Blue Jackets’ Erik Gudbranson Suffers Upper-Body Injury
Columbus Blue Jackets head coach Rick Bowness told the media, including team reporter Jeff Svoboda, that veteran defenseman Erik Gudbranson will not travel for Columbus’ upcoming three-game road trip after suffering an upper-body injury during today’s game against the Los Angeles Kings.
The injury limited Gudbranson to just five minutes of ice time today. The 34-year-old had a late start to his 2025-26 season as he was on injured reserve until mid-January with a hip injury.
The Blue Jackets did not reveal a full recovery timeline for Gudbranson, but that is presumably because the full extent of the upper-body injury is likely still being evaluated.
Should Gudbranson miss more than just this upcoming three-game road trip, the consequences could be significant both for Columbus and for Gudbranson himself.
The Blue Jackets have turned their season around since hiring Rick Bowness as their head coach, and are in the midst of a furious push up the Eastern Conference standings. The playoffs currently look like a very realistic possibility for the team, if they can sustain their pace.
Gudbranson has been a key defensive specialist for the Blue Jackets since making his season debut, and his efforts have helped propel the stunning reversal the team has experienced in its competitive fortunes for 2025-26. He’s the Blue Jackets’ No. 3 defenseman in terms of ice time, skating nearly 21 minutes per night.
He’s also a key player on the penalty kill, sitting just a few seconds behind Ivan Provorov for the team lead in short-handed time-on-ice per game. His 2:55 short-handed time on ice per game ranks just outside the top-20 in the NHL in that metric. While Columbus doesn’t have one of the league’s better penalty kills, it’s clear Gudbranson retains the trust of Bowness in key defensive situations.
With all of that in mind, it’s clear losing Gudbranson will pose a challenge for the Blue Jackets. It could present an opportunity for Yegor Zamula or Jake Christiansen to take on some of Gudbranson’s minutes in his absence, but neither is an ideal replacement for the defenseman.
From Gudbranson’s perspective, an extended injury absence would come at an extremely inopportune time. He’s playing out the final year of the four-year, $4MM AAV deal he signed in Columbus, and is set to become an unrestricted free agent in the summer.
While he will be able to offer interested teams a wealth of experience and some coveted traits (his size, physicality, and status as a right-shot defenseman), if he ends up missing even more time this season, his free agent case will be presented with questions attached. More specifically, Gudbranson’s trip to free agency (assuming he does not sign an extension in Columbus) could be dogged with questions over whether teams can trust him to stay healthy as he progresses deeper into his thirties.
It’s Gudbranson’s upcoming free agency, combined with his team’s playoff chase, that gives this development a clear set of stakes. The hope will be, for all parties involved, that the extent of Gudbranson’s absence is limited to just the team’s upcoming road trip.
Photos courtesy of Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
Flyers’ Travis Konecny, Nick Seeler Return From Injury
Two veteran Philadelphia Flyers players returned from injury-related absences for the team’s game tonight against the Rangers: winger Travis Konecny and defenseman Nick Seeler.
Konecny is the more notable name of the pair, as he has led the Flyers in scoring each season for the last half-decade.
The 28-year-old has 57 points in 58 games this season, and holds a six-point lead over teammate Trevor Zegras for the scoring lead.
Last week, it was announced that Konecny would be sidelined on a day-to-day basis as he dealt with an upper-body injury. He missed the team’s victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on March 2, as well as their following two contests.
With his return tonight, his injury absence is capped at three games, a stretch in which the Flyers went 2-1-0.
With the Flyers clinging to slim playoff hopes at this stage of the season (their 29-22-11 record puts them seven points behind the Boston Bruins for the Eastern Conference’s final playoff spot, with a game in hand), getting Konecny back now gives the team a boost to its competitive chances.
Were the Flyers somehow in the Western Conference, they would actually be in playoff position, but their geographic position puts their playoff hopes in a precarious spot. For them to build any momentum to go on a run and challenge for a playoff spot for the rest of the season, they’ll need Konecny healthy and playing at his best.
