Utah announced that centre Logan Cooley is going to miss eight weeks with the leg injury he suffered after crashing into the post against Vancouver last week. That kind of timeframe will keep him out until the Olympic break, and he can use that break to get up to speed the best he can. Things could certainly be worse, but that's a tough blow for both him and the team.

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An update on Ryan Leonard as he will miss 3-4 weeks:

Ryan Leonard will miss three to four weeks for the @Capitals while Boone Jenner will return to the @BlueJacketsNHL lineup tonight.

More injury news and updates from around the League in today's edition of NHL Status Report ⤵️https://t.co/a7qC9sUIAb

— NHL Media (@NHLMedia) December 11, 2025

Also like Cooley, this could have been a lot worse than it ended up being, but Leonard looked like he was finally starting to find his next gear in the NHL. Let's hope he can get back there again when he returns in January. In the meantime, Connor McMichael was back on the top line with Alex Ovechkin and Dylan Strome on Thursday night.

A late goal from Logan Stankoven tied up Carolina's game with Washington last night, and then the Hurricanes pulled the win in the shootout to take a 3-2 victory over the Caps. Stankoven also assisted on an earlier Nikolaj Ehlers goal to earn his first multi-point game in over a month. Ehlers assisted the Stankoven goal and totaled six shots in the win. After starting the season with just four points in his first 10 games, Ehlers now has 17 points in his last 20.

Brandon Bussi earned another win in net for the Hurricanes, stopping 23 of 25 shots, including all three in the shootout. He now has 10 wins on the season in just 11 starts. It's remarkable what a goalie can do on this team when he posts a .900 save percentage.

McMichael and Nic Dowd scored for the Caps. Defenceman Rasmus Sandin posted a pair of assists, a shot, two blocks, and a hit in a solid multi-cat effort.

Logan Thompson was great in net for Washington, but took the shootout loss, allowing just two goals on 39 shots.

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Boone Jenner was back in the lineup for Columbus on Thursday, playing his first game in a month. The Blue Jackets also went back to the old lines with Kirill Marchenko, Sean Monahan, and Dmitri Voronkov on the top line and Jenner, Adam Fantilli, and Kent Johnson on the second line.

Columbus lost Jenner's return by a 6-3 margin to Ottawa. Tim Stutzle managed two goals (one PP), four shots, two blocks, and a hit while Drake Batherson posted a goal, two assists (one PP), and two shots. Batherson now has 29 points in 27 games this season and has eight points in his last five games.

Michael Amadio managed a goal, two assists, three shots, two blocks, and a hit in a great multi-cat night. Both Claude Giroux and David Perron registered a goal and an assist apiece as goaltender Linus Ullmark stopped 22 of 25 shots for his 11^th win.

Jenner, Voronkov (PP), and Dante Fabbro scored for Columbus. Zach Werenski totaled a pair of assists, two shots, and two blocks in the loss. He is now over a point-per-game pace with 32 points in 31 games.

Elvis Merzlikins was pulled out of Columbus' net after giving up three goals on five shots.

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New Jersey said that forward Timo Meier will be taking a leave of absence from the team due to a personal matter. Hopefully it is nothing overly serious.

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Victor Hedman has been fighting injury all year and that is the case again as he was sent to the IR on Thursday. That will keep him out of action for at least a week, though we don't have a firm timeline on his return just yet.

Speaking of the Lightning and Devils, Tampa Bay went into New Jersey on Thursday and put a beatdown on the home team by an 8-4 margin. It would probably be easiest to do this in bullet points:

• Oliver Bjorkstrand: Two goals (one PP), one assist (PP0, three shots, one hit
• Nikita Kucherov: Four assists (one PP), four assists
• Jake Guentzel: One goal (PP), two assists (one PP), two shots, one block
• Brandon Hagel, Brayden Point, and Darren Raddysh all had a goal and an assist
• Pontus Holmberg also scored.

Jonas Johansson was back in net for the Lightning and stopped 33 of 37 shots for the win.

Paul Cotter and Luke Hughes each had a goal and an assist for the Devils while Jesper Bratt and Angus Crookshank also tallied. That goal from Bratt was his first goal in over a month, and he finished with four shots and three hits.

Jacob Markstrom started the game in net for the Devils and was pulled after allowing four goals on seven shots.

