Utah Places Cameron Hebig On Waivers
March 7: All five players cleared waivers today, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports.
March 6: In addition to yesterday’s action on the waiver wire, five more players have been exposed, as reported by Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli.
F Ryan Reaves (Maple Leafs) – In a clear move to cut cap space from the active roster, Toronto has placed Reaves and his $1.35MM salary on waivers. It could be time for a change of scenery from the longtime enforcer, but there’s little expectation a team will want him on their roster at that price point. Although he’s paid for having hard hands rather than soft ones, Reaves has tallied two assists in 35 games for the Maple Leafs this season, averaging 7:48 of ice time per night. It’s the least utilized he has been in his role since his brief 58-game run with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2017-18.
D Riley Stillman (Hurricanes) – Today’s waiver placement marks the second time Stillman has been exposed on the wire this season. He didn’t start his 2024-25 campaign until mid-November thanks to a lower-body injury, and he was waived then upon his activation from Carolina’s injured non-roster list. Despite being limited to two games with the Hurricanes this season and frequent taxiing with their AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves, Stillman has reached the collective 30 days spent on Carolina’s roster requiring waivers for any future reassignment.
G Evan Cormier (Panthers) – Cormier’s inclusion on waivers presumably means the Panthers have signed the netminder to an NHL contract. Florida has had plenty of moving parts between the pipes recently, and Cormier gives them additional depth should they need it. The 27-year-old goaltender has yet to debut in the NHL, spending the last several years in the ECHL. Cormier has managed a 14-9-2 record in 27 games for the Savannah Ghost Pirates this season with a .881 SV% and 3.56 GAA.
F Cameron Hebig (Utah) – Hebig signed with the Utah Hockey Club this morning, requiring waivers for reassignment. [Article Link]
F Tyler Pitlick (Bruins) – Pitlick signed with the Boston Bruins this morning, requiring waivers for reassignment. [Article Link]
Utah Hockey Club Places Nick Bjugstad On Injured Reserve
The Utah Hockey Club will have one missing forward for tonight’s game against the Detroit Red Wings. Utah announced they’ve placed center Nick Bjugstad on the injured reserve due to an upper-body injury.
Earlier in the week, multiple outlets reported that Bjugstad was dealing with an illness. Although the events are mutually exclusive, we know that Bjudstad is dealing more with a physical ailment than an illness.
No distinction has been made, but Utah will likely make the injury designation retroactive to Bjugstad’s most recent game on March 1st. The team had a long four-day break between games, and making the IR placement retroactive to last Saturday would make Bjugstad eligible for activation after tomorrow’s game against the Chicago Blackhawks.
Still, it won’t be a major missing piece for Utah over the next couple of games. The team has relegated Bjugstad to a third-line role after spending much of last season in the team’s top six. He’s scored five goals and 10 assists in 53 games, averaging 12:39 of ice time. The 2024-25 campaign will be Bjugstad’s lowest-scoring season since his dreadful 2021-21 season with the Minnesota Wild.
Utah has been busy over the last 24 hours in locking up their pending unrestricted free agents to new extensions. Given that the team hasn’t appeared motivated to do the same with Bjugstad, there was an outside chance that the team would look to move him ahead of tomorrow’s deadline. There’s still a non-zero chance Bjugstad is moved, but his poor production and injury may have nixed any remaining chance.
Utah To Sign Cameron Hebig To Two-Way Deal
Utah HC is signing depth forward Cameron Hebig to a two-way deal for the remainder of the campaign, PuckPedia reports. He’ll earn pro-rated salaries of $775K in the NHL and $125K in the minors. Hebig will likely land on waivers at 1 p.m. CT, allowing Utah to reassign him to AHL Tucson on deadline day to make him eligible for the Calder Cup Playoffs.
The 28-year-old Hebig is a seasoned pro, skating in parts of seven AHL seasons. He was initially an undrafted free agent signed by the Oilers in 2017, but he wasn’t tendered a qualifying offer upon expiry in 2020. He’s been solely on minor-league deals since then.
The vast majority of that time has been spent in Tucson, now Utah’s affiliate after serving as the Coyotes’ top developmental club for the rest of their history. The Saskatoon native first appeared for the Roadrunners during the 2020-21 campaign and has exclusively suited up there over the last four seasons. While usually a decent middle-six producer, Hebig’s broken out this season for 20-17–37 in 48 games. He’s tied for the team lead in goals, ranks third in overall scoring, and ranks third with a +10 rating. That’s enough for the 5’10” forward, who can line up at center or either wing, to earn his first NHL contract in five years.
