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Injury Notes: Dickinson, Mikkola, Harkins

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Chicago Blackhawks centerman Jason Dickinson is day-to-day with an undisclosed injury and will be a game-time decision on Sunday, head coach Jeff Blashill told Charlie Roumeliotis of WGN Radio. Dickinson headed to the locker room partway through Friday’s game against Vancouver after receiving a heavy, awkward hit from Canucks winger Conor Garland. He returned, left again, then returned again throughout the remaining game – though it seems the injury is sticking around a day later.

Dickinson has been a core piece of one of Chicago’s best lines this season, centering fellow NHL veterans Ryan Donato and Ilya Mikheyev. The trio have outscored their opponents four-to-one in six games together, more than any other Hawks line. Dickinson sitting out of Sunday’s match against the Anaheim Ducks would force Chicago to break up their starting forward line against stingy competition. The Ducks sit with a 2-2-0 record and negative goal-differential (-3) but they’re led by legendary Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville and roster a long list of promising youngsters who can takeover games. Chicago has been thriving as of late – with a 2-1-1 record in their last four – but this injury news could bring that down.

Other injury news from across the NHL:

  • Speaking of Anaheim, bruising forward Jansen Harkins returned to the team’s practice in a no-contact jersey on Saturday, captured by Patrick Present of The Hockey News. Harkins is recovering from an upper-body injury sustained in a preseason match against the Los Angeles Kings on September 21. He was originally expected to miss about eight weeks, placing his return date still three weeks away. But already returning to practice could be enough to shorten that timeframe for Harkins. Then again, the Ducks may want to monitor their bottom-line bruiser a bit closer, after he ranked third on the team with 136 hits in 62 games last season.
  • Florida Panthers defenseman Niko Mikkola left Saturday’s match against the Buffalo Sabres with an upper-body injury. He sustained the injury after getting tangled up with Sabres winger Tyson Kozak and falling awkwardly into the boards. Mikkola only appeared in seven minutes of ice time prior to the injury. He remains without any scoring through seven games this season, though the physical impact Mikkola brings to each game will still be sorely missed should he have to sit out any more. He was a nightly feature in both of Florida’s Stanley Cup wins, and continues to play upwards of 24 minutes a night this season. That role will be tough to replace. Recent waiver claim Donovan Sebrango would be the next in line for ice time. He recorded 20 points and 79 penalty minutes in 50 games with the Belleville Senators last season, and has no scoring in four career appearances in the NHL.

Oliver Kylington Signs In Sweden

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A veteran blueliner has found a place to play this season.  Djurgarden of the SHL announced that they’ve signed defenseman Oliver Kylington to a one-year contract.

The 28-year-old was a second-round pick by Calgary back in 2015 and showed some flashes of upside over his six-year stint with the team.  It looked like he had turned a corner in 2021-22 when he collected nine goals and 22 assists in 73 games, putting him in a spot to be a potential top-four piece for them.  However, he was away from the team on a leave of absence for the next year and a half and played a limited role after that, resulting in the Flames going in a different direction last summer when he became a free agent.

Kylington wasn’t able to get the types of offers he was initially seeking in free agency, resulting in him waiting more than a month before he signed a one-year, $1.05MM contract with Colorado.  But playing time was hard to come by as he suited up in just 13 games with the Avs before being moved to the Islanders near the trade deadline; New York flipped him to Anaheim the next day.  Kylington played in just six games following the swap and then hit the open market this summer.

Kylington inked a PTO agreement with Carolina in late August with the hopes of landing a roster spot with them.  However, after three preseason games, he was cut fairly early, sending him back to free agency.  Clearly, no other NHL offers materialized so he has decided to head home where he’ll play a regular role in the hopes of boosting his stock next summer.

With 220 career NHL appearances under his belt, it’s quite possible that Kylington finds his way back to North America at some point, especially if he goes and plays an impactful role with Djurgarden.  But for now, his time at the top level has come to an end.

Jets Recall Brad Lambert

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The Jets announced that they’ve recalled center Brad Lambert from AHL Manitoba. The team has been operating with an open roster spot since sending defenseman Kale Clague down on Thursday, so no corresponding move is required.

Lambert initially made Winnipeg’s roster out of camp. He was reassigned to Manitoba last weekend to make way for Clague, whose insurance was needed while Haydn Fleury was nursing a minor knee injury. Clague was reassigned once it was clear Fleury was available again, but Lambert wasn’t immediately brought back up. The Jets likely wanted to get him in more game action with Manitoba, which played last night, before calling him back.

