Wild Activate, Reassign Michael Milne
Oct. 30: Milne cleared waivers and will be on his way to Iowa, per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.
Oct. 29: The Wild have activated forward Michael Milne from season-opening injured reserve and subsequently placed him on waivers with intent to assign him to the AHL’s Iowa Wild, according to a team announcement.
Assuming he clears, the 23-year-old Milne will be kicked off his fourth professional season, all in the Minnesota organization. He was a third-round pick in 2022 as an overager out of WHL Winnipeg and immediately turned pro. Last year marked his NHL debut, although it was a brief one. The 5’11” winger only got into one game, an early-season loss to the Stars, and posted three hits in 6:34 of ice time before heading back to Iowa.
The British Columbia native has been out since the beginning of the month with an undisclosed injury, but today’s news indicates he’s been medically cleared to resume practicing and will do so in the minors. He may still have some upside down the line, but he’s yet to have an offensive breakthrough with Iowa. He made 60 appearances for the club last season, scoring 15 goals and 11 assists for a career-high 26 points.
Milne was a restricted free agent this past offseason but received a qualifying offer from the Wild, who promptly inked him to a two-way deal worth $775,000 in the NHL and $100,000 in the AHL in July. He’ll be arbitration-eligible next summer, which could dissuade Minnesota from giving him a qualifying offer this time around if they’re not sold on his future.
Flyers Recall Aleksei Kolosov, Place Samuel Ersson On IR
12:30 p.m.: Kolosov’s recall is official, and they’ve moved Ersson to IR to facilitate it, per Bill Meltzer of NHL.com. With a tight schedule upcoming for the Flyers, that rules Ersson out for the next four games. He’ll be eligible to return on Nov. 6.
10:26 a.m.: The Flyers will recall goaltender Aleksei Kolosov from AHL Lehigh Valley prior to tonight’s game, according to Charlie O’Connor of PHLY Sports. They don’t have an open roster spot, but Kolosov’s recall will likely come under emergency conditions.
Kolosov will be dressing as the backup to Daniel Vladař tonight against the Predators. Samuel Ersson has been ruled unavailable after sustaining a minor tweak in practice yesterday, O’Connor added. He’s listed as day-to-day and could be an option this weekend. But since they wouldn’t have the required two healthy goaltenders without Kolosov, he can be brought up under emergency conditions and not count against the active roster.
Kolosov likely won’t be up long enough to get a start. Nonetheless, the 23-year-old has taken strides in his development early on in 2025-26. A third-round pick in 2021, Kolosov has started five games for Lehigh Valley with a strong 2.60 GAA and .918 SV%, contributing to a 3-2-0 record. He’s posted a shutout in there as well for good measure.
It’s a remarkably stable performance from a player whose past couple of years have been anything but. Philadelphia initially brought Kolosov over from his native Belarus at the end of the 2023-24 campaign, and he joined Lehigh Valley for its final few games. He was unhappy with the adjustment to North America, though, and threatened to return to the KHL last season if he didn’t make the Flyers’ roster. He didn’t have much leverage without a European Assignment Clause, though. He ended up splitting last year between Philly and Lehigh Valley as part of a three-goalie mix with Ersson and Ivan Fedotov.
Kolosov wasn’t particularly impressive in either league. His NHL numbers were especially underwhelming, logging a .867 SV% and 3.59 GAA in 13 starts and four relief appearances. He mustered a 5-9-1 record but was among the worst goalies in the league by any metric. He allowed 0.599 goals above expected per 60 minutes, second-worst in the NHL among goalies with at least 15 games, per MoneyPuck. He also sputtered with a .884 SV%, 3.11 GAA, and a 5-6-1 record in 12 AHL contests.
That makes his step back in the right direction this season a big one. He’s still just 23 years old and has room to grow. If his relationship with the Flyers organization after the 2024 offseason drama is salvageable, there’s still a path toward him being something of a long-term backup/tandem option. That’s important with Vladař headed for unrestricted free agency in 2027 and the Flyers set to lose team control over Ersson that same year, but the team also has other high-end prospects in the pipeline like Carson Bjarnason and Yegor Zavragin.
