Stars Activate Casey DeSmith, Recall Nathan Bastian
Jan. 5: DeSmith has returned to the team and has been activated from the non-roster list, the team announced. Poirier was sent back to AHL Texas in the corresponding move after backing up Oettinger in Sunday’s loss to the Canadiens. Dallas also recalled Bastian from his conditioning loan; he had two goals and an assist in four games for the AHL Stars.
Jan. 3: The Stars have made a pair of roster moves in advance of their game against Montreal on Sunday. The team announced (Twitter link) that goaltender Casey DeSmith has been granted non-roster status to tend to a personal family matter. Taking his place on the roster will be netminder Remi Poirier, who has been recalled from AHL Texas.
DeSmith is in his second season as the backup in Dallas and he is once again having a strong campaign. In 15 starts, he has posted a 2.44 GAA and a .912 SV%, numbers close to the ones he put up in 27 outings in 2024-25. His save percentage is actually five points higher than starter Jake Oettinger; it’s not often that a backup goalie has better numbers than an established number one option. He won’t be able to improve on those numbers for the time being; there is no timetable for his return.
As for Poirier, the 24-year-old is in his fourth season in the system for the Stars and this will be his first recall since his rookie campaign in 2022-23 where he didn’t see any game action. He has played in 22 games with Texas so far, compiling a 2.77 GAA along with a .903 SV%, his lowest mark at the AHL level so far. He’ll serve as Oettinger’s backup until DeSmith is able to return which should come fairly soon with Victory Plus’ Brian Rea suggesting (Twitter link) that DeSmith could be back with the team as soon as Tuesday.
From a salary cap perspective, Dallas has more than enough space in its LTIR pool with Tyler Seguin and Lian Bichsel both on there so nothing further has to be done on that front. Meanwhile, their active roster remains full as 23 players; even though Nathan Bastian is on a conditioning loan with Texas, he still is on the NHL roster.
Stars Assign Nathan Bastian On Conditioning Stint
The Stars announced they’ve loaned right winger Nathan Bastian to AHL Texas for a conditioning stint. Bastian will remain on the active roster and can spend up to two weeks in the minors before Dallas must either keep him in the NHL or place him on waivers.
Bastian was in the lineup for Saturday’s shootout loss to the Blackhawks, but before that, he’d been a healthy scratch in nine consecutive contests. He’s only made seven appearances since Nov. 4 and has dressed in just over half of Dallas’ contests this season.
This wasn’t entirely unforeseen for the 28-year-old. He landed a one-year, one-way deal with the Stars over the offseason for the league minimum and was widely projected as a 13th forward option from the very start, only getting consistent playing time in the early stages of the year due to Jamie Benn‘s and Matt Duchene‘s injuries.
When dressed, the veteran of nearly 300 NHL games has contributed three goals and 48 hits but is still looking for his first assist. An injury-prone fourth-line fixture with the Devils for most of his career, Bastian has averaged a career-low 8:17 of ice time per game.
Bastian’s debut with the Texas Stars will mark his first minor-league action since suiting up with the now-defunct Binghamton Devils in 2019-20. A second-round pick by New Jersey in 2016, he ranks 32nd from that draft class in games played.
Stars Sign Nathan Bastian
The Stars have added some depth on the wing as the team announced that they’ve signed Nathan Bastian to a one-year, one-way contract. The agreement will pay the league minimum of $775K. GM Jim Nill released the following statement:
Nathan will add forward depth and a physical presence to our lineup, both of which will be valuable to our organization. We’re looking forward to watching him take the next step of his career with the Stars and are excited to welcome him to Dallas.
The 27-year-old has parts of six NHL seasons under his belt, most of which came with New Jersey, which drafted him in the second round back in 2016. Before now, his only time away from the Devils since that time came when Seattle selected him in the 2021 Expansion Draft but just two months later, the Kraken waived Bastian with New Jersey quickly reclaiming him.
Last season, Bastian played in 59 games for the Devils, picking up four goals and six assists along with 138 hits in just under 11 minutes per night of playing time. That stat line lines up with most of his seasons as he has yet to reach 20 points in a single year while he has only hit the double-digit mark in goals once, that coming back in 2021-22. However, he averages 223 hits per 82 games played, giving the Stars some extra physicality in their lineup.
Dallas has largely stayed quiet as expected in free agency this season with the bulk of their moves coming from either re-signing players or making trades. As things stand, he’s likely to battle with Oskar Back and Colin Blackwell for playing time on the fourth line while starting out as the 13th forward is a realistic outcome as well.
