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Central Notes: Burakovsky, Rantanen, Predators

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Blackhawks winger Andre Burakovsky suffered an undisclosed injury last night against Seattle and was quickly ruled out for tonight’s game against Buffalo as well.  However, it doesn’t sound like he’ll be out for too much longer.  Head coach Jeff Blashill indicated to CHGO Sports pregame (Twitter link) that the veteran is listed as day-to-day.  Acquired from the Kraken over the offseason, the 30-year-old has rebounded quite well with his new team.  He has seven goals and eight assists in 18 appearances so far, his best point-per-game mark since 2020-21 when he was with Colorado.  Landon Slaggert returned to the lineup tonight to take Burakovsky’s spot in the lineup.

More from the Central:

  • While Stars winger Mikko Rantanen didn’t receive any supplemental discipline for his hit on Islanders defenseman Alexander Romanov earlier in the week, he is a little lighter in the wallet. Today, the league announced that he has been fined $2K for his second citation of embellishment this season.  The first instance came back on October 16th while the second was a week and a half ago against Ottawa.  The fine money will go to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.
  • With the Predators off to a tough start this season following a rough 2024-25 campaign, some have wondered if GM Barry Trotz, a long-time coach, might think about returning behind the bench if he wants to make a coaching change. Trotz poured cold water on that suggestion, telling Alex Daugherty of The Tennessean that there is a 0.0% chance he’d return behind the bench on a full-time basis.  Trotz took over as GM back in 2023 and while it used to be relatively common for someone to serve as head coach and GM, those days are long gone.  Nashville has won just six of their 20 games so far in 2025-26 after recording only 68 points last season.

Latest On Harrison Brunicke

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Generally speaking, having a key young player sitting as a healthy scratch for an extended period of time is far from ideal from a development perspective.  But that has been the case for Penguins defenseman Harrison Brunicke, a rookie blueliner who has only played twice this month and not since November 3rd.

However, it appears that his time in the press box will continue for at least a little while longer.  GM Kyle Dubas recently mentioned in an interview on the Penguins Radio Network (audio link) that the 19-year-old will remain with the big club through the weekend but will continue to be a healthy scratch.

Brunicke has now been scratched for more than five games.  While that normally doesn’t mean a lot, it does allow Pittsburgh to give him a two-week assignment to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.  That’s doable even though he’s not eligible to play there full-time due to the NHL-CHL agreement that dictates that junior players can’t play full-time in the AHL until they’re in their age-20 season.

That strategy is likely by design, even though sitting him for what will be more than three weeks was required to get to that point.  Brunicke has played in nine NHL games this season, meaning that the next one he plays this year officially will activate the first season of his entry-level contract.  He has held his own in those outings while averaging a respectable 15:43 per game of playing time.

Clearly, Dubas isn’t ready to make that call yet so this pending stint will be the next determinant in their decision.  When assigned, he can go down for a maximum of two weeks and they’ll likely time it to give him as many games in that stretch as possible.  He will continue to count against the 23-player limit while in the minors.

Dubas also acknowledged that there is a possibility that Brunicke will be loaned to play for Canada at the World Juniors; that tournament begins in a little less than five weeks from now.  Their training camp is around three weeks away and Dubas noted that they don’t want to put Brunicke in a spot where he’s going to be not playing for an extended stretch again.  That could factor into when the assignment is made.

At this point, it feels like Pittsburgh is going to drag out the decision process as long as possible.  By loaning him to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and then to the World Juniors soon after, they can kick the can on making a final call until early January.  From there, they could either bring him back to the Penguins and officially start his contract or assign him back to WHL Kamloops to play what would amount to basically half of a junior season.

Either way, playing time will soon be on the way for Brunicke but it will be a while yet before his fate for this season ultimately gets decided.

Devils Reassign Ethan Edwards

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Friday: Edwards has been sent back to Utica, per a team announcement.  He didn’t see any game action with New Jersey while on recall.

Monday: The Devils announced they’ve recalled defenseman Ethan Edwards from AHL Utica. New Jersey placed center Cody Glass on injured reserve, retroactive to Nov. 12, in the corresponding move.

