Rangers Place J.T. Miller On Injured Reserve, Announce Several Roster Moves
New York Rangers captain J.T. Miller is headed to injured reserve with an upper body injury, reported earlier today by Peter Baugh of The Athletic. In a series of corresponding transactions, the team announced that Jaroslav Chmelar and Juuso Pärssinen have been recalled from AHL Hartford. Meanwhile, Brendan Brisson and Scott Morrow are headed back down.
Miller played just shy of 20 minutes last night, so it’s not immediately clear what happened, however ESPN’s Emily Kaplan confirmed that it’s not related to the upper body issue which sidelined him from late December into early January. However long Miller may be out, it’s just another in the latest of several injuries throughout what has become a forgettable year for the Blueshirts.
Becoming a polarizing figure in New York, Miller has held his own this year when healthy. He’s ranked third in team scoring with 38 points in 51 games, behind the club’s other two 32-year-old centers in Mika Zibanejad and Vincent Trocheck. Miller’s -24 is a glaring indicator of the team’s struggles this year, but despite the career worst mark by a wide margin, he still holds a respectable 51.6% corsi for at five on five, his best since 2022-23.
Meanwhile, a pair of forwards are set to come up and audition as the Rangers’ season winds down. Chmelar, 22, made his NHL debut back in November, playing in six total games before going back to the AHL where he’s been since mid December. The Czech has not yet recorded a point, but he’s looking like a solid find in the fifth round of the 2021 draft. Standing at 6’4″, Chmelar offers bottom six upside, showing progress in his second full professional season, with 25 points in 46 games for the Wolfpack.
Also, Pärssinen returns having not played with the big club since November. The 25-year-old was a seventh round selection of Nashville, emerging as a potential steal. Since then, he’s bounced around, ending up with New York where he has six points in 11 AHL contests, and three in 14 at the NHL level in 2025-26. Pärssinen is signed through next season, but he’ll be eager to earn more ice time, averaging just 8:56 under coach Mike Sullivan this year, a career low.
Losing two top forwards, Hartford’s lineup is supplemented with Brisson. A former first rounder of Vegas, he came to New York just shy of one year ago in the Reilly Smith deal. With 23 points in 46 games for the Wolfpack, the 24-year-old’s production has stalled out in the past few years. In recent days, he made his Ranger debut, recording one assist in three contests. Brisson is a restricted free agent at season’s end.
Finally, Morrow, the team’s top defensive prospect, is a player fans would like to see at this point without anything to lose. However, New York is being patient with the 23-year-old who has six helpers in 29 games on the year on 15:40 a night. Morrow will join the 20th-ranked Wolfpack as a top blue liner, and it’s likely he will get some more action in New York before the season comes to an end.
Back in action Thursday as they host Toronto, the hope is that Miller won’t need to miss much time. Yet as they sit 30th in the league, the Rangers can get some younger players into the lineup as they look to the future, not exactly desperate for wins.
Image Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images
Kings Reassign Erik Portillo, Angus Booth
March 3: The Kings returned Portillo to AHL Ontario after he backed up Anton Forsberg last night, per John Hoven of Mayor’s Manor. Defenseman Angus Booth joins him on the road back to the AHL after scoring in his debut last night with a +1 rating in 12:18 of ice time.
March 2: The Los Angeles Kings have recalled goaltender Erik Portillo from their AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign. The move comes as the incumbent No. 1 netminder Darcy Kuemper is set to miss at least tonight’s game against the Colorado Avalanche with an illness, per team reporter Zach Dooley.
This isn’t Portillo’s first opportunity to serve as a fill-in for an unavailable Kuemper – over the Olympic break, the Swedish netminder was recalled to practice with the team while Kuemper was in Italy representing Canada at the Olympic tournament. Today’s recall is in a similar vein, although there is an actual game to be played in this case, and Portillo is set to serve as the backup.
A 2019 third-round pick of the Buffalo Sabres, Portillo has developed well over the last two-and-a-half years as a member of the Kings organization. Once a high-end goaltender both in the USHL with the Dubuque Fighting Saints and NCAA with the Michigan Wolverines, Portillo has become a solid goaltender at the AHL level. He made his professional debut in 2023-24, posting a .918 save percentage across 39 games with the Reign. Portillo earned a greater share of starts than most goalies can typically expect in their first season in the pro ranks, and Portillo appeared to respond well to the increased responsibility and workload.
