Headlines

Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Penguins Place Ville Koivunen On IR, Recall Samuel Poulin

at CDT | by 2 Comments

According to a team announcement, the Pittsburgh Penguins have recalled forward Samuel Poulin from the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Additionally, Pittsburgh has placed forward Ville Koivunen on the injured reserve with a lower-body injury.

There’s no questioning that Poulin has earned another opportunity at the NHL level. The former 21st overall pick of the 2019 NHL Draft is currently the leading scorer on the AHL Penguins with seven goals and 15 points in 16 games with a +8 rating.

Factoring in last year’s performance, in which he scored 19 goals and 43 points in 57 games, Poulin could provide additional offense to Pittsburgh’s bottom-six. Unfortunately, he has yet to show any flashes of offense at the NHL level, registering two assists in 13 games since the start of the 2022-23 campaign.

Still, it’s an inspiring recovery from a prospect that nearly left the game entirely during the 2022-23 season. Poulin took a leave of absence from the AHL Penguins early into that campaign, citing mental health concerns after suffering from a panic attack during a game. Coming off the best AHL performance of his career and starting the 2025-26 campaign with nearly a point-per-game, Poulin may have finally turned a corner in his development.

Meanwhile, the Penguins noted in their announcement that Koivunen’s lower-body injury will likely keep him out of the lineup for the next few weeks. The former draft pick of the Carolina Hurricanes had skated in 11 games for Pittsburgh this season, tallying two assists while averaging 12:34 of ice time per game.

Montreal Canadiens Reassign Marc Del Gaizo

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Nov. 18th: Montreal announced they’ve returned Del Gaizo to AHL Laval. He did not suit up in last night’s contest. Per the new league rules regarding paper transactions, Del Gaizo must play in at least one game for the Rocket before he’s eligible to return to the Canadiens’ active roster.

Nov. 17th: The Montreal Canadiens have brought up some injury insurance ahead of tonight’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Canadiens announced earlier today that they’ve recalled defenseman Marc Del Gaizo from the AHL’s Laval Rocket.

Although he’s expected to draw into the lineup this evening, Montreal only has six healthy defenseman on the active roster. As an away game, teams typically ensure they have an additional forward and defenseman on hand in case of an unexpected absence.

The former Nashville Predators draft pick is in his first season with the Canadiens, registering four assists in 11 games with AHL Laval with a +4 rating. Despite being recalled by Montreal on two separate occasions this season, he has yet to suit up for the Canadiens.

Before this season, the New Jersey native and University of Massachusetts alumnus had spent the first five years of his professional career with the Predators organization. He was drafted by the Predators with the 109th overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft and signed with the organization after his junior collegiate campaign.

Throughout his time with the Predators organization, much of Del Gaizo’s time had been spent with the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals. He scored 25 goals and 105 points in 248 games with the Admirals with a +24 rating, and two goals and 12 points in 55 games with Nashville as a depth defenseman.

Tampa Bay Lightning Make Multiple Roster Moves

at CDT | by 1 Comment

There are hardly any teams currently dealing with as many injuries as the Tampa Bay Lightning. Needing additional depth for their contest tonight against the New Jersey Devils, the Lightning announced they’ve recalled defenseman Declan Carlile and Steven Santini from the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch.

Additionally, Tampa Bay has swapped two players around its injured reserve, albeit an expected one. Erik Erlendsson of Lightning Insider reports that Tampa Bay has activated forward Dominic James from the injured reserve and placed defenseman Maxwell Crozier on it. 

After all the movement on the active roster, it leaves Tampa Bay with 13 forwards and eight defensemen available for tonight’s contest. It’s expected that one of Carlile or Santini will suit up tonight, though there’s no guarantee either defenseman will participate.

If Carlile plays, it’ll be his fifth career performance in the NHL. The former undrafted collegiate free agent is in his fifth season with the Lightning organization and has primarily played for the Crunch since the 2021-22 season.

For the first few years of his career, Carlile had been expected to put up between 20 and 30 points in the AHL with a relatively high +/-. However, this season, his offensive game has taken a significant jump, scoring two goals and 10 points in 15 games. He’s the highest-scoring defenseman on the team by a four-point margin and the fifth-highest scorer overall.

Meanwhile, Santini has far more NHL experience from his playing days, although it has been limited in recent years. Since the beginning of the 2019-20 campaign, Santini has appeared in 10 NHL games. Before then, from 2016 to 2019, Santini had suited up in 113 regular-season contests for the New Jersey Devils. He’s spent the last two years in the Lightning organization, scoring six goals and 21 points in 71 games.

