Predators Reassign Andreas Englund To AHL
Saturday: It was a one-and-done promotion for Englund as Nashville has assigned him back to the Admirals, per the AHL’s transactions log. As expected, he was the reserve defender for their game last night against Colorado.
Friday: The Nashville Predators announced they’ve recalled defenseman Andreas Englund from the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals. He’s expected to serve as the team’s seventh defenseman tonight as Adam Wilsby works his way back from a minor injury.
Englund, 29, joined the Predators last season after being claimed off waivers by the Los Angeles Kings. He enjoyed a consistent role in Nashville for the remainder of the season, registering two assists in 24 games with the club, averaging 14:36 of ice time per night.
After two months with the team, the Predators signed Englund to a one-year, $775K extension for the 2025-26 campaign. Unfortunately, he wasn’t guaranteed a spot on the roster this year, and Nashville sent Englund through waivers shortly before the start of the regular season.
Being his first recall of the year, the 6’3″, 201lbs blue liner has spent the entire campaign with AHL Milwaukee up to this point. He has been relatively productive, scoring two goals and six points in 30 games with a +2 rating. He’s third on the team with 44 PIMs.
Regardless, Englund should expect his current recall to be short-lived. At the time of writing, Wilsby has a day-to-day recovery timeline, meaning he could return by the end of the weekend. Nashville now has 22 players on their active roster.
Maple Leafs To Recall Jacob Quillan; William Nylander Injured
According to David Alter of The Hockey News, the Toronto Maple Leafs are expected to recall Jacob Quillan from the AHL’s Toronto Marlies. As TSN’s Darren Dreger pointed out earlier, forward William Nylander is dealing with injury concerns, and he’ll likely be placed on the injured reserve.
Nylander has already been ruled out for today’s matchup by the team. There’s a belief that he re-aggravated his recent lower-body injury in the overtime loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday. He had previously missed six games with the injury.
Additionally, the Maple Leafs haven’t yet provided an updated recovery timeline for their star winger. Yesterday, Jonas Siegel of The Athletic asked head coach Craig Berube how long Nylander would miss, to which Berube responded, “Right now I can’t answer that. With the last one I thought it would be quicker and then obviously (it) wasn’t. We’ll just see how he feels here going forward.”
It’s unfortunate timing for Nylander and Toronto, as the 11-year veteran was on a tear after initially returning from his lower-body ailment. Since returning to the lineup on January 10th, Nylander scored three goals and seven points with a +2 rating, averaging 13:28 of ice time per game. Still, that’s been the status quo for Nylander this year, scoring 14 goals and 41 points in 33 games before suffering the injury the first time.
Meanwhile, Quillan, 23, will return to the Maple Leafs after being reassigned on January 9th. The 6’1″ forward has gone scoreless in three appearances for the Maple Leafs this season with a +2 rating, averaging 8:06 of ice time per game.
His play in the AHL, plus his flexible contract, has made him a consistent recall candidate for Toronto this season. He’s tied for third in scoring on AHL Toronto, registering eight goals and 27 points in 28 games with a +8 rating.
Capitals Recall Ivan Miroshnichenko, Place Justin Sourdif On IR
According to a team announcement, the Washington Capitals have recalled Ivan Miroshnichenko from the AHL’s Hershey Bears. In a corresponding roster move, the Capitals placed Justin Sourdif on the injured reserve with an upper-body injury.
Miroshnichenko’s story in Washington is well known at this point. The Capitals selected Miroshnichenko with the 20th overall pick of the 2022 NHL Draft, and he spent the following season with the KHL’s Avangard Omsk, scoring three goals and one assist in 23 games.
Despite the tepid scoring output, Washington brought Miroshnichenko to North America beginning in the 2023-24 season. He’s been a terrific scorer with AHL Hershey, but has failed to break out in any meaningful way with the Capitals.
In his first professional season in North America, Miroshnichenko finished with two goals and six points in 21 games with Washington, typically placed in a middle-six role while averaging 12:08 of ice time per night. Still, he showed quality production with the Bears, scoring nine goals and 25 points in 47 games. Additionally, after scoring seven goals and 12 points in 20 postseason contests, Miroshnichenko helped Hershey win its second consecutive Calder Cup championship.
Since then, he’s been largely isolated to an AHL role. He’s scored one goal and four points in 20 games for the Capitals over the last two years, usually being confined to a bottom-six role. Regardless, he’s kept up his strong performance in the AHL, scoring 29 goals and 58 points in his past 73 games.
