Anaheim Ducks Acquire Josiah Slavin
The Chicago Blackhawks and Anaheim Ducks have completed a minor trade, swapping Josiah Slavin and Hunter Drew today. According to Scott Powers of The Athletic, the Blackhawks wanted to give Slavin an NHL opportunity with another organization, something he wouldn’t receive in Chicago.
Despite that, Slavin will report to the San Diego Gulls at first, meaning his NHL dreams will have to wait for the time being. The 24-year-old forward has just 15 NHL appearances, all with Chicago last season, and is still looking for his first goal at te highest level.
Even in AHL Rockford his production had dried up, with just three goals and 11 points in 51 games this year, following his 32-point effort in 2021-22. The seventh-round pick (and younger brother of Carolina Hurricanes star defenseman Jaccob Slavin) is on the second season of a two-year entry-level contract he signed out of college and will be a restricted free agent this summer.
On the other hand, Drew has just two appearances in the NHL, coming last season with the Ducks. The sixth-round pick transitioned from defense to forward last season and managed to score 17 goals and 38 points in 64 games for the San Diego Gulls, while racking up 134 penalty minutes as one of the toughest players in the league. Things haven’t gone so well this year, with just five goals and 11 points, but those penalty totals are still high as Drew brings physicality every night.
He too is on an expiring contract, and will be a restricted free agent this summer. The deal comes down to swapping some minor league depth, and perhaps giving two players a better path to NHL playing time.
Colorado Avalanche Recall Brad Hunt, Jonas Johansson
The Colorado Avalanche, heading out of town to play the Winnipeg Jets tomorrow, have recalled a couple of extra bodies. Brad Hunt and Jonas Johansson will join the group, giving them options at defense and in net.
Johansson’s recall is the most significant, given Pavel Francouz is out for a few weeks. The minor league netminder has found something in the Colorado organization, performing better there than any of his other professional stops. Johansson has a .915 in 23 games with the Colorado Eagles, and stopped all seven shots he faced in a relief appearance with the Avalanche earlier this year.
While Aleksandar Georgiev will certainly be carrying the load, the team is headed into a back-to-back situation with a game against the Calgary Flames on Saturday, and have another back-to-back next weekend just after the trade deadline. Johansson may actually get some play unless he’s swapped for Justus Annunen at some point.
Hunt, meanwhile, just continues to show he’s too good for the minor leagues, with 21 points in 24 games for the Eagles. The veteran defenseman has filled the role of extra defensemen well for several organizations, and has 29 appearances for the Avalanche this year. He’ll likely keep bouncing back and forth whenever needed.
Ryan Johansen Undergoes Surgery
The Nashville Predators won’t have Ryan Johansen back this season, as the team officially released his post-surgery timeline. The veteran forward will be out for 12 weeks following a procedure on his right leg. The team has recalled Kiefer Sherwood to take his roster spot.
Johansen’s leg was cut by the skate blade of Quinn Hughes when the Predators faced the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday. The injury is an unfortunate end to another disappointing season for the 30-year-old forward.
Last year, it seemed Johansen (and much of the Predators’ forward group) had found his way back to form, scoring 26 goals and 63 points in 79 games. That was his best goal-scoring total since the 2014-15 season, when he was still with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Alas, it didn’t last, as Johansen’s numbers plummeted back to earth this year, with just 12 goals and 28 points in 55 games.
Playing fewer than 16 minutes a night for the first time since his rookie season, Johansen’s $8MM cap hit looks one of the worst in the league. The deal extends through 2024-25, and his future is now also clouded by major injury.
For the Predators, removing Johansen from the lineup shouldn’t really change their deadline plans. Yes, they could now add a ton of salary, with a significant amount of current space, and added LTIR flexibility on top of that. But the team still doesn’t look ready to compete for the Stanley Cup as currently constructed.
David Poile has gone on record to say they won’t be buyers, and Johansen’s injury should only confirm that further. Whether they decide to sell core pieces or just nibble around the outside of the roster remains to be seen.
Latest On Jake McCabe
The Chicago Blackhawks acquired a defenseman today via the Nikita Zaitsev trade, and it seems they could soon match that deal by sending a blueliner out. The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta reports that trade talks surrounding Blackhawks blueliner Jake McCabe have “heated up” and that it’s a “when not if he’s moved” scenario. We recently covered how multiple contenders have expressed interest in the 29-year-old, and how the asking price is said to be as much as a first-round pick.
