The Canucks could be getting closer to getting their regular starting goaltender back as Sportsnet 650’s Brendan Batchelor relays (Twitter link) that Thatcher Demko skated today for the second straight day. He has missed more than a month as he continues to battle a groin injury, not the knee issue that sidelined him in the playoffs last year and caused him to miss the first three months of this season. Demko has underperformed when he has been available, posting a 2.87 GAA with a .891 SV% in 17 games. But with Arturs Silovs also struggling and Kevin Lankinen blowing past his career high in games played already, even having Demko back in a secondary capacity for the stretch run should help boost Vancouver’s chances as they battle for a playoff spot in the West.
Canucks Rumors
Canucks Sign Linus Karlsson To One-Year Extension
The Canucks have signed winger/center Linus Karlsson to a one-year, one-way extension carrying the league-minimum $775K salary, per a team announcement. He was set to be a Group VI unrestricted free agent if not re-signed by July 1.
A third-round pick by the Sharks in the 2018 draft, the Canucks picked up his signing rights the following year in exchange for Jonathan Dahlén. The 6’1″ forward was in the Karlskrona HK organization in his native Sweden at the time, and after slowly climbing up the European ladder to top-flight minutes with the SHL’s Skellefteå AIK in 2021-22, he inked his entry-level deal with Vancouver the following summer and arrived in North America for the 2022-23 campaign.
While Karlsson was a decent top-six AHL piece in his first season for Vancouver’s affiliate in Abbotsford, he’s exploded for over a point per game since the beginning of 2023-24. After posting 23-37–60 in 60 AHL contests last year, he’s topped that pace with 19-13–32 in 28 showings this year. Injuries have limited his availability at the minor-league level, but so have a few NHL call-ups. He’s skated in nine games for Vancouver in the regular season, scoring his first NHL goal in the process back on Jan. 29 against the Predators.
That remains his only career NHL point across 13 regular-season games dating back to his debut last season, also going without a point in two postseason appearances for the Canucks last year. The one-way structure of his extension is intriguing – perhaps signaling the Canucks plan on the 25-year-old cracking the opening night roster next fall. That would make sense, considering he’s in his last season of waiver-exempt status and would need to clear them on his way down to the minors in 2025-26.
If Karlsson doesn’t reach the 80-game mark for his career by the end of 2025-26, he’ll be eligible for Group VI UFA status again. If not, the Canucks will retain team control for one more summer before he’s eligible for standard UFA status in 2027. Vancouver still has just 27 of 50 contract slots filled for next season, per PuckPedia.
Flames’ Connor Zary Suspended Two Games
Flames forward Connor Zary has been suspended two games for elbowing Canucks defenseman Elias Pettersson in last night’s game, the league’s Department of Player Safety announced.
In their video statement, DoPS described the incident as follows:
Wednesday night in Calgary, Flames forward Connor Zary was penalized for extending his elbow to deliver a late, high retaliatory hit against Canucks defenseman Elias Pettersson. As the video shows, the Flames skate the puck through the neutral zone with Pettersson defending and Zary on the rush in support. The puck is flipped towards the net and Pettersson finishes a clean, hard check on a Flames player. Then, after the hit and disregarding the rest of the play, Zary tracks Pettersson, raises his elbow and forearm, and elevates upward into a check, striking Pettersson with the extended arm and making significant contact with Pettersson’s head. This is elbowing.
Regarding their rationale for supplemental discipline:
It is important to note that this is not a case where a player’s sudden movements cause a hitter to reflexively extend an elbow in a way that turns a legal hit into an illegal one. On this play, Zary sees a teammate take a hard but legal check and responds intentionally in retribution by delivering a hit with his extended elbow that makes significant head contact and is delivered with reckless force for supplemental discipline.
Zary has never been fined or suspended before, something the league undoubtedly took into consideration during his hearing this morning. The 23-year-old, whom Calgary selected in the first round in 2020, is in just his second NHL season with 112 career games under his belt.
After finishing eighth in Calder Trophy voting last season, Zary has cemented himself as an important middle-six contributor for the Flames. He ranks sixth on the team among qualified skaters in points per game (0.49) and has averaged nearly 16 minutes per game, including regular second-unit power play deployment. His absence, plus injury concerns surrounding captain Mikael Backlund after he left last night’s game, will likely force Calgary to recall a forward from the AHL before tomorrow’s game against the Avalanche. If Backlund is out, they’d be able to recall someone under emergency conditions and not use their second of four post-deadline standard recalls. They already burned one on Adam Klapka this week.
