East Notes: Matheson, Gadjovich, Flyers
The Montreal Canadiens announced a last-minute scratch tonight as defenseman Mike Matheson was held out of the lineup with a lower-body injury. The news came out just before the puck drop against Utah, Jayden Struble suited up in his place. Matheson skated with the Canadiens earlier in the day during the team’s morning skate but did miss practice yesterday.
Matheson’s absence will leave a hole in Montreal’s defense, particularly their power play where Matheson is typically the only defenseman on their top unit. The 30-year-old is currently averaging over 24 minutes a night in ice time and is third in team scoring with a goal and 12 assists in 20 games this season. Matheson had a career year last season, tallying 11 goals and 51 assists while dressing in all 82 games for Montreal.
In other Eastern Conference notes:
- Florida Panthers forward Jonah Gadjovich was dressed in a regular practice jersey today as he skated with his teammates (as per Colby Guy of The Palm Beach Post). The 26-year-old did not play last night against the Washington Capitals due to an upper-body injury and is considered day-to-day. Gadjovich has just a single goal this season and has only played 11 games due to a back injury that kept him sidelined for eight games in late October and early November. When the Whitby, Ontario native has dressed he’s played sparingly, averaging just 7:13 of ice time per game.
- The Philadelphia Flyers remain on the hunt for a top-six center (as per Anthony Di Marco of Daily Faceoff). Philadelphia reportedly spoke with the Minnesota Wild earlier in the season about a potential swap, but nothing came from the talks, likely due to the Wild’s tough salary cap situation. The Flyers aren’t in a rush to make a move, which makes sense given the team’s timeline, however, they do have assets to make a move including draft capital as well as potentially using 2018 first-round pick Joel Farabee or Morgan Frost as potential trade pieces in a package.
Atlantic Notes: Byram, Matthews, Jarnkrok, Gadjovich
With the Sabres struggling out of the gate, it appears that some teams are kicking the tires to see if a core piece could be pried away. TSN’s Darren Dreger reported earlier this week on Sekeres and Price (video link) that some teams from the West have inquired about defenseman Bowen Byram although Buffalo has been informing teams he’s not available. Byram is in his first full season with the Sabres after being acquired at the trade deadline from Colorado and he’s certainly off to a solid start with nine points in 14 games while logging over 21 minutes a night. A pending restricted free agent, Byram will be in line for a significant raise on his current $3.85MM AAV next summer.
Elsewhere in the Atlantic:
- Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews skated today for 25 minutes with no signs of discomfort, relays TSN’s Mark Masters (Twitter link). Toronto moved him to injured reserve on Friday, making him ineligible for tonight’s game against Montreal but he is eligible to return Tuesday versus Ottawa. Assuming Matthews is cleared to play in that game, the Maple Leafs will have to make a roster move beforehand, likely a waiver placement as things stand, to open up a roster spot.
- Still with Toronto, head coach Craig Berube told reporters including Nick Barden of The Hockey News that winger Calle Jarnkrok is “probably a ways away” from making his season debut. The 33-year-old is dealing with a lower-body injury that’s believed to be a sports hernia. Jarnkrok skated before practice a couple of times this week but it looks like he’s still not particularly close to being cleared to play. Jarnkrok had 10 goals and 11 assists in 52 games for the Maple Leafs last season.
- The Panthers will welcome back winger Jonah Gadjovich to the lineup tonight against Philadelphia, the team announced (Twitter link). The 26-year-old has missed the last three weeks with a back injury. Gadjovich has played in six games so far this season, notching a goal and 26 hits while averaging just 7:25 per night on the fourth line; he leads the league in hits/60. Mackie Samoskevich will come out of the lineup to make room for Gadjovich’s return.
Atlantic Notes: Matthews, Point, Gadjovich
Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews didn’t practice or skate with the team today and is questionable to play this weekend. He’s been battling an upper-body injury for much of the week and didn’t play in the team’s most recent matchup against the Boston Bruins a few days ago.
Jonas Siegel of The Athletic provided a quote about Matthews’ availability earlier from head coach Craig Berube saying, “That’s to be determined still. It’s hard for me to answer that question knowing what I know right now with him today.” The Maple Leafs have back-to-back matchups against Original Six rivals this weekend in the Detroit Red Wings and Montreal Canadiens.
