Sabres Fire Kevyn Adams, Name Jarmo Kekalainen GM
The Sabres announced they’ve relieved general manager Kevyn Adams of his duties. Former Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekäläinen, who had been working with the team as a senior advisor to Adams this season, was named as his replacement. There’s no interim tag attached to Kekäläinen.
The change in leadership was widely expected after reports emerged Friday that the Sabres were seriously considering moving on from Adams following the conclusion of their road trip, which ended last night in Seattle with a three-game win streak. Matthew Fairburn and Tim Graham of The Athletic, who broke the story, indicated Kekäläinen was the likely name to take over but was in his native Finland on personal leave. He said on Instagram this morning that his father, Kari, passed away Sunday after a long-term illness.
Understandably, there likely won’t be a presser introducing Kekäläinen for a while as a result. The announcement likely couldn’t wait until after last week’s reporting, though. Owner Terry Pegula’s full statement on the matter is as follows:
I would like to thank Kevyn for his dedication and loyalty to the Buffalo Sabres. He has been a reliable presence, and we are appreciative of his enduring care and commitment. I personally wish him and his entire family all the best.
We are not where we need to be as an organization, and we are moving forward with new leadership within our hockey operations department. We are dedicated to building an organization that is competitive year after year, and we have fallen short of that expectation.
I have named Jarmo Kekäläinen as general manager of the Buffalo Sabres and he will be overseeing hockey operations, effective immediately. The hiring of Jarmo was the result of an extensive search process in which Jarmo stood out as our top choice for the senior advisor position. Jarmo has distinguished himself over the last eight months, and his experience, professionalism, and drive speaks for itself. I am looking forward to him leading our organization to the next level.
Adams, 51, had been Buffalo’s GM since his hiring during the 2020 offseason to replace the fired Jason Botterill. It was a surprising decision at the time, given his lack of managerial experience. The 2006 Stanley Cup champion, as a player with the Hurricanes, had never worked a high-level front office role. However, he was highly familiar to the organization and ownership – a decision likely made to help Pegula better put his finger on the pulse as their playoff drought neared a decade.
Five and a half years later, the Sabres still haven’t made it back to the postseason. Today’s news ends a lengthy run for Adams in the organization that began back in 2009-10, one season prior to their most recent playoff appearance. He served as a development coach from 2009-11 and an assistant coach from 2011-13 before moving away from a bench role. From 2013 to 2020, he worked mainly with the Sabres’ youth hockey program and took on a job as their senior VP of business administration in 2019-20 before getting the promotion to the GM’s chair.
From Buffalo’s last playoff appearance in 2011 to Adams’ hiring in 2020, the Sabres’ 260-343-88 (.440) record was last in the NHL. Adams has gotten them out of the cellar – they haven’t had a top-five pick since his first year on the job – but not back to playoff contention. Adams ends his tenure with a 178-196-42 (.478) record, only a marginal improvement that’s good for 26th in the league since the 2020-21 season. The closest they got to the postseason came in 2023, missing the cut by one point.
The Sabres’ 14-14-4 record out of the gate this season made moving on from Adams an inevitability. Another losing season risks core pieces Rasmus Dahlin and Tage Thompson running out of patience and demanding moves – although with both signed through 2030 or longer, the Sabres have leverage on their side. There is a bevy of important pieces who aren’t locked up long-term, namely pending UFA Alex Tuch and pending RFAs Zach Benson and Josh Doan, who to some extent control their own destiny. That’s top of mind for a Sabres club that was essentially forced into trading RFA JJ Peterka to the Mammoth last summer because of an unwillingness to re-sign, although they made out rather well in that deal by recouping one of this year’s top breakout scorers in Doan.
Now, it’s Kekäläinen’s turn at the helm to instill a clear path toward playoff contention – whether that comes via long-term oriented moves or a potential in-season shake-up to vault Buffalo up a tight Eastern Conference. While they’re tied for last with 32 points, they’re only six points out of a playoff spot.
