Oilers Working To Acquire Spencer Stastney
9:02 a.m.: The Edmonton Oilers are reportedly close to making a pair of significant trades today. According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Oilers are working to acquire netminder Tristan Jarry from the Pittsburgh Penguins and defenseman Spencer Stastney from the Nashville Predators. Shortly thereafter, TSN’s Pierre LeBrun confirmed that Jarry is heading to Edmonton.
Stastney, 25, offers more on the offensive side of the puck and is actually performing better on the defensive side of the puck compared to Kulak this season. The pending restricted free agent blueliner has scored one goal and nine points in 30 games this season for the Predators, averaging a 90.0% on-ice save percentage.
Injury Notes: Hellebuyck, Ellis, Perbix
On today’s episode of Insider Trading, Darren Dreger of TSN discussed Connor Hellebuyck, saying that the Jets goaltender is nearing a return, as soon as next week. Dreger says the star wanted to return even sooner, but Winnipeg is making sure he is eased back in properly. Next Monday’s home game vs. Ottawa could be the focus.
Hellebuyck underwent a minor arthroscophic knee procedure in November, which came with an estimated 4-6 week timetable, but thankfully the back-to-back Vezina winning netminder has recovered quickly and is set to come back by year’s end. He was 8-6-0 with a .913 save percentage and 2.51 GAA prior to going down.
The defending President’s Trophy winners have faltered a bit so far this season, losing six out of their last 10 and currently three spots out of a wild card spot, but the team has had to lean heavily on Eric Comrie, a respectable backup who has never played in more than 20 games a season. Hellebuyck’s return will be instrumental for the group going into 2026 as they look to get back on track.
Elsewhere across the league:
- Midway through tonight’s game the Buffalo Sabres announced that goaltender Colten Ellis will not return due to an upper-body injury, leaving Alex Lyon to take duty. He was shaken up after Oilers forward David Tomasek drove to the net, catching the goalie’s head with his shoulder, which earned a penalty, and ending Ellis’ night with a minute remaining in the first period. The 25-year-old has flashed potential as a backup this season, after being claimed off waivers from St. Louis in October.
- Nashville beat reporter Brooks Bratten shared that defenseman Nick Perbix would return to the lineup tonight against Colorado. The Minnesota native had missed the last three games with an upper-body ailment, and has been a dependable blueliner since signing from Tampa Bay last summer. Nashville opted for seven defensemen tonight, as forward Tyson Jost was healthy scratched against his former team.
Latest On Predators Trade Plans
The Boston Bruins are getting a huge boost tonight, as Conor Ryan of Boston.com shared that star forward David Pastrňák is returning versus St. Louis. It was speculated yesterday that he, as well as Charlie McAvoy, would come back at some point on the club’s road trip, and sure enough, Pastrňák slots back in on a line with Fraser Minten and Marat Khusnutdinov this evening.
The 29-year-old sniper posted 29 points in 25 games before going down with an undisclosed injury in late November. Without their go-to scorer, Boston went 3-2, and despite losing their two stars, the team remains firmly in the mix, currently third in the Atlantic. McAvoy proved unable to return today, but eyes will be on the defender later in the week, as the Bruins travel to Winnipeg for a Thursday matchup.
Elsewhere across the league:
- Nick Kieser of Lower Broad Hockey posted comments from Predators GM Barry Trotz’s radio segment on 102.5 The Game, that he is “listening to everything”. Trotz went on to say that if a team approaches him for Steven Stamkos, he’s “going to listen”. Kieser also shared that Trotz is open to taking on unfavorable contracts in deals. The Predators, still 32nd in the league, appear set to finally embark on a full scale teardown. As they’ve retained salary on Mattias Ekholm and Colton Sissons (both set to end after this season) they have just one remaining retention slot, complicating things a bit. Although the team has a deep prospect pool, they lack NHL ready talent, so bringing back veteran placeholders would be beneficial as they navigate a rough season. Trade talks for the likes of Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, and Ryan O’Reilly have yet to reach serious stages, but once suitors officially emerge, Trotz will have to get creative to find his highly respected veterans new homes on teams with limited cap flexibility.
- An unlikely figure has dressed for the Sharks tonight, as the team announced that Justin Kowalkoski has been added to the roster on an ATO to back up Alex Nedeljkovic, as Yaroslav Askarov has fallen ill. Kowalkoski, 39, played collegiately for Colgate University until 2007-08 as a backup netminder, now finding himself at the highest level in what will be a memorable night. The goaltender also made emergency backup appearances with the Red Wings and the ECHL’s Reading Royals in past years, but has not appeared in a contest.
Craig Smith Announces Retirement
As expected, forward Craig Smith has hung up his skates after 14 years in the NHL. The Magnuson Hockey Agency, which represented Smith, announced the retirement.
Smith’s professional career began back in 2009, when he was selected with the 98th overall pick by the Nashville Predators. He spent two years following the draft playing for the NCAA’s University of Wisconsin, scoring 27 goals and 76 points in 82 games while being named the program’s captain in his second season.
