Lightning Place Charle-Edouard D’Astous On IR, Recall Maxim Groshev
Another shakeup is inbound for the Tampa Bay Lightning defense. Budding youngster Charle-Edouard D’Astous has been placed on injured reserve with a lower-body injury and recalled Maxim Groshev, per Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times. D’Astous left Tampa Bay’s Saturday loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets in the third period after blocking a shot off his leg.
It seems that shot will leave more than just a bruise and D’Astous will now be required to miss at least one week of action. Tampa Bay plays two games in the next week. D’Astous will be eligible to return just before Tampa Bay’s Stadium Series matchup against the Boston Bruins on February 1st.
D’Astous has climbed into an important role for the Bolts in his rookie NHL season. He has averaged 19:23 in ice time through 43 games and ranks second on the blue-line in scoring with 17 points. He has also racked up 45 blocks and 53 hits. The undrafted D’Astous has had a breakout season this year, enough to earn a one-year extension with the Lightning earlier in the season. As a veteran of the ECHL, his climb up the depth chart has been impressive, and should continue on the other side of a stinging injury.
In the meantime, Groshev will return to the NHL. He made his NHL debut on December 28th and recorded one assist. It was a strong first-look, though Groshev has run into a quiet streak in eight games since returning to the minors. He still ranks second on the Syracuse Crunch’s blue-line in scoring with 13 points in 35 games. That performance has been enough to pull the 24 year old up Tampa Bay’s call-up sheet – and may even earn him a return to the NHL lineup. Groshev is a left-defender, like D’Astous, which could give him the advantage over right-defense Simon Lundmark who is in Tampa Bay’s press box.
Avalanche Activate Scott Wedgewood; Reassign Jack Ahcan, Isak Posch
Goaltender Scott Wedgewood is back with the Colorado Avalanche after welcoming the birth of his second child. He has been activataed from the non-roster list, while defenseman Jack Ahcan and goaltender Isak Posch have been reassigned to the minor-leagues.
Ahcan has played three games since being recalled before Wednesday’s shootout loss to the Anaheim Ducks. He recorded one assist, three shots on goal, and a minus-one in the trio of appearances. Those marks bring Ahcan up to two points in nine NHL games this season. He also leads the AHL’s Colorado Eagles defense in scoring with 24 points in 29 games. The 28 year old has proven a reliable utility-knife down Colorado’s depth chart. He will return to a minor-league role and stay a top call-up option for the next time the Avalanche are in need.
Posch did not play with the Avalanche on what was the first call-up of his pro career. He has recorded a 12-5-5 record and .902 save percentage in 20 games as an AHL rookie this season.
Wedgewood missed Colorado’s last two games on his personal leave. Top goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood took over the net and posted a 1-1 record, while allowing eight goals. Wedgewood has earned the lion’s share of Colorado’s starts this season, while Blackwood recovered from injury. He has recorded a dazzling 20-3-5 record and .918 save percentage in 30 games, both just better than Blackwood’s 14-3-1 record and .911 Sv%. The two will continue to operate as one of the best one-two-punches in the league now that Wedgewood is back with the team.
Senators Activate Linus Ullmark From Non-Roster List
The Senators have reinstated Linus Ullmark to the active roster for today’s game against the Golden Knights, per Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia. He won’t be getting the start but will serve as the backup to Mads Søgaard.
Tonight will be Ullmark’s first time dressing for a game in nearly a month. After conceding four goals on 14 shots against the Maple Leafs on Dec. 27 and being pulled from the game, he took a personal leave of absence from the team the following day.
He’s been practicing with Ottawa for more than a week to get back into game conditioning, though. He first returned to team skates on Jan. 16 and will likely be ticketed for his first start next Wednesday against the Avalanche without a conditioning stint with AHL Belleville.
Ottawa hasn’t gotten good goaltending out of any personnel they’ve tried this season. It’s toughest to swallow, though, when those numbers are coming from a goalie with the fifth-highest cap hit among active netminders. Even still, Ullmark’s .881 SV% and 2.95 GAA are the best among the five goalies to suit up for the Sens this year, and he’s the only one with a winning record at 14-8-5. Regardless of his struggles, he’s been the Sens’ clear-cut best option this season and will be their best chance to win down the stretch.
While this season looks more and more like a lost one, Ullmark getting his numbers back to last season’s form and retaining his confidence after his reset would bode well for the Sens’ chances of getting back to the playoffs next year. With a .909 SV% and 13.8 goals saved above expected, he was one of the biggest reasons Ottawa ended its eight-year playoff drought in 2024-25.
