The Red Wings should be getting some help back up front soon, and Todd McLellan sounded optimistic Thursday that both Marco Kasper and Mason Appleton will rejoin the lineup during Detroit’s four-game road trip.
That trip starts Saturday in Colorado and runs through November 14 in Tampa Bay. Both forwards have been out since the opening weekend, and both have been skating in non-contact jerseys while continuing to move forward without any reported setbacks, according to Detroit beat writer Max Bultman.
Kasper is the bigger swing for Detroit. The 22-year-old center has been out since the opener with an upper-body injury, and his absence forced McLellan to shuffle the middle of the lineup.
Appleton, 30, has been on injured reserve since the season’s second game and brings bottom-six depth. Their returns would come at a useful time for a forward group also dealing with Dylan Larkin’s absence as he awaits a trade.
Carolina got a boost of its own Thursday, with Taylor Hall set to return against the Islanders after missing nine games. The Hurricanes announced the move Thursday evening.
Hall, who scored the Cup-clinching goal in Carolina’s championship run last spring, had five points in eight games before suffering an upper-body injury on October 13. His return adds another layer to an already deep forward group, and Nicolas Deslauriers comes out of the lineup to make room.
In Philadelphia, Rasmus Ristolainen took another step in his recovery by skating at Thursday’s morning skate, according to Flyers writer Charlie O’Connor. The 31-year-old is still not ready to return from the upper-body injury that has kept him out since a one-game cameo on October 24, but Rick Tocchet said he’s trending in the right direction. Ristolainen, who has dealt with a long stretch of injuries over the past few seasons, was working on an extra pairing.
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William Carrier ended up delivering the decisive goal in the third period, the kind of timely finish Carolina has been looking for in tighter games away from home. Brandon Bussi backed it up with 24 saves, and with Semyon Varlamov turning aside 34 shots on the other end, the Hurricanes had to earn every bit of separation before finally putting the game away. [Read more 🡒]
Hurricanes Just Got A National Nod Fans Will Want To Debate
ESPNs latest NHL power rankings offered another national reminder of how well the Hurricanes have started the season, keeping Carolina in the No. 1 spot in the Nov. 6 update. The list is built on performance and key player numbers through Nov. 5, and the Hurricanes stayed ahead of a field that saw Minnesota climb to No. 2 while Boston slipped to No. 4 despite matching the points percentage of Minnesota and Edmonton.
For Carolina fans, the placement is less about a trophy than a snapshot of where the team stands in the league conversation right now. The ranking gives the Hurricanes another week at the top, but it also sets up the kind of debate that always follows these early-season lists, especially when the gap between the contenders is so thin and the margins behind the numbers can feel just as important as the numbers themselves. [Read more 🡒]