NHL Hockey Player News

Nikita Kucherov(RW)|TBL
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Kucherov not listed on the Lightning roster and not skating this morning.

Kucherov was likely sent down as a "paper-move" to help get under the cap before finalizing their 23-man roster. The Lightning did the same thing with Brett Connolly last season so Kucherov should be back with the team soon and in the lineup on Thursday. Kucherov led all players with six goals in the preseason, so expect him to be back.

Source:
Joe Smith 2014-10-08T11:26:26.000Z
Nikita Kucherov
Xavier Ouellet(LD)|PIT
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Call up / Send down
The Red Wings have re-assigned Xavier Ouellet to Grand Rapids (AHL).

It appeared as if Ouellet was going to crack the Red Wings opening day roster when he was paired with Kyle Quincey in practice for the second straight day. Shortly thereafter he was sent back to the Griffins. Head coach Mike Babcock really wanted Ouellet on the roster, but GM Ken Holland didn't want him on the team at the expense of Brian Lashoff and Jakub Kindl, who were both set to be healthy scratches.

Source:
Ansar Khan 2014-10-07T15:50:25.000Z
Xavier Ouellet
Jacob De La Rose(LW)|FA
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Call up / Send down
The Montreal Canadiens have reassigned Jacob De La Rose to Hamilton (AHL).

De La Rose, 19, was the Canadiens second round pick (34th overall) in 2013. Montreal liked what the saw from the 6-foot-2 Swede, despite him failing to record a point in five preseason games. The general consensus around the Habs is that De La Rose will be recalled at some point this season.

Source:
Renaud Lavoie 2014-10-07T15:35:45.000Z
Jacob De La Rose
Patrick Brown(C)|BOS
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The Hurricanes have recalled Patrick Brown.

After Jeff Skinner was diagnosed with a concussion on Monday, the Hurricanes were in need of a winger because it is unlikely that Skinner will be ready for the Hurricanes' season opener on Friday. Brown skated on the third line with Jay McClement and Brad Malone this morning. The 22-year-old forward signed with Carolina this offseason after four years at Boston College.

Source:
Chip Alexander 2014-10-07T14:14:41.000Z
Patrick Brown
William Nylander(RW)|TOR
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Call up / Send down
The Maple Leafs have reassigned William Nylander.

Nylander will head back to Sweden and play for Modo for a second season. The 2014 eighth overall pick had a strong camp with the Maple Leafs, but will have to wait a year for another shot at making the NHL roster. The Leafs had a lot of competition at forward, so letting the 18-year-old grow for another season was probably the best decision for his future.

Source:
Mark Masters 2014-10-06T11:53:23.000Z
William Nylander
Max Domi(C)|TOR
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Call up / Send down
The Coyotes have sent Max Domi back to London (OHL).

Domi, 19, is a dynamic offensive talent and had a lot of people believing that he would stick with the team this season. The Coyotes must feel that he will be better served with one more year of junior under his belt. He heads back to London where he has 73 goals and 107 assists (180 points) in 125 games over the last season. A huge boost for the Knights.

Source:
Bob McKenzie 2014-10-02T14:17:06.000Z
Max Domi
John Gibson(G)|ANA
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The Ducks have recalled John Gibson from Norfolk (AHL).

Frederik Andersen was injured in Thursday's game 3, so Gibson has been recalled incase Andersen can't play on Saturday. Gibson was an outstanding 3-0-0 with a 1.33 GAA and .954 SV% in three starts with the Ducks towards the end of the season. If Andersen is unable to play, it seems unlikely that the Ducks would go with Gibson over veteran Jonas Hiller, but you never know.

Source:
Eric Stephens 2014-05-09T12:00:35.000Z
John Gibson
Emerson Etem(RW)|
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Call up / Send down
The Ducks have sent Emerson Etem back to Norfolk (AHL).

Etem had no points, nine shots and 12 penalty minutes while averaging 10:21 TOI in four games with the Ducks this postseason. With Etem going back to Norfolk, expect Kyle Palmieri to get back in the lineup in game 3.

Source:
Eric Stephens 2014-05-08T14:42:30.000Z
Emerson Etem
Sami Vatanen(RD)|FA
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Call up / Send down
The Ducks have recalled Sami Vatanen from Norfolk (AHL).

Vatanen scored six goals with 15 assists (21 points) in 48 games with the Ducks this season. While in the AHL he had seven points (2G /5A) in eight games. He could slide into the lineup tonight to provide a little more offence from the backend.

Source:
Eric Stephens 2014-05-08T14:40:14.000Z
Sami Vatanen
Matt Fraser(RW)|
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Call up / Send down
The Bruins have recalled Matt Fraser from Providence (AHL).

Fraser, 23, had three goals and two assists in five games in Providence's first round win over the Springfield Falcons. Fraser could be in the Bruins lineup in game 4 tonight.

Source:
Mark Divver 2014-05-08T11:37:51.000Z
Matt Fraser
Joey Hishon(C)|
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Call up / Send down
Roy said he will evaluate Hishon at the practice and make a decision after that whether he thinks he can handle being thrown into the Avs’ lineup for Game 4 at Xcel Energy Center.

Hishon would be playing in his first career NHL game if Roy does insert him into the lineup.

Source:
Adrian Dater 2014-04-23T08:46:45.000Z
Joey Hishon
Tomas Vokoun(G)|INA
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Call up / Send down
The Pittsburgh Penguins have recalled goaltender Tomas Vokoun from his conditioning assignment with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (AHL).

Vokoun went 1-1 with a 2.41 GAA and .891 SV% in his two game conditioning stint.. He was playing his first games since having emergency surgery to dissolve a blood clot in late September.

Source:
Pittsburgh Penguins 2018-07-18T17:53:34.502Z
Craig Cunningham(LW)|
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Call up / Send down
The Bruins have recalled Craig Cunningham from Providence (AHL).

Cunningham has 25 goals and 22 assists (47 points) in 73 games with Providence this season. He made his NHL debut on December 17th. With all the call-ups the Bruins appear to be set to rest a number of guys today.

Source:
Amalie Benjamin 2014-04-13T13:28:38.000Z
Craig Cunningham

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.