Blackhawks “Hopeful” Laurent Brossoit Will Return This Season
The Blackhawks expected veteran Laurent Brossoit to serve as their No. 2 option between the pipes after they signed him to a two-year, $6.6MM deal over the summer, but he’s instead spent the entire season on injured reserve after two surgeries on the meniscus in his right knee. General manager Kyle Davidson tells Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times that he’s “hopeful” but unsure if Brossoit will play at all in 2024-25.
“If he does come back this year, we’re very confident [goaltending coach Jimmy Waite] will be able to manage that dynamic, which is not traditional, but it’s the situation we’d be in if he’d return,” Davidson said (via Charlie Roumeliotis of WGN Radio 720). “I think we’ll be fine working through that if we end up with three goaltenders on the NHL roster.”
Brossoit, 31, has been a career backup and was quite inconsistent from year to year in limited action during his first few NHL seasons in Edmonton and Winnipeg. While that small workload has never changed, he was among the NHL’s save percentage leaders since returning from injury with Vegas in the 2022-23 campaign. He logged a .927 mark in limited action with the Knights to end the regular season and carried that strong play into a return to Winnipeg in the summer of 2023, replicating his SV% in a career-high 22 starts behind Connor Hellebuyck.
That led to rightful optimism that he could handle an increased workload, but he hasn’t gotten the chance to prove it. He and former Panthers backup Anthony Stolarz were in very similar situations entering the summer, coming off runs of elite play in small samples. Both have dealt with injuries this year, but Stolarz has at least gotten a chance to play and solidified his status as an elite tandem option with the Maple Leafs. He’s close to a return after missing six weeks with knee issues.
After his late-August surgery, Brossoit was initially expected to join Chicago’s roster around the start of the regular season. However, his return was delayed, and his status was continually downgraded until he underwent a second procedure in late November. He’s again blown past his projected return window, as the second procedure had a six-week timeline and should have had him back in the lineup earlier this month.
His absence hasn’t affected the Blackhawks’ record too much. 25-year-old Arvid Söderblom was nearly unplayable as Petr Mrázek‘s backup last season but has rebounded in a big way in 2024-25, posting a .906 SV% and 2.97 GAA in 19 starts and two relief appearances. He’s stopped 3.3 goals above expected, per MoneyPuck, playing far more efficiently than Mrázek and his -9.7 figure.
Söderblom would need to go on waivers to head down to the minors, prompting Davidson’s comment that they’d carry three goalies the rest of the way if Brossoit returned. He’d steal more starts from Mrázek, who has a .895 SV% in 29 appearances, than Söderblom anyway.
Jets Recall Brad Lambert
Jan. 27: It turns out Lambert’s demotion was a paper transaction to bank cap space. The Jets announced he’s been added back to the roster Monday, although it’s not clear if he’ll play Tuesday against the Canadiens.
Jan. 25: Lambert’s stint with Winnipeg was short-lived as the team announced that he has been returned to the Moose. He didn’t play against Utah on Friday.
Jan. 24: The Jets summoned top forward prospect Brad Lambert from AHL Manitoba on Friday, per a team announcement. They had an open spot on the active roster after placing captain Adam Lowry on injured reserve earlier this week, so no corresponding transaction is required.
Lambert, 21, could be in line for his most extended NHL call-up yet with Lowry sidelined week-to-week with an upper-body injury. Their captain’s absence leaves them without much offensive punch down the middle past Mark Scheifele and Vladislav Namestnikov, so adding the more offensively inclined youngster to the roster gives them more options to get depth scoring out of their bottom six. Running Rasmus Kupari and David Gustafsson down the middle of lines three and four isn’t a good short-term solution with Lowry out.
Since Winnipeg selected him 30th overall in the 2022 draft, Lambert has made five NHL appearances – four of which came early last month with Nikolaj Ehlers sidelined. He went pointless in those but recorded his first NHL assist in his debut last season.
In the minors, Lambert has taken a step back after a 55-point rookie season in 2023-24. He’s been limited to just three goals in 29 games for Manitoba, adding 13 assists for 16 points. Offensive struggles have mired the entire club – those 16 points still have him tied for second on the Moose in scoring – but his -15 rating is also second-worst behind Jaret Anderson-Dolan.