The following season, Portillo’s numbers took a step back, regressing from a .918 save percentage in 2023-24 to an .889 in 2024-25. It’s possible the trickle-down effect of the Kings’ addition of Kuemper may have played a role. In 2023-24, David Rittich‘s stellar play kept him in the NHL, meaning the Kings didn’t have a veteran to pair with Portillo until they signed Aaron Dell in late January of 2024. That allowed Portillo to play a regular starting netminder’s schedule, something he got used to (albeit with a smaller pool of total available games) when he was at Michigan.
In 2024-25, Kuemper arrived, and emerged as a Vezina Trophy candidate with the Kings. Having Kuemper and Rittich entrenched in the NHL forced Pheonix Copley, who had played in 37 NHL games in 2022-23, and spent most of 2023-24 injured, off the Kings’ NHL roster. As a result, he received the lion’s share of starts in Ontario, and Portillo had to settle for a backup goalie’s schedule of starts, rather than a starter. Many goalies have commented on the difficulty posed by a backup’s schedule, in terms of being less capable of finding a rhythm that paves the way to on-ice success. Being a backup isn’t something Portillo had to deal with in several years, and it’s therefore not a huge surprise that his numbers fell back as he tried to make that adjustment.
So far this season, Portillo appears to have largely rebounded from his difficult 2024-25. He’s come close to splitting starts with Copley, with 20 games played compared to the veteran’s 26. He’s winning frequently, with a 14-3-1 record and .905 save percentage, well above Copley’s .891 mark. With another season on his deal at a $783K cap hit, the time could be quickly approaching where the Kings look to Portillo as a legitimate NHL option, although it’s important to note that both Kuemper and Forsberg remain under contract through next season as well.
Panthers To Activate Tomas Nosek From LTIR
Panthers center Tomáš Nosek will draw into the lineup tonight against the Devils, head coach Paul Maurice told reporters, including the team’s Jameson Olive. He’ll need to come off long-term injured reserve to make his season debut, but that will be a smooth move after Luke Kunin cleared waivers yesterday and headed to AHL Charlotte, which opened up a roster spot.
Nosek, 33, was close to testing free agency last summer after initially signing with the Cats in 2024, serving as a fringe fourth-line option in their second of back-to-back Stanley Cups. On the morning of July 1, he opted to stay in South Florida on a one-year, league minimum deal. With the Panthers losing Nico Sturm in free agency, he was expected to step back in as their full-time fourth-line option down the middle. That all changed when Nosek didn’t report to training camp due to what the team called a significant offseason knee injury that required surgery, saying he would miss several months.
While several months turned into nearly the entire regular season, Nosek will get back into the fold for the stretch run before having the chance to test free agency again in July. The veteran of nearly 500 games suited up 59 times for the Cats last year, recording a goal and nine points with a +4 rating while averaging 9:49 of ice time per game.
The Czech pivot has never been anything more than a bottom-of-the-lineup piece, but is a well-respected role player who saw significant shorthanded deployment earlier in his career, particularly in his two-year run with the Bruins from 2021-23. He averages seven goals and 19 points per 82 games for his career – along with 92 hits – and is quite strong in the dot at 54.0%.
With Florida now needing a miracle to break through a crowded East wild-card race, it wouldn’t be out of the question to see Nosek flipped for a depth pick if a contender has interest. If not, he’ll be a much-needed additional veteran piece to aid an ailing Florida bottom-six group that’s without Jonah Gadjovich and Cole Schwindt.
Wild Claim Robby Fabbri, Place Tyler Pitlick On Waivers
March 3: Pitlick passed through waivers unclaimed, per Friedman.
March 2: The Minnesota Wild have found a depth forward upgrade on the waiver wire. Minnesota has claimed St. Louis Blues winger Robby Fabbri off of waivers and, in a corresponding move, placed Tyler Pitlick on waivers to clear roster space, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Fabbri will join former Blues teammate Vladimir Tarasenko in his move to the Wild.
Fabbri signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Blues in December after beginning the year with three games and two points, with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers. He slotted into a fourth-line role – but routinely stepped up in the lineup – in his return to St. Louis, where he spent the first four years of his career. Fabbri racked up four points, 12 penalty minutes, and a minus-three in 15 games with the Blues before landing on waivers. His waiver designation came in conjunction with Robert Thomas‘ return from a month-long absence due to injury and personal leave.
