Kings’ Quinton Byfield Sustains Upper-Body Injury
The Los Angeles Kings were without yet another top forward in Monday night’s game against the Colorado Avalanche. Quinton Byfield sat out of the match with an upper-body injury per a team release. It was Byfield’s second absence of the season. The Kings awarded rookies Jared Wright and Kenny Connors with their NHL debuts in relief of the injured Byfield and Andrei Kuzmenko.
It is not clear what the source of Byfield’s injury was. Either way, his absence left the Kings scrambling to fill yet another top-six role, after losing Kevin Fiala to a season-ending injury during the 2026 Winter Olympics. Byfield has made his presence felt in the return from break, with three points in three games since Los Angeles took back to the ice. He has averaged 20 minutes of ice time throughout the season and earned 13 goals, 33 points, and a minus-five in 58 games.
Byfield is scoring at a 47-point pace this season, a step below the pace that led him to 55 and 54 points over the last two seasons respectively. He has stayed a central piece of the Kings’ offense despite that, averaging more ice time than any Kings forward and taking the second-most faceoffs on the team. Byfield’s impact away from the scoresheet has helped the Kings make up for a down year from franchise legend Anze Kopitar, who has only 24 points in 45 games.
Should Byfield need to miss extended time with this absence, the Kings will need to heap even more responsibility onto recent, superstar addition Artemi Panarin. The former New York Rangers scoring leader has notched three assists in his first four games with the Kings. He looked like a dangerous addition to Byfield’s wing but will now serve next to Kopitar, while Alex Turcotte and Connors earn bumps into the middle-six. Neither Connors nor Wright earned a point in their first NHL game but both could have another crack at scoring with injuries piling up in Los Angeles.
Avalanche’s Artturi Lehkonen Leaves Game Injured, Will Miss Time
The Colorado Avalanche went down a winger early into Monday night’s game against the Los Angeles Kings. Winger Artturi Lehkonen left the game in the first period after a puck caught him up high. He had only played three shifts and just under four minutes of ice time. After the game, head coach Jared Bednar shared that Lehkonen will “miss some time” with an upper-body injury per Evan Rawal of The Denver Gazette.
Lehkonen has filled an important role in his fourth full season in Colorado. He has averaged just under 19 minutes of ice time each game, and reached a career-high scoring pace in the role. Lehkonen has 19 goals and 42 points in 59 games, putting him on pace for 26 goals and 58 points across a full 82-game season. Both of those marks would be new career-highs, surpassing the 21 goals and 51 points he scored in 64 games of the 2022-23 campaign.
Lehkonen has found that extra scoring gear while serving as the left-winger next to Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Necas on Colorado’s top, even-strength line. The trio have played nearly 475 minutes together this season, over 340 minutes more than any other Avalanche line. Together they have outscored opponents by a staggering 38-to-16.
With Lehkonen set for the shelf, Colorado will face the tough question of how to rework their most consistent line. Captain Gabriel Landeskog will likely move to a top-line role but which extra forward will step into the lineup isn’t clear. Colorado is not currently carrying a healthy, extra forward – so they’ll need to make a recall to find some added help. Left-winger Taylor Makar has received the most NHL action of any of Colorado’s minor-leaguers, with 12 NHL games and no scoring this season. He could be the favorite for a short-term, NHL role. Colorado could also look for a bit more scoring spark from a player like Alex Barre-Boulet, who leads the AHL’s Colorado Eagles with 54 points in 52 games and scored a point in his only NHL game this season.
Kraken Not Planning To Trade Tolvanen, Pending UFAs
The Seattle Kraken are “not planning” to trade winger Eeli Tolvanen or their other pending UFA players before the trade deadline unless it is an “overpayment,” according to David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period. Per Pagnotta, the Kraken are “focused on making the playoffs and adding.” Sharks Hockey Digest’s Max Miller added to Pagnotta’s report, writing that Tolvanen and his representatives are expecting to begin talks with Seattle on a contract extension this week.
Tolvanen is not the only notable pending UFA player on Seattle’s roster. Included in that group alongside Tolvanen are three notable veterans: winger Jaden Schwartz, defenseman Jamie Oleksiak, and captain Jordan Eberle.
Together with Tolvanen they form a quartet of players who would each likely receive considerable interest on the trade market, but based on Pagnotta’s report, that isn’t a path the Kraken are willing to go down.
