Washington Activates Charlie Lindgren, Sends Down Hunter Shepard
The Washington Capitals have activated goaltender Charlie Lindgren from the injured reserve and sent Hunter Shepard to their AHL affiliate in a corresponding roster move, per a team announcement. Lindgren was originally placed on the injured reserve on January 3rd after it became known that he suffered an upper-body injury.
At the beginning of the year, with the Capitals struggling on offense, and largely still doing so, Lindgren had become a source of stability between the pipes, playing well above expectation to keep Washington afloat in the Eastern Conference playoff race early. Although the starting role was largely viewed as Darcy Kuemper‘s to lose, Lindgren has largely forced the Capitals’ hand.
Through 15 games this season, Lindgren carries a 7-3-3 record, with an impressive .928 save percentage and 2.27 goals against average. Out of all qualifying goaltenders in the Eastern Conference, both Lindgren’s SV% and GAA serve as the top marks in the Conference. However, even with the strong numbers up to this point, Hockey Reference places Lindgren with a .902 SV% against all scoring chances, and a .864 SV% against high-danger scoring chances, indicating there could be some regression on the horizon for Lindgren.
In Shepard, he was originally recalled on December 30th via an emergency loan, starting both that day and on January 3rd. Over those two games upon his emergency loan recall, Shepard produced an 0-1-1 record, maintaining a .875 SV%. He will now rejoin a Hershey Bears team that he has spent much of the year with. Continuing his success from last year’s Calder Cup playoffs, Shepard holds a 14-2-0 record for the Bears so far this year, possessing a .908 SV% and 2.28 GAA in 16 games.
Blues Sign Nathan Walker To Two-Year Extension
The Blues have agreed to a two-year, one-way extension with depth winger Nathan Walker, per a team release. Walker’s new deal carries the league minimum salary of $775K each season and keeps him from hitting unrestricted free agency this summer.
Walker, 29, will remain in St. Louis through the 2025-26 season. The first Australian national in league history is now in his eighth season, having played NHL games every year since debuting with the Capitals in 2017-18. A third-round pick of the Capitals in 2014 after suiting up for their AHL affiliate in Hershey, Walker immediately signed his entry-level contract and spent most of the next five seasons in the Capitals organization aside from a two-game stint with the Oilers, including one appearance in the team’s run to the 2018 Stanley Cup.
After reaching Group VI UFA status, Walker inked a two-year deal with the Blues in July 2019. He’s stayed in the organization ever since, racking up 13 goals and 13 assists for 26 points in 101 games, averaging 10:55 per game. Added to his career regular-season totals with Washington and Edmonton, Walker has 14 goals and 28 points in 113 NHL appearances.
He’s primarily been a tweener player for most of his career, always seeing significant AHL time but consistently finding himself in the mix for NHL call-ups. That changed last season, however, as Walker spent the entire campaign on the NHL roster for the first time, recording two goals, eight assists and ten points in 56 games in a fourth-line/depth role.
It hasn’t been the same story this season, however. Walker cleared waivers on the day before the regular season began and returned to AHL Springfield, where he took the demotion in stride. His 16 assists and 29 points in 30 games are second on the team behind Matthew Peca and Adam Gaudette, respectively, leading the Blues to bring Walker back to the NHL when the calendar turned to 2024 last week. In the two games since his January 1 recall, Walker has one goal and a +1 rating, averaging 8:06 per game.
Walker will likely continue to intermittently factor in on the Blues’ fourth line throughout the deal. Extending him now makes it much less likely that a team will claim him on waivers if he ends up on the wire later this season, as a three-year term (including this season) would make a claim challenging for most teams looking for short-term help. He will be a UFA when his deal expires in the summer of 2026.
Devils Place Jonas Siegenthaler On IR, Recall Two From AHL
The Devils announced that defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler was placed on injured reserve today, likely retroactive to his last appearance on January 6, with a foot fracture. Forward Shane Bowers and defensemen Cal Foote were recalled from AHL Utica in corresponding moves.
