Penguins Activate Kris Letang, Place Philip Tomasino On IR
The Pittsburgh Penguins are making a few roster moves before their game against the Carolina Hurricanes tonight. Pittsburgh announced they’ve placed forward Philip Tomasino on injured reserve while later adding they’ve activated defenseman Kris Letang in a corresponding move.
Considering the Penguins had a full 23-man roster before tonight’s game, this transaction was expected. Wes Crosby of NHL.com reported earlier that the Penguins expect Tomasino to miss the next week or two with a lower-body injury while Letang became a game-time decision.
Tomasino’s injury dampens the young forward’s hopes for the 2024-25 season. The former 24th overall pick of the 2019 NHL Draft was traded from the Nashville Predators to the Penguins for a 2027 fourth-round pick earlier in the season appearing to turn a corner with the second organization of his career.
He scored three goals and four points in his first five games as a Penguin averaging 15 minutes of ice time per game, nearly two minutes more than his season-high with the Predators. Unfortunately, Tomasino’s production has cooled off dramatically with one goal and three points in the next 11 contests. Thanks to Pittsburgh’s 10-5-2 record in their last 17 games, Tomasino should rejoin a team on the hunt for a spot in the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs which is more than what could be said of his former teammates in Nashville.
At the cost of some forward depth up front, the Penguins will get an addition to their defensive core in the form of Letang. Unfortunately, it won’t be quite the addition as it would have been in years past.
Letang is squarely in the middle of the worst statistical output of his lengthy NHL career. Assuming he plays in Pittsburgh’s remaining 42 games and continues his current offensive production, he’ll finish with 35 points in 76 games this season which would be the lowest since his tertiary campaign in the 2008-09 season.
Things don’t get any better on the defensive side of the puck. Letang is averaging a career-low 47.8% CorsiFor% and 87.5% on-ice save percentage while at even strength. Additionally, Letang is averaging an expected +/- in the negatives for the first time since the 2020-21 season.
Still, the Penguins are contractually committed to Letang for three years beyond this one and he still represents one of their better defensive options. He’s expected to play alongside rookie defenseman Owen Pickering on the team’s top-pairing tonight.
Vegas Golden Knights Reassign Tanner Laczynski
Depth forward Tanner Laczynski is back in the American Hockey League shortly following his first goal as a member of the Vegas Golden Knights. The organization announced they’ve reassigned Laczynski to their AHL affiliate, the Henderson Silver Knights.
Laczynski was chosen by the Philadelphia Flyers with the 169th pick in the 2016 NHL Draft following a successful NCAA career at Ohio State University. He finished his NCAA career with 48 goals and 143 points in 138 games before transitioning to professional hockey in 2020-21.
Despite missing many games due to injury through the first few seasons of his career, Laczynski was still a relatively productive forward, particularly with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Laczynski recorded 31 goals and 74 points in 93 games for the Phantoms from 2021-2024 with another four goals and six postseason contests.
His time on an NHL roster wasn’t nearly as fruitful. Laczynski was rarely used in the first two years of his career, suiting up in six total games for the Flyers in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons averaging 9:53 of ice time per game. He garnered a larger opportunity in the 2022-23 season with 32 games but only scored two goals and two assists with even less average ice time.
Laczynski eventually left the Flyers organization after spending all last year in Lehigh Valley. The Golden Knights moved relatively quickly signing a player of Laczynski’s history this past summer on the back of a two-year, $1.55MM agreement.
Outside of scoring in last night’s contest against the Buffalo Sabres, Laczynski has spent much of the year with Henderson. He leads the team in scoring with six goals and 20 points in 18 contests but the Silver Knights still reside in the Pacific Division basement by a margin of five points despite Laczynski’s efforts.
Ducks Sign Frank Vatrano To Three-Year Extension
In an announcement from himself and his young daughter, Frank Vatrano is committing to Orange County for another three seasons. In a quick follow-up from TSN’s Pierre LeBrun, Vatrano’s three-year pact will pay him $18MM in total but carries an uncommon method of deferred salary.
