Blue Jackets Recall Zach Aston-Reese
The Blue Jackets have recalled forward Zach Aston-Reese from the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters under emergency conditions, the team announced Wednesday.
Aston-Reese, 31, spent the first several months of the season on the active roster before clearing waivers in January. He’s been with Cleveland ever since, but could get a look in spot duty here after center Isac Lundeström left last night’s loss to the Hurricanes with an undisclosed injury.
The Blue Jackets had made up significant ground in the Eastern Conference playoff race with their seemingly perpetual hot streak under new head coach Rick Bowness, but a rash of injuries has put a stop to that for now. Damon Severson, Dmitri Voronkov, Mathieu Olivier, and now Lundeström have landed designations in recent days, leaving them winless in their last four while falling back into the second wild-card slot in the Eastern Conference.
Columbus recalled center Luca Del Bel Belluz from Cleveland on Monday. He was the lone extra forward for last night’s game, so it remains to be seen whether he or Aston-Reese will enter the lineup for tomorrow’s rematch against Carolina. Regardless, the Jackets will have an extra forward to spare even if Lundeström needs to sit out a game.
Aston-Reese, once a fourth-line mainstay for the Penguins, Ducks, and Maple Leafs, has swung between an NHL option and an AHL regular over the last few seasons. He logged just three NHL appearances while on a two-way deal with the Red Wings in 2023-24. He signed with the Golden Knights the following offseason but was claimed by Columbus during training camp. He stuck with the Blue Jackets full-time, rebounding to play in a career-high 79 games while tying his career high of 17 points.
The defensive-minded winger slipped down the depth chart to start this year, though. Amid their midseason pickups of Danton Heinen and Mason Marchment, Aston-Reese hit waivers again after only managing 1-4–5 scoring line in 26 outings while averaging just 9:37 per game.
He can still be a solid plug-and-play physical presence. Only Olivier has more hits per game among Columbus skaters this season than Aston-Reese at 2.73, and he’s been a top-nine factor in Cleveland with seven goals and 14 points there in 25 games. He is a natural center but has played mostly on the wing throughout his NHL career, in no small part due to his 35.5% lifetime faceoff win percentage.
Ducks Expected To Sign Roger McQueen To Entry-Level Deal
The Ducks are working to finalize an entry-level contract for top center prospect Roger McQueen beginning next season, PuckPedia reports on Wednesday. He is also expected to sign an amateur tryout with the AHL’s San Diego Gulls to make his pro debut in the coming days.
McQueen, 19, was one of last year’s most polarizing prospects. His 6’6″, 198-lb frame was of significant intrigue, plus the fact that he’d tallied nearly a point per game for the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings in his pre-draft year.
A power forward with great puck skills, he only ended up getting into 17 games last year. He missed most of his pivotal draft season because of a fracture in his lower back known as spondylolysis that was initially misdiagnosed as a bulging disc. The symptoms that accompanied had stretched as far back as August 2023, McQueen told Adam Kimelman of NHL.com last year, but were finally completely resolved by the end of the season, allowing him to participate fully in the draft combine.
Some viewed McQueen as a top-five talent. Obviously, with his injury concerns, that didn’t happen. Still, after managing a 10-10–20 scoring line in 17 games for the Wheat Kings in his difficult age-18 campaign, the Ducks had seen enough to take him 10th overall.
The latest addition to a deep stable of first-round forward talent in Anaheim that includes Leo Carlsson, Beckett Sennecke, and Cutter Gauthier, McQueen opted not to return to juniors for 2025-26 and instead committed to Providence College, taking advantage of the new development path for players who came up through top-level Canadian juniors. The Saskatoon native hit the ground running and was among the Friars’ top talents this year, finishing with an 11-16–27 scoring line in 36 outings to rank third on the team.
In doing so, McQueen took home a Hockey East regular-season championship and won the conference’s Rookie of the Year Award. The team was upset by UConn in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament before bowing out to Denver in the regional semifinals of the national tournament.
The right-shot McQueen’s standout freshman year solidified him as Anaheim’s #1 prospect, Scott Wheeler of The Athletic writes. Last offseason, NHL.com had him at #3 behind the since-graduated Sennecke and defenseman Stian Solberg, so there’s been some real upward movement in his stock over the last 10 months.
