Boston Bruins Recall Michael DiPietro
Michael DiPietro, American Hockey League All-Star for the Providence Bruins, will get his first look on the bench with the Boston Bruins this evening. The Bruins announced they’ve recalled DiPietro from their AHL affiliate to fill in for Jeremy Swayman as he deals with a minor injury.
Still, aside from an injury to Joonas Korpisalo or a lopsided affair against the Ottawa Senators, DiPietro will have to wait to debut with the Bruins. Should he be needed; however, it will be exactly three years to the day that DiPietro last suited up in an NHL contest.
Boston acquired DiPietro from the Vancouver Canucks in the 2022-23 season as a part of the package that sent Jack Studnicka to British Columbia. He spent much of that year for the Bruins’ ECHL affiliate, the Maine Mariners, posting a 19-9-0 record in 29 games with a .918 save percentage.
DiPietro hasn’t looked back since becoming a full-time netminder with AHL Providence. He split the net with Brandon Bussi last season posting an 18-9-2 record in 30 games with a .918 SV% and 2.51 goals-against average, including four shutouts. For better or for worse, Providence tasked Bussi with playoff duties despite DiPietro’s marginally better output, and they were ousted in four games against the Hartford Wolf Pack.
The Windsor, Ontario native is still sharing the net with Bussi this season albeit starting a few more games. DiPietro has already been named to the Eastern Conference All-Star Team with a 14-5-4 record in 22 games with a .930 SV%. Not only is DiPietro leading Providence in save percentage by a large margin, he sits second only to Devin Cooley in the entire AHL for netminders that have started in 20 or more contests.
Toronto Maple Leafs Recall Matt Murray, Reassign Dennis Hildeby
Although they don’t play until Saturday, the Toronto Maple Leafs are making a small move between the pipes. Toronto announced they’ve recalled veteran netminder Matt Murray and reassigned goaltender Dennis Hildeby to their AHL affiliate, the Toronto Marlies.
It’ll be Murray’s first opportunity back in the NHL over the last month. Due to injuries, the veteran puck-stopper hadn’t played a game for the Maple Leafs since April 2, 2023, and returned to the NHL toward the end of the 2024 calendar year.
His first start in 628 days came against the Buffalo Sabres when Murray stopped 24 of 27 shots and secured the win. His next start wasn’t as productive, stopping only 27 of 31 shots for a .871 save percentage in a loss against the Washington Capitals.
Still, his time with AHL Toronto has been more than fruitful this year, earning an 8-4-3 record in 15 games with a .934 SV%, 1.68 goals-against average, and three shutouts. The 30-year-old native of Thunder Bay, Ontario is in a difficult situation where he hasn’t recently been healthy enough to be a consistent netminder in the NHL and is almost too good for the AHL.
Hildeby returns to a familiar environment after playing backup duty for Joseph Woll for the last month. He was hardly used by the Maple Leafs during that stretch, posting a 1-2-0 record in three starts against the Philadelphia Flyers, Vancouver Canucks, and Columbus Blue Jackets, respectively, with a .868 SV%. His track record this year and beyond has been much better for the Marlies where Hildeby has managed a .916 SV% in eight games on the current campaign.
Ottawa Senators To Activate David Perron, Move Linus Ullmark To LTIR
Jan. 23rd: The Senators needed to create additional cap space to activate Perron for tonight’s game. PuckPedia reports that Ottawa has moved goaltender Linus Ullmark and his $5MM to LTIR opening up the necessary room for Perron and another $1MM in space. Unfortunately, PuckPedia added that the organization would need to clear an additional $1.9MM from their books when they eventually activate Ullmark.
Jan. 22nd: Longtime veteran winger David Perron is expected to return for the first time since before American Thanksgiving. Although no official announcement has come from the Ottawa Senators, Matt Porter of The Boston Globe reports Perron will suit up tomorrow night against the Boston Bruins.
The timing couldn’t be better for Perron or the Senators. The former has been limited to nine games this season due to unfortunate complications in the birth of his daughter and a nagging back injury for the last few weeks. Even if Perron stays healthy enough to play in Ottawa’s remaining 35 games, it’ll be the first time since the 2010-11 season he’s failed to play 45 or more regular season contests.
Still, his return can’t be seen as anything other than a positive. Thanks to a 14-8-3 run over their last 25 games, the Senators are hanging on to the top wild-card position in the Eastern Conference. Given that Ottawa is the eighth youngest team in the NHL and Perron is only one of three former Stanley Cup champions on the roster, his experience should prove a boon as they compete for a berth in the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time since the 2016-17 season.
Perron’s return should also help alleviate some issues in the team’s bottom six. Because the Senators are closer to the salary cap ceiling than they’ve been in seasons past, the bottom six of their forward core is largely composed of spare parts.
The veteran winger should provide more consistency to that group assuming he stays healthy the rest of the way. Ottawa has more pressing needs on the blue line during the trade deadline season which is where much of their focus is expected to go.
Blackhawks Recall Ethan Del Mastro, Reassign Wyatt Kaiser
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
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
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
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
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
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
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