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Toronto Maple Leafs Place Cayden Primeau On Waivers

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have placed netminder Cayden Primeau on waivers, according to The Athletic’s Chris Johnston. Primeau, 26, was originally claimed off of waivers by the Maple Leafs on Oct. 6, as expected tandem goalie Joseph Woll had stepped away from the team to take a leave of absence on Sept. 23. Now, Woll has returned to the team and is nearing a full return to the NHL, a development that will, as expected, push Primeau off of the Maple Leafs’ NHL roster.

TSN’s Mark Masters reported today that Woll is going to play an AHL conditioning stint this weekend, meaning that while Primeau has been waived today, he may remain on the Maple Leafs’ NHL roster for a few more days while Woll is on his conditioning stint, assuming Primeau clears, of course.

Complicating his chances of clearing waivers is the fact that he was originally acquired by the Maple Leafs via waivers – meaning if the Carolina Hurricanes are the only team to claim Primeau, they would be free to claim him and then assign him to their AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves.

While Primeau does come with a relatively hefty AHL price tag attached (he’s playing on a one-way, $775k deal), the Hurricanes could use some veteran support in their crease in Chicago. Their two incumbent goalies, Nikita Quapp and Amir Miftakhov,each have very little North American pro experience, so the addition of Primeau could go a long way in stabilizing that team’s goaltending situation. The Hurricanes also traded a draft pick (a 2026 seventh-rounder) to the Montreal Canadiens to acquire Primeau, so the Hurricanes may be motivated by that cost to re-add Primeau now that he’s available on waivers once again.

That’s not to say there’s no chance Primeau gets claimed by another team. While he has struggled at the NHL level in limited ice time this season (.838 save percentage in 3 games), he did post a solid .910 save percentage in 23 games in 2023-24 and looked like he was on track to become a solid backup goaltender, especially considering his track record in the AHL and in the NCAA. Another team in need of an additional goaltender could look at today’s waiver placement as an opportunity to add a goalie with some experience to their NHL roster.

Rasmus Dahlin Taking Leave Of Absence

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Buffalo Sabres captain and star defenseman Rasmus Dahlin is taking a leave of absence from the team, head coach Lindy Ruff announced today. There is currently no timetable on how long Dahlin will be away from the team. The Athletic’s Matthew Fairburn noted that the absence is for Dahlin to return to Sweden, his home country, to be with fiancée, Carolina Matovac.

In September, Dahlin and Matovac jointly announced that Matovac had undergone a heart transplant over the summer following a traumatic health scare while travelling in Europe. In the letter, Dahlin said “this has undoubtedly been the most challenging chapter of our lives” and expressed gratitude for those who supported them at the time.

Per The Buffalo News’ Mike Harrington, Ruff told the media that “things are going well” at the moment with Matovac, but also that it was important to let Dahlin step away at this time. He added that Dahlin has “got the support of everyone on this” and that “this is bigger than hockey.”

Dahlin is one of the Sabres’ most important players, and has been since he was made the number-one overall pick at the 2018 draft by the team. He’s their captain, their number-one defenseman, and leading defensive scorer. Taking a moment to consider the hockey implications of this announcement, it appears likely that both Bowen Byram and Owen Power will be leaned on more heavily by Ruff while Dahlin is away.

Avalanche Recall Jack Ahcan, Reassign Tristen Nielsen

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Nov. 5: Nielsen was returned to AHL Colorado after making his NHL debut last night, the team announced. He skated just 5:25 of ice time, recording four hits.

Nov. 3: Amidst numerous injuries to regular lineup players, the Colorado Avalanche announced today that they have recalled forward Tristen Nielsen and defenseman Jack Ahcan from their AHL affiliate, the Colorado Eagles. The moves come after several updates to injured Avalanche players were reported earlier today by Guerilla Sports’ Jesse Montano: forward Gavin Brindley has been managing a concussion, Logan O’Connor is “progressing” but will remain out, and Samuel Girard is a possibility to return to the ice this weekend.

