Avalanche Reassign Jason Polin, Artturi Lehkonen Week-To-Week
March 4, 2:41 p.m.: Polin was returned to the AHL today, the team announced. He did not have a point or a shot in 8:09 of ice time last night.
March 3, 7:40 p.m.: Avalanche forward Artturi Lehkonen will be week-to-week with his injury, reported by Evan Rawal of The Denver Gazette. The 30-year-old had not yet missed a game this season, on a career high pace with 42 points in 59 games.
March 3, 1:00 p.m.: The Avalanche announced today that they’ve recalled forward Jason Polin from AHL Colorado. He fills one of two open spots on the Avs’ active roster after today’s news that Lehkonenwill miss at least a few games after taking a puck to the face last night.
Colorado also has Joel Kiviranta unavailable as he’s in concussion protocol, so the Avs needed to make a recall today in order to have 18 skaters on hand for tonight’s contest against the Ducks. Polin will draw into the lineup for the third time this season after appearing on back-to-back nights during his last call-up in November.
The 26-year-old winger isn’t much more than a fringe recall option to plug-and-play on the fourth line in case of injury, just like he’s doing now. Colorado signed him as an undrafted free agent out of Western Michigan a few years back. He’s been an AHL fixture since then, but has totaled 11 NHL appearances over the last three seasons, scoring once with a +2 rating while averaging just 6:45 of ice time per game.
In the minors, the 6’0″, 198-lb Polin is having his best-ever showing. He’s set a new career high with 20 points (nine goals, 11 assists) in 39 games. The former NCAA West Second Team All-American is now up to 24 goals and 50 points in 127 career minor-league outings.
Kings Place Joel Armia On IR
March 4: The Kings announced today that Wright has been reassigned to Ontario and Moverare has been reinstated from the non-roster list. Wright posted zeroes across the board in his NHL debut on Monday, skating 9:42 of ice time.
March 2: 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.
Sharks Sign Kiefer Sherwood To Five-Year Extension
2:02 p.m.: Per PuckPedia, Sherwood’s deal will pay him a $4.5MM base salary and $2.5MM signing bonus in 2026-27 and 2027-28. That drops to $4.15MM and $2MM, respectively, for 2028-29, with his base salary then dropping to $2.4MM and the same $2MM signing bonus for 2029-30. He’ll be paid entirely in base salary $4.2MM, in the final year of the deal. The contract also features gradually decreasing trade protection. He’ll start off with a full no-trade clause in 2026-27 that drops to a 16-team no-trade list in 2027-28, then 13 in 2028-29, 10 in 2029-30, and five in the final year of the deal.
1:09 p.m.: The Sharks have confirmed a five-year, $28.75MM deal for Sherwood.
12:13 p.m.: Kiefer Sherwood has gone from a potential trade candidate to a top-nine cornerstone, as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports the Sharks are close to signing him to a five-year extension worth “a little under” $6MM annually. Chris Johnston of The Athletic adds it’ll be an average annual value of $5.75MM for a total commitment of $28.75MM. The contract also includes signing bonuses and trade protection for the first four seasons, per Frank Seravalli of Victory+.
Sherwood was set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, an undesirable outcome for a still-building Sharks club that paid two second-round picks to acquire him from the Canucks less than two months ago. It was either a second trade or an extension for Sherwood, who has evidently chosen the latter after San Jose general manager Mike Grier stepped up his offer.
Assuming the extension crosses the finish line, Sherwood will be under contract longer than any other Sharks player. Only William Eklund and Alexander Wennberg are under contract through as late as 2028-29, and Sherwood’s new deal will carry him through the 2030-31 season. That’s certainly life as a club slowly exiting from a years-long rebuild, still boasting many entry-level contracts and stopgap veterans on short-term commitments. That will obviously change soon when Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith, and Yaroslav Askarov become eligible to sign extensions on July 1, though.
Sherwood’s reward comes on the heels of a two-point outing against the Canadiens last night in a wild 7-5 win, including the game-winning goal (it was one of four shots he had in the game). Those were his first two points as a Shark after going without one through his first four games in San Jose. At the time he was dealt, he was dealing with an upper-body injury and didn’t debut for them until their final game before the Olympic break.
That brings the 30-year-old up to 18 goals and 25 points in 49 games on the year. It’s an identical point pace and even better goal-scoring pace than last year’s breakout campaign in Vancouver that saw him set the NHL single-season hits record with 462. He’s not checking at that pace this season, but still ranks second in the league with 238 despite the missed time.
