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NHL Injury and Return News: Bruins, Flyers, Canucks, Leafs, and More
Some significant names added to the NHL injured reserve this past week.
Names on the injury and protocol list in the NHL continues to get longer and longer. Last week we updated a few of the key notable players who have gone down since the NHL season began, and that really didn’t scratch the surface of how teams have been affected of the course of just a handful of games. In a follow-up to that post, there are updates and new names that should be added to the list, while others are set to return.
Related: NHL Injury and Return News: Blues, Oilers, Penguins, Bruins, More
Mentioned last week as day-to-day, Kyle Okposo was officially placed on the Injured Reserve (IR) on January 19th. The 32-year-old winger missed the Buffalo Sabres first five games of the season with an undisclosed injury. However, he was activated from the IR today (Sunday) – just in time for an afternoon matchup against the shorthanded Washington Capitals.
Boston Bruins
The Boston Bruins placed Ondřej Kaše on the IR with an upper body injury. The 25-year-old Czech suffered his injury last Saturday against the New Jersey Devils. He had been held pointless in two games to begin the season. The Bruins are eagerly awaiting the imminent return of sniper David Pastrňák who will automatically upgrade Kaše on the right wing within Boston’s top six.
RELATED: Maple Leafs Injury News and Rumors: Matthews, Thornton, Robertson
Two Key Defenders
The Vancouver Canucks placed defenseman Travis Hamonic on the IR just nine days after signing him to a one-year contract. He was scheduled for an MRI after suffering an upper body injury Wednesday night against the Montreal Canadiens. His veteran experience will be sorely missed if he is out for an extended period.
The good news is, the team got Jordie Benn back and he immediately contributed despite the Canucks loss to the Canadiens on Saturday night.
Already lacking defensive depth, the Anaheim Ducks placed defender Josh Manson on the IR this past Wednesday. The 29-year-old is expected to miss the next six weeks with an oblique injury. The Ducks also added left winger Sonny Milano to the IR with an undisclosed injury.
Toronto Maple Leafs
After being held out of the World Junior tournament to avoid injury, the Toronto Maple Leafs placed 19-year-old Nicholas Robertson on the long-term IR. He played two minutes of his regular season debut before injuring a knee that will keep him out for approximately a month.
To make matters worse, the Leafs were also forced to put veteran Joe Thornton on the LTIR. The big rig fractured a rib against the Oilers Wednesday evening and he too will miss about a month of action. Lastly, Auston Matthews also missed the Leafs Friday finale against the Edmonton Oilers. He has avoided the IR thus far, and listed as questionable for today’s matchup against the Calgary Flames.
Flames Hoping to Get Dube Back
The Calgary Flames are hoping to have winger Dillon Dube back in the lineup for their Sunday matchup against Toronto. As per a report by Postmedia’s Wes Gilbertson, that is possible.
Dube is dealing with a lower-body issue sustained on Monday against Vancouver and while he left that game, the Flames haven’t played since, thus it’s difficult to gauge the severity of the injury.
Philadelphia Flyers
The Philadelphia Flyers lost a key young player on an indefinite basis after 21-year-old center, Morgan Frost suffered a dislocated shoulder this week. This takes a big chunk out of the Flyers depth up the middle as Sean Couturier is also out with a rib injury – although he has not been placed on the IR, yet. The sudden gap in depth was evident on Saturday as the Flyers were routed by the Boston Bruins by a score of 6-1.
As shown above, defenseman Philippe Myers is also out of the lineup but has not yet been transferred to the IR.
Retroactive Placements
Finnish goaltender Antti Raanta was placed on the Arizona Coyotes IR with a backdated day of January 18th. It is unknown what he is suffering from at this point, but all signs indicate a return as early as this Tuesday – the day he is eligible to return to action. Former Portland Winterhawk Adin Hill has been filling in during Raanta’s absence.
Another retroactive IR placement backdated to January 18th was completed by the Nashville Predators with forward Calle Järnkrok. The injury is listed as undisclosed, but he will be eligible to return Tuesday evening when the Predators host the Chicago Blackhawks.
The last notable retroactive IR move was completed by the Ottawa Senators. After missing three straight games with an undisclosed injury, the rising German star Tim Stützle was backdated to an IR date of January 16th. The 19-year-old scored once during his first two NHL games before the suffering an unknown injury. Senators fans should not have to wait long now given the retroactive date of his placement on the IR.
It is safe to say that fans can expect a lot of activity on the NHL’s Covid-19 list. The big news this week involved four members of the Washington Capitals who not only broke protocols but also meant each player – Alex Ovechkin, Evegeny Kuznetsov, Dmitry Orlov, and Ilya Samsonov – will miss at least four games.
Readers can track NHL Covid-19 active cases on the Sporting News site, found here.
Blue Jackets Place Dubinsky on LTIR
The Columbus Blue Jackets announced they have placed veteran forward Brandon Dubinsky on long-term injured reserve. The reason he hadn’t been placed there before was because the Blue Jackets had enough cap space not to need to. With the trade for and signing of Jack Roslovic, the team inched over the salary cap and Dubinsky’s move became necessary.
Dubinsky hasn’t played since the 2019 playoffs as he’s been hampered with a chronic wrist injury and likely will never play again.
NEXT: NHL Injury and Return News: Blues, Oilers, Penguins, Bruins, More
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