Islanders Recall Isaiah George, Assign Cole McWard To AHL
Saturday: The Islanders announced that they have indeed recalled George from Bridgeport. To make room on the roster, McWard has been sent down.
Friday: The New York Islanders are expected to turn towards a top prospect to help them with injuries. Defenseman Isaiah George appears to have been recalled to the NHL just before the AHL’s Bridgeport Islanders’ Friday night game per Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News.
This would be George’s first call-up of the 2025-26 season. He has spent the first half of the year in a focused role with Bridgeport, that he’s rewarded with 10 points, 10 penalty minutes, and a plus-five in 24 games. That performance is a hardy step up from the 14 points and minus-16 that George recorded in 33 AHL games last season. He also played the first 33 games of his NHL career last year, netting five points and a minus-three. Through a struggled stat line, George showed flashes of two-way upside at the NHL and AHL level last season. He has looked well improved in the minor-leagues this season. With better footing, George could be set to make a stronger push for an NHL role.
He could see ice time right out of the gates as New York looks to address a day-to-day injury to top-four defenseman Ryan Pulock. Extra defenseman Cole McWard would be the de facto replacement if Pulock couldn’t play. McWard has scored 16 points in 29 AHL games and no points in three NHL games this season. He is also a right-handed shot, which wouldn’t pair as nicely with righty Adam Boqvist as the left-handed George. That could be enough to earn George a shot at his first NHL game of the season, should Pulock need to miss time.
Morning Notes: Pettersson, Thomas, Avalanche
As the Vancouver Canucks enter a turning point for the organization, much has been made of the trade candidacy of center Elias Pettersson. Multiple teams have shown interest in the former 102-point scorer, but there are no reports of any substantial developments.
Furthermore, it doesn’t sound like Pettersson has any interest in leaving Vancouver. Speaking on Donnie and Dhali, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said, “I know there’s a lot of talk about Elias Pettersson right now, I just haven’t been given any indication that he is willing to waive at this point in time.”
If the Canucks cannot find a suitable trade partner that Pettersson would consider, or if he simply does not want to leave Vancouver, he has the right to block the trade. Pettersson has a full no-movement clause in his contract, and it will remain through the 2031-32 NHL season.
Additional morning notes:
- According to an article from Anthony Di Marco of Daily Faceoff, the St. Louis Blues have understandably set an extremely high asking price for forward Robert Thomas. Even as perceived sellers leading up to the trade deadline, the Blues aren’t actively looking to move Thomas, though they will do their due diligence if a suitor gives them an offer they can’t refuse. Still, Di Marco spoke with an anonymous team source of a club that contacted St. Louis regarding Thomas, and that negotiations were killed relatively quickly due to the asking price.
- The Colorado Avalanche had a slight change to their forward core in last night’s blowout loss to the Philadelphia Flyers. Before the game, Aarif Deen of Colorado Hockey Now reported that Ross Colton would miss the contest with a lower-body injury (day-to-day) and that Joel Kiviranta would take his place in the lineup. Kiviranta recently missed nearly a month with his own injury, and went scoreless in last night’s contest.
Hurricanes’ Eric Robinson Could Be Out Through Olympic Break
The Carolina Hurricanes could face an extended stretch without one impactful winger. Eric Robinson could be out until the team returns from the Winter Olympics break on February 26th, head coach Rod Brind’Amour told Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News & Observer. Robinson left Carolina’s Monday win over the Buffalo Sabres in the first period after he was knocked awkwardly into the ice by Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin. He was nursing his left shoulder on his way off the ice and has since appeared at practice with that arm in a sling.
Robinson has returned to the utility role he carved out in the Hurricanes lineup last season. He has 10 goals, 15 points, and an offense-best plus-seven in 44 games this season. Those marks are well in-line with the 14 goals, 32 points, and plus-14 – all career-highs – that Robinson posted in his first year with Carolina. Even from a bottom-six role, the 30-year-old winger has proven to bring a routine, positive impact.
The Hurricanes brought Jesperi Kotkaniemi back into the lineup after a healthy scratch, following Robinson’s injury. Kotkaniemi made good work of the return, recording one assist, two shots, and three hits in Thursday’s shootout loss to the Chicago Blackhawks. He could stick in the lineup for at least six more games should Robinson indeed sit out through the Olympics. Carolina could also see this as a chance to reward one of their top prospects with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves. The Wolves are led in scoring by Justin Robidas, Bradly Nadeau, and Felix Unger-Sorum – all candidates to earn a brief recall if Robinson lands on injured reserve.
