Sharks Place Jeff Skinner On Unconditional Waivers
The Sharks have placed winger Jeff Skinner on unconditional waivers for purposes of contract termination, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. He’ll become an unrestricted free agent tomorrow if no one claims the remainder of his existing $3MM cap hit for this season.
The timing of the maneuver suggests Skinner has tangible interest from at least one other NHL team, but they weren’t interested in acquiring him from the Sharks – even for future considerations – at his current cap hit. With San Jose only carrying one salary retention slot until the end of next season, they’ll be picky about how they use it and likely aren’t willing to retain money on the veteran winger to complete a trade.
As such, he’ll need to walk away from the remainder of his guaranteed $3MM salary for this season and sign on elsewhere for close to, if not at, the league minimum for the stretch run. He signed with the Sharks nearly two weeks into free agency last summer to give them some additional top-nine scoring help, but the fit just hasn’t been there. He’s been limited to six goals and 13 points in 32 appearances and was relegated to the press box for 10 straight games heading into the Olympic break, last suiting up on Jan. 11.
With Michael Misa being thrust into top-six duties on the other side of the World Juniors and their pickup of Kiefer Sherwood from the Canucks pushing Skinner down the depth chart, there was no longer a home or need for him in a depth scoring role. He finishes his Sharks tenure averaging 12:21 of ice time per game with a -8 rating.
If a playoff contender is looking for a third-line boost with boatloads of NHL experience, they’ll have a perfect pickup in Skinner. The 2010 seventh overall pick crossed the 1,100-game threshold earlier this season and has averaged 28 goals and 53 points per 82 games for his career, although he’s produced closer to a 30-point pace since the beginning of last season.
One thing the 5’11” winger is light on is postseason experience. He didn’t have any until signing a one-year deal with the Oilers in free agency in 2024, and even then, he appeared in only five games during their run to last year’s Stanley Cup Final, having slipped to a No. 13/14 forward by the time the playoffs rolled around.
As for the Sharks, they’ll clear up a bit of cap space heading into the deadline, but more importantly, they’ll shed a contract. They were at the 50-contract limit until Vincent Iorio got claimed off waivers by the Rangers last month, so that’s been a concern for them from the jump this year. They’ll now have a bit more breathing room with two open slots heading into the deadline.
Hurricanes Sign Brandon Bussi To Three-Year Extension
The Hurricanes announced they’ve signed goaltender Brandon Bussi to a three-year extension. The deal is worth $1.9MM annually for a total value of $5.7MM. He was set to be an unrestricted free agent this summer, but the new deal will keep him under contract with Carolina through the 2028-29 campaign. He’ll earn a $850K salary and $150K signing bonus in 2026-27, a $1MM salary and $850K signing bonus in 2027-28, and a $1MM salary with a $1.85MM signing bonus in the last year, per PuckPedia. He’ll also carry a 10-team no-trade clause in 2028-29.
Bussi, 27, has had a dream start to his NHL career. Claimed off waivers from the Panthers at the beginning of the season to serve as the third-stringer behind Frederik Andersen and Pyotr Kochetkov, the undrafted free agent has since emerged as the Canes’ clear starting option in what’s been a tumultuous season for the rest of their crease.
While the Western Michigan product had a strong AHL track record entering the year, he didn’t have a single NHL start to his name. He’s now made 27 of them with a raucous 23-3-1 record, putting up a .906 SV% and 2.16 GAA with two shutouts. Just before the break, he broke into the top 10 in the league in terms of goals saved above expected with 11.0, per MoneyPuck.
With the struggling Andersen set to ride off into the open market this summer and Kochetkov likely done for the year with a hip injury, Carolina has a ton invested in Bussi being able to keep up that level of play. With no blue-chip prospects ready to succeed Andersen as the starter and no high-end long-term options set to be available in free agency, the Canes needed some insurance past this season as well. Retaining Bussi at such a marginal cap hit gives them that insurance with virtually no risk, even if his numbers regress and he settles back in as more of a No. 2/3 option.
