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Sharks Activate Will Smith, Place Klim Kostin On IR

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The San Jose Sharks have placed winger Klim Kostin on injured reserve with an undisclosed injury. Kostin left San Jose’s Thursday night win over St. Louis in the second period, after a scrum in the corner with a few Blues players. He didn’t appear to get hurt in the altercation, and no word on his official injury has come out. Kostin was a game-time decision for San Jose’s Tuesday loss to Carolina, after blocking a shot with his foot at practice – though he was ultimately able to play. It’s not clear if that lower-body injury is connected to this IR placement.

In a corresponding move, San Jose has activated top young forward William Smith off of IR. Smith spent the last four days on IR with an upper-body injury. He is expected to step right back into the Sharks’ lineup when they host Utah on Saturday. Smith hasn’t played since December 5th, but scored an impressive seven points in six games leading up to his injury. He’s up to 11 points through 24 games this season, after starting the year with no scoring in his first eight NHL games.

Swapping Kostin and Smith may be a jarring change in style, but it should be a seamless lineup change. Kostin earned a promotion to the third line in late November. He’s averaged over 13 minutes of ice time in six games since – a hefty step from his eight-minute-average in San Jose’s first 14 games. With Kostin now headed for the shelf, and newcomer Nikolai Kovalenko expected to round out the top-six next to Macklin Celebrini, the third-line wing will be a natural landing spot for the young Smith. The Sharks have averaged just 2.00 goals-per-game through five games in the month of December – setting Smith up to be an impactful sparkplug, if he can rediscover the scoring hot streak he was on before injury.

Leafs Notes: McCabe, McMann, Kampf, Stolarz

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have activated defenseman Jake McCabe off of injured reserve, per the Toronto Sun’s Terry Koshan. McCabe was moved to IR on December 7th, and hasn’t played since suffering a wrist injury while blocking a shot from Nicklaus Perbix in Toronto’s November 30th win over Tampa Bay. McCabe returned to full practice just two days after his IR placement and is expected to return to the lineup on Thursday.

That’s great news for the Maple Leafs, who have leaned heavily on McCabe this season. He’s averaged 21:20 in ice time through 23 games this season, narrowly leading the team’s blue-line in average time on ice – just two seconds ahead of Oliver Ekman-Larsson, and seven seconds more than Morgan Rielly. McCabe has recorded five assists, a +11, and 21 penalty minutes in his opportunities. More encouraging, McCabe also ranks third among Leafs defenders in goals-against per-60 (GA/60) with a 1.22 average – just narrowly behind bottom-pair defenders Simon Benoit (1.17) and Conor Timmins (0.98). Those results will return McCabe immediately back to his top-pair, defense-oriented role next to summer addition Chris Tanev.

Other notes out of Toronto:

  • Forward Bobby McMann is also nearing a return to the lineup, head coach Craig Berube told David Alter of The Hockey News. McMann suffered a lower-body injury on November 27th and has since missed six games. He returned to practice on December 6th and could return to the lineup within a week, shares Alter’s colleague Evan Doerfler. McMann has continued his dazzling goal-scoring into this season, with six goals and an 11.5 shooting percentage in 21 games. He played his first full year in the NHL last season, netting 15 goals and 24 points in 56 games. McMann has proven a reliable middle-six winger on and off of the puck, and should slot back into the middle-six as soon as he returns.
  • Berube also shared with Alter that center David Kampf is still a ways away from returning. Kampf was placed on IR with a lower-body injury on November 19th, and hasn’t played since November 16th. He recorded three assists in 18 games as Toronto’s third-line center prior to his injury. Kampf has 75 points in 260 games over the last four seasons with Toronto, largely comprised of 26-point and 27-point seasons across his first two years with the team. He’ll eye a return in 2025, and may need to fight to regain a spot in the team’s top-nine.
  • Top Toronto goaltender Anthony Stolarz left the team’s Thursday game against Anaheim with a lower-body injury, shares Sportsnet. He seemed to suffer the injury on Anaheim’s first goal of the game, appearing in pain after stretching to try and make a save. Stolarz has been tremendous for the Leafs early on. He leads all goaltenders in save percentage, maintaining a .928 through 16 games this season – narrowly ahead of Filip Gustavsson and Connor Hellebuyck who each have a .927. Stolarz has added a 9-5-2 record to boot, performing well enough to earn the Leafs’ starting role while Joseph Woll sorted out injuries. Stolarz is an eight-year veteran of the NHL. He’s tallied a 99-52-36 record and .916 save percentage through 124 career games. Leafs fans and management alike will hold their breath for an update on his long-term health, after an injury that didn’t appear to be severe.

