Ducks Assign Damian Clara, Lucas Pettersson To AHL
The Anaheim Ducks have announced a pair of additions following the end of Brynäs IF’s season in the SHL. Anaheim has assigned forward Lucas Pettersson and goaltender Damian Clara to the AHL’s San Diego Gulls. The duo will join San Diego as they make a final push for the 2026 Clarke Cup playoffs with six games left on the schedule. The Gulls currently sit five points outside of playoff contention.
Clara served as Brynäs’ starter for much of the year. He finished the year with17 wins and a .887 save percentage in 33 games. The performance was a slight uptick from the .879 save percentage he posted in 21 SHL games last season. He boosted his stat line with a transfer to Finland’s Liiga at the end of last season, where he posted one shutout and a .910 save percentage in 10 games.
Clara garnered plenty of attention while starting for Team Italy at the 2026 Winter Olympics. He played in four games before sustaining a leg injury that knocked him out of the rest of the tournament. Clara faced an average of 33 shots per game at the Olympics and still left the tournament with a .911 save percentage. That is the fourth-highest save percentage ever recorded by a U22 goalie with three-or-more appearances in an Olympic tournament.
Pettersson rotated throughout Brynäs’ middle-six this season and finished the year with 20 points in 41 games. He was a red-hot scorer in tournament play this season, netting four goals and six points in six games at the 2026 World Junior Championship and seven points in 10 games during the Champions Hockey League tournament. The 2024 second-round pick has long been praised for his confident puck-movement and strong shot. He racked up 57 points in 44 U20 games during his draft year but had a slow start to his pro career last year. Pettersson racked up 19 points in 26 HockeyAllsvenskan games and one assist in 29 SHL games as a first-year pro. He vastly improved on that production this year and could bring an interesting boost in skill to San Diego’s lineup.
Clara will offer another starting option while Ville Husso is on the NHL roster. He will compete with Calle Clang and Tomas Suchanek for minutes. Clang has notched 17 wins and a .896 save percentage in 33 games this season, while Suchanek has five wins and a .883 save percentage in 14 games. Meanwhile, Pettersson will look to pull some minutes away from Judd Caulfield and Sam Colangelo in the Gulls’ middle-six.
Senators’ Tyler Kleven Out Indefinitely
The Ottawa Senators added top defenseman Jake Sanderson back to the lineup on Saturday – but their luck with injuries isn’t on the upswing yet. Sanderson’s return filled in for Tyler Kleven, who is out indefinitely with an upper-body injury per Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen. This is the sixth injury that Ottawa’s blue-line has faced in the last month.
Kleven sustained the injury while blocking a shot just seven minutes into Thursday’s win over the Buffalo Sabres. The puck appeared to hit him in the face. Kleven will be re-evaluated on a week-to-week basis, a designation that could end his season with only six games left on Ottawa’s schedule.
Kleven stepped into a major role while Ottawa looked to make up for injuries to Sanderson and Thomas Chabot. He has averaged nearly 24 minutes of ice time over the last eight games, supporting Ottawa to a 4-3-1 record in that stretch. Kleven has contributed five assists, four penalty minutes, and a plus-three across that stretch. It has been a clutch performance from the usual third-pair defenseman as Ottawa fights to hang onto an Eastern Conference wild card. Kleven is up to 18 points, 53 penalty minutes, and a plus-two in 70 games this season. All three of those stats are new career-highs after Kleven posted 10 points, 27 penalty minutes, and a minus-11 in 79 games as a rookie last season.
Cameron Crotty stuck in the lineup in Kleven’s absence. Saturday marked the fifth NHL game of his career, and the second of his season. He has failed to score at the top level yet. Crotty has found a bit more production with the AHL’s Belleville Senators, where he has recorded 10 points, 29 penalty minutes, and a minus-four in 49 games this season. The 26 year old is in his sixth season in North American pros and could hang onto a bottom-pair role for the rest of the season if he can stick in Kleven’s spot.
Mammoth’s Jack McBain, MacKenzie Weegar Out
The Utah Mammoth announced two changes to the lineup just before Saturday’s game against the Vancouver Canucks. Center Jack McBain missed the game with a lower-body injury that has him designated out week-to-week. Defenseman MacKenzie Weegar is also out as he nurses a day-to-day, upper-body injury. The pair of injuries prompted a few lineup moves, including Liam O’Brien and Nick DeSimone coming down from the press box.
