Headlines

Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Utah Claims Dakota Mermis Off Waivers From Maple Leafs

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Utah Hockey Club has added some veteran defensive depth in the form of Dakota Mermis, plucking him off the waiver wire from the Maple Leafs, per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. The Leafs’ other waiver placement yesterday, winger Alexander Nylander, passed through unclaimed and was immediately assigned to AHL Toronto, allowing them to activate defenseman Jake McCabe from injured reserve, according to a team announcement.

Utah has been in need of extra bodies on defense seemingly all season long after John Marino sustained a lower-back injury in preseason and Sean Durzi hurt his shoulder just four games into the campaign. Other names, such as Maveric Lamoureux and Robert Bortuzzo, have landed on the shelf in recent days, leading Utah to reach deep into its minor-league depth. Just yesterday, they recalled Kevin Connauton from AHL Tucson – a 34-year-old lefty who last saw NHL ice in the 2021-22 campaign.

Mermis isn’t a gigantic upgrade over internal options like Connauton, but he does have more recent NHL experience. The 30-year-old skated in a career-high 47 games with the Wild last season, posting eight points, a -2 rating, 33 PIMs, and 45 hits while averaging 14:05 per game. He inked a one-way contract with the Maple Leafs over the summer but sustained a jaw injury in training camp. He returned to action on a conditioning loan with their AHL affiliate over the past couple weeks, posting an assist in three outings, and had landed on waivers to continue his tenure in the minors after the two-week limit on his conditioning stint ran out.

Utah had 22 players on the active roster before making the claim for Mermis, so they won’t need to make a corresponding transaction.

Oilers Place Travis Dermott On Waivers

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Oilers have placed defenseman Travis Dermott on waivers and will assign him to AHL Bakersfield if he clears, per a club announcement Thursday.

A second-round pick of the Maple Leafs back in 2015, Dermott became an unrestricted free agent last summer after additional stops with the Canucks and Coyotes in the past few seasons. After posting seven points and a -14 rating in 50 appearances in Arizona last season, though, there wasn’t notable interest on the open market, and he had to wait until late in the summer to ink a tryout agreement with Edmonton. He was at least able to parlay a strong training camp into a contract, inking a two-way deal ($775K/$500K) on the opening day of the regular season.

While he played in the Oilers’ first three games of the season, he’s failed to establish himself as a regular in the lineup. He has no points and a -3 rating in 10 appearances this season and has been a scratch in eight straight outings dating back to Nov. 19. After the Oilers claimed the younger Alec Regula off waivers from the Bruins yesterday, it was apparent that Dermott’s job as the No. 7 option on Edmonton’s back end might be in jeopardy.

As a player on a two-way deal without a deal past this season, there might be some interest in Dermott’s 339 games of NHL experience on the waiver wire. If not, though, he’ll head to Bakersfield for his first non-conditioning AHL assignment in six years.

Canucks To Activate J.T. Miller From Non-Roster List

at CDT | by 3 Comments

Canucks center J.T. Miller told reporters Thursday that he’ll return to the lineup tonight against the Panthers after missing the last 10 games while on personal leave (via Brendan Batchelor of Sportsnet 650).

Vancouver announced over three weeks ago that Miller, who led the team in scoring last season with 103 points, was taking an indefinite leave of absence. Trade rumors immediately popped up regarding the 31-year-old pivot. While there may have been legitimate interest from some parties, including the Rangers, a move away from Vancouver was never something the player or the team even remotely considered, president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford said last week.

Miller was off to a semi-slow start offensively. He still managed six goals and 16 points in his first 17 games of the year, but he was tracking toward finishing under a point per game for the first time since the 2020-21 season, and his 18:24 ATOI was his lowest since arriving in Vancouver via trade in 2019. Elias Pettersson shifted up to center Vancouver’s top line between Jake DeBrusk and Brock Boeser in Miller’s absence, erupting for six multi-point games in his last 10 outings and compiling two goals and 13 assists for 15 points in total.