In recalling Nielsen, the Avalanche have given themselves an additional forward option to work with while O’Connor and Brindley remain injured. The Avalanche have been running an extremely inexperienced fourth line: two of the three players (Zakhar Bardakov and Taylor Makar) have played in a combined nine total career NHL games, and combine for less than 30 games of experience playing professional hockey in North America.

By recalling Nielsen, 25, the Avalanche have given head coach Jared Bednar a more experienced option to potentially pencil into his fourth line. While Nielsen doesn’t have any NHL experience just yet, he does have nearly 250 games of AHL experience, and has won a Calder Cup championship.

Nielsen also positioned himself for an early-season recall with a tremendously successful preseason performance: he tied for the lead among Avalanche forwards in goal scoring with two in his three preseason contests, to go along with one assist.

There were those in Vancouver’s media sphere who believed Nielsen had done enough in the AHL to earn a call-up in Vancouver, but the opportunity to make his NHL debut never materialized for the tenacious winger. But through his strong preseason performance and solid start to his AHL season (he ranks third on AHL Colorado with nine points in 11 games) he has put himself in a position to finally get into an NHL game in Colorado.

On defense, Girard’s lingering injury means that the team, before this recall, only had six healthy defensemen on its roster. By recalling Ahcan, they’ve given themselves a spare blueliner to provide insurance in case any of their regular blueliners is unfit to play.

With the team set to host the Tampa Bay Lightning tomorrow and Girard reportedly not ready to return until this weekend, keeping a seventh defenseman is an important move to ensure the Avalanche don’t get into a tough spot in case an unexpected injury or other reason for unavailability on defense were to pop up.

Ahcan, 28, is a 5’8″ left-shot defenseman bringing 279 games of AHL experience and 13 games of NHL experience to the table. Ahcan has been a quality producer from the blueline at just about every level he’s played at on a full-time basis, and he has scored at a 40-point 72-game pace over the course of his AHL career.

The Avalanche’s current third-pairing left-shot blueliner is Ilya Solovyov, a big stay-at-home defenseman who the team plucked off of waivers on Oct. 3. This recall gives Bednar the option to swap Solovyov with Ahcan should he prefer to ice a third pairing with a little less size and a little more offensive ability than it would have with Solovyov in the lineup.

Photos courtesy of Walter Tychnowicz-USA TODAY Sports

Minor Transactions: 11/03/2025

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It’s not a hugely packed day on the NHL schedule, with just four games on the docket. That’s also the case outside of the NHL, where most European pro leagues aren’t playing and the AHL has just one contest – a game between the Manitoba Moose, the affiliate of the Winnipeg Jets, and the Texas Stars who are the affiliate of the Dallas Stars. What has been active today, though, even without many games to be played, has been player movement outside of the NHL. There are quite a few transactions to go over from the wider world of professional hockey, so we’ll recap all the notable moves here:

