Canucks Activate Nils Hoglander From LTIR
The Canucks are activating winger Nils Höglander from long-term injured reserve prior to tonight’s game against the Red Wings, head coach Adam Foote told reporters (including Randip Janda of Sportsnet 650). The active roster had a vacancy due to winger Jonathan Lekkerimäki being reassigned to AHL Abbotsford yesterday.
Hoglander, 25 later this month, will be making his season debut to kick off his sixth campaign in Vancouver. The 2019 second-round pick sustained a lower-body injury early in the preseason and has been listed as week-to-week ever since.
It ended up being well over two months on the sidelines for Höglander, who was shifted to LTIR in late October. The Canucks are exceeding the cap by $1.64MM but still have defenseman Derek Forbort on LTIR, providing $2MM of relief, so they’re still in the clear.
The 5’9″ winger returns to the ice hoping to prove last season’s performance was a fluke. In 2023-24, he was a highly valuable Swiss Army knife for the ‘Nucks as he broke out for 24 goals and 36 points, helping them along to their first division title in 11 years. Last season, his production dropped off to just eight goals and 25 points in 72 appearances. Some regression was expected after he finished at a 20% rate the year prior, just as some improvement should be expected on the 9.6% mark his shooting percentage cratered to last season.
His return couldn’t come at a better time for the Canucks, who have Teddy Blueger and Filip Chytil on injured reserve while leading point-getter Elias Pettersson is ticketed to miss his second straight game with an upper-body injury. Still, he’s expected to be nursed back into the lineup in a fourth-line role, per Brendan Batchelor of Sportsnet 650, perhaps an indication that he’s cleared to play but not quite 100% yet.
Panthers Reassign Jack Devine
The Panthers announced this afternoon that forward Jack Devine has been assigned to AHL Charlotte. That clears an active roster spot, one that could be used to activate star winger Matthew Tkachuk from long-term injured reserve in the coming days. Nearly two weeks have passed since he started skating again following offseason groin surgery.
If that’s the case, Florida isn’t done making roster moves. With Devine off the roster, they’re exceeding the cap by $7.24MM. They’re compliant because that’s less than their LTIR pool of $9.52MM. That pool will shrink to $5.7MM when Tkachuk is activated, though. That’s a $1.54MM difference they need to make up for. They’ll likely do so by shifting forwards Jonah Gadjovich and Cole Schwindt from standard IR to LTIR. They carry a combined cap hit of $1.6MM, increasing their LTIR pool by just enough to carry Tkachuk on the active roster without making any other changes to the roster.
Devine is in his first professional season and still has three years or 64 NHL games played remaining until he’ll require waivers to head to the minors, so that’s not a concern anytime soon. He’s the only waiver-exempt player on the roster aside from lineup fixture Mackie Samoskevich, so that made his reassignment more or less inevitable as Florida got healthier.
The right-shooting Devine had been out of the lineup as a healthy scratch in three consecutive games. He didn’t manage a point in six appearances since being recalled from Charlotte on Nov. 18. His possession numbers are solid enough, but he was deployed in extremely sheltered usage and had a -3 rating while averaging only 8:26 of ice time per game.
Florida drafted Devine with the fifth-to-last pick of the 2022 draft. He’s been on an upward trajectory ever since and turned pro this year on the heels of back-to-back 50-point seasons at the University of Denver, where he totaled a 57-106–163 scoring line in 162 collegiate appearances across four years. He won two national championships with the Pioneers and was the top scorer in college hockey with 57 points in 2024-25, finishing as a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award for the second year in a row.
His offensive success in the NCAA has followed him to the pros, just not yet to the NHL. He rattled off six goals and 12 points through his first 13 games with Charlotte before getting called up. He was the team’s leading scorer when he was removed from the roster last month and should reclaim that title soon enough as he’s in for an extended stint – potentially the rest of the season – down in the AHL after a quiet first stint on the Cats’ roster.
Blackhawks Reassign Sam Rinzel, Landon Slaggert
The Blackhawks have reassigned defenseman Sam Rinzel and winger Landon Slaggert to AHL Rockford, per Charlie Roumeliotis of WGN Radio 720. Both players are still waiver-exempt.
