Rangers Activate William Borgen Off IR
The New York Rangers have actived defenseman William Borgen off of injured reserve, per Mollie Walker of The New York Post. Borgen has been day-to-day with an upper-body injury for the last 10 days. He was designated as a game-time decision before Saturday’s matchup against the Tampa Bay Lightning, and did indeed make his return from injury when the game kicked off.
It was more than a welcome return. New York struggled against Tampa Bay but Borgen posted two blocked shots and six hits in 18 minutes of ice time. He has been a serviceable utility piece for the Rangers. Through his first full season with the club, Borgen has posted three points, a plus-five, 24 blocks, and 26 hits in 19 games. Those numbers add on to the 13 points, plus-nine, 74 hits, and 80 blocks he posted in 51 games with the Rangers after a mid-season trade from the Seattle Kraken.
Hopefully Borgen’s return, even to a lost game, can help the Rangers continue their November surge. The team has been hot-and-cold all month long, kicking off November with a 5-2-0 record, then losing four games straight, and then bouncing back to a three-game win-streak that ended on Saturday. Their schedule doesn’t get any easier in the short-term, with matchups against the Dallas Stars, Ottawa Senators, Colorado Avalanche, and Vegas Golden Knights on deck. Borgen’s hard-earned defense should help New York fight off those strong offenses and continue climbing up the standings.
Hurricanes Reassign Justin Robidas Amid Injury Updates
The Carolina Hurricanes saw a wave of roster updates come through during Saturday morning’s practice. Notably, winger Justin Robidas was not at practice, as he’s been reassigned to the AHL’s Chicago Wolves. Robidas won’t skate in Saturday’s match against the Manitoba Moose but should be back in time for Sunday’s rematch.
Forward William Carrier also missed practice. It is unclear if he has sustained a new injury after appearing in Friday’s win over the Winnipeg Jets. Goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov did sustain a lower-body injury that forced him out of Friday’s game, and Saturday’s practice. Defenseman Jaccob Slavin also remained out, per NHL.com’s Walt Ruff.
In better news, Ruff adds that forward Jordan Staal participated in practice despite being questionable with an illness, and center Jesperi Kotkaniemi continued to work in a non-contact jersey.
Carolina continues to face a heap of injuries despite getting Shayne Gostisbehere and K’Andre Miller back into the lineup recently. They have been forced to play hot potato with much of their lineup, routinely cycling through their lines. The Hurricanes have had six different forward lines, and 10 different defense pairings, play in at least 50 minutes of even-strength ice time this season. Their most-used forward line has been Jordan Martinook, Staal, and Carrier – a trio that could be broken up if Carrier sustained another injury. The most-used defense pairing has been Miller and Sean Walker, who reunited recently after Miller missed six games.
The Hurricanes have felt the brunt of that shuffle over November. They started the month with a 4-1-0 record, but have fallen into a back-and-forth over the last two weeks. Carolina is 4-3-2 in their last nine games, and haven’t won back-to-back games since Novmber 8th and 9th.
Injuries have forced Carolina’s healthy skaters to step up. Sophomore winger Jackson Blake ranks fourth on the team in scoring with 15 points in 24 games. Robidas was also contributing to the offense, netting one assist and a 50 percent faceoff percentage through two games in a bottom-six role.
Robidas now have three points in the first four games of his NHL career, including a pair of games he played in last season. He has been an electric scorer in the minor leagues and currently ranks third on the Wolves with 12 points in 16 games. Chicago is trying to break out of their own November slump, posting a 2-4-0 record over their last six games but winning last Wednesday’s game against the rival Rockford IceHogs by a lofty 8-4. Robidas should help the Wolves keep that offense rolling as they look for better outcomes in December.
Senators Looking To Add But Won’t Go “Big Game Hunting”
The Ottawa Senators have been on a gradual climb since being taken over by owner Michael Andlauer and general manager Steve Staios. That ascension helped justify their acquisition of center Dylan Cozens and winger Fabian Zetterlund at the 2025 Trade Deadline. Those additions helped push the Senators to their first playoff appearance since 2017 – but the team’s rise isn’t over yet. Ottawa ranks second in the Atlantic Division through the early season and is now hoping to land a forward and defenseman on the trade market, per TSN’s Darren Dreger and Jamie Duthie in their intermission segment during Friday’s loss to the St. Louis Blues and captured by Julian McKenzie of The Athletic.
