Sabres Fire Associate GM Jason Karmanos
It turns out a GM change wasn’t the only front office move the Sabres are making this week. New GM Jarmo Kekalainen has made his first big change as the team announced that associate GM Jason Karmanos has been relieved of his duties.
The 51-year-old has been involved with an NHL team for the better part of three decades now. Karmanos started his career in Carolina as an assistant GM in 1998 while his father was the principal owner of the team. He remained in that role until 2013.
After a year out of the league, Karmanos resurfaced in Pittsburgh’s front office under GM Jim Rutherford, with whom he worked in Carolina. It wasn’t long before he became an assistant GM there as well, a title he held until being let go in October 2020.
Later that season, now-former Buffalo GM Kevyn Adams brought Karmanos in with a more prominent role as associate GM and GM of AHL Rochester. However, he remained based out of Pittsburgh, often working remotely. At this point, no replacement has been named for either role so in the interim, either Kekalainen or assistants Mark Jakubowski or Jerry Forton will shoulder the extra responsibilities.
Wild Activate Four Players, Place Two On IR
The Wild have been quite active when it comes to roster moves today. Michael Russo of The Athletic relays (Twitter link) that defensemen Jonas Brodin and Jacob Middleton along with forwards Mats Zuccarello and Vinnie Hinostroza have all been activated off injured reserve. In corresponding moves, defenseman Zach Bogosian and Daemon Hunt were both moved to IR.
Brodin has missed a little more than a week with a lower-body injury. The 32-year-old has been his usual reliable self defensively for Minnesota this season, sitting second on the team in blocked shots with 66 while being one of their most-used penalty killers. Through 30 outings, he has three goals and six assists and is logging over 22 minutes per game of ice time for the sixth straight year. With them facing Edmonton’s strong attack this afternoon, his return to their shutdown pairing will certainly be a welcome one.
As for Middleton, he has missed the last couple of weeks with an upper-body issue. After averaging nearly a career-high 22 minutes per game last season, his role has been more limited this year. Through 28 games, the 29-year-old has six assists along with 43 blocks and 42 hits while playing 18:08 per night, slotting in fifth among Minnesota’s defenders. He also takes a regular turn on their penalty kill and should give that unit a boost as well.
Zuccarello has also missed the last couple of weeks with an upper-body injury but that’s not the only time he has been on the shelf this season. As a result, the 38-year-old has been limited to just 15 games so far. However, Zuccarello has been productive in those outings, picking up two goals and ten assists in a little under 18 minutes per night of playing time. He should slot back into a top-six role and deepen Minnesota’s offensive depth.
Hinostroza, meanwhile, had missed the last month with a lower-body issue. Before being sidelined, he had been a regular in the bottom six for the Wild although offensive production was hard to come by as he has just two goals and three assists in 22 games thus far. While Hinostroza has spent a lot of this season on the wing, he is a natural center and with their depth down the middle taking a hit with last week’s trade that saw Marco Rossi go to Vancouver, having another veteran who can play down the middle when needed will help.
As for those landing on IR, Bogosian has missed the last two games with a lower-body injury. If the placement is backdated to December 14th (the day he was injured), he technically would be eligible to be activated as soon as Sunday. Having said that, they have an open roster spot after these moves so if Bogosian was that close to returning, they likely wouldn’t have placed him on IR in the first place. An 18-year NHL veteran, Bogosian has had a fairly limited role when he has been in the lineup this season, logging around 15 minutes per game of ice time while chipping in with two points in 17 outings.
Lastly, Hunt has played sparingly this season, suiting up in just a dozen games, suffering an undisclosed injury in the last of those on Tuesday. The 23-year-old is waiver-eligible and it’s clear that Minnesota doesn’t want to risk putting him on the wire so he has often served as their reserve defender. Hunt has two assists and 18 blocks in a dozen outings but is averaging just 12:26 per night. There is no word on how long he or Bogosian will be out.
Sharks Notes: Dickinson, Dellandrea, Gaudette
Earlier today, the Sharks officially loaned forward Michael Misa to Canada’s entry for the upcoming World Juniors. Not included in that announcement was defenseman Sam Dickinson, who is also eligible to participate. However, the team still hasn’t made a final decision on whether they will loan him out for the event, notes Sharks Hockey Digest’s Max Miller.
