Rangers Recall Brett Berard, Anton Blidh, Justin Dowling
2:54 p.m.: Laba has been listed as week-to-week with his upper-body injury, per Colin Stephenson of Newsday. He will not be in the lineup for the Winter Classic.
10:21 a.m.: The Rangers have recalled forwards Brett Berard, Anton Blidh, and Justin Dowling from AHL Hartford, Peter Baugh of The Athletic reports. In corresponding moves, the team placed left winger Conor Sheary on long-term injured reserve and returned winger Brennan Othmann to Hartford. The club had an open roster spot entering the day, hence why only two roster spots needed to be opened.
New York’s recalls come after losing Sheary and Noah Laba to injuries in Wednesday’s loss to the Capitals, leaving them shorthanded leading into Friday’s Winter Classic in Miami. Laba remains on the active roster but is unlikely to be available for the outdoor game, according to Baugh.
As such, two of Berard, Blidh, and Dowling are set to feature against the Panthers at LoanDepot Park, home of MLB’s Miami Marlins. Berard is the only one of the group to see NHL time this season, going pointless with a -1 rating through 11 appearances.
The 23-year-old has been knocking on the door of a full-time roster spot for some time, but his waiver-exempt status and lack of offensive success on this year’s call-ups have limited his playing time. He was recently rostered as a healthy scratch during the holiday roster freeze, but hasn’t played an NHL contest since Dec. 15.
Still, the 2020 fifth-round pick got some reps in top-nine minutes last year, notching a 6-4–10 scoring line in 35 games as a rookie. It stands to reason his familiarity with the job will lead him to step in for Sheary as the Blueshirts’ third line left wing.
Even in the minors, it’s been a forgettable season for the 5’9″ lefty. After scoring 25 goals for Hartford as a rookie in 2023-24 and then managing 23 points in just 30 games last year, he’s gone cold with two goals, nine points, and a -9 rating in 20 showings this year.
Blidh, also a winger, seems the likeliest to serve as an extra forward with Laba’s absence stressing the need for a center option in Dowling. The 30-year-old is in his fourth season with the Rangers organization but hasn’t made an NHL appearance since debuting for New York in January 2024.
The 6’1″, 196-lb lefty was a sixth-round pick by Boston in 2013 and appeared in eight consecutive NHL seasons for the Bruins, Avalanche, and Rangers from 2016-24, reaching a career-high nine points in 32 games with the B’s in 2021-22. He’s never served as much more than a bottom-six penalty killing piece, even in the AHL, but is coming off a career-best 19 goals and 36 points in 71 games with Hartford last year. Through 28 showings this season, the Swede has a 3-4–7 scoring line in 28 games.
Dowling would be making his Rangers debut if he plays after signing a two-year, $1.55MM deal as a free agent last summer before ending up on waivers. While he’s the newest to the organization, the 35-year-old has the most NHL experience of the group at 152 games and is used to stepping in as a short-term bottom-six option.
The Calgary native made a career-high 52 appearances with the Devils last season, scoring seven points with a -6 rating while going 48.3% on faceoffs. Whether he or Sam Carrick gets the bump into third-line minutes to replace Laba remains to be seen, although considering Dowling’s produced well with 16 points in 24 AHL games, it’ll likely be him.
As for Sheary, it’s still not clear what caused him to exit yesterday’s game. Nonetheless, he’ll now be out for the Rangers’ next 10 games and 24 days. He will be eligible to return on Jan. 26 against the Bruins.
Signed off a professional tryout in training camp, the two-time Stanley Cup champion hasn’t found much success in third-line duties despite reuniting with former Pittsburgh head coach Mike Sullivan. Despite averaging 14:35 of ice time per game, he’s scored just once in 37 appearances with an abysmal 1.8% shooting clip.
Needing to add so many players left the Rangers within a few thousand dollars of the cap – even with Sheary and Adam Edstrom on LTIR. Blidh and Dowling likely got the call-ups primarily because of their league minimum salary, making Othmann and his slightly more expensive $863.3K cap hit unaffordable for the time being.
