2:11 PM: The Maple Leafs have acquired defenseman Brandon Carlo from the Bruins, Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic reports. The Leafs are sending center prospect Fraser Minten to the Bruins, per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff adds it’s a three-team deal with the Penguins, who are receiving defenseman Conor Timmins and forward Connor Dewar from Toronto. The Leafs are sending a first-round pick to Boston in the deal as well, per Seravalli. Pittsburgh is sending a 2025 fifth-round pick to the Leafs in exchange for Timmins and Dewar, per the Maple Leafs. Additionally, Boston has retained 15 percent of Carlo’s $4.1MM salary, shares Joshua Kloke of The Athletic.

Through the mix of a three-team deal and hurdles over the cap space, Toronto lands an impactful shutdown defenseman in Carlo. He’s six-foot-five, 220 pounds and offers an invaluable right-hand shot. Those traits helped Carlo stamp out a daily lineup role almost immediately upon entering the league in 2016-17. Boston drafted Carlo in the second-round of the 2015 NHL Draft and promoted him to the pros at the end of the following season. He recorded just one assist in his first seven AHL games, but performed well enough at Boston’s following training camp to ditch the minor leagues entirely.

Carlo made the Bruins roster out of camp in the 2016-17 season. The team attempted to ease him into a lineup role, but one assist and a plus-five in 17 minutes of his NHL debut quickly showed Carlo’s impact would translate to the top flight. He was playing upwards of 24 minutes a night in just his third NHL game – and hung on to a top-pair role next to Bruins legend Zdeno Chara for the rest of his rookie season. Carlo managed 16 points, 59 penalty minutes, and a plus-nine while playing in all 82 games of his rookie year.

The top-pair conditioning continued to pay off through the next three seasons. Carlo never posted much scoring – netting his career-high of 19 points in 2019-20 – but he continued to average at least 20 minutes of ice time, on the pack of an imposing defensive presence. His role has dwindled in the years since, but his impact remains impressively consistent. Even through this season, the 28-year-old Carlo has managed nine points, 24 PIMs, and a plus-two in 63 games.

Toronto could confidently turn towards Carlo for top-pair minutes for the remainder of the season. He’ll be a shining replacement for the injured Chris Tanev, who Toronto placed on injured reserve on March 2nd. When Tanev returns, Toronto will boast a pair of high-impact, low-scoring defensive-defenseman on the right side – complimenting the more offensively-geared Morgan Rielly and Oliver Ekman-Larsson on the left.

Carlo is notably signed through the end of the 2026-27 season at a manageable $3.485MM cap hit after Boston’s retention.

While the Leafs sort of their sudden heap of defensive talent, Boston will relish in the addition of a clear top prospect in Fraser Minten. Minten made the Maple Leafs roster out of camp to start the season, and recorded four points – split evenly – across the first 15 games of his NHL career.

Minten was assigned to the AHL to start the season but quickly made Toronto second-guess their decision. He was called up to the NHL in mid-November after posting four points in five games to start the AHL season. Minten continued the hot scoring into his first taste of NHL action, netting four points across his first five NHL games of the season. His scoring dried up after that – with no scoring in his last 10 NHL games – but Minten has stayed productive in the minor leagues, where he has 13 points in 26 games.

This is Minten’s first season of professional hockey. He spent the last four seasons with the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers and, briefly, Saskatoon Blades. Minten totaled 188 points in 187 career games in the WHL, including 55 points in 67 games of the 2021-22 campaign. That was enough to earn him a second-round selection in the 2022 NHL Draft – a divisive pick at the time. Minten also earned the honor of captaining Team Canada at the 2024 World Junior Championships, where he scored three points in five games. It was his first time representing Canada internationally.

Minten is still working on figuring out his pro footing but he’ll offer tantalizing upside once he’s level. He’s an impactful two-way centerman who is strong on the faceoff dot and smart with his positioning. Those traits could be tailor-made for a Bruins organization that’s already developed Pavel Zacha and Charlie Coyle into strong, top-six options.