Head coach Lindy Ruff said last weekend that Siegenthaler, 26, would likely miss significant time. As such, he’s expected to remain on IR longer than the minimum seven-day stay. The team’s secondary shutdown defender behind John Marino has six goals, 37 assists, 43 points, and a +15 rating in 196 contests with the Devils since coming over to New Jersey from the Capitals in an April 2021 trade.
Now in the first season of a five-year, $17MM extension signed shortly after he became eligible for one in July 2022, Siegenthaler has spent this season riding shotgun with Dougie Hamilton or Simon Nemec on the Devils’ top pairing. Hamilton has been out since late November with a left pectoral muscle tear and is expected to miss the remainder of the season. Meanwhile, the 19-year-old Nemec has effectively shouldered heavy minutes in his first NHL stint since being selected second overall in the 2022 draft.
Before his injury, Siegenthaler had one goal, seven assists and a -1 rating while averaging 19:54 of ice time through 38 games.
Bowers and Foote come up to alleviate the pains of a Devils roster currently without Hamilton and Siegenthaler on defense and Jack Hughes, Timo Meier, Tomáš Nosek, and Ondřej Palát at forward all due to injuries. The two recalls get the Devils to the minimum 18 skaters on the active roster, meaning they’ll both draw in for their season debuts against the Lightning on Thursday.
New Jersey acquired the signing rights for the 24-year-old Bowers, who was originally the Senators’ 28th overall pick in the 2017 draft, from the Bruins in exchange for the rights to minor-league defenseman Reilly Walsh in a June 2023 trade, the third time Bowers has been traded in his young professional career. The Devils promptly inked Bowers to a one-year, two-way deal, which carries a $775K cap hit and sees him earn $125K in the minors this year, where he has six goals and just one assist in 29 games with Utica. The Nova Scotian has one NHL game to his name, taking three shifts as a member of the Avalanche against the Predators in November 2022 before exiting with injury.
Foote was also a first-round pick, selected 14 spots ahead of Bowers by the Lightning in 2017. Dealt to the Predators last season in the Tanner Jeannot trade, he became a UFA last July after not receiving a qualifying offer. The Devils snapped him up in August, joining him in the organization with his brother, Nolan Foote, on a one-year, two-way deal with an $800K cap hit. The 25-year-old didn’t make the team out of camp, but this is not his first recall of the season. He was rostered for eight games in late October and early November, although he was a healthy scratch for all of them. He’s logged nine points and a -14 rating in 24 games with Utica.
Given their pedestrian minor-league performance, Bowers and Foote will likely see limited usage during their time on the NHL roster. Foote’s recall gives the Devils four right-shot defensemen, meaning one of Foote, Marino, Nemec, or Colin Miller will need to shift to their off-side for Thursday’s game and beyond.
Rangers Assign Brennan Othmann To AHL
The Rangers assigned winger Brennan Othmann to AHL Hartford on Tuesday morning, the team announced. NHL.com’s Dan Rosen reports the Rangers are expected to replace Othmann’s spot on the active roster with a corresponding recall from Hartford later today.
Othmann, 21, was the Rangers’ 16th overall pick in the 2021 draft and just completed his first NHL stint. Signed to his entry-level deal shortly after the 2021 draft in August, his contract slid for two seasons because the Rangers returned him to the OHL’s Flint Firebirds to begin the 2021-22 and 2022-23 campaigns. Now that he’s old enough for a full-time AHL assignment under the NHL-CHL transfer agreement, Othmann started his professional career in earnest last Fall. He’s impressed thus far with Hartford, recording nine goals and 14 assists for 23 points in 28 games, ranking fourth on the team in each metric.
