Oilers’ Leon Draisaitl Expected To Miss Remaining Regular Season
The Edmonton Oilers will be missing major firepower for Tuesday night’s divisional matchup against the San Jose Sharks. Superstar Leon Draisaitl has been declared out for the matchup due to a lower-body injury sustained in Sunday’s win over the Nashville Predators. Draisaitl left that game in the first period after taking a hard bump from Predators winger Ozzy Wiesblatt. No update was provided after the game.
After announcing that he would miss Tuesday night’s game, the Oilers released an additional statement sharing that Draisaitl will have to miss the remaining regular season. He will not need surgery for the injury and should be available for the start of playoffs, general manager Stan Bowman told Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
This news will be a major blow to the Oilers offense as they look to seal their spot in the top-three of the Pacific Division. Draisaitl has stayed red-hot since Edmonton returned from the Olympic break. He has six goals and 17 points in his last 10 games, bringing his year-long totals up to 35 goals and 97 points in just 65 games. The 30 year old ranks second on the Oilers in scoring behind Connor McDavid, who has already reached 114 points in 68 games. The two are one of the best duos in the league whether they’re playing alongside each other or not – making Edmonton’s task of replacing Draisaitl that much more challenging.
Max Jones will step into the lineup to fill Draisaitl’s hole. Jones has appeared in nine NHL games, and scored one point, this season. He has also racked up 10 goals, 18 points, and 61 penalty minutes in 39 AHL games. He is a veteran of 293 NHL games with 66 points, split evenly, to show for it. Jones should assume a bottom-line role, while Vasily Podkolzin and Matthew Savoie move up the lineup to bridge the top-six. Podkolzin has three points in his last six games and 30 points on the year, while Savoie has two points in his last two games and 27 points in total. The two should keep play moving just enough to earn Edmonton’s other star talent – McDavid, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Zach Hyman – scoring chances. Meanwhile the Oilers brass will hold their breath until a clearer timeline for Draisaitl’s return becomes available. The team expects to have updates before the weekend.
If that will be enough to sustain Edmonton’s offense across their remaining 14 games will be a larger question. The Oilers have scored the second-most goals in the NHL (238) behind only the Colorado Avalanche (249). Much of that scoring came from the one-two punch that is McDavid and Draisaitl. Without one of those hooks, the Oilers will need to look towards Hyman to make up for short-term scoring. This could also be a major opportunity for Savoie or Isaac Howard to step up as scoring pieces, after quieter starts to their pro careers than many expected.
Doug Armstrong Steps Down As Team Canada GM
Following the 2026 Winter Olympics, Doug Armstrong has stepped down as the general manager of Team Canada’s Olympic men’s hockey team per Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic. Armstrong led Canada to a silver medal finish at the latest Olympics, losing in a heartbreak overtime to Team USA. The tournament was led in scoring by two Canadian players – superstar Connor McDavid and Macklin Celebrini, the youngest NHL player to suit up for Canada’s Olympic men’s team. In an interview with LeBrun, Armstrong said that the result of the tournament was not why he was stepping down. Instead, he felt it was time for change:
I’ve enjoyed every aspect of it. Obviously, you wish you could go out on top. But it would be selfish to want to do it again. It’s such a great experience and I think more people should enjoy it.
Armstrong’s tenure in Canada’s upper management stretches all the way back to the 2002 World Championship, when he worked under Lanny McDonald‘s lead. He has since won seven Gold medals and six Silver medals at the World Championship. Armstrong also worked under Steve Yzerman to put together Canada’s Gold medal-winning rosters at the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics.
Throughout his reign over the country’s national team, Armstrong has been no stranger to bold decisions. He chose to ignore Celebrini’s age when rostering him for the 2026 Olympics and leaned on a goalie he could trust – the goalie who earned Armstrong his first Stanley Cup win, Jordan Binnington. Those patterns for bold decisions stretch back to the inclusion of players like Braden Schneider, Chris Kunitz, and Dan Hamhuis on international rosters. The decisions often benefited chemistry and morale where they didn’t boost the scoresheet – helping Canada continue blazing their trail of international success.
