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Devils Place Connor Brown On IR, Recall Shane Lachance

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With today’s news that the New Jersey Devils will be without Jack Hughes for at least one game due to a freak accident at a team dinner, the Devils needed another body for their upcoming game against the Washington Capitals. To that end, New Jersey announced they’ve placed Connor Brown on the injured reserve (retroactive to October 30th) and has recalled Shane Lachance from the AHL’s Utica Comets.

The move is status quo for Brown. He didn’t join the team for their five-game road trip due to an upper-body injury, so a placement on the IR won’t alter his recovery timeline at all.

New Jersey has not provided any updates on Brown’s return, but we should receive more clarity once the team returns home. Brown has already missed the Devils’ last six games, so he’ll miss a minimum of 10.

Brown signed for a relatively cheap four-year, $12MM this past summer in an attempt to add some goal-scoring punch to the team’s middle-six. He did just that to start the season, scoring five goals in 11 games before going down with the injury.

Meanwhile, Lachance will have the opportunity to play in his NHL debut during the recall. The 22-year-old forward was signed as a collegiate free agent last season out of Boston University, where he was the team’s captain. Lachance scored 12 goals and 30 points in 40 games throughout his last year with the Terriers. Still, he’s had a disappointing transition to professional hockey, tallying only one assist in 11 games for AHL Utica so far this campaign.

Canucks Place Thatcher Demko On IR, Activate Victor Mancini

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According to a team announcement, the Vancouver Canucks have placed Thatcher Demko on the injured reserve with a lower-body injury. In a corresponding roster move, the team has activated defenseman Victor Mancini.

Demko suffered the injury during Tuesday’s game in Vancouver against the Winnipeg Jets, which is why the Canucks made their transaction retroactive to November 11th. He left the game after the first period, stopping five of eight shots.

This is a familiar spot for Demko. He spent much of last season on the injured reserve due to knee and other lower-body issues. He finished the 2024-25 campaign with a 10-8-3 record in 23 games with a .889 SV% and 2.90 GAA. Still, despite the significant injury issues, the Canucks extended Demko to a three-year, $25.5MM contract extension this summer.

Vancouver will rely on Kevin Lankinen for the next few weeks while Demko recovers. Unfortunately, he’s struggled out of the gates this season with a 3-5-1 record in nine games with a .885 SV% and 3.57 GAA.

Meanwhile, Mancini returns to the lineup after missing the Canucks last eight games due to an undisclosed injury. He’s only skated in five games this season, going scoreless with a -2 rating. The 23-year-old blueliner was a supplementary piece of the J.T. Miller trade with the New York Rangers last year. Unfortunately, with seven other defensemen on the active roster, Mancini doesn’t have a spot in the lineup set in stone.

Flyers Activate, Reassign Ethan Samson

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The Flyers have activated defenseman Ethan Samson from season-opening injured reserve and subsequently assigned him to AHL Lehigh Valley, the Phantoms announced. The rearguard had been sidelined since sustaining an upper-body injury midway through training camp.

Samson was a sixth-round pick by the Flyers in 2021 and signed his entry-level contract midway through the 2022-23 season, his final junior campaign with the WHL’s Prince George Cougars. He’s now kicking off what will be his third professional season. The 6’1″ righty isn’t viewed as an impact prospect in their system – he wasn’t even discussed in Elite Prospects’ offseason ranking of their pool – but has been quietly establishing himself as an important puck-mover for Lehigh Valley over the past couple of years.

In 132 AHL games to date, Samson has 15 goals and 21 assists for 36 points with a -19 rating. Some defensive weaknesses are apparent, but he has a strong toolkit of playmaking acumen and stick skills to work with that could potentially make the 6’1″, 181-lb righty a call-up option down the line if he’s able to develop further away from the puck. He’s still only 22 years old, but this year is something of a make-or-break one for him as he enters the final season of his entry-level contract. The Flyers have the option to cut him loose next summer by not issuing him a qualifying offer.

