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Winnipeg Activates Mark Scheifele, Axel Jonsson-Fjällby Clears Waivers

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2/7: Jonsson-Fjällby has cleared waivers. He will be assigned to the AHL’s Manitoba Moose, per the Winnipeg Free Press’ Ken Wiebe.

2/6: The Winnipeg Jets have placed forward Axel Jonsson-Fjällby on waivers to make space for the return of star forward Mark Scheifele. Scheifele has been out since January 11th, missing the team’s last six games. Winnipeg has felt the effects of Scheifele’s absence, going 2-3-1 without the forward, getting outscored nine to 14. The team’s performance has been a far, far cry from the dazzling 16-1-2 record they set in Scheifele’s most recent 18 games.

Scheifele was nursing a four-game point streak prior to his injury, helping build his season total to 14 goals and 41 points in 41 games – a mark that still leads the team in scoring despite his absences. Scheifele has been Winnipeg’s most-used forward, averaging just over 20 minutes of ice time this season. The mark has brought his career average ice time to an even 20 minutes through 764 career games. Every single one of those games has been spent with the Jets, who drafted Scheifele seventh overall in the 2011 NHL Draft. He has since played in the 10th-most games of anyone in that draft class, though he’s scored the fourth-most points. Scheifele was part of a loaded 2011 Draft that also featured Nikita Kucherov, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Mika Zibanejad, and Dougie Hamilton.

With Scheifele returning, the Jets will now risk losing winger Jonsson-Fjällby, who is in his second season with the organization after being claimed off of waivers from the Washington Capitals. Jonsson-Fjällby was drafted by Washington in the fifth round of the 2016 NHL Draft and made his professional debut with the AHL’s Hershey Bears in 2018-19. He’s since played in 99 career NHL games, scoring 23 points. Jonsson-Fjällby has five points in 26 NHL games this year, as well as five points in 10 AHL games. He will look to jump back into the NHL lineup soon, eyeing the 100th game of his NHL career.

Rangers Place Nick Bonino On Unconditional Waivers

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After placing the veteran forward on waivers a little over a week ago, Chris Johnston of TSN is reporting the New York Rangers have placed Nick Bonino on unconditional waivers to terminate his contract. After signing a one-year, $800K contract with the Rangers this past summer, Bonino will once again be free to join any team with approximately 30 games left in the regular season.

Being a quick turnaround from his original waivers placement on January 26th, Larry Brooks of the New York Post is reporting that New York gave Bonino time during the All-Star break to think about his future with the organization, and he ultimately decided he was unwilling to join the Hartford Wolf Pack. Now being placed on unconditional waivers, the Rangers have chosen to honor Bonino’s desires.

As far as a potential landing spot for Bonino, he will likely be looking at a team with a significant amount of injuries to their forward core, such as the Chicago Blackhawks, San Jose Sharks, or Washington Capitals. However, even with some teams in desperate need of forward depth, it is tough to ascertain how much of an upgrade Bonino would be this season.

In 45 games for New York this year, Bonino had very little production, only scoring one goal and five points while averaging a touch over 12 minutes of ice time per night. Furthermore, per MoneyPuck, his typical linemates of Jimmy Vesey and Barclay Goodrow produced an expected goals against per 60 minutes of 3.19, which ranks the highest on the team for lines that have played more than 90 minutes together over the season.

Being unwilling to report to an AHL for the first time since the 2011-12 season, it appears that Bonino firmly believes he has more left in the tank to offer an NHL team. Without the same pedigree, players such as Corey Perry and Zach Parise have found landing spots deep into the regular season, perhaps giving Bonino some confidence that he too can find another home.

 

Avalanche Assign Ivan Prosvetov To AHL

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Feb. 4: Prosvetov cleared waivers Sunday and can be assigned to AHL Colorado, per Friedman. The Avalanche executed the reassignment shortly after he cleared, a team announcement states.

Feb. 3: The league is largely shut down this weekend for the All-Star break but waiver activity continues.  Today, the Avalanche placed goaltender Ivan Prosvetov on waivers, reports Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman (Twitter link).

