Golden Knights Recall Raphael Lavoie
The Vegas Golden Knights have recalled forward Raphael Lavoie. He will help the team shore up their depth with top winger Mark Stone out with a day-to-day injury. Lavoie has been on fire in the minor-leagues as of late, with five points in his last three games and 11 points in his last 10 games.
On the heels of that hot streak, Lavoie will earn his first NHL call-up of the season. He made his Vegas debut last year, appearing in nine games and failing to record any scoring. That was the same outcome of Lavoie’s first stint in the NHL – seven games with the Edmonton Oilers in the 2023-24 season. Lavoie had managed strong, minor-league scoring in both years – reaching 50 points in 66 games in 2023-24 and 26 points in 42 games in 2024-25. His performance this season – in a focused, AHL role – have outperformed both of those campaigns. Lavoie is on pace for a career-high 63 points across a 60-game season, though an injury that stretched from late-October to mid-January kept him from reaching that mark.
Lavoie performed well around the injury, maintaining an 11-game scoring streak between October 24th and February 4th. He scored 13 points in that stretch. He has emerged as not only a man scorer, but also a man source of shots on net, for the Henderson Silver Knights. Now, Lavoie could earn a hardy, NHL look should Stone have to miss time. He will have to compete with Cole Reinhardt for Vegas’ fourth-line, right-wing role. Reinhardt has scored seven points in 42 games this season.
Avalanche’s Artturi Lehkonen Leaves Game Injured, Will Miss Time
The Colorado Avalanche went down a winger early into Monday night’s game against the Los Angeles Kings. Winger Artturi Lehkonen left the game in the first period after a puck caught him up high. He had only played three shifts and just under four minutes of ice time. After the game, head coach Jared Bednar shared that Lehkonen will “miss some time” with an upper-body injury per Evan Rawal of The Denver Gazette.
Lehkonen has filled an important role in his fourth full season in Colorado. He has averaged just under 19 minutes of ice time each game, and reached a career-high scoring pace in the role. Lehkonen has 19 goals and 42 points in 59 games, putting him on pace for 26 goals and 58 points across a full 82-game season. Both of those marks would be new career-highs, surpassing the 21 goals and 51 points he scored in 64 games of the 2022-23 campaign.
Lehkonen has found that extra scoring gear while serving as the left-winger next to Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Necas on Colorado’s top, even-strength line. The trio have played nearly 475 minutes together this season, over 340 minutes more than any other Avalanche line. Together they have outscored opponents by a staggering 38-to-16.
With Lehkonen set for the shelf, Colorado will face the tough question of how to rework their most consistent line. Captain Gabriel Landeskog will likely move to a top-line role but which extra forward will step into the lineup isn’t clear. Colorado is not currently carrying a healthy, extra forward – so they’ll need to make a recall to find some added help. Left-winger Taylor Makar has received the most NHL action of any of Colorado’s minor-leaguers, with 12 NHL games and no scoring this season. He could be the favorite for a short-term, NHL role. Colorado could also look for a bit more scoring spark from a player like Alex Barre-Boulet, who leads the AHL’s Colorado Eagles with 54 points in 52 games and scored a point in his only NHL game this season.
Kraken Not Planning To Trade Tolvanen, Pending UFAs
The Seattle Kraken are “not planning” to trade winger Eeli Tolvanen or their other pending UFA players before the trade deadline unless it is an “overpayment,” according to David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period. Per Pagnotta, the Kraken are “focused on making the playoffs and adding.” Sharks Hockey Digest’s Max Miller added to Pagnotta’s report, writing that Tolvanen and his representatives are expecting to begin talks with Seattle on a contract extension this week.
Tolvanen is not the only notable pending UFA player on Seattle’s roster. Included in that group alongside Tolvanen are three notable veterans: winger Jaden Schwartz, defenseman Jamie Oleksiak, and captain Jordan Eberle.
Together with Tolvanen they form a quartet of players who would each likely receive considerable interest on the trade market, but based on Pagnotta’s report, that isn’t a path the Kraken are willing to go down.
