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Wild Place Jonas Brodin On IR, Recall Carson Lambos

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The surging Minnesota Wild continue to be hit by the injury bug. The Wild announced that they’ve placed veteran defensemen Jonas Brodin on the injured reserve and have recalled defenseman Carson Lambos in a corresponding roster move.

Minnesota didn’t share the specific injury that Brodin is dealing with, though he’s already missed the Wild’s last three contests. Technically speaking, assuming that the IR placement is retroactive to Brodin’s most recent appearance on December 11th, he’ll be eligible to return on Saturday against the Edmonton Oilers. The belief is that he’s dealing with a lower-body issue, but he is only considered day-to-day.

Despite returning winger Marcus Foligno for last night’s win over the Washington Capitals, the Wild are dealing with multiple injuries across the active roster. Brodin joins Mats Zuccarello, Jacob Middleton, and Vinnie Hinostroza on Minnesota’s IR, while Marcus Johansson and Daemon Hunt are also on the shelf.

Regardless of the bruised and battered lineup, the Wild are enjoying one of their better stretches of the 2025-26 season. Winners of their last five in regulation, Minnesota is two wins away from matching its longest winning streak of the season. Dating back to November 1st, the Wild are 17-3-2 in their last 22 games.

Lambos, 22, will have the opportunity to make his NHL debut during his recall, though there’s no guarantee. Even without Brodin, Hunt, and Middleton, Minnesota has six other healthy defensemen on the roster. The former first-round pick is in his third professional campaign with the AHL’s Iowa Wild, scoring two goals and five points in 26 games to start the 2025-26 campaign.

Flyers’ Tyson Foerster Out Five Months

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Dec. 17th: It appears that Foerster’s original two-to-three-month recovery timeline was premature. The Flyers shared today that following further medical evaluation, Foerster underwent arm surgery and is now expected to miss the next five months. Unless Philadelphia makes a surprise run to the second round of the playoffs or the Eastern Conference Final, Foerster’s season is likely done.

Dec. 3rd: Flyers winger Tyson Foerster is expected to miss two to three months with the upper-body injury he sustained in last night’s loss to the Penguins, the team announced. As expected, the Flyers announced that they’ve placed Foerster on the injured reserve. The transaction opens up a spot on Philadelphia’s 23-man roster.

The news sidelines Foerster, who leads the Flyers with 10 goals in 21 games, through the Olympic break. It was a non-contact injury as Foerster appeared to hyperextend his right shoulder or otherwise injure the upper arm area while unloading a one-timer midway through the second period (video via Flyers Clips on X).

It’s been a rough ride for the 23-year-old over the past few months. His status for opening night was doubtful through much of training camp after he sustained an elbow injury while playing for Canada at the World Championship back in May. The procedure itself wasn’t expected to keep him out through the start of the season, but he developed a related infection that delayed his recovery. He ended up not missing any time but sustained a lower-body injury at the beginning of November that landed him on injured reserve and kept him out for four games.

This absence will be in the 30-game range, though. If he returns right at the two-month mark, he could technically get a few reps in before the Olympic break – the Flyers’ last game before the schedule pause is on Feb. 5. But in the likely event he’s out until Philly resumes play on Feb. 25 (or even later if he misses a full three months), he’ll be out for at least 31 contests.

Under new head coach Rick Tocchet, the Flyers have flexed a high-end defensive system and a breakout season between the pipes from free-agent pickup Daniel Vladař to a 14-8-3 record, good for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference at the time of writing. Their offensive output, however, ranks 26th in goals per game (2.76) and 29th in shots per game (24.8). Missing their best finisher in Foerster, who’s shooting at a 24.4% clip and also ranks fifth on the team in shots per game, threatens to sink those numbers even further.

Since arriving in the NHL in 2023, Foerster has quietly emerged as one of the league’s better young two-way wingers. The 2020 first-round pick is a career 15.9% shooter – right in range with names like Auston Matthews, Zach Hyman, and Elias Pettersson over the same span. He’s also averaged over 17 minutes per game, factors in on the Flyers’ second penalty kill unit, and consistently boasts above-average possession impacts. He’s been on a different level defensively this year, only on the ice for 0.88 goals against per 60 minutes at 5-on-5.