After veteran fourth-liner Tyler Pitlick sustained a lower-body injury last week, the Rangers brought Othmann up on an emergency loan to gauge his NHL readiness. He impressed in his first showing, recording five shots on goal in 12:26 of ice time against the Blackhawks in his NHL debut on January 4, but registered under eight minutes of ice time and one shot on goal in the following two games. He’ll head back to the minors, still searching for his first NHL point after averaging 9:05 and posting a subpar 48.2% Corsi share despite extensive offensive zone usage at even strength in three contests.
Sending Othmann down leaves the Rangers with only 11 healthy forwards, but as Rosen mentions, that number will jump back to 12 later today. The Rangers, who lost 6-3 to the Canucks last night, don’t play again until Thursday in St. Louis.
Oilers Recall Phil Kemp
The Oilers have promoted defenseman Phil Kemp from AHL Bakersfield, per a team release issued late last night. Edmonton sat with two open roster spots before the recall and had enough cap space to execute the transaction after assigning top center prospect Dylan Holloway to the minors last week, so no corresponding transaction was necessary.
Edmonton selected Kemp, 24, in the seventh round of the 2017 draft. After three seasons at Yale, he made his pro debut on loan to Väsby IK in the Swedish second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan in the 2020-21 campaign while AHL and NHL action was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the end of Väsby’s season, the Oilers brought Kemp back to North America to make his AHL debut for Bakersfield, where he’s remained ever since. He’s far from being a major point-producing threat in the pros, with nine goals and 27 assists in 164 games with Bakersfield. Still, he’s steadily taken on more responsibility over his four seasons there and has proven himself an adept defensive player at that level. Playing in all 26 Condors games this season, Kemp has five assists, 13 PIMs and a +5 rating.
He’s best defined as a low-ceiling, low-certainty prospect, as expected for someone selected with ten picks remaining in his draft. Still, it’s a great story to see Kemp potentially get a shot at playing his first NHL game. Whether the 6-foot-3, 212-pound defender will draw in tonight against the Blackhawks or sit as a healthy scratch is unclear.
Technically, this is not Kemp’s first NHL recall, although it is his first during the regular season. After the Condors’ brief Calder Cup playoff appearance ended in a 2-0 first-round sweep at the hands of the Abbotsford Canucks last year, the Oilers recalled Kemp to serve as a Black Ace during their second-round loss to the Golden Knights. He became waiver-eligible for the first time this year and passed through unclaimed on his way to Bakersfield at the end of the 2023 preseason.
Kemp can remain on the Oilers’ roster for up to 10 games played or 30 days, whichever comes sooner before he requires waivers to return to Bakersfield. He is in the first season of a two-year, two-way extension signed last May that carries a $775K cap hit, making him an RFA with arbitration rights in the summer of 2025.
Avalanche Recall Sam Malinski, Jason Polin
02:20 PM: The Avalanche have also recalled forward Jason Polin from the Eagles, according to a team announcement. This recall should be seen as an indication that Wood is likely out for tonight’s game against the Boston Bruins. The 24-year-old will likely fill in for Meyers, who was sent down, as the team’s last healthy forward.
That would put Polin, a natural left winger, in Meyers’ spot as the team’s fourth-line left winger alongside Fredrik Olofsson and Kurtis MacDermid. While Polin was a top-end offensive player in his final campaign with Western Michigan University, he’s not found the same level of offensive success in the early days of his pro career. He has just two points in 20 career AHL games, but nonetheless he could end up getting the chance to make his NHL debut tonight against Boston.
10:29 AM: The Avalanche recalled defenseman Sam Malinski from the AHL’s Colorado Eagles on Monday, per a team announcement.
This is the 25-year-old’s fourth recall of the season and his first of the calendar year. His most recent stint on the active roster lasted over a month, heading up to the Avalanche on emergency loan on November 29 before being returned to the Eagles on December 30.
The Avalanche suit up tonight against the Bruins and, without a recall, may have only had 17 skaters available for tonight’s game. Winger Miles Wood is uncertain after missing Saturday’s loss to the Panthers with an illness, and the Avalanche were down to 11 forwards after returning Ben Meyers to the Eagles on Saturday night. Malinski’s recall may indicate head coach Jared Bednar is planning to use 11 forwards and seven defensemen against the Bruins unless an additional recall is made later today.
