Florida Panthers
Matthew Tkachuk returned to practice Monday and is likely to play when the Panthers host the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday (6:30 p.m. ET; FDSNWI, FDSNNO, SCRIPPS).
The forward has missed the past five games because of an illness. He returned to the ice last week.
Florida coach Paul Maurice said as long as Tkachuk is “cleared by medical’’ staff, Tkachuk will return against the Wild as was expected last week.
“Based on what I saw in practice, I will assume he plays tomorrow,” Maurice said Monday. “We need to make sure he comes to the rink feeling as good as he left, but we expect those things to happen. We expect him to play. We were cautious. … It got taken care of.’’
The Panthers remain without center Aleksander Barkov, who has also missed the past five games with a lower-body injury.
Maurice said Barkov skated before practice Monday and is on track to return as early as this week on Florida’s upcoming three-game road trip against the New York Rangers (Thursday), Islanders (Saturday), or Buffalo Sabres (Oct. 28).
The Panthers play the Dallas Stars in the 2024 NHL Global Series presented by Fastenal in Barkov’s hometown of Tampere, Finland, on Nov. 1-2.
Maurice says Barkov will be ready for that.
“I think it will be sometime on this trip and I think he plays before we go to Finland,” said Maurice, whose team is 3-1-1 without its two star forwards. “If it is not right where we need to be, it will be in Finland. But he will be playing.’’ -- George Richards
Montreal Canadiens
Juraj Slafkovsky is questionable against the New York Rangers at Bell Centre on Tuesday (7:15 p.m. ET; RDS, TSN2, MSG).
The 20-year-old forward and defenseman Mike Matheson each had a therapy day Monday. Neither took part in practice after a team photo session.
"I'm not really concerned at the moment," Montreal captain Nick Suzuki said of Slafkovsky. "I don't really know too much information about him, but we'll see probably tomorrow morning if he's good to go."
Kirby Dach practiced in Slafkovsky's place on the top line with Suzuki and Cole Caufield.
"We don't know about tomorrow, so we'll see," Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said. "But I'm not afraid to change lines if you're trying to get a spark or whatever, but we'll see tomorrow what we're dealing with."
Dach, who was the center on the second line, only played two games last season before a season-ending knee injury.
"I think we've had success before in the past the three of us playing together," Suzuki said. "He's similar to 'Slaf,' long reach, skates well, makes nice plays, so he's got the total package, and we'll try to play well together if we go."
Oliver Kapanen practiced on the second line in Dach's place between Alex Newhook and Joel Armia. -- Sean Farrell
Ottawa Senators
Linus Ullmark could make his return from an undisclosed strain against the Utah Hockey Club on Tuesday (9:15 p.m. ET; Utah16, TSN5, RDSI).
Ullmark, who missed three games, practiced in the starter’s end Monday in Salt Lake City. The goalie, who is 1-1-0 with a 2.58 goals-against average and .914 save percentage in two starts this season, signed a four-year, $33 million contract ($8.25 million average annual value) with the Senators on Oct. 9.
"You always want it to go a little bit quicker, obviously,” Ullmark said of his rehab. “It [stinks] being on the sidelines. It doesn't matter if it's one, two, three or four games; it's always a tough position to be in. You want to be in the heat, you want to be able to compete and be on the ice with the guys."
Goalie Mads Sogaard was returned to Belleville of the AHL on Sunday; Ullmark and Anton Forsberg are the only goalies on Ottawa’s three-game road trip.
Forward Ridly Greig, who has missed three games with an upper-body injury, could make his return Tuesday. He practiced Monday on the third line alongside Shane Pinto and Noah Gregor.
"It was great to see him back out there,” coach Travis Green said of Greig. “I'll talk to the trainers after practice [Tuesday] and see where he's at for tomorrow as far as tomorrow's game goes. But he's a possibility for tomorrow."
If Greig cannot play, Matthew Highmore would likely slot in.
Forward David Perron did not make the trip due to personal reasons.
“I'm not going to get into the specifics, but hopefully he's back as soon as possible," Green said of Perron. -- Callum Fraser
Vegas Golden Knights
William Karlsson practiced fully with the Golden Knights on Monday for the first time since Sept. 21 because of an undisclosed injury.
The forward wore a red noncontact jersey during practice. Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said Karlsson will not make his season debut against the Los Angeles Kings at T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday (11 p.m. ET; ESPN+, ESPN).
"He's back with the group," Cassidy said. "Step 1 was getting on his own; step 2 now with a red jersey. Step 3 will be integrating and playing. He's not ready yet, but he looks good. ... Usually when they're in red, they're fairly close. I rule him out for tomorrow, but not for Friday. (against Ottawa)."
Karlsson had 60 points (30 goals, 30 assists) in 70 regular-season games and two assists in seven Stanley Cup Playoff games last season.
Cassidy said they'll figure out where Karlsson fits in the lineup when he gets closer to playing a game.
"We'll put him in and see and get him going a little bit," Cassidy said. "We'll get his game in order. He missed a lot of time, so we'll work around what's working well. That would be the easiest thing to do. Let's get 'Karly' up to speed where his game is usually is, and then we'll start figuring out the pieces from there."
