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Islanders Notes: Varlamov, Högberg, Pelech

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Islanders goaltender Semyon Varlamov isn’t fully healed from his lower-body injury. The team announced that he’s been downgraded to day-to-day once again and will likely miss Thursday’s tilt against the Kraken.

Varlamov, 36, was given a day-to-day designation earlier in the week but could dress as Ilya Sorokin’s backup for Tuesday’s overtime loss to the Canadiens. However, the Russian veteran is now set to be unavailable for a game due to injury for the first time since missing nine contests with a lower-body issue in January last season.

It’s been quite a tough go of things this season for the former All-Star. After posting better numbers than Sorokin in limited usage last season, he’s nosedived to post a .889 SV%, 2.89 GAA, and -3.0 GSAA in 10 starts – his worst numbers since an injury-plagued 2016-17 campaign.

Per MoneyPuck, he’s posted -1.1 goals saved above expected compared to Sorokin’s 5.1 this season. It’s unclear if his downturn in play is due to the dreaded aging curve or if his injury has been lingering and affecting his performance.

The Islanders hope it’s the latter. Varlamov has two seasons left after this one on a four-year, $11MM deal he signed to remain as Sorokin’s backup in the summer of 2023.

More from the Isles today:

  • With Varlamov out, the Islanders have recalled Marcus Högberg from AHL Bridgeport on an emergency basis for the second time this week. He was sent down Tuesday before the Montreal game, so he’s yet to dress for an NHL contest this season, but that will change tonight as he backs up Sorokin against Seattle. The 30-year-old Swede has a 3.26 GAA, .898 SV%, and a 2-5-5 record in 11 games for Bridgeport this season, his first in North America since the 2020-21 campaign. No corresponding transaction is necessary with an open spot on the active roster.
  • Stalwart defenseman Adam Pelech took the ice for the first time today since sustaining a broken jaw at the beginning of November, Stefen Rosner of NHL.com reports. He was wearing a non-contact jersey and a full face shield, but it’s a crucial step for him to return within the next week and a half, as his initial timeline predicated. The 30-year-old has missed 15 games with the injury, during which time the Isles have gone 5-5-5 and now rank last in the Metropolitan Divison.

Sabres Recall Ryan Johnson

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The Sabres announced Thursday that they’ve recalled defenseman Ryan Johnson from AHL Rochester. Buffalo has a full active roster, so a corresponding transaction is imminent.

Johnson’s recall gives the Sabres an extra defender for tonight’s game against the Jets after captain Rasmus Dahlin left Tuesday’s collapse against the Avalanche in the third period with back spasms. The star blue liner had been dealing with back issues since training camp, but head coach Lindy Ruff said that a hit from Colorado superstar Cale Makar in the corner aggravated the problem.

Dahlin will likely miss tonight’s game as a result. If the pending corresponding move is an injured reserve placement for Dahlin, he would also miss their following two games – including a key divisional battle against the Red Wings on Dec. 9.

That would be an enormous blow to the Sabres, who are now 4-5-1 in their last 10 games and have slipped back below the .500 mark for the first time since Nov. 16. They’re three points back of the Flyers for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with no games in hand and need to leapfrog five teams to get back into playoff position – a stark reminder of how competitive the East postseason race is shaping up to be in the first half of the campaign.

Johnson is a good choice as far as short-term insurance policies go, though. The Sabres selected the 23-year-old with the final pick of the first round in the 2019 draft. After a full four years at the University of Minnesota, he turned pro in 2023 and split last season between the NHL and AHL.

The son of former NHLer Craig Johnson spent about half the season on the Buffalo roster, recording seven assists and a +3 rating while averaging 13:53 per night over 41 games. The 6’1″, 195-lb lefty didn’t get much special teams usage, but the Sabres controlled play well with him on the ice at even strength (52.7 CF%, 52.9 xGF%).

While he’s been lauded as a two-way defender, Johnson’s point totals haven’t popped yet in the pros. He’s still looking for his first professional goal and has only 14 assists in 48 games for Rochester dating back to his debut last season.

That’s not to say he’s been a liability, though. As Bill Hoppe of the Olean Times Herald profiled last month, Johnson’s taken leaps and bounds defensively in Rochester this season. If his offensive development stagnates, he looks to be a competent stay-at-home piece for the Sabres.

