NHL Hockey Player News

Mike McKenna(G)|
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Call up / Send down
The Columbus Blue Jackets have added goaltender Mike McKenna to the roster on emergency recall from Springfield (AHL).

McKenna has been recalled because of the injury that starter Sergei Bobrovsky suffered on Tuesday. McKenna has appeared in 17 career NHL games with Tampa Bay and New Jersey, amassing a record of 4-9-1 to go along with a 3.49 GAA and .887 SV%. This season, he is 6-2-0 with a 1.45 GAA, .943 SV% and two shutouts in eight games with Springfield and was named the CCM/AHL Goaltender of the Month for November (4-1-0, 1.16 GAA, .950 SV%, 2 SO).

Source:
Columbus Blue Jackets 2013-12-04T10:17:30.000Z
Mike McKenna
Jeff Schultz(D)|FA
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Call up / Send down
The Kings have recalled Jeff Schultz from Manchester (AHL).

Schultz spent the last eight years in the Washington Capitals organization. He totaled 399 NHL games recording 11 goals and 75 points. In 23 games with the Manchester Monarchs he has a goal and an assist. There is no word on which Kings defenseman is dealing with an injury, or if Schultz will dress tonight.

Source:
John Hoven 2013-12-03T14:25:40.000Z
Jeff Schultz
Tim Sestito(C)|
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Call up / Send down
The Devils have recalled Tim Sestito from Albany (AHL).

Sestito will make his season debut tonight vs. the Canadiens. With Ryan Carter out, he is expected to slot in on the fourth line instead of Mattias Tedenby. He has five goals and 13 points in 21 games with Albany this season, but has just three career assists in 70 NHL games.

Source:
@NHLDevils 2013-12-02T14:26:44.000Z
Tim Sestito
Travis Morin(C)|
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Call up / Send down
Travis Morin has been recalled from the Texas Stars (AHL).

Morin, 29, leads the AHL with 29 points (11G / 18A) in 19 games with Texas. The 6-foot-1, 190-pound forward has skated in three games for Dallas this season, posting two shots and a plus-1 rating for the NHL club.

Source:
Dallas Stars 2013-12-02T11:57:08.000Z
Travis Morin
Gilbert Brule(C)|INA
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Call up / Send down
Brule has cleared waivers and the Coyotes have assigned him to Portland (AHL).

Brule has been with Portland on a professional tryout, but signed a two-way deal yesterday which required him to go through waivers. He went unclaimed and will remain with the Pirates where he has six goals and two assists in eight games.

Source:
Rich Nairn 2018-07-18T17:53:18.759Z
Joe Piskula(D)|FA
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Call up / Send down
The Predators have recalled Joe Piskula from Milwaukee (AHL).

Piskula, 29, has just 10 games of NHL experience with the Flames and Kings. He has skated in 18 games with Milwaukee this season recording five assists. He will make his Predators debut tonight with Kevin Klein and Shea Weber sidelined.

Source:
Kristopher Martel 2013-11-30T11:50:21.000Z
Joe Piskula
Michael Latta(C)|FA
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Call up / Send down
The Capitals have reassigned Michael Latta to Hershey (AHL).

Latta has played in 16 games with the Capitals this season, recording one goal and three assists while averaging 7:52 TOI. His return to the AHL means that Jay Beagle should stay in the lineup tonight and either Brooks Laich or Martin Erat will slide back in.

Source:
Adam Vingan 2013-11-30T10:11:04.000Z
Michael Latta
Philipp Grubauer(G)|SEA
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Call up / Send down
The Capitals have recalled Philipp Grubauer from Hershey (AHL).

Grubauer is 4-4-1 with a 2.60 GAA and a .910 SV% with Hershey this season. He made two NHL appearances last season going 0-1-0 with a 3.57 GAA and .915 SV%. With Michal Neuvurth going down with a lower-body injury last night and Braden Holtby making the start, Grubauer could be in line to start tonight vs. the Islanders.

Source:
Adam Vingan 2013-11-30T10:06:01.000Z
Philipp Grubauer
Alex Grant(D)|FA
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Call up / Send down
The Ducks have recalled defenseman Alex Grant from the Norfolk Admirals (AHL).

Grant, 24, has six goals and 12 points with a plus-2 rating and 10 penalty minutes (PIM) in 19 games with Norfolk this season. At the time of his recall, Grant ranked tied for third among AHL defensemen in goals and tied for 12th in scoring.

Source:
Anaheim Ducks 2013-11-29T15:58:28.000Z
Alex Grant

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.