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Blackhawks Recall Ethan Del Mastro, Reassign Wyatt Kaiser

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3:10 p.m: Charlie Roumeliotis of WGN Radio reports the Blackhawks have also reassigned defenseman Wyatt Kaiser to AHL Rockford in a corresponding roster move. The transaction brings Chicago back to seven defensemen on the active roster and 22 players in total.

1:19 p.m: The Blackhawks announced Thursday they’ve recalled defenseman Ethan Del Mastro from AHL Rockford. They placed winger Craig Smith, who hasn’t played since Jan. 8 due to a back injury, on injured reserve to open up a roster spot.

Del Mastro, 22, has eight assists, 38 PIMs and a plus-four rating in 38 AHL showings this year. It’s not a ton of offense, although still third on the team behind Kevin Korchinski and Artyom Levshunov in assists and points among defenders, but that’s not the stay-at-home lefty’s calling card.

The 6’4″, 209-lb Del Mastro projects as a defensively responsible complementary piece on an NHL pairing long-term, and he’s had a strong development track since Chicago selected him in the fourth round in 2021. He unexpectedly popped for 37 points and a +14 rating in 67 games in his rookie AHL season last year, leading to a late-season recall and his NHL debut in a pair of games against the Predators and Hurricanes in April.

Del Mastro now has the chance to add a third NHL game to his tally, although it’s unclear if he will. The Hawks are now carrying eight defensemen on the active roster, and interim head coach Anders Sorensen only told reporters that the organization “wanted to reward Del Mastro for his recent play in Rockford,” per Scott Powers of The Athletic.

Smith, 35, has now missed 14 of the last 18 games with back problems. He sat out for most of the second half of December before returning to the lineup for a four-game stretch starting on New Year’s Eve.

In addition to a few healthy scratches, Smith has been limited to 30 of Chicago’s 47 games after signing a one-year, $1MM contract last summer as a free agent. The five-time 20-goal scorer has six tallies and five assists for 11 points with a minus-seven rating, averaging 11:41 per game.

The Blackhawks remain without veteran fourth-liner Pat Maroon due to back problems, but he’s carrying a day-to-day designation and hasn’t landed on IR after missing Monday’s game against the Hurricanes. Defenseman Connor Murphy also remains sidelined with the groin issues that have kept him out of the lineup since the calendar flipped to 2025.

Flames Recall Clark Bishop

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The Flames recalled center Clark Bishop from AHL Calgary on Thursday, per a team announcement. They had an open roster spot after losing winger Walker Duehr on waivers to the Sharks yesterday, so no corresponding move is required.

Bishop, 28, has 47 NHL games under his belt with the Hurricanes and Senators but none since signing with the Flames in 2022. The Newfoundland native has bided his time as a middle-six depth piece on the farm – that is, until this season. He’s exploded offensively for 16 goals and 17 assists for 33 points through 39 contests, third on the Wranglers in scoring. His 0.85 points per game puts his 0.38 career AHL average in the rearview, at least for the past few months.

For the majority of his career, Bishop has served as a physical, defensively responsible depth center who also has utility at left wing. He has just one goal on 44 shots in the NHL, adding seven assists for eight points with a minus-six rating. He’s yet to average north of 10 minutes per game in any of his four NHL seasons and has won 46.9% of his faceoffs.

If Bishop suits up tonight against the Sabres, it will be his first NHL appearance in nearly three years. He last skated in a big-league contest with the Senators on Feb. 15, 2022.

At the very least, Bishop won’t be a downgrade from Duehr by any stretch of the imagination. Duehr had just one assist in 16 games with team-worst possession metrics before landing on the wire.

Bishop, who cleared waivers during training camp, can remain on Calgary’s roster for up to 30 days or play 10 games before he requires them again to return to the AHL.

Avalanche Recall Chris Wagner, Reassign Ivan Ivan

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The Avalanche recalled veteran forward Chris Wagner from AHL Colorado on Thursday, per a team announcement. Rookie Ivan Ivan was sent down in a corresponding transaction, keeping their active roster with one open spot.

