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Sabres To Activate Rasmus Dahlin, Sam Lafferty, Jordan Greenway Out Long-Term

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Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin will be available for tomorrow’s matchup against the Maple Leafs, head coach Lindy Ruff said Thursday (via Mike Harrington of The Buffalo News). He’ll need to come off injured reserve after missing over two weeks with back spasms. Center Sam Lafferty also told reporters today that he’s healthy and will be available against Toronto. However, it’s uncertain whether he’ll enter the lineup, per Paul Hamilton of WGR Sports Radio 550.

Buffalo only has one open roster spot and must make a corresponding transaction to take both off IR. That will likely mean replacing Lafferty on IR with winger Jordan Greenway, who Ruff said requires surgery to address a mid-body injury and will be sidelined long-term, via Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News. He’s out indefinitely but is expected back “at some point this season,” Ruff said. Pivot Ryan McLeod is also banged up and will be a game-time decision against the Leafs with an undisclosed injury, Hamilton reports. His absence would necessitate Lafferty’s return unless Ruff dresses 11 forwards and seven defensemen in the hopes of breaking their 11-game winless streak.

Dahlin’s absence is one of the chief reasons why Buffalo hasn’t managed a victory since Nov. 23, although it’s not the only one. Their winless streak was already four games deep when Dahlin took a hit in the third period of a game against the Avalanche that aggravated a back issue he’d been dealing with since training camp. Buffalo’s leader in average time on ice at 24:42 per game also has 19 points in 25 contests, exceeding his point pace from last season.

The 2018 first-overall pick has emerged as one of the league’s premier blue-liners, finishing top-15 in Norris Trophy voting two years in a row and currently checking in at 13th among defenders with 0.76 points per game. He also has a +4 rating to lead Sabres defenders and has been their best two-way player, controlling 59.5% of shot attempts at even strength. In contrast, Buffalo has only managed to control 47.8% of shot attempts without Dahlin on the ice. Only the Rangers’ Adam Fox and the Canucks’ Quinn Hughes have had a more significant impact on their teams’ even-strength possession this season among defensemen.

Tomorrow will mark the Sabres’ first game with a healthy blue line since November 11. Mattias Samuelsson missed extended time with a lower-body injury sustained in that game, and Dahlin exited the lineup before he managed to return.

It won’t be a surprise if Lafferty is activated but sits as an extra forward against Toronto, assuming McLeod can play. The 29-year-old hasn’t had the impact the Sabres hoped after signing him to a two-year, $4MM pact in free agency. He has just one goal through 22 games and has only infrequently appeared on the team’s penalty kill, averaging 9:48 per game in all situations. He’s been a net negative in nearly every area of the game, posting a -2 rating, winning 43.8% of his faceoffs, and controlling 46.6% of shot attempts at even strength.

Surgery is a harsh outcome for Greenway, who’s been one of the few Sabres forwards outperforming expectations this season. The New York native has seven points through 20 games and averages a career-high 15:55 per game, adding 54 hits. The checking winger has averaged nearly full three minutes per game while shorthanded and controls 51.2% of shot attempts at even strength despite 60.2% of his zone starts occurring in the defensive zone.

His mid-body issue has limited him to four appearances in Buffalo’s last 15 games, though. He missed 10 games with the problem before attempting to return earlier this month, re-exiting the lineup for Tuesday’s 6-1 drubbing at the hands of the Canadiens.

Meanwhile, the Sabres and McLeod likely hope his undisclosed injury is just a blip in a good season for the middle-six center. He has six goals and 15 points through 32 games, and he’s on pace to break the career-high of 12 goals and 30 points he set with the Oilers last year.

Blake Wheeler Unlikely To Resume NHL Career

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Winger Blake Wheeler has all but officially decided on retirement, as Paul Friesen of The Winnipeg Sun relays. Neither Wheeler nor the NHL Players’ Association has released a statement. Still, the former Jets captain told Dan Leffelaar of the Beyond High Performance podcast earlier this week that “there’s only so much gas in the tank” emotionally for an 82-game regular season.

