Sabres Activate Michael Kesselring From Injured Reserve
The Sabres have activated defenseman Michael Kesselring from injured reserve as expected, per Heather Engel of NHL.com. They had an open roster spot after assigning Isak Rosen to AHL Rochester on Tuesday, so no corresponding transaction is required.
Kesselring’s second long-term absence of the season ends after 14 games due to a lower-body injury. The Sabres still might not get to see what a fully healthy defense corps can do tonight against the Flyers, though. Head coach Lindy Ruff said this morning that Conor Timmins will be a game-time decision with an undisclosed injury (via Matthew Fairburn of The Athletic).
The 25-year-old Kesselring has been limited to nine appearances through his first season in Buffalo. Acquired along with Josh Doan from the Mammoth for JJ Peterka last summer, he began the season on IR with an undisclosed issue. He made his season debut on Oct. 28 but exited the lineup again less than a month later.
When dressed, he hasn’t been much of a factor in his small sample. Initially expected to be a top-four piece and comprise the second pairing with either Bowen Byram or Owen Power on his left flank, he went without a point and had a -3 rating while averaging a conservative 15:37 of ice time per game. He was most often paired with Byram, a duo that controlled a team-worst 36.4% of expected goals at 5-on-5.
As such, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Ruff go for a new look and pair Kesselring with Power instead for a stretch. He’s unlikely to break up the team’s top pair of lefties Rasmus Dahlin and Mattias Samuelsson, the latter of whom has finally emerged as a premier shutdown threat after a rocky first few seasons on the anticipatory seven-year extension he signed back in 2022.
A strong performance the rest of the way is also imperative for Kesselring’s financial situation. He’s a pending restricted free agent with arbitration rights coming off a deal carrying a $1.4MM cap hit. Entering the season, he could have nearly quadrupled that figure after back-to-back 20-point campaigns with Utah and Arizona while posting some of the best 5-on-5 possession metrics on the team. His injury troubles have undoubtedly lowered his stock, but there’s still time to get it back.
Flames’ Jake Bean Undergoing Undisclosed Surgery, Out Indefinitely
The Flames are shutting down defenseman Jake Bean indefinitely due to his undisclosed injury, Pat Steinberg of Sportsnet 960 reports. He’s undergoing surgery, with no certainty that he’ll be back this season.
Bean hasn’t played since Dec. 6, missing Calgary’s last four games over what’s been a light schedule. He was placed on injured reserve shortly thereafter. His injury has been plaguing him for some time, Steinberg said, perhaps explaining his diminished impact in Calgary if it dates back to last season.
The Flames signed Bean to a two-year, $3.5MM contract in free agency in 2024. Since then, he’s managed only nine points in 80 games with a -7 rating while averaging 15:16 of ice time per night.
A first-round pick by the Hurricanes back in 2016, Bean has usually only carved himself a role if he’s clicking offensively. His career-best season came with the Blue Jackets in 2021-22, when he recorded 25 points in 67 games while averaging over 20 minutes per night. The following season, he was limited to 14 games before undergoing shoulder surgery that ended his campaign in November. He hasn’t had the same impact since and was non-tendered by Columbus following the 2023-24 season, leading to him signing with his hometown Flames.
Calgary will now be down a depth option on defense for the foreseeable future. His absence should mean more guaranteed playing time for in-season call-up Yan Kuznetsov on the left side. He’s played in 20 straight since being recalled from the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers in early November and has skated at least 20 minutes in his last 13 games.
Canada Cuts Jake O’Brien, Jackson Smith, Marek Vanacker From WJC
Hockey Canada announced Thursday that they’ve cut center Jake O’Brien (Kraken), defenseman Jackson Smith (Blue Jackets), and winger Marek Vanacker (Blackhawks) from their preliminary roster for the 2026 World Junior Championship.
All three dressed in yesterday’s 2-1 pre-tournament exhibition win over Sweden, played in Kitchener, Ontario. That’s par for the course for the Canadian staff to get a look at their bubble players in friendly action before making their final roster submission, which is due before the preliminary round begins on Dec. 26.