Ducks Activate Robby Fabbri, Reassign Sam Colangelo

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The Anaheim Ducks have activated forward Robby Fabbri off of injured reserve. Fabbri hasn’t played since November 10th, after suffering a knee injury that required surgery. He was expected to miss up to six weeks, but will instead return after just over a month out. To make room for the activation, Anaheim has sent 22-year-old forward Sam Colangelo back to the minor leagues. Colangelo was called up on November 19th and has played in eight games since then. He didn’t manage any scoring, with a -3, 10 shots on net, and 14 hits standing as his only notable stat changes.

Anaheim should get a much better chance to assess Fabbri now that he’s back to full health. The veteran was traded to Anaheim alongside a fourth-round draft pick on July 3rd, with goaltender Gage Alexander headed back to the Detroit Red Wings. Fabbri played in the first 14 games of Anaheim’s season before falling to injury, but only posted two goals, a -6, and six penalty minutes. He served as a core piece of the team’s middle six, averaging 16:33 in ice time and minutes on the second-unit penalty kill.

Fabbri is a veteran of nine NHL seasons. Many of those years have been cut short by injury, but he’s nonetheless managed a productive 100 goals and 202 points in 412 career games. Nearly all of that scoring – 146 points, to be exact – have come at even-strength. That 5v5 scoring, and his ability to fill roles on the wings or down the middle, have made Fabbri a routine fixture in NHL lineups, despite routine lower-body injuries.

Winger Brett Leason earned a bump in the lineup in Fabbri’s absence and made strong work of the opportunity. He recorded seven points in the first seven games of the promotion, proudly supporting Anaheim to a 4-2-1 record. Both he and the team have slowed down in the six games since – with Leason only posting one additional point. Still, he’s likely done enough to maintain his spot in the lineup while Fabbri eases his way back to 100 percent.

Predators Announce Roster Moves With Roman Josi Out

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The Nashville Predators have recalled Milwaukee Admirals captain Kevin Gravel. He is expected to step into the lineup on Thursday to fill in for Predators captain Roman Josi. Josi left Nashville’s Tuesday loss to Calgary roughly halfway through the first period. He returned a few moments later, and took three more shifts, but left again before the first period ended. Josi has since been announced as out day-to-day with a lower-body injury by the team.

Nashville made room for Gravel’s recall by placing defender Alexandre Carrier on injured reserve. Carrier was designated as week-to-week with an upper-body injury earlier this week. He hasn’t played since December 7th, meaning he’ll be eligible to return as soon as Saturday – though his designation suggests a longer absence.

Josi’s absence adds to a mounting injury list for the Predators. Their blue line is down multiple key pieces, with Jeremy Lauzon and Spencer Stastney joining Josi and Carrier on the absentee list. That’s left summer signee Brady Skjei as the sole pillar of the defense, with Luke Schenn, Marc Del Gaizo, and Adam Wilsby as his top supports.

They’ve already struggled with Carrier and Lauzon out – posting a league-worst 0-2-0 record and four-to-seven goal differential since the former left the lineup. Now, the test gets harder – with the most utilized Predator now at risk of missing a few games with his day-to-day designation. Josi has a team-leading 23 points in 29 games this season while averaging nearly 25 minutes of ice time – over three minutes more than any other Predators skater. Josi is one year removed from a 23-goal, 85-point season where he played in all 82 games, and only four years removed from a 96-point year in 2021-22. He’s proven one of the best Swiss players to grace the NHL, and his absence leaves a glaring hole in every aspect of Nashville’s lineup.