Slaggert’s demotion was expected. He’s been sent down once already this season and has been a healthy scratch in eight of Chicago’s last 10 games. Rinzel’s, however, comes as a surprise.
A first-round pick straight out of the Minnesota high school ranks in 2022, Rinzel was viewed as one of the higher-ceiling offensive defenders in the class but would need plenty of developmental runway to improve his overall game. The 6’4″ righty seemed to put most of the pieces together during the last two years with the University of Minnesota. He racked up a 12-48–60 scoring line in 79 games with a +43 rating. Not only was he a Big Ten First Team All-Star last year, but he was also named the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year.
Rinzel’s performance down the stretch last season for the Blackhawks after his collegiate campaign ended only added more fuel to his stock. Chicago deployed him in a top-pairing role with Alex Vlasic for their final nine games, and the results were fantastic. Rinzel rattled off five assists and a +1 rating while averaging 23:22 of ice time per game, getting an audition on the Hawks’ top power-play unit after Seth Jones was traded weeks earlier. He and Vlasic also controlled 50% of expected goals at 5-on-5, the only Blackhawks defense pair to break even with over 100 minutes of ice time last year, per MoneyPuck.
This season, however, there have been significant growing pains. Rinzel started back in that top-pairing job with Vlasic and skated over 25 minutes twice in the Hawks’ first three games. Since then, he’s only broken the 20-minute plateau three times and not since Oct. 26. He’s remained in the lineup all this time as Chicago has dressed seven defensemen for the majority of the campaign, but he was healthy scratched once on Nov. 15 against the Maple Leafs. Since returning to the lineup, he’s managed five assists in 11 games – all at even strength – but is only averaging 14:36 of ice time per game.
The reduced usage has come as a result of some warts popping up in Rinzel’s defensive game. Rinzel’s offensive zone start percentage at 5-on-5 is 55.4, ninth on the team (min. 50 minutes). Despite that, the Blackhawks are allowing more shots per 60 minutes with Rinzel on the ice (34.2) than any other player on the roster. The same goes for shot attempts (68.3), and his 33.4 scoring chances against per 60 are the worst among defensemen.
He’ll now get some time to clean up his game in Rockford. Given Chicago’s frequent juggling of defense pairs this season, a strong run of play means he could find himself back on the roster in fairly short order – particularly if they start listening to calls on pending unrestricted free agents Matt Grzelcyk and Connor Murphy closer to the trade deadline.
It’s too early to read into how Rinzel’s demotion will affect head coach Jeff Blashill’s propensity to ice 11 forwards and seven defenders this season. Chicago didn’t fill its newly open roster spots in corresponding moves today because they’re off until Wednesday, following a dreadful weekend in Southern California, losing back-to-back games against the Kings and Ducks by a combined score of 13-1. Those losses brought their record in their last 10 games down to 2-6-2, although their hot start means they’re still one game above .500 and one point back of the Mammoth for the second wild card spot in the West as they approach the 30-game mark.
As for Slaggert, he’s been most often used as an extra forward on the NHL roster this season, a consequence of fewer jobs being available to the forward group than normal. The 23-year-old has entered the lineup on 10 occasions with one goal on five shots and an even rating. He’s averaged just 9:04 of ice time per game after seeing over 12 minutes in 33 appearances last season.
Image courtesy of Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images.
Penguins Activate Justin Brazeau, Noel Acciari From Injured Reserve
The Penguins announced they’ve activated forwards Noel Acciari and Justin Brazeau from injured reserve. They’ll be available for this evening’s game against the Stars. They had one open roster spot after Joona Koppanen cleared waivers and was reassigned to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton yesterday, and they opened the other by reassigning winger Bokondji Imama to WBS in a corresponding move. The team also announced that defensemen Harrison Brunicke and Jack St. Ivany have been recalled from their conditioning loans to the Baby Pens. However, St. Ivany will remain on the injured non-roster list for the time being. Brunicke still counted against the active roster while in the minors, so there’s no other move required there.
