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Jets Activate Connor Hellebuyck

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The Winnipeg Jets will get an MVP-boost to Saturday’s match against the Washington Capitals. Reigning Hart Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck was activated off of injured reserve just in time for Hellebuyck to take on the starting role. He underwent an arthtroscopic knee procedure on November 21st that was originally expected to hold him out for four-to-six weeks. He now returns just three weeks later.

This will be some great news for the Jets, who have posted a dismal 2-7-1 record since Hellebuyck’s exit. They’ve been among the NHL’s worst performers in that stretch, allowing the second-most goals against (38) and the third-worst goals-against per-game average (3.80) of any team. Their offense has struggled just as much, only scoring 24 goals, or 2.40 goals-per-game.

Winnipeg was rock solid before losing their superstar goaltender. They had a 12-7-0 record and 64-to-52 goal-differential prior to Hellebuyck’s absence. The three-time Vezina Trophy-winner himself had eight wins and a .913 save percentage in 14 games. That’s his lowest save percentage since the 2021-22 season, but still ranks as the sixth-highest in the league among goalies with 14-or-more starts.

Hellebuyck’s precedent often sits far above sixth-best. He led the NHL in wins (47), save percentage (.925), and goals-against-average (2.00) among goalies with at least 35 starts last season. It was enough to earn Hellebuyck MVP acknowledgement, making him the first goaltender to take home the Hart since Carey Price in 2015. Hellebuyck certainly sits in-line with that company – boasting a career-long .918 Sv% in 582 games, to Price’s career .917 Sv% in 712 games.

The Jets’ goalie room quickly dries up with their starter on the shelf. Eric Comrie took on the starting role over the last few weeks, but only managed to bring his stat line up to six wins and a .886 Sv% in 15 appearances. Thomas Milic also posted a .871 Sv% in three appearances. The 22-year-old is only one season removed from an extended run in the ECHL. With these shifts, Hellebuyck will return to an unrivaled role in Winnipeg’s starter’s crease, while Milic heads back to a competition for the AHL starting role.

Sabres Recall Noah Ostlund, Assign Trevor Kuntar To AHL

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Trevor Kuntar’s first NHL stint was short-lived.  After his minor league deal was converted to an NHL pact back on Wednesday, his time in Buffalo is up for now as the team announced that they’ve assigned him to AHL Rochester and recalled center Noah Ostlund.

Ostlund has spent the bulk of the season up with Buffalo but with the team needing a seventh defenseman earlier in the week, he was the odd player out with his waiver exemption allowing for a quick solution.  The 21-year-old has played in 20 games with the Sabres this season, picking up three goals and three assists while averaging 12:45 of ice time per contest.  Ostlund has also gotten into seven games with the Amerks, collecting three goals and seven assists; three of those points came in his game on Wednesday, a mandatory outing before he could become recall-eligible again.

Kuntar is in his first season in Buffalo’s organization after coming over as an unrestricted free agent following his being non-tendered by Boston in June.  The 24-year-old leads Rochester in goals this season with nine while also chipping in with four assists in 24 appearances.  He made his NHL debut on Thursday, playing 5:12.  Now that he’s on an NHL deal, there should be an opportunity for him to come back at some point later in the season whenever injuries arise.

Capitals Activate Charlie Lindgren, Assign Garin Bjorklund To AHL

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The Capitals have made a pair of roster moves between the pipes heading into tonight’s game against Winnipeg.  The team announced that goaltender Charlie Lindgren has been activated off injured reserve.  To make room on the active roster, Garin Bjorklund has been assigned back to AHL Hershey; the roster remains full at 23 players.

Lindgren was placed on injured reserve back on Sunday, retroactive to December 5th so he winds up missing just the minimum amount of action.  The 31-year-old has played in 10 games so far this season, putting up a 2.90 GAA and a .893 SV%, numbers that are slightly worse compared to a year ago.  His best season came back in 2023-24 when he had a 2.67 GAA, a .911 SV%, and a league-best six shutouts in 50 games but was relegated to backup status when Washington acquired Logan Thompson at the 2024 draft.

As for Bjorklund, he received his first NHL recall on Monday but ultimately didn’t see any game action.  The 23-year-old is in his fourth professional season with the first three primarily being spent with ECHL South Carolina.  That hasn’t been the case this year, however, as he has only played for Hershey so far, posting a 3.01 GAA along with a .895 SV% in nine games.