Naturally, the conversation will shift towards who will become Armstrong’s heir leading Canada’s men’s roster. The triple-gold-winning GM didn’t have any thoughts on immediate successors but did tell LeBrun that he thinks Sidney Crosby would be a perfect fit on the other side of his playing days. Armstrong praised Crosby’s “dignity and grace” on top of his wealth of hockey experience and drive to win. Where Canada tries to act professional and classy, Crosby takes it to another level. Armstrong said he also sees those traits in McDavid.
Armstrong will move forward with a focus on his final days in the St. Louis Blues’ GM role, which is set to turnover to Alexander Steen this summer while Armstrong moves into a full-time President of Hockey Operations role. Team Canada won’t need to worry about a replacement immediately, though they’ll have a great list of options available. Dallas Stars GM Jim Nill, Tampa Bay Lightning GM Julien BriseBois, and Boston Bruins GM Don Sweeney were all assistants to Armstrong at the 2026 Olympics. The team’s management staff also employed Pittsburgh Penguins GM Kyle Dubas and up-and-coming managerial advisor Ryan Getzlaf.
It seems any of the reigning Silver medal winners could take on the big chair – with Nill and Sweeney offering experience, Dubas offering youth, and BriseBois offering unique approaches. Canada has also called on Yzerman, Shane Doan, and even Wayne Gretzky to manage international rosters. Their star-studded list of candidates will keep news around Team Canada exciting, even as they lose a core part of their management for more than 20 years.
Flames’ Yan Kuznetsov Out Day-To-Day
The Calgary Flames will need to shake up their blue-line before Monday night’s matchup against the Detroit Red Wings. Defenseman Yan Kuznetsov is out day-to-day with an upper-body injury, head coach Ryan Huska told Pat Steinberg of Sportsnet 960. Kuznetsov filled a second-pair role in Calgary’s Saturday night loss to the New York Islanders. He and partner Zach Whitecloud were the only Flames pairing to record a plus-minus and outshoot their opponents in that matchup.
Kuznetsov, in his rookie season, has grown into a bigger role in the lineup following the departure of Rasmus Andersson. He has now played 10 games with at least 20 minutes of ice time, since Andersson’s trade – bringing Kuznetsov up to 33 such games on the year. His 20:09 in average ice time ranks fourth among current Flames defenders.
The 24-year-old Russian has racked up four goals, 12 points, and a minus-nine in 52 games this season. He is the second-highest scoring defenseman on the current Flames roster, behind Kevin Bahl who has 16 points. That’s an impressive jump for Kuznetsov, who spent the entire 2024-25 season with the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers. He totaled 21 points in 72 AHL games last season, bringing his career totals in the minors up to 53 points in 216 games. Kuznetsov also recorded two goals in 10 AHL games to start this season, before earning a full-time call-up in early-November. He has played in 52 consecutive NHL games since that recall, a streak that will end on Monday.
Kuznetsov’s absence will force fellow rookie Zayne Parekh up the lineup. Parekh has just two points, both assists, in 21 NHL games this season. It has been a quiet year despite the 19 year old scoring five points in four AHL games throughout the season. A bump into the top-four should represent a chance to find his scoring behind Calgary’s top forward lines – though the Flames will need to lean on Whitecloud and Bahl to make up for Kuznetsov’s physical role.
This move will also promote another rookie, Hunter Brzustewicz, into the lineup. Brzustewicz recorded 15 minutes of ice time, and three shots on goal, in Calgary’s March 12th win over the New Jersey Devils. That was his first NHL appearance since late-January. In total, he has scored two points in 19 NHL games and 13 points in 34 AHL games this season. He too will sit in a prove-it role as Calgary looks for who can replace one of their most impactful rookies this season.
