Penguins Recall Melvin Ferstrom From Loan, Assign To AHL
The Pittsburgh Penguins have opted for a change of scenery for a recent acquisition. Forward Melvin Fernstrom has been recalled from his loan to the SHL’s Orebro HK and assigned to the AHL, per a team release from Orebro and Tony Androckitis of Inside AHL Hockey.
Fernstrom had recently been assigned from the SHL to AIK of the HockeyAllsvenskan, Sweden’s second-tier league. He grew up playing in AIK’s youth hockey program before shifting to Orebro, and debuting with their U18 squad, at the age of 15. Now, Fernstrom will change teams once more, before he has a chance to debut with AIK’s top club.
Fernstrom racked up three goals, four points, and a minus-10 in 36 appearances with Orebro’s SHL lineup. This was his second season in the top league, after posting 17 points and a minus-10 in 48 games as a rookie last year. He settled into a third-line role this season and often faced a barrage of shots against on an Orebro club that’s allowed the fourth-most goals-against in the SHL. Fernstrom’s impact was often limited to shutting play down on one end and creating fastbreak chances on the other – though that posed an uphill battle for the pass-first center.
He was lauded ahead of the 2024 NHL Draft as a nimble playmaker capable of controlling the middle of the ice. That claim was enough to convince the Vancouver Canucks to draft Fernstrom in the third round, though his rights were traded in a package to Pittsburgh in exchange for Marcus Pettersson and Drew O’Connor last year. The Penguins signed Fernstrom to his entry-level contract this summer and will now take advantage of the AHL elgibility it grants him.
The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins currently rank second in the AHL’s Atlantic Division. They are tied for the fifth-most goals in the league, largely thanks to hot performances from Penguins prospects Tristan Broz and Avery Hayes. Fernstrom will add a responsible, two-way touch to shore up Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s center depth. He is likely to be eased into the lineup and sits on the outside of NHL hopes this season, pending a quick breakout in North American minors.
Lightning Recall Curtis Douglas From AHL Conditioning Loan
1/26: Tampa Bay has recalled Douglas from his conditioning loan. He recorded no points, no penalties, and a zero plus-minus in six games with the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch.
1/12: Earlier this evening the Tampa Bay Lightning announced that Curtis Douglas has been assigned to AHL Syracuse for conditioning purposes. The forward has been a healthy scratch for each of Tampa’s last six games. Even when dressed, he has played very sparingly this season, averaging 5:58 a night.
Claimed off waivers from Utah in October, the 25-year-old may not make his mark in the stat sheet, but his road to the show has been impressive. Selected in the fourth round back in 2018 by Dallas, Douglas spent each of his past five seasons in the AHL across three different organizations, never getting a look at the highest level, and regularly recording over 100 penalty minutes each season. The 6’9″ center then caught the attention of Tampa Bay, who inherited the final year of his contract worth $775k at the NHL level, ending in unrestricted free agent status this summer.
In 27 games, Douglas has two assists and 75 penalty minutes. 25 years ago or so, this may be business as usual, but such output in today’s game is a testament to the Ontario native’s work ethic. He has managed to make an impact, on one of the league’s top teams, no less.
Although Douglas is back to the AHL for now, he will retain his full NHL salary, and the loan can last no longer than two weeks. Syracuse, currently 10th in the AHL, will enjoy having the hulking forward in their lineup for the time being. Tampa Bay won their 10th straight game tonight, as they won’t exactly miss a beat without their enforcer, but Douglas will get some game action and be ready to return when needed.
Bruins Assign Jordan Harris To AHL On Conditioning Loan
The Boston Bruins are nearing a fully healthy defensive core. Earlier today, the Bruins announced that they’ve assigned defenseman Jordan Harris to the AHL’s Providence Bruins on a conditioning loan.
Harris, 25, is in his first year with his hometown team. The Haverhill, MA native signed a one-year, $825K contract with Boston last summer after being non-tendered by the Columbus Blue Jackets. Before his one-year stint with Columbus, he had spent three years with the Montreal Canadiens before being traded in 2024 for Patrik Laine and a 2026 second-round pick.
Unfortunately, his time with the Bruins hasn’t gone to plan. Due to suffering a fractured ankle in October, Harris has been limited to five appearances for Boston this season. In those five contests, Harris has registered one goal and one assist, averaging 15:38 of ice time per game.
