Panthers Reassign Noah Gregor
The Panthers announced this morning that they reassigned forward Noah Gregor to AHL Charlotte. They’re now left with an open roster spot, which could be earmarked for Brad Marchand to come off injured reserve or for Matthew Tkachuk to come off long-term injured reserve, although the latter move would require clearing more cap space.
Gregor, 27, departs Florida after appearing just twice in the Cats’ last 11 games. He was placed on waivers over a week ago and cleared, but wasn’t immediately sent to Charlotte. Since he’s still within a 30-day window from clearing waivers, he can be sent down today without needing to go through the process again.
The Alberta native is in his seventh NHL season and has accumulated over 300 games of experience. However, after a tumultuous couple of campaigns, it appears he’s on the path toward being more of a call-up option than a bottom-six fixture. The 6’0″, 201-lb winger’s high-end speed and skating have always carried some intrigue, but he’s rarely converted it into meaningful production, only topping the 20-point mark once with the Sharks back in 2021-22.
Now, Florida is his fourth stop in the past three seasons. He’s also logged time with the Maple Leafs and Senators since 2023 and had a second stint in San Jose, needing PTOs to land contracts late in the offseason twice during that span. His waiver placement earlier this month was the first one of his career, signaling a more formative end to his days as a bottom-six/press box lock.
In 24 games this season, Gregor has scored once and added only two assists while averaging 8:05 of ice time per game. He is averaging a career-low 1.13 hits per game and has been a significant drag on Florida’s possession game, controlling 46.0% of shot attempts at 5-on-5 despite starting nearly 60% of his shifts in the offensive end. It was abundantly clear he would be the next odd man out when the Cats needed a roster spot.
Rangers Recall Anton Blidh
The Rangers announced Sunday they’ve recalled winger Anton Blidh from AHL Hartford. They had an open roster spot after sending defenseman Connor Mackey down to Hartford yesterday.
Blidh, 30, has seen more roster moves in the past three weeks than he’s seen in the past couple of years. He was recalled from Hartford on New Year’s Day ahead of the Winter Classic amid a rash of injuries and remained up until being sent back to the AHL on Jan. 11.
Now, he finds himself on the NHL roster for the second time this season. He suited up twice for the Rangers earlier this month, his first NHL appearances since making his New York debut in January 2024. The veteran depth option has played almost exclusively in the AHL for Hartford since being acquired from the Avalanche in 2023 in a minor-league swap.
With four goals and 12 points in 87 career big-league appearances, the 6’1″ winger is little more than a fourth-line fill-in option. With the Rangers gearing up for a three-game California road trip, his recall only signals the club wants to carry a second extra forward for depth.
While he’s coming off a career-high 19 goals and 36 points in the minors last year, Blidh’s only managed a 3-4–7 scoring line in 32 games for Hartford in 2025-26.
Golden Knights Acquire Rasmus Andersson
The Golden Knights have acquired defenseman Rasmus Andersson from the Flames in a move now announced by both teams. In exchange, Calgary receives defenseman Zach Whitecloud, Vegas’ 2027 first-round pick, a conditional 2027 second-round pick, and the signing rights to University of North Dakota defender Abram Wiebe.
If the Golden Knights win the Stanley Cup this year, that 2027 second-rounder will upgrade to a 2028 first-round pick. Calgary is retaining 50% of Andersson’s $4.55MM cap hit in the deal, Friedman adds, bringing his impact down to just $2.275MM on Vegas’ books this season. Vegas’ 2027 first-rounder is also top-10 protected, Dreger notes.
It’s far from a stunning move. Andersson was first implicated in trade talks nearly two full calendar years ago. Ever since, Vegas has been one of the teams most consistently linked to the right-shot blue liner. That’s only ramped up since this past offseason, when reports indicated Nevada was the Swede’s preferred long-term destination and, naturally, would yield a larger return for Calgary because he’d be willing to sign an extension with the Knights. However, any extension won’t be registered today – David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports there’s no new contract in place at this time.
