Maple Leafs Place Auston Matthews On IR
Jan. 3: Rifai is back to the minors today, the team announced. Ekman-Larsson is fully recovered from his illness, so Rifai’s services as a healthy extra are no longer needed. There’s no corresponding move, so the Leafs free up a roster spot.
Dec. 31: The Toronto Maple Leafs needed available depth before their matchup against the New York Islanders this afternoon requiring a formal roster move. The team announced they’ve placed Auston Matthews on injured reserve (retroactive to Dec. 20th) and recalled defenseman Marshall Rifai from their AHL affiliate, the Toronto Marlies.
Hindering any new concerns regarding Matthews’ injury, the Maple Leafs also announced defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson and forward Pontus Holmberg won’t play today because of the flu. Matthews is eligible to return from the injured reserve at any point but two additional players sidelined necessitated a formal roster move.
There’s no expectation Matthews has suffered a setback in his road back from an upper-body injury. He’s missed five straight games after missing nine earlier in the year but has recently returned to skating.
Still, there should be some concern about Matthews’ constant slate of injuries this season. He’s still been his normal self when healthy scoring 11 goals and 23 points in 24 games this year but his availability is important first and foremost. Thankfully for Toronto, they performed well without their captain this season as they’re one win away from tying the Florida Panthers for the lead in the Atlantic Division.
Although he didn’t suit up in his first go-around, the roster move is the second time Rifai has enjoyed an NHL call-up this month. He’ll likely know by warm-ups if he’ll be in the lineup tonight but Toronto still has six healthy defensemen without Ekman-Larsson.
The Harvard University alumnus has been a serviceable defenseman for the Marlies for the past three years and made his NHL debut with the Maple Leafs last year. He’s registered eight goals and 39 points in 150 career games for AHL Toronto.
Senators Reassign Nikolas Matinpalo
The Senators announced Friday that they’ve reassigned defenseman Nikolas Matinpalo to AHL Belleville. With no corresponding transaction, Ottawa’s active roster is now at 22 players.
Matinpalo, 26, had been on the Senators’ roster since last weekend. He’s been around as an extra option on and off over the past few weeks with Artem Zub sidelined with a foot fracture, but after the Russian veteran returned to action last night against the Stars, his services are no longer needed.
Now in his second season in North America, Matinpalo made his season debut on this latest recall, skating 10:24 and taking a minor penalty in a win over the Wild on Dec. 29. The stay-at-home defender has spent most of the campaign in Belleville, where he has two goals and five assists for seven points with 10 PIMs and a minus-four rating.
Checking in at 6’3″ and 212 lbs, Matinpalo arrived in Ottawa in the summer of 2023 as an undrafted free agent signing from Finland’s Ässät. He skated in four contests for the Sens last year in a depth role, logging a plus-one rating and a pair of shots on goal while averaging a paltry seven minutes per game. He was quite effective in a shutdown role in the minors, posting a team-high +15 rating in 67 games for the B-Sens along with 14 points.
Matinpalo became waiver-eligible this season. Since he’s been rostered for under 30 days and played fewer than 10 NHL games since clearing during the preseason, he doesn’t need them again for today’s transaction.
Maple Leafs Sign Philippe Myers To Two-Year Extension
The Maple Leafs signed defenseman Philippe Myers to a two-year, $1.7MM extension on Friday, per a team release. The deal carries an $850K cap hit for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 campaigns while keeping him off next summer’s unrestricted free agent market. It’s paid entirely in base salary each season with no signing bonuses, per PuckPedia.
Myers, 27, has skated in a semi-regular role for Toronto over the last month and a half. After serving as a scratch in all but one of the Leafs’ first 23 games, he’s played in 10 out of 16 contests since the beginning of December, including a five-game run at the beginning of last month and suiting up in both of their wins against the Islanders over the past few days.
It’s the most extended leash the 6’5″ righty has seen at the NHL level in over two years. He played in 11 games with the Lightning over the first two months of the 2022-23 campaign before they waived him and assigned him to the AHL for the remainder of the season, and his five games with Tampa in the 2023-24 campaign came over multiple short-term call-ups.
Myers has skated almost exclusively alongside Morgan Rielly in his 11 appearances this season, posting two assists and a +1 rating while averaging 17:08 per game. The duo has worked quite well together, controlling 59% of expected goals – tops among Leafs pairings with at least 50 minutes together, per MoneyPuck.
