Injury Notes: Timmins, Kaiser, Gudbranson
After adding two defensemen from the Winnipeg Jets at the trade deadline, the Buffalo Sabres are set to add another defenseman to a blueline that is rapidly crowding: Conor Timmins. Head coach Lindy Ruff told the media, including Buffalo Hockey Beat’s Bill Hoppe, that Timmins is about seven to ten days away from being ready to return to the lineup. Timmins has been on injured reserve since late December with a leg fracture.
With the additions of Luke Schenn and Logan Stanley at the deadline, the Sabres already have eight healthy defensemen on their active roster. Once Timmins is activated, they will have nine, and it’s not immediately clear where Timmins would slot into the Sabres’ lineup. When he was last in the lineup, Timmins played on the right side of the second pairing, next to Bowen Byram. The spot next to Byram is currently occupied by captain Rasmus Dahlin, and the right-handed slot on the second pairing next to Owen Power is taken by Michael Kesselring. It seems most likely that Timmins will enter into a rotation with Schenn on the right side of the third pairing. In that sort of arrangement, Ruff would have the option to dress the defenseman best suited for the night’s opponent – with Schenn playing when more muscle is needed, and Timmins when Ruff wants to maximize the skating ability of his defense. In 33 games this season, Timmins is averaging 19:14 time on ice per game, including 2:59 per game on the penalty kill.
Other notes from around the NHL:
- Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Wyatt Kaiser will be held out of tonight’s contest against the Vegas Golden Knights as he manages an upper-body injury, reports Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times. Head coach Jeff Blashill indicated Kaiser would be fit to return to the lineup in time for Tuesday’s game against the Minnesota Wild. According to Pope, Kaiser’s absence tonight “seems mostly precautionary.” It’s a notable loss for Chicago, even if it’s only a brief one, as Kaiser has been the team’s No. 3 defenseman in terms of time on ice per game this season. Through 61 games, Kaiser has scored five goals and 12 points playing an average ice time of 19:12. He’s under contract through next season at a $1.7MM AAV.
- Veteran Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Erik Gudbranson traveled with the team for their road game against the Philadelphia Flyers tonight, per team reporter Jeff Svoboda, though it is not clear whether he will be ready to return to the lineup in full. An upper-body injury has cost Gudbranson the chance to dress for each of Columbus’ last two games, crucial contests in what has been a furious playoff push by the Blue Jackets since the arrival of head coach Rick Bowness. The 34-year-old, who is a pending unrestricted free agent, has been limited to just 21 games played this season due to injury.
Senators Tried To Move Mads Sogaard At Trade Deadline
It was only a couple of years ago that Senators goaltender Mads Sogaard was viewed as their potential goalie of the future. However, some struggles since then and other moves made by the team (including adding Linus Ullmark for the long haul) has changed his trajectory. It appears that Ottawa was ready to move on from him at last week’s trade deadline as Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports that the Sens made some efforts to move Sogaard but weren’t able to do so.
The 25-year-old was the 37th pick back in 2019 after a promising showing with WHL Medicine Hat. That, coupled with a six-foot-seven stature, was a profile Ottawa felt it could count on. He carried that over to his rookie professional season in 2021-22 but things haven’t gone as well since then.
Sogaard has battled injuries the last two years which has limited his playing time. And when he has played, his numbers haven’t been great. This season, he has a 3.38 GAA along with a .884 SV% in 22 games with AHL Belleville, numbers that are an improvement on the eight-game stint he had at that level a year ago.
The Senators have given Sogaard a chance at NHL playing time in each of his five professional seasons, including this one where he has a pair of appearances. However, he has just 31 games at the top level under his belt with a 3.60 GAA and a .877 SV%. In a total of 26 starts, eight have had a save percentage below .850, a near one-in-three ratio.
It’s those performances coupled with the acquisition of Ullmark and emergence of Leevi Merilainen as a goalie with some upside that have seen Sogaard go from a perceived future core player to a project with plenty of uncertainty. Based on their inability to move him, it appears other teams have some hesitance about him as well.
