Canucks Scratching Tyler Myers For Trade-Related Reasons
With the trade deadline now just a week and a half away, we will soon be seeing an uptick in players being held out of the lineup to avoid any injury risk before a potential trade. The Rangers did it with Artemi Panarin before the Olympic break and now the Canucks will be doing so with a veteran as well. Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK and The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that blueliner Tyler Myers will be scratched tonight against Winnipeg for trade-related reasons. This comes on the heels of a report from ESPN’s Kevin Weekes (Twitter link) that Vancouver is fielding plenty of calls on the veteran and that he could be on the move soon.
TSN’s Darren Dreger adds (Twitter link) that the Canucks went to Myers with this trade option a couple of days ago. With a full no-move clause, Myers has full control over his situation and he and his camp are still pondering the potential change of scenery. Clearly, even though a deal might not be imminent, the team isn’t taking any chances and is holding him out just in case.
The 36-year-old came into the NHL with plenty of fanfare in 2009 after being the 12th overall pick by Buffalo the year before. With Myers jumping into a top-pairing role right away, expectations were quite high that he could be a legitimate franchise defender.
While he hasn’t been able to live up to that hype and ultimately struggled in a prominent role over the years, Myers has still been a steady second-pairing defender for the better part of the last decade. He’s in the middle of his seventh season in Vancouver, one that has seen his offensive production basically dry up altogether as he has been limited to just a goal and seven assists in 57 games. However, he remains a key defensive defender for them and sits second on the team in blocked shots and third in shorthanded playing time.
Myers is in the second season of a three-year, $9MM contract that runs through the 2026-27 season. With a $3MM cap charge that is certainly affordable for the role he plays (he’s averaging over 20 minutes per game once again), that and the fact he’s not a rental player should certainly have Vancouver well-positioned to command a quality return, especially with a lack of quality right-shot options available.
A move shouldn’t necessarily be considered an automatic, however. Myers has made it known over the years that his desire has been to remain with the Canucks no matter what, which played a role in his below-market contract with them. Assuming the other suitor is a legitimate playoff contender, it will be interesting to see if the allure of making a push for a Stanley Cup is enough to make him agree to be moved.
Photo courtesy of Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images.
Lightning Head Coach Jon Cooper On Personal Leave
The Tampa Bay Lightning will return from the Olympic break without their head coach. Jon Cooper will miss the team’s Wednesday and Thursday matchups for a personal leave of absence following the death of his father per NHL.com’s Benjamin Pierce. Cooper spent the last three weeks in Milan, Italy for the Winter Olympics where he served as Team Canada’s head coach en route to a Silver medal finish.
Like at the 2025 4-Nations Face-Off, the championship game between USA and Canada required extra time. While superstar Connor McDavid was able to clinch the 4-Nations win with an overtime goal, Canada lost their chance at the Gold medal thanks to a goal from New Jersey Devils star Jack Hughes. The win came three days after Team USA’s women’s hockey team won the Gold medal over Team Canada’s women’s team with their own sudden-death goal.
Cooper was outspoken about the Olympic’s 3v3 overtime structure following the game, sharing that the sport doesn’t resemble hockey with two players removed from the ice for both sides, per Michael Traikos of The Hockey News. The move to 3v3 was a new change this season, after the IIHF long operated with a 4v4 overtime structure. Overtime was 5v5 in the NHL’s 4-Nation Face-Off.
Cooper’s players still left Milan with a medal in hand, in no small part thanks to their coach’s ability to manage a tight ship. The Lightning have made the playoffs in 11 of the last 12 NHL seasons. They won the Stanley Cup twice – back-to-back in 2020 and 2021 – and made the Cup Finals twice more, in 2015 and 2022. Tampa Bay seems well set to continue their playoff streak, currently leading the NHL’s Atlantic Division.
Assistant coach Jeff Halpern stepped in to fill Cooper’s absence through a brief leave during the 2021 COVID season. Halpern remains in the same role and could be the top option to replace Tampa Bay’s command. Tampa Bay’s official choice for short-term head coach has not been announced.
