Sabres’ Josh Norris Out Day-To-Day, Noah Ostlund Returning
The Sabres won’t have center Joshua Norris available tonight for Game 3 of their first-round series against the Bruins, head coach Lindy Ruff said (via Paul Hamilton of WGR Sports Radio 550). He’s day-to-day with an undisclosed injury. It’s not all bad, as they’ll be getting Noah Ostlund back from injury, with this morning’s line rushes indicating he’s slotting directly in for Norris as their third-line center (via Hamilton).
Norris didn’t appear to sustain anything major in Game 2. Ruff was non-specific when speaking on his ailment today, only saying that he’s “not feeling right” (via Rachel Lenzi of The Buffalo News).
The oft-injured 26-year-old shouldered a full workload through the first two games of the series, which were also the first of his playoff career. He averaged 16:36 per game and recorded six hits, although he was rendered pointless and had a -1 rating.
Still, it’s a notable loss. Buffalo won the possession battle handily with Norris on the ice at 5-on-5, controlling 61.1% of shot attempts. He’s also been above water in the faceoff department, winning 53.1% of his draws for a team that’s struggled heavily there to begin the series.
In the regular season, Norris had 34 points in 44 games. He missed nearly half the season with various upper-body issues that were unrelated to his previous shoulder injuries, but his 0.77 points per game were fourth on the team. Having that kind of production ceiling from a third-line center is a luxury the Sabres have reaped the rewards of this season en route to finishing fifth in the league in goals, although they’re only averaging three per game in their small playoff sample this far.
The Sabres would certainly prefer to reincorporate Ostlund without taking a name of Norris’ caliber out to make room, but they’ll gladly welcome him back nonetheless. The 2022 first-round pick had a solid rookie campaign after an early-season call-up from AHL Rochester, finishing the year with 11 goals and 27 points in 60 games.
It has been nearly a month since Ostlund played, though. He sustained an upper-body injury against Boston back on March 25 and was initially labeled day-to-day, but it stretched into something longer.
A natural center, Buffalo has preferred to deploy Ostlund on the wing for much of the year. Norris’ injury will obviously force him back to the middle, but his struggles on faceoffs – he won just 31.5% of them in the regular season – are certainly cause for concern given the circumstances. There are also some red flags about playing the skilled and smart Ostlund in a high-leverage role in what’s been an incredibly physical series thus far. He’s smallish at 5’11” and 180 lbs and plays like it; he only had five hits total in the regular season. Buffalo has already totaled 83 of them through Games 1 and 2.
USA Hockey Finalizes Coaching Staff For 2026 Worlds
USA Hockey has rounded out its coaching staff for next month’s 2026 World Championship in Switzerland, the organization announced Thursday. Former Sabres bench boss Don Granato was previously announced as the head coach in March as the Americans aim to win back-to-back gold medals at the event for the first time ever.
Joining Granato as assistants will be Canucks assistant Kevin Dean, Predators assistant Darby Hendrickson, Rangers assistant Ty Hennes and University of Michigan head coach Brandon Naurato. Sharks goaltending coach Thomas Speer is joining in the same role, while Predators video coach Lawrence Feloney and Islanders video coordinator Matt DeMado have also been added to the staff.
It’s a very similar group to the contingent that led the Americans to the promised land last season. Dean, Speer, and Feloney are all returnees, as are general manager Brett Peterson and assistant general manager Jeff Kealty.
Dean had no previous national team experience up until last year’s tournament, but they obviously liked what they saw, then under Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky. He’ll be primarily responsible for the defensemen and penalty kill, the same role he holds in Vancouver, although the Canucks had a league-worst 71.5% penalty kill success rate and ranked 29th in the league in shots against per game with 29.8 in Dean’s first season behind the bench there. He had previous stints with the Bruins (2017-22) and Blackhawks (2022-25) as an assistant.
In Nashville, Hendrickson is more of a roving assistant focused on player development. This marks his first national team appearance as a coach, although he scored 14 points in 44 World Championship games for the U.S. as a player in six tournaments (1996-2001) and also suited up for them at the 1994 Winter Olympics.