The Sabres could make several transactions to accommodate Johnson’s recall without placing Dahlin on IR. The most foreseeable is reassigning center Tyson Kozak back to Rochester, whom they recalled last week in the wake of a short-term injury to Sam Lafferty. However, Kozak has been a healthy scratch in two straight and is waiver-exempt.

Ducks Activate Cam Fowler, Place Urho Vaakanainen On IR

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Anaheim will welcome back the organization’s longest-tenured player this evening. The Ducks announced they’ve activated defenseman Cam Fowler from the team’s injured reserve and have placed defenseman Urho Vaakanainen on it in a corresponding roster move.

There was an expectation that the Ducks would make a formal roster move after Derek Lee of The Hockey News reported earlier that Pavel Mintyukov would be a healthy scratch for tonight’s contest for Fowler. Lee also mentioned that young forward Leo Carlsson wouldn’t play tonight due to an upper-body injury.

Anaheim has a few reasons to be thankful that Fowler is back in the lineup. First, he gives the team another veteran presence to a blue line that’s struggled this season. The Ducks are 26th in the league in shots against and their shortcomings have largely been covered up by the phenomenal play of Lukáš Dostál. Fowler won’t have much to give on the offensive side of the puck but he is in his 15th straight season averaging more than 20 minutes a night and has a career on-ice save percentage in all situations of 90.3%.

The other reason Anaheim is thankful to have Fowler back is to showcase him to the rest of the league. It’s public knowledge that the Ducks and Fowler hope for a trade to materialize and it would be better for inquiring teams to see how he’s continuing to handle top-four minutes.

Vaakanainen’s move to the injured reserve is curious. The Joensuu, Finland native has played sparingly for Anaheim this season with his last game coming on November 13th. This leads to the idea that Vaakanainen may have been injured for quite some time and the Ducks are just now taking him off the active roster. Still, it’s a big win for Anaheim to get a top-four defenseman back in the lineup.

Los Angeles Makes Several Roster Moves

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The Los Angeles Kings will have a different lineup tonight when they take on the Dallas Stars. The Kings organization announced they’ve activated netminder Darcy Kuemper from the team’s injured reserve, placed veteran forward Trevor Lewis on the injured reserve, and loaned goaltender Erik Portillo back to their AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign.

It was a relatively long hiatus for Kuemper on Los Angeles’ injured reserve. This was the second time this season that Kuemper landed on injured reserve, the first being from October 14 to October 26. This most recent stretch cost Kuemper seven consecutive games with backup netminder David Rittich being handed the starting role. The veteran netminder has managed a 4-2-3 record in 10 starts for the Kings this season though many of his starting goaltender peers have already recorded 20 or more starts.

Given the organization’s proximity to the salary cap ceiling and without a real need to keep three goaltenders on the roster, it was always likely Portillo would head back to Ontario, CA. He still made his NHL debut on November 29th against the Anaheim Ducks, picking up his first win in a near-flawless effort. Still, he’ll find more consistent playing time with the Reign this year where he’s already managed a 4-2-0 record with a .906 save percentage and 2.68 goals against average.

Similarly to Kuemper, Lewis’ time on the Kings’ injured reserve won’t be brief. The lower-body injury is expected to shelf the veteran forward for the next four to six weeks which will prohibit him from playing in his 1,000th career game for a month or more.

Los Angeles has sufficient forward depth to replace Lewis down the middle on the fourth line. The team will likely deploy prospect Samuel Helenius there for the time being but could like to give those minutes to Arthur Kaliyev once he’s activated from the injured reserve himself.

Flames’ Justin Kirkland Undergoes ACL Surgery, Out For Season

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The Flames announced Wednesday that forward Justin Kirkland underwent successful ACL surgery and will be out for the remainder of the season.

Kirkland, 28, was amid a breakout season as an NHL-level threat after spending nearly all of his professional career to date in the minors. He’d made a career-high 21 appearances for Calgary before the injury, scoring twice and adding six assists for eight points with a +6 rating despite averaging less than 10 minutes per game.

The 6’3″, 183-lb winger has frequently flexed to center at points this season for the Flames, winning 54 of his 126 faceoffs for a 42.9% win rate. His point totals were quite impressive given his high defensive zone usage, but he was likely due for some regression while shooting 22.2% on only nine shots on goal.

However, Kirkland had made a name for himself in shootouts. He scored three times on four attempts, helping Calgary to a 3-0-1 record in games that went past overtime.