Fabbri was a first-round pick for the Blues in 2014. He made his NHL debut two seasons later and posted what’s become a career-year right out of the gates – marked by a career-high 18 goals and 37 points in 72 games. Fabbri’s career was quickly derailed by multiple knee injuries, holding him out of over 100 games between 2016 and 2020. Despite that, Fabbri stuck in the lineup long enough to seal a Stanley Cup victory with the Blues in 2019, netting a combined seven points in 42 games between the 2018-19 regular season and playoffs.
Fabbri will rival fourth-line minutes in Minnesota. Pitlick recorded only two goals, along with 24 penalty minutes and a minus-four, in 32 games with Minnesota this season. He has also scored 11 points in 12 AHL games this season. Pitlick spent the entire 2024-25 season with the AHL’s Providence Bruins. He finished the year ranked third on the team in scoring, with 46 points in 59 games. Pitlick rotated through NHL extra forward roles between 2013 and 2024 – making appearances with seven different clubs, including the Blues and Edmonton Oilers. In total, Pitlick has scored 58 goals and 111 points in 452 NHL games. He will return to a productive role in the minor leagues, if no team finds a need for his depth services in the NHL.
Kraken Sign, Reassign Gustav Olofsson
March 3: Olofsson has cleared waivers, per Friedman. The team confirmed he’s been sent back to Coachella Valley
March 2: The Seattle Kraken have continued their run of new contracts by signing defenseman Gustav Olofsson to a one-year, $775K contract. Olofsson is currently playing in the first year of a two-year, AHL contract signed with the Coachella Valley Firebirds in July 2025. This deal will bump him back up to an NHL, two-way contract – mirroring the contract details of his last deal with the Kraken: a two-year, two-way, league-minimum contract signed in 2023. Olofsson’s last NHL contract paid him $350K in minor-league salary. He will earn a bump in pay – up to $460K – in minor-league salary on this deal per PuckPedia.
With his promotion from an AHL deal to an NHL deal, the 31-year-old Olofsson will have to clear NHL waivers. He has been placed on the waiver wire per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
Olofsson has served as an alternate captain with Coachella Valley for the last four seasons. Unlike in previous years, he has found a new scoring touch this season, racking up 16 points in 29 games played – third-most on the Firebirds defense behind Tyson Jugnauth and Ty Nelson. A chunk of that scoring has come over Olofsson’s last eight games, where he’s racked up five points, 10 penalty minutes, and a plus-five.
Seattle has not recalled Olofsson since the 2023-24 season. Prior to his time in Seattle, Olofsson earned extended looks in the NHL with the Minnesota Wild, including 41 games in the 2017-18 season. In total, Olofsson has racked up no goals and 11 assists in 63 games and six seasons in the NHL. His role has often been focused on the defensive side of the puck, where his long reach and big frame help close off opponents breaking into the zone. The Kraken will ensure a bit more defensive depth with this move, though it’s not likely to change Olofsson’s role in the Coachella Valley lineup for the foreseeable future.
Blackhawks Recall Ethan Del Mastro
The Blackhawks have recalled defenseman Ethan Del Mastro from AHL Rockford, per Charlie Roumeliotis of WGN Radio 720. He fills the roster spot vacated by yesterday’s trade of Connor Murphy to the Oilers.
Del Mastro, 23, was a fourth-round pick of the Blackhawks in 2021. Since then, he’s been steadily climbing the depth chart, demonstrating some real shutdown upside as a fringe top-four option or bottom-pair staple. In 161 AHL games since his pro debut in 2023, he has a 9-55–64 scoring line and a +23 rating, a top-32 figure in the league during that timeframe (min. 100 GP). This year, he has a 2-16–18 line with a +8 rating in 45 outings.
He’s gotten some NHL looks before, including a 24-game run last year that seemed to put him in contention for a full-time role as soon as this season. That hasn’t happened, due in part to their late-summer signing of Matt Grzelcyk plugging up the left side, but he did get a call-up back in December that resulted in a pair of appearances.