Through 59 games this season, Seattle has amassed a 28-22-9 record with a -6 goal differential, good for 65 points and the Western Conference’s second Wild Card spot. They are three points ahead of their closest rival, the San Jose Sharks, who have 62 points and a game in hand. They are also just one point behind the Edmonton Oilers for third place in the Pacific Division, and hold two games in hand there. In other words – the Kraken have multiple routes they can take to reach the playoffs.
With that said, their form since returning from the Olympic break has been mixed. They dropped games against the Dallas Stars and St. Louis Blues by a combined 9-2 score, but managed a win over the struggling Vancouver Canucks on Saturday. In order to stand the best chance of not only making it to the playoffs, but also surviving beyond the first round if they do, they may need to reinforce their roster with additional veteran talent.
Pagnotta reports that the Kraken are interested in doing so, which matches up with what has been previously reported. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman noted on the 32 Thoughts podcast Friday that the Kraken offered north of $14MM AAV to try to sway Artemi Panarin to choose Seattle. He elected to be dealt to the Los Angeles Kings instead. But the Kraken’s pursuit of a difference-making scoring forward has persisted, including to the point where they would be willing to deal 2022 No. 4 pick Shane Wright.
Friedman said on 32 Thoughts that the Kraken “are serious about getting a player that can electrify them offensively,” and pointed to a sense of pressure that exists in Seattle to get the organization back in the playoffs for the first time since 2022-23. He even referenced the NBA’s stated interest in considering expansion cities – of which Seattle would be a strong contender – as a factor contributing to the importance of the Kraken finding a way back to the playoffs this season.
Whether the Kraken are best served retaining four pending UFAs for a stretch run that could end up concluding in a first-round matchup against the juggernaut Colorado Avalanche is a matter of debate. There are business considerations, as Friedman suggested, that the team may be wrestling with, and the reality of the NHL playoffs is that an element of randomness is guaranteed. The Kraken have pulled off an upset before, after all. So it’s not entirely unreasonable for the Kraken to bet on, and invest in, their current team.
But for a team that has largely lacked star power in its brief existence as an NHL franchise, is investing significant hockey assets in this capable, but flawed, 2025-26 Kraken team the most sensible long-term decision? That will be the question the Kraken’s hockey operations leaders will have to interrogate this week, and it will be interesting to see what path president of hockey operations Ron Francis and GM Jason Botterill elect to take.
Photos courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
San Jose Sharks Open To Trading Kiefer Sherwood
The San Jose Sharks “are now open” to trading winger Kiefer Sherwood before the NHL trade deadline comes on Friday, per The Athletic’s Chris Johnston. The Sharks have been unable to secure Sherwood’s signature on a contract extension to this point, and it appears that, “rather than risking losing him for nothing,” the team is considering flipping Sherwood just six weeks after acquiring him from the Vancouver Canucks.
Sherwood was dealing with an upper-body injury when he was dealt from the Canucks, an injury that kept him sidelined for nearly a month. He got into San Jose’s final game before the Olympic break, and has played in their three games since returning.
While it’s certainly a challenge for some offensive players to change teams and keep up their production, as so much of creating offense in the NHL is based on instincts and chemistry, something that can take time to develop in a new environment, the Sharks have undoubtedly placed Sherwood in a position to succeed. He played their most recent game on the team’s top line, skating alongside Macklin Celebrini, who is one of the game’s foremost young talents, and another emerging star in Will Smith. Despite that favorable deployment, and heavy power play time, Sherwood hasn’t been able to register on the scoresheet as a Shark.
His performance in the admittedly small sample of games in San Jose is notable, but what’s far more notable is the difficulty the team has had signing Sherwood to an extension. A team is unlikely to consider flipping a player just because he’s taking some time to adjust to new surroundings and rediscover his production, but the threat of losing a player as a UFA is a far more pressing concern.
In January, we covered reports coming out of San Jose suggesting there was a “sizable gap” between Sherwood’s demands on his new contract, and what the Sharks were willing to commit to him.
According to The Mercury News’ Curtis Pashelka, “Sherwood’s next contract is expected to carry an AAV of at least $5 million.” AFP Analytics projects Sherwood’s next contract to be worth $5.7MM annually on a five-year term.
It appears that, for as much as the Sharks value Sherwood’s unique value proposition as an NHL player, they may not be willing to invest so heavily in his future.
