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Lightning Reassign Mitchell Chaffee, Scott Sabourin

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Oct. 29: The Lightning announced Wednesday that they’ve reassigned Sabourin to Syracuse. With his suspension now served, he’s unlikely to see another stint on the NHL roster in the near future.

Oct. 28: The Tampa Bay Lightning have recalled forward Scott Sabourin and assigned forward Mitchell Chaffee to the AHL. Chaffee cleared waivers earlier on Tuesday. Sabourin will serve the final game of a four-game suspension picked up during the preseason, making him eligible to return to the NHL lineup as soon as Thursday.

Tampa Bay has been strategic with its call-ups of Sabourin. He served his suspension gradually, over multiple call-ups, while also appearing in five games for the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch. He’s racked up two points, seven penalty minutes, and a plus-two in those appearances. It’s a relatively meager stat line for the usually-chippy Sabourin, who ranked second on the San Jose Barracuda with 111 penalty minutes in 65 games last season. He led the Barracuda with 192 PIMs in 2024 and led the Belleville Senators with 177 PIMs in 2023.

Sabourin has played in only 12 NHL games since his rookie season ended in 2020. He has two points and 25 PIMs in his limited appearances. He’s otherwise been a core piece of lineups across the AHL, offering imposing size and an old-school enforcer style. Tampa Bay could lean on that hard-nosed presence to turn around its 3-4-2 start to the season, though Sabourin would need to leapfrog Yanni Gourde or Dominic James to crack into the Lightning lineup.

Meanwhile, Chaffee will head to the minor leagues after appearing in the first seven games of Tampa Bay’s season. He recorded no scoring and 19 hits in those appearances. This move will push Chaffee towards his first AHL games since the 2023-24 season, when he posted 26 points in 36 AHL games and seven points in 30 NHL games. That scoring was enough to earn the Michigan-native a full season with the Lightning last year. He marked it with 12 goals and 18 points in 66 games, though he couldn’t keep that scoring up through this season. Chaffee has 25 points in 105 career NHL games and 89 points in 123 career AHL appearances.

Blues Recall Dalibor Dvorsky

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The Blues announced they’ve recalled their top center prospect, Dalibor Dvorsky, from the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds. St. Louis has an open roster spot after placing Jake Neighbours on injured reserve yesterday, so there’s no need for a corresponding transaction.

Dvorsky, the No. 10 overall pick in the 2023 draft, gets his first look of the season as the Blues deal with injuries to a pair of top-line forwards. Not only is Neighbours out for the next five weeks with a right leg injury, but their top center, Robert Thomas, has also missed the last two games with an upper-body injury and remains day-to-day.

Amid those injuries, the Blues have lost four games in a row and are 3-6-1 in their last 10 outings. It’s their goaltending that has been lacking. The Blues’ 4.40 goals against per game is 31st in the league, yet they’re allowing the fifth-fewest shots per game (25.4) in the NHL. Jordan Binnington and Joel Hofer are both among the six worst goaltenders in the league this season in terms of goals saved above expected, per MoneyPuck, combining for a -10.4 GSAx mark.

Dvorsky’s presence obviously won’t change the picture between the pipes, but they’re hoping his infusion into the roster can at least help them make strides toward outscoring their problems and get back in the win column. The Slovak pivot is off to a hot start with Springfield, scoring three goals and two assists for five points through six games. That’s tied for the team lead and marks a promising start to his second year in the North American pros. Last season, the 20-year-old churned out a 21-24–45 scoring line in 61 appearances for the Thunderbirds and was named to the AHL Top Prospects Team.

If Dvorsky plays, it will not mark his NHL debut. The 6’1″, 201-lb center suited up twice for the Blues late last season. He wasn’t given much runway, going without a point and averaging just 9:25 of ice time per game. With Neighbours’ and Thomas’ injuries stretching St. Louis’ forward depth thin, though, it stands to reason Dvorsky should not only enter the lineup for tomorrow’s game against the Canucks but play a semi-significant role while doing so. Being able to return Nick Bjugstad or Alexandre Texier to the fourth-line roles where they started the season would not only provide the Blues with better matchup options but also allow Dvorsky his first legitimate taste of top-nine minutes in the NHL, a role they anticipate him playing for years to come.