Canada announced its preliminary roster back on Dec. 8, needing to cut two names before the tournament started. That number jumped to three when they added Vanacker to their training camp roster last weekend. Today’s cuts get them down to 14 forwards and eight defensemen, satisfying the IIHF’s 22-skater roster limit. They’ve also indicated they’ll only carry two goalies to the event, so one of Carter George (Kings), Jack Ivankovic (Predators), and Joshua Ravensbergen (Sharks) will likely be heading back to their club team in the next week as well.
O’Brien is the most surprising cut of the three. He won gold with the under-18 team at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup last season as a draft-eligible on his way toward becoming the eighth overall pick by Seattle.
This season, he’s been named captain of the OHL’s Brantford Bulldogs and leads the league with 35 assists in 27 games, adding 11 goals for 46 points. His 1.70 points per game also lead the league, and his +20 rating is in the top 10.
Smith is a similarly eyebrow-raising omission, but Steven Ellis of Daily Faceoff relays that he had a tough showing against Sweden that hurt his stock. Still, he won gold with the under-18s last year at both the Hlinka Gretzky and the U-18 World Juniors, scoring four goals in seven games from the blue line. He’s averaged well north of 20 minutes per game for Penn State this season and has a 3-6–9 scoring line in 14 games for the Nittany Lions.
Vanacker’s late inclusion was more of an insurance policy if the Sharks opted not to loan Michael Misa to them as expected. However, that doubt was erased when San Jose officially cleared Misa to participate yesterday. He’ll head back to Brantford alongside his linemate, O’Brien. Vanacker’s goal-per-game pace so far has him in the OHL lead with 26, one year removed from a late first-round selection by Chicago.
Devils Activate Brett Pesce, Place Arseny Gritsyuk On Injured Reserve
After missing the past 24 games with an upper-body injury, the Devils announced they’ve activated top-pair defenseman Brett Pesce from injured reserve, indicating he’ll be in the lineup tonight against the Golden Knights. The team placed winger Arseny Gritsyuk on IR retroactive to Dec. 11 in the corresponding move.
The Devils had been anxiously awaiting Pesce’s clearance for weeks, but the injection of a right-shot defender into the lineup became all the more important after Simon Nemec sustained an undisclosed injury during practice last Friday that will have him out for at least a couple of weeks. They’ve been dealing with the season-long absence of righty Johnathan Kovacevic as well, making Pesce’s standing on the team all the more important.
Pesce had three assists and a +3 rating in nine games to begin the year. That coincided with an 8-1-0 start to the year, making New Jersey look like a legitimate contender to end up atop the Metropolitan Division. Since then, the Devils have gone 10-13-1 with their possession numbers dipping in the process.
There are a variety of factors that go into a slump, but being forced into breaking up what had been one of the best defense pairs in the league through the early going is high on that list. Pesce and Luke Hughes had served as the Devils’ most dominant unit on the blue line, controlling 60.2% of expected goals. Without Pesce, Hughes has been underwater in every possession metric. His point production has dipped as well, down to 0.55 per game after peaking with 0.62 per game as a second-year player last season.
The Devils’ press release indicated Pesce will be paired with Hughes again tonight, ideally giving them a true top-pair level of play that Dougie Hamilton and Jonas Siegenthaler haven’t been able to provide in the interim.
A healthier defense is paramount to help overcome the loss of a fifth forward to the injured or non-roster list in Gritsyuk. The Russian rookie, who’s eighth on the team in scoring with seven goals and 16 points in 31 games, has already missed the last two games with an upper-body injury.
He joins Jack Hughes, Evgenii Dadonov, and Zack MacEwen on IR, while Timo Meier carries a non-roster designation while on personal leave. Since he’s already missed six days, Gritsyuk will be eligible to return on Dec. 19 against the Mammoth, but that’s not feasible since he didn’t travel with the team on their raod trip. It’ll be Sunday at home against the Sabres to mark Gritsyuk’s first opportunity to get back into the lineup.