LeBrun shares that Vatrano will earn a base salary of $3MM each year of the deal with $9MM deferred. From 2035, Vatrano will earn $900K annually from the Ducks until 2044. LeBrun asserts that Vatrano plans to live outside of California in retirement giving him the flexibility to earn his annual disbursement in a tax-free state. Additionally, the creativity of the deferred salary brings Vatrano’s cap hit down to $4.67MM (instead of $6MM) which provides cost-savings to Anaheim.
Being primarily used in Major League Baseball, this is the most creative use of deferred salary in recent memory in the National Hockey League and may be a sign of things to come. There are increasing concerns that teams within states without an income tax have a competitive advantage over other teams, particularly in comparison to the Canadian market in recent years. The use of deferred salary by Anaheim may be a way to show players, particularly unrestricted free agents, that there are creative ways to dodge financial impediments.
For Vatrano’s part, it’s a healthy raise on his modest $3.65MM salary for the last three years. After a disappointing year with the New York Rangers, the Ducks signed Vatrano to a three-year, $10.95MM contract as an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2022.
Subsequently, he’s enjoyed the two most productive seasons of his career. Vatrano scored 22 goals and 41 points in 81 games for Anaheim during the 2022-23 season finishing tied for third on the team in goal-scoring. Vatrano followed up that performance with the best season of his career scoring 37 goals and 60 points in 82 games last year shattering his previous record of 24 goals in 2018-19 with the Florida Panthers. 
Vatrano’s goal-scoring output has dissipated slightly this year with nine goals and 20 points in 37 games but he’s still proving to be a physical, offensive threat in the Ducks’ top-six. Unsurprisingly, the defensive side of Vatrano’s game is improving under head coach Greg Cronin‘s hard-nosed system, with the veteran sniper managing the best 5-on-5 on-ice save percentage since his time with the Panthers.
The extension reflects Vatrano’s earnest commitment to a rebuilding organization. It also removes an important trade candidate from consideration as the deadline approaches. Vatrano’s style of play would be an asset to almost any contending team’s middle-six, but they will now have to seek such an advantage elsewhere.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Utah Hockey Club Claims Nick DeSimone On Waivers
1/5: The Utah Hockey Club has claimed DeSimone off of waivers from the Devils, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. DeSimone will replace Dakota Mermis‘ role as Utah’s seventh defenseman, after the Leafs reclaimed Mermis off of waivers from Utah. New Jersey also acquired DeSimone off of waivers, claiming him away from Calgary last season.
1/4: The Devils are making a move to open up a roster spot. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link) that the Devils have placed defenseman Nick DeSimone on waivers.
It’s the second time this season that the 30-year-old finds himself on the wire. DeSimone was put on waivers late in training camp and passed through unclaimed. That wasn’t the case last year when he was waived, however, as he wound up with New Jersey via a midseason claim from Calgary, getting into 11 games after that where he had a pair of points along with 21 blocked shots in 16:29 of playing time per contest. However, with the team much healthier and deeper on the back end going into the season, DeSimone lost his roster spot at the time.
DeSimone has been up with the Devils a few times this season. Those combined stints totalled more than 30 days which is why he needs to go back on waivers to return to AHL Utica even though he didn’t suit up once with the Devils while on recall. DeSimone has played in 12 games with the Comets when he hasn’t been in New Jersey, picking up three assists.
DeSimone is playing on a one-year, one-way contract worth the league minimum salary of $775K this season and is slated to become an unrestricted free agent this summer. Considering that some teams are dealing with some short-term injuries on the back end, it’s possible that DeSimone could find himself on the move when his waiver period expires at 1 PM CT on Sunday.
Wild Assign Carson Lambos, Brendan Gaunce To AHL
The Minnesota Wild have assigned forward Brendan Gaunce and defenseman Carson Lambos to the AHL’s Iowa Wild, per Michael Russo of The Athletic. Russo points out that these moves could indicate that Minnesota could get multiple injured players back before they host St. Louis on Tuesday. Minnesota is facing an extensive list of absentees, including injuries to superstar Kirill Kaprizov, team captain Jared Spurgeon, and top-four defender Jacob Middleton. Both Kaprizov and Middleton could reasonably make it back for Tuesday’s game, should they hit an upswing in their recovery. Russo also shared that forward Devin Shore should be clear to practice, after being a last-minute scratch for Minnesota’s Saturday win over Carolina.