The appeal in Kekäläinen not only lies in his previous GM experience – he’s the first non-first-timer the club has hired since Scotty Bowman in 1979 – but in the type of market he worked for. Kekäläinen assumed control of a stagnant Columbus team that had yet to record a playoff win in franchise history midway through the 2012-13 season. Within a year, the Blue Jackets made it back to the postseason. Over his first seven full seasons in Columbus, the Jackets made the playoffs five times and recorded their first series victory in franchise history, an extremely memorable upset over the Lightning in 2019.
Kekäläinen was fired by the Jackets midway through the 2023-24 season after essentially being forced into rebuilding following the departures of Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky in free agency. Nonetheless, his proven track record of instituting a culture change in Columbus is of extremely understandable appeal.
Pegula didn’t announce any other front office or coaching changes. For now, Lindy Ruff and his staff remain intact behind the bench, as do assistant GMs Jerry Forton, Mark Jakubowski, Jason Karmanos, and special assistant Eric Staal.
Oilers Recall Quinn Hutson
The Oilers announced they’ve recalled winger Quinn Hutson from AHL Bakersfield. After making his NHL debut late last season, the 23-year-old is expected to make his 2025-26 debut tomorrow night against the Penguins. Edmonton already had an open roster spot, so no corresponding move is required.
Hutson, the older brother of star Canadiens defender Lane Hutson and Capitals prospect Cole, went undrafted in 2020 after spending his draft year in an under-18 travel league, multiple steps below major junior hockey. He spent the following two seasons with USHL Muskegon, recording well over a point per game, before beginning his collegiate career as a 20-year-old with Boston University in 2022.
It was there, teaming up with his brothers, where the 5’10” winger put himself on the map. He immediately slotted in as a top-six piece for the Terriers before an outright eruption in his junior year in 2024-25, leading the team with 50 points (23 goals, 27 assists) in 38 games. While that was only enough to get him Second Team All-Star honors from the Hockey East conference, it squarely put him on the map in terms of landing an NHL deal.
Edmonton won the sweepstakes, inking Hutson to a two-year, entry-level deal in April. It began immediately, permitting him to skate in two regular-season games for the Oilers down the stretch. However, since he wasn’t on their reserve list at the trade deadline, he wasn’t eligible to suit up for them in the playoffs.
He was viewed as a legitimate candidate to make a push for a roster spot in training camp, but the Oilers’ addition of Isaac Howard to their prospect pool and depth spots being taken up by free-agent pickups Curtis Lazar and David Tomasek iced him out of a spot. That likely ended up being a blessing in disguise. Hutson has dominated the minor-league circuit as a first-year pro. He leads Bakersfield and is fourth in AHL scoring with a 16-12–28 line in 24 games. He’s been particularly hot as of late, with 10 of those goals coming in his last 10 outings.
The Oilers hope to take advantage of Hutson’s momentum and use him to help jumpstart what’s been a woeful performance from their secondary offense. Just four players – Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman, Connor McDavid, and the injured Jack Roslovic – have combined for 47% of Edmonton’s total goal output this season. They’re still third in the league overall at 3.33 goals per game, but they need a boost from lower in their lineup as those players’ shooting percentages, all floating near 20%, inevitably cool off.
How much head coach Kris Knoblauch uses Hutson will likely be the deciding factor in how long he stays up. His usage of Edmonton’s younger talent – viewed as important pieces to help shoulder the loss of multiple veterans to free agency last summer – has been a point of contention. Howard averaged just 9:30 of ice time per game to begin the season before being sent to Bakersfield. Tomasek, an elder rookie at age 29 but coming off a Swedish Hockey League scoring title, has averaged under 11 minutes per game. The only under-25 name to make a dent in the Oilers’ top nine has been Matthew Savoie as of late, now averaging north of 14 minutes per game on the year with 11 points in 33 games to show for it.
