Golden Knights’ Mark Stone Out Day-To-Day
The Vegas Golden Knights will have a major hole to fill in the short-term. Top winger Mark Stone is out day-to-day with an upper-body injury sustained in Vegas’ Sunday loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, head coach Bruce Cassidy told reporters including Mike Harrington of Buffalo News. Stone’s injury came late in the first period, after a nudge from Penguins defenseman Kris Letang. He will be questionable for Vegas’ road game versus the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday.
Stone reached the end of the 2024-25 season in good health, dsepite mid-season injuries, but has otherwise built a tendency for missing games in the second-half of the season. Sunday’s game against Pittsburgh marked just the second time in the last four seasons that Stone has played a game in March. Routine injuries have held him out of 144 games between the start of the 2019-20 season and the end of 2024-25. He has missed an additional 17 games already this season.
The routine absences are routinely a major blow to the Vegas offense. Stone is a pillar of the lineup when healthy. He ranks second on the Golden Knights in scoring this season, with 21 goals and 60 points in only 43 games. That is a 114-point scoring pace over a full 82-game season, by far the highest on the Golden Knights. Stone has averaged 52 games, and 53 points, per season dating back to his first full season with the Golden Knights.
Vegas will face a tough test in finding who should replace Stone in the lineup. The Golden Knights are also facing injuries to forwards Jonas Rondbjerg, William Karlsson, and Brett Howden – straining the team’s offensive depth. Right-winger Alexander Holtz is currently Vegas’ only extra forward and could be in line for a return to the lineup as a result. Holtz appeared in five games in February, recording three points and eight shots on net. He has racked up nine points and a minus-one in 28 games this season, often from a fourth-line role in Vegas’ lineup.
Stone’s hole in the top-six will put more pressure on Pavel Dorofeyev, Ivan Barbashev, and Braeden Bowman to step into bigger, scoring roles. The trio rank fifth, sixth, and seventh on the Vegas offense in scoring – with 47, 42, and 23 points respectively. They will fill major roles as Vegas looks towards tough matchups against the Sabres, Detroit Red Wings, and Minnesota Wild over their next three games.
Wild Claim Robby Fabbri, Place Tyler Pitlick On Waivers
The Minnesota Wild have found a depth forward upgrade on the waiver wire. Minnesota has claimed St. Louis Blues winger Robby Fabbri off of waivers and, in a corresponding move, placed Tyler Pitlick on waivers to clear roster space per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Fabbri will join former Blues teammate Vladimir Tarasenko in his move to the Wild.
Fabbri signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Blues in December after beginning the year with three games, and two points, with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers. He slotted into a fourth-line role – but routinely stepped up in the lineup – in his return to St. Louis, where he spent the first four years of his career. Fabbri racked up four points, 12 penalty minutes, and a minus-three in 15 games with the Blues before landing on waivers. His waiver designation came in conjunction with Robert Thomas‘ return from a month-long absence due to injury and personal leave.
Fabbri was a first-round pick for the Blues in 2014. He made his NHL debut two seasons later and posted what’s become a career-year right out of the gates – marked by a career-high 18 goals and 37 points in 72 games. Fabbri’s career was quickly derailed by multiple knee injuries, holding him out of over 100 games between 2016 and 2020. Despite that, Fabbri stuck in the lineup long enough to seal a Stanley Cup victory with the Blues in 2019, netting a combined seven points in 42 games between the 2018-19 regular season and playoffs.
Fabbri will rival fourth-line minutes in Minnesota. Pitlick recorded only two goals, along with 24 penalty minutes and a minus-four, in 32 games with Minnesota this season. He has also scored 11 points in 12 AHL games this season. Pitlick spent the entire 2024-25 season with the AHL’s Providence Bruins. He finished the year ranked third on the team in scoring, with 46 points in 59 games. Pitlick rotated through NHL extra forward roles between 2013 and 2024 – making appearances with seven different clubs, including the Blues and Edmonton Oilers. In total, Pitlick has scored 58 goals and 111 points in 452 NHL games. He will return to a productive role in the minor-leagues, if no team finds a need for his depth services in the NHL.
Panthers’ Luke Kunin Clears Waivers
3/2: St. Louis has lost Fabbri to a waiver claim from the Minnesota Wild, while Kunin has cleared waivers per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Kunin has now been assigned to the AHL.