Perhaps some more NHL looks will allow the Jets to more accurately gauge where he’s at in his development instead of accumulating viewings in what’s been a difficult minor-league environment for the organization this season. The center and right winger will be an option to enter the lineup for Winnipeg tonight against Utah.
Islanders Place Ryan Pulock, Marcus Högberg On Injured Reserve
Islanders defenseman Ryan Pulock and goaltender Marcus Högberg have both landed on injured reserve after leaving Saturday’s overtime win over the Hurricanes with upper-body injuries, the team announced. There’s no corresponding transaction yet for Pulock, but the team recalled goalie Jakub Skarek from AHL Bridgeport to temporarily replace Högberg as Ilya Sorokin‘s backup.
Pulock and Högberg will miss at least three games due to their IR placements, which are retroactive to Saturday. They’ll be eligible to return on Feb. 2 against the Panthers, although, without further clarity on either’s injury, there’s no indication whether they’ll be medically cleared by then.
Pulock got hurt on his first shift against the Canes, falling awkwardly behind the net as he got tangled up with Carolina winger Jackson Blake. He favored his left shoulder as he left the ice. Högberg, meanwhile, played all of regulation but didn’t come out for overtime after a right-hand injury sustained midway through the third period was actively getting worse, head coach Patrick Roy told Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News. Sorokin thus came in relief, recording the win despite making just one save in overtime.
These are crater-sized blows for the Isles, who are now without their top two right-shot defensemen and are down to their third-best backup option. Pulock joins Noah Dobson as inactive, and PuckPedia reflects that the latter was moved to long-term injured reserve yesterday to add some cap flexibility after the Tony DeAngelo signing. That move ensures Dobson won’t return before the 4 Nations Face-Off break with his right leg injury – not that he was expected to – and also rules him out of their first game back against the Stars on Feb. 23. He’ll be out of action for almost another month at the very least, with his earliest eligible return date standing as Feb. 25 against the Rangers.
Pulock, 30, had yet to miss a game this season after sitting out over a quarter of 2023-24 with a lower-body issue. The Manitoba native had three goals and 13 assists for 16 points with a plus-seven rating through 48 games, continuing a run of seven straight seasons in the black. He’s averaged just shy of 22 minutes per game, and, as usual, his pairing with Adam Pelech has graded out as the Isles’ top shutdown unit at even strength. Pelech’s 1.9 GA/60 and Pulock’s 2.2 GA/60 are the two lowest marks among New York’s regular defensemen.
Scott Mayfield now slots in alongside Pelech as a top-four option with Pulock sidelined, while DeAngelo will likely continue alongside Alexander Romanov as Dobson’s short-term replacement. Depth defender Dennis Cholowski should re-enter the lineup alongside Isaiah George on the third pairing after sitting as a healthy scratch in three of the last four games. They don’t have any other defenders on the active roster to insert into the lineup but they opened a roster spot with Pulock’s IR replacement that they could use to recall one from AHL Bridgeport.
Högberg had been spotless as Sorokin’s backup for the past month while veteran Semyon Varlamov remains sidelined with a lower-body injury. The 30-year-old, who last played in the NHL with the Senators in 2020-21, has a 2-2-0 record in five starts and two relief appearances with a .947 SV% and 1.45 GAA. That’s a big jump on his AHL numbers from earlier in the year, as the Swede struggled behind a bad Bridgeport club to a .898 SV% and 3.26 GAA in 11 showings.
The Isles are hoping for a similar bump from Skarek, who could finally make his NHL debut after six AHL seasons. The 25-year-old was a third-round pick in 2018 but has never been a solid minor-league option, failing to record a save percentage above .900 at any level in a single season since his post-draft year in Finland. Through 20 appearances for Bridgeport this year, he has a 3.22 GAA, .895 SV%, one shutout, and a 5-11-1 record.
Varlamov resumed skating nearly a month ago, so his return likely isn’t too far off. Whether or not he’ll beat Högberg to it remains to be seen, though.
Images courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Devils Recall Brian Halonen
The Devils are recalling winger Brian Halonen from AHL Utica for the second time this month, per the NHL’s media site (h/t James Nichols of New Jersey Hockey Now). He’ll take up New Jersey’s vacant spot on the active roster and take a league-minimum-sized bite out of their $2.9MM in current cap space, per PuckPedia.
Halonen’s first recall lasted four days and resulted in his first NHL appearance since last April. He logged a minus-one rating and two shot attempts in 11:35 of ice time against the Flyers on Jan. 18 while filling in for a Devils forward group dealing with an illness.