Blues Place Dylan Holloway On IR With Right High Ankle Sprain
The Blues announced forward Dylan Holloway will miss six weeks due to a right high ankle sprain and has been placed on injured reserve. Winger Alexey Toropchenko was activated from IR in the corresponding move.
Holloway sustained the injury in Sunday’s practice, not during game action. He was inadvertently tripped during a drill and wasn’t able to put any weight on his right leg as he was helped off the ice.
The 24-year-old is now in for his second extended absence of the calendar year. Holloway sustained a season-ending oblique injury with just five games left in the 2024-25 regular season, holding him out of their first-round loss to the Jets.
A pending restricted free agent after signing his two-year, $4.58MM offer sheet with St. Louis in 2024, Holloway’s production has taken a hit from last season’s breakout. After putting together a 26-37–63 scoring line in 77 appearances in 2024-25, he’s come out of the gate with eight goals and 17 points in 33 games this year. Expressed in points per game, that’s a drop from 0.82 to 0.52 – a 37% decrease.
That’s due mainly to natural ebbs and flows in luck. His shot and chance generation numbers are nearly identical to last season. His shooting percentage has dipped by over four percent from 14.6% to 10.5%, though. Combined with the team’s general lack of finishing ability – their 10.0 shooting percentage is 25th in the league – and his production has suffered.
He’s still second on the team in scoring and a weapon the offense-starved Blues can’t afford to lose for any length of time, particularly with three other forwards – including top-nine names Jordan Kyrou and Jimmy Snuggerud – on IR. He’s averaged 17:52 of ice time per game, third among St. Louis forwards, and is among their most impactful drivers of possession. At 5-on-5, his 49.8 CF% and 53.3 xGF% are both top three among Blues forwards, even if his -11 rating doesn’t indicate a great run of two-way play from him at a glance.
Despite the rash of injuries, the Blues have somewhat recovered from their dreadful start. They’re 5-4-1 in their last 10 games and have climbed up to 31 points, four out of a playoff spot. However, a tight Western Conference picture and dwindling underlying numbers combine to give them just an 8.4% chance at postseason play, per MoneyPuck.
They’ll at least recoup some depth in Toropchenko. The 26-year-old fourth-line piece has been a double-digit goal scorer before, but isn’t on track to do so this year with one goal and two points in 17 outings. He’s been out since the beginning of the month after sustaining burns to his legs in an off-ice incident.
The Blues already had an open roster spot with Toropchenko on IR, so they’ll stick with one now as Holloway takes his place. A six-week timeline puts Holloway back in action on Jan. 26 at the earliest, meaning a 19-game absence at minimum.
Matt Dumba Clears Waivers, Assigned To AHL
Saturday: The team announced that Dumba has passed through waivers unclaimed. As expected, he has been assigned to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. It will be his first action at that level since the 2014-15 when he played in 20 games for Iowa.
Friday: The Penguins announced this morning that they will place defenseman Mathew Dumba on waivers today at 1:00 pm Central. He’s been placed on the non-roster list until his waiver period ends tomorrow. The move makes room for rearguard Brett Kulak to join the active roster after being acquired from the Oilers in today’s Tristan Jarry/Stuart Skinner goalie swap.
Dumba, 31, hadn’t been much of a factor to this point in the season. Acquired from the Stars over the summer in a salary dump, he’s been in the press box more than he’s been on the ice.
When dressed, he’s recorded a 1-2–3 scoring line and a -5 rating in 11 appearances. He’s averaging 14:56 of ice time per game, his lowest figure since averaging 12:27 in his first taste of NHL hockey as a 19-year-old with the Wild back in 2013-14. His poor two-way play is reflected in his 46.2 CF% and 47.9 FF% at 5-on-5, both the second-worst among qualified Penguins defenders, ahead only of Caleb Jones.
With Kulak in the mix, Jack St. Ivany returning to health, and Ryan Graves flourishing in a bottom-pairing role after starting the season on waivers, Dumba might have played his last game as a Penguin. At a $3.75MM cap hit, he won’t be claimed off waivers, even though he’s on an expiring deal.
