Category: Sports News

NHL Player Safety has announced that Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Matt Grzelcyk has been fined $2,604.17 for cross-checking Ottawa Senators forward Tim Stutzle. This is the maximum allowable under the current CBA for cross-checking. 

The incident occurred during the Blackhawks' most recent contest against the Senators on Dec. 20. In a scrum after the whistle during the first period, Grzelcyk cross-checked Stutzle in the face. This led to the Blackhawks defenseman receiving a double-minor penalty for high-sticking. 

While getting fined is never the best thing, the Blackhawks are certainly happy that this incident did not lead to Grzelcyk receiving a suspension, as he is a solid part of their blueline. 

Grzelcyk signed a one-year, $1 million contract with the Blackhawks at the start of the 2025-26 season. This was after he joined the club's training camp on a professional tryout (PTO), where he impressed enough to earn a deal for the season.

Grzelcyk has appeared in 35 games so far this season with the Blackhawks, where he has recorded zero goals, six assists, 30 blocks, and a plus-3 rating. This is after he scored one goal and set career highs with 39 assists and 40 points in 82 games during this past season with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

BUFFALO, NY —New York Islanders forward Matthew Barzal was a menace in the second half of their 3-2 shootout loss to the Buffalo Sabres.

Islanders Tie Game Late in Third, Lose 3-2 In Shootout To BuffaloA thrilling late-game comeback forced overtime, but the Islanders ultimately fell short in a nail-biting shootout.

He scored his 10th goal of the season at the 19:37 mark of the second to cut the Islanders’ deficit to 2-1:

Barzal gets the #Isles back in it. Down 2-1 after 2. Hard work pays off! pic.twitter.com/EpuqmShJHH

— The Elmonters (@TheElmonters) December 20, 2025

That extended his point streak to seven games (two goals, five assists).

Then, on the power play with goaltender David Rittich on the bench for the extra attacker, Barzal hit Emil Heineman on the tape for the tying tally with 28 seconds to play in regulation:

Barzal gets the #Isles back in it. Down 2-1 after 2. Hard work pays off! pic.twitter.com/EpuqmShJHH

— The Elmonters (@TheElmonters) December 20, 2025

Barzal was all over the place in overtime with a few breakaway tries but could not bury.

Then in the shootout, Barzal scored on a nifty backhand move:

Mathew Barzal, that was fillllllthy 🥵 pic.twitter.com/MVJ7t4UwbL

— NHL (@NHL) December 21, 2025

The Islanders have gone 1-2-1 without Bo Horvat and it’s been a struggle to produce, especially off the rush. 

Patrick Roy has been waiting for someone to rise up and he got that kind of performance from No. 13 when the team desperately needed a spark on Saturday.

“Well, it's a great opportunity for him to lead the team, and he's doing that,” Roy said. “So I mean, that's the leadership we need from him, producing every night, giving ourselves a chance to be in every game. And I feel that’s a role Barzy wants to play as well. So I mean, it's nice to see him be successful.”

Horvat isn’t expected to be out much longer, already a week and a half into what I heard was a 1-3 week timeline.

Could he return later this week against the New York Rangers on Saturday?

Given that Horvat skated on his own Friday morning — he didn't travel because there was no morning skate — one would think he's getting very close.

Until he's back, the Islanders need Barzal playing like a No. 1 center.

The point streak is nice, but if you noticed, he was making key plays defensively on Saturday. He was pushing the pace, crashing the net and he did win 7-of-13 face-offs (53%). 

That's the Barzal that this team needs and that's the Barzal the Islanders got on Saturday.

While the Montreal Canadiens announced on Sunday morning that they had recalled Samuel Blais from the Laval Rocket, the organization stayed eerily quiet about goaltender Samuel Montembeault.

Blais’ call-up makes perfect sense since center Jake Evans left Saturday night’s game not even four minutes in after what looked like a knee-on-knee collision. In his post-game media availability, Martin St-Louis explained that he would not be flying with the team to Pittsburgh and that he was still being evaluated.

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The absence of news on Montembeault was, however, surprising since the organization had already said a couple of times that the plan was for the netminder to rejoin the team in Pittsburgh this weekend. Following several media requests, the communications department confirmed that the goaltender's plan had been revised and that he would rejoin the team after the Christmas break.

Under the conditioning stint rules, a player can remain in the AHL for 14 days. Since Montembeault was assigned to the Rocket on December 16, he could conceivably stay there until December 30. The team has not confirmed the exact date the goalie will join the Canadiens, but, as previously reported, the goalie had to agree to this course of action. 