Hurricanes Open To Moving Alexander Nikishin For Star
The Carolina Hurricanes have made a habit out of making big moves for impact veterans at the Trade Deadline. It appears they’re gearing up to repeat that trend this season. The Hurricanes would even be open to moving star rookie defenseman Alexander Nikishin if it meant landing a high-end addition, per David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period on Thursday’s episode of Sportsnet Today.
Pagnotta added that Carolina would need a star, or even superstar, return and contract control to be swayed enough to give up Nikishin. That likely cuts down the change of the rookie moving by quite a bit – but there’s no doubt that teams will line up for the Russian defender. Nikishin has recorded six goals, 20 points, and a plus-12 through 50 NHL games this season. Those stats rank second, third, and first respectively among rookie defenders.
Nikishin also leads rookie defenders in hits (92) and ranks second in blocks (61). He has proven an ability to fit wherever Carolina needs him, even while working through cold feet to start the year. This comes after Nikishin posted a true breakout season in Russia’s KHL last year. He blew out the record for most points by a U22 defenseman in KHL history, finishing the year with 11 goals and 55 points in 65 games – 20 points more than second place. Nikishin emerged as the top defender for Russia’s biggest club – SKA St. Petersburg – and finished the year with a four-game stint in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Carolina wields clear, top-end value by dangling Nikishin to potential buyers regardless of where they are in the standings. He could be a strong fill-in for the injured Lian Bichsel with the Dallas Stars, potentially enough to land scoring winger Jason Robertson. Or Nikishin could be seen as a final piece for a struggling club like the St. Louis Blues, who have faced trade rumors around top center Robert Thomas.
It is hard to say who Carolina could be in on as the Deadline rolls around. The Hurricanes will have an estimated $35.48MM in deadline cap space, per PuckPedia. They also have two first-round picks, and one second-round pick, over the next two drafts. That flexibility, along with Nikishin, could help Carolina match just about any offer when trade season really heats up.
Stars, Avalanche Among Favorites To Acquire Canucks’ Evander Kane
The Vancouver Canucks are once again busying up with the Trade Deadline around the corner. A focal point this year could be moving winger Evander Kane, who joined Vancouver in a trade from the Edmonton Oilers at the 2025 NHL Draft. After not clicking in the Canucks lineup, Kane could be headed across the Western Conference, with the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche currently the favorites to make a trade per NHL.com’s Kevin Weekes.
Despite spending his junior hockey days in Vancouver, Kane hasn’t found much spark in his return to the city. He has nine goals, 57 penalty minutes, and a minus-18 in 49 games with the Canucks. He’s filled an important role in the lineup – averaging 16:55 in ice time each game, sixth among Canucks forwards – but Kane has ended up one of a few sputtering tires on Vancouver’s flanks. The club traded cornerstone defenseman Quinn Hughes earlier this season and could soon do the same with top center Elias Pettersson. With a teardown in progress, a part with the veteran Kane seems only natural.
Just as fitting are the teams in the mix for landing the former Atlanta Thrasher top pick. Both Dallas and Colorado have proved to be a comfortable spot for aging veterans. The Stars have continued to get the most out of franchise icons Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn, while Colorado has leaned on big impacts from Jonathan Drouin and Brock Nelson in recent years. Kane’s game has noticeably slowed down on the other side of 30 but still plays a professional style that could click in the right system. He has offered reliable goal-scoring throughout his career, netting at least 20 goals in nine of his last 13 seasons in the league. He has also recorded at least 80 penalty minutes in seven seasons.
That mix of grit and shooting – as well as Kane’s 979 games of NHL experience – will be what the Central Division rivals eye as they try to find a trade. Kane is set to hit unrestricted free agency this summer, which should keep his price low. Dallas has two second round picks, and one third round pick, in the next two drafts, while Colorado only has two second-round picks in 2027. Those could end up the bartering chips in a deal and Dallas holds the taller stack.
Colorado’s advantage comes in the finance books. The Avalanche will have roughly $5.089MM in cap space at the Trade Deadline, while the Stars will only have $3.267MM in space per PuckPedia. That means that Colorado will only need some cap juggling to afford adding Kane, while Dallas will need to move a minor contract.
Acquiring Kane will surely fit into a larger scheme for both teams, who seem set to buy at the Deadline after hot starts to the season. Kane will step in as a middle-six winger wherever he ends up. Joining a team headed for playoff success may even spark a final hoorah for Kane. He proved to be a hard playoff opponent in four years with the Edmonton Oilers, where he recorded 42 points and 164 penalty minutes in 68 games. That grit, and the spark of a recent move, could make Kane a timely addition in the second half.
