Devils Place Marc McLaughlin On Waivers
The Devils announced they’ve placed center Marc McLaughlin on waivers for the purpose of assignment to AHL Utica. The transaction implies he’s ready to come off the injured non-roster list after sitting out the entire season to date with an undisclosed injury.
McLaughlin, 26, found his way to the New Jersey organization last season by way of a minor trade with the Bruins, with whom he began his professional career as an undrafted free agent out of Boston College in 2022. After recording just 14 points in 68 AHL games in 2023-24, he hit the same mark in 34 appearances last year before the trade. He finished out the season with six assists and a +5 rating in 16 games for Utica, also recording an assist in two NHL games for the Devils.
The Massachusetts native has 28 NHL games to his name and has suited up at least once in four consecutive seasons. With so much time missed, that streak is in jeopardy. He has a career 6-1–7 scoring line with a -3 rating while averaging 9:54 of ice time per game. Teams have controlled 48.0% of shot attempts with McLaughlin on the ice at even strength.
A strong defensive-minded center at the minor-league level, he won’t do a ton to help Utica’s scoring woes (2.40 goals per game) but should help the struggling AHL club shore up its two-way game. After signing a two-way extension to remain with New Jersey last June, he’ll be a Group VI unrestricted free agent this summer.
Bruins Activate Elias Lindholm From Injured Reserve
The Bruins activated center Elias Lindholm from injured reserve today, per the NHL’s media site. He’ll suit up for Team Sweden this afternoon in their preliminary-round opener against the host Italians at the Olympics.
While there is a trade moratorium during the Olympics and added restrictions on some transactions like waiver placements and reassignments, IR activations are not affected by the roster freeze. Since Boston entered the break with an open roster spot after reassigning Matthew Poitras to AHL Providence last week, there’s no corresponding transaction required.
Lindholm missed the final three games of Boston’s pre-Olympic schedule with an upper-body injury but was only ever listed as day-to-day. He missed a lengthier stretch back in November, sitting out 10 games, but that was because of a lower-body issue.
Now in the second season of the seven-year, $54.25MM commitment he landed from the B’s in free agency in 2024, Lindholm has fared much better in 2025-26 than in year one of the deal. Through 44 games, he tossed up 11 goals and 37 points. That works out to 0.84 points per game, his most productive rate since his career-best 42-goal, 82-point campaign with the Flames in 2021-22 that also saw him finish as the Selke Trophy runner-up.
Lindholm will begin his first time at the Olympics as Sweden’s second-line center between the Devils’ Jesper Bratt and the Red Wings’ Lucas Raymond, per Adam Johansson of Expressen. The well-regarded two-way pivot has been left off their top penalty kill units in favor of Joel Eriksson Ek, Adrian Kempe, Alexander Wennberg, and Pontus Holmberg, though, so his ice time will presumably end up closer to 15 minutes per game than 20.
Coming out of the break, there won’t be many pieces more important than Lindholm in guiding the Bruins to what would have been seen as an unexpected playoff berth last fall. He’s their third-most productive forward behind David Pastrňák and Morgan Geekie, and ranks second in time on ice per game behind the former.
Capitals Recall Garin Bjorklund, Reassign Clay Stevenson
The Capitals announced they’ve recalled goaltender Garin Bjorklund from AHL Hershey and returned fellow netminder Clay Stevenson to Hershey in the corresponding move.
While trades aren’t permitted during the ongoing Olympic roster freeze, most simple reassignments are allowed. Teams also must continue carrying two goalies on their active roster during the break. With Charlie Lindgren on injured reserve, that means Washington has to stash a netminder they’d normally prefer to have playing in the minors on the NHL roster.
Today’s swap serves to let Stevenson get some reps in Hershey over the next couple of weeks as the AHL schedule continues rolling through the Olympic break. With injuries to both Lindgren and Logan Thompson, the 26-year-old Stevenson has been on Washington’s roster since Jan. 29. He made three consecutive starts with Washington’s regular duo sidelined, compiling an impressive .904 SV% and 2.33 GAA with a 2-1-0 record. That’s a particularly strong stat line considering he had to start both halves of a back-to-back to close a stretch of three games in four nights.
The Alberta native is in his fourth season in the organization after signing as an undrafted free agent out of Dartmouth in 2022. He replaced Hunter Shepard as the Caps’ third-stringer for this season after Shepard left for the Senators in free agency. In 24 starts for Hershey, he’s put up a .912 SV%, 2.57 GAA, and an 11-8-4 record.
