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Penguins’ Kris Letang Day-To-Day With Lower-Body Injury

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The Pittsburgh Penguins have announced that defenseman Kris Letang will miss Sunday’s practice due to a lower-body injury. He has been designated as day-to-day, though the specifics of his injury haven’t been revealed. Letang only played a couple of shifts in the third period of Pittsburgh’s Saturday loss to the New York Rangers. Head coach Dan Muse told the media, including Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, that Letang is being evaluated further to find the extent of his injury.

Letang kicked off his 20th season in the NHL last week. He has yet to score through three games played, but has managed a plus-three and one penalty, while receiving over 21 minutes of average ice time once again. Letang is certainly far psat his prime years, but he’s stayed a productive piece of Pittsburgh’s blue-line well through his 30s. He scored nine goals and 30 points in 74 games last season, though that line was marred by a minus-15. His 2023-24 campaign was more well-rounded, with 51 points and a plus-13 in 82 games played.

Pittsburgh will face a tough question if Letang isn’t ready for their next game on Tuesday. He has operated directly behind fellow future-Hall-of-Famer Erik Karlsson, helping the Penguins hold down a blue-line that also features Parker Wotherspoon and Ryan Shea in the top-four. Top prospect Harrison Brunicke has played well behind Letang on the depth chart, and could be due a chance to shine should the veteran need to sit out.

Pittsburgh is also carrying Matt Dumba and Connor Clifton as healthy scratches through the early season. Dumba scored 10 points in 63 games with the Dallas Stars last season, while Clifton managed 16 points in 73 games with the Boston Bruins. Both players are right-shot defenders, putting them in the right spot to battle for bottom-pair minutes should Letang step out.

Rangers Recall Connor Mackey, Place Carson Soucy On IR

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The New York Rangers have placed defenseman Carson Soucy on injured reserve and recalled Connor Mackey in his place, per the NHL media site and Peter Baugh of The Athletic. Soucy had a scary collision with Pittsburgh Penguins winger Rickard Rakell in New York’s Saturday night win. The hit swept Soucy’s legs from under him as his head fell into the boards. He left the game immediately, ending his night with just over six minutes of ice time.

No details about Soucy’s injury have been revealed, though a move to IR will force him out for at least two weeks with an, assumed, upper-body injury. He played solid, second-pair minutes for the Rangers in two games prior to injury. He recorded one goal and a plus-two in those outings – both stats coming in New York’s Thursday win over the Buffalo Sabres.

Soucy is in the final year of a three-year, $9.75MM contract originally signed with the Vancouver Canucks in 2023. He spent the first two years of the deal primarily with the Canucks, racking up 16 points and a minus-three in 99 games played. Those poor totals led Vancouver to trade Soucy to New York at the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline, in exchange for a 2025 third-round pick used to draft Kieren Dervin from St. Andrew’s College.

Soucy’s absence will leave a notable hole on the Rangers’ blue-line. Mackey will earn the first nod of the season, after playing in only two NHL games, and recording one fight, last season. The rest of his year was spent with the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack, where he racked up 24 points and 102 penalty minutes in 66 games played. Mackey has found his groove as a hard-hitting defenseman. He has racked up 267 penalty minutes in 163 AHL games over his last three seasons in the league. Those years weren’t consecutive, though, as Mackey spent the 2022-23 season in an extra defender role with the Calgary Flames and Arizona Coyotes. He recorded seven points and 48 PIMs in 30 NHL games that year.

New York is likely to elevate Urho Vaakanainen into Soucy’s role on the second-pair. Behind him will be young defender Matthew Robertson, who hasn’t yet made his season debut. This injury could be an opportunity for Robertson to finally cement his role in the NHL, after earning a top-50 selection in the 2019 NHL Draft but not yet playing more than two games in the NHL. He managed 25 points and 55 penalty minutes in 60 AHL games last season. Should either Vaakanainen or Robertson falter, or New York need a spark, Mackey could make a spot start.

A tight salary cap situation puts New York in a spot where they can only afford to recall Mackey, who makes a league-minimum $775K salary, but could not afford to recall top prospect Scott Morrow, who makes a $917K salary.

Panthers Sign Jonah Gadjovich To Two-Year Extension

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The Florida Panthers have agreed to a two-year contract extension with left-winger Jonah Gadjovich. The deal will carry a $905K cap hit, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Florida announced the deal on Gadjovich’s 27th birthday

Few Panthers have a role as defined as Gadjovich’s. He is the team’s go-to enforcer, with a tremendous 164 penalty minutes in just 81 games between the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons. Only two players across the league – Austin Watson and Matt Rempe – averaged more penalty minutes per game played in that span, and Gadjovich still recorded more total PIMs than both. He scored just eight points in the same stretch, and added three points and 33 PIMs in 16 playoff appearances.

