Minor Transactions: 4/16/2026
The wave of minor-league assignments is continuing with the NHL regular season nearly completed. Pro Hockey Rumors will continue to track the movement around the AHL in the latest minor transactions tracker:
- The Philadelphia Flyers have recalled goalie prospect Carson Bjarnason in preperation for their first round matchup against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Bjarnason will serve as a black ace with the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms eliminated from playoff contention. Bjarnason recorded 14 wins and a .887 save percentage in 32 AHL games this season. He also split results, and recorded a .881 save percentage, in two ECHL games. This was Bjarnason’s first year of professional hockey after four seasons with the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings. The 20 year old recorded a .903 save percentage across 156 career games in the WHL.
- The Colorado Avalanche are also padding their room of black aces, recalling forwards Alex Barre-Boulet and Jason Polin. Both players spent the bulk of their year in the AHL. Barre-Boulet led the Colorado Eagles with 26 goals and 70 points in 69 games – and added one assist in the only NHL game of his season. Polin was slightly less productive, with 21 points in 45 AHL games and no scoring in three NHL games. The duo will offer forward depth behind an Avalanche squad that has rotated through injuries this season.
- Forward Cole O’Hara could make his NHL debut in the Nashville Predators’ season finale. The 23 year old has been called up after leading the Milwaukee Admirals in goals (19) and ranking fourth in points (44) through 65 games this season. This was also O’Hara’s first pro season after three years at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. He had a breakout season last year, netting 22 goals and 51 points in 40 games – 33 more points than he managed in 37 games of the 2023-24 season. O’Hara kept that scoring up through his rookie season in the AHL and could now get a chance to score against NHL talent.
- Headed back to the minors is goaltender Brandon Halverson, who recently helped the Tampa Bay Lightning respond to Jonas Johansson‘s short-term injury. Halverson recorded one loss and a .810 save percentage in 57 minutes – and two games – of NHL action this season. He started for the Syracuse Crunch for much of the year and recorded 24 wins and a .906 save percentage in 42 AHL games. He’ll now return to his post to help Syracuse keep up their strong play into the Calder Cup Playoffs.
- The Calgar Flames have also called up a goaltender. Prospect Arsenii Sergeev is on the NHL roster under emergency conditions with Devin Cooley set to miss Calgary’s season finale due to illness. Sergeev will make his NHL debut in game 82. The 24 year old recorded five wins and a .898 save percentage in 28 AHL games this season. He also split results, and recorded a .922 save percentage, in 12 ECHL games. Sergeev was a strong starter in college, recording save percentages north of .910 in two seasons with the University of Connecticut and one season at Pennsylvania State University. Thursday could be the bright side to a quiet season for the first-year pro.
- Top Edmonton Oilers prospect Isaac Howard has been loaned to the AHL. He will support the Bakersfield Condors’ push in the Calder Cup Playoffs. Howard scored 22 goals and 47 points in 45 AHL games this season. He ranked second in goals on Bakersfield and was the only Condor to score above a point-per-game pace this season. Howard also scored five points in the first 29 games of his NHL career this season. The 2025 Hobey Baker Award winner is also a first-year pro and should fill a substantial role in the AHL postseason.
- The Washington Capitals have assigned 2025 second-round pick Milton Gastrin to the AHL following the end of his season in Sweden’s HockeyAllsvenskan. Gastrin racked up 10 goals and 24 points in 39 games in Sweden’s second-tier pro league and added four more points in 13 playoff games. He scored 42 points in 40 games in Sweden’s U20 league in the 2024-25 season. The bulky Gastrin should bring a boost of forechecking pressure and playmaking ability to the Hershey Bears lineup just in time for their perennial run into the postseason.
- A cohort of top prospects is headed to the Grand Rapids Griffins. The Detroit Red Wings have assigned Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, Carter Mazur, Axel Sandin Pellikka, and Dominik Shine to the minor leagues. Brandsegg-Nygard finished the year third on the Griffins in scoring with 44 points in 58 games. He added one assist in 14 NHL games. Shine finished the year with 37 points in 38 AHL games and three points in 18 NHL games. Mazur was also a point-per-game player in the minors, with 15 points in 14 AHL games – but no scoring in eight NHL appearances. Of the bunch, Sandin-Pellikka was the only to play the bulk of his year in the NHL. He scored 21 points in 68 games of his first season in North America. The quartet should each assume top-end roles on a Griffins lineup that has added a substantial amount of talent late in the season.
