Canadiens Recall Joshua Roy, Marc Del Gaizo; Reassign Owen Beck
The Canadiens announced they’ve recalled winger Joshua Roy and defenseman Marc Del Gaizo from AHL Laval. Center Owen Beck was returned to Laval as one of the corresponding transactions. Montreal doesn’t have an open roster spot, though, so they must make a second move to keep their active roster at the 23-man maximum.
The roster shuffling in Montreal comes in the wake of a trio of injuries. Over the weekend, they announced defenseman Kaiden Guhle would miss four to six weeks with a lower-body injury while also ruling forwards Kirby Dach and Patrik Laine out on a day-to-day basis. It would stand to reason that Guhle has or will land on injured reserve as the additional corresponding move.
Sending down Beck, a center, and replacing him with a winger in Roy could be a promising sign for Dach’s availability against the Flames on Wednesday. He’s on the ice at the team’s practice today, according to Marc Antoine Godin of Radio-Canada. Beck played in back-to-back games for the Habs after his recall on Saturday, but the 21-year-old averaged just 8:22 of ice time per game and recorded a minus-one rating and no points. It’s much of the same story for the 2022 second-round pick, who’s gotten a handful of recalls over the past few years but has never been given a particularly long leash. He’s averaged just 9:45 through 15 career NHL appearances, understandably only managing one assist. He’s posted underwhelming possession numbers (47.3 CF% in 58.8 oZS%) in those sheltered even-strength minutes but has been impactful on the dot, winning 53.7% of his faceoffs.
Beck is in his second full professional season. He had 44 points in 64 games for Laval as a rookie last year and had a goal and an assist through his first three games this season before getting recalled. There’s still hope that the 6’0″ pivot can be a long-term fixture down the middle for the Habs, and they won’t hesitate to let him continue to bake in the minors compared to logging limited NHL action.
As for Roy, the 22-year-old has a more established offensive track record in the NHL. A 2021 fifth-round pick, Roy has made 35 appearances for the Habs over the past two years with a 6-5–11 scoring line. Two-way play remains a concern for the skilled winger, but he’s more of a known commodity. He has earned a longer runway from head coach Martin St. Louis in the past, averaging 11:45 of ice time per game for his career while getting occasional power-play reps. He’s also off to a hot start in Laval with three goals and an assist through four games.
Del Gaizo is elevated to give Montreal an extra defenseman for their four-game road trip through the Pacific Division that kicks off tomorrow. They played the last two games without one on the roster after Guhle’s injury. The 26-year-old is a safe option to stash as a No. 7 and has plenty of recent experience, making 46 of his 55 career NHL appearances with the Predators last season. He was a Group VI unrestricted free agent last summer and signed a two-way deal with Montreal before clearing waivers during training camp on his way down to Laval. The 5’11” lefty has a 2-10–12 scoring line in the NHL with a -1 rating. He’s still looking for his first point in Laval through four games, but has a +2 rating. He can remain up for 30 days or play 10 games until he needs waivers again to head back down.
Senators Recall Olle Lycksell
The Senators are bringing winger Olle Lycksell back up from AHL Belleville, the team announced. Ottawa had a pair of open roster spots after sending Arthur Kaliyev down to Belleville yesterday.
Lycksell and Kaliyev are essentially yo-yoing as Ottawa’s 12th forward while enforcer Kurtis MacDermid sits in the press box, and captain Brady Tkachuk remains on injured reserve after undergoing surgery on his hand last week. It likely won’t be the last time the Sens make this move. Both of them cleared waivers late in training camp. Players can remain on an NHL active roster for up to 30 non-consecutive days (or play 10 games) until they need waivers again to return to the minors. Swapping them out for each other every few days means delaying when they become waiver-eligible. Lycksell’s counter stood at 12 days before today; Kaliyev’s recall lasted four days.
