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Leo Carlsson Expected To Miss 4-6 Weeks

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Ducks standout rookie center Leo Carlsson is expected to miss four to six weeks with a Grade I right MCL sprain sustained Thursday against the Flames, per a team release. In more minor news, the team also announced defenseman Radko Gudas will be out for tonight’s game against the Kraken with a lower-body injury also sustained Thursday. He will be evaluated when the team returns from their holiday break.

This is positive news for the Ducks and Carlsson, who avoids what most expected to be a much more prolonged absence after Flames defenseman MacKenzie Weegar fell awkwardly on his leg in the third period of Thursday’s matchup. Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reported earlier Saturday that Carlsson’s injury was not season-ending.

Carlsson, who will turn 19 in three days, has had a promising start to his NHL career. The 6-foot-3 Swedish pivot has eight goals, seven assists and 15 points through 23 games this season, averaging over 18 minutes per game. While some criticized the Ducks for selecting Carlsson over center Adam Fantilli with the second overall pick earlier this year, they’ve put up similar stat lines to begin their NHL career and look to be in the same tier of the league’s under-20 talent.

The Ducks have taken an interesting approach to Carlsson’s development this season, scratching him on multiple occasions to avoid playing the rookie in more than two games per week, regardless of his performance. Few expected Carlsson to be NHL-ready at the beginning of the season, so after he forced his way onto the roster with a strong training camp, it makes sense the team would want to be cautious of overusing the youngster who’s used to the more abbreviated and spaced-out schedule of the Swedish Hockey League.

Carlsson frequently centered their first line with Alex Killorn and Troy Terry when in the lineup. He will be replaced in that role by Trevor Zegras, who’s returning to the lineup tonight after missing 20 games with a lower-body injury. After a drawn-out contract negotiation process last summer, Zegras was off to a sluggish start pre-injury, posting just two points in 12 games. He’ll look to hit the ground running in his return to play as the team’s de facto number-one center.

Despite the better-than-expected news on his recovery timeline, it’s still an unfortunate bump in the road for Carlsson. Many had the sense Anaheim’s load management plan for him was beginning to ease, especially given his solid possession play. He’s posted a strong 52.4% Corsi share at even strength and a +0.3 expected plus-minus rating per Hockey Reference, exceeded only by Max Jones among Ducks forwards. His eight goals are tied for fourth on the team behind Frank Vatrano (14), Mason McTavish (10) and Adam Henrique (10).

Unfortunately for Anaheim, they’re losing two of their best defensive players this season at once. It’s unclear how severe the injury Gudas suffered is, but an absence of any length is a significant blow to their new-look defense. After reaching the Stanley Cup Final with the Panthers last season and promptly signing a three-year, $12MM contract in Anaheim, the 33-year-old has been their best shutdown player.

Gudas has scored five goals and nine points through 31 games, although he’s relied upon more for his defensive acumen and physicality. He’s knocked it out of the park in both regards, posting a team-high +7 rating and 65 penalty minutes while playing second-pairing minutes.

Lightning Reportedly Place Mikhail Sergachev On Injured Reserve

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The Lightning moved defenseman Mikhail Sergachev to injured reserve on Saturday, veteran Lightning writer Erik Erlendsson reports.

The move is purely for roster management purposes and does not impact Sergachev’s projected return timeline. As head coach Jon Cooper noted today, the team did not plan on Sergachev being available to return from his lower-body injury until December 27 against the Panthers (via Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times). That is the first game the 25-year-old will be eligible to play after missing the seven days required for IR designation. Sergachev last played on December 19 against the Blues.

Sergachev remains listed as day-to-day, and it was noted earlier Saturday that he would not suit up in tonight’s contest against the Capitals. Given the timing of his injury and the league’s holiday break, he will only miss two games after sitting out Thursday’s 5-4 win over the Golden Knights.

With Sergachev sidelined, depth defenseman Haydn Fleury will play just his ninth game of the season tonight in Washington. The 2014 seventh-overall pick made the team out of camp but was sent to the AHL on a conditioning loan last month, his first minor-league action since 2018-19 with the Hurricanes organization. After a brutal campaign last year, Fleury has played well in minimal action, recording four points and a +5 rating while averaging 14:34 per game. However, the 27-year-old’s possession numbers have been worse than average compared to his teammates for the third straight season.

