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Five Key Stories: 12/16/24 – 12/22/24

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Generally speaking, the week leading up to the roster freeze (a freeze that still allows for a lot of roster movement) in the NHL isn’t particularly busy.  That wasn’t the case as there was plenty of news of note across the league which is recapped in our key stories.

Johnson Released: Veteran Tyler Johnson was patient while waiting for his opportunity to play in Boston as his preseason PTO extended nearly a month before he inked a one-year, $775K contract.  However, his time with the Bruins was short-lived.  After getting into just nine games with them, Johnson and the team mutually agreed to terminate his contract and after he cleared unconditional waivers, he became a free agent.  A veteran of 747 career games at the NHL level, Johnson is hoping to still play in the NHL and intends to speak to teams after the holiday break.  Speculatively, considering he was on a league minimum deal and no one claimed him, this could be a situation where he needs to wait for an injury or until closer to the trade deadline in March before inking another deal.

Key Injuries: Maple Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz was off to a strong start to his first season in Toronto with a 2.15 GAA and a .927 SV% in his first 17 games.  However, he had to undergo knee surgery that will keep him out of the lineup for the next four to six weeks, meaning Joseph Woll will be the undisputed starter for a while.  Meanwhile, the Lightning won’t have blueliner J.J. Moser available to them for at least the next two months due to a lower-body injury.  Acquired as part of the Mikhail Sergachev trade, Moser has 10 points in 27 games while logging nearly 20 minutes a night on their back end.  Lastly, Sabres winger Jordan Greenway is set to undergo mid-body surgery that will keep him out long-term although he’s expected back before the end of the season.  Greenway was doing relatively well when healthy with seven points and 54 hits in 20 games but an extended absence won’t help his cause as he heads toward UFA eligibility for the first time in July.

Kakko To Kraken: After being made a healthy scratch last weekend by the Rangers, winger Kaapo Kakko expressed some frustration with the situation.  Soon after, New York moved the 2019 second-overall pick to Seattle in exchange for defenseman William Borgen plus a 2025 third-round pick and a 2025 sixth-rounder.  Kakko had a career-best 40 points last season but the Rangers weren’t ready to commit a long-term deal to him, instead giving him a one-year, $2.4MM deal for this year, avoiding arbitration.  He’ll hope for a strong second half with the Kraken that could help him earn that long-term commitment.  Meanwhile, Borgen will help replace some of the physicality that Jacob Trouba used to provide but he’s eligible for unrestricted free agency next summer.  The move is more of a win-now one for a Rangers team who has plummeted down the standings in recent weeks and it’s possible one or both of the draft picks they landed could be flipped in the coming weeks.

Eight For Rempe: With Kakko being traded, the Rangers used his roster spot up front to bring back Matt Rempe from AHL Hartford.  However, he wound up getting ejected in his first game back with the big club following a hit on Dallas blueliner Miro Heiskanen.  The hit drew the ire of the Department of Player Safety who handed Rempe an eight-game suspension.  Rempe has been ejected four times in his first 22 regular season games and this is the second suspension of his young career.  As he’s considered a repeat offender, the financial cost is considerably higher; he’ll forfeit $80K in salary for the infraction.  As it’s greater than five games, Rempe has the right to appeal this suspension but won’t be eligible to play during any potential appeal process.

Swapping Blueliners: The Canadiens and Predators swapped right-shot defenseman with Montreal picking up Alexandre Carrier in exchange for Justin Barron.  Carrier was off to a bit of a tough start to his season but played well enough to earn a three-year, $10.25MM deal last summer, one the Canadiens will absorb in full.  Barron, meanwhile, is a former first-round pick who was unable to secure a full-time spot on Montreal’s blueline.  He has another year left after this one at a $1.15MM price tag, giving Nashville $2.6MM in cap savings this season and next with the move and they’ll hope to help him reach his potential.  Meanwhile, the Canadiens add some experience to a young back end while giving them some insurance should they choose to move David Savard closer to the trade deadline.

