Utah Mammoth Recall Kevin Rooney, Place Alexander Kerfoot On IR
The Utah Mammoth announced today that they have placed forward Alexander Kerfoot on injured reserve. He’s out with an upper-body injury on a week-to-week basis.
In a corresponding move, the club recalled forward Kevin Rooney from their AHL affiliate, the Tucson Roadrunners.
Kerfoot left Utah’s Friday game against the St. Louis Blues after suffering the injury. This isn’t Kerfoot’s first week-to-week absence of the season. He underwent core muscle surgery in October and it cost him the start of the season. He made his 2025-26 debut on Dec. 19.
Things weren’t quite right for Kerfoot even after his original activation off of IR. He only managed one goal for one point in nine games, and he only played 10:20 time on ice per game. Kerfoot averaged 15:15 time on ice per game in 2024-25.
A key penalty killer for the Mammoth, Kerfoot has typically been good for steady middle-six production over the course of his NHL career.
He scored 45 points in the final season of the Arizona Coyotes in 2023-24, but that production didn’t carry over to Utah as he took on a more defensive role.
Now slated to miss at least a few weeks, the Mammoth will turn to Rooney to fill Kerfoot’s vacated fourth-line spot in head coach Andre Tourigny’s lineup.
The 32-year-old is a veteran of over 300 NHL games and skated in 70 games for the Calgary Flames last season. He’s scored 10 points in 20 games at the AHL level this season and has a goal in his lone NHL contest of 2025-26.
Rooney is playing out a one-year, league-minimum two-way contract, one that carries a $325K AHL salary. If Rooney gets an extended look on the NHL roster as a result of Kerfoot’s absence, that run of NHL games would hold significant financial benefits for the veteran forward.
For Kerfoot, while these injuries are undoubtedly frustrating from an on-ice perspective, the financial implications of the injury are also unfortunate. Kerfoot is a pending UFA, and this injury will now set back his efforts to put together the kind of production fans grew accustomed to seeing from him in Arizona and Toronto.
Now 31 years old, Kerfoot has a chance to be one of the better center-capable players on this summer’s open market. This injury is certainly a setback, but he should still have a chance to return to the ice and string together some quality games to end his platform season on as high a note as possible.
Photos courtesy of Brad Penner-Imagn Images
Blues’ Philip Broberg Leaves Game With Upper-Body Injury
A good day turned sour for the St. Louis Blues and a top defenseman. Philip Broberg was forced out of the team’s Saturday loss to the Vegas Golden Knights after getting checked against the boards by Vegas winger Mark Stone. Broberg was designated with an upper-body injury. The injury occured just 1:35 into the contest and came hours after Broberg put pen-to-paper on a six-year, $48MM contract extension with St. Louis.
Broberg recorded a primary assist on St. Louis’ first goal – scored by Robert Thomas 53 seconds into the game – before exiting. That mark brought the 24-year-old defenseman up to 15 points in 46 games this season, the second-most points on the blue-line behind Justin Faulk (21). Broberg has offered that hint of offense while continuing to command play outside of the offensive zone. Broberg uses his physical strength and an active stick to pinch opponents and control possession for St. Louis. His reliable, two-way status has stuck through his second year with the Blues. He ranks second on the defense in expected-goals-against (2.38) and third in takeaways (12) per MoneyPuck.
Broberg’s full-ice impact has earned him the Blues’ top left-defense spot this season. That could be a tough role to replace if Broberg is knocked out of the lineup. St. Louis’ only other left-shot defenders are Tyler Tucker, frequently a bottom-pair enforcer, and Cam Fowler, an aging veteran. Promoting Fowler to the top pair would reunite a pairing with Colton Parayko that worked incredibly well for the Blues last season.
St. Louis could mend the hole at the bottom of their lineup by icing extra defenseman Matthew Kessel on his off-hand, or by recalling first-round pick Theo Lindstein or veteran defender Calle Rosen from the AHL. Rosen leads the Springfield Thunderbirds’ defense in scoring with 15 points in 25 games. Lindsteim has eight points in 34 games. Neither has played in the NHL this season – but could end up the beneficiaries of another opening in the St. Louis lineup.
Pacific Notes: Garland, Coleman, Saad
The Vancouver Canucks are expected to get a boost to their forward core during their current road trip. According to Thomas Drance of The Athletic, forward Conor Garland should return in the near future.
