Flyers Place Ryan Poehling On Injured Reserve
Flyers center Ryan Poehling will miss at least two more games after landing on injured reserve Monday morning, per a team announcement. Philadelphia recalled center Rodrigo Abols from AHL Lehigh Valley in a corresponding transaction, keeping their active roster at a maximum of 23.
Poehling, 26, already missed Saturday’s win over the Devils with an upper-body injury. He sustained it last Thursday against the Islanders when New York rookie Maxim Tsyplakov delivered a hit to the head, earning the latter a three-game suspension.
In his second season in Philly, Poehling is delivering arguably the best performance of his six-year NHL career. The bottom-six fixture has four goals and 11 assists for 15 points through 43 games, putting him on track to match last year’s career-high 28 points before the injury but with better defensive play this time.
Averaging 13:18 per game, Poehling has won a career-high 51.2% of his draws, at least over an entire season, and leads Flyers forwards with 51 blocks. He’s started two-thirds of his even-strength shifts in the defensive zone, has seen time on their top penalty-killing unit with Scott Laughton, and his 2.7 GA/60 at even strength is fourth-best among qualified skaters behind Noah Cates (2.5), Garnet Hathaway (2.3), and Emil Andrae (2.0).
The decision to sign the Minnesota native to a two-year, $3.8MM extension midway through last season has turned out prudent for Flyers general manager Daniel Brière. He has 15 goals and 43 points in 120 games as a Flyer since they signed him in 2023.
Up comes the 29-year-old Abols, who receives the first recall of his professional career. A seventh-round pick of the Canucks back in 2016, they let his signing rights lapse before he landed an entry-level contract with the Panthers in the 2019 offseason.
Abols lasted one year in the Florida organization, recording 23 points in 36 AHL games before mutually terminating his contract ahead of the 2020-21 campaign. The Latvia-born Abols returned to the Swedish Hockey League, where he played in the 2017-18 and 2018-19 campaigns. He spent four years suiting up with Örebro HK and Rögle BK before generating NHL interest again this past summer.
On the heels of a 14-goal, 26-point campaign for Rögle, the 6’4″, 205-lb Abols landed a two-way deal with the Flyers. He has nine goals and 10 assists for 19 points in 34 games with AHL Lehigh Valley, tying for fourth on the team in scoring. He’s expected to make his NHL debut Tuesday against the Red Wings, while Laughton is doubtful due to a family matter, Jordan Hall of NBC Sports Philadelphia reports.
Blue Jackets Activate Justin Danforth From Injured Reserve
The Blue Jackets activated forward Justin Danforth off injured reserve Monday, general manager Don Waddell announced. He’ll play for the first time in 18 games when Columbus takes on the Islanders tonight.
Danforth, 31, sustained a lower-body injury at some point during a 5-3 loss to the Flyers on Dec. 10. He also missed the first three games of the campaign while recovering from offseason wrist surgery, limiting him to 25 of Columbus’ 46 games this season.
Now firmly established as a regular in the Blue Jackets lineup when healthy, the diminutive Danforth has three goals and five assists for eight points with a minus-seven rating. The natural winger has frequently factored in down the middle for Columbus this season, winning 48.2% of his 280 faceoffs, and sees the most average time on ice per game while shorthanded of any Jackets forward.
A late bloomer, Danforth didn’t make his NHL debut with Columbus until 2021-22, his age-28 campaign. In 147 career appearances with the Jackets, he has 25 goals and 26 assists for 51 points. He’s slated for unrestricted free agency this summer after completing a one-year, $1.1MM extension he signed in October 2023.
Danforth has overcome his small frame by playing an aggressive, high-speed game. His 63 speed bursts over 20 mph rank in the 70th percentile among skaters this season, according to NHL EDGE, and he finished fifth on the Jackets in hits last season with 109.
While not a significant impact piece at even strength, his return nonetheless aids a Columbus offense that’s still dealing with injuries to top-six forwards Yegor Chinakhov and Sean Monahan, as well as captain Boone Jenner. The club has still managed a 7-2-1 record in their last 10 games and sits in the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference based on both standings points (51) and points percentage (.554).