A late bloomer, the Miami-Ohio product made his NHL debut as an undrafted free agent with the Ducks in 2018, but was relegated to a mostly minor-league role for the next few years after a 50-game showing as a rookie. That began to change when he landed with the Predators in free agency in 2022. After hovering around or well above a point per game in the AHL through the early 2020s, he received an extended call-up with the Preds in 2022-23 and put up a 7-6–13 scoring line in 32 games in a fourth-line role.
That earned Sherwood an opening-night spot the following season, and he’s remained in the NHL ever since. Since the beginning of the 2023-24 campaign, Sherwood has a 47-45–92 scoring line in 195 games for Nashville, Vancouver, and San Jose with a +5 rating and 934 hits. That’s an average of 20 goals, 39 points, and 393 hits per 82 games.
The league’s most physical forward by definition, the mild goal-scoring upside he’s flashed in that time makes him an intriguing complementary fit higher in San Jose’s lineup alongside either Macklin Celebrini or 2025 #2 pick Michael Misa, quickly emerging as their second-line pivot after a rough start to the campaign. Sherwood is averaging 17:25 of ice time per game in his small sample in San Jose.
There will be undeniable sticker shock to see a recent breakout talent without a years-long track record of top-nine play this late in his pro career land that combination of length and AAV. It’s simply the reality of a new era of aggressive salary-cap increases. Considering past comparables who signed for similar percentages of the cap, the terms of the deal don’t jump out as overly groundbreaking. AFP Analytics projected Sherwood’s extension at five years, with a price tag of $5.75MM annually, which was right on the money.
Image courtesy of Bob Frid-Imagn Images.
Wild Reassign Ben Jones
After acquiring center Michael McCarron from the Predators last night, the Wild have reassigned fellow middleman Ben Jones to AHL Iowa. They didn’t need the roster spot, but McCarron’s addition made Jones something of a redundancy, so he’ll be on his way back down.
Jones, 27, doesn’t have much of an NHL track record but has slowly been pushing for more opportunities in Minnesota over the past two years. He’s played 26 games for the Wild this year with a goal and an assist, the first points of his career. He’s got a -10 rating and some ugly shot attempt numbers, but has proven to be of value as a faceoff specialist at the bottom of the lineup, winning 53.5% of his draws. He last got into a game on Jan. 20 and, while he was recalled again from Iowa over the Olympic break, was scratched for Minnesota’s last four games.
The Ontario native is now a pending UFA after signing a two-year, two-way deal with the Wild in 2024. He’s been quite a capable offensive producer on an Iowa club that’s one of the worst in the AHL at both ends of the ice, so they’d likely prefer to retain him and keep him there as much as possible. He’s now the AHL team’s captain and has five goals and 16 points in 18 games for them this season.
Panthers Waive Tobias Bjornfot, Louis Domingue
The Panthers have placed defender Tobias Björnfot on waivers for the purpose of assignment to AHL Charlotte, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. Florida also waived goalie Louis Domingue after signing him to a two-way deal earlier today. The former’s demotion will open a roster spot for the Cats to activate either winger Jonah Gadjovich or defenseman Seth Jones, both of whom are close to a return, from long-term injured reserve.
Initially claimed off waivers from the Golden Knights in 2023-24, Björnfot subsequently re-signed with Florida last summer on a two-way deal and continues to be rewarded with a good bit of recall action. Florida recalled Björnfot at the start of January after Jones’ upper body injury and, after sitting as a healthy scratch for several games, finally got a start as their #3 lefty over Donovan Sebrango and stuck in the lineup for a good stretch. He missed some time last month with an undisclosed injury but has since returned.
Through 11 games, Björnfot was the ideal no-fuss replacement piece. The former first-round pick of the Kings posted a pair of goals and an assist while recording a +4 rating, averaging just 11:33 per game. The smooth-skating rearguard had eight hits and posted great possession metrics in his sheltered minutes, controlling 61.7% of shot attempts at even strength.
Florida will hope to retain the 24-year-old through the waiver process. Considering his limited NHL utility over the past few seasons, it’s unlikely a team looking to add on the blue line will use a roster spot on him right now, so they should be able to retain him. He’ll be a restricted free agent again this summer so Florida still has first right of refusal on his signing rights.
It wouldn’t be surprising to see them try to get him re-upped on another two-way deal, potentially with a higher guarantee than the $450K one he’s on now. He’s been a great defensive conscience in Charlotte’s top four over the past two years and has shown to be a reliable insurance option in the #8 slot or so on their defensive depth chart.