Although Toronto is objectively better with Matthews in the lineup it appears the team is taking a more measured approach to his recovery. The American superstar has five goals and 11 points through 13 games to start the campaign and the Maple Leafs are looking to be safer than sorry with their leader.
Other Atlantic notes:
- The Tampa Bay Lightning are again without their first-line center Brayden Point this evening as they face off against the Philadelphia Flyers. Erik Erlendsson of Lightning Insider reported earlier that Point is still out with a lower-body injury although he did resume skating this morning. It will be the second straight missed game for Point after starting the season with eight goals and 13 points in 12 contests.
- Heading southeast to Sunrise, Florida, Colby Guy of the Associated Press confirmed there are no lineup changes for the Florida Panthers tonight meaning forward Jonah Gadjovich won’t return to the ice. Gadjovich hasn’t played since October 17th due to a back injury. The physical bottom-six presence should pick up where he left off before the injury as he’s collected a whopping 26 hits in only six games in the current campaign.
Snapshots: Panthers, Joshua, Honzek, Harkins
Already missing three forwards due to illness or injuries, the Panthers won’t have forward Jonah Gadjovich available to them tonight against Vegas due to an undisclosed injury, relays team reporter Jameson Olive. The 26-year-old has taken a regular turn on the fourth line so far this season, picking up a goal in Florida’s first six games. As Florida doesn’t have enough cap space to afford a recall from the minors, they will dress just 17 skaters for this one, ten forwards and seven blueliners.
It’s not all bad news on that front, however. Head coach Paul Maurice indicated that winger Matthew Tkachuk is expected to return from his illness on Tuesday while captain Aleksander Barkov should be back not long after that. Meanwhile, Tomas Nosek is due to return early next month for their Global Series games. With that in mind, while the Panthers will be eligible for a cap-exempt recall after tonight’s contest, they’re unlikely to actually need to use it.
More from around the NHL:
- Canucks forward Dakota Joshua skated today for the first time as he continues to recover from surgery to address a cancerous lump from earlier this summer, mentions NHL.com’s Adam Kimelman (Twitter link). The 28-year-old had a breakout effort last season, notching career-highs in goals (18), assists (14), points (32), and hits (245) across 63 regular season contests, earning him a four-year, $13MM extension in late June. There remains no timetable for Joshua’s return but the fact he has returned to the ice is certainly a good sign.
- The Flames have placed forward Samuel Honzek on injured reserve, relays Tim Hiebert of The Hockey News (Twitter link). The 19-year-old is in his first professional season and played in four games before sustaining an upper-body injury that will keep him out on a week-to-week basis. Calgary now has an open slot on their active roster and it stands to reason that it won’t take too long for it to be filled, likely with the expected pending return of Kevin Rooney who was a full participant in practice on Friday.
- The Ducks have re-assigned forward Jansen Harkins to AHL San Diego, per the AHL’s transactions log. The 27-year-old is in his first season with Anaheim after signing with them in free agency but cleared waivers at the end of training camp. Harkins was brought up yesterday following the injury to Isac Lundestrom and Frank Vatrano’s absence from the team for paternity leave and he suited up in their loss to Colorado, recording one shot on goal in 10:11 of ice time. In a corresponding move, Vatrano is now back on the active roster.
Panthers Extend Gustav Forsling, Jonah Gadjovich
The Panthers have signed pending UFA defenseman Gustav Forsling to an eight-year extension, GM Bill Zito announced Thursday (via Steve Goldstein of Bally Sports Florida). Winger Jonah Gadjovich has also signed a two-year extension, Zito said (via Colby Guy of the Associated Press). Forsling’s contract carries a $5.75MM AAV ($46MM total value), per Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic. Gadjovich’s extension is a one-way deal with the league minimum $775K salary in both seasons, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports.
Per PuckPedia, Forsling’s deal has a no-move clause beginning next season through 2029-30 and a 16-team no-trade clause from 2030-31 to 2031-32. His contract is also paid out primarily in signing bonuses, earning only $1MM in base salary each season.
It’s a monumental extension for Forsling and the Panthers, who each gain important clarity into their long-term futures. Forsling, now under contract through 2032, was one of four pending UFA blue-liners on the Panthers’ roster. Top-four fixture Brandon Montour and last summer’s one-year pickups Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Niko Mikkola remain unsigned past this season.
