Blues Recall Dalibor Dvorsky
The Blues announced they’ve recalled their top center prospect, Dalibor Dvorsky, from the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds. St. Louis has an open roster spot after placing Jake Neighbours on injured reserve yesterday, so there’s no need for a corresponding transaction.
Dvorsky, the No. 10 overall pick in the 2023 draft, gets his first look of the season as the Blues deal with injuries to a pair of top-line forwards. Not only is Neighbours out for the next five weeks with a right leg injury, but their top center, Robert Thomas, has also missed the last two games with an upper-body injury and remains day-to-day.
Amid those injuries, the Blues have lost four games in a row and are 3-6-1 in their last 10 outings. It’s their goaltending that has been lacking. The Blues’ 4.40 goals against per game is 31st in the league, yet they’re allowing the fifth-fewest shots per game (25.4) in the NHL. Jordan Binnington and Joel Hofer are both among the six worst goaltenders in the league this season in terms of goals saved above expected, per MoneyPuck, combining for a -10.4 GSAx mark.
Dvorsky’s presence obviously won’t change the picture between the pipes, but they’re hoping his infusion into the roster can at least help them make strides toward outscoring their problems and get back in the win column. The Slovak pivot is off to a hot start with Springfield, scoring three goals and two assists for five points through six games. That’s tied for the team lead and marks a promising start to his second year in the North American pros. Last season, the 20-year-old churned out a 21-24–45 scoring line in 61 appearances for the Thunderbirds and was named to the AHL Top Prospects Team.
If Dvorsky plays, it will not mark his NHL debut. The 6’1″, 201-lb center suited up twice for the Blues late last season. He wasn’t given much runway, going without a point and averaging just 9:25 of ice time per game. With Neighbours’ and Thomas’ injuries stretching St. Louis’ forward depth thin, though, it stands to reason Dvorsky should not only enter the lineup for tomorrow’s game against the Canucks but play a semi-significant role while doing so. Being able to return Nick Bjugstad or Alexandre Texier to the fourth-line roles where they started the season would not only provide the Blues with better matchup options but also allow Dvorsky his first legitimate taste of top-nine minutes in the NHL, a role they anticipate him playing for years to come.
Mammoth Sign Logan Cooley To Eight-Year Extension
The Mammoth announced they’ve signed center Logan Cooley to an eight-year contract extension. The deal is worth $80MM for an average annual value and cap hit of $10MM. Cooley, who was a pending restricted free agent in the final year of his entry-level contract, will now remain in Utah through the 2033-34 campaign. The deal does not include signing bonus money, per PuckPedia, but has a 16-team no-trade list from 2030-31 onward. His salary breakdown per year is as follows:
2026-27: $13MM / 2027-28: $11MM / 2028-29: $11MM / 2029-30: $10MM / 2030-31: $7.8MM / 2031-32: $8.2MM / 2032-33: $8.5MM / 2033-34: $10.5MM
In doing so, the Mammoth make Cooley their new highest-paid player, at least beginning next season, and the latest in a string of players signing eight-year deals before the maximum extension length drops to seven next season. It’s a conclusion to the very relaxed, amicable negotiations described throughout between Cooley’s camp and Mammoth GM Bill Armstrong over the past few months, aside from Cooley’s high-profile rejection of an eight-year, $77MM offer.
It turns out Armstrong didn’t need to raise the bar much higher to keep his franchise cornerstone center locked in for the vast majority of his prime. While he’s done quite a lot of work over the past year and a half since the Utah franchise was born from the Coyotes’ hockey operations assets, Cooley is still a holdover from Arizona’s final years. He was the third overall pick of the 2022 draft straight out of the U.S. National Team Development Program and spent his post-draft season at the University of Minnesota, exploding for 22 goals and 60 points in 39 games with a +38 rating. He was the top playmaker in college hockey as a freshman, which, understandably, led him to be one-and-done at school and to sign his entry-level deal with the Coyotes the following offseason.
Since debuting for Arizona in 2023-24, Cooley has been consistently on the rise. He didn’t look out of place at all from the jump, checking in with a 20-goal, 44-point effort in his rookie year while serving as a middle-six center. His defensive game needed some expected cleanup, but he finished fifth in Calder Trophy voting and earned the center spot on the league’s All-Rookie Team.
