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Snapshots: Hintz, Lavoie, Canucks, Husso

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Stars forward Roope Hintz has returned to Dallas to be further evaluated after sustaining an upper-body injury on Saturday against Edmonton, notes Robert Tiffin of D Magazine (Twitter link).  Head coach Peter DeBoer stated that the early indications are that the injury isn’t a long-term one while it appears as if a fracture has been ruled out as well.  Hintz had been on quite the hot streak recently; going into yesterday’s game, he had 17 points in his last eight appearances and was anchoring the top line.  While it appears the worst-case scenarios are going to be avoided, they’ll be without him tonight against Vancouver and likely a little longer than that.

Elsewhere around the NHL:

  • The Golden Knights have placed winger Raphael Lavoie on injured reserve with an upper-body injury, relays Danny Webster of the Las Vegas Review-Journal (Twitter link). After an adventurous stint on the waiver wire to start the year, the 24-year-old has played primarily with AHL Henderson, tallying 21 points in 32 games.  Lavoie has made nine appearances with Vegas on a pair of recalls but has been held off the scoresheet while logging just over 10 minutes a game.  Lavoie’s placement will keep him out of the lineup until at least Thursday.
  • The Canucks have reversed their goalie move from yesterday, announcing (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled Arturs Silovs from AHL Abbotsford while sending Nikita Tolopilo to Abbotsford. The move allowed Silovs to start yesterday against San Jose where he allowed four goals on 28 shots.  Silovs has a 3.85 GAA with a .858 SV% in nine outings with Vancouver and is set to be the primary backup with Thatcher Demko back on injured reserve.  But to keep him fresh, the Canucks could send him down periodically to get a spot start in with Abbotsford.
  • A day after sending him back to the minors, Anaheim’s AHL affiliate in San Diego announced that the Ducks have once again recalled goaltender Ville Husso to the big club. He was acquired for future considerations last month to add some goalie depth and has a 2.84 GAA along with a .908 SV% in 17 AHL contests this season while compiling a 3.69 GAA and a .866 SV% in nine NHL contests.  Husso is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer.

Islanders’ Semyon Varlamov Likely Out For Season, Offseason Priorities Forming

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New York Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello sat down with media for an in-depth look at the team’s current state after the Trade Deadline and where he plans to head this summer. Among the biggest news was that top backup goaltender Semyon Varlamov will likely miss the remainder of the 2024-25 season with his lower-body injury, captured by Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News.

Varlamov has been out of the lineup since late November, but the root of his injury wasn’t entirely clear. He played through a full 61 minutes of action in what could be his last game of the season – an 5-4 overtime loss to the Washington Capitals on November 29th. He’s been on the shelf ever since, while the Islanders have turned towards Marcus Hogberg and Jakub Skarek to fill backup minutes behind star starter Ilya Sorokin.

Lamoriello went on to speak in depth about the team’s plans for veterans Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri, sharing that their goal was to sign both to extensions beyond this season. That plan went awry with Nelson, who was ultimately flipped to the Colorado Avalanche for top prospect Calum Ritchie and draft capital – but Lamoriello emphasized that the team still hopes to bring Palmieri back into the fold, per Newsday’s Andrew Gross. In the same breath, Lamoriello also pointed out that the Islanders need to get younger. They currently carry the 10th-oldest lineup in the NHL, with an average age of 28.96. Of the nine teams older than them, the Pittsburgh Penguins are the only team in shakier playoff standing than the Wild Card-bound Islanders.

The effort to get younger will mean plenty of change this summer, Lamoriello added. He told Gross that the term “retool” is a relatively new juxtaposition to the long-term idea of a “rebuild”. The Islanders will attempt to stick in the former camp this summer, refreshing the lineup with top prospects and new faces while trimming down on their veteran presence. That could be a challenge if keeping players like Palmieri – a 34-year-old with 20 goals and 41 points in 62 games this season – is at the top of the docket. New York likely won’t want to part with franchise cornerstone Anders Lee, or productive veterans like Bo Horvat and Mathew Barzal – which could make top defenders like Noah Dobson, Ryan Pulock, and Adam Pelech the focus of any large-scale moves.

The Boston Bruins received top prospect Fraser Minten and a first-round draft pick, among other assets, for top-pair defensive defenseman Brandon Carlo at the Deadline. That price was likely hiked up in a seller’s market, but finding a comparable deal could be the start of New York’s efforts to retool. The Islanders will also have to make sure they’re elevating newly-acquired top prospects to important roles as soon as they can with the youth-movement in mind – an effort they’re already headed towards by clearing Nelson’s role for Ritchie in their recent swap.

