Transaction Notes: Lambert, Yager, Copley, Kraws
Two of the Winnipeg Jets’ best forward prospects will continue their season in the Calder Cup playoffs. The Jets announced that they’ve reassigned forwards Brad Lambert and Brayden Yager to the AHL’s Manitoba Moose.
Despite spending much of the season in the AHL, Lambert, 22, remained with the Jets after the trade deadline. Although he set a new career-high in NHL games played, he was largely ineffective. Lambert finished the campaign with three goals and six points in 25 games with a -5 rating, averaging 10:48 of ice time per game. Earlier this season, the Jets permitted Lambert to seek a trade. There’s no telling if his lengthy opportunity after the deadline was enough to change his mind.
Meanwhile, Yager, 21, only spent the last few games of the season with Winnipeg. Still looking for his first NHL point, Yager skated in three games for the Jets, averaging just under 11 minutes of ice time per game. Still, he was a decent tertiary scorer for the Moose this season, scoring 10 goals and 30 points in 68 games with a -15 rating.
Additional transactions:
- The Los Angeles Kings announced that they’ve recalled netminder Pheonix Copley from the AHL’s Ontario Reign. Copley will serve as Los Angeles’ third-string goalie for their Round One matchup against the Colorado Avalanche, and for the remainder of the playoffs should they advance. He spent much of the year with the Reign, managing a 21-11-1 record in 33 games with a .901 SV% and 2.59 GAA.
- Similarly, the Dallas Stars recalled netminder Ben Kraws from the AHL’s Texas Stars to serve as their third-string option through the postseason. Kraws has much less name recognition than Copley and spent most of the 2025-26 campaign with the ECHL’s Idaho Steelheads. However, the Stars don’t have the benefit of higher-end goaltending prospects in the AHL, and are leaving their better options in the AHL for Texas’ playoff hopes.
Former Predators’ Winger Andreas Thuresson Retires
A prolific career in international hockey has come to an end for Sweden’s Andreas Thuresson. The 38 year old has announced his retirement per the NHL Alumni Association after five seasons in the AHL, six in the SHL and DEL, and two in the KHL and NHL. Thuresson has played at a professional level for the last 20 years, making his debut in Sweden’s HockeyAllsvenskan in the 2005-06 season.
Thuresson’s breakout came in his second professional season. He scored 15 points in 48 games of the 2006-07 Sweden Elitserien – a predecessor to the SHL – season. That production convinced the Nashville Predators to draft Thuresson in the fifth round of the 2007 NHL Draft. He joined the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals and quickly proved he could fill a nightly role. Thuresson appeared in 151 games and scored 47 points in his first two AHL seasons. With his footing established, Thuresson put together a career-year in the 2009-10 season, marked by routine call-ups to the Predators roster. He finished the year with 33 points in 50 AHL games and three points in the first 22 games of his NHL career. Thuresson played three more NHL games in the 2010-11 season – but with no scoring, his career in North America ended with two more AHL seasons and 59 points in his final 149 games.
Thuresson moved back to the Elitserien to play with Brynas IF in 2012. He scored 19 points in 48 games upon his return, then jumped up to 37 points in 52 games of the 2013-14 season – the year the Elitserien became the SHL. A hot year prompted more exploring outside of Sweden. Thuresson moved to the KHL for the 2014-15 season and split the year between Sibir Novosibirsk and Severstal Cherepovets, combining for 25 points in 47 games. He returned to the SHL for the next two seasons – marked by continued production: 57 points in 93 games – then split the 2017-18 campaign between the KHL’s sole Chinese team, the Kunlun Red Star, and a stint with the National League’s SCL Tigers in Switzerland. Just like his previous KHL season, Thuresson followed the move with another productive return to Sweden – 19 points in 43 games of the 2018-19 SHL season.
On the other side of so many moves, Thuresson sought out a league where he could stick in 2019. He moved to Germany’s DEL – effectively completing a globetrot around the hockey world. Thuresson began what would turn into a five-year career in the DEL with the Schwenninger Wild Wings. He scored 56 points in 66 games, including a team-leading 37 points in 38 games of the 2020-21 season. Thuresson moved to Kolner Haie for the final three seasons of his career. His first season in Kolner was marked by 34 points in 50 games, then Thuresson jumped to a career-high and league-leading 60 points in 51 games of 2022-23. He continued to score in his final year, with 22 points in 28 games – but suffered an injury that would limit both his season and, now, his career.