The 19-year-old has played fairly regularly this season, getting into 26 games though he was a scratch last night against Calgary. However, his minutes have been somewhat limited and sheltered as he’s averaging a little under 15 minutes per game of ice time. He would play a much bigger role on Canada’s back end, potentially as their number one defender. However, head coach Ryan Warsofsky also noted that he doesn’t want Dickinson to potentially slip into some bad habits if he were to be loaned out so that’s something they’ll have to weigh over the next few days before making a final decision.
More from San Jose:
- Center Ty Dellandrea is listed as questionable for tomorrow’s game against Dallas due to an upper-body injury, relays Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now (Twitter link). The 25-year-old was injured while blocking a shot on Tuesday but managed to stay in the game. Dellandrea has already surpassed his production from last season (10 points compared to eight) in half the games played while also averaging just under three hits per game. A pending restricted free agent with an affordable $1.3MM AAV, Dellandrea could be an intriguing under-the-radar trade target should the Sharks decide to listen to offers.
- Center Adam Gaudette is good to go for Thursday’s contest after missing last night’s game with a lower-body injury, Peng mentions (Twitter link). The 29-year-old had a breakout year last season with Ottawa where he had 19 goals in 81 games, earning a two-year, $4MM deal for his efforts. Gaudette is scoring at a similar clip this season with seven goals through 29 games while averaging 12:01 per night, his highest ATOI since 2019-20.
The CBA Change That Makes The Holiday Roster Freeze More Significant
While the official trade deadline in the NHL isn’t until March 6th, there is an earlier trade deadline of sorts with the annual holiday roster freeze. During that time, while a limited number of NHL-AHL roster moves can be made, trades are a no-go from December 20th through December 27th. While this can spur the odd move including last season, it typically comes and goes without much fanfare.
But things are a little different this time around. In the new CBA, there are restrictions on teams retaining salary on a player whose salary has already been retained on. Put in the new CBA to seemingly quash the three-team double-retention trades that became quite commonplace in recent years, a player must spend 75 in-season days on a roster before they can be moved with retention again.
While most of the CBA won’t come into effect until mid-September when the current agreement officially ends, this is one of the elements that was brought into play a year early. As a result, if a team wants to acquire a player with salary retention and still be able to move that player with retention before the trade deadline, they have to get the deal done before the 20th. Otherwise, while the acquiring team can still flip that player before March 6th, they won’t be able to retain salary to facilitate that move.
While there aren’t a lot of defined sellers at the moment, there could be some potential buying teams out there who might be interested in taking a look at a player while leaving themselves some flexibility to move the player later on if he’s not a fit or they fall out of the playoff race. Having the ability to retain in that scenario would make the player more valuable so it wouldn’t be surprising to see an uptick in trade talks as a result.
Last year, there were a trio of trades made before the roster freeze, headlined by the Kaapo Kakko trade to Seattle, but none of them involved salary retention. We’ll soon see if this rule change spurs on a more active trade period by Friday or if it will come and go more quietly as it often does.
Snapshots: Sabres, Tkachuk, Hagel, Lucic
Sabres defenseman Michael Kesselring is expected to return on Thursday against Philadelphia after missing the last 14 games with a lower-body injury, reports Bill Hoppe of the Olean Times Herald. A key part of the JJ Peterka trade over the offseason, the 25-year-old has been limited to just nine appearances so far this season after also sustaining a knee injury in the preseason. It wouldn’t be surprising to see him get eased back in but he’ll likely get a chance to take on a bigger role after the holiday break.
Meanwhile, among other injured Sabres, winger Jason Zucker has missed the last three games with a lower-body injury and is hoping to return after the break. Forward Justin Danforth has missed 28 games with what’s believed to be a broken kneecap but head coach Lindy Ruff says he’s doing okay now. Lastly, goaltender Colten Ellis (concussion protocol) is expected to be reevaluated on Friday after missing the last two games.
Elsewhere around the hockey world:
- While Panthers winger Matthew Tkachuk has been skating on his own recently, he has yet to join the team for practice. As a result, GM Bill Zito told NHL.com’s Nick Cotsonika that they don’t know if Tkachuk will be available for the Winter Classic in a little more than two weeks. The 28-year-old had surgery to repair a torn adductor muscle and a sports hernia back in August and has yet to play this season. He’s averaged more than a point per game in four straight years and whenever he comes back – be it for the outdoor game or later on – he’ll be a huge boost to a Florida team that sits around the middle of the pack in the East.