New York finds themselves three points behind the Eastern Conference’s second Wild Card spot with 20 games left in their season. It’s a hotly contested race, with at least six teams within striking distance of a playoff spot. Moving out Nelson, who was previously tied for the team lead in scoring with 43 points, will make achieving that postseason berth a tough feat. So will losing Varlamov, who had a career-low .889 save percentage this season but posted a far more impressive .917 in his last four seasons with the Islanders. Those absences will require improved performances from the likes of Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Hogberg to keep New York competitive.

The Islanders will have six unrestricted free agents and seven restricted free agents to re-sign when their season ends. Among the pending free agents is top-performing rookie Maxim Tsyplakov, top defenders Dobson and Alexander Romanov, and recent acquisitions Tony DeAngelo, Scott Perunovich, and Adam Boqvist. With only three contracts north of $7MM on their books, the Islanders should have plenty of money to work with this summer – a technical $28.9MM per PuckPedia. With his recent comments, it seems veteran GM Lamoriello is set to use that money to its fullest this summer – in an attempt to rejuvenate an Islanders lineup that’s fallen behind the playoff wave this season.

Evening Notes: Gavrikov, Marchand, Hedman, Jokiharju

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Los Angeles Kings general manager Rob Blake spoke in-depth about his efforts to extend defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov in a post-Trade Deadline media availability. Blake shared that keeping Gavrikov around is a top priority for the team, but finding a new deal could take some time after Gavrikov changed agents in February. But even with the flip, Blake reiterated that both the team and the player are confident a deal can get done.

Gavrikov has been a top defender for the Kings. He has averaged nearly 24 minutes of ice time on a nightly basis, good for second on the team behind Drew Doughty’s average of 25:32. Gavrikov has brought a shutdown presence to those premier moments. He leads the team with 117 blocked shots, to go with 21 points, 14 penalty minutes, a plus-eight, and 34 hits in 60 games. He’s averaged north of 20 minutes of ice time in every season since his 2021-22 campaign with the Columbus Blue Jackets. That season stands as Gavrikov’s career-year, headlined by a career-high 33 points and 68 penalty minutes in 80 games. The 29-year-old defenseman has slowed his scoring since those days, but looks capable of carrying his brick wall style well into his 30s. The Kings will look to bank on that growth on his next extension, which will likely carry Gavrikov to the sunset years of his career.

Other notes from around the league:

  • The Boston Bruins offered captain Brad Marchand a three-year extension before opting to trade him to the Florida Panthers, per ESPN’s Emily Kaplan. Kaplan goes on to add that Boston’s original extension offers to the 36-year-old Marchand were stuck at two years, but that the team expanded their offer in the waning minutes to try and secure a deal. Ultimately, the money wasn’t right for Marchand – and he opted to pursue a move to the Panthers instead. Marchand will have a chance to sign a more preferable deal when he enters unrestricted free agency this summer. The Bruins lost their second-highest scorer in dealing away Marchand, who has 21 goals and 47 points in 61 games on the year. He’ll be a major addition for the Florida Panthers, but will first need to overcome a shoulder injury that’s expected to hold him out for a few weeks.
  • Tampa Bay Lightning captain Victor Hedman missed the team’s Saturday night matchup against the Boston Bruins and has been listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury. Hedman has made a major impact on the Bolts lineup over his recent stretch, with five points in his last five games and seven points in his last 10 games. J.J. Moser elevates to the top line in Hedman’s absence, while Emil Martinsen Lilleberg draws back onto Tampa Bay’s third pair. Moser has 10 points and a plus-13 in 35 games this season, while Lilleberg has 14 points, 85 penalty minutes, and a minus-seven in 58 games.
  • The newest Boston Bruins defenseman Henri Jokiharju told reporters that he had requested a trade away from the Buffalo Sabres prior to his deadline-day move. He also clamored about his positive relationships with new Boston teammates Casey Mittelstadt and Joonas Korpisalo. Jokiharju joins the Bruins after six tough seasons with the Buffalo Sabres. He earned top-pair minutes at points during his Sabres tenure, as the team struggled to staff a hardy right-defense corp – but Jokiharju could never make much of his minutes. He set a career-high of 20 points in 74 games last season, but had just six points in 42 games with Buffalo this year. Jokiharju should fill a much more manageable bottom-four role in Boston, playing behind shutdown defender Andrew Peeke at least.