After an impressive training camp, the 23-year-old Edwards lands his first recall in his first professional season. The 5’10” lefty was a fourth-round pick in 2020 from the Spruce Grove Saints of the junior ’A’ AJHL before jumping south of the border, first with USHL Sioux City before embarking on a four-year run at the University of Michigan. Edwards was a consistent force on the Wolverines’ blue line, checking in as a top-four puck-mover who played more physically than one would expect from his slight frame. He was named to the Big 10’s Second All-Star Team following his senior season, in which he notched a career-best 5-16–21 scoring line in 36 games, before signing his entry-level deal with Jersey last March.

Although the two-year contract didn’t take effect until this season, he still finished out the 2024-25 season with Utica on a tryout basis. In his first 10 professional games, Edwards notched three assists and a +3 rating. He entered this year as the No. 9 prospect in the system, according to Elite Prospects, and made a legitimate push for a roster spot with two points and four scoring chances in four preseason games. He ended up being a very late cut, though, and started the year in Utica as expected.

Through 13 games in the AHL, Edwards hasn’t exploded offensively but is still chugging along with one goal, four assists, and a -1 rating. The Devils need an additional offensive-minded option with Dougie Hamilton still sidelined with an undisclosed injury, though, and Edwards fits that bill. With Hamilton, Johnathan Kovacevic, and Brett Pesce all out, their top-four group is still strong thanks to a breakout Simon Nemec, but they’re riding a patchwork third-pairing of fringe NHLers Dennis Cholowski and Colton White. As White is pointless with a -1 rating through four games and is averaging under 12 minutes per night, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him get a game or two in the press box for Edwards to make his NHL debut, at least until Hamilton’s able to return (which should be soon).

The Devils previously announced Glass was week-to-week with an upper-body injury, so he’ll be out significantly longer than when he’s first eligible to come off IR on Wednesday. The 26-year-old pivot had only played four games since missing seven with another upper-body issue before exiting the lineup again last week. Through 10 appearances this season, he’s got three goals on 19 shots while averaging 11:59 of ice time per game.

Oilers Recall Connor Clattenburg, Place Noah Philp On LTIR

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The Oilers have made a pair of roster moves in advance of their game on Saturday against Florida.  The team announced that they have recalled forward Connor Clattenburg from AHL Bakersfield.  To create enough cap space to be able to afford the recall, forward Noah Philp has been placed on LTIR.

Clattenburg was a fifth-round pick back in the 2024 draft, going 160th overall in his second year of eligibility.  The 20-year-old had 16 goals and 19 assists along with 108 penalty minutes in 46 games last season with OHL Flint before making his professional debut with one late-season game with Bakersfield.

This is Clattenburg’s first full professional season, one spent exclusively with the Condors to this point.  His offensive production has been rather limited thus far with just one goal and one assist in 15 games although his 59 penalty minutes are the fourth-highest in the league.  If he gets into Edmonton’s lineup, it’s likely that he’ll be suiting up on the fourth line.

As for Philp, he suffered an upper-body injury earlier this week and while the initial diagnosis was that he’d miss at least the next three games, he’ll be out considerably longer with this move as LTIR carries a minimum absence of 10 games and 24 days.  The 27-year-old is in his first full NHL season and has primarily played on the fourth line with the Oilers; he has two goals and an assist in 15 appearances while averaging 10:02 per night.

Jets Sign Adam Lowry To Five-Year Contract Extension

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Nov. 21st: A few days after signing his new extension, PuckPedia shared the year-by-year breakdown of Lowry’s contract:

  • 2026-27: $2.85MM salary, $2.85MM signing bonus, full no-movement clause
  • 2027-28: $5.75MM salary, full no-movement clause
  • 2028-29: $5.75MM salary, five-team trade clause
  • 2029-30: $4.35MM salary, 10-team trade clause
  • 2030-31: $3.45MM salary, 10-team trade clause

Nov. 19th: Only a few short months ago, the 2026 UFA class looked like it could be one of the best in NHL history.  But since then, the list has been thinned out quite quickly.  Another player can now be crossed off that list as the team announced that they’ve signed center Adam Lowry to a five-year contract extension.  TSN’s Darren Dreger adds (Twitter link) that the deal will carry a $5MM AAV and be worth $25MM in total.

