NHL Hockey Player News

Gaustad is not a fantasy relevant player, but this is a big defensive loss for the Predators. He will be replaced by Gabriel Bourque.

Ryan missed the last two games, but will play tonight with a fractured finger. He was listed as a game-time decision, but he will officially replace Zack Smith in the lineup. Ryan has five goals and eight assists (13 points) in 21 games this season.

The Stars placed Anders Lindback on waivers yesterday and recalled Rynnas and they won’t hesitate to use him by the looks of things. He was 5-1-4 with a 2.58 GAA and .913 SV% in the AHL before being recalled. He has one career start, he allowed seven goals on 30 shots in a 7-1 loss to the Flyers while playing with Toronto in 2011-12.

Kuznetsov took line rushes on the Capitals second line in practice this morning, but will serve as healthy scratch while Michael Latta moves into the lineup on the fourth line and Alexander Burakovsky to the second line. Kuznetsov has just eight points (2G / 6A) in what has been a disappointing 23 games.

Clendening, 22, had a goal and an assist in four games with the Blackhawks during his recall. He had served as a healthy scratch in the last three games, so they are sending him back to Rockford to get some games in.

Dahlbeck, 23, has registered two goals and four assists in 22 games with Rockford this season. He has yet to play in an NHL contest, but he is expected to play sometime shortly. The 6-foot-2 defenseman was the Blackhawks third round pick (79th overall) in 2011.

The Senators place Patrick Wiercioch on IR which allowed them to activate Methout, who is listed as a gametime decision. He will take part in warmups and then a decision on his status will be made. The expectation is that he will be in the lineup, no word on who will come out.

Wiercioch was scratched on Tuesday and did not practice on Wednesday, presumably because he was dealing with a muscle strain. His designation to IR allowed the Senators to activate Marc Methot, who could be making his season debut tonight. Wiercioch is day-to-day.

The Devils are battling a ton of injuries right now, so they have recalled Sislo, who has 10 points (6G / 4A) in 20 games with Albany this season. He has one assist in 16 career NHL games.

Rask stopped 25 of 28 shots in the Bruins loss to the Ducks on Monday. He was given Tuesday night off, but will be back in goal tonight in San Jose. He has just one win in his last four despite posting a 2.24 GAA and .925 SV%. The Sharks are not playing great right now and Rask has never lost two San Jose in three career starts, so don’t hesitate with Rask.

Murphy will miss his second straight game with an upper-body injury that he suffered on Monday vs. the Oilers. He is listed as day-to-day.

The Stars placed Lindback on waivers on Wednesday and recalled Jussi Rynnas to take his place as the Stars number-2 net minder. Lindback, who signed with the Stars this offseason, was dreadful, going 0-5-0 with a 4.64 GAA and .861 SV% in four starts and one relief appearance.

Brouillette, 27, has played in 11 games this season with the St. John’s IceCaps collecting four points (2G / 2A) and four penalty minutes. Both of the defenceman’s goals scored this season have been game winners for the IceCaps. He comes up after the Jets lost Zach Bogosian on Wednesday for 4-6 weeks.

Tobias Enstrom will miss the rest of December, Zach Bogosian will miss 4-6 weeks and Grant Clitsome is out for two weeks, so that means Big Buff goes back to the blue line. He has 11 points (5G / 6A) in 26 games as a forward this season, so his numbers are already underwhelming so a move to the backend likely isn’t going to help his cause.

Hutchinson allowed two goals on 38 shots in the Jets 2-1 OT loss to the Bruins last Friday. Hutchinson has been great over the last month, winning four of five starts with a 1.22 GAA and .958 SV% (includes one relief appearance). He has a solid matchup tonight against an Avalanche team who have lost three of their last four.

Clitsome missed Wednesday’s game with a lower-body injury that he must have suffered on Friday vs. the Bruins. He joins Zach Bogosian and Tobias Enstrom as Jets blue liners who are available for at least the next two weeks.

Enstrom has already missed the last four games with a lower-body injury he suffered on November 23rd vs. St. Louis. Now he is expected to miss the next four weeks and Zach Bogosian suffered a lower-body injury and will join him for the next 4-6 weeks.

Bogosian suffered the injury while blocking a shot in the Jets OT win over the Oilers on Wednesday night. The Jets will also be without Tobias Enstrom for the rest of the month, so this will be a huge test for their blue line. Bogosian is out until the New Year at least, could be sidelined until mid-January. Expect a call-up from St. John’s.

Couture suffered an apparent head injury in the Sharks win over the Flyers on Tuesday. He skate in the top-6 this morning and said that he is feeling good to go tonight, but needs to pass one more concussion protocol test. Consider him as a game-time decision.

Niemi stopped 28 of 29 shots in the Sharks 2-1 win over the Flyers on Tuesday. After losing four in a row, Niemi has now won back-to-back games for the first time since October 26th/28th. He will make his second start of the year vs. Boston tonight—he allowed four on 32 shots in a 5-3 loss the first time around.