Kraken Recall Ben Meyers, Reassign Ville Ottavainen
The Kraken announced Tuesday that they’ve recalled forward Ben Meyers from AHL Coachella Valley. The Kraken don’t have an active roster spot, so they’ve returned right-shot defenseman Ville Ottavainen to Coachella Valley to accommodate the addition of Meyers.
Ottavainen was a 2021 fourth-round pick and was just recalled from the AHL on Sunday amid news that Brandon Montour was taking a leave of absence and Ryan Lindgren had been banged up in the previous day’s win over the Maple Leafs. However, Lindgren was able to play last night against the Flyers, leaving Ottavainen in the press box.
Even then, most teams would opt to keep a seventh healthy defenseman on the roster (Montour’s personal leave had him placed on injured reserve) for insurance. Seattle doesn’t have that luxury. They’ve been operating with something of a self-imposed roster crunch due to their decision to carry three goaltenders, still carrying veterans Philipp Grubauer and Matt Murray as Joey Daccord‘s backups. The Kraken were reluctant to expose Murray to waivers after a strong training camp, but he’s yet to play this season, while Grubauer has made one start and one relief appearance.
Seattle is now dealing with more pressing injury concerns up front. Jared McCann was scratched for Monday’s game with a lower-body injury and is day-to-day. They’re hoping his absence is under a week and thus haven’t placed him on IR, leaving only one press box spot for a healthy scratch in the skater department. As such, they’ve opted to swap out Ottavainen for Meyers to ensure they can still carry a traditional 12 forwards/six defensemen setup if another attacker needs to sit out.
Meyers, 27 in November, has played in parts of four NHL seasons between the Avalanche, Ducks, and Kraken. He saw semi-regular work in Colorado during the 2022-23 season but struggled to produce offensively and has seen his usage dwindle in the years since. He was waived by the Kraken during training camp for the second year in a row and headed to Coachella Valley without incident. He has two goals and a minus-four rating through his first three appearances of the season.
In eight games across multiple call-ups to Seattle last season, Meyers did not record a point and averaged a career-low 8:21 of ice time per game. He has a 6-2–8 scoring line in 75 career appearances, just 0.11 points per game. Since his debut in 2021-22, that’s fifth-worst among all forwards with at least 70 games played. For an undrafted free agent signing out of the University of Minnesota whose main calling card was two-way play, that’s not enough to keep him in the lineup consistently – especially considering he’s below water in both CF% and xGF% at even strength for his career.
With 19-year-old Berkly Catton recording a point in his NHL debut last night in place of McCann, it’s hard to see Meyers entering the lineup unless they want to switch up the fourth-line center position. John Hayden has held that down for the past couple of games after Frédérick Gaudreau landed on injured reserve.
Canucks Announce Multiple Roster Moves
4:15 p.m.: The Canucks have announced additional roster moves, reassigning Schuldt to Abbotsford and recalling defenseman Tom Willander and forward Nils Aman. The move adds an experienced center to the Canucks’ roster to help fill in for the loss of Chytil. Aman isn’t the caliber of player Chytil is, and won’t be able to bring the same level of offense, but he nonetheless has 130 games of NHL experience and offers some size and defensive reliability to head coach Adam Foote.
Willander, 20, appears to be a replacement for Mancini, as he is also a young right-shot blueliner. Willander was the 11th overall pick at the 2023 NHL draft and made his pro debut earlier this month with Abbotsford. He has spent the last two seasons playing college hockey at Boston University (scoring 49 points across 77 games) and with this recall is now eliigible to be dressed for an NHL game and has a chance to make his NHL debut.
11:11 a.m.: The Vancouver Canucks announced multiple roster moves, largely to maximize their LTIR capture. This morning, the Canucks shared that they’ve placed forwards Filip Chytil and Jonathan Lekkerimaki on the injured reserve (retroactive to October 19th), and have moved Nils Höglander to the LTIR (retroactive to October 7th).
Additionally, Vancouver has reassigned defenseman Victor Mancini to the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks, while recalling Joseph LaBate and Jimmy Schuldt in a corresponding roster move.
