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Injury Notes: Zub, Miller, Vasilevskiy

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TSN 1200 out of Ottawa is reporting that Ottawa Senators head coach D.J. Smith told reporters this morning in Sweden that defenseman Artem Zub is day-to-day and didn’t practice with the team. The 28-year-old only just returned from an injury on November 9th in a loss against the Vancouver Canucks. He then dressed in the Senators victory over the Calgary Flames on Saturday night.

Smith said that Zub was more sore today and that was why he didn’t practice. He also added that the team would wait and see how he is for practice on Wednesday as tomorrow is a day off for the group.

Zub has dressed in just six games so far this season for Ottawa and has been very productive in that time with two goals and two assists. The expectations for Zub this season were quite high after he signed a four-year $18.4MM extension last December to remain with the club. Normally a defensive specialist, Zub is almost halfway to last season’s point total of ten in just six games.

In other injury notes:

  • New Jersey Devils reporter Amanda Stein is reporting that defenseman Colin Miller was a full participant in team practice this morning after being on the IR since October 19th with an undisclosed injury. Miller has yet to make his debut with the Devils after being acquired on July 1st from the Dallas Stars for a 2025 fifth-round draft pick. Miller practiced on the fourth defensive pairing alongside extra forward Maxwell Willman. No timetable for Miller’s return has been released yet.
  • The Tampa Bay Lightning tweeted this morning that star goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy has returned to practice with the team. The news sparked curiosity as to when the former Vezina Trophy winner might return to the lineup. The Lightning have been without Vasilevskiy for the entire first six weeks of the season but have kept their heads above water going 6-5-4 in their first 15 games. The Lightning currently sit tied for fifth in the Atlantic Division but are just two points out of a playoff spot with a lot of season left.

Edmonton Oilers Fire Jay Woodcroft, Hire Kris Knoblauch

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Despite a convincing victory last night, the Edmonton Oilers are making a surprising coaching move. They are expected to relieve head coach Jay Woodcroft of his duties, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. According to Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli, Hartford Wolf Pack head coach Kris Knoblauch will be named the next Oilers head coach.

The Oilers have now officially announced the moves, alongside one more change: Dave Manson is out as an assistant coach for the team, and legendary former Oilers blueliner Paul Coffey has been hired as an assistant coach in Manson’s place. Coffey was previously a senior advisor to the club.

A Zach Hyman hat trick lifted the Edmonton Oilers to a 4-1 win over the Seattle Kraken last night, though the team still sits second to last in the NHL with a 3-9-1 record. In a Stanley Cup-or-bust season, The Oilers atrociously bad start to the season—highlighted by the team’s dispiriting loss to fellow basement-dwellers, the San Jose Sharks— has now cost Woodcroft his job.

Per the Edmonton Sun’s Terry Jones, this move will be the fifth head coaching change of the Connor McDavid/Leon Draisaitl partnership. Of all the coaches to man the bench for McDavid and Draisaitl, its Woodcroft who has arguably had the most success.

Woodcroft rose from Bakersfield Condors bench boss to the big job in Edmonton, and posted a .643 points percentage across 133 games. That’s the highest in Oilers history, above even the .616 mark posted by legendary coach Glen Sather.

Woodcroft took the Oilers to the Western Conference Final in 2022, where they would fall to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche. He lost to the eventual champions once again in 2023, dropping a hard-fought battle with the Vegas Golden Knights.

But with their season on life support, the Oilers needed to make changes in order to resurrect their Stanley Cup hopes. With no cap space to make trades, the easiest path to major change in Edmonton was via a coaching change, and the Oilers have now taken that route.

This is an attractive job due to the presence of the best player in the world on their roster, but there are some issues here. After this season, Draisaitl will have just one year remaining on his contract. If the Oilers fall well short of the playoffs this season, Draisaitl could reasonably question whether he’ll be able to win a Stanley Cup in Edmonton should he commit what is likely to be the rest of his prime years to the franchise.

McDavid has an extra year on his contract, so there will naturally be questions regarding his future as well, though the hire of his former agent Jeff Jackson as the team’s CEO of hockey operations position makes it more likely he’ll eventually reach a deal on a contract extension.