That said, Sogaard’s contract could have played a factor. While he’s on a league-minimum contract at $775K, he’s on a one-way pact and will be eligible for salary arbitration this summer. With that NHL playing time under his belt, there’s a case to be made that his camp could push for a seven-figure one-way salary with a hearing, something Ottawa or any other team might be hesitant to pay. With that in mind, it’s possible that he becomes a non-tender candidate this summer.
That makes the stretch run that much more important for Sogaard. The Senators cleared their AHL goaltending logjam on Friday when they moved Hunter Shepard to Montreal, leaving Merilainen and Sogaard as their tandem for the final few weeks of the season. Sogaard will want to finish strong to showcase himself not only to Ottawa but potentially the rest of the league as well should their efforts to move him continue.
PHR Mailbag: Blackhawks, Mammoth, Oilers, Blackhawks, MacKinnon, CBA
Topics in this edition of the PHR Mailbag include thoughts on what Utah did and didn’t do at the trade deadline, the rescinding of Nathan MacKinnon’s major penalty, and more. If your question doesn’t appear here, watch for it in our next two mailbag columns.
SpeakOfTheDevils: I know what he said in his after-deadline presser but what are the odds that Tom Fitzgerald is fired as the GM of the NJ Devils this offseason? Second part, who would be the top three choices to replace him???
General managers typically get a longer leash than coaches but he’s had the role since January 2020 when he took over in an interim capacity, getting the tag lifted soon after. He’s had five full seasons in charge and the Devils have won just one playoff round in that span. Barring a miracle comeback over the final month, they won’t get a chance to add to that number this spring. Yes, they’ve had some injuries, but they can’t use that as a crutch again. Based on that, you might be inclined to think the odds are rather high that he’d be fired.
But he’s also the team president, a role he has only held since January 2024. His contract terms weren’t disclosed but there are probably a couple of years left on it. And if ownership still believes in his vision, maybe he stays.
Maybe there’s an in-between option, one we’ve seen more frequently in recent years. What if Fitzgerald is moved to just president duties and cedes the GM role? Is that viewed as a possible compromise? I could see that happening, so maybe the odds of him not being GM could be in the 50-60% range and the odds of him leaving the organization outright more in the 30-40% territory.
As for part two, if Fitzgerald is out as GM, a lot depends on if he’s out altogether or just as GM. If they remove the GM title but keep him as president, Dan MacKinnon, their assistant GM, would be the logical choice to move up and take on a bigger role. If he’s gone altogether, I think Marc Bergevin would get consideration. He has been up for a couple of jobs lately and it feels like a matter of when, not if, he gets another crack. Brendan Shanahan is believed to be looking to get back into things. That one might be more of a president role but I think he’d be on the list. I also expect Ryan Martin to land one of the GM jobs soon. A veteran of 20 years in various front offices, he’s second in command with the Rangers at the moment and a chance to steal someone from a key rival might be appealing.
bottlesup: With the addition of Weegar, could you see the Mammoth possibly upsetting whoever the Pacific Division champ is in the 1st round? Assuming Utah continues to hold a firm grip on the WC1.
I’ll preface this by saying that I like the MacKenzie Weegar pickup for Utah. Yes, he’s having a down year but the track record is solid and if he’s in more of a second-pairing role for the Mammoth which he’s better suited to, I think he’ll bounce back a bit. So far, the early returns have been decent. But is he a big needle-mover? I’m not sure he materially affects their odds of winning a series. He helps get them there, but I don’t think his addition necessarily gives them a big leg up against a Pacific team.
Having said that, I think Utah has a legitimate chance to pull off an upset, simply because the Pacific Division just isn’t that great. Anaheim is playing well but like Utah, they’re very inexperienced in the playoffs so that could be a toss-up. Vegas isn’t turning things around like many expected them to. However, they have a good enough track record in the playoffs that they’d probably be the favorite in a hypothetical series. The same can be said about Edmonton. The Kings and Sharks aren’t entirely out of it but probably aren’t getting into first place so I won’t cover them here. Utah has a shot at making it through the first round if they can hold onto that top Wild Card spot.
