Just ahead of their game this evening, the Florida Panthers announced that defenseman Brandon Montour would not play. Per the team announcement, Montour is suffering from an upper-body injury. It’s unclear exactly how Montour suffered the injury; the defenseman has played in each of the team’s first two games this season, playing 24:56 opening night and 21:44 in Saturday’s game against the Buffalo Sabres.
An interesting wrinkle in this is, because the Panthers have had to carry a light roster due to their position against the salary cap, they will not be replacing Montour in the lineup. Instead, the team will run with 17 skaters – twelve forwards and five on defense. Considering teams only need 18 skaters and a pair of goaltenders to field a full team, it would seem practical for a team in such a cap situation to only carry 18 players on the roster, however a situation like the one Florida faces this evening is a prime example of why that strategy could cause issues down the line.
- Arizona Coyotes defenseman Conor Timmins will miss tonight’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs with an upper-body injury, says the team. Fortunately for Timmins, who missed significant time last season due to injury, it appears he is only day-to-day.
- Jake DeBrusk will make his return to the Boston Bruins lineup this evening after missing Boston’s last game. The winger was injured in the team’s opening night game against the Washington Capitals after playing just 11:06. Given Boston’s slate of injury issues, especially to winger Brad Marchand, getting the offensive-minded forward back in the lineup will be key to staying in contention while the team’s stars recover. DeBrusk will be taking the place of forward Jakub Lauko in the lineup. The Athletic’s Fluto Shinzawa was the first to report DeBrusk had re-entered the lineup.
- Per the Los Angeles Kings, defenseman Alex Edler will not play in tonight’s game against the Detroit Red Wings. Edler was originally expected to be in the lineup, but took a puck to the face during warmups. The veteran defenseman will be replaced by Sean Walker. No update is available yet on how severe the injury is.
And this is Exhibit #53 for how spending right up to the cap is STUPID. If Florida wasn’t doubleshifting their defensemen tonight — Forsling had TWENTY NINE minutes of ice time — does Jake DeBrusk outsprint Ekblad for that goal, given that Ekblad had two strides on him to start? That may have cost the Panthers the game.