Sharks Activate Michael Misa, Loan Him To World Juniors
The reigning No. 2 overall pick is officially on his way to the 2026 World Juniors. The Sharks announced they’ve activated center Michael Misa from injured reserve and subsequently loaned him to Team Canada for the event, which begins next week.
With only Misa’s name included in today’s announcement, it seems set in stone that defenseman Sam Dickinson is staying on San Jose’s roster and won’t be loaned out to Canada for the tournament. Dickinson, 19, had two assists in five games for the Canadians last year at the event and had another year of eligibility left, but he’ll be sticking around on San Jose’s roster for the next several weeks despite sitting as a healthy scratch in last night’s win over the Flames.
Misa’s limited playing time this season made him a logical candidate to be allowed to go to the event, much like the case of Calgary star defense prospect Zayne Parekh. The 18-year-old broke camp with the Sharks but was in and out of the lineup, never playing more than three games in a row, until he sustained a lower-body injury in early November.
Before exiting the lineup, Misa made his first seven NHL appearances, scoring one goal and three points with a -1 rating. It’s worth noting he isn’t joining Canada’s training camp cold. The Sharks loaned him to their AHL affiliate on a conditioning stint at the beginning of the month as he neared a return, recording an assist in two games for the San Jose Barracuda before rejoining the Sharks for practice.
Now fully cleared, Misa will get his first and only chance to represent Canada’s national team at the under-20 level. He was a rather shocking snub from last year’s roster amid a 62-goal, 134-point season for the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit that made him the leading scorer across all of the country’s top junior leagues.
The question now becomes whether Misa returns to Saginaw or remains with the Sharks when the WJC wraps up in January. As an under-20 player subject to the NHL-CHL transfer agreement, he’s ineligible for a full-time assignment to the AHL and must be loaned back to his junior team if he’s not on the NHL roster (or injured reserve).
Golden Knights Activate Jeremy Lauzon From Injured Reserve
The Golden Knights will have defenseman Jeremy Lauzon in the lineup against the Devils tonight, reports Danny Webster of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He’ll need to come off injured reserve, something they have the roster space to do after sending Dylan Coghlan to AHL Henderson earlier in the week.
Lauzon missed 14 games with an undisclosed injury he sustained on Nov. 15 against the Blues. During that time, the Golden Knights haven’t shaken up their lineup at all. The group of Shea Theodore, Brayden McNabb, Noah Hanifin, Ben Hutton, and Kaedan Korczak has played every game since, with the veteran Hutton stepping into Lauzon’s shoes alongside Korczak on the Knights’ third pair.
While that streak will come to an end tonight, it won’t involve Hutton heading back to the press box. Theodore is day-to-day with an upper-body injury and won’t play, head coach Bruce Cassidy told reporters (including Webster).
Lauzon, 28, was acquired from the Predators in last summer’s Nicolas Hague trade. He’s lost some minutes in Vegas, mainly due to restricted penalty kill deployment, but has otherwise been a good fit alongside the up-and-coming Korczak. He’s posted four assists and a +3 rating in 17 games, controlling 52.3% of expected goals with his usual partner.
The 6’3″, 225-lb lefty is one of the league’s most judicious hitters, leading the league with 383 checks two years ago with Nashville. His 3.35 hits per game this season is a significant dip from his last few campaigns – likely due to Vegas possessing the puck more than the Predators did – but still leads his team.
Predators Activate Cole Smith From Injured Reserve
The Predators have reinstated winger Cole Smith from injured reserve, Nick Kieser of Lower Broad Hockey reports. They’ve had a whopping three open roster spots since sending Zachary L’Heureux to the AHL last weekend, so no corresponding transaction is required.
Smith has been tracking toward a return for several days now. Head coach Andrew Brunette labeled him as day-to-day last week as he returned to practice. The 30-year-old has been out of commission since the beginning of November, missing the last 19 games with an upper-body injury. He was given a rather vague three-to-six-week recovery timeline, and although he missed the long end of that by a few days, he’ll be available for tonight’s game against the Hurricanes.
