Canucks’ Guillaume Brisebois Clears Waivers
3/2: Birsebois has cleared waivers and can now be assigned to the minor leagues per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
3/1: In the midst of several notable NHLers waived earlier today, another name is set to run through the wire. Canucks defenseman Guillaume Brisebois has landed on waivers, per the team, although according to GM Patrik Allvin the transaction is with the intent to reassign him to AHL Abbotsford.
Brisebois, 28, was drafted in the third round by Vancouver back in 2015. Rarely seen in today’s league, the 6’2″ lefty has managed to stick with the organization for the long haul, mainly in the AHL but appearing in 30 games over the years with the Canucks, where he’s recorded three points. He got into three games back in January, not recording any stats and averaging 15:48 a night.
Brisebois debuted with Vancouver in February 2019, an entirely different era where Alexander Edler and Loui Eriksson were still wearing the blue and green, so it’s impressive for him to still be around. Summoned at times over the years when they’re thin on the back end, Brisebois has skated in more than eight contests in an NHL campaign just once, 2022-23, where he played in 17.
The Quebec native is a free agent at season’s end, but until then, a claim seems unlikely. Whatever comes next for the veteran, it has been a nice run in the Canucks organization, a 2025 Calder Cup champion, and still in the mix as part of a 2015 draft class headlined by stalwart Brock Boeser. With the Canucks at the bottom of the league, and Abbotsford hardly faring better, it would be nice to see Brisebois get some more action this spring considering his contributions to the organization over the past several years.
Devils Sign Matyas Melovsky To Two-Year, Entry-Level Contract
The New Jersey Devils have signed forward prospect Matyas Melovsky to a two-year, entry-level contract. Melovsky is playing through his first pro season with the AHL’s Utica Comets on a minor-league contract. He has three goals, 13 points, and a minus-eight in 35 games.
Melovsky, 21, was a sixth-round pick to the Devils in the 2024 NHL Draft. He earned his selection on the heels of a standout year with the QMJHL’s Baie-Comeau Drakkar and Czechia’s international U20 team. Melovsky recorded 42 assists and 60 points in 53 QMJHL games that season – but caught the most attention during the 2024 World Junior Championship. Playing on a line with Buffalo’s Jiri Kulich and Seattle’s Eduard Sale, Melovsky racked up 10 assists and 11 points in seven tournament games, good for second on the team in scoring behind Kulich’s 12 points. That mark helped push Czechia to a Bronze medal finish and earned Melovsky a must-buy status late into the draft.
The bump-and-grind forward followed his draft selection with 26 goals and 83 points in 57 games with Baie-Comeau last season. It was a stellar encore, even without a return to the World Juniors after Melovsky aged out of eligibility. With three point-per-game seasons in the QMJHL and a sizable, 6-foot-1 and 190-pound frame, Melovsky had stamped his right for a pro role. He has slotted into Utica’s top-nine this season. He has found his scoring touch recently, after a quiet start to the year, racking up seven points in his last 14 games. The Devils will acknowledge that hot streak by signing Melovsky to the first NHL contract of his career, set to begin in the 2026-27 season. That deal will give the bulky forward a chance to compete for NHL minutes as soon as his second pro season.
Flyers Recall Adam Ginning
The Philadelphia Flyers are recalling some defensive depth ahead of tonight’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. According to a team announcement, the Flyers have recalled Adam Ginning from the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
Ginning, 26, is in his fourth season with the Flyers organization. He has primarily spent his time in the AHL, but has been recalled on multiple occasions to serve as defensive depth. He has appeared in only five games for Philadelphia this year, going scoreless while averaging 15:20 of ice time.
Still, he’s been a relatively solid two-day defenseman for the Phantoms. His scoring is down this season, with one goal and four points in 31 games, but he has typically reached the high-teens throughout his professional career in North America.
Depending on how the Flyers operate at this year’s trade deadline, Ginning could have access to more ice time down the stretch. Philadelphia is six points back of the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, and 10 points away from the final divisional spot in the Metropolitan.
Since the Olympics, there has been renewed interest in top-four defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen for the right price. Additionally, Philadelphia could look to move out the bottom-pair option Noah Juulsen, who will become an unrestricted free agent this summer after signing a one-year, $900K contract with the club last offseason.
