Headlines

Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Waivers

Brendan Lemieux Clears Unconditional Waivers

at CDT | by 3 Comments

Saturday: Lemieux has cleared waivers, reports James Mirtle of The Athletic.  In the team’s announcement of his waiver placement yesterday, GM Eric Tulsky indicated that Lemieux requested the release to pursue a new opportunity.  A report from Puck Empire in Switzerland suggests that Lemieux is likely to sign with HC Davos of the Swiss NL.

Friday: The Carolina Hurricanes are expected to place forward Brendan Lemieux on unconditional waivers for the purpose of contract termination, per Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff. Lemieux signed a one-year, league-minimum contract in Carolina this summer but has spent the entirety of the early season in the minor leagues. He has just two goals, 30 penalty minutes, and a -4 through 12 AHL games this season. He’s the lowest-scoring forward among Chicago Wolves with 10 or more games this season.

Lemieux made a name for himself as a sharp-edged bruiser with the drive to play at the NHL level. That’s what kept him in the top league from 2017 to 2024 – through trips with the Winnipeg Jets, New York Rangers, Los Angeles Kings, Philadelphia Flyers, and Carolina. He served a fourth-line role at every stop, making more noise with his penalty minutes than his scoring. Lemieux has 548 penalty minutes through 307 career games, with his statement year coming in 2019-20 – when he posted 111 PIMs in 59 games with the Rangers. He’s only added 74 career points – 36 goals and 38 assists – in those outings, with 18 points in 2019-20 also standing as a career-high.

This season marks Lemieux’s second in the Carolina organization, after playing through last year on a separate one-year contract. He earned 32 games on the deal, recording five points and 64 penalty minutes. That wasn’t enough to stick in the Hurricanes’ lineup with the emergence of top youngsters Jack Drury and Jackson Blake, pushing Lemieux to the minor leagues this season – his first time playing AHL hockey since 2017-18. With both scoring and meaningful penalties hard to come by this year, Lemieux will now look forward to more productive minutes in his next landing spot.

Golden Knights Place Daniil Chayka On Unconditional Waivers

at CDT | by 2 Comments

Dec. 3: Chayka went unclaimed and is now an unrestricted free agent, Friedman said.

Dec. 2: It appears that the Golden Knights will be parting ways with one of their prospects.  Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link) that defenseman Daniil Chayka has been placed on unconditional waivers for the purpose of contract termination.

The 22-year-old was a second-round pick by Vegas back in 2021, going 38th overall.  He signed his entry-level deal just three months later though he spent his post-draft season with OHL Guelph where he had an impressive 39 points in 53 games.

However, point production has not come as easily for Chayka at the professional level.  After putting up eight points in 57 games with AHL Henderson in 2022-23, he followed that up with just seven in 64 appearances in his sophomore year.  This season, Chayka has split time between the Silver Knights (five games) and ECHL Tahoe (four games), recording an assist with each franchise.

Assuming he isn’t claimed, Chayka will be walking away from more than half of his entry-level deal as he’s signed through next season.  If he’s unclaimed and released, he’ll become an unrestricted free agent and could try to catch on with another NHL franchise or look to return to Russia; he played in CSKA Moscow’s system in 2020-21 when the OHL didn’t play that season.

Carolina Hurricanes Sign, Waive Dustin Tokarski

at CDT | by 1 Comment

Dec. 3: Tokarski passed through waivers unclaimed, per Friedman. He’ll return to AHL Chicago with Martin remaining on the NHL roster for now, unless Kochetkov can’t go tonight.

Dec. 2: The Carolina Hurricanes are adding more goaltending depth to the NHL roster due to injuries to Frederik Andersen and Pyotr Kochetkov. TSN’s Chris Johnston reported that the Hurricanes have signed goaltender Dustin Tokarski to a one-year, two-way agreement. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman followed up the report by sharing that Carolina has placed Tokarski on waivers.

Placing Tokarski on waivers is a prudent move by the Hurricanes organization. Team reporter Walt Ruff shared earlier that Kochetkov still needs to pass one more test to be medically cleared from concussion protocol. The team is hopeful he’ll be able to return tomorrow night against the Seattle Kraken. Tokarski will back up Kochetkov tomorrow night, assuming he passes through waivers and Kochetkov is medically cleared. He won’t need to go through waivers again for another 30 days, giving the team more flexibility with their netminders.

