Morning Briefing - September 28

TL;DR

• ADD, T.J. Hughes (COL) made the Avalanche and ran on the top power-play unit at Sunday's practice with Makar, MacKinnon, Landeskog and Necas.
• ADD, Tommy Novak (PIT) was on Pittsburgh's PP1 on Sunday, with Bryan Rust held out by an upper-body injury.
• HOLD, Seth Jarvis (CAR) was placed on the injured non-roster list.
• WATCH, cutdown day put Ilya Samsonov, Dylan Garand, David Rittich and Nikita Tolopilo on waivers. Rosters are due at 5 p.m. ET today.
• WATCH, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen left Saturday's game with a lower-body injury, and the injury feed also lists Alex Lyon day to day.

T.J. Hughes makes Colorado, and starts on PP1

ADD · COL · Forward Jared Bednar says T.J. Hughes will start the season on the Avalanche's opening-night roster (@runwriteAarif). At Sunday's practice he was on PP1 with Cale Makar, Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog and Martin Necas, and Bednar says MacKinnon starts the season on the right wall (@evanrawal). At even strength he skated on the third line:

A third-liner with a first-unit power-play role is the add in points leagues. Logan O'Connor and Zachary L'Heureux did not practice and are day to day with lower-body injuries.

Novak on the Penguins' top power play

ADD · PIT · Center Sunday's special-teams units at Penguins practice (@king_jemison, @PensInsideScoop):

Bryan Rust was held out with an upper-body injury, and coach Dan Muse said they are taking it day by day. Nick Robertson took Rust's place on PP1. Tommy Novak on the top unit, next to Sidney Crosby and Erik Karlsson, is the fantasy story here. Hendrix Lapierre joins as Ben Kindel goes on injured reserve, and he is on PP2; expect a bottom-six role at even strength.

Pittsburgh's injured reserve

BENCH · PIT · Forward/Defense The Penguins placed four players on injured reserve: Blake Lizotte (upper body, day to day, and back at practice in a regular jersey), Justin Brazeau (lower body, week to week), Ben Kindel (lower body, week to week) and Ryan Graves (lower body, indefinitely).

Jarvis on injured non-roster

HOLD · CAR · Right Wing Carolina placed Seth Jarvis on the injured non-roster list on Sunday (@Canes). No timeline came with the move. Cayden Primeau stays on the roster as a third goalie.

Buffalo's crease is banged up

WATCH · BUF · Goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen left Saturday's preseason game against Pittsburgh with a lower-body injury and did not return. The injury feed lists him day to day, and lists Alex Lyon day to day with an upper-body injury. Olen Zellweger is day to day with a concussion.

Injury updates heading into opening week

WATCH · Around the league

• Dante Fabbro (CBJ, upper body) is expected to miss a month or more. Columbus is working on a contract for Carson Soucy, who was in camp on a PTO (@Aportzline).
• Jake Sanderson (OTT) was hurt in the Senators' final preseason tune-up; the injury feed lists him day to day.
• Logan Mailloux (STL) left Saturday's game with an upper-body injury. The Blues claimed Justin Barron off waivers from Nashville the next day, with an official Mailloux update due today.
• Mathew Barzal (NYI) has not skated yet but is progressing, travels with the team and is expected on the ice Wednesday (@stefen_rosner).
• Matthew Poitras (BOS, lower body) starts the season on injured reserve.
• Mackie Samoskevich (SEA, upper body) is on injured reserve.
• Seamus Casey and Johnathan Kovacevic (NJD) are expected to open on injured reserve.
• Yanni Gourde and Dominic James (TBL) are going on injured reserve.
• Denver Barkey (PHI) missed Sunday's practice with an injury; Nikita Grebenkin was also absent.

Cutdown day: the goalies on waivers

WATCH · Goaltender The last waiver day before today's roster deadline put a lot of goalies on the wire: Ilya Samsonov (SJS, the only player San Jose waived), Dylan Garand (NYR), David Rittich (NJD), Nikita Tolopilo (VAN), Laurent Brossoit (ANA), Clay Stevenson (WSH) and Vitek Vanecek (NYI, for assignment). New Jersey claimed Rémi Poirier from Dallas, which is what pushed Rittich onto waivers. Claims come through today.

Made the team

WATCH · Roster spots

• Brennan Othmann (CGY) starts the season on the NHL roster; Calgary put nobody new on waivers.
• Bokondji Imama (FLA) was not waived and will be on the opening-night roster.
• Kevin Korchinski and Ethan Del Mastro (CHI) stay, with Chicago carrying eight defense after waiving Landon Slaggert.
• Luca Cagnoni (SJS) is one of San Jose's seven defense.
• Logan Stanley signed a one-year deal with the Islanders.