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Minnesota Wild Recall Liam Öhgren, Devin Shore, Dylan Ferguson

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10:42 a.m.: The Wild confirmed the recalls in a team announcement and also said they’ve summoned goaltender Dylan Ferguson to serve as a practice exception until Filip Gustavsson returns to the club following his performance for Sweden at the 4 Nations Face-Off. Ferguson won’t count against the 23-player limit, which is good since they have a full complement with Öhgren and Shore back up. He’ll return to the minors before the weekend.

8:00 a.m.: With many players returning to practice today for their respective teams, a few previously reassigned before the 4 Nations Face-Off break will be recalled. The Minnesota Wild are starting early, as the AHL transactions page confirms they’ve recalled forwards Liam Öhgren and Devin Shore from their AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild.

There was no question the Wild would need to recall a pair of forwards. Aside from the few players on the roster still participating in the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament, injuries to Kirill Kaprizov and Jakub Lauko will likely prohibit them from skating while Ryan Hartman is dealing with the ramifications of a 10-game suspension.

Neither Öhgren nor Shore has been a game-changing talent for Minnesota this year but they’ve each played more than a handful of games. Öhgren has scored one goal and four points in 19 games for the Wild this season averaging 11:02 of ice time per game. The former 19th overall pick of the 2022 NHL Draft is only six games away from officially registering his rookie campaign.

While Öhgren has typically played on the team’s third line when on the roster, Shore has been limited to a fourth-line role. He’s scored one goal and three points in 34 games this year averaging 8:28 of ice time per night. Minnesota sent Shore through waivers shortly before the 4 Nations Face-Off started giving them a fair amount of flexibility with him for the foreseeable future.

Minor Transactions: 2/9/25

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The league will continue to see many AHL demotions today after all but four teams wrapped up their pre-4 Nations Face-Off break schedule on Saturday. We’ve already seen a few this morning, namely in Pittsburgh and Boston, and we will continue to track the rest in this article as fringe players head to the minors to get playing time over the next few weeks.

  • The Predators announced they’ve reassigned wingers Joakim Kemell, Ozzy Wiesblatt, and defenseman Kevin Gravel to AHL Milwaukee. They now have three open roster spots, two of which could go to IR-bound Mark Jankowski and Jeremy Lauzon in the likely event they’re ready to return from injury when their schedule resumes on Feb. 22. The most notable of the trio is Kemell, who made his NHL debut across Nashville’s Friday-Saturday back-to-back and managed eight shots on goal across the pair of games. However, he’s still looking for his first NHL point. The 2022 first-rounder has 9-16–25 in 38 AHL contests this season.
  • Wild winger Liam Ohgren will return to AHL Iowa over the break, per a team announcement. The fellow 2022 first-rounder has bounced between Minnesota and Iowa this year but spent the past couple of weeks filling in the Wild’s top six with Marcus Johansson and Kirill Kaprizov missing time. It hasn’t been an overly productive first look in the NHL for the Swedish winger, who’s managed 2-4–6 in 23 appearances since debuting late last season. He’ll likely be back up after the break, with Kaprizov still set to miss another couple of weeks following lower-body surgery.
  • The Sharks reassigned forwards Collin Graf and Andrew Poturalski and defenseman Jack Thompson to AHL San Jose, the club said. Their post-break returns likely depend on the health of Nikolai Kovalenko, Jan Rutta, and Nico Sturm, all of whom enter the break on injured reserve with day-to-day designations. If all three are ready to return, the Sharks will need those roster spots to activate them, as they were carrying a full roster before this morning’s moves.
  • The Blues sent forward Zachary Bolduc down to AHL Springfield this morning. It’s just the second time this season he’s been assigned to Springfield, and the first was a one-day demotion before opening night to help St. Louis optimize their LTIR capture. The 21-year-old has 6-12–18 through 46 games and will return to the NHL following the break. In the meantime, the 2021 first-round pick will continue to get reps in Springfield amid a promising sophomore campaign in the majors with good possession numbers.
  • Blackhawks rookie defenseman Ethan Del Mastro is back down with AHL Rockford, Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times reports. The 22-year-old lefty has one assist and 13 hits in six games since being recalled on Jan. 23. His 52.0 CF% at even strength is far above team average and is a promising sign for the 2021 fourth-rounder’s prospects at making the opening night roster next year. The 6’4″, 210-lb active defender has eight assists in 38 showings with Rockford this year, along with a plus-four rating.
  • The Rangers returned goaltender Dylan Garand to AHL Hartford after his services were needed to backup Jonathan Quick in last night’s 4-3 win over the Blue Jackets. The 22-year-old will only be back up after the break if Igor Shesterkin, who missed the game due to an upper-body injury, isn’t cleared to return. The 2020 fourth-rounder is coming off an appearance in the AHL All-Star Classic and has a 2.68 GAA, .913 SV%, three shutouts, and a 12-7-4 record in 23 showings for Hartford.
  • The Utah Hockey Club has assigned Josh Doan to the minor-leagues per Cole Bagley of KSL Sports. This move is likely intended to keep Doan on the ice while the club prepares for their two-week break. Doan has been in the NHL roster routinely since January 10th. He has five points in 15 games in that span, including two in his last two games. He’s been highly impactful even despite modest scoring totals, and should get a chance to continue carving out a role when Utah returns on February 22nd.

