Jaret Anderson-Dolan has been recalled from Ontario (AHL).
NHL Transactions & Roster Moves
Alex Laferriere has been recalled from Ontario (AHL).
Joel Armia has been recalled from the Laval Rockets (AHL).
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Cole Guttman has been reassigned to Rockford (AHL).
The Red Wings recalled Berggren from Grand Rapids (AHL).
After an impressive first year in North America, scoring 64 points (21G / 43A) in 70 games with the Grand Rapids Griffins of the AHL, Berggren became a regular in the lineup for the Red Wings last season where he recorded 28 points (15G / 13A) in 67 games. Berggren has impressed in the AHL again to begin the 2023-24 season, registering three assists through the opening two games of the season.
Ottawa has recalled Jacob Bernard-Docker from Belleville (AHL).
Bernard-Docker did not pick up a point in his two games played with Belleville (AHL) but has been recalled to Ottawa Friday. The 23-year-old defensemen cleared waivers after not originally making the Senators' roster but with the recent injury to Artem Sub will find himself back up with the big club. In 19 games in 2022-23 he had one assist, 11 PIMs, 22 SOG, and a -2 plus/minus with Ottawa.
Radim Simek has cleared waivers and been assigned to the San Jose Barracuda (AHL).
Simek failed to appear in any of the Sharks' first four games and has been assigned to the San Jose Barracuda (AHL) after clearing waivers Friday. The 31-year-old heads to the AHL after posting a goal, two assists, 29 PIMs, and a -13 plus/minus in 44 games with the San Jose Sharks in 2022-23.
Dominic Toninato has been recalled from Winnipeg (AHL).
Toninato had a goal, an assist, two PIMs and a -1 plus/minus through two games with the Manitoba Moose (AHL) and has been recalled to the Jets Friday. The 29-year-old forward returns to the NHL where he has played six seasons and has 12 goals, 30 points and 73 PIMs in 169 career games played.
Jansen Harkins has cleared waivers and been assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (AHL).
Harkins was originally acquired off waivers from Winnipeg by Pittsburgh on October 1st but has cleared waivers again and been assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (AHL). The 26-year-old winger failed to pick up a point in four games so far in 2023-24 but had four SOG, two PIMs and a -1 plus/miuns.
Radim Zohorna has been recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (AHL).
Zohorna did not have any points and was a -1 plus/minus in two games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (AHL) but has been recalled to Pittsburgh Friday. The 27-year-old stands a towering 6'6" and left an impression after an extremely strong preseason (3 Pts in 4 GP). He has made NHL appearances in three separate seasons with three different teams and has five goals, 11 points and a +8 plus/minus in 35 career games played.
Zack MacEwen has cleared waivers and been reassigned to Belleville (AHL).
MacEwen was placed on waivers Thursday but cleared and has officially been reassigned to Belleville (AHL). The 26-year-old enforcer had an assist, two SOG, and a +1 plus/minus in two games played in 2023-24 while averaging only 6:38 TOI on the Senators' fourth line. He was signed to a three-year, $2.325 million contract ($775,000 AAV) by the Ottawa in the offseason.
Simon Benoit has been loaned to the Toronto Marlies (AHL).
Benoit will be returned to the Marlies (AHL) where he will presumably see some playing time. The 25-year-old defenseman was called up by the Maple Leafs earlier this season but never found his way into the lineup. He had 10 points (3G / 7A) in 78 games with the Anaheim Ducks last season.
Pontus Holmberg has been recalled from the Toronto Marlies (AHL).
Holmberg has been recalled from the AHL after recording two points (1G / 1A) in two games with the Marlies. The Maple Leafs' sixth-round pick from the 2018 NHL Entry Draft will likely serve as a depth forward for the team as they enter the second game of a season-long, five-game road trip.
Hardy Haman Aktell has been recalled from the Hershey Bears (AHL).
Aktell had a goal, and was a -1 plus/minus in two games with Hershey (AHL) and has been recalled to Washington for the first time in his career. The 25-year-old Swede was drafted by Nashville in the fourth round of the 2016 NHL Entry Draft (108th overall) but he only crossed the border to North American this season after three years in the SHL. Aktell has a chance to make his NHL debut Saturday.
Nikita Okhotyuk has been loaned to the San Jose Barracuda (AHL) for a conditioning assignment.
Okhotyuk had yet to appear in any of the Sharks first three games and has now been loaned to the San Jose Barracuda (AHL) for a conditioning assignment. The 22-year-old defensive defensemen was acquired in 2022-23 in the deal that saw Timo Meier head to New Jersey. He had a goal, six SOG, two PIMs and a +1 plus/minus in 10 games last season with New Jersey.
