Injury Notes: Faulk, Kleven, Salomonsson
Despite picking up a crucial two points last night against the Philadelphia Flyers, the Detroit Red Wings are heading to New York with some injury concerns. Before the beginning of the third period, the Red Wings announced that recent deadline acquisition, defenseman Justin Faulk, left the game due to a lower-body injury.
Obviously, Detroit didn’t have too much information regarding Faulk’s injury immediately after the game. The team is expected to run Faulk through some tests today, and they should have further clarification ahead of tomorrow’s contest against the New York Rangers.
Before the injury, it seemed Faulk struggled to adapt to the Red Wings. In 12 games, the 34-year-old veteran had scored one goal and three points with a -5 rating, averaging just under 20 minutes of ice time. Additionally, his 43.3% CorsiFor at even strength indicates he has been a significant non-factor for Detroit when on the ice. Still, the Red Wings gave up a pretty penny to acquire his services at the deadline, and they’ll need all the help they can get to break their 10-year playoff drought over their next seven games.
Additional injury notes:
- Staying in the Atlantic Division, the Ottawa Senators are dealing with yet another injury to their defensive corps. The team is already without Thomas Chabot, Dennis Gilbert, Nick Jensen, Jake Sanderson, and Carter Yakemchuk. In last night’s game against the Buffalo Sabres, after taking a puck to the face, the Senators shared that Tyler Kleven left the game with an injury, and the team isn’t expecting good news regarding his near-future availability. For their next contest, unless a call-up is made, the only left-handed player who can play defense for Ottawa is Kurtis MacDermid.
- Faulk and Kleven weren’t the only defensemen injured last night. The Winnipeg Jets announced that Elias Salomonsson left the game due to an upper-body injury after being on the receiving end of a reverse hit by Dallas Stars forward Jason Robertson. It’s been confirmed that Salomonsson has entered concussion protocol, so there’s a strong likelihood that his season is over.
Devils’ Arseny Gritsyuk Done For Season
According to a team announcement, New Jersey Devils forward Arseny Gritsyuk will miss the remainder of the 2025-26 season due to surgery. The Devils didn’t specify the type of surgery Gritsyuk underwent, but it’s believed it’s related to a recent upper-body injury.
Gritsyuk, 25, hasn’t played for New Jersey in several days. His last game with the team, and now confirmed to be his last game of the season, was on March 24th against the Dallas Stars, in which Gritsyuk tallied an assist on a Connor Brown goal.
All in all, it was a solid campaign for the first-year Russian. One year after scoring 17 goals and 44 points in 49 games for the KHL’s SKA St. Petersburg, Gritsyuk wraps up his rookie season with 13 goals and 31 points in 66 games with a -3 rating.
Although the top-heavy Devils are led by the likes of Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt, and Nico Hischier, Gritsyuk became a solid secondary scorer for the club. Although he may be usurped in New Jersey’s seven remaining games (after tonight), Gritsyuk will likely finish seventh among Devils forwards in scoring.
Furthermore, he proved to be a valuable asset for New Jersey in terms of maintaining possession of the puck. At the time of writing, Gritsyuk is first on the Devils in CorsiFor at even strength with a 58.8%, almost a full percent higher than Bratt. Furthermore, among the 14 Devils that have played in more than 700 minutes for the team this season, Gritsyk ranked second with a 51.9% xGoals%, according to MoneyPuck.
Unfortunately, his solid introduction into the NHL has left New Jersey in a tricky spot with Gritsyuk for the offseason. He is a pending restricted free agent with arbitration rights, as his one-year, $925K contract expires on July 1. Given that the Devils don’t have a lot of money coming off the books this summer, they’ll likely need to make a move to sign Gritsyuk to a multi-year deal.
The team had been attempting to move Dougie Hamilton for much of the regular season, and will likely revisit that this summer. If they manage to clear his entire $9MM cap hit off the books, the Devils should have no issues keeping Gritsyuk around. However, if they’re unable to, he may become an impromptu non-tender candidate, giving New Jersey additional breathing room moving forward.
