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Lightning Place Victor Hedman On IR, Activate Nick Paul From LTIR

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The Lightning have shifted star defenseman Victor Hedman to injured reserve with the undisclosed injury that’s already kept him out for nearly two weeks, according to Erik Erlendsson of Lightning Insider. His roster spot is going to forward Nick Paul, who’s been activated from long-term injured reserve and will make his season debut Thursday against the Oilers. Hedman is eligible to be activated at any time but will remain sidelined for “probably a couple [of] more weeks,” head coach Jon Cooper told the beat this morning (including the team’s Benjamin Pierce).

Losing a No. 1 defenseman for any stretch of time is always worrisome, but an extended return timeline for Hedman is especially disappointing because of the Bolts’ other injury woes in their top four. Ryan McDonagh remains on IR with an undisclosed injury, while Erik Černák sat out Tuesday’s game against the Devils with a lower-body injury, although he’s expected back tonight. With all those absences, Emil Martinsen Lilleberg is the only Lightning rearguard to play in all 19 games this season.

Hedman’s current absence is also tracking to be one of the longest ones in his incredibly durable career. If he’s out for another two weeks from today, that would bring him to 12 games missed. He hasn’t missed that much time since various injuries limited him to 70 out of 82 appearances in the 2018-19 campaign. Before the injury, Hedman had been left without a goal through 15 games but had still racked up 12 assists, a figure that still leads Tampa’s blue line in scoring. He’s continued his dominance on the possession front, controlling 53.8% of shot attempts at even strength, and his pairing with J.J. Moser has outscored opponents 7-5 at 5-on-5.

His absence his perhaps most felt on Tampa’s power play, where he had half of his point production. They’re already at an underwhelming 17.7% on the year and have gone 2-for-12 in the four games Hedman’s been out. Darren Raddysh is now quarterbacking the top unit in Hedman’s place, but he’s got just two assists with the man advantage in 13 games.

While the Bolts’ defense group remains in disarray, they’ll trade that for having a fully healthy top-nine forward group for the first time this season. Only depth piece Pontus Holmberg remains on the injured list. Paul missed the first six weeks of the year and comes back a couple of weeks behind schedule after undergoing an upper-body procedure extremely late in the offseason. The versatile 6’4″ forward will make his season debut on the wing on a line with Jake Guentzel and Brayden Point, per Pierce. That unit has been downgraded to Tampa’s de facto second line because of Point’s sluggish start to the year, with only three goals and 11 points through 19 games and a -9 rating.

Jets Sign Adam Lowry To Five-Year Contract Extension

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Only a few short months ago, the 2026 UFA class looked like it could be one of the best in NHL history.  But since then, the list has been thinned out quite quickly.  Another player can now be crossed off that list as the team announced that they’ve signed center Adam Lowry to a five-year contract extension.  TSN’s Darren Dreger adds (Twitter link) that the deal will carry a $5MM AAV and be worth $25MM in total.

The two sides were reported to be making progress on an extension earlier this month so it’s not too surprising to see this get across the finish line.

The 32-year-old is in the final season of his five-year, $16.25MM deal signed back in 2021.  He has never been a high-end offensive contributor in his 12-year NHL career (his highest point total is 36) but over the past few years, he has become a reliable two-way player.   The captain has long been a sound defensive player who brought plenty of physicality to the table and that’s a combination that is especially appealing in a team’s bottom six.

Lowry missed the start of the season while recovering from hip surgery but has jumped right back into his usual role since returning.  In seven games, he has a goal and two assists along with 16 hits in 14:22 of playing time.  For his career (spent in its entirety with the Jets who drafted him in the third round back in 2011), Lowry has 122 goals and 154 hits in 782 games.

This deal represents a nice raise from his current $3.25MM AAV while getting a long-term agreement for the second straight contract.  While a $5MM AAV for someone whose production is more in the third-line range, those other elements he brings made it likely that he could have landed a deal at or higher than this price point on the open market.

Meanwhile, the Jets also get some much-needed stability down the middle.  Mark Scheifele is also signed through 2030-31, meaning that Winnipeg has two of their top three centers in place for the long haul.  GM Kevin Cheveldayoff still has some work to do to secure a long-term fit for their second center position (a role filled by Jonathan Toews this year) but that’s a strong foundation down the middle to build off of.

With the signing, the Jets now have around $78.7MM in commitments for the 2026-27 season, per PuckPedia.  That gives them around $25MM in cap room based on the projected $104MM Upper Limit.  Cole Perfetti, a pending restricted free agent with salary arbitration rights, will take up a good chunk of that but the rest of their pending free agents (all unrestricted) are for players more in depth roles.  That could give Cheveldayoff a chance to try to make a splash to add another core piece to his roster, either via trade or free agency this summer.