Photo courtesy of Imagn Images.

Snapshots: Tarasov, Dumba, Vanecek, Miller, Nugent-Hopkins

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It has been a tough year for Blue Jackets goaltender Daniil Tarasov.  The 25-year-old has played to a 4.26 GAA and a .857 SV% in his nine starts and has only played once in the last month while AHL starter Jet Greaves has seen time with Columbus since then.  However, GM Don Waddell told Aaron Portzline of The Athletic (subscription link) that he has no plans to put the netminder on waivers, feeling that Tarasov has too much talent to go through unclaimed.  Tarasov had some success just last season when he had a 3.18 GAA and a .908 SV% in 24 games so they’ll continue to work with him in practice for the time being.  It’s a contract year for Tarasov who will be owed a $1.26MM qualifying offer with arbitration rights this summer so he’ll need to turn things around soon or risk being a non-tender candidate in June.

Elsewhere around the NHL:

  • While Stars defenseman Mathew Dumba returned to practice today with a full cage, he will not suit up on Monday against Utah, relays Sam Nestler of DLLS Sports (Twitter link). He has missed the last two weeks with an upper-body injury.  It has been a tough first year in Dallas for Dumba as he has been limited to just one assist in 19 games so far this season which is not the type of production the team was expecting when they signed him to a two-year, $7.5MM contract this summer.
  • Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky told reporters including Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News (subscription link) that they expect to have more information on the path forward for goaltender Vitek Vanecek in the next day or two. The netminder was hit by a puck on the bench on Tuesday and was listed as week-to-week.  He has since seen a specialist so further clarity on how much longer he’ll be out should be coming soon.  Vanecek, a pending unrestricted free agent, has a 3.84 GAA and a .885 SV% in 14 appearances this season.
  • Rangers defenseman K’Andre Miller missed today’s game and remains listed as day-to-day, mentions NHL.com’s Dan Rosen (Twitter link). New York was hoping that he’d be able to return from his upper-body injury but evidently, he wasn’t quite ready to do so.  The Rangers are in action on Monday against New Jersey so it’s possible that he returns then or they could opt to give him a few more days of rest over the break.  Miller has just six points in 30 games so far while sitting second in ice time among blueliners at over 21 minutes a night.
  • Oilers center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was scratched tonight due to illness, notes Bob Stauffer of 880 CHED (Twitter link). The veteran had played in all 33 games before this one but is having a quiet year offensively, tallying six goals and a dozen assists.  For comparison, Nugent-Hopkins had 18 goals and 49 helpers in 80 games just last season.

Salary Cap Deep Dive: Vancouver Canucks

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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 will look at every NHL team and give 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 Pacific Division, next up is the Canucks.

Vancouver Canucks

Current Cap Hit: $86,793,708 (under the $88MM Upper Limit)

Entry-Level Contracts

F Aatu Raty (one year, $837K)

Potential Bonuses
Raty: $32.5K

Raty was one of the key pieces acquired in the Bo Horvat swap but his opportunities at the NHL level have been relatively limited so far.  He has played in the bulk of Vancouver’s games thus far this season (which bodes well for his games played bonus) but strictly on the fourth line.  As a result, he’s heading for a short-term bridge deal, one that shouldn’t cost much more than this one.

Signed Through 2024-25, Non-Entry-Level

F Brock Boeser ($6.65MM, UFA)
D Erik Brannstrom ($900K, RFA)
D Derek Forbort ($1.5MM, UFA)
G Kevin Lankinen ($875K, UFA)
D Noah Juulsen ($775K, UFA)
F Pius Suter ($1.6MM, UFA)

Boeser seemed like a candidate for a longer-term deal a couple of years ago but wound up with what amounted to a second bridge contract.  That has worked out well for him as he had his best offensive performance last season and has started strong this year.  That should have him in line to add a couple million or so per year to his next deal, one that will be close to a max-term one this time around.  Suter didn’t have much success on the open market last time but basically produced at the same level last season as his first three years and is off to a better start this season.  He’s not the type of player who should be commanding a massive raise but a multi-year agreement with a price tag starting with three should be reachable.