Lightning Activate, Reassign Scott Sabourin
The Lightning announced Friday that they activated winger Scott Sabourin from injured reserve and subsequently assigned him to AHL Syracuse.
Sabourin, 33, has been more of a factor for Tampa Bay this season than anyone anticipated. The enforcer was assessed a preseason suspension and was brought up multiple times from Syracuse after the campaign started to finish serving it, making him eligible to suit up for the Bolts rather early in the schedule.
He was called into action more consistently in November and December, marking his first big league action since last January. All told, he played nine games before sustaining an undisclosed injury against the Canadiens on Dec. 28 that’s kept him out for nearly a month. That’s the second-most NHL action he’s ever seen in a single season, trailing only the 35 appearances he made as a 27-year-old rookie for the Senators in 2019-20.
Sabourin scored a goal and two assists – his first tally since that rookie year – and averaged 8:12 of ice time per game with a whopping 63 penalty minutes. No one even comes close to Sabourin’s 12.19 penalties taken per 60 minutes this season. Ottawa’s Kurtis MacDermid is a distant second at 8.40.
The 6’4″, 207-lb winger has always displayed enough of a scoring touch to challenge for top-nine deployment in the minors and is thus a fine enough fourth-line spark plug at the NHL level in short-term regular-season deployment. We likely haven’t seen the last of him in Tampa this season as a result. For now, though, he returns to Syracuse, where he’s notched six goals and two assists in 20 games this year.
Sabres Place Jacob Bryson On IR, Recall Zachary Jones
The Sabres placed defenseman Jacob Bryson on injured reserve Friday and recalled Zachary Jones from AHL Rochester to replace him on the active roster, according to Rachel Lenzi of The Buffalo News.
Bryson, 28, is now ineligible to play in the Sabres’ next two contests in what is a light week for them. He suited up in Thursday’s 4-2 win over the Canadiens but left the team’s road trip today and returned to Buffalo to be evaluated for an upper-body injury, head coach Lindy Ruff told Lenzi.
Playing time has been difficult to come by for Bryson as of late. While he’s suited up in 10 of Buffalo’s last 11 games, his bottom-pairing ice time has been incredibly restricted, averaging just 9:19 of ice time per game since the calendar turned to 2026.
The 5’9″ Bryson is in his sixth NHL season, all with Buffalo. He’s been a clear-cut bottom-pairing/press box option since debuting in 2021, four years after the Sabres made him a fourth-round pick out of Providence College, and has 48 points and a -38 rating in 287 career appearances.
Five of those points have come in 33 outings this year. The Sabres have rarely had all their defensemen healthy, contributing to him playing in two-thirds of their games. Michael Kesselring has missed much of the year with lower-body issues and is still being load-managed as he steps back into the lineup, while Conor Timmins has been out with a broken leg since before Christmas.
Now, they’re short another depth option, meaning Kesselring’s in-and-then-out-again routine may be ending. It’s hard to find a more direct replacement for Bryson than Jones, a similarly undersized lefty who’s produced at essentially the same exact pace throughout his career.
Buffalo has recalled Jones multiple times to serve as short-term roster depth since plucking him from the Rangers in free agency last summer, but he hasn’t yet made his Sabres debut. That hasn’t stopped him from playing the most dynamic offensive hockey of his life in Rochester, where he leads the team in scoring with 37 points (six goals, 31 assists) in 32 games.
It’s concerns over Jones’ defensive game that have kept him from locking down an everyday NHL role. With a -1 rating in Rochester despite that elite scoring line, those concerns haven’t dissipated. And with Buffalo’s defense group already being lefty-heavy, it stands to reason that right-shot depth option Zach Metsa has a clearer path to minutes in Bryson’s absence than Jones does.
Maple Leafs Activate Anthony Stolarz
4:23 p.m.: Stolarz has officially been activated from IR with Hildeby headed down, the team announced.
11:54 a.m.: The Maple Leafs will activate goaltender Anthony Stolarz from long-term injured reserve before tonight’s tilt against the Golden Knights, head coach Craig Berube confirmed to reporters (including Mark Masters of TSN). It will be his first start in over two months. The team sent Dennis Hildeby to AHL Toronto to open up a spot, per PuckPedia, but they’re still one over the roster limit as they’ve yet to make a corresponding move for Henry Thrun‘s recall this morning.
The last 32 games of the season provide Stolarz a chance to erase what was a disastrous early going. Entering training camp as the clear-cut No. 1 option for the first time, he landed a four-year, $15MM extension during training camp as a result. It was well-deserved – he backstopped the Leafs to a rare playoff series win last year and finished fifth in Vezina Trophy voting while leading the league with a .926 SV% in 33 starts.