Murat Ates of The Athletic was the first to report that an extension had been agreed upon.

Photo courtesy of Ed Mulholland-Imagn Images.

Bruins’ Charlie McAvoy Undergoes Facial Surgery, Out Indefinitely

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As expected, the Boston Bruins will be without their top defenseman for some time. Zach Cavanagh of The Sporting Tribune passed along a note from Bruins head coach Marco Sturm, confirming that blue liner Charlie McAvoy underwent facial surgery.

Cavanagh directly quoted Sturm, saying, “Charlie had a facial surgery. Successfully. So he’s doing good. He’s recovering right now at home, and we still don’t know how long he’s gonna be out for.” There’s no point in speculating on how long McAvoy will be out, though broken jaw surgeries typically have a recovery timeline of six to eight weeks. There’s no confirmation that McAvoy broke his jaw.

McAvoy suffered the injury in Boston’s recent game against the Montreal Canadiens on November 15th. Partway through the second period, Canadiens defenseman Noah Dobson accidentally struck McAvoy in the face with a puck off a slapshot. McAvoy has already missed one game for the Bruins, though the team hasn’t placed him on the injured reserve yet.

It’s a difficult pill to swallow for a Bruins team that had gotten off to an unexpectedly good start to the 2025-26 campaign. At the time of writing, Boston has a 12-9-0 record through their first 21 games, sitting in second place in the Atlantic Division and sixth in the Eastern Conference.

Much of that has to do with McAvoy’s strong play. The former 14th overall pick of the 2016 NHL Draft had skated in 19 games for the Bruins before the injury, registering 14 assists while averaging more than one blocked shot and hit per game. He was averaging the most ice time of any Bruin by a margin of nearly two and a half minutes.

Boston has moved rookie Jonathan Aspirot to McAvoy’s spot on the top defensive unit next to Nikita Zadorov for the time being. Depending on how quickly the Bruins learn of McAvoy’s recovery timeline, it’s unlikely they’ll stick with that defensive pairing if they hope to remain competitive.

Additionally, McAvoy’s recovery could have implications for Team USA at the 2026 Winter Olympics. An eight-week recovery would put McAvoy’s return around mid-January, a few weeks before the start of the tournament. Again, there’s been no confirmation of that timeline, though it could complicate his involvement. The Long Beach, NY native was one of the first six players named to Team USA’s roster already.

Panthers’ Eetu Luostarinen Out Week-To-Week, Cole Schwindt To Undergo Arm Surgery

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Panthers winger Eetu Luostarinen suffered significant burns as a result of a barbecue accident and will miss a few weeks, head coach Paul Maurice said (via George Richards of Florida Hockey Now). He also informed reporters that depth forward Cole Schwindt requires arm surgery and will miss two to three months, per the team’s Jameson Olive.

The two-time defending champions are now facing even more significant strain on their top-nine forward group. They were already down Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk to start the season. In their absence, they were relying on Luostarinen heavily – essentially bumping up last year’s third line of him, Anton Lundell, and Brad Marchand, into first-line minutes.

Given the aggressive increase in deployment and the quality of competition, the experiment has largely gone well. Luostarinen has been the definitive third wheel on that line but was still on the best point pace of his career with 10 points (three goals, seven assists) through 18 games. The versatile 6’3″ forward has been the checking conscience of that line with 42 hits and is still tied for fifth on the club in scoring, a solid feat after back-to-back seasons in the 20-point range. He’s helped Lundell along to a strong 5-11–16 start in 19 games as he temporarily assumes Barkov’s role as Florida’s No. 1 center and has added fuel to Marchand’s resurgent 13-10–23 start in 18 games as the Cats’ leading scorer.

Understandably, relying on that trio for more offensive responsibility has come at the expense of defense. After they allowed only 1.14 goals against per 60 minutes in last year’s playoffs, that figure has spiked to 3.07 so far in the regular season. Their 47.8% share of expected goals is the worst among the Panthers’ five lines to play at least 50 minutes together this season, per MoneyPuck.

Regardless, Luostarinen’s absence will force even more line-shuffling from Maurice and even less support for struggling veterans like Sam Bennett, who’s been limited to four goals and seven points in 19 games and has a team-worst -7 rating. As for who replaces him in top-line duties with Lundell and Marchand, it’ll be 2021 first-rounder Mackie Samoskevich getting the first crack, according to Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald. Considering he’s put up similar point production (a 2-7–9 scoring line in 19 games) to Luostarinen this year in less ice time, it’s a logical bet for him to be able to elevate his game.