Hebig will be returning to Tucson for now, but the NHL deal makes him a recall option down the stretch if injuries strike. He can also be added to Utah’s playoff roster as a black ace if they make the postseason. That’s certainly a possibility, sitting four points back of the Flames for the last wild card spot in the West. He’ll be an unrestricted free agent this summer without an extension.
Utah Signs Karel Vejmelka To Five-Year Extension
March 6: Utah has made Vejmelka’s extension official as reported.
March 5: A busy Wednesday for Utah continues. After inking Alexander Kerfoot and Ian Cole to one-year extensions, the team has agreed to terms with its most prominent pending unrestricted free agent. Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that Utah has signed goaltender Karel Vejmelka to a five-year extension worth $4.75MM per season.
The 28-year-old was a late bloomer, only coming to North America at the age of 25 on a one-year, two-way contract. But instead of being a depth option as expected, he wound up quickly becoming their starter, getting into 52 games. While his overall numbers weren’t great on a rebuilding team (a 3.68 GAA and a .898 SV%), he did well enough to secure a three-year, $8.175MM extension less than 11 months after getting that entry-level pact, a deal that kept him off the trade block leading into the 2022 trade deadline.
The first two seasons of that contract were similar to the first while last year, he started to cede playing time to Connor Ingram who effectively took over as the strong side of the platoon in goal. Along the way, his numbers largely stayed the same with a save percentage a little below .900 and a GAA well above the 3.00 mark. On a team that wasn’t particularly focused on getting to the playoffs, those numbers were fine but there were some questions as to whether he could elevate his game when the time came for the club to start to try to emerge from that rebuild.
Those questions have been answered in a big way this season. Vejmelka has reclaimed the number one nod in a big way, shaving more than a full goal off his GAA compared to his first three years with this year’s number checking in at 2.45 through 38 appearances. His save percentage is up 15 points from last year, landing at .910, well above league average. On top of that, he has cracked the top 10 in goals saved above average, per MoneyPuck. He has played a big role in Utah hanging around the periphery of the playoff chase; they came into play today sitting just four points behind Calgary for the final Wild Card spot in the West.
This contract falls in line with some of the more recent deals signed for netminders. Seattle’s Joey Daccord received $5MM per season for five years on his extension earlier this season while Kevin Lankinen‘s five-year extension signed last month carries a $4.5MM cap charge. Clearly, those two deals served as comparables to help get this deal across the finish line.
With the signing, Utah now has its goalie tandem signed through at least the 2026-27 season at a more-than-reasonable combined cap hit of $6.7MM. Meanwhile, they now have 20 players signed for next season so while there’s an expectation that GM Bill Armstrong is going to try to make a splash, it doesn’t appear as if their roster is going to have a lot of turnover for 2025-26.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Utah Signs Ian Cole To A One-Year Extension
It turns out Alexander Kerfoot wasn’t the only pending UFA from Utah to get an extension on Wednesday. Not long after announcing Kerfoot’s deal, the team announced that they’ve inked blueliner Ian Cole to a one-year extension. Financial terms were not disclosed but Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that the deal carries a base salary of $2.8MM and games-played bonuses of $200K, bringing the AAV to $3MM. GM Bill Armstrong released the following statement:
We are thrilled to have Ian back for another season. Ian’s championship pedigree, work ethic and leadership on and off the ice are valuable assets to our group, and we’re thrilled to have him remain with our organization as we fight for a playoff spot.
The 36-year-old has been somewhat of a hockey nomad in recent years, spending time with six different organizations over the last five seasons alone. During that time, Cole was never with a team for more than one season. That’s now set to change with this extension.
Cole signed a one-year, $3.1MM deal with Utah last summer meaning, like Kerfoot, he’s taking a small dip in pay to stick around. After starting to ease into more of a lower spot on the depth chart in recent years, that hasn’t been the case this season. With Utah’s back end being banged up for a good chunk of the year, Cole is averaging over 20 minutes a game of playing time for the first time in his career.
Through 61 games this season, Cole has a goal and 12 assists along with 160 blocked shots, a mark that leads the team by a considerable margin; Mikhail Sergachev sits second on the squad with 108. That stat line lines up quite closely with his entire 15-year NHL career as Cole generally carries a point total in the teens while being among the leaders in blocks no matter where he plays. That type of consistency and defensive reliability has always made him a popular target for teams and now he’ll get a bit of stability by getting to remain with Utah for another year.
