Wild winger Mats Zuccarello was a late scratch for their game in Ottawa tonight with what the team revealed (Twitter link) was an upper-body injury. Michael Russo of The Athletic adds (via Twitter) that the injury is not believed to be too serious. The 34-year-old is well on his way to a career year with 52 points in just 41 games, good for second on the team in scoring behind Kirill Kaprizov.
More from the Central:
- The Predators announced (Twitter link) that defenseman Mark Borowiecki is listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury and didn’t play tonight against Florida. The veteran – who recently signed a contract extension – has played in 41 games this season, recording just two assists but has 137 hits and a league-high 103 penalty minutes.
- The Avalanche activated winger Stefan Matteau and assigned him to AHL Colorado, per a team release. The 27-year-old was recalled to the Avs back in October but suffered a lower-body injury in his first game and has been out since then. Matteau’s assignment clears another $750K off Colorado’s books, a small bit of savings towards their trade deadline spending.
- While Lukas Reichel is currently up with the Blackhawks, they’re expected to send the rookie down before their next game on Friday, relays Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times. The 19-year-old has certainly held his own in his first four NHL contests but if Chicago can limit him to nine or fewer NHL appearances this season, he won’t burn the first year of his entry-level contract and it appears that the team is preferring to give him a few short stints rather than one extended stretch to get to that threshold.