Kings Activate Andrei Kuzmenko Off Injured Reserve
As the Kings get set to kick off their opening round series against Colorado on Sunday, they’re getting an offensive boost. The team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve activated winger Andrei Kuzmenko off injured reserve.
The 30-year-old played in the first game after the Olympics in late February and has been sidelined ever since due to a knee injury sustained in that game against Vegas. He soon underwent meniscus surgery with a week-to-week designation after that. He’ll wind up missing a little more than seven weeks overall with the injury.
Kuzmenko is in his first full season with the Kings, who acquired him from Philadelphia at the 2024 trade deadline and after a promising showing down the stretch, he inked a one-year, $4.3MM contract to avoid the open market last summer. He had an up-and-down showing during the regular season, chipping in with 13 goals and 12 assists which had to be considered a little underwhelming after putting up 17 points in 22 games to close out 2024-25.
However, Kuzmenko’s numbers were put up before Jim Hiller was replaced as head coach, so there is a chance that things could improve under interim bench boss D.J. Smith. With Los Angeles having the worst offense out of the 16 playoff teams, any potential upgrade should be a welcome one as they enter the postseason as a heavy underdog against the Avalanche.
Michael Pezzetta Clears Waivers, Assigned To AHL
Saturday: As expected, Pezzetta has cleared waivers as the team announced that he has been assigned to AHL Toronto. The Marlies enter the weekend with an outside shot at the third seed in the North Division which would allow them to avoid the opening round of the postseason. Pezzetta becomes the seventh player sent down by the big club this week.
Friday: The Toronto Maple Leafs placed forward Michael Pezzetta on waivers on Friday, per PuckPedia. This move would allow Pezzetta to join the Toronto Marlies for the Calder Cup Playoffs if he clears the waiver wire. He was in the minor leagues until mid-March and filled a depth role for Toronto through the last few weeks of the season.
Pezzetta played in 37 games with the Marlies before a March 12th call-up. His season was limited by injuries in November and January. He finished the year with four goals, 10 points, and 52 penalty minutes. It was a quiet year in Pezzetta’s return to the AHL, after he spent the last three seasons in a full-time role with the Montreal Canadiens. He was a nightly fixture of Montreal’s 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons and combined 27 points and 136 penalty minutes in 124 games. That low-scoring fell to zero in 25 games of the 2024-25 season.
That bumped Pezzetta to free agency this summer, where he signed a two-year, $1.6MM contract with the Maple Leafs. He began the year in the AHL and quickly stood out as a bruiser. Pezzetta recorded 37 penalty minutes in the first 17 games of the Marlies season. He will return to that role on a Marlies team that clinched the last playoff spot from the AHL’s North Division. The Marlies split their games without Pezzetta this season – 26 wins and 25 losses.
AHL Shuffle: 4/17/26
Several smaller-profile moves will come across the wire today. Teams done with their seasons are sending their fringe talent back to the AHL for postseason play, while teams bound for the first round of the playoffs could be making some small alternations as well – in particular, settling on their “emergency” third goalie as the league permits for the playoffs. We’ll keep track of those moves today:
- The Flyers announced they’ve recalled goaltender Aleksei Kolosov from AHL Lehigh Valley and reassigned Carson Bjarnason there in his stead. Bjarnason was up just yesterday for practice, but it now appears they’ve re-evaluated and will prefer to have the more experienced Kolosov as their #3 behind Daniel Vladař and Samuel Ersson to begin their clash with the Penguins rather than Bjarnason, a first-year pro. With Lehigh Valley now eliminated from playoff contention, there’s no use keeping Kolosov down there to try to get them in. Kolosov, who has a 5-11-1 record and a .863 SV% in 21 career NHL appearances, will be eligible to enter a playoff game as an emergency backup if both Vladař and Ersson leave with injuries.
- The Flames have reassigned forwards Rory Kerins and Aydar Suniev, as well as goaltender Arsenii Sergeev, to AHL Calgary following last night’s season finale against the Kings. Sergeev, 23, was exceptional in his first career start, guiding Calgary to a 4-1 win while posting a .964 SV% and saving 2.6 goals above expected, per MoneyPuck. Kerins and Suniev were both late-season call-ups for the Flames once the playoffs were no longer a possibility but didn’t do much in their reps, combining for one assist (Suniev’s) in 10 games. There won’t be any playoff action in store for the trio; the Wranglers are last in the AHL’s Pacific Division and won’t be heading to the Calder Cup Playoffs.
