NHL Transactions & Roster Moves

Martin Marincin(D)|FA
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
The Maple Leafs have sent Martin Marincin to Toronto (AHL).

Marincin has only appeared in two games with the Maple Leafs this season and with the their third pairing struggling, Toronto has swapped Marincin for former second-round pick Travis Dermott. Marincin returns to the AHL where he has seven points (2G / 5A) and a plus-13 rating in 18 games.

Source:
@LeafsPR 2018-01-05T11:51:59.000Z
Martin Marincin
Travis Dermott(D)|FA
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
The Maple Leafs have recalled Travis Dermott from Toronto (AHL).

The Maple Leafs lack depth on the blueline so Dermott will get his first shot with the big club after collecting two goals and 15 assists (17 points) in 26 games with the Marlies this season. The 2015 second round pick (No.34 overall) has seven goals and 34 assists (41 points) in 85 career AHL regular season games. Look for him to make his NHL debut on Saturday.

Source:
@LeafsPR 2018-01-05T11:48:18.000Z
Travis Dermott
Marek Hrivik(LW)|
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
The Flames have recalled Marek Hrivik from Stockton (AHL).

Hrivik, 26, has recorded 10 goals and 19 assists (29 points) in 28 games with Stockton this season. The former Ranger has just three assists in 21 career NHL games. He will take Freddie Hamilton’s spot on the Flames roster.

Source:
Aaron Vickers 2018-01-04T12:20:14.000Z
Marek Hrivik
Zac Dalpe(C)|FA
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
The Blue Jackets have recalled Zac Dalpe from Cleveland (AHL).

Dalpe has scored two goals with seven assists (nine points) in 13 games with the Monsters this season. There is no word whether he will be in the lineup on Thursday, but he has no points in 10 NHL games this season.

Source:
Aaron Portzline 2018-01-04T10:57:29.000Z
Zac Dalpe
Andrew Hammond(G)|FA
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
The Avalanche have recalled Andrew Hammond from Belleville (AHL).

Hammond has gone 7-6-2 with a 3.44 GAA and .899 SV% in 17 games with the Belleville Senators this season. With Semyon Varlamov out with a lower-body injury, Hammond has been recalled to backup Jonathan Bernier for at least two games.

Source:
Mike Chambers 2018-01-03T13:01:58.000Z
Andrew Hammond
Calvin Pickard(G)|EDM
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
The Maple Leafs have sent Calvin Pickard to Toronto (AHL).

Pickard allowed four goals on 28 shots in the Maple Leafs loss in Colorado last Friday. He got the nod because Curtis McElhinney was hurt but with McElhinney back at practice today, Pickard returns to the Marlies where he is enjoying a strong year.

Source:
Paul Hendrick 2018-01-02T10:35:41.000Z
Calvin Pickard
Frederik Gauthier(C)|FA
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
The Maple Leafs have recalled Frederik Gauthier from Toronto (AHL).

Gauthier has five goals and three assists (eight points) in 25 games with the Marlies this season. Gauthier is expected to make his season debut on Tuesday with Nazem Kadri not expected to be available. The 22-year-old former first-round pick has four points (2G / 2A) in 28 career NHL games.

Source:
Paul Hendrick 2018-01-02T10:34:07.000Z
Frederik Gauthier
Casey DeSmith(G)|DAL
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
The Penguins sent Casey DeSmith to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (AHL).

DeSmith came up to backup Tristan Jarry while Matt Murray was out for one-game, but with Murray back over the weekend, he returns to the AHL where he has gone 10-5-1 with a 2.72 GAA and .911 SV% in 17 games.

Source:
@penguins 2018-01-02T09:51:58.000Z
Casey DeSmith
Steve Bernier(RW)|FA
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
The Islanders have reassigned Steve Bernier to Bridgeport (AHL).

Bernier has a healthy scratch for three of the last four games and didn’t pick up a point in four games during his call-up. The veteran returns to the Sound Tigers, where he has 10 goals and four assists (14 points) in 21 games.

Source:
Arthur Staple 2018-01-02T09:48:18.000Z
Steve Bernier
Zac Dalpe(C)|FA
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
The Blue Jackets have recalled Zac Dalpe from Cleveland (AHL) on an emergency basis.

The Blue Jackets have a forward who is questionable for Tuesday due to an illness, so Dalpe comes up as an extra forward. He has seven points (1G / 6A) in 12 games with the Monsters but has failed to record a point in 10 games with the Blue Jackets.

Source:
@BlueJacketsPR 2018-01-02T09:35:44.000Z
Zac Dalpe
Peter Cehlarik(LW)|BOS
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
The Bruins have reassigned Peter Cehlarik to Providence (AHL).

Cehlarik has missed the last 16 games with a lower-body injury so he will return to Providence to get back up to speed. The 22-year-old has two points (1G / 1A) in five games with Boston and six points (3G / 3A) in six games with Providence.

Source:
Boston Bruins 2018-01-02T09:27:17.000Z
Peter Cehlarik

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.