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Penguins Expected To Be Sellers At Trade Deadline

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Josh Yohe of The Athletic believes that the Pittsburgh Penguins will be sellers regardless of their position in the standings. Yohe wrote about the unusual position the Penguins find themselves in heading into the second half of the NHL season. Pittsburgh has fought its way back into the Wild Card conversation in the Eastern Conference, and despite being largely made up of veteran players, general manager Kyle Dubas has his eye on the future and intends to sell.

Yohe says that his league sources predict the Penguins will make multiple moves to jettison veterans and that “no one is safe” on Pittsburgh, except for the players holding full no-trade protection (Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin to name a few). Marcus Pettersson is certainly a name Pittsburgh will move on from given his contractual status, but one name that could also go is forward Rickard Rakell. The 31-year-old is having a nice bounce-back season with 22 goals in 45 games. However, Yohe pours cold water on that notion, saying that Pittsburgh is likely to hold onto him for this year unless they receive a big offer.

While all signs point to Pittsburgh packing it in for the season and missing the playoffs for a third straight year, Yohe believes that the Penguins may see the trading of veteran players as an opportunity to call up some of their prospects who are NHL-ready, most notably goaltender Joel Blomqvist who is arguably the best netminder in the Penguins entire organization and their best chance at steady goaltending. Tristan Jarry has struggled for well over a calendar year and doesn’t look like an NHL goaltender at the moment, and Alex Nedeljkovic has been wildly inconsistent this season after putting together a nice campaign a year ago.

While the Penguins would love to move on from some of their pricier veterans, they will be in tough to do so as Jarry has three years left on his contract after this season with an AAV of $5.375MM, and defenseman Ryan Graves has four years on his deal at $4.5MM. Those deals were two of the first contracts Dubas handed out in Pittsburgh, and they’ve aged like milk. In previous years, those types of contracts would have been untradeable, but with the cap rising next season, it’s not out of the question that the Penguins could move on from those players in the next six months.

Oilers Recall Noah Philp

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The Edmonton Oilers have recalled forward Noah Philp from their AHL affiliate in Bakersfield (as per Daniel Nugent-Bowman of The Athletic). The 26-year-old will be an option for Edmonton heading into tomorrow night’s game against Minnesota and could get an extended look before the NHL Trade Deadline if he is a good fit in their bottom six forward group.

The Oilers dressed just 11 forwards last night and have a real issue with depth at the center position which should give Philp an opportunity to center the fourth line before Edmonton pulls the trigger on a move. Derek Ryan has struggled as of late and has been a healthy scratch on multiple occasions. The Oilers likely see their center depth as a concern that they will need to address before March 7th.

Philp nearly made the Oilers out of training camp but was sent to Bakersfield where he has had a strong first half of the season, registering nine goals and eight assists in 28 games. He did get a three-game audition with the Oilers in late October/early November and filled in admirably as Connor McDavid was out of the lineup with an ankle injury. Philp saw limited minutes, averaging just 10:44 of ice time per game during that mini-run. However, he did pick up an assist and appeared to grow more comfortable and assertive as the games went on. It’s hard to make much out of 31 minutes of NHL action, but Philp’s size, speed, and his defensive work certainly make for an intriguing option in Edmonton’s bottom six.

Philp’s story is certainly a feel-good one. The Canmore, Alberta native played junior hockey in the Western Hockey League before spending two seasons with the University of Alberta. He then was able to catch on with Bakersfield as an undrafted free agent in 2022. After a successful first AHL season, Philp went on a hiatus from professional hockey last season before signing a one-year two-way contract with Edmonton last summer.

Predators Expecting Increase In Trade Talks, Interest In Ryan O’Reilly

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The Nashville Predators entered the 2024-25 season with, on paper, one of the best rosters in the NHL. They won the sweepstakes for Tampa Bay Lightning legend Steven Stamkos in his first trip to unrestricted free agency, and bolstered him with impact players in Jonathan Marchessault and Brady Skjei. But Nashville now sits with a dismal 13-22-7 record halfway through the season. They rank as a bottom-three team in the NHL, and have responded to the disappointing year by kicking off a fire sale of trades and roster moves. The Predators have already made five trades this season, shipping off Philip Tomasino, Scott Wedgewood, Alexandre Carrier, and Juuso Parssinen; while also losing Dante Fabbro to Columbus via a waiver claim.

Despite all of that change, it seems Nashville’s novice general manager Barry Trotz is preparing for even more action. He told Nick Kieser of Nashville’s 102.5 The Game that the team is expecting an uptick in trade conversations now that the league’s winter meetings are winding down. Trotz went on to mention former Selke Trophy and Conn Smythe Trophy winner Ryan O’Reilly specifically, sharing that he’s expecting plenty of teams to be interested in the depth forward. Trotz didn’t rule out a trade but emphasized that the team will talk with O’Reilly before making any sort of move.

O’Reilly is no stranger to Trade Deadline swaps, joining the Toronto Maple Leafs via a Deadline move in 2023. He scored 20 points in 24 total games with the Leafs before signing with Nashville in the following summer. He’s seen an uptick in his production in two years with the Preds, netting 26 goals and 69 points in 82 games last year and on pace for 53 points this season. Both marks sit in line with O’Reilly’s scoring during his prime years with the St. Louis Blues. Now 33, the shutdown forward’s overall impact is starting to dwindle – though his 55-percent faceoff win rate and 37 still rank second among Predators forwards, behind only Colton Sissons (56.2 faceoff percent, 44 hits).

With the trade deadline the point of conversation, Trotz also emphasized to Kieser that the team’s big blow up has already occurred. He said that, “this trade deadline is going to look a little different.” That comment likely references the four trades Nashville made ahead of last year’s Deadline, used to acquire Anthony Beauvillier, Jeremy Hanzel, Jason Zucker, and Wade Allison. Hanzel is the only one of the four still in the Predators organization.

If the Predators acquire anyone, Trotz says they’ll be looking for players with term on their contract, in an effort to build around their emerging young players rather than replacing them in the lineup. Both Zachary L’Heureux and Fedor Svechkov have been notable pieces of the Predators’ lineup at some point this season. L’Heureux has scored nine points in 34 games – officially marking his rookie season – while Svechkov has four points in 13 games and was returned to the AHL. Svechkov is joined by other top prospects Joakim Kemell and Reid Schaefer in the minor leagues. Kemell has scored 18 points in 30 AHL games, while Scahefer – who has been out of the lineup since early December with an upper-body injury – has 14 points in 19 games. Both players could also be candidates for NHL ice time sooner rather than later, especially if the Predators continue to move out veteran pieces.

The Predators will be in a bind at the Deadline, no matter if they choose to buy or sell. The team has five picks in the top two rounds of the 2025 NHL Draft, plenty of ammunition to bring in a potential difference-maker, though that’s a hard sell for a team so far away from playoff contention. Nashville seems more likely to trim some lineup weight by moving players like Thomas Novak and Michael McCarron. Both players have offered stout depth behind Nashville’s presumed stars, though neither has reached 10 points this season despite playing 33 and 34 games respectively. A more hopeful team could see the duo’s slumping scoring as a chance to buy low on two potentially impactful depth forwards ahead of their own playoff push.

Penguins Activate Evgeni Malkin, Reassign Jesse Puljujarvi

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The Pittsburgh Penguins have activated star forward Evgeni Malkin off of injured reserve. Malkin missed the Penguins’ last four games with an upper-body injury. He was named a game-time decision for the team’s Tuesday bout against Seattle, and his activation seems to be a good indication that he’ll play. Malkin was placed on injured reserve on Sunday, retroactive to his last appearance in the lineup on January 5th. To make room for the move, the squad has also assigned winger Jesse Puljujärvi to the minor leagues. Puljujarvi successfully cleared waivers on December 30th, and will now carry waiver exemption status through the month of January.

The Penguins will relish in Malkin’s return to the lineup. They’ve gone 1-3-0 in the four games he’s missed, getting confidently outscored 17-to-10. Malkin was on a hot streak leading up to his injury, with seven points in his last nine games. Despite that, the future Hall-of-Famer has been tame on the year as a whole, so far sat with eight goals and 32 points in 41 games this season. That puts him on pace for 64 points in 82 games, which would mark a career-low in seasons where Malkin played more than 50 games. He even surpassed that mark last season, when he scored 27 goals and 67 points while continuing his iron-man streak through its second consecutive season. Malkin’s role has been unwavering despite the slight dip in scoring. He’s averaged 18:35 in ice time this year, the exact same average that he posted in each of the last two seasons. Malkin sits just 14 games shy of his 1,200th NHL game. When he hits it, Malkin will join partner-in-crime Sidney Crosby as the only two to reach that mark with Pittsburgh. If he stays healthy, he’ll hit the milestone in Philadelphia on February 8th.

Meanwhile, Puljujarvi will head back to the minors after playing in his first five games since early December in Malkin’s absence. The former top draft pick only managed one point – an assist – in the matchups, while averaging nearly 12 minutes of ice time each game. He now has just nine points in 25 games this season – surpassing the four points he managed in 22 games last year but still far from the mark Pittsburgh would hope for. This assignment will likely set Puljujarvi up to play in his first AHL games of the season. He appeared in 13 games and scored nine points with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins last year. They were Puljujarvi’s first minor league appearances since the 2018-19 season, when he was assigned to the minors for four games and scored at point-per-game pace. While this move is fairly inconsequential, given Puljujarvi’s waiving in December, it could be the start of an extended minor-league assignment – bringing a tough end to Puljujarvi’s chase for a role with the Penguins.

Rangers Activate Chris Kreider, Reassign Bo Groulx

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The New York Rangers have activated winger Chris Kreider off of injured reserve and reassigned Benoit-Olivier Groulx to the AHL Hartford Wolf Pack, per Mollie Walker of the New York Post. Kreider has missed the Rangers’ last four games with an upper-body injury. He had three points in three games prior to his injury – the longest scoring streak of Kreider’s season.

It’s been a year to forget for Kreider. He has just 13 goals and 15 points in 34 games on the year, putting him on pace for a career-low 36 points across a full season. He ranks ninth on the team in scoring, despite receiving the fifth-most minutes, on average, of any Rangers forward. Even worse, Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette chose to healthy scratch Kreider in their match against Tampa Bay on December 23rd, their last game before the holiday break. New York still lost that match 5-0, and didn’t rebound much when Kreider stepped back into the lineup. But the team has found some footing while he’s been on the shelf. They’re 3-1-0 in their last four games, already reaching four wins in January – a mark the team fell short of in December.

Filip Chytil also returned to full practices on Monday and Tuesday, per Walker, and could soon return from his own upper-body injury. If he does, Chytil and Kreider will likely both step into roles on New York’s third-line and second power-play unit. That will likely bump Jonny Brodzinski and Jimmy Vesey back out of the lineup. Brodzinski contributed a goal and an assist while serving as Kreider’s relief, while Vesey hasn’t scored since December 22nd. Also notable, Kreider and Chytil could line up next to Arthur Kaliyev at even strength. The Rangers claimed the 2019 33rd-overall pick off of waivers from Los Angeles last week. He’s since played in two games with his new club, recording three shots on net and three hits but so far no scoring. While a lineup shakeup is far from ideal for a Rangers team that seemed to finally be in a groove, the pair of returnees could be the piece that helps Kaliyev find his footing in New York.

Meanwhile, Groulx will return to the minors still waiting for his first game in the Rangers lineup. Groulx signed a one-year, two-way, league-minimum contract with New York this summer and received his first call-up of the season on January 10th. While he didn’t receive any NHL ice time, Groulx has been surprisingly productive in the minors – ranked second on the Wolf Pack in scoring with 11 goals and 29 points in 32 games. That type of production could soon make him an invaluable piece of New York’s bottom-six, and give Groulx a chance for a better NHL showing after posting just two points in 45 games with Anaheim last season.

Utah HC Expected To Activate John Marino

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The Utah Hockey Club could have top-four shutdown defender John Marino in the lineup for the first time this season tonight against the Canadiens. Head coach André Tourigny told Belle Fraser of The Salt Lake Tribune that he’ll be a game-time decision and could come off injured reserve after warmups.

Winger Dylan Guenther was placed on injured reserve to create the necessary roster spot to activate Marino, according to the NHL’s media portal. The 21-year-old was diagnosed with a lower-body injury last week and is out indefinitely.