Gbear: Feels to me that Utah missed a chance at the deadline to add a top-six winger (the whole Thomas thing from the Blues was a non-starter) and really give themselves a chance to win a round or two. Keller deserved that chance. Thoughts?
After they picked up Weegar without moving any of their top assets, I thought Utah GM Bill Armstrong was well-positioned to make a splash up front but it obviously didn’t happen. I don’t know how much of a chance was missed, though. Which top-six wingers actually moved? Bobby Brink has been one before, Conor Garland (who the team is familiar with from their days in Arizona), and, well, that’s about it. Centers and defensemen were the currency and that’s something Utah didn’t need to dabble in, especially knowing they were nearing an extension with Nick Schmaltz that has since been finalized and that they had already acquired Weegar.
It’s not a bad thing either that they didn’t push in a bunch of chips. There’s something to be said for getting some playoff experience and then using that to shape their next aggressive swing over the summer. And, as noted above, they’re in a spot where they could very well get through the first round if they wind up in the Pacific bracket. I expect there will be more opportunities to add a top-six winger over the offseason than there were at the trade deadline so in the end, they might wind up being better off for having waited, assuming they get something across the finish line a few months from now.
sovietcanuckistanian: I don’t know about you, but did Edmonton miss the boat by not significantly upgrading either/both of its defense corps and goalie at the trade deadline? With Florida almost assuredly not making the playoffs (injury bug), it seems like a missed opportunity – especially since McDavid is on that only two-year extension.
I’m going to flip the order of these so I can pick up on the theme from the last question about how realistic a move for a goalie upgrade there was. There wasn’t a single NHL goaltender moved at or leading up to the deadline. I know there was speculation about Sergei Bobrovsky but I don’t think trade talks got far considering Florida is trying to re-sign him. Jordan Binnington’s name was out there but the Oilers can’t afford to take on the contract and I don’t think St. Louis would have retained salary. Was anyone else out there really an upgrade? There were rumblings about a Toronto goalie but that feels more like an offseason decision. Samuel Montembeault’s name was thought to be in play but is he an improvement given how his season has gone? It’s hard to be too critical in that sense since there wasn’t much out there that they could do.
Granted, some of that is self-inflicted. GM Stan Bowman traded for Tristan Jarry’s contract in full, cutting into their financial flexibility. He also signed Andrew Mangiapane to a contract that they wound up having to pay a high price to get out of, also cutting into that flexibility. That Jarry trade was risky at the time it was made and hasn’t aged well since then.
That financial situation also limited what they could do defensively, although I think they did well enough with what they had to work with. Connor Murphy isn’t a top-four player anymore but he should stabilize things defensively and help on the penalty kill. They didn’t have the cap space to do much more than a depth deal, nor did they have the prospect or draft assets to get into the bidding on some of the more prominent blueliners to move.
It’s a missed opportunity in the sense that Florida isn’t in the playoffs and the division is up for grabs. Edmonton could very well have bolstered their chances to take the division and give them a chance to make the Conference Final once again. But in terms of their limitations (asset and cap-wise), I don’t think they did terribly. It wasn’t an ‘A’ deadline but a ‘B-‘ or ‘C+’ one.
tucsontoro: The Hawks lead the league in blown leads. It’s great that they have Boisvert and Frondell on the verge of joining the big club. But if they don’t find a way to keep the puck out of their own net, they won’t be going anywhere for a long time. Where does the defense come from?
In a nutshell, time and external acquisitions. Unfortunately for rebuilding teams, there is no fast-forward button when it comes to defensive development. While young forwards can sometimes make a big impact right away, it doesn’t generally happen as often with defensemen. Generally, the thought is a blueliner needs at least 200 to 250 NHL games before they’re truly ready and might not hit their prime for a little while after that. Chicago only has two players in that range and one of them (Matt Grzelcyk) is on an expiring deal; Alex Vlasic is the other at 243.