This page will be updated throughout the day.

Latest On The Wild’s Injuries

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The Wild have not had a pleasant past few weeks. They haven’t had a fully healthy lineup since Nov. 10, and injuries have really come to the forefront recently. Cap restrictions forced them to transfer star winger Kirill Kaprizov to long-term injured reserve yesterday.

Things are beginning to turn around, albeit slowly. Top defenseman Brock Faber is expected to return to the lineup tomorrow in Nashville after missing four games with an upper-body injury, head coach John Hynes told NHL.com’s Jessi Pierce. He also confirmed that winger Jakub Lauko will play after being previously activated from LTIR on Thursday.

They’ll still remain without Kaprizov for their next two games, though, as neither he nor captain Jared Spurgeon will make their brief Central Division road trip, Hynes added. Kaprizov is eligible to come back off LTIR at any time after already missing the required time with his lower-body injury, while Spurgeon remains sidelined due to the lower-body injury he sustained on a slew foot from Predators forward Zachary L’Heureux on New Year’s Eve.

Stalwart defender Jonas Brodin is also staying home while he continues to nurse a lower-body injury and Marcus Johansson is unavailable after his recent concussion landed him on IR yesterday, so that makes four roster regulars, and impactful ones at that, sidelined for at least Minnesota’s next two games. All of their roster maneuvering allowed the club to recall forwards Brendan Gaunce, Liam Ohgren, and Devin Shore from AHL Iowa over the past 24 hours, per PuckPedia, who detailed how the order in which those transactions were executed affected their delicate salary cap situation. After the moves, they’re back to having ample breathing room with $7.45MM in their LTIR pool, although they’ll need to figure out how to reinstate Kaprizov when he’s ready to come back in the next week or so.

While the Wild have understandably dropped three of their last four games, they’re still in a battle for second in the Central Division with a 27-14-4 record. They’re a virtual playoff lock at a 96.5% chance and still have a 9.7% chance of winning their second division title in franchise history, per Hockey Reference.

While Gaunce, Ohgren and Shore bring a decent mix of veteran professional experience and, in Ohgren’s case, long-term top-six upside, they’ve combined for just one assist in 38 appearances this season. Each has averaged under 10 minutes per game and posted ghastly possession numbers, particularly in Gaunce’s case with a 29.2 CF% at even strength in five showings.

Wild Reassign Liam Ohgren, Jesper Wallstedt

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Dec. 4: The Wild announced Wednesday that they reassigned Ohgren and Wallstedt to Iowa. Ohgren did not suit up against Vancouver – evidently, the recalls were for salary cap management purposes to optimize Zuccarello’s LTIR capture.