Dreger added that he doesn’t expect the Senators to be “big game hunters” and that top prospect Carter Yakemchuk would be off the table in trade negotiations. Yakemchuk is playing through his first professional season and currently has 14 points and a minus-11 in 20 games with the AHL’s Belleville Senators. He’s a hard-hitting, offensive-defenseman who seems well equipped to bring his flashy offense to Ottawa sooner rather than later.
If Yakemchuk is off the table, Ottawa is likely to exclude any of their top prospects in negotiations. That could include University of Wisconsin defender Logan Hensler who the team acquired after trading back in this year’s draft, and winger Stephen Halliday who scored his first NHL point last week. That could leave Ottawa in a bit of a bind. Their acquisition of Zetterlund revolved around a package of future assets, and the Senators sit in the top-half of oldest rosters in the NHL.
That could make draft capital their shiniest asset headed into the trade season. The Senators are without their first and second round picks in the 2026 draft, but have all of their top picks in the drafts beyond that. They also have Buffalo’s second-round pick in 2026, which could be valuable if the Sabres stay near the bottom of the league. A couple of high-value draft picks should be enough to land Ottawa a few difference-makers on the open market, especially if they’re willing to package them with a prospect like Blake Montgomery or Gabriel Eliasson.
Who Ottawa could go after will be a tough question. Calgary Flames assets Nazem Kadri and Rasmus Andersson are both #1’s at their position, and likely represent that big game hunting Dreger mentioned. Instead, Ottawa could find a match pursuing St. Louis Blues veterans Brayden Schenn and Justin Faulk. Or maybe they could benefit from the Nashville Predators continued struggles and acquire winger Jonathan Marchessault or Michael Bunting. Ottawa could even find a package deal from the San Jose Sharks, who are bound to be offering center Alexander Wennberg and defender Mario Ferraro on the open market.
The range of price could vary widely, and change significantly before the Trade Deadline in March. But there’s no doubt that Ottawa will be a welcome addition to a buyer’s market. There are plenty of former Stanley Cup champions and hopefuls available for trade, and landing one or two could go far in boosting Ottawa’s offense to Conference Final aspirations. The Senators are projected to have $13.68MM in cap space at the Trade Deadline and $22.57MM by next off-season, per PuckPedia. That should be more than enough room to squeeze one or two more players into the top of the Senators lineup. As proven last year, those mid-season additions could take Ottawa far.
Panthers Attempted To Offer Sheet Nikita Kucherov In 2016
With the holiday season afoot, former Florida Panthers assistant general manager Steve Werier was looking back on what could have been. Namely, he reflected on the team’s attempt to sign Tampa Bay Lightning superstar Nikita Kucherov to an offer sheet in 2016 on The PuckPedia Hockey Show. Werier said that Florida was hoping to take advantage of Tampa Bay’s cap strains at the time, and would have had to give up a first, second, and third-round pick in the resulting deal.
Plans ultimately fell through, and Kucherov signed a three-year, $14.3MM bridge contract with Tampa Bay. The deal proved to offer the best of both worlds, providing a 23-year-old Kucherov a chance to jump into the top echelon of NHL scorers while Tampa Bay retained enough cap space to keep Jonathan Drouin, Ondrej Palat, and Alex Killorn in the fold. Kucherov certainly did take off, recording 85, 100, and 128 points over the three years of his bridge deal respectively. He has stayed special in five seasons since, routinely exceeding point-per-game scoring in the regular-and-post-seasons and reaching a career-high 144 points in the 2023-24 season.
It would be hard to picture Kucherov – a 12-year veteran in Tampa Bay – in any other jersey. But Florida could have offered him a similar platform to thrive. Werier emphasized that the team wanted to make sure they had Aleksander Barkov and Aaron Ekblad locked up to support Kucherov, if he came in. Florida was also carrying Vincent Trocheck, Jonathan Marchessault, and Jaromir Jagr at the time. They’ve swapped those three out for Jonathan Huberdeau, then Matthew Tkachuk, and Sam Reinhart in the years since. That firepower has proven enough to earn Florida two Stanley Cup championships, the same number that Kucherov has won in Tampa Bay.