Panthers’ Aleksander Barkov To Play At World Championship
Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov missed the entirety of the 2025-26 season with a knee injury sustained during training camp. On the other side of a losing year for the Panthers, Barkov is finally nearing a return to game action. The star center is expected to play for Team Finland at the 2026 World Championship, Florida head coach Paul Maurice told George Richards of Florida Hockey Now.
Barkov is a cornerstone piece of every lineup he’s apart of. The 30 year old scored 20 goals and 71 points in 67 games of the 2024-25 NHL season. He capped the year off with 22 points in 23 games en route to a 2025 Stanley Cup championship, the same point total and outcome that he reached in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Barkov was the first European captain to lead his team to back-to-back Stanley Cups.
Routine playoff appearances have kept Barkov from appearing in many of Finland’s international tournaments as of late. He captained the Finns at the 2025 4-Nations Face-Off and scored two points in three games. Outside of that, his last appearance with Finland was at the 2017 World Cup, where he posted no scoring in three games. Barkov has played in two World Championships – marked by 16 points in 17 games – and the 2014 Winter Olympics where he had one point in two games.
Each of those international appearances were on the other side of Barkov’s ascension towards superstardom. He has won three Selke Trophies as the league’s best defensive-forward and consistently earned votes for the Hart Memorial Trophy and Lady Byng Memorial Trophy since his 2017 World Cup appearance. Barkov also won the 2025 King Clancy Memorial Trophy, awarded on the basis of leadership and humanitarian contribution. He also became a franchise owner of the Liiga’s Tappara, part of Finland’s top pro league, in 2020. Barkov has grown into a face of Finnish hockey in North America and routinely rivals point-per-game scoring in the NHL.
It is with the weight of a missed NHL season – and a missed Olympic Games – that Barkov will now enter the 2026 World Championship. He will be among the Finns’ biggest scoring threats and could challenge the most ice time on the team each game. Finland will also lean on Florida’s Anton Lundell and Seattle Kraken winger Kaapo Kakko to bolster their lineup, with much of the country’s top NHL talent headed towards the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Either way, Barkov’s return will be far more than the addition of one more player. It will also give the reigning Cup captain a chance to get back to full speed before the 2026-27 campaign is underway.
Penguins Assign Five To AHL
Wednesday: The Penguins announced (Twitter link) that they’ve returned McGroarty, Koivunen, and Koppanen, along with wingers Avery Hayes and Rafael Harvey-Pinard, back to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. All five got into at least one game in recent days.
Saturday: With the Penguins now having secured a playoff spot, they’re electing to get some players with nagging injuries some rest. That means that several players needed to be recalled to have a full roster available for their game today against Washington. Those promotions have been made as the team announced (Twitter link) that forwards Rutger McGroarty, Ville Koivunen, and Joona Koppanen have been recalled on an emergency basis from AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. With the emergency designation, none of them will count toward their post-deadline recall limit of five.
McGroarty is up with Pittsburgh for the fourth time this season. He has suited up in 21 games so far in a bottom-six role, picking up two goals and three assists while averaging 11:46 per night. The 2022 first-round pick has been much more productive in the minors, however, with eight goals and 22 assists in 28 games. With many key players out of the lineup today, McGroarty should have a chance to play in more of an offensive role than he has had most nights with Pittsburgh this season.
Koivunen, meanwhile, is also up for his fourth stint of the season. But unlike McGroarty, he has spent more time with Pittsburgh than in the minors. In 36 games at the top level, the 22-year-old has two goals and five assists while averaging 12:29 per night. Unsurprisingly, he has been a much better producer in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, tallying 11 goals and 25 assists in 32 appearances.
As for Koppanen, he’s also getting his fourth promotion of the year. While he hasn’t played a lot with Pittsburgh, he has had to clear waivers twice already this season. In 10 NHL outings, the 28-year-old has just one assist. In the minors, he has fared better, picking up eight goals and 15 assists in 42 contests. A pending unrestricted free agent, a report surfaced last month that suggested he’s likely to sign in Sweden for next season.
