NHL Player News

Rifai was recalled from AHL Toronto on Sunday, per the NHL media site.

Rifai was sent to the minors ahead of the regular season, but he'll rejoin the NHL club to provide additional depth on the Maple Leafs' shorthanded blue line. Across three AHL appearances to begin the regular season, he's been held scoreless with four PIM and a plus-2 rating.

Tanev (upper body) was placed on injured reserve Sunday, according to the NHL media site.

After suffering an upper-body injury, Tanev left Saturday's 6-3 win over Colorado. He will miss at least the next three games, starting with Tuesday's matchup against Utah, but it's unclear when he will be ready to return. The Maple Leafs recalled Marshall Rifai from AHL Toronto on Sunday in a corresponding move.

Roy (lower body) isn't expected to play against Seattle on Sunday, according to Tarik El-Bashir of Monumental Sports Network.

Roy remains day-to-day and will miss his third straight game. He has been skating on his own and might be ready to return to the lineup soon. Roy hasn't earned a point in two appearances this season, but he has registered five hits and five blocked shots.

Blankenburg scored a goal and added three hits in Saturday's 6-3 win over the Avalanche.

Blankenburg made his season debut for the Maple Leafs and came back to haunt his former team. The defenseman saw 16:11 of ice time, including 54 seconds on the power play. Blankenburg may have a path to more usage after Chris Tanev (upper body) left Saturday's contest, in which Toronto had seven defensemen in the lineup. Steady power-play time will be hard to come by for Blankenburg, but he could compete for bottom-four minutes moving forward.

Crotty (illness) was placed on injured reserve Sunday.

In a corresponding move, Ottawa recalled Jorian Donovan from AHL Belleville on Sunday. Crotty has missed the last two games, and it's unclear when he will be available to return.

Donovan was recalled from AHL Belleville on Sunday.

Donovan returned to Belleville on Tuesday when the Senators needed Jonas Johansson to back up Samuel Ersson with Linus Ullmark sidelined, but with the latter fully healthy, Ottawa had the space to recall the young defenseman. The 22-year-old Donovan has appeared in three games for Belleville to open the 2026-27 campaign, where he has logged zero points and five shots on net. He'll likely serve as a depth option for Ottawa until Jake Sanderson (lower body) and Artem Zub (knee) are ready to return.

Marino buried a power-play goal, dished out an assist and placed two shots on net in Saturday's 4-1 win over the Sabres.

Marino helped build up the Mammoth's lead down the stretch in Saturday's contest, where he recorded the primary helper on Anders Lee's goal before finding twine himself on a power play early in the third period. With the pair of points, the 29-year-old Marino is up to three points, five shots on goal and two blocked shots across six appearances. Marino should continue to play a complementary role for Utah for the foreseeable future after signing an eight-year extension with the organization in late July. He posted a career-high 36 points across 80 regular-season games in 2025-26, and if he can get back to that level of production in the new season, he'll hold decent fantasy value in deeper leagues.

McAvoy has finished serving his six-game suspension for slashing Buffalo's Zach Benson on May 1.

McAvoy will be eligible to return to the lineup against San Jose on Tuesday. He registered 11 goals, 111 shots on net, 129 blocked shots, 79 hits and a career-high 61 points in 69 appearances for Boston during the 2025-26 regular season.

Reilly notched two assists, two shots on goal, two hits and a plus-2 rating in Saturday's 5-2 win over the Blackhawks.

Reilly began the season in the press box, but he's since played in four straight games as a third-pairing option. He got on the scoresheet for the first time Saturday with the pair of helpers, and he's added five shots on net, six hits, three blocked shots and a plus-3 rating. Reilly is likely to see the bulk of the playing time over Juuso Valimaki, but he probably won't produce enough overall to justify a roster spot in fantasy.

Ekholm scored a goal on two shots in Saturday's 3-1 win over the Sharks.

Ekholm tallied the opening goal at 12:37 of the first period. The 36-year-old defenseman is seeing heavy minutes in a top-four role since the Oilers have gotten poor results from all iterations of their third pairing so far. Ekholm has two points, five shots on net, four hits, two blocked shots, 10 PIM and a plus-11 rating over five contests. He's topped the 30-point mark in each of the last five campaigns and should also maintain a strong plus-minus rating while recording a decent total in blocks.