At the moment, the Stars project to be very tight against the salary cap with a 23-player roster coming in just a few hundred thousand below the Upper Limit, per PuckPedia. Accordingly, this could very well be it for their free agent moves with a big chunk of their roster from last season’s run to the Western Conference Final returning as from here on out, any addition will require money coming off their books as well.
Snapshots: Robertson, Dorofeyev, Bastian, Okposo
A key Stars winger is getting closer to returning to their lineup. Head coach Peter DeBoer told reporters including Lia Assimakopoulos of the Dallas Morning News that Jason Robertson has been upgraded from being out week-to-week to out day-to-day. The 25-year-old had his third straight season of at least 80 points this year, hitting the mark exactly but suffered a leg injury in the final game of the regular season. Robertson has been skating away from the team alongside injured blueliner Nils Lundkvist (who is still a long way from returning from shoulder surgery) and it appears he is progressing well in his recovery.
Elsewhere around the hockey world:
- The Golden Knights were without winger Pavel Dorofeyev for tonight’s game against Minnesota and he is listed as day-to-day, relays Jesse Granger of The Athletic (Twitter link). The 24-year-old had a breakout year, tallying 35 goals in the regular season but left Tuesday’s game late due to an undisclosed injury. Victor Olofsson returned to the lineup to take Dorofeyev’s spot on the wing.
- Speaking with reporters today (video link), Devils winger Nathan Bastian addressed his upcoming free agency. Eligible to test the open market for the first time, the 27-year-old indicated that his preference is to remain with New Jersey. However, coming off a down year that saw him record just 10 points in 59 games, he might have to take a small dip in pay from his $1.35MM current deal to do so. The team only has around $12MM in cap room for next season per PuckPedia with defenseman Luke Hughes likely to take a big chunk of that. Accordingly, the Devils may need to keep their final few roster spots closer to the minimum salary and with Bastian logging under 11 minutes a night for the last two years, he likely falls in that category.
- The NHLPA announced that they have hired long-time NHL winger Kyle Okposo as a Business Development and Player Engagement Advisor. Okposo played in over 1,000 career NHL games over parts of 17 seasons, recording 242 goals and 372 assists before ending his career after winning the Stanley Cup with Florida. This won’t be Okposo’s first time working with the NHLPA as he was part of their Executive Board while playing and was also on the Executive Director Search Committee that eventually led to Marty Walsh being hired.
Devils Activate Nathan Bastian From Long-Term Injured Reserve
The Devils announced Tuesday that they’ve activated right-winger Nathan Bastian from long-term injured reserve. After recalling goaltender Isaac Poulter earlier this morning, New Jersey had a full active roster, so they reassigned right-winger Nathan Legare to AHL Utica in a corresponding transaction.
Bastian, 27, has not played since sustaining a jaw injury in a fight with Flames left-winger Ryan Lomberg on Nov. 1. The Devils retroactively placed him on LTIR on Nov. 18, per the league’s media site, removing him from the active roster and giving themselves a little extra spending flexibility in the process with the physical winger expected to miss more than the 10-game, 24-day minimum required.
It ended up being a 16-game, 39-day absence for Bastian, who will reprise a fourth-line role alongside Justin Dowling and Tomáš Tatar in his return tonight against the Maple Leafs, per the team’s Catherine Bogart. Before getting hurt, the 6’4″, 205-lb forward had two goals and three assists for five points in 12 games, averaging 10:29 per night.
The Devils are nearly $1MM over the cap after the trio of transactions today, so they’ve presumably shifted center Curtis Lazar and his $1MM cap hit from standard IR to LTIR to re-open their pool and remain compliant. The 29-year-old hasn’t played since late October and is out indefinitely after undergoing a procedure on his knee.
Bastian, a second-round Devils pick back in 2016, has played all but 12 of his 217 career NHL games in a New Jersey uniform. He was exposed in the 2021 expansion draft and claimed by the Kraken but ended up on waivers less than two months into his tenure with Seattle and was re-claimed by the Devils.
The Kitchener, Ontario, native is in the second season of the two-year, $2.7MM deal he signed to remain a Devil after being non-tendered in 2023. He will be an unrestricted free agent next summer.
Legare, 23, returns to Utica after appearing in his first three NHL contests this month. The 6’0″, 205-lb Montreal native logged a -1 rating, three shots, one block, and 12 hits while averaging 10:41 per game, although he’s still looking for his first NHL point.
A third-round pick of the Penguins in 2019, Legare is already on his third NHL organization after being traded twice last season. He had three goals and 47 PIMs in 18 games with Utica before the call-up, and since his stay on the roster lasted less than 30 days and 10 games, he didn’t require waivers to head back to the minors.
