Devils Still Intend To Pursue Starting Goaltender During Offseason
The Devils rebuilt their crease at the trade deadline, swapping out struggling starter Vítek Vaněček for Kaapo Kähkönen in a deal with the Sharks and acquiring Jake Allen from the Canadiens. Neither of their two pickups is a long-term solution as New Jersey continues to build around their young Jack Hughes-led core, though, and GM Tom Fitzgerald knows it. He plans to revisit his team’s uncertainty in the crease over the summer and will pursue a true starter in the process, TSN’s Pierre LeBrun wrote for The Athletic on Tuesday.
“The idea here is to try to finally reel in a stud goalie and have Allen there to create a 1A-1B situation,” LeBrun said. Allen has one season remaining at a $1.925MM cap hit, thanks to Montreal retaining half of his $3.85MM AAV in the trade.
All signs point to the Devils letting Kähkönen, who will be a UFA this summer after completing a two-year, $5.5MM deal, go to market. Fitzgerald said in his post-deadline media availability that the primary objective of the trade with San Jose was shedding Vaněček’s $3.4MM cap hit for this season and next.
A bonafide number-one netminder is Fitzgerald’s first choice, and he’s willing to surrender the assets to make it work. As such, LeBrun said New Jersey will re-engage in talks with the Flames and Predators regarding Jacob Markström and Juuse Saros, who could be on the move regardless of whether the Devils swing a deal for them.
The Devils attempted to acquire Markström, who has a no-move clause in his contract, before this year’s deadline. After talks initially fizzled out due to the Flames’ unwillingness to retain salary in a trade, Fitzgerald re-engaged with an offer that included New Jersey taking on all of Markström’s $6MM cap hit through 2026.
Markström reportedly waived his no-move clause to green-light the trade, but the Flames ended up not moving him as the team was making progress toward a wild-card spot in the Western Conference. This caused the goaltender to publicly voice his discontent with the Calgary front office. The Flames have lost all three games after the deadline, each by four or more goals, and now stand with just a 2.2% chance of making the playoffs, per MoneyPuck.
The Devils also talked with Nashville about Saros but didn’t get as far down the road. Unlike Markström, Saros will be a pending UFA beginning on July 1 and does not have trade protection. He also costs $1MM less than his Swedish counterpart.
If Fitzgerald swings for the fences on both and misses twice, it’s possible the Devils would still rather look for a tandem netminder to partner with Allen, keeping youngsters Nico Daws and Akira Schmid in the minors. Options on the UFA market will be slim, though – in fact, Kähkönen would be one of the better pickups if that’s how they opted to address their crease. Other top options are either on the precipice of decline (Marc-André Fleury, Cam Talbot) or have been inconsistent when given expanded roles (Kähkönen, Alex Nedeljkovic, Ilya Samsonov).
While Daws and Schmid are promising options and have more NHL games in their future, neither projects as a true starter. If New Jersey wants to truly kick off its window of contention with talents like Jack and Luke Hughes, Dawson Mercer and Simon Nemec, all 23 years old or less, they’ll need a more veteran presence as a longer-term answer.
Flames Renounce Rights To Topi Ronni
The Flames renounced the rights to unsigned draft pick Topi Ronni on Tuesday, the team said in a statement. Ronni, who was playing in the Finnish Liiga with Tappara, was given a one-year suspended prison sentence by the District Court of Helsinki yesterday “for rape committed as a young person,” Tappara said. The incident occurred in 2021 when Ronni was a minor, according to the initial charges against him.
The 19-year-old was a second-round pick in the 2022 draft, 59th overall. His contract with Tappara has also been terminated.
By renouncing Ronni’s rights, the Flames are no longer affiliated with him, and he has become an unrestricted free agent. No NHL team holds his exclusive signing rights. He is technically eligible to re-enter the draft and has not been legally barred from playing in the league by Commissioner Gary Bettman. However, either of those things could change if Ronni attempts a return after serving his suspended sentence.
As Tappara has terminated Ronni’s contract, he is also a free agent overseas. The team suspended Ronni in October after rape charges were brought against him but allowed him to return to the team just over a month later, playing 22 professional games and 20 junior games this season before being found guilty and sentenced yesterday.
Calgary Flames Recall Dustin Wolf, Jacob Markstrom Out With Injury
The Calgary Flames have recalled top prospect goaltender Dustin Wolf from their AHL affiliate, the Calgary Wranglers, per a team announcement. In the same announcement, the Flames disclosed that starting netminder Jacob Markstrom is considered day-to-day with a lower-body injury.
Today’s transaction will mark the fifth time this season that Calgary has recalled Wolf from the minors. Throughout those five emergency call-ups, Wolf has suited up in six games for the Flames, producing a 1-3-1 record with a .878 save percentage and a 3.91 goals-against average.
