Snapshots: Fox On IR, Ekman-Larsson, Blue Jackets
1:00 PM: Further updates have come on Rangers defenseman Adam Fox, as per Vince Z. Mercogliano of The Athletic, the star will be placed on long-term injured reserve. Fox is expected to miss multiple weeks due to the shoulder injury. ESPN reporter Emily Kaplan shared that, at least, a longer term injury was avoided, and Fox should be set for the Olympics. However, it is a major blow to the struggling team nonetheless, to trudge into December without their #1 defenseman.
The 27-year-old alternate captain is tied for the Rangers’ team lead in points, with 26 in 27 games. In a season which has certainly not gone to plan, Fox has been a bright spot, playing at a franchise level, right on track with his best production to this point, which has been the 70+ point level.
Now, eyes may turn to GM Chris Drury to make a move to help out a seriously deflated defense corps, which has come at such an inopportune time. While questions exist on if Rangers can even keep up healthy or not, the franchise is at a serious crossroads. Now with Fox going down, Drury’s hand could be forced to try and provide reinforcements, although further mortgaging the future in an attempt to right the ship would be risky, as prior such moves to this point have already not panned out as initially hoped.
10:00 AM: The New York Rangers have not played up to expectation thus far in 2025-26, and their chances of making a serious push to climb the Eastern Conference standings may have taken a serious hit yesterday. Fox left yesterday’s loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning with an injury, and head coach Mike Sullivan told the media after the game, including Vince Z. Mercogliano of The Athletic, that Fox has suffered an upper-body injury and is still being evaluated.
While we are still waiting on official word on the extent of Fox’s injury, Daily Faceoff’s Arthur Staple cited sources this morning who said that Fox’s injury situation “doesn’t look good.” If Fox does indeed miss any kind of extended time, the Rangers would be left in an even more perilous position. Fox, the 2020-21 Norris Trophy winner, quarterbacks the Rangers’ top power play unit, a unit that the team has been heavily reliant on during its most recent competitive period. The team’s third-leading scorer, Mika Zibanejad, has been highly reliant on the power play for most of the offense he generates, so in the absence of Fox, it’d be fair to wonder where the Rangers’ offensive production will come from. The club doesn’t have another player with clear-cut power play quarterback ability. The team’s No. 2 defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov scored 30 points last season, but would be an imperfect fit in that role. Prospect Scott Morrow has gotten into some NHL games and has that kind of natural offensive ability, but Mercogliano wrote on Nov. 15 that “the early whispers” he’d heard from AHL Hartford regarding Morrow’s play were not “overly positive.” Morrow, who was ranked as the Rangers’ No. 2 prospect by Elite Prospects entering the season, has three points in 12 AHL games this season and one point in four NHL games.
Other notes from around the NHL:
- Toronto Maple Leafs blueliner Oliver Ekman-Larsson couldn’t finish yesterday’s win over the Pittsburgh Penguins due to an upper-body injury, head coach Craig Berube told the media yesterday. (via The Hockey News’ David Alter) Berube added that Ekman-Larsson would be evaluated today and that the injury isn’t expected to be serious. If the Maple Leafs lose Ekman-Larsson for any time due to this injury, it would cost them a very valuable player. Ekman-Larsson has been stellar in 2025-26, scoring 20 points in 25 games. That’s a 66-point pace over 82 games, a steep increase from the 29 points he scored in all of 2024-25. Ekman-Larsson also contributes on the penalty kill, albeit on a less regular basis compared to his contributions on the man advantage. The 34-year-old has two seasons left on his deal beyond this one at a $3.5MM AAV rate.
- Columbus Blue Jackets team reporter Jeff Svoboda reported today that veterans Zach Werenski and Sean Monahan did not participate in today’s practice, and that the two players “have been battling through some things of late.” Werenski has been managing an upper-body injury, but thus far it hasn’t impacted his ability to dress for games. Werenski is Columbus’ most important player, skating in 26:30 per game with 24 points in 25 contests. Monahan dealt with an upper-body injury earlier in November, but it’s unclear at this time if his current ailment is related to what he was managing earlier this month. The 31-year-old pivot has had a slower-than-expected start to 2025-26, scoring just 11 points in 25 games. He scored 57 points in 54 games last season and was awarded the Bill Masterton Trophy for 2024-25.