In July, Wheeler, 38, hit unrestricted free agency after completing a one-year, $1.1MM contract with the Rangers. He joined the Blueshirts for the final season of his NHL career after having the captaincy stripped from him in Winnipeg in 2022 and seeing the final season of his five-year, $41.25MM contract with an $8.25MM cap hit bought out a year later. There wasn’t much buzz around his services on the UFA market aside from a report in August from Shawn Hutcheon of The Fourth Period that the Bruins were considering extending him a professional tryout. One way or another that never came to fruition, and Wheeler didn’t appear with any club during training camp.

A serious leg injury sustained in February ended his final regular season prematurely. However, he did return to the active roster near the end of New York’s second-round playoff win over the Hurricanes. He was a frequent healthy scratch upon returning to the lineup, though, with a lone postseason appearance against the Panthers in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final likely standing as his final NHL appearance. In 54 regular-season appearances with the Rangers, he posted nine goals and 12 assists for 21 points with a +2 rating while averaging a career-low 12:43 per game.

Wheeler was a highly touted prospect. In the 2004 draft, the Coyotes selected him fifth overall, immediately after eventual longtime teammate Andrew Ladd was taken off the board by the Hurricanes. However, he opted not to sign in Phoenix. He took the long route through college at the University of Minnesota before becoming a free agent in 2008 and signing with the Bruins. 

The right-winger’s debut season was solid, posting 21 goals and 45 points with a +36 rating in 81 games as Boston won 53 games and finished atop the Eastern Conference. He was one of many future under-25 impact players on that Bruins squad, featuring Patrice Bergeron, Milan Lucic, Phil Kessel and David Krejčí in the infancies of their careers. However, after his goal-scoring dropped off slightly in his second and third years in the league, Boston traded him to the Thrashers before the 2011 deadline for Rich Peverley.

Wheeler racked up 17 points in 23 games down the stretch for Atlanta, giving Thrashers fans a bittersweet taste of things to come for his production before the team packed up and moved to Winnipeg in the offseason. Now entirely in the prime of his career at age 25, Wheeler kicked off a dominant nine-year stretch in Winnipeg that saw him record 569 points in 616 games, ranking eighth in the NHL scoring between the 2011-12 and 2018-19 campaigns. His 384 assists during that time were fourth, trailing only Nicklas Bäckström, Sidney Crosby and Claude Giroux. He received All-Star consideration eight years in a row and finished as high as eighth in Hart Trophy voting in 2017-18 when he led the league with 68 assists in 81 outings.

After a 20-goal, 91-point showing in 2018-19, 2019-20 spelled out the beginning of Wheeler’s decline. He still managed a respectable 65 points in 71 games that year before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. However, that was accompanied by an artificially high 12.2% shooting rate and a significant drop-off in his assist totals. He kept up reasonable offensive production in his final three seasons in Winnipeg, logging 161 points in 187 games. But the Minnesota native became a defensive liability as he aged and became a significant drag on the Jets’ possession quality control at even strength. Combined with just three playoff series wins during his time in Winnipeg, including a run to the 2018 Western Conference Final in which he had 21 points in 17 games, the Jets parted ways with their captain and bought him out.

While the end of Wheeler’s career may have been marred by declining all-around play and injuries, the former All-Star was a high-end top-line talent throughout the 2010s. The 6’5 “, 225-lb right-winger puts a bow on his career with 321 goals and 622 assists for 943 points in 1,172 regular-season games. He logged a +67 rating, posted 764 PIMs, and racked up nearly 3,000 career shots on goal, averaging 18:11 per game. He pairs that strong regular-season production with 10 goals and 45 points in 66 career postseason games. Pro Hockey Rumors congratulates Wheeler on a phenomenal career.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Canadiens Acquire Alexandre Carrier

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The Canadiens and Predators have swapped blueliners before Thursday’s roster freeze.  Montreal has acquired Alexandre Carrier from Nashville in exchange for defenseman Justin Barron.  Both teams have announced the deal.

