Utah Acquires Sammy Walker From Wild
Utah acquired depth forward Sammy Walker from the Wild on Monday in exchange for future considerations, both teams announced. Walker, who had been on assignment to AHL Iowa, will report to Utah’s affiliate in Tucson.
Walker, an undersized but speedy center, is in his third season of professional hockey. The 25-year-old was a seventh-round pick of the Lightning back in 2017, but after a fruitful four-year tenure at the University of Minnesota, they opted not to sign him. He hit free agency and signed with his hometown Wild in the 2022 offseason.
The 5’10” pivot earned a handful of call-ups across his first two campaigns, getting into 13 games with Minnesota while recording a goal and an assist. He posted a minus-four rating during that time and averaged 10:13 per game, struggling to control play with a 43.2 CF% at even strength.
Most of his time has been spent on the farm in AHL Iowa, where he’s steadily regressed since an All-Star rookie season. He led Iowa with 27 goals and had 48 points in 56 games, even earning a spot on the United States’ roster for the 2023 World Championship. His offensive output dropped to 14 goals and 45 points in 70 AHL games last year, though, and has completely fallen off a cliff to the tune of two goals and 11 points through 30 games in 2024-25.
As such, Walker was tracking for his first campaign without an NHL recall. He’ll now get the chance to rediscover his game in the Utah organization, joining a marginally stronger Tucson roster, while the Wild open a fourth contract slot in advance of the trade deadline.
Blue Jackets’ Kirill Marchenko Out Indefinitely With Broken Jaw
12:34 p.m.: Marchenko underwent successful surgery to repair the break, per a team announcement. He’s been placed on injured reserve and is out indefinitely.
7:52 a.m.: During an ill-fated moment in last night’s loss to the Dallas Stars, the Columbus Blue Jackets also lost arguably their top forward. In an article from Aaron Portzline of The Athletic, he shared that a team source confirmed that forward Kirill Marchenko suffered a broken jaw.
Portzline adds that an errant puck hit Marchenko in the jaw during the second period of yesterday’s game, and he quickly went to a hospital near the American Airlines Center. The Blue Jackets haven’t disclosed a timeline for Marchenko’s recovery, but a broken jaw typically keeps a player out between six and eight weeks.
The injury couldn’t have come at a worse time for Columbus. Factoring in center Sean Monahan‘s long-term wrist injury, the Blue Jackets have lost two of their top forwards and most of their top line as they jockey for playoff positioning in the competitive Eastern Conference.
Not only has Marchenko been a bright spot for Columbus this year but he’s been a bright spot for the entire National Hockey League. He’s blown past his previous career-high of 42 points in 78 games with a 21-goal, 55-point performance through his first 53 contests this season.
His production has accelerated on the defensive side of the puck, too. Before the injury, Marchenko averaged a career-high CorsiFor% of 52.6% and a career-high on-ice save percentage of 92.1%. He was also leading the entire league with a +31 rating.
With captain Boone Jenner expected to return relatively soon, his presence should help mitigate the loss of Marchenko on the right side, though fully replacing him internally will still be a challenge. Fortunately for Columbus, neither Marchenko’s nor Monahan’s injuries are expected to linger for the remainder of the regular season. The Blue Jackets can, theoretically, strive for a strong finish despite having a depleted forward group.
Still, with more cap space than many of their contending peers, Columbus could look to add a small offensive piece before the trade deadline. The Blue Jackets weren’t previously expected to be an active deadline team but the injury to Marchenko could ultimately force their hand.
Blues Reassign Matthew Kessel
The Blues reassigned defenseman Matthew Kessel to AHL Springfield on Monday, per a team announcement. They now have no extra defensemen on the active roster and a pair of open spots.
After being recalled Friday, Kessel only spent a few days on the active roster. He dressed for that night’s game in place of the ill Colton Parayko against the Avalanche but posted a minus-two rating and one shot on goal in 15:26 of ice time. He didn’t play in last night’s 2-1 win over Utah thanks to Parayko’s return, and with a three-game homestand carrying the Blues through to the 4 Nations Face-Off break, the need for an extra defenseman isn’t pressing.
Kessel becomes waiver-eligible after he plays two more NHL games, so, understandably, St. Louis will attempt to stretch that out as long as possible. Regardless of whether he plays again in 2024-25, he’ll need waivers to head to the minors at the beginning of 2025-26 if he doesn’t make the team.
The 24-year-old righty has suited up 27 times for the Blues this year, including 11 straight games in October and November. He routinely logged limited minutes when dressed and was sent to Springfield in December, shortly before St. Louis moved to acquire Cam Fowler from the Ducks.
