Utah Signs Owen Allard To Entry-Level Deal
Utah has signed forward prospect Owen Allard to a three-year, entry-level contract, per Belle Fraser of The Salt Lake Tribune.
Allard, 20, was passed over twice in the draft but was finally selected by Utah in the fifth round earlier this year. The 6’2″, 190-lb forward can play both center and left wing. Last year, he put his name on the map with 44 points in 55 games for the OHL’s Soo Greyhounds.
Amid his career-best offensive season at the junior level, he was a surprise inclusion on Canada’s roster for the 2024 World Juniors. He had two goals and an assist in five games, but Canada failed to medal at the event for the first time since 2019.
If he ever cracks an NHL roster, whether with Utah or somewhere else, it’ll likely be in a bottom-six energy role. His delayed offensive outbreak doesn’t bode well for his chances of being a significant impact player at the NHL level, at least on the scoresheet. But scouting reports from Elite Prospects praise his “never-ending motor” and his strength in puck and net-front battles.
Allard, who turns 21 early next year, had a goal and an assist in his first season appearance for the Greyhounds earlier this week. Due to his age, his entry-level contract isn’t eligible for a slide and will go into effect immediately. He’ll be an RFA after the conclusion of the 2026-27 season.
Kraken Reassign Cale Fleury
Oct. 25: Seattle has returned Fleury to Coachella Valley today. Expect them to recall him again tomorrow ahead of their game against the Hurricanes.
Oct. 24: Fleury is back on the Kraken roster today as expected, per a team announcement. He was sent down only to accrue cap space and prolong his waiver exemption.
Oct. 23: The Kraken have sent defenseman Cale Fleury back to the AHL’s Coachella Valley Firebirds, per a team announcement. He was just recalled Monday in a corresponding move that saw star defender Vince Dunn land on long-term injured reserve.
Fleury, 26 next month, has been ferried between the Kraken and their AHL affiliate almost constantly over the past few years. Initially acquired from the Canadiens in their 2021 expansion draft, Fleury was waived at the beginning of their inaugural season but did spend some time on the taxi squad and active roster later in the year. He spent all of 2022-23 on the NHL roster but barely played, spending all but 12 games as a healthy scratch. He then cleared waivers again to begin last season and was papered between leagues seemingly nonstop after the trade deadline, as he was recalled and reassigned eight times in six weeks to end the year.
Amid all those transactions, the right-shot defender has spent most of his time in the minors. He’s played in parts of four NHL seasons, three with Seattle and one with Montreal, but only has 63 games to his name at the game’s top level. Only one of them came last year, but he did rack up 36 points and a +29 rating in 65 games for the Firebirds. He’s been a fine possession player at the NHL level, logging a 50.9 CF% and a 49.3 xGF%, but he’s been limited to just a goal and an assist offensively while averaging 14:10 per game.
He led last year’s AHL playoffs in points by a defenseman with 14 in 18 appearances, and he’s carried that momentum into the early going of 2024-25. He’s got three goals in three games, leading the Firebirds in scoring as they look to make it three straight Calder Cup Final appearances to begin their existence.
Fleury has now burned two days toward his temporary waiver exemption. He can be on Seattle’s roster for 28 more days or play 10 NHL games before he needs waivers again to return to the minors.
Senators Reassign Leevi Meriläinen, Recall Cole Reinhardt
The Senators announced Friday morning that they sent goaltender Leevi Meriläinen back to AHL Belleville and recalled winger Cole Reinhardt.
That indicates Linus Ullmark is ready to return from a muscle strain that’s kept him out of the lineup for nearly two weeks. He was widely anticipated to return against Utah on Tuesday but was ruled out on the day of the game, prompting Meriläinen’s recall a few hours before puck drop. Meriläinen didn’t play against Utah, instead backing up Anton Forsberg, who pitched a 31-save shutout.