He’ll now get his feet wet on a Lehigh Valley team that’s rolled to an 8-3-1 start to the year, fueled by remarkable scoring depth – their top 15 scorers all have between five and nine points on the year.

Maple Leafs, David Kämpf Mutually Terminate Contract

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Nov. 14, 1:08 p.m.: Kämpf has cleared waivers and his contract has been terminated, according to Friedman.

Nov. 13, 12:58 p.m.: The Maple Leafs officially announced Kämpf’s waiver placement. They’ll clear $1.25MM in cap space tomorrow as a result of the move, not his full $2.4MM since he’s already carrying a reduced impact in the minors. Kämpf retains this year’s signing bonus as part of the termination, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports.

Nov. 13, 10:13 p.m.: The Maple Leafs will place center David Kämpf on unconditional waivers this afternoon for the purpose of a mutual contract termination, Darren Dreger of TSN reports. Assuming he clears tomorrow, he’ll be free to sign a new contract with an NHL club at any time.

The 30-year-old Kämpf is in the third season of a four-year, $9.6MM contract. It hasn’t panned out as Toronto general manager Brad Treliving had hoped when he signed it in June 2023. Kämpf has not played for Toronto’s NHL squad this season. His $2.4MM cap hit and the Leafs’ flurry of depth forward additions over the summer left him out of a roster spot when training camp ended, and he landed on standard waivers. After clearing, he was assigned to AHL Toronto for his first minor-league action since the 2017-18 season.

Initially, Kämpf reported to the Marlies. He suited up for their season-opening back-to-back games but didn’t play again until Oct. 26 and 29. After that, Kämpf took a brief leave to mull his options for an NHL return, which the Maple Leafs made clear wouldn’t be in Toronto. The Leafs initially looked to find a trade partner but were unsuccessful. Soon after, they suspended Kämpf without pay as his leave hit the one-week mark. A mutual contract termination became the clear goal, but there was uncertainty over whether Kämpf would need to return a prorated portion of the $1.325MM signing bonus he was given before the season as part of the transaction.

Today’s news indicates the NHL and NHLPA have come to a resolution on that front. Kämpf will now be walking away from the remainder of the $1.075MM base salary he was owed for this season, plus the $2.4MM total compensation he was due in 2026-27.

His four-year contract with the Leafs came on the heels of a career-best season for Kämpf, who’d initially joined the franchise on a two-year, $3MM pact in free agency in 2021. The faceoff and penalty-killing specialist had averaged north of 15 minutes per game in his first two seasons in Toronto, didn’t miss a game, and reached 26 and 27 points, respectively. He’d never hit the 20-point threshold before in his career and hasn’t hit it since.

While still effective on the dot and shorthanded, Kämpf’s offensive liabilities began to contribute to a decreased role. He saw his ice time slashed by nearly two minutes per game in the first year of his extension, and it was further reduced to 12:29 last year, in which injuries and healthy scratches limited him to 59 appearances. Toronto’s trade deadline pickup of Scott Laughton from the Flyers pushed him out of the lineup entirely, and he only played in one out of 13 playoff games for the Leafs, so the writing was on the wall long before this season began.

That said, Kämpf shouldn’t have much trouble finding a new deal. He has 48 goals and 143 points in 536 career NHL games. Considering he’s only started 31.6% of his shifts at even strength in the offensive zone, his relatively tame -16 rating is indicative of his legitimate defensive skill. He’s not overly physical, averaging under one hit per game for his career, but has a 51.4% lifetime average on draws. If he’s willing to take a deal close to league minimum, he should have a multitude of options. Teams plagued with injuries up front – the Canucks and Sabres, in particular – could be among the first to call.

Image courtesy of Alan Poizner-Imagn Images.

Oilers Place Troy Stecher On Waivers, Reassign Isaac Howard

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The Oilers announced they’ve placed defenseman Troy Stecher on waivers for the purposes of assignment to AHL Bakersfield. They also demoted rookie Isaac Howard, sending him directly to Bakersfield.