  • Veteran goalie Louis Domingue, a longtime NHL backup or organizational third goalie, left KHL side Sibir Novosibirsk after just 11 games played. Per a translated copy of the team’s official announcement, Novosibirsk cited “family reasons” as the reason for Domingue’s release. The 33-year-old goalie, who has played in 144 games over the course of his NHL career, signed in Russia in July, marking his first entry into the European pro hockey circuit. His adjustment to the KHL game did not go well, as he posted an 0-9-0 record with an .892 save percentage and 3.83 goals-against average. Domingue played last season on a one-year, one-way $775K contract, and will now look to continue his career elsewhere. He has performed well as an AHL goalie throughout his time in North America, so given his level of experience and track record, a return to North America, perhaps even on an AHL contract, cannot be ruled out. A team such as the Chicago Wolves could be a fit for his services, as they could benefit from some veteran reinforcement in the crease. Their two incumbent netminders, Amir Miftakhov and Nikita Quapp, are short on AHL experience and have posted respective save percentages of .878 and .852 so far this season.
  • 2019 Anaheim Ducks first-round pick Brayden Tracey has found a place to play out the 2025-26 season, signing a one-year contract with Mora IK of HockeyAllsvenskan, Sweden’s second-tier league. Tracey originally signed his entry-level contract in November 2019, but was unable to secure a second NHL contract after three underwhelming pro campaigns with the San Diego Gulls. He was reasonably productive, scoring 31 points in 55 games as a rookie, for example, and even earned the right to make his NHL debut. But he wasn’t retained by the team and started 2024-25 on an AHL PTO with the Bakersfield Condors, one that did not materialize into a full-time AHL deal. Tracey then split the rest of the season between Jukurit of the Finnish Liiga (scoring six points in 13 games) and Slovan Bratislava of the Slovak Extraliga, scoring eight points in 11 combined regular season and playoff games. The 6’0″ forward, still just 24 years old, heads to a Mora team that has gotten off to a slow start to the season, and they will likely look for him to help boost an offense that currently ranks fourth-to-last in goals scored in the league.
  • Former Philadelphia Flyers goalie Felix Sandstrom has left Finnish Liiga side Karpat Oulu, as his fixed-term contract with the team expired Nov. 2. Sandstrom originally signed the deal in September as part of the club’s response to an injury suffered by incumbent starter Visa Vedenpaa, who is a 2023 draft pick of the Seattle Kraken. Sandstrom didn’t have a great stretch with Karpat, going 3-6-1 with a .872 save percentage. A 2015 third-round pick of the Flyers, Sandstrom ultimately became the organization’s No. 3 goalie, playing in a total of 30 NHL games across his six-year career in North American pro hockey. Sandstrom played well enough to earn a one-way contract year for 2023-24, but the Flyers ultimately moved on from him in 2024 and he signed a one-year, two-way deal with a $450K guarantee with the Buffalo Sabres for 2024-25. Sandstrom struggled to get into games for the Rochester Americans, getting into just 19 contests, in large part due to the success of top prospect goalie Devon Levi. Now that his short-term deal in Liiga has expired, the experienced goalie will need to find another spot to continue what has been a solid pro career.
  • Another goalie who was once playing on an NHL contract was involved in player transaction news today: Hugo Alnefelt. Liiga’s HIFK confirmed that the 2019 Tampa Bay Lightning draft pick would remain with the club for the duration of the 2025-26 season after passing through the trial period of his loan. Alnefelt is contracted to Swedish side HV71, but after he went 8-16-1 with a .899 save percentage in 28 SHL games last season, the club elected to move forward with other goalies for 2025-26. HV71 worked with Alnefelt to find a place for him to get playing time in 2025-26, and they elected to loan him to HIFK in Liiga. Alnefelt has played in six games so far in Finland, posting a .889 save percentage and 2.94 goals-against average. Alnefelt was a tandem goalie for the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch for three seasons, from 2021-22 through 2023-24. He posted an .895 save percentage across 86 games, and was not signed to an NHL contract extension upon the expiry of his entry-level deal, prompting his move back to Europe.
  • 2017 Detroit Red Wings fifth-round pick Cole Fraser was traded in the ECHL today, as the Worcester Railers traded the defenseman to the Cincinnati Cyclones for future considerations. The big right-shot blueliner has been in the ECHL since he signed with the Kansas City Mavericks at the conclusion of his junior career with the OHL’s Peterborough Petes. Across his 288-game career in North America’s third-tier pro league, Fraser has scored 62 points and has earned a call-up to play in the AHL once. That call-up came in 2021-22, when he skated in a Nov. 14 contest for the Belleville Senators against the Utica Comets, a 4-1 loss for the Senators. Fraser played a defensive role through six games this season with the Railers, ranking second on the team in shorthanded ice time per game.
