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Maple Leafs Place Joseph Woll On IR

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The Toronto Maple Leafs’ situation between the pipes has hit a new low for the 2025-26 season. The Maple Leafs announced that they have placed netminder Joseph Woll on the injured reserve and have recalled Artur Akhtyamov in a corresponding roster move.

Woll, who suffered a lower-body injury against the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday, had become Toronto’s de facto starter over the last few weeks. Considering fellow netminder Anthony Stolarz has missed nearly a month with an upper-body injury, the Maple Leafs had to rely on Woll for some stability in the crease.

That’s exactly what he provided. In his eight starts since Stolarz departed from the active roster, Woll has managed a 4-3-1 record with a .923 SV% and 2.44 GAA. According to Hockey Reference, Woll’s 6.1 Goals Saved Above Average has already surpassed Stolarz’s output, despite the latter playing in five more contests.

Moving forward, until one of Woll or Stolarz returns, Toronto will have to rely on an inexperienced duo to navigate them through the next little while. It’s expected that Dennis Hildeby will assume the starting role, as he’s earned a 1-2-1 record in six starts this year with a .919% SV% and 2.86 GAA.

However, Hildeby has only 13 NHL appearances under his belt, earning a combined record of 4-5-1 with a career .896 SV% and 3.12 GAA. Akhtyamov, on the other hand, has never suited up in an NHL contest and is only in his second professional season in North America.

Despite being in his second campaign with the AHL’s Toronto Marlies, Akhtyamov, 24, hasn’t shown any meaningful signs of growth. He owns a career 18-13-7 record with the Marlies with a .900 SV%, and has only averaged a .896 mark this season.

Capitals Sign EBUG Parker Milner To PTO For Friday’s Game

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The Capitals won’t have backup Charlie Lindgren available for their road game tonight against the Ducks due to an upper-body injury, the team announced. Due to the late nature of the development and the inability to get a netminder from AHL Hershey to the West Coast in time for the game, they’ve signed retired netminder Parker Milner to a professional tryout to dress as the backup to Logan Thompson.

Milner isn’t nearly as inexperienced as recent EBUG folk heroes like David Ayres or Scott Foster. The new CBA introduced legislation that mandated teams must now employ an emergency backup as a team employee, rather than the previous system of the league having one name sit at the arena every night to enter action for either team if necessary. These can’t be names with NHL experience, nor can they have played pro hockey in the last three years, but they can be relatively fresh names who routinely serve as extra practice goalies for the club to stay fresh.

Milner, 35, last played in the 2019-20 season but is a familiar face to the Capitals organization. He spent the last four years of his career as a minor-league farmhand, splitting time between Hershey and ECHL South Carolina, and was even signed to an NHL contract in the latter half of the 2018-19 campaign so that he could serve as the Caps’ emergency third goalie for that year’s playoffs.

The Pittsburgh native was an accomplished collegiate netminder, logging a .919 SV%, 2.23 GAA, six shutouts, and a 64-20-5 record in 93 appearances across four seasons for Boston College from 2009 to 2013. He was the backup when they won the national championship in 2010 and helped them to three consecutive Hockey East titles. In his junior season in 2012, his first as the starter, he took them back to the national championship and was named tournament MVP.

While he never reached the NHL, he did have a successful pro career. He was a two-time ECHL All-Star and won the league’s Goalie of the Year honors while with South Carolina in 2018. He wrapped up his pro career with a .916 SV%, 2.44 GAA, 19 shutouts, and a 143-79-17 record in 245 ECHL appearances. He also got in 30 reps in the AHL, logging a .902 SV% and 3.02 GAA with a 13-12-2 record.

Lightning Sign Ryan McDonagh To Three-Year Extension

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3:20 p.m.: PuckPedia have reported some new details regarding the specific financial terms of McDonagh’s three-year extension. The structure of the contract remains the same in all three years of its duration: $3.1MM base salary, $1MM signing bonus, and a full no-movement clause.

PuckPedia also noted that because this deal includes signing bonuses beyond its first year, it is considered a 35+ contract. As a result, the Lightning are eligible to buy out this contract, but doing so would not provide them with any cap relief.

7:35 a.m.:The Lightning announced they’ve signed defenseman Ryan McDonagh to a three-year extension. The deal, which keeps him in Tampa through the 2028-29 season, is worth $12.3MM for an average annual value of $4.1MM. Instead of testing the unrestricted free agent market next summer, he’ll stay with the club where he won championships in 2020 and 2021.