Tokarski isn’t unfamiliar with the Hurricanes organization either. Up to this point in the season he’s been playing on an AHL contract with the team’s AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves. The veteran netminder has managed a 4-1-0 record in five games for the Wolves with a .933 save percentage and 1.61 goals against average.

The signing of Tokarski also sheds some light on the team’s lack of confidence in third-string goaltender Spencer Martin. Carolina acquired Martin from the Columbus Blue Jackets last year for situations like this and he hasn’t been able to hold his own at the NHL level. Martin appeared in nine games for the Hurricanes in November but disappointed with a .846 SV% and 3.89 GAA.

The organization will now take a different approach to their goaltending with Tokarski. He hasn’t played in an NHL contest since his time with the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2022-23 regular season but could get into action again should Carolina deal with continued injuries in the crease.

Canadiens Place Rafaël Harvey-Pinard On Waivers

at CDT | by 1 Comment

12/1: Harvey-Pinard has cleared waivers and been assigned to the AHL’s Laval Rocket.

11/30: According to a team announcement, the Montreal Canadiens are ready to activate forward Rafaël Harvey-Pinard from the long-term injured reserve. Harvey-Pinard won’t return to the Canadiens once his LTIR conditioning loan concludes as the organization shared they’ve placed him on waivers.

It’s been a long road to recovery for Harvey-Pinard after undergoing surgery in late July to repair a broken leg. He’s been on the shelf ever since with his last game in Montreal coming on the final game of the 2023-24 regular season.

His offensive output depressed last season going from scoring 20 points in 34 contests during the 2022-23 season to scoring 10 points in 45 games last year. His recent conditioning stint in Laval didn’t do much to inspire confidence as Harvey-Pinard only managed one goal in five games with a -4 rating.

He’ll get an extended look in the AHL should he clear waivers by tomorrow afternoon. It’s been two years since Harvey-Pinard spent significant time with the AHL Rocket scoring 16 goals and 31 points in 40 games during the 2022-23 AHL season. Montreal will also eliminate $1.1MM from their LTIR pool no matter what happens with Harvey-Pinard.

The Canadiens will have a home for Harvey-Pinard should he recover his confidence in the AHL. Montreal is 21st in the league in scoring with a number of their goals coming from the combination of Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield. The organization hopes that Harvey-Pinard will regain his offensive capabilities in the AHL to re-capture a consistent role in the team’s middle six.

Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports was the first to report that Montreal had placed Harvey-Pinard on waivers. 

Flames Place Ilya Nikolaev On Unconditional Waivers

at CDT | by 4 Comments

Nov. 29: The Flames announced Friday that Nikolaev has been released from his contract, confirming that he cleared unconditional waivers. They now have five open contract slots.

Nov. 28: It appears that the Flames will be parting ways with one of their prospects.  James Mirtle of The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that the team has placed forward Ilya Nikolaev on unconditional waivers, a move that is generally made to pave the way to terminate a player’s contract.

The 23-year-old was a third-round pick by Calgary back in 2019, going 88th overall.  Nikolaev spent the next two seasons in Russia before coming to North America for the 2021-22 campaign where he joined USHL Tri-City.  A strong showing there that saw him record 23 goals and 49 assists in 58 regular season games helped earn him an entry-level deal soon after.

However, things haven’t gone well for Nikolaev since then.  He spent his first two professional seasons split between AHL Calgary and ECHL Rapid City.  In 2022-23, he played the bulk of his outings with the latter while last season, it was the other way around.  The hope was that he’d at least be able to move up to the AHL level full-time this year but that didn’t happen.  Nikolaev got into a pair of games with the Rush plus nine more with the Wranglers where he had four assists but clearly, he hadn’t cemented a full-time spot with them yet.

Nikolaev is in the final season of his entry-level contract and with how things had been going to this point, he was likely heading for a non-tender in June.  Assuming that he clears waivers on Friday, he’ll become an unrestricted free agent and will likely look for another opportunity overseas.  Once the deal is terminated, he’ll come off Calgary’s contract list which will bring them down to 45 out of the maximum of 50.

Blue Jackets Sign, Waive Joseph LaBate

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Blue Jackets announced Friday that they’ve signed unrestricted free agent center Joseph LaBate to a two-way contract for the remainder of 2024-25. The team subsequently placed him on waivers for assignment to AHL Cleveland.

LaBate, 31, has 13 games of NHL experience to his name. However, they came quite some time ago – seven years, to be exact, suiting up in a fringe fourth-line role for the 2016-17 Canucks.