Meanwhile, Sourdif formally heads to the IR after missing Washington’s last several games. He took a puck to the face in the Capitals’ recent loss to the Nashville Predators on January 11th. It was unfortunate timing for Sourdif, who had scored six goals and 12 points in 13 games leading up to the injury.
Wild Place Joel Eriksson Ek, Matt Boldy On IR
The Minnesota Wild are again dealing with multiple injuries. The Wild announced that they’ve placed forwards Joel Eriksson Ek and Matt Boldy on the injured reserve.
Additionally, Minnesota has made multiple roster moves. In the same announcement, the team shared that they’ve recalled Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Hunter Haight, and David Jiříček to the NHL, while returning Carson Lambos to the AHL’s Iowa Wild.
Assuming the Wild makes Eriksson Ek’s placement retroactive to January 8th, he’s eligible to be activated as soon as he’s healthy. Still, since the team opted to place him on the injured reserve today, there’s little chance he’ll be in the lineup tomorrow against the Buffalo Sabres. He’s been dealing with a lower-body injury for the past week.
Already perusing the trade market for a second-line center, Eriksson Ek’s exit from the lineup has been a major detriment to the team. In the three games he has missed, Minnesota has lost all of them while collecting only one point. Typically in a top-six role, Eriksson Ek has scored 11 goals and 32 points in 45 games for the Wild this season while having a 49.7% success rate in the faceoff dot.
Meanwhile, arguably the larger concern is that Boldy will have to miss the next four games. Since Boldy seemingly suffered an undisclosed injury in Minnesota’s recent game against the Winnipeg Jets, he won’t be eligible to return until next Friday.
After skating in 203 consecutive games, the Wild will now move forward with one of their best offensive forces. Throughout 48 games this season, Boldy led the team in goal-scoring with 27 tallies and sat one point behind Kirill Kaprizov for the overall team lead.
Neither Aube-Kubel nor Haight will help Minnesota make up for the loss of offense. The two have combined for one assist across six games for the Wild this season. Still, in their defense, they’ve remained relatively productive with AHL Iowa this season, with the latter ranked third on the team in scoring with seven goals and 17 points in 31 games.
Injury Notes: Vladar, Wilsby, Colton
The Philadelphia Flyers could avoid the worst after taking a blow to their goalie room. Daniel Vladar is only expected to be out short-term after sustaining an injury in the first period of Wednesday’s loss to the Buffalo Sabres, per Kevin Kurz of The Athletic and ESPN’s Emily Kaplan during Thursday’s broadcast. Vladar was replaced by Samuel Ersson while Alexei Kolosov was recalled on Thursday morning.
Vladar has led the charge for the Flyers goaltending room with 16 wins, a .905 save percentage, and a 2.46 goals-against-average in 28 games. He is the only Flyer with a save percentage north of .900 – with Ersson sporting a .853 in 18 games and Kolosov a .886 in three games. The two goalies split the next in Philadelphia’s 3-6 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. They each allowed three goals, though Kolosov had 16 saves to Ersson’s 14. The two will continue an even battle for starting minutes, while Philadelphia hopes for more good news around Vladar’s timeline.
More injury updates from around the league:
- Nashville Predators defenseman Adam Wilsby is out day-to-day with a lower-body injury per Alex Daugherty of The Tennessean. It is unclear when Wilsby sustained the injury. He played more than 21 minutes of Nashville’s overtime win over the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday, the fourth-most ice time of any Predators skater. Wilsby recorded one assist and a plus-one in the outing with no clear sign of wear. Either way, Wilsby will be expected to miss Friday’s game against the Colorado Avalanche and could be doubtful for Saturday’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights. Sitting out the back-to-back road games will give Wilsby four days to rest up before Nashville returns home next Tuesday. The 25 year old has seven points and a minus-four in 36 games this season.
- The Colorado Avalanche also face a hole in the lineup. Forward Ross Colton is out day-to-day with an upper-body injury and questionable for Friday’s game against Nashville, head coach Jared Bednar told Evan Rawal of the Denver Gazette. Colton played through regulation, but sat out of the overtime period, in Monday’s loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. He recorded five shots on goal that game. Colton has been a relentless piece of Colorado’s bottom-six this season. He has four points in his last three games, bringing his year-long totals up to 20 points in 45 games. That performance has made Colton a focal piece of Colorado’s gameplan. His absence would likely prompt the Avalanche to once again recal winger Ivan Ivan, who has one assist in five NHL games this season. Ivan has also scored eight points in 31 AHL games.