Aiding the Blackhawks’ likelihood of receiving a first-round pick for McCabe is his contract, as well as their apparent willingness to sacrifice short-term cap space to add draft picks. McCabe is under contract through 2024-25 at a $4MM cap hit, but the Blackhawks could cut that hit in half and offer McCabe at $2MM to teams, should they elect to retain the maximum portion of his salary.
Adding McCabe at $2MM against the cap for this season and two more is an extremely attractive prospect for many defense-needy teams.
He’d be able to play reliable top-four minutes at a bargain price, and in today’s environment where cap space is at an absolute premium, that sort of surplus value will likely be highly coveted.
One of the main reasons the Tampa Bay Lightning paid first-round picks for players such as Barclay Goodrow and Blake Coleman was because those players were under cheap contracts with some term attached. If one uses the additional value those players were assigned due to their contracts to guide the appraisal of McCabe’s trade value, it seems clear that a first-round pick at the minimum would be a reasonable ask for the player with some retention.
David Savard and Ben Chiarot both net their club a first-round pick (and more) via a trade, so when one considers how well McCabe has been playing despite difficult circumstances and the surplus value he would offer at a $2MM cap hit for another two years, paying a first-rounder should be a no-brainer for a few interested teams.
While McCabe’s offensive production doesn’t jump off the page, he’s improved his numbers compared to last season. He’s averaging nearly 20 minutes a night and is a contributor to the Blackhawks’ penalty kill. He’ll be able to handle a similar role on a contending team, and he should be a name to monitor for both Blackhawks fans and fans of teams rumored to be interested in acquiring a defenseman.
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Minor Transactions: 02/22/23
While the NHL schedule tonight features just three games, the league’s trade market is as busy as ever. Two trades have already been announced today, and there still could be more to come as teams look to make deals before the March 3rd trade deadline. Just as NHL teams are making changes to their rosters, teams in minor and foreign leagues have been completing transactions. We’ll keep track of those moves here.
- 2011-12 AHL MVP and Rookie of the Year Cory Conacher, 33, is heading back to the league he once dominated. The AHL’s Charlotte Checkers announced today that Conacher has been signed to a PTO. The undrafted veteran of nearly 200 NHL games was once traded for eventual two-time Vezina Trophy runner-up Ben Bishop, and while his NHL career ultimately fizzled out, he’s been a strong scorer in the AHL and Switzerland. This signing marks Conacher’s second PTO of the season, as he signed one in November with the Belleville Senators, although he was released after scoring one assist in two games.
- HC Sparta Praha and 2007 Florida Panthers second-round pick Michal Repik have signed a long-term extension that will run through the 2025-26 season. The 34-year-old is in his fourth season as a top scorer and captain for Prague, and has scored 23 goals and 35 points this season. He’s bounced around quite a bit since leaving North America after the 2011-12 season (when he scored 35 points in 55 AHL games and appeared in the NHL 17 times) playing in Switzerland, Finland, Russia, and Slovakia. He was an All-Star in the KHL and AHL, and will now be the face of Sparta Praha for the foreseeable future.
- The SHL’s HV71 has verbally agreed to a deal with former Buffalo Sabre Arttu Ruotsalainen, according to Finnish outlet Aftonbladet. Ruotsalainen, 25, will head to Jonkoping after a solid first season back in the European pro hockey circuit. Ruotsalainen is an undrafted player who crossed the Atlantic to play for the Sabres after an extremely productive three-year run with Ilves Tampere in his native Finland. While he scored quite well in the AHL (64 points in 70 total games) he couldn’t quite catch on in the NHL, and chose to sign in Switzerland last summer. He’s scored 37 points in 48 games for Kloten HC in Switzerland this season, a performance that has now reportedly landed him a deal to play in Sweden.
- Lukas Bengtsson, one of the SHL’s best defensemen on its top team, is making a surprising move to leave league-leading Vaxjo Lakers to sign with EV Zug in Switzerland, according to SportExpressen’s Johan Svensson. The 28-year-old former Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguin arrived in the SHL after a solid three-year run in the KHL, and has helped Vaxjo to an impressive season. He’ll now finish his season and two more with Zug, who are looking to climb the standings in Switzerland’s top league.
