Devils Recall Nico Daws, Topias Vilen
The Devils recalled goaltender Nico Daws and defenseman Topias Vilen from AHL Utica on Friday, per a team announcement. They’ll be on hand for tomorrow’s game against the Red Wings.
With New Jersey not headed to the playoffs, they’re likely taking an opportunity to get some younger faces into the lineup over their final few games. There’s more of a direct need for Vilen’s services. The 23-year-old lefty could make his NHL debut tomorrow in place of Luke Hughes, who opted for an early end to his season to undergo a much-needed shoulder surgery.
Hughes was shut down before last night’s game against the Penguins, meaning Dennis Cholowski, the team’s only healthy extra on the blue line, dressed in his stead. It was the 28-year-old’s first appearance since being recalled in early March and his first NHL game since Dec. 14. After he posted a -2 rating in 17:40 of ice time, it’s no surprise to see New Jersey want to get a younger, higher-upside face in the lineup for their last three games.
Vilen is now in his third season stateside. A fifth-round pick by the Devils back in 2021, the 6’1″ lefty has been a consistent two-way piece in Utica with a career 7-70–77 scoring line in 171 AHL games with a +5 rating. That includes a career-high four goals and 20 assists for 24 points in 59 appearances this season.
Selected from Pelicans in Finland’s Liiga, he checks in as the #11 prospect in New Jersey’s pool and #3 among left-handed defenders behind 2024 10th overall pick Anton Silayev (#2) and 2022 fourth-rounder Daniil Orlov (#6), per Scott Wheeler of The Athletic. He’s shown enough in his toolkit at the AHL level that he could end up being a bottom-pairing, penalty-killing staple for the Devils in the next couple of years. His entry-level contract is wrapping up this summer, but given his consistency in minor league play, he’s a strong candidate to receive a qualifying offer.
The 25-year-old Daws already has 48 career starts and 53 appearances to his name, but just one of them has come this season. The Devils’ third-stringer got a lone early-season tryout against the Wild back on Oct. 22 while Jacob Markström was dealing with a lower-body injury, allowing just one goal on 31 shots for a shimmering .968 SV% in a 4-1 win.
Daws is an interesting study. The 2020 third-rounder is certainly too old now to be considered a true prospect, and his AHL track record isn’t great. He has an .891 SV% and 2.84 GAA in 42 showings for Utica this season, which will be his third straight finishing below a .900 SV% in the minors.
His recent NHL samples, however, have been excellent. On top of his great start back in October, he had a similarly strong .939 SV%, 1.60 GAA, and 3-1-0 record in six showings in #3 duties last year. That’s good for 7.0 goals saved above expected in his last seven NHL appearances, per MoneyPuck.
Markström is signed through 2027-28, and veteran backup Jake Allen is under contract through 2029-30, so there’s no clear pathway yet for Daws to see more NHL ice next season. He’s in the last year of his contract but is a restricted free agent with arbitration rights, so the Devils can easily retain him if they choose, knowing he might not clear waivers in the fall.
Flames Expected To Sign Abram Wiebe
The Flames are expected to sign defense prospect Abram Wiebe to his entry-level contract, per reports from Frank Seravalli of Victory+ and Pat Steinberg of Sportsnet 960. It will be a two-year deal that will take effect immediately, carrying a prorated cap hit of $980K and making him a restricted free agent following the 2026-27 season.
Wiebe’s junior season at the University of North Dakota came to an end Thursday afternoon as the Fighting Hawks were upset in the NCAA national semifinals by Wisconsin. Calgary had acquired the 22-year-old’s signing rights from the Golden Knights in January as part of the Rasmus Andersson deal. He was a seventh-round pick in Vegas in 2022, then out of the Chilliwack Chiefs of the junior-level British Columbia Hockey League.
The 6’3″, 209-lb lefty has had a good run at North Dakota over the past few years. After being named the BCHL’s top defenseman and a first-team All-Star in 2022-23, he compiled a 10-53–63 scoring line with a +25 rating in 118 career outings for the Fighting Hawks.