If the righty is dead set on returning to the NHL this season, he could refuse to report to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, allowing the Penguins to terminate his contract. He’d be walking away from whatever he’s still owed of his $3.5MM salary but could catch on somewhere else for the back half of the season on a cheaper, prorated one-year deal. If he does clear waivers and opts to report to the minors, the Penguins will still be on the hook for a $2.6MM cap hit.
While Dumba may have been one of the more offensively dynamic defensemen in the league at his peak, those days are long in the rearview. Drafted No. 7 overall by Minnesota in 2012, he broke out for 50 points and 136 hits in the 2017-18 season, prompting the Wild to sign him to a five-year, $30MM deal the following summer. He racked up 12 goals and 22 points through the first 32 games of 2018-19 before sustaining a season-ending upper-body injury.
He hasn’t been the same player since. Dumba was still a minute-muncher for the rest of his tenure in Minnesota, averaging over 22 minutes per game between 2019-20 and 2022-23, but he never sniffed 30 points again – let alone 50. Still, he turned his reputation into a pair of relatively high-value, short-term free-agent deals. He first signed a one-year, $3.9MM pact with the Coyotes in 2023 and was flipped to the Lightning at the following year’s trade deadline.
Tampa didn’t show interest in retaining him, but he still landed a two-year, $7.5MM pact from the Stars. Dumba underwhelmed from the start, though, posting 10 points and a -5 rating in 63 games while averaging 15:18 of ice time per game. He was then a healthy scratch for Dallas’ entire playoff run. His cap hit quickly became untenable for the big-spending Stars, paying a 2028 second-round pick to unload the last year of his contract on the Penguins.
Kraken’s Jared McCann Out Three Weeks
The Kraken announced today that forward Jared McCann will be out for the next three weeks with a lower-body injury. He remains on the active roster for now, but will be the top candidate for an injured reserve placement if Seattle needs a roster spot.
McCann sustained the injury against the Kings on Wednesday. He left that game late in the third period after an awkward tie-up with Los Angeles goalie Anton Forsberg. All things considered, his being back in the lineup around New Year’s is close to a best-case scenario.
A three-week timeline puts him back in the lineup on Jan. 2 against the Canucks. That has him in for a 10-game absence weeks after returning from a 17-game one. That was also a lower-body issue. All told, the 29-year-old has only been available for 11 games this season. He’s been his usual productive self, racking up five goals and eight points. If not for the missed time, he would be on pace for his fourth straight 60-point season.
Seattle is scoring the fewest goals in the league at 2.50 per game. Already down a top-six piece in Jaden Schwartz, missing the franchise’s all-time leading scorer for another extended period is far from ideal. It also brings to an end a stretch of good health, particularly during his time in Seattle. Entering this season, he’d yet to miss more than 10 games in a season and played a full 82 last year.
A pair of high-profile absences for a retooler/rebuilder like the Kraken would usually mean a promotion for their brightest young players. They won’t be able to do that with 2024 No. 8 overall pick Berkly Catton, who’s out week-to-week with an upper-body injury. Instead, it’ll be names like Kaapo Kakko and Mason Marchment shifting up on the wings.
Sabres Considering Replacing GM Kevyn Adams
The Sabres have opened the door on talks to remove Kevyn Adams from the general manager’s post, Matthew Fairburn and Tim Graham of The Athletic report. If they go in that direction, the announcement won’t be made until next week after Buffalo wraps up its Western Conference road trip.
If Buffalo does put a new face in the GM’s chair, it may not mean an outright firing for Adams. There has long been speculation that Buffalo would prefer to keep Adams in its front office in a different role. Whether that comes to pass remains to be seen, but his strong relationship with owner Terry Pegula was the main reason he was put into the role in the first place nearly six years ago, as Fairburn and Graham write. He was something of a shock promotion after the Sabres parted ways with Jason Botterill, previously serving as the team’s senior VP of business administration.
