Flyers’ Ty Murchison Expected To Be Out For Season With Injury
The Philadelphia Flyers will lose a strong call-up option for the rest of the year. Defenseman Ty Murchison, who made his NHL debut in December, has sustained an upper-body injury and isn’t expected to return this season per Lehigh Valley Phantoms broadcaster Bob Rotruck. Murchison sustained the injury during Lehigh Valley’s January 11th loss to the Providence Bruins. He has missed eight games since.
Murchison was having a succesful start to his pro career. The AHL rookie only had six points in 29 games – but his 46 penalty minutes ranked third on Lehigh Valley, and his staunch defense earned him a call-up to the NHL while Philadelphia adjusted to blue-line injuries. Murchison went on to play in three games with the Flyers, netting no scoring and a plus-one. He earned incremently more ice time over those three games, before being reassigned.
Murchison brings an physical, defense-first presence that proved quickly valuable in Lehigh Valley. That continues the pattern of hard-earned hockey that followed Murchison through four years at Arizona State University. He only scored 23 points in 145 games with the Sun Devils – but, again, his propensity for hard-hitting hockey proved intimidating at the college flight.
The 23-year-old Murchison seems well set to vie for a bottom-pair role in Philadelphia one day. He could have even earned that role at the tail-end of this season, after Philadelphia traded Egor Zamula following Murchison’s NHL debut. Now, it seems he’ll have to wait for a smooth recovery next season before he rejoins the fight for NHL minutes.
Trade Deadline Primer: Minnesota Wild
With the Olympic break approaching, the trade deadline is about a month away. Where does each team stand, and what moves should they be looking to make? We begin our look around the league with teams that have clear plans at the extremes of the standings, this time with Wild.
Our Trade Deadline primer series rolls on with the market’s current big fish. The Minnesoa Wild pulled off one of the biggest trades in recent memory when they sent top-six center Marco Rossi, top prospect Zeev Buium, wing prospect Liam Ohgren, and a first-round pick to the Vancouver Canucks for franchise defenseman Quinn Hughes. The monster move has already returned dividends. Minnesota has posted a 16-5-5 record with Hughes in the lineup – but still appear a few lineup pieces shy of true Stanley Cup contention. The Trade Deadline will challenge Minnesota to mend those holes with a recently-thinned wallet.
Record
34-14-10 (2nd in Central Division)
Deadline Status
Buyers
Deadline Cap Space
$14.52MM on deadline day, 0/3 retention slots used, 42/50 contracts used per PuckPedia.
Upcoming Draft Picks
2026: MIN 3rd, MIN 4th, SJS 5th, MIN 5th, MIN 6th, MIN 7th
2027: MIN 1st, MIN 3rd, MIN 4th, MIN 5th, MIN 6th, MIN 7th
Trade Chips
The Wild dealt most of their loose pieces in their big buy for Hughes. What was left behind is a relatively solid lineup with no major value-buys sticking out. That hasn’t stopped Minnesota from finding ways to stay on top of the trade market. The club has dangled star goalie prospect Jesper Wallstedt in recent trade discussion, in an attempt to find a star addition on offense.
Wallstedt offers unprecedented market value. The Nashville Predators traded top goalie prospect Yaroslav Askarov, and a third-round pick, to the San Jose Sharks in 2024 in exchange for David Edstrom, Magnus Chrona, and a first-round pick. Counting Edstrom’s draft capital, that is the equivalent of two first-round picks – a price that Wallstedt could supercede with his performance this season. Finally stuck in an NHL role, Wallstedt has posted 14 wins and a .914 save percentage in 23 games this season. He has proven to be a true force in the NHL, after doing as much in both the AHL and SHL.
The Wild could land a serious addition on the back of Wallstedt’s value alone. They could add to it their 2027 first-round pick or top prospects like Charlie Stramel or Ryder Ritchie to seemingly land some of the biggest names on the market. With plenty of cap space on deadline day and one more year on Hughes’ current contract, there could be little-to-nothing holding Minnesota back from going all-in.
