Braden Schneider Generating Trade Interest
Like most other Rangers, Braden Schneider hasn’t had the start to the 2025-26 season he was hoping for. The right-shot defenseman is averaging career-high ice time but has made a negligible impact offensively and has seen his possession metrics remain underwater. Nevertheless, teams are calling the Rangers to ask if he’s available for trade as their season-opening mire continues, according to David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period.
A first-round pick in 2020, Schneider emerged as an NHL regular midway through the 2021-22 campaign and never looked back. In 297 career appearances, he’s logged 18 goals, 53 assists, 71 points, and a +17 rating. He seemed to generate significant forward momentum in his development last year, when the Rangers swapped out Jacob Trouba for William Borgen in separate trades, creating a small opening for him to move up the depth chart. While the Blueshirts missed the playoffs in 2024-25, that didn’t stop Schneider from recording a career-best 6-15–21 scoring line and a +9 rating in 80 games.
This season, Schneider has remained in third-pairing duties behind Borgen on the depth chart but is beginning to see some power-play reps, explaining the bump in ice time to above 18 minutes per game. Nonetheless, he’s been saddled with the underperforming Urho Vaakanainen at even strength, leading to some ugly outputs. His -5 rating is the worst on the team among defensemen, although his 50.5 CF% is higher than Borgen’s and Carson Soucy‘s in a more taxing defensive workload. In fact, the Rangers are deploying the Vaakanainen-Schneider pairing almost exclusively as a shutdown unit, starting more than 70% of their shifts in the defensive zone.
That extreme deployment, particularly on a team averaging just 2.18 goals per game, virtually guarantees a low point total and negative rating for Schneider, who’s only logged two assists through 11 games. The Rangers have increasingly saddled the 6’3″ righty with more challenging defensive assignments over the course of his five-year career, but it’s clear they’re pushing him past the point of peak effectiveness, at least early on.
If other teams are catching onto that, Schneider could be a sneaky pickup if given more minutes in more favorable deployment. The Rangers have hesitated to move him in the past when he was still one of their top prospects, but with him now fully aged out of the pool and their championship contention window nearly closed, there could be a willingness to let him go as part of a larger sell-off.
There’s also the matter of Schneider’s contract status. He’s a pending restricted free agent due a qualifying offer of $2.64MM. The Blueshirts or any other team likely wouldn’t have many qualms about committing that cap space to him, but it’s a potential arbitration award that could scare the Rangers off if there’s a large enough gap in extension talks.
Snapshots: Nylander, Blues, 2026 Draft
The Toronto Maple Leafs announced tonight that star forward William Nylander would miss their game against the Columbus Blue Jackets with a lower-body injury, and is considered day-to-day. That Nylander is managing a lower-body injury isn’t a new development; he was previously reported to be a game-time decision for the team’s game yesterday against the Calgary Flames, and the Swedish star ultimately played in that game. He wasn’t able to play tonight against Columbus, though, dealing a significant blow to the Maple Leafs’ hopes of winning the game.
Nylander has been the Maple Leafs’ best player so far this season, leading the club in scoring with 15 points in just nine games played. The offseason departure of Mitch Marner turned up the pressure on Nylander to keep the Maple Leafs’ high-powered offense running, and so far he’s done so, picking up the slack as captain Auston Matthews (eight points through 10 games) navigates a slower-than-usual start to the season. The injury that has kept him out of tonight’s game appears to be a relatively minor one, which is certainly good news for a Toronto team that will need Nylander on the ice if they’re going to build momentum in the Atlantic Division playoff race.
Other notes from around the NHL:
- The St. Louis Blues have suffered a slow start to their 2025-26 season, going 3-6-1 in their first 10 games. Things have been especially bad recently, as the club blew a four-goal lead to the Detroit Red Wings on Oct. 25, lost 6-3 to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Oct. 27, and just yesterday wasted a strong start and surrendered four unanswered goals en route to a 5-2 loss to Detroit. With the Blues playing particularly poor hockey of late, The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford wrote that the Blues “are broken” and “need a lot to change,” but noted that due to the contracts owed to key players, it’s unlikely any change will come to the team’s core. Head coach Jim Montgomery expressed optimism that the Blues will be able to turn things around, but if the current trends continue, they could be one of the more interesting teams to watch once we get closer to peak trade season.
