The final full week of October is in the books and we started to see some activity on the trade front while there was some notable injury news as well. Those are among the topics in our key stories of the week.
Not Hanging Them Up Yet: While Carey Price has already been ruled out for the season with a particularly grim outlook on his ability to return, he indicated that he hasn’t given up hope of eventually returning. The veteran is dealing with considerable knee pain and is hesitant to undergo surgery, one that only carries a 50/50 chance of success and could lead to some long-term problems if it doesn’t go well. Instead, he’s holding out hope that rest and rehab will eventually give him a chance to return to the ice. Price is signed through 2025-26 with a $10.5MM AAV and will be on LTIR for Montreal for that entire stretch unless he’s able to return.
More Flyers Injuries: The Flyers entered today in first place in the Metropolitan Division despite missing several regulars due to injuries. That list grew as winger James van Riemsdyk underwent finger surgery that will force him to miss four-to-six weeks, hardly an ideal situation for someone in a contract year. On top of that, while they were hoping that Sean Couturier would be back sooner than later, he stopped skating and it was revealed that he’ll be out for three to four months as he works his way back from a back injury. Veterans Cam Atkinson and Ryan Ellis have yet to play for Philadelphia this season as well with the latter likely to miss the entire season.
Back Early: The Bruins were expected to be without Brad Marchand until late November after undergoing double hip surgery back in May. Players sometimes come back a bit earlier than expected but rarely do they beat the expected timeline by a month. However, that’s exactly what Marchand did as he returned with a bang, picking up three points in his season debut. He won’t play in back-to-backs for now as he eases his way back into the lineup but Boston has to be thrilled that one of their top performers is back as they look to maintain their hot start that has seen them lose just once this season. Veteran Mike Reilly was sent to the minors to create the cap space to activate Marchand.
Making Moves: The trade market is typically slow this time of year but that didn’t stop Vancouver from making a couple of swaps. First, they acquired forward Jack Studnicka from Boston in exchange for goaltender Michael DiPietro and prospect defenseman Jonathan Myrenberg. Studnicka was a productive player in junior but it hasn’t translated to much success in the pros so the Canucks will try to coax that production out of him. Meanwhile, they made a move to shore up an injury-depleted back end, picking up Ethan Bear and AHL forward Lane Pederson from Carolina in exchange for a fifth-round pick with the Hurricanes retaining $400K of Bear’s $2.2MM salary. It wasn’t that long ago that Bear was viewed as a possible long-term part of Edmonton’s back end and with the injuries they have, he’ll have a chance to step in and play an impact role right away.
Losing A Key Center: Expectations are high in Ottawa this season as their young players are expected to take a step forward while they added several key veterans. Joshua Norris is one of the youngsters they had high expectations for as their top center but he’ll be out for the next three to five months due to a shoulder injury. While head coach D.J. Smith is holding out hope that the 23-year-old will be able to return this season, he acknowledged that he’s not overly confident of that which suggests the longer end of that recovery timeline is the likeliest one.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Price can not hang the skates up as Le Habs needs his LTIR, for now and possibly well into the future.