The Rangers will be without Alberts Smits for the next few weeks after the fifth overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft suffered his first injury in the NHL, according to Peter Baugh of The Athletic. New York said Smits has an upper-body injury, and he was already held out of yesterday’s game against the Seattle Kraken.
To cover the spot, the Rangers brought up depth defenseman Marc Del Gaizo. He should head back to AHL Hartford once Sean Durzi is healthy enough to return from injured reserve, where he’s currently listed with an undisclosed injury.
Smits’ absence will stretch through the rest of New York’s road swing in the Pacific Division and also keep him out of the team’s next home game against the Montreal Canadiens on November 16th. After that, the Rangers have a six-day break. Before getting hurt, Smits had gone scoreless in 17 games with a minus-2 rating while averaging 14:29 of ice time per night.
There’s also injury news out of Columbus, where the Blue Jackets have ruled out Conor Garland for tomorrow’s game against the Florida Panthers with an upper-body injury, per Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch. Head coach Rick Bowness did not have a timetable for Garland’s return, so this could be more than a one-game absence.
Garland is in the first season of a six-year, $36MM extension and has one assist in 15 games this year, along with a minus-5 rating.
In New Jersey, the Devils added some forward insurance before tomorrow’s matchup with the Winnipeg Jets. The team announced it has recalled Riley Tufte from the AHL’s Utica Comets.
Tufte is in his first season with the Devils after signing a one-year, $850K deal last offseason. He spent the previous two years mostly with AHL Providence, where he put up 53 goals and 98 points in 122 games and finished with a plus-42 rating.
In Other News...
Blue Jackets May Finally Be Seeing The Lindstrom They Drafted
Cayden Lindstroms sophomore season at Michigan State is starting to look a lot more like the kind of development the Blue Jackets had in mind when they made him their 2024 first-round pick. After a difficult freshman year and a long road back from back surgery in late 2024, the big forward has opened this season with noticeably better offensive touch, showing more efficiency around the net and a steadier impact on the Spartans attack.
For Columbus, the encouraging part is not just the scoring, but the trend behind it. Lindstrom has found the scoresheet in three straight games and already looks more comfortable driving play than he did a year ago, a meaningful sign for a prospect whose progress was slowed by injury and recovery. The Blue Jackets have been waiting to see whether the player they drafted would emerge, and early this season, he is beginning to answer. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jackets Lose Conor Garland At A Brutal Time
The Blue Jackets are heading into their matchup with the Florida Panthers without Conor Garland, a notable absence for a group that could use every healthy forward it can get. Head coach Rick Bowness said Garland will miss the game because of an upper-body injury, and the timing is less than ideal for a team trying to keep its lineup intact while navigating a tough stretch.
Garland has been in the lineup this season, even if his offense has not matched the level he reached in previous years, so Columbus loses a player who still brings value beyond the scoresheet. Ryan Lomberg is expected to slide back into the mix, but the bigger question now is how long the Blue Jackets will have to manage without Garland and what the lineup will look like once they do. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jackets Must Rework Their Lines After Another Injury Blow
Dmitri Voronkov and Sean Monahan appear set to give the Blue Jackets a needed boost after both left the previous game early, with each practicing normally and expected to be available against the Panthers. Even with that encouraging update, Columbus is still forced to juggle its forward groups again, and the latest shuffle shows how quickly one injury can ripple through the rest of the lineup.
The bigger concern is Conor Garland, who will miss time with an undisclosed upper-body injury and is out indefinitely, leaving another hole for the coaching staff to patch before the Florida matchup. The team has already announced new line combinations, including a look that puts Adam Fantilli in a different spot up front, and the next game will offer the first glimpse of how well those changes hold up under pressure. [Read more 🡒]