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Red Wings’ Erik Gustafsson Out Long-Term, Elmer Söderblom Day-To-Day

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The Detroit Red Wings continue to receive bad news from their blue-line. Head coach Todd McLellan shared that veteran defender Erik Gustafsson will be out long-term with an undisclosed injury. McLellan didn’t provide a specific timeline for Gustafsson’s absence, though he’s been significantly downgraded after only being designated as out day-to-day on Thursday. Rookie forward Elmer Söderblom will also be out of the lineup with an undisclosed injury, and remains day-to-day.

Gustafsson appeared to suffer his injury in the third period of Detroit’s Tuesday loss to the Washington Capitals after a collision with Capitals forward Lars Eller sent him crashing into the boards. No specifics of Gustafsson’s injury have been revealed, though his awkward fall into the boards could suggest knee or ankle related issues.

In response to these injuries, Detroit has recalled forwards Austin Watson and Brogan Rafferty under emergency conditions.

Now, it seems Gustafsson’s scary crash will indeed result in a long-term absence. He’s been leaned on heavily down the stretch, and even played upwards of 20 minutes a night in Detroit’s second-half. Gustafsson ranks third on the Detroit blue-line in scoring with 18 points in 60 games. He’s also posted a team-worst minus-19. Both statlines are a downtick from Gustafsson’s 31 points and plus-three in 76 games with the New York Rangers last season; which was itself a step down from 42 points and a plus-nine in the 2022-23 season.

Detroit will need to fill vacancies on the second pair and second powerplay unit with Gustafsson out. That latter hole has opened the door for rookie Simon Edvinsson to finally earn consistent powerplay ice time. Edvinsson has 25 points in 64 games this season. He also ranks third on the blue-line in blocks (118) and hits (66) behind Moritz Seider and Ben Chiarot. Edvinsson is known for his puck control and passing ability – and racking up impacts away from the puck has helped earn him a chance at special teams minutes.

Who fills Gustafsson’s even-strength role is less clear. Rookie Albert Johansson seems like the best candidate to step into a bigger role, after playing over 21 minutes of action in each of his last two games. Johansson has eight points and a minus-seven in 47 games this year. He’s also tallied 76 blocked shots and 49 hits – stats that rank first and third on the Red Wings’ blue-line on a per-game basis. If not Johansson, Detroit is likely to award bigger minutes to Chiarot and William Lagesson. Chiarot has 11 points in 67 games, while Lagesson hasn’t yet scored through two appearances.

While the Red Wings rush to fill Gustafsson’s openings, rookie Söderblom will focus on not losing his momentum. He has nine points in 22 games this season – one more point in one more game than he totaled in his first taste of the NHL in 2022-23. He’s been a sizeable addition to the Red Wings lineup, both in height and impact – giving the Wings a hint of the success that the New York Rangers have found in players like Adam Edstrom. Söderblom still has a path to pave before he’s an everyday piece of the lineup, but a strong return from injury could do the work for him.

The Red Wings bear with these injuries while sitting on the fringe of a hotly-contested playoff race. Five different teams have between 70 and 74 points in the Eastern Conference. Detroit sits on the low-end, while the Montreal Canadiens have hold of the second Wild Card spot on the other end. Properly filling Gustafsson’s void, and seeing the return of an impactful bottom-six piece like Söderblom, could heavily sway Detroit’s playoffs hopes as they approach their final 14 games of the season.

Oilers’ Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl To Undergo Further Testing

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Thursday night’s loss to the Winnipeg Jets was hard for the Edmonton Oilers to bear for many reasons. They entered the night without superstar forward Leon Draisaitl, who was announced as out day-to-day with an undisclosed injury after the team’s morning skate. Edmonton also saw two major injuries occur mid-game. Franchise centerman Connor McDavid left the game before the start of the third period, after appearing to suffer a lower-body injury on his final shift of the second-period – which only lasted 16 seconds. Later in the third, concussion spotters also forced starting goaltender Stuart Skinner to exit the game. The Oilers went on to lose 4-3 in overtime – and are now forced to pick up the pieces of three crucial absences. Both Draisaitl and McDavid will head for further testing on Friday to help determine the severity and duration of their injuries, per Frank Seravalli of DailyFaceoff.