Hennes returns to the United States bench after first serving as an assistant coach at the 2024 Worlds. The Americans went 5-1-1 in group play that year but were upset by the host Czechia in the quarterfinals. Hennes is coming off his first season with the Rangers, following Mike Sullivan to New York last summer after spending the previous three seasons under him as an assistant with the Penguins.
Naurato, one of the brighter coaching prospects in the sport, is 41 years old and just wrapped up his fourth season heading up the Wolverines’ bench. A former player development consultant with the Red Wings from 2018-21, he spent only one season at Michigan as an assistant before earning the promotion. During that time, he’s won a pair of Big 10 championships and got Michigan to its fourth Frozen Four in the last five years, although they’ve been bounced in the national semifinal each time.
Senators’ Tyler Kleven Returning For Game 3
Senators defenseman Tyler Kleven will make his 2026 playoff debut in Game 3 of their first-round series against the Hurricanes tonight, he told reporters at Thursday’s morning skate (including Joshua Clipperton of The Canadian Press).
Kleven has been out of commission since April 2 with an upper-body injury sustained while blocking a shot in a game against the Sabres. At a time when the Sens were already down Jake Sanderson and Thomas Chabot, it was a crushing injury that removed all three of their left-side regulars from the lineup. Sanderson ultimately returned for their next game, and Chabot followed suit soon after, but Kleven’s injury – plus Nick Jensen‘s continued absence due to meniscus surgery and Artem Zub‘s departure in Game 1 with a lower-body injury – has still put a strain on Ottawa’s defense to begin the postseason.
Now, Ottawa will be down “just” Jensen and Zub as they try to climb out of a 2-0 hole at home. After dressing Dennis Gilbert and Lassi Thomson as their third pair for Game 2, both of them will come out while Cameron Crotty steps in on Kleven’s right side to make his first-ever playoff appearance, head coach Travis Green said (via Claire Hanna of TSN).
Kleven, coming off his second full regular season, was quite reliable as the #3 lefty on the Sens’ depth chart this season. Selected 44th overall in 2020, Kleven set career highs in assists (15), points (18), hits (126), and average time on ice (17:21) while suiting up in 70 contests. He emerged with a +2 rating and had spectacular results when paired with Jordan Spence, controlling 60.4% of expected goals in 657 minutes together at 5-on-5, per MoneyPuck.
Jensen’s and Zub’s injuries mean Spence has been elevated to top-four duties, so Kleven won’t have that kind of support on his right flank tonight. Nonetheless, he’s a significant plug-and-play upgrade over Gilbert, who actually had a solid go of things in his limited minutes in Games 1 and 2. Kleven’s higher ceiling – plus his strong performance in their first-round loss to the Maple Leafs last season – makes him an appealing option to get back in the lineup while likely seeing some penalty-kill time as well.
Lightning Reassign Brandon Halverson, Recall Harrison Meneghin
The Lightning have reassigned goaltender Brandon Halverson to AHL Syracuse, per a team announcement Thursday. They recalled goaltender Harrison Meneghin from Syracuse in his place to serve as their third-stringer/emergency backup during the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Syracuse had wrapped up a berth in the Calder Cup Playoffs a while ago, so having their #1 option in Halverson up with the Lightning wasn’t much of a problem. As the second-place team in the North Division, they earned a bye through the first round as well, so they’ve been off for a bit.
Their best-of-five North Division Semifinal series against Cleveland starts tomorrow night, though. They’ll get Halverson back down there to start after spending much of the last couple of weeks up on the NHL roster, giving their minor-league affiliate the best chance at a lengthy playoff run.
Halverson was initially brought up before the end of the regular season. He started Tampa’s regular-season finale against the Rangers, allowing four goals on 21 shots for a .810 SV% in a loss, while backup Jonas Johansson was sidelined with an undisclosed injury and workhorse starter Andrei Vasilevskiy got the night off.
Johansson has returned to back up Vasilevskiy through Games 1 and 2 of their first-round series against the Canadiens. Still, teams are required to roster a third goaltender at all times during the postseason who can function similarly to a regular-season EBUG. They’re permitted to enter the game, even if they’re not dressed, in the event both the starting and backup goaltender are forced out of the contest, to avoid a situation in which a Scott Foster or David Ayres-type ever sees playoff action.
