Despite a few days of over the Christmas break, Werenski still isn’t ready to return to the Blue Jackets blueline. Werenski missed the morning skate and will miss his fourth straight game tonight Pittsburgh. Werenski remains day-to-day and is questionable or Friday’s game in Ottawa.

Gudbranson has missed the last 12 games with an upper-body injury but it looks like he will return tonight vs. the Canadiens. This is a boost to the Canucks blueline, but the veteran defenseman has yet to record a point in 21 games this season.

Fasching has picked up six goals and three assists (nine points) in 21 games with Rochester. Fasching has just three points (1G / 2A) in his first 17 career NHL games and likely won’t be the answer the Sabres are searching for after being shutout for the third straight game.

The original timetable on Coyle’s expected return was 6-to-8 weeks and we are currently at the four-week mark. It appears that Coyle is right on schedule but he still has at least a few weeks before he actually gets into the Wild lineup. q

With Coyle expected to miss at least a month and a half, the Wild have placed him on LTIR which opens up a roster spot and gives them some cap relief. This is a huge loss for the Wild as Coyle already had two assists in three games and is coming off of a season in which he recorded 56 points (18G / 38A) in 82 games.