This time around, his recall comes as insurance for a potentially injured Nico Hischier. The New Jersey captain left Saturday’s game against the Canadiens and did not return and is listed as day-to-day with an undisclosed injury. If he can’t play tonight against Philly, Halonen will likely draw in for his second game of the season and his fourth career NHL appearance.
While the 6’0″ winger has just three NHL games under his belt, he’s making a name for himself as a high-end scoring threat at the AHL level. Signed as an undrafted free agent out of Michigan Tech in 2022, the 26-year-old Halonen is on pace for a career-high 30 goals in the minors this season after breaking out for 20 in only 35 appearances in 2023-24. He’s totaled 54 goals and 32 assists for 86 points in 138 games since debuting for the Comets to end the 2021-22 campaign. He’s continued the momentum that convinced New Jersey to sign him after a 21-goal, 44-point senior season at Michigan Tech that made him a Hobey Baker Award finalist.
Halonen remains waiver-exempt this season, so he won’t land on the wire when his latest recall is over. He signed a two-year, two-way extension last May, so he isn’t set to become a free agent until the summer of 2026.
Free Agents To Watch For On AHL Deals
The NHL’s 50-contract limit per organization, combined with the AHL’s veteran rule, means there are always a few spots on affiliates’ rosters for players not contracted with their NHL parent club. AHL-only contracts are a good way to add experienced talent to aid in prospect development without using up a precious NHL contract slot. They’re also frequently used to evaluate undrafted free agents before deciding whether to commit to them on an entry-level deal.
In the past few years, some notable quick ascensions from AHL deals to NHL playing time have occurred, most recently the Avalanche’s Ivan Ivan and the Capitals’ Ethen Frank. The Sharks recently tore up forward Colin White‘s deal with their AHL affiliate and replaced it with an NHL two-way commitment. We’ll likely see more of those moves before the trade deadline as teams look to add recall options and reward depth players for strong performances.
Here are some free agents to watch who could be in line for an NHL contract soon, whether it’s midseason or during free agency:
Calen Addison, D, Henderson Silver Knights (VGK)
Addison already has over 150 NHL games under his belt, but the 24-year-old’s limited utility outside of being a power-play quarterback led to him needing to settle for minor-league playing time. Selected by the Penguins in the second round of the 2018 draft, he was traded to the Wild in the 2020 Jason Zucker deal. Addison managed 38 points in 92 games with Minnesota before being traded again to the lowly Sharks early in the 2023-24 campaign. In San Jose, he finished the season with a -35 rating and only 12 points in 60 showings. That led to a non-tender, and Addison couldn’t land an NHL contract in training camp on a tryout with the Senators, either.
Despite that track record of teams quickly cutting bait with the 5’11” righty, he’s never had a tangibly negative impact on his team’s even-strength possession numbers in limited minutes. His team-worst -20 rating in 35 AHL games with the Golden Knights’ affiliate is a bit of an eyesore, but the team has struggled overall defensively. His 22 points are tied for 13th in the league among defenders and could put him back in consideration for a two-way deal, whether in Sin City or elsewhere over the summer.
Braeden Bowman, F, Henderson Silver Knights (VGK)
Sticking in Nevada, the 21-year-old Bowman has impressed in his first professional season. After going undrafted through three seasons with the Ontario Hockey League’s Guelph Storm, Bowman ranks fifth on the Silver Knights with 19 points through 38 games and is tied for second on the team with nine goals. He leads the league in scoring among rookies not affiliated with NHL clubs. The 6’2″ winger also captained Guelph last season, leading them with 37 goals in 68 games.
Brandon Halverson, G, Syracuse Crunch (TBL)
Halverson was a second-round pick of the Rangers in 2014 and even got a cup of coffee with them in a relief appearance in the 2017-18 season. However, the Michigan native’s development flamed out, and he became an ECHL full-timer shortly thereafter. Now 28 and two seasons removed from suiting up in the German second-tier pro league, Halverson has dominated the league with a sparkling .925 SV%, 2.02 GAA, and four shutouts in 24 appearances for Syracuse. With backup Matt Tomkins as Tampa Bay’s only current recall option and eight open contract slots, it’s hard to see why the Bolts haven’t snapped him up yet with a two-way deal to keep him from leaving the organization.