If the Flyers move out one or both, there is a good chance they’ll keep Ginning on the NHL roster for the remainder of the season, unless they recoup an additional defensive option.
Panthers Activate Dmitry Kulikov
The Panthers welcomed back a veteran blueliner to their lineup for tonight’s game against the Islanders. Prior to puck drop, the team announced that Dmitry Kulikov was activated off long-term injured reserve. To make room on the roster, winger Cole Schwindt was placed on injured reserve.
Kulikov has been a steadying piece of Florida’s back end since joining them for the 2023-24 season. Last season, he logged more than 19 minutes a night during the regular season while suiting up in every game in their Stanley Cup run, playing heavy defensive minutes along the way.
Unfortunately for them, Kulikov suffered an upper-body injury in the second game of this season back in October and has been out of the lineup since then. With Seth Jones still out on their back end, Kulikov will be counted on to play a big role defensively once again once he’s up to speed from a conditioning standpoint.
With his activation, Florida’s LTIR pool is now shrunk by Kulikov’s $1.15MM AAV. Per PuckPedia, they have a little over $1.4MM available to them in spending, and that’s with Jones, Aleksander Barkov, Jonah Gadjovich, and Tomas Nosek all on there. That amount will go up by $775K on Monday when Luke Kunin, who is currently on waivers, is either claimed or sent to the minors.
The pool could be expanded a little more if the team needs additional flexibility as Schwindt is expected to be out long-term as well. The 24-year-old suffered a lower-body injury on Thursday against Toronto and has three goals and one assist in 22 games this season. He needs to play in eight more games this season (between regular season and the playoffs, should Florida find a way to squeak in) for Florida to retain his RFA rights. If not, he’ll become a Group Six unrestricted free agent in July.
Kraken Sign Ryden Evers
March 1st is the first day of the league year that teams can officially sign players to future deals that begin the following season. Seattle is among the teams that had a deal ready as the team announced that they’ve signed center Ryden Evers to a three-year, entry-level contract. PuckPedia reports that the deal will carry a $1.075MM AAV and will break down as follows:
2026-27: $922.5K NHL salary, $102.5K signing bonus, $85K AHL salary
2027-28: $967.5K NHL salary, $107.5K signing bonus, $85K AHL salary
2028-29: $1.0125MM NHL salary, $112.5K signing bonus, $85K AHL salary
Evers was not drafted and was expected to play at Clarkson University next season, having committed to play there a little over two months ago. However, he evidently had a change of heart when the Kraken put this deal on the table.
Evers has spent the last two seasons with the Penticton Vees, playing in two separate leagues. The Vees were in the BCHL in 2024-25 and he finished 13th in league scoring with 24 goals and 36 assists in 54 games. This season, that team is part of the WHL and Evers has been a bit more productive, tallying 31 goals and 38 helpers in 60 games, good for 17th in league scoring.
It would be surprising to see an undrafted free agent make the jump to the NHL right away next season so Evers is likely ticketed for AHL Coachella Valley. Seattle has some strong organizational depth down the middle so he should get a chance to slowly acclimated to what will be his third straight year of playing in a different league in 2026-27.
Wild, Flyers Swap Boris Katchouk, Roman Schmidt
The Wild announced this evening that they’ve acquired defenseman Roman Schmidt from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for forward Boris Katchouk. Both players will report to their respective AHL clubs, sharing the distinction of being former notable Tampa Bay Lightning draft selections.
Even more interesting, both players started the campaign with the Lightning organization, being traded away separately, and now swapped for each other, as pointed out by Eduardo A. Encina of The Tampa Bay Times.
Katchouk, 27, is the more recognizable name in the deal with 179 NHL games under his belt. Selected in the second round by Tampa in the 2016 draft, the Vancouver native was thought to have safe middle six potential with raw scoring upside. Much like several other forwards chosen in his range of that draft, things did not materialize for Katchouk, who is now a full time AHLer. He was part of the Brandon Hagel trade in 2022, managing to skate in 117 games as a Blackhawk from 2021-24, but recording just 26 points. Katchouk’s possession metrics at even strength were far below league average, albeit on a hardcore rebuilding team.