Those questions are all for the offseason and beyond, though. The Oilers have a more immediate problem to wrestle with: how are they going to revive their playoff chances in a season where they were viewed by many as a true Stanley Cup contender? Now with Woodcroft out, it appears the Oilers believe the first step to answering that question is a coaching change.

The choice of the next Oilers coach appears to be at least somewhat McDavid-oriented. Knoblauch was McDavid’s coach in the OHL with the Erie Otters, and he won an OHL title with the team in 2016-17. A two-time championship-winning coach in the CHL, Knoblauch, 45, is in his fifth season as the bench boss of the Wolf Pack.

He led the team on a run to the second round of the Calder Cup Playoffs last season, upsetting the favored Providence Bruins along the way. He leaves Hartford this season with a 7-3-1 record.

The New York Post’s Mollie Walker reports that Wolf Pack assistant coach Steve Smith will take up head coaching duties in the immediate term, although the search for the team’s next head coach will “begin immediately.” Smith is actually a former Oilers coach himself, having served as an assistant on three separate coaching staffs from 2010 to 2014.

Knoblauch hasn’t been an NHL head coach before, save for a short stint during the pandemic when health-related absences put him behind the Rangers’ bench due to necessity. But despite his lack of NHL experience, he was viewed as a contender for the Rangers’ vacancy before they hired Peter Laviolette. Now, he gets his first shot behind an NHL bench with some former players on his roster and an immediate, pressing task ahead: save the Oilers season.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Oilers Notes: Goaltending, Bourgault, Coaching

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Edmonton’s goaltending situation certainly hasn’t been good this season with Stuart Skinner and now-demoted Jack Campbell combining for a 4.10 GAA and a .862 SV%, a big reason why the Oilers are now tied with San Jose for last in the NHL.  Accordingly, there has been an expectation that a move will be made to shore up their netminders.  In a recent 32 Thoughts podcast (audio link), Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman relayed that there were some in the league who thought Edmonton was nearing a deal to do just that on Wednesday.  Clearly, that hasn’t come to fruition (yet, at least) but it would appear as if GM Ken Holland is trying to get something done on that front.  But with the team in a money-in, money-out situation to stay cap-compliant, it’ll be easier said than done.

More from Edmonton:

  • Speaking today on TSN 690 (audio link), TSN’s Darren Dreger indicated that prospect Xavier Bourgault is “a piece the Canadiens have coveted for a while”. The 21-year-old was the 22nd pick back in 2021 and is in his second season with AHL Bakersfield.  A strong scorer in junior, Bourgault had a decent rookie campaign with 34 points in 62 games last season while he has four in seven contests so far this year.  Montreal is one of the teams still carrying three goalies although Jake Allen might not work in their salary structure, extension talks have started with Samuel Montembeault, and Cayden Primeau isn’t the proven solution between the pipes that Edmonton should be looking for.
  • TSN’s Ryan Rishaug relayed earlier today (Twitter link) that nothing was imminent with regards to possible coaching change. Jay Woodcroft is only in his second full season with the team and even with the ugly start this season, his teams have played to a .640 point percentage.  Postmedia’s Robert Tychkowski notes that a change, if one is made, would give them their fifth bench boss in eight years with a good chunk of the core there for all of those moves.  As a result, while making a move behind the bench might be the easiest lever to pull, recent history would suggest that it might not change a whole lot.

Evening Notes: Canucks, Sharks, Carter

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TSN Insider Darren Dreger is reporting that the Vancouver Canucks are looking for a right-shot defenseman. The surprising Canucks have started the season 9-2-1 and are currently among the league’s elite a month into the regular season. Vancouver was projected to be a bubble team this year but have outperformed expectations to this point. The Canucks have considerable depth in their forward group, particularly on the wing and are hoping to be able to use an excess winger to acquire a defenseman.

Unfortunately for the Canucks, most of the teams they are talking trade with have little to no interest in acquiring a player and are looking for futures. This further complicates a potential move for Vancouver as they have precious little cap space to facilitate such a transaction. According to CapFriendly, the Canucks have $162,500 in cap space, meaning that they wouldn’t even be able to add a player on a league minimum contract.

