Panthers Waive Tobias Bjornfot, Louis Domingue
The Panthers have placed defender Tobias Björnfot on waivers for the purpose of assignment to AHL Charlotte, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. Florida also waived goalie Louis Domingue after signing him to a two-way deal earlier today. The former’s demotion will open a roster spot for the Cats to activate either winger Jonah Gadjovich or defenseman Seth Jones, both of whom are close to a return, from long-term injured reserve.
Initially claimed off waivers from the Golden Knights in 2023-24, Björnfot subsequently re-signed with Florida last summer on a two-way deal and continues to be rewarded with a good bit of recall action. Florida recalled Björnfot at the start of January after Jones’ upper body injury and, after sitting as a healthy scratch for several games, finally got a start as their #3 lefty over Donovan Sebrango and stuck in the lineup for a good stretch. He missed some time last month with an undisclosed injury but has since returned.
Through 11 games, Björnfot was the ideal no-fuss replacement piece. The former first-round pick of the Kings posted a pair of goals and an assist while recording a +4 rating, averaging just 11:33 per game. The smooth-skating rearguard had eight hits and posted great possession metrics in his sheltered minutes, controlling 61.7% of shot attempts at even strength.
Florida will hope to retain the 24-year-old through the waiver process. Considering his limited NHL utility over the past few seasons, it’s unlikely a team looking to add on the blue line will use a roster spot on him right now, so they should be able to retain him. He’ll be a restricted free agent again this summer so Florida still has first right of refusal on his signing rights.
It wouldn’t be surprising to see them try to get him re-upped on another two-way deal, potentially with a higher guarantee than the $450K one he’s on now. He’s been a great defensive conscience in Charlotte’s top four over the past two years and has shown to be a reliable insurance option in the #8 slot or so on their defensive depth chart.
Stars Acquire Tyler Myers From Canucks
12:20 p.m.: Both teams have officially announced the deal. Dallas opened up a roster spot yesterday by placing Roope Hintz on injured reserve, so no corresponding move is required.
11:23 a.m.: The Stars and Canucks are reportedly in agreement on a trade that will send defenseman Tyler Myers to Dallas, per Darren Dreger of TSN. Vancouver will receive Dallas’ 2027 second-round pick and 2029 fourth-round pick in return while retaining 50% of Myers’ $3MM cap hit through 2026-27, TSN’s Pierre LeBrun adds.
The Stars are all-out buyers and entered the deadline with a clear need to add right-shot depth. It was a foregone conclusion that they’d add one, whether it was Myers, who Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK says had the Stars as his first choice to waive his no-movement clause, or the Flyers’ Rasmus Ristolainen, who David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period said last night that Dallas was making a push for.
Dallas has been running lefty Miro Heiskanen on his offside on their top pairing with Esa Lindell, something they’ve done frequently during Heiskanen’s career. Behind him, their right-shot options consist of Nils Lundkvist, Ilya Lyubushkin, and Alexander Petrovic. There isn’t a clear-cut top-four option among that group, at least by a Stanley Cup contender’s standards. Myers may not fit that bill at this stage of his career, either, but he’s used to logging the most minutes of the group and at least gives them a much-needed additional depth option in case of an injury.
Myers, 36, doesn’t do a ton on the score sheet this late in his career. In 57 games this season, he has just one goal and seven assists with a 1.4% shooting rate. That’s a career-low 0.14 points per game for a defender who logged a fair bit of power-play time in his prime thanks to his booming slap shot. That’s been accompanied by a -25 rating as he logs over 20 minutes a night as the struggling Canucks’ #2 righty behind Filip Hronek.
Under the hood, Myers hasn’t graded out well for quite some time. Granted, he’s been used more as a shutdown threat than a two-way one at 5-on-5 since initially signing with Vancouver back in 2019. Still, Myers controlled just 48.5% of shot attempts, 47.6% of expected goals, and 47.4% of scoring chances over seven years with the Canucks. That’s in sharp contrast to a player like Ristolainen, who’s been a net positive on the possession quality front for the last four years in Philadelphia but came with a much higher acquisition cost and cap hit, which would have limited Dallas’ maneuverability to make additional moves before Friday afternoon.