Impressively, after a standout performance for Team USA at the 2011 IIHF World Championships, Smith jumped right to the NHL in the 2011-12 season with the Predators. He finished 12th in Calder Trophy voting that year, scoring 14 goals and 36 points in 72 games — good for eighth in scoring on the team.
Due to some injury troubles, Smith skated in four games for the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals, which would serve as the only AHL playing time Smith had throughout his career. Over the next eight years, Smith scored 148 goals and 294 points in 589 games with Nashville, averaging 14:57 of ice time in a middle-six role. He had a far lesser track record of success in the postseason, tallying seven goals and 16 points in 52 games from 2012 to 2020.
After his five-year, $21.25MM extension with Nashville concluded after the 2019-20 season, Smith reached free agency for the first time at 33 years old. Due to the pause caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Smith had to wait until mid-October to sign his next contract, which became a three-year, $9.3MM deal with the Boston Bruins.
He enjoyed a pair of relatively productive seasons with the Bruins before transitioning to a bottom-six role in his final season. In the last year of his deal, Smith was traded to the Washington Capitals in the trade that sent Dmitry Orlov and Garnet Hathaway to New England.
The Madison, WI native would only sign two more NHL contracts after that trade — one with the Dallas Stars, and another with the Chicago Blackhawks before ultimately ending his career with the Detroit Red Wings. Smith finished his career with 220 goals and 452 points in 987 games, becoming the fifth-highest scoring Wisconsin-born player behind Joe Pavelski, Phil Kessel, Gary Suter, and Ryan Suter.
We at PHR congratulate Smith on a solid career and wish him the best in his next chapter.
Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports.
Predators Place Ozzy Wiesblatt, Justin Barron On Injured Reserve
The Predators announced that winger Ozzy Wiesblatt has been placed on injured reserve due to an upper-body injury. Defenseman Justin Barron was also placed on IR with a lower-body injury (retroactive to Dec. 1). Wiesblatt will miss eight to 10 weeks, while Barron was given a week-to-week status.
Wiesblatt left last night’s overtime win over the Panthers just 15 seconds into his first shift. He collided with Panthers winger Carter Verhaeghe while attempting to close him off in the offensive zone, spun out, and then got clipped by teammate Michael McCarron incidentally (via Nick Kieser of Lower Broad Hockey). He did not return to the game.
The final pick of the first round by the Sharks in 2020, Wiesblatt had a tough go of things in their minor-league system before Nashville acquired him in exchange for the signing rights to Egor Afanasyev in the 2024 offseason. After never recording more than 15 points in a season for San Jose’s AHL club, he arrived with the Preds’ affiliate in Milwaukee last season and exploded for 15 goals and 40 points in 64 games. That effort earned Wiesblatt his NHL debut, playing five games last year on various recalls between January and March.
Wiesblatt could have been a restricted free agent last summer, but signed a two-year, two-way extension way back in November 2024 to avoid that outcome. No longer waiver-exempt and on the heels of his minor-league breakout, Wiesblatt earned a spot on Nashville’s opening night roster in October. He sat as a healthy scratch for the season’s first three games but has appeared in every contest since. He hasn’t been a significant offensive threat – he has four points in 24 games and only scored his first NHL goal earlier this week – but has been a part of one of the league’s most defensively responsible forward trios. Nashville’s fourth line of Wiesblatt, McCarron, and Cole Smith has controlled 64.3% of expected goals at 5-on-5 and is allowing just 1.58 xGA/60, fifth-best in the league among lines with at least 50 minutes together (per MoneyPuck).
Unfortunately, the Preds have only been able to ice that line in 10 of 27 games this season, in part due to Smith sitting out the last month with an upper-body injury. There’s still another couple of weeks until he’s expected to return, and they’ll now be without Wiesblatt until likely after the Olympic break. In the meantime, Wiesblatt’s absence means a longer leash for recent call-up Reid Schaefer and extra forward Tyson Jost.
Barron’s IR placement is far less consequential. He’s only carried an injury designation for the last two games after getting banged up in practice but hasn’t played since Nov. 16, sitting as a healthy scratch in five straight before sustaining the lower-body issue. His absence, though, plus an upper-body injury to Nicklaus Perbix that has him out day-to-day, has caused some lineup construction issues on Nashville’s back end. Without those two, Nick Blankenburg stands as the only righty on the roster, meaning their top four group of Nicolas Hague, Roman Josi, Brady Skjei, and Adam Wilsby is made up solely of left-shot options.
Interestingly enough, the Preds’ underlying numbers have improved with Hague-Josi and Skjei-Wilsby deployed as their top two units. They’re controlling 58.7% and 59.1% of expected goals at 5-on-5, respectively, the top two figures among Nashville d-pairings with at least 30 minutes together.
Unless Perbix is healthy enough for tomorrow’s game against the Hurricanes, the IR placements leave Nashville without an extra skater on their roster – not an ideal position for a road game, even if it’s a relatively short travel distance. With two newly-opened roster spots, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them make a recall from AHL Milwaukee tomorrow.
