Lightning Recall Brandon Halverson
The Lightning announced today that they’ve recalled goaltender Brandon Halverson from AHL Syracuse. It’s likely he’ll back up Andrei Vasilevskiy for tonight’s regular-season finale against the Rangers, per Erik Erlendsson of Lightning Insider.
Tampa Bay was forced to dress emergency backup Kyle Konin for Monday’s overtime win over the Red Wings. Jonas Johansson was a late scratch due to an undisclosed injury. He’s yet to practice since and isn’t on the ice this morning, so he’ll be missing a second straight game tonight. It’s not yet clear if his availability to back up Vasilevskiy for Game 1 of the first round against the Canadiens this weekend is in question.
Halverson has emerged as the Lightning’s clear-cut third-stringer over the past two seasons. The 30-year-old was once a fairly highly-touted prospect, going to the Rangers in the second round of the 2014 draft, but he only made one relief appearance for them in the 2017-18 campaign before being non-tendered a year later. After nearly retiring from hockey following the 2021 season and restarting his career the following season in Germany’s second division, he signed a series of minor-league deals in Tampa’s system that culminated in him receiving a two-year, two-way NHL contract midway through last season.
He hasn’t played a ton for the Bolts, though, and his numbers are poor when he has. He made one start last season, allowing five goals on 24 shots for a .792 SV%, and made one six-second relief appearance earlier this year while Johansson was dealing with an equipment issue against the Islanders back on Dec. 13.
For Syracuse, though, he’s been a good starting option. Since joining the organization in 2023-24, Halverson has amassed a .911 SV%, 2.29 GAA, 12 shutouts, and a 53-25-24 record in 99 games. That includes a .906 mark in 42 outings this season on the heels of an All-Star nod last year.
Halverson is a pending unrestricted free agent. His AHL backup, Ryan Fanti, is also under team control with the Bolts and has put up comparable numbers this season. 2024 seventh-round pick Harrison Meneghin is their other goalie under contract, a first-year pro who’s struggled in his ECHL minutes this year. There will still be a place for Halverson as a third-string option next season, so unless they’ve identified an open-market candidate they prefer, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Bolts extend Halverson before July.
Stars Expect Miro Heiskanen Back For Game 1, Roope Hintz Questionable For First Round
The Stars have received a mixed bag of injury news over the last several hours. In an interview with The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun published this morning, general manager Jim Nill said the results of star defenseman Miro Heiskanen‘s recent imaging indicate he should be available this weekend as the puck drops on Game 1 of their first-round series against the Wild. On the flip side, head coach Glen Gulutzan said yesterday that they’ve ruled out center Roope Hintz for Games 1 and 2 and still aren’t sure if he’ll be an option in the first round at all (via Robert Tiffin of D Magazine).
Heiskanen has missed Dallas’ last two games with a lower-body injury. He left their game against the Wild on April 9 in the first period after falling awkwardly on his leg following a check from Minnesota’s Ryan Hartman. Nill said last weekend that he needed an MRI to complete his evaluation, and he was quickly ruled out for the Stars’ remaining regular-season schedule, including tonight’s finale against the Sabres. That’s of zero consequence with Dallas locked into the second seed in the Central, though.
No further missed time results in a huge sigh of relief from the entire state of Texas. There’s a strong case to be made for Heiskanen as the Stars’ most valuable player this season. After they managed to eke out a first-round win without him last year, he’s had one of the better offensive performances of his career with a 9-54–63 scoring line in 77 games while averaging 25:28 of ice time per contest with a career-high 132 blocks. But behind him, he doesn’t have the depth of support he’s had in recent years. Esa Lindell remains a shutdown extraordinaire with his +30 rating, but Thomas Harley has taken a considerable step back in both zones from last year, while Tyler Myers has had universally negative possession impacts since his acquisition from the Canucks at the trade deadline.