This time around, the Sabres have a much more experienced and logical promotion candidate in former Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekäläinen. Buffalo brought the 59-year-old in as a senior advisor to Adams over the offseason. He’s done most of his work for the club remotely, though, and Fairburn and Graham report he’s currently in his native Finland dealing with a personal matter. If he’s to be Adams’ successor, they won’t be making a move until he’s back stateside.
The Sabres may have gained some goodwill with their fanbase with back-to-back wins, but it’s far too early to tell if that’s the beginning of something bigger in what’s been an incredibly streaky season. Through the ups and downs, they’re last in the Eastern Conference with a 13-14-4 record, on track to extend their all-time record postseason drought to a 15th season.
2025-26 is Adams’ sixth season as GM. Adams only has winning records on two of those campaigns, peaking with an excruciatingly close 42-33-7 record in 2022-23 that had them just one point out of a playoff berth. His career record now stands at 177-196-42 (.477), the eighth-worst points percentage in the league since he took over in the 2020 offseason. Using that as a catch-all for Adams’ skill as a front-office executive is overbearing, though, given Buffalo’s now long-standing losing culture and suspected underfunding and overstepping by ownership.
The Sabres’ step back since that bright spot in 2022-23 has no longer made complacency an option, though. After regressing to 84 points in 2023-24, they fired head coach Don Granato and replaced him with franchise all-time wins leader Lindy Ruff, whose final season in his first stint with the club was the first year of their playoff drought. It marked the seventh coaching change of the period, and with Ruff on an expiring deal and virtually untouchable due to his status in the club’s (and league’s) record books, another behind-the-bench move isn’t a realistic option at this time.
Buffalo gave Adams a multi-year extension back in 2022, but never released the terms. That deal remains active and runs through the 2026-27 season, per Fairburn and Graham.
Ducks Activate Lukas Dostal From Injured Reserve
The Ducks have their starting netminder back in play. The team announced they’ve activated Lukáš Dostál from injured reserve and assigned Vyacheslav Buteyets to ECHL Tulsa in the corresponding move.
Dostál has missed the last nine games and three weeks with an upper-body injury, making today’s activation right on schedule. Before that, the 25-year-old was breaking into his own as a top-tier No. 1. In 17 appearances – all starts – he’s racked up an 11-5-1 record, .904 SV%, 2.81 GAA, and a .647 quality start percentage. Among goalies with at least 15 showings, his 0.592 GSAx/60 ranks 10th in the league, per MoneyPuck.
He has been invaluable for a Ducks team that’s still finding its way defensively, but has received plenty of scoring and quality goaltending to make them a relatively safe bet to end their seven-year playoff drought. So far, general manager Pat Verbeek’s decision to sign the 2018 third-rounder to a five-year, $32.5MM deal last summer looks more like a bargain than a fair bet, particularly after he amassed a .903 SV% and 14.3 GSAx in 54 appearances last season.
With Dostál out, it wasn’t backup Petr Mrázek holding things down. He’s also spent the better part of the last two weeks on injured reserve after leaving a Nov. 30 game against the Blackhawks with a lower-body injury. His return is expected to come closer to the holiday break.
That’s left Anaheim with experienced third-stringer Ville Husso and the rookie Buteyets as their tandem for the month of December. Husso has started six in a row and appeared in eight straight and has been a no-fuss option – exactly why Anaheim shelled out a pricey $2.2MM cap hit last offseason to keep him in the organization despite knowing he was ticketed for waivers and a minor-league role behind Dostál and Mrázek. He’ll now be relegated to backup duties behind Dostál until Mrázek returns.
There’s a legitimate argument that Anaheim might be better off keeping Husso and placing Mrázek on waivers once he’s healthy, though. Husso posted a serviceable .888 SV% and 3.16 GAA – enough to win five out of his eight decisions – while logging 1.2 goals saved above expected. The 33-year-old Mrázek’s numbers were down at a .876 SV% and 3.69 GAA in seven starts before his injury. On an expiring deal at a $4.25MM cap hit, he’s at virtually no risk of being claimed.