Colorado claimed the 24-year-old off waivers from Arizona in training camp with backup Pavel Francouz dealing with a groin injury.  With Francouz since being ruled out for the season, Prosvetov has become the full-time backup for the Avs this season.  However, his performance has been inconsistent as he has played to a 3.16 GAA and a .895 SV% in 11 appearances so far.  The end result has been starter Alexandar Georgiev leading the league in appearances by a goaltender at the break, hardly an ideal situation for someone whose career high in games played heading into last season was 34.

Prosvetov’s placement suggests that a change on that front is coming.  Barring a trade on the horizon, the change should be in the form of prospect Justus Annunen.  The 23-year-old has spent most of the year with AHL Colorado, posting a 2.65 GAA and a .908 SV% in 23 games while also making one start for the Avs.  Annunen only has five career appearances at the top level under his belt but he is in his final season of waiver exemption so he’ll now get his chance to prove he’s worthy of the full-time second-string role.  Otherwise, GM Chris MacFarland will have no choice but to turn to the trade market.

With goalie depth hard to come by, it wouldn’t be shocking to see someone claim Prosvetov on Sunday.  If that team is the Coyotes and they’re the only team to do so, Arizona would then be able to send him to AHL Tucson.  If the Coyotes aren’t the only team to put in a claim, they’d then be forced to re-waive him or keep him on the NHL roster.

Flames Claim Brayden Pachal Off Waivers From Golden Knights

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The Flames claimed defenseman Brayden Pachal off waivers from the Golden Knights on Sunday, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Calgary confirmed the news in a media release shortly thereafter.

Pachal, 24, has logged a career-high 17 games played for Vegas this season. His first NHL goal came in an early-season win over the Sharks on Oct. 12.

A minor-league mainstay over the past few seasons in AHL Henderson, Pachal cracked the Golden Knights’ opening night roster in October with season-opening injuries keeping Alec Martinez and Zach Whitecloud out of the lineup. As injuries continued to affect the Vegas blue line, Pachal slipped down the depth chart behind 23-year-old Kaedan Korczak, who’s recently found a home in the team’s top four alongside Brayden McNabb in the absence of Shea Theodore.

After the Golden Knights claimed 2019 first-round pick Tobias Björnfot off waivers from the Kings in early January, there was even less of a role for Pachal on the NHL roster. As such, he was a healthy scratch in 11 straight games before the All-Star break, last skating in a Jan. 4 contest against the Panthers.

Calgary is likely parting ways with pending UFA blue liner Chris Tanev (and potentially Noah Hanifin) ahead of the March 8 trade deadline, leaving them with a lack of NHL-caliber defenders to take them through the stretch run. Claiming Pachal off waivers is likely made with that foresight in mind. He’ll compete with depth defensemen such as Dennis Gilbert and Jordan Oesterle for bottom-four ice time and should allow the Flames to keep younger prospects like Yan Kuznetsov and Ilya Solovyov developing in the minors.

Pachal’s October goal is his only point this season, averaging 14:37 per game with a -2 rating and 18 shots on goal. Only two full-time Golden Knights – Martinez and Brett Howden – have a worse Corsi share at even strength than Pachal’s 44.2% mark despite a low quality of competition.

Despite the underwhelming possession metrics, the Flames believe he can develop into a defensive contributor down the stretch. GM Craig Conroy said Sunday that Pachal “will be an asset to our penalty kill” and called out his 6-foot-2, 202-pound frame as something to like (via Postmedia’s Wes Gilbertson).

Pachal also has a history of occupying leadership roles, serving as Henderson’s captain from 2021 to 2023 and as captain of the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders in the 2018-19 season. He played in one postseason game last year, Vegas’ series-clinching Game 5 win against the Jets in the First Round, on his way toward getting his name engraved on the Stanley Cup.

This is not the Flames’ first run-in with Pachal, who turned pro out of juniors in 2019 after signing an entry-level contract with Vegas as an undrafted free agent. As Flames Nation’s Ryan Pike points out, Pachal attended Flames development and prospect camp in the summer of 2018.