Kirkland’s final appearance this season came on Nov. 29 against the Blue Jackets. He skated just 1:05 before sustaining the ACL tear and leaving the game. He’s missed the two games since with what the Flames initially termed a lower-body injury and landed on injured reserve on Monday.

A 2014 third-round pick of the Predators, Kirkland was a Group VI unrestricted free agent last summer and returned to the Flames, with whom he spent the 2019-20 through 2021-22 seasons in the minors, on a one-year, two-way pact. 2024-25 will go down as his only professional season to date without a minor-league assignment that resulted in games played.

Kirkland is the second Flames forward to have their season cut short by an ACL surgery. Offseason pickup Anthony Mantha underwent the same procedure last month after recording four goals and three assists in 13 games.

Kirkland’s interminable absence should create added opportunities for recent call-ups Walker Duehr and Jakob Pelletier, both of whom are expected to make their season debuts tomorrow against the Blues while Andrei Kuzmenko sits in the press box.

East Notes: McCabe, Matinpalo, Deslauriers

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Maple Leafs defenseman Jake McCabe will miss Wednesday’s tilt against the Predators with an upper-body injury, head coach Craig Berube told reporters including David Alter of The Hockey News.

It will be the second game in a row McCabe has missed with the injury, which he sustained after taking a puck to the head/neck area against the Lightning last Saturday. McCabe said yesterday that he’d be “good to go” against Nashville, but Berube said today the blue-liner still “isn’t feeling right.” It’s unknown whether he’s in concussion protocol.

Fresh off signing a five-year, $23.5MM extension in October, the 31-year-old McCabe has been one-half of the best shutdown defense pairing in hockey alongside free-agent pickup Chris Tanev. Together, the duo is allowing just 1.3 expected goals against per 60 minutes, the fewest in the league by a country mile among pairings with at least 180 minutes of ice time together this season.

Offensively, McCabe has only five assists in 23 games, but he leads the team with a +11 rating and is second in both blocks (46) and hits (52). The Wisconsin native is also averaging a career-high 21:20 per game. Frequent healthy scratch Philippe Myers is projected to remain in a fringe top-four role alongside Morgan Rielly tonight, per Mark Masters of TSN, while Oliver Ekman-Larsson shifts back to his natural left side to skate alongside Tanev in place of McCabe.

There’s more from the Eastern Conference:

  • Recent Senators call-up Nikolas Matinpalo is absent from practice today due to an illness, per Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia. Ottawa elevated the 26-year-old from AHL Belleville yesterday to serve as an additional right-shot option with Artem Zub landing on long-term injured reserve, but it doesn’t appear he’ll be an option on Thursday against the Red Wings. The 6’2″ Finn likely would have sat in the press box anyway with Jacob Bernard-Docker, Travis Hamonic and Nick Jensen still all available on the right side.
  • Flyers enforcer Nicolas Deslauriers left today’s practice session early due to an undisclosed injury, Jordan Hall of NBC Sports Philadelphia reports. Head coach John Tortorella told reporters that something “tightened up” and didn’t necessarily call his departure precautionary, so it’s fair to call him questionable for for tomorrow’s home game against the Panthers. It won’t make much of a difference – the 33-year-old has been a healthy scratch for 10 games in a row and hasn’t played since Nov. 9. He has one assist in seven appearances this season with one fight while averaging a career-low 6:05 per game.

Wild Reassign Liam Ohgren, Jesper Wallstedt

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Dec. 4: The Wild announced Wednesday that they reassigned Ohgren and Wallstedt to Iowa. Ohgren did not suit up against Vancouver – evidently, the recalls were for salary cap management purposes to optimize Zuccarello’s LTIR capture.

Dec. 3: The Wild have recalled top prospects Liam Ohgren and Jesper Wallstedt from AHL Iowa ahead of Tuesday’s game against the Canucks, per a team release. The team placed defenseman Jonas Brodin and left-winger Jakub Lauko on injured reserve to open spots on the active roster and also moved right-winger Mats Zuccarello from IR to LTIR to open up the necessary cap space.

Ohgren, 20, made Minnesota’s opening night roster but struggled out of the gate, posting no points and a -2 rating in seven appearances while averaging under 10 minutes a night before being assigned to Iowa at the end of October. He was recalled under emergency conditions for a game against the Stars last month but has otherwise spent all his time in the minors since.