He capped things off with a 29-point, +13 showing in 40 games this season as an alternate captain, serving as their #2 defenseman behind undrafted free agent Jake Livanavage and playing over 20 minutes a night. He made it onto the NCHC’s second All-Star team and helped propel the Fighting Hawks to their second regular-season conference championship in his three years with the program.
Needless to say, Wiebe turns pro carrying more prestige than a standard seventh-rounder. He’s the #9 prospect in a Calgary pool that ranks top-three in the league, according to The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler, and is of particular long-term importance to a club without much current or future depth on the left side of their blue line.
Their current group of lefties consists of Kevin Bahl, Olli Määttä, Joel Hanley and Yan Kuznetsov – all of whom are signed through at least next season. Bahl and Hanley are currently injured, though, so there’s an immediate opportunity for Wiebe to step into a third-pairing role behind Kuznetsov and Määttä for the final four games of the season.
Seth Jones Sustains Broken Foot
The Panthers will be without yet another defense fixture for the final few games of the season as Seth Jones sustained a broken foot in Tuesday’s shootout loss to the Canadiens, head coach Paul Maurice told reporters today (including the team’s Katie Engleson). Florida recalled two names, Mikulas Hovorka and Ludvig Jansson, yesterday after receiving news that Dmitry Kulikov also wouldn’t return this season, but they’ve done some more roster shuffling this morning. Hovorka has headed back to AHL Charlotte while Marek Alscher comes up in his stead to make his NHL debut, along with Jansson, tonight against the Senators, the team announced.
Jones sustained the foot fracture in the second period on Tuesday but pushed through to finish the outing and play nearly 30 minutes, Maurice said. He had only gotten back in the lineup less than a month ago after sustaining a collarbone injury during the Winter Classic that kept him out for over two months.
Between those two injuries, Jones’ first full season in Florida ends with a 7-25–32 scoring line and a -3 rating in 52 games. He averaged 23:42 per game as Florida’s top minute muncher, but that’s still the lowest workload he’s had in nearly a decade on a much deeper defense group than he had during his days as a Blue Jacket and Blackhawk.
Defensively, it was a year to write home about for Jones. Despite the negative rating, Florida actually outscored opponents 37-35 with Jones on the ice at 5-on-5 while he controlled 51.3% of shot attempts and 52.7% of expected goals. Those numbers are no doubt bumped up by the stronger Florida possession system compared to his previous stop in Chicago, but those are still the best raw totals he’s posted since his last top-10 Norris finish in 2018-19.
For the first time since 2019, the Cats will have a full-length offseason. That will no doubt be beneficial to Jones and their bevy of other injury-plagued talent this season to come back with a clean slate in the fall to attempt a fourth Stanley Cup Final run in five years.
As for the current state of the Panthers’ blue line, it’s hard to imagine it getting any uglier. They are now without Jones, Kulikov (broken finger), Uvis Balinskis (foot fracture), Aaron Ekblad (finger fracture), and Niko Mikkola (knee). None has a chance to return in the four games left on Florida’s schedule. That leaves Gustav Forsling as the last regular standing. He’ll be joined tonight by Michael Benning and his 14 games of NHL experience on the top pairing. Donovan Sebrango is expected to anchor the second pairing with Jansson as he makes his NHL debut, and Tobias Björnfot will skate on the third pairing with a fellow lefty in Alscher.
Alscher, 22, was a third-rounder in 2022. The 6’3″, 205-lb lefty is a defensive specialist and has had a great second season in Charlotte after some rookie growing pains last year, posting 11 points and a strong +18 rating in 51 outings. He likely won’t top out as much more than a third-pairing piece or possibly a complementary second-pairing one with an offensive partner, but he’s played well enough to earn a look.
Penguins Reassign Sergei Murashov
April 9: The Penguins will be returning Murashov to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton today, head coach Dan Muse told reporters (including Josh Getzoff of SportsNet Pittsburgh). He didn’t end up dressing for the club as Skinner was cleared to return to action this morning, so the latter will get the start against New Jersey.
April 7: The Penguins announced Tuesday that they’ve formalized goaltender Sergei Murashov‘s recall from AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Fellow netminder Taylor Gauthier was returned to ECHL Wheeling in the corresponding move after he was called up at the last minute to serve as Arturs Silovs‘ backup for Sunday’s win over the Panthers.
