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Injury Notes: Canadiens, Flyers, Smith

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The Montreal Canadiens came back with a drastically stronger effort on Saturday night, winning 6-3 against the Nashville Predators for just their fifth victory of the season. They should also be getting some reinforcements in the coming days and weeks, as several updates were given on injured players today.

Head coach Dominique Ducharme told reporters including Eric Engels of Sportsnet that Cedric Paquette could be back as early as Wednesday, while Mike Hoffman and Mathieu Perreault skated today. Hoffman is out for at least another week, while Perreault’s vision is not back fully yet but there is optimism he will be okay following his second procedure. Joel Edmundson and Jake Allen were both on the ice today as well, though the former isn’t expected to play just yet and an update on the latter won’t come until tomorrow.

  • While much of the focus today was on the news that Kevin Hayes re-injured himself and is out week-to-week, there were some other updates out of the Philadelphia Flyers organization. Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports that Wade Allison has resumed skating and has been cleared for practice with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Unfortunately, Tyson Foerster could miss five months with a shoulder injury. Foerster, a 2020 first-round pick, is one of the handful of junior-aged players that secured an exemption to play in the AHL this season because of their games in 2020-21.
  • Some concern was raised today when a report emerged about Mike Smith’s status, but both Jason Gregor and Ryan Rishaug of TSN tweet that as of now, surgery is not the plan for the Edmonton Oilers goaltender. Rishaug adds that the expectation is still that Smith will return at some point in December. Smith hasn’t played since October 19, but Stuart Skinner has more than made up for his absence with a .939 save percentage in five appearances.

Kevin Hayes Out Week-To-Week

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After just two games, Kevin Hayes is back on the shelf for the Philadelphia Flyers. The big forward is out on a week-to-week basis after suffering a re-injury against the Calgary Flames. He scored his lone goal of the season in that game, an emotional moment for the forward that has had an incredibly difficult few months.

Hayes had two abdominal surgeries this offseason, first in June and then again in September. That kept him on long-term injured reserve to start the year, but he was activated on November 13 to play against the Dallas Stars. In both of his two appearances, he didn’t even play 15 minutes of ice time as the team eased him back into the lineup, but that strategy appeared to have failed. Hayes will now exit a Flyers lineup that can’t seem to get healthy.

He’ll now stay in Tampa to get treatment for a few days, according to head coach Alain Vigneault, but it’s not clear when Hayes will be back for the Flyers. The team is already dealing with a similar issue for Ryan Ellis, who has suffered setbacks in his own injury troubles this season. Philadelphia has lost two in a row and now sits at 8-5-3 on the year as they try to hang onto the Metropolitan Division playoff race. The top three teams are beginning to pull away, with the New York Rangers now six points ahead of the Flyers for third.

Riley Stillman Placed On Injured Reserve

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The Chicago Blackhawks have placed Riley Stillman on injured reserve while recalling Wyatt Kalynuk to take his place on the roster. Stillman suffered a left knee injury in last night’s game when Tyler Motte was pushed into his leg from behind. The team has not indicated how long he’ll be out for, but a stint on IR means at least a week.

Stillman, 23, is another one of the players in their first full season with the Blackhawks, after being acquired at last season’s deadline along with Brett Connolly and Henrik Borgstrom. The young defenseman had played in 12 games and was averaging more than 15 minutes a night before going down early last night. Unfortunately, even those limited minutes had led to pretty poor results to this point, with the Blackhawks outscored 6-2 with Stillman on the ice at even-strength.

Kalynuk meanwhile had been dealing with a injury of his own, starting the year on LTIR and only joining the Rockford Icehogs earlier this month. He has played in four games and has three points, continuing his history of production at the professional level. Since leaving the University of Wisconsin and signing with Chicago, Kalynuk has played 33 games combined between the AHL and NHL. He has 22 points in those contests, including seven goals. With the loss of Stillman, he could get an opportunity immediately to get back into the Blackhawks lineup and continue his strong early play.

Victor Olofsson Activated From Injured Reserve

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Ahead of Sunday’s road tilt against the New York Rangers, the Buffalo Sabres activated winger Victor Olofsson from injured reserve, per a team tweet.