- Former QMJHL star and San Jose Barracuda Thomas Gregoire has reportedly signed a three-year deal with Rogle BK of the SHL, according to SportExpressen’s Johan Svensson. It’s a contract that would end his three-year tenure with Lukko Rauma in Finland’s Liiga, a period that has gone exceptionally well. Gregoire scored 34 points in 53 games last season, and helped Lukko win the Liiga championship in 2020-21. This season, he’s scored 39 points in 50 games, leading the team in scoring, and that performance has earned him a three-year deal in Sweden. Per Svensson, he will join Rogle for next season, allowing him to complete his campaign with Liiga’s current league leaders.
- 43 games into what is his first full season in the ECHL, forward Tyler Kirkup is headed across the Atlantic. Per a team announcement, the former Bemidji State Beaver has signed with the Coventry Blaze, a team in the EIHL, which is the top league of professional hockey in the United Kingdom. Kirkup wasn’t having a ton of scoring success with the ECHL’s Reading Royals, with just 15 points in 49 career games. He’ll now join the Blaze, who are at the moment in a solid position in the middle of the EIHL table. The Blaze have also signed Hungarian netminder Miklos Rajna, who played this season with UTE Budapest in Hungary’s Erste Liga. He’ll partner with starter Paavo Holsa and give Holsa some much-needed rest, as he’s started all but one of Coventry’s games this season.
- The AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins have signed former WHL, Canadian University star Riley Sawchuk to a PTO for the rest of the season as well as a contract for next season. This will allow the 23-year-old to make his pro debut for the club, fresh off of a two-year stretch at Mount Royal University where he registered a whopping 87 points in just 47 games. While it’s definitely a step up in terms of challenge to go from the Canadian University circuit to the AHL, Sawchuk was also a strong scorer in his final two seasons in the WHL and will be someone to watch for Griffins fans and AHL observers alike.
- Former Vegas Golden Knights netminder Dylan Ferguson, 24, has had his PTO with the AHL’s Toronto Marlies converted into a standard player contract. Ferguson, a Dallas Stars 2017 seventh-rounder who was acquired in the team’s trade for Marc Methot that same summer, has nine minutes of NHL experience. He won the ECHL’s Kelly Cup in 2020-21 with the Fort Wayne Komets and has gone 3-2 with an .888 save percentage in his five-game run with the Marlies.
- The ECHL’s Savannah Ghost Pirates have acquired big 24-year-old defenseman Jeremy Masella from the Kalamazoo Wings in exchange for future considerations. Masella, WHL champion in 2018-19 with the Prince Albert Raiders, has only played in three games in all of February for the Wings. He had seemingly lost his spot to Kurt Gosselin, who the team acquired via trade from the Toledo Walleye on February 12th, and will now get a fresh start in Georgia.
- Modo Hockey Ornskoldsvik, a club in Sweden’s second-tier league, the HockeyAllsvenskan, has signed two players to two-year extensions: 2020 Detroit Red Wings second-round pick Theodor Niederbach and Danish former ECHL All-Star Mikkel Aagaard. The former, 20, transferred to MoDo from Rogle earlier this season, moving down a level in competition. The right winger has scored 12 points in 26 games for MoDo, an improvement on the one goal in 17 games he scored for Rogle. As for Aagaard, he extends in MoDo for another two years having scored 26 goals and 38 points in 45 games this season.
- Experienced Italian-Canadian defenseman Chad Pietroniro has been signed for the rest of the season by the EIHL’s Cardiff Devils. Pietroniro has split this season between three ECHL clubs, trying his hand at North American pro hockey after spending several seasons playing for Asiago in Italy and one year in France. The 28-year-old got into a total of 18 ECHL games for the Newfoundland Growlers, Maine Mariners, and most recently the Trois-Rivieres Lions, and now heads to Wales to continue his pro hockey career.
- The ECHL’s Greenville Swamp Rabbits have signed goaltender Trevin Kozlowski to a contract, per a team announcement. The 25-year-old won the ECHL’s Community Service Award last season and was a top goalie for the Army West Point in the NCAA. He turned pro last season, playing 23 games for the Iowa Heartlanders and three in the AHL for the Iowa Wild. The Heartlanders traded for Kozlowski in November after he signed with the Cincinnati Cyclones a month earlier, before releasing him in late January. He had an .869 save percentage in six games this season for Iowa, and will now get a chance to continue his pro career in South Carolina.