As such, head coach Rick Tocchet may very well opt to keep that red-hot trio together. DeBrusk has been scorching hot on Pettersson’s wing with 10 goals in 10 games without Miller, while Boeser has seven points in eight games since returning from a suspected concussion. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Miller take reps between Dakota Joshua and Conor Garland on the second line, bumping Pius Suter back down to a more comfortable third-line role.

The Canucks currently have two open slots on the active roster, so they won’t need to make a corresponding move to accommodate Miller’s return. They did, however, make one move earlier Thursday, reversing a paper transaction that sent defenseman Mark Friedman to AHL Abbotsford yesterday. He’s back up and will be available tonight versus Florida.

Flyers Sign Jacob Gaucher To Entry-Level Deal

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Flyers announced that they’ve signed center Jacob Gaucher to a two-year, entry-level contract. PuckPedia later reported that Gaucher’s deal carries an $872.5K cap hit and breaks down as follows:

2024-25: $775K NHL salary, $80K signing bonus, $85K minors salary
2025-26: $800K NHL salary, $90K signing bonus, $15K games played bonus, $85K minors salary

Gaucher, 23, lands his first NHL contract amid his third professional season, all of which have been spent in the Philadelphia organization on an AHL contract. The older brother of Ducks first-rounder Nathan Gaucher is now eligible for a call-up and counts against their 50-contract limit, which now stands at 45 with five open slots.

The 6’3″ pivot has stuck in the AHL with Lehigh Valley full-time this season after seeing action with ECHL Reading in each of the last two years. He’s broken out for 10 goals and five assists for 15 points in 23 games, leading the team in goals and ranking fourth in points.

The former captain of the QMJHL’s Baie-Comeau Drakkar is just one point shy of tying the 16 he had in 59 games with Lehigh Valley last season, his first in the AHL. Gaucher spent the entirety of 2022-23, his first professional season, on assignment to Reading, where he racked up 22 goals and 39 assists for 61 points in 71 games.

Gaucher certainly still qualifies as a prospect, albeit one on the older end – he was initially eligible for the 2019 draft. He’ll be a restricted free agent upon expiry of his ELC in 2026.

Metropolitan Notes: Islanders, White, Kolosov, Stillman

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Islanders star Mathew Barzal practiced Thursday for the first time since sustaining an upper-body injury at the end of October, relays Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News. He was joined by fellow IR-bound impact pieces Anthony Duclair and Adam Pelech, all of whom weren’t carrying any contact restrictions, per Rosner.

None of the trio will play tonight against the Blackhawks, but head coach Patrick Roy told Rosner that they’ve all been upgraded to day-to-day. Barzal is at the end of his four-to-six-week return timeline from his UBI, while Duclair is already a week past his projected four-to-six-week return window from a freak leg injury in just his fifth appearance of the season. Pelech never landed a specific timeline in his return from a jaw injury he sustained against the Sabres on Nov. 1.

Today marked the latter two’s first time skating with the team without a non-contact designation, although they’d both returned to practice within the last week. The Islanders must make a few roster moves to activate their pair of top-six forwards and top-four defender. Their active roster is full with Barzal and Duclair on LTIR and Pelech on standard IR, so they’ll need to make three reassignments to be compliant. One should be goaltender Marcus Högberg, who’s up from AHL Bridgeport on an emergency basis while veteran backup Semyon Varlamov deals with a lower-body injury. Rookie defenseman Isaiah George is waiver-exempt and will likely be the second demotion, but all other likely candidates for reassignment require waivers. Winger Hudson Fasching, who’s averaging just 8:39 per game through 10 appearances this season, seems like the best option to expose to the wire.

While Barzal was averaging a career-high 21:12 per game before his injury, he was off to a slow start offensively, with two goals and three assists for five points in 10 games. His and Duclair’s nearing returns will allow Roy to reunite them on the top line with Bo Horvat, a new-look unit that dominated play with a 64.6% expected goal share before injuries struck, per MoneyPuck.

