Blues Place Dylan Holloway On Injured Reserve
3:00 p.m.: According to regional reporter Lou Korac, the Blues have already returned Luff and McGing to AHL Springfield from their emergency call-ups. Korac hinted that this likely means either Jordan Kyrou or Jake Neighbours would return to the lineup tonight.
10:30 a.m.: Dylan Holloway‘s return from a high ankle sprain will be short-lived. According to a team announcement, the St. Louis Blues have placed Holloway back on the injured reserve and recalled Matt Luff and Hugh McGing under emergency conditions.
After suffering a high ankle sprain in his right foot against the Chicago Blackhawks on December 12th, Holloway missed a month of action. He returned against the Edmonton Oilers on January 18th, but has missed the Blues’ last four games. Combined, since mid-December, Holloway has missed 19 games, and that absence is expected to grow.
Technically speaking, Holloway is eligible to return this upcoming Saturday against the Columbus Blue Jackets. However, given his injury struggles of late, it’s far likelier that St. Louis will hold him out through the Olympic break, giving him ample time to recover fully.
Regardless, it’s been a difficult follow-up campaign for Holloway’s breakout last season. In his first year with the Blues during the 2024-25 season, Holloway scored 26 goals and 63 points in 77 games, helping the team qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs. Due to the multiple injuries, Holloway has been limited to 34 appearances this year, registering eight goals and 17 points.
Meanwhile, St. Louis has recalled a pair of relatively older options from the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds to fill out the rest of their forward core as they conclude their four-game homestand. The pair have combined for eight games with the Blues this season, scoring two goals and three points.
In Springfield, however, the difference between the two is clear. Luff is leading the team in scoring by a healthy margin, putting up 13 goals and 33 points in 33 games. McGing, on the other hand, has provided more tertiary scoring, providing four goals and 12 points in 35 games.
Lightning To Activate Ryan McDonagh
The long-awaited return of defenseman Ryan McDonagh has come to pass. According to team insider Erik Erlendsson, the Tampa Bay Lightning are expected to activate McDonagh ahead of tonight’s game against the Winnipeg Jets.
Much has already been made of McDonagh’s 2025-26 campaign. The 16-year veteran has suffered multiple injuries, missing nearly two months of action altogether. In the year, McDonagh has only appeared in 18 games for the Bolts, scoring four goals and eight points with a +1 rating, averaging 20 minutes of ice time per game.
Still, even without one of their top four defenseman, the team hasn’t blinked. During McDonagh’s first absence from November 12th to December 15th, Tampa Bay earned a record of 10-7-1 in 18 games. Since December 22nd, during McDonagh’s second absence, the Lightning have managed a 13-1-1 record in 15 games. Their outlook for the year should improve if McDonagh shows consistency in the lineup for the rest of the season.
Given that Tampa Bay’s defensive core has played so well this year without multiple names, it would be in the team’s best interest to slow-play McDonagh’s return as much as they can. He has been consistently reliable over the past few years, participating in 70 or more games each season since the 2021-22 campaign. However, especially since he’s the oldest player on the team, the Lightning can’t afford for injuries to become a theme for McDonagh.
It’s important to note that the Lightning signed McDonagh to a three-year, $12.3MM extension toward the beginning of December. The contract will take him through the 2028-29 campaign, his age-39 season. Given that Tampa Bay typically operates fairly close to the salary cap’s upper limit, they’ll need McDonagh in the lineup more often than not, making his recovery process one of the most important on the team.
Hurricanes Reassign Noah Philp, Joel Nystrom
Jan. 29th: Carolina indirectly confirmed that Philp cleared waivers, announcing that they’ve reassigned him and defenseman Joel Nystrom to AHL Chicago. Nystrom’s demotion was expected, given that the team shared that Shayne Gostisbehere would return tonight after a five-game absence due to a lower-body injury. Nystrom scored one goal in four games during his recall, averaging 11:25 of ice time per game.