Bjorklund, 23, comes up to fill the two-goalie requirement but will presumably be returned to Hershey at the end of the Olympic break, either to swap places with Stevenson or to make way for Lindgren’s IR activation if he’s ready to return. A sixth-round pick in 2020, he’s starting to make the jump from the ECHL level to the AHL this season and has served as Stevenson’s backup for a good portion of the campaign. He has a .881 SV% in 12 showings for Hershey and a .929 mark in seven games for ECHL South Carolina.
Joshua Ho-Sang Signs In Russia
Feb. 10: Ho-Sang was released from his contract today without ever playing a game for the club, the league announced.
Dec. 30: Former Islanders first-rounder Joshua Ho-Sang is attempting to restart his professional career. Salavat Yulaev Ufa of Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League has signed him to a two-way deal through the end of the season, the league announced.
Ho-Sang, once viewed as New York’s top prospect following his selection at 28th overall in 2014, has appeared in just 18 regular-season games over the last three years. He suited up once for Salavat in 2022-23, recording an assist, before spending the last two years on and off duty with the ECHL’s Florida Everblades. He racked up 19 points in 17 games with the Everblades and led the Kelly Cup Playoffs in assists in 2024, proving he can still be a top-flight contributor in a lower-tier pro league.
Now 29, Ho-Sang only ever got into 53 NHL games with the Isles, scoring seven goals and 24 points, with his final appearance coming in December 2018. He’s since spent time in the minors in the Maple Leafs’ system as well as stints in Sweden during the 2020-21 campaign.
Ho-Sang contemplated retirement following his short stint with Salavat last time around. They’re now bringing him in off another lengthy bout without a contract to suit up alongside Canadiens 2025 first-rounder Alexander Zharovsky, who leads the club in scoring with 28 points in 32 games.
Travis Dermott Signs AHL PTO In Rangers Organization
The Rangers have signed free agent defenseman Travis Dermott to a professional tryout with their AHL affiliate in Hartford, the team announced. Dermott has yet to play this season after undergoing shoulder surgery last June.
He’s not more than a depth defender at this stage of his career, but Dermott is still hoping he may be able to convert a minor-league tryout into an NHL deal on a Rangers blue line that isn’t teeming with depth. He’s been fully recovered from his shoulder procedure for several months and began looking for a contract back in November. It took several months, but he’s got a pathway to one now.
A stable bottom-pairing fixture for the Maple Leafs for the first several years of his NHL career, concussion problems and various injuries have meant he’s only hit the 50-game mark once since the 2021-22 campaign. He spent that year on a two-way deal with the Coyotes and had seven points and a -14 rating in the franchise’s final season before hitting the open market once again. Dermott landed a PTO with the Oilers and converted that into a two-way deal, although he only got into 10 games before landing on waivers and being claimed by the Wild. He suited up nine times for Minnesota before being placed on waivers again, getting reclaimed by Edmonton, and being sent outright to AHL Bakersfield to finish the season.
In 19 games between the Oilers and Wild last year, Dermott did not record a point and only controlled 46.9% of shot attempts at 5-on-5, including a relative figure of -3.0%. His possession numbers were above-average in his small sample with Minnesota, but that wasn’t enough to keep him in the NHL with the Oilers after they got him back in the organization. He played just three games for Bakersfield, recording one goal and a +3 rating, before the shoulder injury rendered him unavailable.
Now 29, the 6’0″, 203-lb Dermott will be appearing in his 10th professional season when he takes the ice for Hartford. Across 348 NHL games, the lefty has 16 goals and 62 points with a +12 rating.
Snapshots: Flyers, Curran, Rifai
Flyers executives have said before that the team will ultimately decide whether they buy or sell heading into next month’s trade deadline. Jackie Spiegel of the Philadelphia Inquirer examines their situation, suggesting that while they might not want to throw in the towel on the season just yet, selling is the logical route for them to take. Philadelphia sits eight points out of a playoff spot with a team in the bottom ten in offense so the odds of a successful playoff push are low. On the other hand, their list of pending unrestricted free agents isn’t exactly the most appealing, headlined by veteran wingers Carl Grundstrom and Nicolas Deslauriers. Accordingly, even if they do opt to sell, it could be a fairly quiet deadline unless they want to move players signed beyond the upcoming season.
Elsewhere around the hockey world:
- Avalanche prospect Max Curran will make the move to the NCAA next season. The forward announced on his Instagram page earlier this week that he will play at UMass in 2026-27. Curran was a fifth-round pick by Colorado back in 2024, going 161st overall. This season, the 19-year-old has 14 goals and 27 assists in 31 games with WHL Edmonton. Had he not made the move, Colorado would have needed to have either signed him or dropped his rights by June 1st. Going to college will now push that timeline back, giving the Avs more time to decide his future.