For their game today, the team announced (Twitter link) that numerous players are unavailable due to day-to-day injuries. Those include forwards Sidney Crosby (lower body), Benjamin Kindel (upper body), Evgeni Malkin (upper body), and Bryan Rust (lower body). On the back end, Erik Karlsson (lower body), Kris Letang (upper body), and Parker Wotherspoon (upper body) are all sidelined. Additionally, center Connor Dewar is listed as week-to-week with a lower-body injury of his own, putting his availability to start the playoffs in jeopardy.
Panthers’ Tomas Nosek Suffers Broken Leg
The end of the season has brought no relief to the Florida Panthers’ injury woes. Winger Tomas Nosek sustained a broken leg in Sunday’s win over the New York Rangers, head coach Paul Maurice told Miami Herald’s Jordan McPherson. Nosek did not play the final three minutes of the game. It is not clear exactly when he suffered the fracture but Nosek specified that the leg he broke is not the same one that he underwent knee surgery on earlier in the season.
Nosek missed the first 60 games of the season with a knee injury sustained during the off-season. He has scored four points and a minus-eight in 21 games on the year, before sustaining another injury in the second-to-last game of Florida’s season.
This injury continues a long run of misfortune for Nosek. He missed the first month of the 2024-25 season with an upper-body injury and ultimately played only 59 games for the eventual Stanley Cup-winning Florida Panthers. Nosek scored nine points in those games, and three more in 16 playoff games. He missed multiple chunks of the 2023-24 season with a variety of injuries, including another upper-body injury, and ultimately only played in 36 games that year. Nosek even broke his foot in the latter-half of the 2022-23 season, only totaling 66 regular season games. In full, the 33-year-old winger has only averaged 55 games and 13 points per season dating back to his first full year in the NHL in 2018-19.
This will give Florida another injury to monitor as their off-season gets off to an early start. The Panthers are set to miss the postseason for the first time since 2019, on the heels of three-straight appearances in the Stanley Cup Final. Nosek will join many of the team’s stars in nursing an injury, including Brad Marchand, Aleksander Barkov, Gustav Forsling, and Aaron Ekblad. He faces the added wrinkle of entering free agency this summer and will face the challenge of convincing a team to renew the one-year, league-minimum contract he played on this summer with only 21 games to show for it. Nosek has 120 points in 514 career games in the NHL.
Evening Notes: Mammoth, Suter, Carlson, Ellis
Even though it’ll take until the last game of the regular season to determine who they’ll face in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, the Utah Mammoth have a few unfortunate confirmations already. According to Cole Bagley of KSL Sports, forwards Barrett Hayton and Jack McBain are still a few weeks away from returning.
Hayton has been dealing with an upper-body injury since March 26th, whereas McBain has only been out a little over a week with a lower-body injury. Regardless, depending on how many weeks it takes, both Hayton and McBain may miss the opening round of the playoffs for the Mammoth.
Although each player is a respectable tertiary scorer for Utah, the team’s center depth, particularly on the bottom two lines, will be tested. Additionally, the Mammoth will significantly miss McBain’s physicality, especially in a postseason environment. The 6’4″, 219 lbs center leads Utah in hits this season with 271.
Additional evening notes:
- Eligible for an extension or potentially a trade this summer, St. Louis Blues forward Pius Suter is preparing early. According to PuckPedia, Suter has changed his representation to Judd Moldaver. Moldaver represents some of the sport’s top athletes, such as Auston Matthews, Connor McDavid, and Zach Werenski.
- As mentioned in a previous article, conditional draft picks included in trades will finalize now that every potential team has qualified for a postseason spot. Now that the Anaheim Ducks have qualified for the playoffs, the Washington Capitals will acquire Anaheim’s 2026 first-round pick from the John Carlson trade, instead of Anaheim having an option for this year’s or next (via PuckPedia).
- Additionally, the San Jose Sharks will receive elevated draft compensation, too (via PuckPedia). In the Ryan Ellis contract dump earlier this year between the Sharks and the Philadelphia Flyers, the Flyers allowed the Sharks to receive the better of their 2026 sixth-round pick or Columbus’ 2026 sixth-round pick. Since the Flyers qualified for the playoffs, San Jose will receive Columbus’ sixth-round selection in the upcoming draft (via PuckPedia).