Carrier is in his seventh NHL season, all of which came with Nashville after they drafted him in the fourth round back in 2015.  He has gone from a depth defender to one counted on inside their top four.

However, the 28-year-old hasn’t been able to duplicate his 2021-22 performance that saw him land a spot on the All-Rookie Team.  That year, Carrier had 30 points and 124 blocks in 77 games while logging nearly 21 minutes a night of ice time.  He only managed 29 points in the following two seasons and has seven in 28 outings this season while averaging just over 20 minutes per game.  Carrier is currently dealing with an upper-body injury but is believed to be ready to return to the lineup, relays TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie (Twitter link).

Carrier had a chance to test unrestricted free agency for the first time this past summer but instead elected to remain in Nashville, inking a three-year, $11.25MM deal that runs through the 2026-27 campaign.  With David Savard being a pending unrestricted free agent and a speculative trade candidate as a result, it stands to reason that Carrier will eventually take his role as the veteran option on the right side of Montreal’s back end, ensuring they’ll have one experienced player on that side beyond this season.

As for Barron, the 23-year-old was a first-round pick by Colorado back in 2020, going 25th overall.  It’s the second time in his career that he’s been on the move after he was the centerpiece of the package that the Canadiens acquired in exchange for winger Artturi Lehkonen back at the 2022 trade deadline.

At the time, Montreal was hoping that he’d become a key cog on their back end for years to come.  However, while Barron has shown flashes of being a capable NHL player, he has struggled with consistency.  Last season, despite a stint with AHL Laval, he collected seven goals and six assists in 48 games while averaging 18:38 per game and it appeared as if he’d turned a corner in his development.  That earned him a two-year, $2.3MM bridge deal this past summer.

Unfortunately for Barron and the Canadiens, that hasn’t been the case this season.  He has been a frequent healthy scratch over the first two-plus months of the year, only getting into 17 of 31 games.  In those outings, he has been limited to just one goal (without recording any assists) while his playing time has dropped to just 14:43 per game.

This move gives Nashville a younger player to try to turn into a full-time piece while saving the team $2.6MM on the salary cap.  Barron will also still have two years of team control when his deal expires while Carrier will be an unrestricted free agent when his contract is up.  With the Preds struggling much more than many expected this season, it will be interesting to see if GM Barry Trotz has any plans to quickly utilize those cap savings with the roster freeze approaching or if he’ll wait until the new year to try to add another piece to their roster.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Kraken Acquire Kaapo Kakko

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The Kraken have added some extra depth up front, acquiring winger Kaapo Kakko from the Rangers.  In return, New York receives defenseman Will Borgen, a 2025 third-round pick, and a 2025 sixth-round selection.  Both teams have announced the swap.

Kakko was the second overall pick in 2019 but while he has shown flashes of being an impact player, he has also struggled to produce with consistency over his now-six-year career.  The 23-year-old has only reached the 40-point mark once thus far, that coming back in 2022-23 when he had 18 goals and 22 assists in 82 games.  His output dipped to just 19 points in 61 games last season, resulting in the two sides agreeing on a one-year, $2.4MM contract back in June, a move that didn’t do anything to slow the trade speculation surrounding him.

This move comes not long after Kakko voiced his frustration with being a healthy scratch over the weekend as the Rangers continued to try to shake up their lineup to snap their recent drought.  That frustration was justifiable as he is off to a reasonable start this year, picking up four goals and ten assists in 30 games despite spending a lot of time in the bottom six, averaging just 13:17 per contest.  Hovering around half a point per game in that role is certainly decent output, one that Seattle will welcome to add to an offensive group that sits in the middle of the pack.