No update has been provided on Skinner, though head coach Kris Knoblauch did share that Skinner was frustrated over getting pulled early, per Jason Gregor of Sports 1440. He’ll need to be cleared of a concussion before he can step back into the lineup.

This news comes as a terrible blow to an Oilers club that seemed to be firing on all cylinders. They were on a three-game win streak entering Thursday night, having outscored opponents 12-3 along the way. McDavid scored five points, and Draisaitl scored three points, over that streak – while Skinner saved 21 of the 22 shots he faced in one game of action. The trio served crucial roles in Edmonton’s success, and losing them so suddenly will be a blow to the Oilers roster.

Center Adam Henrique took over for McDavid on the top line in the immediate wake of his injury, while newcomer Max Jones slotted into a fourth-line role in Draisaitl’s absence. Henrique will likely maintain a top-six role while McDavid sits out, though priority minutes could go to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins who has six points in his last three games. Jones will be the de facto fill-in winger, though he could face competition from healthy scratch Derek Ryan. Ryan hasn’t played since January 11th and has five points in 33 games this season. Jones has one assist in six games with the Oilers.

Edmonton will also keep an eye on Evander Kane as they think of deeper injury concerns. Kane hasn’t played since the 2024 Stanley Cup Finals. He’s been forced out of this season by abdominal and knee surgeries, but returned to Edmonton’s practices for the first time on Thursday. He seems unlikely to return before the regular season ends, but any extended absences for Draisaitl or McDavid could push the Oilers to consider load management with just 13 games left in their season. Edmonton would need to clear roughly $5MM in cap space to active Kane off of long-term injured reserve before the season ended.

Meanwhile, Edmonton will likely be pushed to recall Collin Delia or Olivier Rodrigue should Skinner need to miss additional time. Pickard, who could get an open path to a short-term starting role, has posted a 3-2-0 record and .904 save percentage in his last five starts.

Rasmus Ristolainen Out Week-To-Week With Upper-Body Injury

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It’s been one week since the news that Philadelphia Flyers’ defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen would be out for a few days with an upper-body injury. Philadelphia gave an important update on Ristolainen’s status this afternoon, sharing that his recovery timeline will take a few weeks instead.

The Flyers announcement was expected. Shortly before, Kevin Kurz of The Athletic passed along a message from head coach John Tortorella saying he didn’t expect Ristolainen back anytime soon. Although hindsight is 20/20 and no team could have precisely predicted a longer-term injury to Ristiolainen, it does give credibility to the teams that steered away from the Finnish blueliner at the NHL trade deadline due to injury concerns.

While no one in the Flyers organization suggested that Ristolainen’s injury will end his season, he may return close to the end. Philadelphia only has 13 more games remaining in the season and they aren’t expected to reach the postseason in the allotted time.

Ristolainen has missed the Flyers’ last three contests (excluding tonight’s game) due to his current injury, raising his season total to six missed games at the time of writing. The Turku, Finland native missed three games in February because of a similar upper-body injury which also precluded him from playing for Team Finland in the 4 Nations Face-Off.

Whether or not he’s played his last game this season, it’s been a quality year for Ristolainen. He’s scored four goals and 19 points in 63 games, making for his highest point-per-game average since his last year with the Buffalo Sabres in 2020-21. Additionally, he’s earning the most ATOI since his first year in Philadelphia and has reached the 100 shots on goal milestone for the first time since the 2019-20 season. Still, Ristolainen’s possession metrics are down 1.7% in terms of CorsiFor% at even strength, while his on-ice save percentage at even strength continues below his career average of 90.8%.

Ristolainen’s absence from tonight’s contest specifically could have ramifications for the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs. The NHL released clinching scenarios for the Washington Capitals this evening, two of which require a win in any fashion over the Flyers. Washington will still need to rely on a specific outcome in the game between the New York Islanders and Montreal Canadiens, but they’ll have an easier path tonight without facing Ristolainen.

