Western Notes: Scheifele, Vilardi, Dunn, Kovalenko
The Winnipeg Jets could be getting major reinforcements back soon, with the team hopeful that Mark Scheifele will return to the lineup on Friday, per Scott Billeck with the Winnipeg Sun. Billeck also shared that Gabriel Vilardi will remain out on Friday. Vilardi has been out since February 29th with an upper-body injury, missing the team’s last seven games. The extended absence has continued a season of injuries for Vilardi, who has now missed 27 games on the season.
Scheifele missed Winnipeg’s Wednesday night game with illness. He continues to lead the Jets in scoring, with 19 goals and 57 points in 58 games. The Jets simply haven’t been the same team without Scheifele, averaging a measly 1.57 goals-per-game in his absence compared to 3.22 goals-per-game with him in the lineup – leading Winnipeg to a 2-5-0 record without their top forward.
Scheifele’s importance to the Winnipeg roster can’t be understated, placing plenty of weight on his game-time decision ahead of Friday’s matchup. If he can’t go, the Jets will need to rely on one of David Gustafsson or Rasmus Kupari. Gustafsson has been Winnipeg’s de facto fill-in this year, with four points in 31 games, though Kupari’s role as a natural center could earn him a leg-up, even despite his sole assist through 27 games this season.
Other notes from around the league:
- The Seattle Kraken will be without defenseman Vince Dunn for the fourth straight game, per Scott Malone with Root Sports. Dunn has been Seattle’s top defender this year, averaging over 23 minutes of ice time for the second-straight season. Dunn has managed 11 goals and 45 points in 57 games on the season, scoring at nearly the exact same pace as he did last season, when he posted a career-high 14 goals and 64 points in 71 games. Without Dunn, Seattle has promoted top young defender Ryker Evans back into an NHL role. Evans has five assists in 19 games this season – the first games of his NHL career – though he’s still searching for his first career goal. Evans has also managed two goals and 15 points in 25 AHL games this year.
- The Colorado Avalanche could be adding a major boost even after the Trade Deadline, with Russian forward Nikolai Kovalenko reportedly headed to America soon, per Evan Rawal of Colorado Hockey Now, as well as a social media post from Kovalenko’s barber. The Avalanche drafted Kovalenko in the sixth-round of the 2018 NHL Draft, with the winger since emerging as a strong option for the KHL’s Nizhny Novgorod Torpedo. The 24-year-old scored 11 goals and 35 points in 42 KHL games this season, after posting a career-high 21 goals and 54 points in 56 games last season. He will look to carry that same scoring energy onto the high-offense Colorado lineup.
Afternoon Notes: Bennett, Rodrigues, Filppula, Seguin, Penguins
The Florida Panthers’ forward depth will take a major hit on Thursday, as both Sam Bennett (undisclosed) and Evan Rodrigues (lower-body) are set to miss the bout with the Carolina Hurricanes. This will be Rodrigues’ second straight absence after being forced out of the team’s Saturday game early – needing help off the ice after blocking a shot off of his left ankle. Bennett was able to play in the team’s last game, scoring one goal on four shots and playing in his usual role.
The absence of Rodrigues and Bennett leaves a notable hole on Florida’s third line. The pair has been incredibly effective this season, with Rodrigues boasting 10 goals and 36 points in 65 games and Bennett touting 16 goals and 32 points in 54 games. They play in a modest role, averaging around 15 and 16 minutes of ice time respectively, but their ability to produce down the lineup has proven to be crucial to Florida’s success.
Jonah Gadjovich will return to the lineup in their absence, marking his first game since March 5th. The 25-year-old winger is in his third season as an NHL depth forward, scoring two goals and four points in 33 appearances this season. The pair of injuries will also give way to newcomer Kyle Okposo, who is filling Rodrigues’ spot as the third-line right-wing. Okposo failed to record a point in the 10 minutes he played in his Panthers debut, though he did have 12 goals and 22 points in 61 games with the Buffalo Sabres prior to being traded. The 17-year veteran Okposo brings fantastic experience to the Panthers lineup that will likely earn him a spot even after Bennett and Rodrigues return.
