Less than two weeks ago, the New York Rangers placed Dylan Garand on waivers as the young goaltender’s future in the organization was completely up in the air.

Now, with Igor Shesterkin out for the remainder of the 2026-27 season, Garand has suddenly been thrust into the starting goaltending role.

From being placed on waivers to becoming the Rangers’ starter in less than two weeks, how did we get to this point?

Since the Rangers selected him in the fourth round of the 2020 NHL Draft, Garand has spent most of his time with the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League, appearing in 150 AHL games.

He finally got his NHL opportunity toward the tail end of the 2025-26 season, starting three games and posting a 2-0-1 record, a 1.62 goals-against average, and a .948 save percentage.

Things were looking promising for Garand, who signed a two-year contract extension with the Rangers at the beginning of the offseason and was in line to replace the retired Jonathan Quick as Igor Shesterkin’s backup.

However, the Rangers acquired veteran goaltender Joonas Korpisalo from the Boston Bruins on July 1, and he ultimately beat out Garand for the backup spot.

The 24-year-old was placed on waivers before the regular season began. After clearing waivers and being assigned to the Wolf Pack, Garand was prepared to settle back into Hartford, where he had even bought himself an apartment.

Things changed quickly when Garand was recalled by the Rangers on October 1 after Korpisalo was placed on injured reserve with a lower-body injury.

Shesterkin’s season-ending injury has now opened the door for Garand to take over as the Rangers’ starter for the foreseeable future, with Korpisalo expected to remain sidelined for another month.

“You never want to see guys get injured, especially your best player in Igor,” Garand said on Saturday. “He means a lot to the guys in this room and a lot to me personally. At the same time, it’s just next man up, and that’s kind of my approach here. I’m excited for the opportunity, I’m gonna put my heart and soul on the line for these guys and this city every night.”

Garand recorded a shutout in the Rangers’ 2-0 win over the Detroit Red Wings last week. He also entered Friday night’s game against the Washington Capitals in relief of Shesterkin, stopping 11 of 12 shots in a 2-1 loss.

The Rangers are expected to call up goaltender Spencer Martin from the AHL, but Mike Sullivan confirmed that Garand will likely handle the bulk of the workload until Korpisalo returns.

“Dylan is a great kid,” Sullivan said. “He’s another fierce competitor, he loves hockey, and he has aspirations to play in the NHL. He’s a good goalie. Everytime we’ve put him in the net, certainly since I've been here, he's made timely saves. He's given our team a chance to win each and every time he's been in the net. We think he's very capable, and he's going to get an opportunity here.”

Although Garand has limited NHL experience, he has spent the past several seasons as Hartford’s starting goaltender, starting more than 35 games in each of the past three seasons.

“Very ready,” Garand said when asked whether he’s ready to take on the Rangers’ starting role. “I think I have a chip on my shoulder for how my past has been. I’m really excited for this opportunity and ready to battle for these guys.”

While expressing their empathy for Shesterkin during this difficult time, Rangers players have emphasized their belief in Garand and their readiness to “rally” around him.

New York has started the season strong, posting a 4-2 record, but Garand’s performance could play a significant role in determining the team’s trajectory.

After going from the waiver wire to the starting crease in less than two weeks, Garand has a unique opportunity to establish himself in the NHL and become a hero in New York.

“I'm excited,” Garand said. “Obviously it's a dream to play in the NHL. I'm just trying to embrace that mentality and have a lot of gratitude for this opportunity. I love being part of this group and I love the guys in this room. So I really just want to work my nuts off and battle for these guys and help the team keep winning.”

The Bruins got points from 11 different skaters on Saturday afternoon, extending Philly’s season-opening misery with a 5-1 win at TD Garden.

Fraser Minten led the way for the B’s, with the youngster recording a goal and two assists.

Casey Mittelstadt, Pavel Zacha, Marat Khusnutdinov, and Mason Lohrei recorded the other Bruin goals.

Jeremy Swayman didn’t have a ton to do in this one, as he made just 14 saves in the win.

In spite of outshooting the Flyers 22-8 through two periods, the B’s kind of let Philly hang around at just 2-0 down; however, they outscored the Flyers 3-1 in the third period to salt this one away.

The loss extended the Flyers’ season-opening losing streak to six games, giving Rick Tocchet one of the hotter seats in the hockey world at the moment.

Zacha’s goal, his first of the season, kind of epitomized Philly’s start to the season: the play only came about because Owen Tippett knocked the puck back into his own zone, directly to David Pastrnak.

Zacha’s shot somehow trickled past Dan Vladar, and it was 1-0 Bruins early in the first.

The score would remain the same until the final three minutes of the second period, when Lohrei cashed in on a well-executed 4-on-2 rush to make it 2-0 Bruins.

Khusnutdinov beat Tyson Foerster to the net two minutes into the third period and cashed in on a great Minten pass to make it 3-0 Bruins.

Porter Martone got one back for Philly five minutes later, as the B’s gave the young forward too much space on the power play, and he didn’t miss. 3-1 Bruins.

However, Mittelstadt would reestablish the three-goal lead just three minutes later, tucking home a great pass from Elias Lindholm to make it 4-1 Bruins.

After an afternoon spent dishing the puck out, Minten got a goal of his own late in the third, speeding past multiple Flyers before getting a bit of a fortuitous bounce to beat Vladar five-hole and make it 5-1 Bruins.

And that was it!

Bruins win, 5-1.

Game notes

• By my count, Minten has had three three-point games as a Bruin, and two of them have been against the Flyers. Along with today’s effort, Minten had a 1G-2A game against Philly on January 29; his other three-pointer was a 2G-1A outing in the B’s 10-2 blowout win over the Rangers on January 10.
• On a day when the scoring was spread around, the only other Bruin with a multi-point day was JJ Peterka. The forward was credited with primary assists on both Lohrei’s and Minten’s goals.
• Speaking of the Minten goal, that one will not be going on the Noel Acciari Highlight Reel. The former Bruin got caught getting back on defense in the neutral zone, and he barely got a sight of Minten as he sped past. Adios.
• James Hagens, who ended up with an assist on the goal as well, made a great play at his own blue line prior to Mittelstadt’s goal. He was able to cleanly corral an outlet pass with his skate, then immediately turn the puck up ice and hit a teammate in stride. That started the clean zone entry, and the rest was history.
• Unfortunately, the B’s did not, in fact, maintain power play momentum from the Utah game in this one, going 0-for-2 on the afternoon.
• If you’re a Flyers fan, this game probably epitomizes your season thus far. The Flyers turn it over at the blue line and Zacha’s shot somehow trickles in, a blocked shot leads to a 4-on-2 the other way, Minten’s shot ends up banking five-hole and in instead of getting stuck, etc. One of those stretches for Philly, I guess.
• Minten actually ended his afternoon shortly after his goal, as he was given 2-and-10 for tangling with Martone after a hit on Hampus Lindholm that Minten didn’t like. I’m not sure he was actively angling for the Gordie Howe Hat Trick, but he came pretty close.

