Sabres Sign Josh Doan To Seven-Year Extension
According to ESPN’s Emily Kaplan, the Buffalo Sabres are nearing a contract extension with forward Josh Doan. A few moments later, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that it’ll be a seven-year, $48.65MM ($6.95MM AAV) deal. The Sabres have confirmed the contract.
General Manager Jarmo Kekäläinen makes his first major move as the new leader of Buffalo’s front office. Doan’s next extension will keep the forward in upstate New York through the 2032-33 NHL season, when he’ll be 31 years old.
Few would have predicted a mammoth extension for Doan just six months ago. Over the summer, the Sabres acquired Doan and defenseman Michael Kesselring from the Utah Mammoth for JJ Peterka. At the time, Doan was believed to be a long-term fit in the middle six of Buffalo’s forward core.
That’s largely what he showed with his last organization. Throughout the first two years of his career, Doan registered 12 goals and 28 points in 62 games split between the Arizona Coyotes and Utah Hockey Club, averaging 13:18 of ice time with a +4 rating. He had relatively impactful possession and defensive metrics, though nothing would indicate he would break out as he has with the Sabres.
In Buffalo, he’s already surpassed his previous career totals. Throughout 49 games this year, Doan has scored 15 goals and 35 points, averaging 16:04 of ice time per game. That production is good for third on the team in goal-scoring and fourth in total scoring. He isn’t showing any signs of slowing down, either.
Not only has Doan alleviated the concerns of trading a player of Peterka’s offensive caliber, but he actually has three more points than Peterka this season in the same number of games played. According to MoneyPuck, the line of Peyton Krebs, Tage Thompson, and Doan has averaged a 55.1% xGoals% in all situations, which is the 20th best in the league for forward units that have played in 150 or more minutes together.
Additionally, his on-ice Goals% (60.4%) is the highest on the team by a healthy margin, arguably making him the most productive forward on the team this season. He has shown some new shortcomings on the defensive side of the puck, though Buffalo is likely willing to overlook that as long as he keeps tearing it up in the other direction.
Photo courtesy of Eric Hartline-Imagn Images.
Bruins Sign Alex Steeves To Two-Year Extension
The Boston Bruins are keeping around one of their bottom-six forwards for the next few years. According to a team announcement, the Bruins have signed Alex Steeves to a two-year, $3.25MM ($1.625MM AAV) extension.
Steeves, 26, has been a success story for Boston this season. Still, he had a longer path to the NHL than expected after failing to garner much consideration when he was with the Toronto Maple Leafs. After a strong collegiate career at the University of Notre Dame, Steeves signed with the Maple Leafs as an undrafted talent ahead of the 2021-22 season.
Despite having a relatively deep forward core the past few years, it became puzzling that Toronto didn’t give Steeves more of an opportunity. Considering that some of their issues stemmed from a lack of impact in the team’s bottom six, Steeves was always seen as a positive and inexpensive option.
There’s no question that he earned himself an opportunity. Throughout four years with the Maple Leafs organization, Steeves spent much of his time with the AHL’s Toronto Marlies. Over that duration, the Bedford, NH native scored 105 goals and 216 points in 247 games. Nonetheless, he only appeared in 14 games for the Maple Leafs, registering one goal and three points while averaging 9:04 of ice time per game.
Becoming an unrestricted free agent last summer after being non-tendered by Toronto, the Bruins moved quickly, signing Steeves to a one-year deal on the opening day of free agency. By no means was he projected to be a top-six option for Boston, but the team knew he had some upside they could tap into.
After another strong start in the AHL, the Bruins recalled Steeves on November 8th, and neither player nor team has looked back. He’s already matched his output across four years in Toronto, scoring eight goals and 14 points in 33 games for Boston. Additionally, his 91.0% on-ice SV% at even strength shows that Steeves can hold his own on the defensive side of the puck, as well.
Despite being the highest cap hit of his career, Steeves only projects to be the ninth-highest paid forward on the Bruins next season. Furthermore, it will only account for approximately 1.5% of the salary cap, which is more than justifiable after his solid campaign.