Cameron Hebig, F, Tucson Roadrunners (UTA)
The 28-year-old Hebig is in his seventh professional season, the past five of which have been spent in the Coyotes/Utah organization with Tucson. He jumped to the pros in 2018 after receiving an entry-level contract from the Oilers, but they didn’t qualify him upon expiry in 2020, and he’s spent the last half-decade on AHL deals with the Roadrunners. That patience could pay off, as the versatile 5’10” forward is amid a career year with 14 goals and 14 assists for 28 points through 34 games. That’s good for second on the team, as is his +13 rating.
Boris Katchouk, F, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (PIT)
Katchouk played at least 50 NHL games every year between 2021-22 and 2023-24, but that wasn’t enough to secure an NHL offer on the open market this summer following a non-tender from the Senators. He appeared in training camp with the Ducks on a tryout, and while his performance wasn’t sufficient to land him a two-way contract, it did get him an extended look with Pittsburgh’s AHL affiliate. His decision was wise, as the 6’2″ physical winger has rediscovered his offensive mojo. After ending last year with four points in 21 games for Ottawa following a waiver claim from the Blackhawks, he has 27 points in 33 AHL games with WBS. That ranks third on the team, and his +10 rating is tied for first. It could be enough for teams to consider him an option as a bottom-six complementary scorer.
Matt Luff, F, Springfield Thunderbirds (STL)
Luff, 27, had seen NHL ice in five straight seasons until 2023-24. He was under a one-way league minimum deal with the Red Wings but was injured for most of the campaign and only saw AHL action when healthy. He landed a training camp tryout with the Panthers but was promptly released. The 6’3″ right-winger had four points in six games for AHL Charlotte on a PTO before they, too, released him, and Springfield moved quickly to give him a guaranteed deal for the rest of the year. He’s exploded for his second point-per-game AHL season in the last four years, potting 11 goals and 15 assists through 26 appearances.
Zach Metsa, D, Rochester Americans (BUF)
Perhaps no one has a more intriguing case for a contract on this list than Metsa, who’s broken out for 28 points and a +7 rating in 40 appearances with Rochester in his second professional campaign. The 26-year-old captained Quinnipiac to a national championship in 2023 and received NHL interest then, but the righty’s 5’9″ frame was a pressing concern. The likelihood of him becoming a full-time NHLer is slim, but he ranks third in the league in points from the blue line and is at least deserving of a call-up opportunity, whether it’s in Buffalo or elsewhere.
Jack Millar, D, Ontario Reign (LAK)
Millar, 24, is a hulking 6’5″ righty in his first pro campaign after a four-year run at Colorado College. The stay-at-home defender has seven assists through 34 games but leads the Reign with a +19 rating and has largely stayed out of the box with only 15 PIMs. That’s a good mix of talent for an under-25 skater and will likely earn him at least a brief NHL look somewhere down the line.
Dominik Shine, F, Grand Rapids Griffins (DET)
Shine is a Michigan lifer, now in his ninth season with the Griffins after four years with Northern Michigan University. The 31-year-old forward has never inked an NHL contract, though. That could be in line to change soon, as after nearly a decade of middling fourth-line/middle-six production, he’s broken out for 11 goals and 21 assists for 32 points through 40 games. He’s just one point short of his career high, set last season, and leads the team in scoring ahead of NHL-experienced veterans like Sheldon Dries, Joe Snively and Austin Watson.
Jake Wise, F, Colorado Eagles (COL)
A third-rounder by the Blackhawks in 2018, he didn’t land an NHL contract after a sometimes tumultuous collegiate tenure with Boston University and Ohio State and became a free agent. After an inconsistent rookie AHL campaign split between two clubs last year, he’s looking more comfortable this season in the Avalanche organization. He’s skated in 32 games for an Eagles squad that’s seen a lot of in-season turnover up front thanks to a rash of injuries on their parent club, tied for second the team with 12 goals through 32 games. He’ll be 25 next month and posted 39 points in 40 games for OSU in his final collegiate season.
Images courtesy of USA Today Sports.
San Jose Sharks Sign Colin White
Jan. 25: According to a team announcement, the Sharks have officially signed White to a one-year, two-way contract.
Jan. 24: The Sharks are signing unrestricted free agent center Colin White to a contract for the remainder of the season, Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News reports Friday. He’s been in the organization since August when he signed a one-year deal with AHL San Jose.