Forsling has had quite the rise to fame in Sunrise. The 27-year-old was claimed off waivers from the Hurricanes at the beginning of the 2021 season after spending all of 2019-20 in the minors and quickly grew into a top-four role on a strong Panthers squad that received an unfortunate First Round matchup against the eventual Stanley Cup champion Lightning. Last season, Forsling scored a career-high 13 goals, 41 points, and a 23:26 ATOI while playing in all 82 games.
He elevated his game further in the postseason, recording eight points and a +7 rating while logging a remarkable 26:01 per game in Florida’s run to the Stanley Cup Final. He also carried the torch as the Panthers’ number-one blue-liner to begin 2023-24 with both Montour and Aaron Ekblad out with shoulder injuries, and he’s responded with one of his best two-way campaigns yet with 31 points, a league-leading +43 rating, and a 56.1 xGF%, per Hockey Reference.
A fifth-round pick of the Canucks in 2014, Forsling’s signing rights were traded to the Blackhawks the following year in exchange for minor-league defenseman Adam Clendening. He eventually inked his entry-level contract with Chicago in 2016 and immediately joined the organization, splitting all of his three seasons there between the NHL and AHL as he failed to make much of an impact in a depth role. He was then dealt to Carolina in 2019 before being claimed off waivers by Florida.
The differences in his impact between Chicago and Florida are jaw-dropping. In 122 games with the Blackhawks between 2016 and 2019, Forsling posted 27 points, a -8 rating, and a 44.8 xGF% at even strength while averaging 17:04 per game. In his three-and-a-half years in Florida, he’s recorded 126 points, a +120 rating, and a 55.3 xGF% in 258 games, averaging 21:51 per game.
Florida now has a top-pairing caliber player locked up well below market value, at least for the first few seasons of his deal. Forsling was among the top UFA defensemen available this summer.
Gadjovich is in his first season in South Florida after inking a one-year, $810K deal in free agency shortly after the 2023-24 season began. He’s spent most of the season in the majors after an AHL stint in October and November, posting four points and 90 PIMs in 33 games. A strictly fourth-line enforcer with poor possession impacts and little offensive upside at the NHL level, he’ll complement Florida’s bottom-of-the-lineup skaters in a tough-guy role until reaching UFA status again in 2026.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Atlantic Notes: Tkachuk, Gadjovich, Johnson, Liljegren
The Ottawa Senators have announced that team captain Brady Tkachuk will miss the team’s Saturday night game with an upper-body injury. This announcement came just over 20 minutes before game time. The nature of the injury isn’t clear, though Tkachuk did leave the team’s Friday night game early after colliding with Arizona Coyotes forward Liam O’Brien early in the third period. He managed roughly 19 minutes of ice time, six hits, and a +2 before exiting.
Tkachuk has been a major contributor this season, leading the team in goals with 26 and ranked third in points with 50. He’s also recorded 104 penalty minutes on the year – one of just three NHL players to cross the century mark in penalty minutes, with O’Brien leading the league in that category. Ottawa is not currently carrying an extra forward, likely meaning they’ll play Saturday down a player – which would make them eligible for an emergency call-up after the game. Rourke Chartier has served as the team’s de facto recall this season, playing in 34 NHL games and scoring three points, though he’s one of five different Belleville Senators forwards to play with Ottawa this season.
Other notes around the Division:
- Florida Panthers forward Jonah Gadjovich is expected to return when the team visits the New York Rangers on Monday, per the team’s Senior Digital Content Manager Jameson Olive. Olive describes Gadjovich’s injury as “minor”. Gadjovich also sat out of Florida’s Thursday night win over the Montreal Canadiens. He’s recorded four points, split evenly, and 90 penalty minutes in 31 games this season.
- Buffalo Sabres defenseman Erik Johnson will continue to sit out of the lineup with illness, per Lance Lysowski of the Buffalo News. Johnson also missed Buffalo’s Thursday night game, after being a surprise absentee from the team’s practice. He’s appeared in 50 games this season, with three goals marking his only scoring. Johnson is in the 16th season of his career, totaling 970 games and 340 points in the league.
- Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Timothy Liljegren will be a game-time decision on Saturday, per TSN’s Mark Masters. The 24-year-old defenseman took part in the team’s practice on Saturday, making progress from an undisclosed injury that’s held him out of the team’s last two games. He has 16 points in 40 games this season.
Snapshots: Johnson, Eichel, Gadjovich, Konecny
Buffalo Sabres defenseman Erik Johnson missed the team’s Thursday morning practice with an illness, team reporter Lance Lysowski shares. Johnson was also limited to just three minutes of ice time in Buffalo’s Tuesday night loss to the Florida Panthers. His availability for the team’s Thursday night game is uncertain.
