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.
Vancouver Canucks Place Dakota Joshua On LTIR, Recall Arturs Silovs
The Vancouver Canucks have placed forward Dakota Joshua on the team’s long-term injured reserve retroactive to February 16th, per a team announcement. In a corresponding move, the organization has recalled goaltender Arturs Silovs from their AHL affiliate, the Abbotsford Canucks.
Silovs is expected to enter the lineup tonight, as the team recently learned that regular starting netminder, Thatcher Demko, is set to miss the next few games with an undisclosed injury. The team will likely opt to start Casey DeSmith in Demko’s stead, but Silovs may see his first action in the NHL since last season.
Playing in Abbotsford this season, the former sixth-round pick has had a moderately decent season as his team competes for a tightly-contested playoff spot in the AHL’s Pacific Division. Suiting up in 33 games for Abbotsford this year, Silovs has produced a 15-11-6 record while carrying a .907 save percentage and a 2.74 goals-against average.
Given that his last game was on February 13th against the Chicago Blackhawks, Joshua has already satisfied the requirements for LTIR and can be activated at any time. Currently producing at the best level of his career with the Canucks this season, the team recently learned only a few days ago that Joshua was set to miss the next two weeks.
Predators Recall Spencer Stastney With Dante Fabbro Week-To-Week
The Nashville Predators have made their first move since the Trade Deadline, recalling defenseman Spencer Stastney. Stastney will fill in for Dante Fabbro, who the team shared is out for two-to-three weeks with an upper-body injury. Fabbro suffered the injury in the first period of Nashville’s Sunday night loss to the Minnesota Wild, exiting the game early.
This is the third recall of Stastney’s season, with the 24-year-old previously serving two weeks on the Predators roster in late November and one week in December. He’s totaled nine NHL games on the season, with his first career goal marking his only scoring on the year. Stastney has also managed five goals and 20 points in 44 AHL games this season. It’s his second full year as a pro, after joining the Predators at the end of the 2021-22 season. He recorded five goals and 13 points in 56 games as an AHL rookie last year, adding two assists in his first eight NHL games.
Stastney will enter the lineup as a depth option, with the team likely to ice Jérémy Lauzon ahead of him. Lauzon has appeared in 66 games this season, netting six goals and 13 points. He is one of six Predators defenders, including Fabbro and Stastney, to not yet reach the 20-point mark. Stastney could also slot in for Luke Schenn – Nashville’s least-used defenseman, with just 15 minutes of average ice time across 47 games. Schenn has six points on the season, the lowest of Nashville’s current blue-line.
Stastney’s recall will limit the Predators to just three remaining this season.
Blue Jackets Recall Brendan Gaunce On Emergency Loan
11:00 AM: Kirill Marchenko is under the weather, and may not be ready for the team’s Tuesday matchup against the Montreal Canadiens, per Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispact (Twitter Link). Gaunce will fill-in for Marchenko if he can’t go, while Meyer fills in for Danforth.
10:00 AM: The Columbus Blue Jackets have recalled forward Brendan Gaunce from the AHL under emergency conditions. This move comes after Columbus played without Justin Danforth on Saturday, losing the forward to what was initially believed to be an illness but has now been revealed as a concussion.
Gaunce will provide additional depth to a Blue Jackets club marred by injuries, with promising youngsters Adam Fantilli and Kent Johnson both missing extended time, while top winger Patrik Laine is away from the team for personal reasons. Gaunce is in his third season with the Columbus organization and has already appeared in eight NHL games this season, recording one goal and three points. Much of his remaining year has come with the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters, where he ranks second in scoring with 19 goals and 39 points in 46 games. Gaunce is once again serving as a routine injury fill-in – sticking to the role he carved out early in his career. The former first-round pick has totaled just 161 NHL games since making his debut in the 2015-16 season, scoring 27 points. He’s also managed 343 career AHL games, netting 233 points.
Gaunce will join Carson Meyer in the Blue Jackets’ extras room. Meyer was recalled on Sunday and is expected to fill in for Danforth on Tuesday. He has served in a largely similar role to Gaunce, serving as a de facto call-up for Columbus over the last three seasons – although Meyer has yet to play in the NHL this year, instead totaling 22 goals and 37 points in 55 AHL games. He appeared in 14 NHL games last year, netting just one assist and bringing his career totals up to 27 NHL games and four points. The 26-year-old made his debut with the Cleveland Monsters in 2020-21, after four seasons in the NCAA. He and Gaunce will likely rotate in with each other, as Columbus looks to address their long list of missing forwards.