Florida also loses a fourth-line option in Schwindt, who had played in 10 straight games after sitting as a healthy scratch for the first nine. The former Panthers draft pick returned to the organization via a preseason waiver claim after intermediate stops in the Flames and Golden Knights organizations. He first entered the lineup in place of the injured Jonah Gadjovich in late October and managed two goals on seven shots to kick off his second stint in Sunrise. His minutes were limited at 8:38 per game, but the 24-year-old was still among the Cats’ most freshly experienced options for fourth-line minutes after he made a career-high 42 appearances for Vegas last year.

His absence means more consistent deployment for Noah Gregor, who didn’t make his season debut until Oct. 28 but has now played in six of the last nine. It’ll also mean an extended runway for top prospect Jack Devine, who has 12 points through 13 games with AHL Charlotte this year and was formally elevated earlier Wednesday.

Maple Leafs’ Matthew Knies Out Day-To-Day

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced that top winger Matthew Knies will miss Tuesday night’s match against the St. Louis Blues with a day-to-day, lower-body injury. He joins a laundry list of injuries in Toronto that also includes Auston Matthews, Brandon Carlo, Chris Tanev, and Anthony Stolarz.

Interestingly, Knies’ injury will bring Toronto up to $36MM in cap sapce on the injury list, nearly 40 percent of their total cap, per James Mirtle of The Athletic.

Knies, Toronto’s star winger, will join the club’s top center and starting goaltender on the sideline. He has been heavily leaned on over the course of the year, averaging over 20 minutes of ice time through 19 games so far. Knies has rewarded that deployment with a career-year early on. He has five goals and 22 points on the year, enough to rank third on the team in scoring behind William Nylander (26) and John Tavares (24).

Knies was well-due for the strong start. He has assumed the role of Matthews’ handcuff after century-scorer Mitch Marner moved to the Vegas Golden Knights this summer. Knies posted 58 points, split evenly, in 78 games from a second-line role last season. That performance was itself a step up from his standout rookie year, when he scored 15 goals and 35 points in 80 games.

Tavares and Nylander will take over the top line with Matthews and Knies on the shelf. Next to them will again be shoot-first winger Nicholas Robertson, while Matias Maccelli will return to a top-six role behind him. Robertson, Maccelli, and rookie Easton Cowan will be the beneficiaries of Knies’ ice time for the duration of his absence.

Blackhawks Place Nick Foligno On IR With Hand Injury

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10/17: The Blackhawks have placed Foligno on injured reserve after learning he’ll miss four weeks of action. Chicago has iced 11 forwards and seven defenseman – bringing Louis Crevier into the lineup – in Foligno’s absence. They’ll face one of three options now that their captain is on IR – stick with seven defenders every night; recall a forward like Toninato; or wait for Dickinson, who said he won’t return until he’s back to a full 100% per Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times.

10/16: The Chicago Blackhawks will be without captain Nick Foligno for the next month, head coach Jeff Blashill told Mario Tirabassi of CHGO Sports. Foligno sustained a hand injury after blocking a shot in Saturday night’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. He left the game with a few minutes left in the second period and did not return.

On top of the moral weight of losing their captain, Chicago will lose yet another forward in their middle-six with this news. The team is already without Jason Dickinson and Tyler Bertuzzi, who are both carrying day-to-day designations. Now, Foligno will fall out of the lineup as well, leaving a major hole on the wing. Foligno has filled any role Chicago has needed over the course of the season. He had two points, one fight, and a plus-three in his last five games entering Saturday’s matchup. Those marks brought him up to six points, all assists, in 15 games on the year – to go with 16 penalty minutes, 11 blocked shots, and 41 hits.

Chicago has rotated Foligno between the wing and center based on need. With no extra forwards on the roster, the Blackhawks will need to make a call-up to fill Foligno’s shoes. Unfortunately, the team is also without top call-up option Nick Lardis, who is day-to-day with an undisclosed injury per the Rockford IceHogs. Lardis leads all AHL rookies in scoring with 14 points in 15 games. He could quickly receive his first NHL call-up once he’s back to full health. Until then, Chicago will likely turn towards Dominic Toninato, who has nine points in 15 games for Rockford.

Drew Doughty Expected To Miss Weeks With Lower-Body Injury

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11/17: The Kings have confirmed that Doughty is out week-to-week with a lower-body injury per the team’s Manager of Editorial Content Zach Dooley. No details were provided on the injury, though they did clarify that it is unrelated to the ankle injury he sustained last season. Hopefully that will help him recover quickly, with a winning Kings season and Winter Olympics both at stake.