The other injured Flyer to be returning, Seeler, isn’t quite as important to the team as Konecny, but that’s not to say he doesn’t play a useful role in head coach Rick Tocchet’s lineup. The 32-year-old is the Flyers’ No. 5 defenseman in terms of ice time, averaging 18:21 per game.
He’s a regular penalty killer, averaging over two minutes of ice time per game short-handed. He also adds imposing size and a physical edge to a Flyers defense staffed with other players (outside of veteran Rasmus Ristolainen) who are not known for having that kind of dimension to their game.
Seeler missed the Flyers’ last two games nursing a lower-body injury. While Seeler was sidelined, 24-year-old Emil Andrae played in Seeler’s former role on the Flyers’ third pairing, next to veteran Noah Juulsen. With Seeler back, Andrae will exit the lineup and serve as a healthy scratch.
That sort of development has larger implications for Andrae. He is a pending arbitration-eligible restricted free agent, meaning each game carries significant stakes – he’s playing to prove he deserves a spot in the Flyers’ future plans. Each game spent as a healthy scratch is a lost opportunity for Andrae to make his case for a new contract with the Flyers.
But putting the consequences of Seeler’s return for Andrae aside, it’s clear his relatively quick recovery is a positive development for the Flyers as a whole. Seeler, like Konecny, is a valuable veteran for the team, and if they are to continue to play meaningful hockey down the stretch, they’ll need to have both players healthy and productive for as long as possible.
Photos courtesy of Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports
Afternoon Notes: Hutson, Ovechkin, Carlson
The Washington Capitals will be watching closely as top prospect Cole Hutson heads to the Hockey East postseason this weekend. The defenseman could head to Washington as soon as Boston University’s season ends per Chris Cerullo of RMNB. Both team and player have expressed interest in coming together soon, with Capitals general manager Chris Patrick recently mentioning that trade acquisition Timothy Liljegren could be a smart veteran partner for Hutson if he leaves college, “like [the team] hopes”.
Hutson has emerged as a star prospect since joining the Terriers last season. He scored 14 goals and 48 points in 39 games as a freshman, becoming the X-factor addition that drove Boston University to their first National Championship appearance since Jack Eichel‘s great 2014-15 season. Hutson has dwindled to 30 points in 33 games this season, on the back of a struggling Terriers offense as a whole. Those struggles will be their challenge as the playoffs roll around. If and when Hutson moves to the pros, he will rival Rasmus Sandin and Martin Fehervary for minutes on the left-side, and could be the reason one of the veterans moves to the right-side as the team tries to replace John Carlson.
Other notes from around the NHL:
- Sticking in Washington, franchise great Alex Ovechkin said that his retirement decision will hinge on how his body feels in an interview with Ian Oland of RMNB. Ovechkin has scored 24 goals and 50 points in 64 games this season, keeping up a tendency for strong scoring into his age-40 season, though he’s dipped from the pace that led him to 44 goals and 73 points in 65 games of his historic 2024-25 season. Ovechkin holds the NHL’s all-time goals record, racking up 921 in 1,555 career games so far. How many he’ll add to those totals seems to be up in the air as he continues to weigh a closely-followed retirement decision.
- Speaking of Carlson, the former Capitals star is hoping to make his debut with the Anaheim Ducks at the end of their current, four-game road trip as he works back from a day-to-day, lower-body injury per Derek Lee of The Hockey News. The Ducks’ road-trip ends with a back-to-back against Ottawa and Montreal on Saturday and Sunday. Anaheim pulled off the surprise of the Trade Deadline in their acquisition of Carlson for conditional-first-round and third-round draft pick. Carlson scored 10 goals and 46 points in 55 games with the Capitals before the trade. He has surpassed the 50-point mark in each of the last two seasons and reached 71 points in 78 games of the 2021-22 season. He should bring a boost of offense to a veteran Ducks blue-line.