Interestingly, Gadjovich has found a way to avoid the penalty booth to start this season – instead boasting one assist and a plus-one in three games. He has not been one for hte positive side of the scoresheet at the NHL level. Through parts of six NHL seasons, Gadjovich has only managed 19 points in 163 career games. He’s racked up the penalties, though, earning 17 PIMs in his NHL debut with the Vancouver Canucks in 2020-21 and since raising that number to 312 PIMs on his career.

While he’s found a clear way to be productive in the NHL, Gadjovich wasn’t always the default hitter in his lineup. He has racked up 46 points and 81 PIMs in 103 AHL games, and stood out as a dangerous scorer in junior hockey, with 89 goals, 155 points, and 175 PIMs in 228 OHL games.

But those days seem to be in the past. Gadjovich has evolved into Florida’s go-to option when they need a big hit, or big fight, to help turn the tides. He fills important fourth-line minutes and will now stick in that spot for two more seasons. That role has already led Gadjovich to two Stanley Cup wins, and should continue to be profitable as the Panthers have yet to lose this season.

East Notes: Letang, Soucy, Lorentz, Livingstone

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Only having one shift in the third period of tonight’s contest against the New York Rangers, many began to wonder if Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Kris Letang was dealing with an injury. That is indeed the case. According to Seth Rorabaugh of The Tribune-Review, Letang is being evaluated for an undisclosed injury.

Despite missing a few games last year due to injuries, Letang hasn’t dealt with any serious issues since suffering a stroke early in the 2022-23 campaign. Since returning, he’s appeared in 95.2% of all potential contests for the Penguins.

In the offseason, the Penguins indicated that they’d like to limit Letang’s usage this season. However, before tonight’s game against the Rangers, in which he played 15:29, Letang has averaged nearly 25 minutes a game, leading the team by a significant margin.

Other notes from the Eastern Conference:

  • On the other side of tonight’s contest between the Penguins and Rangers, the winning team is dealing with a defenseman injury of its own. After only appearing in 6:35 of tonight’s game, the Rangers announced that blueliner Carson Soucy left the game due to an upper-body injury. There could be cause for concern given the nature of the injury. Attempting to hit Penguins forward Rickard Rakell, Soucy missed the body check completely, flying awkwardly into the boards.
  • In a separate Eastern Conference matchup, this time in the Atlantic Division, the Toronto Maple Leafs lost forward Steven Lorentz to an upper-body injury. Lorentz’s departure from tonight’s game came early in the first period after being hit by Detroit Red Wings defenseman Ben Chiarot. He skated in 1:17 of tonight’s game, and the Maple Leafs added no further comments on the severity of his injury.
  • According to a team announcement, the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers, the main affiliate of the Florida Panthers, have signed defenseman Jake Livingstone to a contract for the 2025-26 season. The Minnesota State University alumnus has spent the last two years with the Milwaukee Admirals after debuting with the Nashville Predators in the 2022-23 season. In that two-year stint with the Admirals, Livingstone scored nine goals and 33 points in 127 games.

West Notes: Sharks, Fleury, Toropchenko

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Earlier today, beat writer for the San Jose Sharks, Max Miller, shared a few injury updates from the team. According to head coach Ryan Warsofsky, defensemen Jack Thompson and Lucas Carlsson, as well as forward Egor Afanasyev, all skated with the rehab group today and are close to returning.

The former two won’t have any impact on the Sharks’ roster upon their return, as neither blueliner cracked San Jose’s opening night roster out of camp. Still, Thompson would likely be a top recall candidate if the Sharks run into any early injury trouble on the blue line, given he scored four goals and 10 points in 31 games for the team last season, averaging 15:47 of ice time per game.

Afanasyev is more of a question mark. He’s in his first year back in the North American professional circuit after spending one season with the KHL’s CSKA Moskva, scoring seven goals and 21 points in 53 games. Given that he’s on the regular injured reserve as opposed to the non-roster injured reserve, it stands to reason that Afanasyev will join the Sharks when healthy. Still, despite the rebuilding nature of the roster, San Jose doesn’t have a ton of places to put him unless he takes a fourth-line role.