NHL Announce 2028 World Cup Of Hockey
NHL general managers are convening in Palm Beach, Florida for a week of GM meetings beginning on Monday. A top agenda item will be preparing the announcement for the 2028 World Cup of Hockey, per Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic. The tournament has been held three times between 1996 and 2016. It was most recently held from September 17 to September 29, 2016, in Toronto. The 2028 iteration of the tournament was originally announced in February 2025.
Despite claims that the tournament will move forward without IIHF involvement, the NHL has announced that they are partnering with the international body to help ensure players from outside the NHL can be made available per NHL.com’s Dan Rosen.
The league made the official announcement at 12:30 P.M. ET on Monday. In it, Calgary and Edmonton, Canada, and Prague, Czechia, were revealed as the hosts cities. The event will take place in February, 2028 – in the middle of the 2027-28 season. Prague and Calgary will each host half of the round robin section of the tournament, while Edmonton will host the semi-finals and finals.
Further, the NHL announced that the tournament will use NHL rules rather than international rules per LeBrun. Most notably, that will mean that overtime periods are five-on-five, rather than three-on-three.
The last iteration of the tournament brought together six countries – America, Canada, Russia, Finland, Sweden, and Czechia – as well as two specialized teams, one featuring talent from other European countries and another featuring the top U24 players in America and Canada. The resulting Team North America brought together many NHL superstars well ahead of their prime, including Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel, Aaron Ekblad, Nathan MacKinnon, and more.
Team North America posted a 2-1-0 record and scored an 11-to-eight goal-differential – but ultimately lost out to Russia’s fewer goals-against (five) in the standings. Russia lost to Team Canada in the first round of the knockout stage, while Team Europe beat Sweden on the other side. Canada would go on to win the tournament, proudly led by leading scorer Sidney Crosby. Alongside Patrice Bergeron, Jonathan Toews, Brad Marchand, and Carey Price – Crosby was able to lead Canada to a win over Europe’s Mats Zuccarello, Anze Kopitar, Marian Gaborik, and Leon Draisaitl.
The next iteration of the World Cup of Hockey should similarly bring together world class talent in a best-on-best competition in the years leading up to the 2030 Winter Olympics. One questoin the NHL will need to be prepared to answer is if, and where, Russian talent will fit into the conversation. The country has been, and continues to be, excluded from all IIHF competition dating back to 2022, after Russia invaded Ukraine. The NHL will not have to abide by the IIHF’s decision but has previously said that Russia is not expected to be invited to the event, however the NHL did not confirm this in their press conference following the official announcement.
If the NHL chooses to bolster the number of contending teams with another Team Europe or Team North America will also be closely followed. The league has no shortage of young talent breaking through – with stars like Macklin Celebrini and Matthew Schaefer even making their case for league-best titles.
Islanders’ Max Shabanov Out Day-To-Day
The New York Islanders’ Monday practice was laden with positive injury updates, including the brief return of Pierre Engvall, Alexander Romanov, and Sergei Varlamov at various points around practice. Even with the positives, New York will need to adjust their lineup, as winger Max Shabanov recovers from a day-to-day, lower-body injury per NHL.com’s Stefen Rosner.
The Islanders iced depth winger Kyle MacLean and listed Shabanov as a healthy scratch in Saturday’s win over the Calgary Flames. MacLean contributed one assist to the Islanders’ three-goal effort. That brought him up to seven points in 48 games this season. MacLean has spent many of those games in a fourth-line role that should continue on until Shabanov returns to a lineup role. New York could also lean on Marc Gatcomb, who has scored four points in 36 games this season.
Shabanov has had a tough time transitioning to the NHL after a standout season in Russia’s KHL last season. He finished the 2024-25 season with 23 goals and 67 points in 65 KHL games, the third-most points in the league. That production made Shabanov a top free agent last summer. Multiple teams were in on the race to sign the stickhandling wizard, with the Islanders ultimately winning out.
