Injury Notes: Wild, McDonagh, Huberdeau
The Minnesota Wild could have a few reinforcements for their upcoming game tonight against the Detroit Red Wings. According to NHL reporter Jessi Pierce, Zach Bogosian, Matt Boldy, Joel Eriksson Ek, and Marcus Johansson all took part in Minnesota’s practice this morning.
Pierce went on to indicate that both Eriksson Ek and Johansson could return to the lineup tonight. Unfortunately, Bogosian and Boldy will remain on the sidelines. In the latter’s defense, given the stipulations of putting a player on the injured reserve, Boldy would be ineligible for tonight’s contest regardless of how he feels.
The Wild could certainly use the help. After having an outstanding record through November and December, Minnesota has stalled of late, managing a 4-4-2 record in January. If Eriksson Ek and Johansson return tonight, the Wild would have two of their top four scorers back in the lineup.
Additional injury notes:
- The long-awaited return of Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh is on the horizon. According to team insider Erik Erlendsson, McDonagh’s recovery timeline has been upgraded to day-to-day, and head coach Jon Cooper guaranteed that he would play before the upcoming Olympic break. Due to varying injuries, the Lightning have been without McDonagh for most of the 2025-26 campaign. The 16-year veteran has registered four goals and eight points in 18 games on the year, averaging 20 minutes of ice time per game.
- According to Sportsnet’s Pat Steinberg, winger Jonathan Huberdeau will return to the lineup tomorrow night for the Calgary Flames. The former Calder Trophy winner missed the Flames’ most recent game due to a lower-body injury.
Injury Notes: Letang, Huberdeau, McTavish
Pittsburgh Penguins fixture Kris Letang is absent tonight in Calgary as reported by Josh Yohe, Penguins Beat Writer.
The 38-year-old was listed as questionable yesterday, due to an upper-body injury. It’s not immediately clear what caused the ailment, as Letang continues to play heavy minutes, his 22:01 average standing as second-most on the team, behind Erik Karlsson, who is also injured and out tonight. With 25 points in 48 games, it will be the first contest of 2025-26 the Pens will not have Letang in the lineup.
Winners of six out of their last 10, firmly in the playoff hunt, Pittsburgh must turn to Jack St. Ivany, who has served as a depth defenseman this year. Ryan Graves will also remain on the third pairing, the 30-year-old eager to get on track after his struggles resulted in demotion to the AHL. Still on the outside looking in with an unmovable contract, Graves has been called upon due to the numerous injuries on the back end.
Both Letang and Karlsson figure to be back by Sunday as the group travels to Vancouver.
Elsewhere across the league:
- Shortly before tonight’s game against the shorthanded Penguins, the Calgary Flames shared that Jonathan Huberdeau is day-to-day with a lower body injury, and will not play. Missing in warm-ups, it was briefly speculated that the $10.5MM man could have been scratched, not entirely out of the realm of possibility, but instead he will miss his sixth of the campaign due to an injury. After a step forward last season where he recorded 62 points, good for second best on the team, this year has not been kind to the 32-year-old. He has just 21 points in 44 games, but as the Flames rank second-to-last in offense, Huberdeau still ranks sixth on team scoring totals. Martin Pospisil, recalled yesterday, will make his season debut, coming back from an upper-body injury sustained in the preseason. Huberdeau will look to be healthy by Friday, as the Flames host the Capitals.
- Ahead of tonight’s game at Colorado, the Anaheim Ducks updated that Mason McTavish won’t play due to an upper-body injury, while Jansen Harkins enters the lineup. The news was unexpected, as McTavish has not yet missed a game all year, finding the back of the net in each of his last two games. The 22-year-old has 30 points in 49 games, somewhat surpassed in a group of dynamic young forwards, but still a key contributor. Having won four in a row, Anaheim’s center depth has taken a major hit as star Leo Carlsson is out three to five weeks. The group will hope to have McTavish back by Friday in Seattle, but tonight is a tough test against the top team in the league.
Flames Assign Matvei Gridin, Activate Jonathan Huberdeau
The Calgary Flames have assigned winger Matvei Gridin to the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers to make room to activate Jonathan Huberdeau off of injured reserve. Huberdeau has been sidelined since sustaining an undisclosed injury in a preseason matchup against the Vancouver Canucks on October 1st. He missed the first seven games of Calgary’s season.
Gridin played in the first four games of his NHL career to start the season, but found his way to the press box after posting one goal and a minus-three. He is among Calgary’s top prospects, and is set to become one of just six 19-year-olds in the AHL. A taste of NHL minutes, and continued pro challenge in the minors, could be exactly what Gridin needs to grow his game.