Bussi’s strong career minor-league numbers suggest he’s got a good chance of being able to keep this up, though. Signed by the Bruins as an undrafted free agent in 2022, he was an AHL All-Star as a rookie while putting up a .924 SV% and 22-5-4 record in 32 games for Providence. He remained in the Boston organization until reaching unrestricted free agent status last summer, landing a two-way deal with the Panthers before being lost on waivers in training camp. In four AHL seasons before hitting the open market, he made 111 appearances with a 2.61 GAA, .915 SV%, eight shutouts, and a 63-31-13 record.
His lack of NHL experience was always going to make it hard for him to land an eye-popping cap hit on his next deal, though. Reports emerged last month that the Canes were working to get him extended. The few reasonable comparables for Bussi’s camp in the last several years all topped out in the high $1MM range on a short-term multi-year deal, so this one doesn’t push the envelope by very much.
It’s nonetheless a shrewd signing by general manager Eric Tulsky, who’s essentially given Carolina a worst-case scenario of Bussi and Kochetkov as next season’s tandem if Andersen walks and they don’t pursue an external replacement via trade or free agency. Bussi will be 31 years old when his deal is up, joining a potential 2029 UFA goalie class of Thatcher Demko, Spencer Knight, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, and Linus Ullmark.
Kings’ Kevin Fiala Suffers Sustains Multiple Left Leg Fractures, Out For The Season
Sunday: The Los Angeles Kings updated today that Fiala underwent successful surgery due to fractures in his lower left leg. As expected, he will miss the remainder of the season, and will be reevaluated in the spring.
Saturday: Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that Fiala is having surgery today. There still is no word on the precise nature of the injury but Friedman adds that it is indeed season-ending, a significant blow for both Switzerland and the Kings. Fiala will now be eligible to be placed on LTIR but with Los Angeles having ample cap space, it’s unlikely they’ll need to put him there.
Friday: One of the main reasons NHL teams opposed player participation in the Olympics was the concern over injuries that could be avoided. That fear has come to fruition for the Los Angeles Kings. Toward the end of today’s game between Canada and Switzerland, Kevin Fiala had to be stretchered off the ice due to an apparent leg or knee injury.
As mentioned, the injury happened with approximately three minutes left in the game. Fiala absorbed a hit from Tom Wilson and was in immediate pain on the ice. Although the hit was leveled, the incident causing the injury seemed accidental, and more like a freak play. According to Mark Lazerus of The Athletic, after the game, Wilson said, “It’s the Olympic Games and I feel terrible that he may not be able to keep playing. Just sending his family and him my best. You never want to see a guy go down, in a tournament like this, especially.”
Still, accident or not, it doesn’t make the situation any easier for the Kings. Fiala is the team’s second-highest scorer with 18 goals and 40 points in 56 games while averaging over 19 minutes of ice time per game.
Considering how starved Los Angeles is for offense, it’s a worst-case scenario. The team recently acquired high-scoring Artemi Panarin before the Olympic break, but that didn’t relieve all of the team’s goal-scoring woes. No, the Kings haven’t yet played with Panarin on the ice, but losing a player with Fiala’s goal-scoring capabilities will objectively make it more difficult for them to put the puck in the net.
There haven’t been many updates regarding Fiala’s immediate status. Arpon Basu of The Athletic reported that Fiala has been taken to a local hospital, and there are concerns that the injury could be season-ending. If that’s the case, the Kings’ uphill climb toward playoff contention just became remarkably more difficult.
Josh Morrissey Leaves Canada’s Group Stage Win Over Czechia
Team Canada has had a few years of crushing defeats to the Czechs at the junior level. The senior team responded today with a 5-0 drubbing in its Group A opener at the 2026 Winter Olympics, but lost star Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey in the process.
Morrissey left at the first intermission with an undisclosed and unapparent issue. He tried to return later in the game but “couldn’t,” head coach Jon Cooper said, although it’s unclear whether that was Morrissey’s own decision or the medical staff’s (via Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman).
