Brian La Rose

Predators Place Mark Jankowski On IR, Recall Ozzy Wiesblatt

February 8, 2025 at 7:29 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

The Predators have made a pair of roster moves heading into their final game before the 4 Nations Face-Off break. Nick Kieser of 102.5 The Game relays (Twitter link) that Nashville has placed center Mark Jankowski on injured reserve. With the open roster spot, they’ve recalled winger Ozzy Wiesblatt from AHL Milwaukee.

It’s a bit surprising that the Preds wound up waiting this long to put Jankowski on IR. The 30-year-old has been out for the last three weeks with an upper-body injury that carries a week-to-week designation. Jankowski has played in 37 games this season, notching three goals and five assists while logging a little under 13 minutes a night. Having been out this long, he’ll be eligible to be activated at any point when he’s cleared to return.

As for Wiesblatt, this is his second recall of the season. He got into two games on his first one back in January where he had four hits in a little over ten minutes a night of action. This one will be shorter-lived, however, as he’ll almost certainly be sent back following the game to keep playing with the Admirals. On the farm, the 22-year-old has 11 goals and 12 assists in 41 games, already making it the most productive of his three professional seasons.

Kings Recall Pheonix Copley On Emergency Basis, Place Mikey Anderson On IR

February 8, 2025 at 6:29 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 1 Comment

With Darcy Kuemper away from the team for personal reasons, the Kings needed to add a goalie to their roster for their game tonight versus Anaheim. The team announced that veteran netminder Pheonix Copley has been recalled from AHL Ontario. To make room on the roster, defenseman Mikey Anderson has been placed on injured reserve.

It’s the fourth recall of the season for Copley whose previous stints with the big club have been short-lived. That trend will almost certainly continue as he’s a strong candidate to be sent back to the Reign following the game. The North Pole native has only made one appearance with Los Angeles this season, that coming in relief back in mid-October but extended his streak of seasons with an NHL game to four. Copley has also played 20 times for Ontario, putting up a 2.45 GAA along with a .906 SV%.

Anderson, meanwhile, has missed a little more than a week with a finger injury sustained late last month. He has logged heavy minutes for Los Angeles this season, ranking second on the team in ATOI at 22:50 (excluding Drew Doughty who is five games into his return). Through 49 games, Anderson has five goals and nine assists along with 83 blocks and 68 hits. He’ll be eligible to be activated at any time as he has already missed more than the required seven days.

Canucks Recall Linus Karlsson, Assign Victor Mancini To AHL

February 8, 2025 at 5:59 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

The Canucks have tweaked their roster for their final game before the break. The team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled forward Linus Karlsson from AHL Abbotsford and have assigned defenceman Victor Mancini to Abbotsford.

Karlsson has been recalled now four times this season. In his first three stints, the 25-year-old played in a total of nine games with Vancouver, picking up a goal in just under 10 minutes a night of playing time. While offense has been hard to come by at the NHL level – he has just six points (all goals) in 82 career NHL appearances – that hasn’t been the case in the minors. With Abbotsford, Karlsson has a dozen goals and six assists in 17 outings after recording 60 points in as many games last season with them. Despite the promotion, he did not suit up against Toronto.

As for Mancini, he was one of the pieces of the recent J.T. Miller trade and was brought up earlier this week although he didn’t see any game action with Vancouver. The 22-year-old played in 15 games with the Rangers earlier this season, recording five points while logging a little more than 15 minutes a night, solid numbers for his first taste of NHL action. Mancini also has 23 AHL appearances on the campaign, all with New York’s affiliate in Hartford where he has 10 points. Mancini should get a chance to make his debut with Abbotsford on Tuesday against San Diego. He’ll likely be joined by Karlsson for that one with the forward likely to be sent back down following tonight’s game.

Devils Assign Three To AHL

February 8, 2025 at 5:29 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

With the Devils playing their final game before the break this afternoon, they’ve wasted little time setting their roster for the next couple of weeks until play resumes while freeing up a bit of extra salary cap space in the process. The team announced that goaltender Nico Daws and defensemen Simon Nemec and Santeri Hatakka have been assigned to AHL Utica.

Daws was recalled last weekend to serve as Jake Allen’s backup with Jacob Markstrom still sidelined due to a lower-body injury. He made a pair of appearances during that stint, one in relief with one start, turning aside 32 of 34 shots. Daws has been limited to just 21 games with the Comets due to injury where he has a 3.40 GAA and a .888 SV%. He’ll likely get a few starts during the break before being recalled when NHL play resumes as Markstrom might not quite be ready to return by then.

