The Ottawa Senators got some good injury news and some bad injury news on Thursday. On a positive note, they welcomed back defenceman Artem Zub, who hadn't played yet this season due to a knee injury. It also seems like as if defenceman Jake Sanderson is nearing return, as Bruce Garrioch reported that he may need a couple more days of skating with the team but it seems as if his return to the lineup will be sooner rather than later.

The bad news is that winger William Eklund underwent surgery on his ankle and will be out 10-12 weeks. That timeline would put him out until somewhere around the Christmas holiday, or later. This is not a team with tremendous winger depth, and it takes an important piece of their offensive attack away. They have tried different options like Ridly Greig, Fabian Zetterlund, and Warren Foegele in the top-6 without Eklund, but all have been demoted at one point or other. This isn't a case where there is a clear option to take Eklund's prime offensive minutes.

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A positive update on Buffalo Sabres defenceman Rasmus Dahlin:

Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said Rasmus Dahlin is 50-50 to play in Montreal on Saturday. He doesn't want to rule him out just yet. He also mentioned Jason Zucker is getting closer to a return but wouldn't specify a timeframe. Zucker was on the ice for morning skate here in Toronto.

— Matthew Fairburn (@MatthewFairburn) October 15, 2026

If he's 50/50 to play this weekend, then he should be back within the next week, so this is a short-term thing.

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Bowen Byram did not play for Chicago on Thursday night and is considered day-to-day. With Byram out, Teuvo Teravainen joined the top PP unit as the Blackhawks tried out a 5-forward power play.

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The Winnipeg Jets have designated defenceman Josh Morrissey as week-to-week:

News from here in Chicago: #NHLJets coach Scott Arniel just said Josh Morrissey is now week to week. No surgery involved, but a longer timeline to recover than the team hoped.

— Mike McIntyre (@mikemcintyrewpg) October 15, 2026

That is not good news for a Jets team that had gotten off to a pretty good start this season. Not having Connor Hellebuyck at all is one thing, but not having your Norris-calibre defenceman is a big problem. Expect Neal Pionk to keep running the top PP unit for now.

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Some good news for the Anaheim Ducks as Cutter Gauthier was back at practice:

Forward lines from Ducks practice:

Killorn-Carlsson-Klepov
Nesterenko-Gauthier-Sennecke
Vatrano-McQueen-Caulfield
Malott-Washe-Greer
(Colangelo)#FlyTogether

📢 advertisement:

— Patrick Present (@PatrickCPresent) October 15, 2026

The bad news is that Mikael Granlund was not, and he is considered day-to-day.

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The New Jersey Devils put the boots to the New York Rangers by a 7-1 margin on Thursday night. The big night went to Luke Hughes with two goals, five shots, two blocks, two PIMs, and two hits in a great fantasy effort. He now has three goals and 22 shots in seven games to start the year.

Stefan Noesen, Cody Glass, Arseny Gritsyuk, and Nico Hischier all scored for the Devils. Evan Rodrigues posted a goal, an assist, a pair of shots, and a block. Defenceman Dougie Hamilton managed two helpers, a shot, and a couple of blocks.

Goaltender Nico Daws had his best start of the year, holding the Rangers to one goal on 19 shots.

Pavel Dorofeyev scored for the Rangers, totaling five shots and a block along the way. Dylan Garand got the start in net and was pulled after giving up four goals on 13 shots faced.

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The Vancouver Canucks had a 2-0 lead over the Florida Panthers with nine minutes left in the game and managed to lose 3-2. It was a natural hat trick from Brady Tkachuk, his second hat trick in as many games. He is up to six goals, eight points, 25 shots, and 29 hits in eight games. Seven of those points came in the last two contests, but I'm sure fantasy managers aren't complaining.

Sam Reinhart posted an assist, five shots, and a hit in the win, and defenceman Seth Jones had two assists and five shots. Jones is up to nine points in eight games on the year.

Akira Schmid got the start for the Panthers and stopped 15 of 17 shots for the victory.

Liam Ohgren and Defence Elias Pettersson scored the goals for the Canucks. Goalie Leevi Merilainen faced 39 shots and stopped 36 of them but took the hard-luck loss.

Filip Chytil returned to the lineup for the Canucks, and he had an assist, a block, and a hit in 18:30 of ice time.

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Not to be outdone by Vancouver, the Toronto Maple Leafs had a 4-2 lead with 10 minutes left in the third period but managed to lose to Buffalo 5-4 in overtime. Jack Quinn had a monster night for the Sabres with two goals, two assists, four shots, and five PIMs as he got in a fight with Troy Stecher. The four-point night makes Quinn a point-per-game player to open his campaign.

Dennis Gilbert, Mattias Samuelsson, and Owen Power all scored for the Sabres. Samuelsson added an assist and three shots, too.

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen earned the win by stopping 26 of the 30 pucks directed his way.

Kirill Marchenko finally had a huge game for the Leafs with a hat trick and three hits. Auston Matthews also scored, and Matthews is up to six goals and 13 points in eight games. It really does look like the old Auston is back.

John Tavares posted a pair of assists before leaving the in the third period after an awkward collision in the defensive zone. On top of that, Gavin McKenna was benched for the entire second half of the game.

Sergei Bobrovsky took the loss in net, giving up five goals on 34 shots.

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Brandon Hagel scored twice and Victor Hedman tallied the OT winner as the Tampa Bay Lightning overcame the Seattle Kraken by a 4-3 margin. Hagel finished with six shots and a hit to go with his two goals, and now has six goals, four assists, 33 shots, seven blocks, and six hits in seven games. He has been absolutely incredible to start the year.

Ilya Mikheyev scored the other Lightning goal, and netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy earned his fourth win of the year by holding the Kraken to three goals on 27 shots.

Ryan Winterton, Matty Beniers, and Jared McCann (PP) scored for Seattle.

Kraken goalie Philipp Grubauer gave up four goals on 35 shots against in the loss.

Brandon Montour left the game early in the second period and did not return. Ryker Evans took his spot on the second power-play unit.

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The Ottawa Senators earned a 2-1 shootout win at home over the New York Islanders on Thursday night. Ridly Greig scored for the Sens and Matias Maccelli tallied for the Islanders. That makes a five-game point streak for Maccelli and six points in seven games on the campaign. He was moved to the top line to skate with Bo Horvat and skated a season-high of 18:26.

Linus Ullmark was great once again for Ottawa, keeping 20 of 21 shots directed at his net out of his net. Semyon Varlamov got the start for the Isles and was solid, holding the Sens to one goal on 19 shots but took the shootout loss.

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Andrew Copp and Anton Johansson scored their first goals of the season (the latter his first of his career) as the Detroit Red Wings overcame the Philadelphia Flyers by a 2-1 score. Nate Danielson was skating on the top line for Detroit and he assisted the Copp goal, adding a shot and a hit in 13:54 of ice time.

Daniil Tarasov was in goal for the Red Wings and stopped 17 of the 18 pucks sent his way for the win.

Matvei Michkov scored the lone goal for the Flyers and goalie Joseph Woll took the loss, giving up two goals on 26 shots.