The Calgary Flames will be without Travis Hamonic for a while.

The defenseman suffered a facial fracture during a fight with Erik Gudbranson in Calgary's season opener on Wednesday and now has a week-to-week status, the club announced Friday.

Defenseman Rasmus Andersson has been called up from the AHL in a corresponding move.

The fight against Gudbranson occurred only 4:22 into the first period. Hamonic later returned to action, receiving 14:35 of ice time.

The 28-year-old is a big part of the Flames' defense. He played 74 games last year in his first season with Calgary, averaging 20-plus minutes of ice time per game.

Andersson was the Flames' second-round pick in 2015. He played 10 games for Calgary in 2017-18.

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Derek MacKenzie will play one final NHL campaign.

The Florida Panthers forward and former captain told The Athletic's George Richards on Thursday that the 2018-19 season will be his last as a player.

MacKenzie said he would like to stay involved with the organization when he hangs up his skates.

The 37-year-old is entering his 18th campaign and fifth with the Panthers. He wore the 'C' for Florida in 2016-17 and 2017-18. Aleksander Barkov succeeded him as captain earlier this fall.

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Washington Capitals winger Tom Wilson will appeal the 20-game suspension he received Wednesday for a preseason hit on St. Louis Blues center Oskar Sundqvist, head coach Todd Reirden told The Washington Post's Isabelle Khurshudyan on Thursday.

Wilson received a match penalty for the hit to the head of Sunqvist in the final preseason game for both teams on Sunday.

The Washington forward has 48 hours from the time of the suspension to give written notice of an appeal to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, according to Khurshudyan.

If Bettman opts not to overturn or reduce the punishment, Wilson could then appeal to a neutral arbitrator. Either way, the Capitals pest would remain suspended throughout the process.

Wednesday's ruling was Wilson's fourth suspension in his past 105 games. The NHL's Department of Player Safety cited that fact in its explanation of the decision.

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The Toronto Maple Leafs played their season opener Wednesday night with one key piece missing from the lineup: William Nylander.

The forward remains in Sweden, without a contract, as he and the Maple Leafs continue to try to work out a deal that pleases both sides.

"In the end I have to take care of myself and do what I and my agent thinks is right," he told Swedish outlet Aftonbladet, as translated by Sportsnet. "Especially if it's about several years to come. I need to think long term. It's my own future it's about."

By dragging the holdout into the regular season, Nylander is now forfeiting more than $30,000 in pay each day he remains unsigned, according to Sportsnet's Chris Johnston.

Nylander has said he's seeking a long-term contract rather than a bridge deal.

While Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas has gone on record to say he also prefers Nylander sign a long-term deal, the team insists all of its top players take less money to keep the squad together under the salary cap, just as John Tavares did this summer, taking $11 million per year when he likely could've received more elsewhere.

Related: Dubas confirms Maple Leafs don't want to trade Nylander

"It wasn't (Tavares') responsibility to set a new bar or to please other people with other interests," team president Brendan Shanahan said Wednesday. "He's a hockey player. He wanted to come here and win hockey games. He wanted to be treated fairly and he is. And yes, that is what is we would hope and expect from our players as we go forward."

Nylander said he's been left in the dark during most of the negotiations.

"Right now, I do not know more than all the rest of you," Nylander told Aftonbladet. "I have not received any messages and have no contact with Toronto. It’s my agent who takes care of everything."

Johnston notes that Nylander's eventual long-term contract is expected to compare similarly to Nikolaj Ehlers' seven-year, $6-million AAV with the Jets, and David Pastrnak's six-year, $6.67-million AAV with the Bruins.

Related - Dubas: 'We can, and we will' retain Matthews, Marner, Nylander

Nylander has been working out and skating regularly in Sweden, but a return date to Toronto - where a spot on the team's top line with Matthews and Patrick Marleau is being kept warm by Tyler Ennis - still remains unclear.

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The New York Islanders have found their successor to John Tavares, naming Anders Lee the team's captain on Thursday.

Lee is coming off a career year, scoring 40 goals during the 2017-18 season.

The 28-year-old is no stranger to wearing the "C," as he was the captain during his junior year at Notre Dame.

Josh Bailey, Cal Clutterbuck, and Andrew Ladd will serve as the team's alternate captains.

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The Carolina Hurricanes own the NHL's longest active playoff drought at nine years, and for many of those seasons, goaltending was at the root of their issues.

For his part, general manager Don Waddell believes some improvement between the pipes would be enough to finally crack the postseason.

"I think the biggest thing, and I hate to put on too much pressure, but if our goaltending can be average or above I think that’ll give us a really good chance of making the playoffs," Waddell said in a Q&A with The Athletic's Sara Civian.

The Hurricanes ranked last overall with an .893 save percentage last season despite allowing the fewest shots in the entire league. They haven't ranked better than 26th in save percentage since 2013-14.

Scott Darling was acquired prior to last season after three strong campaigns as Corey Crawford's backup in Chicago, but struggled to the tune of an .888 save percentage and a 3.18 goals-against average.

Coincidentally, longtime Hurricanes netminder Cam Ward left Carolina as a free agent this summer, inking a one-year deal with the Blackhawks to serve as Crawford's No. 2.

That prompted Waddell to survey the goaltending market, where he had an interesting discussion with free-agent netminder Petr Mrazek.

"The first day we could talk to free agents I called him (Mrazek) and we talked for about half an hour. He said 'Don, I know things didn’t go well for me last year. I want a chance to prove to be a number-one guy. I want just a one-year contract, $1.5 million,'" Waddell recalled. "He could’ve been like the rest of those guys asking for two-to-three million for two or three years, but he was more worried about the opportunity to prove himself than he was the money."

Mrazek is coming off a disappointing campaign in which he was non-tendered by the Flyers after posting a .902 save percentage and a 3.03 goals-against average in 39 games split between Philadelphia and Detroit.

He isn't a stranger to NHL success, though. In the first 94 games of his career Mrazek looked like one the league's up-and-coming young goaltenders, recording a .920 save percentage, a 2.29 goals-against average, and nine shutouts with the Red Wings. The 26-year-old hasn't been able to regain that form since, but will get an extended chance to grab a hold of the No. 1 job in Carolina with Darling out for two weeks to begin the season.

Mrazek's first test will come Thursday night at home against the New York Islanders as the Hurricanes begin their quest to end their postseason drought.

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