Justin Faulk Reportedly Drawing Trade Interest
In his recent look into the potential trade board heading into 2026, Sportsnet’s Nick Kyperos believes that St. Louis Blues defenseman Justin Faulk is drawing plenty of trade interest from around the league. According to Kyperos, interested teams are considering Faulk a fallback option for those that fail to land Rasmus Andersson from the Calgary Flames.
Outside of not having as much trade value as Andersson, Faulk would be more complicated to trade for. The 15-year veteran is signed through the 2026-27 season at a $6.5MM cap hit and has a 15-team no-trade clause for this season and next.
Despite not displaying the offensive prowess he showed a few years ago, Faulk has stayed relatively consistent as he enters the back-nine of his NHL career. The 33-year-old rear guard scored 27 goals and 97 points in 158 games for the Blues from 2021 to 2023, with a +37 rating. He wasn’t a stranger to a heavy workload at the time, either, averaging 23:17 of ice time per game.
Factoring in his physicality and willingness to block shots during those two years, it’s no question why Faulk earned a few Norris votes, albeit at the bottom of the table. Since then, especially as St. Louis has entered a transitional period of their own, Faulk has seen his offensive production fall by a healthy margin.
Since the beginning of the 2023-24 campaign, Faulk has scored 12 goals and 75 points in 162 contests, a more than 20-point dropoff from his production from 2021 to 2023. However, although his physicality has fallen somewhat, Faulk remains a quality shot blocker while averaging more than 22 minutes of ice time per contest.
He’s actually shown a slight uptick in his defensive metrics, as well. Averaging a 91.1% on-ice save percentage at even strength throughout his time with the Blues, Faulk averaged a 91.7% mark in 2023-24, and 91.6% last season.
Although Kypreos didn’t mention any interested parties, there are a few teams that could theoretically use Faulk’s service, despite the relatively high cap hit for an in-season trade. The Detroit Red Wings, who have fallen to 25th place in GA/G, could certainly use more skill on the blue line.
Additionally, the Carolina Hurricanes and Utah Mammoth, each of which have ample cap space and has dealt with multiple injuries to their defensive core this season, may swing a trade for Faulk to improve the floor of their depth options.
Tristan Jarry Reportedly Generating Trade Interest
What a difference a year can make. According to ESPN’s Kevin Weekes, Pittsburgh Penguins’ netminder Tristan Jarry is drawing trade interest from around the league. Unsurprisingly, Weekes lists the Edmonton Oilers as the primary suitor.
Last season, few would have believed that Jarry would become anything other than a likely salary dump. In the second year of his five-year, $26.88MM contract, Jarry managed a 16-12-6 record in 36 games with a .892 SV% and 3.12 GAA. Additionally, according to MoneyPuck, Jarry was ranked 35th (among goalies that played in 30 or more games) in Goals Saved Above Expected (GSAE) with a -4.7 mark.
Due to a combination of conditioning loans and waiver placements, all signs indicated that Pittsburgh’s relationship with Jarry was coming to an end. However, due to his poor performance, Jarry had little to no value on the trade market.
However, much like the Penguins as a whole, the 10-year veteran goaltender has appeared to turn a corner, albeit in a small sample size. Before missing the team’s last seven games due to an injury, Jarry had earned a 5-2-0 record in seven starts with a .911 SV% and 2.60 GAA. In terms of his GSAE, he has already overcome last year’s performance, producing a 4.8 according to MoneyPuck.
Unfortunately, as much as the Oilers may be interested in adding Jarry, there may be too many obstacles to overcome. For starters, Jarry’s $5.375MM cap hit is $1.775MM more than Edmonton is paying Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard combined. The Oilers will assuredly need to match salary, given that they’re currently $159K under the upper limit of the salary cap.
The one obstacle that could be easily overcome is Jarry’s 12-team no-trade clause. Although they haven’t gotten off to a positive start to the 2025-26 campaign, Edmonton has won back-to-back Western Conference Finals and is objectively far closer to contention than the Penguins. Additionally, although he’s a native of British Columbia, Jarry spent his Major Junior days with the WHL’s Edmonton Oil Kings.
Regardless, given how he has performed up to this point of the season, it would be foolish for Pittsburgh to isolate Jarry’s market to just the Oilers. Teams such as the Montreal Canadiens, Utah Mammoth, and Carolina Hurricanes could all enhance their goaltending depth and have a far better financial outlook than the Oilers.
Tampa Bay Lightning Activate Pontus Holmberg
According to Erik Erlendsson of Lightning Insider, the Tampa Bay Lightning have activated depth forward Pontus Holmberg from the injured reserve. No corresponding roster move was required as the Lightning placed defenseman Erik Cernak on injured reserve a few days ago.