Other notes from the Western Conference:

Metro Notes: Angello, Dadonov, Ritchie

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A few days ago, longtime AHL player and brief NHL player Anthony Angello announced his retirement from hockey via his Instagram. According to the announcement, Angello will return to Cornell University to complete his degree, having previously spent three years there from 2015 to 2018.

The Syracuse, NY native was drafted with the 145th overall pick of the 2014 NHL Draft by the Pittsburgh Penguins. After his three years with the Big Red, Angello began playing in the Penguins organization with the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins toward the end of the 2017-18 season. He remained with them for the next several years, primarily as an AHL talent, and made his NHL debut.

After the 2021-22 campaign, Angello suited up for three different teams: the Springfield Thunderbirds, Milwaukee Admirals, and his hometown Syracuse Crunch. Now that his career is officially over, Angello will finish with three goals and five points in 31 NHL contests, with 72 goals and 143 points in 339 AHL games, including another six points in 26 Calder Cup playoff appearances. We at PHR congratulate Angello on his professional career and wish him luck on his next chapter.

Other Metropolitan notes:

  • In some early-season adversity, the early prognosis on New Jersey Devils forward Evgenii Dadonov’s injury isn’t good. According to team reporter Amanda Stein, imaging on Dadonov’s hand has revealed a fracture. He’ll be out for New Jersey’s current road trip, which concludes against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday. The team will know more about his recovery timeline once they return to New Jersey.
  • According to Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News, New York Islanders forward prospect Calum Ritchie resumed skating this morning, though there were no significant updates to his injury rehab. Ritchie, acquired from the Colorado Avalanche at last season’s trade deadline, is currently dealing with a mild lower-body injury. Regardless, despite him skating with the Islanders this morning, the bulk of Ritchie’s season is expected to take place with the AHL’s Bridgeport Islanders.

Atlantic Notes: Kulikov, Lindholm, Batherson, Ratzlaff

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Late last night, the Florida Panthers quietly moved defenseman Dmitry Kulikov to the injured reserve. Unfortunately, although the team hasn’t commented on his status, reporting from George Richards of Florida Hockey Now indicates that it could be a long-term absence for their bottom-pairing blueliner.

The injury occurred during the Panthers’ win over the Philadelphia Flyers, their second game of the season. After attempting to hit Flyers forward Bobby Brink partway through the second period, Kulikov left the game after appearing to hurt his right wrist.

Passing along a note from head coach Paul Maurice, Richards’ report suggests that surgery is on the table for Kulikov, and that the team would make a more concrete decision this evening. Since the IR placement is retroactive to Thursday night, Kulikov is eligible to return from the IR on October 16th. However, if he requires surgery to repair his wrist, he’ll be out significantly longer.

Other notes from the Atlantic Division:

  • Another defenseman in the Atlantic will be sidelined, though not as long as Kulikov. According to Steve Conroy of The Boston Herald, Boston Bruins blueliner Hampus Lindholm is considered day-to-day with an undisclosed ailment. Lindholm left the team’s overtime win against the Chicago Blackhawks after having only skated in 4:26 of the action.
  • In more positive injury news, the Ottawa Senators could be getting a major boost to their forward core. Although he was ruled out for the team’s recent game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, forward Drake Batherson alluded to a return tonight or Monday in an interview with Bruce Garrioch of The Ottawa Citizen. Remarkably, the Senators’ first game of the year was the first Batherson has missed since the 2021-22 campaign, playing in 246 consecutive regular-season contests for Ottawa.
  • In an update unrelated to injuries, the Buffalo Sabres have shifted around some of their organizational goaltending depth. According to a team announcement, the Sabres have reassigned netminder Scott Ratzlaff to the ECHL’s Jacksonville Icemen. Ratzlaff, 20, who was selected with the 141st overall pick of the 2023 NHL Draft, spent last season with the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds, managing a 23-19-4 record in 49 games with a .910 SV%.

Central Notes: Connor, Dickinson, Brodin

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While the fact that Kyle Connor received a no-move clause and significant signing bonus money ($41MM) in his eight-year, $96MM extension with the Jets may not seem like a big deal, it was for Winnipeg.  As Pierre LeBrun noted in his latest column for The Athletic (subscription link), those were two elements that GM Kevin Cheveldayoff had never put in a contract before.  However, Connor’s agent, Wasserman’s Rich Evans, told LeBrun that they were looking for a ‘free agent’ deal, one that typically carries those components and the Jets eventually agreed to those.  Now that they’ve done it, it will be interesting to see if Cheveldayoff becomes more open to putting those in contracts or if they’ll be looking at this as a one-time situation.

