This season Chelsea have held Arsenal after going down to 10 men and have beaten Barcelona, Liverpool and Tottenham. They have also dropped points against Atalanta, Brentford, Bournemouth, Brighton, Leeds, Qarabag and Sunderland. It is clear that winning against smaller sides remains a problem for Enzo Maresca. Chelsea rise to the big occasion but inconsistency flares when they are expected to win. They do not like playing against deep defences – Maresca has often reacted with dismay when opponents switch to a back five to counter his carefully formulated plans – and can be forgiven if they are edgy about hosting Everton on Saturday. David Moyes’s side have just recorded clean sheets at Bournemouth and Manchester United. They will back themselves to neutralise Chelsea’s attacking talents. Jacob Steinberg
As it stands, no members of the Vancouver Canucks are expected to make Team Canada’s 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics roster. However, there is a former Canucks who has gotten off to a red-hot start to the 2025–26 season and could be making a bid for Olympic contention. Had things gone differently during his time with the Canucks, Bo Horvat could have been Vancouver’s lone representative on Team Canada.
Currently, Horvat has been one of the NHL’s strongest goal-scorers to start the year. The former Canucks captain is tied with Jason Robertson and Connor Bedard for third in the entire NHL, having scored 19 goals in 31 games played at a pace of .612 goals per game. He currently leads the New York Islanders in points by a margin of eight — Mathew Barzal has the next highest total with 23 on the year.
Throughout his time with the Canucks, Horvat has shown flashes of being a phenomenal goal-scorer at the NHL level. One instance in which this was very prominent was during the 2020 Bubble Playoffs, in which he scored 10 goals in 17 games, holding the league lead until Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Dallas Stars and Tampa Bay Lightning. Horvat and his team had been eliminated two rounds before that.
Horvat’s offensive production shot up a couple of seasons after that. During the 2021–22 season, he scored a career-high (at the time) 31 goals in 70 games to mark the first 30-goal season of his career. The year after that, he potted 31 in 49 games played with the Canucks before being traded to the Islanders at the end of January. He finished that season with a grand total of 38 goals.
Since joining the Islanders, Horvat has posted 33-goal and 28-goal seasons in 2023–24 and 2024–25 respectively. He is currently on pace to score 50 goals by the end of 2025–26. The former Canucks captain also has the second-most faceoff wins in the entire NHL with 329, while his faceoff winning rate of 57.8% ranks ninth among centers who have played more than 400 minutes and taken more than 200 faceoffs.
With the Olympics on the horizon, Horvat is a good option for Team Canada in terms of center depth. Of course, however, this will be impacted by how Canada decides to deploy players like Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby, and Nathan MacKinnon. Horvat was not named to Team Canada during the 4 Nations Faceoff last year, though his current goal-scoring streak could propel him to land a spot on the team.
“It’s always in the back of my mind,” Horvat said to amNewYork of making Canada’s Olympic roster. “I want to be there. Plain and simple. Anybody in my position, anyone around here wants to be a part of that. To wear the Canadian flag and represent your country has always been a dream of mine, and if I get that opportunity, I’m going to make the most of it.”
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Offensive lineman Tommy Tofi (San Francisco, California/ Archbishop Riordan High School) was officially honored as a 2026 Navy All-American during a virtual jersey presentation as part of the Road to the Dome tour.
When Zach Edey has been on the court this season, the Memphis Grizzlies have outscored their opponents by 17.7 points per 100 possessions. When Edey is off the court, the Grizzlies get outscored by 8.2 per 100 — that's a 25.9 points per 100 swing with him on the court.
Which is why this is such bad news in Memphis: Edey will be out at least a month due to a stress reaction in his left ankle, the team announced Thursday. This is the same ankle on which Edey had offseason surgery, which caused him to miss the first 13 games of the season.
Edey's agent, Mark Bartelstein, told ESPN’s Shams Charania, "This is a management plan to optimize Zach's long-term health in consultation with the Grizzlies and medical experts. Following this step, the short- and long-term prognosis for Zach is excellent."
This is a rough blow for a Memphis team that had gone 7-2 in its last nine and started to string together some wins, and is expected to get Ja Morant back soon from the calf strain that sidelined him.
With Edey out, expect Jock Landale to become the starting five for a while, with Jaren Jackson Jr. spending more time at center as well.
In the same announcement, the Grizzlies said that wing John Konchar will have surgery to repair a UCL tear in his left thumb. The team did not provide a timeline for his return, but this injury usually keeps players out at least a month.
There are some encouraging signs regarding Matt Rempe’s recovery from an upper-body injury.
We haven’t seen Rempe in game action since suffering an upper-body injury during a fight against Ryan Reaves that landed him on long-term injured reserve.
Rempe has missed the past 23 games. However, it appears as if he’s getting closer to making a return to the lineup.
