Bruins, Oilers Interested In Rasmus Ristolainen
“Five or six teams” have expressed interest in acquiring Flyers defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen during the Olympic break, Anthony Di Marco of Daily Faceoff reports. Among those are the Bruins and Oilers, Di Marco writes, although “neither has stepped up as a ‘serious’ landing spot to this point.”
Ristolainen was a talked-about name heading into last year’s deadline season, too. The 31-year-old enjoyed the best two-way showing of his career in 2024-25, and the Flyers were eager to capitalize on it by landing a high-value return for a reasonably cost-controlled, right-shot defenseman. His market wasn’t as fervent as Philly hoped, though, and he ended up staying with the Flyers past the trade deadline.
At the time, they were reportedly looking for a first-round pick as the starting piece of a package. According to Di Marco, that hasn’t changed. The Flyers are using last year’s Brandon Carlo trade between the Bruins and Maple Leafs as a comparable to set their price. Toronto ended up parting ways with a top-five protected first-round pick, a fourth-rounder, and center prospect Fraser Minten – selected as an early second-rounder not all that long ago – to acquire Carlo, who had an additional two seasons remaining on his deal, with 15% of his salary retained by Boston.
Even assuming Carlo’s and Ristolainen’s on-ice value is equal, the Flyers aren’t in a position to command quite that strong a return. The first-round pick may still be possible, but they’ll be hard-pressed to land a prospect of Minten’s caliber as well. Ristolainen only has one year left on his deal following this season, and his $5.1MM cap hit is a greater chunk of change than what Carlo costs. That’s notwithstanding Ristolainen’s much shoddier long-term record of poor defensive play that’s seen him own a career -183 rating in 795 games.
Still, the 6’4″ Ristolainen seems to have stabilized nicely as a high-end second-to-third-pairing piece in Philadelphia over the past two years. The 2013 eighth overall pick was overtaxed for several years to begin his career in Buffalo, but since the 2023-24 campaign in Philly, he’s consistently posted above-average possession impacts while seeing his usage slowly climb back up to the 20-minute range per game.
Injuries are a concern, though. Issues with his right triceps muscle have ended his season weeks early in back-to-back years. He had a more extensive surgery last year to address the issue that delayed his 2025-26 debut until mid-December, and he missed another six games with a separate upper-body issue last month. He’s made just 19 appearances this season as a result, but has churned out a goal and six points with a -4 rating while averaging 19:35 of ice time per game. When given top-pairing deployment with Travis Sanheim, they’ve had great defensive impacts in an 87-minute sample, allowing just 1.93 expected goals against per 60 minutes, according to MoneyPuck.
As for his known suitors, it appears Boston isn’t taking itself out of the mix to add to their blue line after going down to the wire in Rasmus Andersson talks with Calgary. Right-shot depth is an issue for them, with Charlie McAvoy and Henri Jokiharju as their only NHL options signed past this season (and it’s likely pending UFA Andrew Peeke won’t be back). With an abundance of first-round picks for the next two years, it wouldn’t deter their retooling too much to part with one, although it was clear they were looking for a more offensively dynamic piece like Andersson, if possible. As such, Ristolainen isn’t “someone the Bruins are especially high on,” Di Marco writes, although they’re at least keeping tabs on him as a backup option if other targets also fall through.
There’s a more pressing short-term fit for Ristolainen in Edmonton. They don’t have any options in the organization behind Evan Bouchard who can comfortably sniff top-four deployment on the right side. Lefty Jake Walman has spent most of the year on his off side as a result, and his possession impacts have taken a nosedive. Stomaching Ristolainen’s cap hit would be an issue for the Oilers, who have just over $1MM in projected cap space on deadline day, but as Di Marco writes, there could be a fit if the Flyers were willing to take on struggling winger Andrew Mangiapane in the deal.
Red Wings Recall Dominik Shine, Sheldon Dries
Feb. 23, 8:49 a.m.: The Red Wings announced they’ve recalled Shine and Dries again ahead of practice today while they await the return of Dylan Larkin from his gold-medal-winning effort with Team USA at the Olympics. With only 12 healthy forwards on the active roster, it stands to reason one of them might stick around as injury insurance after games get going later this week.
Feb. 19, 1:49 p.m.: Both Shine and Dries are headed back to Grand Rapids after today’s practice, the team announced.