It’s certainly a cap-mindful pickup that still leaves the Stars with just over $5.5MM in cap space after moving Tyler Seguin to season-ending long-term injured reserve. Myers also gives the Stars a relatively low-cost veteran option for next season, ideally to slot in on the third pairing, with Petrovic slated for free agency and Lyubushkin checking in as a potential buyout or waiver candidate in the last year of his deal at a $3.25MM cap hit. Every dollar is crucial as the Stars look to open up space to get an extension done for pending RFA Jason Robertson.
For the Canucks, it’s not a particularly strong return for a minute-muncher like Myers with a year and a half of retention. They also didn’t have much leverage, as Myers boasted a full no-movement clause. There were comparable offers on the table, namely from the Red Wings, but Myers preferred to wait and see whether the Stars would match with a similar offer, Dhaliwal reports.
In the short term, the most direct beneficiary of Myers’ departure is 2023 first-rounder Tom Willander. The right-shot rookie now steps into Myers’ vacated spot alongside Marcus Pettersson on the second pairing and, after recording 16 points through his first 48 NHL contests, will be in line for a sharp rise in ice time from the 15:33 he’s averaged per game to date in the final month-plus of the regular season.
As the Canucks navigate the last two days before the trade deadline, they now have just one retention slot remaining. One is still being used up on Ilya Mikheyev through the end of this season.
Image courtesy of Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images.
Panthers Sign Louis Domingue To Two-Way Contract
The Panthers announced they’ve signed goaltender Louis Domingue to a two-way contract for the remainder of the season. Financial terms were not disclosed. If they want to assign him back to AHL Charlotte, where he’d been playing on a minor-league deal, they’ll need to place him on waivers. If they do so today, he won’t count against their active roster.
Domingue, 33, headed overseas for the first time in his pro career to begin this season. After posting a .892 SV% in 11 games with Sibir Novosibirsk of the Kontinental Hockey League in Russia, he obtained a release and signed an AHL deal with Charlotte around Thanksgiving.
The veteran of 10 NHL seasons has appeared sparingly for Charlotte, notching an .831 SV% and 3.20 GAA in seven outings with a 3-3-0 record. He’s gone long stretches without dressing and has suited up just four times since the New Year. At present, he’s essentially fifth on Florida’s goaltending depth chart behind NHLers Sergei Bobrovsky and Daniil Tarasov, AHL starter Cooper Black, and AHL backup Kirill Gerasimyuk, with the latter two also signed to NHL deals.
It’s not uncommon for teams to sign an additional goalie during deadline week to have them on hand to roster as their emergency backup during the playoffs. Florida did it several times in the past few years with Evan Cormier. The Cats are now slipping from playoff contention, however, and reportedly decided to pivot toward selling off their pending UFAs this morning. It’s more likely that Domingue is insurance to keep having four goalies under contract in case the Panthers decide to deal Bobrovsky or Tarasov, both of whom will hit the open market this summer.
Golden Knights Reassign Raphael Lavoie
March 4: Lavoie was returned to Henderson today in the corresponding move for yesterday’s acquisition of Cole Smith from the Predators, per the NHL’s media site. He skated 8:34 in last night’s loss to the Sabres, posting zeroes across the board.
March 3: The Vegas Golden Knights have recalled forward Raphael Lavoie. He will help the team shore up their depth with top winger Mark Stone out with a day-to-day injury. Lavoie has been on fire in the minors as of late, with five points in his last three games and 11 points in his last 10 games.