- The Blue Jackets have added goaltending prospect Evan Gardner to AHL Cleveland’s roster, per a team announcement. The 20-year-old’s Saskatoon Blades in the WHL were swept out of the second round of the playoffs by Prince Albert this week. The 60th overall pick in 2024, Gardner will be turning pro full-time next season with either Cleveland or somewhere in the ECHL (Columbus is one of the few teams without a designated affiliate). His entry-level contract remains slide-eligible for this season, so it won’t kick in until 2026-27. He had a .902 SV% and 2.96 GAA – both great numbers for career-lows – in 52 games for Saskatoon in his third and final junior season.
- The Sharks have assigned winger Igor Chernyshov and defenseman Luca Cagnoni to AHL San Jose for the Calder Cup Playoffs, per Max Miller of Sharks Hockey Digest. It could very well be the last AHL action of Chernyshov’s career. The 20-year-old looks well on his way toward being a top-six piece from the drop next season, rattling off a 9-10–19 scoring line in 28 games of call-up action this year while seeing significant time on Macklin Celebrini‘s left wing. The 2024 second-rounder also had 13 goals and 33 points in 41 AHL games to date. Cagnoni, a 5’9″ lefty, had only been up for the last few games to get an end-of-season look once the Sharks were eliminated from playoff contention. The 21-year-old went pointless in three games after seeing a six-game debut last season. He leads Barracuda defensemen in scoring with an 8-35–43 line in 67 games.
- The Oilers have added Calvin Pickard back from AHL Bakersfield to serve as the EBUG behind Connor Ingram and Tristan Jarry in the postseason. Pickard started the season as Edmonton’s backup but was supplanted by Ingram after struggling to the tune of a .871 SV% and 3.68 GAA in 16 appearances (5-6-2 record). Fresh off his 34th birthday, he’s started playoff games in each of the last two years for the Oilers – including Game 5 of last year’s Stanley Cup Final – so there’s zero hesitancy about tossing him into the fray if Ingram and Jarry fall flat. Since clearing waivers and being assigned to Bakersfield at the beginning of February, Pickard has a .886 SV% and 3.26 GAA in eight games with one shutout and a 4-3-1 record.
- The Mammoth announced that they’ve recalled winger Danil But and goaltender Matt Villalta from AHL Tucson. With Tucson out of the playoffs, recalling their AHL starter in Villalta isn’t an issue to serve as their EBUG. He has just two NHL starts to his name but is a known AHL commodity, posting a .895 SV% in 33 outings for the Roadrunners this season. The more pressing move, of course, is the re-infusion of But into the mix. Utah has given its 2023 12th overall pick several looks on the roster this season in top-nine duties, with the 6’5″ Russian managing three goals and four assists in 29 games. It doesn’t appear he’ll be in their Game 1 lineup to start, even with Barrett Hayton and Jack McBain still unavailable, but he’ll almost surely be the next man up in case of any other lineup changes.
- The Islanders added Russian forward Daniil Prokhorov to their AHL roster, from KHL side Dynamo Moscow. The club drafted Prokhorov in the second round, No. 42 overall, at the 2025 NHL entry draft, their fourth selection overall. The 18-year-old forward was recently ranked as the No. 6 prospect in the Islanders’ system by Scott Wheeler of The Athletic. Wheeler called Prokhorov, who stands 6’5″, a ” big, strong, driven, hardworking player.” AHL Bridgeport will be the fourth team Prokhorov has played for, in the fourth league. He scored one goal in 23 KHL games for Dynamo Moscow, 18 points in 25 games for Dynamo St. Petersburg in Russia’s second-tier VHL, and had six points in eight games at the MHL level, which is Russia’s top junior league. Prokhorov will soon make his debut on this side of the Atlantic for a Bridgeport team that has already clinched its playoff spot, and is playing out its final season in Connecticut before an offseason relocation to Ontario.