Blackhawks Recall Nick Lardis

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It has been a very promising first rookie season for Blackhawks prospect Nick Lardis.  A strong showing with AHL Rockford has now been rewarded as the team announced that they’ve recalled the winger from the IceHogs.  With the move, their roster is now at the maximum of 23 players.

It’s the first recall of his young career.  The 20-year-old was a third-round pick by Chicago back in 2023 and has quickly surpassed that draft standing.  Lardis had a dominant showing last season in his final year of major junior, collecting a league-high 71 goals and 46 assists in 65 regular season games with OHL Brantford before averaging more than two points per game in the playoffs.

While Lardis hasn’t been able to produce at quite the same rate with Rockford, he has still been quite productive.  Entering play today, he sits sixth in AHL scoring and tops among rookies with 13 goals and 13 assists in 24 outings.  In a league where only a handful of veterans typically surpass the point-per-game mark, having a first-year pro do so like Lardis is particularly impressive.

Considering how impactful he has been in the minors, it will be interesting to see how Chicago chooses to deploy Lardis.  It wouldn’t make sense to pull him up to simply be an extra forward so it stands to reason that he should get his first taste of NHL action soon, perhaps as soon as tonight against Detroit.

Matt Dumba Clears Waivers, Assigned To AHL

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Saturday: The team announced that Dumba has passed through waivers unclaimed.  As expected, he has been assigned to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.  It will be his first action at that level since the 2014-15 when he played in 20 games for Iowa.

Friday: The Penguins announced this morning that they will place defenseman Mathew Dumba on waivers today at 1:00 pm Central. He’s been placed on the non-roster list until his waiver period ends tomorrow. The move makes room for rearguard Brett Kulak to join the active roster after being acquired from the Oilers in today’s Tristan Jarry/Stuart Skinner goalie swap.

Dumba, 31, hadn’t been much of a factor to this point in the season. Acquired from the Stars over the summer in a salary dump, he’s been in the press box more than he’s been on the ice.

When dressed, he’s recorded a 1-2–3 scoring line and a -5 rating in 11 appearances. He’s averaging 14:56 of ice time per game, his lowest figure since averaging 12:27 in his first taste of NHL hockey as a 19-year-old with the Wild back in 2013-14. His poor two-way play is reflected in his 46.2 CF% and 47.9 FF% at 5-on-5, both the second-worst among qualified Penguins defenders, ahead only of Caleb Jones.

With Kulak in the mix, Jack St. Ivany returning to health, and Ryan Graves flourishing in a bottom-pairing role after starting the season on waivers, Dumba might have played his last game as a Penguin. At a $3.75MM cap hit, he won’t be claimed off waivers, even though he’s on an expiring deal.

If the righty is dead set on returning to the NHL this season, he could refuse to report to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, allowing the Penguins to terminate his contract. He’d be walking away from whatever he’s still owed of his $3.5MM salary but could catch on somewhere else for the back half of the season on a cheaper, prorated one-year deal. If he does clear waivers and opts to report to the minors, the Penguins will still be on the hook for a $2.6MM cap hit.

While Dumba may have been one of the more offensively dynamic defensemen in the league at his peak, those days are long in the rearview. Drafted No. 7 overall by Minnesota in 2012, he broke out for 50 points and 136 hits in the 2017-18 season, prompting the Wild to sign him to a five-year, $30MM deal the following summer. He racked up 12 goals and 22 points through the first 32 games of 2018-19 before sustaining a season-ending upper-body injury.

He hasn’t been the same player since. Dumba was still a minute-muncher for the rest of his tenure in Minnesota, averaging over 22 minutes per game between 2019-20 and 2022-23, but he never sniffed 30 points again – let alone 50. Still, he turned his reputation into a pair of relatively high-value, short-term free-agent deals. He first signed a one-year, $3.9MM pact with the Coyotes in 2023 and was flipped to the Lightning at the following year’s trade deadline.

Tampa didn’t show interest in retaining him, but he still landed a two-year, $7.5MM pact from the Stars. Dumba underwhelmed from the start, though, posting 10 points and a -5 rating in 63 games while averaging 15:18 of ice time per game. He was then a healthy scratch for Dallas’ entire playoff run. His cap hit quickly became untenable for the big-spending Stars, paying a 2028 second-round pick to unload the last year of his contract on the Penguins.