Sam Rinzel will get there. So will Artyom Levshunov. But they’re a couple more years away at least from getting to a baseline level of reliability defensively and likely longer before they’re consistently counted on as shutdown players.
In the meantime, GM Kyle Davidson will need to look outside the organization to bring in some help. They have a boatload of draft assets and prospects to deal from, particularly down the middle; with centers being in high demand, they can take advantage of it. An external add or two like that over the next few seasons will help in those late-game situations but it’s going to take some time before Chicago is much more reliable when it comes to holding the lead. It’s something that a lot of young teams go through and the process can rarely be sped up.
Snapshots: Askarov, Sabres, Peterson, Whitecloud
While the Sharks needed to call up Laurent Brossoit on Friday to cover for Yaroslav Askarov’s injury, it appears the youngster won’t be out for long. San Jose Hockey Now’s Sheng Peng reports that the lower-body injury is not believed to be serious. The 23-year-old has had an up-and-down first season in the NHL, posting a 3.56 GAA and a .886 SV% along with a -11.2 Goals Saved Above Average mark, per MoneyPuck. However, Askarov has made 40 starts so far, a solid number for a player in his first full NHL campaign. For now, Alex Nedeljkovic will serve as the starter heading into a back-to-back set against Montreal and Ottawa this weekend but he won’t be in that spot for long based on the news about Askarov, with Peng relaying (Twitter link) that he’s officially listed as day-to-day.
Elsewhere around the hockey world:
- The Sabres announced a trio of injury updates heading into their game tonight against Toronto. Winger Alex Tuch will return after missing Thursday’s game against Washington due to a lower-body injury. While that’s certainly some good news as they continue their push for the top spot in the Atlantic, there’s also some bad news on the injury front. Defenseman Mattias Samuelsson is listed as doubtful due to an undisclosed injury while newly acquired winger Tanner Pearson is out due to a lower-body injury he picked up while subbing in for Tuch versus the Caps.
- Panthers assistant GM Brett Peterson has been named as GM of Team USA’s entry into the upcoming men’s World Championship, per an announcement from USA Hockey. It will be his second time running the team as he was also in charge back in 2024. Peterson is in his sixth season in his role with Florida. The tournament gets underway on May 15th.
- Flames defenseman Zach Whitecloud has joined the team on its road trip and took part in the morning skate today, relays Sportsnet 960’s Derek Wills (Twitter link). The 29-year-old has missed the last three games due to an upper-body injury. Acquired in the Rasmus Andersson trade earlier this season, Whitecloud is averaging more than 22 minutes per night since the swap, leading to some trade interest before last week’s deadline. Now, it appears he’s ready to return and will continue to play a big role down the stretch.
Golden Knights Sign Bronson Ride
The Golden Knights have added some size to the back end in their prospect pool. The team announced that they’ve signed blueliner Bronson Ride to a three-year, entry-level contract. Financial terms of the deal, which begins next season, were not disclosed.
The 21-year-old went undrafted in his three years of eligibility despite his six-foot-seven stature. However, Vegas had some familiarity with Ride as he took part in both their development and rookie camps last year. Clearly, he showed enough there to be monitored and has done enough this season to earn a contract.
Ride is in his fifth and final season at the OHL level and his third campaign with North Bay. He has four goals and 17 assists in 57 games, setting new career highs in assists and points. However, he’s more of a stay-at-home defender so offensive production won’t be his calling card at the professional level.
The Battalion are all but locked into a four-five matchup heading into the upcoming playoffs with the only question being who the home team will be between them and Oshawa. Once North Bay’s postseason run ends, Ride will be eligible to join AHL Henderson if the Silver Knights are still playing at that time.
Utah Mammoth Reassign Maksymilian Szuber
Saturday: The Mammoth announced that Szuber has been sent back to the Roadrunners. He did not see any game action while on recall.