Still just 21 years old, Cooley is now fully coming into his own. He demonstrated massive improvement in Utah’s first go-around in Salt Lake City last year, upping his production to 25 goals, 40 assists, and 65 points in 75 games. That came with increased success in the faceoff dot, winning 44.7% of his draws compared to just 38% in his rookie season, a workload of nearly 18 minutes per game, and improved possession metrics that saw him control 51.2% of shot attempts and 52.2% of expected goals at even strength.
Getting Cooley’s extension done now, compared to later in the season, likely saved the Mammoth millions of dollars in the long run. Cooley’s off to a torrid start in 2025-26, tied for fifth in the league with eight goals through 11 games while adding four assists for 12 points. He’s now averaging closer to 19 minutes per game, boasts a plus-five rating, and ranks second on the Mammoth in scoring behind veteran Nick Schmaltz. His continued breakout is one of the most significant factors in a Utah offense that ranks eighth in the league at 3.64 goals per game and has the team first in the Central Division.
That production comes despite Cooley not receiving “true” first-line center deployment. He’s rarely been used as the top pivot on Utah’s depth chart between Schmaltz and Clayton Keller – that honor has been bestowed upon the more defense-oriented Barrett Hayton. Cooley has instead become the centerpiece of one of the league’s most potent second lines between Dylan Guenther and JJ Peterka, but his position on the line chart does very little to alter his market value with the minutes and production he still manages.
A $10MM cap figure also checks in as a relative bargain for a player expected to consistently hover around a point per game for the life of the deal, particularly as the salary cap continues its aggressive rise. Armstrong has been quick to take advantage of increased funding from Utah ownership compared to his previous bosses in Arizona and now has the vast majority of the team’s core signed for the rest of the decade. Cooley joins Peterka ($7.7MM cap hit), Guenther ($7.14MM cap hit), Jack McBain ($4.25MM cap hit), Mikhail Sergachev ($8.5MM cap hit), and Karel Vejmelka ($4.75MM cap hit) as Mammoth players signed through 2030 or longer.
Armstrong’s work to lock in a championship-contending force in Salt Lake isn’t done yet. There’s the future of Schmaltz and Hayton, the former of whom is a pending UFA and might be well on his way to pricing himself out of an extension. Keller, the team’s captain, has three years left on his current deal. Hayton will be an arbitration-eligible RFA this summer and has no years of team control left after that.
Image courtesy of Nick Wosika-Imagn Images.
Devils’ Brett Pesce Out At Least One Month
Oct. 28: Pesce’s upper-body injury will keep him out of the lineup for at least a month, according to the team’s Amanda Stein.
Oct. 26: The New Jersey Devils will head on their upcoming four-game road trip without defenseman Brett Pesce, head coach Sheldon Keefe told team reporter Amanda Stein after Sunday’s win over the Colorado Avalanche. Pesce left that game in the first period after blocking a shot. Keefe told the media that Pesce’s injury was “not great”.
This is yet another blow to the Devils’ blue line. They are already missing reliable depth defender Johnathan Kovacevic, who is still recovering from a knee injury sustained during the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs. New Jersey has avoided major lineup changes in light of Kovacevic’s injury, largely thanks to young pro Simon Nemec, who has seven assists in nine games this season. But Pesce’s absence will force the Devils to reach into their depth chart. Dennis Cholowski is currently on the NHL roster as an extra defenseman and should receive the first chance to step into a nightly role. New Jersey could also lean on AHL prospects, and collegiate teammates, Ethan Edwards and Seamus Casey.
Even with the promising upside of their young prospects, New Jersey will struggle to fill Pesce’s role entirely. The 11-year pro has recorded three points and a plus-two in eight games this season, while averaging the second-highest ice time on the team (21:21) behind Dougie Hamilton (21:53). Pesce has spent almost all of his even-strength minutes next to top youngster Luke Hughes. Now in their second year playing together, the two have managed to outscore their opponents four-to-one at even-strength. They lead the team’s blue line in Goals-For percentage (80 percent) and Expected-Goals-For percentage (63.1 percent) per MoneyPuck.