The B’s will now make their annual sojourn out to California, as they’ll play the Sharks, Ducks, and Kings on Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday, respectively.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

After being injured in Friday night's 3-1 loss against the Washington Capitals, Rangers star goaltender Igor Shesterkin is out for the season, a massive blow to the Metropolitan Division leaders.

In addition, the goaltender who was acquired to be Igor's backup, Joonas Korpisalo, will be sidelined for at least another four weeks with a lower-body injury.

This leaves 24-year-old rookie Dylan Garand as the team's starter for the time being. 

The good news is that Garand has shown real promise as a starter (thank goodness he went unclaimed on waivers a few weeks ago!). 

The bad news is that the Rangers current backup goaltender is 31-year-old Spencer Martin, who has a career 87.5 percent save percentage through 72 games played in the NHL, and was only recently cleared from a lower-body injury of his own. 

Behind Martin is emergency backup goaltender (EBUG) Remmington Keopple, a 24-year-old who played 19 NCAA games across four seasons at Cornell between 2022 and 2026.

With this in mind -- assuming that the Blueshirts can't convince Jonathan Quick or Connor Ingram to come out of retirement, and don't have the leverage to swing a trade for an established NHL goaltender such as Connor Hellebuyck -- let's take a look at three realistic options the Rangers could bring in to serve as Garand's backup, including two third-string goalies under one-year contracts with other NHL teams and one current free agent.

Matt Murray

32-year-old Canadian Matt Murray is very familiar with Rangers head coach Mike Sullivan. As a rookie with Sully's Pittsburgh Penguins in 2015-16, he replaced legendary veteran Marc-André Fleury in the first round of the playoffs, posting a .923 save percentage and 2.08 GAA across 15 games as the Pens emerged as 2016 Stanley Cup Champions. 

Murray spent five years in Pittsburgh, two seasons in Ottawa, and three seasons in Toronto, which included a 21-month absence due to bilateral hip surgery. Last season, he started four games for the Seattle Kraken as the third-choice goaltender behind Joey Daccord and Philipp Grubauer. A small sample size, yes, but Murray recorded strong marks in both save percentage (.922) and goals against average (2.21).

That serious hip injury could be the reason why Murray remains an unrestricted free agent, but with proven NHL experience and familiarity with the Rangers' head honcho, he could be worth a flier.

Remi Poirier

25-year-old Remi Poirier has yet to make his NHL debut, but in my opinion, that's no fault of his own. A sixth-round pick in 2020 by the Dallas Stars, Poirier was unsurprisingly unable to dislodge either of the members of a premier goaltender tandem in the form of Jake Oettinger and Casey DeSmith, who have been the team's unquestioned starter and backup for three seasons running. Last season with the AHL's Texas Stars, Poirier was something of a bell cow, starting 52 games and recoding a .912 save percentage alongside a 2.61 GAA. 

Similar in many ways to Garand, Poirier was waived by the Stars in late September, but unlike Garand, Poirier was claimed by another team. Now the third-choice for the New Jersey Devils behind Jake Allen and Nico Daws, Poirier's $850,000 contract expires at season's end, when he's set to become a restricted free agent. 

With Poirier yet to make a start for the Devils, a crosstown trade to the Rangers could give him the chance to prove he's got what it takes to be a full-time NHL backup.

Brandon Halverson

Drafted by the Rangers at the tail end of the 2014 NHL Draft's second round, 6'5" American netminder Brandon Halverson has made just two NHL starts since. And yet, the 30-year-old's stock is seemingly on the rise.

Halverson struggled mightily during his time in the Rangers organization following the draft, bouncing around from the OHL to the AHL and even the ECHL (one tier below the AHL). After a brief stint in Germany's second-tier, he was signed by the Tampa Bay Lightning and dominated the AHL during the last three seasons, saving 91 percent of the 2421 shots on goal he faced with the Lightning's AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch. 

A free agent this past offseason, Halverson earned the third-choice gig in Dallas with the AHL's Texas Stars, and as I mentioned earlier, Dallas's AHL starter is merely an insurance policy for Oettinger and DeSmith.

On a one-year, $850,000 contract, trading for Halverson to serve as Garand's backup could be a low-risk, high-reward reclamation project for the Rangers.

First Period

After putting together four good shifts to start the game, the New Jersey Devils took a bad penalty when Anthony Mantha went to the box for hooking in the neutral zone four and a half minutes in. Cody Glass won the first draw on the penalty kill, allowing the Devils to clear the puck. The forwards did well early on, but Dougie Hamilton was screening Jake Allen a bit when Linus Karlsson took a shot from the side of the high slot near halfway into the kill, as the Canucks went up 1-0.

The Devils went to the power play when Jonathan Lekkerimaki was called for high sticking Brett Pesce a couple minutes later. Hischier won the draw, but Bratt’s weak pass to the point was immediately picked off and cleared. The Devils took three turns to get full possession back in the offensive zone, wasting most of the first unit’s time. But when they did get back in, completing passes, Nico Hischier took a pass in the bumper and scored his 200th NHL goal to tie the game!

After a hard Luke Hughes slap shot, Kevin Lankinen had to replace Leevi Merliainen due to Merlialinen’s skate blade being broken. With the equipment crew unable to fix the skate, Lankinen was forced to enter. This would prove costly to the Canucks. Filip Hronek was skating backwards with the puck in their defensive zone and fanned on a pass, allowing Amadeus Lombardi to shoot on Lankinen. Lankinen allowed the shot to leak through, and Jesper Boqvist smacked the puck into the net! The Devils went up 2-1 as Lombardi picked up his first career point.

Second Period

The Canucks gained Leevi Merliainen back in their net to start the second period. Yet again, the Devils looked like they were outclassing the Canucks at five-on-five to start this period. Thankfully, they didn’t take a back-breaking penalty. But Brock Boeser would take a hooking penalty for Vancouver, sending the Devils back to the power play a few minutes into the period.

Nico Hischier won the draw, but the Devils were forced back. When they regained possession, Jesper Bratt cut across for a backhand, but Merliainen made the save. The Devils were forced back again, but the first unit stayed on. Jack Hughes made a nice feed to Nico Hischier, but Merliainen blocked it with his pad. Nico poked at it, and Jesper Bratt came in from behind to shoot the puck through Filip Hronek to give the Devils a 3-1 lead!

Throughout the second period, the New Jersey Devils were running right over the Vancouver Canucks. But Jake Allen was still tested from time to time, including a huge pad save on Jake Debrusk after Elias Pettersson made a great pass to him on the rush. After this, the Devils slowed down quite a bit, but they got a late-period power play when Luke Hughes had his stick knocked out of his hands. This didn’t draw the call, but he played the puck with his skates, and Drew O’Connor poked at the puck, taking Hughes down in the process. He went to the box for tripping.

