Central Notes: Wood, Heinola, Anderson-Dolan, Lipkin
Even after recalling T.J. Tynan from AHL Colorado earlier today, the Avalanche won’t have a full complement of healthy forwards for tonight’s game against the Lightning. That’s because winger Miles Wood has been ruled out with the undisclosed injury he’s been playing through for the past few days, head coach Jared Bednar said on Altitude Sports Radio this morning (via Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet).
With Wood out but not headed for injured reserve, the Avalanche don’t have a roster spot for another recall. They’ll dress 11 forwards and seven defensemen tonight, but not in the traditional sense. Instead of rotating in on different defense pairs, Oliver Kylington will pinch-hit as a winger in his first appearance since Oct. 16. He’ll skate on the fourth line with Matthew Stienburg and Chris Wagner while Tynan makes his season debut as a third-line left wing with Parker Kelly and Joel Kiviranta, Daily Faceoff projects. Meanwhile, rookie Nikolai Kovalenko slides up to play top-line duties alongside Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen in relief of the injured Ross Colton, who himself had been playing top-six minutes in place of the injured Jonathan Drouin.
Wood’s injury means Colorado will be without a remarkable six regular forwards for tonight’s matchup, joining Colton, Drouin, Gabriel Landeskog, Artturi Lehkonen, and Valeri Nichushkin as unavailable impact pieces for the Avs. With that kind of poor injury luck and a nightmare start to the season for starting goaltender Alexandar Georgiev, it’s remarkable Colorado has been able to tread water with a 5-5-0 record. The 29-year-old Wood had one goal, a -2 rating, 19 shots, and eight hits in 10 appearances to start the season for the Avs.
More from the Central Division:
- The Jets relayed good news on a pair of injured skaters today. Head coach Scott Arniel told Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Free Press that defenseman Ville Heinola has returned to skating on his own the past few days at home while the team is on a road trip, as has forward Jaret Anderson-Dolan. Heinola, 23, hasn’t played since the beginning of training camp due to an infection in his ankle that he had surgically repaired last season. The 2019 first-round pick was expected to build on his 11 points in 35 career NHL games this season after the Jets lost a few pieces on the blue line but has remained on IR. Anderson-Dolan, meanwhile, has been out since the beginning of the month after blocking a shot in a preseason game against the Flames. The 25-year-old had four points in 31 games last season, split between the Kings and Predators.
- Utah left-wing prospect Sam Lipkin suited up for AHL Tucson last night, indicating he’s been quietly activated off season-opening injured reserve and assigned to the minors. Lipkin, 21, had missed the first few weeks of the campaign with an undisclosed injury. The 2021 seventh-round pick of the Coyotes turned pro after a standout pair of collegiate seasons with Quinnipiac, where he had 78 points in 78 games and won a national championship in 2023.
Connor McDavid Out 2-3 Weeks With Ankle Injury
Oilers superstar Connor McDavid will miss “at least a couple of weeks” with the lower-body injury he sustained Monday against the Blue Jackets, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. It’s not expected to be an overly long-term absence, though, implying they’ve avoided the worst-case scenario of a left foot or lower-leg fracture. The team later confirmed it was an ankle injury and said he’ll be out for two to three weeks.
The Oilers haven’t yet placed McDavid on injured reserve, although with him safely ruled out for the next five days, there’s nothing stopping them from doing so. They had two open roster spots at the time of his injury, which they filled yesterday with the recalls of forwards Drake Caggiula and Noah Philp from AHL Bakersfield. They’re now at a full roster with ample cap flexibility thanks to Evander Kane‘s LTIR placement but they could move McDavid to IR to open up another roster spot if necessary.
Still, any McDavid absence isn’t welcome news for Edmonton. They’re on their seemingly yearly tradition of underwhelming starts before going on a late-November or December tear. After being trounced 6-1 by Columbus earlier this week, they’re back below .500 with a 4-5-1 record, and their -13 goal differential is third-worst in the league, ahead of only the Penguins and Sharks. McDavid was caught in the mire, too, off to a slow start by his standards with three goals and 10 points in 10 games. He was still his usual dominant self in possession play, though, with the Oilers controlling 62.8% of shot attempts with McDavid on the ice at even strength.
