Ramblings: Updates on Doughty, Klingberg, Chinakhov, Ullmark, Guenther, and Hischier; Bobrovsky Crowns Kings – January 30

Michael Clifford

2025-01-30

Okay there was a lot of significant injury/player news to come down on Wednesday so let's get right to it.

The first big note was the return of Los Angeles Kings defenceman Drew Doughty to the team's lineup as they went into Florida to face the Panthers. It was Doughty's first regular season game of the 2024-25 campaign because of an injury suffered in the preseason. He was immediately slotted onto the top power-play unit.

With Doughty returning, the Kings went to a 12-6 formation and that meant Brandt Clarke was a healthy scratch. The Kings currently have eight defencemen on the roster, which is unusual but anyone they send down to the minors would require waivers except for Clarke, so this is a situation to very much keep an eye on.

In one of those 'hockey gods are real' moments, the Kings were shut out by the Panthers, losing by a 3-0 margin. The Kings managed 30 shots on Sergei Bobrovsky, but he stopped them all for his second shutout of the season. It also pushes Goalie Bob's save percentage on the season back above the Mendoza Line (.900).

Just for fun: Natural Stat Trick has the Kings with 10 high-danger shots in the game. Florida had 11 in the first period. Maybe Los Angeles should DOUBLE-SECRET healthy scratch Clarke next time.

After going 20 games without a goal, Sam Bennett now has three goals in five games thanks to his tally on Wednesday night. He finished the game with seven shots and six hits, so he's on pace for 26 goals with over three shots and two hits per game. Considering he went 20 games without a goal, that's not too bad.

Aleksander Barkov scored a power play goal while Matthew Tkachuk added the empty-netter. Tkachuk finished with that goal and two assists (one PP) to go along with three shots and two PIMs. Tkachuk's production has been very inconsistent this season but he's now on a point-per-game pace with 47 in 47.

Darcy Kuemper faced 38 shots and stopped 36 of them but took the loss.

Doughty played 23:51, had two shots, and a hit, and the team was outshot 11-6 with him on the ice at 5-on-5.

*

There was an update on the return of John Klingberg:

Dreger would go on to say that Klingberg may return as soon as Thursday night as the Edmonton Oilers host the Detroit Red Wings. Klingberg had a hip resurfacing surgery done 13 months ago and is looking to revive his NHL career with the Cup-contending Oilers. It will be interesting to see how they use him because it seems like his days of playing 21 minutes a night are over with, and they'll almost certainly ease him into the lineup, but we'll see where this goes.

*

Columbus got a nice sight at practice on Wednesday as both Yegor Chinakhov and Boone Jenner were on the ice with the team:

For now, they were skating on a 'fifth' practice line, so nothing seems imminent about their returns. Jenner's timeline is still for after the Four Nations Cup, and that break starts 10 days from now. Chinakhov hasn't played since the day before American Thanksgiving, and was off to a solid start to the season with 7 goals and 7 assists with 55 shots and 32 hits in 21 games before the injury.

If Jenner and Chinakhov are both back in the lineup when the team returns from that Four Nations break, the lineup could look something like this:

Dmitri VoronkovSean MonahanKirill Marchenko

Yegor ChinakhovAdam FantilliKent Johnson

Boone JennerCole SillingerMathieu Olivier

That lineup looks pretty good when everyone is healthy, and they'll need all the healthy bodies they can get as their push for a playoff position continues.

*

An update on injured/sick Detroit Red Wings wingers Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrick Kane:

Kane was rotating on the second line and wasn't on the top power-play unit, so it seems as if he is not quite ready to return just yet. In all honesty, with the way that Marco Kasper has been playing on the top line, and now on the top power-play unit, Kane may see a reduced role whenever he's back in the lineup. Maybe Kasper doesn't last on that top power-play unit, but it may be one of those 'if it's not broke, don't fix it' things.

*

The Ottawa Senators got their top goalie back at practice on Wednesday:

Linus Ullmark hasn't played since before the Christmas break, so it's been over a month now, but Leevi Merilainen has a 6-3-1 record and a .929 save percentage in 10 appearances (nine starts) since Ullmark was injured. He has been more-than-competent with Ullmark out, which is why they may be a little cautious here. It also makes the starting goalie rotation interesting because it seems like it would be hard to take a goalie who is playing so well and either send him back to the AHL or give him one start every 2-3 weeks.

*

A nice sight for Utah as winger Dylan Guenther was at practice:

The team said he's upgraded to day-to-day, but he won't be returning until he sheds that non-contact jersey. Utah has three more games on this homestand with Columbus in town on Friday and St. Louis heading to Utah on Sunday.

*

Some not-very-great news on New Jersey forward Nico Hischier:

If Hischier is week-to-week, he's not coming back before the Four Nations Cup break. It is a bit fortunate for the team that two weeks of his recovery time will be chewed up by that break, but he's not returning to the lineup anytime soon. If the team keeps playing as they did on Wednesday night against Philadelphia, they won't need him back anytime soon, either.

Speaking of that game, the Devils shut out the Flyers 5-0. After the Nick Seeler/Nathan Bastian incident on Monday, we expected fireworks, and we got some as the two teams seemed pretty fired up after nearly every whistle. The Devils got the two points, though, and that's what matters.