This power play did not look very good early on, but the last minute of the period featured a lot of in-zone time for them. Here, they broke the Canucks down as Dougie Hamilton was quarterbacking the power play. With 9.6 seconds to play, Nico Hischier scored at the side of the net when Jack Hughes feathered a pass across the crease after Bratt drew defenders to the slot and sent the puck down low.

After the goal, at center ice, Evan Rodrigues knocked Marco Rossi down with his stick when Rossi hit him with his glove. Rodrigues was reviewed for a spearing major. He was gifted a four-minute double minor instead of the major, but it looked to me like he deserved a game misconduct.

Third Period

The Devils set out to kill the remaining 3:51 of the Rodrigues penalty to start the second period, sending out Cody Glass, Dawson Mercer, Brett Pesce, and Brenden Dillon. Glass won the draw, and Dillon cleared down to Vancouver. Glass was strong on Vancouver’s entry, allowing Mercer to force them back to center. After another entry, Glass cleared down the ice and went off for Hischier and Bratt. Siegenthaler and Hamilton came on for Dillon and Pesce. Hamilton got the next clear to allow the Devils more breathing room before disrupting Vancouver’s next entry, allowing Hischier to clear the puck and change. Gritsyuk and Meier went on with Dillon and Pesce as the Devils ramped the pressure up on Vancouver, drawing a penalty to negate the remaining 1:51 of the Canucks penalty. Brock Boeser went off for hooking Timo Meier.

At four-on-four, Luke Hughes stripped the puck on the wall and sent his brother Jack ahead. He did not get his best shot on goal, but it still went forced Merliainen to smother it under his arm. Declan Chisholm later picked off a pass to Filip Hronek right in front of Allen on the other end. A couple shifts after the penalties expired, Paul Cotter threw a big hit on Evan Rodrigues, but the two did not fight despite exchanging words at several points.

The Canucks fittingly showed little fight throughout the rest of the game, as the Devils just missed on several chances to extend their lead as Jake Allen’s workload calmed down over the last 20.

The Game Stats: The NHL.com Game Summary | The NHL.com Event Summary | The NHL.com Play by Play Log | The NHL.com Shot Summary | The Natural Stat Trick Game Stats | The Post Hockey Game Stats

Jake 500

Giving up just one screened goal in his 500th NHL game, Jake Allen faced just over 2 expected goals from the Vancouver Canucks this afternoon and came up big with some strong saves and steady positional play in the crease. Allen goes up to 2-1-0 this season, 38-40-4 as a Devil, and 227-206-45 in his total career with today’s win. Through the first four games of the season, Allen has been stronger than not in his three appearances, though I suspect that things are going to slow down for him a bit from here. The Devils have been able to play him in these three out of four because of how many rest days they’ve had, as he had four and then three rest days between starts. He will have to settle for just one or two to the next game, as the Devils play four games in six days from Monday to next Saturday.

Nico 200

Jake Allen turned out to be only one of the Devils to reach a career milestone today, as Nico Hischier scored his 200th and 201st career goals in a three-point game. In Devils franchise history, Hischier ranks fifth on the all-time scoring list, though he will tie Bobby Holik and Travis Zajac for tied-third all-time with his next goal. Meanwhile, with a secondary assist on Nico’s second goal, Jesper Bratt passed Travis Zajac to take sole possession of fifth place all-time on the Devils’ assist leaderboard at 349.

The Devils have needed Nico to get going with the goal scoring, as he was held scoreless through the team’s first three games. Two of those goals helped the Devils go three-for-four on the power play today, though it was practically a three-for-three considering their last power play spanned 11 seconds. So, after the power play started 1-for-14 (7.14%), they are now officially 4-for-18 (22.22%). That’s a world of difference.

Better Penalty Kill?

The Devils went two-for-three on the penalty kill today. Technically, that isn’t great, but it is better than their 62.5% kill rate over the first three games. What I found encouraging, though, was how well they approached the penalty kill after the Rodrigues penalty. They were able to pressure the puck on entries and along the wall, forcing the Canucks to try and make good passes. The frustration they inflicted on Vancouver led to Brock Boeser’s second penalty of the game, and they did it by rolling three forward units on the kill who were able to change frequently due to the number of times they cleared the defensive zone. More of that in the future will lead to better results.

Two Games, Two Goals for Boqvist

While I am still not convinced that the right players are centering the third and fourth lines, I am really encouraged by the chemistry that Amadeus Lombardi and Jesper Boqvist have built over two games together so far. Boqvist had four shots on goal today, including the game-winning goal, while Lombardi and Rodrigues had a shot each. Lombardi’s, of course, led to Boqvist’s goal in the first period as Lombardi got his first career point. But just like that, this is already the hottest start to a season Boqvist has ever had. He’s never scored two goals in the first five games played of a season, and his career-best was two assists in the first three games he played for Florida in 2024-25. In the two seasons Boqvist had 10 goals for the Devils, it took him 17 and nine games to get on the scoresheet for the team. Hopefully, by getting on the board early and often, Boqvist can get going on a big year, as he has historically been a high-percentage shooter when he actually gets shots on goal.

Keep Your Stick Down

I was incensed by Evan Rodrigues’s spearing penalty on Marco Rossi at the end of the second period. I was sure it was going to be called a five-minute major, as Rodrigues made direct contact with Rossi during the incident. I was angry for three reasons. First and foremost, Evan Rodrigues is 33 years old. He should know better. Second, the Devils had just gone up three goals. Putting his team at risk of having to kill a five-minute major penalty was incredibly thoughtless of Rodrigues. Third, I would hate to see a team take runs at the Devils’ stars because a bottom six player made a really bad decision.

Thankfully, for the Devils, the Canucks looked like they wanted no part of making the Devils pay for what Rodrigues did. And for that matter, the only Canuck who really gave it to Rodrigues was Paul Cotter, who threw a big check on him and seemed ready to get going with a fight. If this incident were flipped, where a Devils player was speared and the team did not fight afterwards for him, I could not imagine how upset this board would be at the lack of toughness on display by the team. So, I am not sure how Canucks fans are feeling right now, but I was shocked that nobody even tried to drop the gloves on Rodrigues or really rough him up after a whistle. He got away with it this time, but I would hope that this never repeats as long as he’s a Devil.

Your Thoughts

But what did you think of this afternoon’s game? Did you think the Devils missed some opportunities? What did you think of the late-second period lull before the power play? What did you think of the spearing penalty? Leave your thoughts in the comments below and thanks for reading.

The Vancouver Canucks’ penalty killing woes continued in their 4–1 loss to the New Jersey Devils today. All but one of the Devils’ goals today came while Vancouver was on the penalty kill. Linus Karlsson scored the lone goal for the Canucks while on the power play, while Leevi Meriläinen made 31 stops on 34 shots faced in today’s effort. 