In other notes:

  • TSN Insider Chris Johnston is reporting that he doesn’t believe the San Jose Sharks will make a big trade or a coaching change in the coming weeks as they weather one of the worst starts to a season in NHL history. The Sharks were expected to finish the season near the bottom of the NHL standings, but no one predicted they would start the season this poorly. Johnston adds that Sharks general manager Mike Grier met with the team yesterday and stated that any improvements would need to come from within the group, although Grier didn’t rule out making changes if the Sharks don’t show any improvement in the coming weeks.
  • NHL.com is reporting that Pittsburgh Penguins forward Jeff Carter will be a healthy scratch for the second game in a row tonight when the Penguins take on the Anaheim Ducks. It is just the second time in his 19-year NHL career that the veteran will be scratched after he has struggled to start the season. Carter has no points in nine games and was part of a struggling fourth line that failed to provide a single point in the first nine games of the season. Head coach Mike Sullivan scratched Carter for the last game and opted to dress Vinnie Hinostroza against the San Jose Sharks in a game the Penguins won 10-2. Hinostroza had a goal and an assist, and fellow fourth-liners Matt Nieto and Noel Acciari produced their first points of the season as well.

Metropolitan Notes: Horvat, Nedeljkovic, Ludvig

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New York Islanders reporter Andrew Gross has tweeted that New York Islanders forward Bo Horvat did not dress for tonight’s game against the Minnesota Wild. It is the first game Horvat has missed as a member of the Islanders since he was acquired via trade from the Vancouver Canucks this past January. The 28-year-old was considered a game-time decision after blocking a shot late in Saturday night’s overtime loss to the Carolina Hurricanes but ultimately did not dress.

Horvat is off to a solid start this season with four goals and five assists in his first 10 games of the season and his absence will create a rather large hole for the Islanders to try and fill. The club has had to deal with multiple injuries to start the season with Adam Pelech, Scott Mayfield and now Horvat all missing some time. Should he miss an extended period, the Islanders will have to do more shuffling of the lines to try and fill the void. The team has started the season well all things considered, at 5-2-3 the Islanders are currently tied for the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.

In other Metropolitan notes:

  • Josh Yohe of The Athletic reported today that Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan offered an update on injured Penguins goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic. Sullivan told the media that the 27-year-old netminder is back on the ice and is making progress towards a return. Not much is known about Nedeljkovic’s lower-body injury as he was hurt back on October 24th in a 4-1 loss to the Dallas Stars. He was placed on LTIR the very next day meaning that the earliest he can return to the Penguins lineup is on November 19th.
  • Josh Yohe also reported that Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman John Ludvig is also back on the ice skating and is making progress towards a return. Ludvig suffered a concussion on October 24th against the Dallas Stars after laying a hit that resulted in him sustaining the head injury. Mike Sullivan told reporters that the team will see what happens after their road trip meaning that the likeliest the 23-year-old could return is November 11th. Ludvig was acquired off waivers before the season and has dressed in one game thus far this season.

West Snapshots: Spurgeon, Cronin, Zucker, Kahkonen

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At the beginning of the season, captain of the Minnesota Wild, Jared Spurgeon, was designated as ’week-to-week’ after suffering an upper-body injury in a preseason matchup against the Chicago Blackhawks on October 5th. On October 25th, the team officially placed Spurgeon on the long-term injured reserve retroactive to the start of the regular season (October 12th), meaning Spurgeon would be out for 24 days and the team’s first 10 games.

Now that Spurgeon has satisfied his LTIR requirements, he is eligible to return to the team’s active roster for tomorrow night’s game against the New York Rangers. Unfortunately, Joe Smith of The Athletic is reporting that Spurgeon is still out, and recent callup, Daemon Hunt, will play in his stead.

Although it is a prudent move for any team not to rush back a key part of their team, getting Spurgeon back is becoming more and more imperative each game for Minnesota. Over the course of his career, Spurgeon has maintained a CF% (Corsi For %) above 50%, as well as an oiSV% (Team On-Ice Sv%) above 90%. For a team that is mightily struggling to keep the puck out of their own net, Spurgeon is an incredibly important piece for the Wild to get back into their lineup.