Fresh off signing a two-year, $7.5MM extension that looked to be one of the best value bets in the league this season, he’s now ticketed for an extended absence. As for who will be the beneficiary of his top-nine minutes, rookie Nikita Grebenkin is a solid bet to get the first crack. He’s already seen some elevation from his usual fourth-line duties, skating a handful of games alongside Noah Cates and Travis Konecny. The offensive production hasn’t quite arrived for the 22-year-old Russian, who’s notched one goal and three points through 16 games, but boasts solid possession numbers in his limited minutes and is worth a look higher up in the lineup.

With Foerster unavailable, the Flyers no longer have a healthy extra forward on their roster. With five games left on a six-game homestand, there likely isn’t much motivation to make a recall unless another injury occurs.

Atlantic Notes: Tuch, Sabres, Forsling, Bell

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Almost as soon as the Buffalo Sabres formally transitioned to a new regime led by Jarmo Kekäläinen, trade speculation had increased around winger Alex Tuch. On last night’s rendition of TSN’s OverDrive, the crew reported that Tuch is seeking a larger extension than what winger Adrian Kempe signed with the Los Angeles Kings.

Understandably, that report only served to increase speculation around the possibility of Tuch being moved from his hometown franchise by this year’s trade deadline. Michael Augello of The Hockey News believes that if the Sabres aren’t interested in going beyond an eight-year, $85MM ($10.625MM AAV) extension for Tuch, they should move on sooner rather than later.

In fairness, if that is where the market is at for top-six wingers, Kempe is the best comparable for Tuch to use. Each player is 29 years old and has averaged around 0.85 points per game since the 2021-22 campaign. Still, unless other moves are made, Buffalo will enter the summer months with just over $21MM in cap space, meaning if they gave Tuch what he wants, they would have already used more than half of their financial resources.

Other notes from the Atlantic Division:

  • Staying in Buffalo, on Monday’s episode of Oilersnation Everyday, David Pagnotta of TheFourthPeriod asserted that Kekäläinen wasn’t necessarily the Sabres’ first choice last summer. Pagnotta shared that Buffalo reached out to longtime front office leaders: Ken Holland and Lou Lamoriello. Obviously, neither executive moved forward with the Sabres, as Holland joined the Kings as Vice President and General Manager. At the same time, Lamoriello has yet to find a new job after being ousted by the New York Islanders.
  • According to George Richards of Florida Hockey Now, defenseman Gustav Forsling wasn’t on the ice with the Florida Panthers this morning for practice. The belief is that Forsling is nursing an arm or hand injury after blocking a shot during Monday’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Fortunately, given the line rushes the team was using, there’s no expectation that Forsling will be out long, if at all.
  • In the AHL, the Belleville Senators, affiliate of the Ottawa Senators, are making a move at head coach. TSN’s Bruce Garrioch reported that Belleville fired head coach David Bell and has promoted Andrew Campbell in the interim. Bell had been the Senators’ head coach for the last three years, managing a record of 83-69-12-8. The team didn’t qualify for the postseason last year and is currently in fifth place in the North Division.

Latest On Rasmus Andersson

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Dec. 17th: In a recent interview with Andrew Knoll of RG Media, Andersson admitted that it was he himself who spurned a lot of the interest in him dating back to last season. Knoll quoted Andersson saying, “There were some reports saying I only gave one choice, and that’s just not true. We spoke many times during the summer and obviously there was some interest from other teams. But I just wasn’t ready to sign, and I didn’t really want to sign a deal [at all] after how last year ended. That was the kicking point for the other teams, that they needed an extension, and I just wasn’t willing to go there.”

Additionally, in typical hockey fashion, Andersson expressed his desire to remain with the Flames instead of going elsewhere, saying, “I’m not really looking that deep yet. I’m trying to focus on the Flames. I hope I remain here this season, and then we’ll see what happens in the future. I don’t know what’s gonna happen in the future. So, I try to take it day by day and just enjoy every day as it comes. Every game in this league is a grind. You’ve gotta grind it out more nights than you’d think. And I love playing for the Flames. I always have, and I always will.”

