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Predators Place Cole Smith On Injured Reserve

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The Predators announced they’ve placed winger Cole Smith on injured reserve. The placement is retroactive to Nov. 1, his most recent appearance.

Smith left that night’s game against the Flames with an upper-body injury early and didn’t return. The next day, the team announced he’d be out for three to six weeks. That renders the minimum absence of the IR placement ineffective, as he’s technically eligible to return on Nov. 10 against the Rangers but won’t be available until later in the month at the earliest.

As such, today’s move has less to do with Smith’s injury and is more about opening up a roster spot. After recalling Zachary L’Heureux from AHL Milwaukee earlier in the week, the Preds didn’t have an open one. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Nashville use Smith’s spot to recall a defenseman. Adam Wilsby has missed the last five games due to a lower-body injury and is close to returning, according to Alex Daugherty of The Tennessean. However, with Wilsby still on the active roster and unavailable, the Predators don’t have an extra rearguard available.

Before his injury, Smith was having a good start in a fourth-line role alongside Michael McCarron and Ozzy Wiesblatt. The 30-year-old had three goals through 13 games while averaging 13:26 of ice time per game, including a spot on their top penalty killing unit. Despite a -2 rating, his underlying numbers with McCarron and Wiesblatt at 5-on-5 were excellent. The trio has controlled 64.3% of expected goals and 57.6% of shot attempts, which are spectacular numbers given their role as defensive specialists.

Flyers Activate Samuel Ersson; Reassign Jacob Gaucher, Aleksei Kolosov

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The Flyers activated goaltender Samuel Ersson from injured reserve yesterday and reassigned center Jacob Gaucher to AHL Lehigh Valley in the corresponding move. While they were briefly carrying three healthy goalies, that’s no longer the case. Aleksei Kolosov has been removed from the Flyers’ roster, per Jordan Hall of NBC Sports Philadelphia, indicating he’s also been sent back to Lehigh Valley to leave Philly with an open roster spot.

Ersson is a possibility to start tomorrow against the Senators based on how he fares in today’s practice, head coach Rick Tocchet told reporters (including Charlie O’Connor of PHLY Sports). He missed four games with an undisclosed injury, believed to be a groin issue, before being activated for yesterday’s win. Yesterday was the first game he was eligible to be activated for after his IR placement.

Before the injury, Ersson had already been clearly superseded as the Flyers’ starter by free agent pickup Daniel Vladař, who’s excelled with a .917 SV% and 2.18 GAA in his first nine starts. Ersson, who’d been Philly’s No. 1 option since 2023-24, had stumbled out of the gate with a .876 SV% and 3.08 GAA with a 2-1-1 record in four appearances. With Vladař shouldering a higher-than-normal workload in Ersson’s absence, though, it makes sense they’d want to get the latter a start, particularly against a Sens team that’s 1-1-2 in their last four and has only played twice so far this month.

Gaucher’s first recall of the season ends after three appearances. He was brought up on Halloween in the wake of an injury concern for Sean Couturier, who only missed one game before returning to the lineup. The 24-year-old still got a brief look as Philly’s fourth-line center, averaging 8:46 of ice time per game and going 9-for-19 (47.4%) on faceoffs. He did not record a point and logged a -1 rating. It was his second NHL stint after receiving a four-game trial with the Flyers last year. The pending restricted free agent remains waiver-exempt for 2025-26.

Kolosov was summoned to serve as Vladař’s backup while Ersson was out and did quite well. He made two appearances, entering a Nov. 1 loss to the Maple Leafs in relief of Vladař before starting the next night against the Flames. Philly lost that game 2-1, but Kolosov was strong, saving 26 of 28 shots faced across the pair of games for a .929 SV% and 1.62 GAA.

It adds to what’s been a promising season for the 23-year-old after a disastrous run in both Philadelphia and Lehigh Valley last season. Through five AHL games this year, Kolosov’s improved leaps and bounds on last year’s .884 SV% with a .918 mark and one shutout.