Capitals Activate T.J. Oshie Off Injured Reserve
The Capitals welcomed back a veteran winger to their lineup tonight as Sammi Silber of The Hockey News relayed that T.J. Oshie was taken off injured reserve. He took the place of winger Tom Wilson in the lineup with the team announcing (Twitter link) that Wilson was out due to an upper-body injury.
Oshie had missed nearly three weeks due to a non-contact upper-body injury. While his numbers on the season (ten goals and eight assists in 38 games) are a bit underwhelming for someone who is used to being a key secondary scorer, the 37-year-old has been much more productive as of late. Since the calendar turned to 2024, Oshie has tallied eight goals and six assists in 17 contests, way closer to the level of output that Washington needs and expects from the veteran.
As for Wilson, he is in the middle of a down year offensively as well. Through 61 games, he has 15 goals and 13 assists while once again being among the league leaders in penalty minutes. However, his 0.46 points-per-game average is his lowest since the 2017-18 campaign. That’s not what the Capitals were hoping for when they signed him to a seven-year, $45.5MM contract extension back in August. Oshie will take Wilson’s place on Washington’s second line.
While center Nic Dowd and defenseman Martin Fehervary have been cleared for contact in recent days, they both have not yet been activated off injured reserve. When that time comes, the Capitals will be back up to 23 skaters on their active roster after carrying the minimum in recent days.
Golden Knights Notes: Howden, Carrier, Hertl
The Vegas Golden Knights will be getting forward Brett Howden back from injury on Tuesday, per head coach Bruce Cassidy. Howden has been out since February 20th with an upper-body injury, missing the team’s last eight games. He has appeared in 54 games this season, scoring five goals and 13 points, matching the scoring he recorded in the same amount of games last year. Howden has also managed 29 penalty minutes and a -9, his first negative since the 2020-21 season. Vegas will need to activate Howden off of injured reserve before he takes the ice, though the team already has a roster space available.
Howden is in his third season with the Golden Knights, carving out a prominent role on the team’s bottom-six and penalty kill. Vegas will want his gritty impact back into the lineup as soon as possible, but who he’ll bump out of a role isn’t as clear – with Pavel Dorofeyev’s five points in the last seven games complicating the decision. Keegan Kolesar could be one candidate to take a seat, boasting just 11 points on the season and currently riding a nine-game scoring drought.
Other notes from around the league:
- Adding to Vegas’ touch decision in the bottom six is the progression of William Carrier, who returned to full contact at the team’s Monday practice. Carrier has missed 30 games with an upper-body injury, shifting to long-term injured reserve on Saturday – though he’s already missed enough time to be activated when healthy. Carrier has appeared in 33 games this season, scoring five goals and seven points.
- Tomáš Hertl, the newest Golden Knight, shared with media that he hopes to return in “about two weeks”, per Danny Webster with the Las Vegas Review. Hertl added that he feels as though he’s ahead of schedule in his recovery from a knee injury that’s held him out since January 27th. Hertl underwent knee surgery on February 12th. He’s been his usual self when healthy, scoring 15 goals and 34 points in 48 games with the San Jose Sharks – who have scored the second-fewest goals of any teams this season. Hertl will play in his first game with a new team whenever he’s healthy enough to return, after 11 seasons and 712 games with the Sharks. His 484 points in those games ranks sixth among any Sharks since 2000.
Aaron Ekblad Out At Least Two Weeks
Panthers blue-liner Aaron Ekblad will miss at least two weeks with a lower-body injury, head coach Paul Maurice told reporters (via Jameson Olive of the team’s official site). The 2014 first-overall pick sustained the injury in Saturday’s win over the Flames, playing just over five minutes before exiting the contest. Maurice said Ekblad will be evaluated daily after the two-week mark, and the team aims for a return around the end of the month. He also said that winger Evan Rodrigues, who left the Calgary game with a lower-body injury in the second period, will be a game-time decision tomorrow in Dallas.