The focal piece of this move is former first-round pick Lambos, who will now have the first NHL call-up of his career cut short without an NHL debut. Lambos was the 26th overall pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, selected with the pick Minnesota acquired after sending Jason Zucker to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Lambos was a smooth and diligent two-way defender in his draft year and managed double-digit goals and point-per-game scoring in both the 2021-22 and 2022-23 WHL seasons, even captaining the Winnipeg Ice in the latter season. But unfortunately, that production has yet to appear at the pro flight. He scored 14 points in 69 games as an AHL rookie last season, but may not even reach that point this season – with five points in 27 games putting him on track for just 12 points in a full year. He’ll now return to the minors and continue fighting to improve his game-to-game impacts.
Lambos will be joined by Gaunce, who’s found far more success in the AHL this year. His 11 goals and 17 points through 22 games currently leads the Iowa Wild in goals and ranks second in points. Gaunce has stepped into the mix of depth forwards used to fill in for Wild injuries, playing in five NHL games but yet to score a point this season. His only notable stat changes stand as four penalty minutes and a -3.
Edmonton Oilers Recall Josh Brown
The Oilers are adding some extra depth on the back end to their roster as they begin a four-game road trip tonight in Seattle. The team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled defenseman Josh Brown from AHL Bakersfield.
The 30-year-old is in his first season with Edmonton after signing a three-year, $3MM contract that hasn’t gone quite as intended thus far. Originally viewed as a sixth or seventh defender at the time he signed, Brown wound up not making the team out of training camp and cleared waivers back in early October.
Since then, he has been recalled three times but his playing time has been quite limited. Brown has suited up in just three games, all coming over a four-day stretch in November. He didn’t record a point while adding five blocked shots and six hits in a little over 12 minutes a night of playing time. Considering Edmonton has six healthy blueliners at the moment, he might not be adding to his limited totals while up with the big club.
Brown has played in 20 games with the Condors this season, his first taste of action in the minors since the 2018-19 campaign when he was with Springfield. He has just three assists in those outings while also recording 52 penalty minutes.
Edmonton had two open roster spots so no corresponding moves needed to be made to bring Brown up and with Evander Kane being their only injured player (and not close to returning), there won’t be any pending moves that could force him off the roster in the near future.
Toronto Maple Leafs Activate Auston Matthews
4:15 p.m: According to a team announcement, the Maple Leafs have officially activated from injured reserve and will have him in the forward grouping this evening.
10:58 a.m: The Maple Leafs will welcome back a key piece of their forward tonight. Center Auston Matthews told reporters including NHL.com’s Dave McCarthy that he will be in the lineup against Boston, meaning Toronto will be activating him off injured reserve.
The 27-year-old has missed the last six games after reaggravating the upper-body injury forced him to miss nine games back in November. At that time, he went to Germany to be reassessed and has since acknowledged that the injury is something that may linger for the rest of the season.
He’s expected to reclaim his spot on the top line alongside wingers Matthew Knies and Mitch Marner and intends to play both games over the weekend over being eased back in.
In between his stints on IR, the captain has been relatively productive though not to the level he’s accustomed to. Matthews has 11 goals and 12 assists in 24 games so far this season, good for fourth on the team in scoring despite being out for 15 games already. However, it’s a far cry from the type of per-game output that saw him record at least 60 goals and 106 points in two of the last three seasons although the Maple Leafs aren’t as much of a high-scoring team under new head coach Craig Berube as they’d been in past years with Sheldon Keefe behind the bench.
Toronto has an open spot on its roster following yesterday’s reassignment of defenseman Marshall Rifai to the Marlies so they won’t need to make any moves to bring Matthews back onto the open roster.