The deal is rounded out by Toronto sending depth skaters Dewar and Timmins to the Penguins as a cap dump. That addition frees up $2.28MM in cap space for the Leafs, which will effectively be their only cap space for the remainder of the year. Both Dewar and Timmins could find a path to routine minutes for Pittsburgh, where they’ll play under former Leafs GM Kyle Dubas.

Dewar has served as Toronto’s fourth-line center for much of the year but has been fairly low-event. He has just three assists, five penalty minutes, and a minus-three through 31 appearances. That’s a far step down from the 19 points, 28 PIMs, and minus-eight he totaled in 74 games last season, split between time with the Minnesota Wild and Maple Leafs. He’s found a groove as a gritty, hard-nosed bottom-line option – which should fit right in with the makeup of Pittsburgh’s current fourth line. Dewar will challenge Blake Lizotte for routine ice time, but could be pushed to the flanks to challenge Bokondji Imama or Noel Acciari should Pittsburgh prefer to keep Lizotte in.

Timmins has landed in a similar rut. He’s been a bottom-pair option for the Leafs, with eight points, 24 PIMs, and a plus-two in 51 games this season. That is also a downtick in scoring form the 10 points Timmins managed in 25 games last year, and the 14 points he posted in 25 games of 2022-23. Pittsburgh has been searching for more defense depth after trading away Marcus Pettersson. Timmins could find a way into the vacant role, though he’ll first compete with Ryan Graves and newcomer Vladislav Kolyachonok for minutes.

Both Dewar and Timmins are set to enter restricted free agency this summer.

The added security and movement protection could make Carlo a tough fish to catch. Oleksiak will likely be much more expendable for the right price. The 32-year-old defensive-defenseman has been a focal point of the Kraken blue-line over the last four seasons. He’s averaging 19 minutes of ice time through 60 games this year, while posting 13 points, 14 penalty minutes, and a minus-eight. That stat line is largely in-line with what Oleksiak has managed in three prior years in Seattle – routinely floating between 15 and 20 points and negative plus-minuses, all while serving from a carved out role on the second pair. Oleksiak is six-foot-seven, 250-pounds and patrols the defensive end with a long reach and heavy physical presence. Winnipeg has tried to net the same impact from players like Logan Stanley – one of the only NHLers as tall as Oleksiak – but to little avail. Stanley has just nine points, 72 penalty minutes, and a plus-10 in 47 games on Winnipeg’s bottom-pair. Any upgrade they make will be solely focused on improving that third-pair’s standing as the Jets plan for a very late season.

Other notes from the Midwest:

• The Chicago Blackhawks have kicked the door to the Trade Deadline wide open by swapping defender Seth Jones for goaltender Spencer Knight and a first-round pick. All signs point towards the Hawks continuing to sell as the deadline draws closer – with pieces like Ryan Donato, Alec Martinez, and Petr Mrazek all on the block. But of their aged veterans, winger Pat Maroon doesn’t seem likely to join in on the relocation. He told Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times that he’d prefer to stay with Chicago rather than experience yet another deadline trade. Maroon has been moved in February or March three different times in his career, including at last year’s deadline. He signed his first open market contract since 2020 this summer – choosing the Windy City as his landing spot. 54 games later, Maroon must clearly be enjoying the role of veteran leader and Stanley Cup expert in front of Chicago’s young core. He has 14 points, 71 penalty minutes, and a minus-11 on the year, while serving a minimal role in Chicago’s bottom-six. While opening up that spot would certainly open minutes for more top prospects, it’d be tough to see Chicago go against Maroon’s wishes for anything less than a golden offer.
• Top rookie defenseman Lian Bichsel is progressing in his return from an upper-body injury. He is doubtful for the Dallas Stars’ game against St. Louis on Sunday, but could return when they face New Jersey on Tuesday, per Dallas News’ Lia Assimakopoulos. Bichsel was injured on a high hit from New York Islanders grinder Casey Cizikas on February 23rd. He’s missed two games since. Bichsel has played the first 18 games of his NHL career this season. He has five points, 14 penalty minutes, and a plus-six in that span – and has looked the part of a projectable first-round pick. News of his return on Tuesday will also suggest that Bichsel will continue to hold a role on the NHL roster, though it will be shaky ground as Dallas looks to buy improvements at the deadline. In an aforementioned fun fact, Bichsel is one of the few other six-foot-seven defenders.
•  The Utah Hockey Club were without depth forward Michael Carcone on Saturday evening. He was listed as a game-time decision due to a lower-body injury, per Belle Fraser of the Salt Lake Tribune. Carcone has filled a minimal lineup role in Utah, with 13 points, 29 penalty minutes, and a minus-seven in 41 games this year. Utah turned towards Kevin Stenlund to fill-in during the losing effort. Stenlund recorded one assist in 11 minutes of ice time. It was his 14th point of the year through 61 appearances. Jack McBain also saw a boost in Carcone’s absence, stepping onto the second-unit power-play. He did not manage any scoring in the fill-in role.