Much like last season, Wolf is producing much better at the AHL level, and could be on pace for back-to-back Aldege Bastien Memorial Award and Harry Holmes Memorial Award finishes. While the Wranglers compete for a playoff spot in the AHL’s Pacific Division, Wolf has produced a 20-11-3 record while maintaining a .923 SV% and 2.43 GAA.
Only a few weeks ago, some trade speculation surrounded Markstrom and the New Jersey Devils, indicating that Calgary may be ready to transition Wolf to the NHL full-time. Unfortunately for the young goaltender, no deal came to fruition, and he will likely need to wait for next season to become a full-time member of the Flames active roster.
Keeping on Markstrom, Calgary very publicly backed out of the reported trade with New Jersey due to his strong play in the net. Since January 17th, Markstrom has produced a 9-4-0 record in 13 games, making 340 saves on a total of 373 shots.
Multiple Teams Showing Interest In Marcus Sylvegard
With the trade deadline now behind us, the focus will shift in the coming weeks and months to the undrafted free agent market. We’ve already seen several major junior players sign while college free agency will pick up soon as well. Meanwhile, there are some international free agents that will also garner interest.
One of those appears to be Swedish winger Marcus Sylvegard. The 24-year-old is putting the finishing touches on arguably his best SHL season as he has 23 goals and 18 assists in 50 games so far with Vaxjo with one game remaining on the schedule. It’s his second straight season reaching the 40-point mark after failing to reach 20 in his first five seasons at that level which likely helped get him on the NHL radar.
SportExpressen’s Johan Svensson reports that the Panthers, Avalanche, and Flames are among NHL teams who have shown interest in his services so far with Florida believed to have shown the most interest at this point. A signing won’t be imminent, however, with Sylvegard indicating that his focus will be on the upcoming league playoffs so it stands to reason that he won’t choose his next team until after his postseason comes to an end.
Regardless of whomever he signs with, Sylvegard will be subject to entry-level restrictions. He’ll be entering his age-25 year next season so he will be capped at inking a one-year deal; the maximum compensation for an entry-level deal in 2024-25 is $975K plus performance bonuses.
Flames Recall Matthew Coronato, Jakob Pelletier
The Flames recalled wingers Matthew Coronato and Jakob Pelletier before today’s game against the Panthers, per CapFriendly. Both were ferried to the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers on deadline day to make them eligible to suit up in the Calder Cup Playoffs. With ample cap space, no corresponding transactions were necessary.
Coronato, a 5-foot-10 rookie, gets his fourth recall of the season and his second this month. Calgary made him the 13th overall pick in the 2021 draft coming out of the USHL’s Chicago Steel, followed by two seasons at Harvard before signing his entry-level deal in March of last year. He’s been one of the best rookie performers in the minor leagues this season, notching 42 points and a +8 rating in 40 games with the Wranglers, leading them in scoring by a wide margin.
The Flames’ top forward prospect, Coronato will need to battle to remain in the Flames’ lineup as they try and make a miracle playoff run once A.J. Greer and Connor Zary are ready to return from injuries. Both are expected back by the end of the month. He’s fared decently in 16 games with the big club this year, scoring a goal and three assists with a -5 rating while averaging 14:03 per game. Perhaps his best professional outing came just prior to the deadline in a 6-3 win over the Lightning on Thursday, in which he recorded an assist and a +3 rating. His possession metrics have improved from an early-season lull, recording a 51.3 CF% at even strength and a 48.6 xGF%.
Pelletier, 23, was a first-rounder two years before Coronato. A shoulder injury cost him most of the season to date, but he’s notched three points in four games with the Wranglers and three points in nine games with the Flames since returning in January. He’ll slot into a top-six role alongside Nazem Kadri and Andrei Kuzmenko and, like Coronato, will need to show dependability to remain in the lineup ahead of Greer and Zary if they remain in the playoff hunt over the next few weeks.
These transactions were not made under emergency conditions, according to CapFriendly, so the Flames have used up half of their four post-deadline standard recalls. Thus, expect Coronato and Pelletier to remain on the roster – even if they fall out of the lineup – through the end of the season unless unforeseen cap complications force the Flames to reassign them.
Flames Sign Kevin Rooney To Extension
The Flames have inked pending UFA center Kevin Rooney to a one-year, $1.3MM extension, per a team announcement.
Rooney didn’t make his season debut until February 6th, missing the first four months of the season after undergoing shoulder surgery. He’s since slotted into Calgary’s fourth-line center role, recording one point in 13 games – though he hasn’t scored in 11 games – while averaging over 10-and-a-half minutes of ice time each game. Rooney also played in four AHL games during a conditioning stint, scoring one goal. It’s his first year back in a full-time NHL role after spending much of last season in the minors, playing in 51 AHL games and scoring 17 points. It was his first extended stint in the AHL since the 2018-19 season.
