Blues Place Robert Thomas On Injured Reserve, Activate Oskar Sundqvist
12:35 p.m.: The Blues have activated Sundqvist off IR, per a team release. That fills Thomas’ vacant roster spot and has the Blues back at the maximum of 23 players. He’ll likely play tomorrow for the first time since sustaining a torn ACL against the Golden Knights in late March.
11:18 a.m.: The Blues have placed center Robert Thomas on injured reserve, per a team release. The star forward sustained a fractured ankle in last night’s loss to the Jets and will be re-evaluated in six weeks.
Thomas left the game in the second period after blocking a shot from Winnipeg’s Neal Pionk. A standard IR placement means he’d be eligible to return on Oct. 29, but he’ll be out until at least Dec. 4. That means Thomas will miss St. Louis’ next 19 games at the very least – nearly a quarter of the regular season.
The 2017 first-round pick has a laundry list of minor injuries throughout his seven-year NHL career, but seldom few have lasted more than a couple of weeks. Only one, a broken left thumb sustained in February 2021, sidelined him for as long as this ankle fracture will.
However, no injuries affected Thomas last season; he played in all 82 games for the first time. Various injuries and illnesses cost him nine games in 2022-23, and he’s also had a pair of semi-serious shoulder injuries in the past few years. But he’s still made at least 70 appearances on four occasions, including last year’s career-best 60-assist, 86-point campaign.
Now in his prime, the 25-year-old is emerging as the Blues’ top forward and one of the league’s better playmaking centers. He’s produced precisely a point per game since the beginning of the 2021-22 season, tied for 30th in the league over that timeframe. He’s also become a strong option in the dot, winning over half his draws the past few years. That was especially important for St. Louis after making natural winger Pavel Buchnevich their No. 2 center, a tricky proposition considering his career 32.5 FOW%. This year, Thomas had a goal and five assists through seven games.
Thomas joins Nick Leddy and Oskar Sundqvist on injured reserve (Torey Krug is on LTIR and out for the season after ankle surgery). They’ve opened up a roster spot with his IR placement. With Alexey Toropchenko still day-to-day with a lower-body injury, they’ll likely summon a forward from AHL Springfield before tomorrow’s game against the Maple Leafs. Captain Brayden Schenn, who has just two points through seven games but a 51.5 FOW%, could replace Thomas as their top-line center.
Sean Durzi, John Marino Undergo Surgery; Maveric Lamoureux Recalled
Utah defensemen Sean Durzi and John Marino have both undergone surgeries that will see them sit out most of the season, the team announced. Durzi will be out four to six months after having his right shoulder surgically repaired, while Marino will miss three to four months after undergoing surgery to address a lower back issue. The team later said that they’ve recalled 2022 first-rounder Maveric Lamoureux from AHL Tucson, but with a full 23-man roster, there’s still a corresponding move coming.
The team didn’t disclose when each player underwent surgery. However, if Durzi underwent it within the last few days, a six-month timeline would mean his regular season is over after just four appearances. Meanwhile, Marino should return in the lead-up to or after the league’s schedule pauses for the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off. Both players are already on injured reserve, and with over $8MM in cap space, a transfer to LTIR is unlikely for either.
It’s a regrettable development for both players and the team, although it’s not unexpected. Reports from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet and Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff indicated earlier this month that an absence of at least four months awaited Durzi. Utah head coach André Tourigny said last Friday that Marino would still be unavailable for “months.”
Durzi, who turned 26 on Monday, is in the first year of the four-year, $24MM extension he signed in June to keep him off this summer’s RFA market. Acquired by the Coyotes from the Kings in the 2023 offseason, he excelled in a top-pairing role in the desert, controlling 54.8% of shot attempts at even strength and posting 41 points (9 G, 32 A) in 76 games. Unfortunately, he’ll now miss most of his first season under that contract.