Devin Shore has been recalled from Coachella Valley (AHL)
Shore failed to pick up a point in his only game for Coachella Valley (AHL) thus far this season but has been recalled to Seattle Thursday. The 29-year-old was signed to a one-year, two-way deal in the offseason worth $775,000 after scoring a goal and nine points with the Oilers in 47 games played in 2022-23. It will mark his ninth NHL season with his fifth different team when he makes his Seattle debut.
Pyotr Kochetkov has been recalled from Syracuse (AHL).
Kotchetkov was 1-0-0 with a .912 SV% and a 2.79 GAA with Syracuse (AHL) but has been recalled Wednesday to Carolina. The 24-year-old's promotion comes the night after Frederik Andersen left Carolina's game in the first period due to an injury. Kotchetkov returns to the big leagues, where he has a 15-7-5 record, a .908 SV% and a 2.43 GAA in 27 career NHL games played.
Sammy Walker has been recalled from Iowa (AHL).
Walker has yet to pick up a point in two games with Iowa (AHL) and is a -4 plus/minus but has been recalled to Minnesota Wednesday with the news that Alex Goligoski will be heading to the LTIR. Walker returns to the Wild, where he had a goal, an assist, eight SOG and a -1 plus/minus in nine games played in his rookie season in 2022-23.
Henry Thrun has been reassigned to the San Jose Barracuda (AHL).
Thrun has two assists, one SOG, and a -1 plus/minus through two games with San Jose in 2023-24 but finds himself the odd man out on their roster as he was reassigned to the San Jose Barracuda (AHL) Wednesday. The 22-year-old will endure his first taste of AHL action after he made the jump to the NHL straight from Harvard (NCAA) in 2022-23.
Mark Friedman has been recalled from Abbotsford (AHL).
Friedman will likely make his Vancouver Canucks debut on Thursday after being acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday with Ty Glover in a trade for Jack Rathbone and Karel Plasek. The 27-year-old Friedman has 65 NHL games under his belt, all with the Penguins, where he amassed 12 points (4G / 8A) along with 102 hits and 59 blocked shots. Akito Hirose was sent to Abbotsford (AHL) to make room for Friedman on the Canucks roster.
NHL Roster Moves
NHL roster moves are essentially transactions that alter a team’s lineup. The roster move could make the team better or worse. In some cases, the move is inconsequential. Fan favourites could leave for greener pastures. A struggling player could get sent down to the farm team. A lousy contract might get put on waivers. Even worse, players may get strategically buried on the long-term injury reserve list because they’re not worth the cap hit. The possibilities are somewhat endless.
Types of NHL Roster Moves
Don’t worry; Daily Faceoff has you covered when trying to grasp the concept of a league ruled by the complexities of the almighty salary cap. Below, we break down the strategy behind roster moves so you can get a leg up in your DFS league.
Free agent signings
NHL rosters are primarily constructed by player signings. The front office reaches out to what are referred to as “free agents.” Both the front office and the player’s agent work out the terms of a deal. How teams sign deals varies depending on what type of free agents they’re dealing with.
Rookie Deals
Rookie’s sign something called an entry-level contract which is usually capped at a certain amount of money per year. Under the NHL’s current collective bargaining agreement, the longest an entry-level contract can be signed is three years.
Restricted Free Agent Contracts
After that, a player becomes a restricted free agent (RFA). Technically, they can sign with teams outside of who they played for in the past season by accepting an offer sheet. That said, if the player’s first team extends a qualifying offer, any team competing for the player’s services will have to offer up a certain amount of compensation in the form of draft picks. Of course, that’s if the player agrees to the offer sheet and their current team doesn’t match it.
Unrestricted Free Agent Contracts
Players can become unrestricted free agents (UFA) when their current RFA deal is up and they can go wherever they want. If they sign a contract extension, they can sign for up to eight years. Alternatively, they can sign a seven-year deal if they test the open market. Fun fact: pending UFAs might be motivated to play their hearts out to secure the bag in their next deal. Keep that in mind, fantasy players.
Blockbuster trades
Trades make for some of the most interesting NHL roster moves. To this day, the infamous Patrick Roy deal still gets talked about in NHL circles. What happens in a trade is that two or maybe even three teams link up and iron out a deal. There might be deals that are referred to as “hockey trades,” meaning that both teams get something of equal value. For example, one team gives up a first-line centre for a top-pairing right-handed defenceman. Some NHL trades involve bad teams selling off their moveable assets, such as upcoming free agents, for future considerations, including draft picks or prospects.