Unfortunately, the injury designation for Chytil was expected. The Canucks second-line center was on the receiving end of a massive hit from Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson during yesterday’s contest, causing Chytil to leave the game prematurely. Although a major penalty was initally assessed, it was rescinded upon review, and no supplemental discipline is expected from the league’s Department of Player Safety.
Outside of losing a top-six center, there’s larger cause for concern with Chytil specifically. Throughout his time with the New York Rangers, Chytil suffered multiple concussions, limiting him to only 66 games from 2023 to 2025. Already dealing with a thin pool down the middle, Vancouver would struggle to put together a serviceable defensive core if Chytil is out long-term.
Meanwhile, Lekkerimaki also left last night’s game prematurely. Unlike Chytil, it was not as apparent what caused Lekkerimaki’s injury. Still, he was filling in for Brock Boeser, who missed the game for personal matters.
Lastly, Höglander’s move to the LTIR, as well as the roster moves, were purely based on financial reasons. The Canucks are already operating close to the upper limit of the salary cap, and they’ll maximize their LTIR capture via the move.
Hoglander is eligible to return after Vancouver’s October 26th matchup against the Edmonton Oilers, though it’s not apparent he’ll be ready to return at that point. Additionally, although he should be expected back on the roster relatively soon, Mancini must play in at least one AHL game before being eligible for recall, per the league’s new rules regarding paper transactions.
Oilers Activate Jake Walman From IR
The Edmonton Oilers have activated defenseman Jake Walman from injured reserve. He missed the start of the season due to an undisclosed injury that landed him on injured reserve one day into the regular season.
Walman joined the Oilers at the 2025 Trade Deadline, with a 2026 first-round pick and forward prospect Carl Berglund headed back to the San Jose Sharks. He played through 15 games and racked up a productive eight points through the end of Edmonton’s regular season. That earned him a core role in the team’s postseason lineup, setting him up to deliver 10 points in 22 games through the Oilers’ push to a Stanley Cup Final loss.
Walman only managed to appear in one preseason game before sustaining his latest injury. That gives the Oilers a 38-game sample of what the puck-moving defender can offer the team. He averaged over 21 minutes of ice time in his limited sample with the Oilers last season – a light respite after he averaged 23 minutes of ice time through 50 games with San Jose to start the year. It was the first season that Walman averaged north of 20 minutes of ice time, though he came close to that mark with the Detroit Red Wings in both 2022-23 and 2023-24.
Small sample size aside, there seems to be little doubting that Walman will soon slot back into his role alongside Darnell Nurse. The duo outscored opponents eight-to-two through the end of the 2024-25 season. Nurse has spent the start of this season rotating between minutes with Troy Stecher, Alec Regula, and Brett Kulak. Despite the heap of change, none of Nurse’s pairings have been on the ice for an even-strength goal yet. That has left a heavy load for Edmonton’s other D-pairings – a load that the team should be able to mitigate with the return of Walman.
The Oilers have lose their last three games, after starting the year 2-0-1. Much of that struggle can be attributed to their measly 1.6 goals-for-per-60 average – fourth-worst in the NHL so far. With an average of 12 goals and 34 points per 82 games played since 2023, Walman could be the exact piece Edmonton needs to turn their fates around. Walman is expected to make his season debut in Tuesday’s matchup against the Ottawa Senators.
Rangers Assign Scott Morrow To AHL
According to a team announcement, the New York Rangers have reassigned Scott Morrow to the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack. The news indirectly confirms that defenseman Carson Soucy will be activated from the injured reserve this evening against the Minnesota Wild.
Despite being on the roster for the last five days, Morrow never drew into a game with the Rangers. Considering the strong play of Matthew Robertson who’s scored one goal in the last four games with a 93.1% on-ice save percentage at even strength while averaging 17:17 of ice time, there was no reason to get Morrow into the lineup.
New York acquired Morrow this past summer in the trade that sent K’Andre Miller to the Carolina Hurricanes. Unfortunately, he didn’t crack the team’s lineup out of training camp, and has already skated in one game for the Wolf Pack this season.
Prior to his time in the Rangers organization, Morrow spent the last two years with the Hurricanes after his finishing his collegiate career at the University of Massachussetts. Througout his time with Carolina, he scored one goal and six points in 16 NHL contests, with another 13 goals and 39 points in 52 games with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves.