Dec. 16th: The NHL trade market was re-ignited last week with the blockbuster trade of Quinn Hughes to the Minnesota Wild, but it wasn’t the only deal: the Edmonton Oilers and Pittsburgh Penguins swapped starting goalies as well. Now, it appears more significant trades could be coming. Insider Pierre LeBrun reported on TSN’s Insider Trading segment that in the aftermath of last week’s Hughes deal, “the Calgary Flames suddenly got more calls on Rasmus Andersson.”

That Andersson’s name is popping up in trade rumors is not a new development. Andersson was front-and-center in transaction-related reporting throughout the summer, and LeBrun even noted on TSN that the defenseman was nearly traded at last year’s deadline. Capable, proven top-four defensemen are a rare commodity in the NHL, and Andersson figures to be one of the few available for trade at this moment. As a result, interest in acquiring him is robust.

As far as which teams might be interested in trading for the Flames rearguard, LeBrun highlighted one key player in the trade talks: the Toronto Maple Leafs, whose hockey operations decision-making is led by former Flames GM Brad Treliving.

Andersson was drafted No. 53 overall by the Flames during Treliving’s tenure as general manager. His emergence into a two-way NHL force has made him one of the best draft picks from Treliving’s time as GM of the Flames.

Treliving is far from the first general manager to covet a former player after switching jobs, but it appears interest between Toronto and Andersson is mutual. LeBrun reported on TSN that “the Leafs would be one of the teams that perhaps Andersson would consider extending with” in the event that he is traded.

Should Andersson be dealt in a sign-and-trade transaction, similar to the way Noah Hanifin was traded from Calgary to the Vegas Golden Knights, the Flames figure to benefit from a stronger return package than if he was dealt as a rental. As a result, the Flames could have an increased level of motivation to deal Andersson to Toronto compared to another destination where he might not be as interested in re-signing.

Another factor in these reported trade talks between the two teams is the relationship between Treliving and current Flames GM Craig Conroy. Treliving was hired as Flames GM in April 2014, and shortly afterward, in June 2014, Conroy was promoted to assistant GM. Conroy was a key lieutenant for Treliving before succeeding him as Flames GM, and its possible their prior working relationship could make for an easier path to reaching an agreement on a trade for Andersson.

Taking a look at Toronto’s defensive depth chart, it’s no great mystery why they’d be interested in adding Andersson, even if there was no previous connection between their GM and the player. Andersson is the top right-handed defenseman currently available for trade, and the right side of Toronto’s defense has been ravaged by injuries. Chris Tanev remains out and it was reported on Dec. 2 that Brandon Carlo would miss “extended time.” Carlo hasn’t played since Nov. 13.

Toronto lined up tonight against the Chicago Blackhawks with left-handed Oliver Ekman-Larsson on the right side next to Morgan Rielly, journeyman Troy Stecher on the second pairing, and left-handed Henry Thrun on the right side of their third pairing. While Stecher has played well in Toronto, that’s hardly an ideal situation for a team that hopes to contend for a Stanley Cup to be in.

It’s fair to question whether Toronto would be best suited surrendering its top trade assets for a rental player when the club sits one point off of last place in the Eastern Conference. But while Toronto’s play hasn’t merited it to this point in 2025-26, the organization is likely still operating with the goal of winning a Stanley Cup on an immediate basis, and trading for Andersson would support that goal. Whether an Andersson trade would be enough to morph this year’s Maple Leafs into a true contender, though, is the key question.

Photos courtesy of Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Latest On Jarmo Kekalainen’s Sabres Plans

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The Buffalo Sabres made a significant change at the top of their hockey operations department yesterday, swapping incumbent GM Kevyn Adams for experienced former Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekäläinen. Kekäläinen spoke to the media today and outlined his vision for the Sabres, as well as how he plans on ending the franchise’s playoff drought, one that currently stands as the NHL’s longest.

Per Jeff Marek of Daily Faceoff, Kekäläinen did not offer a firm commitment to incumbent head coach Lindy Ruff, instead stating that all aspects of the club’s hockey operations — including its head coach — would need to be evaluated.