Sabres’ Sam Carrick Out Week-To-Week
Buffalo Sabres forward Sam Carrick will miss several games after squaring off against the captain of the New York Islanders, Anders Lee, the other night. According to Paul Hamilton of WGR Sports Radio, Carrick will miss the next few weeks due to the arm injury, but hasn’t been ruled out for the rest of the regular season.
Before exiting Tuesday’s contest against the Islanders, Carrick had an otherwise strong start to his tenure in Buffalo. The Sabres acquired the fourth-line forward at the trade deadline from the New York Rangers for a 2026 third-round pick and a 2026 sixth-round pick.
In his 13 games with the Sabres, Carrick had registered five goals. Playing with the Rangers, Carrick had scored only four goals in 60 games. Additionally, his 51.0% CorsiFor at even strength, albeit in a small handful of games, shows that he’s mixed in quite well with Buffalo’s offensive strategies.
Unfortunately, there’s a very real chance he won’t manage to expand on those totals. In two weeks, the Sabres’ regular season will be over, and the team will be preparing for its first playoff run since the 2011 Stanley Cup playoffs. If he returns after next week, Buffalo will only have the Chicago Blackhawks and Dallas Stars left to play.
Still, with all respect to Carrick, it won’t be a difficult void for the Sabres to fill. Although they are dealing with a few additional injuries to their forward corps, the team has plenty of depth to fill out the fourth line. Tonight, Buffalo is using Joshua Dunne in Carrick’s place, who has scored one goal and four points in 31 contests this season.
Panthers Assessing Injuries To Aaron Ekblad, Dmitry Kulikov
The Florida Panthers have even more injuries to sort through after Tuesday night’s win over the Ottawa Senators. Defensemen Aaron Ekblad and Dmitry Kulikov were both injured in the matchup. Ekblad sustained a broken finger after blocking a shot with his right-hand, while Kulikov sustained a broken nose after a puck deflected into his face per George Richard of Florida Hockey Now. Ekblad will be reassessed in 10 days – just three days before the end of Florida’s season – while Kulikov may only need to miss Thursday night’s game against the Boston Bruins, head coach Paul Maurice told Richard.
Ekblad could join a long list of Panthers stars declared out for the rest of the season. Florida’s list of injuries includes Aleksander Barkov, Brad Marchand, and Niko Mikkola – all set to miss the final eight games of the season. Ekblad has filled a heavy role in the wake of their injuries, averaging more than 22 minutes of ice time each night through 15 games in March. He scored five points and a plus-four in those minutes, helping the Panthers piece together a 6-9-0 record despite their heap of star absences.
Ekblad has been one of Florida’s few consistent lineup pieces this season, so far only missing two games to injury. But that consistency didn’t help him avoid the down year that hit many Panthers. Ekblad has racked up just 26 points and a minus-five in 72 games this season. That is the second-lowest scoring pace (0.36) of Ekblad’s 12-year career in the NHL, behind the 2023-24 campaign that saw him score 18 points in 51 games (0.35). The 29 year old still filled a crucial role on the Panthers blue-line all season long and should continue to hold a core role, even if his season ends with Tuesday’s game.
Kulikov has been much more limited this season. He has only appeared in 17 games on the year thanks to a hip injury that required surgery, and a five-month absence, sustained in Florida’s second game of the season. He was out of the lineup from October 10th to March 1st. Kulikov hasn’t managed any scoring in his few games this season, to go with a minus-five and eight penalty minutes. He has two years remaining on his four-year, $4.6MM contract signed with Florida in 2024. That should help ensure that Kulikov has a chance to return to his bottom-pair role with some more consistency next season. He will face lineup pressure from Donovan Sebrango, who scored four points in 32 games while helping to fill-in for Kulikov’s absence. Sebrango also left Tuesday’s game early due to injury but is expected to be okay, per Richard.
Florida sits well outside of a playoff spot with only a few games left on their schedule. Their disastrous season continues to face blows in the form of star injuries. Kulikov is expected to begin playing through his injury as soon as Saturday. He will be a part of a handicapped Panthers lineup attempting to pull together a few more wins before the year comes to an end.