Stecher, 31, was acquired from the Coyotes back at the 2024 trade deadline before signing a two-year, $1.575MM extension to remain with Edmonton through this season. An undrafted free agent signing by the Canucks in 2016, Stecher immediately broke into a top-four role with Vancouver but peaked early on, never eclipsing the 24 points he put up in his rookie year.

The puck-moving blue liner ended up stabilizing as a more useful third-pairing piece, leading to him moving around quite a bit. He was picked up by a contender for added depth at three straight trade deadlines – going from the Red Wings to the Kings in 2022 and the Coyotes to the Flames in 2023 before returning to Arizona in free agency and being dealt to the Oilers in 2024. Over those three years plus last season in Edmonton, Stecher put together an 8-31–37 scoring line with a -6 rating in 230 appearances.

Those numbers were brought down by a difficult 2024-25 campaign for Stecher in Edmonton, in which he was limited to seven points and a -2 rating in 66 games and averaged just 13:52 of ice time per contest. He was a frequent healthy scratch in the postseason, although for his six-figure cap hit, he wasn’t being paid as much more than veteran insurance. Edmonton’s pickup of Jake Walman at last year’s deadline and the emergence of Alec Regula into a semi-regular role have pushed him further down the depth chart, though.

Stecher has now been a healthy scratch in seven straight and has only played in six of 19 games this season, going without a point. As a result, Edmonton has been looking to find a trade partner for him. With no success so far, they’re letting him hit the wire to see if another team wants his services at an affordable $787,500 cap hit for the remainder of the season.

Howard’s demotion is more related to Zach Hyman’s anticipated activation from long-term injured reserve tomorrow, but it won’t be the worst thing for his development, either. The 2022 first-round pick is in his first professional season after initially telling the Lightning he wouldn’t sign with them, which ultimately led to Edmonton acquiring his rights over the summer and subsequently inking him to his entry-level deal. Howard was left off Edmonton’s opening night roster for cap purposes, but was recalled before they played their first game.

As a result, Howard has played in all 17 contests for the Oilers but hasn’t been terribly effective. Part of that is because he hasn’t had a chance to play with premier linemates as he may have hoped. There was speculation the 21-year-old lefty might get a trial in top-six minutes alongside either Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl, particularly with Hyman sidelined to start the season, but that never came to pass. He’s spent virtually the whole season in fourth-line duties, averaging 9:30 of ice time per game. His production has been limited to two goals and one assist with a -2 rating.

Howard should receive first-line minutes with Bakersfield. The Wisconsin native had a 2024-25 season for the ages before turning pro, taking home the Hobey Baker Award as the top player in college hockey, as well as a Big Ten championship with Michigan State, while recording a 26-26–52 scoring line in 37 games.

Canadiens’ Alex Newhook Out 4 Months, Kaiden Guhle Out 8-10 Weeks

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The Canadiens announced that Alex Newhook underwent surgery to repair the fractured ankle he sustained last night against the Stars. He’s expected to miss four months, putting him out through the trade deadline. In a corresponding move, the Canadiens announced they’ve recalled forward Jared Davidson from AHL Laval. They’ve been operating with a pair of open roster spots since sending Marc Del Gaizo down last week, so there’s no need to open space. Montreal also said defenseman Kaiden Guhle, who’s IR-bound and hasn’t played in nearly a month, underwent an additional procedure on a partially torn adductor muscle and will miss an additional eight to 10 weeks.

Newhook’s ankle fracture was sustained after getting tangled up with Dallas defender Ilya Lyubushkin and colliding with the end boards early in the second period. He needed help from teammates to get off the ice and he didn’t return to the game.

Montreal now gives Davidson the first recall of his career. The 23-year-old middleman was a fifth-round pick in 2022 after being passed over in the 2020 and 2021 drafts. He was selected out of the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds, whom he guided to a championship in his post-draft season and was twice a First Team All-Star. The 6’0″ sniper tallied 80 goals in 124 games across his final two junior seasons before turning pro.