He looked fast and flashy in the QMJHL last year, posting 96 points in 72 games over the course of the Shawinigan Cataractes’ full season. That performance earned him the QMJHL’s ‘Rookie of the Year’ award. The 2024 first-round pick spent two seasons in the USHL prior to his draft. He scored 99 points in 108 total games in the league. That includes a league-leading 83-point season in 2023-24, the second-highest scoring season in Muskegon Lumberjacks history.
While Gridin develops in the minors, Huberdeau will look to keep up his momentum from last season. He scored 16 points in 18 games to finish the 2024-25 season, pushing him to 28 goals and 62 points in 81 games on the year. It was Huberdeau’s highest-scoring season since he posted 115 points with the Florida Panthers in 2021-22. His dip in scoring with the Flames has shadowed his last three seasons, but he showed a click next to Morgan Frost and Matthew Coronato that could propel the Flames’ offense this season. Coronato currently leads Calgary in scoring, with three points in five games. Frost has two points.
Minor Transactions: 10/6/25
The deadline for NHL clubs to ready their opening-night rosters has passed, and as a result there has been quite a bit of roster maneuvering around the NHL today. While some moves are more notable, such as the handful of waiver claims made today, there are a few moves that are more minor, such as expected reassignments or previously reported injuries being made official with IR placements. We’ll keep track of those moves here:
- In preparing their final opening-night roster that can be viewed here, the Utah Mammoth reassigned a pair of first-round picks. 2023 12th overall pick Daniil But was reassigned to the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners, which is where he will begin his North American professional career. Meanwhile 2024 sixth overall pick Tij Iginla was loaned back to his WHL team, the Kelowna Rockets. But is a big 6’5 winger whose KHL teammate (and fellow 2023 first-rounder) Dmitry Simashev made the Utah roster today, and it’s expected that But won’t be in the AHL for too long. As for Iginla, this season is an opportunity for him to get his development back on track after unfortunate injury luck derailed his 2024-25 campaign.
- The Ottawa Senators reassigned the players they placed on waivers Sunday to their AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators. Making up the group is Jan Jenik, Hayden Hodgson, Arthur Kaliyev, Mads Sogaard, and Lassi Thomson. 2024 seventh-overall pick Carter Yakemchuk was reassigned to Belleville, his Sept. 29 birthdate making him eligible to play in the AHL despite being a 2024 draft pick. In addition to those reassignments, the Senators placed Drake Batherson and Tyler Kleven on IR to further prepare their final roster. Batherson has been out since Sept. 24 with an upper-body injury on a projected two-week recovery timeline, while Kleven has been out since Sept. 21 with an undisclosed injury.
- The Minnesota Wild reassigned forward Tyler Pitlick and netminder Cal Petersen to their AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild, today. Both players were placed on waivers yesterday and went unclaimed. Pitlick, 33, is a veteran of over 400 NHL games and scored 46 points in 59 AHL games last season for the Hartford Wolf Pack – he’ll likely be among the first players in line for a call-up in Iowa. Petersen, 30, was once a $5MM-a-year netminder for the Los Angeles Kings but did not play in the NHL in 2024-25. Signed to a one-year, $775K one-way deal, he’ll be the team’s organizational number-three netminder.
- The Calgary Flames placed forwards Jonathan Huberdeau and Martin Pospisil on injured reserve today as part of their roster preparations, and also called up 2023 first-rounder Samuel Honzek. Huberdeau left Calgary’s preseason game at the start of the month with an undisclosed injury, and will miss at least the team’s season opener. Pospisil also exited the Flames’ Oct. 1 preseason game with an undisclosed injury, and will also miss the team’s first game at minimum. As a result, Honzek, 20, gets a spot on the roster in their absence. The 6’5 Slovak forward played his first season of North American pro hockey in 2024-25, scoring 21 points in 52 AHL games and also skating in five NHL contests.
- The New York Rangers reassigned forward Brett Berard to AHL Hartford as part of their season-opening roster moves. Despite a solid training camp and preseason, the 23-year-old lost the battle for a middle-six role in New York to veteran Conor Sheary, a longtime favorite of first-year coach Mike Sullivan. The Rangers signed Sheary to a one-year deal earlier today. It’s a disappointing outcome for Berard, who looked to be making a real push for full-time NHL status last season. He skated in a career-high 35 NHL games, scoring 10 points to go alongside the 23 points he scored in 30 AHL contests.