Dating back to his debut for the team in the 2022-23 season, the 2020 fifth-rounder has one goal and nine assists for 10 points in 68 NHL games with a minus-four rating. He’s averaged 15:16 per game with a 48.0 CF% but has only averaged 13:05 per game in 2024-25, albeit with improved possession metrics.
The Phoenix native is amid an offensive emergence on minor-league assignments this season. While touted as a physical defensive specialist, he has 11 points in 17 games for Springfield after recording just eight in 36 AHL games last season.
Predators Recall Kevin Gravel
Defenseman Kevin Gravel has returned to the NHL after a brief assignment with the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals. Before tonight’s game against the Ottawa Senators, the Nashville Predators announced Gravel’s recall, and he participated in practice with the team this morning.
Outside defenseman Jeremy Lauzon, the Predators have no injuries on their blue line, making it unlikely for Gravel to play. However, he remains a serviceable veteran option as the team’s seventh defenseman for the three games leading up to the scheduled break for the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament.
Gravel has skated in three games for Nashville in Lauzon’s absence, tallying one assist while averaging 18:19 of ice time per game. Given that he hasn’t played in an NHL contest since the 2022-23 season it’s a little surprising the Predators’ decided to give Gravel top-four minutes and a spot on the team’s second penalty-kill unit.
He wasn’t the only infrequent player to join the team for practice this morning. Nashville radio analyst Nick Kieser reported earlier that forward Mark Jankowski also joined the team.
The long-time bottom-six forward has missed six straight games for the Predators due to an upper-body injury, but he should return for a game or two before the 4 Nations Face-Off. He’s scored three goals and eight points in 37 games for Nashville this year, far below his seven-goal, 15-point performance in 32 games last season.
Blackhawks Recall Artyom Levshunov, Place Louis Crevier On Injured Reserve
The second-overall pick of the 2024 NHL Draft is set to join the Blackhawks for the first time. Chicago announced they’ve recalled defenseman Artyom Levshunov from their AHL affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs, and have placed defenseman Louis Crevier on injured reserve in a corresponding transaction.
Levshunov was the undisputed top defensive prospect entering last summer’s draft. The Michigan State University product scored nine goals and 35 points in 38 games in his only year with the Spartans leading to a bevy of individual rewards. The Zhlobin, Belarus native secured bids on the All-Big Ten First Teams and All-Big Ten Freshman Teams, was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and Big Ten Freshman of the Year, and was named to the AHCA West Second All-American Team.
His size and explosive skating ability already made him an intriguing defensive prospect to start but his ability to be an offensive threat put him in a different category altogether. Shortly before the start of training camp, Tracey Myers of the NHL listed Levshunov as the top prospect in the Blackhawks’ organization.
Initially, his transition to professional hockey has been challenging. Levshunov decided to skip his sophomore season at Michigan State to pursue a professional career, and the Chicago organization insisted that he begin the year in the AHL. This approach is consistent with their new strategy for other top prospects, as they avoid rushing players too quickly into the NHL.
Still, he’s not expected to play in any games for the Blackhawks before their break for the 4 Nations Face-Off. Tracey Myers reported that Levshunov’s recall is for development purposes only, and he’ll only practice with the team while the AHL is on their All-Star break.
He has scored three goals and a total of 13 points in 38 games for Rockford this season, which places him tied for 13th among rookie defensemen in scoring. Although Chicago was likely expecting more offensive production from their young defenseman, they will have the opportunity to evaluate him more closely in the NHL during practice.
Unfortunately, Levshunov’s recall comes with bad news. Reports indicate that Crevier suffered a concussion during the recent game against the Florida Panthers, resulting in his placement on injured reserve.
Crevier may not have the same prospect pedigree as Levshunov, but he came very close to reaching his career-high for games played in a single season, getting hurt just two games short. This year, he has scored three goals and one assist in 23 games with the Blackhawks, averaging 17 minutes and 48 seconds of ice time per game.
Senators Reassign Leevi Merilainen, Activate Linus Ullmark
Feb. 3rd: According to a report from PuckPedia, the Senators have moved defenseman Jacob Bernard-Docker and forward Noah Gregor to LTIR. The move has allowed Ottawa the flexibility to activate Ullmark and have $105K in LTIR cap space.
Feb. 2nd: The Ottawa Senators have assigned goaltender Leevi Merilainen back to the minor leagues. This seems to be an indication that top goaltender Linus Ullmark is nearing a return from his long-term injury, as pointed out by TSN’s Bruce Garrioch. The NHL media site shows that Ullmark has been activated from long-term injured reserve. Ullmark has missed the team’s last 18 games with a back injury. Ottawa’s visit to Nashville on Monday could be his first game back.