Initially, Davidson didn’t land an NHL contract. He spent the 2023-24 campaign on a minor-league deal with Laval while the Habs, who had two years after drafting him to decide whether to extend an entry-level contract before losing his rights, mulled whether or not to sign him. Injuries limited him to 38 appearances, but he was productive when healthy with 11 goals and 16 points. That was enough for Montreal to ink him to a two-year entry-level deal in May 2024.

The Edmonton native was healthy last year and delivered something of a breakout campaign. He finished the year third on Laval in scoring with 45 points (24 goals, 21 assists) in 69 games, adding a team-high +25 rating to boot. He’s kept the momentum rolling this year with a team-high nine goals in 13 games, including a six-game point streak that came to an end Wednesday night.

With no other healthy extra forwards available on the roster, Davidson will make his NHL debut on Saturday night – in primetime – against the Bruins. It’s quite the test for a name that was listed all the way down at No. 24 in this offseason’s prospect pool rankings by Elite Prospects, albeit in an exceedingly deep Montreal pool.

Where he slots in the lineup remains to be seen. What’s clear is that he’s not expectedly to directly replace what Newhook had been doing in the early stages of the season. A long-term injury couldn’t carry worse timing for the 2019 first-round pick, who was finally finding his footing in a top-six role in Montreal. Through 17 games, he’d rattled off six goals and 12 points and a +7 rating with nearly all of that production coming at even strength, averaging 14:38 of ice time per game on the Habs’ second line alongside Oliver Kapanen and Ivan Demidov.

On paper, the Habs would need major breakthroughs from multiple players in their middle-six forward group to have success this year. Newhook was doing just that, already reaching nearly half of his total output in 82 games last year. He’s the team’s fifth-leading scorer as he exits the lineup – one that the Habs, now 1-2-2 in their last five and on the heels of being outscored 12-1 in their last two games, will struggle to replace. More is needed out of veteran Josh Anderson, who has just four points and a -9 rating in 17 outings despite averaging more ice time than Newhook.

As for Guhle, his initial four-to-six-week recovery timeline was assuming he would be able to rehab his adductor issues without surgery. He’d just gotten back skating but wasn’t adjusting well, leading the Canadiens’ medical staff to pivot, Eric Engels of Sportsnet reports.

In the meantime, Jayden Struble will continue to skate in his place in the top four alongside Lane Hutson. The 24-year-old has made 13 appearances this season, posting three points with a -3 rating while averaging 15:29 of ice time per game. They’ve had the worst defensive results of any Habs pairing this year, controlling 43.2% of expected goals with a team-high 2.77 xGA/60, per MoneyPuck. Hutson and Guhle were allowing just 2.00 xGA/60 together and controlling 48.6% of expected goals overall, making Struble’s elevated minutes a challenge for the club to overcome defensively.

Sharks Activate Alex Nedeljkovic, Reassign Jakub Skarek

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Nov. 14, 12:03 p.m.: The Sharks announced that Nedeljkovic has re-joined the team and has thus been added to the active roster. Skarek was reassigned to the AHL after backing up Askarov in last night’s loss.

Nov. 13, 12:05 p.m.: The Sharks officially announced Skarek’s recall and moved Nedeljkovic to the non-roster list.

Nov. 13, 11:06 a.m.: The Sharks are expected to recall goaltender Jakub Skarek from AHL San Jose today, Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now reports. Skarek is expected to back up Yaroslav Askarov tonight against the Flames in place of Alex Nedeljkovic, who left the club’s road trip to deal with a personal matter, head coach Ryan Warsofsky told the beat following Tuesday’s overtime win over the Wild (via Peng). Nedeljkovic will presumably land on the non-roster list as the corresponding transaction for Skarek’s recall.

Skarek, fresh off his 26th birthday, had an interesting summer. He became a Group VI unrestricted free agent after spending the first six years of his North American professional career in the Islanders organization. He initially returned to Europe, inking a one-year deal with a second-year option with HIFK in Finland in May. Just over two months later, he terminated that deal and signed a one-year, league-minimum contract with the Sharks to serve as their third-string netminder.

