Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe voiced his displeasure with his team's response to Brad Marchand's hit on Timothy Liljegren.

"I hated everything about it," Keefe said on Saturday. "I've addressed it."

He continued, "It's not what we want to be about. At times, we've responded very well in those situations in the past. It's about consistency, though, so we've addressed it."

Maple Leafs enforcer Ryan Reaves said it was difficult to tell exactly what happened on the collision from the bench.

"In real-time, it didn't look like anything," Reaves told The Hockey News' David Alter. "I think you can form your own opinion on what happened based on the player. It didn't look overly malicious, but it looked like there was some intent there."

Liljegren sustained a high angle sprain on the play and was placed on long-term injured reserve on Saturday. He'll miss at least 10 games and won't be eligible to return until Nov. 30 against the Seattle Kraken.

Reaves said he was disappointed not to have a chance at Marchand during the remainder of the contest.

"It's just lucky I wasn't on the ice with him," he said. "Unfortunately, they had last change, so I didn't get any shifts against them. That's hockey."

Keefe disagreed that the onus was on Reaves to respond, wanting more from the team as a whole.

"To me, it's less about that," Toronto's head coach said. "Brad Marchand doesn't care about Ryan Reaves or anybody else in the league. That's well-established.

"It's more about the team response. There's a lot of other players wearing the Bruins' colors that we can make life harder on them."

The 5-3-2 Maple Leafs take on the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night.

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Montreal Canadiens forward Christian Dvorak will return from injury against the St. Louis Blues, head coach Martin St. Louis confirmed Saturday.

Dvorak has been sidelined since March 7 after sustaining a knee injury that required surgery. He was initially expected to be ready for the start of the 2023-24 campaign.

The 27-year-old missed the Canadiens' final 18 games last season and the opening 10 contests this year.

Dvorak tallied 10 goals and 28 points in 64 games prior to his injury in 2022-23. He has two more years left on a contract that carries a $4.45-million cap hit.

The Canadiens are fourth in the Atlantic Divison with a 5-3-2 record.

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Phil Kessel's eager to sign a contract and hit the ice as he remains without a deal a month into the 2023-24 season.

"I'm staying ready," the unrestricted free agent told The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun. "I've been skating. In the next week, I'm going to work with a skating guy here (in Arizona). We're going to do individual sessions to stay ready."

Kessel tallied 14 goals and 36 points in 82 games last season with the Vegas Golden Knights while playing a career-low 12:49 per contest. He dressed in only four postseason games as the Golden Knights won the Stanley Cup, the third triumph of Kessel's career.

"I know I can still play and can still help," the 36-year-old said. "For the minutes I played last year, I thought my numbers were pretty solid, right? So I know I can help a team and contribute to a team which needs scoring.

"Obviously, I'm a little surprised I haven't got anything yet, but it is what it is, right?"

Kessel is the NHL's all-time ironman with 1,064 straight regular-season games. Though the streak would continue if Kessel signs a contract, he made it abundantly clear it's not a factor in him inking a deal.

"I don't care," Kessel said about his ironman streak. "I think people think I care about that. I've never cared about that. I've always been a guy that feels he should be in the lineup, and if I can play, I'll play."

Kessel isn't set on exclusively signing with a handful of teams, either. The six-time 30-goal-scorer is open to all possibilities and simply wants to continue playing.

"I'm willing to kind of go wherever," he said. "Because I want to play. I love to play."

Should he sign a contract, Kessel would embark on his 18th season in the NHL. He has 413 goals and is only eight shy of the 1,000-point mark in 1,286 career games.

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Buffalo Sabres rookie Zach Benson is out week-to-week with a lower-body injury, general manager Kevyn Adams announced Tuesday.

Benson has two assists and six penalty minutes in six games. He's played 13:17 per contest.

The Sabres drafted him 13th overall in June. A standout with the Winnipeg Ice, Benson tallied 36 goals and 98 points as a two-way force last season in the WHL.