Stars Assign Emil Hemming To OHL

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The Stars announced yesterday that they’ve reassigned winger Emil Hemming to the OHL’s Barrie Colts. He had started the season on assignment to AHL Texas but will play out the remainder of the 2025-26 season back in junior hockey.

Hemming now figures in as the top forward prospect in a depleted Dallas pool. A late first-round pick in 2024 at No. 29 overall, he spent his draft year in his native Finland, recording seven goals in 11 points in 40 games for TPS in his country’s top pro league, Liiga. The Stars quickly got him signed to his entry-level contract. They could have loaned him back to TPS for the 2024-25 season, but Hemming instead opted to make the jump to North America and signed on with Barrie, which had selected him in that year’s CHL Import Draft.

The 6’2″ sniper didn’t have quite the impact he or the Stars hoped for. His output fell short of expectations for a first-round pick in his post-draft year, tallying 18 goals and 48 points in 60 regular-season games for the Colts. There was some apparent forward progress late in the year, though – he tallied nearly a point per game for Barrie in the playoffs with an 8-7–15 scoring line in 16 appearances.

On the whole, it’s still slightly underwhelming goal-scoring from a player drafted to do just that. Dallas was hopeful he could make an impact in the pros this season and sent him to their minor-league affiliate out of camp – something he was eligible for since he was drafted out of Finland, not the OHL – but he did not record a point through five games in the AHL. He’ll now look to get some confidence back in a lower-stakes, more familiar environment as he sets his sights toward making a smoother transition to pro hockey in 2026-27.

Mammoth Sign Logan Cooley To Eight-Year Extension

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The Mammoth announced they’ve signed center Logan Cooley to an eight-year contract extension. The deal is worth $80MM for an average annual value and cap hit of $10MM. Cooley, who was a pending restricted free agent in the final year of his entry-level contract, will now remain in Utah through the 2033-34 campaign. The deal does not include signing bonus money, per PuckPedia, but has a 16-team no-trade list from 2030-31 onward. His salary breakdown per year is as follows:

2026-27: $13MM / 2027-28: $11MM / 2028-29: $11MM / 2029-30: $10MM / 2030-31: $7.8MM / 2031-32: $8.2MM / 2032-33: $8.5MM / 2033-34: $10.5MM

In doing so, the Mammoth make Cooley their new highest-paid player, at least beginning next season, and the latest in a string of players signing eight-year deals before the maximum extension length drops to seven next season. It’s a conclusion to the very relaxed, amicable negotiations described throughout between Cooley’s camp and Mammoth GM Bill Armstrong over the past few months, aside from Cooley’s high-profile rejection of an eight-year, $77MM offer.

It turns out Armstrong didn’t need to raise the bar much higher to keep his franchise cornerstone center locked in for the vast majority of his prime. While he’s done quite a lot of work over the past year and a half since the Utah franchise was born from the Coyotes’ hockey operations assets, Cooley is still a holdover from Arizona’s final years. He was the third overall pick of the 2022 draft straight out of the U.S. National Team Development Program and spent his post-draft season at the University of Minnesota, exploding for 22 goals and 60 points in 39 games with a +38 rating. He was the top playmaker in college hockey as a freshman, which, understandably, led him to be one-and-done at school and to sign his entry-level deal with the Coyotes the following offseason.

Since debuting for Arizona in 2023-24, Cooley has been consistently on the rise. He didn’t look out of place at all from the jump, checking in with a 20-goal, 44-point effort in his rookie year while serving as a middle-six center. His defensive game needed some expected cleanup, but he finished fifth in Calder Trophy voting and earned the center spot on the league’s All-Rookie Team.

Still just 21 years old, Cooley is now fully coming into his own. He demonstrated massive improvement in Utah’s first go-around in Salt Lake City last year, upping his production to 25 goals, 40 assists, and 65 points in 75 games. That came with increased success in the faceoff dot, winning 44.7% of his draws compared to just 38% in his rookie season, a workload of nearly 18 minutes per game, and improved possession metrics that saw him control 51.2% of shot attempts and 52.2% of expected goals at even strength.