Through 59 games this season, Seattle has amassed a 28-22-9 record with a -6 goal differential, good for 65 points and the Western Conference’s second Wild Card spot. They are three points ahead of their closest rival, the San Jose Sharks, who have 62 points and a game in hand. They are also just one point behind the Edmonton Oilers for third place in the Pacific Division, and hold two games in hand there. In other words – the Kraken have multiple routes they can take to reach the playoffs.
With that said, their form since returning from the Olympic break has been mixed. They dropped games against the Dallas Stars and St. Louis Blues by a combined 9-2 score, but managed a win over the struggling Vancouver Canucks on Saturday. In order to stand the best chance of not only making it to the playoffs, but also surviving beyond the first round if they do, they may need to reinforce their roster with additional veteran talent.
Pagnotta reports that the Kraken are interested in doing so, which matches up with what has been previously reported. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman noted on the 32 Thoughts podcast Friday that the Kraken offered north of $14MM AAV to try to sway Artemi Panarin to choose Seattle. He elected to be dealt to the Los Angeles Kings instead. But the Kraken’s pursuit of a difference-making scoring forward has persisted, including to the point where they would be willing to deal 2022 No. 4 pick Shane Wright.
Friedman said on 32 Thoughts that the Kraken “are serious about getting a player that can electrify them offensively,” and pointed to a sense of pressure that exists in Seattle to get the organization back in the playoffs for the first time since 2022-23. He even referenced the NBA’s stated interest in considering expansion cities – of which Seattle would be a strong contender – as a factor contributing to the importance of the Kraken finding a way back to the playoffs this season.
Whether the Kraken are best served retaining four pending UFAs for a stretch run that could end up concluding in a first-round matchup against the juggernaut Colorado Avalanche is a matter of debate. There are business considerations, as Friedman suggested, that the team may be wrestling with, and the reality of the NHL playoffs is that an element of randomness is guaranteed. The Kraken have pulled off an upset before, after all. So it’s not entirely unreasonable for the Kraken to bet on, and invest in, their current team.
But for a team that has largely lacked star power in its brief existence as an NHL franchise, is investing significant hockey assets in this capable, but flawed, 2025-26 Kraken team the most sensible long-term decision? That will be the question the Kraken’s hockey operations leaders will have to interrogate this week, and it will be interesting to see what path president of hockey operations Ron Francis and GM Jason Botterill elect to take.
Photos courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
San Jose Sharks Open To Trading Kiefer Sherwood
The San Jose Sharks “are now open” to trading winger Kiefer Sherwood before the NHL trade deadline comes on Friday, per The Athletic’s Chris Johnston. The Sharks have been unable to secure Sherwood’s signature on a contract extension to this point, and it appears that, “rather than risking losing him for nothing,” the team is considering flipping Sherwood just six weeks after acquiring him from the Vancouver Canucks.
Sherwood was dealing with an upper-body injury when he was dealt from the Canucks, an injury that kept him sidelined for nearly a month. He got into San Jose’s final game before the Olympic break, and has played in their three games since returning.
While it’s certainly a challenge for some offensive players to change teams and keep up their production, as so much of creating offense in the NHL is based on instincts and chemistry, something that can take time to develop in a new environment, the Sharks have undoubtedly placed Sherwood in a position to succeed. He played their most recent game on the team’s top line, skating alongside Macklin Celebrini, who is one of the game’s foremost young talents, and another emerging star in Will Smith. Despite that favorable deployment, and heavy power play time, Sherwood hasn’t been able to register on the scoresheet as a Shark.
His performance in the admittedly small sample of games in San Jose is notable, but what’s far more notable is the difficulty the team has had signing Sherwood to an extension. A team is unlikely to consider flipping a player just because he’s taking some time to adjust to new surroundings and rediscover his production, but the threat of losing a player as a UFA is a far more pressing concern.
In January, we covered reports coming out of San Jose suggesting there was a “sizable gap” between Sherwood’s demands on his new contract, and what the Sharks were willing to commit to him.
