Wild Claim Daemon Hunt, Release Jack Johnson
The Wild have claimed defenseman Daemon Hunt off waivers from the Blue Jackets, Michael Russo of The Athletic reports. The club also released Jack Johnson from his professional tryout in a corresponding move and summoned the previously waived Matt Kiersted from AHL Iowa, although that’s a short-term move to give him more preseason action before being returned to the minors.
Today’s move marks a reunion between Hunt and the Wild, who drafted him in the third round of the 2020 draft. The 23-year-old has only ever suited up for Minnesota in the NHL, but he only played one game for them last year before he was included in the early-season trade that saw the Wild acquire David Jiricek from Columbus. This is his first year requiring waivers to head to the minors, where he spent the vast majority of last season.
Hunt, a 6’1″, 201-lb lefty, will begin his fourth professional campaign in a more familiar environment. Drafted as a true two-way defender, his results in AHL Cleveland after moving to the Blue Jackets organization weren’t what Columbus hoped for. He only managed a 2-12–14 scoring line with a -8 rating in 48 appearances after the trade. That offensive output was down significantly from what Hunt had in the Wild organization with Iowa the year prior, logging 29 points in 51 games on their blue line.
In his 13 prior NHL appearances with Minnesota, Hunt had one assist and a -1 rating while averaging a minuscule 11:14 per game. His possession numbers were good in those limited, albeit sheltered minutes, controlling 54.6% of shot attempts and 57.1% of expected goals at even strength.
As such, he’s now slated for an opening-night job with the Wild. With Johnson released, Hunt is one of seven healthy defenders remaining in Wild camp, not counting Kiersted. Jonas Brodin has long been expected to start the year on injured reserve after an offseason upper-body surgery, and that hasn’t changed.
Johnson, 38, will now look elsewhere to continue his career. The veteran of 19 NHL seasons and 1,228 games was reduced to a No. 7/8 job on the Blue Jackets’ depth chart last year, recording six assists and a -13 rating in 41 games. With that stat line as his platform, interest will be limited.
Hurricanes Sign Givani Smith To Two-Way Deal
The Hurricanes announced Friday they’ve signed winger Givani Smith to a two-way deal. He had been in camp on a professional tryout. The deal carries a $775K NHL salary and a $140K AHL salary with a guarantee of $250K.
A second-round pick by the Red Wings in 2016, Smith has become a journeyman over the past few seasons. Carolina will be the 27-year-old’s sixth NHL organization in the last four years. He split the 2022-23 campaign between the Red Wings and Panthers, spent all of 2023-24 in San Jose, and then split last year between the Sharks, Avalanche, and Flyers organizations. However, he never made an NHL appearance for Philadelphia.
The 6’2″ enforcer has gone 575 days since recording his last NHL point. He went without one in 13 showings last year and spent the back half of the campaign in the minors after clearing waivers. Since his debut six years ago, Smith has a 9-13–22 scoring line in 168 appearances with a -31 rating, 268 PIMs, and 330 hits. He’s averaged just 8:12 of ice time per game.
It remains to be seen whether the Canes keep Smith around for opening night or opt to waive him and stash him with AHL Charlotte. Considering fellow fringe forwards Juha Jaaska and Mark Jankowski are carrying day-to-day injury designations, it’ll likely be the former. He got a relatively long look in preseason, averaging nearly 13 minutes per game across four contests while scoring twice, adding an assist and 28 PIMs.
Smith beat out fellow PTO invite Kevin Labanc for a job, as well as first-round picks like Bradly Nadeau and Ryan Suzuki – the latter of whom managed to clear waivers this week. He’ll be an unrestricted free agent next summer.
Rangers Reassign Scott Morrow, Gabe Perreault
As Monday’s opening night roster deadline nears, there are set to be some quite newsworthy demotions in the coming days. The Rangers made one this morning, assigning their top two prospects – defenseman Scott Morrow and winger Gabriel Perreault – to AHL Hartford, according to a team announcement.
