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Injury Notes: Lindholm, McAvoy, Pageau, Dickinson

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The Boston Bruins shared updates on two key players ahead of tonight’s game in San Jose: Elias Lindholm has been activated, while Charlie McAvoy was placed on injured reserve in a corresponding move. 

Lindholm suffered a lower-body injury in late October, after a knee-on-knee collision with Jordan Greenway and has been absent since. His first season in Boston left some to be desired considering the $7.75MM cap hit, scoring 47 points, but Lindholm was off to a better start in 2025-26 overall, posting nine points in 13 games. Now, the veteran will be a welcome addition back to the lineup given the club’s current hot streak, as they march forward without McAvoy for the time being. 

As was noted yesterday, McAvoy underwent facial surgery after catching a puck to the face in a scary incident against Montreal on November 15th. His placement on IR is no surprise, and all things considered, it is not a terrible outcome in what could have been much worse. Boston will sorely miss their top defenseman, but the hope is that he will be back in time for the Olympics next February, if not sooner, depending on recovery. 

Elsewhere across the league:

  • After already losing Alexander Romanov long-term, the hits keep coming as the Islanders shared that forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau is week-to-week with an upper body injury. The news comes as a surprise as the veteran center played through yesterday’s game with no visible ailment. Pageau is a highly dependable all-around third line center, and a pending free agent at 33, it had been speculated that he could be a trade candidate at some point. However, given the Islanders impressive start it seems any such talks are off for the time being. Now, as they’ll move forward without a top defenseman and a key center, New York faces a huge test to close out 2025. 20-year-old Calum Ritchie will have an opportunity to step up, and his performance without Pageau may dictate the team’s direction later in the season. 
  • The Chicago Blackhawks announced Jason Dickinson has been activated off injured reserve. The veteran forward has missed all of November with an apparent upper-body injury. Dickinson had three points in eight games before going down, his Blackhawks tenure proving to be a nice example of a cap dump win. The Ontario native came to Chicago in 2022 along with a second round pick sweetener, and immediately has been a key presence in their lineup. His career high 22 goals in 2023-24 earned an extension at $4.25MM which comes in on the high end considering current production, but Dickinson remains a leader for the group with his reliable two-way game.

McAvoy Should Be Back By Olympics

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  • Earlier this week, Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy underwent facial surgery after taking a redirected puck to the face against Montreal. While there’s no firm timeline for a return, ESPN’s Emily Kaplan recently reported (Twitter link) that the expectation is that he should be cleared to return for the Olympics in February.  McAvoy was part of Team USA’s entry for the 4 Nations Face-Off last winter (before being injured midway through the event) and should have a strong chance of making the Olympic roster which will be announced in early January.

Bruins’ Charlie McAvoy Undergoes Facial Surgery, Out Indefinitely

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As expected, the Boston Bruins will be without their top defenseman for some time. Zach Cavanagh of The Sporting Tribune passed along a note from Bruins head coach Marco Sturm, confirming that blue liner Charlie McAvoy underwent facial surgery.

Cavanagh directly quoted Sturm, saying, “Charlie had a facial surgery. Successfully. So he’s doing good. He’s recovering right now at home, and we still don’t know how long he’s gonna be out for.” There’s no point in speculating on how long McAvoy will be out, though broken jaw surgeries typically have a recovery timeline of six to eight weeks. There’s no confirmation that McAvoy broke his jaw.

McAvoy suffered the injury in Boston’s recent game against the Montreal Canadiens on November 15th. Partway through the second period, Canadiens defenseman Noah Dobson accidentally struck McAvoy in the face with a puck off a slapshot. McAvoy has already missed one game for the Bruins, though the team hasn’t placed him on the injured reserve yet.

It’s a difficult pill to swallow for a Bruins team that had gotten off to an unexpectedly good start to the 2025-26 campaign. At the time of writing, Boston has a 12-9-0 record through their first 21 games, sitting in second place in the Atlantic Division and sixth in the Eastern Conference.

Much of that has to do with McAvoy’s strong play. The former 14th overall pick of the 2016 NHL Draft had skated in 19 games for the Bruins before the injury, registering 14 assists while averaging more than one blocked shot and hit per game. He was averaging the most ice time of any Bruin by a margin of nearly two and a half minutes.

Boston has moved rookie Jonathan Aspirot to McAvoy’s spot on the top defensive unit next to Nikita Zadorov for the time being. Depending on how quickly the Bruins learn of McAvoy’s recovery timeline, it’s unlikely they’ll stick with that defensive pairing if they hope to remain competitive.

Additionally, McAvoy’s recovery could have implications for Team USA at the 2026 Winter Olympics. An eight-week recovery would put McAvoy’s return around mid-January, a few weeks before the start of the tournament. Again, there’s been no confirmation of that timeline, though it could complicate his involvement. The Long Beach, NY native was one of the first six players named to Team USA’s roster already.