Between this signing and the recent extension given to Olli Maatta, Utah’s top six defensemen are all under contract through at least next season, giving them a solid base with which to try to build from this offseason. With very few free agents remaining – Karel Vejmelka and Nick Bjugstad are the headliners – Utah is in strong shape in terms of building some continuity on their roster while still having plenty of financial flexibility to try to add to its core group.
Utah Signs Alexander Kerfoot To One-Year Extension
After signing Olli Maatta to an extension back on Monday, Utah HC has taken another pending UFA off the market for this summer. The team announced that they’ve signed center Alexander Kerfoot to a one-year contract extension. While the financial terms weren’t disclosed by the team, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link) that the deal will pay Kerfoot $3MM. GM Bill Armstrong released the following statement about the signing:
We are very pleased for Alex to remain in Utah. Alex is an important leader for our group with his versatility on the ice and leadership off the ice, and we look forward to having his continued contribution as we fight down the stretch to make the playoffs.
The 30-year-old is in his second year with the organization going back to his time in Arizona. But those two seasons have had considerably different trajectories. Last year with the Coyotes, Kerfoot had the second-best offensive season of his career, tallying 13 goals and 32 assists in 82 games while logging a career-best 17:26 per night. It looked like he’d be well on his way toward a long-term deal on his next contract if he could even match that level of performance.
But instead of producing at a similar level in 2024-25, Kerfoot’s output has dipped to the lowest levels of his eight-year NHL career. Through 61 outings this season, he has just seven goals and nine assists while his playing time has dropped by more than two minutes a game. While he is winning more than 50% of his faceoffs for the first time since his sophomore season, it’s fair to say his stock around the league has taken a hit.
To that end, it shouldn’t come as much surprise that Kerfoot opted to take just a one-year deal now, giving himself a chance at rebuilding some value before potentially taking a run at the 2026 free agent market when another big jump in the salary cap is expected. He’s also taking a small cut in pay in the process to stick around; next season will be the first time since the 2018-19 campaign that he hasn’t carried a $3.5MM charge against the salary cap.
With the signing, Utah now has $73.5MM in commitments for next season to 18 players, per PuckPedia. Those numbers could go up soon enough if they’re able to get goaltender Karel Vejmelka locked down on an extension, an outcome he’s known to be seeking.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Karel Vejmelka Wants To Remain In Utah
A few weeks ago, on 32 Thoughts with Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the analyst shared that the Los Angeles Kings would prioritize a right-handed scorer at the trade deadline. We opined that New York Islanders’ winger Kyle Palmieri would be the best fit for Los Angeles, given that he’s one year removed from a 30-goal campaign.
It appears the Kings are thinking similarly, as Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News mentioned earlier that Los Angeles had checked in on Palmieri’s availability. Still, there’s some speculation the Islanders will keep Palmieri through the deadline, given they’re only five points back of the final wild-card position in the Eastern Conference.
Fortunately for the Kings and other interested teams, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reported that the Islanders’ reality has settled in, and the team is now engaged in trade negotiations for Palmieri and center Brock Nelson. Palmieri has 19 goals and 40 points through 60 games this year and should command plenty of interest at the deadline, especially if New York is willing to retain some money from his $5MM cap hit.
Additional notes from this evening:
- Exactly 10 days ago, TSN’s Darren Dreger reported that the Utah Hockey Club was engaged in extension negotiations with netminder Karel Vejmelka. There weren’t any meaningful updates regarding an extension until today, when Belle Fraser of The Salt Lake Tribune quoted Vejmelka saying, “For sure. I don’t have reasons to change anything. It’s the first thing on my mind to be part of the team…we’re like a big family.” There’s no questioning Utah’s interest as Vejmelka sits 10th in the league with 14.3 goals saved above expected, according to MoneyPuck.
- As the top wild-card team in the Eastern Conference, the Columbus Blue Jackets could be sneakily active leading up to the trade deadline. David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period asserts the team is targeting a middle-six forward, albeit without specific names. Pagnotta mentioned the Blue Jackets were interested in Gustav Nyquist before he was traded to the Minnesota Wild on Saturday. Assuming Nyquist’s archetype is a reasonable mold to work from, Columbus is likely involved in several wingers on the rental market.
Utah Signs Olli Määttä To Three-Year Extension
Utah HC announced they’ve signed pending free agent defenseman Olli Määttä to a three-year extension. The contract is worth $10.5MM with an even $3.5MM base salary and cap hit each season, PuckPedia reports.
The deal is a demonstration of Määttä’s re-emergence as a top-four piece on the Utah blue line. After being underutilized and relegated to a fringe bottom-pairing role with the Red Wings in the past couple of seasons, he was traded to Utah for a third-round pick a few weeks in late October. Utah, at the time, needed veteran insurance on defense with Sean Durzi and John Marino out long-term and relieved Detroit of his $3MM cap hit in the process.
