Blue Jackets Reassign Zach Aston-Reese, Luca Del Bel Belluz
The Blue Jackets have reassigned forwards Zach Aston-Reese and Luca Del Bel Belluz to AHL Cleveland, per a team announcement. While Columbus isn’t a part of the postseason picture, their minor-league feeder is, so the duo will be able to get some playoff action in after all.
The move could mark the final note on Aston-Reese’s transactions log in his Blue Jackets tenure. A pending unrestricted free agent, the 31-year-old had a trying campaign that’s unlikely to result in him being brought back unless there’s mutual interest in him playing more of a minor-league role.
Once a depth defensive standout for the Penguins, it’s actually been a rocky few years for the 31-year-old. He was once a lineup fixture but lost his grip on that almost overnight, failing to land a deal in the 2023 offseason and getting released from a tryout with the Hurricanes before eventually landing a two-way deal with the Red Wings at the beginning of the year. He ended up clearing waivers before spending most of the season in the AHL. He joined the Golden Knights the following summer but was claimed off waivers by Columbus during training camp.
That move in October 2024 precipitated Aston-Reese’s return to NHL relevancy. The checking winger re-emerged with a relative bang and earned a one-year extension in the process, making a career-high 79 appearances for the Jackets while also setting new best marks in assists (11), shots on goal (101), and blocks (58). While his -15 rating was cause for concern, he spent most of the season on a bottom-six checking unit with Justin Danforth and Mathieu Olivier that actually posted strong underlying metrics, controlling 54.6% of expected goals at 5-on-5 while outscoring opponents 13-9, per MoneyPuck.
This year, with Danforth gone and the offseason acquisitions of Charlie Coyle, Isac Lundeström, and Miles Wood pushing him down the depth chart, Aston-Reese’s impact was considerably more measured. He started the year in a regular role but was a healthy scratch for the first time by the end of October. He continued to fall in and out of the lineup until eventually landing on waivers in January. He cleared and was on assignment to Cleveland until getting called up at the beginning of this month in response to a Lundeström injury concern, although he played just once on his seven-game recall.
Aston-Reese’s NHL showing this year concludes with a 1-4–5 scoring line in 27 outings. He posted a -1 rating, saw decreased penalty-kill responsibilities, and averaged just 9:44 of ice time per game while racking up 78 hits. He’s also scored seven goals and 14 points in 25 AHL contests with Cleveland, where he’ll play a significant factor in the postseason.
Del Bel Belluz, on the other hand, has a clearer future in Columbus. The Jackets selected the 22-year-old middleman 44th overall in 2022, and they have to be pleased with his development, particularly offensively, thus far. He’s already worked his way up to being a consistent recall option, now making 30 NHL appearances over the last three seasons, where he has three goals and seven assists while averaging 11:27 per game. His ice time was down to about nine minutes per game across 14 showings this year, resulting in him generating only an assist and 11 shots on goal, with a -2 rating.
In Cleveland, the 6’1″ center is a star. After erupting for 27 goals and 53 points in 61 outings last season, he’s now over a point per game with a 22-35–57 scoring line in 53 games in 2025-26. He’s already received AHL All-Star honors. But, as The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler points out, he’s the type of prospect who does a lot of things well but doesn’t truly excel in any given area. As such, he sits down at #7 in the organizational prospect rankings, in part due to the difficulty of projecting where exactly he could slot in down the line amid a wealth of other young centers in the system.
Penguins Assign Five To AHL
Wednesday: The Penguins announced (Twitter link) that they’ve returned McGroarty, Koivunen, and Koppanen, along with wingers Avery Hayes and Rafael Harvey-Pinard, back to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. All five got into at least one game in recent days.
Saturday: With the Penguins now having secured a playoff spot, they’re electing to get some players with nagging injuries some rest. That means that several players needed to be recalled to have a full roster available for their game today against Washington. Those promotions have been made as the team announced (Twitter link) that forwards Rutger McGroarty, Ville Koivunen, and Joona Koppanen have been recalled on an emergency basis from AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. With the emergency designation, none of them will count toward their post-deadline recall limit of five.