3/1: Today has become a busy day on the wire, as the St. Louis Blues have waived forward Robby Fabbri, and the Florida Panthers placed Luke Kunin on waivers. Both were reported by Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. Fabbri and Kunin are both former first round picks with at least 450 games of NHL experience, although they’ve become journeymen at this stage in their careers.
For Fabbri, the news is not much of a surprise, as Robert Thomas was activated from injured reserve earlier today. A top prospect of the Blues a decade ago, Fabbri found himself back where he started, signing a one year deal worth $775k back in December. The agreement came after the 30-year-old’s unsuccessful PTO bid with the Pittsburgh Penguins, along with a brief tryout agreement with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers. Since then, Fabbri appeared in 15 games with St. Louis, finding the back of the net once to go with three assists.
The Ontario native netted 18 goals in 68 games just two years ago as a Red Wing, but his 18.6% shooting percentage was never thought to be sustainable. Fabbri continues to have lackluster possession metrics at even strength, currently at the 45.5% mark.
With such a low cap hit, it’s not out of the realm of possibility, but a claim seems unlikely. If that’s the case, Fabbri will head to AHL Springfield, a league which impressively, the veteran has played just nine games in his career, otherwise in the NHL. He still offers organizational depth, but the 31st ranked Blues are in a position where playing younger players is in their best interest. If this is the beginning of the end for Fabbri in the NHL, he’s had an impressive 457 game career with 220 points, and his name on the Stanley Cup.
Meanwhile, Kunin also brings a very reasonable $775k cap hit which expires this summer. Once a first rounder of the Minnesota Wild with top six upside, the Missouri native has become a fourth liner with gritty attributes, as he has just four points in 44 games. He caught on with the reigning champions last August to provide depth, which has been needed, considering the team’s glut of injuries this year.
After some solid play with Nashville from 2020-22, Kunin was sent to San Jose. Over the next three seasons wearing teal, Kunin got to enjoy a larger role and help lead on a rebuilding Sharks squad. However, he never recorded more than 18 points, and fully embraced a more physical brand of hockey.
Between Fabbri and Kunin, the latter seems to be more likely of a claim. Players in Kunin’s mold are often targeted by buyers at this time of year. At last year’s trade deadline, Kunin was dealt to Columbus for a fourth round pick. His stock hasn’t improved after unremarkable play as a Panther this year, but teams will have the chance to bring in the 28-year-old with a minimal cap hit for nothing in return, and he could benefit from a fresh start.
Image Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
Canucks’ Guillaume Brisebois Clears Waivers
3/2: Birsebois has cleared waivers and can now be assigned to the minor leagues per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
3/1: In the midst of several notable NHLers waived earlier today, another name is set to run through the wire. Canucks defenseman Guillaume Brisebois has landed on waivers, per the team, although according to GM Patrik Allvin the transaction is with the intent to reassign him to AHL Abbotsford.
Brisebois, 28, was drafted in the third round by Vancouver back in 2015. Rarely seen in today’s league, the 6’2″ lefty has managed to stick with the organization for the long haul, mainly in the AHL but appearing in 30 games over the years with the Canucks, where he’s recorded three points. He got into three games back in January, not recording any stats and averaging 15:48 a night.
Brisebois debuted with Vancouver in February 2019, an entirely different era where Alexander Edler and Loui Eriksson were still wearing the blue and green, so it’s impressive for him to still be around. Summoned at times over the years when they’re thin on the back end, Brisebois has skated in more than eight contests in an NHL campaign just once, 2022-23, where he played in 17.
The Quebec native is a free agent at season’s end, but until then, a claim seems unlikely. Whatever comes next for the veteran, it has been a nice run in the Canucks organization, a 2025 Calder Cup champion, and still in the mix as part of a 2015 draft class headlined by stalwart Brock Boeser. With the Canucks at the bottom of the league, and Abbotsford hardly faring better, it would be nice to see Brisebois get some more action this spring considering his contributions to the organization over the past several years.
Oilers’ Andrew Mangiapane, Alec Regula Clear Waivers
3/2: Both Mangiapane and Regula have cleared waivers per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. They can now be assigned to the minor leagues, opening up more cap space for Edmonton to leverage at the Trade Deadline.
