Ducks’ Mikael Granlund Out Week-To-Week
Ducks center Mikael Granlund will be out for at least two to three weeks after leaving Saturday’s loss to the Lightning in the first period with a lower-body injury, head coach Joel Quenneville told NHL.com. They have not placed him on injured reserve, but made a corresponding transaction in effect over the weekend by activating Jansen Harkins from IR. He’ll make his season debut tonight against the Panthers with Granlund unavailable, Quenneville said.
The injury presses pause on what’s been a banner start to the year for Granlund, who was Anaheim’s big free agent pickup over the summer on a three-year, $21MM deal. The 33-year-old pivot was a point per game through eight appearances, including a two-goal, five-point performance against the Bruins last week. He’s also been the club’s best faceoff man with a 51.9% win rate. That’s despite his linemates not being all too consistent to start the year, seeing Alex Killorn, Nikita Nesterenko, Troy Terry, and Frank Vatrano all spend significant time on his flanks.
After facing some inconsistency in his late 20s, Granlund has made his living in recent years as a top offensive producer on an understaffed Sharks offense and was a rental pickup by the Stars last season before hitting the open market. He’s clicked at a rate of 0.84 points per game since the beginning of the 2023-24 campaign, just outside the top 60 among forwards with at least 100 games played. It’s a newfound luxury for Anaheim to have a veteran who produces at a top-line pace slot into their middle six. It’s working wonders for the Ducks, who are scoring 3.63 goals per game – good for seventh in the league – after managing just 2.54 per game over the previous three seasons.
They’ll now have to navigate their next eight to 10 games without him around. They’ll be looking for more out of veteran names like Killorn and Vatrano, who’ve combined for just one goal and two assists so far, to compensate. Unfortunately for them, seven of their next eight are against teams that made the playoffs last season.
Blues’ Jake Neighbours Out Five Weeks With Right Leg Injury
The Blues announced Tuesday that they’ve placed winger Jake Neighbours on injured reserve with a right leg injury. He’ll be re-evaluated in five weeks, putting him out of the lineup through at least Dec. 2. They did not immediately announce a recall to fill his roster spot.
Neighbours was absent for Monday’s loss to the Penguins with what the team previously labeled a lower-body issue, and he carried only a day-to-day designation. It’s clear now that was a bit of smoke and mirrors as he underwent further evaluation. The team said he suffered the injury in Saturday’s loss to the Red Wings. He didn’t leave the contest, in which he had two of St. Louis’ four goals, but did appear to favor his right leg after losing an edge and sliding awkwardly into the boards later in the game.
Very little has gone right for the Blues this season. Losing Neighbours, who has a team-leading six goals and was finishing at a red-hot 50% clip, won’t change that slide of bad luck. The 23-year-old is beginning his fifth NHL season since being drafted in the first round in 2020 and has been stapled to the Blues’ top line with Robert Thomas to start the year. When deployed with Pavel Buchnevich on their right flank, they’ve controlled play well with a 51.9 xGF% and 50.6 CF%, per MoneyPuck. Poor goaltending has still led them to be outscored 5-4 and for Neighbours to post a minus-four rating despite his individual success, accounting for 22.2% of the goals the Blues have scored this season.
While that one-in-two finishing rate is unsustainable, the writing was on the wall for a breakout campaign from Neighbours in 2025-26. He’s put together back-to-back 20-goal campaigns and hit a career-best 46 points while playing all 82 games last season. Getting more pucks on net, once he returns in December, will be key to getting him back on that path. Neighbours’ 19.7 shooting percentage since the beginning of 2023-24 is ninth in the league among skaters with at least 100 shots on goal during that time, but he’s only averaged 1.55 shots on goal per game for his career.
The Blues were also without Thomas in last night’s loss due to an upper-body injury. He’s still only listed as day-to-day, but for the time being, the Blues are without the two most consistent members of their top line to open the campaign. Jimmy Snuggerud and Pius Suter were elevated from third-line duties to skate with Buchnevich last night. It’s unclear if that will continue into tonight’s rematch against Detroit or if head coach Jim Montgomery will shuffle his lines further in the wake of three straight regulation losses.