Perreault and Morrow were the club’s No. 1 and No. 2-ranked prospects by NHL.com this summer. Neither were locks to make the opening night roster, but both were penciled into a good portion of projections at the beginning of camp.
In Perreault’s case, it’s likely a matter of top-six ice time not being available. Alexis Lafrenière has settled back into a top-line role alongside Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck, as new head coach Mike Sullivan looks to jumpstart the former first-overall pick’s production after a down year in 2024-25. The Rangers’ second line has filled up too, with Mika Zibanejad shifting to wing on a more permanent basis and William Cuylle jumping into a left-wing spot beside him and J.T. Miller following his breakout year. New York would be understandably reluctant to risk stunting their most promising young forward’s development by starting him in third-line duties on a team without a ton of bottom-six depth, so he’ll instead look to play a starring role in Hartford to begin his professional career.
Perreault, 20, was the No. 23 overall pick in the 2023 draft and has spent the last two years with Boston College, tearing up the Hockey East conference with 108 points in 73 career NCAA games. He turned pro at the end of last year and got five games with the Blueshirts, although he didn’t get on the scoresheet.
His demotion leaves the Rangers with 15 forwards on their training camp roster and just one cut to make to get down to the 23-player limit by Monday’s deadline. There are two spots up for grabs, meaning the game of musical chairs will leave one of veteran Jonny Brodzinski, rookie Noah Laba, and PTO invite Conor Sheary without a spot. Laba faces the longest odds; he’s waiver-exempt and doesn’t stand much of a chance on the roster unless he usurps Juuso Pärssinen as the Blueshirts’ No. 3 center to open the season.
Morrow’s demotion also comes down to roster math. The 22-year-old righty has Adam Fox, William Borgen, and Braden Schneider ahead of him on that side of the depth chart, meaning he’d either be ticketed for long stretches in the press box or someone would need to shift to their off side to get him playing time. The latter never happened in camp, so he’ll now head to the Wolf Pack to serve as their presumptive No. 1 defenseman until another NHL opportunity comes.
A 2021 second-round pick by the Hurricanes, the offensive-minded Morrow recorded six points in 16 NHL games with Carolina over the last two seasons. He was the headlining piece of the return the Rangers received from the Canes in the K’Andre Miller sign-and-trade this offseason. He had a 13-26–39 scoring line in 52 AHL games last year and will look to build on that in Hartford.
With Morrow gone, seven defensemen remain on the Rangers’ roster. That’s their likely opening-night contingent, meaning Matthew Robertson has all but locked up his first opening-night NHL job. The 6’4″ lefty was a second-round pick in 2019, but the 24-year-old only has bottom-pairing ceiling at this stage of his development. That means a No. 7 role is far less harmful to his development than Morrow’s. Robertson made his NHL debut for New York in a two-game call-up last season and is coming off a career-best offensive campaign in Hartford, where he logged a 1-24–25 scoring line in 60 games with a -5 rating.
Training Camp Cuts: 10/2/25
There are five days to go until opening night. Only a few teams have sweeping cuts left to make, with the majority of clubs within five or so cuts (or even at) their final rosters already. We’re keeping track of today’s cuts with this article, which will be updated throughout the day.
