NHL Transactions & Roster Moves

Filip Roos(D)|FA
Call Up
Call Up
Filip Roos has been recalled from Rockford (AHL).

Roos has three goals, six assists, 18 PIMs and a -5 plus/minus through 28 games with the Rockford IceHogs (AHL) and has been recalled to Chicago. The 24-year-old defenseman played in 15 games earlier in the season for the Blackhawks, picking up a goal and two assists.

Source:
Ben Pope 2023-03-09T17:56:57.364Z
Filip Roos
Anthony Richard(C)|PHI
Call Up
Call Up
Richard has been recalled from Laval (AHL) and is expected to be in the lineup on Thursday.

Richard has 24 goals, 31 assists, 40 PIMs and a +3 plus/minus through 49 games with Laval (AHL) and will head back to Montreal for a second time this season. The 26-year-old had a goal and an assist across seven games played earlier this season with Montreal.

Source:
@CanadiensMTL 2023-03-09T18:36:44.403Z
Anthony Richard
Jiri Patera(G)|VAN
Call Up
Call Up
Jiri Patera has been recalled from the Henderson Silver Knights (AHL).

Patera has a 12-13-1 record, a .916 SV% and 2.66 GAA with the Henderson Silver Knights (AHL) and has been recalled to Vegas for the first time this season as a replacement for the injured Adin HIll. The 24-year-old was Vegas' 2017 sixth-round pick (161 overall).

Source:
Vegas Golden Knights 2023-03-09T16:14:11.366Z
Jiri Patera
Pyotr Kochetkov(G)|CAR
Call Up
Call Up
The Hurricanes recalled Pyotr Kochetkov from Charlotte (AHL) on an emergency basis.

Antti Raanta suffered an undisclosed injury in Tuesday's game in Montreal, so Kochetkov comes up to serve as the Hurricanes' No.2 netminder behind Frederik Andersen. WIth a back-to-back on Saturday/Sunday, there's a good chance that Kochetkov seems some action.

Source:
Walt Ruff 2023-03-09T13:44:13.569Z
Pyotr Kochetkov
Lawrence Pilut(LD)|BUF
Call Up
Call Up
Lawrence Pilut has been recalled by the Rochester Americans (AHL).

Pilut has three goals, 16 assists, 22 PIMs and a -1 plus/minus through 30 games with the Rochester Americans (AHL) and has been recalled Tuesday by Buffalo. The 27-year-old defensemen returns to Buffalo, where he had a goal, three points, and a -4 plus/minus rating through 17 games earlier in the season.

Source:
Buffalo Sabres 2023-03-07T20:03:31.729Z
Lawrence Pilut
Jonny Brodzinski(C)|NYR
Call Up
Call Up
Jonny Brodzinski has been recalled from Hartford (AHL).

Brodzinski had 12 goals 18 assists, 33 PIMs and a +2 plus/minus through 34 games played with Hartford (AHL) this season and has been recalled Tuesday to New York. The 29-year-old returns to the Rangers, where he had a goal and an assist across 16 games earlier this season in his previous NHL stint.

Source:
Arthur Staple 2023-03-07T15:04:56.233Z
Jonny Brodzinski
Pontus Holmberg(RW)|TBL
Call Up
Call Up
Pontus Holmberg has been recalled from the Toronto Marlies.

Holmberg had five goals, six assists, eight PIMs and a -2 plus/minus through 22 games with the Toronto Marlies (AHL) and has been recalled Monday. The 23-year-old returns to the Maple Leafs, where he had five goals, 13 points, 26 SOG and 14 PIMs through 36 games played earlier in the season.

Source:
Leafs PR 2023-03-06T18:32:59.819Z
Pontus Holmberg
Alexander Steeves(C)|BOS
Call Up
Call Up
Alexander Steeves has been recalled from the Toronto Marlies (AHL).

Steeves has 17 goals, 27 assists, 24 PIMs and a -4 plus/minus through 53 games played with the Toronto Marlies (AHL) and has been called to the Maple Leafs for a second time this season. In his previous stint in the NHL this season, the 23-year-old failed to pick up a point and was a -1 plus/minus.

Source:
Leafs PR 2023-03-06T18:25:12.735Z
Alexander Steeves

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.