Snapshots: Nichushkin, Blumel, Salaries, Walcott
The Avalanche could soon be getting a key player back in their lineup. Jesse Montano of Guerilla Sports relays (Twitter link) that winger Valeri Nichushkin was a full participant in practice today and while he won’t accompany the team on the road to play in Minnesota on Friday, he could return to the lineup Saturday versus Montreal. The 30-year-old has missed the last two weeks due to a lower-body injury. Nichushkin hadn’t been producing at quite the same rate as previous years in his first 17 outings this season but he still has five goals and seven assists to his name and should jump right back into a top-six role once he gets the green light.
Elsewhere around the hockey world:
- Bruins winger Matej Blumel will be out for a bit with a lower-body injury sustained in Wednesday’s game, head coach Marco Sturm told reporters (video link). The 25-year-old signed a one-year, $875K one-way deal with Boston this past summer as a Group Six unrestricted free agent but didn’t crack the roster out of training camp, instead starting with AHL Providence. He averaged a point per game through his first 13 games with them, earning a recall early last week. Blumel has been held off the scoresheet in four games since then and now it’ll be a little while before he has a chance to get on the board.
- As part of the 50-50 revenue sharing between players and owners, there is a mechanism that allow players to receive more than their stated contracts if revenues exceed projections and the sum of money received by players is lower than 50%. It has never happened before but in his latest mailbag for The Athletic (subscription link), Chris Johnston reported that early revenue projections for the league suggest that this could happen. While it likely wouldn’t be a big financial windfall for players, a bit more money would be a nice surprise following many years of losing money to escrow, something that has been phased out as part of the new CBA extension that kicks in next fall. If it happens, it would be a one-time occurrence for this season and wouldn’t automatically roll over moving forward.
- Veteran forward Daniel Walcott has caught on with a team as AHL Hartford announced that they’ve signed him to a PTO deal. The 31-year-old spent the last decade in Tampa Bay’s system with Syracuse but only made one NHL appearance back in 2020-21. However, despite 494 appearances with the Crunch, Walcott will technically be returning to where his professional career began as he got into one game on a tryout deal with Hartford back in 2015 before his rights were moved to the Lightning a few weeks later.
Snapshots: Zucker, Erne, Miromanov
What looked to be a short-term absence due to illness for Sabres winger Jason Zucker has now become a longer one. Matthew Fairburn of The Athletic notes (Twitter link) that the veteran hasn’t been able to eat solid food in nine days while battling the illness and has lost considerable weight as a result. Accordingly, he’s going to need a bit of a build-up from a conditioning standpoint once he’s able to eat again before he can be cleared to return. Zucker had been off to a solid start to his season before being sidelined, picking up four goals and three assists in a dozen games, providing the type of secondary scoring that Buffalo has been lacking for a while now.
Elsewhere around the NHL:
- Stars winger Adam Erne will miss at least a couple of weeks due to a lower-body injury, relays Robert Tiffin of D Magazine (Twitter link). He will leave the team’s road trip to return home for treatment. One of the few players to earn a full-season contract off a training camp PTO, the 30-year-old has largely been a regular for Dallas, playing in 14 of 17 games so far. In those outings, Erne has two goals and an assist along with 44 hits in 9:37 per night of playing time.
- Daniil Miromanov’s second NHL stint of the season was short-lived. After recalling him on Sunday, the Flames announced (Twitter link) that they have returned him to AHL Calgary. The 28-year-old didn’t see any action while on recall and has just one NHL appearance on the season. Miromanov cleared waivers last month and has spent most of the season in the minors with the Wranglers where he has four points in seven games. Calgary now has one open roster spot with a second coming tomorrow once Justin Kirkland’s waiver period expires.
Snapshots: Tanev, Malkin, Parekh
The Toronto Maple Leafs issued an update today on the health status of defenseman Chris Tanev, who had to be helped off the ice during the team’s road win over the Philadelphia Flyers. The Maple Leafs said Tanev “was evaluated overnight in Philadelphia for precautionary purposes” and has since “been discharged” and will return to Toronto. Ignoring Tanev’s readiness to play, the injury he suffered last night was worrying simply regarding Tanev’s personal health and safety. While the team did not confirm further details of the injury, it’s encouraging to see Tanev fit enough to be discharged and allowed to return to Toronto.