Furthermore, unless there’s another injury, Harris may not have access to much ice time upon his return. Due to multiple injuries on the blue line, the Bruins have given Jonathan Aspirot a larger opportunity this season, and he’s run with it. He’s been a bright spot in Boston this year, achieving a +19 rating in 30 games with an exceptional 94.6% on-ice SV% at even strength. The Bruins rewarded him a little over a week ago, signing Aspirot to a two-year extension.
That may push Harris into a depth role for the rest of the campaign through no fault of his own. Assuming no additional injuries occur, Harris would become the fifth left-handed defenseman on the active roster. Still, given that the Bruins have struggled to remain healthy, primarily on defense, being limited to a depth role is far from guaranteed for Harris.
Maple Leafs Assign Anthony Stolarz To AHL On Conditioning Loan
The Toronto Maple Leafs are nearing the return of one of their netminders. The Maple Leafs announced that they’ve assigned Anthony Stolarz to the AHL’s Toronto Marlies on a conditioning loan.
Assuming that Toronto will want Stolarz to participate in at least one AHL contest before activating him from the injured reserve, he’ll likely only miss two more games for the Maple Leafs. The Marlies don’t play again until Friday, whereas the Maple Leafs have two games through Friday evening.
If he’s activated and recalled after the Marlies’ game on Friday night, it’ll mark the end of a 34-game absence for Stolarz. The veteran netminder has missed over two months of action for the Maple Leafs after suffering an upper-body injury against the Boston Bruins on November 11th.
There’s reason to believe that Stolarz had been dealing with the injury prior to being placed on the injured reserve in November. He had a shaky start to the 2025-26 campaign, managing a 6-5-1 record in 13 games with a .884 SV% and 3.51 GAA. That’s a monumental drop-off from how he performed from 2023 to 2025, securing a 37-15-5 record in 61 games with a .926 SV% and 2.10 GAA split between the Florida Panthers and Maple Leafs.
Unfortunately, since it’s unlikely that Toronto carries three netminders on their active roster, Stolarz’s return is bad news for Dennis Hildeby. The second-year netminder has been a boon to the Maple Leafs this season, managing a 5-6-4 record in 19 games with a .910 SV% and 2.90 GAA. Additionally, according to Hockey Reference, he’s earned a 6.7 Goals Saved Above Average.
Still, Hildeby is exempt from waivers, meaning the Maple Leafs can easily reassign him to AHL Toronto once prompted. Given that Stolarz and fellow netminder Joseph Woll are signed through the next several years, Hildeby will remain in the unenviable position of again waiting for an injury to happen to receive another opportunity at the NHL level.
Flames Place John Beecher On IR, Recall Zayne Parekh
The Calgary Flames announced two transactions today, placing forward John Beecher on injured reserve and recalling Zayne Parekh from his loan to the Canadian National Junior Team. The two moves keep the Flames at 23 players on their active roster.
The Flames announced that Beecher has suffered an upper-body injury and is expected to miss time on a week-to-week basis. Beecher suffered the injury during the Flames’ Jan. 3 loss to the Nashville Predators. Beecher earned a one-game suspension for roughing in that game, a suspension he served during the Flames’ game yesterday against the Kraken.
When he was last in the Flames’ lineup, Beecher was the team’s fourth-line center. He has two points in 19 games since the Flames claimed him off of waivers from the Boston Bruins, and he is averaging 9:38 time on ice per game. That includes just under 90 seconds per game of short-handed ice time.
This injury comes at an unfortunate time for Beecher, as he’s a pending restricted free agent with arbitration rights. Presumably, he’s been playing out this season with the hopes of earning a spot in the Flames’ long-term plans.
With his size, faceoff ability (he posted a 53% faceoff win rate as a Bruin) and above-average speed, Beecher has many of the qualities teams want to see out of bottom-six centers. But so far in his career, the 2019 first-rounder hasn’t been able to firmly establish himself as a quality NHL defensive center.
The Flames, as well as Beecher, were likely hoping that a change of scenery away from Boston would help him take the next step in his career, but so far, that hasn’t really happened. This injury will only further decrease the odds that he’ll be able to take that step forward as a Flame.