- The Wild recalled netminder Cal Petersen from their AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild today. Petersen, 31, is the No. 3 netminder on the Wild depth chart and will likely occupy a spare goalie role for the team during its first-round playoff series against the Dallas Stars. Recalling Petersen today allows him to join the team in advance of the start of their series against Dallas. The AHL Wild have already been eliminated from playoff contention, so today’s move turns over their net to Samuel Hlavaj and Riley Mercer, while allowing the team’s No. 3 goalie to join the NHL team and provide them with additional insurance in case one of Minnesota’s two regular goalies (Jesper Wallstedt and Filip Gustavsson) become unavailable.
- The Kraken reassigned forward Jani Nyman and netminders Niklas Kokko and Victor Ostman to their AHL affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds. With the Kraken’s season concluded, the move allows three potentially significant contributors to re-join Coachella Valley in advance of what the club hopes will be another extended playoff run. Nyman, 21, scored 21 goals and 33 points in 38 games at the AHL level this season, and was the Firebird’s leading goal scorer in 2024-25. Kokko, 22, went 18-10-2 in 33 games for Coachella Valley this season and posted a .903 save percentage. Ostman, 25, signed out of the University of Maine for 2024-25 and spent last season as a tandem goalie in the ECHL. He has had a strong AHL campaign in his second year of pro hockey, going 17-14-3 with a .907 save percentage in 35 games with Coachella Valley.
- The Canucks announced that forward Ty Mueller and defenseman Kirill Kudryavtsev have been reassigned to the club’s AHL affiliate, the Abbotsford Canucks. Both Mueller and Kudryavtsev had been on the Canucks’ NHL roster in the final days of the club’s NHL campaign. They have each been key AHL contributors this season. Mueller, 23, scored 35 points in 58 games this year for the AHL Canucks, while Kudryavtsev, 22, scored 18 points in 42 games playing a top-four role including time on both sides of special teams.
- The Ducks reassigned defenseman Tristan Luneau to their AHL affiliate, the San Diego Gulls, as the team prepares for their first-round playoff series against the Edmonton Oilers. The 22-year-old got into his first NHL game yesterday. A 2022 second-round pick, Luneau has been one of the AHL’s most productive offensive defensemen since joining the league. He led San Diego in scoring last season with 52 points in 59 games, and leads the team in scoring by a defenseman this year with 41 points in 69 contests.
- In a similar move to the Wild’s recall of Petersen, the Senators recalled netminder Leevi Merilainen from their AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators today. Belleville, like Iowa, has already been eliminated from playoff contention, so Ottawa is seemingly content to turn its AHL net over to other names for the final games of the season while getting the team’s No. 3 goalie onto their NHL roster a few days early. Merilainen played a solid 18 games for Belleville this season, posting a .909 save percentage, but struggled in 20 games at the NHL level. His .860 save percentage in 20 games with the Senators this season is the lowest save percentage by any goalie with at least 15 games played.
This page will be updated throughout the day.
Maple Leafs Reassign Easton Cowan
As other teams have done in the past few days, the Maple Leafs reassigned their end-of-season call-ups back to the AHL to aid in their affiliate’s playoff run. Joining that contingent for Toronto will be rookie Easton Cowan. He was briefly assigned to the Marlies at the trade deadline to make him eligible for Calder Cup participation. He’ll be flanked by forwards Luke Haymes, Jacob Quillan, and Ryan Tverberg, defenseman William Villeneuve, and goaltender Artur Akhtyamov as part of today’s reassignments, the team announced.
Cowan will be quite the high-powered reinforcement. The 2023 first-round pick has only played twice for the Marlies in the regular season, recording an assist way back at the beginning of the schedule as the Leafs needed to do some roster shuffling to get him back up to the NHL full-time.
But since Nov. 14, Cowan has been a Maple Leaf, not a Marlie, aside from that paper demotion on deadline day. The 28th overall selection finished his rookie season with 11 goals and 18 assists for 29 points in 66 games with a -5 rating. He spent the year bouncing up and down the Leafs’ struggling forward core but got a lengthy run in the top six to end the year after Auston Matthews‘ injury, skating on the left side of a top line with John Tavares and William Nylander.
