Wild’s Ryan Hartman To Have In-Person Player Safety Hearing
Wild forward Ryan Hartman will have an in-person hearing with the league’s Department of Player Safety after he was ejected from last night’s 6-0 loss to the Senators for intending to injure Ottawa star Tim Stützle, per an announcement from the organization Sunday. Hartman is now eligible to be suspended for more than five games.
The incident occurred with 16 seconds left on the clock in the second period. Hartman drove Stützle’s head into the ice following a defensive zone draw, causing the latter’s helmet to come off and creating a cut on his forehead (video link via Sportsnet).
Hartman was given a match penalty for roughing and intent to injure. The Senators scored three times on the ensuing five-minute major power play to begin the third period, including two assists from Stützle.
The pair found themselves on the box score earlier in the second period when Stützle was assessed a minor penalty for slashing Hartman. At the same time, the latter was assessed a double minor for roughing and embellishment. Hartman totaled 19 PIMs in the game, marking the second time he’s earned a match or misconduct penalty this season. The other occurred in a 6-1 home loss to the Panthers in December.
It’s been a disappointing campaign for the 30-year-old, who’s been bumped to bottom-six minutes with the emergence of Marco Rossi as Minnesota’s first-line center. His offensive pace has been harmed as a result, tied for ninth on the team in scoring with 17 points (7 G, 10 A) through 48 games. His 14:45 ATOI is his lowest usage since his first season in the State of Hockey in 2019-20, while his minus-eight rating ranks as the club’s lowest.
Nonetheless, a pending multi-game absence will be difficult to swallow for a Wild forward group that’s already missing top-six wingers Marcus Johansson and Kirill Kaprizov. Johansson remains without a timeline to return following a concussion over two weeks ago, while Kaprizov remains out until at least the end of the month following lower-body surgery.
Stars Activate Mason Marchment From Injured Reserve
Stars winger Mason Marchment has been activated from injured reserve Sunday, per a team announcement. The team opened roster space by reassigning forward Kyle McDonald and defenseman Christian Kyrou to AHL Texas, leaving them with an open spot.
Marchment, 29, will draw into the lineup this evening for the first time in over a month. The power forward needed surgery after taking a puck to the face against the Wild on Dec. 27, keeping him out of Dallas’ last 17 games.
The Ontario native was having an extraordinarily productive campaign before his injury. He had 12 goals and 15 assists for 27 points through the season’s first 33 games, still placing him fifth on the team in points per game with 0.82. He’s on track for his best offensive season as a Star and his finest showing since his breakout 2021-22 campaign with the Panthers, when he notched a +29 rating and 47 points in 54 games and finished 18th in Selke Trophy voting.
Marchment is now in the third season of the four-year, $18MM deal he inked with Dallas in free agency in 2022. He has 111 points in 182 games as a Star, ranking ninth on the team in scoring since his arrival and ranking third in hits (240).
A career-high 15.0% shooting rate explains some of Marchment’s re-emergence as a bonafide top-six piece, but he’s also recorded figures in the 14% range twice in his six-year NHL career. His possession impacts this season have also been standouts, ranking second on the team behind Mavrik Bourque with a 55.5 CF% at even strength.
He’s another weapon in a Stars offense that’s figured things out in recent weeks, ranking fifth in the league with 3.29 goals per game in Marchment’s absence. His return to the lineup should coincide with Mikael Granlund‘s Dallas debut after they acquired him from the Sharks yesterday, supercharging their already strong offensive depth.
McDonald and Kyrou were recalled yesterday as the Stars entered long-term injured reserve for the first time this season. Neither was ever expected to play, with their cap hits solely being added to the active roster to optimize their LTIR capture when they moved Tyler Seguin there and added Nils Lundkvist after news broke that the latter would miss the remainder of the season with an upper-body injury.
Senators Recall Cole Reinhardt
The Senators announced Sunday they’ve recalled winger Cole Reinhardt from AHL Belleville. They opened a roster spot by waiving and reassigning him just last week, so no corresponding transaction is required.