Pesce and Hughes were plenty effective together last year as well. They were outscored 31-to-38 at even-strength, but generated a lofty 953 shots across the full season – over 100 more than any other Devils pairing. New Jersey averaged over one shot on net for every minute Hughes and Pesce were on the ice. They won their Expected-Goals battle as a result of the volume shooting, posting a 53.1 xGF% across 70 games together.
Pesce’s absence could push Nemec into an important, top-pair role next to Hughes, which would preserve the high-firing pairing of Hamilton and Jonas Siegenthaler. Nemec received the third-most ice time on New Jersey’s defense (23:35) in Sunday’s overtime matchup. It’s the fourth-most he’s ever played in a regular-season game, and he vindicated it with three assists, two shots, and five blocked shots. That kind of performance will be exactly what New Jersey needs as they face the absence of a 700-game pro.
Blues’ Jake Neighbours Out Five Weeks With Right Leg Injury
The Blues announced Tuesday that they’ve placed winger Jake Neighbours on injured reserve with a right leg injury. He’ll be re-evaluated in five weeks, putting him out of the lineup through at least Dec. 2. They did not immediately announce a recall to fill his roster spot.
Neighbours was absent for Monday’s loss to the Penguins with what the team previously labeled a lower-body issue, and he carried only a day-to-day designation. It’s clear now that was a bit of smoke and mirrors as he underwent further evaluation. The team said he suffered the injury in Saturday’s loss to the Red Wings. He didn’t leave the contest, in which he had two of St. Louis’ four goals, but did appear to favor his right leg after losing an edge and sliding awkwardly into the boards later in the game.
Very little has gone right for the Blues this season. Losing Neighbours, who has a team-leading six goals and was finishing at a red-hot 50% clip, won’t change that slide of bad luck. The 23-year-old is beginning his fifth NHL season since being drafted in the first round in 2020 and has been stapled to the Blues’ top line with Robert Thomas to start the year. When deployed with Pavel Buchnevich on their right flank, they’ve controlled play well with a 51.9 xGF% and 50.6 CF%, per MoneyPuck. Poor goaltending has still led them to be outscored 5-4 and for Neighbours to post a minus-four rating despite his individual success, accounting for 22.2% of the goals the Blues have scored this season.
While that one-in-two finishing rate is unsustainable, the writing was on the wall for a breakout campaign from Neighbours in 2025-26. He’s put together back-to-back 20-goal campaigns and hit a career-best 46 points while playing all 82 games last season. Getting more pucks on net, once he returns in December, will be key to getting him back on that path. Neighbours’ 19.7 shooting percentage since the beginning of 2023-24 is ninth in the league among skaters with at least 100 shots on goal during that time, but he’s only averaged 1.55 shots on goal per game for his career.
The Blues were also without Thomas in last night’s loss due to an upper-body injury. He’s still only listed as day-to-day, but for the time being, the Blues are without the two most consistent members of their top line to open the campaign. Jimmy Snuggerud and Pius Suter were elevated from third-line duties to skate with Buchnevich last night. It’s unclear if that will continue into tonight’s rematch against Detroit or if head coach Jim Montgomery will shuffle his lines further in the wake of three straight regulation losses.
Sabres Activate Michael Kesselring From Injured Reserve
Oct. 28: Kesselring will make his Sabres debut tonight and come off injured reserve, Ruff confirmed to Rachel Lenzi of The Buffalo News.
Oct. 27: The Buffalo Sabres have assigned defenseman Zach Metsa to the AHL’s Rochester Americans. The move will open the roster space to activate defenseman Michael Kesselring off of injured reserve. Head coach Lindy Ruff said he expects the team to make that roster move before Tuesday’s game against Columbus, as long as all goes well in the morning.
Kesselring has missed the first nine games of the season with a lower-body injury sustained in an October 1st preseason game. The injury delayed his debut with the Buffalo Sabres after joining the team alongside Josh Doan in the June trade that sent JJ Peterka to the Utah Mammoth.
That trade will be top of mind as Kesselring prepares for his first regular-season game in the blue and gold. Doan has already wowed fans with his early-year performance, netting six points and already rivaling a top-line role. But at the time of the move, many expected Kesselring to have a bigger impact in Buffalo after he proved to be a capable top-four defender in Utah.