The 21-year-old Finn did not record a point in his first two AHL outings of the season while he was down on the farm. Last year was a tough one for the 2022 first-rounder. After splitting his post-draft year between the AHL and juniors, he caught on full-time with the Moose in 2023-24 and erupted for 21 goals and 55 points in 64 games, leading the team in scoring. He made his NHL debut that year as well and registered an assist. His momentum fell off last year, though, tickling the twine just seven times in 61 appearances with 35 total points and a -30 rating.

Winnipeg is looking for a bounce-back from its entire farm club this year, but especially from Lambert if he’s not going to log significant NHL time. He hasn’t looked entirely out of place in his six career big-league appearances, securing a pair of assists with a +1 rating while averaging 12 minutes of ice time per night. Winnipeg has been outshot significantly in Lambert’s even-strength minutes, though.

Lambert’s recall brings the Jets back to 23 healthy players on the active roster, 14 of whom are forwards. Eleven of them have played all four games this season. The 12th spot is looking to be a rotation between rookies Lambert, Nikita Chibrikov, and Parker Ford. Chibrikov played Winnipeg’s first three games before sitting as a healthy scratch on Thursday against the Flyers, with Ford taking his place. Neither has recorded a point.

Sabres Place Justin Danforth On Injured Reserve

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Oct. 18: Danforth landed on IR following today’s impressive 3-0 win over the Panthers, according to the NHL’s media site. Buffalo hasn’t yet made a corresponding recall, but they now have the flexibility to in case defenseman Jacob Bryson misses time. He’s now in concussion protocol after colliding with Florida’s Jonah Gadjovich early in the game, Ruff said (via Heather Engel of NHL.com).

Oct. 17: Sabres forward Justin Danforth will miss more than a month with the lower-body injury he sustained in Wednesday’s 8-4 drubbing of the Senators, head coach Lindy Ruff told reporters today (including Rachel Lenzi of The Buffalo News). It was never made clear what play actually caused the injury, but he left the game early in the second period and didn’t return.

It’s nothing Buffalo isn’t used to by now. Injuries have decimated their forward group early in the season. Jordan Greenway and Joshua Norris remain on injured reserve. New top-line winger Zach Benson only just made his season debut after a rather significant facial injury kept him out of the first three games, and he lit up the Sens for four assists to immediately assume the team lead in scoring.

Danforth, 32, inked a two-year, $3.6MM deal with the Sabres in free agency after spending the first four years of his NHL career with the Blue Jackets. He began the year on the fourth line but was quickly elevated into top-nine duties with Jiri Kulich and Jack Quinn when Norris got hurt in Buffalo’s first game. He’s without a point in any of his four appearances and hasn’t been particularly effective otherwise, aside from taking some faceoffs and going 54.8% on the dot, on pace for a career high. He’s managed four blocks and three hits with a -2 rating, only controlling 41.5% of shot attempts despite starting 55.6% of his shifts in the offensive zone at even strength.

The Sabres can place Danforth on injured reserve at any point if they need his roster spot, although they haven’t done so yet. They have enough cap space ($3.12MM) that long-term injured reserve shouldn’t be a consideration. For now, it appears recent call-up Joshua Dunne will maintain a spot in the lineup in Danforth’s place when Buffalo hosts the Panthers tomorrow afternoon.

Metropolitan Notes: Carlson, Flyers, Borgen, Soucy

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Veteran defenseman John Carlson is in his 17th NHL season, all with the Capitals.  He’s in the final year of his contract, making him extension-eligible but the team informed him early that they didn’t want to engage in extension talks but rather want to see how the year plays out first.  Speaking with NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti earlier this week, the 35-year-old acknowledged that he’d much rather prefer to have the security of a new contract in place but understands the business side of why they want to wait as well.  Carlson is making $8MM per season on this contract and with the likelihood of his role starting to decrease over the next few years, his next deal should come in at least a little below that price tag.  But if Washington decides not to bring him back, Carlson is already ruling out retiring and in that scenario, he’d be looking elsewhere in free agency next summer.

More from the Metropolitan:

  • Long-time NHL rearguard Jay McKee wound up being a finalist for the Flyers coaching job, relays Scott Wheeler of The Athletic (subscription link). He was linked as a speculative candidate if Philadelphia expanded its search but he wound up having a three-hour interview for the position.  McKee’s desire is not to be an NHL assistant first before moving to a head coaching role at the top level but he hasn’t ruled out going that route if an NHL head coaching job doesn’t materialize.
  • Rangers blueliner Will Borgen will play against Montreal tonight, notes Mollie Walker of the New York Post (Twitter link). He has been dealing with a lingering lower-body issue that has held him out of practice and resulted in a mid-week recall of Scott Morrow but it appears that Borgen will be good to go.  The 28-year-old has an assist, seven blocks, and eight hits in six games so far this season.
  • Still with the Rangers, defenseman Carson Soucy took part in practice today in a regular (contact) jersey, mentions Vince Z. Mercogliano of The Athletic (Twitter link). The blueliner was placed on injured reserve earlier this week with an upper-body injury.  Soucy isn’t eligible to be activated until Monday but it appears that he won’t miss more time than the minimum seven days.