Blues’ Robert Thomas To Take Personal Leave Of Absence
The St. Louis Blues will be without their leading scorer and top center as they return from the Olympic break. The team announced that Robert Thomas will be taking a personal leave of absence until Friday of this week. He will miss Thursday’s game against the Seattle Kraken but should be back with the team beforf Saturday’s game against the New Jersey Devils.
Thomas’ role in the Blues lineup can’t be understated. He has been a pillar of the Blues offense, averaging the most ice time (19 minutes) and scoring the most points (33) among St. Louis forwards through 42 games this season. Thomas entered this season on the heels of two career-years, marked by 60 assists in both seasons, to go with 86 points and 81 points respectively. He has been St. Louis’ main playmaker since the departure of Ryan O’Reilly and leaves a major hole to be filled for next game.
Thomas sat out of four games in late October and missed an additional 11 games after sustaining a lower-body injury on January 10th. St. Louis leaned heavily on Pavel Buchnevich in response, placing the veteran Russian winger into Thomas’ role atop the powerplay and penalty-killing units. Buchnevich also moved into the team’s top-center role, though he has struggled on faceoffs, with a 39.8 faceoff percentage this season. The Blues could look to Slovakian Olympian Dalibor Dvorsky to take center duties off of Buchnevich’s hands in the short-term, or could task Brayden Schenn and Jimmy Snuggerud with platooning in the role form their spots on the second-line. No approach will be perfect as St. Louis looks to replace their star in an important, Western Conference matchup.
Maple Leafs Activate Dakota Joshua From LTIR
2/25: As expected, Toronto has activated Joshua off of LTIR.
2/24: The Maple Leafs will activate winger Dakota Joshua from long-term injured reserve before tomorrow’s game against the Lightning, according to Sportsnet’s Anna Dua. Whether he plays or not remains to be seen – Joshua “will have his time managed” during this week’s back-to-back, Dua writes – but he will be available. They have an open roster spot, so no corresponding move will be required.
It will be Joshua’s first appearance of the calendar year if he plays. He sustained a kidney laceration on Dec. 28 against the Red Wings. He started skating last month but wasn’t close to returning due to the risk of re-injury. Now that it’s mitigated, he’ll be able to step back in.
When the Maple Leafs surrendered a fourth-round pick to acquire Joshua from the Canucks last summer, they were hoping he was a buy-low candidate that could return to the 18-goal, 32-point form he showed with Vancouver in 2023-24. The bottom-six grinder landed a four-year, $13MM extension at the time as a result, but he regressed to seven goals and 14 points in 57 games the following season after recovering from testicular cancer.
So far in Toronto, he’s produced at around the same pace. He’s managed six goals and 10 points in 36 games, working out to 0.28 points per game – just a bit higher than last year’s pace and still below his 0.32 career average. That’s even with Joshua shooting at a rather high 18.8% clip. He’s averaging just 0.89 shots on goal per game this season, his lowest figure since a 12-game rookie trial with the Blues in 2020-21.
Regardless, head coach Craig Berube has leaned on Joshua heavily in defensive situations at even strength. He’s started 72.6% of his 5-on-5 shifts in the D-zone, so even if he’s not playing a large role on Toronto’s penalty kill, his -2 rating is a strong one considering the type of deployment he’s been given. For a Leafs team that’s underwater in every possession metric, getting a trusted defensive piece like Joshua back isn’t without virtue as they try to make up the six-point difference keeping them out of a playoff spot.
Wild Reassign David Spacek
2/25: After a few days of practicing with the top club, Spacek has been reassigned to the AHL.
2/21: Fresh off playing for Czechia at the Olympics, defenseman David Spacek is getting his next NHL opportunity. The Wild announced that they’ve recalled the blueliner from AHL Iowa.
It’s already the fourth recall of the season for the 23-year-old. However, he didn’t see any action in his first two stints although he was able to make a pair of appearances for Minnesota last month, his first games at the top level. He recorded a pair of blocked shots over a total of 21:30 of playing time.
Spacek, a fifth-round pick back in 2022, has played in 37 games in the minors this season. He has been productive offensively in those outings, picking four goals and 16 assists. His assist total leads all Iowa players while his 20 points pace the way among their defensemen. Spacek also suited up in five games at the Olympics, recording an assist while playing 14:33 per game.
With Spacek’s addition to the roster, Minnesota’s roster now stands at the maximum of 23 players.