The two sides were reported to be making progress on an extension earlier this month so it’s not too surprising to see this get across the finish line.

The 32-year-old is in the final season of his five-year, $16.25MM deal signed back in 2021.  He has never been a high-end offensive contributor in his 12-year NHL career (his highest point total is 36) but over the past few years, he has become a reliable two-way player.   The captain has long been a sound defensive player who brought plenty of physicality to the table and that’s a combination that is especially appealing in a team’s bottom six.

Lowry missed the start of the season while recovering from hip surgery but has jumped right back into his usual role since returning.  In seven games, he has a goal and two assists along with 16 hits in 14:22 of playing time.  For his career (spent in its entirety with the Jets who drafted him in the third round back in 2011), Lowry has 122 goals and 154 hits in 782 games.

This deal represents a nice raise from his current $3.25MM AAV while getting a long-term agreement for the second straight contract.  While a $5MM AAV for someone whose production is more in the third-line range, those other elements he brings made it likely that he could have landed a deal at or higher than this price point on the open market.

Meanwhile, the Jets also get some much-needed stability down the middle.  Mark Scheifele is also signed through 2030-31, meaning that Winnipeg has two of their top three centers in place for the long haul.  GM Kevin Cheveldayoff still has some work to do to secure a long-term fit for their second center position (a role filled by Jonathan Toews this year) but that’s a strong foundation down the middle to build off of.

With the signing, the Jets now have around $78.7MM in commitments for the 2026-27 season, per PuckPedia.  That gives them around $25MM in cap room based on the projected $104MM Upper Limit.  Cole Perfetti, a pending restricted free agent with salary arbitration rights, will take up a good chunk of that but the rest of their pending free agents (all unrestricted) are for players more in depth roles.  That could give Cheveldayoff a chance to try to make a splash to add another core piece to his roster, either via trade or free agency this summer.

Murat Ates of The Athletic was the first to report that an extension had been agreed upon.

Photo courtesy of Ed Mulholland-Imagn Images.

Canadiens Recall Florian Xhekaj, Joshua Roy Remains With Team

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5:15 p.m.: In a somewhat confusing update, Montreal has amended their previous announcement by sharing that Roy remains with the team. That gives Montreal 14 forwards for tomorrow’s contest unless another move is made.

5:01 p.m.: The Montreal Canadiens have recalled one of the toughest-nosed players, having yet to play in the NHL. According to a team announcement, the Canadiens have recalled Florian Xhekaj and reassigned Joshua Roy in a corresponding roster move.

Montreal drafted Xhekaj with the 101st overall pick of the 2023 NHL Draft. He plays an eerily similar game to his brother Arber Xhekaj, albeit on offense.

He was drafted relatively high, given his playstyle, scoring 13 goals and 25 points in 68 games for the OHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs during his draft season. However, Xhekaj exploded on offense the following campaign, registering 34 goals and 65 points in 63 games with a +17 rating.

Even through his transition to professional hockey, Xhekaj looked back. He was one of the most exciting prospects to watch for the Canadiens last season, scoring 24 goals and 35 points in 69 games for the AHL’s Laval Rocket with a whopping 175 PIMs. This season, he has managed two goals and four points in 16 games, with 44 PIMs.

Xhekaj butters his bread in the crease. Reminiscent of Detroit Red Wing Tomas Holmstrom in the early-to-mid 2000s, Xhekaj’s net front presence has become exceptional in the AHL, with most of his goals coming from high-skill deflections. It’ll play well in Montreal, since blue-liners Noah Dobson and Lane Hutson are no strangers to firing the puck on net.

Unfortunately, Xhekaj’s recall comes with some bad news for Roy. The 22-year-old forward has gone scoreless in three games for the Canadiens this season, averaging 9:47 of ice time per game. He’s fared much better with AHL Laval, scoring four goals and seven points in 10 contests.

Carolina Hurricanes Activate Jalen Chatfield

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The Carolina Hurricanes are inching closer to a healthy defensive core. According to a team announcement, the Hurricanes have activated defenseman Jalen Chatfield from their injured reserve.

