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Sharks Activate Ryan Reaves, Place William Eklund On IR

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The San Jose Sharks have placed top winger William Eklund on injured reserve, retroactive to his last game on November 1st, per Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News. Eklund will be forced to miss Saturday’s matchup against the Florida Panthers, but he could be activated before the team’s next game on Tuesday.

This move opens the roster space needed to activate Ryan Reaves off of IR without having to reassign Zack Ostapchuk. Reaves has missed the last four games with a lower-body injury sustained on October 28th. He returned to the lineup on Saturday.

Reaves has continued his role of fourth-line enforcer through his 16th year in the NHL. He has two goals and two fights, while averaging fewer than seven minutes a night, through 11 games this season. He has been a welcome veteran presence to a young Sharks squad, but also stands as a barrier to the lineup for many top prospects.

Reaves is the fifth-oldest player in the NHL this season. His lack of career scoring glares around company like Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby at the top of the NHL’s age chart. Despite that, Reaves expressed interest in continuing his career through his age-40 season on the latest Spittin’ Chiclets episode. One more year would give Reaves a chance to reach 1,000 games – a mark that would be particularly impressive for the pure enforcer. He is currently 77 games away from the feat.

San Jose won’t let that pursuit interfere with Eklund’s return to the lineup once he’s back to full health. The 2021 seventh-overall pick has emerged as a fixture of the Sharks’ top line, and reached 41 assists and 58 points in his first season next to Macklin Celebrini last year. He scored 11 points in 12 games to start this season, before falling to injury. The Sharks offense has taken off while Eklund has been out, and could improve even further with his return. San Jose will have to decide who to scratch between Reaves and Ethan Cardwell when Eklund returns.

Former Flyers Center Mel Bridgman Passes Away At 70

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Former Philadelphia Flyers centerman and general manager of the 1992 Ottawa Senators, Mel Bridgman, has passed away at the age of 70. Bridgman was the first-overall selection in the 1975 NHL Amateur Draft. He played through 14 seasons in the NHL, then returned to school to support a front office career with the Senators.

Philadelphia drafted Bridgman on the heels of the Broad Street Bullies era. Coming off of back-to-back Stanley Cup championships, the Flyers managed to acquire the first-overall pick from the Washington Capitals in exchange for Bill Clement, Don McLean, and a later first round pick. Naturally, the Flyers took a player that fit right in with their gritty style. Bridgman was coming off a 157-point season in the WCHL, the predecessor to the modern WHL. He didn’t keep quite that spark in the NHL, but still put together a solid rookie year, with 50 points and 86 penalty minutes in 80 games. That presence helped Bridgman climb into a major role with the Flyers at only 20-years-old, and earned him a fifth-place finish in 1976 Calder Trophy voting.

Bridgman found his groove as a hard-nosed grinder over the next five seasons. He became the seventh Flyer to cross the mark of 200 penalty minutes when he reached 203 PIMs in the 1997-78 season. He continued to rival that mark through 1981, all while routinely rivaling 50-to-60 points. Bridgman reached his scoring peak in the 1981-82 season, though the bulk of his points would come with the Calgary Flames, after a contentious November trade swapped him for Brad Marsh. Bridgman put up 75 points and 94 penalty minutes in 63 games with Calgary, bringing him up to a year-long total of 87 points and 141 penalty minutes after nine games with Philadelphia to start the season.

His scoring fell back to normal in the following year, prompting a move to the New Jersey Devils in 1983. Bridgman, once Philadelphia’s captain for three years, took on the Devils’ captaincy and led the team in scoring (61 points) in the 1984-85 season. He continued to wear the ’C’ until being traded to the Detroit Red Wings at the 1987 Trade Deadline. Bridgman continued his career for two more years, and retired with the Vancouver Canucks in 1989.

Soon after ending his playing days, the well-known Bridgman was named GM of a 1992 expansion team, the revitalized Ottawa Senators. He brought in eight-year pro John Ferguson as his Director of Player Personnel, and built a Senators squad headlined by Peter Sidorkiewicz, Norm Maciver, and Brad Shaw. The team ranked dead-last in scoring in their inagural season, leading to an attempt to spur the offense with Alexei Yashin and Alexandre Daigle, the second-overall pick in 1992 and first-overall pick in 1993 respectively. The duo led the Senators in scoring as rookies, but failed to pull Ottawa from the league’s depths, prompting Bridgman to launch a flurry of roster transactions that would end with his firing at the end of the 1992-93 season.