It’s a nice gift for the veteran rearguard, who remains out with an undisclosed injury that’s kept him out of the lineup for over three weeks. While the deal takes him through his age-39 season, McDonagh has so far defied the aging curve. He was arguably the NHL’s top shutdown defenseman last season, posting a league-high +43 rating and controlling 51.9% of expected goals at 5-on-5 despite seeing 264 defensive zone starts compared to 160 offensive zone starts. On top of that, his 4-27–31 scoring line remained nearly in line with his career average and marked the eighth time in his 16-year career that he’s crossed the 30-point plateau.

That was McDonagh’s first season back in Tampa after a two-year absence. Following their third straight trip to the Stanley Cup Final in 2022, a loss to the Avalanche, he had completed the third year of the seven-year, $47.25MM extension he signed with the Bolts in 2019. He was still viewed as a high-end top-four piece at the time, but his offensive production had taken somewhat of a hit since signing the extension. He was coming off a career-best 46 points in 82 games and an eighth-place finish in Norris Trophy voting before the deal went into effect, but he averaged just four goals and 24 points per 82 games over the following three seasons. That led Tampa to make him and his $6.75MM cap hit a cap dump under a still relatively flat cap environment, asking him to waive his no-trade clause. He accepted a move to the Predators, who brought him in at full price in exchange for a pair of depth skaters.

McDonagh’s play in Nashville was more of the same steady, two-way hockey that the former Rangers captain has played from the start. Across two years with the Preds, he racked up 52 points and a +31 rating in 145 games, serving as their top penalty killer and averaging more than 21 minutes of ice time per game. In the 2024 offseason, the Lightning, armed with more cap flexibility, needed repair on the blue line after allowing 3.26 goals per game, their worst defensive performance in 12 years. The Predators were happy to return McDonagh to the Bolts, landing a second-round pick for their trouble after acquiring him for nothing of value.

The 36-year-old still looked like a natural fit in a top-four workload before sustaining his injury in a game against the Capitals on Nov. 8. Through 15 appearances, he was averaging 20:10 of ice time per game – a figure brought down by his early departure from the Washington outing – and had rattled off three goals and three assists for six points with a +1 rating. His usual even-strength pairing with Erik Černák also serves as the Bolts’ top shorthanded duo.

Under the hood, there’s very little cause for concern. McDonagh is perhaps the best case study in the league for quality over quantity on defense. He’s still receiving an extremely skewed workload toward the defensive zone at 5-on-5. Naturally, that means he’s getting shelled in shot attempts, only controlling 49.4% of them to rank fifth-worst among Bolts skaters with at least 10 appearances. The shot attempts they’re allowing with him on the ice, though, amount to a high volume of low-danger chances. McDonagh’s 58.0% share of expected goals at 5-on-5 ranks fifth-best on the Lightning. They also only allow 8.8 high-danger chances per 60 minutes with McDonagh on the ice at 5-on-5, which is also the fifth-best mark on the team.

With that type of value, the Lightning understandably wanted to make sure the steady McDonagh was retained behind an also-aging Victor Hedman as they squeeze what they can out of their championship contention window. At a significant discount that’s just a few ticks over the league-average salary, getting him locked in without submitting to a crushing contract length that takes him into his 40s is also a real win for Tampa GM Julien BriseBois.

Barring trades, the Bolts’ defense is virtually locked in for next season. Alongside McDonagh, Hedman, Černák, Emil Martinsen Lilleberg, and Maxwell Crozier are also signed through at least next year on one-way deals, while breakout defender J.J. Moser is a pending restricted free agent and will be back. They also boast one of the most advantageous cap situations in the league, particularly for a team in win-now mode. With a total cap commitment of $81.92MM on the books for 2026-27 to 20 roster players, that leaves them over $22MM in projected space to fill just three spots, per PuckPedia.

Image of Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images.

Kings To Activate Drew Doughty From Injured Reserve

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3:15 p.m.: The Kings have now officially announced that they have activated Doughty off of injured reserve.

12:56 p.m.: Kings star defenseman Drew Doughty is going to be activated from injured reserve ahead of tonight’s game against the Blackhawks, according to Zach Dooley of NHL.com. Los Angeles has an open roster spot, so no corresponding transaction is required.