Penguins’ Filip Hallander Diagnosed With Blood Clot

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Penguins forward Filip Hallander has been diagnosed with a blood clot in his leg, the team announced. He’ll be sidelined for a minimum of three months. He will undergo rehabilitation in Pittsburgh, in conjunction with the team’s medical staff and doctors from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

Hallander has only been out of action for two days. He played against the Maple Leafs on Monday and practiced on Wednesday, but left the session early, according to Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Head coach Dan Muse then said, before yesterday’s win over the Capitals, that he was day-to-day with an undisclosed issue, presumably a cover while he was undergoing diagnostic testing.

Even in the best-case scenario, Hallander will be out of action until after the Olympic break. After serving as a healthy scratch in the season opener, Hallander had made 13 consecutive appearances until being diagnosed with the clot. He had scored one goal with three assists for four points with a +4 rating while averaging 13:09 of ice time per game. A second-round pick back in 2018, Hallander was kicking off his second stint with the Pens after spending the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons with Timrå IK in his native Sweden. He previously split the 2021-22 and 2022-23 campaigns between Pittsburgh and AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, racking up his first three career NHL appearances during that time.

Now 25, Hallander’s NHL return was spurred by a dominant showing for Timrå last season. His 26 goals and 53 points in 51 games led the club and earned him Swedish Hockey League Forward of the Year honors. Hallander signed a five-year deal with Timrå upon his return to Sweden in 2023, but subsequently terminated that contract to facilitate a return to Pittsburgh. He signed a two-year, one-way deal worth $1.55MM in April and made the opening night roster for the first time in the fall.

Hallander had been shuffled up and down the lineup to begin the season. He spent a good chunk of his ice time at 5-on-5 up on the top line with Sidney Crosby and Bryan Rust, but also saw significant third-line deployment alongside Thomas Novak and some fourth-line duties as well. A bit of a Swiss Army knife who can play both center and left wing, they’ll miss his versatility – especially at a time when they’re already missing lineup regulars Noel Acciari, Justin Brazeau, Kevin Hayes, and Rickard Rakell in addition to top prospect Rutger McGroarty.

Blues Shifting Into Retool Mode, Willing To Move Brayden Schenn

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For the second straight season, Blues captain Brayden Schenn finds himself in the rumor mill. This time, the discussion is being drummed up earlier on as St. Louis faltered out of the gate to a 5-8-2 start.

His name is just one that could be on the move as the Blues’ poor start has general manager Doug Armstrong shifting into retool mode. He has been traveling lately due to his duties with the Canadian national team for the upcoming Winter Olympics. While doing so, he’s been letting other front offices know he’s “open for business,” Frank Seravalli said on Amazon Prime Canada’s Coast to Coast.

That’s in conjunction with a report yesterday from David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period, which stated that Schenn is beginning to generate interest from hopeful contenders. It’s been a deceptively tough start for the 34-year-old, who’s now in his ninth season as a Blue. He’s off to a slow start offensively with two goals and six points in 15 games, but he’s been making headlines for his league-worst -13 rating. Combine that with his 16:49 average ice time, checking in as his lowest in a decade, and it seems as though his value won’t be as compelling to contenders as it was last year, when a reportedly sky-high asking price contributed to Schenn sticking around in St. Louis.

The boxcar stats don’t tell the whole story, though. The lack of point production is a legitimate concern, but aside from that, he’s played the reliable two-way physical game that he’s delivered for years. He’s winning 52.2% of his draws, and his poor even-strength results are far more attributable to the Blues’ poor goaltending than defensive regression on Schenn’s part. The Blues are still controlling a reasonable 48.2% of shot attempts with Schenn on the ice at 5-on-5, and his line with Dylan Holloway and Jordan Kyrou has controlled 58.7% of expected goals.

Those promising underlying numbers, plus Schenn’s long track record as a top-six fixture, likely mean his value hasn’t dipped too much, especially with another year burned off his contract. Any team picking him up without retention would only have to contend with his $6.5MM cap hit for two full seasons after this one, instead of three. It’s also much easier for the Blues to facilitate a trade now than it was at last year’s deadline – he had a full no-trade clause last season that downgraded to a 15-team no-trade list on July 1.

The Maple Leafs and Devils were the two clubs most closely linked to him last season. Pagnotta expects both of them to be in the mix this time around if Armstrong continues down a retooling path. It’s his final season as general manager before transitioning to a president of hockey operations role for the 2026-27 season, overseeing incoming rookie GM Alexander Steen.