3/1: This afternoon the Edmonton Oilers revealed that Andrew Mangiapane and Alec Regula have been placed on waivers. With the Trade Deadline just five days away, the moves give the team much needed cap space.
Efforts to trade Mangiapane throughout the season have not proven successful. His $3.6MM cap hit through 2026-27 and a no trade clause are stumbling blocks for the usually steady secondary scorer who hasn’t been a fit with the Oilers. Last July, the idea was that the former 35-goal man could revive his offensive game alongside Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl. Edmonton had moved on from Evander Kane and Viktor Arvidsson, so Mangiapane figured to be a worthy replacement.
Instead, to date, the soon to be 30-year-old has 14 points in 52 games and is a -19. It’s the first time he’s been in the negatives since a 10 game audition as a 21-year-old rookie with Calgary in 2017-18. Mangiapane’s 50.0% corsi for at even strength is indicative that he just doesn’t move the needle. Rather, Jack Roslovic has filled the role, making the most of his opportunity to play on Draisaitl’s wing. Mangiapane has been a healthy scratch at times, unable to find his footing in head coach Kris Knoblauch‘s system.
As recently as late February, it was noted that several teams have varying levels of interest in Mangiapane. Ottawa, Detroit, Anaheim, and Winnipeg have been linked, with the Senators known as having real trade talks for the forward. Now they’ll have the chance to bring him into the fold for nothing in return, although it would be doing a favor for their opponents in Edmonton, who are clearly handcuffed to the player for now.
In all likelihood, he will clear, still taking up at least $2.45MM against the Oilers’ salary cap, where they will have to add further incentives in a trade this week. At least for today, they’re dangling him on the wire, as one of the more notable players waived this year.
On the other hand, Regula was claimed off waivers by the team in December 2024, coming from the Bruins. He subsequently earned an extension through next season, at a more friendly $775k AAV, but now may find himself back on the move soon.
The former Red Wings draft pick is a coveted righty with size (6’4″) and is still just 25 years old. While GM Stan Bowman hopes to move on from Mangiapane, it’s not necessarily so much the case with Regula, whom Bowman himself acquired for his old franchise, Chicago, in 2019. Regula has simply been passed on the depth chart by Ty Emberson, as he hasn’t played since January 20. If any team is to consider a claim, they’ll have to look past Regula’s unfavorable possession metrics. Yet as far as seventh/eighth defensemen go, he is a viable option whether it will continue to be in Edmonton, or if claimed, which would become his fifth organization.
Currently third in the Pacific, Edmonton will be one of the most fascinating teams to watch this week. Their big acquisition of goaltender Tristan Jarry hasn’t evoked confidence yet, and Bowman will try to add more pieces to solidify the group’s spot in the postseason this spring.
Image Credit: Walter Tychnowicz-Imagn Images
Predators’ Adam Wilsby Out Week-To-Week
Nashville Predators defenseman Adam Wilsby will be unavailable for Monday’s afternoon matchup against the Detroit Red Wings. He has been designated as out week-to-week with a lower-body injury. Wilsby left Nashville’s Saturday loss to the Dallas Stars in the second period. It was not clear when he sustained his injury.
The Predators will have to shake up their blue-line with Wilsby on the shelf. Nicklaus Perbix and Nicolas Hague earned extra minutes to fill the gap on Saturday but it will be Justin Barron who benefits most from the lineup hole. Barron only appeared in two games in the month of February. He recorded one assist, a plus-two, and three shots on net while filling a bottom-pair role. On the year, Barron has racked up five assists and a minus-four in 32 games. Those marks are a slight dip from the 12 points and minus-14 that Barron managed in 45 games with the Predators last season, after a December trade moved him to Nashville from the Montreal Canadiens.
Barron should be able to match Wilsby’s scoring production if he rediscovers last year’s totals. Wilsby has 12 points in 45 games of his own this season, coupled with a minus-three. He has proven to be an impactful defensive-defenseman down Nashville’s lineup, using a big frame and active stick to defend the rush and spark breakouts. Wilsby is in his first season in a full-time, NHL role after breaking into the league last season. He split 2024-25 between 23 games in the NHL and 13 games in the AHL, netting five points in each league. Nashville will get a chance to test the younger Barron in the short future but will likely move back to Wilsby once he’s back to full health.