Hurricanes Recall Scott Morrow, Reassign Riley Stillman

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The Carolina Hurricanes have recalled top defense prospect Scott Morrow and reassigned defenseman Riley Stillman. Stillman will head to the AHL sporting a minor injury after taking a skate to the face in his first shift of Thursday night’s game. He received stitches on the inside of his mouth but continues to practice per Cory Lavalette of the North State Journal.

This move returns Morrow to the NHL after a recent hot streak in the minors. He has 10 points in 10 games since Carolina reassigned him on February 8th. Morrow is now up to 39 points in 51 AHL games, the third-most of any rookie defender in the AHL behind San Jose’s Luca Cagnoni and Anaheim’s Tristan Luneau who each have 42 points. Despite that hot scoring, Morrow hasn’t yet found his way onto an NHL scoresheet. He has no scoring and a minus-four through four career games in the NHL, with the appearances split evenly between last year and this year.

Morrow’s spot in the lineup on Sunday will depend on the availability of Dmitry Orlov, who missed Thursday’s game with a minor injury. Orlov returned to Carolina’s Saturday morning practice in full per NHL.com’s Walt Ruff. He seems good to go, but Morrow will be the quick fill-in should the Hurricanes need an extra hand.

This move also returns Stillman to the minor leagues for the second time in two days. Carolina successfully waived Stillman and assigned him to the minor leagues on Friday, but he was brought back to the NHL roster before Saturday’s practice. But it seems that was only for the extra skate, and Stillman will head back to the Chicago Wolves to build on his five points, 41 penalty minutes, and minus-three in 20 games. Stillman has also stepped into three NHL games this season, setting no scoring, five penalty minutes, and a minus-one.

Sonny Milano Suffers Setback In Injury Recovery

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Friday was a fairly quiet day for the Capitals on the trade front with their only move being the acquisition of winger Anthony Beauvillier from Pittsburgh.  There’s another winger that they were hoping to get back soon but that’s no longer the case for Sonny Milano.  Speaking with reporters Friday including Sammi Silber of The Hockey News, GM Chris Patrick indicated that the winger suffered a fairly significant setback in his recovery from an upper-body injury.

The 28-year-old has been out since early November and has played in just three games with Washington this season, being held off the scoresheet.  However, he had been a capable depth scorer in recent years, reaching the double-digit goal mark in three straight seasons, the last two of which came with the Caps.

It looked as if Milano was well on his way toward returning as he had been skating for several months and participating in non-contact drills but Patrick noted that it’s back to the drawing board in terms of a plan for his recovery.  Given how long he has been out for, his availability for the rest of the season is certainly now in question.

Milano is currently on LTIR with his $1.9MM AAV contributing to more than half of their current LTIR room which stands at $3.175MM, per PuckPedia.  Washington is likely to use a good chunk of that when Ryan Leonard’s season comes to an end as it’s widely expected they’ll try to bring him in for the stretch run and playoffs so even if Milano was cleared to return before the playoffs, it’s likely they’d keep him stashed on there anyway for cap compliance purposes.  Regardless, it’s fair to say that the second season of Milano’s three-year deal has not gone the way anyone would have hoped.

Rangers Activate Chris Kreider Off Injured Reserve

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The Rangers were one of the more active teams around the trade deadline, moving out several veterans in recent days.  But they’re getting one back in the lineup this afternoon against Ottawa as Mollie Walker of the New York Post relays (Twitter link) that winger Chris Kreider has been activated off injured reserve.

Kreider had been dealing with an upper-body injury sustained in the first game back after the 4 Nations Face-Off break.  While his goal production has still been reasonably high, it has been a tough year for the 33-year-old overall.  Through 48 games this season, Kreider has 17 goals but just four assists, putting him on pace for the lowest full-season point total of his career.

His early-season struggles had him placed on the trade market back in late November with GM Chris Drury looking to shake up the veteran core on his roster.  The other veteran put on the block at that time (Jacob Trouba) ultimately was moved but a viable trade market never seemed to materialize for Kreider.

Kreider has two years left on his contract, one that carries a $6.5MM cap charge and a 15-team no-trade list.  A strong finish to his season could help bolster his market on the trade front and potentially help New York sneak into the postseason as despite their recent moves as a seller, they enter play today tied for the final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference.

Laurent Brossoit Not Expected To Return This Season

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Laurent Brossoit’s first year with the Blackhawks hasn’t gone well, to say the least.  Signed to a two-year, $6MM contract last summer to try to give Chicago some stability between the pipes, he has yet to play for them this season.  It doesn’t look like he will either as Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times relays that goalie coach Jimmy Waite recently indicated that he doesn’t expect the netminder to be able to return this season.

