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Atlantic Notes: Ullmark, Hakanpaa, Panthers, Cirelli

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The Senators won’t have goaltender Linus Ullmark back for tonight’s game against Minnesota.  However, Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch relays (Twitter link) that the veteran is nearing a return and is expected to accompany the team on its upcoming four-game road trip that begins on Monday.  Ullmark has missed nearly six weeks now due to a back injury.  He had settled in well before being sidelined with a 2.38 GAA and a .915 SV% in 23 appearances.  Fortunately for Ottawa, prospect Leevi Merilainen has played quite well since being promoted in Ullmark’s absence, helping the Sens not only hang around the playoff picture but actually enter play today in a top-three seed in the division.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic:

  • The Maple Leafs announced (Twitter link) that defenseman Jani Hakanpaa will not play in the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off due to his ongoing knee injury. He has been limited to just two appearances with Toronto this season, both of those coming in mid-November.  He becomes the second blueliner that Team Finland will need to replace with Miro Heiskanen also out of commission.
  • Panthers winger Mackie Samoskevich was scratched for today’s contest versus Chicago due to illness, relays Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald (Twitter link). The 22-year-old has done well in his first full NHL season, collecting 16 points in 47 games so far.  His spot in the lineup was taken by winger Jonah Gadjovich, who made his return after missing nearly six weeks with an upper-body injury.  Gadjovich picked up his second goal of the season early on in the game.
  • Lightning center Anthony Cirelli is listed as a game-time decision for tonight’s contest against the Islanders, relays team reporter Benjamin Pierce (Twitter link). It’s unclear if Cirelli is under the weather or just dealing with a minor injury.  Cirelli has 19 goals and 20 assists in 49 games this season while logging 18:56 per game, a career-high.  Considering his personal best in points is 45, he’s well on his way to establishing a new benchmark in that category as well.

Flyers Recall Emil Andrae And Jacob Gaucher

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With their newest players unavailable due to visa issues, the Flyers have brought in some extra reinforcements.  The team announced (Twitter link) that they have recalled defenseman Emil Andrae and center Jacob Gaucher from AHL Lehigh Valley.  To make room on the roster, Egor Zamula was placed on injured reserve while newcomer Andrei Kuzmenko has a non-roster designation.

Andrae has split the season between the Flyers and Phantoms.  With Philadelphia, the 22-year-old has suited up in 20 games, picking up five points along with 28 blocks and 22 hits while averaging 19:18 of playing time.  He has been a bit more productive with Lehigh Valley with nine points in 15 outings with them.  With Erik Johnson absent from practice today, it’s possible that Andrae could be counted on for Sunday’s game in Colorado.

As for Gaucher, it’s his first recall after his minor league deal was converted to an entry-level pact in December.  The 23-year-old has done well this season with the Phantoms, notching 14 goals and 13 assists in 44 games, well surpassing his rookie-year numbers in fewer games.  Gaucher’s 27 points put him in a tie for second on Lehigh Valley in scoring, two behind leader Samu Tuomaala.

As for making roster room, Kuzmenko and winger Jakob Pelletier were acquired from Calgary on Thursday.  However, both players are dealing with visa-related concerns and are not yet available to the team.  Their debuts may have to wait until Tuesday in Utah.  Zamula, meanwhile, has missed the last week with an upper-body injury.  His retroactive IR placement came on Friday, meaning he’s eligible to be activated at any time.

Capitals To Release Hardy Haman Aktell After He Cleared Unconditional Waivers

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Saturday: Haman Aktell passed through waivers unclaimed today, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports.  That will pave the way for his contract to be terminated.

Friday: The Capitals placed defenseman Hardy Haman Aktell on unconditional waivers Friday as a precursor to a mutual contract termination, Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press reports. He will become an unrestricted free agent tomorrow if he clears and will likely return to his native Sweden.

Washington signed Haman Aktell, 26, to an entry-level contract out of the Swedish Hockey League’s Växjö Lakers in the 2023 offseason. The 6’4″ lefty was previously a fourth-round pick by the Predators in 2016 but never signed with the club, letting his signing rights lapse in 2020. He put himself on NHL teams’ radars with a breakout 27-assist, 36-point campaign in 51 games for Växjö in 2022-23, tying for second on the team in scoring en route to an SHL championship.