As for Nemec, he was brought up on Thursday with Jonas Siegenthaler banged up. He played in both of New Jersey’s games following his promotion but was held off the scoresheet. On the season, he has only played 11 games with the Devils after seeing action in 60 a year ago. Instead, Nemec has spent most of the campaign in Utica where he has been able to play a much bigger role. The 20-year-old has done well down there with 22 points in 32 games.

As for Hatakka, his demotion should come as little surprise after he cleared waivers earlier today. He has yet to play this season after missing the first four months of the campaign while recovering from shoulder surgery. He split last season between New Jersey and Utica and will now try to play himself into consideration for a recall for the stretch run.

Central Notes: Heinola, Dickinson, Blues, Wilsby

February 7, 2025 at 9:00 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

It has been a rough few years for Jets defenseman Ville Heinola. Once considered one of their top prospects, frequent injuries derailed that and now that he’s waiver-blocked, even playing time is hard to come by. Accordingly, Sportsnet’s Jacob Stoller argues that the time is right to move the 23-year-old even though his value is at an all-time low. Heinola has been a frequent healthy scratch in recent weeks and has just one assist in 16 games with Winnipeg when he has played this season. With the Jets atop the standings in the West, it stands to reason that they’re going to look to add some defensive depth before next month’s trade deadline which will push Heinola further down the depth chart and possibly out of a roster spot altogether. Accordingly, perhaps it makes sense to take what they could get for him now over potentially losing him for nothing later on via waivers.

Lightning Recall Dylan Duke

February 7, 2025 at 7:57 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 2 Comments

After returning winger Conor Sheary to the minors this morning, the Lightning wasted little time filling his vacated roster spot. The team announced that they’ve recalled forward Dylan Duke from AHL Syracuse.

It’s the first career regular season recall for the 21-year-old. Duke was selected late in the fourth round back in 2021 by Tampa Bay, going 126th overall. He spent three seasons at the University of Michigan, the last of which was a dominant effort coming last season that saw him record 26 goals and 23 assists in just 41 games, good for a share of 11th in Division I scoring. Duke also had a brief stint with the Crunch last season, getting into three regular season games and five playoff contests.

Duke has played exclusively with Syracuse so far in his first professional campaign. Through 36 outings this season, he has 13 goals and nine assists, ranking him tied for third in points on the Crunch while being their only double-digit goalscorer.

With the recall, Tampa Bay’s active roster now stands at 22 players but that likely won’t be the case for long. With the 4 Nations Face-Off break coming up next week, Duke will likely be returned to the Crunch at that time.

Pacific Notes: Englund, Clarke, Oilers, Kostin

February 7, 2025 at 7:26 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 1 Comment

Since Drew Doughty’s return, the Kings have been carrying nine defensemen which is a rarity. But it doesn’t appear as if that will be the case for much longer. Mayor’s Manor suggests that Los Angeles will likely place blueliner Andreas Englund on waivers on Sunday for the purpose of assigning him to AHL Ontario. Englund has been limited to just 11 games this season and hasn’t reached the ten-minute mark in playing time in a game since late October. Still, with 173 games of NHL experience and a relatively low cap charge at $1MM, there’s a chance that someone could put a claim in to add some cheap depth if Englund ultimately does hit the wire this weekend.

One thing the Kings could do in the short term is to send Brandt Clarke to Ontario at the 4 Nations break. Doing so would allow them to bank some extra cap room with the trade deadline fast approaching. However, according to that same report from Mayor’s Manor, that won’t be the case and Clarke will remain up with Los Angeles through the break.

Blues Believed To Be Gauging The Market For Brayden Schenn

February 6, 2025 at 8:59 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 10 Comments

This is the time of year when many contending teams will be looking to augment their depth down the middle. At a minimum, many will look to add at least a bottom-six middleman to help on the penalty kill, win faceoffs, or generally just serve as extra insurance if injuries arise.

But not all contenders are set a little higher up the lineup. Some will be looking to add more of a second-line option, either to boost their current second line or to give them a deeper third line. While depth centers are generally acquirable at this time of year, more impactful ones are generally harder to come by and when they do move, they typically command a strong return.

To that end, it appears the Blues may be testing the market for one of their better pivots. TSN’s Darren Dreger reported in the latest Insider Trading segment that St. Louis might be gauging the market to see what type of interest teams would have in veteran center Brayden Schenn.

