Metropolitan Notes: Tippett, Kuzmenko, Pelletier, Fabbro, Crosby

Flyers winger Owen Tippett has been ruled out of Philadelphia’s final two games before the 4 Nations Face-Off, notes Jackie Spiegel of the Philadelphia Inquirer.  The 25-year-old suffered an upper-body injury last Wednesday against New Jersey and hasn’t played since.  After setting new career highs last season offensively with 28 goals and 25 assists, Tippett has been a bit quieter this season with 14 goals and 20 helpers through 52 games although his 30 points still put him third on the team in scoring.

More from the Metropolitan:

• Also from Spiegel’s column, the Flyers are hoping that newcomers Andrei Kuzmenko and Jakob Pelletier will be available for Saturday’s contest versus Pittsburgh. The two were acquired from Calgary last Friday but are still in the process of securing a work visa.  Neither player is presently on their 23-man roster so once they get clearance to suit up, Philadelphia will need to open up two roster spots before they can be activated.  Moving Tippett to IR retroactively is one way they can free up one of the spots.
• The Blue Jackets will look into signing defenseman Dante Fabbro to a contract extension, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports in his latest 32 Thoughts column. The 26-year-old has fit in quite nicely since being claimed off waivers in November, putting up 13 points in 37 games with Columbus while logging over 21 minutes a night.  Fabbro will be an unrestricted free agent this summer and with how well he has played with the Blue Jackets, he could be in line for a small raise on his current $2.5MM price tag.
• Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan told reporters including Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that more information about Sidney Crosby’s status should be known on Friday. He was injured on Tuesday versus New Jersey.  Crosby is over the point-per-game mark for the 20th straight season and is set to be Canada’s captain at the 4 Nations Face-Off if the injury doesn’t force him to withdraw from the tournament.