NHL Hockey Player News

Nikita Zaitsev(RD)|FA
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Nikita Zaitsev has been assigned to the Belleville Senators (AHL).

Zaitsev will head to the AHL with Belleville for the first time in his seven-year career. He had bring struggling in limited action with Ottawa this season, picking up one assist and a -3 plus/minus across seven games played.

Source:
Sens Communications 2022-11-18T20:42:21.382Z
Nikita Zaitsev
Matej Blumel(RW)|DAL
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Matej Blumel has been loaned to the Texas Stars of the AHL.

Blumel has been loaned to the Texas Stars (AHL) unexpectedly after Dallas recalled two goaltenders (Remi Poirier and Adam Scheel) on Friday. Blumel returns to the AHL where he dominated prior to his call-up, posting 11 points (5G/6A) in nine games. In four games with the Dallas Stars in the NHL he had a goal in four games while filling a top-six role.

Source:
Texas Stars 2022-11-18T17:04:43.986Z
Matej Blumel
Ian Mitchell(D)|BOS
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Call Up
Ian Mitchell has been called up from the Rockford IceHogs (AHL).

Mitchell has been recalled from Rockford (AHL) after a sensational three-game start to his minor league season which saw him pick up two goals and five points in his first three games with Rockford. He will head back to the NHL where he has 47 games previously played, picking up three goals and eight points during his previous two big league stints.

Source:
Charlie Roumeliotis 2022-11-18T15:43:11.802Z
Ian Mitchell
Rem Pitlick(C)|FA
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Rem PItlick has been assigned to the Laval Rockets (AHL).

Pitlick will head back down to Laval (AHL) for the second time this season after picking up a seven-game stint with the Canadiens' where he failed to pick up a point but had eight PIMs and a -2 plus/minus. He will return to Laval where he has three assists in three games played so far this season.

Source:
Rocket de Laval 2022-11-18T15:30:54.118Z
Rem Pitlick
Austin Czarnik(C)|FA
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Austin Czarnik has been reassigned to Grand Rapids of the AHL.

Czarnik will head back to Grand Rapids (AHL) Friday where he enjoyed a strong opening to the season with 10 points (5G/5A) in eight games played. In his brief stint with the Red Wings he was solid, picking up a goal off four SOG in four games while averaging only 11:50 in a bottom six role.

Source:
Detroit Red Wings 2022-11-18T15:16:58.221Z
Austin Czarnik
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen(G)|BUF
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Call Up
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has been recalled from Rochester (AHL).

Amidst the news that Eric Comrie will be injured for "a little bit", Luukkonen has been called up from Rochester of the AHL. The 23-year-old netminder was fantastic with the Sabres in 2021-22, posting a .917 SV% and 2.74 GAA across a short nine-game showing. He has struggled this season with Rochester (AHL) posting a .898 SV% and 3.07 GAA with a 6-3-0 record.

Source:
Lance Lysowski 2022-11-17T19:51:20.805Z
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
Patrick Brown(C)|BOS
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Patrick Brown has been recalled from Lehigh Valley (AHL) and will slot right into the lineup Thursday.

Patrick Brown has been recalled from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (AHL) after he was assigned there for a rehab stint just recently. The 30-year-old has 12 points (6G/6A) through 77 career NHL games played prior to his debut Thursday.

Source:
Olivia Reiner 2022-11-17T16:51:45.428Z
Patrick Brown
Ville Heinola(D)|WPG
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Ville Heinola has been recalled from Manitoba (AHL).

Heinola will get his first taste of NHL action in 2022-23 after being recalled from Manitoba of the AHL. He had been enjoying a fairly strong early campaign, with seven assists and a +12 plus/minus rating across only 11 games played. The 2019 first-round pick (20th overall) has played in 25 career NHL games with one goal and 10 points prior to this season.

Source:
Winnipeg Jets 2022-11-17T15:22:07.004Z
Ville Heinola
Zane McIntyre(G)|FA
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Zane McIntyre has been recalled from the Iowa Wild (AHL).

McIntyre will get the call-up from Iowa (AHL) after it was announced Marc-Andre Fleury is dealing with a lower-body injury and will be out for an undisclosed amount of time. In seven games with Iowa in 2022-23, the 30-year-old has a 4-3-0 record along with a .903 SV% and 3.08 GAA. He last played in the NHL in 2016-17 where he played in eight games and failed to pick up his first career victory.

Source:
Michael Russo 2022-11-16T19:51:26.803Z
Zane McIntyre
Rem Pitlick(C)|FA
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Call Up
Rem Pitlick has been recalled from Laval (AHL).

Pitlick has been summoned from Laval of the AHL for his second stint with the Montreal Canadiens for the 2022-23 season. In three games with Laval prior to his promotion, he had three assists and eight PIMs with a +1 plus/minus rating. In seven games with Montreal earlier in the year he was held pointless.

Source:
Laval Rockets 2022-11-16T16:06:54.594Z
Rem Pitlick
Riley Sheahan(C)|BUF
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Call Up
Riley Sheahan was recalled from Rochester (AHL) Tuesday and will slot directly into the lineup.

Sheehan will make his season debut Tuesday after being recalled from Rochester of the AHL. In six games with the Sabres' minor-league affiliate, the 31-year-old veteran has three assists and is a +3 plus/minus prior to his call-up. He currently sits on 194 points (74G/120A) through 635 career NHL games played.

Source:
NHL.com 2022-11-15T18:16:06.512Z
Riley Sheahan

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.