The 23-year-old forward practiced for the first time on Tuesday and actually traveled with the team to Chicago for the New York Rangers’ Wednesday night game against the Chicago Blackhawks despite not playing.
“He’s skated a fair amount on his own with our skills coaches, and the next step is to get him on with the group in the team setting in a non-contact jersey,” Mike Sllivan said of Rempe. “That’s what he was today, he participated like that. And then obviously the final step is to get him into game role scenarios.”
It’s worth noting that Rempe has been skating in a non-contact jersey, but these recent developments are certainly a sign that he’s been making significant progress in his overall recovery.
A good night for English clubs in Europe; not so much for Scotland’s representatives
Stuttgart 3-1 Maccabi Tel Aviv. Some bonus content here. No need to thank us! And there really is no need to thank us, because it comes courtesy of our old MBM and Clockwatch pal Kári Tulinius. “Stuttgart looked like they were heading to the most comfortable of home wins when they went 3-0 up after yet another defensive rick by Maccabi, when the normally reliable Alexander Nübel tried to save Roy Revivo’s shot with a hand so weak it seemed like it was made out of cottage cheese. The comedy defending moment still goes to the visitors, though, who let in an opener after a covering defender simply fell on his behind while tracking a high ball, giving Lorenz Assignon all the time in the world to measure the aim on his volley.”
Callum O’Dowda swings a ball in from the left wing. Barnabás Varga heads into the top-right corner from close range. He couldn’t miss, partly because the nearest defender, Emmanuel Fernandez, was the wrong side of the striker, facing upfield, then span around in confusion, making no challenge whatsoever. Comically poor defending.
The losing ways of the Buffalo Sabres on their Western road swing ended on Tuesday in Edmonton, even those the club surrendered a three-goal third period lead before Alex Tuch’s overtime winner, but the club’s injury woes have reappeared. Already with Michael Kesselring, Jiri Kulich, and Justin Danforth out, the Sabres lost winger Jason Zucker in Calgary, and goaltender Colten Ellis against the Oilers.
Zucker will be unavailable long-term with a lower-body injury, and Ellis was placed on injured reserve on Thursday due to being in concussion protocol. Center Josh Norris did not play in Edmonton after being a late scratch with what Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff described as an illness, but also due to something that occurred during warmups.
“(Ellis) said he was feeling better, but just protocol now, so we’ll go through that and get him back as soon as we can.” Ruff said after the morning skate in Vancouver. “(Norris) is doing better, but he won’t play (against the Canucks).”
Winger Isak Rosen was recalled to take Zucker’s spot and after demoting Noah Ostlund earlier in the week, the Sabres opted to call up center Trevor Kuntar from AHL Rochester. Kuntar was a 2020 third round pick of Boston, who after two seasons in AHL Providence was not qualified by the Bruins and signed an AHL deal with the Amerks.
The 24-year-old had nine goals in 24 games with Rochester, and was signed to an NHL two-way deal on Wednesday to be eligible to join the NHL club. Ruff indicated that Ostlund needed to play one AHL game before being able to be recalled and with the Amerks playing in Belleville on Wednesday, it would have been nearly impossible for the young center to get to Vancouver in time to play against the Canucks.
The Montreal Canadiens are making some changes to their blueline for their Dec. 11 matchup against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Canadiens announced that defenseman Arber Xhekaj will not be in the lineup for them against the Penguins. In addition, the Canadiens shared that blueliner Adam Engstrom is set to enter the lineup for the Habs against the Penguins.
Xhekaj has appeared in 27 games so far this season with the Canadiens, where he has recorded one assist, 21 blocks, 57 hits, 55 penalty minutes, and a minus-7 rating. This comes after the 24-year-old defeneman posted one goal, six points, 118 penalty minutes, and 180 hits in 70 games for the Canadiens this past season.
Engstrom, on the other hand, has posted five goals, 11 assists, 16 points, and a plus-8 rating in 20 games this season for the Canadiens' AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket. He also played in his first two career NHL games for the Canadiens earlier this season, where he was held off the scoresheet.
The Canadiens are entering their matchup against the Penguins with the hope of snapping their two-game losing streak.
Gavin Brindley will return to the lineup tonight for the Colorado Avalanche as they face the Florida Panthers at Ball Arena.
The 21-year-old forward has missed the past 10 games due to a lower-body injury. With his return—alongside Joel Kiviranta, who also recently came back from a lower-body injury—Zakhar Bardakov will be a healthy scratch for tonight’s game.
Brindley has endured two separate absences this season. His first came after he sustained a concussion on October 31 against the Vegas Golden Knights, the result of a collision with Ivan Barbashev. Fortunately, the concussion proved mild; he experienced no lingering symptoms and was able to return to the lineup promptly.