If he does play tonight, it will be the 15th NHL appearance for Malinski, both this season and in his NHL career overall. The Minnesota-born blueliner is in his first professional season after completing his collegiate career with Cornell University in 2022-23, where he recorded 26 points and a +10 rating in 34 games during his senior campaign, earning First Team honors on the NCAA’s All-Ivy League year-end squad for the second season in a row.
The Avalanche snapped up Malinski, who was not selected in any previous NHL Entry Drafts, as a free agent last March and signed him to a two-year, two-way deal. He began the season with the Eagles but has filled in for the Avalanche on numerous occasions this season when injuries struck, recording a goal and five points along with a +1 rating in 14 games. He hasn’t seen much in the way of heavy minutes, averaging 14:11 per game, and his 45.5% Corsi share at even strength does leave something to be desired. However, Malinski has still seen more NHL action than most expected this year, potentially serving as a precursor to a more lengthy stay in Denver as a sixth or seventh defenseman option.
Maple Leafs Sign William Nylander To Eight-Year Extension
10:51 a.m.: Toronto has made the eight-year length and $92MM total value of the contract official, per a team release. Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reports that approximately $69MM of the deal will be paid out in signing bonuses.
9:00 a.m.: The Maple Leafs have officially completed talks on an eight-year, $11.5MM average annual value extension, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports Monday morning. The contract will carry a full no-movement clause in all eight seasons, running from 2024-25 to 2031-32. TSN’s Chris Johnston was the first to report the NMC inclusion earlier Monday.
Nylander, 27, is now the recipient of the largest total value contract in the Maple Leafs’ 100-plus-year history at $92MM. He will be 36 years old when his mega-deal expires in 2032, making him eligible for unrestricted free agency for the first time in his career as his prime years are assumedly winding down.
This is a landmark deal for a player who’s emerged as undoubtedly their second-most important forward this season. While superstar first-line center Auston Matthews has stolen the show with his 30 goals in just 36 games, Nylander has broken the bank in terms of points. His 21 goals and 33 assists give him 54 points on the year in 37 games, putting him on pace for 120 – shattering last season’s career-high mark of 87.
Nylander’s been viewed as a bona fide top-six winger since he finished sixth place in Calder Trophy voting in 2016-17. However, there have always been external questions surrounding the compete and consistency level of the 2014 eighth-overall pick. Most of those have been quieted in the past 12 months, with Nylander continuing to provide excellent postseason play (despite Toronto’s abbreviated playoff runs), adding in excellent possession metrics and now proving himself as a yearly threat for 40-plus goals.
The leading thought among public opinion will likely be that new GM Brad Treliving shoehorned himself by not signing Nylander to a deal last summer when discussions were reportedly in the $9MM-$10MM AAV range. However, Friedman countered that on this morning’s edition of the 32 Thoughts podcast. He believes that Nylander’s camp has been holding steadfast to a higher number since negotiations began last July, and while he couldn’t confirm that an $11.5MM AAV on an eight-year deal was Nylander’s initial ask, it was close enough to get the deal done once the Leafs arrived at that number.
It’s unlikely the Leafs were comfortable with a $1.5MM jump in value per season based on a 30-game hot streak. Advanced metrics show this run of play from Nylander could very well be sustainable over the first few seasons of the deal, however, making the team’s third $11M+ cap hit on the books next season easier to swallow.
For one, he’s shooting the puck more – likely due to an uptick in ice time this season of around a minute and a half. He’s now shown he’s able to weather more than 20 minutes per game on a routine basis, something the Leafs will rely on him to do as their bevy of high-paying contracts restricts their ability to add depth on offense. Thus, despite his career-high 47-goal pace, Nylander is shooting at a percentage right around his career average (12.9% this season compared to his 12.3% average), and at a shooting percentage lower than three out of the last four seasons. His possession numbers remain quite strong, too, including a 53.4% Corsi share and a 4% relative Corsi share at even strength this year. Put simply, his play this season warrants the box-score numbers he’s produced.
