Kraken Recall Mitchell Stephens, Activate Vince Dunn Off LTIR
Prior to their game tonight against San Jose, the Kraken announced (Twitter link) that forward Mitchell Stephens was recalled from AHL Coachella Valley. Additionally, defenseman Vince Dunn has been activated off LTIR according to the NHL’s media site.
Stephens is in his first season with Seattle after signing a two-year, two-way deal with them early in free agency back in July. The 27-year-old is a veteran of 95 career NHL appearances between Tampa Bay, Detroit, and Montreal. Stephens got into 23 appearances with the latter last season, notching three points while winning over 55% of his faceoffs in a little over nine minutes a night of playing time.
It’s his first recall of the season and it comes following somewhat of a slow start to his season. Stephens has three goals and an assist in 11 games so far with the Firebirds. By comparison, he had 35 points in 49 games with AHL Laval just last season.
Meanwhile, the return of Dunn is a welcome one for the Kraken. He has been one of the more impactful blueliners league-wide in recent years, especially on the offensive side of things after putting up 110 points in 140 games between 2022-23 and 2023-24 while logging over 23 minutes of ice time each night. Prior to suffering an upper-body injury that kept him out for nearly six weeks, Dunn was off to a good start on that front this season as well, notching three points in his first four outings.
Dunn’s return gives Seattle now three above-average threats from the back end which will help an offense that’s near the middle of the pack in terms of goals scored. Brandon Montour is off to a solid start in his first season with the Kraken while Ryker Evans has helped pick up the offensive slack in Dunn’s absence. Both players enter tonight’s action with 15 points, good for a tie for third in team scoring.
While there has been no announcement from the team, the only way that Seattle could have activated Dunn and recalled Stephens was by transferring winger Jordan Eberle to LTIR. The captain is expected to be out for at least the next three months after undergoing pelvic surgery a little more than a week ago.
Metro Notes: Kreider, Chytil, Smith, Tatar, Smith
The New York Rangers saw the return of Filip Chytil and Chris Kreider (X Link) to the lineup this afternoon in their win against the Montreal Canadiens. According to Vince Z. Mercogliano, the organization surprisingly made Reilly Smith a healthy scratch to open up a roster spot for the returning forwards.
Smith had largely been operating on the team’s second line but hasn’t produced up to that standard in recent games. He got off to a solid start to his tenure with the Rangers organization scoring two goals and eight points through his first 11 games. In the following 11 games, he’s been much more disappointing with one goal and four points with a -3 rating.
Chytil and Kreider went scoreless in their return to the ice this afternoon though the former did manage a 53.8% faceoff rate. Chytil’s most recent game came on November 14th against the San Jose Sharks although much of his injury absence was due to getting cleared for a concussion by multiple medical teams.
Other notes from the Metro Division:
- Jim Biringer of RG Media shared that the New Jersey Devils will be without forward Tomáš Tatar this evening due to a lower-body injury. The ailment was likely suffered in the team’s most recent game yesterday evening against the Detroit Red Wings. Tatar has recorded three goals and nine points in his first 26 games for the Devils since the 2022-23 NHL season.
- In what is becoming a theme for the organization this season, the Carolina Hurricanes have again reassigned defenseman Ty Smith to their AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves. It’s becoming apparent that Smith will serve primarily as a practice player for the Hurricanes this season barring injury to the regular six defensemen on the active roster. The constant movement from Carolina to Chicago has cost him playing time in the AHL as Smith has only managed to suit up in four games for the AHL Wolves this season.
Minnesota Wild Acquire David Jiříček From Columbus
According to a team announcement, the Minnesota Wild have acquired defensive prospect David Jiříček and a 2025 fifth-round pick from the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Wild organization is sending back defenseman Daemon Hunt, a conditional 2025 first-round pick, Colorado’s 2026 third-round pick, Toronto’s 2026 fourth-round pick, and a 2027 second-round pick to Columbus.
It’s been a long time coming for the former sixth-overall pick of the 2022 NHL Draft. Jiříček will join the second organization of his very young career after several inconsistent years with the Blue Jackets. After scoring five goals and 11 points in 29 games for Czechia’s HC Plzeň, Jiříček was ranked as the fourth-best European skater and second-best defenseman by NHL Central Scouting before the 2022 NHL Draft.
Jiříček immediately came to the Blue Jackets organization upon being drafted, suiting up in 55 games for the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters. He impressed with six goals and 38 points in his rookie campaign in the AHL but unfortunately missed out on the league’s All-Rookie Team. Arguably Jiříček’s most impressive performance of the season came in the middle of the year during the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship.