Sabres’ Joshua Norris Out Day-To-Day With Upper-Body Injury
Yet another injury has come through for one of the league’s most plagued forwards. Buffalo Sabres centerman Joshua Norris sustained an upper-body injury on Wednesday that will have him out on a day-to-day basis, per a team announcement.
Norris’ final shift came with six minutes remaining in the second period. He received a few cross-checks to the ribs courtesy of Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Nick Seeler. Norris fought through those checks to deliver the primary assist on Buffalo’s fourth goal of the game. It seems those whacks may have caused more damage than it appears, though, and he will now land on the shelf yet again.
Norris missed 25 games between October and December while recovering from a different upper-body injury sustained in the Sabres’ season opener. He has had a bad trend of upper-body injuries through the last few years, sustaining an oblique injury that ended his 2024-25 season early and undergoing multiple shoulder surgeries during his six seasons with the Ottawa Senators.
While this injury doesn’t seem as severe as some Norris has faced, it will still shorthand the Sabres for the near future. Norris has been an electric part of the offense when healthy. His 17 points in 19 games this season gives him the second-highest scoring pace (0.89 points-per-game) on the team behind Tage Thompson (0.98).
This has been a career-year for Norris on the scoresheet. His scoring pace and 0 plus-minus both rank as career-highs. He has reached those heights despite averaging under 16 minutes of ice time each game – a career-low, largely thanks to so often needing eased back from injury. His strong shooting and connection with Buffalo’s stars has still earned Norris a spot on the Sabres’ top power-play unit. They will have to replace that hole, in addition to Norris’ spot in the top-six, for their next slate.
The Sabres have recalled top prospect Konsta Helenius to attempt to fill the gap. Helenius leads Rochester Americans forwards in scoring with 30 points in 34 games. He is in his second AHL season after spending two years in the Liiga, Finland’s top league. Despite yo-yoing prospects like Isak Rosen and Noah Ostlund between leagues, the Sabres have opted for a patient approach with Helenius, leaving him a full-time AHL role through the last two seasons. Now, with Norris out, their patience could come to fruition should Helenius make his NHL debut.
Sharks Place Ty Dellandrea On Injured Reserve
According to Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News, the San Jose Sharks have placed forward Ty Dellandrea on injured reserve with a lower-body injury. The designation has likely been made retroactive to January 6th, meaning Dellandrea is eligible for activation whenever he’s healthy.
Dellandrea, 25, was given a day-to-day recovery timeline, so he should return to the Sharks’ lineup relatively soon. Pashelka suggested that his injury designation might indicate that young player Will Smith could be returning to the lineup tomorrow against the Detroit Red Wings. Smith has been recovering from an upper-body ailment and has not played in a contest with San Jose for over a month.
When healthy, Dellandrea was providing decent tertiary scoring to surprisingly competitve Sharks team. He had scored two goals and 11 points in 42 games, on best for the second-best point production in his career. A few years ago, then with the Dallas Stars, Dellandrea had scored nine goals and 28 points in 82 games.
The biggest part of Dellandrea’s game that San Jose will miss for the time being is his work in the faceoff dot. The former 13th overall pick has managed a 52.3% success rate in the dot across 511 faceoffs this season, which is even more impressive considering he’s begun over 70% of his shifts in the defensive zone at even strength.
Sabres Notes: Dunne, Kesselring, Jones
Jan. 15th: According to Rachel Lenzi of The Buffalo News, the Sabres have officially activated Kesselring from the injured reserve, per the NHL media site.
Jan. 14th: The Buffalo Sabres will be without their typical fourth-line center for quite some time. According to Paul Hamilton of WGR Sports Radio, Joshua Dunne is expected to miss the next four to six weeks with a mid-body injury.
After Monday’s loss to the Florida Panthers, head coach Lindy Ruff indicated that Dunne wasn’t injured from the hit by Panthers defenseman Donovan Sebrango, which was the original thought at the time. Ruff went on to explain that the mid-body injury has been bothering Dunne for the last little while.
With all due respect to Dunne, he’s not an irreplaceable part of the Sabres’ forward core. The 27-year-old center has scored one goal and four points in 28 games with Buffalo this season, with a -4 rating. Still, he’s given them a 50.6% success rate in the faceoff dot, which has been beneficial given that he’s started 78.2% of his shifts in the defensive zone.