A natural center, he can play all three forward positions. His possession numbers this season weren’t ideal – a Corsi share of just 45.7% at even strength – but the same could be said for virtually every other Leaf.
The other five had all been recalled in the days and weeks following the trade deadline as the selling Leafs wanted to get some fresh faces in the rotation down the stretch. None of them jumped out in a notable way, though. Quillan was the only one to receive a real look this year, suiting up 23 times, but was limited to a 1-2–3 scoring line while going 42% on faceoffs. His two hits per game ranked sixth on the team (min. 10 GP) and were the most impactful feature he brought to the table as his possession play struggled.
Haymes, Tverberg, and Villeneuve all combined for one assist in nine games, belonging to Haymes, as they each got a few reps down the stretch. Akhtyamov started two of the Leafs’ final four games with Anthony Stolarz sidelined and allowed 11 goals on 76 shots for a .855 SV% in a pair of losses. Including a relief appearance back on Dec. 13, Akhtyamov conceded 0.6 goals above expected through his first three career outings, per MoneyPuck.
Stars Sign Nils Lundkvist To Two-Year Extension
The Stars announced that they’ve signed defenseman Nils Lundkvist to a two-year extension worth $1.75MM annually. That’s a total value of $3.5MM for the righty, who could have gone to arbitration this summer.
Lundkvist, 25, just wrapped up his fourth regular season in Dallas. The offensive-minded Swede was the 28th overall pick by the Rangers back in 2018. After finally coming over from Luleå in the Swedish Hockey League three years later, he had a rocky first season in New York that saw him split time between the NHL and AHL without having great results in either. Without a clear path to a full-time NHL job, Lundkvist quickly requested a trade and ended up in Dallas for his second NHL season.
Lundkvist got his wish and has remained in the Stars’ NHL rotation ever since, albeit in a depth role. His development has been a slow burn, routinely getting long looks in regular-season action before falling out of the picture come playoff time. While Dallas has now made the playoffs all four seasons during Lundkvist’s tenure, he didn’t log a single appearance for them in either the 2023 or 2025 postseason, although the latter was due to shoulder surgery.
However, as team radio analyst Bruce LeVine relays, the organization is extremely pleased with Lundkvist’s work this season. He hasn’t been a healthy scratch at any point – his 52 games played on the year were the result of missing time with a lower-body injury early in the season – and put up 11 points with a +12 rating while averaging a career-high 16:29 per game. He’s far from a physical threat and doesn’t factor in on either special teams unit, but he’s used his great skating acumen to work his way up the even-strength depth chart.
Lundkvist actually spent most of this season on the club’s second pairing with Thomas Harley, playing as their #2 right-side D-man with Miro Heiskanen on his offside on the top pairing. Trade deadline pickup Tyler Myers has slotted in behind Lundkvist at even strength. In over 500 minutes together, Harley and Lundkvist controlled 52.9% of expected goals and outscored opponents 27-17. Among pairings with at least 500 minutes together, Harley and Lundkvist ranked fifth in 5-on-5 goal share at 61.4%, per MoneyPuck.
Even if the Stars aren’t getting much point production out of him due to a lack of power-play time, he’s proven to be a valuable complement at even strength to help advance the play to their forwards. At a sub-$2MM cap hit, they’ll be getting spectacular value out of Lundkvist for the next two seasons if he can keep that up.
That’s important, as the Stars’ cap situation is in a tough spot for the second offseason in a row. With Lundkvist’s deal registered, they’re down to $13.19MM in projected space with four roster spots to fill, per PuckPedia. Virtually all of that will need to go to pending RFA and leading scorer Jason Robertson, who’s projected to cost nearly $12MM annually on an eight-year extension, according to AFP Analytics.
That’ll leave space for just one more contract as things stand – likely a bridge deal for Mavrik Bourque. However, he’s arbitration-eligible, so lowballing him from the jump comes with significant risk. Even still, that leaves Dallas with next to no flexibility to start the season, and they wouldn’t be able to carry a full roster. It’s likely that at least one cap-clearing move – likely ridding themselves of #7 defender Ilya Lyubushkin‘s $3.25MM cap charge – will be incoming.