In January, Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times ranked Del Mastro as the #10 prospect in the Hawks’ system. He noted that Wyatt Kaiser‘s and Louis Crevier‘s breakthrough campaigns this year have slightly limited his pathway toward regular time among Chicago’s glut of defense prospects, but he’s had a strong enough season in the minors to continue putting him in the conversation.
As a result, Del Mastro’s stint on the roster is only likely to last until Kaiser can return from injured reserve, unless Chicago trims another defender from its ranks by Friday’s trade deadline. Kaiser sustained a lower-body injury shortly before the Olympic break and is on track to return sometime this month. For now, Del Mastro’s got a shot to challenge fellow youngster Kevin Korchinski for ice time on the Hawks’ bottom pairing behind Grzelcyk and Alex Vlasic, attempting to leapfrog him on the depth chart before Kaiser’s activation potentially forces Chicago into a decision over who to send back to Rockford.
Lightning Place Dominic James On IR, Recall Conor Geekie
The Lightning have recalled center prospect Conor Geekie from AHL Syracuse, Erik Erlendsson of Lightning Insider reports. Fellow pivot Dominic James was placed on injured reserve to open a roster spot.
With Gage Goncalves still dealing with an undisclosed injury, the roster math indicates Geekie could step into the lineup tonight against the Wild if head coach Jon Cooper opts for a traditional 12 forward/six defenseman alignment. It would be the 21-year-old’s first NHL game since being sent to Syracuse back in October after cracking the opening night roster.
It’s fair to say the Bolts aren’t rushing Geekie’s development. Drafted 11th overall by the Coyotes in 2022 before being sent to Tampa by Utah in the Mikhail Sergachev trade, he’s made 58 NHL appearances over the past two seasons but never got much of a leash in a top-six role. He’s scored eight goals and 15 points, with only one point coming in six games earlier this year. He averages 12:05 of ice time per game. While Tampa is surely looking for more offense out of him long-term, he has been a decent physical presence near the bottom of the lineup without disastrous possession impacts.
The 6’4″, 207-lb Geekie might now get a chance to showcase that increased offense after a spectacular bulk of the season in the minors. He was quite productive as a rookie for Syracuse last season but is now clicking at over a point per game, notching 14 goals and 51 points in 47 games on one of the AHL’s most potent offenses in Syracuse. He’s tied for fourth in the entire league in scoring and is second on his club behind league leader Jakob Pelletier.
As for James, he left the Bolts’ last game on Saturday – a 6-2 defeat at the hands of the Sabres – with a leg injury late in the third after getting tangled up with Buffalo’s Michael Kesselring. Cooper told reporters yesterday (including Erlendsson) that “his injury does not appear to be short-term,” although he’s still undergoing evaluation. He had goals in back-to-back games, bringing his total to seven in 43 games on the season.
Edmonton Oilers Acquire Connor Murphy
5:00 p.m.: Both the Oilers and the Blackhawks have now officially announced the trade.
As mentioned previously, significant roster maneuvering was necessary to facilitate the deal. According to Puckpedia, after Janmark’s placement on LTIR earlier today, and the expected reassignment of Howard, the team was able to create enough cap space to fit in the $2.2MM cap hit brought by Murphy. With 21 active players and Janmark on LTIR, the Oilers will have approximately $200K in cap space remaining after this deal.
As for Janmark, he’s out with an undisclosed injury. As relayed by Sportsnet’s Mark Spector, Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch characterized Janmark’s injury as “a chronic injury that needs some rest,” and said he’d be out “long term.” So far this season, Janmark has gotten into 43 games for the Oilers, scoring eight points. He’s averaged 11:51 time-on-ice per game, including 1:30 per game on the penalty kill. The Swedish forward is under contract for another season at a $1.45MM cap hit.
3:23 p.m.: The Edmonton Oilers are in the process of completing a trade for Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Connor Murphy, a league source tells Chris Johnston of The Athletic. Chicago will acquire a second-round pick in return and retain $2.2MM of Murphy’s $4.4MM cap hit per Sportsnet’s Mark Spector. The trade was first reported by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
Edmonton won’t be able to acquire Murphy’s $2.2MM cap hit until they send a player to the minor leagues per PuckPedia. The Oilers recalled Josh Samanski and Isaac Howard earlier in the day, after placing Mattias Janmark on long-term injured reserve. Howard is expected to be the man reassigned per DailyFaceoff’s Jason Gregor. The deal is not expected to be completed until after 5 P.M. ET, the beginning of the 3/3 business day for cap purposes.
