{"id":555299,"date":"2026-04-18T14:09:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T14:09:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/555299\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T14:09:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T14:09:18","slug":"ahl-shuffle-4-17-26-pro-hockey-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/555299\/","title":{"rendered":"AHL Shuffle: 4\/17\/26 \u2013 Pro Hockey Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n By Josh Erickson<\/a> |
\n at April 17, 2026 6:30 pm <\/p>\n

Several smaller-profile moves will come across the wire today. Teams done with their seasons are sending their fringe talent back to the AHL for postseason play, while teams bound for the first round of the playoffs could be making some small alternations as well \u2013 in particular, settling on their \u201cemergency\u201d third goalie as the league permits for the playoffs. We\u2019ll keep track of those moves today:<\/p>\n

The Flyers announced<\/a> they\u2019ve recalled goaltender\u00a0Aleksei Kolosov<\/a>\u00a0from AHL Lehigh Valley and reassigned\u00a0Carson Bjarnason<\/a>\u00a0there in his stead. Bjarnason was up just yesterday<\/a> for practice, but it now appears they\u2019ve re-evaluated and will prefer to have the more experienced Kolosov as their #3 behind\u00a0Daniel Vlada\u0159<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Samuel Ersson<\/a>\u00a0to begin their clash with the Penguins rather than Bjarnason, a first-year pro. With Lehigh Valley now eliminated from playoff contention, there\u2019s no use keeping Kolosov down there to try to get them in. Kolosov, who has a 5-11-1 record and a .863 SV% in 21 career NHL appearances, will be eligible to enter a playoff game as an emergency backup if both Vlada\u0159 and Ersson leave with injuries.
\nThe Flames have reassigned<\/a> forwards\u00a0Rory Kerins<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Aydar Suniev<\/a>, as well as goaltender\u00a0Arsenii Sergeev<\/a>, to AHL Calgary following last night\u2019s season finale against the Kings. Sergeev, 23, was exceptional in his first career start, guiding Calgary to a 4-1 win while posting a .964 SV% and saving 2.6 goals above expected, per MoneyPuck<\/a>. Kerins and Suniev were both late-season call-ups for the Flames once the playoffs were no longer a possibility but didn\u2019t do much in their reps, combining for one assist (Suniev\u2019s) in 10 games. There won\u2019t be any playoff action in store for the trio; the Wranglers are last in the AHL\u2019s Pacific Division and won\u2019t be heading to the Calder Cup Playoffs.
\nThe Blue Jackets have added goaltending prospect\u00a0Evan Gardner<\/a>\u00a0to AHL Cleveland\u2019s roster, per a team announcement<\/a>. The 20-year-old\u2019s Saskatoon Blades in the WHL were swept out of the second round of the playoffs by Prince Albert this week. The 60th overall pick in 2024, Gardner will be turning pro full-time next season with either Cleveland or somewhere in the ECHL (Columbus is one of the few teams without a designated affiliate). His entry-level contract remains slide-eligible for this season, so it won\u2019t kick in until 2026-27. He had a .902 SV% and 2.96 GAA \u2013 both great numbers for career-lows \u2013 in 52 games for Saskatoon in his third and final junior season.
\nThe Sharks have assigned winger\u00a0Igor Chernyshov<\/a>\u00a0and defenseman\u00a0Luca Cagnoni<\/a>\u00a0to AHL San Jose for the Calder Cup Playoffs, per Max Miller of Sharks Hockey Digest.<\/a> It could very well be the last AHL action of Chernyshov\u2019s career. The 20-year-old looks well on his way toward being a top-six piece from the drop next season, rattling off a 9-10\u201319 scoring line in 28 games of call-up action this year while seeing significant time on\u00a0Macklin Celebrini<\/a>\u2018s left wing. The 2024 second-rounder also had 13 goals and 33 points in 41 AHL games to date. Cagnoni, a 5\u20199\u2033 lefty, had only been up for the last few games to get an end-of-season look once the Sharks were eliminated from playoff contention. The 21-year-old went pointless in three games after seeing a six-game debut last season. He leads Barracuda defensemen in scoring with an 8-35\u201343 line in 67 games.
\nThe Oilers have added<\/a>\u00a0Calvin Pickard<\/a>\u00a0back from AHL Bakersfield to serve as the EBUG behind\u00a0Connor Ingram<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Tristan Jarry<\/a>\u00a0in the postseason. Pickard started the season as Edmonton\u2019s backup but was supplanted by Ingram after struggling to the tune of a .871 SV% and 3.68 GAA in 16 appearances (5-6-2 record). Fresh off his 34th birthday, he\u2019s started playoff games in each of the last two years for the Oilers \u2013 including Game 5 of last year\u2019s Stanley Cup Final \u2013 so there\u2019s zero hesitancy about tossing him into the fray if Ingram and Jarry fall flat. Since clearing waivers and being assigned to Bakersfield at the beginning of February, Pickard has a .886 SV% and 3.26 GAA in eight games with one shutout and a 4-3-1 record.
\nThe Mammoth announced<\/a> that they\u2019ve recalled winger\u00a0Danil But<\/a>\u00a0and goaltender\u00a0Matt Villalta<\/a>\u00a0from AHL Tucson. With Tucson out of the playoffs, recalling their AHL starter in Villalta isn\u2019t an issue to serve as their EBUG. He has just two NHL starts to his name but is a known AHL commodity, posting a .895 SV% in 33 outings for the Roadrunners this season. The more pressing move, of course, is the re-infusion of But into the mix. Utah has given its 2023 12th overall pick several looks on the roster this season in top-nine duties, with the 6\u20195\u2033 Russian managing three goals and four assists in 29 games. It doesn\u2019t appear he\u2019ll be in their Game 1 lineup to start, even with\u00a0Barrett Hayton<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Jack McBain<\/a>\u00a0still unavailable, but he\u2019ll almost surely be the next man up in case of any other lineup changes.