Kesselring played in all 82 games of Utah’s inaugural season. He received the lowest average ice time (17:41) among a heavily-rotated Hockey Club defense, but routinely faced challenging roles alongside top defenseman Mikhail Sergachev and against top competition. He was strong on both sides of the puck, showing off a strong stick, lightning-quick speed, and heads-up passing. Those talents led Kesselring to 29 points on the year, the second-most on Utah’s blue line behind Sergachev (53).
Kesselring looked similarly capable in his rookie season of 2023-24. He finished that year with 21 points in 65 games, while operating from a third-pair role with the Arizona Coyotes. With two years of improvement to start his career, he now seems well-poised to bear some more responsibility with the Buffalo Sabres. Buffalo has relied on Conor Timmins and Metsa to fill the right side behind captain Rasmus Dahlin. Timmins has faired pretty well in the second-pair role, recording three assists and 24 blocked shots in nine games. Metsa has been less productive, with no scoring and just two blocks in four games. Kesselring should step ahead of Timmins on the depth chart, placing him next to former first-overall pick Owen Power. Power’s sturdy defense could be a great match for the typically aggressive Kesselring.
Meanwhile, Metsa’s brief appearance in the NHL will come to an end. He played the first NHL games of his career this season, after starting the year with two pointless games with the Americans. Metsa led Rochester’s blue line with 46 points in 69 games last season. It was his second pro season. He posted 24 points in 54 games as an AHL rookie. The 27-year-old will look to return to his top role on the Rochester blue line, and could remain a call-up option should Buffalo face any more injuries.
Penguins Place Rickard Rakell On IR, Recall Ville Koivunen
10/27: Pittsburgh made Rakell’s move to injured reserve official on Monday evening.
10/26: The Pittsburgh Penguins have announced that Rickard Rakell underwent a successful procedure on his left hand this morning, and the forward is expected to miss 6-8 weeks recovering. Just last night Rakell took a puck to the hand vs Columbus, was clearly bothered, and did not return.
It is a very tough blow for the team, who have come out of the gates looking much better in 2025-26, facing serious pressure to push for the postseason for the aging legends on their roster. Rakell in particular, who has been revitalized in Pittsburgh, headlined by a career high 70 points last year, has also been off to a great start with 8 in 9 games.
In a corresponding move, the Penguins recalled Ville Koivunen, who has already bounced back and forth between the NHL and AHL so far. The skilled 22-year-old forward, acquired in the Jake Guentzel trade, did not appear on the scoresheet in 2 games so far with the Pens, but jumps out with 11 points in just 6 games so far with AHL Wilkes-Barre. Now he, along with 18-year-old Benjamin Kindel could be in order for a larger role with Rakell sidelined. Kindel however, is nearing his 10-game threshold as a rookie, and it will be interesting to see GM Kyle Dubas’ plan for their 11th-overall selection last summer.
In particular for Rakell, the ailment is also especially unfortunate as it means he will miss the 2025 NHL Global Series in his home country of Sweden, as the Pens take on Nashville in mid-November.
In a critical season for the Penguins as they continue to teeter between win-now for their iconic players, and turning toward the future, the club is already being tested. Yesterday it came out that Caleb Jones, who had been playing well early in his Pittsburgh tenure, will miss eight weeks. Now a star, in the form of Rakell, is set to be absent for a similar timeline.
Flyers Assign Jett Luchanko To OHL
For a second-straight year, Jett Luchanko‘s time with the Philadelphia Flyers is cut short after only four appearances. Earlier today, Anthony Di Marco of Daily Faceoff reported that the Flyers would be assigning Luchanko to the OHL’s Guelph Storm today, and Philadelphia subsequently confirmed the news.
Luchanko’s reassignment can’t be described as anything other than disappointing for the Flyers. The team drafted Luchanko with the 13th overall selection in the 2024 NHL Draft, and he surprisingly made the team’s roster out of training camp last year.
Still, with little expectations of him sticking around, the team assigned him to OHL Guelph after going scoreless in four games with a -3 rating. He was mostly productive in his return to Guelph, scoring 21 goals and 56 points in 46 games as the team’s captain. Unfortunately, the Storm finished with a 21-38-5-4 record, missing out on the playoffs.
After another year of growth, Luchanko again made the Flyers’ roster out of training camp, this time under a new head coach. This time around, his performance was arguably worse.