Lycksell, 26, signed a two-way deal with the Senators over the summer. The four-year veteran was left on Ottawa’s opening night roster despite clearing waivers, but only played in two of five games before being sent to Belleville last Friday. He did not record a point and averaged 10:09 of ice time per game with two blocks and one hit. He’s also pointless with a minus-four rating through two appearances with the B-Sens in the past few days.
Originally selected in the sixth round by the Flyers back in 2017, Lycksell debuted with Philadelphia briefly in 2022-23. He got slightly more extended looks the following two seasons, but never logged more than 20 appearances in a campaign. He had a 1-10–11 scoring line in 45 games with the Flyers in parts of three years, but had much more success during that time with AHL Lehigh Valley, where he was nearly a point per game player. He had 52 goals and 128 points in 134 appearances there, working his way into an AHL All-Star Game appearance last season.
Lycksell reached Group VI unrestricted free agency this past offseason and landed with Ottawa, hoping for more opportunity. The 5’11” Swede has historically been an accurate shooter, but is finishing at just 2.2% during his NHL time. That needs to increase dramatically for him to have any hope of carving out a consistent role.
Kraken Recall Ben Meyers, Reassign Ville Ottavainen
The Kraken announced Tuesday that they’ve recalled forward Ben Meyers from AHL Coachella Valley. The Kraken don’t have an active roster spot, so they’ve returned right-shot defenseman Ville Ottavainen to Coachella Valley to accommodate the addition of Meyers.
Ottavainen was a 2021 fourth-round pick and was just recalled from the AHL on Sunday amid news that Brandon Montour was taking a leave of absence and Ryan Lindgren had been banged up in the previous day’s win over the Maple Leafs. However, Lindgren was able to play last night against the Flyers, leaving Ottavainen in the press box.
Even then, most teams would opt to keep a seventh healthy defenseman on the roster (Montour’s personal leave had him placed on injured reserve) for insurance. Seattle doesn’t have that luxury. They’ve been operating with something of a self-imposed roster crunch due to their decision to carry three goaltenders, still carrying veterans Philipp Grubauer and Matt Murray as Joey Daccord‘s backups. The Kraken were reluctant to expose Murray to waivers after a strong training camp, but he’s yet to play this season, while Grubauer has made one start and one relief appearance.
Seattle is now dealing with more pressing injury concerns up front. Jared McCann was scratched for Monday’s game with a lower-body injury and is day-to-day. They’re hoping his absence is under a week and thus haven’t placed him on IR, leaving only one press box spot for a healthy scratch in the skater department. As such, they’ve opted to swap out Ottavainen for Meyers to ensure they can still carry a traditional 12 forwards/six defensemen setup if another attacker needs to sit out.
Meyers, 27 in November, has played in parts of four NHL seasons between the Avalanche, Ducks, and Kraken. He saw semi-regular work in Colorado during the 2022-23 season but struggled to produce offensively and has seen his usage dwindle in the years since. He was waived by the Kraken during training camp for the second year in a row and headed to Coachella Valley without incident. He has two goals and a minus-four rating through his first three appearances of the season.
In eight games across multiple call-ups to Seattle last season, Meyers did not record a point and averaged a career-low 8:21 of ice time per game. He has a 6-2–8 scoring line in 75 career appearances, just 0.11 points per game. Since his debut in 2021-22, that’s fifth-worst among all forwards with at least 70 games played. For an undrafted free agent signing out of the University of Minnesota whose main calling card was two-way play, that’s not enough to keep him in the lineup consistently – especially considering he’s below water in both CF% and xGF% at even strength for his career.
With 19-year-old Berkly Catton recording a point in his NHL debut last night in place of McCann, it’s hard to see Meyers entering the lineup unless they want to switch up the fourth-line center position. John Hayden has held that down for the past couple of games after Frédérick Gaudreau landed on injured reserve.