Before his injury, Smith was part of one of the most effective checking lines in the league. His offense wasn’t jumping off the page with three goals in 13 games – he’s only ever hit 20 points in a year once – but his line with Michael McCarron and Ozzy Wiesblatt was one of Nashville’s best at controlling play at 5-on-5. Not only do those three lead the Preds in hits per game, but they controlled 64.3% of expected goals at 5-on-5 to lead the team, per MoneyPuck. Among forward lines league-wide with at least 50 minutes together, only four trios have allowed fewer expected goals against per 60 than the Wiesblatt-McCarron-Smith line’s 1.58 mark.
Nashville won’t be able to reunite that line tonight, though. Wiesblatt is on IR with an upper-body issue and isn’t slated to return until after the Olympic break.
With Smith coming in, veteran Tyson Jost will likely be the one heading to the press box. Reid Schaefer, a first-round pick in 2022, seems to have grabbed hold of a regular spot with three goals in nine games since being summoned from AHL Milwaukee late last month.
Canucks’ Arshdeep Bains Clears Waivers, Assigned To AHL
Dec. 17th: According to a team announcement, Bains has successfully cleared waivers and has been reassigned to AHL Abbotsford.
Dec. 16th: The Canucks have waived forward Arshdeep Bains, according to Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK and The Athletic. He’ll be reassigned to AHL Abbotsford tomorrow if he clears.
The news doesn’t come as a major surprise. Bains’ role was bound to reduce after Vancouver recouped forwards Liam Ohgren and Marco Rossi in last week’s shock Quinn Hughes blockbuster, and they’re set to be immediate fixtures in the Canucks’ lineup. He was one of the odd men out when they were inserted into the lineup for Sunday’s game against the Devils, marking his sixth healthy scratch of the season.
With center Elias Pettersson not expected to miss too much more time with his upper-body injury, the Canucks were going to need a roster spot to activate him from injured reserve sooner rather than later. They can do so as soon as today – Bains is eligible for a non-roster designation if his waiver placement comes in conjunction with an IR activation – if he’s ready to play tonight against the Rangers.
Bains’ 26 appearances this season more than doubled his career total. The 24-year-old now has 47 games under his belt for Vancouver over the past three seasons, scoring two goals and four assists for six points. Five of those came this year while he averaged 9:09 of ice time per game in a fourth-line role.
An undrafted free agent signed out of WHL Red Deer back in 2022, he could carry some intrigue on the wire thanks to an excellent AHL track record. In three prior seasons for Abbotsford, he’s put up a 40-96–136 scoring line in 175 games with a +34 rating.
Flyers’ Tyson Foerster Out Five Months
Dec. 17th: It appears that Foerster’s original two-to-three-month recovery timeline was premature. The Flyers shared today that following further medical evaluation, Foerster underwent arm surgery and is now expected to miss the next five months. Unless Philadelphia makes a surprise run to the second round of the playoffs or the Eastern Conference Final, Foerster’s season is likely done.
Dec. 3rd: Flyers winger Tyson Foerster is expected to miss two to three months with the upper-body injury he sustained in last night’s loss to the Penguins, the team announced. As expected, the Flyers announced that they’ve placed Foerster on the injured reserve. The transaction opens up a spot on Philadelphia’s 23-man roster.
The news sidelines Foerster, who leads the Flyers with 10 goals in 21 games, through the Olympic break. It was a non-contact injury as Foerster appeared to hyperextend his right shoulder or otherwise injure the upper arm area while unloading a one-timer midway through the second period (video via Flyers Clips on X).
It’s been a rough ride for the 23-year-old over the past few months. His status for opening night was doubtful through much of training camp after he sustained an elbow injury while playing for Canada at the World Championship back in May. The procedure itself wasn’t expected to keep him out through the start of the season, but he developed a related infection that delayed his recovery. He ended up not missing any time but sustained a lower-body injury at the beginning of November that landed him on injured reserve and kept him out for four games.