Injuries have consistently been an issue for the skilled 32-year-old, who averaged just 23 starts per season over the last four years. Tandem partner Joseph Woll started the year on personal leave, meaning Stolarz had a much higher-than-normal workload out of the gate. He immediately faltered, posting his worst stretch of hockey as an NHLer with a .884 SV% and 3.51 GAA in 13 starts. High-end goal support from the Leafs meant he still ended up with a 6-5-1 record, but his -8.3 goals saved above expected in such limited action were a noticeable stain on the track record of one of the league’s most consistently analytically sound netminders.
He’s spent the last few days with AHL Toronto on a conditioning assignment as he works his way back from his upper-body issue. He didn’t get into any game action with the Marlies, though.
Now, with Woll healthy, he and Stolarz can return to a more familiar split. Woll has had a fine year in his own right – his .911 SV% and two shutouts in 21 games certainly read as impressive, but he’s only accounted for 0.6 GSAx, according to MoneyPuck, suggesting there still might be some room for growth.
Unfortunately, Toronto’s roster crunch and Hildeby’s waiver-exempt status meant a three-goalie rotation would be unfeasible when Stolarz returned. With no roster limit, the Leafs likely would have opted to experiment with one. Hildeby, 24, has been one of the best stories of the season in Toronto. The 2022 fourth-round pick has spent virtually the entire season on the roster with Woll’s and Stolarz’s long-term absences.
He’s not just been an above-average third-string option; he’s arguably been the Leafs’ best netminder. His raw numbers are slightly under Woll’s, but he carries a wide advantage when accounting for team defense with 8.9 GSAx. Even his .910 SV% and 2.90 GAA in 19 appearances are strong stats for a largely unheralded rookie.
Nonetheless, he may need to wait until the roster limit disappears at the trade deadline to get his next NHL chance if Stolarz and Woll manage to stay healthy until then. Despite just signing a multi-year extension, Stolarz’s race to the finish could impact whether Toronto aims to shop him over the summer in order to open up a spot for the younger, cheaper Hildeby next season.
Image courtesy of Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images.
Blues Activate Mathieu Joseph, Place Oskar Sundqvist On IR
The Blues activated winger Mathieu Joseph from injured reserve on Friday, according to Matthew DeFranks of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He’s been replaced on injured reserve by Oskar Sundqvist to keep the Blues’ active roster at the 23-player maximum.
Joseph will be in the lineup for tonight’s game against the Stars in a third-line role with rookies Dalibor Dvorsky and Otto Stenberg, per Elise Butler of the team’s website. He comes in for Nathan Walker, who had two points in his first two games since returning from an upper-body injury earlier this month, but has now gone without a point in five straight.
The 28-year-old Joseph’s stay on IR was relatively brief. He hasn’t played since Jan. 3 but was a healthy scratch for several games after that before developing an elbow infection, diagnosed as day-to-day on Jan. 12. He was moved to IR the following day to create a roster spot for Nick Bjugstad.
Joseph operated as an occasional healthy scratch for much of last season. His deployment hasn’t changed much in 2025-26, the last season of a four-year, $11.8MM deal signed with the Senators in 2022 that St. Louis picked up as a cap dump in 2024. He’s shot under 10% for every season of that contract and has just two goals in 35 games this year, although his 10 points bring him to a respectable 24-point pace over 82 games – more offense than he gave the Blues last year while also seeing his ice time increase by nearly a minute per game.
He’s an effective forechecker and penalty killer, but at this stage of his career, what was long thought to be untapped offensive potential looks to stay unrealized if he continues as one of the league’s most underwhelming finishers. He’s nonetheless an experienced body (455 career games) for a Blues group currently without a third of its top nine in Dylan Holloway, Pius Suter, and Robert Thomas.
That’s not counting Sundqvist’s injury. The 31-year-old is out indefinitely after sustaining an ankle laceration due to a skate cut against the Oilers last weekend, according to the team. He already missed Tuesday’s loss to the Jets and is ruled out for St. Louis’ next two games as a result of the IR placement, although he might not end up returning until the other side of the Olympic break, depending on the severity of the laceration and how much, if any, tendon or muscular damage it caused.
Sundqvist is in the third year of his second stint with the Blues and has been chugging along as a reliable two-way piece in their bottom six. They’ve relied on him more than anticipated due to their rash of injuries, and he’s held up his end of the bargain offensively with 13 points in 39 games – right at his career average pace of 0.33 points per game. He’s the Blues’ most relied-upon forward in the defensive zone at even strength and averages 1:22 of ice time per game on the penalty kill. Joseph’s return should help the Blues shoulder Sundqvist’s shorthanded absence, though.
