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Brady Tkachuk Out 6-7 Weeks Following Hand Surgery

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Oct. 16: Tkachuk underwent surgery to repair a ligament issue in his right hand in New York today, Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia reports. The procedure extends his return timeline to six to seven weeks and, with the clock resetting to today, won’t be back in the lineup until Thanksgiving at the earliest. That’s a 20-game minimum absence, including last night’s loss to the Sabres.

Oct. 14: Senators captain Brady Tkachuk will miss at least four weeks due to the right wrist injury he sustained in yesterday’s game against the Predators, head coach Travis Green said (via Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia). They’ve yet to decide on whether surgery is required. If so, his return timeline will be extended.

Tkachuk sustained the injury early in the game. While on the power play, he took a cross-check from Nashville captain Roman Josi near the goal line that carried enough force to cause Tkachuk to fall forward into the boards, bending his right wrist awkwardly in the process. He didn’t immediately leave the game but ended up taking his last shift midway through the third period. Green said immediately after the match that Tkachuk was going for evaluation and that his absence wasn’t precautionary.

This will stand as Tkachuk’s largest absence to date. While he’s missed games due to injury in four of his seven full NHL seasons, none of them were serious enough to warrant lengthy recovery times. The most time he ever missed was nine games due to a leg injury early in his rookie season. His four-week minimum means his earliest return is Nov. 11 against the Stars, meaning at least a 13-game absence for the star winger.

Thankfully for Ottawa, they have a relatively easy stretch of games ahead. Only three of those 13 contests are against teams that made the playoffs last season. They’ve gotten off to a tough start, though, especially defensively. They’re 1-2-0 through their first three contests and have yet to give up fewer than four goals, averaging a 4.67 GA/GP mark that ranks 31st in the league. While their 26.0 shots against per game figure is sixth-best in the NHL, their 64.3% success rate on the penalty kill – fifth-worst in the league – hasn’t helped matters. Linus Ullmark has also allowed a league-worst 5.4 goals above expected in his three starts, per MoneyPuck. Tkachuk doesn’t factor in shorthanded, so in that sense, his absence won’t mean much as Ottawa looks to address its biggest early-season weaknesses.

His missing offense and intangibles will, though. Tkachuk had three assists and a +1 rating through his first three outings and, although his 29-26–55 scoring line in 72 games last year was underwhelming by his standards, he received Hart Trophy consideration for the first time as he captained Ottawa to its first playoff berth since 2017. Despite missing a good portion of yesterday’s contest, he still ranks third on the team so far with 10 hits, is tied for the team lead with 21 shot attempts, and has controlled possession well with a 56.5 CF% at even strength.

Now, it’ll be mid-November until he’s consistently in the mix this season. The Senators can place him on injured reserve whenever they need a roster spot. That will likely come in conjunction with activating Drake Batherson, who is expected to come off IR before tomorrow’s game, according to Garrioch. Tkachuk is eligible for long-term injured reserve as well and can yield up to $3.82MM in cap relief, but with the Sens already banking over $2.45MM in space, that won’t be necessary, at least for now.

Luckily for the Sens, they don’t have any mounting injuries behind their leader. They have all available options, including Batherson, to elevate into top-line duties alongside Tim Stützle and Fabian Zetterlund in his absence.

Predators Reassign Joakim Kemell

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The Predators announced that they’ve assigned winger Joakim Kemell to AHL Milwaukee. They now carry an open roster spot into tonight’s game against the Canadiens, although it doesn’t appear they plan on filling it for now.

It’s a prudent move to get their 2022 first-round choice some playing time. Kemell cracked Nashville’s opening night roster for the first time this year but has been in and out of the lineup, sitting as a healthy scratch twice through their first four games. He didn’t record a point in either of his outings and averaged 11:04 of ice time per game, but did manage five shot attempts and four hits. Nashville did lose the possession battle with Kemell on the ice at even strength, logging a 45.5 CF%, but that’s not bad considering it’s better than how the team fared without him and he started two-thirds of his shifts in the defensive end.