Other notes from around the league:
- NHL veteran Valtteri Filppula’s time with Switzerland’s Genève-Servette HC is set to come to an end, with the team sharing that the two sides will part ways at the end of the season. Filppula, now 39, has been in Switzerland’s top league since he left the NHL in 2021-22. He’s since totaled 131 points in 145 games with Genève-Servette. Filppula previously played in 1,056 NHL games across a 16-year career with the Detroit Red Wings, Tampa Bay Lightning, Philadelphia Flyers, and New York Islanders.
- Tyler Seguin is progressing back from a lower-body injury that’s held him out since February 22nd, per Brien Rea of Bally Sports SouthWest. Rea shares that head coach Pete DeBoer said “everything is on the table” as the Stars approach the end of their five-game homestand. Seguin has stayed effective despite injuries and age, scoring 20 goals and 45 points in 58 games this season. It’s his third consecutive season and 10th overall where he’s reached the 20-goal mark – an impressive feat for the 14-year pro.
- The Pittsburgh Penguins are facing troubles straight out of a 1990s sitcom, as a shipment of Jaromir Jagr bobbleheads meant to commemorate the winger’s jersey retirement was stolen in transit. The investigation is currently ongoing, and fans of tonight’s game will receive a voucher for the bobbleheads that can be redeemed at a later date. Penguins President of Business Operation Kevin Acklin told NHL.com, “We were shocked to be a victim of cargo theft… While this unfortunate incident adds to the legend of Jaromir Jagr, who will be in attendance as our guest at tonight’s game, we look forward to resolving this theft and delivering the prized Jagr bobbleheads to their rightful homes, with our fans.”
Injury Notes: Johansen, Eriksson Ek, Jeannot
Ryan Johansen will remain part of the Flyers organization for the rest of the season after there were no takers on the trade or waiver market last week. The Avalanche dumped the underperforming center’s $4MM cap hit through 2025 on Philadephia in last week’s Sean Walker trade, although Flyers GM Daniel Brière has made it clear he doesn’t envision the 2010 fourth-overall pick ever actually dressing for a game in Philly.
That’s partly because Johansen, now on assignment to AHL Lehigh Valley, has been dealing with a nagging hip injury and is being evaluated by team doctors, Kevin Kurz of The Athletic reports. While he was never going to be an on-ice factor for the squad, this still carries a major implication. If he remains injured through this summer’s buyout period, the Flyers cannot execute one on the final year of his contract as many expect them to. That would leave Johansen on the Flyers’ books for all of next season, although they can reduce his cap hit to $2.85MM by leaving him buried in the minors with Lehigh Valley. If the Flyers did buy him out, his cap hit would be $1.33MM for both the Flyers and Predators in 2024-25 and 2025-26, saving each team a considerable amount of space next season.
Nashville is paying the other half of Johansen’s $8MM AAV deal. They retained half his salary when they traded him to Colorado last summer in exchange for the signing rights to Alex Galchenyuk. The Avs hoped Johansen, a five-time 60-point scorer, could recapture his previous form and be a competent second-line center behind Nathan MacKinnon, but the 31-year-old stumbled and managed only 13 goals and 23 points in 63 games with a -6 rating while averaging 13:19 per game, the lowest since his rookie season with the Blue Jackets in 2011-12.
Other injury notes from around the league on Thursday morning:
- The Wild will be without top center Joel Eriksson Ek for Thursday’s game against the Ducks, but head coach John Hynes confirmed he won’t be absent for long as Minnesota battles to hang on in the Western Conference wild-card race (via Michael Russo of The Athletic). The 27-year-old sustained an undisclosed injury in the third period of Tuesday’s game against the Coyotes and did not return and is listed as day-to-day. Minnesota has not placed him on injured reserve, so he’s eligible to return at any time, but he’s still expected to miss a few games. In the third season of an eight-year, $42MM extension, Eriksson Ek is having a career year with 60 points and a +16 rating in 66 games while averaging 20:39 per game, second only to Kirill Kaprizov among Wild skaters.