Gravel won’t fill in Josi’s hole one-for-one, but he will offer the stout veteran presence of a 12-year pro. Much of Gravel’s career has been spent in the AHL, where he won a Calder Cup with the Manchester Monarchs in 2015 and the Bakersfield Condors in 2021. He joined the Predators organization in 2022 – suiting up for his sixth AHL club in Milwaukee the sixth AHL team, and his fourth NHL club in Nashville. Gravel appeared in 23 games of Nashville’s 2022-23 season, contributing one assist, two penalties, and a -10 from a limited role. He’s since spent all his time in with the Admirals, totaling 28 points and a +4 through 132 games and three seasons. He was named Milwaukee’s captain last season, and carried the title into this year. Now, Gravel will be called upon to support the top club amidst injuries to an overabundance of talent.

East Notes: Chinakhov, Duclair, Pelech, Kozak

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Columbus Blue Jackets winger Yegor Chinakhov has missed the team’s last six games with an upper-body injury, and doesn’t seem close to a return. Head coach Dean Evason told NHL.com’s Jeff Svoboda that Chinakhov is “progressing, for sure” but that he hasn’t yet returned to skating, making a return to the lineup hard to predict.

Chinakhov has 14 points, split evenly, through 21 games this season. He’s playing the best hockey of his career – scoring at a career-high pace, recording a positive +/- for the first time, and working his way into 17 minutes of average ice time each game. They’re all very positive signs of life for the 23-year-old winger, who’s bettering the 16 goals and 29 points in 53 games last season: an 82-game pace of 45 points. Improving on those numbers is helping Chinakhov justify his 21st-overall selection in the 2020 NHL Draft – a shocking pick at the time, despite Chinakhov was one of Russia’s top junior scorers entering the draft. He made the jump to the NHL less than two years later and has since recorded 70 points and 34 penalty minutes in 166 career games. He’ll look to continue producing when he’s finally able to return to the lineup, though Evason suggests he’ll have to hit multiple checkpoints before that occurs.

Other notes from out East:

  • Both Anthony Duclair (lower-body) and Adam Pelech (upper-body) returned to the New York Islanders practices today, each wearing a no-contact jersey, shares Newsday’s Andrew Gross. It’s a timely step for both players, who were designated to miss one-to-two months in late October and early November respectively. Duclair landed on long-term injured reserve on October 26th, while Pelech was placed on standard IR on November 2nd. Duclair scored two goals and three points in five games before falling to injury, looking like a stout addition to New York’s top-six. Meanwhile, Pelech’s spot on the top pair likely remains unrivaled. He’s averaged north of 20 minutes of ice time through 11 games this season, recording four assists along the way. The duo are pacing to return to the lineup before the holiday break, though it’s yet to be seen if that timeline will actually come to fruition.
  • The Buffalo Sabres have sent young winger Tyson Kozak back to the minor leagues. It’s unclear if this is a means of accruing daily cap space before Wednesday’s matchup against the Rangers, or if Kozak’s assignment is expected to stick. Kozak received the first three NHL games of his career on this recall. He scored his first NHL goal in his first NHL game – but it got called back after a coach’s challenge from Jets head coach Scott Arniel. Not to be denied, Kozak managed to score again in his second game – this time cementing his first goal at the top flight. He served in a fourth-line role throughout his recall, and could be at risk of formally losing an NHL spot with the return of Jordan Greenway and Sam Lafferty from injury.

Devils Recall Isaac Poulter

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The New Jersey Devils have recalled goaltender Isaac Poulter. He will back up starter Jacob Markstrom on Tuesday, with veteran Jake Allen expected to miss the game with an undisclosed injury. It’s the third call-up of Poulter’s career, after a pair of brief stints as New Jersey’s backup last Spring.

Poulter has yet to make his NHL debut. Instead, he’s spent the last three seasons bouncing between the ECHL and AHL rosters. He earned his first pro contract in 2022, signing as an undrafted free agent after impressing at New Jersey’s 2022 training camp. Poulter recorded a 10-8-2 record and .910 save percentage in 22 ECHL games in his first pro season. That earned him a call-up to the AHL late in the season, and more formally a chance at the lion’s share of starts in a crowded goalie room last season. Poulter posted a team-leading 17-8-1 record and .911 save percentage in 28 games over 2023-24, complimenting it with a 5-0-1 and .917 in six ECHL games.