The 33-year-old has been a strong two-way player for the bulk of his career, one that is just six games away from reaching 1,000. While he isn’t as much of a scoring threat as he was earlier on, he still has 11 goals and 19 assists in 54 games this season heading into tonight’s action. And with three straight years of 20 or more goals before 2024-25, there’s still a recent enough stretch of goal production for a contending team to think he can come in and still be an impact contributor.

Of course, Schenn’s physicality also will endear him to potential suitors. He’s averaging just over 2.5 hits per game this season and while he’s not deployed shorthanded quite as much as he used to, he’s still capable of taking a turn on the penalty kill as well. Those elements will also be endearing to teams looking to make a bigger splash down the middle.

Schenn is signed at a $6.5MM price tag through the 2027-28 season so his acquisition would certainly be a lot different from the rental moves we typically see made at this time of year. With a big jump coming for the next three seasons in the salary cap, absorbing the higher cap charge will become a little more palatable than it might have seemed a few weeks ago. It’s worth noting that Schenn’s salary drops to $4.3MM in 2026-27 and $4MM in 2027-28 which could make him a bit more appealing to any buyers that are operating under more of a stricter budget.

That said, it would be surprising if St. Louis was willing to retain a part of Schenn’s salary as that would cost them one of their three annual retention slots for three-plus seasons. While a few teams have taken on a multi-year retention charge, it’s still pretty uncommon. If they don’t want to do so here, then it will be harder for a lot of contenders to take on the full freight of the contract without sending a player or two the other way to offset some of the money. Not all teams will be willing to move what would likely be an impact piece for fear of disrupting chemistry late in the season but some would undoubtedly take that chance.

Even if the Blues were to find a suitable trade, Schenn holds plenty of control here. He currently holds a full no-trade clause which gives him full veto power if he doesn’t want to go to the team St. Louis works out a swap with. That said, his trade protection drops this July down to a 15-team no-trade clause so the Blues would potentially have more options to move him at that time.

Presumably, it would take a substantial return for St. Louis to seriously consider moving Schenn. But this is the time of year when teams might get a bit more desperate which could play into their favor. With the deadline now just four weeks away, GM Doug Armstrong has some time to assess if this is the right time to cash in on Schenn or whether they’re better off holding onto him for at least a little while longer.

Salary Cap Deep Dive: Buffalo Sabres

February 6, 2025 at 7:58 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

Navigating the salary cap is one of the most important tasks for a front office. Teams that can avoid total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful. Those that don’t often see struggles and front office changes.

PHR is looking at every NHL team and giving a thorough look at their cap situation for the 2024-25 season. This will focus more on players who are regulars on the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL. All cap figures are courtesy of PuckPedia. We’re currently covering the Atlantic Division, next up is the Sabres.

Buffalo Sabres

Current Cap Hit: $82,494,010 (under the $88MM Upper Limit)

Entry-Level Contracts

F Zach Benson (two years, $950K)
F Jiri Kulich (three years, $886.7K)
F JJ Peterka (one year, $855.8K)
F Jack Quinn (one year, $863.3K)

Potential Bonuses
Benson: $650K
Quinn: $850K
Total: $1.5MM

Benson had a solid rookie season last year after somewhat surprisingly making the team out of training camp. However, his per-game output has actually dipped this season which isn’t ideal and has him on pace to miss his ‘A’ bonuses. At this point, it would be surprising to see the Sabres prioritizing a long-term deal on his next contract; a bridge pact with an AAV around the $3MM mark is the likelier outcome. Kulich is just starting out in the NHL which makes his next agreement difficult to forecast. Based on his early production though, he’d be trending toward a bridge deal as well.

Quinn is someone who Buffalo likely hoped would be a candidate for a long-term pact but injuries last year didn’t help in that regard, nor have his struggles this year. A bridge contract could still land around the $4MM mark, however, and with there still being some uncertainty about him, it makes sense for both sides to lean that way. In the meantime, he’ll need to pick up the pace offensively to have a shot at any of his ‘A’ bonuses. Peterka is someone who should get consideration for a long-term deal, however. After putting up 50 points last year, he’s on pace to beat that this season and has established himself as a legitimate top-six winger. With another big increase in the salary cap coming, there’s a chance Peterka could become their highest-paid forward, surpassing the $7.15MM mark on a long-term agreement.