That’s tough news for a Flames squad that already lost some ground in the wild-card race by dropping last night’s contest to their chief competitors for the spot in a shootout. They’re tied with the Canucks at 71 points but have a game in hand, so they remain in playoff position for now. The Blues and Utah are each two points back of Calgary as well, but like Vancouver, have played one more game than the Flames.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Hurricanes Believed To Have Shown Interest In Brock Boeser Before Trade Deadline
When it was known that the Hurricanes would be acquiring a pair of first-round picks as part of their return for Mikko Rantanen, the fact the deal wasn’t officially finalized until close to the trade deadline complicated Carolina’s efforts on that front.
However, it appears as if they made an effort to flip one of those picks to get some win-now help as Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK and The Athletic recently reported (Twitter link) that the Hurricanes are believed to have tried to make a run at adding Canucks winger Brock Boeser just before the deadline with one of those newly-acquired first rounders potentially in the offer.
The idea of adding Boeser certainly would have made a lot of sense from Carolina’s standpoint to help fill the void vacated by Rantanen and Martin Necas before the initial swap with Colorado. While the 28-year-old isn’t necessarily as offensively gifted as Rantanen or Necas, he has been a pretty reliable scorer throughout his career. Boeser isn’t on his way to his second straight 40-goal season but he has 18 goals and 20 helpers through 57 games which would have made him a good fit on the second line for the Hurricanes.
Of course, with Vancouver still squarely in the mix for a playoff spot in the West, it’s understandable why a futures-based return for one of their top wingers wouldn’t have been appealing to GM Patrik Allvin. Even when they moved J.T. Miller, they quickly flipped the first-round pick to Pittsburgh for two players who were quickly signed to contract extensions as they continued to operate with a win-now mindset. With that in mind, it’s reasonable to infer that if Boeser were to be moved, Allvin’s preference would have been a player-for-player type of swap over a futures-based offer like Carolina’s.
Dhaliwal also notes that the Canucks took a late run at trying to get Boeser signed to a contract extension. The only reported offer that’s out there was a five-year, $40MM proposal from earlier in the season; it’s unclear how much their new offer differed from their original but with a big jump coming in the salary cap, Boeser’s camp likely feels that they’ll be able to beat that on the open market this summer if a new deal with Vancouver isn’t reached by then. And if that doesn’t happen, there’s probably a good chance that the Hurricanes will be among the teams calling on July 1st.
Silovs Recalled, Tolopilo Sent To Abbotsford
- The Canucks have reversed their goalie move from yesterday, announcing (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled Arturs Silovs from AHL Abbotsford while sending Nikita Tolopilo to Abbotsford. The move allowed Silovs to start yesterday against San Jose where he allowed four goals on 28 shots. Silovs has a 3.85 GAA with a .858 SV% in nine outings with Vancouver and is set to be the primary backup with Thatcher Demko back on injured reserve. But to keep him fresh, the Canucks could send him down periodically to get a spot start in with Abbotsford.
Canucks Wanted First Round Pick For Brock Boeser
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reported last night that the Vancouver Canucks were not willing to accept anything less than a first-round pick at the NHL Trade Deadline for forward Brock Boeser. No other team met the request, and ultimately Vancouver held onto the pending unrestricted free agent and will hold the exclusive rights to negotiate an extension into the summer. Canucks general manager Patrick Allvin came out in his press conference Friday and said that offers for Boeser weren’t good, which likely wasn’t meant as a shot at Boeser’s play but may not have been well received by the 28-year-old.
Vancouver’s asking price for Boeser was fair, given that it was a seller’s market at the deadline and many of the players traded were moved for astronomical prices. A year ago, Boeser would have been a hot commodity on the trade market after he tallied 40 goals and added 33 assists in 81 games.
Like many Canucks players, Boeser is having a down season after posting several career highs a year ago. Boeser has tallied 18 goals and 20 assists this season in 55 games and has a -20 plus/minus. His shooting percentage is almost 3% higher than his career average, which indicates that his drop in production isn’t simply a case of a player cooling off. Boeser’s shot volume has taken a considerable drop this year, as have his possession numbers, which is surprising given that Vancouver have been giving him more favorable deployment this season, starting him in almost 60% of his shifts in the offensive zone.