The Blue Jackets opened up a roster spot last week when they demoted goaltender Jet Greaves, so no corresponding transaction for Danforth’s activation is necessary. PuckPedia projects that he’ll likely re-enter the lineup in a fourth-line role alongside Sean Kuraly and Mikael Pyyhtia while Kevin Labanc heads to the press box.
Five Key Stories: 1/13/25 – 1/19/25
Now past the halfway point of the season, the playoff race is truly beginning to take form and deadline rumors are starting to simmer. Some of those notes, along with some notable mid-season injuries, are in our top stories from the last week.
Tavares On The Shelf: Maple Leafs star center John Tavares took a weird fall in practice on Wednesday and hasn’t played since. He landed on injured reserve the next day and will miss at least two more games on top of the two he’s already missed with his right leg injury. He was ruled out week-to-week, so it could be more games than that until Toronto gets their third-leading scorer back in the lineup. Tavares has 20 goals and 42 points in 44 games this season after falling to a 0.81 point-per-game rate in 2023-24.
Jarry To The Farm: Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry‘s stock has gone from bad to worse in the second season of his five-year, $26.88MM extension. His .884 SV% through 22 games was enough for the Penguins to risk losing him on waivers, and after no one wanted to pick up the remainder of his deal, he passed through and headed to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton for his first extended taste of minor-league play in six years. Jarry did have a sparkling .926 SV% and 4-1-0 record in five appearances for WBS earlier this season on a conditioning loan. Still, the four-time 20-win-getter has failed to convert that momentum into passable play as Pittsburgh’s starter.
Freddie’s Back: After yet another lengthy absence, Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen returned to the lineup this week. He’d been sidelined since late October with a knee issue that ended up requiring surgery in November. He hasn’t played since coming off injured reserve on Friday but could get the nod Monday when Carolina visits the league-worst Blackhawks. Andersen had a .941 SV% in four appearances to begin the season.
Klingberg To The Oilers: After sitting injured for over a calendar year, defenseman John Klingberg is back in the NHL after signing a one-year, $1.35MM pact with the Oilers on Friday. Klingberg, 32, spent last season on a one-year deal with the Maple Leafs but only recorded five assists in 14 games before hip resurfacing surgery ended his campaign. The 2014-15 All-Rookie Team member and six-time 40-point scorer will look to bring his power-play prowess to a weak-ish right side of the Edmonton blue line. He hasn’t hit that 40-point mark since leaving the Stars for the Ducks in the 2022 offseason, however.
Miller Almost Dealt: The simmering trade saga between the Canucks and star center J.T. Miller almost came to a head Saturday night when a reported trade to the Rangers fell through at the last minute, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet said. Instead, he skated over 20 minutes – his most in nearly a month – and had a pair of assists as Vancouver upset the Oilers 3-2. Friedman added that while a trade to the Blueshirts hasn’t yet materialized, he believes the Canucks have granted Miller, who carries a full no-move clause, permission to speak to other teams to facilitate a deal. The 31-year-old is in year two of a seven-year, $56MM extension and has 31 points through 35 games, tracking for his first sub-point-per-game season since 2020-21.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Brendan Perlini Released From KHL Contract
Former NHL winger Brendan Perlini‘s most recent stay overseas was short-lived. After signing with Spartak Moscow of the Kontinental Hockey League last month, he was released from his contract Sunday after making four appearances, the team announced.
Perlini, 28, hasn’t played in the NHL since the 2021-22 season, when he skated in 23 games with the Oilers. He then spent the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons on AHL contracts with Chicago and Charlotte before remaining unsigned well into the 2024-25 regular season.
That led the England-born winger to pursue opportunities overseas for the first time since the COVID-laced 2020-21 campaign when he notched 16 points (albeit with a -17 rating) in 21 games for Switzerland’s HC Ambrì-Piotta. This stint wasn’t as productive for Perlini, who was limited to one assist and a minus-two rating in his quartet of games with Spartak.