Canadiens Reassign Marc Del Gaizo

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Nov. 7: The Canadiens announced they’ve loaned Del Gaizo back to Laval. As expected, he did not draw into the lineup against the Devils and was only on hand for injury insurance.

Nov. 5: The Canadiens announced the recall of defenseman Marc Del Gaizo from the AHL’s Laval Rocket. With two open roster spots, the Habs don’t need to make a corresponding transaction.

Montreal has both of those roster spots because it’s only carrying six defensemen while Kaiden Guhle is on injured reserve. Del Gaizo was last summoned on Oct. 21 to serve as injury insurance while the Habs went on a lengthy road trip. He was rostered for four games but did not play in any of them before being returned to the AHL last week.

With the Canadiens traveling to New Jersey to play the Devils tomorrow, and Laval being off until Friday, there’s no harm done in adding Del Gaizo for the mini-trip since he won’t miss any time in the minors. He’ll presumptively be returned to the Rocket on Friday as long as Montreal’s top six defenders escape the game without an injury.

The left-shot defenseman is in his first season in the Montreal organization. He signed a one-year, two-way deal with a $475,000 guarantee after becoming a Group VI unrestricted free agent last summer. He was coming off a career-high 46 appearances with the Predators, who drafted him in the fourth round in 2019, but has yet to suit up for the Habs this year. In six games for Laval, the depth rearguard has one assist and a +2 rating.

The only harm done by recalling Del Gaizo is burning additional time off his waiver exemption. Montreal passed him through during training camp in September. After he cleared, he can remain on the Canadiens’ active roster for up to 30 nonconsecutive days or play in 10 games before he needs to clear waivers again to return to Laval. Today will mark his ninth day toward that count.

Sharks Recall Zack Ostapchuk

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4:41 p.m.: It’s an IR placement for Misa as the corresponding move, per Peng. He sustained the injury in the morning skate prior to yesterday’s game, so the placement can only be backdated to Nov. 5. That puts him out for San Jose’s next three games. He’ll be eligible for activation on Nov. 13.

3:13 p.m.: The Sharks have recalled center Zack Ostapchuk from AHL San Jose, according to Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now. With no open roster spot, they need to make a corresponding move. That will presumably be an IR placement for either William Eklund or Michael Misa, both of whom are ticketed to miss tomorrow’s game against the Jets with lower-body injuries.

Both Eklund and Misa missed yesterday’s 6-1 drubbing of the Kraken as well, which means San Jose was forced to go with 11 forwards and seven defensemen. Ostapchuk gives them a 12th forward to slot in against Winnipeg if they want to go back to the traditional allocation. Acquired from the Senators in last year’s Fabian Zetterlund deal, the 22-year-old pivot isn’t off to a great start in the minors. Through nine AHL games, he has two goals and an assist with a -4 rating.

Ostapchuk, a second-round pick back in 2021, hasn’t had sustained offensive success anywhere since turning pro in 2023. He was well over a point per game in his final year in juniors, but aside from 11 points in 15 games for AHL Belleville last year before the trade, he has yet to pop. He spent most of last season up in the NHL with Ottawa and San Jose, but only recorded one goal and four points in 56 appearances while averaging 9:25 per game.

His long-term ceiling likely remains that of a fourth-line center. He showed he can at least handle the role last year and posted solid possession metrics in 13 games with the Sharks down the stretch – evidenced by a -1 rating despite not recording a point. He won 48.6% of his faceoffs, a good number for a pivot in his age-21 season with plenty of room to grow.

Ostapchuk will remain waiver-exempt this season but loses that status for 2026-27. He’ll get another chance here to stick around in a fourth-line role for the Sharks as he aims to push Misa or fellow AHL call-up Ethan Cardwell out of a job when San Jose gets back to carrying a healthy forward group.

Devils Place Brett Pesce On IR, Activate Cody Glass

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The Devils officially announced that defenseman Brett Pesce has been placed on injured reserve. His roster spot will go to center Cody Glass, who’s coming off IR and will be available tonight against the Canadiens.