Despite his boatloads of professional experience stateside, Skarek only has two NHL appearances to his name. Both came with the Isles last season. In one start and one relief appearance in February, the 2018 third-round pick conceded five goals on 34 shots for a .872 SV% and 3.94 GAA.

Skarek’s minor-league track record leaves much to be desired. He was consistently among the AHL’s worst starters during his time in Bridgeport. He hasn’t had a .900 SV% at any level since his post-draft season in Finland, and so far, that trend looks to continue. Through six games for San Jose’s affiliate, Skarek has a 4-2-0 record but has paired that with a .875 SV% and 3.63 GAA. He’s now technically the No. 4 option on San Jose’s depth chart and has been usurped as the Barracuda’s starter by second-year pro Gabriel Carriere, who has a .901 SV% in eight games.

The Sharks don’t want to interrupt the 25-year-old Carriere’s play, so it’ll be Skarek getting the call. Nedeljkovic isn’t expected to miss more than a couple of games at most, Warsofsky said, so it would be surprising to see Skarek get a start without any upcoming back-to-backs.

Maple Leafs Activate Joseph Woll, Recall Easton Cowan

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The Maple Leafs announced they’ve activated goaltender Joseph Woll from long-term injured reserve and also recalled top prospect Easton Cowan from AHL Toronto. In a pair of corresponding transactions, they returned goaltender Artur Akhtyamov to the AHL and placed captain Auston Matthews on injured reserve. Toronto wasn’t dipping into its LTIR pool, so creating cap space wasn’t an issue regarding Woll’s activation.

While Woll has been activated from LTIR, they haven’t yet specified whether he’s been recalled from the conditioning stint that has had him suiting up in the minors for the last week. If they do summon him, he could be in line for his first start of the season tomorrow against the Blackhawks. The 27-year-old netminder departed the team in the first few days of training camp for personal reasons and was away for over a month before beginning the return-to-play process in late October. He got in a few practices before being assigned to the Marlies on a conditioning stint to get into game action. In his first minor-league showing in two years, he logged a .885 SV% and 3.72 GAA with a 0-1-1 record in two starts.

The Leafs hope Woll can provide better numbers in his return than what he showed in that small AHL sample. Toronto’s crease has been a mess after churning out some of the league’s best goaltending in 2024-25. Starter Anthony Stolarz, who was overworked in Woll’s absence and is now day-to-day with an upper-body injury, has struggled to the tune of an .884 SV% and has allowed 5.3 goals above expected in 13 starts, per MoneyPuck. The team claimed Cayden Primeau off waivers from the Hurricanes at the beginning of the season to serve as Stolarz’s backup in Woll’s absence, but he faltered with an. 838 SV% and allowed a whopping 6.8 goals above expected in just three starts before being waived again and re-claimed by Carolina.

Third-stringer Dennis Hildeby has been forced into action in the past several days with Primeau’s loss and Stolarz’s injury, and he’s been the best of the bunch. Despite a 0-2-1 record in two starts and two relief appearances, he’s logged a highly respectable .904 SV% behind a lapsing defense and has stopped 1.6 goals above expected.

Until Stolarz’s short-term absence comes to an end, it looks to be Hildeby’s and Woll’s crease. While injuries and other long-term absences have been a consistent hindering factor for the once-promising prospect, Woll has performed at a legitimate starter’s level when given the runway. He started a career-high 41 games last year in what was his second season as a full-time NHLer, rattling off a 27-14-1 record with a .909 SV% and 2.73 GAA. He wasn’t on the level of Stolarz’s league-leading .926 SV%, but still ranked 11th in the NHL with 16.8 goals saved above expected.

Getting top-15 play out of Woll again won’t be a permanent fix to the Leafs’ league-worst 3.83 goals against per game, but it should stop the bleeding enough to give them a chance to get themselves back into the playoff conversation. Now on a four-game winless streak, the reigning Atlantic Division champions are second-last in the division with an 8-8-2 record.

As for Akhtyamov, he’d been recalled to serve as Hildeby’s backup for last night’s overtime loss to the Kings. He promptly returns to the minors, where he has a .894 SV% in six games, in place of Woll.