Image courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images.
Panthers Reassign Six To AHL
The injury-plagued Panthers sent significant reinforcements back to their AHL affiliate in Charlotte last night after their season came to an end with an 8-1 win over the Red Wings on Wednesday. Per the AHL’s transactions log, the Cats reassigned forward Wilmer Skoog and defensemen Marek Alscher, Michael Benning, Tobias Björnfot, Mikulas Hovorka, and Ludvig Jansson to the Checkers as they prep for the Calder Cup Playoffs.
Most of these names has only been summoned in the last few days as even more injuries piled up in Sunrise, although Benning and Björnfot were around for longer. The former potted his first two career NHL goals against Detroit en route to being named the first star of the game in his season finale.
In a Panthers pool light on prospects, Benning is among the more intriguing. A fourth-round pick in 2020, he was a dominant offensive threat over three years at the University of Denver. He hasn’t quite had the point output expected of him since turning pro, meaning he didn’t get an NHL look until late in his third season in the organization. Recalled back on March 12 in the wake of an Uvis Balinskis injury, Benning played in 18 straight to end the season and recorded a 2-4–6 scoring line with a -4 rating.
Benning, 24, may have done enough to work himself into the conversation for a roster spot in the fall if the high-spending Panthers need somebody cheap. All six of their regulars on the blue line when healthy are signed through next year, plus likely #7 Donovan Sebrango is under team control as a restricted free agent, so the math isn’t in his favor. His underlying numbers over the last few weeks were strong enough to cement him as one of the Cats’ primary recall options, though.
While he only laid the body four times (the 5’9″ righty will never be mistaken for an imposing defensive threat), Florida controlled 52.1% of shot attempts and 49.4% of expected goals with him on the ice at even strength. He surprisingly didn’t receive a very long look on the power play, only averaging 16:54 of ice time per game in total, but didn’t receive sheltered deployment in those conservative minutes.
Björnfot, a pending restricted free agent with arbitration rights, could also be retained with a qualifying offer to give the Cats a more experienced recall option to lean on. The former Kings first-rounder is now 25 years old with 153 games of NHL experience, 19 of which came this season. That was his highest workload since appearing in a career-high 70 games with L.A. in the 2021-22 campaign.
A good skater with some positioning lapses, the defensive-minded Björnfot recorded four points, a +1 rating, 23 blocks, and 14 hits for the Cats this year while skating 14:11 per night. His possession impacts weren’t great – a relative Corsi share of -2.6% at even strength and an expected goals share of 43.9% – so Florida may want to think twice about giving him another look down the line over someone like Benning. Björnfot also carries a tad more excess in his role as a lefty – just like five of Florida’s seven projected regulars heading into next season.
The rest of the list only just made their NHL debuts this month as Florida’s entire defense corps and about half its forward group ended up on the injured list by the time Game 82 rolled around. Skoog, 26, is a pending RFA after signing as an undrafted free agent out of Boston College in 2023.
Amid a strong AHL showing this season that’s seen him produce 18 goals and 37 points in 59 games for Charlotte, the Swedish forward didn’t look out of place on a line with Jesper Boqvist and Cole Schwindt while handling a couple of special teams shifts as well. He saw 15:01 of average ice time across three nights with a pair of assists, four shots on goal, five blocks, and two hits. That trio of Skoog, Boqvist, and Schwindt also controlled an excellent 70.6% of expected goals in the two games they were matched together, per MoneyPuck.
Alscher was a third-round choice in 2022 but is Florida’s top defense prospect if you deem Benning too old to qualify, as Scott Wheeler of The Athletic writes. The 22-year-old is tracking nicely toward a career as a potential press-box/bottom pairing piece with a standout defensive performance as a second-year pro in Charlotte, logging 11 points and a +18 rating in 51 games. The Czech lefty brings great size at 6’3″ and 205 lbs and got a real look over the last few games, posting three assists, and a +4 rating, and six blocks in four outings while seeing over 20 minutes per night.