Golden Knights To Activate Carter Hart From LTIR
The Vegas Golden Knights are expected to activate goaltender Carter Hart off of long-term injured reserve, and award him the start in Thursday night’s game against the Calgary Flames, per Danny Webster of the Las Vegas Review Journal. Hart has sat out of the last 33 games due to an extended lower-body injury sustained on January 8th.
Hart signed a two-year contract with Vegas in October and returned to NHL ice in early-December. He went on to appear in 12 games with the Golden Knights over the next month, posting six wins and a .871 save percentage in the process. Vegas deployed Hart as their starting goaltender through that month, defaulting Akira Schmid to the backup role while Adin Hill worked his way back from a multi-month leg injury. Hill returned to the lineup one week after Hart’s injury.
Vegas has turned towards Hill and Schmid to fill their goaltending room in the near-three months since Hart went down. Hill has carried the bulk of the weight, recording nine wins, one shutout, and a .865 save percentage in 21 games since returning to the lineup. Schmid has recorded four wins and a .889 save percentage in 12 games. Carl Lindbom also stepped into one game – an 18-save win – after Hart’s injury.
With Hart’s return, freshly-cristened Vegas head coach John Tortorella will now have to juggle three goalies at the NHL level. He could have some favor for Hart, who he coached on the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons. Those campaigns stand as some of Hart’s best. He tallied 22 wins and a .907 save percentage in 55 games of 2022-23, and 12 wins and a .906 save percentage in 26 games of 2023-24. His only season with more wins and a higher save percentage came in his breakout 2019-20 season, when Hart tallied 24 wins and a .914 save percentage in 43 games.
A familiar face behind the bench could help Hart turn a disastrous season – marked by court cases, a slow return, and injury – into a positive swing when Vegas needs it most. The Golden Knights ranked in the middle of the league – 17th, to be exact – in goals-against per-game over the month of March. That is despite the team also facing the second-fewest shots-against in the same span. Those struggles led to the firing of Stanley Cup-winning head coach Bruce Cassidy and a turn towards the experienced Tortorella. Now, Vegas will test if they hve found the goaltending needed to hang onto their third-place spot in the Pacific Division, through a trio of Hart, Hill, and Schmid.
Injury Notes: Moore, Mangiapane, Hagel
Chicago Blackhawks head coach Jeff Blashill told reporters, including Scott Powers of The Athletic, that young forward Oliver Moore could make a late season return, but it’s also possible his season has ended. Needless to say, it’s uncertain at this time.
Moore suffered an undisclosed injury in early March, leaving against Dallas and not playing since. In the dreary closing games of the campaign for the 31st-ranked Hawks, bringing the explosive skater back into the lineup would bring some excitement. However, Chicago has no reason to rush their top prospect back.
The 21-year-old has recorded 19 points in 51 games this year, a successful first true NHL campaign. His 48% expected goals share is laudable for any young forward on a team less often in the win column. It’s a nice foundation to build off of in 2026-27.
Even if the 19th overall selection (2023) doesn’t eventually blossom into a true top six forward, he has the perfect skill set to be a force in the middle six. Such are the exact type of players Chicago needs to cap off their rebuild.
Elsewhere across the league:
- Also in the Windy City, Andrew Mangiapane is traveling with the team, noted by Powers. He won’t get to carry a chip on his shoulder to the ice in Edmonton, but could appear later in the road trip. Since coming over from the Oilers, Mangiapane has two points in seven games as he looks to rebuild his stock. His possession metrics have dipped even further as a Blackhawk, down to 43.6% corsi for at five-on-five, but that’s expected on the non-playoff team. If the 29-year-old is to restore his old high scoring ways, it’ll have to be by earning a larger role and getting power play time alongside Connor Bedard. So far Mangiapane is averaging 12:23 a night in Chicago, essentially the same as was in Edmonton.
- Tampa Bay’s Brandon Hagel is day-to-day and it’s unlikely he’ll appear tomorrow against Pittsburgh, per Diandra Loux of The Hockey News. The 27-year-old former sixth round selection continues to flourish with the Lightning, putting up 73 points in 69 games this season as the Bolts’ third leading scorer. It’ll be beneficial for the Penguins who are more in need of points than their opponents. Hagel should return far in time for the playoffs, as soon as Saturday against Boston. His club is currently fifth in the league, looking to end their three year first round exit streak.