If they weren’t going to be consistently using him, though, it does very little for his development to sit in the Preds’ press box. The 17th overall pick three years ago is kicking off the second year of his entry-level contract and has done well in AHL minutes so far, although the Preds would like to see him flirt more with the point-per-game threshold in the minors. He has a 41-53–94 scoring line in 146 appearances for Milwaukee since arriving there late in the 2022-23 campaign from his native Finland.

While the Preds leaned into a youth movement with their initial roster submission, they haven’t embraced it in their lineup construction so far. This year’s No. 5 overall pick, Brady Martin, got a brief look on the top line with Filip Forsberg and Ryan O’Reilly but, like Kemell, has averaged under 12 minutes per game and has been a healthy scratch twice. 23-year-old Ozzy Wiesblatt was a healthy scratch for three straight to begin the year but had two assists in 9:30 of ice time in his season debut against Toronto earlier this week. Even 22-year-old Fedor Svechkov, technically the Preds’ second-line center, has had his minutes relatively limited for his role at 13:02 per game.

That doesn’t necessarily bode well for Kemell’s chances for a recall later in the season, but he’ll look to force their hand anyway with a strong minor-league performance. His power-play performance in the AHL could be something to watch. The Preds are just 1-for-17 to begin the season with the man advantage.

Wild Reassign David Jiricek

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The Wild have reassigned David Jiricek to AHL Iowa, according to a team announcement. There’s no corresponding transaction yet for the roster spot that their No. 2 prospect is vacating.

Today marks a week since opening night for the Wild, which was Jiricek’s only appearance out of the club’s first four games. That’s despite the 21-year-old having a strong showing in what was his first outing for the club since January of last season. He only saw 14 minutes of ice time and didn’t record a point, but had a +3 rating in their 5-0 win over the Blues. He won his minutes possession-wise with a 53.3 CF% at even strength.

Then, Jonas Brodin returned to the lineup after missing the first game while recovering from offseason upper-body surgery. That pushed Jiricek out of the picture, with Minnesota opting for a more veteran lineup on the right side of their defense, with Zach Bogosian slotting in behind top-four staples Brock Faber and Jared Spurgeon. It’s hard at the moment for head coach John Hynes to justify scratching Bogosian to get Jiricek another look. The 35-year-old has also done well in his limited minutes, recording a +3 rating with seven blocks and four hits in four appearances while averaging 14:19 per game. He’s trusted on the penalty kill and has yet to be on the ice for a goal against at even strength.

Minnesota wants its promising young righty playing, and that isn’t happening on the NHL roster right now. As such, they’ll take advantage of his continued waiver-exempt status and return to Iowa, where he spent most of last season after the Wild acquired him from the Blue Jackets in November. The only player Minnesota surrendered in that deal, Daemon Hunt, is now back with the organization after being claimed off waivers from Columbus and will serve as their lone healthy extra for the time being, with Jiricek down.

It’s an inauspicious sign amid a tough couple of years for the 2022 No. 6 overall pick. After the former AHL All-Star looked like he was on the verge of capturing a regular role with Columbus after making 43 appearances for them in 2023-24, he was a frequent scratch to begin last season, leading to his trade out of town. Yet even amid mounting injuries on the Wild’s blue line last year, Jiricek, included in those troubles amid a ruptured spleen, didn’t get much of a chance and only made six NHL appearances after the swap. In 27 appearances with Iowa, he only mustered seven assists and a -1 rating.

He’ll be destined for as many minutes as he can handle now in the minors as he looks to get consistent playing time and fuel some long-awaited forward progress in his development. For now, Minnesota will be operating with an open roster spot to fill as necessary if more injuries pop up.

Jets Reassign Kale Clague

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The Jets announced they’ve reassigned defenseman Kale Clague to AHL Manitoba. He doesn’t need waivers because he’s been on the Jets’ active roster for fewer than 30 days since last clearing them, which happened back on Oct. 2.

Clague, 27, was up with Winnipeg for just one game and didn’t draw into the lineup. He came up earlier in the week after fellow rearguard Haydn Fleury took a shot off the kneecap and was rendered unavailable for Monday’s game against the Islanders. Fleury’s absence is already behind him, though, as the team’s Mitchell Clinton reflects he’s expected back in third-pairing duties with Luke Schenn tonight against the Flyers.

