It’s the last day of the pre-Christmas schedule, as the rest of this week’s games have now been postponed. The Washington Capitals will visit the Philadelphia Flyers, while the Tampa Bay Lightning are off to see the Vegas Golden Knights. Those teams aren’t the only ones who will do a little roster shuffling today though, as teams had previously prepared for action tomorrow and Thursday. As always, we’ll keep track of all those minor moves right here.
Atlantic Division
- The Tampa Bay Lightning have recalled Andrej Sustr from the AHL, giving them another defenseman for tonight’s match. Sustr has actually played eight games already for the Lightning this season, following his two-year stint in the KHL. The 31-year-old defenseman has one goal on the year.
Metropolitan Division
- After sending him down just yesterday, the Washington Capitals have recalled Brett Leason once again. The young forward has been bouncing up and down rather frequently of late but has spent most of the year in the NHL. In 21 games with the Capitals, he has six points. (Update: After the Capitals’ game today was postponed, the team sent Leason and Joe Snively back to the minor leagues.)
- The Philadelphia Flyers have recalled Gerry Mayhew from the minor leagues for tonight’s game, suggesting he’ll be in for Kevin Hayes, who was recently put on the COVID list. Mayhew, a prolific minor league scorer, has just 17 NHL games under his belt.
Central Division
- The Minnesota Wild, following their game last night against Dallas, have returned Kevin Czuczman and Mason Shaw to the AHL. The Wild will play again on Monday when they travel to Winnipeg.
- With the Stars not playing again until after Christmas, the team has sent Riley Tufte and Thomas Harley back to the minor leagues. Likely just a paper transaction, the two could be back up in a few days after Dallas saves a few dollars.
- The Arizona Coyotes have sent Blake Speers and Jan Jenik back to AHL Tucson. Speers played last Friday in his first NHL action since October 22, 2016 while Jenik last saw NHL action last month, being held off the scoresheet in two games. As is the case with pretty much everyone else on this list, the move was made to save Arizona some money with them being out of action until Monday.
Pacific Division
- The Los Angeles Kings have reversed a few of their recent moves, sending Alex Turcotte and Samuel Fegemo back to the minor leagues while recalling Sean Durzi and Christian Wolanin. Those players had been involved in opposite moves just yesterday to maximize cap relief from putting Alexander Edler and Sean Walker on long-term injured reserve. Quinton Byfield, who was also called up, has been placed in the COVID protocol, meaning he won’t be going back down just yet.
- The Vancouver Canucks have returned Madison Bowey and Noah Juulsen to Abbotsford of the AHL. Both defensemen were brought up with Vancouver having several blueliners in COVID protocol but with them being off until December 27th, they’ll save a few dollars and delay the waiver clock for each veteran for a few days.
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