Olympic injuries are precarious for multiple reasons. With only a handful of games left until the trade deadline on the other end of the break and only a quarter and change of the schedule remaining for most teams, a multi-week absence for a key player – especially for a bubble team like the Jets – is incredibly difficult to work around. They’re also pressing for the national team if they pile up quickly early in the tournament. Unlike at the World Championships or other IIHF events, teams cannot name injury replacements to their roster after playing their first game. If Morrissey is out the rest of the way, Canada will only have seven defensemen available.
Morrissey, 30, has erupted into a bona fide top-10 defender in the league in his prime. He’s finished no worse than seventh in Norris Trophy voting in every year since 2023 and, at the time of the break, was amid another standout offensive campaign. His 10 goals and 42 points in 56 games have him 12th in league scoring among defenders and fourth overall on the Jets. He’s also tied with defensive partner Dylan DeMelo for a team-high +10 rating on a Jets team with a -15 goal differential this season.
Behind Morrissey, the Jets’ left-side defense is thin. They’ve enjoyed something of a breakout performance from third-pairing fixture Logan Stanley but trusting him enough to elevate into top-four minutes with any consistency is unwise given his spotty record of possession play. Shutdown dynamo Dylan Samberg remains a strong second-pairing option but, with only nine assists in 40 games on the year, can’t do much of anything to replace Morrissey’s lost point production if he misses time on the other side of the break.
2026 NHL Draft Star Gavin McKenna Facing Misdemeanor Charges
Feb. 6: The felony charge against McKenna has been withdrawn by Pennsylvania prosecutors, according to Ryan Graffius and Gary Sinderson of WJAC. He is still facing a misdemeanor charge of simple assault and summary offenses for harassment and disorderly conduct.
Feb. 5: McKenna’s court date will be Wednesday, February 11, per a media release from the State College, Pennsylvania, police department.
Feb. 4: Projected 2026 first-overall pick and Penn State University winger Gavin McKenna was arrested and charged with felony aggravated assault on Saturday night, per court documents obtained by The Athletic. McKenna reportedly got into an altercation with another individual during a private team event on Saturday night, says Mike McMahon of College Hockey News. McMahon further reported in his newsletter that McKenna broke the other individual’s jaw with a punch. No information has been released on McKenna’s court arraignment – and no statement has been released by the school.
McKenna is a Nittany Lions star who currently leads the school’s men’s hockey team in scoring with 32 points in 24 games. He is in his freshman season and on a record-setting NIL deal after winning the WHL Championship with the Medicine Hat Tigers last season. McKenna scored 41 goals and 129 points in 56 games in his final WHL season. He became the third U18 player to score 120 points in the WHL since 2000, joining Connor Bedard (143 points, 2023) and Nic Petan (120 points, 2013). Those marks made McKenna the first blue-chip recruit to pursue the NCAA after the league began allowing CHL talent.
Now, it appears the remainder of McKenna’s draft season could be drawn into question. The dynamic winger is a star scorer when he’s on the ice, with flashy stickhandling and sharp vision. He has improved his ability to play a physical, 200-foot game as part of the Big Ten, though that growth could soon be overshadowed by pressing legal challenges. Pro Hockey Rumors will update this story with further information as it becomes available.
Team Canada To Replace Injured Brayden Point With Seth Jarvis
After five days of practices, Tampa Bay Lightning forward Brayden Point has determined he will not be healthy enough to join Team Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympics. He has been removed from the roster and will be replaced by Carolina Hurricanes’ winger Seth Jarvis, per Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic and Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
Point sustained a knee injury in Tampa Bay’s January 12th win over the Philadelphia Flyers. The injury knocked him off the ice until last Saturday, when he returned to practice with the hopes of working back to health in time for a trip to Milan, per Eduardo A. Encina of Tampa Bay Times. Despite that return, Point has determined he won’t be at 100 percent before games kick off. Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois commended Point – and Tampa Bay teammate Anthony Cirelli – for their selflessness in giving up their spot rather than trying to play through injury in a text to LeBrun.