Although he’s playing in all seven games for the Rangers up to this point in the season, Robertson’s strong play of late likely spells the end of Urho Vaakanainen‘s tenure in the lineup for the time being. Per line rushes at this morning’s practice, Soucy is expected to play on the left side next to Braden Schneider on the team’s second defensive unit, while Robertson will retain his role next to William Borgen on the team’s bottom pairing.
Sabres Recall Zac Jones, Noah Ostlund
The Sabres have recalled defenseman Zachary Jones and center Noah Ostlund from AHL Rochester, per a team release. They already had one open roster spot, and they’ve placed winger Beck Malenstyn on injured reserve to open up the other one, according to the NHL’s media site.
Buffalo now has two options to insert into the lineup for tomorrow’s game on the blue line. It’s looking like they won’t have Jacob Bryson available after he exited yesterday’s win over the Panthers and entered concussion protocol. Zach Metsa was already on hand as a healthy extra after being summoned from Rochester earlier in the week. Whether he or Jones enters the lineup for Bryson, a lefty who was assuming third-pairing duties on his off side next to Mattias Samuelsson, remains to be seen.
It will be either player’s Sabres debut and a potential NHL debut for Metsa. As for Jones, the 25-year-old successfully cleared waivers during training camp after inking a rather rich two-way deal ($900K NHL/$550K AHL with Buffalo on July 1. He was an unrestricted free agent after not receiving a qualifying offer from the Rangers, where he’d spent the first five years of his NHL career. The 5’11” lefty was a third-round pick in 2019 and showed decent offensive promise in depth roles for New York, but was never able to elevate himself on their depth chart.
Jones is coming off something of a career year, notching a 1-10–11 scoring line in 46 appearances for the Blueshirts while averaging 17:15 of ice time per game. He was still a semi-frequent healthy scratch, though, no doubt due to a lack of physicality and poor possession impacts. He’s averaged 0.58 hits per game throughout his 115-game NHL career and has had negative relative Corsi shares at even strength in all five of his seasons at the top level. Last year’s possession numbers were particularly underwhelming at a 48.6 CF% and 44.2 xGF%, both below team averages.
That lack of two-way acumen, plus his above-league-minimum cap hit, were contributing factors to him clearing waivers. He’s off to a hot start in the minors, though, rattling off four assists through four games for Rochester – albeit with a -4 rating. Him and Metsa carry similar profiles, both in size and minor-league offensive production, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see Buffalo opt for Jones, who has more NHL experience, as they try to extend their win streak to three and get to .500 on the season.
Ostlund’s recall ensures the Sabres will continue to carry 13 healthy forwards, with Malenstyn evidently getting banged up in the win against Florida. The team hasn’t offered an announcement on Malenstyn’s status. He didn’t see a shift in the last 10 minutes of Saturday’s win. The IR placement rules him out for Buffalo’s next three games. He’ll be eligible to return a week from his initial injury, making him available for activation on Oct. 25 against the Maple Leafs for the second half of their back-to-back. Malenstyn had no points and a -2 rating through his first five games, averaging 9:52 of ice time per night.
The Sabres also have Joshua Dunne on hand to insert into the lineup after he was scratched against Florida, so Ostlund isn’t a guarantee to make his season debut tomorrow. The 2022 first-round pick made his NHL debut last year, going pointless in an eight-game run late in the year with a -6 rating. He’s had more inspiring performances in Rochester, where he ranks second on the team in scoring with a goal and four assists through four games. The 21-year-old Swede also had 36 points in 45 AHL contests last season, his first in North America.
While there’s been recent on-ice momentum for the Sabres, it’s still been a disastrous start to the campaign for them in the injury department. Malenstyn joins Justin Danforth, Jordan Greenway, Michael Kesselring, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, and Joshua Norris on IR.
Ben Harpur Signs In KHL
Veteran defenseman Ben Harpur has signed with the Shanghai Dragons of the Kontinental Hockey League for the remainder of the season, per Anton Panchenko of Championat. Harpur had hoped to land an NHL deal for this year and signed a professional tryout with the Panthers, but was released at the beginning of the month and wasn’t invited to their AHL camp, either.