While a well-rounded player in Europe, his lanky 198-lb frame put him at a bit of a disadvantage in North America. He didn’t quite pop as the Capitals hoped in the AHL, posting just 11 points (2 G, 9 A) in 55 games for Hershey last year. But a rash of injuries to their NHL defense corps meant he was called upon to make his NHL debut early in the season, skating in six contests in October and November. He recorded an assist and a minus-two rating, recording five shots and 11 hits while averaging a minimal 10:38 per game. His possession numbers were promising – a 52.5 CF% and a +0.6 expected rating at even strength – but was never added back to the roster aside from a late-season emergency summons.

A restricted free agent last summer, the Capitals opted to keep Haman Aktell around on a two-way contract. He cleared waivers to begin the season and returned to Hershey, where he’s yet to score through 27 games and has seen a diminished role. He did have nine assists and a plus-three rating, but with a lack of NHL opportunity ahead of him, there understandably wasn’t any mutual interest in extending their relationship.

Ending Haman Aktell’s contract now allows him more time to pursue options overseas, potentially finishing the 2024-25 season with a European club. It doesn’t have any cap impact for Washington since he was a league-minimum player in the minors, but it does save a small amount of prorated actual cash. He was earning a $350K salary while in the AHL.

The Caps will have three open contract slots after he clears waivers tomorrow.

Blackhawks Activate Connor Murphy Off Injured Reserve

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The Blackhawks welcomed back a veteran defenseman to their lineup against Florida earlier today.  The team announced that they activated blueliner Connor Murphy off injured reserve.  He had been out for the last month due to a groin injury.

The 31-year-old is in his eighth season with Chicago (12th overall) and has more or less played the same role with them for the majority of that time.  Murphy has played in 38 games so far this season, picking up a goal and 12 assists along with 93 blocked shots and 70 hits in 20:33 per night of playing time.

Murphy has one year left on his contract after this season with a $4.4MM cap charge.  Given his long-standing reputation as being a quality shutdown defender, it wouldn’t be surprising if GM Kyle Davidson was fielding interest from around the league about his potential availability.  Notably, Chicago has one retained salary slot remaining with the other two being used on Jake McCabe and Mikko Rantanen while Murphy can veto a trade to ten teams.

Chicago had an open roster spot so no corresponding move needed to be made to bring Murphy off injured reserve.

Stars Acquire Mikael Granlund And Cody Ceci From Sharks

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Earlier today, the Stars made a series of roster moves geared toward setting up and optimizing their LTIR pool.  They wasted little time using it as they acquired center Mikael Granlund and defenseman Cody Ceci from San Jose in exchange for Dallas’ 2025 first-round pick and Winnipeg’s 2025 fourth-round selection.  That pick can elevate to a third rounder if Dallas reaches the Stanley Cup Final.  Both teams have announced the swap.  Stars GM Jim Nill released the following statement:

We are excited to welcome both Mikael and Cody to Dallas. We see both players as addressing immediate needs for our team — Mikael is a proven scorer who will bolster our forward group at both even strength and on the power play, and Cody will add a stabilizing and physical presence to our blueline. Both players will bring valuable postseason experience to our group, and we are looking forward to seeing their contributions to the Stars as the season continues.

The Stars have been missing a key middleman for the last two months when Tyler Seguin underwent hip surgery which is expected to keep him out for the remainder of the regular season.  They’ve been trying to fill that spot internally with Jamie Benn spending some time down the middle while Sam Steel has been elevated to the third line at times as well but there has been a general expectation that Dallas would need to look outside the organization to fill that spot at some point.

Granlund certainly helps fill the void.  The 32-year-old had a resurgence last season in his first year with San Jose, recording 12 goals and 48 assists in just 69 games.  Granlund has shown that the improvement wasn’t a fluke as he has 15 goals and 30 helpers through 52 games this season, putting him on pace for 69 points which would tie his career-high set back in 2016-17.

That said, Granlund shouldn’t be counted on to produce at a similar rate with the Stars.  With San Jose, Granlund has been an all-situations number one center, logging nearly 21 minutes a night for the second straight year.  That won’t be the case with Dallas with them still having Roope Hintz, Wyatt Johnston, Matt Duchene, and Benn all in the mix in the top-six.  More likely is that Granlund would be counted on to anchor the third line with some secondary minutes on both the power play and penalty kill.

Granlund is in the final season of a two-year, $10MM contract.  It’s worth noting that the Sharks have already used all three of their available salary retention slots (on Brent Burns, Erik Karlsson, and Tomas Hertl) so they will not be able to retain any money to help facilitate a deal.  Accordingly, either Dallas absorbs the full $5MM into their LTIR pool (one that’s around $12MM per PuckPedia at the moment) or they will need to get a third team involved to pay down some of the contract.

