause for concern. He’s still working through the process of getting a work visa and there’s no word yet on when he’ll be cleared to make his Golden Knights debut, though this process is usually finalized well within a week. Moving him to non-roster status allows them to get Megna up to fill a spot on the third pairing in the short term.
Central Notes: Miller, Nazar, Heiskanen, Ivan
1/19: With another game looming, the Avalanche have once again recalled Ivan to the NHL roster. This is already Ivan’s fourth recall of 2026.
1/17: Jets defenseman Colin Miller recently underwent knee surgery, head coach Scott Arniel told reporters including Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Free Press (Twitter link). The bench boss noted that the procedure was similar to the one that goaltender Connor Hellebuyck had, one that kept him out four weeks earlier this season. Officially, Miller remains listed as out week-to-week. The 33-year-old has had a limited role in 2025-26, playing in just 13 games. He’d have had an opportunity to play more regularly with Neal Pionk and Haydn Fleury also out week-to-week but now after having surgery, that doesn’t appear to be in the cards.
More from the Central:
- Blackhawks center Frank Nazar took part in the morning skate today and is expected to be a full participant in practice tomorrow as he works his way back from an upper-body injury, notes WGN Radio’s Charlie Roumeliotis (Twitter link). The 22-year-old has impressed in his first full NHL season, picking up six goals and 15 assists in 33 games while seeing his playing time push past 18 minutes per night. Originally expected to miss four weeks due to the injury, Nazar appears to be pretty close to that recovery timeline although he’s still a few days away from returning.
- After missing Thursday’s game to tend to a personal matter, Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen was back with the team at practice today, relays Sam Nestler of DLLS Sports (Twitter link). The 26-year-old is back in top form this season after a quieter 2024-25 campaign by his standards. Through 46 games, Heiskanen has 36 points and 87 blocks while averaging a career-high 26:04 per game of ice time, third-most in the NHL.
- The Avalanche announced last night (Twitter link) that they have once again assigned forward Ivan Ivan back to AHL Colorado. It’s the third time in barely a week that he has been recalled and subsequently reassigned. The 23-year-old did suit up against Nashville on Friday, his sixth NHL contest of the season. In those outings, Ivan has one assist while in 31 games with the Eagles, he has two goals and six helpers.
Five Key Stories: 1/12/26 – 1/18/26
With the Olympics only a few weeks away, an extra trade deadline of sorts will be coming into play. Accordingly, teams are starting to pick up the pace on the transactions front with a big trade and an extension among the key stories from the past seven days.
The Letter, Part Two: Nearly seven years ago, then-Ranger GM Jeff Gorton released a letter to the fans about the rebuild that was coming. This week, GM Chris Drury took a similar approach, writing that the team will begin a retooling process around its core players. However, it also means saying goodbye to some long-standing veterans. It appears one of those will be winger Artemi Panarin as the pending UFA has been informed that he won’t be offered a contract for next season and that the team will work with him to try to find a suitable trade. New York is at the bottom of the Eastern Conference, underwhelming for the second straight season. How far this retooling goes remains to be seen but the Rangers could be a team to keep an eye on leading into the March 6th trade deadline.
Two For Texier: It wasn’t even two months ago that Alexandre Texier found himself an in-season free agent after walking away from the rest of his contract with St. Louis to get a fresh start elsewhere. That brought him to Montreal on a one-year, $1MM prorated deal, where he has been productive with 16 points in 27 games, a total aided by a pair of back-to-back three-point games. Still, it was enough for the Canadiens to sign the 26-year-old to a two-year, $5MM extension. The deal checks in $400K above what his qualifying offer would have been had he remained with the Blues. As the Canadiens get healthier up front, it’s unlikely that Texier will stay on their top line but this extension shows that management believes he’ll be part of their plans moving forward.