Pesce’s IR placement is backdated to his last appearance on Oct. 26. Since that’s more than a week ago, he can technically be activated at any time, but he’ll be on IR for at least a couple of more weeks. The team said Pesce, who’s dealing with an upper-body issue, won’t be back until Thanksgiving at the earliest.

In his second season in New Jersey, the 30-year-old continues to play as their top shutdown option. Not including his last game, in which he played 6:07 before leaving with the injury, he was averaging 21:20 of ice time, which would stand as second on the team amid what’s been an incredibly balanced deployment from head coach Sheldon Keefe regarding his back end. Of the Devils’ six regulars on defense, none has averaged more than 22 minutes per game, and none has averaged less than 16.

Before the injury, Pesce had three assists and a +3 rating in nine showings. He was Luke Hughes’ right-hand man at even strength with spectacular results. Among the 104 defense pairings with at least 60 minutes together, Hughes and Pesce’s 60.2 xGF% ranks 10th, per MoneyPuck.

Seamus Casey and Dennis Cholowski have rotated into the lineup in Pesce’s absence. The former is no longer an option, at least for now, after he was sent back to AHL Utica yesterday in exchange for veteran Colton White.

As for Glass, the Devils are welcoming him back after a 16-day, seven-game absence. He played in six straight to start the year before sustaining an upper-body injury against the Maple Leafs on Oct. 21. So far, he’s given New Jersey decent reward for the two-year, $5MM contract they signed him to this summer. He had two goals and a +1 rating while seeing 12:34 of ice time per game. He was centering the third line between Connor Brown and Arseny Gritsyuk before exiting the lineup. Glass returns to that slot tonight, per Mike Morreale of NHL.com, but will have Ondřej Palát on his flank instead of Brown as the latter deals with an undisclosed injury for the third straight game.

Blues Expected To Scratch Jordan Kyrou

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A tough start in St. Louis is coming to a head today. The club is making top-six winger Jordan Kyrou a healthy scratch for tonight’s game against the Sabres, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports.

While likely a message-sending vehicle to the entire team rather than targeted at Kyrou, it’s still a perplexing decision for a club scoring 2.71 goals per game, 24th in the league. Few Blues have performed up to expectations through 14 games, Kyrou included, but he’s still tied for second on the team in scoring with four goals and eight points. He’s fourth among forwards in average ice time per game at 17:23.

It’s also hard to attribute St. Louis’ 4-8-2 record to much else other than their goaltending. Jordan Binnington and Joel Hofer have combined for one of the more disastrous starts from a goalie tandem in recent memory. Among the 43 goalies with at least five games played this season, Binnington’s .859 SV% ranks 40th, and Hofer’s .836 SV% ranks last. They’ve combined to allow 11 goals above expected, per MoneyPuck. With even average goaltending, the Blues are looking at a -10 goal differential instead of their current -21 and would be hovering around .500 instead of four games below it.

The group of skaters, as a whole, has largely held up its end of the bargain. There hasn’t been a dominant offensive force – Pius Suter’s nine points lead the team – but they’ve put together above-average two-way play, including a 54.4% share of high-danger chances at even strength. Individual ratings like Kyrou’s -8 mark and Brayden Schenn’s -13 are deceptively low because of the goaltending behind them. St. Louis’ de facto second line, featuring Kyrou, Schenn, and Dylan Holloway, has actually been quite adept at controlling play. Out of 54 forward line combinations with at least 60 minutes together, their 58.7 xGF% ranks 13th, per MoneyPuck. In terms of raw shot attempts, they’re still a respectable 27th at 54%.

Kyrou was frequently mentioned as a trade candidate last summer, including being linked to the Canadiens more than once. That talk largely quieted after Kyrou’s full no-trade clause kicked in on July 1. As of now, there’s been no indication that he’s been asked to waive it or that he’d be willing to do so if asked. He’s only in the third year of an eight-year, $65MM deal that carries a cap hit of $8.125MM.