Trade Needs
Thee Center: Minnesota has held tryouts for their top-center role through the last four seasons. None of Rossi, Joel Eriksson Ek, Ryan Hartman, or Danila Yurov have appeared capable of leading a Cup-winning offense. It is clear the Wild are one piece short of a true top lineup. Luckily, this year’s market is unusually rife with center talent. Minnesota might be able to swing Robert Thomas away from the St. Louis Blues with their assembly of Wallstedt and future capital. Thomas is a clear top center in the midst of his prime on a Blues team heading the wrong way. He would offer a forechecking and playmaking presence that would fit seamlessly next to play-driving scorers Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy, like it has next to Jordan Kyrou in St. Louis. The Blues will need to be swayed to trade away their core forward, especially to an interdivision rival, but a core future piece like Wallstedt could be enough.
The Wild could pull off a similar deal for Calgary Flames center Nazem Kadri, though the Flames are less likely to be swayed by a trade package surrounding a star goalie. That offer could be more convincing should the Vancouver Canucks let Minnesota double-dip and target Elias Pettersson.
Should Thomas, Kadri, and Pettersson be too rich for Minnesota’s taste, they could find cheaper options in Rangers’ center Vincent Trocheck or Sharks’ center Alexander Wennberg. Neither player would fill the top-line role outright, though they could add some nice diversity next to Hartman, Eriksson Ek, and Yurov on the depth chart. Trocheck has 12 goals and 36 points in 43 games with New York, while Wennberg has stepped up with 37 points in 55 games.
Some Goalie Reassurance: Dangling Wallstedt for another big trade is a bold, and potentially franchise-altering, decision by the Wild. They would need to replace their backup goalie role should Wallstedt move, with Cal Petersen and Samuel Hlavaj both boasting sub-.900 save percentages in the minors.
The Wild could that find quite easily if they make it a priority in their buy of a new center. The Blues could likely be separated from former Cup-winner Jordan Binnington in a deal where they land Wallstedt. That would give the Wild a veteran addition – and a rival familiar to Wild and Team USA general manager Bill Guerin – to backup Filip Gustavsson. Minnesota could also find a few different options in the Canucks, who currently have Nikita Tolopilo and Jiri Patera battling for the NHL backup role after an injury to Thatcher Demko.
Should Minnesota want to split their buys into two deals, they could benefit from connecting with the Pittsburgh Penguins or Florida Panthers, in an attempt to buy netminders like Joel Blomqvist or Daniil Tarasov. Both would come with a cost, though could probably be pulled away with the right argument.
Photo courtesy of John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images.
Panthers’ 2026 First-Round Pick Traded To Blackhawks Is Top-10 Protected
The Florida Panthers acquired defenseman Seth Jones from the Chicago Blackhawks at the 2025 Trade Deadline. In return, the Blackhawks received goaltender Spencer Knight and a conditional 2026 first-round pick. At the time, the reported condition was that the pick would become Florida’s 2027 first should the Panthers find another trade involving their 2026 pick. It was revealed on Friday – nearly a full year after the deal – that the pick also carries top-10 protection, per hockey insider Frank Seravalli.
That condition was later confirmed by Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times, who adds that Chicago has been aware of the protection since the trade occured.
This news will diminish the Blackhawks’ chances of landing two top-10 picks in a strong 2026 draft class. Chicago currently sits with the sixth-worst points percentage, while Florida holds the 10th-worst. Wielding both first-round picks, with no protection, could have nearly doubled Chicago’s chances at landing the first-overall selection.
Instead, the Blackhawks will have to watch where Florida falls before they can start planning for the next two drafts. The Panthers have faced consistent challenges this season and enter the Olympic break with a 4-6-0 record in their last 10 games. The back-to-back Stanley Cup champions seem headed for a postseason miss, pending a surge in the second-half.
While a chance at double-dipping in the top-10 is always enticing, the Blackhawks’ prospect pool will move forward relatively unaffected. Draft pundits have agreed that top-10 value could fall into the teens of this year’s draft, while the 2027 class is believed to be another loaded year. Chicago has spent the last eight years building one of the best prospect pools in the league and are now entering a phase where promoting young talent will become more important than adding it. That could push the Hawks to consider moving out draft capital for some veteran rivets, an approach argued for by Kyle Bokota of Blackhawk Up.
Chicago seems headed for a high pick regardless this season, and still hold outside odds to land first-overall. Their scouting room will be as busy as ever, looking to land another value pick to join Anton Frondell and Vaclav Nestrasil Jr. from their 2025 class.