Poulter has started this year as the backup to Nico Daws, and hasn’t performed as well with the reduced role. He’s posted a 2-4-2 record and .871 save percentage, a small step below Daws’ 3-8-1 record and .897 save percentage on a struggling Utica lineup. Poulter likely won’t earn his NHL debut on this call-up – and should be headed back to the minor leagues, and back to his competition with Daws, once Allen returns to full health.

Evening Notes: Arvidsson, Allen, Whitecloud, Sasson

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Edmonton Oilers winger Viktor Arvidsson has resumed skating for the first time since exiting the lineup last month with an undisclosed injury, Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch shared with Daniel Nugent-Bowman of The Athletic. Knoblauch added that the hope is that Arvidsson will return to team practices next week. Little about the veteran winger’s injury has been revealed. He played through 14 minutes of ice time in his most recent game – an overtime win over the Islanders on November 12th. The Oilers announced Arvidsson as banged up shortly after that game, designating him as day-to-day. He was placed on injured reserve nine days later, and has since missed Edmonton’s last 11 games.

Arvidsson signed a two-year, $8MM contract with Edmonton this summer, but hasn’t found his footing in the new setting just yet. He’s played in 16 games and scored five points this season, though the bulk of that scoring came from a three-assist night against Pittsburgh on October 25th. Arvidsson has scored two goals in eight games since then, but still sits far away from the 31-goal season he managed in 2016-17. Repeated lower-body injuries held Arvidsson out of all but 18 games with the Los Angeles Kings last season, though he still managed an impressive 15 points. He’ll look to return to the lineup, and quickly rediscover his scoring kick, before the calendar turns over.

Other notes around the league:

  • New Jersey Devils goaltender Jake Allen is questionable for the team’s Tuesday game against Toronto per a team announcement. No specifics were provided as to what may limit the veteran backup. Allen was on the wrong side of a shutout on Sunday, allowing three goals on 22 shots in the Devils’ 4-0 loss to Colorado. Despite the losing efforts, Allen’s season-long stat line has been more encouraging – with a 5-4-1 record and .904 save percentage through 10 games. New Jersey would need to recall a backup for Jacob Markstrom should Allen miss Tuesday’s game. Utica Comets starter Nico Daws would likely stand as the next man up. Daws has three wins and a .897 in 13 AHL games this season.
  • Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Zach Whitecloud returned to full practices on Monday shares Jesse Granger of The Athletic. It’s the next step towards a return after Whitecloud returned to practices with a no-contact jersey on Friday. Head coach Bruce Cassidy told Danny Webster of the Las Vegas Review-Journal that Whitecloud is expected to play at some point on Vegas’ upcoming three-game road trip. The 28-year-old defender has two points, 14 penalty minutes, and a +5 through 21 games this season; while operating out of a bottom-four role. He’ll be quickly slotted back into the lineup when back to full health, likely bumping Kaedan Korczak to the press box.
  • The Vancouver Canucks are taking advantage of their off-days, assigning waiver-exempt forward Max Sasson to the minor leagues to help accrue cap space ahead of their Tuesday night game. Sasson made his NHL debut earlier this season and has since recorded two assists and a +2 in seven games. The 24-year-old has operated from Vancouver’s fourth-line, and is likely to return with a call-up before the Canucks’ next game. If he does stay in the minors, he’ll be returning to an AHL stat line featuring four goals, nine points, and six penalty minutes through nine games.

Avalanche Notes: Miner, Blackwood, Prishchepov

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The Colorado Avalanche will likely be down a goaltender when they face Pittsburgh on Tuesday. The Avalanche are awaiting the arrival of Mackenzie Blackwood, after being traded for Alexandar Georgiev. To split the gap, Colorado has recalled AHL starting goaltender Trent Miner.

This is Miner’s second call-up of the season. His first was a one-day stop with the NHL roster on November 15th, in response to an injury to Georgiev. Miner backed up Justus Annunen for one game, and would end up taking over the crease just one minute into the second period after the latter allowed three goals on six shots. Miner stopped 12 of 13 shots in what was inadvertently his NHL debut – but Colorado couldn’t climb out of the hole Annunen dug, and ultimately lost the game 5-2.

