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Flames’ Justin Kirkland Undergoes ACL Surgery, Out For Season

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The Flames announced Wednesday that forward Justin Kirkland underwent successful ACL surgery and will be out for the remainder of the season.

Kirkland, 28, was amid a breakout season as an NHL-level threat after spending nearly all of his professional career to date in the minors. He’d made a career-high 21 appearances for Calgary before the injury, scoring twice and adding six assists for eight points with a +6 rating despite averaging less than 10 minutes per game.

The 6’3″, 183-lb winger has frequently flexed to center at points this season for the Flames, winning 54 of his 126 faceoffs for a 42.9% win rate. His point totals were quite impressive given his high defensive zone usage, but he was likely due for some regression while shooting 22.2% on only nine shots on goal.

However, Kirkland had made a name for himself in shootouts. He scored three times on four attempts, helping Calgary to a 3-0-1 record in games that went past overtime.

Kirkland’s final appearance this season came on Nov. 29 against the Blue Jackets. He skated just 1:05 before sustaining the ACL tear and leaving the game. He’s missed the two games since with what the Flames initially termed a lower-body injury and landed on injured reserve on Monday.

A 2014 third-round pick of the Predators, Kirkland was a Group VI unrestricted free agent last summer and returned to the Flames, with whom he spent the 2019-20 through 2021-22 seasons in the minors, on a one-year, two-way pact. 2024-25 will go down as his only professional season to date without a minor-league assignment that resulted in games played.

Kirkland is the second Flames forward to have their season cut short by an ACL surgery. Offseason pickup Anthony Mantha underwent the same procedure last month after recording four goals and three assists in 13 games.

Kirkland’s interminable absence should create added opportunities for recent call-ups Walker Duehr and Jakob Pelletier, both of whom are expected to make their season debuts tomorrow against the Blues while Andrei Kuzmenko sits in the press box.

East Notes: McCabe, Matinpalo, Deslauriers

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Maple Leafs defenseman Jake McCabe will miss Wednesday’s tilt against the Predators with an upper-body injury, head coach Craig Berube told reporters including David Alter of The Hockey News.

It will be the second game in a row McCabe has missed with the injury, which he sustained after taking a puck to the head/neck area against the Lightning last Saturday. McCabe said yesterday that he’d be “good to go” against Nashville, but Berube said today the blue-liner still “isn’t feeling right.” It’s unknown whether he’s in concussion protocol.

Fresh off signing a five-year, $23.5MM extension in October, the 31-year-old McCabe has been one-half of the best shutdown defense pairing in hockey alongside free-agent pickup Chris Tanev. Together, the duo is allowing just 1.3 expected goals against per 60 minutes, the fewest in the league by a country mile among pairings with at least 180 minutes of ice time together this season.

Offensively, McCabe has only five assists in 23 games, but he leads the team with a +11 rating and is second in both blocks (46) and hits (52). The Wisconsin native is also averaging a career-high 21:20 per game. Frequent healthy scratch Philippe Myers is projected to remain in a fringe top-four role alongside Morgan Rielly tonight, per Mark Masters of TSN, while Oliver Ekman-Larsson shifts back to his natural left side to skate alongside Tanev in place of McCabe.

There’s more from the Eastern Conference:

  • Recent Senators call-up Nikolas Matinpalo is absent from practice today due to an illness, per Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia. Ottawa elevated the 26-year-old from AHL Belleville yesterday to serve as an additional right-shot option with Artem Zub landing on long-term injured reserve, but it doesn’t appear he’ll be an option on Thursday against the Red Wings. The 6’2″ Finn likely would have sat in the press box anyway with Jacob Bernard-Docker, Travis Hamonic and Nick Jensen still all available on the right side.
  • Flyers enforcer Nicolas Deslauriers left today’s practice session early due to an undisclosed injury, Jordan Hall of NBC Sports Philadelphia reports. Head coach John Tortorella told reporters that something “tightened up” and didn’t necessarily call his departure precautionary, so it’s fair to call him questionable for for tomorrow’s home game against the Panthers. It won’t make much of a difference – the 33-year-old has been a healthy scratch for 10 games in a row and hasn’t played since Nov. 9. He has one assist in seven appearances this season with one fight while averaging a career-low 6:05 per game.

Wild Reassign Liam Ohgren, Jesper Wallstedt

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Dec. 4: The Wild announced Wednesday that they reassigned Ohgren and Wallstedt to Iowa. Ohgren did not suit up against Vancouver – evidently, the recalls were for salary cap management purposes to optimize Zuccarello’s LTIR capture.