Other snapshots:

  • In a controversial disallowed goal during the Anaheim Ducks’ recent game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, the new head coach of the Ducks, Greg Cronin, became very animated on the bench expressing his displeasure with the call by the referee. After the play was reviewed, the call on the ice stood, causing Cronin to use extremely colorful language toward the referee, earning him an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty as well as an ejection. Today, the NHL announced they have fined Cronin a total of $25K for the incident.
  • Out of the team’s lineup since their October 21st game against Anaheim, Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports reports that forward for the Arizona Coyotes, Jason Zucker should be expected back in the lineup on November 11th as the team takes on the Nashville Predators. Playing on a one-year contract this year, Zucker has put up two goals in his first five games as a Coyote.
  • Earlier today, Sheng Peng of NBC Sports reported that goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen is questionable for the San Jose Sharks matchup tomorrow night against the Pittsburgh Penguins. In that case, the team would have to recall a goaltender from their AHL affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda. If Kahkonen is unable to dress, it will make it a professional debut for either of the two goaltenders recalled from the Barracuda.

Injury Notes: Liljegren, Chytil, Senators

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have tweeted that defenseman Timothy Liljegren has left tonight’s game against the Boston Bruins and won’t be returning. It is the second time in less than a week that the 24-year-old has had to leave a game with an injury as he was forced to exit a game last week against the Nashville Predators with what was described as an upper body injury.

Liljegren’s injury tonight is being called a lower body injury, but it appears likely it is something in his foot or ankle. The injury happened in the dying moments of the first period as Liljegren and forward Brad Marchand of the Bruins were skating towards the corner and engaging in a puck battle. Marchand appears to give Liljegren the can opener before the Maple Leafs defenseman goes awkwardly into the boards. The move from Marchand was essentially a trip as he appeared to put his stick between Liljegren’s legs and force him to the ice. Liljegren’s skates then smashed into the end boards, likely causing his injury.

In other injury notes:

  • Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet is reporting that New York Rangers forward Filip Chytil is done for tonight’s game after colliding with Carolina Hurricanes forward Jesper Fast in the first period of the matchup this evening. Chytil left with what is being described as an upper-body injury and was last seen on the Rangers bench in obvious pain before leaving the game. The 24-year-old center has six assists in nine games this season and has been working primarily as the team’s second-line center. Should he be out for any period it is likely that Vincent Trocheck was moved up to the second line in his absence.
  • The Ottawa Senators have tweeted that young forward Ridly Greig left tonight’s game against the Los Angeles Kings with a lower-body injury and did not return. The news was similar for Greig’s teammate Mark Kastelic who also suffered a lower-body injury and was unable to get back onto the ice. Senators coach D.J. Smith offered an update on both players that was covered by Murray Pam of Full Press Hockey. Smith said that he figures both Greig and Kastelic will miss a few games due to their ailments. Greig has been filling in admirably for the suspended Shane Pinto and has registered two goals and five assists in eight games while Kastelic has no points and 21 PIM in eight games this year. Given the Senators’ predicament, it does seem likely that the team will have to recall some players from the Belleville Senators of the AHL.

Jets’ Coach Rick Bowness Takes Leave Of Absence

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The Winnipeg Jets received some awful news this morning that head coach Rick Bowness’ wife Judy had suffered a seizure and is in hospital. Winnipeg announced this morning that Bowness would be taking a leave of absence to attend to the health of his wife and asked for privacy for him and his family.

For now, it appears as though associate coach Scott Arniel will take over coaching duties until such time that Bowness is able to return. Arniel is familiar with being a head coach as he was the bench boss for the Columbus Blue Jackets from 2010-12, compiling a record of 45-60-18 over the course of two seasons. Since leaving Columbus, Arniel has served primarily as an assistant coach with the New York Rangers (2013-2018) and the Washington Capitals (2018-2022).

Bowness is in his second season behind the Jets bench after spending three seasons with the Dallas Stars, where he took the team to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2020 in what was a feel-good story during the 2020 playoffs that were played in the pandemic bubble.

PHR sends its best wishes to the Bowness family and the Jets community and wishes Judy a speedy recovery.