It’s unclear if the deal will be registered before tomorrow’s game against the Panthers, but Pashelka said White was on the ice at practice with his new NHL teammates today. His signing is part of a larger group of roster moves the Sharks made Friday, which also included reassigning rookie forward Collin Graf to the AHL, recalling veteran enforcer Scott Sabourin, and moving forward Ty Dellandrea to injured reserve. The Sharks will have a full active roster when all the moves are executed.
White, 27, has battled injuries with the Barracuda this season but has managed five goals and 10 points with a minus-three rating in 20 games when healthy. The 2015 first-rounder had to settle for a minor-league contract last summer after going pointless in 28 games, split between the Penguins and Canadiens.
The Boston native once looked to be a promising top-nine piece with the Senators. He posted 14 goals and 27 assists for 41 points in 74 games in his first entire NHL season back in 2018-19, but he never topped those numbers. Injuries began to pile up over the next few seasons before a dislocated shoulder cost him over half of the 2021-22 campaign. He was limited to 10 points in 24 games when healthy that year, leading the Sens to buy him out halfway through the six-year, $28.5MM deal they gave him as an RFA following his breakout year.
White landed with the Panthers after the buyout, posting 15 points in 68 games in a fourth-line role and playing in all 21 playoff games as they lost to the Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup Final. It wasn’t enough to convince Florida to retain him, though, and they did not tender him a qualifying offer at the end of the season. He needed to wait until September until the Penguins extended him a tryout offer, which yielded a two-way deal and his first extended AHL action in six years.
The 6’1″ pivot will be an unrestricted free agent at season’s end, and he’ll need to clear waivers if the Sharks attempt to send him back to the AHL.
Returning to the minors to make room for the veteran recalls is Graf. San Jose signed the 22-year-old as an undrafted free agent out of Quinnipiac last summer after he was named the ECAC’s Player of the Year and a nominee for the Hobey Baker Award thanks to his 22 goals and 49 points in 34 games.
Graf got off on the right foot in the pros, posting 26 points through 29 AHL games to start 2024-25 before earning an NHL recall on New Year’s Eve. He’s remained on the Sharks’ roster since then but was a healthy scratch in last night’s loss to the Predators after posting two assists with a minus-four rating in 10 appearances.
Graf averaged 14:17 per game during his recall, recording seven blocks and 10 hits. The 6’1″ winger looked overmatched at times, posting a team-worst 38.6 CF% at even strength among skaters with at least 10 games played.
Sabourin, 32, is in his second season with the Sharks organization. The 6’4″ heavyweight winger has 46 NHL games to his name, three of which came with San Jose last season during a January call-up.
Since signing a two-year, two-way deal with the Sharks as a free agent in 2023, Sabourin has 23 goals and 17 assists for 40 points with 240 PIMs in 94 AHL appearances. He hasn’t logged significant NHL ice time since appearing in a career-high 35 games as a 27-year-old rookie with the Senators in 2019-20.
Meanwhile, the 24-year-old Dellandrea left last night’s loss to the Preds with an upper-body injury and didn’t return. It’s unclear if this injury is related to the UBI that held him out for four games in October and November, but regardless, he’s now been ruled out of the team’s next three games. The 2018 first-rounder hasn’t been a good fit in the Bay Area after they acquired his signing rights from the Stars over the offseason, limited to one goal and four assists with a -15 rating in 41 appearances.
Islanders Sign Tony DeAngelo To One-Year Deal
Saturday: DeAngelo has passed through waivers unclaimed, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports. That paves the way for him to officially join the Islanders.
Friday: The Islanders signed unrestricted free agent defenseman Tony DeAngelo to a one-year deal on Friday, per a team announcement. He’ll join the club for the remainder of the 2024-25 season after recently being released by SKA St. Petersburg of the Kontinental Hockey League, assuming he clears return waivers. The deal is worth the prorated league minimum of $775K with no bonuses, Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reports.
DeAngelo, 29, generated little interest on the open market last summer after completing a one-year, $1.675MM contract with the Hurricanes. He reportedly approached the Oilers about a professional tryout shortly before training camp, but the interest wasn’t mutual. DeAngelo then inked a one-year deal to head to Russia for the first time, a move that had been rumored for much of the latter half of the offseason.