Ruff, 65, is currently in his second season of his second tenure as Sabres head coach, and his 17th season as the Sabres’ head coach overall. Ruff is the Sabres’ all-time winningest coach by a wide margin, his 621 career wins dwarfing second-place Scotty Bowman, who had 210 wins coaching the team in the 1980s.

When looking at Ruff’s second tenure as head coach of the Sabres, it’s difficult to speculate as to which direction Kekäläinen might go.

On one hand, Ruff failed to end the club’s playoff drought in 2024-25 and has the team currently sitting in last place in the Atlantic Division. On the other hand, there were larger personnel issues out of Ruff’s control that contributed to the losing the Sabres have experienced, as indicated by the fact that Ruff has retained his position while Adams lost his.

In addition, Ruff’s Sabres are just six points behind the Boston Bruins for the second Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference, and hold a game in hand. It’s not inconceivable that the Sabres could go on a run and find their way into the postseason as soon as this spring, especially given how wide open the Eastern Conference’s playoff picture appears right now. That’s a sentiment Kekäläinen appeared to echo in his media availability, stating his belief that the Sabres could be a playoff team this season.

Beyond just the decision Kekäläinen has to make behind the Sabres’ bench, there are even more changes the new GM might make to the club’s overall hockey operations infrastructure. While Kekäläinen was running the Blue Jackets, the club drew widespread praise for its work in amateur scouting. Kekäläinen has long brought a specialization in talent identification to the table, which raises questions as to what Kekäläinen might want to do with the Sabres’ scouting staff. While a GM often receives the lion’s share of public credit or blame for their team’s draft choices, the reality is that there are lesser-known figures in a team’s front office that play a massive role in informing those draft choices as well, the chief figure being a team’s director of amateur scouting.

Kekäläinen himself served in that role earlier in his career, during his days with the St. Louis Blues, and when he was in Columbus, he brought along one of his trusted scouts, Ville Sirén, to operate as director of amateur scouting in Columbus. It’s entirely possible that Kekäläinen might try to see if he can bring Sirén into the fold in Buffalo, restoring a partnership that has worked so well in the past. The Sabres’ amateur scouting operation is currently run by Jerry Forton, who took up the position of director of amateur scouting in 2020-21.

He was promoted to assistant GM by Adams in 2024-25. Sirén does, of course, still work for the Blue Jackets, so right now it’s entirely speculative as to whether Kekäläinen might want to bring his old lieutenant to Buffalo, but it’s nonetheless worth bringing up as it relates to Kekäläinen’s future plans.

Kekäläinen might also, as part of the evaluations he’s pledged of the team’s operations, decide to retain Forton and keep much of the team’s amateur scouting staff intact. For all of the issues the Sabres have had in recent years, getting talent out of the draft has not been one of them. And it’s also not a foregone conclusion that if Kekäläinen were to want to bring Sirén to Buffalo, that would have to mean an exit for Forton; there is some precedent in the NHL for an incoming GM to bring in “his people” while also retaining the existing leadership.

When the Montreal Canadiens hired former New York Rangers GM Jeff Gorton to run their hockey operations department in 2021, he brought Nick Bobrov with him, someone who had served in a key scouting role during Gorton’s days with the Rangers. But Gorton also retained Martin Lapointe, a key existing voice in the team’s scouting department from the reign of former GM Marc Bergevin, and he now serves alongside Bobrov as co-director of amateur scouting. So it’s also possible Kekäläinen explores trying to add Sirén while also retaining Forton.

Fundamentally, the Sabres’ GM change has opened up a wide range of possibilities for its hockey operations department. When senior leadership changes, a trickle-down effect of changes typically follows, so it will be interesting to track what further staffing moves Kekäläinen makes, and how those moves might also impact other clubs.