Feb. 19, 8:56 a.m.: While Detroit quietly returned Watson and Dries to Grand Rapids after Tuesday’s practice, they’ve brought Dries back up today, along with Dominik Shine, per a team announcement. Shine, 32, has been in Detroit’s system since signing with Grand Rapids as a free agent out of Northern Michigan University in 2027 and finally made his NHL debut last season. In 2025-26, he’s assumed the captaincy for Grand Rapids and is having a career year, scoring 21 goals in only 35 games.
Feb. 17: The Red Wings announced they’ve recalled forwards Austin Watson and Sheldon Dries from AHL Grand Rapids under emergency conditions. They’ll help the team fill out its practices this week until their contingent of Olympians returns to the squad.
Watson is a veteran of 528 NHL games, although none of them have come this season. The 34-year-old joined Detroit on a two-way deal in 2024 after a lengthy run with the Predators, Senators, and Lightning as a fourth-line/press box option, but he’s spent most of his time in the organization in the minors. After playing just 13 NHL games last year, he re-upped on a two-way extension and has suited up exclusively for Grand Rapids this year since clearing waivers during training camp.
While the Michigan native wasn’t more than a standard 10-to-20-point enforcer at the NHL level, he does have a tangible offensive impact in the minors. He racked up 42 points and 112 penalty minutes in 60 contests for the Griffins last year and has clicked at a similar but reduced pace in 2025-26. Through 39 games, he’s 10th on the team in scoring with 19 points (11 goals, eight assists) with a team-high 123 PIMs.
Dries, also a hometown signing, recently inked a two-year, two-way extension that will keep him in the Motor City through 2027-28. He was recalled twice last month under emergency conditions but has still yet to suit up for an NHL team since 2022-23 with the Canucks. Now in his ninth professional season, he has 277 points in 378 career AHL games – including a 17-16–33 scoring line in 39 games with Grand Rapids this year as an alternate captain.
Penguins Recall Avery Hayes
The Penguins announced they’ve recalled right winger Avery Hayes from AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. They have an open roster spot, so no corresponding move is required.
Pittsburgh has one of the league’s more intriguing prospect pools. Perhaps no one has seen his stock rise more in the last few months than Hayes. The 23-year-old has exploded in the minors this season, leading the Baby Pens with 19 goals in 36 games. That includes a pair of hat tricks in his last five outings over the course of the Olympic break. In his last 10 games, including an NHL spot against the Sabres back on Feb. 5, the 5’10” forward has 11 goals and 13 points with a +6 rating.
Amid a slew of relatively high draft picks over the past few seasons, Hayes arrived in the organization in 2023 as an undrafted free agent signing by Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, not Pittsburgh. He remained on an AHL contract until the Pens tore up that agreement at the 2025 trade deadline and gave him his entry-level deal, which still has another year left after this one.
Hayes made his NHL debut in the Pens’ final game before the break. His recall was mostly motivated by a slew of absences, but it was also a long time coming, considering his minor-league output. Adding him back to the roster ahead of Pittsburgh’s return to play this week indicates that they plan to keep his promotion active for the stretch run. After all, he did come up with a pair of goals and managed six shots in just over 10 minutes of ice time. While an extremely small sample, that works out to a league-high 35.47 shots per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 – a league-best number by more than double the second-place figure.
The Pens’ forward group is nearly at full health. Filip Hallander is close to returning from the blood-clot issues that have kept him out since November, as he’s on a conditioning assignment to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. It’s not clear when captain Sidney Crosby will rejoin the team following the knee injury that ended his Olympics with Team Canada in the quarterfinals, but given he was listed as day-to-day as late as the morning of the gold medal game, it’s very likely not a season-ending ailment.
That means – at least, for now – that Hayes has leapfrogged younger, more high-profile names like Ville Koivunen and Rutger McGroarty on Pittsburgh’s short-term depth chart. With a great chance at ending their three-year playoff drought on the line, it’ll be curious to see what kind of deployment Hayes gets in the coming weeks.
Wild Make Several Roster Moves
Feb. 22: Gleason and Katchouk have now been returned to Iowa as well, per a team announcement.
Feb. 20: The Wild announced they’ve reassigned Kiersted to Iowa. Katchouk and Gleason remain with the club for now.
Feb. 18: The Wild announced they’ve recalled forward Boris Katchouk and defensemen Ben Gleason and Matt Kiersted from AHL Iowa. All will likely be on their way back to Iowa once Minnesota’s Olympians return stateside.
