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Sharks Notes: Dickinson, Dellandrea, Gaudette

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Earlier today, the Sharks officially loaned forward Michael Misa to Canada’s entry for the upcoming World Juniors.  Not included in that announcement was defenseman Sam Dickinson, who is also eligible to participate.  However, the team still hasn’t made a final decision on whether they will loan him out for the event, notes Sharks Hockey Digest’s Max Miller.

The 19-year-old has played fairly regularly this season, getting into 26 games though he was a scratch last night against Calgary.  However, his minutes have been somewhat limited and sheltered as he’s averaging a little under 15 minutes per game of ice time.  He would play a much bigger role on Canada’s back end, potentially as their number one defender.  However, head coach David Warsofsky also noted that he doesn’t want Dickinson to potentially slip into some bad habits if he were to be loaned out so that’s something they’ll have to weigh over the next few days before making a final decision.

More from San Jose:

  • Center Ty Dellandrea is listed as questionable for tomorrow’s game against Dallas due to an upper-body injury, relays Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now (Twitter link). The 25-year-old was injured while blocking a shot on Tuesday but managed to stay in the game.  Dellandrea has already surpassed his production from last season (10 points compared to eight) in half the games played while also averaging just under three hits per game.  A pending restricted free agent with an affordable $1.3MM AAV, Dellandrea could be an intriguing under-the-radar trade target should the Sharks decide to listen to offers.
  • Center Adam Gaudette is good to go for Thursday’s contest after missing last night’s game with a lower-body injury, Peng mentions (Twitter link). The 29-year-old had a breakout year last season with Ottawa where he had 19 goals in 81 games, earning a two-year, $4MM deal for his efforts.  Gaudette is scoring at a similar clip this season with seven goals through 29 games while averaging 12:01 per night, his highest ATOI since 2019-20.

The CBA Change That Makes The Holiday Roster Freeze More Significant

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While the official trade deadline in the NHL isn’t until March 6th, there is an earlier trade deadline of sorts with the annual holiday roster freeze.  During that time, while a limited number of NHL-AHL roster moves can be made, trades are a no-go from December 20th through December 27th.  While this can spur the odd move including last season, it typically comes and goes without much fanfare.

But things are a little different this time around.  In the new CBA, there are restrictions on teams retaining salary on a player whose salary has already been retained on.  Put in the new CBA to seemingly quash the three-team double-retention trades that became quite commonplace in recent years, a player must spend 75 in-season days on a roster before they can be moved with retention again.

While most of the CBA won’t come into effect until mid-September when the current agreement officially ends, this is one of the elements that was brought into play a year early.  As a result, if a team wants to acquire a player with salary retention and still be able to move that player with retention before the trade deadline, they have to get the deal done before the 20th.  Otherwise, while the acquiring team can still flip that player before March 6th, they won’t be able to retain salary to facilitate that move.

While there aren’t a lot of defined sellers at the moment, there could be some potential buying teams out there who might be interested in taking a look at a player while leaving themselves some flexibility to move the player later on if he’s not a fit or they fall out of the playoff race.  Having the ability to retain in that scenario would make the player more valuable so it wouldn’t be surprising to see an uptick in trade talks as a result.

Last year, there were a trio of trades made before the roster freeze, headlined by the Kaapo Kakko trade to Seattle, but none of them involved salary retention.  We’ll soon see if this rule change spurs on a more active trade period by Friday or if it will come and go more quietly as it often does.

Snapshots, Sabres, Tkachuk, Hagel, Lucic

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Sabres defenseman Michael Kesselring is expected to return on Thursday against Philadelphia after missing the last 14 games with a lower-body injury, reports Bill Hoppe of the Olean Times Herald.  A key part of the JJ Peterka trade over the offseason, the 25-year-old has been limited to just nine appearances so far this season after also sustaining a knee injury in the preseason.  It wouldn’t be surprising to see him get eased back in but he’ll likely get a chance to take on a bigger role after the holiday break.

