Headlines

Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

West Notes: Olofsson, Fleury, Wedgewood

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Vegas Golden Knights forward Victor Olofsson didn’t play last night due to an illness (as per Golden Knights Twitter). The 29-year-old was a late scratch as Tanner Laczynski took his spot in the lineup against the Buffalo Sabres. Olofsson was previously a member of the Sabres for six seasons after being drafted in the seventh round in 2014. He signed a one-year deal in Vegas in the summer and has fared well thus far in limited action, posting eight goals and five assists in 18 games.

The Golden Knights have the day off today and will return to practice tomorrow, head coach Bruce Cassidy was hopeful that the day off will allow Olofsson the chance to recover from whatever is ailing him (as per Danny Webster of the Las Vegas Review Journal).

In other Western Conference notes:

  • Winnipeg Jets defenseman Haydn Fleury skated in a non-contact jersey yesterday as he looks to return from a lower-body injury (as per Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Free Press). Fleury hasn’t played since suffering a frightening-looking leg injury against Toronto on December 23rd, he was originally considered week-to-week and will likely remain so for now, as his return doesn’t appear to be imminent. The fact that Fleury is already back skating is a good sign for the former seventh-overall pick, but his eventual return will force the Jets to make some roster decisions as it will further crowd their back end.
  • The Colorado Avalanche received some good news on the injury status of goaltender Scott Wedgewood (as per Evan Rawal of the Denver Gazette). The veteran netminder’s scan came back negative, indicating that he does not have a high ankle sprain. The Avalanche have hopes that the 32-year-old will be able to get back into the lineup in the next two weeks but should receive confirmation soon as he is meeting tomorrow with a specialist. Wedgewood was acquired from the Nashville Predators on November 30th and has helped steady the Avalanche goaltending situation, posting terrific numbers in seven games with a 2.35 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage.

Yanni Gourde Out With Lower-Body Injury, Joey Daccord Progressing

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Seattle Kraken center Yanni Gourde missed last night’s game against the Edmonton Oilers with an apparent lower-body injury (Twitter link). Gourde skipped practice on Friday, taking what was called a “Maintenance day” but did take the morning skate with the Kraken yesterday. The injury could be a bit of a concern, given that the 33-year-old did miss time in December with a lower-body injury. The two-time Stanley Cup Champion has been durable during his ten-year career, missing just a couple dozen games.

Gourde has been a reliable depth scorer throughout his NHL career, although he has never been able to recapture his offensive touch from his first full NHL season when he posted 25 goals and 39 assists in 82 games. This season, the Saint-Narcisse, Quebec native has registered six goals and 10 assists in 35 games.

Kraken goaltender Joey Daccord also missed last night’s game as he remains sidelined with an upper-body injury (as per Kraken producer Scott Malone). Like Gourde, Daccord took part in yesterday’s morning skate but isn’t quite ready to return. The 28-year-old hasn’t played since December 22nd and lost his last four appearances prior to going down to injury.

Despite recent struggles, Daccord has been good overall this season for Seattle, ranking 11th in the entire NHL with a goals saved above expected of 9.3 (as per Money Puck), and a record of 12-9-2.

Vancouver Canucks Fielding Offers On Elias Pettersson, J.T. Miller

at CDT | by 41 Comments

There was one major talking point in tonight’s rendition of ’Saturday Headlines’ with Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Friedman reports the Vancouver Canucks are fielding offers on forwards Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller with all options currently on the table.

Friedman asserts the Canucks are “definitely” looking at the market for both forwards but it appears to be a stronger version of due diligence rather than active trade talks up to this point. There’s a possibility neither are traded, one is, or both are traded and Friedman wasn’t willing to commit to any of the options. Still, the trade chatter has gotten to the point of Vancouver telling interested parties they’ll need an NHL-caliber center as a part of the return package for either player.

Due to the complexity of any hypothetical trade involving Pettersson or Miller, there haven’t been many legitimate connections to any teams. Friedman pointed out that neither player had requested a trade from the Canucks although Miller would likely prefer to return to the United States.