The 2022 first-round pick has fared much better in the AHL, quickly proving himself as one of the club’s most efficient goal-scorers with five in eight contests. It’s unclear if he’ll unseat recent AHL call-ups Ben Jones or Devin Shore for a spot in the lineup tonight with Lauko and Zuccarello still out, but it seems likely.

In Wallstedt’s case, it’s similarly uncertain if they plan to give the 22-year-old his first start of the season between the pipes. Michael Russo of The Athletic “has a sense” that his recall is primarily to get him working with Minnesota’s NHL goaltending staff, one that’s worked wonders to help Filip Gustavsson along to a vicious resurgence this season.

Wallstedt, the 20th overall pick in the 2021 draft, is off to a nightmarish start in Iowa in what the Wild hoped would be his last season seeing minor-league ice. After back-to-back AHL All-Star Game appearances, the 6’3″ Swede has just a .860 SV% and 4.34 GAA in 10 games with Iowa this year behind a 3-6-1 record. Minnesota inked Wallstedt to a two-year, $4.4MM extension in October that goes into effect for the 2025-26 campaign.

Brodin’s IR placement doesn’t affect the stalwart’s return timeline. The 31-year-old has already missed three games with an upper-body injury and remains day-to-day for now. He last played on Nov. 25 against the Jets, so he can come off the injured list at any time.

In 19 games this season, Brodin has two goals and six assists for eight points with a +7 rating. His 45 blocked shots are second on the team behind Jacob Middleton’s 61.

Lauko, 24, also last suited up in the Winnipeg game last week, so his situation is pretty much the same. He’s still listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury, and while he won’t play tonight, he hasn’t been ruled out for Friday’s game against the Ducks. He has two goals and two assists in 21 games for Minnesota in a fourth-line role after being acquired in an offseason swap with the Bruins.

Zuccarello underwent lower-body surgery on Nov. 14 and is expected back sometime in the next two weeks, although the move to LTIR means he won’t be back until Tuesday against Utah at the soonest.

Tyler Seguin To Undergo Hip Surgery, Out 4-6 Months

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The Stars announced that forward Tyler Seguin will undergo extensive hip surgery on Thursday and miss the next four to six months. He’ll have two procedures, both on his left hip – one to address a femoroacetabular impingement creating joint damage and one to repair a labral tear.

It’s not necessarily season-ending, but it’s certainly possible. If he returns at the optimistic end of that timeline, the Stars would still have four or five regular-season games left on their schedule for him to play. A return to play during the postseason is the most likely outcome for Seguin given the wide timeline, though, allowing the Stars to keep his $9.85MM cap hit on long-term injured reserve for a massive amount of spending flexibility at the trade deadline.

Seguin has missed five games this year with a recurring lower-body injury, now clearly a hip issue. He was placed on IR before Monday’s game against Utah. He previously missed three straight games in October.

It’s tough news for Seguin, who missed nearly all of the 2020-21 campaign after undergoing a similar surgery on his right hip. He was extremely open about his arduous recovery process from that procedure, which ended up yielding a separate knee surgery and essentially required him to re-learn how to walk.

Past injury issues aside, the news also puts an incredible damper on what had been something of a renaissance season for the 2010 second-overall pick. Seguin had nine goals and 11 assists for 20 points through his first 19 games, on pace to break the point-per-game mark for the first time in nine years while placing third on the team in scoring behind linemates Matt Duchene and Mason Marchment.

Missing Seguin’s services offensively is also of legitimate concern for Dallas, who ranks ninth in the league with 3.38 goals per game but has also faced underwhelming starts from top-liners Jason Robertson (5-9–14 in 24 GP) and Wyatt Johnston (4-10–14 in 24 GP). They’ll need to turn that around quickly to help the Stars stay in the top three of the Central Division while also looking at some depth players like rookie Mavrik Bourque to take on some of the offensive burden. Bourque has averaged under 11 minutes per game this season after being crowned the AHL’s most valuable player last season, scoring only once in 19 games.

Seguin, 32, is in the sixth season of the eight-year, $78.8MM extension he inked in 2018. He’ll be an unrestricted free agent in 2027.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Pacific Notes: Hronek, Vlasic, Hyman, Evans, Whitecloud, Stone

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It’s already been public knowledge for a week that the Vancouver Canucks would be without defenseman Filip Hronek for the foreseeable future. We now have a more concrete timeline for Hronek as the Canucks announced he’s expected to miss the next eight weeks after undergoing a lower-body procedure. On a positive note, the team shared in the same announcement that Hronek avoided surgery for his upper-body injury.