Halverson is in his third season in the Bolts organization as an AHL option, breaking out as their clear-cut #3 last season. The 30-year-old only has four career NHL appearances to his name, two of which came this year. His 43 games for Syracuse this season ranked seventh in the AHL, though, accompanied by a decent .905 SV%, 2.42 GAA, and a 24-11-10 record with a league-leading six shutouts.
Meneghin is certainly less appealing as a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency option, at least at present, but he’s spent virtually the entire season down with ECHL Orlando and wasn’t going to see AHL playoff action anyway. Tampa selected the 21-year-old in the seventh round in 2024.
The 6’4″ netminder had put together some impressive seasons in junior hockey, including a WHL title and playoff MVP honors with Medicine Hat just last season. His stellar .919 SV% in 53 games for Lethbridge in 2023-24 is what led to his selection as an overager after going undrafted in both 2022 and 2023.
However, his first professional season has been a struggle. He only made 14 appearances for Orlando this season and wasn’t good, logging a .889 SV% and 3.26 GAA with a 4-9-0 record. His lone relief appearance for Syracuse, which came last Friday, saw him allow two goals on four shots for a .500 SV% and 9.33 GAA.
Meneghin remains under contract through 2027-28 and is the only depth netminder Tampa has signed through next season. They’ll be looking for him to return with a strong training camp and compete for AHL backup duties in the fall.
The Maple Leafs Are The League’s Most Troubled Team
The headlines about the Maple Leafs over the past 12 months have been largely negative, and for good reason. The team hasn’t been good since being knocked out of last year’s playoffs in the second round, and they’ve been a circus off the ice as well.
But a team that just a few years ago had quiet, steady confidence has become a tsunami of chaos wrapped in a corporate blanket. The Maple Leafs are in trouble, not the kind that can be “fixed” in a season or two – as we’ve seen in Pittsburgh or Washington – but the kind that can lead to a decade of futility.
Before diving too deep into the rabbit hole, a quick caveat. If the right lottery balls fall and Toronto turns this boondoggle of a season into the first overall pick, Gavin McKenna, then all the points that follow could become moot.
However, if the lottery balls fall the other way and Toronto ends up with a non-top-five pick that will be sent to the Bruins, it would lead to a more disillusioned fanbase and more toxicity around an organization that has watched a once-promising rebuild completely unravel in just a few years.
Some might argue that it all came apart in the last 12 months, and there is a good case for that, given that Toronto saw its biggest year-over-year point decline in 109 years. But the truth is that the seeds of this tree of woe were planted years ago, and they’ve been soaking up water for the last couple of seasons, only to emerge as the Maple Leafs’ first playoff absence in ten years.
The issue for the Maple Leafs isn’t a single item on a checklist. It’s a systemic issue that has filtered down from the top and has culminated in this week’s news from The Athletic that Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment president Keith Pelley has become deeply involved in roster construction, something he’d never done before.
The Athletic piece (subscription required), written in partnership by Jonas Siegel, Chris Johnston and James Mirtle, delves extensively into the Maple Leafs’ past season and pulls no punches in its depiction of their fall. History is littered with empires that fell, but for the Maple Leafs, the empire they were supposed to become when they emerged from a rebuild ten years ago never materialized.
How they turn things around at this time is incredibly unclear. There is perhaps only one quick fix: the aforementioned McKenna lottery ball going their way.
Outside of that, the road back to relevancy is paved with speed bumps, and at the moment, there isn’t an obvious candidate in the organization who can lead them to the promised land. There isn’t exactly a litany of candidates outside the organization, either, who could undo all the damage that’s been done to their roster.
Lots of names will get tossed around, but there aren’t many free-agent managers available who have built perennial Stanley Cup contenders, with the exception of Stanley Cup winner Peter Chiarelli, who is probably not high on Toronto’s list of candidates due to a litany of other roster construction blemishes on his record
Some have mentioned Mark Hunter of the London Knights as a potential candidate to take over, but Hunter had a somewhat sour experience with the Maple Leafs earlier in his career as an assistant GM, passed over for promotion in favor of Kyle Dubas, and may not want to leave the stability of the OHL Knights for the chaos of the Leafs. However, money can heal a ton of wounds, and if Toronto wanted to, they could probably find enough to mend fences with Hunter.