In all likelihood, McQueen will still need a bit of AHL seasoning next season before he’s ready for an everyday NHL role. All four of the Ducks’ centers are either signed or under team control through next season, so there’s no huge rush to incorporate him, either – although it wouldn’t be surprising to see Mikael Granlund or Mason McTavish shift to the wing if McQueen does force his way onto the roster with a strong training camp.
Blackhawks, Adam Gajan Agree To Entry-Level Deal
The Blackhawks and goalie prospect Adam Gajan have agreed to terms on a two-year, entry-level contract, according to a press release from the team on Wednesday. The contract will take effect with the 2026-27 campaign and carry a cap hit of $1.05MM. Per PuckPedia, the breakdown is as follows:
| Year | NHL salary | Signing bonus | Potential performance bonuses | Minors salary |
| 2026-27 | $922.5K | $102.5K | $500K – Schedule ‘A’ | $82.5K |
| 2027-28 | $967.5K | $107.5K | $500K – Schedule ‘A’ | $82.5K |
Gajan, 21, makes the jump to the pros after wrapping up his sophomore season at the University of Minnesota-Duluth with a regional final loss to Michigan in the national tournament last weekend. The native of Poprad, Slovakia, was the first goalie off the board in the 2023 draft at 35th overall, ahead of some more blue-chip names like Trey Augustine and Jacob Fowler.
The road to this point for Gajan has been rocky since his draft day, but he appeared to find another gear this season. The 6’3″ netminder has been a standout for Slovakia’s junior teams on the international stage but earned a more unimpressive resume in league play, including just a .893 SV% with the USHL’s Green Bay Gamblers in his post-draft year.
Things stayed rocky for Gajan as he made the jump to college. He was technically the Bulldogs’ starter as a freshman, but that was more to do with a lack of other options than with him seizing the crease. He finished his first year in Duluth with a 7-12-1 record in 21 outings, accompanied by a .885 SV%, 3.33 GAA, and one shutout.
But as Duluth’s offense found a new level this season, so did Gajan between the pipes. He finished his sophomore year with a .908 SV%, 2.25 GAA, and a 19-13-1 record in 33 games as the Bulldogs earned their first national tournament berth since 2022.
Gajan was Slovakia’s starter at the 2023 and 2024 World Juniors, earning Best Goaltender honors in the former and posting a .927 SV% in eight games across both years. He’s yet to play for the senior team, but was the country’s third goalie at this year’s Winter Olympics and should get a shot to land a few starts for them at next month’s World Championship.
Gajan is expected to join AHL Rockford on an amateur tryout in the coming days, Scott Powers of The Athletic reports. That will allow him to get his pro debut in before attending Chicago’s training camp in the fall.
Devils’ Charlie Leddy Signs AHL Contract
Devils defense prospect Charlie Leddy has signed a contract with the AHL’s Utica Comets for the remainder of the season, New Jersey’s top affiliate announced Tuesday. The Devils still have until Aug. 15 to sign Leddy to an entry-level contract to retain his NHL signing rights.
New Jersey drafted Leddy in the fourth round in 2022 out of the U.S. National Team Development Program. A shutdown threat, the 6’2″ righty didn’t score once in 55 games for the program in his draft year but did manage 17 assists with a +33 rating.
Now 22, Leddy has kept up his strong defensive play in the college circuit. He spent his freshman and sophomore seasons at Boston University before entering the transfer portal in 2024. He landed at Quinnipiac, where he finished up his final two NCAA seasons with a pair of ECAC regular-season championships with the Bobcats.
Through 140 NCAA games, Leddy recorded a 4-29–33 scoring line with 83 penalty minutes and a +47 rating. He didn’t earn a mention among the top 13 Devils prospects that Scott Wheeler of The Athletic ranked last month, but Dobber Prospects lists him as the #2 right-shot defense prospect in their system behind Seamus Casey and #4 among both sides of the blue line.
If the Devils ultimately decide they don’t want to use a contract slot on Leddy, he can still re-up with Utica and play in the organization next season. They just won’t be able to recall him until they sign him to an entry-level deal, and he will become eligible to solicit and sign offers with any other NHL club while playing there.
Maple Leafs Linked To Mike Gillis For GM Vacancy
The Maple Leafs have shown an interest in former Canucks general manager Mike Gillis in the exploratory stages of their search for a new GM, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet said Tuesday on Sportsnet 590’s “The FAN Hockey Show.”
Toronto announced Monday night that they had fired Brad Treliving, who had one year left on his contract. Earlier today, Keith Pelley, the president of the team’s ownership group, said the new hire for the role “[has] to be data-centric” (via Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic).