Katchouk started the season with the Lightning, kicking off his second stint with the team that drafted him 44th overall in 2016 by signing a two-way deal in free agency. All three of his NHL appearances this season – his first in two years – came in a Tampa sweater back in November. He went pointless while averaging 12:11 of ice time per game, going 7-for-19 (36.8%) on faceoffs.
After being returned to the minors, Katchouk remained in the Bolts organization for a month before being sent to the Wild in exchange for Michael Milne shortly after Christmas. The Wild were looking to jumpstart their AHL affiliate’s hapless offense with Katchouk’s veteran presence and 179 games of NHL experience, but it hasn’t worked out that way. An injury kept Katchouk out of the lineup for nearly a month in January, and he’s been limited to a goal and an assist in five games for Iowa as a result.
Gleason and Kiersted are also in their first years in the organization, although both of them arrived in free agency last summer rather than via trade. Gleason, 28 next month, hasn’t played in the NHL since his four-game debut with the Stars in 2018-19 but has been a desirable minor-league asset for the past eight years thanks to his steady two-way game. The cousin of longtime Hurricanes rearguard Tim Gleason has one goal and 17 points with a -16 rating in 44 outings for Iowa, tied for sixth on the team in scoring and second among blue-liners.
Kiersted is the only one of the group to see NHL time for the Wild this season. He’s suited up four times as an injury fill-in, posting one assist and a -1 rating with five blocks while averaging 13:42 of ice time per game. The Minnesota native hasn’t had much of an offensive impact on the farm, though, only notching six points and a -7 rating through 31 games.
Winnipeg Jets Reassign Domenic DiVincentiis
02/22/2026: The Jets announced this morning that DiVincentiis has been reassigned to AHL Manitoba. Since the league is still on break for the Winter Olympics, DiVincentiis’ recall did not come with any NHL games played. With Hellebuyck returning an Olympic hero (although not for most Jets fans), he’s going to resume his place as Winnipeg’s undisputed No. 1 goalie.
The path for DiVincentiis to return to the NHL roster and perhaps even make his NHL debut in 2025-26 is likely to come as the result of either injury. That’s especially true since the Jets are highly unlikely to reach the playoffs and therefore would not have a pressing need to rest Hellebuyck for one of the final games of the season.
02/17/2026: NHL teams are permitted to practice today starting at 1:00 p.m. Central. Everybody will be down at least one player while the Winter Olympics are still ongoing in Milan-Cortina, so clubs will have the option to add practice players from their AHL affiliate in the meantime. The Jets were the first team to announce such a move Tuesday morning, recalling forward Walker Duehr, defensemen Ville Heinola and Elias Salomonsson, and goaltender Domenic DiVincentiis from AHL Manitoba.
Salomonsson was rostered right up until the break began, with blue-liners Haydn Fleury, Colin Miller, and Neal Pionk on injured reserve. Depending on their status next week, he could remain on the roster. There’s also a question mark surrounding star Josh Morrissey, who hasn’t played since Canada’s first group-stage game at the Olympics due to an undisclosed injury, though he returned to practice today ahead of tomorrow’s quarterfinal matchup against either Czechia or Denmark.
The 21-year-old Swede has surpassed Heinola as Winnipeg’s top-ranked defense prospect. A right-shot coming in at 6’2″ and 185 lbs, the smooth skater has a goal and 10 points in 29 AHL games with Manitoba this season. It’s his second year stateside after earning an AHL All-Star nod as a rookie. Now nearly four years removed from his second-round selection in 2022, he’s suited up in the first 13 games of his NHL career over the last several weeks with no points and a -5 rating. He’s averaging 16:58 of ice time per game and controlling 47.8% of shot attempts at even strength, a strong figure considering he owns a relatively low offensive zone start percentage of 43.8.
Heinola, the 20th overall pick back in 2019, will turn 25 next month and looks to be in the final months of his time in Winnipeg. Because he’s played fewer than 80 career NHL games, he’ll become a Group VI unrestricted free agent this summer. He’s yet to log any NHL time this season after making a career-high 18 appearances in 2024-25. The Finnish lefty remains Manitoba’s best offensive weapon on the blue line, though, ranking fifth on the team in scoring with 21 points (three goals, 18 assists) in 44 games.
Duehr had played at least 20 NHL games in three consecutive seasons but hasn’t seen any this year after passing through waivers during training camp. The 28-year-old was a free agent signing by the Flames out of Minnesota State in 2022 and remained in the organization up until he got claimed off waivers by the Sharks in January 2025. He hit unrestricted free agency last summer and landed a two-way deal with Winnipeg, recording 12 goals and 26 points with a +12 rating in 39 games for Manitoba.