A deal never came together, and both Florida-based clubs found their way to stardom nonetheless. But how an in-state offer sheet could have impacted the two sides will be a fun thought for the rest of the holiday week. Kucherov is among the best forwards in the NHL, and one of the greatest Russians to ever play. Any effort to bring him into the fold is notable, even if it ultimately fell through.
Drew Doughty Returns To, Warren Foegele Leaves Kings’ Practice
Thursday’s practice left the Los Angeles Kings with positives and negatives on the injury front. Star defenseman Drew Doughty return to the ice with individual drills, but isn’t expected back soon, while winger Warren Foegele left practice early with an injury per team reporter Zach Dooley. No update has been provided on Foegele’s injury.
Doughty has missed the last four games with a week-to-week, lower-body injury sustained on a blocked shot in Los Angeles’ November 15th matchup versus the Otttawa Senators. He had returned to his role as Los Angeles’ top defender before going down with injury. Doughty averaged a team-leading 22:33 in ice time through 19 games before going down with injury. He rewarded that top role with eight points, a plus-seven, and 30 blocked shots. The Kings haev been pushed to ice Joel Edmundson, on his off-hand, in a top-pair role with Doughty out of the lineup. That will make this injury update well-anticipated, even if Doughty still has a step to go until he’s back in full.
Meanwhile, Foegele’s absence could leave a glaring hole in the team’s bottom-six. Foegele has four goals, 18 hits, and 22 shots on goal in 18 games this season. He missed a few games with a right-shoulder injury in October, but returned with force on November 9th. He scored two goals in his first three games back, then spurred a four-game scoring drought with a goal in Los Angeles’ Monday matchup versus Ottawa.
The Kings will need to turn towards either Alex Turcotte or Jeff Malott, should Foegele be forced out of the lineup. Turcotte has recorded three assists, a minus-four, and 11 penalty minutes in 22 games this season. He sat out of Los Angeles’ most recent matchup, but could find a quick path back with Foegele’s absence. Malott would bring a much more enforcing style, already boasting two goals and 23 penalty minutes in 16 games this season. He stands at 6-foot-5, 208-pounds and offers a heap of grit, in comparison to Turcotte’s skill.
Penguins Activate Tristan Jarry, Ville Koivunen; Reassign Sergei Murashov
The Pittsburgh Penguins have activated starting goaltender Tristan Jarry and winger Ville Koivunen off of injured reserve. Both are expected to step back into the lineup for Wednesday’s game against the Buffalo Sabres. To make room for Jarry, Pittsburgh has reassigned rookie goalie Sergey Murashov to the AHL. The Penguins also plan to healthy scratch rookie Benjamin Kindel, for development purposes, and to make room for Koivunen’s return and Tristan Broz‘s NHL debut.
Murashov played in the first four games, and made the first three starts, of his NHL career on his latest recall. He was sharp throughout, posting a 1-1-1 record, one shutout, a .913 save percentage, and a 1.90 goals-against-average. Murashov will return to the AHL as the league’s reigning ‘Goalie of the Month’, after he began the season with a 5-1-0 record, .935 Sv%, and 1.68 GAA in seven games. He should step right back into Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s starting role, bringing a big boost to a club that’s 5-1-0 in their last six games.
Pittsburgh won’t lose much steam swapping back to Jarry. The 10-year-veteran was in the midst of a big resurgence to start the season, after posting the first sub-.900 Sv% of his career last season. He started this yaer with a 5-2-0 record, .911 Sv%, and 2.60 GAA – firmly locking in his spot as Pittsburgh’s starter less than one year after being placed on waivers. He will look to stay hot in his return to the lineup, after missing seven games due to injury. Jarry should resume starting duties, with Arturs Silovs serving as backup.
The Penguins make a similar swap in their forward group. Kindel has been among the most exciting rookies to start the year, but appears to finally be slowing down. He has recorded one point, 11 shots on goal, and five blocks in his last six games – a quiet spell after he scored six points in seven games as October turned over to November. The Penguins have already committed to holding Kindel past his nine-game trial, helping to remove the pressure to rush the 18-year-old into a starring role. He will get a chance to take a brief break, and recollect, but should get a chance to return to the lineup soon.