Gillis would fill that role. The 67-year-old’s NHL front office resume is limited, and he hasn’t held a GM role for nearly a decade, but he was one of the league’s most progressive executives when he assumed his duties in Vancouver in 2008.
Gillis’ six-year run in Vancouver was one of the most successful in Canucks franchise history. They had a 261-146-51 (.626) record in six seasons under Gillis, won a franchise record five consecutive division titles, took home back-to-back Presidents’ Trophies, and got all the way to Game 7 of the 2011 Stanley Cup Final.
After falling out of the playoff picture in 2014 for the first time in Gillis’ tenure, he was fired. Since then, he served on the board of directors for Genève-Servette HC in Switzerland from 2016 to 2018. He was an NHLPA consultant from 2021 to 2023 regarding business development, but has largely stayed quiet since then.
If he were to take the helm in Toronto, it would be something of an ironic full-circle moment, considering he filed charges against the Leafs in 2009 in one of the only real tampering incidents the NHL has had in recent memory. Gillis ended up winning both of his claims, which saw the league fine Toronto head coach Ron Wilson for expressing his desire to sign Daniel Sedin and Henrik Sedin if the Canucks franchise icons ended up reaching free agency. The league also issued a warning to the club for airing a clip in which then-Leafs GM Brian Burke alleged Gillis had offered several assets – including Alexandre Burrows and Kevin Bieksa – to attempt to acquire the second overall pick in the 2009 draft from the Lightning, which they ended up using on Victor Hedman.
Predators Sign Aiden Fink To AHL Tryout
Predators right-wing prospect Aiden Fink signed an amateur tryout contract with the club’s AHL affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals, on Tuesday, Nick Kieser of Lower Broad Hockey relays. The transaction signals Fink is turning pro, but gives Nashville more time to decide if they want to sign him to an entry-level contract with immediate effect or beginning next season.
If Fink signed an NHL contract that began now, he would be ineligible for AHL assignment. Signing the ATO first will allow the Penn State product to play a few games in Milwaukee to get up to speed before the Preds make the call on whether to work him into their lineup for their push for a wild-card spot.
Fink, 21, was a seventh-round pick in 2023 – as Kieser points out, the last selection that former general manager David Poile made. Since then, all the 5’10” winger has done is score.
Fink was drafted from the Brooks Bandits of the Alberta Junior Hockey League. The junior ‘A’ organization is far from a powerhouse compared to Canadian Hockey League clubs but has produced several NHL alumni, highlighted by Avalanche superstar Cale Makar. Fink was voted as the top player in all provincial junior ‘A’ leagues in his post-draft season, erupting for 41 goals and 97 points in 54 games for the Bandits.
After committing to Penn State University the year prior, he arrived in State College as a freshman in 2024. Fink scored a point per game or better in each of his three seasons as a Nittany Lion, wrapping up his collegiate career with a 38-point effort in 30 outings this season. Injuries and a goal-scoring slump meant he didn’t reach the heights of his 23-goal, 53-point sophomore season that truly put him on the map, but he was still one of the top talents in the Big 10.
Fink was particularly impressive on the international stage this year. The Calgary-born forward has never been part of the Canadian national junior or senior team but joined a select team of NCAA players that traveled to compete against top-flight European talent in the Spengler Cup invitational back in December. While they ended up losing the final to hosts HC Davos of the Swiss National League, Fink’s four goals and four assists in four games led the tournament in scoring.
His size and defensive limitations have kept Fink from being regarded as a legitimate top-10 prospect in a Nashville pool that’s on the deeper side. That said, his pure offensive ceiling is right up there among Nashville’s best – if he can handle the physical grind of the NHL and get to the areas he needs to in order to score.
Red Wings Sign Trey Augustine To Entry-Level Deal
The Red Wings announced they’ve signed top goaltending prospect Trey Augustine to his three-year, entry-level deal. The contract won’t burn a year now – it’ll begin next season, and he’ll instead finish up the year on an amateur tryout with AHL Grand Rapids.
Augustine, a second-round pick in 2023, has far exceeded his draft billing so far in his development. The Michigan native finally turns pro after his junior season at Michigan State – opting to return for one more shot at a national championship with the Spartans despite most believing he was ready to make the jump last summer. After they were upset in the regional finals of the national tournament by Wisconsin, though, it was clear Augustine would be heading to either Detroit or Grand Rapids in short order.
