Metro Injury Notes: Capitals, Rangers, Hurricanes
The Washington Capitals took the ice for practice this morning, and there were a few takeaways on the injury front. A report from Sammi Silber of The Hockey News indicated that forward Ethen Frank had returned to skating in a non-contact jersey, while defenseman Rasmus Sandin has been fully cleared for contact.
Additionally, Silber shared that center Pierre-Luc Dubois, who’s considered day-to-day with a lower-body injury, did not join the team for practice. All around, it’s mostly positive news for the Capitals, given that Frank and Sandin are the only two currently on the team’s injured reserve.
Since he hasn’t played since October 21st, Sandin has missed the most time of the trio. He’s tallied two assists in seven games for Washington this year, averaging 19:24 of ice time per contest. Meanwhile, Frank hasn’t played since the Capitals’ game on October 28th against the Dallas Stars after being reverse-hit by Mikko Rantanen. Despite the play looking relatively scary, it appears that Frank is on track to return sooner rather than later.
Other injury notes from the Metropolitan Division:
- Peter Baugh of The Athletic provided updates on a pair of injured New York Rangers. Baugh reported that defenseman Urho Vaakanainen is considered day-to-day with a lower-body injury and wasn’t on the ice for practice this morning. However, in a positive update, Baugh shared that Vincent Trocheck has returned wearing a non-contact jersey. Although Baugh didn’t comment on a potential return for Trocheck, it at least shows that a return is on the horizon. He’s currently on the team’s long-term injured reserve and hasn’t played since October 9th.
- The injury news isn’t as positive for the Carolina Hurricanes. According to Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News & Observer, defensemen Jaccob Slavin and K’Andre Miller have yet to return to practice for the Hurricanes. It’s another blow to a defensive core that’s been devastated by injuries to begin the 2025-26 campaign. Still, despite the unlikelihood of Miller playing in Carolina’s next game, he’s not expected to miss much more time.
Injury Notes: Hurricanes, Maple Leafs, Blackhawks, Sharks
Carolina Head Coach Rod Brind’Amour told Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News that K’Andre Miller could be back shortly, however, Jaccob Slavin could be absent for “a while”. Miller has not played since October 20th, but has been off to a great start in his Carolina tenure with four points in six games. Meanwhile, Slavin was placed on IR last week with a lower-body injury, appearing in the Canes’ first two games before going back down. The ailment has bothered the star defenseman throughout October, and the team has been vague on further details.
Carolina has been great so far despite missing both defensemen, with a 6-2-0 record. Based on Brind’Amour’s comments, it seems a real possibility Miller could be all set when his Hurricanes go to Madison Square Garden to take on the Rangers next week, after an offseason blockbuster sent the talented 25-year-old to Carolina.
Elsewhere across the league:
- Nick Barden of The Hockey News Toronto updated earlier today that William Nylander and Calle Jarnkrok could play versus Calgary tomorrow, as both are dealing with lower-body injuries. Additionally, veterans Scott Laughton and Chris Tanev could rejoin the team later in the week ahead of Saturday’s tilt in Philadelphia. Nylander, who missed just his second regular season game since 2020-21, has dazzled with 14 points in 8 games so far. Laughton was injured in the preseason and has yet to debut in 2025-26, as he looks to get more comfortable as a Leaf, having put up just 4 points in 20 regular season games after being traded to Toronto.
- Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times shared this morning that two Blackhawks veterans, Ilya Mikheyev and Tyler Bertuzzi, did not appear at practice. Mikheyev left Sunday’s game versus Los Angeles after crashing hard into the boards. Thankfully, he is considered day-to-day as it appears a more serious issue was avoided. Meanwhile, Bertuzzi missed yesterday’s game altogether, and is also thought to be day-to-day. Chicago hosts Ottawa tomorrow, and they will hope to have their wingers back before long, as they try to stay above the .500 mark.
- Sunday’s big shootout win for the Sharks at Minnesota came at a cost, as Adam Gaudette left due to an upper body injury and did not return, as per the team. His status is unknown as San Jose hosts their in-state rival the Kings tomorrow night. The 29-year-old center has 3 goals in 9 games.
Hurricanes Place Jaccob Slavin On Injured Reserve
Prior to today’s game against the Avalanche, the Hurricanes announced they placed star defenseman Jaccob Slavin on injured reserve earlier in the week – Tuesday, to be exact – due to a lower-body injury. They’re operating with an open roster spot, which they haven’t filled, but the team said his placement was for the purposes of “roster flexibility.”