San Jose Sharks Activate Ty Dellandrea
The San Jose Sharks announced that they’ve activated forward Ty Dellandrea from the injured reserve. Without a corresponding roster move, the Sharks will have 25 players on the active roster, 16 of whom are forwards.
Dellandrea, 25, has missed nearly two full months of action. On January 6th, in a game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, Dellandrea collided with a goal post and subsequently tore his posterior cruciate ligament (PCL). Although he managed to avoid surgery, his extensive recovery process cost him 30 games of the regular season.
Before the injury, Dellandrea was having a relatively solid season. In 42 games this year, his second in San Jose, Dellandrea registered two goals and 11 points with a -15 rating, averaging 14:24 of ice time per game. Still, he remains looking to recapture his form from a few years ago, when he scored nine goals and 28 points in 82 games with the Dallas Stars while averaging a similar ATOI.
However, if he had remained healthy, Dellandrea would have gotten fairly close to those totals. Even as a third-line forward, the Sharks still view Dellandrea as a part of the near future, as they made him one of seven forwards on the team to be signed through the 2027-28 season.
It’ll be interesting to see how Dellandrea’s role on the Sharks changes throughout his upcoming contract. San Jose has a glut of young forwards knocking on the door, and cuts will have to be made to make room. Still, with many veteran forwards playing on one to two-year deals, Dellandrea’s spot on the roster should be safe for now.
Panthers Recall Tobias Bjornfot, Mikulas Hovorka
The Florida Panthers need more depth with two additional defensemen out with injury. According to George Richards of Florida Hockey Now, the Panthers have recalled Tobias Björnfot and Mikulas Hovorka from the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers. Florida later confirmed the transaction.
It’s expected that both defensemen will be in the lineup tomorrow against the Boston Bruins. In the same report, Richards shared that Aaron Ekblad, who is dealing with a hand injury after blocking a shot, and Dmitry Kulikov, who took a puck off the face, are both being held out.
That will leave Seth Jones and Gustav Forsling as the only two defensemen who played on opening night this season to be in Florida’s lineup tomorrow. That’s without factoring in the multiple injuries to the forward corps, as the Panthers are also expected to be without Aleksander Barkov, Brad Marchand, Jonah Gadjovich, Evan Rodrigues, Sam Reinhart, and Anton Lundell.
It’s been the overarching theme of the 2025-26 season for Florida. Injuries have prevented the Panthers from achieving any success this year and will also prevent the team from defending their back-to-back Stanley Cup championships.
At any rate, it allows a pair of defensemen who haven’t played much for the team this season. Björnfot, 24, has scored two goals and one assist in 11 games for the Panthers this season, averaging 11:33 of ice time per night. Meanwhile, Hovorka, 24, has only one game of NHL experience under his belt, skating for 11:27 against the Tampa Bay Lightning on February 5th.
Latest On Cale Makar
4/1/26: Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar addressed Makar’s status Wednesday morning, telling Altitude Sports that Makar is going to “miss some time here” but that the injury overall is “nothing serious.” Bednar stressed that the team is prioritizing ensuring Makar is 100% ready for the team’s playoff run when it comes to his recovery.
Reading between the lines, it appears the club is unwilling to risk rushing Makar back into the lineup when the team is already the likely Presidents’ Trophy winner, and the only thing at stake left for Makar this season is competing for a third Norris Trophy.
3/31/26: Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar has suffered an upper-body injury and is set to miss some time, reports ESPN’s Emily Kaplan. According to Kaplan, Makar’s injury is “not believed to be long term” but the team is still evaluating his recovery timeline. The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun reported that Makar will “likely miss a few games in order to get him to 100 percent before the playoffs.”
Makar’s injury has implications both for the Avalanche and rival teams. For Colorado, they are forced to play at least the next few games without their top defenseman. Not only is Makar the Avalanche’s top blueliner, but he’s widely considered to be one of, if not the best defenseman in the world.