The 31-year-old underwent meniscus surgery in late August that was initially expected to carry a five-to-seven-week recovery timeline.  While that would mean he’d miss training camp, the thought was that he’d be ready to play early in the regular season and he was originally thought to be ready to debut partway through their opening road trip.  Then in late October, he was supposed to begin skating and would need a few weeks to ramp up.  Two weeks later, his timeline was changed to being out indefinitely.

Brossoit then underwent a second procedure on his knee at the end of November with no timeline for a return although GM Kyle Davidson was hopeful back in late January that his new netminder would be able to play this season.  Clearly, that’s no longer the case although Brossoit recently expressed some optimism to Waite about his recovery which could be a good sign for next year.

Brossoit posted a 2.00 GAA and a .927 SV% in 23 games with Winnipeg in 2023-24, a solid bounce-back performance after being in the minors at times the year before.  That made him one of the bigger wild cards heading into free agency but even with his inconsistent track record, he still landed the biggest financial commitment of his career and looked to be part of Chicago’s short-term plans at the very least.

But that fit is much less certain now.  Arvid Soderblom, who Brossoit was likely signed to replace in the goaltending platoon, has bounced back quite well after a disastrous performance last season, upping his save percentage by 25 points along the way.  In doing so, he’s back to being in at least the shorter-term plans in goal as well with prospects Drew Commesso and Adam Gajan not ready for full-time NHL duty just yet.

Meanwhile, Chicago also picked up Spencer Knight from Florida as a key part of the return in their trade for Seth Jones earlier this month.  At 23, he’s now their goalie of the present and future so he figures to be the top option in their tandem with Soderblom as the backup.

Chicago was able to move Petr Mrazek on Friday to avoid an extended stretch of carrying three netminders but assuming Brossoit is able to play next season, they’ll be in that situation once more.  But Davidson at least has some time to come up with a plan for how to handle that situation as now with Brossoit effectively ruled out for the rest of this season, it won’t be an issue until training camp in the fall.

Jonas Siegenthaler Out For Rest Of Regular Season

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It’s going to be a while before the Devils get some help on the back end.  In his post-deadline press conference (video link), GM Tom Fitzgerald indicated that blueliner Jonas Siegenthaler (lower body) won’t be able to return for the rest of the regular season but does have a chance to return in the playoffs.  Meanwhile, he declined to put a timeline on the reported week-to-week lower-body injury for Dougie Hamilton but confirmed that his top-scoring blueliner will be out for an extended period.

Siegenthaler has been out of the lineup for a little more than a month due to a lower-body injury and was moved to LTIR in recent days before Jack Hughes’ season-ending shoulder surgery.  The 27-year-old isn’t a big point producer from the back end as he had just two goals and seven assists in 55 games before being injured; his nine points matched his total from last season.

But Siegenthaler has long been a capable defensive defender and his absence will be more felt on that end.  He primarily played in a shutdown role while taking a regular turn on the penalty kill; all told, he finishes his regular season with 19:36 in ATOI.  While that ranks fifth among New Jersey defenders, none of their rearguards are averaging 21 minutes a game on the season with their distribution being quite close, a rarity across the NHL.

New Jersey quickly moved to fill Siegenthaler’s role earlier this week when they acquired Brian Dumoulin from Anaheim while they picked up Dennis Cholowski from the Islanders today to add more defensive depth.  But that’s all the help they’re going to have now for a while with no word on how long Hamilton will be out for while we now know that Siegenthaler’s set to miss the final six weeks of the regular season and potentially more.

Minor Transactions: 3/6/25

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With less than 24 hours remaining until the trade deadline, a few teams are making minor roster moves for several reasons. Whether to accrue a few cap dollars before tomorrow’s deadline or to ensure certain players are eligible for the Calder Cup playoffs, there will be plenty of movement between the NHL and AHL before tomorrow afternoon.