Merilainen performed incredibly well in relief of Ullmark. He served as the team’s backup behind Anton Forsberg, but still appeared in 12 games and posted a dazzling 8-3-1 record and .925 save percentage. Should he not play in any more NHL games this season, Merilainen’s .925 would tie for the sixth-highest a Senators goaltender has ever recorded in a minimum of 10 games. Above him are three Craig Anderson seasons, and flash-in-the-pan years from Andrew Hammond and Robin Lehner. Ron Tugnutt (1998-99) and Dominik Hasek (2005-06) each posted .925 save percentages in 43 games of their own.
That’s certainly welcome company for Merilainen, who will now take his red hot play back to the minor leagues. He served as the Belleville Senators’ clear starter to begin the year, posting a 7-2-4 record and .901 save percentage through 13 games before his call-up. That still stands as the winningest record and highest save percentage on the AHL Senators, who have turned towards a rotation of goaltenders to fill Merilainen’s role. Malcolm Subban has been their more prominent fixture – playing in 11 games – though Michael Simpson, Mads Sogaard, and Mark Sinclair have each received their own shots at the AHL crease. All four fill-ins have posted save percentages below .890 – or in Sogaard’s case, below .860. Those numbers set Merilainen up for clear control of the Belleville crease upon his return – and continued strong play could force the NHL Senators to soon reconsider their choice of backup.
Ullmark will be rushed back to the NHL starting role in much the same way. The Senators have struggled immensely to find a consistent goaltender, and made a brazen move to acquire the former Vezina Trophy this summer. Aside from the long-term injury, the move has paid dividends extremely quickly. Ullmark recorded a 12-7-2 record and .915 save percentages in 23 games before getting hurt. After plenty of speculation around how he’d translate to a tougher environment, Ullmark has looked every ounce of cool, calm, and collected for the duration of his Senators tenure. This return from injury will give him a chance to continue that streak, and ramp up the Senators’ 7-2-1 hot streak over their last 10 games.
Minor Transactions: 2/2/25
With the AHL All-Star break now in effect, we could see an influx of paper transactions as teams look to bank an extra little bit of cap space. We’ll keep track of today’s minor moves here.
- The Hurricanes continue their daily roster movement. They announced that they’ve assigned forward Ryan Suzuki to AHL Chicago while recalling blueliner Riley Stillman; the two have been trading places in recent days. Despite the numerous recalls, Stillman has only suited up once this season with Carolina. Suzuki, meanwhile, played his first two NHL games earlier this week. It wouldn’t be surprising to see one or both of these players in another transaction in the near future.
- The Lightning have returned goaltender Matt Tomkins to AHL Syracuse, per a team release. He has been recalled recently with Jonas Johansson banged up and could be back up if Johansson can’t return on Tuesday versus Ottawa. The 30-year-old has a 2.87 GAA with a .900 SV% in 17 games with the Crunch this season.
- The Bruins have assigned center Matthew Poitras and winger Vinni Lettieri to AHL Providence, per the AHL’s transactions log. This move is likely just a paper one to bank a bit of cap space with the two likely to be recalled for Tuesday’s game against Minnesota. Poitras has a goal and eight assists in 23 games with Boston this season while Lettieri has two goals in eight outings at the NHL level.
- The Jets announced (Twitter link) that they have assigned wingers Brad Lambert and Parker Ford to AHL Manitoba. Lambert has been up and down a fair bit lately but is still looking for his first NHL point after being held off the scoresheet in his four games with Winnipeg this season. As for Ford, he scored in his NHL debut on Thursday so it won’t be surprising if he’s recalled before Tuesday’s contest against Carolina.
Canadiens Assign Owen Beck And Logan Mailloux To AHL
Sunday: The team announced (Twitter link) that both Beck and Mailloux have been sent back to the AHL to allow them to play in the All-Star Game; neither played today against Anaheim.
Saturday: The Canadiens have added a bit of extra roster depth as they get set to start a three-game California road trip. The team announced that they have recalled center Owen Beck and Logan Mailloux from AHL Laval. It’s the second recall of the season for both players.
Beck is in his first professional season and has spent the bulk of it with the Rocket. The 20-year-old played in two games with Montreal late last month and was held off the scoresheet. Beck has had a productive rookie campaign in the minors, however, tallying 11 goals and 16 assists in 41 games, good for a tie for tenth in scoring among all AHL freshmen.