New York began the season with Shabanov in a middle-six role. He scored 10 points in his first 19 NHL games, while averaging just over 14 minutes a game. That hot streak was followed by a nine-game stretch where Shabanov only scored one point, beginning in mid-December. He kicked the bug for a bit, only to fall into another cold streak recently, with one point in his last 12 games.
The Islanders have responded to the dwindling scoring by demoting Shabanov to a fourth-line role and even healthy scratching the scoring winger. He sits with four goals and 16 points in 42 games in his NHL rookie season. A short-term injury will offer Shabanov a chance to rest up after a tough stretch and prepare to once again contribute strong scoring as the Islanders push for their first playoff appearance since 2024.
Senators Acquire Riley Kidney From Canadiens
The Ottawa Senators completed a minor-league trade with the Montreal Canadiens, acquiring center Riley Kidney in exchange for center Jake Chiasson and goaltender Hunter Shepard per PuckPedia. The move will bolster the Laval Rocket with two AHL veterans ahead of a playoff run, while adding another young forward to the Belleville Senators with 14 games left in the regular season.
Kidney, 23, was a star scorer across four seasons in the QMJHL. He debuted with the Acadie-Bathurst Titan in the 2019-20 season after being drafted with the 11th-overall pick in that year’s QMJHL Entry Draft. Kindey quickly translated to the junior flight and scored five goals and 33 points in 59 games as a rookie. His passing ability stood out early, highlighted by an appearance at the 2019 World U17 Hockey Challenge, where Kidney’s five points in six games ranked above Team Canada teamamtes Mason McTavish and Dylan Guenther.
Kidney moved into his age-18 season with momenutm. He scored nine points in the first nine games of the season – before the QMJHL season was suspended from late-November to mid-March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He scored four points in his second game back from the pause and finished the year with 38 points in 33 games. That was enough to earn convince Montreal to draft Kidney in the 2021 second-round pick. He rewarded that selection by notching 100 points in 66 games of the QMJHL’s return to a full schedule in 2021-22. Kidney repeated that feat in 2022-23, combining for 110 points in 60 games between the Titan and the Gaitneau Olympiques.
Despite high-scoring junior seasons, the nimble passer hasn’t found his scoring touch in the pros just yet. He racked up 37 points in 117 games with Laval between 2023 and 2025, slim enough to earn a demotion to the ECHL’s Trois-Rivieres Lions this season. Kidney has scored 11 goals and 33 points in 46 games with the Lions, one point shy of the team lead. Now, he could find space in the bottom-six of a Belleville squad that has promoted Arthur Kaliyev, Xavier Bourgault, and Stephen Halliday into NHL stints this season.
Laval will add Chiasson and Shepard to round out the lineup following Kidney’s move and Jacob Fowler‘s call-up to the NHL. Chiasson scored one point in 20 AHL games and eight points in 14 ECHL games. Shepard has notched six wins and a .885 save percentage in 15 AHL games, and made 12 saves on 14 shots in a mid-game appearance with Ottawa in January. Shepard should assume the backup role behind Kaapo Kahkonen, though his addition could indicate that Fowler is set for an extended stint at the top level. He stopped 32 of 34 shots in his return to NHL action on Wednesday.
Rangers Expected To Activate J.T. Miller From Injured Reserve
The New York Rangers are expected to activate capatain J.T. Miller off of injured reserve for a return in Saturday’s game against the Minnesota Wild, head coach Mike Sullivan told Mollie Walker of The New York Post. Miller was placed on injured reserve with an upper-body injury on March 3rd. It wasn’t entirely clear when Miller got hurt, though the resulting injury was separate from the one that held him out of eight games in late December and early January.
Miller has been a cornerstone of the offense in his healthy minutes. He has scored 38 points in 51 games, the third highest scoring pace on the team after Artemi Panarin‘s departure. Miller has also served a consistent role on New York’s top power-play and second penalty-kill units. The all-situations role has earned him more than 20 minutes a night on average, his most ice time since Vancouver’s 2022-23 campaign.