There appears to be something brewing in Vancouver though. In a recent interview with Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet, the general manager of the Canucks, Patrik Allvin spoke candidly about Pettersson saying, “Petey has shown up to this point that he is an extremely talented, quality player that could and should be a No. 1 centre. I believe in him. I believe that he’s capable. (But) he needs to mature and understand that there are certain expectations and it does not get easier. And you need to face the music when things don’t go well. Is it (a trade) possible? I guess I would say anything is possible.”

It doesn’t take much scrutiny to notice the apparent rift between them. This year alone, Pettersson scored two goals and 15 points in the 10 games Miller missed from mid-November to mid-December. Throughout 23 games playing with Miller this season, Pettersson has eight goals and 13 points in 23 contests. Miller has been a consistent performer regardless of Pettersson’s availability but he may hold less value in Vancouver given he’s five years Petterson’s elder.

Miller has more control over a potential trade given the no-movement clause in his contract and Pettersson’s not starting until next year. Still, Pettersson’s contract may be more difficult to move given his $11.6MM salary compared to Miller’s $8MM price tag.

It will be an interesting saga to see play out regardless. This is an issue that the Canucks could continue an attempt to solve internally. However, being no stranger to moves of magnitude, GM Allvin may take it upon himself to create a resolution via trade.

Oilers Expected To Wait Until Deadline To Add Defenseman

at CDT | by 6 Comments

To the surprise of few, the Edmonton Oilers are monitoring nearly every available defenseman as the trade deadline approaches. David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period lists Ivan Provorov of the Columbus Blue Jackets, David Savard of the Montreal Canadiens, and Brian Dumoulin of the Anaheim Ducks as the most viable candidates.

As hasty as the Oilers are to acquire a top-four defenseman they are severely limited by their salary cap space and Evander Kane’s availability for the rest of the campaign. Kane’s $5.125MM salary is currently on long-term injured reserve giving Edmonton plenty of flexibility in the present but they’ll be handcuffed if he returns for the regular season. PuckPedia gives the Oilers a deadline cap space of only $1.02MM.

Edmonton should be able to acquire any of the aforementioned trade candidates but another fish may become available closer to the deadline. It’s becoming apparent the New York Rangers are headed toward a complex roster retooling after a 5-15-0 record in their last 20 games. Does former Norris Trophy winner Adam Fox make sense for the Oilers? Both sides would have to get creative considering Fox’s $9.5MM salary for the next five years but the 2024-25 campaign is the last year on the deal without a full no-movement clause.

Depending on how aggressively both teams want to be with their respective aspirations, the Oilers could form a package with Kane’s contract, Jeff Skinner’s expiring deal, prospect Matthew Savoie, and their 2027 first-round pick. It’ll be difficult for Edmonton to reach the price of what it would take to acquire a defenseman with Fox’s stature but there are other possible candidates on the Rangers’ roster.

K’Andre Miller and Ryan Lindgren fit the mold of an ideal trade acquisition for the Oilers. They are both on expiring contracts (with the former not becoming an unrestricted free agent until after the 2026-27 season) and hold valuable roles on the penalty kill. Edmonton’s penalty kill is ranked 23rd in the league with a 76.4% success rate while New York’s sits third thanks to help from Miller and Lindgren.

Needless to say, Edmonton is on the hunt to put themselves over the top in preparation for the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs. Multiple reports indicate that it’s a matter of when, not if, the Oilers acquire a top-four defenseman to plug into their lineup.

Atlantic Notes: Petry, Bennett, Bryson

at CDT | by 2 Comments

As mentioned yesterday, the Detroit Red Wings’ concerns regarding the availability of veteran defenseman Jeff Petry have unfortunately been realized. According to team broadcast reporter Daniella Bruce, the Red Wings won’t have Petry in the lineup tonight due to an undisclosed injury suffered in the team’s recent game against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Petry may be out for longer than just tonight. Head coach Todd McLellan is hopeful it’ll be a shorter-term injury for Petry but did say the team would know more once they get back to Detroit. In the meantime, McLellan will choose between youngster Albert Johansson or recently recalled William Lagesson for tonight’s contest.

There is a valid argument that either option may prove to be an improvement over Petry. He’s experiencing one of the worst offensive seasons of his career, reminiscent of the 2013-14 season when he had only seven goals and 17 points in 80 games with the third-to-last-place Edmonton Oilers. While Petry has performed slightly better defensively this year with the Red Wings, he has not approached the level of the consistent 40-point defenseman he once was.