Kings Reassign Joe Hicketts
2/6: The Los Angeles Kings assigned Hicketts back to the AHL’s Ontario Reign. He is expected to suit up in Ontario’s Friday matchup against the Bakersfield Condors per Anthony Collazo of Mayor’s Manor.
2/3: The Kings announced they’ve recalled veteran defenseman Joe Hicketts from AHL Ontario on an emergency basis. L.A. returned center Kenny Connors to Ontario in the corresponding move.
Hicketts’ recall comes after Michael Anderson sustained an upper-body injury early in Sunday’s game against the Hurricanes, indicating they aren’t expecting him to be available tomorrow against the Kraken. However, since Jacob Moverare was already available as a healthy extra, there must be an undisclosed injury concern regarding another Kings defender. Hicketts is only eligible for an emergency recall if there’s a chance L.A. won’t have six healthy defenders for its home tilt against Seattle.
Hicketts, 29, was an undrafted free agent signing by the Red Wings way back in 2014. The 5’8″ lefty beat the odds to get into a handful of NHL games with Detroit between 2017 and 2020, but hasn’t appeared at the top level since. He’s instead become an AHL mainstay, appearing in 552 games in that league over the last 10 years. That’s 17th among active AHLers.
He has spent the last three seasons in Ontario after inking a two-way deal with the Kings in 2023, subsequently signing two more of them to stay in the organization. He was named captain last year and has remained a valuable puck-moving option, although his production is down in 2025-26. After racking up 20 points in just 30 games in 2023-24, the best point pace of his professional career, he’s declined to only a 3-11–14 scoring line in 41 appearances this season with a -9 rating. He’s still only three points back of Samuel Bolduc for the team lead in scoring among defensemen, a testament to how much Ontario’s blue line has struggled to generate offense.
Hicketts won’t be on the NHL roster any longer than he absolutely needs to be as a result, but it’s still a nice story for the British Columbia native to land perhaps his first big league appearance in over six years this week. He only suited up twice for the Wings in the 2019-20 campaign, both times in November.
Connors, 22, sees his first NHL recall end without a game played to show for it. He was recalled on Jan. 26 in the wake of an injury to Alex Turcotte, who has since landed on injured reserve to make way for captain Anže Kopitar‘s return to the lineup. With 13 healthy forwards rostered aside from Connors, there was little chance of him seeing action, especially after sitting as a healthy scratch for four straight games. The 2022 fourth-rounder now returns to Ontario, where he had nine goals and 24 points in 41 games to begin his first professional season.
Golden Knights’ Jonas Rondbjerg Ruled Out Of Olympics
Team Denmark will enter the 2026 Winter Olympics without one of their five NHL forwards. Vegas Golden Knights winger Jonas Rondbjerg has been ruled out due to a lower-body injury sustained during Vegas’ Sunday loss to the Anaheim Ducks, Denmark general manager Morten Green told local news channel TV 2 Sport.
Rondbjerg was placed on Vegas’ injured reserve on Monday. He missed the Golden Knights’ last two games before the Winter Olympics break, replaced by rookie forward Kai Uchacz.
Now, Rondbjerg will lose his first chance to represent Denmark at the Olympic Games. He joined the country at the Olympic Game Qualifiers in 2025 and scored one goal in three games. That chip, and his physical presence, helped lift Denmark to the top of Group F.
Rondbjerg was one of only seven NHL players on Denmarks 2026 Olympics roster. His peers include the Hurricanes’ Nikolaj Ehlers, Lightning’s Oliver Bjorkstrand, Senators’ Lars Eller, and Kraken’s Oscar Fisker Molgaard on offense.
That bunch will make up the bulk of Denmark’s top lines, while Rondbjerg was set for a pillaring role in the team’s bottom-six. The 6-foot-2 forward has split the season between the NHL and AHL, netting one point in four games with Vegas and 23 points in 36 games with the Henderson Silver Knights. He offers a reserved, physical presence that could have boosted Denmark’s odds against physical teams like Finland and USA.
Who Denmark will choose to replace Rondbjerg will be an interesting question to answer. Winger Felix Maegaard Scheel, 33, joined Denmark’s national team for three games earlier this season. He has served an extra forward role at the last four World Championships and currently has 11 points in 29 games in Germany’s DEL. Denmark could also opt for Viktors Čubars, who leads the country’s top league in scoring with 57 points in 40 games. Other local options could include Patrick Bjorkstrand or Oliver True, Ehlers’ cousin.