Although Tampa Bay’s defense is still banged up, Holmberg’s activation brings the Lightning’s forward core to full health. Holmberg had missed a little over two weeks with an undisclosed issue.
The 26-year-old native of Vasteras, Sweden, has performed relatively well in his first year with the Lightning. Leading up to the injury on November 8th, Holmberg had scored one goal and five points in 15 games, averaging 12:24 of ice time per game.
That output is relatively consistent in terms of his performance during his tenure with the Toronto Maple Leafs from 2022 to 2025. After debuting with the Maple Leafs in the 2022-23 season, Holmberg scored 19 goals and 49 points in 159 games, averaging approximately 25 points over 82 games. His output over 15 games with Tampa Bay equates to 27 points over a full campaign.
Despite the numerous injuries across the roster, the Lightning have done great work of late, making the most of their spare parts. Winning four consecutive games and seven out of their last 10, Tampa Bay has vaulted to the top of the Atlantic Division and the top three of the Eastern Conference.
Red Wings Activate Elmer Söderblom, Place Michael Rasmussen On IR
The Detroit Red Wings announced they’ve activated bottom-six forward Elmer Söderblom from the injured reserve. In a corresponding roster move, the team has placed forward Michael Rasmussen on injured reserve, retroactive to November 20th.
Söderblom ends his tenure on the injured reserve after nearly three weeks. The former sixth-round pick, who made the Red Wings’ opening night roster, had been out of the lineup with an undisclosed injury since November 9th.
Regardless, Söderblom’s start to the 2025-26 season raises the question of whether he was injured before officially being removed from the lineup. In his 11 games leading up to the injury, Söderblom had only tallied one goal with a -4 rating, averaging 10:27 of ice time per game.
It’s a far cry from the jolt of energy he provided to Detroit toward the end of last season. Waiting until January for his full-time recall, Söderblom scored four goals and 11 points in 26 games for the Red Wings last year, managing a 91.2% on-ice save percentage at even strength as one of the better defensive forwards on the team. This season, he’s only managed an 89.4%.
Meanwhile, Rasmussen has been similarly disappointing throughout the current campaign. As one of the last vestiges of the Ken Holland era in Detroit, Rasmussen had scored two goals and five points in 19 games, largely relegated to a bottom-six role.
Although his CorsiFor% at even strength has continued to increase this season under a full year of Todd McLellan‘s stewardship, his defensive metrics have similarly dropped like Söderblom’s. Regardless, Detroit may have to stick it out with Rasmussen even if he doesn’t improve, as he’s signed through the 2027-28 campaign, though he doesn’t have any trade protection.
Kraken Activate Jared McCann, Reassign Oscar Fisker Molgaard
The Seattle Kraken will welcome back their franchise-leading scorer tonight. Seattle announced they’ve activated Jared McCann from the injured reserve, and reassigned Oscar Fisker Molgaard in a corresponding roster move.
McCann returns after being away from the team for over a month. The 11-year veteran has been recovering from a lower-body injury suffered in the Kraken’s October 18th game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. His absence, originally designated as a day-to-day issue, kept him out of the lineup much longer than expected.
Regardless, he’ll be an important reintroduction for Seattle’s offense. Before the 2025-26 campaign, McCann had scored 118 goals and 243 points in 315 games as a Kraken while on an exceptionally affordable $5MM salary. This season, before succumbing to the lower-body ailment, McCann had scored three goals and four points in five games, averaging 17:17 of ice time per game.
Although they aren’t the worst offensive team in the league, they aren’t far off. Seattle has averaged 2.59 goals per game through their first 22 contests — even while averaging a nearly 20% success rate with a man advantage. Still, the Kraken’s goaltending and defense, while at even strength, have kept Seattle in the playoff conversation as we approach American Thanksgiving.
Meanwhile, Fisker Molgaard will return to the AHL’s Coachella Valley Firebirds after appearing in a couple of games for the Kraken. The 20-year-old former second-round pick was extremely limited in his two contests, scoring one assist while averaging 6:00 of action. He’ll attempt to continue where he left off with the Firebirds, where he scored three goals and 10 points through his first 14 contests.
Poll: Who Will Be The Next Pending UFA To Sign An Extension?
As expected, the upcoming unrestricted free agent class has been thinned out over the last couple of months. From Connor McDavid to Adrian Kempe, there are very few top-level pending UFAs left on the board. Still, there’s some belief that the list could get even shorter relatively soon.