There’s more out of the Metropolitan:

  • The Devils’ demotion of defenseman Nick DeSimone yesterday wasn’t a paper move. They’ve opted to give a different minor-league mainstay a stint on the NHL roster as an extra defenseman, announcing the recall of Colton White from AHL Utica. White, 27, was a New Jersey fourth-round pick in 2015 and returned to the organization last offseason as a free agent on a two-year, two-way deal after spending the prior two years in the Ducks organization. He hasn’t appeared in an NHL game since skating in a career-high 46 contests with Anaheim in 2022-23, during which time he recorded six assists and 34 hits with a -17 rating while averaging 14:32 per game. The 6’1″ lefty has eight points and a -2 rating in 20 games with Utica this year, matching his point total from last season with San Diego in 53 games.
  • Flyers netminder Aleksei Kolosov has temporarily cemented his spot as No. 2 on their goaltending depth chart behind Samuel Ersson, head coach John Tortorella told reporters today (including Charlie O’Connor of PHLY Sports). The 22-year-old Belarusian has battled it out with fellow rookie Ivan Fedotov this season, and both have gotten extended looks with Ersson missing significant time last month with a lower-body injury. Philadelphia has carried three goalies since Ersson returned to health, though, a plan that doesn’t appear to be imminently changing. Kolosov has a 3-5-1 record in nine showings this year with a .881 SV% and 3.29 GAA but leads Flyers netminders with 0.1 goals saved above expected, per MoneyPuck. That’s a testament to the quality of chances he’s faced – the Flyers are allowing 3.13 xGA per game with Kolosov in net compared to 2.23 with Ersson. His numbers also clearly exceed those of the 28-year-old Fedotov, who has a .877 SV% and -3.5 GSAx through 10 games.
  • The Hurricanes have again swapped extra defenders, adding Riley Stillman to the roster today from AHL Chicago after having Ty Smith fill that role for their past couple of games. Stillman, 26, has been rostered twice since being activated from injured reserve in November but has yet to suit up for Carolina, which inked him to a two-way deal over the summer. The veteran of 158 NHL games with the Panthers, Blackhawks, Canucks, and Sabres has two assists and a +1 rating in seven minor-league contests in 2024-25.

Stars Recall Lian Bichsel For Potential NHL Debut

at CDT | by 2 Comments

The Stars have recalled 2022 first-round pick Lian Bichsel from AHL Texas ahead of tonight’s game against the Predators, Brien Rea of FanDuel Sports Network Southwest reports. The 20-year-old could make his NHL debut with Mathew Dumba likely to sit out with an upper-body injury.

It’s Bichsel’s first in-season recall. He was summoned from the AHL during the Stars’ playoff run last season and was briefly considered an option to make his NHL debut in postseason action, but it didn’t come to pass.

The towering 6’6″, 234-lb left-shot defender is in his first full season of pro hockey in North America. The Switzerland native has been logging heavy minutes for Texas, posting three goals and six assists for nine points in 21 games with a +8 rating to lead Baby Stars defenders.

However, it’s far from Bichsel’s first taste of professional play. The well-rounded defender has logged action in a top-level European pro league in every season since 2020-21, first in his native Switzerland with EHC Biel-Bienne before making the jump to the Swedish Hockey League with Leksands IF and Rögle BK. The physical shutdown defender made 29 appearances on loan to Rögle last season, recording four points and 28 PIMs before adding six points in 15 playoff games en route to a league finals appearances. He came to the AHL immediately after his season in Sweden ended, notching seven points and a -2 rating in 16 games for Texas.

Bichsel directly replacing Dumba in the lineup would mean playing on his off-side. It would mean the same for veteran Brendan Smith, Dallas’ other option to enter the lineup for Dumba, although the 35-year-old does have a decent amount of experience playing on the right side despite behind a left shot.

The Stars previously had two open spots on the active roster and are now down to one. Bichsel’s recall leaves them with $1.24MM in current cap space, per PuckPedia.

Maple Leafs Reassign Marshall Rifai, Recall Nikita Grebenkin

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

While Maple Leafs rookie Nikita Grebenkin was assigned to the minors earlier this week to allow Max Domi to come off injured reserve, his time on the NHL roster isn’t over. The team announced Thursday that the 21-year-old winger had been brought back up from AHL Toronto, while defenseman Marshall Rifai was sent down in a corresponding move to keep their active roster count at 23.