Thuresson shared that his career came to an unexpectedly-early end, but spanned some of his dreams including playing in the NHL and joining Team Sweden at the 2015 World Championship, in a personal Instragram post announcing his retirement. He was long regarded as a skillful, power-forward who played a team-first game. Pro Hockey Rumors wishes Thuresson luck in his post-playing career.
At Least Eight Teams To Carry Overage Penalty Into 2026-27
The NHL adds contract performance bonuses to the salary cap hit of each team at the end of the season. Any price over the salary cap is carried over to the team’s cap hit in the following season. Performance bonuses are broken up into two categories. A-level bonuses are paid out for reaching set numbers of goals, assists, points, plus-minus, or time on ice per-game. End-of-season accolades, such as an All-Star or All-Team nomination, are also A-level bonuses. B-level bonuses are worth up to $2MM and can include leaderboard rankings, minimum stats reached, or award wins. More details about performance bonuses can be found on PuckPedia.
At least NHL teams will carry an overage penalty into the 2026-27 season per PuckPedia. That number is down from 11 in the 2025-26 season and 15, an NHL record, in the 2024-25 season. This year’s list includes:
New York Islanders: $3.5MM
The Islanders paid out every last bit of rookie phenom Matthew Schaefer‘s potential $3.5MM performance bonus. He was awarded $1MM for his per-game scoring and ice time, then earned an additional $2.5MM by finishing in the top-10 of defensemen scoring. The Islanders utilized long-term injured reserve to exceed the salary cap at the end of the season. That will leave all of Schaefer’s performance bonus as overage headed into next season.
Colorado Avalanche: $2.29MM
Colorado lands an overage penalty thanks to Brent Burns‘ performance on an age-35+ contract. Burns had a potential for $4MM in performance bonuses on his deal and earned $3MM of that by playing in 10 games this season. Colorado utilized LTIR earlier in the year but finished the season with a little more than $700K in cap space. That space will help offset the cost of Burns’ bonuses just a bit, though Colorado will still carry a penalty into 2026-27.
Dallas Stars: $2.08-$3.08MM
The Dallas Stars paid out $80K in bonus to Justin Hryckowian for reaching 70 games this season. Captain Jamie Benn also earned $2MM of a potential $3MM in bonuses for playing in 50 games. That includes appearing in the season finale, which netted him $500K on its own. Benn has the potential to earn an additional $1MM in bonus – $500K each if Dallas wins the Western Conference Finals and Stanley Cup. That will sit the Stars with just over $2MM in overage currently and the potential for $3MM if they win it all.
Montreal Canadiens: $1.93-2.07MM
The Montreal Canadiens finished the year with less than $50K in cap space, in part thanks to their mid-season acquisition of Phillip Danault. Rookie Ivan Demidov landed $1MM in bonuses, of a potential $2MM, for his per-game scoring and ice time totals. Oliver Kapanen also earned $250K in bonuses for his per-game totals. He could earn an additional $137.5K if he is named to the NHL All-Rookie Team – a feat that seems unlikely with rookie forwards like Demidov, Beckett Sennecke, Benjamin Kindel, and Jimmy Snuggerud also in the running. Montreal also paid out $400K in bonuses to star defenseman Lane Hutson for a variety of reasons and $80K to rookie goalie Jacob Fowler for reaching 10 games. They will sit just shy of $2MM in overage penalty and could crest that mark if Kapanen earns all-team honors.
Ottawa Senators: $0-1.41MM
The Ottawa Senators will have to sign some big checks if they go on a playoff run. They have already paid out $1MM to Claude Giroux, and $750K to Lars Eller, for playing in 60 games and reaching the postseason. Giroux will earn an additional $500K if Ottawa wins in the first round – a cost that would be absorbed by their end-of-year cap space. But Giroux and Eller will also be eligible for $250K in bonuses if Ottawa wins the second round, and Giroux can net an additional $500K for wins in each of the Eastern Conference Finals and Stanley Cup Finals. That will leave Ottawa with four potential outcomes: no overage penalty, $414K in overage penalty (third-round loss), $914K in overage penalty (Stanley Cup Final loss), or $1.414MM in overage penalty (Stanley Cup win).