As for Borgen, the soon-to-be 28-year-old has been a physical presence over his four-year tenure with Seattle who selected him from Buffalo in the expansion draft.  Last season, he posted career bests in assists (22), points (25), blocked shots (111), hits (195), and ATOI (17:35) and looked to be on his way toward a bigger role on the back end.  However, that hasn’t exactly been the case this season as he has been limited to just one goal and one assist in 33 games while his playing time has dropped to 15:12 per night, a career low.

Despite his struggles, NHL.com’s Dan Rosen reports (Twitter link) that the Rangers had been coveting Borgen for a while.  With the departure of Jacob Trouba to Anaheim, they needed a bit more defensive depth and this move should allow Victor Mancini to return to AHL Hartford where he can have a bigger role.  Borgen is also in the final season of his contract, one that pays him $2.7MM so New York takes on a small amount of money with this swap.  Notably, he’s eligible for unrestricted free agency this summer while Kakko will have one more RFA year remaining.

Considering his draft stature, it seems like a fairly low price for Seattle to pay to acquire Kakko and they’ll hope that a change of scenery can help unlock the offensive potential that helped make him the number two pick.  Meanwhile, with New York seemingly unsure about committing a long-term deal to him, they’ve elected to make a move more geared toward the present rather than trying to maximize value in the form of higher draft or prospect compensation.  With the two selections they added, they now have seven for the upcoming draft.

Interestingly, the 2019 draft class has seen quite a few first-round picks moved already.  As Peter Baugh of The Athletic points out (Twitter link), eight of the top 19 selections from that year have already been traded, including three of the top four selections.  Among those who haven’t moved, a couple (Dylan Cozens and Trevor Zegras) have been in trade speculation themselves in recent months so the number of high picks on the move from that class could be growing even more soon enough.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Maple Leafs’ Anthony Stolarz To Undergo Knee Procedure, Out 4-6 Weeks

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Maple Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz will undergo a minor procedure to remove a loose body in his knee, general manager Brad Treliving told reporters Tuesday (via TSN). As a result, Toronto’s starter will miss the next four to six weeks.

Treliving said Stolarz underwent an MRI in the last few days, which revealed no other structural damage. He left his most recent start, an eventual win over the Ducks on Dec. 12, with a lower-body injury after the first period. He’s already missed two games but will now miss around 15 more, with a return in mid-to-late January on the horizon.

It’s worse news than the Leafs expected when they initially awarded him a day-to-day designation and placed him on injured reserve, assuming he wouldn’t miss more than the minimum seven days required for an IR placement. Nonetheless, undergoing surgery now and dealing with a lengthy mid-season absence is far preferable to a snowballing injury that forces him to miss extended time closer to the postseason.

Unfortunately, Stolarz is no stranger to significant knee injuries. He missed most of the 2017-18 campaign while in the Flyers system after undergoing knee surgery during training camp, and another knee surgery ended his 2022-23 campaign with the Ducks in February.

Luckily, that hasn’t stopped Stolarz from becoming an elite tandem/backup option when healthy. His .927 SV% in 17 games with Toronto this season has him on pace to lead qualifying netminders in the statistic for the second season in a row. He posted a .925 SV% and 2.03 GAA, both league-best marks, in 27 games with the Panthers last year while backing up Sergei Bobrovsky. His 24 starts last season were a career-high, though, so despite his high-end numbers, there was understandable hesitance to crown him a starting-caliber netminder upon reaching free agency last summer. The Maple Leafs presented a good fit for him to split the workload with the up-and-coming Joseph Woll. He inked a two-year, $5MM contract to play in Canada for the first time since a short stint with the Oilers in 2019.

Toronto has had quite the revolving door of netminders over the past few seasons. Stolarz is one of eight since the beginning of the 2021-22 season to make at least 10 starts for the team, joining Woll, Ilya Samsonov, Jack Campbell, Matt Murray, Erik Källgren, Martin Jones, and Petr Mrázek. He’s put up the best numbers of any of them by a wide margin and is on pace to log the highest save percentage for a Toronto netminder since Curtis McElhinney had a .934 in 18 games in 2017-18.