Image courtesy of John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images.
Latest On Mario Ferraro
Entering the season, it looked like the Sharks would be selling off multiple pieces from an already weak blue line. Four of their seven active names are pending unrestricted free agents, and for a team primed for another losing season, it looked prudent to cut bait on most, if not all of them, for futures.
Past the halfway point of the year, though, San Jose has exceeded all expectations and finds themselves in the thick of the Western Conference playoff race. While they may still look to flip some veteran names that don’t have a long-term future, Mario Ferraro is becoming less likely to be one of them. They’re still listening to calls on him but are “believed to have some interest in retaining Ferraro on a short-term deal,” David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period wrote last week.
That interest is mutual. The Sharks’ improvement in the standings has boosted his interest in sticking around – something Ferraro already said during training camp he was interested in doing, but Pagnotta wonders if he’d be open to a short-term offer with this summer being the 27-year-old’s best shot at a lucrative long-term contract.
Whether those offers would even be there for Ferraro if he hits the open market this summer remains to be seen. He’s been San Jose’s top minute-muncher throughout the rebuild – at least until this season, when their free-agent signing of Dmitry Orlov has bumped Ferraro down to a more comfortable role as their No. 2 lefty.
His results haven’t been great. Per 82 games for his career, the 5’11” rearguard averages 18 points and a -22 rating. Whether that’s a product of his game or his environment is the million-dollar question for teams entering the summer.
AFP Analytics projects Ferraro’s extension at $5.9MM annually for five years. That’s likely longer than the Sharks are willing to go, but they’re in a position to outcompete that AAV by a significant margin. They’ve shown a willingness to go for high-dollar, short-term deals recently, although with Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith needing new deals in the 2027 offseason, that’s likely to fade fast.
Even if both sides were willing to go for a high-dollar, shorter-term deal in the $6-7MM range, it’s fair to question how much that makes sense for San Jose’s depth chart as soon as next season. Orlov will remain in the picture, Pagnotta relays, and youngsters Sam Dickinson and Shakir Mukhamadullin are solid locks for the other two spots on San Jose’s left side. Unless they’re willing to shift Mukhamadullin to his offside longer-term, there isn’t a pressing need to retain Ferraro past this year.
As for what Ferraro’s brought to the table this season, it’s more of the same. His -2 rating is greatly improved, but his possession numbers remain middle-of-the-pack in defensive-minded usage, controlling 43.7% of shot attempts at even strength. He’s also chipped in four goals and 12 points in 50 games while averaging 20:50 of ice time per game, his lowest workload since his rookie season.
KHL Notes: Kostin, Wilson, Loktionov, Kisakov
Today was the KHL’s deadline for both trades and free-agent moves, leading to a flurry of activity. Among the notable moves included CSKA Moscow acquiring former first-round pick Klim Kostin from Avangard Omsk.
Kostin, 26, headed back home last summer after being non-tendered by the Sharks. San Jose was his fourth NHL stop after being selected 31st overall by the Blues in 2017, coming after short stints with the Oilers and Red Wings. He only got into 35 games last year and was limited to a goal and seven points, so letting him go in exchange for more roster flexibility was a no-brainer move for San Jose.
Unfortunately for Kostin, his fortunes haven’t changed back in Russia. Drafted as a potential top-nine power forward, his offense simply never developed where it needed to. He was likely hoping a drop in competition against KHL talent compared to NHL players would boost his numbers, but he’s only managed two assists and a -7 rating in 21 outings for Avangard this year.
More out of Russia’s top league:
- Former NHLers Andrei Loktionov and Scott Wilson were swapped for each other, with the former headed from SKA St. Petersburg to Sibir Novosibirsk while Wilson heads to SKA. Both have Stanley Cup rings in depth roles, Loktionov’s coming with the Kings in 2012 and Wilson with the Penguins in 2017. The former is now 35 years old, and while he’d remained a productive piece late into his career, he’s been deeply affected by decline this season and has just one goal in 34 games for SKA. Wilson, who last played in North America in 2022 and is in his fourth KHL season, has 10 goals and 18 points in 43 outings.