Again being reassigned after four games, Luchanko again went scoreless with a -3 rating. He averaged nearly five minutes less a night under Rick Tocchet, primarily centering the team’s fourth line when in the lineup. Despite being reassigned today, Luchanko hasn’t suited up for Philadelphia since October 20th.
There was some concern earlier in the year about returning him to Guelph, largely because the team wasn’t expected to be competitive this year. However, although it’s still relatively early in the 2025-26 campaign, the Storm are 6-5-2-0 through their first 13 games, holding onto the final playoff spot in the OHL’s Western Conference.
Luchanko made it apparent that he’s not ready for much responsibility at the NHL level. Although he is likely better suited for developmental time in the AHL, he has not yet reached the age where that is permissible. Still, given that the team signed Tocchet to a multi-year deal this offseason, there might be some concern about Luchanko’s overall future in the organization, given his subpar first impression.
Patrik Laine Out Three To Four Months
A tough start to the season for Canadiens winger Patrik Laine just got even tougher. The team announced that he has undergone surgery to repair a core muscle injury. As a result, he will miss the next three to four months.
This is Laine’s second season with Montreal after he was acquired from Columbus in the 2024 offseason. It’s also now the second straight season that he has sustained a significant injury early on. Last season, a preseason knee injury cost him a couple of months of action and this one could keep him out for twice as long.
While Laine got through training camp healthy this time, it didn’t take long for him to drop down the depth chart. While he started the year on Montreal’s second line, he was down to fourth-line minutes at five-on-five within a couple of weeks. As a result, he was limited to just one assist through five games while averaging just 12:36 per night, a career low in that regard. He didn’t accompany the team on their four-game Western road trip while getting a second opinion on his injury; clearly, that second opinion concurred with the first with him undergoing surgery soon after.
Last season, Laine made an immediate impact when he returned to the lineup, tallying 15 power play goals. In doing so, he was among the league leaders in that regard despite missing 29 games while he helped Montreal’s power play get closer to the middle of the pack. However, his playing time and effectiveness waned down the stretch and into the playoffs where he was injured partway through their series against Washington.
This is a contract year for Laine, who carries a cap charge of $8.7MM, tops among Canadiens forwards. It’s fair to say his hopes of a big payday next summer have taken another hit as he’ll now miss more than half the season; that, coupled with his struggles at full strength, don’t bode well for him on the open market. That said, because he should wind up missing 100 days because of this injury and has more than 400 career NHL appearances, Laine should be eligible for a one-year contract with performance incentives next summer. That might be the best route to go for him, one that would allow him to maximize his compensation should he stay healthy while providing the signing team – be it Montreal or someone else in free agency – with less risk in signing him.
For Montreal, since they have over $4MM in cap space at the moment per PuckPedia, an LTIR placement wouldn’t make any sense for them. Since Laine is expected to return this season, the maximum amount of LTIR space they could amass is $3.82MM, not his full cap charge so, barring a rash of further injuries, don’t expect him to be moved to LTIR. As of yet, the Canadiens haven’t moved him to regular injured reserve although that is merely a formality for whenever they need to open up a roster spot.
Golden Knights Sign Carter Hart To Two-Year Deal
Oct. 25: The Golden Knights have registered the contract, PuckPedia reports. The deal carries a $1.45MM signing bonus this season with a league-minimum salary of $775K. In 2026-27, Hart will make $1.775MM in salary with no signing bonus.
Oct. 24: Vegas will be converting Hart’s tryout into a two-year contract as expected. It’ll be worth $4MM with an average annual value of $2MM, Darren Dreger of TSN reports.
Oct. 16, 12:31 p.m.: The Golden Knights announced that Hart will be joining the organization, although there isn’t a guaranteed contract yet – he’ll begin his work on a tryout with AHL Henderson, Chris Johnston of The Athletic and TSN reports. Vegas’ full statement is as follows:
Following the reinstatement decision agreed on by the National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players’ Association, goaltender Carter Hart will be joining the Vegas Golden Knights organization. The Golden Knights are aligned with the process and assessment the NHL and NHLPA made in their decision. We remain committed to the core values that have defined our organization from its inception and expect that our players will continue to meet these standards moving forward.