- While the upcoming NHL Entry Draft feels quite far away, the work teams put into preparing for the all-important event is a year-round process. As a result, it’s not too early to begin contemplating which prospects might go at the top of the draft. Earlier this month, NHL Central Scouting released its preliminary watchlist, and today, one of the more prominent public-facing scouts, Corey Pronman of The Athletic, released an update to his 2026 draft rankings. Penn State star Gavin McKenna retained his spot at the top of the rankings, followed by USHL forward Tynan Lawrence and North Dakota defenseman Keaton Verhoeff to round out the top three. A notable faller in Pronman’s early-season rankings has been big OHL forward Ryan Roobroeck, who was ranked No. 3 in Pronman’s September list but fell to No. 14 in October. That fall appears to be related to his work rate, with Pronman writing that despite standing 6’4″, 215 pounds, Roobroeck “doesn’t play hard, and the consistency in his effort level is a question.”
Minor Transactions: 10/29/2025
Yesterday was a notably busy day for hockey, as all 32 NHL clubs took the ice as part of the league’s “Frozen Frenzy” programming. As a result, today’s calendar of games is light, with just one NHL game to be played: the Toronto Maple Leafs taking on the Columbus Blue Jackets. With that said, that doesn’t mean there aren’t games played in the wider world of pro hockey – the AHL has 12 games set to be played tonight, and numerous European pro leagues have also had games today.
Player movement outside the NHL has a similarly high level of activity, and here we’ll run down the notable moves of the past few days from around the world of professional hockey:
- 170-game NHL veteran Nic Petan terminated his contract with Swiss pro side HC Ambri-Piotta today, ending a 15-game stint with the club that has gone very poorly. The 30-year-old signed a two-year deal with Ambri-Piotta this past summer with the expectation that he’d be one of the team’s most relied-upon offensive generators. But through 15 games, Petan has registered only four points. It wasn’t an issue of ice time, as he’s averaged nearly 17 minutes of time per game and two minutes of power-play time per game, both he and Ambri-Piotta as a whole have struggled immensely to put the puck in the net. That hasn’t been a problem for Petan for most of his (non-NHL) pro career, as he’s a former AHL All-Star who once led the entire CHL in scoring. He has 289 points in 296 career AHL games and was one of the AHL’s highest-paid two-way players, with a $550K AHL salary when he last played, but that sterling track record wasn’t able to translate to Switzerland. He’ll now look for a new landing spot to continue his pro career.
- Lada Togliatti, one of the KHL’s worst teams so far this season, made a few player moves today. First, they placed 23-year-old Canadian forward Joshua Lawrence on waivers, placing in question the player’s KHL future. Lawrence, who is the brother of Tynan Lawrence, one of the top-ranked prospects for the 2026 draft, is an undrafted player who worked his way up the European pro hockey ladder to reach the KHL. After his time as a star scorer in the QMJHL ended, Lawrence played almost two highly-successful seasons in the Swiss second division before getting the chance to finish 2024-25 in Liiga with Lahti Pelicans. his 13 points in 22 games for the Pelicans earned him a shot in the KHL with Lada, but after scoring just two points in 14 games, he’s been waived.
- To reinforce their forward group in the absence of Lawrence, Lada signed two KHL veterans to one-year contracts: Nikita Setdikov and Anton Burdasov. Setdikov, 30, brings nearly 300 games of KHL experience to the table, and he most recently played for Barys Astana, scoring 18 points in 51 games. The year prior, he was one of the top scorers for Nizhnekamsk Neftekhimik, scoring 30 points in 57 games. Burdasov, 34, has 663 games of KHL experience, and is a Gagarin Cup Champion as well as a former All-Star. He also played in Astana last season to limited success, but was a high-end, near point-per-game scorer as recently as 2022-23.
- Former Boston Bruins farmhand Zane McIntyre has returned to the North American pro game after spending a year overseas. The 33-year-old netminder has signed a contract with the ECHL’s Tahoe Knight Monsters, per the league’s official transactions report. McIntyre spent last season with the Straubing Tigers of the German DEL, playing in 28 games to an .889 save percentage and 2.67 goals-against average. Among the 23 DEL goalies with at least 15 games played last year, McIntyre’s .889 save percentage ranked 22nd. With this newly-signed contract, he’s returning to the North American minor leagues, where he’s had quite a bit more success. A former top NCAA netminder, McIntyre has played in 300 AHL games and is a former All-Star. Since expected starter Jordan Papirny was recalled to the Henderson Silver Knights yesterday, McIntyre could get the chance to hold down the fort for the Knight Monsters for as long as Papirny remains in the AHL.