This switch will bring on some stylistic changes for Team Canada. Point is often used as a center, though seemed headed for a wing-role in Milan in part thanks to his 45.9 faceoff percentage this season. He is a reserved scorer who has managed 11 goals and 30 points in 37 games, typically finding his scoring chances from the slot. Jarvis has proven much more aggressive in recent years, typically operating as the first-man-in on Carolina’s forecheck and cutting his teeth in board battles. He has 69 hits on the season to Point’s four. Jarvis has also scored 25 goals and 43 points in 48 games, continuing his knack for strong scoring after cresting the 30-goal and 65-point mark in each of the last two seasons.
Both players found an impact for Team Canada at the 2025 4-Nations Face-Off. Point served up the lineup and managed two points in four games, while Jarvis defaulted to the bottom-six and scored one assist in three games. They were both on the ice for the tournament finale against Team USA, where Point’s 21 minutes of ice time ranked second on the offense behind only Connor McDavid. Jarvis played roughly 13 minutes in that game – second-lowest on the team ahead of Brad Marchand.
That deployment goes far in painting Canada’s view of the two stars. While Jarvis has acheived more success this season, he is still the junior to two-time Stanley Cup winner Point. Jarvis is six years younger and still carving out his presence in the NHL. This year’s Winter Olympics could go far in helping cement his status, especially after Jarvis only attended two tournaments with Canada – the 2019 World U-17 Hockey Championshp and Hlinka Gretzky Cup – prior to his selection to the 4-Nations roster. This will be his biggest stage yet and it comes at a perfect time. Jarvis is red-hot, with 10 points and a plus-eight in his last nine games, of which Carolina has won seven.
Notably, this decisions will leave Winnipeg Jets star Mark Scheifele and Chicago Blackhawks cornerstone Connor Bedard both at home. Scheifele hasn’t represented Canada internationally since the 2017 World Championship when he scored eight points in 10 games. Nearly a decade later, the Jets alternate captain is on pace for 40 goals and 100 points this season – so far at 27 goals and 68 points in 56 games. Bedard has offered plenty of offensive punch of his own, with 23 goals and 53 points in 43 games on a struggling Blackhawks offense. The duo are two of the league’s most skilled scorers but will be superceded by a winger who offers a bit more intangibles.
Photo courtesy of Sergei Belski-Imagn Images.
Jonathan Huberdeau To Undergo Season-Ending Hip Surgery
Calgary Flames star winger Jonathan Huberdeau has played in his final game of the 2025-26 season. According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, Huberdeau “needs hip surgery,” and will miss the rest of the year as a result.
The development is a difficult one for both the Flames and Huberdeau himself. For Calgary, they obviously lose one of their most talented players for the rest of the season, which is a massive blow in and of itself. 
While Huberdeau hasn’t looked quite like his normal self this year (and perhaps now the reason why has become clear), he’s still the Flames’ most accomplished scoring forward.
The fact that his season has now ended has cost him the chance to put together a strong second half and enter the offseason with real momentum.
Instead, Huberdeau will begin his offseason early having scored just 25 points in 50 games for the Flames in 2025-26.
Huberdeau has undoubtedly not been the same caliber of scorer in Calgary as he was as a member of the Florida Panthers. He scored 115 points in his final year in Sunrise, but has a high of 62 points in Alberta.
Huberdeau’s struggles since arriving as part of the Matthew Tkachuk trade have mirrored the wider decline of the Flames’ competitive fortunes. They were a regular playoff team in the years prior to the deal, but have not reached the playoffs since trading Tkachuk.
Although more more extensive detail on the full nature of Huberdeau’s injury has yet to emerge, hip surgery is obviously a serious setback, and one that further threatens Huberdeau’s chances of fully rediscovering his form at some point in the future for the Flames. When Huberdeau returns, he will be 33 years old and entering his fifth season removed from his days as a point-per-game producer with the Panthers.
While Calgary does not appear to be all that close to seriously competing for Stanley Cups, Huberdeau’s presence, when he’s at his best, could have still presented a lot of benefits to the team. Having a high-end scoring winger, one that could even drive production on his own line, could seriously benefit the development of any young Flames forwards who got the chance to play with him.
Because of this significant injury, young scorers like Connor Zary and Matvei Gridin (who lined up next to Huberdeau last night against the Edmonton Oilers) won’t get the benefit of playing on a line with such an experienced playmaker.