Atlantic Notes: Tkachuk, Hovorka, Laughton, Viel
The Ottawa Senators have been without their captain, Brady Tkachuk, for the last few games of their regular season. Fortunately, his absence isn’t expected to creep into the playoffs, as TSN’s Bruce Garrioch reported that Tkachuk is “good to go” for the postseason.
The injury keeping Tkachuk is one of the weirder ones this season. In Ottawa’s recent game against the New York Islanders, Tkachuk was bumped by Islanders’ defenseman Ryan Pulock, causing Tkachuk to return to the bench while wobbling. In recent updates, Tkachuk clarified that his dizziness was unrelated to Pulock and resulted from a prior hit in the game. As of now, he has been cleared of all concussion symptoms.
Regardless, it’s big news for the Senators who are looking to pull off an upset in their opening-round matchup. The heart and soul of the team, Tkachuk has been irreplaceable for Ottawa, scoring 22 goals and 59 points in 60 games, while leveling 162 hits. Despite missing a decent chunk of the season due to injury, Tkachuk remains third on the team in scoring and is likely to finish there.
Additional notes from the Atlantic Division:
- According to George Richards of Florida Hockey Now, the Florida Panthers have recalled defenseman Mikulas Hovorka for their final game of the regular season tomorrow night. The 24-year-old blueliner has seen his name on the transaction report a few times this past month, allowing him to skate in three games for the Panthers. Still, the Praha, Czechia native remains looking for his first NHL point, and he’ll seek to change that tomorrow evening against the Detroit Red Wings.
- With the postseason pool finalized, the impact of conditional draft picks traded this season is now clear. According to PuckPedia, now that the Los Angeles Kings have qualified for the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs, the Toronto Maple Leafs will receive Buffalo’s 2026 second-round pick in the Scott Laughton trade.
- The Maple Leafs aren’t the only team in the Atlantic Division to reap the benefits of another team making the postseason. Since the Philadelphia Flyers made the playoffs, the Boston Bruins will receive the Red Wings’ 2026 fourth-round pick from the Anaheim Ducks in the trade that sent Jeffrey Viel to Orange County a few months ago (via PuckPedia).
Mammoth Reassign Matt Villalta
4/13/26: The Mammoth reassigned Villalta back to Tucson today. He backed up Vanecek yesterday during the Mammoth’s 4-1 loss to the Calgary Flames.
4/12/26: The Utah Mammoth recalled forward Kevin Rooney and goaltender Matt Villalta from the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners before last night’s game against the Calgary Flames. Villalta stepped into Utah’s backup role behind Vitek Vanecek with the usual starter, Karel Vejmelka, out with an undisclosed injury. Vejmelka’s injury isn’t expected to be serious, and his absence could be for a night of rest, per Brogan Houston of Desert News Sports. He saved 26 of 30 shots faced in Saturday night’s loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.
Both Rooney and Villalta were held off the ice in Sunday night’s game. The duo has each carved out productive roles in the minor leagues. Rooney has scored 24 points, split evenly, in 44 games with Tucson to go with one goal in one game with Utah this season. That is the most scoring he has managed in a single campaign since the 2017-18 season, when he scored 34 points in 71 AHL games. Villalta has split starts with Jaxson Stauber for much of the year. He has 16 wins and a .895 save percentage in 33 games, narrowly more wins and a higher save percentage than Stauber (14 wins, .886 Sv%) despite playing two fewer games.
Rooney and Villalta could be options to stick on the NHL roster with two games left in the Mammoth season. Their presence could allow Utah to rest some routine lineup players before the club takes on the franchise’s first appearance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Vejmelka will have the starting role locked in when the postseason rolls around, after he notched 37 wins and a .898 Sv% in 62 games this season. Vejmelka has appeared in the most games of any Mammoth – or Arizona Coyotes – goaltender since 2015, when Mike Smith also played 62 games.
Lightning To Use EBUG With Jonas Johansson Out
The Tampa Bay Lightning took the ice without backup goaltender Jonas Johansson in Monday night’s game against the Detroit Red Wings. Johansson is out day-to-day with an undisclosed injury. In his place, the Lightning will roster emergency backup goaltender Kyle Konin. This is Konin’s third time serving on an NHL bench as an EBUG. He filled in for the St. Louis Blues in 2021 and for the Philadelphia Flyers in 2024.