Reinhardt returns to the active roster after Josh Norris left Saturday’s 6-0 drubbing of the Wild in the third period with an undisclosed injury. Head coach Travis Green didn’t have an update on Norris’ status postgame, nor made it clear when the center sustained it (via Sportsnet).
The 25-year-old’s inclusion on the roster gives the Sens 12 forwards for Monday’s game against the Predators in case Norris cannot play. Ottawa did not have any extra healthy forwards for last night’s win, with Noah Gregor on injured reserve and Nick Cousins out long-term following knee surgery.
Reinhardt last skated for the Sens in their 5-0 win over the Penguins on Jan. 11. He sustained an upper-body injury in that game that forced him out of the next nine contests before he landed on waivers last Tuesday.
The Calgary native cleared without incident and returned to play with the B-Sens on Wednesday, scoring the overtime winner in a 6-5 win over Hartford in his first game back. He was otherwise held pointless in three appearances over the past few days, but he still checks in as Belleville’s points-per-game leader with 1.06.
A sixth-round pick in 2020, the 6’1″ left-winger has worked his way up to tweener status on Ottawa’s depth chart. He’s appeared in 12 NHL games this season after not suiting up in any since his NHL debut in April 2022, posting a goal and an assist with a minus-five rating.
Reinhardt has averaged just 8:08 per game but ranks second on the team with 17.8 hits per 60 minutes. Outside of his physicality and the depth scoring upside he’s flashed at the AHL level, his possession impacts have been poor with a 42.6 CF% and -1.6 expected rating at even strength. The former ranks last among Ottawa skaters to play multiple games this season.
Reinhardt can remain on Ottawa’s roster for another 30 days or play 10 games before he needs to clear waivers again to return to Belleville. He’s slated to reach Group VI unrestricted free agency this summer due to playing fewer than 80 NHL games while having at least three professional seasons under his belt.
Senators Linked To Ryan Donato, Brandon Tanev
Multiple reports over the past couple of weeks indicate the Senators are looking to add a forward ahead of the March 7 trade deadline. The Blackhawks’ Ryan Donato and the Kraken’s Brandon Tanev are two of the names they’ve identified as acquisition candidates, Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen wrote Saturday.
Ottawa’s drive to add further in advance of the deadline is likely driven by a pair of factors. Available options are quickly dwindling after a slew of major swaps over the past week, and they’ve lost a depth option for potentially the rest of the season after Garrioch reports Nick Cousins underwent knee surgery Friday, extending his previously issued six-to-eight-week return timeline.
Tanev would be a more direct replacement for Cousins in a bottom-six role, albeit one with more offensive utility. Donato, however, would provide head coach Travis Green with another option to deploy in second-line usage alongside Drake Batherson and Josh Norris amid a career-best season.
The 28-year-old Donato is a pending unrestricted free agent, likely to land at least a marginal raise on his current $2MM AAV on the open market this summer. That’s because he ranks third on the Blackhawks in scoring with 15 goals and 15 assists for 30 points in 50 games, trailing only Connor Bedard and Teuvo Teräväinen.
Donato has produced at a 49-point pace despite averaging 14:47 per game, seventh among active Chicago forwards. His 46.6 CF% at even strength leads Hawks forwards after Taylor Hall‘s departure via trade last month, and only five of his 30 points have come on the power play. His 14 even-strength goals lead Chicago by a margin of five.
He’s a historically inconsistent but versatile secondary scoring piece who’s flourished amid a lack of support in the Windy City, not all too dissimilar to Max Domi in the 2022-23 campaign. He notched 49 points in 60 games after signing as a free agent and fetched them a second-round pick from the Stars at the deadline.
The Senators should expect to pay a similar price for Donato, especially after the rental market was set over the weekend. Mikael Granlund and Marcus Pettersson both fetched first-rounders for the Sharks and Penguins. Donato’s utility down the middle won’t matter much for the Sens in their current state with Norris, Tim Stützle and Shane Pinto as their top three centers, but knowing he can slide over from the wing is good to have in case of injuries.
