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Tobias Bjornfot

Panthers Recall Tobias Bjornfot

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With Dmitry Kulikov being placed on injured reserve back on Friday, the Panthers had an open roster spot at their disposal.  They’ve now filled that spot as they’ve recalled defenseman Tobias Bjornfot from AHL Charlotte, per the AHL’s transactions log.

The 24-year-old was an injury recall a couple of times last season, seeing stints with Florida back in January and March last season, getting into 14 games overall where he was held off the scoresheet while averaging just over 13 minutes per game.  For his career, Bjornfot has a goal and 14 assists in 134 NHL appearances between Los Angeles, Vegas, and Florida.

Bjornfot played in three games with the Panthers in the preseason but cleared waivers last weekend, paving the way for him to return to the Checkers.  This stint lasted all of one game and if Kulikov is indeed out longer term as expected, he may be up with Florida for a while this time.  Bjornfot had 18 points in 50 games at the AHL level last season.

With Florida deep into using LTIR (with Matthew Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov, and Tomas Nosek), they’re not banking any cap room right now, meaning that Bjornfot’s recall doesn’t do much beyond cutting into their current LTIR space.  That sits at just over $1.49MM, per PuckPedia, meaning they have enough cap space for one more recall if more injuries arise.

Waivers: 10/4/25

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With a little over 48 hours remaining before season-opening rosters need to be submitted to the league, it’s expected to be a very busy weekend on the waiver wire.  Not surprisingly, it’s another big list of players on waivers today as 17 players have been put there, per PuckPedia.  Meanwhile, all 12 players on waivers yesterday passed through unclaimed, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman (Twitter link).  Here’s today’s list of players on the wire:

Dallas Stars

F Cameron Hughes
D Vladislav Kolyachonok

Florida Panthers

D Tobias Bjornfot
G Brandon Bussi

New Jersey Devils

F Thomas Bordeleau
F Angus Crookshank
F Brian Halonen
F Zack MacEwen
D Colton White

Philadelphia Flyers

D Dennis Gilbert

Pittsburgh Penguins

D Alexander Alexeyev
D Ryan Graves
F Rafael Harvey-Pinard
F Bokondji Imama
F Samuel Poulin

San Jose Sharks

F Colin White

Utah Hockey Club

F Cameron Hebig

Graves is the headliner in today’s class, primarily due to his contract which has four years left on it.  We covered his situation in more detail earlier today.

Among the rest of the players, Bjornfot is no stranger to being in this situation but he has been claimed twice before.  He spent most of last season in the minors with Florida but did get into 14 games with the Panthers and has 134 games at the top level under his belt.  Alexeyev played sparingly last season with Washington not wanting to risk losing him for nothing on waivers but it appears that Pittsburgh doesn’t have that same level of hesitance.  Meanwhile, Kolyachonok was claimed off waivers by the Penguins back in February before being flipped to Dallas over the summer so it’s possible another team might have their eye on him as well.  Gilbert signed with the Flyers this summer after splitting last season between Ottawa and Buffalo but while the thought was that he’d at least be able to land a seventh role, that isn’t the case.

As for the forwards, San Jose’s White is by far the most experienced with 323 NHL appearances.  However, he has primarily been an AHL player in recent years and it’s likely that he will clear and be assigned to the Barracuda.  Poulin was a 2019 first-round pick but hasn’t seen much time with the Penguins, including just seven games last season.  But at 24, he’s young enough to potentially be of interest to a team that wants to take a longer look at him.  Bordeleau held his own in 27 games with the Sharks in 2023-24 but only played once for them last season before being moved in July in a swap of AHL players.  But like Poulin, he’s young enough (23) to potentially draw attention.

These players will be on waivers until 1:00 PM CT on Sunday.

Panthers Sign Tobias Bjornfot

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The Panthers have signed restricted free agent defenseman Tobias Bjornfot to a two-way contract, per a team press release. He’ll earn a $775K salary in the NHL and a $450K salary in the minors this season, according to PuckPedia.