Following Valeri Nichushkin’s lower-body injury, Brindley was elevated to the second line, only to be sidelined again on November 20 when he absorbed a hit behind the net early in the opening period against the New York Rangers.
Now that Nichushkin has fully recovered, Brindley will likely return to the fourth line where he started the year.
Brindley scored his first NHL goal on October 11 during the Avalanche’s 5–4 overtime loss to the Dallas Stars. He recorded his first game-winning goal a few weeks later on November 9, netting the overtime winner against the Vancouver Canucks. So far this season, Brindley has tallied seven points in 18 games, including four goals and three assists.
Brindley spent two standout seasons at the University of Michigan, earning Big Ten Player of the Year honors as a sophomore. His first campaign with the Cleveland Monsters, the AHL affiliate of the Columbus Blue Jackets, began on a promising note—he registered four points in his first three games despite a delayed start caused by a broken hand. Over the course of his rookie season, however, his production tapered off, and he finished with six goals and 17 points in 52 games.
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In the first 20 games of the 2025-26 season, we've seen a substantial increase in calf injuries (excluding contusions caused by blunt force), according to leading injury expert Jeff Stotts of InStreetClothes.com. This time last season, there were 18 calf injuries at the 20-game mark. This season, it's up to 25 incidents, representing an increase of nearly 40%.
More significant, however, is the elongated recovery timeline of these injuries. Per Stotts' data, the number of games lost due to calf injuries, through 20 games played, skyrocketed from 36 to 108. A tripling of last season's total.
"John Hollinger's premise that the NBA Cup has led to a denser schedule resulting in more player injuries is simply not supported by the data. Hollinger wonders if 'the league turned the early-season travel dial a little too high' and posits that teams are facing 'an unnaturally heavy schedule cycle.' The reality is the NBA played roughly the same number of games through 42 days this season (308) as last season (307).
"Further, those numbers are consistent with pre-Cup years (308 games in 2022 and 313 games in 2021). The Cup has objectively not led to a denser league-wide schedule in the early part of the season.
"Hollinger additionally claims the NBA is seeing an 'uptick in early-season soft-tissue injuries' and that 'the league keeps getting worse at keeping those stars healthy.' Through the season's first six weeks, the number of injuries forcing star players to miss games is the lowest in the past six seasons, down more than 25 percent year-over-year. While several star players have not played this season due to injuries sustained last season, the suggestion that any increase in games missed this season is related to the schedule's first six weeks is patently misleading."
Hollinger's response summed up the general reaction to the NBA's statement: Why did the league release this in the first place?
The NBA's point that injuries to stars from last season — specifically, Achilles injuries to Jayson Tatum, Damian Lillard and Tyrese Haliburton — are part of the number problem is correct. However, the league statement does not address the facts noted at the start of this piece, that calf injuries — and soft-tissue injuries in general — are up. And because of what everyone saw with Tatum and Haliburton, teams are far more cautious about bringing back players from calf and other injuries.
Injuries are always part of the NBA season. Now, due to improved science and teams being risk-averse considering the nine-figure investments in their biggest stars, teams are willing to keep players out longer and make sure they are fully healed before a player returns. It's what's best for the players and the teams, but it means seeing less of some stars.
The next few months could be franchise-altering for the Vancouver Canucks. Based on reports, a Quinn Hughes trade seems inevitable, with teams around the league linked to the former Norris Trophy winner. While it is unknown when the trade may happen, most reports indicate that Hughes will eventually be wearing a different jersey.
The Hughes trade speculation has reached the point where betting sites are starting to notice. PlayNow Sports, which is the official sports betting partner of the Canucks, has already released odds on who Hughes will play for in the future. 13 teams are listed, while betters can also select the field if they would like.
*Note: All betting lines are as of December 11, 2025, at 2 pm PT. This article is not intended to be betting advice, but rather provides information on what bets are available.
Make sure you bookmark THN's Vancouver Canucks site and add us to your favourites on Google News for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns, and so much more. Also, don't forget to leave a comment at the bottom of the page and engage with other passionate fans through our forum. This article originally appeared on The Hockey News.
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SACRAMENTO – Playing the Denver Nuggets at even strength is a tough enough battle in itself. Doing it without three of your best players only magnified the disparity on the court.
The Kings found that out the very hard way Thursday night at Golden 1 Center, extending their own miseries that have been lingering for the better part of five weeks.
Backed by another mercurial effort from three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokić, Denver took control of this one early, led by as many as 37 points and steamrolled the Kings 136-105.
Jokic had 36 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists.
Maxime Raynaud had 15 points and nine boards. Malik Monk added 18 points and five assists while DeMar DeRozan scored 11 and passed Vince Carter for 23rd place on the NBA’s all-time scoring list.
The Kings fell to 6-19. They were 9-10 at this point last season, about a month before firing coach Mike Brown.