Monday: The Utah Mammoth announced tonight that they have recalled defenseman Maksymilian Szuber from their AHL affiliate, the Tucson Roadrunners.
The recall was made just before the club began its contest against the Chicago Blackhawks, and was likely made with an eye to the injury currently being managed by defenseman Mikhail Sergachev.
Sergachev has been out since March 5 with a lower-body injury. With Sergachev unavailable for selection by head coach Andre Tourigny, the addition of Szuber gives the team an additional blueliner to work with in Sergachev’s absence.
This isn’t Szuber’s first recall in recent weeks for the 23-year-old defenseman, though he has not yet dressed for any games for the Mammoth. He has one NHL game to his name, coming in 2023-24 with the Arizona Coyotes. He’s been making a push for consideration for an NHL role in 2025-26, a development that has been underscored by his handful of recalls this year.
The 6’3″, 220-pound defenseman won a DEL Championship with Red Bull Munich in 2022-23 before crossing the Atlantic to cut his teeth in the North American pro game. He’s been a steady top-four defenseman at the AHL level over the past two years, and has had a strong season so far. In 50 games for the Roadrunners, he’s managed 10 goals and 25 points. He’s handling a solid diet of minutes for the Roadrunners, and is contributing on both sides of special teams.
While the Mammoth are looking to hold onto their current spot in the Western Conference playoff picture (their ceiling is likely the first Wild Card spot, given the substantial standings lead held by three Central Division juggernauts, the Minnesota Wild, Colorado Avalanche, and Dallas Stars), they stand to benefit if they can find a way to test Szuber in some NHL games down the stretch.
He’s a pending restricted free agent who will have the right to file for arbitration if he so chooses. If the Mammoth can get Szuber into some NHL games, they would likely have a better sense of how close he is to being firmly NHL-ready, which would then give them a better sense of what level of investment to commit to him on his next contract.
Additionally, from Szuber’s perspective, getting the chance to play in some NHL games could enhance his case for a more substantial contract this summer. It would potentially allow him to position himself in negotiations more as a player on the NHL-AHL bubble, rather than a full-time AHL talent.
Senators Recall Lassi Thomson
With a second defenseman now injured, the Senators need some extra defensive depth heading into a back-to-back set this weekend. The team announced that Lassi Thomson has been recalled from AHL Belleville.
It’s the second recall of the season for the 25-year-old, who returned to North America this season after spending last season in Sweden. Thomson has been quite productive in Belleville, tallying 14 goals and 11 assists in 55 games; his goal total leads all AHL defenders. Unfortunately for him, it took until now to get an NHL opportunity.
A first-round pick by the Sens in 2019 (19th overall), Thomson has failed to get any sort of foothold at the NHL level. His time with Ottawa has been limited to just 18 games, 16 of which came back in the 2021-22 season; he last suited up with the big club back in November 2022 as he didn’t play on his first promotion of the season. Accordingly, it was reported back in January that Thomson was already eyeing overseas options for next season when he becomes a Group Six unrestricted free agent in the summer.
Thomson’s promotion comes on the heels of defenseman Nick Jensen being listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury sustained against Montreal. However, TSN’s Claire Hanna relays (Twitter link) that the injury is unrelated to the hip that the veteran had surgery on over the summer. The 35-year-old logged just over 20 minutes a night last season in his first year in Ottawa but his second campaign hasn’t gone as well. Jensen is down more than three minutes per game in ice time while chipping in with four goals and 13 assists in 61 games.
Lightning Recall Steven Santini
Saturday: Santini’s stint in the minors was short-lived as the team announced that he has been brought back up from the Crunch. He suited up in their loss to Lehigh Valley yesterday, paving the way for him to be brought back up so quickly.
Friday: The Lightning announced today that defender Steven Santini has been reassigned to AHL Syracuse. He is right at the 10-game cutoff for losing his temporary waiver exemption, but has spent less than 30 days on the active roster since last clearing them during preseason, so he doesn’t need them to head back to the minors today. Any subsequent recall and game played will require him to go on waivers at the end of it, though.