Olofsson carried a day-to-day classification but has still been out of the lineup for the better part of the month. He’s missed the team’s last eight games with an undisclosed injury.

The 26-year-old Olofsson will be in the lineup Sunday and he enters as the team’s only player at or above a point per game. Prior to the injury, Olofsson had five goals and four assists for nine points in eight games, his best career pace.

He rejoins the active roster for a Sabres team that’s had an impressive start despite injuries to much of their young talent, including Casey Mittelstadt and Henri Jokiharju. They’ve gotten decent production throughout the lineup and good goaltending from a cost-effective tandem of Craig Anderson and Dustin Tokarski.

Olofsson is the team’s premier offensive talent after the departures of Sam Reinhart and Jack Eichel, and he figures to be the team’s leading scorer this season if he can keep his pace. It’s a promising year for the Swede, who could be an important part of the team as they finally could begin to emerge from a lengthy rebuild.

Brayden Point Out Indefinitely With Upper-Body Injury

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4:21 pm: Just minutes into Sunday’s game, the Lightning have now announced that Point is out indefinitely with an upper-body injury. It’s a tough pill to swallow for the defending champions, who are now without Point and Nikita Kucherov for the foreseeable future.

3:39 pm: Per the Tampa Bay Times’ Eduardo A. Encina, Tampa Bay Lightning center Brayden Point isn’t taking pregame warmups and will be absent for Tampa’s game Sunday against the Minnesota Wild.

Point collided with the boards during Saturday night’s game versus the New Jersey Devils after he was tripped on a breakaway. Referees awarded him a penalty shot on the play, which he was able to take, and he stayed in for the rest of the game.

Hopefully, that means Point won’t be missing too much time. The Lightning have yet to give Point an official injury designation.

Point has four points in his last five games, but he was held scoreless by New Jersey in a tough loss Saturday, registering a -3 rating. With seven goals and 13 points through 16 games, Point is averaging the most ice time per game of his career at 20 minutes a night.

The 25-year-old Point has led the Lightning in goals for both of their back-to-back Stanley Cup victories.

Injury Notes: Forsberg, Cousins, Brown

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The Nashville Predators are on a roll, winning seven out of their past 10 games, but they’ve been without their best forward in Filip Forsberg since early November. Placed on injured reserve with an upper-body injury, Forsberg is now “trending in the right direction” according to head coach John Hynes. Forsberg is now skating, a good sign for the 27-year-old Swede. At the time of his injury, he’d scored four goals and seven points in nine games while averaging a tick over 18 minutes per game. Forwards like Mikael Granlund and Matt Duchene (both with 16 points in 16 games) have done an admirable job stepping up in his absence, but still, Forsberg’s return to this lineup gives this team an added scoring boost. Hynes notes, however, that there’s no definitive timetable for Forsberg’s return.

More injury notes from around the league:

  • There’s more good news on the Predators front, as the team’s activated forward Nick Cousins from injured reserve. Cousins was originally placed on injured reserve on November 7 and he’s missed the team’s past four games. The versatile 28-year-old forward has been spending most of his time on the wing this season, scoring three points in 12 games while averaging 12:24 per game. He’s expected to ride shotgun with Ryan Johansen and Eeli Tolvanen in his return to the lineup.
  • Newly claimed Philadelphia Flyers forward Patrick Brown didn’t get much of a chance to show what he can do with the team before suffering a dislocated thumb earlier in the month. Listed as week-to-week, Brown is now deciding between rehab or surgery for the thumb, per head coach Alain Vigneault. The 29-year-old Brown had gotten into just six games with Philadelphia, notching one assist while playing 9:18 per game. It’s a hit for a team that’s seen a lot of turnover in its bottom six in this short season, gaining Zack MacEwen but losing Nicolas Aube-Kubel to waivers.

Washington Capitals Activate T.J. Oshie, Nic Dowd

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The Washington Capitals activated forwards T.J. Oshie and Nic Dowd from injured reserve today, per a team release. In a corresponding move, the release states the team also reassigned forward Brett Leason to the AHL’s Hershey Bears.