Rooney has totaled 240 career games in the NHL, scoring 25 goals and 47 points. He joined the Flames in free agency ahead of the 2022-23 season, signing a two-year, $2.6MM contract. His new deal keeps his cap hit the same, extending him through the end of next year. While the extension shows Calgary’s affinity for Rooney, he’ll still need to find an extra edge if he wants to maintain his lineup spot when Connor Zary and A.J. Greer return from injury, and Martin Pospisil returns from a suspension.
Flames Acquire Nikita Okhotiuk From Sharks
The Flames have acquired left-shot defenseman Nikita Okhotiuk from the Sharks as the deadline passes, Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff confirms. A 2024 fifth-round pick is heading to San Jose in return, per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.
Okhotiuk has appeared in 43 NHL games this season, scoring one goal and eight points and adding 44 penalty minutes and a -22. It’s his official rookie season in the league, though he played in 15 games with the New Jersey Devils across the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons. He’s totaled three goals and 11 points across his three-year career, also adding x points in 116 AHL games since debuting in 2020-21. The 23-year old was originally drafted in the second round of the 2019 NHL Draft, turning pro after three seasons with the OHL’s Ottawa 67’s.
Okhotiuk is yet another new face to a Calgary blue-line that’s recently added Joel Hanley, Daniil Miromanov, and Brayden Pachal. Together, the quartet will fill the holes left by Chris Tanev and Noah Hanifin, both traded by the Flames ahead of the Trade Deadline. Hanley has earned top-line minutes in the fallout of Calgary’s moves, playing in nearly 18 minutes in his first game with the Flames. The four new defenders will compete with each other for consistent spots in the lineup, though one will likely have to serve as Calgary’s seventh defenseman, unless the team opts to keep Dennis Gilbert in that role.
Tony DeAngelo, Seven Others Placed On Waivers
March 8: Katchouk is heading from the Blackhawks to the Senators, Lagesson is going from the Maple Leafs to the Ducks, and Björnfot is going from the Golden Knights to the Panthers. The five other players on waivers yesterday cleared.
March 7: Eight players, including Hurricanes defenseman Tony DeAngelo, were placed on waivers Thursday, per Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff. The full list is as follows:
Calgary Flames
D Jordan Oesterle
Carolina Hurricanes
D Tony DeAngelo
F Brendan Lemieux
G Antti Raanta
Chicago Blackhawks
F Boris Katchouk
Florida Panthers
G Evan Cormier
Toronto Maple Leafs
D William Lagesson
Vegas Golden Knights
D Tobias Björnfot
Of note, players who are assigned to the minors after clearing waivers tomorrow will be eligible to play in the AHL’s Calder Cup Playoffs. Players must be on loan to the AHL at the time of the trade deadline to be cleared to play in postseason action.
The Hurricanes’ trio of waived players is purely for roster flexibility ahead of tomorrow’s trade deadline, Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic says. It’s unclear if any of the three players will be assigned to AHL clubs if they pass through unclaimed. The Hurricanes are the only NHL team without a dedicated AHL affiliate.
Raanta, a pending UFA with a $1.5MM cap hit, has a decent chance at being claimed by a team looking to add a backup netminder for free by tomorrow afternoon. That could very well include the Flyers, who have struggled to find consistency in the crease outside of breakout starter Samuel Ersson. Raanta has struggled this season with a .872 SV% and 2.99 GAA behind a stout Hurricanes defense, but he’s now posted a SV% above .900 in each of his last three appearances and could be on the upswing at just the right time. With Frederik Andersen returning to health after a months-long absence and both Pyotr Kochetkov and Spencer Martin playing well, Raanta appears unlikely to be back with Carolina this season regardless of whether he gets claimed.
Oesterle will likely head to the minors after being pushed down the Flames’ defensive depth chart. The club has brought in Joel Hanley off waivers and Daniil Miromanov via trade from the Golden Knights this week, eliminating the need for Oesterle as a depth option on the roster for now. The 31-year-old has two assists and a -6 rating in 22 games.
Assigning Katchouk to AHL Rockford will allow Chicago to clear a necessary roster spot ahead of Saturday’s game against the Capitals. Both Andreas Athanasiou and Nikita Zaitsev are expected to play, per Mark Lazerus of The Athletic, and will need to come off injured reserve to do so. The Blackhawks only have one open roster spot, so one more needed to be cleared.