Winnipeg is Clague’s fourth NHL organization. He was a second-round pick by the Kings back in 2016. After failing to advance past a fringe NHL role with the club, he was claimed off waivers by the Canadiens during the 2021-22 season. He finished out the year before being non-tendered by Montreal and signing with the Sabres in free agency. Clague went on to sign three straight one-year, two-way deals with the Sabres before reaching unrestricted free agency last summer. He was a Day 2 signing by the Jets, who matched his two most recent deals with Buffalo that carried a league-minimum NHL salary and a $475K AHL salary.

The 6’0″ lefty has 94 games of NHL experience and will continue to be one of the Jets’ primary recall options in case of short-term injuries like Fleury’s. The Regina, Saskatchewan native had a career high of 39 points in 69 games with AHL Rochester last year. He was held without a point and had an even rating in his Manitoba debut last week before getting recalled.

With Clague down, Winnipeg has an open roster spot. They started the year with 14 forwards and seven defensemen, but went to 13 and eight with Fleury’s short-term absence, sending Brad Lambert down earlier this week to accommodate Clague’s recall. None of their players on injured reserve – Adam Lowry, Cole Perfetti, or Dylan Samberg – are close to a return. It’s unclear if they plan to operate with an open spot for a while or if they’ll bring someone else up from the minors in the coming days.

Sharks Claim Vincent Iorio

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The Sharks have claimed defenseman Vincent Iorio off waivers from the Capitals, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports. They cleared a roster spot just minutes ago by placing Timothy Liljegren on injured reserve.

Drafted 55th overall by the Capitals in 2021, Iorio’s tenure in Washington comes to an early end. Waiver-eligible for the first time this season, Iorio made the Caps’ opening night roster but didn’t get into a game before landing on the wire yesterday to make way for veteran Dylan McIlrath to come off injured reserve. He has just nine NHL games to his name, none of which came last season. The 6’4″ righty had one assist with a +1 rating while averaging 11:20 per game across the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons.

The Caps were in a tough spot with Iorio, who they didn’t feel was ready for full-time NHL minutes on one of the league’s deepest blue lines. Keeping him in the press box over McIlrath would have stunted the 22-year-old’s development. Trading him for an asset wasn’t very feasible, either, as teams knew he would be available for free on the waiver wire anyway. Interest evidently wasn’t strong enough for other parties to try to jump the line ahead of the Sharks, who still have top priority after finishing with the league’s worst record last year.

San Jose hopes to benefit from Washington’s lose-lose situation. The British Columbia native hasn’t shown a ton of forward progress in the minors since turning pro three years ago, but he displayed expert transition skills in junior hockey and boasts a good two-way profile from his experience in the Caps’ system with AHL Hershey. He’s made 190 minor-league appearances, posting an 11-45–56 scoring line for an average of 0.29 points per game. He carries a career +39 rating to boot, although that’s somewhat inflated by him logging significant minutes on one of the AHL’s best teams of that period.

Iorio’s claim doesn’t bode well for top prospect Sam Dickinson to stick on San Jose’s roster for the rest of the season. Liljegren’s absence isn’t expected to be long-term, and the Sharks don’t have any other waiver-exempt defenders on their roster aside from Dickinson. The 2024 No. 11 overall pick was a scratch for the season opener and has averaged under 12 minutes per game through two appearances with the Sharks, posting a -2 rating with no shot attempts and one block. Returning him to OHL London before he reaches the 10-game mark will slide the beginning of his entry-level contract to 2026-27 and remove him from their 50-contract limit for the remainder of the season.

If San Jose opts to keep Dickinson when Liljegren returns and waives Iorio again instead, the Capitals have the option to reclaim him. If they’re the only team to submit a claim, they can send him directly to AHL Hershey and bypass waiving him a second time.

Sharks Place Timothy Liljegren On Injured Reserve

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The Sharks officially placed Timothy Liljegren on injured reserve, a day after the defenseman was listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury, according to Curtis Pashelka of the Bay Area News Group. There’s no corresponding recall coming immediately, Pashelka reports.