Sergachev hasn’t played quite at last season’s level. In 2022-23, his positive possession impacts and career-high 0.81 points per game earned him a couple of Norris Trophy votes for the first time. Still, with two goals and 19 points in 33 games this year, his 0.58 point-per-game pace is the second-best of his career. While his -15 rating may sound some alarm bells, his possession numbers have remained above water. Considering Lightning netminders have a .874 SV% with Sergachev on the ice at even strength, play in the crease is likely artificially deflating his rating.

Central Notes: Johnson, Dickinson, Wild

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According to Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times, forward Tyler Johnson is the most recent injury to the Chicago Blackhawks roster, as he did not travel with the team to take on the St.Louis Blues. Johnson joins a growing list of high-priced members of the organization to go down with injury this season, as Seth Jones, Taylor Hall and Andreas Athanasiou all currently find themselves on the team’s injured reserve.

In the final season of a seven-year, $35MM contract originally signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning back in 2017, Johnson was included in a salary dump move to Chicago, who also acquired a second-round draft selection in the deal, that sent Brent Seabrook’s contract back the other way. Having his time with the Blackhawks mired by injury concerns, Johnson has only suited up in 114 games for the franchise, scoring 22 goals and 50 points overall.

As Pope mentions in his reporting, with Johnson out tonight against the Blues, young forward Cole Guttman will draw back into the lineup for Chicago. In 14 games this year, Guttman has one goal and three points, only averaging a touch over 11 and a half minutes of ice time per night.

Other notes:

  • Sticking in Chicago, in an article today from Charlie Roumeliotis of NBCSN – Chicago, he mentions the growing trade value of Blackhawks’ forward Jason Dickinson leading up to the trade deadline. Being one of a handful of teams trying to stay above the salary cap floor, Chicago would have the ability to retain 50% ($1.325MM) of Dickinson’s contract, making him quite the bargain with 10 goals and 32 games this season.
  • Before their game tonight against the Boston Bruins, Michael Russo of The Athletic shared several injury updates surrounding certain members of the Minnesota Wild. Unfortunately for the organization, they will still be without captain Jared Spurgeon, as well as forward Ryan Hartman. With plenty of issues plaguing the team this year, the inability to field a complete roster has led to plenty of inconsistency in Minnesota this season.

Pacific Notes: Soucy, Barabanov, Moverare

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Still, without a firm timeline for his return, the Vancouver Canucks will likely be getting defenseman Carson Soucy back very shortly, as he has finally begun skating again after suffering a fractured leg in November (article link). Factoring in the recent acquisition of Nikita Zadorov, once their defensive core becomes completely healthy, there is a very reasonable argument to be made that Vancouver may have the best defensive core in the league.

Joining the organization this past summer as an unrestricted free agent, Soucy would sign a three-year, $9.75MM contract after spending the last two seasons with the Seattle Kraken organization. Throughout his two years in Seattle, Soucy would skate in 142 regular season games, scoring 13 goals and 37 points, becoming a very valuable two-way defenseman for the Kraken.

Now in Vancouver, Soucy skated in 13 games before his injury, scoring two goals and five points, averaging just under 17 minutes of ice time per night. Without any real reason to carry eight defensemen on the active roster, Soucy’s return will likely spell the end of either Mark Friedman or Noah Juulsen’s time in the NHL.

Other notes:

  • Earlier today, Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now reported that forward Alexander Barabanov will be out of the lineup tonight with an illness. Already missing over a month of the season with a finger injury, Barabanov has been quite good upon his return on December 3rd, scoring one goal and four assists in eight games for the San Jose Sharks.
  • According to the AHL transactions log, the Los Angeles Kings have recalled defenseman Jacob Moverare from their AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign. It will mark the 10th time already this season that Moverare has been recalled by the Kings, scoring zero points in four games at the NHL this year.

World Junior Notes: Donovan, Nelson, Molendyk, Luneau, Lindstein

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Senators prospect Jorian Donovan was cut by Team Canada at their World Juniors selection camp earlier this month but Hockey Canada announced (Twitter link) that the defenseman has been added to their roster along with Kraken defense prospect Ty Nelson, another player originally cut from their selection camp.

Donovan was a fifth-round pick of the Sens in 2022 and has eight goals and 26 points in 31 games with OHL Brantford so far this season.  He was notified of his addition on Friday and arrived in time for today’s 6-5 overtime loss to the United States in pre-tournament action and was named their Player of the Game.