The Leafs are left with Woll and Dennis Hildeby between the pipes for the next few weeks. Woll has also played well when dressed, posting an 8-4-0 record with a .918 SV%, 2.24 GAA and one shutout in 12 showings. He’s saved 5.9 goals above expected, per MoneyPuck, ranking 12th in the league. He also has a lengthy injury history, though, and Hildeby isn’t a compelling No. 3 option. The big 23-year-old Swede has made three starts this season amid injuries to Stolarz and Woll, the first of his NHL career. He’s been serviceable but unimpressive, with a .875 SV% and 3.68 GAA. He also has a subpar .897 mark in six AHL starts this year.

It’s worth noting that the Maple Leafs still have Murray in the system if Hildeby falters. The 30-year-old missed nearly all last season after offseason hip surgery but has been good in the AHL in 2024-25 since clearing waivers, logging a .919 SV% and 2.15 GAA with a 3-1-3 record. If he comes up and gets a start, it would be the first for the two-time Stanley Cup champion since April 2, 2023.

Flames Sign Brayden Pachal To Two-Year Extension

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The Flames have signed defenseman Brayden Pachal to a two-year, $2.375MM contract extension, per a team announcement. The righty was set to be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights next summer.

Pachal, 25, is now in his fourth NHL season but only his second with significant playing time. An undrafted free agent signing by the Golden Knights from the Western Hockey League’s Prince Albert Raiders in 2019, Pachal made his NHL debut with Vegas in the 2021-22 campaign and recorded a goal and two assists in 29 games over the following three seasons, spending most of his time in the AHL with the Henderson Silver Knights. His minutes were far from heavy in Vegas, averaging 14:58 per game, but he was a compelling physical presence with 36 blocks and 78 hits. That didn’t translate into overly impressive shot-suppression numbers, though, controlling 47.6% of shot attempts at even strength.

Naturally, that wasn’t enough to establish himself as a regular on the Knights’ blue line, one of the deepest in the league. Vegas placed him on waivers in February last season to sneak him back to Henderson, but the Flames submitted a claim and snagged him off the wire.

Not only did Pachal establish himself as a regular, he played in all 33 of Calgary’s remaining games, posting six points with a -1 rating while averaging 14:43 per contest. His performance level wasn’t much different, but it was more than competent enough to aid a Flames defense that was losing many core pieces, such as Noah Hanifin, Chris Tanev and Nikita Zadorov.

It’s been more of the same for Pachal this season. He’s appeared in all 31 Flames games, playing solidly bottom-pairing minutes with a 14:31 ATOI. He has two points with a -4 rating, 34 blocks and 72 hits and has suited up on Calgary’s second penalty-killing unit alongside MacKenzie Weegar. His possession metrics at even strength have taken a demonstrable step forward, controlling 53.1% of shot attempts and 46.8% of expected goals. That’s enough to make him a serviceable bottom-pairing option on a team with playoff hopes, such as the Flames, who sit one point back of the Avalanche for the second wild-card spot in the West with two games in hand.

It’s an extremely low-risk move for Calgary. His $1.19MM cap hit starting next season is a few hundred thousand dollars over the maximum buriable threshold, so his cap impact would be negligible if things go awry and Pachal ends up back in the minors.

Pachal will be eligible for unrestricted free agency when his new deal expires in 2027. He becomes the sixth defenseman signed to a one-way contract for Calgary next season, joining Weegar, Rasmus Andersson, Jake Bean, Daniil Miromanov, and Ilya Solovyov. Kevin Bahl is now their lone notable pending RFA while pending UFAs Tyson Barrie and Joel Hanley appear unlikely to return at this stage unless it’s in reduced capacities.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Sabres Reassign Devon Levi

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12/16: Buffalo has loaned Levi back to Rochester. Levi allowed four goals on 40 shots in Buffalo’s Sunday loss to Toronto. He will return to the AHL, where he’s set a 7-1-1 record and .916 save percentage so far this season.