Garland, 29, has not played since December 30th due to an upper-body injury. Regardless, he remains fourth on the team in scoring with seven goals and 22 points in 33 games, averaging nearly 20 minutes of ice time per night.
It’s no surprise that the team has struggled in his absence. Since going down with an injury, the Canucks are 0-2-2 in their last four, and are on their way to their sixth straight loss, this time against the Toronto Maple Leafs this evening.
Other notes from the Pacific Division:
- The Calgary Flames are dealing with a minor injury to one of their prized trade deadline candidates. According to Pat Steinberg of Sportsnet, forward Blake Coleman is set to miss the next few days with an upper-body injury. Still, a day-to-day issue at the maximum may be seen as a blessing by the Flames as they contemplate trading the 34-year-old forward at the deadline this season. Coleman has 13 goals and 21 points in 44 games this season.
- According to the team at SinBin, Vegas Golden Knights forward Brandon Saad won’t be available for tonight’s contest due to an undisclosed injury. The two-time Stanley Cup champion has two goals and seven points in 39 games this season, averaging 13:53 of ice time in a bottom-six role.
Atlantic Notes: Maple Leafs, Panthers, Bruins, Kesselring
The Toronto Maple Leafs could get a major boost to their goaltending on their upcoming road trip next week. According to David Alter of The Hockey News, Anthony Stolarz is nearing a return to the team and is expected to join them next week. It would be the first time the Maple Leafs have their normal goaltending duo available since November 11th.
Even before going down with an upper-body injury in mid-November, Stolarz didn’t look the same as he has in years past. He posted a 6-5-1 record in 13 games with a .884 SV% and 3.51 GAA. For comparison, with the Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers, Stolarz managed a 37-15-5 record in 61 games with a .926 SV% and 2.10 GAA from 2023-24 to 2024-25.
Meanwhile, in a separate update from Alter, the Maple Leafs haven’t yet decided on the possibility of surgery for defenseman Chris Tanev. Sharing a statement from head coach Craig Berube, Alter quoted the coach saying, “Not yet. I’m sure that’ll be soon here about what he’s going to do.” The 16-year veteran has been ruled out with a groin injury since December 28th, with the rest of the 2025-26 season in doubt for him.
Additional notes from the Atlantic Division:
- The Florida Panthers are missing a pair of potential forward options for their game tonight against the Ottawa Senators. Before the game, team reporter Jameson Olive announced that Brad Marchand and Matthew Tkachuk would not participate in tonight’s contest. Tonight marks two games in a row missed by Marchand, who participated in the team’s practice this morning (X Link). Tkachuk has been rumored to return for the last little while now, recovering from an adductor surgery from the offseason.
- Despite putting up a 10-spot on the New York Rangers earlier today, the Boston Bruins had a few higher-level forwards leave relatively early into the contest. In separate announcements, the Bruins shared that Elias Lindholm had exited the contest with a lower-body injury, and Morgan Geekie departed to attend to a family matter. Despite leaving the game with an injury after 12:05 of ice time, Lindholm finished the contest with two assists.
- According to an article from Bill Hoppe of the Times Herald, defenseman Michael Kesselring should make a return to the Buffalo Sabres relatively soon. Regardless of his current health status, the 25-year-old blue liner can’t make his return to the Sabres lineup until next Wednesday against the Philadelphia Flyers due to the IR activation requirements. He went scoreless in 16 games before going down with a lower-body injury on January 6th.
Los Angeles Kings Make Multiple Roster Moves
The Los Angeles Kings will have a different look against the Edmonton Oilers tonight. According to a team announcement, the Kings have returned forward Corey Perry from the non-roster list, placed Anže Kopitar on the injured reserve, and have reassigned Cole Guttman to the AHL’s Ontario Reign.
Perry, 40, missed two games for the Kings while on the non-roster list. The team didn’t fare well without him, losing in overtime to the San Jose Sharks and in regulation to the struggling Winnipeg Jets. Regardless, he’ll provide Los Angeles with more offense at the very least, scoring nine goals and 21 points in 35 games while averaging 13:33 of ice time per game.
Not only has Perry been one of the better scorers on the team in his age-40 season, but he’s been one of the most responsible. Regarding Kings’ forwards that have played in 25 or more games this season, Perry is fifth on the team in CorsiFor% with a 53.9% mark.