Dec. 3: The Wild have recalled top prospects Liam Ohgren and Jesper Wallstedt from AHL Iowa ahead of Tuesday’s game against the Canucks, per a team release. The team placed defenseman Jonas Brodin and left-winger Jakub Lauko on injured reserve to open spots on the active roster and also moved right-winger Mats Zuccarello from IR to LTIR to open up the necessary cap space.

Ohgren, 20, made Minnesota’s opening night roster but struggled out of the gate, posting no points and a -2 rating in seven appearances while averaging under 10 minutes a night before being assigned to Iowa at the end of October. He was recalled under emergency conditions for a game against the Stars last month but has otherwise spent all his time in the minors since.

The 2022 first-round pick has fared much better in the AHL, quickly proving himself as one of the club’s most efficient goal-scorers with five in eight contests. It’s unclear if he’ll unseat recent AHL call-ups Ben Jones or Devin Shore for a spot in the lineup tonight with Lauko and Zuccarello still out, but it seems likely.

In Wallstedt’s case, it’s similarly uncertain if they plan to give the 22-year-old his first start of the season between the pipes. Michael Russo of The Athletic “has a sense” that his recall is primarily to get him working with Minnesota’s NHL goaltending staff, one that’s worked wonders to help Filip Gustavsson along to a vicious resurgence this season.

Wallstedt, the 20th overall pick in the 2021 draft, is off to a nightmarish start in Iowa in what the Wild hoped would be his last season seeing minor-league ice. After back-to-back AHL All-Star Game appearances, the 6’3″ Swede has just a .860 SV% and 4.34 GAA in 10 games with Iowa this year behind a 3-6-1 record. Minnesota inked Wallstedt to a two-year, $4.4MM extension in October that goes into effect for the 2025-26 campaign.

Brodin’s IR placement doesn’t affect the stalwart’s return timeline. The 31-year-old has already missed three games with an upper-body injury and remains day-to-day for now. He last played on Nov. 25 against the Jets, so he can come off the injured list at any time.

In 19 games this season, Brodin has two goals and six assists for eight points with a +7 rating. His 45 blocked shots are second on the team behind Jacob Middleton’s 61.

Lauko, 24, also last suited up in the Winnipeg game last week, so his situation is pretty much the same. He’s still listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury, and while he won’t play tonight, he hasn’t been ruled out for Friday’s game against the Ducks. He has two goals and two assists in 21 games for Minnesota in a fourth-line role after being acquired in an offseason swap with the Bruins.

Zuccarello underwent lower-body surgery on Nov. 14 and is expected back sometime in the next two weeks, although the move to LTIR means he won’t be back until Tuesday against Utah at the soonest.

Snapshots: Wild, Perets, Edvinsson, Rasmussen

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The Minnesota Wild have assigned forwards Liam Ohgren and Michael Milne, and defender Daemon Hunt, to the AHL as they anticipate the return of Jonas Brodin and Joel Eriksson Ek. Michael Russo of The Athletic points out that, even with the two veterans returning, the team will likely call another forward up in the coming days.

Ohgren made his return to the lineup, and Milne his NHL debut, in Saturday’s loss to the Dallas Stars. Neither had much to show for their minutes, with Ohgren recording two shots in 12:10 and Milne recording three hits in 6:34. Another scoreless night pulled Ohgren through his eighth game this season with no points. Hunt hasn’t stepped into the lineup since being recalled on November 12th, though he did play one NHL game in October. All three have been far more productive with the AHL’s Iowa Wild – where Ohgren has four goals in four games; Hunt has two assists in six games; and Milne has eight points in 10 games. Ohgren and Milne will be the top options to be quickly recalled, though Minnesota could also turn towards veteran pros like Ben Jones, Travis Boyd, or Devin Shore.