Bruins Recall Michael Callahan

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The Boston Bruins have recalled forward Michael Callahan from the AHL. This is Callahan’s second call-up of the season. He played three games in his first stint and posted no scoring, three hits, and six blocked shots. He recorded one goal, a minus-five, and seven penalty minutes in 17 NHL games last season.

Callahan attended Providence College from 2018 to 2022, and captained the school in his final three years. He moved across town to join the Providence Bruins in 2022, and has emerged as a core piece of the blue-line in five years since. The AHL Bruins even awarded Callahan with an alternate captaincy in 2023. He has only scored 38 points across 197 games in the AHL, but stands out at a fundamental defender who uses a strong stick and physical presence to close out opponents.

Now entering him prime years, the 26-year-old Callahan has stepped up as a go-to call-up for the Bruins. He’ll offer a more mobile alternative to rookie Jonathan Aspirot, who has yet to score a point through his first eight NHL games. Neither defender have played many minutes in the NHL ice time they’ve received, though Boston has leaned slightly more on Callahan, who has averaged 16 minutes of ice time this season to Aspirot’s 14.

Latest On Charlie McAvoy, Elias Lindholm

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The Boston Bruins have had to deal with their fair share of injuries so far this season, but that hasn’t stopped the club from continuing its longstanding tradition of consistent regular-season success. Through 21 games this season, Boston sits first in the Atlantic Division with a 12-9-0 record, including a 8-2-0 record in their last 10 games. On Saturday in Montreal, though, the Bruins were dealt their most significant injury blow to date this season: Charlie McAvoy took a Noah Dobson one-timer to the face and had to leave the game immediately. Today, Bruins head coach Marco Sturm provided a small update on McAvoy’s status, per Conor Ryan of Boston.com, stating that McAvoy will not travel with the team on its upcoming road trip. In addition, he also said that veteran center Elias Lindholm would travel with the team.

It should not come as any surprise that McAvoy isn’t ready to play just yet, and Sturm did add that an official update on McAvoy’s health will likely be issued either today or tomorrow. In any case, adequately replacing what McAvoy brings to the Bruins will be very difficult. McAvoy averages nearly 24 minutes of ice time per game (good for the team lead) and has 14 points in 19 games. While it won’t help their defense, the fact that Lindholm is nearing a return to the ice should help soften the blow of losing McAvoy. He’s a reliable two-way center whose return should help alleviate some of the pressure the Bruins’ center injuries have placed on veteran Pavel Zacha and rookie Fraser Minten.

  • Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving confirmed today, per The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta, that team captain and franchise center Auston Matthews won’t play today or on Thursday due to the injury he suffered Nov. 11 against the Boston Bruins. Matthews did begin skating again today, but still needs some time before he’s ready to return to game action. The 28-year-old has scored 14 points in 17 games this season, and had 33 goals, 78 points in 67 games in 2024-25. In addition to speaking on Matthews, Treliving also said that veteran defenseman Chris Tanev’s health status will be re-evaluated in a week or two, and head coach Craig Berube confirmed that center Nicolas Roy will miss a few games with an injury of his own. Tanev suffered his injury Nov. 1 while Roy, who has four points in 19 games this season, played in the team’s last game on Saturday.

Calgary Flames Claim John Beecher

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The Calgary Flames have claimed center John Beecher off of waivers from the Boston Bruins, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported today.

The Flames held the top waiver priority slot due to their place in the standings, meaning it’s possible more teams placed a claim on Beecher, a 2019 first-round pick, than just Calgary.

Per Derek Willis, the Flames’ radio play-by-play commentator, Calgary is likely to play tonight in Chicago with freshly called up forward Sam Morton as their fourth-line center. While the undrafted 26-year-old has been a strong AHL contributor since signing out of Minnesota State of the NCAA, he has just one prior game of NHL experience.

By claiming Beecher, the Flames have added to their roster a player who is not only younger than Morton, but also brings a considerably greater level of experience in a fourth-line center role. The 6’3″ pivot broke into the NHL on a full-time basis in 2023-24, and played in a total of 52 games that year and 12 playoff games. Upon his arrival from the team’s AHL affiliate, the Providence Bruins, Beecher was also a plug-and-play option for the Bruins’ penalty kill, averaging 1:40 shorthanded time-on-ice per game as a rookie.

Beecher maintained his fourth-line, penalty-killing role in 2024-25, a season where he set career-highs in games played (72) and points (11). But Beecher has not been able to take a step forward and become the kind of reliable shutdown defensive center who can elevate his value proposition to a team despite fourth-line usage.

