Colten Ellis passed concussion protocol, according to Rachel Lenzi. He needs some practice time to make sure all systems are go, but it's a big step in the right direction. Hopefully he can return shortly after the holiday break, but it would muddle the Buffalo Sabres crease once again.

Michael Kesselring returned for the Sabres on Thursday night after missing a month with his second injury of the season. He is unlikely to have a big enough role to have much fantasy value in most formats, but he is the type of defenceman who, when he's on his game, can help elevate the play of those on the ice with him, and that helps the fantasy values of those around him.

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Calgary announced surgery for defenceman Jake Bean:

Jake Bean will be having surgery. Something he's been dealing with for some time, as we've reported.

Team says he'll be out indefinitely. #Flames

— Pat Steinberg (@Fan960Steinberg) December 18, 2025

Bean has been announced as out indefinitely, and with Zayne Parekh at the World Juniors, that means Yan Kuznetsov is likely going to get an even more extended look with the Flames.

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Brandon Hagel was not in the lineup for Tampa Bay on Thursday, but that he was even a possibility indicates that he may not be away for very long. Both Andrei Vasilevskiy and Ryan McDonagh were back in the lineup for the Lightning, so it wasn't all bad injury news for them on Thursday. On the other hand, Nikita Kucherov was a late scratch with an illness. We have seen players miss a week (or more) with illnesses this year, so we'll see how the next few days go for him.

The Lightning lost their game at home to Los Angeles by a 2-1 margin. Adrian Kempe did the damage for the Kings with two goals on two shots, four PIMs, and a hit. Kempe might be starting to heat up as he has six goals and four assists in his last 10 games.

Anton Forsberg was in net once again for the Kings and was great for them, stopping 31 of the 32 shots thrown at his net for the win. Los Angeles is off for the weekend before a pair of home games on Monday and Tuesday, so he has time to rest.

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Logan Thompson stopped all 22 shots Toronto directed his way to shut out the Maple Leafs as Washington skated to a 4-0 win. That is Thompson's second shutout of the season in his 24^th start, or as many as he had last year in 42 starts. His save percentage is up to .925 and it seems impossible he'll be left off the Team Canada Olympic roster at this point.

Jakob Chychrun scored twice for the Caps, totaling three shots and a block. Chychrun now has 14 goals on the season and he maintains the goal-scoring lead despite Zach Werenski's performance on Thursday. Defence partner John Carlson managed a goal, two assists, and two shots as Washington's blue line was a difference-maker (again). Aliaksei Protas had the other Caps tally.

Dennis Hildeby got the start in goal for the Leafs and gave up four goals on 27 shots for the loss.

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Linus Ullmark posted his first shutout of the season, keeping 23 shots faced in Ottawa's home game against Pittsburgh out of his net in the Senators' 4-0 win. Ullmark seems to have turned a corner in December, giving up just 13 goals in six starts with a .913 save percentage. With how good the Sens are defensively, if he can just be around the .900-.910 mark, they are a completely different team.

Brady Tkachuk scored twice (one PP) to go with five shots and a hit in the win. Claude Giroux and David Perron had the other tallies.

Arturs Silovs started in net for the Penguins and allowed four goals on 26 shots against. Pittsburgh has now lost seven games in a row, giving up 30 goals in those seven contests. It will be interesting to see if Stuart Skinner can right that ship.

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Zachary Bolduc scored twice and Lane Hutson picked up three assists as the Montreal Canadiens toppled the Chicago Blackhawks 4-1. Those were Bolduc's first two goals at home this season and he finished with two shots and a pair of hits. Going back to last season, Bolduc has 22 goals in his last 50 regular season games.

Hutson finished with those three helpers and a shot. It was mentioned on the broadcast, so credit there, but since January 1^st, Hutson leads all defencemen with 62 assists, and he's the only defenceman with at least 60 (Evan Bouchard is next with 58 assists). Overall, that span has seen Hutson post 71 points in 79 games.

Jakub Dobes wasn't busy but got the win, holding Chicago to one goal on 15 shots.

Frank Nazar scored the lone Blackhawks goal and goaltender Spencer Knight earned the loss allowing three goals on 34 shots. He was tremendous in this game, though, and an off night from him would have seen this be a 6-1 or 7-1 game.

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Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored on the power play, Connor McDavid scored short-handed, and Quinn Hutson scored his first of his NHL career as Edmonton took a 3-1 win in Boston. RNH also assisted the McDavid goal while McDavid assisted the RNH goal, giving them each a multi-point night. RNH is up to nine points in nine games so far in December.

Darnell Nurse had a very good multi-cat night with an assist, a shot, four blocks, two PIMs, and a hit.