Dec. 3: The Wild have recalled top prospects Liam Ohgren and Jesper Wallstedt from AHL Iowa ahead of Tuesday’s game against the Canucks, per a team release. The team placed defenseman Jonas Brodin and left-winger Jakub Lauko on injured reserve to open spots on the active roster and also moved right-winger Mats Zuccarello from IR to LTIR to open up the necessary cap space.

Ohgren, 20, made Minnesota’s opening night roster but struggled out of the gate, posting no points and a -2 rating in seven appearances while averaging under 10 minutes a night before being assigned to Iowa at the end of October. He was recalled under emergency conditions for a game against the Stars last month but has otherwise spent all his time in the minors since.

The 2022 first-round pick has fared much better in the AHL, quickly proving himself as one of the club’s most efficient goal-scorers with five in eight contests. It’s unclear if he’ll unseat recent AHL call-ups Ben Jones or Devin Shore for a spot in the lineup tonight with Lauko and Zuccarello still out, but it seems likely.

In Wallstedt’s case, it’s similarly uncertain if they plan to give the 22-year-old his first start of the season between the pipes. Michael Russo of The Athletic “has a sense” that his recall is primarily to get him working with Minnesota’s NHL goaltending staff, one that’s worked wonders to help Filip Gustavsson along to a vicious resurgence this season.

Wallstedt, the 20th overall pick in the 2021 draft, is off to a nightmarish start in Iowa in what the Wild hoped would be his last season seeing minor-league ice. After back-to-back AHL All-Star Game appearances, the 6’3″ Swede has just a .860 SV% and 4.34 GAA in 10 games with Iowa this year behind a 3-6-1 record. Minnesota inked Wallstedt to a two-year, $4.4MM extension in October that goes into effect for the 2025-26 campaign.

Brodin’s IR placement doesn’t affect the stalwart’s return timeline. The 31-year-old has already missed three games with an upper-body injury and remains day-to-day for now. He last played on Nov. 25 against the Jets, so he can come off the injured list at any time.

In 19 games this season, Brodin has two goals and six assists for eight points with a +7 rating. His 45 blocked shots are second on the team behind Jacob Middleton’s 61.

Lauko, 24, also last suited up in the Winnipeg game last week, so his situation is pretty much the same. He’s still listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury, and while he won’t play tonight, he hasn’t been ruled out for Friday’s game against the Ducks. He has two goals and two assists in 21 games for Minnesota in a fourth-line role after being acquired in an offseason swap with the Bruins.

Zuccarello underwent lower-body surgery on Nov. 14 and is expected back sometime in the next two weeks, although the move to LTIR means he won’t be back until Tuesday against Utah at the soonest.

Hurricanes Recall Dustin Tokarski, Reassign Spencer Martin

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The Hurricanes swapped backup goaltenders on Wednesday, announcing they recalled the newly signed Dustin Tokarski from AHL Chicago while reassigning Spencer Martin in a corresponding transaction.

Carolina signed Tokarski, 35, to a one-year, two-way contract on Monday. They immediately placed him on waivers to send him down to Chicago, where he’d spent the season to date on a minor-league deal, and he cleared yesterday.

They’ll turn to the highly experienced netminder to give them more passable play in a backup role than what Martin has provided them over the past few weeks. He’ll play sparingly as long as Pyotr Kochetkov is healthy – he’s the de facto No. 1 as Frederik Andersen is on the shelf recovering from knee surgery – and his .933 SV% and 1.61 GAA in five AHL showings this season suggests he’s still up to the task.

It’s no surprise to see Carolina look elsewhere for a temporary backup after Martin posted a sub-.900 SV% in all but one of his seven starts last month. He allowed 10 goals on just 57 shots faced in back-to-back losses to the Panthers last Friday and Saturday and has a horrid .846 SV% to go along with his 3-4-1 record in nine total appearances.

Tokarski now gets a shot at playing in his first NHL game since he was a member of the Penguins in the 2022-23 season. The Saskatchewan native has rarely been a full-time NHL option throughout his lengthy professional career, but he did briefly get a chance at being a full-time backup with the Sabres a few years ago. Since making his NHL debut with the Lightning way back in the 2009-10 season, he has a 23-34-12 record, two shutouts, 3.15 GAA, and a .902 SV% in 67 starts and 13 relief appearances.