He scored three goals and seven points in seven games for Team Czechia while posting a +10 rating throughout the tournament. He was voted the best defenseman by the directorate and helped guide Czechia to the country’s first silver medal since 1985 when they shared a country with Slovakia.
Jiříček managed to debut in the NHL in the 2022-23 season but went scoreless over a brief four-game stretch. The following season allowed Jiříček his largest opportunity to make an impact with the Blue Jackets.
He scored one goal and 10 points over 43 games in Columbus last year. The organization kept him incredibly sheltered as the young defenseman only averaged 14:36 of ice time per game. Still, he showed flashes of being an elite two-way defenseman with a 92.4% on-ice save percentage in all situations which was especially good considering the Blue Jackets finished 31st in the NHL in goals-against per game. 
Still, infrequent demotions and recalls by Columbus throughout the regular season prohibited Jiříček from gaining any traction for the Blue Jackets or Monsters. He finished the 2023-24 AHL season with seven goals and 19 assists in 29 games for Cleveland with another three goals and 11 points in 14 postseason contests.
The beginning of the 2024-25 season likely put the nail in the coffin for Jiříček’s future in Columbus. He cracked the team’s roster out of training camp but was hardly used by new head coach Dean Evason. He only suited up in six of the Blue Jackets’ first 18 games before being reassigned to the AHL on November 20th. His average ice time slipped even further with Jiříček only averaging 11:12 of ice time.
Jiříček will now join a Minnesota defense that projects to be one of the best in the league in a few years. The organization already deploys defensemen Brock Faber and Jared Spurgeon on the right side of the defense. Things look equally as impressive on the left side of the blue line with Jonas Brodin and recent draft pick Zeev Buium also projected in long-term roles.
The Wild’s already solid defense has helped them to a 15-4-4 record to start the 2024-25 NHL season making this year’s first-round pick expendable. Minnesota announced that the conditions on the first-round pick include top-five protection. The inclusion of a first-round pick was likely a bare minimum for the Blue Jackets organization despite this one likely falling outside of the lottery. The other three draft draft selections heading to Columbus give the organization eight for the 2026 NHL Draft and eight for the 2027 NHL Draft.
Hunt, reportedly the final part of the deal, is in a similar situation, albeit a lower profile, to that of Jiříček. He’ll be familiar with Evason after having played a handful of games for him last season but didn’t have any legitimate pathway to the NHL in Minnesota. He had been enjoying a quietly productive season with the AHL’s Iowa Wild tallying four assists in nine games.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was the first to report the Wild were finalizing a deal for Jiříček.
TSN’s Pierre LeBrun was the first to report Hunt’s inclusion in the deal.
Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli was the first to report a majority of the trade package.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Evgeni Malkin, Nikita Zadorov Fined By Department Of Player Safety
Last night’s matchup between the Boston Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins had plenty of dramatics despite being a modest three-goal event. The NHL’s Department of Player Safety involved themselves this morning bestowing a $5K fine on Pittsburgh forward Evgeni Malkin for slashing and fining Boston defenseman Nikita Zadorov $5K for unsportsmanlike conduct. Both fines serve as the maximum allowable under the current Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Both incidents are a part of the same event and happened relatively early in the game. According to video evidence provided by TSN, Zadorov began poking Malkin from the bench with his stick. Malkin was positioned on the offensive zone blue line and an offside was called on the Penguins shortly after.
Malkin immediately took exception to the poke and violently swung his stick at the Bruins’ bench. His stick made contact with Bruins defenseman Mason Lohrei and a scrum between the two teams began.
Zadorov and Malkin were given minor penalties on the play but the Department of Player Safety reasonably didn’t want it to end there. It’s not the first time either player has received supplementary discipline from the Department of Player Safety in their careers.
Maple Leafs Reassign Alex Steeves, Place Bobby McMann On IR
3:00 PM: Confirming the report from Alter earlier, the Maple Leafs reassigned Steeves to the AHL and placed McMann on the injured reserve.
1:00 PM: The Toronto Maple Leafs are expected to assign forward Alex Steeves to the minor leagues and place winger Bobby McMann on injured reserve, as they anticipate the return of Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies, per David Alter of The Hockey News. Head coach Craig Berube shared on Thursday that McMann could miss the team’s next few games after suffering a handful of bruises in Wednesday’s matchup against Florida. McMann left that game at the end of the second period. An assignment to injured reserve, made retroactive to Wednesday, would hold McMann out of Toronto’s next two games.
