Capitals Recall Ivan Miroshnichenko, Place Justin Sourdif On IR
According to a team announcement, the Washington Capitals have recalled Ivan Miroshnichenko from the AHL’s Hershey Bears. In a corresponding roster move, the Capitals placed Justin Sourdif on the injured reserve with an upper-body injury.
Miroshnichenko’s story in Washington is well known at this point. The Capitals selected Miroshnichenko with the 20th overall pick of the 2022 NHL Draft, and he spent the following season with the KHL’s Avangard Omsk, scoring three goals and one assist in 23 games.
Despite the tepid scoring output, Washington brought Miroshnichenko to North America beginning in the 2023-24 season. He’s been a terrific scorer with AHL Hershey, but has failed to break out in any meaningful way with the Capitals.
In his first professional season in North America, Miroshnichenko finished with two goals and six points in 21 games with Washington, typically placed in a middle-six role while averaging 12:08 of ice time per night. Still, he showed quality production with the Bears, scoring nine goals and 25 points in 47 games. Additionally, after scoring seven goals and 12 points in 20 postseason contests, Miroshnichenko helped Hershey win its second consecutive Calder Cup championship.
Since then, he’s been largely isolated to an AHL role. He’s scored one goal and four points in 20 games for the Capitals over the last two years, usually being confined to a bottom-six role. Regardless, he’s kept up his strong performance in the AHL, scoring 29 goals and 58 points in his past 73 games.
Meanwhile, Sourdif formally heads to the IR after missing Washington’s last several games. He took a puck to the face in the Capitals’ recent loss to the Nashville Predators on January 11th. It was unfortunate timing for Sourdif, who had scored six goals and 12 points in 13 games leading up to the injury.
Rangers Recall Connor Mackey
According to a team announcement, the New York Rangers have recalled defenseman Connor Mackey from the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack. The reasoning behind Mackey’s recall is that defenseman Carson Soucy will miss tomorrow’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers due to personal reasons.
Today’s transaction makes the fourth recall of the year for Mackey. The 29-year-old defenseman is in his third year with the organization and in the final year of a two-year, $1.55MM contract.
Despite being recalled on multiple occasions, Mackey has yet to play for the Rangers this season. Up to this point, since the beginning of the 2023-24 campaign, Mackey has gone scoreless in three games with New York, averaging 16:14 of ice time per game. The Rangers have six other healthy defensemen on the roster, so Mackey isn’t expected to add to those totals.
He has spent most of his time with the organization playing with AHL Hartford. Providing quality hard-nosed two-way play, Mackey has scored 10 goals and 42 points in 142 games with the Wolf Pack, accruing 238 PIMs in the process.
Meanwhile, Soucy will miss his fifth game this season. The 31-year-old blue liner has appeared in 44 games with New York this season, scoring three goals and eight points while averaging 17:18 of ice time. He has provided quality play on the defensive side of the puck, averaging a 93.5% on-ice SV% at even strength.
There is an indication that Soucy is in his final few weeks with the Rangers. Earlier today, General Manager Chris Drury penned a letter to fans, indicating that the team would punt on the 2025-26 campaign to retool for the future success of the franchise. Being a pending unrestricted free agent, Soucy would be an ideal trade candidate leading up to the deadline, should New York find any suitors for his services.
Wild Place Joel Eriksson Ek, Matt Boldy On IR
The Minnesota Wild are again dealing with multiple injuries. The Wild announced that they’ve placed forwards Joel Eriksson Ek and Matt Boldy on the injured reserve.
Additionally, Minnesota has made multiple roster moves. In the same announcement, the team shared that they’ve recalled Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Hunter Haight, and David Jiříček to the NHL, while returning Carson Lambos to the AHL’s Iowa Wild.
Assuming the Wild makes Eriksson Ek’s placement retroactive to January 8th, he’s eligible to be activated as soon as he’s healthy. Still, since the team opted to place him on the injured reserve today, there’s little chance he’ll be in the lineup tomorrow against the Buffalo Sabres. He’s been dealing with a lower-body injury for the past week.