Anaheim Ducks (per team announcement)
G Calle Clang (to AHL San Diego)
F Nathan Gaucher (to AHL San Diego)
D Tyson Hinds (to AHL San Diego)
D Tristan Luneau (to AHL San Diego)
F Yegor Sidorov (to AHL San Diego)
D Stian Solberg (to AHL San Diego)
Boston Bruins (per team announcement)
F Dalton Bancroft (to AHL Providence)
F John Farinacci (to AHL Providence)
F Dans Locmelis (to AHL Providence)
D Billy Sweezey (to AHL Providence, cleared waivers)
Calgary Flames (per team announcement)
F Rory Kerins (to AHL Calgary, pending waivers)
G Ivan Prosvetov (to AHL Calgary, pending waivers)
D Ilya Solovyov (to AHL Calgary, pending waivers)
Dallas Stars (per team announcement)
G Rémi Poirier (to AHL Texas)
Detroit Red Wings (per team announcement)
F Ondřej Becher (to AHL Grand Rapids)
G Sebastian Cossa (to AHL Grand Rapids)
F Sheldon Dries (to AHL Grand Rapids, cleared waivers)
D William Lagesson (to AHL Grand Rapids, cleared waivers)
F John Leonard (to AHL Grand Rapids, cleared waivers)
F Amadeus Lombardi (to AHL Grand Rapids)
D Ian Mitchell (to AHL Grand Rapids, cleared waivers)
F Dominik Shine (to AHL Grand Rapids, cleared waivers)
D Antti Tuomisto (to AHL Grand Rapids, cleared waivers)
F Austin Watson (to AHL Grand Rapids, cleared waivers)
Edmonton Oilers (per team announcement)
F Connor Clattenburg (to AHL Bakersfield)
D Cam Dineen (to AHL Bakersfield, pending waivers)
F James Hamblin (to AHL Bakersfield, cleared waivers)
F Quinn Hutson (to AHL Bakersfield)
D Atro Leppanen (to AHL Bakersfield)
F Viljami Marjala (to AHL Bakersfield)
F Josh Samanski (to AHL Bakersfield)
D Riley Stillman (to AHL Bakersfield, pending waivers)
Florida Panthers (per team announcement)
D Marek Alscher (to AHL Charlotte)
D Michael Benning (to AHL Charlotte)
G Cooper Black (to AHL Charlotte)
D Trevor Carrick (released from PTO to AHL Charlotte)
F Brett Chorske (released from ATO to AHL Charlotte)
F Josh Davies (to AHL Charlotte)
F Jack Devine (to AHL Charlotte)
D Ben Harpur (released from PTO)
D Mikulas Hovorka (to AHL Charlotte)
D Colton Huard (released from ATO to AHL Charlotte)
F Hunter Johannes (released from PTO to AHL Charlotte)
D Jake Livingstone (released from PTO to AHL Charlotte)
F Anton Lundmark (to AHL Charlotte)
F Ryan McAllister (to AHL Charlotte)
F Liam McLinskey (released from ATO to AHL Charlotte)
F Gracyn Sawchyn (to AHL Charlotte)
F Kai Schwindt (to AHL Charlotte)
F Hunter St. Martin (to AHL Charlotte)
F Ben Steeves (to AHL Charlotte)
F Sandis Vilmanis (to AHL Charlotte)
Nashville Predators (per team announcement)
D Andreas Englund (to AHL Milwaukee, cleared waivers)
New York Rangers (per team announcement)
D Casey Fitzgerald (to AHL Hartford, cleared waivers)
Philadelphia Flyers (per team announcement)
F Karsen Dorwart (to AHL Lehigh Valley)
F Lane Pederson (to AHL Lehigh Valley, cleared waivers)
Pittsburgh Penguins (per team announcement)
D Scooter Brickey (released from PTO to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton)
F Mathieu De St. Phalle (released from PTO to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton)
G Taylor Gauthier (released from PTO to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton)
F Aidan McDonough (released from PTO to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton)
D Chase Pietila (to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton)
San Jose Sharks (per team announcement)
F Patrick Giles (to AHL San Jose, cleared waivers)
Seattle Kraken (per team announcement)
F Ben Meyers (to AHL Coachella Valley, pending waivers)
F Mitchell Stephens (to AHL Coachella Valley, pending waivers)
Utah Mammoth (per team announcement)
F Ben McCartney (to AHL Tucson, pending waivers)
D Scott Perunovich (to AHL Tucson, pending waivers)
G Jaxson Stauber (to AHL Tucson, cleared waivers)
Washington Capitals (per team announcement)
F Louis Belpedio (to AHL Hershey, cleared waivers)
F Graeme Clarke (to AHL Hershey, cleared waivers)
D David Gucciardi (to AHL Hershey)
F Henrik Rybinski (to AHL Hershey, cleared waivers)
F Bogdan Trineyev (to AHL Hershey, cleared waivers)
Snapshots: Luukkonen, Portillo, Paper Moves
The Buffalo Sabres are once again uncertain about the short-term health of their starting goaltender, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. The team pulled Luukkonen after just one period of action in Wednesday night’s preseason loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. After the game, head coach Lindy Ruff said that Luukkonen was still feeling some discomfort with the lower-body injury he recently returned from, per Michael Aguello of The Hockey News.
