The Avalanche frees up $1.275 million in AAV with this swap and acquire a bigger centre to play in their bottom-6. Sturm was an undrafted free agent out of Clarkson University, who has scored nine goals with eight assists (17 points) in 53 games with the Wild this season.

Not only does it look like Thornton will be back in the lineup, it looks like he'll play on the top line with Aleksander Barkov and Carter Verhaeghe. Thornton has just four goals and two assists (six points) in 24 games this season but will be amped up to face his former team in San Jose.

Wennberg will miss Saturday's game against the Montreal Canadiens due to an upper-body injury. With Joonas Donskoi going on IR, Kole Lind was recalled from the AHL and will likely take Wennberg's spot in the lineup.

The Sharks announced on Sunday that Ferraro had surgery to repair a left fibula fracture and is expected to miss 6-to-8 weeks. In a corresponding move, the Sharks recalled Santeri Hatakka from San Jose (AHL).

Vanecek has not played in an NHL game since February 1st, so he was sent to the AHL to start on Sunday. The 26-year-old netminder stopped 21 of 23 shots in a 3-1 loss to Utica. It is expected that Vanecek will serve as Ilya Samsonov's backup on Monday but could start later in the week, either Thursday (vs. CAR) or Saturday (vs. SEA).

Carlsson was a healthy scratch vs. the Blue Jackets but will replace Olli Juolevi in the lineup on Saturday. Carlsson has two goals and six assists (eight points) while averaging 12:20 TOI/gm in 29 games this season.