- Ex-Sabres prospect Alexander Kisakov is also on the move, going from Dynamo Moscow to Traktor Chelyabinsk in exchange for cash. A second-rounder in 2021, he had just 14 goals and 25 points in 93 games for AHL Rochester before being non-tendered last summer. His return home hasn’t gone well, either. He had just one goal in 17 showings for Dynamo and has even spent some time in the second-tier VHL, where he’s expected to remain with Chelyabinsk’s affiliate, Chelmet.
Wild Reassign David Spacek
The Wild have reassigned defenseman David Spacek to AHL Iowa, the team announced. There is no corresponding move yet, although it could be an indication that Zach Bogosian will be ready to come off injured reserve for Tuesday’s game against the Blackhawks.
Taken in the fifth round of the 2022 draft, Spacek is in his third season with the organization and has earned his first set of recalls – three of them, to be exact – this season. The 6’0″ righty has been mostly used as press box fodder but finally made his NHL debut this month, suiting up twice against the Jets on Jan. 15 and against the Canadiens on Jan. 20.
The son of longtime NHL defender Jaroslav Spacek had his ice time capped at just 10:45 per game, recording a -1 rating with two blocks and one hit. He was otherwise held off the scoresheet and controlled just 19.6% of shot attempts at even strength, the worst figure among any Wild skater to step on the ice for them this season.
The Czech puck-mover has put together some good seasons in a disastrous minor-league environment in Iowa, though. He led the team’s blue line in scoring last season with 31 points in 72 games and is now second on the team in scoring overall this season with a 3-16–19 line in 35 showings. He’s also suited up for the Czech men’s national team at the last two World Championships and will be joining the club at next month’s Olympics as NHLers return to the event.
It’s a contract year for Spacek, who’s a pending restricted free agent in the final season of his entry-level agreement. He’s due a two-way qualifying offer of $813,750, something the Wild are likely to offer him if they haven’t reached an agreement by the end of June, given his promising AHL performances.
Blues’ Dylan Holloway Had MRI, Remains Day-To-Day
When Dylan Holloway returned to the Blues’ lineup last weekend after missing 15 games with an ankle fracture, his comeback was short-lived. He made just one appearance, logging a -2 rating in 12:45 of ice time against the Oilers, before coming back out of the lineup.
He hasn’t been placed on IR again, and for now, it doesn’t appear he will. Head coach Jim Montgomery told reporters yesterday (including NHL.com’s Lou Korac) that Holloway had an MRI this week to see if any structural damage remained following the fracture, but that the results were negative.
Instead, his absence from the lineup is more about pain management and getting used to the scar tissue that formed as a result of the fracture, Montgomery said. “It’s a tough injury. It’s just him now getting used to the fact that there’s going to be some scar tissue that he’s going to have to deal with. I guess it’s a little more painful when you come back a little earlier than if you let it heal another week.”
Whether the Blues will be willing to hold Holloway out – or if he’s even willing to sit out long enough to get back to 100% – remains to be seen. It’s clear he wanted playing time as soon as possible and pushed the envelope on his initial return. On a damaged ankle, though, it’s going to be tough for him to turn around what’s been a disappointing second season in St. Louis.
The offer-sheet acquisition from Edmonton in 2024 was one of the league’s best breakout stories last season, emerging as the true top-six threat he was expected to become when the Oilers took him No. 14 overall in 2020. He finished third on the Blues in scoring behind Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou with 26 goals and 63 points in 77 games before a late-season lower-body injury kept him out of the playoffs.
This season, though, he’s clicked at a 41-point pace despite averaging nearly a minute more of ice time per game. His shooting percentage has dropped back down to a more sustainable 10.1% after finishing at a 14.6% last year, giving him eight goals and 17 points in 34 appearances on the year.
His possession impacts have remained far more beneficial than his -13 rating would otherwise indicate, too. There’s plenty of motivation to chalk up his disappointing scoring line to the Blues’ league-worst offense and subpar finishing from everywhere in the lineup, but the pending restricted free agent’s outlook for his next contract has certainly dipped from when his stock was at an all-time high last summer.
Senators Recall Mads Sogaard, Reassign Hunter Shepard
Jan. 25: After making it through last night’s game without a goalie injury, the Senators reassigned Shepard to Belleville today, Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports. After Reimer allowed four goals on 19 shots for a .789 save percentage in last night’s loss to the Hurricanes, that means Søgaard is the likely starter this evening against the Golden Knights. They’re now back to having an open spot on the active roster.
Jan. 24: The Senators have recalled goaltender Mads Søgaard from AHL Belleville, per a team announcement. To open a roster spot, they placed winger David Perron on injured reserve, per PuckPedia. They announced on Thursday that Perron will miss five to seven weeks after undergoing surgery to repair a sports hernia.