Injury Notes: Wood, Bogosian, Nylander
Blue Jackets winger Miles Wood will be in the lineup versus the Sabres on Tuesday, head coach Dean Evason said. It’s Wood’s first outing in over two weeks after leaving an Oct. 13 game against the Devils because of a stick to the eye. He never landed on injured reserve, in part due to Columbus carrying a bare-bones roster to start the year, but was ruled out for at least a week by the team anyway at the time of the injury. It was a significant injury that caused Wood to experience remarkably inhibited vision for multiple days due to blood in his eye. However, he underwent testing last week after it cleared, which indicated he avoided any permanent damage.
The 30-year-old had a goal and two hits in his first three games as a Blue Jacket after he was acquired from the Avalanche over the summer. Zach Aston-Reese will be scratched to accommodate Wood re-entering the lineup alongside Isac Lundeström and Yegor Chinakhov, Evason said. It will be Aston-Reese’s first scratch of the young season; Chinakhov started the season as the extra forward before Wood’s injury created an opening for him in the lineup.
There are more injury notes from around the league:
- Wild defenseman Zach Bogosian‘s status has been downgraded from day-to-day to week-to-week, head coach John Hynes said Tuesday (via Joe Smith of The Athletic). Minnesota already placed Bogosian on injured reserve last week, so he’s eligible to return at any time, but it doesn’t appear they’re going to need to worry about activating him soon. After a decent start to the season in bottom-pairing duties, the 15-year veteran sustained a lower-body injury against the Capitals on Oct. 17 and has now missed five games. Bogosian posted a plus-three rating with nine blocks and six hits in five games before landing on IR, controlling 48.2% of shot attempts at even strength in the process.
- Maple Leafs star William Nylander remains a game-time decision ahead of tonight’s game against the Flames, per head coach Craig Berube (via Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun). Nylander was banged up with a lower-body issue last Friday against the Sabres and was a late scratch for the second half of their back-to-back with Buffalo after taking warmups. The 29-year-old, now in his 11th season, still leads the team with 11 assists, 14 points, and five takeaways through eight games.
Penguins Recall Owen Pickering
The Penguins announced Tuesday that they’ve recalled defenseman Owen Pickering from AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. The team had an open roster spot after placing Caleb Jones on injured reserve on Saturday, so no corresponding transaction is required.
Pickering, 21, was in contention for a roster spot for most of training camp but ended up being one of Pittsburgh’s final cuts. The 2022 first-round pick was once the club’s top defense prospect but has since been lapped by Harrison Brunicke. That has more to do with the latter’s emergence than a lack of development on Pickering’s part, though. The 6’5″, 201-lb lefty is technically no longer a rookie, having appeared in 25 NHL games last season. In his first taste of the big leagues, Pickering managed a goal and two assists for three points with a minus-five rating. His ice time was somewhat limited at 14:49 per game, but the smooth-skating rearguard got some looks on the penalty kill and had passable possession impacts at even strength. His 48.9 CF% and 50.0 xGF% were both slightly above what the Penguins managed when he wasn’t on the ice.
Brunicke’s emergence, plus an influx of veterans to Pittsburgh’s blue line depth this offseason, meant Pickering ultimately faced too much of a battle to win an NHL job, at least for the first few weeks of the season. He’ll now get what could be an extended look with Jones not expected back until Christmas. Pickering has shown out well in his first few weeks of play in the minors, scoring a goal and three assists for four points with a plus-four rating in seven games. That has the Penguins’ brass happy with how his two-way game has developed from last season, when he was more offensively reserved for the Baby Pens (a 2-11–13 scoring line in 47 GP) but still managed a +18 rating.
What’s certain is that the Penguins’ season-long bottom-pairing rotation won’t be changing anytime soon. They’ve settled into having Ryan Shea–Kris Letang and Parker Wotherspoon–Erik Karlsson duos as their top two pairings, but have cycled Brunicke, Jones, Connor Clifton, and Matt Dumba into third-pairing duties through their first 10 games. Brunicke and Jones were head coach Dan Muse’s obvious preference for the role, with each logging seven appearances, and Clifton and Dumba only managing three. With Brunicke, Clifton, and Dumba all being righties, there’s plenty of opportunity for Pickering to get a consistent run of games if Muse wants to keep an even left-shot/right-shot balance in his lineup.