Ekblad appeared to sustain a left knee injury after colliding with new teammate Vladimir Tarasenko near center ice (video via Hockey Daily 365 on Twitter/X). The 28-year-old had logged two separate one-game absences due to lower-body injuries earlier this season, as well as a 16-game absence to begin the season while recovering from offseason shoulder surgery. Battling through injuries, he’s had a diminished offensive impact, recording four goals and 17 points through 47 games. It’s his lowest per-game pace in seven years, although his possession metrics have remained high-end, with a 56.9 CF% and 52.3 xGF%. He’s also averaging less than 22 minutes per game for the first time since 2017, but he does have a +26 rating, tied for second on the team behind Gustav Forsling‘s league-leading +47.
His absence leaves the Panthers with just one right-shot defenseman – Brandon Montour – on the active roster. Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who shouldered top-pairing minutes early in the season with Ekblad and Montour both sidelined, will return to that role by skating on his off-side on a pairing with Forsling, who’s fresh off signing an eight-year extension.
As Ekblad is not expected to miss at least 10 games and 24 days, he’s not eligible for long-term injured reserve. Placing him on standard injured reserve offers no benefit, as the 23-player roster limit is now lifted post-deadline. Waiver claim Tobias Björnfot is available to draw into the lineup if additional injuries occur on the blue line, while Josh Mahura, who skated in all 82 regular-season games last season, re-enters the lineup after slipping to seventh on the Panthers’ defensive depth chart.
Rodrigues, 30, has avoided a major injury, meaning the Panthers will have their new-look top-nine with Tarasenko in the fold remain intact. Rodrigues, who’s been one of Florida’s better two-way forwards after inking a four-year, $12MM deal last summer, has 10 goals and 36 points in 65 games.
Josh Norris Undergoes Shoulder Surgery, Out For Season
The Senators will indeed be without center Joshua Norris for the rest of the season after he underwent shoulder surgery last week, the team informed reporters (including Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun). It’s unclear if the team expects Norris, who has had three surgeries on his left shoulder in the past few years, to be ready for the beginning of next season. Depth center Rourke Chartier will also be sidelined for roughly one week with an upper-body injury, per CapFriendly.
Ottawa placed Norris on injured reserve on Feb. 29 and moved him to long-term injured reserve the next day to gain much-needed relief from his $7.95MM cap hit. That relief ensures the Senators can ice a full roster down the stretch after being forced to dress a skater short on multiple occasions this season due to cap constraints.
Norris began the season on IR after sustaining a setback in his recovery from his second shoulder surgery, which was performed in January 2023, during training camp. He made his season debut in mid-October and couldn’t recapture his 2021-22 season form that earned him his eight-year, $63.6MM extension. Over 50 appearances, the left-shot pivot recorded 16 goals and 30 points while averaging 17:38 per game. He posted a -6 rating and recorded 115 shots on goal, a 0.31 shots-per-game decrease from his 35-goal showing two years ago.
It’s another concerning development for the 24-year-old as he deals with seemingly consistent shoulder injuries. They limited him to just eight games last season, meaning he’ll have played only 35% of the Senators’ games since 2022 once this campaign concludes. He has six years remaining on his extension, with a 10-team no-trade list from July 1, 2026 onwards.
Norris last played on Feb. 27. He also missed four games in January with what the team termed an upper-body injury, although it’s unclear if that absence was related to his shoulder. The Senators, who are now down two centers with Chartier injured, will need to recall a forward from AHL Belleville before tomorrow’s game against the Penguins to have 12 available. They’ll be eligible to use an emergency recall, keeping their four post-deadline standard recalls open for later.
Chartier, 27, has three points in 37 games with the Sens this season. He was briefly reassigned to Belleville on deadline day to make him eligible to participate in the Calder Cup Playoffs.
Maple Leafs Promote Nicholas Robertson
The Maple Leafs have brought young winger Nicholas Robertson back up to the NHL roster ahead of Thursday’s game in Philadelphia, a team announcement states. Toronto only has $344K remaining in its LTIR salary pool, which is not enough to accommodate Robertson’s $797K cap hit, so they’ll need to make a corresponding transaction later today to remain cap-compliant. That transaction will likely transfer defenseman Mark Giordano from IR to LTIR, per CapFriendly.
Robertson, 22, was sent down to the AHL’s Toronto Marlies earlier this month after the activation of Calle Järnkrok off LTIR and the acquisition of Ilya Lyubushkin created a roster crunch. At the time, head coach Sheldon Keefe informed Robertson it wouldn’t be a lengthy stay in the minors, and the organization has stayed true to its word.