Bridgman stepped away from the NHL following his ousting in Ottawa. To some, he’s remembered as a great Flyer who led the team through the first years after their dynasty era. To others, he’s among the most imposing players of the NHL’s most physical era, as described by Mike Bossy in his biography and NHL Player’s Tribune letter. Bridgman’s tenure in the NHL often sparked controversy, but was never short of action. He was tapped to lead clubs through dark times, as a player and manager, and did both with breakneck pace. Pro Hockey Rumors sends condolences to Bridgman’s family, friends, and fans.

Pacific Injury Updates: Ducks, Flames, Oilers, Canucks

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The early-season brilliance of the Anaheim Ducks has been one of the defining storylines of this young 2025-26 season so far, and it appears today that they will soon get some reinforcements in the form of veterans returning from injury. Per The Hockey News’ Derek Lee, Ducks head coach Joel Quenneville said today that veterans Ryan Strome, Mikael Granlund, and Radko Gudas are each getting very close to returning to the ice from their respective injuries.

Gudas hasn’t played since Oct. 23 due to a lower-body injury, while Granlund has been out since Oct. 25 with his own lower-body injury. Strome hasn’t played yet this season due to an upper-body injury, but Quenneville said he’s “very close to consideration” to play in tomorrow’s game against the Winnipeg Jets. All the Ducks have done despite the absence of those key veterans is win. Powered by a young core including breakout sensation Leo Carlsson, the Ducks have put together a five-game winning streak. Getting back Strome, who scored 41 points last season, alongside Granlund, who has eight points in eight games, should only further bolster what has been the league’s most lethal attack in 2025-26. The return of Gudas is unlikely to help in terms of scoring, but will provide the team with even more physicality on defense as well as useful veteran insulation for the club’s stable of still-developing young blueliners.

Other injury updates from the Pacific Division:

  • Flames Nation’s Ryan Pike relayed two injury updates from Calgary Flames head coach Ryan Huska today: defenseman Kevin Bahl, who is dealing with an undisclosed injury, may return against the Minnesota Wild tomorrow, while forward Martin Pospisil’s absence due to an upper-body injury is “still going to be a while.” Bahl, who this season signed a $5.5MM AAV extension to remain in Calgary, missed the team’s game Friday against the Chicago Blackhawks. Pospisil has been out for far longer; he has yet to make his season debut in 2025-26.
  • The Edmonton Oilers have a few injury updates of their own, courtesy of Oilers TV host Tony Brar. Mattias Janmark is reportedly “very close” to returning from his injury, one that has kept him from making his season debut in 2025-26. In addition, Zach Hyman is nearing a return to the ice, it’s likely to be within the next week and could come as early as Monday. Like Janmark, Hyman also has not yet played in the 2025-26 season. Both players play regular roles in Edmonton. Hyman is a key goal scorer and offensive contributor (he scored 54 goals in 2023-24 and had 27 last season) while Janmark is a steady, reliable bottom-six winger who plays a regular role on the team’s penalty kill. The Oilers’ penalty kill currently ranks No. 15 in the NHL, so the return of Janmark could help the unit achieve a notable boost in efficiency.
  • The Vancouver Canucks are likely to benefit from the return from injury of two forwards, Jonathan Lekkerimaki and Teddy Blueger, Patrick Johnston of The Province reported today. Lekkerimaki, 21, hasn’t played since Oct. 19, and has one goal in four games this season. Blueger has also not played since Oct. 19, and also has one goal to his name. The return of Blueger in particular should help the Canucks. The 31-year-old veteran center ranked second among forwards on the team in short-handed ice time per game last season, and the forward who ranked No. 1, Pius Suter, now plays for the St. Louis Blues. Seeing as the Canucks penalty kill currently ranks second to last in the NHL, getting a key contributor back from injury is surely a positive development for their hopes of improving in that area.

Flames Recall Daniil Miromanov, Place Zayne Parekh On IR

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6:00 p.m.: Huska provided some more clarity regarding Parekh’s timeline today, according to Flames Nation’s Ryan Pike. Huska told the media that Parekh’s injury is considered “week-to-week.” Pike also noted that while Parekh is on injured reserve, games played by the Flames will still “count” for Parekh regarding the 40-game threshold that would see him accrue a year of service time towards unrestricted free agency.

