Three Players Placed On Unconditional Waivers
Feb. 4: All three cleared and are now unrestricted free agents, per Friedman. Larsson has already found his new home in Sweden with Leksands IF, Expressen reports.
Feb. 3: Three players from around the league won’t be back with their current clubs after the Olympic break. The Panthers’ Ryan McAllister, the Penguins’ Filip Larsson, and the Blues’ Samuel Johannesson were placed on unconditional waivers today for the purposes of contract terminations, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports.
McAllister, 24, will become an unrestricted free agent midway through a trying season. The Ontario native took a rare development path, inking his entry-level contract with Florida as an undrafted free agent in 2023 after just one season in college at Western Michigan. He’d erupted for 49 points in 39 games as a freshman, so making the jump to the pros wasn’t completely out of the blue.
The 5’10” pivot has never landed an NHL recall, but he’d put together some promising seasons in Charlotte – when healthy. He had 19 points in 37 games as a first-year pro in 2023-24 and averaged nearly a point per game last year, although he was available for only 16 games.
It seems whatever ailed him last year has made him a more limited threat this year. He had two goals and seven points with a -5 rating in 15 games to begin the year with Charlotte before the Panthers bumped him down to ECHL Savannah for the first time last month. He’s suited up twice, recording one assist and a -1 rating.
McAllister’s 0.64 points per game average in the AHL indicates he should be able to catch on somewhere else quickly, whether that’s on an AHL deal elsewhere to finish out the season or to join a pro team in Europe for the stretch run.
Larsson, 27, seems a sure bet to head back home to Sweden. He was a sixth-round pick by the Red Wings back in 2016 and had a one-year run with them in the AHL after coming out of college before being loaned back to Europe in 2020. He remained there until Detroit non-tendered him following the expiry of his entry-level deal.
Larsson later broke out as a top-tier starter in the Swedish Hockey League in 2023-24, racking up a .920 SV% and 1.93 GAA with five shutouts in 28 games. That put him back on the NHL radar, and the Penguins inked him to a two-year, two-way deal.
The Stockholm native was a good minor-league backup last season, notching a .910 SV% and 12-9-3 record in 26 showings for AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. He’s barely gotten any playing time this season behind youngsters Joel Blomqvist and Sergey Murashov, though, appearing just nine times. He hasn’t been terribly effective when dressed, either, throwing up a .876 SV% and 3.51 GAA.
Johannesson could also be on his way back to Sweden alongside Larsson. St. Louis signed the 25-year-old righty in 2024 out of Örebro HK. He was a 2020 draft pick by the Blue Jackets, but his exclusive signing rights with Columbus had expired.
The offensive-minded righty has been a valuable puck-mover for their minor-league affiliate in Springfield, but hasn’t shown the defensive utility necessary to earn a look at the next level. After putting up 32 points in 66 games last season, his output has dropped to 11 points in 26 games in 2025-26. He hasn’t been in Springfield’s lineup since mid-January, either, mostly due to his -20 rating.
Central Notes: Stanley, Lyubushkin, Johannesson
Logan Stanley’s first several years with Winnipeg were full of starts and stops with injuries and healthy scratches along the way. But this season has been a breakout one for the 27-year-old who has already set career highs in goals (eight) and points (17) while averaging 16:34 per night, also a personal best. The timing is ideal, too, as he’s slated to test the open market this summer. To that end, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period noted on a recent DFO Rundown (video link) that the Jets have held discussions with Stanley’s camp about an extension. However, it’s believed his current asking price is one that the team isn’t willing to meet. With Winnipeg falling out of the playoff race, Stanley could find himself in trade talks before too long if the sides aren’t able to bridge the gap in the coming weeks.
More from the Central:
- Stars defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin is expected to travel with the team for their upcoming road trip but is listed as doubtful for Tuesday’s game in St. Louis, relays D Magazine’s Robert Tiffin (Twitter link). He exited Friday’s contest early due to a lower-body injury. Lyubushkin has seven points, 67 blocks, and 54 hits in 39 games so far this season while averaging 16:10 per night in a third-pairing role. Dallas doesn’t have an open roster spot so if they want to bring someone up in the meantime, either Lyubushkin would have to go on IR or someone else would need to be sent down first.