As for Parekh, this move allows him to re-join the pro ranks after a solid run at the World Junior Championships. Parekh led the tournament in scoring by a defenseman with 13 points in just seven games. While the Canadians had to settle for a Bronze medal after falling to Czechia in the semifinals, the tournament nonetheless gave Parekh the opportunity to restore some confidence in his abilities as an offensive defenseman.
Widely seen as one of the most dynamic offensive defensemen prospects in the sport, Parekh only managed one point in 11 games after making the Flames out of camp. Parekh got used to scoring nearly two points per game during his days in the OHL, so getting the chance to once again compete against his peers could allow the 2024 No. 9 pick to return to the pro ranks ready to hit the ground running. The Flames, who rank No. 30 in the NHL in goals scored, could certainly stand to benefit if Parekh can find a way to translate his dynamic ability to the NHL level.
Senators Loan Olle Lycksell To AHL
After tonight’s shootout loss to Buffalo, the Ottawa Senators announced that Olle Lycksell has been loaned to AHL Belleville. A depth forward, Lycksell has been back and forth between Belleville and Ottawa of late.
As a result of Lars Eller’s injury, Lycksell earned another call-up on December 13, and got into a game a week later against Chicago. He only played 7:17, but managed to notch an assist, his second point of the season, in seven total games. Simply unable to get adequate ice time since, the Swede will return to the AHL, where he is highly productive. Besides the best for himself, the transaction also may signal that Shane Pinto is on the cusp of a return.
Drafted in the sixth round back in 2017 by Philadelphia, Lycksell has impressively managed to stick around as a secondary option between the Flyers and Senators, skating in 52 career NHL games. He became an AHL All Star with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, but caught on with Ottawa over the summer in a one year deal. An unrestricted free agent at season’s end, based on all his activity so far, the 26-year-old figures to be surefire depth for the Sens when needed.
A player whose sharpest skills are on the offensive side, Lycksell faces the challenge of trying to establish himself at the highest level in limited fourth line roles. Rejoining Belleville, who features AHL leading scorer Arthur Kaliev, Lycksell will vie for another shot and potentially extend his North American career.
Maple Leafs Assign Marshall Rifai To AHL On Conditioning Loan
The Toronto Maple Leafs announced today that defenseman Marshall Rifai has been assigned to the club’s AHL affiliate, the Toronto Marlies, on a conditioning loan.
Rifai has spent the entirety of this season so far on long-term injured reserve after undergoing wrist surgery in September. He sustained the injury during a preseason contest against the Montreal Canadiens. The 27-year-old didn’t play any NHL games in 2024-25, but was looking to make a push for consideration to land on the NHL roster this year. His injury stopped him from making his case in preseason and training camp, but now he appears to be nearing a return to full health.
Rifai will be able to spend up to 14 days or five games, whichever comes first, on this conditioning loan. For Rifai to be eligible for reassignment to the Marlies on a permanent basis, he will need to clear waivers.
The 6’2″, 211-pound defenseman was an undrafted signing out of Harvard University that Toronto made in 2022. He scored 16 points and logged 118 penalty minutes in his AHL rookie campaign in 2022-23 and earned his first two NHL games in 2023-24, the only two NHL games of his career thus far.
While Toronto has had to deal with several defensive injuries so far in 2025-26, it’s unclear whether those absences will be enough to secure Rifai a spot on the NHL roster. Given his level of experience thus far, it feels as though the far likelier outcome is that he lands on waivers for reassignment to the Marlies permanently.
The fact that Rifai is signed to a one-way $775K AAV contract with an additional year of term on it does make it likelier that, in the event that he is waived, he’ll be able to clear.
While a team such as the Maple Leafs, who are one of the most deep-pocketed teams in the NHL, can afford to pay NHL salaries to key AHL call-up options, other clubs simply don’t have the same level of financial muscle and therefore are more frugal when it comes to expenditures on AHL players.
This impacts a team’s ability to protect its waiver-eligible depth from claims by rival teams, as players with a lower financial commitment required are often seen as more suitable, low-risk candidates to be claimed on waivers.