Stars Acquire Tyler Myers From Canucks
12:20 p.m.: Both teams have officially announced the deal. Dallas opened up a roster spot yesterday by placing Roope Hintz on injured reserve, so no corresponding move is required.
11:23 a.m.: The Stars and Canucks are reportedly in agreement on a trade that will send defenseman Tyler Myers to Dallas, per Darren Dreger of TSN. Vancouver will receive Dallas’ 2027 second-round pick and 2029 fourth-round pick in return while retaining 50% of Myers’ $3MM cap hit through 2026-27, TSN’s Pierre LeBrun adds.
The Stars are all-out buyers and entered the deadline with a clear need to add right-shot depth. It was a foregone conclusion that they’d add one, whether it was Myers, who Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK says had the Stars as his first choice to waive his no-movement clause, or the Flyers’ Rasmus Ristolainen, who David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period said last night that Dallas was making a push for.
Dallas has been running lefty Miro Heiskanen on his offside on their top pairing with Esa Lindell, something they’ve done frequently during Heiskanen’s career. Behind him, their right-shot options consist of Nils Lundkvist, Ilya Lyubushkin, and Alexander Petrovic. There isn’t a clear-cut top-four option among that group, at least by a Stanley Cup contender’s standards. Myers may not fit that bill at this stage of his career, either, but he’s used to logging the most minutes of the group and at least gives them a much-needed additional depth option in case of an injury.
Myers, 36, doesn’t do a ton on the score sheet this late in his career. In 57 games this season, he has just one goal and seven assists with a 1.4% shooting rate. That’s a career-low 0.14 points per game for a defender who logged a fair bit of power-play time in his prime thanks to his booming slap shot. That’s been accompanied by a -25 rating as he logs over 20 minutes a night as the struggling Canucks’ #2 righty behind Filip Hronek.
Under the hood, Myers hasn’t graded out well for quite some time. Granted, he’s been used more as a shutdown threat than a two-way one at 5-on-5 since initially signing with Vancouver back in 2019. Still, Myers controlled just 48.5% of shot attempts, 47.6% of expected goals, and 47.4% of scoring chances over seven years with the Canucks. That’s in sharp contrast to a player like Ristolainen, who’s been a net positive on the possession quality front for the last four years in Philadelphia but came with a much higher acquisition cost and cap hit, which would have limited Dallas’ maneuverability to make additional moves before Friday afternoon.
It’s certainly a cap-mindful pickup that still leaves the Stars with just over $5.5MM in cap space after moving Tyler Seguin to season-ending long-term injured reserve. Myers also gives the Stars a relatively low-cost veteran option for next season, ideally to slot in on the third pairing, with Petrovic slated for free agency and Lyubushkin checking in as a potential buyout or waiver candidate in the last year of his deal at a $3.25MM cap hit. Every dollar is crucial as the Stars look to open up space to get an extension done for pending RFA Jason Robertson.
For the Canucks, it’s not a particularly strong return for a minute-muncher like Myers with a year and a half of retention. They also didn’t have much leverage, as Myers boasted a full no-movement clause. There were comparable offers on the table, namely from the Red Wings, but Myers preferred to wait and see whether the Stars would match with a similar offer, Dhaliwal reports.
In the short term, the most direct beneficiary of Myers’ departure is 2023 first-rounder Tom Willander. The right-shot rookie now steps into Myers’ vacated spot alongside Marcus Pettersson on the second pairing and, after recording 16 points through his first 48 NHL contests, will be in line for a sharp rise in ice time from the 15:33 he’s averaged per game to date in the final month-plus of the regular season.
As the Canucks navigate the last two days before the trade deadline, they now have just one retention slot remaining. One is still being used up on Ilya Mikheyev through the end of this season.
Image courtesy of Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images.
Panthers Sign Louis Domingue To Two-Way Contract
The Panthers announced they’ve signed goaltender Louis Domingue to a two-way contract for the remainder of the season. Financial terms were not disclosed. If they want to assign him back to AHL Charlotte, where he’d been playing on a minor-league deal, they’ll need to place him on waivers. If they do so today, he won’t count against their active roster.
Domingue, 33, headed overseas for the first time in his pro career to begin this season. After posting a .892 SV% in 11 games with Sibir Novosibirsk of the Kontinental Hockey League in Russia, he obtained a release and signed an AHL deal with Charlotte around Thanksgiving.