Since then, he’s spent most of his time in the minors. After his NHL contract with Vancouver ran out following the 2017-18 campaign, he spent the next five seasons on AHL contracts with Belleville, Milwaukee and Chicago.

The Minnesota native ventured overseas for the first time last season, inking a one-year pact with Kazakhstan’s Barys Astana in the Kontinental Hockey League. The 6’5″, 209-lb enforcer posted 18 points and 53 PIMs in 49 games before deciding to take his talents back stateside.

LaBate had technically already been in the Columbus organization before today. He landed a tryout with Cleveland last month, and after scoring once and adding three assists through five games, he’s earned a contract and the opportunity for his first NHL call-up since his age-23 season.

The Blue Jackets didn’t disclose LaBate’s NHL or AHL salary, but the contract is presumably worth the prorated league minimum of $775K at the NHL level. In any event, he’ll be an unrestricted free agent next summer. Columbus now has 46 of a maximum of 50 contracts on the books.

Penguins Reassign Valtteri Puustinen, Activate Blake Lizotte

at CDT | by 3 Comments

11/27: According to a team announcement, the Penguins have successfully reassigned Puustinen to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and activated forward Blake Lizotte in advance of their matchup against the Vancouver Canucks tonight.

11/26: The Pittsburgh Penguins are creating additional room for their recent trade acquisition, Philip Tomasino. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that the Penguins have placed Valtteri Puustinen on waivers to eventually assign him to their AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

It’ll be the first time Puustinen’s been on waivers after being a frequent call-up of the Penguins last season. He’s had an impressive pathway to the NHL after being the 203rd overall pick of the 2019 NHL Draft.

After being drafted, Puustinen put together an exceptional two-year stretch with HPK of the Finnish Liiga. He scored 38 goals and 81 points in 105 games from 2019 to 2021 while also suiting up in two games for Finland’s 2021 IIHF World Championship team.

He made his NHL debut the following season despite playing mostly for the AHL Penguins. Puustinen scored 20 goals and 42 points in 73 games during his rookie campaign in the AHL while tallying another three assists in six postseason contests. He improved dramatically the next year scoring 24 goals and 59 points in 72 games and became a legitimate prospect within the Penguins organization.

Puustinen saw an increased opportunity in the NHL last season. He suited up in 52 games for Pittsburgh throughout the regular season and produced respectably with five goals and 20 points overall. He posted adequate possession numbers with a 56.9% CorsiFor% at even strength and wasn’t a concern on the defensive side of the puck.

He quickly became a popular candidate for a consistent middle-six role with the Penguins this season. Unfortunately, it hasn’t gone to plan with Puustinen only mustering two points in 10 games for the Penguins to start this season.

His performance this season may disinterest clubs from giving him a roster spot during his time on the waiver wire. Still, teams that could use an offensive jolt like the Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, Nashville Predators, and New York Islanders may claim Puustinen by tomorrow if they believe they can get his offensive production back on track.

Senators Reassign Zack MacEwen, Recall Cole Reinhardt

at CDT | by 3 Comments

Nov. 25, 2:16 p.m.: The Senators confirmed that they’ve reassigned MacEwen to Belleville. They replaced his roster spot by recalling left-winger Cole Reinhardt. The 24-year-old had an assist in a pair of appearances earlier this season and has 14 points (5 G, 9 A) in 11 games with the B-Sens this season, leading the AHL club in scoring.

Nov. 25, 1:03 p.m.: MacEwen cleared waivers, Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia reports. He can now be assigned to Belleville.

Nov. 24: The reason behind Zack MacEwen’s absence from this morning’s practice has now come to light. The Ottawa Senators organization has placed MacEwen on waivers to reassign him to their AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators.

MacEwen is no stranger to AHL hockey. He spent the first several years of his professional career with the Utica Comets of the Vancouver Canucks organization scoring 37 goals and 96 points in his first 155 AHL contests.

He even spent a few games with the AHL Senators last season scoring two goals and seven points in 10 games. Still, his time with the Senators organization has been mostly spent in Ottawa.

He’s primarily been a mildly-used depth forward for the Senators. Since signing a three-year, $2.33MM contract with the Senators in 2023, he’s scored four goals and six points in 49 games while averaging 6:59 of ice time per game.