Pickering gets elevated into an environment in Pittsburgh that’s brighter than anyone could have imagined a month ago. Expected to be bottom-dwellers, the retooling Pens have instead rocketed up to second in the Metropolitan Division with a 7-2-1 record while, with Pickering now in the fold, seeing all of their top five prospects have stints on the roster (including the IR-bound Rutger McGroarty).
Kings Activate, Reassign Angus Booth
The Kings announced Monday that they’ve activated defenseman Angus Booth from the season-opening injured reserve/non-roster list and subsequently assigned him to AHL Ontario. Since Booth is on a two-way contract and did not spend a day on the NHL roster last season, he carried no salary cap impact while on SOIR.
Booth, 21, was a fourth-round pick in 2022 and is entering the second season of his entry-level contract. While he signed his rookie deal nearly two years ago, it slid for the 2023-24 season, which he spent entirely in juniors. The 6’0″, 176-lb lefty was a defensive standout in the QMJHL, where he won a championship with the Shawinigan Cataractes in his draft year and had 23 points in 42 games. His offensive numbers never progressed past that point, but he did have a strong sendoff year between Shawinigan and Baie-Comeau in 2023-24, logging a 3-25–28 scoring line in 61 games with a career-best +29 rating.
That showing preceded a fairly linear transition to the pro game for Booth in 2024-25. He didn’t look out of place as a rookie with AHL Ontario last season and slotted in well as a bottom-four piece, rattling off two goals, 11 assists, 13 points, and a plus-six rating with 38 penalty minutes in 50 outings. A lower-body injury sustained early in training camp cost him any shot at making the NHL roster in his second professional season, but he’ll now get his season underway and hope to put himself in consideration for a recall if injuries pile up.
Booth still has this year and the next one ahead of him to prove he’s developed enough to earn a qualifying offer. He’ll be a restricted free agent in 2027.
Capitals’ Mitch Love Relieved Of Duties
Earlier today, Capitals assistant coach Mitch Love had been suspended by the NHL for the remainder of the 2025-26 season following their investigation into allegations of domestic abuse against him, according to Frank Seravalli of Bleacher Report and Victory+. This afternoon, the Capitals updated that Love has been immediately relieved of his duties.
The Capitals announced shortly before training camp that they had placed Love on “team-imposed leave” after the league informed them that an investigation had been initiated based on complaints they received directly over the offseason. Later in training camp, they promoted AHL assistant coach Patrick Wellar from the minor-league bench to replace Love’s duties with Washington’s defensemen.
Love was a finalist for multiple head coaching vacancies across the league during the offseason. The 41-year-old was a finalist for the Penguins’ vacancy and was viewed as the frontrunner until they made a seemingly last-minute pivot to Dan Muse. He was similarly deep in the running to become the next coach of the Kraken and Bruins. It’s unclear if the league’s investigation began early enough in the summer to have any bearing on their decisions.
Shortly after Seravalli’s note, the Capitals announced that Love has been relieved of his duties effective immediately. The organization emphasized that they are “committed to maintaining the highest standards of conduct and accountability”.
Canucks Acquire Lukas Reichel
The Canucks announced Friday that they’ve acquired forward Lukas Reichel from the Blackhawks in exchange for a 2027 fourth-round pick. They announced shortly before the move that center Teddy Blueger has been placed on injured reserve, retroactive to Sunday, as the corresponding transaction.
It is not at all the return on investment Chicago hoped for when they made Reichel the 17th overall pick of the 2020 draft. Now 23, Reichel made his NHL debut in 2022, amid a spectacular rookie season in the AHL that saw the German forward notch over a point per game with the Rockford IceHogs. Reichel got a more extended look in Chicago’s lineup the following season and looked like the future top-six fixture they hoped he’d be. He turned in seven goals and 15 points through 23 games, averaging 16:22 of ice time per night and leading the team in points per game among players who finished the season in the organization.
