Waivers: 10/1/25

With less than a week to go until the regular season, waiver season is in full swing. According to PuckPedia, the largest waiver placement of the preseason has taken place:

Boston Bruins

D Billy Sweezey

Colorado Avalanche

D Wyatt Aamodt
F Daniil Gushchin

Detroit Red Wings

F Sheldon Dries
D William Lagesson
F John Leonard
D Ian Mitchell
F Dominik Shine
F Austin Watson

Florida Panthers

F MacKenzie Entwistle
F Nolan Foote
F Wilmer Skoog

Los Angeles Kings

D Samuel Bolduc
F Logan Brown
F Martin Chromiak
G Pheonix Copley
F Glenn Gawdin
F Cole Guttman
D Joe Hicketts
F Andre Lee
F Akil Thomas
F Taylor Ward

Nashville Predators

D Andreas Englund

Philadelphia Flyers

F Lane Pederson

San Jose Sharks

F Patrick Giles

Tampa Bay Lightning

F Nicholas Abruzzese
F Boris Katchouk
F Jakob Pelletier

Utah Mammoth

G Jaxson Stauber

Washington Capitals

D Louis Belpedio
F Graeme Clarke
F Henrik Rybinski
F Bogdan Trineyev

Winnipeg Jets

F Jaret Anderson-Dolan
D Kale Clague
F Samuel Fagemo

Kings Re-Sign Martin Chromiak To Two-Way Deal

The Kings are keeping winger Martin Chromiak off this summer’s restricted free agent market. They announced they’ve re-signed the 22-year-old to a one-year, two-way deal for 2025-26 that carries the league minimum $775K cap hit. He’ll earn $100K in the minors, according to PuckPedia.

Chromiak was a fifth-round pick of the Kings in the 2020 draft. In the years since, the 6’0″ Slovak winger hasn’t taken many forward steps in his development. After his entry-level deal took effect with the 2022-23 season, he’s played exclusively for AHL Ontario. His point per game totals each season carry little variation: 0.51 in his 2022-23 showing, 0.46 in 2023-24, and 0.57 here in 2024-25.

While a well-rounded offensive talent who still carries some upside, it’s fair to question at this point whether he’ll have the minor-league breakout season necessary to warrant a call-up. Without some more demonstrable improvement in 2025-26, he’s at risk of being a non-tender when this new two-way deal is up and taking an early trip to the UFA market.

Chromiak has represented Slovakia at two of the last three World Championships, recording two goals in 14 games. He has a career 48-51–99 scoring line in 196 AHL games, including 18 goals and 39 points in 69 outings this year. The Kings control his signing rights through the 2029-30 season.

2022 WJC Participants By NHL Team

The 2022 World Junior Championships will get underway from Edmonton and Red Deer, Alberta on Sunday. As is the norm and to be expected from the top U-20 competition in the world, the World Junior tournament field is loaded with drafted NHL talent. While most nations don’t have the prospect depth to form a roster completely composed of NHL prospects and those that do have opted to include some younger, future draft picks, there are still a whopping 106 drafted players on WJC rosters. Nine of ten WJC have at least one current NHL prospect and six of those nine have at least ten draft picks. Those players come from 30 of the NHL’s 32 teams, with the Carolina Hurricanes leading the way with ten prospects. While enjoying the WJC action in the coming days, keep track of who may one day be playing at the highest level:

Anaheim Ducks (4):
F Mason McTavish, Canada
Ian MooreUSA
Sasha PastujovUSA
Olen ZellwegerCanada

Arizona Coyotes (1):
Dylan GuentherCanada

Boston Bruins (1):
Fabian LysellSweden

Buffalo Sabres (4):
Jakub KonecnyCzechia
Nikita NovikovRussia
Owen PowerCanada
Isak RosenSweden

Calgary Flames (1):
Matt CoronatoUSA

Carolina Hurricanes (10):
F Nikita Guslistov, Russia
D Aleski Heimosalmi, Finland
Ville KoivunenFinland
Scott MorrowUSA
F Zion Nybeck, Sweden
D Joel NystromSweden
F Alexander PashinRussia
F Vasily PonomarevRussia
G Nikita QuappGermany
D Ronan SeeleyCanada

Chicago Blackhawks (4):
G Drew CommessoUSA
Wyatt KaiserUSA
Michael KrutilCzechia
Landon SlaggertUSA

Colorado Avalanche (1):
Oskar OlaussonSweden

Columbus Blue Jackets (4):
Kent JohnsonCanada
Samuel KnazkoSlovakia
F Martin RysavyCzechia
Stanislav SvozilCzechia

