Sharks Sign Ty Dellandrea To Two-Year Extension
The Sharks announced they’ve signed center Ty Dellandrea to a two-year extension. It’s worth a total of $3.25MM for a cap hit of $1.625MM. He could have been a restricted free agent with arbitration rights this summer.
Dellandrea, 25, saw his signing rights acquired by San Jose from the Stars for a fourth-round pick in 2024. He inked a two-year, $2.6MM deal a few days later, so today’s news will give him a bit of a pay bump for 2026-27.
The 13th overall pick back in 2018 by Dallas, he rarely punched above a bottom-six role during his time in Texas. That hasn’t changed over the past year-plus in the Bay Area, but it’s worth noting the natural center has been deployed mostly down the middle after starting out his career as a frequent option on the wing.
Dellandrea’s first season in San Jose was one to forget. He’d struggled to find offensive consistency in Dallas but took things to a new low with the Sharks, managing just one goal and eight points in 68 games with a -31 rating.
This season, he’s gotten a bump in minutes, and the results have been slightly better. He’s averaging a career-high 14:24 per game and has been good on draws, winning 52.3% of them, while being used as a defensive specialist. Despite starting nearly 70% of his shifts at 5-on-5 in the defensive zone, he’s upped his production to 11 points in 42 games. His -15 rating and 38.4% Corsi share are still evidence that the Sharks are a long way away from winning his minutes, though.
He’s also been out of the lineup since early January with a lower-body injury. His absence has paved the way for rookie middleman Michael Misa to get more consistent reps in a top-nine role. Considering the 2025 #2 overall pick has four goals and seven points in 10 games since the beginning of February, it’s unlikely they’ll be moving him back down the depth chart. When Dellandrea returns, it’ll likely be to usurp younger stopgap Zack Ostapchuk as the team’s fourth-line center between Barclay Goodrow and Ryan Reaves.
Dellandrea’s new deal will walk him to unrestricted free agency in 2028. The Sharks don’t buy out any UFA years with the contract, instead buying up the rest of his team-controlled seasons.
Image courtesy of Jerome Miron-Imagn Images.
Canadiens Sign Luke Mittelstadt To Entry-Level Deal
The Canadiens announced they’ve signed 23-year-old defender Luke Mittelstadt to a two-year, entry-level contract starting next season. He’ll finish out the year with AHL Laval on a minor-league contract.
The Habs took Mittelstadt in the fifth round of the 2023 draft. He had already been passed over twice and was coming off his freshman season at the University of Minnesota at the time of his selection.
After spending a full four years with the Golden Gophers, the younger brother of Bruins center Casey Mittelstadt will turn pro with the club that drafted him. He was the top name on an absolutely gutted Minnesota defense corps this season, finishing fifth on the team in scoring with a 2-19–21 line in 32 games with a -10 rating. The 5’11” lefty finishes his collegiate career with 11 goals, 80 points, and a +46 rating in 152 games.
He’s had some good seasons as an undersized but adept two-way defender. In a prospect pool as deep as Montreal’s, though, the pathway for him to break through is slight. He doesn’t feature in top-10 or top-15 rankings anywhere, and his long-term NHL future is likely that of a fringe call-up option.
Mittelstadt will hit restricted free agency after the 2027-28 campaign. Montreal now has 29 standard contracts on its books for next year.
Sharks Recall Laurent Brossoit
The Sharks were without starter Yaroslav Askarov against the Bruins in Boston last night, forcing Alex Nedeljkovic to take the starter’s crease and University of New Hampshire goalie Kyle Chauvette to dress as his backup with no time to get a recall out from the West Coast. With it looking like Askarov will miss at least another game with his undisclosed issue, they’re back to having two healthy goalies on the active roster by recalling Laurent Brossoit from AHL San Jose, the team announced.