As recently as 2022-23, Sherwood was widely considered more of an AHL player. He was one of the AHL’s best players in 2021-22, scoring 36 goals and 75 points in 57 games. After signing with the Nashville Predators organization, Sherwood continued his high-scoring ways with their AHL affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals, before earning 32 NHL games with the Predators.
He became a full-time NHL player the following season, and in Nashville, he was able to fully flesh out the on-ice identity that has since made him such a unique player. While he was a top scorer in the AHL, in the NHL, he began to gain more of a reputation as a physical bottom-sixer, someone who could deliver hits, get under the skin of opponents, and generally make his line a difficult one to play against.
After signing with the Canucks, his value took a leap, as he began to translate his AHL production to the NHL. He scored 19 goals and 40 points in 2024-25, and began the year with 17 goals and 23 points before the trade. The Sharks surrendered two second-round picks and AHL defenseman Cole Clayton to acquire Sherwood, and it’s unclear whether they’d be able to receive similar value if they elected to flip him.
There is some recent precedent for a team acquiring, and then flipping, a player. While Mikko Rantanen is certainly in an entirely different tier of on-ice value, limiting the applicability of the comparison, his situation with the Carolina Hurricanes last year is worth mentioning here. Once it became clear to the Hurricanes that Rantanen would not be signing an extension in Raleigh, they flipped him to the Dallas Stars and received emerging young center Logan Stankoven, two first-round picks, and two third-round picks.
Whether that package is similar in value to what the Hurricanes surrendered to get Rantanen is a matter of debate, but it’s clear that even with diminished leverage, the Hurricanes were still able to get several high-end assets for Rantanen.
If the Sharks elect to flip Sherwood, will their diminished leverage cause them to opt for an offer lesser than what they traded away? That’s the key question, and one that will be interesting to interrogate if Sherwood is traded. If he isn’t dealt, that could be an indication that, given the offers that may have been on the table, San Jose believes keeping Sherwood as a rental player is a more attractive path forward than recouping some future assets.
Photos courtesy of Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images
Injury Notes: Werenski, Konecny, Gibson
The Columbus Blue Jackets announced today that star defenseman Zach Werenski has been sidelined for tonight’s game against the New York Rangers due to an illness. The exact nature of his absence, beyond that he is ill, has not yet been disclosed, but based on prior cases of players being sick for games, it is unlikely Werenski will miss too much time. Regardless, the news is still significant, as there are few players who are more valuable to his team on a nightly basis than Werenski. The 28-year-old has scored 65 points in just 54 games this season, and averages 26:26 time-on-ice per game, including 2:49 on the power play and 1:30 on the penalty kill. He ranks No. 2 in the NHL in scoring by a defenseman (behind only Edmonton Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard, who quarterbacks a power play featuring Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl), and No. 2 in the NHL in time-on-ice per game, behind only Olympic teammate Quinn Hughes.
For as long as Werenski’s absence persists, the Blue Jackets will likely increasingly rely on veteran Ivan Provorov, who occupies a role that on other teams would be considered a No. 1 defenseman’s workload. Provorov, who has 20 points in 56 games this season, is averaging 25:11 time-on-ice per game, including playing on the second power play unit, and averaging 3:06 per game on the penalty kill. Despite not even leading his team in the stat, Provorov ranks No. 5 in the NHL in time on ice per game, ahead of several star No. 1 defensemen such as Cale Makar, Jake Sanderson, and Rasmus Dahlin.
Other injury notes from around the NHL:
- The Philadelphia Flyers announced tonight that forward Travis Konecny will miss tonight’s game with an upper-body injury, and will be sidelined on a day-to-day basis. Konecny occupies a first-line role in Philadelphia, playing alongside No. 1 center Christian Dvorak and star winger Trevor Zegras. While he was unable to parlay his spot on Canada’s victorious 4-Nations Face-Off team into a spot in the Winter Olympics, 2025-26 has still been a strong year for Konecny. Through 58 games, he has scored 23 goals and totaled 57 points, which gives him a chance to set a new career-high in scoring. Replacing Konecny on the top line, per Jackie Spiegel of the Philadelphia Inquirer, is speedy winger Owen Tippett, who has been elevated from the second line.
- Detroit Red Wings starting goalie John Gibson left today’s road win over the Nashville Predators with an upper-body injury, according to a team announcement. Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press relayed word from head coach Todd McLellan postgame, who told the media that he believes Gibson is “OK,” but added that he’ll be evaluated when the team returns to Michigan. Gibson has been a good fit in Detroit this season, his play helping lift the team into playoff position in the Eastern Conference. In 39 starts, Gibson has gone 23-12-2 with a .906 save percentage and 2.57 goals-against average.