Meanwhile, among other injured Sabres, winger Jason Zucker has missed the last three games with a lower-body injury and is hoping to return after the break.  Forward Justin Danforth has missed 28 games with what’s believed to be a broken kneecap but head coach Lindy Ruff says he’s doing okay now.  Lastly, goaltender Colten Ellis (concussion protocol) is expected to be reevaluated on Friday after missing the last two games.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • While Panthers winger Matthew Tkachuk has been skating on his own recently, he has yet to join the team for practice. As a result, GM Bill Zito told NHL.com’s Nick Cotsonika that they don’t know if Tkachuk will be available for the Winter Classic in a little more than two weeks.  The 28-year-old had surgery to repair a torn adductor muscle and a sports hernia back in August and has yet to play this season.  He’s averaged more than a point per game in four straight years and whenever he comes back – be it for the outdoor game or later on – he’ll be a huge boost to a Florida team that sits around the middle of the pack in the East.
  • Lightning winger Brandon Hagel is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury and hasn’t been ruled out of Thursday’s game against Los Angeles, relays Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter link). Hagel was injured on a hit from Seth Jones on Monday, resulting in him leaving the game.  He has been a key contributor for Tampa Bay this season, notching 18 goals and 13 assists in 32 games.
  • Veteran winger Milan Lucic has decided not to hang up his skates. Released from an AHL tryout with Springfield late last month, he has found his next team as the Fife Flyers of the EIHL announced that they’ve signed the 37-year-old for the remainder of the season.  Lucic has only played in nine games since the 2022-23 campaign ended so it’s far from a guarantee that he’ll be able to be an impactful player as he looks to continue his career.

Devils Activate Brett Pesce, Place Arseny Gritsyuk On Injured Reserve

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After missing the past 24 games with an upper-body injury, the Devils announced they’ve activated top-pair defenseman Brett Pesce from injured reserve, indicating he’ll be in the lineup tonight against the Golden Knights. The team placed winger Arseny Gritsyuk on IR retroactive to Dec. 11 in the corresponding move.

The Devils had been anxiously awaiting Pesce’s clearance for weeks, but the injection of a right-shot defender into the lineup became all the more important after Simon Nemec sustained an undisclosed injury during practice last Friday that will have him out for at least a couple of weeks. They’ve been dealing with the season-long absence of righty Johnathan Kovacevic as well, making Pesce’s standing on the team all the more important.

Pesce had three assists and a +3 rating in nine games to begin the year. That coincided with an 8-1-0 start to the year, making New Jersey look like a legitimate contender to end up atop the Metropolitan Division. Since then, the Devils have gone 10-13-1 with their possession numbers dipping in the process.

There are a variety of factors that go into a slump, but being forced into breaking up what had been one of the best defense pairs in the league through the early going is high on that list. Pesce and Luke Hughes had served as the Devils’ most dominant unit on the blue line, controlling 60.2% of expected goals. Without Pesce, Hughes has been underwater in every possession metric. His point production has dipped as well, down to 0.55 per game after peaking with 0.62 per game as a second-year player last season.

The Devils’ press release indicated Pesce will be paired with Hughes again tonight, ideally giving them a true top-pair level of play that Dougie Hamilton and Jonas Siegenthaler haven’t been able to provide in the interim.

A healthier defense is paramount to help overcome the loss of a fifth forward to the injured or non-roster list in Gritsyuk. The Russian rookie, who’s eighth on the team in scoring with seven goals and 16 points in 31 games, has already missed the last two games with an upper-body injury.

He joins Jack Hughes, Evgenii Dadonov, and Zack MacEwen on IR, while Timo Meier carries a non-roster designation while on personal leave. Since he’s already missed six days, Gritsyuk will be eligible to return on Dec. 19 against the Mammoth, but that’s not feasible since he didn’t travel with the team on their raod trip. It’ll be Sunday at home against the Sabres to mark Gritsyuk’s first opportunity to get back into the lineup.

Sharks Activate Michael Misa, Loan Him To World Juniors

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The reigning No. 2 overall pick is officially on his way to the 2026 World Juniors. The Sharks announced they’ve activated center Michael Misa from injured reserve and subsequently loaned him to Team Canada for the event, which begins next week.

With only Misa’s name included in today’s announcement, it seems set in stone that defenseman Sam Dickinson is staying on San Jose’s roster and won’t be loaned out to Canada for the tournament. Dickinson, 19, had two assists in five games for the Canadians last year at the event and had another year of eligibility left, but he’ll be sticking around on San Jose’s roster for the next several weeks despite sitting as a healthy scratch in last night’s win over the Flames.

Misa’s limited playing time this season made him a logical candidate to be allowed to go to the event, much like the case of Calgary star defense prospect Zayne Parekh. The 18-year-old broke camp with the Sharks but was in and out of the lineup, never playing more than three games in a row, until he sustained a lower-body injury in early November.

Before exiting the lineup, Misa made his first seven NHL appearances, scoring one goal and three points with a -1 rating. It’s worth noting he isn’t joining Canada’s training camp cold. The Sharks loaned him to their AHL affiliate on a conditioning stint at the beginning of the month as he neared a return, recording an assist in two games for the San Jose Barracuda before rejoining the Sharks for practice.