According to The Mercury News’ Curtis Pashelka, “Sherwood’s next contract is expected to carry an AAV of at least $5 million.” AFP Analytics projects Sherwood’s next contract to be worth $5.7MM annually on a five-year term.
It appears that, for as much as the Sharks value Sherwood’s unique value proposition as an NHL player, they may not be willing to invest so heavily in his future.
As recently as 2022-23, Sherwood was widely considered more of an AHL player. He was one of the AHL’s best players in 2021-22, scoring 36 goals and 75 points in 57 games. After signing with the Nashville Predators organization, Sherwood continued his high-scoring ways with their AHL affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals, before earning 32 NHL games with the Predators.
He became a full-time NHL player the following season, and in Nashville, he was able to fully flesh out the on-ice identity that has since made him such a unique player. While he was a top scorer in the AHL, in the NHL, he began to gain more of a reputation as a physical bottom-sixer, someone who could deliver hits, get under the skin of opponents, and generally make his line a difficult one to play against.
After signing with the Canucks, his value took a leap, as he began to translate his AHL production to the NHL. He scored 19 goals and 40 points in 2024-25, and began the year with 17 goals and 23 points before the trade. The Sharks surrendered two second-round picks and AHL defenseman Cole Clayton to acquire Sherwood, and it’s unclear whether they’d be able to receive similar value if they elected to flip him.
There is some recent precedent for a team acquiring, and then flipping, a player. While Mikko Rantanen is certainly in an entirely different tier of on-ice value, limiting the applicability of the comparison, his situation with the Carolina Hurricanes last year is worth mentioning here. Once it became clear to the Hurricanes that Rantanen would not be signing an extension in Raleigh, they flipped him to the Dallas Stars and received emerging young center Logan Stankoven, two first-round picks, and two third-round picks.
Whether that package is similar in value to what the Hurricanes surrendered to get Rantanen is a matter of debate, but it’s clear that even with diminished leverage, the Hurricanes were still able to get several high-end assets for Rantanen.
If the Sharks elect to flip Sherwood, will their diminished leverage cause them to opt for an offer lesser than what they traded away? That’s the key question, and one that will be interesting to interrogate if Sherwood is traded. If he isn’t dealt, that could be an indication that, given the offers that may have been on the table, San Jose believes keeping Sherwood as a rental player is a more attractive path forward than recouping some future assets.
Photos courtesy of Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images
Injury Notes: Werenski, Konecny, Gibson
The Columbus Blue Jackets announced today that star defenseman Zach Werenski has been sidelined for tonight’s game against the New York Rangers due to an illness. The exact nature of his absence, beyond that he is ill, has not yet been disclosed, but based on prior cases of players being sick for games, it is unlikely Werenski will miss too much time. Regardless, the news is still significant, as there are few players who are more valuable to his team on a nightly basis than Werenski. The 28-year-old has scored 65 points in just 54 games this season, and averages 26:26 time-on-ice per game, including 2:49 on the power play and 1:30 on the penalty kill. He ranks No. 2 in the NHL in scoring by a defenseman (behind only Edmonton Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard, who quarterbacks a power play featuring Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl), and No. 2 in the NHL in time-on-ice per game, behind only Olympic teammate Quinn Hughes.
For as long as Werenski’s absence persists, the Blue Jackets will likely increasingly rely on veteran Ivan Provorov, who occupies a role that on other teams would be considered a No. 1 defenseman’s workload. Provorov, who has 20 points in 56 games this season, is averaging 25:11 time-on-ice per game, including playing on the second power play unit, and averaging 3:06 per game on the penalty kill. Despite not even leading his team in the stat, Provorov ranks No. 5 in the NHL in time on ice per game, ahead of several star No. 1 defensemen such as Cale Makar, Jake Sanderson, and Rasmus Dahlin.
