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Injury

Minnesota Wild Place Brandon Duhaime On Injured Reserve

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The Minnesota Wild have placed Brandon Duhaime on injured reserve, according to CapFriendly. Duhaime has missed the team’s last game with an upper-body injury and did not travel on their current road trip, meaning he’ll miss at least three more games.

Entering his second NHL season, Duhaime had scored twice and added an assist through his first 10 games in 2022-23. Averaging just 9:01 per game, Duhaime is reprising his fourth-line role and continues to provide a solid energy boost to the Wild.

Duhaime was injured in a November 1 win against the Montreal Canadiens. With his IR placement retroactive to that date, he is technically eligible to be activated at any time.

His IR placement allows the Wild to convert Adam Beckman’s emergency recall into a spot on the NHL roster in earnest, as the Wild technically had 24 (out of 23 maximum) players on the active roster. Duhaime joins Ryan Hartman and Marcus Foligno on the team’s injured list.

Three Columbus Blue Jackets Injured, Brendan Gaunce Recalled

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The Columbus Blue Jackets announced a flurry of injury updates today, according to The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline. Forward Jakub Voracek is out indefinitely with an upper-body injury, Sean Kuraly is day-to-day with an upper-body injury, and Patrik Laine is day-to-day with an illness. Forward Brendan Gaunce was also recalled from the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters, per a team release.

Voracek missed the second game of Columbus’ Global Series matchups in Finland last week with the injury. It’s a huge blow to their depth scoring if he’s out long-term, as he was tied for second in scoring on the team with six points in 11 games.

Kuraly sustained his upper-body injury in the second Global Series game, leaving in the second period after playing 8:09. He had two goals and two assists through 12 games and was tied for the worst +/- rating on the team (-8).

Laine’s illness is hopefully short-term, as he’s only been present for half of the Blue Jackets’ season thus far with an elbow injury. The Finnish winger has scored twice and is averaging nearly 20 minutes a game.

Gaunce ends up on the active roster as the only healthy extra. The AHL veteran was off to a hot start in Cleveland, registering 11 points through 10 games.

Jonathan Huberdeau Out Day-To-Day

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As announced by the team Tuesday evening, Calgary Flames forward Jonathan Huberdeau is sidelined day-to-day with an upper-body injury.

It’s unclear when Huberdeau suffered the injury. He played 16:14 last night against the New York Islanders, skating for the entire game. The 29-year-old left wing has just one assist in his last five games, and he has just six points in 11 games in his first season with the Flames. Last season, Huberdeau led the league in assists with 85 and finished fifth in Hart Trophy voting.

It’s also unclear what line shuffling head coach Darryl Sutter will do ahead of tonight’s game against New Jersey, but Adam Ruzicka will likely draw into the lineup in place of Huberdeau. The 23-year-old Slovak is the only extra forward on the roster and has one NHL appearance this season, coming last week against Seattle.

Any redemption game from Huberdeau will have to wait. The Flames, however, need a redemption game in a big way tonight, as they try to avoid dropping to .500 on the season against the Devils. The team is on a five-game losing streak after a 5-1-0 start to the campaign.

Conor Timmins Sent To AHL On Conditioning Stint

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After last playing on October 15, stepping right into an NHL game would have been a challenge for Arizona Coyotes defenseman Conor Timmins. Instead, he’ll get a chance to tune up his game in the minor leagues. The Coyotes have loaned Timmins to the Tucson Roadrunners on a conditioning stint, allowing him to get into some game action at the lower level before making his return.

Timmins, 24, has unfortunately dealt with injuries nearly since the moment he was selected 32nd overall by the Colorado Avalanche in 2017. After playing just 36 regular season games in his post-draft season because of an injured ankle, he missed the entire 2018-19 campaign due to concussion issues. Arriving in Arizona as part of the Darcy Kuemper trade, he blew out his knee six games into 2021-22 and was absent the rest of the season.

Now he has already missed nine games for the Coyotes this year and managed only six shifts in one of the two games he did suit up in. For a player that once had sky-high potential and expectations, it’s difficult to know what will become of Timmins. Still looking for his first NHL goal and having only played in 99 total games since the end of the 2017-18 season, it has been a hard road.

Hopefully, after this latest injury is resolved, he can become a regular in the Arizona lineup and put together a relatively healthy campaign. The conditioning loan to the minor leagues will be limited and he should be up after just a few outings.