There will be little complaining about the need for roster moves from a Toronto brass prepared to add 69-goal scorer Matthews back to the lineup. Matthews has missed Toronto’s last nine games with an upper-body injury. Toronto plans to separate Matthews from usual winger Mitch Marner when he returns, instead lining him up to William Nylander and fellow returnee Knies. Knies has missed Toronto’s last two games with his upper-body injury. He’ll return to a prime opportunity next to Toronto’s strongest scorers, after netting eight goals and 12 points in 20 games this season.
But while these moves bolster the top six, they’ll force some shifting around Toronto’s bottom-six. Fraser Minten and Connor Dewar will likely step down a peg to center Toronto’s third and fourth line respectively; while Alexander Nylander, Nikita Grebenkin, and Nicholas Robertson compete for ice time on the wings. The trio will try to fill McMann’s impactful role on the flanks. He has six goals and seven points in 21 games this season – ranking fourth among all Leafs in goals.
Meanwhile, Steeves is expected to return to the minors after failing to score on an NHL call-up again. Steeves hasn’t scored in the NHL since December of 2021 – when he recorded his first NHL point, an assist, in his third career game. Despite that, he leads the Toronto Marlies in scoring this season, with nine goals and 12 points in 10 games.
Blue Jackets Reassign Jet Greaves, Joseph LaBate To AHL
The Columbus Blue Jackets made a pair of expected roster moves before their contest tomorrow afternoon against the Chicago Blackhawks. The organization announced they’ve reassigned goaltender Jet Greaves and forward Joseph LaBate to their AHL affiliate, the Cleveland Monsters.
LaBate is back in the American Hockey League with the Monsters after a brief trip on the waiver wire. He’s already collected five games in Cleveland this season on a tryout agreement scoring one goal and four points with six PIMs. His AHL career has lasted a decade with LaBate scoring 64 goals and 137 points in 410 games since entering the AHL in 2014-15.
The 6’5″, 209-lbs centerman also has NHL experience despite not playing in a game since 2016-17. He suited up in 13 games for the Vancouver Canucks but failed to register any points. Still, he made his presence known by collecting three fighting majors in his brief stint.
Similarly, Greaves will return to a familiar environment in Cleveland. Due to Daniil Tarasov‘s illness, the Blue Jackets recalled Greaves yesterday to serve as backup against the Calgary Flames. Given that Columbus likely isn’t looking to accrue any more cap space for the trade deadline, this roster move nearly confirms Tarasov’s return tomorrow.
Greaves has been a consistently solid goaltender for the Monsters since debuting in the AHL during the 2021-22 season. In four years, he’s posted a 68-43-14 record in Cleveland with a .905 save percentage and 2.98 goals against average.
Avalanche Recall Nikita Prishchepov, Assign Chase Bradley
The Colorado Avalanche have recalled forward Nikita Prishchepov to the NHL. It’s already Prishchepov’s fifth call-up of the season, with his last stint on the Avalanche roster ending on November 14th. In a corresponding move, Colorado has assigned forward Chase Bradley to the AHL, ending the first call-up of his NHL career after just three days.
Bradley stepped into the first two NHL games of his career on the short recall, but failed to record any notable stat changes while averaging just 5:35 in ice time. It’s Bradley’s first year of professional hockey, after spending the last three seasons climbing the University of Connecticut lineup. He recorded 51 points in 95 games with the Huskies, including 22 points in 31 games last season – good for second on the team in scoring behind Nashville Predators prospect Matthew Wood. While his NHL scoring is yet to come, Bradley has found a bit more production in the minors – posting three goals and four points through his first 17 AHL games.
Prishchepov is in a very similar spot, playing through his first year of professional hockey with a strong start in the minors – six points in 12 games – but so far no scoring through six NHL games. Prishchepov became the third player drafted in the 2024 NHL Draft – and the first selected outside of the top-15 picks – to make his NHL debut. Recording a point would make him just the second 2024 draftee to score, behind first-overall pick Macklin Celebrini.
Lightning Recall Conor Sheary, Assign Matt Tomkins
The Tampa Bay Lightning have recalled forward Conor Sheary from, and re-assigned goaltender Matt Tomkins to, the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch. Sheary was assigned to the minor leagues on October 24th, setting him up to play his first 11 AHL games since the 2015-16 season. He scored three goals and seven points, good for fifth on the Crunch in scoring on a point-per-game basis (0.64).