He’s under contract through the 2024-25 season at a $775K cap hit after signing a two-year, $1.55MM extension with the Golden Knights in June 2023. His deal is a two-way pact carrying a minimum guaranteed salary of $200K this season, but it converts to a one-way deal next year. Calgary had three open roster spots before making this transaction and nearly $1.5MM in projected cap space, so no corresponding transaction is necessary to execute the claim.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Golden Knights Place Brayden Pachal On Waivers

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While they’re off until Tuesday, the Golden Knights have made a roster move today as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link) that Vegas has placed defenseman Brayden Pachal on waivers.

The 24-year-old cleared waivers early in training camp back in October but never wound up being assigned to AHL Henderson.  Instead, he has been a full-timer on the active roster although playing time has been difficult to come by.  Pachal has played in 17 games for the Golden Knights so far, picking up a goal while averaging 14:37 per night.  For his career, he has three points in 29 NHL contests.

While that’s not necessarily the statistical profile that would jump out at anyone, Pachal is in the first season of a two-year deal that carries a cap hit of the league minimum ($775K).  Between that and the fact he’s a right-shot defender, there’s certainly a chance that a team looking for low-cost depth on the right side opts to take a flyer on Pachal.

At the moment, the Golden Knights are only carrying a minimum-sized active roster of 11 forwards and seven defensemen so if Pachal was to clear waivers, he couldn’t be sent to the Silver Knights without another move being made first.  Blueliner Ben Hutton was listed as week-to-week when he was injured in late December while recent waiver claim Tobias Bjornfot went on IR three weeks ago with an undisclosed injury.  If one of those two was to be activated, then Pachal could be removed from the roster.  Shea Theodore is also injured and is on LTIR but his return might still be a couple of weeks away.

Julien Gauthier Clears Waivers

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Saturday: Gauthier has cleared waivers, Friedman reports; he has been assigned to Bridgeport.

Friday: The Islanders have placed winger Julien Gauthier on waivers for the purpose of assignment to AHL Bridgeport, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said Friday.

Gauthier, 26, is without a point in his last six games. He was a healthy scratch in the Islanders’ last game before the All-Star break, a 3-2 overtime loss to the Panthers on Saturday.

The 2016 first-round pick signed a two-year, $1.575MM deal with the Islanders last July after reaching unrestricted free agency for the first time in his career. After ending last season in a Senators jersey as a result of a February 2023 trade from the Rangers, Gauthier did not receive a qualifying offer after scoring three goals and adding two assists in 17 games with Ottawa.

A bottom-six power winger with good size at 6-foot-4 and over 220 pounds, Gauthier made the Islanders’ roster out of camp after failing to do so with the Rangers last season. He’s been a healthy scratch on multiple occasions this season, including three times since the beginning of January.

In 27 games on the season, he’s posted five goals and nine points while averaging 10:10 per game. His possession metrics have been the worst on the team in his limited role, posting a 36% Corsi share at even strength. Given he’s under contract until 2025 and is not on an expiring deal, and his $800K salary next season is higher than his $787.5K cap hit, the likelihood of a waiver claim appears low.

Ottawa Senators Place Rourke Chartier On Waivers

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Jan. 31: Chartier has cleared waivers and can be sent to Belleville, TSN’s Chris Johnston reports Wednesday.

Jan. 30: Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman is reporting that the Ottawa Senators have placed forward Rourke Chartier on waivers for the purpose of reassignment to their AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators. Due to the amount of injuries to start the season, Chartier was brought in to serve in a depth forward role for the Senators this season.

A surprise addition to the roster out of training camp, before this season in Ottawa, Chartier had not yet made an NHL team out of training camp before in his career. Before a handful of call-ups last year by the Senators, Chartier’s last previous game in the NHL came back on November 11, 2018. Nearly doubling his career totals in games played this season, Chartier has produced two goals and three points over 34 games for Ottawa this year.