- The Toronto Maple Leafs reassigned defenseman Ben Danford to the OHL’s Oshawa Generals as part of their season-opening roster preparations. Danford missed Maple Leafs training camp and preseason with a concussion, but has since been cleared for contact, paving the way for this reassignment. It’s the expected move for the 2024 31st overall pick, who is entering his fourth season of OHL duty. Danford scored 25 points in 61 games in Oshawa last season and will resume his post as one of the OHL’s top shutdown blueliners for 2025-26.
- The Colorado Avalanche announced several roster moves to go alongside their announcement of an initial roster: Keaton Middleton, who cleared waivers today, has been reassigned to AHL Colorado, alongside Matthew Stienburg. Meanwhile Ronnie Attard, Sean Behrens, Jacob MacDonald, Logan O’Connor, and Nikita Prishchepov have been designated injured non-roster. Ilya Solovyov, who the team claimed off of waivers from the Calgary Flames last week, was also designated non-roster but he is not injured. Solovyov’s placement is due to the fact that, per the Denver Post’s Corey Masisiak, his visa to allow him to play in the United States has not yet been finalized. It should be noted that this is not an abnormal scenario for a player involved in a cross-border transaction between NHL clubs.
- As part of their own season-opening roster moves, the Nashville Predators placed defenseman Nic Hague and forward Matthew Wood on injured reserve. Hague is out with an upper-body injury on a week-to-week timeline, while Wood is also considered week-to-week with a lower-body injury.
Injury Notes: Wild, Dorwart, Huberdeau
During today’s scrimmage in the Minnesota Wild’s training camp, Michael Russo of The Athletic provided updates on a few injuries to the Wild’s roster. Notably, Russo reported that Nico Sturm was removed for precautionary reasons, and Mats Zuccarello and Jonas Brodin participated in a light shootaround before the scrimmage.
Although he was originally expected to return for the team’s practice this afternoon, Russo later reported that Sturm was absent, though there are no concerns about his long-term availability. The same can’t be said for the latter two mentions.
There’s no surprise with Brodin’s absence from the skates, given that he’s expected to miss the start of the regular season due to offseason upper-body surgery. Meanwhile, reports from yesterday indicated that Zuccarello could also miss the beginning of the 2025-26 campaign. While specific details about the injury have not been disclosed, Russo indicated in his report that more information will be available after Zuccarello has a longer appointment with the team’s medical staff.
Other injury updates from around the league:
- The Philadelphia Flyers announced that forward prospect Karsen Dorwart would miss the next few days due to an upper-body injury. The 23-year-old was signed out of Michigan State University as an undrafted free agent with the Flyers last year, appearing in five games down the final stretch of the regular season. Despite debuting in the NHL already, Dorwart’s spot on Philadelphia’s opening night roster was not set in stone, and he’ll have to make the most of his training camp after returning from injury.
- Earlier this morning, Sportsnet’s Pat Steinberg reported, and later confirmed by the Calgary Flames, that Jonathan Huberdeau would miss the second day of training camp for maintenance. There are no present injury concerns surrounding Huberdeau, and it’s not uncommon for established veterans to take maintenance days throughout training camp.
Calgary Flames End Of Year Updates
Despite not making the postseason, the Calgary Flames had a promising year. The team improved by 15 points compared to last season but narrowly missed out on the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference, losing to the St. Louis Blues based on the first tiebreaker, regulation wins.
After establishing a solid foundation, this offseason is crucial for the organization to continue progressing in the right direction. First and foremost, General Manager Craig Conroy and staff must determine which players they plan to keep around for the long haul.
Outside of phenom netminder Dustin Wolf, there is no more important extension candidate in Calgary than defenseman Rasmus Andersson. If nothing changes this summer, Andersson will enter the 2025-26 season on the last year of a six-year, $27.3MM contract signed with the Flames in 2020. As long as the Flames are interested, an extension should be completed sooner rather than later, as Andersson indicated back in January that he hopes to remain in southern Alberta.
Not being extension eligible throughout the 2024-25 season, Andersson will start actively contemplating an extension after playing for Team Sweden at the 2025 IIHF World Championships, per Sportsnet’s Pat Steinberg. It’ll be the first time Andersson has played in the World Championships, having last played for Team Sweden during the 4 Nations Face-Off in February.
It is somewhat surprising that Andersson will continue playing throughout the summer, considering he played the final few weeks of the regular season with a broken fibula, according to Wes Gilberton of Postmedia. Still, it gives important context to Andersson’s slow finish to the regular season, scoring one goal and three points in 11 games with a -12 rating.
