NHL Hockey Player News

Staal was added to the NHL’s COVID-19 list on Friday and will miss Saturday’s rematch in Detroit. Head coach Rod Brind’Amour said he has “no idea” how long Staal will be out. Morgan Geekie has been recalled and will replace Staal on Saturday.

The Blue Jackets went with Joonas Korpisalo in their season opening loss, so they'll go to Merzlikins in the rematch on Saturday. Merzlikins was really good after being called up from the AHL last season, going 13-9-8 with a 2.35 GAA, .923 SV% and five shutouts in 33 games. In his only start vs. the Predators, Merzlikins stopped 33 of 36 shots in a 4-3 shootout loss in February, 2020.

Studnicka started the season on the first line but will already get scratched in favour of Anders Bjork. Craig Smith will make his Bruins debut and replace him in the lineup but Bjork will be on the top pair with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand.

Rooney was banged up in the season opener in a collision with Ross Johnston and will not play on Saturday. It’s unclear if he’s out due to injury or a coach’s decision. Phil Di Giuseppe will replace him in the lineup.

Smith missed the season opener with a lower-body injury but head coach Bruce Cassidy expects to have him on Saturday afternoon. Smith had 18 goals and 13 assists (31 points) in 69 games with Nashville last season.

Edmonton was in trouble with Mike Smith going on LTIR and Anton Forsberg getting claimed off of waivers but claiming Grosenick gives them a veteran backup with a little NHL experience. The 31-year-old went 20-9-3 with a 2.29 GAA and .920 SV% in 33 AHL games a season ago and most likely leaps over Stuart Skinner as the Oilers’ new No.2 netminder.

Bobrovsky has been ramping up his work in practice but the Panthers will be cautious with him and keep him out of Sunday’s game. Chris Driedger will start but the Panthers are hopeful that Bobrovsky will be available for Game 2 on Tuesday.

DeAngelo had a tough game on Thursday and took undisciplined penalties so he will sit in the second game of the season but head coach David Quinn said “he’ll be back in the lineup soon.” Brendan Smith will replace DeAngelo on the Rangers’ blueline and Adam Fox will be on PP1.

Blackwood was outstanding in the Devils’ season opener, stopping 35 of the 37 shots that he faced in the shootout loss to the Bruins. Boston dominated the game but Blackwood stood tall and kept the Devils alive. He will likely be under siege again this afternoon in the rematch.

Thomas Greiss started opening night but all signs are pointing towards Bernier getting the nod in the rematch vs. the Hurricanes. Playing on a historically bad team, Bernier actually had a fairly solid season in 2020, going 15-22-3 with a 2.95 GAA and .907 SV%. Bernier finished the season really strong and while that was 10 months ago, it provides some hope that he and Greiss will be a reliable duo for a rebuilding Red Wings squad.

Koskinen stopped 38 of 40 shots in the Oilers' win over the Canucks on Thursday. With Mike Smith landing on LTIR, Koskinen is going to get all of the starts that he can handle for the foreseeable future. Thursday was a nice bounce-back game after he gave up five in the season opener. If the first two games were any indication, Koskinen is going to be busy this season, as he's faced 37.5 shots per game so far.

Couturier was forced to leave Friday’s win over the Penguins with a shoulder injury and will get an MRI on Sunday to reveal the severity of the damage. The Flyers are off until Monday, so he may not miss time if it isn’t too serious but expect the Flyers to provide an update in the next 48 hours.

Smith was scheduled to start on Thursday but was scratched due to injury and it’s obviously serious enough to land him on LTIR, which will cost him a minimum of 24 days. With Smith out, Mikko Koskinen is the only NHL-calibre goalie on their roster and could force the Oilers to make a move after losing Anton Forsberg on waivers last week.

Delia has appeared in 18 NHL games over the last three seasons but spent all of 2020 in the AHL, where he was 16-13-1 with a 2.66 GAA and .912 SV%. With no clear No.1 option in Chicago this season, Delia will battle with Malcolm Subban for playing time in the Blackhawks crease. Subban had his moments on Wednesday but still lost decisively, Delia could be in for the same fate tonight.

After five years with the Penguins, Murray was traded to the Senators this offseason and he's expected to take on a heavy workload as their No.1. Murray had a couple of terrific seasons in Pittsburgh but is coming off of an ugly 2020 campaign, where he had a 2.87 GAA and .899 SV%. Tonight he'll face a Maple Leafs team that averaged 3.67 goals per game in three games vs. the Senators a season ago.

Ullmark went 17-14-3 with a 2.69 GAA and .915 SV%. His numbers improved drastically from 2019 and it appeared he would take on a larger role in 2021. However, Carter Hutton had a strong training camp and started the first game of the season, suggesting this could still be a tight timeshare. The 27-year-old Ullmark was 11-5-1 with a 2.54 GAA and .919 SV% in 17 starts on home-ice a season ago.

Vasilevskiy stopped 22 of 23 shots in the Lightning's season-opening win over the Blackhawks on Wednesday. A late, fluky goal snapped his shutout but it was still a nice start to the season for Fantasy's No.1 netminder. With another matchup with Chicago on-tap, Vasilevskiy is an obvious must-start and should move to 2-0 to start the season.