NHL Player News

Blankenburg scored a goal and added three hits in Saturday's 6-3 win over the Avalanche.

Blankenburg made his season debut for the Maple Leafs and came back to haunt his former team. The defenseman saw 16:11 of ice time, including 54 seconds on the power play. Blankenburg may have a path to more usage after Chris Tanev (upper body) left Saturday's contest, in which Toronto had seven defensemen in the lineup. Steady power-play time will be hard to come by for Blankenburg, but he could compete for bottom-four minutes moving forward.

Crotty (illness) was placed on injured reserve Sunday.

In a corresponding move, Ottawa recalled Jorian Donovan from AHL Belleville on Sunday. Crotty has missed the last two games, and it's unclear when he will be available to return.

Donovan was recalled from AHL Belleville on Sunday.

Donovan returned to Belleville on Tuesday when the Senators needed Jonas Johansson to back up Samuel Ersson with Linus Ullmark sidelined, but with the latter fully healthy, Ottawa had the space to recall the young defenseman. The 22-year-old Donovan has appeared in three games for Belleville to open the 2026-27 campaign, where he has logged zero points and five shots on net. He'll likely serve as a depth option for Ottawa until Jake Sanderson (lower body) and Artem Zub (knee) are ready to return.

Shesterkin (lower body) was placed on long-term injured reserve by the Rangers on Sunday, per Mollie Walker of the New York Post.

As expected, Shesterkin will move to LTIR less than 24 hours after he was ruled out for the season with a lower-body injury. It's a devastating setback for the 30-year-old netminder and the Rangers' organization, as Shesterkin was dialed in to begin the new season, compiling a 3-1-0 record, a 1.79 GAA and a .927 save percentage across five appearances. He'll set his sights on being healthy for the start of the 2027-28 regular season. In the meantime, Dylan Garand is expected to be the lead option between the pipes until Joonas Korpisalo (lower body) is ready to return.

Lankinen is expected to defend the road net against the Rangers on Sunday, according to Thomas Drance of The Athletic.

Lankinen has struggled mightily early in the 2026-27 campaign, posting a 1-4-0 record and surrendering 23 goals on 106 shots. The Rangers (4-2-0) have scored 16 goals in six outings to begin the season.

Garand will patrol the home crease against Vancouver on Sunday, Peter Baugh of The Athletic reports.

In two appearances this season, Garand has posted a 1-1-0 record while allowing only one goal on 34 shots. With Igor Shesterkin (lower body) and Joonas Korpisalo (lower body) unavailable, the 24-year-old Garand is poised to get a significant workload boost. Despite a 2-4-0 start to the 2026-27 campaign, Vancouver has scored 22 goals in six games.

Beaudoin was recalled from AHL Hartford on Sunday, according to Peter Baugh of The Athletic.

Beaudoin was in the lineup for the minor-league club's 7-1 loss to AHL Wilkes-Barre-Scranton on Saturday. He has four PIM, one shot on net, four hits and two blocked shots in two NHL appearances with the Rangers this season, but he hasn't earned a point yet. Beaudoin could be in the lineup for Sunday's matchup against Vancouver.

Thompson tallied a power-play goal, launched six shots on net and served two PIM in Saturday's 4-1 loss to Utah.

Thompson's power-play goal was the lone bright spot for Buffalo on Saturday, where he brought the puck coast-to-coast before firing a shot that snuck past the near side of Utah's Karel Vejmelka. With the highlight-reel twine finder, the 28-year-old Thompson is up to three goals, five points and a league-leading 29 shots on net across five games. He's averaging nearly six shots on goal per game, which makes him an elite fantasy option in leagues that value the creation of goal-scoring chances. He has a solid chance to contend for the 40-plus goal threshold for the third consecutive season in the 2026-27 campaign.

Hayton distributed two assists, recorded a plus-2 rating and posted three blocked shots in Saturday's 4-1 win over Buffalo.

Hayton played the primary pass on the tallies put away by Kailer Yamamoto and John Marino. The 26-year-old Hayton has played a nice secondary role from the team's third line to begin 2026-27, where he's compiled four assists, a plus-3 rating, 11 shots on net and four blocked shots across six games. He's currently on a three-game point streak, making him a decent streaming option in deep fantasy leagues for as long as he's playing an important role offensively.

Marino buried a power-play goal, dished out an assist and placed two shots on net in Saturday's 4-1 win over the Sabres.

Marino helped build up the Mammoth's lead down the stretch in Saturday's contest, where he recorded the primary helper on Anders Lee's goal before finding twine himself on a power play early in the third period. With the pair of points, the 29-year-old Marino is up to three points, five shots on goal and two blocked shots across six appearances. Marino should continue to play a complementary role for Utah for the foreseeable future after signing an eight-year extension with the organization in late July. He posted a career-high 36 points across 80 regular-season games in 2025-26, and if he can get back to that level of production in the new season, he'll hold decent fantasy value in deeper leagues.