- Lightning winger Tanner Jeannot remains absent for tonight’s game against the Rangers, head coach Jon Cooper said (via Chris Krenn of the team’s official site). The 26-year-old has only played once since Jan. 6 as he deals with various injuries, and Cooper said Wednesday that he was likely to make his return to the lineup tonight. The team is being extremely cautious with his return, however, not wanting to risk another aggravation of the injury like his last attempted return. As such, he remains on injured reserve and won’t be activated ahead of tonight’s game.
Snapshots: Ho-Sang, Scheifele, Protas
In a noteworthy ECHL transaction, the Florida Everblades announced today they had signed forward Joshua Ho-Sang to a contract. It will mark the first time since the 2021-22 season that Ho-Sang has suited up professionally in North America.
The former 28th overall selection of the 2014 NHL Draft by the New York Islanders, Ho-Sang was never able to put it all together at the NHL level. In 53 games with the New York Islanders, Ho-Sang was hardly used by the team, scoring seven goals and 24 points while averaging just over 15 minutes of ice time per night.
At the AHL level, Ho-Sang’s professional career has been a completely different story altogether. Playing for the Bridgeport Islanders, San Antonio Rampage, and the Toronto Marlies, Ho-Sang is a veteran of 225 AHL games over five years, scoring 46 goals and 158 points overall.
Other snapshots:
- Before the puck dropped in the team’s game tonight against the Nashville Predators, the Winnipeg Jets announced that center Mark Scheifele would be absent from the game due to an illness. In Scheifele’s stead, utility forward Vladislav Namestnikov slid into the center role on the team’s top line. Since his return from injury on February 6th, Scheifele has been the heart and soul of the Jets’ offense, scoring five goals and 16 points in his last 17 games.
- Turning to the east coast of the United States, Sammi Silber of The Hockey News reports forward Aliaksei Protas of the Washington Capitals will miss tonight’s game with a lower-body injury. Signing a shiny new five-year, $16.875MM extension with the team back in January, Protas has come into his own as a playmaker, tallying 23 assists in 62 games for Washington this season.
Tampa Bay Lightning Injury Updates
Earlier this morning, beat writer for the Tampa Bay Lightning, Chris Krenn reported that forward Tanner Jeannot and defenseman Erik Cernak were trending towards playing tomorrow for the Lightning. Outside of defenseman Mikhail Sergachev, the return of Jeannot and Cernak will give Tampa Bay a completed lineup as they look to hold onto their spot in the Eastern Conference wild-card race.
Not only will the Lightning be expecting continued health from Jeannot, but they will also be expecting an improvement in his play. Acquired at last year’s trade deadline from the Nashville Predators for a package including a first-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, Jeannot has certainly not lived up to the lofty price that Tampa Bay had to pay.
Showing an ability to be a bruising forward with a legitimate capability to score goals during his time with the Predators, the Lightning have not received a similar version of that player. In now 62 games spent with Tampa Bay, Jeannot has only mustered a mediocre six goals and 12 points over his tenure.
Now confined to a fourth-line role in Florida, Jeannot will need to do much more than throw hits if the Lightning are planning on being successful in this year’s playoffs. There is an obvious need for physicality come playoff time, but depth scoring will become a tremendous necessity for Tampa Bay moving forward.
On the other side of the injury update, Cernak has been out since the team’s recent game against the Philadelphia Flyers with a lower-body injury. In 53 games for the Lightning this year, Cernak has scored one goal and nine points while averaging over 19 minutes of ice time a night.
Sean Kuraly Out Week-To-Week
Absent from the team’s practice this morning, the Columbus Blue Jackets will not be expecting back Sean Kuraly any time soon. Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reports that Kuraly is considered week-to-week with a lower-body injury.
It is more of the same for Kuraly, who has seemingly dealt with multiple injuries during his tenure in Columbus. Since signing a four-year, $10MM contract with the Blue Jackets back in 2021, Kuraly has suited up in 205 games for Columbus, missing 11% of the time with injury.