Brad Marchand Weighing Surgery Among Panthers Injury Updates
The second half of the season is becoming clearer for the Florida Panthers, who saw multiple players progress and regress from extended injuries. Defenseman Seth Jones and center Jonah Gadjovich, both on long-term injured reserve, have each taken a step forward but both still aren’t ready to return yet, head coach Paul Maurice told reporters including Miami Herald’s Jordan McPherson.
Maurice spoke more in depth about winger Brad Marchand who will see doctors on Tuesday to determine if he needs surgery for a nagging, undisclosed injury. Marchand has dealt with the injury for most of the season, pushing Maurice to try and control his rest. That task has become tougher as a condensed back-half of the season rolls around. Marchand hasn’t been able to stand up to his top-six role since March rolled around, averaging just 13:30 in ice time over his last four games – over four minutes under his season-long average. The team expects to have an answer on his status for the rest of the season before the week ends.
Marchand has been a cornerstone of Florida’s offense, even while playing through injuries. He has scored 54 points – split evenly – in 52 games, making him one of only two Panthers scoring above a point-per-game alongside Matthew Tkachuk. Marchand’s ability to produce consistently from the first or second line has supported Tkachuk as he’s eased back from a season-opening injury and heavy role at the Winter Olympics.
The Panthers will turn towards trade acquisition Vinnie Hinostroza to fill in the lineup chart with Marchand on the shelf. He scored three goals and 10 points in 48 games with the Minnesota Wild before moving to Florida at the Trade Deadline for future considerations. He will step into a fourth-line role with the Panthers, while Eetu Luostarinen earns a bump into unrivaled, top-six minutes. Luostarinen has 24 points in 55 games this season and is in the midst of a seven-game scoring drought. He and Carter Verhaeghe should be the biggest beneficiary of Marchand’s available minutes.
Florida is missing another major piece in Jones, who ranks second on the defense in scoring with 24 points in 40 games. He led the team in ice time per-game before going down with injury, averaging 23:29 – a good stride above Gustav Forsling‘s 22:44 ranked second. Jones has stood up to a top role in Florida’s offense after being acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks for a steep price in 2025. Jones’ return will fortify Florida’s blue-line alongside Aaron Ekblad.
Meanwhile, Gadjovich’s return will round out Florida’s depth alongside waiver acquisition Cole Reinhardt. Gadjovich recorded three assists in 10 games before going down with injury on October 25th. He has missed 53 games, and the Winter Olympics, since.
The Panthers will move forward with a dented lineup as they try to climb back from an 11-point deficit in the standings. It seems they are much more likely to miss the postseason on the heels of back-to-back Stanley Cup wins, an outcome that – at the least – would allow more time for stars Tkachuk, Marchand, and Jones to work to full health by next season.
Kraken’s Jaden Schwartz Out Indefinitely With Upper-Body Injury
The Kraken announced this afternoon that winger Jaden Schwartz is out indefinitely after sustaining an upper-body injury, suspected to be his face/head, in Saturday’s loss to the Senators. No corresponding roster move was made, but with Frederick Gaudreau sick and Bobby McMann still working on acquiring a work visa following his acquisition from the Maple Leafs on Friday, Seattle will be eligible to make an emergency recall for tomorrow’s game against the Predators if both remain unavailable.
Thankfully, Schwartz’s injury wasn’t worse. He was skating by the bench area when teammate Eeli Tolvanen laid a check on Ottawa forward Nick Cousins, who lost his footing in the collision and his skate boot rocketed up into Schwartz’s face. He didn’t sustain any drastic cuts but the force of the collision understandably caused him to leave the contest.
Schwartz, who’s been with the Kraken since day one in 2021, is a pending unrestricted free agent. Seattle opted to hold onto him and all their other pending UFAs at the deadline last week amid a playoff race that currently has them in the second wild-card spot, just one point ahead of the Sharks, who have a game in hand. They’ve dropped four of six since the Olympic break and, only scoring 2.84 goals per game on the year, don’t exactly have offense to spare.