Vancouver opted to make some changes to their lineup after Thursday’s loss, taking Aatu Räty and Victor Mancini out of the lineup in exchange for Brendan Gallagher and Luke Schenn respectively. With Räty being taken out of the lineup, Vancouver was down to three natural centres. Drew O’Connor skated down the middle on Vancouver’s third line as a result. 

The biggest component to today’s game was Vancouver’s struggling penalty kill. The Canucks allowed a goal on almost every single penalty they took today (3), bringing their season’s PK total down to 52.2%.  

A couple of minutes after Vancouver opened the game’s scoring with Karlsson’s power-play goal, Jonathan Lekkerimäki took a high-sticking penalty that put the Canucks on the penalty-kill. Still appearing to be experimenting with their penalty-killing units, a duo of Brock Boeser and Liam Öhgren came onto the ice for Vancouver on the Devils’ first goal. 

Later, during the second period, Vancouver surrendered yet another power-play goal on a hooking penalty taken by Boeser, this time with a unit of Gallagher and Max Sasson on the ice for the goal-against. This was followed-up by a third power-play goal-against scored by Nico Hischier after a dominant, possession-filled power play for New Jersey. 

Today’s game also featured an odd occurrence that resulted in both Canucks goaltenders being in net for the second-consecutive game. While Meriläinen started today, with around five minutes left in the first period, a shot from Luke Hughes hit the Canucks goaltender’s skate and knocked the blade out. After a TV time-out, Kevin Lankinen came into the game in Meriläinen’s place. Despite his skate blade coming out yet another time, Meriläinen came out for the second period and played out the remainder of the game. 

New Jersey’s lone even-strength goal came at the end of the first period. Filip Hronek boggled the puck while attempting to re-set, allowing Jesper Boqvist and Amadeus Lombardi to pounce on the opportunity. While Lankinen made the initial stop, Boqvist was able to jump on the rebound to give his team the lead. 

Because of the fact that Lankinen allowed the goal that ultimately won New Jersey the game, today’s loss is credited to him instead of Meriläinen, despite Meriläinen starting the game and playing in nearly the entire matchup. Lankinen played in a total of 5:27 minutes today. 

Towards the end of the second period, Marco Rossi made a move to push Devils forward Evan Rodrigues out of the faceoff dot, prompting Rodrigues to spear the Canucks centre in the throat. Vancouver was given a four-minute power play for the sequence. While they had a little more than two minutes on the man-advantage to start the third period, another hooking call taken by Boeser cancelled out the power play. Because of the slight overlap at the end of Rodrigues’ double-minor, the Canucks spent nine seconds on the penalty kill. This technically gave Vancouver their first successful penalty kill of the game. 

As a whole, Vancouver wasn’t quite able to establish genuine offence in today’s game. New Jersey played the Canucks well, jumping on their opportunities and smothering Vancouver when they could. On the flip side, however, Vancouver gave the Devils ample opportunities to seize the puck by giving it away or turning it over. 

Stats and Facts: 

• Vancouver allows a power-play goal-against in six consecutive penalty kills 

• None of the Canucks’ four centres recorded a faceoff win rate higher than 50% 

• Leevi Meriläinen plays in his first career game against the New Jersey Devils 

• Brock Boeser ties Andre Boudrias for 16th all-time in Canucks history in power-play assists (89) 

Scoring Summary: 

1st Period: 

5:27 - VAN: Linus Karlsson (1) from Brock Boeser and Jake DeBrusk (PPG) 

8:03 - NJD: Nico Hischier (1) from Arseny Gritsyuk and Luke Hughes 

16:24 - NJD: Jesper Boqvist (2) from Amadeus Lombardi 

2nd Period: 

4:36 - NJD: Jesper Bratt (1) from Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes (PPG) 

19:50 - NJD: Nico Hischier (2) from Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt (PPG) 

3rd Period: 

No Scoring. 

Up Next: 

Vancouver Canucks @ New York Rangers, October 11, 3:30 pm PT 

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After coming home with a split on the road, the Colorado Avalanche are back on home ice for another Saturday night showdown!

Tonight, the Toronto Maple Leafs make their only regular season visit to Denver, with a few new faces in their lineup!

Colorado Avalanche

The Avs return home after splitting their first pair of back-to-back road games. They lost 3-2 on a (literal) last minute goal this past Wednesday against the Winnipeg Jets, but rebounded with a strong showing against the Calgary Flames in a 7-3 victory this past Thursday. The loss in Winnipeg was the first for Mackenzie Blackwood this season, while Scott Wedgewood earned his first win in his season debut against Calgary.

Jaden Schwartz scored three goals across both contests. Fedor Svechkov scored his first goal in an Avalanche sweater against Winnipeg. Zachary L’Heureux, acquired with Svechkov from Nashville in the offseason, made his Avalanche debut against Winnipeg and recorded his first assist on Nathan MacKinnon’s eventual game-winning goal in Calgary. L’Heureux also had his first fight for the Avs in a short bout with Calgary’s Matt Coronato.

Devon Toews, who had a career-low three goals last season, scored a pair of goals against Calgary. His defensive partner in Cale Makar also scored a pair of goals against his hometown team.

T.J. Hughes also recorded his first point of his NHL career, assisting on Schwartz’s first goal on against Calgary.

While the Avs remain perfect on the penalty kill, the power play has gone three games without a goal since going 4/5 in the season opener against Los Angeles on September 30.

MacKinnon leads all skaters in points (8) and assists (5), while also sharing the team lead in penalty minutes (5) with L’Heureux. He also leads the team in goals (3), along with Makar, Schwartz, and Artturi Lehkonen.

The Avs have split every season series against Toronto going back to the 2017-2018 season. Their last victory on home ice came against Toronto was in a 7-3 victory on March 05, 2025.

Projected Lineup

Forwards:
Artturi Lehkonen – Nathan MacKinnon – Martin Nečas
Gabe Landeskog – Brock Nelson – Nazem Kadri
Jaden Schwartz – Fedor Svechkov – T.J. Hughes
Parker Kelly – Nicolas Roy – Zachary L’Heureux

Defense:
Devon Toews – Cale Makar
Brett Kulak – Sam Malinski
Josh Manson – Brent Burns

Between the Pipes:
Mackenzie Blackwood
Scott Wedgewood

Toronto Maple Leafs

The lottery balls finally bounced Toronto’s way this offseason, giving them the first overall pick in this year’s NHL Draft. At the draft in June, they selected left-wing Gavin McKenna, whom many projected to be the top pick of the draft.

The move was one of many offseason transactions for Toronto. They sent a fifth round pick in this year’s draft to the Tampa Bay Lightning for defenseman Darren Raddysh on June 19; Raddysh signed an eight-year, $68 million dollar contract with Toronto as part of the transaction. Toronto also acquired center Nick Paul from Tampa in exchange for goaltender Dennis Hildeby and a pair of draft picks in 2027 & 2028 on July 01.