Liljegren got banged up in Tuesday’s 5-1 drubbing at the hands of the Hurricanes, landing awkwardly after a failed board battle with Carolina’s Taylor Hall (video via JD Young of Locked On Sharks). That means he’s been ruled out for San Jose’s next two games and will be eligible to come off IR for their game against the Islanders next Tuesday.

The 26-year-old Swede has played in all three games for the Sharks to start the year after being the subject of trade rumors over the offseason, operating as their top right-shot defender. He’s averaging a career-high 20:14 per game, seeing the second-most time at even strength behind Nick Leddy and forming half of the defense pairing on their top penalty-killing unit with Mario Ferraro. He hasn’t gotten on the scoresheet yet, though. He has a -2 rating with 10 blocks and three hits. The Sharks have been shelled in Liljegren’s 5-on-5 minutes, losing the shot attempt battle 70-33 for a CF% of 32.0. While that looks drastic, the Sharks have posted a horrid 33.5 CF% at even strength through three games, so he hasn’t dipped too far below the team average despite being deployed primarily as a defensive specialist to begin the year.

It’s not surprising to see San Jose not rush to make a corresponding recall. They still have seven defensemen on the active roster after starting the year with eight of them. One of those seven is John Klingberg, who was also ruled day-to-day by head coach Ryan Warsofsky yesterday, but he hasn’t yet been ruled out for tomorrow’s contest against the Mammoth. However, he wasn’t taking line rushes yesterday, indicating he could still sit out as a precaution while veteran righty Vincent Desharnais makes his season debut after being scratched for the Sharks’ first three games.

There’s no indication as of yet that Liljegren’s absence should last much longer than the retroactive seven days required for an IR placement. In the meantime, it’ll be a good opportunity for Desharnais to shake off the rust, as well as for rookie Sam Dickinson to push for more minutes after averaging just 11:56 through his first two NHL appearances.

Rangers Shopping Brennan Othmann

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The Rangers have been taking calls on forward prospect Brennan Othmann over the past several days, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. “There’s been conversations with other clubs about his future… it simply may be that he needs a fresh start elsewhere,” Friedman wrote.

When the Blueshirts selected Othmann with the 16th overall pick in the 2021 draft, they hoped he would be an impact contributor by now. Yet four years on, he hasn’t even established himself as a reliable NHL player. He was passed over for an opening-night job this year by a younger prospect in Noah Laba and a PTO invite in Conor Sheary. He wasn’t a particularly late cut, either, being assigned to AHL Hartford before the calendar flipped to October.

That comes after Othmann didn’t show much in his first extended taste of NHL action last season. The 6’0″ winger was limited to two assists in 22 games, although his usage didn’t lend itself to a ton of offense. He was on the ice for 9:58 per game, although he was extremely sheltered with nearly 71% of his zone starts at even strength coming in the offensive end. That lent itself to some strong possession metrics for Othmann, who managed a +7 rating with a 52.5 CF%. He didn’t look particularly out of place as a fourth-line checking piece, recording 43 hits, but both the team and player are hoping for more scoring out of the Ontario-born winger.

He’s shown that offensive upside in the minors. He had 21 goals and 49 points in 67 games for Hartford as a rookie in 2023-24. While injuries and his NHL call-up limited him to 27 AHL appearances last year, he still clicked at a strong 0.74 points per game rate with a 12-8–20 scoring line. He’s still 22, will turn 23 in January, and has some runway left in his development.

As the Rangers’ willingness to listen in trade talks indicates, though, his time is running out. The threat of waivers is a factor. This is his last season as a waiver-exempt player. If he doesn’t develop enough this season to work his way into an opening night job for 2026-27, the Blueshirts risk losing him for nothing on the wire 12 months from now.

Othmann registered one assist and a +1 rating in his season debut for Hartford last weekend. The Rangers are unlikely to recoup a first-round pick for him by shopping him now, particularly with his limited NHL track record, but a second-rounder might be in question – or a change-of-scenery swap for a prospect at a similar point in their development. Othmann is in the final season of his entry-level contract and will be an RFA next summer.

Kings Return Erik Portillo From Emergency Recall

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4:00 p.m.: Already in contention for the shortest emergency recall of the year, the Kings announced they’ve loaned Portillo back to AHL Ontario after reacquiring Copley from the Tampa Bay Lightning.