Sheary’s last stint in the minor leagues came during the first two years of his professional career, after signing a three-year entry-level contract with the Penguins as an undrafted college free agent in 2014. He scored 20 goals and 45 points in 58 games as an AHL rookie, and earned an NHL call-up as a sophomore after 36 points in 30 games. Sheary didn’t breakout as an NHL scorer right away, but excelled at handling the intangibles and making impactful plays away from the puck. That earned him a hardy spot in Pittsburgh’s bottom-six as they approached the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs, where Sheary’s 10 points in 23 games were a major piece of the team’s eventual championship-win. That level of success in his rookie year gave Sheary plenty of momentum headed into 2016-17, where he solidified an everyday role with 23 goals and 53 points in 61 games – an 82-game pace of 71 points – and tallied another seven points in 22 playoff games as Pittsburgh chased their second-straight Cup win.
Sheary’s 53-point season stands as a career-high, but he’s been an impactful third-liner ever since – continuing to provide valuable depth through stints with the Buffalo Sabres, Washington Capitals, and as of last season, the Tampa Bay Lightning. Now, eight seasons since his last Cup-win, the wheels finally seem to be slowing for the 32-year-old Sheary. He scored just 15 points in 57 games with Tampa Bay last season, and went without any points in their first three games this year. Sheary signed a three-year, $6MM contract with the Lightning in 2023, but has so far failed to find the spark that led him to 102 points in 206 games with Washington in the three years prior. He’ll get another chance to find that spark now, hoping that a pass through waivers and productive stint in the minors will be enough fuel. Sheary will step into a Bolts offense in need of help, and could bump Cam Atkinson or Darren Raddysh out of the lineup.
Meanwhile, Tomkins will return to the minors just one day after being called up. He served as an emergency third-string option in Tampa’s trip to Nashville on Friday, but has yet to step into the lineup at any point this season. His only playing time this season stands as eight games in the AHL, where Tomkins has managed three wins and a .890 save percentage. He’s a career depth-goaltender, setting a 29-37-6 record and .898 save percentage in 73 games and six seasons in the AHL. Tomkins also took a brief, two-season trip to Sweden’s SHL, where he posted a .910 in 65 games split between Frolunda HC and Farjestad BK. His return to the AHL will provide some support to Syracuse starter Brandon Halverson, who has a .938 in 10 games this season – second-highest in the AHL.
Predators Acquire Justus Annunen From Avalanche
The Nashville Predators have acquired goaltender Justus Annunen and a 2025 sixth-round pick from the Colorado Avalanche, in exchange for veteran goaltender Scott Wedgewood.
Goaltending has been the sore spot of Colorado’s early season. They’ve already iced four different goaltenders while dealing with nagging injury and inconsistent play from both Annunen and starter Alexandar Georgiev. The latter has seemed to finally get his feet back under him, posting three wins and a .891 save percentage over Colorado’s last five games – an improvement over his season-long stat line of seven wins and a .872 save percentage in 15 games. Perhaps on the back of that momentum, Colorado has decided to buy some added veteran experience for their backup role – acquiring the 32-year-old Wedgewood in his seventh NHL season.
Wedgewood is off to a bit of a shaky start this year, with just one win and a .878 Sv% through five games with Nashville so far. He was a much more notable piece of the Dallas Stars’ success over the last two seasons, recording a .915 in 21 games in 2022-23 and a .899 in 32 games last year. Both performances stood well behind perennial Stars starter Jake Oettinger, convincing Nashville to sign the veteran Wedgewood to a two-year, $3MM contract this summer. That deal, coupled with starter Juuse Saros‘ eight-year, $61.92MM contract extension, effectively pushed top prospect Yaroslav Askarov out of the Predators organization. With no clear path to a starting or backup role in the NHL, Askarov was instead traded to the San Jose Sharks for top prospect David Edstrom, goalie prospect Magnus Chrona, and a 2025 first-round pick.
Predators general manager Barry Trotz told Sportsnet at the time of his trade that the Predators had a robust development plan for Askarov – one that would track him into the Nashville starting role. With the star Russian moved out, Nashville will now replace their role of top goalie prospect with the 24-year-old Annunen. It was meant to be a breakout year for the Finnish netminder, after posting a dazzling .928 in 14 games with Colorado last season; and adding a .908 in 23 AHL games. He won Colorado’s backup role out of training camp, but hasn’t found the same success he showed last season – with a meager six wins and .872 save percentage in 11 appearances. Annunen, originally a third-round pick in 2018, has been lauded as one of the best goalie prospects across the hockey world in recent years – spurred by a four-year, 49-game career in Finland’s Liiga, where he posted 22 wins and a .906. He’s stayed productive in North American pros, with a collective .905 across 114 career AHL games, and a .902 in 29 NHL games, over the last four seasons.