Aside from the spot fill-in, Miner has proven the consistent in a Colorado Eagles goaltending room that also features Kaapo Kahkonen and Kevin Mandolese. Miner leads the team in games played with 11 appearances, but his 5-4-2 record and .895 rank behind Mandolese, who has a 6-2-0 record and .915 in nine games. Miner will likely be headed back to the minors once Blackwood arrives in Colorado, giving him a chance to maintain his spot over Mandolese on Colorado’s call-up list.

Other notes from Denver:

  • Blackwood hasn’t arrived in Colorado yet, but the team is apparently already looking forward to his future. They’re hoping to land an extension before Blackwood hits free agency this summer, general manager Chris MacFarland told Max Miller of The Hockey News. Blackwood is near the end of a two-year, $4.7MM contract signed with San Jose on July 1, 2023. It was a sort of ’prove-it’ contract, giving Blackwood a chance at hardy minutes after he lost the starting role in New Jersey. He didn’t start the deal too promising, posting a 10-25-4 record and .899 save percentage through 44 games with the league-worst Sharks last season. But his 2.4 goals-saved-above-expected (GSAx) – a stat that ranked 17th in the league per MoneyPuck – spoke to Blackwood’s hidden upside. He’s started to reveal that this year, with six wins and a .910 save percentage in 19 games so far. Blackwood has also posted 3.9 GSAx – again ranking him 17th in the league among goalies with 10-or-more starts. He’ll look to keep that momentum going behind a much stronger Colorado team, and earn a bit more certainty on his next deal.
  • As they’ve done many times before, Colorado has also sent a waiver-exempt player to the minors on their off-day to accrue daily cap space. The target this time is forward Nikita Prishchepov, who hasn’t managed any scoring through 10 NHL games this season. Prishchepov was a seventh-round selection in the 2024 NHL Draft and became just the third draftee to make his NHL debut – behind first-round picks Macklin Celebrini and Jett Luchanko. Prishchepov has yet to record his first NHL point, though he’ll enter conversation with just Celebrini if and when he does. He’ll likely be back on the Avlanache roster ahead of their Tuesday matchup, but he’d get a chance to build on six points in 12 AHL games should he stay in the minor leagues.

Five Key Stories: 12/2/24 – 12/8/24

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The first full week of December is in the books and it was a busy one across the NHL.  The biggest news is recapped in our key stories.

4 Nations Rosters Set: While the 4 Nations Face-Off is still more than two months away, the four countries participating – Canada, Finland, Sweden, and the United States – all released their rosters for the event.  Players can still be substituted as injury replacements until the event begins so it wouldn’t be shocking if most (if not all) will have one or two different players in the lineup when it gets underway on February 12th.  In terms of NHL representation, the Panthers lead the way with eight players participating while the Golden Knights have seven.  Florida is one of only two teams to have a player for each different country with Toronto being the other.  Meanwhile, the Kraken and Metropolitan-leading Capitals do not have a single representative.

Trouba To Anaheim: After being unable to move him during the summer, the Rangers had made it known recently that defenseman Jacob Trouba was still available.  Eventually, they had enough prospective deals lined up that they went to the blueliner and asked him to pick one he liked or else he’d potentially land on waivers.  He accepted a trade to Anaheim in exchange for blueliner Urho Vaakanainen and a fourth-round pick (the earlier of Detroit’s or Boston’s).  Notably, the Ducks assumed the entire $8MM cap charge on Trouba for this season and next and while they get an upgrade on the back end (and potentially a flippable player with retention down the road), the Rangers picked up some significant cap space.

Shesterkin’s Sticking Around: New York wasted little time putting the cap space freed up for 2025-26 in the Trouba trade to use, signing goaltender Igor Shesterkin to an eight-year, $92MM contract extension that begins next season; the deal contains a no-move clause while the majority of the deal will be paid out as signing bonuses.  The $11.5MM AAV is a new NHL record for a netminder.  Shesterkin has been one of the top goaltenders in the NHL since coming to the league in the 2019-20 season and it was widely expected that he’d top Carey Price’s $10.5MM price tag in this agreement.  While his camp was believed to be seeking more than Artemi Panarin ($11.643MM), that didn’t wind up happening.  With the signing, the goaltending position is now sealed up for the better part of the next decade.