Unsurprisingly, Meriläinen didn’t get to add to his two-game NHL résumé. The 22-year-old netminder was a third-round pick of the Sens in 2020 and made his major league debut in a brief call-up in the 2022-23 campaign, posting a .878 SV%, 4.23 GAA, and a 0-1-1 record. The 6’3″ Finn has fared decently well in the minors, where he has a career 2.82 GAA, .906 SV%, two shutouts, and a 15-10-1 record in 31 appearances with the B-Sens over the past three years. He also had a sparkling .926 SV% in 13 games for the ECHL’s Allen Americans last season.
Reinhardt has been ferried between leagues a couple of times this season, most recently being sent down on Tuesday to make room for Meriläinen on the active roster. He’s back up today, meaning Shane Pinto remains a game-time decision at best for tonight’s contest against the Golden Knights after sustaining an undisclosed injury in Utah, per Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch.
The 24-year-old Reinhardt has yet to be rostered for a Sens game in 2024-25 despite the transactions, but that will change tonight. They have 13 other forwards on the active roster, but with David Perron on personal leave, Reinhardt will make his season debut against Vegas if Pinto can’t play. The 2020 sixth-rounder has one NHL appearance to his name, coming against the Predators on April 7, 2022. He recorded a shot on goal and two hits in 8:35 of ice time. He’s been off to a hot start in Belleville, posting two goals and three assists through his first three games of the season.
Panthers, Hunter St. Martin Agree To Entry-Level Deal
The Panthers announced Friday that they’ve agreed to terms with left-wing prospect Hunter St. Martin on a three-year, entry-level contract. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Florida picked up St. Martin, 19, in the sixth round of this year’s draft. He was initially draft-eligible in 2023 but was passed over, which wasn’t surprising given his underwhelming offensive production for WHL Medicine Hat. The 6’2″ winger posted eight goals and 22 points in 61 games for the Tigers.
But last year was a breakthrough campaign for St. Martin. The Edmonton native finished fifth on a deep team in scoring, logging 52 points (24 G, 28 A) in 68 games and a +14 rating. That was enough for the defending champions to snag him with the last pick of Round Six.
Dobber Prospects calls St. Martin “a true Swiss Army Knife-style player” who can slot in anywhere he’s needed, at least at the junior level. If he continues to build on that offensive breakout and march toward receiving an NHL look in a few years, he likely won’t be restricted to certain types of deployment. That’s arguably the most intriguing part of St. Martin’s upside.
As for why the Panthers signed him to his entry-level contract now with 19 months left to evaluate his game before they lose his rights, his torrid start to the campaign likely has something to do with it. St. Martin now serves as an alternate captain in Medicine Hat and leads them with seven goals in eight games, doing so on a star-studded team that includes likely 2026 No. 1 overall pick Gavin McKenna and 2024 Flames first-rounder Andrew Basha.
St. Martin won’t play 10 NHL games this season, and since he doesn’t turn 20 until next June, his entry-level contract is eligible to slide for one year and one year only. The deal will go into effect for the 2025-26 season and expire after the 2027-28 campaign, making him an RFA.
Nick Ritchie Signs In Slovakia
Former NHL winger Nick Ritchie has found a place to play for 2024-25. Slovakia’s HC Nove Zamky announced on Facebook that he’d inked a one-year deal.
Ritchie, 28, last played in the NHL with the Coyotes and Flames in the 2022-23 season. He began the year in Arizona and was a decent depth scoring option, scoring nine goals and 12 assists for 21 points in 58 games. At the trade deadline, he was dealt to the Flames for his brother, Brett Ritchie, and finished the year with five points in 16 games for Calgary.
He wasn’t re-signed upon reaching unrestricted free agency. Ritchie had to settle for a professional tryout, inking a PTO to attend the Blues’ training camp in 2023 but was released and wasn’t offered a contract. That signaled the likely end of Ritchie’s NHL career unless he could dominate on an AHL contract or overseas.
The 2014 10th overall pick attempted to do the latter, signing with Finland’s Kärpät. It didn’t go to plan, though. He scored just once and posted a whopping 70 PIMs and a -7 rating in 10 games. They mutually terminated his contract, and he finished the year in Germany with the Iserlohn Roosters, where things didn’t go much better with two points and a -4 rating in eight appearances.
