NHL Hockey Player News

Clifton has been a healthy scratch for the first four games of the season but will replace Matt Grzelcyk (leg) in the lineup on Saturday. The 25-year-old defenseman had just two goals in 31 games a season ago.

Grzelcyk was banged up late in Thursday's game vs. the Flyers and will not be available for the rematch on Saturday. With Grzelcyk sidelined, Connor Clifton will replace him at even strength and Charlie McAvoy figures to replace him on the top power-play unit.

Perry is expected to make his Canadiens' debut on Saturday with Joel Armia sidelined with a concussion. Perry will skate on the third line with Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Tyler Tofofli. He had five goals and 16 assists (21 points) in 57 games with the Stars a season ago.

Accompanying his trade back to his hometown is a fresh two-year deal for the previously unsigned RFA. Roslovic will have to undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine following this trade but should make his Blue Jackets debut sometime in early-February.

Roslovic was an unsigned RFA who had made it clear he didn't want to be in Winnipeg anymore. This deal couldn't have been better for the 23-year-old, who is a native of Columbus, Ohio. The 2015 first-round pick (No.25 overall) registered 67 points (26G / 41A) in 180 career NHL games wth the Jets.

Both Laine and Dubois were not happy in their current situations so swapping the two makes sense for both sides. Laine is currently on IR with an upper-body injury but given the mandatory 14-day quarantine, he should be fully healed once that's completed. Laine was outstanding in his first two seasons, scoring 90 goals in his first 155 NHL games, however he has just 60 goals in 151 games since. In Columbus his centre quality isn't going to improve, so it may be difficult for him to get back on that 40-goal pace we saw early in his career.

Dubois made it well-known that he was looking for a trade out of Columbus and things reached a tipping point on Thursday when head coach John Tortorella benched him for nearly the entire game. Given their backs were against the wall, the Blue Jackets did a pretty nice job turning a disgruntled Dubois and a third-round pick into Laine and Roslovic. For Dubois, he heads to Winnipeg where he will slot in behind Mark Scheifele as their No.2 centre and will most likely have either Nikolaj Ehlers or Kyle Connor on his wing.

Byron was hit by a Shea Weber shot late in Thursday's win in Vancouver. With Byron unavailable for Friday's practice, Michael Frolik skated in his spot on the fourth line.

Armia suffered a concussion on a hit from Tyler Myers on Thursday and missed Friday's practice. With Armia dealing with a concussion, he's already been ruled out of Saturday's rematch in Vancouver. Corey Perry skated in his spot in Friday's practice.

DeMelo has missed the first four games of the season to be with his wife for the birth of their child but is expected to make his season debut when the Jets return home on Saturday.

Thompson played just 3:10 TOI before leaving Thursday's game in Ottawa with a lower-body injury. Moving him to IR means that he will miss at lest the next three games. Kristian Vesalainen is expected to replace him in the lineup on Saturday.

Laine is set to miss his fourth-straight game on Saturday and the move to IR is simply a formality. It is retroactive to when he was hurt, which was January 14th, so he's eligible to be activated whenever he is ready to return to the lineup.