The Panthers re-assigned Anton Levtichi to Charlotte (AHL).
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NHL Transactions & Roster Moves
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The Avalanche have reassigned Charles Hudon to Colorado (AHL).
Lawrence Pilut has cleared waivers and been assigned to Rochester (AHL).
Sheldon Rempal has been recalled from the Henderson Silver Knights (AHL).
Rempal had seven goals, 15 assists, 20 PIMs and a -3 plus/minus through 30 games with the Henderson Silver Knights (AHL) and will be recalled Friday to the Vegas Golden Knights for the first time this season.
Dillon Heatherington has been reassigned to the Belleville Senators (AHL).
Heatherington failed to pick up a point in his three-game stint with Ottawa and will head back to Belleville (AHL) where he was reassigned Friday. He heads back to Belleville, where he captains the team and had two goals, three assists, and 14 PIMs across 19 games prior to his promotion.
William Lockwood has been recalled from Abbotsford (AHL).
Lockwood has been recalled for a second time from Abbotsford (AHL) after collecting 12 goals, six assists, 16 PIMs, and a +7 plus/minus across 24 games. In his brief one game showing earlier in the season, he picked up an assist and a +1 plus/minus rating.
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Nils Aman has been reassigned to Abbotsford (AHL).
Aman has spent the entire season with the Vancouver Canucks but will head down to Abbotsford (AHL) after scoring one goal, four assists, 22 SOG and a -8 plus/minus across 35 games played while averaging 12:01 ATOI.
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Max Willman has cleared waivers and been assigned to Lehigh Valley (AHL).
Willman failed to pick up a point through nine games with the Flyers after playing only 8:58 ATOI in a bottom-six role. He will head back to Lehigh Valley (AHL) where he had two goals, two assists and 10 PIMs in 11 games prior to his promotion.
Call Up
Roland McKeown has been recalled from Milwaukee (AHL).
McKeown had two goals, six assists, 16 PIMs and a +13 plus/minus through 25 games with the Milwaukee Admirals (AHL) and has been recalled for the second time this season. In his previous three games, he had failed to pick up a point but had six PIMs and a -1 plus/minus.
Kristian Reichel has been recalled from the Manitoba Moose (AHL).
Reichel had two goals, six assists, 15 PIMs and a -2 plus/minus through 25 games played with Manitoba (AHL) and will be called up to Winnipeg for the first time this season. Reichel will be looking to add to the goal and assist he picked up in his previous 13-game stint with Winnipeg in 2021-22 when he cracks the lineup after this callup.
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Olle Eriksson Ek has been reassigned to San Diego (AHL).
Eriksson Ek did not receive any playing time with the Ducks so he will have to wait for his NHL debut as he heads back to the San Diego Gulls (AHL) Wednesday. In seven games with San Diego prior to his promotion, he was 0-5-0 with a .844 SV% and 4.94 GAA.
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Andrej Sustr has been reassigned to the Iowa Wild (AHL).
Sustr has a goal, five assists, 25 PIMS and is a +3 plus/minus in 20 games with Iowa (AHL) prior to his call-up Tuesday. Sustr did not make it into Minnesota's lineup for his one-day call-up but will be looking to add to his 69 points (11G/58A) across 361 career NHL games he had picked up in his previous nine seasons in the NHL the next time he is brought up to the big club.
Ty Smith has been recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (AHL).
Smith has been recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (AHL) for the first time this season after scoring four goals, 10 assists, and 10 PIMs in 26 games. The 22-year-old has seven goals, 36 assists, and 146 SOG across 114 previous NHL games with the New Jersey Devils.
Jack Drury has been reassigned to the Chicago Wolves (AHL).
Drury had two assists, 32 SOG, 10 PIMs and a +4 plus/minus in a bottom-six role across 21 games with the Hurricanes' but will head back down to Chicago (AHL) for the second time this season. In Chigaco, he had a goal, two assists and six PIMs in eight games prior to his previous promotion.
Tyce Thompson has been recalled from Utica (AHL) and will be in the Devils' lineup Wednesday.
Thompson had six goals, seven assists, six PIMs and a -6 plus/minus through 22 games with Utica (AHL) but has been recalled for the first time this season Wednesday. Thompson will slot right into New Jersey's lineup for their game vs. Boston, where he will be looking to pick up his second career point as he has one assist in nine previous NHL games.
Olle Lycksell has been recalled from Lehigh Valley (AHL).
Lycksell has been recalled for the second time this season after failing to pick up a point in his previous three-game showing with the Flyers. Lycksell had five goals, 13 assists and four PIMs in 19 games with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (AHL) prior to his promotion Wednesday.
Jacob Larsson has been recalled from Belleville (AHL).
Larsson has been recalled from Belleville (AHL) for the second time this season after failing to pick up a point in his first three-game showing with the Senators earlier this season but getting four PIMs. Larsson had five assists, 14 PIMs and a -13 plus/minus in 24 games with Belleville (AHL) prior to his promotion.
Jordan Spence has been recalled from the Ontario Reign (AHL).
Spence has two goals, 19 assists, and 18 PIMs in 22 games with Ontario (AHL) but will head back up to Los Angeles where he will be looking to pick up his first point of the season after previously playing three games with the Kings earlier in the season.
Rasmus Kupari has been recalled from the Ontario Reign (AHL).
Kupari has been up with Los Angeles for most of the year so it was no surprise when he was recalled from Ontario (AHL) Tuesday. The 22-year-old has two goals, three assists, eight PIMs and is a +1 plus/minus in 21 games with the Kings this season during previous call-ups.
Quinton Byfield has been recalled from the Ontario Reign (AHL).
Byfield had nine goals, six assists, 18 PIMs and a -2 plus/minus in 16 games with Ontario (AHL) but will head back up to Los Angeles where he had three assists in eight games to start the year.
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.