Tanner Fritz

After taking the past three days off with a 14-game schedule, the NHL gets back to action today. As such, many teams are adding to their roster today, undoing transactions made before their off days for the Christmas holiday.

• One of those teams is the Blues, who recalled winger Mackenzie MacEachern from the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds this morning. After spending last season with the Hurricanes, playing in eight playoff games en route to an Eastern Conference Final appearance, MacEachern returned to the team that drafted him on a two-year deal worth $1.55MM in free agency. A one-way contract structure suggested the Blues envisioned him having a spot on their roster out of the gate. However, he ended up as one of their final cuts before the regular season began and cleared waivers before being assigned to Springfield. He scored four goals and added eight assists for 12 points in 22 games there before the Blues recalled him earlier this month. MacEachern played in five games on his initial recall, recording one assist and averaging 9:04 per game. The Blues then papered him down to Springfield on Christmas Eve. MacEachern will likely be in the lineup tonight against the Stars.
• The Lightning recalled defenseman Sean Day from AHL Syracuse, marking the veteran pro’s third recall in the last week-and-a-half. Day, 25, has eight assists in 17 games with Syracuse this season, his fourth in the Lightning organization. The former OHL exceptional status grantee has gone 87 straight games without a goal in the minors, last lighting the lamp on April 8, 2022. He’s been rostered for four NHL games this month but has been a healthy scratch each time. Even with Mikhail Sergachev expected to remain out of the lineup tonight with a lower-body injury, Day will likely watch from the box as the Lightning take on the cross-state rival Panthers.
• The Capitals brought young forwards Hendrix Lapierre and Ivan Miroshnichenko back up from AHL Hershey this morning. Lapierre, 21, and Miroshnichenko, 19, had appeared in each of Washington’s last three games before the holiday break and are expected to be linemates on a unit centered by Evgeny Kuznetsov tonight against the Rangers. Miroshnichenko, the 20th overall pick in 2022, is still looking for his first NHL point and has posted a -1 rating in 9:32 of his average ice time since his first career recall earlier this month. As NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti points out, the move suggests none of Washington’s three injured forwards – Sonny Milano, T.J. Oshie and Max Pacioretty – are ready to return for tonight’s game.
• The Flyers recalled center Rhett Gardner from AHL Lehigh Valley after assigning him to the minors last Saturday. Gardner was rostered for the Flyers’ final three games before the holiday break but was a healthy scratch in all of them. The 27-year-old has yet to appear in a contest for Philadelphia after signing a two-year, two-way deal worth $825K in the minors and $1.5MM in the NHL in free agency and has just three goals and one assist in 21 games for Lehigh Valley this year.
• Defenseman Grant Hutton was a participant at the Islanders’ morning skate Wednesday, suggesting the team has recalled him from AHL Bridgeport, per Newsday’s Andrew Gross. This is Hutton’s seventh recall since American Thanksgiving despite playing only two NHL contests. The Islanders have been keeping him in the minors as much as possible to extend his waiver-exempt clock, allowing them to keep him on the roster as their seventh defenseman on game days. Their ability to freely move him between leagues is coming to an end soon, though, as the 28-year-old can remain on the NHL roster for six more days until he requires waivers again to head to Bridgeport.
• Former AHL All-Star forward Tanner Fritz has left the AHL’s Bridgeport Islanders, the club he has played almost all of his pro career with, to sign a two-year deal with the KHL’s Dinamo Minsk. Filling the forward spot opened by Fritz’s departure, Bridgeport recalled forward Jake Pivonka from their ECHL affiliate, the Worcester Railers. The Islanders originally signed Fritz as an undrafted college free agent out of Ohio State University, and he worked his way into the AHL by scoring 33 points in 43 games with the Islanders’ ECHL affiliate, the Kansas City Mavericks. Fritz ranks seventh all-time in points for Bridgeport, and will now head to a Minsk team that already boasts import talent such as Nick Merkley, Brett Ritchie, and Sam Anas. He’s going to attempt to aid Minsk’s offensive attack, a unit that has struggled this season as the team sits firmly outside of legitimate Gagarin Cup contention.
• Former Florida Panthers prospect Thomas Schemitsch has signed a one-year deal with the KHL’s Kunlun Red Star. He’ll likely join Kunlun at the conclusion of the Spengler Cup, where he is currently on Team Canada’s roster. The 27-year-old stands six-foot-four, 205 pounds and will bring size as well as over 300 games of experience in a top pro league (the AHL) to the Red Star blueline. Schemitsch spent last season with the SHL’s Malmö Redhawks, scoring 14 points in 49 games on 18:37 time-on-ice per game.

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