The 33-year-old has already missed time once this season, sitting out around six weeks with a lower-body injury between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. In 42 appearances on the year, he has 10 goals and 21 points. He’s one of Seattle’s eight double-digit goal-scorers but is still having the third-worst offensive performance on a per-game basis over his 14 full NHL seasons.
He’d been skating mostly on a line with Tolvanen and Chandler Stephenson down the middle. McMann, acquired from the Maple Leafs, could be a natural fit to step into Schwartz’s vacated left-wing slot tomorrow against Nashville if his visa gets sorted by then.
Blues Recall Theo Lindstein, Otto Stenberg
The Blues’ sell-off at the deadline wasn’t as wide-spanning as it could have been, but they still moved out a pair of key veterans in Justin Faulk and Brayden Schenn. Those roster spots will be going directly toward some of the organization’s brightest prospects, as they announced today that they’ve recalled defenseman Theo Lindstein and center Otto Stenberg from AHL Springfield.
St. Louis held three first-round picks in the 2023 draft, holding their own at 10th overall. That turned into center Dalibor Dvorsky, who’s been a top-nine contributor for most of this year. The others, 25th and 29th, were acquired in a deadline sell-off that year for Ryan O’Reilly and Vladimir Tarasenko in separate deals. Those turned into Stenberg and Lindstein, respectively, with today’s moves bringing all three into the NHL for the first time.
The Blues now have eight defenders on their active roster, but they’ll presumably rotate in Lindstein multiple times down the stretch. It will be his NHL debut when he gets into the lineup. He was the #5-ranked prospect in St. Louis’ system entering the year by Elite Prospects, but hasn’t really answered the bell so far in his first season in North America.
Lindstein operated in a consistent yet limited role for Brynäs IF in the Swedish Hockey League last year, helping the club to a league-best record in their first year after gaining promotion back up from the country’s second division. St. Louis was hoping that momentum could translate into Lindstein playing a bigger role in the AHL, but that simply hasn’t been the case. In 56 games, the two-way lefty has been limited to a 6-8–14 scoring line with a team-worst -24 rating.
Granted, Springfield hasn’t been a great environment this season. They’ve received subpar goaltending, never recovering from the loss of Colten Ellis on waivers to the Sabres at the beginning of the season, and are seventh in their division with a 22-27-7 record and a -45 goal differential. That said, it’s undeniably been a difficult adjustment so far after Lindstein “increased his defensive efficacy, too, shining as a calming presence on the backend” over the past couple of seasons in Sweden, Elite Prospects’ Lassi Alanen wrote.
It’s been the opposite story for Stenberg, who started the year down at #8 in the Blues’ pool rankings but may have surpassed Lindstein in prestige at this point. The all-three-positions forward already got a lengthy look on the NHL roster earlier this year, skating 18 games for the club in December and January, and didn’t look out of place in the slightest with a goal and seven assists while averaging 14 minutes per game. He slotted in mostly on the wing in a defense-oriented role, making that production all the more impressive, while recording a +4 rating and 1.83 hits per game.
Down in Springfield, Stenberg has also been the club’s best two-way forward. His four goals and 15 points in 33 games don’t jump off the page, but a team-high +4 rating does. In fact, he’s the only Springfield regular whose rating is in the black.
He will be an NHL player if he’s not already. The question becomes how much upward mobility in the lineup he’ll offer based on how much he develops offensively. He averaged under a shot on goal per game in his earlier recall. He’ll need to start generating more if he wants to slot in as the true middle-six playdriver he was drafted to be.
Jake Sanderson Out Week-To-Week
Senators star defender Jake Sanderson is out week-to-week with the upper-body injury he sustained against the Kraken on Saturday, head coach Travis Green announced (via Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia).
Ottawa recalled Dennis Gilbert from AHL Belleville in a related move this morning, but he will not play tonight against the Canucks. Nikolas Matinpalo has been cleared to return from his undisclosed injury and will replace Sanderson in the lineup, sliding in as their #3 lefty alongside Nick Jensen, the team said.
