Rangers Activate K’Andre Miller, Assign Chad Ruhwedel To AHL
The Rangers will welcome back a key blueliner on Saturday as Mollie Walker of the New York Post relays (Twitter link) that defenseman K’Andre Miller has been activated off injured reserve. In a corresponding move, the team announced (Twitter link) that blueliner Chad Ruhwedel has been returned to AHL Hartford.
Miller has missed a little more than two weeks with an upper-body injury but was believed to be nearing a return before the holiday break so it comes as little surprise that he has been activated now. It has been a rough year for the 24-year-old as he has not been able to get back to the form he had over the past two seasons. After putting up 43 points in 2022-23 and 30 last season, Miller has been limited to just two goals and four assists in 28 games so far this year despite still logging over 21 minutes a night.
The timing of his struggles certainly isn’t ideal from Miller’s perspective. He’s in the final season of his two-year bridge deal and will be a restricted free agent this summer with arbitration rights. At that time, he’ll be owed a $4.646MM qualifying offer but while it looked like he’d vastly exceed that a year ago, that’s less likely to be the case now. Meanwhile, with the team struggling, he’s among the players who have been speculated as potential trade chips as GM Chris Drury looks to reshape his roster.
As for Ruhwedel, he has been shuttled back and forth throughout the last six weeks but NHL playing time has been hard to come by. The 34-year-old has played in just five games with New York so far, collecting one assist in a little over 14 minutes a night of playing time. A veteran of 369 career NHL appearances, Ruhwedel will certainly be among the first recall options whenever another defender is banged up. Ruhwedel also has three assists in 11 appearances with Hartford.
Kraken Recall Gustav Olofsson, Ales Stezka
The Kraken resume their schedule tomorrow in a rivalry matchup against the Canucks. As such, they’ve added to their roster today, announcing they’ve recalled defenseman Gustav Olofsson and goaltender Ales Stezka from AHL Coachella Valley, the latter on an emergency basis. Their active roster is now full.
Olofsson, 30, is coming off his first recall of the season. The minor-league mainstay was rostered for Seattle’s pre-break back-to-back last weekend but didn’t play, sitting in the press box on both occasions. He was returned to Coachella Valley on Monday to delay the expiration of his waiver clock and decrease his paycheck, but is back on the roster as a seventh defenseman with William Borgen out of the picture after being traded to the Rangers.
The 6’3″ left-shooting Swede is in the back half of a two-year, two-way extension he signed with Seattle in 2023. Now in his third season in the Kraken organization, he’s yet to see NHL ice this season and has made only four combined major league appearances since heading to the Pacific Northwest. A 2013 Minnesota second-round pick, he hasn’t been a full-time NHLer since his days with the Wild in the late 2010s.
Olofsson has been an alternate captain with Coachella Valley in all three seasons of their existence. This season, he ranks third among team defenders in scoring with 11 points (2 G, 9 A) in 27 games, nearly surpassing last season’s total. He has 29 points in 98 games as a Firebird since arriving there in 2022.
Stezka’s summons indicates that either one of Joey Daccord or Philipp Grubauer will be unavailable for tomorrow’s game. The 27-year-old is Seattle’s bonafide No. 3 option after they lost Chris Driedger to the Panthers in free agency, and while he dressed for a pair of games as the Kraken’s backup last month, he’s yet to make his NHL debut. An undrafted free agent signing out of Czechia in 2023, Stezka has a 2.94 GAA, .906 SV%, and a 6-9-6 record in 18 showings with Coachella Valley this season.
Red Wings Activate Simon Edvinsson From Injured Reserve
Dec. 27: The Red Wings announced that they’ve activated Edvinsson from injured reserve, indicating he’ll make his return to the lineup tonight against the Maple Leafs after missing three games with an upper-body injury. Wallinder and Lagesson were returned to Grand Rapids over the holiday break in corresponding transactions. Chiarot should also be cleared to play after missing their game against the Blues on Monday, newly-installed head coach Todd McLellan said (per the team’s Daniella Bruce).