After being made available for trade at the beginning of the season, Othmann, the No. 16 overall pick in 2021, has spent most of the year in the minors and has no points and a -3 rating in six NHL appearances. With four goals and 10 points in 19 games for Hartford, he’s likely hurt his trade value more than he’s helped it.
Injury Notes: Rangers, Matthews, Barkov
This afternoon’s action was especially tough for the Rangers, as the team shared that Noah Laba (upper body) and Conor Sheary (lower body) did not return, as they lost to Washington. It was not immediately specified, but Laba’s injury is likely related to the heavy hit he sustained from Tom Wilson, while Sheary’s ailment was not as glaringly noticeable.
Laba, a rookie, has not yet missed a game this season, posting 12 points in 42 games mostly in a third line role. Sheary, meanwhile, has been scratched this season, with just one goal in 37 games, production far from his past as a dependable secondary scorer. Although their forward depth has taken a hit, thankfully the Blueshirts welcomed back top defenseman Adam Fox today, who made an immediate impact with a goal and an assist.
Now set to travel to Miami and take on the Panthers under the eyes of the hockey world in the 2026 NHL Winter Classic, a roster move may be in order if neither are able to play. Brennan Othmann, a scratch today, could slot into the marquee game on January 2.
Elsewhere across the league:
- This morning Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews returned to practice, as shared by Dave McCarthy of NHL.com. The superstar was listed as day-to-day yesterday with a lower-body injury, which happened from a blocked shot last Sunday. In his absence, the Leafs picked up a shutout win over New Jersey, but now Matthews could be in line to return by tomorrow, as the team hosts Winnipeg. Toronto dodged a bullet with Matthews’ status, and will seek a rapid turnaround in the New Year on the back of the 28-year-old sniper once healthy.
- Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov has begun light skating, as reported in a Hockey News article by David Dwork. After suffering a devastating ACL and MCL injury in the first practice of training camp, Barkov still has a long way to go, but today’s update is encouraging news entering 2026. The injury riddled Panthers have stayed afloat, and with Matthew Tkachuk nearing a return, Florida will look to secure a playoff spot and set the table for Barkov to possibly join the group by March. If healthy come postseason, the two-time reining Selke winner would give Florida a real shot at the first Stanley Cup three-peat since the Islanders 40 years ago.
Minor Transactions: 10/6/25
The deadline for NHL clubs to ready their opening-night rosters has passed, and as a result there has been quite a bit of roster maneuvering around the NHL today. While some moves are more notable, such as the handful of waiver claims made today, there are a few moves that are more minor, such as expected reassignments or previously reported injuries being made official with IR placements. We’ll keep track of those moves here:
- In preparing their final opening-night roster that can be viewed here, the Utah Mammoth reassigned a pair of first-round picks. 2023 12th overall pick Daniil But was reassigned to the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners, which is where he will begin his North American professional career. Meanwhile 2024 sixth overall pick Tij Iginla was loaned back to his WHL team, the Kelowna Rockets. But is a big 6’5 winger whose KHL teammate (and fellow 2023 first-rounder) Dmitry Simashev made the Utah roster today, and it’s expected that But won’t be in the AHL for too long. As for Iginla, this season is an opportunity for him to get his development back on track after unfortunate injury luck derailed his 2024-25 campaign.
- The Ottawa Senators reassigned the players they placed on waivers Sunday to their AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators. Making up the group is Jan Jenik, Hayden Hodgson, Arthur Kaliyev, Mads Sogaard, and Lassi Thomson. 2024 seventh-overall pick Carter Yakemchuk was reassigned to Belleville, his Sept. 29 birthdate making him eligible to play in the AHL despite being a 2024 draft pick. In addition to those reassignments, the Senators placed Drake Batherson and Tyler Kleven on IR to further prepare their final roster. Batherson has been out since Sept. 24 with an upper-body injury on a projected two-week recovery timeline, while Kleven has been out since Sept. 21 with an undisclosed injury.