Or, if Denmark wants to maintain their NHL connection, they could opt for former Chicago Blackhawks draft pick (2016 fifth-round) Mathias From, who has 53 points in 42 games in Austria’s IceHL.
Lightning Place Jack Finley On Waivers
The Tampa Bay Lightning have made another roster move ahead of the NHL’s looming break, placing centerman Jack Finley on waivers per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
Finley lost his waiver exemption just over two weeks ago, after being called up on December 20th. Teams across the NHL will now have a chance to add the 23-year-old, former second-round draft pick.
Finley has spent the bulk of the season on Tampa Bay’s roster. He won an extra forward role out of training camp and rotated into the lineup throughout November. The Lightning briefly assigned Finley to the minors in mid-December on the heels of a five-game scoring drought. The move seemed to provide a spark. Finley scored three points in three AHL games, returned to the NHL with a two-point performance, and earned an outright fourth-line role amid a handful of injuries.
But Finley hasn’t kept his hot streak alive in a nightly role. He has recorded no points and a minus-one over his last 10 appearances, even despite Tampa Bay posting a 9-0-1 record and +19 goal differntial in those games. Finley has bridged his lack of production by averaging the fourth-most hits per game on the team.
Tampa Bay will need more than that to keep the offense firing on all cylinders. A waiver designation could give the Lightning a chance to assign Finley to the minors, where he racked up 60 points in 92 games over the last two seasons. That is, if another team isn’t interested in locking Finley into their own bottom-six role.
Panthers Place Josh Davies On Unconditional Waivers
Feb. 6: Davies passed through waivers and is now a free agent, per Friedman.
Feb. 5: The Panthers placed forward prospect Josh Davies on unconditional waivers Thursday, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. He’ll have his contract terminated and become an unrestricted free agent tomorrow after he clears.
Davies, 21, walks away from his entry-level contract less than two seasons in. He was a sixth-round pick out of the WHL’s Swift Current Broncos in 2022 and, after inking his ELC in December 2023, turned pro before last season. In over a year and a half in Florida’s ranks, though, he’s yet to record a point at the AHL level.
Davies played just 18 games for Charlotte last season, posting no scoring stats and 27 penalty minutes with a -8 rating. He’s seen no AHL time this season and has instead played exclusively with ECHL Savannah, where he has eight goals and 12 points in 31 games. He also had 16 points in 34 games for the Ghost Pirates last season as a rookie.
Now, the heavy-hitting 5’10” winger will look to catch on elsewhere, presumably on a minor-league deal with such a limited high-end track record in the pros. He was a decent scorer in juniors, totaling 78 goals and 140 points across 204 WHL games, but he hasn’t been able to take the next step.
Florida’s contract count will drop to 45 tomorrow, leaving them with five open spots nearing the trade deadline.
Devils Place Juho Lammikko On Unconditional Waivers
Feb. 6: Lammikko cleared waivers and is now a UFA, per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.
Feb. 5: The Devils announced they’ve placed forward Juho Lammikko on unconditional waivers for the purpose of terminating his contract. Assuming he clears tomorrow, he’ll become an unrestricted free agent and can return to Europe or sign elsewhere in North America.
New Jersey placed Lammikko on standard waivers last month for roster flexibility, but never assigned him to the minors. Yesterday, the Devils finally sent him down to Utica as the corresponding move for Nick Bjugstad‘s acquisition. Evidently, he’s refused to accept the assignment and is in breach of his contract as a result.
Lammikko, 30, returned to the NHL this summer when he signed a one-year, $800K deal with New Jersey last June. His season started inauspiciously on injured reserve due to a lower-body injury. He got back into action in late October but has been a healthy scratch for long stretches at a time. In 24 games dressed, he’s managed two assists and a -4 rating while averaging 9:53 of ice time per game.
A checking center who commonly shifts to the wing, Lammikko’s possession numbers have been ugly. He’s only controlled 42.7% of shot attempts at 5-on-5 despite being used in a relatively sheltered role and has been shelled in possession quality as well.
Lammikko was a third-round pick by the Panthers in 2014. He joined the organization for the 2016-17 campaign and climbed through the minors before making his NHL debut two years later. He notched 11 points in 84 games for the Cats over parts of two seasons, interrupted by a stint back in Europe, before being traded to the Canucks shortly before the 2021-22 campaign. That resulted in Lammikko making a career-high 75 appearances for Vancouver, notching seven goals and 15 points while averaging over 12 minutes per game.