Oct. 16, 8:30 a.m.: The Vegas Golden Knights are nearing a deal with free agent netminder Carter Hart, insider Frank Seravalli reported on his Victory+ show yesterday. Seravalli said, “I’d expect Hart’s deal to be two years,” a bit north of the league-minimum salary.
Elite Prospects’ Cam Robinson seconded Seravalli’s report and provided a little more detail, stating that Hart’s deal is expected to be a two-year, $1.8MM AAV pact. Hart, who Wasserman’s Judd Moldaver reps, became eligible to sign an NHL contract yesterday but is not eligible to play until December 1st.
That Hart isn’t eligible to play until December is notable given a recent injury to starter Adin Hill during the team’s road win against the Calgary Flames two days ago. There has been no further update on Hill’s status, but since Hart remains ineligible to play for the next month and a half, the Golden Knights will have to look elsewhere to reinforce their position in the crease should Hill miss any time.
While no deal with Hart has been officially announced to this point, Vegas’ interest in Hart has been widely reported, even going back to September, when The Athletic’s Chris Johnston called the team a front-runner to secure the netminder’s services.
It was reported earlier that month that Hart would receive interest from multiple NHL teams, which is notable as the other four Hockey Canada players acquitted of charges this summer in connection to an alleged sexual assault have been met with more muted NHL interest.
Center Michael McLeod was at one point expected to sign a deal with the Carolina Hurricanes, but ultimately agreed on a three-year extension with Avangard Omsk of the KHL, the side he played for in 2024-25.
A month ago, Ottawa Senators GM Steve Staios commented that both his organization and forward Alex Formenton agreed that “a fresh start” would be the best option for both sides. Still, thus far, Formenton hasn’t been able to secure another NHL team to play for. He is currently playing out a four-month contract (that contains an option to extend for the rest of the 2025-26 season) with Swiss National League side HC Ambri-Piotta.
The final two players involved in this past summer’s trial, defenseman Cal Foote and forward Dillon Dube, remain free agents. Foote spent 2024-25 with HK 32 Liptovsky Mikulas of the Slovak Extraliga, while Dube played for Dinamo Minsk in the KHL. There has not yet been much reporting indicating serious NHL interest in either player. The only notable report that was issued regarding either player came from The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta, who noted that the Toronto Maple Leafs would not be interested in signing Dube.
As a result, it appears Hart is, by far, the most likely candidate of this group of players to receive an NHL contract in the short-term future. Hart is also, among the group, arguably its most accomplished NHL player.
The 27-year-old was once one of the more promising goalies in the sport, playing to solid results (.906 career save percentage across 227 games) for the Philadelphia Flyers. While the Flyers mostly struggled during Hart’s tenure, especially later on, he did backstop them on one playoff run, posting a .926 save percentage in 14 games during the 2019-20 season. That Flyers team fell in seven games to the New York Islanders in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
In Vegas, Hart would potentially have the opportunity to get a real chance to play games for one of the NHL’s leading Stanley Cup contenders. The Golden Knights, who currently sit first in the Pacific Division with a 2-0-2 record, are loaded with high-end veteran talent, including center Jack Eichel, defenseman Shea Theodore, and wingers Mitch Marner and Mark Stone.
Hill, the team’s starter, backstopped the team to its first-ever Stanley Cup championship in 2023, but the 29-year-old doesn’t have an extensive resume as a number-one goalie. While he started to achieve real success on a Stanley Cup-winning team, he has also made 50 starts in a season just once in his career.
Whether Hart has a path to being Vegas’ long-term number-one goalie is unclear at this stage.
Hill was signed to a six-year, $6.25MM AAV contract extension in March, signaling the Golden Knights’ commitment to him as their top netminder moving forward. But the Golden Knights have shown a willingness to make aggressive moves to maximize their competitive chances in the past, especially in net, such as when they acquired and extended netminder Robin Lehner despite the presence of Vezina winner Marc-Andre Fleury on their roster.
As a result, assuming Hart does sign in Vegas, and assuming he can play well upon his return to the NHL, a potential long-term future in Vegas cannot be counted out, even though Hill has signed that hefty extension. If the Golden Knights feel, down the line, that Hart gives them the best chance to win long-term, everything they have done and accomplished as an organization thus far suggests they won’t hesitate to re-sign Hart, even with Hill signed. Worth noting here is that under the reported terms of Hart’s expected contract (two years, $1.8MM AAV), Hart would become eligible to sign a contract extension on July 1st.