As for Ceci, he’s in his first season with San Jose after being acquired over the summer from Edmonton in what amounted to a cap-clearing move from the Oilers.  The 31-year-old is playing a bigger role than he has been accustomed to in recent years but is holding his own with 15 points, 100 blocked shots, and 52 hits in 54 games while logging over 21 minutes a night.

Ceci has over 800 games of NHL experience over his 12-year career, largely spent ranging from being a second to a fourth defender.  He may get the opportunity to remain in that role with his new club for the time being with Miro Heiskanen out on a longer-term basis while Nils Lundkvist’s season has come to an end after undergoing shoulder surgery.  Additionally, offseason signing Mathew Dumba hasn’t quite panned out as planned so there should be an opportunity for Ceci to play an impactful role in Dallas.

Ceci is also in the final season of his contract, one that carries a $3.25MM cap charge.  If Dallas isn’t getting any third-party retention in this move, then they’ll be using about two-thirds of their LTIR pool in one move (barring any roster players going the other way) although they’ll also be filling a pair of important needs in one swap.

Dallas didn’t necessarily have to trigger using LTIR today as they still had enough regular cap space to operate outside of it.  The fact they committed to using it now suggested they had a move in the works.  This certainly qualifies as they give themselves a big boost in the highly competitive Central Division.

For the Sharks, while they’re losing arguably their two most prominent pending UFAs, they’re also adding a legitimate future asset with the first-round selection.  Being able to add one of those in spite of not being able to hold back money is a solid piece of business for GM Mike Grier.  He’ll now likely turn his focus toward trying to find new homes for his other expiring deals including forwards Luke Kunin and Nico Sturm along with defenseman Jan Rutta.

ESPN’s Kevin Weekes first reported the two sides were discussing a Granlund trade.  Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was first with Ceci’s inclusion.  TSN’s Darren Dreger first had the return for San Jose while Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic first reported the conditions on the Winnipeg selection.

Photos courtesy of Imagn Images.

Stars Announce Several Roster Moves; Nils Lundkvist Out For The Season

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It’s a busy Saturday in Dallas.  The team announced (Twitter link) that defenseman Kyle Capobianco has been assigned to AHL Texas while blueliner Christian Kyrou and winger Kyle McDonald from AHL Texas.  To make room on the roster, winger Mason Marchment was placed on injured reserve.  The team then revealed that defenseman Nils Lundkvist has undergone season-ending shoulder surgery and that he and Tyler Seguin have been placed on LTIR.

Capobianco made his season debut on Friday and had some early struggles in his first taste of NHL action in two years.  The 27-year-old has been quite productive with Texas, however, tallying 28 points in 35 games.  Depending on how the back end of these roster moves shuffle out, it’s possible that Capobianco is back with the big club pretty quickly.

It’s the first regular season recall for both Kyrou and McDonald.  On the surface, they may be short-lived ones as it’s likely those moves were made to optimize their LTIR placements.  Kyrou has 13 points in 26 games with Texas in his sophomore year professionally.  McDonald, meanwhile, has just five points in 31 appearances, a big drop after picking up 26 points in 51 outings last season.

Marchment has been out since late December due to a facial injury.  Assuming the Stars filed the paperwork to make his placement retroactive, he can be activated at any time and is believed to be aiming to return before the upcoming break so he might not be out for much longer.  He was off to a strong start before the injury with 12 goals and 15 assists in his first 33 outings.

As for Lundkvist, he had missed the last week and a half with an upper-body injury which we now know was a shoulder issue.  His season comes to an end on a pretty quiet note as he finishes with five assists, 34 blocks, and 23 hits in 39 games while averaging just over 15 minutes a night.  He joins blueliner Miro Heiskanen on the shelf as Dallas’ defensive depth starts to get tested.

The 24-year-old is slated to be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights this summer where he’ll be owed a $1.25MM qualifying offer.  Dallas declined to tender him last summer when the qualifier was only $874K to avoid giving him arbitration rights so it wouldn’t be surprising if they go that route again if a deal can’t be reached before the end of June.

Seguin, meanwhile, underwent hip surgery back in December, a procedure that carried an expected recovery timeline of four to six months although it’s expected he won’t be back until the playoffs.