It’s been a few weeks since Chatfield last played for Carolina. The six-year veteran has been nursing an upper-body injury after getting knocked out of the Hurricanes’ game against the Minnesota Wild on November 6th.

Chatfield has been his typical, consistent self when healthy. In his 13 games leading up to the injury against Minnesota, Chatfield had registered three helpers while averaging 19:50 of ice time. Despite not scoring a goal up to this point, Chatfield has gotten 20 shots on goal and managed a 53.1% CorsiFor% at even strength, a commonality for nearly every player in Carolina.

It’s an open question whether Chatfield will return to the lineup tonight against the Winnipeg Jets. The Hurricanes are 6-2-2 in their last 10, so Head Coach Rod Brind’Amour may not feel rushed to change anything. Still, Chatfield spent a decent amount of time next to Alexander Nikishin to start the year, so Carolina may plug Chatfield in for Mike Reilly on the team’s bottom pairing.

Regardless, it’s a positive step forward for a banged-up Hurricanes’ blue line. Although their record may not show it, Carolina has hardly had a complete defensive core at any point during the regular season. Nikishin and Sean Walker are the only blueliners who have played in all 20 Hurricane games up to this point of the regular season.

Sabres Reassign Mason Geertsen

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Nov. 21: Geertsen has cleared waivers and was reassigned to AHL Rochester, per a team announcement.

Nov. 20: The Sabres have placed enforcer Mason Geertsen on waivers, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports Thursday. Once he’s removed from the active roster tomorrow, that will make way for Buffalo to activate winger Jason Zucker from injured reserve, as head coach Lindy Ruff said yesterday would be the case (via Paul Hamilton of WGR Sports Radio 550).

Geertsen, 30, signed a two-year, two-way contract with Buffalo over the offseason, paying him $775K in the NHL and $425K in the AHL each season. Most expected him to land on waivers during the preseason. The 6’4″ heavyweight only had 25 NHL games to his name entering training camp. All of them came in a limited role with the Devils in the 2021-22 season. While his primary position is defense, the left-shot played as a winger to get into the lineup, recording five fights and 58 hits while averaging 6:57 of ice time per game.

The Devils waived Geertsen the following season, spending the year with AHL Utica before reaching unrestricted free agency in 2023. He signed a two-year, two-way deal with the Golden Knights but spent the entirety of it in the minors. Across his last three AHL campaigns with Utica and Henderson, the former 2013 fourth-round pick of the Avalanche had just 10 goals and 19 points in 150 games, playing about as pure an enforcer role as today’s era allows.

That made Geertsen’s inclusion as depth muscle on Buffalo’s opening-night roster all the more surprising. Modern-day enforcers at the NHL level are still usually able to put up respectable point totals when skating in the minors – Zack MacEwen and Scott Sabourin, to name a pair. Geertsen doesn’t fit that bill. As expected, his role was incredibly limited as a result. He only got into five games for Buffalo, including four of their first six contests, but has now been a healthy scratch in seven straight games – even as injuries to Zucker, Zach Benson, and others have piled up.

In those five appearances, Geertsen remained without an NHL point and recorded a -1 rating with eight hits while averaging 4:07 per game. He managed just two shot attempts and didn’t get into a fight, only logging a tripping minor and an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for 12 total PIMs. Geertsen shouldn’t have any trouble clearing waivers and will play a fourth-line role, if he sees much ice time at all, in Rochester after he clears.

Flames’ Samuel Honzek Likely Done For Season

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Flames center Samuel Honzek’s regular season is over after undergoing upper-body surgery, Pat Steinberg of Sportsnet 960 reports. He’ll be out for six months, meaning a potential return in May if Calgary makes the playoffs and makes it that far. Considering they’ve been in last place for most of the season with a 6-13-3 record, though, meaning he’s all but played his last hockey of 2025-26.

That’s a jarring change from Honzek’s initial week-to-week timeline. The 21-year-old was injured in last weekend’s game against the Jets when he collided with teammate Mikael Backlund in open ice, leaving the game and not returning. Such a lengthy recovery timeline indicates he sustained potentially significant shoulder damage or a collarbone fracture.

