The Penguins recalled Kasper Bjorkqvist from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (AHL).
With so many Penguins banged up, Bjorkqvist could make his NHL debut on Tuesday. He has three goals in 15 career NHL games, including one goal in three games this season.
NHL Transactions & Roster Moves
The Golden Knights recalled Kaedan Korczak from Henderson (AHL).
Korczak was the No.41 overall pick in the 2019 NHL draft and the 20-year-old blueliner has two assists in 13 career AHL games to date. With Alec Martinez and Zach Whitecloud out, Korczak was recalled so the Golden Knights would have seven defensemen in Colorado. He could make his NHL debut on Tuesday.
Mitchell has been recalled from Rockford (AHL) and will draw into the Blackhawks lineup on Sunday.
The Jets have recalled Dominic Toninato from Manitoba (AHL).
The Jets sent Cole Perfetti down yesterday and have recalled Toninato in a corresponding move. The 27-year-old has one assist in two games with the Moose this season.
The Devils have recalled Nico Daws from Utica (AHL).
Daws started his 2021-22 season by stopping 25 of 27 shots in a win in his AHL debut. The 2020 third-round selection spent last season in Germany, where he was 4-6-0 with a 2.90 GAA and .897 SV%. There's no indication why Daws was called up because now the Devils have three goalies on the active roster.
The Panthers recalled Chase Priskie from Charlotte (AHL).
It's unclear what the plan for Priskie is, a Panthers' regular must be banged up. Priskie has one assist in two AHL games so far this season and if he ends up playing Thursday, it will be his NHL debut.
Send Down
The Jets reassigned Cole Perfetti to Manitoba (AHL).
Perfetti failed to record a point in his first two NHL games and gets reassigned to AHL where he can play top-6 minutes. Perfetti had nine goals and 17 assists (26 points) in 32 AHL games last year.
The Oilers have recalled Stuart Skinner from Bakersfield (AHL).
The Edmonton gets called up after Mike Smith (lower-body) landed on IR on Wednesday. The 22-year-old netminder has gong 2-0-0 while stopping 53 of 56 shots (.946 SV%) in his first two AHL starts of 2021-22. The Oilers have a back-to-back on Thursday/Friday, so Skinner could get the nod in one of those two games.
The Predators sent Cody Glass to Milwaukee (AHL) on Monday.
The Avalanche have recalled Mikhail Maltsev from Colorado (AHL).
Maltsev opened the season in the AHL but got off to a hot start, picking up four points (1G / 3A) in two games. Maltsev and Martin Kaut were both recalled and are expected to make their season debuts on Tuesday.
The Avalanche have recalled Martin Kaut from Colorado (AHL).
Kaut has picked up two assists in his first two AHL games this season and could make his season debut with Colorado on Tuesday. The Avalanche played with just 11 forwards on Saturday, so both Kaut and Mikhail Maltsev should draw in vs. the Capitals.
Send Down
The Avalanche have reassigned Dylan Sikura to Colorado (AHL).
Sikura failed to record a point in 12:39 TOI in his Avalanche debut on Saturday. He was sent down and Colorado recalled Martin Kaut and Mikhail Maltsev to take his place on the roster.
The Blackhawks have recalled Mike Harman from Rockford (AHL).
Hardman had one goal and two assists (three points) in eight games with the Blackhawks last season. He opened the AHL season with two assists in two games. After being called up this morning, Hardman was skating on the third line with Henrik Borgstrom and Alex DeBrincat, so look for him to play on Tuesday.
The Blackhawks have sent Ian Mitchell to Rockford (AHL).
Mitchell played in the Blackhawks season opener but was scratched in after they signed Erik Gustafsson to a one-year deal. Mitchell will get playing time in Rockford, where he had one assist in five games last season.
The Rangers have recalled Morgan Barron from Hartford (AHL).
Barron has had a nice start to the 2021-22 season, scoring two goals in his first two AHL games. The 22-year-old has one goal in five career NHL games and will take Kaapo Kakko's (upper-body) spot on the roster.
The Predators have recalled Connor Ingram from Milwaukee (AHL).
David Rittich was added to the COVID-19 protocol list, so Ingram has been brought up to serve as Juuse Saros vs. Carolina.
The Avalanche recalled Dylan Sikura from Colorado (AHL).
The Avalanche are likely going to be without Nathan MacKinnon (COVID), Valeri Nichushkin (upper-body) and Gabriel Landeskog (suspension) on Saturday, so Sikura will make his Avalanche. Sikura has 16 points (3G / 13A) in 53 career NHL games with the Blackhawks and Golden Knights.
The Avalanche recalled Stefan Matteau from Colorado (AHL).
The Avalanche are likely going to be without Nathan MacKinnon (COVID), Valeri Nichushkin (upper-body) and Gabriel Landeskog (suspension) on Saturday, so Matteau will make his Avalanche debut. The 27-year-old has 11 points (6G / 5A) in 91 career NHL games with the Devils, Canadiens, Golden Knights and Blue Jackets.
The Avalanche have reassigned Alex Newhook to Colorado (AHL).
The Avalanche are likely going to be without Nathan MacKinnon (COVID), Valeri Nichushkin (upper-body) and Gabriel Landeskog (suspension) on Saturday, so sending Newhook to the AHL opens up enough cap space to recall multiple forwards to fill the voids. Stefan Matteau and Dylan Sikura were recalled.
The Lightning have recalled Andrej Sustr from Syracuse (AHL).
Sustr has been in the KHL for the last two seasons but returned to North America and Tampa this offseason. Sustr has 63 points (10G / 53A) in 323 career NHL games and is expected to replace Zach Bogosian (undisclosed) in the lineup on Thursday.
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.