Sweden’s Leo Carlsson, Jonas Brodin Expected To Miss Olympics
With 22 days left before the men’s hockey tournament kicks off at the 2026 Winter Olympics, Team Sweden has been hit with a double-whammy of bad injury news. Star forward Leo Carlsson and top-four defenseman Jonas Brodin are both expected to miss the tournament with injuries head coach Sam Hallam told Sweden’s Hockey Sverige. The team will hold out hope for something “extraordinary” but expect to have to replace both players on their official roster per Hallam.
Carlsson recently sustained a thigh injury that formed a lesion, requiring surgery and a three-to-five week recovery. Brodin has been out since January 12th, when he was finally forced out of the lineup by a nagging lower-body injury. Minnesota designated him as out week-to-week and placed him on injured reserve.
The impact that Carlsson and Brodin bring to the Olympic roster can not be understated. Both would have cemented roles near the top of the lineup and could have been X-factors that led the Tre Kronas to Olympic Gold.
Carlsson made his debut on Sweden’s men’s national team at the age of 18, in the 2023 World Championship. He scored three goals and five points in eight games, though the Swedes ultimately lost in the quarterfinals. Carlsson was left off of Sweden’s 2024 roster, during his NHL rookie season, but returned with a purpose in 2025. He scored 10 points in 10 games, third on the team in scoring as Sweden pushed for a Bronze medal finish.
Carlsson’s game has continued its exponential growth since he represented Sweden this summer. He leads the Anaheim Ducks in scoring with 44 points in 44 games, an incredible pace for the 21-year-old forward. He is taking on bigger roles and could have offered top-six upside for Sweden in the Olympics.
Brodin, 32, is on the other side of his career but still brings an impactful, two-way style to the lineup. He has averaged the lowest expected-goals-against per-60 (xGA/60; 2.75) on the Minnesota defense per HockeyStats.com. The Wild have, in total, outscored opponents 35-to-26 in Brodin’s even-strength ice time. That goal-differential (+9) is tied with Quinn Hughes for the best on the team.
Brodin has contributed 15 points in 42 games this season, bringing his NHL career up to 275 points in 895 games. He represented Sweden at the 2024 and 2025 World Championships, where his scoring jumped to a combined 11 points in 20 games. He has never represented Sweden at the Olympics, and may never get to on the back of this injury. Brodin is signed through the 2027-28 season by Minnesota. He could aim to land one more two-year deal on the other side of that contract, which would carry him through his age-36 season and provide one more chance to become a Swedish Olympian. For that to happen, Brodin will first need to work through the nagging injury that’s plaguing him.
Sweden will now face the tough task of how to replace two key pieces of the lineup. Their Olympic roster featured a long list of cuts, with the most surprising exclusions on defense. Sweden opted not to bring Edmonton’s Mattias Ekholm, Boston’s Hampus Lindholm, or Detroit’s Simon Edvinsson. All three players – each left-handed shots, the same as Brodin – will now step back up to vie for the role of injury replacement.
The 21-year-old Edvinsson represented the country most recently, having played in all 10 games of the 2025 World Championship, while Ekholm and Lindholm were in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Edvinsson contributed one assist to the tournament in what was his debut with the men’s national team. It will be Ekholm who likely holds the strongest bid. The 35 year old served as an alternate captain on Sweden’s 4-Nations Face-Off roster in 2025, where he scored one point in three games. He, like Brodin, brings an interesting two-way upside. Meanwhile, Lindholm would offer a shutdown role, though he has faced his own challenges with injury this season.
While Sweden is separating hairs on defense, they will also have to find another forward. San Jose Sharks winger William Eklund appeared to be the biggest exclusion on offense, especially after posting his first 40-assist season in the NHL last year. He has never played for Sweden’s men’s team and only appeared in two notable junior tournaments – five games at the 2020 Hlinka Gretzky Cup and two games at the cancelled 2022 World Junior Championships. Eklund would bring a dose of speed and playmaking ability, though he may not supplant the top-six role Carlsson was vying for.
Sweden could get a bit more assuredness from Calgary Flames captain Mikael Backlund. The veteran center offers a chippy, two-way game but has added a nice bit of offense this season. He has scored 12 goals and 31 points in 49 games this season, putting him on pace for the second-highest scoring season of his 18-year carere behind his 56 points in 2022-23. Sweden could also turn towards plays like Emil Heineman or Marcus Johansson.
