The NHL season is only one day old and multiple teams are already facing a salary-cap crunch.
That and a lot more is covered in this edition of Around the NHL as all seven Canadian teams prepare to drop the puck on a new season.
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Los Angeles Kings
The Los Angeles Kings will be forced to dress only 17 skaters due to injuries and a salary-cap crunch when they open the season against the Colorado Avalanche Wednesday.
With Viktor Arvidsson dealing with a lower-body injury and Arthur Kaliyev suspended to start the season, the Kings don’t have enough available forwards to dress a full squad. According to CapFriendly.com, the Kings only have $131,000 in cap space available to them at the moment.
“Our team will play one player short,” head coach Todd McLellan said, according to The Hockey News. “But that’s okay. We have quality people that are ready to go and the one thing I know, at this time of the year, people are begging for ice time. So, there it is it’s right in front of you so do something with it.”
With Arvidsson and Kaliyev unavailable, rookie Alex Laferriere will make his NHL debut in the game. Laferriere, 21, was a third-round pick by the Kings in 2020 and had 42 points in 35 games as a sophomore at Harvard last season.
Ottawa Senators
The Ottawa Senators will also be forced to only dress 17 skaters when they open the season against the Carolina Hurricanes Wednesday.
Forward Zack MacEwen is dealing with an injury and unable to play in the game, the team confirmed to reporters.
Centre Josh Norris — who continues to work his way back from injury — is also unavailable for the game, but the Senators have opted not to move Norris to long-term injured reserve to free up enough cap space to recall a replacement for MacEwen.
That — combined with the continued contract talks with restricted free-agent forward Shane Pinto — leave the Senators short a player for the first game of the season.
“That’s for sure the situation,” head coach D.J. Smith said Tuesday. “Eleven and six. In saying that, there’s guys that love minutes. And there’s guys that can play lots. We have a couple of days off between games (next up is Saturday’s home opener).”
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Toronto Maple Leafs
Toronto Maple Leafs forward Bobby McMann cleared waivers on Wednesday and has been loaned to the AHL’s Toronto Marlies. In his place, defenceman Simon Benoit was recalled from the Marlies ahead of Wednesday’s opener against the Canadiens.
Additionally, Easton Cowan was returned to the OHL’s London Knights. Cowan, a first-round pick in 2023, impressed at camp and will now look to build off that experience at the junior level.
Vancouver Canucks
Winger Ilya Mikeyev will not be in the lineup when the Canucks open the season against the Edmonton Oilers.
Mikeyev is coming off knee surgery that ended his season in January, and he didn’t play in any pre-season games. The speedy forward did participate in a full practice for the first time on the weekend.
Additionally, the Canucks assigned forward Vasily Podkolzin to AHL Abbotsford and recalled defenceman Akito Hirose.
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Edmonton Oilers
Head coach Jay Woodcroft refused to tip his hand on any lineup decisions ahead of Wednesday’s opener in Vancouver against the Canucks.
“We’ll see who comes out the gate tonight,” Woodcroft said after an optional skate.
Jack Campbell was the first goaltender off the ice from the morning skate but Stuart Skinner faced shots in the road net.
Additionally, defenceman Mattias Ekholm stayed on the ice longer than many of his teammates. Ekholm was dealing with an ankle injury during training camp.
If Ekholm is unavailable, the Oilers will be forced to run a lineup of 11 forwards and six defencemen.
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Winnipeg Jets
Nikolaj Ehlers will be back in the lineup when the Jets visit the Flames Wednesday.
Ehlers missed the entire pre-season while dealing with neck spasms.
“It’s just been a lot of back and forth, just trying to figure out how to best deal with this thing and not make it blow up like it did in the beginning,” said Ehlers Monday. “Try to get it to settle down and make it feel good enough.”
Ehlers will start on a line with Cole Perfetti and Nino Niederreiter.
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Minnesota Wild
Wild defenceman Jon Merrill said he would consider using Pride tape on his stick despite a ban imposed by the NHL.
“You don’t want to be a distraction for the team, but I can’t see how that would be a distraction for anyone if you wear the tape for 15 minutes of warmups. It just doesn’t make sense to me,” Merrill told Joe Smith of The Athletic.
A number of players have spoken out against the new policy in recent days. Last season the Wild were one of the teams that changed course and did not wear Pride jerseys during warm-ups on Pride Night after initially announcing they would.
Merrill and his wife Jessica Molina have been public allies to the 2SLGBTQ+ community. Last season during the Wild’s Pride Night festivities they donated tickets to QUEERSPACE Collective and hosted a meet-and-greet with fans after the game.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Forward Tyler Motte is day-to-day after leaving the Lightning’s opening game with a hand injury.
Motte was hit in the hand by a puck during Tuesday’s win over the Nashville Predators and didn’t finish the game.
Motte was not a participant in practice on Wednesday. The Lightning don’t play again until Saturday against the Red Wings.
Additionally, forward Alex Barre-Boulet cleared waivers and was assigned to the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch. Defenceman Zach Bogosian was recalled in his place.
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Vegas Golden Knights
Logan Thompson will make his return to an NHL net when the Golden Knights visit the San Jose Sharks.
Thompson was an all-star last season but had his season cut short by a lower-body injury that prevented him from appearing in the playoffs. Adin Hill backstopped the Golden Knights to the Stanley Cup and started the season opener on Tuesday.
Additionally, head coach Bruce Cassidy told reporters that forward William Carrier will not travel to San Jose. Carrier left Tuesday’s win over the Kraken with an upper-body injury.
In his place, Pavel Dorofeyev will enter the lineup.
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