Brazeau is a key reinforcement, particularly as the Pens said that Evgeni Malkin will be held out of the lineup tonight due to an upper-body injury and is day-to-day. The 27-year-old was an understandably overlooked free agent pickup, signing a two-year deal worth $1.5MM annually after notching 11 goals and 22 points in 76 games last season with the Bruins and Wild.
An injury to top prospect Rutger McGroarty, though, meant Brazeau got a look on Malkin’s wing to start the year with fellow UFA reclamation project Anthony Mantha on the left flank. The line immediately had some of the best offensive chemistry in the league. Brazeau opened the season with a two-goal performance against the Rangers, and by the time October drew to a close, he was still clicking at a point per game with a 6-6–12 scoring line.
In that final game in October against Brazeau’s former team in Minnesota, he sustained an upper-body injury. He was initially ruled day-to-day, but during the first week of November, the Pens said they were shutting him down for the next four weeks. Today is four-and-a-half weeks from that announcement, so his reinstatement doesn’t come too far behind schedule.
Although he won’t have Malkin to center him to start, Brazeau looks to help rejuvenate a Penguins offense that’s cooled off considerably since clicking at 3.67 goals per game in October. They’re only scoring 2.79 per game since – 20th in the league – but are on the upswing, scoring at least four goals in four of their last five outings.
Acciari is the much more established of the two names, with 531 games of NHL experience compared to Brazeau’s 107. He’s played lower in the lineup, averaging 12:56 of ice time per game, but the pending unrestricted free agent has quietly been solid down the middle on Pittsburgh’s fourth line. He had three assists and a +3 rating through 13 games before an upper-body injury he sustained against the Maple Leafs took him out of the lineup on Nov. 3.
Pre-injury, Acciari was winning 60.4% of his faceoffs while centering a line with Connor Dewar and Blake Lizotte. They weren’t generating much offensively but were limiting opponents to 2.30 expected goals per 60 minutes, the lowest figure among Pittsburgh’s four forward lines to see at least 50 minutes together at 5-on-5.
Imama was recalled along with McGroarty last Monday as the Pens did a bit of roster shuffling. Pittsburgh has only played twice since then, and the 29-year-old enforcer suited up on both occasions. He landed a fighting major against the Lightning’s Curtis Douglas in Thursday’s win and laid three hits while registering two shots on goal, averaging what would be a career-high 7:39 of ice time per game if he doesn’t land another recall this season.
If the 19-year-old Brunicke gets back into the lineup for the Pens anytime soon, it will be his first NHL appearance since Nov. 3. The 2024 second-round pick was a healthy scratch in seven consecutive contests before Pittsburgh sent him down for conditioning two weeks ago. He’s not eligible to be removed from the NHL roster without being returned to his junior team, the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers, hence the conditioning-stint workaround to get him some action in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. In five appearances, the 6’3″ righty managed three assists with a +2 rating.
St. Ivany’s last two weeks in the AHL marked his first action of the 2025-26 season. The steady depth D-man sustained a lower-body injury late in the preseason that kept him from making the Pens’ opening night roster. While his conditioning stint had to end today as it hit its two-week limit, they don’t have a roster spot for him so he has to remain on the non-roster list for now. They can make a corresponding move to activate him tomorrow or place him on waivers. In the latter scenario, they can give him a non-roster designation until his waiver period ends.
The 26-year-old looked ready to go in his AHL stint, though. He notched a 1-4–5 scoring line with a +3 rating in five outings and, at that rate, will make a legitimate push to unseat the far more expensive Connor Clifton as the righty on the Pens’ third pairing.
Islanders Release Andrej Sustr From AHL Tryout
Veteran defender Andrej Šustr has been released from his professional tryout agreement with the Islanders’ AHL affiliate in Bridgeport, the team announced. For now, his attempted return to North America is over.
Šustr landed with the Isles’ farm team on a PTO after inking one with the crosstown Rangers to participate in their NHL camp. He lasted over a week in camp but was released from that deal on Sep. 29, and he wasn’t offered an AHL deal to stay with them, either. A few days later, Bridgeport picked him up for added veteran depth.
