Waivers: 10/4/25
With a little over 48 hours remaining before season-opening rosters need to be submitted to the league, it’s expected to be a very busy weekend on the waiver wire. Not surprisingly, it’s another big list of players on waivers today as 17 players have been put there, per PuckPedia. Meanwhile, all 12 players on waivers yesterday passed through unclaimed, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman (Twitter link). Here’s today’s list of players on the wire:
Dallas Stars
F Cameron Hughes
D Vladislav Kolyachonok
Florida Panthers
D Tobias Bjornfot
G Brandon Bussi
New Jersey Devils
F Thomas Bordeleau
F Angus Crookshank
F Brian Halonen
F Zack MacEwen
D Colton White
Philadelphia Flyers
Pittsburgh Penguins
D Alexander Alexeyev
D Ryan Graves
F Rafael Harvey-Pinard
F Bokondji Imama
F Samuel Poulin
San Jose Sharks
Utah Hockey Club
Graves is the headliner in today’s class, primarily due to his contract which has four years left on it. We covered his situation in more detail earlier today.
Among the rest of the players, Bjornfot is no stranger to being in this situation but he has been claimed twice before. He spent most of last season in the minors with Florida but did get into 14 games with the Panthers and has 134 games at the top level under his belt. Alexeyev played sparingly last season with Washington not wanting to risk losing him for nothing on waivers but it appears that Pittsburgh doesn’t have that same level of hesitance. Meanwhile, Kolyachonok was claimed off waivers by the Penguins back in February before being flipped to Dallas over the summer so it’s possible another team might have their eye on him as well. Gilbert signed with the Flyers this summer after splitting last season between Ottawa and Buffalo but while the thought was that he’d at least be able to land a seventh role, that isn’t the case.
As for the forwards, San Jose’s White is by far the most experienced with 323 NHL appearances. However, he has primarily been an AHL player in recent years and it’s likely that he will clear and be assigned to the Barracuda. Poulin was a 2019 first-round pick but hasn’t seen much time with the Penguins, including just seven games last season. But at 24, he’s young enough to potentially be of interest to a team that wants to take a longer look at him. Bordeleau held his own in 27 games with the Sharks in 2023-24 but only played once for them last season before being moved in July in a swap of AHL players. But like Poulin, he’s young enough (23) to potentially draw attention.
These players will be on waivers until 1:00 PM CT on Sunday.
Dallas Stars Re-Sign Cameron Hughes To Two-Year Deal
As announced by their AHL affiliate, the Texas Stars, the Dallas Stars have re-signed forward Cameron Hughes to a two-year, two-way contract. Although the team hasn’t confirmed his upcoming salary, the contract is likely to pay Hughes an AAV of $ 775K at the NHL level.
The former sixth-round pick of the Boston Bruins recently completed his first season with the Stars organization. The AHL Stars’ assistant captain finished third in scoring on the team, tallying 23 goals and 57 points in 69 games, with four additional goals and 19 points in 14 postseason contests, this time leading the team.
Still, as previously mentioned, Texas isn’t where Hughes began his professional playing career. As the 165th overall pick of the 2015 NHL Draft, it would take an additional three years for Hughes to debut with the AHL’s Providence Bruins. He was relatively successful with AHL Providence, primarily as a secondary scorer from 2018 to 2021. It wasn’t until the 2021-22 season that Hughes nearly doubled his previous career-high, scoring 14 goals and 45 points in 61 games.
Becoming a free agent after the 2021-22 campaign, Hughes settled on a two-year, $1.53MM agreement with the Seattle Kraken. His departure from the Bruins organization marked the final time he has played at the NHL level, appearing in one game during the 2019-20 season and another in the 2020-21 season.
Hughes’ two-year commitment with the Kraken proved wildly successful at the AHL level, this time with the Coachella Valley Firebirds. Scoring 44 goals and 113 points in 130 regular-season games, with another four goals and 39 points in 44 postseason contests, Hughes helped the Firebirds reach back-to-back Calder Cup Finals.
Waiver Wire: 10/5/24
With season-opening rosters due in just over 48 hours, it’s going to be a busy weekend on the waiver front across the NHL. A total of 14 players are on waivers today. The players below were first reported by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman (Twitter link) unless otherwise specified. Meanwhile, Friedman relays (Twitter link) that of the 25 players on the wire yesterday, all cleared aside from John Ludvig who was claimed by Colorado.
Anaheim Ducks
Colorado Avalanche
Dallas Stars
D Kyle Capobianco
G Magnus Hellberg
F Cameron Hughes
F Kole Lind
D Alexander Petrovic
F Emilio Pettersen
Florida Panthers
Minnesota Wild (per team release)
New York Rangers
Seattle Kraken (per team announcement)
These players will be on waivers until 1:00 PM CT on Sunday.
Minor Free Agent Signings: Central Division
With over 180 deals signed during the first day of free agency yesterday, some smaller names may have gotten lost in the shuffle. Here’s a list of names that have inked two-way deals with Central Division clubs since the market opened yesterday, per CapFriendly. Some of these may have been included in our main coverage yesterday, while others went under the radar. All contracts carry the league-minimum $775K cap hit unless stated otherwise). Those listed here are likely to begin 2024-25 with each team’s AHL affiliate.
Chicago Blackhawks
none
Colorado Avalanche
F Joel Kiviranta (one year)
Dallas Stars
D Kyle Capobianco (two years)
F Cameron Hughes (one year)
F Kole Lind (one year)
Minnesota Wild
F Travis Boyd (one year)
D Joseph Cecconi (one year)
D Cameron Crotty (one year)
F Brendan Gaunce (two years)
G Troy Grosenick (one year)
F Ben Jones (two years)
F Devin Shore (one year)
F Reese Johnson (one year)
Nashville Predators
D Nick Blankenburg (two years)
F Vinnie Hinostroza (two years)
F Jake Lucchini (two years)
G Matt Murray (one year)
St. Louis Blues
none
Utah Hockey Club
D Kevin Connauton (two years)
F Miko Matikka (three years, $870K entry-level cap hit)
Winnipeg Jets
none
Waivers: 10/05/23
Another set of familiar and intriguing players are set to hit the waiver wire this afternoon, with the Seattle Kraken containing the most quantity of any organization. Per James Mirtle of The Athletic, the entire list is as follows:
Calgary Flames
D Nick DeSimone
F Mathias Emilio Pettersen
F Martin Pospisil
Pittsburgh Penguins
F Andreas Johnsson
F Joona Koppanen
F Alexander Nylander
Seattle Kraken
D Connor Carrick
F Cameron Hughes
F Kole Lind
F Max McCormick
D Gustav Olofsson
F Andrew Poturalski
D Mitch Reinke
D Jimmy Schuldt
F Devin Shore
F Marian Studenic