That means Andersson, 29, is still set to reach unrestricted free agency this summer as the top defenseman available – for now. He is in the final season of the six-year, $27.3MM extension he signed with Calgary in January 2020, coming off his entry-level contract. A second-round pick by the Flames in 2015, his tenure in Calgary ends with him seventh on the franchise defenseman leaderboard in games played (584), sixth in assists (204), and sixth in points (261).
Back in training camp, it looked like the Flames’ ongoing retool had removed any possibility of their top-four anchor remaining in Calgary. Captain Mikael Backlund said in August that Andersson didn’t want his future to be a “distraction” but that a trade was inevitable. Talk of separation softened after he reported to camp, with reports indicating he’d reopened extension talks. Over the past few days, though, it became clear the Flames had received the type of trade offers they wanted and would pull the trigger on a deal.
The other team that was in it to the wire – as late as this morning – was the Bruins. According to Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic, the Flames gave Andersson permission to discuss an extension with Boston, presumably upon which the deal was contingent. They weren’t able to come to an agreement on a contract, though, putting Vegas back in the driver’s seat despite the Golden Knights not being able to talk contract with Andersson’s camp prior to the deal. If Andersson’s long-reported interest in Vegas is true, though, they shouldn’t have much trouble coming to a resolution before July 1.
The Flames’ retool is only further accelerated by the move. They already owned Vegas’ first-round pick this year as a result of 2024’s Noah Hanifin trade, giving them four guaranteed first-rounders over the next two drafts. If the Knights take home the Cup, they’ll have six first-rounders in the next three years.
Those hopefully high-value draft choices are the principal point of the return for the Flames. Whitecloud’s inclusion in the deal primarily serves as cap management for Vegas, but also gives the Flames a stable veteran option to, in part, replace Andersson’s minutes as they try to avoid overloading their young blue line talent too early in their development.
Whitecloud, 29, signed with the Knights as an undrafted free agent out of Bemidji State in 2018 and has thus remained in the organization since its inaugural season. The 6’2″ 210-lb righty has posted some tough numbers this season but has 78 points and a +42 rating in 368 games for his career, serving as their staple third-pairing option on the right side behind Alex Pietrangelo and Shea Theodore for the past several seasons. With Pietrangelo injured, he’d been averaging 18:46 of ice time per game this season, nearly a career-high.
Wiebe, 22, isn’t without ceiling, either. The nephew of longtime Blackhawks defenseman Keith Brown was a seventh-round pick by Vegas in 2022 but has since gone on to put up some solid numbers with the Fighting Hawks. He’s now in his junior season, is an alternate captain, and has scored 48 points with a +13 rating in 102 games on North Dakota’s blue line. He owns a pro-ready 6’3″, 209-lb frame, giving him a legitimate shot at being a mobile piece near the bottom of Calgary’s lineup in the next few years.
For the Knights, acquiring Andersson means they’re back to their ethos of big in-season swings after taking last year off. Their acquisition of a high-end right-shot defender was a foregone conclusion ever since it was announced that Pietrangelo wouldn’t play this season, with his career likely over due to various lingering injuries.
They get a resurgent name in Andersson, who’ll be heading to the Olympics with Sweden. With 10 goals and 30 points in 48 games this season, he’s 20th in the league in scoring among defenders and immediately becomes the Knights’ leader in overall production from the blue line.
The question becomes how his defensive game will slot in on a Vegas club that’s been above-average in the possession department this year. He’s coming off a -38 rating last season and has posted negative relative Corsi shares at 5-on-5 in nine of his 10 NHL seasons, including this one. Might he be eating into the already sheltered offensive zone minutes that his now-reunited teammate Hanifin has been receiving?
Nonetheless, it’s nearly impossible to criticize the deal from Vegas’ perspective. They’ve already got a clear path to a deep playoff run through a weak Pacific Division but, with Pietrangelo gone and Theodore and Brayden McNabb missing significant time this year, have lacked the identity that their historically overloaded top-four group has provided. Now, that blue line power is back with Andersson, Hanifin, McNabb, and Theodore comprising one of the most experienced and dynamic groups in the league.
