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Kraken Recall Philipp Grubauer, Assign Niklas Kokko To AHL

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Late in January, the Kraken decided to place Philipp Grubauer on waivers to allow him to get some extended time with AHL Coachella Valley to try to get him back on track.  It appears they’re content with how he performed as the team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled the veteran from the Firebirds.  In a corresponding move, Niklas Kokko was assigned to Coachella Valley.

Grubauer struggled in his first three seasons with Seattle, failing to record a save percentage of .900.  But this year, things went much worse.  Prior to his demotion, the 33-year-old put up a 3.83 GAA and a .866 SV% in 21 outings, numbers that are dead last among netminders with at least 20 appearances.  That’s hardly the type of performance they’re expecting from someone carrying a cap charge of $5.9MM through the 2026-27 season.

With the Firebirds, Grubauer was better but his numbers were still relatively pedestrian for a long-time NHL veteran.  In seven appearances with them, he posted a 2.87 GAA with a .893 SV%.  Now that he’s back with Seattle, his likely goal over the next seven weeks will be to try to play well enough to not be considered for a contract buyout this summer.

As for Kokko, he made his first career NHL appearance on Tuesday, making four saves on six shots in half a game against St. Louis.  The 20-year-old is in the first season of his entry-level deal and has fared well in the minors, putting up a 2.44 GAA and a .909 SV% in 21 games with the Firebirds.  With Coachella Valley in a three-way battle for the top spot in the Pacific Division, Kokko will now get into some meaningful action down the stretch.

New Jersey Devils Activate Jacob Markström, Reassign Nico Daws

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The New Jersey Devils are now only one defenseman away from a healthy roster. New Jersey announced they’ve activated goaltender Jacob Markström from the injured reserve and reassigned Nico Daws to their AHL affiliate, the Utica Comets, in a corresponding roster move.

Markström has been on the injured reserve for over a month due to a knee sprain. Boston Bruins’ forward Justin Brazeau accidentally crashed into Markström following a shot attempt in the teams’ matchup against each other on January 22nd.

Despite missing 39 days, Markström only missed 11 of the Devils’ games, thanks to the two-week break for the 4 Nations Face-Off. Markström was originally supposed to play for Team Sweden during the international tournament but was precluded from doing so due to his sprained knee.

Regular backup netminder Jake Allen played well throughout that stretch, although the team did not. Allen managed a 3-5-0 record as the de facto starter with a .914 SV%. As mentioned, the team didn’t respond well to Markström’s absence, middling to a 6-5-0 record.

As respectably as Allen played, New Jersey had no internal options to replace Markström adequately. The Gavle, Sweden native has a 21-9-5 record in 36 starts this year with a .912 SV% and 2.20 GAA. He’ll look to maintain and even improve that production for the Devils throughout the final stretch of the 2024-25 campaign.

Meanwhile, Markström’s absence allowed Daws his first look in the NHL this season. He went undefeated in three starts with a .966 SV% and 0.88 GAA, far better than his production in Utica. He’ll return to a disappointing Comets’ roster where he’s managed a 6-15-2 record in 23 games with a .891 SV% and 3.37 GAA.

Toronto Maple Leafs Activate Connor Dewar, Place Chris Tanev On IR

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According to a team announcement, the Toronto Maple Leafs have activated forward Connor Dewar from the injured reserve and have placed defenseman Chris Tanev on it. Tanev’s placement is retroactive to February 25th, meaning Toronto needs to wait a few more days before activating him.

Dewar, the second-year Maple Leaf, has spent much of the year on the team’s injured reserve. He missed the first month of the season due to offseason surgery for a torn labrum and the last month due to an upper-body issue. The career bottom-six center has tallied three assists in 29 games for Toronto this year, averaging 10:07 of ice time per game.

Considering he had more points in fewer games for the Maple Leafs after they acquired him from the Minnesota Wild at last year’s deadline, they were likely hoping for more from Dewar when they gave him a $380K raise this past summer. Still, the injuries have understandably precluded Dewar from getting his season on track, and a healthy finish to the year should prove beneficial.