Early on, Myers has shown he can be the fringe top-four option he once was in the early days of his career with the Flyers, at least when used with a more offensively-inclined partner. Toronto’s front office evidently agrees, opting to keep him around as an affordable depth option for the next two seasons.
Weighing in at 219 lbs, Myers has been one of the Leafs’ most physical options on the blue line as well. His 9.23 hits per 60 minutes rank second among Toronto defenders, just behind Simon Benoit‘s 9.54.
At the very least, Myers has seemed to establish a floor as a reliable extra defender and will look to stick around as a roster fixture after spending parts of the last four seasons in the minors. A multi-year, one-way commitment is a big step toward solidifying that.
It’s also a good return on investment for Toronto, who inked him to a one-year, one-way deal worth $775K over the summer despite him spending all but a handful of games last season in the AHL. He has logged three games for the AHL’s Toronto Marlies this season, posting a +2 rating, but they came on a conditioning stint in November, not a full-on demotion.
Myers becomes the seventh defenseman under contract on a one-way deal next season for Toronto, joining Rielly, Benoit, Chris Tanev, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Jake McCabe, and Marshall Rifai. He’ll be a UFA upon expiry in 2027.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Guerin: Wild Will Be Cautious With Kirill Kaprizov’s Return
The Wild have been without superstar winger Kirill Kaprizov since the holiday break with a lower-body issue. It’s caused him to miss four games and will hold him out for at least one more, although general manager Bill Guerin says they’ll keep him sidelined for as long as the team needs to in order to allow him to fully recover.
“The thing is that we don’t want him to come back and push through,” Guerin told Michael Russo of The Athletic on Thursday. “He could, but it could make something worse.”
As Guerin relayed, the Wild have already been burned once this season by a player returning too soon into their recovery from a groin problem – which Kaprizov is speculated to have, but Guerin wouldn’t confirm. Depth winger Jakub Lauko sustained a groin injury against the Jets on Nov. 25 and returned to the lineup after missing six games, but reaggravated the muscle issue less than a week later and remains on injured reserve without a return date on the horizon.
“We need [Kaprizov] for the long haul,” Guerin continued. “We don’t just need him for a couple games in January. We need him to get healthy and feel better, so we’re trying to do the right thing and just look at it from the long point of view.”
Before his injury, Kaprizov was tracking to finish in the top 10 in Hart Trophy voting for the second time in his career. The dynamic-as-ever 27-year-old remains fifth in the league with 1.47 points per game after notching 23 goals and 27 assists for 50 points through 34 games.
Twenty of those 23 goals have come at even strength, still tied with the Oilers’ Leon Draisaitl for the league lead. His +21 rating is also still second among forwards behind the Golden Knights’ Jack Eichel (+23) despite his absence.
The Wild have gone 3-1-0 in their star scorer’s absence, including an impressive 4-3 road shootout win over the Eastern Conference-leading Capitals last night. Any points they can compile in the short term with Kaprizov and top-four defensemen Jacob Middleton and Jared Spurgeon out of the lineup are crucial to their chances of holding onto the top-three placing in the Central Division that they’ve held for most of the year.
With all the injury-related drama surrounding Minnesota recently, they’re still in quite a good place in the standings. Their 52 points and .667 points percentage are both third in the Western Conference and second in the Central. Dom Luszczyszyn of The Athletic’s projection model still projects them to finish with 105 points, narrowly edging out the Avalanche and Stars to hold onto second place in the division, even factoring in the expected length of their injured players’ absences.
A good portion of Minnesota’s success in the interim must be awarded to the resurgent play of netminder Filip Gustavsson, whose .924 SV% ranks third in the league among qualified netminders after a trying 2023-24 season. That includes a .937 mark in his three starts since the holiday break.
He’ll need to keep that up with the Wild’s offense clicking at a middling 2.95 goals per game, which is only good enough for 20th in the league despite Kaprizov only missing 12.8% of their schedule thus far. Marco Rossi has been Minnesota’s top scorer since the break in Kaprizov’s absence, notching three goals and a pair of assists in his four outings.
No Contract Talks Between Penguins And Marcus Pettersson
Dan Kingerski of Pittsburgh Hockey Now writes that the Pittsburgh Penguins have yet to engage in contract talks with pending unrestricted free-agent defenseman Marcus Pettersson. Kingerski adds that he doesn’t believe there are any talks scheduled, which would signal that the Penguins intend to trade the 28-year-old prior to the NHL Trade Deadline on March 7th.