Injury Notes: Red Wings, Romanov, Jensen

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The Red Wings lost both defenseman Erik Gustafsson and winger Elmer Söderblom to undisclosed injuries in Tuesday’s loss to the Capitals, and it doesn’t look like they’re getting either back this weekend against Vegas. Neither practiced during today’s session, Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press reports. The former could be facing a longer-term absence, head coach Todd McLellan said. That’s not good news for a tumbling Red Wings team, whose playoff hopes are close to evaporating after a 2-8-0 run in their last 10 games. Gustafsson is third in points among defenders with 18, trailing Simon Edvinsson and Moritz Seider. Söderblom, who’s seen time on the top line with Dylan Larkin as of late and has 3-6–9 in 22 games since being recalled in January, is day-to-day. They could be getting veteran defenseman Jeff Petry back in the lineup soon – he’s traveling with the club on their road trip after returning to practice but won’t play this weekend. He’s been out since early January with an undisclosed injury but had just six points in 34 games to begin the year with a minus-seven rating.

More from around the league:

  • Islanders head coach Patrick Roy told reporters he doesn’t expect defenseman Alexander Romanov to draw in against the Canadiens tonight in a game with major postseason implications, per Andrew Gross of Newsday. He’s still dealing with the illness that held him out of Tuesday’s come-from-behind win over the Penguins. The 25-year-old is enjoying a strong season in career-high minutes, posting 4-14–18 with a plus-nine rating while averaging 22:46 per game. New York’s playoff chances could jump to 35% with a regulation win but drop to just 16% with a regulation loss, per MoneyPuck.
  • Senators defenseman Nick Jensen remains unavailable tonight against Colorado, but he practiced with the club anyway, per TSN 1200 Ottawa. The 34-year-old righty will miss his third straight game with a lower-body injury. With the Sens having the first wild card spot in the East all but locked up, Travis Hamonic slides into top-four deployment alongside Thomas Chabot with Jensen out. Acquired from the Capitals in last summer’s Jakob Chychrun trade, Jensen is averaging 20:20 per game in Ottawa and leads the team with a +17 rating.

Avalanche’s Josh Manson Out Three To Four Weeks

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March 19: Manson carries a three-to-four-week timeline for his return, Bednar told Jesse Montano of Guerilla Sports today. That puts him back in the lineup during the final week of the regular season.

March 17: Avalanche defenseman Josh Manson has already missed one game with an upper-body injury and will remain sidelined for a couple of weeks at least, head coach Jared Bednar told reporters following yesterday’s win over the Stars (via Meghan Angley of Guerilla Sports).

Manson left the game during the second period of Friday’s win in Calgary, although it’s unclear when he sustained the injury. It’s similarly unclear whether it’s linked to the upper-body issue that held him out of the lineup for 12 games earlier in the season.

Acquired from the Ducks at the 2022 trade deadline, Manson immediately factored in as a key depth presence on the Colorado blue line en route to their Stanley Cup win that year. The physical 6’3″ righty landed a four-year, $18MM extension that summer to remain in Denver, but his time with the Avs since has been marred by injuries.

Since the 2022-23 campaign, his first full season in Colorado, Manson has made 151 of 232 possible regular-season appearances – healthy enough to play just 65% of the time. He stayed healthy last year, skating in 70-plus games for the fifth time in his 11-year career, but missed most of 2022-23 with a lower-body injury and nearly 30% of Colorado’s 2024-25 schedule with varying injuries.

In 48 games this season, the 33-year-old has 1-14–15 with a minus-six rating. He’s averaged 18:02 per game, his highest usage since arriving in Denver. His 105 hits lead Colorado defenders despite his extended absences, but he’s been one of the Avs’ worst two-way players with a -4.8 relative CF% and a team-worst -7.7 expected rating at even strength.

The Avs don’t have any other injuries on their blue line right now, but their right-side depth remains a point of weakness even after an active trade deadline. Without Manson, it’s depth pieces Erik Johnson and Sam Malinski manning second- and third-pairing duties behind superstar Cale Makar.