Murashov’s recall indicates that Stuart Skinner will remain unavailable as the Penguins return to action against the Devils on Thursday. He took a puck to the eye while on the bench backing up Silovs during the first half of Pittsburgh’s weekend back-to-back with Florida, forcing the latter to make two starts within 24 hours. They weren’t able to get Murashov to Pittsburgh in time for puck drop for Sunday’s game, forcing Gauthier to get the nod, but they will now work their third-stringer and top prospect between the pipes back into an NHL role before Skinner is ready to return.
Murashov, 22, was a fourth-round pick in 2022 but is tracking more like a first-rounder. The 6’2″ Russian has posted spectacular numbers at every level in Russia and now the North American minors as he climbs the latter, fully taking over as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s #1 option this season. In 35 AHL games, he has a .922 SV%, 2.13 GAA, three shutouts, and a 23-8-3 record. He got his first five NHL appearances over a pair of recalls in November and December, logging a more measured .897 SV% and 2.56 GAA. He still managed to record his first big-league shutout, a 21-save win over the Predators back on Nov. 16.
Skinner will almost certainly be Pittsburgh’s Game 1 starter in the first round later this month if he’s healthy. They haven’t quite clinched a playoff berth yet, but need just one more win to do so and could get some outside help before that’s necessary. As such, there likely won’t be much consideration of resting Silovs to keep him fresh for the postseason. There’s still home-ice advantage on the line. They do have a back-to-back this weekend against the Capitals, though, so it stands to reason Murashov should get one of those starts if Skinner isn’t back by then.
Meanwhile, Gauthier could be back up in a few weeks’ time to serve as Pittsburgh’s emergency backup in the playoffs. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton has clinched an AHL postseason berth, and the Penguins would certainly prefer Murashov getting high-intensity action there. Gauthier, 25, was on a minor-league deal for most of the season after Pittsburgh non-tendered him last year, but they brought him back on a two-way deal at the trade deadline to make him eligible for a recall. In 33 games with Wheeling, he’s looking to take home his second career ECHL Goalie of the Year award with a .932 SV%, 2.00 GAA, and 20-7-5 record.
Kraken Recall Nikke Kokko, Matt Murray Away From Team
The Kraken announced that goalie prospect Nikke Kokko has been recalled from AHL Coachella Valley under emergency conditions. He’s replacing third-stringer Matt Murray, who’s taken a leave of absence for a family matter. He will serve as the #2 behind Joey Daccord, potentially for all of Seattle’s five remaining games if Murray is away for that long. Usual backup Philipp Grubauer is unavailable after leaving his start on Tuesday with a lower-body injury.
Kokko was a second-round pick in 2022 and is in his second season with Coachella Valley after logging parts of three seasons in Finland’s Liiga with Kärpät and Pelicans. He made his first NHL appearance in relief last season but allowed two goals on six shots against the Blues in an eventual 7-2 loss. He’s spent all of this season in the AHL, where he’s split the crease evenly with undrafted 25-year-old Victor Östman. Kokko’s come out with the worst numbers of the two, logging a .903 SV%, 3.10 GAA, two shutouts, and an 18-10-2 record in 34 outings.
The 22-year-old Kokko is the #15 prospect in Seattle’s pool and the second-ranked goalie behind #13 Kim Saarinen, per Scott Wheeler of The Athletic. He’s had flashes of elite play here and there in Finland and in the minors, but his year-to-year inconsistency to date and subpar one-on-one reads mean he could very well top out as a third-string option long-term.
Murray’s absence will, for now, prevent him from getting back between the pipes for the first time since November. He missed over half the season with a lower-body injury before being activated from injured reserve back on March 10, but he’s yet to see game action since, with Daccord and Grubauer handling all of the starts and relief appearances. The 31-year-old veteran was excellent in a brief look at the beginning of the season, earning a .922 SV% and 2.21 GAA in five appearances despite a 0-2-1 record, which should be enough to land the pending unrestricted free agent another offer this summer.
Devils To Interview Sunny Mehta For GM Vacancy
The Devils have received permission from the Panthers to interview Sunny Mehta, one of their assistant general managers, for New Jersey’s GM vacancy, Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic reports.