The type of forward they choose to acquire likely depends on how David Perron performs over the coming days. The veteran winger is getting an audition alongside Norris and Batherson after a lengthy personal leave and a back injury have limited him to one assist in 14 games. An uptick in production likely means they go for a more physically involved checking winger to replace and upgrade over Cousins, but otherwise, adding a more scoring-inclined weapon to the league’s 21st-ranked offense will be at the top of general manager Steve Staios‘ wish list.
Tanev would also be a rental, checking in at a more expensive $3.5MM cap hit. He also has some control over where (and if) he goes at the deadline with a 10-team no-trade list.
The 33-year-old left-winger has been with the Kraken since their inception, selected from the Penguins in the expansion draft two seasons into a six-year, $21MM extension. He missed over half of the 2021-22 season and a good chunk of the 2023-24 campaign due to injuries but has been mostly healthy this season, playing in 51 of Seattle’s 53 games.
While Tanev was once an option to score double-digit goals, those days may be behind him. He had a career-high 16 goals, 35 points and a +21 rating while skating in all 82 games during the Kraken’s lone playoff-bound season in 2022-23, but has 15 goals and 31 points in 117 combined games since then.
Nonetheless, he’s still among the league’s most fervent checkers. He leads all forwards with 82 blocks and ranks third on Seattle in hits with 107.
Tanev also remains an option to log heavy shorthanded usage, but his even-strength possession metrics have nosedived this season. His 43.2 CF% ranks last on the team among qualified skaters, and his -8.6 expected rating is trailed only by Jamie Oleksiak and Chandler Stephenson.
Ottawa should be able to land Donato without salary retention but may need a little help from the Kraken if they zero in on Tanev. They project to have $3.33MM in deadline space, per PuckPedia, a figure that could change once goaltender Linus Ullmark comes off long-term injured reserve in the days leading up to the 4 Nations Face-Off.
Capitals To Release Hardy Haman Aktell After He Cleared Unconditional Waivers
Saturday: Haman Aktell passed through waivers unclaimed today, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports. That will pave the way for his contract to be terminated.
Friday: The Capitals placed defenseman Hardy Haman Aktell on unconditional waivers Friday as a precursor to a mutual contract termination, Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press reports. He will become an unrestricted free agent tomorrow if he clears and will likely return to his native Sweden.
Washington signed Haman Aktell, 26, to an entry-level contract out of the Swedish Hockey League’s Växjö Lakers in the 2023 offseason. The 6’4″ lefty was previously a fourth-round pick by the Predators in 2016 but never signed with the club, letting his signing rights lapse in 2020. He put himself on NHL teams’ radars with a breakout 27-assist, 36-point campaign in 51 games for Växjö in 2022-23, tying for second on the team in scoring en route to an SHL championship.
While a well-rounded player in Europe, his lanky 198-lb frame put him at a bit of a disadvantage in North America. He didn’t quite pop as the Capitals hoped in the AHL, posting just 11 points (2 G, 9 A) in 55 games for Hershey last year. But a rash of injuries to their NHL defense corps meant he was called upon to make his NHL debut early in the season, skating in six contests in October and November. He recorded an assist and a minus-two rating, recording five shots and 11 hits while averaging a minimal 10:38 per game. His possession numbers were promising – a 52.5 CF% and a +0.6 expected rating at even strength – but was never added back to the roster aside from a late-season emergency summons.
A restricted free agent last summer, the Capitals opted to keep Haman Aktell around on a two-way contract. He cleared waivers to begin the season and returned to Hershey, where he’s yet to score through 27 games and has seen a diminished role. He did have nine assists and a plus-three rating, but with a lack of NHL opportunity ahead of him, there understandably wasn’t any mutual interest in extending their relationship.
Ending Haman Aktell’s contract now allows him more time to pursue options overseas, potentially finishing the 2024-25 season with a European club. It doesn’t have any cap impact for Washington since he was a league-minimum player in the minors, but it does save a small amount of prorated actual cash. He was earning a $350K salary while in the AHL.
The Caps will have three open contract slots after he clears waivers tomorrow.