- Hulking six-foot-seven blueliner Steven MacLean has chosen to begin his professional career, signing a contract with the ECHL’s Cincinnati Cyclones. The 24-year-old leaves Wilfried Laurier University’s hockey program, where he has been for three seasons. MacLean never played at the OHL level, but the Cyclones will hope their staff can get the most out of his intriguing frame in his first taste of professional action.
- Former Edmonton Oilers prospect John McCarron has re-signed with the Florida Everblades, returning to the club he captained to a Kelly Cup victory last season. It’s a major addition for the defending champions, as McCarron has been an elite player for them for the past six seasons. The brother of Montreal Canadiens first-round pick Michael McCarron, John has scored 385 points in 406 career ECHL regular-season games, and 85 points in 94 career playoff contests, to go along with 789 combined penalty minutes.
- 2012 Anaheim Ducks fourth-round pick Andrew O’Brien is leaving the ICEHL’s Fehervar AV19, a Hungarian club. A veteran of over 200 AHL games, O’Brien bounced from the KHL to the SHL to Liiga to the DEL after leaving North America after the 2018-19 season. Now, he’ll leave his fifth European league in just three seasons looking for a new place to play. He notched eight points and 72 penalty minutes in 36 games in Hungary.
- Rostislav Marosz, a veteran of over 400 games in the Czech Extraliga, has been released by his club, HC Vitkovice, by mutual agreement. Marosz was in the midst of a third season in Vitkovice and had scored 16 points in 38 games this season. His production had declined from the 35 points in 53 games he scored last season, so perhaps it’s that decline that motivated this release.
This page will be updated throughout the day.
Injury Updates: Blues, Meier, Mantha, Nosek
The St. Louis Blues have subtracted some big names from their roster in recent weeks, including first-line winger Vladimir Tarasenko and team captain Ryan O’Reilly. While pending unrestricted free agent Ivan Barbashev could be next on his way out, the Blues are also lined up to get some players back into their lineup as well. Blues head coach Craig Berube told the media (including NHL.com’s Lou Korac) that both Brandon Saad and Pavel Buchnevich are likely to return in time for tomorrow’s game against the Vancouver Canucks.
While the playoffs aren’t really in the picture for the Blues any longer, getting both Saad and Buchnevich back should help the team play competitive hockey down the stretch. Buchnevich is arguably the Blues’ best player, with 43 points in 42 games alongside great two-way play. While Saad isn’t as impactful as Buchnevich, he has 15 goals to his name this season and contributes on special teams. Getting them back up and running again will be a major help to Berube as he looks to spark something in what remains of this disappointing Blues season.
Some other injury updates from across the NHL:
- Top trade candidate Timo Meier is questionable for tomorrow’s San Jose Sharks vs. Nashville Predators contest due to an upper-body injury, relays The Athletic’s Corey Masisiak. This is a situation to monitor for fans across the NHL, as Meier is one of the most sought-after players currently available on the trade market. The Swiss winger has scored 52 points in 57 games and one has to hope that any injury Meier is dealing with proves to be just a minor setback.
- We have an update on Anthony Mantha, who left last night’s Washington Capitals game with an injury. Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette says, via The Athletic’s Tarik El-Bashir, that Mantha’s status is officially considered day-to-day with an upper-body injury. It’s been an extremely difficult season for Mantha, who hasn’t scored nearly as well as he’d likely have expected to. The 28-year-old has 24 points in 54 games this season, and will look to get back into the lineup so he can finish this season on a productive note.
- Although Boston Bruins fourth-line center Tomas Nosek has been out of the lineup since a mid-January contest against the New York Rangers with a foot fracture, he could be nearing a return. Per The Athletic’s Fluto Shinzawa, Nosek is practicing again with the Bruins. The 30-year-old undrafted player is a well-regarded two-way bottom-sixer, and his return should bolster the Bruins’ penalty kill as he’s their top shorthanded forward by ice time when healthy.
Chicago Blackhawks Acquire Nikita Zaitsev
The Ottawa Senators have traded defenseman Nikita Zaitsev to the Chicago Blackhawks, in a move that concludes the Senators’ widely-reported efforts to find a taker for Zaitsev before the March 3rd trade deadline.