- The Minnesota Wild reassigned forward Tyler Pitlick and netminder Cal Petersen to their AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild, today. Both players were placed on waivers yesterday and went unclaimed. Pitlick, 33, is a veteran of over 400 NHL games and scored 46 points in 59 AHL games last season for the Hartford Wolf Pack – he’ll likely be among the first players in line for a call-up in Iowa. Petersen, 30, was once a $5MM-a-year netminder for the Los Angeles Kings but did not play in the NHL in 2024-25. Signed to a one-year, $775K one-way deal, he’ll be the team’s organizational number-three netminder.
- The Calgary Flames placed forwards Jonathan Huberdeau and Martin Pospisil on injured reserve today as part of their roster preparations, and also called up 2023 first-rounder Samuel Honzek. Huberdeau left Calgary’s preseason game at the start of the month with an undisclosed injury, and will miss at least the team’s season opener. Pospisil also exited the Flames’ Oct. 1 preseason game with an undisclosed injury, and will also miss the team’s first game at minimum. As a result, Honzek, 20, gets a spot on the roster in their absence. The 6’5 Slovak forward played his first season of North American pro hockey in 2024-25, scoring 21 points in 52 AHL games and also skating in five NHL contests.
- The New York Rangers reassigned forward Brett Berard to AHL Hartford as part of their season-opening roster moves. Despite a solid training camp and preseason, the 23-year-old lost the battle for a middle-six role in New York to veteran Conor Sheary, a longtime favorite of first-year coach Mike Sullivan. The Rangers signed Sheary to a one-year deal earlier today. It’s a disappointing outcome for Berard, who looked to be making a real push for full-time NHL status last season. He skated in a career-high 35 NHL games, scoring 10 points to go alongside the 23 points he scored in 30 AHL contests.
- The Toronto Maple Leafs reassigned defenseman Ben Danford to the OHL’s Oshawa Generals as part of their season-opening roster preparations. Danford missed Maple Leafs training camp and preseason with a concussion, but has since been cleared for contact, paving the way for this reassignment. It’s the expected move for the 2024 31st overall pick, who is entering his fourth season of OHL duty. Danford scored 25 points in 61 games in Oshawa last season and will resume his post as one of the OHL’s top shutdown blueliners for 2025-26.
- The Colorado Avalanche announced several roster moves to go alongside their announcement of an initial roster: Keaton Middleton, who cleared waivers today, has been reassigned to AHL Colorado, alongside Matthew Stienburg. Meanwhile Ronnie Attard, Sean Behrens, Jacob MacDonald, Logan O’Connor, and Nikita Prishchepov have been designated injured non-roster. Ilya Solovyov, who the team claimed off of waivers from the Calgary Flames last week, was also designated non-roster but he is not injured. Solovyov’s placement is due to the fact that, per the Denver Post’s Corey Masisiak, his visa to allow him to play in the United States has not yet been finalized. It should be noted that this is not an abnormal scenario for a player involved in a cross-border transaction between NHL clubs.
- As part of their own season-opening roster moves, the Nashville Predators placed defenseman Nic Hague and forward Matthew Wood on injured reserve. Hague is out with an upper-body injury on a week-to-week timeline, while Wood is also considered week-to-week with a lower-body injury.
Rangers Sign Conor Sheary To One-Year Contract
Oct. 6th: As expected, the Rangers announced that they’ve signed Sheary to a one-year, league minimum contract for the 2025-26 campaign. He scored one goal and three points in four preseason contests, averaging 16:05 of ice time per game.
Jul. 25th: In an effort to extend his NHL career, veteran winger Conor Sheary has agreed to a professional tryout (PTO) with the New York Rangers, per the NY Post’s Mollie Walker.
Sheary has played in 593 games throughout his 10-year career, posting 124 goals and 267 points. He has also shown an ability to elevate his game in big moments during the playoffs, as evidenced by his contributions to the Pittsburgh Penguins’ back-to-back Stanley Cup wins early in his career, when he often played a key role alongside Sidney Crosby. Notably, some of his best professional seasons came in Pittsburgh under head coach Mike Sullivan. After signing a five-year deal in May to lead the Rangers, Sullivan is bringing in a familiar face as he looks to implement a new game plan in New York.