McGroarty is up with Pittsburgh for the fourth time this season. He has suited up in 21 games so far in a bottom-six role, picking up two goals and three assists while averaging 11:46 per night. The 2022 first-round pick has been much more productive in the minors, however, with eight goals and 22 assists in 28 games. With many key players out of the lineup today, McGroarty should have a chance to play in more of an offensive role than he has had most nights with Pittsburgh this season.
Koivunen, meanwhile, is also up for his fourth stint of the season. But unlike McGroarty, he has spent more time with Pittsburgh than in the minors. In 36 games at the top level, the 22-year-old has two goals and five assists while averaging 12:29 per night. Unsurprisingly, he has been a much better producer in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, tallying 11 goals and 25 assists in 32 appearances.
As for Koppanen, he’s also getting his fourth promotion of the year. While he hasn’t played a lot with Pittsburgh, he has had to clear waivers twice already this season. In 10 NHL outings, the 28-year-old has just one assist. In the minors, he has fared better, picking up eight goals and 15 assists in 42 contests. A pending unrestricted free agent, a report surfaced last month that suggested he’s likely to sign in Sweden for next season.
For their game today, the team announced (Twitter link) that numerous players are unavailable due to day-to-day injuries. Those include forwards Sidney Crosby (lower body), Benjamin Kindel (upper body), Evgeni Malkin (upper body), and Bryan Rust (lower body). On the back end, Erik Karlsson (lower body), Kris Letang (upper body), and Parker Wotherspoon (upper body) are all sidelined. Additionally, center Connor Dewar is listed as week-to-week with a lower-body injury of his own, putting his availability to start the playoffs in jeopardy.
Canadiens Assign Vinzenz Rohrer To AHL
With his season in Switzerland now over, Canadiens prospect Vinzenz Rohrer is off to his next team. The Canadiens announced today that they’ve assigned the forward to AHL Laval.
Montreal selected the 21-year-old in the third round back in 2022, picking him 75th overall. At the time, he had just completed his first season in North America with OHL Ottawa. He returned to the 67’s the following season but then made the decision to leave junior hockey while still having eligibility to begin his professional career.
That led Rohrer to Zurich where he spent the past three seasons in the NL. He had 19 points in his rookie year, followed by 25 in 52 games in 2024-25. That performance, along with two good showings at the Worlds in as many years, was good enough to get his entry-level deal from the Canadiens, along with a training camp invite. Ultimately cut in the preseason, Rohrer struggled upon his return to Zurich and wound up with a quiet showing overall, one that saw him limited to four goals and eight assists in 41 games.
Unlike many prospects who have been assigned to the minors in recent days, Rohrer is eligible for recall to Montreal since his contract started this season. However, a promotion almost certainly won’t be in the cards and instead, he’ll look to get into the lineup with the Rocket before the playoffs get underway next week.
Ducks Recall Tristan Luneau
The Ducks have added some extra depth on the back end for their regular season finale tomorrow against Nashville. The team announced that they’ve recalled blueliner Tristan Luneau from AHL San Diego.
It’s the first recall of the season for the 22-year-old although it won’t be his first taste of NHL action. Luneau got into 13 games with Anaheim over the past two seasons, picking up a goal and two assists back in the 2023-24 season. He was held off the scoresheet in six NHL contests in 2024-25.
This season, Luneau has had another productive year with the Gulls, even if his overall numbers are down. Through 69 games this season, he has 10 goals and 31 assists. While his point total is down from a year ago (when he had 52 in 59 outings), he still sits 11th overall in points from AHL defensemen.
Luneau has one more year left on his entry-level deal after this one and, at this point, it seems like he’ll likely be ticketed for San Diego again next season. That will likely be the outcome that comes his way over the next couple of days as he’s likely being brought up to give one of their top six a rest heading into the playoffs before returning to the Gulls for the AHL postseason which gets underway next week.
Blackhawks Sign GM Kyle Davidson To Contract Extension
It hasn’t been a successful last few seasons in the win-loss column for the Blackhawks as the team is set to miss the postseason for the sixth straight year and eighth time in the last nine seasons. However, the general consensus is that the team is on the way up as their rebuild continues.