They also do so while actually increasing their cap space for this season. Whitecloud was signed through next season at a $2.75MM cap hit, so Vegas frees up nearly $500K in space with this deal.
Image courtesy of Brett Holmes-Imagn Images.
Darren Dreger of TSN was the first to report that Andersson was going to Vegas. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet was the first with the trade details.
Flames Ramping Up Rasmus Andersson Trade Talks
Jan. 17th: According to TSN’s Darren Dreger, Andersson’s market has been narrowed down to four teams: two in the Eastern Conference and two in the Western Conference. Dreger listed the Boston Bruins and Vegas Golden Knights as two of them, but didn’t specify the other two. Unless significant traction is made within the next few hours, Dreger expects Andersson to play for the Flames tonight.
Jan. 16th: It appears the Flames have finally received the type of offer they want to part ways with pending UFA defenseman Rasmus Andersson. Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports that “talks have intensified” in the last several days, and a deal could come by the end of the weekend.
Since Andersson’s name first hit the trade block in earnest last season, the Golden Knights and Stars have been the most frequently linked destinations. Little has changed to suggest those two wouldn’t be the favorites to both acquire and, particularly in Vegas’ case, extend him.
The Senators are also a team with documented interest in him over the last few weeks. They’d also had interest in him dating back to the offseason, but it was reported then that Ottawa is on his six-team no-trade list.
Once viewed as a potential long-term top-pair piece in Calgary, the team’s still relatively early positioning in their rebuild has made it hard to justify giving the 29-year-old a significant financial commitment. For his part, he’s rebounded well after a difficult 2024-25 campaign. Through 47 appearances, he’s churned out 10 goals and 29 points – just two shy of last year’s total already. His two-way game has also recovered from last year’s career-worst -38 rating, gelling well with shutdown partner Kevin Bahl and averaging a career-high 24:12 of ice time per game.
Among non-Dallas or Vegas suitors, the Maple Leafs will be near the top of the list. They made an attempt to acquire him last season and were linked to another puck-moving righty in the Devils’ Dougie Hamilton this week. Andersson, who checks in at a $4.55MM cap hit this year, is the far more financially viable option.
Canadiens Reassign Owen Beck, Jacob Fowler
The Canadiens announced they’ve loaned center Owen Beck and goaltender Jacob Fowler to AHL Laval. They’re now left with two open roster spots – one of which could go to LTIR-bound Kirby Dach as he nears a return from a foot fracture, Eric Engels of Sportsnet speculates.
Beck and Fowler have been up with the Habs for over a month. They were summoned on Dec. 10 as the Habs opted to further embrace the youth movement in the wake of injuries to Dach, Patrik Laine, and Alex Newhook, as well as a spell of underwhelming goaltending.
The 21-year-old Beck has now put up back-to-back seasons with good defensive play in a fourth-line role during a double-digit games played window. In 15 contests this season, he’s only scored once – his first NHL goal – but has a +4 rating while controlling 52.0% of shot attempts at even strength. He’s averaging 9:11 of ice time per game and, after going 44-for-75 on draws, he’s the best faceoff-taker on the Habs with a 58.7% win rate.
All those points point toward Beck establishing his floor as a bottom-six defensive stalwart sooner rather than later. Selected 33rd overall in the 2022 draft, the 6’0″ pivot was viewed by many as potentially the best defensive-minded forward available in the class, although concerns abounded about his offensive upside.
So far, both of those statements appear to be on track. He had a promising showing on the scoresheet as a rookie in Laval last year with 44 points in 64 games. This season, though, he’s lit the lamp just three times in 22 AHL games with 11 total points.
Beck had been a healthy scratch in two straight games anyway to make way for Josh Anderson to get back into the lineup after an upper-body injury. Regardless of Dach’s status, it made sense for the Habs to get Beck more consistent reps in Laval instead of sitting in the press box in Montreal.