If Askarov is out long enough to warrant Brossoit getting a start, it will be his first NHL appearance in nearly two years. He has 140 games of NHL experience and was viewed as one of the best #2 options in the league heading into free agency in 2023, coming off back-to-back seasons of .927 save percentages in spot starts with the Golden Knights and Jets. He landed a two-year, $6.6MM commitment from the Blackhawks, but needed meniscus surgery just weeks later, which spiraled into a whole host of other lower-body issues. He lost the entire 2024-25 campaign to knee surgeries and was out for several weeks to begin the 2025-26 campaign as well after a subsequent hip procedure.
Brossoit returned to health in December. Chicago didn’t have much of a use for him with Spencer Knight and Arvid Söderblom holding down the fort in the NHL, and they didn’t want him taking starts away from third-stringer Drew Commesso in the minors. After Brossoit showed he was back to full health, logging a .901 SV% in six outings with AHL Rockford after clearing waivers, San Jose – in need of an upgrade in the #3 slot – moved to acquire him.
Since the pickup, the 32-year-old has been exceptional in a minor-league role for San Jose. In 14 games, he has a .915 SV%, 2.48 GAA, and a 11-2-1 record. He’s seventh in the league in save percentage across both Rockford and San Jose among goalies with at least 20 appearances this year. He’ll look to be an extremely comfortable stopgap option behind Nedeljkovic for the time being as the Sharks chase down their first playoff berth in seven years.
Kings, Senators Swap Jan Jenik, Samuel Bolduc
According to a team announcement, the Los Angeles Kings have acquired forward Jan Jeník from the Ottawa Senators for defenseman Samuel Bolduc. Each player will report to their respective AHL clubs.
It wasn’t all that long ago that Jeník was considered one of the better prospects for the now-defunct Arizona Coyotes. He was drafted with the 65th overall pick of the 2018 NHL Draft and began his professional career during the 2020-21 season.
Although he didn’t make much noise in the NHL, Jeník got off to a promising start, scoring six goals and 14 points in 29 games for the Tucson Roadrunners. During his sophomore season, he significantly improved offensively, registering 17 goals and 47 points in 51 games.
Over the next few years, he continued his productive scoring pace in the AHL, scoring 23 goals and 59 points in 85 games. Still, between 2020 and 2024, Jeník only appeared in 22 games for the Coyotes, scoring four goals and six points while averaging fourth-line minutes.
It was after the 2023-24 campaign that Jeník eventually requested a trade, and he was traded to the Senators. Since then, he has primarily played for the Belleville Senators, scoring 21 goals and 46 points in 93 contests.
Meanwhile, Bolduc, who is a few years older than Jeník, was in his first season with the Kings organization. Playing for the Ontario Reign this year, he’s scored five goals and 21 points in 56 games with a +7 rating.
Before his time with the Reign, Bolduc spent several years in the New York Islanders organization, playing for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers and Islanders. He was an effective two-way defenseman for several years, scoring 28 goals and 92 points in 211 games with a -54 rating.
Golden Knights To Activate Mark Stone
The Vegas Golden Knights will have their captain back tonight. According to Danny Webster of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the Golden Knights will activate Mark Stone from the injured reserve ahead of tonight’s contest against the Pittsburgh Penguins, and he’ll make his return to the lineup.
Stone is only one week removed from being placed on the injured reserve, although it was made retroactive to March 1st. He has been managing an upper-body injury, his second of the season, that has affected his games played.
The 33-year-old winger has been exceptional for Vegas this year when healthy. Despite missing 22 games due to injury, Stone remains third on the team in scoring with 21 goals and 60 points with a +17 rating. Given how the team has been playing lately, they could certainly use a boost to the lineup.
Since returning from the Olympics, the Golden Knights have managed a 2-6-0 record, dropping to third place in the Pacific Division. During that stretch, the team has only managed 2.38 GF/G, meaning an influx of offense from Stone will be welcomed.