Luukkonen returned to Buffalo’s practices last week, after missing the start of training camp due to a late-summer injury. He described his injury as a, “flare up” and told reporters that he had no concerns with being ready for opening night. One week later, it appears Luukkonen is still in need of a bit more conditioning. He’ll be headed for a major workload when he does reach full health. Luukkonen played at least 50 games in each of the last two seasons. He’s posted a cumulative .899 save percentage in 109 games since taking the reigns as Buffalo’s starter. The goal will be to push that average above .900 with a return to the starter’s crease this season. First, he’ll need to ease himself back into the role. Should Luukkonen be unavailable for opening night, the Sabres will turn towards Alexandar Georgiev, who posted a .875 Sv% in 49 games last season.
Other notes from around the league:
- The Los Angeles Kings have recalled goaltender Erik Protillo from the AHL. He will get a chance to continue his preseason action, after being assigned to the minors on Wednesday. Los Angeles also placed goaltender Pheonix Copley on waivers for the purposes of an AHL move, but the Tampa Bay Lightning submitted a claim to prevent that from happening. With Copley now out of the organization, Portillo is one of only fourt Kings goaltenders with an NHL contract, alongside the team’s top tandem of Darcy Kuemper and Anton Forsberg – and top goalie prospect Carter George, who is on his entry-level contract. That standing will earn Portillo a bit more attention as Los Angeles’ training camp comes to a close. He hasn’t yet made his prseason debut, but posted . 966 Sv% in his NHL debut last season, and a .889 Sv% through 24 AHL games. Expect Portillo to get a hardier look in the Kings’ final preseason matchups, before vying for the Ontario Reign’s starting role out of the gates.
- The Kings would have been unable to make the swap with Portillo that they did had it happened after next weekend. The NHL has altered their use of “Paper Loans” for this season, and will now require that players assigned to the AHL play in at least one game before being called back up, per PuckPedia. However, the league clarified to teams that the new rule won’t take effect until October 10th, which could allow teams the opportunity for some cap gymnastics at the start of the regular season. PuckPedia points out that, under this rule, teams could assign waiver-exempt players to the minors and submit an eligible opening night roster, then place injured players on in-season, long-term injured reserve, and recall their waiver-exempt players. An example could be the Edmonton Oilers assigning winger Isaac Howard to the minors, placing Zach Hyman on LTIR, and then recalling Howard before their first game on October 8th.
Waivers: 10/2/25
There are 22 new names on the waiver wire today, PuckPedia reports. Everyone on the wire yesterday passed through aside from goaltender Pheonix Copley, who’s heading to the Lightning from the Kings.