Jan. 28th: The Hurricanes have placed center Noah Philp on waivers, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. He had been on injured reserve with a concussion; now that he’s healthy, he won’t be back with Carolina. He’ll either be headed to AHL Chicago or another NHL club if he’s claimed off the wire.
Philp, 27, was claimed off waivers from the Oilers just last month. If Edmonton submits a claim for him and is the only team to do so, they could send him directly to their AHL affiliate in Bakersfield without having to waive him again.
The Alberta-born pivot sustained the concussion in just his second appearance for Carolina on Jan. 6 against the Stars. He logged just 18:26 of total ice time across the pair of contests in a Canes sweater, notching two shots on goal and six hits while going 11-for-21 (52.4%) on draws. Including a 15-game run with the Oilers earlier in the year, he has a 2-1–3 scoring line with a -7 rating in 17 showings in his second NHL season.
There are red flags in Philp’s possession game. Even accounting for his deployment as a shutdown center at even strength, his 41.6 CF% at 5-on-5 is ghastly for a center who played in two extremely favorable possession environments in Carolina and Edmonton. He had a 54.8 CF% in 15 games with the Oilers last year, but in far more sheltered usage. There’s been some intrigue in the 6’3″, 200-lb frame he brings to the table, but it will be hard to continue justifying deploying him in a grinder role at the bottom of the lineup if he continues to be a significant drag on his team’s ability to control play.
Signed as an undrafted free agent out of the University of Alberta in 2022, Philp does have a nice 38-34–72 scoring line with a +13 rating in 130 career AHL games, all with Bakersfield. That includes a 35-point effort in only 55 games last year after he took a leave of absence for the entire 2023-24 campaign. The Oilers are likely hoping they’re the lone interested party in retaining him, either for familiar fourth-line depth or an AHL needle-mover.
Atlantic Notes: Luukkonen, Panarin, Lindholm
The red-hot Buffalo Sabres are going to be down a netminder for the next little while. According to Paul Hamilton of WGR Sports Radio, the Sabres expect Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to miss the next week with a lower-body injury.
Since the calendar turned to December, Buffalo has a 20-6-1 record in their last 27 games, carrying a team SV% of .906. Luukkonen has played an integral role in stabilizing the crease, earning a 9-4-1 record in 14 games with a .908 SV%. The team will now have to rely on the combination of Alex Lyon and Colten Ellis, likely up until the upcoming Olympic break.
Fortunately, the Sabres are likely comfortable with that. Since the hot streak began in December, not only has Lyon been a boon to the team, but he’s been one of the league’s best over that stretch. The 33-year-old netminder has won nine out of 10 games with a .928 SV% since December 1st.
Other notes from the Atlantic Division:
- The jury is still out on which team will ultimately acquire Artemi Panarin from the New York Rangers. On today’s episode of Insider Trading, TSN’s Pierre LeBrun indicated that Panarin’s camp has contacted the Florida Panthers (among others) about potentially facilitating a trade. Still, LeBrun poured some cold water on that idea, indicating that it would be nearly impossible for the Panthers to afford an extension, and Panarin has reportedly made that a requirement.
- The Boston Bruins will be without their first-line center tonight. According to Steve Conroy of The Boston Herald, forward Elias Lindholm is considered day-to-day with an undisclosed injury. However, Conroy hinted that Lindholm’s recovery timeline could extend beyond that, given that he’s meeting with team doctors today.
Nashville Predators Reassign Fedor Svechkov
The Nashville Predators announced that they’ve reassigned forward Fedor Svechkov to the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals. Nashville has a full roster after the transaction, though they’ll likely make another recall, particularly to their forward core, before their current road trip concludes.
Svechkov’s demotion is a clear-cut case of a younger player needing a reset. The former 19th overall pick in the 2021 NHL Draft has struggled this season, scoring two goals and nine points in 49 games while averaging 12:03 of ice time per game. His last point came via a goal against the St. Louis Blues on December 27th.