Sabres Recall Zac Jones, Noah Ostlund
The Sabres have recalled defenseman Zachary Jones and center Noah Ostlund from AHL Rochester, per a team release. They already had one open roster spot, and they’ve placed winger Beck Malenstyn on injured reserve to open up the other one, according to the NHL’s media site.
Buffalo now has two options to insert into the lineup for tomorrow’s game on the blue line. It’s looking like they won’t have Jacob Bryson available after he exited yesterday’s win over the Panthers and entered concussion protocol. Zach Metsa was already on hand as a healthy extra after being summoned from Rochester earlier in the week. Whether he or Jones enters the lineup for Bryson, a lefty who was assuming third-pairing duties on his off side next to Mattias Samuelsson, remains to be seen.
It will be either player’s Sabres debut and a potential NHL debut for Metsa. As for Jones, the 25-year-old successfully cleared waivers during training camp after inking a rather rich two-way deal ($900K NHL/$550K AHL with Buffalo on July 1. He was an unrestricted free agent after not receiving a qualifying offer from the Rangers, where he’d spent the first five years of his NHL career. The 5’11” lefty was a third-round pick in 2019 and showed decent offensive promise in depth roles for New York, but was never able to elevate himself on their depth chart.
Jones is coming off something of a career year, notching a 1-10–11 scoring line in 46 appearances for the Blueshirts while averaging 17:15 of ice time per game. He was still a semi-frequent healthy scratch, though, no doubt due to a lack of physicality and poor possession impacts. He’s averaged 0.58 hits per game throughout his 115-game NHL career and has had negative relative Corsi shares at even strength in all five of his seasons at the top level. Last year’s possession numbers were particularly underwhelming at a 48.6 CF% and 44.2 xGF%, both below team averages.
That lack of two-way acumen, plus his above-league-minimum cap hit, were contributing factors to him clearing waivers. He’s off to a hot start in the minors, though, rattling off four assists through four games for Rochester – albeit with a -4 rating. Him and Metsa carry similar profiles, both in size and minor-league offensive production, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see Buffalo opt for Jones, who has more NHL experience, as they try to extend their win streak to three and get to .500 on the season.
Ostlund’s recall ensures the Sabres will continue to carry 13 healthy forwards, with Malenstyn evidently getting banged up in the win against Florida. The team hasn’t offered an announcement on Malenstyn’s status. He didn’t see a shift in the last 10 minutes of Saturday’s win. The IR placement rules him out for Buffalo’s next three games. He’ll be eligible to return a week from his initial injury, making him available for activation on Oct. 25 against the Maple Leafs for the second half of their back-to-back. Malenstyn had no points and a -2 rating through his first five games, averaging 9:52 of ice time per night.
The Sabres also have Joshua Dunne on hand to insert into the lineup after he was scratched against Florida, so Ostlund isn’t a guarantee to make his season debut tomorrow. The 2022 first-round pick made his NHL debut last year, going pointless in an eight-game run late in the year with a -6 rating. He’s had more inspiring performances in Rochester, where he ranks second on the team in scoring with a goal and four assists through four games. The 21-year-old Swede also had 36 points in 45 AHL contests last season, his first in North America.
While there’s been recent on-ice momentum for the Sabres, it’s still been a disastrous start to the campaign for them in the injury department. Malenstyn joins Justin Danforth, Jordan Greenway, Michael Kesselring, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, and Joshua Norris on IR.
Capitals Place Pierre-Luc Dubois On IR
Oct. 19: The Capitals have now placed Dubois on IR to activate defenseman Dylan McIlrath in his place, as expected, according to NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti. Dubois has already missed seven days due to his injury, so he can be activated at any time. He remains in a non-contact jersey but is practicing with the club.
Oct. 14: Capitals center Pierre-Luc Dubois will not play tonight against the Lightning due to a lower-body injury, head coach Spencer Carbery confirmed (via Sammi Silber of The Hockey News). He’s listed as day-to-day and has not landed on injured reserve.