With that said, despite the fact that the Bruins elected to waive him, Beecher still has some positive, valuable qualities as a player. He plays extremely fast for someone his size, and has a career faceoff win rate of 53%. For a Flames team that doesn’t figure to enter into the playoff picture in 2025-26, this waiver claim gives the team an opportunity to see if it can develop Beecher into a more valuable all-around player than the Bruins were able to over the course of his 136 games with the club.

Worth noting is that Beecher is a pending restricted free agent, carrying a $900K AAV. If the Flames elect to qualify him, he will hold arbitration rights.

Boston Bruins Place John Beecher On Waivers

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According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Boston Bruins have placed depth forward John Beecher on waivers. If he clears by this time tomorrow, the Bruins can safely reassign him to the AHL’s Providence Bruins.

The expectation is that the Bruins were making a transaction with Beecher today. Boston may need another defenseman on the active roster with Charlie McAvoy’s status up in the air. To that end, Steve Conroy of The Boston Herald relayed a note from Bruins head coach Marco Sturm setting the expectation that something would happen with Beecher this afternoon.

Unfortunately, regarding McAvoy, there is some cause for concern. Conor Ryan of The Boston Globe reported earlier that Boston’s medical staff is still evaluating McAvoy, and that surgery hadn’t been ruled out yet.

Potentially falling to six healthy defenseman on the active roster, and coupled with Matej Blumel and Riley Tufte’s recall this morning, Beecher came the odd-man out of the Bruins’ lineup to fill in the hole on defense.

Beecher had become the odd man out, realistically, before today. The former first-round pick has been dealing with an upper-body injury of late, but has only appeared in six of Boston’s games on the season, tallying one goal. Additionally, he’s seen his ATOI drop by an entire minute compared to last season.

His lack of offense has been a consistent theme for some time now. Despite being a later first-round selection, Beecher has never scored more than 11 points in any single NHL season, and 23 in an AHL campaign. He has shown flashes of quality play in the faceoff dot and on the defensive side of the puck, though not enough to overlook his offensive staleness.

Even if he makes it through waivers unscathed, Beecher’s time in the Bruins organization may be coming to a close. The 24-year-old center, who’s earning a $900K salary at the NHL level this year, is set to become a restricted free agent next offseason and may become a non-tender candidate.

Bruins Recall Matej Blumel, Riley Tufte

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The Bruins announced they’ve recalled wingers Matěj Blümel and Riley Tufte from AHL Providence. To open the necessary roster space, forwards Casey Mittelstadt and Viktor Arvidsson were placed on injured reserve retroactive to Nov. 6 and Nov. 15, respectively. With under $1MM in cap space, Boston also moved defenseman Jordan Harris from standard IR to LTIR to facilitate the recalls.

It’s Blümel’s first recall to Boston since landing there as a Group VI unrestricted free agent over the summer. He was a semi-surprising omission on the Bruins’ opening night roster. Not only did they sign him to a one-way deal worth $875,000, but there was legitimate concern he wouldn’t clear waivers after an exceptionally strong three-year run of play in the minors in the Stars’ system. A fourth-round pick of the Oilers back in 2019, he never signed with Edmonton and instead landed in Dallas as a free agent out of Czechia in 2022.

While Blümel only scored twice in 13 career appearances with Dallas, he was among the AHL’s top players while with the Texas Stars. He was a two-time All-Star and led the league in goals last season with 39, capping off his first campaign above a point per game with 33 assists and 72 points in 69 outings. For a Bruins roster that looked starved for depth scoring coming into the season, he looked like a logical candidate to get an audition in a middle-six role.

That didn’t happen, and Blümel has actually been off to a sluggish start in Providence with two goals in 13 appearances. He’s still added 11 assists to maintain a point-per-game pace, though. With another top-six name in Arvidsson now out week-to-week with his lower-body injury, Ty Anderson of 98.5 The Sports Hub confirms, Blümel will likely be the one to replace his spot on the depth chart alongside Pavel Zacha.

While Tufte has been more offensively explosive in the minors this season, the 27-year-old’s play style makes him a more natural fit for a bottom-six/fourth-line job. The 6’6″, 230-lb winger is in his second season with the Bruins organization, but hasn’t suited up for them yet this year. He suited up six times last season, going without a point and logging a -3 rating in 9:12 of ice time per game.

The 2016 first-rounder does have 24 games of NHL experience to his name, though, and has been the centerpiece of a red-hot Providence team thus far. He’s tied for the team lead in scoring with eight goals and 16 points in 13 outings while also carrying a team-leading +10 rating. After back-to-back 20-goal campaigns in the minors, he’s more than on track for a third.

Since Mittelstadt’s already missed more than a week, he’s eligible to come off IR at any time. Like Arvidsson, he carries a week-to-week designation because of a lower-body issue, but he’ll presumably be back in the lineup sooner than his frequent linemate this year because he’s already missed four contests. As for Harris, he underwent ankle surgery in late October and isn’t expected back in the lineup until after Christmas.