With Wedgewood moved out, Annunen should have a clear path to Nashville’s backup role behind Saros. Starting minutes will be hard to come by – Saros has a .912 in 20 games this season – but Annunen should offer far more upside than career depth-goaltender Wedgewood. Nashville will hope to bank on that upside, while Colorado hopes a greater veteran presence can right their ship – sensible approaches for the teams that respectively rank seventh and fourth in the Central Division.
Flames’ Young Stars Fueling Unexpected Success
The Calgary Flames held a fire sale between last season and the summer, moving out multiple top-of-the-lineup pieces – including top forward Elias Lindholm, top defenders Noah Hanifin and Chris Tanev, and starting goaltender Jacob Markstrom. Calgary moved out more than $24MM in cap space between all of their trades, and yet – as the 2024-25 season prepares to enter December – the Flames sit comfortably in a playoff spot. They’re 12-8-4 so far, ranked third in the Pacific Division and sixth in the Western Conference. Even better, Calgary boasts the third-most cap space in the league – with a projected $25.9MM in current available funds. The hot start and open budget put Calgary in the best spot they’ve been in years, and it’s a direct result of novice general manager Craig Conroy‘s timely reliance on the prospect pool.
Conroy emphasized on Sportsnet’s Flames Talk podcast this summer that the goal of the Flames’ season would be to create opportunity for their in-house prospects. 24 games into the season and it seems every single prospect to receive a chance has seized it in full.
Dustin Wolf is quickly establishing himself as a franchise goaltender, posting eight wins and a .918 save percentage through 13 games in what is his formal rookie season. That kind of performance will command respect in the race for the Calder Trophy, even against Matvei Michkov and Logan Stankoven rivaling point-per-game scoring. Wolf is thriving in what is the first hardy starting experience of his career, continuing to dominate North American pros after taking home the AHL’s Les Cunningham ‘MVP’ award in 2023, and the Aldege “Baz” Bastien Memorial Award for goalie-of-the-year in both 2022 and 2023. He spent just a bit too much time with the NHL roster last season to rival either award, but recorded a cumulative 97 wins and .926 save percentage through 141 games and four seasons in the AHL. That ability is now directly benefiting the Flames. Wolf has posted a save percentage above .900 in 61.5 percent of his starts this year, just 0.4 percent behind Markstrom’s tally in 2021-22 – when he finished the year second in Vezina Trophy voting.
Wolf’s dazzling defense of Calgary’s garrison has given youngsters Connor Zary and Matthew Coronato plenty of space to lead the offensive charge. Zary has become Calgary’s third-most utilized forward at even-strength, with 349 minutes of five-versus-five ice time in 24 games – 13 minutes fewer than Nazem Kadri, two fewer than Mikael Backlund, and 12 more than Jonathan Huberdeau. Zary’s had no trouble keeping up with the studded veterans he’s keeping company with, scoring six points at even strength and 12 points on the year as a whole – tying Huberdeau and one behind Kadri. He’s become a core piece of Calgary’s top-six – a role flirted with when he recorded 14 goals and 34 points in 63 games as a rookie last season. The bulk of his scoring, between this year and last, has come thanks to a nonstop motor and ability to play at top speeds. But while Zary’s outskates his opponents on the top-line, Coronato has taken to outworking them in the middle-six. He’s also jumped up the Flames’ scoring chart, with six goals and 10 points in 19 games this season. That’s one fewer goal than each of Kadri and Huberdeau, and puts Coronato on pace for 26 goals across 82 games – which would mark the highest scoring from a U22 Flame since Matthew Tkachuk and Sean Monahan each surpassed the 25-goal mark three separate times before their 22nd birthday.
The surge of production from Zary and Coronato in the top-nine has helped Calgary’s lineup truly settle into place. Utility winger Blake Coleman has been able to resign to a top-notch supporting role, rather than needing to drive play on his own; while Coronato’s role of gritty scorer opens more space for Martin Pospisil to embrace his bruiser tendencies. It’s created a lineup that’s cohesive, multifaceted, and capable of taking on the NHL’s best lineups – made evident by Calgary’s recent three-game stretch of wins over the New York Islanders, Rangers, and Minnesota Wild.
A year intended for retooling has instead become a year of success for the Flames. They’re on an upward trajectory, fueled almost entirely by the team’s timely leaning into their prospect pool. Wolf’s performance as a formal rookie will have Calgary as a top mention in the Calder Trophy race, while Zary and Coronato’s mix of scoring could push the team into the postseason for the first time since 2022. Even without either accolade, the performance of Calgary’s top youngsters this season sets up plenty of reasons to be excited about their long-term outlook.