Other injury notes from around the NHL:
- The Philadelphia Flyers announced tonight that forward Travis Konecny will miss tonight’s game with an upper-body injury, and will be sidelined on a day-to-day basis. Konecny occupies a first-line role in Philadelphia, playing alongside No. 1 center Christian Dvorak and star winger Trevor Zegras. While he was unable to parlay his spot on Canada’s victorious 4-Nations Face-Off team into a spot in the Winter Olympics, 2025-26 has still been a strong year for Konecny. Through 58 games, he has scored 23 goals and totaled 57 points, which gives him a chance to set a new career-high in scoring. Replacing Konecny on the top line, per Jackie Spiegel of the Philadelphia Inquirer, is speedy winger Owen Tippett, who has been elevated from the second line.
- Detroit Red Wings starting goalie John Gibson left today’s road win over the Nashville Predators with an upper-body injury, according to a team announcement. Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press relayed word from head coach Todd McLellan postgame, who told the media that he believes Gibson is “OK,” but added that he’ll be evaluated when the team returns to Michigan. Gibson has been a good fit in Detroit this season, his play helping lift the team into playoff position in the Eastern Conference. In 39 starts, Gibson has gone 23-12-2 with a .906 save percentage and 2.57 goals-against average.
Los Angeles Kings Place Joel Armia On IR
The Kings announced a series of roster moves today as a response to lingering injury issues, with team reporter Zach Dooley writing that multiple players on the roster are “questionable” for tonight’s game.
The Kings recalled Angus Booth and Jared Wright, placing winger Joel Armia on IR and designating Jacob Moverare as non-roster playing status. Both Wright and Booth have yet to make their NHL debut to this point in their young pro careers.
The biggest name involved in today’s transactions is Armia, who is dealing with an upper-body injury. According to Dooley, he had an MRI today, but the only indication of the extent of his injury has been this transaction. The 32-year-old is a veteran of nearly 650 NHL games, and has been a quality bottom-six defensive forward for many years. He scored 11 goals and 29 points last season with the Montreal Canadiens before signing in Los Angeles as a free agent. His 10 goals and 20 points are right in line with the scoring paces he managed in the most productive years of his career.
Armia’s on-ice value has always been about more than offense – he’s long been a reliable penalty-killer, someone a team can count on to play a significant role in any short-handed operation. This season, he ranks No. 4 among Kings forwards in short-handed time on ice per game (1:35). As a member of the Canadiens, Armia formed a formidable penalty-killing duo with center Jake Evans, ranking No. 2 among team forwards in penalty killing ice time per game in 2023-24 and 2024-25.
As a result of his IR placement today, he’s guaranteed to miss at least the team’s next few games. His full return timeline is currently unclear, throwing into question whether he’ll be able to play against his former team when the Canadiens visit Los Angeles on March 7. Armia’s direct roster replacement is Wright, who also stands 6’3″.
As previously mentioned, Wright hasn’t yet made his NHL debut, but the former Denver Pioneer is a leading penalty killer amongst Ontario forwards. Because he is playing a similar role to Armia at the AHL level, it’s possible the Kings opt for Wright to make his NHL debut on this recall, perhaps hoping his addition can provide on-ice stylistic continuity while Armia is sidelined.
On defense, Booth has been recalled to replace Moverare, who has been designated as non-roster status. Moverare has been a frequent healthy scratch this season, and when he does dress for games, has averaged just 8:45 time on ice per game. The 27-year-old Swede is a pending UFA and has gotten into just 15 NHL games this season despite spending its entirety in the NHL.
Booth, 21, is still waiting on the chance to make his NHL debut. Given Moverare is the team’s seventh defenseman, he may not get his chance at this point. Drew Doughty is out for tonight’s game, but Booth isn’t a player who fits as a Doughty replacement. With that said, it might not take too long for Booth to get his first NHL game. He’s is a top-four defenseman and steady penalty killer for the Reign, and the rate at which he’s earned recalls in recent weeks suggests he’s getting closer to being considered NHL-ready.
With Moverare’s deal expiring this upcoming summer, Booth may be a player to look out for as a candidate to seize an NHL role going forward – a projection that would grow all the more confident if he can get into some NHL games down the stretch.