Harpur, 30, has nearly 200 NHL games to his name but hasn’t logged any action since 2022-23 with the Rangers. He remained in New York’s organization for the following two seasons but played only for their AHL affiliate in Hartford. Injuries limited the 6’6″ lefty to just 36 total appearances in the minors from 2023-25, too.
An NHL return was an understandable long shot as a result, but a minor-league contract may have been within reach. Instead, the Ontario-born defender heads overseas for the first time in his 11-year pro career. He’ll do in St. Petersburg, Russia, for the China-based Dragons, who have longtime NHL bench boss Gerard Gallant at the helm and, with Harpur now in tow, carry nearly 2,000 games of combined NHL experience on their roster after rebranding from their former Kunlun Red Star identity last offseason. Harpur joins some familiar faces in Kevin Labanc, Alexander Burmistrov, and Ryan Spooner, among others. Gallant also oversaw Harpur’s most recent NHL games over two years ago.
Harpur joins a Dragons club that is quickly on the rise. The franchise never finished above .500 in their days as Kunlun Red Star, which began play back in 2016, but is off to a 9-3-3 start under Gallant and ranks second in the KHL’s Western Conference.
A fourth-round pick by the Senators in 2013, Harpur has logged time at the game’s top level with them, the Rangers, and the Predators. Topping out as a semi-reliable No. 7, the big stay-at-home rearguard has a career 2-19–21 scoring line with a -42 rating while averaging 15:38 of ice time per game. He also has 69 points and a -12 rating in 229 career AHL appearances.
Blackhawks Reassign Joey Anderson
Oct. 19: Anderson has cleared waivers and will be sent to Rockford, according to Friedman.
Oct. 18: It’s a relatively quiet day on waivers today with just one player hitting the wire. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link) that the Blackhawks have placed winger Joey Anderson on waivers.
The 27-year-old played in just one preseason game this fall before deciding to undergo surgery to repair which was termed as a nagging issue. As a result, he wasn’t available to start the season and was designated as injured/non-roster status. The winger returned to practice today, relays Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times (Twitter link), meaning that he has been deemed healthy enough to go on waivers.
Anderson played in 18 games with Chicago last season after making the team out of training camp. However, he was limited to just one assist in those outings despite logging over 12 minutes per game. The Blackhawks waived him in early December but kept him up for a bit after he passed through unclaimed before sending him down to AHL Rockford in early January where he stayed the rest of the way. Anderson was productive with the IceHogs, notching 17 goals and 10 assists in just 33 outings at that level.
Anderson has 169 career NHL appearances under his belt over parts of seven seasons between New Jersey, Toronto, and Chicago and is on an affordable contract, one that pays $800K this season in a one-way salary. He’ll become an unrestricted free agent next summer. However, given his recent struggles at the top level, there’s a good chance that he’ll pass through unclaimed when the waiver period expires at 1 PM CT on Sunday.
Oilers Place Alec Regula On Injured Reserve
The Oilers announced they’ve moved defenseman Alec Regula to injured reserve to open up a roster spot. It’s unclear what they plan on doing with it just yet, although it could be a corresponding IR activation for winger Mattias Janmark, who head coach Kris Knoblauch said could be back in the lineup for today’s game against the Red Wings earlier this week.
Regula has already missed three games due to an undisclosed injury. Since he’s been out of the lineup for more than a week, he’s eligible to come off IR at any time with no minimum absence. The 25-year-old skated in the Oilers’ first two games of the year after missing all of 2024-25 due to a knee injury. He started the year in the Bruins organization, and Boston waived him in early December once their doctors cleared him to return. Edmonton claimed him off the wire, but after bringing him in, determined he wasn’t ready for game action, and he remained on the non-roster list for the balance of the campaign.
That means Regula’s showings earlier this month were his first pro hockey action in well over a year and his first NHL games since November 2022 with the Blackhawks. He spent all of 2023-24 on assignment to Boston’s AHL affiliate in Providence after they acquired him from Chicago over the preceding offseason in the Nick Foligno/Taylor Hall trade.