Photos courtesy of Sergei Belski-Imagn Images
Kings Acquire, Extend Artemi Panarin
3:13 p.m.: Both teams have made the terms as reported below official. The Kings do not have an open roster spot and will need to make a corresponding move to add Panarin. Considering he’s already the owner of a U.S. work visa, a non-roster list stint for him isn’t likely.
2:03 p.m.: The Kings have acquired star winger Artemi Panarin from the Rangers, ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Emily Kaplan report. The Blueshirts are getting top prospect Liam Greentree and a conditional third-round pick in return. Panarin, a pending free agent, has now agreed to a two-year, $22MM extension in L.A., per Kaplan. The Rangers are also retaining 50% of Panarin’s current $11.64MM cap hit to bring it down to $5.82MM for the Kings, per Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic.
The conditions on that draft pick are complex, as Vince Z. Mercogliano of The Athletic reports. At the very least, the Rangers will receive the better of the two third-rounders the Kings own in 2026 (their own and the Stars’). If L.A. wins one playoff round this year, though, the selection upgrades to their 2026 second-rounder. If they win at least two rounds, their 2028 fourth-rounder also gets added in the deal.
L.A. was one of many teams that were still viewed as landing spots for Panarin – with an extension – as late as this morning. While they were never considered a true front-runner, they got the deal done. In the end, they ended up being the only destination for which Panarin would waive his no-movement clause, per Mollie Walker of the New York Post. Being one of the few teams that were willing to part ways with their No. 1 prospect was also surely an attractive option for Rangers general manager Chris Drury, making him feel comfortable pulling the trigger on an L.A.-or-nothing scenario well ahead of the deadline but before the Olympic roster freeze.
While the 34-year-old Panarin had a slow start to the year, he’s been his usual self from November onward, clicking well over a point per game. He got up to 19 goals and 38 assists for 57 points in 52 games before the Rangers scratched him following their Jan. 26 win over the Bruins, holding him out of the lineup to prevent an injury from complicating any trade. That still has him tied for 24th in the league in scoring and makes him L.A.’s leading scorer by a significant margin over Adrian Kempe and his 45 points.
Trading Panarin, one of the most dynamic talents in franchise history and one of the most successful big-ticket free agent signings in recent memory, became a reality last month when the Rangers announced their intent to undergo another multi-year retool. Reports quickly indicated that they informed Panarin he wouldn’t be offered an extension as part of that plan. They started their sell-off by dealing Carson Soucy to the Islanders last week, but they get after it in a big way here.
The Kings have teetered on the edge of the Western Conference playoff picture for much of the season. They currently sit one point back of the Kraken for the final wild-card spot with a game in hand. That record has been boosted by a league-high 14 overtime/shootout losses, too. They’ve only won 14 games in regulation, ironically tied with the Rangers for the second-lowest in the league.
That sluggish record can be almost entirely attributed to an inept offense, as the Kings score 2.57 goals per game, fifth-worst in the NHL. That simply hasn’t been enough to earn consistent wins in front of one of the league’s better overall defensive systems and goaltending situations. By giving up their universally lauded No. 1 prospect in Greentree, they’re making a clear bet that Panarin – 20th in the league at 1.10 points per game – will be the needle-mover that gets their offense out of the basement and propels them to their fifth consecutive playoff berth.
In a season that marks the last gasp for franchise icon Anže Kopitar, still chugging along as the Kings’ first-line center, he could spend his final few months in the NHL with the most purely talented linemate of his career (save for a Marián Gáborík, depending on how you rate him). Their lack of depth scoring has forced head coach Jim Hiller to deploy his top weapons all on different units. Kempe has anchored the second line as of late with the ageless Corey Perry and newly-minted center Alex Laferriere, while the high-ceiling but inconsistent trio of Kevin Fiala, Quinton Byfield, and Andrei Kuzmenko currently makes up their third line.