Minnesota Wild Place Marcus Foligno On IR
The Minnesota Wild placed veteran forward Marcus Foligno on injured reserve today, according to an official announcement. Wild head coach John Hynes told the media yesterday, including The Hockey News’ Dylan Loucks, that there was no update on Foligno’s status other than he wouldn’t be able to play on Sunday.
Even with a designation retroactive to the last time he played (Feb. 27 against the Utah Mammoth), Foligno will have to miss at least the team’s next two games, coming tomorrow against the Tampa Bay Lightning and Friday against the Vegas Golden Knights. Foligno is dealing with a lower-body injury, but the full extent of the injury, or a more detailed recovery timeline, has yet to be provided.
Foligno’s injury costs the Wild a key veteran leader in their forward group. Although his offense isn’t what it once was (he scored 14 goals and 29 points last season, but has just six goals and 11 points this year), he remains a key defensive forward and penalty killer for the team. This year, Foligno has resumed his role on the penalty kill, averaging 1:29 time-on-ice per game while short handed.
While the addition of Fabbri to the roster provides some experienced reinforcement, he’s not an exact, or even approximate, replacement for what Foligno provides. The 34-year-old has appeared on Selke Trophy ballots four times in his career, while Fabbri, on the other hand, has rarely killed penalties in his career.
If Foligno’s injury keeps him sidelined for an extended period, it’s possible the Wild could be motivated to add a veteran defensive winger before the trade deadline, or perhaps a penalty kill specialist. With Foligno out, his minutes on the penalty kill are likely to trickle down to two other veteran contributors: Yakov Trenin and Marcus Johansson.
On The Athletic’s trade board penned by insider Chris Johnston, several depth wingers with varying degrees of defensive ability were listed, including Vancouver Canucks pivot Teddy Blueger (1:49 per game on the penalty kill), Chicago Blackhawks winger Ilya Mikheyev (2:47 per game short-handed), and former Wild deadline addition Gustav Nyquist.
Los Angeles Kings Recall Erik Portillo
The Los Angeles Kings have recalled goaltender Erik Portillo from their AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign. The move comes as the incumbent No. 1 netminder Darcy Kuemper is set to miss at least tonight’s game against the Colorado Avalanche with an illness, per team reporter Zach Dooley.
This isn’t Portillo’s first opportunity to serve as a fill-in for an unavailable Kuemper – over the Olympic break, the Swedish netminder was recalled to practice with the team while Kuemper was in Italy representing Canada at the Olympic tournament. Today’s recall is in a similar vein, although there is an actual game to be played in this case, and Portillo is set to serve as the backup.
A 2019 third-round pick of the Buffalo Sabres, Portillo has developed well over the last two-and-a-half years as a member of the Kings organization. Once a high-end goaltender both in the USHL with the Dubuque Fighting Saints and NCAA with the Michigan Wolverines, Portillo has become a solid goaltender at the AHL level. He made his professional debut in 2023-24, posting a .918 save percentage across 39 games with the Reign. Portillo earned a greater share of starts than most goalies can typically expect in their first season in the pro ranks, and Portillo appeared to respond well to the increased responsibility and workload.
The following season, Portillo’s numbers took a step back, regressing from a .918 save percentage in 2023-24 to an .889 in 2024-25. It’s possible the trickle-down effect of the Kings’ addition of Kuemper may have played a role. In 2023-24, David Rittich‘s stellar play kept him in the NHL, meaning the Kings didn’t have a veteran to pair with Portillo until they signed Aaron Dell in late January of 2024. That allowed Portillo to play a regular starting netminder’s schedule, something he got used to (albeit with a smaller pool of total available games) when he was at Michigan.
In 2024-25, Kuemper arrived, and emerged as a Vezina Trophy candidate with the Kings. Having Kuemper and Rittich entrenched in the NHL forced Pheonix Copley, who had played in 37 NHL games in 2022-23, and spent most of 2023-24 injured, off the Kings’ NHL roster. As a result, he received the lion’s share of starts in Ontario, and Portillo had to settle for a backup goalie’s schedule of starts, rather than a starter. Many goalies have commented on the difficulty posed by a backup’s schedule, in terms of being less capable of finding a rhythm that paves the way to on-ice success. Being a backup isn’t something Portillo had to deal with in several years, and it’s therefore not a huge surprise that his numbers fell back as he tried to make that adjustment.