Free agent goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky signed a three-year, $21 million dollar contract (more on him later). That same day, noted Avalanche killer Colton Sissons also signed to a two-year, $8.5 million dollar contract, and former Avalanche forward Brandon Duhaime also signed a three-year $7.8 million dollar contract.

Shortly before the start of the season, Toronto made their biggest move: they acquired right-wing Kirill Marchenko, goaltender Elvis Merzlikins, and former Avalanche forward Miles Wood from the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for left-wings Matthew Knies and Steven Lorentz, defenseman Emil Andrei, and a 2027 second round pick.

Toronto 2-2-1 to start the season, and are coming into tonight’s game off a 4-3 defeat against the Vegas Golden Knights this past Thursday. After jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the first period, Toronto did the Leafiest thing possible in allowing Vegas to score three unanswered goals to tie the game and lose in the shootout round.

Hiller also mentioned that he does not expect John Tavares to play against Colorado tonight due to the birth of his son Tucker on Friday.

Toronto’s last victory over Colorado came on January 12th, a 4-3 overtime victory at Ball Arena last season.

Projected Lineup

Forwards:
Kirill Marchenko – Auston Matthews – Jack Roslovic
Easton Cowan – Nick Paul – William Nylander
Gavin McKenna – Teddy Blueger – Colton Sissons
Brandon Duhaime – Zack MacEwen – Bo Groulx

Defense:
Jake McCabe – Chris Tanev
Morgan Reilly – Darren Raddysh
Oliver Ekman-Larsson – Troy Stecher

Between the Pipes:
Sergei Bobrovsky
Anthony Stolarz

NOTE: Don’t forget to download the new SB Nation app for a more mobile-friendly way to follow tonight’s action and engage with Mile High Hockey’s match threads. Commenting and interacting with your communities is easier than ever before with the Game Chat feature. The app is currently available in the U.S. and Canada on iOS and Android devices.

The Kings are looking for their 1st win of the 2026-27 NHL season as they set their sights on Vegas in tonight's matchup. The Kings are coming off a 2-1 loss to the Florida Panthers, and in that game, Alex Laferriere was the Kings' lone goal scorer. The Kings have had a slow start to the season, with a 0-2-1 record. The Kings are looking to change that tonight against Vegas. 

Projected Kings Lines 

Here are the projected lines for the Kings tonight:

Artemi Panarin - Quinton Byfield - Adrian Kempe

Trevor Moore - Erik Haula - Alex Laferriere

Joel Armia - Scott Laughton - Jared Wright

Andre Lee - Samuel Helenius - Corey Perry

Joel Edmundson - Brandt Clarke

Brian Dumoulin - Drew Doughty

Mikey Anderson - Cody Ceci

Darcy Kuemper

Anton Forsberg

Projected Golden Knights Lines

Here are the projected lines for the Golden Knights tonight: 

Ivan Barbashev - Jack Eichel - Mark Stone

Brett Howden -  William Karlsson  - Mitch Marner

Trevor Connelly - Tomas Hertl - Raphael Lavoie

Marc Gatcomb -  Nic Dowd - Braeden Bowman

Shea Theodore -  Brayden McNabb

Parker Wotherspoon -  Rasmus Andersson 

Jeremy Lauzon - Noah Hanifin

Carter Hart

Adin Hill

Game Notes 

The Kings will miss Mats Zuccarello (upper-body injury), Alex Turcotte (undisclosed), and Kevin Fiala (leg surgery) tonight. They also scratched Erik Gustafsson. The Golden Knights are without Victor Olofsson (undisclosed), and they have scratched Dylan Coghlan. 

Tonight's matchup pits Darcy Kuemper of the Kings against Carter Hart of the Golden Knights. The Kings need to be at their best, as the Golden Knights are coming off a 4-3 shootout win over the Maple Leafs, including a comeback from a 3-0 deficit. The Kings take on the Golden Knights tonight at 10:00 PM EST as they look for their first win of the season. 

The Pittsburgh Penguins are back home for the second half of this weekend's back-to-back after losing 3-2 in a shootout to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday.

It was another dreadful performance by the skaters. At one point, the Penguins were being outshot 33-10, and they finished the game outshot 45-22. 

Rookie goaltender Sergei Murashov was the only reason why the Penguins stole a point and had a chance to steal the extra one. He was locked in from the drop of the puck and made several massive saves throughout the game to keep the Penguins in it. 

In his first two starts, Murashov has made 75 saves on 80 shots, good for a .938 save percentage. He looks like the real deal. 

He'll have Saturday off when the Dallas Stars come to town. Arturs Silovs will start in this game and needs a good performance after struggling a little bit in Washington on Wednesday. 

The Penguins will play a Stars team that is 2-2 overall and has outscored their opponents 9-0 this week. They're one of the best teams in the league and are a handful to deal with.

If the Penguins want to snap their three-game losing streak, they'll need to get off to a fast start and be way more responsible in their own end. They haven't made things easy for their goaltenders over the last week, and that needs to change. 

There's a chance that head coach Dan Muse tweaks the lines after Friday's shootout loss, but this is what they looked like last night:

Forwards

Rakell-Crosby-Rust

Chinakhov-Novak-Malkin

Lapierre-Kindel-Koivunen

Dewar-Lizotte-Robertson

Defensive pairs

Carlile-Karlsson

Girard-Korczak

van Riemsdyk-Letang

Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. ET on SportsNet Pittsburgh. You can also listen to the game on 105.9 'The X.'

Bookmark THN - Pittsburgh Penguins on your Google News tab to follow the latest Penguins news, roster moves, player features, and more!  

Happy weekend and happy game day, Devils fans. As we wait for our matinee against the Canucks, please feel free to read about another set of our Top 25 Under 25!

15. Nikita Shcherbakov (LHD) — Last Rank: N/A — Age: 18 — Team: Salavat Yulaev Ufa (KHL)

The New Jersey Devils’ third pick from the 2026 NHL Entry Draft, selected at 44th overall, kicks off our top 15 this year. Nikita Shcherbakov is already looking like he might be one of the steals of the draft. Last season, Shcherbakov played seven scoreless games with Salavat Yulaev Ufa, spending most of his season in the VHL (Russian second-tier) with Toros Neftekamsk, where he had four goals and six assists in 35 games. He also had 10 assists in 15 games for Tolpar Ufa in the MHL, or Russian juniors. By our expectations, we would have been happy to see Shcherbakov have a good season in the VHL, improving from the slow production he had there last year. We would have been thrilled with some modest production in the KHL.

