NHL Player News

Ahcan was sent to AHL Colorado on Saturday.

Ahcan has yet to play for the Avalanche this season, having been a healthy scratch in four games. The 28-year-old has played in 11 NHL games across parts of three regular seasons, scoring once.

Montour will be taking a temporary leave of absence to deal with a family matter and will not play Saturday in Toronto.

Montour is off to a strong start with four assists and 11 shots on goal in the Kraken's first four games. Cale Fleury is expected to enter the lineup in Montour's absence.

Gudbranson (upper body) remains day-to-day and will miss Saturday's tilt versus Tampa Bay, Mark Scheig of The Hockey Writers reports.

Gudbranson will miss his third straight game. He is progressing and could return as early as Tuesday in Dallas. Gudbranson has four PIM and four hits in two games this season.

Samuelsson (upper body) is expected to be in the lineup against Florida on Saturday.

Samuelsson should return from a two-game absence after being a full participant in Friday's practice. He has contributed one assist, one shot on goal, five blocked shots and five hits across two appearances this season. With Samuelsson poised to return, Zach Metsa will probably be a healthy scratch after being recalled from AHL Rochester on Thursday.

Guhle (lower body) will be out of action for 4-6 weeks, the team announced Saturday.

Guhle logged a season-low 16:10 of ice time in Thursday's 3-2 overtime win over Nashville. He has one goal, one assist, seven shots on net, five blocked shots and 16 hits through five outings this season. With Guhle unavailable, Arber Xhekaj will probably return to the lineup against the Rangers on Saturday.

Romanov (undisclosed) will be a game-time decision versus Ottawa on Saturday, Stefen Rosner of NHL.com reports.

Romanov missed Friday's practice, and head coach Patrick Roy said that the team will see how the defenseman is feeling before deciding on his status. If Romanov is unable to play, look for Adam Boqvist to enter the lineup.

Smith scored a goal on five shots and added an assist in Penn State's 5-4 overtime win over Long Island University on Friday.

Smith has opened the NCAA season with four points in three games. The 18-year-old made the jump to college after racking up 54 points in 68 regular-season games for WHL Tri-City in 2024-25, which was enough for the Blue Jackets to select him 14th overall in the 2025 Draft. The offense is likely to always be there for Smith, but he'll be looking to improve his defensive game while with the Nittany Lions.

Desharnais notched an assist, two blocked shots and 10 PIM in Friday's 6-3 loss to the Mammoth.

This was Desharnais' season debut as he filled in for John Klingberg (lower body) and Shakir Mukhamadullin (undisclosed). With injuries piling up on the Sharks' blue line, Desharnais should get a chance to fill a third-pairing role for a while. He had three assists in 51 regular-season games between the Sharks, Penguins and Canucks last year, so he has minimal upside on offense, but he can bring some physicality.

Cole logged an assist and went plus-2 in Friday's 6-3 win over the Sharks.

Cole has filled a bottom-four role to start 2025-26. The helper was his first point in five games. The 36-year-old blueliner still brings a physical game -- he's added seven hits, nine blocked shots, four PIM and a plus-4 rating so far this season. Cole hasn't reached the 20-point mark since 2019-20 with the Avalanche, so don't expect frequent scoring contributions from him.

Hovorka registered three assists in AHL Charlotte's 6-2 win over Iowa on Friday.

Hovorka is in the final year of his NHL deal. The defenseman was held off the scoresheet in Charlotte's first two games of the year. The Panthers replenished their defensive depth by claiming Donovan Sebrango off waivers from the Senators earlier this week, but if Hovorka plays well for the Checkers, he could be a call-up candidate at some point.