There’s little surprise that Boston is seeking to part ways with some of their middle-of-the-lineup players amid what’s likely to be a retooling effort over the next few seasons. They just locked in starter Jeremy Swayman to an eight-year, $66MM deal at the beginning of the season and still have six years remaining on superstar David Pastrňák’s contract, as well as five years remaining on top defenseman Charlie McAvoy’s deal. The team’s books aren’t conducive to a complete rebuild despite them tracking to miss the playoffs for the first time in nine years.

After losing Jake DeBrusk in free agency last summer and signing Elias Lindholm to a max-term deal to augment their center depth, things haven’t gone to plan for the Bruins offensively. They’re clicking at 2.75 goals per game, 25th in the league and their worst since their 2.55 mark in the 2014-15 season. Marchand and Pastrňák have continued to produce at elite levels, but the latter is still only on pace for 40 goals after notching 61 and 47 in the prior two years. Lindholm has flamed out, limited to 10-19–29 through 57 games – unjustifiable production for his $7.75MM cap hit, no matter how well he grades out defensively (where he’s had average possession impacts this season).

Including Lindholm, five Bruins forwards have produced in the 15-30 point range at this point in the season. Among the pack are Frederic and Geekie, both in their primes and don’t have bonafide top-six ceilings on a championship-contending team. It makes sense they’d at least be talked about by Bruins management as they begin the shift to prioritizing younger, higher-upside pieces in their lineup.

However, Carlo’s name is more surprising to see on the list of potentially available players. In past years, his $4.1MM cap hit would have been considered below market value, especially as he’s locked in through the 2026-27 campaign. A tough year from the 28-year-old likely diminishes his trade value slightly, but with a lengthy track record of being a stalwart top-four defender, it’s likely teams will see a down season as a blip, not a trend, from a right-shot defender below 30 years old.

He will immediately rank among the top righties available on deadline day if Boston shifts from just taking calls to shopping him. That said, his all-around numbers this season aren’t inspiring. His 18:40 ATOI is his lowest since arriving in Boston nine years ago, and while he’s not relied upon for offense, his nine points in 56 games is the lowest pace we’ve seen from him in four years. Defensive metrics don’t paint a rosy picture, either. Carlo’s penalty kill time has been eaten into by Nikita Zadorov, and at even strength, his 45.6 CF% and -9.0 expected rating rank worst among the team’s full-time blue-liners. Extremely difficult defensive minutes don’t do him any good there, but with the latter number tracking as a career-worst, it’s a cause for concern.

Carlo’s last shift ended with 1:55 remaining in the third period. He did not come out with the team for overtime, which ended after Toronto winger Matthew Knies scored 2:26 into the extra frame to keep his team alive in the series, now trailing Boston 3-2. Carlo also did not participate in today’s optional practice, The Boston Globe’s Conor Ryan reports.