Tanev was injured on a play where he collided with Flyers forward Matvei Michkov at his own blue line. Tanev, who could not have seen Michkov behind him, was skating backwards while Michkov was skating forwards, and the pair appeared to bump helmets, with Tanev remaining motionless on the ice in the immediate aftermath. Tanev was removed from the ice on a stretcher and fitted with a head immobilizer. Complicating matters is Tanev’s history of head injuries – he was cleared from concussion protocol on Friday and has dealt with concussion issues in the past in his career.
Other notes from around the NHL:
- Pittsburgh Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin was fined $5K, the maximum allowable under the CBA, for slashing Winnipeg Jets defenseman Logan Stanley in the Penguins’ Saturday loss to the Jets. The play in question came as Stanley and Malkin were battling near a puck along the boards in the Winnipeg zone. Stanley shoved Malkin further away from the puck, and Malkin responded with a hard slash on Stanley’s hands. Malkin was also assessed a two-minute minor penalty on the play. Despite the unfortunate play in question here, Malkin has had an exceptional start to his 2025-26 season. As the Penguins have gotten off to a fast start, Malkin has registered 15 assists and 18 points in 13 games.
- Calgary Flames rookie defenseman Zayne Parekh will play in his 10th NHL game tonight, per Sportsnet 960’s Pat Steinberg, a development that will officially prevent the club from sliding a year of Parekh’s entry-level contract should they elect to reassign him to the CHL at some point in 2025-26. Steinberg added that while “there was slight internal discussion” about whether to return Parekh to the OHL, he believes “Calgary is making the right choice” by keeping Parekh in the NHL. Parekh is averaging almost 16 minutes of ice time per game through nine games this season, including 2:39 per game on the power play. He has one assist so far this season on a Flames team that, as a whole, has struggled mightily to put the puck in the net. Calgary ranks last in the NHL in offense, scoring just 2.15 goals per game.
Snapshots: Nylander, Blues, 2026 Draft
The Toronto Maple Leafs announced tonight that star forward William Nylander would miss their game against the Columbus Blue Jackets with a lower-body injury, and is considered day-to-day. That Nylander is managing a lower-body injury isn’t a new development; he was previously reported to be a game-time decision for the team’s game yesterday against the Calgary Flames, and the Swedish star ultimately played in that game. He wasn’t able to play tonight against Columbus, though, dealing a significant blow to the Maple Leafs’ hopes of winning the game.
Nylander has been the Maple Leafs’ best player so far this season, leading the club in scoring with 15 points in just nine games played. The offseason departure of Mitch Marner turned up the pressure on Nylander to keep the Maple Leafs’ high-powered offense running, and so far he’s done so, picking up the slack as captain Auston Matthews (eight points through 10 games) navigates a slower-than-usual start to the season. The injury that has kept him out of tonight’s game appears to be a relatively minor one, which is certainly good news for a Toronto team that will need Nylander on the ice if they’re going to build momentum in the Atlantic Division playoff race.
Other notes from around the NHL:
- The St. Louis Blues have suffered a slow start to their 2025-26 season, going 3-6-1 in their first 10 games. Things have been especially bad recently, as the club blew a four-goal lead to the Detroit Red Wings on Oct. 25, lost 6-3 to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Oct. 27, and just yesterday wasted a strong start and surrendered four unanswered goals en route to a 5-2 loss to Detroit. With the Blues playing particularly poor hockey of late, The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford wrote that the Blues “are broken” and “need a lot to change,” but noted that due to the contracts owed to key players, it’s unlikely any change will come to the team’s core. Head coach Jim Montgomery expressed optimism that the Blues will be able to turn things around, but if the current trends continue, they could be one of the more interesting teams to watch once we get closer to peak trade season.
- While the upcoming NHL Entry Draft feels quite far away, the work teams put into preparing for the all-important event is a year-round process. As a result, it’s not too early to begin contemplating which prospects might go at the top of the draft. Earlier this month, NHL Central Scouting released its preliminary watchlist, and today, one of the more prominent public-facing scouts, Corey Pronman of The Athletic, released an update to his 2026 draft rankings. Penn State star Gavin McKenna retained his spot at the top of the rankings, followed by USHL forward Tynan Lawrence and North Dakota defenseman Keaton Verhoeff to round out the top three. A notable faller in Pronman’s early-season rankings has been big OHL forward Ryan Roobroeck, who was ranked No. 3 in Pronman’s September list but fell to No. 14 in October. That fall appears to be related to his work rate, with Pronman writing that despite standing 6’4″, 215 pounds, Roobroeck “doesn’t play hard, and the consistency in his effort level is a question.”