Photos courtesy of James Carey Lauder-Imagn Images

Sharks Notes: Smith, Kurashev, Mukhamadullin, Gaudette

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The San Jose Sharks have played themselves into contention for a playoff spot this season, their biggest concrete step forward in the standings since their rebuild began at the start of the decade. A key member of the team powering their ascent is 2023 No. 4 overall pick Will Smith. Unfortunately for the Sharks, Smith was injured Saturday in the team’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, and is now set to miss at least a week, according to Sharks Hockey Digest’s Max Miller. Per Miller, Smith will be re-evaluated on Monday.

The loss of Smith is not only a blow due to the fact that the Sharks are losing what Smith himself provides on the ice; it’s also a loss due to his chemistry with franchise face Macklin Celebrini, chemistry that won’t be easily replicated by another player. Smith has scored 29 points in 33 games so far in 2025-26, and is emerging as a legitimate star forward. The Sharks are set to play their first game since losing Smith tonight against the Flames. It appears Smith’s spot on the team’s first line alongside Celebrini will be taken by 2024 No. 33 overall pick Igor Chernyshov, who will make his NHL debut tonight.

Other notes from the Bay Area:

  • Miller also reported that veteran forward Philipp Kurashev, who was also injured Saturday against Pittsburgh, will be out on a week-to-week basis. It’s a tough break for Kurashev, who was in the midst of a solid bounce-back season. After scoring 18 goals and 54 points playing alongside Connor Bedard with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2023-24, Kurashev only managed 14 points in 51 games in 2024-25, paving the way for his exit from the Windy City. The Sharks signed Kurashev and he has rewarded them by scoring 15 points in 31 games, a 40-point full-season scoring pace. A pending arbitration-eligible restricted free agent, Kurashev will hope to recover as quickly and completely as possible in order to resume his season in the best fashion possible.
  • Sharks blueliner Shakir Mukhamadullin is back in the lineup tonight, according to San Jose Hockey Now’s Sheng Peng, after missing Saturday’s game due to injury. Mukhamadullin has been managing an upper-body injury, and has missed five of the last six Sharks games. He’s slated to play on San Jose’s third pairing tonight alongside former Washington Capital Vincent Iorio. In 15 games this season, Mukhamadullin is averaging 16:32 time on ice per game including a role on the club’s penalty kill.
  • Veteran forward Adam Gaudette won’t play against the Flames tonight as he’s day-to-day with a lower-body injury, per Miller. Gaudette missed a few games earlier this season with an upper-body injury but has otherwise had a healthy, reasonably productive debut campaign in the Bay Area. The 29-year-old was signed by the Sharks off the back of his 19-goal season with the Ottawa Senators in 2024-25, and he’s under contract at a $2MM AAV through next season. He’s scored 11 points in 29 games this year. Gaudette played fourth-line center with some power play time on Saturday, and his role now appears likely to be filled in his absence by fellow former Senator Zack Ostapchuk.

Minnesota Wild Activate Marcus Foligno, Reassign Hunter Haight

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Earlier today, the Minnesota Wild made their activation of veteran winger Marcus Foligno from injured reserve official, and reassigned Hunter Haight to their AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild.

Foligno, 34, hasn’t played since Nov. 26 due to a lower-body injury, an injury that ultimately cost him nine games. Foligno is a key defensive forward and off-ice leader for the Wild, someone who provides value to head coach John Hynes even when he’s not producing. That’s been the case this season, as Foligno has just two assists and no goals in 23 games played. He managed 14 goals and 29 points last season, but that offense has seemingly dried up this year.

Foligno is still the Wild’s No. 4 penalty-killing forward in terms of ice time this season, behind Matt Boldy, Nico Sturm, and Joel Eriksson Ek. His return will give the Wild’s penalty kill a much-needed boost, as despite the team’s incredible run of form, their penalty kill only ranks 22nd in the NHL in success rate. Getting Foligno back should help increase that number, even if it may come at the cost of some offensive production.

Now healthy and back in the lineup, the clear mandate for Foligno, beyond just maintaining his level of consistency as a defensive forward, will be finding ways to get back onto the scoresheet with a little bit more regularity. While he could certainly maintain his lineup spot as a leader and pure defensive specialist, the level of investment the Wild have in him changes the expectations surrounding his play.