While it’s been a tough stretch, Kyrou is as consistent a high-end second-line/fringe first-line piece as they come. He’s topped 30 goals for three years in a row and has finished with no less than 67 and no more than 75 points in the last four years. His early-season pace now puts him on track for 47 points over an 82-game schedule, which he won’t achieve with tonight’s scratch. While he’s finishing slightly below his career average at 12.5%, it’s a general lack of chance generation that brings his point totals down. He’s registering 21% fewer shots on goal and 12% fewer shot attempts per game than he did last year.

Several Teams Showing Interest In Vitali Pinchuk

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There are still several months to go until the end of the regular season, when the international free agent market begins to pick up. Nonetheless, European leagues start their seasons earlier than the NHL, meaning sample sizes are large enough by the time November rolls around for teams to begin to identify breakout targets.

One of those names to keep an eye out for is Belarusian center Vitali Pinchuk, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. “Several teams” have made contact with his representation as he mulls a jump to North America following the conclusion of his season with Dinamo Minsk of the Kontinental Hockey League, where he’s spent the vast majority of his professional career.

Pinchuk, 23, isn’t a total stranger to North American hockey. He was initially draft eligible in 2020 and spent that season in the Ontario Hockey League in hopes of boosting his chances of being picked. The 6’3″, 203-lb pivot recorded 13 goals and 34 points in 54 games with a -12 rating, but wasn’t picked. When the OHL closed its doors for the 2020-21 season due to the pandemic, Pinchuk returned to Belarus, where he has remained ever since.

He made his KHL debut for Dinamo the following year. He was a fixture of Belarus’ teams at the World Juniors until the country was banned from international competition by the IIHF for its part in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – in fact, he was named the country’s top young player in 2021. His development has been a slow burn, but he had his first meaningful breakthrough in the 2023-24 season. After posting limited point totals in bottom-six jobs over the previous few years and struggling to stay in the lineup, he worked his way into a top-nine job with Dinamo with nine goals and 22 points in 43 games.

It was last season that Pinchuk began to take on star status in the KHL. Dinamo’s 39-21-8 record last season was its best in eight years, and Pinchuk finished second on the club with 25 goals and fifth with 43 points in 66 games. This season, the club is off to a torrid 13-5-3 start with Pinchuk clicking at a point per game, logging a 9-12–21 scoring line through 21 contests.

A point-per-game season in the more offensively conservative KHL is no small feat. Only three players hit the mark last season after seven achieved it in 2023-24. Keeping up that pace will be challenging for Pinchuk, but even still, he’s one of only 13 names with at least five games played at this point in the year to be at or above the mark.

Pinchuk turns 24 in January, so that will be his signing age if he inks an NHL contract next summer. That limits him to landing a one-year, entry-level contract that would make him a restricted free agent in 2027.

Hurricanes Activate K’Andre Miller From Injured Reserve

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After a two-and-a-half-week absence, K’Andre Miller is set to make his return to the Hurricanes lineup. The team announced that Miller has been reinstated from injured reserve today and will play tonight against the Wild.

Miller arrived in Carolina over the offseason to much fanfare, signing an eight-year, $60MM deal as part of a sign-and-trade with the Rangers. It’s a major bet on Miller’s upside by Carolina after he stagnated in a second-pairing role in New York over the past few years. The left-shot’s seven goals and 27 points last year were his lowest offensive outputs since his sophomore campaign in 2021-22, and he posted his second straight season with a sub-50 xGF% and only recorded 107 hits, down from the 150 range in the three years prior.

Early on, Miller delivered on the Hurricanes’ expectations. The 2018 No. 22 overall pick flourished in increased usage, averaging north of 23 minutes per game and delivering a pair of goals, four points, and a +1 rating in six outings before he sustained a lower-body injury against the Golden Knights on Oct. 20. That last outing was a tough one for him – he had a -3 rating in a 4-1 loss and he posted an xGF% of 39.3.

His return is incredibly welcome news for a team that’s played most of the last two weeks without three of their most well-regarded blue liners in him, Shayne Gostisbehere, and Jaccob Slavin. Slavin hasn’t played since sustaining a lower-body injury in the second game of the season and still doesn’t have a return on the horizon, while Gostisbehere is out indefinitely with an abdominal issue. He’s expected to skate in second-pairing duties tonight with Jalen Chatfield while rookie Alexander Nikishin gets to continue his strong play in top-pairing duties with Sean Walker.

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