The 27-year-old shutdown defenseman has had a good series, scoring the game-winning goal in Game 1 and averaging 21:35 per game. He’s managed a +2 rating and 44.5 CF% at even strength despite almost 90% of his zone starts coming in defensive usage. He and partner Hampus Lindholm have logged 64 minutes together in the series, the most of any pairing on either team and have controlled 55% of expected goals, per MoneyPuck.

Other updates from the Bruins as they gear up for their second chance to close out the Maple Leafs:

• Defenseman Andrew Peeke is still multiple weeks away from returning to the lineup, Montgomery said (via Ryan). The deadline acquisition from the Blue Jackets sustained a broken finger in the second period of Boston’s Game 2 loss last week and did not travel to Toronto for Games 3 and 4. If the Bruins advance, he hasn’t been ruled out entirely for a second-round date with the Panthers, but today’s quote indicates he wouldn’t be ready for the beginning of the series. The right-shot blueliner began the postseason in a bottom-pairing role with Kevin Shattenkirk, who did a good job at controlling scoring chances when Montgomery deployed them together in the final weeks of the regular season. Peeke, 26, had two assists and a +1 rating in 15 regular-season games with Boston after the trade.
• The Bruins recalled goaltender Michael DiPietro from AHL Providence to serve as their designated emergency backup before Game 5 yesterday, per CapFriendly’s transactions log. 25-year-old Brandon Bussi had held the EBUG role for the first four games of the series, but he was returned to Providence over the weekend to start in their Atlantic Division Semifinal series against Hartford in the Calder Cup Playoffs. DiPietro, 24, has a .771 SV% in three NHL appearances with the Canucks spanning from 2019 to 2022. He’s spent the last two seasons in the Bruins organization after they acquired him via trade in October 2022, locking down a full-time AHL role this season with a 2.51 GAA, .918 SV%, four shutouts, and an 18-9-2 record in 30 appearances.

Beecher has been up with Boston all season, picking up seven points in 39 games.  The 2019 first-rounder has also won over 53% of his faceoffs while averaging a little over 10 minutes a game.  Lohrei, meanwhile, has been up and down between the two levels.  He has six points in 27 games with Boston plus six assists in 10 contests with Providence.

1:48 PM: The Bruins will welcome back a pair of injured blueliners to their lineup tonight against Montreal.  The team announced that Brandon Carlo and Derek Forbort are both set to return with the latter being activated off LTIR.

Carlo has missed close to two weeks with an upper-body injury sustained earlier this month.  The 27-year-old has played in 39 games so far this season, picking up two goals and eight assists.  Of course, Carlo isn’t known for his offensive output but rather for being a sound defensive defender; he’s logging 3:28 per game on the penalty kill – second-most on the Bruins – while blocking 71 shots.

The one player who is ahead of Carlo in shorthanded ATOI is Forbort who was averaging a few seconds more per night in that department before being injured back in early December.  The 31-year-old played in 20 games before the injury, picking up four assists while logging a little over 18 minutes a night.  He’s in the final year of his contract and if Boston wants to try to add an impact player before the deadline, his $3MM cap charge could be used as a potential offset.

Meanwhile, Boston also welcomes back two other injured players tonight who weren’t on injured reserve, goaltender Linus Ullmark and center Matthew Poitras.

Ullmark missed a little over a week after being injured in overtime against Arizona.  He has once again formed a high-end platoon with Jeremy Swayman this season, posting a 2.75 GAA with a .915 SV% in 21 games.  Poitras, meanwhile, has missed a little more than a week with a shoulder injury.  The 19-year-old has fared nicely in his first NHL season, notching 15 points in 30 games so far.

The Bruins still have some work to do before Carlo and Forbort can officially be activated.  They need to clear around $1MM off their books in order to satisfy the cap-compliance portion of taking Forbort off LTIR.  They also need to send at least one player down as they only have one open roster spot at the moment with two players to activate.  They have a few more hours to figure out what those moves will be.