A two-week timeline from today, which is likely the best-case scenario as outlined by Friedman, puts his earliest potential return on Nov. 14 against the Predators. The Oilers have six games between now and then. In the meantime, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is projected to shift from wing to center on the first line with Zach Hyman, while Jeff Skinner will move up from a middle-six role to ride shotgun with that pair.
East Notes: Rust, Dahlin, Romanov, Motte
The Pittsburgh Penguins organization didn’t get a positive update on forward Bryan Rust‘s injury. The team’s play-by-play commentator, Jeff Getzoff, shared that Rust is considered week-to-week with a lower-body injury after evaluations.
Rust suffered the lower-body injury in the team’s most recent game against the Vancouver Canucks after receiving a hit from Nils Hoglander. The veteran forward was quickly ruled out of that game’s action after only 13:18 of ice time and missed the team’s practice yesterday.
The injury could be related to the lower-body injury that kept Rust from the ice at the beginning of the season. He missed Pittsburgh’s first two games of the regular season but has managed three goals and four points in eight straight games. The Penguins only have 12 healthy forwards on the roster meaning Valtteri Puustinen should garner more ice time if the organization doesn’t make a recall from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
Other notes from the Eastern Conference:
- Buffalo Sabres’ captain Rasmus Dahlin‘s two-minute minor for high-sticking and two-minute minor for roughing in last night’s action has turned into more. The NHL’s Department of Player Safety announced they have fined Dahlin $5,000 for yesterday’s incident, the maximum allowable under the Collective Bargaining Agreement. The play took place with seven minutes remaining of the third period when Dahlin swung his stick into the face of Florida Panthers’ forward Anton Lundell after positioning for the puck at the Sabres’ blue line.
- The New York Islanders will be without defenseman Alexander Romanov for the second straight game. Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News reports Romanov is still considered day-to-day with an undisclosed injury from one of the team’s recent games against the New Jersey Devils. There hasn’t been any indication up to this point that Romanov will be able to dress in tomorrow night’s action against the Columbus Blue Jackets, either.
- Ansar Khan of MLive reports the Detroit Red Wings are still without forward Tyler Motte who is suffering from an upper-body injury. His unavailability will have a downstream effect on the roster with the organization keeping the ability to keep prospect Marco Kasper on the roster under emergency conditions for the time being. Kasper has skated in five games for the Red Wings during his emergency recall with one assist to show for it while averaging 15:22 of ice time. Once Motte can return, Detroit must make a roster move to comply with the emergency condition protocols.
San Jose Sharks Recall Ethan Cardwell, Place Ty Dellandrea On IR
With the ninth-youngest roster in the league, the San Jose Sharks are adding more youth to their lineup. The organization announced they recalled forward prospect Ethan Cardwell from their AHL affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda while placing forward Ty Dellandrea on injured reserve.
The Sharks haven’t issued a formal update on Dellandrea’s injury status. Still, the current theory is that he’s dealing with an upper-body injury suffered in the team’s recent game against the Vegas Golden Knights on October 26th. Dellandrea managed 9:02 of ice time before leaving the contest and had previously been ruled out in the team’s win last night against the Utah Hockey Club.
Dellandrea skated in all nine games for San Jose before last night scoring one goal in total on the season. He’s kept his physicality up in his new stomping ground but his defensive play and possession metrics have declined with a weaker supporting cast compared to his time with the Dallas Stars.
On the other side of the roster move, Cardwell looks to make his NHL debut after one full season in the AHL. He scored 23 goals and 43 points in 71 games for the Barracuda in his rookie campaign and has gotten off to a solid start this year with one goal and five points through six contests.