Dec. 23: Prior to tonight’s game, the Red Wings placed defenseman Simon Edvinsson on injured reserve due to an upper-body issue. William Wallinder was called up from AHL Grand Rapids to take Edvinsson’s roster spot, the team announced.
It seemed likely that Edvinsson would be optioned to IR for roster flexibility after head coach Derek Lalonde said this morning that he and defensive counterpart Ben Chiarot would be unavailable against the Blues. Edvinsson has already missed two games with the injury, which he sustained on Dec. 18 against the Flyers. He’ll be eligible to come off IR for Friday’s game against the Maple Leafs if he’s medically cleared, a strong possibility since Detroit hasn’t issued a return timeline beyond day-to-day.
The IR placement hits pause on what’s been a breakout season for Edvinsson on the Red Wings’ thin blue-line. Selected sixth overall in the 2021 draft, he spent most of the prior two seasons in Grand Rapids but has taken a full-time role and run with it this season after a strong showing defensively in a late-season call-up last year. The offense wasn’t there for Edvinsson early on, posting three goals and an assist for four points through his first 25 NHL appearances in 2022-23 and 2023-24. That’s changed this year, with Edvinsson ranking eighth on the team in scoring with 13 points (3 G, 10 A) in 30 games, all at even strength.
Edvinsson is averaging 20:44 per game and is second among Detroit defenders with a 48.6% shot attempt share at even strength. Still just 21, it seems he’s officially on track to reach his top-pairing ceiling.
With William Lagesson also on hand as a more veteran option, it seems likely that Wallinder will sit in the press box tonight and serve as a healthy scratch and last-minute injury protection. The left-shot defender is in his second full season in North America, where he has eight points and a -5 rating in 19 games with Grand Rapids. The 6’4″, 190-lb defender will likely be returned to the minors tomorrow over the holiday break and will only be summoned back to the roster if Chiarot and Edvinsson remain unavailable by the end of the week. Wallinder, 22, was the 32nd overall pick of the 2020 draft.
Senators Recall Four Players
Dec. 27: All three are back on the active roster today, as well as Søgaard, the team announced. Both Forsberg’s and Ullmark’s status for tomorrow’s tilt against the Jets is thus in doubt. They only had three open active roster spots, so there’s one corresponding move that’s yet to be announced, likely placing Forsberg on injured reserve.
Dec. 23: The Senators made a trio of demotions today after finishing up their pre-holiday break schedule last night with a 3-1 loss to the Oilers. They reassigned all of goaltender Leevi Merilainen, center Zack Ostapchuk and left-winger Cole Reinhardt to AHL Belleville, per the team’s communications department.
Whether these transactions get reversed when Ottawa returns to play on Saturday against the Jets depends on the health of wingers Michael Amadio and David Perron, who are dealing with head and upper-body injuries, respectively. Merilainen was on the roster to relieve backup netminder Anton Forsberg, who’s missed the last four games with an undisclosed injury and is out indefinitely. However, starter Linus Ullmark left last night’s game with a back issue after the first period and didn’t return. If neither is good by the weekend, they’ll need to recall a second netminder from Belleville, Mads Søgaard, and Merilainen again.
Merilainen had been on the roster since Dec. 15, when Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia reported that Forsberg had sustained an injury and wouldn’t accompany the team on their road trip. Ullmark’s injury meant the 22-year-old was forced into action on back-to-back nights after allowing four goals on 25 shots in Saturday’s overtime win over the Canucks. Between the two appearances, the Finnish native has allowed six goals on 39 shots faced for a .846 SV% and 3.72 GAA.
The 71st overall pick of the 2020 draft, Merilainen spent all of last season in the minors but made his NHL debut in 2022-23, posting a .878 SV% and 4.23 GAA in two late-season starts. The 2022 World Junior Championship silver medalist is now in his third AHL season with Belleville, where he has a decent .908 SV%, 2.65 GAA, three shutouts, and a 20-11-5 record in 41 games. 13 of those appearances have come in 2024-25, posting a .901 SV% and 2.43 GAA with one shutout for a 7-2-4 record.
