Josh Wegman

 

Miro Heiskanen's injury is worse than initially feared.The Dallas Stars defenseman underwent knee surgery and is considered month-to-month, the team announced Tuesday, per NHL.com's Mike Heika.Heiskanen was initially considered week-to-week with a lower-body injury after colliding with Vegas Golden Knights captain Mark Stone in last Tuesday's game.Heiskanen has already been ruled out of the 4 Nations Face-Off for Team Finland.The 25-year-old's recorded 25 points in 50 games this season while averaging a team-high 25:10 per contest.

 

 

John Marino will make his Utah Hockey Club debut Tuesday against the Montreal Canadiens, general manager Bill Armstrong announced.Utah acquired Marino in an offseason trade with the New Jersey Devils in an effort to improve its blue line, moments after the club landed fellow defenseman Mikhail Sergachev from the Tampa Bay Lightning.However, Marino was injured before the start of the regular season and eventually forced to undergo back surgery in late October.Marino projects to slot in on Utah's third defense pair with Juuso Valimaki on Tuesday, though he could eventually play his way up the depth chart given his pedigree as a minute-munching, shutdown blue-liner. He's averaged at least 20 minutes per game in each of his five NHL seasons.

Edmonton Oilers winger Evander Kane underwent successful knee surgery Thursday that will require four-to-eight weeks of recovery time, the team announced.The procedure is unrelated to Kane's offseason abdominal surgery, but it will require him to pause his rehab. The first procedure, done in September, had a five-to-six-month recovery timeline. At the time, Kane also said he was having work done to fix hip and hernia injuries he played through in 2023-24.Kane recorded 24 goals and 20 assists in 77 games with the Oilers last season. He also added four goals and four helpers in 20 playoff contests.The 33-year-old power forward is under contract through the 2025-26 campaign with a $5.125-million cap hit. He's currently on long-term injured reserve, so he's not counting against Edmonton's cap. It's unclear if Kane will be able to return to action this season.

 

Welcome to the third edition of theScore's 2024-25 Norris Trophy Rankings. We publish new rankings once a month throughout the campaign.xGF% = five-on-five expected goals for percentage5. Rasmus Dahlin, Sabres Michael Martin / National Hockey League / GettyPrevious: N/A GP G A ATOI xGF% 33 6 23 24:41 53.33 Dahlin would be getting a lot more Norris love if a) he didn't miss eight games due to injury earlier in the season and b) the Sabres weren't a complete tire fire.Buffalo's captain has done everything he can to lift his team out of the Eastern Conference basement, ranking five points off the club lead despite missing time. Dahlin has notably amassed 10 assists in eight games since returning from his injury, and the Sabres are a much more respectable 4-3-1 in that span (0-6-2 without him this season).Despite his poor surroundings, Dahlin's elite play at both ends makes him more than worthy of a spot on this list.4. Josh Morrissey, Jets Jonathan Kozub / National Hockey League / GettyPrevious: N/A GP