Coaching Change: It’s rare to get this deep into the season without a coaching change but that was the case until Columbus decided to make a move. The Blue Jackets fired head coach Dean Evason along with assistant Steve McCarthy while hiring veteran Rick Bowness. Evason was in his second season with the team and they just missed the playoffs last season but they have been near or in the basement for a big chunk of this season, warranting a change in GM Don Waddell’s eyes. Bowness was a particularly interesting hire after he stepped away from Winnipeg in 2024 for health reasons so it wasn’t clear that he’d consider going back behind a bench. The 70-year-old has only signed for the rest of the season, however, with both sides to reassess things from there.
Olympic-Related Injuries: A pair of teams find themselves without key players that also puts their Olympic participation in jeopardy. Lightning center Brayden Point is listed as week-to-week with a lower-body injury that appeared to be a knee issue. It’s the second absence of the season for the veteran who has managed 30 points in 37 games when he’s in the lineup. His availability to suit up for Canada is now in question. The same can be said for Ducks middleman Leo Carlsson. He’s set to miss three to five weeks after undergoing a procedure to treat a Morel-Lavallée lesion in his left thigh. Carlsson is a point-per-game player for Anaheim this season, making him their leading scorer through the first half of the campaign. If his recovery is on the shorter end of the timeline, he should be fine to play at the Olympics but if it’s going to be closer to five weeks, Sweden will have a decision to make in terms of keeping or replacing him.
Off To Vegas: Going back to the offseason, the Golden Knights had interest in Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson but a trade never came to fruition. Now, it has. Vegas acquired the blueliner (with Calgary retaining half of his $4.55MM cap charge) in exchange for defenseman Zach Whitecloud, Vegas’ 2027 first-round pick, a conditional 2027 second-round pick (that becomes a 2028 first rounder if Vegas wins the Stanley Cup this season), and the signing rights to University of North Dakota defender Abram Wiebe. Andersson, a pending unrestricted free agent, has not agreed to an extension as part of the swap. He’ll help fill the role vacated by the injured Alex Pietrangelo while adding some firepower from the back end as he already has 10 goals and 30 points this season. Calgary’s return, as expected, is largely futures-based although they do add a capable third-pairing piece in Whitecloud, who, in theory, could potentially be flipped closer to the deadline to team looking for defensive depth.
Photo courtesy of James Carey Lauder-Imagn Images.
Snapshots: Garland, Chytil, Blueger, Stamkos, Karlsson
Canucks winger Conor Garland has been generating several inquiries lately, reports David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period (Twitter link). While Vancouver has shifted into a rebuild of sorts, Pagnotta adds that Vancouver isn’t necessarily looking to move him but will listen to inquiries. The 29-year-old has seven goals and 15 assists in 37 games so far this season in the final season of his current deal that carries a $4.95MM cap charge. However, he has already signed a six-year, $36MM extension that will begin in 2026-27 so any interested teams would know they’ll need to take on that sizable commitment.
Elsewhere around the NHL:
- Still with the Canucks, they could be getting some good news soon on the injury front. Postmedia’s Ben Kuzma notes (Twitter link) that centers Filip Chytil and Teddy Blueger were full participants at practice and are nearing returns. Chytil has only played in six games this season (where he has three goals) and has been sidelined with a concussion for the last three months. Blueger has been out just as long with a lower-body injury. After also being injured to start the year, he has only been able to play twice so far in 2025-26. A pending UFA, Blueger is a strong trade candidate if he’s able to stay healthy between now and the trade deadline in early March.
- The league announced that Predators forward Steven Stamkos has been fined $2.5K for unsportsmanlike conduct for an incident with Vegas defenseman Jeremy Lauzon during Saturday’s game. The fine money goes to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.
- Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson returned to practice today in a non-contact capacity, relays Seth Rorabaugh of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The 35-year-old has missed the last week with an undisclosed injury. While there is no change to his day-to-day status, Karlsson will accompany the team on their upcoming four-game road trip. Through 44 games this season, he has three goals and 30 assists and is averaging a little under 24 minutes of playing time.