The Bruins have recalled Anton Blidh from Providence (AHL).
Blidh has recorded two goals and four assists (six points) in 11 games with Providence this season. The 23-year-old winger has just two points (1G / 1A) in 20 career NHL games with Boston.
NHL Hockey Player News
The Islanders have recalled Tom Kuhnhackl from Bridgeport (AHL).
Kuhnhackl has recorded just one goal in four games with the Islanders, but picked up three points (2G / 1A) in his only game with Bridgeport during his demotion. He could draw back into the lineup vs. Montreal on Monday.
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The Capitals reassigned Aaron Ness to Hershey (AHL).
Ness was called-up to serve as an extra defenseman while Brooks Orpik was sidelined with a lower-body injury. With Orpik presumably returning to the lineup on Monday, Ness returns to the AHL. The 28-year-old blueliner has four assists in 12 games with the Hershey Bears.
Call Up
The Wild have recalled Nate Prosser from Iowa (AHL).
Prosser had only played in one game for the Wild before being sent to Iowa on a conditioning stint. The 32-year-old defenseman did not record a point and was a minus-1 in two AHL games and returns to Minnesota where he will continue to be an extra defenseman.
The Kings have sent Sean Walker to Ontario (AHL).
The Kings have recalled Michael Amadio from Ontario (AHL).
The Kings have sent Austin Wagner to Ontario (AHL).
The Kings recalled Matt Luff from Ontario (AHL).
Luff is an undrafted free agent, who has recorded 12 points (6G / 6A) in eight games with the Reign this season. Luff is expected to make his NHL debut vs. the Blue Jackets on Saturday.
The Blue Jackets have assigned Sonny Milano to Cleveland (AHL).
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The Oilers send Cooper Marody to Bakersfield (AHL).
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The Islanders sent Christopher Gibson to Bridgeport (AHL).
The Devils have recalled Brett Seney from Binghamton (AHL).
Seney has had a hot start to the season, registering 10 points (1G / 9A) in his first 10 games with Binghamton. The former sixth-round pick could make his NHL debut on Saturday.
The Devils have recalled Kurtis Gabriel from Binghamton (AHL).
Gabriel, who has just two assists in six AHL games this season, is known more for his physical play than his offensive ability and is expected to make his Devils’ debut on Saturday.
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The Devils have assigned Kevin Rooney to Binghamton (AHL).
Rooney is known for his play on the defensive side of the puck and his penalty kill ability, so it’s not that surprising to see he has not recorded a point in two games with the Devils this season. Kurtis Gabriel was recalled to take his spot on the roster.
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The Devils assigned Pavel Zacha to Binghamton (AHL).
Zacha has not recorded a point in 10 games this season, so he heads to the AHL for the first time since 2015-16. Zacha has been a solid defensive centre for the Devils, but they were expecting to get more offence out of him when they picked him No.6 overall in 2015. His move to the AHL will allow him to play huge offensive minutes and try to re-discover that part of his game.
The Senators sent Alex Formenton back to London (AHL).
Formenton was a second-round pick in 2017 and scored one goal in nine games with the Senators to open the season. Formenton returns to London, where he had 29 goals and 19 assists (48 points) in 48 games last season.
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The Wild have sent Nate Prosser to Iowa (AHL) on a conditioning stint.
Prosser has been a healthy scratch in 11 of the Wild’s first 12 games this season. Even the game he played in, Prosser played just 3:03 TOI. He’ll go to Iowa to get some playing time, making it his first AHL stint since 2011-12.
The Oilers recalled Kevin Gravel from Bakersfield (AHL).
Gravel has just one assist in five games with the Condors this season and has been recalled to take Evan Bouchard’s spot on the roster. Bouchard was sent to the OHL for the rest of the season, so Gravel will likely remain with the Oilers as their sixth/seventh defenseman. He has 10 points (1G / 9A) in 72 career NHL games with the Kings (70 GP) and Oilers (2 GP).
The Oilers have assigned Evan Bouchard to London (OHL).
Bouchard, 19, was the 10th overall pick in this summer’s draft and picked up one goal while averaging 12:21 TOI/GM in seven NHL games. Bouchard was impressive, posting a 55.4 CorsiFor% and +11.0 CF% rel, thanks to a 64.3% Offensive-Zone start percentage. Bouchard returns to the London Knights, where he led the team with 87 points (25G / 62A) in 67 games last year.
The Hurricanes sent Phil Di Giuseppe to Charlotte (AHL) on Thursday.
Di Giuseppe has been a healthy scratch for 10 of the Hurricanes first 12 games, so he’ll go to Charlotte to get some playing time. The former second-round pick most recently picked up 12 points (4G / 8A) in 14 AHL games in 2017-18.
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.