Devils Reassign Isaac Poulter, Recall Nico Daws
Saturday: As expected, the Devils announced that Daws has been recalled and will accompany the team on their upcoming two-game road trip.
Thursday: The Devils assigned goaltender Isaac Poulter to AHL Utica on Thursday, per a team announcement. The move banks a bit of cap space during a three-day break in the schedule, but he’s not expected to return to the roster when they leave for a two-game road trip to Buffalo and Pittsburgh. Instead, the more experienced Nico Daws will be recalled “in all likelihood” to backup Jake Allen for the trip, Amanda Stein of the team’s official site reports.
New Jersey recalled Poulter last Friday after news broke that starter Jacob Markström would miss the next four to six weeks with an MCL sprain. The 23-year-old backed up Allen in the Devils’ last three games following Markström’s injury but did not play. He’s still awaiting his NHL debut despite being recalled four times since signing a two-year two-way contract with New Jersey last February.
Initially signed by Utica as an undrafted free agent out of the Swift Current Broncos of the Western Hockey League, Poulter is now in his third season of professional hockey. The 6’2″, 174-lb depth netminder has a 2.90 GAA, .900 SV%, four shutouts, and a 32-18-8 record in 60 appearances with Utica, as well as a 2.82 GAA, .911 SV%, one shutout, and a 15-8-2 record in 28 games with ECHL Adirondack. This season has been his first without any ECHL time after establishing himself as a full-time AHL option, taking over as the struggling Comets’ best option between the pipes with a .897 SV% and 8-7-4 record in 19 showings.
Despite outperforming Daws this season, he’ll need to continue biding his time in the minors while the latter gets another chance at NHL ice time. Daws, 24, has 46 games of NHL experience compared to Poulter’s zero, but those have come out of necessity, with injuries being a common theme in the New Jersey crease over the past few seasons. The German-born Canadian national has a 19-22-1 record with a 3.13 GAA and .894 SV% across action in the 2021-22 and 2023-24 campaigns. He allowed 10.2 goals above expected over that multi-year run, per MoneyPuck.
In 21 games with Utica this season, Daws has a 3.40 GAA, .888 SV%, one shutout, and a 5-14-2 record. While he posted save percentages north of .900 in his first two AHL campaigns, he’s been below that mark since the beginning of last year. Neither Daws nor Poulter requires waivers this season, but the former will as of next year. Daws is under contract through next season, while Poulter is a pending restricted free agent with arbitration rights.
Lightning Reassign Matt Tomkins, Gage Goncalves
Jan. 31st: The Tampa Bay team has announced that they have reassigned goalie Tomkins and forward Gage Goncalves to AHL Syracuse. Since today is an off-day and there are no indications that Johansson is nearing a return, both players are expected to be back tomorrow night.
Jan. 30th: The Lightning may be without their regular netminders tonight against the Kings. Andrei Vasilevskiy remains a game-time decision due to illness after his absence against the Blackhawks on Tuesday forced them to sign Kyle Konin to an amateur tryout as an emergency backup, head coach Jon Cooper said (via the team’s Benjamin Pierce). Backup Jonas Johansson, who started the Chicago game, is now day-to-day with a lower-body injury and will not play tonight, according to Gabby Shirley of FanDuel Sports Network Sun. In a corresponding move, the team announced they’d recalled third-stringer Matt Tomkins from AHL Syracuse.
The Bolts don’t have another recall option from the AHL if both Vasilevskiy and Johansson are unavailable. Tomkins, their third-stringer, is their only other netminder under contract. He hasn’t even been Syracuse’s starter this season. He’s been overtaken in the role by 28-year-old Brandon Halverson, who remains without an NHL contract offer from the Bolts despite posting a stellar 2.02 GAA, .925 SV%, and four shutouts in 24 AHL appearances this season.
Nonetheless, Tomkins will dress tonight against Los Angeles. Whether he starts with Konin signing an ATO again to back up or whether Vasilevskiy can take the ice remains to be seen. The 30-year-old saw NHL ice for the first time last season, logging a 3-2-1 record with a 3.33 GAA and a .892 SV% in six appearances for Tampa. He has a 6-8-4 record and a .900 SV% in 17 games for Syracuse this season, his second in the Lightning organization after departing the Blackhawks’ system and spending two years in Sweden.