  • The ECHL’s Maine Mariners acquired forward Owen Gallatin from the Fort Wayne Komets in exchange for cash considerations, according to a team announcement. The 23-year-old is in the first full season of his professional career, having dipped his toes into pro hockey late last season after the conclusion of his NCAA career. Gallatin signed with the Komets after playing four seasons with the University of Minnesota-Duluth, including a strong junior campaign where he scored 30 points in 37 games. Gallatin’s production dipped in his senior year, and he wasn’t able to earn consistent ice time at the start of 2025-26 with Fort Wayne, leading to this early-season trade to Maine.
  • Another first-year pro player was traded in the ECHL today, with the South Carolina Stingrays acquiring forward Tanner Edwards from the Toledo Walleye. The 25-year-old was the most penalized player in the USHL in 2019-20, his lone season of USHL hockey, racking up 206 penalty minutes in just 37 games. He then played four years of college hockey, his first three with Minnesota State (where he won two CCHA conference titles) before spending his senior year with his hometown program Alaska-Anchorage. Edwards has just one pro game to his name at this point, an Oct. 25 game against the Bloomington Bison in which he registered his first pro fight.
  • There was a trade in the Czech Extraliga today, with HC Energie Karlovy Vary acquiring Jan Bambula from HC Vitkovice Ridera in exchange for forward Jan Sir. Bambula, 24, was in the midst of his second season with Vitkovice. He scored 13 points in 35 games last season and began this year with five points in 19 games before today’s trade. A speedy, offensively-oriented undersized winger, Bambula’s acquisition could boost Karlovy Vary’s offensive attack. Sir, 25, joined Karlovy Vary for 2024-25 after a five-year pro career with Bili Tygri Liberec, which was also his junior team. The 6’2″ pivot doesn’t offer the speed or offensive ability that Bambula is credited with, but brings the ability to play down the middle, additional size, and defensive versatility. He’s gone scoreless through 20 games this season, though he has been the team’s leading penalty-killing forward so far this season. While Bambula isn’t a direct replacement in that role as a winger, his speed did allow him to carve out a role on Vitkovice’s penalty kill, meaning he could end up taking Sir’s vacated spot on Karlovy Vary’s penalty kill.
  • Liiga side Ilves Tampere announced today that forwards Julius Hermonen and Joel Kerkkanen would not continue with the club upon the recent conclusion of their fixed-term contracts. Hermonen, 28, has nearly 300 games of Liiga experience, though he only managed two assists across 14 games for Ilves. He did score a goal in Champions Hockey League play, as part of a 5-0 victory over HC Kometa Brno. Kerkkanen, 26, isn’t an established quantity in Finland’s top division the way Hermonen is, with just 41 Liiga games to his name. But he has been quite successful in Finland’s second-tier Mestis, even putting together a point-per-game season in 2022-23 with JoKP. That scoring ability hasn’t translated to the Liiga level, though, and he registered just one point in his four games in Tampere.
  • Veteran Swedish netminder Jonas Gunnarsson, who was once a member of the Nashville Predators organization, signed a deal with HockeyAllsvenskan club AIK today. The 33-year-old has experience in Sweden’s second division, helping teams to promotion to the SHL on two separate occasions: 2014-15 with the Malmo Redhawks, and 2021-22 with HV71. 2021-22 was Gunnarsson’s most recent season in the Allsvenskan, and he performed very well, registering the most shutouts in the league and posting a .907 save percentage. He served as Joni Ortio’s backup for HV71 in its first year back in the SHL in 2022-23, before earning a role as a starter in Liiga with Ilves in 2023-24. He was solid in Liiga, posting a .912 save percentage in 36 games, and then spent 2024-25 with Graz in the ICEHL. Now he’s back in the league where he’s been successful in the past, and will look to stabilize an AIK goaltending situation that has been an issue for the team so far in 2025-26.
  • The SHL’s Vaxjo Lakers signed veteran forward Erik Andersson to a one-year contract, according to a team announcement. The 31-year-old winger is a defensive specialist who brings a large amount of experience in Sweden’s top league. He has played in 471 games, and while he’s only registered 74 points, he should be able to contribute on Vaxjo’s penalty kill in short order. Vaxjo’s penalty kill currently ranks fifth in the league in success rate, but with the potential for injuries, the signing of Andersson provides the team with suitable cover to be able to sustain its shorthanded success in the event that natural attrition of a long hockey season leads to regular penalty killers becoming unavailable.

