Canucks Sign Linus Karlsson To Two-Year Extension
The Vancouver Canucks continue to work on figuring out next year’s roster as they enter a transitional period. The Canucks announced that they’ve signed forward Linus Karlsson to a two-year, $4.5MM extension ($2.25MM AAV).
Vancouver has obviously liked what they have seen from Karlsson’s first full year with the team. Despite being selected with the 87th overall pick of the 2018 NHL Draft, it took Karlsson multiple years to find a consistent spot on the Canucks’ roster.
Much of that time post-draft was with Karlskrona HK and BIK Karlskoga of the HockeyAllsvenskan. His status as an upper-level prospect with the Canucks began in the 2020-21 season, scoring 20 goals and 51 points in 52 games with Karlskoga. He followed that up with a sensational introductory performance with the SHL’s Skellefteå AIK, registering 26 goals and 46 points in 52 games, taking home SHL Rookie of the Year honors.
Understandably, the Canucks quickly brought him to North America following that performance. He spent the entire 2022-23 season with the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks, recording 24 goals and 49 points in 72 games. Much like he did in Sweden, he followed that up with an even better showing, scoring 23 goals and 60 points in 60 games the next year while also making his NHL debut.
Last season was the most Karlsson had seen in the NHL until this year, though it wasn’t the showing that he or the team likely wanted. There was virtually no offense to his game in the sport’s highest league, finishing with three goals and six points in 23 contests. Still, his defensive metrics were impressive and proved valuable at some moments, given that he spent much of his time relegated to a bottom-six role.
Regardless, his subpar play in the NHL couldn’t take away from his impressive run in the AHL. Karlsson concluded the 2024-25 campaign with 23 goals and 39 points in 32 games for the AHL Canucks. Additionally, he helped the team win the Calder Cup, recording 14 goals and 26 points in 24 postseason appearances with a +4 rating.
Although his offense has been much better this season, nine goals and 16 points in 36 games, his defensive metrics have declined dramatically. Karlsson finished with a 94.3% on-ice SV% at even strength last season, and has only mustered an 85.8% mark this year.
Still, Karlsson is on pace for 20 goals this year, which is ultimately a win for the Canucks. At the beginning of the year, there was some concern that Karlsson would become a Group VI unrestricted free agent next summer, though he’s certainly on pace for 80 career games now. Regardless, Vancouver has committed to him through the 2027-28 season, and he’s currently projected to become the team’s eighth-highest-paid forward.
Photo courtesy of William Liang-Imagn Images.
Islanders Activate Ilya Sorokin, Reassign Marcus Hogberg
The Islanders activated goaltender Ilya Sorokin from injured reserve on Friday, per Stefen Rosner of NHL.com. He will dress as the backup to David Rittich for Saturday’s game against the Maple Leafs before returning to action Tuesday versus the Devils. Third-stringer Marcus Högberg was returned to AHL Bridgeport in a corresponding move.
Sorokin, arguably the Vezina Trophy frontrunner at the halfway point of the season, has missed the last five games with an undisclosed injury. Pre-injury, he’d been excellent behind an Islanders defense that allows the third-most expected goals against per 60 minutes in the league at 5-on-5 (2.96), posting a .910 SV%, 2.55 GAA, and three shutouts with a 12-10-2 record in 24 starts. His 22.8 goals saved above expected rank first across the NHL, per MoneyPuck.
Rittich has also been highly competent this year, but has begun to show signs of wear as he attempts his sixth consecutive start this weekend. He was pulled after allowing five goals on 14 shots against the Mammoth yesterday, but still has a .909 SV% in 17 games on the year.
Still, if the Isles manage to keep up their 96-point pace and make the postseason cutoff, Sorokin, along with Calder favorite Matthew Schaefer, will be the names that have the most to do with it. Sorokin’s 137 career wins are already third in Islanders franchise history, and his .916 SV% is first (min. 100 starts).
Högberg’s only action on this recall came in the relief appearance against Utah yesterday, allowing two goals on seven shots. The 31-year-old has a .881 SV%, 3.08 GAA, and 5-7-3 record in 14 games for Bridgeport.