Cormier was not signed to an NHL contract, so the Panthers inked him to a one-year, two-way deal ($775K NHL/$75K AHL) for the remainder of the season before waiving him, per PuckPedia. The 26-year-old has a .868 SV% and 1-2-2 record in five games for AHL Charlotte this season and a .910 SV% and 8-5-3 record in 18 games for ECHL Florida. By signing him to an NHL contract, he’ll be eligible to be on the Panthers’ roster in the postseason as added goaltending insurance if necessary.
Toronto’s waiving of Lagesson was reported earlier Thursday. He’s been designated non-roster while on the waiver wire, creating the necessary roster space for Joel Edmundson, who was acquired from the Capitals today. He’s dressed in 30 games for the Leafs, notching four assists and a +5 rating while averaging 14:31 per game.
Meanwhile, Björnfot, a 2019 first-round pick of the Kings, lands on waivers for the second time this season. Vegas claimed him off waivers from Los Angeles in January, but he played in just two games for them while battling injuries, posting a -2 rating while averaging 14:01 per game. Assigning him to AHL Henderson would create an open roster spot ahead of tomorrow’s trade deadline, allowing the Golden Knights to make a potential third acquisition after bringing in Noah Hanifin and Anthony Mantha.
Calgary Flames Acquire Riley Damiani From Dallas Stars
The Calgary Flames and Dallas Stars have swapped a pair of minor-league forwards, with Calgary sending Emilio Pettersen to Dallas in exchange for Riley Damiani. Both 23-year-olds have spent the entire season in the minor leagues.
Pettersen has scored more out of the pair, with 30 points in 54 games with the Calgary Wranglers. He’s maintaining a strong scoring pace, though he’s not quite scoring at the 0.72 points-per-game pace he managed last year when he totaled 19 goals and 44 points in 61 games. He has been in the AHL since the 2020-21 season, moving to the league after two seasons with the University of Denver. Pettersen has also represented his home country of Norway on a variety of levels, including the World U18 Championship in 2016 and 2017, the 2019 World Juniors Division A tournament, and at the World Championship in 2021. He was productive in his World Juniors appearances, scoring at a point-per-game pace at minimum in each tournament, but managed just one goal at the World Championship. Pettersen joined the Flames when they drafted him in the sixth-round of the 2018 NHL Draft.
Damiani stands out because, unlike Pettersen, he’s already made his NHL debut – playing in seven games and scoring two points in the 2021-22 season. He’s since spent all of his time in the AHL, recording 13 goals and 31 points in 59 games last season and 23 points in 53 games this year. Damiani went exactly one round before Pettersen in the 2018 Draft, getting selected 137th-overall by Dallas.
Pettersen stands out thanks to head-strong forechecking and not shying away from physicality, despite standing at a 5’10” frame. Damiani, also 5’10”, fits a slightly different style – serving as a burst of speed in the middle lane that creates tempo well. Both players show strong puck control and an ability to command their linemates. A change of scenery could work wonders for both, as they work towards climbing the depth charts of their new team.
Flames Sign Daniil Miromanov To Two-Year Extension
The Calgary Flames have signed their newest member, Daniil Miromanov, to a two-year, $2.5MM contract extension, per Miromanov’s agent Dan Milstein. The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun shares that the new deal will carry an annual cap hit of $1.25MM. Calgary acquired Miromanov alongside a first-round pick and a conditional third-round pick in the Wednesday evening trade that sent Noah Hanifin to the Vegas Golden Knights. He was set to become a restricted free agent this summer, finishing off a two-year, $1.525MM deal signed with Vegas in June of 2022.
Miromanov joined the Golden Knights organization in March of 2021, signing as an undrafted free agent at the end of the KHL season. He recorded two assists across 11 AHL games to close out the year, including the playoffs. The 2021-22 season would more formally kick off Miromanov’s career, and the excitement around him, after the defenseman managed 11 goals and 40 points in 53 AHL games and recorded his first 11 NHL games in spot starts throughout the season. He’s since continued to split time between the AHL and NHL, proving plenty productive in the minor leagues but struggling to carry that scoring to Vegas. Miromanov has 72 points in 84 career AHL games, but just seven points in 29 career NHL games.
An undisclosed injury earned Miromanov a place on Vegas’ season-opening injured reserve. He was activated to play on February 4th and has since played in five AHL games and four NHL games.
The Calgary Flames are clearly excited about Miromanov’s long-term outlook, signing the 26-year-old to a seven-figure extension before he played 30 games in the league. The Flames’ defense has been completely dismantled this season, with the team trading Hanifin, Nikita Zadorov, and Chris Tanev and losing Nick DeSimone on waivers. This has created plenty of opportunity for new defenders to carve out a big role, with Miromanov likely set to compete with former Golden Knights teammate Brayden Pachal for the right-hand spot on Calgary’s third pairing. Calgary currently carries eight defensemen, including recent waiver claim Joel Hanley and healthy scratch Dennis Gilbert.