If he does, the Caps will be able to backdate his placement to Oct. 12. He left Sunday’s 1-0 win over the Rangers late in the third period for something that required additional evaluation, Carbery said, but it’s not clear when he sustained the injury. If the Caps create a roster spot by placing him on IR, he would be ruled out for Washington’s next two games, including tonight’s, before being eligible for activation against the Canucks on Oct. 19. They have ample cap space to make a recall if they do so, a likely scenario given they don’t have an extra healthy forward with him sidelined.
Dubois began the season in the spot where he enjoyed much success last year – anchoring the Caps’ second line between Aliaksei Protas and Tom Wilson. In their three-game sample size, though, their two-way play has trailed off a bit from 2024-25. While the trio has outscored opponents 3-0 at even strength and won the Corsi battle 31-29, they’ve only controlled 41.9% of expected goals – the lowest quality share among Washington’s forward lines so far, according to MoneyPuck. As for Dubois individually, he’s still looking for his first point of the year but has a +1 rating while averaging 17:22 per game and going 15-for-41 on faceoffs for a 36.6% win rate. Last year, he had two points through his first three games en route to his career-high 46 assists and 66 points.
Connor McMichael is a natural choice to step down and shift back to center after spending time as their top-line right wing with Alex Ovechkin and Dylan Strome to begin the year. That’s exactly what the Caps will go with, at least for tonight, according to Silber. Hendrix Lapierre, who was scratched Sunday after appearing in Washington’s first two games, will re-enter the lineup as the Caps’ lone healthy extra and will do so as the third-line anchor between Ryan Leonard and Sonny Milano. The latter practiced in Dubois’ spot on Washington’s top power play unit this morning as well.
Ben Harpur Signs In KHL
Veteran defenseman Ben Harpur has signed with the Shanghai Dragons of the Kontinental Hockey League for the remainder of the season, per Anton Panchenko of Championat. Harpur had hoped to land an NHL deal for this year and signed a professional tryout with the Panthers, but was released at the beginning of the month and wasn’t invited to their AHL camp, either.
Harpur, 30, has nearly 200 NHL games to his name but hasn’t logged any action since 2022-23 with the Rangers. He remained in New York’s organization for the following two seasons but played only for their AHL affiliate in Hartford. Injuries limited the 6’6″ lefty to just 36 total appearances in the minors from 2023-25, too.
An NHL return was an understandable long shot as a result, but a minor-league contract may have been within reach. Instead, the Ontario-born defender heads overseas for the first time in his 11-year pro career. He’ll do in St. Petersburg, Russia, for the China-based Dragons, who have longtime NHL bench boss Gerard Gallant at the helm and, with Harpur now in tow, carry nearly 2,000 games of combined NHL experience on their roster after rebranding from their former Kunlun Red Star identity last offseason. Harpur joins some familiar faces in Kevin Labanc, Alexander Burmistrov, and Ryan Spooner, among others. Gallant also oversaw Harpur’s most recent NHL games over two years ago.
Harpur joins a Dragons club that is quickly on the rise. The franchise never finished above .500 in their days as Kunlun Red Star, which began play back in 2016, but is off to a 9-3-3 start under Gallant and ranks second in the KHL’s Western Conference.
A fourth-round pick by the Senators in 2013, Harpur has logged time at the game’s top level with them, the Rangers, and the Predators. Topping out as a semi-reliable No. 7, the big stay-at-home rearguard has a career 2-19–21 scoring line with a -42 rating while averaging 15:38 of ice time per game. He also has 69 points and a -12 rating in 229 career AHL appearances.
Penguins Suspend Emil Pieniniemi For Failure To Report To ECHL
The Penguins have suspended defense prospect Emil Pieniniemi indefinitely after he refused an assignment to ECHL Wheeling, the team relayed to Taylor Haase of DK Pittsburgh Sports.