Someone who feels that way is Team Chairman and CEO Danny Wirtz. He revealed on CHSN during tonight’s pregame show (Twitter link) that the team has signed GM Kyle Davidson to a contract extension. Terms of the deal were not revealed. Minutes after that, the team officially announced the extension, noting it’s a multi-year agreement. Wirtz released the following statement:
Kyle’s exceptional body of work to date has set us down the path of bringing sustainable, championship-caliber hockey back to Chicago. In a short amount of time, he’s rebuilt the team through strong drafting and player development, delivering a league-leading prospect pool and the beginnings of our future core. He alongside Head Coach Jeff Blashill have redefined our locker room’s culture and mentality, and we are seeing improvements in all of the underlying areas that make winning possible. We believe in Kyle’s vision for this team and remain fully committed to his plan to return the Blackhawks to the top of our sport.
Davidson is in his fourth season at the helm in Chicago after taking on the job in the 2022-23 season. Initially promoted as an interim GM, the interim tag was taken off in March 2022. As Wirtz indicated in his announcement, Davidson was tasked with restocking a prospect pool that, at the time, was one of the weaker ones in the NHL.
To accomplish that objective, Davidson embarked on a full-scale rebuild, trading away several key veterans and even some younger core pieces that didn’t fit in the plans. In doing so, the team dropped sharply in the standings, but doing so allowed them to secure several key cogs, including centers Connor Bedard and Anton Frondell and defenseman Artyom Levshunov. Additionally, moving out Kirby Dach allowed them to add the draft pick that secured them Frank Nazar, who has quickly become a core piece as well.
But while Davidson has indeed put together a very strong prospect pool that’s set to graduate some more youngsters in short order, that’s only one part of getting this team back to playoff contention. He has brought in quite a few veterans in recent years to either act as bridge players to the prospects or, more recently, serve as pieces to help the team’s floor. Tyler Bertuzzi and Teuvo Teravainen were signed in free agency while Andre Burakovsky was added via trade to try to help push the team forward while also bringing in a more established head coach in Blashill. Instead, while they’ve added nine points from a year ago in the standings, they’re actually scoring even less than a year ago, despite better than a point-per-game showing from Bedard.
For the Blackhawks to truly take that next step forward, they will need to find a way to add more prominent veterans to help bring the team along while their youngsters continuing to improve will also aid in that objective. Davidson has a little more than $40MM in cap space for next season as things stand, per PuckPedia, so they certainly have the flexibility needed to add more core pieces to their roster. With this vote of confidence, Wirtz is banking on Davidson being able to do just that.
Devils Recall Nico Daws, Topias Vilen
April 15: With the season now over, the team announced that they’ve sent Daws, Vilen, and center Marc McLaughlin back to Utica.
April 10: The Devils recalled goaltender Nico Daws and defenseman Topias Vilen from AHL Utica on Friday, per a team announcement. They’ll be on hand for tomorrow’s game against the Red Wings.
With New Jersey not headed to the playoffs, they’re likely taking an opportunity to get some younger faces into the lineup over their final few games. There’s more of a direct need for Vilen’s services. The 23-year-old lefty could make his NHL debut tomorrow in place of Luke Hughes, who opted for an early end to his season to undergo a much-needed shoulder surgery.
Hughes was shut down before last night’s game against the Penguins, meaning Dennis Cholowski, the team’s only healthy extra on the blue line, dressed in his stead. It was the 28-year-old’s first appearance since being recalled in early March and his first NHL game since Dec. 14. After he posted a -2 rating in 17:40 of ice time, it’s no surprise to see New Jersey want to get a younger, higher-upside face in the lineup for their last three games.
Vilen is now in his third season stateside. A fifth-round pick by the Devils back in 2021, the 6’1″ lefty has been a consistent two-way piece in Utica with a career 7-70–77 scoring line in 171 AHL games with a +5 rating. That includes a career-high four goals and 20 assists for 24 points in 59 appearances this season.
Selected from Pelicans in Finland’s Liiga, he checks in as the #11 prospect in New Jersey’s pool and #3 among left-handed defenders behind 2024 10th overall pick Anton Silayev (#2) and 2022 fourth-rounder Daniil Orlov (#6), per Scott Wheeler of The Athletic. He’s shown enough in his toolkit at the AHL level that he could end up being a bottom-pairing, penalty-killing staple for the Devils in the next couple of years. His entry-level contract is wrapping up this summer, but given his consistency in minor league play, he’s a strong candidate to receive a qualifying offer.