While there’s still a long way to go before the Flames have to begin seriously thinking about any looming UFA status for Parekh, who is just 19 years old, Parekh’s UFA timeline could come into play in future extension talks. It is generally viewed as more expensive for a team to sign a contract covering a year where a player would be eligible for unrestricted free agency compared to restricted free agency. As a result, even though any unrestricted free agency for the player seems to be far away at this point, it is still an aspect of this injury news that is notable.

11:57 a.m.: After losing defenseman Zayne Parekh to an upper-body injury last night against Chicago, the Flames are bringing up a replacement for him.  The team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled blueliner Daniil Miromanov from AHL Calgary.  To make room on the roster, Parekh was placed on injured reserve.

Miromanov broke camp with the Flames but playing time was rather difficult to come by as he was in the number eight role.  As a result, he was placed on waivers a little under three weeks ago and after clearing, he was sent to the Wranglers.  In seven games with them so far, the 28-year-old has done relatively well, picking up a goal and three assists.

Miromanov has 94 career NHL games under his belt, one coming this season.  He got into a career-best 44 games with the Flames in 2024-25 where he had nine points and 55 blocked shots while averaging 17:41 per night.  In the final season of a two-year, $2.5MM deal, he’s slated to become an unrestricted free agent this summer and might be staring down a possible salary reduction.

As for Parekh, head coach Ryan Huska told reporters postgame including Postmedia’s Daniel Austin that the rookie was set to miss some time, even though they don’t yet know the full extent of the injury.  With this placement, he’ll be out for at least one week.  Parekh recently officially began the first season of his entry-level contract once he eclipsed the nine-game mark and has one assist in 11 outings in 2025-26 while playing a little under 15 minutes a night.

Atlantic Injury Updates: Bruins, Cirelli, Tanev

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Several updates on the availability of their players have been reported today, namely Charlie McAvoy, Casey Mittelstadt, and John Beecher. Per The Athletic’s Fluto Shinzawa, the Bruins’ top defenseman McAvoy did not travel with the team due to a personal matter, while Mittelstadt did not travel due to an upper-body injury. In addition, team reporter Belle Fraser reported today that Beecher is out with his own upper-body injury.

These injuries have left the Bruins in a somewhat precarious position entering their game tonight against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Bruins were already dealing with an injury to top center Elias Lindholm, who was later placed on injured reserve. According to Fraser, veteran Jeffrey Viel will replace Beecher on the Bruins’ fourth line, while Alex Steeves, who was recalled today from AHL Providence, will play on the team’s second line, the one centered by Pavel Zacha. Due to McAvoy’s absence, defenseman Mason Lohrei, a healthy scratch for the last five games, will draw back into the lineup. The Bruins are on a five-game winning streak, but these injuries are likely to test the sustainability of the club’s winning ways.

Other injury notes from the Atlantic Division:

  • The Tampa Bay Lightning will be without center Anthony Cirelli for tonight’s game against the Washington Capitals, relays Lightning team reporter Benjamin Pierce. Cirelli is managing an injury, one that caused him to leave Tampa’s last game early. Head coach Jon Cooper did note that the club is hopeful Cirelli will be able to return in time for the Lightning’s game against the New York Rangers on Wednesday, Nov. 12. Cirelli is a key two-way center for the Lightning, scoring seven goals and 11 points in 14 games so far in 2025-26 while also occupying a role on Tampa’s top penalty-kill unit. In part due to Cirelli’s strong defensive abilities, the Lightning have managed to kill penalties at a 89.4% rate so far this year, good for fourth-best in the NHL.
  • There was an encouraging development coming out of Toronto today as Maple Leafs defenseman Chris Tanev was spotted skating for the first time since he was stretchered off the ice during the team’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers on Nov. 2. (Report via TSN’s Mark Masters) While there have not been any additional specifics on a recovery timeline for Tanev, the mere fact that he’s back on the ice so soon after the injury scare he suffered has to be seen as a positive sign for his readiness to play. Tanev, who has dealt with concussions in the past in his career, is a key defensive defenseman for the Maple Leafs and has averaged 17:20 time-on-ice per game this season, including 2:40 per game on the penalty kill.