Valeri Nichushkin Undergoes Ankle Surgery

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The Colorado Avalanche will be without some key players for the next little while, according to head coach Jared Bednar. As Peter Baugh of The Athletic tweets from Bednar’s media availability today, Valeri Nichushkin underwent ankle surgery and will be out a month, while Bowen Byram is week-to-week with a lower-body injury. Samuel Girard, who is also missing, is listed as day-to-day.

Nichushkin, who was signed to an eight-year, $49MM extension this offseason, has turned into a legitimate star in the league over the last year. After some strong defensive results in his first two seasons with the Avalanche, his offense spiked in 2021-22 to tally 25 goals and 52 points in 62 games. Even more effective in the team’s Stanley Cup championship run, he came back this season further improved.

Through seven games, Nichushkin had seven goals and 12 points, while playing more than 20 minutes a game thanks to his excellent defensive contributions. Bednar could put him on the ice in basically any situation and without Gabriel Landeskog to start the year, he was the third musketeer with Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen. Despite now missing four games, Nichushkin still sits fourth in Colorado scoring, only behind those two and Cale Makar. His seven goals are still tied for the team lead.

Now, the team has to move forward without the big Russian forward, for at least another month’s worth of games. Losing Byram as well who was logging nearly 21 minutes a night is another tough blow.

The 21-year-old defenseman seemed completely recovered from the concussion issues that plagued his early career, and was contributing in all situations for the Avalanche. Not only was Byram part of the three-defenseman powerplay that the team was using but he was even taking shifts on the penalty kill and had a shorthanded goal. Turning into a legitimate force, another stretch out of the lineup due to injury is poor timing for the young defenseman. Not only will he take some time to get back up to speed but this is Byram’s platform year, with restricted free agency scheduled for next summer. Missing games will hurt his negotiation, though he will not be arbitration eligible and thus doesn’t have a ton of leverage anyway.

The Avalanche are back in action Thursday evening against the Nashville Predators, the first of a three-game homestand.

Detroit Red Wings Issue Injury Updates

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The Detroit Red Wings have issued an official update on Filip Zadina’s timeline, after suffering a lower-body injury a few days ago. The young forward will miss six to eight weeks, pausing what had already been a disappointing start to the season. Head coach Derek Lalonde also announced that Tyler Bertuzzi and Jake Walman will be out another seven to ten days, while Oskar Sundqvist is listed as day-to-day but should play on Thursday.

Zadina, 22, had gone completely scoreless through nine games before suffering the injury, recording just 12 shots on goal. That has been a common theme in his young career, which has resulted in just 25 goals and 61 points through 169 games. Selected sixth overall in 2018 there was so much more expected of the Czech forward, especially when he put up 16 goals as a teenage rookie in the AHL. But scoring has been inconsistent for him in the NHL and now he’ll miss the better part of two months when the team is finally competitive.

If there is a silver lining for Zadina, it’s that he already signed a three-year, $5.475MM contract this summer that locked him in through 2024-25. The Red Wings have enough cap space this year that it doesn’t really matter if he underperforms that $1.825MM cap hit but that won’t always be the case. With Bertuzzi, Dylan Larkin and others scheduled for unrestricted free agency and in need of big extensions, the money in Detroit will be counted a little more closely moving forward.

Hopefully, this time off can give him a bit of a reset and he’ll come back in a better place, but there will be other players stepping up in his absence. It’s not clear what kind of role will be left for him on his return, especially given how little he was playing before the injury happened.

Alex Alexeyev Recalled From AHL Conditioning Loan

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Nov 8: Alexeyev has been recalled from his loan but has not been activated from long-term injured reserve. It is still not clear when he will return to NHL action.

Oct 28: The Hershey Bears are getting a little boost for the next few games, as Alexander Alexeyev has been assigned there on a long-term injury conditioning loan by the Washington Capitals. That means Alexeyev can play a handful of games without having to clear waivers, as he continues to work his way back from offseason shoulder surgery.

A loan of this type is normally for three games (or six days) but can be extended for an additional two depending on how he responds. To be loaned, he doesn’t need to clear waivers, though it did require them to move him from season-opening IR to LTIR. That placement is retroactive to October 11, meaning he shouldn’t have an issue being activated once he’s ready.

What it does mean, however, is that Alexeyev is nearing a return. The Capitals will have a decision to make at that point, as he cannot be assigned to the AHL on a full-time basis without first clearing waivers. With no other waiver-exempt defensemen on the NHL roster, it will mean risking someone to the rest of the league.