Assuming Stone can remain healthy for Vegas’ 17 remaining games in the 2025-26 season, he should help the team capture its fifth Pacific Division title. At the time of writing, the Golden Knights are three points back of the Anaheim Ducks and tied with the Edmonton Oilers, although the Oilers have the edge in a tiebreaker.
Still, even if Vegas is unable to finish atop the Pacific Division, they shouldn’t be in any danger of falling out of the postseason conversation. Despite their recent performance, the team holds a five-point lead over the Los Angeles Kings, along with five additional wins in regulation.
Lightning Acquire Ian Mitchell From Red Wings
The Detroit Red Wings have acquired forwards Wojciech Stachowiak and Michael Milne from the Tampa Bay Lightning for defenseman Ian Mitchell. Each player will report to their respective AHL clubs.
It’s a wholly understandable trade by the Red Wings. Now, without Dylan Larkin and Andrew Copp for the next few weeks, Detroit has recalled Sheldon Dries, Dominik Shine, Eduards Tralmaks, and Austin Watson over the last few days, leaving the Grand Rapids Griffins without some of their best forwards.
Although Stachowiak isn’t a well-known talent in North America, he certainly is in Germany. The 26-year-old winger has played for Germany in several IIHF World Championships over the past few years, scoring seven goals and accumulating 21 points in 25 games. He also played for Germany at the recent Olympics, recording one assist in two contests.
In 38 games for the Syracuse Crunch this season, Stachowiak has recorded nine goals and 17 points with a -6 rating. Although it’s his first time playing professionally in North America, Stachowiak spent two years at Michigan State University in the late 2010s, scoring four goals and five points in 40 games.
At 23 years old, Milne is a more recognized talent in the AHL compared to Stachowiak. He’s in his fourth professional season after being selected with the 89th overall pick of the 2022 NHL Draft by the Minnesota Wild. Throughout his AHL career, he has registered 32 goals and 66 points in 191 games with a -35 rating, mostly spent with the Iowa Wild.
Of all the players changing hands in this trade, Mitchell has the most NHL experience. He was in his first year with the Red Wings organization after signing as an unrestricted free agent last summer. In 45 games for the Griffins, the 27-year-old veteran has scored four goals and 20 points with a +27 rating.
Before his time in Michigan, Mitchell spent much of his career with the Chicago Blackhawks organization. Earning much of his NHL experience with the Blackhawks, Mitchell recorded four goals and 16 points in 82 games with a -21 rating. After the 2022-23 season, Chicago traded Mitchell, along with Alec Regula, to the Boston Bruins for Taylor Hall and Nick Foligno.
Rangers Sign Brody Lamb To Entry-Level Contract
According to a team announcement, the New York Rangers have signed forward Brody Lamb to a two-year entry-level contract. He’ll spend the rest of the 2025-26 campaign on an amateur tryout agreement with the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack.
It’s been a few years since the Rangers selected Lamb with the 104th overall pick of the 2021 NHL Draft. Since then, he spent one year with the USHL’s Green Bay Gamblers during the 2021-22 campaign before spending the last four at the University of Minnesota.
Although he wasn’t very effective during his freshman campaign, Lamb became one of the most consistent scorers for the Golden Gophers. Throughout his last three seasons at the program, Lamb scored 43 goals and 83 points in 113 games with a -6 rating. His collegiate career ended last night against Penn State University in the opening round of the Big Ten Tournament.
It’ll be interesting to see how much playing time Lamb will get with the Wolf Pack to finish off the 2025-26 season. Despite being in last place in the Atlantic Division, Hartford is only four points back of a playoff spot with 16 games remaining on the schedule.
According to Mollie Walker of the New York Post, who originally announced the signing, the Rangers indicated that Lamb will be allowed to compete for a spot in the lineup. Given that the team is 28th in the league in goals scored, the Wolf Pack may benefit from adding a shoot-first forward into the lineup on a nightly basis.
