Wild’s Ben Jones, Devin Shore Clear Waivers
Jan. 14: Jones and Shore cleared waivers, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. Minnesota can now assign them to Iowa at will, although they haven’t done so yet.
Jan. 13: The Wild have placed forwards Ben Jones and Devin Shore on waivers with the intent to assign them to AHL Iowa, the team announced.
It’s good news for the Wild, who are likely freeing up roster space to activate star winger Kirill Kaprizov from injured reserve and depth piece Jakub Lauko from LTIR ahead of Wednesday’s matchup against the Oilers. Kaprizov has been skating on his own for the past few days, and general manager Bill Guerin told Michael Russo of The Athletic on Sunday that he was a possibility to play against Edmonton. Lauko has also been skating away from the team as he rehabilitates a lower-body muscle issue, Guerin said.
Jones and Shore have been on the Wild roster for the better part of the past two months, playing fill-in duty with Joel Eriksson Ek, Yakov Trenin and Mats Zuccarello all missing significant chunks of the schedule in addition to Kaprizov and Lauko. Both cleared waivers en route to beginning the season in Iowa, although Shore was also waived last month to give Minnesota roster and salary cap flexibility around the holiday break.
Those injuries have allowed Jones to become something of a fourth-line fixture in the second quarter of the season, but that experiment hasn’t gone particularly well. The 25-year-old had only two games of NHL experience prior to his November call-up, and that’s shown in his play.
Through 25 appearances, Jones has yet to get on the scoresheet and has a minus-three rating with 10 PIMs. He’s averaged just 8:29 per game and has posted gnarly possession numbers, only controlling 39.9% of shot attempts at even strength. He’s been a physical factor, posting 11 blocks and 49 hits, but hasn’t shown upside elsewhere in his game.
The former seventh-round pick of the Golden Knights will return to a more comfortable role on the farm, where he had 12 points in 14 games with Iowa in the early going. The 6’0″, 187-lb pivot is coming off a 21-goal season with the Calgary Wranglers while under contract with the Flames, the second time in his professional career that he’s hit 20 goals in an AHL season.
Shore, the far more experienced of the duo, hasn’t been much better. He’s got one assist and a minus-four mark through 24 appearances, averaging 8:18 as Minnesota’s usual fourth-line left wing over the past couple of months.
Now in his 10th NHL season, Shore has 140 points in 467 career games but hasn’t hit double-digit points in a season since recording 11 in 49 games with the Oilers in 2021-22. He began the season as an alternate captain in Iowa, posting a pair of goals and eight assists for 10 points through 14 games.
Both may remain on the NHL roster if they clear waivers and Kaprizov and Lauko aren’t yet ready to return, but if they’re sent down within 30 days and play fewer than 10 games, they won’t need waivers again upon doing so.
Canucks To Activate Filip Hronek From Long-Term Injured Reserve
Jan. 14: Hronek will indeed come off LTIR and enter the lineup tonight against the Jets, Tocchet told Dan Murphy of Sportsnet. He’ll play in his usual spot alongside Hughes but will have his minutes “monitored.” Depth defender Guillaume Brisebois, who skated 16:56 and had two shots on goal in Saturday’s win over the Maple Leafs, comes out of the lineup. Vancouver has an open roster spot and won’t need to make a corresponding transaction to formally activate Hronek.
Jan. 13: The Vancouver Canucks are potentially only one day away from a fully healthy blue line. As expected, the team has recalled defenseman Filip Hronek from his LTIR conditioning loan without him having played a game for their AHL affiliate, the Abbotsford Canucks.
Hronek practiced with the team but there’s no guarantee he’ll be ready to suit up tomorrow night. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman passed along a note from head coach Rick Tocchet indicating Hronek is being listed as a game-time decision for tomorrow’s game against the Winnipeg Jets.
Vancouver hasn’t had their entire defensive core intact since American Thanksgiving since Hronek went down with a lower-body injury on November 27th. In Hronek’s absence, and a brief four-game absence of captain Quinn Hughes, the Canucks have produced an 8-6-7 record and have fallen to the last wild-card spot in the Western Conference with the Calgary Flames, St. Louis Blues, and Utah Hockey Club breathing down their necks.