Still, there is a lot to be excited about when it comes to the 22-year-old Russian. Alexeyev was a first-round pick in 2018 and made his NHL debut last season, playing just ten minutes. If he can take a step forward and deliver on some of the promise that made him such a highly regarded prospect, the Capitals will have another piece to build around on the back end.

Currently, John Carlson is the only defenseman on the team signed past this season, with Dmitry Orlov, Nick Jensen, Trevor van Riemsdyk, Erik Gustafsson, and Matt Irwin all scheduled for unrestricted free agency. If Alexeyev is ever going to secure an NHL spot, there’s no better time than now.

New Jersey Devils Provide Injury Updates

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It’s not great news for New Jersey Devils fans, even if the team is doing well at the moment. Mackenzie Blackwood will be out for three to six weeks with the MCL sprain he recently suffered and, according to team reporter Amanda Stein, Ondrej Palat will miss eight to ten weeks following groin surgery.

While head coach Lindy Ruff did joke that Palat would disagree with that timeline, it’s still a long period to be without your top free agent signing. Palat was supposed to come in and show the Devils how to play like champions and will now miss more than two months with a serious injury. The 31-year-old signed a five-year, $30MM contract with the Devils and makes a whopping $8.25MM this season. He scored three goals before going down.

Luckily the Devils are one of the hottest teams in the league right now, on a six-game winning streak and now 9-1 in their last ten. After a shaky start they have been getting outstanding goaltending, something that will now have to continue with Vitek Vanecek carrying the load. Akira Schmid is up as well to fill in for the absent Blackwood, but Devils fans won’t want to go down that road again.

Because of injuries, New Jersey was forced to ice seven different netminders last season, with Nico Daws actually tying Blackwood for the most appearances. With so much turnover no one was able to perform very well and the team had an .886 save percentage overall. It is vital that Vanecek, who has a .940 over his last five starts (all wins), stays healthy for the next stretch or things could quickly derail for the Metropolitan-leading club.

Snapshots: Three Stars, Blackwood, Ristolainen

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The NHL released its Three Stars for last week, with three Western Conference superstars making the cut. Jason Robertson is on top after scoring four goals and eight points in three games. After missing training camp, Robertson has picked up right where he left off last season and now has eight goals and 18 points in 12 games.

Second and third went to Nathan MacKinnon and Erik Karlsson, who each had their own impressive weeks. The Colorado Avalanche center had seven assists in the two games overseas, both wins in Finland, to become the league’s all-time scoring leader in games played outside of North America. Karlsson meanwhile had four goals and eight points in three games including a hat trick and has already matched his goal total from last year (ten) in just 14 games.

  • Mackenzie Blackwood has been diagnosed with an MCL sprain, and will meet with doctors tomorrow for further evaluation according to New Jersey Devils team reporter Amanda Stein. Blackwood left a game against the Edmonton Oilers on November 3, leaving the Devils with Vitek Vanecek and Akira Schmid as their tandem for the time being.
  • After being scratched on the weekend, some wondered whether Rasmus Ristolainen was still dealing with the effects of his previous injury. Philadelphia Flyers head coach John Tortorella told reporters including Giana Han of the Philadelphia Inquirer that Ristolainen’s injury isn’t the issue and that “everything about his game needs to be better” when he gets back into the lineup.

Josh Norris Will Not Require Surgery

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After seeing five different doctors and two specialists, it has been determined that Josh Norris will not require shoulder surgery, according to Ottawa Senators general manager Pierre Dorion. As Claire Hanna of TSN relays, Dorion noted today that the team will know more in the New Year about a potential return this season.

Norris, 23, has had shoulder injuries before, including one in 2019 that essentially ended his college career. Dorion explained that this is a different injury entirely than the ones he has dealt with before, and for now he will just rehab.

While that technically qualifies as good news, it’s still a brutal outcome for the young center who is coming off an outstanding 35-goal season. He did that in just 66 games, one of the best per-game scoring rates in the NHL, ahead of players like Jake Guentzel, Steven Stamkos, Matthew Tkachuk, and Alex DeBrincat. Building on that was a big part of why so many people were bullish on the Senators this offseason, and his absence has been one of the main reasons why they have disappointed.

Norris managed just five games and two points. With no clear timeline on when he can return, this may end up being a wasted season for the young forward and one that potentially hinders his long-term development. That would be a worst-case scenario for the Senators, who committed eight years and $63.6MM to him in the offseason. That $7.95MM cap hit makes him the 38th most expensive forward in the league this season, only a touch below Senators captain Brady Tkachuk.

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