West Notes: Eklund, Giles, Fink, Stadium Series

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San Jose Sharks forward William Eklund missed the team’s loss yesterday to the Detroit Red Wings with a lower-body injury, but the team is reportedly “hopeful” that Eklund will be fit to play as soon as Wednesday, per Sharks Hockey Digest’s Max Miller. Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky told the media that Eklund has been dealing with the injury for about a week, but the fact that it “got a little bit worse” is what necessitated his removal from the lineup.

The injury did not appear to slow Eklund down much, as he had an exceptional three-game stretch to finish the month of October, scoring three goals and five points. The 2021 seventh-overall pick ranks second on the Sharks in scoring so far this season, behind only second-year sensation and emerging franchise face Macklin Celebrini. He scored a career-high 17 goals and 58 points in 77 games last season, and assuming he can stay healthy, should cruise past those totals if he can manage to sustain his early-season form.

Other notes from the Western Conference:

  • The San Jose Sharks made a roster move today, sending forward Patrick Giles back to their AHL affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda. Giles, 25, was elevated to the Sharks’ NHL roster on Oct. 28 when veteran blueliner Nick Leddy was placed on injured reserve. He ultimately played in three games for the Sharks, registering his second career NHL point (and first career assist) on top prospect Sam Dickinson’s game-tying goal late in the third period of yesterday’s game. The goal was also Dickinson’s first career NHL goal and first career point. Giles played in a fourth-line role across his three games, averaging under nine minutes of ice time per game.
  • Penn State Nittany Lions head coach Guy Gadowsky announced today, per Penn State CommRadio’s Matt Becker, that star forward Aiden Fink has suffered an upper-body injury and will be out “foreseeable future.” Fink, 20, is a Nashville Predators prospect, selected in the seventh round of the 2023 draft as Hall of Fame GM David Poile’s final draft pick in charge of the club. Fink was a finalist for the Hobey Baker award last season after he scored 53 points in just 40 games, leading Penn State to its most successful season in program history. He had scored nine points through nine games this season, but now sees his momentum stopped as he’ll need to recover from this upper-body injury before he can hit the ice again.
  • The NHL announced today that the Dallas Stars will play in the 2027 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series at AT&T Stadium on February 20, 2027. AT&T Stadium, located in Arlington, Texas, is the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, and has a seating capacity of 80,000. The game marks the second outdoor game hosted by the Stars in their franchise history, the first being the 2020 Winter Classic, played against Nashville at the Cotton Bowl. Per the league’s announcement, the Stars’ opponent will be announced at a later date.

Metro Notes: Henricks, Acciari, Brazeau

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Columbus Blue Jackets prospect defenseman Tanner Henricks is out for three months with a lower-body injury, per St. Cloud Live’s Mick Hatten. Per Hatten, Henricks’ brother Ty Henricks, a forward for Western Michigan University, delivered a body check on his younger brother, and was given a five-minute major penalty for contact with the head. Falling from the hit, Tanner reportedly suffered a lower-body injury, and “was seen in a walking boot after the game.”

Henricks is a 6’3″ defenseman who was drafted in the fourth round, 101st overall, by Columbus at the 2024 draft. The injury wipes out most of Henricks’ freshman season at St. Cloud State, one that had started off positively. Henricks had scored four points in his first six games of NCAA hockey and was getting a significant opportunity to play on the team’s power play. Now, not only will he miss a large chunk of college games, he’ll also miss the chance to represent the United States at the upcoming IIHF World Junior Championships. According to FloHockey’s Chris Peters, Henricks “was legitimately in the mix” to earn a spot on Team USA, but this injury will now cost him his chance at selection.