The Senators have dealt Zaitsev, a 2023 second-round pick, and a 2026 fourth-rounder to Chicago for future considerations, effectively paying the Blackhawks two draft choices to take on Zaitsev’s $4.5MM AAV contract, one that runs through the end of next season. Of note is the fact that the Senators will save nearly $6MM in real cash through this deal.
Senators general manager Pierre Dorion issued the following statement regarding the trade:
We’re pleased to afford Nikita a fresh start. He’s a pro’s pro who showcased himself to be a caring teammate and quiet leader throughout his Sens tenure. We’re thankful for his time in Ottawa and wish he and his family the best in his next chapter.
Twelve days ago, we covered how the Senators were reportedly “actively trying to move” Zaitsev and his hefty cap hit. It’s a deal that should not come as a surprise, as the Blackhawks don’t have any plans to compete for the next few seasons, so they get to add to their stockpile of draft picks by taking on a cap hit that is of little consequence to their overall plans.
While $4.5MM for this season and next is no small number in today’s flat-cap environment, the prize of this deal for the Blackhawks is Ottawa’s second-rounder this season, which could very well be a pick in the first half of the second round. The quality of this summer’s draft is widely considered to be deeper than in past years, so the Blackhawks are adding a pick that they likely believe can possibly land them an impact player down the line.
This season, Zaitsev has played in just 28 NHL games, averaging the fewest minutes per game of any season in his NHL career.
The 31-year-old cleared waivers earlier this year, and will now join Petr Mrazek and Jason Dickinson, two other cap-related castoffs on Chicago’s roster.
It’s unclear what Chicago’s plans for Zaitsev are at this current moment, as the right side of their defense seems set with Seth Jones, Connor Murphy, and Caleb Jones.
Perhaps they’ll move the younger Jones brother, a left-shot, back to the left side and move Isaak Phillips back to the AHL, placing Zaitsev on their bottom pairing.
Of note is a report from NBC Sports Chicago’s Charlie Roumeliotis, who says that it “sounds like there might be some immigration hurdles” when it comes to getting Zaitsev in the fold in Chicago, although the team does plan for him to join them soon. We saw immigration issues hold back Artturi Lehkonen‘s debut with the Colorado Avalanche last year, so this will be a situation to monitor moving forward.
For Ottawa, this deal is about ending what turned out to be a pricey mistake from a few years ago. The Senators acquired Zaitsev, contract and all, from the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2019 in a move that would be a major help to their division rival’s ability to navigate a tight salary cap situation. Zaitsev’s tenure in Ottawa was disappointing, as although he averaged over 22 minutes a night in his first two seasons, his play was often inconsistent and he eventually saw his role and importance in coach D.J. Smith’s defensive plans decline.
While it comes at the cost of a valuable draft pick, the Senators now have quite a bit more cap space to work with before this trade deadline. Per PuckPedia, they can fit $18MM in annual cap hits at this moment, and nearly $22MM at the deadline. Ottawa has long been rumored to be scouring the trade market in search of defensive help, so it’s possible that this trade was made with the hope of using Zaitsev’s vacated cap space to accommodate a pricey blueline reinforcement.
In any case, while it’s not an ideal trade for any team to have to make, it’s a reasonable cost for the Senators in this current cap environment. It’ll hurt to lose the draft picks, absolutely, but this is a team that has disappointed this season and is eager to finally emerge from their rebuild and make the playoffs. With that as the team’s overarching goal, it makes sense that Dorion would view clearing $4.5MM off his books for this season and next to be more valuable than a second-round pick this year and a fourth-rounder for the 2026 draft.
While many scramble to pick winners and losers for any trade made in the NHL today, this looks like the kind of deal where both teams can come out on top. The Senators clear valuable cap space to acquire more useful players, while the Blackhawks add a valuable draft pick to assist them in their rebuilding process. It’s a natural fit for each team and a deal that will likely leave both teams’ fanbases satisfied.
The trade was first reported by Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli. His destination, Chicago, was first reported by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. PostMedia’s Bruce Garrioch was first on the details of the trade.
Pictures courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Latest On Dante Fabbro
While the Nashville Predators haven’t missed the playoffs since 2013-14 (excluding a qualifying-round loss during the 2020 bubble) this season is certainly trending in that direction.
The production of some of Nashville’s key players has regressed, leaving coach John Hynes’ squad seven points behind the Minnesota Wild for the last Wild Card spot. While the team is 6-4 in its last ten games, they just recently lost Ryan Johansen to an injury that could keep him out for a while.