McBain leaves behind an important hole in Utah’s bottom-six. He leads the Mammoth with 271 hits – 73 more than Lawson Crouse in second place. McBain has also notched 25 points, 84 penalty minutes, and a 51.3 faceoff percentage. He brings a physical presence and two-way impact that will be tough to replace.
The Mammoth promoted Alexander Kerfoot to the third-line in McBain’s absence, a nice reward after Kerfoot scored five points in his last five games. O’Brien will make up for some of McBain’s physical presence. He has racked up 93 hits – fourth-most on the team – in just 32 games, despite averaging only nine minutes of ice time a game. His physical presence, across from Brandon Tanev on the fourth line, could help balance a Mammoth third line that will be more geared towards speed with a tandem of Kerfoot and JJ Peterka.
Weegar has stepped into a top-pair role since joining the Mammoth at the Trade Deadline. He has scored four points and averaged 21 minutes of ice time in 13 games with the Mammoth. That scoring brings Weegar up to 25 points in 73 games on the year, well below the 47 points he put up in 81 games last season. Sean Durzi moved up Mikhail Sergachev‘s flank in Weegar’s absence. Durzi has 25 points in 54 games this season, including three in his last six games. While he looks to spark his scoring in elevated minutes, DeSimone will look to build on seven points in 37 games, both career-highs.
Utah also recalled top prospect Dmitriy Simashev before Saturday’s game. He could be an option should Utah need a spark with Weegar out of the lineup. The AHL rookie ranks second in scoring among Tucson Roadrunners defensemen with 35 points in 40 games. That scoring hasn’t yet translated to the top flight, though, with Simashev only boasting one point in the first 25 games of his NHL career. He will fill the role of extra defenseman on Saturday night and will compete with Ian Cole and DeSimone if he sticks on the roster through Utah’s upcoming three-game homestand.
Kings Sign Henry Brzustewicz To Entry-Level Contract
The Los Angeles Kings have signed 2025 first-round pick Henry Brzustewicz to a three-year, entry-level contract set to begin in the 2026-27 season. He will complete the 2025-26 season on a professional try-out contract with the AHL’s Ontario Reign. This news will shift Brzustewicz to the pro level after the OHL London Knights’ season came to an end on Friday.
Brzustewicz stepped into London’s top defender role this season, following Sam Dickinson’s move to the pros at the end of last season. He filled the role seamlessly and finished the season with a team-leading 54 points in 59 games. Brzustewicz also scored 19 goals, tied with St. Louis Blues prospect Adam Jiricek for the third-most among OHL defensemen. Brzustewicz’s stat line was rounded out with 57 penalty minutes and a minus-15.
All together, Brzustewicz’s 2025-26 campaign was another gradual step up from his previous year. He scored 10 goals, 42 points, and 77 penalty minutes in 67 games on the OHL championship-winning London Knights last season. It was a major improvement over the six points he scored in 52 games of his rookie OHL season. That performance, complimented by Brzustewicz’s knack for physical hockey, helped him earn the 31st selection in the 2025 NHL Draft. He earned that spot despite not appearing in any junior-level, international tournaments. Brzustewicz, an American playing in Canadian hockey, was left off of Team USA’s roster at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup and World U18 Championships, two tournaments that his older brother, Hunter Brzustewicz, appeared in during his junior career.
Despite a slimmer resume than his peers, the younger Brzustewicz will bring an exciting and well-rounded profile to the Kings’ depth chart. The right-shot defenseman plays a 200-foot game with impressive strength, smooth passing, and reliable skating. His game is best suited for the defensive side of the puck, where his quick reactions help spark breakouts and keep play out of the defensive end. That style will be welcome on a Kings blue-line that has found roles for styles like Michael Anderson, Joel Edmundson, Cody Ceci, and Brian Dumoulin. With the right development, Brzustewicz could begin to test his own footing in those roles next season, with hopes of one day serving as the defensive-punch behind Brandt Clarke‘s offense.
First, Brzustewicz will look to be an X-factor addition to an Ontario Reign club that leads the AHL’s Pacific Division. The Reign haven’t generated much offense from the blue-line this season, with the defense led in scoring by Samuel Bolduc’s 21 points in 56 games. Brzustewicz will compete with Otto Salin and Jack Millar for minutes on Ontario’s right-side.
Oilers’ Zach Hyman Out With Lingering Injury
The Edmonton Oilers are opting for the careful approach as another successful season nears its end. Top winger Zach Hyman will be held out of Saturday’s matchup against the Vegas Golden Knights, head coach Kris Knoblauch told Robert Tychkowski of Edmonton Sun. Hyman also sat out of Thursday’s game against the Chicago Blackhawks. The details of his injury have not been disclosed. Hyman may have played through the injury if Saturday were a playoff game, but he could instead wind up shelved for the rest of the regular season as Edmonton errs on the side of resting players, Knoblauch added. Instead, the Oilers will let him focus on recovery for as long as it takes, with a few weeks left before the start of the playoffs.