The contest will mark Doughty’s first performance since sustaining an apparent left leg/foot injury while blocking a shot against the Senators on Nov. 15. There was initial fear that his injury was related to the left ankle fracture that sidelined him for the first few months of the 2024-25 campaign. However, the team quickly confirmed there was no connection and that he only carried a week-to-week designation, unlike the month-to-month one his previous ankle injury carried.

Shortly thereafter, general manager Ken Holland told reporters he only expected Doughty to miss two to three weeks. Today’s game is the first in that return window, so his comeback is right on schedule.

Doughty returned to practice on Thanksgiving, so he’s been skating for at least a week. Doughty said his “cardio is where it needs to be,” according to Dooley, so the injury was minor enough not to significantly interrupt his conditioning. Doughty added he didn’t sustain any sort of fracture in his foot (via Eric Stephens of The Athletic).

The five-time All-Star and 2016 Norris Trophy winner wasn’t off to a great start before exiting the lineup. His 2-6–8 scoring line in 19 appearances worked out to 0.42 points per game, his lowest pace since his rookie season. His 22:33 average time on ice is also the lowest mark of his 18-year career, although that figure is dragged down somewhat by his early departure from the Ottawa game.

Part of that reduction has come via a decrease in shorthanded deployment. The team’s offseason signings of Brian Dumoulin and Cody Ceci pushed Doughty out of a spot on L.A.’s top two penalty kill units.

He’s also received a greater challenge for the No. 1 power play quarterback job from young righty Brandt Clarke, who leads the Kings’ defense in scoring with three goals, nine assists, and 12 points in 26 games. Doughty did not record a point on the man advantage before his injury, with seven of his eight points coming at even strength and the other coming shorthanded.

However, Doughty’s 5-on-5 game remains among the best the Kings have to offer on the back end. Among L.A.’s six regular defenders, he ranks second behind Clarke in Corsi share (55.7%), shot share (55.1%), and expected goal share (53.9%). He tops Clarke with a 53.5% control of high-danger chances. That’s with Doughty having only the third-highest rate of offensive zone starts among Kings defenders at 56.5%.

Doughty will presumably return to his regular top-pairing role on the right side along Mikey Anderson. Lefty Joel Edmundson had filled in there on his off side for the past several games, but will now return to a more comfortable job on the second or third pairing on the left side. Jacob Moverare, who only played once this season before Doughty’s injury, will return to a press-box role.

Patrice Bergeron, Niklas Kronwall Among 2026 IIHF Hall Of Fame Inductees

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The International Ice Hockey Federation have announced their 2026 inductions into the IIHF Hall of Fame. The class includes six players – Austria’s Thomas Vanek, Switzerland’s Florence Schelling and Andres Ambuhl, Sweden’s Niklas Kronwall, and Canada’s Patrice Bergeron and Cassie Campbell-Pascall. The IIHF will also induct Ralph Krueger, once a longtime coach for Switzerland, as a builder.

This class is undoubtedly headlined by Bergeron and Kronwall, who each earned entry into the coveted Triple Gold Club, having won Gold Medals at the Olympic Games and World Championships, and a Stanley Cup. Bergeron achieved entry at the young age of 26. He won Gold at the 2004 World Championship, at the age of 19, then joined Team Canada for a historic Gold at the 2010 Winter Olympics. He capped off the feat by leading the Boston Bruins to the 2011 Stanley Cup.

Kronwall won Gold in both the Olympics and World Championship in the same year – 2006, when he was 25. It took him two more years to earn a Stanley Cup, as part of a 2008 Detroit Red Wings club that was laden with Hall-of-Fame talent. Both Bergeron and Kronwall were revered NHL skaters – with Bergeron reaching the pinnacle of defensive-forwards while Kronwall was known as one of the hardest-hitting defenders of the 2000’s.

Vanek never won a Gold Medal or Stanley Cup – but his international track record still became revered. He is among Austria’s greats, earning a top-five selection in the 2003 NHL Draft and seeing the country through multiple climbs in the international standings over the course of a 14-year pro career. He helped earn Austria a promotion to the top flight of the World Junior Championships in 2003, after scoring 13 goals and 24 points across just 10 games at the Division-1 level, at the ages of 16 and 17. That scoring earned him the captaincy when Austria returned to the World Juniors in 2003, where Vanek put up four points and 37 penalty minutes in six games. He made his debut at the World Championship in 2004 and the Olympic Game Qualifiers in 2005, though he wouldn’t officially go to the Olympics until 2014. All throughout, Vanek managed 17 points in 19 games at the World Championship and two points in seven games in Olympic events.