This has led many to believe that the best path forward for the Predators would be to punt on this season and look to begin a rebuild. Some in-market observers view the best path for the franchise to be a pivot to fully focusing on building for the future. Given the track record of GM David Poile and the Predators as a whole, though, it does seem unlikely that a full tear-down would be considered.
Instead, the Predators may prefer to work around the margins of their roster, hoping that a resurgence from their core players and smaller-scale additions could help the team return to contention.
One of those smaller-scale moves Nashville may be considering is trading defenseman Dante Fabbro. Speaking on the Jeff Marek Show today, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that the Predators “have explored moving” Fabbro, and specifically references the San Jose Sharks as a potential destination.
While the basement-dwelling Sharks may not seem like a natural fit to add a player, Fabbro will turn 25 in June, meaning he’s still young enough to be a legitimate consideration for the Sharks’ plans.
Moreover, acquiring Fabbro now rather than in the offseason (where he will be an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent) would give the Sharks a valuable run of games of Fabbro in their lineup, so they could see how he fits in their organization and evaluate their plans for his next contract.
The smooth-skating 2016 first-round pick was a key blueliner for Sharks head coach David Quinn during his time at Boston University, and while his offensive production has cratered this season (to just eight points in 52 games) if there’s anyone that could get the best out of Fabbro, it’d be Quinn. This could be an opportunity for San Jose to buy relatively low on an asset that could grow into something more if he clicks with his new environment.
For the Predators, the rationale for trading Fabbro could center around how they view the prospect of heading to arbitration with him. Last season’s breakout defenseman Alexandre Carrier will also be an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent in the summer, as will Tanner Jeannot and Cody Glass. It’s possible that the Predators simply view getting an asset in return and moving on from Fabbro as the best path forward for both the player and the team.
In any case, Fabbro will be a name to watch leading up to the March 3rd trade deadline, as a Fabbro trade could either be a relatively minor move, or even the opening salvo of a long-awaited rebuilding process in Nashville.
Pictures courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Minnesota Wild Recall Dakota Mermis
The Minnesota Wild have recalled defenseman Dakota Mermis from the AHL’s Iowa Wild under emergency conditions, the team announced Wednesday afternoon.
While the Wild appear to have seven healthy defensemen on the roster, The Athletic’s Michael Russo and Joe Smith report that Mermis’ emergency recall comes in anticipation of injury or illness-related absences. Smith notes that an unnamed defender was banged up in last night’s win against the Los Angeles Kings and that Jonas Brodin isn’t in full health. Brodin’s missed time with a lower-body injury on two separate occasions this season.
Mermis, 29, is a versatile defenseman in his third season with the Wild organization. Stationed on taxi squad duty in his first year, 2020-21, he’s since put up eight goals and 40 assists in 105 AHL games with the Iowa Wild, maintaining his status as one of their top defenders.
He made two appearances with the Wild last season, going without a point. If he does appear in a Wild uniform on this call-up, it will be his first appearance of 2022-23.
Florida Panthers Reassign Spencer Knight, Grigori Denisenko
The Florida Panthers announced Wednesday that the team has reassigned goalie Spencer Knight and winger Grigori Denisenko to the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers. Alex Lyon has been recalled to replace Knight’s spot on the roster.
While some eyebrows might raise at Knight getting demoted to the minors, this is purely a cap-related transaction. With winger Anthony Duclair expected to make his season debut Friday as he returns from an Achilles tear, the Panthers need to scratch and claw for every dime of cap space possible in order to take Duclair’s $3MM cap hit off long-term injured reserve.
Reassigning Knight, Denisenko, and Chris Tierney, who Florida waived hours ago, would free up an additional $2.6MM in space to bring their projected cap hit down to roughly $85.1MM. While over the $82.5MM Upper Limit, Patric Hornqvist‘s $5.3MM cap hit remains on LTIR to keep them compliant.
While Knight will surely return after the Panthers’ cap situation is resolved, it’s not a guarantee Denisenko receives an immediate call-up. The 15th overall pick in 2018 has again been limited to a fourth-line role and has three assists in 17 games with Florida this year.
Lyon has made six appearances for the Panthers in 2022-23, recording a .887 save percentage and a 3-2-1 record.