Getting Cooley’s extension done now, compared to later in the season, likely saved the Mammoth millions of dollars in the long run. Cooley’s off to a torrid start in 2025-26, tied for fifth in the league with eight goals through 11 games while adding four assists for 12 points. He’s now averaging closer to 19 minutes per game, boasts a plus-five rating, and ranks second on the Mammoth in scoring behind veteran Nick Schmaltz. His continued breakout is one of the most significant factors in a Utah offense that ranks eighth in the league at 3.64 goals per game and has the team first in the Central Division.

That production comes despite Cooley not receiving “true” first-line center deployment. He’s rarely been used as the top pivot on Utah’s depth chart between Schmaltz and Clayton Keller – that honor has been bestowed upon the more defense-oriented Barrett Hayton. Cooley has instead become the centerpiece of one of the league’s most potent second lines between Dylan Guenther and JJ Peterka, but his position on the line chart does very little to alter his market value with the minutes and production he still manages.

A $10MM cap figure also checks in as a relative bargain for a player expected to consistently hover around a point per game for the life of the deal, particularly as the salary cap continues its aggressive rise. Armstrong has been quick to take advantage of increased funding from Utah ownership compared to his previous bosses in Arizona and now has the vast majority of the team’s core signed for the rest of the decade. Cooley joins Peterka ($7.7MM cap hit), Guenther ($7.14MM cap hit), Jack McBain ($4.25MM cap hit), Mikhail Sergachev ($8.5MM cap hit), and Karel Vejmelka ($4.75MM cap hit) as Mammoth players signed through 2030 or longer.

Armstrong’s work to lock in a championship-contending force in Salt Lake isn’t done yet. There’s the future of Schmaltz and Hayton, the former of whom is a pending UFA and might be well on his way to pricing himself out of an extension. Keller, the team’s captain, has three years left on his current deal. Hayton will be an arbitration-eligible RFA this summer and has no years of team control left after that.

Image courtesy of Nick Wosika-Imagn Images.

Flyers Recall Emil Andrae

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The Philadelphia Flyers have recalled defenseman Emil Andrae. He should step back into a role on the team’s third pair, after scoring three points in his last four AHL games. Andrae is tied for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms’ scoring lead with five assists in six games.

Andrae has once again found consistent scoring in the minor-leagues. Including his seven appearances in the 2025 Calder Cup Playoffs, he has effectively recorded 11 assists in his last 13 games in the AHL. It’s a welcomed boost to his stat line, after he only recorded one assist through 14 AHL games in March of this year. The newfound confidence has directly impacted Andrae’s ability to recover loose pucks, and turn them into fastbreaks.

But Andrae hasn’t yet discovered that ability at the NHL level. He played through his rookie NHL season last year, but only managed seven points, 16 penalty minutes, and a minus-five through 42 games. The lack of production has earned Andrae a mere 17 minutes of ice time, on average, through 47 career appearances in the NHL. He’s an undersized, but strong, puck-mover who could stand to offer power-play upside one day, though that’d sit on the other side of an NHL breakout.

For now, Andrae will step into a rotation with Egor Zamula and Noah Juulsen for NHL minutes. Both players have recorded one assist on the season – Zamula through five games, and Juulsen through eight. Given his recent flash in the AHL, a measly one-assist standing should be surmountable for Andrae. A hot performance in his next NHL appearance could be enough to leapfrog Zamula on the depth chart – though repeated struggles could land him back in the AHL sooner rather than later.

Hurricanes Activate Shayne Gostisbehere, Place Eric Robinson On IR

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The Carolina Hurricanes are getting a major boost to their defensive core ahead of tonight’s marquee matchup against the Vegas Golden Knights. The Hurricanes announced that they’ve activated Shayne Gostisbehere from the injured reserve and have placed forward Eric Robinson on it in a corresponding roster move.