New Jersey Devils: $1.25MM
The Devils paid out two bonuses that pushed them into the red. Young defenseman Simon Nemec earned $750K in bonuses for his scoring, plus-minus, and ice time per-game totals. Winger Evgenii Dadonov landed $500K for scoring at least one point, $250K for playing in 10 games, and an additional $250K for reaching 20 games. He did not play in his 20th game of the season until March 29th, earning the 37 year old a late-season chip. Now, the Devils will carry more than $1MM in overage penalty into next season.
San Jose Sharks: $918.7K
The San Jose Sharks finished the year with $4.8MM in cap space but still land on the list of overage penalties. Much of that is thanks to their young stars. Macklin Celebrini earned every bit of his $3.5MM in potential bonuses with his franchise record-setting scoring. Will Smith earned $1MM, and William Eklund earned $450K, in bonuses for their scoring and ice time per-game. Those marks also earned Sam Dickinson $250K and Collin Graf reached his contract cap of $500K in bonuses. That amounts to $5.425MM, pushing the Sharks into the red for next season.
Edmonton Oilers: $250K
The Edmonton Oilers will face their second-straight season with $250K in overage penalty next year. This time, it is a result of rookie Matthew Savoie, who earned $250K with his ice time per-game. Edmonton finished the year utilizing LTIR to exceed the salary cap.
Florida Panthers: $150K
Defenseman Jeff Petry earned $150K in bonuses for reaching 50 games played with the Florida Panthers before the Trade Deadline. He earned an additional $60K for reaching 60 games, though that bonus came after his trade to the Minnesota Wild.
Photo courtesy of Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports
Minor Transactions: 4/16/2026
The wave of minor-league assignments is continuing with the NHL regular season nearly completed. Pro Hockey Rumors will continue to track the movement around the AHL in the latest minor transactions tracker:
- The Philadelphia Flyers have recalled goalie prospect Carson Bjarnason in preperation for their first round matchup against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Bjarnason will serve as a black ace with the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms eliminated from playoff contention. Bjarnason recorded 14 wins and a .887 save percentage in 32 AHL games this season. He also split results, and recorded a .881 save percentage, in two ECHL games. This was Bjarnason’s first year of professional hockey after four seasons with the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings. The 20 year old recorded a .903 save percentage across 156 career games in the WHL.
- The Colorado Avalanche are also padding their room of black aces, recalling forwards Alex Barre-Boulet and Jason Polin. Both players spent the bulk of their year in the AHL. Barre-Boulet led the Colorado Eagles with 26 goals and 70 points in 69 games – and added one assist in the only NHL game of his season. Polin was slightly less productive, with 21 points in 45 AHL games and no scoring in three NHL games. The duo will offer forward depth behind an Avalanche squad that has rotated through injuries this season.
- Forward Cole O’Hara could make his NHL debut in the Nashville Predators’ season finale. The 23 year old has been called up after leading the Milwaukee Admirals in goals (19) and ranking fourth in points (44) through 65 games this season. This was also O’Hara’s first pro season after three years at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. He had a breakout season last year, netting 22 goals and 51 points in 40 games – 33 more points than he managed in 37 games of the 2023-24 season. O’Hara kept that scoring up through his rookie season in the AHL and could now get a chance to score against NHL talent.
- Headed back to the minors is goaltender Brandon Halverson, who recently helped the Tampa Bay Lightning respond to Jonas Johansson‘s short-term injury. Halverson recorded one loss and a .810 save percentage in 57 minutes – and two games – of NHL action this season. He started for the Syracuse Crunch for much of the year and recorded 24 wins and a .906 save percentage in 42 AHL games. He’ll now return to his post to help Syracuse keep up their strong play into the Calder Cup Playoffs.
- The Calgar Flames have also called up a goaltender. Prospect Arsenii Sergeev is on the NHL roster under emergency conditions with Devin Cooley set to miss Calgary’s season finale due to illness. Sergeev will make his NHL debut in game 82. The 24 year old recorded five wins and a .898 save percentage in 28 AHL games this season. He also split results, and recorded a .922 save percentage, in 12 ECHL games. Sergeev was a strong starter in college, recording save percentages north of .910 in two seasons with the University of Connecticut and one season at Pennsylvania State University. Thursday could be the bright side to a quiet season for the first-year pro.
- Top Edmonton Oilers prospect Isaac Howard has been loaned to the AHL. He will support the Bakersfield Condors’ push in the Calder Cup Playoffs. Howard scored 22 goals and 47 points in 45 AHL games this season. He ranked second in goals on Bakersfield and was the only Condor to score above a point-per-game pace this season. Howard also scored five points in the first 29 games of his NHL career this season. The 2025 Hobey Baker Award winner is also a first-year pro and should fill a substantial role in the AHL postseason.