Bringing that up may be getting a little bit ahead of things, though, as the reality is Hart has not played competitive hockey since he left the Flyers in January of 2024. While he was once seen as a promising young netminder, it’s difficult to project how a player will perform, especially a goalie, after missing so much time. The Golden Knights, though, based on all of the available reporting, clearly believe in Hart’s NHL future, and appear poised to sign a two-year contract with the player that reflects that belief.
Photo courtesy of Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
Canucks Acquire Lukas Reichel
The Canucks announced Friday that they’ve acquired forward Lukas Reichel from the Blackhawks in exchange for a 2027 fourth-round pick. They announced shortly before the move that center Teddy Blueger has been placed on injured reserve, retroactive to Sunday, as the corresponding transaction.
It is not at all the return on investment Chicago hoped for when they made Reichel the 17th overall pick of the 2020 draft. Now 23, Reichel made his NHL debut in 2022, amid a spectacular rookie season in the AHL that saw the German forward notch over a point per game with the Rockford IceHogs. Reichel got a more extended look in Chicago’s lineup the following season and looked like the future top-six fixture they hoped he’d be. He turned in seven goals and 15 points through 23 games, averaging 16:22 of ice time per night and leading the team in points per game among players who finished the season in the organization.
Once Reichel first broke camp with the Blackhawks in 2023-24, though, the regression was quick and steep. Reichel was initially slotted as the No. 2 center behind Connor Bedard, but that experiment ended quickly as he was getting caved in defensively and barely generating offense. He finished the season with just five goals and 16 points in 65 appearances and was sent back to Rockford later to boost his confidence, managing three goals and 12 points in 14 combined regular-season and playoff games.
Last year was a slight improvement, but not enough to truly boost his standing in the organization. He was still an occasional healthy scratch and saw his ice time slashed to under 12 minutes per game, although he did make a career-high 70 appearances. That came with a slight bump in offense in his reduced role, managing an 8-14–22 scoring line, but he still had negative defensive impacts and won just 39.9% of his faceoffs as he spent most of the year down the middle. That turned into Chicago making Reichel available for trade over the offseason and even mulling placing him on waivers late in training camp, but he stuck with the team on opening night.
Reichel was scratched for three of the Blackhawks’ first four games but played in four straight to end his tenure in Chicago. That streak included a two-goal, three-point effort against the Blues back on Oct. 15 in a season-high 13:11 of ice time. That gives him four points in five games on the year, all at even strength, despite averaging under 10 minutes per game.
That’s an intriguing taste of the upside Vancouver is now betting on. While a natural left-winger, Chicago tried Reichel at center multiple times. With the Canucks’ depth issues down the middle behind Elias Pettersson and the oft-injured Filip Chytil, it stands to reason they’d prefer to keep Reichel down the middle. Since Chytil is currently out of the lineup with an upper-body injury, there’s a prime opportunity for Reichel to have his leash removed and immediately jump into a second-line role on a trial basis, likely between veterans Jake DeBrusk and Brock Boeser.
It’s a no-risk pickup for Vancouver, who can walk away from Reichel next summer if he doesn’t pan out by not issuing him a qualifying offer. He’s in the back half of a two-year, $2.4MM deal he signed with Chicago in 2024 that carries a cap hit of $1.2MM.
Blueger has been placed on IR with an undisclosed injury in a corresponding move. That designation is retroactive to Ocotber 19th, which will force Blueger out of Vancouver’s Saturday matchup against the Montreal Canadiens. He could be activated ahead of Sunday’s game against the Edmonton Oilers, though that would require the canucks to send another player to the minor-leagues. Blueger scored one goal in two games before falling to injury. He has been a core piece of Vancouver’s fourth-line for the last two seasons, and should slot back into the lineup as soon as he’s back to full health.
The Canucks are currently carrying Arshdeep Bains and Joseph LaBate as their extra forwards. Both players would require waivers to be sent to the AHL. Extra defenseman Tom Willander would not require waivers, though Vancouver could want to avoid reassigning one of their top prospects before awarding him with his NHL debut.
Photo courtesy of Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports.