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Winnipeg Jets Loan Dylan Coghlan To AHL

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It is becoming clear after today’s transactions that the Winnipeg Jets’ defensive roster is undergoing some refreshing changes. The team acquired defenseman Isaak Phillips from the Chicago Blackhawks earlier today and subsequently announced that they have loaned defenseman Dylan Coghlan to their AHL affiliate, the Manitoba Moose.

The move indicates defensemen Colin Miller and Haydn Fleury are nearing a return to full health giving Winnipeg eight healthy defensemen on the active roster. Factoring in today’s acquisition of Phillips, the moves have likely pushed Coghlan into a full-time AHL role unless injuries pile up in the NHL.

Coghlan cleared waivers on December 19th and given that he didn’t suit up in 10 games nor spend 30 days on the NHL roster he was waiver-exempt from today’s transaction. Winnipeg will maintain this flexibility with Coghlan assuming he spends the foreseeable future with AHL Manitoba.

He’s no stranger to AHL hockey, either. Coghlan nearly spent the entire 2023-24 campaign (aside from one game) in the AHL with the Springfield Thunderbirds and had the best professional season of his career. He scored 16 goals and 41 points in 61 games for the Thunderbirds tying for second in scoring on the team.

The Moose could certainly use his expertise. They’re on the outside looking in for a position in the 2025 Calder Cup playoffs sitting last in the Central Division with an 11-19-1-1 record through the first 32 games. Additionally, Manitoba’s offense is the worst in the league with a 2.28 GF/G making Coghlan’s offensive capabilities all the more important.

Los Angeles Kings Recall Samuel Helenius

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Jan. 15th: Helenius is expected to suit up in his 22nd-career game tomorrow night against the Vancouver Canucks. The Kings organization announced they’ve recalled Helenius from AHL Ontario one day after reassigning him in a paper transaction.

Jan. 14th: The Kings loaned center Samuel Helenius to AHL Ontario on Tuesday, per a team announcement. They now have an open roster spot, allowing them to activate star defender Drew Doughty from long-term injured reserve whenever he’s ready to return.

Helenius, 22, has been a scratch in Los Angeles’ last four games. He last played on New Year’s Day against the Devils.

Selected out of Finland’s JYP in the second round of the 2021 draft, the 6’6″, 201-lb Helenius follows in the very large shoes of his father, former Stars defenseman Sami Helenius. The hulking pivot is in his fourth season stateside and has gotten his first cup of coffee in the NHL over the past few months.

Appearing in 21 of 41 games for the Kings, Helenius has a pair of assists and a minus-three rating, although he’s still looking for his first NHL goal. He’s averaged 8:33 of ice time per game, won 45.3% of his draws, and leads the team with 23.4 hits per 60 minutes.

While sound physically and decent defensively, Helenius unsurprisingly grades out as the Kings’ worst offensive player. The team averages just one goal per 60 minutes with Helenius on the ice at even strength.

Considering the Kings haven’t been using Helenius, it’s unlikely his demotion is a paper transaction. He’s still young with some development track ahead of him, so the reassignment comes to give him more playing time in Ontario.

In eight games with the Reign earlier this season, Helenius had a pair of goals and an assist with a whopping 22 PIMs and a minus-three rating. He has 37 points in 150 games with Ontario dating back to the 2021-22 season.

Doughty, 35, has yet to play in the regular season after sustaining a fractured ankle in exhibition play in September. He resumed skating two weeks ago and shouldn’t be out of the lineup for too much longer.

While the Kings have the roster space to activate Doughty, they don’t have the cap space. They’re $38K above the limit when Doughty comes off LTIR as things stand, so they’ll need to send another player on a cheap contract down to the minors to make things work.

New York Islanders Return Marc Gatcomb To AHL

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Jan. 15th: Eric Rosner of The Hockey News reports that Gatcomb has been returned to AHL Bridgeport, meaning the illness afflicting many of the Islanders’ players has passed. Gatcomb skated in 7:27 of ice time in his NHL debut yesterday evening, racking up four hits and one blocked shot.

Jan. 14th: The New York Islanders have used an emergency recall on forward Marc Gatcomb in advance of Tuesday’s game against Ottawa. The Islanders have been eligible for the move since placing Simon Holmstrom on injured reserve on January 7th, but opted to carry 12 forwards on their recent three-game road trip. They won all three games.