Florida also formally granted permission to the Maple Leafs, who Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman linked to Mehta last weekend, to speak with him. It doesn’t appear they’re denying any requests for their assistant staffers to interview elsewhere for better opportunities, something general manager Bill Zito is intent on doing after benefiting from such a practice during his days as an AGM with the Blue Jackets, LeBrun writes.
New Jersey is still in the early stages of its search for Tom Fitzgerald‘s successor. They made the decision to move on from him on Monday. TSN’s Chris Johnston said on “First Up” the following day that, much like the Leafs, they’re looking for an analytically inclined name to take over the chair.
As has been discussed with the Leafs’ interest, there’s perhaps no better name to satisfy that than Mehta. One of the biggest names in NHL clubs’ early acceptance of advanced analytics in scouting and roster decisions, Mehta’s first full-time job in the NHL came back with the Devils in 2014. After a four-year run in New Jersey during their mid-2010s rebuild, Mehta was picked up by the Panthers as a hockey strategy and intelligence analyst in 2021 before eventually being promoted to AGM under Zito two years later.
Senators’ Thomas Chabot Returning To Lineup
Senators defenseman Thomas Chabot will dress tonight against the Panthers, just two weeks after having surgery to repair a fracture in his right forearm, he told reporters this morning (including Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia). He practiced in a regular jersey today for the first time since the injury, so it’s obviously a rushed return, one that comes at least two weeks ahead of schedule.
Chabot last played on March 23 against the Rangers. He took a cross-check from New York captain J.T. Miller that knocked him out of the game late in the first period and, within a couple of days, was expected to end his regular season. At the time, the Senators were two points out of a playoff spot with a game in hand and had won three in a row. Without Chabot and multiple other defenders, they’ve gone 4-3-1 in their last eight.
That’s been enough to keep pace in the race as their competitors have largely cooled off as well. Entering play tonight, they sit two points clear of the ninth-place Blue Jackets for the second wild-card spot, and none of the teams chasing them have games in hand. They’ve also already clinched tiebreakers over the Jackets, Islanders, and Red Wings, so Ottawa is now in full control of its destiny.
There will be no bigger emotional boost over their final four games than a rather shocking return from Chabot, the team’s longest-tenured skater. The 29-year-old is now in his second decade in the organization, initially brought in with the 18th overall pick in 2015. He served as the team’s #1 for several seasons and, although he’s now dropped to the second pairing on the left side behind Jake Sanderson, is still playing at a high level despite a relative lack of power play time. Through 55 games this season, he’s tallied a 7-24–31 scoring line with a +6 rating while averaging 22:34 per night.
Ottawa’s defense, which boasted righties Jordan Spence and Artem Zub as its only two regulars for a brief stretch just last week, is now much closer to full health. After Sanderson returned from his upper-body injury last weekend, their top four is now essentially intact. They’re without Nick Jensen due to a meniscus tear for the rest of the regular season, but Spence had leapfrogged him on the depth chart anyway by the time Jensen went under the knife.
They’re also missing third-pairing lefty Tyler Kleven – a big depth loss, no doubt. However, their makeshift third pairing of Nikolas Matinpalo and Lassi Thomson has produced spectacular results in their small sample, controlling 70.4% of expected goals in 28 minutes together at 5-on-5. With three of Ottawa’s remaining four games against teams already eliminated from the playoffs, their postseason chances have climbed up to nearly 85%, per MoneyPuck.
Image courtesy of Daniel Kucin Jr.-Imagn Images.
Wild Sign Viking Gustafsson Nyberg To Entry-Level Deal
April 9: The Wild announced a two-year, entry-level deal for Gustafsson Nyberg that begins immediately. He’ll be on the NHL roster for the rest of the season and will be a restricted free agent in 2027. He is now ineligible to be returned to Iowa until next year, nor can he log playoff action for Minnesota, but he will be a regular-season option for the final few games. He had an assist and a +1 rating in two outings for the AHL club this week. Per PuckPedia, his contract carries a $975K cap hit that breaks down into an $877.5K salary, $97.5K signing bonus, and a $85K minors salary in both seasons (prorated for 2025-26).