So far this season, Portillo appears to have largely rebounded from his difficult 2024-25. He’s come close to splitting starts with Copley, with 20 games played compared to the veteran’s 26. He’s winning frequently, with a 14-3-1 record and .905 save percentage, well above Copley’s .891 mark. With another season on his deal at a $783K cap hit, the time could be quickly approaching where the Kings look to Portillo as a legitimate NHL option, although it’s important to note that both Kuemper and Forsberg remain under contract through next season as well.
Edmonton Oilers Acquire Connor Murphy
5:00 p.m.: Both the Oilers and the Blackhawks have now officially announced the trade.
As mentioned previously, significant roster maneuvering was necessary to facilitate the deal. According to Puckpedia, after Janmark’s placement on LTIR earlier today, and the expected reassignment of Howard, the team was able to create enough cap space to fit in the $2.2MM cap hit brought by Murphy. With 21 active players and Janmark on LTIR, the Oilers will have approximately $200K in cap space remaining after this deal.
As for Janmark, he’s out with an undisclosed injury. As relayed by Sportsnet’s Mark Spector, Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch characterized Janmark’s injury as “a chronic injury that needs some rest,” and said he’d be out “long term.” So far this season, Janmark has gotten into 43 games for the Oilers, scoring eight points. He’s averaged 11:51 time-on-ice per game, including 1:30 per game on the penalty kill. The Swedish forward is under contract for another season at a $1.45MM cap hit.
3:23 p.m.: The Edmonton Oilers are in the process of completing a trade for Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Connor Murphy, a league source tells Chris Johnston of The Athletic. Chicago will acquire a second-round pick in return and retain $2.2MM of Murphy’s $4.4MM cap hit per Sportsnet’s Mark Spector. The trade was first reported by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
Edmonton won’t be able to acquire Murphy’s $2.2MM cap hit until they send a player to the minor leagues per PuckPedia. The Oilers recalled Josh Samanski and Isaac Howard earlier in the day, after placing Mattias Janmark on long-term injured reserve. Howard is expected to be the man reassigned per DailyFaceoff’s Jason Gregor. The deal is not expected to be completed until after 5 P.M. ET, the beginning of the 3/3 business day for cap purposes.
This move will mark a reunion between Murphy and Oilers general manager Stan Bowman. Bowman served as the Blackhawks’ GM in 2017, when Murphy was acquired from the Arizona Coyotes alongside Laurent Dauphin in exchange for Niklas Hjalmarsson near the end of his career. Murphy stepped into an immediate role in the Blackhawks’ lineup, taking on a third-pair role while Erik Gustafsson, Jordan Oesterle, and Gustav Forsling vied for a second-pair role.
Murphy notched 14 points, 34 penalty minutes, and a minus-three in 76 games of his first season with the Blackhawks. He proved to be an impactful rush defender who didn’t get in the way of Chicago’s star forwards as they drove up the ice. But Murphy began to run into routine injury beginning in the 2018-19 season. Via injury and healthy scratches, Murphy missed out on 85 games between the 2018-19 and 2021-22 seasons. He racked up 57 points and a plus-one in 217 games across those four seasons.
More notably, he worked his way back to full health for the 2022-23 season. By then, Murphy had emerged as one of only a few veterans on a rebuilding Blackhawks defense. That standing pushed him up into tough, top-four minutes often in relief of Blackawks’ top defender Seth Jones. In the heavy role, Murphy racked up 13 points and 69 penalty minutes in 80 games of the 2022-23 campaign. Injuries and scratches came back to bite him over the last three seasons, pulling Murphy back into the swing of routine absences. He tied his career-high 19 points in 68 games last season but has so far only totaled 13 points in 60 games this season.