As for Buteyets, the 23-year-old was only up as an emergency option. His only action – his NHL debut – came after a mercy pull for Husso in a 7-0 loss to the Mammoth last week. He played the third period of that contest and allowed three goals on 13 shots for a .769 SV% and 9.00 GAA.
A 2022 sixth-round pick, Buteyets is in his second season in North America and has shown promise in the ECHL. After recording a .905 SV% in 36 games as Tulsa’s rookie starter last year, he’s upped that in a big way to a .924 mark in seven showings this season. His .858 SV% in five games at the AHL level for San Diego over the past two years, though, shows he needs some more runway in the low minors before he’s ready to make a significant push up Anaheim’s depth chart.
Hurricanes Sign Joel Nystrom To Four-Year Extension
The Hurricanes announced they’ve signed rookie defenseman Joel Nystrom to a four-year, $4.9MM contract extension. The deal carries a cap hit of $1.225MM beginning next season and running through the 2029-30 campaign.
Nystrom was ticketed for restricted free agency next summer as he wraps up his entry-level contract. The right-shot Swede was a seventh-round pick in 2021 out of the SHL’s Färjestad BK and spent three seasons there before inking a two-year ELC with Carolina in 2024. The Canes loaned him back out to Färjestad for most of last season but brought him over to finish the year with AHL Chicago once his season ended.
Now, he’s an under-the-radar success story who lands multi-year security before most fans outside of Carolina – even hardcore ones – even know his name. The 5’11” puck-mover didn’t even make the Canes’ opening night roster but only lasted three games in the AHL, recording one assist, before getting called up to Carolina in late October in the wake of Jaccob Slavin‘s injury.
The 23-year-old’s lengthy resume of professional play in his home country no doubt pushed him higher up on the depth chart for a recall despite his lack of North American professional experience. He won a league title with Färjestad as a sophomore in 2022 and ended his five-year tenure with the club last year after recording a 25-61–86 scoring line in 221 games with a +13 rating. In his final two seasons with the club, he led or co-led its blue line in scoring with 26 and 27 points, respectively, in 51 games each.
Nystrom’s game relies purely on his transition skills. He may have some long-term upside as a secondary power-play quarterback, but he has just four assists through 23 games, averaging a few ticks over 16 minutes per night. Physicality is almost entirely absent from his game, recording just 14 blocks and five hits. Nevertheless, he’s been active with the puck and has usurped veteran Mike Reilly for a regular job in the lineup while Slavin continues to rehab from his lower-body injury. His 59.0% share of expected goals at 5-on-5 ranks third among Carolina defenders behind Reilly and K’Andre Miller.
For this season, it’s hard to envision Nystrom sticking in the lineup when Slavin returns. His waiver-exempt status makes it likely he’ll be the one ferried to the minors to open up a roster spot rather than Carolina exposing a piece of valuable veteran depth in Reilly to the wire. Reilly is a pending unrestricted free agent, though, leaving the door wide open for Nystrom to open the season on the Canes’ roster in 2026-27. His new seven-figure salary makes him a safe bet to do so.
His cap hit will be beneath the buriable threshold by the time the deal wraps up if he doesn’t pan out as a long-term NHLer, so there’s little risk for the Canes in that sense. If he can stick around as an everyday second or third-pairing right-shot option with power-play upside, that’s a bargain play. Still, it’s jarring to see a player land nearly $5MM in guaranteed money – particularly as a late-round pick – before even scoring their first NHL goal. The only recent precedent for that is Sabres defender Mattias Samuelsson, who inked a much richer seven-year, $30MM extension in 2022 after going goalless with 12 assists through his first 52 NHL appearances.
Image courtesy of James Guillory-Imagn Images.