The situation is a complicated one for Pittsburgh, particularly after they climbed back into the playoff picture with a solid stretch of play in December. However, getting just two of a possible six points against the Islanders and Red Wings might make general manager Kyle Dubas’ decision to trade Pettersson a little bit easier. The Penguins sit a point back of Ottawa for the final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference, but the Senators hold two games in hand.
Pettersson missed 17 days after falling to injury in a mid-December game against the Senators and returned on New Year’s Eve but struggled to get to his game as he was on the ice for three goals against. Overall, Pettersson’s play has been a tad below his usual production, though his offensive numbers have been okay, posting two goals and 11 assists in 33 games. Even with his uneven play, Pettersson remains perhaps the only steadying defensive presence on the team’s blue line. His looming free agency could be playing a role in his play dropping off, but it could also be attributed to the Penguins’ poor team defense.
Pittsburgh has been stockpiling future assets for the past year and given the direction Dubas has gone in, and the lack of contract talks, it seems like a foregone conclusion that Pettersson will be in a different uniform by the first week of March.
An Unlikely Option For The Maple Leafs
Nick Kypreos of Sportsnet wrote a column for the Toronto Star wondering if the Toronto Maple Leafs might place captain Auston Matthews on long-term injured reserve later this season if his injury concerns continue. The 27-year-old hasn’t played since December 20th and has dealt with a nagging upper-body injury since the start of the season. Currently, he has no return date set, which adds to the speculation surrounding his health.
If Toronto were to place Matthews on LTIR, it would open up $13.25MM in cap space, and Kypreos wonders if Toronto might use that room under the salary cap to chase another top center. Toronto would only be able to do so if Matthews missed the remainder of the regular season, but it would not be unprecedented as the Tampa Bay Lightning had a similar situation in 2021 with star forward Nikita Kucherov when he didn’t play a single game during a shortened regular season and returned for the playoffs.
A move like that for Toronto would give them a huge boost for the playoffs and perhaps take some pressure off Matthews when he returns. It could also allow Toronto an opportunity to address their top defensive pairing, as they haven’t been able to give Morgan Reilly a steady defensive partner this season. The Maple Leafs started the year with Chris Tanev on the top pairing, but he has since moved to the second pairing and formed a very formidable unit with Jake McCabe.
While a move like that would give Toronto a boost, it would be a tough sell for Matthews who is set to lead Team USA into the 4 Nations Face-Off next month. His participation in the tournament is contingent on his health, but it will be a huge concern for the Maple Leafs if he returns before the tournament and reaggravates the injury once again.
Things are never boring when it comes to the Maple Leafs and the uncertainty around Matthews, as well as a team that is desperate for some semblance of playoff success should make for an interesting few months in Toronto.
Snapshots: Landeskog, Francis, Hurricanes, Maccelli
Avalanche winger Gabriel Landeskog skated before practice today, notes Aarif Deen of Colorado Hockey Now. The captain hasn’t played since the sixth game of the Stanley Cup Final back in 2022 due to continued knee trouble including a cartilage transplant in May 2023. While this isn’t the first time Landeskog has taken to the ice before practice, it’s the first time he has done so since mid-November as he suffered a setback at that time. There remains no timetable for him to return but Landeskog has noted a few times this year that he hopes to get back into the Colorado lineup at some point this season.
Elsewhere around the hockey world:
- The University of Minnesota-Duluth announced (Twitter link) that Ducks prospect Will Francis had a relapse of his leukemia which is why he has been limited to just three games so far this season. Francis was initially diagnosed with it in 2020 and had a relapse in August 2023, leading to a bone marrow transplant back in April. Francis is hoping to return to the team next month. PHR wishes Francis well in his continued battle.
- The Hurricanes announced that defenseman Riley Stillman has been sent back to AHL Chicago. The 26-year-old has been sent back and forth this season but hasn’t seen any action with Carolina. Stillman has four points in nine contests with the Wolves. Meanwhile, Carolina has also recalled goalie Dustin Tokarski, defenseman Ty Smith, and winger Jackson Blake from Chicago, per the AHL transactions log. The three were papered to the minors on Wednesday.
