The NHL’s pre-season schedule wound toward its close on Saturday with a full slate of exhibition games, a handful of injury scares and one significant free-agent signing on Sunday.
The New York Islanders signed defenceman Logan Stanley to a one-year contract, the team announced. Stanley, 28, recorded 26 points on nine goals and 17 assists in 76 regular-season games last season split between Buffalo and Winnipeg. New York also assigned defencemen Kashawn Aitcheson and Isaiah George and forward Cole Eiserman to Hamilton of the American Hockey League and placed goaltender Vitek Vanecek on waivers for assignment, according to NHL.com’s status report.
In Buffalo, goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen left Saturday’s preseason finale against Pittsburgh early in the third period with a lower-body injury. “He tweaked something, and we just got him off,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said, according to NHL.com. Fellow goaltender Alex Lyon is also out with an upper-body injury suffered Thursday and will miss “a few days, for sure,” Ruff said. Forward Jiri Kulich sat out Saturday’s game as a precaution after leaving Thursday’s contest early.
The Minnesota Wild had a scare of their own Friday when defenceman Brock Faber left a preseason game against Dallas after the second period following a hit to the head. Coach John Hynes called the departure precautionary but said the team remained uncertain of the severity, per NHL.com.
Elsewhere around the league Saturday, Sidney Crosby scored his first goal of the pre-season as Pittsburgh beat Buffalo 3-1, and Chris Kreider scored his first goal since signing with Montreal as the Canadiens split a pair of simultaneous split-squad games with Ottawa, winning 4-2 in one and losing 4-3 in the other. Luke Evangelista had two goals for New Jersey, which finished its pre-season 3-0-1 after acquiring the 24-year-old forward from Nashville and signing him to a five-year, $36.25-million contract. Macklin Celebrini and Mason Marchment each had a goal and an assist in a San Jose win over Vegas, and Jake DeBrusk had a goal and two assists as Vancouver picked up its first pre-season win, 4-3 over Seattle, after opening the exhibition schedule 0-3-0.
Carolina blanked Nashville 6-0 behind two goals and an assist from Jackson Blake, and Columbus goaltender Jet Greaves stopped 31 shots in a win over Detroit. Washington also finished its exhibition slate 3-0-1, with Andrew Cristall picking up a goal and an assist in a win over Philadelphia, and Karel Vejmelka made 25 saves in a shutout for Utah’s Mammoth over Colorado, according to NHL.com’s pre-season roundup.
Most teams break camp and finalize their opening-night rosters in the coming days, with the 2026-27 regular season set to begin around the league later this week.