Ersson’s injury comes after a slow start for the Swede, who’s all but officially lost the crease to the red-hot Vladař. The 26-year-old has started four of Philadelphia’s nine games, but with him posting a .876 SV% and allowing 0.9 goals above expected, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Flyers move away from a true Vladař/Ersson rotation moving forward.
Avalanche Sign Martin Necas To Eight-Year Extension
Another big-ticket name is off next summer’s free agent board. The Avalanche have signed Martin Nečas to a max-term extension, the team announced. The deal is worth $92MM in total and carries an $11.5MM cap hit, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. $60MM of that $92MM is signing bonus money, and the deal carries a no-movement clause from 2026-27 through 2032-33, Friedman adds. The eight-year contract carries Necas through the 2033-34 season.
After potential 2026 UFAs Connor McDavid, Kirill Kaprizov, Jack Eichel, and Kyle Connor all signed extensions over the past several weeks, Nečas and Artemi Panarin were left alone at the top of the class for next summer. Instead of waiting to see what Nečas might have been able to land on the open market for the first time in his career, he’s making a long-term commitment to Colorado.
As for the Avs, they didn’t have much of a choice but to keep grinding away until they got a deal done. Nečas became a top-line cornerstone and their de facto No. 2 forward behind Nathan MacKinnon when they initiated a series of blockbuster trades midway through last season. Colorado was unable to make tangible progress on an extension with star pending UFA Mikko Rantanen, so they traded him to the Hurricanes and received Nečas back as the centerpiece. Rantanen was similarly unable to come to terms on a deal with Carolina and was flipped to the Stars at the trade deadline, where he did end up signing an eight-year deal.
Leaving Nečas in lame duck status for much longer risked the same situation developing that torpedoed their relationship with Rantanen less than 12 months ago. It’s hard not to see the terms of the contract as a net positive for the Avs, who get Nečas locked in for $500,000 per season under what Rantanen ended up receiving from Dallas. They also keep their internal salary structure intact by keeping his cap hit well below MacKinnon’s $12.6MM mark, giving them more added flexibility when starting up extension talks with potential 2027 UFA Cale Makar next summer.
Aside from that drama, the Avs are evidently pleased with what Nečas has brought to the table in the last nine months. The 2017 No. 12 overall pick had flashes of top-line play in Carolina throughout his development, but never put a pair of back-to-back star-level seasons together. That looks to be changing now. Nečas crossed the point-per-game threshold for the first time in 2024-25, racking up 27 goals, 56 assists, and 83 points in 79 appearances between the Canes and Avs. He had 28 of those points in 30 games with Colorado. He’s off to a similarly hot start this season with seven goals and 13 points in 11 contests while averaging a career-high 21:15 per game.
In signing his deal, Nečas becomes the seventh Avalanche player signed through 2030 or longer. He joins MacKinnon, Valeri Nichushkin, Devon Toews, and Mackenzie Blackwood as the team’s core pieces locked in for that long, while depth forwards Parker Kelly and Logan O’Connor are also signed to lower-cost, long-term deals.
Now, the Avs hope Nečas’ emergence since the beginning of 2024-25 is sustainable for the rest of his prime. Through his first five full seasons in Carolina, Nečas only averaged 23 goals and 58 points per 82 games. Now, he ranks 25th in the league in points per game since October 2024 among those with at least 25 appearances. Possession play, previously an intermittent concern in Raleigh, has also seen improvement since his arrival in Denver. He posted a dominant 60.6 CF% at even strength for the Avs down the stretch last year and has continued humming along with a 57.6% mark with a 62.2 xGF% this year.
Nečas was finishing up a two-year, $13MM contract he signed with the Canes as an RFA in July 2024. Now, he falls just outside the top 10 highest cap hits for the 2026-27 season. Six of the 10 players ahead of him have signed their contracts in the last calendar year.
The extension doesn’t cripple the Avs’ salary cap picture for 2026-27, but it’s still uncomfortably tight. They have $16.125MM in projected space, assuming a $104MM cap, but nine roster spots are unaccounted for, per PuckPedia. That’s an average of just $1.79MM per spot. The good news – none of their remaining pending free agents currently make more than that figure. Their eight highest-paid forwards, their four highest-paid defensemen, and their highest-paid goaltender are all signed through at least next season, meaning that $1.79MM average to fill out their depth could end up being a feasible number to work with.