Calgary Flames
F Rory Kerins
G Ivan Prosvetov
D Ilya Solovyov
Columbus Blue Jackets
Edmonton Oilers
Pittsburgh Penguins
D Sebastian Aho
F Danton Heinen
D Philip Kemp
F Joona Koppanen
G Filip Larsson
F Valtteri Puustinen
Seattle Kraken
F Ben Meyers
F Mitchell Stephens
Utah Mammoth
F Ben McCartney
D Scott Perunovich
Vancouver Canucks
Vegas Golden Knights
D Dylan Coghlan
F Tanner Laczynski
F Raphael Lavoie
D Jaycob Megna
F Cole Schwindt
Heinen, Kerins, and Kravtsov jump out as the most notable skaters from the group. Heinen is one of the first veteran surprises to reach the wire this fall. The pending UFA costs $2.25MM against the cap and was a speculative trade candidate as the rebuilding Penguins look to shed their veterans on expiring deals. If he clears, he’ll still count for $1.1MM against Pittsburgh’s cap. It’s not as if he’s coming off a catastrophic 2024-25 season. He made 79 appearances split between the Canucks and Penguins, recording a 9-20–29 scoring line while averaging 13:27 per game. Those are all a few ticks below his career averages, but still serviceable bottom-six production for a reasonable price. He may not fit into the Penguins’ plans, but it wouldn’t be too surprising to see him claimed despite his cap impact.
Kerins has been a high-ceiling name in the Flames’ system for the past couple of years with quite strong AHL showings. He got his first taste of NHL action last year in a five-game call-up, looking like he belonged with four assists and a +3 rating while averaging 12:14 per game. The 5’10” pivot isn’t a natural fit in a fourth-line role, though, and Calgary doesn’t have an open spot for him in its top nine. He’s a pending RFA without arbitration rights on a two-way deal with a league minimum cap hit – prime conditions for a claim – and had 33 goals and 61 points in 63 AHL games last year.
Kravtsov not making it to the final couple of days of camp is a surprise. Selected No. 9 overall in 2018, he was on the Canucks’ reserve list after he departed the NHL to return to Russia in 2023. He had a great showing for Traktor Chelyabinsk in the Kontinental Hockey League last year, leading the team with 27 goals in 66 games while adding 31 assists for 58 points. That was enough to generate mutual interest between the Canucks and Kravtsov to resume their relationship, and he signed a one-year, two-way deal in August. He’s due to be a Group VI unrestricted free agent next summer if he doesn’t hit 16 NHL games this year.
As for goalie-needy teams, Prosvetov might warrant some consideration after being passed over for Calgary’s backup job in favor of Devin Cooley. The 26-year-old has 24 NHL starts under his belt and was excellent in the KHL last year, managing a .920 SV% and 2.32 GAA in 38 games for CSKA Moscow.
Lightning Claim Pheonix Copley Off Waivers From Kings
The Lightning have claimed goaltender Pheonix Copley off waivers from the Kings, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.
Copley, 33, had signed a one-year, one-way, league minimum extension with L.A. in June to continue serving as a No. 3/4 option for them this season. The longtime fringe NHLer has spent the last three years in the Kings organization, including a one-off 2022-23 campaign that saw him emerge as the Kings’ starter for a bit until Joonas Korpisalo was acquired at the trade deadline. Since recording a 24-6-3 record and .903 SV% in 37 appearances that year, though, the Alaska native has only nine NHL games to his name.
Part of the lack of playing time was due to an ACL injury that ended his 2023-24 season in December, but he’d already slipped to third on the Kings’ depth chart by that point after regressing to a .870 SV% through eight starts. He ended up on waivers at the beginning of last year and cleared, spending the vast majority of the season in AHL Ontario aside from making one early-season NHL relief appearance. The 6’4″ netminder was serviceable in the starting role for Ontario, making 42 appearances with a .904 SV%, 2.49 GAA, two shutouts, and a 24-17-1 record.
The Lightning, in need of goaltending depth, make sure he won’t clear waivers this time around. They’ve been dealing with limited availability from star starter Andrei Vasilevskiy in camp, although Erik Erlendsson of Lightning Insider reported today that he’s likely to make his preseason debut this weekend. Even if Vasilevskiy’s health wasn’t a concern, the Lightning were likely on the lookout for another depth option between the pipes.
They have one of the more underwhelming No. 2 options in the league in Jonas Johansson, who’s only managed a .892 SV% and 3.27 GAA behind a stout Tampa defense over the past two years. The backup position in Tampa hasn’t been much of a concern with Vasilevskiy shouldering a 60-start workload, but with the club looking to lighten the pressure on him this year, it makes sense to bring in another experienced option who might be an upgrade on Johansson.