Bjornfot was a first-round pick by the Kings in 2019 out of the Djurgarden program in his native Sweden, but he and L.A. decided to move his development to North America immediately after he was drafted. In hindsight, that was a hasty decision for a mobile but raw stay-at-home defender who played most of his draft year at the under-20 level in Sweden, and he never pieced together a career as a full-time NHLer as a result.

Florida is Bjornfot’s third NHL organization. He ended up being claimed off waivers by the Golden Knights in January 2024 before the Panthers snagged him off the wire two months later. He’s remained in the organization since, successfully passing through waivers at the beginning of 2024-25 and spending most of the season with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers.

Last season saw Bjornfot regain some stability after suiting up for five different NHL and AHL clubs in 2023-24. He made 50 regular-season appearances for Charlotte, posting a 5-13–18 scoring line and a plus-six rating. He also added seven points in 14 AHL playoff games and made 14 NHL appearances for the Panthers as an injury replacement throughout the season, going without a point and logging a minus-three rating while averaging 13:06 of ice time per night.

He’s a fine No. 8 defender at this stage of his career, and while he doesn’t have the current pedigree nor ceiling that his draft position indicated, he’s still an experienced and reliable call-up option that benefits a Panthers club that lost some of its organizational defensive depth this summer following its second straight Stanley Cup championship. Bjornfot, 24, will be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights again next summer.

Panthers Recall Jaycob Megna, Reassign Tobias Bjornfot

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The Florida Panthers have swapped depth defensemen on the roster, assigning Tobias Bjornfot to the minor league and recalling Jaycob Megna per the AHL Transactions Log. Bjornfot will return to the minors after appearing in Florida’s last six games. He manageed no scoring, two penalty minutes, and a minus-five in the appearances.

Bjornfot is now up to no scoring and a minus-three through 14 NHL appearances this season. He’s had a bit better footing in the minor leagues, where he’s potted 16 points, 22 penalty minutes, and a plus-one in 43 games. Bjornfot has developed into more-and-more of a stay-at-home defenseman as his professional career progresses, though his lack of offense at the top flight has made him hard to routinely trust.

With a three-game road trip on the horizon, Florida will opt to instead reward Megna with the first call-up of his season. He’s matched Bjornfot’s AHL scoring, with 16 points in 64 games of his own. Megna adds to that 23 penalty minutes and a strong plus-26, which ranks second on the Charlotte Checkers. The six-foot-six defender appeared in 44 games with the Chicago Blackhawks last season – recording two assists, 22 penalty minutes, and a minus-15. He’s totaled 27 points in 185 career games in the NHL, and 114 points in 434 games in the AHL. Megna could be in store to step immediately into the NHL roster on this recall, headed for the third-line left-defender role that Bjornfot previously occupied.

Panthers Recall Tobias Bjornfot

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The Florida Panthers have recalled defenseman Tobias Bjornfot from the AHL. This move comes after Dmitry Kulikov was injured in the first period of the team’s Sunday loss to the New York Islanders, after getting wrapped up on Islanders forward Anthony Duclair. This marks Bjornfot’s second call-up as a member of the Panthers organization, after spending 20 days on the NHL roster in January. He stepped into eight NHL games on the recall and managed no scoring.

Bjornfot has otherwise spent the rest of the season in the minors. He’s amassed 16 points, 22 penalty minutes, and a plus-one in 43 games with the Charlotte Checkers, good for third on the team’s blue-line in scoring. It’s just his third full season in the NHL since making his professional debut in the 2019-20 season. He spent the bulk of that year with the AHL’s Ontario Reign where he recorded 19 points, 12 penalty minutes, and a plus-13 in 44 games. Bjornfot received the first three games of his NHL career in the mix of those minor league minutes, and earned a hardier shot at the Los Angeles Kings lineup over the next two years. But he only managed 14 points through the first 106 games of his NHL career, prompting a return to the minors for the start of the 2022-23 campaign. Bjornfot scored 12 points in 50 AHL games that year.