Injuries
Depending on how badly a player gets injured, several things can happen. They can be out of a game or two, with the team opting to keep the severity of the injury private (a common pet peeve for fantasy players). Players can be put on the injury reserve for injuries that can keep them out for a calendar week. This frees up a roster spot so someone from within the team’s system, or sometimes outside of it, can come in and replace them while they’re getting back in tip-top shape. If the player needs over a week to recover after a serious injury, they will get put on long-term injury reserve.
Waivers
In typical NHL roster moves jargon, when a player goes on waivers, other teams can claim them from their current team. A player usually goes on waivers when they’re signed to a one-way deal, meaning they can’t be sent down to the minors willy-nilly like a rookie on a two-way deal. Before the player gets sent down, other teams can claim the player on the “waiver wire.” If the player isn’t claimed, they go to the minors to play in the AHL.
Call Ups
Outside of signings, player callups are one of the most popular NHL transactions. Most teams call up players when they’re performing well in the AHL or if there’s an injury on the main roster. Usually, when a player gets called up to the NHL, one gets sent down to the minors.
Contract Buyouts
Of course, you’ve probably worked with someone who’s pretty lazy. People from afar think that person is a “good fit,” but internally, everyone hates the person. Oftentimes, that person finds a way to get fired. Well, newsflash: the same thing happens in NHL dressing rooms. Sometime players who have a history of poor performance have the audacity to ask for more money come contract time. Their team has the option to buyout their contract, or in extreme cases of misconduct, their contract can be terminated. If they’re not being bought out, the front office is laughing while the player’s agent is showing themselves out of the building. For the players who are actually good and could command big bucks on the open market, teams hustle to get them signed up for a new deal. If the player hits the open market, all bets are off…. Coaching Changes
Losing a head coach that sucked at their job and replacing them with a new one can ignite a team. Historically, decent teams perform strongly when they get a new coach. For how long those “strong performances” sustain themselves over the course of a season is a whole other story.
Rules Around NHL Roster Moves
NHL rules aren’t made to be broken. If they’re written in the collective bargaining agreement (CBA), you may as well say they’re written in stone. Let’s talk about those “set in stone” rules.
Trade Deadline
Teams have a certain amount of time each season to make NHL trades and signings. The date varies from season to season, but it usually falls between the end of February and early March so that roster’s are set before the Stanley Cup playoffs begin. After the deadline, players can still be moved, but they will not be eligible to play for the rest of the regular season or playoffs. You’ll usually see prospects who are playing abroad get dealt after the deadline, if any trades are made at all.
[Editor’s note: can include link to new DFO Stanley Cup page here]
Strategy Behind NHL Roster Moves
General managers and hands-on hockey ops executives are always thinking about the future. If their team is going to miss the playoffs and it’s a good draft year, they might be inclined to sell, meaning they’ll try to offload decent players in return for cap space, draft picks and younger players. The opposite can be said for good teams. They’ll be looking to add to what they already have to make a run for the cup.
If you’re a DFS player or even in a dynasty league, you can exploit that by buying low on players who are playing for bad teams but have the potential to increase their production if they get traded to a good team. Having access to a good data set can help ease the trouble of anticipating how good a player will be going to and from a certain team.
The Salary Cap
When general managers sleep at night, they probably have nightmares about the salary cap. “The cap,” as hockey insiders like Frank Seravalli refer to it when discussing NHL transactions, dictates how much a team can spend on its roster. There’s a “floor,” meaning a team has to spend at least this much per year. Then, there’s a “ceiling” that teams can’t go over lest they pay the price in draft pick compensation and fines, amongst other things. The salary cap makes it difficult for teams to trade players with high cap hits. It also creates a market in itself for teams that want to get over the “floor” by taking on other teams’ bad contracts. In a world beyond reality, most would favour a luxury tax system like the one Major League Baseball implements.
How NHL Roster Moves Impact Sports Betting
Look, if you don’t want to put up with another year of getting beat by your co-worker’s child in fantasy, you have to put as much effort into your team as that 10-year-old weasel will. That means keeping up with the news. Changing your lineups on a daily basis. Trading players at their peak value. Buying them from others when they’re at their lowest. For the love all of things good, change your injured players out for healthy ones. If you’re a sports bettor, any NHL roster can change the money line or the total in a game, especially if a star player is hurt or a team is playing its third-string goalie. Staying in the loop will give bettors a better chance at finding an edge.