That roster count will drop to 22 later today after winger Alexander Nylander clears waivers or is claimed by another team. Recalling Grebenkin and reassigning Rifai temporarily leaves the Leafs with 15 forwards and six defensemen on the active roster. Hence, it’s fair to assume that Nylander’s waiver placement was to make room for a defenseman coming off IR – likely Jake McCabe, who’s missed five games with an upper-body injury but still carries a day-to-day designation.

Grebenkin, a fifth-round pick in 2022, gives the Maple Leafs a potentially higher-ceiling option for fourth-line minutes over someone like established veteran Ryan Reaves, who provides little intrigue at this stage of his career outside of one-on-one physical battles. The 6’2″, 210-lb Russian skated in seven games over the past few weeks amid a rash of forward injuries for Toronto, his first in the NHL. However, he managed only two shots on goal and failed to record a point while posting a -3 rating, averaging 8:45 per game. The Leafs were also heavily out-chanced in his even-strength minutes, generating just 0.6 expected goals while allowing 3.3 xG.

Nonetheless, Grebenkin has flashed some offensive upside during his time in the minors this season. In his first season in North America, the winger has four goals and 10 points in 13 AHL games. That production comes after a breakout season in the Kontinental Hockey League with Metallurg Magnitogorsk in 2023-24. He finished second among the eventual league champions in scoring with 19 goals, 22 assists and 41 points in 67 games.

Grebenkin’s ability to play both wings should work to his advantage as he re-establishes his spot in the lineup. Four bodies compete for two places on the wing in Toronto’s bottom six, with Grebenkin joining Reaves, Pontus Holmberg and Nicholas Robertson in the fight.

Meanwhile, Rifai returns to the minors after not seeing any action since being recalled 10 days ago. The 26-year-old lefty sat as a healthy scratch for Toronto’s last five games, serving as a last-minute option to enter the lineup if an additional defender sustained an injury with McCabe already sidelined. Standing at 6’2″ and 213 lbs, Rifai skated in his first two NHL games last season, averaging 11:40 per game and logging four hits with a +1 rating. He has four points and a team-leading +10 rating in 17 AHL games and didn’t need waivers to head back since his stint on the active roster lasted less than 30 days.

Utah Recalls Kevin Connauton

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Utah Hockey Club announced that they’ve summoned veteran blue-liner Kevin Connauton from AHL Tucson.

It’s the 34-year-old’s first recall since signing a two-year, two-way deal with the Utahns over the summer and marks his first time appearing on an NHL roster in-season since the 2021-22 campaign with the Flyers. As Belle Fraser of The Salt Lake Tribune points out, his recall indicates that veteran depth piece Robert Bortuzzo, who sustained a lower-body injury in yesterday’s shootout loss to the Wild, will miss at least tomorrow’s game against the Avalanche, if not longer.

Connauton has served as an alternate captain with Tucson this season, recording nine points and a -7 rating in 17 appearances. It’s his second go-around in the Utah organization if you choose to lump them together with the Coyotes – he played parts of four seasons in Glendale and Tucson between 2015-16 and 2018-19.

Whether the 6’2″ lefty sees his first NHL action in over two and a half years in the coming days remains to be seen. The Edmonton native has 360 NHL games under his belt in parts of nine years with the Stars, Blue Jackets, Coyotes, Avalanche, Panthers, and Flyers, scoring 28 goals and 52 assists for 80 points with a +5 rating while averaging 15:43 per game. His best season came in Arizona in 2017-18, recording 11 goals and 21 points in a career-high 73 appearances while logging 15:11 per game and laying the body 116 times.

Connauton successfully cleared waivers during the preseason. He can remain on Utah’s roster for up to 30 days or play 10 games before he needs them to return to Tucson. The first-year club now has a full 23-man active roster with $7.88MM in current cap space.