The 2018 second-round pick of the Maple Leafs has been traded twice – first from Toronto to Los Angeles in 2019’s Jake Muzzin trade and again from L.A. to Arizona in 2023. He’s now averaged 20:48 per game across 216 NHL appearances, recording 108 points with a -20 rating but a strong 51.8 CF%. Through four games this year before sustaining the injury on a hit from Devils defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler over a week ago, he had two assists and a +2 rating.
Durzi is a left-shot but played the right side throughout much of last season in Arizona. He did so again to begin 2024-25, suiting up on the right side on Utah’s first pairing alongside offseason trade acquisition Mikhail Sergachev. With Marino also out long-term, Utah will be without its top two right defensemen for most of its inaugural season.
Marino, also a trade pickup by general manager Bill Armstrong over the summer, has yet to play a game for Utah. He sustained the back injury during offseason training and never practiced with the team during training camp. He was initially listed as week-to-week and was later upgraded to day-to-day, signaling a potential return was near, but an evident setback landed him on IR to start the regular season.
Despite their recent aggressiveness in the trade market, don’t expect Utah to swing a deal for a right-shot defenseman in the coming days. Chris Johnston of The Athletic and TSN reports they “intend to lean on internal solutions,” at least for now. One of those internal solutions is the 20-year-old Lamoureux, a hulking 6’7″ right-shot defender who’s off to a hot start with Tucson in his first professional season. The former QMJHL champion and All-Star has two goals and an assist through his first four AHL games.
Utah’s injured players were already on IR before today’s news, so they’re likely sending someone down to accommodate Lamoureux’s addition to the roster. That will be depth defender Patrik Koch, Belle Fraser of the Salt Lake Tribune reports. Utah recalled the 27-year-old last week after Durzi’s injury, but he was a healthy scratch in three straight contests. Koch, a mainstay in pro leagues in Czechia and Slovakia, jumped to North America with the Coyotes organization last season. He spent most of the year in Tucson but made his NHL debut in March, posting a shot on goal and receiving a 10-minute misconduct penalty in a game against the Wild.
Lamoureux joins Robert Bortuzzo and Michael Kesselring as the right-shot defensemen on Utah’s active roster. However, both Ian Cole and Juuso Välimäki can and have played on their off side in recent days. He could make his NHL debut tomorrow against the Avalanche.
West Notes: Hartman, Joshua, Nordh
Minnesota Wild centerman Ryan Hartman missed Tuesday night’s game with an upper-body injury, head coach John Hynes told reporters( via Sarah McLellan of The Minnesota Star Tribune). Hartman sat out of the team’s Saturday matchup after initially being designated a game-time decision. He’s since been labeled as day-to-day and will continue to miss action despite returning to practice in full.
Hartman scored two goals on 12 shots and six hits in Minnesota’s first four games. He’s one of five Wild forwards with multiple goals, though Mats Zuccarello‘s three scores lead the way. Hartman has played the least of any of Minnesota’s multi-goal scorers, averaging just 15:21 in ice time while serving as the team’s third-line center. His role has declined every season since he served as the team’s top center and scored a career-high 65 points in the 2021-22 campaign. Joel Eriksson Ek and Marco Rossi have taken complete hold of the top six in Hartman’s place. Hartman has stayed productive in the declining role, netting 21 goals and 45 points in 74 games last season. He’ll aim to return to the third line and spot starts on the power play when Minnesota takes on Tampa Bay on Thursday.
Other notes from around the league:
- The Canucks also shared that forward Dakota Joshua is a couple of weeks away from a return after undergoing surgery to remove a cancerous lump this summer, per Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff. Joshua earned a hardy lineup role toward the end of Vancouver’s 2023-24 season, ending the year with 18 goals and 32 points in 63 regular season games and adding eight points in 13 playoff games. He’ll quickly slot back into the lineup when he’s healthy, likely stepping over Nils Aman, Teddy Blueger, and Kiefer Sherwood for minutes in the bottom six.
