Call up / Send down
The Devils have sent Mike Sislo back to Albany (AHL).
New Jersey is off until Monday, so they will recall Sislo next week if none of their injured forwards are able to return to the lineup.
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NHL Transactions & Roster Moves
Call up / Send down
The Blue Jackets have recalled Dana Tyrell from Syracuse (AHL).
Tyrell, 25, has five goals and four assists in seven games with Springfield this season. This is his first full season in the Blue Jackets organization after being with the Lightning since 2007-08. He has seven goals and 17 assists (24 points) in 132 career NHL games.
Call up / Send down
The Blue Jackets have sent Marko Dano to Syracuse (AHL).
Dano, 19, tallied one goal and one assists while averaging 11:42 TOI per game in eight games with the Blue Jackets. The 27th overall pick in 2013 will be replaced by Dana Tyrell who is coming the other way.
Call up / Send down
The Red Wings have recalled Petr Mrazek from Grand Rapids (AHL).
Mrazek, 22, has gone 1-2-0 with a 3.80 GAA and .854 SV% in four games with Grand Rapids this season. Mrazek was excellent in the preseason and has been solid in his brief time with the Red Wings. He is 3-5-0 with a 1.80 GAA and .926 SV% in his young NHL career. With Jonas Gustavsson out for two months, Mrazek should see a handful of starts, but the Red Wings do not have a back-to-back until December 6th and 7th, so he could be waiting awhile if the Wings decide to ride Jimmy Howard.
Call up / Send down
The Canucks have recalled Nicklas Jensen from Utica (AHL).
Jensen, 21, has scored four goals and two assists in 11 games with Utica this season. The 2011 29th overall pick has three goals and three assists in 19 career NHL games. With Zack Kassian being nagged by a lower-body injury, Jensen has been recalled and could play Saturday.
Call up / Send down
The Sharks have sent Chris Tierney back to Worcester (AHL).
Tierney registered two assists in 11 games with the Sharks, but has been sent down to make room for Tyler Kennedy who has been activated from IR and is expected to make his season debut tonight.
Call up / Send down
The Rangers have assigned Chris Mueller to Hartford (AHL).
Mueller scored one goal with one assist in seven games during his recall. Sending him back to the AHL means that Derek Stepan will return to the Rangers lineup on Saturday.
Call up / Send down
The Blackhawks have recalled Peter Regin from Rockford (AHL).
Regin, 28, is a versatile forward who had four points (2G / 2A) in 17 games with the Hawks last season. He will likely be with the team for a few weeks with Patrick Sharp sidelined with a leg injury. Expect him to skate on the fourth line on Friday.
Call up / Send down
The Oilers have sent Martin Marincin back to Oklahoma City (AHL).
Marincin has one assist with a minus-2 rating in eight games with the Oilers this season. Despite losing Andrew Ferenece to a suspension, the Oilers are comfortable enough with Keith Aulie to send Marincin back to OKC.
Call up / Send down
The Oilers have recalled Iiro Pakarinen from Oklahoma City (AHL).
Pakarinen, 23, has five goals and three assists in his first seven games in North America with OKC (AHL). The 2011 seventh round pick (2011) will likely make his NHL debut on Thursday with Leon Draisaitl and Nail Yakupov as his line mates.
Call up / Send down
The Rangers have sent Dylan McIlrath back to Hartford (AHL).
McIlrath played 8:02 and record nine penalty minutes, two hits and three blocked shots in his season debut on Monday. With Kevin Klein ready to return to the lineup tonight, McIlrath had to go back to Hartford.
Call up / Send down
The Flyers have reassigned Brandon Manning to Lehigh Valley (AHL).
Manning appeared in two games during his recall, he had one assists and averaged 11:45 TOI. He heads back to Lehigh Valley where he had a goal and four assists in six games prior to being called-up.
Call up / Send down
The Lightning recalled Cedric Paquette on Tuesday; expected to play Thursday.
Alex Killorn was not on the ice again on Wednesday, so he seems doubtful for Thursday, which means Paquette will be reinserted into the lineup. He skated on the fourth line with Vladislav Namestnikov and Jonathan Drouin this morning.
Call up / Send down
The Ducks have recalled Igor Bobkov from Norfolk (AHL).
John Gibson is expected to miss six weeks with a groin injury and Frederik Andersen is day-to-day with leg tightness, so Bobkov has been recalled as insurance for Wednesday's game against the Islanders. Bobkov has gone 0-2-0 with a 5.05 GAA and .844 SV% with Norfolk this season. He has never played in an NHL contest. Expect him to backup Jason LaBarbera tomorrow if Andersen is unavailable.
Call up / Send down
Kennedy (upper-body) is back with the Sharks following his conditioning stint.
The Sharks are still waiting for Kennedy to make his season debut, but he is now one step closer. The 28-year-old tallied two goals and one assist in three games with Worcester during his conditioning stint. Look for him to play on Thursday vs. Vancouver.
Call up / Send down
Scott Clemmensen has cleared waivers and officially been assigned to Albany (AHL).
Clemmensen did not even get a chance to start for the Devils this season, but did make two relief appearances. He allowed four goals on 17 shots (.765 SV%) in those two outings, so that probably played a huge part in the decision to send the 37-year-old down.
Call up / Send down
The Devils have recalled Keith Kinkaid from Albany (AHL).
The Devils placed Scott Clemmensen on waivers on Monday, so it looks like he will be sent down, which means Kinkaid is on his way up to be Cory Schneider's backup. Kinkaid has gone 4-0-2 with a 1.95 GAA and .931 SV% in six AHL starts this season.
Call up / Send down
The Blue Jackets have sent Sean Collins back to Springfield (AHL).
With Matt Calvert and Boone Jenner ready to return to the lineup tonight, the Blue Jackets had to make some roster decisions. They have sent Collins back after he played two games with them over the weekend. He had no points and a minus-1 rating.
Call up / Send down
The Coyotes have sent Justin Hodgman to Portland (AHL).
Hodgman played in four games during his recall, scoring one goal with a minus-1 rating while averaging 11:12 TOI. Brandon Gormley was the Coyotes corresponding roster move.
Call up / Send down
The Coyotes have recalled Brandon Gormley from Portland (AHL).
Gormley, 22, has one goal and two assists in six games with Portland (AHL) this season. The 2010 13th overall pick has yet to record a point in five career NHL games (all in 2013-14). With Gormley being recalled, the Coyotes sent Justin Hodgman back to Portland.
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.