Goaltending isn’t the only position the Leafs are shaking up today, though. Cowan, the team’s first-round pick in 2023, will be getting his second call-up of the season after essentially spending the first month of the campaign on the active roster. The 20-year-old winger got reps in top-line minutes with Matthew Knies and Auston Matthews, but also spent a good chunk of time on the third line with Dakota Joshua and Nicolas Roy. With Matthews out for the time being, it’s unclear where he’ll slot in this time around.

Cowan is in his first pro season after starring in back-to-back OHL title runs for the London Knights. He averaged 12:33 of ice time through his first 10 NHL games and was noticeably involved, rattling off 15 shots on goal on 30 attempts. That only resulted in one goal and three assists, but more production will inevitably come with that kind of chance generation. He’s also managed an assist in two AHL games since being reassigned earlier in the month.

Matthews’ IR placement is simply a formality for roster juggling purposes. He’s already been ruled day-to-day with a lower-body issue and was expected to miss about a week after leaving Tuesday’s loss to the Bruins. The seven-day minimum doesn’t affect his return timeline in a meaningful way, aside from being officially ruled out for another two games. He could return next Thursday against the Blue Jackets.

Golden Knights’ William Karlsson Out Week-To-Week

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According to a team announcement, the Vegas Golden Knights are expected to be without forward William Karlsson for the next few weeks due to a lower-body injury. Karlsson missed his first game of the year on Monday against the Florida Panthers due to the injury.

It’s an unfortunate circumstance for Karlsson and the Golden Knights, as he was quietly placed on the team’s injured reserve yesterday morning. Although he’s not a direct replacement, Vegas has recalled Braeden Bowman from the AHL’s Henderson Silver Knights after scoring seven goals and 12 points through his first 12 games to start the season.

Once again, the Golden Knights’ regular-season success is being heavily impacted by injury concerns. Alongside Karlsson, the team was already without captain Mark Stone and starting netminder Adin Hill for the foreseeable future. They’re currently 7-4-4 and two points back of the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference standings.

Unfortunately, this is all too familiar for Karlsson. One of the four remaining “Misfits”, Karlsson lost 29 games to a lower-body injury last year, finishing with nine goals and 29 points. He had gotten off to a relatively solid start to the current season, scoring four goals and seven points in 14 games while averaging 15:09 of ice time per game.

It’s a tricky situation for the cap-strapped Golden Knights. According to the new LTIR rules, Vegas is only able to shed Alex Pietrangelo’s $8.8MM salary this season since he won’t feature during the year or the postseason. Unfortunately, even with Stone on LTIR and Karlsson now on the IR, the Golden Knights only have a little over $450K in cap space, leaving them with very few options to fill in their injury holes.

Dallas Stars Place Adam Erne On Injured Reserve

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The Dallas Stars will be without one of their depth forwards for at least the next little while. The Stars announced they’ve placed Adam Erne on the injured reserve with a lower-body injury, retroactive to November 11th.

Although he’s far from a high-profile talent, Erne was one of the most surprising signings from the summer. The 2024-25 campaign was the first time in nine years that Erne hadn’t registered an NHL contest.

He signed a professional tryout agreement with the New York Rangers in the early portion of the preseason heading into the 2024-25 season. Unfortunately, Erne wasn’t able to capitalize on the tryout and instead had to settle for a PTO with the Rangers’ AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack. After registering one assist in 10 games for the Wolf Pack, Erne was released from his PTO in mid-November and didn’t play another minute of professional hockey.

Still, leave it to a cap-strapped team with a significant need for depth to give Erne his next opportunity. The former 33rd overall selection of the 2013 NHL Draft required another PTO again this September, though he managed to turn it into a one-year, two-way contract this time around.

He’s played fairly well early on for Dallas. Erne has skated in 14 games so far, scoring two goals and three points while averaging 9:37 of ice time and recording 44 hits. The expectation is that Erne will return around American Thanksgiving.

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