It may be Grand Rapids for now, but next fall, Augustine will get an open competition with the Wings’ other high-end goalie prospect, Sebastian Cossa, to compete for the backup job behind John Gibson. Incumbent #2 Cam Talbot is a pending unrestricted free agent and, given his struggles this season and Detroit’s stocked pipeline, doesn’t appear likely to return.
The 6’1″, 194-lb Augustine already has several honors in his trophy case. He was the United States’ starter at three straight World Juniors – a highly unusual feat – and guided them to bronze in 2023 and back-to-back golds in 2024 and 2025. At the collegiate level, he helped Michigan State to a pair of Big 10 tournament championships, a pair of regular-season titles, and was named the conference’s top goaltender as both a sophomore and a junior.
A top-10 finalist for the Hobey Baker Award this year as the best player in college hockey, he put up a stellar .929 SV%, 2.11 GAA, three shutouts, and a 24-9-1 record in 34 outings for the Spartans as his final act. On the whole, he posted a .922 SV%, 2.40 GAA, and a 66-25-7 record in 99 games for MSU, leaving as arguably the second-best goaltender in program history behind ex-Sabres star Ryan Miller.
Augustine and Cossa were the Wings’ #4 and #5-ranked prospects by The Athletic’s Max Bultman earlier this year. The risk in his projection has always stemmed from his size rather than his numbers. But with how linear his development has been to this stage, there’s little reason to believe he can’t make a seamless jump to the pro ranks – especially if he’s arriving as an AHL starting option next season while Cossa, Detroit’s 2021 first-rounder with four full seasons of pro experience now behind him, gets the early nod as Gibson’s backup.
Mammoth Reassign Daniil But
The Mammoth reassigned left-winger Daniil But to AHL Tucson on Tuesday, according to a team announcement.
But, 21, was recalled from Tucson just last week. The 6’5″ rookie suited up in Utah’s 7-4 loss to the Capitals last Thursday. However, he only logged 9:08 of ice time with a -1 rating before heading to the press box for their 6-2 win over the Kings two days later.
With the Mammoth not back in action until Thursday against the Kraken amid an unusually lengthy break this time of year, there’s no sense in keeping But up, especially if he wasn’t going to re-enter the lineup later this week. They’re still without center Barrett Hayton, whose upper-body injury spurred But’s recall in the first place, but instead opted to insert Kailer Yamamoto into the lineup against L.A. in the spot But briefly held as their second-line left winger after the trio of But, Logan Cooley, and Dylan Guenther was outshot 4-2 and posted a 32.8 xGF% at 5-on-5 against Washington.
Selected 12th overall in 2023, the Mammoth have given But three separate recalls from Tucson this season and have played him exclusively in top-nine minutes when dressed, usually down on the third line with Michael Carcone and Jack McBain. His advanced numbers are strong, generating 3.24 shot attempts per game with a 55.2% Corsi share, but he’s been relatively stymied offensively with a 3-4–7 scoring line in 29 games. That’s an eight-goal, 20-point pace over 82 games.
They’ll get him a longer runway in Tucson, where he’s lit up the scoresheet for 16 goals and 33 points in 34 games. He’s shown more than enough there to put him squarely in contention for a roster spot next fall, but for now, it doesn’t look like Utah is keen on him as one of their top 12 forwards heading into what should be the franchise’s first trip to the playoffs.
Blackhawks’ Matt Grzelcyk, Artyom Levshunov Done For Season
Blackhawks defenders Matt Grzelcyk and Artyom Levshunov will not play again this season due to their respective upper-body injury and hand fracture, head coach Jeff Blashill told reporters Tuesday (including Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times).
Grzelcyk, 32, hasn’t played since March 22 against the Flames and has already missed the Hawks’ last four games. He left quite early in that contest, potentially the last of his Blackhawks tenure.
Despite coming off a career-high 40 points with the Penguins last season, Grzelcyk didn’t land a guaranteed deal for this year until agreeing to a $1MM pact with Chicago on Oct. 5. Coming to the Blackhawks off a professional tryout, he ends his 2025-26 campaign with just 12 assists and a -9 rating in 69 games. His ice time average was way down at 16:58 per game, his lowest since his rookie year with the Bruins back in 2017-18.