Ottawa has spent much of the season swapping depth goaltending options to serve as backups to Linus Ullmark or, now, to recent free-agent signing James Reimer while Ullmark remains on leave. This isn’t that. The Senators have had Hunter Shepard backing up Reimer for the last two games, and he’s sticking around. Instead, Ottawa plans to carry three goalies amid the winter storm slated to hit the Eastern seaboard during their back-to-back home games tonight and tomorrow, to avoid a situation where weather prevents them from adding a Belleville netminder in case of injury.
It is the 25-year-old Dane’s third recall of the season. He backed up Ullmark in an overtime loss to the Oilers on Oct. 21 and also dressed for a pair of games earlier this month. He entered an 8-2 loss to the Avalanche on Jan. 8 in relief of Leevi Merilainen and allowed five goals on 16 shots for a harsh .688 SV% and 17.22 GAA.
Small sample size aside, it hasn’t been a kind season for Søgaard, nor has it been one for virtually any Sens netminder in the NHL or AHL. In 18 games with Belleville, he’s posted a .889 SV% and 4-8-4 record with a 3.30 GAA and one shutout.
While Søgaard was the third goalie taken in the 2019 draft behind Spencer Knight and Pyotr Kochetkov, it’s becoming abundantly clear that a stable NHL future isn’t in the cards for the 6’7″, 231-lb giant. In 30 appearances for the Sens since debuting five years ago, he’s logged an 11-11-3 record with a .875 SV% and 3.70 GAA.
Nonetheless, he will be heading to Italy next month to serve with teammate Lars Eller on Denmark’s Olympic team. It’s his second time on the men’s national team roster for a non-qualifying tournament, last suiting up as the backup at the 2021 World Championship.
The Penguins’ Evgeni Malkin Dilemma
If you’ve been checking the NHL’s Eastern Conference standings, you’ll notice a surprising team near the top of the Metropolitan Division. The Penguins, who entered the season as a first-overall pick favorite, have shocked everyone by remaining in the hunt to this point in the season.
Your eyes aren’t deceiving you; the Penguins have been that good this year, despite a disastrous stretch in December that saw them drop nine of 10 games and blow multiple three-goal third-period leads. But with every Penguins win, it becomes clearer that many of the veterans on the trading block will be sticking around for this year and perhaps beyond.
One of those veterans is 39-year-old Evgeni Malkin, who at the start of this year seemed like a potential trade candidate, or at the very least, a player who wouldn’t play in Pittsburgh beyond the 2025-26 season. With the Penguins in the hunt, young prospects turning to NHLers, the team holding onto other veterans, and Malkin turning back the clock, is it possible the Penguins offer Malkin an extension to stick around beyond this season?
The Blake Lizotte signing last week reveals a lot about where the Penguins’ general manager, Kyle Dubas, feels the team is right now. If he thought the team wasn’t a playoff team this year, he likely would’ve been working the phones to move the depth center for picks or prospects, as he has been collecting those types of pieces for the better part of two years.
But Lizotte’s extension signals a change in philosophy, sort of. Dubas has been a bargain shopper for the last two summers, and even though Lizotte received a raise in his new deal, it could turn out to be a bargain if he plays the way he has this season.
That leads us back to Malkin. When Dubas spoke about the future Hall of Famer before this season, he likely believed he would be selling off assets towards the trade deadline and overseeing the third and possibly final year of the Penguins’ retool.
But the team and Malkin have surprised everyone thus far, and as the Penguins play more hockey, it becomes increasingly clear that Malkin can still produce. Just look at the ten-game stretch in December when they couldn’t buy a win.
Who wasn’t in their lineup for that? Malkin.
Malkin returned to the Penguins lineup on Jan. 8 and made an immediate impact, scoring a power-play marker on a one-timer from Sidney Crosby. He missed over a month with a shoulder injury, and Pittsburgh badly missed him on their second line.
His return didn’t exactly spark the team, as they had won five in a row leading up to it, but he certainly didn’t hurt, and Pittsburgh has gone 4-2-2 since he’s come back.
Then there’s also the optics of signing Malkin. With Kris Letang and Crosby still in the fold, signing ‘Geno’ would mean the big three playing another season together in their record-setting run, which would surely be a feel-good story, especially if more young Penguins graduate to the NHL and make an impact.