Carlo is on IR, while Forbort is on LTIR. With the Bruins carrying 22 players on the active roster, they will need to assign at least one player to AHL Providence today in order to activate both while keeping their roster at 23 players or less.

Carlo has been by far the more impactful of the two this season. His pairing with Hampus Lindholm has seen the most of any Bruins duo on defense at nearly 400 minutes together, and the 27-year-old continues to solidify himself as a bona fide top-four shutdown defenseman. His 2-8–10 stat line through 39 games isn’t awful for a player boasting his role, and he’s managed to keep an even expected plus-minus rating despite receiving a sky-high 76% of his even-strength zone starts in the defensive end.

The 31-year-old Forbort’s role has been a tad more limited, skating 18:22 per game (Carlo plays over 20) and posting four assists in 20 games. His even-strength possession numbers have cratered since the beginning of last season, reaching a poor 43.5% Corsi share in 2023-24. At this stage in his career, the majority of Forbort’s value comes on the penalty kill, where he’s still graded out below average this season. He remains under contract at a $3MM cap hit through the end of this season.

More from the Atlantic Division today:

• Making progress in his return but unlikely to play tomorrow is Bruins rookie Matthew Poitras, who head coach Jim Montgomery told reporters (including Haggerty) today “has a few more boxes to check” before he can play again. The 19-year-old last played on Jan. 9 and has missed four games with a shoulder injury. He’s played in only three of eight games since returning from representing Canada at the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship in Sweden. The 2022 second-round pick has provided great value for the Bruins earlier than expected on his entry-level contract, posting 10-5–15 through his first 30 NHL games.
• The Sabres have listed veteran defenseman Erik Johnson as day-to-day with an upper-body injury, per a team announcement. The 35-year-old left yesterday’s 3-0 win over the Blackhawks early in the third period after he was checked from behind by Blackhawks winger Philipp Kurashev. Kurashev was assessed a five-minute major penalty for boarding on the play, but no supplemental discipline is expected. Johnson has been a healthy scratch four times in 45 games this year after signing a one-year, $3.25MM pact with Buffalo in free agency. He’s notched three goals and a +2 rating in 14:11 of average ice time but is still looking for his first assist as a Sabre. Defenseman Henri Jokiharju is also listed as day-to-day with general soreness, putting both their availabilities for tomorrow’s game against the Lightning in doubt. A rotating cast of injuries may force the Sabres to recall an additional defenseman from AHL Rochester tomorrow after bringing up Jacob Bryson yesterday.

In a related report, Pike also points out that with Gilbert as well as Jacob Markstrom missing some time for the Flames, Walker Duehr’s waiver placement earlier this afternoon, and Oliver Kylington working his way back on an LTI conditioning loan, there will be plenty of moving pieces for Calgary in the next few days.

With now only 21 players on the active roster once Duehr’s fate is settled tomorrow afternoon, Calgary could recall young forwards such as Matthew Coronato or Jakob Pelletier, or even go the route of reintroducing Kylington back into the organization. Whatever the case may be, they do have some time to address their current roster situation, as they should be able to field a healthy team tomorrow night against the Toronto Maple Leafs without any corresponding transactions.

Other snapshots:

• The Boston Bruins could be welcoming back two of their bigger pieces, as Conor Ryan of The Boston Globe reports both Linus Ullmark and Brandon Carlo are nearing a return to the team. This news does not come as a tremendous surprise, as the Bruins sent down goaltender Brandon Bussi, clearing the way for Ullmark’s return. Carlo, on the other hand, has missed the last four games for Boston with an upper-body injury but should be able to return this weekend against the Montreal Canadiens, or even sooner in the Bruin’s rematch against the Colorado Avalanche.
• After recalling him on January 11th, the Vegas Golden Knights announced today they have reassigned forward Jonas Rondbjerg back down to their AHL affiliate, the Henderson Silver Knights. Playing in three games since his initial recall only a few days ago, Rondbjerg produced zero points while averaging a tad under 11 minutes of ice time a game.

