Senators Recall Three Players On Emergency Loans
The Senators thinned out their roster late yesterday but have since reversed those moves. Forwards Rourke Chartier, Jiri Smejkal, and defenseman Max Guenette are back on the active roster ahead of tonight’s game against the Sharks, per the AHL’s transactions log. All three players were briefly assigned to the Belleville Senators, making them eligible to suit up in the Calder Cup Playoffs. CapFriendly notes today’s moves are emergency loans, not standard recalls.
Chartier, Guenette, and Smejkal are projected to play in San Jose. Three forwards and two defensemen are unavailable due to injuries, and winger Parker Kelly is unavailable after being suspended yesterday night.
Chartier, 27, has settled back in as a capable minor-league scoring center after concussion symptoms nearly forced him out of the sport in 2019 and 2020. His time in the NHL has been less fruitful, though, scoring three goals and adding one assist in 55 games since making his debut with the Sharks in 2018-19. The San Jose 2014 fifth-round pick has played in a career-high 36 games this year with Ottawa, recording three points and a -4 rating while averaging 10:45 per game. Despite his limited offensive production, he has some value in the dot with a 50.9 FO% and a solid 50.2 xG%.
He’ll be in for a more expanded role tonight, sliding into a third-line position with Joshua Norris hurt and Vladimir Tarasenko traded to the Panthers before the deadline. Norris is expected to miss the remainder of the season as he searches for other opinions on his third left shoulder injury in the past few years, so Chartier may get an extended run in increased minutes down the stretch.
If the Senators want to assign him to the minors again this year, they’ll need to place him on waivers if he plays at least eight games and remains on the roster for 27 more days. He’s already played in two games and been rostered for three days after last clearing waivers on Jan. 31.
Smejkal, 27, is in his first professional season in North America after inking a one-year, two-way deal ($870K NHL/$82.5K AHL) in May 2023. However, the Czech power forward hasn’t had much impact in the NHL or AHL and is likely to return to Europe this summer. Skating in 10 games with the Sens, Smejkal has one assist and a -2 rating while averaging a minuscule 9:21 per game. He’s gotten caved in terms of possession quality in his limited minutes, recording a 36.6 xGF%. In Belleville, he has 19 points and a -11 rating in 39 games.
The 22-year-old Guenette carries the most intrigue as a somewhat recent draft pick, taken by the Sens in the seventh round of the 2019 draft. While he’s averaged only 11:56 through his three NHL showings this year, he’ll get a shot in the team’s top four tonight alongside Jakob Chychrun with Thomas Chabot out with a lower-body injury. A pending RFA nearing completion of his entry-level contract, Guenette has had a strong season in the minors with five goals, 29 points and a +4 rating in 49 games.
These recalls are under emergency conditions, so they don’t count toward Ottawa’s four allotted post-deadline recalls.
Predators Sign Dante Fabbro, Two Others To Extensions
Predators GM Barry Trotz has announced the signings of defenseman Dante Fabbro and forward Mark Jankowski to one-year and two-year extensions, respectively (via Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet). Fabbro’s deal sees him earn $2.5MM next season, per a team release, and is paid entirely in base salary. Jankowski’s deal will pay him $775K in 2024-25 and $825K in 2025-26, per the team, translating to an $800K cap hit. Additionally, the team has signed undrafted free agent goaltender Gustavs Grigals to a one-year, two-way deal for the remainder of the season, worth $775K at the NHL level.
Fabbro and Jankowski will be UFAs at the end of their respective deals. Nashville was set for a potential arbitration hearing with Fabbro if he did not re-sign before the summer, while Jankowski was a pending UFA upon completion of the one-year, $775K extension he signed nearly a year ago.
The Predators drafted Fabbro, 25, with the 17th overall pick in 2016. He turned pro at the end of the 2018-19 campaign and has since appeared in 304 games for the Preds, recording 71 points and a +11 rating while averaging 18:10 per game. He’s slipped to a more limited role this year, averaging only 16:34, but he’s been effective in that sheltered even-strength role with 12 points, a +11 rating, and career-best possession numbers in 51 games.