Santini, 31, was recalled Tuesday in the wake of Erik Černák sustaining an apparent leg injury. He was scratched for last night’s win over the Red Wings as Darren Raddysh returned to the team from his bereavement leave, but did log 9:21 of ice time against the Blue Jackets earlier this week. The 6’3″ righty managed two shot attempts and one hit but was otherwise held off the scoresheet. His demotion today indicates Černák should be ready to go tomorrow against the Hurricanes after a two-game absence.
He’s now eight years removed from his days as a legitimate depth/bottom-pairing option with the Devils. More of an AHL journeyman now, his 134 games of NHL experience are still attractive to teams like the Lightning if they need him as an injury stopgap, as they’ve done several times this season. This was Santini’s fifth recall of the campaign, resulting in his most NHL appearances in a season since 2018-19.
Once named the Hockey East conference’s best defensive defenseman during his NCAA days with Boston College, he’s still an important stay-at-home conscience for Syracuse, where he has a +10 rating and six assists and 32 games this year while serving as the club’s captain. Signed through next season on a two-way deal, he’ll remain a recall option through then unless he’s claimed off waivers.
Lightning To Activate Nick Paul, Assign Conor Geekie To AHL
The Lightning made a roster move early this morning, announcing that they’ve assigned center Conor Geekie back to AHL Syracuse. With the cap savings from that assignment, they now have enough money to activate forward Nick Paul off LTIR; head coach Jon Cooper confirmed to reporters, including team reporter Benjamin Pierce (Twitter link), that Paul will be activated before tonight’s game against Carolina.
Paul has missed the last 11 games with a lower-body injury sustained at the beginning of February against Boston. The 30-year-old has been a strong secondary scorer since joining Tampa Bay back in 22 but his playing time and numbers have taken a dip this season. Limited to just 34 games due to multiple injuries, Paul has notched just six goals and six assists so far in 2025-26 although he’s winning a career-high 54.4% of his faceoffs. He’ll likely slot in on either the third or fourth line; the latter if he simply slides into Geekie’s spot in the lineup.
As for Geekie, this stint with the big club ends at five games, bringing his season total to 11 after he broke camp with the Lightning back in the fall. He’s still looking for his first NHL goal of the campaign and has been limited to just two assists so far after notching 14 points in 52 games in Tampa Bay last season. The team has prioritized giving the 21-year-old big minutes in the minors with the Crunch over playing in a depth role which certainly makes sense from a development standpoint. Geekie has fared quite well in that situation, tallying 51 points in 47 games with Syracuse. He’ll return there and help the Crunch as they continue to battle for the top spot in the AHL’s North Division.
With Paul’s pending activation, Tampa Bay is down to two players on LTIR, rookie center Dominic James and freshman defenseman Maxwell Crozier.
Philadelphia Flyers Recall Garrett Wilson
According to a team announcement, the Philadelphia Flyers have recalled veteran forward Garrett Wilson. The Flyers recently elevated Wilson to an NHL contract before the trade deadline.
Although he has never played a game for Philadelphia, Wilson, 34, has been a part of the organization for the last six years, exclusively playing for the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms. If he enters a contest for the Flyers, it’ll be his first NHL appearance since April 16th, 2019, when the Pittsburgh Penguins were eliminated in the playoffs by the New York Islanders.
Still, he has remained a consistent secondary scorer in the AHL and has served as captain of the Phantoms for the last three years. Throughout his six-year tenure with the club, Wilson has registered 62 goals and 148 points in 341 games with 789 PIMs.
Since the Flyers aren’t dealing with any new injury concerns, there’s no guarantee that Wilson will enter the lineup during his recall. Philadelphia is only five points back of the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference and has an important contest against the Columbus Blue Jackets this evening.
If he were to play, it would assuredly be on the Flyers’ fourth line. Since he doesn’t have much NHL experience as a center, it would mean that either Garnet Hathaway or Nikita Grebenkin would come out of the lineup.