- The Utah Hockey Club has returned 2023 draft pick Noel Nordh to the OHL’s Soo Greyhounds after a two-game conditioning stint with the AHL’s Tuscon Roadrunners. Nordh, a third-round draft pick, failed to score in his first two games in North American pros. He’ll now begin a career in Canadian juniors after earning professional ice time in Sweden with resilient U20 performances. His Swedish career was capped off with a HockeyAllsvenskan championship with Brynas last season. Nordh contributed 15 points in 50 games.
Justin Schultz Signs With HC Lugano
HC Lugano of the Swiss National League has agreed to a one-year deal with UFA defenseman Justin Schultz, per a team release. He’s headed overseas after failing to land a one-way deal, two-way deal, or even a PTO from an NHL club this offseason.
Schultz, 34, had spent the last two years in Seattle after inking a two-year, $6MM contract with the Kraken in free agency. He remained what he has been for much of the last few years, a capable depth puck-moving presence with too many defensive shortcomings to truly lock down a top-four role. He made 143 appearances in a Kraken jersey, posting 60 points (14 G, 46 A), a -19 rating, and 62 PIMs.
A second-round pick of the Ducks back in 2008, Schultz didn’t sign with Anaheim coming out of a three-year run at Wisconsin in 2012 and instead landed with the Oilers as a free agent. The two-time NCAA All-American broke into the NHL immediately, playing in all 48 games for Edmonton during the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season and finishing seventh in Calder Trophy voting. He was a top-four fixture for the Oilers, averaging over 22 minutes per night over 248 appearances in parts of four seasons, but his box stats clearly paint the picture of a one-dimensional blue-line threat – 101 points with a -78 rating.
Edmonton traded Schultz to the Penguins near the 2016 trade deadline, where he’d have the best years of his career. While Kris Letang missed significant time with injury in the 2016-17 campaign, Schultz was briefly Pittsburgh’s No. 1 defenseman. He had a career-high 12 goals, 39 assists, and 51 points with a +27 rating in 78 games for the Pens that year, finishing 10th in Norris voting, before adding 13 points in 21 playoff games to help Pittsburgh to its second straight Stanley Cup championship.
Schultz’s offensive production and all-around play continually declined from that point, though. Upon finishing up a three-year, $16.5MM extension in 2020, he landed a two-year deal with the Capitals. He played 120 games for Washington, posting 50 points (7 G, 43 A) with a -3 rating, before heading to Seattle.
A move overseas well into his 30s could signal the end of Schultz’s NHL career. If so, he finishes with 71 goals, 253 assists, 324 points, a -57 rating, and a 49.4 CF% in 745 regular season games. He joins a Lugano defense corps with two other former NHLers, Carl Dahlström and Mirco Müller.
Panthers Sign Paul Maurice To Multi-Year Extension
The Florida Panthers have announced a multi-year contract extension for head coach Paul Maurice. The exact duration or terms of the contract haven’t yet been revealed.
Maurice has already stamped his place in Florida’s record books, joining the team ahead of the 2022-23 season and immediately leading the Panthers to their first Stanley Cup Final since 1996. They’d ultimately fall to a red-hot Vegas Golden Knights team, but Maurice one-upped the performance last season when he returned Florida to the Cup Finals and this time trumped Edmonton in a seven-game series. For all of the efforts of Florida’s stars – namely Matthew Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov, and Sergei Bobrovsky – in the postseason runs, it was the full-team-effort driving Florida’s ship in both years. Players like Evan Rodrigues, Anton Lundell, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, and Vladimir Tarasenko all found ways to step up at the perfect moments, speaking to Maurice’s ability to motivate his team from top-to-bottom.
Now in the early going of his third year with the club, Maurice has already become the third-winningest coach (98 wins) in Panthers history – behind Jacques Martin (110 wins) and Peter DeBoer (103 wins). Maurice has also won more playoff games (45) than any other Panthers coach. Interestingly, this multi-year extension will make Maurice the longest-tenured coach in Panthers history. Nine different coaches – including DeBoer, Martin, Joel Quenneville, and Mike Keenan – have coached three seasons in Florida, but only Maurice has found the success needed to stick around longer.