Minnesota Wild Place Marcus Foligno On IR
The Minnesota Wild placed veteran forward Marcus Foligno on injured reserve today, according to an official announcement. Wild head coach John Hynes told the media yesterday, including The Hockey News’ Dylan Loucks, that there was no update on Foligno’s status other than he wouldn’t be able to play on Sunday.
Even with a designation retroactive to the last time he played (Feb. 27 against the Utah Mammoth), Foligno will have to miss at least the team’s next two games, coming tomorrow against the Tampa Bay Lightning and Friday against the Vegas Golden Knights. Foligno is dealing with a lower-body injury, but the full extent of the injury, or a more detailed recovery timeline, has yet to be provided.
Foligno’s injury costs the Wild a key veteran leader in their forward group. Although his offense isn’t what it once was (he scored 14 goals and 29 points last season, but has just six goals and 11 points this year), he remains a key defensive forward and penalty killer for the team. This year, Foligno has resumed his role on the penalty kill, averaging 1:29 time-on-ice per game while short handed.
While the addition of Fabbri to the roster provides some experienced reinforcement, he’s not an exact, or even approximate, replacement for what Foligno provides. The 34-year-old has appeared on Selke Trophy ballots four times in his career, while Fabbri, on the other hand, has rarely killed penalties in his career.
If Foligno’s injury keeps him sidelined for an extended period, it’s possible the Wild could be motivated to add a veteran defensive winger before the trade deadline, or perhaps a penalty kill specialist. With Foligno out, his minutes on the penalty kill are likely to trickle down to two other veteran contributors: Yakov Trenin and Marcus Johansson.
On The Athletic’s trade board penned by insider Chris Johnston, several depth wingers with varying degrees of defensive ability were listed, including Vancouver Canucks pivot Teddy Blueger (1:49 per game on the penalty kill), Chicago Blackhawks winger Ilya Mikheyev (2:47 per game short-handed), and former Wild deadline addition Gustav Nyquist.
Edmonton Oilers Acquire Connor Murphy
5:00 p.m.: Both the Oilers and the Blackhawks have now officially announced the trade.
As mentioned previously, significant roster maneuvering was necessary to facilitate the deal. According to Puckpedia, after Janmark’s placement on LTIR earlier today, and the expected reassignment of Howard, the team was able to create enough cap space to fit in the $2.2MM cap hit brought by Murphy. With 21 active players and Janmark on LTIR, the Oilers will have approximately $200K in cap space remaining after this deal.
As for Janmark, he’s out with an undisclosed injury. As relayed by Sportsnet’s Mark Spector, Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch characterized Janmark’s injury as “a chronic injury that needs some rest,” and said he’d be out “long term.” So far this season, Janmark has gotten into 43 games for the Oilers, scoring eight points. He’s averaged 11:51 time-on-ice per game, including 1:30 per game on the penalty kill. The Swedish forward is under contract for another season at a $1.45MM cap hit.
3:23 p.m.: The Edmonton Oilers are in the process of completing a trade for Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Connor Murphy, a league source tells Chris Johnston of The Athletic. Chicago will acquire a second-round pick in return and retain $2.2MM of Murphy’s $4.4MM cap hit per Sportsnet’s Mark Spector. The trade was first reported by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
Edmonton won’t be able to acquire Murphy’s $2.2MM cap hit until they send a player to the minor leagues per PuckPedia. The Oilers recalled Josh Samanski and Isaac Howard earlier in the day, after placing Mattias Janmark on long-term injured reserve. Howard is expected to be the man reassigned per DailyFaceoff’s Jason Gregor. The deal is not expected to be completed until after 5 P.M. ET, the beginning of the 3/3 business day for cap purposes.
This move will mark a reunion between Murphy and Oilers general manager Stan Bowman. Bowman served as the Blackhawks’ GM in 2017, when Murphy was acquired from the Arizona Coyotes alongside Laurent Dauphin in exchange for Niklas Hjalmarsson near the end of his career. Murphy stepped into an immediate role in the Blackhawks’ lineup, taking on a third-pair role while Erik Gustafsson, Jordan Oesterle, and Gustav Forsling vied for a second-pair role.