Johnson has appeared in 50 games with the Sabres, scoring three goals and setting a -5. This season marks the first time that Johnson has scored a regular season goal since the 2021-22 season, when he netted eight in Colorado, though Johnson did score once in the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The former first-overall pick is sitting at 970 career NHL games, though his 1,000th will have to wait until next season, with the Sabres left with 23 games this season. Johnson’s absence will likely pull rookie Ryan Johnson back into the lineup. Ryan Johnson has appeared in 37 games this season, recording seven assists and a +1. He’s still searching for his first goal as a pro hockey player, also yet to score in the AHL, where he’s tallied four assists in nine games.
Other notes from around the league:
- Vegas Golden Knights star Jack Eichel has returned to full contact at practice, suggesting he’ll be ready to return soon. The team plays the Boston Bruins on Thursday night, and the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday. Eichel’s availability for these outings hasn’t been clarified yet. His return will be big news for Vegas, who just lost Mark Stone to a lacerated spleen. Eichel is Vegas’ last skater scoring above a point-per-game, with 19 goals and 44 points in 42 games.
- Florida Panthers forward Jonah Gadjovich will miss the team’s Thursday night game with a “minor” injury, per team reporter Colby Guy. Head coach Paul Maurice shared with Guy that he thinks Gadjovich will rehab quickly. The 25-year-old winger has four points and 90 penalty minutes in 31 games this season. He’s expected to be replaced by William Lockwood, who has one assist in 24 games of his own this season.
- Top Philadelphia Flyers winger Travis Konecny has not yet returned to the team’s practices. He’s missed the last three games with an upper-body injury, seemingly suffered at the team’s Friday practice, which Konecny left early. He’s been a force for Philadelphia when healthy, scoring 27 goals and 54 points in 57 games.
Atlantic Notes: Giordano, Girgensons, Gadjovich
Maple Leafs defenseman Mark Giordano will not return to action in Wednesday’s game against the Senators, per The Athletic’s Jonas Siegel. Giordano, who has been out with a finger fracture for nearly a month, practiced with the team this morning and is close to a return but is not cleared to suit up tonight.
The NHL’s oldest active skater remains on long-term injured reserve and will miss his 12th straight game. He is eligible to return at any time, satisfying the ten games and 28 days missed requirement for an LTIR placement. The Maple Leafs will not need to make a corresponding transaction to activate him with enough LTIR relief from John Klingberg‘s, Matt Murray‘s and Jake Muzzin‘s contracts to accommodate his $800K cap hit.
Even when he’s cleared to play, the 40-year-old’s role in the lineup is cloudier than when he left it. No one is budging out of the Maple Leafs’ top four, which consists of T.J. Brodie, Timothy Liljegren, Jake McCabe, and Morgan Rielly, and their third pairing of AHL call-ups Simon Benoit and William Lagesson has been one of the best shutdown pairings in the league in limited minutes. Among pairings with at least 70 minutes together, only the Kraken’s Brian Dumoulin and Ryker Evans have allowed fewer expected goals against per 60 minutes, per MoneyPuck.
In 20 games this season, Giordano has one goal, four assists, five points, and a -1 rating while averaging 17:52 per game. His even-strength Corsi share of 50.5% is his worst since the 2015-16 season.
Other items of interest from the Atlantic Division today:
- Sabres forward Zemgus Girgensons is close to a return but won’t suit up Wednesday against the Bruins, head coach Don Granato said (via WGR Sports Radio 550’s Paul Hamilton). The 6-foot-2 Latvian will miss his 16th game with a lower-body injury sustained November 24 against the Penguins. His pending IR activation is creating some uncertainty for the Sabres, who will need to demote or trade a player to create space on the roster. Before getting injured, the longest-tenured Sabre had two goals in 20 games while playing a fourth-line role.
- Also remaining out of the lineup tonight is Panthers enforcer Jonah Gadjovich, via Florida Hockey Now’s Colby Guy. It’s unclear whether he’s a healthy scratch or if he’s still battling the illness that kept him out of the lineup for four games before the holiday break. The 25-year-old has one assist and 43 penalty minutes in nine contests this season, averaging only 6:42 per game.
