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Devils Assign Justin Dowling And Nick DeSimone To AHL

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The New Jersey Devils have announced that they are sending forward Justin Dowling and defenseman Nick DeSimone to the Utica Comets of the American Hockey League. New Jersey has a four-day break in the NHL schedule and doesn’t play again until Thursday night when they take on the Carolina Hurricanes. The gap between games likely makes these AHL assignments a cap move; however, we won’t know that for sure until later this week.

The Devils have three players who are currently out of their lineup in forwards Curtis Lazar and Nathan Bastian, as well as defenseman Santeri Hatakka.

Dowling has been anchoring New Jersey’s fourth line alongside Tomas Tatar and Kurtis MacDermid, a spot he has occupied for nine straight games. The 34-year-old appeared in his first NHL game this season at the end of October against his former team, the Vancouver Canucks, and has a single assist since being called up. The journeyman has spent much of his professional career in the AHL but has made NHL stops in Dallas and Vancouver.

DeSimone was brought up to the NHL back on November 8th and has been a healthy scratch during that time. The 29-year-old has yet to appear in an NHL game this season but has dressed in nine AHL games, tallying two assists. DeSimone was acquired by the Devils off waivers from the Calgary Flames back in January of this year.

Avalanche To Reassign Chris Wagner

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Nov. 15: Wagner has cleared waivers and will be assigned to the AHL, according to Friedman. Ivan and Kovalenko were also recalled earlier today as expected.

Nov. 14: The Avalanche placed forward Chris Wagner on waivers Thursday for the purpose of assignment to AHL Colorado, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. The club also papered forwards Ivan Ivan and Nikolai Kovalenko down to the minors, but they’re expected back tomorrow.

Wagner, 33, cleared waivers already at the beginning of the season but has made 12 appearances for the Avs, so he needs to clear them again to return to the minors. The veteran has played in Colorado’s last 10 games but is projected to be a healthy scratch tomorrow against the Capitals with Jonathan Drouin, Valeri Nichushkin and Miles Wood all returning to the lineup.

Now in the second season of his second stint with the Avalanche organization, Wagner has one goal and a -5 rating in 12 showings with the club this season. The 2010 fifth-round pick of the Ducks also made one appearance for AHL Colorado earlier in the year after clearing waivers.

After spending a brief chunk of the 2015-16 campaign with the Avalanche between a waiver placement and waiver claim by the Ducks, Wagner returned to Denver in 2023 when he signed a two-way deal in free agency. Wagner totaled 14 points in 21 AHL games last season and also had a goal and an assist in 13 appearances for the Avs down the stretch, his most games played in a season since appearing in 41 with the Bruins in 2020-21. He signed a two-way extension back in April to keep him off last summer’s unrestricted free agent market, now set to be a UFA in 2025.

With a league minimum cap hit on an expiring deal, there is a fair amount of risk of Wagner being claimed if a team decides they’re in need of short-term help among their depth forwards. The Predators are currently last in the league by points percentage and thus have first dibs, with the Canadiens, Sharks, Ducks, Blue Jackets, and Blackhawks next in line.

Hurricanes Activate, Reassign Riley Stillman

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Nov. 13: Stillman cleared waivers and is on his way to the AHL, according to Friedman.

Nov. 12: The Hurricanes have placed defenseman Riley Stillman on waivers with the intent to assign him to AHL Chicago, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. The move indicates he’s been activated from season-opening injured reserve after missing the past couple of months with a lower-body injury.

Stillman, 26, hasn’t played in the NHL since April 2023 with the Sabres. He spent all of last season on assignment to their AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans, where the heavy-hitting 6’2″ defender struggled with only six points in 47 games with a -4 rating.

The 2016 fourth-round pick of the Panthers was hoping to get his career back on track with the Canes, who inked him to a two-way deal ($775K/$150K) in the first few days of free agency. There was a small opening for him to potentially stick on the roster as a seventh defenseman, but without a full training camp to evaluate him, it was a foregone conclusion that he’d end up on waivers after he was medically cleared to play.

Over the course of five seasons, Stillman has 158 NHL games under his belt with the Panthers, Blackhawks, Canucks, and Sabres. He’s scored four goals and 22 assists for 26 points, compiling a -19 rating with 197 blocks and 318 hits while averaging 15:49 per game.

Sabres Reclaim James Reimer Off Waivers From Ducks

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Nov. 13: The Sabres have reclaimed Reimer off waivers from the Ducks, per Friedman. It’s unclear if they were the only team to submit a claim, but regardless, he’ll likely remain on the active roster for now with Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen out day-to-day with an undisclosed injury.