\nThe Islanders added<\/a> Russian forward Daniil Prokhorov<\/a> to their AHL roster, from KHL side Dynamo Moscow. The club drafted Prokhorov in the second round, No. 42 overall, at the 2025 NHL entry draft, their fourth selection overall. The 18-year-old forward was recently ranked as the No. 6 prospect in the Islanders\u2019 system by Scott Wheeler of The Athletic<\/a>. Wheeler called Prokhorov, who stands 6\u20195\u2033, a \u201d big, strong, driven, hardworking player.\u201d AHL Bridgeport will be the fourth team Prokhorov has played for, in the fourth league. He scored one goal in 23 KHL games for Dynamo Moscow, 18 points in 25 games for Dynamo St. Petersburg in Russia\u2019s second-tier VHL, and had six points in eight games at the MHL level, which is Russia\u2019s top junior league. Prokhorov will soon make his debut on this side of the Atlantic for a Bridgeport team that has already clinched its playoff spot, and is playing out its final season in Connecticut before an offseason relocation to Ontario.
\nThe Wild recalled<\/a> netminder Cal Petersen<\/a> from their AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild today. Petersen, 31, is the No. 3 netminder on the Wild depth chart and will likely occupy a spare goalie role for the team during its first-round playoff series against the Dallas Stars. Recalling Petersen today allows him to join the team in advance of the start of their series against Dallas. The AHL Wild have already been eliminated from playoff contention, so today\u2019s move turns over their net to Samuel Hlavaj<\/a> and Riley Mercer<\/a>, while allowing the team\u2019s No. 3 goalie to join the NHL team and provide them with additional insurance in case one of Minnesota\u2019s two regular goalies (Jesper Wallstedt<\/a> and Filip Gustavsson<\/a>) become unavailable.
\nThe Kraken reassigned<\/a> forward Jani Nyman<\/a> and netminders Niklas Kokko<\/a> and Victor Ostman<\/a> to their AHL affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds. With the Kraken\u2019s season concluded, the move allows three potentially significant contributors to re-join Coachella Valley in advance of what the club hopes will be another extended playoff run. Nyman, 21, scored 21 goals and 33 points in 38 games at the AHL level this season, and was the Firebird\u2019s leading goal scorer in 2024-25. Kokko, 22, went 18-10-2 in 33 games for Coachella Valley this season and posted a .903 save percentage. Ostman, 25, signed out of the University of Maine for 2024-25 and spent last season as a tandem goalie in the ECHL. He has had a strong AHL campaign in his second year of pro hockey, going 17-14-3 with a .907 save percentage in 35 games with Coachella Valley.
\nThe Canucks announced<\/a> that forward Ty Mueller<\/a> and defenseman Kirill Kudryavtsev<\/a> have been reassigned to the club\u2019s AHL affiliate, the Abbotsford Canucks. Both Mueller and Kudryavtsev had been on the Canucks\u2019 NHL roster in the final days of the club\u2019s NHL campaign. They have each been key AHL contributors this season. Mueller, 23, scored 35 points in 58 games this year for the AHL Canucks, while Kudryavtsev, 22, scored 18 points in 42 games playing a top-four role including time on both sides of special teams.
\nThe Ducks reassigned<\/a> defenseman Tristan Luneau<\/a> to their AHL affiliate, the San Diego Gulls, as the team prepares for their first-round playoff series against the Edmonton Oilers. The 22-year-old got into his first NHL game yesterday. A 2022 second-round pick, Luneau has been one of the AHL\u2019s most productive offensive defensemen since joining the league. He led San Diego in scoring last season with 52 points in 59 games, and leads the team in scoring by a defenseman this year with 41 points in 69 contests.
\nIn a similar move to the Wild\u2019s recall of Petersen, the Senators recalled<\/a> netminder Leevi Merilainen<\/a> from their AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators today. Belleville, like Iowa, has already been eliminated from playoff contention, so Ottawa is seemingly content to turn its AHL net over to other names for the final games of the season while getting the team\u2019s No. 3 goalie onto their NHL roster a few days early. Merilainen played a solid 18 games for Belleville this season, posting a .909 save percentage, but struggled in 20 games at the NHL level. His .860 save percentage in 20 games with the Senators this season is the lowest save percentage by any goalie with at least 15 games played.<\/p>\n

This page will be updated throughout the day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Josh Erickson | at April 17, 2026 6:30 pm Several smaller-profile moves will come across the wire…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":555300,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[10708,9714,8948,26,275,7382,230,9605,9313,146,24501,5,164,851,6894,159,4,56,3322,168,405,3154],"class_list":{"0":"post-555299","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-aleksei-kolosov","9":"tag-arsenii-sergeev","10":"tag-aydar-suniev","11":"tag-calgary-flames","12":"tag-calvin-pickard","13":"tag-carson-bjarnason","14":"tag-columbus-blue-jackets","15":"tag-daniil-but","16":"tag-daniil-prokhorov","17":"tag-edmonton-oilers","18":"tag-evan-gardner","19":"tag-hockey","20":"tag-igor-chernyshov","21":"tag-luca-cagnoni","22":"tag-matt-villalta","23":"tag-new-york-islanders","24":"tag-nhl","25":"tag-philadelphia-flyers","26":"tag-rory-kerins","27":"tag-san-jose-sharks","28":"tag-transactions","29":"tag-utah-mammoth"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116426111302265276","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=555299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/555300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=555299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=555299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=555299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}