Ostapchuk has been a frequent flyer on the transaction wire this season. Today’s reassignment ends his sixth recall of the campaign, during which he’s played 20 games in Ottawa and nine in Belleville. The 21-year-old, who the Sens picked 39th overall in the 2021 draft, has three assists with seven penalty minutes while averaging a paltry 9:11 per game. He’s won 48.1% of his draws, recorded 42 hits, and blocked seven shots while controlling 49.0% of shot attempts at 5-on-5. The 6’3″, 205-lb forward has a goal and seven assists with a +5 rating in his nine minor-league showings after recording just 28 points in 69 AHL games last season.
Reinhardt has also moved between leagues quite often but hasn’t received nearly as much use at the NHL level as Ostapchuk has. The 24-year-old Calgary native does have something that Ostapchuk doesn’t this season in the NHL, though – a goal. He’s added an assist for two points in six NHL appearances this season, his first since making his big-league debut in the 2021-22 campaign. He’s averaged 8:39 per contest and recorded 16 hits. Down on the farm with the B-Sens, he leads the team with 1.23 points per game (16 in 13 contests).
Ostapchuk is waiver-exempt and will remain so through the end of this season, but Reinhardt isn’t. Since he’s been on the active roster for fewer than 30 cumulative days since last clearing waivers and has played less than 10 games, he can return to Belleville without being exposed to the wire again. The Sens’ active roster is now at 20, and clearing the trio’s cap hits has also allowed them to exit their LTIR pool for the time being and start accumulating cap space once again.
Devils Recall Nick DeSimone
The Devils announced that they have recalled right-shot defenseman Nick DeSimone from AHL Utica. He fills one of two open spots on their active roster, so no corresponding move is necessary.
DeSimone returns to the New Jersey roster after spending a good chunk of the last two months as an extra defender, frequently sitting in the press box but not seeing any playing time. He was booted to Utica on Dec. 11 in favor of Colton White, who the Devils recently loaned to Team Canada for the ongoing 2024 Spengler Cup. With White in Switzerland and thus unavailable to serve as injury insurance if needed, DeSimone will return to a familiar press-box role coming out of the holiday break.
Now 30, DeSimone is coming off a career-high seven points in 34 NHL appearances in 2023-24, split between the Flames and Devils. Selected off waivers from Calgary in late January, the minor-league mainstay inked a one-way, $775K extension to remain a Devil in late June but hasn’t seen any NHL ice in 2024-25. The Union College product has been the victim of an impeccably healthy New Jersey defense over the past couple of months, providing little opportunity for him to insert himself ahead of one of the most dynamic defense corps in the league.
DeSimone has looked rusty while on assignment to Utica this season, with only three assists and a -10 rating in 12 appearances. However, he’s historically been a good power-play option in the AHL, posting 179 points in 353 career AHL games over nine seasons and a +25 rating.
DeSimone last cleared waivers at the beginning of the regular season. He’s close to spending a cumulative 30 days on the active roster since then, after which point he’ll need them again to return to the AHL.
Flyers Recall Olle Lycksell
Dec. 27: Lycksell has been recalled from Lehigh Valley again with the holiday break soon to be in the rearview mirror, the team announced. He’ll be on hand for the Flyers’ West Coast road swing over the next week. Philadelphia’s active roster is full again with $2.31MM in current cap space, per PuckPedia.
Dec. 22: Philadelphia announced they’ve reassigned Lycksell to their AHL affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. He skated in 10:58 of last night’s win over the Columbus Blue Jackets, registering three shots on net.
Dec. 21: The Flyers have added a bit of forward depth to their roster heading into tonight’s game against Columbus. Jordan Hall of NBC Sports Philadelphia relays (Twitter link) that Philadelphia has recalled winger Olle Lycksell from AHL Lehigh Valley. They are now carrying the maximum of 23 players on the roster.
This move comes on the heels of center Sean Couturier not being at the morning skate today. It’s unknown if Lycksell’s recall is related to that or if someone else’s availability for tonight is in some question.
The 25-year-old has had plenty of offensive success in the minors but it hasn’t translated to much production with the Flyers. Last season, Lycksell had 19 goals and 20 assists in 38 games with the Phantoms which earned him 18 appearances in Philadelphia. However, he wasn’t able to muster up much with them, collecting just one goal and four helpers in those outings while logging just 9:57 per game. That lack of production contributed to Lycksell clearing waivers back in October.