Not even a career milestone for DeRozan was enough to erase the stain from this one.
The short-handed Kings dug themselves a huge hole in the second quarter and spent the rest of the evening trying, albeit unsuccessfully, to climb out.
Jokic had 16 points in the first quarter and was in full triple-double mode as the teams went into halftime with Denver leading 77-54.
The Kings committed five turnovers and scored only 17 points in the third quarter.
Here are the takeaways from the Kings’ latest loss:
Max meets the Joker
With Sabonis nursing his injury, the Kings have been in scramble mode for inside help. The situation got a little worse when Drew Eubanks suffered a left thumb injury and was pulled after playing fewer than four minutes.
Raynaud, whose playing time has incrementally been increasing the past few weeks, was forced to shoulder an even heavier workload as a result and did decent enough against one of the NBA’s best players.
While Jokic did what Jokic always does, Raynaud got a passing grade against the Joker while making his third consecutive start for the Kings. The rookie shot 7-of-13 and made his only 3-point attempt.
Precious Achiuwa also got some time going against Jokic but it was primarily Raynaud who spent the night matching up against the Nuggets’ 7-foot star.
It was another step in Raynaud’s learning curve, who two weeks ago went head-to-head and held his own against Memphis Grizzlies’ 7-foot-3 center Zach Edey.
Deebo passes Vinsanity
On a night when Kings fans didn’t have much to cheer for, DeRozan gave the Golden 1 Center crowd a memorable moment when he slipped past former Kings player and Hall of Famer Vince Carter into 23rd place on the NBA’s all-time scoring list
The milestone moment came about two minutes into the second period when DeRozan was fouled by Denver’s Cam Johnson and made a pair of free throws.
DeRozan now has 25,734 points in his career. Carter had 25,728 points. He played in 54 games during his only season with Sacramento in 2017-18.
Next up on the list is a familiar face, one that DeRozan likely will be chasing for a long while. Stephen Curry is No. 22 on the list with 25,832, and the two-time scoring champ hasn’t shown many signs of slowing down.
Devin Carter sighting
The Kings’ first-round draft pick a year ago played in an NBA game for the first time in nearly a month and one night after playing for Sacramento’s G League team in nearby Stockton.
Carter, the 13th overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, scored 15 points in 21 minutes against the Nuggets.
A night earlier, Carter scored 14 points in 30 minutes for the Stockton Kings. He had been sent there to get some playing time because he wasn’t getting much run in Sacramento and had 10 DNPs and two inactives during a 12-game stretch.
The Flyers couldn’t pull out a close game Thursday night, falling to the Golden Knights in overtime, 3-2, at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
They never led as Trevor Zegras and Noah Juulsen each had game-tying markers.
Rick Tocchet’s club was unable to convert on a power play with under five minutes to go in the third period.
Vegas took advantage as Mark Stone scored the game-winner in OT for the Golden Knights. Travis Konecny had a turnover that led to Stone’s goal eight seconds later.
The Flyers (16-9-4) dropped to 2-2-1 on their season-long six-game homestand.
Tocchet’s club is 7-4-4 in games decided by one goal. It has gone to overtime 11 times.
“He’s doing a great job,” Vegas head coach Bruce Cassidy said. “I knew he would. He did that in Vancouver. He’s building an identity I think here with the Flyers. He was part of an identity here years ago and I think he’d like to sort of reestablish that.”
• Dan Vladar continued to answer the bell for the Flyers. He was not the reason they lost.
The 28-year-old denied 18 of 21 shots.
Vegas capitalized on the Flyers having too many men on the ice in the second period. Stone scored a power play goal to hand the Flyers a 2-1 deficit.
The Flyers fell behind 1-0 for the 20th time this season. In the first period, they were slow to get back after Christian Dvorak had an offensive-zone turnover, which eventually led to Zach Whitecloud’s transition goal.
Schmid stopped 17 of the Flyers’ 19 shots.
• Despite the loss, general manager Danny Briere had to feel good about his offseason additions after this one.
Dvorak had two assists, giving him 21 points through 29 games. The free-agent signing is on pace to shatter his career high of 38 points.
Zegras’ goal was his 11th in 29 games. Last season, the trade acquisition finished with 12 in 57 games for the Ducks.
• Travis Sanheim made excellent read and pass to set up Zegras’ game-tying 1-1 goal in the first period.
• Cam York and Rasmus Ristolainen joined healthy scratches Nicolas Deslauriers and Egor Zamula on Thursday morning for a competitive skate that featured contact.
York missed a third straight game with an upper-body injury. The 24-year-old defenseman has been considered day to day.
“He’s going to have a really hard practice today, a lot of pushing and shoving on the ice and see how he reacts off it,” Tocchet said Thursday morning. “I think this is the day we’ll know how close he is to playing.”
