NHL Player News

Pickard will guard the road crease in Monday's preseason contest against the Blackhawks, per Jack Bushman of Chicago Hockey Now.

Pickard will return to action after stopping 14 shots in Saturday's 3-2 overtime win against Chicago. The 34-year-old netminder struggled last season with a 5-6-2 record, a 3.68 GAA and an .871 save percentage across 16 regular-season appearances. With Filip Gustavsson (hip) likely to miss time to begin the 2026-27 season, Pickard will likely serve as the team's No. 2 option between the pipes in the interim. Monday's preseason outing should help ease the veteran netminder into his new system.

George was loaned to AHL Ontario on Monday, Zach Dooley of the Kings' official site reports.

George is set to embark on his first professional season with the Reign, as he played exclusively in the OHL in 2025-26. The Kings have Darcy Kuemper and Anton Forsberg locked in as their top two netminders, so unless one of them gets hurt, George might have to wait until the 2027-28 campaign to get a shot at making his NHL debut.

Montembeault is slated to patrol the home blue paint in Monday's preseason game versus Ottawa.

Montembeault started Saturday's preseason game against Toronto and was perfect, turning aside all 13 shots he faced. Montembeault was relegated to being Montreal's No. 3 netminder once Jacob Fowler was called up toward the end of last season, so the former likely has an uphill battle for playing time in 2026-27 at this point.

Ersson is expected to patrol the road crease in Monday's preseason matchup.

Ersson is listed atop Ottawa's expected line chart for Monday's contest, indicating that he will likely make his team debut. The 26-year-old backstop is looking to benefit from the change of scenery, as he's coming off a 2025-26 where he had a 14-11-5 record, a 3.12 GAA and an .870 save percentage across 33 regular-season starts. He's shown flashes of solid play throughout his four-year NHL career and will try to use Monday's preseason showing to stake his claim for the Senators' backup role. He'll likely battle against Leevi Merilainen for the top backup spot, who is also active Monday.

Lyon will be in goal for Monday's preseason game in Pittsburgh, according to Josh Getzoff of SportsNet Pittsburgh.

Lyon will look to get off to a good start in exhibition play Monday, as head coach Lindy Ruff might elect to ride the hot hand during the 2026-27 campaign. While Lyon and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen will likely compete for the bulk of the starts this season, both netminders seem to have the upper hand for playing time over Colten Ellis.

Lavoie (undisclosed) is day-to-day, per Danny Webster of the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Monday.

Lavoie sustained the injury in Saturday's 4-2 preseason win over the Kings. He notched 30 goals and 56 points in 45 regular-season appearances for AHL Henderson in 2025-26. To be returned to the minors this campaign, the 25-year-old forward would need to clear waivers.

Uchacz is considered week-to-week with an undisclosed injury, Danny Webster of the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports Monday.

Uchacz played in three regular-season games with the Golden Knights last year in which he failed to record a point while generating two shots, seven hits and five PIM. Even without the injury concerns, Uchacz was unlikely to make the Opening Night roster. Once given the all-clear, the Calgary native figures to end up in AHL Henderson.

Knight is expected to start Monday's home preseason game against the Wild, Vinnie Parise of The Hockey News reports.

Knight was in the starter's crease during Monday's morning skate, and he's expected to start and play the entire game during Chicago's first home preseason matchup of the year. Across 55 regular-season appearances with Chicago last year, he went 19-25-11 with a 2.82 GAA and .902 save percentage.

Perry is temporarily away from the team for personal reasons, John Hoven of SiriusXM NHL Network Radio reports Monday.

Based on Perry's timeline, he should be expected to miss both Tuesday and Wednesday's preseason games versus the Mammoth and Ducks, respectively. At this point, there is no reason to suspect that Perry won't be back in time for the regular-season opener against the Avalanche on Wednesday.

Hofer will guard the road goal in Monday's preseason matchup against Dallas, according to Lou Korac of The Hockey News.

Hofer is expected to play the first two periods before Georgii Romanov enters the game in the third frame. The 26-year-old Hofer posted a 24-13-5 record with six shutouts, a 2.61 GAA and a .909 save percentage in 46 appearances during the 2025-26 regular season.