NHL Player News

Grans (lower body) was put on the injured non-roster list Monday.

Grans sustained the injury in Thursday's 2-0 preseason win over Boston. It's unclear when he will be ready to return, but he will likely head to AHL Lehigh Valley once he's healthy.

Samuelsson (lower body) was moved to injured reserve by the Sabres on Monday.

Samuelsson should probably be expected to miss the first two games of the season, though it could still be longer. Even with these early injury concerns, the 26-year-old blueliner should be capable of reproducing the 40-plus points he did in 2025-26.

Barkey (lower body) was placed on injured reserve Monday.

Barkey is eligible to be activated whenever he is healthy, but he will likely miss the start of the 2026-27 campaign. He generated five goals, 17 points, 43 shots on net and 43 hits in 43 regular-season appearances for Philadelphia in 2025-26.

Sheary was placed on injured reserve by the Sabres on Monday with an undisclosed injury.

Even when healthy, Sheary was far from a lock to play on a nightly basis and will likely serve as a healthy scratch periodically once given the all-clear. In his 62 regular-season tilts last year for the Rangers, the 34-year-old winger notched seven goals, 11 assists and 81 shots while averaging 14:06 of ice time.

Timmins was placed on injured reserve by the Sabres for an undisclosed reason Monday.

It's not yet clear what injury Timmins is dealing with, but he'll be forced to miss the start of the regular season after being placed on injured reserve. The 28-year-old defenseman appeared in 39 regular-season games with Buffalo during the 2025-26 campaign and recorded no goals, eight assists, 81 blocked shots, 29 hits and 18 PIM while averaging 18:46 of ice time.

Zucker (abdomen) was placed on injured reserve by the Sabres on Monday.

General manager Jarmo Kekalainen announced in mid-September that Zucker wouldn't be ready for the start of the season while recovering from sports hernia surgery, so his move to injured reserve isn't very surprising. Kekalainen said that Zucker could miss "a couple of weeks," so the 34-year-old could be in the mix to return as early as mid-October.

Driedger was released from his professional tryout agreement by the Canucks on Monday, Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK reports.

Driedger signed a PTO with the Canucks in late August, but he'll be let go by the organization before the start of the regular season. Thatcher Demko (hip) is slated to miss the first few months of the year, and the team will roll with Kevin Lankinen and Leevi Merilainen in the crease during his absence. Driedger hasn't made a regular-season appearance at the NHL level since the 2023-24 campaign and will likely have to settle for a minor-league role once again this year.

Gourde (hip) was placed on the injured non-roster list Monday.

Gourde won't be available to play until at least December after having offseason hip surgery. He contributed 19 assists, 28 points, 114 shots on net, 115 hits and 66 PIM in 82 regular-season games with Tampa Bay in 2025-26.

The Lightning placed James (hand) on non-roster injured reserve Monday.

James entered training camp with a broken hand and was expected to miss the first two weeks of the regular season, so his move to non-roster injured reserve isn't surprising. Conor Geekie and Scott Sabourin are candidates to see increased time in the lineup early in the year while James is sidelined.

Rautiainen was loaned to Tappara of Finland's Liiga on Monday, Diandra Loux of The Hockey News reports.

Rautiainen notched 25 goals and 77 points in 59 games for Tappara during the 2025-26 regular season. He has already scored one goal in one appearance with the club this campaign.