Unsigned for this year up to this point, Ritchie will now look to ply his trade in a slightly less competitive European professional circuit in Slovakia. He joins Nove Zamky’s roster as the only player with NHL experience besides defenseman Shawn Lalonde, who appeared in one game with the Blackhawks in the 2012-13 season.
Barring a significant resurgence overseas, Ritchie’s NHL stats will likely remain where they are until he retires. The 6’3″ left-winger made 481 appearances for the Ducks, Coyotes, Bruins, Maple Leafs, and Flames across eight seasons, scoring 84 goals and adding 102 assists for 186 points.
Lightning To Reassign Conor Sheary
Oct. 24: Sheary has cleared waivers, per Friedman. He can now be assigned to Syracuse at will, something Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times reports will happen in short order.
Oct. 23: The Lightning have placed winger Conor Sheary on waivers for the purpose of assignment to AHL Syracuse, per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.
Sheary’s time in Tampa hasn’t gone to plan since inking a three-year, $6MM contract in free agency in 2023. He missed significant time in the first half of last season with an upper-body injury and wasn’t the same after coming back, serving as a healthy scratch on several occasions later on. His four goals in 57 games were his lowest ever in a season, and his 15 points were undermined only by his 10 in 44 games with the Penguins in his rookie season in 2015-16.
Fast forward to the beginning of this season, and little has changed for the 32-year-old. He was a healthy scratch for the Lightning’s first game and has only played every other contest, going without a point and recording a -2 rating in third-line minutes alongside Michael Eyssimont and Conor Geekie. Possession quality has become an issue for the veteran, who controlled a career-low 43.5% of expected goals at even strength last season.
Sheary will likely clear waivers given the money and term left on his deal. If so, and assuming he reports to Syracuse, it will mark his first AHL action since he was part of the Penguins organization nine years ago. The preference on both sides would likely be to find a trade for Sheary, which he’d likely need to waive his 16-team no-trade list to make happen.
The Lightning can reduce Sheary’s cap hit from $2MM to $850K by stashing him in the minors.
Anthony Duclair To Miss 4-6 Weeks With Leg Injury
Oct. 24: The Islanders have received what’s likely the best-case scenario regarding Duclair’s injury. It’s indeed not season-ending and will only cost him the next four to six weeks, the team announced. That puts his absence around 13 to 20 games, not including time he’s already missed. He should return between Nov. 21 and Dec. 5.
Oct. 21: Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello told reporters today that winger Anthony Duclair is facing a long-term absence after sustaining an apparent left leg injury Saturday against the Canadiens (via Andrew Gross of Newsday). Lamoriello estimates it won’t be a season-ending absence, but they’ll have a more specific timeline tomorrow after further testing.
Duclair, 29, now has to hit pause on his fresh start on Long Island after negotiating himself a four-year, $14MM deal in free agency over the summer. He was expected to be an impact piece for a lagging Islanders offense and appeared to fit the bill early on, logging top-line minutes with Mathew Barzal and Bo Horvat. He posted two goals and an assist in five games while posting dominant possession metrics – the trio controlled 64.6% of expected goals together, per MoneyPuck.
He’s occasionally been a standout secondary goal-scorer without being much of a defensive liability, if at all. He’s historically posted slightly above-average possession metrics, but injuries and plain old consistency issues have led to wildly different year-to-year point totals. The Quebec native showed his ability to flourish in top-six usage as recently as the 2021-22 campaign when he had a career-high 31 goals and 58 points in 74 games for the Panthers.
But Duclair tore his Achilles tendon while training the following offseason, keeping him out for the vast majority of 2022-23. He wasn’t terribly effective after returning to play down the stretch, scoring only twice in 20 appearances. He’s flipped teams twice since then, first traded to the Sharks in a cap-dump deal over the 2023 offseason and again to the Lightning as a deadline rental last season.
Duclair did the best he could on a severely undermanned Sharks offense, posting 16 goals and 27 points in 56 games before the trade. He ended the campaign on a tear in Tampa, though, scoring eight times and adding seven assists in 17 games while playing the top-line complementary role that yielded so much success from him in South Florida. The Islanders were hoping to get a similar rate of production out of him while placing him with their star forwards, but instead, they’ll lose his services for a significant portion of the first year of his contract.