Florida Panthers’ Jonah Gadjovich To Undergo Surgery, Will Miss Three Months

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Florida Panthers forward Jonah Gadjovich will undergo surgery as part of his recovery from his upper-body injury suffered on Oct. 25 against the Vegas Golden Knights, relays Katie Engleson, the Panthers’ rinkside reporter.

It’s a tough break for Gadjovich, who had played in all 10 of the Panthers’ games leading up to his injury. Gadjovich skated in just 42 regular-season games in 2024-25, but the injuries the Panthers have already suffered up front looked to have paved the way for Gadjovich to play a more regular role in 2025-26. Now, due to this injury, he’ll miss that opportunity to get to play NHL games on a more regular basis than he has had in the past.

The 27-year-old has been part of the Panthers’ back-to-back Stanley Cup championship teams, originally arriving in the organization on an AHL contract before he was signed to a full NHL deal.

He subsequently earned a two-year, one-way league minimum extension, and signed an additional two-year, one-way $905K AAV contract extension on Oct. 12. That deal included a $10K signing bonus for its first year, the first signing bonus Gadjovich has received since the standard bonuses included in his entry-level contract.

A grinder by trade, the 6’3″ winger ranks last in time-on-ice per game among all Panthers forwards this season, averaging under eight minutes per contest with no special-teams usage. He does have three assists, though, and despite his limited ice time ranks fourth among Panthers forwards in hits with 30.

Gadjovich provides a relentless, physical element to the Panthers’ fourth line, one they’ll now have to be without for the next few months. In Gadjovich’s vacated fourth-line right-wing spot, the Panthers have played forward Noah Gregor. Gregor is playing just about the same amount of ice time, although the Panthers did utilize him on the penalty kill on Oct. 28 and Nov. 4.

This unfortunate injury suffered by Gadjovich does have potentially significant implications for Gregor. The 27-year-old entered the season on a PTO, and parlayed that into a one-year, two-way deal carrying a $775K NHL value and $450K AHL salary. With Gadjovich, who is Gregor’s primary competitor for NHL ice time, now sidelined for a few months, Gregor has a clear chance to play regular NHL games for the Panthers.

With that opportunity, Gregor, who has not played in the AHL since 2021, could very well earn the right to remain an NHL player for another season. By putting forward solid performances in this fourth-line NHL role, he could even position himself to once again receive a one-way contract next season. Gregor played on one-way deals from 2022-23 through 2024-25.

The Panthers have struggled with significant injuries in 2025-26, and have not looked nearly as dominant so far as a result. The loss of Gadjovich is a far more manageable one for the team to absorb compared to the injuries suffered by Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk, but this is nonetheless an unfortunate development for a team that is badly in need of some positive luck when it comes to injuries.

Photos courtesy of Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

Los Angeles Kings To Activate Warren Foegele

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The Los Angeles Kings will activate forward Warren Foegele off of injured reserve tomorrow, team reporter Zach Dooley revealed today. Dooley also shared that Foegele says he’s “feeling really good” after missing almost two weeks with an upper-body injury. The Kings have an open spot on their active roster, so the Kings are not under any pressure to make an immediate corresponding roster move.

The 29-year-old winger hasn’t played since he suffered his injury early in the Kings’ Oct. 26 road win over the Chicago Blackhawks. Although Foegele had been playing a solid third-line left wing role alongside Phillip Danault and Trevor Moore, he had struggled to find the scoresheet through ten games of the season. He has just one point to his name in 2025-26, a notably slow start for a player who set career highs in goals (24) and points (46) last season.

With scorer Andrei Kuzmenko now occupying Foegele’s former lineup spot, Dooley reports that Foegele is “expected” to return to the lineup on the Kings’ fourth line alongside Corey Perry and Alex Turcotte. If that ends up being the case, undrafted veteran forward Jeff Malott appears set to become a healthy scratch.

The 6’5″ winger earned an NHL role after a strong 2024-25 with the AHL’s Ontario Reign (he had 23 goals, 51 points in 61 games) but has just two points through 13 NHL games this season and is averaging under eight minutes of ice time per game, with zero penalty-kill contributions.

Even if Foegele isn’t scoring, the penalty kill is where he can still make valuable contributions to the Kings’ overall efforts to win games. He ranked fourth among Kings forwards in short-handed ice time per game in 2024-25, helping the Kings to a No. 8 finish in the league’s overall penalty kill success rate standings.