When healthy, Kuraly has been good for double-digit totals in both goals and assists, which has provided the Blue Jackets with solid bottom-six scoring. Unfortunately, Columbus has not gotten the most out of their top six over the last two years, as the Blue Jackets have only averaged 2.89 goals per game over the last three years.
Even though Kuraly is rather mediocre in the faceoff dot, he does bring solid defensive awareness to the table, regularly collecting more takeaways than giveaways throughout his career. Furthermore, Kuraly is far and away the most physical player on Columbus’ roster, as he’s led the team in hits in each year he has suited up for the Blue Jackets.
With Kuraly now out of the lineup for the foreseeable future, it will be an opportunity for veteran forward Brendan Gaunce to receive more playing time at the NHL level. In nine games for the Blue Jackets already this season, Gaunce has scored one goal and three points overall, averaging over 10 minutes of ice time per night.
Jonas Siegenthaler Out With Concussion
Already without star defenseman Dougie Hamilton for much of the season, it appears that the New Jersey Devils will be without another member of their defensive top-four for quite some time. Team reporter Amanda Stein relayed that defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler will miss significant time with a concussion.
The injury was undoubtedly suffered in the team’s Monday night game against the New York Rangers when Siegenthaler took an elbow to the head from Rangers’ forward Matt Rempe. The conduct was so severe that the Department of Player Safety deemed the action worthy of a four-game suspension for Rempe.
Nevertheless, it has now become clear that Siegenthaler will miss the next several weeks in concussion protocol, and the team may even opt to keep him out of the lineup for the remainder of the season. As the Devils continue to move further and further out of the Eastern Conference playoff race, Siegenthaler may benefit from taking the rest of the year off to make sure he is completely healthy enough to return.
It will not be the first major injury of the year sustained by Siegenthaler, who is in the first year of a five-year, $17MM extension signed with New Jersey last year. In early January, in a game against the Vancouver Canucks, Siegenthaler broke his foot which kept him out of the lineup for six weeks.
If Monday night’s game was the last of the year for Siegenthaler, he still put together a quality season for the Devils. In 49 games played, Siegenthaler scored one goal and nine points, putting up 79 blocked shots and 69 hits, as well.
Injury Notes: Avalanche, Bruins, Marino
The Avalanche will again be without forwards Artturi Lehkonen and Zach Parise against the Canucks on Wednesday, head coach Jared Bednar said on 92.5 FM Altitude Sports Radio (via Evan Rawal of Colorado Hockey Now). Bednar did not rule either player out for the following contest, a Saturday game in Edmonton, although he did not confirm either would be ready to return by then either.
Without two players who have spent extended time in Colorado’s top six, recent trade pickup Brandon Duhaime will continue to get a tryout on their new-look second line alongside Jonathan Drouin and Casey Mittelstadt in Vancouver. The 26-year-old grinder has averaged only 10:40 per game this season across 64 games with the Avalanche and Wild, recording four goals and nine points.
Lehkonen, 28, is listed as day to day with an illness and will miss his second straight game after sitting out Tuesday’s 6-2 drubbing of the Flames. That, plus a neck injury, has limited him to 30 games on the season, although that hasn’t stopped him from putting together another strong campaign with 22 points and a +7 rating while averaging 18:54 per game.
The 39-year-old Parise has been a solid free-agent pickup for the Avs since signing in late January. He has four goals and seven points through 15 games while logging 14:14 a night. He hasn’t played since sustaining a lower-body injury against the Red Wings a week ago and will miss his third straight game.
Other updates from around the league:
- The Bruins could be without defenseman Matt Grzelcyk and winger James van Riemsdyk due to illness against the Canadiens on Thursday, head coach Jim Montgomery said (via Ty Anderson of 98.5 FM The Sports Hub). Grzelcyk has already been ruled out, while van Riemsdyk is a possibility. The latter’s absence at Wednesday’s practice necessitated the emergency recall of 2019 first-round pick John Beecher from AHL Providence for the second time in three days. Grzlecyk’s absence paves the way for Andrew Peeke, acquired Friday from the Blue Jackets for Jakub Zbořil and a 2027 third-round pick, to make his Boston debut on the third pairing alongside Parker Wotherspoon.