The former 121st overall pick of the 2021 NHL Draft won’t crack many lists of top prospects in the Sharks system but could be a boon for the organization toward the bottom of the lineup. Cardwell is a 200-foot player with an aggressive tendency to jump into every battle on offense and defense.
Transaction Notes: Benson, Smith, Commesso
The Buffalo Sabres will have to wait a little longer for the return of their top prospects. As expected, Paul Hamilton of WGR Sports Radio reported earlier that the organization placed forward Zach Benson on injured reserve to make room for Nicolas Aube-Kubel tonight.
Buffalo has been fairly vague regarding Benson’s timeline, but he has sat out the last two games and the team’s most recent practice with a lower-body injury. There is some indication the injury has plagued Benson for much of the regular season with the youngster going scoreless in six games to start the year.
Line rushes from yesterday morning indicated that Aube-Kubel will assume the left-wing role on the team’s second line where Benson should end up upon his return. The organization will likely make the IR placement retroactive to Benson’s last game on October 19th meaning he’s already eligible to be activated once fully healthy.
Other transactions:
- With their road trip ending tonight, it was inevitable that the Carolina Hurricanes would shorten their roster. The team has done just that announcing they reassigned defenseman Ty Smith to their AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves. Smith has been with the team as a seventh defenseman for much of the road trip with his original recall coming on October 18th. Unfortunately for Smith, the team’s blue line was fully healthy during the road trip eliminating any chance for him to enter the lineup.
- Chicago Blackhawks netminder Arvid Soderblom has fully recovered from his illness meaning the team no longer requires goaltender Drew Commesso on the NHL roster. Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times reports the team has reassigned Commesso to their AHL affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs. It marked Commesso’s first call-up with the Blackhawks this season although he has yet to make his NHL debut. He’ll return to an IceHogs roster where he’s already played two games this season with a .854 save percentage.
Penguins Notes: Rust, Bunting, Nieto
The Penguins were without winger Bryan Rust at practice today, per Josh Getzoff of SportsNet Pittsburgh. Head coach Mike Sullivan confirmed that Rust is being evaluated for a lower-body injury he sustained against the Canucks on Saturday, and there’s no timeline for his return to the ice yet (via Michelle Crechiolo of Pens Inside Scoop).
Rust, 32, left the weekend loss to Vancouver after getting his right leg tangled up awkwardly with Canucks winger Nils Höglander. It’s been a mediocre start to the campaign for the five-time 20-goal scorer, who’s been limited to three goals and an assist in eight games with a -7 rating. But he’s still averaging 19:20 per game – that’s second-most among Pittsburgh forwards and, correspondingly, a large hole to fill for a team short on forward depth if he misses any extended time.
Almost no Penguin has started the season as they’d like to, aside from a handful of exceptions – namely Evgeni Malkin, who’s turned back the clock with 14 points in 10 games. But it’s been especially difficult for Rust, who also missed the season’s first two games with a separate lower-body injury. If he can’t play tomorrow against the Wild, Cody Glass is the extra forward on hand and will return to the lineup after missing the Canucks game with an illness.
Other items of note out of Pittsburgh:
- One of this season’s biggest disappointments so far has been winger Michael Bunting. Acquired from the Hurricanes near the tail end of last year as arguably the highest-value part of the return for Jake Guentzel, he’s fallen completely flat with just one assist in nine games. He’s already been a healthy scratch once in 2024-25, and Josh Yohe of The Athletic reports the Penguins organization as a whole is “very unhappy” with his performance. It’s a completely unforeseen drop-off after he ended last season with 19 points in 21 games for the Pens, mainly playing alongside the red-hot Malkin.
- Winger Matthew Nieto returned to practice today for the first time since sustaining a knee injury that ended his 2023-24 season all the way back in November, relays Seth Rorabaugh of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Nieto, 32 next week, underwent laparoscopic surgery on his left knee shortly after the New Year but suffered a setback that required him to undergo a reconstructive MCL procedure in May. After inking a two-year, $1.8MM deal in free agency in 2023, Nieto had a goal and three assists in 22 appearances for Pittsburgh before the season-ending injury.