On the heels of that hot streak, Lavoie will earn his first NHL call-up of the season. He made his Vegas debut last year, appearing in nine games and failing to record any scoring. That was the same outcome of Lavoie’s first stint in the NHL – seven games with the Edmonton Oilers in the 2023-24 season. Lavoie had managed strong, minor-league scoring in both years – reaching 50 points in 66 games in 2023-24 and 26 points in 42 games in 2024-25.
His performance this season, in a focused, AHL role, has outperformed both of those campaigns. Lavoie is on pace for a career-high 63 points across a 60-game season, though an injury that stretched from late-October to mid-January kept him from reaching that mark.
Lavoie performed well around the injury, maintaining an 11-game scoring streak between October 24th and February 4th. He scored 13 points in that stretch. He has emerged not only as a main scorer but also as a man who creates shots on net for the Henderson Silver Knights. Now, Lavoie could earn a hardy, NHL look if Stone has to miss time. He will have to compete with Cole Reinhardt for Vegas’ fourth-line, right-wing role. Reinhardt has scored seven points in 42 games this season.
Predators Sign Viggo Gustafsson To Entry-Level Deal
The Predators announced they’ve signed defense prospect Viggo Gustafsson to a three-year, entry-level deal beginning next season. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Gustafsson, 19, was a third-round pick in 2024. The 6’2″, 192-lb lefty is touted as a physical piece with some viable upside as a third-pairing option, but not much more. As such, he was ranked as the #24 prospect in Nashville’s system by Elite Prospects entering the season and wasn’t ranked anywhere else.
He has gotten plenty of minutes at the pro level in his native Sweden since his draft year, though. He’s played exclusively in the professional circuit this year, albeit in the second division HockeyAllsvenskan with AIK. There, he’s featuring mostly as a third-pairing piece and has seven assists with a -4 rating in 38 games. It’s worth noting the national team takes enough stock in his physical shutdown game to keep him rostered at the World Juniors for the past two years, but he only suited up twice for them in this year’s tournament.
The Preds were under no urgency to sign him, holding his rights through June 2028. Still, they’ve liked enough of what they’ve seen from Gustafsson overseas since draft day to make an initial commitment. As he’s under 24 years old and was drafted outside of the first round, he must first be offered back to his Swedish club if he doesn’t make the team out of camp before they’re eligible to assign him to the AHL. He will be a restricted free agent for the first time following the 2028-29 season and is under team control through 2033-34.
Capitals Sign Ethen Frank To Two-Year Extension
The Capitals announced they’ve signed winger Ethen Frank to a two-year, $4MM deal. He’ll count $2MM against the cap for the 2026-27 and 2027-28 seasons.
Frank was set to be a UFA this summer after completing the two-year extension he signed for the league minimum in 2024. With the Caps’ loss to the Mammoth last night putting them further out of playoff contention, there was a fair chance he could have been moved by Friday afternoon as a rental. Instead, he’ll be sticking around in D.C. for another two years.
The 28-year-old is certainly a late bloomer, but has grown into an impactful depth scoring presence for the Caps. The Nebraska native started his pro career as an undrafted free agent, signing with AHL Hershey out of Western Michigan back in 2022. He exploded for 30 goals in 57 games as a rookie – the most he’d had in a single season since his under-16 days – and earned an NHL deal from the Caps at that year’s trade deadline.
The 5’11” winger continued to serve as Hershey’s top goal scorer, awaiting his chance to squeeze out some NHL minutes. Amid a 20-goal showing in just 35 AHL games last year, the call-up finally came. Frank made his NHL debut in January 2025 and remained up with Washington the rest of the way, notching four goals and seven points in 24 games while seeing 10:49 of ice time per game. The skilled finisher shot at 17.4% and did everything he could in his limited minutes to put himself in the conversation for an opening night job this year.
It didn’t come. Washington waived Frank to begin the season and, somewhat unexpectedly, he managed to pass through the wire unclaimed. Less than a month later, he was back up with the Caps. He’s stayed up ever since and has been quite valuable for Washington in a bottom-six role. His 11-12–23 scoring line in 52 games ranks 10th on the team while seeing his ice time creep up to nearly 13 minutes per game, featuring more consistently on the Caps’ second power-play unit.
