Ottawa Senators goaltender Matt Murray went unclaimed on the waiver wire and will be demoted, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.

The Senators will demote Murray to their AHL affiliate, reports Postmedia's Bruce Garrioch. Ottawa head coach D.J. Smith said Saturday that the club would assign the netminder to Belleville if he cleared waivers.

More to come.

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Calgary Flames enforcer Milan Lucic was assessed a five-minute major and game misconduct for boarding Winnipeg Jets defenseman Dylan DeMelo on Saturday night.

The incident occurred in the second period. DeMelo left the ice bloodied but ultimately returned.

The NHL has suspended Lucic four times in his career, most recently in 2019 for roughing. The 34-year-old entered Saturday's game with seven points through 20 contests this season.

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Los Angeles Kings forward Brendan Lemieux received a five-minute match penalty after Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk said Lemieux bit him during a scrum Saturday.

The dustup between the two players occurred in the third period. Once the referees separated them from a lengthy wrestling match, Tkachuk showed the officials his bare hand.

Both players received two roughing minors on the play as well.

Tkachuk didn't mince words postgame.

"This is the one time I'm going to answer this," he said, per Postmedia's Bruce Garrioch. "It was the most gutless thing somebody could ever do. This guy, you can ask any one of his teammates, nobody ever wants to play with him. This guy is a bad guy and a bad teammate, he focuses on himself all the time.

"The guy's just a joke. He shouldn't be in the league. This guy's gutless. No other team wants him, he's going to keep begging to be in the NHL but no other team is going to want him, he's an absolute joke. I can't even wrap my head around it. People don't even do this. He's just a bad guy."

Tkachuk continued to go off on Lemieux.

"It's outrageous. Kids don't even do that anymore. Babies do that," Tkachuk said. "I don't even know what he was thinking, he's just a complete brickhead. He's got nothing up there. Bad guy, bad player, but what a joke he is."

Lemieux has been suspended twice in his career: once for hitting Vincent Trocheck's head in 2018 and again for a late hit on Joonas Donskoi in 2020.

The last known biting controversy in the NHL occurred in 2019 when P.K. Subban claimed he was bitten by Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, who didn't receive any discipline from the NHL's Department of Player Safety.

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The Carolina Hurricanes have contacted the Dallas Stars about defenseman John Klingberg, reports Sportsnet's Jeff Marek.

"Trade chatter is starting to pick up, and a lot of it revolves around John Klingberg of the Dallas Stars. A few teams have expressed interest there (and) contacted the Dallas Stars," Marek said during Saturday's "32 Thoughts" TV segment.

"The one team we know that has called are the Carolina Hurricanes."

Klingberg is set to become an unrestricted free agent at season's end. The blue-liner is seeking an eight-year extension worth somewhere in the mid-$60-million range, which Dallas hasn't been willing to meet yet, Marek added.

"I'm not saying that the Dallas Stars want to trade John Klingberg right now, they have playoff aspirations as we all know of their own," Marek said. "But that's not stopping teams from calling."

The Stars entered Saturday sitting sixth in the Central Division with a 9-7-2 record.

Klingberg has recorded seven assists in 14 games this campaign. The right-handed shooting Swede has averaged 56 points per 82 contests over his eight-year career. He'll turn 30 years old in August.

Carolina lost stalwart right-handed defenseman Dougie Hamilton as a UFA to the New Jersey Devils in the offseason. Instead of making a major splash to replace him, the Canes added Ethan Bear and Tony DeAngelo to help fill the void on the right side of their blue line.

The 15-3-1 Hurricanes entered Saturday atop the NHL's standings.

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Scott Mellanby resigned as assistant general manager of the Montreal Canadiens, the team announced Saturday.

The Canadiens hired Mellanby as their director of player personnel in 2012 before promoting him to assistant general manager in 2014. He also had stints in various positions with the Vancouver Canucks and St. Louis Blues after concluding his 21-season playing career in 2007.

Mellanby discussed with owner Jeff Molson about becoming general manager, as well as president of hockey operations, but he resigned after being told he was out of the running, reports The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun.

Montreal received permission Saturday to talk to former New York Rangers general manager Jeff Gorton, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman. The discussions are reportedly about a role other than GM.

The Rangers fired Gorton as their general manager in May after six seasons at the helm.

The Canadiens entered Saturday with a 5-15-2 record.

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The NHL postponed the New York Islanders' games through at least Nov. 30 on Saturday as a result of the team's worsening COVID-19 situation.

The Islanders' road contests against the New York Rangers on Sunday and versus the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday won't be played as scheduled.

Another Islanders player landed in COVID-19 protocol on Saturday morning, and up to eight in total may be unable to play as a result of being on the list, according to the league. The NHL also cited the possibility of there being more cases due to the virus spreading within the team.

The club has been decimated by absences related to COVID-19. On Tuesday, Zdeno Chara became the seventh Islander to land in protocol along with captain Anders Lee, forwards Josh Bailey, Kieffer Bellows, and Ross Johnston, as well as defensemen Andy Greene and Adam Pelech.

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The NHL fined New York Rangers star Artemi Panarin $5,000 on Saturday for unsportsmanlike conduct during Friday's win over the Boston Bruins.

Panarin took his glove off and threw it at Bruins forward Brad Marchand while the two were exchanging words from the benches late in the contest.

Officials gave both Panarin and Marchand 10-minute misconducts as a result of the altercation, which took place with about 12 seconds remaining in the Rangers' 5-2 victory.

The two players rank among the league's scoring leaders this season. Panarin is tied for ninth in assists (16) and 13th in points (21), while Marchand is tied for ninth in points with 22.

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