Already perusing the trade market for a second-line center, Eriksson Ek’s exit from the lineup has been a major detriment to the team. In the three games he has missed, Minnesota has lost all of them while collecting only one point. Typically in a top-six role, Eriksson Ek has scored 11 goals and 32 points in 45 games for the Wild this season while having a 49.7% success rate in the faceoff dot.
Meanwhile, arguably the larger concern is that Boldy will have to miss the next four games. Since Boldy seemingly suffered an undisclosed injury in Minnesota’s recent game against the Winnipeg Jets, he won’t be eligible to return until next Friday.
After skating in 203 consecutive games, the Wild will now move forward with one of their best offensive forces. Throughout 48 games this season, Boldy led the team in goal-scoring with 27 tallies and sat one point behind Kirill Kaprizov for the overall team lead.
Neither Aube-Kubel nor Haight will help Minnesota make up for the loss of offense. The two have combined for one assist across six games for the Wild this season. Still, in their defense, they’ve remained relatively productive with AHL Iowa this season, with the latter ranked third on the team in scoring with seven goals and 17 points in 31 games.
San Jose Sharks Activate Will Smith
As expected, the San Jose Sharks announced that they’ve activated Will Smith from the injured reserve. The Sharks placed forward Ty Dellandrea on injured reserve yesterday to make room for Smith’s return.
Smith, 20, has been on the shelf for a month due to an upper-body injury. At the time, he was second on the team in scoring behind Macklin Celebrini. He has since been surpassed by Alexander Wennberg, Tyler Toffoli, and William Eklund.
Still, in terms of points-per-game, Smith is clearly San Jose’s best offensive option behind Celebrini. Before suffering the upper-body ailment, the sophomore forward had scored 12 goals and 29 points in 33 games. Had he continued that pace over the course of the entire regular season, Smith would have finished with approximately 72 points, a 27-point increase from his rookie campaign.
According to line rushes this morning, Smith will reprise his role on Celebrini’s wing, alongside rookie Igor Chernyshov. The two youngsters primarily played with Philipp Kurashev earlier in the year, with the trio combining for a 45.2% xGoals%.
Somehow, despite losing their second-best scorer, the Sharks’ offense has taken off since Smith exited the lineup. In his 33 games to begin the year, San Jose averaged 2.9 GF/G and a 18.6% success rate on the power play. Without him in the lineup, they’ve averaged 3.84 GF/G and a 25.6% powerplay. Getting Smith back into the lineup should vault the Sharks’ offense even higher moving forward.
Florida Panthers To Activate Cole Schwindt
The Florida Panthers will return a depth forward to their lineup tonight. According to rinkside reporter Katie Engleson, forward Cole Schwindt will be in the lineup for the Panthers tonight, confirming he’ll be activated from the team’s injured reserve.
Now in his second stint in Florida, the 24-year-old hasn’t played for the team in two months due to a broken arm suffered against the Vancouver Canucks on November 17th. Before the injury, Schwindt had scored two goals while averaging 8:38 of action per game.
It’ll be interesting to see how the Panthers make room for Schwindt on the active roster. The easiest option would be to reassign rookie Sandis Vilmanis, who is one of the few waiver-exempt players on the roster. Still, the team could demote little-used forward Noah Gregor, who cleared waivers last Saturday but remained with the team.
Regardless, it’s a positive step in the right direction for the defending Stanley Cup champions. Florida has dealt with numerous injuries this season, which has hindered their ability to jockey for playoff positioning in the Eastern Conference.
Still, even outside of returning Schwindt to the lineup, the team is close to returning Brad Marchand and Matthew Tkachuk, as well. Leading up to the trade deadline, and as they get closer to a completely healthy roster, the Panthers will be a dangerous team as they look to defend their crown.
Predators Recall Andreas Englund
The Nashville Predators announced they’ve recalled defenseman Andreas Englund from the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals. He’s expected to serve as the team’s seventh defenseman tonight as Adam Wilsby works his way back from a minor injury.