Dallas Stars (4):
Mavrik BourqueCanada
Daniel LjungmanSweden
Logan StankovenCanada
Albert SjobergSweden

Detroit Red Wings (8):
Jan BednarCzechia
Sebastian CossaCanada
Simon EdvinssonSweden
Carter MazurUSA
Theodor NiederbachSweden
Redmond SavageUSA
Donovan SebrangoCanada
Eemil ViroFinland

Edmonton Oilers (2):
Xavier BorgaultCanada
Luca MunzenbergerGermany

Florida Panthers (5):
Elliot EkmarkSweden
Kasper PuutioFinland
Mackie SamoskevichUSA
Ty SmilanicUSA
Justin SourdifCanada

Los Angeles Kings (6):
Martin ChromiakSlovakia
Brock Faber, USA
D Helge GransSweden
F Samuel HeleniusFinland
D Kirill KirsanovRussia
F Kasper SimontaivalFinland

Minnesota Wild (6):
F Marat KhusnutdinovRussia
Carson LambosCanada
Pavel NovakCzechia
Ryan O’RourkeCanada
Jack PeartUSA
Jesper WallstedtSweden

Montreal Canadiens (3):
Kaiden GuhleCanada
Oliver KapanenFinland
Jan MysakCzechia

Nashville Predators (4):
Yaroslav AskarovRussia
Simon KnakSwitzerland*
Anton OlssonSweden
Fedor SvechkovRussia

New Jersey Devils (4):
Alexander HoltzSweden
Luke HughesUSA
Jakub MalekCzechia
Shakir Mukhamadullin, Russia

New York Islanders (0)

New York Rangers (4):
Brett BerardUSA
William CuylleCanada
Dylan GarandCanada
Kalle VaisanenFinland

Ottawa Senators (5):
Ridly GreigCanada
Roby JarventieFinland
Tyler KlevenUSA
Leevi MerilainenFinland
Jake SandersonUSA

Philadelphia Flyers (3):
Emil AndraeSweden
Elliot DesnoyersCanada
Brian ZanettiSwitzerland*

Pittsburgh Penguins (3):
Joel BlomqvistFinland
Calle ClangSweden
Kirill TankovRussia

St. Louis Blues (3):
Tanner DickinsonUSA
Leo LoofSweden
Jake NeighborsCanada

San Jose Sharks (1):
William EklundSweden

Seattle Kraken (2):
F Matthew BeniersUSA
Ville OttavainenFinland

Tampa Bay Lightning (0)

Toronto Maple Leafs (3):
Roni HirvonenFinland
Matthew KniesUSA
Topi NiemalaFinland

Vancouver Canucks (1):
Dmitry ZlodeyevRussia

Vegas Golden Knights (4):
Jakub BrabenecCzechia
Lukas CormierCanada
Jakub DemekSlovakia
Jesper VikmanSweden

Washington Capitals (1):
Oskar MagnussonSweden

Winnipeg Jets (4):
Nikita ChibrikovRussia
Chaz LuciusUSA
Cole PerfettiCanada
Daniel Torgersson, Sweden

*Switzerland roster pending finalization on Sunday; team has been in COVID-19 quarantine since Thursday but will be ready to begin tournament and participate as schedule, the Swiss announced.

Los Angeles Kings Sign Martin Chromiak

The Los Angeles Kings have inked another prospect, signing Martin Chromiak to a three-year entry-level contract. Chromiak was sent back to junior just yesterday but will get a nice going-away present of an NHL contract as he leaves Kings’ training camp. The deal will carry an average annual value of $833,333.

A fifth-round selection in 2020, Chromiak has had an interesting development path over the last few years. During his draft year, he joined the Kingston Frontenacs partway through their season, leaving his club team in Slovakia after registering just six points in 32 games. In the OHL he exploded with 33 points in 28 games, showing that he could dominate similarly-aged opponents. Last season, with the OHL not holding a season, he returned to Slovakia and showed off improved production, racking up 19 points in 32 games. He even played in a pair of AHL contests at the end of the season, though failed to register a point.

Now, with an NHL contract in hand, he’ll return to the junior ranks where he could end up having a monster year. He’s expected to line up beside expected 2022 first-overall pick Shane Wright and if he does, the pair–who were both selected to the OHL’s 2019-20 All-Rookie teams–should be among the most productive lines in the CHL. While that does not guarantee an NHL future, Chromiak is a player to watch even in the Kings’ crowded prospect system.