Utah acquired Marino, 27, from the Devils on the second day of the 2024 draft in exchange for the No. 49 pick. The Massachusetts native had been a top-four fixture on New Jersey’s blue line for the past two seasons and had averaged over 20 minutes per game through his first five NHL seasons, but the Devils needed cap space to pursue unrestricted free agents Brenden Dillon and Brett Pesce.

Marino, now in the fourth season of a six-year, $26.4MM contract he signed with the Penguins in 2021, was projected to serve as a top-four anchor in Utah’s first season to complement the more offensively inclined Sean Durzi and Mikhail Sergachev. Instead, he sustained a lower back injury shortly before training camp and eventually went under the knife in October.

Durzi underwent surgery to repair his right shoulder at the same time after just four games, leaving Utah without two of its best defensemen for the vast majority of the season. They’ve managed to stay in the playoff hunt, going 18-17-7 through 42 games to sit six points out of a playoff spot, but they’re fading fast with a 2-6-2 record in their last 10 games.

Marino’s imminent return and Durzi’s being on the horizon should help aid the club in the lengthy absence of Guenther, their leading goal-scorer this season with 16 through 40 games. The former joins a defense that’s done as well as could be hoped for while shorthanded, ranking 17th in the league with 2.39 expected goals against per 60 minutes at 5-on-5, per MoneyPuck. Netminder Karel Vejmelka, who’s exploded for a .916 SV% and 14.1 goals saved above expected, has kept Utah’s actual goals against per game to 2.93, 13th-best in the league.

He won’t do much to aid a bottom-10 offense, but Marino’s return will eventually allow for easier matchups for overmatched role players like Ian Cole, Michael Kesselring, and Olli Määttä. Utah will ease him back in, though, and the righty will start in a third-pairing role alongside Juuso Välimäki if he can play, per Brogan Houston of Deseret News.

Marino enters his Utah era with 18 goals, 89 assists, 107 points, and a +38 rating in 328 career NHL games with the Devils and Penguins.

Wild’s Ben Jones, Devin Shore Clear Waivers

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Jan. 14: Jones and Shore cleared waivers, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. Minnesota can now assign them to Iowa at will, although they haven’t done so yet.

Jan. 13: The Wild have placed forwards Ben Jones and Devin Shore on waivers with the intent to assign them to AHL Iowa, the team announced.

It’s good news for the Wild, who are likely freeing up roster space to activate star winger Kirill Kaprizov from injured reserve and depth piece Jakub Lauko from LTIR ahead of Wednesday’s matchup against the Oilers. Kaprizov has been skating on his own for the past few days, and general manager Bill Guerin told Michael Russo of The Athletic on Sunday that he was a possibility to play against Edmonton. Lauko has also been skating away from the team as he rehabilitates a lower-body muscle issue, Guerin said.

Jones and Shore have been on the Wild roster for the better part of the past two months, playing fill-in duty with Joel Eriksson Ek, Yakov Trenin and Mats Zuccarello all missing significant chunks of the schedule in addition to Kaprizov and Lauko. Both cleared waivers en route to beginning the season in Iowa, although Shore was also waived last month to give Minnesota roster and salary cap flexibility around the holiday break.

Those injuries have allowed Jones to become something of a fourth-line fixture in the second quarter of the season, but that experiment hasn’t gone particularly well. The 25-year-old had only two games of NHL experience prior to his November call-up, and that’s shown in his play.

Through 25 appearances, Jones has yet to get on the scoresheet and has a minus-three rating with 10 PIMs. He’s averaged just 8:29 per game and has posted gnarly possession numbers, only controlling 39.9% of shot attempts at even strength. He’s been a physical factor, posting 11 blocks and 49 hits, but hasn’t shown upside elsewhere in his game.

The former seventh-round pick of the Golden Knights will return to a more comfortable role on the farm, where he had 12 points in 14 games with Iowa in the early going. The 6’0″, 187-lb pivot is coming off a 21-goal season with the Calgary Wranglers while under contract with the Flames, the second time in his professional career that he’s hit 20 goals in an AHL season.

Shore, the far more experienced of the duo, hasn’t been much better. He’s got one assist and a minus-four mark through 24 appearances, averaging 8:18 as Minnesota’s usual fourth-line left wing over the past couple of months.