The Bruins are also missing forward Milan Lucic with injury – but they’ve progressed nicely regardless, going 2-0-1 in the three games they’ve played since losing Ullmark last Tuesday. Roster holes have been plugged by Jesper Boqvist, who is seeing his first NHL action since December, and Brandon Bussi, who is currently backing up Jeremy Swayman and could make his NHL debut if Swayman needs a breather before Ullmark is ready to return. Boqvist has managed two points in seven NHL games this year, while Bussi has operated as the starter for the AHL’s Providence Bruins and managed a .901 save percentage in 20 AHL games.

The Bruins also saw the return of Pavel Zacha on Monday. The 26-year-old missed the team’s Saturday win with illness.

Other notes from around the league:

• Noah Cates is set to return to the Philadelphia Flyers lineup on Monday evening, as the Philadelphia Flyers take on the St. Louis Blues. Cates has been out since November 25^th with a foot injury. He was off to a slow start to the season, managing just four points in 21 games – a step down from the 38 points he recorded in 82 games as a rookie last season.
• The Ottawa Senators have promoted Justin Peters to the role of goaltending coach and assigned Zac Bierk to a scouting and development position. Peters is an 83-game veteran of the NHL, setting a career .901 save percentage. He also played in 301 career AHL games and managed a career .907 save percentage. He has been a goalie coach with the AHL’s Belleville Senators since the 2021-22 season.

Ullmark isn’t the only player who sustained an injury in Tuesday’s overtime loss to the Coyotes. Rookie Matthew Poitras suffered a shoulder injury and will also miss tonight’s game. He, too, is listed as day-to-day.

Carlo left the team’s game on Monday against the Avalanche in the second period with an upper-body injury, although it wasn’t clear what caused the premature exit. As a result of the IR placement, the 27-year-old has been ruled out of the team’s next three games. He will be eligible to return next Thursday against the Avalanche.

In 39 games this season, the Bruins’ top shutdown defender has two goals, eight assists, ten points, and a team-high +15 rating while averaging over 20 minutes per game. AHL call-up Parker Wotherspoon, who has two assists and a +2 rating in 13 NHL appearances this season, is projected to remain in a second-pairing role alongside Hampus Lindholm in Carlo’s absence.

Luckily for the Bruins, it doesn’t appear anyone else’s absence is extremely long-term, either. It’s a tough loss to go without Ullmark for a stretch, who’s again been one of the better goalies in the league with a .915 SV% and 8.1 goals saved above average in 20 starts (21 appearances), but Swayman has put up slightly better numbers this season in the same amount of action.

In his place for now will be the 25-year-old Bussi. Named to the AHL’s All-Rookie Team last season after he posted a .924 SV% in 32 appearances for Providence in his first season after completing his collegiate career at Western Michigan, he’s taken a significant step back this year with a .901 SV% and 10-6-3 record in 20 appearances. He’s been recalled on multiple occasions over the past two years due to short-term injuries to Swayman and Ullmark, and although he’s solidly third on Boston’s depth chart, he’s still yet to make his NHL debut.

Poitras, 19, was injured in his third game back after representing Canada at the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship in Sweden. The 2022 second-round pick has five goals and 15 points while averaging 13:46 through his first 30 NHL contests.

A top-pairing of Gostisbehere and Forsling shouldn’t be expected to replicate the output of Ekblad and Montour, but those two would be serviceable for the first month of the season, and would even represent a superb top-four once Ekblad and Montour make their return. If the Panthers and Gostisbehere do come to an agreement, it will be interesting to see the term handed out, as the team currently doesn’t have any defenseman signed beyond 2024-25.