  • According to the AHL transactions page, the Chicago Blackhawks have reassigned forward Andreas Athanasiou to their AHL affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs. Despite a disappointing season, the IceHogs are competing for a playoff spot in the AHL’s Central Division and would qualify if the season ended today. Athanasiou has been a large part of that hunt. Since clearing waivers and being reassigned in early November, Athanasiou has scored eight goals and 16 points in 16 games with AHL Rockford. Should they qualify by season’s end, he’ll be an important part of their playoff success.
  • In a move similar to the Blackhawks, the Calgary Flames announced that they have reassigned defenseman Ilya Solovyov to their AHL affiliate, the Calgary Wranglers. The Mogilev, Belarus native has again spent much of the time in the AHL this season, scoring six goals and 21 points in 43 contests. His point production is good for fourth on the team among defensemen, and his +16 rating is the second-best. 
  • The San Jose Sharks are expected to make a minor roster move, although it won’t involve their AHL affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda. According to Curtis Pashelka of the East Bay Times, the Sharks are expected to activate Nikolai Kovalenko from the injured reserve ahead of tonight’s matchup against the Colorado Avalanche. It’ll be the second time Kovalenko has played his former team since being traded in early December. He’s been limited to 17 games in San Jose due to a pair of injuries but has scored one goal and eight points when healthy.
  • According to a team announcement, the New York Rangers have reassigned defenseman Matthew Robertson to their AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack. The team has also recalled Chad Ruhwedel in a corresponding roster move. Despite being recalled a few times this season, Robertson has yet to debut in the NHL. It’s prudent for the Rangers organization to make Robertson eligible for the 2025 Calder Cup playoffs if he has no avenue to time in the NHL. The former 49th overall pick of the 2019 NHL Draft has scored one goal and 18 points in 47 AHL contests this season. Ruhwedel will reprise a familiar role as the team’s seventh defenseman. He has tallied one assist in five games for the Rangers this season, averaging 14:06 of ice time.
  • The Philadelphia Flyers are expecting to assign goaltender Aleksei Kolosov to the minor leagues before the AHL roster deadline on Friday per Jackie Spiegel of the Philadelphia Inquirer. The move was first reported by Anthony SanFilippo of Philadelphia-based sports site On Pattison, who adds that the move isn’t a paper transaction. Kolosov has split time between the major and minor rosters this season, with a 4-8-1 record and .870 save percentage in 15 NHL games and a 2-4-1 record and .874 Sv% in seven AHL games. He was the starter for the KHL’s Dynamo Minsk last seaosn, where he set a much more acheived 22-21-3 record and .907 save percentage in 47 games.

This page will be updated throughout the day.

Injury Notes: Orlov, Stillman, Mazur, Quinn

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The Carolina Hurricanes announced in the minutes leading up to Thursday night’s game that top-four defenseman Dmitry Orlov would sit out with a day-to-day injury. His last-minute absence forced defenseman Riley Stillman, Carolina’s only extra skater, into the lineup. Stillman was placed on waivers earlier in the day with the intention of being assigned to the minor leagues.

Stillman suffered an injury of his own partway through the game after taking the skate of Boston Bruins forward John Beecher to the face. Stillman headed immediately down the tunnel. He was ruled out for the rest of Thursday night’s game per Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News and Observer, but no further updates were provided.

Orlov’s absence leaves a sizeable hole on the Hurricanes’ blue-line. He ranks second among the team’s defenders with 24 points in 62 games. Orlov also averages the third-most ice time on the team, with 19:42 putting him just a couple of minutes behind the top pair of Jaccob Slavin and Brent Burns. Orlov is also Carolina’s second-most-used defenseman on the penalty-kill behind Burns. The Hurricanes will be forced to fill all of his roles in the short term and will need to make a roster move to do so, with Stillman likely out. Top prospect Scott Morrow – the points leader among Chicago Wolves defenseman (39 points) – will be the most likely candidate for a call-up.

More injury notes around the league:

  • Detroit Red Wings rookie Carter Mazur went down the tunnel just one minute into his NHL debut, after awkwardly bumping into Utah Hockey Club forward Jack McBain. His injury was listed as upper-body in a formal statement from the team. No indication of Mazur’s timeline has been provided. The news brings an unfortunate end to what was a dream night for the Michigan-native. Mazur has scored 15 points in 20 AHL games this year and looked set to land fourth-line minutes after the departure of Andrew Copp to injury and Christian Fischer to waivers. But Detroit may need to go searching for a new fill-in, which could define their Trade Deadline approach with less than a day left.
  • Top Buffalo Sabres winger Jack Quinn left the team’s Thursday night game midway through the first period due to illness. No further details were disclosed. Quinn skated for four shifts and 2:25 in ice time before exiting. He leaves a notable hole behind him after recording three points in his last five games. That scoring streak has brought Quinn to 10 goals and 24 points in 53 games this season. Buffalo isn’t currently carrying any extra forwards, with Jason Zucker out with a “frustrating” injury per Matthew Fairburn of The Athletic. That could prompt Buffalo to make a roster move, or shop for a depth forward on the open market – should Quinn need to miss additional time with his illness.

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