So, who would have expected that Shcherbakov would already have two goals and four assists in 14 games for his KHL club? For a KHL rookie, Shcherbakov positions himself aggressively enough to contribute to the offense. Of course, this might not last forever. According to the KHL website, Shcherbakov only plays about 10:06 per game, and he has neither received penalty killing nor power play shifts to this point. Still, he has a chance to make history. In the 18 years that the KHL has existed, the all-time leading scorers among 18-year old defensemen are Anton Silaev and Mikhail Gulyaev, who had 12 points in 63 and 64 games, respectively. The all-time leading per-game scorer among 18-year old defensemen is Shakir Mukhamadullin, who had 10 points in 39 games.

14. Shane Lachance (LW) — Last Rank: 11 — Age: 23 — Team: Utica Comets (AHL)

While he did slip a bit in these rankings, Shane Lachance still has a very good chance of making the NHL. At 6’5” and 218 pounds, Lachance’s easiest path to the big club is by establishing himself as a consistent netfront presence. Last season, we saw a glimpse of that when he scored a preseason goal against the Capitals with the Devils’ power play, but Lachance played one game for the New Jersey Devils in the regular season. On a floundering Utica Comets team for most of that season, Lachance only had 10 goals and 15 assists in 62 games after having a goal and an assist in two games for them in 2024-25 upon his departure from Boston University. It was hard not to notice that players like Lachance and Cam Squires looked outstanding immediately after leaving their juniors or college teams only to have strongly disappointing full seasons with Utica.

This season, we hope for more from Lachance. The team as a whole is built far more competitively, including multiple former NHLers such as Vladislav Kolyachonok and Colin White along with higher-scoring AHLers such as Ben Steeves and Riley Tufte. Having multiple layers of scoring threat built throughout that lineup means that games no longer hinge on whether players like Lachance, Melovsky, and Hameenaho are the absolute key to whether they win or lose, as opponents will be forced to make tougher matchup decisions. Utica played their first game eight days ago, but their season finally resumes this evening. Let’s hope for a display of improved skating and high-danger scoring from the big Lachance.

13. Matyas Melovsky (RH C) — Last Rank: 16 — Age: 22 — Team: Utica Comets (AHL)

Prior to Sunny Mehta’s trade of Jacob Markstrom for Evan Rodrigues and Jesper Boqvist, I would have thought that Matyas Melovsky was a strong candidate to make the NHL this season as a fourth-line center. The Czech right-hander was drafted in 2024 as a double-overage selection by the Devils in the sixth round, and this move has proved to be a rather solid one. Melovsky grew as a goal scorer over time in the QMJHL, going from a pure playmaker to a dual-threat with two-way success that made him one of the best players in the league at the time. Last season, in his professional debut for the Utica Comets, Melovsky had 10 goals and 16 assists in 55 games while having some of the best on-ice results on the team.

This year, Melovsky is off to a good start with an assist in Utica’s only game to date, as he got the primary assist on a goal by Ben Steeves. What makes Melovsky so easy to project into the NHL is his skating ability and positioning. He always seems to be making the right plays, far from being a selfish player. The New Jersey Devils might not have an easy way for Melovsky to get onto the team this season, but I expect him to be the regular number one center for Utica, above Schmelzer, White, and McLaughlin, by November. Of course, I think he should already be there.

12. Topias Vilen (LHD) — Last Rank: 18 — Age: 23 — Team: Utica Comets (AHL)

Continuing the theme of this entry of the Top 25 Under 25 being dominated by Utica Comets, Topias Vilen is the prospect in this section who played the most games in the NHL last season. Those two games might not stand out, but Vilen held his own in his cup-of-coffee NHL experience. Personally, I was not surprised by this, as Vilen has been playing professional hockey since he was 17, when he played in the Finnish Liiga. Since coming to the AHL in 2023, Vilen has been very consistent with 24 or more points in each season and a total of 80 points in 174 games.

This season, Vilen has to contend with a more stacked left side of the defense in Utica. Playing with Anton Silaev and Ethan Edwards, Vilen’s best chance of getting 20 minutes a game would necessitate him playing on the right side where Vladislav Kolyachonok is currently slated (especially while Seamus Casey remains out). Along with Kolyachonok, Vilen was among the final cuts from the New Jersey Devils’ roster going into the regular season, so there is a chance that we see him again this season. But if injuries arise, Mehta and Keefe will need to decide whether they prefer the steadiness of Vilen’s game or the potential of the speedy Edwards, the giant Silaev, or the NHL-experienced Kolyachonok.

11. Ethan Edwards (LHD) — Last Rank: 15 — Age: 24 — Team: Utica Comets (AHL)

The gap between Vilen and Ethan Edwards, in my opinion, is razor-thin. Honestly, going by pure production, Vilen is probably a bit better. Edwards is nearly a year older and was a four-year college player, where he was never a huge point producer at the University of Michigan. But Edwards’s skating has always been extremely intriguing. He has good edges and straight-line speed with the potential to be a good two-way defenseman that can close gaps quickly and join the attack. Last season, Edwards even had 10 goals for the Utica Comets, though his total of 23 points in 69 games still lagged well behind Vilen’s overall pace.

Edwards has one very big issue to take care of this season, though. In the 2025-26 season, Edwards had the third-worst on-ice goal rates out of 10 defensemen who played 10 or more games for the Utica Comets. And with most of the power play time last season going to Calen Addison, Seamus Casey, and Topias Vilen, Edwards was unable to push for power play time, while having significantly less success in extended penalty killing minutes than Vilen. First and foremost, Edwards needs to get his five-on-five play under control, proving that he can put his excellent skating to good use. Second, Edwards needs to find a special teams niche in the AHL, whether it is on the power play or penalty kill. If he can do that, he might put himself in position to push for a roster spot by next year. With Edwards being ranked so high, we are betting big on physical tools and athleticism.

The Vote

See below for the tally today.

As I mentioned yesterday, we are at the point where the variance in rankings has reduced significantly. The true average ranks for each of these players sat between 12 and 14.33, while the worst individual rank for any of them was 20 and the best individual ranks were as high as 9. This is where the slight disagreements came from everyone:

• I had Nikita Shcherbakov (17->15) and Shane Lachance (16->14) in the top 20.
• James had Matyas Melovsky (16->13) in the top 20 and Lachance (9->14) in the top 10.
• Jared had Ethan Edwards (10->11) and Shcherbakov (9->15) in the top 10.
• Jackson had Topias Vilen (17->12) in the top 20.
• Tim had Lachance (20->14) in the top 20 and Melovsky (10->13) in the top 10.
• The community had Shcherbakov (20->15) in the top 20 and Edwards (9->11) in the top 10.

We are largely in consensus over the general range of these prospects. By this point of the rankings, we are hoping that at least three of the five players here turn into true NHLers. They might not be superstars at this range (though Jared may have been onto something ranking Shcherbakov so high when he did), but there should be NHL depth, third pairing defensemen, or bottom six forwards of the future here. After these five, the expectations take another jump.