Cassidy said forward Victor Olofsson is week to week with a lower-body injury he sustained in the third period of a 4-2 loss to the Capitals on Oct. 15. -- Paul Delos Santos
New York Rangers
Alexis Lafreniere did not practice with the Rangers on Monday ahead of their game in Montreal because of an upper-body injury.
Coach Peter Laviolette said the forward is day to day. Matt Rempe skated in Lafreniere's spot on the second line to the right of Artemi Panarin and center Vincent Trocheck.
Lafreniere scored and played 18:00 in a 4-1 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday. He has three goals and three assists in a season-opening five-game point streak.
Toronto Maple Leafs
Joseph Woll could return for the Maple Leafs at the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET; FDSNOH, TSN4).
“Possibly,” coach Craig Berube said Monday when asked if Woll could start against Columbus.
The goalie participated in the morning skate Monday ahead of Toronto’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Scotiabank Arena (7:30 p.m. ET; TVAS, PRIME, NHLN, FDSNSUN) but is not expected to dress.
He was a full participant in practice Friday for the first time since Oct. 8.
“A little bit of groin tightness and I’m feeling better now, so right now I’m just focused on coming back and helping this team,” Woll said Friday.
Woll was expected to start the Maple Leafs’ season opener against the Montreal Canadiens on Oct. 9 but has not been in the lineup.
“I’m just trying to take it day by day and stack good days on top of each other. I’m really excited to get back,” he said.
Woll went 12-11-1 with a 2.94 goals-against average and .907 save percentage in 25 games (23 starts) for Toronto last season. -- Dave McCarthy
St. Louis Blues
Oskar Sundqvist is on the verge of rejoining the lineup after the forward tore his right ACL on March 25.
It's not likely that the 30-year-old will make his season debut against the Winnipeg Jets at Enterprise Center on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; FDSNMW, TSN3) after skating on an extra line Monday, but the ensuing four-game road trip is a realistic possibility.
"He's getting close," Blues coach Drew Bannister said. "I think he's similar with [Alexandre Texier], he's day to day. Him not being available for games in preseason, we're going to have to extend or be careful with 'Sunny,' too, making sure that he's in really good shape before we get him into a game. He's been full contact since we've been back (from a season-opening three-game road trip), so we're getting very close with Sunny too.'"
Bannister mentioned that a conditioning stint in Springfield of the AHL hasn't been considered, so once Sundqvist is ready, he will make his season debut with the Blues.
Texier, a forward who missed the past five games with an upper-body injury, appears likely for Tuesday. He was skating on the fourth line with Radek Faksa and Kasperi Kapanen. -- Lou Korac
Philadelphia Flyers
Nick Seeler is expected to make his season debut when the Flyers host the Washington Capitals at Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday (6 p.m. ET; ESPN+, ESPN, SNW, SNO, SNE, SN1).
The defenseman missed the first five games of the season because of a nerve issue in his right leg sustained when he slid to block a pass during a preseason game against the Boston Bruins on Oct. 1. He said the "leg just kind of shut off for a while."
"The numbness was the whole outside of my right leg and into my foot," Seeler said Monday. "That took a week and a half, two weeks, to start feeling normal. And then we've just been working on stability, just those muscles, because you're not able to use them necessarily properly when your foot and leg is numb. Just working on that stability, which progressed pretty well here in the last couple days."
Seeler practiced Monday on a pair with Jamie Drysdale.
"He's a good player," Flyers coach John Tortorella said of Seeler. "Just who he is, the emotion he brings, blocking shots and all that, but he's a good player. I think a lot of people forget he plays against a lot of good people on the opposing teams. He's a good partner for his other guy, because he bails a lot of people out. He's a good player. I hope the day proceeds well, and hopefully we can get him back in."
Forward Scott Laughton missed practice to be with his wife for the pending birth of their first child. He is questionable to play Tuesday. -- Adam Kimelman
Vancouver Canucks
J.T. Miller is questionable to play against the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday (8:15 p.m. ET; CHSN, SNP) after the center was injured during a 3-0 win at the Flyers on Saturday.
Miller went to the locker room immediately after taking the game-opening face-off. He returned a few minutes later but took one more face-off the remainder of the game. Miller leads the Canucks with 90 face-offs and his 61.1 percent face-off winning percentage is fifth in the NHL (minimum 50 face-offs).
Miller had one shot on goal in 17:01 of ice time, well below his average of 19:31 in five games.
"He's dealing with some stuff," coach Rick Tocchet said. "We'll figure it out over the next couple days, but we didn't want him to take draws. Still played well for us even if he didn't take draws."
Tocchet said he was hopeful Miller would be able to play Tuesday.
"I expect that, but you never know," he said. "He'll get a couple days off to rest it and see where it goes."
Dakota Joshua took part in the Canucks' morning skate Saturday, the first time the forward has practiced since having offseason surgery as part of his treatment for testicular cancer.
Joshua took part in drills wearing a noncontact jersey and then stayed on the ice for extra work in battle drills with the coaching staff.
"He's gone through a lot," defenseman Tyler Myers said. "Glad everything's taken care of, and it looks like he's getting pretty close. Nice to have him skate with the guys for pregame skate. He's a big part of our group. He's a unique player that provides us a lot of momentum out there with his physicality and the way he plays."
In a statement released Sept. 17 explaining his health issue, Joshua was confident he would play at some point this season. He did not play Saturday. -- Adam Kimelman