Keeping all of those names in mind could be a safe bet as Sweden looks forward to the near-future. The country is also facing injuries to William Nylander, Gabriel Landeskog, Erik Karlsson, Joel Eriksson Ek, and Philip Broberg. Those players haven’t been ruled out of the Winter Olympics just yet, but they represent the heavy load facing a potential medal-favorite with just under a month before puck drop.
Photo courtesy of Walter Tychnowicz-Imagn Images.
Avalanche, Penguins Swap Ilya Solovyov, Valtteri Puustinen
The Colorado Avalanche and Pittsburgh Penguins have rearranged some of their depth pieces. According to an announcement from the Penguins, the Avalanche have traded defenseman Ilya Solovyov to Pittsburgh for forward Valtteri Puustinen and a 2026 seventh-round pick.
Solovyov, 26, will see his tenure in Colorado end after half a season. He was claimed off waivers before the regular season from the Calgary Flames to serve as the team’s seventh defenseman. The Mogilev, Belarus native was coming off a promising season in the AHL, scoring six goals and 28 points in 59 games for the Calgary Wranglers.
As the team’s seventh defenseman, and without any significant injuries to Colorado’s defensive core, Solovyov didn’t earn much playing time through his first few months with the team. At the end of November, Solovyov had only appeared in nine games for the Avalanche, going scoreless with a -4 rating while averaging 12:33 of ice time.
The Avalanche briefly sent Solovyov back to the AHL on a conditioning loan, simply to allow him more ice time. Since the calendar flipped to 2026, and likely to showcase his playing style to interested teams, Solovyov played in seven games with Colorado, scoring one goal and three points, with a +3 rating.
Meanwhile, Puustinen will move to Colorado after nearly five years with the Penguins organization. He, like Solovyov, was drafted in the seventh round of the NHL Draft, albeit a year earlier. He’s been a remarkably consistent scorer at the AHL level, tallying 72 goals and 175 points in 252 games with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
Unlike Solovyov, Puustinen has already had a fairly promising NHL campaign under his belt. During the 2023-24 season, Puustinen earned an extended look in the sport’s highest league, scoring five goals and 20 points in 52 games with the Penguins, averaging 11:45 of ice time per game. Additionally, his possession metrics were solid, finishing with a 52.3% CorsiFor% and 91.9% on-ice SV% at even strength.
Given his offensive talent, Pittsburgh’s treatment of Puustinen the last few years has been perplexing. The team has had a top-down mandate to get younger, but apparently were not willing to give Puustinen another opportunity at the NHL level. The Penguins went as far as to place Puustinen on waivers last season, though he went unclaimed at the time.
Nonetheless, the trade won’t significantly alter the complexity of either team for now. Solovyov will take Joona Koppanen‘s spot on the roster for the time being, who the Penguins reassigned earlier today. Meanwhile, the Avalanche are expected to make another recall on the blue line, given that they are down to five healthy defensemen.
Panthers Activate Matthew Tkachuk, Place Seth Jones On LTIR
3 PM: The Panthers have made the roster moves to facilitate Tkachuk’s return. The star winger has been activated off of long-term injured reserve while defenseman Seth Jones has been placed on LTIR retroactive to his last game on January 2nd per PuckPedia. The move to LTIR will force Jones to miss at least one more week of action – as he won’t reach the 24-day minimum required by LTIR until January 26th. That means Jones will have to sit out of Florida’s next three games and hope for a return when the Panthers host the Utah Mammoth on January 27th.
9 AM: Star winger Matthew Tkachuk will be back in the lineup tonight, he told reporters this morning (including Jameson Olive of the Panthers’ website). Tkachuk is on long-term injured reserve, meaning Florida’s demotion of Noah Gregor today to open up a roster spot won’t be enough. Florida has just over $1MM in cap space, per PuckPedia, but needs to up that number to nearly $3.82MM to activate Tkachuk.
Nonetheless, all signs point toward the 28-year-old making his season debut at home this evening against the Sharks. His injury troubles date back to last February, when he tore an adductor muscle while playing for the United States at the 4 Nations Face-Off. He ended up missing the balance of the regular season to recover as much as possible without needing season-ending surgery. That permitted him to suit up in all 23 playoff games as Florida marched to the second of back-to-back Stanley Cups, still producing at a point-per-game rate and leading the league with five power play postseason goals despite being nowhere close to 100%.