Devils Sign Matyas Melovsky To Two-Year, Entry-Level Contract
The New Jersey Devils have signed forward prospect Matyas Melovsky to a two-year, entry-level contract. Melovsky is playing through his first pro season with the AHL’s Utica Comets on a minor-league contract. He has three goals, 13 points, and a minus-eight in 35 games.
Melovsky, 21, was a sixth-round pick to the Devils in the 2024 NHL Draft. He earned his selection on the heels of a standout year with the QMJHL’s Baie-Comeau Drakkar and Czechia’s international U20 team. Melovsky recorded 42 assists and 60 points in 53 QMJHL games that season – but caught the most attention during the 2024 World Junior Championship. Playing on a line with Buffalo’s Jiri Kulich and Seattle’s Eduard Sale, Melovsky racked up 10 assists and 11 points in seven tournament games, good for second on the team in scoring behind Kulich’s 12 points. That mark helped push Czechia to a Bronze medal finish and earned Melovsky a must-buy status late into the draft.
The bump-and-grind forward followed his draft selection with 26 goals and 83 points in 57 games with Baie-Comeau last season. It was a stellar encore, even without a return to the World Juniors after Melovsky aged out of eligibility. With three point-per-game seasons in the QMJHL and a sizable, 6-foot-1 and 190-pound frame, Melovsky had stamped his right for a pro role. He has slotted into Utica’s top-nine this season. He has found his scoring touch recently, after a quiet start to the year, racking up seven points in his last 14 games. The Devils will acknowledge that hot streak by signing Melovsky to the first NHL contract of his career, set to begin in the 2026-27 season. That deal will give the bulky forward a chance to compete for NHL minutes as soon as his second pro season.
Latest On Vincent Trocheck
Heading into Friday’s trade deadline, there is growing confidence that Vincent Trocheck will be traded from the New York Rangers. However, if you’re a fan of a Western Conference team, don’t expect Trocheck to be joining your club.
According to Vince Z. Mercogliano of The Athletic, Trocheck confirmed that he prefers to stay in the Eastern Conference. Mercogliano quoted Trocheck, saying, “It’s no secret. (West teams) are on my no-trade list.”
Trocheck’s comments indicate that every team on his 12-team no-trade clause is in the Western Conference. That theoretically leaves the possibility for four Western Conference teams to pursue Trocheck, as well as the entire Eastern Conference. Given that he’s also committed to winning, that could leave the Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild as potential options, as they’re both in the Central Time Zone.
Any team interested in Trocheck will know exactly what they’re getting. He’s been remarkably consistent and healthy throughout his career, particularly during his tenure with the Rangers. Since signing a seven-year, $39.83MM ($5.63MM AAV) contract with New York in 2022, Trocheck has scored 85 goals and 238 points in 291 games, averaging 20:40 of ice time. Additionally, even though his cap hit will remain $5.63MM through the 2028-29 season, Trocheck will only have $14.5MM ($4.83MM/yr) remaining on the last three years of his contract.
There is nothing in Trocheck’s game that has suffered a steep fall off since entering his 30s. He remains physical, a quality performer in the faceoff dot, and defensively sound. For any playoff-bound team, there are few options better than Trocheck built for the postseason.
The two notable Eastern Conference teams that have been heavily linked to Trocheck are the Carolina Hurricanes and the Detroit Red Wings. Trocheck should be comfortable with either club, given that both are competitive this season and he has ties to both. He played two and a half years with the Hurricanes before ultimately signing as a free agent with the Rangers.
Additionally, despite being born in Pittsburgh, Trocheck spent his amateur hockey days with the Detroit-based Little Caesars hockey program before joining the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit. Furthermore, Trocheck’s wife, Hillary, grew up in the Saginaw, MI area.
Flyers Recall Adam Ginning
The Philadelphia Flyers are recalling some defensive depth ahead of tonight’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. According to a team announcement, the Flyers have recalled Adam Ginning from the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
Ginning, 26, is in his fourth season with the Flyers organization. He has primarily spent his time in the AHL, but has been recalled on multiple occasions to serve as defensive depth. He has appeared in only five games for Philadelphia this year, going scoreless while averaging 15:20 of ice time.