Despite missing the team’s last three games with a lower-body injury, Gostisbehere is still leading the team in scoring among defensemen. Before going down with the injury, the Pembroke Pines, FL native scored one goal and seven points in five games with a +9 rating, averaging 16:01 of ice time per game. Although his ATOI appears relatively low, it’s essential to note that Gostisbehere only skated for 4:06 in his most recent game on October 18th.

One of the most noticeable differences in Gostisbehere’s game has been on the defensive side of the puck. He’s had a pair of quality offensive campaigns between the Detroit Red Wings and Hurricanes since the 2023-24 season, but has hovered around an 88.0% on-ice save percentage at even strength (oiSV%).

This season, albeit in far fewer games, Gostisbehere got off to a great defensive start, averaging a 66.7% CorsiFor% (CF%) at even strength, and a 94.1% oiSV%. His CF% remains the highest on the team for players who have appeared in five or more contests, while his oiSV% is second on defense behind rookie Alexander Nikishin. In no uncertain terms, Gostisbehere was a primary reason the Hurricanes got off to an undefeated start through their first five games.

Meanwhile, Robinson heads to the IR after suffering an upper-body injury against the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday. According to an update from the team a few days later, Robinson isn’t expected back with the team anytime soon. He scored one goal and four points in seven games to start the 2025-26 campaign, averaging 9:57 of ice time per game.

Devils Place Cody Glass On IR, Activate Juho Lammikko

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The New Jersey Devils will have some notable center depth missing for the next little while. The Devils announced that they’ve placed center Cody Glass on injured reserve with a lower-body injury, and have activated Juho Lammikko in a corresponding roster move.

Although they didn’t mention it in the announcement, Glass’s placement on the IR is likely retroactive to October 21st, the last time he played, making him eligible for activation tomorrow. Before succumbing to the lower-body ailment, he scored two goals in six games and averaged a 40.3% success rate in the faceoff dot on the team’s third line.

Despite the low faceoff success, Glass has been relatively solid for New Jersey’s possession play and on the defensive side of the puck. Regardless, the team is off to an excellent start, winning with and without Glass.

Replacing Glass in the lineup will be Lammikko, who was placed on the IR last week to create space for Stefan Noesen’s activation. Tonight’s game against the Colorado Avalanche will be Lammikko’s first NHL appearance since the 2021-22 campaign, when he scored seven goals and 15 points in 75 games for the Vancouver Canucks. He’s spent the last few years overseas with the NL’s ZSC Lions.

Although it’s well known that the Devils have an excellent team when healthy, the third-line center position could be an area for an upgrade around the trade deadline. New Jersey already has one of the best combinations in their top six with Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier, and a prominent third-line center could put them over the top.

Bruins To Activate Hampus Lindholm, Reassign Michael Callahan

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The Boston Bruins will have most of their defensive core intact for their upcoming contest tonight. According to Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald, the Bruins have activated Hampus Lindholm and assigned Michael Callahan to the AHL’s Providence Bruins in a corresponding roster move.

Lindholm has already missed eight games for Boston this season due to a lower-body injury. He originally suffered the injury against the Chicago Blackhawks on October 9th, leaving the game after only 4:26 of ice time. He has been skating with the team regularly since and managed a full game against the Colorado Avalanche on October 18th, but has had some lingering concerns since.

Still, considering his injury history from last year, the Bruins are likely being extremely cautious with Lindholm’s health. After scoring 13 goals and 79 points in 153 games with a +67 rating with Boston from 2022 to 2024, a fractured patella limited him to only 17 contests during the 2024-25 campaign.

The fact that he’s already missed eight games should be concerning. He’s been relatively unnoticeable in the three games he has played in, going scoreless with two shots on goal. His possession and defensive metrics have been particularly poor, managing a 34.2% CorsiFor% at even strength, and an 85.0% on-ice SV% at even strength.

Meanwhile, Callahan returns to Providence after three games with Boston. Like Lindholm, he went scoreless while averaging 16:27 of ice time, but managed much better possession metrics. Callahan was originally recalled when the Bruins placed Jordan Harris on IR, meaning Jonathan Aspirot will retain his spot on the roster for the time being.