More from the Central:

  • Blackhawks center Jason Dickinson will miss tonight’s game against Montreal due to an upper-body injury, relays WGN’s Charlie Roumeliotis (Twitter link). Head coach Jeff Blashill noted that the veteran is listed as day-to-day but could miss a week.  The injury occurred partway through Thursday’s loss to Boston.  Dickinson had a tough year last season, notching just seven goals and nine assists in 59 games after setting new career highs in goals (22) and points (35) the year before.  Now in a contract year, this minor setback isn’t a great way to start it.
  • Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin is expected to return to the lineup tonight against Columbus, notes Michael Russo of The Athletic (Twitter link). The 32-year-old underwent surgery to repair an upper-body injury in June and didn’t suit up at all in the preseason or the season opener while recovering from it.  Brodin has long been a key shutdown defender and penalty killing anchor for Minnesota and is expected to jump right back into that role in his return.

Penguins Activate Bryan Rust, Assign Ville Koivunen To AHL

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The Penguins have made a pair of roster moves heading into tonight’s matchup against the Rangers.  The team announced (Twitter link) that they have activated winger Bryan Rust off injured reserve.  To make room on the roster, forward Ville Koivunen has been assigned to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Rust had been dealing with a lower-body injury that held him out for most of the preseason as he only got into one exhibition contest.  Since he had missed plenty of time by then, Pittsburgh was able to easily move him to injured reserve to start the season and spare another roster cut for the time being.

Last season, the 33-year-old had a career year, notching 31 goals and 34 assists in 71 games, setting personal bests across the board while averaging just under 20 minutes a night of ice time.  Considering that he is making an affordable $5.25MM through the 2027-28 campaign and that Pittsburgh is looking to rebuild its roster, that resulted in him being involved in a lot of trade speculation although no move came to fruition.

Rust will likely rejoin Pittsburgh’s top line alongside Sidney Crosby and Rickard Rakell, a trio that had lots of success last season.  Koivunen had been in that spot as a placeholder to start the year but was held off the scoresheet in his two outings.  Given that he is waiver-exempt, he was a safe choice to send down for the time being.

Last season, Koivunen made quite the first impression down the stretch.  He was brought up at the end of March and got into eight games with Pittsburgh.  While he didn’t score, he picked up seven assists in those outings while playing over 18 minutes a night, making a strong push for a longer-term stint on the roster.  That won’t be happening for the time being but it stands to reason that he’ll be one of their top recall candidates whenever injuries arise or a roster spot is opened up, such as a trade or if Benjamin Kindel is returned to junior if the team opts to not burn the first year of his entry-level contract.  That decision will come once he reaches the nine-game mark which could come within the next few weeks.

Samuel Girard Out Week-To-Week

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A tough day on the injury front around the NHL continues.  The Avalanche announced (Twitter link) that defenseman Samuel Girard is listed as out week-to-week due to an upper-body injury.

It hasn’t been a great start to 2025-26 for the 27-year-old.  Girard missed most of training camp with a lower-body injury, only getting into one preseason game as a result.  Now, he’s set to be out for a little while with this injury sustained just two games into the regular season.

When healthy, Girard has been a reliable top-four defender for Colorado.  Last season, he had 24 points and 111 blocks in 73 games while logging just under 21 minutes a night of playing time while seeing time on both the power play and penalty kill.  He also added three points in their first-round loss to Dallas.

Girard had started this season on Colorado’s second pairing alongside newcomer Brent Burns.  Notably, he’s one of just two left-shot defensemen in their top six, a rarity in a league that typically sees teams carrying more lefties than righties.  Recent waiver claim Ilya Solovyov is expected to take Girard’s place in the lineup for the time being.

It hasn’t been a good start to the season for the Avs on the injury front.  Starting goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood is dealing with a lower-body injury while winger Logan O’Connor is recovering from hip surgery.  They have a pair of injured players with reduced cap charges on season-opening IR in Nikita Prishchepov and Jacob MacDonald and now will have Girard likely heading for injured reserve as well.

The end result from these injuries is that they’re starting to get pretty tight to the cap ceiling with around $1.07MM in cap room, per PuckPedia.  That’s enough to recall a replacement for Girard (who has already been placed on IR to free up a roster spot) but any further injuries before someone comes back could see them having to use LTIR, an outcome they’re trying to avoid after being in it regularly for the past several years.

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