Oddly enough, that career-best-showing hasn’t earned him the full trust of head coach Andrew Brunette. Fabbro was a healthy scratch for Nashville’s season opener and has been on 12 other occasions this season as part of a rotation with Tyson Barrie, Alexandre Carrier, Jeremy Lauzon, and Luke Schenn for depth minutes.
Jankowski, 29, has spent the last two seasons in the Predators organization. The 2012 first-round pick stayed mostly in the NHL in 2022-23, recording seven goals and 12 points in 50 games, but has spent most of this year on assignment to AHL Milwaukee. He’s been a top performer there, notching 47 points and a +29 rating in 40 games, which has earned him some more NHL ice as of late. Aside from a few paper transactions, he’s stayed on the roster since Feb. 12 and has two goals and an assist in 14 NHL contests.
A one-way deal indicates the Predators envision Jankowski on next season’s opening night roster, but if he doesn’t make the cut, he’d have to clear waivers. The Hamilton, Ontario, native has also spent time with the Flames, Penguins and Sabres over his eight-year, 336-game NHL career.
By inking Grigals to an NHL contract, the Predators add a potential Black Ace for the postseason and give themselves the option to retain his exclusive signing rights with a qualifying offer this summer. The 25-year-old Latvian has spent most of the season with their ECHL affiliate, the Atlanta Gladiators, where he has a 3.68 GAA, .898 SV%, 7-15-0 record, and one shutout in 26 games. He fared poorly in his lone AHL showing with Milwaukee on New Year’s Eve, posting a .846 SV% in a 4-3 loss to the Rockford IceHogs. He’s in his first professional season after four seasons with the University of Alaska-Fairbanks and a graduate transfer season with UMass-Lowell last year.
Bruins Sign Joey Abate To Two-Way Deal
The Bruins have signed forward Joey Abate to a one-year, two-way contract for the remainder of the season, a team release states. Abate’s deal carries a cap hit and NHL salary of $775K, however, the team did not disclose his minor-league pay.
Abate lands his first NHL deal after signing on with the AHL’s Providence Bruins in 2022. At least one other team had interest in signing Abate in recent days, New England Hockey Journal’s Mark Divver reports.
A graduate of the University of Nebraska-Omaha program, Abate has settled into a bottom-six bruiser role on the Bruins’ farm. Since joining Providence last season, Abate has five goals, 16 points, and 166 PIMs with a -11 rating in 75 games. He’s provided a more fair amount of secondary scoring this year, posting two goals and 10 points in 40 games, although it’s still not enough to suggest the 25-year-old winger will be anything more than a fourth-line enforcer in the NHL.
The Bloomington, Illinois, native will be an RFA this summer. He’ll also have arbitration rights because he’s logged at least one season of professional experience and signed his first contract after the age of 24.
Flames Sign Kevin Rooney To Extension
The Flames have inked pending UFA center Kevin Rooney to a one-year, $1.3MM extension, per a team announcement.
Rooney didn’t make his season debut until February 6th, missing the first four months of the season after undergoing shoulder surgery. He’s since slotted into Calgary’s fourth-line center role, recording one point in 13 games – though he hasn’t scored in 11 games – while averaging over 10-and-a-half minutes of ice time each game. Rooney also played in four AHL games during a conditioning stint, scoring one goal. It’s his first year back in a full-time NHL role after spending much of last season in the minors, playing in 51 AHL games and scoring 17 points. It was his first extended stint in the AHL since the 2018-19 season.
Rooney has totaled 240 career games in the NHL, scoring 25 goals and 47 points. He joined the Flames in free agency ahead of the 2022-23 season, signing a two-year, $2.6MM contract. His new deal keeps his cap hit the same, extending him through the end of next year. While the extension shows Calgary’s affinity for Rooney, he’ll still need to find an extra edge if he wants to maintain his lineup spot when Connor Zary and A.J. Greer return from injury, and Martin Pospisil returns from a suspension.
Flames Acquire Nikita Okhotiuk From Sharks
The Flames have acquired left-shot defenseman Nikita Okhotiuk from the Sharks as the deadline passes, Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff confirms. A 2024 fifth-round pick is heading to San Jose in return, per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.