Oshie’s been absent from the Capitals lineup since October 28, when he was designated as week-to-week with a lower-body injury. At the time, he was in the middle of a good start to the 2021-22 campaign with four goals and six points in seven games.

Dowd, however, has missed just a week and a half with this undisclosed injury. He’s been in and out of the lineup due to injury this year, but after the placement on injured reserve, the Capitals hope he’s good to go at 100%. The 31-year-old has a goal in nine games.

As Washington deals with a variety of absences that include Nicklas Backstrom, Anthony Mantha, and Lars Eller, Oshie’s and Dowd’s returns couldn’t come at a better time. Oshie likely returns as a veteran presence on a line with Axel Jonsson-Fjallby and Garrett Pilon, while Dowd reprises his role as the fourth-line center between Carl Hagelin and Garnet Hathaway.

Despite all the injuries, Washington’s soldiered on to a 10-2-5 record this year and sit at second place in the Metropolitan Division.

Tyce Thompson Expected To Be Out Long-Term

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The Devils will be without Tyce Thompson for the next little while as Corey Masisak of The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that the winger will be undergoing shoulder surgery at some point over the next few days.  He adds that Thompson has had multiple issues with his shoulder and at this point, they’ll be hoping that the procedure stops the issue from lingering.  The expected time for recovery will be several months.

The 22-year-old was brought up from AHL Utica last week and had gotten into two games before suffering the injury, averaging 14:25 per game.  Prior to that, he was averaging a point per game in seven contests with the Comets.  He also suited up seven times with the Devils last season after finishing his college career at Providence, picking up an assist while primarily playing on the fourth line.

This is the final season of Thompson’s entry-level contract, one that carries $400K in performance bonuses.  With him set to miss a substantial portion of the year though, it’s quite unlikely that he’ll be able to reach any of those.

Arizona Coyotes Activate Ryan Dzingel

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As reported by AZCentral Sports’ Jose M. Romero, the Arizona Coyotes have officially activated forward Ryan Dzingel from injured reserve.

The Coyotes originally placed Dzingel on injured reserve on October 27th with an upper-body injury. He’s missed the team’s last 10 games.

Like much of the Coyotes squad this year, Dzingel was having an uninspiring start prior to the injury. He’s netted two assists in six games, averaging 13:18 per game. Dzingel is expected to flank Jan Jenik on the team’s fourth line in his return to the lineup, with Liam O’Brien on the other wing.

Still, those two points are tied for tenth on the team in scoring. The Coyotes have scored just 26 goals through 16 games en route to a 2-13-1 record. That’s just 1.63 goals per game.

The team hopes that Dzingel, a two-time 20-goal scorer, can help provide some scoring punch to the team’s bottom six. However, he’s got just 16 goals in his past 110 games as it’s been a really rough go for the former Ottawa Senator.

Injury Notes: Hayes, Golden Knights, Carrier

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Center Kevin Hayes didn’t take warmups and isn’t playing for the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning, as originally reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Sam Carchidi. Head coach Alain Vigneault originally expected Hayes to play and he nor the team have yet to offer an update on Hayes’ absence. Max Willman was recalled from Lehigh Valley today under emergency conditions and is in the lineup for that game. Hayes has two points in two games this season after missing the team’s first 12 games while recovering from offseason core muscle surgery.

More injury notes from around the NHL:

  • The injury parade continues for the Vegas Golden Knights, as The Athletic’s Jesse Granger reports defenseman Shea Theodore is unlikely to suit up for Thursday’s contest against the Detroit Red Wings. Theodore fell awkwardly during the Knights’ last game Tuesday against the Carolina Hurricanes, a 4-2 loss. The team hasn’t moved Theodore to injured reserve, but he joins Alec Martinez on the list of Golden Knights defensemen absent from the lineup. However, Granger notes that Zach Whitecloud is “progressing quickly” and could potentially suit up for the Detroit game.
  • Per Nashville Predators head coach John Hynes, defenseman Alexandre Carrier could return to the team’s lineup Saturday versus the Montreal Canadiens. Carrier isn’t on injured reserve, but he’s been out of the lineup for the past week with an undisclosed injury. In 13 games this season, the 25-year-old has five points while averaging nearly 20 minutes per game.

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