Maurice’s success in the hockey world extends far beyond his time in Florida. He began his coaching career in 1987-88, when he served as a player/coach for the OHL’s Windsor Compuware Spitfires. That was his fourth year of OHL hockey – and while he only managed 40 points in 189 games as a player, he clearly found a fit behind the bench. He stuck around Windsor for two more years before supporting youth hockey in Detroit for six years – then taking his talents to the NHL’s Hartford Whalers bench in 1995-96. He started as an assistant coach, but was promoted to head coach less than a month into the season. Maurice took control of an absolutely loaded roster, led by Brendan Shanahan, Geoff Sanderson, and Jeff Brown. He stuck with the team through their move to Carolina in 1997, and even stuck around long enough to watch over his modern day competition – current Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour and Buffalo Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams.
Maurice missed the playoffs in five of his eight years with the Whalers/Hurricanes – and not even a Finals appearance in 2002 was enough to protect him from being fired after a 8-12-10 start to the 2003-04 season. He took one season away – but returned as the AHL Toronto Marlies head coach in 2005-06, and returned to NHL coaching in 2006-07. He’s been leading top-tier benches ever since, with his journey taking him through a brief stint in Toronto, a return to Carolina, and even one year with the KHL’s Metallurg during the 2012 NHL lockout. Maurice returned from the vacation to Russia as the head coach of the Winnipeg Jets, where he’d spend the next nine seasons. He made the postseason in five of those campaigns, pulling Winnipeg from a middling role in the Central Division into playoff consistency that continues even today.
Including his 4-2-1 record to start this season, Maurice has accrued an 873-738-99-145 record across 28 seasons in the NHL. He ranks second in all-time games coached (1,909) behind all-time-great Scotty Bowman (2,141). Maurice would need to coach three more seasons to pass Bowman’s record. He’ll need to keep winning to catch up to other records – leading all active coaches in wins but ranked fourth in all-time wins (873) behind Bowman (1,244), Quenneville (969), and Barry Trotz (914).
Avalanche Expected To Activate Devon Toews, Assign Chris Wagner
The Colorado Avalanche are expected to soon activate defenseman Devon Toews off of injured reserve and assign forward Chris Wagner to the AHL, per Evan Rawal of the Denver Gazette. Colorado placed Toews on IR on October 20th, retroactive to October 14th, with a lower-body injury. It still isn’t clear when Toews picked up the injury. He played through 22 minutes of ice time in Colorado’s second game of the year, but appeared as a late scratch in the subsequent game and continued to be downgraded until he was formally placed on IR. Wagner was recalled on October 20th, after Colorado placed winger Jonathan Drouin on IR with an upper-body injury.
Toews returned to his usual top-pair role and recorded one assist, two penalties, and three blocks in the first two games of Colorado’s season. He spent the bulk of that time next to Avalanche superstar Cale Makar. The two spent a team-leading 1,031 minutes of even-strength time together last season. Toews managed to reach the 50-point mark for a third-straight season in the role, adding double-digit goals (12) for the second time in his career.
Samuel Girard has stepped into the top-line role in Toews’ absence, recording one assist in four games with the boosted role. That won’t be enough to sustain the top role with Toews returning, likely moving Girard back to a pairing with Josh Manson and giving Colorado a choice between two of Calvin de Haan, Sam Malinski, Oliver Kylington, and John Ludvig for their bottom pair.
Meanwhile, Wagner will return to the minors after working into the lineup twice on his recall. He didn’t do much with the chances – recording three hits, three shots, one penalty, and a -1 while averaging fewer than seven minutes of ice time. Wagner’s departure will open more room for rookies Ivan Ivan and Matthew Stienburg to continue carving out a role, though Ivan’s sole assist in six games is the only scoring between the two. He’s one of six Avalanche forwards with just one point on the year, alongside linemate Joel Kiviranta and popular rookie Calum Ritchie – who each have one goal.