Campbell-Pascall was also a routine captain during her international career, though she managed to stock her trophy cabinet quite a bit more. By the end of her career, Campbell-Pascall had earned six Gold Medals and one Silver Medal at the World Championship, as well as two Gold Medals and one Silver Medal at the Olympics. She was a core piece of Canada’s women’s team through the turn of the centruy, offering enough dynamic speed and heads-up instinct to make plays at either the forward or defense positions. Campbell-Pascal captained Canada at two World Championships and two Olympic Games. She scored five points in five games during three of those tournaments – en route to 11 total points in 16 games at the Olympic Games and 31 points in 35 games at the World Championship.

The class closes with a trio of popular names in Switzerland. Ambuhl has long been a cornerstone of Swiss pros, in addition to his international impact. He captained Switzerland’s HC Davos from 2014 to 2024 – and led the club through appearances at the Spengler Cup in every season, as well as routine trips to the Deutschland Cup and Champions Hockey League. Ambuhl also joined Switzerland at the World Championship and Olympics in every year the country attended during his career. He scored 70 points in 151 games, and 20 appearances, at the World Championships; and eight points in 22 games during Olympic events.

Krueger oversaw many of Ambuhl’s first international tournaments. The Canadian-born head coach began his coaching career in Germany’s second league, after a long career in German pros. He then moved to a highly-successful career in Austria that earned him Switzerland’s head coaching role in 1998. Krueger stuck with Switzerland through their next 12 appearances at the World Championshpis and four appearances at the Olympic Games. He never medaled with Switzerland, but did earn a Gold Medal as a team consultant for Team Canada at the 2014 Winter Olympics. Krueger became a naturalized Swiss citizen in 2019. He was often a vocal advocate for growing relationships between the IIHF and NHL, and helped reshape international tournaments like the Champions Hockey League.

Finally, Schelling was among the most prolific goaltenders in hockey during her 13-year international career that began with an appearance at the World Championship in 2004, when Schelling was only 15. She excelled despite playing older competition, posting a .955 save percentage in four games. Schelling quickly became a fixture of Switzerland’s international lineup after that. She attended Northeastern University in 2008 – with four appearances at the World Championship and two appearances in Olympic Game events already behind her.

Everywhere she went, Schelling challenged lofty save percentages. She posted a .926, .932, and .918 Sv% at the World Championships in 2011, 2012, and 2013 respectively. Those numbers were quickly muted by the .941, .932, .941, and .931 Sv% she managed between appearances at the World Championships and Olympics in 2015, 2016, and 2017. She was a great goalie all the way down to the fundamentals, and was often used as a great example for developing goaltenders around the world. Schelling briefly served as a head coach for Switzerland’s U18 National Team, and served as general manager of SC Bern in 2020.

Photo courtesy of Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports.

Flyers’ Tyson Foerster Out Two To Three Months

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Dec. 3rd: As expected, the Flyers announce that they’ve placed Foerster on the injured reserve. The transaction opens up a spot on Philadelphia’s 23-man roster.

Dec. 2nd: Flyers winger Tyson Foerster is expected to miss two to three months with the upper-body injury he sustained in last night’s loss to the Penguins, the team announced.

The news sidelines Foerster, who leads the Flyers with 10 goals in 21 games, through the Olympic break. It was a non-contact injury as Foerster appeared to hyperextend his right shoulder or otherwise injure the upper arm area while unloading a one-timer midway through the second period (video via Flyers Clips on X).

It’s been a rough ride for the 23-year-old over the past few months. His status for opening night was doubtful through much of training camp after he sustained an elbow injury while playing for Canada at the World Championship back in May. The procedure itself wasn’t expected to keep him out through the start of the season, but he developed a related infection that delayed his recovery. He ended up not missing any time but sustained a lower-body injury at the beginning of November that landed him on injured reserve and kept him out for four games.

This absence will be in the 30-game range, though. If he returns right at the two-month mark, he could technically get a few reps in before the Olympic break – the Flyers’ last game before the schedule pause is on Feb. 5. But in the likely event he’s out until Philly resumes play on Feb. 25 (or even later if he misses a full three months), he’ll be out for at least 31 contests.