Slavin hasn’t played since Oct. 11, so he is eligible to come off IR at any time. There’s been no update on his status since the beginning of Carolina’s lengthy Western Conference road trip, which started back on Oct. 14 against the Sharks, in which they said he wouldn’t join the team to start the haul, but weren’t too concerned about the severity of his injury.
Carolina has weathered the storm without their top defender, only suffering their first loss of the season on Monday against the Golden Knights. They’re 3-1-0 without Slavin in the lineup and are still only allowing 2.25 goals against per game while controlling 58.9% of shot attempts at even strength. In two games before exiting the lineup, Slavin had a minus-one rating with 10 shot attempts in 18:32 of ice time averaged across the pair of appearances. His possession numbers were pristine as always, logging a 66.1 CF% with just a 40.0 oZS% at even strength despite being outscored 2-1.
The 31-year-old has finished top-20 in Norris Trophy voting in every season since 2016-17, his second in the league. While his offensive production dipped to 27 points in 80 games last year with a +16 rating, his lowest in six years, he still finished top-10 in Norris voting for the third time in his career. He’s never been a huge minutes-muncher, especially not in the past few years as the Canes have stripped him of power-play minutes in favor of names like Shayne Gostisbehere and now K’Andre Miller, and justifiably so. He still remains one of the most feared shutdown threats in the league, but with the Hurricanes’ established possession-heavy system, they’re able to usher in a next-man-up mentality rather seamlessly.
Slavin’s absence has allowed for names like offseason pickup Mike Reilly and rookie Charles-Alexis Legault to make their Hurricanes debuts, but the greatest recipient of his vacated minutes has been Miller, who’s averaging a career-high 23:32 per game and has a 2-2–4 scoring line in six showings to begin his tenure in Raleigh. It’s looking even more like Slavin will miss the final two games of the Canes’ road trip, but could be targeting a comeback when Carolina returns home on Oct. 28 against Vegas.
East Notes: Luchanko, Benson, Slavin
According to a new article from Anthony Di Marco of the Daily Faceoff, the Philadelphia Flyers aren’t expected to retain Jett Luchanko for the duration of the season if he doesn’t rise out of a fourth-line role. While Philadelphia’s front office believes Luchanko could “hold his own” in a bottom-six role, they will need to see a breakout from him if they’re to keep him beyond the nine-game threshold, which would burn the first year off of his entry-level contract.
The breakout the Flyers were expecting to see hasn’t come yet. The former 13th overall pick of the 2024 NHL Draft has gone scoreless through his first two games of the season, averaging 8:15 of ice time. Still, it’s difficult to see a pathway upward for Luchanko even if he does perform better, especially if they’re adamant on keeping him at the center position.
There’s little chance of the Flyers breaking up the line of Tyson Foerster, Noah Cates, and Bobby Brink, which has become a solid identity line for the team. The Flyers could conceivably move Trevor Zegras back to the wing, though they were steadfast in their belief that he could be a center when they acquired him this past summer. Further, given his defensive value and play in the faceoff dot, they’re unlikely to isolate Sean Couturier to fourth-line minutes.
Given the situation in front of him and the minimal time to accomplish such a task, it’s more than likely that Philadelphia will reassign Luchanko back to the OHL’s Guelph Storm in the next week or two. Unfortunately, despite his unenviable situation, he wouldn’t be entering a better situation in Guelph. Although he’d command far more playing time, the Storm aren’t expected to be a competitive team this season.
Other notes from the Eastern Conference:
- Although he wasn’t put on the team’s injured reserve to start the season, Zach Benson has yet to make his debut with the Buffalo Sabres this year. That’s expected to change tomorrow. According to Bill Hoppe of the Times Herald, Benson is likely to enter the lineup tomorrow night against the Ottawa Senators. Unfortunately, unless he has found another offensive level to his game, Benson shouldn’t be expected to help with the Sabres’ offensive woes to begin the campaign. Through his first two years, he’s scored 21 goals and 58 points in 146 games, averaging 14:40 of ice time.