Understandably, playing through the injury aggravated it. Tkachuk spent most of the offseason mulling his options before finally electing to undergo a wide-ranging surgery on the area in early August. There was a wide-spanning return timeline that was expected to see him make his 2025-26 debut around New Year’s Day, ideally in time for Florida’s hosting of the Winter Classic, but he ended up blowing through that target by a few weeks.
All that matters to the Cats is that he’s back now, especially with captain Aleksander Barkov likely lost for the regular season and top offensive threat Brad Marchand currently sidelined. He’s set to have his minutes limited in his return, taking third-line rushes this morning with Evan Rodrigues and Mackie Samoskevich, per Steve Goldstein of Scripps Sports. Historically, that hasn’t been an issue for him. In Game 1 of last year’s first-round win over the Lightning, his first appearance in over two months, he logged just 11:43 of ice time but was still good for a three-point game.
Tkachuk has been practicing for several weeks now, though. His return is far from rushed, so the diminished even-strength role from the hop likely has more to do with his game conditioning rather than his health being anything less than 100%. The 2023 Hart Trophy finalist now looks to extend his streak of four consecutive seasons above a point per game, with 35 games left on Florida’s schedule to do so.
Since the Panthers acquired Tkachuk from the Flames in the 2022 offseason’s blockbuster deal, he’s been the most productive Florida player on a per-game basis by a significant margin at 1.20 points/GP. That’s good for 10th in the league during that time – more than names like Jack Eichel, Jack Hughes, and Auston Matthews – and has even exceeded Pavel Bure as the Panthers’ all-time points-per-game leader, at least for now.
With Barkov and Tkachuk out all year to date, the Panthers have had to reach deep into their forward depth. That’s resulted in their offense, which has finished in the top half of the league every year since 2017-18, dipping to a 3.04 goals per game output that ranks 19th out of 32 teams and last in the competitive Atlantic Division. With Florida trailing the Sabres by four points for the last wild card spot with no games in hand, they need more firepower – now – to ensure they don’t miss the postseason cutoff following three straight trips to the Stanley Cup Final.
As for Florida’s salary cap problem, they have an easy short-term solution in moving defenseman Seth Jones from standard IR to LTIR to clear up the necessary space for Tkachuk’s activation. They can add $3.82MM of his $7MM cap hit to their LTIR pool by doing so, since he’s already missed seven games and 17 days – three and seven short of the LTIR minimums, respectively. Having the space to then activate Jones when he’s expected to return early next month remains a problem, though.
San Jose Sharks Acquire Kiefer Sherwood
One of the trade deadline’s most sought-after rentals is now off the board. The Vancouver Canucks announced that they’ve traded winger Kiefer Sherwood to the San Jose Sharks for defenseman Cole Clayton, a 2026 second-round pick, and a 2027 second-round pick.
The Sharks’ interest in Sherwood has been known for some time. In late December, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that San Jose was one of the teams involved in Sherwood’s market.
Given the capital needed to acquire Sherwood, it would make sense for the Sharks to begin extension negotiations immediately. The Canucks were known to have been seeking a first-round pick for Sherwood’s services, though acquiring two second-round picks is hardly settling. Still, even if he is only a rental, Sherwood’s particular brand of hockey should help the Sharks considerably as they look to return to the postseason for the first time in seven years.
Vancouver originally signed Sherwood ahead of the 2024-25 season to a two-year, $3MM agreement. Their inspiration for signing him came a year earlier, when Sherwood, then playing for the Nashville Predators, totalled 33 hits against the Canucks in the opening round of the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs. He finished the campaign with 10 goals and 27 points in 68 games.
His offense continued to develop in British Columbia. Throughout the past year-and-a-half with the Canucks, Sherwood has been a reliable scorer, registering 36 goals and 63 points in 122 games. Additionally, his physicality has truly been off the charts, averaging 5.5 hits per game — 672 in total.