Other happenings in the Atlantic Division:

  • The NHL’s Department of Player Safety has fined Florida Panthers’ center Sam Bennett $5K for roughing Pittsburgh Penguins’ Drew O’Connor in last night’s contest. It’s the second time Bennett has been issued a fine by the Department of Player Safety and the fourth time he’s faced supplemental discipline. During the incident, Bennett attempted to hit O’Connor behind Pittsburgh’s net and threw his right hand into O’Connor’s face.
  • According to Mike Harrington of Buffalo News Sports, the Buffalo Sabres will be down a defenseman tonight. Jacob Bryson, who has picked up a more consistent role in Buffalo’s bottom defensive-pairing this season, won’t play tonight due to an illness. Dennis Gilbert, seldomly used by head coach Lindy Ruff this season, will draw in for Bryson against the Vegas Golden Knights. Gilbert has tallied one assist in 12 contests this year averaging 10:45 of ice time per game.

Edmonton Oilers Recall Josh Brown

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Oilers are adding some extra depth on the back end to their roster as they begin a four-game road trip tonight in Seattle.  The team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled defenseman Josh Brown from AHL Bakersfield.

The 30-year-old is in his first season with Edmonton after signing a three-year, $3MM contract that hasn’t gone quite as intended thus far.  Originally viewed as a sixth or seventh defender at the time he signed, Brown wound up not making the team out of training camp and cleared waivers back in early October.

Since then, he has been recalled three times but his playing time has been quite limited.  Brown has suited up in just three games, all coming over a four-day stretch in November.  He didn’t record a point while adding five blocked shots and six hits in a little over 12 minutes a night of playing time.  Considering Edmonton has six healthy blueliners at the moment, he might not be adding to his limited totals while up with the big club.

Brown has played in 20 games with the Condors this season, his first taste of action in the minors since the 2018-19 campaign when he was with Springfield.  He has just three assists in those outings while also recording 52 penalty minutes.

Edmonton had two open roster spots so no corresponding moves needed to be made to bring Brown up and with Evander Kane being their only injured player (and not close to returning), there won’t be any pending moves that could force him off the roster in the near future.

Toronto Maple Leafs Activate Auston Matthews

at CDT | by 6 Comments

4:15 p.m: According to a team announcement, the Maple Leafs have officially activated from injured reserve and will have him in the forward grouping this evening.

10:58 a.m: The Maple Leafs will welcome back a key piece of their forward tonight.  Center Auston Matthews told reporters including NHL.com’s Dave McCarthy that he will be in the lineup against Boston, meaning Toronto will be activating him off injured reserve.

The 27-year-old has missed the last six games after reaggravating the upper-body injury forced him to miss nine games back in November.  At that time, he went to Germany to be reassessed and has since acknowledged that the injury is something that may linger for the rest of the season.

He’s expected to reclaim his spot on the top line alongside wingers Matthew Knies and Mitch Marner and intends to play both games over the weekend over being eased back in.

In between his stints on IR, the captain has been relatively productive though not to the level he’s accustomed to.  Matthews has 11 goals and 12 assists in 24 games so far this season, good for fourth on the team in scoring despite being out for 15 games already.  However, it’s a far cry from the type of per-game output that saw him record at least 60 goals and 106 points in two of the last three seasons although the Maple Leafs aren’t as much of a high-scoring team under new head coach Craig Berube as they’d been in past years with Sheldon Keefe behind the bench.

Toronto has an open spot on its roster following yesterday’s reassignment of defenseman Marshall Rifai to the Marlies so they won’t need to make any moves to bring Matthews back onto the open roster.

Kings Announce Four Roster Moves

at CDT | by 1 Comment

The Kings were busy leading into their game against Tampa Bay today.  The team announced that they’ve activated winger Trevor Moore and center Trevor Lewis off injured reserve.  To make room on the roster, winger Andre Lee was assigned to AHL Ontario while defenseman Kyle Burroughs was moved to non-roster status.

Moore was moved to IR last weekend but last played on December 12th and had been sidelined with an upper-body injury since then.  The 29-year-old had a career year last season with 31 goals and 26 assists in 82 games and while he hasn’t produced at quite the same level this year, he’s still doing well with six goals and a dozen helpers in 28 outings while logging a little over 17 minutes a night.