- Lightning winger Brandon Hagel is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury and hasn’t been ruled out of Thursday’s game against Los Angeles, relays Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter link). Hagel was injured on a hit from Seth Jones on Monday, resulting in him leaving the game. He has been a key contributor for Tampa Bay this season, notching 18 goals and 13 assists in 32 games.
- Veteran winger Milan Lucic has decided not to hang up his skates. Released from an AHL tryout with Springfield late last month, he has found his next team as the Fife Flyers of the EIHL announced that they’ve signed the 37-year-old for the remainder of the season. Lucic has only played in nine games since the 2022-23 campaign ended so it’s far from a guarantee that he’ll be able to be an impactful player as he looks to continue his career.
West Notes: Kuemper, Danault, Byfield, Reichel, Connelly
Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper sustained an upper-body injury in the first period of their game tonight against Dallas, the team announced (Twitter link). The injury occurred after taking a hit from Mikko Rantanen. The 35-year-old has quietly been one of the better goalies in the league this season, taking a 2.21 GAA and a .916 SV% in 22 games into this game while posting a 15.5 Goals Saved Above Expected, per MoneyPuck, good for fifth in the league. That performance could get him on the Olympic radar with Canada set to reveal its roster for the tournament at the end of the month. Anton Forsberg took over between the pipes following Kuemper’s injury.
More from out West:
- Still with Los Angeles, the Kings were without a pair of middlemen tonight as Jared Shafran of LA Kings Insider relayed that Philipp Danault and Quinton Byfield were both sidelined due to the flu. It’s the second straight game that Danault has missed; the 32-year-old is still looking for his first goal of the year and only has five assists through 30 games. Meanwhile, Byfield has just four goals in 31 outings but with 15 assists, he has enough points to sit third on the team in scoring.
- After clearing waivers over the weekend, the Canucks assigned winger Lukas Reichel to the minors. Ben Kuzma of the Vancouver Province mentions that Reichel’s agent has permission to talk to other teams about trying to facilitate a trade. While there were no takers for the 23-year-old with his $1.2MM AAV, it’s possible that there could be some interest if they could send a player the other way to offset some of the money. Either way, Reichel’s stock has certainly fallen after struggling following a late-October trade from Chicago.
- The Golden Knights’ AHL affiliate in Henderson announced Sunday that they have officially loaned winger Trevor Connelly to Team USA for the upcoming World Junior tournament. The 19-year-old was the 19th pick in 2024 and is holding his own in his first professional season, notching three goals and four assists in 11 outings so far.
Dylan Gambrell Signs With AHL Iowa
Back in September, veteran center Dylan Gambrell signed a PTO agreement with Nashville with the hopes of securing a full-season contract. No such deal came to fruition and he had been on the open market since then after not securing a contract with AHL Milwaukee either. However, he has now caught on with a team as AHL Iowa announced that they’ve signed Gambrell for the remainder of the season.
The 29-year-old was effectively an NHL regular until somewhat recently. Gambrell played in at least 49 games per season between the 2019-20 and the 2022-23 campaigns, with a career-high of 63 coming back in 2021-22. He spent most of those games primarily on the fourth line, tallying 17 goals and 23 assists along with a 46.1% faceoff rate in 233 NHL contests between San Jose and Ottawa.
However, aside from preseason appearances (of which he only had two this past preseason), Gambrell has played exclusively in the minors. Last season, he played on a two-way deal with Columbus, suiting up with their farm team in Cleveland where he had 13 goals and 12 assists in 54 appearances.
One of the challenges that Gambrell likely faced in free agency is that he qualifies for veteran status at the AHL level. Teams can only dress five skaters with 320 games of professional experience which has resulted in some capable veterans either remaining unsigned or having to go overseas for this season with so many teams at their veteran limit. Gambrell decided to wait it out for an opportunity in North America and while it took some time, he has now found one.
East Notes: Dvorak, Senators, Fitzgerald
When the Flyers signed Christian Dvorak to a one-year, $5.4MM contract this summer, the widely held belief was that it was likely that they’d look to flip him at the trade deadline, possibly with salary retention. However, it doesn’t appear that is the plan at the moment. Kevin Kurz of The Athletic recently reported (subscription link) that with Philadelphia in the thick of the playoff race and the fact he’s on track for a career year offensively (he has 22 points in 31 games), the team isn’t planning to move him. Instead, exploring a potential contract extension could be in the cards. Because Dvorak is on a one-year deal, he’s ineligible to sign a contract until January.
