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Maple Leafs Reclaim Dakota Mermis Off Waivers From Utah

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Jan. 3: The Maple Leafs reclaimed Mermis off waivers from Utah on Friday, PuckPedia reports. The team later announced that he’s been reassigned to the AHL, indicating they were the only team to submit a claim.

Jan. 2: The Utah Hockey Club placed defenseman Dakota Mermis on waivers on Thursday with intent to assign him to AHL Tucson, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports.

The placement could spell the end of Mermis’ brief tenure in the Beehive State. The club claimed him off waivers from the Maple Leafs on Dec. 12 when Toronto was attempting to sneak him to their AHL affiliate on a permanent assignment after a weeks-long conditioning stint.

Mermis, 30, ended up playing just one game for Utah, logging a -2 rating in 10:47 of ice time against the Ducks on Dec. 22. He was a healthy scratch on eight other occasions before landing on the waiver wire today.

When they claimed Mermis, Utah needed some veteran help to offset injuries to Robert Bortuzzo and Maveric Lamoureux on the back end, in addition to previous IR placements for Sean Durzi and John Marino. With Bortuzzo set to return tonight against the Flames after missing nearly a month with a lower-body injury, though, Mermis’ services as a healthy extra were no longer needed.

Bortuzzo was on IR, so Utah needs to open up a roster spot for his return. Mermis can’t clear the roster until tomorrow, so they’ll likely place netminder Connor Ingram, who’s been out since Nov. 18 with an upper-body injury, on IR retroactively to accommodate Bortuzzo’s activation.

Mermis inked a one-year, one-way deal with the Leafs in free agency but never suited up for them thanks to a jaw injury he sustained in training camp. If Toronto wants him back and is the only team to submit a claim, they may send him directly to the AHL without placing him on waivers again.

Now in his eighth NHL season, Mermis has accumulated 12 points and a +3 rating in 75 career games. A career-high 47 of those appearances came last season with the Wild, just the second time in his career he logged double-digit games and mostly avoided AHL assignments.

Penguins’ Jesse Puljujärvi Clears Waivers

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Dec. 31: Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman shared that Puljujärvi has been successfully passed through waivers. The Penguins organization can now send him to the AHL unencumbered.

Dec. 30: The Penguins have placed winger Jesse Puljujärvi on waivers for the purposes of assignment to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.

Puljujärvi, the fourth overall pick of the 2016 draft by the Oilers, lands on waivers for the first time in his eight-year NHL career. The 26-year-old has played just once since Nov. 23, last suiting up on Dec. 7 against the Maple Leafs and serving as a healthy scratch in 14 of the Pens’ last 15 games.

That run of scratches has less to do with Puljujärvi’s performance than with the Penguins’ unwillingness to mess with a good thing. Pittsburgh has gone 10-4-1 since Thanksgiving and has thus kept its forward lineup intact on a nightly basis, with injuries allowing, understandably not leading to many opportunities for playing time for the once highly-touted Finn.

In 21 games with the Penguins this season, Puljujärvi had mustered three goals and five assists for eight points with a -2 rating. He did so while averaging 11:37 per game, up from the paltry 9:11 he received in a 22-game run with Pittsburgh last year. The 6’4″, 201-lb winger has added 30 hits and played an extremely effective game defensively. Despite starting 58.3% of his shifts at 5-on-5 in the defensive zone, the Pens still controlled 50.6% of shot attempts with Puljujärvi on the ice compared to 49.5% without him.

Those latter numbers make it a tad surprising to see him become available to the rest of the league for free, although it’s become clear there isn’t much of a role for him in Pittsburgh anymore. He’s in the back half of a two-year, $1.6MM contract he signed with the Pens in February 2024 after a lengthy stint on the free-agent market following double hip surgery.

It’s become clear that Puljujärvi likely won’t recapture the form that saw him produce a career-high 0.55 points per game back with Edmonton in 2021-22, but he remains a legitimately useful piece for a bottom-six shutdown unit. With a cap hit of $800K and no commitment past this season, it won’t be surprising if he ends up landing with another NHL club tomorrow.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Winnipeg’s Daniel Torgersson Clears Waivers, Contract To Be Terminated

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Dec. 29th: Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman confirmed Torgersson has successfully cleared waivers and will have his contract terminated by the Jets organization.

Dec. 28th: Daniel Torgersson’s first three years in North American professional hockey haven’t gone as expected. The Winnipeg Jets have seen everything they need to as the organization announced they’ve placed Torgersson on unconditional waivers to terminate his contract.

Winnipeg selected Torgersson as the 40th overall selection of the 2020 NHL Draft from the SHL’s Frölunda HC program. He had a terrific season for Frölunda’s J20 SuperElit team scoring 26 goals and 44 points in 39 games.