For his low acquisition cost, the Club has been rewarded. His underlying metrics remained strong as his minutes were slashed in Detroit, signaling he should still be a more effective complementary defensive piece in heavier minutes. Määttä has proved that suspicion right in Salt Lake, posting 2-12–14 in 51 games with a plus-seven rating while averaging 20:41 per game, only the second time he’s averaged north of 20 in his 12-year career. His possession numbers – a 51.4% share of shot attempts and 48.6% expected goals share at even strength – are decent considering he’s started over 55% of his shifts in the defensive zone, the second-highest mark of his career.
While a lefty, the 6’2″ Määttä can comfortably play both sides. He’s done so for a good chunk of the season, playing top-pairing minutes to the right of Mikhail Sergachev while Durzi and Marino were out. Since they returned, he’s shifted back to his natural left side to form Utah’s second pairing with the right-shot Durzi. That pairing has controlled 58.3% of expected goals in 70 minutes of deployment together, per MoneyPuck.
He’s fit in well as a shutdown piece in Utah’s possession-reliant system under head coach André Tourigny. Utah ranks top five in the league at controlling shot attempts, scoring chances, and high-danger chances at even strength, but league-average goaltending on the whole from their hot (Karel Vejmelka) and cold (Connor Ingram) tandem means their team defense is only 15th in the league. He logs heavy penalty-killing minutes, too, and doesn’t grade out as the offensive liability he was at points earlier in his career. His play as a veteran stopgap is a significant reason why Utah still has a chance at the postseason, sitting two points back of the Flames for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
A three-year term is of value to the 30-year-old Määttä as well as the team. He lands some stability after suiting up for five teams in the last seven years, while Utah avoids locking themselves into a deal that takes him into his mid-30s, when his play will likely decline.
Utah now has six defensemen signed to one-way deals for next season, so it stands to reason veteran pending UFA Ian Cole could be on his way out at the deadline for the right price. They now have $25MM in projected cap space for 2024-25 with only six roster spots to fill, and with Vejmelka as the only potential high-cost pending UFA, they’re in good position to make a big splash for a forward on this summer’s free agent market.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Central Notes: Jets, Maroon, Bichsel, Carcone
The Winnipeg Jets are entering the Trade Deadline with little bargaining pieces but plenty of cap space. That’s the set up for some low-cost lineup tinkering, with left-defense the most glaring issue on the roster. That hole could draw the Jets towards open market options like Boston’s Brandon Carlo or Seattle’s Jamie Oleksiak, per Ken Wiebe and Mike McIntyre of The Winnipeg Free Press. Both players carry a cap hit below $5MM. Oleksiak’s deal expires at the end of next season, while Carlo has two years left and a modified no-trade clause.
The added security and movement protection could make Carlo a tough fish to catch. Oleksiak will likely be much more expendable for the right price. The 32-year-old defensive-defenseman has been a focal point of the Kraken blue-line over the last four seasons. He’s averaging 19 minutes of ice time through 60 games this year, while posting 13 points, 14 penalty minutes, and a minus-eight. That stat line is largely in-line with what Oleksiak has managed in three prior years in Seattle – routinely floating between 15 and 20 points and negative plus-minuses, all while serving from a carved out role on the second pair. Oleksiak is six-foot-seven, 250-pounds and patrols the defensive end with a long reach and heavy physical presence. Winnipeg has tried to net the same impact from players like Logan Stanley – one of the only NHLers as tall as Oleksiak – but to little avail. Stanley has just nine points, 72 penalty minutes, and a plus-10 in 47 games on Winnipeg’s bottom-pair. Any upgrade they make will be solely focused on improving that third-pair’s standing as the Jets plan for a very late season.
Other notes from the Midwest:
- The Chicago Blackhawks have kicked the door to the Trade Deadline wide open by swapping defender Seth Jones for goaltender Spencer Knight and a first-round pick. All signs point towards the Hawks continuing to sell as the deadline draws closer – with pieces like Ryan Donato, Alec Martinez, and Petr Mrazek all on the block. But of their aged veterans, winger Pat Maroon doesn’t seem likely to join in on the relocation. He told Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times that he’d prefer to stay with Chicago rather than experience yet another deadline trade. Maroon has been moved in February or March three different times in his career, including at last year’s deadline. He signed his first open market contract since 2020 this summer – choosing the Windy City as his landing spot. 54 games later, Maroon must clearly be enjoying the role of veteran leader and Stanley Cup expert in front of Chicago’s young core. He has 14 points, 71 penalty minutes, and a minus-11 on the year, while serving a minimal role in Chicago’s bottom-six. While opening up that spot would certainly open minutes for more top prospects, it’d be tough to see Chicago go against Maroon’s wishes for anything less than a golden offer.