However, Sheary has struggled in recent years. After producing just 15 points in 57 games with the Tampa Bay Lightning during the 2023-24 season—his lowest output since his rookie year—he dressed in only five games last season with the team. He spent the majority of his year with Tampa’s AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch, where he produced 20 goals and 61 points in 59 games.
Sheary, 33, will now look to rejuvenate his career with the Rangers, a team in the midst of transition. Beyond the obvious changes that come with a new head coach, the team has also seen longtime staples Chris Kreider and K’Andre Miller depart, while adding forward Taylor Raddysh and prospect Carey Terrance. While PTOs are anything but guaranteed, Sheary’s history of producing quality offense, combined with his relationship with Sullivan, should give him a strong chance to make the opening night roster.
Metropolitan Notes: Hughes, Panarin, Sheary
Earlier this week, it was reported that the Devils and defenseman Luke Hughes had agreed to focus on a long-term contract but that the sides were well apart in terms of the AAV of such a deal. Anthony DiMarco of Daily Faceoff relays that New Jersey now appears to be willing to go higher than $8MM per season on their long-term offer. Notably, that would put him with a higher price tag than his brother Jack Hughes, who checks in exactly at $8MM per season as their number one center. The blueliner has two full NHL seasons under his belt, both seeing him exceed 40 points while logging over 21 minutes a night of playing time. We’ll soon see if this reported increase to their offer is enough to get talks across the finish line.
More from the Metropolitan Division:
- The Rangers are believed to have approached Artemi Panarin’s camp with the idea of taking a bit of a discount on his next deal to help the team extend its competitive window, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports in the latest 32 Thoughts podcast (audio link). They pointed out how Anze Kopitar did that with Los Angeles to help keep their core group intact and add to it. At this point, obviously the veteran remains unsigned so it’s unclear if he’d be willing to do this or if he’ll be looking for top dollar on his next contract.
- Still with the Rangers, Peter Baugh and Vince Z. Mercogliano of The Athletic predict (subscription link) that winger Conor Sheary will ultimately have his PTO deal converted to a full contract and break camp with the team. He’s attempting to return to the NHL after spending most of last season in the minors with AHL Syracuse before terminating the final year of his contract to get to free agency. If Sheary makes New York’s roster, it could put someone like Jonny Brodzinski at risk of losing his spot and landing on waivers in the coming days.
Lightning, Conor Sheary To Mutually Terminate Contract
June 30: Sheary has cleared unconditional waivers and will have his contract terminated, per Friedman.
June 29: Lightning winger Conor Sheary hit unconditional waivers Sunday after asking for a contract termination, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports.
While it may initially come across as a favor done by Sheary to the Lightning to not force the team to buy out the final season of his contract at a $2MM cap hit, it’s not that cut and dry. Sheary was due $1.5MM in base salary for 2025-26, which would have resulted in a $503K cap hit for the Lightning in each of the next two seasons if he was bought out. That’s barely any cap savings compared to if they buried Sheary in the minors (a cap hit of $850K), so they likely would have pursued that option instead of being on the hook for an additional season with a buyout.
Sheary, understandably, desires a chance to crack an NHL roster and wasn’t particularly amenable to that solution. Instead, he’ll walk away from $1.5MM in guaranteed money and become an unrestricted free agent while the Lightning clear his cap impact from next season’s books completely. In return, Sheary gets the chance to return to a full-time NHL role next season.
The 33-year-old has been a rare free-agent bust for Tampa general manager Julien BriseBois. He was signed to a three-year, $6MM contract in 2023 in the hopes that the diminutive winger could provide some affordable depth scoring and perhaps even flex into a top-six role. Instead, Sheary was relegated to the press box by the end of 2023-24 and spent most of this past season on assignment to AHL Syracuse after clearing waivers a few weeks into the campaign.