The 27-year-old is a two-time Norris Trophy winner and has also won the Conn Smythe Trophy. His 2025-26 season has been strong, as he has 75 points in 73 games, marking his fifth consecutive campaign scoring above a point-per-game rate. While the uncharacteristic struggles of the Avalanche power play have lowered his scoring rate from last season, he’s still among the league’s highest-scoring defensemen.
Makar plays a massive role for the Avalanche, as one might expect, averaging nearly 25 minutes of ice time per game, including 4:10 on the power play and 1:58 per game short-handed. The Avalanche will need to find a way to replace those minutes while Makar is absent. It’s likely Devon Toews will play an even greater role with Makar absent, while veteran Brent Burns could get a turn on the top power play unit.
Beyond Colorado, this news has implications for other teams, namely those with defensemen vying for the Norris Trophy. Earlier this month, Makar tied with Columbus Blue Jackets star Zach Werenski in votes for the Norris Trophy in the anonymous poll of PHWA voters conducted by ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski. Given Werenski and Makar appear to be neck-and-neck for the Norris Trophy this season (Werenski finished No. 2 in voting behind Makar last year), Makar’s injury could end up being the factor that separates the two.
The injury is likely to cost Makar a few games, and those few games missed could cost him the chance to surpass Werenski in scoring. Consequently, this injury could be the difference-maker that allows the Blue Jackets defenseman to secure his first Norris Trophy. Of course, there are still a little over two weeks of games to be played, so there is room for things to change. But based on the way things have been tracking, this injury could be significant from an end-of-year awards perspective.
Injury Notes: Rust, Holmstrom, Wright
Bryan Rust of the Penguins is out tonight against Detroit with a lower-body injury, shared by the team right before puck drop. It’s unexpected considering that he played a full game last night against the Islanders, putting up two points. In his place, Avery Hayes comes into a game with both the Penguins and Red Wings desperate to pick up two points with playoff spots up for grabs.
The 33-year-old took a maintenance day last Saturday, but he’s mostly been healthy this year. Rust is having one of his best seasons, with 61 points in 67 games, good for second best on the team. He is closing in on his career best of 65, set last year, also playing the most throughout his 12-year career, averaging over 20 minutes a night for the first time.
Hayes, a 23-year-old undrafted rookie, by no means will match Rust’s speed and skill, but the fellow Michigan native has made a name for himself as a potential bottom six fixture. Hayes has three goals in 12 games, earning his time after strong AHL efforts with 35 points in 39 games.
With games weighing as much as ever, Rust will likely return Thursday in Tampa Bay.
Elsewhere across the league:
- Islanders forward Simon Holmström is absent for tonight’s crucial game in Buffalo, noted by Stefen Rosner of NHL.com. As a result Anthony Duclair will slot into a top six role. Holmström is thought to be day-to-day with an upper-body ailment. A first rounder back in 2019, the now 24-year-old has steadily grown into a solid secondary scorer for the Islanders. With one more tally he’ll tie last season’s breakout 20 goal campaign. A brutal loss last night against division foe Pittsburgh dealt a blow to New York’s playoff odds, but they’re still clinging onto the third spot in the Metropolitan with seven games to go. Holmström will hope to be back helping matters by Friday as they host Philadelphia. Whatever happens in the coming days, hardly anybody would have expected his team to have the season they’ve put together.
- Seattle’s Shane Wright is sidelined tonight with his own upper-body injury, per the team. Unlike those listed above, the Kraken are close to elimination from the playoffs unless something shocking happens. Either way, they’ll take on the Oilers one man down. One a top draft prospect, selected fourth overall in 2022, Wright’s development has stalled out in Seattle. Last year he showed promise with 44 points, but he’s followed that up with just 26 in 72 games. Still, he has been durable, not missing a single contest until today. At even strength Wright has not moved the needle like he’s capable of, and he’s not been able to hold down a top six role, averaging 13:49 a night. Subject of trade rumors earlier in the year, assuming he returns later this week, there’s a strong possibility it’ll be his final games for the club.