Tokarski can remain on Carolina’s roster for up to 30 days or play 10 games before he requires waivers to return to the AHL. Martin bypassed waivers today because he’s played in nine games since last clearing waivers during the preseason, and a series of paper transactions have kept him on the active roster for fewer than 30 days since his initial recall in late October.

Oilers Reassign Drake Caggiula

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The Oilers announced early Wednesday that they reassigned left-winger Drake Caggiula to AHL Bakersfield.

Caggiula, 30, had played in Edmonton’s last five games after being recalled for the second time this season in mid-November. The veteran depth piece did not record a point during that span and averaged 7:11 per game with a -1 rating, 5 PIMs, and four shots.

The former Oilers undrafted free agent signing out of North Dakota has an assist in seven NHL games this season between call-ups, his first in two years after spending all last season on assignment to Bakersfield. He’s in year two of his second stint in the Oilers organization after achieving journeyman status around the turn of the decade, recording stints with the Blackhawks, Coyotes, Sabres, and Penguins after spending the first two-and-a-half seasons of his professional career in Edmonton.

Caggiula has filled in for the past couple of weeks as wingers Viktor Arvidsson and Zach Hyman remain out with undisclosed injuries. Since they haven’t implicated him in paper transactions as of late, his demotion could be a sign that one or both could return tomorrow against the Blue Jackets, or that they plan on dressing 11 forwards and seven defensemen.

A high-energy presence, Caggiula has continued performing as a legitimate offensive impact piece in the minors. He has five goals and nine points in 12 games for Bakersfield this season after recording 37 points in 43 games last year.

After clearing waivers at the beginning of the regular season, Caggiula is nearing the end of his temporary exemption. He can play three more games or remain on the active roster for nine more days until he needs waivers again to return to Bakersfield.

Tyler Seguin To Undergo Hip Surgery, Out 4-6 Months

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The Stars announced that forward Tyler Seguin will undergo extensive hip surgery on Thursday and miss the next four to six months. He’ll have two procedures, both on his left hip – one to address a femoroacetabular impingement creating joint damage and one to repair a labral tear.

It’s not necessarily season-ending, but it’s certainly possible. If he returns at the optimistic end of that timeline, the Stars would still have four or five regular-season games left on their schedule for him to play. A return to play during the postseason is the most likely outcome for Seguin given the wide timeline, though, allowing the Stars to keep his $9.85MM cap hit on long-term injured reserve for a massive amount of spending flexibility at the trade deadline.

Seguin has missed five games this year with a recurring lower-body injury, now clearly a hip issue. He was placed on IR before Monday’s game against Utah. He previously missed three straight games in October.

It’s tough news for Seguin, who missed nearly all of the 2020-21 campaign after undergoing a similar surgery on his right hip. He was extremely open about his arduous recovery process from that procedure, which ended up yielding a separate knee surgery and essentially required him to re-learn how to walk.

Past injury issues aside, the news also puts an incredible damper on what had been something of a renaissance season for the 2010 second-overall pick. Seguin had nine goals and 11 assists for 20 points through his first 19 games, on pace to break the point-per-game mark for the first time in nine years while placing third on the team in scoring behind linemates Matt Duchene and Mason Marchment.

Missing Seguin’s services offensively is also of legitimate concern for Dallas, who ranks ninth in the league with 3.38 goals per game but has also faced underwhelming starts from top-liners Jason Robertson (5-9–14 in 24 GP) and Wyatt Johnston (4-10–14 in 24 GP). They’ll need to turn that around quickly to help the Stars stay in the top three of the Central Division while also looking at some depth players like rookie Mavrik Bourque to take on some of the offensive burden. Bourque has averaged under 11 minutes per game this season after being crowned the AHL’s most valuable player last season, scoring only once in 19 games.

Seguin, 32, is in the sixth season of the eight-year, $78.8MM extension he inked in 2018. He’ll be an unrestricted free agent in 2027.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Sweden Names Roster For 2025 World Junior Championship

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After Hockey Canada and USA Hockey announced their preliminary rosters for the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship on Monday, the Swedish Ice Hockey Association today announced their initial 24-player roster for the tournament. As always, this year’s iteration of the WJC kicks off on Dec. 26 and will be held in Ottawa.

Coached by Magnus Hävelid for the third year in a row, nine players are returning from the team that went 3-0-1 in group play last season and lost the gold medal game to the United States. Some of last year’s top-end talent, such as Canucks prospect Jonathan Lekkerimaki, have aged out, but four of their top six scorers from the 2024 tournament are back as Sweden looks for a medal for the third time in the last four years.