Nov. 12: The Ducks have placed goaltender James Reimer on waivers for the purpose of assignment to AHL San Diego, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports Tuesday.

Anaheim acquired Reimer, 36, off waivers from the Sabres in early October, just before the regular season began. If Buffalo submits a claim for Reimer over the next 24 hours and is the only team to do so, they can send him directly to their AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans.

The Ducks claimed Reimer to provide veteran support to breakout starter Lukáš Dostál while John Gibson was on the shelf for the first few weeks of the season after undergoing appendectomy surgery. With Dostál putting up some of the best numbers in the league in the early going, Reimer made only two starts over the past month, winning neither of them and posting a subpar .864 SV%, 4.50 GAA and -2.4 GSAA. Gibson came off injured reserve last Friday, meaning Reimer was no longer needed on the active roster.

Reimer is coming off a solid campaign with the Red Wings, where he recorded a .904 SV% and 3.11 GAA in 20 starts and five relief appearances. Those numbers indicate he still has it in him to be a solid backup option and could certainly handle a No. 3 role. That’s what the Sabres were banking on when they signed him to a one-year, $1MM contract over the summer, likely hoping that a seven-figure price tag was high enough to deter teams from claiming off waivers when they attempted to send him down at the beginning of the year.

That didn’t happen, but they’ll get another chance to have him starting for their minor-league affiliate while providing a much more stable recall option in case of injury to either Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen or Devon Levi than what they currently have. Their current No. 3 option, former Flyer Felix Sandström, has a .900 SV% in five appearances for the Amerks.

Jets Reclaim Kaapo Kähkönen From Avalanche, Place Logan Stanley On IR

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Nov. 12, 1:33 p.m.: The Jets confirmed Kähkönen’s claim and also announced they’ve placed defenseman Logan Stanley on injured reserve retroactive to Nov. 9. It was reported earlier Tuesday that Stanley would miss the team’s three-game road trip this week with a mid-body injury. He’ll be eligible to come off IR when the Jets return home.

Nov. 12, 1:05 p.m.: The Jets submitted a claim and were the only team to do so, reports Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. He’ll report to the AHL’s Manitoba Moose.

Nov. 11: After the Avalanche claimed Kaapo Kähkönen off waivers from the Jets last month, the team announced they’ve placed him back on the wire today.

Issues with Kähkönen’s work visa significantly delayed his arrival in the Mile High City. Colorado claimed Kähkönen from Winnipeg on Oct. 11, and he was held out of action for over a week until the Avs got him some AHL action on a conditioning loan.

Kähkönen made two appearances on his brief stint with the Colorado Eagles, his first minor-league action since the 2019-20 campaign. He lost both contests but still put up solid numbers, recording a .919 SV% and 2.57 GAA. He’d been on the NHL roster since Oct. 29 but only made one appearance for the Avs, allowing four goals on 20 shots in a loss to the Lightning on Halloween Eve. He’s dressed as a backup or been a healthy scratch for every game since.

24-year-old Justus Annunen has been passable, and starter Alexandar Georgiev appears to be getting his feet back under him with a .904 SV% in his last three games. Thus, there was no longer much of a need for the Avs to carry three goalies on their roster, especially with injuries continuing to plague their forward group. Kähkönen, who signed a one-year, $1MM deal with the Jets in free agency over the summer, now must hope for a third team to take a flyer on him this season if he wants to keep an NHL roster spot.

If Winnipeg submits a claim for Kähkönen and is the only team to do so, they may directly assign him to their AHL affiliate, the Manitoba Moose. The 28-year-old has a 49-68-15 record, four shutouts, a 3.34 GAA, and a .898 SV% in 140 career NHL appearances over the past six years.

Maple Leafs Reassign Matt Benning

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Nov. 12: Benning cleared waivers, per Friedman. The Maple Leafs will likely continue to explore trade options, which may be easier now that an acquiring team could send him to the minors without risking losing him on the wire. He’s been assigned to the AHL’s Toronto Marlies to give him a chance to play in the meantime.

Nov. 11: The Maple Leafs have placed newly-acquired defenseman Matt Benning on waivers, Chris Johnston of The Athletic and TSN reports.

Toronto acquired Benning, 30, from the Sharks with a pair of draft picks in exchange for Timothy Liljegren nearly two weeks ago. It was immediately apparent the veteran was included for roster/salary cap purposes and that he wasn’t expected to stick around with the Leafs. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet quickly reported that they were looking to move the blue-liner, while James Mirtle of The Athletic suggested last week that Toronto would waive Benning in short order if they couldn’t find a trade partner.