That is what Toronto will have to try to do if it wants to turn its current luck around in a hurry and flex its financial might. There is no cap on management, scouting, and player development, and it is an area where Toronto could invest heavily again to quickly retool or rebuild its roster. However, based on the story from The Athletic, it appears that Maple Leafs ownership has plans to move in the opposite direction, though they might not have a choice given the state of their roster and prospect pool.
When Toronto’s lineup is fully healthy, it’s not exactly a group that will strike fear into many opponents. There are significant gaps throughout, and not much toughness to speak of.
The biggest hole is on defense, where the team lacks a true number one defenseman who can run the power play, kill penalties, and play a solid two-way game at five-on-five. Many fans hoped Morgan Rielly would fill that role, but his game is all offense at this point, and that offense has been drying up in recent years.
The good news for Toronto is that they have plenty of cap space this summer ($22.2MM, with just three roster players to sign, per PuckPedia). However, the bad news is that there isn’t much available in free agency, and Toronto doesn’t have many draft picks or prospects to trade.
There are a few future pieces they could deal, but would it even make sense at this point to add to a core group of players who have won exactly nothing in ten years and have now gone through several management groups with almost no variation in results? The constant during that time has been Auston Matthews, William Nylander, and Rielly, who have all been on this ship while the deckchairs have shuffled around them year after year.
Is it time to move one of them? Can Toronto even move any of them, given their contracts, no-trade clauses, and last season’s struggles?
The core players have said they want to run things back in Toronto and give it another shot, which seems foolish at this point, given the track record. A new GM who comes in and tries to build around Matthews and company could be in for a fool’s errand, throwing good money after bad as they fall victim to the sunk-cost fallacy.
Make no mistake, every GM falls victim to it, throwing good assets out the window to undo previous errors. It usually doesn’t end well and can ultimately lead to a reduction in the contention window, which is exactly what happened in Toronto and elsewhere.
Many teams have done this before, burning through draft picks and prospects in pursuit of a playoff berth, only to miss and have nothing to show for it. The Penguins notoriously let Ron Hextall burn through assets in an attempt to save his job in 2023.
He traded a second-round pick for Mikael Granlund, who had the worst run of his career in Pittsburgh before the Penguins missed the playoffs. Hextall was fired shortly after the season, and Dubas came in and immediately made the same mistakes as Hextall, trading good assets for aging ones, before realizing his errors and pivoting to a retool.
Dubas then systematically moved out the Penguins’ veterans who didn’t fit the plan and moved on, recouping tons of young assets in the process. He also took on bad contracts along with draft picks to help teams that were strapped against the cap.
Some might look at the Dubas strategy and think it could work for Toronto, and who knows, maybe it could. But the issue is that it took Dubas two years to see results from those moves, and we haven’t fully seen those results yet.
Many of the draft picks Dubas acquired are in upcoming drafts. That strategy takes time, a lot of time, and time is something Toronto doesn’t have, given that Matthews has just two years left on his deal now.
Another issue for Toronto in deploying the Dubas strategy is that there simply aren’t as many teams up against the cap as there were a year or two ago, when Dubas made his moves. This means teams may be more inclined to simply bury bad contracts rather than trade them for an asset to get rid of them.
It was still painful for Pittsburgh, as they missed the playoffs for three straight years before making it this year. Retools take time; even when most of the moves work out well, there is no quick fix, only trade-offs. Toronto’s management has to decide which trade-off they are comfortable making before making management hires and pointing this team in a different direction.
Whatever direction is ultimately chosen, the road will be bumpy, but any team that finds success has to endure adversity, some more than others. And for the Maple Leafs, if they do eventually find success, they will have endured more adversity than any other team.