Senators Recall Stephen Halliday, Lassi Thomson

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Before they embark on a seven-game road trip that will take them into December, the Ottawa Senators have recalled some depth to their active roster. According to a team announcement, the Senators have recalled forward Stephen Halliday and defenseman Lassi Thomson from the AHL’s Belleville Senators.

Unfortunately, the recall was preceded by some negativity. According to multiple reports, Ottawa has placed defenseman Thomas Chabot and forward Olle Lycksell on their injured reserve. Chabot’s upper-body injury is expected to keep him out of the lineup for the next couple of weeks. However, the Senators didn’t entirely rule out that he could return by the end of the upcoming road trip.

Halliday, 23, has the opportunity to make his NHL debut throughout the duration of the recall. The Ohio State University alumnus was drafted with the 104th overall pick by the Senators in the 2022 NHL Draft and transitioned to professional hockey toward the end of the 2023-24 campaign.

Since then, he’s been one of the more productive forwards for the AHL Senators. Starting with a 10-game debut to conclude the 2023-24 campaign, Halliday has scored 20 goals and 72 points in 96 games with Belleville and was leading the team in scoring before the recall. Halliday was also impressive in his one postseason run, scoring two goals and nine points in seven games.

Still, there is some reason for concern due to Halliday’s performance on the defensive side of the puck. Despite leading the team in scoring last season, Halliday finished with a dreadful -20 rating, nine points lower than the next worst. Granted, the AHL Senators didn’t qualify for the 2025 Calder Cup playoffs, but the team as a whole only finished with a -17 goal differential.

Meanwhile, Thomson has had a far different trajectory with the Senators organization as a prospect. Drafted with the 19th overall pick of the 2019 NHL Draft, there’s no question that Thomson has fallen well short of expectations.

He began his professional career in North America at the end of the 2020-21 season, and primarily played with Belleville. Until the 2023-24 campaign, Thomson had scored 26 goals and 93 points in 202 AHL games with the Senators with a -28 rating. The disappointing performance led to Thomson leaving North America altogether last season, signing with the SHL’s Malmö Redhawks to a two-year deal.

It was a relatively promising season in the SHL, with Thomson scoring 17 goals and 29 points in 50 games, and adding three more goals in eight postseason contests. As things would turn out, the Redhawks released Thomson after one season, allowing him to re-sign with the Senators this past offseason.

Dallas Stars Recall Vladislav Kolyachonok

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

As expected, the Dallas Stars have recalled a defenseman to their active roster for tonight’s contest. According to a team announcement, the Stars have recalled defenseman Vladislav Kolyachonok from the AHL’s Texas Stars. 

Given that Dallas only had five healthy defenseman on the roster before this morning’s move, it’s a guarantee that Kolyachonok will draw into the lineup this evening. Although they haven’t been placed on the team’s injured reserve, the Stars are without Thomas Harley for the next few weeks and Ilya Lyubushkin for the next few days.

Tonight will be Kolyachonok’s first NHL appearance since the end of last season. Dallas acquired the Belarusian this summer in a trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins that landed Matt Dumba in Pennsylvania. The Penguins acquired him last season on the waiver wire from the then-named Utah Hockey Club. He finished the season with two goals and seven points in 35 games with a -12 rating, averaging 13:01 of ice time per game.

Although he hasn’t been the highest-scoring blueliner for the AHL Stars this season, Kolyachonok has the most NHL experience of any of Dallas’s recall options. He’s registered three assists in 10 games with 10 PIMs.

Regardless of Kolyachonok’s recall, it’ll be interesting to see how the Stars split up their defensive pairings this evening. Miro Heiskanen, Esa Lindell, and Lian Bichsel are each high-quality defenseman in their own right. However, Dallas will have to fill the remaining gaps with Alexander Petrovic, Kyle Capobianco, and Kolyachonok without any additional help.

Additionally, with Kolyachonok’s recall, the Stars still only have 22 players on the active roster. Factoring in the reports from Sunday indicating that captain Jamie Benn could return within the next few days, Dallas has left a spot on the roster open for him tonight.

Evening Notes: Neighbours, Kemell, O’Connor

at CDT | by 1 Comment

The St. Louis Blues will get leading goal-scorer Jake Neighbours back on their current five-game road trip, per head coach Jim Montgomery. Neighbours has been out with a right-leg injury since St. Louis’ October 25th win over the Detroit Red Wings. He scored two goals in that game, bringing his year-long totals up to six goals in eight games. That mark was double any other Blues’ goal total at the time, and is still tied for the team lead despite him missing the last 11 games. He has seven points in total.