Forbort received this deal in free agency in the summer and he was hoping to rebuild some value after a tough, injury-riddled year in Boston.  However, the early going this season has been tough and injury-riddled.  At this point, another drop in money might be coming his way while he’ll likely want another one-year deal.  Brannstrom was non-tendered by Ottawa over the summer and has already cleared waivers this season which doesn’t bode well for his situation.  His arbitration eligibility makes him a likely non-tender again but he could plausibly land a small raise to get back into seven figures.  Juulsen has largely been a seventh defender with Vancouver, a role he’d probably have with several other organizations.  Accordingly, teams will want him at or near the league minimum salary he’s currently making.

Lankinen didn’t get the type of contract he wanted early in free agency, resulting in him waiting it out.  That seven-figure deal didn’t come but he has been a terrific fit with the Canucks which should give hit market value a big boost if he can keep it up.  A jump back into the $2MM range might be an option for him but if he wants to stay in Vancouver, he will probably have to accept less than that.

Signed Through 2025-26

F Teddy Blueger ($1.8MM, UFA)
G Thatcher Demko ($5MM, UFA)
D Vincent Desharnais ($2MM, UFA)
F Conor Garland ($4.95MM, UFA)
F Danton Heinen ($2.25MM, UFA)
F Kiefer Sherwood ($1.5MM, UFA)
G Arturs Silovs ($850K, RFA)
D Carson Soucy ($3.25MM, UFA)

Garland has seemingly been on the trade block off and on for a couple of years now but overall, he has been relatively consistent with Vancouver.  Over the first three seasons of this contract, he has recorded at least 16 goals and 46 points while his maximums over that stretch are 20 and 52, respectively.  While they didn’t have much luck finding the right trade for him, his contract isn’t a significant overpayment by any stretch but the price tag and term remaining made it hard to move for full value.  While his smaller stature would work against him to a point on the open market, it’s quite possible that Garland is able to command a similar contract to this one next time out both in term and salary.

Heinen had to settle for a PTO a year ago but had more success in free agency back in July with this deal.  As long as he can provide some secondary scoring and hold a regular role in the middle six, they should do fine with it.  Blueger took a small pay cut in June to remain with Vancouver despite matching his career-high in points.  If he can hold that uptick in production, he could push past the $2MM mark on his next deal, a mark he reached at the end of his time with Pittsburgh.  Sherwood impressed in his first full NHL season last year, earning this deal in July.  He’s playing on the third line and is on pace to shatter the NHL record for hits in a single season.  We’ve seen players like this before command sizable deals on the open market so if he keeps this up, doubling this and then some is a realistic outcome.

Last year wasn’t a great one for Soucy who dealt with some injury trouble.  He’s a veteran fifth defender who can play up in a pinch but not contribute much offensively.  The market for those players is more stagnant so while it’s possible he could land another raise in 2026, it’s likely going to be of the marginal variety.  Desharnais only had one full NHL year under his belt as he reached free agency which likely limited his market to an extent.  He’s being deployed as more of a depth defender with Vancouver and if that holds, he’ll be hard-pressed to command much more than that with a lot of teams trying to keep the back-of-the-roster spots cheaper now.

Demko was the runner-up for the Vezina last season and it looked like a long-term deal with a sizable raise would soon be coming his way.  But the continued knee struggles dating back to the playoffs will hinder his market and likely take the types of deals that Jake Oettinger and Jeremy Swayman ($8.25MM) received off the table.  It wouldn’t be shocking for both sides to want a short-term agreement at a small raise to give Demko time to prove that he can fully get past the injury issue.  Silovs is the presumptive backup of the future after a solid run in the playoffs in relief of Demko although he’s off to a rough start this year.  If Silovs can do well in that role next season (assuming Lankinen moves on), doubling this price tag with arbitration rights could be the minimum increase.  But if he struggles or stays in a third role, he’ll stay around that price tag for his next deal.