Snapshots: Bains, Kovalchuk, Klingsell
Vancouver Canucks forward Arshdeep Bains is entering a significant offseason, one that could determine his chances of becoming a full-time NHLer in Vancouver, writes Thomas Drance of The Athletic. According to Drance, “it’s clear” that Bains is “going to have to change his approach to take a stab at becoming a regular.” The 25-year-old entered 2025-26 on a high. He scored 24 points in 24 playoff games en route to a Calder Cup final to cap off the prior campaign, and got a real chance in the NHL to start this season. But he was unable to translate his strong track record of scoring at the AHL level to Vancouver, and finished the season with just five points in 28 games.
Bains will be an arbitration-eligible RFA at the end of next season, and will play the year on a one-way contract with a $775K salary. His qualities in Abbotsford are not really in question – he has scored as high as 55 points in the AHL – it’s his NHL future that is in question. The former WHL star has always been a player more focused on offense, but this year it became clear that Bains faces a tall task trying to translate his scoring from the AHL to the NHL. To find a way to carve out a long-term NHL role, as Drance wrote, Bains might need to redouble his efforts to provide value in other areas of the game, such as growing his defensive game or even adding some sandpaper to his style. Numerous players have found success turning themselves into valuable bottom-six defensive role players at the NHL level after being top scorers at lower levels (Dallas Stars forward Sam Steel is a great example) and it’s possible that’s the role Bains will have to take to stick at the game’s highest level.
Other notes from around the hockey world:
- Three-time NHL All-Star and 2004 Rocket Richard Trophy winner Ilya Kovalchuk was named president of the KHL’s Shanghai Dragons yesterday, according to a team announcement. The team also named Evgeny Artukhin as its general manager. Artukhin has spent the last three seasons as a European scout with the Vegas Golden Knights. Kovalchuk does have some prior management experience, as he served as GM of the Russian Olympic Committee men’s hockey team for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. The Dragons endured a very difficult 2025-26 season, going 21-35-12 and failing to reach the postseason. The club’s playoff drought is now up to nine years, as they have qualified only once in the team’s ten-year history – their debut year in the KHL.
- Winnipeg Jets prospect Viktor Klingsell signed a two-year rookie contract with the SHL’s Skelleftea AIK, according to a team announcement. In addition, the team announced that Klingsell will spend next season on loan in Sweden’s second division, HockeyAllsvenskan, with Kalmar HC. The 19-year-old was selected in the fifth round by the Jets at the 2025 draft and proved himself ready for pro hockey in 2025-26. He scored 17 goals and 43 points in 25 games at the U20 Nationell level, and seven points in eight games on loan with Östersunds IK in HockeyAllsvenskan. That’s the level he’ll get to start the year at in the fall.
Latest On Charlie Coyle Contract Talks
As the 2025-26 season progressed, more and more pending unrestricted free agents signed contract extensions to remain with their current teams. A free agent market that was once slated to feature big names such as Connor McDavid and Kirill Kaprizov has thinned out to a considerable degree, simultaneously hurting teams with big spending plans and helping the players who remain without a contract. One of the players who appears set to benefit most is Columbus Blue Jackets pivot Charlie Coyle.
Coyle, 34, is a pending UFA coming off of an extremely strong platform season. He’s set to be one of the top players available overall, and plays a premium position (center.) While his age might give some teams pause, he’s expected to receive significant interest on July 1 if he makes it until then without a new contract.
Yesterday, The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline reported that the Blue Jackets are determined to not let things reach that point. According to Portzline, a potential Coyle extension “is an immensely important contract for the Blue Jackets, such that Coyle could be seen as having a blank check to set his terms.”
On one hand, it’s not too difficult to see why Columbus would be desperate to extend Coyle. For much of Columbus’ franchise history, the team has battled a talent deficiency at the center position.
The Blue Jackets have been searching for a true No. 1 center for most of their existence in the NHL, and could very well have found one in Adam Fantilli. But Fantilli is still developing into that role, and the team’s No. 2 center, Sean Monahan, played through injury this season and was limited to just 13 goals and 36 points in 78 games. That’s a steep decline from his production last season, when he scored 19 goals and 57 points in 54 games. Monahan’s down season only further underscored Coyle’s importance to Columbus’ lineup.
Keeping Coyle would ensure the center position remains an area of strength in the Blue Jackets’ lineup. Part of why it may be seen as essential to team management is the fact that Columbus is under substantial pressure to reach the playoffs. They have very narrowly missed out on playoff hockey in each of the last two seasons, doing so in dramatic fashion this year.