The Blues will be anxiously anticipating the return of their hot hand. They have posted a 3-4-1 record since Neighbours’ exited the lineup – the fifth-lowest point-percentage in the NHL in that span. It’s been a brutal stretch, marked by St. Louis averaging over four goals against per game. Neighbours’ confident offense, and chemistry with Robert Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich, should help spur the Blues’ offense; while his physicality supports the defense. The 23-year-old could return as soon as Thursday’s game versus the Philadelphia Flyers.

Other notes from around the league:

  • The Nashville Predators have reassigned winger Joakim Kemell to the minor-leagues. Kemell was recalled on November 10th, but didn’t appear in any NHL games over the last week. His only NHL action this year came in two games at the start of Nashville’s season. He managed no scoring, one shot on goal, and four hits in the pair of outings. Kemell has managed six points in six AHL games this season, making him one of three Milwaukee Admirals scoring at a point-per-game. He’ll now bring that productivity back to an Admirals team that’s 5-1-0 through November.
  • The Colorado Avalanche will have to wait a bit longer to get depth forward Logan O’Connor back into the lineup. He has sustained an soft-tissue issue that will delay his return from a hip surgery he underwent in March per Evan Rawal of the Denver Gazette. This new injury is unrelated to the surgery, per Rawal, but has still pushed back O’Connor’s original return date of early November. The 29-year-old right-winger appeared in 80 games, and scored 21 points, with the Avalanche last season. He’s become a fixture of the team’s fourth-line, and has managed at least 20 points in each of the last four seasons.

Sharks’ Jeff Skinner Out Week-To-Week

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The San Jose Sharks will continue on without one of their veteran wingers. Jeff Skinner is set to miss about two weeks with aa lower-body injury, head coach Ryan Warsofsky told Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News. Skinner was placed on injured reserve on November 15th, and won’t be eligible to return until November 22nd at the soonest.

Skinner sustained his injury in San Jose’s November 13th loss to the Calgary Flames, after getting tangled up with Flames winger Rory Kerins and tumbling into the boards. He appeared to be in immediate pain and needed help off the ice. Luckily, he avoided the worst of injury, with Warsofsky quiping that San Jose got lucky with Skinner’s timeline.

Skinner has had an up-and-down start to his tenure in San Jose. He started the season with a four-game scoring streak, but followed it with a four-game scoring drought that ended with a healthy scratch on October 26th. Skinner returned from the press box to three points in five games, but was riding a three-game scoring drought prior to his injury. On the year, he has recorded four points, a minus-four, and 29 shots on goal in 16 games.

That’s a far fall for a winger who is only four seasons removed from back-to-back 30-goal seasons, and a career-high 82 points in the Buffalo Sabres’ 2022-23 campaign. His scoring tumbled to 46 points in the following year, then to only 29 points with the Edmonton Oilers last season.

Skinner will need to find a way to spur that scoring when he returns in December. Meanwhile, Warsofsky also shared that 2025 second-overall pick Michael Misa – also week-to-week with a lower-body injury – will take a bit longer to recover per Max Miller of San Jose Hockey Digest. Misa sustained his injury during practice and hadn’t carved out a role in the Sharks’ lineup prior. He has three points through his first seven NHL games. A longer-than-two-weeks designation will put Misa on track to return just before the holiday season – or, just before the 2026 World Junior Championships, which the star prospect wasn’t selected for last season. He would be a true X-factor for Team Canada if San Jose used the tournament to spur Misa’s return from injury.

Blackhawks Place Nick Foligno On IR With Hand Injury

at CDT | by 3 Comments

10/17: The Blackhawks have placed Foligno on injured reserve after learning he’ll miss four weeks of action. Chicago has iced 11 forwards and seven defenseman – bringing Louis Crevier into the lineup – in Foligno’s absence. They’ll face one of three options now that their captain is on IR – stick with seven defenders every night; recall a forward like Toninato; or wait for Dickinson, who said he won’t return until he’s back to a full 100% per Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times.

10/16: The Chicago Blackhawks will be without captain Nick Foligno for the next month, head coach Jeff Blashill told Mario Tirabassi of CHGO Sports. Foligno sustained a hand injury after blocking a shot in Saturday night’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. He left the game with a few minutes left in the second period and did not return.

On top of the moral weight of losing their captain, Chicago will lose yet another forward in their middle-six with this news. The team is already without Jason Dickinson and Tyler Bertuzzi, who are both carrying day-to-day designations. Now, Foligno will fall out of the lineup as well, leaving a major hole on the wing. Foligno has filled any role Chicago has needed over the course of the season. He had two points, one fight, and a plus-three in his last five games entering Saturday’s matchup. Those marks brought him up to six points, all assists, in 15 games on the year – to go with 16 penalty minutes, 11 blocked shots, and 41 hits.