Signed Through 2026-27

D Quinn Hughes ($7.85MM, UFA)
D Tyler Myers ($3MM, UFA)

Hughes skipped the bridge deal and went straight to this one, though it was two years shy of a max-term deal to help keep the cap hit lower.  While Vancouver is certainly benefitting from that now, Hughes will hit the open market at 27.  At that point, a max-term contract is all but a certainty considering he has emerged as a premier offensive blueliner.  That deal could plausibly come in around $11MM per season if he keeps this up.  Myers took a 50% cut from his last contract to remain with the Canucks for what should be a decent value deal for now as long as he can have some success on the second pairing.  That said, he’ll be 37 when this expires and will quite likely be going year to year from there at a lower rate than this, assuming he’s a little further down the depth chart at that time.

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Atlantic Notes: Matthews, Bennett, Sabres

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The Maple Leafs will be without top center Auston Matthews tonight against the Islanders, reports Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic (Twitter link).  Matthews is believed to have re-aggravated the upper-body injury that kept him out for several games last month, one that continues to linger.  Despite playing at less than full health, Matthews has been quite productive when he has been in the lineup, notching 11 goals and 12 assists through 24 outings while averaging over 20 minutes a night for the sixth straight season.  Johnston adds that Matthews is listed as questionable for Monday’s contest against Winnipeg but with the break coming up after that, it might make more sense for them to shut Matthews down for that game and give him more time to heal.

More from the Atlantic:

  • Panthers center Sam Bennett won’t face any supplemental discipline for his hit last night against St. Louis winger Jake Neighbours, notes FanDuel Sports Network’s Andy Strickland (Twitter link). Bennett made his return to the lineup on Friday after missing a game with the flu.  He’s off to a solid start in his contract year, tallying 13 goals and 14 assists in 32 games, putting himself in good shape for a sizable raise from his current $4.425MM AAV.
  • While some have suggested that the Sabres were close to landing Carolina’s Martin Necas over the summer before the potential swap fell through, Mike Harrington of The Buffalo News suggests that wasn’t the case and things never got to the point where Necas had to consider the swap. Instead, a source tells Harrington that Calgary’s Yegor Sharangovich may have been someone that Buffalo was trying to land over the summer.  The 26-year-old had a breakout year last season with 31 goals and 59 points, earning a five-year, $28.75MM extension for his efforts although things haven’t gone well for him this year with just six goals and two helpers thus far.  GM Kevyn Adams indicated recently that he thought he had a significant trade done in the offseason that fell through and he declined to provide any specifics beyond that.

Predators Activate Roman Josi Off Injured Reserve

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While Predators defenseman Roman Josi landed on IR earlier this week, he wasn’t there for long.  Alex Daugherty of The Tennessean relays (Twitter link) that the team has activated the blueliner, making him available to play today versus Los Angeles.

The 34-year-old missed the last week and a half due to a lower-body injury.  As has been the case for many of the Predators’ top players this season, Josi has struggled a bit offensively, at least relative to his production from 2023-24.  He had 85 points in 82 games a year ago, making him the Norris Trophy runner-up along the way.

This season, he has produced seven goals and 16 assists through 29 games; he sits second on the team to Filip Forsberg in points while leading the way in ATOI at 24:59 per game so he certainly hasn’t been a primary reason for their surprising struggles.  Suffice it to say, his return will certainly be a key upgrade on the blueline as they look to get back on track before the holiday break.

The Preds sent blueliners Marc Del Gaizo and Kevin Gravel down to the minors yesterday so they had ample roster space to activate Josi.  Following this move, they’re back at 22 players on their active roster.

Matt Rempe Offered In-Person Hearing With Department Of Player Safety

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Rangers winger Matt Rempe got an opportunity to return to New York following the trade of Kaapo Kakko earlier in the week.  He made a big impression in his first game back but not the one he was necessarily looking to make.  The NHL announced today that he has been offered an in-person hearing for a hit made on Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen on Friday; a clip of the hit via B/R Open Ice can be found here.