Avalanche Recall Taylor Makar, Trent Miner; Place Mackenzie Blackwood On IR
The Avalanche announced they’ve recalled winger Taylor Makar and goaltender Trent Miner from AHL Colorado. Netminder Mackenzie Blackwood was placed on injured reserve in a corresponding move with a lower-body issue, per Meghan Angley of Guerilla Sports. Colorado had an open roster spot already, so they don’t need to clear a second one.
It’s unclear what’s keeping Blackwood out of the lineup. He did not practice yesterday ahead of the Avs’ three-game road trip, per Jesse Montano of Guerilla Sports.
Blackwood had finished the game in their 6-1 drubbing of the Blues on New Year’s Eve, his second straight start. The 29-year-old started the year on IR and has fallen into more of a tandem split with Scott Wedgewood as a result, but has still been spectacular through his 16 appearances, racking up a 13-1-1 record with a .924 SV% and league-leading 2.07 GAA.
While disappointing, Colorado has shown the ability to withstand their starter’s absence well already. Wedgewood started 10 of 11 in October while Blackwood was working his way back and put up a 7-1-3 record and .900 SV%. On the year, he’s now recorded a league-high 17 wins with a .919 SV% and 2.13 GAA.
Now, Blackwood will be out for at least one week. He’ll be re-evaluated after the Avs wrap up their road trip, which concludes on Jan. 6 in Tampa, per Montano.
Miner, 24, made one start and one relief appearance in October while serving as Wedgewood’s backup to open the season. He stopped 40 of the 44 shots he faced for a .909 SV% and 2.12 GAA.
A seventh-round pick in 2019, Miner is now up to two career starts and another two relief appearances. One of the younger and less experienced third-stringers in the league, he’s momentarily lost his AHL starting job as well to undrafted free agent pickup Isak Posch. In 10 appearances compared to Posch’s 16, Miner has a 7-2-0 record with a .907 SV% and 2.40 GAA.
Makar returns to the NHL roster after Gavin Brindley sustained a lower-body injury against St. Louis. With Joel Kiviranta also listed as day-to-day with a lower-body issue, the Avs needed an extra forward in case both are unavailable tomorrow in Carolina.
The 24-year-old Makar has been recalled three times already this season and made his NHL debut, going pointless in three appearances with six hits while averaging 5:33 of ice time per game. The 6’4″ lefty is in his first pro season and has six goals and 10 points in 26 AHL games.
Flames Loan Andrew Basha To WHL
The Flames have sent left wing prospect Andrew Basha back to juniors to finish the season with the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers, per a team announcement.
It will mark the 20-year-old Basha’s fifth and final season of junior hockey. Viewed as a potential fit by multiple public scouts in the 2024 draft, he ended up slipping to Calgary at No. 41 overall in the second round.
At the time, Basha was coming off a 30-goal, 85-point breakout in 63 games for Medicine Hat. The following season, he was a member of the Tigers’ WHL championship team but struggled with injuries. Limited to 23 regular-season contests, he still racked up nine goals and 29 points but lost important development time.
That missed development was apparent as Basha attempted to make adjustments to the pro game this season. Assigned to AHL Calgary out of training camp, he’s gotten plenty of reps but hasn’t produced. In 27 games, he’s put up a 1-4–5 scoring line with 33 penalty minutes and a -7 rating.
A good playmaker with physical acumen, he’s not an A-list prospect in a deep Calgary pool. Nonetheless, his toolkit points toward him being an effective fourth-liner even if the offensive production never really spikes at the pro level. The Flames are hoping that isn’t the case, though, and he can develop into something of a top-nine power forward. Getting some confidence back in Medicine Hat should help him on the way.
Senators Loan Matthew Andonovski To OHL
The Senators reassigned defense prospect Matthew Andonovski from AHL Belleville to OHL Kitchener today, per a team announcement.
Andonovski was a fifth-round pick in 2023. As he’s 20 years old, he’s still eligible for major junior hockey, but Ottawa was no longer forced to return him to his junior team as stipulated by the NHL-CHL transfer agreement.
While Andonovski was eligible for a full-time assignment to Belleville, loaning him to Kitchener means he must stay there until their season ends. He’s not eligible to return to the AHL until then, and he would only be eligible for an NHL recall under emergency conditions, although he’s far enough down the depth chart that he wouldn’t be considered in that scenario.