Wagner, 33, appeared in 23 games for the Avs earlier this season but hasn’t been on the roster since being reassigned to the AHL on Dec. 20. He has four goals and seven assists for 11 points in 16 contests with the Eagles, most of which have come over the past few weeks.

The Avs ferried Wagner between leagues frequently through the first two and a half months of the campaign. He was exposed to the waiver wire three times as Colorado shuffled their forward depth amid multiple injuries, clearing without incident on each occasion.

Wagner, the epitome of a journeyman depth piece, has one goal and a minus-seven rating with the Avs this season while averaging a paltry 6:55 per game. His 48.2 CF% at even strength ranks near the bottom of the team but is an improvement over other spot-duty lineup inserts like Jere Innala and Givani Smith. He has the worst offensive impact of any Colorado skater with at least 10 appearances this season, though, only managing 0.4 on-ice goals per 60 minutes at even strength.

Nonetheless, the pending UFA with nearly 400 NHL games under his belt seemingly gets the call over Ivan for this weekend’s game against his hometown Bruins. Ivan, 22, started the season with a respectable eight points in 22 games but hasn’t gotten on the scoresheet since then. After his first career two-goal game against the Lightning on Nov. 25, Ivan has gone 18 games without a point and is correspondingly falling down the depth chart.

Ivan has a goal and an assist in a pair of AHL appearances this season, which he made earlier this month after missing time with an upper-body injury. He had 31 points in 67 AHL games last year, earning him his first NHL contract last March.

Stars Recall Lian Bichsel

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The Stars recalled top defense prospect Lian Bichsel from AHL Texas on Thursday, per a team announcement. They also reversed yesterday’s paper transaction involving forward Matěj Blümel and added him back to the active roster, which is now full.

Bichsel, 20, made his NHL debut last month and played eight games while filling in for the injured Mathew Dumba. The 2022 18th overall pick recorded a pair of goals and a plus-two rating, averaging 13:43 per game and recording a team-high 14.22 hits per 60 minutes.

Physicality is the principal aspect of the 6’7″, 231-lb defender’s game, but it’s not the only one. The Swiss native is also a skilled breakout passer and has three goals with six assists for nine points in 28 appearances with AHL Texas this season.

Dallas is now carrying eight defensemen on their active roster with no injury designations. It’s unlikely they’d interrupt Bichsel’s development in the AHL to have him sit in the press box, especially with no pressing injury concerns, so he’ll likely enter the lineup Friday against the Golden Knights while veteran and fellow lefty Brendan Smith heads to the press box.

Blümel, 24, has been on the roster for the most part since Jan. 11. The Czech winger, initially selected by the Oilers in the fourth round in 2019, has one goal on 10 shots in seven games with a minus-one rating. He’s been sent to the minors on off days to help the Stars bank additional cap space ahead of the March 7 trade deadline.

Blümel is one of a few players that the Stars have called up to play fourth-line spot duty with injuries to Mason Marchment and Tyler Seguin stretching their forward depth. He’s been one of their best AHL producers since arriving in the organization in 2022, averaging 0.85 points per game across 162 career minor-league appearances. This season, he leads the club with 18 goals through 32 games.

Golden Knights’ William Karlsson Out Week-To-Week With Lower-Body Injury

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11:31 a.m.: Laczynski has been recalled from AHL Henderson along with winger Brendan Brisson, the team announced. The pair of recalls indicates both Karlsson and Schwindt have been placed on IR. This is the first recall for the 23-year-old Brisson since October, after he went pointless in seven games to begin the year. The 2020 first-rounder has struggled with just four goals and 14 points in 31 AHL games since his demotion.

10:48 a.m.: The Golden Knights announced Thursday that center William Karlsson will be out week-to-week with a lower-body injury.

Karlsson, 32, also missed the first eight regular season games with an undisclosed injury. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet wrote this morning that there’s been a lingering injury bothering Karlsson that could prevent him from suiting up for Sweden in next month’s 4 Nations Face-Off, so it stands to reason the two are related.

One of three players remaining on Vegas’ roster from their inaugural season, Karlsson has operated as the Knights’ third-line center when healthy in 2024-25. With the reduction in role has come a slight decrease in minutes, with his 17:11 ATOI clocking in as his lowest during his Vegas tenure by a slight margin.