Signed Through 2024-25, Non-Entry-Level

F Nicolas Aube-Kubel ($1.5MM, UFA)
D Jacob Bryson ($900K, UFA)
D Bowen Byram ($3.85MM, RFA)
D Dennis Gilbert ($825K, UFA)
F Jordan Greenway ($3MM, UFA)
D Henri Jokiharju ($3.1MM, UFA)
F Ryan McLeod ($2.1MM, RFA)
G James Reimer ($1MM, UFA)
F Jason Zucker ($5MM, UFA)

Zucker has been a very nice pickup in his second straight year of playing on a one-year pillow contract in the hopes of restoring his market value. The last one didn’t go so well but this one has as he’s playing at an offensive pace close to his career year back in 2017-18. That should help his chances of securing at least a multi-year agreement this time around. However, because of his age (33) and his inconsistency with other teams in recent years, Zucker may be hard-pressed to command top dollar on that multi-year deal. Instead, that deal might not cost a whole lot more than what he’s getting now if teams have any doubts about his ability to fit in with them based on what happened elsewhere.

Greenway has shown flashes of being an impact player since being acquired two years ago but staying healthy has been a concern. Nonetheless, a 6’6 power forward is going to garner plenty of interest on the open market. Missing more than half the season so far with injuries won’t help his cause but even with that, a small increase in pay and another multi-year agreement should be coming his way.

McLeod has fared well in his first season since coming over from Edmonton and is nearing his career highs offensively from last year. Assuming he reaches those thresholds, the improved production and arbitration eligibility could push him closer to the $3.5MM range on a contract that buys a year or two of team control. Aube-Kubel has had some success as a fourth liner in the past but that hasn’t happened yet this year. He had enough of a market to garner more than expected last summer but recently cleared waivers and was sent to the minors where he still partially counts against the cap. As a result, his next deal seems likely to come in close to the minimum salary.

Byram is the headliner among the defensemen. He’s on pace to shatter his personal bests offensively, plays in all situations, and has stayed healthy which is notable for someone with his concussion history. While the Sabres could opt for another short-term deal, the likelier outcome is a long-term agreement. With his output this season and arbitration rights, that could push his price tag into the $7MM range. Can they afford that long-term with two big deals already on the books on the back end? That’s a decision they’ll have to make.

Jokiharju has seen his stock fall sharply. He’s no longer in Buffalo’s top four on the back end and his level of play has suffered for it, hardly ideal heading into his first trip through unrestricted free agency. Still, he’s going to be a rare 26-year-old UFA (thanks to reaching seven years of service time) and is a right-shot player who has logged 20 minutes a game in the past. Accordingly, even with his decline in performance, he could still come in pretty close to this price tag in July. Bryson took a greater than 50% pay cut to stay with Buffalo in the summer and has had a very limited role thus far. With that in mind, he’ll likely stay around this price point as will Gilbert who has played even less.

Reimer was originally signed to be the veteran third-string option but after being reacquired on waivers early in the season, the plan changed and he stayed in Buffalo while Devon Levi went to the minors to play more minutes. (While Levi has gotten a spot start here and there since then, he’s not on the verge of meeting any bonuses which is why he wasn’t mentioned with the entry-level players.) Reimer has played limited minutes and is more of a lower-end backup or third-string option so he could wind up coming closer to the league minimum of $775K next time out.

Signed Through 2025-26

D Connor Clifton ($3.33MM, UFA)
F Peyton Krebs ($1.45MM, RFA)
F Sam Lafferty ($2MM, UFA)
F Beck Malenstyn ($1.35MM, UFA)
F Alex Tuch ($4.75MM, UFA)

Tuch was a legitimate top-line point-per-game player in 2022-23 but hasn’t been able to produce at the same level since then and his numbers are down again this year. Even so, he’s still an all-situations player in a prominent role while making second-line money. Even with the drop in scoring, he’d likely pass the $7MM mark if he hit the open market today, a number that would only go up if he gets back to his level of production from a couple of years ago. Lafferty was brought in as part of the revamp on the fourth line and hasn’t been as impactful as the team expected. If that continues into next season, a small cut in pay seems likely though his overall track record is good enough to prevent him from facing any sort of steep drop.