It’s unlikely he’ll get claimed over the next 24 hours but could provide value to some teams. He has a league-minimum salary of $775K and has managed 150 hits in a season twice. For a team looking to add physicality to their bottom six for virtually nothing — MacEwen fits the mold.

Tim Gettinger Clears Waivers; Reassigned To AHL

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

11/24: The Red Wings confirm that Gettinger has safely passed through waivers. The organization announced Gettinger has officially been activated from the season-opening injured reserve and has been reassigned to their AHL affiliate in Grand Rapids.

11/23: Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported earlier today that the Detroit Red Wings have placed forward Tim Gettinger on waivers. If he clears by tomorrow afternoon, Detroit will reassign Gettinger to their AHL affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins.

Gettinger hasn’t suited up for the Red Wings yet this season despite requiring waivers to return to the AHL. He’s been on the organization’s season-opening injured reserve with an undisclosed ailment which has kept him off the ice until now.

After signing back-to-back one-year contracts, he’s in his second year with the Red Wings organization. He spent last season with the AHL Griffins scoring 12 goals and 25 points in 55 contests.

He was drafted with the 141st overall pick of the 2016 NHL Draft by the New York Rangers. New York is where Gettinger played in his only NHL contests, skating in 16 games from 2018-2022.

He’s been a solid if unimpressive player in the AHL throughout his career scoring 74 goals and 158 points in 292 games between the Griffins and Hartford Wolf Pack. Due to the lack of experience at the NHL level, it’s almost a foregone conclusion that Gettinger will go unclaimed over the next 24 hours.

Gettinger won’t have much responsibility once he fully recovers from his injury in Grand Rapids. The Griffins are one of the strongest teams in the AHL this year with an 11-4-1 through their first 16 games.

Central Notes: Athanasiou, Mrazek, Joseph, Heinola

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The AHL’s Rockford IceHogs have announced that forward Andreas Athanasiou has suffered a wrist injury and will miss the next four to six weeks. He’s just three games into a tenure with Rockford, after passing through waivers from the Chicago Blackhawks on November 13th. Athanasiou recorded two goals on four shots in his AHL debut but didn’t manage any scoring in two games this weekend. He’s playing in his first minor league games since the 2015-16 season, working to earn a recall after failing to score in his first five NHL games this season.

The slow start this season has continued Athanasiou’s unpredictable career. He’s only two seasons removed from a 20-goal, 40-point season with a much weaker Blackhawks lineup, but was limited to only 28 games last season by a lower-body injury that lasted nearly five months. He hasn’t rediscovered his scoring on the other side of that injury – and now gets stifled from a potential resurgence in the minor leagues for the time being. Athanasiou carries a $4.25MM cap hit and is set to become an unrestricted free agent next summer.

Other notes from the Central Division:

  • Sticking in Chicago, starting goaltender Petr Mrazek will sit out of the team’s Tuesday night game against Anaheim for personal reasons per Charlie Roumeliotis of WGN Radio 720. Arvid Soderblom will take over the starting crease, and Drew Commesso has been called up to serve as backup. Soderblom has posted a .934 save percentage in five games this season, well ahead of Mrazek’s .906 in 13 games. He’ll need to stay strong, with no indication of how long Mrazek may miss and Chicago currently on a two-game losing streak.
  • It will be Mathieu Joseph stepping out of the St. Louis Blues’ lineup to make room for Robert Thomas’ return from a fractured ankle per NHL.com’s Elise Butler. Joseph only has one point in his last seven games, and has fallen to a fourth-line role after a strong stint in late October. St. Louis acquired Joseph and a third-round pick for future considerations from the Ottawa Senators this summer. Joseph scored a career-high 35 points last year, but has so far struggled to find his scoring in St. Louis. He’ll look to take better advantage of his minutes when he’s called on again, while Oskar Sundqvist also steps out of the lineup in favor of Zachary Bolduc.
  • Winnipeg Jets head coach Scott Arniel said that defender Ville Heinola could rejoin against Minnesota on Monday, shares NHL.com’s Mitchell Clinton. Heinola was assigned to the AHL’s Manitoba Moose for a conditioning stint after starting the year on injured reserve with an ankle injury. He hasn’t slotted into the Jets’ lineup since January of 2023, when he was assigned to the minors after scoring just one point in 10 NHL games. He went on to score 64 points in 89 AHL games over the last two seasons, though he continues to fight with routine injury. Heinola was the 20th-overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft.

Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

scroll to top