With Washington seeing an overall dropoff in finishing this season, it makes sense they’d want to retain one of their most efficient shooters, particularly with the lingering uncertainty of whether Alex Ovechkin will return for a 22nd NHL season. Washington now has 17 of the 23 players on its active roster signed through next season, with $34.5MM in projected cap space to burn, per PuckPedia.
Golden Knights Acquire Cole Smith
The Nashville Predators have made another move tonight, sending forward Cole Smith to the Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for a 2028 third round pick and defense prospect Christoffer Sedoff. The trade has been confirmed by both Nashville, as well as Vegas.
A fourth line winger with strong defensive attributes, Vegas inherits Smith’s $1MM cap hit until the end of the season, where he’ll become an unrestricted free agent. The Golden Knights currently rank 11th in the league in penalty killing, not necessarily an issue, but they add a relentless presence who fans may find similar to Keegan Kolesar. Smith will also reunite with former Preds teammate Colton Sissons, the two forming an effective fourth line over the past few seasons.
Always right up against the salary cap, Vegas has had to lean on unheralded forwards such as Cole Reinhardt and Braeden Bowman to round out their lineup. Adding Smith offers them a high character winger with experience, hungry to add to his just five career playoff games to this point.
It was a strange night for the newest Golden Knight, as he played just three seconds against Columbus, clearly with a trade in the works. At one point Smith left the bench, the team giving him stick taps out of respect, only to return and sit for the rest of the game. At one point Insider Frank Seravalli mentioned Tampa Bay as a suitor, but instead it was Vegas who closed the deal.
The 30-year-old Smith’s efforts rarely show up on the score sheet, with 10 points in 41 games this season, and a career high of 23 points set two years ago. He also is not the most swift skater at 6’3″, but the hallmark of the Minnesota native’s game is work ethic. As far as these types of players go, sometimes their possession metrics aren’t so pretty, but Smith offers a respectable 48.8% corsi for at five on five. Such is slightly below average, but he is never expected to drive play at even strength. Capable of dropping the gloves when needed, Smith has reached the 60 penalty minute mark over the past few seasons but is not a vicious, undisciplined player.
Undrafted out of the University of North Dakota, Smith has had an unlikely path to the NHL, and still is a player not widely known across the league. Never recording more than 18 points in a season in college, he caught on with Nashville, even making a short stop in the ECHL in 2020-21. Smith broke out with the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals in 2021-22, putting up 42 points, production far above anything seen at North Dakota.
From there, the winger soon became a full time player for the Predators, eventually appearing in 271 games in gold, where he notched 62 points. Beloved by Predators management and teammates alike, Smith, like his former linemate Michael McCarron who was dealt earlier tonight, was likely considered to be kept around for the long haul. Instead, GM Barry Trotz brings in a nice return for a fourth line player who came to the organization as a free agent.
As part of the deal, Nashville acquires 24-year-old Sedoff, taking back a contract. The 6’2″ lefty was undrafted out of the WHL, catching on with Vegas where he’s played the past three seasons with AHL Henderson. This season he has four assists in 38 games, and as a pending restricted free agent, he has limited NHL upside. Sedoff will likely finish the spring with the Milwaukee Admirals of the AHL.
Now missing two vital pieces from their bottom six, eyes turn to Nashville’s more attractive pieces; headlined by Ryan O’Reilly, but more likely, Michael Bunting and Erik Haula. The team is still in the Wild Card mix, but after a tough day for morale, upper management may wave the white flag and look to the future especially considering the strong returns they’ve netted so far. Trotz is loading up on futures, now up to six third round picks between 2027 and 2028. Prospect Reid Schaefer, acquired from Edmonton in the Mattias Ekholm deal, will likely slot in for Smith for the rest of the campaign.