To illustrate this reality, one can take a look at the nearby Buffalo Sabres, as there is a clear comparable defenseman to Rifai: former Quinnipiac Bobcat Zach Metsa. Like Rifai, Metsa is also a 27-year-old undrafted player who signed out of the NCAA. While Rifai has an additional full year of AHL experience, which does matter, Metsa did have a notably superior college career. He captained Quinnipiac to a national championship and won numerous individual honors.
Both Metsa and Rifai are playing on two-year extensions and spent all of 2024-25 in the AHL; Metsa scored 46 points in 69 games as a two-way blueliner while Rifai scored 13 points in 63 games as more of a defensively-oriented, physical blueliner.
Despite their generally comparable levels of experience and Metsa’s arguably more pronounced level of on-ice value in the AHL, Rifai earned a one-way deal in each year of his extension, while Metsa got a two-way structure on his extension.
Metsa’s deal pays him $250K at the AHL level in its first year and has a $325K guarantee for 2026-27. Rifai, as mentioned, will make $775K per year over the course of his deal, regardless of what level he is rostered at.
There are some notable differences between the two players, to be clear, and one could make the argument that Rifai’s play style is more in line with what a team might be looking for out of a call-up option. But the differences in their levels of compensation do nonetheless serve as a useful illustration of the unique financial muscle the Maple Leafs are able to flex to help them build organizational depth.
While the NHL salary cap does limit player expenditure at the highest level, Rifai is an example of how a wealthier team can leverage its deeper pockets to create team-building advantages for itself on the margins.
As a result, if Toronto does end up waiving Rifai at some point down the line now that he is nearing a return from injury, the contract they gave him will most likely contribute to him clearing.
Montreal Canadiens Reassign Sam Montembeault To AHL On Conditioning Loan
The Montreal Canadiens announced today that netminder Sam Montembeault has been reassigned to the club’s AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket, on a conditioning loan.
According to Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports, Montembeault “agreed to be sent down to finish the week” in Laval, and Lavoie added that “it’s smarter” for Montembeault to get the chance to play for the Rocket later this week in Cleveland and then meet the team on the road in Pittsburgh on Sunday
Montembeault last appeared in a game for the Canadiens on Dec. 9, but has not started a game since Dec. 2. Montembeault has endured the worst season of his tenure in Montreal since arriving as a waiver claim early in the 2021-22 campaign.
Through 15 games this season, Montembeault has an .857 save percentage. That’s a steep decline from the quality .902 mark he posted a year ago, and his form in recent games has been a far cry from the level of performance that earned him a spot on Team Canada for the 4 Nations Face-Off.
So much of the challenge of being a high-end goaltender in the NHL is managing the mental side of the position, as the ebbs and flows of a player’s confidence can prompt wild swings in performance. The position is widely viewed as an inherently volatile one, from a performance perspective, and the wild change in Montembeault’s year-over-year performance is a clear illustration of that consensus belief in action.
Montembeault started off the season poorly, failing to register a .900 save percentage in five of his first six games of the season. Things have only spiraled downwards from that point, and as Sportsnet’s Eric Engels wrote, Montembeault “wasn’t rebuilding confidence in games with the Canadiens,” so now he’ll get the chance to rebuild his confidence at the AHL level.
Despite his struggles in 2025-26, the Canadiens appear committed to Montembeault, something that is unsurprising given the organization’s level of financial investment in the player. He remains under contract for an additional season at a $3.15MM cap hit, and while that isn’t an exorbitant or unfair sum by any means (one could actually make the argument that Montembeault was severely underpaid in the first year of that deal), it’s not exactly the kind of cap hit a team can bury in the AHL or easily move on from.
So the best route for the Canadiens and Montembeault appears to be exactly the route they’re taking, which is exhausting every option to try to rebuild Montembeault’s decimated confidence level.
With Montembeault now in Laval, the Canadiens are left with two goalies on their NHL roster. Top prospect Jacob Fowler was highly impressive in his first start against the Pittsburgh Penguins, but lost his footing a little bit during his second start, when the Canadiens collapsed and were on the wrong end of a comeback victory against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.