Sheary ends his two-year run in Tampa with a 4-11–15 scoring line in 62 games, logging a minus-five rating while averaging 11:07 of ice time per game. Only five of those appearances came this season, and he didn’t record a point in any of them. The veteran of nearly 600 NHL games took his minor-league assignments in stride and was an extremely important player for Syracuse, ranking among the AHL’s top producers with 61 points (20 G, 41 A) and a +15 rating in 59 games.
That showing demonstrated the Massachusetts native may still have the chops to be a third-line scoring piece at the NHL level, even if the fit in Tampa wasn’t a good one for whatever reason. Even with his recent poor run of production, he still averages 17 goals and 37 points per 82 games over his NHL career. That’s a resume a scoring-needy team will take a flyer on, even if he isn’t in a position to command much more than a league minimum salary. His two Stanley Cup rings with the Penguins in 2016 and 2017 will certainly help his case, too.
Once Sheary’s contract officially comes off the Lightning’s books tomorrow, the Bolts will have nearly $5.5MM in cap space with four open roster spots to fill, according to PuckPedia. Their only notable RFA to re-sign is forward Gage Goncalves, who AFP Analytics projects will land a one-year deal at $1.2MM. That leaves a roughly $4MM budget for Tuesday’s free agent frenzy, in which they’ll look to add a few depth skaters, considering no core pieces are on expiring deals.
Image courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images.
Lightning Reassign Conor Sheary
Feb. 7: Sheary is back in the minors this morning, the Bolts announced. He skated 11:18 in yesterday’s 5-1 win over Ottawa but failed to record a point, hit, or a shot on goal.
Feb. 6: The Lightning announced Thursday they’ve recalled left-winger Conor Sheary from AHL Syracuse. He joined the team for this morning’s practice and could draw into the lineup in place of Anthony Cirelli, according to Benjamin Pierce of NHL.com. The latter may be dealing with the undisclosed injury that made him a game-time decision for last Saturday’s game against the Islanders. The Lightning’s active roster now stands at 22 players.
Tampa Bay signed Sheary to a three-year, $6MM contract in free agency in 2023. Things haven’t gone well for the two-time Stanley Cup champion, who scored a career-low four goals in 57 games last year and ended up on waivers early in 2024-25 after going pointless through three games. He’s played once since then, skating a season-high 12:18 against the Maple Leafs on Nov. 30 during a brief recall.
The 32-year-old Sheary has been good but not dominant in the AHL, where he ranks second on the Crunch in scoring with 9-15–24 through 31 games. It’s his first action outside the NHL since the 2015-16 campaign when he notched over a point per game with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and earned a mid-season call-up to Pittsburgh that kept him in the league for a decade. The undrafted free agent signing out of UMass has been a serviceable complementary winger throughout much of his career despite his 5’8″, 182-lb frame, notching 124-143–267 in 592 career appearances.
It could be an interesting look for the Bolts tonight against the Senators if they’re down a center without Cirelli. Sheary won’t be shifting to the middle – that task will be going to former Penguins teammate Jake Guentzel, who will anchor a line between Gage Goncalves and Brandon Hagel while veteran Cam Atkinson takes his spot on the top line alongside Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point.
Afternoon Notes: Sheary, Talbot, Celebrini, Hughes
The Tampa Bay Lightning have reassigned Conor Sheary. He was called up on Saturday to serve as the 11th forward in Tampa’s 5-3 loss to Toronto. He managed no scoring, three shots, and one hit in 12:18 of ice time. Sheary’s was on his first call-up since passing through waivers and being assigned to the minors on October 24th.
This season has awarded Sheary his first AHL games since 2015-16. He’s made 11 appearances with the Syracuse Crunch, recording three goals and seven points – good for seventh on the team in scoring. He’s fallen a long way over the last two seasons, recording just 15 points in 57 games with Tampa Bay last season – and not managing any scoring in four NHL games this year. That scoring skid has pulled the rug from under him, defaulting Sheary to a minor-league role just two seasons after he played in all 82 games for the Washington Capitals. He scored 15 goals and 37 points in that season – one year after a 19-goal, 43-point year. That production is more than enough to uphold an NHL roster spot, but it’s yet to translate to Tampa Bay. Sheary will look to continue his hot scoring in Syracuse, and take better advantage of his next shot at the Lightning lineup.
