Injury Updates: Kraken, Holloway, Hayes, Woo
The Kraken announced (Twitter links) that defenseman Brandon Montour is set to miss the next two weeks after undergoing a procedure to remove a bursa on his ankle. The 31-year-old fit in rather well in his first season with Seattle, notching a career-best 18 goals while his 41 points were the second-most he’d had in a single season. The timeline suggests that he still should be available to start the season but he might not get into any preseason action.
Meanwhile, the team also provided injury updates on several other players. Veteran forward Max McCormick is out indefinitely and won’t participate in training camp. He wasn’t up with the Kraken last season so there won’t be a prorated cap charge while he sits on season-opening IR. Also, winger Lleyton Roed is expected to miss the next two months with an upper-body injury while forward Nathan Villeneuve is out with a lower-body injury that is still pending evaluation. Villeneuve isn’t able to play full-time in the minors this season so he will likely be returned to OHL Sudbury when he’s cleared to return.
Other injury notes from around the NHL:
- Blues winger Dylan Holloway underwent abdominal surgery after sustaining an early in early April that kept him out for the stretch run and playoffs. However, team reporter Chris Pinkert relays that the 23-year-old was a full participant at practice today while Holloway indicated that the injury wound up healing quicker than originally anticipated, allowing him to get a good summer of training in. It’s already a contract year for and after putting up 63 points in a breakout effort last season, Holloway appears to be in line for a significant raise on the $2.29MM he’ll be making this season.
- Penguins center Kevin Hayes left practice early today after taking a hit from Ryan Graves. Seth Rorabaugh of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review relays (Twitter link) that head coach Dan Muse didn’t have an immediate update after practice and that he’s still being evaluated. The 33-year-old is entering the final year of his contract and is coming off a relatively quiet year last season where he scored just 13 goals and 10 assists in 64 games, his first year with Pittsburgh.
- Canucks defenseman Jett Woo underwent surgery to repair an upper-body injury this summer and is listed as out month-to-month, relays Patrick Johnston of the Vancouver Province. He played through the injury to help AHL Abbotsford win the Calder Cup back in the spring. The 25-year-old had 18 points in 67 games in the minors last season but will be waiting a while to make his 2025-26 debut.
Kraken Sign Forward Lleyton Roed
The Seattle Kraken have joined in on the NCAA free agent market, signing forward Lleyton Roed out of Bemidji State University. The team has confirmed the deal as a two-year, entry-level contract with a $950K average-annual value (Twitter link – corrected to a two-year deal by CapFriendly). The deal was first reported by FloHockey’s Chris Peters.
Roed is turning pro after his sophomore season with Bemidji. He’s been the team’s top scorer in both seasons, totaling 61 points across 74 appearances. In fact, his career 0.82 points per game marks the highest rate a Bemidji player has scored since Owen Sillinger in 2022 – and Matt Read in 2011 before him.
Roed, 21, joined Bemidji after just one season in juniors hockey, scoring 41 points in 60 games with the USHL’s Tri-City Storm. He’d otherwise primarily played in Minnesota high school hockey and went undrafted through his eligibility in the 2020, 2021, and 2022 drafts. He moved to college in the subsequent season and has been performing well ever since, flaunting fantastic play when the puck is on his stick. Roed has great agility and is able to control the puck and his skating to work out of awkward positions and find his teammates. It makes him a great set-up man, though his eye for plays often lands him in a scoring position as well. While his game could afford more explosivity off of the puck, Roed has adapted well to the harder-hitting and defensive-minded NCAA. That could help him a lot as he now moves to the AHL, though he’ll still need to adjust to the pace of a pro game.