Fowler will get the nod against the Flyers tonight, but waiting in the wings is Jakub Dobes, a 24-year-old who emerged as the club’s backup last season. Dobes has been inconsistent this season, at times performing as poorly as Montembeault, and at times showcasing the form that earned him an NHL role in 2025-26. Dobes’ most recent start was a step in the right direction, with the Czech netminder making 27 saves on 28 shots in the team’s win over the Edmonton Oilers, earning first star of the game honors in the process.
Photos courtesy of Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Penguins Activate Rickard Rakell, Loan Harrison Brunicke To Team Canada
As expected, the Pittsburgh Penguins have thinned out their defensive core in favor of their forward group. The Penguins announced that they’ve activated forward Rickard Rakell from the injured reserve and have loaned defenseman Harrison Brunicke to U20 Team Canada for the 2026 World Junior Championships.
Rakell returns after more than a month-long absence. The top-six winger broke his left hand in the Penguins’ October 25th matchup against the Columbus Blue Jackets and was given a six-to eight-week recovery timeline after undergoing surgery. That recovery timeline was accurate, as Rakell will return having missed seven weeks.
Before exiting the lineup, Rakell played a large role in the Penguins’ 6-2-1 start to the 2025-26 campaign. Typically playing on a line next to Sidney Crosby, Rakell scored three goals and eight points in those nine contests, averaging 17:44 of ice time per night.
While remaining competitive in a tightly wound Eastern Conference, Pittsburgh has clearly suffered without its top winger. There have been several additional injuries, but the Penguins have managed an 8-6-6 record in the 20 games without Rakell, falling to the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
Fortunately for Rakell, his return game will be against an organization with which he has had plenty of success throughout his career. Largely due to his time with the Anaheim Ducks earlier in his career, Rakell has scored 16 goals and 33 points in 39 games against the Sharks since the 2012-13 campaign. Additionally, Rakell has scored 13 goals and 28 points in 35 games against the Edmonton Oilers, who Pittsburgh plays on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Brunicke will officially join Team Canada for the World Junior Championships after spending the last few weeks with the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins over the last few weeks. Brunicke, 19, tallied four assists in five games for the AHL Penguins with a +2 rating.
As one of several projected players with NHL experience, it’s nearly a given that Brunicke will remain with Team Canada after they cut their roster down. Cracking the Penguins’ roster out of training camp this season, Brunicke has scored one goal in nine games, averaging 15:43 of ice time per game. He’s two years removed from playing with Team Canada’s U18 team, scoring one goal and four points in seven tournament contests.
Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images.
San Jose Sharks Assign Michael Misa On Conditioning Loan
The San Jose Sharks are close to returning this past summer’s second-overall pick to the active roster. The Sharks announced they’ve placed Michael Misa on the team’s long-term injured reserve, and have assigned him to the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda on a conditioning stint.
It’s not a foregone conclusion that Misa will return to the Sharks’ lineup by the end of the conditioning loan, though it is a workaround to the current rules regarding CHL-drafted 18-year-olds playing in the AHL. If the Sharks were to activate Misa and reassign him, he would have to play for the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit instead of the Barracuda.
After scoring 62 goals and 134 points in 65 games for the Spirit last season, there’s little development available for Misa in the OHL. Still, considering how sheltered he was during his first few games in the NHL, and the subsequent lower-body injury that’s kept him sidelined since early November, sticking the rest of the year out in the NHL may not be the best avenue for his development, either.
Regardless, aside from Macklin Celebrini, it’s par for the course in how San Jose has treated their top prospects at the NHL level. Last season, in the first month of the season, Will Smith had registered only two goals through his first nine games, averaging 13:32 of ice time per night. That’s eerily similar to Misa, who’s scored one goal and three points in seven games, managing an ATOI of 11:44.
Smith’s usage had dramatically changed by the end of the season, as the former fourth-overall pick scored five goals and eight points in nine games, averaging 20:44 of action. There’s no guarantee that they’ll do the same with Misa, though it’s confirmation that the Sharks have been slowplaying their upper-level prospects throughout the course of a season.
Despite the open debate on whether Misa is better suited in the OHL or sheltered NHL minutes, it’s objectively better that he’s healthy and back to playing in some capacity. Given that he placed him on LTIR beforehand, the Sharks will now have six days or three games, whichever is longer, to make a longer-term decision on Misa’s immediate future. Additionally, they can request an extension on the conditioning stint that would allow them nine days or five games.