The injury is an aggravation of a previous ailment the 18-year-old had been dealing with earlier in camp, Adams told The Buffalo News' Lance Lysowski.

Buffalo recalled forward Brandon Biro from the AHL's Rochester Americans on Tuesday. The 25-year-old has six points in five games to begin the season. He scored 51 points in 49 contests last year.

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The Anaheim Ducks are taking a unique approach with Leo Carlsson's development, opting to play the rookie only twice per week and not on back-to-back nights.

Despite an eagerness to get into game action, the 2023 second-overall pick is on board with the plan.

"It feels good," Carlsson told NHL.com's Amalie Benjamin. "Of course, after the Arizona game, I wanted to keep playing games because it felt so good, but I believe in the plan, too, getting bigger and strong and stuff like that."

Carlsson has only dressed in three of Anaheim's seven contests so far but has received big minutes in each. He played 19:00 in his debut against the Dallas Stars and soared above 22 minutes in his two-point outing versus the Boston Bruins on Thursday.

"It's pretty easy, I think, because if you miss a game, you have so much energy for the next game and are just so excited for the next game," Carlsson said.

The development plan is focused on allowing Carlsson to build up over the campaign and improve his strength, power, and speed with additional time that would otherwise be spent preparing for games.

"It's a great plan," Carlsson's agent Matt Keator said. "Because he's not going to wear down. He's going to have more energy and he's going to have more strength. I don't think the Ducks are planning on winning the Cup this year - though you never know - and I just think for him it's almost similar to what he would be doing if he was in Europe, but he's doing it here."

Carlsson joins the NHL from Sweden's top professional league, which has a 52-game regular season.

Linemate Troy Terry admitted he'd like to see Carlsson get into more games, but acknowledged the development plan is in the 18-year-old's best interest long term.

"I know he's on this development program and it's frustrating for me sometimes because I love playing with him," Terry said. "But how, I think, dominating he can be already, if you can get him even stronger, I think it's scary."

The 3-4-0 Ducks face the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday. Carlsson's status for the contest has yet to be announced.

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Andrei Svechnikov is back.

The Carolina Hurricanes forward will make his season debut Friday against the San Jose Sharks after missing 41 games due to a torn ACL.

Svechnikov sustained the injury on March 11 against the Vegas Golden Knights. He tallied 23 goals and 55 points in 64 games last season prior to his season-ending injury.

"When he gives us the green light, we'll definitely chuck him in there," head coach Rod Brind'Amour told team reporter Walt Ruff on Wednesday.

Svechnikov was kept out of the lineup on Thursday against the Seattle Kraken.

Carolina initially anticipated the 23-year-old to return for the start of the 2023-24 campaign.

The Hurricanes rank fourth in the Metropolitan Division at 4-4-0.

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Defenseman Darnell Nurse was blunt in his assessment of the Edmonton Oilers' performance amid the team's abysmal 1-5-1 start to the season.

"We gotta be better, like to a man," Nurse said after Thursday's 3-0 shutout loss against the New York Rangers. "Simple as that. That's the dialogue. Everyone knows. It's easy to point fingers and whatnot. Everyone just look in the mirror at this point and do a whole lot f-----g better."

The Oilers' lone win came against the Nashville Predators on Oct. 17. They've since lost four straight games and are currently without superstar captain Connor McDavid, who's recovering from an upper-body injury sustained on Oct. 21.

Nurse also expressed frustration with the perception that the poor start was solely based on the defense and the team's new systems.

"I've been here for nine years, and it's always the D," Nurse said. "For us, we do have to be better. We can't be relying on our goaltenders to make five, six two-on-one saves a night. Can't be putting our partners and goalies in bad spots.

"But at the same point, there's six guys on the ice at all times, and we gotta be out there helping each other."

Head coach Jay Woodcroft backed the Oilers' change to a zone defense, box plus-one setup on Wednesday.