Now in his 10th NHL season, Shore has 140 points in 467 career games but hasn’t hit double-digit points in a season since recording 11 in 49 games with the Oilers in 2021-22. He began the season as an alternate captain in Iowa, posting a pair of goals and eight assists for 10 points through 14 games.

Both may remain on the NHL roster if they clear waivers and Kaprizov and Lauko aren’t yet ready to return, but if they’re sent down within 30 days and play fewer than 10 games, they won’t need waivers again upon doing so.

Multiple Canadian Teams Interested In John Klingberg

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The Maple Leafs, Oilers and Senators are among the five to seven teams that have expressed interest in signing unrestricted free agent defenseman John Klingberg, Darren Dreger of TSN reports Tuesday.

Klingberg, 32, has not played since hip resurfacing surgery capped his 2023-24 campaign with Toronto at 14 games. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reported last month that Klingberg was set to resume skating in Toronto after the holiday break and hoped to sign with a team for the rest of the season once he got back up to speed.

According to Dreger, Klingberg’s rehabilitation over the past couple of weeks has gone as planned. He still has a ways to go and needs another couple of weeks before he’ll be medically cleared to sign anywhere, but all signs point to him resuming his NHL career and doing so north of the border. The Canucks have also expressed interest in signing Klingberg but have done so to a lesser degree than their Canadian rivals, Dreger added.

Once one of the top power-play weapons in the league, the past few seasons have been tough on Klingberg. After operating at least at a 45-point pace in each of his first eight NHL seasons with the Stars, Klingberg wanted more money than Dallas was willing to offer him due to the emergence of Miro Heiskanen and he tested the open market in 2022 after completing a team-friendly seven-year, $29.75MM deal in Texas.

Klingberg severely misgauged his market, though. After sitting unsigned for weeks and changing his agents, he came to terms with the Ducks on a one-year deal worth $7MM.

Since doing so, Klingberg hasn’t been a reliable top-four option. He did average nearly 21 minutes per game in Anaheim, recording 24 points in 50 games before he was dealt to the Wild at the trade deadline, but did so on one of the worst defensive teams in league history. His even-strength minutes were slashed, although the Maple Leafs bet on him rebounding into at least a fringe top-four option when they signed him to another one-year deal the following summer.

Klingberg didn’t have a chance to prove very much, recording five assists and a minus-seven rating in 14 games before his hip issues shut him down for the remainder of the campaign. He underwent his resurfacing surgery in early December, and now over 13 months later, he’s back on the ice.

The Oilers have the biggest need for Klingberg’s services out of the three, and Edmonton is also where Klingberg’s stock stands to benefit the most. He would presumably remain relegated to a bottom-pairing role at even strength, but he would be an upgrade on their second power-play unit, at least offensively, over current point men Mattias Ekholm and Darnell Nurse. The chance to even sniff first power-play minutes and join a unit that’s clicking at nearly 25% would also boost his point totals and his market value heading into free agency again this summer, assuming he can stay healthy.

Canucks To Activate Filip Hronek From Long-Term Injured Reserve

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Jan. 14: Hronek will indeed come off LTIR and enter the lineup tonight against the Jets, Tocchet told Dan Murphy of Sportsnet. He’ll play in his usual spot alongside Hughes but will have his minutes “monitored.” Depth defender Guillaume Brisebois, who skated 16:56 and had two shots on goal in Saturday’s win over the Maple Leafs, comes out of the lineup. Vancouver has an open roster spot and won’t need to make a corresponding transaction to formally activate Hronek.

Jan. 13: The Vancouver Canucks are potentially only one day away from a fully healthy blue line. As expected, the team has recalled defenseman Filip Hronek from his LTIR conditioning loan without him having played a game for their AHL affiliate, the Abbotsford Canucks.

Hronek practiced with the team but there’s no guarantee he’ll be ready to suit up tomorrow night. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman passed along a note from head coach Rick Tocchet indicating Hronek is being listed as a game-time decision for tomorrow’s game against the Winnipeg Jets.

Vancouver hasn’t had their entire defensive core intact since American Thanksgiving since Hronek went down with a lower-body injury on November 27th. In Hronek’s absence, and a brief four-game absence of captain Quinn Hughes, the Canucks have produced an 8-6-7 record and have fallen to the last wild-card spot in the Western Conference with the Calgary Flames, St. Louis Blues, and Utah Hockey Club breathing down their necks.