The former penalty-killing fixture with the Lightning wasn’t able to carve out much of a role, though. He’d been an increasingly frequent scratch, playing only five times since the start of November and not since Nov. 15. In 11 appearances, the 6’7″ righty posted one assist, a -6 rating, and 21 penalty minutes.
Šustr has 361 NHL games to his name but none since 2021-22, a season he split between the Lightning and the Ducks – his second stint with each team. The Czech rearguard was a relatively successful pickup by Tampa as an undrafted free agent out of the University of Nebraska-Omaha in 2013. He became a regular on their right side and one of their most frequent shorthanded options, posting a 10-53–63 scoring line with a -3 rating in 318 games across six seasons across his first stint. He became a free agent in 2018 and inked a one-year deal with the Ducks, but he played just five games for Anaheim and spent most of the season in the minors.
He spent the following two seasons in China with Kunlun Red Star of the Kontinental Hockey League, going without a goal in 99 games, before returning to Tampa in 2021. He split the year between the Lightning and AHL Syracuse before being claimed off waivers by the Ducks in February, finishing the year there. He signed with the Wild for 2022-23 but never suited up for them after clearing waivers at the beginning of the year. Anaheim acquired him for a third time for minor-league depth at the deadline in the John Klingberg deal, but he again didn’t see a recall. Šustr became a UFA and had spent the last two seasons in three separate European leagues – Germany’s DEL with Kölner Haie, Czechia’s Extraliga with HC Dynamo Pardubice, and Finland’s Liiga with Tappara, before landing his tryout with the Rangers to attempt an NHL return.
Now 35, Šustr has almost definitely played his final NHL game. Considering his underwhelming showing with Bridgeport, his last pro game in North America might be in the rearview as well.
Canucks Reassign Jonathan Lekkerimaki
The Canucks have returned top forward prospect Jonathan Lekkerimäki to AHL Abbotsford, per a team announcement. They now have an open roster spot, which is expected to go to Nils Höglander as he nears an activation from long-term injured reserve.
Lekkerimäki, 21, had made the team out of camp but was in and out of the lineup to begin the campaign, only skating in four of their first six contests before sustaining an undisclosed injury against the Capitals on Oct. 19. That kept him out of commission until mid-November and, when he was activated from injured reserve, was sent to Abbotsford.
The skilled Swedish sniper had 19 goals in just 36 games for the AHL club last year, and he picked up where he left off with three goals and a pair of assists in five minor-league games. That earned Lekkerimäki a quick recall back to the NHL roster on Nov. 29. He’d suited up in the Canucks’ last four games, notching his first assist of the season on Friday against the Mammoth, but was relegated to fourth-line duties in yesterday’s win over the Wild and skated just 6:35 of ice time. He also only managed one shot on goal during this stint on the roster, coming back on the 29th against the Kings.
With their highest-ceiling offensive prospect not getting much of a leash, there’s little use keeping him in limited NHL minutes when he could be continuing to gain confidence in the minors. His continued improvement there and impressive small-sample production on an Abbotsford team scoring an atrocious 1.96 goals per game this season should have him walking right into an opening-night job and top-nine role next season, if not sooner.
Lightning Reassign Steven Santini
The Lightning have reassigned veteran blue-liner Steven Santini back to AHL Syracuse, per a team announcement. Tampa’s active roster is now at 22, allowing them to activate one of Ryan McDonagh or Brayden Point from injured reserve before Monday’s game against the Maple Leafs if they’re ready to go.
The 30-year-old Santini was brought up last month in the wake of an injury to Maxwell Crozier and had stuck around on the roster as the Bolts’ defense also dealt with injuries to McDonagh, Erik Černák, and Victor Hedman, who got back in the lineup this weekend. He’s now appeared in parts of nine NHL seasons with a lifetime 5-19–24 scoring line in 131 games played split between the Lightning, Blues, Predators, and Devils. Tampa picked Santini up in free agency in 2024 on a two-way deal and, after he made one appearance for them last season, re-upped on a two-year, two-way contract in June to keep him in the organization through 2026-27.