- The Washington Capitals have assigned 2025 second-round pick Milton Gastrin to the AHL following the end of his season in Sweden’s HockeyAllsvenskan. Gastrin racked up 10 goals and 24 points in 39 games in Sweden’s second-tier pro league and added four more points in 13 playoff games. He scored 42 points in 40 games in Sweden’s U20 league in the 2024-25 season. The bulky Gastrin should bring a boost of forechecking pressure and playmaking ability to the Hershey Bears lineup just in time for their perennial run into the postseason.
- A cohort of top prospects is headed to the Grand Rapids Griffins. The Detroit Red Wings have assigned Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, Carter Mazur, Axel Sandin Pellikka, and Dominik Shine to the minor leagues. Brandsegg-Nygard finished the year third on the Griffins in scoring with 44 points in 58 games. He added one assist in 14 NHL games. Shine finished the year with 37 points in 38 AHL games and three points in 18 NHL games. Mazur was also a point-per-game player in the minors, with 15 points in 14 AHL games – but no scoring in eight NHL appearances. Of the bunch, Sandin-Pellikka was the only to play the bulk of his year in the NHL. He scored 21 points in 68 games of his first season in North America. The quartet should each assume top-end roles on a Griffins lineup that has added a substantial amount of talent late in the season.
Jets Sign Garrett Brown To Two-Year Deal
The Winnipeg Jets have added a collegiate national champion to their ranks. Defenseman Garrett Brown has signed a two-year contract with the Jets following the end of his junior year at the University of Denver. Winnipeg drafted Brown in the 2022 fourth-round after his first season with the USHL’s Sioux City Musketeers.
Brown, 22, has long been regarded as a mobile, two-way defenseman. He grew up through the San Jose Sharks AAA program, where he played alongside fellow NHL prospects including Calgary Flames forward Cade Littler and Vancouver Canucks defenseman Aiden Celebrini. Brown was a third-round selection in the 2020 USHL Futures Draft and debuted with the Musketeers at the end of the following season. He joined Sioux City full-time in the 2021-22 season and left his rookie USHL year with 17 points in 72 games. More notably, he left his rookie season with a USHL championship, filling a third-pair role on a Sioux City squad that featured seven other NHL prospects. Brown took on an assistant captain role with Sioux City, before a mid-year move to the Waterloo Black Hawks, in his second USHL season. He finished the year with 18 points in 54 games.
Winning tendencies followed Brown to the college level. He was an extra defenseman for much of the 2023-24 season but did manage four points in the eight games he stepped into. More than that, he helped spread some luck on a Denver Pioneers squad that went on to win the 2024 National Championship. Brown earned a full-time role in 2024-25 and scored eight points in 42 games, a mark that grew to 14 points in 34 games in another Championship-winning year this season.
Through it all, Brown has stood out for his fundamental defense and active stick. He has never finished a season with a negative plus-minus and found his way into routine minutes with the Pioneers. Brown will now push into the pro flight hoping that his strong stick and ability to defend tempo will be enough to cement a role in the AHL. The Manitoba Moose are headed for the Calder Cup Playoffs and have already added late-year additions Alfons Freij and Lukas Gustafsson to the blue-line. Brown will be the right-handed compliment to those lefty additions, and should compete with bruiser Tyrel Bauer for minutes.
Panthers’ Aleksander Barkov To Play At World Championship
Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov missed the entirety of the 2025-26 season with a knee injury sustained during training camp. On the other side of a losing year for the Panthers, Barkov is finally nearing a return to game action. The star center is expected to play for Team Finland at the 2026 World Championship, Florida head coach Paul Maurice told George Richards of Florida Hockey Now.
Barkov is a cornerstone piece of every lineup he’s apart of. The 30 year old scored 20 goals and 71 points in 67 games of the 2024-25 NHL season. He capped the year off with 22 points in 23 games en route to a 2025 Stanley Cup championship, the same point total and outcome that he reached in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Barkov was the first European captain to lead his team to back-to-back Stanley Cups.
Routine playoff appearances have kept Barkov from appearing in many of Finland’s international tournaments as of late. He captained the Finns at the 2025 4-Nations Face-Off and scored two points in three games. Outside of that, his last appearance with Finland was at the 2017 World Cup, where he posted no scoring in three games. Barkov has played in two World Championships – marked by 16 points in 17 games – and the 2014 Winter Olympics where he had one point in two games.