Once Reichel first broke camp with the Blackhawks in 2023-24, though, the regression was quick and steep. Reichel was initially slotted as the No. 2 center behind Connor Bedard, but that experiment ended quickly as he was getting caved in defensively and barely generating offense. He finished the season with just five goals and 16 points in 65 appearances and was sent back to Rockford later to boost his confidence, managing three goals and 12 points in 14 combined regular-season and playoff games.
Last year was a slight improvement, but not enough to truly boost his standing in the organization. He was still an occasional healthy scratch and saw his ice time slashed to under 12 minutes per game, although he did make a career-high 70 appearances. That came with a slight bump in offense in his reduced role, managing an 8-14–22 scoring line, but he still had negative defensive impacts and won just 39.9% of his faceoffs as he spent most of the year down the middle. That turned into Chicago making Reichel available for trade over the offseason and even mulling placing him on waivers late in training camp, but he stuck with the team on opening night.
Reichel was scratched for three of the Blackhawks’ first four games but played in four straight to end his tenure in Chicago. That streak included a two-goal, three-point effort against the Blues back on Oct. 15 in a season-high 13:11 of ice time. That gives him four points in five games on the year, all at even strength, despite averaging under 10 minutes per game.
That’s an intriguing taste of the upside Vancouver is now betting on. While a natural left-winger, Chicago tried Reichel at center multiple times. With the Canucks’ depth issues down the middle behind Elias Pettersson and the oft-injured Filip Chytil, it stands to reason they’d prefer to keep Reichel down the middle. Since Chytil is currently out of the lineup with an upper-body injury, there’s a prime opportunity for Reichel to have his leash removed and immediately jump into a second-line role on a trial basis, likely between veterans Jake DeBrusk and Brock Boeser.
It’s a no-risk pickup for Vancouver, who can walk away from Reichel next summer if he doesn’t pan out by not issuing him a qualifying offer. He’s in the back half of a two-year, $2.4MM deal he signed with Chicago in 2024 that carries a cap hit of $1.2MM.
Blueger has been placed on IR with an undisclosed injury in a corresponding move. That designation is retroactive to Ocotber 19th, which will force Blueger out of Vancouver’s Saturday matchup against the Montreal Canadiens. He could be activated ahead of Sunday’s game against the Edmonton Oilers, though that would require the canucks to send another player to the minor-leagues. Blueger scored one goal in two games before falling to injury. He has been a core piece of Vancouver’s fourth-line for the last two seasons, and should slot back into the lineup as soon as he’s back to full health.
The Canucks are currently carrying Arshdeep Bains and Joseph LaBate as their extra forwards. Both players would require waivers to be sent to the AHL. Extra defenseman Tom Willander would not require waivers, though Vancouver could want to avoid reassigning one of their top prospects before awarding him with his NHL debut.
Photo courtesy of Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports.
Joseph Woll Returning To Maple Leafs From Personal Leave
The Maple Leafs announced Friday that goaltender Joseph Woll will begin the return-to-play process after missing more than a month while on personal leave. He was retroactively placed on long-term injured reserve yesterday and will remain there until the club’s doctors clear him to return to game action.
Woll took an indefinite leave of absence to deal with a family matter less than a week into training camp. He never entered the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program during his absence, so his return can be managed entirely at the team’s discretion. The team clarified at the time that Woll’s absence was not substance-abuse related but did not issue any further comment.
Having Woll’s return on the horizon is a welcome sight. The Maple Leafs haven’t gotten great performances out of starter Anthony Stolarz or waiver claim Cayden Primeau in his absence. Stolarz has seemingly struggled with a higher-than-normal workload, starting six of seven with a 2-3-1 record, .894 SV%, and 3.01 GAA. Those below-average numbers translate to a similarly unimpressive -1.6 goals saved above expected figure, per MoneyPuck. That’s still not as subpar as the -1.7 GSAx that Primeau put up in his lone appearance, a 7-4 win over the Predators on Oct. 14 that saw him allow four goals on 30 shots.