If the Kings waited until the deadline to make the move, they could’ve taken Panarin on at full price. But as of today, they’d only accumulated $8.4MM in cap space, per PuckPedia. That meant significant retention was necessary to get a deal done if L.A. wasn’t sending back a roster player. While Panarin, even at under $6MM against the cap, takes up a good chunk of that space, they still have a fair amount of flexibility to make another pickup on the other side of the Olympic break if they choose.
Los Angeles gives up the brightest forward prospect they’ve had in quite some time to make it happen. Greentree, 20, was the 26th overall pick in the 2024 draft and was ranked as the #47 prospect in the entire league by The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler last summer. He’s yet to play a pro game but has shown up as an outright star in junior hockey. He’s served as the captain for the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires since his draft year and finished third in the league in scoring last season, churning out 49 goals and 119 points in 64 games.
It’s worth noting there’s been a significant drop-off in production in 2025-26. He was good for 1.86 points per game last year, but that figure has now dropped to 1.32. That’s still indicative of Greentree being a surefire top-nine piece, especially after a 90-point draft year, but expecting him to ever reach Panarin’s 100-point heights as an NHLer should be overzealous.
That said, the Rangers have had a checkered history with prospect development when the picks come from inside the house. Getting a blue-chip name from outside the organization is an extremely meaningful boost to their long-term outlook, and they’ve now ensured they’ll have six picks in the first three rounds of this year’s draft.
For the Kings, there’s also the matter of getting a true star forward signed to what comes across as an extremely reasonable extension. Not only is Panarin agreeing to a small pay cut in a rising cap environment, but he’ll only lock the Kings into their commitment through the 2027-28 season. That’s a rare insurance policy for L.A. if Panarin’s production declines with age sooner than they hope – especially as other teams were willing to offer Panarin a four-year deal in the range of $11.75MM per season, Frank Seravalli of Victory+ reports.
Image courtesy of Brad Penner-Imagn Images.
Blues Trade Nick Bjugstad To Devils
The Devils acquired center Nick Bjugstad from the Blues in exchange for center Thomas Bordeleau and a conditional 2026 fourth-round pick, the teams announced. St. Louis will receive the latest of the three fourth-rounders that the Devils own (their own, the Stars’ and the Jets’), Frank Seravalli of Victory+ reports. New Jersey assigned forward Juho Lammikko to AHL Utica in the corresponding move, per a team announcement.
The move comes with less than an hour remaining until a league-wide trade moratorium that will last through the Olympic break. With only 12 days on the other side of the freeze before the trade deadline, it was widely speculated that there would be increased action this week. That hasn’t really happened outside of the Islanders’ back-to-back moves early last week, but New Jersey and St. Louis appear to have at least gotten the ball rolling on moves today.
This season has been a trying one for the 33-year-old Bjugstad. Injuries have been a theme throughout his 14-year NHL career, and an upper-body issue ended up sidelining him for nearly a month in December and January. He was also a semi-frequent healthy scratch for the stretch preceding his injury, leaving him with only 35 appearances on the year so far. He’s scored six goals but added only one assist for a 0.20 points per game rate, the worst of his career (min. 25 games).
The defensive aspects of Bjugstad’s game have been up to par, though. St. Louis has put its line combinations in a blender all year long due to injuries, but Bjugstad found success when centering the fourth line with Nathan Walker and Alexey Toropchenko. That trio controlled 54.2% of expected goals, per MoneyPuck, despite being given mostly defensive zone starts. He’s also had an uncharacteristically strong run in the faceoff dot, winning 51.1% of his draws. His career average is 49%.
With the Blues in the basement of the Western Conference, it’s no surprise that they’re willing to sell off tertiary pieces for futures – even if they’re not pending free agents. Bjugstad is still under contract through next season at a $1.75MM cap hit after signing a two-year, $3.5MM deal with St. Louis in free agency last summer.
The Devils aren’t in much better shape in the standings, though, making their willingness to add to their roster rather than subtract a tad perplexing at first glance. Their dwindling likelihood of a playoff berth this season is presumably why Bjugstad was attractive to them, though – he’ll be sticking around next season as a hopefully cost-effective fourth-line solution.