Each of those international appearances were on the other side of Barkov’s ascension towards superstardom. He has won three Selke Trophies as the league’s best defensive-forward and consistently earned votes for the Hart Memorial Trophy and Lady Byng Memorial Trophy since his 2017 World Cup appearance. Barkov also won the 2025 King Clancy Memorial Trophy, awarded on the basis of leadership and humanitarian contribution. He also became a franchise owner of the Liiga’s Tappara, part of Finland’s top pro league, in 2020. Barkov has grown into a face of Finnish hockey in North America and routinely rivals point-per-game scoring in the NHL.
It is with the weight of a missed NHL season – and a missed Olympic Games – that Barkov will now enter the 2026 World Championship. He will be among the Finns’ biggest scoring threats and could challenge the most ice time on the team each game. Finland will also lean on Florida’s Anton Lundell and Seattle Kraken winger Kaapo Kakko to bolster their lineup, with much of the country’s top NHL talent headed towards the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Either way, Barkov’s return will be far more than the addition of one more player. It will also give the reigning Cup captain a chance to get back to full speed before the 2026-27 campaign is underway.
Islanders Assign Victor Eklund, Calum Ritchie, Isaiah George, Liam Foudy To AHL
The New York Islanders have loaded up their AHL affiliate with the Stanley Cup Playoffs out of sight. Forwards Victor Eklund , Liam Foudy, and Calum Ritchie, and defensemen Isaiah George have all been assigned to the minor-leagues with the Islanders’ season now over. Eklund made his NHL debut in New York’s season finale. He recorded one assist. Ritchie has spent nearly the full season in the NHL, while Foudy and George spent most of their years in the minors.
Ritchie and Eklund could be X-factor additions for the Bridgeport Islanders’ playoff run. Eklund made his AHL debut in late-March, following the end of his season in Sweden. He has been an immediate impact with nine points in his first seven AHL games. It has been a boom in scoring after Eklund notched six goals and 24 points in 43 games of the SHL regular season and three points in three playoff games. He was a difference-maker for Djugardens in their promotion from the HockeyAllsvenskan last season and finished the 2024-25 season with 31 points in 42 games.
Ritchie began the year in the minors but earned a call-up after just three games, and three points, with Bridgeport. He carved out a middle-six role for much of his rookie season and finished the year with 30 points in 65 games. Ritchie is only one season removed from a 70-point season in the OHL. He was mostly a center at the junior level but played right-wing in his first NHL season. Whether Bridgeport prioritizes Ritchie’s development as a center, or comfort as a pro winger, could add an interesting wrinkle to their playoff push. New York head coach Peter DeBoer said he sees Ritchie as a center moving forward per NHL.com’s Stefen Rosner.
Foudy finished the AHL season second on Bridgeport in goals (25) and points (46). That finish is one point more than he scored in 70 games last year, his first season with Bridgeport. He has rotated between the NHL and AHL level since turning pro in 2020. Foudy’s only full season in the NHL came with the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2022-23. He finished that season with 14 points in 62 games.
George will also have a role carved out for him in the minors. He scored 17 points and a plus-10 in 45 games with Bridgeport this season, in addition to one point and a plus-one in four NHL games. George split last season between the major and minor leagues. He finished the year with five points in 33 NHL games and 14 points in 33 AHL games.
Panthers’ Tomas Nosek Suffers Broken Leg
The end of the season has brought no relief to the Florida Panthers’ injury woes. Winger Tomas Nosek sustained a broken leg in Sunday’s win over the New York Rangers, head coach Paul Maurice told Miami Herald’s Jordan McPherson. Nosek did not play the final three minutes of the game. It is not clear exactly when he suffered the fracture but Nosek specified that the leg he broke is not the same one that he underwent knee surgery on earlier in the season.
Nosek missed the first 60 games of the season with a knee injury sustained during the off-season. He has scored four points and a minus-eight in 21 games on the year, before sustaining another injury in the second-to-last game of Florida’s season.
This injury continues a long run of misfortune for Nosek. He missed the first month of the 2024-25 season with an upper-body injury and ultimately played only 59 games for the eventual Stanley Cup-winning Florida Panthers. Nosek scored nine points in those games, and three more in 16 playoff games. He missed multiple chunks of the 2023-24 season with a variety of injuries, including another upper-body injury, and ultimately only played in 36 games that year. Nosek even broke his foot in the latter-half of the 2022-23 season, only totaling 66 regular season games. In full, the 33-year-old winger has only averaged 55 games and 13 points per season dating back to his first full year in the NHL in 2018-19.