Koivunen could prove a barrier to that, if he can return from injury with a hot hand. He only scored two points in 11 games before going down, a disappointing result compared to the 11 points he has scored in six AHL games. He was a star scorer for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton last season as well, netting 56 points in 63 games, and recording seven assists in the first eight NHL games of his career. Koivunen seems to have an NHL breakout incoming, and will get a chance to continue fighting for it following these roster moves.
Mammoth To Activate Sean Durzi Off IR
The Utah Mammoth will see the return of defenseman Sean Durzi in Wednesday night’s game against the Montreal Canadiens, head coach Andre Tourigny told Cole Bagley of KSL Sports. Durzi sustained an upper-body injury in the second game of Utah’s season. He has sat out of 21 games since. The Mammoth will need to activate him off of injured reserve before Wednesday’s game, but already have a roster spot availabel for his return.
This is the second year that Durzi has started the year with a long-term absence due to an upper-body injury. He sustained a shoulder injury in October of last season that required him to undergo surgery. The injury held Durzi out of the lineup until February, and limited him to only 30 appearances on the year. He was a core part of the Mammoth lineup when he was healthy, netting 11 points and a plus-four while averaging more than 20 minutes of ice time every night. He also recorded 52 blocked shots, which ranked fifth on the blue-line and seventh on the team despite Durzi missing more than 50 games.
He seemed to be stepping right back into that role this season. Durzi played nearly 21 minutes in Utah’s season-opener, and recorded two blocks, one hit, and no scoring. He ramped up in their second game, recording one point, two blocks, and two hits in 17 minutes of ice time before getting injured.
Durzi has only been able to show Utah fans a glimpse of his impact through two seasons with the Mammoth. He had a standout year in his first year with the organization – the 2023-24 season, prior to the Arizona Coyotes’ move to Utah. Durzi scored a career-high 41 points in 76 games that year, while also posting career-highs with 63 penalty minutes and 160 blocked shots. He racked up 65 points, 105 penalty minutes, and 263 blocks in 136 games with the Los Angeles Kings prior to his move to Arizona.
Durzi is an established, top-four defender when he’s at full health. He’ll now get a chance to bring that impact to a Utah lineup in need. The Mammoth have won their last two games, but only have four wins through their last 13 games. They have allowed the 10th-most goals in the NHL (44) in that span, and the eighth-most on a per-game average (3.38).
Rangers Recall Connor Mackey, Reassign Juuso Pärssinen
The New York Rangers have reassigned forward Juuso Pärssinen after he cleared waivers from Tuesday. With the available roster spot, the Rangers have recalled defenseman Connor Mackey, with two games left on their current road-trip. Mackey has recorded 11 shots on goal, his first point, and his first fight of the season in his last four games with the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack.
New York has rotated extra defenders for much of the season. Mackey has already spent 10 days on the NHL roster, across two call-ups. He’s alternated with Scott Morrow, who played in his first four games of the NHL season last week. Mackey could get his first NHL game of the season in a road game against Carolina or Boston, should New York want an alternative to Matthew Robertson, who has one goal and a minus-seven through 15 games this season.
Mackey has played in three games with the Rangers over the last two seasons. He has no scoring and two fights with New York, but did rack up eight points and 50 penalty minutes in 33 NHL games split between the Calgary Flames and Arizona Coyotes between 2021 and 2023. He joined the Hartford Wolf Pack after the 2022-23 season ended, and has since racked up 38 points and 193 penalty minutes in 125 AHL games.
Meanwhile, Pärssinen will head to the minors after a quiet stretch with the Rangers. He hasn’t made it onto the scoresheet – with a point or a penalty – in nine games. He only has three points and two penalty minutes in 14 games this season. New York acquired Pärssinen alongside Calvin de Haan and two draft picks in a deal that sent Ryan Lindgren to the Colorado Avalanche at last year’s Trade Deadline. This move will set Pärssinen up to play his first AHL games since the 2023-24 season, when he racked up 34 points in 50 games with the Colorado Eagles between the regular-and-post-season.