Englund, 29, joined the Predators last season after being claimed off waivers by the Los Angeles Kings. He enjoyed a consistent role in Nashville for the remainder of the season, registering two assists in 24 games with the club, averaging 14:36 of ice time per night.
After two months with the team, the Predators signed Englund to a one-year, $775K extension for the 2025-26 campaign. Unfortunately, he wasn’t guaranteed a spot on the roster this year, and Nashville sent Englund through waivers shortly before the start of the regular season.
Being his first recall of the year, the 6’3″, 201lbs blue liner has spent the entire campaign with AHL Milwaukee up to this point. He has been relatively productive, scoring two goals and six points in 30 games with a +2 rating. He’s third on the team with 44 PIMs.
Regardless, Englund should expect his current recall to be short-lived. At the time of writing, Wilsby has a day-to-day recovery timeline, meaning he could return by the end of the weekend. Nashville now has 22 players on their active roster.
New York Rangers Announce Retool
Similar to Jeff Gorton nearly seven years ago, current General Manager Chris Drury wrote a letter to New York Rangers fans, stating that the team would undergo a retool this season.
In the letter, Drury said, “This will not be a rebuild. This will be a retool built around our core players and prospects.” Drury went on to acknowledge that the fans should expect some trades or departures via free agency, saying, “That may mean saying goodbye to players that have brought us and our fans great moments over the years.”
The news was largely expected. Despite wanting to compete for a playoff spot this season, the Rangers are in last place in the Eastern Conference by a three-point margin and are tied for the most games played. Their -21 goal differential is also the worst in the Conference.
After losing defenseman Adam Fox and netminder Igor Shesterkin to injury in early January, there was little hope that New York would be able to climb out of the hole. Still, instead of re-shaping the entire roster, Drury specified a retool, which indicates that the team may only move out expiring assets and reassess next summer.
Regardless, we know of at least one player who won’t finish the 2025-26 season with the Rangers. Shortly after the announcement from New York, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that Drury met with Artemi Panarin, telling him that the team would not be extending him an extension offer, and they would like to move him to a team where he could win the Stanley Cup or sign long-term.
Earlier this week, we assessed some of the hypothetical landing spots for Panarin that were provided by Friedman, namely the Colorado Avalanche, Florida Panthers, Minnesota Wild, and Washington Capitals. Determining Panarin’s trade value is challenging due to the absence of recent comparables for a rental of his significance.
Furthermore, there’s no questioning that Panarin’s market value dipped from today’s news. Publicly, the Rangers remained interested in extending Panarin beyond the 2025-26 campaign. However, considering his full no-movement clause, New York will allow Panarin to pick his next destination, which will likely diminish their potential return.
Meanwhile, the Rangers don’t have many additional expiring assets that will be of much value on the trade market. Joining Panarin as pending unrestricted free agents are Jonny Brodzinski, Conor Sheary, and Carson Soucy. Technically, Jonathan Quick could also be a trade candidate, but the veteran netminder has been pretty rigid in his ‘Rangers or retirement’ attitude.
Assuming Drury waits until the offseason to consider trading the trickier contracts of Mika Zibanejad, Alexis Lafreniere, Vincent Trocheck, etc, there are a few more veterans he may attempt to move this season.
Veterans like Taylor Raddysh, Sam Carrick, and Urho Vaakanainen are only signed through the 2026-27 season, potentially giving the Rangers a few more assets to move. At any rate, the Rangers now have the biggest fish leading up to the March 6th trade deadline.
Photo courtesy of Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images.
Devils Place Juho Lammikko, Colton White On Waivers
The New Jersey Devils are attempting to jettison a few depth options from their roster. The Devils announced that they’ve placed forward Juho Lammikko and defenseman Colton White on waivers.
Lammikko, 29, is in his first year with the Devils after spending the last three years overseas with the NL’s ZSC Lions. He was very productive while in Switzerland, scoring 48 goals and 112 points in 144 games with a +60 rating. He signed a one-year, $800K contract with New Jersey last summer.