Okhotiuk has appeared in 43 NHL games this season, scoring one goal and eight points and adding 44 penalty minutes and a -22. It’s his official rookie season in the league, though he played in 15 games with the New Jersey Devils across the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons. He’s totaled three goals and 11 points across his three-year career, also adding x points in 116 AHL games since debuting in 2020-21. The 23-year old was originally drafted in the second round of the 2019 NHL Draft, turning pro after three seasons with the OHL’s Ottawa 67’s.
Okhotiuk is yet another new face to a Calgary blue-line that’s recently added Joel Hanley, Daniil Miromanov, and Brayden Pachal. Together, the quartet will fill the holes left by Chris Tanev and Noah Hanifin, both traded by the Flames ahead of the Trade Deadline. Hanley has earned top-line minutes in the fallout of Calgary’s moves, playing in nearly 18 minutes in his first game with the Flames. The four new defenders will compete with each other for consistent spots in the lineup, though one will likely have to serve as Calgary’s seventh defenseman, unless the team opts to keep Dennis Gilbert in that role.
Maple Leafs Acquire Connor Dewar
The Maple Leafs have acquired depth forward Connor Dewar from the Wild, Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic reports. The Wild are receiving a 2026 fourth-round pick in return, per Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff. Forward prospect Dmitry Ovchinnikov is also headed to Minnesota in the deal, per an official announcement from the Wild.
Dewar has settled into a comfortable fourth-line role since making his debut in the 2021-22 season, finding an extra layer to his game this year with a career-high 10 goals, though he’s still four points shy of the 18 points he managed in 81 games last season. Last year marked the first time that Dewar spent all season in the NHL, a trend he’s continuing this year, after scoring 59 points in 105 AHL games between 2019 and 2022. Dewar was a third-round draft pick in the 2018 NHL Draft, playing in the sixth-most NHL games of any player selected after that year’s first round. While his impact isn’t too grandiose, Dewar has shown flashes of strong puckhandling and good fundamentals, helping him fit into the needs of whatever the coach’s system may be.
Minnesota swaps a depth forward for a depth prospect, bringing in Ovchinikov, who is in his first full season in the AHL after splitting the last two years between the AHL and KHL. He’s scored seven goals and 10 points in 20 games this season, adding four penatly minutes and a -1. It’s the second-most that Ovchinikov has scored at a professional level, behind the five goals and 13 points he managed in 68 KHL games last season. Ovchinikov is a slick-moving forward with good puck skills, though his game has lacked direction and poise. He will need to boost his drive to the net, and ability to work with his teammates, if he wants to climb his way up Minnesota’s depth charts.
Blues Did Not Trade Pavel Buchnevich, Eyeing Extension
The Blues did not trade star winger Pavel Buchnevich ahead of the 2 p.m. CT trade deadline, per Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic.
Buchnevich was undeniably one of the market’s top forwards, boasting 24 goals and 48 points in 61 games this season and 191 points in his 197 games since joining the Blues ahead of the 2021-22 season. St. Louis acquired him by sending Sammy Blais and a 2022 second-round pick to the Rangers. It was a cheap sale at the time but Buchnevich quickly made it look downright foolish, scoring a career-high 30 goals and 76 points in his 73 games during his first season with the Blues. His cerebral playmaking and quick shot proved dominant, and he made sure they stayed consistent as well – earning 26 goals and 67 points in 63 games last year. He was also a potent playoff performer, scoring 11 points in 12 games during the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs.
Buchnevich was seemingly the dream of any team in need of a scoring winger, made even better with a modest $5.8MM cap hit through the end of next season. But with high production came a high asking price, with the Blues reportedly looking for as much as two first-round picks for their star winger. And St. Louis is okay standing pat, with general manager Doug Armstrong telling Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic that the team is now eyeing an extension in the off-season. Armstrong said, “He’s eligible for a contract extension on July 1. There’s no real rush for us to get us to get the cart ahead of that horse… He’s been a top player for us… So he’s a valuable piece of our team. In July, we can sit down with he and his representative and make sure he wants to be here and we can work something out.”