Now fully cleared, Misa will get his first and only chance to represent Canada’s national team at the under-20 level. He was a rather shocking snub from last year’s roster amid a 62-goal, 134-point season for the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit that made him the leading scorer across all of the country’s top junior leagues.

The question now becomes whether Misa returns to Saginaw or remains with the Sharks when the WJC wraps up in January. As an under-20 player subject to the NHL-CHL transfer agreement, he’s ineligible for a full-time assignment to the AHL and must be loaned back to his junior team if he’s not on the NHL roster (or injured reserve).

Golden Knights Activate Jeremy Lauzon From Injured Reserve

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The Golden Knights will have defenseman Jeremy Lauzon in the lineup against the Devils tonight, reports Danny Webster of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He’ll need to come off injured reserve, something they have the roster space to do after sending Dylan Coghlan to AHL Henderson earlier in the week.

Lauzon missed 14 games with an undisclosed injury he sustained on Nov. 15 against the Blues. During that time, the Golden Knights haven’t shaken up their lineup at all. The group of Shea Theodore, Brayden McNabb, Noah Hanifin, Ben Hutton, and Kaedan Korczak has played every game since, with the veteran Hutton stepping into Lauzon’s shoes alongside Korczak on the Knights’ third pair.

While that streak will come to an end tonight, it won’t involve Hutton heading back to the press box. Theodore is day-to-day with an upper-body injury and won’t play, head coach Bruce Cassidy told reporters (including Webster).

Lauzon, 28, was acquired from the Predators in last summer’s Nicolas Hague trade. He’s lost some minutes in Vegas, mainly due to restricted penalty kill deployment, but has otherwise been a good fit alongside the up-and-coming Korczak. He’s posted four assists and a +3 rating in 17 games, controlling 52.3% of expected goals with his usual partner.

The 6’3″, 225-lb lefty is one of the league’s most judicious hitters, leading the league with 383 checks two years ago with Nashville. His 3.35 hits per game this season is a significant dip from his last few campaigns – likely due to Vegas possessing the puck more than the Predators did – but still leads his team.

Predators Activate Cole Smith From Injured Reserve

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The Predators have reinstated winger Cole Smith from injured reserve, Nick Kieser of Lower Broad Hockey reports. They’ve had a whopping three open roster spots since sending Zachary L’Heureux to the AHL last weekend, so no corresponding transaction is required.

Smith has been tracking toward a return for several days now. Head coach Andrew Brunette labeled him as day-to-day last week as he returned to practice. The 30-year-old has been out of commission since the beginning of November, missing the last 19 games with an upper-body injury. He was given a rather vague three-to-six-week recovery timeline, and although he missed the long end of that by a few days, he’ll be available for tonight’s game against the Hurricanes.

Before his injury, Smith was part of one of the most effective checking lines in the league. His offense wasn’t jumping off the page with three goals in 13 games – he’s only ever hit 20 points in a year once – but his line with Michael McCarron and Ozzy Wiesblatt was one of Nashville’s best at controlling play at 5-on-5. Not only do those three lead the Preds in hits per game, but they controlled 64.3% of expected goals at 5-on-5 to lead the team, per MoneyPuck. Among forward lines league-wide with at least 50 minutes together, only four trios have allowed fewer expected goals against per 60 than the Wiesblatt-McCarron-Smith line’s 1.58 mark.

Nashville won’t be able to reunite that line tonight, though. Wiesblatt is on IR with an upper-body issue and isn’t slated to return until after the Olympic break.

With Smith coming in, veteran Tyson Jost will likely be the one heading to the press box. Reid Schaefer, a first-round pick in 2022, seems to have grabbed hold of a regular spot with three goals in nine games since being summoned from AHL Milwaukee late last month.

Hoffmann Group Nearing Deal To Purchase Pittsburgh Penguins

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According to insider Frank Seravalli, the Fenway Sports Group has agreed to sell the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins to the Chicago-based Hoffmann Group. The sale is reportedly pending approval from the NHL’s Board of Governors. Multiple other outlets have confirmed the sale.

The Hoffmann Group, led by David Hoffmann, has been interested in purchasing the Penguins for several months. In August, it was reported that Hoffmann had emerged as a contender for a minority stake in the Penguins, competing with franchise legend Mario Lemieux, who had expressed interest in reacquiring the team. Instead of a minority piece, Hoffmann will be acquiring the whole pie.