Image courtesy of Winslow Townson-Imagn Images.
Flyers, Stars Swap Christian Kyrou For Samu Tuomaala
The Flyers have acquired defenseman Christian Kyrou from the Stars in exchange for winger Samu Tuomaala, per announcements from both clubs. Both players were assigned to their respective teams’ AHL affiliates, so no corresponding moves are needed.
The puck-moving Kyrou will add some speed and upside to the Flyers’ pool of defense prospects. He’s still just 22 years old but has had an awkward last couple of years in the Stars’ system. The 5’11” righty was a second-round pick by Dallas in 2022 and clicked at over a point per game in his final season of junior hockey, but he hasn’t been able to find consistency since turning pro. Kyrou’s first year saw him record eight goals and 23 points in 57 games for AHL Texas, but his offense has slid from there. His output dropped to 15 points in 36 games last year, and he’s gone without a point through his first four games of the season for Texas. He’s also a -12 for his career in the minors.
Kyrou was still something of a notable name in a weak Dallas prospect pool. He was the No. 5-ranked player in the system by Steven Ellis of Daily Faceoff and the top right-handed defenseman. With their minor-league affiliate winless through six games and struggling to produce offense, though, they opted to part ways with the plateauing Kyrou and swap him out for some forward help.
As for why the Flyers moved on from Tuomaala, it’s quite apparent. The 2021 second-rounder had put up good point totals for AHL Lehigh Valley over the past two seasons but has tumbled down the organizational depth chart to begin 2025-26. He was one of the club’s first cuts from training camp and has fallen into healthy scratch territory with the Phantoms, only playing in three of eight games so far this year and going without a point.
Tuomaala’s previous track record makes him an intriguing pickup for Dallas, though, and one still with NHL upside. The 22-year-old Finn has a 26-49–75 scoring line in 120 career appearances for Lehigh Valley and was an AHL All-Star in 2023-24. He was also the top player in Finland’s second-tier pro league, Mestis, the year prior, scoring 27 goals and 48 points in just 31 appearances for Peliitat and Ketterä in 2022-23.
Neither player has made their NHL debut, and they’re both in the final seasons of their entry-level contracts. They’re also both not eligible for arbitration when they reach restricted free agency next summer.
Capitals Place Ethen Frank On Injured Reserve
The Capitals have placed winger Ethen Frank on injured reserve, according to Tarik El-Bashir of Monumental Sports Network. The placement is retroactive to Tuesday, when he left their 1-0 loss to the Stars with an undisclosed injury. As a result, he’s been ruled out for Washington’s next two games and will be eligible for activation on Nov. 5 against the Blues.
Frank needed assistance from the team’s trainers down the tunnel with less than two minutes left in the game. He attempted a check on Dallas winger Mikko Rantanen but failed to move him off the puck and took the worst of the collision (video via B/R Open Ice).
That was Frank’s third appearance of the season. He’s been recalled twice since clearing waivers and heading to AHL Hershey at the beginning of the campaign. The 27-year-old has recorded an assist, three shots on goal, and a pair of hits while averaging 11:18 of ice time per game, slotting into fourth-line duties with Nic Dowd and Brandon Duhaime. It’s his second taste of NHL action after making his debut for the Caps last year. The high-end AHL goal-scorer notched four tallies and seven points in 24 showings for Washington in 2024-25.
They haven’t yet filled Frank’s roster spot, but will likely do so before tomorrow’s game against the Islanders to give themselves an extra forward. Likely recall options include first-round pick Ivan Miroshnichenko and the newly signed Brett Leason. They’re rostering 13 right now, but Dylan Strome is unlikely to play due to the lower-body injury that kept him out of the Dallas game. He’s listed as day-to-day and skated in a non-contact jersey at today’s practice, per Sammi Silber of The Hockey News.