Lightning Reassign Gabriel Fortier
Oct. 28: Fortier cleared waivers and will head to Syracuse, per PuckPedia.
Oct. 27: The Tampa Bay Lightning have placed forward Gabriel Fortier on waivers per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Fortier started the year on the non-rostered injury list after surgery to address an unspecified injury this off-season. His mention on the transaction log indicates a return could be imminent.
It’d be a surprise to see Fortier head anywhere other than the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch, where he’s spent the bulk of the last four seasons. He recorded 26 points, split evenly, in Syracuse’s middle-six last season – continuing a trend of decreasing scoring since a career-high 35 points in 2021-22. He’s proven a stout minor-league forward over the years but hasn’t yet translated to the top flight, with just one goal in 11 career NHL games.
Fortier was far more productive across six total seasons in the QMJHL. He found his scoring touch quick – with 11 goals and 17 points in 25 games at age 17 and 26 goals and 59 points in 66 games at 18. The bulk of that scoring was earned by smart positioning and strong shooting. Tampa Bay bought those traits with the 59th overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft, though Fortier would stick around the QMJHL through the next three seasons. He totaled 236 games and 230 points in the league and served one-year stints as captain for both Baie-Comeau and Moncton. Fortier will continue his search for similar stability at the pro level once he clears waivers and, likely, heads back to the minor leagues.
Canadiens Place Kaiden Guhle On IR, Reassign Lucas Condotta
The Canadiens quietly recalled center Lucas Condotta from AHL Laval over the weekend. While the news evaded PHR at the time, the team announced this morning that he’d been reassigned back to Laval. Condotta was rostered for yesterday’s 4-3 win over the Flyers but did not play. They also moved defenseman Kaiden Guhle to injured reserve, per the NHL’s media site, giving them the 23-man roster spot to house Condotta temporarily.
The 26-year-old Condotta is in his third year of professional hockey after four seasons at UMass-Lowell. He’s spent all of them in the Habs pipeline, signing there as an undrafted free agent immediately after his senior season. The 6’1″, 223-lb pivot saw NHL ice in each of his first two full seasons under contract, recording a goal and a +1 rating in four appearances across the 2022-23 and 2023-24 campaigns.
Condotta hasn’t been a needle-mover offensively with Laval but has shown value as a strong checker. He was named their captain ahead of this season and is off to a good start with three assists and a +2 rating in six appearances. In 150 career AHL games since turning pro at the end of the 2021-22 campaign, he has 24 goals, 30 assists, 54 points, 108 PIMs, and a +1 rating.
The Ontario native is in the back half of a two-year, two-way deal he signed in 2023 as a restricted free agent after his one-year entry-level contract expired. With his 27th birthday coming next week, he’ll be eligible for unrestricted free agency for the first time next summer.
Condotta is no longer waiver-exempt, but he cleared them without incident in September. Based on the timing of each announcement, the Habs only burned one day off his temporary waiver-exempt status, so he can still spend 29 days on the NHL roster (or play up to 10 games) this season until he requires waivers again to return to Laval.
Meanwhile, for Guhle, There’s no material change in his timeline for a return to the lineup. He remains day-to-day with an upper-body injury that’s kept him out of the lineup since Oct. 17. That’s over seven days ago, so he’s eligible to come off IR at any time. There’s now a roster spot for him to walk right into with Condotta being sent down. After missing nearly all of training camp while recovering from appendectomy surgery, Guhle had one goal and three assists for four points and a +4 rating in five showings to begin 2024-25.
Senators’ Shane Pinto Out Week-To-Week With Undisclosed Injury
Ottawa Senators forward Shane Pinto has been designated as out week-to-week with an undisclosed injury, head coach Travis Green shared with Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Pinto was listed as a game-time decision for the team’s Friday game against Vegas but ultimately sat out. There seems to be no indication of when he could have picked up an injury, or what it would be. He played over 17 minutes of Ottawa’s 4-0 win over Utah on Thursday, showing no signs of limitation or wear.