In the league’s most taxing first-round matchup, the Stars’ missing Heiskanen against a fully healthy Minnesota offense could have been the difference. Hintz, while still a relative household name, is a more stomachable loss given Dallas’ scoring depth. He’s played just once since the Olympic break. He dealt with an illness upon his return from representing Team Finland and then sustained a lower-body injury in his first game back that’s kept him out since the trade deadline. Still listed as week-to-week, it stands to reason he should be a second-round option if Dallas makes it there.
Hintz missed some time earlier in the year, too, with an undisclosed issue, so his regular season ends with only 53 appearances – 65% of the Stars’ schedule. One of the league’s better two-way middlemen, his 15-29–44 scoring line gave him a 0.83 points per game rate that’s right around his career average. He’s no longer the goal-scoring threat he displayed when he rattled off three straight 30-goal campaigns from 2021-24, in part due to an unusually low (for him) 11.9% shooting rate this year. He’s had a career year in the faceoff department, though, winning 59.1% of his draws.
He’s now the Stars’ #2 center in terms of production and ice time behind Wyatt Johnston, though. They’re also 18-6-4 without Hintz in the lineup this year for a .714 points percentage, better than their .660 mark with him dressed. It’s worth noting there’s a significant drop-off in their goal-scoring without him, though. Dallas has averaged 3.43 goals per game with Hintz dressed and only 3.14 without him.
At least for their first set of home games, Matt Duchene will stay down the middle in Hintz’s usual second-line slot between Jason Robertson and Mavrik Bourque. With Hintz healthy, Gulutzan has usually opted to deploy Duchene as quite the high-powered third-line option with Jamie Benn and Sam Steel. Being able to elevate Duchene into that second-line slot with his 45 points in 56 games is a testament to their wealth of scoring depth, though.
Image courtesy of Jerome Miron-Imagn Images.
Penguins Recall Rafael Harvey-Pinard
The Penguins have recalled winger Rafael Harvey-Pinard from AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, per a team announcement. He’s in line to make his Pittsburgh debut tonight in their regular season finale against the Blues, while the Pens will sit virtually their entire top six to get them some extra rest ahead of their first round playoff matchup with the Flyers.
Harvey-Pinard landed a two-way deal with the Penguins at the beginning of free agency last summer. He cleared waivers during training camp and, aside from a brief recall in January that didn’t result in any playing time, has spent the entire season on assignment to the Baby Pens. The 5’9″ energy winger has produced 19 goals and 17 assists for 36 points in 64 games, along with a strong +18 rating.
That’s not the peak production Harvey-Pinard has flashed in the past. A seventh-round pick by the Canadiens in 2019, he managed 21 goals and 56 points in 69 AHL outings back in 2021-22. That preceded Harvey-Pinard getting an extended NHL look the following season – mostly in a top-line role, too, in the wake of a Cole Caufield shoulder injury – in which he had 14 goals and 20 points in only 34 games.
Now 27, that seems to be where Harvey-Pinard peaked. He’s dealt with various injuries since then and only managed a 2-8–10 scoring line in 45 games the following year before falling out of the NHL rotation entirely in 2024-25. After finishing out the back half of a two-year, $2.2MM contract in Laval, it was no surprise to see Montreal let him walk with a non-tender to unrestricted free agency.
Harvey-Pinard likely needed more than what he’s produced this season to climb back into NHL consideration at Pittsburgh’s or someone else’s training camp in the fall. He’s done well enough to earn a two-way deal somewhere else, though. If he’s not interested in another one, there should be some interest from European clubs this summer as well.
Flames Recall Rory Kerins
The Flames announced Tuesday that they’ve recalled forward Rory Kerins from AHL Calgary. In doing so, they’ve used up the last of the five standard recalls available after the trade deadline, so they won’t be able to make any non-emergency moves before Thursday’s season finale against the Kings. Kerins will be an option to dress tonight against the Avalanche, though.