He’s set to cost the club $4MM against the cap through 2027-28, and at that rate, the Wild are likely looking for a level of production more in line with last season’s numbers. The Wild are unlikely to expect Foligno to do much offensive heavy lifting, but he’s capable of being a more impactful secondary scorer than he’s been so far in 2025-26.

Foligno’s return cost Haight his spot on the NHL roster, but that’s not a massive surprise as Haight has been shuffled between Iowa and Minnesota quite a few times this season.

The 2022 second-round pick has scored five goals and six points in 16 AHL games this season and has dressed for two NHL games, though the most recent was on Oct. 11. Haight’s contract carries a two-way structure with an $800K NHL salary and $82.5K AHL salary. While he didn’t play any games on his most recent recall, his time on the NHL roster did have a notable financial benefit.

Buffalo Sabres Reassign Isak Rosen

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The Buffalo Sabres announced today that forward Isak Rosén has been reassigned to the club’s AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans. The move ends a recall for Rosén that began on Dec. 9, when the club placed veteran forward Jason Zucker on IR.

Zucker remains on IR, has missed three consecutive games and figures to remain sidelined for the foreseeable future. Rosén’s recall consisted of three games, two where he was a part of head coach Lindy Ruff’s lineup and one where he served as a healthy scratch. In the two games he played, Rosén wasn’t able to land on the scoresheet and played around nine minutes per night in each game. The Sabres went 3-0-0 with Rosén on their roster during this recall.

There was some hope when Rosén was recalled that he’d get the chance to play a scoring-line role and fill some of the minutes vacated by Zucker after the veteran’s injury. A 2021 first-round pick, Rosén has been under increased pressure to finally break into the NHL on a full-time basis.

Of the 30 skaters drafted in the first round of the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, Rosén is tied for 25th in terms of career NHL games played. He remains highly regarded in the eyes of most public-facing prospect evaluators, but those same voices would also likely concede that for him to achieve his full potential as a future NHL scoring-line player, he’ll need to find his footing at the NHL level sooner rather than later.

Rosén wasn’t able to do so during this most recent recall. Rosén played on the Sabres’ third line during this recall, skating alongside Ryan McLeod and Jack Quinn. Both McLeod and Quinn are on pace to clear the 40-point plateau by the end of the season and the pair scored 53 points and 39 points last season, respectively. While playing on that line wasn’t exactly the top-line opportunity some were hoping Rosén would receive, that’s hardly an unfriendly environment to be playing in for a player seeking to build confidence and momentum as an NHL scorer.

But Rosén wasn’t able to make his presence felt in a tangible way, and by the time the club traveled to Seattle to take on the Kraken, Rosén had lost his spot in the lineup.

Rosén’s third-line role was taken by Zach Benson against the Kraken, and Benson’s vacated second-line left wing role, the kind of top-six deployment many coveted for Rosén, went to 2022 first-rounder Noah Ostlund. Ostlund scored his fourth goal of the season in Seattle as the Sabres managed a 3-1 win.

While it would be a mistake to assign too much long-term weight to this most recent call-up, it’s certainly not a great sign for Rosén that he lost his spot on the Sabres’ NHL roster so quickly, and wasn’t able to capitalize on the opportunity provided to him by Zucker’s injury.

While Rosén could very well still become an impactful NHL scoring winger, and his AHL strong AHL scoring suggests there’s still quite a bit of upside in his game, each passing unsuccessful recall raises more and more questions as to whether Buffalo is the place where Rosén will be best positioned to achieve his original NHL projection.

Philadelphia Flyers Activate Rasmus Ristolainen, Reassign Ty Murchison

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The Philadelphia Flyers announced today that defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen has been activated from injured reserve. In a corresponding move, the club announced that defenseman Ty Murchison has been reassigned to the team’s AHL affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

Ristolainen’s activation places him in position to make his season debut tonight against the Montreal Canadiens. Ristolainen underwent right triceps surgery in the spring, a procedure that cost him all 31 games of the Flyers’ season so far. His return bolsters the right side of the Flyers’ defense to a significant degree, assuming he is able to hit the ground running after such a lengthy absence.