The 2019 second-round pick has demonstrated the consistency necessary to remain in consideration for a full-time job on the playoff-bound Leafs. The younger brother of Stars star winger Jason Robertson has eight goals, 11 assists and 19 points in 41 games this season while averaging 11:22 per game, all of which are career highs. Robertson, who recorded 11 points in nine games with AHL Toronto to kick off the season, did not suit up with the Marlies during this brief reassignment.
The California-born winger has posted solid possession during his limited even-strength minutes, posting a 50.3 CF% and a 52.7 xGF%, which are close to team averages. He’s averaged a little north of 30 seconds per game on the power play and remains only a depth option on special teams behind Toronto’s loaded arsenal of star power.
Robertson comes up to the active roster as winger Mitch Marner remains absent from practice after missing this weekend’s win over the Canadiens with a lower-body injury, per Mark Masters of TSN. He remains listed as day-to-day after falling awkwardly after a scoring chance against the Bruins in the second period of a loss last Thursday.
Giordano, 40, has missed five games with a concussion sustained on Feb. 29 against the Coyotes. Placing him on LTIR means he won’t return until March 24 against the Hurricanes at the soonest, assuming the placement is retroactive to when he sustained the injury.
Robertson is in the final season of his entry-level deal and will be an RFA this summer. He does not have arbitration rights but is eligible to be offer-sheeted.
Morning Notes: Demko, Carlsson, Fabbro
The Canucks are back in the win column and continue to pace themselves for their best regular season since reaching the Stanley Cup Final in 2011. Their 113-point pace can be credited mainly to Thatcher Demko, who will undoubtedly get Vezina Trophy consideration in a few months thanks to an uncontestable top-five showing. Unfortunately, they’ll be without their star netminder for a slight stretch as he’s set to miss “a few games” with an undisclosed injury, Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK reports. More specifically, it’s a knee issue, per Postmedia’s Ben Kuzma. The Canucks will recall a goaltender from AHL Abbotsford, likely waiver-exempt Arturs Silovs, ahead of Wednesday’s game against the Avalanche.
After a breakout 2021-22 campaign that placed him seventh in Vezina voting, last year marked a significant downturn for Demko, who struggled through a knee injury that limited him to 32 starts and dropped his numbers to the average-to-mediocre range. He’s back to form this year, though, recording career highs in wins (34), SV% (.917), GAA (2.47), and shutouts (5). His 20.4 goals saved above expected are second in the league only behind Jets star Connor Hellebuyck‘s 27.9, per MoneyPuck. The Canucks do not have enough cap space for a recall with $125K remaining in their LTIR salary pool, but Silovs is eligible for a $0 roster emergency exemption as he carries a cap hit of $850K or less. Unlike skaters, teams do not have to play short a goaltender for one game before being eligible to use this rarer emergency recall.
More things to note as the 2023-24 campaign chugs on past the trade deadline:
- Ducks rookie center Leo Carlsson is set to return to the lineup for Thursday’s game in Minnesota, meaning he’ll miss a sixth straight game with a concussion when they take on Chicago tomorrow, GM Pat Verbeek said. Carlsson, 19, has settled nicely into NHL work after being selected second overall in the 2023 draft and is already the Ducks’ best two-way center by the numbers. His concussion, a right MCL sprain, and an early-season load-management plan have limited him to 40 games on the year and likely pushed him out of Calder Trophy consideration. Still, he’s posted decent secondary scoring numbers with nine goals and 23 assists while ranking second among qualified Ducks skaters with a 51.6 CF% and a team-high +1.7 expected rating. The Ducks, again in the draft lottery conversation with 49 points, have gone 2-3-0 without Carlsson in this latest stretch and have conceded six goals in back-to-back games.
- The Predators were on the losing end of a wild finish yesterday in Minnesota, as Wild head coach John Hynes pulled the goalie in overtime for an extra skater and took home a crucial two points thanks to a Matt Boldy game-winner. However, it wasn’t the only loss they suffered yesterday, as newly-extended defenseman Dante Fabbro sustained an upper-body injury in the first period and did not return. This is Fabbro’s first injury of the season; all his previous absences have been due to healthy scratches. The 25-year-old, who inked a one-year, $2.5MM extension on deadline day, has not yet been ruled out for Wednesday’s game against the Jets. Tyson Barrie could re-enter the lineup instead of Fabbro after serving as a healthy scratch against Minnesota if the latter isn’t cleared to play.