Mermis has been assigned to the Toronto Marlies (AHL).
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NHL Transactions & Roster Moves
Smallman has been recalled from Hershey (AHL).
Aarnodt has been reassigned to the Colorado Eagles (AHL).
Shepard has been recalled from Belleville (AHL) on Saturday.
Merilainen has been loaned to Belleville (AHL).
Makar has been recalled from the Colorado Eagles (AHL).
The Sabres recalled Rosen from Rochester (AHL) on Friday.
Andrea has been loaned to Lehigh Valley (AHL).
Andrae has been unable to secure a permanent fixture on the Flyers' roster this season, limited to only two games, and will return to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (AHL). The 23-year-old defenseman recorded seven points (1G / 6A) in 42 games with the Flyers last season.
Gaucher has been recalled from Lehigh Valley (AHL).
Gaucher is an undrafted forward that made his NHL debut last season, going scoreless in four games with the Flyers. The 24-year-old has two points (1G / 1A) in eight games with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (AHL) this season. The Flyers assigned Emil Andrae to to Lehigh Valley in a corresponding move.
Trudeau has cleared waivers and been reassigned to Laval (AHL).
Trudeau turned pro in 2023 and has played three straight seasons with the Laval Rocket. Most recently, the 23-year-old defenseman had five goals and 14 assists (19 points) in 68 games. With a loaded blueline in Montreal, Trudeau's path to NHL games is difficult.
Ritchie has been recalled from Bridgeport (AHL) and could make his Islanders' debut on Friday vs. Washington.
Ritchie was supposed to make his NHL debut last night, but poor weather resulted in his flight being cancelled. That said, he will join the Islanders for his NHL debut on Friday against the Washington Capitals. The 20-year-old Ritchie was drafted 27th-overall by the Colorado Avalanche in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft. He has three points (1G / 2A) in three games with the Bridgeport Islanders (AHL) this season.
Marhshall has been loaned to Bridgeport (AHL).
Warren was drafted in the sixth round (166 overall) by the Minnesota Wild in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. The 24-year-old defenseman has spent the previous three seasons in the AHL and has five points (2G / 3A) in four games with the Bridgeport Islanders in 2025-26.
Columbus has recalled Mayo from Cleveland (AHL).
Mayo has earned himself several call-ups from the Cleveland Monsters (AHL) this season but has yet to draw into the Blue Jackets lineup. The 29-year-old defenseman has four points (0G / 4A) in five games with Cleveland this season.
Send Down
Ostlund has been loaned to Rochester (AHL).
Ostlund was drafted 16th-oveall by the Sabres in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft but has yet to establish himself as a full-time presence in the NHL. The 21-year-old forward spent most of the 2024-25 season in the AHL, where he scored 36 points (19G / 17A) in 45 games with the Rochester Americans.
Watson has been recalled from Grand Rapids (AHL).
Watson is no stranger to the NHL, with 121 points (63G / 58A) in 528 career games, but his physical presence has primarily been felt in the AHL the past two seasons. The 33-year-old Watson scored 42 points (19G / 23A) and recorded 112 penalty minutes in 60 games with the Grand Rapids Griffins (AHL) last season.
Butler has been activated from IR and assigned to Iowa (AHL).
Butler is a 23-year-old undrafted right-winger who made his only NHL appearance in 2023-24 with the Blue Jackets. He struggled to produce offensively in 2024-25, only scoring two goals and three points in 37 games played with the Cleveland Monsters (AHL).
Milne has cleared waivers and been assigned to Iowa (AHL).
Milne made his NHL debut last season, playing one game with Minnesota, but has primarily been an AHL player. The 23-year-old scored 26 points (15G / 11A) in 60 games with the Iowa Wild (AHL) last season.
Kolosov has been recalled from Lehigh Valley (AHL).
Kolosov made his NHL debut with Philadelphia last season, posting a 3.59 GAA and .867 SV% in 17 games (5-9-1). The 23-year-old Belarusian goalie has started the season strong with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (AHL), posting a 2.60 GAA and .918 SV% in five games (3-2-0). He will likely serve as the backup to Dan Vlader while he is with the Flyers until Samuel Ersson returns from an undisclosed injury.
Reinbacher has been loaned to Laval (AHL).
The Canadiens' fifth-overall pick in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft has battled injuries early in his professional career and has been sidelined to this point in the 2025-26 season, recovering from a broken metacarpal bone. The 20-year-old defenseman has yet to play an NHL game and was limited to only 10 contests with the Laval Rocket in 2024-25, scoring five points (2G / 3A).
Legault has been recalled from Chicago (AHL).
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.