The Leafs and Benning will now hope that another team takes a flyer on him for no acquisition cost over the next 24 hours. He has one season after this remaining on the four-year, $5MM contract he signed with San Jose as a free agent in 2022. He carries a $1.25MM cap hit and will cost $100K against the cap for the Maple Leafs if he clears waivers and is assigned to AHL Toronto.

Benning, an Edmonton native, has not played for the Maple Leafs since the trade and has been a healthy scratch in six straight games. Before the trade, he went without a point and had a -5 rating in seven games for the Sharks while averaging a career-low 13:02 per contest. He had issues staying in the lineup with San Jose, too, going four straight games as a healthy scratch in late October.

In fact, Benning has made just 21 appearances since the beginning of last season. He missed the last four-plus months of 2023-24 after undergoing hip surgery in December.

The 6’1″ right-shot defender was a sixth-round pick by the Bruins in 2012, although he never signed with them and instead began his NHL career with his hometown Oilers after signing there as a free agent in 2016. In 464 NHL games in nine seasons, Benning has 17 goals, 85 assists and 102 points while averaging 16:37 per game.

Blackhawks Reassign Andreas Athanasiou

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Nov. 12, 1:12 p.m.: Athanasiou passed through waivers unclaimed and will be on his way to Rockford, according to Friedman.

Nov. 11, 1:05 p.m.: Athanasiou is indeed on waivers today, per Friedman.

Nov. 11, 8:14 a.m.: Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that the Blackhawks will place veteran center Andreas Athanasiou on waivers this week, potentially as early as Monday. The move will leave Chicago with an open roster spot, although it’s unclear what they plan to do with it.

Athanasiou, 30, was signed to a two-year, $8.5MM extension in 2023 after a resurgent 20-goal, 40-point showing with the Blackhawks the preceding season. The club banked on Athansiou’s demonstrated ceiling when healthy and his historical status as one of the league’s fastest skaters to help energize their top nine through their rebuild, even with injuries limiting Athanasiou to fewer than 70 games all but three times in his decade-long career.

The pending waiver placement underscores how poorly things have gone for Athanasiou in the year-plus since. He missed 53 games last season with a lower-body injury, and while he’s managed to avoid IR this season, he’s still barely played. Athanasiou has no points and is averaging 9:36 per game through five contests, and he’s now sat in the press box for nine straight games dating back to Oct. 22.

Even when healthy last season, Athanasiou was limited to two goals and seven assists in 28 appearances. The high-motor pivot has broadly posted relatively solid possession numbers during his time in Chicago, and his ability to slot in at center and on either wing carries some value. Still, he’s not producing enough offensively for his skill set to justify a spot in the lineup or his $4.25MM cap hit.

If he was on a league-minimum deal, or close to it, there’s a high chance at least one team would have banked on his past upside as a 15-to-30-goal scorer in middle-six usage. But his struggles the past two seasons mean no team is willing to risk the pickup at such a high cap hit, even if he’s slated to become an unrestricted free agent next summer.

Teams interested in Athanasiou will likely wait until after he clears waivers to initiate or accelerate trade talks with the Blackhawks, who could flip him to a club with some salary retained and the newfound flexibility of an AHL assignment. Chicago still has two available retention slots and could make him as cheap as $2.125MM against the cap for an acquiring team, who could bury him in the minors for a $975K penalty, compared to the $3.1MM he’ll still cost against Chicago’s books after he assumedly clears and is assigned to AHL Rockford.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Blue Jackets Claim Dante Fabbro Off Waivers From Predators

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2:15 PM: Columbus has moved Kent Johnson to injured reserve to make space for this waiver claim, per Aaron Portzline of The Athletic. Johnson hasn’t played since suffering a shoulder injury on October 17th. Columbus will be able to make this IR placement retroactive to that date, making this move purely a paper transaction and Johnson eligible to return as soon as he’s back to full health.

1:00 PM: The Blue Jackets have claimed defenseman Dante Fabbro off waivers from the Predators, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. Columbus’ assignment of Kent Johnson to IR opens the roster spot to make this possible.

Fabbro, a 6’0″ right-shot defender who was a first-round pick out of Boston University in 2016, is now in his seventh NHL season and had been a fringe top-four option for most of his time in Nashville. But after signing a one-year, $2.5MM extension in March to keep him off last summer’s restricted free-agent market, Fabbro tumbled down the Preds’ depth chart and was a healthy scratch in five straight games before landing on waivers yesterday.