For now, the outlook for this year’s Islanders becomes dicey. They’ve again struggled to score out of the gate, ranking 26th in the league with 2.60 GF/GP. Missing Duclair for an extended period certainly won’t do anything to improve that. But the Isles’ possession play at even strength has been strong, and they’re getting stellar goaltending from Ilya Sorokin (.953 SV% in 2 GP). That’s a familiar recipe that’s gotten them to the postseason in recent years, even with a subpar offense.
Lamoriello said the Islanders will add a forward on a call-up from AHL Bridgeport later in the coming days to replace Duclair on the roster. Julien Gauthier, who’s on waivers, won’t be staying on the roster with today’s news. It’s a performance-based demotion that will see him head to Bridgeport if he doesn’t get claimed. He also said that veteran enforcer Matt Martin, who remains on a PTO, isn’t a candidate for a contract at this time. Someone already in the organization will get the call.
In terms of who replaces Duclair’s minutes alongside Barzal and Horvat, today’s line rushes indicated it’ll be Simon Holmström (via Stefen Rosner of NHL.com). The 2019 first-round pick has two assists and a +1 rating in five appearances this season while averaging 13:32 per game, seeing most of his time at right wing alongside Anders Lee and Jean-Gabriel Pageau.
Jeff Vinik No Longer Majority Owner Of Lightning
The NHL’s Board of Governors approved a partial sale of the Lightning from majority owner Jeff Vinik to a group of investors led by Doug Ostrover and Marc Lipschultz, the team announced today. The sale was approved on Oct. 1, one week before the regular season began. David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports that Ostrover and Lipschultz’s group have become majority owners of the franchise by a slight margin with the transaction, which valued the Lightning at $1.8B.
Back in August, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reported that Ostrover’s group was working on acquiring a majority stake. However, that’s not where discussions between him and Vinik Sports Group began earlier this year, Pagnotta said. It’s an incredible return on investment for Vinik, who purchased the franchise in 2010 at a paltry $93MM valuation (per Pagnotta) – a 21.4% rate of return over 14 years.
Per the details of the agreement made public by the Lightning, Vinik will retain full control over the team’s hockey operations department and continue serving as team governor for the next three years. That control will transfer to Ostrover and Lipschutz in 2027. According to the team, Vinik still plans on remaining with the organization as a minority owner, alternate governor, and board of directors member.
Under Vinik’s ownership, the Lightning had their most extended period of success. They’d won a championship before, defeating the Flames in the 2004 Stanley Cup Final, but weren’t a consistent championship contender from year to year. But in Vinik’s 14 full seasons as majority owner, Tampa made the playoffs 11 times, won the Stanley Cup twice (2020, 2021), and advanced to at least the Eastern Conference Final seven times total, including their Cup wins and two Stanley Cup Final losses (2015, 2022).
Ostrover and Lipschutz are founders of Blue Owl Capital, an alternative investment asset management company. The team said they were connected with Vinik through their relationship with Lightning minority ownership firm Arctos.
Maple Leafs Activate Joseph Woll From Injured Reserve
The Maple Leafs announced they’ve activated goaltender Joseph Woll from injured reserve. Netminder Dennis Hildeby was returned to AHL Toronto from his emergency loan in a corresponding transaction to open a roster spot.
There’s a chance Woll will make his season debut and start tonight against his hometown Blues, per TSN’s Darren Dreger. Even if not, he’ll dress as the backup to Anthony Stolarz, who initially signed with Toronto in free agency to be a 1B option behind Woll but has stolen the show thus far with a .938 SV% and 1.83 GAA through five games.
Woll, 26, spent the first couple of weeks of the regular season on the shelf due to what head coach Craig Berube called “lower-body tightness.” He was on Toronto’s opening night roster but landed on IR hours before their season opener against the Canadiens on Oct. 9. The netminder spent over a week off the ice before returning to practice last Friday.
A third-round pick of the Leafs back in 2016, Woll was a full-time NHL option for the first time last season. A high ankle sprain cost him nearly three months in the middle of the season and limited him to 25 appearances in what amounted to a three-goalie rotation with Martin Jones and Ilya Samsonov, neither of whom are still in the organization. He churned out slightly above-average numbers, logging a .907 SV%, 2.94 GAA, and 2.6 GSAA with a 12-11-1 record.