1:04 p.m.: The Kings announced they’ve recalled goalie Erik Portillo from AHL Ontario under emergency conditions. As he’s an emergency call-up, the Kings don’t have to open a roster spot for him – although they wouldn’t have had to anyway with an existing opening.

L.A.’s next game is tomorrow against the Penguins. Neither of their two rostered goalies, Anton Forsberg or Darcy Kuemper, is carrying an injury designation. That’s likely to change in the next 24 hours, even if it’s just downgrading one of them to questionable. Kuemper is going to be absent from today’s practice, according to the team’s Zach Dooley.

Kuemper has shouldered the bulk of starts thus far, as expected, getting three of their four games. While the veteran had a resurgent 2024-25 campaign that made him a Vezina Trophy finalist for the first time, he hasn’t kept up that momentum through the first several days of 2025-26. He’s yet to hit a .900 SV% in a single outing and has a .868 SV% and 3.35 GAA through his three starts, recording a 0-2-1 record. His -2.0 goals saved above expected are 50th out of 57 goalies to suit up so far this year, according to MoneyPuck. Forsberg, signed to a two-year, $4.5MM deal in free agency last summer to replace David Rittich as Kuemper’s backup, hasn’t been any better. He allowed five goals on 35 shots in his lone start last week against the Golden Knights, although it resulted in L.A.’s only win of the season – a 6-5 shootout victory.

Meanwhile, Portillo could now be in line to at least dress for a game. The 25-year-old Swede is the Kings’ unchallenged No. 3 for the moment, particularly after losing Pheonix Copley on waivers to the Lightning a couple of weeks ago. The former University of Michigan standout made his first NHL start early last season, only allowing one goal on 29 shots (.966 SV%) for a 2-1 win over the Ducks.

Unfortunately, his recent minor-league body of work hasn’t been nearly as impressive. After recording a .918 SV% in 39 appearances as a rookie for Ontario in 2023-24, he sputtered to the tune of a .889 mark with a 2.82 GAA and 15-5-4 record in 24 appearances last year. In two showings for the Reign in 2025-26, he has a 3.50 GAA, .854 SV%, and a 1-0-1 record.

He’ll be eligible to play in up to nine games before the Kings must return him to Ontario or convert his recall into a standard one. They’re hoping they aren’t faced with that choice and can return him hastily.

Egor Afanasyev Clears Waivers; Reassigned By Sharks

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Oct. 15th: Indirectly confirming that Afanasyev passed through waivers unscathed, the Sharks announced that they’ve reassigned him to the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda.

Oct. 14th: The Sharks have placed winger Egor Afanasyev on waivers, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. He began the season on injured reserve but is now healthy and will head to AHL San Jose if he clears.

With the Sharks comfortable carrying eight defensemen to start the season, that only leaves one extra forward spot on their roster. Keeping Afanasyev around would have meant waiving or reassigning a member of an offense that’s scored nine goals in two games so far, something they weren’t willing to do. It’s a testament that despite scratching 2025 No. 2 overall pick Michael Misa for both of those games, they’re intent on keeping him around and will give him a look tonight as their third-line center, per Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now. They’re also reluctant to reassign the waiver-exempt Collin Graf, who’s coming out of the lineup to make way for Misa’s NHL debut.

Afanasyev had a good preseason showing for San Jose, posting six scoring chances in three games and converting on one of them. His chances of making the roster, however, were stifled by a minor lower-body injury late in camp. The 24-year-old signed a one-year, $800K contract with the Sharks back in May, attempting an NHL comeback after spurning their qualifying offer last year and opting to sign with CSKA Moscow of the Kontinental Hockey League. The 24-year-old remained on San Jose’s reserve list and returned to them following a seven-goal, 21-point showing in 53 games for the army-affiliated team.

He was only on their reserve list after they acquired his signing rights from the Predators for Ozzy Wiesblatt early last summer, though. He’s never played a game in either the NHL or AHL for San Jose, ending the 2023-24 regular season as a member of the Nashville organization, which drafted him in the second round in 2019. The 6’3″, 200-lb winger has 19 NHL games under his belt for the Preds, although he only scored one goal and had a -8 rating while averaging 11:04 per game.

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