DiVincentiis was recalled to back up Eric Comrie for a handful of games in December while Connor Hellebuyck was recovering from knee surgery, but didn’t see any ice. The 21-year-old was a seventh-round pick in 2022 but has impressed in his pro career so far. He’s split Manitoba’s crease with fellow youngster Thomas Milic and has posted a .908 SV%, 2.68 GAA, and a 10-11-3 record with two shutouts in 24 games as a second-year pro.
Olle Lycksell Linked To Swiss League
Senators forward Olle Lycksell is spurning interest from clubs in his native Sweden in an effort to move to Switzerland’s National League next season, Johan Svensson and Mattias Persson of Expressen report. In any event, it’s clear the pending Group VI unrestricted free agent won’t be re-signing with Ottawa or any other NHL team, for that matter.
Lycksell is in his fourth season stateside, but just his first in the Sens organization. A sixth-round pick by the Flyers in 2017, he spent several years coming up through the SHL before signing with Philadelphia in 2021. Philly loaned him back to Sweden’s Växjö Lakers for the following campaign, where he had a career-best 14 goals and 34 points in 47 games before being brought to North America the following season.
The 5’11” winger has been a consistently high-end AHL producer ever since. He averaged over a point per game twice through his four seasons to date and has 61 goals and 145 points in 160 career minor-league games, including 17 points in 25 outings with the Belleville Senators this year. It hasn’t translated into NHL success, though. He’s seen big-league action each year, three times with the Flyers and back earlier this season with the Sens, but only has two goals and 13 points in 52 career games. Being an unnatural fit for a fourth-line role, he’s had some wildly inconsistent possession impacts and hasn’t shown enough to push for a top-six role.
The 26-year-old will now be a Group VI UFA for the second summer in a row since he’s stayed under 80 career NHL appearances. His archetype makes him primed for offensive success in one of Europe’s top leagues in Switzerland, where he should immediately become one of the league’s leading scorers if he transfers there.
Canucks’ Filip Chytil Out Indefinitely With Facial Fracture
Canucks center Filip Chytil sustained a facial fracture in Wednesday’s practice and will be out indefinitely, Jeff Paterson of Rink Wide: Vancouver reports.
Considering Chytil’s long history of concussions, a simple fracture is far from the worst-case scenario after he was dazed by taking a puck to the face in the session. The 26-year-old has only been good for 12 appearances this season, missing three months early in the season with an upper-body injury that was suspected to be at least his third concussion in the last three years. He returned for a six-game stretch before the Olympic break, before sitting out of Vancouver’s last contest with migraine headaches.
Concussions and facial injuries have now limited Chytil to less than a full season’s worth of games over the past three years. He’s only played in 78 of 221 possible regular-season games, equal to 35.3%, since the beginning of the 2023-24 campaign. That window of inavailability came just after the Czech center finally seemed to break through into a top-nine role with the Rangers, rattling off a career-high 22 goals and 45 points in 74 games in the 2022-23 campaign.
That type of production might just be too far gone for Chytil to get back to that level, though. Acquired from New York in last year’s J.T. Miller trade, he’s suited up 27 times for Vancouver in the last 13 months with five goals and four assists for nine points with a -18 rating. That’s a 15-goal, 27-point pace over 82 games – closer to fourth-line production than the second-line role behind Elias Pettersson they were initially hoping he could fill.
There’s little left to play for in Vancouver. They’re already 21 points back of the playoff cutoff in the West and are in a seven-point hole for last place in the league. While not mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, they’re a non-factor by all intents and purposes. That means the stretch run is exclusively about trying to get individual talents back on the right track – including Chytil – but whether he’ll heal enough to get back in the lineup before mid-April now remains to be seen.
Maple Leafs Reassign Bo Groulx, William Villeneuve
Feb. 20: Groulx is headed back to the AHL today along with defenseman William Villeneuve, who was summoned two days ago, per a team announcement.
Feb. 19: The Maple Leafs announced they’ve recalled center Benoit-Olivier Groulx from AHL Toronto. He’ll join the team for today’s practice with forward Max Domi absent due to personal reasons, in addition to Auston Matthews remaining unavailable as he looks to captain Team USA to a gold medal at the Winter Olympics.