Kings Announce Four Roster Moves
The Kings were busy leading into their game against Tampa Bay today. The team announced that they’ve activated winger Trevor Moore and center Trevor Lewis off injured reserve. To make room on the roster, winger Andre Lee was assigned to AHL Ontario while defenseman Kyle Burroughs was moved to non-roster status.
Moore was moved to IR last weekend but last played on December 12th and had been sidelined with an upper-body injury since then. The 29-year-old had a career year last season with 31 goals and 26 assists in 82 games and while he hasn’t produced at quite the same level this year, he’s still doing well with six goals and a dozen helpers in 28 outings while logging a little over 17 minutes a night.
As for Lewis, he sustained a lower-body injury on the final day of November and has been out since then. He’s being activated for his 1,000th career game tonight. Lewis has seven points in 25 games so far this season while chipping in with 46 hits and a 51% success rate at the faceoff dot, continuing to have success in the fourth-line role he has held for the bulk of his career.
Lee is the roster casualty up front to bring Moore and Lewis back onto the roster. The 24-year-old has split the season between the Kings and Reign, getting his first taste of NHL playing time along the way. Lee has played in 19 games with Los Angeles, primarily on the fourth line. In those outings, he has a goal and two assists along with 36 hits in just over nine minutes a night. In Ontario, he has suited up four time, collecting a goal and an assist.
Burroughs, meanwhile, is in his first season with the Kings after signing a two-year, $2.2MM deal with them last summer. Playing time hasn’t been the easiest to come by, however, as he has been limited to just 20 games thus far out of 37. The 29-year-old has a pair of assists, 31 hits, and 24 penalty minutes but is playing just 8:39 per game, well below his career average of 15:57 per game. He is away from the team following the birth of his child.
Kraken Recall Ben Meyers
Ben Meyers’ stint in the minors wound up being relatively short-lived. After being sent down before the holiday break last month, he’s now back up with the Kraken as the team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled him from AHL Coachella Valley.
It’s the third recall of the season for the 26-year-old. Meyers has played in four games so far this season with Seattle and has been held off the scoresheet while winning nearly 46% of his faceoffs. He has been quite productive with the Firebirds, however, collecting 10 goals and 12 assists in 25 games with them. The threshold for Meyers needing to clear waivers again is when he reaches either 10 NHL games or 30 days on the active roster so he’s six away on the games played front and is around halfway there on NHL days.
Meyers is on a one-year, $775K contract and can easily be fit within Seattle’s remaining LTIR pool for Vince Dunn. He’s eligible for Group Six unrestricted free agency once again this summer but if he gets into nine more NHL games this season, he’ll revert to RFA status with arbitration eligibility.
Seattle had an open roster spot so no corresponding move needed to be made to elevate Meyers to the NHL roster.
Sharks Activate William Eklund, Place Jake Walman On IR
The Sharks have made a pair of roster moves heading into their game tonight versus New Jersey. The team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve activated forward William Eklund off injured reserve. To make room on the roster, blueliner Jake Walman has been placed on IR.
Eklund has been dealing with an upper-body injury sustained just before the holiday break. After a strong rookie year that saw him record 45 points in 80 games, the 22-year-old is on pace for a more productive campaign, notching seven goals and 20 assists through his first 36 appearances this season.
While it’s the fourth straight year in which Eklund has seen NHL action, his first two years didn’t see him burn a year of his entry-level deal since he played under ten games in each one. Accordingly, he’s signed through the 2025-26 campaign but will be extension-eligible this summer and it wouldn’t be shocking to see the two sides try to work out an early long-term deal.
As for Walman, he has been out with a lower-body injury that also occurred a little before the break. After being acquired in a salary cap dumping trade from Detroit, the 28-year-old has had a breakout year with the Sharks, recording five goals and 20 assists in 31 games while logging nearly 23 minutes a night of playing time. He leads all San Jose defenders in points with 25 while his ATOI leads all Sharks players.
Despite the IR placement, Walman may not be there for long. Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now notes that Walman skated before practice for the second straight day today, suggesting that he might not be too far from a return. San Jose is eligible to back-date the placement to December 22nd and if they do so, he’ll be eligible to be activated at any time.