Sabres Announce Multiple IR Moves
The Buffalo Sabres have sorted out their injuries ahead of their return to action on Wednesday night. Forwards Joshua Norris and Joshua Dunne, as well as goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, have been activated from injured reserve and will be available for Wednesday’s game against the New Jersey Devils. In a corresponding move, Buffalo has also placed wingers Zach Benson and Jordan Greenway on IR per NHL.com’s Heather Engel. Greenway has not played since January 22nd, while Benson missed Buffalo’s final game before break on February 5th.
Buffalo will exchange roster forwards with these moves. Norris has served a middle-six center role when healthy but has only appeared in 19 games this season as he battled through multiple injuries. His most recent was sustained on January 14th, in a matchup against the Philadelphia Flyers. The 26 year old has racked up 17 points in his appearances this season, the third-highest scoring pace on the team behind Tage Thompson and Rasmus Dahlin. He should return to an impact role on the second-line and should help the Sabres bridge the divide until Benson is able to return.
The 20-year-old Benson dealt with a couple of different ailments over the three-week Olympic break. His current injury has not been disclosed, though head coach Lindy Ruff did clarify that it is separate from the upper-body injury he sustained on February 2nd. Benson returned to skating earlier this week but hasn’t yet been folded into Buffalo’s practices, suggesting he could still have a bit before returning to NHL action. He will be eligible for activation as soon as he’s back to full health.
Buffalo will want their dynamo winger back as soon as possible. Benson has earned 26 points in 42 games this season – a 51-point scoring pace. On top of that, his best impacts have seemed to come away from the puck, where his mix of tenacity and skill allow Benson to fill any role on the forecheck. He has often been deployed on the second-line but has received upwards of 20 minutes of ice time a night when Buffalo needs a punch.
The biggest impact from these moves could be in net. Luukkonen went down with a lower-body injury on January 27th. The injury not only held him out of Buffalo’s subsequent five games, it also costed Luukkonen his spot on Team Finland’s Olympic roster.
Buffalo survived Luukkonen’s absence by leaning on Alex Lyon as their starter. He performed well, setting a .922 save percentage and two wins in four games in injury-relief, while rookie backup Colten Ellis recorded one overtime-loss. Luukkonen has split starts with Lyon for much of the year and recorded 11 wins and a .902 save percentage in 21 games. Those marks both fall just shy of the 14 wins and .912 save percentage that Lyon has reached in 27 games. The pair of goaltenders will continue to compete for starts, while Ellis likely remains with the NHL roster as an extra hand.
Buffalo’s series of moves is wrapped up by swapping two bruising depth-forwards off of IR. Greenway ranks seventh on the Sabres in hits-per-game, with an average of 7.18. Just above him, at sixth, is Dunne who has averaged 7.66 hits in what is his first chance at an extended NHL look. Greenway has beat out the first-year pro on the scorecard, netting five points and a minus-nine in 33 games, while Dunne has four points and a minus-four in 28 games. The two will exchange spots near the bottom of Buffalo’s lineup. The veteran Greenway would seem to have the edge on minutes when he’s back to full health.
Senators Recall Stephen Halliday
2/25: After two days of practice with the top club, defense prospect Carter Yakemchuk has also been reassigned to Belleville. The move was expected after the team ended Wednesday’s practice, head coach Travis Green told Julian McKenzie of The Athletic.
2/23, 4:00 p.m.: The Senators reassigned Boucher back to Belleville, confirming that his recall earlier today was simply for practice purposes. Belleville’s schedule resumes on Friday, when the team travels to take on the Utica Comets, who are AHL affiliates of the New Jersey Devils.
2/23, 10:03 a.m.: The Senators announced they’ve recalled forwards Tyler Boucher and Stephen Halliday, as well as defenseman Carter Yakemchuk, from AHL Belleville. They’ll give the Sens some roster insurance as they await the returns of captain Brady Tkachuk and top defenseman Jake Sanderson from Olympic play, with both questionable to return in time for Ottawa’s first game back against the Red Wings on Thursday.