Of the highest-scoring pending UFAs in the league right now, Evgeni Malkin, Nick Schmaltz, Alex Ovechkin, John Carlson, Alex Tuch, and Artemi Panarin lead the way. However, in the cases of Malkin, Ovechkin, and Carlson, they are all 35 years or older, and there’s no guarantee they’ll continue playing beyond the 2025-26 campaign. That leaves Schmaltz, Tuch, and Panarin as the three likeliest options to sign an in-season extension.
Much has been made of Schmaltz’s situation with the Utah Mammoth this season. Despite getting off to an excellent start with 10 goals and 22 points in 23 games, there is some indication that the relationship between Schmaltz and Utah has soured.
According to a report from late October by David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period, the Mammoth apparently attempted to trade Schmaltz to the Carolina Hurricanes during the past offseason when the first round of extension negotiations proved unfruitful. Schmaltz was involved with the trade talks at the time, as he provided Utah with a list of teams with which he would sign an extension. Since then, there have been no updates as to any further negotiations between the two sides.
Meanwhile, Tuch has gotten off to a similarly good start to his contract year with the Buffalo Sabres. A native of Syracuse, NY, Tuch’s love for the Buffalo area is well known, leading many to believe that he’ll sign an extension with the team this season. However, given that the Sabres are headed for a 15th consecutive year without reaching the playoffs, few people would blame Tuch if he were to depart for a more competitive situation.
Lastly, there have been a few updates between Panarin and the New York Rangers, though it doesn’t appear anything is close between the two sides. Reports from earlier in the year indicated that the Rangers would only extend Panarin if he were amenable to a much lower salary, which is something Panarin has not appeared enthusiastic about. The 34-year-old Russian has scored six goals and 20 points in 24 games.
Despite all three potentially leading the pack of prospective UFAs next summer, and additionally being quality trade assets, there’s plenty of time remaining in the regular season to get a deal done. Which of these three, if any, do you think will be the next to sign?
Mobile users click here to vote.
Canucks Reportedly Listening To Offers On Veterans
In a new report from Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the insider shares that the Vancouver Canucks have begun listening to offers on ‘veteran players’. Friedman indicated that this includes players who are pending unrestricted free agents, as well as a handful with two or more years left on their contracts.
Friedman’s report states that the Canucks have zero interest in a full-scale rebuild, although they are considering a retooling effort to become a younger team. Instead of theorizing on a few names that could get moved, Friedman only noted the two that Vancouver has no interest in parting with: Quinn Hughes and Filip Hronek.
If the Canucks enter the deadline season as sellers, they haven’t made it particularly easy on themselves. 10 out of the 23 players on the active roster have sizeable trade protection on their contracts, while two more (Conor Garland & Thatcher Demko) will be getting no-movement clauses next season as a part of their recent extensions.
Arguably, the most tradeable asset the team has is winger Kiefer Sherwood. Signed to a modest $1.5MM salary this season before becoming an unrestricted free agent, Sherwood has styled himself as an ideal playoff performer. Over the last two years with Vancouver, Sherwood has scored 31 goals and 56 points in 101 games, averaging 15:32 of ice time per game, while also delivering a whopping 560 hits.
Similar to Sherwood, Evander Kane, who’s in his first year with the club, could also have interest from contending teams. The former fourth-overall pick recently went to back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals with the Edmonton Oilers, scoring 10 goals and 20 points in 41 games, delivering 159 hits. Unlike Sherwood, Kane is earning a higher salary of $5.125MM for the remainder of the season and can block trades to up to 16 different teams.
Assuming Vancouver doesn’t attempt to move anyone with a no-movement clause and hold to their desire to retain Hughes and Hronek, there aren’t many veterans with multiple years left on their contracts to move. In fact, bottom-six forward Drew O’Connor is one of the few to fit this criteria who the Canucks could conceivably receive positive value for on the trade market.
It’s the cost of doing business, but there’s no questioning that the duo of Patrik Allvin and Jim Rutherford have put themselves in a bind, at least for the 2025-26 campaign, with the amount of no-movement clauses they have handed out over the years. Vancouver has a few pieces they could trade away for younger talent, though it doesn’t seem like enough to move the needle in any meaningful fashion.
New York Islanders Reassign Marshall Warren
According to a team announcement, the New York Islanders have assigned defenseman Marshall Warren to the AHL’s Bridgeport Islanders. Without a corresponding roster move, the Islanders are down to six defensemen on the active roster.
Warren, 24, was recalled for the injured blueliner Alexander Romanov. Due to a scary collision with Mikko Rantanen in New York’s recent game against the Dallas Stars, Romanov will miss the next five to six months after shoulder surgery.