As for Nelson, he was a third-round pick by the Kraken in 2022 and has been a prolific point producer with OHL North Bay.  Last season, he finished third in the league for points by a defenseman with 76 in 67 regular season games while adding 25 more in 20 playoff contests.  He’s producing at a similar rate this season with 31 points in his first 28 appearances.

Other news from the World Juniors:

  • Those two being added to the roster means that two players have to come off. Those are Predators blueliner Tanner Molendyk and Ducks defenseman Tristan Luneau who are both out due to injury.  Molendyk was dealing with a wrist issue while Luneau had missed pre-tournament games due to illness which has turned out to be a viral infection.  Molendyk was off to a nice start with WHL Saskatoon before making the team as he already has 28 points on his season in just 24 games.  Luneau, meanwhile, cracked Anaheim’s roster in training camp although playing time has been limited; he has played in seven games for the Ducks and six more while on a conditioning loan with AHL San Diego.
  • Team Sweden has also made a roster move for the upcoming World Juniors. They announced (Twitter link) that Blues defenseman Theo Lindstein has been added to their roster for the event, replacing Jakob Noren who was injured in pre-tournament action.  The 18-year-old was the 29th pick back in June and has spent the majority of this season in Sweden’s second-tier Allsvenskan level, recording 11 points in 27 games so far.  Louis now has seven prospects at the tournament, tied for the most among NHL teams with Arizona and Buffalo.

Blue Jackets Activate Damon Severson, Place Nick Blankenburg On IR

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The Blue Jackets will welcome a key defenseman back for their game tonight against Toronto but they’re also losing a blueliner.  The team announced that Damon Severson has been activated off injured reserve.  To make room on the roster, Nick Blankenburg has been placed on IR retroactive to December 19th.

Severson was a key addition for Columbus over the summer who acquired him in a sign-and-trade deal from New Jersey on an eight-year, $50MM contract.  Despite the Blue Jackets’ struggles, Severson got off to a decent start with his new team, recording three goals and five assists in his first 19 games with the team while averaging just under 21 minutes per night before suffering a strained oblique roughly five weeks ago which caused him to miss the last 15 games.  He’ll slot right back into their top four versus the Maple Leafs and should see time on both the power play and penalty kill as well.

As for Blankenburg, the 25-year-old has spent most of the season in the minors with AHL Cleveland in his final season of waiver exemption and has three goals and eight assists in 19 games with the Monsters.  He was recalled earlier this month and saw action in six games where he was held off the scoresheet while averaging just under 18 minutes per contest.  Blankenburg is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury and with the placement being back-dated, he could be activated as soon as Wednesday’s game against New Jersey.

West Notes: Meyers, Landeskog, Carlsson

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For the second time in as many days, the Colorado Avalanche have sent forward Ben Meyers back down to their AHL affiliate, the Colorado Eagles. In the team’s victory last night against the Ottawa Senators, Meyers skated in just under six minutes of ice time, producing a -1 rating on the evening.

Before his call-up yesterday, Meyers had been rostered on the Avalanche from December 11th to December 20th, scoring one goal in four games, averaging just under 10 minutes of ice time over that stretch. Fortunately for Meyers, although taxiing back and forth from the AHL and NHL can be stressful, the Eagles’ home arena is only located about an hour north of Ball Arena in Denver.

It will likely not be the last time that Meyers is used as a depth forward stashed in the minor leagues throughout his career, as his tenure with the Avalanche has been largely unsuccessful since coming over from the University of Minnesota in 2022. Including this season, Meyers has spent three years in the Avalanche organization, scoring six goals in 49 games at the professional level.

Other notes:

  • Staying with Colorado, Kyle Fredrickson of the Colorado Gazette indicated that Avalanche captain, Gabriel Landeskog is very close to resuming skating. Even if Landeskog does return to the ice to resume skating, there will still be no way to guarantee his return to the NHL. After missing the last two regular seasons, including this year, the knee cartilage surgery underwent by Landeskog does not have any sort of track record on returning athletes to their respective sports.
  • Derek Lee of the Sporting Tribune reports standout rookie for the Anaheim Ducks, Leo Carlsson, is still undergoing tests on his right leg to determine the severity of the injury. In last night’s game against the Calgary Flames, defenseman MacKenzie Weegar awkwardly fell on Carlsson’s leg, which caused his right knee to collapse under the weight.