Metropolitan Notes: Chytil, Romanov, Devils, Jarvis
It appears to be good news on the injury front for Rangers center Filip Chytil. After being held back from their road trip amid concerns of a possible concussion, ESPN’s Emily Kaplan relays that the 25-year-old has been cleared to join the team and will catch up with them in Calgary. However, that shouldn’t be viewed as Chytil being cleared to play as he’s still listed as day-to-day. Chytil is off to a good start this season for New York, notching four goals and five assists in 15 contests despite averaging just 13:40 of playing time per game, his lowest ATOI since his rookie season.
More from the Metropolitan:
- The Islanders announced (Twitter link) that blueliner Alexander Romanov was cleared to return for tonight’s game against Calgary. Originally diagnosed as out day-to-day with an upper-body injury, the 24-year-old has only played once in the last three weeks, sitting for more than two after trying to return early. He’s a welcome addition to a back end that’s also missing Adam Pelech and Mike Reilly. Romanov has two assists in eight games so far this season with a career-high ATOI of 21:37.
- Devils winger Timo Meier (back spasms) and defenseman Brett Pesce (maintenance day) didn’t take part in practice today, relays James Nichols of New Jersey Hockey Now. However, both players aren’t expected to miss any time. Meanwhile, winger Nathan Bastian returned to practice despite being moved to injured reserve yesterday. He has missed close to three weeks due to a fractured jaw but while he’s now back on the ice, he’s not quite ready to return to the lineup just yet.
- While Hurricanes winger Seth Jarvis skated today in a non-contact jersey, he is listed as doubtful for Wednesday’s game against Philadelphia, relays team reporter Walt Ruff (Twitter link). The 22-year-old is dealing with an upper-body injury and was moved to injured reserve retroactive to last week, meaning he can be activated as soon as he gets the green light to return. Jarvis is off to a solid start to his season with four goals and seven assists in 13 games before sustaining the injury.
New Jersey Announces Several Roster Moves
Before their game in a few days against the division-leading Carolina Hurricanes, the New Jersey Devils are adding more pieces to their roster. The organization announced they have placed Nathan Bastian on long-term injured reserve retroactive to November 1st, Curtis Lazar on injured reserve retroactive to October 27th, and has recalled Shane Bowers, Justin Dowling, Nolan Foote, and Nick DeSimone from their AHL affiliate, the Utica Comets.
None of the moves are shocking from the cap-conscious Devils who’ve been slowplaying Bastian and Lazar’s designation to capture more salary cap space for the trade deadline. With a projected deadline space of almost $10MM, New Jersey could place both players on their respective injury reserve designations and fill out the rest of the roster.
Bastian has the less serious injury of the two after sustaining a jaw injury during a fight with Calgary Flames forward Ryan Lomberg. He was originally expected to miss several weeks with the injury and if he’s fully recovered, can return on November 26th when the Devils take on the St. Louis Blues. The more serious injury concern lies in Lazar who may finish the year with only 12 games played after undergoing a procedure on his left knee keeping him out indefinitely.
Dowling is the only member of the call-up quartet that has already suited up for New Jersey this season. He was originally recalled to replace the lost minutes of Lazar and has tallied one assist in nine games while averaging 8:13 of ice time.
Foote was an obvious choice for a call-up as the former 27th overall pick of the 2019 NHL Draft. He’s already accrued 23 games of NHL experience in his young career and was leading the AHL Comets in scoring this season with four goals and nine points in 12 games.
The other two recalls are largely AHL-bound veterans at this point in their respective careers although Bowers may carry some prospect pedigree as a first-round pick of the 2017 NHL Draft. He’s seen his scoring drop precipitously since transitioning to professional hockey in the 2018-19 season scoring a career-high 27 points for the AHL’s Colorado Eagles in 2019-20. DeSimone, who reached a one-year extension with the Devils last season, has already been recalled this season but failed to register any games.
The downstream effects of the roster moves will be greatly felt in the AHL. The Comets have yet to earn a victory this season through 13 games and may have to play this weekend’s contests against the Syracuse Crunch and Rochester Americans without three of their top-10 scorers.
Devils’ Nathan Bastian Week-To-Week With Jaw Injury
New Jersey Devils forward Nathan Bastian is expected to miss “several weeks” with a jaw injury, head coach Sheldon Keefe told Devils beat reporter Amanda Stein. Bastian suffered the injury in a fight with Calgary’s Ryan Lomberg on Friday. Bastian instigated the fight late in the first period, following a hard hit on Paul Cotter, and didn’t return for the start of the second period. He’d end the day with just five shifts and 3:30 of ice time – though he racked up two hits and 17 penalty minutes in that span.