With Los Angeles looking to claw its way to the top of a hotly-contested Pacific Division, Foegele’s return from injury is a helpful development, further fortifying the team’s bottom-six.

Seattle Kraken To Activate Ryker Evans

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The Seattle Kraken have activated defenseman Ryker Evans off injured reserve today, per an official announcement. They also placed netminder Joey Daccord on injured reserve in a corresponding move.

Daccord sustained an upper-body injury in the team’s loss on Nov. 5, and will now be out at least a week due to this IR placement. The Kraken have carried three goalies on their roster this season, so they are uniquely prepared to absorb Daccord’s absence. While he recovers from his injury, the Kraken will rely on a pair of veterans: Philipp Grubauer and Matt Murray.

A one-time Vezina Trophy finalist, Grubauer has struggled immensely in Seattle, and has played in just two games so far this season. Murray, 31, is a two-time Stanley Cup champion who has also played in just two games this year, posting a .889 save percentage. Murray is playing out a one-year, $1MM deal while Grubauer has an additional season remaining on the six-year, $5.9MM AAV deal he signed in 2021.

As for Evans, this activation lines him up to play his first game of the 2025-26 season. He’s been out since the preseason with an upper-body injury. The 23-year-old 2021 second-round pick broke into the NHL as a full-time player in 2024-25. He got a run of 36 games in 2023-24, scoring just nine points despite playing nearly two minutes of ice time on the power play per game.

The Kraken’s signing of Brandon Montour from the Florida Panthers knocked Evans off of the Kraken power play, but he nonetheless managed a solid first season in the NHL, scoring 25 points in 73 games.

With Montour and Vince Dunn set to man the Kraken’s top power play units for the foreseeable future, Evans will have to find a way to maximize his effectiveness at even strength. That’s especially true seeing as his impact on the penalty kill last season was limited.

As for where he could slot into the Kraken lineup, the clearest opening would be for Evans to unseat 27-year-old Josh Mahura on the team’s third pairing. Mahura, who is also a left-shot defenseman, has two points in 13 games this season and is averaging 15:10 time-on-ice per game.

Zachary L’Heureux To Miss Four To Six Weeks

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Things were looking up were Predators winger Zachary L’Heureux earlier this week.  He was recalled from the minors on Tuesday although he didn’t see any game action.  It turns out he won’t be playing anytime soon as the team announced (Twitter link) that he will miss the next four to six weeks due to a lower-body injury.

The 22-year-old spent most of last season with Nashville as an early-season recall following a strong start with AHL Milwaukee turned into a permanent promotion.  L’Heureux wound up playing in 62 games in his freshman NHL year, picking up five goals and ten assists along with 198 hits in just over 12 minutes a night of action, becoming a key part of their physical bottom six.

With that in mind, it was expected that L’Heureux would break camp with the Predators and pick up where he left off.  However, he only played in two preseason games and then was sent to the Admirals at the end of training camp, becoming a somewhat surprising training camp cut.  He did well in the early going with Milwaukee though, collecting four goals and two assists in seven games to earn his promotion.

L’Heureux is in the final season of his entry-level contract and was hoping for a strong platform year to give him a sizable raise from his current $863K AAV.  Instead, he’ll wind up going without any NHL action for more than two months which is hardly the outcome he or the Predators were hoping for.

Capitals Activate Ethen Frank, Assign Spencer Smallman To AHL

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The Capitals have made a pair of roster moves heading into tonight’s game against Tampa Bay.  The team announced that they have activated winger Ethen Frank off injured reserve.  To make room on the roster, forward Spencer Smallman has been sent back to AHL Hershey.

Frank didn’t make Washington’s roster out of training camp but was recalled less than two weeks into the season.  However, the 27-year-old sustained an upper-body injury in his third game of the year, landing on IR soon after.  Frank has an assist in those three outings to go along with four goals and three assists in 24 games with the Caps last season in his first taste of NHL action.  He also had two goals and three helpers with the Bears prior to his recall.

As for Smallman, the 29-year-old received the first recall of his career last weekend.  However, he will have to continue to wait to make his NHL debut as he was the reserve forward for Washington while on recall.  Smallman had two goals and an assist in six outings with Hershey before the recall and has ranged between 21 and 34 points in his last four minor league campaigns.

With these roster moves, Washington’s active roster remains at the maximum of 23 players.

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