Latest On Pittsburgh Penguins Roster

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The Pittsburgh Penguins finally found a goal scorer in their bottom six forwards as Radim Zohorna lit the lamp in the final minutes of the Penguins’ 4-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues last night. Zohorna was playing in his first game of the season after being sent down to the AHL after a strong training camp and formed a unit with fellow winger Drew O’Connor and center Lars Eller.

After the game, Penguins Coach Mike Sullivan was visibly frustrated with his team’s play, and while he didn’t talk about roster decisions going forward, General Manager Kyle Dubas has been. Dubas spoke with NHL On TNT just a few nights ago and said he wanted the bottom six forwards to be tougher to play against and added that he didn’t feel the group was there yet. Dubas’ comments sparked speculation that the Penguins could be looking to make a move in the bottom six and they did by waiving Jansen Harkins and re-calling Zohorna before last night’s game. The Penguins also health-scratched defenseman P.O. Joseph in favor of Ryan Shea who made his NHL debut on the Penguins’ third pairing.

Kyle Dubas stocked up on fringe NHL talent in the offseason and has stashed many of those options in the AHL specifically for a moment like this. The Penguins AHL affiliate has so many veterans in fact that Alex Nylander and Andreas Johnsson had to be veteran scratches for last night’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins game. On top of Nylander, Johnsson, and Harkins, the Penguins also have Vinnie Hinostroza, Rem Pitlick, and Colin White as former NHLers who could be called up to shuffle the furniture in the Penguins bottom six.

Josh Yohe of The Athletic wrote in his 10 Postgame Observations piece that Sullivan typically doesn’t make major changes after a loss, but given the team’s recent record and his comments, he implies that it could happen. The Penguins third line of O’Connor, Eller and Zohorna was very good last night, however, the fourth line of Matthew Nieto, Jeff Carter and Noel Acciari has offered very little to the team and appears to be constantly chasing the play. That group is at the bottom of the Penguins lineup in almost every analytical statistic and has a combined zero points in five games together. Sullivan has been apprehensive about scratching Carter in the past and became defensive with the media last season on multiple occasions when the topic was asked about.

It might be just five games into the season but given that the Penguins are 2-3 against five teams that didn’t make the playoffs last season, there could be big changes brewing in Pittsburgh as Dubas and company try to find an identity for the bottom six forwards. A competent bottom-six has been something the Penguins have lacked since they lost Brandon Tanev (and Jared McCann via trade) in the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft and it was one of the big reasons they missed the playoffs in 2023.

Central Notes: Trotz, Fabbro, Vilardi

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Predators GM Barry Trotz was a long-time NHL coach, spending 23 years behind the bench with a pair of Jack Adams Awards while sitting third in league history in victories.  To that end, it was a bit surprising when he eschewed coaching opportunities last season and eventually replacing David Poile in the managerial role with Nashville.  Don’t expect him to have another change of heart as he told Newsday’s Andrew Gross that his coaching days are over:

I can honestly say I have no intentions of coaching again. My coaching career, you can put it in an envelope.

Trotz was active this summer, hiring Andrew Brunette (a more offensive-oriented coach) to replace John Hynes, making several front-office moves, and changing things up with their forward group, parting with Matt Duchene and Ryan Johansen while bringing in several veterans in free agency to change up the core.  It’s fair to say he jumped in with both feet into his new role and is leaving his old one behind.

More from the Central:

  • Still with the Predators, defenseman Dante Fabbro is no stranger to trade speculation as it has followed him for basically the last couple of years. Speaking with Penalty Box Radio’s Alex Daugherty (Twitter link), the blueliner expressed that his goal is to remain in Nashville for the long haul.  The 25-year-old averaged a career-low 17:27 per game last season with his average through his first few games a bit below that this year as well; as a result, he’s no longer viewed around the league as a prominent part of their future back end.
  • The Jets announced (Twitter link) that they’ve placed forward Gabriel Vilardi on injured reserve. The move comes as no surprise as it was revealed yesterday that he’ll miss at least the next month with a sprained MCL.  While Winnipeg is eligible to place Vilardi on LTIR given how long he’ll be out for, that move doesn’t make sense for them yet as they have ample cap space to bring up someone to replace him if they so desire.  That move wasn’t made prior to their game tonight but should be coming soon as they’re currently down to 12 healthy forwards.

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