Canadiens Reassign Joshua Roy, Marc Del Gaizo
The Canadiens announced that forward Joshua Roy and defenseman Marc Del Gaizo have been reassigned to AHL Laval. Their active roster count drops to 21 ahead of what’s a light stretch of games for the Habs, including a mostly home-game schedule through the beginning of November.
Roy, 22, is in the early stages of his third professional season. He was a fifth-round pick in 2021 and now finds himself in the final year of his entry-level contract, making him a restricted free agent next summer.
He and Del Gaizo were recalled together on Oct. 21 ahead of Montreal’s four-game Pacific Division road trip. The Habs were dealing with injuries to Kirby Dach and Patrik Laine at the time, although the former has since returned, intensifying the need for added roster depth on the swing. That trip concluded with an overtime win over the Kraken earlier this week, and the Habs have now decided they don’t need the extra roster depth for their upcoming homestand.
Roy played last week against the Flames but was then in the press box for three straight games. He saw just 7:58 of ice time in what was the 36th appearance of his NHL career and was held off the scoresheet aside from four hits. The 6’0″ winger now carries a 6-5–11 career scoring line with a -8 rating, on pace for 14 goals and 25 points in an 82-game season.
Before his recall, the Quebec native was off to a hot start in Laval with three tucks and an assist through four games. He’ll build on that now as he looks to build his resume in hopes of landing an opening-night job in 2026-27. He’s been a great scoring winger for the Habs’ top farm club, rattling off a 36-35–71 scoring line in 92 career AHL appearances.
Del Gaizo, 26, was signed by the Canadiens at the start of free agency after reaching Group VI UFA status. Since he’s been on the active roster for under 30 days since clearing waivers during the preseason, he doesn’t need waivers again for today’s demotion. He did not appear in any of the four games he was rostered for, so his career NHL games played total stays at 55. He had no points and a +2 rating in four outings for Laval so far this year.
Minor Transactions: 10/29/2025
Yesterday was a notably busy day for hockey, as all 32 NHL clubs took the ice as part of the league’s “Frozen Frenzy” programming. As a result, today’s calendar of games is light, with just one NHL game to be played: the Toronto Maple Leafs taking on the Columbus Blue Jackets. With that said, that doesn’t mean there aren’t games played in the wider world of pro hockey – the AHL has 12 games set to be played tonight, and numerous European pro leagues have also had games today.
Player movement outside the NHL has a similarly high level of activity, and here we’ll run down the notable moves of the past few days from around the world of professional hockey:
- 170-game NHL veteran Nic Petan terminated his contract with Swiss pro side HC Ambri-Piotta today, ending a 15-game stint with the club that has gone very poorly. The 30-year-old signed a two-year deal with Ambri-Piotta this past summer with the expectation that he’d be one of the team’s most relied-upon offensive generators. But through 15 games, Petan has registered only four points. It wasn’t an issue of ice time, as he’s averaged nearly 17 minutes of time per game and two minutes of power-play time per game, both he and Ambri-Piotta as a whole have struggled immensely to put the puck in the net. That hasn’t been a problem for Petan for most of his (non-NHL) pro career, as he’s a former AHL All-Star who once led the entire CHL in scoring. He has 289 points in 296 career AHL games and was one of the AHL’s highest-paid two-way players, with a $550K AHL salary when he last played, but that sterling track record wasn’t able to translate to Switzerland. He’ll now look for a new landing spot to continue his pro career.
- Lada Togliatti, one of the KHL’s worst teams so far this season, made a few player moves today. First, they placed 23-year-old Canadian forward Joshua Lawrence on waivers, placing in question the player’s KHL future. Lawrence, who is the brother of Tynan Lawrence, one of the top-ranked prospects for the 2026 draft, is an undrafted player who worked his way up the European pro hockey ladder to reach the KHL. After his time as a star scorer in the QMJHL ended, Lawrence played almost two highly-successful seasons in the Swiss second division before getting the chance to finish 2024-25 in Liiga with Lahti Pelicans. his 13 points in 22 games for the Pelicans earned him a shot in the KHL with Lada, but after scoring just two points in 14 games, he’s been waived.