The power-play specialist told Larry Brooks of the New York Post in early December that he wasn’t optimistic about an NHL return, but it appears he felt an opportunity may be materializing when SKA released him on Jan. 13. The New Jersey native lit up the KHL in his brief run overseas, posting 32 points and a +15 rating in 34 games on a St. Petersburg roster that includes longtime Capital and brief Hurricanes teammate Evgeny Kuznetsov and Canadiens top prospect Ivan Demidov.
DeAngelo’s move overseas means he must clear the little-used return waiver process. It’s sometimes resulted in claims, including the Coyotes nabbing Harri Säteri off waivers from the Maple Leafs in 2022 after Toronto attempted to bring him over to bolster their goaltending depth.
The Islanders were in need of blue-line help, especially on the right side. Star defender Noah Dobson sustained a right leg injury Monday against the Blue Jackets and is out week-to-week, while depth puck-mover Mike Reilly remains on long-term injured reserve after undergoing heart surgery in November.
DeAngelo provides a power-play replacement for the duo but certainly can’t replicate Dobson’s minutes at even strength. He returned to Carolina for his second stint with the Hurricanes last season after being bought out for the second time in his career by the Flyers. However, he was limited to 11 points in 31 games and averaged a paltry 14:20 per game while sitting in the press box for most of the back half of the campaign.
The 5’11” righty has 210 points in 371 career NHL games, 89 of which have come on the power play. His 0.57 points per game since debuting in the 2016-17 season ranks 30th among defenders with at least 100 games played during that timeframe.
Defensive deficiencies and constant unavailability due to external and internal suspensions have limited DeAngelo’s ceiling as a top-four option for most of his career. He most notably spent nearly all of the 2020-21 campaign with the Rangers on their taxi squad after an altercation with then-teammate Alexandar Georgiev and was bought out at season’s end, coming just one year after he finished 12th in Norris Trophy voting in 2019-20 with a career-best 53 points in 68 games.
A first-round pick by the Lightning in 2014, DeAngelo now joins his sixth NHL organization. He won’t be eligible to play tonight against the Flyers while on return waivers but could make his Isles debut against Carolina tomorrow if he clears.
The Islanders don’t have an open roster spot, but they won’t need one until DeAngelo’s waiver period ends. They’ll need to clear two places before the Carolina game, as winger Maxim Tsyplakov is also set to return from a three-game suspension for an illegal check to the head of Philadelphia center Ryan Poehling last week. That will likely involve returning forward Marc Gatcomb to AHL Bridgeport and moving Dobson to IR, but they have a few other options too.
DeAngelo will most likely suit up as a third-pairing option while handling top-unit power-play duties in Dobson’s absence. Veterans Ryan Pulock and Scott Mayfield will presumably continue to lock down the Isles’ top two pairings on the right side.
Hurricanes’ William Carrier Out Long Term After Surgery
1/24: After receiving a second opinion, Hurricanes forward William Carrier has moved forward with surgery to address his lower-body injury. Head coach Rod Brind’Amour has shared that the forward will be out “long term” after the procedure, per Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News and Observer – at least two months, per NHL.com’s Walt Ruff. The team is hoping that he’ll return this season.
1/16: Hurricanes winger William Carrier is seeking a second opinion on how to proceed in his recovery from the lower-body injury that’s kept him out for nearly two weeks, head coach Rod Brind’Amour told Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News & Observer.
It’s an inauspicious start to Carrier’s tenure in Carolina after he inked an eye-popping six-year, $12MM deal with heavy trade protection in free agency last summer. The 30-year-old grinder hasn’t returned to the heights of his 16-goal, 25-point campaign in 56 games with the Golden Knights in their Stanley Cup-winning 2022-23 campaign. He’s been limited to four goals and nine points through 39 appearances with the Canes, similar production to the injury-plagued 2023-24 campaign that, in part, led Vegas not to pursue re-signing him aggressively.
Regardless of whether or not he undergoes surgery to address the issue, it’s likely he’s facing another lengthy stay on the shelf. Carrier was on IR for nearly half the campaign last year with upper-body issues, so while his current problem isn’t related, it still indicates a rapidly growing proneness to injury. It’s not unsurprising for how the gritty Quebec native plays, already racking up 136 hits to lead Carolina by a huge margin with 18.01 per 60 minutes.