He was then claimed off waivers by Ottawa in 2024, notching four points in 21 games but not getting another contract. Katchouk spent all of 2024-25 in the AHL with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, where he had his best professional season, with 49 points in 67 games. The efforts brought him back to his original club, but after just a few months, he was traded to the Wild organization for Michael Milne, who was a former third rounder who managed to skate in a game for the Wild last year.
Set to finish the season with Lehigh Valley, Katchouk departs the AHL’s bottom ranked team in Iowa, but his new club is not necessarily a contender, as the Flyers farmhands are ranked 22nd.
Positive news considering their place in the standings, meanwhile Iowa gets younger with the acquisition of Schmidt. The 23-year-old is also under team control as a restricted free agent this summer. Drafted in the third round back in 2021 by Tampa Bay, Schmidt was traded in early December for Ethan Samson, a fringe sixth round drafted prospect. A Michigan native out of the OHL, Schmidt has just one helper across 29 AHL contests this year between Syracuse and Lehigh Valley. A 6’5″ righty, he brings physicality and racks up PIMs. He is a longshot to become an NHLer at this point, but Schmidt brings a boost to the struggling Iowa Wild who have been thin on the back end.
Kings Recall Kenny Connors, Loan Angus Booth To AHL
Somewhat overshadowed after firing their coach this morning, the Los Angeles Kings called up prospect Kenny Connors from AHL Ontario, while Angus Booth has been loaned back in a corresponding transaction. The news was shared by the Ontario Reign (Twitter Link).
Selected in the fourth round of the 2022 draft by Los Angeles, Connors concluded his collegiate career at UMass-Amherst, entering the professional stage this year. The 22-year-old has 29 points in 49 AHL games, tied for fifth on the team, and also tied for 10th among league rookies. Prior to the campaign, Connors came just short of the club’s top 10 prospect list by Steven Ellis of The Daily Faceoff, but his AHL performance since then has been hard to miss.
Connors earned a call up in late January, but was unable to get into a game, as he still awaits his NHL debut. Disappointingly, he was scratched against his hometown team the Flyers, and was quietly reassigned not long after.
Never exploding offensively at UMass-Amherst, with a career high of 29 points in his final college season, the Pennsylvania native’s two-way acumen has resulted in a quick call up. Even if his expectation shattering point totals don’t last, Connors has the tools to become a solid role player for the Kings.
On the other hand, Booth is headed back down after also not yet making his debut. The defenseman was actually selected 13 spots after Connors in 2022. He was recalled just yesterday, as Andrei Kuzmenko landed on injured reserve with a week-to-week designation. Booth simply served as an extra body, not expected to play, where he’ll now return to Ontario where he’s posted 10 points and 26 penalty minutes in 42 games. Still just 21, the Montreal native plays a steady shutdown role, perhaps needing to build more strength to emerge as a full time NHLer.
Now set to host Colorado tomorrow night with Jim Hiller gone and associate D.J. Smith stepping in as interim head coach, Connors could finally get a look in the team’s bottom six sometime this week.
Penguins Recall Filip Hallander From Conditioning Loan
3/1: Pittsburgh has recalled Hallander from his conditioning loan. He scored one goal in three games with the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Hallander will remain on injured reserve, but has been recalled to undergo evaluation and testing as he recovers from blood clots earlier in the season.
2/18: The Penguins announced Wednesday that they’ve assigned forward Filip Hallander to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on a conditioning loan. Since Hållander is on standard injured reserve and not long-term injured reserve, the loan can last for up to two weeks for him to get back into game shape.
Hallander’s return to the ice comes more than three months after the 25-year-old was diagnosed with a blood clot in his leg. He was ruled out for at least three months at the time, so his pending return to game action in the minors roughly comes on schedule.
Hallander participated in NHL practice yesterday after the Penguins were eligible to reconvene, so it stands to reason his time in the AHL should be more game-focused than practice-focused since he’s already got one under his belt. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton has three games on the schedule before Pittsburgh makes its post-Olympic debut on Feb. 26. One of them is against Springfield tonight, meaning Hallander is more likely to suit up at least once during their back-to-back against Bridgeport this weekend.