Wild Recall David Jiricek And Tyler Pitlick, Assign Liam Ohgren To AHL

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The Wild have made a trio of roster moves heading into their game tonight against the Flyers.  The team announced that they’ve recalled defenseman David Jiricek and winger Tyler Pitlick from AHL Iowa while assigning winger Liam Ohgren to Iowa.

Jiricek has been up for most of the season but has played just once, resulting in his assignment to the minors yesterday.  He suited up for Iowa last night, making him eligible to be recalled as he has fulfilled the one-game requirement, part of the new rules brought into play this season to try to cut down on paper transactions.

Jiricek hasn’t had a lot of success at the NHL level since Columbus drafted him sixth overall in 2022.  He has played in just 60 games at the top level since then, 43 of which came in 2023-24; since then, he has been more of an AHL player, even after Minnesota dealt four draft picks and Daemon Hunt to acquire him last season.

Pitlick, meanwhile, is in his first season with Minnesota after signing a two-year, two-way deal with them on the opening day of free agency back in July.  He’s off to a good start in Iowa with two goals through three games and has 420 career NHL appearances over parts of ten seasons with eight different franchises.  His best showing came back in 2017-18 with Dallas when he had 14 goals and 13 assists in 80 games.

As for Ohgren, while he has played in all five games so far, playing time has been rather limited as he’s averaging just 9:10 per game while failing to record a point.  Given that he’s still just 21 and waiver-exempt, it might be better for his development to play in a more prominent role with Iowa for a little while Pitlick, a 33-year-old veteran, is better suited to play a low-minute role on the fourth line.  Ohgren had 37 points in 41 games with Iowa last season.

Atlantic Notes: Kane, Bryson, Lindholm, McCue

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Red Wings winger Patrick Kane suffered an injury late in Friday’s victory over Tampa Bay when he crashed hard into the boards.  He’s now set to miss at least one game due to the injury as Max Bultman of The Athletic relays (Twitter link) that the veteran has been ruled out of playing tomorrow against Edmonton.  The 36-year-old is off to a strong start to his season with two goals and three assists in his first five outings, good for third on the team in scoring but he won’t be adding to those totals for at least a few days.  There’s no word yet on if he’ll miss any more time beyond Sunday’s outing.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic:

  • The Sabres announced (Twitter link) that defenseman Jacob Bryson suffered an upper-body injury this afternoon against Florida. The injury occurred on his first shift of the game after taking a hit from Jonah Gadjovich.  Bryson came into the games with an assist through his first four games of the season while averaging a career-low 11:31 per game, an ATOI number that’s certainly going to take a dip after today’s contest.  Zach Metsa is the only other healthy blueliner on Buffalo’s roster so if Bryson is set to miss any more time, Metsa should be in line for his NHL debut soon.
  • After missing the last three games with a lower-body injury, Bruins defenseman Hampus Lindholm is listed as a game-time decision for tonight’s game against Colorado, notes team reporter Belle Fraser (Twitter link). When healthy, Lindholm is a top-pairing impactful blueliner but staying in the lineup has been a challenge lately; he missed 65 games last season due to a knee injury.
  • Maple Leafs prospect Sam McCue announced on his Instagram account earlier this week that he has committed to Bowling Green State University. The 20-year-old was a seventh-round pick by Toronto back in 2024 and is off to a strong start in his final season of major junior, putting up four goals and two assists in eight games with OHL Brampton.

Joel Kiviranta Out Indefinitely; Avalanche Assign Jack Ahcan To AHL

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The Avalanche will be without a veteran winger as they take on Boston tonight.  The team announced (Twitter link) that winger Joel Kiviranta is out indefinitely with a lower-body injury.  In a separate move, the club also announced (Twitter link) that defenseman Jack Ahcan has been reassigned to AHL Colorado.

Kiviranta is coming off a career showing in 2024-25.  After only reaching the double-digit plateau once before (an 11-point effort in 2020-21), the 29-year-old potted 16 goals last season along with seven assists while also averaging a career-high 12:31 per game of ice time.  That helped him eventually earn a new contract with a small raise as he re-signed a one-year, $1.25MM deal back in August.