Other notes from around the league:
- Detroit Red Wings goaltender Cam Talbot left the team’s Sunday game early with a lower-body injury, shares Helene St. James of The Detroit Free Press. Talbot was relieved by Ville Husso, marking his first NHL game sine November 9th. Husso went on to save 15 of the 18 shots he faced. Head coach Derek Lalonde didn’t have any updates on Talbot after the game, though he did mention that Talbot pulled himself from the game. St. James went on to mention that Detroit would be down both of their top-two goalies, should Talbot miss extended time, with backup Alex Lyon missing the last three games with an undisclosed injury. The pair of injuries would push Husso back into the starting role that he lost at the beginning of the season, but Detroit would still need to recall a body to fill-in as backup. Top goalie prospect Sebastian Cossa has earned the lion’s share of AHL starts, recording eight wins and a .929 through 13 games this season. He would be a great, high-upside recall – but Detroit could also turn towards veteran Jack Campbell for spot starts. Campbell has yet to make his season debut after starting the year in the NHL Player’s Assistance program
- Star San Jose Sharks rookie Macklin Celebrini has won November’s ‘Rookie of the Month’ after scoring seven goals and 12 points in 14 games. He becomes the first Sharks rookie to win the award since Tomas Hertl in 2013-14. Celebrini has bounced back incredibly well from a string of nagging lower-body injuries holding him out of 11 games earlier in the year. He has eight goals and 14 points in 15 games this season, on pace to score 38 goals and 66 points through 71 games. Achieving that scoring would make Celebrini the highest-scoring rookie in Sharks history, beating out Pat Falloon’s 59 points in 1991-92, and Logan Couture’s 56 points in 2010-11.
- Superstar Vancouver Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes has achieved a more notable milestone out West, setting Vancouver’s record for all-time assist from a defenseman. Hughes clinched the superlative with the lone assist on a Jake DeBrusk’s first goal on Sunday. He’d go on to assist DeBrusk’s next two goals as well, in the latter’s first hat-trick as a Canuck. The scoring brought Hughes up to 313 assists in 388 games, pushing him past the 310 assists that Alexander Edler recorded in 925 games with Vancouver; nearly three-times as long as it took Hughes. At his current rate of 0.81 assists-per-game, Hughes would need 1,025 career games to pass Henrik Sedin’s franchise record of 830 assists.
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.
Lightning To Reassign Conor Sheary
Oct. 24: Sheary has cleared waivers, per Friedman. He can now be assigned to Syracuse at will, something Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times reports will happen in short order.
Oct. 23: The Lightning have placed winger Conor Sheary on waivers for the purpose of assignment to AHL Syracuse, per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.
Sheary’s time in Tampa hasn’t gone to plan since inking a three-year, $6MM contract in free agency in 2023. He missed significant time in the first half of last season with an upper-body injury and wasn’t the same after coming back, serving as a healthy scratch on several occasions later on. His four goals in 57 games were his lowest ever in a season, and his 15 points were undermined only by his 10 in 44 games with the Penguins in his rookie season in 2015-16.
Fast forward to the beginning of this season, and little has changed for the 32-year-old. He was a healthy scratch for the Lightning’s first game and has only played every other contest, going without a point and recording a -2 rating in third-line minutes alongside Michael Eyssimont and Conor Geekie. Possession quality has become an issue for the veteran, who controlled a career-low 43.5% of expected goals at even strength last season.
Sheary will likely clear waivers given the money and term left on his deal. If so, and assuming he reports to Syracuse, it will mark his first AHL action since he was part of the Penguins organization nine years ago. The preference on both sides would likely be to find a trade for Sheary, which he’d likely need to waive his 16-team no-trade list to make happen.
The Lightning can reduce Sheary’s cap hit from $2MM to $850K by stashing him in the minors.