Meanwhile, Tanev has already missed last Friday’s game against the New York Rangers and today’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins due to an upper-body injury. Toronto feared the worst when Tanev was seen wearing a sling after exiting last Tuesday’s loss to the Boston Bruins. However, David Alter of The Hockey News shared that the Maple Leafs had avoided the worst with Tanev’s injury, and his recovery timeline was considered day-to-day.

Given the rules regarding activating a player from the injured reserve, Tanev must miss tomorrow’s game against the San Jose Sharks. Should he be healthy enough to return, the gritty top-four defenseman can return on Wednesday when Toronto matches up against the Vegas Golden Knights.

Golden Knights Sign Trent Swick To Entry-Level Contract

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The Vegas Golden Knights have signed 2024 sixth-round pick Trent Swick to a three-year entry-level contract. The deal is set to begin in the 2025-26 season. Swick is currently with the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers, where he’s scored 57 points in 55 games this season – second-most on the team.

Swick is a towering six-foot-six, 210-pound winger who skates smoothly, doesn’t take penalties, and gets back on defense. Those points are evidenced by his measly 38 penalty minutes and a strong plus-seven this year. His size limits what roles Swick can play in the offensive end, but he fills what’s asked of him well – holding space in the slot and using a long reach to disrupt opponents.

Swick had a breakout year last season. With the eyes of NHL scouts watching close, he jumped from 18 points in 33 games in 2022-23 to 62 points in 63 games last year. He found his niche as a passing catalyst for Kitchener’s smaller and more dynamic scorers. But Swick was distinctly helped along by an improved ability to hang onto the puck and work his way into space. He improved his play through traffic on and off of the puck, and continues to improve his scoring pace this year as a result.

With sixth-round acclaim and juniors scoring that, while strong, doesn’t jump off the page – it’s not likely that Swick will make an impact on the NHL roster in the short term. He’ll instead likely be forced to decided between the AHL and college hockey next season, with recent agreements between the CHL and NCAA opening the door for the soon-to-be 21-year-old to take either path. Should he turn pro, Swick’s body control in his lofty frame could earn Vegas’ attention very quickly. The New York Rangers have notably found their own successes leaning into their oversized forwards, with Adam Edstrom and Matt Rempe each carving niche roles in the Rangers bottom-six.

Jets Activate Morgan Barron Off Injured Reserve

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The Jets will welcome back a forward for their game tonight against Philadelphia.  In their announcement of the projected lines for the contest (Twitter link), the team noted that Morgan Barron is expected to play, meaning he has been activated off injured reserve.  To make room on the roster, forward Jaret Anderson-Dolan was reassigned to AHL Manitoba, per the AHL’s media site.

Barron has missed a little more than a month with an upper-body injury sustained in late January.  However, with the long break for the 4 Nations Face-Off, he’ll wind up missing just eight games due to the issue.  The 26-year-old has five goals and three assists in 52 contests this season while chipping in with 85 hits in 10:27 of playing time per night.  Barron also takes a regular turn in the penalty kill rotation for Winnipeg so his return should also help on that front.  He’s expected to suit up on the fourth line alongside Rasmus Kupari and Alex Iafallo.

As for Anderson-Dolan, his recall was relatively short-lived after being up on Wednesday, his first recall of the season.  The 25-year-old is in the first season of a two-year, two-way deal signed last summer but he has struggled considerably with AHL Manitoba, notching just 13 points in 38 games with the Moose.  For comparison, he had 47 points in 54 minor league contests in 2021-22, his last season as a regular in the minors.  He’ll now have to wait at least a little longer to make his Jets debut.