Other notes from the Metropolitan Division:

  • Pittsburgh Penguins forward Justin Brazeau has had an exceptional start to the 2025-26 season, scoring six goals and 12 points in just 12 games. For a player who signed in Pittsburgh after a stretch where he managed just two points in 19 games for the Minnesota Wild, that extremely productive stretch is significant for his hopes of establishing himself as someone who can have a long-term NHL career, something doubly important as an undrafted player. That’s what makes his recent upper-body injury so unfortunate, and today, Penguins play-by-play voice Josh Getzoff confirmed that Brazeau’s status is unchanged: he remains out with an upper-body injury. While the Penguins’ success has largely been driven (as it has been for about two decades) by its two star centers, this injury suffered by Brazeau is nonetheless a discouraging development for the team’s hopes of maintaining its positive momentum.
  • Brazeau isn’t the only forward dealing with an injury. The team announced tonight that veteran Noel Acciari left the team’s contest against the Toronto Maple Leafs with an upper-body injury. Acciari appears to have suffered the injury on what was just his second shift of the game. While he hasn’t been a big scorer the way Brazeau has been so far this season, losing Acciari for any notable stretch of time would nonetheless pose a challenge for the Penguins. Acciari has been a key first-unit penalty killer during his time as a Penguin, leading all Pittsburgh forwards in short-handed ice time in 2024-25. Since Acciari’s arrival in Pittsburgh, the Penguins rank 14th in the NHL in penalty kill success rate, so if the veteran forward does end up missing more than just tonight’s game due to injury, first-year head coach Dan Muse will need to find a way to sustain his team’s positive momentum without a key special teams contributor.

Atlantic Notes: Maccelli, Gadjovich, Lindholm

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Toronto Maple Leafs forward Matias Maccelli has been made a healthy scratch for today’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, reports The Hockey News’ David Alter.  The move comes as Toronto sits 23rd in the NHL, having had a slower-than-expected start to the season. Their 6-5-1 record places them 23rd in the league standings at this early point in the season. While a player getting healthy scratched is a relatively routine occurrence and not hugely noteworthy on its own, tracking Maccelli’s standing in Toronto is of a heightened importance due to the transaction he was involved in over the summer.

When Toronto acquired Maccelli in June, they sent a conditional 2027 third-round pick to the Utah Mammoth, with the condition being that if Maccelli scores at least 51 points (and Toronto reaches the playoffs), the pick upgrades to a 2029 second-rounder. At this stage, not only is Toronto outside of a playoff spot, but Maccelli is scoring at a 35-point pace. So, at this stage, it does not seem as though Utah will receive the upgraded draft choice, though it is important to stress how early in the season it is. It was just two years ago that Maccelli looked like one of the more promising young wingers in the game after he scored 106 points in 146 games across two seasons, so while his start to his season as a Maple Leaf hasn’t been ideal, it’s still far from a certainty that he won’t end up passing the thresholds for his former team to get the 2029 second-rounder.

Other notes from the Atlantic Division:

  • Florida Panthers winger Jonah Gadjovich will not travel with the team on its upcoming road trip as the full recovery timeline for his upper-body injury is still being worked out, per team reporter Rob Darragh. Gadjovich hasn’t played since Oct. 25, when he sustained the injury in a game against the Vegas Golden Knights. The physical 6’3″ winger has played a reserve role on the Panthers’ back-to-back championship teams, skating in 81 total regular-season games and scoring eight points across the 2023-24 and 2024-25 campaigns. Gadjovich also played in 16 playoff games last season and has three points in 10 games so far this season. Gadjovich skated as the fourth-line left winger when he last played, alongside Cole Schwindt and A.J. Greer. That spot has since been filled by Noah Gregor, one of Gadjovich’s former teammates from their shared time with the San Jose Sharks.
  • Last week, we covered news that Boston Bruins center Elias Lindholm would be out on a week-to-week basis with a lower-body injury suffered in the team’s Oct. 30 victory over the Buffalo Sabres. Today, the team confirmed to the media (including WEEI’s Scott McLaughlin) that Lindholm’s MRI confirmed that the center would be out with a week-to-week recovery timeline. It’s a significant loss for the Bruins, who count on Lindholm as a key top-six center. Lindholm lined up as the team’s number-one center in that Oct. 30 contest against Buffalo, a spot that has since been filled by Marat Khusnutdinov. Lindholm had gotten off to a solid start to the 2025-26 season, scoring nine points in 13 games. That’s a 57-point 82-game scoring pace, a notable improvement from last season when he scored 47 points across 82 games.