The Blue Jackets have not made the playoffs since 2019-20, when they defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs in a qualifying-round series. The club cannot afford to take a step backward or hurt their odds of competing next season, and most would argue that losing Coyle on the open market would be doing so.
With that said, on the other hand, it’s also fair to question whether investing in Coyle would be in the team’s best long-term interests. If Columbus do indeed feel backed into a corner with Coyle, as Portzline suggested, that’s not exactly an ideal position to negotiate from.
The team’s immense interest in keeping Coyle, combined with the anticipated heavy interest in his services from across the league, gives him a massive amount of leverage in talks with the Blue Jackets. Coyle spoke highly of his time in Columbus, but it still is likely to cost quite a bit to keep him from testing the open market.
Is paying top dollar for a talented veteran center the best move for the Blue Jackets to make if the goal is building a sustainable contender? That’s the question team management will have to answer over the next few months as it considers whether to extend Coyle.
Injury Notes: Oilers, Lightning, Wild
Edmonton Oilers center Jason Dickinson is questionable for game two tonight against the Anaheim Ducks as the result of an undisclosed injury, reports Jason Gregor of Sports 1440. Per Gregor, veteran Curtis Lazar will enter head coach Kris Knoblauch’s lineup if Dickinson can’t dress. Dickinson has had some trouble staying healthy in recent weeks, as he missed the final three games of Edmonton’s regular season schedule with a lower-body injury. That didn’t stop him from making a major impact in game one, as he scored two goals in Edmonton’s 4-3 victory over the Ducks.
The 30-year-old veteran was acquired by the Oilers at the trade deadline from the Chicago Blackhawks, and is a well-respected bottom-six center thanks to his defensive ability. Lazar, 31, is also a bottom-six defensive center, though he is not held in quite as high a regard as the player he may replace in the lineup. Lazar got into 45 games for Edmonton this season, averaging 8:55 time on ice per game, including 0:33 per game on the penalty kill. Dickinson has been Edmonton’s top penalty-killing forward since he was acquired, averaging a team-high 1:51 time on ice per game while short handed.
Other injury updates from around the NHL:
- Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper updated the media on the status of the team’s injured players before the team’s flight to Montreal today, telling team reporter Gabby Shirley that forward Pontus Holmberg is still out on a week-to-week basis, and “definitely” won’t be able to return within the timeframe of the team’s series against the Canadiens. He also said defenseman Charle-Edouard D’Astous is “progressing” in his recovery from the injury he suffered from game one, and will skate while the team is on the road. He also added that injured captain Victor Hedman is traveling with the team, but there is no firm timeline on his return.
- Minnesota Wild forwards Mats Zuccarello and Yakov Trenin will be game-time decisions in advance of game three tonight against the Dallas Stars, reports Michael Russo of The Athletic. According to Russo, if one of the pair is unable to play, Nico Sturm will draw into the lineup in their place. Zuccarello played game one against the Stars but missed game two with an upper-body injury. He’s one of the Wild’s top offensive players when healthy, having scored 54 points in 59 games this season. Trenin is managing an upper-body injury, and could be at risk of missing a game this season for the first time.
Evening Notes: Kleven, Tippett, Ostlund
Defenseman Tyler Kleven is continuing to progress in his recovery from an upper-body injury sustained in April 2nd’s win over the Buffalo Sabres. He has now taken two practices with full contact and a face-guard and could be back in the lineup soon. Despite that, head coach Travis Green would neither confirm nor deny if Kleven was an option for Thursday’s Game 3 per TSN’s Bruce Garrioch. Meanwhile, Artem Zub remains out of practice since sustaining what appeared to be a lower-body injury in Saturday’s loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. Green did not have an update on Zub’s availability either per Sportscenter’s Claire Hanna.
It seems Ottawa will be forced to roll out the same blue-line that led them to a double-overtime loss on Monday. That will mean heavy minutes for usual stars Jake Sanderson and Thomas Chabot, as well as rising depth defender Jordan Spence who has taken over top-four duties in Zub’s absence. Nikolas Matinpalo should also stay up the lineup, though the Senators could rotate him with Lassi Thomson and Dennis Gilbert. Sanderson is the only Senators’ defenseman to score so far this postseason. He has two assists in as many games. So long as he can continue to elevate the blue-line, Ottawa stands a chance of hanging on against the Hurricanes.