He failed to build a positive reputation in the Swedish Hockey League over the next two years but eventually landed with AIK of the HockeyAllsvenskan in 2021-22. He scored seven goals and 17 points in 40 games for AIK before ending the season with the AHL’s Manitoba Moose.

Torgersson was solid but unimpressive in his first full season with the Moose scoring 11 goals and 20 points in 69 games. He tied for 10th on the team in scoring during his rookie campaign but failed to move beyond the team’s bottom six.

The next year and a third have been an unmitigated disaster for Torgersson. He disappointed with one goal and nine points in 52 games for the Moose last season and has failed to find the scoresheet once this year through 12 contests. There’s no confirmed transaction but Torgersson is expected to continue his professional career in Sweden.

Winnipeg was likely hoping for a higher return on investment for a second-round pick but the 2020 NHL Draft presented unique scouting challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Torgersson will have the opportunity to repair his value overseas and potentially return to North America in the future.

Cayden Primeau Clears Waivers, Assigned To AHL

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Dec. 29th: The Canadiens organization announced Primeau has successfully cleared waivers. As expected, Montreal has reassigned Primeau to their AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket.

Dec. 27th: While the Canadiens are carrying three goalies following today’s recall of Jakub Dobes, that won’t be the case for long.  Following practice today, head coach Martin St. Louis told reporters including Sportsnet’s Eric Engels (Twitter link) that Montreal will place goaltender Cayden Primeau on waivers on Saturday.  The roster freeze doesn’t end until tomorrow which is why this move isn’t being made today.

Things were looking up for Primeau heading into the season.  After playing in a three-goalie rotation for most of last season, Primeau secured the full-time second spot after Jake Allen was moved to New Jersey at the trade deadline.  He finished up the season strong, putting up a .919 SV% in March and April, providing some optimism that he’d be ready for a full season of being a second-string option.

However, that hasn’t been the case as Primeau has struggled mightily thus far in 2024-25.  The 25-year-old has been limited to 11 appearances (four of which have come in relief) and he has posted a 4.70 GAA with a .836 SV%, ranking him last league-wide in both categories among netminders with more than one appearance this season.  That resulted in the team being hesitant to play him as his last start came back on December 1st.  With Samuel Montembeault only 13 games away from matching his career-high in appearances in a single season, carrying a backup they’re not comfortable using was unsustainable.

While Montreal was hesitant to waive him last season for fear he’d be claimed, it appears they’re more confident he’ll pass through now given his struggles so far.

The timing for those struggles is far from ideal for Primeau.  He’s in the final season of a three-year deal that carries a $890K cap charge while he’s also receiving a $1.1MM one-way salary.  As things stand, it’s hard to see the Canadiens (or another team if he’s claimed) offer him a seven-figure qualifying offer with arbitration rights this summer unless he is able to vastly turn things around in the second half of the season.

With Primeau not officially becoming available until Saturday, teams will have until 1 PM CT on Sunday to submit a claim for his services.

Avalanche Reassign Chris Wagner

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Dec. 20: It took a couple of days, but the Avalanche announced early this morning that Wagner had been reassigned to the minors. The move occurred before the roster freeze went into effect in Mountain Time.

Dec. 18: Wagner has cleared waivers, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. He will likely head to the minor leagues soon.

Dec. 17: The Avalanche have placed forward Chris Wagner on waivers for the third time this season, reports Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. It’s likely Wagner’s departure from the roster tomorrow, one way or another, will be the corresponding move for defenseman Josh Manson’s activation from injured reserve. He’s traveled with the team on their road trip and is an option to return against the Sharks on Thursday, head coach Jared Bednar said yesterday.

Wagner, 33, signed a two-way extension with the Avalanche in April after signing as a free agent for his second go-around in Colorado in 2023. He was placed on waivers to begin the season and remained on the opening night roster after clearing, but he was sent to the minors on the opening day of the season after the Avs optimized their long-term injured reserve pool. He’s been ferried between leagues countless times since on paper transactions to extend his temporary waiver exemptions as long as possible. Still, it doesn’t matter how many days he’s been on the active roster once he’s played 10 games since last clearing waivers.

That’s the case, so he ends up back on the wire today as Colorado attempts to sneak him through to the minors without a competing claim yet again. Wagner has played in 22 of the Avs’ 33 games this season but has scored just one goal and is still looking for his first assist of the year. He’s averaged seven minutes per game, won 44.9% of his faceoffs, and has controlled a respectable 48.3% of shot attempts at even strength, given his usage as a defensive specialist.

