Mattias Janmark has been recalled from Bakersfield (AHL).
Janmark had four points (2G/2A) in four games prior to his promotion from Bakersfield (AHL) to Edmonton. The 29-year-old veteran has 158 points (66G/92A) in 420 career NHL games.
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NHL Transactions & Roster Moves
Klim Kostin has been recalled from Bakersfield (AHL).
With the unfortunate news that Evander Kane will be on the LTIR, Klim Kostin earned his first promotion to the Edmonton OIlers Wednesday. In nine games with Bakersfield, the 2017 1st round pick (31st overall) has two goals and four points to go along with 15 PIMs.
Jake Neighbours has been assigned to Springfield (AHL).
Neighbours has struggled so far with the Blues in 2022-23 prior to his demotion to Springfield (AHL), posting one goal and a -9 plus/minus rating through 11 games while averaging 12:20 ATOI.
Nikita Alexandrov has been recalled from Springfield (AHL).
Alexandrov will be called up to the Blues' lineup from Springfield (AHL) to add a spark as St.Louis finds itself in the middle of an eight-game losing streak. He has four goals and eight points in nine games with Springfield prior to his promotion and has never played in the NHL before his callup.
Josh Leivo has been recalled from Springfield (AHL).
Leivo has already enjoyed a small cup of tea with the Blues' prior to him being recalled Wednesday, as he failed to pick up a point through three games. After heading to Springfield (AHL) he was nothing short of dominant, scoring three goals and adding an assist while only playing in two games.
Sampo Ranta has been recalled from the Colorado Eagles (AHL).
With the Avalanche losing a few players due to injury earlier this week, Sampo Ranta has been recalled from the Colorado Eagles (AHL). In 10 AHL games played this year with the Eagles he has one goal and one assist and is a -5 plus/minus prior to his promotion.
Pyotr Kochetkov has been recalled from Chicago (AHL) on an emergency basis.
Kochetkov got the emergency recall from Chicago of the AHL after Frederik Andersen appeared to tweak something in Carolina practice Tuesday. In five starts with Chicago, he has a 2-2-1 record with a .911 SV%.
Martin Kaut has been recalled from the Colorado Eagles (AHL)
Kaut has been up and down consistently this season but when he does play, has contributed a goal and an assist along with a +2 plus/minus rating across eight games played. He was recalled from Colorado of the AHL on Tuesday.
Brandan Gaunce has been called up from Cleveland (AHL).
Gaunce has been enjoying a strong start to 2021-22 in the AHL with Cleveland, scoring 11 points (4G/7A) in his first 10 games prior to his promotion. In 148 career NHL games, he has 11 goals and 23 points.
Samuel Ersson was called up from Lehigh (AHL)
Carter Hart was announced out due to illness Tuesday which meant that Samuel Ersson was called up from Lehigh (AHL) to back up Felix Sandstrom.
Victor Mete was loaned to the Toronto Marlies (AHL) Tuesday.
Mete's first cup of tea with the Maple Leafs lasted five games with him collecting one assist and a +3 plus/minus rating while averaging 13:16 ATOI. He will head back to the Toronto Marlies in a move corresponding with Jordie Benn being activated from the injured reserve.
Pontus Holmberg was loaned to the Toronto Marlies (AHL).
Holmberg made his NHL debut on Nov 2nd vs Philadelphia playing only 10:01 TOI in his only action with the Maple Leafs so far this season. He was sent down to the Toronto Marlies (AHL) Tuesday as Jordie Benn was activated from the injured reserve.
Alexander Alexeyev has been recalled from Hersey (AHL)
Alexeyev had just finished a long-term conditioning loan with Hersey where he posted one assist and a +1 plus/minus across four games in the AHL. The Capitals' 2018 1st round pick (31st overall) has one career NHL game where picked up two PIMs.
Emil Bemstrom has been recalled from Cleveland (AHL)
Bemstrom earned his call-up to Columbus after leading the AHL in scoring so far this season with seven goals and 14 points in 10 games played. He also ranks 11th in the AHL in SOG with 35 while adding three of his goals on the PP.
Filip Hallander has been recalled from Wilkes-Barre (AHL)
Hallander has been recalled by Pittsburgh after a strong showing in Wilkes-Barre (AHL) where he had four goals and nine points in 10 games while playing strong defensively with a +7 plus/minus. He has one career NHL game prior to the promotion.
Send Down
Jakub Lauko has been re-assigned to Providence (AHL)
Lauko will head back to Providence Monday as it was announced Craig Smith would be returning to the Bruins' lineup from injury. In seven games prior to his demotion, Lauko had a goal and an assist while only playing 10:21 ATOI.
The Flames have recalled Dennis Gilbert from Calgary (AHL).
The Flames have recalled Nick DeSimone from Calgary (AHL).
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Steven Fogarty has been assigned to Iowa (AHL)
Fogarty will head back down to Iowa Friday after playing two games for the big club where he failed to collect both a point or even a shot on goal while playing around 10 minutes of ice per night. The six-year NHL veteran will hope to receive the call again so that he can add to his three career NHL points in 31 games.
Wayne Simmonds has been recalled from the Toronto Marlies (AHL)
Simmonds will head back to the Maple Leafs after being sent down to Toronto of the AHL earlier in the week. The 34-year-old veteran has one assist in his first three games while playing a fourth-line role with the Maple Leafs. In 1,022 career games played in the NHL, he has 263 goals and 262 assists, and 1,268 PIMs.
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.