Snapshots: Laine, Ristolainen, Hill, Barron, Khaira
Montreal Canadiens forward Patrik Laine has struggled with injury issues throughout his NHL career, and unfortunately 2025-26 has been no different. The Canadiens announced on Saturday that Laine would be out with a lower-body injury on a day-to-day basis, and given that day-to-day designation, it appeared this Laine absence would be relatively straightforward. But today, Sportsnet’s Eric Engels reported that Laine “has gone for a second opinion on his lower-body injury,” and although he’s still listed as day-to-day, the report raises questions about whether he could be looking at a more extended absence.
It’s an important time for Laine and the future of his career as he nears the expiry of his $8.7MM AAV deal. Laine is set to hit unrestricted free agency in the summer, and there were times during his debut campaign where he looked like he’d found a long-term place to play with the Canadiens. He scored 20 goals and 33 points, and was particularly lethal on the power play, but injuries limited him to just 52 games. With Ivan Demidov almost certain to command a first-unit power play spot at some point down the line, and Zachary Bolduc‘s addition already moving Laine down to the second unit, it’s fair to question if the Canadiens have a place for Laine going into the future. He has gotten off to a slow start this season with just one point in five games, and a potentially longer-term absence could further complicate things. For a player who has at times looked like, and performed like, a star in the NHL, today’s report is an undoubtedly discouraging development.
Other notes from across the NHL:
- Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen has not made his 2025-26 debut yet as he recovers from the season-ending surgery he underwent earlier this year, and today DailyFaceoff’s Anthony Di Marco reported that the player is targeting a return at some point in December. Ristolainen was the Flyers’ No. 2 defenseman by ice time last season, playing in 20:31 per night including a role on both special teams units. So far this season, right-shot blueliner Jamie Drysdale is playing nearly two additional minutes per night compared to what he played last season, likely in part due to Ristolainen’s absence. The Flyers have gotten off to a decent 3-2-1 start, and getting Ristolainen back in December should only boost their competitive chances.
- The Vegas Golden Knights recalled netminder Carl Lindbom today as part of their response to the injury suffered by starting goalie Adin Hill, and it was confirmed today by head coach Bruce Cassidy that Hill would be out on a week-to-week basis. (Report via Danny Webster of the Las Vegas Review-Journal) Cassidy added that Hill won’t travel with the team on its road trip to Florida and North Carolina, a trip that concludes Oct. 31 with Vegas’ home game against the Colorado Avalanche. It’s an unfortunate development for Hill, who has played in five games so far this season to a .888 save percentage and 2.73 goals-against average.
- One of the breakout players of this early portion of the 2025-26 Winnipeg Jets season, Morgan Barron, will be out day-to-day with an undisclosed injury, according to The Athletic’s Murat Ates. Barron, as mentioned, has been one of the Jets’ more productive players so far this season. The hefty 6’4″ forward has scored three goals and five points in six games, which already puts him one-third of the way to his scoring total from 2024-25, one he managed across 74 games. With Barron injured, Parker Ford is likely to draw into the lineup in Barron’s vacated fourth-line role.
- 337-game NHL veteran Jujhar Khaira played out 2024-25 on an AHL contract, and a mid-season trade to the Abbotsford Canucks allowed Khaira to help the Canucks to a Calder Cup championship. Khaira hasn’t found a team for 2025-26, but today Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK TV reported that the Canucks “are talking” with Khaira “about re-joining the team.” Assuming they’re talking about a potential AHL contract, it’s unlikely Khaira would be a cheap addition to the AHL payroll as a player with so much NHL experience and a Calder Cup championship on his résumé.
Snapshots: Cooley, Davidson, Dubois, Wood, Didier
While the Flames didn’t claim any goaltenders off waivers this fall, it appears they’re not completely sold on Devin Cooley being the backup. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported in the latest 32 Thoughts podcast (audio link) that Calgary has been talking to teams to see what other options might be out there. However, they plan to give Cooley a look between the pipes, potentially on Wednesday, in the hopes that he can play his way into securing this position. If the Flames were to trade for (or sign) another netminder, that would give them four on one-way contracts, typically not an ideal situation to be in. Friedman added that as Calgary searches for another goaltending option, teams are asking for an incentive to take on one of those extra one-way goalies, something they’re resisting. If Cooley does well and earns the trust to be the full-time backup, this will work out okay but if he struggles, expect to see them looking around the market some more in the coming days.