Capitals Recall Bogdan Trineyev, Place Nic Dowd On IR
The Washington Capitals have awarded one of their top AHL scorers with the first NHL call-up of his career. Winger Bogdan Trineyev has been recalled after recording six points and 15 shots on goal in the Hershey Bears’ last six games. Trineyev is up to 12 points in 15 games this season, second-most on the team.
Washington has placed Nic Dowd on injured reserve, retroactive to his last game on November 17th, to create the roster space for Trineyev’s recall. Dowd has missed the last four games with an upper-body injury. He appears to be headed for a fifth absence, after being dubbed a game-time decision for Wednesday’s match against the Winnipeg Jets, the same designation he carried for Monday’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, per Sammi Silber of The Hockey News in her newsletter, DCBackcheck.
Trineyev is expected to be listed as Washington’s extra forward on Wednesday. The Capitals will stick with Sonny Milano and Ethen Frank on their fourth-line wings. That duo has been red-hot as of late, with three points and five points over the last three games respectively.
A chance to be close with the NHL lineup will still be a nice reward for Trineyev, who seems to be amid his first true breakout in North America. He has held up near point-per-game scoring through the early season after posting seven points in eight games of last year’s Calder Cup Playoffs. Trineyev had previously only scored 42 points in 149 AHL games, riding a slow climb through Hershey’s lineup that was marked by incremental improvements. Trineyev played in 53 games in Russia’s KHL before moving over to the AHL full-time in 2023. He scored 13 points in his final 39 KHL games, his only scoring in the league.
Trineyev is a strong, skilled power-forward, standing at 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds. He has a hard shot and soft hands – and has grown his ability to get involved in play significantly over his first two full AHL seasons. Washington will now recognize that growth by providing the 23-year-old a chance to learn from NHL veterans.
Wild Place Vinnie Hinostroza On Injured Reserve
Nov. 24: Hinostroza was placed on injured reserve today and handed a week-to-week designation, the team announced. He’s been ruled out for tomorrow’s game against the Blackhawks as a result, but is slated to miss more time than that. They haven’t made a corresponding recall yet, but could do so on Tuesday.
Nov. 22: The Minnesota Wild faced another negative injury update after Friday’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Forward Vinnie Hinostroza left the match six minutes into the second period after taking an awkward stumble against the end boards. He appeared to be in immediate pain but was able to get off the ice under his own power. The resulting lower-body injury is considered serious and will force Hinostroza to miss “awhile,” head coach John Hynes told Michael Russo of The Athletic after the game.
Hinostroza has been a fixture of Minnesota’s bottom-six through the start of the season. He has appeared in all 22 games this season and recorded five points, 20 hits, and 22 shots on goal. This is his first full season in the Wild organization, after joining the club off waivers from the Nashville Predators last February. He finished the 2024-25 season with 25 games, eight points, and 37 shots on goal in a Wild jersey.
Hinstroza has built a commendable NHL career as a journeyman depth forward. He began his career with four seasons in Chicago starting in 2015. That was the longest he has spent with one club. A move to the Arizona Coyotes in 2018 kicked off a string of one-or two-year tenures across the NHL. He has played for seven clubs throughout his career, appearing on four different AHL rosters. In that time, Hinostroza has racked up 61 goals and 166 points in 434 NHL games. His career year was the 2018-19 season, when he tallied 16 goals and 39 points in 72 games with the Coyotes. He’s a utility winger who finds responsibility playing off of his team’s stars.
Another injured forward will be the last thing Minnesota needs. Marco Rossi, Vladimir Tarasenko, and Ryan Hartman are all already on the Wild’s injured reserve, which has pushed rookie Danila Yurov into a starring role and Liam Ohgren and Ben Jones back into the nightly lineup. Now, Minnesota could need to turn towards another rookie – Hunter Haight – to fill Hinostroza’s spot on the fourth line. Haight managed no scoring and a minus-two in the first two games of his NHL career earlier this season. He also has five points in 13 AHL games. He’ll compete with Ohgren, Jones, and Tyler Pitlick for a fourth-line spot – at least until Minnesota opts to recall a player like Nicolas Aube-Kubel or Oskar Olausson from the minor leagues.
The need for another recall should become clearer as Minnesota learns more about Hinostroza’s timeline.