Will Depth Players Get Paid Again This Summer?
Something funny was happening in the summer of 2019. Depth players began getting serious term on multi-year deals to a level we’d rarely seen before.
Take the contract for depth forward Brandon Tanev, who signed a six-year, $21MM deal with the Penguins. At the time, that contract raised a lot of eyebrows, as Tanev had topped out at just 14 goals and 15 assists in any single season, and a $3.5MM average annual value was especially steep on such a long-term deal.
The deal was an outlier on July 1, 2019, with no close comparison other than the Panthers signing Brett Connolly to a four-year, $14MM deal. Connolly was coming off a 46-point season, which far exceeded any of Tanev’s offensive contributions.
There was a sense at the time that the NHL might shift, with depth players able to secure longer-term, higher-dollar contracts. When Colton Sissons signed his seven-year extension with the Predators a few weeks later, it certainly looked that way.
Sissons was two years younger than Tanev and an RFA, whereas Tanev was a UFA, yet their eventual contracts were comparable. However, the global pandemic in 2020 stalled the league’s growth and led to a flat salary cap, effectively shutting teams out of paying for depth and fringe players’ big-money deals.
The stars still got their money, as evidenced by 2020 free agency, when Alex Pietrangelo was still paid handsomely (seven years, $61.6MM), while depth players had to take one-year deals at or around the league minimum.
The stars have continued to get their money, and top salaries have escalated over the last few years, while second-line players have also been rewarded handsomely as the salary cap has eventually climbed. But the depth players in the NHL have continued to feel the squeeze to this point, and it does feel like that might change this summer, with another big cap jump coming, multiple teams with loads of cap space, and a very weak free agency market.
In previous summers, solid defenders such as Calvin de Haan and Matt Grzelcyk, as well as forwards Jack Roslovic and Evgenii Dadonov, have been part of a large group of NHL-caliber players who have experienced a very tight free-agent market when they have been available to all NHL teams. Now, it’s not unheard of for players to fall short of salary expectations in free agency, but it has become a common occurrence over the last six years, and it feels like this could be a summer where teams overpay for depth.
There has been a surge in signings in recent weeks, with the most recent being the Penguins locking up fourth-line center Blake Lizotte to a three-year deal worth $6.75MM total, and the Canadiens inking Alexandre Texier to a two-year deal worth $2.5MM per season. These deals were not massive signings, but they show that teams are moving to lock up their depth as they look to the summer UFAs and realize there isn’t much out there.
Center Christian Dvorak is another excellent example, having recently signed a five-year deal with the Flyers after settling for a one-year deal last summer. Dvorak has long been injury-prone and inconsistent, but the Flyers felt they had to ink him to an extension amid a career year in Philadelphia.
So, what depth players will get shocking contracts this upcoming summer, or will they? If you go by the old cliché that a rising tide raises all boats, it sure looks like the players at the bottom of the lineup will finally start to get a bigger slice of the pie.
Could a player like Ryan Shea, Connor Dewar, or Philipp Kurashev get a big-money, multi-year deal this summer? Or will teams continue to show restraint in the lower rungs of the free agency market, even though they have more wiggle room?
It’s hard to believe there won’t be some silly deals on July 1, 2026. There are always head-scratching choices NHL GMs make. But this could be a free agency unlike any we’ve seen in a decade or so.
July 1, 2016, is hard to forget for some teams, as massive mistakes were made that were clearly bad choices at the time. Loui Eriksson signed with Vancouver, Milan Lucic signed with Edmonton, and David Backes signed with Boston. Several other players were given ridiculous contracts relative to their future projections, which wasn’t anything new, especially for players with a history of being top-six NHL players.
However, some general managers watched those errors and learned a valuable lesson that carried through the COVID years, when there was a massive salary-cap squeeze. While teams didn’t have the salary-cap space to make the egregious contract offers, some GMs still did, and they usually paid the price for it.
A good example was Penguins GM Ron Hextall, who made some odd choices in free agency, particularly when he signed a Tanev replacement in the summer of 2021. Hextall inked Brock McGinn to a four-year, $11MM contract that was a poor value for the Penguins and was eventually traded along with a sweetener to the Anaheim Ducks in 2023.
That deal, along with contracts like Pierre Engvall’s, highlighted why many teams stayed away from giving terms to their depth players. But this summer, the stars are aligning for some wild contracts to be handed out to players who likely won’t last the length of the deal in the NHL. For fans of contending teams, or teams on the upswing who think they are just a player away from contention, you just have to hope your favorite team isn’t among the unlucky ones handing out the money.