Santini has continued to flex great two-way play in the AHL this year, posting a +7 rating (tied for third on the team) in 13 appearances. He’s also contributed four assists and is serving as an alternate captain for the second year in a row, a fitting title given his 10 years and 374 games of AHL experience.
The 6’3″ righty has been deployed more as a defensive specialist in his NHL minutes and has posted fine possession metrics given his deployment in a limited role. He’s only controlled 42.4% of shot attempts at even strength for his career, but that becomes defensible when considering he’s only started 37.7% of his shifts in the offensive zone. Through seven games for the Bolts this year, he had an even rating and one assist while averaging 12:01 of ice time per game. There’s little upside left in his game, but he carries value as a dependable, replacement-level option who can deliver in bottom-pairing duties as an injury replacement.
Stars Activate Matt Duchene, Nils Lundkvist From LTIR
The Stars announced they’ve activated center Matt Duchene and defenseman Nils Lundkvist from long-term injured reserve. Both are expected to be in the lineup for this evening’s game against the Penguins.
Duchene’s absence has been longer than anyone expected. The 34-year-old has been limited to four appearances this season with an upper back injury that he first sustained against the Wild on Oct. 14. He was initially listed as day-to-day and missed one game before attempting a return. He hasn’t played since reaggravating the injury when he re-entered the lineup on Oct. 18 against the Blues, though.
The 17-year veteran has still carried a day-to-day designation throughout his absence. He wasn’t moved to LTIR until after he had already missed the 10 games and 24 days required for a placement, so he was eligible to come off at any time.
Coming off a 30-goal, 82-point showing for Dallas last season, Duchene could have been among the most high-profile unrestricted free agents on the market last summer. Instead, he opted to take a significant discount to return to the cap-strapped Stars, signing a four-year, $18MM deal to potentially retire in Dallas. The 5’11” pivot initially joined the Stars for the 2023-24 season after a high-profile buyout by the Predators. At the time, he had three years remaining on a contract paying him an average of $8MM per season. He signed back-to-back one-year, $3MM pacts with Dallas before finally landing some term this past summer.
Duchene has been a highly valuable cog in the Stars’ top six since his arrival, particularly in the wake of top-line fixture Joe Pavelski‘s retirement and continued long-term injury issues for Tyler Seguin. His 0.90 points per game since joining the team are third on the club behind only Mikko Rantanen (1.17) and Jason Robertson (1.02). His 82 points last year were only the second time in his career that the 2009 third overall pick has crossed the 80-point mark and were four short of his career high.
While battling through his back problems to begin the year, Duchene still managed a goal and an assist before his extended absence. He also went 12-for-23 on faceoffs (52.2%), and Dallas outchanced opponents 20-18 when he was on the ice at 5-on-5.
At first glance, with Duchene out for virtually the entire season, the Stars’ offense hasn’t missed a beat. However, their shot generation is in the basement – 26.0 per game for 26th in the league – despite their actual goal production being fourth at 3.45 per game. That’s fueled by an unsustainably high 13.3% shooting rate. Duchene’s return, particularly with Seguin’s ACL tear likely ending his season, should help them boost their underlying numbers to help cushion the blow as their finishing luck recedes.
Lundkvist is also an important return for a Dallas defense that’s also been without Lian Bichsel and Thomas Harley as of late. The 2018 first-rounder has still yet to elevate himself past a No. 7 job, but it looked like he was well on his way toward doing so before sustaining a lower-body injury in his fourth appearance of the season against the Canucks on Oct. 16. He hasn’t played since.
In those four games, though, the 25-year-old righty had rattled off a goal and two assists while averaging 16 minutes per game in second-pairing duties with Harley. While the skilled rearguard is highly unlikely to continue producing at a 0.75 points per game clip the rest of the way, that added layer of puck-moving support on Dallas’ back end behind Harley and Miro Heiskanen was an element they sorely missed last season.