Meanwhile, Smith’s new team takes on Detroit in the Motor City tomorrow, but most likely, he will debut on the Vegas strip Friday night against the Wild, lining up against his former counterpart in McCarron.
Image Credit: Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports
TSN’s Darren Dreger was the first to break the trade.
Wild Activate Jonas Brodin From Injured Reserve, Reassign Matt Kiersted, Tyler Pitlick
8:15 PM: As anticipated, the Minnesota Wild have activated Brodin from injured reserve (Twitter Link), while Kiersted as well as today’s unclaimed Tyler Pitlick are headed to the Iowa Wild of the AHL. Not having played since January 12, Brodin will rejoin longtime teammate Jared Spurgeon in what has become an eventful day for Minnesota, as they acquired Michael McCarron from Nashville for a 2028 second rounder.
Kiersted and Pitlick, both with NHL experience, will be welcome additions back to Iowa, currently ranked last in the AHL.
3:30 PM: Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin is expected to return to the lineup tonight against the Lightning, Joe Smith of The Athletic reports. He’ll need to come off injured reserve. Minnesota didn’t have an open roster spot entering today, but has assigned D-man Matt Kiersted to AHL Iowa, per PuckPedia, giving them the flexibility to activate Brodin.
Brodin, 32, has been out for the past seven weeks after undergoing a minor lower-body procedure in mid-January. Thanks to the Olympic break, he only missed 14 games. It was his second multi-game absence of the season after missing four games with a related lower-body issue in December.
Minnesota’s defense is now at full health for the first time since early December as they jockey for playoff seeding in the Central Division with the Avalanche and Stars. They’re 7-2-1 in their last 10, but those two regulation losses have come in their last two games, dropping contests to the Mammoth and Blues by a combined score of 8-3. They’ll have Brodin back in their top four on a familiar pairing with captain Jared Spurgeon as they try to end that brief slide against a Lightning team reeling from a 6-2 loss to the Sabres over the weekend.
Now in his 14th season in Minnesota, Brodin remains as high-end a defensive piece as ever. His ice time is under 22 minutes per game for the first time in six years, due in part to Quinn Hughes‘ acquisition pushing him out of the de facto #1 slot on the Wild’s left side, but he’s maintained a +13 rating in 42 games while starting 54.8% of his 5-on-5 shifts in the defensive zone. That’s his highest figure since 2020-21, and it’s come with him controlling 48.6% of shot attempts but 52.4% of expected goals.
Kiersted, 27, heads back to Iowa after serving as an extra defenseman for the Wild’s first three games out of the break. The Minnesota native has suited up four times for the Wild this year in addition to posting a goal and seven points in 33 games for Iowa.
Canucks Place Thatcher Demko On LTIR, Pierre-Olivier Joseph To IR
The Vancouver Canucks shared that goaltender Thatcher Demko has been placed on long-term injured reserve, and defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph has also landed on injured reserve, retroactive to March 2. Later on, GM Patrik Allvin announced that Victor Mancini has been recalled from AHL Abbotsford in a corresponding transaction (Twitter Link).
The star netminder’s ailment is well known to this point, as he’s not played since January 10 unfortunately dealing with ongoing hip issues. On the other hand, Joseph left last night’s action with an undisclosed injury, and he’ll be forced to miss Vancouver’s next four contests at least.
Thomas Drance of The Athletic added that the plan is for Demko to go on season-ending LTIR pending league approval. For now the club gains $3.82MM in cap space, but assuming the placement is approved the Canucks will have $5MM in relief. Prior to the Olympic Break it was already confirmed that the Canucks were shutting down Demko for the rest of the year to undergo surgery on the hip.
As his fate was already known, the cap savings could come in handy shortly if the Canucks take on any unfavorable expiring contracts as part of their sell off. Sitting dead last in the league, Demko’s three year extension worth $8.5MM per season takes effect next season just in time for what could be hardcore rebuilding days ahead. Suffice to say, it’s a contract which shows the dramatic turn for the Canucks compared to last summer’s optimism. His campaign comes to an untimely end after just 20 games played, winning eight.