Gatcomb will join the Islanders upon their return home, though it’s not clear if he’ll get a crack at the NHL lineup. Gatcomb has a stout nine goals and 17 points in 34 games with the AHL’s Bridgeport Islanders – ranking him as the fifth-highest scorer on the team. He’s also recorded 18 penalty minutes and, surprisingly, no fighting majors. He was much quicker to drop the mitts with the Abbotsford Canucks, who signed him as an undrafted college free agent in 2021. He spent the bulk of the last three seasons in Abbotsford, filling a bottom-six role and ultimately totaling 28 points and 76 penalty minutes in 122 games with the club.

Gatcomb is a product of New England Prep hockey. He spent his high school years with The Frederick Gunn School, otherwise known as The Gunnery, and moved to the University of Connecticut in 2018. Gatcomb found his role of diligent, middle-six forward with the UConn Huskies. He climbed the lineup over the course of his four years and combined for 46 points in 124 games. He’ll stand as a responsible, right-shot bruiser who could step into the lineup for Pierre Engvall or Matt Martin, should head coach Patrick Roy want a different type of physical presence.

Tampa Bay Lightning Reassign Jack Finley

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Jan 15th: According to a team announcement, Tampa Bay has reassigned Finley to AHL Syracuse after making his NHL debut last night. He skated in 8:25 of yesterday’s contest and managed a +1 rating but failed to score his first point.

Jan. 14th: The Lightning recalled 6’6″ forward prospect Jack Finley from AHL Syracuse on Tuesday, per a team announcement. Forward Gage Goncalves headed back to Syracuse in a corresponding transaction after clearing waivers.

Finley, 22, is an option to make his NHL debut tonight against the Bruins. He’s currently projected as a healthy scratch and didn’t participate in morning skate, per the team’s Gabby Shirley, but he’s the only extra skater on the roster should an injury arise between now and game time.

Selected 57th overall in the 2020 draft, Finley didn’t participate in training the camp and started the year on the non-roster list after sustaining an undisclosed injury over the offseason. He was cleared to play and assigned to Syracuse one month ago to the day, and he’s posted a pair of goals and four assists for six points in 10 games since.

The hulking 220-lb center is developing nicely offensively. Now in his third professional campaign, he skated in 52 contests with Syracuse last season, recording a career-high 13 goals and 32 points – tied for fifth on the team.

Finley has long been projected as a likely bottom-six NHL piece, and his solid offensive production only reinforces that he won’t be too much of a liability with the puck to make it at the next level. It’s hard to see Finley sticking around long-term, but he’s done enough to at least warrant a trial and a chance at his first NHL game.

The Bolts still have a pair of open roster spots after swapping Finley and Goncalves for each other. Finley is waiver-exempt and won’t need them to return to Syracuse when his call-up is done.

Penguins Place Joona Koppanen On Waivers, Recall Filip Kral

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2:29 p.m.: Koppanen cleared waivers as expected, per PuckPedia.

7:41 a.m.: The Pittsburgh Penguins placed depth forward Joona Koppanen on waivers on Monday, per PuckPedia. To fill his roster spot, the Penguins have also recalled defenseman Filip Kral to the NHL roster per the AHL Transaction Log. This move represents Koppanen’s first waiver designation, and Kral’s first call-up, of the 2024-25 season.

Koppanen began the season with the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and stayed buried in the minors for the bulk of the year. He recorded seven goals and 22 points in 55 AHL games, one point more than he managed in three more games last season. Those appearances were intercut by 10 games in a fourth-line role with the Pittsburgh lineup. Koppanen performed quietly in his NHL minutes – though he did manage to score his first NHL goal in his first NHL game of the season, on March 18th. That would go down as his only scoring for the six-foot-five, Finnish forward. Teams will have until noon today to place a claim on Koppanen, though it seems much more likely that he’ll clear waivers and return to the minor leagues.

This move could also award Kral with just the third NHL game of his career. The Czech defenseman has scored seven goals and 29 points in 59 AHL games this season, good for second on the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton blue-line. He’s in his first year in the Penguins organization, after departing the Toronto Maple Leafs organization in favor of Finland’s Liiga last season. It proved a fruitful move – and Kral posted 37 points in 46 Liiga games after starting the year with six points in 24 AHL games. He has seemed to carry that responsible, heads-up scoring back to North America. Pittsburgh will test that out with this call-up, giving Kral a chance to record his first NHL point after appearing in two games and recording one penalty with the Maple Leafs in 2022-23. Kral was originally a fifth-round pick to Toronto in 2018.

Jets Acquire Isaak Phillips From Blackhawks

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12:33 p.m.: Winnipeg made the trade official Wednesday afternoon, confirming it’s a one-for-one swap.

