Call up / Send down
The Panthers have recalled Garrett Wilson from San Antonio (AHL).
Wilson, 23, has scored 18 goals and 11 assists (29 points) in 53 games with San Antonio. He has no points in three career NHL games, all of which came last season.
NHL Transactions & Roster Moves
Call up / Send down
The Flyers will recall Anthony Stolarz from Lehigh Valley (AHL).
Stolarz, 21, has gone 7-11-3 with a 3.17 GAA and .908 SV% with Lehigh Valley this season. He is unlikely to get into a game as he expected to serve as Rob Zepp’s backup for at least the next two games.
Call up / Send down
The Ducks have recalled Jason LaBarbera from Norfolk (AHL).
LaBarbera’s recall likely means that he will be John Gibson’s backup tonight because Frederik Andersen is not quite ready to play. With Ilya Bryzgalov on waivers, LaBarbera was the next option. He is 7-10-4 with a 2.42 GAA and .917 SV% in Norfolk this season.
Call up / Send down
The Coyotes have recalled Dylan Reese from Portland (AHL).
Reese, 30, was recalled but will not play on Monday. Reese has scored six goals with 19 assists (25 points) in 51 games with Portland this season.
Call up / Send down
The Flames have recalled Michael Ferland from Adirondack (AHL).
This is Ferland’s, 22, second call-up of the season. He had one assist in 10 games with the Flames earlier in the season. The 6-foot-1, 225 lbs. forward has 15 points (7G / 8A) in 32 games with Adirondack.
Call up / Send down
The Flames have recalled Emile Poirier from Adirondack (AHL).
Poirier, 20, was the Flames first-round pick (22nd overall) in 2013. He has scored 14 goals with 16 assists (30 points) in 42 games in his first full season with Adirondack (AHL). There is no word whether he will make his NHL debut on Tuesday.
Call up / Send down
The Devils have recalled Scott Clemmensen from Albany (AHL).
Clemmensen has been recalled to serve as Cory Schneider’s backup tonight vs. Arizona. Keith Kinkaid is sidelined with a lower-body injury, which triggered the call-up. Clemmensen has gone 5-8-1 with a 2.75 GAA and .900 SV% in Albany.
Call up / Send down
The Canucks have recalled Jacob Markstrom up from Utica (AHL) on an emergency basis.
With Ryan Miller out for an undetermined amount of time, Markstrom, 25, returns to the Canucks to serve as Eddie Lack’s backup for the time being. He has had a great season with Utica, going 17-7-2 with a 1.95 GAA and .932 SV% in 26 games. The 2008 second round pick (31st overall) has gone 12-27-5 with a 3.19 GAA and .896 SV% in his NHL career.
Call up / Send down
The Canucks have reassigned Nicklas Jensen to Utica (AHL).
Jensen did not get into a game during his recall and his return to the AHL suggests that Alex Burrows should be good to go on Tuesday.
Call up / Send down
The Blackhawks have recalled Scott Darling from Rockford (AHL).
Darling, 26, has gone 14-8-2 with a 2.20 GAA and .927 SV% with Rockford this season. All three Blackhawks have played well this season and it looks like the Blackhawks are just giving him another chance to start an NHL game with a back-to-back coming up on Thursday and Friday.
Call up / Send down
The Blackhawks have recalled Joakim Nordstrom.
Nordstrom has been up and down a few times this season, amassing two assists, a minus-3 rating and 25 shots in 24 games with the Blackhawks.
Call up / Send down
The Blackhawks reassigned Antti Raanta to Rockford (AHL).
Raanta has posted a 1.89 GAA and .936 SV% in 14 games this season. He is coming off of a relief appearance where he allowed two goals on 16 shots in Sunday’s loss to the Bruins. His demotion is certainly a surprising one, considering that Rockford is off until Friday, so he isn’t going down to get playing time this week.
Call up / Send down
The Blackhawks have sent Ryan Hartman to Rockford (AHL).
Hartman, 20, did not record a point in five games with the Blackhawks.He heads back to the AHL where he has registered 18 points (8G / 10A) in 47 games with Rockford.
Call up / Send down
The Sabres have recalled Mark Pysyk from Rochester (AHL).
Pysyk, 23, has scored three times with 13 assists (16 points in 50 games with Rochester this season. He had one goal in four games with the Sabres earlier in the season.
Call up / Send down
The Sabres have recalled Jake McCabe from Rochester (AHL).
McCabe, 21, has scored four goals and 21 assists (25 points) in 49 games with Rochester this season. McCabe will make his season debut tonight with Nikita Zadorov out for discipline reasons. McCabe had one assist in seven games with the Sabres last season.
Call up / Send down
The Senators have recalled Colin Greening from Binghamton (AHL).
Greening, 28, had just one goal in 20 games with the Senators before being sent down in late January. While in Binghamton, he has scored five goals with two assists (7 points) in 12 games.
Call up / Send down
The Maple Leafs have reassigned Brandon Kozun to Toronto (AHL).
Kozun had one goal in 5:20 TOI on Friday night in Carolina. With Joffrey Lupul back, Kozun heads back to the Marlies.
Call up / Send down
The Panthers have sent Shane O'Brien back to San Antonio (AHL).
O’Brien had no points with a minus-1 rating in four games during his call-up. With Dmitry Kulikov back from his four-game suspension, O’Brien heads back to the AHL.
Call up / Send down
The Panthers have recalled Vincent Trocheck from San Antonio (AHL).
Trocheck, 21, has scored four goals and nine assists (13 points) in 28 games with the Panthers this season. There is no word whether he will play on Sunday, but while in San Antonio, he had 17 points (6G / 11A) in 21 games.
Call up / Send down
The Canucks have recalled Nicklas Jensen from Utica (AHL).
Jensen, 21, has not recorded a point in five games with the Canucks this season. He has 20 points (10G / 10A) in 38 games with the Utica Comets. He could be in the lineup tonight with Alex Burrows out.
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.