- Yesterday, the Carolina Hurricanes announced that defenseman Jaccob Slavin is suffering from a lower-body injury, but were relatively vague regarding the severity. Today, in a small update, head coach Rod Brind’Amour said, “He went for some more testing. I think we’re just going to keep him out for a while. I don’t think it’s super serious, but he doesn’t quite feel right. So, for right now, he’s not on this trip.“
East Notes: Hurricanes, Samuelsson, MacEwen
Carolina Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour issued injury updates to two key players today: Jaccob Slavin and Pyotr Kochetkov. As relayed by team reporter Walt Ruff, Slavin is still “being evaluated” for a lower-body injury, and is currently questionable to travel with the team on its upcoming six-game road trip. Additionally, Kochetkov will not travel due to his own lower-body injury, though they did add the caveat that he may join the team on the road at some point. Finally, Brind’Amour said that waiver addition Brandon Bussi will get to start a game “at some point” on their road trip.
While the full extent of Slavin’s injury is not known at this point, any extended Slavin absence would be a massive loss for Carolina. Slavin is the team’s most important defenseman and is in the eyes of many the league’s premier shutdown defender. He was the team’s number-one defenseman last season and averaged nearly three minutes a night on its penalty kill. Meanwhile the loss of Kochetkov is also notable, though the Hurricanes are more well-equipped to handle his absence. They already have experienced veteran Frederik Andersen on their roster, and Bussi’s resume from the AHL suggests he very well could be able to handle a backup’s workload while Kochetkov recovers.
Other notes from the Eastern conference:
- The Buffalo Sabres announced today that defenseman Mattias Samuelsson did not play in today’s game against the Colorado Avalanche due to an undisclosed injury. Head coach Lindy Ruff said that “the initial prognosis on the injury was positive,” and expressed optimism that Samuelsson would be ready to play in time for the team’s game Wednesday. Samuelsson played alongside Jacob Bryson in the team’s Saturday game against the Boston Bruins, and saw his spot filled by 2019 first-rounder Ryan Johnson for today’s contest.
- New Jersey Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe told the media today, including The Hockey Writers’ Mark Scheig, that forward Zack MacEwen will miss “an extended period” after leaving the team’s Saturday win over the Tampa Bay Lightning early. Keefe elaborated that MacEwen suffered an injury late in the team’s game, and will be out indefinitely. MacEwen played nine shifts in his lone game with the Devils, registering two shots, a hit, and a blocked shot. The 6’4″ grinder was slotted into the Devils’ fourth line and was recently acquired by the team from the Ottawa Senators.
Metropolitan Notes: Dadonov, Gudbranson, Slavin, Flyers
Earlier today, the Devils placed winger Evgenii Dadonov on injured reserve with his fractured hand. While a full timeline for recovery remains unknown, New Jersey clearly knows he’ll be out a while as PuckPedia reports (Twitter link) that the winger has been moved to LTIR. In doing so, they’re certifying that he will miss at least 10 games and 24 days because of the injury. With the placement, the Devils have added $1MM in room to their LTIR pool, giving themselves a bit more recall flexibility. The 36-year-old also has $2.25MM in potential performance bonuses but those aren’t eligible to be added to an LTIR pool. He’ll need to play in at least 50 games during the regular season to max out on the regular season games played portion of those incentives.
More from the Metropolitan Division:
- Blue Jackets defenseman Erik Gudbranson exited Saturday’s victory over Minnesota early due to an upper-body injury, notes Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch. The injury occurred on a hit from Marcus Foligno late in the second period but while he came out briefly for the third period, he quickly returned to the dressing room. Gudbranson was limited to just 16 games last season due to a shoulder injury and an early absence this year certainly isn’t ideal, especially with this being the final year of his contract. Aaron Portzline of The Athletic adds (Twitter link) that the team won’t be providing any updates on Gudbranson’s status today.
- Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin left Saturday’s game against Philadelphia in the third period with what looks to be a knee injury, relays Cory Lavalette of the North State Journal. It’s expected that the team will know more on his status on Monday. Slavin has been a critical piece of Carolina’s back end for several years now and was off to a solid start before the injury. If he’s unable to play in their next game on Tuesday against San Jose, veteran Mike Reilly would likely make his Carolina debut.
- While most teams know who their starting goalie is by now, the Flyers appear to be one of the exceptions. Samuel Ersson entered the season as the incumbent after being the starter for the last couple of years but they also added Daniel Vladar in free agency. Earlier this week, head coach Rick Tocchet told reporters including Jackie Spiegel of the Philadelphia Inquirer that the plan is to rotate the two for a while and see who takes the lead. It’s actually the same situation that Vladar had to start last season as he platooned with Dustin Wolf before Wolf took over as the full-fledged starter in the second half. He’ll have to wait a while to have a chance of coming out on the other side of that battle now in Philadelphia.