Konin has been the Tampa Bay-area EBUG since the 2020-21 season. He even wore a mask honoring Tampa Bay Lightning founder Phil Esposito in his 2024 game with the Flyers per Forbes’ Tom Layberger. Konin last took the ice with Grand Valley State University in Division III ACHA club hockey. He played one season in the NA3HL in 2017-18 and recorded a .897 save percentage in 34 games. Konin also played one game of high school hockey with Kimball Union Academy in 2016-17 with teammate and eventual Boston Bruins defenseman Jordan Harris.
While Konin will get to donn the Lightning jersey for the first time, Tampa Bay will hope he isn’t needed behind star starter Andrei Vasilevskiy. The Lightning have two games left in their season, including Monday’s matchup. Johansson’s short-term designation should have him back in the lineup before the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He has recorded 11 wins and a .884 save percentage in 25 games this season and should stick behind Vasilevskiy through the postseason.
Avalanche’s Cale Makar Returns To Full Practice
The Colorado Avalanche received an expected, but exciting, update at Monday morning’s practice. Star defenseman Cale Makar was back on the ice in a regular, practice jersey per Avalanche play-by-play announcer Connor McGahey. This marks the next step in Makar’s return from an upper-body injury sustained on March 30th. He has missed six games since.
Colorado has expected Makar to return before the start of the postseason, head coach Jared Bednar said the day after Makar was injured. He will have three more chances to meet that expectation before the end of Colorado’s regular season. The Avalanche have posted a 3-2-1 record and seen their goals-per-game average dip from a league-leading 3.70 to 3.00 since Makar was knocked out of the lineup.
There is no doubt about the impact that Makar brings. He is a perennial candidate for the Norris Trophy honoring the league’s best defenseman. Playing behind an Avalanche squad that led the league in goals-scored and goals-against should be enough to put Makar back in contention for the trophy this year. The 27 year old scored 20 goals and 75 points in 73 games this season. Those marks sit below the career-year Makar posted with 30 goals and 92 points in 80 games last season, which earned him the 2025 Norris Trophy, but are nonetheless impressive. Makar averaged nearly 25 minutes of ice time each game through this season, a mark only five other players outperformed. He will immediately step back into Colorado’s top defense role when he is back to full health, which could be soon after his return to full practice.
The Avalanche did not provide an update on fellow injured defenseman Josh Manson. The team recalled Jack Ahcan to serve as an extra defenseman with Manson out on Saturday. The return of either Makar or Manson should be enough to bump Ahcan back to the AHL and either Nick Blankenburg or Brett Kulak to the press box.
Dallas Stars To Activate Radek Faksa
The Dallas Stars are inching toward full strength heading into the postseason. According to Lia Assimakopoulos of the Dallas Morning News, the Stars are expected to activate forward Radek Faksa from the injured reserve, and he’ll make his return to the lineup this evening. Additionally, forward Michael Bunting is expected to return to the lineup, too, though he was never placed on the injured reserve.
Faksa’s return has been a long time coming. He first suffered an upper-body injury during the Olympics playing for Team Czechia. The injury wasn’t believed to be serious at the time, and Faksa was only expected to miss a game or two.
Unfortunately, that mild prognosis has turned into a multi-week return. During his rehabilitation, Faksa suffered a lower-body injury, which kept him out until now. A few reports indicated that Faksa may be done for the season, but he has managed to make a fairly quick recovery.
Although he hasn’t been a reliable point-producer for the Stars for many years, he has been one of the most reliable fourth-line forwards in the league. After his one-year hiatus with the St. Louis Blues, Faksa has scored two goals and 17 points in 56 games with Dallas this season, averaging 11:41 of ice time per game.
That doesn’t paint the whole picture with Faksa. He’s a steady penalty killer, owns a career 52.4% success rate in the faceoff dot, and starts more than 70% of his shifts in the defensive zone. He’s the epitome of a shutdown forward, and Dallas feels comfortable playing him against opponents’ best players, which will be a boon for them in the upcoming playoffs.
Meanwhile, Bunting returns to the lineup after missing the first few weeks of April with a lower-body injury. Before the injury, he had struggled with the Stars after being acquired at the trade deadline, scoring one goal and two points in 11 games with a -7 rating.