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Injury Notes: Sharks, Tkachuk, Raymond, Koepke

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San Jose Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky told the media today that forward Will Smith is currently dealing with a lower-body issue, and while he should still be in line to play in tomorrow’s game, Warsofsky did note that this ailment is something Smith has been dealing with since even before Saturday’s game. In addition to providing detail on an injury to Smith, Warsofsky also revealed that 2025 second-overall pick Michael Misa will make his NHL debut tomorrow.

Misa, 18, will make his NHL debut in what is the Sharks’ third game of the season. Tomorrow’s contest will not just be Misa’s NHL debut, it will also be his first regular-season game of professional hockey, as he was drafted out of the OHL. According to San Jose Hockey Now’s Sheng Peng, Misa was slotted into the Sharks’ third-line center position in today’s practice, hinting at how he’s likely to be used in his NHL debut. Given that the Sharks put Misa in between two players who have experience playing center at the NHL level (Ty Dellandrea and Philipp Kurashev) it appears Warsofsky may be trying to ease Misa, as much as possible, into the level of responsibility that comes with playing center at the NHL level.

Other injury updates from around the league:

  • Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reported today that Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk was forced out of the team’s loss to the Nashville Predators today, stating that he is currently being evaluated for an injury after being on the other end of a Roman Josi cross-checking minor penalty. Tkachuk only managed to skate in 13:53 in today’s game, and although there is no further information other than Tkachuk being under evaluation, any injury he could suffer would be a serious blow to the Senators. He is among the team’s most important wingers and has started off the season with three assists in three games.
  • Detroit Red Wings forward Lucas Raymond was forced out of today’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs due to an upper-body injury, and head coach Todd McLellan did not issue an update on the forward’s status post-game. As Detroit’s leading scorer in each of the last two seasons, Raymond has emerged as one of the Red Wings’ most important players, and their undisputed most lethal offensive threat. While we await further information on Raymond’s injury, Red Wings fans will likely have their fingers crossed that his absence was more precautionary than anything else.
  • The Winnipeg Jets announced today that forward Cole Koepke did not return to today’s victory over the New York Islanders due to a lower-body injury. Koepke was playing on the Jets’ fourth line alongside Morgan Barron and Tanner Pearson, and had registered an assist on Barron’s goal early in today’s game on Long Island. At this point, there is no further update on Koepke’s status. The Jets have 25-year-old Providence College product Parker Ford on their roster ready to enter the lineup should Koepke miss any time.

Jets To Sign Cole Koepke, Tanner Pearson

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The Jets are signing UFA winger Cole Koepke, per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. It’s a one-year deal worth $1MM, according to TSN’s Darren Dreger. They’ve also signed winger Tanner Pearson to an identical one-by-one contract, per Dreger.

Koepke comes to Manitoba on the heels of his first full year in the NHL. Despite spending the first two years of his career with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Koepke signed on as a depth forward last summer with the Boston Bruins.

Carving out a role on the team’s fourth line, Koepke turned into a consistent player for the Bruins. He scored 10 goals and 17 points in 73 games with a +1 rating, averaging 11:15 of ice time per night with 177 hits.

Unfortunately, his scoring output was largely isolated to the first month of the regular season. In October, Koepke scored three goals and seven points with a +10 rating in the Bruins’ first 11 games while only tallying seven goals and 10 points with a -9 rating over his remaining 62 games. Given this situation, it’s hard to picture Koepke playing anywhere other than the fourth line with the Jets.

Meanwhile, the team added some tertiary scoring to their bottom-six in Pearson. After scoring six goals and 18 points in 68 games in his last year with the Vancouver Canucks and one season with the Montreal Canadiens combined, Pearson had a quality bounceback year with the Vegas Golden Knights during the 2024-25 campaign.

Largely playing in the team’s bottom-six, Pearson scored 12 goals and 27 points in 78 contests with a +4 rating. Winnipeg didn’t have very many problems putting the puck in the net last year, but they’re in a position where they’ll need to replace the production lost by Nikolaj Ehlers by committee.

PHR’s Brennan McClain contributed significantly to this article. 

Bruins Notes: Kastelic, Lindholm, Koepke

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The Boston Bruins received a handful of injury updates at Friday morning’s practice. Most pressing, winger Mark Kastelic returned to full practices and could possibly return to the lineup when the Bruins visit the Ottawa Senators on Saturday. In a video posted on the team’s social media, Kastelic told media after practice that he’s hoping to return, but doesn’t want to rush anything. Kastelic has missed Boston’s last two games with an upper-body injury. He was placed on injured reserve on January 14th.

This is already Kastelic’s second injury of the season. He previously missed three days with a lower-body injury in November. He has been a key piece of Boston’s third line when healthy, recording 12 points in 43 games and averaging 11:19 in ice time this season. Kastelic is in his first season with the Bruins, after joining the team in the trade that sent Linus Ullmark to Ottawa. The change of scenery came with a boosted role – bumping Kastelic up after three years on Ottawa’s fourth-line. He’s clearly satisfied the Bruins’ expectations, earning a three-year, $4.7MM extension with the club earlier this month. Kastelic fell to injury just a few games after signing that deal, meaning a return from injury will mean a return to vindicating his new price tag.