Wild Acquire Gustav Nyquist From Predators

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After being scratched earlier in the day for trade-related reasons, it felt like only a matter of time before the Predators traded winger Gustav Nyquist.  That move has now happened as they have dealt him to the Wild in exchange for a 2026 second-round pick.  Both sides have announced the swap.  As part of the move, Nashville is retaining half of his $3.185MM cap hit.  To make room on the roster, Minnesota has assigned Liam Ohgren to AHL Iowa, reports Michael Russo of The Athletic (Twitter link).

It’s the second time that Minnesota has acquired Nyquist in a move before the trade deadline after they picked him up from Columbus back in 2023 but at that time, the acquisition cost was only a fifth-round selection.  Meanwhile, it’s actually the third time that the 35-year-old has been a near-deadline pickup as back in 2019, Detroit moved him to San Jose for a pair of draft choices.

Nyquist signed a two-year deal with the Preds back in 2023 on the heels of a solid playoff showing with Minnesota that saw him pick up five assists in six postseason appearances.  Things couldn’t have gone much better for him last season as he wound up blowing past his previous career highs in assists and points, tallying 52 and 75 respectively in 81 games.  He followed that up with four points in their first-round exit to Vancouver in the playoffs.

With his 2023-24 performance and Nashville’s big spending spree over the summer, expectations were high for Nyquist heading into this season.  However, as has been the case for a lot of the Predators’ players, he has underachieved.  Through 57 games this season, he has just nine goals and 12 assists despite still logging 17:39 per game of ice time.

Minnesota finds itself in the bottom half of the league offensively with key injuries to players like Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek playing a part in that.  Nyquist should have an opportunity to jump into a middle-six role and at least deepen the lineup while ideally being able to provide them with a boost in their secondary scoring.  They’re paying a fairly high cost to get Nyquist at half price so they clearly expect that the change of scenery will help get him going again.

With the move, Nashville has now used its three salary retention slots with the others being on Mattias Ekholm and Ryan Johansen, whose grievance for his contract termination was held last week.  If that termination is upheld by Friday, the Predators could get that third slot back but it seems unlikely a ruling will come that quickly.  In the meantime, they now have eight picks in the first two rounds between the 2025 and 2026 drafts, positioning themselves well to add some young impactful talent to the cupboard relatively quickly.

Meanwhile, Minnesota now has roughly $6.6MM remaining in its LTIR pool, per PuckPedia (Twitter link).  That’s with Kaprizov in LTIR and Eriksson Ek on regular injured reserve.  Assuming both players return before the end of the season, the Wild will need to clear around $2.4MM in salary off their books to get back into cap compliance.  Accordingly, unless they know one of their veterans won’t be back until the playoffs start, the Wild will be hard-pressed to make any other additions without clearing out some money either beforehand or as part of that trade.

Photo courtesy of Imagn Images.

Avalanche Acquire Ryan Lindgren And Jimmy Vesey From Rangers

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With less than a week left before the trade deadline, the Avalanche have added some extra depth on the back end and up front.  In a deal that has been announced by both teams, Colorado is acquiring defenseman Ryan Lindgren, winger Jimmy Vesey, and the rights to unsigned prospect Hank Kempf from the Rangers in exchange for forward Juuso Parssinen, defenseman Calvin de Haan, and two draft picks.  The picks are the better of Carolina’s or New York’s (previously-acquired) second-round pick this year and the better of Colorado’s or Vancouver’s fourth-round selection this season.

Lindgren has been a mainstay on New York’s back end for the last six seasons.  However, his tenure with them has always seemed to be on uncertain footing.  He wound up taking a three-year bridge deal back in 2021 with the expectation that he’d sign a longer-term pact after that.  Instead, he found himself in trade speculation at times during that contract and the two sides were only able to work out a one-year, $4.5MM contract last summer, one that avoided salary arbitration but also set Lindgren up to reach unrestricted free agency this summer.  Mollie Walker of the New York Post reports (Twitter link) that the Rangers will retain half of that contract as part of the swap.