The squad’s strong suit will be its defense, headlined by a trio of 2023 first-round picks in Theo Lindstein, Axel Sandin-Pellikka and Tom Willander. All were spectacular for Tre Kronor in 2024, and with another year of development and experience under their belt, will be relied upon even more.

Sweden is light on first-rounders up front, only boasting two, but pencil in the youngest player on the team as a third. 18-year-old left-winger Victor Eklund has made the team and is widely projected to be a top-15 selection in the 2025 draft class, following in the footsteps of older brother William Eklund. He has 15 points (8 G, 7 A) in 20 games for Djurgårdens IF this season in HockeyAllsvenskan, Sweden’s second-tier professional league.

The Swedes also don’t have a clear-cut starter between the pipes, but that’s due to having three good options rather than a few mediocre ones. Utah’s Melker Thelin is the only returnee from last year’s tournament, and while he’s done well with a 7-1-0 record and .914 SV% in eight HockeyAllvenskan games this season, the Islanders’ Marcus Gidlöf has a .915 SV% and 2.10 GAA in top-level SHL action for Leksands IF and has a solid shot at starting games. The Blue Jackets’ Melvin Strahl has been strong stateside, logging a .911 SV% in 15 appearances for the USHL’s Youngstown Phantoms.

The most notable omission is 17-year-old center Anton Frondell, who plays with Eklund with Djurgården and is widely expected to go a few spots ahead of him in next year’s draft. He’s failed to make the offensive impact his counterpart has this season, though, with only a goal and two assists in seven games.

The full roster, which features only a few non-NHL affiliated talents, is here:

F Dennis Altörn (undrafted in 2023, 2024)
F Jack Berglund (Flyers, 2024, 2-51)
F David Edstrom (Predators, 2023, 1-32)*
F Victor Eklund (2025 draft-eligible)
F Linus Eriksson (Panthers, 2024, 2-58)
F Zeb Forsfjäll (Kraken, 2023, 6-180)
F David Granberg (undrafted in 2023, 2024)
F Isac Hedqvist (undrafted in 2023, 2024)
F Felix Nilsson (Predators, 2023, 2-43)
F Otto Stenberg (Blues, 2023, 1-25)
F Herman Träff (Devils, 2024, 3-91)
F Felix Unger Sörum (Hurricanes, 2023, 2-62)
F Anton Wahlberg (Sabres, 2023, 2-39)
F Oskar Vuollet (Hurricanes, 2024, 5-133)

D Rasmus Bergqvist (Canadiens, 2024, 7-224)
D Viggo Gustafsson (Predators, 2024, 3-77)
D Wilhelm Hallquisth (undrafted in 2023, 2024)
D Axel Hurtig (Flames, 2023, 7-208)
D Theo Lindstein (Blues, 2023, 1-29)
D Axel Sandin-Pellikka (Red Wings, 2023, 1-17)
D Tom Willander (Canucks, 2023, 1-11)

G Marcus Gidlöf (Islanders, 2024, 5-147)
G Melvin Strahl (Blue Jackets, 2023, 5-156)
G Melker Thelin (Coyotes/Utah, 2023, 5-134)

*The Golden Knights drafted Edstrom before trading him to the Sharks, who subsequently dealt him to the Predators.

Evening Notes: Team USA, Annunen, Misa

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Chris Johnston of TSN’s Insider Trading reported tonight that it appears Montreal Canadiens forward Cole Caufield and Buffalo Sabres forward Tage Thompson will not be a part of Team USA at the 4 Nations Face-Off. Both Caufield and Thompson have had strong starts to the season but were reportedly left off the roster as Team USA prioritized experience over young skill.

It’s a tough decision for Team USA, but one that makes sense given that the players they chose will be a better fit in the team’s bottom six forward group. Johnston floated the names of Vincent Trocheck, Chris Kreider and Brock Nelson as the players likely to make the team over Caufield and Thompson.