Meanwhile, Kopitar lands on the IR, having missed the same number of games as Perry over the last little while. The Kings’ captain has been dealing with a lower-body injury and won’t be eligible to return until Wednesday against the Vegas Golden Knights due to the IR requirements for activation. He’s scored six goals and 21 points in 37 games throughout the duration of his final season in the NHL.
Lastly, Guttman will return to AHL Ontario after not appearing in a game for Los Angeles. The former bottom-six forward for the Chicago Blackhawks is in his first year with the Kings organization after signing a two-year, $1.55MM contract last summer. He’s been a solid player in the AHL this year, scoring nine goals and 23 points in 31 games, good for fifth on the team in scoring.
Penguins Recall Rafael Harvey-Pinard
The Penguins brought up some extra forward depth for their afternoon game against Calgary today. The team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled winger Rafael Harvey-Pinard from AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. He’s serving as injury insurance for winger Bryan Rust, who the team relayed (Twitter link) is dealing with a lower-body injury.
The 27-year-old is in his first season with Pittsburgh after signing a one-year, two-way deal with them in free agency following a non-tender from Montreal. While Harvey-Pinard has 84 games of NHL experience (where he has a respectable 17 goals and 14 assists), he wasn’t able to secure a roster spot with Pittsburgh in training camp and passed through waivers unclaimed back in October.
Since then, Harvey-Pinard has played exclusively in the minors with relatively middling numbers offensively. Through 32 games in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, he has seven goals and six assists, along with 27 penalty minutes. While those numbers don’t scream promotion-worthy, he can play on both wings, giving the team a bit of versatility should they need to call upon him to play.
Pittsburgh had one open roster spot, so they didn’t need to make a demotion or IR placement to make room for Harvey-Pinard on the roster. However, their group is now full at 23 players.
Stefan Noesen To Have Knee Surgery
It has been a tough year on the injury front for the Devils, to put it lightly. Their injured list will grow once again as the team announced (Twitter link) that winger Stefan Noesen will undergo knee surgery next week and has been placed on injured reserve.
It hasn’t been a great season for the 32-year-old. Last year, his first campaign back with New Jersey after signing in free agency, he had a career-best 22 goals and 41 points along with 152 hits, also a new benchmark. All in all, a very strong start to a three-year deal that carries a $2.75MM cap charge. That had expectations higher coming into 2025-26.
Instead, Noesen missed the start of the campaign with a groin injury after recovering from surgery when offseason rehab wasn’t able to fix the issue. Upon returning, he hasn’t been anywhere near as effective. Through 38 games, Noesen has recorded just three goals and four assists while he has dropped to the fourth line, resulting in a drop of ice time by more than four minutes per night. While it’s fair to wonder if this knee issue could be a contributing factor to those struggles, it has still been a disappointing showing for Noesen nonetheless.
It’s not all bad news on the injury front, however. Team reporter Amanda Stein relays (Twitter link) that winger Evgenii Dadonov and defenseman Johnathan Kovacevic skated today and, barring setbacks, are on track to return tomorrow against Winnipeg. Dadonov will slide into Noesen’s spot in the forward group while Kovacevic appears to be displacing veteran Dougie Hamilton based on today’s practice lines.
With both players being on LTIR, New Jersey needs to get back to cap compliance before the team can activate them. Noesen’s injury will likely cause him to miss at least the next 10 games and 24 days, making him eligible to go on LTIR himself. That, coupled with the demotion of Dennis Cholowski after he cleared waivers earlier today, will clear up enough room for their activations.
Wild’s Joel Eriksson Ek Day-To-Day With Undisclosed Injury
The Minnesota Wild lost key centerman Joel Eriksson Ek to injury in Thursday’s game against the Seattle Kraken. Eriksson Ek sustained the injury after getting tangled up with another player near his bench, but avoided the worst case scenario, head coach John Hynes told Sara McLellan of the Star Tribune. Eriksson Ek will be questionable for Saturday’s game against the New York Islanders.
Minnesota will be noticeably shorthanded without Eriksson Ek in the lineup. His veteran, two-way presence has served as a pillar of the Wild’s center depth, allowing more offensively-inclined centers like Danila Yurov and Ryan Hartman a bit more room to play downhill. Eriksson Ek has offered that support while putting up strong scoring of his own – 11 goals and 32 points in 45 games, good for fourth on the team in total scoring. He is one of six Wild players to appear in every game so far this season, a streak that could change on Saturday night.