Pittsburgh could see Rutger McGroarty, Harrison Brunicke, Sergey Murashov, and Tristan Broz all jump to the NHL next season, which would be a massive youth movement for the team.
With these young pieces mixed in with Pittsburgh’s big three, as well as Erik Karlsson, Bryan Rust, Rickard Rakell, and Thomas Novak, there is the potential to make some noise in the Eastern Conference. Especially for a team that is armed with over $50MM in available cap space and an army surplus store full of draft picks in the subsequent three drafts.
The last time the Penguins had this level of youth in their pipeline was 2015, when Rust, Matt Murray, Conor Sheary, Tom Kuhnhackl, Scott Wilson, and eventually Jake Guentzel all jumped to the NHL, and Pittsburgh won back-to-back Stanley Cups. That’s not to say Pittsburgh is on the verge of a mini-dynasty in the twilight years of Malkin’s career.
Still, if they are on the verge of being competitive at all, which it looks like they could be, Malkin deserves to stick around with his buddies, especially if he can contribute rather than just partake in a nostalgia tour.
So, what should the Penguins do with one of the most beloved Penguins ever? It feels like it’s time to sign him to an extension.
Pittsburgh has the cap space, Malkin isn’t going to ask for the moon, and there really isn’t a Malkin replacement available in free agency. He also doesn’t need to be a center at this stage of his career and is quite competent on the wing, as he showed last season playing alongside Crosby on the top line.
It was reported last summer by Penguins play-by-play voice Josh Getzoff that Pittsburgh GM Kyle Dubas planned to meet with Malkin during the Olympic break, and as of right now, that appears to be the plan. But what could a Malkin deal look like?
It could be pretty straightforward. Take the framework of the Jonathan Toews contract with the Winnipeg Jets this season and perhaps double the guarantee.
Would that get it done? Hard to say, but according to Josh Yohe of The Athletic, Malkin is willing to take a pay cut and a one-year deal.
Pittsburgh gets a top-six forward, Malkin adds to his legacy, and Pittsburgh avoids painting itself into a long-term predicament, remaining fluid for future moves. Everybody wins, especially the fans in Pittsburgh and, most importantly, Malkin’s teammates, including Crosby.
Morning Notes: Panarin, Hamilton, Faulk
New York Rangers leading scorer Artemi Panarin is arguably the best skater likely to be traded in advance of this season’s trade deadline, and as a result, it appears the Rangers are set to receive a significant package of assets in exchange for the pending UFA’s services. Yesterday, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported on the Saturday Headlines segment of Hockey Night in Canada that the Rangers’ “starting point” in terms of their asking price on any Panarin trade is the package received by the New York Islanders when they traded away Brock Nelson last year.
The Islanders received a first-round pick, top prospect Calum Ritchie, and a third-round pick from the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for Nelson, who was also a pending UFA. That would indicate that the Rangers are, at least, looking for a first-rounder and a high-quality prospect in exchange for Panarin. Nelson was, and is, certainly not of the same caliber of talent as Panarin, but unlike Panarin, Nelson has the extremely valuable attribute of being a natural center, which upped his value considerably. Friedman named the Anaheim Ducks, Washington Capitals, and the Los Angeles Kings as teams that are considering making a pitch to acquire Panarin. The veteran, who has 56 points in 51 games this year, has the protection of a full no-move clause in his contract.
Other notes from around the NHL:
- Friedman also issued an update on the status of New Jersey Devils defenseman Dougie Hamilton, who is widely considered to be one of the top blueliners available to be acquired via trade. Per Friedman, the recent injury to blueliner Luke Hughes has slowed trade talks surrounding Hamilton “to a crawl” as the Devils await further clarity on the status of their promising young defenseman. Hamilton has 17 points in 46 games played this season and is under contract at a $9MM AAV through 2027-2028.
- The St. Louis Blues are likely to be among the selling teams in this year’s trade market as they currently sit second-to-last in the Western Conference with 47 points. One of the players they are considering trading is veteran defenseman Justin Faulk, a 33-year-old with one more year under contract at $6.5MM AAV. Friedman reported yesterday that the Blues are looking for a trade package comparable to what the Calgary Flames received in exchange for Rasmus Andersson in any Faulk deal. (The Flames received a first-rounder and a conditional second-round pick for Andersson alongside veteran Zach Whitecloud.) Faulk has been St. Louis’ No. 3 defenseman in terms of ice time this season, and has 24 points in 52 games.