Center depth has been a problem in New Jersey this year, with Jack Hughes missing a significant chunk of games. That’s led them to be over-reliant on names like the injury-prone Cody Glass to succeed in top-nine roles, and they haven’t received much of any offense from their fourth line as a result. Their current group of Lammiko, Luke Glendening, and Maxim Tsyplakov has combined for just one goal all year long. Bjugstad won’t be a season-saver, but he’s a far more effective goal-scorer that low in the lineup than any of those names have proven to be this season.
Bordeleau, 24, was a second-round pick by the Sharks back in 2020 and was once viewed as a potential long-term piece. His development has stagnated over the past couple of seasons, though. After recording 38 points in 59 AHL games last season and not landing the NHL opportunities he’d hoped for in San Jose, he opted not to entertain offers from the Sharks as an RFA last summer and eventually had his signing rights traded to the Devils, inking a two-way deal a few weeks later.
Any trade value Bordeleau still had has been erased by a disastrous showing in Utica this season. In 35 minor-league appearances, he’s scored just two goals and eight points with a -13 rating. A pending restricted free agent, his inclusion is purely to leave the Devils with a bit of breathing room regarding the 50-contract limit – they’re currently at 49.
Lammikko doesn’t need waivers for today’s reassignment because he cleared them back on Jan. 17. While he wasn’t immediately reassigned to Utica then, the Devils had 30 days to do so before they would have needed to waive him a second time. Since he’s still in that window, they can make the demotion today without any obstacles. The 30-year-old has been limited to two assists and a -4 rating in 24 appearances for New Jersey, averaging 9:53 of ice time per game.
Podcaster and former NHLer Jordan Schmaltz was first to report the trade. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was first to report the return.
Anthony Cirelli To Miss Olympics
In an unfortunate update, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman shared that Tampa Bay Lightning forward Anthony Cirelli will be unable to play for Team Canada in the upcoming Olympics due to injury. Friedman added that Sam Bennett would replace Cirelli on Team Canada’s roster.
Cirelli, 28, sustained the injury in Tampa Bay’s Stadium Series win over the Boston Bruins. He was on the receiving end of a hard hit from Bruins forward Mark Kastelic in the first period and didn’t return to the game. He finished the game with a +1 rating in 6:25 of action.
Since then, there haven’t been any firm updates. After the game, head coach Jon Cooper was quoted as saying, “It was kind of a stinger. Cirell’s a tough kid. For him not to come back, clearly, there’s something wrong with him. So hopefully he’ll be okay. There’s some big games coming up ahead of him.”
Unfortunately, those big games will have to wait for the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs. It’s a tough break for a player who has dramatically turned his career around in recent years and helped Team Canada win the 4 Nations Face-Off last season.
Back in the 2022-23 season, after scoring 11 goals and 29 points in 58 games, Cirelli became a legitimate trade candidate for the Lightning. Tampa Bay had just signed him to an eight-year, $50MM extension, a high price to play for a center that wasn’t always available.
Still, over the last two years, he’s made that contract look well worth it, scoring 42 goals and 94 points in 129 games with a 49.4% success rate in the faceoff dot. Furthermore, he’s responsible on his own end, managing a 91.2% on-ice SV% at even strength through 49 games this season.
While it’s a depressing development for Cirelli, Team Canada has added more snarl to their forward core at the very least. Bennett scored one goal in three games during last year’s 4 Nations tournament. He famously got into a fight with Brady Tkachuk during the opening minutes of the much-awaited tilt with the United States. Outside of the obvious, Olympic opponents will be extra intimidated by Team Canada, which will also have Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson.
It’ll be interesting to see how Bennett responds offensively. Due to the number of injuries suffered by the Panthers this year, Bennett has earned more responsibility. At this time last year, he had scored 17 goals and 33 points in 53 games. This season, he has 19 goals and 42 points in 55 contests.
While that isn’t the typical production of a forward on Team Canada, Bennett tends to raise his game when the lights are brightest. Over the past three postseasons, Bennett has helped Florida reach three consecutive Stanley Cup Finals, scoring 27 goals and 51 points in 62 games, culminating in the Conn Smythe Trophy last season.