Perlini was productive on his minor-league deals, so he should spark some mid-season interest from AHL clubs, although any two-way offers from an NHL club will likely have to wait until the summer. Last season, he recorded nine goals and 11 assists for 20 points in 37 games with Charlotte while accompanying the Panthers’ prospects and depth players.
The 6’4″, 212-lb winger has posted 50 goals and 81 points in 262 NHL games since the Coyotes drafted him 12th overall in 2014. In addition to bookending his career to date in Arizona and Edmonton, he made stops with the Blackhawks and Red Wings.
Spartak will retain Perlini’s KHL rights if he returns to the Russian league later in his career.
Marcel Bonin Passes Away
Four-time Stanley Cup champion winger Marcel Bonin passed away Sunday, according to an announcement from the Canadiens. He was 93.
Montreal was where Bonin was born and where he played his best hockey, but it wasn’t where his NHL career started. Acquired by the Red Wings in 1952 from the Quebec Aces of the Quebec Senior Hockey League, where he was briefly teammates with all-time great Jean Béliveau, Bonin made his NHL debut at age 20 that season.
He posted four goals and 13 points in 37 games during his rookie campaign with Detroit in 1952-53, splitting the year between the NHL and the Wings’ AHL affiliate at the time, the St. Louis Flyers. After spending nearly all of 1953-54 in lower-level leagues, he returned to Detroit full-time for 1954-55. Bonin was an impact piece, finishing sixth on the team in scoring with 36 points in 69 games and adding a pair of assists in 11 playoff games as he won his first of four Original Six championships.
That summer, Bonin was part of the blockbuster deal that sent Terry Sawchuk, the reigning Vezina Trophy winner and future Hall-of-Famer, to the Bruins. He spent one year in Boston, recording nine goals and nine assists for 18 points in 67 games on a Bruins offense that limped to a league-worst 2.10 goals per game.
Bonin returned to lower-tier hockey with his old stomping grounds in Quebec the following year before being claimed by his hometown Canadiens in the Inter-League Draft preceding the 1957-58 campaign. Reunited with Beliveau, then a perennial MVP candidate, and names like Henri Richard, Maurice Richard, and Bernie Geoffrion, Bonin resurfaced as a high-end complementary piece.
Bonin won Stanley Cups with Montreal in his first three seasons back in the league, recording 133 points in 182 games between the 1957-58 and 1959-60 campaigns. In year four, he recorded a career-high 35 assists and 51 points in 65 games. He was off to a good start in 1961-62, notching 21 points in 33 games, before sustaining a career-ending back injury in a game against the Red Wings in February.
He recorded 11 goals and 22 points in 34 games across four trips to the postseason with the Habs. All but one of those goals came in the 1959 playoffs, where he led the league with 10 goals in 11 games en route to Montreal’s fourth of five straight titles.
All of us at Pro Hockey Rumors offer our deepest condolences to the Bonin family and his loved ones.
Islanders Place Hudson Fasching On IR
The Islanders moved winger Hudson Fasching to injured reserve on Friday, per The Hockey News’ Stefen Rosner. His roster spot goes to forward Marc Gatcomb, who comes up from AHL Bridgeport for the second time this week and will suit up in his second career NHL game Saturday against the Sharks.
Fasching, 29, has already missed four games with an upper-body injury, so he can come off IR at any time. He isn’t expected back until late next week, general manager Lou Lamoriello said.
The move keeps their already-open active roster spot open while still getting Gatcomb on the roster. They’ll need that additional roster spot for another forward recall if winger Maxim Tsyplakov, who earned a hearing Friday for an illegal check to the head against the Flyers’ Ryan Poehling in last night’s loss, gets a suspension as a result of his actions as well. The open spot could also go to winger Simon Holmström, who’s on IR and has missed seven games with an upper-body injury but was a full participant in practice Friday, per Rosner.