Bjornfot followed another middling year in the minors with a winding journey last season. He appeared in games for Los Angeles, Vegas, and Florida throughout the 2023-24 season – and moved between each team through two separate waiver claims. Ultimately, Bjornfot couldn’t find his footing in any of his new destinations – and managed no scoring through 11 NHL games or five AHL games on the season. He’s returned to the scoresheet through the first half of this year, but still hasn’t found a consistent stride.

There’s been no indication as to whether Kulikov will be available for Florida’s Thursday matchup against the Columbus Blue Jackets. He’ll vacate a top-pair role if he does have to sit out, opening the door for Bjornfot to earn modest ice time as Florida mends an already-weakened blue-line.  Bjornfot has averaged 13:24 in ice time through his eight NHL appearances this season. A lineup nod would give Bjornfot another chance to earn his first point as a member of the Florida Panthers – and his first NHL point outside of the Los Angeles Kings organization.

Minor Transactions: 1/26/25

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There have been a few minor roster moves made around the NHL today, some of which may or may not ultimately be paper transactions that are reversed in the next couple of days.  We’ll run through those here.

  • The Panthers announced (Twitter link) that they’ve loaned defenseman Tobias Bjornfot to AHL Charlotte. The 23-year-old got into eight games with Florida after being recalled earlier this month but with Aaron Ekblad returning yesterday, his presence was no longer needed on the roster.  Bjornfot is tied for third in scoring by Checkers blueliners, notching 11 points in 27 games at the minor league level.
  • The Stars have returned winger Matej Blumel to the minors, per an announcement from AHL Texas. He has been shuttled back and forth with some frequency in recent days though he did suit up today versus Iowa.  The 24-year-old has a goal in seven games with Dallas and is now up to 19 goals and 15 assists in 33 AHL contests.
  • Nashville has assigned defenseman Spencer Stastney to AHL Milwaukee, per the AHL’s transactions log. He suited up in seven games for the Predators over the last three weeks while on recall but didn’t register a point.  The 25-year-old has three points in 10 games with the Admirals after missing nearly two months while on personal leave.  Nashville now has just six healthy blueliners on their active roster so it’s possible that Stastney could be back up relatively quickly.
  • The Hurricanes have placed center Tyson Jost on LTIR, PuckPedia reports (Twitter link). The 26-year-old last played at the end of December and is battling a lower-body injury although he resumed skating last week.  Assuming the placement is retroactive, he has already missed the required 10 games and 24 days.  The move allowed them to remain cap-compliant after Friday’s three-team trade.

Panthers’ Aaron Ekblad Unlikely To Play, Tobias Bjornfot In

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Florida Panthers head coach Paul Maurice has shared that top defenseman Aaron Ekblad, who was a game-time decision for Saturday afternoon, isn’t expected to play, per Colby Guy of the Associated Press. Ekblad is battling through an undisclosed injury that forced him to miss the final 26 minutes of Florida’s January 3rd win over Pittsburgh. He returned to the lineup for 24 minutes of ice time in Florida’s Wednesday win over Utah, but will now swing the other way and once again miss time with this undisclosed injury.

Ekblad has continued to serve as the beating heart of the Panthers’ blue-line. He leads the defense in scoring, with 20 points through 41 games putting him on pace to pass the 40-point mark for the first time since 2021-22. He’s been riddled with injuries since then, sitting out of a combined 42 games between the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons. Ekblad seemed to be back on the mend this year, so far only missing one of Florida’s games this season, but it seems his injury luck has run dry once again.

Guy shares that, with Ekblad expected to sit, Tobias Bjornfot will draw into the lineup. Bjornfot has only appeared in two games with Florida – split between last season and this season – since they claimed him off of waivers in March of 2024. Bjornfot has spent the bulk of this season in the minor leagues, where his 11 points in 27 games ranks third on the Charlotte Checkers defense. Bjornfot hasn’t scored a point at the NHL level since he managed one assist in 10 games of the 2022-23 campaign. He’s played in five NHL games, for three different clubs, since then. This spot start will be a chance to buck his trend of cold feet at the top level.

