The Minnesota Wild activated forward Jason Zucker from the injured reserve Friday, and head coach John Torchetti says he will be back in the lineup Saturday against the Buffalo Sabres.
Zucker has not played since suffering a concussion during his team's Feb. 21 Stadium Series game against the Chicago Blackhawks after being hit by defenseman Michal Rozsival.
The 24-year-old needs just four more points to match his career high of 26, set one season ago.
"The competition is so strong," Subban said Thursday. "You can't take anything away from the guys they've already named."
Subban - who played one game for Canada's gold medal-winning squad at the Sochi Olympics - will compete with the likes of Alex Pietrangelo, Brent Burns, Kris Letang, Brent Seabrook, and Mark Giordano for the final three spots on Canada's blue line. He's eager to prove to general manager Doug Armstrong that he belongs on the team.
"When I spoke with (Armstrong), he said I'll have a chance if I just keep playing my game," Subban said. "They want responsible players, players who they can trust, players who play in all situations, players who can play against the best and log big minutes."
The 26-year-old, who leads the Canadiens with 50 points in 65 games, may even take the World Championship in Russia as an opportunity to demonstrate what he can do on an international level.
"I'm always proud to play for my country," said Subban. "If I'm healthy, and if we're not playing in the playoffs, I'd gladly take the opportunity."
The Canadiens will wrap up their season on April 9, but all indications are that Subban will be wearing Canada's jersey - one way or another - very soon.
The 26-year-old left Thursday's loss to the Carolina Hurricanes after just 1:22 of ice time. He has a goal and four assists in 35 games this season.
Maurice also said he would have a better idea about the extent of Nikolaj Ehlers' apparent upper-body injury Saturday. The rookie forward took a puck off his visor, which broke on impact.
Your #NHLJets wrap: Peluso out 3-4 weeks, minimum. Ehlers out until further notice with blood in eyes from cuts caused by broken visor.
Pittsburgh Penguins forward Kevin Porter's season has likely come to an end after we underwent surgery on his ankle Friday. He is expected to be out of the lineup for 12 weeks.
Porter was limited to just four shifts Thursday after sustaining the injury early in the game against the New York Rangers.
The 29-year-old has three assists in 41 games this season.
After meeting all of his new teammates Thursday, five days after being traded from the Edmonton Oilers, one of his fellow Penguins got ahold of Schultz's clothes prior to Friday's practice, then suspended them above the ice at Consol Energy Center, spelling out "NEW GUY" on the jacket with tape.
It's been a difficult season from start to finish for the Calgary Flames. Last year's biggest surprise possesses the worst record in the Western Conference, and there's a direct correlation with their atrocious goaltending.
Calgary's struggles in goal have been magnified during a seven-game losing streak in which they've given up 28 goals - an average of four goals against per game. It's easy to pinpoint why the Flames are a serious contender in the Auston Matthews sweepstakes: Despite sitting 11th in shots against per game this season, they're second-last with 203 goals against.
Goalie
Games
Goals Against
GAA
SV %
Karri Ramo
37
94
2.63
.909
Jonas Hiller
24
73
3.41
.885
Joni Ortio
9
23
3.33
.889
The Flames are tied for last with the Arizona Coyotes with a combined 3.21 goals against average. They also possess an .899 save percentage, which could be a lot worse, if not for occasionally good play from Karri Ramo. However, in front of a solid defensive core of Mark Giordano, T.J. Brodie, and Dougie Hamilton that's definitely limiting scoring opportunities, the aforementioned numbers are unacceptable.
The Flames will have roughly $23 million in available cap space next season. The majority of their cash will be allocated to significant pay raises for pending restricted free agents Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau, but outside of a few depth additions - and an entry-level deal for a high-end prospect in the draft - Calgary will need to make acquiring a No. 1 goaltender its biggest priority.
Here are three goalies the Flames should target in the offseason:
James Reimer
Reimer could certainly be a good fit in Calgary, especially when considering his connection to president of hockey operations Brian Burke. The 27-year-old is in the prime of his career, and he's shown he can post good numbers despite playing on the worst team in the league.
With the Toronto Maple Leafs, who sit dead last in the NHL standings, Reimer posted a 2.49 GAA and .918 save percentage in 32 games (29 starts). These are solid numbers - his best since a playoff-bound season in 2012-13 - when considering the team he was playing for.
Although Reimer hasn't had the opportunity to play more than 37 games in a single season, the talent is there. He'll surely be looking for a pay raise this offseason, but there may be no better opportunity to finally receive a shot at being a true No. 1 than in Calgary. That alone should give both sides something to think about come July 1.
