In and out of COVID protocol
Edmonton Oilers: Defenseman Cody Ceci is out of COVID protocol and returned to the lineup after missing the past four games.
Montreal Canadiens: Forward Brendan Gallagher and defenseman Sami Niku are both still away from the team after testing positive for COVID. They’ve already been out a week.
“They won’t play in Pittsburgh. They will have to go through some steps before playing. They’ll have to pass some tests returning from COVID-19. After that, there will be some getting back into shape. They haven’t been moving or doing very much for some time,” Ducharme pointed out. “So, if we don’t want to find ourselves in the same situation, where they come back too fast and we lose them again, we have to make sure they return when they’re as close to 100% as possible.”
New York Rangers: Forward Greg McKegg is out of COVID protocol.
Waivers
James Mirtle: The Montreal Canadiens have put Arsen Khisamutdinov on unconditional waivers for the purpose of terminating his contract.
Anatolli Golyshev (Islanders) and Jayson Megna (Avalanche) both cleared waivers.
Maple Leafs and Blackhawks make a small trade
Ben Pope: The Chicago Blackhawks have traded defenseman Chad Krys to the Toronto Maple Leafs for forward Kurtis Gabriel.
“Krys, Hawks’ 2016 2nd-round pick, had been stuck in Rockford for a while and wasn’t going to make it. Gabriel is a 28-year-old wing with 5 points in 49 NHL games since 2015. He’ll join the Hawks in Toronto.”
Chris Johnston: “The trade to Chicago should open a path for Kurtis Gabriel to get back to the NHL. He was pretty far down the depth chart in the #leafs organization.”
Lightning sign their third-round pick
Dan Milstein: The Tampa Bay Lightning have signed their 2021 third-round pick Roman Schmidt to a three-year entry-level contract.
Rutherford’s deal is for three years
Pierre LeBrun: Jim Rutherford’s contract with the Vancouver Canucks is for three years.