The even larger Hovorka (6’6″, 229 lbs) didn’t quite have the same impact. A 24-year-old undrafted free agent pickup from Czechia’s HC Motor Ceske Budejovice in 2024, he’s had success akin to Alscher’s in Charlotte this season but is a couple of years ahead of him on the development curve. He’s now a pending RFA whom Florida must decide whether to qualify. Through his first four NHL outings, Hovorka managed an assist with a -1 rating while averaging 14:55 per night. His possession numbers were particularly underwhelming for his sheltered usage, so if he’s retained for next season, it’ll likely be solely as depth for Charlotte.
Jansson, 22, was selected one round after Alscher four years ago. The 6’0″, 181-lb righty is in his first season stateside. He’s been limited to 29 games with Charlotte by injuries, but hasn’t looked bad at all with a 3-7–10 scoring line and a +1 rating. He notched an assist and a +1 rating with five blocks through his first four NHL games this month.
Red Wings Sign John Leonard To One-Year Extension
The Detroit Red Wings announced that forward John Leonard has inked a one-year contract extension worth $850k, as he’ll avoid unrestricted free agency this summer.
A 27-year-old with 81 NHL games under his belt, the news won’t do much to ease tension within Detroit’s fan base, after another season short of the postseason, which ended with a surprising 8-1 defeat last night. Regardless, Leonard’s scoring touch has played a huge part in their AHL club, the Grand Rapids Griffins’ spectacular campaign, where they’ve posted a 50-15-4 record, good for second behind the Providence Bruins.
Selected in the sixth round by the Sharks in 2018, Leonard was quickly injected into the San Jose lineup right out of college, playing 44 games in his first professional season six years ago. A top collegiate scorer and Hobey Baker finalist with the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, expectations were high. The hope was that the club had snagged a draft steal to supplement a core still in the Logan Couture/Brent Burns era.
Understandably unable to make much offensive impact as a raw rookie receiving limited ice time, Leonard still posted a respectable 48.1% corsi for at five-on-five. That number fell drastically the next year, and as a result, the New Jersey native spent more time in the AHL.
Catching on with the Nashville Predators organization in 2022, Leonard spent most of that campaign with the Milwaukee Admirals, ranking second in team scoring with 44 points in 67 games. He then made stops with the Coyotes, as well as the Charlotte Checkers, breaking out with an eye-popping 36 goals in 72 AHL games with the Checkers in 2024-25, tied for second in the league that year.
The efforts caught the attention of the Red Wings last summer, who quickly scooped him up on July 1 with a one-year contract worth $775k. Leonard has made the most of his presence in Grand Rapids, further solidifying himself as an elite AHLer, where he buried 32 goals in just 46 games, fourth best in the league despite his counterparts playing as many as 20 games more.
First called up in mid-December, Leonard quickly provided a spark with four points in his first six games as a Wing. A role catered to his offensive skill set was harder to find with the roster at full health however, and he was held off the score sheet in his five remaining games with the big club this season.
With veteran forwards James Van Riemsdyk and David Perron‘s contracts set to expire, Leonard should have an opportunity to hold down a full-time NHL role next fall. Even if it’s not meant to be, the winger will continue to be a huge piece in Grand Rapids, capable of spot-call-up duty whenever needed.
Minor Transactions: 4/16/2026
The wave of minor-league assignments is continuing with the NHL regular season nearly completed. Pro Hockey Rumors will continue to track the movement around the AHL in the latest minor transactions tracker:
- The Philadelphia Flyers have recalled goalie prospect Carson Bjarnason in preperation for their first round matchup against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Bjarnason will serve as a black ace with the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms eliminated from playoff contention. Bjarnason recorded 14 wins and a .887 save percentage in 32 AHL games this season. He also split results, and recorded a .881 save percentage, in two ECHL games. This was Bjarnason’s first year of professional hockey after four seasons with the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings. The 20 year old recorded a .903 save percentage across 156 career games in the WHL.
- The Colorado Avalanche are also padding their room of black aces, recalling forwards Alex Barre-Boulet and Jason Polin. Both players spent the bulk of their year in the AHL. Barre-Boulet led the Colorado Eagles with 26 goals and 70 points in 69 games – and added one assist in the only NHL game of his season. Polin was slightly less productive, with 21 points in 45 AHL games and no scoring in three NHL games. The duo will offer forward depth behind an Avalanche squad that has rotated through injuries this season.