In hindsight, 2023-24 marked the writing on the wall for Fabbro’s tenure in Nashville. He was a healthy scratch on more than a few occasions last season, too, only making 56 appearances and averaging a career-low 16:21 when in the lineup. This year, Fabbro went scoreless in six games with a -3 rating and set a new career-low with a 13:06 ATOI before hitting the waiver wire.

Some thought Fabbro’s $2.5MM cap hit meant teams would stray away from submitting claims, but Columbus has the second most cap space in the league, at $22.92MM, per PuckPedia. It’s not a challenge to fit him on the roster financially, although they now carry eight defensemen. With Erik Gudbranson potentially out for the rest of the season after shoulder surgery last month, there likely won’t be a ton of roster movement regarding Columbus’ back end from here on out unless more injuries strike.

Fabbro’s addition does give the Jackets another experienced name on the back end, and he has decent career possession numbers with a 50.0 CF% and 49.5 xGF% at even strength. However, his presence on the roster means additional competition for 20-year-old right-shot defender David Jiříček, who’s been a healthy scratch for all but five games this season and has averaged under 12 minutes per game in the lineup. It’s not a promising sign for his development after Columbus selected him sixth overall in 2022.

Since Nov. 1 is in the rearview mirror, waiver priority is determined by reserve standings order in terms of points percentage. That means the Canadiens, Sharks, Blackhawks, Ducks, Flyers, Kraken, and Penguins all passed on Fabbro.

Predators Place Dante Fabbro On Waivers

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Dante Fabbro has been a speculative trade candidate in Nashville for a few years now and it appears he could be on the move although not via a trade.  Instead, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link) that the Predators have placed the blueliner on waivers.

A few years ago, the 26-year-old looked like another fixture on the back end for the Preds.  He had three seasons averaging more than 19 minutes a night (primarily on the second pairing) between 2019-20 and 2021-22, even putting up a breakout 24-point effort in the 2021-22 campaign, making his then-$2.4MM price tag look like a bargain.

However, things haven’t gone as well since then.  Fabbro’s playing time has dipped since then, dropping to 17:27 per night in 2022-23 and then 16:21 last season.  This year, it’s even lower when he has been in the lineup as he has logged just 13:06 per game in his six appearances where he has been held off the scoresheet thus far.  In Nashville’s other eight games, Fabbro has been a healthy scratch.

Fabbro is making $2.5MM this season on a one-year deal he signed at last year’s trade deadline, locking him in at the same rate as the year before without any potential for uncertainty in what would have been his final year with arbitration eligibility; he could have very easily been a non-tender candidate had he been unsigned heading into late June.

That price tag would be difficult for quite a few cap-strapped teams to absorb but even so, it’s possible that Fabbro could be claimed.  A rebuilding team might want to get a look at him to see if he’s worth keeping around longer-term or to try to build up his value and then flip him (possibly with salary retention) closer to the March 7th trade deadline.  With over 300 NHL games under his belt, he could be a worthwhile pickup for some teams looking for depth and experience on their back end.  Teams will have until 1 PM CT on Sunday to place a claim on him.

Canucks Recall Nils Aman And Arshdeep Bains

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The Canucks have been quite busy on the transactions front over the last couple of weeks, shuffling players back and forth to save cap space and, in some cases, pause the waiver clock of certain players.  But with Friday’s trade of Daniel Sprong, they had a roster spot to try to fill on top of the usual paper moves.  They’ve done so by announcing (Twitter link) the recalls of center Nils Aman and winger Arshdeep Bains from AHL Abbotsford.

Aman cleared waivers last weekend after spending the first few weeks of the season in the NHL.  The 24-year-old had a very limited role over that stretch, however, only getting into four games and being scratched for the rest.  He had two assists in those outings on the fourth line but is more known for being a defensive player than a point producer at the top level.  Aman got into two games with Abbotsford following the demotion, picking up a pair of helpers there as well.

As for Bains, he has been no stranger to the shuffle as this is his fifth recall of the season already.  The 23-year-old has a goal in seven games so far this season while collecting 12 hits and averaging 11:40 per night.  Despite the frequent assignments to Abbotsford, Bains has played for them just once so far; he had a goal and two helpers in that contest.

With the promotions, Vancouver is now back to a full 23-player roster.  That said, with the frequency of their moves over the first few weeks of the season, that’s unlikely to be the case for too long.

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