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NHL Transactions & Roster Moves

Micheal Haley(C)|FA
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
The Sharks have recalled Michael Haley from San Jose (AHL).

Haley has four goals and two assists in six games with the Barracuda this season. He comes back to the Sharks where he failed to record a point in his season debut. Haley will centre the fourth line with Matthew Nieto and Bryan Lerg on his wings.

Source:
Kevin Kurz 2015-11-05T14:42:19.000Z
Micheal Haley
Ryan Hartman(RW)|MIN
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
The Blackhawks have reassigned Ryan Hartman to Rockford (AHL).

Hartman had one assist in three games during his call-up, but has been reassigned to Rockford, which suggests that Marian Hossa, could return on Friday, but even if Hossa isn’t quite ready, Viktor Tikhonov has been waiting to get back into the lineup.

Source:
Chris Kuc 2015-11-05T12:00:31.000Z
Ryan Hartman
Kerby Rychel(LW)|
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
The Blue Jackets have recalled Kerby Rychel from Lake Erie (AHL).

Rychel has 10 points (4G / 6A) in six games with Lake Erie this season, earning the promotion to the NHL with David Clarkson going on IR. Rychel, the former 19th overall pick, has three assists in six NHL games.

Source:
Aaron Portzline 2015-11-04T18:02:24.000Z
Kerby Rychel
Davis Drewiske(D)|
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
The Flyers have recalled Davis Drewiske from Lehigh Valley (AHL).

Yevgeni Medvedev has been sent home with an upper-body injury, so the Flyers have recalled Drewiske to serve as the Oilers extra defenseman. Drewiske has one assist in nine games with Lehigh Valley this season.

Source:
Dave Isaac 2015-11-04T17:12:18.000Z
Davis Drewiske
Chris Conner(RW)|
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
The Flyers have reassigned Chris Conner to Lehigh Valley (AHL).

Conner did not appear in a game during his call-up and with the Flyers in need of a depth defenseman, not forward, he has been sent to the AHL, where he has four goals and four assists in eight games this season.

Source:
Dave Isaac 2015-11-04T17:10:52.000Z
Chris Conner
Magnus Paajarvi(LW)|
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
The Blues have recalled Magnus Paajarvi from Chicago (AHL).

Paajarvi has four goals and three assists in seven games with Chicago this season. He has enjoyed a nice start to the AHL season, so the Blues have recalled him to help their injury riddled lineup. He had one assist in 10 games with St. Louis last season.

Source:
Dhiren Mahiban 2015-11-04T13:01:34.000Z
Magnus Paajarvi
Karl Stollery(D)|
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
The Sharks have recalled Karl Stollery from San Jose (AHL).

The Sharks have been promoting and demoting players all season long, so don’t expect Stollery’s stay in the NHL to last very long. They 27-year-old blueliner has one assist in six games in the AHL this season.

Source:
San Jose Sharks 2015-11-03T15:12:20.000Z
Karl Stollery
Antoine Bibeau(G)|FA
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
The Maple Leafs have recalled Antoine Bibeau from Toronto (AHL).

Bibeau, 21, has gone 5-1-0 with a 2.17 GAA and .908 SV% in six games with the Marlies. Bibeau has been recalled because Jonathan Bernier is dealing with an undisclosed injury. Bibeau will likely serve as James Reimer’s backup on Wednesday.

Source:
James Mirtle 2015-11-03T14:28:42.000Z
Antoine Bibeau
Ben Street(RW)|FA
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
The Avalanche recalled Ben Street from San Antonio (AHL) on Monday.

Street had a great start to the season with San Antonio, registering 12 points (3G / 9A) in six games. His recall suggests that an Avalanche forward is dealing with an injury and Street could make his season debut on Tuesday. Street has two assists in 22 NHL games.

Source:
Mike Chambers 2015-11-03T13:50:38.000Z
Ben Street
Alexander Khokhlachev(C)|
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
The Bruins have recalled Alex Khokhlachev from Providence (AHL).

Khokhlachev, 22, has have a great start to the year with Providence, scoring four goals with nine assists (13 points) in 10 games. He was on the ice for the Bruins morning skate and skated on a line with David Krejci and Loui Eriksson, suggesting he could take David Pastrnak’s spot in the top six tonight.

Source:
Steve Conroy 2015-11-03T11:01:31.000Z
Alexander Khokhlachev
Bryan Bickell(LW)|
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
The Blackhawks have reassigned Bryan Bickell to Rockford (AHL).

Bickell cleared waivers back on October 3rd, but stayed with the team through the first month of the season. Bickell served as a healthy scratch in four of the last five games. He had no points and a minus-3 rating in seven games this season.

Source:
Eric Lear 2015-11-02T11:04:47.000Z
Bryan Bickell
Marko Dano(C)|FA
Call up / Send down
Call up / Send down
The Blackhawks have recalled Marko Dano from Rockford (AHL).

Dano, 20, has seven points (1G / 6A) in nine games with Rockford. Dano’s recall means that the young forward could make his Blackhawks debut on Monday vs. the Kings. He has 21 points (8G / 13A) in 35 career NHL games.

Source:
Eric Lear 2015-11-02T11:06:56.000Z
Marko Dano

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.