Under new head coach Rick Tocchet, the Flyers have flexed a high-end defensive system and a breakout season between the pipes from free-agent pickup Daniel Vladař to a 14-8-3 record, good for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference at the time of writing. Their offensive output, however, ranks 26th in goals per game (2.76) and 29th in shots per game (24.8). Missing their best finisher in Foerster, who’s shooting at a 24.4% clip and also ranks fifth on the team in shots per game, threatens to sink those numbers even further.

Since arriving in the NHL in 2023, Foerster has quietly emerged as one of the league’s better young two-way wingers. The 2020 first-round pick is a career 15.9% shooter – right in range with names like Auston Matthews, Zach Hyman, and Elias Pettersson over the same span. He’s also averaged over 17 minutes per game, factors in on the Flyers’ second penalty kill unit, and consistently boasts above-average possession impacts. He’s been on a different level defensively this year, only on the ice for 0.88 goals against per 60 minutes at 5-on-5.

Fresh off signing a two-year, $7.5MM extension that looked to be one of the best value bets in the league this season, he’s now ticketed for an extended absence. As for who will be the beneficiary of his top-nine minutes, rookie Nikita Grebenkin is a solid bet to get the first crack. He’s already seen some elevation from his usual fourth-line duties, skating a handful of games alongside Noah Cates and Travis Konecny. The offensive production hasn’t quite arrived for the 22-year-old Russian, who’s notched one goal and three points through 16 games, but boasts solid possession numbers in his limited minutes and is worth a look higher up in the lineup.

With Foerster unavailable, the Flyers no longer have a healthy extra forward on their roster. With five games left on a six-game homestand, there likely isn’t much motivation to make a recall unless another injury occurs.

San Jose Sharks Assign Michael Misa On Conditioning Loan

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The San Jose Sharks are close to returning this past summer’s second-overall pick to the active roster. The Sharks announced they’ve placed Michael Misa on the team’s long-term injured reserve, and have assigned him to the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda on a conditioning stint.

It’s not a foregone conclusion that Misa will return to the Sharks’ lineup by the end of the conditioning loan, though it is a workaround to the current rules regarding CHL-drafted 18-year-olds playing in the AHL. If the Sharks were to activate Misa and reassign him, he would have to play for the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit instead of the Barracuda.

After scoring 62 goals and 134 points in 65 games for the Spirit last season, there’s little development available for Misa in the OHL. Still, considering how sheltered he was during his first few games in the NHL, and the subsequent lower-body injury that’s kept him sidelined since early November, sticking the rest of the year out in the NHL may not be the best avenue for his development, either.

Regardless, aside from Macklin Celebrini, it’s par for the course in how San Jose has treated their top prospects at the NHL level. Last season, in the first month of the season, Will Smith had registered only two goals through his first nine games, averaging 13:32 of ice time per night. That’s eerily similar to Misa, who’s scored one goal and three points in seven games, managing an ATOI of 11:44.

Smith’s usage had dramatically changed by the end of the season, as the former fourth-overall pick scored five goals and eight points in nine games, averaging 20:44 of action. There’s no guarantee that they’ll do the same with Misa, though it’s confirmation that the Sharks have been slowplaying their upper-level prospects throughout the course of a season.

Despite the open debate on whether Misa is better suited in the OHL or sheltered NHL minutes, it’s objectively better that he’s healthy and back to playing in some capacity. Given that he placed him on LTIR beforehand, the Sharks will now have six days or three games, whichever is longer, to make a longer-term decision on Misa’s immediate future. Additionally, they can request an extension on the conditioning stint that would allow them nine days or five games.

Tyler Seguin Suffers ACL Injury, Out Long Term

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Dallas Stars head coach Glen Gulutzan told the media today, including radio analyst Bruce LeVine, that veteran forward Tyler Seguin has suffered an ACL injury and will “probably” be out for the rest of the 2025-26 season.

The news comes after Seguin had to be helped off the ice last night during the team’s overtime loss to the New York Rangers. This unfortunate development comes almost exactly one year after it was announced that Seguin would miss most of the rest of the 2024-25 season due to hip surgery. Seguin ended up returning in time for the Stars’ regular-season finale, and managed to play in 18 playoff games.