Other notes from around the league:

  • The Carolina Hurricanes have sent goaltender Yaniv Perets back to the minor leagues with Pyotr Kochetkov set to return from injury per NHL.com’s Walt Ruff. Kochetkov missed Carolina’s Saturday win over Ottawa with an undisclosed injury. Head coach Rod Brind’Amour describing Kochetkov as “banged up” to postgame media including NHL.com’s Matt Komma was the closest indication of Kochetkov’s hold up. Whatever the issue was, the young netminder is set to reassume his familiar role as de facto starter with Frederik Andersen out long-term. Kochetkov has eight wins and a .897 save percentage through 10 games this season. Meanwhile, Perets has only served as backup in his NHL call-ups this season. He’s posted a .825 save percentage in three AHL games this year, and will return to a crowded Chicago Wolves goaltender room beside Spencer Martin and Ruslan Khazheyev.
  • Forward Michael Rasmussen (upper-body) and defenseman Simon Edvinsson (lower-body) are both expected to return to the lineup on Monday per the Detroit Free Press’ Helene St. James. Both players sat out of the team’s Saturday night loss to the Los Angeles Kings. Rasmussen has found a role in Detroit’s bottom-six, recording four points through 16 games this season. Edvinsson has proven far more impactful, usually serving as the go-to partner for star Wings defender Moritz Seider. Edvinsson has six points in 16 games this season, putting him on pace for 30 points in his rookie year.

Wild Recall Liam Ohgren On Emergency Basis

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With winger Mats Zuccarello landing on injured reserve for the next few weeks and center Joel Eriksson Ek’s availability for tomorrow in question after exiting Thursday’s victory over Montreal, the Wild needed an extra forward.  They’ve now made that move, announcing the recall of Liam Ohgren from AHL Iowa on an emergency basis.

The 20-year-old broke camp with Minnesota and has played in seven games with them so far this season.  However, he was held off the scoresheet and his playing time dwindled quickly; he failed to reach eight minutes of playing time over his last three games.  As a result, they elected to send him down to the minors at the end of October in the hopes of getting him more minutes.

Ohgren got into four games with Iowa while on assignment, scoring four goals, three of which came in his last game back on Saturday against Rockford.  If he does get into Minnesota’s lineup, it’ll likely be a short-lived recall as they undoubtedly would prefer him playing in a top role in the minors over spot duty with the Wild so once Eriksson Ek is able to play, Ohgren will probably be sent back down soon after.

Wild Assign Liam Öhgren, Luke Toporowski To AHL

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The Wild have assigned 2022 first-round pick Liam Öhgren to AHL Iowa, the team announced Thursday. They also activated depth winger Luke Toporowski from season-opening injured reserve and sent him to Iowa along with Öhgren.

Öhgren’s reassignment prefaces the likely return of forward Ryan Hartman tomorrow from the upper-body injury that’s sidelined him for the past five games, as relayed by Michael Russo of The Athletic. But Hartman was never on IR, and they had an open roster spot anyway, so it’s not a forced transaction to create roster space. Instead, it’s a legitimate demotion for a talented but unpolished youngster who’s struggled to make an NHL impact this season.

The 20-year-old Öhgren is still new to the North American scene. The Wild signed him to his entry-level contract shortly after drafting him in the summer of 2022 but loaned him to Sweden’s Djurgårdens IF and Färjestad BK in back-to-back seasons, sliding the deal twice before finally recalling him from his overseas loan at the end of last season. The 6’1″ left-winger had a goal and assist in four games for the Wild down the stretch, averaging 14:31 per game and registering eight shots on goal.

Öhgren has shown his goal-scoring ability in the professional ranks, lighting the lamp 12 times in 26 games for Färjestad last season in the Swedish Hockey League. While he may have an NHL-ready shot, his early-season audition after making the opening night roster shows he’s got more work to do, going pointless with a -2 rating in seven appearances. He was plopped in fourth-line minutes alongside Jakub Lauko and either Frédérick Gaudreau or Marat Khusnutdinov at center, so he didn’t have the highest-skill linemates to work with. Still, he struggled to control possession, posting a 45.6 CF% and 42.5 xGF% at even strength, which are both well below team averages. He was limited to eight shots on net on 15 attempts, and he averaged just 9:33 per game.