That makes his fit with the Sharks remarkably clear. Outside of Ryan Reaves, who has been a healthy scratch on multiple occasions, and Ty Dellandrea, who is currently on the team’s injured reserve, San Jose doesn’t have too many physical forwards in their lineup. Additionally, the team desperately needed to add secondary scoring behind phenom Macklin Celebrini.
Given their value to the team, Sherwood would be a perfect option to play on the top line next to Celebrini and Will Smith, allowing the Sharks to shelter some of their younger wingers on the bottom two lines. If opposing teams aim to counter Celebrini and Smith physically, San Jose can now respond similarly.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the transaction, the Canucks continue to grow their stockpile of draft picks. Entering the season with five picks in the upcoming draft, Vancouver now has seven this year, and eight next.
Clayton, 25, is a big-bodied right-handed shot defenseman. A product of the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers program, Clayton had spent the last four years with the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters before signing with the Sharks last summer. Throughout his five-year professional career, the Alberta native has scored 14 goals and 66 points in 257 games with a -13 rating.
Photo courtesy of Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images.
Golden Knights Acquire Rasmus Andersson
The Golden Knights have acquired defenseman Rasmus Andersson from the Flames in a move now announced by both teams. In exchange, Calgary receives defenseman Zach Whitecloud, Vegas’ 2027 first-round pick, a conditional 2027 second-round pick, and the signing rights to University of North Dakota defender Abram Wiebe.
If the Golden Knights win the Stanley Cup this year, that 2027 second-rounder will upgrade to a 2028 first-round pick. Calgary is retaining 50% of Andersson’s $4.55MM cap hit in the deal, Friedman adds, bringing his impact down to just $2.275MM on Vegas’ books this season. Vegas’ 2027 first-rounder is also top-10 protected, Dreger notes.
It’s far from a stunning move. Andersson was first implicated in trade talks nearly two full calendar years ago. Ever since, Vegas has been one of the teams most consistently linked to the right-shot blue liner. That’s only ramped up since this past offseason, when reports indicated Nevada was the Swede’s preferred long-term destination and, naturally, would yield a larger return for Calgary because he’d be willing to sign an extension with the Knights. However, any extension won’t be registered today – David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports there’s no new contract in place at this time.
That means Andersson, 29, is still set to reach unrestricted free agency this summer as the top defenseman available – for now. He is in the final season of the six-year, $27.3MM extension he signed with Calgary in January 2020, coming off his entry-level contract. A second-round pick by the Flames in 2015, his tenure in Calgary ends with him seventh on the franchise defenseman leaderboard in games played (584), sixth in assists (204), and sixth in points (261).
Back in training camp, it looked like the Flames’ ongoing retool had removed any possibility of their top-four anchor remaining in Calgary. Captain Mikael Backlund said in August that Andersson didn’t want his future to be a “distraction” but that a trade was inevitable. Talk of separation softened after he reported to camp, with reports indicating he’d reopened extension talks. Over the past few days, though, it became clear the Flames had received the type of trade offers they wanted and would pull the trigger on a deal.
The other team that was in it to the wire – as late as this morning – was the Bruins. According to Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic, the Flames gave Andersson permission to discuss an extension with Boston, presumably upon which the deal was contingent. They weren’t able to come to an agreement on a contract, though, putting Vegas back in the driver’s seat despite the Golden Knights not being able to talk contract with Andersson’s camp prior to the deal. If Andersson’s long-reported interest in Vegas is true, though, they shouldn’t have much trouble coming to a resolution before July 1.
The Flames’ retool is only further accelerated by the move. They already owned Vegas’ first-round pick this year as a result of 2024’s Noah Hanifin trade, giving them four guaranteed first-rounders over the next two drafts. If the Knights take home the Cup, they’ll have six first-rounders in the next three years.
Those hopefully high-value draft choices are the principal point of the return for the Flames. Whitecloud’s inclusion in the deal primarily serves as cap management for Vegas, but also gives the Flames a stable veteran option to, in part, replace Andersson’s minutes as they try to avoid overloading their young blue line talent too early in their development.
Whitecloud, 29, signed with the Knights as an undrafted free agent out of Bemidji State in 2018 and has thus remained in the organization since its inaugural season. The 6’2″ 210-lb righty has posted some tough numbers this season but has 78 points and a +42 rating in 368 games for his career, serving as their staple third-pairing option on the right side behind Alex Pietrangelo and Shea Theodore for the past several seasons. With Pietrangelo injured, he’d been averaging 18:46 of ice time per game this season, nearly a career-high.