Meanwhile, the 27-year-old Woll has yet to have a below-average showing in any of his four NHL seasons. He was especially excellent last year, starting a career-high 41 games with a 27-14-1 record, .909 SV%, 2.73 GAA, and 16.8 GSAx. He was 11th in the league in that latter stat, proving his three-year, $11MM extension he signed in 2024 to be one of the better-value deals among goaltenders.
Getting that type of play out of Woll in his return would help buoy a Maple Leafs club that’s struggled on both sides of the puck to begin 2025-26. The team ranks in the bottom half of the league in both shots for and shots against per game, although above-average finishing still has them scoring 3.43 goals per game for 10th in the NHL.
Red Wings Activate, Reassign Nate Danielson
The Red Wings announced they’ve activated center Nate Danielson from the non-roster list and assigned him to AHL Grand Rapids. He had begun the season there after sustaining an undisclosed injury in a preseason game. He’ll now get his season underway in the minors after missing nearly a month of action.
Danielson, 21, is beginning his second season in the pros. The No. 9 pick of the 2023 draft arrived in Grand Rapids last year to great expectations, particularly after he ended 2023-24 on a 12-goal, 41-point heater in 28 games with the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks. However, his transition didn’t go as the Red Wings had hoped. The playmaking pivot only contributed a 12-27–39 scoring line in 71 games – fine production for a first-year pro, but not necessarily the level expected from a top-10 pick.
As such, 2025-26 is a crucial season for Danielson to get his offensive development back on track and prove he can compete to be a long-term top-six piece in Detroit. While more comfortable down the middle, he can also play the right wing. That might be important for a team that looks comfortable riding Dylan Larkin and Marco Kasper as their top two pivots for the foreseeable future, allowing Danielson to be one of their wingmen or center the third line.
But his lukewarm initial showing in the AHL means he’s no longer standing out among the organization’s premier prospects. NHL.com ranked him as the No. 5 prospect in the organization over the summer, behind fellow forwards and first-rounders Carter Bear and Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, the latter of whom made the opening night roster but has struggled with one assist and a minus-four rating in eight games.
Capitals, Sheldon Rempal Mutually Terminate Contract
Oct. 24: Rempal has cleared waivers and will have his deal terminated as he pursues an opportunity overseas, per Friedman.
Oct. 23: The Capitals have placed forward Sheldon Rempal on waivers, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports Thursday. Rempal was previously on assignment to AHL Hershey after clearing waivers earlier in the month, so it’s presumed he’s on unconditional waivers for the purposes of a mutual contract termination.
Rempal has only been in the Washington organization for a few months after the Caps signed him to a two-way deal early in free agency. The minor-league veteran was returning to North America after spending 2024-25 in Russia with Salavat Yulaev Ufa, lighting up the Kontinental Hockey League circuit with 31 goals and 61 points in 68 games. Through four games with Hershey, he had a goal and an assist with a minus-two rating.
He likely has a better-paying opportunity lined up overseas, and with the Caps having plenty of young talent in their system, it was unlikely Rempal had a more than marginal chance of a recall this season. He was due a $450K salary if he spent all year in the minors. In the likely event he’s not claimed by another team in the next 24 hours, he’ll become an unrestricted free agent tomorrow.
Rempal, 30, has 21 career NHL appearances to his name with two goals and one assist. He hasn’t seen time at the top level since February 2024 and has suited up for four different teams – the Kings, Hurricanes, Canucks, and Golden Knights. Los Angeles was the one to sign him as an undrafted free agent out of Clarkson in 2018. The 5’10”, 165-lb winger has since overcome his smallish frame to have offensive success at the minor-league level, keeping up a 109-145–254 scoring line in 332 career AHL appearances. While he’s racked up plenty of penalty minutes in the minors, spotty defensive work – plus the fact he never recorded a single hit in his NHL looks – made him a one-dimensional threat in most teams’ eyes.
Rempal’s departure robs the Caps of an experienced call-up option but paves a longer runway for under-22 forwards Andrew Cristall, Eriks Mateiko, Ivan Miroshnichenko, and Ilya Protas to climb up the depth chart throughout the season. It’ll also free up a contract slot for Washington, leaving them with seven open ones.