This season, it has been more of the same for Lycksell in Lehigh Valley as he has nine goals and 15 assists in 25 appearances which has helped him earn his first promotion of the season, even if it’s likely to be a brief one with the holiday break fast approaching.
Canadiens Recall Jakub Dobes For NHL Debut
The Canadiens have recalled goaltender Jakub Dobes from AHL Laval for his NHL debut, reports Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports. There’s no injury to the Habs’ current NHL duo of Sam Montembeault and Cayden Primeau, but the club has an open roster spot and will use it to carry three goalies for its Florida back-to-back over the weekend.
The 23-year-old Dobes was the No. 136 overall pick in the 2020 draft, heading to Montreal in the fifth round. After impressing in United States Hockey League action in his post-draft season, he went on to have a strong two-year run at Ohio State University, where he posted a .926 SV% in 75 appearances. The transition to pro hockey has gone fairly well for Dobes too, taking over as Laval’s starter last year in his first look in AHL action, logging a 2.93 GAA, .906 SV%, and one shutout in 51 games.
While Dobes has been battling injuries this season, he’s gotten into 14 AHL games, posting a 2.44 GAA and .910 SV% with a 9-3-1 record. He’s split time evenly with veteran offseason addition Connor Hughes thanks to his health, posting slightly better numbers than his 28-year-old Swiss counterpart.
Dobes’ relatively seamless transition from level to level throughout his development bodes well for his performance on his first NHL recall. But while he deserves a look, today’s transaction isn’t all about him. It also has much to do with Primeau’s poor play in a backup role this season. The 25-year-old has established himself as nearly unplayable, logging a .836 SV%, 4.70 GAA, and remarkable -16.0 GSAA in just seven starts and four relief appearances, “good” for a 2-3-1 record. He’s posted a league-average save percentage in just one of those seven starts, a 33-save performance on 36 shots in a shootout loss to the Islanders back on Oct. 19.
It stands to reason that we’ve seen the last of Primeau for a while, although the Habs likely can’t afford to jeopardize Dobes’ development by keeping him up as Montembeault’s backup for the rest of the year. Whether Montreal parts ways with Primeau via trade or waivers, they’ll likely bring in a cheap option to replace him to give Dobes a little more time in Laval. The 6’4″ Czechia native will be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights next summer.
Wild Recall Brendan Gaunce, Devin Shore
Dec. 27: Both Gaunce and Shore are back on the Wild roster ahead of their road trip, the team announced Thursday night. Their active roster now stands at 22 players.
Dec. 24: The Wild announced Tuesday that they’ve reassigned forwards Brendan Gaunce and Devin Shore to AHL Iowa. Their spots on the active roster will remain open over the holiday break, and the pair of demotions will allow them to exit their LTIR pool and begin accruing cap space again over the next few days. One or both could find themselves back on the roster for Friday’s game against the Stars, depending on the health of injured forwards Joel Eriksson Ek and Jakub Lauko.
Gaunce inked a two-year, two-way deal in free agency and was recalled from Iowa last week after clearing waivers during training camp. He has no points in three appearances with an unsightly -3 rating given his limited ice time. The veteran Gaunce has also fallen a tad short of expectations in the AHL, posting eight goals, six assists, 14 points, and a -10 rating in 21 games. He’s producing just 0.67 points per game after clicking at 0.83 over the past three seasons in Cleveland while with the Blue Jackets organization.
Throughout his career, the now-30-year-old Gaunce has been an expert top-six producer in minor-league action but has never carved out anything above a fringe fourth-line role at the NHL level. In 180 appearances in parts of nine seasons with Vancouver, Boston, Columbus, and Minnesota, Gaunce has 13 goals, 15 assists, 28 points, and a -16 rating while averaging 10:43 per contest. He had a career-high five goals and seven points in 30 games with the Jackets in 2021-22.