Likely due to a combination of his reduction in power-play usage and his nagging injury, this season has been a tough one for Karlsson offensively. He’s scored seven goals and 11 assists for 18 points through 38 games, down sharply from last year’s resurgent 30-goal, 60-point campaign.

Karlsson has remained valuable to Vegas in other ways. He’s winning faceoffs at a career-best 58.9% rate, leading the team. He also grades out as their top defensive forward this season, recording team-best marks at even strength in CF% (54.8) and GA/60 (1.8), the latter of which only leads Knights forwards.

The alternate captain’s absence is a big one for the Golden Knights, who will likely turn to Nicolas Roy to increase his minutes at even strength and on the penalty kill to compensate. Roy’s point production isn’t dissimilar to Karlsson’s this season, but his defensive play is a sizeable downgrade. Vegas allows 3.2 GA/60 at even strength with Roy on the ice, and his Corsi share while shorthanded is the worst among the team’s regular penaltykillers.

Vegas has a full active roster, and they also received news Tuesday that depth forward Cole Schwindt carries a week-to-week designation with a lower-body issue. One of them will presumably land on injured reserve today to allow the Knights to recall a forward for tonight’s game against the Blues. Tanner Laczynski, a natural center with a goal in six appearances for Vegas earlier this season, is the likeliest recall option.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Blackhawks Sign AJ Spellacy To Entry-Level Deal

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The Blackhawks announced Thursday they’ve signed forward prospect AJ Spellacy to an entry-level contract. The three-year deal has a $975K cap hit.

Chicago selected Spellacy, 18, with the 72nd overall pick in the 2024 draft. The 6’2″, 195-lb power forward can play right-wing and center and was named to the United States preliminary roster for this year’s World Junior Championship, although he didn’t make the cut.

Spellacy’s offensive numbers in junior play don’t jump off the page, but his pro-ready frame and responsible, physically involved defensive game make him a projectable piece. Now in his third season with the Ontario Hockey League’s Windsor Spitfires, he sits ninth on the club in scoring in 2024-25 with 11 goals and 14 assists for 25 points through 40 appearances.

The Ohio native has 39 goals and 41 assists for 80 points in 154 games with Windsor dating back to his major junior debut in 2022, adding 145 PIMs and a -21 rating. Public opinion of the heavy-hitting forward ranges wildly, with The Athletic’s Corey Pronman not even mentioning him in his 2024 pipeline rankings for the Blackhawks but outlets like Bleacher Nation ranking him among the team’s top 15 prospects as recently as October.

Since Spellacy won’t play in the NHL this season, his entry-level deal will slide to the 2025-26 campaign. If he plays fewer than 10 NHL games next year, it can slide again to 2026-27. The second scenario is likelier, making him first eligible for restricted free agency in 2030. Any signing bonuses he’s awarded in the first two years of the deal will be paid out regardless of a slide, and the cap hit of the deal will be slightly lowered when it goes into effect.

Blue Jackets Unlikely To Trade Pending Free Agents At Deadline

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The Blue Jackets have “little interest” in selling off their pending unrestricted free agents for mid-round picks at the trade deadline, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet writes Thursday. A big splash from the surging but still rebuilding club is unlikely, but Columbus won’t be in selling mode amid a tight Eastern Conference wild-card race.

Blue Jackets general manager Don Waddell has recently completed work to retain UFA-to-be Zach Aston-Reese and potential RFA Jake Christiansen on low-cost extensions. Other names, like Justin Danforth, Sean Kuraly, Mathieu Olivier up front, and Dante Fabbro and Jack Johnson on the back end, seem likely to stay in Columbus for the rest of the season regardless of how productive extension talks are.

Of course, the Jackets’ highest-value pending UFA is defenseman Ivan Provorov. The 28-year-old lefty has 20 points through 48 games this season while logging over 23 minutes per night but is believed to be interested in signing an extension to keep him off the open market, Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic said last month.

Nonetheless, Provorov ranked third on The Athletic’s latest trade board and 21st on TSN’s. His trade candidacy is likely exempt from Friedman’s report as he’d cost quite a bit more than a mid-round pick to acquire, even as a rental option.