On paper, his stay is extended, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that he will see more action in the AHL since the Rocket’s next game is on December 27 against the Syracuse Crunch, while the Canadiens’ next game will be on December 28 against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Florida. If Montembeault joins the team right after the break, he will likely travel with them before the Tampa game, meaning he wouldn’t have time to play another game in Laval in any case.

The Becancour native has lost his two starts with the Rocket: 5-2 on Thursday, when he gave up four goals on 24 shots, and 2-0 on Saturday, when he made 27 saves on 28 shots, the second goal was an empty netter. The Rocket was playing without several of its key contributors, with Owen Beck, Adam Engstrom, and Jacob Fowler all with the Canadiens, and Alex Belzile, Joshua Roy, and Laurent Dauphin serving three-game suspensions. The goalie can hardly be blamed for Saturday’s defeat, but it’s clear the plan didn’t really go as hoped.

While the Canadiens play in Pittsburgh tonight and in Boston on Tuesday night, Montembeault will benefit from more practice time with Rocket goaltending coach Marco Marciano. He has done a great job with Jakub Dobes and Jacob Fowler in getting them ready for the NHL, so more time with him might just be what the doctor ordered for the veteran goaltender.

Since Fowler played last night, you can expect Dobes to be in the net tonight when the Habs take on the Pittsburgh Penguins, although that has yet to be confirmed by the team, which didn’t hold a media availability today.

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When Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Matt Grzelcyk cross-checked Senators top scorer Tim Stutzle in the face on Saturday afternoon, he seemed to get off lightly, receiving only a double minor for high-sticking.

The officials then effectively reduced the punishment by handing Stutzle a roughing minor. Then the Sens lessened the severity even further with a too-many-men penalty near the end of their power play.

So Sens fans came away feeling like they didn't really get their pound of flesh.

On Sunday, in the light of day, when the NHL had a good chance to fully review Grzelcyk's actions, they swooped in with a $2,604.17 fine. Only time will tell whether Grzelcyk will ever financially recover.

The incident happened in the first period of Ottawa's 6-4 win over the Hawks when Stutzle and Grzelcyk began shoving after the whistle. Grzelcyk eventually hit Stutzle with a clear cross-check to the face, captured perfectly in high-definition, slow-motion replay and witnessed by one of the referees, standing 3 feet away.

Tim Stützle gets cross-checked in the face 😲

Ottawa is headed to the power-play. pic.twitter.com/qBoyfa2jDE

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) December 20, 2025

This was clearly a much different situation than a player trying to lift an opponent's stick and accidentally catching him with a high stick, causing blood. And yet, Saturday's officials treated it the same. 

After reviewing the tape several times, I now think that in the middle of the jousting, Grzelcyk was probably just intending to cross-check Stutzle in the chest area. Unfortunately for both parties, his stick shaft appeared to accidentally ride upward as Stutzle simultaneously raised his arms to defend himself.

Still, when your intention is to lay a hard cross-check on someone after the whistle, versus something that accidentally happens during a hockey play in game action, then what happens next is and should be on you. 

So Grzelcyk was fortunate to stay in the game and only receive a double minor. And why the NHL continues to bother with its tiny fines is anyone's guess.

By Steve Warne
The Hockey News Ottawa

This article was originally published at The Hockey News Ottawa. Read more:

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Over the past 72 hours, another popular rumor has swirled around the NHL about another player getting traded from the Nashville Predators. 

Ryan O'Reilly, who's had his fair share of trade rumors throughout the season, has seen a massive spike in chatter.

National media outlets have mentioned teams like the Maple Leafs, Capitals, Devils, and Avalanche as potential destinations for the Predators' assistant captain.

On the surface, it'd make sense.

He leads the Predators in scoring with 28 points (10 goals, 18 assists) in 34 games as the first-line center with Filip Forsberg and Luke Evangelista. At 34 years old and in the third year of a 4-year, $18 million contract with a AAV of $4.5 million, O'Reilly is a player a lot of teams could realistically go after.  

He's a veteran who is over-performing for his age and doesn't cost much. A handful of outlets have gone as far as saying he should be in a third-line role and not in such an amplified role in Nashville. Less pressure to play on a contender.  

Given his age, it's assumed that O'Reilly would like to compete for another cup before he retires. He's currently playing on the Predators team that is tied for last place in the NHL after starting the first month and a half of the season at 6-12-4. 

O'Reilly has been vocal about his own individual frustrations, giving himself a tongue-lashing after a 3-1 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Nov. 6. 

"I know for myself, I'm the number one center and I'm turning the puck over wherever," O'Reilly said. "I can't make a 6-foot pass to save my life. You're not going to have much success if I'm playing pathetic like that...I've had one good year in my career." 

That quote alone is one that many experts and analysts have gone back to in defense of O'Reilly's "not being happy in Nashville." 