This is Boucher’s first time being rostered during the regular season. The 23-year-old was summoned as a Black Ace for last year’s playoff run but has yet to make his NHL debut nearly five years after being selected 10th overall in the 2021 draft. He remains the only active player in the top 20 that has yet to make his NHL debut (Winnipeg’s Chaz Lucius, selected 18th overall, was forced into medical retirement).
That could now change. The 6’2″, 216-lb winger was viewed as a late first-round choice at best by prospect evaluators in his draft year, so it was a highly controversial decision for the Sens to spend such a high pick on him. The gamble hasn’t worked out. Boucher disenrolled from Boston University 17 games into his post-draft season after struggling to catch on and spent the following year and a half in junior hockey with the OHL’s Ottawa 67’s, where he struggled through injuries and managed 17 goals and 31 points in 45 games – not nearly the level of offense expected out of a top-10 pick after his draft date.
Boucher’s struggles persisted after he turned pro with the Sens in 2023. He’s spent his entire career to date in the AHL and had just two goals and five points in 21 games as a rookie two years ago. Last year’s 10 points in 47 games weren’t much better.
This season, though, the Arizona native has picked up a little bit of steam. He’s already set new career-highs across the board with six goals, 10 assists, and 16 points in 29 games with a +9 rating. Injuries have again limited him to just over half of Belleville’s schedule, but getting his offensive output up over half a point per game is a definitive step in the right direction. He’ll now get a shot to at least get some practice reps in with the Sens over the coming days until Tkachuk is back in the mix.
Halliday’s recall is more of a formality. He’s been up with the Sens for a big chunk of the season already and was only sent down over the break so that he could keep getting some playing time in Belleville. The 23-year-old figures to remain up with Ottawa’s NHL group for the stretch run, serving as a depth forward option while David Perron continues his recovery from sports hernia surgery.
The 6’4″ pivot had something of a difficult time generating offense in Belleville over the break, limited to three assists in seven games. That only brought him down to a point per game in 29 AHL contests this year, though. He’s also been exceptionally productive in a fourth-line role for Ottawa, managing four goals and 11 points in 25 NHL games despite averaging just 8:08 of ice time per night. Only Nikita Kucherov, Nathan MacKinnon, and Martin Necas have scored more points per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 than Halliday’s 3.14 (min. 10 games played).
Like Boucher, this marks the first regular-season recall for Yakemchuk, who gives Ottawa a seventh defenseman available while Sanderson makes his way back to the club. The 20-year-old’s stint on the NHL roster isn’t likely to last any longer than necessary. Drafted seventh overall in 2024, he’s a first-year pro and hasn’t had a smooth transition from the WHL to Belleville. Yakemchuk has demonstrated the offensive acumen Ottawa’s hoped for, leading the B-Sens’ D group with 25 points in 41 games, but has a team-worst -33 rating in the process. The hard-hitting puck-mover will need to build out his two-way game a lot more before he’s considered for NHL minutes.
Stars Activate Lian Bichsel From LTIR
The Stars announced today that they’ve activated defenseman Lian Bichsel from long-term injured reserve. They opened a roster spot yesterday by placing Radek Faksa on IR, and they have ample cap space with Tyler Seguin still feeding their LTIR pool, so no corresponding moves are required.
Bichsel is expected to play tonight, along with freshly anointed Olympic silver medalist Thomas Harley, tonight against the Kraken, Robert Tiffin of D Magazine relays. Ilya Lyubushkin and Kyle Capobianco will serve as healthy scratches while Nils Lundkvist and Alexander Petrovic remain in the lineup. It will be Bichsel’s first appearance since undergoing a lower-body surgery following an injury he sustained against the Senators back on Nov. 30. All told, he missed nearly three months and 31 games.
The 21-year-old Bichsel will form the Stars’ third pairing with Petrovic. They were stapled together before the former’s injury with underwhelming results. They outscored opponents 12-8 due to some puck luck on both ends of the ice, but they only managed to control 42.1% of expected goals and 41.0% of shot attempts at 5-on-5, per MoneyPuck.
Nonetheless, the Stars appear pleased with Bichsel’s work as a bottom-pairing fixture. It’s now been three years since they made him the 18th overall pick in the 2022 draft, and they remain hopeful the 6’7″ Swiss rearguard can remain a long-term shutdown fixture on the left side behind Miro Heiskanen and Harley. He wasn’t scratched once this season before getting hurt, recording three points and a +6 rating in 26 outings. He’s only averaging 15:49 of ice time per game – he’s not been given much shorthanded deployment.