Hronek’s return is perfectly timed for Vancouver for a few reasons. First, the organization is dangerously close to falling out of the playoff race and Hronek should help stabilize the back end for the most part. He’s only scored one goal and nine points in 21 games this season but he’s still second on the team in CorsiFor% at even strength and third in on-ice save percentage at even strength.
Secondly, the Canucks are expected to be one of the increasingly active teams leading up to the trade deadline and have already been linked to Pittsburgh Penguins’ defenseman Marcus Pettersson. The team should still be in the market for a left-handed shooting defenseman but a fully healthy blue line should give them a better vision of who they should ultimately target.
Bruins Recall Matthew Poitras, Place Charlie McAvoy On IR
Bruins center prospect Matthew Poitras is at the team’s morning skate on Tuesday, per Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald, indicating he’s been recalled from AHL Providence. The team quickly made Poitras’ recall official, announcing that they’ve also recalled defenseman Michael Callahan from Providence and placed No. 1 blue-liner Charlie McAvoy on injured reserve with an undisclosed ailment. Center Mark Kastelic, who’s already missed a game with an upper-body injury, landed on IR to create a necessary roster spot. Defenseman Hampus Lindholm, who’s been out since Nov. 12 with a lower-body injury, was moved from IR to LTIR to open up the required salary cap flexibility.
It’s quite a lot of gameday news for Boston, which risks falling out of playoff position with a loss to the Lightning tonight. They’ve already dropped to 11th in the Eastern Conference in points percentage after a 3-6-1 skid in their last 10, but they remain ahead of their competitors in the standings because they’ve played two or three more games than each of their challengers. They could be leapfrogged by the Blue Jackets and Senators if both those clubs win their games tonight against the Flyers and Islanders, respectively.
Poitras is expected to center the third line in his first NHL game in over two months, per Fluto Shinzawa of The Athletic. Veteran Charlie Coyle will likely sit but is a game-time decision due to illness, head coach Joe Sacco told Joe Haggerty of the Boston Sports Journal.
Selected 54th overall in 2022, the 20-year-old Poitras unexpectedly forced his way onto the Bruins’ roster last season with a standout training camp and emerged as a legitimate top-nine option, recording 15 points in 33 games before surgery on his right shoulder ended his season in January. This year, he dealt with an undisclosed injury for much of camp and managed four points in 14 games upon his return before Boston sent him down to Providence for additional development.
Poitras has been quite good in his first taste of AHL action, logging eight goals and 12 assists for 20 points in 23 games with the P-Bruins. It’s unclear if Boston intends to keep him around after Coyle and Kastelic are healthy again, but nonetheless, it’s a strong sign that the Ontario native is still on track to be a long-term contributor at the NHL level.
Callahan, 25, is expected to serve as a healthy scratch while Parker Wotherspoon enters the lineup, but he’ll be on hand as an extra if anyone sustains a last-minute injury. The 6’2″ lefty has no NHL experience to his name but is now in his fourth season with Providence, where he has six points and a plus-one rating in 35 showings while serving as an alternate captain.
Selected in the fifth round of the 2018 draft by the Coyotes, Boston acquired his signing rights in a 2022 trade shortly before the Massachusetts native was set to wrap up his collegiate career at Providence. He’s set to test the open market this summer as he’s due to be eligible for Group VI unrestricted free agency.
Kastelic’s and Lindholm’s moves are purely procedural, but McAvoy’s IR placement is a surprise. Sacco told Haggerty that the star blue-liner has been “dealing with a nagging injury” and will be shut down for at least a week to see how it responds. He’ll be eligible to return next Monday against the Sharks, ruling him out for two games at least.
McAvoy, 27, is having the worst season of his career offensively, with 20 points through 45 games. His 0.44 points-per-game rate is the first time he’s tracking under 0.5 through his eight-year career, although his even-strength possession numbers have improved to a 51.2 CF% after last year’s underwhelming 48.6% mark.
His offensive regression has come hand in hand with Boston’s limping power play, which is finishing at just a 13.2% clip more than halfway through the season. That’s third-worst in the league, ahead of only the fledgling Ducks and Islanders.