Charlie McAvoy, Viktor Arvidsson Hurt In Bruins Win

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The Boston Bruins left Montreal with a win on Saturday night, but could pay the price with two veteran injuries. Star defenseman Charlie McAvoy sustained an upper-body injury after being struck in the jaw by a shot from the blue-line. He was helped off the ice by a trainer and did not return tot he contest. Meanwhile, winger Viktor Arvidsson sustained a lower-body injury later in the contest. Arvidsson is expected to miss “some time” while McAvoy will undergo further testing, per head coach Marco Sturm (via WEEI radio).

McAvoy’s importance to the Bruins can’t go understated. He had averaged more than 25 minutes of ice time across his last six games entering Saturday night, and rewarded the heavy usage with six assists. The Bruins set a 5-1-0 record in that span. McAvoy has worked his way up to 14 points, all assists, in 19 games on the year. That mark leads all Bruins defenders in scoring, with Mason Lohrei (10 points) the only other with double-digit scoring. McAvoy also leads the Bruins’ blue-line in shots on goal (25), average ice time (23:46), and ice time on both the power-play and penalty-kill. He would leave massive shoes to be filled. The Bruins would need to lean on a committee approach in his absence, likely looking to Lohrei stepping up as a vital piece of the offense and Nikita Zadorov growing into an even bigger defensive role.

Arvidsson may not carry the same lineup role, but his role will be just as tough to replace. The 33-year-old has scored three points across his last four games, including the game-winning goal on Saturday prior to his injury. He now has 10 points in 20 games this season. Arvidsson also ranks second on the Bruins in shots on goal (52) behind star scorer David Pastrňák. He has provided shrewd depth scoring to a Bruins team that sorely lacked that last season. With his help, the Bruins have leaped from the fifth-fewest goals-for last season, to the second-most so far this season.

Boston is already facing a littany of injuries. Elias Lindholm was placed on injured reserve in early November, and both Casey Mittelstadt and John Beecher are nursing injuries from the press box. That will force the team to call someone up form the AHL to fill Arvidsson’s bottom-six role. Former first-round pick, and 6-foot-6 winger, Riley Tufte co-leads the Providence Bruins in scoring with 16 points, split evenly, in 13 games. He’s tied with 10-year pro Patrick Brown, who has six goals and 10 assists. Both players would be strong options to bring up, though Boston may want to reward top prospect Fabian Lysell, who has 12 points in 12 games while working through a shifting lineup role.

Casey Mittelstadt Out Week-To-Week

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Bruins center Casey Mittelstadt is nursing an apparent knee issue and has already missed one game, but head coach Marco Sturm said this morning he’s been downgraded to week-to-week (via Steve Conroy of The Boston Herald). They’re hoping he can get some light skates in later this week, but he’ll need something of a lengthy ramp-up period before he’s ready for game action again.

Mittelstadt, who turns 27 later this month, was acquired from the Avalanche last season and has had pedestrian output in a middle-six role since. He’s made 33 appearances since the surprise deadline deal, posting an 8-7–15 line with a -17 rating. In 2025-26, he’s already been a healthy scratch once and has seen his ice time drop to 14:32 per game. It’s his first time below 15 minutes since the 2019-20 campaign.

The eighth overall pick of the 2017 draft, Mittelstadt is now with his third club. The 6’1″ pivot spent parts of seven seasons with the Sabres before being included in a pair of notable change-of-scenery moves – first to the Avalanche for Bowen Byram at the 2024 deadline and again to the Bruins for Charlie Coyle last year. He flashed legitimate second-line ceiling with Buffalo, rattling off back-to-back 50-point seasons in his final two seasons there, but his offensive production since hasn’t warranted that type of deployment.

In fact, Boston has shifted Mittelstadt to the wing. That’s where the good news lies: he’s spent most of the year as a wingman for Viktor Arvidsson and Pavel Zacha, and that trio has churned out the best two-way play of the B’s’ frequently-used line combos. Of their three to log 50 minutes together, the Arvidsson-Zacha-Mittelstadt unit’s 50.0 xGF% is the best, per MoneyPuck. He’s got an even rating for the year as a result.

The Bruins now find themselves down two top-six pieces long-term in Mittelstadt and Elias Lindholm, who’s out week-to-week with a lower-body issue. The team has performed better than expected offensively this year, ranking 12th in the league with 3.29 goals per game, but that figure is down to regress thanks to those absences and a 12.2% shooting rate that’s bound to cool off.

Call-up Alex Steeves found himself in Mittelstadt’s slot on the second line when he made his Boston debut against his former team, the Maple Leafs, on Saturday. He didn’t record a point but could get a second look there in Boston’s rematch with Toronto tomorrow.

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