Sanderson’s first significant injury since undergoing season-ending hand surgery in March 2022 couldn’t come at a worse time. After beating Seattle 7-4 over the weekend, the Sens have kept pace in the wild-card race and entered play Monday five points back of the Bruins for the second spot with a game in hand. They still have the Blue Jackets to leapfrog before putting themselves in duel mode with Boston, though, and considering Columbus has matched them with a 7-1-2 record in their last 10, they’ll need to keep all the pressure on.
While the Eastern Conference field has separated into the haves and have-nots post-deadline, there are still 10 teams truly in the mix for eight playoff spots. Ottawa currently sits 10th in that group, and while MoneyPuck gives them a 50.8% chance of making the playoffs, fifth and 10th place in the conference are so close that there are seven teams in the 50-85% range, with Ottawa bringing up the rear there as well.
All that means a lot still needs to go right for the Sens to get back to the playoffs for the second straight season. One saving grace is that they don’t have a particularly difficult schedule with around league-average opponents the rest of the way. They get their easiest remaining matchup out of the way tonight in what is an absolute must-win against the last-place Canucks. Meanwhile, three teams they’re chasing – Boston, Detroit, and Pittsburgh – have three of the five most difficult remaining schedules.
It will get even more difficult to make up ground without Sanderson. On the heels of a 10th-place Norris Trophy finish last season, he’s upped his points per game from 0.71 to 0.77 while posting a career-best +9 rating, averaging 24:49 of ice time per game, and posting spectacular 5-on-5 possession numbers. Ottawa is controlling 56% of shot attempts, 57.1% of scoring chances, and 56.8% of expected goals with Sanderson on the ice.
Green must now shuffle the deck regarding his defense pairings. He has the luxury of another top-pair caliber lefty, Thomas Chabot, sitting behind Sanderson on the depth chart. He’ll go back to being the Sens’ #1 in terms of ice time, moving up to slot in alongside top shutdown righty Artem Zub. Tyler Kleven and Jordan Spence, who have been so effective as Ottawa’s third pairing, will receive second-pairing deployment tonight while Jensen, who’d served as Chabot’s partner at even strength for much of the year, will see reduced minutes alongside Matinpalo.
Image courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images.
Canadiens Were “In The Mix” Late On Nazem Kadri
From the moment the Avalanche expressed interest in bringing Nazem Kadri back into the fold, they became the frontrunner to land him from the Flames, although that didn’t stop other teams from pursuing the top-six pivot. Part of why the initial Kadri to Colorado report didn’t come out until an hour after the deadline passed was because of how aggressively the Canadiens were pushing to land him until ultimately backing out with less than a couple of hours to go, The Athletic’s Peter Baugh reports.
Montreal’s interest in Kadri isn’t a new storyline. It was well-documented that they were in the market for a top-six forward (although preferably a winger), but they were still limited in how many assets they were willing to give up at this early stage of their contention window. The Flames and Habs also had talks surrounding Blake Coleman throughout the year, and Montreal was also linked to Calgary defender Zach Whitecloud last week, although none of those deals ended up getting done.
Instead, the Habs were silent last week. General manager Kent Hughes told reporters Friday after the deadline passed that they spent all their time that morning and afternoon on a “significant deal” and didn’t devote their attention anywhere else (via Arpon Basu of The Athletic). Given Baugh’s report, it stands to reason that the potential pickup was Kadri.
A first-round pick, a second-round pick, a B-tier prospect in Max Curran, and a salary ended up going back Calgary’s way – and that was with the Flames retaining cash, which they wouldn’t have had to do if they took Patrik Laine off Montreal’s hands in a Kadri deal. It was a matchable price, but evidently one Hughes determined Montreal wasn’t willing to exceed before making a more serious playoff challenge with their existing core.
The Habs will instead roll into what they hope will be a second consecutive playoff berth with a top-six forward group that, as currently constructed, has three players aged 22 or younger and no one over the age of 26. Montreal only has three forwards over the age of 30 – Josh Anderson, Phillip Danault, and Brendan Gallagher – and they’re all on a line together.