So far this season, Seguin had kept up his standard of solid offensive production. While he wasn’t scoring at the point-per-game clip Stars fans grew accustomed to in the late 2010s, his 17 points in 27 games still set an 82-game pace of 52. He currently ranks fifth among Stars forwards in 2025-26 scoring.

Lia Assimakopoulos of the Dallas Morning News reported that the Stars “are still awaiting more input from doctors to determine the exact timeline” of Seguin’s recovery, as well as whether he’ll be available to play in the playoffs, which the Stars will almost assuredly qualify for. Assimakopoulos added that “it doesn’t seem like” the Stars “are too optimistic” that Seguin will be available to play again this season.

Seguin had been playing on Dallas’ second line alongside Jason Robertson and Roope Hintz, and he was succeeding in that capacity. But now for a second straight year, a significant injury will cost him the chance to play in even 30 regular-season games.

Owen Newkirk of DLLS Sports relayed word from Gulutzan that veteran forward Matt Duchene, who is dealing with his own injury, is currently “day-to-day” and is inching towards a return to the lineup. It appears likely that whenever Duchene is ready to return, he’ll slot into Seguin’s vacated spot as the team’s second-line right winger behind Mikko Rantanen.

Since Seguin is under contract for another season after this one at a $9.85MM AAV, this injury won’t cost him the chance to put together a healthy, productive platform season. But it will most likely cost Seguin the chance to compete for a second career Stanley Cup championship. The Stars will still chase their franchise’s second title without Seguin, and now that the extent of his injury is all but confirmed, expect focus on potential fits for Dallas on the trade market to increase.

The Stars have been the NHL’s second-best team so far in 2025-26, with their 39 points trailing only the Colorado Avalanche (who have one regulation loss all year) in the standings. The Stars have all the makings of a true Stanley Cup contender this season, and it would be a surprise if GM Jim Nill went the entire season without acquiring additional scoring help.

The Stars traded for both Rantanen and veteran Mikael Granlund to bolster its attack last season, and while a trade on the scale of the Rantanen deal will be almost impossible to complete, expect Dallas to be in the mix for the top rental scoring options. That may have been the case even before this development regarding Seguin, but Seguin’s ACL injury will only further heighten the team’s need to add scoring reinforcements for what it hopes will be a long playoff run.

Assuming Seguin is indeed out for the rest of the season, including the playoffs, the team does at least gain a significant amount of financial flexibility. Seguin could be placed on long-term injured reserve (LTIR), which would give the Stars quite a bit of room to make additions without running afoul of the league’s payroll limits.

Photos Courtesy of Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Mammoth Recall Daniil But, Reassign Dmitri Simashev

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The Mammoth are swapping a pair of their top prospects. The team announced they’ve recalled winger Daniil But from AHL Tucson while sending down defenseman Dmitriy Simashev in a corresponding move. Center Kevin Rooney was also placed on waivers and will be assigned to Tucson if he clears.

But and Simashev were both top-15 picks in the 2023 draft, the last premier prospects drafted under the Coyotes moniker before the franchise’s hockey operations were sold and reestablished in Utah. Simashev went sixth overall, while But went 12th. The two spent their entire careers in Lokomotiv Yaroslavl’s system in their native Russia, winning a Gagarin Cup championship together last year before signing their entry-level contracts and heading to the Mammoth for 2025-26.

While Simashev managed to wrestle a roster spot on the blue line, But was left on the outside as one of the Mammoth’s final roster cuts. He took the demotion in stride. After netting back-to-back 20-point seasons in the Kontinental Hockey League with Lokomotiv, he’s rattled off eight goals and 17 points in 19 games with Tucson to lead the club in scoring.

After a hot start to the season, Utah’s offense has cooled off. They’re now 19th in the league with 2.96 goals per game. Some of that can be attributed to a power play that’s languishing at a league-worst 13.2%, but their 10.3% finishing rate is also below average by a few ticks. Chance generation hasn’t been much of an issue – they’re 12th in shots per game and have the fifth-most scoring chances in the league at 5-on-5 – but the offensive output outside of their top five forwards leaves a little to be desired. Alexander Kerfoot’s persisting absence has been a contributing factor there, as well as underwhelming performances from middle-six centers Barrett Hayton and Jack McBain, who have five points each in 24 and 27 appearances, respectively.