The 29-year-old Johansson has seen an increased workload lately as the Bolts look to give Vasilevskiy some mid-season rest. Five of his 12 starts this season have come this month. Overall, he’s continued to serve as a below-average backup option, which doesn’t matter much for Tampa, given the volume of starts Vasilevskiy logs. Still, a .892 SV% and 3.24 GAA aren’t particularly promising, considering they’re a few points above his lowly NHL career averages. He’s conceded 3.3 goals above expected in his ice time this year, per MoneyPuck, not the best insurance option in the event Vasilevskiy misses significant time.
Blues Extend Corey Schueneman, Recall Matthew Kessel
The Blues signed defenseman Corey Schueneman to a two-way contract extension Friday that will pay him $775K in the NHL and $425K in the AHL next season, according to a team announcement. St. Louis also recalled defenseman Matthew Kessel from AHL Springfield, bringing their active roster count to 22.
Schueneman, 29, landed with the Blues on a two-way deal last summer after not being re-upped by the Avalanche. His extension marks a $25K minor-league pay raise for the 2025-26 campaign.
St. Louis waived Schueneman at the end of training camp and he cleared without incident. He’s been recalled from Springfield once, spending the latter half of November on the NHL roster while Philip Broberg and Pierre-Olivier Joseph were on the shelf with injuries. He skated in four out of seven games during his call-up, recording four shots on goal, seven blocks, and one hit while averaging 14:03 of ice time per game. The 6’0″ lefty controlled play well in his limited minutes, posting a 56.2 CF% at even strength.
The Michigan native plays a shutdown game first and foremost but has always produced a decent chunk of offense at the minor-league level, including 12 points in 35 games with Springfield this year. He has 102 points in 279 career AHL games – good for 0.37 per game – since his professional debut on a minor-league deal in the Flames system in 2019.
Schueneman now has 35 games of NHL experience, the other 31 of which came with the Canadiens in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons. He had two goals and five assists with a minus-four rating there.
By staying in the Blues organization for another year, Schueneman lands some stability after switching clubs in the 2023 and 2024 offseasons with his intermediary stop in Colorado that didn’t result in any NHL time. He’s a low-risk candidate for a waiver claim and should remain in the system as a decent injury replacement option. He’ll be an unrestricted free agent in 2026.
The 24-year-old Kessel gets the call from the minors for the first time since mid-December. He’ll likely serve as an extra defender during the Blues’ upcoming two-game road swing through Colorado and Utah. The Phoenix native began the season on the Blues’ roster but struggled with three assists and a minus-one rating in 26 games before being assigned to Springfield. The 6’3″ righty has been on fire since his demotion, posting 11 points, 19 PIMs, and a plus-three rating in 17 AHL appearances.
Golden Knights Sign Brandon Saad
The Golden Knights have agreed to terms on a one-year contract with winger Brandon Saad after he officially clears unconditional waivers and became a UFA at 1:00 pm CT, per a team announcement. It’s worth a prorated $1.5MM for the remainder of the season, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports.
Saad fills the veteran scoring winger need that Vegas was looking to address before the trade deadline. That need has been exacerbated in recent weeks with long-term injuries to William Karlsson and Cole Schwindt, forcing players like Raphael Lavoie and Keegan Kolesar to step into top-nine roles. They fill the hole without giving anything up aside from cap space, which they were tight on before today’s move with Karlsson and Schwindt on standard IR.
Unless they make a corresponding transaction, Karlsson will likely be transferred to LTIR if he’s not expected back before the 4 Nations Face-Off. If he is, Schwindt and his $800K cap hit have been out of the lineup longer, making a retroactive placement easier. Just Schwindt’s relief will likely be enough to accommodate Saad’s cap hit on the roster, especially with SinBin Vegas reporting they’ve returned Callahan Burke to AHL Henderson today.
