Call up / Send down
The Devils have reassigned Eric Gelinas to Albany (AHL).
Gelinas has seven goals and 22 assists (29 points) in 60 games in his rookie season. The Devils are done for the season so he will head back to Albany.
NHL Transactions & Roster Moves
Call up / Send down
The Flames have reassigned Ben Hanowski to Abbotsford (AHL).
Hanowski, 23, had two assists in 11 games with the Flames. He will return to the AHL where he has 12 goals and 15 assists (27 points) in 51 games.
Call up / Send down
The Hurricanes have reassigned Zach Boychuk to Charlotte (AHL).
Boychuk played 15:34 on the Hurricanes top-line in Detroit last night. His reutrn suggests that ALex Semin will be able to play in the season finale tonight.
Call up / Send down
The Capitals have recalled Peter LeBlanc from Hershey (AHL).
LeBlanc, 26, has 12 goals and 16 assists in 65 games with the Hershey Bears this season. With Marcus Johansson out on Sunday, LeBlanc will likely make his NHL debut.
Call up / Send down
The Lightning have recalled Cedric Paquette from Syracuse (AHL).
Paquette, 20, could make his NHL debut tonight vs.the Blue Jackets. He was selected in the fourth round (101 overall) in 2012. The 6-foot-1, 206 pound centre has 20 goals and 24 assists (44 points) in 70 games with Syracuse this season.
Call up / Send down
The Blues have recalled Ty Rattie from Chicago (AHL).
Rattie is set to make his NHL debut on Friday. The Blues are dealing with a plethora of injuries, so they have recalled three players from Chicago, and they will all be in the lineup tonight. He has scored 29 goals with 17 assists (46 points) in 69 AHL games.
Call up / Send down
The Islanders have recalled Justin Johnson from Bridgeport (AHL).
Johnson, 32, is in his first season with Bridgeport and the 6-foot-1, 200 pound forward has just five points (1G / 4A) but 183 penalty minutes in 48 games this season. The Anchorage, Alaska native could make his NHL debut tonight.
Call up / Send down
The Sabres have recalled Connor Knapp from Rochester (AHL).
Knapp, 23, who started the season in the ECHL was a combined 11-12-5 with theta Greenville Road Warriors, Florida Everblades and Alaska Aces. Since being promoted to the AHL, Knapp has gone 0-2-0 with a 4.03 GAA and .873 SV%.
Call up / Send down
The Sabres have sent Andrey Makarov down to Rochester (AHL).
Makarov did not get any action during his recall, he will be replaced by Connor Knapp as Matt Hackett's backup.
Call up / Send down
The Red WIngs have recalled Petr Mrazek from Grand Rapids (AHL).
It turns out that Jordan Coreau was only recalled for the Red WIngs morning skate, but it will be Mrazek who will backup Jimmy Howard tonight vs. the Hurricanes. Mrazek is 1-4-0 with a 2.01 GAA and .916 SV% with the Red Wings this season. He has been spectacular with the Griffins, going 22-8-1 with a 2.07 GAA and .925 SV% in 31 games.
Call up / Send down
The Blues have recalled Adam Cracknell from Chicago (AHL).
Cracknell, 28, has two assists in 17 games with the Blues this season. While in Chicago he has totalled 12 goals and 13 assists (25 points) in 28 games.
Call up / Send down
The Blues have recalled Keith Aucoin from Chicago (AHL).
Aucoin, 35, has recorded 11 goals and 29 assists (40 points) in 60 games with Chicago this season. He could be making his St. Louis debut on Friday.
Call up / Send down
The Hurricanes have recalled Zach Boychuk from Charlotte (AHL).
Boychuk has totaled four points (1G / 3A) in 10 NHL games this season. He ranks first in the AHL in goals (36) and second in points (72) in 66 games played for Charlotte. Boychuk, 24, is also first in the AHL in power-play goals (18)
Call up / Send down
The Ducks have assigned Shea Theodore to Norfolk after Seattle (WHL) was eliminated from the playoffs.
Theodore, 18, was selected in the first round (26th overall) in last year's draft. The 6-foot-2, 175 pound defenseman had 22 goals and 57 assists (79 points) in 70 regular season games with Seattle. His 79 points led the Thunderbirds and he also led all WHL defenseman in points.
Call up / Send down
The Red Wings recalled Jordan Coreau from Grand Rapids (AHL).
Coreau has been recalled to potentially serve as Jimmy Howard's backup on Friday. As has been the case on many occasions this season, Jonas Gustavsson is dealing with a minor injury and may not back up tonight. Coreau has gone 0-4-0 with a 4.39 GAA and .873 SV% with Grand Rapids this season.
Call up / Send down
The Blackhawks have sent Teuvo Teravainen down to Rockford (AHL).
Teravainen has only played in three games since arriving to Chicago. He has not recorded a point, only four shots and one hit. Sending him to the AHL will give him a chance to play a bunch on minutes and get more acclimated with the North American game. There's no doubting this kid's talent, but he won't improve by sitting in the press box every night. He is a top prospect, with a very bright future ahead of him.
Call up / Send down
The Hurricanes have sent Ryan Murphy back to Charlotte (AHL).
Murphy, 21, has totaled 12 points (2G / 10A) in 48 NHL games with the Hurricanes during his first full professional season. He has also played 19 AHL games for Charlotte in 2013-14, earning 19 points (1G / 18A). Murphy ranks second among Checkers defensemen in assists this season, and third among team blueliners in points. HIs return means Mike Komisarek will suit up tonight.
Call up / Send down
The Penguins have sent Adam Payerl back to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (AHL).
Payerl, 23, played in two games with Pittsburgh, including his NHL debut on April 6 at Colorado when he collected three shots and four hits in 9:33 minutes. Payerl has nine points (3G / 6A) in 38 games with WBS this year.
Call up / Send down
The Maple Leafs have recalled Petter Granburg from Toronto (AHL).
Granburg, 21, was a Leafs' fourth round pick (116th overall) in 2010. He has six points (2G / 4A) with a plus-18 rating in 69 games in his first season with the Toronto Marlies. He will likely make his NHL debut tonight as the Leafs rest one of their defensemen.
Call up / Send down
The Panthers have recalled Scott Clemmensen from San Antonio (AHL).
Clemmensen has been recalled to serve as Roberto Luongo's backup on Thursday. Dan Ellis is sick, so Clemmensen is back up to back-up.
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.