The Calgary Flames will be without Samuel Honzek for a while after the club announced the forward has a lower-body injury and is now considered week-to-week.
Honzek had already been out since Calgary’s Thursday loss to the Colorado Avalanche and sat out Saturday’s loss to the Anaheim Ducks. Before the injury, he had been working on the Flames’ third line on the left side with Martin Pospisil and Ryan Strome. Calgary has filled that spot with Matvei Gridin.
The setback adds another tough chapter to what has already been a difficult stretch for Honzek, 21, one of the organization’s top prospects. Last November, he had surgery for an upper-body injury and missed the rest of the season.
He played in only 18 games and produced four points. He still does not have his first point of 2026-27, though head coach Ryan Huska had been giving him steady minutes before this latest issue slowed him down again.
Earlier this year, Scott Wheeler of The Athletic ranked Honzek as the No. 7 prospect in the Flames’ system and described him as someone who “should become a well-rounded 30-40 point forward” in the NHL.
There were also injury updates from Pittsburgh, where Dan Muse said defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk is still day-to-day with a lower-body injury. Seth Rorabaugh of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review was among those told that van Riemsdyk missed practice and is not expected to travel for the opening stretch of the Penguins’ four-game road trip.
Pittsburgh also placed him on injured reserve, opening up a roster spot. The veteran defenseman has been an important penalty-killing piece for the Penguins so far this season, leading the team in short-handed ice time per game.
Muse also said forward Justin Brazeau will stay behind while the Penguins head out on that road trip as he continues recovering from a lower-body injury. Brazeau has not yet made his 2026-27 debut after suffering the injury during the preseason process.
He did skate on his own today, but a return is not considered imminent. Brazeau was a bright spot for Pittsburgh last season, setting career highs with 17 goals and 34 points and making good on the club’s two-year, $1.5MM AAV free-agent commitment.
In Other News...
Sabres Just Added A New Concern To Their Blue Line Depth
Buffalos blue line depth took another hit with a minor trade on Tuesday, as the Sabres and Penguins swapped organization-level defensemen in a move that could still ripple beyond the AHL roster. Pittsburgh picked up Ryan Johnson, while Buffalo brought in Caleb Jones and Daniel Laatsch, with all three players currently assigned to minor league teams. For the Penguins, it is a low-risk way to add another young defenseman to the system and see whether Johnson can carve out a path within a different organization.
For Buffalo, the deal closes the book on Johnsons time in the organization after a long run that began when he was drafted in 2019. Jones is the name most likely to matter in the short term, since he is expected to give the Sabres some defensive insurance while injuries continue to test the teams depth. The rest of the move is more about rearranging pieces than making an immediate NHL impact, but it is the kind of transaction that can quietly shape what a team has available when the season starts to wear on. [Read more 🡒]
Penguins Head Into Tough Trip With One Big Question Still Unsettled
After a rough start to the week against Winnipeg and Washington, the Penguins steadied themselves enough to pick up three of a possible four points in back-to-back games against Columbus and Dallas. The Dallas showing in particular offered a better snapshot of where the group can be when it is skating with purpose, and now the next test arrives quickly as Pittsburgh opens a difficult road trip in Chicago.
The trip brings the usual lineup and goalie questions into sharper focus, especially with the Penguins trying to keep momentum while making small adjustments around the edges. The Blackhawks have been struggling through a poor season and a low expected goal share, but there is still some uncertainty around whether Connor Bedard will be available Tuesday, leaving Pittsburgh to prepare for more than one version of the matchup. [Read more 🡒]
Penguins Just Added A Blue Line Piece Worth Watching
Pittsburgh continued its blue line shuffle by bringing in Ryan Johnson from Buffalo, a move that adds another young defenseman to the mix as the Penguins keep sorting out their depth on the back end. Johnson has spent parts of four professional seasons working between the NHL, the AHL and college hockey, and his background gives the Penguins a player with some mileage but still room to grow.
For a team that has been looking for useful pieces on defense, Johnson arrives with a manageable cap hit and some runway left on his contract. The question now is how quickly he can carve out a role in Pittsburgh after getting a longer look in Buffalo, where he logged 47 NHL games before this change of scenery. [Read more 🡒]