The 27-year-old has never been a big point producer in the NHL as he has yet to reach the 20-point mark in a single season although with 19 points in 54 games this season, he’s likely to do just that in the coming days.  However, Lindgren has been a steady and reliable defensive defender for most of his career, logging heavy minutes on the penalty kill and consistently being among the Rangers’ leaders in blocked shots.  This season, he’s second on New York in blocked shots with 102 while leading the team in shorthanded TOI at 2:42 per game.

That penalty killing prowess will fit in well on a Colorado shorthanded unit that’s barely above the league average in success rate at 79.8% while also giving them a solid replacement for the injured Josh Manson.  Lindgren should slot in as the fourth defender on the Avs’ depth chart for the time being while when Manson returns, one of the two should help anchor the third pairing which would be a nice boost to that pairing heading into the playoffs.

As for Vesey, the 31-year-old was in the third season of his second go-round in New York.  The first two seasons of that second stint were successful as he notched 24 goals and 51 points over the two years, giving the Rangers some solid, low-cost secondary scoring.  But things haven’t gone as well this season.  He has been frequently scratched and has just six points in 31 games when he has suited up.  Nonetheless, Colorado has been looking for some stability on the fourth line pretty much all season long and Vesey should be able to lock down a regular role on that trio while giving it some experience as he’s suited up in over 600 games at the NHL level.  He’s also a pending unrestricted free agent this summer, carrying a $800K cap charge.

Kempf, meanwhile, was a seventh-round pick by the Rangers back in 2021, going 208th overall.  The blueliner is in his senior year at Cornell University and has two goals and five assists in 28 games this season.  Colorado will need to sign him to an entry-level deal by mid-August or lose his rights.

Parssinen is the more notable player heading to the Rangers in this swap.  It will be the third team for him this season as Colorado only acquired him from Nashville back in late December.  But while the 24-year-old was able to hold down a regular role with the Avs (after being scratched at times with the Predators), he wasn’t overly productive with just six points in 22 games while logging less than 10 minutes a night of ice time.  When added to his numbers with the Preds, Parssinen has four goals and seven assists in 37 appearances this season.

Parssinen made an immediate strong impression when he first debuted in the NHL back in 2022-23, notching an impressive 25 points in 45 games in Nashville but he hasn’t been able to get back to that level of performance since then.  He’ll now get another fresh start in New York who can control him through the 2027-28 season through restricted free agency with salary arbitration rights.  Parssinen is making the league minimum of $775K this season and will be owed a qualifying offer of nearly $814K in late June.

As for de Haan, the 33-year-old was in his first season with Colorado after signing a one-year, $800K contract with them early in free agency last summer.  He has largely played on the third pairing this year, logging just under 15 minutes a night of playing time while chipping in with seven assists, 58 blocks, and 59 hits in 44 appearances.  A pending UFA, the 676-game veteran is likely to have a similar role in New York but also could be a candidate to be flipped again if there’s a team looking for extra defensive depth before Friday’s trade deadline.

The Rangers enter play today four points out of the final Wild Card spot.  While that’s hardly an insurmountable gap, they’re also not in a spot to potentially lose rental players for no return.  With this move, they pick up a pair of draft picks and will get a look to see if Parssinen can return to his form from a couple of years ago which could make him a piece worth keeping around for a while.  Meanwhile, Lindgren is a nice pickup for the Avs even with his struggles this season as he should be able to help stabilize the back half of their back end which should only help their fortunes heading into the playoffs.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was the first to report (Twitter links) the four players in the deal while Peter Baugh of The Athletic was first with the draft pick details.

Photo courtesy of Imagn Images.

Ottawa Senators Assign Angus Crookshank To AHL

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11:45 AM: Crookshank’s recall was short-lived as the team announced that he has already been returned to Belleville.

9:29 AM: The Ottawa Senators may have to wait another game for the complete trio of Brady Tkachuk, Joshua Norris, and Shane Pinto to return. The Senators announced they’ve recalled forward Angus Crookshank from their AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators, indicating they’ll use him as a replacement again tonight.