The veteran of 10 NHL seasons has appeared sparingly for Charlotte, notching an .831 SV% and 3.20 GAA in seven outings with a 3-3-0 record. He’s gone long stretches without dressing and has suited up just four times since the New Year. At present, he’s essentially fifth on Florida’s goaltending depth chart behind NHLers Sergei Bobrovsky and Daniil Tarasov, AHL starter Cooper Black, and AHL backup Kirill Gerasimyuk, with the latter two also signed to NHL deals.
It’s not uncommon for teams to sign an additional goalie during deadline week to have them on hand to roster as their emergency backup during the playoffs. Florida did it several times in the past few years with Evan Cormier. The Cats are now slipping from playoff contention, however, and reportedly decided to pivot toward selling off their pending UFAs this morning. It’s more likely that Domingue is insurance to keep having four goalies under contract in case the Panthers decide to deal Bobrovsky or Tarasov, both of whom will hit the open market this summer.
Golden Knights Reassign Raphael Lavoie
March 4: Lavoie was returned to Henderson today in the corresponding move for yesterday’s acquisition of Cole Smith from the Predators, per the NHL’s media site. He skated 8:34 in last night’s loss to the Sabres, posting zeroes across the board.
March 3: 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 minors 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, has 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 not only as a main scorer but also as a man who creates shots on net for the Henderson Silver Knights. Now, Lavoie could earn a hardy, NHL look if Stone has 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.
Maple Leafs’ Chris Tanev Undergoes Core Muscle Surgery
The Maple Leafs announced today that defenseman Chris Tanev has undergone a successful core muscle procedure in New York City. He will miss the remainder of the season but is expected to fully participate in training camp in September.
Tanev had not played since Dec. 28 with what was initially described as a groin injury. Surgery was mentioned as a possibility as far back as January. Tanev then skated on his own during the Olympic break, but evidently didn’t make enough forward progress with non-surgical rehab to return this season.
Combined with a pair of upper-body injuries earlier in the year, Tanev ends his 2025-26 campaign with just 11 games played. Injuries have long been a concern throughout the rugged defender’s career, but missing this much time is new territory. The top-four shutdown fixture closes the book on his age-36 season with two assists, a +8 rating, 18 shot attempts, a 17:58 time on ice average, 15 blocks, and two hits.
Injuries and durability were the primary concerns when the Leafs signed Tanev to a six-year, $27MM deal in free agency in 2024, worth $4.5MM per season. That cap hit is still a bit of a discount for what he brings to the table when healthy, but signing a player who’s hit 70 games just four times in his 16-year career until he’s 40 was a controversial decision. Combined with a no-movement clause, it could quickly become a nuisance deal if he spends more time on IR than on the ice moving forward, albeit less so as the salary cap continues to rise.
While a tough loss for the Maple Leafs, they’re used to it by now. With their playoff hopes this season all but gone, there was no reason to try to maintain Tanev’s health for the last few weeks of the year. Tanev’s continued absence means ongoing responsibility for depth pieces Philippe Myers and Troy Stecher to step into bottom-pairing duties, while potentially creating more opportunities for young recall options Henry Thrun and William Villeneuve, depending on how many defenders Toronto sells off in the next two days.
Predators Sign Viggo Gustafsson To Entry-Level Deal
The Predators announced they’ve signed defense prospect Viggo Gustafsson to a three-year, entry-level deal beginning next season. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Gustafsson, 19, was a third-round pick in 2024. The 6’2″, 192-lb lefty is touted as a physical piece with some viable upside as a third-pairing option, but not much more. As such, he was ranked as the #24 prospect in Nashville’s system by Elite Prospects entering the season and wasn’t ranked anywhere else.
He has gotten plenty of minutes at the pro level in his native Sweden since his draft year, though. He’s played exclusively in the professional circuit this year, albeit in the second division HockeyAllsvenskan with AIK. There, he’s featuring mostly as a third-pairing piece and has seven assists with a -4 rating in 38 games. It’s worth noting the national team takes enough stock in his physical shutdown game to keep him rostered at the World Juniors for the past two years, but he only suited up twice for them in this year’s tournament.
The Preds were under no urgency to sign him, holding his rights through June 2028. Still, they’ve liked enough of what they’ve seen from Gustafsson overseas since draft day to make an initial commitment. As he’s under 24 years old and was drafted outside of the first round, he must first be offered back to his Swedish club if he doesn’t make the team out of camp before they’re eligible to assign him to the AHL. He will be a restricted free agent for the first time following the 2028-29 season and is under team control through 2033-34.