Welcome to the NHL Buzz. With the regular season underway, NHL.com has you covered with all the latest news.
Columbus Blue Jackets
Boone Jenner will return for the Blue Jackets against the New Jersey Devils on Friday (7 p.m. ET; BSOH, MSG).
The center missed 15 games since sustaining a fractured jaw against the St. Louis Blues on Dec. 8.
Jenner has 18 points (13 goals, five assists) in 29 games this season.
Florida Panthers
Aleksander Barkov will miss his second consecutive game with a lower-body injury when the Panthers host the Minnesota Wild on Friday (7 p.m. ET; BSWI, BSN, BSFL).
Barkov left a 5-4 overtime loss to the Anaheim Ducks late in the third period Monday. He did not play in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday but skated before the team practiced on Thursday.
Panthers coach Paul Maurice said Barkov is still feeling tightness, and the team is not taking any risks with their top-line center.
"I think he's day to day and we're not putting him back in until we know it's not coming back," Maurice said after the morning skate Friday. "He still feels it when he is skating, and it's not a major injury, but we're shutting him down until he is ready." -- George Richards
Carolina Hurricanes
Spencer Martin was claimed off waivers from the Blue Jackets on Friday.
The goalie is 3-8-1 with a 3.65 goals-against average and .887 save percentage in 13 NHL games this season.
Carolina is already without goalies Frederik Andersen (blood clots) and Pyotr Kochetkov (concussion protocol).
Andersen hasn't played since Nov. 2, when he made 24 saves in a 2-1 loss to the New York Rangers. He is 4-1-0 with a 2.87 GAA and .894 save percentage in six starts this season.
Kochetkov has emerged as the Hurricanes' No. 1 goalie in Andersen's absence; he's 11-7-3 with a 2.58 GAA, .900 save percentage and one shutout in 23 games (21 starts). However, he was placed on injured reserve Friday and has not played since leaving a 6-3 win against the Anaheim Ducks on Jan 11 after colliding with Ducks forward Isac Lundestrom at 12:55 of the second period.
Antti Raanta has started each of the past two games and is expected to start at Detroit on Friday (7 p.m. ET; BSSO, BSDET, SN, TVAS) with Yaniv Perets as the backup. Raanta is 9-6-2 with a 3.28 GAA and .869 save percentage in 19 games (16 starts) this season.
"We'll just see how it goes," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said Friday. "With the guys we have down and the uncertainty at the whole position, I think we're trying to give ourselves another option and a little more security there."
The Hurricanes brought in free agent goalies Jaroslav Halak in November and Aaron Dell in December on professional tryout (PTO) deals, but did not sign either.
Buffalo Sabres
Jeff Skinner and Mattias Samuelsson could each return against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday (12:30 p.m. ET; BSSUN, MSG-B).
Skinner, a forward, and Samuelsson, a defenseman each returned to practice Friday.
"Samuelsson was pushing hard today, which was nice to see," Sabres coach Don Granato said. "Good news on Skinner. Still need to know more tomorrow morning. We're going in the right direction and we're going in the direction fast now so it's good."
Skinner has missed four games with an upper-body injury sustained Jan. 9 against the Seattle Kraken. At practice, he skated at left wing with Casey Mittelstadt and JJ Peterka and worked in on power-play drills.
He leads Buffalo with 17 goals and is third on the team with 33 points in 38 games.
"I think I'm a possibility," Skinner said. "It's getting close. Obviously if you're out playing practice, full contact in practice, you're close. We'll see what the [doctor] says."
Samuelsson skated with Rasmus Dahlin at practice and was a part of the penalty-kill drills.
He's been out two games with an upper-body injury sustained early in the second period against the Vancouver Canucks on Jan. 13.
He has seven points (one goal, six assists) in 39 games.
Erik Johnson and Dylan Cozens did not practice Friday. Each is day to day with an upper-body injury.
Johnson, a defenseman, was injured in the third period of a 3-0 win against the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday after he was hit into the end boards. He has three goals in 41 games.
Cozens was injured in a 3-0 win against the San Jose Sharks on Monday. The forward has 22 points (seven goals, 15 assists) in 42 games. -- Heather Engel
Ottawa Senators
Josh Norris could return against the Winnipeg Jets at Canadian Tire Centre on Saturday (3 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN).
The center, who has missed four games, took an optional morning skate Friday. He has 20 points (12 goals, eight assists) in 33 games this season.
“I think we’ll know more [Saturday] whether we have some healthy bodies back and then we’ll decide tomorrow,” coach Jacques Martin said Friday.
“Today was a really good day,” Norris said. “I felt good out there. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.”
Norris was injured in a collision with Calgary Flames center Elias Lindholm, cartwheeling and landing awkwardly during the third period of a 6-3 loss on Jan. 9.
“That was like Cirque du Soleil stuff,” Norris said. “That was weird. I don’t want to do that again.”
Norris isn’t the only center the Senators expect to return this weekend. Shane Pinto, whose 41-game suspension for activities relating to sports wagering ends Saturday, signed a one-year, $775,000 contract Friday. He will make his season debut on Sunday against the Philadelphia Flyers. It could be the first game this season that Ottawa dresses each of its top four centers -- Norris, Pinto, Tim Stutzle and Ridly Greig.
“There haven’t been a ton of games of us all together in the same lineup,” Norris said. “Obviously, I’m looking forward to getting back and I know Shane is excited, too. The whole team is excited for him. It would be great. ... It’ll help us out.”
Martin said it’s possible one of his top four centers gets moved to the wing to balance out the top nine. -- Callum Fraser
New York Islanders
Semyon Varlamov has resumed skating, Islanders coach Lane Lambert said Friday.
The goalie suffered a lower-body injury early in the first period of a 5-4 overtime loss against the Colorado Avalanche on Jan. 2 and will miss his eighth straight game when New York visits the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday (8:30 p.m. ET; MSGSN, NBCSCH, TVAS).
This injury came in his first appearance since suffering a lower-body injury a few days earlier in relief of starter Ilya Sorokin in a 7-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Dec. 27.
Varlamov was placed on injured reserve, retroactive to Jan. 2.
Ken Appleby was recalled from Bridgeport of the American Hockey League and has served as the backup to Ilya Sorokin in Varlamov's absence, stopping six shots in relief in the third period of a 5-0 loss to the Minnesota Wild on Jan. 15.
Varlamov, who signed a four-year contract in the offseason, is 6-4-2 with a 2.78 GAA and .918 save percentage in 14 games (13 starts). -- Stefen Rosner
Los Angeles Kings
Blake Lizotte is week to week because of a lower-body injury sustained in a 5-2 win at Carolina on Monday.
"He'll be out, likely until after our All-Star break," coach Todd McLellan said Thursday, referring to the Kings' bye week, which ends Feb. 9
Lizotte has nine points (five goals, four assists) in 34 games. The fourth-line center is also one of Los Angeles' best penalty killers with two short-handed goals this season.
Viktor Arvidsson, a forward who has not played this season because of back surgery, has resumed individual on-ice workouts. He could begin practicing with the team around the All-Star break.
"Now 'integrate into the team' doesn't mean go play 25 minutes a night," McLellan said. "He's got a lot of work to do and a lot of catching up to do with feeling what it's like to be on the ice again."
Arvidsson had 59 points (26 goals, 33 assists) in 77 games for the Kings last season.
Los Angeles, which hosts the New York Rangers on Saturday (10:30 p.m. ET; MSG2, MSG, KCAL) is 1-6-4 in its past 11 games. -- Dan Greenspan