While luck hasn’t been on his side in Chicago, Murphy has shown an ability to once again stick in the lineup through much of this season. He has returned to a defensive-defenseman’s role, operating from the bottom pair but routinely tapped to play more than 20 minutes against strong offenses.
Murphy will bring a robust, defensive ability to a high-octane Edmonton blue-line. The Oilers found a cohesive top-pairing in Mattias Ekholm and Evan Bouchard but haven’t yet found the right match for Darnell Nurse, who has spent significant time with six different D partners this season. Murphy could become the seventh man to stand by Nurse, bringing a bit more veteran certainty than previous partners like Spencer Stastney or Ty Emberson. That pairing could move Emberson back to a bottom-pair role and free up Jake Walman to rotate throughout the lineup.
That flexibility will be welcome as Edmonton eyes another long postseason run. Murphy has only appeared in the Stanley Cup Playoffs once in his 13-year career – when he played nine games and scored four assists in the 2020 postseason. He should be headed for his second playoff bid now with the Oilers, and could prove to be an X-factor addition should his defensive focus free up Nurse, or Walman, to drive the offense a bit more.
Photo courtesy of Jamie Sabau-USA TODAY Sports.
Red Wings Place Erik Gustafsson On Waivers
The Detroit Red Wings placed veteran defenseman Erik Gustafsson on waivers today, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. The move paves the way for the Red Wings to open up a spot on their 23-man roster, as this waiver placement was likely made with the intent of sending the blueliner down to the team’s AHL affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins.
The move doesn’t come as a major surprise, as Gustafsson has been a frequent healthy scratch for the Red Wings in his most recent stint on their NHL roster. Since being recalled on Jan. 15, Gustafsson has dressed for just a single game, serving as a healthy scratch for 11 of the team’s 12 contests. 
While he did receive over 20 minutes of ice time in the game he was dressed for – a 5-0 loss to the Avalanche on Jan. 31 – it’s been clear for some time that Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan prefers to staff his defense with other players.
As a result, this has been a difficult season for the 33-year-old. A veteran of over 500 games, Gustafsson was once a 60-point scorer, an emerging offensive force from the back-end as a part of the Chicago Blackhawks in the late 2010s.
He wasn’t able to sustain that level of production for very long, though, and began bouncing around the league, offering his services as a bottom-pairing puck-moving defenseman with power play utility to various teams. He even made a few deep playoff runs in the process, winning a Clarence S. Campbell Bowl with the Montreal Canadiens in 2021, and appearing in the Eastern Conference Final in 2024 as a member of the New York Rangers.
Gustafsson made the most of that Rangers tenure in particular, which is what landed him in Detroit in the first place. The Red Wings signed Gustafsson to a two-year, $2MM AAV deal on July 1, 2024 after he managed to provide New York with a significant amount of surplus value on his prior deal, having scored 31 points on just an $825K salary. He wasn’t able to bring that kind of effectiveness to Detroit, scoring just 18 points in 60 games.
So far in 2025-26, he’s fallen further down Detroit’s depth chart. He’s been a staple in the press box when on the NHL roster, and has just two NHL games played this season. He’s been productive in the AHL, scoring 20 points in 22 games, but those are also his first AHL games since the 2017-18 season.
Today’s news comes at a crucial point in Gustafsson’s career. As a pending UFA, he’s undoubtedly hoping to be able to enter the offseason player market on as strong footing as possible. The longer he spends as a healthy scratch and/or AHL player as a member of the Red Wings organization, the lower his chances are of getting a contract anywhere close to the $2MM salary he received in his last run as a UFA.
With the player movement expected to come in the lead up to this week’s trade deadline, it’s possible a spot frees up on another team that would allow Gustafsson to play out the rest of the season at the NHL level. But seeing as his waiver placement is coming before that movement is finalized, it’s fair to question whether teams will be willing to place a claim on Gustafsson, given that other players could be on waivers or otherwise available as the week progresses.
Photos courtesy of Russell LaBounty-Imagn Images