Sharks Recall Patrick Giles, Place Nick Leddy On IR

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The Sharks announced Tuesday they’ve recalled center Patrick Giles from AHL San Jose. Defenseman Nick Leddy was placed on injured reserve retroactive to Oct. 23 to open up a roster spot.

Giles’ recall comes after fellow middleman Adam Gaudette left Sunday’s overtime win over the Wild due to an upper-body injury. Gaudette was not at today’s practice and could miss a longer stretch than just a few days, but the Sharks will know more tomorrow after his evaluation is complete, Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now relays.

San Jose was rostering 13 forwards and eight defensemen as it has for much of the year, so Giles comes up to give them an extra forward if they need one for however long Gaudette is unavailable. Giles was the lone piece that came back from the Panthers for goaltender Vítek Vaněček at last season’s trade deadline. The 25-year-old pivot spent the rest of March on the NHL roster before being returned to the AHL for the last couple of weeks of the season. Giles, waiver-eligible for the first time in 2025-26, then landed on the wire during training camp to complete the process of him being cut and reassigned to the minors.

An undrafted free agent signing by Florida out of Boston College back in 2022, Giles made his NHL debut last season. He made 17 appearances split between the Panthers and Sharks, scoring his first NHL goal and posting a minus-three rating while averaging 9:14 of ice time per game. The Maryland native brought some size (6’4″, 205 lbs) and physicality to both clubs’ fourth line, but doesn’t offer much upside beyond that. He struggled in the faceoff dot, winning only 34% of his draws, and only controlled 41.4% of shot attempts at 5-on-5. He saw some fringe penalty-killing deployment with San Jose down the stretch, though.

If Giles’ services are needed in the next several days, they’ll likely insert him as a fourth-line center and bump Ty Dellandrea, who has four assists through nine games, up into a top-nine role if needed. He’s off to a promising enough start in the minors, registering a goal and an assist through four appearances for the Barracuda, but his lack of offensive utility in the pros so far limits the minutes he’ll get.

Leddy has already missed two games with the upper-body injury he sustained early in their game against the Rangers last Thursday. The IR placement rules him out for their next two games but his absence shouldn’t last much longer than that. Leddy returned to practice this morning, per Curtis Pashelka of the Bay Area News Group. The 16-year vet was claimed off waivers from the Blues during the summer and has two assists with a minus-four rating through his first seven games as a Shark.

Washington Capitals Sign, Send Down Brett Leason

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Oct. 28: Leason has cleared waivers and has been loaned to Hershey, the team announced.

Oct. 27: The Washington Capitals are bringing back a familiar face to the organization. According to a team announcement, the Capitals have signed forward Brett Leason to a one-year, two-way contract worth $775K. The team subsequently placed him on waivers to eventually reassign him to the AHL’s Hershey Bears.

It’s been several years since Leason last suited up for the Bears. Leason, selected 56th overall in the 2019 NHL Draft, debuted with Hershey in the 2019-20 season after an impressive year with the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders. During his last campaign with the Raiders, the Calgary native scored 36 goals and 89 points in 55 games and another 10 goals and 25 points in 20 postseason appearances.

Unfortunately, Leason’s skill level didn’t transfer to the professional circuit for some time. Throughout his three years with the Bears, he put up relatively modest production, scoring 18 goals and 47 points in 114 games. During a brief run with the Capitals back in the 2021-22 campaign, Leason only registered three goals and six points in 36 contests.

Leason received a separate opportunity one year later, when the Anaheim Ducks claimed him off waivers before the start of the 2022-23 campaign. He became much more productive in an expanded role with Anaheim, scoring 22 goals and 48 points in 184 games while averaging 12:23 of ice time per night. Unfortunately, as they graduated more talent to the NHL level, the Ducks made Leason an unrestricted free agent this offseason when they opted not to extend a qualifying offer to him.

Today’s contract becomes the third one signed by Leason since the beginning of the offseason. He began training camp on a professional tryout agreement with the Minnesota Wild. After that didn’t work out, he has been practicing with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers on a similar tryout agreement.

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