Hronek’s return is perfectly timed for Vancouver for a few reasons. First, the organization is dangerously close to falling out of the playoff race and Hronek should help stabilize the back end for the most part. He’s only scored one goal and nine points in 21 games this season but he’s still second on the team in CorsiFor% at even strength and third in on-ice save percentage at even strength.

Secondly, the Canucks are expected to be one of the increasingly active teams leading up to the trade deadline and have already been linked to Pittsburgh Penguins’ defenseman Marcus Pettersson. The team should still be in the market for a left-handed shooting defenseman but a fully healthy blue line should give them a better vision of who they should ultimately target.

Bruins Recall Matthew Poitras, Place Charlie McAvoy On IR

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Bruins center prospect Matthew Poitras is at the team’s morning skate on Tuesday, per Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald, indicating he’s been recalled from AHL Providence. The team quickly made Poitras’ recall official, announcing that they’ve also recalled defenseman Michael Callahan from Providence and placed No. 1 blue-liner Charlie McAvoy on injured reserve with an undisclosed ailment. Center Mark Kastelic, who’s already missed a game with an upper-body injury, landed on IR to create a necessary roster spot. Defenseman Hampus Lindholm, who’s been out since Nov. 12 with a lower-body injury, was moved from IR to LTIR to open up the required salary cap flexibility.

It’s quite a lot of gameday news for Boston, which risks falling out of playoff position with a loss to the Lightning tonight. They’ve already dropped to 11th in the Eastern Conference in points percentage after a 3-6-1 skid in their last 10, but they remain ahead of their competitors in the standings because they’ve played two or three more games than each of their challengers. They could be leapfrogged by the Blue Jackets and Senators if both those clubs win their games tonight against the Flyers and Islanders, respectively.

Poitras is expected to center the third line in his first NHL game in over two months, per Fluto Shinzawa of The Athletic. Veteran Charlie Coyle will likely sit but is a game-time decision due to illness, head coach Joe Sacco told Joe Haggerty of the Boston Sports Journal.

Selected 54th overall in 2022, the 20-year-old Poitras unexpectedly forced his way onto the Bruins’ roster last season with a standout training camp and emerged as a legitimate top-nine option, recording 15 points in 33 games before surgery on his right shoulder ended his season in January. This year, he dealt with an undisclosed injury for much of camp and managed four points in 14 games upon his return before Boston sent him down to Providence for additional development.

Poitras has been quite good in his first taste of AHL action, logging eight goals and 12 assists for 20 points in 23 games with the P-Bruins. It’s unclear if Boston intends to keep him around after Coyle and Kastelic are healthy again, but nonetheless, it’s a strong sign that the Ontario native is still on track to be a long-term contributor at the NHL level.

Callahan, 25, is expected to serve as a healthy scratch while Parker Wotherspoon enters the lineup, but he’ll be on hand as an extra if anyone sustains a last-minute injury. The 6’2″ lefty has no NHL experience to his name but is now in his fourth season with Providence, where he has six points and a plus-one rating in 35 showings while serving as an alternate captain.

Selected in the fifth round of the 2018 draft by the Coyotes, Boston acquired his signing rights in a 2022 trade shortly before the Massachusetts native was set to wrap up his collegiate career at Providence. He’s set to test the open market this summer as he’s due to be eligible for Group VI unrestricted free agency.

Kastelic’s and Lindholm’s moves are purely procedural, but McAvoy’s IR placement is a surprise. Sacco told Haggerty that the star blue-liner has been “dealing with a nagging injury” and will be shut down for at least a week to see how it responds. He’ll be eligible to return next Monday against the Sharks, ruling him out for two games at least.

McAvoy, 27, is having the worst season of his career offensively, with 20 points through 45 games. His 0.44 points-per-game rate is the first time he’s tracking under 0.5 through his eight-year career, although his even-strength possession numbers have improved to a 51.2 CF% after last year’s underwhelming 48.6% mark.

His offensive regression has come hand in hand with Boston’s limping power play, which is finishing at just a 13.2% clip more than halfway through the season. That’s third-worst in the league, ahead of only the fledgling Ducks and Islanders.

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