Injury Notes: Blackhawks, Slavin, Aitcheson
The Chicago Blackhawks have one more day of practice before their first preseason contest tomorrow night, and the jury is still out on who exactly will be available. In a series of injury updates from Scott Powers of The Athletic, the Blackhawks will have André Burakovsky back at practice this morning. However, defenseman Connor Murphy and forwards Brett Seney and Landon Slaggert will not participate.
As Powers noted, Burakovsky missed the team’s practice yesterday due to a lower-body injury, and there’s no indication he won’t be a full participant in today’s skate. The 30-year-old Austrian was acquired this summer in a salary dump trade with the Seattle Kraken. After signing a five-year, $27.5MM contract with the Kraken in the summer of 2022, Burakovsky struggled to stay healthy in his new environment, scoring 30 goals and 92 points in 177 contests.
Unlike the other three, it doesn’t appear Murphy is dealing with any injuries, and he’s only being held out for a maintenance day, which isn’t uncommon for veteran players during training camp. Seney and Slaggert are each dealing with undisclosed injuries, and there are no updates to their availability in tomorrow night’s contest against the Detroit Red Wings.
Other injury updates:
- Following on the heels of last night’s report that the Carolina Hurricanes may hold out All-Star defenseman Jaccob Slavin from their preseason contests, it appears that will be the case. Outside of his absence from preseason action, there haven’t been any specifics regarding Slavin’s injury concerns at the time being. However, Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News & Observer reported this morning that Slavin is on the ice in a non-contact jersey.
- The New York Islanders made a few cuts to their training camp roster this morning, and recent first-round pick, Kashawn Aitcheson, wasn’t one of them. According to Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News, Aitcheson is considered day-to-day with an undisclosed injury after last night’s contest against the Philadelphia Flyers. The belief is that the Islanders want to get one more look at him once he’s healthy before sending him back to the OHL’s Barrie Colts.
Evening Notes: Evangelista, Kleven, Dumais, Hurricanes
While it appears that the Predators and Luke Evangelista have agreed that the winger’s next contract will be for two years, things don’t appear to be going well in terms of discussing money. TSN’s Darren Dreger reports (Twitter link) that the two sides are still well apart on the financial side, so much so that the 23-year-old has left Nashville and is returning to Canada to train on his own while waiting for a contract to be hammered out. Evangelista has two straight years of more than 30 points under his belt and is averaging exactly half a point per game in 172 career NHL appearances. Despite that being a more concrete track record than many players have coming off their entry-level pacts, the two sides don’t appear to be close to an agreement just yet.
More from around the NHL:
- Senators defenseman Tyler Kleven left today’s exhibition game against Toronto in the third period with an undisclosed injury after crashing into the boards. Postgame, head coach Travis Green told reporters including Sportsnet’s Alex Adams (Twitter link) that there was no immediate information available about the injury. Kleven was a regular on Ottawa’s third pairing last season, putting up 10 points, 97 blocks, and 105 hits in 79 outings while also getting into all six playoff contests.
- Blue Jackets prospect Jordan Dumais was injured in the final game of their rookie tournament last weekend and hasn’t been on the ice since. Aaron Portzline of The Athletic relays (subscription link) that the winger is listed as day-to-day with a hip flexor. Dumais dealt with hip issues in 2024, undergoing surgery early that year and was limited to just 21 games with AHL Cleveland last season where he managed a respectable four goals and seven assists.
- The Hurricanes may hold defensemen Jaccob Slavin and Jalen Chatfield out of all of their preseason games, relays team reporter Walt Ruff (Twitter link). Head coach Rod Brind’Amour relayed that this would be merely as a precaution but generally speaking, this would only be done if the player is nursing a minor injury. Slavin is a well-established top-pairing player on Carolina’s back end while Chatfield quietly averaged nearly 19 minutes per game last season.
Hurricanes, Jaccob Slavin In Agreement On Eight-Year Extension
July 1: Slavin’s extension today will be an eight-year deal with a cap hit of $6.43MM, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reports.