Vancouver has won two games in a row without Hronek on the top defensive-pairing but will have a much more difficult matchup tonight against the Minnesota Wild. The Kralove, Czechia native had one goal and nine points for the Canucks in 21 games and will look to build upon that when he returns in late January or early February. Tyler Myers has filled the void left by Hronek over the last two games but Vancouver would do well to add a better right-handed option on defense from the trade market.

Reports from a few days ago indicated that the New York Rangers were interested in acquiring J.T. Miller from Vancouver. Assuming that the reports are true, and factoring in the Rangers’ recent desire to move on from Chris Kreider and Jacob Trouba, the two teams could get involved in a blockbuster deal that would benefit both sides.

Other Pacific notes:

  • According to Tom Gulitti of the NHL, the San Jose Sharks are expecting defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic back before the conclusion of their current six-game road trip. An upper-back injury has prohibited Vlasic from debuting in his 19th NHL season up to this point in the NHL calendar. His return will give a slight boost to the surprisingly solid left side of the defense for San Jose.
  • Zach Hyman’s absence from the Edmonton Oilers will reportedly enter its fifth game tonight (X Link). Edmonton is lucky it’s only been five games for Hyman but the team had a five-game break at the end of November to lean on. Still, on the opposite side of a 50-goal campaign, the Oilers could use Hyman’s goal-scoring touch back in the lineup if they hope to stay competitive in a tough Pacific Division.
  • The Seattle Kraken won’t have defenseman Ryker Evans in the lineup tonight due to injury. Television broadcaster Piper Shaw shared that Evans is out with an undisclosed injury but there were no further updates regarding his timeline. It’s a big loss for the Kraken before a tough contest against the Carolina Hurricanes as Evans sits tied for second on the team in scoring with three goals and 16 points in 25 games.
  • It’ll still be a few days before defenseman Zach Whitecloud returns to the Vegas Golden Knights lineup. According to Jesse Granger of The Athletic, Whitecloud is still considered day-to-day with an upper-body injury and will miss his fifth straight game tonight. It’s not all bad news on the injury front for the Golden Knights as Granger later reported that captain Mark Stone was upgraded to a full-contact jersey at today’s practice meaning he should return soon.

Central Notes: Hryckowian, Buchnevich, McCarron, Ehlers

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Justin Hryckowian’s brief recall with the Dallas Stars has ended for now. According to a team announcement, the Stars organization has loaned Hryckowian back to their AHL affiliate, the Texas Stars.

Dallas has an extremely narrow salary cap cushion so it’s likely that Hryckowian will be re-called tomorrow before the Stars’ matchup against the Los Angeles Kings. He was originally recalled to fill the injured Tyler Seguin’s roster spot but Dallas still has 12 healthy forwards to work with.

Still, Hryckowian continues to build a name for himself in the American Hockey League and could be another long-term middle-six fixture for the Stars. He’s in his first full season with AHL Texas after signing with Dallas as a collegiate free agent from Northwestern University last year. That first full season has turned into a red-hot start with Hryckowian scoring five goals and 16 points in 17 games with a +9 rating.

Other Central notes:

  • Pavel Buchnevich will have to wait another game before returning to the lineup for the St. Louis Blues. The Cherepovets, Russia native has been dealing with a lower-body injury suffered during the Blues win against the New Jersey Devils on November 27th. Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic shared a comment from Blues’ head coach Jim Montgomery saying, He’s not a player tonight, but he’s going to be a player — we hope — in Calgary.”
  • Beat reporter for the Nashville Predators, Brooks Bratten reported forward Michael McCarron is still considered day-to-day with an upper-body injury. It’s been a relatively long-term injury for McCarron after leaving the team’s game on November 23rd against the Winnipeg Jets due to the injury. The big-bodied fourth-liner has already missed four games for the Predators with injury but should return during one of the team’s three games this week.
  • There was bad news on the injury front this morning in Winnipeg as the Jets placed forward Nikolaj Ehlers on the injured reserve due to a lower-body injury. Ehlers has already missed one game due to the injury but is projected to miss several more. Murat Ates of The Athletic reported Ehlers is expected to miss the next seven to 10 days meaning Ehlers could miss as many as seven games before returning.

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