Given the duration of the expected recovery timeline, the Sabres will likely place Dunne on the injured reserve by the end of the weekend. This will give Buffalo the space to recall a depth forward as they embark on a five-game road trip next week.
In more positive news on the injury front, Hamilton also reported that defenseman Michael Kesselring is ready to return to the lineup, but won’t play this evening. Kesselring has been on Buffalo’s injured reserve for the last week, and the idea is that the team doesn’t want him returning for a back-to-back homestand.
Kesselring has been relatively disappointing throughout his first year with the team, though much of that can be attributed to injuries. He’s only appeared in 16 games for the Sabres this season, going scoreless while earning a -4 rating. Still, his advanced metrics have been solid, and he’s only one year removed from scoring seven goals and 29 points in 82 games with the Utah Hockey Club.
Meanwhile, Kesselring’s impending return has spurned a proactive roster move from Buffalo. Earlier today, the team shared that they’ve reassigned Zachary Jones to the AHL’s Rochester Americans. Despite spending multiple days on the NHL roster, Jones has yet to play for the Sabres this season, instead scoring three goals and 32 points in 28 games for AHL Rochester.
Blues Place Robert Thomas On Injured Reserve
The St. Louis Blues are losing their highest-scoring player for the next few weeks. The Blues announced that they’ve placed forward Robert Thomas on the injured reserve with a lower-body injury and that he would be re-evaluated in two weeks.
Despite again being the rumor of some trade speculation, Thomas has been his steady self for St. Louis this season. Although he’s tied for seventh in games played, Thomas leads the team in scoring with 11 goals and 33 points across 42 games on the year.
Thomas, 26, has already missed one game for the Blues due to the lower-body ailment and will likely miss a minimum of eight, given the projected recovery timeline. Given that St. Louis is five points back of the final wild-card spot and seven points back of being in last place in the Western Conference, they will be without their top forward for a pivotal stretch of games.
There’s no telling how much more their offense will depreciate without Thomas in the lineup. The Blues are already last in the league with a 2.49 GF/G average, and 23rd with a man advantage, having a 17.07% success rate on the power play.
Thomas’ injury is expected to negatively impact St. Louis’ performance on the ice, and it could also affect other players on the team. If the Blues fall further out of playoff contention, the trade markets for Brayden Schenn, Jordan Kyrou, and Justin Faulk could heat up more than they already are.
Wild Place Jonas Brodin On IR, Recall Carson Lambos
1:30 p.m.: As expected, the Wild announced that they’ve placed Brodin on injured reserve due to the lower-body ailment. Additionally, the team has recalled defenseman Carson Lambos from AHL Iowa in a corresponding roster move.
1:00 p.m.: The Minnesota Wild are again losing a top-four defenseman for the foreseeable future. According to Michael Russo of The Athletic, defenseman Jonas Brodin is set to miss the next few weeks with a lower-body injury.
Russo articulated that Brodin’s lower-body ailment didn’t come from a specific play. He asserted that this is related to the lower-body issue that caused Brodin to miss nine days in mid-December and has been nagging him since then. The 14-year veteran has already missed five games for the Wild this year.
Given that Minnesota has six games in the next week and a half, Brodin is in danger of failing to cross the 70-games played plateau for the fourth straight year. The oft-injured blue liner has only appeared in 73% of the Wild’s regular-season contests since the 2022-23 campaign. He is signed through the 2027-28 season at a $6MM cap hit.
Still, when healthy, he’s one of Minnesota’s best defenders. Throughout the last four injury-plagued campaigns, Brodin has scored 17 goals and 76 points in 214 games with a +58 rating. At even strength, he has averaged a 91.6% on-ice save percentage while beginning most of his shifts in the defensive zone.
Furthermore, Brodin’s current injury could have negative consequences for Team Sweden during the 2026 Olympic Games. He scored one goal in three games for the Swedes during last year’s 4 Nations Face-Off, and seven points in 10 games during the IIHF World Championships.
Meanwhile, Brodin’s absence will allow one Wild defenseman to make his NHL debut this evening. Yesterday evening, Minnesota recalled prospect David Spacek from the AHL’s Iowa Wild, and he’s expected to be in the lineup this evening. The 22-year-old has scored three goals and 19 points in 35 games for AHL Iowa this year.