NHL Buzz: Matthews out for Maple Leafs vs. Oilers with upper-body injury

With the 2020-21 season underway, NHL.com will have you covered all season long with the latest news.

Toronto Maple Leafs

Auston Matthews has an upper-body injury and will not play for the Maple Leafs against the Edmonton Oilers at Scotiabank Arena on Friday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN+, TSN4, SNW, NHL.TV).
"With Auston, he's dealing with some upper-body soreness and he's going to be a day-to-day situation," Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. "I'm not too concerned. There was a possibility that he would play today, but he][ just wasn't feeling right in that sense today, so we're going to give it a little bit more time."
Matthews skated briefly Thursday before leaving the ice. Keefe said Thursday that Matthews wasn't feeling well after the Maple Leafs' 3-1 loss to the Oilers on Wednesday.
The Maple Leafs will also be without forward Joe Thornton, who
[is expected to be out a minimum of four weeks
because of a rib fracture. -- Mike Zeisberger

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Montreal Canadiens

Paul Byron did not practice and could be out when the Canadiens play the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; CBC, SN, CITY, TVAS, NHL.TV).
Byron sustained a foot injury in the third period of a 7-3 win against the Canucks on Thursday after he was hit by a slap shot by Canadiens defenseman Shea Weber.
"There's some (lineup) decisions to be made here [before] game time tomorrow, so we still have to wait to see what Paul Byron's situation is," Canadiens coach Claude Julien said Friday.
Forward Joel Armia will not play. He sustained a concussion in the third period on a high hit from Canucks defenseman Tyler Myers, who received a match penalty.
"We know Armia is out, but we'll make a (lineup) decision probably more based on Paul Byron's situation tomorrow," Julien said.

Nashville Predators

Mikael Granlund will make his season debut for the Predators against the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center (8:30 p.m. ET; FS-SW, FS-TN, ESPN+, NHL.TV).
The forward was on the second line at the morning skate with Matt Duchene and Luke Kunin one day after he returned to practice following his removal from the COVID-19 protocol list.
"He's in very good shape," Predators coach John Hynes said Friday. "He's really done a lot of work, the video work that we've sent him ... Physically, he's ready to go. He's got to get into game action. ... I think he's going to be able to move quick, he's going to be fresh. He looked good in practice again this morning. ... I expect Granlund to be a good player for us tonight."
Granlund signed a one-year contract with the Predators on Dec. 23 after scoring 30 points (17 goals, 13 assists) in 63 with them last season.

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Arizona Coyotes

Victor Soderstrom
will make his NHL debut against the Vegas Golden Knights at Gila River Arena (9 p.m. ET; FS-A Plus, ATTSN-RM, NHL.TV).
The 19-year old defenseman, who was the No. 11 pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, scored six points (one goal, five assists) in 12 games this season with AIK of Allsvenskan, Sweden's second division, and played for Sweden at the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship before joining the Coyotes.
"Obviously, I'm super excited," Soderstrom said. "It's what you dream of from the time you started playing hockey. I think I'm ready for it. Try not to think too much, just go play your game. It's pretty easy when you do your first game like this to think too much. I think if I go out and play my game, I'll have a good game."
Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet said the lower-body injury to defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who is week to week, opened a spot for Soderstrom.
"He's had a couple of good practices and we want to see where he's at," Tocchet said. "I think he had a really good World Juniors (five assists) … so we're looking to see who's going to grab it, and we want to give him a chance.
"If he needs more seasoning, we know where he can go to get that (Tucson of the American Hockey League). But for now we're going to give him a shot. I just don't want to put too much pressure on him, I want him to have fun with it, and we'll just go with this game and we'll reevaluate after the game." -- Alan Robinson

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Edmonton Oilers

James Neal is expected to make his season debut against the Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena (7 p.m. ET; ESPN+, TSN4, SNW, NHL.TV).
The forward, who was activated off injured reserve Friday, missed training camp because of COVID-19 protocol, and the first five games of the season.
"Hopefully we can get him in the lineup tonight, we'll get him up and going and see where he can get to," Oilers coach Dave Tippett said.
Neal scored 31 points (19 goals, 12 assists) in 55 games with Edmonton last season.

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Philadelphia Flyers

Shayne Gostisbehere
was cleared to skate Wednesday, but the Flyers don't know when the defenseman will be able to make his season debut.
Gostisbehere was removed from the COVID-19 protocol list Thursday.
"He's going to need a little bit of time here to get himself back into condition," coach Alain Vigneault said Friday. "He was basically at a standstill there for I believe it was close to seven days. So he got cleared, I think it was on Wednesday, and since Wednesday he's been skating and working out.
"I believe he'll be having his first team practice with us next Monday but I don't know when he's going to feel right to be able to come back and help us play. So it might take one practice, it might take a week. I am not at liberty to say right now. I haven't really spoken to him and haven't seen him on the ice."
The Flyers play the Boston Bruins at TD Garden on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, NESN, NBCSP, NHL.TV) -- Adam Kimelman

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New Jersey Devils

Jesper Bratt arrived from Sweden and entered COVID-19 protocol Thursday. The forward has started his seven-day quarantine and may be eligible to begin practicing with the Devils on Wednesday.
"We've just got to get him through the quarantine process and get him up and running and he'll be ready to play for us again," coach Lindy Ruff said Thursday. "I have Zoomed with Jesper, we've talked about how the team's playing, the different situations in the game, our offensive structure, neutral-zone structure. We've gone through clips, showed him meetings.
"We're trying to keep him up to speed, he's really excited about getting back and getting going. But obviously missing time has hurt him. I think you've seen with our team that we started to grow in a lot of situations, we've played some great periods of hockey; getting Jesper back in and getting him up and running and getting him full-go is first and foremost for us." -- Mike G. Morreale

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Pittsburgh Penguins

Juuso Riikola and Marcus Pettersson will be out multiple games for the Penguins, each with an upper-body injury.
Riikola is out longer term and Pettersson is week to week, coach Mike Sullivan said. Each defenseman was injured during a 5-4 overtime win against the Washington Capitals on Tuesday.
"Any time our team has faced injuries, it's always an opportunity for someone else to step up and fill the void," Sullivan said Thursday. "We believe we've got NHL-caliber players here and we believe in the depth that we have."
Penguins defenseman Mike Matheson was already out long term with an upper-body injury sustained against the Flyers on Jan. 15. -- Wes Crosby