Daily Faceoff is a news site with no direct affiliation to the NHL, or NHLPA

NHL Transactions & Roster Moves

Evan Rodrigues(C)|FLA
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
The Sabres have recalled Evan Rodrigues from Rochester (AHL).

The Sabres have a number of forwards banged up, so Rodrigues earned his first call-up of the season. Rodrigues has picked up three goals and five assists (eight points) in 13 games with Rochester and tonight he will make his NHL season debut.

Source:
Paul Hamilton 2016-11-15T10:21:07.000Z
Evan Rodrigues
Nick Baptiste(RW)|
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
The Sabres have recalled Nick Baptiste from Rochester (AHL).

The Sabres had Sunday and Monday off, so they sent Baptiste down for a few days, but with Ryan O’Reilly still questionable, Baptiste has been recalled. Baptiste has two goals and 10 shots on goal in 10 games with the Sabres this season.

Source:
Paul Hamilton 2016-11-15T10:19:45.000Z
Nick Baptiste
Justin Falk(LD)|
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
The Sabres have recalled Justin Falk from Rochester (AHL).

Dmitry Kulikov did not travel to St. Louis, so Falk is back with the Sabres and will be in the lineup. Falk has no points, two shots on goal while playing 13:35 TOI per game in his first two games with the Sabres.

Source:
Paul Hamilton 2016-11-15T10:17:18.000Z
Justin Falk
Chase De Leo(C)|FA
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
The Jets have recalled Chase De Leo from Manitoba (AHL).

De Leo, 21, has picked up three goals and four assists (seven points) in 12 games with Manitoba. De Leo has been recalled because Kyle Connor (upper-body) has been moved to IR. De Leo has appeared in two career NHL games and his third is expected to come on Tuesday.

Source:
Winnipeg Jets 2016-11-14T13:30:10.000Z
Chase De Leo
Marek Mazanec(G)|
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
The Predators have recalled Marek Mazanec from Milwaukee (AHL).

Mazanec is now the Predators’ third goalie, joining Pekka Rinne and Juuse Saros on the roster. Mazanec posted a 3.90 GAA and .849 SV% in two games with Milwaukee after being sent down last week. His call-up suggests that Rinne could be battling an injury.

Source:
Nashville Predators 2016-11-14T11:45:51.000Z
Marek Mazanec
Luke Witkowski(RW)|FA
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
The Lightning have recalled Luke Witkowski from Syracuse (AHL).

Witkowski, 26, has picked up three assists in 11 games with Syracuse this season. His call-up is likely related to Anton Stralman’s injury and suggests that Stralman may not be available vs. the Islanders. Witkowski has no points in 20 career NHL games.

Source:
Erik Erlendsson 2016-11-14T10:57:53.000Z
Luke Witkowski
Anthony Stolarz(G)|TOR
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
The Flyers have recalled Anthony Stolarz from Lehigh Valley (AHL).

Stolarz has been recalled because Michal Neuvirth is out 4-6 weeks with a knee injury. The 22-year-old netminder has gone 6-2-0 with a 2.39 GAA and .927 SV% in eight games with the Phantoms this season. He has been called-up before, but has never made his NHL debut. Expect it happen this time around, especially considering how Steve Mason has struggled.

Source:
Dave Isaac 2016-11-14T10:32:22.000Z
Anthony Stolarz
Shane Prince(C)|
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
Prince will be a healthy scratch on Monday.

Prince appeared in the last eight games, but will come out of the lineup on Monday. The Islanders will go with seven defensemen with Travis Hamonic returning tonight, so Prince will head to the press box.

Source:
Arthur Staple 2016-11-14T10:21:10.000Z
Shane Prince
Scott Mayfield(D)|NYI
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
The Islanders have recalled Scott Mayfield from Bridgeport (AHL) on an emergency basis.

Mayfield, 24, has picked up one goal and one assists (two points) in 12 games with Bridgeport this season. Mayfield has picked up one goal in 11 career NHL games and he is expected to make his season debut tonight with Dennis Seidenberg (upper-body) out.

Source:
Shannon Hogan 2016-11-14T10:14:03.000Z
Scott Mayfield
Quinton Howden(C)|
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
The Jets have recalled Quinton Howden from Manitoba (AHL).

Howden, 24, has been off to a great start in Manitoba, scoring seven goals with two assists (nine points) in his first 11 games. The former Florida Panther has 17 points (10G / 7A) in 92 career NHL games and could make his Jets debut on Sunday.

Source:
Ken Wiebe 2016-11-12T15:27:36.000Z
Quinton Howden
Taylor Beck(LW)|
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
The Oilers have sent Taylor Beck to Bakersfield (AHL).

Beck only appeared in one game during his call-up, but served as a healthy scratch in the last two games. The 25-year-old returned to Bakersfield, where he has 12 points (3G / 9A) in eight games.

Source:
@EdmontonOilers 2016-11-12T12:57:02.000Z
Taylor Beck
Matt Tennyson(RD)|FA
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
The Hurricanes have recalled Matt Tennyson from Charlotte (AHL).

Tennyson, 26, has picked up three goals on four assists (seven points) in nine games with Charlotte this season. Tennyson will replace Jakub Nakladal on the Hurricanes’ roster, but isn’t expected to play on Saturday.

Source:
Ken Preston 2016-11-12T12:48:04.000Z
Matt Tennyson
Phil Di Giuseppe(LW)|WPG
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
The Hurricanes have sent Phil Di Giuseppe to Charlotte (AHL).

Di Giuseppe, 23, has failed to pick up a point in 11 games with Carolina this season, so he heads back to Charlotte to work on his game. The former second round pick (38th overall in 2012) had 18 points (8G / 10A) in 25 AHL games a season ago.

Source:
Ken Preston 2016-11-11T12:03:17.000Z
Phil Di Giuseppe
Sean Kuraly(C)|BOS
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
The Bruins have recalled Sean Kuraly from Providence (AHL).

Kuraly, 23, has two assists in 10 games with Providence, but failed to record a point in his NHL debut last week. Kuraly has been recalled to serve as an extra forward during the Bruins’ upcoming road-trip.

Source:
@NHLBruins 2016-11-11T11:17:41.000Z
Sean Kuraly
Justin Falk(LD)|
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
The Sabres have recalled Justin Falk from Rochester (AHL); expected to play on Friday.

Falk, 28, has not picked up a point in nine games with Rochester, but will replace Dmitry Kulikov in the lineup on Friday. Kulikov is dealing with an undisclosed injury, so Falk will make his Sabres debut. He has 23 points (2G / 21A) in 171 career NHL games.

Source:
@BuffaloSabres 2016-11-11T11:14:38.000Z
Justin Falk

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.