Red Wings Reassign Sebastian Cossa, Cam Talbot Cleared To Play

at CDT | by 7 Comments

Red Wings netminder Cam Talbot is ready to return from his lower-body injury and is expected to start tomorrow in Philadelphia, Ted Kulfan of The Detroit News reports. As such, rookie Sebastian Cossa’s services were no longer required on the active roster and he was reassigned to AHL Grand Rapids, the team announced.

Talbot, 37, missed four games with the injury, which he sustained midway through an eventual overtime loss to the Canucks on Dec. 1. Detroit was already without No. 2 option Alex Lyon, who remains on injured reserve with a lower-body issue, forcing them to summon Cossa to complement veteran third-stringer Ville Husso for the time being. Husso will stay around for a while yet as Talbot’s backup until Lyon is ready to return.

While a few of the moves that Detroit general manager Steve Yzerman made this summer appear to be backfiring, signing Talbot isn’t one of them. The 12-year veteran has arguably been the Red Wings’ most valuable player in 2024-25, posting a .915 SV% and 2.73 GAA in 15 appearances behind a Detroit team that’s allowing 30.9 shots per game, fifth-worst in the league. Talbot’s 10.1 goals saved above expected rank fifth behind Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck (16.8), Anaheim’s Lukáš Dostál (14.0), Utah’s Karel Vejmelka (13.2), and Minnesota’s Filip Gustavsson (12.6), per MoneyPuck.

The Red Wings, who need a serious winning streak to put themselves back in playoff contention, are certainly happy to get that level of play back between the pipes. Husso has floundered often in his six starts and one relief appearance this year, posting a .870 SV% and 3.74 GAA while allowing 7.6 goals above expected. He most recently allowed three goals on seven shots against the Sabres on Monday before being pulled, leading to Cossa’s NHL debut. The 22-year-old Cossa, who the Wings selected 15th overall in the 2021 draft, made 12 saves on 14 shots en route to a comeback 6-5 shootout win.

More development time isn’t a bad thing for the 6’6″, 209-lb netminder, but Cossa has taken a demonstrable step forward with Grand Rapids this season. Now in his third professional campaign, the 2022 World Juniors gold medalist has a sparkling 2.21 GAA and .925 SV% in 14 appearances with a 9-4-1 record. He’s on track to clear the career-best 2.41 and .913 marks he set with Grand Rapids last season.

The Red Wings’ active roster count stands at 21 with $4.31MM in cap space after Cossa’s demotion, per PuckPedia. Talbot was never placed on injured reserve, so no transaction is required to make him available for tomorrow’s game.

Blue Jackets Sign Luca Marrelli To Entry-Level Contract

at CDT | by 1 Comment

The Blue Jackets announced that they’ve signed defense prospect Luca Marrelli to a three-year entry-level contract. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Columbus brought Marrelli into the organization with the 86th overall pick in this year’s draft. The 19-year-old 6’2″ righty was one of the older players available thanks to his early October birthday, so he’s already in his fourth season of major junior hockey.

The Toronto native is having a great season with the OHL’s Oshawa Generals, ranking second on the team in scoring behind 2024 third-overall selection Beckett Sennecke with 40 points (14 G, 26 A) in just 30 games with a +16 rating. Marrelli, touted as a two-way threat on the blue line, had 57 points in 67 games last year.

He was largely a consensus top-100 pick, although some, such as TSN’s Craig Button, opined he was more of a second-round talent than the third-round one he ended up being. Elite Prospects called the Toronto native a “high-activity defenseman” who “[locks] down every attacker who enters his space.”

Thanks to that early birthday, Marrelli will be eligible to make the jump from the CHL to the AHL starting next season instead of needing to wait two years like most CHLers. Marrelli’s ELC will slide to the 2025-26 campaign as he won’t play in 10 NHL contests this year, so he won’t be able to test restricted free agency until 2028 at the earliest.

Marrelli’s deal won’t count against the 50-contract limit for now since it’s slide-eligible for this year. That means the Jackets still have four open slots, per PuckPedia.

Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

scroll to top