Snapshots: Tanev, Malkin, Parekh

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The Toronto Maple Leafs issued an update today on the health status of defenseman Chris Tanev, who had to be helped off the ice during the team’s road win over the Philadelphia Flyers. The Maple Leafs said Tanev “was evaluated overnight in Philadelphia for precautionary purposes” and has since “been discharged” and will return to Toronto. Ignoring Tanev’s readiness to play, the injury he suffered last night was worrying simply regarding Tanev’s personal health and safety. While the team did not confirm further details of the injury, it’s encouraging to see Tanev fit enough to be discharged and allowed to return to Toronto.

Tanev was injured on a play where he collided with Flyers forward Matvei Michkov at his own blue line. Tanev, who could not have seen Michkov behind him, was skating backwards while Michkov was skating forwards, and the pair appeared to bump helmets, with Tanev remaining motionless on the ice in the immediate aftermath. Tanev was removed from the ice on a stretcher and fitted with a head immobilizer. Complicating matters is Tanev’s history of head injuries – he was cleared from concussion protocol on Friday and has dealt with concussion issues in the past in his career.

Other notes from around the NHL:

  • Pittsburgh Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin was fined $5K, the maximum allowable under the CBA, for slashing Winnipeg Jets defenseman Logan Stanley in the Penguins’ Saturday loss to the Jets. The play in question came as Stanley and Malkin were battling near a puck along the boards in the Winnipeg zone. Stanley shoved Malkin further away from the puck, and Malkin responded with a hard slash on Stanley’s hands. Malkin was also assessed a two-minute minor penalty on the play. Despite the unfortunate play in question here, Malkin has had an exceptional start to his 2025-26 season. As the Penguins have gotten off to a fast start, Malkin has registered 15 assists and 18 points in 13 games.
  • Calgary Flames rookie defenseman Zayne Parekh will play in his 10th NHL game tonight, per Sportsnet 960’s Pat Steinberg, a development that will officially prevent the club from sliding a year of Parekh’s entry-level contract should they elect to reassign him to the CHL at some point in 2025-26. Steinberg added that while “there was slight internal discussion” about whether to return Parekh to the OHL, he believes “Calgary is making the right choice” by keeping Parekh in the NHL. Parekh is averaging almost 16 minutes of ice time per game through nine games this season, including 2:39 per game on the power play. He has one assist so far this season on a Flames team that, as a whole, has struggled mightily to put the puck in the net. Calgary ranks last in the NHL in offense, scoring just 2.15 goals per game.

Cole Smith Out Three-To-Six Weeks With Upper-Body Injury

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The Nashville Predators announced today that forward Cole Smith has suffered an upper-body injury and will be out with a three-to-six week recovery timeline. The Predators also announced that captain Roman Josi, who remains out on a week-to-week timeline with his own upper-body injury, has been placed on injured reserve.

Smith was limited to just 1:55 time-on-ice during the Predators’ victory over the Calgary Flames yesterday, leaving the game after he was on the receiving end of a hit from Flames grinder Ryan Lomberg. It’s an unfortunate development for Smith, who had started off the season well, scoring three goals in 13 games. Smith scored just four goals in all of 2024-25.