Before landing on the shelf, Carrier had been ridiculously effective, even if he wasn’t scoring. He’s replaced the injured Jesper Fast on the Canes’ third line alongside Jordan Martinook and Jordan Staal for much of the campaign, with the trio controlling 65.8% of expected goals at even strength, per MoneyPuck.
His and Tyson Jost‘s continued absence will provide increased opportunities for depth wingers like call-up Juha Jaaska, who has an assist and a plus-one rating through his first seven NHL games over the past couple of weeks.
Ducks Reassign Nikita Nesterenko
The Ducks reassigned left winger Nikita Nesterenko to AHL San Diego on Friday, per a team announcement. Their active roster count drops to 22.
Anaheim gave the 23-year-old his first call-up of the season on New Year’s Day. He appeared in seven of the Ducks’ 12 games since the calendar flipped, recording a goal and an assist while averaging a limited 9:33 per game. He did not dress for Thursday’s 5-1 win over the Penguins.
Acquired from the Wild in 2023’s John Klingberg trade, Nesterenko now has three goals and an assist in 19 appearances for Anaheim, dating back to his debut shortly after the swap. The 2019 sixth-rounder remains waiver-exempt for the remainder of the campaign, so he can be moved between leagues at will.
Nesterenko, who has five goals and 12 points in 29 AHL games this season, is on track to be a restricted free agent this summer for the second time in as many years. He’ll be arbitration-eligible after inking a two-way deal equivalent to his qualifying offer in mid-July.
The 6’2″ New York native certainly did what was asked of him in a fourth-line role in his latest NHL audition. He recorded three blocks and 16 hits, pairing that with an on-ice 1.8 GA/60 that ranks tops among active Ducks at even strength.
A strong finish to the season in San Diego should put him in consideration for an opening-night roster spot as a bottom-six piece or extra forward in 2025-26, assuming Anaheim tenders him a qualifying offer.
Islanders’ Noah Dobson Out Week-To-Week With Lower-Body Injury
Jan. 24: The Islanders placed Dobson on injured reserve Friday, per Daily Faceoff. The transaction opens a roster spot for defenseman Tony DeAngelo should he clear return waivers on Saturday after signing a one-year deal with the Isles for the remainder of the season.
Jan. 23: Dobson has been upgraded to week-to-week with his right leg injury, which evaluation revealed will not require surgery, an Islanders spokesperson told Denis P. Gorman of Newsday on Thursday.
Jan. 21: Star Islanders defenseman Noah Dobson has no timetable for a return from the lower-body injury he sustained in Monday’s win over the Blue Jackets, the team told Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News and NHL.com. Dobson had to leave the contest after falling awkwardly on his lower right leg and ankle while attempting a check on Columbus center Cole Sillinger, although he skated off under his own power.
Dobson will likely be placed on injured reserve at some point before Friday’s game against the Flyers, which will give them the roster space to recall an extra defenseman. Scott Mayfield figures to slide up into a top-four role at even strength in the interim, while Ryan Pulock could see an uptick in ice time by taking Dobson’s spot on their top power-play unit.
New York has failed to keep pace in the wild card race, sitting one game below .500 and seven points back of the Bruins for the second Eastern Conference spot. The Athletic still gave the Isles a 17% chance of rebounding and making up that ground with 36 games remaining, but that number drops at least a couple of percentage points with their most valuable defenseman set to miss multiple weeks.
Dobson hits pause on his 2024-25 season with six goals, 18 assists, 24 points and a minus-eight rating over 46 appearances, translating to a 0.52 points-per-game rate that’s a sharp dropoff from last year’s career-best 0.89. That can partially be explained by the Islanders’ dismal power play, tied with the Ducks for last in the league at 12.5%. 24 of his 70 points last season came with a man advantage, but he’s on pace for half that PP point total this year. Dobson remains the team’s leader in average time on ice (24:01), shots on goal (143), and takeaways (28), so it’s not all bad for the 25-year-old.
Injuries haven’t yet cost Dobson significant time in his six-year NHL career, but that looks to change now. He’s never missed more than four games in a single season due to a non-illness-related injury, but he could easily miss more than twice that before the Isles’ schedule pauses in early February for the 4 Nations Face-Off.
The injury also comes in a contract year for Dobson, who’s ticketed for a big raise on his current $4MM AAV as a pending restricted free agent. The 6’4″ righty has 143 points in 203 games over the life of his current three-year bridge deal and will likely argue for at least doubling his salary on a long-term deal.