Wild Recall Hunter Haight

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With Minnesota only carrying the minimum of 12 healthy forwards following last night’s trade with Vancouver, it was only a matter of time before the Wild brought up an extra for depth purposes.  That move has now been made as the team announced that Hunter Haight has been recalled from AHL Iowa.

The 21-year-old is in the second season of his entry-level contract and made the team out of training camp, though he only got into a pair of games before being sent down to Iowa.  Haight was held off the scoresheet in those outings while averaging 9:22 per game of ice time.  He has been recalled three other times before now but those haven’t yielded another NHL appearance yet.

In between, Haight has been in and out of the lineup with Iowa and the going back and forth likely hasn’t helped his cause.  After putting up 20 goals and 34 points in 67 games last season in his first professional campaign, Haight has been limited to five goals and one assist in 16 outings with them so far.

If Haight gets into a game on this promotion, he’ll be sporting a new number with his 43 from the start of the season now being earmarked for Quinn Hughes.

With this move, Minnesota’s roster now stands at the maximum of 23 healthy players.

Canucks Place Lukas Reichel On Waivers

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As a result of yesterday’s blockbuster trade with the Wild, the Canucks had some roster juggling to do after bringing in three players and only sending one out with only one roster spot available.  They dealt with one of the extra slots by putting Marco Rossi on their injured reserve.  But one player had to come off the roster and it will be winger Lukas Reichel, who will be placed on waivers at 1 PM CT, reports Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK and The Athletic (Twitter link).

Jeff Paterson of Canucks Army relayed (Twitter link) earlier today that Reichel had been removed from Vancouver’s active roster.  Players can be waived with non-roster status and that’s clearly the move that the Canucks have made to get back to compliance.

This was not the plan for Vancouver when they moved a 2027 fourth-round pick to Chicago to acquire him back in October.  Reichel had gotten off to a good start with four points in five games before the swap but had fallen down the depth chart, resulting in the Blackhawks giving him a fresh start elsewhere.

Reichel played big minutes upon being acquired, even spending time at center with Vancouver’s injury issues at that position.  But the production simply hasn’t materialized as he has just one assist in 14 games following the swap.  Meanwhile, his role diminished to the point where he has only played once in the last ten games.  Over his career, Reichel has 22 goals and 37 assists in 188 NHL appearances.

The 23-year-old was a first-round pick by Chicago back in 2020, going 17th overall.  He’s in the second and final season of a two-year, $2.4MM pact and will be owed a $1.3MM qualifying offer with arbitration rights to become an unrestricted free agent.  Based on how things are going, it seems likely that he’s heading towards a non-tender.

That said, players with first-round pedigree often get multiple opportunities so it’s not impossible to think that a team might be interested in taking a flyer on Reichel by 1 PM CT on Sunday, hoping that a different fresh start could get him going offensively.  If not and he goes through unclaimed, Vancouver will ultimately clear $1.15MM of his $1.2MM cap charge off the books by assigning him to AHL Abbotsford which would allow them to get out of using LTIR and allow them to start banking salary cap room again.

Senators Recall Olle Lycksell; Lars Eller To Miss An Extended Period

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The injury woes continue for the Senators as Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch relays that center Lars Eller has been ruled out for the remainder of their road trip and that he’s expected to miss extended time.  To add some extra forward depth to their roster ahead of today’s matinee against Minnesota, the team announced that they’ve recalled winger Olle Lycksell from AHL Belleville.

Lycksell has been up and down this season between Ottawa and Belleville, not getting a chance to play much at either level.  The 26-year-old has played in six NHL contests, picking up one goal and nine shots on goal while averaging a little over 10 minutes per night.  For his career, his production at the top level has been rather limited as he has two goals and ten helpers in 51 appearances; the others coming over parts of three seasons with Philadelphia.

Lycksell has been more productive with Belleville, however, tallying six points in nine games with them including four in his last four outings this month.  It’s unlikely that he’ll have a chance to play the same role with the big club, however, as he’ll likely be on the fourth line if he gets a chance to get in the lineup.