As for Mailloux, he got into five games with the Canadiens back in October. He was productive in those outings, picking up a goal and two assists while logging 16:30 of ice time but struggled in the defensive zone. He’s in his second pro campaign and has nine goals and 13 assists in 36 AHL appearances so far this season, putting him close to his offensive pace from his rookie year.
It wouldn’t be too surprising to see both players shuffled back and forth a bit over the coming days. Beck and Mailloux are set to participate in the AHL All-Star Classic on Sunday and Monday with that event being held in California where Montreal will be for a few days. Accordingly, they’ll likely be loaned back down following Sunday’s game and then recalled back to the big club on Tuesday when the Canadiens are in San Jose.
Canucks Activate Kiefer Sherwood
The Vancouver Canucks have activated forward Kiefer Sherwood off of injured reserve. Sherwood has missed Vancouver’s last four games with an undisclosed injury. His return brings some sense to Vancouver assigning Aatu Raty and, after he cleared waivers, Phillip Di Giuseppe to the minor leagues.
Sherwood is expected to return to the lineup in Sunday’s game against the Detroit Red Wings. He’ll join a lineup full of new faces, including recent trade acquisitions Marcus Pettersson, Victor Mancini, and Filip Chytil. Sherwood should maintain his role on the team’s third line despite the lineup shuffle. He’s been one of the brightest performers in Vancouver’s bottom-six, boasting 13 goals and 21 points in 47 games this season. Sherwood has also recorded a staggering 273 hits – while no other Canuck has managed even 100 (Noah Juulsen has 99). In fact, Sherwood’s lofty hit totals lead the entire NHL by nearly 80 hits – with Philadelphia’s Garnet Hathaway ranked second with 197 hits. So long as he maintains his current hit pace, Sherwood is on track to finish the season with 453 hits – which would stand as an NHL record.
Sherwood has doubled down on the role of goal-scoring wrecking-ball after recording 10 goals, 27 points, and 234 hits in 68 games with the Nashville Predators last season. He seems to be finding plenty of comfort in his first year with the Canucks, sat just seven points shy of surpassing his career-high in scoring from last year. This news sets him up to continue pursuing new scoring heights, and the hit record, in a Canucks roster with plenty of minutes opened up by the trading of top forward scorer J.T. Miller.
Red Wings Activate Patrick Kane, Place J.T. Compher On IR
The Detroit Red Wings have swapped forward on injured reserve, activating Patrick Kane and shelving J.T. Compher. Kane has missed Detroit’s last five games with an upper-body injury. He was moved to injured reserve on January 27th, retroactive to his last game on the 21st. Meanwhile, Compher has been nursing his own upper-body injury ever since taking a high hit from Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Emil Martinsen Lilleberg on January 25th. Lilleberg was suspended for two games for the hit, while Compher will miss his fourth consecutive game on Sunday. Both Kane and Compher traveled with the team on their two-game road trip to the Pacific Northwest, but it could be a long while before Compher returns to the ice. He is currently listed as out indefinitely, per Rotowire.
With this news, Detroit receives back the all-offense, no-defense style of Kane. The future Hall-of-Famer ranks fifth on the team in scoring with 11 goals and 30 points in 42 games. That’s an 82-game pace of 52 points, continuing Kane’s gradual decline in scoring after scoring at a 77-point pace last season (47 points in 50 games) and netting 57 points in the year before. Despite ranking near the top of the team in scoring this year, Kane has also posted a dismal -11 and 2.90 xGA/60 (expected goals-against per-60), ranking him second-worst on the team in both categories per Evolving Hockey.
Detroit has often offset Kane’s near-total lack of defense with the stout two-way play of Compher, who has 21 points in 48 games of his own this year. Compher has also recorded a +4, which leads all Detroit forwards and ranks second on the team to Simon Edvinsson‘s +13. He has been a stalwart centerman in the Red Wings’ middle-six, clearly benefiting from the addition of Andrew Copp to help shoulder responsibility in the middle lane. Compher has averaged nearly 17 minutes of ice time this year, nearly three minutes fewer than he averaged through the last two seasons. But the decreased minutes hardly indicate a decreased role, with Compher still serving time on both special teams and a go-to option in odd-man situations.
The Wings have so far promoted Michael Rasmussen to fill Compher’s tough minutes – to good effect. Rasmussen has two points and a +2 through his last five games, while averaging stout third-line minutes behind Copp and Dylan Larkin. Rasmussen has scored 15 points in 51 games on the year, putting him on pace for just 24 points – his lowest since the 2020-21 campaign. An extended absence for Compher could set Rasmussen up to boost his scoring up, though he’ll need to do it while commanding the team’s second power-play unit and handling tough, top-nine minutes.