The Wild will need to push extra forward Tyler Pitlick into action if Eriksson Ek has to sit. Pitlick is back in the NHL this season after spending the entirety of the 2024-25 campaign with the AHL’s Providence Bruins. He has had a quiet showing in Minnesota, so far with only one goal and 24 penalty minutes in 23 games. Pitlick will fill a minimal, fourth-line role in the lineup while Marcus Foligno and Hartman earn a bump in minutes. Hartman has three points in his last five games and could bring a spark to the top-six in Eriksson Ek’s place. That is what the Wild will have to hope for as they look to snap a scoring funk. Three of Minnesota’s last five games have gone to overtime, with two ending in shootout losses.
East Notes: Sabres, Romanov, Lundell, Laba
In Tuesday’s rendition of Oilers NOW with Bob Stauffer, his guest, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, spoke on the situation in the crease for the Buffalo Sabres. Friedman believes that the Sabres will need to recall Devon Levi sooner rather than later, which would confound an already complicated situation between the pipes.
Even without Levi, Buffalo already has three goaltenders on the roster when healthy: Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Alex Lyon, and Colten Ellis. However, in his introductory press conference, new General Manager Jarmo Kekäläinen stated that he wasn’t comfortable having three on the roster and would address that as soon as possible. Since then, Ellis and Lyon have each spent time on the IR, effectively kicking the can down the road.
Despite Kekäläinen’s desire to move a goalie off the roster, Levi remains blocked. Nonetheless, the 24-year-old has made a name for himself, compiling a record of 53-25-15 in 91 games with the AHL’s Rochester Americans, achieving a .917 SV% and a 2.45 GAA over the past three years. It’s hard to see how Levi could make the NHL roster this season, so the Sabres have more work ahead regarding their goaltending situation.
Additional notes from the Eastern Conference:
- In late November, the New York Islanders shared that defenseman Alexander Romanov would miss five to six months after undergoing shoulder surgery. Giving a little bit more specificity to that timeline today, Andrew Gross of Newsday shared that Romanov is a possibility to return to the playoffs if the Islanders qualify. Given that there was no indication provided otherwise, that means that Romanov’s 2025-26 regular season has concluded. The 26-year-old will finish with one assist in 15 games with a -7 rating, averaging 19:27 of ice time per game.
- The NHL’s Department of Player Safety is involved in last night’s game between the Florida Panthers and the Montreal Canadiens. They have fined Panthers forward Anton Lundell $5,000, the maximum allowable under the current CBA, for high-sticking Canadiens forward Alexandre Texier. Lundell was originally given a double-minor on the play.
- If everything goes according to plan, the New York Rangers will return third-line center Noah Laba to the lineup tomorrow afternoon. According to Peter Baugh of The Athletic, Laba was a full participant at practice today. The 22-year-old forward has been dealing with an upper-body injury since December 31st, and was given a week-to-week recovery timeline.
Golden Knights Recall Carl Lindbom; Carter Hart Injured
According to a team announcement, the Vegas Golden Knights have recalled netminder Carl Lindbom from the AHL’s Henderson Silver Knights. The transaction is undeniably in connection to Carter Hart‘s injury (video link) from yesterday’s contest against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The Golden Knights don’t immediately need to place Hart on injured reserve given they had an open roster spot. Still, they may be headed in that direction regardless.
During the play in question, after being scored on by Columbus captain Boone Jenner early in the first period, Hart exited for the remainder of the contest. He was unable to make it down the tunnel on his own power, instead being helped by teammates and staff. There have been no additional updates to Hart’s status, though they may come tomorrow morning after practice.
Before the injury, Hart had a relatively shaky start with his new team. Throughout his first six starts with the Golden Knights, Hart managed a 3-1-2 record with a .903 SV%. Unfortunately, he’s fallen off the rails since then, earning an .825 SV% over his last six starts on 114 shots.
Meanwhile, Lindbom returns to Vegas for his second stint of the year. Over his first recall in late-October, Lindbom picked up one win in seven starts with a .870 SV% and 3.14 GAA. He’s understandably been much better with AHL Henderson this year, managing a 6-3-4 record in 12 games with a .926 SV% and 2.08 GAA.