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Mark Stone played overtime hero for Vegas on Thursday, redirecting home a pass from Jack Eichel to lift the Golden Knights to a 3-2 win over Philadelphia. It was Stone's second goal of the game, scoring earlier on the power play, totaling five shots and four blocks. Stone now has a preposterous 24 points in 14 games on the campaign.

Zach Whitecloud managed the other goal for Vegas as goalie Akira Schmid stopped 17 of 19 shots in the win.

Noah Juulsen and Trevor Zegras scored for the Flyers. I wrote about Zegras and his shot volume yesterday.

Goalie Dan Vladar took the loss for the Flyers, giving up three goals on 21 shots against.

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Anders Lee had a monster game for the New York Islanders on Thursday night, posting two PP goals and two assists in their 5-2 win over Anaheim. That game gives Lee 20 points in 32 games, also putting up 80 shots, 27 hits, and 18 blocks. He has been a very solid multi-cat fantasy asset this season.

Simon Holmstrom managed a goal and two assists (one PP) with a block added in while both Travis Mitchell and Ryan Pulock scored for the Islanders. Pulock had a great multi-cat night with the one goal on four shots while adding three blocks.

David Rittich was stellar in net for New York, holding the Ducks to two goals on 33 shots.

Troy Terry posted a goal and an assist for the Ducks while Leo Carlsson also scored. Terry has to be on the quietest 87-point pace of any player in the league this year.

Ville Husso was in net again for the Ducks and gave up five goals on 37 shots. His save percentage is down to .888. He has been fine for a third goalie, but they clearly miss Lukas Dostal.

Bo Horvat got his feet tangled on an open-ice battle and suffered a lower-body injury as a result, leaving the game and not returning.

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John Klingberg scored a late goal for San Jose to tie their road game in Toronto 2-2 with under 90 seconds left, and then Alex Wennberg sealed the win in overtime to give the Sharks the 3-2 victory. Klingberg assisted on an earlier Dmitry Orlov goal, giving Klingberg his second multi-point game in his last three outings. He also posted a balanced fantasy night with one goal, one assist, one shot, one block, two PIMs, and two hits.

Alex Nedeljkovic held the fort in goal, keeping Toronto to just two goals on 30 shots faced.

Dakota Joshua and Auston Matthews scored for the Leafs. Since returning from injury in late November, Matthews has four goals seven points, 17 blocks, and 34 shots in eight games.

Dennis Hildeby was solid again for the Leafs, but took the loss in this one, giving up three goals on 32 shots.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson took an awkward spill behind his own net in the third period, left the game, and did no return.

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Rookie goaltender Jacob Fowler made his NHL debut for Montreal on Thursday night and gave up a couple of third-period goals, but the Canadiens had built up a 4-0 lead to that point so the team held on for the 4-2 win. Fowler made some key saves along the way, including on the penalty kill in the second period, to help Montreal snap their two-game losing funk. Fowler stopped 33 shots in total for his first NHL victory. It will be interesting to see who starts in net for Montreal's game Saturday in New York against Igor Shesterkin.

Cole Caufield, Brendan Gallagher, Oliver Kapanen, and Alexandre Texier all scored for the Habs. Caufield totaled four shots, a block, and a hit, and he now has 17 goals, 32 points, and 85 shots in 30 games.

Lane Hutson posted a pair of assists, two shots, and four blocks in the win.

Bryan Rust managed a multi-point night with a goal, an assist (PP), and four shots while Erik Karlsson had a good multi-cat night with a PP goal, five shots, two blocks, and a hit. Goaltender Tristan Jarry took the loss in net by giving up four goals on 29 shots.  

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Steven Stamkos managed his second four-goal game of his carer, and second in the last two years, in Nashville's 7-2 beatdown of St. Louis. Stamkos finished with nine shots on target while increasing his season's goal total by 50%. All of a sudden, he's on pace for 33 goals.

Luke Evangelista had a trio of assists, including one on the power play, to go with three shots in the win. He is on a nice little run of late with 13 points and 27 shots in his last 10 games. Teammates Ryan O'Reilly, Filip Forsberg, and Michael Bunting also scored as Forsberg posted that one goal on five shots, two PIMs, and a hit in a nice multi-cat night.

Roman Josi managed a pair of assists with four shots as goaltender Juuse Saros stopped 24 of 26 pucks directed towards his net for the win.

Robert Thomas and Hugh McGing scored for St. Louis. Jordan Binnington got the start in net, giving up six goals on 25 shots and getting pulled after the second period.