11/16: The Los Angeles Kings could be in store for a major absence. Veteran defender and alternate captain Drew Doughty was seen in a walking boot after Saturday night’s match against the Ottawa Senators, after leaving the game in the second period following a blocked shot. He appeared in pain right away, and gingerly returned to the Kings’ bench without putting weight on his left foot. The team expects to know more about his injury alter today, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. He is expected to be out week-to-week, per David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period.

Doughty only played through 11 minutes of ice time before exiting the game. He has been heavily leaned on over Los Angeles’ recent stretch, averaging more than 22 minutes of ice time over his last five games. He’s rewarded that usage with four points, eight blocked shots, and two hits. Those numbers brought Doughty up to eight points, 30 blocks, and 11 hits in 18 games entering Saturday night.

An extended absence would be dismal news for the 36-year-old Doughty. He fractured his left ankle in a preseason game in September 2024 on an awkward hit from Tanner Pearson. The injury required surgery, sticking Doughty with a month-to-month injury designation. He didn’t return until January, and only managed 17 points in 30 games before Los Angeles’ season ended. Doughty’s health has fluctuated wildly over the second-half of his career. He enjoyed an ironman streak from 2014 to 2019, but missed 15 games in 2019-20 and 43 games in 2021-22. He returned to good health, only missing one game between 2022 and 2024, until injury derailed him last season.

Doughty was named to Team Canada’s preliminary roster for the 2026 Winter Olympics in August. He was one of 42 skaters, and 13 defenders, named to the squad – putting him under a microscope for the rest of the year. This season will likely mark Doughty’s final chance to stand as an Olympian. He has already won two Olympic Gold medals, while posting eight points in 13 games. Doughty also represented Canada at the 2025 4-Nations Face-Off, where he scored one point in four games.

Kings Sign Adrian Kempe To Eight-Year Extension

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Nov. 17: The Kings have announced Kempe’s extension as reported. PuckPedia relays that the deal contains a no-movement clause through 2029-30 that then downgrades to a 15-team no-trade list. Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports the breakdown is as follows:

2026-27 through 2028-29: $1MM salary, $11MM signing bonus
2029-30: $2.5MM salary, $9.5MM signing bonus
2030-31 through 2031-32: $9.75MM salary
2032-33 through 2033-34: $8.75MM salary

Nov. 16: The Kings are in agreement with star winger Adrian Kempe on a deal to keep him in Los Angeles past this season, Emily Kaplan of ESPN reports. It’s an eight-year deal worth $85MM for a cap hit of $10.625MM, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. The contract secures Kempe, who was arguably the top UFA remaining next season, in Southern California through the 2033-34 season.

Most have viewed a Kempe extension as a must-do for Kings general manager Ken Holland, and for good reason. With captain Anže Kopitar’s pending retirement already set to leave a glaring hole in their top six next season, losing a second member of their top unit would have been catastrophic.

More so than ever, Kempe has taken the reins from Kopitar as the team’s top offensive threat. With six goals and 13 assists in 19 games this season, he’s on track to hit the point-per-game mark for the first time in his career despite an early-season shooting slump. His 9.7% finishing rate is currently his worst since hitting a low of 7.4% in the 2019-20 season. He’s only on track to hit 26 goals this year at present, but with his shooting average up at 14.2% over the prior four years, there’s a high chance he’ll hit over 30 once again and finish in the 80-to-90-point range.

Kempe has now scored 30 goals in three of the last four years and would have gone four-for-four if not for a five-game absence in 2023-24. He’s been stapled to Kopitar’s wing on L.A.’s top line since first getting an extended promotion in the 2020-21 season. It was somewhat of a delayed breakout for the 29-year-old, who was a first-round pick back in 2014. He didn’t make his NHL debut until late in his third year post-draft and spent the following few years posting around 30 points a year in a middle-six role. His big break didn’t come until his first full season on Kopitar’s wing in 2021-22, when he notched a team-leading 35 goals as L.A. ended a three-year playoff drought.

The 6’2″ winger has been a money-in-the-bank producer since then, while also hitting the 100-hit mark in every year since 2021-22. Since his breakout, Kempe’s 145 goals in 337 games are tied for 21st in the league. He’s now at 200 goals for his career, putting him just inside the top 10 in Kings franchise history and 14th in points with 420.

With him and Kevin Fiala checking in as L.A.’s only semi-consistent 30-goal options, there was little chance they could sustain losing him and Kopitar without many other options slated to be available to replace them in free agency without dropping back out of the playoff picture. His new deal will make him the Kings’ highest-paid forward next year, and he could be their highest-paid player outright starting in 2027-28 with the expiry of Drew Doughty’s contract.