Fasching has been a non-factor with no points and a minus-six rating in 19 appearances this season. The Islanders waived the Wisconsin native to begin the season but recalled him from Bridgeport in late October after an injury to Anthony Duclair, and he’s managed to stay on the roster since with continuing injuries creating the need for an extra forward.
Now in his third season on Long Island, Fasching is averaging a career-low 8:56 per game, second-lowest on the team among qualified skaters ahead of Matt Martin. He’s in the back half of a two-year, one-way extension he signed after a 2022-23 campaign where he recorded a career-high 10 goals and 19 points in 49 games with a +10 rating.
Gatcomb, 25, made his NHL debut in Tuesday’s shutout loss to the Sens, skating 7:27 in place of the sick Jean-Gabriel Pageau. Pageau is back, but Gatcomb projects to enter the lineup to give veteran enforcer Martin a night off against San Jose. He has 17 points in 35 games for Bridgeport this season, his first in the Islanders organization after landing a two-way deal in free agency.
Oilers Sign John Klingberg
2:31 p.m.: Klingberg’s bonus is a signing bonus, not performance incentives, Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reports. There are no performance bonuses in the deal, but the prorated cap hit now rises to $1.35MM instead of $1MM.
1:57 p.m.: Klingberg’s contract carries a prorated base salary and cap hit of $1MM, Dreger reports. He can earn an additional $350K in performance bonuses. The Oilers confirmed the signing in quick succession.
12:37 p.m.: The Oilers are nearing an agreement with unrestricted free agent defenseman John Klingberg, Darren Dreger of TSN reports Friday.
Edmonton was one of a few Canadian teams and a smaller handful south of the border to express interest in Klingberg over the past few weeks, according to earlier reporting from Dreger. The 32-year-old, who finished as high as sixth in Norris Trophy voting twice early in his career, hasn’t played in well over a year after undergoing season-ending hip resurfacing surgery with the Maple Leafs in December 2023.
Klingberg became an unrestricted free agent last summer after the one-year, $4.15MM deal he signed with Toronto in 2023 lapsed after just 14 appearances. As a player with at least 400 NHL games played who spent at least 100 days on injured reserve in the prior season, he’s eligible to sign a one-year contract with performance bonuses that could lower the initial cap hit of the deal.
As with any contract involving performance bonuses, the Oilers must have the cap room to accommodate any bonuses he may earn as part of his deal. If they don’t, any amount they exceed the salary cap will be applied as a bonus carryover penalty to their 2025-26 picture.
Thanks to Evander Kane‘s continuing recovery from multiple surgeries, Edmonton should be in the clear with over $5MM in its LTIR pool. His availability for the rest of the regular season is in doubt after he underwent additional knee surgery earlier this month, carrying an eight-week recovery period and halting his rehabilitation from offseason abdominal surgery.
If he stays healthy, Klingberg serves as an early deadline pickup for the Oilers and takes some pressure off general manager Stan Bowman to give up assets for an additional right-shot defender. Edmonton’s left side of Mattias Ekholm, Darnell Nurse and Brett Kulak have all averaged north of 20 minutes per game this season and done so with decent possession metrics, but the same can’t be said of depth righties Ty Emberson and Troy Stecher.
The Oilers needed another body to throw into the mix on either their second pairing alongside Nurse or their third pairing next to Kulak, and adding Klingberg gives them a far more offensively inclined option – albeit one that comes with significant defensive shortcomings. While still a serviceable power-play quarterback who posted five assists in last year’s injury-shortened campaign and has averaged more than 20 minutes per game in all of his 10 NHL seasons, his -60 rating between the 2021-22 and 2023-24 campaigns is sixth-worst among defensemen. In the 2022-23 season, which he split between the Ducks and Wild, he was on the ice for more expected goals against per game at even strength (1.13) than any other qualified defender in the league.
Edmonton will need to free up a roster spot to sign Klingberg officially. That will likely be demoting center Noah Philp or defenseman Josh Brown to AHL Bakersfield.