The hit came in the third period last night, one that saw him receive a five-minute major for elbowing along with a game misconduct.  Notably, the league’s release indicates that both elbowing and boarding are among the grounds being considered for supplemental discipline.

By offering an in-person hearing, the NHL now has the ability to suspend Rempe for more than five games which is the maximum had it been a telephone hearing.  That said, them offering it doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll receive six or more games either.  The Department of Player Safety relayed later in the day (Twitter link) that the hearing will be held on Sunday.

Rempe has played in 22 career regular season games and this was the fourth ejection of his young career.  He has been suspended once before, that coming back in March when he received a four-game ban for elbowing.  He will fall under repeat offender status when it comes to determining both the length of suspension and the calculation of forfeited wages where the denominator will be 82 (representing games) instead of the number of days in a particular season.

Wild Place Yakov Trenin On IR, Recall Devin Shore, Travis Boyd

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Dec. 20: Shore is back on the active roster today, as is forward Travis Boyd, according to Michael Russo of The Athletic. Boyd made a pair of appearances with the Wild last month amid one of a couple of recalls this season, averaging just 7:39 per game and controlling an abysmal 21.9% of shot attempts at even strength. The 31-year-old leads Iowa in scoring this season with 18 points (3 G, 15 A) in 17 games and has nearly 300 games of NHL experience under his belt with the Coyotes, Capitals, Maple Leafs and Canucks in addition to his brief stint in Minnesota. The Wild’s active roster is now full.

Dec. 19: The Wild made a pair of roster moves in advance of their next game against Utah on Friday.  The team announced (Twitter link) that winger Yakov Trenin has been placed on injured reserve while winger Devin Shore has been assigned to AHL Iowa.

Trenin has missed three straight games due to an upper-body injury.  Assuming this placement is back-dated, he’ll be eligible to return as soon as this weekend.  The 27-year-old is in his first season with Minnesota after signing a four-year, $14MM contract with them back in free agency, a move that hasn’t worked as well as anyone would have hoped.

After putting up double-digit goals in each of the last three years, Trenin has struggled considerably offensively this season, lighting the lamp just twice while adding one assist in 29 games.  While he sits second on the team in hits with 82, it’s safe to say that GM Bill Guerin was expecting more from his biggest free agent addition from July.

As for Shore, he cleared waivers on Tuesday but stayed with Minnesota for a couple of extra days and played last night against Florida.  He has played in 13 NHL contests so far but has been held off the scoresheet while averaging a little over eight minutes a night.  The veteran has been a strong contributor with Iowa, however, notching two goals and eight assists in 14 appearances with them.

Allowable Transactions During The Roster Freeze Period

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The NHL’s roster freeze period is now in effect.  While there usually aren’t a flurry of transactions in the days leading up to it, we saw three trades made on Wednesday while numerous teams made roster moves as well.

However, that won’t be the end of things on the roster movement front despite what the term freeze would imply.  Section 16.5 (d) in the CBA goes over what is and isn’t allowed during this period.  Let’s break that down.  The first section is as follows:

(i) For all Players on an NHL Active Roster, Injured Reserve, or Players with Non-Roster and Injured Non-Roster status as of 11:59 p.m. local time on December 19, a roster freeze shall apply through 12:01 a.m. local time December 28, with respect to Waivers, Trades and Loans; provided, however, that Players may be Recalled to NHL Clubs during this period and, provided further, that if a Player is placed on Regular Waivers prior to the roster freeze period and is claimed during such roster freeze period, the roster freeze period shall not apply and the Player shall immediately report to the claiming Club. However, during the roster freeze period a Club can make any Player transactions necessary for the Club to come into compliance with Article 50 as a result of a Player being removed from the Bona-Fide Long-Term Injury/Illness Exception.

From a waiver perspective, we’re unlikely to see any new activity on that front (unless a team needs to make a move to get cap-compliant following an LTIR activation) but Tyler Johnson’s pending termination in Boston will be able to be completed.