He’ll now get the chance to work on his game in Iowa, where he went without a point and posted a -4 rating in three appearances to end last season. He’ll likely play a starring role on an understaffed team that’s 1-6-1 through their first eight games, although they did just get 2024 AHL All-Star Graeme Clarke added from the Wild’s SOIR.

They’re also adding Toporowski, whose presence on SOIR evaded us at PHR at the beginning of the season and had been absent from our roster tracker. The 23-year-old Iowa native was acquired by Minnesota from the Bruins in last year’s Pat Maroon swap and is in the second season of the two-year entry-level contract he signed with Boston in the summer of 2023. He suited up in 66 AHL contests between Providence and Iowa last season, scoring 12 goals and adding 16 assists for 28 points. The 5’11” left-winger will be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights next summer.

Liam Ohgren, Jesper Wallstedt Expected To Make Wild Roster

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Minnesota is expected to maintain top prospects Liam Ohgren and Jesper Wallstedt on their opening night roster, per Michael Russo of The Athletic. Minnesota’s brass has named both players as favorites to make the team since the start of training camp.

The Wild are showing no hesitation in placing perhaps the league’s best goalie prospect – Wallstedt – into a three-man rotation with Marc-Andre Fleury and Filip Gustavsson. All three goaltenders made two appearances in the preseason, with Wallstedt leading the trio in save percentage with a .930 to Fleury’s .925 and Gustavsson’s .898.

Fleury and Gustavsson split starts last year, making 40 and 45 appearances respectively. Neither were particularly productive, each posting save percentages below .900 – a feat Fleury hadn’t managed since his rookie season of 2005-06. Those muddling performances leave plenty of room for excitement in Minnesota’s goaltending room – something Wallstedt may be able to bring quickly. The former first-round pick has posted two strong seasons as an AHL starter, collectively posting 40 wins and a .909 save percentage in 83 appearances.

Ohgren should have a much clearer path to an NHL role, having spent five preseason games on the team’s third-line. He certainly seemed comfortable in the role, posting one goal and one assist – the same statline he managed in his first four NHL games at the end of last season. An upper-body injury delayed the start of Ohgren’s 2023-24 to late November, but he played well immediately upon returning, ultimately recording 19 points in 27 games in Sweden’s SHL –  the highest scoring pace of any U20 SHL player last season. Wild general manager Bill Guerin has previously praised Ohgren’s ability to produce from any spot in the lineup, which could mean he’ll have to work his way up to a high-usage role – though a fully healthy season could make quick work of that challenge.

Both Ohgren and Wallstedt seem poised to bring big impacts to the Minnesota lineup – a welcome relief to the team that ranked in the bottom 15 of both goals scored and goals allowed last season. They’ll each be names to watch closely, as Ohgren fights for healthy footing and Wallstedt looks to claw above two proven NHL starters.

Central Notes: Minnesota Injuries, Perfetti, Ohgren

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The Minnesota Wild are nursing a few injuries up-and-down the roster in addition to star forward Matt Boldy missing the next few weeks due to a lower-body injury. Michael Russo of The Athletic reports Reese Johnson, Pavel Novak, and Michael Milne are all out with mild upper-body injuries with the latter having yet to practice with the team during training camp.

None of the three were expected to be impact players for the Wild this season with Johnson having the highest odds of the trio to crack the opening night roster. Johnson joined Minnesota this offseason on a one-year league minimum contract and already has seven goals and 17 points in 141 games with the Chicago Blackhawks from 2021-2024. Johnson would be isolated to a bottom-six role with the Wild but will likely start in a ’first man up’ role with AHL Iowa.