Those numbers don’t tell the whole story, though. No Blackhawks defenseman has been stronger in the puck possession department this season than Grzelcyk. His 46.9% Corsi share and 45.7% expected goals share don’t look intriguing at face value, but sit first and second on the team at 5-on-5, respectively, per Natural Stat Trick, and the only defender with a better xGF% is Connor Murphy, who was shipped to the Oilers before the trade deadline. Grzelcyk did start 54.6% of his shifts in the offensive zone – definitely some advantageous deployment.
With even more young Hawks defenders pushing for full-time roles next season, namely Ethan Del Mastro and Kevin Korchinski, it’s hard to see a reunion happening. Grzelcyk is likely ticketed for his third trip through unrestricted free agency in as many years.
Levshunov, though, will almost definitely be back in a Blackhawks uniform next season, barring a blockbuster deal. The 2024 second overall pick is coming off his first full season of NHL hockey. The results weren’t spectacular. His growing pains were quite reminiscent of Korchinki’s rushed rookie season back in 2023-24, although he did look far more comfortable offensively than his older counterpart.
After sustaining the hand fracture last Friday against the Rangers, Levshunov’s year ends with 22 assists and 24 points in 68 games with a -41 rating that could end up as a league-worst. Averaging 19:35 of ice time per game, that rating came despite Levshunov being their most sheltered defenseman at 5-on-5 with a 65.5% offensive zone start rate.
Some of that can be attributed to goaltending. No Blackhawks defenseman received less support behind him this year than Levshunov, who ends up with a .895 on-ice save percentage at 5-on-5 with a .976 PDO. Still, his possession numbers were downright ugly considering the sheltering he received, and he’ll end his season with only 11 power-play points despite anchoring the top unit.
There’s certainly some more growth needed before he’s ready to sniff top-four minutes again, at least if Chicago has designs on contending for a playoff spot next season. Whether they’ll be aggressive in trying to acquire some higher-quality veteran stopgaps than they have in years past or just let their kids ride out their growing pains remains to be seen.
Stars, GM Jim Nill Agree To Two-Year Extension
The Stars and general manager Jim Nill have agreed to a two-year extension, the team announced Tuesday. Nill’s current deal was set to expire after this season, per Sean Shapiro of Elite Prospects, but it’s now clear he won’t be a candidate for any other GM vacancies this offseason.
Nill, 67, took over the GM’s chair in Dallas way back in 2013. When Doug Armstrong transitions out of his GM role with the Blues to serve as their president of hockey operations this summer, Nill will become the second-longest-tenured GM in the league behind only the Jets’ Kevin Cheveldayoff.
While the Stars have yet to win a Stanley Cup during his tenure, few would leave Nill off their list of the best of the best executives in the league. He has won the NHL’s GM of the Year award three years running and has finally emerged as a managerial fixture for Canada’s national team, serving as an assistant GM to Armstrong for their 4 Nations Face-Off championship last year and this year’s Olympic silver medal.
That’s not to say Nill doesn’t have any Stanley Cup rings. He has four of them, in fact, all with the Red Wings as their director of player development and then assistant GM to Ken Holland from 1994 to 2013.
Since Nill took the helm, he’s steered the Stars to a 549-345-125 (.600) record – the eighth-best in the league over the last 13 seasons. That includes a trip to the Stanley Cup Final in 2020 and three consecutive Western Conference Final appearances, although they’ll have their work cut out for them to get back there again this season in a cutthroat Central Division.
There’s few areas in which Nill doesn’t excel. His draft record, particularly in the mid-to-latter half of his tenure, is impeccable. He’s gotten great value out of late-first selections like Wyatt Johnston and Jake Oettinger, second-round picks like Roope Hintz and Jason Robertson, while nailing his only top-five pick with Miro Heiskanen at third overall in 2017.
There are few trades that haven’t worked out in his favor – even stretching back to his first summer on the job, when his Tyler Seguin/Loui Eriksson blockbuster with the Bruins has ended up paying dividends for his club more than a decade later. A look at the Stars’ books reveals very few negative-value contracts, aside from a free-agency misstep with Ilya Lyubushkin in 2024, which he’ll be trying to offload this summer.
Nill will now get to continue steering the ship with the Stars set for playoff and championship contention for another few years, at least. He’ll be joined by a slightly new-look group of assistants that now includes Rich Peverley – acquired as a player in that Seguin deal – who has been either behind the Stars’ bench or in their front office since a heart condition forced him into retirement in 2014.
Image courtesy of Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports.
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet was first to report the news.