Accordingly, by placing both him and Lundkvist on LTIR, Dallas can exceed the cap by up to the amount of their cap hits minus any remaining regular cap room at the time of placement.  (Kyrou and McDonald’s recalls allow them to reduce that regular cap room as much as possible to maximize how much LTIR space they have).  All things considered, Dallas should have somewhere around $11MM in full-season contracts that they can add between now and the March 7th trade deadline, making the Stars a team to watch for in the coming weeks.

Devils Reassign Isaac Poulter, Recall Nico Daws

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Saturday: As expected, the Devils announced that Daws has been recalled and will accompany the team on their upcoming two-game road trip.

Thursday: The Devils assigned goaltender Isaac Poulter to AHL Utica on Thursday, per a team announcement. The move banks a bit of cap space during a three-day break in the schedule, but he’s not expected to return to the roster when they leave for a two-game road trip to Buffalo and Pittsburgh. Instead, the more experienced Nico Daws will be recalled “in all likelihood” to backup Jake Allen for the trip, Amanda Stein of the team’s official site reports.

New Jersey recalled Poulter last Friday after news broke that starter Jacob Markström would miss the next four to six weeks with an MCL sprain. The 23-year-old backed up Allen in the Devils’ last three games following Markström’s injury but did not play. He’s still awaiting his NHL debut despite being recalled four times since signing a two-year two-way contract with New Jersey last February.

Initially signed by Utica as an undrafted free agent out of the Swift Current Broncos of the Western Hockey League, Poulter is now in his third season of professional hockey. The 6’2″, 174-lb depth netminder has a 2.90 GAA, .900 SV%, four shutouts, and a 32-18-8 record in 60 appearances with Utica, as well as a 2.82 GAA, .911 SV%, one shutout, and a 15-8-2 record in 28 games with ECHL Adirondack. This season has been his first without any ECHL time after establishing himself as a full-time AHL option, taking over as the struggling Comets’ best option between the pipes with a .897 SV% and 8-7-4 record in 19 showings.

Despite outperforming Daws this season, he’ll need to continue biding his time in the minors while the latter gets another chance at NHL ice time. Daws, 24, has 46 games of NHL experience compared to Poulter’s zero, but those have come out of necessity, with injuries being a common theme in the New Jersey crease over the past few seasons. The German-born Canadian national has a 19-22-1 record with a 3.13 GAA and .894 SV% across action in the 2021-22 and 2023-24 campaigns. He allowed 10.2 goals above expected over that multi-year run, per MoneyPuck.

In 21 games with Utica this season, Daws has a 3.40 GAA, .888 SV%, one shutout, and a 5-14-2 record. While he posted save percentages north of .900 in his first two AHL campaigns, he’s been below that mark since the beginning of last year. Neither Daws nor Poulter requires waivers this season, but the former will as of next year. Daws is under contract through next season, while Poulter is a pending restricted free agent with arbitration rights.

Tampa Bay Lightning Recall Matt Tomkins, Gage Goncalves

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Unsurprisingly, the Tampa Bay Lightning’s roster move from yesterday was confirmed as a paper transaction. According to a team announcement, the Lightning confirmed this morning that they’ve recalled goaltender Matt Tomkins and forward Gage Goncalves from their AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch.

This evening, Tomkins will again serve as Andrei Vasilevskiy’s backup while regular backup netminder Jonas Johansson recovers from his lower-body injury. This is Tomkins’s second recall in three days, but he’s still not expected to receive any playing time during his short stay with Tampa Bay. 

The 30-year-old goaltender is in his second year with the Lightning organization after a two-year stint in the Swedish Hockey League. He’s been stable but unimpressive during his brief tenure with AHL Syracuse posting a 21-20-6 record in 46 games with a save percentage just above .900. Brandon Halverson is having a much better year than Tomkins in Syracuse, but he is ineligible to be rostered for Tampa Bay because he is still on an AHL contract. contract.

Goncalves has experienced several cap-related roster moves since clearing waivers on January 13th. The Lightning have a few weeks to use Goncalves in this role before they must send him through waivers again.

Still, despite the taxiing between Tampa Bay and AHL Syracuse, Goncalves has already hit a career-high in games played this season. He’s scored one goal and three points in 28 games for the Lightning this season averaging 11:47 of ice time per night in a bottom six role.