Saad gives the Golden Knights immediate top-nine help, and they’re hoping a rebound in shooting percentage accompanies his arrival. Amid trade rumors for a good portion of the season, his underwhelming start to the 2024-25 campaign with the Blues included a career-worst -14 rating and a 9.3% shooting rate that he’s only underperformed once. The seven-time 20-goal scorer only had seven tallies through 43 games as a result, production he’ll look to jumpstart in Vegas after posting 26 goals just one season ago.
The Knights were likely one of a few teams interested in acquiring Saad from St. Louis via trade but couldn’t work out a deal. He had one season left after this one on his previous contract with a $4.5MM cap hit. With that obstacle out of the way following his mutual termination, Saad gets a fresh start – albeit on a significant discount on his previous price point – and the Knights get their desired piece.
A strong finish to the season could allow Saad to recoup his lost market value on the open market this summer, potentially even sniffing his previous AAV on a short-term deal if he can prove he can still produce at a 20-goal pace.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Kevin Weekes of ESPN was first to report the Golden Knights were signing Saad.
Islanders Claim Adam Boqvist Off Waivers From Panthers
Jan. 31: The Islanders claimed Boqvist off waivers from the Panthers on Friday, per Friedman. He’s the third puck-moving blue-liner they’ve added in the past few weeks, joining UFA pickup Tony DeAngelo and trade acquisition Scott Perunovich. He’ll add some needed depth to the team’s blue line as they deal with the long-term absences of Noah Dobson, Ryan Pulock, and Mike Reilly. They’ll need to open up a roster spot as Boqvist’s acquisition puts them over the 23-player limit.
Jan. 30: The Panthers placed defenseman Adam Boqvist on waivers Thursday, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. He will presumably be assigned to AHL Charlotte if he clears.
Boqvist, 24, has not played since Jan. 6 and was healthy scratched for an 11th straight game in Wednesday’s shutout win over the Kings. The 5’11” righty played in nine of Florida’s first 10 games of the season but has been a press box fixture since then, only suiting up 18 times among the Panthers’ 52-game slate thus far.
Once one of the league’s more highly-touted defense prospects, Boqvist was a low-risk pickup for the Panthers last summer on a one-year, league-minimum contract. He’d been bought out by the Blue Jackets with one season left on a three-year, $7.8MM deal, ending his tenure in Columbus prematurely after being brought in as the centerpiece of the return from the Blackhawks in the 2021 Seth Jones blockbuster.
Selected eighth overall by Chicago in the 2018 draft, Boqvist looked well on his way to becoming a top-four fixture soon after the trade to Columbus. He wasn’t logging a ton of even strength minutes but had worked his way up to a consistent power play role and, when healthy, notched 46 points in 98 games over his first two seasons in Ohio. His lack of physicality had always been a sticking point, though, and, paired with underwhelming possession quality numbers, he entered the 2023-24 campaign further down on the depth chart than in years past.
Healthy scratches and shoulder issues were the norm for Boqvist last season. He was limited to 35 appearances for the Jackets, scoring once and adding nine assists for 10 points. He averaged 18:17 per game when in the lineup, similar to the usage he’d had in years prior. However, he was an even less engaged checker with only 11 hits and fell behind as Columbus added veterans Ivan Provorov and Damon Severson to their ranks.
The Panthers were optimistic that Boqvist could regain a regular role in Florida, helping accommodate the departures of power-play fixtures, such as Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Brandon Montour, in free agency after winning the Stanley Cup. He also linked up with older brother Jesper Boqvist, who signed a matching league-minimum deal with the Cats. While Boqvist did get a long look on the power play, he was quickly overtaken on the top unit by Aaron Ekblad and averaged just 10:48 per game at even strength, the lowest among Florida defenders. His 3.4 GA/60 at even strength also ranked last among Panthers D-men, leading to his poor defensive impacts outweighing any offensive benefit.
Boqvist hits pause on his NHL career for now after recording six points (2 G, 4 A) in 18 appearances for the Panthers. If he suits up for Charlotte, it will mark his first AHL appearance since the 2019-20 campaign when he was still in the Blackhawks organization.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.