NHL Player News

Hildeby will start in goal on the road in Thursday's preseason game against the Canadiens, per the NHL media site.

It's unclear if Hildeby will play the whole game at this time. The 24-year-old Hildeby should continue to get a long look in training camp, as he may be called on to begin the year in the NHL if Joseph Woll (personal) isn't ready for Opening Night.

Stevenson is expected to start at home for Thursday's preseason game against the Flyers, per Tom Gulitti of NHL.com.

Stevenson had a 2.94 GAA and an .888 save percentage across 33 regular-season appearances with AHL Hershey in 2024-25. He's expected to start the upcoming season in the minors, while Logan Thompson and Charlie Lindgren are set to be Washington's starting and backup goaltenders, respectively.

Quick will guard the home goal in Thursday's preseason game versus the Islanders, Stefen Rosner of NHL.com reports.

Quick is set for his second appearance of the preseason. He stopped 12 of 13 shots in his first outing. The veteran netminder is a lock to resume his role from 2024-25 as backup to Igor Shesterkin.

Blomqvist (lower body) isn't expected to play in Friday's preseason game against Detroit, the Penguins announced Thursday.

Blomqvist had a 4-9-1 record, 3.81 GAA and .885 save percentage across 15 appearances with Pittsburgh in 2024-25. He also had a 2.84 GAA and a .914 save percentage in 18 regular-season outings with AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Blomqvist is projected to begin the upcoming campaign in the minors, provided he's healthy.

Hill is expected to guard the home goal for Thursday's preseason game against Utah, per Danny Webster of the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Although the goaltending workload is sometimes split during exhibition action, the plan is for Hill to play the full game. The 29-year-old had a 32-13-5 record, 2.47 GAA and .906 save percentage in 50 regular-season appearances in 2024-25. He's expected to serve as Vegas' No. 1 netminder this year.

Vasilevskiy (undisclosed) will miss Friday's game against the Hurricanes and Saturday's game against the Predators, but he's expected to return to practice Monday, Benjamin Pierce of the Lightning's official site reports.

Vasilevskiy was last on the ice Friday. He is expected to get the Opening Night start Oct. 9 at home versus Ottawa. Vasilevskiy sparkled in 2024-25, posting a 38-20-5 mark with six shutouts, a 2.18 GAA and a .921 save percentage across 63 regular-season appearances.

Ottawa put five players on waivers Thursday, including Shepard, per James Mirtle of The Athletic.

Cameron Crotty, Wyatt Bongiovanni, Xavier Bourgault and Garrett Pilon were also waived by Ottawa. None of those players were expected to make Ottawa's Opening Night roster, and all of them are projected to spend most, if not all, of 2025-26 in the minors. The 29-year-old Shepard had a 2.80 GAA and an .891 save percentage in 39 regular-season appearances with AHL Hershey in 2024-25.

Ingram was designated for waivers by the Mammoth on Thursday.

After entering the Player Assistance Program last year, Ingram was cleared to resume playing but didn't report to Utah's training camp as the team worked to get him a fresh start. It seems the club wasn't able to find a trade partner, instead designating Ingram for waivers. If he goes unclaimed, look for the 28-year-old Canadian to start the year in the minors in the hope of revitalizing his career.

Vanecek will guard the road goal in Vegas on Thursday, Brogan Houston of Deseret News Sports reports.

Vanecek is slated to play the entire game. The 29-year-old netminder is playing for his fifth NHL team in the last five years as he has tended net for Washington, New Jersey, San Jose and Florida prior to the start of the 2025-26 campaign. Vanecek was 5-14-4 with a 3.62 GAA and an .884 save percentage across 25 regular-season appearances for the Sharks and Panthers in 2024-25. He currently has the inside track to backup Karel Vejmelka in the Utah crease this season.

Wallstedt will patrol the home crease versus Dallas on Thursday and play two periods, according to Michael Russo of The Athletic.

Wallstedt is attempting to garner the backup goaltender position in Minnesota, behind first-stringer Filip Gustavsson. Wallstedt was considered the Wild's goaltender of the future heading into last season, but poor play in the 2024-25 campaign in which he was 0-2-0 while allowing eight goals on only 51 shots with Minnesota and a 9-14-4 mark with AHL Iowa, really hurt his value. Wallstedt will battle Cal Petersen for backup duty with the Wild heading into the regular season.