Wiebe, 22, isn’t without ceiling, either. The nephew of longtime Blackhawks defenseman Keith Brown was a seventh-round pick by Vegas in 2022 but has since gone on to put up some solid numbers with the Fighting Hawks. He’s now in his junior season, is an alternate captain, and has scored 48 points with a +13 rating in 102 games on North Dakota’s blue line. He owns a pro-ready 6’3″, 209-lb frame, giving him a legitimate shot at being a mobile piece near the bottom of Calgary’s lineup in the next few years.
For the Knights, acquiring Andersson means they’re back to their ethos of big in-season swings after taking last year off. Their acquisition of a high-end right-shot defender was a foregone conclusion ever since it was announced that Pietrangelo wouldn’t play this season, with his career likely over due to various lingering injuries.
They get a resurgent name in Andersson, who’ll be heading to the Olympics with Sweden. With 10 goals and 30 points in 48 games this season, he’s 20th in the league in scoring among defenders and immediately becomes the Knights’ leader in overall production from the blue line.
The question becomes how his defensive game will slot in on a Vegas club that’s been above-average in the possession department this year. He’s coming off a -38 rating last season and has posted negative relative Corsi shares at 5-on-5 in nine of his 10 NHL seasons, including this one. Might he be eating into the already sheltered offensive zone minutes that his now-reunited teammate Hanifin has been receiving?
Nonetheless, it’s nearly impossible to criticize the deal from Vegas’ perspective. They’ve already got a clear path to a deep playoff run through a weak Pacific Division but, with Pietrangelo gone and Theodore and Brayden McNabb missing significant time this year, have lacked the identity that their historically overloaded top-four group has provided. Now, that blue line power is back with Andersson, Hanifin, McNabb, and Theodore comprising one of the most experienced and dynamic groups in the league.
They also do so while actually increasing their cap space for this season. Whitecloud was signed through next season at a $2.75MM cap hit, so Vegas frees up nearly $500K in space with this deal.
Image courtesy of Brett Holmes-Imagn Images.
Darren Dreger of TSN was the first to report that Andersson was going to Vegas. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet was the first with the trade details.
Leo Carlsson Out Three To Five Weeks
The Ducks, who have been struggling in recent weeks, will now have to try to turn things around without the services of one of their top players for the next little while. The team announced (Twitter link) that center Leo Carlsson will miss the next three to five weeks after undergoing a procedure today to treat a Morel-Lavallée lesion in his left thigh.
After showing some improvement in his sophomore year last season, Carlsson has been one of the league’s breakout performers in 2025-26. He has emerged as a legitimate number one center for Anaheim, playing in all situations with head coach Joel Quenneville entrusting him with a much bigger role.
On the offensive side of things, Carlsson has 18 goals and 26 assists in 44 games so far, making him their leading scorer, two points ahead of veteran Troy Terry who is also dealing with an injury. He has already set a career high in assists and is only one point shy of matching his career high in points. In the final season of his entry-level contract, the 21-year-old is putting himself in line for a significant raise on his next deal with a jump to a double-digit AAV not out of the question on a max-term agreement.
On top of having significant implications for Anaheim’s efforts to get back into the playoff picture (they’re four points out heading into tonight’s action), Carlsson’s absence could also affect a second team as well. He was named to Sweden’s Olympic roster earlier this month with their first game coming on February 12th. If his recovery time is the short end of that range, he should be good to go to participate. However, if it looks like it will be closer to the longer end, he’d miss the first week at a minimum and given the short length of the tournament, Carlsson would become a potential roster casualty. He’ll undoubtedly be reassessed in a few weeks to help determine if he’ll be cleared to suit up in that event.
At the moment, Carlsson is on Anaheim’s active roster. With that currently being at the maximum of 23, he’s likely to be shifted to injured reserve in the near future.
Wild Place Joel Eriksson Ek, Matt Boldy On IR
The Minnesota Wild are again dealing with multiple injuries. The Wild announced that they’ve placed forwards Joel Eriksson Ek and Matt Boldy on the injured reserve.