Hyman has scored nine goals and 15 points in 18 games since the Olympic break, the fourth-most on the Oilers. He is up to 31 goals and 51 points in 57 games this season, a nice bump up from his 44-point campaign last year, but still well-below the 83-point career-high he set in the 2022-23 season. A return to near-point-per-game scoring is nonetheless encouraging after Hyman missed the first 19 games of the season with a dislocated wrist sustained in Game 4 of the 2025 Western Conference Finals. Hyman told reporters that his current injury is not related to the wrist injury that held him out for nearly five months.
The Oilers are sitting in a comfortable playoff position, tied with the Anaheim Ducks for first in the Pacific Division. At the same time, they are facing a long list of injuries, including superstar forward Leon Draisaitl and depth center Mattias Janmark. Draisaitl returned to practice but won’t join Edmonton on their upcoming three-game road trip, per Sportsnet’s Gene Principe. That only emphasizes Edmonton’s focus on healing up before the postseason. They will move forward without two of their top forwards with six games remaining on the schedule – all against Western Conference competition.
Edmonton has faced the Florida Panthers in each of the last two Stanley Cup Finals. Draisaitl filled a crucial role in the 2025 Finals, leading the Oilers with eight points in six games before their eventual defeat. Hyman filled the bigger shoes in 2024, netting four points in seven games to Draisaitl’s three. Either way, the duo have been heavily utilized through the last two postseasons, with Draisaitl averaging 22 minutes of ice time through 47 games and Hyman averaging 20 minutes through 40 games. Their health will be of the utmost importance as the Oilers hope to right their wrongs and seal a Cup win this season.
2026 Hobey Baker Award Finalists Announced
The NCAA has announced their Hobey Baker Hat Trick Finalists. University of Michigan senior T.J. Hughes, University of Minnesota-Duluth sophomore Max Plante, and Universty of Denver junior Eric Pohlkamp will be the last in the race to win college hockey’s coveted MVP award. Hughes and Plante sit second and third in national scoring with 56 and 52 points respectively, while Pohlkamp leads all defenders with 39 points.
All three were true number-ones for their teams. Hughes’ veteran presence and ability away from the puck helped a young Michigan squad rival the top ranking in the country for most of the season. Plante, a Detroit Red Wings prospect, was the motor behind one of the most explosive offenses in the country – in tandem with his brother, Pittsburgh Penguins prospect Zam Plante. Pohlkamp, a San Jose Sharks prospect, embraced the top defender on a perennial National Championship contender and added onto it a starring role on the Spengler Cup’s U.S. Collegiate Selects lineup. Hughes and Pohlkamp remain have also reached the Frozen Four, set to kickoff on April 9th.
All three have strong cases for being named college hockey’s top players. It was another difficult year for the selection committee after having to decide between Isaac Howard, Ryan Leonard, and Zeev Buium last year.
Even with the pedigree on the ballot this year, the talent left in the Top 10 is suprising. Quinnipiac University winger, and Calgary Flames prospect, Ethan Wyttenbach leads the nation in scoring, as a freshman, with 59 points. He had a breakout year on the top offense in the country, one that he will be returning to next season. Michigan State University teammates Charlie Stramel and Trey Augustine also had standout years serving as the veteran leaders on a newly-assembled Spartans squad. Even Boston College, and Boston Bruins, center James Hagens and top 2026 NHL Draft prospect Gavin McKenna had strong cases for MVP honors. The 2025-26 season, and the first year of CHL eligiblity, brought a wealth of talent to the college flight.
Panthers Assessing Injuries To Aaron Ekblad, Dmitry Kulikov
The Florida Panthers have even more injuries to sort through after Tuesday night’s win over the Ottawa Senators. Defensemen Aaron Ekblad and Dmitry Kulikov were both injured in the matchup. Ekblad sustained a broken finger after blocking a shot with his right-hand, while Kulikov sustained a broken nose after a puck deflected into his face per George Richard of Florida Hockey Now. Ekblad will be reassessed in 10 days – just three days before the end of Florida’s season – while Kulikov may only need to miss Thursday night’s game against the Boston Bruins, head coach Paul Maurice told Richard.
