Call up / Send down
The Penguins have recalled Jayson Megna from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (AHL).
Megna, 24, has registered 14 points (9G / 5A) in 22 games with WBS this season. He has also recorded one assist in nine games with the Penguins this year.
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NHL Transactions & Roster Moves
Call up / Send down
The Penguins have recalled Jeff Zatkoff from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (AHL).
Penguins net minder Thomas Greiss tested positive for mumps on Friday, so Zatkoff has been recalled to serve as Marc-Andre Fleury’s backup until Greiss is set to return.
Call up / Send down
The Islanders have recalled Kevin Poulin from Bridgeport (AHL).
Poulin, 24, has gone 10-6-4 with a 2.41 GAA and .928 SV% in 20 games with Bridgeport this season. He has been recalled because Jaroslav Halak has been placed on IR with a lower-body injury. Poulin is expected to backup Chad Johnson tonight in Buffalo.
Call up / Send down
The Lightning reassigned Andrei Vasilevskiy to Syracuse (AHL) on Wednesday.
With Ben Bishop sidelined with a lower-body injury, Vasilevskiy started three of four games, going 2-1-0 with a 2.01 GAA and .940 SV%. His return to the AHL suggests that Bishop will return to the crease on Saturday vs. the Hurricanes.
Call up / Send down
The Islanders have recalled Kevin Poulin from Bridgeport (AHL) on an emergency basis.
Poulin has been recalled to backup Chad Johnson vs. the Canadiens. Jaroslav Halak has been given maintenance days the last two days, so he must be dealing with a minor injury that will make him a scratch tonight.
Call up / Send down
The Penguins have recalled Dominik Uher from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (AHL).
Uher, 21, was the Penguins fifth round pick (144th overall) in 2011. Uher has recorded four goals and five assists (9 points) in 29 games with WBS this season. He has been recalled because Blake Comeau is out tonight.
Call up / Send down
The Flames sent Corey Potter back to Adirondack (AHL).
Potter did not play in a game during his recall. He heads back to Adirondack where he has five assists in 19 games this season.
Call up / Send down
The Hurricanes recalled Brendan Woods from Charlotte (AHL).
Woods, 22, was the Hurricanes fifth round selection (129th overall) in the 2012 NHL Draft. The 6-foot-3, 215 lbs. forward has registered 13 points (6G / 7A) in 29 games in his second full season in Charlotte. Alex Semin was held out of Monday’s practice, which means that Woods could make his NHL debut tonight if Semin can’t go.
Call up / Send down
The Sabres have recalled Joel Armia from Rochester (AHL).
Armia, 21, was the Sabres’ first round pick (16th overall) in the 2011 NHL Draft. He has registered 16 points (7G / 9A) in 21 games with Rochester this season. Armia is expected to make his NHL debut tonight vs. the Red Wings.
Call up / Send down
The Penguins are expected to recall Jeff Zatkoff from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (AHL).
Zatkoff will be recalled, very likely to backup Marc-Andre Fleury tonight because Thomas Greiss has been sent back to Pittsburgh to be tested for mumps again.
Call up / Send down
The Coyotes have recalled Brandon Gormley from Portland (AHL).
Gormley suffered a lower-body injury in mid-November and missed several games. He was sent down to Portland as a type of conditioning stint to get him back up to speed. He has one goal in six games with Arizona this season.
Call up / Send down
The Canadiens recalled Dustin Tokarski from Hamilton (AHL) on Sunday.
Tokarski, who has not started for the Habs since November 29th, was sent down to Hamilton to get some game action. In two games he went 1-1-0 with a 2.52 GAA and .919 SV%. Now back with the big club, expect Tokarski to back-up Carey Price tomorrow vs. the Islanders.
Call up / Send down
The Capitals have recalled Aaron Volpatti from Hershey (AHL).
Volpatti, 29, has not played yet this season after starting the year on the non-roster injury list following offseason neck surgery. He was with Hershey for a three-game conditioning stint—he didn’t record a point and had six PIMS.
Call up / Send down
The Capitals have recalled Andre Burakovsky from Hershey (AHL).
Burakovsky, 19, did not record a point and was a minus-1 in two games with Hershey over the weekend. He was not playing with the Capitals, so they sent him back to get a few games in. Now that he is back, he could be in the lineup tonight vs. the Senators. He recorded 12 points (3G / 9A) in his first 15 games, but has just one goal in his last 11 games.
Call up / Send down
The Sabres have recalled Tim Schaller from Rochester (AHL).
Schaller, 24, has eight goals and 10 assists (18 points) in 29 games for Rochester this season. He has been recalled to replace Patrick Kaleta, who was injured in Saturday’s game.
Call up / Send down
The Sabres have recalled Mark Pysyk from Rochester (AHL).
Pysyk, 22, has one goal and nine assists (10 points) in 28 games with Rochester this season. He has been recalled as insurance for Tyler Myers, who is questionable for tonight’s game because of a lower-body injury. Pysyk has 12 points (2G / 10A) in 63 career NHL games.
Call up / Send down
The Canadiens sent Joey MacDonald back to Hamilton (AHL) on Saturday night.
MacDonald served as Carey Price’s back-up in the Canadiens win over the Senators on Saturday. Montreal is off until Tuesday, so either MacDonald or Dustin Tokarski will be recalled to serve as Price’s backup vs. the Islanders.
Call up / Send down
The Hurricanes have sent Justin Shugg back to Charlotte (AHL).
Shugg, 22, did not record a point and had two penalty minutes in three games with Carolina during the first recall of his career. He heads back to Charlotte, where he has nine goals and two assists (11 points) in 17 games.
Call up / Send down
The Sabres recalled Johan Larsson from Rochester (AHL)
Larsson will replace Matt Moulson, who was send home sick just prior to warmups.
Call up / Send down
The Oilers recalled Anton Lander from Oklahoma City (AHL) on Friday.
Lander, 23, has recorded eight goals and 19 assists (27 points). His 27 points is tied for the OKC team lead and is tied for fifth in the AHL. He is expected to centre the third line with Tyler Pitlick and Nail Yakupov and get some work on the second PP unit on Sunday. He has eight points (2G / 6A) in 94 career NHL games.
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.