- Former New York Rangers prospect Nico Gross signed a three-year contract extension with his current club, HC Davos of the Swiss NL. A 2018 fourth-rounder of the Rangers, Gross hasn’t played pro hockey in North America to this point in his career, but appears to have settled in nicely in the top pro league of his home country. Gross won two NL titles with EV Zug in 2021 and 2022 before transferring to Davos in advance of the 2024-25 season. This extension comes at a somewhat curious time for Gross. His ice time has declined sharply so far in 2025-26 – Gross is averaging 14:28 time-on-ice per game so far this season, per the NL’s stats page, but averaged 16:59 time-on-ice per game last season.
- Former Chicago Blackhawks prospect Milton Oscarson signed a three-year extension with Örebro HK of the SHL, according to a team announcement. The Blackhawks spent a sixth-round pick at the 2023 entry draft to acquire him, but after he wasn’t able to develop offensively at the SHL level, they elected to let their exclusive rights to sign him expire this past summer. Although he hasn’t scored much, Oscarson has been a regular player for Örebro for more than three years now, and is currently playing 14:10 per game for the team, good for seventh among Örebro forwards.
- After playing just six games for the team, the WHL’s Spokane Chiefs traded 2007-born defenseman Caden Campion to the WHL’s Wenatchee Wild in exchange for an eighth-round selection at the 2029 WHL Prospects Draft. The 6’1 right-shot blueliner spent last season in the BCHL, splitting his year between the Chilliwack Chiefs and Alberni Valley Bulldogs. Drafted 29th overall in the 2023 USHL Futures Draft, Campion’s WHL career hasn’t started off in ideal fashion, but this trade provides him with the chance to get a fresh start with a new team.
- Gavin Gould, a two-time WCHA Champion with the Michigan Tech Huskies, has retired from pro hockey, per a social media announcement. Gould, 29, won back-to-back conference titles in his first two years playing college hockey but wasn’t able to build on that momentum in his final two years in the NCAA. He began his pro career in 2021 in the ECHL, and bounced between five different ECHL clubs across his nearly 200-game career. Gould’s most productive stretch came in 2021-22, when he scored 26 points in 23 games for the Allen Americans after a mid-season move from the Greenville Swamp Rabbits.
Injury Notes: Gaudette, Greenway, Garland
San Jose Sharks winger Adam Gaudette suffered an upper-body injury in Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Wild, and today Sharks Hockey Digest’s Max Miller reported that Gaudette is likely to miss at least a week of action. Since he was unable to play in the Sharks’ loss yesterday against the Los Angeles Kings, the timeline reported by Miller puts Gaudette in place to miss three or four games.
Gaudette, 29, is in his first season as a Shark after signing a two-year, $2MM AAV contract with the club this past summer. The 2017-18 Hobey Baker Award winner cashed in after a career year in 2024-25, one in which he scored 19 goals playing a full season of NHL action with the Ottawa Senators. Gaudette was a full-time AHLer for 2022-23 and 2023-24, but earned his way back to full-time NHL duty and appears to have a lineup spot solidly locked down in San Jose. Gaudette played third-line right wing on a line with rookie Michael Misa and 23-year-old Collin Graf on Sunday, and in Gaudette’s absence yesterday the Sharks put veteran Jeff Skinner in that role, one he’s likely to occupy for a handful more games at least.
Other injury notes from around the NHL:
- Buffalo Sabres forward Jordan Greenway is expected to return from injury and make his season debut tomorrow in Boston, and today Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff indicated that his return from injury might come alongside a significant change in deployment. As relayed by The Buffalo News’ Rachel Lenzi, Ruff indicated that Greenway may get a look at the center position. Greenway has recently practiced in the team’s third-line center spot, one previously occupied by Noah Ostlund. While Greenway has largely played the wing throughout his NHL career, it appears the Sabres will try to see if he can build some momentum and hit the ground running as a pivot playing between Jack Quinn and Jason Zucker.
- The Vancouver Canucks appear to have avoided the worst with an injury to winger Conor Garland, as CHEK TV’s Rick Dhaliwal reported today that Garland’s injury is “not serious.” He did add that Garland “is not going” on the team’s upcoming three-game Central Division road trip. A loss of Garland for any timeframe is a major blow to the Canucks’ game-to-game competitive hopes: the 29-year-old leads the team with 11 points in 11 games this season and has been a reliable middle-six scorer throughout his time in Vancouver.