There is no word yet on whether Vancouver will sign Boeser long term, which will make for an interesting development over the next few months.
Minor Transactions: 3/8/25
The NHL Trade Deadline has finally passed, pulling teams into the late stages of their seasons. The transaction wire has stayed hot as teams continue to sort out their lineups for the remainder of the year. As always, Pro Hockey Rumors will track the minor moves here:
- The Anaheim Ducks have reassigned goaltender Ville Husso to the AHL. Husso was recalled to be Anaheim’s third-string goalie behind Lukas Dostal and John Gibson on Friday, after news that Gibson had suffered a day-to-day, lower-body injury. Husso has played in three games with the San Diego Gulls since joining Anaheim’s system. He won the first with a 34-save shutout, but split his last two while allowing 10 goals on 59 shots. With this move, Husso will look to build on his 2-1-0 record and .892 save percentage with the Gulls.
- The Pittsburgh Penguins have reassigned defenseman Jack St. Ivany. Pittsburgh recalled St. Ivany under emergency conditions and used him as a healthy scratch in Friday’s game against Vegas. He has been a fixture of the minor leagues since November, netting six points, eight penalty minutes, and a minus-two in 21 games. Before that, St. Ivany appeared in 19 NHL games and recorded one assist, 17 penalty minutes, and a minus-three. He could find a tougher time earning another call-up, after Pittsburgh acquired longtime Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Conor Timmins at the deadline. Timmins has eight points in 51 NHL games this season.
- The Vancouver Canucks have swapped emergency netminders, assigning Arturs Silovs to the minor leagues and utilizing an emergency recall on Nikita Tolopilo. Silovs played in two NHL games in late February. He lost them both while allowing six goals on 56 shots. He’ll return to the minors sporting a dismal .858 save percentage and 1-6-1 record at the NHL level. He’s been far more productive in the AHL, where he has a .906 Sv% and 10-4-0 record. Meanwhile Tolopilo could be in store for his NHL debut after posting a .890 Sv% and 12-14-2 record as the AHL starter in Silovs’ absence. Tolopilo is in just his second season of North American pros after two years in the HockeyAllsvenskan. He posted a .912 Sv% and 39-38-0 record across 79 games in Sweden’s second-tier league.
- Defenseman Calen Addison has been traded from the Henderson Silver Knights to the Springfield Thunderbirds in exchange for future considerations. Addison played in 49 games and recorded 33 points, 55 penalty minutes, and a minus-24 with Henderson. He is expected to initially report to Springfield’s ECHL affiliate, the Florida Everblades. Addison was once a second-round pick in the NHL Draft and managed a single-season high of 29 points across four NHL seasons. His career totals at the top level stand as 50 points and 96 penalty minutes in 152 games.
Minor Transactions: 3/7/25
Similarly to the NHL, AHL playoff rosters are also due today before the trade deadline. Any player currently rostered in the AHL is eligible for the 2025 Calder Cup playoffs, regardless of a future call-up. Today’s list will continue to grow until the 3 p.m. deadline.
- According to a team announcement, the Dallas Stars have reassigned defenseman Lian Bichsel to their AHL affiliate, the Texas Stars. Although the reassignment came with a formal announcement from the team, it should only serve as a paper transaction for Bichsel to ensure he’s eligible for the Calder Cup playoffs. The rookie defenseman has scored two goals and three assists in 20 games for the Stars this season, averaging 14:54 of ice time per night. He’s made his presence known by averaging over four hits a game, but he’s been on the wrong end of some highlight videos early in his NHL career. Dallas confirmed it as a paper transaction later, recalling Bichsel quickly after the deadline.
- As alluded to yesterday, the Philadelphia Flyers have confirmed the reassignment of netminder Aleksei Kolosov to their AHL affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Given that he’s been Philadelphia’s third-string option for much of the season, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Kolosov’s reassignment extend beyond the trade deadline. The second-year netminder has a 4-8-1 record in 15 games with the Flyers this season with a .870 SV% and 3.45 GAA. His performance hasn’t been any better with AHL Lehigh Valley as he’s recorded a 2-4-1 record in seven AHL contests with a .874 SV% and 3.59 GAA.