Ben Bishop
It will be an interesting summer for the Tampa Bay Lightning. They have roughly $17 million in cap space, but more than half of it will be used to try to resign pending unrestricted free agent Steven Stamkos. If the Lightning can re-sign their superstar, they'll need to make some difficult roster decisions.
With youngster Andrei Vasilevskiy seemingly lined up as their goaltender of the future, Ben Bishop could be a prime offseason target for the Flames. The Lightning likely won't be able to pay him what he's looking for a year from now, and may elect to move away from their No. 1 goalie when he still has a year remaining on his contract at the end of the season.
With a career .920 save percentage in 218 games, and a run to the Stanley Cup finals last season, there's no doubt the 6-foot-7 backstop is a legit No. 1 goalie. He could be everything Calgary needs to take the next step, they just need to find a way to make it happen.
Frederik Andersen
Andersen is enjoying a solid campaign for the Anaheim Ducks, which is certainly a trend in his brief career. However, he's mired in yet another 1A/1B situation with John Gibson. The 22-year-old Gibson is without a doubt the goalie of the future, and the Ducks may certainly look to give him the reins beyond this season. This makes Andersen available on the trade market.
The pending restricted free agent has posted a .919 save percentage in 117 NHL games, and has proven he can perform even when his team doesn't. When the Ducks started the season with a shocking 1-7-2 record, he possessed a 2.05 GAA and .932 save percentage in eight starts.
The 26-year-old has also been near unbeatable in 2016, posting an impressive record of 11-1-2 in his last 14 starts. Equipped with a big frame at 6-foot-4, 220 pounds, Andersen - who is just entering the prime of his career - would definitely be a sound, and perhaps cheaper, addition in Calgary.
WASHINGTON - The New York Rangers have recalled goaltender Magnus Hellberg from the American Hockey League on an emergency basis.
The move comes the morning after starter Henrik Lundqvist left New York's game in Pittsburgh with neck spasms. T...
Welcome back to another edition of On the Fly, theScore's roundtable series. With the trade deadline in the rearview mirror, we're making three predictions for the final few weeks of the regular season.
Maple Leafs will finish 30th
Justin Cuthbert: It's Toronto, of course. Though maybe it's Calgary.
It was Toronto and another Albertan city until about 10 days ago, before Edmonton Oilers head coach Todd McLellan simply had enough. You can't blame the failures of an organization on one dude, but the Oilers have simply been a different team since banishing Justin Schultz. Check out the performances since. They're not finishing with a 20 percent chance at Auston Matthews.
The Flames will have a much tougher schedule than the Maple Leafs. But what should separate these two teams in the end, aside from the Flames' four-point bulge, is that Calgary already has proven goal-scorers capable of stealing points, while the eyes of those in skill positions on the Maple Leafs are still wide.
And while Garret Sparks has been good, and Jonathan Bernier has been better of late, it's simply not possible to make up a deficit scoring one or two goals, max, each night.
McDavid will win the Calder
Navin Vaswani: With all due respect to Chicago Blackhawks forward Artemi Panarin, the Oilers employ the NHL's best rookie: Connor McDavid. And by the time the season ends, McDavid, who missed three months due to a broken clavicle, will have closed the gap enough to win the Calder Trophy.
You can see it when McDavid's on the ice - he's on another level. He possesses phenomenal speed and his hockey sense is clearly higher than his peers'. And he only turned 19 in January, while Panarin, 24, spent parts of seven seasons in the KHL.
This isn't a knock on Panarin - he's an excellent hockey player playing on an incredible team. But McDavid's better, and no rational Blackhawks supporter can say otherwise.
McDavid had 17 points in 12 games in February - four more points than Panarin's put up in any month. He's got three points in two games in March. As the Oilers play out another lost season, McDavid's the reason to watch. He's the rookie of the year. (And the Philadelphia Flyers ruin everything.)
Lightning will win the Atlantic
Ian McLaren: With Steven Stamkos locked in for at least the rest of the season, the Jonathan Drouin distraction pushed off to the sidelines, and a now relatively healthy roster, the Tampa Bay Lightning are once again the team to beat in the Atlantic Division.
Stamkos has been red-hot since general manager Steve Yzerman declared he would not be traded, while a return to health for key players further down the lineup gives Tampa a depth up front that is difficult to handle.
Even though Drouin wasn't flipped prior to the deadline in order to shore up the roster for a long playoff run, the Lightning have almost caught the cross-state rival Florida Panthers for first place in the division, and will do so before the end of the season.
Lundqvist left during the second period of Thursday's game to treat neck spasms after a collision with defenseman Ryan McDonagh, but was apparently well enough to throw the net off its moorings in frustration shortly after the collision.
Hellberg, 24, is sporting a 22-16-2 record with a .919 save percentage in 40 games with Hartford this season.