Simply put, his production has been cut in half compared to last season’s results. That’s not something the Predators can afford for an up-and-coming 22-year-old forward at this stage of their retooling efforts. Last year, Svechkov played in 52 games with Nashville, scoring eight goals and 17 points with a -17 rating.
Still, he has shown mild improvements in his possession and defensive metrics. During his rookie campaign, Svechkov finished with a 50.0% CorsiFor and 87.5% on-ice SV% at even strength. This season, he’s improved those to 53.5% and 88.8%, respectively.
He’ll return to a familiar environment where he’s already experienced some success. Although he hasn’t played in the AHL this season, Svechkov has recorded 21 goals and 51 points in 70 games for the Admirals. Additionally, he’s been a beneficial playoff performer, scoring 10 goals and 20 points in 25 games during the Calder Cup playoffs.
There’s no indication that the Predators plan to keep Svechkov in the AHL for the remainder of the season. Still, the Admirals are trending toward the playoffs again, allowing Svechkov to be in a competitive environment where he can excel.
Capitals Recall Clay Stevenson
According to a team announcement, the Washington Capitals have recalled netminder Clay Stevenson from the AHL’s Hershey Bears. The Capitals already have a full 23-man roster, so they’ll need to make a corresponding roster move before tonight’s game against the Detroit Red Wings.
Stevenson’s recall immediately indicated that Washington would be down a typical netminder for tonight’s contest. According to Bailey Johnson of The Washington Post, Logan Thompson was not with the team for this morning’s practice, so he won’t be available in Detroit.
After practice, Johnson confirmed that Thompson is dealing with an upper-body injury that’s expected to keep him out for the next few days. During the Capitals’ six-game road trip, Thompson started in three games, achieving a record of 1-2-0 with a .880 SV%.
Meanwhile, Stevenson, 26, returns to Washington for the second time this season. His first recall came back in early December, though he failed to participate in any games. His last, and only, NHL contest came back in mid-April of last season, where he stopped 33 of 38 shots in a loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Taking over as the de facto starter with Hershey after Hunter Shepard departed in free agency, Stevenson has performed well. Through 24 games this season, he’s managed an 11-8-4 record with a .912 SV% and 2.57 GAA.
New York Rangers Recall Brett Berard
Now that they’re committed to sitting out Artemi Panarin until he’s eventually traded, the New York Rangers needed another forward to fill the void. According to a team announcement, the Rangers have recalled Brett Berard from the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack.
Today’s transaction marks the fourth time that Berard has been recalled by New York this season. Throughout his previous three recalls, he appeared in 12 games for the Rangers, going scoreless while earning a -1 rating, averaging 10:42 of ice time per game. He’ll likely slot into a similar bottom-six role, if he plays at all.
Regardless, it’s a significant decrease in NHL action for Berard compared to last season. During the 2024-25 campaign, Berard played in 35 games with New York, registering six goals and 10 points with a -6 rating, averaging 10:43 of ice time. That limited his availability in Hartford, where he scored nine goals and 23 points in 30 games. He has already played the same number of games for the Wolf Pack this season, putting up six goals and 18 points.
Despite the relatively solid offensive output last season for a former fifth-round pick, there were some concerns with Berard’s play on the defensive side of the puck. That’s not uncommon for a younger forward. At even strength, he concluded the 2024-25 season with an 89.2% on-ice SV%. Still, he’s improved drastically this season, managing a 95.0% mark, albeit in fewer appearances.
At any rate, given that the Rangers are expected to make a few trades leading up to the March 6 trade deadline, there will likely be more opportunities for Bedard. If that’s the case, he’ll be in range of usurping his total games played from last year.
Boston Bruins Recall Matthew Poitras
The Boston Bruins have recalled forward Matthew Poitras from their AHL affiliate, the Providence Bruins.
Boston’s No. 1 center Elias Lindholm suffered an upper-body injury earlier this week. While we are still waiting on further word regarding Lindholm’s status from the Bruins, this recall indicates that, at the very least, the Bruins felt the need to reinforce their center depth given the possibility that Lindholm’s injury sidelines him.