However, he has been quieter in the early going so far this season.  Through five games, Kiviranta has been held off the scoresheet and has managed just three shots on goal while his playing time has dipped by nearly two minutes a night despite still taking a regular turn on their penalty kill.  Now, he’ll be waiting a while to put up his first point on the season as head coach Jared Bednar clarified to reporters including Aarif Dean of Colorado Hockey Now that Kiviranta will be out several weeks at a minimum.

As for Ahcan, he was recalled from the Eagles on Sunday following a strong start that saw him put up four points in his first two AHL appearances.  However, he didn’t see any action during this recall, keeping his career NHL total at 11.

With these moves, the Avs have just a dozen healthy forwards and six healthy blueliners.  While that’s optical from the perspective of accruing as much cap space as possible, it’s a strategy that certainly carries some risk as well when it comes to injury exposure.  Accordingly, it wouldn’t be shocking to see the team make at least one recall from the minors before too long.

Senators Expected To Resume Shane Pinto Extension Talks Soon

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With Senators center Shane Pinto heading into the final year of his contract this season, the team and his representatives held extension talks over the offseason but were too far apart in terms of his value.  As a result, those discussions were put on pause with Pinto’s camp wanting to get through the start of the season without any possible distractions.

It appears that will soon be changing.  Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports that there’s an expectation that the two sides will meet again soon to rekindle those talks.

There have been some interesting moments in contract talks with him before.  When he was a restricted free agent back in 2024, there were suggestions that his camp was hoping to solicit an offer sheet in the hopes of landing a contract that was closer to the value they were seeking from the Sens.  Considering he wound up signing a bridge deal soon after, clearly one never materialized.

That bridge agreement was a heavily backloaded two-year, $7.5MM pact.  The deal sees Pinto receiving $5MM in salary this season.  With the qualifying offers being the lower of either his current-season salary or 120% of the AAV ($3.75MM in this case), he’s already set for a raise in his cap charge with his qualifying offer checking in at $4.5MM with salary arbitration rights next summer.

Pinto’s performance and the quickly rising salary cap ensure that he’ll be getting a higher number than that on his next deal.  Last season, he picked up a career-best 21 goals and 37 points in 70 games while largely playing in their top six.

This season, he’s off to an even better start.  The 24-year-old is tied for the league lead in goals with six through five games and while a shooting percentage of 40 is clearly unsustainable, both sides are certainly hoping that another career year offensively is on the horizon.

Garrioch relays word from a league source that suggested that Ottawa’s offer to Pinto’s camp was a longer-term offer in the $5MM to $5.5MM range, one that would lock him in as their third pivot for years to come.  With Tim Stutzle now moved to center and the acquisition of Dylan Cozens at the trade deadline last season, the hope is that those two will lock down the top two center slots for the foreseeable future.

But with that offer coming in not too high above the qualifying offer, it’s understandable that Pinto wouldn’t have wanted to sign that type of deal this early.  Meanwhile, a league executive suggested to Garrioch that Pinto might be looking to land a contract with a price tag between Cozens ($7.1MM) and Stutzle ($8.35MM).  While his offensive production to-date wouldn’t necessarily justify that, it’s also reflective of the expectation that salaries are set to jump quickly in this new cap environment.

There is definitely some risk in restarting discussions while Pinto is in the middle of a hot streak and Ottawa’s offer certainly won’t be pegging Pinto to keep producing at his current level.  But if he has done enough for the Senators to up their original proposal, it might be enough of a step to see if the two sides can get something worked out.

Brandon Montour Taking Temporary Leave Of Absence From Kraken

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The Kraken will be without their top defender for the next little while.  The team announced (Twitter link) that Brandon Montour will be taking a temporary leave of absence from the team to tend to a family matter.  No further details will be provided by the club.

The 31-year-old had gotten off to a strong start for Seattle this season.  Through four games, Montour leads the team in assists with four through four games while those four points are tied for the team lead.  He’s also their team leader in playing time, averaging just under 23 minutes per game.  That comes on the heels of playing a similar role last season when he notched 18 goals and 23 assists in 81 games while logging 22:59 per contest, a solid first season with the Kraken after signing a seven-year contract with them as an unrestricted free agent.

With Ryker Evans yet to play this season due to an upper-body injury, Seattle’s defensive depth is going to get tested a little more now.  Cale Fleury has been the reserve defender for each game so far and in the short term, it makes sense that he would take Montour’s place in the lineup.

If Montour’s absence winds up taking some time, the Kraken might want to recall someone from AHL Coachella Valley to ensure that they have some depth available, especially with four games to go on their season-opening eight-game road trip.  While they have a full 23-player roster at the moment, they would be able to designate Montour to non-roster status to open up a slot to recall someone into if they decide to go that route.

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