- The Calgary Flames are making Adam Klapka available to their AHL affiliate, the Calgary Wranglers, for the 2025 Calder Cup playoffs, per a team report. Similarly to Kolosov, this reassignment may extend through the deadline. Klapka has spent much of the year in AHL Calgary, scoring 13 goals and 25 points in 31 contests. He’s been far less utilized by the Flames, registering one goal in 13 contests and averaging 8:10 of ice time per game.
- According to Andy Androckitis of Inside AHL Hockey, the San Jose Sharks are expected to reassign defenseman Jimmy Schuldt and Jack Thompson to their AHL affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda. As a minor contextual update, Max Miller of The Hockey News believes Thompson’s reassignment is a paper transaction to make him eligible for the AHL postseason. Despite low scoring output, Thompson has been an effective defenseman for the Sharks this season, averaging a 92.1% on-ice save percentage at even strength, the best on the team among defensemen with more than 20 games played.
- The Columbus Blue Jackets announced they’ve reassigned forward Joseph Labate to their AHL affiliate, the Cleveland Monsters. As one of the most feel-good stories of the 2024-25 campaign, Labate took the ice in the NHL for the first time in eight years this season. The 31-year-old winger had spent the last several years bouncing around on AHL contracts with a one-year pitstop in the KHL. He scored six goals and 13 points in 33 games with AHL Cleveland before being elevated to an NHL contract with the Blue Jackets.
- After announcing that defenseman Colton Parayko would miss the next six weeks due to a knee injury, the St. Louis Blues were expected to make a recall on defense. The team announced that recall this morning, sharing that they’ve brought up Matthew Kessel from their AHL affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds. The Phoenix, AZ native has already spent time as a seventh defenseman for the Blues this season, tallying three assists in 27 games while averaging 13:05 of ice time per game.
- Strictly as a paper move, Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times reports that the Chicago Blackhawks have reassigned forward Colton Dach and defenseman Ethan Del Mastro to their AHL affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs. Both players will remain in the Blackhawks’ lineup for the rest of the season before they are returned to AHL Rockford at the end of the season, should they qualify for the 2025 Calder Cup playoffs. Dach has scored two goals and six points in 18 games with Chicago, while Del Mastro has registered two goals and three points in 12 contests.
- As expected, the Detroit Red Wings have placed forward Carter Mazur on injured reserve one day after his debut. Mazur suffered a dislocated elbow approximately one minute into his NHL career, and he’s likely done for the regular season. In a corresponding transaction, the Red Wings have recalled forward Dominik Shine from their AHL affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins. Shine is only a couple of weeks removed from signing the first NHL contract of his career, tallying one assist in four games for Detroit in late January.
- The Montreal Canadiens announced they’ve reassigned forward Owen Beck and goaltender Jakub Dobes to their AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket, for eligibility in the Calder Cup playoffs. Beck has been an extremely effective forward for the Rocket this year, scoring 13 goals and 32 points in 47 games. Meanwhile, Dobes has made a name for himself in Montreal, managing a 6-2-1 record in 10 games with a .909 SV% and 2.63 GAA, including one shutout.
- The Los Angeles Kings aren’t entirely sold on Brandt Clarke’s future with the team. A report from Greg Wyshynski of ESPN this morning indicated the Kings were shopping Clarke on the trade market, and they’ve now reassigned him to their AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign, along with Samuel Helenius (Twitter Link). Both players should be back on the NHL roster tomorrow, with the move signifying they’ll be eligible for the AHL postseason. Still, it’s a notable development as it indicates Los Angeles may want Clarke in the AHL for the Reign’s postseason run rather than their own.
- According to a team announcement, the Carolina Hurricanes have reassigned defenseman Riley Stillman to their AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves. Stillman filled in for Dmitry Orlov in last night’s contest but didn’t make it through the full game due to getting his face cut by a skate. He finished last night’s contest against the Boston Bruins with zero points after skating in 18 seconds of the game’s action.
- In addition to Schuldt and Thompson, Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News shares that the Sharks have reassigned defenseman Shakir Mukhamadullin and forward Collin Graf to AHL San Jose. They’re both expected back on the Sharks’ roster later today or tomorrow, but the roster move will make them eligible for the AHL postseason. Mukhamadullin and Graf have both spent much of the year with the Barracuda. In short order, Pashelka reports the Sharks have recalled both players back to the NHL roster.