Murphy notched 14 points, 34 penalty minutes, and a minus-three in 76 games of his first season with the Blackhawks. He proved to be an impactful rush defender who didn’t get in the way of Chicago’s star forwards as they drove up the ice. But Murphy began to run into routine injury beginning in the 2018-19 season. Via injury and healthy scratches, Murphy missed out on 85 games between the 2018-19 and 2021-22 seasons. He racked up 57 points and a plus-one in 217 games across those four seasons.
More notably, he worked his way back to full health for the 2022-23 season. By then, Murphy had emerged as one of only a few veterans on a rebuilding Blackhawks defense. That standing pushed him up into tough, top-four minutes often in relief of Blackawks’ top defender Seth Jones. In the heavy role, Murphy racked up 13 points and 69 penalty minutes in 80 games of the 2022-23 campaign. Injuries and scratches came back to bite him over the last three seasons, pulling Murphy back into the swing of routine absences. He tied his career-high 19 points in 68 games last season but has so far only totaled 13 points in 60 games this season.
While luck hasn’t been on his side in Chicago, Murphy has shown an ability to once again stick in the lineup through much of this season. He has returned to a defensive-defenseman’s role, operating from the bottom pair but routinely tapped to play more than 20 minutes against strong offenses.
Murphy will bring a robust, defensive ability to a high-octane Edmonton blue-line. The Oilers found a cohesive top-pairing in Mattias Ekholm and Evan Bouchard but haven’t yet found the right match for Darnell Nurse, who has spent significant time with six different D partners this season. Murphy could become the seventh man to stand by Nurse, bringing a bit more veteran certainty than previous partners like Spencer Stastney or Ty Emberson. That pairing could move Emberson back to a bottom-pair role and free up Jake Walman to rotate throughout the lineup.
That flexibility will be welcome as Edmonton eyes another long postseason run. Murphy has only appeared in the Stanley Cup Playoffs once in his 13-year career – when he played nine games and scored four assists in the 2020 postseason. He should be headed for his second playoff bid now with the Oilers, and could prove to be an X-factor addition should his defensive focus free up Nurse, or Walman, to drive the offense a bit more.
Photo courtesy of Jamie Sabau-USA TODAY Sports.
Stars Place Tyler Seguin On Season-Ending LTIR
3/2: Seguin has officially been moved to season-ending, long-term injured reserve per PuckPedia. This will provide his full, $9.85MM cap hit as salary cap relief, adding $6MM in savings ahead of the Trade Deadline.
2/27: The Stars have filed paperwork declaring forward Tyler Seguin out for the remainder of the season, including the playoffs, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. Under this season’s new rules regarding long-term injured reserve, that declaration increases the Stars’ LTIR pool from its current $3.67MM to roughly $9.7MM ahead of next week’s trade deadline, unlocking more than $6MM in additional cap space.
Seguin, 34, underwent surgery to repair a torn ACL back on Dec. 16, but the Stars did not issue a recovery timeline. Later that week, Dallas said they’d re-evaluate him following the Olympic break and make a determination on his status from there. Evidently, this week’s testing revealed he’s at least around four months away from returning, ruling him out of a potential Stanley Cup Final run.
Seguin, whose contract ends following the 2026-27 campaign, will have played just 47 regular-season contests over the past two years, a hair over 25%. He had hip surgery in December 2024 that took out most of his regular season but permitted him to return for the playoffs. He’ll have no such luck this time around, though.
Even as the 2010 second overall pick deals with several severe injuries in the latter half of his career, he’s maintained his status as a consistent top-six producer in the Lone Star State. Since sustaining a hip injury in 2020 that nearly ended his career, he’s averaged 26 goals and 57 points per 82 games while skating around 17 minutes per game. He’s not sniffing the consistent 70-to-80-point production that defined his prime, but he had 17 points in 27 games this season before the ACL tear and produced over a point per game in his truncated showing last season.
It’s a definite blow to a Stars team that isn’t scoring as much as they’d like this season, but it does allow them to address that issue in earnest by next Friday afternoon. After finishing top 10 in the league in goals in each of the last three seasons, they’ve dropped back to 11th place at 3.33 goals per game this year. In The Fourth Period’s latest trade board, David Pagnotta noted Dallas general manager Jim Nill has at least worked the phones on names like Nazem Kadri, Blake Coleman, and Brayden Schenn up front while displaying interest in Luke Schenn, Tyler Myers, Justin Faulk and others to address their relatively weak right-shot depth on defense.