- Utah announced (Twitter link) that winger Matias Maccelli was scratched from tonight’s game against Calgary due to an illness. After putting up 57 points last season, the 24-year-old has struggled mightily offensively this year, potting just three goals and seven assists through his first 37 outings. There was some good news on the health front, however, as Clayton Keller returned after missing Tuesday’s game to an illness himself.
Daniel Vladar Hoping To Re-Sign With Flames
With the trade deadline now just under two months away, teams will be starting to make decisions soon on some of their pending unrestricted free agents. Among the soon-to-be-UFAs in Calgary is goaltender Daniel Vladar. While he could be one of the more intriguing netminders to hit the open market in July, that’s not his preference. Instead, he told Sportsnet’s Eric Francis that he has made it clear to everyone in the organization that he wants to remain with the Flames.
The 27-year-old is in his fourth season with Calgary with the first three presenting plenty of ups and downs. In 2021-22 (his first year with them), he put up a 2.75 GAA and a .906 SV% in 23 games, solid numbers for a second-string option. Even with a dip the following year, the team saw fit to give him a two-year deal with a $2.2MM cap charge to keep Vladar around a little longer.
Unfortunately for Vladar and Calgary, last season saw him struggle even more, putting up a 3.62 GAA with a .882 SV% in 20 games before undergoing season-ending hip surgery. Despite those struggles, GM Craig Conroy didn’t go out and add a veteran netminder in free agency last summer, opting to give Vladar another shot at the backup job behind top prospect Dustin Wolf.
That faith has been rewarded thus far as Vladar has improved his numbers to a 3.02 GAA and a .890 SV% in 18 appearances this season, all starts as the two have largely platooned thus far. Those numbers are around the NHL average and considering he has had more of the tougher starts compared to Wolf, being around league average on a mid-pack team is certainly a step in the right direction.
With Wolf still just getting his feet wet at the NHL level (though he’s playing quite well), there’s a case to make for Calgary to add a more veteran backup to work with him. On the other hand, sticking with a pairing that works between the pipes isn’t a bad way to go either. With Vladar’s struggles from last year likely factoring into the price of his next contract, he shouldn’t be able to command much more than what he’s currently making.
There is another factor to consider here, however. Devin Cooley – whose deal converts to a one-way pact next season – has gotten off to a simply stellar start to his season with AHL Calgary, putting up a 1.92 GAA and a .939 SV% in 22 games with the Wranglers. He leads the AHL in save percentage while sitting second in goals against average. He’s making a very strong case to get some NHL time of his own this season and if the Flames want to see what he can do and evaluate if he could be Wolf’s backup, keeping Vladar around will make that task more difficult.
Of course, goalies like Vladar don’t typically carry a lot of value during the in-season trade market. Barring injuries, many playoff-bound teams have their tandem already in place or Vladar wouldn’t represent enough of an upgrade to justify giving up a return of significance. But with still nine weeks before the deadline, things can change on this front.
Conroy has some decisions to make with his goaltending and the trade deadline might serve as a soft deadline for that choice depending on what their plans are with Cooley. But Vladar has been very clear, his hope is that he’ll get a new deal done with the Flames and stay with them for the foreseeable future.
Injury Updates: Wild, Nichushkin, Lindholm, Jost
The lower-body injury that Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon sustained on Tuesday isn’t as bad as initially feared. However, it’s still expected to keep him out of the lineup for the next two to three weeks, reports Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press. The 35-year-old has logged at least 20 minutes a night on the back end in every year but his rookie season back in 2010-11. Spurgeon has 13 points and 52 blocked shots in 32 games so far this season.
Meanwhile, Minnesota might be getting a different key blueliner back soon. Whyno adds that defenseman Jake Middleton could return as soon as next week from the hand injury that has kept him out for the last three weeks, landing him on LTIR. Middleton had 13 points in 29 games before the injury while his 76 blocks still lead the Wild.
Other injury news from around the NHL:
- Avalanche winger Valeri Nichushkin is listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury, mentions Corey Masisak of The Denver Post. However, head coach Jared Bednar added that the 29-year-old could miss seven to ten days with the issue. Nichushkin has been quite productive since returning from a stint in the Player Assistance Program, notching 11 goals and six assists in just 21 games, putting him in a tie for fourth in team goals despite missing 17 games.