June 14: A large slate of pending free agents still plagues Hurricanes interim general manager Eric Tulsky‘s to-do list over the next few weeks, but as previously reported, it’s not the organization’s only top priority. The team has all but agreed to terms on an extension for defenseman Jaccob Slavin, which should be announced promptly when he becomes eligible to sign on July 1, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet said on Friday’s “32 Thoughts” podcast.
Slavin, 30, is entering the final season of a bargain-bin seven-year, $5.3MM AAV extension inked back in 2017.
It’s no surprise to see Carolina aggressively try to retain arguably their most consistent blue liner of the past decade amid an offseason of change that could see them lose both members of their second pairing, Brett Pesce and Brady Skjei, to unrestricted free agency. They’ve been discussing the framework of a deal for at least the past few weeks, per The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta. The 6’3″ Colorado native would have been one of the top targets available on the UFA market in 2025 if he remained unsigned.
Slavin, who has finished top 20 in Norris Trophy voting for seven years in a row, has spent his entire career in Raleigh since being drafted by the Canes in the fourth round in 2012. Not only does getting an extension out of the way early quell any rumors of the franchise cornerstone leaving next summer, but it also provides them with an increased deal of cost certainty as the salary cap increases in 2025 and beyond.
It’s a stark contrast to their situation this summer, where nine everyday players are still pending free agents. They still have nearly $24MM in cap space to burn after inking defenseman Jalen Chatfield to an extension, which will likely all be used up as they navigate losing and replacing some top-of-the-lineup skaters.
The extension comes after a bit of an odd platform year for Slavin. After years of being the club’s de facto top-pairing anchor by ice time, head coach Rod Brind’Amour rolled three pairings almost equally at even strength after offseason signing Dmitry Orlov gave them five arguably top-pairing talents on the roster. With Orlov also taking away some special teams usage from Slavin, his ice time dipped to 20:56 per game, the lowest of his career.
That didn’t stop his offensive production from rebounding from last season’s disappointing figures, though. Slavin recorded 31 assists and 37 points, the second-most in a single season in his career. The Canes also controlled more than 60% of shot attempts with Slavin on the ice at even strength for the second year in a row.
Slavin served as part of Carolina’s leadership group last season along with Jordan Martinook and captain Jordan Staal. He and Chatfield will be the only defenders under contract for the 2025-26 season as the Canes look to build out their defense of the future.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Defensemen Notes: Slavin, Kylington, McCabe
A few days ago, it was reported that the Carolina Hurricanes and defenseman Jaccob Slavin were in an informal agreement on a contract extension, but the financial terms of the deal were not disclosed as he is ineligible to put pen to paper until July 1st. Earlier today, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported on ’32 Thoughts’ that the contract should clock in as an eight-year, $52MM contract paying Slavin an average of $6.5MM a year (X Link).
At face value, the terms of the deal seem like a perfect arrangement for Slavin and the Hurricanes organization, as Evolving Hockey predicted an eight-year extension for Slavin at a $6.492MM salary. Slavin’s current seven-year, $37.1MM contract will expire after the 2024-25 NHL season and this new deal will take Slavin to his age-39 season in 2023-33.
Slavin rebounded in the point department nicely from a down 2022-23 season, but also saw his ice time dip by just over a minute as head coach Rod Brind’Amour spread the wealth much more this past season. The recent recipient of the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy scored six goals and 37 points in 81 games for Carolina this year and should maintain his status as a top-pairing defenseman for the organization next to Brent Burns.
Other notes:
- Speaking to the media today after sending goaltender Jacob Markstrom to the New Jersey Devils, the General Manager of the Calgary Flames, Craig Conroy, spoke briefly about the ongoing extension negotiations with defenseman Oliver Kylington. Danny Austin of the Calgary Sun quoted Conroy saying, “We’ve been in contact and going back-and-forth. There’s been a lot of stuff going on but I actually talked to Oliver the other day. Things are progressing. I know everyone wants things quicker, but sometimes it just takes a little time“. After acquiring defenseman Kevin Bahl in the deal for Markstrom, the Flames may not have enough room for Kylington even if there is mutual interest in an extension unless another move is made.
- Expected to become an unrestricted free agent after the 2024-25 NHL season, defenseman Jake McCabe of the Toronto Maple Leafs is doing some preliminary work for his future. In an announcement from the firm, McCabe has switched over his representation to Bartlett Hockey. One of the more established groups for player representation, Bartlett Hockey also represents the likes of Logan Cooley, Clayton Keller, and Cale Makar.