- Due to another injury to netminder John Gibson on Wednesday, the Anaheim Ducks were expected to recall another goaltender. Anaheim announced they’ve recalled Ville Husso from their AHL affiliate, the San Diego Gulls, to fill the void left by Gibson. It’s Husso’s first call-up with the Ducks since being acquired from the Red Wings on February 24th. He posted a 1-5-2 record in nine games in Detroit this season with a .866 SV% and 3.69 GAA.
- For the fifth time this year, the New York Rangers have assigned defenseman Chad Ruhwedel to their AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack. Ruhwedel has primarily played for AHL Hartford this season in his first extended stay in the AHL since 2016-17. The veteran defenseman has recorded three goals and 12 points in 36 contests with a +8 rating.
- After a flurry of trade activity over the last couple of days, the Seattle Kraken are making a small roster move for the benefit of their AHL roster. The Kraken announced they’ve reassigned forwards Jacob Melanson and Ben Meyers to their AHL affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds, and have recalled John Hayden in a corresponding transaction. The former debuted in the NHL last night, notching four hits and one takeaway in 9:53 of ice time.
- In a major boost to their playoff chances, the AHL’s Providence Bruins will have several players available for the 2025 Calder Cup playoffs. Mark Divver of the New England Hockey Journal reports the Boston Bruins have papered down Marat Khusnutdinov, Vinni Lettieri, Patrick Brown, Ian Mitchell, Riley Tufte, and Matthew Poitras to the AHL for their postseason eligibility. All six players are expected back on the Bruins roster by this evening or tomorrow morning.
- As expected, the Buffalo Sabres have papered down forward Jiří Kulich to their AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans. Kulich has been an impressive player for AHL Rochester over the last few seasons and should continue to be in the postseason. He’s scored 53 goals and 94 points in 123 games on the Americans’ roster. Later in the day, the Americans announced that forwards Isak Rosen and Joshua Dunne were recalled on an emergency basis so they won’t count toward the post-deadline limit.
- According to a team announcement, the Edmonton Oilers have returned defenseman Cam Dineen to their AHL affiliate, the Bakersfield Condors, from his emergency recall. Unlike many of the roster moves on today’s list, Dineen has a solid chance of playing the remainder of the year with AHL Bakersfield. The 26-year-old defenseman has scored five goals and 29 points in 45 games for the Condors this season while only registering one game with the Oilers.
- In addition to recalling Emil Andrae, the Philadelphia Flyers are also making two more player recalls to their NHL roster. The team announced they’ve recalled forwards Olle Lycksell and Rodrigo Abols to the NHL roster for Saturday’s game against the Seattle Kraken. Abols has scored one goal and one assist in nine games for the Flyers this season, while Lycksell has gone scoreless in six contests.
- The Vancouver Canucks have joined in on the mix of teams ensuring their top prospects are eligible for the AHL playoffs. They have assigned defenseman Victor Mancini, forward Jonathan Lekkerimaki, and goaltender Arturs Silovs to the AHL. Lekkerimaki has three points in 12 NHL games this season, while Mancini didn’t manage any scoring in his sole appearance with the Canucks so far. Silovs has operated as the team’s third-string goalie and has a 1-6-1 record and .858 save percentage on the year. All three players were subsequently recalled soon after the deadline.
- The Pittsburgh Penguins announced that they’ve recalled defenseman Jack St. Ivany from AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on an emergency basis. The 25-year-old has played in 19 games with Pittsburgh this season, recording one assist while averaging 16:22 of playing time per game.
This page will be updated throughout the day.
Canucks Won’t Trade Brock Boeser Despite Prior Interest
2:00 PM: The Vancouver Canucks have opted to retain Boeser rather than opting for a trade per DailyFaceoff’s Frank Seravalli. No signs of an extension are currently in place – but the team has opted to end their Trade Deadline early after a quiet day.
11:30 AM: It’s “more likely than not” the Canucks will move pending UFA winger Brock Boeser before the 2 p.m. CT trade deadline, per Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff. No deal is imminent yet, but Vancouver is engaging in offer-gathering.