Panthers’ Dmitry Kulikov Out Week-To-Week

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Panthers defenseman Dmitry Kulikov is out week-to-week with the upper-body injury he sustained in Sunday’s outing against the Islanders, head coach Paul Maurice said today (via the team’s Jameson Olive). He’s not expected to miss the remainder of the regular season, however.

Kulikov left the game in the first period after awkwardly twisting while trying to hit Islanders winger Anthony Duclair in the neutral zone. He was favoring his right forearm as he left the ice.

A trip to IR doesn’t seem likely at this stage of the season with no roster limits in effect, but he should be expected to miss Florida’s five remaining games in March at the very least. The Panthers’ final game of the regular season is a potentially key playoff positioning matchup against the Lightning on April 15, so his return timeline is likely in the two-to-three-week range rather than the one-month area.

Nonetheless, the injury couldn’t come at a worse time for Florida. They’re already without top right-shot rearguard Aaron Ekblad for the rest of the regular season and two playoff games after he was suspended for using performance-enhancing substances, and their odds of winning the Atlantic Division have slipped to 48% after back-to-back losses to the Canadiens and Islanders over the weekend. Florida also has a more difficult remaining schedule (.554) than their competitors for the crown, the Lightning (.543) and Maple Leafs (.535), per Tankathon.

Kulikov is no stranger to injuries, only managing 70-plus games six times in his 16-year NHL career. He’d been mostly healthy since rejoining the Cats for his second stint in South Florida in the summer of 2023, though, only missing one game due to injury and another two due to suspension.

The 34-year-old played a bottom-pairing role in last season’s Stanley Cup win, but he’s seen his minutes elevated this year after the club lost Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Brandon Montour to unrestricted free agency. Averaging over 19 minutes per night, the stay-at-home Kulikov has 4-9–13 with a +13 rating in 68 games. He ranks third on the team with 70 blocked shots and leads Florida defenders with 110 hits. He inked a four-year, $4.6MM extension last summer that will likely see him finish his career in Sunrise.

Nate Schmidt elevated into Kulikov’s second-pairing role alongside Niko Mikkola in practice today, per Olive. Tobias Björnfot will draw into the lineup tomorrow against the Blue Jackets after being recalled yesterday. There’s now even more pressure on Seth Jones, who has just one assist and a minus-four rating in seven games since being acquired from the Blackhawks, to improve his play with two key defensemen sidelined.

Stars Expecting Tyler Seguin Back, Miro Heiskanen Out For First Round

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The postseason availability of two pillars of the Dallas Stars’ lineup became clearer at Tuesday’s practice. Winger Tyler Seguin is continuing to improve and could be healthy before the end of the regular season, head coach Pete DeBoer shared with Brian Rea of Bally Sports Southwest. Seguin has missed Dallas’ last 43 games with a hip injury sustained on December 1st. In more negative news, DeBoer also told Rea that there’s a realistic chance Dallas plays the First Round without star defenseman Miro Heiskanen. Heiskanen has missed Dallas’ last 16 games after sustaining a knee injury on January 28th.

The injury updates bring highs and lows. Adding Seguin back to the lineup will go a long way towards giving Dallas one of the most complete forward groups in the NHL. The 33-year-old Stars legend has continued to produce into the golden years of his career, netting nine goals and 20 points in 19 games before his injury. That’s an 82-game pace of 39 goals and 86 points, which would both stand as career-highs – though the likelihood of Seguin maintaining his point-per-game scoring through an entire season aren’t sky-high. Even then, he’s remained a consistent scorer down the lineup – surpassing the 20 goal and 50 point mark in each of the last two seasons. He fell one point short of 50 in 2021-22.

Seguin sits 12 games back from his 1,000th career game in the NHL. Nearly all of those appearances – 785 over the course of 12 seasons, to be exact – have come with the Dallas Stars. Over that time, Seguin has amassed the fifth-most goals (304), assists (383), and points (687) in franchise history. He’s consistently maintained his hot scoring into the postseason, with 71 points in 133 career playoff games and 13 points in 19 games just last season. Seguin averaged just 16 minutes of playing time prior to his injury – marking a career low, save for his rookie season. But his ability to continue producing in those minutes is invaluable, and should give Dallas a major boost as they near the final games of their season.