Fowler’s demotion means Montreal’s three-goalie rotation is coming to an end, at least for now. They have a light schedule for the rest of the month, and with his next “scheduled” start for the Habs not until next Thursday – assuming they continue to stick religiously to the rotation – it would make sense for him to get a game in Laval in the interim.
It’s hard to imagine Fowler’s demotion carrying any sort of permanence for a team in the playoff race. Through his first 10 NHL starts, the 21-year-old has clearly shown why he’s the organization’s top goalie prospect and one of the highest-ceiling netminders in the league.
His .902 SV% and 2.62 GAA are better than his counterparts, Jakub Dobes and Sam Montembeault, by significant margins, even if his 4-4-2 record doesn’t jump off the page. He’s recorded the team’s only shutout this season – a 31-save performance against the Penguins before Christmas – and leads them with 1.8 goals saved above expected, per MoneyPuck.
Kraken Activate Brandon Montour
The Kraken announced Thursday that they activated defenseman Brandon Montour from injured reserve. To open a roster spot, they reassigned forward Jacob Melanson to AHL Coachella Valley.
It’s an ahead-of-schedule return for the puck-mover, who underwent hand surgery shortly before Christmas. He was initially expected to miss at least four weeks, but returns with several days to spare.
Last year, Montour led Seattle’s defense with 41 points in 82 games after cashing in with the Kraken on a seven-year, $50MM deal in free agency. He’s been overtaken again now by Vince Dunn, but is still having a reasonably productive year with six goals and 16 points in 27 outings. He’s averaging 21:56 of ice time per game and is having a great year in the possession department, leading Seattle rearguards with a 51.3 CF%.
That possession control makes Montour an increasingly important factor on a Seattle team that is abysmal at generating quality scoring chances but has been propped up by semi-sound defense and elite goaltending. They control just 41.4% of high-danger chances at 5-on-5, but have nevertheless cashed in on them by a score of 31-24.
Melanson had seen consistent ice time as of late, temporarily leapfrogging Tye Kartye on the depth chart, but his waiver-exempt status made him the logical odd man out. After making a one-game NHL debut last year, he’s scored a goal and four points in 15 games this time around. The 22-year-old was a fifth-round pick in 2021 and has 14 points in 23 AHL games.
Sabres Recall Konsta Helenius, Place Joshua Dunne On IR
The Sabres have recalled top forward prospect Konsta Helenius from AHL Rochester, according to Rachel Lenzi of The Buffalo News. He could make his NHL debut tonight in Montreal. In a corresponding move, Joshua Dunne was moved to injured reserve with the mid-body issue that’s expected to keep him out for four to six weeks.
Helenius may be entering the lineup as Joshua Norris exits it. Buffalo’s oft-injured pivot left yesterday’s win over the Flyers with an upper-body injury and is day-to-day, head coach Lindy Ruff said.
Selected No. 14 overall in 2024, Helenius is the latest in a years-long slate of high-drafted Sabres forwards to get his first NHL look. The selection was nearly universally lauded at the time. Most had him touted as a top-10 selection after he rattled off 36 points in 51 games for Jukurit in Liiga, Finland’s top professional league, as a 17-year-old.
Helenius took an unusual path, immediately signing his entry-level contract with Buffalo and reporting to Rochester last season at age 18. First-round picks out of Europe are permitted to do so, but teams and players usually opt to give their prospects a bit more runway in a familiar overseas environment before bringing them to the NHL or AHL.
He didn’t blow the doors off in Rochester last year, but in year two of his North American professional career, concerns over his offensive ceiling have quieted. A two-way center first and foremost, he’s now Rochester’s second-leading scorer with a 9-21–30 line in 34 games.
Given he’s within spitting distance of a point per game in the minors as a teenager, he’s more than deserving of at least a brief NHL trial. He entered the season as the organization’s No. 1 prospect, per NHL.com, a billing he’s lived up to so far.