- Forward Cole O’Hara could make his NHL debut in the Nashville Predators’ season finale. The 23 year old has been called up after leading the Milwaukee Admirals in goals (19) and ranking fourth in points (44) through 65 games this season. This was also O’Hara’s first pro season after three years at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. He had a breakout season last year, netting 22 goals and 51 points in 40 games – 33 more points than he managed in 37 games of the 2023-24 season. O’Hara kept that scoring up through his rookie season in the AHL and could now get a chance to score against NHL talent.
- Headed back to the minors is goaltender Brandon Halverson, who recently helped the Tampa Bay Lightning respond to Jonas Johansson‘s short-term injury. Halverson recorded one loss and a .810 save percentage in 57 minutes – and two games – of NHL action this season. He started for the Syracuse Crunch for much of the year and recorded 24 wins and a .906 save percentage in 42 AHL games. He’ll now return to his post to help Syracuse keep up their strong play into the Calder Cup Playoffs.
- The Calgar Flames have also called up a goaltender. Prospect Arsenii Sergeev is on the NHL roster under emergency conditions with Devin Cooley set to miss Calgary’s season finale due to illness. Sergeev will make his NHL debut in game 82. The 24 year old recorded five wins and a .898 save percentage in 28 AHL games this season. He also split results, and recorded a .922 save percentage, in 12 ECHL games. Sergeev was a strong starter in college, recording save percentages north of .910 in two seasons with the University of Connecticut and one season at Pennsylvania State University. Thursday could be the bright side to a quiet season for the first-year pro.
- Top Edmonton Oilers prospect Isaac Howard has been loaned to the AHL. He will support the Bakersfield Condors’ push in the Calder Cup Playoffs. Howard scored 22 goals and 47 points in 45 AHL games this season. He ranked second in goals on Bakersfield and was the only Condor to score above a point-per-game pace this season. Howard also scored five points in the first 29 games of his NHL career this season. The 2025 Hobey Baker Award winner is also a first-year pro and should fill a substantial role in the AHL postseason.
- The Washington Capitals have assigned 2025 second-round pick Milton Gastrin to the AHL following the end of his season in Sweden’s HockeyAllsvenskan. Gastrin racked up 10 goals and 24 points in 39 games in Sweden’s second-tier pro league and added four more points in 13 playoff games. He scored 42 points in 40 games in Sweden’s U20 league in the 2024-25 season. The bulky Gastrin should bring a boost of forechecking pressure and playmaking ability to the Hershey Bears lineup just in time for their perennial run into the postseason.
- A cohort of top prospects is headed to the Grand Rapids Griffins. The Detroit Red Wings have assigned Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, Carter Mazur, Axel Sandin Pellikka, and Dominik Shine to the minor leagues. Brandsegg-Nygard finished the year third on the Griffins in scoring with 44 points in 58 games. He added one assist in 14 NHL games. Shine finished the year with 37 points in 38 AHL games and three points in 18 NHL games. Mazur was also a point-per-game player in the minors, with 15 points in 14 AHL games – but no scoring in eight NHL appearances. Of the bunch, Sandin-Pellikka was the only to play the bulk of his year in the NHL. He scored 21 points in 68 games of his first season in North America. The quartet should each assume top-end roles on a Griffins lineup that has added a substantial amount of talent late in the season.
Jets Sign Garrett Brown To Two-Year Deal
The Winnipeg Jets have added a collegiate national champion to their ranks. Defenseman Garrett Brown has signed a two-year contract with the Jets following the end of his junior year at the University of Denver. Winnipeg drafted Brown in the 2022 fourth-round after his first season with the USHL’s Sioux City Musketeers.
