NHL Transactions & Roster Moves

Nathan Lieuwen(G)|
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
The Sabres have recalled Nathan Lieuwen from Rochester (AHL).

Lieuwen, 24, won his first start with Rochester this seasoned went 4-9-0 with a 3.29 GAA and .883 SV% in 16 AHL games last season. Lieuwen will serve as Chad Johnson’s backup with Robin Lehner out with a lower-body injury.

Source:
Bill Hoppe 2015-10-10T11:32:41.000Z
Nathan Lieuwen
Jordan Schroeder(C)|
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
The Wild recalled Jordan Schroeder from Iowa (AHL).

Schroeder is expected to make his season debut on Saturday after Tyler Graovac was injured in the season opener. Schroeder had three goals and five assists (8 points) in 25 games with Minnesota last season.

Source:
Michael Russo 2015-10-10T10:18:48.000Z
Jordan Schroeder
Kevin Porter(C)|
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
The Penguins have sent Kevin Porter to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (AHL).

Porter was only a placeholder on the roster until they could recall Olli Maatta prior to their season opener tonight in Dallas. Porter will report to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton—he had 39 points (16G / 23A) in 76 games with the Grand Rapid Griffins last season.

Source:
Pittsburgh Penguins 2015-10-08T12:51:46.000Z
Kevin Porter
Matt Puempel(LW)|FA
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
The Senators have sent Matt Puempel back to Binghamton (AHL).

Puempel has been on the verge of cracking the Senators roster for awhile now, but can’t seem to quite get there. His demotion comes after ht has two assists and seven shots in five preseason games and it also suggests that Clarke MacArthur is ready to play in the season opener.

Source:
@Senators 2015-10-07T14:59:29.000Z
Matt Puempel
Scott Harrington(LD)|FA
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
The Maple Leafs have recalled Scott Harrington from Toronto (AHL).

Harrington was originally sent down because he was waiver exempt and helped the Leafs get down to 23 players. After Richard Panik cleared waivers, they were able to send him down and bring Harrington back up. The 22-year-old was part of the Phil Kessel trade this summer and is expected to make his Maple Leafs’ debut tonight vs. Montreal. He had two goals and 10 assists (12 points) in 48 games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (AHL) last year and was held pointless in 10 games with the Penguins.

Source:
@LeafsPR 2015-10-07T13:51:22.000Z
Scott Harrington
Jacob De La Rose(LW)|FA
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
The Canadiens sent Jacob De La Rose to St. John’s (AHL).

After the Canadiens claimed Paul Byron off of waivers from Calgary, they had to send someone down and De La Rose was the victim of a numbers game. The 20-years-old had four goals and two assists (6 points) in 33 games with the Canadiens last season.

Source:
Stu Cowan 2015-10-07T09:32:36.000Z
Jacob De La Rose
Olli Maatta(D)|UTA
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
The Penguins have assigned Olli Maatta to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

This move is believed to be a procedural move to help set them up to get down to their 23-man roster and sneak under the league’s salary cap. Maatta is expected to be recalled prior to their season opener and he should be in the lineup on Thursday.

Source:
Pittsburgh Penguins 2015-10-06T16:47:34.000Z
Olli Maatta
Pavel Zacha(C)|BOS
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
The Devils have sent Pavel Zacha to Sarnia (OHL).

Zacha, 18, was the sixth overall pick in this summer’s draft, but was unable to crack the Devils opening night roster. Zacha heads back to the OHL, where he had 16 goals and 18 assists (34 points) in 37 games a season ago.

Source:
Dan Rosen 2015-10-06T16:47:14.000Z
Pavel Zacha
Kristers Gudlevskis(G)|
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
The Lightning have assigned Kristers Gudlevskis to Syracuse (AHL).

Gudlevskis appeared to have the inside track to be Ben Bishop’s backup to start the season after Andrei Vasilevskiy got injured. However, after the Lightning claimed Kevin Poulin off of waivers, it became clear Gudlevskis was heading back to the AHL. He had a 3.33 GAA and .884 SV% in two preseason games.

Source:
Bryan Burns 2015-10-06T16:02:30.000Z
Kristers Gudlevskis
Jeremy Smith(G)|
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
Smith has cleared waivers and the Bruins have reassigned him to Providence (AHL).

Smith, 26, lost the Bruins’ backup job to Jonas Gustavsson and has been sent back to Providence where he will split the crease with Malcolm Subban. Smith was 22-11-5 with a 2.05 GAA and .933 SV% in 39 games with Providence last season.

Source:
Joe Haggerty 2015-10-06T15:41:13.000Z
Jeremy Smith
Jay Harrison(D)|FA
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
Harrison has cleared waivers and the Jets have assigned him to Manitoba (AHL).

Harrison had five points (2G / 3A) in 35 games with the Jets after being acquired from the Hurricanes last season. The 32-year-old will head back to the AHL for the first time since 2009-10 when he played 32 games with Albany.

Source:
Garret Hohl 2015-10-06T15:38:50.000Z
Jay Harrison

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.