12/15: The Sabres’ top goaltending prospect is back in the NHL. Devon Levi has been recalled from AHL Rochester, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. He will start later today against the Maple Leafs, head coach Lindy Ruff told Bill Hoppe of the Olean Times Herald. Defenseman Ryan Johnson has been returned to the minors in a corresponding move to open a roster spot, the team confirmed.

Levi, 22, started the season on the NHL roster but played sparingly behind starter Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. That was simply due to strong play from the latter and weak play from the former. Levi was a strong backup option last season, posting a .899 SV% and 3.10 GAA behind a demanding workload. However, few-and-far-between starts likely contributed to a steep regression for the youngster in 2024-25. In six starts and one relief appearance, Levi managed just a .870 SV% and 3.95 GAA with a 2-5-0 record. His -7.5 goals saved above expected are the worst on Buffalo by far and seventh-worst in the league despite his low workload, per MoneyPuck.

That led the Sabres to reclaim veteran James Reimer off waivers in mid-November after they lost him to the Ducks at the beginning of the season. After re-installing him as Luukkonen’s backup, Buffalo returned the waiver-exempt Levi to Rochester on Nov. 18 to get him more playing time and, by extension, regain his confidence.

It was a prudent move by Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams. Levi has been stellar on the farm, posting a 7-1-1 record in nine games with Rochester with a 2.08 GAA, .916 SV% and two shutouts. That’s nothing new from the 2020 seventh-round pick of the Panthers, who Buffalo acquired as part of the trade that sent Sam Reinhart to Florida. Levi was similarly spectacular when on assignment to Rochester last season, finishing fourth in the league with a .927 SV% in 26 outings.

Nonetheless, Ruff wouldn’t confirm today if Levi’s promotion is a long-term bump or a short-term jolt to help the Sabres exit a debilitating nine-game losing streak. “I don’t really have that answer, but he’s going to play this game, and we’ll make a decision,” he told Mike Harrington of The Buffalo News.

Both goalscoring and goaltending have been recent issues for the Sabres, whose last win was a 4-2 victory over the Sharks on Nov. 23. Luukkonen has a .890 mark in seven starts, while Reimer has a .860 in two over the losing streak. However, Buffalo won’t win many contests by scoring just 2.22 goals per game.

Outside of the current circumstances, it’s another chance for the Sabres’ top goaltending prospect to prove he can be a difference-maker at the NHL level after solidifying himself as an elite talent at every other step in his development. The Montreal native was arguably the best goaltender in college hockey during his two seasons with Northeastern in 2021-22 and 2022-23, logging a .942 SV% and 16 shutouts in 66 appearances and winning the Mike Richter Award for the NCAA’s top goaltender on both tries.

Meanwhile, Johnson returns to the minors after a middling showing during his 10-day recall. He appeared in Buffalo’s last three games with Rasmus Dahlin sidelined due to back spasms, posting no points and a -2 rating while averaging 17:40 per game. He recorded four blocks and one hit while hurting Buffalo’s puck possession at even strength, controlling only 45.2% of shot attempts. In contrast, the Sabres controlled 52.6% of shot attempts without Johnson on the ice.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Penguins’ Marcus Pettersson Out Week-To-Week

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Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan shared that defenseman Marcus Pettersson will be out week-to-week with an undisclosed injury, per Seth Rorabaugh of Tribune-Review Sports. Pettersson left the team’s Saturday loss to Ottawa late in the first period after a collision with Senators forward Drake Batherson sent him awkwardly into the boards. He only played in six minutes of ice time.