While injuries have continued to plague Norris, limiting him to 19 appearances this year, he’s played the best hockey of his career when he’s been dressed. He’s been as natural a fit as hoped in Buffalo’s top six and has six goals and 17 points in 19 games, placing second on the team at 0.89 per game. That would also stand as a career-high for the 26-year-old and is his best per-game production in four years.
Golden Knights Activate Adin Hill, Place Two On IR
The Golden Knights activated goaltender Adin Hill from long-term injured reserve on Thursday, per Jason R. Pothier and Ken Boehlke of Sin Bin Vegas. Netminder Carter Hart and winger Brandon Saad were placed on IR in corresponding moves, leaving the Knights with an open roster spot. They announced they’ve used that spot to recall forward Tanner Laczynski from AHL Henderson. With William Karlsson still on LTIR alongside Alex Pietrangelo on season-ending LTIR, Vegas remains cap-compliant.
Hill is expected to start tonight against the Maple Leafs, his first appearance in nearly three months. The 29-year-old has made just five starts this season and none since Oct. 20, when he sustained a lower-body injury in the first period against the Hurricanes.
It was an inauspicious start to the first season of Hill’s six-year, $37.5MM extension that he signed last March. Before exiting the lineup, he started the season on a cold run with a 1-0-2 record, .888 SV%, and 2.73 GAA. He allowed one goal above expected in 220 total minutes of action, per MoneyPuck.
Hart was signed in part due to concern over how much time Hill would miss. That experiment has been an early failure. Hart’s .871 SV% in 12 starts is the worst figure among the four netminders to suit up for Vegas this season. Among goaltenders with at least 10 appearances, only Leevi Merilainen and Petr Mrazek have allowed more goals above expected on a per-60-minute basis than Hart at 0.837.
Now, Vegas gets its true No. 1 back in the lineup. Akira Schmid has operated as the club’s de facto starter with a team-high 24 appearances and has provided great value for his $875K cap hit, logging a .896 SV% and 2.47 GAA with two shutouts and a 14-4-5 record. His 2.0 GSAx is first in Vegas and 34th in the league overall.
His rocky start aside, though, Hill is clearly the better long-term option. He’s never finished a season below .900 aside from a four-game run with the Coyotes in 2017-18 to open his NHL career. For a streaking Vegas team that’s struggled to get consistently above-average goaltending this season, his return could be an X-factor in them widening their lead in the Pacific Division.
Hart has already missed three games with a lower-body injury he sustained one week ago against the Blue Jackets. Since seven days have passed since his injury, he’s eligible to come off IR at any time. However, since he was administered a week-to-week designation last weekend, that won’t be coming anytime soon.
Saad is in the same boat in terms of his activation eligibility, sustaining an undisclosed injury in the Columbus game. He remains day-to-day and will presumably be an option sooner than Hart will. It’s been a trying season for the 33-year-old, who’s shooting at just 3.1% and has been limited to a 2-5–7 scoring line in 39 games with a -1 rating.
Laczynski’s recall comes as Vegas opens the roster flexibility to give itself injury insurance at forward. In addition to the injured Saad taking up a spot on the active roster for the last few games, Brett Howden has missed two contests with a lower-body injury and isn’t expected to be available against Toronto tonight, either.
It would be Laczynski’s season debut if he enters the lineup against the Leafs. The 28-year-old depth option was recalled once from Henderson in November but didn’t play. Now in his second year in the Knights organization, he suited up eight times last season and scored once while averaging 8:36 of ice time per game.
The 6’1″, 205-lb pivot has been the Knights’ most consistent minor-league producer since signing a two-year, league-minimum deal in 2024. After racking up 37 points in 41 appearances for Henderson last year to lead the team in scoring despite only playing in 57% of their games, he’s upped his production to 13 goals and 35 points in 32 games this season, along with a team-high +22 rating. He’s the biggest reason why the Silver Knights are tracking for their first season above .500 since 2021-22.