Hurricanes Place Frederik Andersen On IR, Recall Ty Smith
The Hurricanes have kept goaltender Frederik Andersen on the active roster since he sustained a knee injury in late October. Today, the team announced they’d finally moved him to injured reserve. His roster spot goes to defenseman Ty Smith, who they recalled from AHL Chicago just two days after he cleared waivers and headed to the minors.
Andersen’s IR placement is inconsequential aside from opening a roster spot for Smith. He hasn’t played since Oct. 26, missing 37 games with knee issues that eventually required surgery in November.
The team gave Andersen an eight-to-12-week return timeline from his procedure, a window he’ll enter this weekend. He skated on his own last week, according to the team’s Walt Ruff, indicating that while a return isn’t imminent, he’s still on pace to get back into game action during his previously issued timeline.
Andersen, 35, had a sparkling .941 SV% and 1.48 GAA through four starts before being shelved. The pending unrestricted free agent has a 72-28-4 record with a .919 SV% since arriving in Raleigh-Durham in 2021 but has missed an incredible 129 regular-season games during that time due to injury or illness, outpacing his 104 starts and two relief appearances.
His replacement in the starter’s crease, 25-year-old Pyotr Kochetkov, has been adequate with a .901 SV% and 2.54 GAA in 28 starts. Those numbers are down from his career averages of .907 and 2.42, but he’s still managed to stop 5.6 goals above expected, per MoneyPuck, placing him 21st in the league among netminders with at least nine games played.
Removing Andersen from the active roster until he’s ready to return allows the Canes to carry an extra defenseman again. He was the only accessible option to open a roster spot quickly. Forward call-up Juha Jaaska‘s services remain required with William Carrier and Tyson Jost sidelined with lower-body injuries on a day-to-day basis.
Smith has held the role of Carolina’s extra defender for most of the season, routinely alternating days on the roster with Riley Stillman for much of the early going. The 24-year-old got an extended run in the lineup over the past few weeks while Shayne Gostisbehere was injured, posting a goal and assist in eight games while playing minimal even-strength minutes but seeing top-unit power-play usage.
There were no takers for Smith, who the Devils selected 17th overall in the 2018 draft, on waivers over the weekend, so he remains as Carolina’s next man up on the blue line for now. He has 10 points and a +11 rating in 13 AHL games this season, his first full one in the Hurricanes organization after they acquired him from the Penguins in last year’s Jake Guentzel blockbuster.
Islanders Reassign Grant Hutton
The Islanders reassigned defenseman Grant Hutton to AHL Bridgeport on Monday, per Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News and NHL.com. The demotion indicates that rookie Isaiah George will likely be back in the lineup tomorrow against the Senators after he was a full participant in today’s practice, Rosner adds.
Hutton, 29, was summoned from Bridgeport last week in the wake of upper-body injuries on the blue line to George and Alexander Romanov. He was scratched for the Isles’ shutout win over the Golden Knights but entered the lineup Saturday against Utah, playing just 5:07 in the team’s 2-1 win.
The Indiana native has been recalled a handful of times this season due to rashes of injuries among their more established NHLers, playing 13 contests this season as a result. The stay-at-home defender has two assists and a plus-one rating while averaging 13:28 of ice time per game, laying the body 13 times and adding 12 blocks. He’s struggled to limit shot attempts against, though, and his 41.8 CF% at even strength ranks dead last among Isles defensemen.
Hutton passed through waivers unclaimed last month. Since he’s only been on the roster for six days since then and played once, he doesn’t need them again for today’s transaction.
Meanwhile, George had missed the last three games with an upper-body injury but never landed on injured reserve. The Isles didn’t need to reassign Hutton to open a roster spot as a result but did so anyway. The 20-year-old has been a pleasant surprise, posting five points in 25 games with an even rating while logging over 16 minutes per game.
Canucks’ Erik Brännström Clears Waivers
Jan. 13: Brännström cleared waivers on Monday, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. He may now be assigned to AHL Abbotsford at will.
Jan. 12: The Vancouver Canucks have placed defenseman Erik Brännström on waivers, per Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK. Brännström hasn’t appeared in Vancouver’s lineup since Dec. 31.