All of that makes a good defense as to why O'Reilly would be gone by the trade deadline, but taking a closer look at the Predators, currently, and O'Reilly, it feels like the rumors are a lot of noise with little or dated substance. 

A lot has happened since O'Reilly made that comment after the Flyers game. Nashville has won eight of its last 12, most recently defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs, 5-3, on Saturday. 

In that stretch, O'Reilly has scored 15 points (four goals, 11 assists) in 12 games, playing an integral role in the Predators' turnaround and logging top-line minutes. 

A lot of what the Predators have been doing lately has been conveniently voided when talking about why O'Reilly should leave. Both head coach Andrew Brunette and the players have said over the last few games that the work and effort are beginning to pay off, and they're starting to get positive results. 

O'Reilly is playing well and is now getting support for the first time this season. He most likely wants to see how this run will play out, at least, instead of leaving right in the middle of it. 

Then there's the word "rebuild," which is more complex than just burning everything down and starting from scratch. General manager Barry Trotz has said before that the team is rebuilding, but not in the sense of a ground-up rebuild.

They want to progressively get younger players into the line up and have them working with the veterans. Evangelista has been a prime example of that, 23-years old on the first line, playing with O'Reilly and Forsberg, and amounting 24 points in 33 games. 

Veterans rumored to want to leave are expected to play a significant role in ushering in the next generation. Dumping them off would go against what we've been hearing about for the last five months. 

But that's not to say Trotz isn't entertaining the idea of trading players. That's still happening, but not in the sense of giant blockbuster deals. 

Defenseman Spencer Stastney is an example of that, who was traded to the Edmonton Oilers this season for a 2027 third-rounder. He's a player who has had a good, steady year, but is not one of the Predators' superstars.

Those are the kind of players that Trotz will be trying to get more from in the market. 

While everyone is talking about O'Reilly, Steven Stamkos and Juuse Saros, they should be focused more on Michael Bunting, Erik Haula and Nick Blankenburg. 

Bunting specifically, who has 19 points in 34 games on Nashville's third line, could be huge for any team looking to add bottom-six depth. Haula leads the Predators on power play points with eight and is a veteran center. 

Blankenburg, despite being on the shorter side at 5-feet-9-inches, gave the Predators an unexpected spark from the blue line, tallying 14 points, which is the second most among defenseman. Roman Josi leads that category with 15 points. 

Contract-wise, Bunting is in the final year of a 3-year, $13.5 million contract with an AAV of $4.5 million. Haula is in the final year of a 3-year, $9.45 million deal with a $3.15 annual hit. Blankenburg is in the final year of a 2-year, $1.55 million contract with a $775,00 AAV. 

They're pieces that you can move around instead of having to fill in giant gaps. Good hockey players who will heighten any team's interest in the league and help the Predators become deeper. 

And then there is the most apparent reason why an O'Reilly trade isn't going to happen anytime soon: he doesn't want to leave Nashville yet. 

Pierre LeBrun reported on Dec. 19 that O'Reilly informed interested teams that he "isn't ready to entertain the idea of a trade at this time." He added that he likes Nashville and wants to be part of the solution rather than abandon ship. 

LeBrun even added in The Athletic article that an O'Reilly trade "may not happen at all." 

If the personal aspects count for anything, O'Reilly would also be moving a wife and four kids to the next team. He is also somewhat involved in the Nashville music scene, singing backup vocals for an Irish bluegrass band called JigJam and recently releasing a children's song. 

He's in Nashville to play hockey, but this is the best NHL market to be as a musician. 

O'Reilly getting traded isn't the craziest thing in the world, but given the current state of the Predators and their future intentions, it doesn't make sense why he'd want to leave now or why the team would want to trade him. 

The Pittsburgh Penguins will play the second half of a home-and-home against the Montreal Canadiens in Pittsburgh on Sunday evening. 

The first game took place inside the Bell Centre in Montreal on Saturday night, and the Canadiens won, 4-0. The Penguins were blanked for a second straight game and have lost eight in a row heading into Sunday's game. 

They continue to look like a broken team with no answers. However, that can start to change if they can find a way to win this game. 

Jacob Fowler recorded his first career NHL shutout for the Canadiens on Saturday and it's the second time that he has played well against the Penguins this year. The Penguins will likely avoid him on Sunday since Jakub Dobes is in line to get the start. Dobes is 12-5-2 with a 2.91 goals-against average and an .893 save percentage this year. 

Arturs Silovs will likely start in goal for the Penguins after Stuart Skinner was the starter on Saturday night. Head coach Dan Muse may announce other lineup changes during his media availability before the game. 

Puck drop for this game will be at 7 p.m. ET on SportsNet Pittsburgh. Fans can also listen to the game on 105.9 'The X.'

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