Your Thoughts

What did you think of today’s rankings release? Who are you excited to follow throughout this season? What do you think of Shcherbakov’s historic start in the KHL? Do you think Melovsky or Lachance will appear for the Devils this season? Do you think Vilen or Edwards might serve as injury fill-ins at some point? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.

Ahead of Saturday afternoon's road game against the Boston Bruins, the Philadelphia Flyers announced a slew of unfortunate injury updates that will have major impacts on the team's short- and long-term plans.

According to Flyers general manager Danny Briere, forward Travis Konecny (lower-body) and Cam York (upper-body) are both day-to-day and will not play against the Bruins on Saturday.

Defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen, who accompanied the Flyers for their three-game road trip, has been placed on injured reserve retroactive to Oct. 3, making him eligible to return as soon as he is ready to play.

With Ristolainen on injured reserve, the Flyers activated defenseman Helge Grans, who started the season on season-opening injured reserve due to a lower-body injury suffered in the preseason.

With York and Ristolainen out, Grans will make his season debut against the Bruins on Saturday on a defense pairing with Simon Benoit.

The most significant and unfortunate piece of injury news comes from a player who has hardly played in the last seven months, a trend that will linger into the foreseeable future.

Energetic young winger Nikita Grebenkin, who has not played a competitive game for the Flyers since March 21, will be out a minimum of four months after undergoing back surgery.

Grebenkin, 23, missed most of training camp with his injury but eventually returned to skate in a yellow no-contact jersey before playing against, ironically, the Bruins in a preseason game on Sept. 24.

In that game against the Bruins, Grebenkin was apparently injured by a collision along the wall, but eventually returned to the game. The Russian forward has been out since then.

Updated Flyers lineup

With the slew of injuries mentioned above, here's how the Flyers are expected to line up against Boston on Saturday, and potentially Carolina on Sunday night, too.

Christian Dvorak - Trevor Zegras - Tyson Foerster

Owen Tippett - Sean Couturier - Matvei Michkov

Denver Barkey - Noah Cates - Porter Martone

Garrett Wilson - Noel Acciari - Michael Bunting

Travis Sanheim - Jamie Drysdale

Nick Seeler - David Jiricek

Simon Benoit - Helge Grans

Having a back-to-back this weekend complicates things, as the Flyers have just one spare healthy skater on the roster in Carl Grundstrom.

Grundstrom did not play against Ottawa on Thursday night and will remain out in favor of the long-time tough guy Wilson as the Flyers face the hosting Bruins in the most important game of their winless 0-3-2 season thus far.

NEW YORK (AP) — New York Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin is out for the season after injuring his right knee Friday night in a game at Washington, the team announced Saturday.

Shesterkin did not put any weight on his right leg as he was helped off the ice by teammates after an awkward fall into his own net against the Capitals.

Shesterkin came well out of his crease to challenge a shooter midway through the second period and fell as he scrambled back to the net. The 30-year-old Russian jammed his right skate into the right post as he slid back into the crease and collapsed into the net in pain.

“It's awful, you know? He's a pillar of this team. It stinks," Rangers captain J.T. Miller said following the 3-1 loss to the Capitals.

Coach Mike Sullivan said after his team's four-game winning streak was snapped: “He's an elite goaltender and you never want to see anyone get hurt. Obviously, he's an important player for us.”

The 2022 Vezina Trophy winner missed a month last season with a lower-body injury, contributing to the Rangers finishing last in the Eastern Conference.

Shesterkin was off to a strong start this season with a 3-1 record and 1.76 goals-against average. Last week, he became the first Rangers goalie to score a goal when he lofted the puck the length of the ice into an empty net late in New York’s home opener against Tampa Bay.

“We're not going to let that take the wind out of our sails,” Miller said about Shesterkin's injury. “We love the way we're playing most of the time.”

Shesterkin stopped 13 of 14 shots and left with the score tied 1-all. He was replaced by 24-year-old backup Dylan Garand, who gave up the go-ahead goal late in the second but finished with 11 saves on 12 shots.

It was the fifth NHL appearance and second this season for Garand, recalled last week from Hartford of the American Hockey League after clearing waivers. Garand made 22 saves in a 2-0 shutout at Detroit last Friday with the Rangers playing their second game in two nights.

Garand went 2-0-1 with a 1.62 goals-against average and .948 save percentage in three starts for the Rangers last season.

New York acquired veteran goaltender Joonas Korpisalo from the Boston Bruins last summer to be Shesterkin’s backup. But the 32-year-old Finn was placed on injured reserve last week and was week to week with a lower-body injury.

___

See AP’s full NHL coverage here

The Rangers saw their worst fears realized Saturday morning. 

Igor Shesterkin, the face of the franchise and one of the NHL’s premier goaltenders, is out for the remainder of the season with what the team is terming a lower-body injury. Rangers head coach Mike Sullivan declined to offer any other details after practice Saturday. 

It is a crushing blow for the Blueshirts, who were off to a solid start after a nightmarish 2025-26 campaign. Then Friday night happened. In the second period of a 3-1 loss to the Capitals in Washington, he appeared to jam his right skate into the right post as he scrambled to get back into the net. His right leg then bent awkwardly as he fell to the ice.

The 30-year-old Shesterkin was helped off, unable to put any weight on his right leg. 

“It’s obviously horrible to hear. A guy like that who means so much to our team, we’re still kind of processing that and you just feel terrible for him,” alternate captain Adam Fox said. “I personally dealt with injuries the last few years and him too. It sucks when you’re not able to be out there and help the team. He’s such an important piece to this team and what we’re able to do, you just feel for him.” 

Now, a season that began with such positive vibes is in crisis. Dylan Garand, less than two weeks removed from being placed on waivers, will be the No. 1 goaltender for the foreseeable future. The 24-year-old has made four NHL starts in his entire career. 

Veteran Joonas Korpisalo, acquired in the summer in a trade with the Bruins to serve as Shesterkin’s backup, is on injured reserve and is expected to be out another month due to a lower-body injury. Spencer Martin (lower-body injury) is healthy and expected to be called up to serve as Garand’s backup on Sunday at the Garden against the Canucks. 

Asked if he can envision the franchise looking outside the organization for a goalie, Sullivan shot down the possibility. In other words, don’t expect a trade for an established netminder. 

“I’m going to coach the twenty-something guys that we have here,” Sullivan said. “We like the group we have.” 

Saturday, alternate captains Fox and Mika Zibanejad expressed sadness for Shesterkin, but belief in Garand and the team around him. They also believe the Rangers have the fortitude to survive this, that this devastating injury won’t ruin their season. 

“The season doesn’t stop. We still have 77, 78, whatever it is, games to go,” Fox said. “We have confidence in our goalies in here, confidence in our team, to play well in front of them and keep going. We have to keep pushing and keep trying to play good hockey.” 