Panthers Recall Tobias Björnfot

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The Panthers announced Monday that they’ve recalled defenseman Tobias Björnfot from AHL Charlotte. Florida had an open spot on the active roster, so no corresponding transaction is necessary.

It’s the first time Björnfot has been recalled since clearing waivers during training camp. The Panthers claimed the 23-year-old off waivers from the Golden Knights at last season’s trade deadline, but he has only logged one NHL game since then, skating 17:01 against the Rangers on March 23, 2024, and serving as a healthy scratch for the entirety of Florida’s run to the 2024 Stanley Cup.

A first-round pick of the Kings in 2019, Björnfot has spent much of his time as a fringe roster player and has never secured anything above a third-pairing role. The Swedish native has been passable in Charlotte this season but not overly impressive, recording a pair of goals and nine assists for 11 points in 27 games with a -1 rating.

Björnfot has one NHL goal across 120 appearances since debuting in the 2019-20 campaign, adding 14 assists for 15 points with a -20 rating. Only four of those appearances came last season, a tumultuous one where he was claimed off waivers by the Golden Knights from L.A. before landing on the wire again and heading to the Cats.

Drafted as a stay-at-home piece, Björnfot has 42 points with a +7 rating in 136 career AHL games, where he’s spent most of the last three seasons. His last campaign as a full-time NHLer came in L.A. in 2021-22, when he dressed in a career-high 70 games and posted eight assists with a -12 rating while averaging 16:46 per game.

Björnfot will likely sit in the press box but comes up as injury insurance with Niko Mikkola, who’s missed the last four games with an upper-body injury, still projected to be unavailable tonight against the Avalanche. He could make his season debut if Aaron Ekblad, who didn’t practice over the weekend, can’t go due to an undisclosed injury.

Björnfot can remain on Florida’s roster for up to 30 days or play 10 games until he needs waivers to return to Charlotte.

Waiver Wire: 10/3/24

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All 12 players placed on waivers yesterday passed through unclaimed, Chris Johnston of The Athletic and TSN reports. PuckPedia relays that 17 new names hit the wire today for teams to claim over the next 24 hours:

Calgary Flames

F Walker Duehr
F Dryden Hunt
D Jarred Tinordi

Florida Panthers

F Rasmus Asplund
D Tobias Björnfot
F Zac Dalpe
D Jaycob Megna

Nashville Predators

D Nick Blankenburg

Seattle Kraken

D Cale Fleury

Toronto Maple Leafs

F Nicholas Abruzzese

Utah Hockey Club

F Andrew Agozzino
D Patrik Koch
F Ben McCartney

Winnipeg Jets

F Axel Jonsson-Fjällby
D Simon Lundmark
F Mason Shaw
F Dominic Toninato

Tobias Björnfot Claimed Off Waivers By Panthers

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The Panthers have claimed defenseman Tobias Björnfot off waivers from the Golden Knights, per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.

Björnfot played in just seven games with the Golden Knights organization – appearing in two games with Vegas and five with the AHL’s Henderson Silver Knights. He failed to score a point in any of the matchups, though he did record six penalty minutes. The 22-year-old defenseman has struggled to find his groove in the pros, recording just one goal and 15 points across 119 career games. He spent five years with the Los Angeles Kings before moving to Vegas, with the Kings originally drafted the defenseman 22nd-overall in the 2019 NHL Draft. He was drafted out of Sweden’s U20 league, then referred to as the J20 Nationell, though he also received seven SHL games in his draft year, failing to record a point in any of them. The Kings promptly signed Björnfot, even awarding him his NHL debut in the 2019-20 season.

While another change of scenery could be enticing for Björnfot, it’s not likely he’ll slot into Florida’s lineup without injury. The Panthers currently carry seven defensemen and have veteran depth on all three pairs, with Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Dmitry Kulikov operating as Florida’s bottom unit. Björnfot will have the chance to compete with Josh Mahura for the role as seventh defenseman, though Mahura’s ability to play on either the left or right side will likely earn him an advantage. Mahura has scored six assists in 20 appearances this season.

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