This will give Florida another injury to monitor as their off-season gets off to an early start. The Panthers are set to miss the postseason for the first time since 2019, on the heels of three-straight appearances in the Stanley Cup Final. Nosek will join many of the team’s stars in nursing an injury, including Brad Marchand, Aleksander Barkov, Gustav Forsling, and Aaron Ekblad. He faces the added wrinkle of entering free agency this summer and will face the challenge of convincing a team to renew the one-year, league-minimum contract he played on this summer with only 21 games to show for it. Nosek has 120 points in 514 career games in the NHL.
Islanders Recall Victor Eklund, Liam Foudy
April 14: The Islanders announced Tuesday that they’ve recalled both Eklund and forward Liam Foudy from Bridgeport. If Foudy plays, it’ll be his first contest since making his Isles debut back in October 2024. The former Blue Jackets first-rounder is now 26 years old and is amid a career year in Bridgeport, where he’s amassed a 25-21–46 scoring line in 58 games for the playoff-bound Baby Isles.
He’s a pending restricted free agent, so today’s bump could indicate they intend to issue him a qualifying offer. They didn’t let him get to restricted free agency last summer, signing him to a two-way extension on June 29. He was initially signed in the 2024 offseason after a non-tender by the Predators, who had claimed him off waivers from Columbus the prior season.
April 13: The New York Islanders are expected to recall top prospect and 2025 draft pick Victor Eklund from the AHL’s Bridgeport Islanders, per NHL.com’s Stefen Rosner. Eklund, the younger brother of San Jose Sharks forward William Eklund, made his AHL debut on March 27 following the end of Djugården’s season in Sweden’s SHL. He has been red-hot ever since, scoring seven assists and nine points in his first seven AHL games.
On the heels of that strong start, Eklund could make his NHL debut in the Islanders’ season finale on Tuesday. New head coach Peter DeBoer spoke about his hopes of incorporating future impact into the lineup for the Islanders’ final game, after the team was eliminated from playoff contention. Eklund will certainly be a part of that group after being drafted by the Islanders with the 16th overall pick last year.
Eklund has a long history of success at the pro level. He scored 19 goals and 31 points in 42 games in the HockeyAllsvenskan, Sweden’s second-tier pro league, as a rookie in 2024-25. He formed a formidable tandem with Chicago Blackhawks prospect Anton Frondell, enough to earn Djurgården a promotion to the SHL in 2025.
The duo stayed hot – Eklund by scoring 24 points in 43 SHL games – to help Djurgården avoid relegation this season. Now, the aggressive forechecker and strong shooter could test his talents in the Islanders’ lineup. His debut may come at the expense of one of the Islanders’ short-term forwards, like Ondrej Palat or Marc Gatcomb. Eklund enters the NHL already boasting a World Juniors gold medal and HockeyAllsvenskan championship.
Lightning To Use EBUG With Jonas Johansson Out
The Tampa Bay Lightning took the ice without backup goaltender Jonas Johansson in Monday night’s game against the Detroit Red Wings. Johansson is out day-to-day with an undisclosed injury. In his place, the Lightning will roster emergency backup goaltender Kyle Konin. This is Konin’s third time serving on an NHL bench as an EBUG. He filled in for the St. Louis Blues in 2021 and for the Philadelphia Flyers in 2024.
Konin has been the Tampa Bay-area EBUG since the 2020-21 season. He even wore a mask honoring Tampa Bay Lightning founder Phil Esposito in his 2024 game with the Flyers per Forbes’ Tom Layberger. Konin last took the ice with Grand Valley State University in Division III ACHA club hockey. He played one season in the NA3HL in 2017-18 and recorded a .897 save percentage in 34 games. Konin also played one game of high school hockey with Kimball Union Academy in 2016-17 with teammate and eventual Boston Bruins defenseman Jordan Harris.
While Konin will get to donn the Lightning jersey for the first time, Tampa Bay will hope he isn’t needed behind star starter Andrei Vasilevskiy. The Lightning have two games left in their season, including Monday’s matchup. Johansson’s short-term designation should have him back in the lineup before the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He has recorded 11 wins and a .884 save percentage in 25 games this season and should stick behind Vasilevskiy through the postseason.