The Bruins play tonight against the Philadelphia Flyers, and recalling Poitras protects the team against the potential that Lindholm won’t be available to be dressed due to his injury.
This recall puts Poitras in a position to make his 2025-26 debut for the Bruins. The 21-year-old last played in the NHL almost a full calendar year ago, in early March of 2025. The 2022 second-round pick once looked like one of Boston’s more promising young talents, flying out of the gates in his first year playing pro hockey, 2023-24. He scored 15 points in 33 games that season, but took a step back in 2024-25, clearly struggling to create offense on a consistent basis while contending with the relentless pace and physicality of the NHL.
Poitras has fared better at the AHL level. He scored 41 points in 40 games for Providence last season, but a slow start has him at only 24 points in 39 games this season. Poitras’ inability to stay in the NHL after a fast start has led to some scouts in the public sphere questioning his long-term projection. Entering the season, The Athletic’s Corey Pronman wrote Poitras “may not be dynamic enough to be a full-time top-nine forward,” despite a high compete level.
While it’s unknown exactly what kind of opportunity Poitras will receive thanks to this recall, at the very least he’ll likely get the chance to make his season debut. Regardless of what form his NHL opportunity ultimately takes, this season is a major one for Poitras to carve out a spot in Boston’s long-term plans, especially seeing as he is a pending RFA.
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Kraken Open To Trading Shane Wright
1/29/2026: A little over a week after the initial reports emerged that the Kraken were considering trading Wright to acquire a dynamic top-six scoring winger, The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta issued an update on Wright’s situation.
According to Pagnotta, not only are the Kraken seriously considering dealing Wright, but now “word has spread” that Wright himself may also be seeking a change of scenery, and that the relationship between the player and club in this case “may be on the ropes.”
As one would expect, Wright was unwilling to go into great detail when asked by the media about his name surfacing in trade rumors. He told the media, including local outlet Sound of Hockey, that he’s “not too worried” about the reporting and speculation surrounding his future.
As we covered last week, Wright has been unable to gain the trust of first-year head coach Lane Lambert, who has thus far been unwilling to grant Wright the greater lineup role most expected him to earn this season. It could be that the slowed pace of Wright’s development has frayed the player’s relationship with his team, potentially helping pave the way for a deal that allows him to continue his career elsewhere.
1/22/2026: The Seattle Kraken are reportedly open to trading 2022 No. 4 overall pick Shane Wright as they pursue adding an impactful top-six scorer, according to David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period. Pagnotta wrote yesterday that the Kraken have “been searching for a top-six forward,” and believe including Wright in a deal could be the key to landing a caliber of player that makes a real impact on their team.
That Seattle is even considering trading Wright would have been a stunning development before the start of the 2025-26 season.
Entering the season, Wright looked well on the way to becoming a long-term core piece in Seattle.
His development path in years prior endured a few stops and starts, but 2024-25 was Wright’s first campaign as a full-time NHLer, and he blossomed.
He scored 19 goals and 44 points, the second-most points by a Kraken center and production that was just seven points behind 2022 No. 1 pick Juraj Slafkovsky.
Wright’s encouraging NHL campaign ensured he was viewed as a key cog in the Kraken’s future plans. The Athletic’s Corey Pronman ranked him as a top-25 U23 player in the entire NHL, writing that Wright “has no noticeable flaw in his toolkit” and “could be a second-line center on a top team or a fringe 1C on a lesser team.”
In a league where quality centers are always in high demand, he looked to be an asset for the Kraken that got as close to “untouchable” status as anyone on their roster. The belief was that Wright and 2023 Calder Trophy winner Matty Beniers would form a formidable backbone of two-way centers through whom the Kraken could anchor their forward lineup.
Wright’s 2025-26 season has, unfortunately, appeared to change the team’s calculus looking into the future. While Wright saw real developmental gains under former head coach Dan Bylsma, that momentum appears to have largely stalled under new coach Lane Lambert, even as Lambert keeps the Kraken in the thick of the Western Conference playoff race.