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After falling behind 2-1, Minnesota peeled off four straight goals to take a 5-2 home win against Dallas. The Wild's second line did a lot of the damage as Marcus Johansson scored a pair of goals, Matt Boldy had one goal and two assists, while Joel Eriksson Ek added one of each to his season totals. Both Boldy and Eriksson Ek finished with five total shots and a hit, too. Boldy is 1 of 7 players this season with at least 17 goals, 17 assists, and 100 shots.

Zach Bogosian scored the remaining Wild goal as netminder Filip Gustavsson faced just 18 shots, keeping 16 of them out of his net for the win.

Miro Heiskanen had a great multi-cat night with a goal, an assist, two shots, and three blocks. Jason Robertson was also good with a goal, five shots, two blocks, and a hit. Goaltender Jake Oettinger took the loss, giving up three goals on 27 shots.

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Charlie McAvoy was back in the lineup for Boston, and the Bruins went into Winnipeg and skated out with a 6-3 win. David Pastrnak was moved back to the top line for the third period in this game, so that third-line experiment is over with, and with good reason, too, as he managed two goals (one PP), two assists, and seven shots in the win. He has seven points in two games since returning from injury.

Elias Lindholm posted a goal, an assist, two blocks, and two PIMs in a solid multi-cat effort. Sean Kuraly, Hampus Lindholm, and Casey Mittelstadt scored solo tallies.

Morgan Geekie didn't score, but he did have three assists (one PP), one shot, two PIMs, and a hit. Not only is he second in the league in goals, but he's pacing for 90 points. Just unbelievable stuff here.

Joonas Korpisalo earned the win for the Bruins, stopping 26 of 29 shots.

Morgan Barron, Alex Iafallo, and Gabriel Vilardi scored the goals for Winnipeg and goaltender Eric Comrie gave up five goals on 23 shots for the loss.

Viktor Arvidsson suffered a lower-body injury and did not play in the third period.

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Zach Hyman had his first monster fantasy night of the season, scoring in the first period on the power play, in the second period at even strength, and in the third period with the empty net for his sixth career hat trick (all six coming in the last three calendar years) as Edmonton beat Detroit 4-1. He finished with seven shots and has 16 shots through five games in December.

Connor McDavid assisted all four goals, adding four shots and a block to his stat line. He now sits second in league scoring behind Nathan MacKinnon and has 15 goals with 36 points in his last 21 games.

Mattias Ekholm had the fourth Edmonton goal, totaling two shots, two blocks, two PIMs, and a hit as goalie Stuart Skinner stopped 27 of 28 shots for his 11^th win. He has given up just eight goals in his last five starts.

Simon Edvinsson was in the lineup for Detroit after leaving Wednesday night's game and scored Detroit's lone goal. Cam Talbot was in net and gave up three goals on 28 shots in defeat.

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Three second-period goals were the difference for Colorado in their home game against Florida as they earned a 6-2 win over the Panthers. It was a balanced scoring effort as Nathan MacKinnon, Sam Malinski, and Gavin Bridnley all had a goal and an assist while Gabriel Landeskog, Artturi Lehkonen, and Brock Nelson all scored solo tallies. After failing to score in the first 16 games of the season, Landeskog has six goals and five assists in his last 15 games, averaging 2.7 shots, and 1.3 hits per game in that span. That is what we want to see from him.

MacKenzie Blackwood earned his ninth win in his 10^th start by holding the Panthers to two goals on 25 shots.

Mackie Samoskevich and Noah Gregor scored for the Panthers as goalie Daniil Tarasov was shelled all game long, but gave up six goals on 42 shots.

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Rasmus Dahlin, Tage Thompson, and Zach Benson (PP) scored for Buffalo as they went into Vancouver and spoiled Thatcher Demko's return by earning the 3-2 win. Thompson assisted on the Benson PP goal, totaled five shots, and added a pair of blocks along the way. Tage has 16 points and 52 shots in his last 15 games. Dahlin finished with a solid multi-cat night with the goal, an assist, three shots, three blocks, and a hit.

Alex Lyon was stellar in net for the Sabres, stopping 30 of 32 shots in the victory. Goaltending teammate Colten Ellis was put on the IR with a concussion, which you hate to see.

Max Sasson and Kiefer Sherwood scored for the Canucks. Demko wasn't busy, but gave up three goals on 15 shots for the loss.