The 30-year-old winger is a player who has worked his way into a steady fourth-line NHL job as an undrafted former college free agent. While he’s never been much of an offensive producer, Smith brings valuable physicality and penalty-killing ability to the table. Smith has played a role Nashville’s the penalty kill dating back to 2022-23, his first full-time NHL campaign, and he took on a more central role there after the departures of Tanner Jeannot and later Yakov Trenin. Smith led all Predators forwards in short-handed ice time each of the last two seasons, and ranks second behind Michael McCarron through 13 games this season.

As a result, the loss of Smith for the next few weeks will be felt most prominently on the Predators’ penalty kill. Despite a poor all-around season, Nashville’s shorthanded operation ranked as the seventh-best in the NHL in 2024-25 and ranks sixth so far this season. This injury therefore costs one of the league’s top penalty kills one of its most important contributors.

Veteran Ryan O’Reilly ranks fifth among Predators forwards in short-handed ice time per game this season and could end up seeing his usage on that unit rise as a result of Smith’s injury. It’s also possible that a younger player such as Fedor Svechkov or Ozzy Wiesblatt, who have each seen sporadic use on the penalty kill, could get a longer look on the unit in Smith’s absence.

Looking at yesterday’s game as a clue, Wiesblatt took Smith’s spot alongside McCarron on the Predators’ top shorthanded unit after Smith left the game. He finished with just over two minutes of ice time on the penalty kill. That’s the most shorthanded ice time he’s played in a single NHL game so far in his young career, and it could indicate that Wiesblatt will get a chance to play that role moving forward while Smith recovers.

East Notes: Volokhin, Guryev, Greenway

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Montreal Canadiens goalie prospect Yevgeni Volokhin has signed a new three-year contract with his current club, Spartak Moscow of the KHL, covering this season and running through 2027-28. The 20-year-old was a 2023 fifth-round pick out of the MHL (Russia’s top junior hockey league) and has played pro hockey in each of the last two seasons. The 2023-24 MHL Goalie of the Year played in 28 KHL games during his age-19 season, posting a .901 save percentage despite playing behind a very poor team. He posted that save percentage alongside a 4-17-1 record.

Volokhin was traded to Spartak for monetary compensation in June, and has since been Moscow’s No. 3 goalie behind Dmitry Nikolayev and former Calgary Flame Artem Zagidulin. Volokhin saved 20 of 21 shots in his first KHL start of the season but struggled in his second. He has spent most of the season in the second-tier VHL, posting a .935 save percentage in 14 games. Due to this extension, the earliest the Canadiens will be able to sign Volokhin and get him to make his North American debut will be for the 2028-29 season. As Volokhin is a prospect under contract in Russia, the Canadiens will still hold the exclusive rights to sign him to an entry-level deal upon the expiry of his current contract with Spartak.

Other notes from the Eastern Conference:

  • Philadelphia Flyers prospect Artem Guryev, who was acquired in the October trade involving Carl Grundstrom and the contract of Ryan Ellis, appears to have lost his spot with the club’s AHL affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. The 22-year-old was reassigned to the ECHL’s Reading Royals yesterday. Guryev began the season in Lehigh Valley but went scoreless through four games, prompting this reassignment. The 2021 fifth-round pick began his pro career in the AHL in 2023-24 but spent most of 2024-25 in the ECHL, so it’s possible he continues that trend in 2025-26. Guryev isn’t the only Flyers prospect in Reading: former University of Denver star scorer Massimo Rizzo, who scored 18 points in 46 games as an AHL rookie last season, has begun 2025-26 in North American pro hockey’s third-tier league.
  • On Thursday, there were reports coming out of Buffalo that Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff was potentially set to test Jordan Greenway at the center position upon his return to the ice from an injury. It appears Ruff ultimately elected not to try Greenway, a career winger, in such an unfamiliar position, as he skated as a left winger in each of his two games played in 2025-26. The 6’6″ veteran forward has registered one assist in his two games back from injury, and it appears the choice was a good call from Ruff – Greenway’s play in his familiar left wing position has helped the Sabres collect three out of four possible points in the games he’s played in.

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