That makes it an incredibly difficult decision to consider parting with Nylander, who’s developed into a core player for Toronto in every sense of the word. He’ll have spent a decade already in the organization next summer, and he’s managed to withstand, at times, a great deal of public criticism from local media and respond with an 18-month span that’s solidified him as a top-five right wing in the league. By keeping him around long-term, the Maple Leafs will get to reap the rewards of their patience.
Whether or not the team’s current construction under the salary cap can lead to a Stanley Cup win is the most pressing question, though, a cry that will become louder with now over 50% of next season’s salary cap devoted to Nylander, Matthews, Mitch Marner and captain John Tavares. In hindsight, that may be a more important metric in assessing this deal’s value rather than Nylander’s individual production over the next eight seasons.
For now, Nylander will be one of the six highest-paid players in the league next season in terms of AAV behind Matthews ($13.25MM), Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon ($12.6MM), Oilers superstar Connor McDavid ($12.5MM), Rangers winger Artemi Panarin ($11.64MM), and Penguins blueliner Erik Karlsson ($11.5MM). It’s quite lofty company for Nylander at the beginning of the contract, but his cap hit’s place in those standings will continuously drop as more eight-figure deals get inked with the impending sharp rise of the salary cap’s Upper Limit.
In signing this deal, the Maple Leafs also take the top pending unrestricted free agent of the 2024 class off the board. That title now goes to a group of first-line talents in the Eastern Conference – Penguins first-line mainstay Jake Guentzel, Lightning captain Steven Stamkos, and, amidst a breakout season on pace for 59 goals and 105 points, Panthers winger Sam Reinhart.
Nylander’s full no-movement clause will protect him from any trades, waiver placements, or future expansion drafts over the life of the deal unless he consents. It does not, however, prohibit Toronto from buying out his contract if the last seasons of the deal age poorly.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Anaheim Ducks Recall Alex Stalock, Reassign Jackson LaCombe
Before the puck dropped in tonight’s matchup between the Anaheim Ducks and Detroit Red Wings, the Ducks announced they had called up goaltender Alex Stalock, and reassigned defenseman Jackson LaCome to their AHL affiliate, the San Diego Gulls. As mentioned in previous reporting, it was discovered that netminder John Gibson would be out of tonight’s game due to an illness, and the Ducks would be reintroducing forward Troy Terry back into the lineup.
As the third-string goaltender in the organization, this will mark Stalock’s third call-up of the season, with the other two coming on November 1st and December 20th, respectively. Failing to play a game in either of those two transactions, Stalock has only played for the Gulls this season, carrying a 1-7-1 record through nine games, and also possessing a .894 SV%.
If Anaheim continues to maintain relatively good health between the pipes, Stalock could very well only play in the AHL this season for a struggling San Diego team. It would mark the first time Stalock has only suited up in the AHL for any given year since the 2011-12 season. Employed as a backup for the Chicago Blackhawks last year, Stalock has a career record of 70-65-20, with a .908 SV% primarily serving as a backup with the Blackhawks, Minnesota Wild, and San Jose Sharks.
In LaCombe, it will mark his first demotion to the minor leagues over his young career, making his NHL debut last season after wrapping up his career with the University of Minnesota. LaCombe initially made his way to the Ducks organization after being selected by the team with the 39th overall selection of the 2019 NHL Draft.
It would be an understatement to say that LaCombe has struggled in his first full year in the NHL, only tallying four assists through 35 games this season. Playing in almost 20 minutes each night, LaCombe has managed a -22 rating, the worst on Anaheim’s roster. Furthermore, even in the more advanced metrics, LaCombe has produced a CorsiFor% of 38%, and an on-ice save percentage in all situations of 88.7%, which are simply not going to cut it at the NHL level.