Vancouver successfully waived Brännström before the start of the regular season and moved him between the NHL and AHL four times during the month of the waiver exemption he received. He became waiver-eligible once more in early November and has served as Vancouver’s seventh defenseman ever since.
Brännström has been under scrutiny for the past few seasons. The Golden Knights drafted him 15th overall in 2017, taking him just a few picks before players like Joshua Norris, Robert Thomas, and Jake Oettinger, and quickly flipped him to Ottawa in a deal for Mark Stone.
Brännström played one more year in Sweden’s SHL after his draft selection, posting 15 points in 44 games – impressive for a 19-year-old defender – and moved to the AHL in 2018-19. He continued to score well in North America, posting a collective 53 points in 77 games between his first two years in the AHL.
But he’s struggled to carry that productivity to the top flight. It took Brännström 40 career games before he managed his first NHL goal and five full seasons before he reached 20 points.
He finally hit that mark in 76 games with Ottawa last season, the most he’s played in one NHL campaign. That boost in scoring suggested that Brännström was a bright gem in a muddy role, sparking the Colorado Avalanche to sign him to a one-year, $900K contract this summer – and then trade him to the Canucks for a fourth-round pick in October.
Brännström worked his way up from Vancouver’s bottom pair to start the season and even managed a few games on the top pair in November and December. But he’s again struggled to score, with just eight points in 28 games this season.
Having already cleared waivers once this season, Brännström doesn’t seem a likely candidate to land somewhere new with this move. Instead, he’ll likely pass through clean and return to bouncing between the major and minor rosters.
He has three assists in two AHL games this season. Maybe returning to that hot scoring could be enough to help the 25-year-old defender finally find his footing as an NHL hopeful.
Lightning Place Gage Goncalves On Waivers
The Lightning placed forward Gage Goncalves on waivers on Monday, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. If he clears, he’ll be assigned to AHL Syracuse.
Goncalves, 23, started the season in the minors but was recalled in early November after an injury to Brayden Point. After being bounced between leagues a couple of times, he was recalled again from Syracuse on Nov. 19 and hasn’t been back since.
In his first extended look at the NHL level, Goncalves had a goal and an assist in 26 games. The British Columbia native averaged 11:45 per game, posting a minus-one rating with eight blocks and 22 hits. He was a drag on their possession play, controlling 47.1% of shot attempts at even strength. In comparison, the Bolts controlled 51.4% of shot attempts without Goncalves on the ice during his time in the lineup.
The Lightning have plenty of roster and salary cap space with no players on the verge of returning, so it’s purely a performance-based demotion for Goncalves today. He had six assists in five games for Syracuse before being recalled in November, building on a strong 58-point showing in 69 games last season.
Goncalves, a second-round pick by the Bolts in 2020, does still carry a bit of upside and faces a reasonable risk of being claimed. He’s a pending restricted free agent and will be eligible for salary arbitration this summer.
Sharks Reassign Shakir Mukhamadullin
The Sharks returned defense prospect Shakir Mukhamadullin to AHL San Jose on Monday, per a team announcement. The club now has an open roster spot, which could be used to activate Klim Kostin, Nikolai Kovalenko, or Vítek Vaněček from injured reserve in the coming days.
Mukhamadullin, 23, had been on the Sharks’ roster since Dec. 10. It was his first recall of the season after he sat out the first couple of weeks on season-opening injured reserve with a lower-body issue.
Selected 20th overall by the Devils in the 2020 draft and traded to San Jose in the Timo Meier deal in 2023, Mukhamadullin is the second-best defense prospect in the Sharks’ system behind 2024 first-rounder Sam Dickinson and checked in at 82nd in Scott Wheeler of The Athletic’s league-wide prospect ranking last summer. A well-rounded left-shot talent checking in at 6’4″, the Russian native had a goal and an even rating in 10 appearances over the last few weeks while averaging 15:24 of time on ice per game.
While it’s a small sample and limited minutes, Mukhamadullin has arguably been the Sharks’ most defensively competent blue-liner this season. His 1.2 goals against per 60 minutes at even strength is the lowest on the team, and his 48.6 CF% trails only Jake Walman among San Jose defenders with double-digit games played.