Once a player whose play drew a significant amount of criticism during his days with the Buffalo Sabres, Ristolainen has definitely raised his stock as a member of the Flyers, especially recently. He was Philadelphia’s No. 2 defenseman in terms of ice time last season, skating over 20 minutes per night including steady time on both sides of special teams.

The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jackie Spiegel reported today that Ristolainen is set to take up a spot tonight on the team’s third pairing, partnering with veteran Nick Seeler.

As a result of Ristolainen’s return, Murchison has been returned to the AHL. The move ends what was the 22-year-old 2021 fifth-round pick’s first recall to the NHL. He was able to make his NHL debut on Dec. 9 and ended up playing in three games for the Flyers. He didn’t register a point but did manage five hits and two blocked shots.

Latest On Simon Nemec, Brett Pesce

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The New Jersey Devils are among the NHL’s most injured teams at this stage of the 2025-26 campaign, and their bad luck with injuries is only set to continue. Team reporter Amanda Stein relayed word today from Devils practice that defenseman Simon Nemec will be out until at least the holiday break.

Head coach Sheldon Keefe said, per Stein, that the team will have a better idea of Nemec’s recovery in two weeks, and will be able to determine what the next step is for him at that point. Nemec suffered a lower-body injury during practice on Friday and has missed back-to-back games for the Devils.

This development throws a bit of a wrench into what has been a breakout campaign for Nemec, the 2022 No. 2 overall pick. Nemec was a dynamic prospect during his draft year and played quite well at the AHL level, but took a little bit longer than some of his peers from his draft class to find his footing at the NHL level.

While the other top-five picks from the 2022 draft (Montreal’s Juraj Slafkovsky, Utah’s Logan Cooley, Seattle’s Shane Wright, and Anaheim’s Cutter Gauthier) had each managed to break into the NHL and establish themselves in meaningful scoring roles in 2023-24 and 2024-25, Nemec’s NHL role appeared to decline after his rookie campaign.

He skated in 60 NHL games in 2023-24, but only got into 27 games at the NHL level in 2024-25. His total of AHL games played consequently rose from 13 to 34 year-over-year.

While Nemec was spending most of last season back in the AHL, Slafkovsky was putting together his second consecutive 50-point season, Cooley was emerging as a star in Utah, and both Wright and Gauthier managed solid 44-point rookie campaigns.

Fans naturally compared Nemec to his peers from that draft class, and many considered his level of progress, which appeared slower than his peers, to be a matter of concern. But that level of concern wasn’t entirely fair, as defensemen often take a little longer than forwards to come into their own at the NHL level.

It could have hardly come as a surprise to Devils management, for example, that Nemec wouldn’t have his NHL breakout at exactly the same time as the forwards drafted near him. And so far in 2025-26, all Nemec has done is put together the same kind of breakout campaign his peers managed last year.

Nemec has 18 points through 31 games this season, a 48-point full-season pace. He’s been the Devils’ No. 3 defenseman in terms of ice time this season, and is also finding his way onto the team’s power play despite the presence of Dougie Hamilton and Luke Hughes already on the Devils’ roster.

In other words, the Nemec the Devils have received this season has been exactly the kind of dynamic, two-way force the team believed they’d get when they invested the No. 2 overall pick in him. That’s what makes Nemec’s new injury such an unfortunate development, as it puts a halt on Nemec’s breakout season for at least the next two weeks.

Thankfully for New Jersey, while they’re losing Nemec to a new injury, a key veteran right-shot defenseman appears to be nearing a return from injury: Brett Pesce. Stein reported today that Pesce participated in Devils practice and will travel with the team for their upcoming road trip. While Pesce, 31, doesn’t offer the same level of offensive ability Nemec brings to the table, he does offer a shutdown element to his game that this current Devils lineup is badly missing.

Pesce led all Devils blueliners in time-on-ice per game last season and his quality performances as a defensive defenseman more than made up for the Devils’ hefty investment in him. Pesce is under contract at a $5.5MM AAV through 2029-30, and his imminent return should soften the blow of losing Nemec and allow the Devils to remain competitive in what has been a hotly contested Metropolitan Division playoff race.

Photos courtesy Ed Mulholland-Imagn Images

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