Sullivan doesn’t expect a woe-is-us mentality to pervade the locker room. He’s seen too much good so far for that to happen. 

“I’m not worried about this group from that standpoint. We’re not looking for excuses,” Sullivan said. “We like what’s going on around here, and we’re going to continue to work at becoming the best team we can become. There are certain things you can’t control, and it’s an unfortunate injury. We’ve got very capable guys. We feel like we’ve built a pretty good team up to this point. We’re going to continue to try to develop that.” 

Shesterkin, the 2022 Vezina Trophy winner and a two-time All-Star selection, had started the year very well. Across four previous starts, he notched a 3-1-0 record with a 1.75 goals-against average and a .926 save percentage. He also scored his first NHL goal in a victory against the Lightning on Oct. 1. 

He has battled injuries throughout his career. Last season, he missed 13 games due to a lower-body injury and was limited to 51 games. But this is obviously by far the worst one yet. 

“I couldn’t be more disappointed for Shesty. I know how much playing means to him,” Sullivan said. “He’s obviously one of the cornerstones of this organization. I’m disappointed for him because he’s such a fierce competitor and he loves hockey. He loves playing.”

What we learned as playoff-hopeful Sharks get good test in loss to Oilers originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Editor’s note: Sheng Peng is a regular contributor to NBC Sports California’s Sharks coverage. You can read more of his coverage on San Jose Hockey Now, listen to him on the San Jose Hockey Now Podcast, and follow him on Twitter at @Sheng_Peng.

The San Jose Sharks lost a hard-fought 3-1 battle to the Edmonton Oilers.

It was good test of a playoff hopeful in San Jose and a playoff-hardened Edmonton. The Sharks actually probably outplayed the Oilers most of the night, that’s impressive, but there’s something to be learned about keeping it up for 60 minutes.

Here are some takeaways.

Mack Is Back

Macklin Celebrini didn’t miss a beat in his return to the line-up, after missing two games with a lower-body injury.

He looked fast and strong as ever, particularly on his goal, when he bullied Alex Formenton for the puck on the forecheck. He could’ve had more, hitting a post too.

Bad Timing?

You have to love Kiefer Sherwood’s balls to the wall game.

But his early third period penalty, a late side swipe of Leon Draisaitl, seemed unnecessary. The Sharks were controlling the game, up 12-8 shots at that point, and you were opening the door to letting a stifled Oilers offense feel the puck.

San Jose managed to kill the penalty, but Edmonton rolled up three shots on that PP, and scored two goals in 2:27 shortly thereafter, to make it 3-0, and basically put the game out of reach.

There’s something to be said about letting sleeping dogs lie.

Matching Up With McDavid

Alex Wennberg is Warsofsky’s go-to defensive center, so it wasn’t a surprise to see him up against Connor McDavid as much as he was on Saturday.

But it’s impressive to see 19-year-old rookie Ivar Stenberg remain on the line, along with Kiefer Sherwood.

Stenberg-Wennberg-Sherwood did solid work against Vasily Podkolzin-McDavid-Leon Draisaitl. According to Natural Stat Trick, Wennberg’s line outshot McDavid 5-1 at 5-on-5 through two periods, when both were on the ice together.

McDavid did get an assist on the game-winning Vasily Podkolzin goal, but it was against another line.

Stenberg showed lots of poise tonight in every zone, really impressive, despite not coming up with any points.

Chernyshov Demoted, Then Promoted

It wasn’t a surprise that Igor Chernyshov was demoted to the fourth line this afternoon. This, despite starting on the top line on Thursday at the St. Louis Blues.

Head coach Ryan Warsofsky was already showing displeasure in the young Russian winger’s game in St. Louis, yanking him off the power play in the third period. Then, pointedly, when asked about Chernyshov’s game afterwards, Warsofsky didn’t speak on it, choosing to talk about other topics.

The eye test saw a winger trying to do too much and who was careless with the puck. Stathletes’ micro-stats back it up: Chernyshov completed a team-worst 33 percent of his 5-on-5 passes and 52.94 percent of all passes. Just for context, teammate Tyler Toffoli completed 100 percent of his 5-on-5 passes and 95.24 percent of all passes.

Chances are, Warsofsky wants Chernyshov to simplify his game and be more aggressive attacking the net. And he did just that against the Oilers, putting his head down on multiple occasions and bull-rushing the net with the puck.

Chernyshov was rewarded in the third period with a promotion onto Celebrini’s line.

Chernyshov might be, this side of Will Smith, the Sharks’ most talented winger. But there’s nothing wrong with reminding a youngster every once in a while — Chernyshov is just 20! — about how to play winning hockey.

Sharks x PWHL San Jose

It was Sharks x PWHL San Jose Day at SAP Center.

A point made by my colleague Curtis Pashelka of the Mercury News, the Sharks’ embrace of PWHL has appeared to be much stronger than any other NHL team that share cities with a PWHL sister squad.

Love that from the Sharks! PWHL San Jose drops the puck on their season on December 5^th at SAP Center.

Too Much of a Good Thing?

The lowering of the Shark Head is one of the great traditions in hockey. A great Sharks playoff tradition is the lowering of the Shark Head to the tune of Hans Zimmer’s “Do You Think I’m Saxon?”. The Sharks, however, have been using this intimidating, sounds like it was composed in a forge lead-up for all their home games this season. Call me boring, but I love this classic intro to be saved for special occasions, the home opener and the playoffs. Yeah, I get we haven’t heard this intro a lot over the last seven playoff-less years. But it’s not going to hit the same in the playoffs after I hear it in Game 66 versus the Columbus Blue Jackets.

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The Montreal Canadiens made an early-season trade on Friday, dealing defenseman Jayden Struble to the Nashville Predators for a second-round pick.

With the Canadiens having a defensive logjam on their left side, it seemed likely that one of their defensemen would be moved. Now, Struble is the player that they have decided to part ways with.

With the Canadiens trading Struble, let's look at two more Montreal players who could be on the move next. 

Kirby Dach 

Questions about Kirby Dach's future with the Canadiens have come up for a while now. He has been the subject of early-season trade rumors, and he could be a good trade chip for Montreal to dangle to upgrade their roster elsewhere.

Dach is signed for the 2026-27 season and is a pending unrestricted free agent. Thus, if the Canadiens do not view him as a long-term part of their plans, it would not be too surprising if he got moved this season. 

In four games so far this season, Dach has one assist and a minus-2 rating. 

Samuel Montembeault

Samuel Montembeault will be sidelined for the next 10 to 14 days due to injury. Although this is the case, he is still a goalie who should be watched as a trade candidate this season

Montembeault is a pending unrestricted free agent, and the Canadiens have Jacob Fowler waiting in the wings. With that, it would not be surprising if Montembeault is traded to another team by the deadline. This is especially so if he has a solid year for Montreal once he returns from injury.