Chicago has rotated Foligno between the wing and center based on need. With no extra forwards on the roster, the Blackhawks will need to make a call-up to fill Foligno’s shoes. Unfortunately, the team is also without top call-up option Nick Lardis, who is day-to-day with an undisclosed injury per the Rockford IceHogs. Lardis leads all AHL rookies in scoring with 14 points in 15 games. He could quickly receive his first NHL call-up once he’s back to full health. Until then, Chicago will likely turn towards Dominic Toninato, who has nine points in 15 games for Rockford.

Drew Doughty Expected To Miss Weeks With Lower-Body Injury

at CDT | by 5 Comments

11/17: The Kings have confirmed that Doughty is out week-to-week with a lower-body injury per the team’s Manager of Editorial Content Zach Dooley. No details were provided on the injury, though they did clarify that it is unrelated to the ankle injury he sustained last season. Hopefully that will help him recover quickly, with a winning Kings season and Winter Olympics both at stake.

11/16: The Los Angeles Kings could be in store for a major absence. Veteran defender and alternate captain Drew Doughty was seen in a walking boot after Saturday night’s match against the Ottawa Senators, after leaving the game in the second period following a blocked shot. He appeared in pain right away, and gingerly returned to the Kings’ bench without putting weight on his left foot. The team expects to know more about his injury alter today, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. He is expected to be out week-to-week, per David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period.

Doughty only played through 11 minutes of ice time before exiting the game. He has been heavily leaned on over Los Angeles’ recent stretch, averaging more than 22 minutes of ice time over his last five games. He’s rewarded that usage with four points, eight blocked shots, and two hits. Those numbers brought Doughty up to eight points, 30 blocks, and 11 hits in 18 games entering Saturday night.

An extended absence would be dismal news for the 36-year-old Doughty. He fractured his left ankle in a preseason game in September 2024 on an awkward hit from Tanner Pearson. The injury required surgery, sticking Doughty with a month-to-month injury designation. He didn’t return until January, and only managed 17 points in 30 games before Los Angeles’ season ended. Doughty’s health has fluctuated wildly over the second-half of his career. He enjoyed an ironman streak from 2014 to 2019, but missed 15 games in 2019-20 and 43 games in 2021-22. He returned to good health, only missing one game between 2022 and 2024, until injury derailed him last season.

Doughty was named to Team Canada’s preliminary roster for the 2026 Winter Olympics in August. He was one of 42 skaters, and 13 defenders, named to the squad – putting him under a microscope for the rest of the year. This season will likely mark Doughty’s final chance to stand as an Olympian. He has already won two Olympic Gold medals, while posting eight points in 13 games. Doughty also represented Canada at the 2025 4-Nations Face-Off, where he scored one point in four games.

Winnipeg Jets Make Multiple Roster Moves

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Winnipeg Jets’ forward core is going to have several differences for their upcoming contest against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Winnipeg announced that they’ve activated forwards Morgan Barron and Cole Koepke from the injured reserve.

Additionally, the team shared that forwards Nikita Chibrikov, Parker Ford, and Brad Lambert had all been reassigned in a corresponding roster move. All three forwards were exempt from waivers, making it much easier to activate Barron and Koepke.

Barron has been out since the Jets welcomed back their captain, Adam Lowry, in early November. He had assumed the third-line center duties in Lowry’s absence, scoring three goals and six points in 12 games, averaging 12:33 of ice time per game.

The fact that Winnipeg can now safely play Barron on the fourth line is a credit to their bottom-six depth this season. Barron is a well-above-average defensive center, averaging a 93.3% on-ice save percentage at even strength throughout his time as a Jet, and a 50.5% success rate in the faceoff dot.

Joining Barron on the active roster will be Koepke, who may not immediately step back into the lineup. Fashioned as a fourth-line winger, Koepke had only tallied two assists in 14 games before going down with his undisclosed injury.

Still, he remains in the team lead for physicality with 40 hits (2.86 per game). Regardless, there’s no questioning that Koepke doesn’t have the offensive ceiling of veteran wingers Tanner Pearson and Gustav Nyquist, who are expected to play next to Barron on the fourth line tomorrow night.

Meanwhile, none of Chibrikov, Ford, or Lambert were overly impressive throughout their time on the Jets roster. Ford and Lambert led the way in scoring with one point in 11 games and four games, respectively, while Chibrikov went scoreless.

It stands to reason that the AHL’s Manitoba Moose will benefit from today’s move. The Moose are currently in fourth place in the Central Division with a 7-6-2-0 record, and have now added three top-six forwards back into the mix.

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

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

scroll to top