Help doesn’t appear to be close for the Red Wings on the injury front.
Max Bultman of The Athletic reports that center Marco Kasper and winger Mason Appleton are still a couple of weeks away from getting back into game action. Kasper went down in Detroit’s season opener with an upper-body injury and originally carried a week-to-week label, but that timeline is now stretching past a month.
Appleton has been out for more than three weeks after suffering an undisclosed injury in the second game of the season. Both players are in contract years, and neither has gotten off to the start they would have wanted.
Detroit will also be without defenseman Albert Johansson on Thursday. Bultman notes that Johansson is dealing with an undisclosed injury that he picked up Saturday against Calgary.
The 25-year-old is in his second full NHL season and had carved out a steady role on the third pairing. Through 11 games, he has one assist while logging just under 16 minutes a night.
In Tampa Bay, Zemgus Girgensons is set to sit out Thursday’s game because of an undisclosed injury he suffered Saturday against Utah, according to Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times.
The 32-year-old has appeared in 11 games this season, posting one goal and one assist while averaging 13:33 of ice time. Encina also reports that winger Brandon Hagel is a game-time decision as he works through an undisclosed injury.
In Toronto, Dakota Joshua’s return is now official. After a conditioning stint, the Maple Leafs activated him from LTIR, as David Alter of The Hockey News reports.
Joshua missed training camp with a core muscle injury, the same issue that was thought to have bothered him at times last season. He went scoreless in four games with the Marlies and had a quiet first season in Toronto in 2025-26, finishing with 18 points in 55 games.
To make the cap room for the move, Alter adds that winger Miles Wood was placed on LTIR.
In Other News...
Lightning Return With One Big Lineup Issue Fans Will Be Watching
A five-day break has given the Lightning a rare pause before they return to the ice against the Winnipeg Jets, their longest stretch between games this season outside the All-Star break. It also gives the team a little extra time to sort through a forward group that suddenly has a few moving parts, with Brandon Hagel dealing with an injury and Zemgus Girgensons also on the report as Tampa Bay eases back into action.
Yanni Gourdes situation is one more item worth watching. The center is continuing his recovery from hip surgery and has been practicing in a top-six role, a sign his comeback is moving faster than originally expected. For a Lightning team trying to reestablish its rhythm after the layoff, his progress adds another layer to the lineup picture as Thursday approaches. [Read more 🡒]
Lightning Depth Is Driving This Start In A Way Fans Notice
Through the first 11 games, the Lightning have given themselves a steadier early-season platform than they had a year ago, and a big part of that has been the kind of depth production that usually decides whether a team can keep pace once the schedule tightens. Pontus Holmberg and Charle-Edouard D'Astous have added offense in useful spots, while Zemgus Girgensons has quietly helped the bottom of the lineup hold up its end.
For Tampa Bay, the encouraging part is how those contributions are coming alongside the usual top-end talent rather than depending on it. Holmberg has brought a timely scoring touch, D'Astous has looked like a player who can add more than just minutes, and Girgensons has given the coaching staff a more reliable defensive presence. If the Lightning keep getting that kind of support across the roster, the early record starts to look less like a hot start and more like a foundation. [Read more 🡒]
Lightning Fans Have Plenty To Watch Before Thursdays Game
Before the Lightning get back to work Thursday, theres been plenty happening around the organization. Jon Coopers ninth Coops Catch for Kids fishing tournament raised $500,000 for pediatric cancer research, pushing the events total haul beyond $2 million and adding another feel-good chapter to a staple in the Tampa Bay calendar. Off the ice, the club has also been dealing with a few bumps from its recent road trip, though the early read is that the injuries to Zemgus Girgensons and Victor Hedman should not linger long.
The bigger spotlight, though, is expected to land on Nikita Kucherov, who has moved into the top spot on the franchises all-time points list and is slated to be honored before Thursdays home game. For a team that has spent years building around elite star power, it is another reminder of how much history is still being made in real time. Tampa Bay fans will have a little bit of everything to watch, from a milestone ceremony to the usual wait-and-see on the health front. [Read more 🡒]