NHL Player News

DeSmith halted 16 of 17 shots on net in Tuesday's 6-3 loss to Carolina.

DeSmith was called upon to make his return to the lineup from a personal matter earlier than expected, as he entered the game following the fifth goal of the night allowed by Jake Oettinger. DeSmith played well in the relief effort, as he gave up just one tally midway through the third period. Overall, the 34-year-old goalie still has a 9-2-4 record, but now holds a .913 save percentage and a 2.41 GAA over 16 appearances this season. Despite Oettinger's rough outing, he firmly holds the starting job over DeSmith, despite the latter's solid numbers on a solid volume of starts. Regardless, DeSmith remains one of the best backups in the NHL and provides excellent value as a spot starter in nearly all fantasy formats.

Oettinger stopped 10 of 15 shots on goal in Tuesday's 6-3 loss to the Hurricanes.

Oettinger struggled immensely in the first 26 minutes of Tuesday's contest, as he allowed five goals, including two in 102 seconds, to lead to his benching. Following Tuesday's loss, the 27-year-old netminder now has a 16-8-4 record with a 2.76 GAA and a .900 save percentage across 28 appearances this season. After one of the strongest starts to the 2025-26 campaign among goalies across the league, Oettinger has lost each of his last four outings and has posted a 4.55 GAA. His recent struggles are noteworthy and could lead to a few extra starts for Casey DeSmith. However, Oettinger's rough patch is likely just a hiccup amidst a long season. Oettinger's next chance to bounce back could come as early as Wednesday's road matchup against Washington.

Hellebuyck stopped 27 of 31 shots in Tuesday's 4-3 overtime defeat against the Golden Knights.

Hellebuyck is riding a nine-game losing streak, going 0-5-4 with a 3.00 GAA and a subpar .878 save percentage over that stretch. The 32-year-old is a shell of the dominant netminder he was in the 2024-25 season. Winnipeg has the worst record in the league (15-21-5), and the team's last victory came on Dec. 13 against Washington, when Hellebuyck made 24 saves in his return from arthroscopic knee surgery.

Hart stopped 17 of 20 shots in Tuesday's 4-3 overtime win over the Jets.

Hart defended the Golden Knights' crease after not playing in the team's 3-2 overtime loss to the Blackhawks on Sunday. He managed to get back to his winning ways after dropping his previous three outings (0-2-1). Hart has made 11 appearances this season, and the results have been uneven. He has a 5-3-3 record with a 3.23 GAA and a brutal .874 save percentage.

Sorokin posted a 44-save shutout in Tuesday's 9-0 win over the Devils.

Sorokin delivered an impressive shutout by making a season-high 44 saves. His previous best was a 35-save performance against the Avalanche on Dec. 4 in a 6-3 win. The Islanders' offense provided him with plenty of support in his first start since recovering from a nagging lower-body injury.

Markstrom stopped 15 of 24 shots in Tuesday's 9-0 loss to the Islanders.

Markstrom has lost in the three outings he's played against the Islanders this season (0-2-1), but this was also his worst outing of the season by any imaginable measure. The Swedish netminder will look to bounce back in his next start. Since he's been splitting the workload in the Devils' crease with Jake Allen, it wouldn't be surprising if Markstrom gets his next call when facing the Jets on Sunday, Jan. 11.

Swayman stopped 20 of 26 shots in Tuesday's 7-4 loss to the Kraken. The seventh goal was an empty-netter.

Swayman allowed six goals for the third time in his last 10 outings, ending his brief two-game winning streak. The 27-year-old netminder has struggled with consistency at times, but this was his fourth-straight start, all of which have been on the road, and fatigue may have been a factor. He's now 16-11-2 on the season with a 2.91 GAA and a .901 save percentage through 30 appearances. The Bruins return home to face the Flames on Thursday, a team that beat them in overtime by a 2-1 score back on Dec. 29 in Calgary.

Daccord allowed four goals on 36 shots in Tuesday's 7-4 win over the Bruins.

It was far from a clean effort, but Daccord came away with the win as the Kraken's offense continued to surge. The 29-year-old netminder has won three of his last four outings, allowing 11 goals on 121 shots in that span. For the season, he's up to 12-9-5 with a 2.82 GAA and a .901 save percentage across 26 outings. Philipp Grubauer's strong play of late has turned the Kraken crease into a timeshare, though it'll be interesting to see if Daccord can carve out a majority of the starts again now that Seattle is out of a stretch of four consecutive back-to-back sets. The next game is a tough matchup, however, as the Kraken host the Wild on Thursday.

Greaves gave up three goals on 34 shots in Tuesday's 5-2 loss to the Sharks. The last two goals were empty-netters.

A flurry of offense in the final five minutes inflated the score, obscuring what was a fairly good effort out of Greaves. He still ended up with his third loss in his last four outings, a span in which he's allowed 12 goals on 143 shots while facing at least 33 shots in each of those contests. For the season, the 24-year-old netminder is now 12-11-6 with a 2.65 GAA and a .910 save percentage over 29 appearances. The Blue Jackets' next game is Thursday in Vegas, followed by a weekend road back-to-back to wrap up this trip with stops in Colorado on Saturday and Utah on Sunday. Given his recent workload, Greaves is likely to start two of the next three games.

Nedeljkovic stopped 34 of 36 shots in Tuesday's 5-2 win over the Blue Jackets.

Nedeljkovic had gone 0-2-0 with 11 goals allowed on 55 shots over his previous three outings. The 29-year-old put together a sharp performance this time out, with the 36 shots against being the most he's faced since the Hurricanes peppered him with 43 on Oct. 14. With the win, Nedeljkovic is up to 6-8-2 with a 3.07 GAA and an .894 save percentage over 19 appearances. Yaroslav Askarov is likely to get the nod for Wednesday's game in Los Angeles, and both goalies should get a chance to play during a tough weekend back-to-back with home games against the Stars on Saturday and the Golden Knights on Sunday.