Despite that decent showing as a bottom-six middleman, his NHL career paused again there. He headed back to Europe with Switzerland’s ZSC Lions, emerging as one of the National League’s top power forwards during that time. After racking up 112 points in 144 games with a +60 rating over three years, he attempted his third NHL arrival with the Devils. With his unwillingness to accept a minor-league assignment, a return to the top Swiss league or somewhere else in Europe should be the expectation.
2026 NHL Draft Star Gavin McKenna Facing Misdemeanor Charges
Feb. 6: The felony charge against McKenna has been withdrawn by Pennsylvania prosecutors, according to Ryan Graffius and Gary Sinderson of WJAC. He is still facing a misdemeanor charge of simple assault and summary offenses for harassment and disorderly conduct.
Feb. 5: McKenna’s court date will be Wednesday, February 11, per a media release from the State College, Pennsylvania, police department.
Feb. 4: Projected 2026 first-overall pick and Penn State University winger Gavin McKenna was arrested and charged with felony aggravated assault on Saturday night, per court documents obtained by The Athletic. McKenna reportedly got into an altercation with another individual during a private team event on Saturday night, says Mike McMahon of College Hockey News. McMahon further reported in his newsletter that McKenna broke the other individual’s jaw with a punch. No information has been released on McKenna’s court arraignment – and no statement has been released by the school.
McKenna is a Nittany Lions star who currently leads the school’s men’s hockey team in scoring with 32 points in 24 games. He is in his freshman season and on a record-setting NIL deal after winning the WHL Championship with the Medicine Hat Tigers last season. McKenna scored 41 goals and 129 points in 56 games in his final WHL season. He became the third U18 player to score 120 points in the WHL since 2000, joining Connor Bedard (143 points, 2023) and Nic Petan (120 points, 2013). Those marks made McKenna the first blue-chip recruit to pursue the NCAA after the league began allowing CHL talent.
Now, it appears the remainder of McKenna’s draft season could be drawn into question. The dynamic winger is a star scorer when he’s on the ice, with flashy stickhandling and sharp vision. He has improved his ability to play a physical, 200-foot game as part of the Big Ten, though that growth could soon be overshadowed by pressing legal challenges. Pro Hockey Rumors will update this story with further information as it becomes available.
Pacific Notes: Kuzmenko, Kings Defensemen, Kadri
Los Angeles Kings forward Andrei Kuzmenko left yesterday’s game with an upper-body injury, the team announced last night. Kuzmenko left the bench with an injury and attempted to return in the second period, but was unable to get back into the game. The Kings have not issued any further update on Kuzmenko’s status, but the fact that the Olympic break has now begun does give Kuzmenko some runway to recover before games start up again.
Kuzmenko, 30, has had an up-and-down tenure in Los Angeles. He was an instant success after he was traded there last season, scoring five goals and 17 points in 22 games. He added six points in the Kings’ first round playoff series against the Edmonton Oilers. He has just 23 points in 51 games this season, but he’s far from the only Kings forward who has seen his offensive production take a step back year-over-year. It will be interesting to see how Kuzmenko’s usage does or does not change after the addition of Artemi Panarin.
Other notes from the Pacific Division:
- After yesterday’s game, Kings head coach Jim Hiller told the media, including team reporter Zach Dooley, that the Kings’ defense is “pretty banged up” and that several blueliners are “quite a ways south of 100 percent.” Dooley noted that this is a new development, as previously only veteran Joel Edmundson had been understood to be dealing with an injury. With the Kings in the thick of the Western Conference playoff race, it’s clear the Olympic break is coming at a useful time for the Kings.
- Calgary Flames center Nazem Kadri figures to be one of the top players available at his position in the lead up to this season’s trade deadline, but recently, trade rumors surrounding his name have slowed. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman wrote today that Kadri’s trade situation is moving more slowly than anticipated in part because teams are looking for clarity on Vincent Trocheck and Robert Thomas, two centers whose names are swirling in trade rumors. Friedman noted that the Flames are “flexible” in terms of what kind of return they’re seeking in exchange for Kadri, which could help the odds that a trade is completed before the deadline passes.