The Oilers were expected to be contenders atop the Pacific but are already 11 points behind the 7-0-0 Vegas Golden Knights for the top spot in the division.

Edmonton's next chance to turn their season around comes Sunday in the Heritage Classic at Commonwealth Stadium against their bitter rivals, the Calgary Flames, who are also struggling so far.

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Zack Kassian announced his retirement after a 12-year NHL career Thursday.

"To play in the NHL is one thing, but to make a 12-year career of it is pretty special," Kassian said in a statement. "From coaches to equipment staff and fellow players I've met along the way, I've made so many relationships that are going to last a lifetime."

Kassian, 32, was released from a professional tryout with the Anaheim Ducks earlier in October. He was an unrestricted free agent after being bought out by the Arizona Coyotes this summer.

A standout in junior hockey with the OHL's Peterborough Petes, Kassian was drafted 13th overall in 2009 by the Buffalo Sabres. He played 27 games with the Sabres in 2011-12 before being traded to the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for Cody Hodgson prior to the deadline.

Kassian played parts of four seasons in Vancouver, racking up 32 goals and 59 points in 171 games. He was traded to the Montreal Canadiens in 2015 but was flipped to the Edmonton Oilers before suiting up for the Habs.

The Windsor, Ontario, native spent seven years with the Oilers, which became his most notable stint in the league. He scored 55 goals and 135 points in 412 with Edmonton, reaching a career-high 15 goals and 34 points in 59 contests during the 2019-2020 campaign while featuring alongside Connor McDavid.

Kassian was dealt to the Arizona Coyotes at the 2022 draft along with second- and third-round draft picks in order for Edmonton to clear cap space. Edmonton also moved back from 29th overall to 32nd in the transaction.

In what ultimately became his final NHL campaign, Kassian tallied two goals and no assists in 51 games last season with the Coyotes before being bought out of the final year of his contract during the summer.

Kassian totaled 661 games across 12 seasons, accruing 92 goals, 203 points, and an impressive 913 penalty minutes. From his debut season in 2011-12 through to his last campaign in 2022-23, Kassian ranked ninth in the entire league in PIMs.

He made the postseason on six occasions - twice with Vancouver and four times with Edmonton - recording 45 Stanley Cup playoff games and nine postseason points.

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The Carolina Hurricanes will be without defenseman Brett Pesce for the foreseeable future.

"I was hoping he'd be a day or two away, but that's definitely not the case," head coach Rod Brind'Amour told team reporter Walt Ruff on Wednesday. "Way more than (week-to-week). It's not good."

Pesce has missed two games with a lower-body injury. He's collected a goal and two points in five contests this season.

The 28-year-old is in the final season of a six-year, $24.15-million contract he signed with Carolina in 2017. He's set to become an unrestricted free agent at the conclusion of the 2023-24 campaign.

The Hurricanes also remain without star forward Andrei Svechnikov, who has yet to make his season debut while recovering from a torn ACL sustained in March.

Carolina is 3-4-0 to start the season and ranks fifth in the Metropolitan Division.

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The NHL, NHLPA, and NHL Player Inclusion Coalition agreed to allow players to represent social causes with stick tape on Tuesday.

The agreement comes after Arizona Coyotes defenseman Travis Dermott became the first player to defy the league's ban on the use of Pride tape in a game Saturday against the Anaheim Ducks.

The NHL's board of governors banned cause-based jerseys and the use of Pride tape during the offseason. A select number of players opted not to wear Pride jerseys and decals last season.

The ban received notable pushback from players.

"For us - 99% of the guys in the league - it's all about growing the game and making sure it's inclusive for every single guy," Colorado Avalanche star blue-liner Cale Makar said.

Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly voiced his displeasure with the decision earlier in October.

"I wish players had the right to kind of do more and be more involved," Rielly said. "As players, we're going to continue to be involved pretty much no matter what the league says."

Dermott isn't expected to face punishment for using Pride tape while the ban was in effect, according to PHNX Sports' Craig Morgan.

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