That’s a promising result for Mukhamadullin after it took him a while to get off the ground in the minors. He had six assists and a minus-three rating in 14 AHL games, diminished play in both ends after he recorded 34 points and a plus-three rating in 55 games last season.
Things are looking up for the youngster, who will now get some more runway in the AHL before his next opportunity in the Show. He’s set to be a restricted free agent this summer but won’t be eligible for arbitration.
Avalanche Recall Jere Innala, Jason Polin
The Avalanche recalled forwards Jere Innala and Jason Polin from AHL Colorado on Monday, according to a team announcement. Their active roster is now full with the AHL’s transactions log reflecting that Tye Felhaber was returned to the minors yesterday after a week-long call-up.
Polin, 25, is the fresh face among the two. He made his NHL debut for the Avs last year, skating in seven games in January and recording a goal with a plus-one rating while averaging a paltry 7:25 of ice time per game.
The Michigan native is now in his third season with the organization after signing as an undrafted free agent out of Western Michigan in 2023. The 6’0″, 198-lb right-winger ranks seventh on the AHL club with seven goals through 21 games, adding a pair of assists for nine points.
Despite potting 30 goals in 39 games at WMU in his senior season and being named a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, Polin hasn’t been much of a factor offensively yet in his professional career. He’s been limited to 11 goals and nine assists for 20 points in 70 AHL games, so it’s a tad puzzling to see his name in the NHL lineup, even as a fourth-line fill-in piece while Valeri Nichushkin nurses his lower-body injury.
Polin is expected to replace Felhaber in the lineup tomorrow when the Avs host the Rangers. Innala, who was papered down yesterday to help the Avs save a bit of cash, remains in the lineup in search of his first NHL point. The 5’9″ Finn has averaged 7:29 through his first 10 NHL games, recording three shots on goal and a minus-one rating.
Blue Jackets Extend Zach Aston-Reese
The Blue Jackets have signed forward Zach Aston-Reese to a one-year extension, general manager Don Waddell announced Monday. He will earn the league minimum of $775K next season, presumably on a one-way contract.
Aston-Reese, 30, was set to become an unrestricted free agent in July. He’s played in all but one of Columbus’ 43 games this season after being claimed off waivers from the Golden Knights on the eve of the regular season, posting four goals, seven assists, and 11 points with a minus-six rating.
The waiver placement by Vegas was a blessing in disguise for Aston-Reese, who’s re-established himself as an NHL regular with the Blue Jackets. Once a fourth-line fixture with the Penguins and was regarded as one of the more defensively adept wingers in the league, he’s had a tumultuous past few seasons – including spending nearly all last season in the minors while in the Red Wings organization.
That meant Aston-Reese had to settle for a two-way deal with the Knights in free agency last summer, the second year in a row he’d done so after catching on in Detroit late in training camp last year after a failed tryout with the Hurricanes. The structure hasn’t affected him this season since he’s spent all of it in the NHL, so while his extension doesn’t represent a raise, it does represent added financial security if he ends up back in the minors at some point in 2025-26.
Aston-Reese is averaging 13:09 of ice time per game this season, his highest usage since the 2020-21 campaign with Pittsburgh. He’s bounced between third-line and fourth-line roles, usually on either Justin Danforth or Cole Sillinger‘s wing, while seeing around a minute per game on the penalty kill.
A league-minimum salary next year looks to be a bargain for Aston-Reese’s services if he keeps up his current level of play. He’s provided enough offense to remain effective in a bottom-six role while also serving as one of the Blue Jackets’ most physical forwards, ranking third on the team with 94 hits. Somewhat surprisingly, he also ranks eighth on the club with 56 shots on goal, and his 8.6 goals against per 60 minutes while on the penalty kill are the fewest among the Jackets’ regular PKers.
Half of the forwards on Columbus’ active roster are now under contract for next season or beyond. Key pending UFAs still include fellow bottom-six fixtures Sean Kuraly and Mathieu Olivier, who could be in play on trade deadline day if the Jackets can’t reach extensions with them and if they’re no longer in the playoff picture.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.