Ice Chips: Canucks' Pettersson, Hughes out vs. Kraken
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Keep updated on all the injury news and roster updates from around the NHL with daily Ice Chips.
Vancouver Canucks
Vancouver Canucks centre Elias Pettersson and defenceman Quinn Hughes will miss Saturday's matchup with the Seattle Kraken.
Pettersson, 26, has tallied 10 goals and 18 assists in 34 games this season, while Hughes, 25, has eight goals, 34 assists and a plus-14 rating so far in 2024-25.
The Canucks enter Saturday's contest fourth in the Pacific Division with a record of 17-10-7, but only trail second-place Edmonton by three points.
Los Angeles Kings
Forward Trevor Moore has been placed on the injured reserve while forward Arthur Kaliyev has been recalled from his conditioning loan in the AHL.
Moore, 29, has six goals and 12 assists over 28 games with the Kings this season.
Washington Capitals
Superstar forward Alex Ovechkin will make his return to the lineup for the Capitals on Saturday when Washington battles the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery confirmed to reporters on Saturday morning that Ovechkin will play.
Ovechkin suffered a fractured fibula after a knee-on-knee hit in a 6-2 victory over the Utah Hockey Club on Oct. 18.
The 39-year-old superstar scored two goals before departing in the third period, bringing his total on the season up to a then-league-leading 15 goals through 18 games.
Ovechkin is in hot pursuit of Wayne Gretzky's all-time goals record, and his five goals in two games before going down with the leg injury pushed his career total to 868, just 26 behind Gretzky's all-time mark of 894.
The Moscow native was scoring at a pace that would've threatened Gretzky's mark by March or April when he was hurt, but now the timeline has been pushed back.
This game against Toronto is the first game back from the Christmas break for Washington. The Capitals have been one of the surprise stories in the NHL this season, as they rank tied for sixth in the NHL in goals scored (125) and sit second in the Metropolitan Division with four games in hand over the New Jersey Devils.
Toronto Maple Leafs
Matt Murray is likely to start in net for the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday against the Washington Capitals based on practice lineups, per reports.
Murray made his season debut on Dec. 20, leading the Maple Leafs in a 6-3 victory over the Buffalo Sabres.
It was his first game in over a year, as the veteran has dealt with injuries since the end of the 2022-23 campaign that cost him all of last season.
Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews skated in a grey extras jersey on Saturday.
Head coach Craig Berube told reporters it's "too early yet" to say when Matthews will return to the lineup.
Matthews has missed the previous three games with an upper-body injury, the same ailment that forced him to miss time last month and sent him to Germany for treatment. He missed nine games between Nov. 3 and Nov. 30.
The 27-year-old last played a week ago against the Buffalo Sabres, but missed two games before the Christmas Break, along with Friday's win over the Detroit Red Wings.
Matthews has 11 goals and 23 points in 24 games this season after recording a career-best 69 goals and 107 points in 81 games the season before.
Ottawa Senators
The Ottawa Senators called up defenceman Nikolas Matinpalo on Saturday, per The Athletic's Julian McKenzie.
Matinpalo, 26, made his NHL debut and played in four games with the Senators last season, where he did not record a point.
In 23 games with the Belleville Senators this season, the Espoo, Finland native has two goals and seven points.
Ottawa battles the Winnipeg Jets in their first game back from the Christmas Break on Saturday, with wins in eight of their last 10 games.
New York Rangers
The New York Rangers skated the following lines in practice on Saturday:
Panarin-Trocheck-Lafrenière
Kreider-Zibanejad-Smith
Cuylle-Chytil-Berard
Edström-Carrick-Vesey
Lindgren-Fox
Miller-Borgen
Vaakanainen-Schneider
Igor Shesterkin is also expected to start in net for New York against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday.
The Rangers have lost two straight and are tied with the New York Islanders for the worst record in the Metropolitan Division.
Minnesota Wild
Centre Joel Eriksson Ek, who suffered a lower-body injury and last played on Dec. 3, took part in practice on Saturday and could be nearing a return, reports Joe Smith of The Athletic.
Ek has five goals and eight assists in 22 games so far this season.
The Wild are currently second in the Central Division with a record of 22-10-4 as they prepare to face the Ottawa Senators on Sunday.
Winnipeg Jets
The Winnipeg Jets have placed forward Daniel Torgersson on unconditional waivers for the purpose of terminating the remaining years on his contract.
Winnipeg selected Torgersson, a 22-year-old out of Sweden, in the second round of the 2020 NHL Draft, but has yet to play a game in the NHL.
Torgersson has spent the last four year's with the AHL's Manitoba Moose and has failed to record a point in 12 games this season in the minors.
The left winger is in the final season of a three-year entry-level contract and was scheduled to become a restricted free agent his summer.
Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens have placed goalie Cayden Primeau on waivers for the purpose of a loan to the AHL's Laval Rocket.
Primeau, 25, has posted a 4.70 goals-against average and a .836 save percentage over 11 games with the Canadiens this season.
Primeau has appeared in just two games, including one start, in December, allowing a total of eight goals on 36 shots.
Selected by Montreal in the seventh round of the 2017 NHL Draft, Primeau has a career 3.69 goals-against average and a .884 save percentage over 55 appearances across six seasons with the Habs.