- To reinforce their forward group in the absence of Lawrence, Lada signed two KHL veterans to one-year contracts: Nikita Setdikov and Anton Burdasov. Setdikov, 30, brings nearly 300 games of KHL experience to the table, and he most recently played for Barys Astana, scoring 18 points in 51 games. The year prior, he was one of the top scorers for Nizhnekamsk Neftekhimik, scoring 30 points in 57 games. Burdasov, 34, has 663 games of KHL experience, and is a Gagarin Cup Champion as well as a former All-Star. He also played in Astana last season to limited success, but was a high-end, near point-per-game scorer as recently as 2022-23.
- Former Boston Bruins farmhand Zane McIntyre has returned to the North American pro game after spending a year overseas. The 33-year-old netminder has signed a contract with the ECHL’s Tahoe Knight Monsters, per the league’s official transactions report. McIntyre spent last season with the Straubing Tigers of the German DEL, playing in 28 games to an .889 save percentage and 2.67 goals-against average. Among the 23 DEL goalies with at least 15 games played last year, McIntyre’s .889 save percentage ranked 22nd. With this newly-signed contract, he’s returning to the North American minor leagues, where he’s had quite a bit more success. A former top NCAA netminder, McIntyre has played in 300 AHL games and is a former All-Star. Since expected starter Jordan Papirny was recalled to the Henderson Silver Knights yesterday, McIntyre could get the chance to hold down the fort for the Knight Monsters for as long as Papirny remains in the AHL.
- Former New York Rangers prospect Nico Gross signed a three-year contract extension with his current club, HC Davos of the Swiss NL. A 2018 fourth-rounder of the Rangers, Gross hasn’t played pro hockey in North America to this point in his career, but appears to have settled in nicely in the top pro league of his home country. Gross won two NL titles with EV Zug in 2021 and 2022 before transferring to Davos in advance of the 2024-25 season. This extension comes at a somewhat curious time for Gross. His ice time has declined sharply so far in 2025-26 – Gross is averaging 14:28 time-on-ice per game so far this season, per the NL’s stats page, but averaged 16:59 time-on-ice per game last season.
- Former Chicago Blackhawks prospect Milton Oscarson signed a three-year extension with Örebro HK of the SHL, according to a team announcement. The Blackhawks spent a sixth-round pick at the 2023 entry draft to acquire him, but after he wasn’t able to develop offensively at the SHL level, they elected to let their exclusive rights to sign him expire this past summer. Although he hasn’t scored much, Oscarson has been a regular player for Örebro for more than three years now, and is currently playing 14:10 per game for the team, good for seventh among Örebro forwards.
- After playing just six games for the team, the WHL’s Spokane Chiefs traded 2007-born defenseman Caden Campion to the WHL’s Wenatchee Wild in exchange for an eighth-round selection at the 2029 WHL Prospects Draft. The 6’1 right-shot blueliner spent last season in the BCHL, splitting his year between the Chilliwack Chiefs and Alberni Valley Bulldogs. Drafted 29th overall in the 2023 USHL Futures Draft, Campion’s WHL career hasn’t started off in ideal fashion, but this trade provides him with the chance to get a fresh start with a new team.
- Gavin Gould, a two-time WCHA Champion with the Michigan Tech Huskies, has retired from pro hockey, per a social media announcement. Gould, 29, won back-to-back conference titles in his first two years playing college hockey but wasn’t able to build on that momentum in his final two years in the NCAA. He began his pro career in 2021 in the ECHL, and bounced between five different ECHL clubs across his nearly 200-game career. Gould’s most productive stretch came in 2021-22, when he scored 26 points in 23 games for the Allen Americans after a mid-season move from the Greenville Swamp Rabbits.
Hurricanes Recall Charles-Alexis Legault, Place William Carrier On IR
The Carolina Hurricanes’ defensive core continues to suffer injuries. Needing yet another blueliner to sustain a roster, the team announced they’ve recalled Charles-Alexis Legault from the AHL’s Chicago Wolves. Carolina placed forward William Carrier on the injured reserve, and he isn’t expected back for some time.
Legault’s recall corresponds directly to the injury sustained by Shayne Gostisbehere yesterday against the Vegas Golden Knights. Gostisbehere returned after missing the previous 10 days on the injured reserve, but skated in 7:19 of last night’s loss before exiting the contest. Team reporter Walt Ruff shared earlier that Gostisbehere suffered a midsection injury, and the team is hopeful he won’t be out long-term.