Klingberg will be a UFA again in months if his contract is a one-year pact, as expected. It will mark his third consecutive one-year deal after completing a seven-year, $29.75MM commitment with the Stars in 2022.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Latest On The Wild’s Injuries
The Wild have not had a pleasant past few weeks. They haven’t had a fully healthy lineup since Nov. 10, and injuries have really come to the forefront recently. Cap restrictions forced them to transfer star winger Kirill Kaprizov to long-term injured reserve yesterday.
Things are beginning to turn around, albeit slowly. Top defenseman Brock Faber is expected to return to the lineup tomorrow in Nashville after missing four games with an upper-body injury, head coach John Hynes told NHL.com’s Jessi Pierce. He also confirmed that winger Jakub Lauko will play after being previously activated from LTIR on Thursday.
They’ll still remain without Kaprizov for their next two games, though, as neither he nor captain Jared Spurgeon will make their brief Central Division road trip, Hynes added. Kaprizov is eligible to come back off LTIR at any time after already missing the required time with his lower-body injury, while Spurgeon remains sidelined due to the lower-body injury he sustained on a slew foot from Predators forward Zachary L’Heureux on New Year’s Eve.
Stalwart defender Jonas Brodin is also staying home while he continues to nurse a lower-body injury and Marcus Johansson is unavailable after his recent concussion landed him on IR yesterday, so that makes four roster regulars, and impactful ones at that, sidelined for at least Minnesota’s next two games. All of their roster maneuvering allowed the club to recall forwards Brendan Gaunce, Liam Ohgren, and Devin Shore from AHL Iowa over the past 24 hours, per PuckPedia, who detailed how the order in which those transactions were executed affected their delicate salary cap situation. After the moves, they’re back to having ample breathing room with $7.45MM in their LTIR pool, although they’ll need to figure out how to reinstate Kaprizov when he’s ready to come back in the next week or so.
While the Wild have understandably dropped three of their last four games, they’re still in a battle for second in the Central Division with a 27-14-4 record. They’re a virtual playoff lock at a 96.5% chance and still have a 9.7% chance of winning their second division title in franchise history, per Hockey Reference.
While Gaunce, Ohgren and Shore bring a decent mix of veteran professional experience and, in Ohgren’s case, long-term top-six upside, they’ve combined for just one assist in 38 appearances this season. Each has averaged under 10 minutes per game and posted ghastly possession numbers, particularly in Gaunce’s case with a 29.2 CF% at even strength in five showings.
Blue Jackets Sign Jake Christiansen To Two-Year Extension
The Blue Jackets signed defenseman Jake Christiansen to a two-year, $1.95MM contract extension Friday, per a team announcement. The deal, which will count $975K against the cap beginning next season, keeps him in Columbus through the 2026-27 season and off this summer’s restricted free agent market.
Christiansen, 25, is logging full-time usage on the Blue Jackets blue line this season for the first time. The two-time AHL All-Star has leapfrogged players like Jordan Harris and Jack Johnson on the Columbus depth chart, appearing in all 45 games this year in a bottom-pairing role.
An undrafted free agent signing by the Jackets out of the WHL’s Everett Silvertips in 2020, Christiansen has routinely lined up to the left of Damon Severson this year. The duo has outscored opponents 17-11 at even strength and boasts a team-high 56.1 expected goals percentage, per MoneyPuck.
While those are substantial underlying numbers, Christiansen’s lack of outright point production and minimal usage limited his earning potential on his next deal. He has a goal and six assists for seven points, but he isn’t a significant part of the Jackets’ special teams units.
Christiansen was a restricted free agent last summer and lasted 10 days on the market before agreeing to a two-way deal with a $400K guarantee to return to Columbus. The minor-league structure hasn’t been relevant, though, as he’s remained on the NHL roster all year and collected his league-minimum $775K salary. Christiansen would have had to clear waivers to head to the AHL at the beginning of the season, but after he posted a career-best 46 points in 62 games for Cleveland last year, the team wasn’t sure he’d go unclaimed after he passed through to begin the 2023-24 campaign.