11:49 a.m.: The Jets are finalizing a trade to acquire defenseman Isaak Phillips from the Blackhawks in exchange for 21-year-old defense prospect Dmitri Kuzmin, Darren Dreger of TSN reports Wednesday.

Phillips, 23, is a 6’3″ lefty who Chicago drafted in the fifth round in 2020. He has 56 NHL games to his name already, but just three have come this season.

Aside from a few recalls in the first few weeks of the campaign, Phillips has spent 2024-25 entirely in the AHL with Rockford. Now in his fifth professional season, getting an early start thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic shutting down the OHL’s operations in 2020-21, he has eight points in 28 games on the farm with 54 PIMs and a plus-eight rating.

Phillips has an eye-popping -37 rating in his brief NHL career, although it’s hard to judge a still-raw defender on one of the league’s worst teams during that timeframe. Even still, relative to his Chicago teammates during that time, his possession numbers have been poor.

Chicago has controlled 42.4% of shot attempts with Phillips on the ice since his debut in 2021-22, 3.7% worse than their share without him. That’s a significant margin for a player whose primary calling is their defensive skills, although he has also provided 12 points, 47 blocks and 89 hits.

He still has upside, though, and Winnipeg was likely on the hunt for a slightly more experienced recall option than what they had in the system. The younger Kuzmin heads the other way, with the Blackhawks gaining a riskier but higher-ceiling talent in the swap.

The Jets drafted the Belarusian native 82nd overall in 2021, and he promptly came over to North America to suit up in the major junior ranks. The 5’10” lefty posted 103 points and a +18 rating in 122 games with the OHL’s Flint Firebirds across two seasons before turning pro with the Winnipeg organization in 2023.

Only this season has Kuzmin established himself as a semi-regular in the AHL. He split 2023-24 between the Jets’ AHL affiliate in their backyard and their ECHL affiliate in Norfolk, and his numbers didn’t pop off the page in either league.

This season, Kuzmin has been limited to a goal and three assists for four points with a minus-nine rating through 21 appearances. It’s clear things weren’t quite working out for the puck-mover in Winnipeg’s system, so he’ll get a fresh start in the Windy City with a year and a half left on his entry-level contract.

The swap won’t affect either team’s roster count or salary cap,, as both are actively on AHL assignments. However, the Jets will need to work with Phillips, who will be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights at the end of the season.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Flames Unwilling To Move Rasmus Andersson, Interested In Dylan Cozens

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The Flames have “no interest” in trading star defenseman Rasmus Andersson ahead of the March 7 deadline as things stand, Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic reports Wednesday. LeBrun adds that they’re also “among the very long list of teams that have checked in” with the Sabres about trading for center Dylan Cozens.

Calgary general manager Craig Conroy has continued to receive calls on the 28-year-old Andersson, who is in the fifth season of a six-year, $27.3MM contract. According to a report from David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period, they listened earnestly to those offers over the summer but had set a high threshold for a return price that other teams didn’t meet.

With the Flames still holding onto a playoff spot in the Western Conference past the halfway point of the season, Conroy has been shutting down those inquiries entirely. He’s “even talked to Andersson recently to make sure he knows the trade speculation is not real,” LeBrun wrote.

Their optimism about agreeing on an extension with Andersson this summer likely factors into their unwillingness to discuss trade options. Andersson told Eric Francis of Sportsnet over the weekend that he prefers to stay in Calgary for the long term. So, assuming Conroy is willing to pay market value for the righty, there shouldn’t be many issues in getting a deal done.

It’s been a somewhat slow campaign offensively for Andersson, whose 18 points through 42 games is his worst pace (0.43) since his 0.38 points per game in the 2020-21 season. Nonetheless, he’s averaging a career-high 24:21 per game and leads the club with 105 blocked shots.

Unfortunately, his defensive play has lapsed slightly with the increase in usage. His 3.0 on-ice goals against per 60 minutes at even strength is tied with Tyson Barrie for worst on the team among defenders, and his 49.3% share of shot attempts at EV play is the lowest of his nine-year career.

Nonetheless, he’s a core piece on a Calgary blue line that’s seen a lot of turnover as part of a roster retool over the past couple of seasons. His 156 points in 282 games since the start of the 2021-22 campaign rank 24th among defenders league-wide.

Regarding Cozens, they join the Red Wings as teams that have firmly demonstrated interest throughout the season, at least from what’s been reported. Their pursuit of a young middle-six center dates back to an early-season report from Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff.

Goal-scoring has been the limiter for the Flames, who rank 27th with 2.63 goals per game. But buoyed by solid team-wide possession play and expert goaltending from rookie Dustin Wolf, they’re still firmly in the playoff race far later in the season than most expected.