Pettersson has continued to serve as a core piece of the Penguins lineup this season. He’s recorded 11 assists and 13 points in 32 games this season while averaging 22 minutes of ice time – making him the third-most utilized player on the Penguins roster. Pettersson also leads Pittsburgh in blocked shots (56) and ranks third among defenders in hits (36). He’s a top-unit, shutdown defender – a role he stamped when he played in all 82 of Pittsburgh’s games last season. A full year helped Pettersson solidify his spot on the top pair – averaging nearly 23 minutes of ice time – and led him to career-highs in assists (26) and points (30). With his momentum carrying into this season, Pettersson has become an unquestioned piece of the daily lineup – and one that will be tough to replace for an extended time.

Pittsburgh is currently carrying top prospect Owen Pickering and depth option Ryan Shea as their extra defenders. The former seems best set for a boost in ice time with Pettersson out. Pickering received the first 11 games of his NHL career earlier this season. He scored two points, split evenly, and added five shots on goal and 10 blocked shots – leading Pittsburgh in blocks-per-game. He’s so far defaulted to Pittsburgh’s third pair, but could be a reasonable upside bet with Pettersson standing as a potential IR candidate. If not Pickering, Pittsburgh could turn towards Shea, or call-up Sebastian Aho from the minor leagues.

Islanders Activate Mathew Barzal, Adam Pelech From Injured Reserve

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The Islanders will have two pillars back in action today against the Blackhawks. Forward Mathew Barzal and defenseman Adam Pelech have been activated from long-term injured reserve and standard injured reserve, respectively, reports Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News. The Isles placed goaltender Semyon Varlamov on injured reserve in a corresponding transaction earlier this morning to open a necessary roster spot.

Barzal, 27, returns at the end of his initial four-to-six-week timeline after he sustained an upper-body injury against the Blue Jackets on Oct. 30. The injury cost him 21 of the Islanders’ 31 contests. They’ve also been without Pelech for almost that entire time. He sustained a fractured jaw midway through the Isles’ first game following Barzal’s injury against the Sabres on Nov. 1.

Neither player’s activation is surprising. Barzal returned to practice with the team on Thursday without a no-contact designation and was upgraded to day-to-day. Head coach Patrick Roy told Rosner yesterday that Barzal would be a game-time decision for today’s contest. Pelech returned to practice with the team in a non-contact sweater last week but was upgraded to full contact along with Barzal’s return to the sheet. Roy said yesterday that he expected the veteran shutdown man to return to action in today’s matinee.

The Islanders managed a 9-7-5 record without their highest-paid forward in the lineup. They’ve also been without Barzal’s early-season linemate, free-agent signing Anthony Duclair, after he sustained a leg injury earlier in October. He was also upgraded to day-to-day on Thursday, but Roy confirmed yesterday that he wasn’t quite ready to come off LTIR ahead of today’s game. That record has at least allowed them to tread water in the Eastern Conference playoff race, ending up with a .500 record with about 62% of their schedule still ahead of them. Their points percentage is good enough for 11th in the conference, and they’re currently just one point behind the Senators for a wild-card spot, although Ottawa has a game in hand on them.

After all of today’s moves, the Isles have a full active roster and just over $100K in cap space, per PuckPedia. They’ll need to clear multiple salaries to have space to activate Duclair in the coming days, which will likely involve Engvall returning to the minors after clearing waivers yesterday.

With Duclair still out and Bo Horvat likely to miss today’s game with a minor lower-body injury, Barzal will play center for the first time in quite a while in his return between captain Anders Lee and Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Rosner reports. The 2015 first-round pick wasn’t tracking well offensively before his injury, limited to two goals and three assists in 10 games. The All-Star playmaker was coming off his best season since his Calder-winning rookie campaign in 2017-18, recording a career-best 23 goals with 57 assists for 80 points in 80 games. Besides his rookie campaign, it was his first time reaching the point-per-game mark. They’ll need his production level again to justify his $9.15MM cap hit and give them a chance at a third straight postseason berth.