None of those pickups would have been possible without moving significant money the other way if they didn’t make Seguin ineligible to play again this season. They were already eating into about half their LTIR pool to stay compliant as things were, leaving them with just under $1.94MM in deadline cap space. That number now jumps to nearly $8MM by shifting Seguin to season-ending LTIR.
Panthers’ Luke Kunin Clears Waivers
3/2: St. Louis has lost Fabbri to a waiver claim from the Minnesota Wild, while Kunin has cleared waivers per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Kunin has now been assigned to the AHL.
3/1: Today has become a busy day on the wire, as the St. Louis Blues have waived forward Robby Fabbri, and the Florida Panthers placed Luke Kunin on waivers. Both were reported by Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. Fabbri and Kunin are both former first round picks with at least 450 games of NHL experience, although they’ve become journeymen at this stage in their careers.
For Fabbri, the news is not much of a surprise, as Robert Thomas was activated from injured reserve earlier today. A top prospect of the Blues a decade ago, Fabbri found himself back where he started, signing a one year deal worth $775k back in December. The agreement came after the 30-year-old’s unsuccessful PTO bid with the Pittsburgh Penguins, along with a brief tryout agreement with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers. Since then, Fabbri appeared in 15 games with St. Louis, finding the back of the net once to go with three assists.
The Ontario native netted 18 goals in 68 games just two years ago as a Red Wing, but his 18.6% shooting percentage was never thought to be sustainable. Fabbri continues to have lackluster possession metrics at even strength, currently at the 45.5% mark.
With such a low cap hit, it’s not out of the realm of possibility, but a claim seems unlikely. If that’s the case, Fabbri will head to AHL Springfield, a league which impressively, the veteran has played just nine games in his career, otherwise in the NHL. He still offers organizational depth, but the 31st ranked Blues are in a position where playing younger players is in their best interest. If this is the beginning of the end for Fabbri in the NHL, he’s had an impressive 457 game career with 220 points, and his name on the Stanley Cup.
Meanwhile, Kunin also brings a very reasonable $775k cap hit which expires this summer. Once a first rounder of the Minnesota Wild with top six upside, the Missouri native has become a fourth liner with gritty attributes, as he has just four points in 44 games. He caught on with the reigning champions last August to provide depth, which has been needed, considering the team’s glut of injuries this year.
After some solid play with Nashville from 2020-22, Kunin was sent to San Jose. Over the next three seasons wearing teal, Kunin got to enjoy a larger role and help lead on a rebuilding Sharks squad. However, he never recorded more than 18 points, and fully embraced a more physical brand of hockey.
Between Fabbri and Kunin, the latter seems to be more likely of a claim. Players in Kunin’s mold are often targeted by buyers at this time of year. At last year’s trade deadline, Kunin was dealt to Columbus for a fourth round pick. His stock hasn’t improved after unremarkable play as a Panther this year, but teams will have the chance to bring in the 28-year-old with a minimal cap hit for nothing in return, and he could benefit from a fresh start.
Image Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
Canucks’ Guillaume Brisebois Clears Waivers
3/2: Birsebois has cleared waivers and can now be assigned to the minor leagues per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
3/1: In the midst of several notable NHLers waived earlier today, another name is set to run through the wire. Canucks defenseman Guillaume Brisebois has landed on waivers, per the team, although according to GM Patrik Allvin the transaction is with the intent to reassign him to AHL Abbotsford.
Brisebois, 28, was drafted in the third round by Vancouver back in 2015. Rarely seen in today’s league, the 6’2″ lefty has managed to stick with the organization for the long haul, mainly in the AHL but appearing in 30 games over the years with the Canucks, where he’s recorded three points. He got into three games back in January, not recording any stats and averaging 15:48 a night.
Brisebois debuted with Vancouver in February 2019, an entirely different era where Alexander Edler and Loui Eriksson were still wearing the blue and green, so it’s impressive for him to still be around. Summoned at times over the years when they’re thin on the back end, Brisebois has skated in more than eight contests in an NHL campaign just once, 2022-23, where he played in 17.
The Quebec native is a free agent at season’s end, but until then, a claim seems unlikely. Whatever comes next for the veteran, it has been a nice run in the Canucks organization, a 2025 Calder Cup champion, and still in the mix as part of a 2015 draft class headlined by stalwart Brock Boeser. With the Canucks at the bottom of the league, and Abbotsford hardly faring better, it would be nice to see Brisebois get some more action this spring considering his contributions to the organization over the past several years.