Sharks Sign Kyle Chauvette To Amateur Tryout
The Sharks have signed University of New Hampshire starter Kyle Chauvette to an amateur tryout, per Curtis Pashelka of the Bay Area News Group. He will serve as the emergency backup to Alex Nedeljkovic for tonight’s game against the Bruins. Yaroslav Askarov is unable to dress due to an undisclosed injury that became apparent at morning skate today. As Askarov wasn’t ruled out until this morning, San Jose didn’t have time to get an AHL recall coast-to-coast in time for tonight’s contest.
If an injury to Nedeljkovic forces Chauvette into action, it won’t be a miracle story like we’ve seen in the past with EBUGs like David Ayres and Scott Foster. Chauvette just wrapped up his senior season of college hockey yesterday, when UNH’s season ended in the first round of the Hockey East tournament against Northeastern. The 24-year-old transferred to his hometown school last summer after spending the first three seasons of his NCAA career at Union College, where he was named an ECAC Third Team All-Star in 2024-25.
Still, since Chauvette doesn’t have any professional experience, he’s eligible to dress for San Jose as an EBUG. The 6’1″, 190-lb netminder put up respectable numbers behind a New Hampshire squad that finished second-last in the conference, logging a .902 SV% and 2.63 GAA in 34 appearances with a 13-19-1 record and five shutouts. He appeared in all but one game for the Wildcats and should have multiple pro offers in the coming weeks with his NCAA career in the rearview.
The question for the Sharks, still in the thick of a wild-card race in the West, becomes how long they’ll be without Askarov. The 23-year-old has arrived as a full-time NHLer and, while he’s started 40 out of 62 games, the workload was likely going to shift more toward the veteran Nedeljkovic down the stretch anyway.
The 2020 first-round pick has had his moments this season and has received enough goal support to register a 19-17-3 record, but his .886 SV% and 3.56 GAA are some of the worst marks in the league among starters. His -11.2 goals saved above expected this season are eighth-worst in the league, per MoneyPuck.
Compared to Nedeljkovic’s .900 SV%, 2.83 GAA, and 0.5 GSAx in 22 starts and five relief appearances, Askarov was in danger of losing out on some starts with San Jose in a tight race with the Kings, Kraken, and Predators for the second wild-card slot in the West – the Mammoth are virtually locked into the first wild-card slot at this rate with an 81% likelihood of ending up there. Askarov’s recent play – he only has a .869 SV% since the beginning of February – may have begged the question of whether Nedeljkovic should be the Sharks’ Game 1 starter if they emerge from the field.
It’s also worth noting that those numbers from Nedeljkovic have come with him rarely making back-to-back starts – something he hasn’t done since Askarov was out with an illness in December. How will he perform in an increased workload if Askarov misses more than a couple of games?
It’s now where the Sharks’ acquisition of Laurent Brossoit from the Blackhawks in January could pay dividends. The 32-year-old hasn’t seen NHL action since the 2023-24 season due to various lower-body surgeries but has been excellent for both Rockford and San Jose in the AHL this season and is arguably the best veteran third-string option in the league. In 14 games since the trade, he has a .915 SV% and 2.48 GAA for the Barracuda with an 11-2-1 record.
Flames Recall Matvei Gridin, Hunter Brzustewicz
March 12: Brzustewicz was initially recalled under emergency conditions, but his recall has now been converted to a standard one, Pat Steinberg of Sportsnet 960 reports. Calgary now has three regular recalls remaining until the end of the season.
March 8: Two top prospects will bolster the Calgary Flames roster after shaking up their lineup at the Trade Deadline. Winger Matvei Gridin and defenseman Hunter Brzustewicz have both been recalled per a team announcement. The duo will support the Flames as they embark on a five-game road trip beginning on Monday.
Gridin was returned to the minor leagues after a five-game stint in the NHL that stretched from late February to the NHL Trade Deadline. His assignment ensures that Gridin will be eligible for the Calder Cup Playoffs, though the Calgary Wranglers currently sit second-to-last in the AHL’s Pacific Division. Gridin has been a major part of their offense any time he is in the minor leagues. He has 29 points in 37 games this season, good for the sixth-highest points-per-game average on the Wranglers.