Aside from his track record in the NHL, Chartier has been a solid AHL player throughout his career, suiting up for the San Jose Barracuda, Toronto Marlies, as well as Belleville. Since his professional career began during the 2016-17 season, Chartier has accrued 222 games played over seven years in the AHL, scoring 62 goals and 135 points in the process. Over those seven years, Chartier’s respective team has made the playoffs four times, allowing Chartier to score three goals and 11 points in 18 postseason contests.

Devin Shore Clears Waivers

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1/30: Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that Shore has cleared waivers, and can be safely reassigned to AHL Coachella Valley.

1/29: The Seattle Kraken have placed forward Devin Shore on waivers with the intention of assigning him to the AHL. Shore has appeared in 21 games with the Kraken this season, netting one goal and four points. He’s also played nine AHL games, scoring six points.

Shore is in his first season with the Kraken, signing a one-year, two-way, $775K contract with the team this summer. The deal marked his move away from the Edmonton Oilers, who he spent three seasons and 134 games with from 2020 to 2023. This move becomes the fifth time that Shore has been placed on waivers, with the Oilers waiving him twice in each of the last two seasons. He’s passed through unclaimed every time, though he only played five games with Edmonton’s AHL affiliate during his time in the organization.

Shore was originally drafted by the Dallas Stars in the second round of the 2012 NHL Draft – the same round that produced Damon Severson, Chris Tierney, Jordan Martinook, and Jake McCabe. It was an impressive round in what was a very deep 2012 Draft and Shore has certainly contributed, managing 443 career NHL games and 139 points. He made his professional debut after the end of the University of Maine’s 2014-15 season, playing in 19 AHL games and scoring six points. His NHL rookie season came in 2016-17, with Shore playing in 82 games and scoring 13 goals and 33 points with Dallas – all career-highs.

Minnesota Wild Claim Declan Chisholm Off Waivers From Winnipeg

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The Minnesota Wild have claimed defenseman Declan Chisholm off of waivers from the Winnipeg Jets. Chisholm has played in two games with the Jets this season, scoring one point. He’s also appeared in six games and scored five points with the AHL’s Manitoba Moose.

Chisholm will leave a Jets organization that he’s been with since being drafted in the fifth round of the 2018 NHL Draft. He made his professional debut in the 2020-21 season when he appeared in 28 games and scored 13 points with the Moose. He’s since only played in four career NHL games, though he has totaled 116 games and 91 points in the AHL – including 43 points in 59 games last season.

Chisholm provides the Wild with another option on defense besides Dakota Mermis and Daemon Hunt, who has served as the de facto fill-ins when Minnesota has faced injury. And they have been needed, with every Wild defender except for Brock Faber and Jacob Middleton missing some duration of time this season. That includes team captain Jared Spurgeon, who is out for the season with a hip injury. While the injuries have been a defining weakness of Minnesota’s season, they could provide Chisholm the chance to receive extended ice time in the NHL for the first time in his career. He will look to beat out Mermis, who has appeared in 33 games and scored seven points this season.

Jets Place Declan Chisholm On Waivers

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The Jets placed defenseman Declan Chisholm on waivers for the purposes of assignment to AHL Manitoba on Sunday, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.

The 24-year-old Chisholm has played sparingly this season and is currently on a run of 23 straight healthy scratches. His only two NHL games came in back-to-back showings against the Blackhawks and Hurricanes in early December, in which he recorded one assist and controlled 47.8% of Corsi events at even strength while averaging 11:33 per game.

He does have five assists in six games with AHL Manitoba this season, coming by way of a mid-November conditioning stint. The Jets have been hesitant to expose last year’s AHL All-Star Classic participant to waivers for fear of losing him for no return.

As Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Free Press points out, placing Chisholm on waivers today is likely an attempt to sneak him through the wire while most teams are beginning their All-Star break. The 2018 fifth-round pick finished second among Manitoba defensemen with 43 points in 59 games last season.

Chisholm signed a one-year, two-way deal worth $775K with a minimum salary guarantee of $120K to remain with Winnipeg after reaching restricted free agency last summer. He was one of the last remaining RFAs without a contract nearing training camps, waiting until Sep. 13 to put pen to paper on a deal. He will be an RFA again next summer but is not yet eligible for salary arbitration.

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