But isn’t a guaranteed fix, but the 20-year-old’s smooth adjustment to North America shows he’s worth a shot. Most will see him listed at 6’5″ and 203 lbs and assume a high-ceiling power forward – he is not. Physical elements aren’t entirely absent from But’s game, but he’s a skill guy first and foremost. In their draft-year scouting report of But, Elite Prospects highlighted “his ability to chain difficult pass receptions into handling moves and handling moves into passes or shots” and praised his release as well. He’s another name in a star-studded Mammoth forward pool that’s now also gained Tij Iginla at sixth overall in 2024 and Caleb Desnoyers at fourth overall this year. Those two are viewed as slightly higher-ceiling talents, pushing But down to the No. 4-ranked prospect in Utah’s pool last offseason by Steven Ellis of Daily Faceoff and by NHL.com.

As for Simashev, the writing was on the wall regarding his demotion. He’s run into a recent string of healthy scratches following Sean Durzi’s return from injured reserve, sitting in the press box three times in Utah’s last eight games. His first NHL sample didn’t change his status as the Mammoth’s No. 3 prospect behind Iginla and Desnoyers and as their top young defenseman. Also of hulking stature at 6’4″ and nearly 200 lbs, he’s a shutdown man who’s never put up flashy point totals – he scored just once in 29 junior games in his draft year – but does have some good first-pass ability.

His initial audition, though, shows that some minor-league time wouldn’t be the worst thing. Rarely does a defender with his skillset make a smooth adjustment to the NHL at age 20. In 24 appearances, he notched one assist and a -9 rating while averaging 15:28 of ice time per game. He got some top-pairing deployment with countryman Mikhail Sergachev, but also saw significant time lower on the depth chart with Ian Cole. The lefty was outscored 15-7 at 5-on-5 and controlled 47.5% of shot attempts, 7.1% worse than how Utah fared without him on the ice. With Durzi back in the fold and veteran Nick DeSimone posting better possession impacts in a limited sample, it was hard to justify keeping Simashev in a regular role – at least for now.

Rooney’s waiver placement signals the end of his third stint on Utah’s roster this season without receiving much playing time. He finally made his Mammoth debut last week on Friday against the Stars, notching a goal in 9:44 of ice time. The 32-year-old has served as a No. 14/15 forward for much of the year after signing a two-way deal at the end of training camp. It’s his second time on waivers after he cleared them following his signing. Across a few brief loans to Tucson, the 6’2″ pivot has five goals and an assist in eight appearances.

Image courtesy of Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images.

Avalanche’s Valeri Nichushkin Returning To Lineup

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The Avalanche will have winger Valeri Nichushkin back in the lineup for tonight’s game against the Canucks, Aarif Deen of Colorado Hockey Now reports. He was never placed on injured reserve, so no corresponding move is required.

While Nichushkin remains a core piece of Colorado’s top six forward group, the first-place Avs haven’t looked worse for wear without him. Since Nichushkin went down with a lower-body injury on Nov. 11, the Avs have gone 7-0-1 and still have a four-point gap on first place with an 18-1-6 record overall. Their first and only regulation loss came more than a month ago against the Bruins on Oct. 25.

Nichushkin was ruled week-to-week as a result of his injury, but it was clear in the past couple of days that his return was imminent. He’s no stranger to lengthy absences, notwithstanding his stints in the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program in the last few years. Ankle issues took out a good portion of his 2022-23 campaign, and he missed 21 games with a lower-body issue last year.

Still, the 10th overall pick back in 2013 has been an elite two-way presence since his big breakout with the Avs in 2021-22. In the five years since, he’s recorded a 96-102–198 scoring line in 226 games while averaging nearly 20 minutes per game. Among players with at least 100 appearances during that time, Nichushkin’s 0.86 points per game rank 58th and his +54 rating ranks 27th. His production has dipped since last season’s return from another stint in the program, though. He’s put up a more conservative 5-7–12 scoring line in 17 games this year and has churned out 0.77 points per game since the beginning of 2024-25.

Captain Gabriel Landeskog’s return from a multi-year absence has eaten into Nichushkin’s ice time this season, bringing it down to around the 18-minute mark. His reduced output should likely remain the expectation going forward, but that’s still spectacular value for his $6.125MM cap hit as he trods along through the fourth season of his eight-year deal. His line with Landeskog and Brock Nelson has been dominant at controlling play – as has virtually every line combo Colorado’s rolled out this year – controlling 60.7% of expected goals, per MoneyPuck.

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