Shore, 30, signed a two-way deal over the summer and, like Gaunce, failed to secure a depth role out of camp. He’s passed through waivers twice this season without being claimed and has one assist in 16 games for Minnesota over the past month or so, locking down a more steady fourth-line role for the time being with injuries affecting their forward group. He’s averaged 8:14 per contest and has 19 hits, but he has been a pretty apparent defensive liability. The Wild only control 37.6% of shot attempts with Shore on the ice at 5-on-5.
International & Minor Transaction Notes: Chartier, Gosselin, Johnson
Rourke Chartier has been traded for the first time in his professional career albeit in the Kontinental Hockey League. Derek O’Brien of The Hockey News wrote earlier that the KHL’s Kunlun Red Star had traded Chartier to CSKA Moskva for cash considerations.
The centerman played admirably with the Red Star, scoring eight goals and 17 points in 37 games, but Kunlun has fallen in the KHL’s Western Conference Standings with only 11 wins on the year. Chartier will join third-place Moskva alongside former NHL talents such as Ivan Prosvetov, Nikita Nesterov, and Denis Gurianov.
Chartier suited up in the NHL as recently as last year with the Ottawa Senators. He spent three years within the Senators organization collecting two goals and three points in 43 NHL contests with another 37 goals and 66 points in 82 games with AHL Belleville. Chartier spent the first three years of his professional career with the San Jose Sharks scoring 30 goals and 74 points in 121 AHL contests and one goal in 13 games for the Sharks during his lone NHL season with the club in 2018-19.
Other international and minor transactions:
- According to the AHL transactions page, the Utica Comets, the top affiliate of the NHL’s New Jersey Devils, added some defensive depth to the lineup. The team signed defenseman Kurt Gosselin on a professional tryout agreement and he could play in his first AHL contest since the 2018-19 season. Gosselin has spent the last four years hopping around numerous ECHL franchises playing for the Cincinnati Cyclones, Toledo Walleye, Kalamazoo Wings, Reading Royals, Orlando Solar Bears, and the Adirondack Thunder. He’s scored 24 goals and 61 points in 167 ECHL contests while managing a -4 rating.
- Mathieu Sheridan of The Hockey News reports former AHL forward Isaac Johnson has signed a contract with the Finnish Liiga’s Jukurit. Johnson has only managed 30 AHL games between the Manitoba Moose and Toronto Marlies since joining the professional ranks in the 2021-22 season scoring three goals and eight points overall. He has a much better track record in the ECHL — scoring 64 goals and 139 points in 125 games for the now-defunct Newfoundland Growlers while managing a solid +31 rating.
Maple Leafs Recall Matt Murray, Reassign Dennis Hildeby
Dec. 26: Murray will get another crack at NHL minutes in the coming days. The team announced Thursday that he’s back on the roster with Hildeby heading back to the minors, indicating that he’ll start either tomorrow against the Red Wings or Saturday against the Capitals.
Dec. 21: Matt Murray’s return to the NHL was short-lived, at least for now. The Maple Leafs announced (Twitter link) that they’ve returned Murray to AHL Toronto while recalling netminder Dennis Hildeby.
Murray made his first NHL start in more than 600 days on Friday in Buffalo where he turned aside 24 of 27 shots in the win. The 30-year-old also has a 1.85 GAA and a .939 SV% in eight appearances with the Marlies.
This demotion isn’t a performance-based one but one that appears to be made with waivers in mind. Murray cleared waivers in training camp and thus is waiver-exempt until he either plays ten NHL games or is up with the big club for 30 days. With the holiday break approaching and Joseph Woll likely to start their remaining two games before then, it then makes sense to send Murray down and stop the clock on the number of days he’s up. With Anthony Stolarz out for four-to-six weeks, Murray would almost certainly become waiver-eligible again if he stayed up the full length of Stolarz’s absence.
As for Hildeby, he has won two of his three NHL starts this season and conceivably could get some work in with Stolarz out as well though he’s likely to be flipped with Murray again before too long. The 23-year-old also has played six times for the Marlies, posting a 2.73 GAA with a .895 SV%, numbers that are well down from the 2.41 GAA and .913 SV% he had in 41 outings in 2023-24.