Kerins has seven NHL games to his name, all coming over the last two seasons. He got a brief recall back in November, during which he suited up in back-to-back games, so he won’t be making his season debut if he plays. The 2020 sixth-rounder got off to a hot start last year, rattling off four assists and a +3 rating through his first five NHL games before being returned to the minors. He didn’t get on the scoresheet in either appearance earlier this season.
The 24-year-old has worked his way up the organization’s depth chart on the heels of some spectacular minor-league offensive performances. As a first-year pro in 2022-23, he was one point shy of a point per game for ECHL Rapid City. He’s now held a full-time AHL role for the past three years and has a lifetime 72-77–149 scoring line in 182 games. That includes a 33-goal, 61-point showing in 63 games last year and another 22 goals and 54 points in 55 games this season.
The 5’11’, 190-lb center has some defensive flaws, though, that have kept him from progressing further into more NHL roles. That, plus the fact he projects as more of a winger at the NHL level, where the Flames are deeper, creates a numbers game that doesn’t fall in his favor when put up against younger, higher draft pedigree names like Matvei Gridin, Samuel Honzek, and Brennan Othmann.
Kerins did pass through waivers unclaimed at the beginning of this season, so that also likely won’t be much of a concern for Calgary moving forward. A pending restricted free agent, they face a choice of whether to qualify him in June, extend him before then, or let him walk to open up a contract slot. His qualifying offer is only a two-way deal with a cap hit of $813,750, so they certainly won’t balk financially at sending that his way.
Maple Leafs Sign Landon Sim To Entry-Level Deal
The Maple Leafs have signed forward Landon Sim to a two-year, entry-level contract that begins next season, per a team announcement. The Nova Scotia native had been with AHL Toronto this season on a minor-league deal.
Sim, 21, was a sixth-round pick by the Blues in 2022, but they opted not to sign him, and he became a free agent two years later. After not being picked up again in the draft and heading back to junior hockey for an overage season with the OHL’s London Knights, he landed a one-year commitment from the Marlies for 2025-26 along with a training camp invite from the Leafs.
The son of former NHL journeyman Jon Sim displayed some offensive upside in juniors – he had a 30-goal season for the Knights en route to their Memorial Cup win in 2025. It’s his physicality and willingness to drop the gloves, despite his 5’11”, 187-lb frame, that have made him an attractive depth candidate in Toronto, though. He only logged three goals in 13 AHL contests this season and added two goals and six points in 18 games for ECHL Cincinnati. Across the two leagues, he racked up 75 penalty minutes in 31 outings.
Sim is a long shot to ever be a regular NHL contributor, but there’s no harm in acquiring his NHL rights with another six years of team control remaining. He won’t be a real candidate for a roster spot in the fall, but could be a call-up option if the Leafs want to dress an enforcer for a game or two. He’ll be a restricted free agent in 2028 and gives Toronto 33 of the maximum 50 standard contracts on the books for next season.
Blues Reassign Theo Lindstein, Otto Stenberg
The Blues reassigned defenseman Theo Lindstein and forward Otto Stenberg to AHL Springfield on Tuesday, per a team release. Both youngsters had been up for the last several weeks to aid in St. Louis’ playoff push, but after the Ducks and Kings locked up the final Western Conference playoff berths last night, they’ll be returned to Springfield to aid in another push for a berth. With three games remaining in the regular season, Springfield has a two-point lead over Lehigh Valley for the cutoff line in the AHL’s Atlantic Division.
With only two games remaining on the Blues’ regular-season schedule, Lindstein and Stenberg won’t be missing much. The 2023 first-rounders were selected just four spots apart at 29th and 25th overall, respectively, and their paths have largely been congruent. Both Swedes made their initial NHL arrivals this season.