A second-round pick back in 2018, Hallander is already in his third stint in the Pittsburgh organization. He was traded to the Maple Leafs in 2020 for Kasperi Kapanen, only to be re-acquired the following summer in the Jared McCann deal. He then opted to return to Timrå IK in his native Sweden following the 2022-23 campaign, but the Pens retained his signing rights with a qualifying offer. After Hallander was named the SHL’s Forward of the Year in 2024-25, he activated the NHL out-clause in his deal with Timrå and returned to Pittsburgh on a two-year, league-minimum contract.
Hallander made Pittsburgh’s opening night roster and, after being a healthy scratch on opening night, got into 13 straight games before the blood clot took him out of the lineup. He recorded the first four points of his NHL career – a goal and three assists – with a +4 rating while averaging 13:09 of ice time per game. He slotted in at left wing up and down the lineup, as high as first-line duties with Sidney Crosby and Bryan Rust and as low as fourth-line reps with Blake Lizotte and Connor Dewar.
The rookie had decent even-strength possession impacts and averaged about a minute per game on the penalty kill, but with Pittsburgh’s forward group fully healthy coming out of the break, it’s hard to see where he fits into the lineup. Egor Chinakhov was acquired from the Blue Jackets while Hallander was out and, with 12 points in 18 games, has solidified his spot alongside countryman Evgeni Malkin on the second line. Veteran Noel Acciari slots in with Lizotte and Dewar, and that trio has some of the best defensive metrics in the league. In all likelihood, he’ll serve as a versatile plug-and-play extra for the stretch run while allowing prospects like Avery Hayes and Rutger McGroarty more seasoning in the AHL.
Golden Knights Sign Alex Weiermair To Entry-Level Contract
The Vegas Golden Knights have signed 19-year-old forward Alex Weiermair to a three-year, entry-level contract. Weiermair currently leads the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks in scoring with 32 goals and 75 points in 57 games.
Weiermair moved to the WHL partway through the 2024-25 season after a slow start to his sophomore year at the University of Denver. He only notched eight points in 33 games with the Pioneers, continuing a trend for muted scoring that followed him through AAA and two years with the U.S. National Team Development Program. But now in the CHL, it seems the physical winger has finally found his stride. He reached 21 goals and 46 points in 41 games with Portland to close off 2025. That show of offense, mixed with Weiermair’s 6-foot-2 and 207-pound frame, was enough to convince Vegas to draft him in the sixth-round of last year’s draft.
One season later, the Golden Knights will vindicate Weiermair’s selection with his first pro contract. This deal will remove Weiermair’s eligibility to return to college, likely setting him up to move to the AHL after his CHL eligibility ends at the end of this season. In moving to the Henderson Silver Knights, Weiermair will join many other hard-hitting Vegas prospects, including Ben Hemmerling, Kai Uchacz, and Trevor Connelly.
Sabres Activate Zach Benson, Assign Anton Wahlberg To AHL
The Sabres will welcome back a key winger to their lineup tonight against Tampa Bay. NHL.com’s Heather Engel relays (Twitter link) that Zach Benson has been activated off injured reserve. To make room on the roster, forward Anton Wahlberg has been sent down to AHL Rochester.
Benson has missed the last four weeks with an upper-body injury although he only ultimately missed four games. But between a facial injury and a lower-body issue earlier in the season, the 20-year-old has been limited to just 42 games so far. He has fared well in those outings, picking up seven goals and 19 assists, putting him on pace to pass his career high in points despite all the missed action. Head coach Lindy Ruff has rewarded the extra production with more ice time as Benson is logging 16:30 per game, a personal best.
This is a big season for Benson as he’s in the final year of his entry-level contract, making him a restricted free agent this summer. At this point, given the long-term deal given to Josh Doan and their desire to re-sign Alex Tuch to a long-term pact, Benson’s next contract seems likely to be a bridge agreement although a strong performance down the stretch could boost his chances of forcing Buffalo’s hand into giving him a long-term deal.
As for Wahlberg, he received his first NHL recall earlier this week but ultimately didn’t see any game action. The 20-year-old is in the first year of his entry-level deal and has six goals and 19 assists in 47 games for the Americans this season.