Pieniniemi, 20, was a third-round pick by the Pens in 2023. He was actually one of the first players from the class to sign his entry-level contract, doing so just over two weeks after the draft, but was loaned back to his native Finland for 2023-24 and posted a 2-4–6 scoring line in 38 games with Liiga’s Kärpät in his first real taste of pro hockey. Pieniniemi decided to make the jump to North America for 2024-25 but did so at the junior level instead of reporting to one of the Penguins’ affiliates, excelling with 60 points in 60 games for the OHL’s Kingston Frontenacs.
He was hoping that would boost his organizational standing as he transitioned to the North American pros this year. He wasn’t expected to compete for an NHL job, but Pieniniemi likely hoped his offensive explosion in Kingston last year would help guide him into a regular job with AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. That wasn’t the case. After being cut from Pittsburgh’s camp on Sep. 27 and assigned to WBS, he wasn’t in the AHL club’s camp for very long, either. He was sent down further to ECHL Wheeling on Oct. 5, but never showed up to Pittsburgh’s second-tier affiliate and was left off their opening night roster this week.
“Pieniniemi made it known to the team shortly after he was cut from Wilkes-Barre’s camp that he would not be going to Wheeling,” Haase reports. “The multiple team sources I asked were not aware of Pieniniemi’s current physical whereabouts.”
Pieniniemi has already been paid his $95K signing bonus for this season. However, he won’t be earning his $82.5K minor-league salary while suspended. He still has two years left after this one on his ELC since his lack of NHL playing time in 2023-24 or 2024-25 caused the deal to slide twice. Any further disputes could lead to Pieniniemi landing on unconditional waivers and seeing his contract mutually terminated, making him an unrestricted free agent.
Oilers Place Alec Regula On Injured Reserve
The Oilers announced they’ve moved defenseman Alec Regula to injured reserve to open up a roster spot. It’s unclear what they plan on doing with it just yet, although it could be a corresponding IR activation for winger Mattias Janmark, who head coach Kris Knoblauch said could be back in the lineup for today’s game against the Red Wings earlier this week.
Regula has already missed three games due to an undisclosed injury. Since he’s been out of the lineup for more than a week, he’s eligible to come off IR at any time with no minimum absence. The 25-year-old skated in the Oilers’ first two games of the year after missing all of 2024-25 due to a knee injury. He started the year in the Bruins organization, and Boston waived him in early December once their doctors cleared him to return. Edmonton claimed him off the wire, but after bringing him in, determined he wasn’t ready for game action, and he remained on the non-roster list for the balance of the campaign.
That means Regula’s showings earlier this month were his first pro hockey action in well over a year and his first NHL games since November 2022 with the Blackhawks. He spent all of 2023-24 on assignment to Boston’s AHL affiliate in Providence after they acquired him from Chicago over the preceding offseason in the Nick Foligno/Taylor Hall trade.
A third-round pick by the Red Wings back in 2018, Regula’s exceptional two-way numbers in the juniors and minors have long made him an under-the-radar candidate to break out into a top-four role in the NHL if given the chance. Injuries have obviously held that breakout up. Including his pair of showings this season, Regula has 24 NHL appearances to his name. He’s registered one goal with a -6 rating and has averaged 16:49 of ice time per game. His possession numbers have checked in as fine but unimpressive, logging a 43.8 CF% at even strength with a -2.1% relative impact.
Early on, though, it looked like Regula might be a fit alongside Darnell Nurse on Edmonton’s second pairing. He got a look there to begin the year with Jake Walman starting out on IR, and the duo controlled a team-high 72.7% of expected goals before Regula’s injury, according to MoneyPuck.
For now, his absence continues. It isn’t expected to be much longer, as Knoblauch initially anticipated Regula to be able to suit up this weekend. He shouldn’t last more than a few days on IR, but it’ll be interesting to see whether he can avoid waivers when Walman eventually returns to health and the Oilers need a roster spot for him.