Lindstein didn’t get as long a leash as his more offensively inclined counterpart. While Stenberg saw a few call-ups throughout the year, Lindstein didn’t get his first and only one until shortly after the trade deadline. Since his summons on March 9, though, he’s played in 17 straight for the Blues and hasn’t looked out of place. The left-shot puck-mover recorded a pair of goals and assists for four points along with a +6 rating while averaging 15:46 per game. Riding shotgun with Colton Parayko on the second pairing, there were legitimately strong possession impacts underlying those stats. Lindstein’s 52.5% Corsi share and 54.9% shot share at 5-on-5 are both the best marks of any Blues defenseman this season.
His minor-league stat line isn’t nearly as impressive. The Blues’ development plan for the 6’0″, 197-lb Lindstein likely meant they were going to give him an NHL look at some point this year, no matter what, but he was limited to 16 points and a team-worst -24 rating in 56 games with Springfield before his recall. Given that, they’ll be watching what Lindstein does closely down the stretch. If nothing else, the excellent chemistry he showed with Parayko over the last month should give him the inside track toward a roster spot in training camp, assuming the Blues continue a slower-paced retool and don’t load up on defenders in free agency.
Stenberg will almost certainly be with the Blues next October, though. A cerebral two-way piece not unlike his blue line counterpart, he’s a natural center but has skated mostly on the wing thus far in his NHL minutes. That hasn’t stopped him from producing three goals and seven assists for 10 points through his first 32 games, tacking on a +3 rating and 49 hits while averaging 13:37 of ice time per night.
Stenberg has seen some fringe penalty kill usage, just north of a minute per game, in which he grades out well. The 20-year-old needs to shoot more – he averaged a tick under one shot on goal per game – to boost his point totals. His all-around numbers, though, indicate a player well on track to hit his floor of being a responsible bottom-six piece. The Blues controlled 46.8% of shot attempts with him on the ice at 5-on-5. That’s a respectable figure considering he only started 42% of his shifts in the offensive zone.
Islanders Assign Semyon Varlamov On LTIR Conditioning Stint
The Islanders announced Tuesday that they’ve sent goaltender Semyon Varlamov to AHL Bridgeport on a long-term injury conditioning loan. If he dresses, it will be his first appearance of any kind in well over a year.
Varlamov’s last NHL appearance came on Nov. 29, 2024, in an overtime loss to the Capitals. A few days later, he was listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury. That quickly spiraled into full-on knee replacement surgery within a few weeks, preventing him from returning to the crease for game action despite multiple attempts to return to practice that have been stopped and restarted. Even over last offseason, the team was insistent he’d be ready for training camp until he wasn’t. They were largely quiet on Varlamov’s status throughout the season until general manager Mathieu Darche eventually ruled him out for the season after the trade deadline.
With so much missed time and now two knee replacement surgeries in the last two years, most had begun to assume Varlamov’s NHL career was over. That may still be the case for the 2014 Vezina Trophy finalist, but it appears he’ll be getting at least one regular-season start in Bridgeport in order to gauge how he feels heading into the final season of his contract in 2026-27, carrying a $2.75MM cap hit.
There is a universe in which the 37-year-old, if he’s finally cleared the necessary hurdles in his recovery, can return to being Ilya Sorokin‘s backup next season. That duo has defined the Islanders’ crease for the better part of the decade, with Varlamov initially landing on Long Island in free agency back in 2019 and Sorokin arriving from Russia less than two years later. Varlamov had been a legitimately exceptional tandem/backup option for New York up until his 10-game run to begin the 2024-25 campaign, posting a .889 SV% and 2.89 GAA with a 3-4-3 record before going under the knife.
Of Varlamov’s 17 NHL seasons, six have been spent on Long Island. Arguably one of the more successful open-market pickups in franchise history, he never started more than 40 games in a season but has amassed a .916 SV%, 2.57 GAA, 16 shutouts, and a 76-63-21 record in 173 appearances in blue and orange. He was the team’s primary option between the pipes in their back-to-back runs to the Eastern Conference Final in 2021 before Sorokin assumed true #1 duties the following season.