Flyers Reassign Emil Andrae, Activate Nick Seeler
Oct. 22: Seeler is officially off IR and will play tonight, the team announced.
Oct. 21: The Flyers have returned defense prospect Emil Andrae to AHL Lehigh Valley, a move made official this morning but reflected in the AHL’s transactions log over the weekend. It’s a strong indication that Nick Seeler, who’s yet to play this season after taking a puck to the knee late in their exhibition schedule, will come off injured reserve ahead of tomorrow’s game against the Capitals and will enter the lineup, per Adam Kimelman of NHL.com.
Andrae, 22, had a strong training camp by all accounts but fell just short of making the opening night roster. The 2020 second-round pick has four NHL games under his belt, all coming with Philly last season. He was recalled to give the Flyers injury insurance on the back end earlier this month, shortly after Seeler landed on IR, but he hasn’t played. He sat in the press box for all five of Philadelphia’s games this season.
The Swede will get the chance to hit the ice soon in Lehigh Valley, where he had 32 points (5 G, 27 A), 66 PIMs, and a -10 rating in 61 games last year. It was his first full campaign in North America after spending parts of four seasons in the Swedish Hockey League and HockeyAllsvenskan with HV71 and Västerviks IK. He won the latter league with HV71 in 2022, posting 33 points in 41 regular-season games and 11 points in 10 qualification games to lead their blue line and help them gain promotion back to the top-level SHL.
Andrae will likely get a legitimate NHL look later on in the season. In his four appearances with the Flyers last year, he posted a -1 rating, six blocks, and five hits while averaging 13 minutes per game. He still has one season left after this one on his entry-level contract and won’t be an RFA until 2026.
Meanwhile, Seeler’s return gives the 1-3-1 Flyers a much-needed boost. He’s expected to anchor the team’s second pairing alongside Jamie Drysdale, according to Jordan Hall of NBC Sports Philadelphia. The 31-year-old was deployed in top-four minutes at even strength for the first time last season, posting a career-high 12 assists with a +9 rating and 78 PIMs in 71 appearances. He averaged nearly 17 minutes per night and had some of the best possession quality metrics on the team, logging a 56.0 xGF%. That performance earned him a four-year, $10.8MM extension back in March, easily the richest deal of his career.
That stable presence will aid a Philly squad that’s really struggled to keep the puck out of their own net, allowing 4.20 GA/GP. Their possession play hasn’t been great, only controlling 47.5% of scoring chances and an abysmal 40.4% of high-danger chances at even strength. Seeler’s return will help get those numbers closer to 50 if his performance over the last two seasons is any indication.
Blackhawks Activate, Reassign Artyom Levshunov
The Blackhawks have taken 2024 second-overall pick Artyom Levshunov off of season-opening injured reserve and assigned him to AHL Rockford, per a team release today. The move signals that he’s ready to return from a right foot injury that kept him out of rookie camp, preseason, and the first two weeks of the regular season.
Levshunov, 19 next week, should get a fair amount of runway with the IceHogs before being considered for NHL minutes – if he’s called up at all this season. The Belarus native did dominate the collegiate ranks last season, posting 35 points and a +27 rating in 38 games with Michigan State. That performance earned him multiple Big 10 honors, including an All-Rookie Team nod, the Defensive Player of the Year award, as well as Rookie of the Year. He was the Spartans’ nominee for the NCAA-wide Hobey Baker Award for the top collegiate player, and his freshman year showing helped Michigan win the Big 10 regular season title and the tournament championship.