Ekblad could join a long list of Panthers stars declared out for the rest of the season. Florida’s list of injuries includes Aleksander Barkov, Brad Marchand, and Niko Mikkola – all set to miss the final eight games of the season. Ekblad has filled a heavy role in the wake of their injuries, averaging more than 22 minutes of ice time each night through 15 games in March. He scored five points and a plus-four in those minutes, helping the Panthers piece together a 6-9-0 record despite their heap of star absences.
Ekblad has been one of Florida’s few consistent lineup pieces this season, so far only missing two games to injury. But that consistency didn’t help him avoid the down year that hit many Panthers. Ekblad has racked up just 26 points and a minus-five in 72 games this season. That is the second-lowest scoring pace (0.36) of Ekblad’s 12-year career in the NHL, behind the 2023-24 campaign that saw him score 18 points in 51 games (0.35). The 29 year old still filled a crucial role on the Panthers blue-line all season long and should continue to hold a core role, even if his season ends with Tuesday’s game.
Kulikov has been much more limited this season. He has only appeared in 17 games on the year thanks to a hip injury that required surgery, and a five-month absence, sustained in Florida’s second game of the season. He was out of the lineup from October 10th to March 1st. Kulikov hasn’t managed any scoring in his few games this season, to go with a minus-five and eight penalty minutes. He has two years remaining on his four-year, $4.6MM contract signed with Florida in 2024. That should help ensure that Kulikov has a chance to return to his bottom-pair role with some more consistency next season. He will face lineup pressure from Donovan Sebrango, who scored four points in 32 games while helping to fill-in for Kulikov’s absence. Sebrango also left Tuesday’s game early due to injury but is expected to be okay, per Richard.
Florida sits well outside of a playoff spot with only a few games left on their schedule. Their disastrous season continues to face blows in the form of star injuries. Kulikov is expected to begin playing through his injury as soon as Saturday. He will be a part of a handicapped Panthers lineup attempting to pull together a few more wins before the year comes to an end.
Golden Knights To Activate Carter Hart From LTIR
The Vegas Golden Knights are expected to activate goaltender Carter Hart off of long-term injured reserve, and award him the start in Thursday night’s game against the Calgary Flames, per Danny Webster of the Las Vegas Review Journal. Hart has sat out of the last 33 games due to an extended lower-body injury sustained on January 8th.
Hart signed a two-year contract with Vegas in October and returned to NHL ice in early-December. He went on to appear in 12 games with the Golden Knights over the next month, posting six wins and a .871 save percentage in the process. Vegas deployed Hart as their starting goaltender through that month, defaulting Akira Schmid to the backup role while Adin Hill worked his way back from a multi-month leg injury. Hill returned to the lineup one week after Hart’s injury.
Vegas has turned towards Hill and Schmid to fill their goaltending room in the near-three months since Hart went down. Hill has carried the bulk of the weight, recording nine wins, one shutout, and a .865 save percentage in 21 games since returning to the lineup. Schmid has recorded four wins and a .889 save percentage in 12 games. Carl Lindbom also stepped into one game – an 18-save win – after Hart’s injury.
With Hart’s return, freshly-cristened Vegas head coach John Tortorella will now have to juggle three goalies at the NHL level. He could have some favor for Hart, who he coached on the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons. Those campaigns stand as some of Hart’s best. He tallied 22 wins and a .907 save percentage in 55 games of 2022-23, and 12 wins and a .906 save percentage in 26 games of 2023-24. His only season with more wins and a higher save percentage came in his breakout 2019-20 season, when Hart tallied 24 wins and a .914 save percentage in 43 games.
A familiar face behind the bench could help Hart turn a disastrous season – marked by court cases, a slow return, and injury – into a positive swing when Vegas needs it most. The Golden Knights ranked in the middle of the league – 17th, to be exact – in goals-against per-game over the month of March. That is despite the team also facing the second-fewest shots-against in the same span. Those struggles led to the firing of Stanley Cup-winning head coach Bruce Cassidy and a turn towards the experienced Tortorella. Now, Vegas will test if they hve found the goaltending needed to hang onto their third-place spot in the Pacific Division, through a trio of Hart, Hill, and Schmid.
Flyers Sign David Jiricek To Two-Year Extension
5:15 p.m.: The team over at PuckPedia revealed the financial details of Jiricek’s new two-year extension:
| Year | NHL Salary | Signing bonus | Potential performance bonuses | Minors salary |
| 2026-27 | $850K | $450K | NA | $1.3MM |
| 2027-28 | $1.7MM | NA | NA | $1.7MM |
3:43 p.m.: The Philadelphia Flyers will keep a Trade Deadline addition around for a few years longer. Defenseman David Jiricek has signed a two-year, $3MM extension with the club per his agent, Allan Walsh. Philadelphia has confirmed the extension. The deal will carry a $1.5MM annual-average-value. Philadelphia acquired Jiricek in exchange for winger Bobby Brink in early-March.