Hurricanes Recall Charles-Alexis Legault, Place William Carrier On IR
The Carolina Hurricanes’ defensive core continues to suffer injuries. Needing yet another blueliner to sustain a roster, the team announced they’ve recalled Charles-Alexis Legault from the AHL’s Chicago Wolves. Carolina placed forward William Carrier on the injured reserve, and he isn’t expected back for some time.
Legault’s recall corresponds directly to the injury sustained by Shayne Gostisbehere yesterday against the Vegas Golden Knights. Gostisbehere returned after missing the previous 10 days on the injured reserve, but skated in 7:19 of last night’s loss before exiting the contest. Team reporter Walt Ruff shared earlier that Gostisbehere suffered a midsection injury, and the team is hopeful he won’t be out long-term.
Still, that leaves Carolina without their three top defensemen for the foreseeable future. Jaccob Slavin is already on the team’s injured reserve after participating in only two games to start the year, and K’Andre Miller has missed the last three games with a lower-body injury.
Now, without Gostisbehere again, that leaves the Hurricanes with rookie Alexander Nikishin and Sean Walker as their top available pair. Both players have performed well this year, but they are not the top options needed to stay competitive, as evidenced by their performance against the Golden Knights last night.
Today marks the second call-up of Legault’s young career. He’s skated in three games for the Hurricanes already this season, going scoreless while averaging 11:53 of ice time. The former fifth-round pick spent the entire 2024-25 campaign with AHL Chicago, scoring three goals and 14 points in 63 games.
Golden Knights Reassign Jaycob Megna
According to a team announcement, the Vegas Golden Knights have reassigned defenseman Jaycob Megna to the AHL’s Henderson Silver Knights. The move is likely for salary cap purposes since the Golden Knights don’t play again until Friday.
For the time being, that leaves Vegas with six defensemen on the active roster, with no indication that Noah Hanifin is expected to return soon. Since the Silver Knights play the Ontario Reign this evening, Megna will be able to fulfill the one-game requirement in the AHL to make him eligible to return as a depth piece for the Golden Knights on Halloween.
Despite being on the roster for the last week, Megna has yet to play for Vegas this year. Excluding preseason action, Megna’s last NHL contest came over half a year ago with the Florida Panthers.
Thus, most of his professional playing days have been spent in the AHL. He’s coming off one of the best seasons of his professional career, scoring two goals and 16 points in 64 games for the Charlotte Checkers with a +26 rating. He’s already appeared in four games with AHL Henderson this year, tallying one assist with a +2 rating.
Vegas may choose to provide Megna with more consistency and recall Dylan Coghlan in his stead later this week. Still, since he can spend another 23 days on the roster before needing waivers again, expect Megna to rejoin the Golden Knights against the Colorado Avalanche on Friday.
Avalanche Assign Trent Miner To AHL
Oct. 29th: Colorado announced that they’ve reassigned Miner to the AHL’s Colorado Eagles, indirectly confirming he made it through waivers unscathed.
Oct. 28th: The Avalanche placed goaltender Trent Miner on waivers today, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. He’ll head to AHL Colorado if he clears.
While doing so will open a roster spot, that’s not of concern to the Avs, as they already have one. It instead ushers the formal return of starting netminder Mackenzie Blackwood, who will be backing up Scott Wedgewood tonight as he’s healthy enough to dress for the first time this season, per Bailey Curtis of DNVR Sports. He’s missed 10 games with a lower-body issue and has continued to sit out after being recalled from his conditioning loan to the AHL over a week ago.
Only recently has Miner played a factor in Blackwood’s absence. He played two of the last three, one in early relief and one as a start, for Colorado to give the overtaxed Wedgewood some rest. The veteran backup performed as well as could be hoped for in spot-starting duty, logging a 5-1-2 record and a .904 SV% with a 2.42 GAA in nine appearances. He’s faltered recently, though, logging a 0-1-1 record and .825 SV% in his last three outings. That explained Colorado’s decision to give Miner his first start of the season and second of his career in Sunday’s overtime loss to the Devils. In his two appearances this month, the 24-year-old managed a 0-0-2 record with a .909 SV% and 2.12 GAA. He saved one goal above expected, per MoneyPuck.