Snapshots: Skinner, Greenway, Hill, Atanasov

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Rumoured to be on the horizon for several days now, the Buffalo Sabres have officially activated forwards Jeff Skinner and Jordan Greenway from injured reserve tonight, per a team announcement. According to the stipulations provided in the Collective Bargaining Agreement, the Sabres can activate both, and carry a 24-man roster over the roster freeze since they are under the salary cap.

Barring something extreme, Paul Hamilton of WGR Sports Radio expects both players to be in the lineup tonight as the Sabres take on the Toronto Maple Leafs. Skinner, dealing with an upper-body injury, has missed three games for Buffalo, while Greenway, also dealing with an upper-body injury, has missed a total of nine games throughout his injury.

It is positive news for a Sabres organization seemingly unable to stay healthy up to this point in the 2023-24 regular season. With a 3-6-1 record in their last 10 games, Buffalo has failed to gain any sort of traction this season, sitting stagnantly in seventh place in the Atlantic Division.

Other snapshots:

  • Playing in only one game since December 1st, the expectation is that the Vegas Golden Knights will place goaltender Adin Hill on injured reserve (X Link). Not slowing down a bit since his impressive performance in last year’s Stanley Cup playoffs, Hill holds a 10-2-2 record this season, carrying a league-leading .933 SV% and a 1.93 GAA in 15 starts.
  • According to Elliotte Friedman, one player who is gaining plenty of overseas traction in the NHL is Vasili Atanasov, currently rostered on Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod of the Kontinental Hockey League. With one year remaining on his current contract, the 21-year-old forward has 19 goals and 38 points in 39 games. Although he has shown quite the ability to score at the professional level, he is a bit undersized standing at 5’11” and 157 pounds.

Central Notes: Girard, Lucchini, Avalanche

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One of the most notable inclusions in practice this morning for the Colorado Avalanche was defenseman Samuel Girard, who is working his way back from being in the NHLPA Player Assistance Program for nearly a month (X Link). Returning to the ice is positive in its own right, but Girard is not expected to be back in the lineup this evening.

Upon his entrance to the Player Assistance Program, Girard was very public with his reasoning, saying through his agency, “I have made a proactive decision to take care of my mental health, and will be entering treatment for severe anxiety and depression that has gone untreated for too long and led to alcohol abuse” (X Link).

With his return to the team imminent, Girard will look to build upon his season after a month off, scoring one goal and four points in his first 15 games for the Avalanche this year. Aside from Girard’s play on the ice, the fact that he is nearing close to a return shows he has gained an adequate degree of success fighting his personal ailments via the program.

Other notes:

  • After placing forward Mats Zuccarello on injured reserve only yesterday, the Minnesota Wild have recalled forward Jake Lucchini to fill the missing spot in the lineup. With over 250 games played at the AHL level since the 2018-19 season, Lucchini is only a veteran of 11 games in the NHL, all of which were played last season for the Ottawa Senators. In his first season in the Wild organization, Lucchini has scored nine goals and 20 points in 24 games for their AHL affiliate.
  • Back to the Avalanche, having missed the last handful of games with a lower-body injury, defenseman Cale Makar is once again questionable for tonight’s matchup against the Senators (X Link). Furthermore, although forwards Nathan MacKinnon and Ross Colton were absent from practice due to maintenance days, they are both expected to be in the lineup this evening.

Pierre-Édouard Bellemare Out Four-To-Six Weeks

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The Seattle Kraken have announced that forward Pierre-Édouard Bellemare has suffered a lower-body injury and will be out on a four-to-six-week timeline.

Per the Kraken’s announcement, the 38-year-old veteran forward suffered his injury during the team’s Monday loss to the Dallas Stars. Bellemare was knocked out of the game by the injury, and he ended up playing in just over four minutes.

This injury is a setback for both Bellemare and the Kraken. For Bellemare, he loses the ability to contribute during a crucial time in the Kraken’s season as they work to attempt to re-enter the Pacific Division playoff picture. He’ll also miss the Winter Classic in the new year, which is unfortunate as well. For Seattle, they’ll be without a reliable veteran bottom-sixer for that important stretch.

A veteran of nearly 700 NHL games, Bellemare is a widely respected defensive forward who has appeared on both Selke and Lady Byng trophy ballots earlier in his career.

A winner of 51.5% of his career draws, Bellemare is a valuable presence at the faceoff dot as well as in the defensive zone, and although he’s averaging a career-low ice time per game the loss of Bellemare is still a notable one for coach Dave Hakstol’s squad.

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