Jiricek hasn’t yet made his debut in the Flyers lineup, instead spending 10 games with the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms. He has two goals and 10 points in those appearances, matching his scoring in 24 games with the Iowa Wild to start the season. He also appeared in 25 games with the Minnesota Wild this season but managed no scoring, 14 penalty minutes, and an even plus-minus.
Jiricek’s young career has been a story of expectations versus reality. He was a popular draft prospect in 2022, hype that culminated in the 6-foot-4 defender being selected sixth-overall by the Columbus Blue Jackets. He joined the Blue Jackets’ ranks in the following season, beginning the year with the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters but receiving routine call-ups throughout the season. In total, Jiricek scored 38 points in 55 AHL games, and no points in four NHL games, in his first pro season in North America. That production, supported by seven points in seven games at the 2023 World Junior Championship, seemed to set Jiricek up for a breakout year in 2023-24.
Instead, the defender ran into a struggle to produce at the major or minor levels. He scored just 10 points in 43 NHL games, and 19 points in 29 AHL games, in his second season. He also had a negative plus-minus in both leagues. Quickly, the hype from Jiricek’s draft year seemed to be dwindling, as the puck-mover struggled to branch his game out against top-level competition.
As those struggles continued into his third season, Columbus made the decision to trade Jiricek to the Minnesota Wild in November 2024 in exchange for Daemon Hunt and one pick in each of the top-four rounds. Wild general manager Bill Guerin called the deal a “no-brainer” at the time and Jiricek was quickly pipelined into the NHL rotation. A move didn’t spark his scoring, though, and Jiricek was quickly assigned to the minor leagues. The struggling year hit a peak when his season was ended by a lacerated spleen in late-March.
Jiricek made a quiet return this season – but seems to finally be catching sparks in the Flyers organization. He has filled meaningful minutes in the minor leagues and could be primed for bigger minutes with a new extension under his belt. It is a one-way deal, which could ensure a trial run in the Philadelphia lineup next season, at the very least. With the Flyers, Jiricek will have a chance to learn from similar puck-movers like Rasmus Ristolainen and Jamie Drysdale. He’ll hope that mentorship can help him stick when he inevitably tries for a role with his third NHL club.
Flames’ Ethan Wyttenbach To Stay In NCAA For Sophomore Season
Calgary Flames fans will have to wait a little while longer to see a breakout prospect take pro ice. Winger Ethan Wyttenbach has announced he will return to Quinnipiac University for his sophomore season after leading the country in scoring as a freshman. It was a breakout performance for the 2025 fifth-round pick that culminated in a top-10 finish in Hobey Baker Award voting, awarded annually to the NCAA’s MVP.
Wyttenbach became only the fifth freshman to lead college hockey in scoring since 2000. He joins an exclusive list of NHL stars, including Jack Eichel, Kyle Connor, Adam Fantilli, and Will Smith. In each instance, the breakout performance was followed by an immediate pro contract. Wyttenbach will break that mold by returning for a second season.
The Quinnnipiac Bobcats led college hockey in scoring this season but fell well shy of an ECAC conference championship. They haven’t acheived that feat since 2016, despite winning the NCAA National championship in 2023. That is another course they were knocked off of this season, losing to the University of North Dakota in the first round this season.
Wyttenbach’s return will help the Cougars attempt to right both wrongs. He was a main play-driver all year long, playing well off of fellow freshmen Antonin Verreault and Markus Vidicek. Their support helped Wyttenbach reach a staggering 58 points in 40 games on the year. It also, more importantly, allowed Boston Bruins prospect Christopher Pelosi to remain in a second-line role, giving Quinnipiac a top-six that was hard to beat. Verreault and Vidicek are both expected to return to Quinnipiac next season, as is top defender and Bruins prospect Elliott Groenewold.
Those returnees will keep Quinnipiac’s lineup formidable into the 2026-27 season. Wyttenbach will undoubtedly continue on as the team’s top forward. He faces a tough challenge repeating his historic freshman season but managing the feat could go far in cementing his spot as one of Calgary’s top prospects. Wyttenbach is only two seasons removed from playing youth, AAA hockey in New England. Before moving to college, he scored 51 points in 44 games with the USHL’s Sioux Falls Stampede.