The Kings tried aggressively to get Kempe’s deal done months ago during the offseason, but were unsuccessful. Shortly before training camp, Kempe said he wanted something done as soon as possible and all but set the Christmas break as a drop-dead date for talks. Today’s news marks a seemingly significant concession from Kempe’s camp, which was eyeing a match to the $11.5MM average annual value that Martin Nečas landed in his extension with the Avalanche a few weeks ago.

Even with the eight-figure commitment, the Kings still boast $23.1MM in cap space for next season, per PuckPedia. That’s with seven open roster spots. The contract is also one of the few truly long-term ones left on the Kings’ books. Only Mikey Anderson, whose deal expires following the 2030-31 season, is under contract past the end of the decade.

Image courtesy of Jeff Curry-Imagn Images.

Charlie McAvoy, Viktor Arvidsson Hurt In Bruins Win

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The Boston Bruins left Montreal with a win on Saturday night, but could pay the price with two veteran injuries. Star defenseman Charlie McAvoy sustained an upper-body injury after being struck in the jaw by a shot from the blue-line. He was helped off the ice by a trainer and did not return tot he contest. Meanwhile, winger Viktor Arvidsson sustained a lower-body injury later in the contest. Arvidsson is expected to miss “some time” while McAvoy will undergo further testing, per head coach Marco Sturm (via WEEI radio).

McAvoy’s importance to the Bruins can’t go understated. He had averaged more than 25 minutes of ice time across his last six games entering Saturday night, and rewarded the heavy usage with six assists. The Bruins set a 5-1-0 record in that span. McAvoy has worked his way up to 14 points, all assists, in 19 games on the year. That mark leads all Bruins defenders in scoring, with Mason Lohrei (10 points) the only other with double-digit scoring. McAvoy also leads the Bruins’ blue-line in shots on goal (25), average ice time (23:46), and ice time on both the power-play and penalty-kill. He would leave massive shoes to be filled. The Bruins would need to lean on a committee approach in his absence, likely looking to Lohrei stepping up as a vital piece of the offense and Nikita Zadorov growing into an even bigger defensive role.

Arvidsson may not carry the same lineup role, but his role will be just as tough to replace. The 33-year-old has scored three points across his last four games, including the game-winning goal on Saturday prior to his injury. He now has 10 points in 20 games this season. Arvidsson also ranks second on the Bruins in shots on goal (52) behind star scorer David Pastrňák. He has provided shrewd depth scoring to a Bruins team that sorely lacked that last season. With his help, the Bruins have leaped from the fifth-fewest goals-for last season, to the second-most so far this season.

Boston is already facing a littany of injuries. Elias Lindholm was placed on injured reserve in early November, and both Casey Mittelstadt and John Beecher are nursing injuries from the press box. That will force the team to call someone up form the AHL to fill Arvidsson’s bottom-six role. Former first-round pick, and 6-foot-6 winger, Riley Tufte co-leads the Providence Bruins in scoring with 16 points, split evenly, in 13 games. He’s tied with 10-year pro Patrick Brown, who has six goals and 10 assists. Both players would be strong options to bring up, though Boston may want to reward top prospect Fabian Lysell, who has 12 points in 12 games while working through a shifting lineup role.

Stars’ Thomas Harley Out Week-To-Week With Lower-Body Injury

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The Dallas Stars will be without one of their top defenseman for the next few weeks. Dallas announced that Thomas Harley is considered week-to-week with a lower-body injury.

Although Harley’s most recent game came in the Stars’ lopsided win against the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday, there’s reason to believe that he’s been playing through the injury for some time. Given their salary cap space, it’s expected that Kyle Capobianco will fill in for Harley for the time being.

It’s safe to say that Harley will be a huge missing piece for Dallas moving forward. The former first-round pick has arguably been the Stars’ top defenseman for the last three years, scoring 32 goals and 107 points in his previous 175 games. Additionally, Harley was the highest-scoring defenseman for the Stars last postseason, adding four goals and 14 points in 18 games.

Fortunately, Dallas has built a solid lead in the standings that they can likely absorb Harley’s loss. At the time of writing, the Stars are four points up on the Utah Mammoth for second place in the Central Division standings and are five points up on the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

Moving forward, it’s likely that young blueliner Lian Bichsel will get a larger look in the Stars’ top-two defensive pairings. Also drafted 18th overall like Harley, Bichsel is in his second year in the NHL. At this point, he’s scored four goals and 11 points in 56 games with 213 hits, averaging 14:46 of ice time per night.

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