Novak and Milne are starting their third seasons with the Wild organization but have exclusively played in the minor leagues. Novak is coming off a 2023-24 season in which he primarily played for the ECHL’s Iowa Heartlanders scoring 14 goals and 27 points in 44 contests. Milne has yet to be demoted to the ECHL as he scored eight goals and 21 points in 40 games for the AHL Wild last year in a bottom-six role when healthy.

Other Central notes:

  • The Winnipeg Jets and forward Cole Perfetti made zero progress on an extension over the weekend reports Scott Billeck of the Winnipeg Sun. The negotiations appear to be a classic case of the player asking too much from the organization’s perspective and the team offering too low from the player’s perspective. Billeck also reported the Jets are unwilling to consider the recent short-term deal for Dawson Mercer and the long-term deal for Dylan Guenther as comparables to Perfetti. He’s still staying on the ice to prepare for the regular season but he and the team have a little over two weeks to get an extension done befor the start of the regular season on October 9th.
  • Back in Minnesota, the organization is eager about the first full season for forward prospect Liam Ohgren. General manager Bill Guerin believes Ohgren can be a flexible winger for the team this season by saying, “The thing I like about Liam, he can play on all four lines. I really feel like Liam can complement any of the four lines he plays on, which is good for him. That brings a value at a young age, and the fact we could fit him in the top six or he can play a different role, that’s a benefit” (Subscription Article). Ohgren scored one goal and two points over four games in his NHL debut last season after scoring 12 goals and 19 points in 26 games for the SHL’s Färjestad BK.

Snapshots: Bourque, Ohgren, Hurlbert

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It’s becoming abundantly clear that Mavrik Bourque will be on the Stars’ opening night roster after being crowned the AHL’s Most Valuable Player last season.

The 22-year-old center is “ready for the NHL,” and it’s his “turn to start grabbing it,” Dallas general manager Jim Nill told NHL.com’s Tracey Myers. Bourque, a late first-round pick by Dallas in 2020, exploded to lead the AHL with 77 points (26 G, 51 A) in 71 games last season with the Texas Stars. It was just his second professional campaign after completing his final season of junior hockey with the QMJHL’s Shawinigan Cataractes in 2022, where he won a league championship and was crowned playoff MVP.

Bourque has just one regular-season NHL game under his belt, going without a point in 10:56 of ice time against the Blackhawks on April 6 last season. But he’ll likely get a crack in a top-nine role come opening night as the team attempts to replace veteran Joe Pavelski, who confirmed his retirement last month, by committee. The Stars hope Bourque will be the latest in a string of prospects that become impact players immediately upon landing NHL minutes, following Wyatt Johnston and the recent graduation of Logan Stankoven to a full-time role.

More notes from around the league:

  • Sticking in the Central, the Wild find themselves in a similar spot with recent first-round pick Liam Ohgren, who feels he’s ready to land a spot on the roster out of training camp. “I’m here to take a spot,” he said to NHL.com’s Jessi Pierce. “I want to play in the NHL next year. Not only that, I want to make an impact so we can go on and win a Stanley Cup. That’s my main goal.” Ohgren, the 19th overall selection of the 2022 draft, signed his entry-level contract a while back but only arrived from his native Sweden near the end of last season. He played four games for the Wild down the stretch, scoring a goal and an assist while averaging 14:31 per game. It’s important for the cap-strapped Wild to get value out of players on entry-level contracts, something they could do this season by sticking Ohgren in a top-nine role.
  • It’s already time to start looking at some top names for the 2026 NHL Draft. One of the early top targets is 16-year-old forward JP Hurlbert, who announced on his Instagram today that he’s committed to Michigan. Hurlbert will spend the next two seasons in the U.S. National Team Development Program before heading to the Wolverines as a freshman in 2026-27. The Allen, Texas native has lit up the youth ranks with the Stars’ youth club, recording 76 points (40 G, 36 A) in 45 games with their U-16 squad last season.

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