Teams now have 24 hours to decide whether to submit a claim for Wagner to add him to their active roster or let him continue logging time in the NHL and AHL in Colorado. The Massachusetts native has made 395 career appearances in 11 seasons with the Bruins, Ducks, Avs, and Islanders, scoring 39 goals and 27 assists for 66 points with a -31 rating.

Bruins, Tyler Johnson To Mutually Terminate Contract

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Dec. 20: Johnson cleared waivers and will have his deal terminated, reports Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic. The veteran will engage with other teams on signing a new contract for the remainder of 2024-25 after the roster freeze lifts, he adds.

Dec. 19: The Bruins have placed veteran forward Tyler Johnson on unconditional waivers, per Conor Ryan of the Boston Globe. The two sides are likely headed for a mutual contract termination.

The 34-year-old Johnson opened the season with the Bruins after signing a professional tryout during training camp, but they didn’t add him to the active roster until signing him to a one-year, league-minimum deal in early November. He’s been seldom used, especially recently, only appearing in one of Boston’s eight games this month. He made a total of nine appearances for the B’s, posting two assists with a -1 rating while averaging 13:05 per game.

It’s far less offense than Boston was expecting from Johnson. A two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Lightning, Johnson had still been an effective middle-six presence for the Blackhawks over the past few seasons while battling injuries. The Washington native picked up 32 goals and 70 points in 149 appearances with Chicago between 2021-22 and 2023-24, averaging just under half a point per game.

In the early stages of his career, Johnson was a high-end, defensively responsible complementary center in Tampa Bay’s top six. From 2013-14 to 2019-20, he posted 150 goals and 333 points in 520 appearances, averaging 24 and 53 per 82 games, respectively. He played all three forward positions and was never a major liability in the faceoff dot when suiting up down the middle.

Johnson was limited to eight goals and 22 points in 55 games in the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season, though. The Bolts, who could no longer afford to allocate $5MM per season to a declining scorer, packaged him with a second-round pick for cap relief to Chicago, taking on injured blue-liner Brent Seabrook’s contract for long-term injured reserve relief in return.

If Johnson clears waivers tomorrow, he’ll become an unrestricted free agent once again. If there’s still NHL interest in his services, it could result in a rare unconditional waiver claim as he’s already making the league minimum salary.

Avalanche Reassign Tye Felhaber

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Dec. 19: The Avalanche announced that Felhaber has cleared waivers and was subsequently assigned to AHL Colorado.

Dec. 18: The Avalanche have placed forward Tye Felhaber on waivers to return him to the AHL’s Colorado Eagles, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports Wednesday.

Felhaber, 26, signed an AHL contract with the Eagles over the offseason, which the Avalanche tore up and replaced with a two-year NHL contract on Sunday. The left-shot forward had a team-leading eight goals and 13 points through 23 AHL games, putting him on pace for his best season offensively in the high-level minors since turning pro five years ago. He made his NHL debut on Monday in a loss to Canucks, taking just seven shifts for 4:34 worth of ice time. Aside from one hit, he recorded zeroes across his box score, and the Avalanche out-attempted opponents 6-4 with him on the ice.

Felhaber, originally an undrafted free agent signing by the Stars from the Ontario Hockey League’s Ottawa 67’s, has 67 points in 187 AHL contests in parts of seven seasons. He’s been far more productive when demoted to the ECHL, where he’s logged 26 goals and 83 points in 71 games. The former OHL All-Star remains a middle-six minor-league option at best as he enters his prime, though, and there’s likely little interest in his services on an NHL roster elsewhere.

While unlikely, teams have 24 hours to submit a claim and take Felhaber out of the Avs organization and onto their NHL roster. It’s a likelier scenario that Felhaber will clear waivers tomorrow and head back to the Eagles, allowing the Avs to carry a trim roster throughout the holiday freeze, which begins at midnight Eastern tomorrow and runs through Dec. 27.

Jets Activate Nikolaj Ehlers, Waive Dylan Coghlan

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Dec. 19: The Jets announced that Coghlan cleared waivers and was subsequently assigned to AHL Manitoba along with the waiver-exempt Chibrikov.

Dec. 18: The Jets have placed defenseman Dylan Coghlan on waivers ahead of the upcoming roster freeze, reports Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. In a related but not quite corresponding move, winger Nikolaj Ehlers has been activated from injured reserve ahead of tonight’s matchup with the Ducks, per the league’s media site. Center David Gustafsson, who’s been in concussion protocol since fighting Bruins forward Trent Frederic on Dec. 10, was placed on injured reserve to keep the Jets’ active roster at the maximum 23 until Coghlan can be removed tomorrow.

