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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.

Latest On Mason Marchment And Tyler Seguin

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Dallas Stars forward Mason Marchment is expected to be out for at least a few more weeks (as per Sean Shapiro of DLLS Sports). Marchment needed surgery after he took a puck in the face in a game against the Minnesota Wild on December 27th. The 29-year-old continues to skate in Texas as he looks to return to the lineup, but his timeline will ultimately come down to his breathing as he will need to wear a cage when he comes back.

Marchment needed surgical intervention due to the fractures in his nose and facial area and there was a delay in even having surgery because of the swelling in the area.

Marchment was having a solid season prior to the injury, posting 12 goals and 15 assists in 33 games and was a fixture in the top six. The Stars initially used Evgenii Dadonov in Marchment’s absence but have moved on to Jamie Benn, who has filled in admirably in the top six, posting four goals and an assist in his last six games.

Shapiro also reported that Dallas forward Tyler Seguin could still be another five or six months before he recovers from hip surgery. The 32-year-old had surgery a little over a month ago to repair a left-side femoral acetabular impingement as well as the hip labrum. Seguin had tried to manage the injury before surgery and was even playing some of the best hockey of his career to start the season. But the wear and tear eventually made the injury unbearable, which forced Seguin to shut down and have surgery. Seguin had nine goals and 11 assists in 19 games, as well as a plus-14 rating.

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.

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