A third-round pick by the Red Wings back in 2018, Regula’s exceptional two-way numbers in the juniors and minors have long made him an under-the-radar candidate to break out into a top-four role in the NHL if given the chance. Injuries have obviously held that breakout up. Including his pair of showings this season, Regula has 24 NHL appearances to his name. He’s registered one goal with a -6 rating and has averaged 16:49 of ice time per game. His possession numbers have checked in as fine but unimpressive, logging a 43.8 CF% at even strength with a -2.1% relative impact.
Early on, though, it looked like Regula might be a fit alongside Darnell Nurse on Edmonton’s second pairing. He got a look there to begin the year with Jake Walman starting out on IR, and the duo controlled a team-high 72.7% of expected goals before Regula’s injury, according to MoneyPuck.
For now, his absence continues. It isn’t expected to be much longer, as Knoblauch initially anticipated Regula to be able to suit up this weekend. He shouldn’t last more than a few days on IR, but it’ll be interesting to see whether he can avoid waivers when Walman eventually returns to health and the Oilers need a roster spot for him.
Oliver Kylington Signs In Sweden
A veteran blueliner has found a place to play this season. Djurgarden of the SHL announced that they’ve signed defenseman Oliver Kylington to a one-year contract.
The 28-year-old was a second-round pick by Calgary back in 2015 and showed some flashes of upside over his six-year stint with the team. It looked like he had turned a corner in 2021-22 when he collected nine goals and 22 assists in 73 games, putting him in a spot to be a potential top-four piece for them. However, he was away from the team on a leave of absence for the next year and a half and played a limited role after that, resulting in the Flames going in a different direction last summer when he became a free agent.
Kylington wasn’t able to get the types of offers he was initially seeking in free agency, resulting in him waiting more than a month before he signed a one-year, $1.05MM contract with Colorado. But playing time was hard to come by as he suited up in just 13 games with the Avs before being moved to the Islanders near the trade deadline; New York flipped him to Anaheim the next day. Kylington played in just six games following the swap and then hit the open market this summer.
Kylington inked a PTO agreement with Carolina in late August with the hopes of landing a roster spot with them. However, after three preseason games, he was cut fairly early, sending him back to free agency. Clearly, no other NHL offers materialized so he has decided to head home where he’ll play a regular role in the hopes of boosting his stock next summer.
With 220 career NHL appearances under his belt, it’s quite possible that Kylington finds his way back to North America at some point, especially if he goes and plays an impactful role with Djurgarden. But for now, his time at the top level has come to an end.
Jets Recall Brad Lambert
The Jets announced that they’ve recalled center Brad Lambert from AHL Manitoba. The team has been operating with an open roster spot since sending defenseman Kale Clague down on Thursday, so no corresponding move is required.
Lambert initially made Winnipeg’s roster out of camp. He was reassigned to Manitoba last weekend to make way for Clague, whose insurance was needed while Haydn Fleury was nursing a minor knee injury. Clague was reassigned once it was clear Fleury was available again, but Lambert wasn’t immediately brought back up. The Jets likely wanted to get him in more game action with Manitoba, which played last night, before calling him back.
The 21-year-old Finn did not record a point in his first two AHL outings of the season while he was down on the farm. Last year was a tough one for the 2022 first-rounder. After splitting his post-draft year between the AHL and juniors, he caught on full-time with the Moose in 2023-24 and erupted for 21 goals and 55 points in 64 games, leading the team in scoring. He made his NHL debut that year as well and registered an assist. His momentum fell off last year, though, tickling the twine just seven times in 61 appearances with 35 total points and a -30 rating.
Winnipeg is looking for a bounce-back from its entire farm club this year, but especially from Lambert if he’s not going to log significant NHL time. He hasn’t looked entirely out of place in his six career big-league appearances, securing a pair of assists with a +1 rating while averaging 12 minutes of ice time per night. Winnipeg has been outshot significantly in Lambert’s even-strength minutes, though.
Lambert’s recall brings the Jets back to 23 healthy players on the active roster, 14 of whom are forwards. Eleven of them have played all four games this season. The 12th spot is looking to be a rotation between rookies Lambert, Nikita Chibrikov, and Parker Ford. Chibrikov played Winnipeg’s first three games before sitting as a healthy scratch on Thursday against the Flyers, with Ford taking his place. Neither has recorded a point.