In other Bruins news, top defender Hampus Lindholm returned to practice in a non-contact jersey on Friday, shares Joe Haggerty of the Boston Sports Journal. Lindholm has missed Boston’s last 29 games after he suffered a lower-body injury on November 12th. He was one of the Bruins’ most-utilized defenders in November, averaging 22:44 in ice time in his last four games before injury. Lindholm also managed seven points in 17 games, putting him on pace for 34 points across 82 games before he fell for the long-term. That total would have stood as the third-highest scoring season of Lindholm’s 12-year career. This news marks one step closer to Lindholm working back into the role of routine scoring and top-pair minutes.

Finally, Haggerty shared that forward Cole Koepke won’t play in the team’s Saturday game, per head coach Joe Sacco. Koepke sustained an injury with 10 minutes left in Boston’s Tuesday win over Tampa Bay, after taking a big hit from Bolts defenseman Darren Raddysh. Koepke immediately left for the locker room. Raddysh did not receive a penalty on the play. Koepke has so far been designated as day-to-day, though no specifics of his injury have been revealed. He’s also rotated through Boston’s middle-six this season, netting 12 points in 44 games while averaging just under 11 minutes of ice time each game. This is Koepke’s first full season on an NHL lineup, after combining for three points in 26 games with Tampa Bay over the last two seasons.

Minor Free Agent Signings: Atlantic Division

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With over 180 deals signed during the first day of free agency yesterday, some smaller names may have gotten lost in the shuffle. Here’s a list of names that have inked two-way deals with Atlantic Division clubs since the market opened yesterday, per CapFriendly. Some of these may have been included in our main coverage yesterday, while others went under the radar. All contracts carry the league-minimum $775K cap hit unless stated otherwise). Those listed here are likely to begin 2024-25 with each team’s AHL affiliate.

Boston Bruins

F Cole Koepke (one year)
D Jordan Oesterle (two years)
D Billy Sweezey (two years)
F Riley Tufte (one year)
F Jeffrey Viel (one year)

Buffalo Sabres

F Joshua Dunne (two years)
F Mason Jobst (one year)
F Brett Murray (one year)
D Jack Rathbone (one year)
G Felix Sandström (one year)

Detroit Red Wings

F Sheldon Dries (two years)
F Joe Snively (one year)

Florida Panthers

F Rasmus Asplund (one year)

Montreal Canadiens

none

Ottawa Senators

D Jeremy Davies (one year)
F Hayden Hodgson (one year)
F Garrett Pilon (two years)
D Filip Roos (one year)

Tampa Bay Lightning

D Derrick Pouliot (one year)
D Steven Santini (one year)
F Jesse Ylönen (one year)

Toronto Maple Leafs

none

Lightning Assign Cole Koepke To AHL

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The Lightning have announced that winger Cole Koepke has been reassigned to the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch. His roster spot could go to Tanner Jeannot, who’s nearing a return to play after missing the last six games with an upper-body injury and is currently stashed on injured reserve.

Koepke, 25, made his NHL debut for the Bolts last season after they selected him in the sixth round of the 2018 draft. He made the team out of camp and played 17 games last season, scoring once and posting a -5 rating, but was sent to Syracuse after two months and did not return. He didn’t make the team out of camp this year after a disappointing sophomore season with the Crunch post-demotion, but he turned things around with 13 goals and 24 points in 36 AHL games this year and earned himself his second recall of the year late last week.

He has played nine games for Tampa this year, recording his first two NHL assists while logging 6:42 per game. The Minnesota native has logged nine shots on goal, generating decent offense for his limited ice time, although his 42.6 CF% at even strength leaves much to be desired in terms of limiting chances against. Signed to a one-year, two-way extension in June of last year, he does not have enough NHL experience to require waivers to be assigned to the minors. He will need to pass through waivers beginning next season, however.

Koepke has been a healthy scratch in two straight, so it’s clear he wouldn’t stick on the Tampa roster long-term even if Jeannot weren’t nearing a return. He will be an RFA with arbitration rights this summer if the Lightning choose to issue him a qualifying offer.

Lightning Recall Cole Koepke

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The Lightning are rewarding one of their better minor-league producers this season, as the team announced Thursday that Cole Koepke is heading up from AHL Syracuse. No corresponding moves are necessary, as the team has an open roster spot and ample space in their LTIR salary pool.

A sixth-round pick in the 2018 draft, Koepke produced near a point-per-game rate at the University of Minnesota-Duluth in his sophomore and junior years. However, he has had an inconsistent development track since turning pro in 2021. He was a surprise name on Tampa Bay’s opening night roster in 2022-23, but he scored just once in 17 games before heading back to the minors for the remainder of the year, where he underwhelmed again with only seven goals and 19 points in 52 games. It’s been a different story this year, as his 13 goals, 11 assists, and 24 points in 36 games have him on pace for AHL career-highs.

He spent three weeks on the Lightning roster earlier this season, recording two assists and averaging 6:48 over an eight-game span. The 25-year-old has been with Syracuse since Tampa Bay demoted him on Dec. 11.