- Bruins defenseman Hampus Lindholm is making some strides as he works his way back from a lower-body injury but hasn’t been cleared to skate yet, notes Boston.com’s Conor Ryan. The veteran has missed the better part of the last two months with the injury, a big blow to a Boston back end that has had some uncharacteristic struggles so far. Prior to the injury, Lindholm had seven points in 17 games while logging nearly 21 minutes a night, a per-game rate that stands second on the team.
- The undisclosed injury that Hurricanes forward Tyson Jost sustained on Tuesday is expected to keep him out long-term, relays team reporter Walt Ruff (Twitter link). The 26-year-old cleared waivers earlier this season but played in 16 games with Carolina since being recalled in November. Jost has a pair of goals in those outings while averaging 10:28 per game but he won’t be adding to that point total for a while yet now.
Jakob Chychrun Open To Signing Extension With Capitals
The Washington Capitals have been one of the biggest surprises through the early year. They sit with a 25-10-2 record through 37 games, good for the third-highest point percentage (70.3 percent) in the NHL. That success has been driven by the litany of new faces Washington acquired this summer, with defenseman Jakob Chychrun sat top among them. He’s quickly earned a top-pair role in Washington, proving to be a fantastic compliment for perennial Capitals star John Carlson. Chychrun leads the Capitals blue-line in scoring, even despite missing five games with injury. That momentum, backed by improved play in the defensive end, has the Capitals considering their long-term options.
Chychrun is in the final season of a six-year, $27.6MM contract signed with the Arizona Coyotes in the summer of 2019. He’s certainly outplayed his $4.6MM yearly cap hit, and could finally demand top-pair money on a new deal. But Washington isn’t deterred by that lofty raise shares Sammi Silber of The Hockey News, who points out that re-signing Chychrun will be a clear priority for the Capitals. Silber also pointed towards Chychrun telling Sportsnet’s Luke Fox that he envisions himself re-signing a long-term deal.
The extent of Chychrun’s improvement this year can’t be understated. He’s looked vastly improved outside of Arizona, last season posting a career-high 41 points in 82 games with the Ottawa Senators in what was his first full year outside of the desert. But he coupled that scoring with a measly -30 plus-minus and 2.79 xGA/60 (expected-goals against per-60), stats that ranked last and second-to-last on the Senators’ blue line respectively. Chychrun has quickly turned that around in Washington, upping his scoring to 25 points in 32 games coupled by a +17 plus-minus and 2.64 xGA/60. The Capitals as a team are far more sound defensively, but Chychrun has nonetheless proved a strong contributor and reasonable two-way option in his new top-pair role. He’s on pace to score 63 points through the end of the season, yet another career-high in scoring, and only seems to be heating up more with four points in three games to close out December.
Chychrun built a reputation for being all-offense, little-defense across seven years in Arizona. That might make his future hard to lean on, but the 26-year-old has looked complete in Washington and brings the team stability in the top-four that they haven’t had since trading away Dmitry Orlov. How those traits should be valued is a far different question. Brandon Montour and Brady Skjei each earned seven-year deals and cap hits north of $7MM in their moves to new teams this summer, while Jaccob Slavin signed an eight-year deal with a $6.396MM cap hit in Carolina. The Capitals even joined in on the summer buys, signing Matt Roy to a six-year deal with a $5.75MM cap hit to ultimately fill a role now behind Chychrun on the depth chart.
Given his boost of offense and improving defense, Chychrun likely sits somewhere between that quartet of defenders – setting Washington up for a max-term deal with an annual cost of at least $6.5MM. Luckily, the Capitals will be in a prime spot to take on that pay raise. They only have nine pending unrestricted free agents next summer, though that does include goaltenders Charlie Lindgren and Logan Thompson. Washington will have roughly $24.3MM in projected cap space to bring everyone back, per PuckPedia, leaving them just shy of $18MM should Chychrun demand market price.
The Capitals will have to think forward with their spending. Lineup pillars Alex Ovechkin, John Carlson, and Connor McMichael will all be due for their own extensions in the summer of 2026. But Chychrun’s impact through his first half in Washington has been too good to pass up. He’s proven a consistent scorer, capable of flowing next to Carlson or serving as the offensive bite next to defensive-minded partners like Trevor van Riemsdyk. He’s filled a notably missing piece, and the Capitals have returned to thriving now that they have it back. That will make Chychrun a player worth buying, especially with mutual interest already on the table.