Vancouver Canucks Acquire Marcus Pettersson, Drew O’Connor

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The Vancouver Canucks’ trading appetite hadn’t been satiated after sending J.T. Miller to the New York Rangers. In the early hours of the morning, the Pittsburgh Penguins announced they’ve traded defenseman Marcus Pettersson and forward Drew O’Connor to the Canucks for forwards Danton Heinen and Melvin Fernström, defenseman Vincent Desharnais, and the conditional 2025 first-round pick previously acquired from the Rangers in the Miller swap.

Pettersson’s seven-year tenure with the Penguins ended with him scoring 16 goals and 141 points in 442 regular-season games and four assists in 21 playoff contests. He blossomed into a top-four defenseman in Pittsburgh, regularly logging more than 19 minutes of ice time per game.

The Skelleftea, Sweden should fit in quite well on the Canucks’ blue line. He’s totaled more than 130 blocked shots and 120 hits in each season since 2022-23 and averaged a 91.7% on-ice save percentage at even strength throughout his career. Furthermore, his possession metrics are well above average for a defenseman with a career 51.3% CorsiFor% at even strength.

Vancouver is in the middle of the pack regarding CorsiFor% and goals-against-per-game average. Pettersson should help fill both of these needs with the Canucks and the glaring hole in the top four of the team’s defensive core behind Quinn Hughes.

The Canucks will also acquire a flexible middle-six option in O’Connor. The pending unrestricted free agent had spent his entire career with the Penguins up to this point scoring 30 goals and 66 points in 210 games.

O’Connor may have found his offensive ceiling last year with 16 goals and 33 points in 79 games but he still gives the Canucks a winger that can play in all situations. It’s unlikely he’ll find himself on either powerplay unit in Vancouver but O’Connor could find some staying power on the team’s penalty kill.

Outside of the conditional first-round pick, the Canucks primarily sent a collection of spare parts to the Penguins. Heinen and Desharnais are signed through next season but aren’t considered long-term pieces for the Penguins. Heinen had scored six goals and 18 points in 51 games for the Canucks while Desharnais had tallied three assists in 34 contests.

Fernström is in his first full season in the Swedish Hockey League with Örebro HK after being selected 93rd overall by the Canucks in last year’s draft. He possesses a strong hockey IQ and has already shown the ability to score against at a relatively young age with three goals and eight points in 35 contests.

The trade as a whole should answer several questions for both teams. The Penguins traded their highest-value rental well before the trade deadline, so we’ll see how active they are in the next few weeks before and after the 4 Nations Face-Off. In Vancouver, the team has acquired several pieces in the last 24 hours so we’ll see how the locker room responds to all the changes.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports images.

Snapshots: Heiskanen, Kovalenko, Quillan, Hakanpaa

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While it was known that the Stars would be without their top defenseman through the 4 Nations Face-Off, it appears Miro Heiskanen will be out even longer than that.  Lia Assimakopoulos of the Dallas Morning News relays that the blueliner is expected to require surgery with the recovery time being unknown at this time.  However, head coach Peter DeBoer expressed optimism that Heiskanen would be able to return before the end of the regular season.  The 25-year-old, who was placed on IR today to open up a roster spot, has 25 points in 50 games this season while logging over 25 minutes a night.  Now that he’s expected to be out longer term, it wouldn’t be shocking to see Dallas look to add some help on the back end between now and the March 7th trade deadline.

Elsewhere around the NHL:

  • The Sharks aren’t expected to have winger Nikolai Kovalenko back until after the break for the 4 Nations Face-Off, notes Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News (Twitter link). The 25-year-old has been productive since being acquired from Colorado, notching eight points in 17 games (after putting up eight in 28 games with the Avs) but suffered an undisclosed injury on Thursday versus Seattle; head coach Ryan Warsofsky indicated that he’s unsure how Kovalenko was injured.
  • The Maple Leafs announced (Twitter link) that they have assigned forward Jacob Quillan back to AHL Toronto. The 22-year-old made his NHL debut last weekend but was limited to just over five minutes of playing time.  Quillan has 15 points in 35 games with the Marlies so far and is in the first season of a two-year entry-level deal signed as an undrafted free agent after a strong college career with Quinnipiac University.
  • Still with the Maple Leafs, head coach Craig Berube told reporters including TSN’s Mark Masters (Twitter link) that he does not have a timeline for defenseman Jani Hakanpaa’s return. The 32-year-old has been limited to just two games this season as he continues to battle knee issues going back to the 2023-24 campaign.  Hakanpaa is slated to play for Finland at the 4 Nations Face-Off but with how much time he has missed, it wouldn’t be surprising if he winds up being replaced for that event even though he is skating.

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