Miller had multiple high-scoring seasons in Vancouver, including years with 82, 99, and 103 points. He emerged as an explosive playmaker and became only the second Canucks forward with multiple 60-assist seasons, alongside Henrik Sedin. Miller has continued that playmaking in his return to New York. He also earned the first captaincy handed out by New York’s new head coach – and Miller’s coach at the Winter Olympics – Mike Sullivan, speaking to the veteran presence Miller brings to the lineup.
That presence will be an important addition to the Rangers’ game day, even as the team sits last in the Eastern Conference standings. The Rangers will fave a tough decision of how to balance Miller’s special teams minutes after rookies Gabriel Perreault and Noah Laba stepped into bigger minutes in the captain’s absence. Perreault scored one goal and two points on the powerplay, while Laba was New York’s second-most utilized penalty-killer, in Miller’s five games out of the lineup. New York will also have to balance the ice time of bottom-six left-winger Tye Kartye, who has six points in seven games since joining the Rangers at the Trade Deadline.
One way or another, the Rangers will close the season with a focus on finding the right pieces for next season, while Miller looks to get back to full health after a busy winter headlined by an Olympic Gold medal.
Flames Recall Matvei Gridin, Hunter Brzustewicz
March 12: Brzustewicz was initially recalled under emergency conditions, but his recall has now been converted to a standard one, Pat Steinberg of Sportsnet 960 reports. Calgary now has three regular recalls remaining until the end of the season.
March 8: Two top prospects will bolster the Calgary Flames roster after shaking up their lineup at the Trade Deadline. Winger Matvei Gridin and defenseman Hunter Brzustewicz have both been recalled per a team announcement. The duo will support the Flames as they embark on a five-game road trip beginning on Monday.
Gridin was returned to the minor leagues after a five-game stint in the NHL that stretched from late February to the NHL Trade Deadline. His assignment ensures that Gridin will be eligible for the Calder Cup Playoffs, though the Calgary Wranglers currently sit second-to-last in the AHL’s Pacific Division. Gridin has been a major part of their offense any time he is in the minor leagues. He has 29 points in 37 games this season, good for the sixth-highest points-per-game average on the Wranglers.
The dynamic scorer has has ups-and-downs in his trek to bring that scoring to the top flight. Gridin has a stout seven points in the first 18 games of his NHL career. More than half of those points – five – came during a nine-game stretch from mid-January to early-February, before he was returned to the AHL. It took four games for Gridin to get back onto an NHL scoresheet after he was called back up in late February. That has been the hot-and-cold streak that Calgary’s top wing prospect has ridden through his first pro season.
It was Brzustewicz who stepped up in the Wranglers’ latest action, netting an assist on Saturday night to snap a nine-game scoring drought. That streak began one game after Brzustewicz was reassigned to the minor leagues, after he recorded an assist in his first game back. He, too, has had an up-and-down year, with two points in 18 NHL games and 14 points in 34 AHL games. The puck-moving defenseman has honed his ability to make plays in either end of the ice, while spotlighting his ability to move pucks through the neutral zone – the bread-and-butter of Brzustewicz’s game.
Brzustewicz could have the easier path to a lineup role after Zach Whitecloud left Saturday’s win over the Carolina Hurricanes in the first period. That injury should bump Zayne Parekh and Brayden Pachal up a spot in the lineup, opening room for Brzustewicz to play in his first NHL game since January from the bottom pair. Gridin will have to compete with newcomers Ryan Strome and Victor Olofsson for minutes in Calgary’s bottom-six. The rookie could be the odd-man-out as the Flames look to shore up their center depth. If he sits, Gridin will offer a nice bit of offensive upside from the press box and could potentially replace bruisers Adam Klapka or Ryan Lomberg on the fourth line.
