NHL Hockey Player News

After spending four years at Brown University and one full season in the AHL, Lafferty spent most of 2020 with the Penguins, scoring six goals with seven assists (13 points) in 50 games. There were a lot of moving parts in Pittsburgh in the offseason but Lafferty should still have a spot in their bottom-6 come January.

Entering Friday, Kivlenieks sits firmly as the No.3 goalie in the Blue Jackets' system but rumours of a potential deal for Elvis Merzlikins or Joonas Korpisalo have been floating around, so that could change. If it doesn't Kivlenieks will return to the AHL to start the 2020-21 season, where he was 9-8-3 with a 2.96 GAA and .904 SV% in 20 games last season.

Hirose split his time between the AHL and NHL in 2020. He had seven points (2G / 5A) in 26 games with the Red Wings, to give him 14 points (3G / 11A) in 36 career NHL games. With Grand Rapids (AHL), he had 27 points (5G / 22A) in 35 games and will likely start the 2021 campaign in the minors.

Steve Yzerman brought Erne in from Tampa Bay in the summer of 2019, trading a fourth-round pick in 2020. In his first season with the Red Wings, Erne had just two goals and three assists (five points) in 56 games . Erne is a thick, gritty forward who produced high-end offensive numbers in juniors but it has not translated to the pro-level. He has just 32 points (15G / 17A) in 170 career NHL games.

Juulsen missed most of the 2019-20 season with concussion-like symptoms that stemmed from a facial fracture that he suffered after being hit in the face with the pick in September. He had three assists in 13 AHL games and will likely start 2021 with Laval (AHL) after the promotion of Alexander Romanov and the addition of Joel Edmundson.

Johansson was a third-round pick in 2014 and made his NHL debut during the 2019-20 season. After going 14-4-3 with a 2.28 GAA and .921 SV% in 22 AHL games, Johansson was 1-3-1 with a 2.94 GAA and .894 SV% during his brief time with Buffalo.

The Blue Jackets acquired Domi from the Canadiens on Tuesday and signed him to a two-year deal on Wednesday. Domi immediately becomes the Blue Jackets' second line centre and will likely play with Gustav Nyquist and Cam Atkinson and will see PP2 time. Through the first five years of his career, Domi has averaged 18 goals and 37 assists (55 points) per 82-games.

After three seasons with the Oilers organization in North America, Puljujarvi returned to Finland for the 2020 campaign. He led Karpat (Liiga) in goals (24) and points (53) in 56 games. He'll return to the NHL for the start of the 2021 season looking for some redemption. He had 17 goals and 20 assists (37 points) in 139 NHL games beforehand.

The RFA got a $2.0M raise after posting a career-high 22 points (8G / 14A) while appearing in just 41 games. The 26-year-old forward was a Swiss Army Knife for the Golden Knights in 2020, playing up and down the lineup, on the wing or at centre, depending on what Vegas needed. Stephenson is best suited in a bottom-6 role and if he's their fourth line centre, they're in great shape.

Stephens was a second-round pick (No.33 overall) in 2015 and graduated to the NHL in 2020. The 23-year-old centre had 10 points (5G / 5A) in 24 AHL games before getting promoted and picking up six points (3G / 3A) in 38 games in Tampa. He appeared in seven playoff games, scoring one goal en route to getting his name on the Stanley Cup.

DeMelo was set to become a UFA on Friday but the Jets have locked him up through the 2024 season at $3.0M. This is a fair price for a defenseman, who is a pretty good offensive play driver who is also rock solid in his own end. DeMelo had 10 assists, 105 hits and 77 blocked shots in 59 games between the Senators and Jets last season.

Dillon, 29, was acquired from the Sharks for second and third round draft picks last February and appeared in 10 regular season and eight playoff games with Washington. He picked up just one assist, 42 hits and 26 blocked shots in a Capitals uniform. With Michal Kempny out for 6-to-8 months, the Capitals were quick to re-sign the 6-foot-4, 225 lbs. defenseman.

MacEwen split his 2020 campaign between the AHL and NHL, recording 11 points (5G / 6A) in 20 games with Utica and six points (5G / 1A) in 17 games with Vancouver. MacEwen is a big winger (6-foot-4, 211 lbs) who posted excellent numbers at lower-levels and should be a bottom-6 player for the Canucks in 2021.

Aho, 24, spent all of 2020 in the AHL, where he led all Bridgeport defensemen with 30 points (3G / 27A) in 49 games. Aho is undersized (5-11, 177) but he's a terrific puck-mover and is not afraid to jump into the rush to create offence. He is a candidate to graduate to the NHL in 2021 but he's blocked by a bunch of high-paid veteran defensemen on the depth chart.

Thompson missed most of the 2020 season with a shoulder issue, which required surgery in mid-January. He had six goals and six assists (12 points) in 16 games with Rochester (AHL) and only appeared in one game with the Sabres. Since being selected No.26 overall in 2016, Thompson has just 10 goals and 11 assists (21 points) in 107 career NHL games.

The Flyers were likely going to let Braun walk in free agency but with the surprising news that Matt Niskanen is retiring, they got to work on re-signing Braun. The 33-year-old scored three goals with 16 assists (19 points) in 62 games while ranking third among Flyers' defensemen in hits (91) and tied for second in blocked shots (84).

In his first full season in the NHL, Soucy produced seven goals and seven assists (14 points) in 55 games. The 6-foot-4 defenseman has never been a big point producer, so that 21-point per 82-game pace is probably close to his ceiling moving forward. He can play a physical brand of hockey though, ranking second among Wild defensemen in Hits/60 (4.81).

Sturm spent most of his first professional season in the AHL, where he was fifth on Iowa with 32 points (12G / 20A) in 55 games. With Eric Staal traded to Buffalo, Ryan Donato traded to San Jose and both Mikko Koivu and Alex Galchenyuk expected to hit free agency, the door is wide open for Sturm to play in the NHL full-time in 2021.

Spezza signed a one-year deal with the Maple Leafs prior to last season and registered 25 points (9G / 16A) in 58 games. That makes it three straight seasons where Spezza has failed to top 10 goals or 30 points. The 37-year-old will remain as a bottom-6 forward with limited usage in 2021.

Brown was acquired from the Panthers for a 2020 fourth-round pick last Friday and he will likely skate in the Senators' top-6 defensemen in 2021. The 26-year-old is a towering defenseman (6-foot-5, 217 lbs.) but offers very little in terms of offence--10 points (4G / 6A) in 93 career NHL games.