Despite making the team’s opening night roster, Lammikko had to wait until late October to debut due to a lower-body injury. Largely in a bottom-six role, Lammikko has appeared in 22 games for the Devils this season, registering two assists and a -4 rating while averaging 10:10 of ice time per game.
Meanwhile, unlike Lammikko, White did not immediately make the Devils’ roster this year. Still, due to multiple injuries sustained by New Jersey’s defensive core, White was recalled in early November and has been with the team ever since.
The 28-year-old defenseman has appeared in 23 games for the Devils this season (his second stint with the club), registering four assists and a +2 rating while averaging 12:15 of ice time. He’s been a quality player on the defensive side of the puck, averaging a 93.1% on-ice SV% at even strength.
New Jersey did not immediately clarify if either player would be demoted to the AHL’s Utica Comets should they clear, though it’s largely expected. Still, the Devils could simply be looking for additional roster flexibility.
Assuming both Lammikko and White clear waivers and are reassigned tomorrow afternoon, New Jersey’s active roster would be reduced to 21 players. It’s more than likely the team will make additional recalls then, particularly to their forward core.
Hurricanes, Sharks Complete Minor Trade
According to a team announcement, the San Jose Sharks have traded defenseman Kyle Masters and a 2026 fourth-round pick to the Carolina Hurricanes for the Blackhawks’ 2027 fifth-round pick.
Oddly enough, this trade is largely centered around forward prospect Michael Misa. Since he is about to play in his 10th game of the year, the Sharks must officially register Misa’s contract. Since the team already had 50 contracts, Misa was ineligible to play tonight unless San Jose removed one from their organization.
Masters, 22, is the consequence. The Sharks acquired Masters earlier this season in a trade with the Minnesota Wild. He was the 118th overall pick of the 2021 NHL Draft and is in the final year of his entry-level contract.
Despite having an NHL contract, Masters is not close to reaching the sport’s highest league. He’s spent the entire year with the ECHL’s Wichita Thunder, registering three assists in 10 games with a -8 rating. It’s a far cry from what he produced last season, scoring five goals and 13 points in 27 games for the ECHL’s Iowa Heartlanders, and three points in 16 games for the AHL’s Iowa Wild.
The strategy for acquiring Masters was simple for the Hurricanes. The team already had two open contract spots, meaning they’ll upgrade a fifth-round pick to a fourth-round pick simply by acquiring an expiring asset. Assuming Carolina stashes Masters in the ECHL, he’ll join the Greensboro Gargoyles for the remainder of the season.
Golden Knights Reassign Carl Lindbom
According to the team over at SinBin.vegas, the Vegas Golden Knights have reassigned netminder Carl Lindbom to the AHL’s Henderson Silver Knights. The transaction reduces the Golden Knights’ active roster to 22 players.
Lindbom, 22, was originally recalled on January 9th after Carter Hart went down with an injury. He only appeared in one game during the recall, stopping 18 of 20 shots against the San Jose Sharks in a win on January 11th. Throughout the 2025-26 campaign, he has managed a 2-4-2 record in eight games with Vegas, with a .873 SV% and 3.00 GAA.
Yesterday, after placing Hart on the injured reserve, the Golden Knights activated Adin Hill, giving Vegas three healthy netminders on the roster. Hill barely backstopped the Golden Knights to a win against the Toronto Maple Leafs last night.
After being assured that Hill was healthy and having a need to accrue more cap space, Vegas had little need to keep Lindbom on the roster moving forward. If they want to fill out the open roster spot, it’ll likely come in the form of recalling a depth defenseman. The Golden Knights currently only have six healthy defensemen available.
Meanwhile, Lindbom will return to AHL Henderson, where he’s spent much of the last two years. He has proven to be a formidable backstop since joining the North American professional circuit last season, owning an AHL record of 24-18-7 in 48 games with a .916 SV% and 2.51 GAA, including five shutouts.