FSG originally purchased the team in 2021 for a reported value of $900MM, and is selling it only a few years later. According to Forbes, the Penguins are the 22nd most valuable franchise in the league with an estimated value of $1.75BB. TSN’s Pierre LeBrun believes that the final price will land between $1.7BB and $1.8BB.

As for the new owners, there is little known about the Hoffmann Group, primarily David. Forbes projected his net worth to be around $2BB, though there’s no confirmation of that. Additionally, the group’s only other venture into hockey has been their ownership of the ECHL’s Florida Everblades.

Regardless, they’re acquiring the team at an interesting time in their franchise history. Being one of the most successful teams since the turn of the century, the Penguins are nearing the end of the Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin era. Without another player on the roster or in the system even close to that level of superstardom, the Hoffmann Group will be tasked with guiding the franchise through a turbulent time.

The speed of the sale is fairly status quo for FSG. Despite owning the team for only five years, they will have doubled their original investment of $900MM. In 1999, FSG purchased the MLB’s Miami Marlins for $150MM, and sold the team in 2002 for $158.5MM.

Canucks’ Arshdeep Bains Clears Waivers, Assigned To AHL

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Dec. 17th: According to a team announcement, Bains has successfully cleared waivers and has been reassigned to AHL Abbotsford.

Dec. 16th: The Canucks have waived forward Arshdeep Bains, according to Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK and The Athletic. He’ll be reassigned to AHL Abbotsford tomorrow if he clears.

The news doesn’t come as a major surprise. Bains’ role was bound to reduce after Vancouver recouped forwards Liam Ohgren and Marco Rossi in last week’s shock Quinn Hughes blockbuster, and they’re set to be immediate fixtures in the Canucks’ lineup. He was one of the odd men out when they were inserted into the lineup for Sunday’s game against the Devils, marking his sixth healthy scratch of the season.

With center Elias Pettersson not expected to miss too much more time with his upper-body injury, the Canucks were going to need a roster spot to activate him from injured reserve sooner rather than later. They can do so as soon as today – Bains is eligible for a non-roster designation if his waiver placement comes in conjunction with an IR activation – if he’s ready to play tonight against the Rangers.

Bains’ 26 appearances this season more than doubled his career total. The 24-year-old now has 47 games under his belt for Vancouver over the past three seasons, scoring two goals and four assists for six points. Five of those came this year while he averaged 9:09 of ice time per game in a fourth-line role.

An undrafted free agent signed out of WHL Red Deer back in 2022, he could carry some intrigue on the wire thanks to an excellent AHL track record. In three prior seasons for Abbotsford, he’s put up a 40-96–136 scoring line in 175 games with a +34 rating.

New York Rangers Make Multiple Roster Moves

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In dire need of offense, the New York Rangers have recalled a pair of forward prospects to the NHL level. The Rangers announced they’ve recalled Gabriel Perreault and Brennan Othmann to the team, and have reassigned Brett Berard and Jaroslav Chmelar in a corresponding roster move.

Perreault, 20, was the 23rd overall pick of the 2023 NHL Draft from the United States National Team Development Program. He already has eight NHL appearances to his name, but only one assist to show for.

Still, Perreault has dominated at every level he’s played at. Spending his two post-draft seasons with the Boston College Eagles, Perreault scored 35 goals and 108 points in 73 games over his tenure. This season, with the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack, Perreault has scored 10 goals and 17 points in 20 games. Although the production is only good for 12th in the AHL among rookies, Perreault is currently leading the Wolf Pack.

Meanwhile, Othmann, 22, has remained with the organization after being the subject of trade speculation shortly after the 2025-26 season began. Despite being the 16th overall pick of the 2021 NHL Draft, he’s only managed 26 games with the Rangers, tallying two assists. His frustration with the organization likely stemmed from his lack of opportunity in the NHL and his limited usage once he was there, averaging 9:58 of ice time in those 26 contests.

Regardless of the trade rumors, he’s remained relatively productive in the AHL. This season, he has scored four goals and 10 points in 19 games with a -7 rating. Before the current campaign, he had scored 33 goals and 69 points in 94 contests.

Bedard, 23, returns to the Wolf Pack after spending all of his time with the Rangers since American Thanksgiving. The Providence, RI native registered one assist in 11 games before his demotion, averaging 10:59 of ice time.

Lastly, Chmelar returns to Hartford, where he’s scored three goals and 11 points in 19 games this season. The 6’4″, 227 lbs winger is in his second professional season, and has skated in six games with New York this year.

There’s no guarantee that either Perreault or Othmann will provide the fix for New York’s stagnant offense. They have already broken a record this year, becoming the first team to be shut out six times through their first 17 home games.

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