Owner of another contract which no longer aligns with the team’s new direction, Kevin Lankinen will hold things down between the pipes for the time being. The 30-year-old received an extension worth $4.5MM per year, running through 2029-30. The Finn is no stranger to backstopping a non-contender as he broke into the NHL with the Blackhawks in 2020. Lankinen’s stats this year are career worsts at a .874% save percentage and 3.69 goals against average, but his Canucks are the worst NHL team by a considerable margin.
Coming back up, Mancini has been in the AHL for just under a month, last playing January 27 against San Jose. With no stats other than a fighting major in 10 games as a Canuck this season, he’s been more productive for Abbotsford, with 12 points in 34 games. The 23-year-old will be a restricted free agent this summer, and he figures to have more opportunities with the Canucks next year.
Roster management aside, hopefully Demko can use the time to finally heal up with brighter days ahead. Still just 30, the California native is nothing short of elite when healthy. He’ll have to look ahead to 2026-27, but Joseph could return as soon as March 12 against Nashville, eager to prove something as his contract expires this summer with restricted free agent status.
Wild Acquire Michael McCarron
Moments ago, the Nashville Predators announced that center Michael McCarron wouldn’t play tonight against Columbus for what they called “roster management purposes”. Sure enough, he has been dealt to the Minnesota Wild in exchange for a 2028 second round pick, per Michael Russo of The Athletic. The Wild as well as the Predators have officially announced the trade.
Once a first round pick in 2013 by the Montreal Canadiens, the 30-year-old McCarron grinded away in the AHL for several years, emerging as a full time NHLer in his late twenties. At 6’6″, he is strong at the face-off dot, currently with a 52.8% win rate, coming in north of 54% last season.
McCarron showed unusual scoring touch in 2023-24, recording 12 goals and 22 points in his best season, but since then has put up numbers synonymous with a pure fourth liner. He has five goals and 12 points in 59 games across the campaign. At even strength, McCarron’s possession metrics are unsurprisingly below average, hovering around the 46% mark in recent years. Yet GM Bill Guerin is not adding the Michigan native with those traits in mind.
Minnesota inherits McCarron’s reasonable $900k cap hit which expires this summer. Rumored to be after a top six center, Guerin still has the space to make another splash, but the Wild are limited in assets as they go all in. After tonight’s deal, they don’t have a second round pick in the next three drafts, also losing this year’s first in the Quinn Hughes blockbuster.
Acquired by Nashville from Montreal in 2020 in exchange for Laurent Dauphin, a top AHL scorer who departed the Habs organization but has actually returned to Laval, McCarron became a fan favorite in Nashville. Even if they move forward on a rebuild, they could have re-signed the towering grinder as he fills an important role. However, in a seller’s market, a second round pick was enough to entice GM Barry Trotz to send McCarron to a divisional rival, although they’ll have to wait two years to use it.
The Predators lack anybody in the cupboard to replace McCarron’s role, but October waiver claim Tyson Jost figures to slot in at 4C from here on out. Nashville will likely shop for a new physical face-off specialist this summer in free agency.
A steep price to pay, Minnesota has again supplemented their bottom six, having claimed Robby Fabbri off waivers from St. Louis yesterday. The Wild have struggled with defensive zone face-offs, and McCarron offers more of a mean streak than Nico Sturm. He has reached the 100 penalty minute mark in each of the last two seasons, and currently at 73, it’s not impossible he could keep the streak going especially while motivated to endear himself to the Wild faithful.
Wild head coach John Hynes likely gave the green light on the acquisition, reuniting with McCarron, who broke through in 2021-22 with 51 games as a Predator under Hynes. He could also play alongside Yakov Trenin, a teammate then, the two hitting everything in sight.
McCarron could make his Wild debut as soon as Friday, as the group travels to Vegas.
Image Credit: James Carey Lauder-Imagn Images