Christiansen could have chosen to take the Blue Jackets to arbitration this summer but will instead lock in an average of a $200K raise for the next two years, even if things turn sour and he ends up on waivers and back in the minors. His salary breaks down as $950K in 2025-26 and $1MM in 2026-27, Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reports. He joins his partner Severson, Zach Werenski, and Erik Gudbranson as Columbus defenders under contract next season on a one-way deal.
The extension walks Christiansen to UFA eligibility in the summer of 2027. A one-year pact would have given Columbus one more opportunity to negotiate with him as an RFA.
He’s the second depth player who’s established or re-established himself as an NHL regular with the Jackets this season to ink an extension in the past few days. Veteran winger Zach Aston-Reese put pen to paper on a one-year, $775K extension on Monday after resurfacing in Columbus as a bottom-six fixture.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Hurricanes Activate Frederik Andersen From Injured Reserve
The Hurricanes activated starting goaltender Frederik Andersen from injured reserve Friday, Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reports. Carolina returned third-string netminder Dustin Tokarski to AHL Chicago in a corresponding transaction to keep their active roster at the 23-player limit.
Whether Andersen makes his first start in nearly three months tonight against the Golden Knights remains to be seen, but he’s been cleared to resume game action after missing almost all of the regular season to date with a knee injury. The 35-year-old last played in a 4-1 win over the Kraken on Oct. 26 before landing on the shelf and undergoing surgery nearly one month later after non-surgical options for his recovery failed.
When Andersen underwent knee surgery in late November, the team issued an eight-to-12-week timeline. His activation comes exactly eight weeks after the Nov. 22 procedure.
Andersen has been gearing up for about a week and a half, returning to the ice on his own early this month. For now, his return should quiet talks of the Hurricanes aggressively pursuing a netminder, although that could change in an instant with Andersen missing the vast majority of the past three seasons due to various injuries and a blood-clotting issue.
The Danish netminder told reporters today, including the team’s Walt Ruff, that he didn’t have any “real setbacks” during his recovery. Andersen missed nearly half of the shortened 2020-21 season with a knee injury while he was a member of the Maple Leafs, and he was also held out of the 2022 postseason with Carolina due to a lower-body injury.
If he can remain healthy, which is a huge caveat at this stage of his career, Andersen is far and away the team’s best option between the pipes. Since signing with the Canes in 2021, he’s had a .919 SV% and 2.19 GAA in 106 appearances, including a .933 SV% in his 20 appearances since the beginning of the 2023-24 season.
In four appearances to begin the year, Andersen sparkled with a 3-1-0 record, .941 SV%, and 1.48 GAA. He saved 2.9 goals above expected at even strength and stopped all 14 of the high-danger chances he faced.
When iced, he’s still an elite netminder, a higher-ceiling option than the far younger but more consistent Pyotr Kochetkov. The 25-year-old has been serviceable as Carolina’s de facto starter this season with Andersen on the shelf, guiding them to a 16-9-2 record in his 28 appearances. His SV% is .901 and his GAA is 2.54. Considering Carolina’s staunch defense has allowed the fewest 5-on-5 shot attempts of any team in the league, those league-average numbers aren’t particularly impressive.
Andersen’s return ends the veteran Tokarki’s first stint on an NHL roster that involved game action since February 2023. The 35-year-old farmhand played well in temporary backup duty behind Kochetkov, posting a 4-2-0 record, a .902 SV% and a 2.18 GAA in six appearances.
It concludes a nice story for Tokarski, who started the season at home after failing to land a contract from a camp tryout with the Senators. He eventually landed an AHL deal with the Hurricanes’ affiliate, the Chicago Wolves, before Andersen’s injury and Kochetkov’s brief absence led Carolina to tear it up and replace it with an NHL pact. Tokarski posted a sparkling .933 SV% in five AHL contests earlier this year and will continue backstopping the Hurricanes’ minor-league prospects.