Latest On Steven Stamkos
In their discussions, the Devils may have considered the possibility that Stamkos’ decline in production is more attributable to the environment he’s playing in (he’s not the only Predators forward to be struggling) rather than any steep personal decline. But it’s unclear whether that line of thinking is actually fully accurate.
Worth noting is the existing connection that exists at the highest level of the Devils’ and Predators’ front offices. During his playing days, Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald served as Nashville’s captain for four seasons, back when Nashville GM Barry Trotz was the club’s head coach. Fitzgerald also began his hockey operations career in the front office of the late Ray Shero in Pittsburgh. Before he was hired to run the Penguins, Shero was a key lieutenant of Hockey Hall of Fame inductee David Poile, who was the Predators’ longtime GM. Poile remains with the team in a senior advisor capacity.
Predators' Michael McCarron To Return
- It doesn’t appear that Nashville Predators forward Michael McCarron will miss any more time with a lower-body injury. Alex Daugherty of The Tennessean reports that McCarron fully participated in practice today after missing the team’s most recent contest against the Calgary Flames. The bottom-six center has scored one goal and five points in 25 games for the Predators this season, with a 53.8% success rate in the faceoff dot.
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Latest On Barron, McCarron, Perbix
Red Wings Head Coach Todd McLellan told Daniella Bruce, Detroit’s Broadcast Reporter, that forward Mason Appleton will miss 7-10 days due to a lower-body injury. The 29-year-old longtime Winnipeg Jet, signed by the Wings to a two-year deal last summer, is a key bottom six two way forward with nine points in 26 games this season.
In a skid to close out November, Detroit’s third and fourth lines have been shaken up of late. Marco Kasper has slotted down in tonight’s game versus Boston, as the skilled 21-year-old is trying to find his groove, with just three points (all goals) so far this season. Based on the timeline, Appleton will miss the club’s next three games, and could return by December 10th in Calgary.
Elsewhere across the league:
- Brooks Bratten, Nashville’s beat reporter, shared that Justin Barron, Michael McCarron, and Nick Perbix would miss tonight’s game against Calgary, each player out day-to-day. Barron has been sidelined since the Global Series in mid-November with a lower-body ailment. McCarron, a former first rounder who has established himself as a physical fourth line center, was shaken up after dropping the gloves with Logan Stanley on Saturday. Perbix will miss his first game as a Predator after coming over from Tampa Bay on a two-year deal. He has brought needed stability to the Preds’ defense core, however unfortunately, not enough to move the needle much as the team continues to struggle.
- San Jose beat reporter Max Miller updated that center Alexander Wennberg sustained an upper-body injury in last night’s win over Utah, and he will be questionable for tomorrow against Washington. Wennberg, 31, was brought in by San Jose to hold down a second line center spot at a favorable $5MM. Now, a pending UFA, he could be an eventual trade target in the Sharks’ player recycling strategy of sorts, which has paid off consistently. The Swede has 13 points in 27 games, not yet missing a contest this season.
Michael McCarron Out Day-to-Day
- The Nashville Predators may be without towering forward Michael McCarron for a short while, as head coach Andrew Brunette revealed, per team reporter Brooks Bratten, that McCarron is currently considered “day-to-day” with an undisclosed injury. According to Bratten, McCarron “didn’t play much after his fight with Logan Stanley in the first period,” which could be the cause of his injury. If McCarron misses any games, the Predators won’t lose much offense (he has just five points in 25 games) but will likely miss McCarron’s penalty killing. He ranks second among Predators forwards in short-handed time on ice per game with 2:26.
Afternoon Notes: Nylander Out, Domi Scratched, Schaefer
This afternoon, Mark Masters of TSN shared that Maple Leafs star William Nylander will not play due to illness. Nylander was absent from practice yesterday in what was considered a maintenance day, but the Leafs will have to take on Washington without him, and hope for a return tomorrow versus Pittsburgh.
Notably, even with the open spot, Max Domi will be a healthy scratch. It has not been a fun year so far for the 30-year-old, who has experienced a gradual decline in production from a strong first season with his hometown club. In 23 games this season Domi has just six points, is a -13, and is starting to face an uncertain future with the Leafs. Despite being signed until 2027-28 at a $3.75MM cap hit, it is his first healthy scratch as a Maple Leaf, with potentially more on the horizon.
Winger Mattias Maccelli will re-enter the lineup today, after he was scratched on Wednesday.
Elsewhere across the league:
- The Nashville Predators recalled forward prospect Reid Schaefer from AHL Milwaukee, and the 22-year-old is expected to make his NHL debut tonight in Chicago. Schaefer, a 2022 first round selection of his hometown Edmonton Oilers, before being traded to Nashville in the Mattias Ekholm deal, has been a top performer for Milwaukee with 14 points in 15 games. Despite the first round pedigree, and current output, Schaefer likely has a third line ceiling. Nashville hopes their prospect can pan out in a Lawson Crouse-type mold, but at the least, the 6’4” forward could become a fixture in the Predators’ new era in a bottom six role.