Varlamov was a first-round pick by the Capitals, 23rd overall, way back in 2006. His last minor-league action coincided with his final season in Washington, suiting up a few times for the Hershey Bears in November 2010 on a conditioning stint following a groin injury. That nearly 16-year gap will be up there with the longest in AHL history, but still won’t sniff Claude Lemieux‘s two-plus-decade space between games.
Predators Reassign Jordan Oesterle
April 12: This afternoon Nashville reassigned Oesterle to AHL Milwaukee, shared in a press release. The veteran skated in one game, last Thursday at Utah, playing just over 14 minutes and finishing a -1. His Predators fell 4-1 as a significant blow to their playoff hopes. Oesterle was then scratched yesterday in the club’s win over Minnesota, as they went with 22-year-old rookie righty Ryan Ufko instead.
In all likelihood the Mammoth contest will be Oesterle’s only NHL action of the 2025-26 campaign, a real shift after his tenure as a full-timer in the league from 2017-23. A free agent at season’s end, and opportunities with the Predators clearly limited, he’s presumably putting his final touches on his time with the organization this month.
April 6: The Predators recalled veteran defenseman Jordan Oesterle from the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals on Monday, per a team announcement. He comes up to give Nashville a seventh healthy defenseman after lefty Nicolas Hague left Saturday’s 6-3 win over the Sharks with an undisclosed injury in the first period and did not return. As such, Hague is doubtful for tonight’s contest against the Kings, although how much time he’ll miss beyond that is unknown.
Nashville acquired Oesterle off waivers from the Bruins at last season’s trade deadline amid a rash of season-ending injuries to Roman Josi, Jeremy Lauzon, and Adam Wilsby. The 33-year-old was a fine depth fill-in, posting three goals and an assist with a -3 rating in 15 games. Since he’d signed a two-year, two-way deal with Boston the prior offseason, he remained under contract with the Preds heading into training camp. With Hague’s acquisition from the Golden Knights and Nicklaus Perbix‘s pickup in free agency, Oesterle was in a wide competition for a spot as the Preds’ healthy extra but ultimately ended up on waivers midway through training camp.
Unlike last season, Oesterle cleared. He’s been in Milwaukee ever since, where the veteran of 408 NHL games leads the team with 46 points in 65 games. That includes an 11-point run in his last seven games.
On the heels of that strong minor-league performance, he’ll get a late-season reward for his play heading into free agency this summer. Nashville lost a high-quality depth option when they sent Nick Blankenburg to the Avalanche at the deadline, so it’ll either be Oesterle or rookie Ryan Ufko entering the lineup for Hague tonight. If they want to keep their two-lefty top pair of Josi and Brady Skjei together, it’ll likely be Oesterle stepping in to ensure there’s a left-shot option on the second and third pairings as well. Neither is a great stylistic fit to replace the imposing Hague.
If Oesterle draws in, his first NHL game in nearly a calendar year couldn’t come with higher stakes. Nashville’s playoff hopes face a 40 percent swing depending on the result of tonight’s game against Los Angeles. They currently sit in the second wild-card slot with a 34.6% chance of hanging onto it and securing an improbable playoff berth, but that number could rise to 55.6% with a regulation win and drop to just 17.2% with a regulation loss, per MoneyPuck. The Preds and Kings both have 81 points through 76 games, but Nashville has already clinched the tiebreaker with 26 regulation wins compared to L.A.’s 19.
Bruins Recall Lukas Reichel
4/11: One day later, the Bruins have reversed Reichel’s assignment, recalling him back to the NHL roster ahead of Sunday’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets. He will offer another forward option should Boston decide not to ice Hagens.
4/10: The Bruins assigned forward Lukas Reichel to AHL Providence on Friday, per a team announcement. It’s not expected to be a long-term demotion, though, Ty Anderson of 98.5 The Sports Hub relays. He’ll get into action for Providence tonight before being added back to the roster as early as Saturday.