It’s a quick turnaround for Crookshank after being recalled and reassigned a few days ago. He skated in 14:04 of action in Ottawa’s loss to the Winnipeg Jets on February 26, putting three shots on net and adding one hit and one blocked shot.

That is the only NHL contest of the year for the North Vancouver native. Crookshank has spent the entire season in Belleville, scoring 18 goals and 33 points in 45 games. His offensive production is good for fourth on the AHL Senators in scoring, although it’s a slight decline from his 24-goal, 22-assist output from a year ago.

Crookshank’s status for tonight’s contest against the San Jose Sharks may ultimately be decided in warm-ups. There’s a strong expectation that Tkachuk will return tonight, with the latter being game-time decisions. Travis Green and the rest of Ottawa’s coaching staff will likely have all four players skate before the game and announce the completed lineup shortly before puck drop.

Predators Recall Jake Lucchini And Spencer Stastney, Place Roman Josi On IR

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On top of scratching pending UFA winger Gustav Nyquist for today’s game with a potential trade on the way, the Predators have made three other roster moves as well.  Nick Kieser of 102.5 The Game relays (Twitter link) that Nashville has recalled winger Jake Lucchini and defenseman Spencer Stastney from AHL Milwaukee.  To make room on the roster, blueliner Roman Josi was placed on injured reserve.

Lucchini is in his first season with the Preds after signing a two-year, two-way deal with them last summer.  While he got into 40 NHL games with Minnesota last season during various recalls, this is his first promotion of the season after clearing waivers back in training camp.  The 29-year-old has 14 goals and 15 assists in 53 games with the Admirals thus far, a drop in his per-game output after recording 23 points in 30 minor league outings in 2023-24.

Stastney, meanwhile, started the season on the non-roster list while taking a leave of absence and has split time between Nashville and Milwaukee since then.  The 25-year-old has been held off the scoresheet in seven appearances with the Preds this season while logging a little over 16 minutes a night.  He has been productive with the Admirals, however, notching 13 points in 23 outings at the minor league level.

As for Josi, he exited Tuesday’s game with an upper-body injury and his placement on IR means he’ll be out for both games this weekend at the very least although he’ll be out longer than that with the team revealing (Twitter link) he’s out week-to-week.  The captain hasn’t been able to duplicate the offensive performance he had last year when he notched 85 points but he still has 39 points in 55 games, good for a tie for 15th among all NHL blueliners.  Of course, Josi also logs heavy minutes, averaging more than 25 minutes a night so Nashville’s back end will have its work cut out for them to cover his absence.

Maple Leafs Sign Borya Valis To Entry-Level Deal

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March 1st is an important day on the NHL calendar as it’s the first day that players can sign future contracts that begin the following season.  The Maple Leafs have wasted little time getting one of those done as they’ve signed forward Borya Valis to a three-year, entry-level deal as announced by his agent Dan Milstein (Twitter link).  The team subsequently confirmed the move.  PuckPedia reports (Twitter link) that the deal will carry a $872.5K cap charge and a $975K AAV including signing and games-played bonuses.

The 20-year-old is playing his final season at the major junior level.  He started his WHL career with Regina in 2021, spending parts of three seasons with the team.  The second of those was his draft-eligible year and while he secured a ranking of 152nd among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting, he went undrafted in 2023 and 2024.

Last season, Valis was traded midseason, going from Regina to Prince George.  Between the two teams, he picked up 26 goals and 44 assists in 67 regular season games before adding 13 points in 15 postseason contests.  He’s producing at a better clip this year, tallying 29 goals and 44 helpers through 57 contests with the Cougars, one of four Western Conference teams to already clinch a playoff spot.

As the contract begins next season, Valis won’t count against Toronto’s 50-contract limit until the summer.  In the meantime, should the Cougars be eliminated while the AHL Marlies are still playing in their postseason, he will be eligible to join and play for them on an ATO agreement, giving him some time with the team he’s likely to play for when the contract begins in 2025-26.

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