The hope for Wright was that after finishing the year as one of Seattle’s top scorers despite earning just 14:04 time on ice per game, he might be able to earn a greater role in his sophomore campaign, and something that could consequently power an even greater developmental leap.
That has not happened so far. In fact, it’s been the opposite. Wright has struggled to gain a foothold in Lambert’s lineup, averaging just 13:43 time on ice per game, with a second-unit role on the power play and no role on the penalty kill.
For a variety of reasons, including his role, Wright’s production has declined steeply. He’s scored 17 points in 49 games, which is just a 28-point 82-game scoring pace. His shooting percentage appears to be a major culprit, as he converted shots into goals at a nearly 21% rate last season, but is hovering at 9.3% this year.
Wright’s shooting ability was generally assessed by scouts to be his most high-end offensive tool, so the fact that he is struggling to find the back of the net this season only compounds concerns about the current state of his development.
With Wright’s current situation in mind, it can’t be a huge surprise to see his name surfacing in trade rumors. It may have come as a great surprise entering the season, but Wright’s development appears to have stalled to the point where a trade is only a natural thing to consider.
Whether that would be the best idea for the Kraken is, of course, a matter of debate.
On one hand, Wright remains an undeniably talented center on a team still short of high-end pivots. While his struggles this season may have shifted his projection in the eyes of some evaluators, the reality is he is still just 22 years old. There’s still reason to believe he can end up becoming the high-end second-line center scouts have long believed he’d develop into.
Impactful two-way top-six centers don’t grow on trees, and any deal involving one, even a potential future player for that role, becomes a difficult deal to win.
Trading Wright this season would also be, undeniably, “selling low” on a player who was a premium draft pick and high-end prospect. This season has been the low point of Wright’s career since being drafted, so it would be an inopportune time for Seattle to trade him, from a pure value standpoint.
On the other hand, the Kraken could badly use a dynamic offensive creator, and even the high end of Wright’s projection doesn’t include a realistic possibility of him becoming one. Centers are in demand across the NHL to a severe degree, and even with his struggles in 2025-26, Wright still figures to command a significant amount of value if dealt. There’s no doubt that if he were dangled in a trade, the Kraken would have the buying power to be able to land the kind of winger that fits their clear need for a dynamic offensive creator.
When considering what kind of player the Kraken could target if they indeed shop Wright, they could either leverage his age, pedigree, and positional value to land a more established scorer than Wright is at this moment (perhaps even adding other assets to swing a deal for as high-end of a target as possible), or they could target a winger in a similar developmental situation to Wright who happens to better fit the kind of talent profile they’re targeting.
If they elect to pursue the latter tactic, a name such as Columbus Blue Jackets forward Kent Johnson checks a lot of boxes. He was the No. 5 pick of the draft before Wright’s, and like Wright, appeared to be nearing “untouchable” status in his market after 2024-25.
He scored 57 points in 68 games, looking every bit like the hyper-skilled, dynamic offensive creator he was drafted to be. Also like Wright, Johnson’s 2025-26 season has been virtually unrecognizable compared to the year prior.
A player such as Johnson, even with his struggles this season, would require a significant trade asset in order to pry loose — which is where Wright could come into the picture. The idea of a Wright/Johnson deal is entirely speculative, of course, as there have been no firm reports of who Seattle might be targeting specifically.
But when examining the league-wide landscape for players who could be a fit in a Wright deal, his name emerges as an intriguing possibility, as both players look like they could benefit from a change-of-scenery transaction.
Regardless of what player Seattle might target — or if they end up even trading Wright at all — Pagnotta’s report underscores how important Wright is to the Kraken’s future.
He’s either going to get his development back on track and become a valuable two-way pivot in Seattle, or the team will leverage his trade value to acquire an impactful roster addition. Either way, his progress is one of the key storylines to watch in Seattle moving forward.
Photos courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images