The Stars will continue to monitor Bichsel’s possession impacts down the stretch. Petrovic has had better underlying numbers this season when paired with Capobianco, with that duo posting a 52.4 xGF% while outscoring opponents 7-2. If Bichsel’s and Petrovic’s previous form holds up, it might be worth giving the veteran Capobianco another look in the 3LD slot.
Oilers Recall Matthew Savoie
Feb. 25: The Oilers announced today that they’ve brought Savoie back up from Bakersfield. Only today did they accrue enough cap space to recall him and activate Henrique from LTIR as expected. He suited up once for Bakersfield last Friday and had an assist, a -1 rating, and three shots in a 5-4 overtime loss to the Calgary Wranglers.
Feb. 17: The Oilers announced that they’ve reassigned forward Matthew Savoie to AHL Bakersfield. The move was made to give them temporary salary cap flexibility, per the team’s Bob Stauffer, likely to activate center Adam Henrique from long-term injured reserve before their schedule resumes next week. Bakersfield has three games between now and Feb. 25, so Savoie will get a lengthy run-up before the team accumulates enough cap space to recall him again.
It certainly wouldn’t be a performance-based demotion for Savoie. The 22-year-old is the only one of Edmonton’s young guns who’s been able to carve out a consistent spot in their top nine this season. Even so, his production hasn’t been overwhelming. He’s posted nine goals and nine assists for 18 points through 58 games, tied for ninth on the team in scoring and on pace for 25 points on the year. For a player drafted with a top-10 pick who’s seen extensive time on a line with Leon Draisaitl, more production would be desirable.
Acquired from the Sabres in 2024, he’ll return to a familiar environment in Bakersfield, albeit for a few games. He had immense success there last season as a first-year pro, finishing second on the team in scoring with a 19-35–54 line in 66 games. For a few games, he’ll now get to link up with one of the AHL’s most dynamic duos this season in wingers Isaac Howard and Quinn Hutson, both of whom are clicking at over a point per game.
Clearing Savoie’s $886,666 cap hit gives Edmonton the flexibility to reinstate Henrique before next Wednesday. He’s been out since early January with an undisclosed injury. At a cap hit of $3MM, the Oilers will be hoping for more production from the 36-year-old than the two goals and 10 points he’s given them in 43 games this season.
Capitals Place Sonny Milano On Waivers
The Capitals will place Sonny Milano on waivers today at 1:00 pm Central, Tom Gulitti of NHL.com reports. Until he’s assigned to AHL Hershey tomorrow or is claimed by another team, he’s been designated as a non-roster player to afford Washington the open spot to activate Connor McMichael from injured reserve as expected.
Milano, 29, initially signed a league-minimum deal with the Caps at the beginning of the 2022-23 season after being non-tendered by the Ducks. He had so much success in a depth role, notching 11 goals and 33 points in 64 games, that Washington quickly moved to get him locked into a three-year, $5.7MM extension with a $1.9MM cap hit. He’s now in the final year of that deal, during which he’s been decimated by injuries. After scoring a career-high 15 goals in 49 games in 2023-24, Milano suited up just three times last season before sustaining a season-ending concussion in November.
Back healthy this year, he’s not the same player. Part of that is simply how little he’s been used. With names like Anthony Beauvillier, Ethen Frank, and Justin Sourdif surpassing him on the depth chart, he’s essentially now the Caps’ 14th forward. He’s been scratched for long stretches and, when dressed, has only averaged 8:53 of ice time per game in 31 showings. Considering that usage, his four goals and eight points aren’t too bad.
He’ll now get his first AHL usage since a brief stint with Hershey after signing with the Caps in 2022. He had two goals and an assist in five games that time around and has 118 points in 171 minor-league games for his career.
Milano is at his best when he’s given top-nine deployment and trusted to do little else but score. With no real fit for him to fill that role in D.C. anymore, he may ride out the last few months of his deal in the minors before reaching free agency this summer. If he goes unclaimed on waivers and remains in the Caps’ system, they’ll be left with a $750K cap charge.