Andersson certainly wasn’t alone in being injured. TSN’s Salim Nadim Valji reported that captain Mikael Backlund tore his oblique and maintained rib and back ailments throughout the regular season. Furthermore, Steinberg shared that forward Yegor Sharangovich broke his foot in the team’s final game on Thursday, which landed him in a walking boot at today’s press availability.
The injuries aren’t expected to carry into next season, but they’ll preclude Backlund and Sharangovich from participating with their native countries in the World Championships. Still, the Flames will have plenty of participation, as Matthew Coronato will play for Team USA (Twitter Link), MacKenzie Weegar will play for Team Canada (Twitter Link), and Daniel Vladař will play for Team Czechia (Twitter Link). Dissimilarly, Steinberg shared that Jonathan Huberdeau won’t play for Team Canada, indicating that he denied an invitation from the team.
Circling back to Calgary’s devisement of strategy heading into the offseason, a few players indicated they’d love to re-sign with the Flames if afforded the opportunity. Defenseman Joel Hanley (Twitter Link) and Vladař (Twitter Link) were adamant on their desire to remain with the organization, with the latter having had contract talks throughout the regular season.
Sportsnet’s Logan Gordon reported that pending restricted free agent Morgan Frost wants to remain with Calgary, but the team hasn’t engaged in conversation regarding a new contract. Frost’s contract situation could become convoluted through the summer, given his lackluster play with the team after being acquired from the Philadelphia Flyers. Still, he’ll only require a $2.4MM qualifying offer to retain his rights, which the Flames can do comfortably.
Before going through a full offseason, Calgary doesn’t appear ready to compete for a top-three spot in the Pacific Division. Still, if this year wasn’t an apparition, and the Flames can repeat their performance from last year and the younger players continue to raise their games, it wouldn’t be a major surprise for Calgary to become a legitimate postseason contender for next season.
West Notes: Huberdeau, Pelletier, Blackhawks
Jonathan Huberdeau‘s tenure with the Flames has been wildly underwhelming, to say the least. The 31-year-old winger has been limited to 27 goals and 107 points in 160 games – decidedly fringe top-six production – since being acquired from the Panthers and signing an eight-year, $84MM extension.
The former Calder winner and once-elite playmaking winger is hoping a new offseason training regimen can help spur a rebound this season, he tells Aaron Vickers of NHL.com. “[I’m] really happy with the summer that I had,” he said. “It’s probably my best summer of training that I’ve had. I just have to translate that onto the ice. I skated more in the summer as well, so I feel better.”
“The confidence is back,” he continued. “I just have to relay that to here with the guys. And I think this year I want to bring fun to my game. That’s what we need to be. I think we’ve just got to make it fun as a team. You never know. We can cause some surprises.”
A resurgence in production will be difficult with a depleted Flames roster amid an aggressive retool, influenced in large part by Huberdeau’s struggles the past two seasons. He’ll likely be centered by Nazem Kadri, whose more palatable $7MM cap hit and strong showing in 2023-24 has made him the subject of trade rumors this summer, to begin the year.
Other notes out of the Western Conference:
- The Flames have made some progress on a new deal for restricted free agent winger Jakob Pelletier, general manager Craig Conroy said today (via Danny Austin of the Calgary Sun). A report from TSN’s Salim Nadim Valji last week indicated there was still significant legwork to be done to reach an agreement, but Conroy is fully confident they’ll get a deal done before training camp begins next week. The 2019 first-rounder had shoulder surgery just before the beginning of last season, delaying his season debut until late January. He logged a goal and three points in 13 NHL games with the Flames and 12 points in 18 games with the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers.
- The Blackhawks are amid the league’s most successful ongoing rebuild, opines Corey Pronman of The Athletic. They’re the most likely out of the league’s current bottom-feeders to be quality contenders with their current core of prospects and youngsters amassed, he says, also citing their ability to become a premier free-agent destination when they’re a bit closer to returning to playoff contention.
Snapshots: Norris, Contracts, Maple Leafs
Pat MaGuire of The Hockey News writes that Ottawa Senators center Josh Norris appears to be healthy and set for NHL training camp in September. The 25-year-old wasn’t in the same position a year ago and spent much of the season chasing things before his season ended this past February. Norris underwent his third shoulder surgery, leaving plenty of question marks about whether or not he will be available for the entirety of this season.
Norris was initially acquired from the San Jose Sharks in the Erik Karlsson trade and blossomed into a 35-goal scorer in 2021-22, he then signed an eight-year $63.6MM contract extension and has only played in 58 games since then over the past two seasons. The Senators will be counting on a healthy Norris this season as his absence has negatively impacted their forward depth the last two years. A healthy Norris allows for Ottawa to deploy Shane Pinto on the third line which creates a better balance throughout their top nine forward group.