Pelech returns in his familiar top-pairing role with Ryan Pulock. The 30-year-old lefty had four assists and a -3 rating through 11 contests before the fracture, averaging over 20 minutes per game. At least in the early going of the season, his possession numbers returned to the play that once had him considered one of the best defensive players in the world. The Isles controlled 54.6% of shot attempts with Pelech on the ice at even strength, which will stand as a career-high for the 10-year veteran if it continues. Isaiah George and Grant Hutton will be healthy scratches on the blue line, while Dennis Cholowski flanks Scott Mayfield on their bottom pairing.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Islanders Recall Pierre Engvall, Place Semyon Varlamov On IR

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Sunday: According to Andrew Gross of Newsday Sports, the Islanders have recalled Engvall back to the NHL, making the waiver process a bit of a formality. New York won’t have to place Engvall on waivers for another 30 days giving the organization some added flexibility. Gross also shares that the team has placed goaltender Semyon Varlamov, who’s missed the last eight games with a lower-body injury, on injured reserve retroactive to November 29th.

Saturday: Engvall cleared waivers, Friedman reports.  When he’s re-assigned to Bridgeport, they will free up a pro-rated $1.15MM in cap space.  As for Wahlstrom, he was claimed by Boston.

Friday: The Islanders have placed wingers Pierre Engvall and Oliver Wahlstrom on waivers for the purposes of assignment to AHL Bridgeport, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports.

After the Isles clear their roster spots tomorrow, they’ll have increased flexibility to activate their trio of injured skaters – Mathew Barzal, Anthony Duclair and Adam Pelech – from injured reserve. All three have practiced this week without a non-contact designation.

Engvall thus ends up on the wire for the second time this season. The 28-year-old tumbled down the Islanders’ depth chart during training camp and ended up on waivers before opening night rosters were due. After he managed 10 goals and 28 points in 74 games last season, it was no surprise to see him pass through unclaimed with a whopping six years and $18MM left on the seven-year deal he signed to remain on Long Island in 2023. As such, the likelihood of him being claimed this time remains slim.

In his 20-game call-up since being summoned in place of Duclair in October, Engvall has three goals and six points with a -3 rating. He’s been a healthy scratch three times in the last seven games, so it’s unsurprising to see him being one of the odd ones out to make way for their stars’ return. Waiving him also offers them the most significant possible financial benefit, which is an important consideration as they must navigate cap compliance while activating Barzal and Duclair from LTIR. They won’t be able to bury all of Engvall’s $3MM cap hit in the minors, but they will be able to shed a total of $2.15MM in cap hits combined between him and Wahlstrom.

In six games with Bridgeport in October, Engvall had just one goal. It was his first AHL action since the 2019-20 campaign as a member of the Maple Leafs organization.

Wahlstrom has been the less productive of the pair this season. While the Islanders avoided exposing the 2018 11th overall pick to waivers for as long as possible, there’s no better time than now. The 24-year-old Maine native has just two goals and four points in 27 games this season, averaging a career-low 10:04 per game.

A restricted free agent last summer, the Islanders came to terms on a one-year, $1MM deal for Wahlstrom before his scheduled arbitration hearing. Unfortunately, that choice precipitated Wahlstrom’s worst showing yet as an NHLer. While his offensive production never jumped off the page like they’d hoped, he was at least a semi-effective physical presence. He hasn’t been that at all this season, logging only seven hits in 27 games – his first time averaging under one per game. He also has an abysmal 38% shot attempt share at even strength and a 33.3% expected goals share, creating an argument for Wahlstrom as one of the least valuable skaters in the league.

Now in his sixth NHL season, Wahlstrom may be too far along in his development to be considered a legitimate bounce-back candidate with a change of scenery. Nonetheless, the former electric scoring threat in juniors may have at least one taker on the waiver wire as his $1MM cap hit is fully buriable in the minors if he doesn’t work out.

Images courtesy of USA Today Sports.

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