With Harley out, not only is Lundkvist expected to step back into the lineup as Dallas’ second-pairing righty – he’ll anchor the unit with call-up Vladislav Kolyachonok on his left flank. That arrangement shouldn’t need to last for too long, though. Harley, who hasn’t played since Nov. 13 due to a lower-body injury, has returned to practice and shouldn’t be too far off from a return, per Robert Tiffin of D Magazine.
While LTIR activations usually must be accompanied by some cap-clearing moves, that isn’t the case here. The Stars already had two open roster spots, plus Seguin, Bichsel, and Adam Erne remain on LTIR to keep their pool of $5.36MM well above their current cap exceedance of $1.77MM.
Anton Lundmark Clears Unconditional Waivers
Saturday: Lundmark passed through waivers unclaimed, Friedman reports. HockeySverige’s Mans Karlsson reports that the forward is indeed expected to rejoin Timrå.
Friday: The Panthers placed winger Anton Lundmark on unconditional waivers today, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. He’ll have his contract terminated tomorrow after he clears, and will become an unrestricted free agent.
It’s a rapid end to Lundmark’s time in the Florida organization. The 24-year-old Swede signed a one-year, entry-level pact with the Cats in April as an undrafted free agent out of the Swedish Hockey League’s Timrå IK.
At the time, it was a highly puzzling move. The 6’4″, 192-lb Lundmark had never been on the public radar. Last season was the first time he’d ever suited up in the top tier of European professional hockey. All of his previous experience had come in the second and third divisions of Swedish hockey, even spending a few games in the fifth and sixth tiers earlier on in his development.
Even then, he wasn’t much more than a fourth-line penalty-killing piece for Timrå. In 49 games, he only registered five goals and nine points with a +2 rating.
Those numbers weren’t conducive to Lundmark having much of an impact in the minors, let alone coming anywhere close to landing an NHL job. In nine games with AHL Charlotte, he’s been held without a point and has a -2 rating. He’s been a healthy scratch for nearly half their schedule and has sat out of four of Charlotte’s last six games.
Lundmark’s previous contract with Timrå ran through 2025-26 and contained an NHL out-clause. Since they still hold his rights, he’s presumably returning there for the balance of the campaign.
Joona Koppanen Clears Waivers
Saturday: Koppanen has passed through successfully for the second time, Friedman reports. The team announced that he was subsequently sent down to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
Friday: The Penguins placed forward Joona Koppanen on waivers Friday, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. He’ll be assigned to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton if he clears.
It’s Koppanen’s second time on the wire this season. He cleared during training camp and began the campaign in the minors before Pittsburgh recalled him in early November as the corresponding move for Filip Hallander‘s blood clot diagnosis.
The 27-year-old played 10 games on his recall, just enough to require waivers again to return to the minors. Now in his ninth year in North America and third in the Penguins organization, he recorded one assist and a -1 rating with six shots on goal during his recent stint in the lineup. Those 10 appearances were consecutive after his recall; he was then scratched for their win over the Flyers last Monday and missed Thursday’s win over the Lightning with an illness.
Koppanen was a fifth-round pick by the Bruins back in 2016. He remained in the Boston organization until 2022-23, making his NHL debut for the B’s that year, before reaching Group VI unrestricted free agency and signing in Pittsburgh. He initially inked a two-year deal but re-upped with them on a two-way extension in June of this year.
The big 6’5″ center is a competent piece of organizational depth and a good middle-six producer in the minors, scoring 139 points in 365 career AHL appearances. He hasn’t been able to stick as a fourth-line piece in several NHL tries now, though. He averaged north of 12 minutes per game on this call-up and even received some penalty kill deployment – he also did in 11 games for the Pens last year. His possession impacts and lack of offense (one goal, three points in 30 career NHL games) haven’t offered enough justification to keep him in the lineup. Among 25 qualified Pittsburgh skaters this year, Koppanen’s 47.2 xGF% at 5-on-5 ranks 20th. After playing a physical brand with 40 hits in 11 games last season, he only recorded nine hits in 10 appearances this time around.
Teams who are in dire need of center depth could take a long look at placing a claim for Koppanen, but in all likelihood, he shouldn’t have much trouble clearing.