Snapshots: Kulich, Gibson, Nosek
After a standout performance with Team Czechia at the 2024 World Junior Championship, the Buffalo Sabres announced they have reassigned forward Jiri Kulich to their AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans. Leading his team to a bronze medal finish over Team Finland, Kulich tied for for the lead in scoring over the whole tournament, scoring six goals and 12 points in seven games.
Kulich is now in his second season with the Americans, having scored 22 goals and 46 points in 62 games over his rookie campaign. Rochester would go on to the Eastern Conference Finals, losing to the eventual champions, the Hershey Bears, in six games. Throughout 12 playoff games, Kulich became one of the top performers for the Americans, scoring seven goals and 11 points overall.
He has continued to impress at the AHL level this season, impressively scoring 16 goals in 23 games up to this point, still leading Rochester in goal-scoring, and tied for fourth throughout the entire league. With Buffalo having a relatively packed forward core, it is more than likely that Kulich won’t become a full-time player for the Sabres until the start of next season.
Other snapshots:
- Derek Lee of the Sporting Tribune is reporting that the goaltender for the Anaheim Ducks, John Gibson, will not play in the team’s game tonight against the Detroit Red Wings due to an illness. With Gibson unable to play, the Ducks will rely on Lukas Dostal to start, and Alex Stalock as the backup to end the team’s four-game losing streak.
- Undergoing foot surgery on December 1st, forward for the New Jersey Devils, Tomas Nosek was expected to be out for a significant amount of time. Today, it was announced that the Devils have transferred Nosek to their long-term injured reserve (X Link). However, he is able to be activated as soon as he is ready to go, having satisfied the LTIR requirements back in December.
Minnesota Wild Call Up Jesper Wallstedt, Reassign Zane McIntyre
The Minnesota Wild have recalled high-end goaltending prospect Jesper Wallstedt, and reassigned Zane McIntyre to their AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild, per a team release. With netminder Filip Gustavsson currently on the injured reserve and upcoming back-to-back games next weekend, it would be reasonable to assume that Wallstedt will end up making his NHL debut for the Wild.
Coming to Minnesota as the 20th overall selection of the 2021 NHL Draft, the native of Västerås, Sweden has shattered all expectations through his brief time in North America. Even during his last year in the SHL during the 2021-22 season, Wallstedt impressed greatly with a .918 SV% and 1.98 GAA in 22 games as a 19-year-old.
Making his way to Iowa last year, the excitement began growing around Wallstedt, as he produced an 18-15-5 record in his rookie campaign, carrying a .908 SV% and a 2.68 GAA. He has continued his upward momentum in this AHL season as well, currently holding an 11-9-0 record with a .917 SV% and 2.54 GAA. He currently ranks sixth in save percentage through all goalies in the AHL with a minimum of 15 games played.
Unfortunately for Wallstedt, this will likely only serve as a brief stay in the NHL, with Gustavsson only expected to miss a few weeks, and Marc-Andre Fleury currently serving as the team’s primary starter. However, with 11 games in 20 days upcoming for the Wild, Wallstedt will have plenty of opportunity to prove his worth at the NHL level.
With Gustavsson signed until the 2025-26 season, and Fleury’s status beyond this year up in the air, Wallstedt will more than likely be the primary backup option for the Wild as soon as next season. If he continues to play how he has in both the SHL and the AHL, Minnesota could become one of the few teams across the league to have their long-term solution in the crease.
For McIntyre, he was originally brought up via an emergency loan on December 31st in correspondence with Gustavsson’s injury. In the three games that he has been available for, Fleury has started in all of them, with McIntyre failing to get any minutes throughout his time up in the NHL. He will now return to Iowa where he has a .884 SV% through 12 games this season.
Michael Russo of The Athletic was the first to report the Wild would be recalling Wallstedt.