Copley wasn’t going to be an NHL factor for the Kings unless injury struck their NHL tandem of Darcy Kuemper and Anton Forsberg, although that’s a likely outcome given their histories. They have just four goalies signed in the organization without him, and one, 19-year-old Carter George, is still ineligible for a full-time AHL assignment and has already reported to OHL Owen Sound for the year. That leaves 25-year-old Erik Portillo, who struggled to the tune of a .889 SV% in 24 AHL contests last year, as their lone recall option. As such, expect a free-agent pickup or corresponding waiver claim to try to give them more insurance and more cushion for Portillo in the minors.
If the Lightning begin the season with three goalies, they’d only be able to carry two extra skaters instead of three. In any event, the claim doesn’t put them in any sort of cap bind. They’ll have the flexibility to open the season with a full 23-player roster with Nick Paul counting against the cap on injured reserve if they choose. Paul underwent surgery last month and is expected to make his season debut in early November.
Ducks Sign Jackson LaCombe To Max-Term Extension
The Ducks have handed out the largest total-value contract in franchise history to pending RFA defenseman Jackson LaCombe, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. It’s an eight-year deal worth $9MM per season for a sum of $72MM. The contract is paid out entirely in base salary with no year-to-year variation, per PuckPedia. It includes a full no-trade clause from 2028-31, a 15-team no-trade clause from 2031-33, and a 10-team no-trade clause in the final year of the deal in 2033-34.
It’s an astronomical pay bump for the 24-year-old, who emerged as Anaheim’s No. 1 defenseman just last season. LaCombe, a 2019 second-round pick, signed a two-year deal as an RFA following his rookie season in 2023-24 that pays him $1.85MM in total – one-fifth of what he’ll be making per year on his new deal. He’s entering the final year of that deal, which costs $925K against the cap and would have left him arbitration-eligible next summer.
LaCombe’s emergence wasn’t entirely out of nowhere – he’d been viewed as a higher-end prospect for quite some time – but it was a more explosive breakout than most expected after his rookie campaign fell flat. Coming off four years with the University of Minnesota, LaCombe turned pro in 2023 and broke camp with the Ducks the following fall.
Anaheim was bullish on the three-time Big 10 All-Star, and he spent most of the year in a top-pairing role alongside Cam Fowler. The duo really struggled to control play, though, even for the Ducks’ lowered standards as one of the league’s worst defensive squads. Averaging 19:23 per game, LaCombe had 17 points and a -24 rating in 71 appearances. In 55 games where he was paired with Fowler, they controlled just 39.5% of expected goals – the worst mark of Anaheim’s seven D pairings to log more than 150 minutes together that year, according to MoneyPuck.
LaCombe’s chemistry was much better in more limited usage with captain Radko Gudas on his right side. The Ducks took note of that and made that their new top pairing heading into 2024-25, a move that was only solidified when Fowler was dealt to the Blues a couple of months into the campaign. LaCombe flourished, getting an ice time bump to 22:18 per game while recording a 14-29–43 scoring line in 75 games, posting an even rating on a team with a -44 goal differential to boot. His 49.1% Corsi share at even strength led Ducks defenders, as did all of his offensive metrics.
League-wide, LaCombe quietly moved into consideration as a top-25 rearguard. His 33 even-strength points were tied for 18th, and his 0.57 points per game were 27th – above other established No. 1 guys like Drew Doughty, Colton Parayko, Moritz Seider, and even Miro Heiskanen.
The lack of sample size as a No. 1 will be cause for concern. Still, as the salary cap sharply increases, a $9MM AAV falls more into the “top-pair” category for defenders than “true No. 1.” It’s a matching cap hit to Devils rearguard Luke Hughes, who signed a new deal yesterday after posting comparable offensive stats last year. While there’s some sticker shock compared to what his extension projection would have been at the beginning of the offseason, it’s an in-line response to the recent spike in market values for premier defensemen.