It wasn’t so long ago that Gostisbehere was considered a salary dump, after being traded along with a second-round pick in 2022 and a seventh-round pick in 2022, to the Arizona Coyotes for nothing but future considerations. After landing in the desert, Gostisbehere had an offensive resurgence of sorts, scoring 24 goals and 58 assists in 134 games with the Coyotes. At last year’s trade deadline, Gostisbehere was moved to the Carolina Hurricanes for a third-round pick in 2026. In a combined total of 38 games in Carolina, Gostisbehere scored three goals and ten assists split between the regular season and the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs.

Other notes:

• Once the market opens up on Saturday, it is expected that the New York Rangers will find their veteran backup goaltender rather quickly. Kevin Weekes of ESPN reports that Jonathan Quick will land with the Rangers shortly after the market opens. This season, New York employed Jaroslav Halak as their main backup, who posted a record of 10-9-5, earning a .903 SV% and a 2.72 GAA. It’s expected that Igor Shesterkin will continue to shoulder much of the load in net next season, but the Rangers have reportedly coveted an upgrade to their backup netminder.
• Frank Seravalli of the DailyFaceoff reports the modified no-trade clauses, as well as the full no-movement clauses that are kicking in tomorrow. William Nylander (Toronto), Jakob Chychrun (Ottawa), Brandon Carlo (Boston), and Christian Dvorak (Montreal) will all have modified no-trade clauses kicking in. Auston Matthews (Toronto), Mitch Marner (Toronto), and J.T. Miller (Vancouver) will trigger the full no-movement clauses in their deals. Lastly, Travis Sanheim (Philadelphia) and MacKenzie Weegar (Calgary) will receive full no-trade clauses.

Even if one or both of Ekblad and Bennett can’t play tomorrow, it’s great news that neither player is expected to be out long-term. Ekblad’s already missed a handful of games due to injury this season, and his 20 points in 37 games is a bit of a step back from his usual pace. Still, he’s one of the best defensemen in the league and is dominant on the power play, one of Florida’s strengths. Bennett is also an essential part of Florida’s secondary scoring, as the 26-year-old is sixth on the team in scoring with 30 points in 48 games and plays nearly 18 minutes per game.

• Don’t expect the Washington Capitals to follow in the Boston Bruins’ footsteps regarding load management. While it was reported earlier this week that Bruins might consider resting captain Patrice Bergeron at points down the stretch, Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette told The Athletic’s Tarik El-Bashir that he does not intend to employ a similar technique with the Capitals roster, which has been prone to injuries for much of the season. El-Bashir suspects that the Capitals’ slim cushion on a playoff spot in a tight Eastern Conference discourages Laviolette from resting any stars, something the Bruins and their world-shattering pace don’t have to worry about.
• Ty Anderson of 98.5 The Sports Hub and NBC Sports Boston reports that Boston Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo will play tonight when they host the San Jose Sharks. Carlo sustained a lower-body injury in a January 19 game against the Rangers but will not miss any further action. One of the league’s best pure defensive defensemen, Carlo has a goal and seven assists in 41 games this season, along with a career-high +23 rating.

Carlo blocked a hard shot from New York Rangers forward Mika Zibanejad in the second period of tonight’s game, and it’s likely that this injury has something to do with that block. The Bruins will hope that Carlo leaving tonight’s game proves to be an ultimately unnecessary precaution, as Carlo has been an important part of the team’s defensive formula and they’re likely to want him back on the ice as soon as he’s able.

Some other injury updates from across the NHL:

• Another Florida Panther has left tonight’s game against the Montreal Canadiens: Eric Staal. After starting netminder Sergei Bobrovsky left early in the game, the team announced that Staal had suffered an upper-body injury and would not return for the rest of the match. The injury seemed to come after Staal took a hit from Canadiens defenseman Mike Matheson.
• The Arizona Coyotes have announced that forward Lawson Crouse will miss tonight’s game with an upper-body injury. The 25-year-old 2015 first-round pick is in the middle of what is shaping up to be the best season of his career. He’s already scored 16 goals in just 43 games of action, and the team has to be hoping that he can return to action as soon as possible.
• There was a terrible scene in the dying seconds of tonight’s Carolina Hurricanes game. Forward Max Pacioretty, who just recently returned to the ice after surgery to repair a torn Achilles, needed to be helped off the ice after suffering a non-contact lower-body injury. The News and Observer’s Luke DeCock noted that the leg Pacioretty injured tonight was the same as where he had his Achilles injury, which is obviously not a good sign for Pacioretty and the Hurricanes whatsoever. But until the Hurricanes get a closer look at Pacioretty’s status, all anyone can do is hope this ends up simply being a minor scare, and not a potential setback in the recovery from his offseason surgery.