Jumping from USHL to NCAA directly to NHL play is a tall task for anyone, though, especially for a teenage defenseman. Plopping him into a still-rebuilding environment likely isn’t the best thing for his development, and it’s unlikely the Blackhawks’ front office envisions doing so. They’ve been tentative with their defense prospects in recent years and making efforts to shield them from tough NHL minutes before they’re ready, including sending recent top-10 pick Kevin Korchinski down to Rockford after he spent all of last year on the Blackhawks roster.
If Levshunov fails to play 10 NHL games this season, his entry-level contract will slide to the 2025-26 campaign.
Blues Place Nick Leddy On IR, Activate Alexandre Texier
The Blues announced today that they’ve placed defenseman Nick Leddy on injured reserve with a lower-body injury. It’s presumably retroactive to his last appearance on Oct. 15 against the Wild, so he’ll be eligible to return whenever he’s cleared to play. He remains day-to-day, so his absence shouldn’t stretch for too much longer. They’ve filled his roster spot with forward Alexandre Texier, who’s coming off IR and will play tonight against the Jets, he told NHL.com’s Lou Korac.
Before Leddy’s injury, it was a tough start to the season for him. The 33-year-old went without a point and posted a -3 rating in four appearances, including a team-leading eight giveaways at the time of his injury. While he averaged over 22 minutes per game, he’s arguably already been usurped as the team’s top left-shot defender by Philip Broberg, who’s on an early-season tear with six points and a +6 rating through six games.
Texier, 25, will suit up tonight for the first time since sustaining an upper-body injury in St. Louis’ season opener against the Kraken two weeks ago. The offseason trade pickup from the Blue Jackets had an assist and two shots in 13:03 of ice time in his Blues debut. He’s coming off a career-high 12 goals and 30 points in 78 games for Columbus last year.
Senators Recall Leevi Meriläinen
The Senators have added goaltender Leevi Merilainen to their roster ahead of tonight’s game against Utah with Linus Ullmark not quite ready to return from a muscle strain, the team announced. Left-winger Cole Reinhardt has been reassigned to AHL Belleville to keep the roster at the 23-player limit.
Ullmark was projected to make his return to the lineup tonight after the team sent No. 3 goalie Mads Søgaard back down to the minors over the weekend. But he’s evidently not quite 100%, and he’ll be held out again tonight in line with previous reports that the Sens are operating with an abundance of caution in returning their new starter to game action.
That’s left Anton Forsberg in charge of the crease for now, and his underwhelming showing last season has continued. Forsberg has a 1-1-0 record in three starts and has struggled to the tune of a .863 SV%, 4.16 GAA, and -2.6 GSAA. Søgaard didn’t do any better in his brief look, conceding four goals on just 17 shots in last week’s wild 8-7 win over the Kings. He then sustained an injury in a game with Belleville after being returned there Sunday, so it’s now Merilainen who gets the call to back up Forsberg tonight against Utah.
Merilainen, 22, has just two games of NHL experience. The Sens’ 2020 third-rounder got into a pair of contests in 2022-23 when injuries decimated their goaltending depth, and it was certainly earlier in his development than they anticipated him seeing NHL ice. He managed a .878 SV% and 4.23 GAA, conceding 1.3 goals above average.
Last year was the Finn’s first in North America full-time. He did okay in an extended run with Belleville, logging a .906 SV% and a shutout in 24 appearances. But he starred at the ECHL level for the Allen Americans, where he posted a .926 SV% despite seeing a heavy workload shot-wise in 13 games.
The 6’3″ netminder has a good glove hand and helped Finland to a silver medal back at the 2022 World Juniors. So far this year for the B-Sens, he has a 3.47 GAA, .852 SV%, and a 2-1-0 record in three appearances.
Reinhardt, meanwhile, has been between leagues this season as roster flexibility allows. He hasn’t yet managed to make an appearance for Ottawa in 2024-25, but he has torched the minors with five points in three games for Belleville. The 24-year-old passed through waivers unclaimed during the preseason but remains an intriguing depth scoring option, so Ottawa won’t hesitate to have him in the minors whenever necessary to delay the expiry of his temporary waiver exemption.