A Buchnevich extension likely comes at a high price, with the winger emerging as one of St. Louis’ stars over the last three seasons. But with Buchnevich soon to turn 29, any long-term extension will likely carry him through the majority of his remaining career. The Blues will walk the line between overpaying and overcommitting, as they look to secure a crucial piece of their top line.
Canucks Do Not Sign Phil Kessel
March 8, 2:02 p.m.: The Canucks have not signed Phil Kessel by the trade deadline, Thomas Drance of The Athletic reports.
March 8, 8:48 a.m.: Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK and The Athletic relays that the signing is contingent on Vancouver opening up enough cap space before the deadline. Otherwise, it won’t happen. If they can do so, the agreement is expected to be for the prorated minimum salary of $775K.
March 7: The Canucks are expected to sign free-agent winger Phil Kessel through the remainder of the season before tomorrow’s trade deadline, Chris Johnston of The Athletic and TSN reports.
Kessel, 36, had been linked to the Canucks as far back as last summer. It became apparent last month that Vancouver would be his next NHL home after Canucks GM Patrik Allvin announced Kessel had traveled to the area and would be skating with their AHL affiliate in Abbotsford.
Vancouver must sign Kessel by 2 p.m. CT on Friday to make him eligible to play in the postseason. Players not on their team’s reserve list at the trade deadline are ineligible to play in the playoffs.
A three-time Stanley Cup winner, including just last season with the Golden Knights, Kessel still carries value as a depth winger with decent scoring ability. While he was a healthy scratch for most of Vegas’ playoff run, he appeared in all 82 regular-season games, continuing his league-record streak of 1,064 consecutive games played. That streak will remain active until he’s scratched for a regular-season contest while under contract.
Averaging a career-low 12:49 per game last season, Kessel scored 14 goals and added 22 assists for 36 points. However, his possession impacts were subpar for the third straight season – a 46.1 CF% at even strength and a -2.5 expected rating. His 1.82 shots per game were also a career low, although that’s to be expected with a reduction in ice time.
Kessel could see an even further reduced role in Vancouver, as he’s likely to unseat any of Teddy Blueger, Conor Garland or Dakota Joshua for a spot as a third-line winger. He’ll instead likely skate in a fourth-line role, slotting in above the likes of Phillip Di Giuseppe. However, it’s hard to imagine Kessel’s iron-man streak lasting much longer with Vancouver’s already strong scoring depth on the wing.
The 2007 Masterton Trophy winner will be a UFA again next summer.
Jets Acquire Colin Miller From Devils
The Jets have shored up their defensive depth, acquiring blue-liner Colin Miller from the Devils for a mid-round pick, Darren Dreger of TSN reports.
Miller will now move to his fourth team in the last three seasons, spending last season with the Dallas Stars and this year with the Devils after three years in Buffalo. He’s carved out a hardy role everywhere he’s gone, with his strong puck-moving and heads-up defense lifting up his batterymates well. This has made him a great safety net for rookie defenders, with his most common linemate this season being top prospect Luke Hughes. The pair have recorded a 52.29 xGF% (expected goals-for percentage) per Evolving Hockey (subscription required), a mark that ranks third among New Jersey pairings to play in 150 minutes or more. Miller has managed to stay on the positive side of expected-goals despite managing just eight points, split evenly, in 41 games this season. While he’s never been known for his scoring acumen, this year has marked a notable step down from his standard rivaling of 20 points. His career year came in 2017-18, when Miller scored 10 goals and 41 points in 82 games on Vegas’ second pairing.
Now with Winnipeg, Miller will have to compete with Nate Schmidt and Dylan Samberg for the team’s final lineup spots. Both Schmidt and Samberg have outscored Miller this season, with 10 and 15 points respectively, but Miller’s two-way style could prove a healthy match for the Jets’ pass-heavy system. If he can’t force his way into the lineup, Miller will have to battle with Logan Stanley for the team’s seventh-defenseman role. Stanley has just one point, an assist, in 14 games this season.