Still, that leaves Carolina without their three top defensemen for the foreseeable future. Jaccob Slavin is already on the team’s injured reserve after participating in only two games to start the year, and K’Andre Miller has missed the last three games with a lower-body injury.
Now, without Gostisbehere again, that leaves the Hurricanes with rookie Alexander Nikishin and Sean Walker as their top available pair. Both players have performed well this year, but they are not the top options needed to stay competitive, as evidenced by their performance against the Golden Knights last night.
Today marks the second call-up of Legault’s young career. He’s skated in three games for the Hurricanes already this season, going scoreless while averaging 11:53 of ice time. The former fifth-round pick spent the entire 2024-25 campaign with AHL Chicago, scoring three goals and 14 points in 63 games.
Golden Knights Reassign Jaycob Megna
According to a team announcement, the Vegas Golden Knights have reassigned defenseman Jaycob Megna to the AHL’s Henderson Silver Knights. The move is likely for salary cap purposes since the Golden Knights don’t play again until Friday.
For the time being, that leaves Vegas with six defensemen on the active roster, with no indication that Noah Hanifin is expected to return soon. Since the Silver Knights play the Ontario Reign this evening, Megna will be able to fulfill the one-game requirement in the AHL to make him eligible to return as a depth piece for the Golden Knights on Halloween.
Despite being on the roster for the last week, Megna has yet to play for Vegas this year. Excluding preseason action, Megna’s last NHL contest came over half a year ago with the Florida Panthers.
Thus, most of his professional playing days have been spent in the AHL. He’s coming off one of the best seasons of his professional career, scoring two goals and 16 points in 64 games for the Charlotte Checkers with a +26 rating. He’s already appeared in four games with AHL Henderson this year, tallying one assist with a +2 rating.
Vegas may choose to provide Megna with more consistency and recall Dylan Coghlan in his stead later this week. Still, since he can spend another 23 days on the roster before needing waivers again, expect Megna to rejoin the Golden Knights against the Colorado Avalanche on Friday.
Avalanche Assign Trent Miner To AHL
Oct. 29th: Colorado announced that they’ve reassigned Miner to the AHL’s Colorado Eagles, indirectly confirming he made it through waivers unscathed.
Oct. 28th: The Avalanche placed goaltender Trent Miner on waivers today, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. He’ll head to AHL Colorado if he clears.
While doing so will open a roster spot, that’s not of concern to the Avs, as they already have one. It instead ushers the formal return of starting netminder Mackenzie Blackwood, who will be backing up Scott Wedgewood tonight as he’s healthy enough to dress for the first time this season, per Bailey Curtis of DNVR Sports. He’s missed 10 games with a lower-body issue and has continued to sit out after being recalled from his conditioning loan to the AHL over a week ago.
Only recently has Miner played a factor in Blackwood’s absence. He played two of the last three, one in early relief and one as a start, for Colorado to give the overtaxed Wedgewood some rest. The veteran backup performed as well as could be hoped for in spot-starting duty, logging a 5-1-2 record and a .904 SV% with a 2.42 GAA in nine appearances. He’s faltered recently, though, logging a 0-1-1 record and .825 SV% in his last three outings. That explained Colorado’s decision to give Miner his first start of the season and second of his career in Sunday’s overtime loss to the Devils. In his two appearances this month, the 24-year-old managed a 0-0-2 record with a .909 SV% and 2.12 GAA. He saved one goal above expected, per MoneyPuck.
The Avs’ third-stringer now returns to the AHL – assuming he clears waivers – where he had great success last season. The 2019 seventh-round pick made a career-high 38 appearances for the Eagles and came away with a 22-10-9 record, .918 SV%, 2.12 GAA, and three shutouts. His solid showing in brief NHL action this year likely quiets any concerns that may have existed about Miner being a capable No. 3 option.
While Miner’s recent numbers may generate some interest on the wire, he’s still under contract through 2026-27. While he’s on a league-minimum, two-way deal, that could be enough to dissuade any potential claimers.