Koepke joins former Syracuse mainstay Alex Barré-Boulet as the Lightning’s projected forward scratches against the Capitals tonight. While on the roster, he’ll battle for bottom-six ice time with the likes of Tyler Motte, Conor Sheary and Austin Watson.

The Minnesota native is on his second NHL contract, signing a one-year, two-way extension ($775K NHL/$100K AHL) weeks before his entry-level contract expired last offseason. He’ll be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights upon expiry this summer.

Lightning Assign Cole Koepke To Minors

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The Lightning reassigned forward Cole Koepke to the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch on Monday, per a team release. Koepke, who has been on the Lightning’s roster for nearly a month, had been a healthy scratch in four of the last five games.

Head coach Jon Cooper utilized Koepke extremely sparingly since his November recall, never icing him for more than ten minutes in any of his eight appearances this season. The 25-year-old winger managed to record two assists and seven shots on goal nonetheless after recording six points in 11 games with Syracuse to begin the season.

A 2018 sixth-round pick, Koepke was a surprise inclusion on the Lightning’s opening-night roster last season after spending all of 2021-22 in the minors. After scoring just once in 17 contests, however, the Lightning returned Koepke to Syracuse in December, where he remained for the balance of the season.

His offensive production in Syracuse disappointed the rest of the day, recording seven goals and 19 points in 52 games despite scoring 20 goals the season before. Despite that, the Lightning decided to extend Koepke before his contract expired last summer, signing him to a one-year, two-way deal with a guaranteed salary of $150K in June.

Koepke’s return to the minors suggests captain Steven Stamkos could be able to return from an illness tomorrow against the Canucks. The Lightning dressed 11 forwards (including Koepke) and seven defensemen in their last game, holding Stamkos out of the lineup and making enforcer Austin Watson a healthy scratch.

The Minnesota-born winger will be eligible for salary arbitration if he reaches restricted free agency next summer.

Tampa Bay Lightning Recall Cole Koepke

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The Tampa Bay Lightning have recalled forward Cole Koepke from their AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch.

As reported by the Tampa Bay Times’ Eduardo A. Encina, this recall “serves as an indication that Anthony Cirelli may not be available” for the team’s game today against the Edmonton Oilers. Cirelli left the Lightning’s last game after taking a puck to the upper body.

The Lightning recalled Koepke rather than Waltteri Merelä, who they just sent down yesterday. This could be to give Merelä some continuity with one team, as well as to potentially give Koepke the chance to play in his first NHL game this season.

Koepke, 25, is a hard-working 2018 sixth-round pick who rode a breakout 2021-22 campaign to 17 NHL games the following season. He didn’t score much at all last year, though, managing just one point at the NHL level and 19 in the AHL.

So far this season, Koepke has six points in 11 games for the Crunch. At six-foot-one, 200 pounds, Koepke doesn’t offer the imposing size that Merelä brings, though he does play with quite a bit of energy. He averaged just over nine minutes of ice time per game in his NHL run last season.

Tampa Bay Lightning Re-Sign Cole Koepke

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The Tampa Bay Lightning re-signed forward Cole Koepke to a one-year, two-way contract today, the team said in a media release.

Koepke, 25, was a surprise name on the Lightning’s opening night roster for the 2022-23 campaign. A sixth-round pick in 2018, Koepke registered just one goal in 17 games, however, and then was sent to the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch for the rest of the season after Anthony Cirelli returned from offseason shoulder surgery. There, he took a significant step back offensively from his 2021-22 minor league totals, registering seven goals and 12 assists for 19 points in 52 games.

The Lightning did not release details of the contract.

Tampa Bay hopes 2022-23 was a temporary dip in Koepke’s production, although he’s likely just a year or two away from reaching the top of his development curve. With more seasoning in Syracuse next year, the Lightning would like to see production closer to his last two seasons at the University of Minnesota Duluth, where he notched 56 points in 62 games across his sophomore and junior seasons before turning pro at the end of 2020-21.

Koepke was a pending restricted free agent and eligible for arbitration. Per CapFriendly, he was due a qualifying offer of $787,500 on a one-year deal if an agreement wasn’t reached before the June 30 deadline.

Lightning Assign Cole Koepke To AHL

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With Anthony Cirelli close to returning, the Lightning need to open up both salary cap and roster space to bring him back onto the active roster.  They made one of those moves this morning as they announced that they’ve sent winger Cole Koepke to AHL Syracuse.

The 24-year-old didn’t have any NHL experience heading into this season but made the roster out of training camp and has played close to a full-time role to this point.  Koepke has suited up in 17 games for Tampa Bay this season, logging a little over nine minutes a game on the fourth line while chipping in with a goal and 22 hits.

Last season, Koepke was a productive forward with the Crunch, notching 20 goals and 19 helpers in 69 contests and at this stage of his development, a chance to play a much more prominent role in the minors will likely be beneficial.

Tampa Bay will have to wait to find out the fate of defenseman Philippe Myers for a few more hours.  He was placed on waivers yesterday and his potential demotion coupled with Koepke’s return will give the Lightning just enough cap space to be able to activate Cirelli.

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