However, they have just six players with at least 20 points and none even in the neighborhood of a point per game. Cozens, who’s struggled by his standards with nine goals and 21 points in 43 games, would still rank seventh on Calgary in scoring.

Cap space won’t be an issue in any transaction the Flames want to make. They’ve already accumulated $36.66MM in space as of today’s writing and will have a whopping $81.18MM to add on deadline day if their roster remains as is, per PuckPedia.

Whether they’re willing to move any of their four first-round picks over the next two years will be the determining factor in how aggressively they can continue their retooling in the coming months. Cozens, selected seventh overall in 2019, would likely require at least a first-rounder for Buffalo to consider parting ways, but with Buffalo likely desiring a roster player back in return, the Flames don’t have much to offer that would be appealing.

Senators Reassign Max Guenette

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The Senators loaned defenseman Max Guenette to AHL Belleville on Wednesday, per a team announcement. The club’s active roster is now at 22.

With Ottawa back in action tomorrow against the Capitals, Guenette could be summoned again after delaying the expiry of his temporary waiver exemption by one day. Injured reserve-bound Jacob Bernard-Docker and Travis Hamonic aren’t close to a return, so demoting Guenette leaves them without an extra healthy defenseman.

His presence is primarily contingent on the health of fellow blue-liner Thomas Chabot, who left Tuesday’s shutout win over the Islanders after taking an Adam Pelech shot to the face in the first period. He didn’t return to the contest, and head coach Travis Green said postgame that they would have an update on his status today.

Ottawa recalled Guenette, 23, from Belleville last week after Hamonic landed on IR the day before. He’s purely been up as injury insurance, though, and has been a healthy scratch in five straight since the elevation.

Selected 187th overall in the 2019 draft, Guenette has eight NHL games to his name, all coming with the Sens in the last two campaigns. His recall this month was his first this season after clearing waivers during training camp.

While in Belleville, the defensively responsible Guenette has excelled with nine points and a team-leading +16 rating in 27 games. The 6’2″, 209-lb righty serves as an alternate captain for the AHL club in what’s now his fourth professional season.

Senators Trending Toward Buying At Deadline

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The Senators are commencing discussions about trade acquisition targets with over seven weeks to go until the March 7 trade deadline, general manager Steve Staios told Bruce Garrioch for the Ottawa Citizen yesterday.

“We still have some runway leading into the trade deadline so we have some time, but it’s nice to be having these conversations with how the group has performed,” Staios said. The Sens are one point out of a wild card spot in the Eastern Conference but have games in hand on both clubs ahead of them in the race, putting them in a good position to keep their seven-year playoff drought from extending to eight.

The most significant change from years past is the increased stability between the pipes and making injuries a blip on the radar instead of an insurmountable obstacle. Goaltending is no longer an imminent concern in the absence of starter Linus Ullmark due to a back injury after Leevi Merilainen has impressed in his six appearances over the past month, going 4-2-0 with a .913 SV% and a 2.34 GAA.

Ottawa’s skater depth will be where Staios looks to make some conservative additions over the next several weeks, but as he told Garrioch, they’ll be getting some in-house help. Personal leave and a back injury have limited veteran winger David Perron to no points in nine games after he inked a two-year, $8MM deal over the summer.

He’s looking to return to the lineup in the next week or so after resuming skating earlier this month. The 36-year-old is coming off a 47-point campaign in 76 games with the Red Wings last year, a point pace that would aid a Senators offense that’s only clicked at 2.88 goals per game, 21st in the league.

While Perron will be essentially a free pre-deadline pickup, and many other of their injured forwards are expected back in the next couple of weeks, adding some forward depth was always going to be this team’s focus at the deadline if they were in a position to add. They’re likely to look for a winger with more upward mobility than Perron, Michael Amadio, or Adam Gaudette, who’s struggled with just one assist in his last 11 games after a scorching start to the campaign.

Amadio and Perron are nicely suited as third-line pieces, and they’re full-up on bottom-six grinders in the form of Nick Cousins, Ridly Greig, and Zack MacEwen. Another right-shot defenseman as an insurance policy behind the injury-prone Travis Hamonic and Artem Zub is also likely on the table. They’ve already been linked to unrestricted free agent John Klingberg, who is attempting an NHL comeback after undergoing hip resurfacing surgery in December 2023.

The Sens are in a cap crunch as things stand – only $80K in deadline cap space before their LTIR pool of $3.715MM, per PuckPedia. Those financials will change drastically between now and deadline day with Perron coming off LTIR and at least Amadio and Hamonic coming off IR, though.

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