Golden Knights Acquire Tomáš Hertl
The Golden Knights and Sharks have agreed to a deal sending all-star center Tomáš Hertl, a 2025 third-round pick, and a 2027 third-round pick from San Jose to Vegas in exchange for center prospect David Edstrom and a 2025 first-round pick, reports Darren Dreger of TSN. The Sharks are retaining 17% of Hertl’s contract, making his cap hit for the Golden Knights $6.75MM.
It’s a true shocker of a deal, given that the Sharks had given no previous indication of selling off their number-one center, who is under contract through 2030. Hertl, 30, had a no-move clause in his deal that he waived to accept a trade to Vegas. He’s on injured reserve after undergoing knee surgery last month but is expected back before the end of the regular season. Before the injury, Hertl had 15 goals, 19 assists and 34 points in 48 games, which led the Sharks in scoring at the time.
While Hertl will be an incredibly important on-ice factor for the Golden Knights in their effort to repeat as Stanley Cup champions, the financial aspects of this deal are also highly consequential. With captain Mark Stone on long-term injured reserve, as well as former starting goaltender Robin Lehner, the Golden Knights have been able to bring in three major targets in Hertl, top-four defenseman Noah Hanifin, and winger Anthony Mantha, albeit with salary retained on all of them by their former teams.
Hertl will be eligible for LTIR after the trade call goes through, but the Golden Knights must have cap space to add him to their active roster before doing so. As of now, they don’t have said space. Per CapFriendly, the team has $5.5MM in their LTIR pool – roughly $1.25MM short of what they need to acquire Hertl. To execute this trade, the Golden Knights will likely assign forwards Byron Froese and Mason Morelli to AHL Henderson briefly, bringing them down to 10 forwards and seven defensemen on the active roster. Their cap hits equate to $1.54MM. The trade will then go through, allowing them to remain cap-compliant while absorbing Hertl’s $6.75MM cap hit before placing him on LTIR, backdated to when he last played in late January, at which point they can bring Froese and Morelli back up. That won’t solve all of Vegas’ problems, though, as they’ll need to free up that space again to take Hertl off LTIR before the end of the regular season.
Hertl can play both center and left wing, although he’s likely to remain down the middle (or on the wing alongside William Karlsson) for the Golden Knights as they attempt to shore up their second line behind Jack Eichel. Chandler Stephenson is amidst a down season, posting 38 points in 59 games with uncharacteristically poor defensive impacts. Hertl is an underratedly competent two-way player, and he should help round out their offense enough to counteract Stephenson’s regression and allow him to drop to a third-line role.
The Prague-born center has remained a consistent two-way force even as the Sharks’ roster has crumbled around him, producing at least 0.70 points per game in every season since 2018. Remarkably, he’s managed a -2.5 expected rating on this year’s Sharks, the first time he’s posted a negative in that stat in his career. That rating was the second-highest among full-time Sharks skaters, save for Ryan Carpenter. He also had a 46.6 CF% at even strength, 4.9% higher than the Sharks’ overall CF% without Hertl on the ice.
Meanwhile, the Sharks have made the surprising choice to use up all three of their salary retention slots for the time being, preventing them from being third-party brokers for any draft-day deal. All three spots will also be occupied next season, as they’re still retaining salary on the contracts of Brent Burns and Erik Karlsson. Burns’ deal expires in 2025, but Karlsson’s lasts through 2027, so only one retention slot will open next summer.
They do land a nice prospect in Edstrom, although the return seems underwhelming considering the length of time they’ll be on the hook for a portion of Hertl’s salary – especially considering they conceded two third-round picks in the trade. Edstrom was the last pick of the first round of last year’s draft, and has posted 17 points in 42 games while on loan to Frölunda HC in the Swedish Hockey League. He projects as a relatively safe high-floor, low-ceiling third-line pivot. The Golden Knights signed him to an entry-level deal over the summer, and he’ll be an RFA in 2026.
TSN’s Bob McKenzie was first to report that Hertl was heading to Vegas.
ESPN’s Kevin Weekes was first to report that the Sharks were retaining a portion of Hertl’s salary.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.