- Blues prospect Samuel Johannesson is expected to sign with SHL Frolunda next season, according to a report from Expressen’s Mattias Persson and Johan Svensson. The 25-year-old blueliner is in his second season in North America and has played exclusively with AHL Springfield so far. After putting up 32 points in 66 games in his rookie campaign last season, Johannesson’s numbers are down this season with two goals and nine assists through 26 contests. Persson and Svensson add that several NLA teams had also shown interest in Johannesson but instead, he opted to return home. An official signing announcement won’t come until after the season.
Blues Recall Eight Players From AHL
The St. Louis Blues have recalled eight players from the AHL in preparation for their final preseason game against the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday. The full list of call-ups includes forwards Dalibor Dvorsky, Aleksanteri Kaskimaki, Mathias Laferriere, MacKenzie MacEachern, Hugh McGing, and Dylan Peterson; as well as defensemen Samuel Johannesson and Hunter Skinner.
That’s emphasized by the fact that none of the recalled managed any preseason scoring, despite each playing in at least one game excluding Peterson. In fact, the bunch only combined for five shots through their collective 10 games. Luckily, St. Louis’ preseason wasn’t as unproductive as the Blackhawks – who’ve so far managed just four goals in four games.
St. Louis’ bunch of recalls is led by 2023’s 10th-overall selection, Dalibor Dvorsky – a popular pick to make the Blues roster headed into training camp. His demotion to the AHL likely snubs those hopes, though Dvorsky is still carrying plenty of momentum into his first professional season in North America, after recording 45 goals and 88 points in 52 OHL games last season. The Slovak has been a top prospect throughout his teens and joined Sweden’s AIK for his age 17 and 18 seasons. Playing in the HockeyAllsvenskan – Sweden’s second-tier pro league – Dvorsky combined for 17 points in 55 games across the two seasons, enough to inspire the Blues to spend their earliest draft pick since they selected Alex Pietrangelo fourth-overall in 2008.
Pending a major breakout in Saturday’s matchup, all eight recalls can expect to head back to Springfield in due time. The Thunderbirds open their season against the Laval Rocket on October 12th, while St. Louis will kick things off in Seattle on October 8th.
Blues Sign Samuel Johannesson, Marcus Sylvegard
12:15 p.m.: St. Louis has now confirmed the signings of both Johannesson and Sylvegård, as previously reported, although financial terms were not disclosed. It’s a one-year entry-level agreement for Sylvegard. PuckPedia reports both deals carry cap hits of $870K, broken down into a $775K base salary, $95K signing bonus, $80K games played bonus, and $82.5K minors salary.
10:00 a.m.: The Blues are landing unrestricted free-agent defenseman Samuel Johannesson from the Swedish Hockey League’s Örebro HK, HockeyNews.se reports. League rules dictate it’ll be a two-year, entry-level contract when announced for the 23-year-old.
Johannesson was a sixth-round pick of the Blue Jackets in 2020, but his exclusive signing rights lapsed in June 2022 after he didn’t ink an ELC. He was already knocking on the door of being a full-time SHL player by the time he was drafted, skating in 44 games for Rögle BK in 2019-20, and has only solidified that standing since then. The 5’11” right-shot blue liner has bounced around with a few organizations, landing with Brynäs IF in 2022-23 and joining Örebro for this season after Brynäs lost their relegation series last summer and ended up in the second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan.
He’s now emerged as a solid puck-mover and one of the better offensive defenders in the SHL since earning top-of-the-lineup minutes with Brynäs last season. The Halmstad, Sweden, native remained in top-four minutes for Örebro, finishing second on the team in points with 27 (11 goals, 16 assists) in 43 games with a +5 rating. He added a goal in three playoff games as Örebro lost its play-in series to Luleå HF.
Johannesson was under contract with Örebro through 2024-25, so the Blues will need to buy him out – something HockeyNews.se says is important for an Örebro club that’s struggling financially. His deal will expire after the 2025-26 season, and the Blues will control his signing rights as an RFA. He’s their second expected signing out of the SHL this offseason, joining 24-year-old winger Marcus Sylvegård.