The Avs’ third-stringer now returns to the AHL – assuming he clears waivers – where he had great success last season. The 2019 seventh-round pick made a career-high 38 appearances for the Eagles and came away with a 22-10-9 record, .918 SV%, 2.12 GAA, and three shutouts. His solid showing in brief NHL action this year likely quiets any concerns that may have existed about Miner being a capable No. 3 option.
While Miner’s recent numbers may generate some interest on the wire, he’s still under contract through 2026-27. While he’s on a league-minimum, two-way deal, that could be enough to dissuade any potential claimers.
PHR Live Chat Transcript: 10/29/25
You can view the transcript from today’s live chat with Josh Erickson in the embedded window below or by clicking this link.
Kraken Reassign John Hayden
The Kraken have reassigned forward John Hayden to the AHL’s Coachella Valley Firebirds, according to a team announcement on Wednesday. They now have an open roster spot, which could be filled by one of their four injured reserve-bound players. That would most likely be Kaapo Kakko, who has yet to play in the regular season due to a fractured hand but was upgraded to day-to-day last weekend, head coach Lane Lambert said (via Kate Shefte of the Seattle Times).
Hayden, 30, started the season with the Firebirds after clearing waivers but was recalled to Seattle on Oct. 17. The move came in the wake of an IR placement for center Frédérick Gaudreau, who’s still got a few weeks to go in his recovery from an upper-body issue. Hayden played in three straight games to begin his recall, but came out of the lineup last week and hasn’t played since, sitting in the press box for Seattle’s last three. He’s been succeeded as Seattle’s interim fourth-line center by Ben Meyers, who was brought up a few days after Hayden’s recall in the wake of an injury to Jared McCann.
In his three NHL games this season, Hayden had a minus-one rating and saw 10:05 of ice time per contest. The veteran of 272 career games went 6-for-15 on faceoffs (40%) and recorded two blocks and seven hits. The call-up marked the 10th consecutive season of big-league action for Hayden, arguably the epitome of an NHL/AHL tweener with over 180 games to his name at the minor-league level as well.
Hayden, an alternate captain with the Firebirds, only got into one game for them before being summoned to the Kraken. Now in his fourth year in the organization, he’ll look to get his season underway in earnest after posting an 11-16–27 scoring line in 44 games for Coachella Valley last year. He can remain on the roster for up to 18 days on future recalls before he needs waivers again to head back to the AHL.
Canucks Reassign Nils Åman, Recall Mackenzie MacEachern
The Canucks have assigned center Nils Åman to the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks and recalled winger Mackenzie MacEachern from Abbotsford in a corresponding transaction, according to a team announcement on Wednesday. The swap saves them $50,000 in cap space, although they’re not accruing anything at the moment by using long-term injured reserve to keep them compliant.
Åman cleared waivers at the beginning of the season and began the year in the minors. The 25-year-old center, now in his fourth season in the Canucks organization, had three assists and a minus-five rating in four games with Abbotsford. He was recalled early last week in the wake of Filip Chytil‘s upper-body injury that’s still keeping him out of the lineup.
The Swedish pivot played in Vancouver’s first two games following his recall, making appearances on Oct. 21 against the Penguins and Oct. 23 against the Predators. He averaged just 8:40 of ice time per game and was held off the scoresheet, skating on the wing in a fourth-line role. He’s now been a healthy scratch in three straight following the team’s acquisition of Lukas Reichel from the Blackhawks.
The longer the Canucks keep Åman on the active roster, the more time burns off his temporary waiver exemption. As such, after swallowing up nine days of his 30-day allowance on the roster after clearing waivers at the beginning of the month, they’ll swap him out to stop the clock.
Up comes MacEachern, who, like Åman, has north of 100 games of NHL experience. He hasn’t appeared in a big-league game since December 2023 with the Blues, though. The 31-year-old signed a two-year, two-way contract with Vancouver this summer after spending the prior two years in St. Louis. It was his second stint with the Blues, who drafted him in the third round in 2012 and have been his home for eight of his 10 professional seasons.
While usually a productive minor-league force, MacEachern has struggled heavily in his first few weeks with Abbotsford. He’s been limited to two goals and no assists in seven games while carrying a team-worst minus-nine rating. It’s been a tough start on the whole for the reigning Calder Cup Champions, though. They’re 2-5-0 through seven games and have only scored 12 goals.