Canadiens’ Cole Caufield Out With Illness
Montreal Canadiens winger Cole Caufield will miss Wednesday night’s game against the Ottawa Senators due to illness. He will be replaced by Alexandre Texier per Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports.
Caufield has scored four goals and six points in his last five games. His absence will be a heavy blow as Montreal steps up to a Atlantic Division matchup. It will also be a major opportunity for Texier, who hasn’t stepped into the lineup since February 26th. He scored six points in his first 11 games with the Canadiens, then went on a run for 10 points in seven games, with the two stints split by a six-game scoring drought.
But Texier has fallen into another lull, with only two points in his last seven games, dating back to January 13th. He could have a prime chance to snap that cold spell as he steps into a top-nine role in Caufield’s absence.
Montreal will rotate Texier with Alex Newhook, Zachary Bolduc, and Josh Anderson on the left-wing. All four have run into hot-and-cold streaks this season, which could put a lot of weight on Nick Suzuki, Juraj Slafkovsky, and Ivan Demidov to carry the scoring.
Montreal will also be relying on rookie goaltender Jacob Fowler after scratching Sam Montembeault. The weakened Canadiens lineup could present a good chance for Ottawa to begin clawing their way up the standings.
Red Wings Recall Sheldon Dries, John Leonard, Eduards Tralmaks
The Detroit Red Wings have utilized emergency recalls to call-up three forwards from the AHL. Sheldon Dries, John Leonard, and Eduards Tralmaks will all join the Red Wings with two games left on their current road trip. These moves come after Detroit center Andrew Copp sustained a lower-body injury in Tuesday night’s loss to the Florida Panthers. He has been downgraded to doubtful for Thursday’s match against the Tampa Bay Lightning, at least, per Detroit Free Press’ Helene St. James.
Three more forwards will help Detroit balance lines at Wednesday’s practice without captain Dylan Larkin, in addition to Copp’s injury and a recent string of maintenance days for winger Lucas Raymond. Detroit also added winger David Perron to their injured reserve after acquiring him from the Ottawa Senators for a fourth-round pick at the Trade Deadline.
The Red Wings have split their two games since Larkin sustained a day-to-day, lower-body injury. Copp was promoted to the top line in Larkin’s spot and recorded two assists and six shots on net before going down with his own injury. That could force the Red Wings to lean on Marco Kasper as their top center, even if Copp is able to play. Kasper scored one goal on four shots in Tuesday’s loss, bringing him to 10 points in his last 17 games dating back to mid-January. A bump in minutes could be well-timed for Kasper, who has not recorded a game with more than 20 minutes of ice time this season. The former eighth-overall pick had three such games in his rookie season last year. He finished with 19 goals and 37 points in 77 games.
Both Dries and Leonard have played a handful of NHL games this season, with Leonard scoring four points in nine games and Dries scoring one goal in six games with Detroit. The two rank first and third on the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins in scoring with 41 and 37 points respectively. Sixth on the list is Tralmaks, who is receiving the first call-up of his NHL career with this move.
After a quiet three seasons in the Providence Bruins’ organization to begin his pro career, Tralmaks spent the last two seasons with the Kladno Knights in Czechia’s top pro league. He scored 21 goals and 32 points in 52 games of his first Czech season, then jumped to a league-leading 51 points in 48 games last season. He signed with the Red Wings on the heels of that season and has since found his confidence in the AHL. Tralmaks has 18 goals and 28 points in 49 games with Grand Rapids this season. This call-up could now give the six-foot-four, 225-pound Latvian a chance to make his NHL debut.
Detroit may not need to lean on any of their call-ups if Copp can play on Thursday. If not, it will be centerman Dries who gets tapped to fill-in, unless the Red Wings move a winger to the center spot to fit-in the hot-scoring Leonard, or rookie Tralmaks. Bottom-six winger Dominik Shine has filled both forward positions through his career but has only taken one faceoff in the NHL.