Image courtesy of Nick Wosika-Imagn Images.
Maple Leafs Assign Dakota Mermis On Conditioning Loan
The Maple Leafs announced they’ve assigned defenseman Dakota Mermis to AHL Toronto on a conditioning loan. Since he is on long-term injured reserve, his conditioning stint is subject to added restrictions – he can only remain in the minors for up to three games or six days, whichever comes first, until they must activate him and/or place him on waivers.
Mermis has been rehabbing a lower-body injury for just over a month. The veteran depth option last played on Dec. 8 against the Lightning. While it was only ever publicly reported he was on standard IR, the team’s announcement implies they shifted him to LTIR at some point in the last few weeks for added breathing room under the salary cap.
Mermis, fresh off his 32nd birthday, is in his second season as a Leaf. He spent most of last year in the minors with the Marlies, aside from a few brief call-ups to Toronto and a short stint in Utah after getting claimed off waivers and subsequently being re-claimed by the Leafs. This season, though, he’s gotten into 11 contests for the Leafs amid their earlier rash of blue line injuries. It’s the second-most action the career minor-league option has seen aside from his career-high 47 games with the Wild two years ago.
The 6’0″ lefty has one goal with a -3 rating while averaging 13:02 per game. He’s generally been a net positive possession player in his short looks in the Leafs lineup, and with 554 games of NHL and AHL experience, there’s legitimate value in Mermis as a plug-and-play option.
While Chris Tanev remains on the shelf, Brandon Carlo‘s return from injury and Troy Stecher‘s inclusion in the lineup makes it likelier than not he’ll end up on waivers when his conditioning stint ends this weekend. He might also be kept around as an eighth defenseman while Matt Benning hits the wire, though.
Avalanche Recall Ivan Ivan
Jan. 12: The yo-yo continues for Ivan, who’s been added to the Avs’ roster once again ahead of tonight’s game against the Maple Leafs. He’s eligible for such a quick recall because he suited up for the Eagles on the 9th and 10th – playing three games in three nights across the NHL and AHL. Appearing tonight would make it four games in five days.
Jan. 9: The Avalanche announced they returned Ivan to the AHL following last night’s drubbing of the Senators. Ivan had a +1 rating in the win while skating 9:37 of ice time. A different name will likely be elevated tomorrow before their game against the Blue Jackets.
Jan. 8: The Avalanche announced they’ve recalled forward Ivan Ivan from the AHL’s Colorado Eagles. They were operating with an open roster spot after sending Taylor Makar down yesterday, so no corresponding move is required.
Colorado has shown a tendency to frequently rotate depth forward options on the roster when needing to dip into its minor-league depth to address injuries. With Gabriel Landeskog and Joel Kiviranta now sidelined, that hasn’t changed.
Ivan, 23, gets his second recall of the season and will presumably draw into the lineup tonight against the Senators as the fourth-line left wing. Makar had skated in that role alongside Zakhar Bardakov and Parker Kelly in two of the last three games.
The 6’0″, 190-lb Ivan made three appearances for the Avs near the end of November, scoring one assist with a +1 rating while averaging 8:19 of ice time per game. Initially an undrafted free agent signing by the Eagles out of the QMJHL’s Cape Breton Eagles in 2023, he quickly worked his way up toward landing an NHL contract and being a frequently relied-upon call-up option. He made 40 appearances for the Avs as a rookie last year, notching five goals and eight points.
While the Czech native stood out as a rookie with the Eagles in 2023-24, he hasn’t been able to recapture that offensive success in the minors. He went from a 12-19–31 scoring line in 67 games as a first-year pro to churning out just four goals and 20 points in 64 AHL games since the beginning of last year.
Ivan’s always profiled as more of a penalty-killing forward with good playmaking skills, though, so the lack of goal-scoring isn’t entirely unexpected. Nonetheless, for a talent who twice hit a point per game in high-level junior hockey, he’ll be looking for more production as the season rolls on.