Pinto has served a second-line role through Ottawa’s early season – recording three points, six penalty minutes, and four hits through the first six games. He’s continuing to earn hardy ice time after fighting his way back up the lineup last season. He missed the start of that season to a 41-game suspension for violating the league’s sports betting policy, but still managed 27 points and top-line deployment in the year’s latter half. That’s an 82-game pace of 54 points – a boost from Pinto’s 20-goal, 35-point rookie season.
The Senators recalled Cole Reinhardt to fill Pinto’s lineup spot on Friday. He recorded one assist in just seven minutes of ice time – likely a strong enough showing to stick around as the Senators now plan for weeks with a vacancy. The team isn’t currently carrying any extra forwards to rival Reinhardt’s spot, with Adam Gaudette and Nick Cousins already filling lineup vacancies. Reinhardt also stands as the Belleville Senators’ leading scorer, with five points through three games so far.
Pinto’s injury adds to Ottawa’s list of absentees. Artem Zub (concussion) and David Perron (personal) are also missing from the lineup, with Zub unexpected to play today or on Tuesday per Sportsnet’s Alex Adams.
Snapshots: Power, Benson, Othmann, Sharks
The Sabres received some good news on the injury front today, as Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News reports that defenseman Owen Power was a participant in practice after leaving yesterday’s win over the Red Wings in the third period with an undisclosed ailment. It’s believed to be an illness that kept him out of the third period Saturday for all but one shift, Lysowski adds.
Power’s presence is certainly a major factor in helping the Sabres keep their forward momentum. They’ve now won three in a row to get out of a tough 1-4-1 hole they put themselves in to begin the season, climbing back to .500 and third place in the Atlantic Division. Power’s been a big part of the turnaround with a goal and five assists in his last four games, although he’s currently tracking with the worst possession metrics of his four-year NHL career (although not by a significant amount).
The 2021 first-overall pick has been skating on Buffalo’s de facto second pairing with Bowen Byram. 22 next month, Power is in the first season of a seven-year, $58.45MM extension he signed just over a year ago.
In less positive news, Buffalo remains without sophomore winger Zach Benson, who wasn’t seen at practice today while he continues to rehab a nagging lower-body injury (per WGR Sports Radio 550’s Paul Hamilton). He’s missed three games with the injury this season, including each of the last two. When in the lineup, the 19-year-old has no points and a -4 rating through six games – clearly not himself after recording 30 points in 71 games during his rookie campaign last year.
More from around the league:
- Rangers left-wing prospect Brennan Othmann was left off the opening night roster and will now be out of action for the next little while. He’s expected to miss four to six weeks with an upper-body injury, AHL Hartford head coach Grant Potulny said last night (as relayed by USA Today Sports’ Vince Z. Mercogliano). It’s an unfortunate damper on a raucous start for the 21-year-old, who had five points (2 G, 3 A) and a +2 rating through three minor-league games. The 2021 first-round pick made his NHL debut last season, going without a point and registering six shots while averaging 9:05 through three games.
- The Sharks certainly weren’t expected to climb much higher out of last place this year, but few expected last season’s disastrous 19-54-9 record to not see any improvement. Unfortunately, a coaching change and significant roster turnover haven’t changed San Jose’s fortunes, at least so far. They’ve become the first team in NHL history to start back-to-back seasons with nine-game losing streaks, a stat first-year head coach Ryan Warsofsky called “truly embarrassing” following a 7-3 defeat at the hands of the hands of the Golden Knights last night. “I don’t think anyone’s happy by any means,” Warsofsky said post-game (via San Jose Hockey Now’s Sheng Peng). “There’s a lot of emotion in that locker room, frustration, anger, it’s tough right now.“