Unfortunately, they’ll need all the boost they can get with potential Norris Trophy candidate Heiskanen set for a continued absence. Heiskanen was scoring at a modest pace this season – netting 25 points in 50 games prior to injury – but he made up for it with fantastic impacts in all three zones. The 25-year-old was averaging 25:10 in ice time prior to his injury, marking the fifth-straight season that he’s played more than 24:30 each night. He’s averaged more ice time than any other Star, and performed well enough to support the struggling right-shot defenders like Cody Ceci, Matt Dumba, and Ilya Lyubushkin.

Without Heiskanen in the lineup, Dallas has been forced to turn to 23-year-old Thomas Harley with their top-pair role. Harley has taken full advantage of the opportunity, netting 16 points in 16 games and playing as much as 27 minutes a night since Heiskanen’s injury. It’s been a welcome breakout performance – and one that should supplant Heiskanen’s impact until he’s back to full health. Dallas will certainly hope that’s the case, as they eye a potential best-of-seven series without their clear top defender. If Harley can help push the team through and Heiskanen’s timeline holds true, Dallas could enter the second round with one of the best left-defense corps in the NHL.

Rangers’ Arthur Kaliyev Out For Season With Upper-Body Injury

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March 18: Kaliyev will not play again this season, even if the Rangers make the playoffs, Walker reports today. The focus now turns toward whether he did enough in his brief stint in the New York lineup to earn a qualifying offer this summer.

March 13: Rangers winger Arthur Kaliyev has left the team’s road trip to undergo further evaluation and testing on an upper-body injury, the team told reporters Thursday (including Mollie Walker of the New York Post). He’ll miss at least the next two games but likely more after leaving Tuesday night’s loss to the Jets late in the third period.

The Blueshirts claimed Kaliyev off waivers from the Kings in January. While the 23-year-old hoped for a more regular role in New York after being buried on L.A.’s depth chart and missing the first few months of the season with a broken clavicle, that hasn’t happened. He played in 10 straight games to begin his Rangers tenure but has suited up just four times since the beginning of February, serving as a healthy scratch 11 times in that span.

Kaliyev didn’t suit up for L.A. before the waiver placement, although he did have a goal and an assist in five AHL games with the Ontario Reign on a conditioning stint. Since the coast-to-coast move, the Uzbekistan-born winger has 3-1–4 in 14 games with a plus-two rating while averaging a career-low 11:13 per game. The 6’2″, 210-lb forward has seven hits and average possession metrics (49.1 CF%, 46.1 xGF%) at even strength.

The 2019 second-rounder will lose most of the campaign due to injury. He signed a one-year, $825K deal with the Kings in training camp after spending the offseason as a restricted free agent amid a trade request, so his deal is up this summer. He’ll be an RFA again with arbitration rights, but given his minimal usage over the past six weeks, it’s unclear whether the Rangers plan on giving him a qualifying offer.

Now in his fifth NHL season, Kaliyev has 38-37–75 over 202 career games. That’s a respectable 15-15–30 average over 82 games, but he hasn’t developed the rest of his game enough to earn consistent top-nine deployment from a pair of organizations now.

Evening Notes: Svechnikov, Brodin, Capobianco

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A new week rolling around has brought updates on injured and absent players to teams around the league. The most impactful news lands in Carolina, where the Hurricanes welcomed top-line winger Andrei Svechnikov back to the practice sheet after he missed the last three games with an upper-body injury. It was Svechnikov’s first multi-game absence of the season.

Svechnikov has built a tendency for long-term injuries. He’s only played more than 70 games in a single season twice in his seven-year NHL career – first in his rookie season, when he played in all 82 games, and then in the 2021-22 campaign, when he appeared in 78 games. The other five years of his career have been marred by injury, including a torn ACL that required an extended absence. Those missed games have held Svehcnikov back from reach top scoring totals, despite the fact that he tallied 72 goals and 176 points in 201 games between 2022 and 2024. That scoring pace would equate to 71 points across an 82-game season – a pace Svechnikov falls just shy of with his 43 points in 63 games this year. Still, his ability to stick in the lineup this year has been encouraging. Now back to full health once again, he’ll look to jump back up the scoring charts with 15 games left in Carolina’s season.