After the Blue Jackets defeated the Maple Leafs 5-1 on Wednesday, they moved into what’s effectively a three-way tie based on points percentage for the two Eastern Conference wild-card spots with the Senators and Canadiens. Columbus has 53 points through 48 games for a .552 points percentage, while the Sens and Habs have 52 points through 47 games for a .553 mark.

As Friedman points out, the Jackets will be buyers in effect with the expected addition of captain Boone Jenner to the active roster in the coming weeks. He’s yet to play in the regular season after sustaining a shoulder injury during training camp that required surgery, but has resumed skating and is looking at a potential return in February/

Jenner, 31, would likely rank among the top 10 targets available at this year’s deadline in terms of roster impact. He’s coming off a 22-goal, 35-point campaign in 58 appearances last season

Wild Activate Kirill Kaprizov, Jared Spurgeon

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Jan. 23: The Wild officially activated Kaprizov from LTIR and Spurgeon from IR Thursday morning, per a team announcement. Jiříček was indeed reassigned to AHL Iowa yesterday, clearing the cap space for the former’s reinstatement.

Jan. 22: The Wild look to have superstar winger Kirill Kaprizov and captain Jared Spurgeon back in their lineup Thursday against Utah, Michael Russo of The Athletic reports. Both were full participants in Wednesday’s practice.

Kaprizov, 27, has missed 12 games with a nagging groin injury and has not played in nearly a month. On Dec. 23, the date of his last appearance, he was tied for second in the league in goals (23) and fourth in points (50) through 34 games.

Spurgeon, 35, returns after a slew-foot from Predators winger Zachary L’Heureux caused him a lower-body injury on New Year’s Eve. L’Heureux has since served and returned from a three-game suspension for the play, while Spurgeon missed nine contests, assuming he’s cleared to draw into the lineup tomorrow.

Minnesota entered Wednesday with a pair of roster spots, so taking Spurgeon off standard injured reserve won’t be a problem. However, Kaprizov is on long-term injured reserve, and the Wild lack the cap space to reinstate his $9MM cap hit.

They don’t need to open up a ton of flexibility, though, so they have a few ways of creating the required funds quickly. The simplest and likeliest is sending down defenseman David Jiříček, who projects to exit the lineup with Spurgeon returning anyway, Russo adds. They could also retroactively place defenseman Jonas Brodin on LTIR with his lower-body injury if he’s due to remain out until at least Feb. 1 or place defenseman Travis Dermott on waivers with the intent to send him to AHL Iowa.

Kaprizov looks to skate in his usual top-line role alongside Marco Rossi and Mats Zuccarello, according to Minnesota’s line rushes at today’s skate. Spurgeon will return to his new role as the Wild’s No. 2 right-shot defenseman behind Brock Faber with Declan Chisholm on his left flank as usual top-four option Brodin remains sidelined.

Despite missing an extended period, Kaprizov still has a nine-point cushion ahead of Matt Boldy for the team lead in points. He also leads the club with a +21 rating and 4.5 GF/60 at even strength.

While not the Norris nomination threat he once was, Spurgeon is still a comfortable top-four piece coming off left hip and back surgeries that capped his 2023-24 campaign at 16 appearances. In 37 contests this year, he’s posted four goals and nine assists for 13 points with a plus-three rating, averaging 20:43 per game. That’s still the 35-year-old’s lowest usage since his rookie season with Minnesota 14 years ago, though.

Although it hasn’t translated into a dominant rating, Spurgeon still tracks as the Wild’s best possession-controlling defenseman, at least at even strength. His 52.5 CF% leads Minnesota blue-liners and ranks second on the team behind Marcus Foligno’s 52.7.

NHL Hoping To Set Cap Ceiling For 2025-26 Before Trade Deadline

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There’s optimism around the NHL announcing the upper limit for the 2025-26 season’s salary cap before the March 7 trade deadline, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet writes Thursday.