You might also notice in the CBA text that there’s nothing prohibiting recalls during this time.  Accordingly, teams can still bring players up and with many teams playing in three games between now and the break that starts on Tuesday, there will undoubtedly be several recalls across the NHL.

Now, let’s look at the other section of this rule which will preview a lot of the transactions that will be coming early next week:

(ii) Notwithstanding Section 16.5(d)(i), a Player on emergency Recall may be Loaned during the roster freeze period and a Player who was Recalled after December 11 may be Loaned through 11:59 p.m. local time on December 23, provided such Player is not required to be placed on Waivers during the roster freeze period in order to effectuate such Loan.

In essence, anyone recalled during the freeze is eligible to be sent down by Monday and in most circumstances, they will.  Meanwhile, anyone recalled (regular or emergency) since December 11th is eligible to be sent down.  There will be quite a few of those in that category as well, even if it’s just in an attempt to save a bit of money on the salary cap.

The one exception to this is if a player becomes waiver-eligible during this time.  This occurs when a player has been on an NHL roster for 30 days or played in 10 games since last clearing waivers.  If that happens to someone during this stretch, they’ll be ineligible to be sent down during the freeze.

With this all in mind, while there technically will be a roster freeze in place for a little over a week, there will still be considerable roster activity for the first half of it so don’t be surprised when the transactions keep coming in over the coming days.

Avalanche Recall Jere Innala

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One of Colorado’s more intriguing offseason signings is about to get an NHL opportunity.  The Avalanche announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled winger Jere Innala from AHL Colorado.  He won’t be available for tonight’s game against San Jose but will join the team on Friday in Anaheim.

The Avs signed the 26-year-old to a one-year entry-level deal back in June after a strong showing internationally for Finland at the World Championship where he had five points in eight games.  While he hadn’t played in North America at the time, Innala had a strong track record of success at home in the Liiga with HPK and HIFK before spending the last two seasons with SHL Frolunda where he had 28 points in 42 regular season games in 2023-24 before adding 11 goals and 15 points in 14 postseason contests.

With that success and the fact that Colorado struggled to find a working fourth line for a lot of last season, Innala was a speculative end-of-roster candidate in training camp.  While he had two points in three preseason games, they elected to start him in the minors with the Eagles.  With them, he got off to a solid start to his first season in North America, potting five goals and ten assists in 21 games so far.

Once again this year, the Avalanche have churned through numerous forwards at the bottom of their roster.  Chris Wagner, T.J. Tynan, Calum Ritchie, Matthew Stienburg, Givani Smith, Chase Bradley, Nikita Prishchepov, and Tye Felhaber are all forwards who have played at least once in Colorado’s bottom six this season but none of the group have more than one point (the first three have one each, the rest zero) so it appears that they’ve decided it’s time to give Innala a chance to try to secure a spot.

Predators Activate Jeremy Lauzon, Place Roman Josi On IR

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The Predators made two roster moves leading into tonight’s game versus Pittsburgh.  Per a team announcement (Twitter link), they have activated defenseman Jeremy Lauzon off injured reserve.  In a corresponding move, blueliner Roman Josi was placed on IR.

Lauzon has missed the last three weeks due to a lower-body injury.  The 27-year-old is off to a particularly quiet start offensively as he has just one assist in 22 games after putting up a career-best 14 points in 2023-24.  However, Lauzon’s physicality is the hallmark of his game and he leads the team in hits per game, checking in at 4.58, down only slightly from last year’s rate when he recorded 386 to lead the NHL by a significant margin.

As for Josi, he last played last Tuesday, meaning he will be eligible to be activated as soon as he’s cleared to return, assuming they back-date the IR placement (meaning he has already missed the required seven days).  The captain isn’t producing at quite the same rate as last year when he passed the point-per-game mark for the second time in his career but he’s still Nashville’s leader in scoring with 23 points in 29 games.

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