More notes from around the league:

  • Top-pair Minnesota Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin also returned to practice on Monday per Joe Smith of The Athletic. Smith adds that head coach John Hynes dubbed Brodin as day-to-day and out for Monday night’s game. The top shutdown defender has missed Minnesota’s last seven games with a lower-body injury, pulling him deeper into the well of absences this year. He’s now played in just 38 of the Wild’s 67 games on the year. Those routine absences have held Brodin to just 18 points on the season. That mark stands as the highest points-per-game average of Brodin’s career (.474), just narrowly beating out his previous career high set when he scored 27 points in 62 games last season (.435). But without a clean bill of health, Brodin hasn’t had a chance to relish in a newfound scoring gear. For yet another time this season, he’ll now be tasked with getting back to full speed so he can support Minnesota’s top defense pair with a tough streak coming up.
  • The Dallas Stars have reassigned depth defenseman Kyle Capobianco after recalling him on Saturday to fill in for the ill Lian Bichsel. Capobianco served as Dallas’ seventh man in their Saturday night matchup against the Colorado Avalanche, while Brendan Smith filled Bichsel’s role. This was only Capobianco’s second call-up since joining the Dallas Stars organization this summer. He appeared in his only NHL game of the season on January 31st – and set no scoring, four penalty minutes, and a minus-two in 11:23 of ice time. He’s otherwise been a fixture of the AHL lineup, where he’s managed an impressive 35 points in 49 games. That mark leads the AHL Texas Stars’ blue-line in scoring, though it is slightly below the scoring pace that led Capobianco to 54 points in 69 games with the Manitoba Moose last season.

Blue Jackets Notes: Greaves, Merzļikins, Christiansen, Gudbranson

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The Blue Jackets will start recently recalled netminder Jet Greaves in tonight’s key home game against the Devils, Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reports. Starter Elvis Merzļikins remains away from the team on personal leave as his wife is expecting a child, the team’s Jeff Svoboda confirmed over the weekend.

The 23-year-old Graves sat on the bench for Saturday’s shutout loss to the Rangers while watching Daniil Tarasov surrender three goals on 20 shots. The youngster temporarily supplanted Tarasov as Columbus’ No. 2 option behind Merzļikins earlier this year, earning a performance-based recall while the struggling Tarasov was sent to AHL Cleveland for conditioning.

Things have gone much better for Tarasov since the reset, although he still hasn’t gotten much playing time behind Merzļikins as the Jackets aim to grab a wild-card spot. His .850 SV% against the Blueshirts was his worst in his seven appearances since returning to the NHL squad. Greaves, who actually leads Columbus netminders with a .906 SV% and 2.98 GAA in five starts, will get the call instead as the Jackets look to end a three-game skid. A win against New Jersey puts them back into playoff position, knocking the Rangers down to ninth place in the East.

Here’s more on the Jackets:

  • As Svoboda relays from head coach Dean Evason, defenseman Jake Christiansen has been ruled out of tonight’s game and will miss his second straight contest with an upper-body injury. He remains day-to-day but practiced this morning, so he should be considered questionable to return Thursday against Florida. The 25-year-old has seen his minutes slashed recently, skating under 10 minutes on three occasions in nine games since the 4 Nations break. In his first season as an NHL full-timer, the 6’0″ lefty has 1-7–8 and a plus-eight rating in 65 games with underwhelming possession numbers and minimal special teams deployment.
  • Fellow rearguard Erik Gudbranson remains close to a return from shoulder surgery but also remains sidelined tonight, Svoboda said. Evason said last week the 33-year-old is on the verge of playing for the first time since October. His and Christiansen’s looming returns should help shore up a Columbus defense that’s allowing 33.6 shots per game since March 1, the worst in the NHL.

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