Elsewhere around the hockey world:
- It has been nearly four years since the Blackhawks promoted Kyle Davidson to GM with the team posting a 107-187-35 record with him at the helm. Despite their struggles, team owner Danny Wirtz gave Davidson a vote of confidence in an interview with Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times, saying that “Everything Kyle set out to do, he continues to deliver on”. Chicago has been stockpiling draft picks and prospects for several years now in the hope that a contender can emerge from this group and it appears Davidson will have a long leash from ownership to see if that will happen down the road.
- Capitals forward Pierre-Luc Dubois left Sunday’s game with an undisclosed injury, notes Bailey Johnson of the Washington Post (Twitter link). An update on his status is expected on Tuesday. The 27-year-old had a career year last season in his first year with Washington, notching 20 goals and 46 assists in 82 games during the regular season. He was off to a slower start before this injury though, being held off the scoresheet in his first three appearances in 2025-26.
- Blue Jackets winger Miles Wood left tonight’s game against New Jersey with an upper-body injury, the team announced (Twitter link). He took a high stick from Dougie Hamilton in the first period and did not return. Wood is in his first season with Columbus after being acquired from Colorado in the offseason and scored in his second game of the campaign.
- Veteran defenseman Josiah Didier has signed a PTO deal with AHL Laval, the team announced (Twitter link). The 32-year-old was drafted by Montreal (who is Laval’s parent team) back in 2011 but he didn’t sign with them. Didier has spent parts of 12 seasons in the AHL, totaling 496 games overall where he has 83 points and 530 penalty minutes. With his experience, he’ll count towards their veteran limit whenever he suits up.
Snapshots: Sabres Injuries, Plattner, Blackwood
The Buffalo Sabres didn’t have an ideal start to their 2024-25 campaign last night, suffering a 4-0 defeat at the hands of the New York Rangers. But perhaps even more worrying than the final scoreline was an injury suffered late in the game by first-line center Josh Norris. Today, the Sabres issued an update on Norris’ status, as well as the status of other key injured Sabres in advance of their game Saturday in Boston. According to the Sabres, Norris “is being evaluated and is not expected to play tomorrow,” while Zach Benson is confirmed to not be playing tomorrow, and Owen Power, who has been out with an illness, is hopeful to return for tomorrow’s game.
The key storyline here involves Norris, as his health has been a persistent nagging issue throughout his NHL career. Norris has undergone three surgeries on his left shoulder since 2019, and his shoulder issues have caused him to miss significant time, such as in the 2022-23 season when he got into just eight total games. The Sabres have classified the injury as “upper-body,” so we don’t know for sure at this stage if the injury has anything to do with Norris’ shoulder, but nonetheless it’s certainly not a positive development that Norris is already facing bad injury luck so early in what is a hugely important season for himself and the Sabres as a whole.
Other notes from around the league:
- San Jose Sharks owner Hasso Plattner spoke to the media about the Sharks in person yesterday, something notable as according to San Jose Hockey Now’s Sheng Peng, Plattner has not held such a media availability “in perhaps a decade.” Plattner spoke on various topics, expressing optimism about the direction of the Sharks and explaining in more detail the thought process behind some of the franchise’s bigger recent decisions. He also spoke about past regrets, specifically naming the loss of Joe Pavelski to the Dallas Stars and the team trading the eventual No. 3 overall pick (which became Tim Stutzle) to the Ottawa Senators as two of his biggest regrets in this recent era of Sharks hockey. Now led by 2024 No. 1 pick Macklin Celebrini and a prospect pool ranked among the league’s best by public outlets, it appears Plattner’s optimism for the future is well-founded.
- Although Colorado Avalanche netminder Mackenzie Blackwood practiced with the team today as he continues his push to return to full health, Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar told the media (including the Denver Gazette’s Evan Rawal) that Blackwood still isn’t quite fully ready and is questionable to travel with the team on its upcoming road trip. It does appear Blackwood isn’t too far off, though, and Bednar did reveal the team is considering potentially sending Blackwood out on a conditioning stint with their AHL affiliate as an option to help him get back up to full speed. Blackwood, once healthy, is expected to be the Avalanche’s undisputed No. 1 goalie. He posted a .913 save percentage in 37 games last season and is under contract at a $5.25MM AAV through the 2029-30 season.