- The Maple Leafs’ AHL affiliate announced on Friday (Twitter link) that defenseman Marshall Rifai was returned to the Marlies. The move comes as no surprise with the Olympic break in full effect. Rifai recently returned from a preseason injury and has four assists in a dozen games in the minors. Recalled late last month, Rifai got into one game with the Maple Leafs but saw just 9:40 of playing time. The demotion will allow him to keep playing and also land Toronto some extra cap flexibility heading into next month’s trade deadline.
Blues Claim Jack Finley Off Waivers From Lightning
There may be a trade freeze in the NHL right now but waiver wire moves can still be made. The Blues have added some young depth off the wire, as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link) that they’ve claimed center Jack Finley off waivers from the Lightning. Under the rules for roster movement during the break, he won’t be required to report to St. Louis until February 17th.
The 23-year-old was a second-round pick by Tampa Bay back in 2020, going 57th overall. At the time, Finley wasn’t lighting it up in junior hockey with WHL Spokane but with a six-foot-six frame and an ability to play down the middle, the Lightning hoped that he’d eventually fill out and become a potential bottom-six option for them. He had 57 points in his draft year and then in 2021-22 (2020-21 was largely wiped out), he managed just 50 so the offensive outburst never came.
However, Finley showed some promising signs offensively in the minors. In his first three full professional seasons, he reached the double-digit goal mark in all three, ranging between 12 goals in his rookie year to 14 tallies last season, when he wound up with 28 points in 40 contests with AHL Syracuse. Given that, Tampa Bay was hesitant to cut him in training camp, instead keeping him around at the back of their roster.
Unfortunately for Finley, playing time was difficult to come by. He played in just 11 games over the first two months of the season, resulting in a three-game conditioning stint with the Crunch, where he had three points. Finley did play a bit more regularly after being recalled, seeing action in 12 games over the last seven-plus weeks but that was still minimal playing time overall. On the season, he has two goals and one assist in 23 outings while playing just 8:25 per game. He’s also chipped in 37 hits and has won 48.5% of his faceoffs.
Finley, a St. Louis native, now joins a team that looks to be heading for at least some sort of rebuild or retooling process with the team well out of playoff contention. Accordingly, he should have an easier pathway to consistent playing time down the stretch if the Blues sell off more veterans as they did with the Nick Bjugstad trade earlier this week; Finley effectively fills his spot on the roster.
While waiver claims are often on short-term deals, that isn’t the case here. Finley is in the first season of a three-year deal that currently carries a cap hit of $775K. As the league minimum increases next season, the AAV of the deal will go up to reflect the higher salary being paid. The final two seasons of the agreement are a one-way salary so St. Louis is potentially absorbing around $2MM in cash costs over the next three years. But if Finley is able to fill a depth role during that stretch, it’ll be a worthwhile pickup for them.
Photo courtesy of Russell LaBounty-Imagn Images.
Juho Lammikko Clears Unconditional Waivers, Signs In Switzerland
Feb. 7: Lammikko wasn’t an unrestricted free agent for long. Zurich in Switzerland’s NL announced that they’ve signed him to a three-year deal that runs through the 2027-28 campaign.
Feb. 6: Lammikko cleared waivers and is now a UFA, per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.
Feb. 5: The Devils announced they’ve placed forward Juho Lammikko on unconditional waivers for the purpose of terminating his contract. Assuming he clears tomorrow, he’ll become an unrestricted free agent and can return to Europe or sign elsewhere in North America.
New Jersey placed Lammikko on standard waivers last month for roster flexibility, but never assigned him to the minors. Yesterday, the Devils finally sent him down to Utica as the corresponding move for Nick Bjugstad‘s acquisition. Evidently, he’s refused to accept the assignment and is in breach of his contract as a result.
Lammikko, 30, returned to the NHL this summer when he signed a one-year, $800K deal with New Jersey last June. His season started inauspiciously on injured reserve due to a lower-body injury. He got back into action in late October but has been a healthy scratch for long stretches at a time. In 24 games dressed, he’s managed two assists and a -4 rating while averaging 9:53 of ice time per game.
A checking center who commonly shifts to the wing, Lammikko’s possession numbers have been ugly. He’s only controlled 42.7% of shot attempts at 5-on-5 despite being used in a relatively sheltered role and has been shelled in possession quality as well.