Brown, 22, has long been regarded as a mobile, two-way defenseman. He grew up through the San Jose Sharks AAA program, where he played alongside fellow NHL prospects including Calgary Flames forward Cade Littler and Vancouver Canucks defenseman Aiden Celebrini. Brown was a third-round selection in the 2020 USHL Futures Draft and debuted with the Musketeers at the end of the following season. He joined Sioux City full-time in the 2021-22 season and left his rookie USHL year with 17 points in 72 games. More notably, he left his rookie season with a USHL championship, filling a third-pair role on a Sioux City squad that featured seven other NHL prospects. Brown took on an assistant captain role with Sioux City, before a mid-year move to the Waterloo Black Hawks, in his second USHL season. He finished the year with 18 points in 54 games.
Winning tendencies followed Brown to the college level. He was an extra defenseman for much of the 2023-24 season but did manage four points in the eight games he stepped into. More than that, he helped spread some luck on a Denver Pioneers squad that went on to win the 2024 National Championship. Brown earned a full-time role in 2024-25 and scored eight points in 42 games, a mark that grew to 14 points in 34 games in another Championship-winning year this season.
Through it all, Brown has stood out for his fundamental defense and active stick. He has never finished a season with a negative plus-minus and found his way into routine minutes with the Pioneers. Brown will now push into the pro flight hoping that his strong stick and ability to defend tempo will be enough to cement a role in the AHL. The Manitoba Moose are headed for the Calder Cup Playoffs and have already added late-year additions Alfons Freij and Lukas Gustafsson to the blue-line. Brown will be the right-handed compliment to those lefty additions, and should compete with bruiser Tyrel Bauer for minutes.
Panthers Place Nolan Foote, Noah Gregor On Waivers
The Panthers placed forwards Nolan Foote and Noah Gregor on waivers Thursday, per PuckPedia. The move will allow them to be assigned to AHL Charlotte for the Calder Cup Playoffs after they presumably clear tomorrow. Both required waivers for reassignment because they’d each played at least 10 NHL games since they cleared last.
Foote, 25, was a first-round pick back by the Lightning in 2019 but has ended up with their cross-state rivals after failing to ever lock down a full-time NHL role. He was traded to the Devils in the 2020 Blake Coleman swap. He ended up appearing in 30 games over five consecutive seasons for New Jersey but never hit double-digit appearances in any one campaign. That led New Jersey to non-tender him last summer, and he subsequently landed a two-way deal with Florida.
He was never really expected to compete for an NHL job, and for the first several months of the season, he was solely the AHL depth they brought him in to be. In 54 games for Charlotte, he had 14 goals and 18 assists for 32 points. A strong top-nine AHL piece for several years now, with good size at 6’3″ and 196 lbs, Florida’s rash of injuries forced him up onto the NHL roster last month.
Foote ended up skating in a career-high 12 games for the Cats over the last few weeks of the season, notching a goal with a -4 rating while averaging 10:48 per night. He offered up some physicality with 27 hits, but his impacts outside of that were limited. Florida controlled 50.2% of shot attempts but just 43.3% of expected goals when he was on the ice at even strength.
Since Foote has played under 80 NHL games with three years of professional experience and is now at the age-25 cutoff, he’s eligible for Group VI unrestricted free agency this summer. Florida will not be able to retain his rights with a qualifying offer and will instead need to extend him before July 1 if they’re interested in keeping him away from the open market.
As for Gregor, the 27-year-old vet had a slightly more expanded role in Florida this season, again due to injuries ahead of him on the depth chart. He was brought in for training camp on a professional tryout before ultimately signing a two-way deal in the wake of injuries to Aleksander Barkov, Tomáš Nosek, and Matthew Tkachuk in the early going.
As has been the case for the last couple of years, the speedy winger has struggled to generate a strong two-way impact. He did tickle the twine four times in 37 outings for Florida, adding five assists for nine points, but did so with a -10 rating while averaging a career-low 9:34 of ice time per game. He’s never been much of a finisher – in fact, he’s never had a 10% shooting rate in all seven of his NHL seasons. He’s also not throwing the body as much as he used to and had poor possession impacts across the board in 2025-26.
Gregor will be a UFA this summer for the fourth year in a row. He was on a three-year non-tender streak but is now old enough to be a “real” UFA. At this rate, his hopes of landing a one-way deal this summer have likely dried up. Even in Charlotte, he hasn’t been overly impressive with an 11-6–17 scoring line in 25 outings.