The 25-year-old Daws already has 48 career starts and 53 appearances to his name, but just one of them has come this season. The Devils’ third-stringer got a lone early-season tryout against the Wild back on Oct. 22 while Jacob Markström was dealing with a lower-body injury, allowing just one goal on 31 shots for a shimmering .968 SV% in a 4-1 win.
Daws is an interesting study. The 2020 third-rounder is certainly too old now to be considered a true prospect, and his AHL track record isn’t great. He has an .891 SV% and 2.84 GAA in 42 showings for Utica this season, which will be his third straight finishing below a .900 SV% in the minors.
His recent NHL samples, however, have been excellent. On top of his great start back in October, he had a similarly strong .939 SV%, 1.60 GAA, and 3-1-0 record in six showings in #3 duties last year. That’s good for 7.0 goals saved above expected in his last seven NHL appearances, per MoneyPuck.
Markström is signed through 2027-28, and veteran backup Jake Allen is under contract through 2029-30, so there’s no clear pathway yet for Daws to see more NHL ice next season. He’s in the last year of his contract but is a restricted free agent with arbitration rights, so the Devils can easily retain him if they choose, knowing he might not clear waivers in the fall.
Hurricanes Assign Six To AHL
Wednesday: With their regular season now over, the Hurricanes announced that they’ve returned several players to the minors. Nystrom and Seeley, along with defenseman Charles-Alexis Legault and forwards Skyler Brind’Amour, Bradly Nadeau, and Felix Unger Sorum, have all been sent back to the Wolves.
Tuesday: The Hurricanes announced a pair of roster moves this morning. Defensemen Joel Nystrom and Ronan Seeley have been summoned from AHL Chicago, likely to permit the Canes to rest some more blue-liners for tonight’s regular-season finale against the Islanders. Carolina has made a common practice of resting regulars after locking up the Metropolitan Division and then Eastern Conference regular-season title, sitting a group that included Sebastian Aho, Seth Jarvis, and Jaccob Slavin last night.
Nystrom, 23, has been quite the quick riser after Carolina selected him with the sixth-last pick of the 2021 draft. The 5’11” righty did get his entry-level contract in 2024 on the heels of a breakout year for Färjestad BK in Sweden but was loaned back to them for 2024-25, not making his AHL debut until late last year. But when injuries decimated Carolina’s blue line to begin the season, Nystrom was one of the first names up. He ended up skating in 37 games for the Canes, logging a goal and eight assists with a +5 rating, while averaging 15:10 per night.
His smooth offensive game fit in well with Carolina’s possession-heavy system. Despite the limited role and minimal North American track record, the Canes saw enough to ink him to a four-year extension in December that pays him $1.225MM per season. It’s clear they expect him to hang around as a #7/8 option next year. His waiver-exempt status meant he got demoted back to Chicago once Carolina got healthy in late January, but he’ll get a spot-duty bump now to get one more game in for the year, barring any playoff action.
The Canes would have preferred a bit more offensive output from Nystrom after returning to the minors. He stands with an identical 1-8–9 scoring line to his NHL stats, but in two fewer games. He does have four points in his last 10 outings for Chicago, though, so he’s on the right track.
As for Seeley, he would be in line for his NHL debut. The 23-year-old lefty was also a seventh-rounder, just a year before Nystrom. Now in his fourth professional season, all in the Canes’ system with either Chicago or ECHL Norfolk, he’s put up a career-best 10 goals in 67 games while adding 12 assists for 22 points. His physical game hasn’t really translated to positive defensive results in the AHL – he’s a career -62 player in 264 games – but he’ll get rewarded here for being an available fixture on the farm since making his pro debut back in 2022.
Wild Recall Ben Jones, Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Wednesday: Jones and Aube-Kubel's stints were short-lived, as expected. The team announced that those two, along with center Hunter Haight, were all sent back to Iowa. All three players picked up a point on Tuesday against Anaheim.
Monday: After recalling a pair of depth players yesterday, the Minnesota Wild are again adding more reinforcements for their final two games of the regular season. The Wild
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