The 6’2″, 201-lb lefty signed his entry-level contract with the Sens in the 2024 offseason, but the deal slid to this year after he was loaned out to Kitchener for the entire campaign. A physical shutdown defender, Andonovski served as the Rangers’ captain last season and racked up 21 points, a +10 rating, and 132 penalty minutes in 65 games.
This season, injuries have limited Andonovski’s pro debut to just three appearances with Belleville and none since Nov. 1. He posted zeroes across the board. Today’s news indicates he’s been cleared to return to play and will now partake in his fifth and final season with Kitchener.
Canucks Place Marco Rossi On IR, Recall Arshdeep Bains
The Canucks announced they’ve placed center Marco Rossi on injured reserve retroactive to Dec. 30. His roster spot is going to winger Arshdeep Bains, who’s been recalled from AHL Abbotsford.
Rossi, 24, has only played eight games since being acquired from the Wild in the Quinn Hughes deal. The team’s new second-line center behind Elias Pettersson hasn’t seen much success yet, though. While he’s averaged nearly 19 minutes per game, tracking for a career-high, the 2020 No. 9 overall pick has only managed two points and a -5 rating while seeing a rotation of Brock Boeser, Jake DeBrusk, and Conor Garland as his primary linemates.
That cold streak hit a stop sign against the Flyers on Tuesday, leaving that game with a lower-body injury. On Thursday, head coach Adam Foote told reporters that Rossi – along with Garland – would miss at least a week. He would be eligible to come off IR on Jan. 6 against the Sabres, but won’t return until their following game against the Red Wings at the earliest.
Injuries have been a theme for the Austrian this season. His tenure with the Wild ended while he was on injured reserve with a separate lower-body issue, believed to be a foot fracture. All told, he’s had five goals and 15 points in 25 showings this season after reaching a career-high 60 points last year.
If history is any indication, Bains won’t be a replacement for Rossi in the top six, but he does give Vancouver an extra forward while Garland is out. The 24-year-old broke camp with the Canucks but was waived and reassigned to Abbotsford last month after scoring a goal and five points in 26 appearances, almost exclusively in a fourth-line role while averaging under 10 minutes per game. The 6’0″ winger has three goals and six points in five AHL games since the demotion, bringing his career AHL points per game up to 0.79.
Lightning Sign Charle-Edouard D’Astous To One-Year Extension
The Lightning announced they’ve signed defenseman Charle-Edouard D’Astous to a one-year extension worth $875K. He was due to be an unrestricted free agent next summer.
While the 27-year-old D’Astous is too old for Calder Trophy consideration, the Quebec native has quietly been one of the league’s most impressive rookies. The former ECHL Defenseman of the Year had spent the last three seasons in Europe, racking up back-to-back top defenseman honors in Finland’s and Sweden’s top leagues, before landing his first NHL contract – a two-way deal with the Bolts signed in May.
D’Astous did not make Tampa’s opening night roster. In fact, he was a relatively early cut from training camp on Sep. 28. He posted three points and a +3 rating in four games for AHL Syracuse before the Lightning recalled him just two weeks into the season in the wake of an injury to Maxwell Crozier.
The 6’2″ lefty was scratched once before making his debut, kicking off a run of 33 consecutive appearances to begin his NHL career. While injuries to Victor Hedman and Ryan McDonagh have been the primary factor keeping him in the lineup, he’s done his best in the meantime to ensure he has a legitimate shot of remaining in the lineup when Tampa’s defense returns to full health. With a 3-10–13 scoring line, he’s third among Bolts defenders in scoring and 10th on the team overall while averaging a hearty 19:05 per game out of the gate, quarterbacking Tampa’s second power-play unit in Hedman’s stead.
D’Astous’ defensive deficiencies were historically the biggest obstacle between him and an NHL contract despite his long track record of elite offensive production in the minors, juniors, and in Europe. Those haven’t disappeared. The Lightning allow 3.4 goals against per 60 minutes with D’Astous on the ice at even strength, the worst figure on the team.
Nonetheless, he’s proven himself a valuable depth option, providing legitimate offensive value from the blue line as Tampa has dealt with multiple key injuries. He was one of only five pending UFAs on the Lightning’s roster, a list that’s now limited to Oliver Bjorkstrand, Darren Raddysh, Declan Carlile (Group VI), and Curtis Douglas (Group VI).