Atlantic Notes: Skinner, Lundell, Gadjovich
While Sabres fans likely have a bad taste in their mouth after last night’s 9-4 defeat at the hands of the Blue Jackets, it’s not all bad in northern New York. Star winger Jeff Skinner was a full participant in practice today for the first time since sustaining an upper-body injury last Wednesday against the Avalanche and could be a game-time decision against the Maple Leafs tomorrow, head coach Don Granato told reporters (via Paul Hamilton of WGR Sports Radio 550).
The injury has kept Skinner out of the last three games, during which the Sabres have gone 1-2-0 with a -4 goal differential. He is one of three Sabres forwards on the injured list, joining Jordan Greenway and Zemgus Girgensons. His absence hasn’t helped a Sabres team that’s slipping further out of the playoff picture every day, now sitting squarely in seventh place in the Atlantic Division with a 13-17-3 record and 29 points.
It has been a trying season for the team, but Skinner has done his job for the most part. Through 30 games, he’s tied for the team lead in goals with 12 and is now on pace to score 32 this season if he stays healthy. That would be his third straight season above the 30-goal mark, the longest streak of his career. It’s been quite the revival for the 31-year-old Skinner, who’s rebounded nicely since a 2020-21 campaign in which he scored just seven goals in 53 games. His services may not be worth the $9MM cap hit he’s locked into until 2027, but he remains a bonafide top-six winger and one of the team’s highest-scoring threats.
Skinner is currently on injured reserve, although the Sabres have an open spot on their roster after assigning Brett Murray to AHL Rochester this morning.
Elsewhere in the Atlantic Division today:
- Panthers center Anton Lundell will be a game-time decision against the Blues on Thursday as he deals with an illness, head coach Paul Maurice said today. Lundell has missed the last three games with the ailment, which was severe enough to warrant being placed on injured reserve on Monday. The 22-year-old is still in the development stage of his career after the Panthers selected him 12th overall in the 2020 draft, but his stagnating offensive totals since his 44-point rookie season cause some concern. Through 28 games this year, Lundell has two goals and ten assists for 12 points and a +4 rating while averaging 15:38 per game.
- Sticking with Florida, Maurice also confirmed winger Jonah Gadjovich will remain out with an illness for tomorrow’s game. Since signing a one-year deal with the Panthers a few days after the season began in October, the fourth-line grinder has played in nine games, recording one assist and a whopping 43 penalty minutes while averaging 6:42 per contest. He has been unavailable for the team’s last two contests but was a healthy scratch in three preceding games, meaning he hasn’t suited up since December 8 against the Penguins.
Injury Updates: Boyd, Dermott, Acciari, Nieto, Gadjovich
The upper-body injury that Coyotes center Travis Boyd suffered against Colorado on Thursday is not a short-term one, notes PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan (Twitter link). Instead, head coach Andre Tourigny indicated that the 30-year-old will be out for multiple weeks. It has been a rough year for Boyd this season. He cleared waivers at the end of training camp despite coming off a 34-point season; his $1.75MM contract likely played a role in that. While he wasn’t sent down to AHL Tucson, he hasn’t been a regular either, seeing action in just 16 of 22 games so far. To his credit, Boyd has been relatively productive in those games with eight points despite logging less than ten minutes a night but he won’t be adding to those point totals for a little while now.
Other injury news from around the NHL:
- Still with Arizona, Morgan adds in a separate tweet that blueliner Travis Dermott isn’t quite ready to return tonight against St. Louis. The 26-year-old has missed more than three weeks with an upper-body injury of his own. Dermott has played in ten games with the Coyotes this season after signing a two-way deal with them in free agency, picking up one assist while averaging 17:29 per contest.
- The Penguins will be without a pair of veteran forwards tonight versus Philadelphia. Head coach Mike Sullivan told reporters including Justin Guerriero of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that forwards Noel Acciari and Matt Nieto will not play tonight due to lower-body injuries. There’s no word yet on how long the fourth liners will miss. Vinnie Hinostroza and Joona Koppanen will take their place in the lineup.
- Panthers winger Jonah Gadjovich is dealing with an upper-body injury and won’t play tonight against the Islanders, notes team reporter Jameson Olive. The 25-year-old got in a fight in the final minute of Thursday’s victory over Montreal, one that apparently caused the injury. Gadjovich has played in seven games since having his contract converted to an NHL deal, notching an assist and 41 penalty minutes while logging 6:22 per night. Steven Lorentz will suit up in Gadjovich’s absence.