April 6: The Wild are on the verge of signing UConn defenseman Viking Gustafsson Nyberg to an entry-level contract that begins this season, Michael Russo of The Athletic reports Monday. In the interim, the team announced they’ve signed him to an amateur tryout that will allow him to make his pro debut this week for AHL Iowa.
Having Gustafsson Nyberg sign a tryout first will allow him to get minor-league action in while still allowing him to be an NHL option for at least one game in the regular season, while burning a year off his contract. Since he’s not a Wild draft pick and wasn’t on their reserve list at the trade deadline, he would not be eligible to play in the AHL this year once he signs an NHL contract.
The 22-year-old Swede will check into the pro ranks after a three-year collegiate career. The hulking 6’6″ lefty committed to Northern Michigan as a freshman but entered the transfer portal the following year, landing in Connecticut for his sophomore season.
Gustafsson Nyberg has been a shutdown standout for the Huskies. His offensive utility is limited; he’s scored just three goals with 22 assists for 25 points in 110 career NCAA games. However, his +18 rating this year led UConn while serving as an alternate captain.
He’ll turn 23 during training camp next year, but he’ll still be 22 on Sep 15, so that’s his signing age for the purposes of his entry-level contract. That means it’ll be a two-year deal when he puts pen to paper, so even if the contract starts now, he’ll have to wait until 2027 to test restricted free agency. It seems unlikely he’ll be in serious contention for an NHL roster spot in the fall but should be a welcome defensive presence for Iowa as the Wild look to replenish their cupboards after dealing away a significant amount of prospect capital this season.
Devils Shut Luke Hughes Down For Season
The Devils have shut down defenseman Luke Hughes for their final four games so he can undergo an undisclosed surgery, the team announced Thursday.
Hughes has dealt with a variety of shoulder issues over the past two seasons. It wouldn’t be surprising in the slightest if the corresponding wear and tear required some clean-up work. The team didn’t issue a timeline for his recovery but said the reason for having the surgery now was to “get a head start on rehab for the off-season,” so it doesn’t appear his availability for next season’s training camp is in jeopardy.
Per James Nichols of New Jersey Hockey Now, the procedure is related to the most recent of those shoulder injuries, a dislocation he suffered back on Jan. 19 against the Flames. He missed the next 10 games but was back in the lineup shortly after the Olympic break without undergoing surgery. Despite that, he played some solid hockey down the stretch. Across his last 19 games, the Devils have improved, going 12-6-1. That’s been accompanied by a 1-8–9 scoring line and a +4 rating from Hughes while averaging nearly 24 minutes per night, seeing clear-cut deployment now ahead of Dougie Hamilton as their #1.
Hughes, 22, concludes the first season of the seven-year, $63MM deal he signed with the Devils near the end of training camp after spending most of last summer as a restricted free agent. Considering the $9MM price tag he held out for, New Jersey likely hoped for more production out of their new top offensive weapon on the blue line this season. He finishes his campaign with six goals, 29 assists, 35 points, and a -4 rating in 68 outings. That was good enough to lead the Devils’ defensemen but was the worst point-per-game output (0.51) of his three full NHL seasons.
The fourth overall pick in 2021, the younger brother of teammate Jack Hughes and Wild star Quinn Hughes quietly had a good run in the possession department this season. He’s prone to some high-visibility turnovers but has otherwise been a consistent playdriver from the drop, notching a 53.8% shot attempt share and 49.7% expected goals share at 5-on-5 this season, per Natural Stat Trick. That’s indicative of the quantity-over-quality approach he takes defensively, but it’s worth noting Hamilton was the only Devils defender better at controlling shot share and expected goals across the board this season.
Hughes should be able to hit the ground running again in the fall as New Jersey’s #1 lefty. For now, it will be veteran tweener Dennis Cholowski stepping into the lineup as the Devils finish out their season. They’re mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, missing the postseason for the sixth time in eight years. Cholowski was recalled at the trade deadline after Brett Pesce sustained a lower-body injury, but has been a healthy scratch in 16 consecutive games. That streak tonight will end against the Penguins. He had one assist and a -5 rating in 15 outings for the Devils in the front half of the year.
Image courtesy of Thomas Salus-Imagn Images.
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