Tristan Jarry got the start for Edmonton but was injured moving across the crease and left the game late in the second period. He technically earned the win, but we'll see what the diagnosis is in the next couple of days. Any lengthy injury means it's Calvin Pickard time, and Edmonton has three games in four days from Saturday through Tuesday. Goalie-needy fantasy squads might want to check the waiver wire.

Pavel Zacha (PP) got the lone Bruins goal as Jeremy Swayman allowed three goals on 25 shots.

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Minnesota peeled off three straight goals in the third period, including two in the final two minutes, to earn a 5-2 win in Columbus on Thursday night. Both Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy had three-point games with the latter totaling three shots, two blocks, and a hit. Joel Eriksson Ek, meanwhile posted a goal and an assist with a pair of shots and a hit. Eriksson Ek is now on a six-game point streak with four goals and six assists in that span.

Vladimir Tarasenko and Ryan Hartman scored the other Wild tallies. Goalie Jesper Wallstedt was in net for Minnesota and managed the win with 27 saves on 29 shots. He is up to 10 wins in 13 starts and he has allowed just 26 goals in those 13 starts.

Zach Werenski scored twice on eight shots for Columbus. That is his second two-goal game in a row and he now has 9 goals, 19 assists, and 77 shots in his last 20 games.

Jet Greaves took the loss for the Jackets, giving up three goals on 26 shots.

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Goals from Jack Quinn, Ryan McLeod, Josh Norris, Noah Ostlund, and Tage Thompson pushed the Buffalo Sabres to a 5-3 win at home to Philadelphia. In a nice bit of symmetry each of those forwards had two shots in the game.

Alex Lyon was in net again for the Sabres and took the win with 24 saves on 27 shots. He has now won four starts in a row as Buffalo has won four games in a row.

Noah Cates, Travis Konecny, and Cam York all scored for the Flyers as goalie Samuel Ersson allowed four goals on 27 shots.

For a game that featured eight goals, the only two players with multi-point nights were Bobby Brink (two assists) and Mattias Samuelsson (two assists).

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The New York Rangers bounced back from their home shutout with a 2-1 overtime win on the road in St. Louis. J.T. Miller scored the OT winner while Gabe Perreault (PP) tallied his first NHL career goal. Miller finished with four shots, a block, and a hit and has now posted six goals and six assists in his last 14 games.

Igor Shesterkin notched the win by stopping 26 of the 27 pucks directed at his net.

Recent waiver addition Jonatan Berggren scored the lone goal for the Blues. He skated over 17 minutes and finished the game on the top line with Robert Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich.

Jordan Binnington was solid but took the loss, giving up two goals on 31 shots against.

Artemi Panarin missed the game due to illness and Scott Morrow jumped on the top power-play unit for the time being.

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A pair of goals from Mikael Backlund, a goal (PP) and an assist from Nazem Kadri, and a tally from Matt Coronato was enough to lift the Calgary Flames to a 4-2 win over Seattle. Kadri totaled five shots, a block, and a hit, and he's now posted 20 points and 48 shots in his last 15 games. He is up to 0.66 assists per game on the season, quite a bit higher than his 0.45 assists/game average over the first three years of his Flames career.

Rasmus Andersson posted three assists (one PP), three shots, and a block. He has 5 goals, 15 assists, 53 shots, 40 blocks, and 6 power-play points over his last 18 games.

Dustin Wolf earned his 11^th win of the season and has a .916 save percentage in seven December games.

Chandler Stephenson and Kaapo Kakko scored the Kraken goals. Netminder Joey Daccord was very busy, and was good, but took the loss by allowing three goals on 45 shots.

Seattle is now 1-9-1 in their last 11 games as the last few weeks have cost them a realistic shot at a postseason appearance.

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Wyatt Johnston scored twice (one PP) and Roope Hintz managed a goal and an assist as the Dallas Stars took a 5-3 win in San Jose. Those two goals push him over a 40-goal pace for the season as he's now pacing for a 45-goal, 96-point campaign. His fantasy ceiling has just kept rising every season since he entered the league.

Jamie Benn and Justin Hryckowian tallied the other goals. Defenceman Esa Lindell managed a pair of assists, a shot, and a couple of blocks. Goaltender Jake Oettinger stopped 34 of 37 shots for his 15^th win of the season, tying him with Karel Vejmelka for first in the league.

Collin Graf scored twice in the loss for the Sharks while Shakir Mukhamadullin managed his second goal of the year. Graf was once again on the top line with Macklin Celebrini and Graf totaled four shots and 19:29 in ice time. Graf now has five goals and eight points in his last seven games, and he's totaled 28 blocks and 34 hits in 34 games. As long as he remains on the Celebrini line, he has some depth multi-cat value.

Alex Nedeljkovic took the loss for the Sharks, giving up four goals on 29 shots.