Bastian has returned as a proud member of New Jersey’s fourth-line this season, leading the team’s forwards in penalty minutes and ranking seventh in hits. He’s totaled those stats despite averaging the lowest ice time (10:29) of any consistent feature of New Jersey’s lineup – and has even managed five points, already a quarter of a way towards breaking his career-high 18 points set in 2021-22. Bastian is in his sixth season with New Jersey, though his tenure was briefly intercut with a trip to Seattle in the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft. He played 12 games with the Kraken before being placed on waivers, where New Jersey quickly reclaimed him. He’s been on the NHL roster ever since, now in the last year of a two-year, $2.7MM contract signed last summer.
Bastian will join Curtis Lazar on the absentee list, giving New Jersey a second bottom-six role to fill for the long term. Next up is veteran minor-leaguer Justin Dowling, who’s already recorded one assist in two NHL games this season. He’s also scored four points in six AHL games, continuing his near point-per-game scoring through a seventh season. Dowling has totaled 20 points in 102 career NHL games, kicking off his career with the Dallas Stars in 2016-17. With a week-to-week absence in store, New Jersey could also turn towards a minor-league call-up to replace Bastian. Nolan Foote currently leads the Utica Comets in scoring with eight points in eight games.
Evening Notes: Chychrun, Kapanen, Bastian
The Washington Capitals have announced that defenseman Jakob Chychrun won’t return to tonight’s game after suffering an upper-body injury. Chychrun suffered the injury in a game against the New York Rangers after he had played for just one minute and 50 seconds. Chychrun was +1 tonight in his limited appearance.
It’s a tough break for the 26-year-old, who is in his first season with Washington after a trade this past summer that saw Nick Jensen and a 2026 third-round pick head back to Ottawa. Chychrun has been solid to start the year, posting two goals and two assists in seven games. Chychrun can ill afford to be out long term as his in the final year of his current contract with a cap hit of $4.6MM.
In other evening notes:
- The St. Louis Blues have announced that forward Kasperi Kapanen is dealing with an upper-body injury and will not return to tonight’s game. Kapanen took a high hit in a game against the Ottawa Senators and appeared to hit his face on the boards. Kapanen did get to the bench under his own power but did not return. The 28-year-old was dressing in his first game since playing just 8:57 on October 24th against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Kapanen has struggled this season, with a single goal in seven games.
- Forward Nathan Bastian will return to the New Jersey Devils lineup tomorrow night when the team takes on the Vancouver Canucks (as per Devils reporter Amanda Stein). Bastian hasn’t played since October 24th, as he has been a healthy scratch for the last two games. New Jersey has opted to use Kurtis MacDermid in Bastian’s place the past few days, but now the 26-year-old will have an opportunity to draw back into the lineup and add to the two goals and two assists that he has posted so far this season in ten games.
Devils Notes: Hamilton, Bastian, Siegenthaler, Halonen
Devils interim head coach Travis Green spoke with reporters today, including Ryan Novozinsky of NJ Advance Media, to provide an update on a pair of injured players. He indicated that it’s unlikely that Dougie Hamilton will return at all this season. Hamilton had surgery to repair a torn pectoral muscle a little less than four months ago and is currently on LTIR. Since the Devils primarily sold at the deadline, they could easily have gotten back into cap compliance to activate the veteran if he was able to return.
Meanwhile, the news is a little better for winger Nathan Bastian. Green indicated there is a chance that the 26-year-old could return from an upper-body injury that has caused him to miss a little more than a month. Bastian has a dozen points along with 143 hits in 54 games so far this season.
More from New Jersey:
- Defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler took part in practice today as he works his way back from an upper-body injury, mentions team reporter Amanda Stein (Twitter link). He has missed more than two weeks with this latest ailment, one that came just a few weeks after missing 16 games with a foot issue. Siegenthaler has been limited to just nine points through 49 games so far but as a second-pairing player, New Jersey would certainly like to get him back in the lineup sooner than later.
- Brian Halonen’s daily transactions tour continues. Per the AHL’s transactions log, the forward has been recalled to New Jersey’s roster today after being sent down yesterday. This is his third recall since Wednesday. The 25-year-old made his NHL debut last month, his only appearance at the top level so far. Meanwhile, with Utica, he has fared well with 16 goals and eight assists in just 30 games. He’s in the final year of his entry-level contract.