- Top rookie defenseman Lian Bichsel is progressing in his return from an upper-body injury. He is doubtful for the Dallas Stars’ game against St. Louis on Sunday, but could return when they face New Jersey on Tuesday, per Dallas News’ Lia Assimakopoulos. Bichsel was injured on a high hit from New York Islanders grinder Casey Cizikas on February 23rd. He’s missed two games since. Bichsel has played the first 18 games of his NHL career this season. He has five points, 14 penalty minutes, and a plus-six in that span – and has looked the part of a projectable first-round pick. News of his return on Tuesday will also suggest that Bichsel will continue to hold a role on the NHL roster, though it will be shaky ground as Dallas looks to buy improvements at the deadline. In an aforementioned fun fact, Bichsel is one of the few other six-foot-seven defenders.
- The Utah Hockey Club were without depth forward Michael Carcone on Saturday evening. He was listed as a game-time decision due to a lower-body injury, per Belle Fraser of the Salt Lake Tribune. Carcone has filled a minimal lineup role in Utah, with 13 points, 29 penalty minutes, and a minus-seven in 41 games this year. Utah turned towards Kevin Stenlund to fill-in during the losing effort. Stenlund recorded one assist in 11 minutes of ice time. It was his 14th point of the year through 61 appearances. Jack McBain also saw a boost in Carcone’s absence, stepping onto the second-unit power-play. He did not manage any scoring in the fill-in role.
Latest On Utah’s Trade Deadline Plans
The Trade Deadline is less than a week away and the bubble surrounding it appears ready to burst. There’s plenty of trade buzz circulating in the league, headlined by the Utah Hockey Club’s continued efforts to try to figure out their deadline approach. The Hockey Club was split between buyer and seller status during the 4-Nations Face-Off break, but general manager Bill Armstrong has now shared that the team won’t sell if they stay in playoff contention per Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic. Utah has been on a heater since returning from break, posting a 3-1-0 record and outscoring opponents 13-to-eight. They’re also outshooting opponents 128-to-80, or an average of 32-to-20 per game.
Utah’s surge forward seemed inevitable. They’ve faced injuries to many of their key contributors and notable summer additions this season. That includes burly defender Sean Durzi, who missed four months with a shoulder injury sustained in Utah’s fourth game of the season. Durzi averaged a team-high 25:34 in ice time and recorded two assists through the year’s first three games. That includes a 29-minute performance in his last full game before getting injured. He’s scored two points in four games since returning on February 22nd – though he’s not yet back to his October ice time. In getting Durzi back, Utah effectively added a free top-four defender to a lineup that was already in contention for the Western Conference’s second wild card.
Utah has inched closer to that wild card with their recent hot streak. But Armstrong claiming the team won’t be sellers at the deadline doesn’t mean they’ll be free of action. The divide between winger Matias Maccelli and a routine lineup spot is growing wider over Utah’s last few games. He hasn’t played since February 8th, as pointed out by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman in the latest 32 Thoughts. Friedman adds that the undersized Maccelli could find his spark with a trade away from the team – a claim that’d certainly have teams around the league excited.
Maccelli has just 18 points in 52 games this season, but he broke out as a strong, young playmaker over the last two years. Maccelli recorded 38 assists and 49 points in 64 games of the 2022-23 season – his first full year in the NHL – and followed it up with 40 assists and 57 points in 82 games last year. He’s still just 24 years old, and would likely be an exciting upside buy should a team convince Armstrong that he’s expendable.
While they might not look thrilling on paper, Utah has found a lineup that works this month. They are glaringly shallow at center, where Barrett Hayton and Jack McBain fill the middle-six roles – but it’s hard to point out a weakness anywhere else. Utah’s wingers have performed up to par and the return of Durzi brings some much-needed weight behind Mikhail Sergachev and John Marino on defense. With a gust of wind behind their sails, any of Utah’s moves would likely focus solely on beefing up their bottom three forward lines. They’ll have the money to pursue whoever they’d like on the open market – with a projected $28.52MM in deadline cap space, per PuckPedia.
That much cap space is bound to weigh down a wallet, and Armstrong’s indication that the team won’t sell assets could be a subtle indication that they’re looking to lean heavily into the post-break success.