Flames Activate Zayne Parekh From IR, Recall Dryden Hunt
The Flames announced a pair of roster moves on Friday. Rookie defenseman Zayne Parekh was activated from injured reserve and subsequently loaned to Canada’s national junior team ahead of the 2026 World Junior Championship, which begins on Boxing Day in Minneapolis and St. Paul. They also added forward Dryden Hunt back to the active roster after reassigning him to the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers yesterday – something they’re eligible to do because he played for the minor-league club last night.
Parekh, 19, is still finding his way in his first professional season. It’s unclear whether he’ll be added back to Calgary’s roster after the tournament or if they’ll opt to have him finish the season with the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit. He’s ineligible for a full-time AHL assignment this season as a teenage player under the NHL-CHL transfer agreement.
His underwhelming first few games in the NHL don’t change his stature as the Flames’ top prospect, though. Selected ninth overall in the 2024 draft, Parekh led the OHL in points by a defenseman in back-to-back seasons before making Calgary’s roster out of camp this fall. Last year, he became just the 15th defender in OHL history to record a 100-point season and the first since Ryan Ellis hit 101 in 2010-11. But through 11 appearances in Calgary after scoring in his debut in Game 82 last season, he was limited to one assist and only averaged 14:46 of ice time per game.
Whatever momentum Parekh had ground to a halt on Nov. 7 against the Blackhawks when he sustained an upper-body injury. He hasn’t played since. Instead of an AHL conditioning stint or a direct reinstatement, he’ll get his feet wet again in Canada’s WJC training camp over the next couple of weeks after he was one of the most notable tournament snubs in recent memory last year.
As for Hunt, the 30-year-old is settling into a role as Calgary’s 13th forward with Samuel Honzek out for the season and Martin Pospisil still stuck on injured reserve. The journeyman has found some stability in the Flames organization, now in his third year there after he was initially acquired from the Maple Leafs in 2023. He’s got an 18-36–54 scoring line in 237 games for his NHL career, but has suited up just seven times for the Flames since the beginning of 2024-25.
Nonetheless, he remains a reliable, no-fuss press box option who lights up the minors when he’s there. He had a two-assist performance with the Wranglers last night against Coachella Valley to give him 18 points in 16 games on the year, looking to lock in his second straight season at or above a point per game. While more intriguing names long-term, like Matvei Gridin and Rory Kerins, are also lighting up the AHL circuit, Hunt’s development isn’t going to be interrupted by long spells in the press box if he’s not needed in the lineup.
Avalanche Loan Ilya Solovyov To AHL On Conditioning Assignment
The Avalanche announced this morning that they’ve loaned left-shot defender Ilya Solovyov to the AHL’s Colorado Eagles for a conditioning stint. He can remain in the minors for up to two weeks without having to be placed on waivers, sticking around on the Avs’ active roster while doing so.
Solovyov, 25, was something of an intriguing waiver claim from the Flames at the start of the season, but has struggled to gain a foothold in the lineup. He made just nine appearances and none in well over a month, last playing on Nov. 1. He’s served as a healthy scratch in 18 straight games. Averaging 11:33 of ice time per game, he’s gone without a point and has a -4 rating despite some strong 5-on-5 metrics (59.1 CF%, 59.9 xGF%).
Before his waiver claim, Solovyov had spent most of the last four seasons in the AHL with Stockton/Calgary in the Flames’ system. A seventh-round pick in 2020, the 6’3″ lefty is a promising depth two-way threat. He totaled 69 points and a +33 rating in 229 AHL games before joining the Avs, and he has 15 games of NHL experience with Calgary over the last two years.
That much time off isn’t good for anyone, particularly a name who potentially still has a little bit of development left in the tank. The long-overdue conditioning assignment could get Solovyov into as many as four games before the Eagles take their holiday break, beginning tonight against the Ontario Reign. In the meantime, the Avs won’t have an extra defenseman available on game days if needed, but can fix that with a corresponding recall. They have an open roster spot they can use, even with Solovyov effectively serving as dead weight for the next several days.