Krebs hasn’t been able to become an impactful producer just yet at the NHL level. One of the key pieces of the Jack Eichel trade, he has been more of a depth middleman than a top-six center of the future. He’s at least doing better than last season which should buy him more rope from a development perspective but it’s hard to see him landing a long-term agreement on his next deal if this continues. But with arbitration rights, doubling his current price tag is doable. Malenstyn was the other player brought in to change up the fourth line and has fit in well in that role while playing less than he was in his career year with Washington last season. If he remains a prominent hitter, he could push past $2MM in 2026.

Clifton’s contract was a bit of a headscratcher at the time and it hasn’t panned out thus far. Being a right-shot defender certainly helps his value but being limited to third-pairing duty doesn’t. Assuming he stays in this role moving forward, he might land closer to $2.5MM next time out, even with a higher salary cap by then.

Signed Through 2026-27

None who aren’t on an entry-level contract.

Signed Through 2027-28 Or Longer

F Dylan Cozens ($7.1MM through 2029-30)
D Rasmus Dahlin ($11MM through 2031-32)
D Owen Power ($8.35MM through 2030-31)
D Mattias Samuelsson ($4.286MM through 2029-30)
F Tage Thompson ($7.143MM through 2029-30)

Thompson’s contract seemed risky at the time considering he only had the one breakout year. But he followed that up with an even better showing in 2022-23 and after a down year last season, he’s close to the point per game mark in 2024-25. Having a top-line middleman locked up at this price tag is certainly well below market value and taking the risk with the early extension in 2022 has yielded a nice reward. The same can’t be said for Cozens, however. He signed his deal when he was in the middle of a career year, one that saw him put up 68 points in his second full season. But his output dropped sharply last year and is down again this season. Even if he can get back to second-line production, this deal should hold up okay but he has some work to do to get there.

Going with a bridge contract worked out quite well for Dahlin. After his entry-level deal ended following his quietest season yet, the two sides opted to do a short-term second contract, one that saw Dahlin become a three-time All-Star and become one of the better offensive blueliners in the league while stepping into a legitimate all-situations number one role. With only one year of club control left coming off his bridge agreement, Dahlin had the hammer and was able to make himself one of the highest-paid defensemen in NHL history. It’s a lofty deal to live up to and it’s hard to think it could be called a bargain but if he keeps playing as he has in recent years, they’ll do just fine with his contract.

While Buffalo went the bridge route with Dahlin, they didn’t with their other top pick on the back end, handing Power one of the priciest post-ELC deals given to a defender. His first two NHL seasons were pretty strong and his output pretty consistent. For his role and output now, the deal is a little on the high side but as is often the case with these contracts, the expectation is that the contract will become team-friendly before too long as he continues to improve. Samuelsson signed this deal when he only had 52 career NHL games under his belt with the club hoping he’d become a lockdown defender at a below-market price before long. That hasn’t exactly been the case as he has spent a lot of time on the third pairing and has even been a healthy scratch this season. He’s only 24 and can turn it around still but this feels like a deal they might like to try to get out of.

Buyouts

F Jeff Skinner ($1.44MM through 2025-26, $6.44MM in 2026-27, $2.44MM from 2027-28 through 2029-30)

Retained Salary Transactions

None

Best Value: (non-entry-level) Tuch
Worst Value: Samuelsson

Looking Ahead

GM Kevyn Adams wasn’t able to spend much over the offseason despite plenty of efforts to do so, meaning Buffalo entered the season with ample cap space and they’ve banked lots more since then; they project to have over $25MM in room before the trade deadline. That has them well-positioned to add if they want to try to make a splash or to perhaps act as a facilitator and add some money that way depending on how much budget space they have.

Turning to next summer, the Sabres have a little over $62MM on the books, giving them around $32MM in space to work with. RFA deals for Byram, Peterka, and Quinn will eat up more than half of that while they’ll want to retain or replace Zucker as well but there will still be enough flexibility to try to take a swing and add a core piece again. As far as cap situations go around the league, theirs is one of the cleanest overall.

Photos courtesy of Imagn Images.

Metropolitan Notes: Tippett, Kuzmenko, Pelletier, Fabbro, Crosby

February 6, 2025 at 6:56 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 2 Comments

Flyers winger Owen Tippett has been ruled out of Philadelphia’s final two games before the 4 Nations Face-Off, notes Jackie Spiegel of the Philadelphia Inquirer. The 25-year-old suffered an upper-body injury last Wednesday against New Jersey and hasn’t played since. After setting new career highs last season offensively with 28 goals and 25 assists, Tippett has been a bit quieter this season with 14 goals and 20 helpers through 52 games although his 30 points still put him third on the team in scoring.

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