It’s good news for both Carlo and the Bruins that the 25-year-old was able to come back, having missed only a handful of games with this latest head injury. It is the fifth (documented) concussion that Carlo has had since entering the league. The big defenseman will skate next to Mike Reilly tonight as he makes his return against the Dallas Stars.

Unfortunately for Lauko, he’s a victim of contract status this time around. The young forward was the only waiver-exempt player on the roster, though there were other options the Bruins could have moved out. Reilly and Nick Foligno both have time left on their clock after clearing waivers earlier this month, meaning they could have been re-assigned instead. That wasn’t likely, but it was possible if they wanted to keep the 22-year-old in the lineup.

Lauko has been rather good so far in limited minutes, even if he does have only one point to show for it. He’ll be replaced in the lineup by A.J. Greer, who was made a healthy scratch even after his five-point start to the season. The 25-year-old has averaged just over ten minutes a night in the games he has played and will be on the fourth line with Foligno and Tomas Nosek tonight.

The injury likely occurred on a hit from Cole Sillinger at the very beginning of yesterday’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, which left Chytil on the ice for several moments. The 23-year-old had been one of the team’s best players through the first part of the year, with Vince Mercogliano of USA Today noting that he is the only regular who hasn’t been on the ice for a goal against to this point.

• Justin Danforth is out indefinitely with an upper-body injury, though there is also no clarification on his timeline. The Blue Jackets forward left Saturday’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins and missed yesterday’s tilt against the Rangers. The 29-year-old had two goals and three points in his first five games, even playing a whopping 20:23 in the second game of the year.
• Brandon Carlo was back on the ice today practicing in a regular jersey, and head coach Jim Montgomery said he was “getting close” to a return. He also said that he’ll be cautious with the big defender though, as Carlo confirmed he suffered another concussion – his fifth since entering the NHL in 2016 – against the Arizona Coyotes last week. He’s been out since then, and the Bruins will do everything they can to make sure he is at no further risk before he re-enters the lineup.

October 16: The Boston Bruins defeated the Arizona Coyotes 6-3 yesterday, a win that put the team on a 2-0 start to this young season and new coach Jim Montgomery’s tenure. But while it was a convincing victory, it wasn’t without a cost. Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo took a hit from Coyotes forward Liam O’Brien late in the first period, and he did not return. Now, it seems Carlo could be out for some time.

Per CapFriendly, Carlo has been placed on injured reserve. In a corresponding move, the Bruins announced that defenseman Daniel Renouf has been recalled from the AHL’s Providence Bruins. Renouf, 28, has 23 career NHL games to his name and spent most of last season with the Grand Rapids Griffins, save for four games spent as an injury fill-in for the Detroit Red Wings.

Carlo’s absence is undoubtedly a blow to the Bruins, who are looking to extend this hot start for as long as possible. While Renouf is an experienced AHL veteran, he is a clear downgrade from Carlo, who is a highly capable defensive defenseman.

What makes this easier on Boston is that Anton Stralman is likely to be the one who will fill Carlo’s role as the right-shot top-pairing partner for Hampus Lindholm. Stralman has extensive NHL experience and should be a stylistic fit as a Carlo replacement.

While the exact nature of Carlo’s injury is unknown, Carlo did take the hit from O’Brien to his upper body. Carlo does have a history of concussion issues, so one has to hope that this current injury is simply a minor one that won’t pose any longer-term issues for Carlo’s health and ability to get back onto the ice.