Bo Horvat Avoids Long-Term Injury, Out At Least One Week
One day after being included on Team Canada’s roster for the 2026 Olympics, Islanders center Bo Horvat suddenly saw his participation fall into jeopardy after sustaining a lower-body injury in the third period of Thursday’s loss to the Mammoth. Today’s evaluation revealed he’s expected to be back in action before heading to Italy next month, although he will miss at least the next week, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports.
Horvat, 30, had recently returned from a two-week absence due to another lower-body injury. Sources told Stefen Rosner of NHL.com that the injury he sustained yesterday is of a similar nature and should carry a similar return timeline.
While those injuries have provided the Ontario native with some bumps in the road, he’s persisted to churn out a career-best offensive performance to earn him a spot on the world’s biggest stage as NHLers return to the Olympics. He had two goals in four games in his return to the lineup to boost his season totals to 21 goals and 33 points in 36 appearances.
The Isles’ top scorer and second-most used forward behind Mathew Barzal, Horvat is also averaging a career-high 20:30 of ice time per game as a true all-situations center. His 57.6 faceoff percentage is the eighth-best clip among the 45 players with at least 500 total faceoffs this season.
While concern over Horvat’s Olympics availability no longer abounds, there’s still the question of how the Islanders will navigate another multi-game stretch without him. Barzal will center the top line between Anders Lee and Emil Heineman to start, per Denis Gorman of the Associated Press, while second-year winger Maxim Tsyplakov will get a look in a second-line role after serving as a healthy scratch in nine of New York’s last 11 games.
Instead of placing Horvat on injured reserve, the Islanders opened a roster spot this morning by reassigning defenseman Marshall Warren to AHL Bridgeport. Warren, 24, had appeared in six straight games and has three assists in eight games on the year, the first appearances of his NHL career. Ice time has been limited, though, with the Long Island native averaging only 11:29 per game.
With Warren down, the Islanders can recall a forward from AHL Bridgeport before Saturday’s game against the Maple Leafs if they wish. However, with 13 healthy forwards still on the roster without Horvat and two games left on their homestand, there might not be a corresponding move.
Image courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images.
Golden Knights Recall Jaycob Megna
With Brayden McNabb sustaining an upper-body injury on Wednesday against Nashville, the Golden Knights have brought up an extra blueliner. The team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled Jaycob Megna from AHL Henderson.
The 33-year-old is in his first season in the organization after spending 2024-25 with Florida. Vegas saw fit to give Megna a two-year, one-way deal worth $800K per season for situations like this where he could be playable depth where needed or as injury insurance so as to not disrupt the development of their prospects with the Silver Knights.
This is Megna’s third recall of the season although the first two didn’t result in any playing time. He does, however, have 193 career NHL appearances under his belt between five different organizations where he has 27 points along with 313 blocks and 258 hits in 17:38 of playing time per game. Meanwhile, he has two goals and four assists in 23 games so far this season with Henderson.
With Megna’s recall, Vegas is up to a full 23-player roster.
Blue Jackets Recall Danton Heinen
When the Blue Jackets placed winger Miles Wood on injured reserve earlier today, they opened up a roster spot. They didn’t waste much time filling it as the team announced that they’ve recalled winger Danton Heinen from AHL Cleveland. They still have one open slot on their 23-player roster.
The 30-year-old hasn’t been in the organization for very long as he was only acquired by Columbus back on Monday as part of the Yegor Chinakhov deal. However, his inclusion was more for salary-matching purposes rather than being a specific target as Heinen has gone through waivers unclaimed twice already this season.
Heinen has split this season between the NHL and AHL, playing in 13 games at each level, including one with Cleveland following the trade. In the minors, he has been dominant, notching six goals and 12 assists in his first taste of minor league action since 2017-18. Meanwhile, in the NHL with Pittsburgh, he has a goal and an assist while averaging 11:40 per night of ice time.
When Heinen sees any game action with Columbus, it stands to reason that his playing time will be similarly limited. But he does have a strong track record of being productive in a bottom-six role as evidenced by his career numbers of 243 points in 579 games despite an ATOI below the 14-minute mark. Given their growing list of injuries, he should get a chance to add to those numbers before long.