The dynamic scorer has has ups-and-downs in his trek to bring that scoring to the top flight. Gridin has a stout seven points in the first 18 games of his NHL career. More than half of those points – five – came during a nine-game stretch from mid-January to early-February, before he was returned to the AHL. It took four games for Gridin to get back onto an NHL scoresheet after he was called back up in late February. That has been the hot-and-cold streak that Calgary’s top wing prospect has ridden through his first pro season.
It was Brzustewicz who stepped up in the Wranglers’ latest action, netting an assist on Saturday night to snap a nine-game scoring drought. That streak began one game after Brzustewicz was reassigned to the minor leagues, after he recorded an assist in his first game back. He, too, has had an up-and-down year, with two points in 18 NHL games and 14 points in 34 AHL games. The puck-moving defenseman has honed his ability to make plays in either end of the ice, while spotlighting his ability to move pucks through the neutral zone – the bread-and-butter of Brzustewicz’s game.
Brzustewicz could have the easier path to a lineup role after Zach Whitecloud left Saturday’s win over the Carolina Hurricanes in the first period. That injury should bump Zayne Parekh and Brayden Pachal up a spot in the lineup, opening room for Brzustewicz to play in his first NHL game since January from the bottom pair. Gridin will have to compete with newcomers Ryan Strome and Victor Olofsson for minutes in Calgary’s bottom-six. The rookie could be the odd-man-out as the Flames look to shore up their center depth. If he sits, Gridin will offer a nice bit of offensive upside from the press box and could potentially replace bruisers Adam Klapka or Ryan Lomberg on the fourth line.
Penguins Recall Alexander Alexeyev
The Penguins announced today that defender Alexander Alexeyev has been recalled from AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Fellow rearguard Ryan Graves has been sent to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on a conditioning stint in a corresponding move, although he’ll continue to count on Pittsburgh’s active roster with his full cap impact while in the minors.
Alexeyev, 26, signed a league-minimum deal with the Pens last offseason. He cleared waivers to start the year and has been in and out of the lineup for WBS since then, only playing in 29 out of 57 games. He has three goals and four assists for seven points with a +4 rating.
Pittsburgh is trying to keep its depth defenders fresh amid a rash of injuries that’s seen Samuel Girard and Jack St. Ivany sidelined, although the latter’s been out for a while and is joined by Graves in WBS on a conditioning loan. They’ve dialed in their depth chart this late in the year, meaning Graves, who’s slotted in as a #7/8 option, has not gotten into a game in nearly two months after missing some time with a lower-body injury. They want to get him into some games in the minors, but don’t want to travel without an extra defender in case a last-minute injury comes up, so Alexeyev will arrive today to fill that role.
The 6’4″, 229-lb Alexeyev was brought in to provide some shutdown depth. He once had some real upside, evidenced by the Capitals selecting him 31st overall in the 2018 draft, but it was obvious he wasn’t on the path toward being a full-time NHLer when Washington non-tendered him last summer. Considering the minimal impact he’s had in an AHL role this year, too, he certainly won’t be looking at another one-way deal this summer if he does receive more NHL offers. The Russian could very well entertain offers to return home, where he last played for Salavat Yulaev Ufa in the Kontinental Hockey League on loan from the Caps in the 2020-21 season.
As for Graves, he’s wrapping up the third season of the six-year, $27MM deal he landed from Pittsburgh in free agency in 2023. He’s still not close to warranting his $4.5MM cap hit, but has posted significantly improved defensive results for the Pens in a more limited leverage role this year after a disastrous 2024-25 season. In 19 showings, he’s notched a goal and a -2 rating with 15 hits. The boxcar stats don’t jump off the page, but his under-the-hood numbers are the best they’ve been in quite some time – controlling 52.2% of shot attempts at 5-on-5 in defensive-minded deployment.