That makes sense considering he’s sat out of two of Boston’s last three games. While head coach Marco Sturm confirmed new rookie addition James Hagens will be a healthy scratch tomorrow morning against the Lightning, his inclusion on the roster only makes NHL playing time for Reichel a tougher battle to fight.
Boston acquired Reichel, the 17th overall pick in 2020, from the Canucks at the trade deadline for a sixth-round pick. Vancouver had acquired the struggling 23-year-old from the Blackhawks just a few months prior for a fourth.
At the time of the trade, he was on an AHL assignment after clearing waivers, so he reported to Providence to begin his B’s tenure. The German sharpshooter looked like a natural there, racking up a goal and four assists through his first three games.
That earned him a quick recall to Boston. Since then, he’s averaged 12:53 of ice time across nine contests, scoring once and adding a pair of assists.
Reichel’s physicality remains a non-factor, but his possession impacts, an area of concern throughout his career in Chicago and still through his pit stop in Vancouver this year, have seen improvement in a small sample. Boston has controlled 53.0% of shot attempts with Reichel on the ice at 5-on-5 despite him receiving the least defensively sheltered usage of his career.
That’s mostly due to Reichel being able to effectively gel on a high-event third line with Elias Lindholm and Morgan Geekie. They gave up considerable quality defensively in their nine games together but were able to produce enough quality chances to offset, controlling 52.2% of expected goals and outscoring opponents 6-2, per MoneyPuck.
If Reichel can keep up that level of play, there are worse options to toss into that position in the playoffs if a need arises. With Geekie and Lindholm now being bumped up the lineup to skate with David Pastrňák, though, there’s less of a fit for Reichel in the lineup with less two-way support available for him in the middle six.
Reichel is a pending restricted free agent with arbitration rights. His inability to hold down a full-time NHL job this season makes it unlikely that the Bruins will risk themselves getting roped into an award, nor will they likely be willing to extend him the $1.3MM qualifying offer he’s owed. While a strong non-tender candidate, Boston could look to bring him back on a cheaper deal if both sides have liked the fit thus far.
Mammoth Assign Kevin Rooney To AHL
April 11: The Mammoth announced that Rooney was returned to the Roadrunners. Despite being up for a little more than a week, he didn’t get into any games, keeping his total this season at one.
April 3: The Mammoth recalled center Kevin Rooney from AHL Tucson on Friday, per a team announcement.
His addition to the roster comes after fellow middleman Jack McBain left Thursday night’s 6-2 win over the Kraken in the second period with a lower-body injury. It wasn’t clear what caused the departure, and the team hasn’t issued an update on his status yet. They likely won’t until they hold their morning skate before tomorrow’s clash with the Canucks.
In any event, Utah is guaranteed at least 13 healthy forwards this weekend if McBain has to miss time. Adding Rooney to the mix allows them to insert a natural center into the lineup in his place, rather than shifting anyone from the wing. Enforcer Liam O’Brien was their lone healthy scratch up front last night, and Alexander Kerfoot is their only regular winger with tangible experience down the middle who could shift over.
Utah has recalled Rooney several times this season; this is now his sixth distinct recall. He’s cleared waivers twice during that time but has rarely been needed in the lineup, only dressing once back on Nov. 28 against the Stars, scoring a goal in his Mammoth debut. That may change now with their specific need for centermen – Barrett Hayton has also been sidelined for the last three games with an upper-body injury and is week-to-week.
Rooney, a veteran of 331 NHL games over parts of 10 seasons, landed a two-way deal with Utah at the beginning of the regular season after being released from his professional tryout with the Devils. The 32-year-old has been a shrewd pickup for Tucson, posting 12 goals and 23 points through 43 games. A grinder, he was never that much of an offensive centerpiece in his previous minor-league stints.