Doing so would allow teams significantly more advanced planning than they’re used to in several ways. Official numbers for cap changes usually aren’t announced until a few weeks prior to the new league year, meaning general managers would now have months instead of weeks to execute extension negotiations better. There’s also a chance that the league’s boom in hockey-related revenue coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic will allow them to announce preset cap numbers for the 2026-27 and potentially 2027-28 campaigns as well, Friedman wrote.

The current projection for next season’s salary cap laid out by commissioner Gary Bettman last month is $92.4MM, but better revenue projections over the past few weeks have added fuel to the fire of a significantly higher increase. Player agents have predicated an increase to as high as $97MM for 2025-26, Friedman wrote, a $9MM jump from this year’s $88MM ceiling.

Surging revenues are also putting more money into players’ pockets this season. Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reported over the weekend that the league has terminated escrow withholding from players’ paychecks for the remainder of the season starting Jan. 30, with current HRR projections indicating the “amount already withheld will also be returned in full following final season accounting.” Players are also set to receive the full amount of escrow they had withheld from their 2023-24 paychecks plus an additional 1.5 to 2% to maintain the 50-50 revenue split between players and owners.

As for negotiations on the next CBA, set to commence soon to prevent a lockout in the 2026 offseason, Friedman writes, “There’s also reason to be optimistic in CBA negotiations. If the financials are sorted out, what on earth could stop a deal?”

News of a significant cap increase comes ahead of a potentially star-studded 2025 unrestricted free-agent market that, for now, is still set to feature names like Mitch Marner, Mikko Rantanen, and Nikolaj Ehlers.

Jets Interested In Jonathan Toews

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The Jets will be among the teams pursuing unrestricted free agent center Jonathan Toews if he attempts to continue his NHL career, general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff told Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic on Tuesday.

Toews, who turns 37 in April, told GQ last month he would give resuming his NHL career “his best shot,” and he hasn’t ultimately come to terms with his career being over. He hasn’t played in over a year and a half, missing the entirety of the 2020-21 season due to a severe flare-up of his Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS) and a good chunk of 2022-23 while dealing with long COVID symptoms exacerbated by CIRS.

Unsigned since the 2023 offseason, the lifelong Blackhawk will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer with three Stanley Cups, a Conn Smythe Trophy, a Selke Trophy, and four All-Star Game appearances on his résumé. He was also named one of the 100 greatest players in league history during its centennial season in 2017-18 and, for the Jets, would fill a growing hole down the middle.

Heading to his longtime Central Division rival would also mean suiting up for his hometown team. The first edition of the Jets were relocated to Phoenix when Toews was 8 years old, but he played youth hockey in Winnipeg until age 15, after which he headed south of the border to continue his development at American prep school Shattuck St. Mary’s before a two-year collegiate career at the University of North Dakota.

“It would be a real welcome conversation to see if there’s a fit both ways,” Cheveldayoff told LeBrun. “I think it would be a great story for his career, too. Not that he needs another story to [add to] his career. But I think he’s proud of his roots and would be an interesting fit.”

Whether Toews can factor into the Jets’ or any team’s picture for the 2024-25 campaign is still a gigantic question mark. LeBrun called it a “remote possibility” in an interview with TSN’s Jay Onrait on Wednesday, adding that Toews’ comments to GQ were more about “ramping up for next season.”

The Jets will still have some holes to fill at center for 2025-26. Adam Lowry and Mark Scheifele remain under contract and aren’t going anywhere, but the other half of their center complement, Rasmus Kupari and Vladislav Namestnikov. Coming off an extended absence with significant health concerns, Toews would likely be a Kupari replacement as Winnipeg’s fourth-line center if the two sides have productive conversations about a contract and fit.

Toews posted a career-worst -31 rating in his final season in Chicago, an understandable metric given his health issues and a paper-thin roster that yielded the league’s worst offense and a bottom-five defense. He still operated at a 50-point pace when healthy and won a career-best 63.1% of his faceoffs in 53 appearances, though, so regardless of other concerns about his overall game, he still likely carries value as a fourth-line faceoff specialist with adept two-way wingers.

Any Toews contract, regardless of if and where he signs, is almost certainly a one-year deal with a league-minimum base salary. Any additional value in the contract would almost certainly be through performance bonuses, which he’s eligible for as a 35+ UFA.

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