Still, he’s been a relatively solid two-day defenseman for the Phantoms. His scoring is down this season, with one goal and four points in 31 games, but he has typically reached the high-teens throughout his professional career in North America.
Depending on how the Flyers operate at this year’s trade deadline, Ginning could have access to more ice time down the stretch. Philadelphia is six points back of the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, and 10 points away from the final divisional spot in the Metropolitan.
Since the Olympics, there has been renewed interest in top-four defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen for the right price. Additionally, Philadelphia could look to move out the bottom-pair option Noah Juulsen, who will become an unrestricted free agent this summer after signing a one-year, $900K contract with the club last offseason.
If the Flyers move out one or both, there is a good chance they’ll keep Ginning on the NHL roster for the remainder of the season, unless they recoup an additional defensive option.
Five Key Stories: 2/23/26 – 3/1/26
The week before the trade deadline usually generates some notable headlines on the trade front. While there weren’t many of those, there was still some trade-related news of note in our key stories.
Kings Shake Things Up: Kings GM Ken Holland made the biggest swap before the Olympic break when he added Artemi Panarin from the Rangers. Now, he’s made the biggest move after the break (for now) as he fired head coach Jim Hiller, replacing him with associate coach D.J. Smith on an interim basis for the rest of the season. Hiller lasted a little more than two years with the top job in Los Angeles, with the team playing to a solid 93-58-24 record in that time. However, the team has struggled mightily this season offensively, leaving them on the outside of the playoff picture at the moment. Smith, in his second season in his associate role, will now be tasked with getting more out of his forward group. This will be his second time running an NHL bench after spending parts of five seasons in charge in Ottawa.
Crosby Out A Month: While he was believed to be close to suiting up in the Gold Medal game at the Olympics, Sidney Crosby won’t be playing for a while yet. The team announced that he will miss at least the next four weeks due to the lower-body injury sustained overseas. Crosby has once again been a crucial part of Pittsburgh’s attack this season, leading the way offensively with 27 goals and 32 assists in 56 games, continuing his streak of point-per-game campaigns which now stands at 21. He has also been instrumental in taking a Pittsburgh team that was expected to be a basement dweller by many to a top-three spot in the Metropolitan Division. They’ll now have to find a way to hold onto it without their captain and top scorer.
Defense Swap: There was one trade of some significance in the NHL this week, a swap of blueliners as Pittsburgh sent Brett Kulak to Colorado for Samuel Girard and a 2028 second-round pick. Kulak came over from Edmonton as part of the return for Tristan Jarry earlier this season and now joins a Colorado squad where he’ll likely suit up on their third pairing and then hit free agency this summer. Girard, meanwhile, makes nearly twice as much as Kulak while being signed through next season which explains the draft pick component of the trade as the Avs made this move in part for cap flexibility reasons. Once a consistent key cog on Colorado’s back end, Girard’s role and effectiveness have dropped in recent years so he’ll be looking for a chance to rebuild his game with Pittsburgh.
Trade To Come? This is the time of year when players will be scratched for roster-related or trade-related reasons. The latest of these is Canucks defenseman Tyler Myers, who was scratched back on Wednesday. However, these are typically followed by a trade although that has not been the case here. Instead, he is believed to have been presented with a team (thought to be Detroit) to consider waiving his trade protection for. Myers has made it known in the past how much he wants to stay in Vancouver but now, it appears it’s a matter of seeing if other teams get into the mix that he’s more open to joining before deciding on waiving that protection.
Seguin Done For The Season: The Stars were hoping that they’d be able to get Tyler Seguin back at some point in the playoffs after undergoing ACL surgery four months ago. That is no longer an option as the team filed paperwork to rule him out for the rest of the season. In doing so, they become eligible to utilize his full $9.85MM AAV through LTIR instead of the $3.82MM they had access to, the maximum allowed for players who will or could return later in the year. With nearly an extra $6MM to spend and Dallas being one of the top teams in the NHL this season, it will be interesting to see how they utilize those funds. Notably, with Jason Robertson up for a new deal in the summer, it wouldn’t be surprising to see GM Jim Nill target an expiring contract to fill Seguin’s spot on the roster.
Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images.