Getting LaCombe’s contract done now is an important piece of business for general manager Pat Verbeek, who still has four other high-profile pending RFAs to contend with. Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier, Pavel Mintyukov, and Olen Zellweger are all entering the final years of their entry-level contracts. LaCombe was likely the highest-priority target as the only one of the group who had enough professional experience to qualify for arbitration.
The Ducks now have LaCombe, Lukáš Dostál, Mason McTavish, and Troy Terry signed through at least 2030 as their new core continues to take shape. The club still has over $40MM in cap space to burn and 10 open active roster spots for 2026-27, according to PuckPedia.
Image courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images.
Panthers Release Ben Harpur From PTO
Ben Harpur‘s NHL comeback attempt is over, for now. The Panthers announced today that they released the veteran defenseman from his professional tryout. He was not assigned to AHL Charlotte’s camp, so it’s a clean cut that results in him still searching for a home for 2025-26.
Harpur, 30, last appeared in the NHL with the Rangers in the 2022-23 campaign. He played 42 games that year, spending most of the season as the Blueshirts’ No. 7. He’d remained in the New York organization since on a two-way deal but played exclusively with AHL Hartford, where injuries have limited him to 36 appearances over the last two years combined.
The 6’6″, 231-lb lefty has never been an offensive threat at any level in his pro career, but was once an intriguing shutdown option with the Senators in his younger years. He quickly settled in as a fringe NHLer through most of his prime, sitting anywhere between No. 6 and No. 10 on his club’s depth chart in any given season.
He could have been an appealing veteran recall option for the Cats this year, even if he wasn’t in legitimate competition for an NHL job. Nonetheless, it appears they’re comfortable with Tobias Björnfot and Michael Benning as their top recall options from Charlotte on the blue line this year, assuming the former clears waivers in the coming days.
Evgeny Kuznetsov Signs With KHL’s Metallurg Magnitogorsk
There will be no NHL return for Evgeny Kuznetsov, at least for now. The veteran of 11 NHL seasons had been the subject of rumors for most of the summer but has now signed on to remain in his native Russia for another season with the Kontinental Hockey League’s Metallurg Magnitogorsk, according to a league press release.
Kuznetsov, 33, returned to Russia last summer after a short-lived tenure with the Hurricanes. He managed six goals and 13 points in 30 combined regular-season and playoff games for the club after they acquired him from the Capitals at the trade deadline. The one-time All-Star had cleared waivers days before after exiting the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program. On the whole, his scoring line for 2023-24 read 8-16–24 through 63 appearances. That was by far the worst point-per-game production he had, marking a sharp decline after having managed nearly a point per game for the Caps just two years prior.
Seeking stability, Kuznetsov accepted a mutual contract termination with Carolina last summer and promptly signed a four-year contract with SKA St. Petersburg. The move home allowed him to rediscover his once-consistently top-six caliber offensive skill set, flourishing alongside young NHL prospects like Ivan Demidov and Alexander Nikishin, and recording 12 goals and 37 points in 39 appearances. That resurgence rekindled his desire for NHL success, and he obtained a release from SKA back in April to facilitate it. There were still two undisclosed teams interested in signing him at the beginning of September, but training camp has now mostly passed without a contract being signed.
Another KHL season at or near a point per game could make Kuznetsov’s transition back to North America easier next summer, but for now, it’s still prove-it time. Kuznetsov joins a hot Metallurg squad off to a 7-1-2 start to rank fourth in the league, fueled by an early-season breakout from Blackhawks prospect Roman Kantserov, who has five goals and 10 assists through his first 10 games.
Kuznetsov was a first-round pick by Washington in 2010 and was dominant in their run to the 2018 Stanley Cup, leading the league in postseason scoring with 20 assists and 32 points in 24 appearances. His 568 points in 723 regular-season appearances for the Caps rank seventh in franchise history.