That showing, plus a sublime .964 SV% and 0.86 GAA in nearly 140 minutes of postseason action in Toronto’s first-round loss to the Bruins, earned him a three-year, $11MM contract extension over the summer that goes into effect for the 2025-26 season. This year, he still costs just $766.7K against the salary cap as part of a three-year, $2.3MM deal he signed back in 2022.
Assuming he can stay healthy for the rest of the campaign, he’ll surely eclipse the career-high 23 starts and 25 appearances he set last season. Whether he takes the lion’s share of the starts the rest of the way is another question entirely, given how well Stolarz has started the campaign, but it would be surprising to see the Leafs deviate too far away from a 50/50 split between the pipes the rest of the way.
For the 23-year-old Hildeby, his NHL debut was a mixed showing. The 2022 fourth-round pick had been on emergency call-ups at some points last season but never got into a game. Now the No. 3 option behind Stolarz and Woll after outplaying veteran Matt Murray during training camp, he was called up as soon as Woll landed on IR. He made two starts while backing up Stolarz to begin the season, looking excellent in his debut against the Devils in Toronto’s second game. But after making 21 saves on 23 shots in his debut, the Swede gave up six goals on 38 shots against the Blue Jackets in a 6-2 loss on Tuesday.
Hildeby now returns to the Marlies, where he posted a .913 SV%, 2.41 GAA, 21-11-7 record, and four shutouts in 41 games last season. It was his first in North America after spending his entire development in his native Sweden. The 6’7″, 223-lb netminder earned an All-Star Game nod for those strong numbers.
Blackhawks, Predators Looking To Add Middle-Six Center
The Blackhawks and Predators are among the teams looking to add an impact piece down the middle to aid their second and third forward lines, writes Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.
Unluckily for them, it’s a quiet trade market, as acknowledged by Nashville general manager Barry Trotz on 102.5 FM The Game recently. “No one is trading anyone right now,” Trotz said, Friedman relayed. They’re also not the only game in town. Earlier this week, Flames GM Craig Conroy spoke to Sportsnet’s Eric Francis and acknowledged/confirmed a report from Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli that he’s looking to give his upstart Calgary club a boost down the middle.
For Nashville, the need for a No. 2 behind Ryan O’Reilly is obvious. Almost nothing has gone right for the Predators, who are last in the Central Division with a 1-5-0 record after backing up the armored truck for Jonathan Marchessault, Brady Skjei, and Steven Stamkos in free agency. But addressing what looked like the biggest hole on their roster heading into the season would likely still be a good place to start, at least once other teams start seriously considering moves.
There’s little reason to break up last year’s first line of O’Reilly, Filip Forsberg, and Gustav Nyquist, which resulted in a career year for the latter and was one of the division’s best trios. That means marquee signings Marchessault and Stamkos slot in on the wings on line two, but who to center them was always a lingering question after their July 1 additions. Currently, veteran Colton Sissons is being tasked with the role, but as a checking center, he’s grossly miscast in a top-six role. He’s also been a complete non-factor to begin the season with no points and a -8 rating in six contests, averaging under 15 minutes per game. The Preds hoped Thomas Novak might also be an option, and while he’s done more offensively with three goals in six games, he’s 11 for 30 in the faceoff dot (36.7 FOW%).
Meanwhile, the Blackhawks have deployed rotating personnel on their bottom three lines, with Connor Bedard off to a point-per-game start in his second NHL season. After playing most of last season on Bedard’s wing, Chicago wanted to move Philipp Kurashev back to the middle and cast him as their No. 2 center. It hasn’t worked out, though, as he’s already been a healthy scratch once and has just one goal and a -6 rating in six games. Andreas Athanasiou, a pending UFA, also doesn’t look like an option, with no points through five games. They have a few future options for the role internally, namely first-round picks Oliver Moore and Frank Nazar, but they’re understandably looking to take a small step forward out of their rebuild in the interim until they’re ready for that type of usage.