The former sixth-round pick of the Minnesota Wild has quickly become the first man up for the Islanders on defense. It’s somewhat surprising given that Warren was relatively disappointing with AHL Bridgeport last season, scoring four goals and 17 points in 53 games with a -7 rating.
However, he’s performed much better this season. Despite only playing in 10 games due to the two NHL callups, Warren remains second on the team in scoring among defensemen with two goals and nine points.
Unfortunately, Warren didn’t get any playing time with New York during his most recent call-up. It’s fairly surprising given his play from earlier in the season, but the team opted for Adam Boqvist nonetheless. During his first recall in late October, Warren registered two assists in two games with a 91.7% on-ice save percentage at even strength.
Pittsburgh Penguins Make Several Roster Moves
The Pittsburgh Penguins announced they’ve recalled forward Tristan Broz from the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and reassigned forward Philip Tomasino in a corresponding roster move. Additionally, the Penguins have assigned defensemen Harrison Brunicke and Jack St. Ivany to the AHL on conditioning loans.
Broz, 23, will have the opportunity to make his NHL debut. Pittsburgh selected the Bloomington, MN native with the 58th overall pick of the 2021 NHL Draft, and he’s been playing with the AHL Penguins for the last two years.
He was relatively successful in his first full year with WBS, scoring 19 goals and 37 points in 59 games with a -7 rating. It wasn’t enough to land Broz on the AHL’s All-Rookie Team last year, but he finished eighth on the team in scoring.
This season, Broz is off to a terrific start, scoring eight goals and 13 points in 18 games with a +5 rating. Being that he was third on the team, the top four scorers for the AHL Penguins this season are now all rostered in the NHL.
Meanwhile, Tomasino is guaranteed to play in his first AHL contest since the 2023-24 campaign, assuming he reports. The former first-round pick of the Nashville Predators has struggled this season, registering one assist in nine games, averaging 12:10 of ice time per game. He cleared waivers five days ago, but had remained on the NHL roster until today.
Lastly, Brunicke and St. Ivany will head to the AHL for a short time. Brunicke has been on the roster for the entire 2025-26 campaign up to this point, though he hasn’t appeared in a contest since early November. In the games he has played, he’s scored one goal while averaging 15:43 of ice time. On his conditioning loan, he’ll have access to far more ice time.
St. Ivany, on the other hand, hasn’t appeared in a contest for the Penguins this season. The two-year veteran began the year on Pittsburgh’s season-opening injured reserve due to a lower-body injury. Today’s news confirms that St. Ivany has been activated from that list, nearly two weeks after his projected return date.
Should The Flames Make Room For Matvei Gridin?
It’s safe to say the 2025-26 season has been disappointing for the Calgary Flames. One season after finishing one regulation win outside of the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference, the Flames are one of two teams that haven’t managed a .400 win percentage through the first quarter of the 2025-26 campaign.
However, it’s relatively easy to find the problem. Calgary is in second-to-last place in total offense, averaging 2.38 GF/G. Additionally, the team’s power play is also the second worst with a 13.41% success rate. The Flames have scored one or fewer goals in seven games this season.
When they do score, the usual suspects are contributing. Nazem Kadri and Rasmus Andersson lead their respective positions in scoring, followed by Matthew Coronato, Mikael Backlund, Morgan Frost, and Jonathan Huberdeau at the top of the table. Still, with the likes of Yegor Sharangovich and MacKenzie Weegar struggling to live up to their typical standards, would it make sense for Calgary to inject more offense into its lineup?
Fortunately, the Flames have an in-house candidate in the wings. The 28th overall pick of the 2024 NHL Draft, Matvei Gridin, who’s already appeared in four games with Calgary this season, is off to an exceptional start with the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers.
Currently in his first professional season in North America, Gridin is second on the Wranglers in scoring with eight goals and 20 points in 17 games, one point off veteran Martin Frk for the team lead.
Furthermore, Gridin is the highest-scoring rookie in the AHL up to this point, managing a two-point lead over the Chicago Blackhawks’ prospect, Nick Lardis. Not only is Gridin sitting first amongst rookies, but he’s tied for third in the entire league.
Despite the dreadful start to the season, the Flames are only six points back of the last playoff spot in the Western Conference, giving them plenty of time to catch up. Although he shouldn’t be considered a cure-all, Gridin could provide the necessary offense, both at even strength and with a man advantage, to make Calgary much more competitive on the offensive side of the puck.
Still, there are other things to consider outside of salvaging this season. Given his age, Gridin is eligible to have his entry-level contract slide should he appear in nine or fewer games with the Flames this season. If Calgary has already decided to punt on the 2025-26 campaign, it wouldn’t make sense to recall Gridin this season.