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NHL Transactions & Roster Moves

Mitchell Chaffee(RW)|TBL
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Chaffee has cleared waivers and been assigned to Syracuse (AHL).

Chaffee played a career-high 66 games with Tampa Bay last season, tallying 16 points (12G / 6A). The 27-year-old forward started the season with Tampa Bay but was held off the scoresheet in seven straight games, resulting in him being a healthy scratch for multiple contests, and ultimately being placed on waivers on Monday. He will report to the Syracuse Crunch (AHL).

Source:
Tampa Bay Lightning 2025-10-28T18:43:23.037Z
Mitchell Chaffee
Brett Leason(RW)|WSH
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Leason has been loaned to Hershey (AHL).

Leason started his career in the Capitals organization but spent the previous three seasons with the Anaheim Ducks. He signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Capitals on Monday, his second stint with the team, providing some organizational depth on a two-way contract. The 26-year-old forward has 54 points (25G / 29A) in 220 career NHL.

Source:
Washington Capitals PR 2025-10-28T18:20:39.643Z
Brett Leason
Tom Willander(RD)|VAN
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Call Up
Willander has been recalled from Abbotsford (AHL).

Victor Mancini (undisclosed) was placed on Injured Reserve, freeing up a roster spot for Vancouver to recalled Willander from Abbotsford (AHL). The 20-year-old Willander was the 11th-overall pick of the Canucks in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft. He has yet to play an NHL game and is in his first professional season, tallying two points (1G / 1A) in five AHL games with Abbotsford.

Source:
Vancouver Canucks 2025-10-28T17:27:17.586Z
Tom Willander
Hunter Shepard(G)|OTT
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Shepard has been loaned to Belleville (AHL).

Shepard was recalled from Belleville (AHL) on Monday to serve as the backup to Leevi Merilainen, allowing Linus Ullmark to rest before returning to the crease on Tuesday. The undrafted Shedpard played one NHL game with the Washington Capitals last season but spent most of the campaign in the AHL, posting a 2.80 GAA and .891 SV% in 39 games (23-11-4) with the Hershey Bears.

Source:
Sens Communications 2025-10-28T16:07:48.754Z
Hunter Shepard
Coulson Pitre(RW)|ANA
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Pitre has been activated from the Injured-Non Roster and has been assigned to San Diego (AHL).

Pitre had been dealing with an upper-body injury since the beginning of the season and has been activated from the Injured-Non Roster and been assigned to San Diego (AHL). The 20-year-old forward is entering his second professional season in San Diego after having three goals, 16 points and 19 PIMs in 61 GP last season.

Source:
Anaheim Ducks 2025-10-27T19:32:22.748Z
Coulson Pitre
Zach Metsa(D)|BUF
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Metsa has been loaned to Rochester (AHL).

Metsa appeared in four games since his call-up on October 20th but failed to pick up a point and has been loaned back to Rochester (AHL) on Monday. The 27-year-old undrafted defensemen made his NHL debut this season and will likely be Buffalo's first call up should they have anyone out of the lineup. Metsa going down is a good indication Michael Kesselring is ready for his season debut on Tuesday.

Source:
Sabres PR 2025-10-27T19:30:38.134Z
Zach Metsa
Jett Luchanko(C)|PHI
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Luchanko has been assigned to the Guelph Storm (OHL) for the remainder of the season.

Luchanko was held off the scoresheet in four games with the Flyers this season and will spend the remainder of the 2025-26 campaign with the Guelph Storm in the OHL. The 19-year-old Luchanko was the 19th-overall pick by the Flyers in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft.

Source:
Philadelphia Flyers 2025-10-27T16:14:00.416Z
Jett Luchanko
Tobias Bjornfot(D)|FLA
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Bjornfot has been reassigned to Charlotte (AHL) on Monday.

Bjornfot was drafted 22nd-overall by the Los Angeles Kings in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. The 24-year-old has 15 points (1G / 14A) in 134 career NHL games but has been unable to establish a full-time presence at the NHL level, spending most of the previous five seasons either as a seventh defenseman or playing in the AHL.

Source:
George Richards 2025-10-27T16:00:41.958Z
Tobias Bjornfot
Hunter Shepard(G)|OTT
Call Up
Call Up
Shepard has been recalled from Belleville (AHL).

Ottawa's coaching staff emphasized that there is no injury to Linus Ullmark, but he will have the day off on Monday, with the recently recalled Shepard serving as the backup to Leevi Merilainen. Ullmark is scheduled to return to the crease on Tuesday, at which point Shepard will likely return to Belleville (AHL).

Source:
Sens Communications 2025-10-27T15:03:20.014Z
Hunter Shepard

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.