Groulx, 26, was a second-round pick by the Ducks in 2018. He has 65 NHL games to his name, all coming with Anaheim from 2021-24. After making a career-high 45 appearances in the 2023-24 campaign, the Ducks non-tendered him. He’s spent the last two seasons exclusively in the AHL on NHL. deals, first on a two-way pact with the Rangers in 2024-25 before signing a two-year, one-way, league-minimum deal with Toronto last summer.
The 6’2″, 205-lb pivot has only demonstrated limited offensive upside in the NHL but has been one of the best two-way forwards in the minors over the last two seasons. Once named the QMJHL’s best defensive forward during his junior days, he’s racked up 22 goals and 42 points in 47 games to lead the Marlies in scoring, along with a +9 rating.
He’ll now look to make a strong impression in whatever practice deployment he gets to boost his chances of a call-up heading into next season. Since he signed a two-year deal, his $812,500 cap hit next season will actually be less than the new league minimum of $850,000.
Bruins Linked To Theodor Niederbach
With European regular seasons near their ends, now is the time when many NHL teams start seriously demonstrating their interest in international free agent signings. One of those names is 23-year-old pivot Theodor Niederbach, whom Johan Svensson and Mattias Persson of Expressen report has received interest from “more than half the league” – including the Bruins, who sent a team of scouts to Gothenburg recently to watch him suit up with his club team, the SHL’s Frölunda HC.
Niederbach is far from an unknown in NHL circles. It wasn’t that long ago that he was a fairly highly-touted prospect. He ended up going midway through the second round of the 2020 draft to the Red Wings, but after he failed to demonstrate much progression over four years in the SHL and HockeyAllsvenskan, they didn’t sign him by their June 2024 deadline and lost his signing rights.
The 6’0″ center immediately responded with a statement campaign for MoDo Hockey, tying for the team lead in scoring with a 10-23–33 line in 51 games. While he’d played a role in helping the club gain promotion from the HockeyAllsvenskan two years prior, he couldn’t help them avoid relegation last season. He thus left MoDo in the offseason and signed a two-year deal with Frölunda, with whom he’s registered 11 goals and 28 points with a +12 rating in 44 outings. He’s now slotting comfortably into a top-six role there, and he has the benefit of being teammates with potential 2026 first-overall pick Ivar Stenberg – ensuring he’ll have plenty of eyes on him down the stretch.
Evidently, Niederbach’s deal with Frölunda contains an NHL out-clause. He was drafted more as a two-way center, but has ended up as more of an offensively-inclined playmaker from the middle of the ice as he’s found his way into more responsibility in the SHL.
For the Bruins, Niederbach would join an already large group of young centers with offensively moderate, top-nine ceilings. Marat Khusnutdinov, Fraser Minten, and Matthew Poitras are already in the mix, and with all four of Boston’s current pivots under contract through next season, it’s hard to envision Niederbach making a legitimate play for a roster spot out of the gate. If he’s focused more on finding an organization that has a long-term home for him rather than finding a place where he can jump into the NHL right away, though, the Bruins’ hodge-podge of journeyman forwards and mid-tier prospects could provide an opportunity for him to break through the noise eventually.
Penguins’ Sebastian Aho Linked To SHL
Before long, the NHL won’t have two Sebastian Ahos. The Penguins depth defender is expected to sign with Växjö Lakers HC of the Swedish Hockey League when he becomes an unrestricted free agent at season’s end, Adam Savonen of Norran reports.
It’s far from a surprise. Aho inked a two-year, league-minimum contract with Pittsburgh in 2024 but hasn’t played a single NHL game for the Penguins. He’s cleared waivers twice and has spent the entire deal with AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, where injuries and adherence to veteran maximums have limited him to just 39 games over the last two years.
The 30-year-old Swede has long been an intriguing puck-mover near the bottom of a lineup, but his 5’10” frame has limited NHL teams’ willingness to deploy him, even in sheltered situations. A fifth-round pick by the Islanders in 2017, he spent his entire career with them before leaving for Pittsburgh in free agency. He made 190 appearances for the club from 2017-24, notching 11 goals and 39 assists for 50 points with a -10 rating.
He’s kept up his respectable point production in the minors. He had 14 assists in 27 games with the Baby Pens last year and has a goal and five points in 12 outings this year. He returned to the lineup this week for the first time in a month and a half, so while he may have some time down the stretch to boost his stock, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him opt to return to his home country regardless to play out the back half of his pro career.