Hip Surgery For Seguin: Stars center Tyler Seguin is set to miss the next four to six months due to hip surgery.  It’s a big blow for Dallas as the 32-year-old was off to one of his best starts in recent years, tallying nine goals and 11 assists in his first 19 outings.  On the short end of the timeline, it’s possible that Seguin could return in early April, the likeliest scenario is that he misses the rest of the regular season.  While Dallas has cap space for now and doesn’t need to move Seguin to LTIR, they could look to do so closer to the trade deadline.  While the exact amount they could spend is dependent on their roster composition at the time of placement, they could potentially use a big chunk of his $9.85MM AAV to add to their roster.

Coaching Change In Chicago: The Blackhawks became the third team to make a coaching change this season (joining Boston and St. Louis) when they fired Luke Richardson.  Taking his place will be now-former AHL Rockford bench boss Anders Sorensen who has been named as interim head coach, a role he’ll hold for the rest of the year.  Richardson was in his third season with the rebuilding Blackhawks and his team played to a 57-119-15 record, good for a points percentage of just .338.  That said, the team was selling off assets early in his tenure so the poor overall record isn’t surprising.  However, GM Kyle Davidson brought in several veterans over the summer to try to give the team a better foundation but it didn’t result in on-ice success with the team recording just 18 points in 27 games before the change.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Kraken Notes: Daccord, Matyas, Gourde

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Seattle Kraken goaltender Joey Daccord sat out of the team’s Sunday game against New York due to illness. Head coach Dan Bylsma told media, including Seattle broadcaster Piper Shaw, that Daccord is specifically struggling to keep food down and will be available as soon as he feels better. Daccord’s absence sets up Philipp Grubauer for a second consecutive start. Grubauer made 33 saves on 36 shots in Seattle’s Friday loss to New Jersey.

Daccord has been a noticeable difference-maker for Seattle when healthy. He’s played in 19 of the team’s 28 games this season, setting 12 wins and a .913 save percentage. Daccord ranks sixth in the NHL in both stats. He’s continuing to stamp his spot as an everyday starter, building on to this dazzling 2023-24 campaign. Daccord posted a .916 save percentage – ninth-best in the league – through 50 games last year, thriving in what was his first year as an NHL starter. He’s had a winding career up to this point, serving three seasons in the crowded mix of Ottawa Senators’ goaltenders prior to his selection in the 2021 Expansion Draft. He excelled with the change of scenery, posting a .925 in 34 AHL games in his first year in the Kraken organization and serving as Seattle’s top goalie call-up. He followed that year with a .918 in 38 games for Coachella Valley, serving as the brick wall behind a team that ultimately lost the Calder Cup finals in overtime of game seven. Still, the playoff run was enough to stamp Daccord’s chance at an NHL role, and he hasn’t looked back since. That momentum will slot Daccord right back into the starting role once he’s back to full health.

Other notes out of Seattle:

  • Seattle has signed Michael Matyas to an amateur try-out agreement in response to Daccord’s absence. He’ll be tasked with backing up Grubauer. Matyas hasn’t formally played since the 2013-14 season, when he served as the third-string goaltender at the University of Alaska-Anchorage. The Calgary-native played three years, and 14 games, with the Seawolves – recording three wins and a .870 save percentage. He had a three-year juniors career in the Alberta Junior Hockey League before moving to college, where he set a .907 save percentage across 106 games. Matyas has spent the 11 years since his college days working towards a financial career in New York City.
  • In more positive news, forward Yanni Gourde returned to the Seattle lineup on Sunday, after missing the team’s Friday game with an undisclosed injury. Gourde lined up next to Matty Beniers and Jaden Schwartz, per Mike Benton of the Seattle Kraken Audio Network. Gourde has scored four goals and 12 points in 27 games this season, and ranks fourth among Kraken forwards with 39 hits. He’s rotated through the middle-six and averaged 15:29 in ice time.

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