- The Devils have downgraded John Marino to questionable for Thursday’s game against the Stars after determining he sustained an upper-body injury, interim head coach Travis Green said (via Amanda Stein of the team’s official site). A team spokesperson told reporters earlier Wednesday that Marino, who did not participate in practice, was absent for maintenance. As such, Santeri Hatakka will likely play in Marino’s place after being recalled from AHL Utica on Wednesday under emergency conditions. Marino is listed as day-to-day.
Injury Notes: Dunn, Parise, Hayton
Earlier this morning, Scott Malone of Roots Sports reported that Seattle Kraken defenseman Vince Dunn was back on the ice for practice in a non-contact jersey. Although he will not be back in the lineup tonight against the Vegas Golden Knights, it is a positive sign for the Kraken that Dunn is progressing from his injury.
Dunn has been out of the lineup for about a week after getting hit from behind by Martin Pospisil of the Calgary Flames. Pospisil received a three-game suspension for the incident, and Seattle head coach Dave Hakstol has been tight-lipped about Dunn’s future return.
When healthy, Dunn has once again been the best defenseman on the ice for the Kraken, leading all fellow blueliners in points. Suiting up in 57 games for Seattle this year, scoring 11 goals and 45 points, with 16 of those points coming on the team’s powerplay.
Other injury notes:
- After leaving last week’s game against the Detroit Red Wings with a lower-body injury, Zach Parise was back on the ice this morning with the Colorado Avalanche in a non-contact jersey (X Link). In his final attempt to lift the Stanley Cup, Parise has been productive for the Avalanche after signing a one-year, $825K contract with the team back in January. In 15 games for Colorado, Parise has scored four goals and seven points in total, averaging just over 14 minutes of ice time a night.
- The Arizona Coyotes will be without center Barrett Hayton tonight, as Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports reports he is considered day-to-day with a lower-body injury. It has been a slow recovery for Hayton after coming back from an upper-body injury suffered in December, scoring one goal and six points in 17 games since the start of February.
Snapshots: Rempe, Canucks, Rodrigues
Bruising forward for the New York Rangers, Matt Rempe has been suspended four games for elbowing by the Department of Player Safety, according to an announcement. It will mark the first time that Rempe has been suspended in the NHL throughout his career, as he has only played in a total of 10 games for the Rangers up to this point.
During the play in question, towards the end of the second period in New York’s Monday night game against the New Jersey Devils, Rempe attempted to drive Devils’ defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler into the boards near the penalty box, and his elbow came into contact with Siegenthaler’s head. Rempe was assessed an elbowing and game misconduct on the play by the game’s on-ice officials.
This morning, Rempe did partake in a phone hearing with the Department of Player Safety, which would have ultimately ended up in a maximum of a five-game suspension. With this suspension, Rempe will continue to add to his reputation as a modern-day enforcer, as he has also racked up a total of 54 penalty minutes in his young career.
Other snapshots:
- Getting down to business in the front office, the Vancouver Canucks announce they have extended and promoted Ryan Johnson to Assistant General Manager. Johnson will retain his role as General Manager of the Abbotsford Canucks, but he was previously serving as Special Assistant to the General Manager at the NHL level. In the same announcement, the team has also extended Cammi Granato and Émilie Castonguay in their current roles as Assistant General Managers.
- Senior Digital Content Manager for the Florida Panthers, Jameson Olive, reports that forward Evan Rodrigues will miss tonight’s game with an undisclosed injury. It will be Rodrigues’ first missed game of the 2023-24 NHL season as he has found new life in his current role with the Panthers. Signing with the organization as an unrestricted free agent last offseason, Rodrigues has scored 10 goals and 36 points in 65 games for Florida this year.