Lammikko was a third-round pick by the Panthers in 2014. He joined the organization for the 2016-17 campaign and climbed through the minors before making his NHL debut two years later. He notched 11 points in 84 games for the Cats over parts of two seasons, interrupted by a stint back in Europe, before being traded to the Canucks shortly before the 2021-22 campaign. That resulted in Lammikko making a career-high 75 appearances for Vancouver, notching seven goals and 15 points while averaging over 12 minutes per game.
Despite that decent showing as a bottom-six middleman, his NHL career paused again there. He headed back to Europe with Switzerland’s ZSC Lions, emerging as one of the National League’s top power forwards during that time. After racking up 112 points in 144 games with a +60 rating over three years, he attempted his third NHL arrival with the Devils. With his unwillingness to accept a minor-league assignment, a return to the top Swiss league or somewhere else in Europe should be the expectation.
Kings Reassign Joe Hicketts
2/6: The Los Angeles Kings assigned Hicketts back to the AHL’s Ontario Reign. He is expected to suit up in Ontario’s Friday matchup against the Bakersfield Condors per Anthony Collazo of Mayor’s Manor.
2/3: The Kings announced they’ve recalled veteran defenseman Joe Hicketts from AHL Ontario on an emergency basis. L.A. returned center Kenny Connors to Ontario in the corresponding move.
Hicketts’ recall comes after Michael Anderson sustained an upper-body injury early in Sunday’s game against the Hurricanes, indicating they aren’t expecting him to be available tomorrow against the Kraken. However, since Jacob Moverare was already available as a healthy extra, there must be an undisclosed injury concern regarding another Kings defender. Hicketts is only eligible for an emergency recall if there’s a chance L.A. won’t have six healthy defenders for its home tilt against Seattle.
Hicketts, 29, was an undrafted free agent signing by the Red Wings way back in 2014. The 5’8″ lefty beat the odds to get into a handful of NHL games with Detroit between 2017 and 2020, but hasn’t appeared at the top level since. He’s instead become an AHL mainstay, appearing in 552 games in that league over the last 10 years. That’s 17th among active AHLers.
He has spent the last three seasons in Ontario after inking a two-way deal with the Kings in 2023, subsequently signing two more of them to stay in the organization. He was named captain last year and has remained a valuable puck-moving option, although his production is down in 2025-26. After racking up 20 points in just 30 games in 2023-24, the best point pace of his professional career, he’s declined to only a 3-11–14 scoring line in 41 appearances this season with a -9 rating. He’s still only three points back of Samuel Bolduc for the team lead in scoring among defensemen, a testament to how much Ontario’s blue line has struggled to generate offense.
Hicketts won’t be on the NHL roster any longer than he absolutely needs to be as a result, but it’s still a nice story for the British Columbia native to land perhaps his first big league appearance in over six years this week. He only suited up twice for the Wings in the 2019-20 campaign, both times in November.
Connors, 22, sees his first NHL recall end without a game played to show for it. He was recalled on Jan. 26 in the wake of an injury to Alex Turcotte, who has since landed on injured reserve to make way for captain Anže Kopitar‘s return to the lineup. With 13 healthy forwards rostered aside from Connors, there was little chance of him seeing action, especially after sitting as a healthy scratch for four straight games. The 2022 fourth-rounder now returns to Ontario, where he had nine goals and 24 points in 41 games to begin his first professional season.
Lightning Place Jack Finley On Waivers
The Tampa Bay Lightning have made another roster move ahead of the NHL’s looming break, placing centerman Jack Finley on waivers per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
Finley lost his waiver exemption just over two weeks ago, after being called up on December 20th. Teams across the NHL will now have a chance to add the 23-year-old, former second-round draft pick.
Finley has spent the bulk of the season on Tampa Bay’s roster. He won an extra forward role out of training camp and rotated into the lineup throughout November. The Lightning briefly assigned Finley to the minors in mid-December on the heels of a five-game scoring drought. The move seemed to provide a spark. Finley scored three points in three AHL games, returned to the NHL with a two-point performance, and earned an outright fourth-line role amid a handful of injuries.
But Finley hasn’t kept his hot streak alive in a nightly role. He has recorded no points and a minus-one over his last 10 appearances, even despite Tampa Bay posting a 9-0-1 record and +19 goal differntial in those games. Finley has bridged his lack of production by averaging the fourth-most hits per game on the team.
Tampa Bay will need more than that to keep the offense firing on all cylinders. A waiver designation could give the Lightning a chance to assign Finley to the minors, where he racked up 60 points in 92 games over the last two seasons. That is, if another team isn’t interested in locking Finley into their own bottom-six role.