Injury Notes: Lindholm, Trocheck, Brodin
The Boston Bruins announced tonight that veteran defenseman Hampus Lindholm has suffered a lower-body injury and will not return to their game against the Chicago Blackhawks. While there is obviously no further information on Lindholm’s status beyond that update, it is nonetheless far from encouraging news for one of Boston’s most important players.
It’s especially unfortunate for Lindholm to be forced out of a game due to injury so early in the season given the injury issues he faced in 2024-25. Injuries limited Lindholm to just 17 games played last season, the fewest of any year thus far in his 763-game NHL career. Lindholm is the Bruins’ clear number-two defenseman behind star Charlie McAvoy, averaging nearly 21 minutes of ice time last season including significant time on each of the two special teams. The hope will be that Lindholm’s removal from this game is more of a precautionary measure, and that this lower-body injury turns out to be something relatively minor, as much of the Bruins’ hopes for this season rest on the availability of one of their top blueliners.
Other notes from across the NHL:
- The New York Rangers announced tonight that center Vincent Trocheck would not return to their game against the Buffalo Sabres due to an upper-body injury. While there is no word on the extent of Trocheck’s injury beyond being held out of the rest of tonight’s game, any extended absence would be a signifcant blow to the Rangers. Trocheck is an important all-situations second-line center for the Rangers. Not only does he center star winger Artemi Panarin and play on the Rangers’ first power play unit, he also was the team’s most-used penalty killing forward last season.
- Minnesota Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin remains out while he recovers from offseason upper-body surgery, though his absence may be coming to an end. Wild coach John Hynes told the media today, including the Minnesota Star Tribune’s Sarah McLellan, that Brodin’s return is “imminent.” Brodin is a veteran top-four blueliner who has battled persistent injury issues over the last few years. Last season, he was limited to just 50 games, and he has not reached the 70-game threshold since 2021-22.
Snapshots: Devils Reassignments, Sharks Injuries, Lucic
The New Jersey Devils reassigned forwards Lenni Hameenaho and Shane Lachance to the team’s AHL affiliate, the Utica Comets today. The move corresponded with the team’s signing of veteran Luke Glendening earlier today. Both Hameenaho and Lachance are young forwards who appear relatively close to being NHL-ready, if they have not reached that status already. Lachance in particular had a strong preseason, but it would be surprising if both do not see NHL time at some point this season.
Lachance, 22, was traded to the Devils in March as part of the larger Trent Frederic trade, and signed with the team shortly after at the conclusion of his NCAA career with Boston University. The 22-year-old is a 6’4 winger who scored 30 points in his final 40 games in college and had two points in a two-game cameo late last season with the Comets. Lachance is the son of Scott Lachance, who has been a member of the Devils’ hockey operations department since his retirement as a player (2007-08) and currently serves as the team’s director of amateur scouting. Hameenaho, 20, was the Devils’ top pick at the 2023 draft and had 51 points in 58 games for Liiga’s Assat Pori last season.
Some more notes from around the league:
- A slate of injury updates was reported in San Jose today, with San Jose Hockey Now’s Sheng Peng reporting that two veteran defenders, Dmitry Orlov and John Klingberg, are dealing with upper-body injuries. Bay Area News Group’s Curtis Pashelka also reported that forward Egor Afanasyev and defenseman Jack Thompson are dealing with lower-body injuries and are both day-to-day. Peng added that both Orlov and Klingberg are expected to be ready to play in the team’s season-opening game on Thursday, but the same cannot be said about Afaneseyev and Thompson, as their availability for Thursday is unclear.
- St. Louis Blues PTO signing Milan Lucic is currently dealing with a lower-body injury, and remains with the team as he works through his recovery, reports NHL.com’s Lou Korac. According to Korac, the Blues will extend Lucic’s PTO in 10-day increments as he works his way back into full health. While Lucic could still be a candidate to earn a full-time contract with the Blues, it is important to note that the 37-year-old winger has not only missed almost two full seasons of hockey, but also was not a particularly effective player even when he last played, nor did he have a notably strong preseason.