In other notes from around the league.
- Dom Luszczyszyn of The Athletic released a list of the ten worst contracts in the NHL. Unsurprisingly, Calgary Flames forward Jonathan Huberdeau and his seven years at $10.5MM annually topped the list. Luszczyszyn’s modelling showed that Huberdeau’s projected value was just $4.9MM annually making his contract the worst value in the league. Chandler Stephenson and Tom Wilson rounded out the top three worst contracts. Stephenson’s deal with the Seattle Kraken is just two weeks old and could turn out to be a disaster if the modelling is correct. Wilson on the other hand has seven years left on his deal that will carry him from age 30-37 and the modelling predicts he will be a third-line player by the third year of the deal.
- Seattle Kraken defenseman Brandon Montour spoke with TSN OverDrive to discuss his recent run through free agency. Montour told Mark Roe and Frank Corrado that he talked with the Toronto Maple Leafs about signing in Toronto. Montour added that he was excited by the possibility and considered signing with the team, but added that he had a ton of options in free agency and was grateful to ultimately sign a seven-year, $49.98MM deal with the Kraken. The Maple Leafs interest in Montour isn’t all that surprising given the focus they put on improving their defense, which they did by signing Chris Tanev and Oliver Ekman-Larsson.
Calgary Flames Recall Cole Schwindt
The Calgary Flames have recalled forward Cole Schwindt from the Calgary Wranglers of the AHL. Schwindt was one of the pieces that came over to the Calgary Flames as part of the Matthew Tkachuk trade with the Florida Panthers alongside Jonathan Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weegar, and a 2025 lottery-protected first-round draft pick.
Schwindt has yet to suit up for the Flames but does have three games of NHL experience with the Panthers back in 2021-22. He was held scoreless during that stretch and was -4. At the AHL level, the 22-year-old has been a productive player with 42 goals and 52 assists in 189 career games.
Schwindt has plateaued offensively in recent years as he has seen his offensive numbers drop from his career-best season in 2021-22. The former third-round pick had 19 goals and 21 assists in 72 games that year with the Charlotte Checkers but hasn’t been able to duplicate that success or come close to the 17.9% shooting percentage he posted.
This season with the Wranglers, Schwindt has eight goals and 12 assists in 37 games which is a tick below his career-best numbers, but he has yet to take the next step offensively. While his offense hasn’t taken off, the defensive side of his game has steadily improved over the years and that is likely the reason he could get his first taste of NHL action in two years.
Calgary could be looking at some major moves over the next few weeks and if Schwindt can show he belongs at the NHL level he may be able to extend his stay with the Flames.
West Notes: Flames, Carlsson, Blackwell
The Calgary Flames have their leadership group to supplement new captain Mikael Backlund for the 2023-24 season, reports Sportsnet’s Eric Francis. Defenseman Rasmus Andersson, left wing Jonathan Huberdeau, center Elias Lindholm, and defenseman Chris Tanev will rotate in and out of the two alternate captain spots per game throughout the campaign.
All these names are notable for a variety of reasons – starting with Andersson, 26, who expressed interest in becoming the team’s captain earlier this offseason before Backlund received it, signing an extension in the process. The 2015 second-round pick has solidified himself as a top-flight defender in this league, logging significant time on both the power play and penalty kill over the past two seasons while posting 99 points in 161 games since the beginning of 2021-22. He’s also the only player who didn’t wear a letter on his jersey last season. He essentially replaced Backlund, while Huberdeau, Lindholm and Tanev all wore ‘A’s on their sweaters at different points throughout 2022-23.
More from the Western Conference this weekend:
- Anaheim Ducks promising center prospect Leo Carlsson will not be out long-term after sustaining a lower-body injury in practice yesterday, says Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. There is no exact timeline for the 18-year-old’s return, however, meaning he could miss the team’s season-opening game on the road against the Vegas Golden Knights next Saturday. The second-overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft is coming off a strong camp, one GM Pat Verbeek said earlier this week has secured him a spot on the Ducks roster for the entire 2023-24 season.
- Chicago Blackhawks depth forward Colin Blackwell practiced for the first time in over six months today as he continues his recovery from sports hernia surgery in March, reports Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times. The Blackhawks expected Blackwell back for the beginning of camp, but the player said he hadn’t fully recovered when he first took the ice last month. With the pending return to health, the 30-year-old becomes a waiver candidate in the coming days after posting just two goals and ten points in 53 contests with Chicago last season.