The Canucks’ reported best offer to Boeser was a five-year, $40MM deal carrying an $8MM AAV. That offer was rejected by Boeser initially and recently taken off the table entirely by the team, per Darren Dreger of TSN.
It’s been a tough year for the 28-year-old, who’s dropped to 18 goals in 54 games after notching a career-high 40 in 81 appearances last season. His shooting percentage hasn’t regressed much, only from 19.6% to 17% – still above his 14% career average. He’s taking the fewest shots on goal per game of his NHL career with 1.96, struggling to create chances for himself.
That difficult contract year showing, plus the fact that it is a seller’s market has no doubt played into the Canucks decision to move on from the nine-year NHL veteran. Boeser has been a consistent 20-goal scorer throughout his career but has topped the 30-goal mark just once (last season) and isn’t a big play driver. His play at times can be frustrating if he isn’t putting the puck in the net, which is likely why Vancouver capped their offer at five years.
If Boeser finishes the season strong he could land a more lucrative deal in total dollars than he would have with the Canucks, but if he struggles he might not match the $8MM AAV that Vancouver was offering.
Vancouver has been in a state of flux for much of this season and has seen a ton of player movement in recent weeks with the trade of J.T. Miller and the acquisition of Marcus Pettersson. They currently sit one point out of the final Wild Card spot in the Western Conference, which makes it hard to imagine them dealing Boeser for futures. However, they could do as they did with Miller and acquire draft picks or prospects to use in another move that adds to their current roster.
PHR’s Josh Cybulski contributed to this article.
Rangers Acquire Carson Soucy
6:30 PM: The trade has been made official by both teams.
5:15 PM: The New York Rangers have reportedly acquired veteran defenseman Carson Soucy from the Vancouver Canucks, per TSN’s Darren Dreger. In return, the Vancouver Canucks will receive the San Jose Sharks’ third-round draft pick, per Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli, which New York acquired in an earlier trade that sent winger Reilly Smith to the Vegas Golden Knights.
Vancouver reportedly asked Soucy to waive his full no-trade clause earlier in the day, per Rick Dhaliwal of The Athletic, who adds that Soucy took his time and fielded a call from fellow former-Canuck and now-Ranger J.T. Miller.
For much of the season, Soucy has been the focal point of trade rumors. He’s in his second year with the Canucks after signing a three-year, $9.8MM contract with the team in 2023. Soucy recorded six points, 12 penalty minutes, and a plus-10 in 40 games with Vancouver last season, while filling roles on both sides of the lineup. But a lower-body injury earned him a spot on injured reserve from November to January – and a hand injury shelved him for another month in February. The routine absences ate into Soucy’s ability to earn a top-four lineup role in Vancouver. He’s spent this season confined to bottom-pair minutes, with 10 points, 42 penalty minutes, and a dismal minus-13 in 59 games.
Soucy has been a routine depth defenseman since he earned his first three NHL games in 2017-18. Originally a 2013 fifth-round selection, Soucy played through his rookie season with the 2018-19 Minnesota Wild, netting 14 points, 18 penalty minutes, and a plus-16. That was enough to earn Soucy Minnesota’s oft-rotating seventh-defender role, and he showed signs of comfort with 17 points, 51 penalty minutes, and a plus-22 in 50 games of his sophomore season.
Soucy’s signs of stout depth defense were enough to convince the Seattle Kraken to select him from Minnesota in the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft. A move out West brought with it a chance at more ice time that Soucy relished in. He recorded 10 goals, 21 points, 47 penalty minutes, and a plus-seven in 64 games with the inaugural Seattle Kraken while averaging 17:40 in ice time. Each of those stats still stand as Soucy’s career-highs. He struggled to maintain the scoring in his second year with Seattle – netting just 16 points in 78 games. That led to a move north in free agency, where Soucy again struggled to plant his feet in the daily lineup.
He’ll now head out East to join a Rangers blue-line that’s seen plenty of change this season. New York has parted ways with Jacob Trouba, Ryan Lindgren, and Victor Mancini in favor of adding Urho Vaakanainen, Erik Brannstrom, and Calvin de Haan. Those new faces haven’t quite filled the lineup holes they were tasked with, which could open the door for Soucy to finally land a consistent role. Each of New York’s new additions have flashed upside in their short minutes with the Rangers, and will battle for at least two vacancies on the team’s bottom pair.