Jets Recall Brad Lambert
The Jets announced that they’ve recalled center Brad Lambert from AHL Manitoba. The team has been operating with an open roster spot since sending defenseman Kale Clague down on Thursday, so no corresponding move is required.
Lambert initially made Winnipeg’s roster out of camp. He was reassigned to Manitoba last weekend to make way for Clague, whose insurance was needed while Haydn Fleury was nursing a minor knee injury. Clague was reassigned once it was clear Fleury was available again, but Lambert wasn’t immediately brought back up. The Jets likely wanted to get him in more game action with Manitoba, which played last night, before calling him back.
The 21-year-old Finn did not record a point in his first two AHL outings of the season while he was down on the farm. Last year was a tough one for the 2022 first-rounder. After splitting his post-draft year between the AHL and juniors, he caught on full-time with the Moose in 2023-24 and erupted for 21 goals and 55 points in 64 games, leading the team in scoring. He made his NHL debut that year as well and registered an assist. His momentum fell off last year, though, tickling the twine just seven times in 61 appearances with 35 total points and a -30 rating.
Winnipeg is looking for a bounce-back from its entire farm club this year, but especially from Lambert if he’s not going to log significant NHL time. He hasn’t looked entirely out of place in his six career big-league appearances, securing a pair of assists with a +1 rating while averaging 12 minutes of ice time per night. Winnipeg has been outshot significantly in Lambert’s even-strength minutes, though.
Lambert’s recall brings the Jets back to 23 healthy players on the active roster, 14 of whom are forwards. Eleven of them have played all four games this season. The 12th spot is looking to be a rotation between rookies Lambert, Nikita Chibrikov, and Parker Ford. Chibrikov played Winnipeg’s first three games before sitting as a healthy scratch on Thursday against the Flyers, with Ford taking his place. Neither has recorded a point.
Sabres Place Justin Danforth On Injured Reserve
Oct. 18: Danforth landed on IR following today’s impressive 3-0 win over the Panthers, according to the NHL’s media site. Buffalo hasn’t yet made a corresponding recall, but they now have the flexibility to in case defenseman Jacob Bryson misses time. He’s now in concussion protocol after colliding with Florida’s Jonah Gadjovich early in the game, Ruff said (via Heather Engel of NHL.com).
Oct. 17: Sabres forward Justin Danforth will miss more than a month with the lower-body injury he sustained in Wednesday’s 8-4 drubbing of the Senators, head coach Lindy Ruff told reporters today (including Rachel Lenzi of The Buffalo News). It was never made clear what play actually caused the injury, but he left the game early in the second period and didn’t return.
It’s nothing Buffalo isn’t used to by now. Injuries have decimated their forward group early in the season. Jordan Greenway and Joshua Norris remain on injured reserve. New top-line winger Zach Benson only just made his season debut after a rather significant facial injury kept him out of the first three games, and he lit up the Sens for four assists to immediately assume the team lead in scoring.
Danforth, 32, inked a two-year, $3.6MM deal with the Sabres in free agency after spending the first four years of his NHL career with the Blue Jackets. He began the year on the fourth line but was quickly elevated into top-nine duties with Jiri Kulich and Jack Quinn when Norris got hurt in Buffalo’s first game. He’s without a point in any of his four appearances and hasn’t been particularly effective otherwise, aside from taking some faceoffs and going 54.8% on the dot, on pace for a career high. He’s managed four blocks and three hits with a -2 rating, only controlling 41.5% of shot attempts despite starting 55.6% of his shifts in the offensive zone at even strength.
The Sabres can place Danforth on injured reserve at any point if they need his roster spot, although they haven’t done so yet. They have enough cap space ($3.12MM) that long-term injured reserve shouldn’t be a consideration. For now, it appears recent call-up Joshua Dunne will maintain a spot in the lineup in Danforth’s place when Buffalo hosts the Panthers tomorrow afternoon.