As for Eller, the veteran is dealing with a lower-body injury.  He has played in 28 games with the Sens this season, his first with them after coming over in unrestricted free agency on a one-year deal.  The 36-year-old has two goals and four assists while also winning over 60% of his faceoffs, a career-best rate.  Ottawa is second in the league in team faceoff percentage, so losing him will certainly be a damper in that category.

Devils Place Timo Meier On Non-Roster List, Recall Calen Addison

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According to a team announcement, the New Jersey Devils have placed forward Timo Meier on the non-roster list for personal leave/family health matter. New Jersey has recalled defenseman Calen Addison from the AHL’s Utica Comets in a corresponding roster move.

Factoring in the Devils’ announcement from a few days ago, when Meier initially took a personal leave of absence, it appears that he’s dealing with a family health matter. Unlike other designations, such as injured reserve or long-term injured reserve, there’s not a fixed amount of time that Meier has to miss before being eligible to return. Since no specifics have been provided, it is unclear how much time will be missed.

Like PHR’s Ethan Hetu said at the time, “the hockey implications are secondary in this sort of situation, it is important for us here at PHR to at least take a moment to break down the on-ice ripple effect of Meier’s absence.”

For however long Meier is absent from the lineup, and with center Jack Hughes rehabbing a freak hand injury, New Jersey will be without two of their first-line forwards for the time being. Hughes remains the team leader in points-per-game while Meier sits third on the team in scoring with 23 points in 30 games, being the Devils’ leading goal-scorer.

Their first game without the pair didn’t go well, though not because of any lack of offense. New Jersey suffered a blowout loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning two nights ago, with Simon Nemec being one of three defensemen to earn a -2 rating.

He’s also the reason the Devils are replacing Meier with a defenseman on the active roster instead of a forward. According to James Nichols of New Jersey Hockey Now, Nemec injured himself a yesterday’s practice. There’s no timeline for his return aside from Nichols saying “he’s going to miss time.” It’s not expected to be a day-to-day injury.

Nemec, who’s off to a solid start this season, is leading the Devils in scoring among defensemen with seven goals and 18 points in 31 games. Now, without three of their top six scorers moving forward, New Jersey is likely to struggle to climb back into postseason positioning in the Eastern Conference. They’ve lost nine of their last 14 since Hughes exited the lineup.

If Addison plays, it’ll be his first NHL appearance since the 2023-24 campaign. The once 26-assist blue liner for the Minnesota Wild, Addison, is in his first year with the Devils organization, scoring two goals and nine points in 21 games for the AHL Comets.

Lightning Notes: Finley, Vasilevskiy, McDonagh, James

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The Lightning announced that they have assigned forward Jack Finley to AHL Syracuse on a conditioning stint.  The stint can last for up to two weeks but he will remain on Tampa Bay’s active roster while on assignment.

The 23-year-old has played in 11 games for the Lightning this season but has only suited up twice over the past nine contests.  He has a goal and an assist in those outings along with 18 hits but is only averaging 8:49 of playing time per game.  Waiver-eligible for the first time this season, this assignment allows him to get a few games in with the Crunch where he can have a more prominent role in the lineup.

More from Tampa Bay:

  • There could be some good news on the horizon on the injury front as Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times provided updates on several players. First, goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy won’t return on Saturday but could be an option to start on Monday against Florida.  He has missed a little more than a week with an undisclosed injury.  The hope was that he wouldn’t be out for long but he ultimately landed on IR to allow for Brandon Halverson’s recall.  Vasilevskiy has had a very strong start to the season with a 2.31 GAA and a .916 SV% in 19 starts so far.
  • Meanwhile, defenseman Ryan McDonagh did some individual skating drills as he works his way back from a leg injury that has kept him out for more than a month. Following practice, head coach Jon Cooper upgraded him to day-to-day.  The 36-year-old, who recently signed a three-year extension, has been his usual steady self when in the lineup, averaging over 20 minutes a night.  With Victor Hedman out long-term again, McDonagh nearing a return will be crucial for a back end that has been beaten up this season.
  • Lastly, rookie center Dominic James was a full participant in practice and could be an option to return on Saturday against the Islanders. If not, he should be back for Monday’s contest versus Florida.  The 23-year-old signed with Tampa Bay this past offseason after declining to sign with Chicago, who drafted him back in 2022.  After a good start in the minors, James was recalled less than two weeks into the season and has been up ever since.  He has five points in 18 games so far and has missed the last three games with an undisclosed injury.

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