The Brothers Hughes each had one-goal, one-assist games as Jack Hughes had three shots and two PIMs while Luke Hughes had two shots and two blocks. Their assists both came on the power play, too.

Bastian (PP), Dawson Mercer, and Ondrej Palat (PP) had the other goals as the Devils went 2-for-3 on the power play. Timo Meier had two assists (one PP), two shots, a block, and two hits, and now has six points in his last four games.

Jake Allen was in net again for the Devils and he stopped all 24 shots he faced for the shutout, his third of the season. He had three shutouts over his prior four seasons (136 starts).

Samuel Ersson, named to Team Sweden's Four Nations Cup roster earlier in the day as Jacob Markstrom's replacement, was pulled after allowing four goals on 16 shots.

*

Montreal provided an update on defenceman Kaiden Guhle laceration after he left the team's game on Tuesday night. It was unclear what happened at the time, but they confirmed suspicions that it was a cut to his leg. Specifically, it was a laceration to his quad muscle that required surgery. He is out indefinitely, and as we know from other players who've had bad lacerations like this (Adam Fantilli last year, though his was the calf), this could be months. It is a real tough break for a guy who started the season injured, too, as the Canadiens are trying to stay afloat in the playoff race.

*

St. Louis put forward Brandon Saad on waivers on Tuesday, and on Wednesday it was announced that the team and player mutually decided to terminate his contract:

This means Saad will not be paid out what he was owed for the rest of this season and next, but he is a free agent and can sign anywhere. We will post what his decision is whenever he makes it, but I still think he can help a team in a bottom-6 role. Who knows where he ends up, but it seems likely a Cup contender takes a chance here.

*

Finally, Seattle announced goaltender Philipp Grubauer was put on waivers. It sucks to see a player performing like this, but he was having an awful year with an .866 save percentage in 21 starts. It is his fourth year with the Kraken and he has never had a season with a .900 save percentage (.890 overall in 151 appearances). Among goalies with at least 100 starts since the beginning of the 2021-22 season, that .890 save percentage is dead last (next-closest is Joonas Korpisalo at .896). Given Grubauer's hefty contract (two more years at $5.9M per season after this one), it seems very unlikely any team claims him and he just heads to the AHL.

*

On the heels of the news that Kirill Kaprizov is undergoing surgery that will keep him out a month, the Minnesota Wild went into Toronto and beat the Maple Leafs 3-1. Filip Gustavsson was excellent in net for the Wild, stopping 31 of 32 shots for his 20th win of the season. After a string of rough starts, Gustavsson has now allowed just three goals in his last two games. Hopefully he is righting the ship.

Marat Khsunutdinov, Jared Spurgeon (PP), and Marcus Foligno scored for Minnesota. Spurgeon had three blocks as well, so he's up to 6 goals, 10 assists, 62 blocks, and 28 hits in 36 games played. All told, considering the injuries he's had, a fairly productive multi-cat season from him.

William Nylander scored in the third period to break Gustavsson's shutout, but that was the only puck to get past the Minnesota netminder. Nylander is up to 29 goals in 51 games on the season, and that works out to a 47-goal pace over a full season.

Joseph Woll was in net for the Leafs and allowed two goals on 24 shots for the loss.

*

Linus Karlsson scored his first NHL goal while Pius Suter and Nils Hoglander also made it to the goal column as Vancouver beat Nashville by a 3-1 margin. That goal from Suter was his 13th of the season, one shy of the 14 he scored in 67 games last season, and two shy of his career-high of 15 goals set across 82 games with Detroit in 2021-22.

Quinn Hughes had another multi-point game with two assists and two shots. Those two assists put him first in the NHL by points from a defenceman (58), clearing Cale Makar by two points in six fewer games played.

Thatcher Demko had his best start since returning from injury back in December, stopping 31 of 32 shots for his fourth win.

Tommy Novak scored the only goal for Nashville. He is on a nice little hot streak with three goals, four assists, and 11 shots in his last five games.

Juuse Saros gave up two goals on 21 shots in the loss. His save percentage of .899 remains the lowest of his career in any season where he's made at least 10 starts.  

*

Erik Karlsson scored in the third period to tie Pittsburgh's road game in Utah 2-2, and Sidney Crosby played overtime hero on a beautiful cut to the net to lift the Penguins to a 3-2 win in the extra frame. That was Crosby's second point of the night after assisting on a Marcus Pettersson goal in the second period. The Penguins captain finished with the goal and assist while adding a block and three hits. He now has 8 goals and 16 assists in his last 20 games.

Karlsson totaled that one goal on five shots, a block, and a hit while Pettersson had that one goal on one shot with three blocks and two hits.

Alex Nedeljkovic was solid in net for the Penguins, stopping 27 of 29 pucks launched his way. Nedeljkovic had a 10-day break in the middle of December and since returning to regular starting duty, he has a 6-4-1 record in his last 11 starts with a .910 save percentage. That will play just fine for fantasy managers.

Mikhail Sergachev returned to the Utah lineup in this one, and scored a power-play goal, totaled three shots, and added four blocks along the way.

Michael Carcone had the other tally.

Connor Ingram was in net for Utah and allowed three goals on 28 shots.

Matias Maccelli was a healthy scratch for this one and seeing as this has happened a few times this season, it's a wonder how much longer he'll be with that franchise.

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