This move will mark a reunion between Murphy and Oilers general manager Stan Bowman. Bowman served as the Blackhawks’ GM in 2017, when Murphy was acquired from the Arizona Coyotes alongside Laurent Dauphin in exchange for Niklas Hjalmarsson near the end of his career. Murphy stepped into an immediate role in the Blackhawks’ lineup, taking on a third-pair role while Erik Gustafsson, Jordan Oesterle, and Gustav Forsling vied for a second-pair role.
Murphy notched 14 points, 34 penalty minutes, and a minus-three in 76 games of his first season with the Blackhawks. He proved to be an impactful rush defender who didn’t get in the way of Chicago’s star forwards as they drove up the ice. But Murphy began to run into routine injury beginning in the 2018-19 season. Via injury and healthy scratches, Murphy missed out on 85 games between the 2018-19 and 2021-22 seasons. He racked up 57 points and a plus-one in 217 games across those four seasons.
More notably, he worked his way back to full health for the 2022-23 season. By then, Murphy had emerged as one of only a few veterans on a rebuilding Blackhawks defense. That standing pushed him up into tough, top-four minutes often in relief of Blackawks’ top defender Seth Jones. In the heavy role, Murphy racked up 13 points and 69 penalty minutes in 80 games of the 2022-23 campaign. Injuries and scratches came back to bite him over the last three seasons, pulling Murphy back into the swing of routine absences. He tied his career-high 19 points in 68 games last season but has so far only totaled 13 points in 60 games this season.
While luck hasn’t been on his side in Chicago, Murphy has shown an ability to once again stick in the lineup through much of this season. He has returned to a defensive-defenseman’s role, operating from the bottom pair but routinely tapped to play more than 20 minutes against strong offenses.
Murphy will bring a robust, defensive ability to a high-octane Edmonton blue-line. The Oilers found a cohesive top-pairing in Mattias Ekholm and Evan Bouchard but haven’t yet found the right match for Darnell Nurse, who has spent significant time with six different D partners this season. Murphy could become the seventh man to stand by Nurse, bringing a bit more veteran certainty than previous partners like Spencer Stastney or Ty Emberson. That pairing could move Emberson back to a bottom-pair role and free up Jake Walman to rotate throughout the lineup.
That flexibility will be welcome as Edmonton eyes another long postseason run. Murphy has only appeared in the Stanley Cup Playoffs once in his 13-year career – when he played nine games and scored four assists in the 2020 postseason. He should be headed for his second playoff bid now with the Oilers, and could prove to be an X-factor addition should his defensive focus free up Nurse, or Walman, to drive the offense a bit more.
Photo courtesy of Jamie Sabau-USA TODAY Sports.
Panthers’ Luke Kunin Clears Waivers
3/2: St. Louis has lost Fabbri to a waiver claim from the Minnesota Wild, while Kunin has cleared waivers per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Kunin has now been assigned to the AHL.
3/1: Today has become a busy day on the wire, as the St. Louis Blues have waived forward Robby Fabbri, and the Florida Panthers placed Luke Kunin on waivers. Both were reported by Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. Fabbri and Kunin are both former first round picks with at least 450 games of NHL experience, although they’ve become journeymen at this stage in their careers.
For Fabbri, the news is not much of a surprise, as Robert Thomas was activated from injured reserve earlier today. A top prospect of the Blues a decade ago, Fabbri found himself back where he started, signing a one year deal worth $775k back in December. The agreement came after the 30-year-old’s unsuccessful PTO bid with the Pittsburgh Penguins, along with a brief tryout agreement with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers. Since then, Fabbri appeared in 15 games with St. Louis, finding the back of the net once to go with three assists.
The Ontario native netted 18 goals in 68 games just two years ago as a Red Wing, but his 18.6% shooting percentage was never thought to be sustainable. Fabbri continues to have lackluster possession metrics at even strength, currently at the 45.5% mark.
With such a low cap hit, it’s not out of the realm of possibility, but a claim seems unlikely. If that’s the case, Fabbri will head to AHL Springfield, a league which impressively, the veteran has played just nine games in his career, otherwise in the NHL. He still offers organizational depth, but the 31st ranked Blues are in a position where playing younger players is in their best interest. If this is the beginning of the end for Fabbri in the NHL, he’s had an impressive 457 game career with 220 points, and his name on the Stanley Cup.