Elsewhere in the East:
- The Senators are believed to be looking for a top-nine forward and some defensive depth, reports Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch. Recent injuries have tested their depth with centers Shane Pinto and Lars Eller out, the latter facing an extended absence while Thomas Chabot has played just once in the last month due to a couple of stints on injured reserve. Ottawa doesn’t have a 2026 first-round pick to dangle in a move, however, with that pick being forfeited due to their nondisclosure of Evgenii Dadonov’s no-trade clause in an attempted trade in 2021. The Sens have around $2.7MM in full-season cap space, per PuckPedia, so they may be hard-pressed to try to get both of those wants at this point.
- Amidst speculation about GM Tom Fitzgerald’s job security, NJ Advance Media’s Ryan Novozinsky reports that Fitzgerald has the full support of ownership and his job is not in jeopardy. There was some disappointment late last week when New Jersey wasn’t able to get a trade in place for Quinn Hughes while the team has struggled as of late, winning just six of 16 games since top center Jack Hughes suffered a hand injury. But while Buffalo opted for a change in management today, don’t expect the Devils to be doing the same.
Penguins Recall Sergei Murashov On An Emergency Basis
Dec. 15th: According to a team announcement, Skinner and Kulak have made it through the immigration process and have been added to the Penguins’ active roster. After doing that, Pittsburgh was able to assign Murashov back to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton from his emergency recall.
Dec. 13th: While Pittsburgh has a new netminder, they’ll have to wait a bit for his debut with the team. The Penguins announced (Twitter link) that both Stuart Skinner and defenseman Brett Kulak have been granted non-roster status while going through the immigration process. With the team needing a second goalie for tonight’s game against San Jose, Sergei Murashov has been recalled from AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
Murashov was a fourth-round pick by the Penguins back in 2022 and he is in his second full season in North America. Last year, he split time between Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and ECHL Wheeling, doing well at both levels, including a .922 SV% in 26 games with the latter.
That moved him up the depth chart this season and earned him his first NHL action earlier on this season. Murashov has played in four games with Pittsburgh, posting a 1-1-1 record with his win being a shutout. He has a solid 1.90 GAA and .913 SV% in those outings which is certainly worthy of a longer look. However, with two other goalies on their roster, they’ve prioritized maximizing Murashov’s playing time in the minors. In 11 outings with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, he has been elite, compiling a 1.56 GAA and a .943 SV%.
It can take several days for a player to go through the immigration process and with applications typically not getting processed on weekends, it might take a few games before Skinner and Kulak get the green light to make their Penguins debuts.
Central Notes: Bedard, Vanacker, O’Connor, Kiviranta
Blackhawks center Connor Bedard was injured in a last-second faceoff in last night’s game against St. Louis. Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times notes that the 20-year-old has already been ruled out for today’s game against Detroit with there not yet being enough information to make any determinations beyond that. More information is expected on Monday before the team embarks on a three-game road trip. Bedard, the number one pick in 2023, is in the middle of a breakout season as he has 19 goals and 25 assists in just 31 games, a level of play that has him as a speculative candidate to play for Canada at the upcoming Olympics, assuming that this injury isn’t a long-term one.
Elsewhere in the Central:
- Still with Chicago, Hockey Canada announced (Twitter link) that Blackhawks prospect Marek Vanacker has been added to its training camp roster for the upcoming World Juniors. The 19-year-old was the 27th pick in the 2024 draft and is in the middle of a dominant season with OHL Brantford. Through 26 games with the Bulldogs, Vanacker has 26 goals and 15 assists. Considering the fact he wasn’t on the original invite list, he has some work to do to try to secure a spot on the final roster.
- The Avalanche have been without winger Logan O’Connor all season as he works his way back from offseason hip surgery. However, as Aarif Deen of Colorado Hockey Now relays, the 29-year-old is now dealing with another issue that head coach Jared Bednar says is still being evaluated. The team hopes to know more about his status within the next week or two. While he has been cleared from the hip injury, it appears that Colorado will be without one of their key bottom-six forwards for a while yet. O’Connor is currently on LTIR although the Avs have a low enough team payroll at the moment that they’re not actually using it at the moment.
- Meanwhile, the news is better for winger Joel Kiviranta. The 29-year-old exited Thursday’s game with an eye issue but Meghan Angley of Guerilla Sports mentions (Twitter link) that Kiviranta will suit up tonight against Nashville. Kiviranta had a breakout year for the Avalanche last season, scoring 16 goals in 79 games but offense has been harder to come by this year as he has been limited to just a goal and an assist in 14 outings so far.