Ehlers had missed the last nine games with a lower-body injury that he sustained against the Golden Knights on Nov. 29. The Jets managed to go 5-3-1 in his absence and haven’t lost in regulation over their last four outings. The injury interrupted a resurgent season for the pending unrestricted free agent, who still ranks fifth on the team in scoring with 25 points (9 G, 16 A) in 24 games. If his pace holds, the Danish winger will crack the point-per-game threshold for the first time in his 10-year career. If he plays tonight, he’ll likely resume his place on the second line alongside Vladislav Namestnikov and Cole Perfetti while rookie Nikita Chibrikov, who has two goals and an assist in four showings this season, heads to the press box.

Coghlan, 26, signed a two-way deal with the Jets in the offseason after they acquired his signing rights from the Hurricanes. He made the team’s opening night roster but has been stuck in the press box, playing just once this year despite not carrying an injury designation. Winnipeg has had eight defensemen on the active roster nearly all season but hasn’t had the impetus to make many lineup changes. Their relatively healthy blue line has helped power a 23-9-1 record.

His lone appearance came against Vegas, his former team, in the game Ehlers got hurt. He posted a -1 rating in 14:38 of ice time with two shots on goal. Winnipeg out-attempted opponents 15-8 with Coghlan on the ice at even strength despite two-thirds of his zone starts coming in the defensive end.

Thirty-one other teams will now have the chance to claim Coghlan, who only costs the league minimum of $775K against the cap when in the NHL and has 107 games of experience to his name over the last five years. If there are no takers, it’s back to the AHL for him, this time with the Manitoba Moose. The British Columbia native played in 61 games for the Springfield Thunderbirds last season while under contract with Carolina, leading their defenders with 41 points (16 G, 25 A).

Islanders Place Grant Hutton On Waivers

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Before yesterday’s game, Islanders head coach Patrick Roy said that winger Anthony Duclair had been medically cleared to return from his leg injury but is still working up to game speed. Defenseman Grant Hutton has landed on waivers in a corresponding move for his pending activation, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.

Hutton getting sent down isn’t much of a surprise. With Adam Pelech and Alexander Romanov returning to full health on New York’s back end, he’s played sparingly in recent days, serving as a healthy scratch five times in their last six games. The minor-league mainstay averaged 14:09 worth of ice time across 12 appearances during his call-up, which began after Pelech sustained a jaw injury in early November. He recorded two assists, a +1 rating, 11 blocks, and 12 hits in his first NHL action since November 2023.

An undrafted free-agent signing out of Ohio’s Miami University in 2019, Hutton has been a usual suspect on AHL Bridgeport’s blue line since turning pro. He’s made 30 NHL appearances dating back to his first-ever recall in 2021, posting three points. The defensive-minded defender has posted pretty underwhelming possession numbers when given a chance, only controlling 42.8% of shot attempts at even strength despite an even split of offensive and defensive zone starts.

Before his recall in November, Hutton had two assists and a +3 rating in nine games for Bridgeport, where he’s likely set to return, barring unexpected interest from another NHL club on the waiver wire. In 236 games with Bridgeport over the past seven seasons, he has 80 points (22 G, 58 A) with 115 PIMs and a -5 rating.

Hutton, an Indiana native, is in the final season of a three-year, $2.33MM extension he inked in 2022. He’s set to become an unrestricted free agent next summer and is unlikely to find a contract replicating the one-way structure he’s had since the beginning of 2023-24.

Predators Place Marc Del Gaizo On Waivers

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The Nashville Predators have placed defenseman Marc Del Gaizo on waivers per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Del Gaizo has cleared through waivers once already this year, joining the long list of players to be waived and assigned to the minors before the season started.

Del Gaizo was recalled a few times in October but received a call that’d stick on October 30th. He’s stepped into 20 of Nashville’s 23 games since then, recording three assists, a -1, 28 blocked shots, and 32 hits. The appearances officially cement this season as Del Gaizo’s rookie year, after he played in nine games last season. He recorded a surprisingly similar stat line in those appearances as well – ending the 2023-24 NHL season with three assists, a +2, and 20 hits. Del Gaizo’s impact has been much clearer in the minor leagues. He has been a proud member of the Milwaukee Admirals blue-line since the 2021-22 season, after starting his pro career with a brief, nine-game stint with the Chicago Wolves in 2020-21. In total, he has recorded 89 points, 114 penalty minutes, and a +11 in 209 games and five seasons in the minor leagues.

Del Gaizo’s waiving suggests that one of Nashville’s many injured defenders could return soon. The team is currently without superstar Roman Josi, lineup pillars Jeremy Lauzon and Alexandre Carrier, and depth defender Spencer Stastney. Lauzon and Josi are both listed as day-to-day and both participated in Nashville’s practice on Tuesday. Stastney and Carrier are on injured reserve and would need to be activated to rejoin the lineup.

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