Additionally, Minnesota has made multiple roster moves. In the same announcement, the team shared that they’ve recalled Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Hunter Haight, and David Jiříček to the NHL, while returning Carson Lambos to the AHL’s Iowa Wild.
Assuming the Wild makes Eriksson Ek’s placement retroactive to January 8th, he’s eligible to be activated as soon as he’s healthy. Still, since the team opted to place him on the injured reserve today, there’s little chance he’ll be in the lineup tomorrow against the Buffalo Sabres. He’s been dealing with a lower-body injury for the past week.
Already perusing the trade market for a second-line center, Eriksson Ek’s exit from the lineup has been a major detriment to the team. In the three games he has missed, Minnesota has lost all of them while collecting only one point. Typically in a top-six role, Eriksson Ek has scored 11 goals and 32 points in 45 games for the Wild this season while having a 49.7% success rate in the faceoff dot.
Meanwhile, arguably the larger concern is that Boldy will have to miss the next four games. Since Boldy seemingly suffered an undisclosed injury in Minnesota’s recent game against the Winnipeg Jets, he won’t be eligible to return until next Friday.
After skating in 203 consecutive games, the Wild will now move forward with one of their best offensive forces. Throughout 48 games this season, Boldy led the team in goal-scoring with 27 tallies and sat one point behind Kirill Kaprizov for the overall team lead.
Neither Aube-Kubel nor Haight will help Minnesota make up for the loss of offense. The two have combined for one assist across six games for the Wild this season. Still, in their defense, they’ve remained relatively productive with AHL Iowa this season, with the latter ranked third on the team in scoring with seven goals and 17 points in 31 games.
New York Rangers Announce Retool
Similar to Jeff Gorton nearly seven years ago, current General Manager Chris Drury wrote a letter to New York Rangers fans, stating that the team would undergo a retool this season.
In the letter, Drury said, “This will not be a rebuild. This will be a retool built around our core players and prospects.” Drury went on to acknowledge that the fans should expect some trades or departures via free agency, saying, “That may mean saying goodbye to players that have brought us and our fans great moments over the years.”
The news was largely expected. Despite wanting to compete for a playoff spot this season, the Rangers are in last place in the Eastern Conference by a three-point margin and are tied for the most games played. Their -21 goal differential is also the worst in the Conference.
After losing defenseman Adam Fox and netminder Igor Shesterkin to injury in early January, there was little hope that New York would be able to climb out of the hole. Still, instead of re-shaping the entire roster, Drury specified a retool, which indicates that the team may only move out expiring assets and reassess next summer.
Regardless, we know of at least one player who won’t finish the 2025-26 season with the Rangers. Shortly after the announcement from New York, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that Drury met with Artemi Panarin, telling him that the team would not be extending him an extension offer, and they would like to move him to a team where he could win the Stanley Cup or sign long-term.
Earlier this week, we assessed some of the hypothetical landing spots for Panarin that were provided by Friedman, namely the Colorado Avalanche, Florida Panthers, Minnesota Wild, and Washington Capitals. Determining Panarin’s trade value is challenging due to the absence of recent comparables for a rental of his significance.
Furthermore, there’s no questioning that Panarin’s market value dipped from today’s news. Publicly, the Rangers remained interested in extending Panarin beyond the 2025-26 campaign. However, considering his full no-movement clause, New York will allow Panarin to pick his next destination, which will likely diminish their potential return.
Meanwhile, the Rangers don’t have many additional expiring assets that will be of much value on the trade market. Joining Panarin as pending unrestricted free agents are Jonny Brodzinski, Conor Sheary, and Carson Soucy. Technically, Jonathan Quick could also be a trade candidate, but the veteran netminder has been pretty rigid in his ‘Rangers or retirement’ attitude.
Assuming Drury waits until the offseason to consider trading the trickier contracts of Mika Zibanejad, Alexis Lafreniere, Vincent Trocheck, etc, there are a few more veterans he may attempt to move this season.
Veterans like Taylor Raddysh, Sam Carrick, and Urho Vaakanainen are only signed through the 2026-27 season, potentially giving the Rangers a few more assets to move. At any rate, the Rangers now have the biggest fish leading up to the March 6th trade deadline.
Photo courtesy of Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images.