This absence will be in the 30-game range, though. If he returns right at the two-month mark, he could technically get a few reps in before the Olympic break – the Flyers’ last game before the schedule pause is on Feb. 5. But in the likely event he’s out until Philly resumes play on Feb. 25 (or even later if he misses a full three months), he’ll be out for at least 31 contests.
Under new head coach Rick Tocchet, the Flyers have flexed a high-end defensive system and a breakout season between the pipes from free-agent pickup Daniel Vladař to a 14-8-3 record, good for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference at the time of writing. Their offensive output, however, ranks 26th in goals per game (2.76) and 29th in shots per game (24.8). Missing their best finisher in Foerster, who’s shooting at a 24.4% clip and also ranks fifth on the team in shots per game, threatens to sink those numbers even further.
Since arriving in the NHL in 2023, Foerster has quietly emerged as one of the league’s better young two-way wingers. The 2020 first-round pick is a career 15.9% shooter – right in range with names like Auston Matthews, Zach Hyman, and Elias Pettersson over the same span. He’s also averaged over 17 minutes per game, factors in on the Flyers’ second penalty kill unit, and consistently boasts above-average possession impacts. He’s been on a different level defensively this year, only on the ice for 0.88 goals against per 60 minutes at 5-on-5.
Fresh off signing a two-year, $7.5MM extension that looked to be one of the best value bets in the league this season, he’s now ticketed for an extended absence. As for who will be the beneficiary of his top-nine minutes, rookie Nikita Grebenkin is a solid bet to get the first crack. He’s already seen some elevation from his usual fourth-line duties, skating a handful of games alongside Noah Cates and Travis Konecny. The offensive production hasn’t quite arrived for the 22-year-old Russian, who’s notched one goal and three points through 16 games, but boasts solid possession numbers in his limited minutes and is worth a look higher up in the lineup.
With Foerster unavailable, the Flyers no longer have a healthy extra forward on their roster. With five games left on a six-game homestand, there likely isn’t much motivation to make a recall unless another injury occurs.
Blackhawks Reassign Laurent Brossoit
Dec. 16: Brossoit cleared waivers and will be reassigned to Rockford, per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.
Dec. 15: Blackhawks goaltender Laurent Brossoit won’t be sticking on the roster after his conditioning loan to AHL Rockford ended today. He’ll be placed on waivers at 1:00 p.m. Central and will head back to Rockford if he clears tomorrow, head coach Jeff Blashill told reporters (including Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times).
Brossoit was never expected to report to Chicago after returning to practice last month and eventually being sent to Rockford for his first playing action in more than a year. He’s been permitted to seek a trade to find a new NHL home, but with no takers so far, he’ll end up on the wire to extend his stay in Rockford.
In all likelihood, the 32-year-old will never play a game for the Blackhawks after signing a two-year, $6.6MM contract in free agency in 2024. There’s no longer a place for him on the roster with Spencer Knight and Arvid Söderblom now entrenched as Chicago’s two NHL options. Late-summer surgery on his meniscus spiraled into more knee surgeries that eventually cost him the entire 2024-25 campaign, and a hip procedure this past summer kept him on the injured list to begin this year.
When Brossoit appeared for Rockford on Dec. 5, it was his first playing action since a relief appearance for the Jets in the 2024 playoffs. The veteran netminder was coming off back-to-back seasons with an exceptional .927 SV% in a backup role before reaching the open market and signing with Chicago.
While his knee and hip issues ended up taking out a solid chunk of his prime, his stint with Rockford showed he’s still a pro-level netminder and could easily find a home elsewhere if Chicago is willing to retain some of his $3.3MM cap hit. He logged a .900 SV% in three starts for the IceHogs – even scoring a goalie goal – and recorded a 2-1-0 record with a 3.39 GAA.
Teams can now have Brossoit for free over the next 24 hours, but they’ll need to take on his full cap hit if they don’t want to pay an acquisition cost. While he counts $3.3MM against the cap, his salary is only $2.3MM this season after Chicago paid out a $1MM signing bonus at the beginning of the season. That could be attractive to cash-conscious teams with cap space to burn.