In other evening notes:

  • The Nashville Predators reportedly tried to acquire goaltender Justus Annunen from the Colorado Avalanche last season in the Yakov Trenin deal (as per Predators reporter Brooks Bratten). The Predators scouts coveted Annunen for quite a while and are thrilled to have him in the fold. The 24-year-old has dressed in 11 games this season with Colorado, posting pedestrian numbers with a 6-4 record and a .872 save percentage. While those numbers certainly don’t jump off the page, Annunen was solid last season in 14 NHL games, posting a .928 save percentage and a 2.25 goals-against average.
  • Jeff Marek of Daily Faceoff tweeted today that Boston University is interested in potential 2025 first-overall pick Michael Misa. The 17-year-old has been tearing up the Ontario Hockey League this season with the Saginaw Spirit, tallying 25 goals and 24 assists in 25 games. The Oakville, Ontario native is in his third full season in the OHL and has registered 76 goals and 104 assists in 137 career OHL games. BU is also apparently interested in Misa’s brother, Luke Misa, who is a Calgary Flames prospect playing for the Brampton Steelheads. Luke is having a nice season in Brampton, scoring 13 goals and adding 19 assists in 24 games.

Metro Notes: Graves, Berard, Bowey

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Josh Yohe of The Athletic wrote a brutally honest assessment of the conundrum the Pittsburgh Penguins are facing with highly paid healthy scratch Ryan Graves. Graves is a healthy scratch once again tonight and has sat out of the lineup for the Penguins’ last three games, which were all victories for Pittsburgh. In fact, the Penguins are 10-4-4 with Graves out of the lineup the last two seasons and 38-40-12 when he does play.

Now, it’s unfair to put all the blame on Graves for the Penguins’ struggles when he plays, but his play on the ice has certainly not come close to living up to his hefty $4.5MM cap hit. Pittsburgh general manager Kyle Dubas has made some shrewd moves to acquire young players since arriving in Pittsburgh, but the Graves contract and the four years remaining on it are one of the worst misfires of any general manager in recent memory.

In other Metropolitan Division notes:

  • Colin Stephenson of Newsday reports that New York Rangers forward Brett Berard was back at practice today in a green no-contact jersey. The 22-year-old is currently listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury, an injury he most likely suffered on Saturday afternoon when he took a hit from Canadiens forward Kirby Dach. In four games this season with the Rangers, Berard has been solid, posting a goal and an assist while averaging 12:33 of ice time. The Rangers have a bit of a break this week and don’t play again until Friday against Pittsburgh, so Berard may still suit up depending on how he feels before then.
  • The Columbus Blue Jackets AHL affiliate the Cleveland Monsters have signed defenseman Madison Bowey to an AHL contract for the rest of the 2024-25 season. Bowey has already suited up in 17 games this season for Cleveland, posting three assists while playing under a professional tryout. The 29-year-old is a veteran of 158 NHL games over four seasons with four different NHL teams. The Winnipeg, Manitoba native tallied five goals and 35 assists during his time in the NHL and was a regular for the Detroit Red Wings during the 2019-20 season before the league shutting down during the pandemic. Bowey would only play in four NHL games after that season, spending the bulk of his time in the AHL and KHL.

Islanders Notes: Pageau, Cizikas, Hogberg, Varlamov

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Jean-Gabriel Pageau is in the lineup tonight for the New York Islanders (as per Newsday’s Andrew Gross). Pageau was deemed a game-time decision earlier in the day but ultimately dressed tonight against the Montreal Canadiens. The 32-year-old missed the last two games with a lower-body injury but skated yesterday and took line rushes at morning skate today.

Pageau is playing center tonight on the third line, sandwiched between Oliver Wahlstrom and Kyle MacLean. The Ottawa, Ontario native has five goals and five assists in 23 games this season and has posted some of the better underlying numbers of his career, despite his inflated turnover numbers.

In other New York Islanders notes:

  • Casey Cizikas is also in the Islanders lineup tonight against Montreal after missing the team’s morning skate today for undisclosed reasons (as per Andrew Gross of Newsday). Cizikas has struggled to contribute offensively this season, posting just a goal and an assist in 25 games.  The 33-year-old has long been one of the top defensive forwards in the NHL and continues to provide solid work away from the puck with 23 blocked shots and 53 hits thus far this year.
  • The Islanders have returned goaltender Marcus Hogberg to the Bridgeport Islanders of the American Hockey League. Hogberg was called up yesterday under emergency conditions to fill in for Semyon Varlamov who was day-to-day with a lower-body injury. Varlamov returned to New York’s lineup tonight (as per Andrew Gross) and the 30-year-old Hogberg is back in Bridgeport where he has posted a 2-4-3 record with a 2.97 goals-against average and a .908 save percentage. The Orebro, Sweden native spent five seasons playing in the Ottawa Senators organization before he made the trip home, spending the past three seasons in Sweden in the SHL. Hogberg does have 42 games of NHL experience but hasn’t suited up in an NHL game since April of 2021.

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