As for Lewis, he sustained a lower-body injury on the final day of November and has been out since then.  He’s being activated for his 1,000th career game tonight.  Lewis has seven points in 25 games so far this season while chipping in with 46 hits and a 51% success rate at the faceoff dot, continuing to have success in the fourth-line role he has held for the bulk of his career.

Lee is the roster casualty up front to bring Moore and Lewis back onto the roster.  The 24-year-old has split the season between the Kings and Reign, getting his first taste of NHL playing time along the way.  Lee has played in 19 games with Los Angeles, primarily on the fourth line.  In those outings, he has a goal and two assists along with 36 hits in just over nine minutes a night.  In Ontario, he has suited up four time, collecting a goal and an assist.

Burroughs, meanwhile, is in his first season with the Kings after signing a two-year, $2.2MM deal with them last summer.  Playing time hasn’t been the easiest to come by, however, as he has been limited to just 20 games thus far out of 37.  The 29-year-old has a pair of assists, 31 hits, and 24 penalty minutes but is playing just 8:39 per game, well below his career average of 15:57 per game.  He is away from the team following the birth of his child.

Metropolitan Notes: Tomasino, Tarasov, George, Holmstrom

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Penguins winger Philip Tomasino left Friday’s game against Florida early after a collision with Nate Schmidt and sustained a lower-body injury on the play.  Team reporter Michelle Crechiolo relays (Twitter link) that there was no further update on his injury today with head coach Mike Sullivan indicating that he’s still being evaluated.  Tomasino has been a nice addition since being acquired from Nashville back in November for a 2027 fourth-round pick, picking up four goals and three assists in 16 games but now it looks like he’ll be out of the lineup for a little while.  Barring any further roster movement, one of Anthony Beauvillier or Jesse Puljujarvi (who remains on the roster despite recently clearing waivers) will take Tomasino’s place in the lineup.

More from the Metropolitan:

  • Blue Jackets goaltender Daniil Tarasov acknowledged to Aaron Portzline of The Athletic (subscription link) that he declined the organization’s request to take a conditioning stint with AHL Cleveland. The 25-year-old has only played once in the last month – that coming last Saturday – and has played just twice since mid-November.  It has been a rough year for Tarasov who has a 4.23 GAA and a .857 SV% in 10 starts but feels he’d be best served staying in the NHL while his agent J.P. Barry added that Tarasov’s injury history in the minors also played a role in the decision.
  • Islanders defenseman Isaiah George is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury, notes Newsday’s Denis Gorman (Twitter link). The rookie was injured in Thursday’s loss to Toronto.  George has been impressive since being recalled in early November.  He has played in 25 games so far, recording five points and 30 blocked shots while averaging 16:38 of playing time and even saw time on the top pairing at one point.  Meanwhile, Gorman adds that winger Simon Holmstrom is also listed as day-to-day with his upper-body injury.  He last played on Sunday and has nine goals and 13 assists in 37 games so far and is close to matching his rookie-season output already.

Kraken Recall Ben Meyers

at CDT | by 1 Comment

Ben Meyers’ stint in the minors wound up being relatively short-lived.  After being sent down before the holiday break last month, he’s now back up with the Kraken as the team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled him from AHL Coachella Valley.

It’s the third recall of the season for the 26-year-old.  Meyers has played in four games so far this season with Seattle and has been held off the scoresheet while winning nearly 46% of his faceoffs.  He has been quite productive with the Firebirds, however, collecting 10 goals and 12 assists in 25 games with them.  The threshold for Meyers needing to clear waivers again is when he reaches either 10 NHL games or 30 days on the active roster so he’s six away on the games played front and is around halfway there on NHL days.

Meyers is on a one-year, $775K contract and can easily be fit within Seattle’s remaining LTIR pool for Vince Dunn.  He’s eligible for Group Six unrestricted free agency once again this summer but if he gets into nine more NHL games this season, he’ll revert to RFA status with arbitration eligibility.

Seattle had an open roster spot so no corresponding move needed to be made to elevate Meyers to the NHL roster.

Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

scroll to top