Other notes from around the league:
- Top Philadelphia Flyers winger Owen Tippett missed the team’s Wednesday practice to nurse an injury that he has been playing through, head coach Rick Tocchet told NBCS’ Jordan Hall. He is expected to suit up for Wednesday’s Game 3 against the Pittsburgh Penguins despite the injury. Tippett has one assist in two playoff games so far, while Philadelphia holds a 2-0 lead over the Penguins. He should continue to line up next to Tyson Foerster and Trevor Zegras, maintaining a trio that has proven explosive in the early postseason.
- Buffalo Sabres rookie center Noah Ostlund could return to the lineup in Thursday night’s Game 3 against the Boston Bruins per Matthew Fairburn of The Athletic. Ostlund has not played since sustaining an injury in Buffalo’s March 25th matchup – an overtime loss to the Bruins. The rookie emerged as a reliable, fourth-line center for Buffalo. He played through his first NHL season and racked up 11 goals and 27 points in 60 games, to go with 10 points in seven AHL games. He should take on a fourth-line role over one of Beck Malenstyn, Joshua Dunne, or Jordan Greenway if and when he returns to full health. The decision of who to pull out of the lineup will be a delicate one for Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff, as the fourth-line has currently brought a lot of physicality to a hard-nosed matchup. Ostlund is still adjusting to NHL physicality and will be making his Stanley Cup Playoff debut when he makes it back into the lineup.
Sharks Loan Leo Sahlin Wallenius To AHL
The Sharks announced that they have loaned Leo Sahlin Wallenius to their AHL affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda. The move allows the Sharks prospect to continue his 2025-26 season now that his campaign in Sweden has concluded.
The Barracuda have a best-of-three first-round playoff series against the Henderson Silver Knights coming up, but it’s unclear if Sahlin Wallenius will be included in head coach John McCarthy’s lineup for game one. At the very least, the 2024 second-rounder will now be an option at his disposal.
If Sahlin Wallenius does get into McCarthy’s playoff lineup, his first game would be his North American professional debut. The 20-year-old spent all of 2025-26 at the professional level in his native Sweden, skating in 32 games for the SHL’s Växjö Lakers.
He had a successful season, scoring 13 points in the regular season and six points in 10 playoff games. He was also one of Sweden’s very best defensemen at this season’s World Junior Championships, scoring six points in seven games while regularly logging heavy minutes for the Swedes.
After a 2024-25 season that saw Sahlin Wallenius split his time between four different levels of hockey (SHL, Liiga, Allsvenskan, J20 Nationell), the level of consistency afforded to Sahlin Wallenius this season allowed him to take a real step forward in his development.
With his ELC signed last year, focus should be quickly shifting to when he might turn his attention to North America and the Sharks organization. Sahlin Wallenius’s contract status in the SHL is actually relevant for his developmental future and whether he might be able to stay in the AHL next season, in the (likely) event he doesn’t break camp on the NHL roster.
The NHL-SHL transfer agreement stipulates that any player who is under the age of 24, not drafted in the first round, and also under contract in the SHL be assigned back to Sweden rather than be sent to the AHL.
The fact that Sahlin Wallenius’ deal in the SHL is set to expire, and there has been no word about an extension, paves the way for him to be able to develop in the AHL. There are many cases of Swedish prospects doing so, such as Montreal Canadiens rearguard Adam Engstrom, who has been able to play for the AHL’s Laval Rocket in his age-21 and age-22 campaigns.
Regardless of where exactly he plays, this is a player who appears to have a bright future who is now set to dip his toes into the North American game. He was recently ranked as the No. 9 prospect in the Sharks’ system by Scott Wheeler of The Athletic, who wrote that the defenseman “projects as a two-way skating third-pairing NHL D.”
As the Sharks continue to figure out who the building blocks on their blueline are, Sahlin Wallenius could be a name to watch on the Barracuda.