Meanwhile, Kunin also brings a very reasonable $775k cap hit which expires this summer. Once a first rounder of the Minnesota Wild with top six upside, the Missouri native has become a fourth liner with gritty attributes, as he has just four points in 44 games. He caught on with the reigning champions last August to provide depth, which has been needed, considering the team’s glut of injuries this year.
After some solid play with Nashville from 2020-22, Kunin was sent to San Jose. Over the next three seasons wearing teal, Kunin got to enjoy a larger role and help lead on a rebuilding Sharks squad. However, he never recorded more than 18 points, and fully embraced a more physical brand of hockey.
Between Fabbri and Kunin, the latter seems to be more likely of a claim. Players in Kunin’s mold are often targeted by buyers at this time of year. At last year’s trade deadline, Kunin was dealt to Columbus for a fourth round pick. His stock hasn’t improved after unremarkable play as a Panther this year, but teams will have the chance to bring in the 28-year-old with a minimal cap hit for nothing in return, and he could benefit from a fresh start.
Image Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
Oilers’ Andrew Mangiapane, Alec Regula Clear Waivers
3/2: Both Mangiapane and Regula have cleared waivers per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. They can now be assigned to the minor leagues, opening up more cap space for Edmonton to leverage at the Trade Deadline.
3/1: This afternoon the Edmonton Oilers revealed that Andrew Mangiapane and Alec Regula have been placed on waivers. With the Trade Deadline just five days away, the moves give the team much needed cap space.
Efforts to trade Mangiapane throughout the season have not proven successful. His $3.6MM cap hit through 2026-27 and a no trade clause are stumbling blocks for the usually steady secondary scorer who hasn’t been a fit with the Oilers. Last July, the idea was that the former 35-goal man could revive his offensive game alongside Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl. Edmonton had moved on from Evander Kane and Viktor Arvidsson, so Mangiapane figured to be a worthy replacement.
Instead, to date, the soon to be 30-year-old has 14 points in 52 games and is a -19. It’s the first time he’s been in the negatives since a 10 game audition as a 21-year-old rookie with Calgary in 2017-18. Mangiapane’s 50.0% corsi for at even strength is indicative that he just doesn’t move the needle. Rather, Jack Roslovic has filled the role, making the most of his opportunity to play on Draisaitl’s wing. Mangiapane has been a healthy scratch at times, unable to find his footing in head coach Kris Knoblauch‘s system.
As recently as late February, it was noted that several teams have varying levels of interest in Mangiapane. Ottawa, Detroit, Anaheim, and Winnipeg have been linked, with the Senators known as having real trade talks for the forward. Now they’ll have the chance to bring him into the fold for nothing in return, although it would be doing a favor for their opponents in Edmonton, who are clearly handcuffed to the player for now.
In all likelihood, he will clear, still taking up at least $2.45MM against the Oilers’ salary cap, where they will have to add further incentives in a trade this week. At least for today, they’re dangling him on the wire, as one of the more notable players waived this year.
On the other hand, Regula was claimed off waivers by the team in December 2024, coming from the Bruins. He subsequently earned an extension through next season, at a more friendly $775k AAV, but now may find himself back on the move soon.
The former Red Wings draft pick is a coveted righty with size (6’4″) and is still just 25 years old. While GM Stan Bowman hopes to move on from Mangiapane, it’s not necessarily so much the case with Regula, whom Bowman himself acquired for his old franchise, Chicago, in 2019. Regula has simply been passed on the depth chart by Ty Emberson, as he hasn’t played since January 20. If any team is to consider a claim, they’ll have to look past Regula’s unfavorable possession metrics. Yet as far as seventh/eighth defensemen go, he is a viable option whether it will continue to be in Edmonton, or if claimed, which would become his fifth organization.
Currently third in the Pacific, Edmonton will be one of the most fascinating teams to watch this week. Their big acquisition of goaltender Tristan Jarry hasn’t evoked confidence yet, and Bowman will try to add more pieces to solidify the group’s spot in the postseason this spring.
Image Credit: Walter Tychnowicz-Imagn Images



