The Tampa Bay Lightning claimed goaltender Pheonix Copley off NHL waivers on Thursday, the team announced.
Copley joins the Lightning as depth while starter Andrei Vasilevskiy practises while recovering from an injury. Copley could potentially challenge backup Jonas Johansson for backup duties.
The 33-year-old Copley spent the last three seasons with the Los Angeles Kings organization. In 2022-23, he played a career-high 37 games, putting up a 24-6-3 record, 2.64 goals-against average and .903 save percentage.
Despite that, Copley only played eight games in 2023-24 due to an ACL injury and then spent most of last season in the AHL, going 24-17-1 with a 2.49 GAA and .904 SP in 42 games for the Ontario Reign.
The rest of the players on Wednesday's NHL waiver wire cleared and are eligible to go to the minors. Christian Jaros, meanwhile, cleared unconditional waivers, and his contract can be terminated.
Eight teams placed 22 players on waivers on Thursday, according to PuckPedia. Here they are:
- Columbus: Daemon Hunt
- Calgary: Rory Kerins, Ivan Prosvetov, Ilya Solovyov
- Edmonton: Cam Dineen, Riley Stillman
- Pittsburgh: Sebastian Aho (defenseman), Danton Heinen, Philip Kemp, Joona Koppanen, Filip Larsson, Valtteri Puustinen
- Seattle: Ben Meyers, Mitchell Stephens
- Utah: Ben McCartney, Scott Perunovich
- Vancouver: Vitali Kravtsov
- Vegas: Dylan Coghlan, Tanner Laczynski, Raphael Lavoie, Jaycob Megna, Cole Schwindt
Hunt, a 23-year-old defenseman, joined the Blue Jackets in a trade that sent prospect David Jiricek the other way in November 2024. He had an assist in four pre-season games.
Prosvetov, 26, signed with Calgary in July after recording a 2.32 GAA, .920 SP and four shutouts with CSKA Moscow last season. The goaltender went 1-2-0 with a .875 SP and 3.96 GAA in parts of three pre-season games. This means Devin Cooley has earned backup duties behind Dustin Wolf for now. Cooley has gone 0-2-0 with a 4.08 GAA and .846 SP in parts of three games.
Stillman, a 27-year-old D-man, signed with the Oilers in July, and he has 163 games of NHL experience. He scored once in one pre-season game.
Heinen, 30, played 79 games last season between the Canucks and Penguins, scoring 29 points. The veteran left winger has 96 goals, 145 assists and 241 points in 566 career games. Heinen was held without a point in four pre-season contests, taking three shots on goal.
Kravtsov, 25, rejoined the Canucks after spending two seasons with KHL Chelyabinsk, recording 58 points in 66 games last year. He didn't record a point in two pre-season games.
Lavoie, 25, was the talk of last October's waiver wire. The Golden Knights claimed the 2019 second-rounder off waivers from the Oilers on Oct. 7, 2024. Edmonton reclaimed the center on Oct. 9, and then Vegas got him again on Oct. 11. After all that, he played nine NHL games, and in 16 career contests, he has yet to record his first career point.
For each player, the rest of the NHL's clubs can submit a claim before 2 p.m. ET on Friday.
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