That collision ended what was a disappointing stretch for the 2023 first-round pick. Drafted 16th overall two years ago, the 6’4″ Slovak winger was a late inclusion on the opening night roster after it was apparent Martin Pospisil would miss significant time. While he’s gotten his first extended taste of NHL time, he hasn’t been able to do much with it. Despite being stapled to the left wing with Backlund and Blake Coleman in a top-nine role, Honzek only managed two goals and four points in 18 appearances. That’s no doubt influenced by a lack of power-play usage, which has limited his ice time to 12:21 per game.

Offense has been a consistent concern in Honzek’s game since being drafted, though. He had 56 points in 41 games for the WHL’s Vancouver Giants in his draft year but dipped back under the point-per-game mark for them in 2023-24. Upon turning pro last season, he only scored eight goals and 21 points in 52 games for AHL Calgary. That’s not a bad scoring line for a first-year pro, but for someone with his draft pedigree, the Flames were definitely looking for more production. Nonetheless, he still ranked as the Flames’ No. 2 prospect entering the season, according to Elite Prospects.

The good news is that Honzek was well on his way to establishing his floor as a third-line checking piece. While his unit with Backlund and Coleman hasn’t been explosive offensively, they’ve had great two-way chemistry and have been among the league’s better defensive forward lines. They’re only allowing 1.98 expected goals per 60 minutes at even strength, per MoneyPuck. That’s sixth in the league out of 37 forward trios with at least 100 minutes together this season.

Honzek will remain waiver-exempt next season in what will be the final year of his entry-level contract. With 10 months out of competitive action by the time he suits up in training camp next year and his point production turning pro lacking, it’ll be a storyline to watch to see if the Flames send him to the AHL out of the gate in 2026-27 to try to build up his scoring confidence.

The immediate result will be consistently elevated minutes for fellow first-rounder Connor Zary for the remainder of the season. After a round of drawn-out contract talks last summer, the Flames signed Zary to a three-year, $11.33MM contract but stuck him on the fourth line to begin the year. Understandably, that’s resulted in the 24-year-old only posting a goal and an assist in 20 games for the offense-starved Flames. He’s stepped up onto the wing with Backlund and Coleman in Honzek’s absence and should remain there for the foreseeable future.

Avalanche Recall Jason Polin

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The Avalanche announced they’ve recalled forward Jason Polin from the AHL’s Colorado Eagles. They have an open roster spot and thus don’t need to make a corresponding transaction.

Polin’s inclusion on the roster ensures the Avs will have 12 forwards available when they take on the Predators on Saturday. They could be without winger Gavin Brindley, who left Thursday’s win over the Rangers after taking a heavy hit in the first period and didn’t return.

It’s a tough break for Brindley if he’s set to miss any time. The 21-year-old rookie is fresh off signing a two-year extension and has been recently elevated into a top-six role alongside Brock Nelson in place of Valeri Nichushkin, who’s out week-to-week. Brindley’s first game in second-line duties resulted in a two-point performance against the Sabres last week, although he didn’t record a point against the Islanders last Sunday, nor did he get one in less than three minutes of ice time against the Rangers before sustaining the injury.

Injuries to Colorado’s forward group have been commonplace in recent years. That trend is starting to resurface with Nichushkin, Logan O’Connor, and Joel Kiviranta already being unavailable. If Polin’s services are needed this weekend, it likely won’t be as a direct replacement for Brindley on the depth chart. It’s fair to assume a brief elevation to top-six duties could be in order for Victor Olofsson, who saw over 18 minutes of ice time against the Rangers and has a 6-9–15 scoring line in 20 games this year, would be in order.

Polin, 26, has nine NHL games to his name with one goal. He was an undrafted free agent signing out of Western Michigan in 2023 and is now on his third consecutive one-year deal with the Avs. The 6’0″ sniper was an elite goal-scorer in his latter years in college – tickling the twine 30 times in 39 games in his senior season with the Broncos – but hasn’t found that gear since turning pro. He’s still put up a respectable three goals and six points in 16 AHL games this season and has an 18-18–36 scoring line in 104 career minor-league games, but those numbers aren’t seeing him make a serious push for a big-league job outside of a short-term injury replacement.

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