NHL Hockey Player News

Voracek will be out indefinitely after suffering an upper-body injury on November 4th vs. Colorado. In 11 games so far this season, the 33-year-old has six points (1G/5A) through 11 games with a -7 plus/minus rating with only 17 SOG.

Kuraly, suffered an upper-body injury on November 5 vs. Colorado leaving early after playing 8:09 TOI in the loss. In 12 games this season, the 29-year-old has two goals and four points with a -8 plus/minus rating and 14 SOG.

Bjork earned the call-up to Columbus after putting up two goals and five points in Clevelands' (AHL) first 11 games to start the season. He has yet to make his NHL debut so if he does see time with Columbus it will be his first taste of NHL action.

Blankenburg will miss 6-8 weeks with a broken ankle after playing 22:25 TOI and scoring a goal last game vs. Philadelphia. The 24-year-old had been enjoying a solid first full NHL season, collecting two goals and an assist on 13 SOG through seven games so far this season.

Bayreuther had four points (0G/4A) through his first four games with Cleveland prior to his promotion to Columbus. His call-up comes on the heels of the news that Zach Werenski will miss the rest of the regular season due to injury.

Ekblad will return to the Panther's lineup Saturday vs. Edmonton. The 26-year-old has been out since October 17th when he left a game against Boston early with a lower-back injury. Through his first three games of the season, he had one goal and seven SOG while leading the Panthers blue line.

DeSmith will be getting his second start in as many games after stopping 24 of 25 shots (.960 SV%) as he picked up his first win of the season vs. Washinton. The Penguins' backup has been solid as always this season despite his 1-3-1 record, posting a .912 SV% and 2.80 GAA. He faces off against the Toronto Maple Leafs who have struggled to score at their regular pace this season, ranking 23rd in the NHL in goals for per game with 2.86.

DeSmith will be getting his second start in as many games after stopping 24 of 25 shots (.960 SV%) as he picked up his first win of the season vs. Washinton. The Penguins' backup has been solid as always this season despite his 1-3-1 record, posting a .912 SV% and 2.80 GAA. He faces off against the Toronto Maple Leafs who have struggled to score at their regular pace this season, ranking 23rd in the NHL in goals for per game with 2.86.

Blumel has been great for Texas (AHL) prior to his promotion, scoring five goals and 11 points in his first nine games prior to his promotion to Dallas. The 22-year-old will make his NHL debut on Friday vs. the San Jose Sharks.

Gurianov will head to the press box for the third time this season on Friday as Dallas takes on San Jose. In 12 games, he has a goal and two assists while posting a -1 plus/minus and getting 20 SOG. All three of his points have come in the last four games.

Carlson has not played since leaving early in a game vs. Nashville on October 29th. The Capitals' star defenseman has two goals and six points in his first nine games with the team while putting up a -2 plus/minus with 27 SOG. He will be a game-time decision Friday but will make a massive addition to the lineup if he is able to go after warm-ups.

Oettinger last played on October 29th, when he left a game vs. NYR due to a lower-body injury after stopping eight of 10 shots (.800 SV%) through two periods. Prior to his injury, he was one of the best goalies across the NHL, posting a 5-1-0 record alongside an NHL-leading .952 SV% and 1.40 GAA. He faces off against the San Jose Sharks who are in the middle of a five-game losing streak.

With Pittsburgh dealing with an array of injuries on their back end, Mark Friedman has been brought up from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL for some defensive relief. Before his promotion to Pittsburgh, he had two assists and was a +2 plus/minus through 10 games.

Poulin has been re-assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL after he post one assist and a -3 plus/minus while averaging only 9:58 ATOI across three games played.

The 26-year-old has been enjoying a strong start to his AHL campaign prior to his promotion with nine points (2G/7A) in nine games along with 27 PIMs and a +8 plus/minus rating. He has played in one NHL game previously in his career when he got a call-up in 2021-22 and had one SOG.

Kuemper finds himself in the midst of a four-game losing streak after stopping 24 of 27 shots (.889 SV%) in a 4-1 loss to Pittsburgh his last time out. Although he holds a 4-6-1 record, he has been solid between the pipes for the injured Capitals as proven by his .916 SV% and 2.47 GAA. He faces the Tampa Bay Lightning who have won two of their last three contests but grade out fairly evenly offensively across the league as they are 13th in GF/GP (3.23) and 17th in SOG/GP (31.2).

Werenski left Thursday's game with an upper-body injury, and head coach Brad Larsen said that "it's not going to be good at all." This is obviously a massive blow for the Blue Jackets, who are already without Adam Boqvist on the blueline and Jakub Voracek up front.

Yamamoto was scratched Thursday in Carolina and will miss Saturday's game in Florida as the Oilers close out their four-game road trip. Yamamoto will be re-evaluated in Edmonton and a detailed timeline should be released when the Oilers get back home.