Submit Your Questions For The #PHRMailbag
The trade deadline has come and gone with a sequence of moves that have given some teams a boost for the stretch run. Now, the focus shifts to either the playoff race or the race to the bottom as some rebuilding teams will be looking to help their odds heading into next month’s draft lottery. With that in mind, it’s a good time to open up the mailbag once again.
Our last call for questions had enough queries for three columns. Among the topics in the first were Artemi Panarin’s situation before his eventual trade to Los Angeles, what a possible extension for Nikita Kucherov, and the new rule about players playing in the minors before being recall-eligible. The second went over the potential extent of the Rangers’ rebuild this season, predicting which rental Blackhawks would have the most value, and if the time was right for the Flyers to go into a bigger rebuild. Lastly, topics in the third included how Dallas could reach the Stanley Cup Final, if an off-ice shakeup is needed in Winnipeg, and top forward prospects for the upcoming draft.
You can submit a question by using #PHRMailbag on Twitter/X or by leaving a comment down below. The mailbag will run on the weekend.
Kings, Sabres Loan Kaleb Lawrence, Nikita Novikov To Each Other’s AHL Affiliates
The Kings and Sabres have completed the first post-deadline swap – of sorts. Instead of making a trade (which is permitted with heavy restrictions) after last Friday’s deadline, they’ve opted to instead loan a pair of players to each other’s top developmental affiliate. The Kings will loan forward Kaleb Lawrence to the Sabres’ AHL club in Rochester while L.A.’s affiliate in Ontario receives defenseman Nikita Novikov on loan from Buffalo, per John Hoven of Mayor’s Manor.
Doing it this way could preface an offseason swap of the two prospects, but it does not yet transfer their NHL rights. There was nothing stopping them from making a trade now, as they’d still have been allowed to finish out the season in the minors, but doing so would have made Lawrence ineligible to suit up for the Sabres and vice versa for Novikov and the Kings. By simply loaning them outside the organization, Lawrence technically remains eligible to be recalled back to the Kings’ roster to play this season, and Novikov could still be added to the Sabres’ roster.
Recalls for either are unlikely, though. Lawrence has another year left on his deal, while Novikov is a pending RFA. If both were RFAs, there might have been the option to non-tender them to complete an NHL-rights swap for next year in July, but instead, the Kings will need to send Lawrence to Buffalo in an official trade for Novikov’s signing rights after the season ends if it’s still something they’re interested in.
Lawrence, 23, was a seventh-rounder by L.A. in 2022. The selection was almost entirely by virtue of his 6’7″, 229-lb frame. He’d played just two Ontario Hockey League games over the preceding two seasons due to COVID and injuries, but finished out his junior career with 41 goals and 82 points in 149 career games. He hasn’t been much of a factor since turning pro in 2024, though. He split last year between Ontario and ECHL Greenville, recording a 13-11–24 scoring line in 52 games across the two leagues. This year, he’s stayed on the AHL roster but barely played after missing nearly three months with an injury – just three assists in 16 games to this point in the season.
Buffalo needed some minor-league forward depth, so outside of how they feel about Lawrence long-term, it fills a short-term need. Rochester lost one of its best talents when the Sabres traded Isak Rosen to the Jets in the Logan Stanley deal last week, and Noah Ostlund will be ineligible for the Calder Cup Playoffs after establishing himself as a top-niner in Buffalo.
Novikov, 22, has a bit more of a pro track record. He was a sixth-round selection by Buffalo in 2021 and came over from Russia two years later. The 6’3″ lefty had an impressive rookie campaign in Rochester, posting 23 points and a +20 rating in 65 games. In the two seasons since, he hasn’t shown much of any forward progress, though. He’s continued as a legitimate top-four piece in the minors but hasn’t seen a change in his offensive or two-way performance. Buffalo has plenty of organizational depth defensively, so he likely welcomes a move to a place where he may have a bit better shot at climbing the ladder to an NHL role.