Simek will undergo surgery to repair the ACL and MCL in his right knee. Simek will be sidelined indefinitely, which leaves a huge hole on the top-pairing next to Brent Burns.
Larkin has missed the last three games with a neck issue and will likely miss at least one more week. With Larkin out, Andreas Athanasiou will continue to centre the Red Wings top line.
Gibson allowed five goals on 33 shots in the Ducks loss to the Blues on Wednesday. Gibson has gone 1-2-0 with a 2.71 GAA and .913 SV% in three starts since returning to the Ducks crease. Tonight he faces a Canadiens team that has lost eight of their last 13 games (5-7-1) and come in on the tail-end of a back-to-back.
Larkin will sit out Thursday’s game vs. the Rangers with a lingering back issue. Larkin is day-to-day and is questionable heading into their weekend back-to-back in Florida. Andreas Athansiou, Luke Glendening and Frans Nielsen will serve as the team’s top-3 centres with Larkin out.
Gibson allowed one goal on 26 shots in the Ducks win over the Avalanche on Sunday. Gibson has played solidly since returning from injury, stopping 56 of he 59 shots (.949 SV%) that he has faced in two games. He draws a tough assignment on Wednesday with St. Louis in town—the Blues are 13-3-1 in their last 17 games.
Dries was a healthy scratch in Anaheim on Sunday but will replace Gabriel Bourque on Tuesday. Dries has averaged just 9:06 TOI/gm this season, scoring three goals with three assists (six points) in 39 games.
O’Regan has scored 18 goals with 16 assists (34 points) in 53 games with Rochester (AHL) this season. He will make his season debut after playing just two games with the Sabres last season and recording five points (1G / 4A) in 24 career NHL games overall.
The Oilers needed to shed some cap-space so that they could activate defenseman Andrej Sekera and Talbot is in the final year of a three-year deal that carries a $4.166M AAV cap-hit and Stolarz’s $761K AAV provides them with over $3.4M in savings. Since his breakout year in 2017, Talbot has struggled—tying for 39th in the NHL in SV% (.903) and 43rd in GAA (3.13). Talbot has ties to rookie netminder Carter Hart, as they train together in the summer, so bringing in a quality veteran to help Hart along the way is the reason the Flyers made this deal. If Talbot plays well, Philly may re-sign him and make Hart-Talbot their 1-2 punch in net for the next couple of seasons.
Ducks’ interim head coach and GM Bob Murray said that Gibson was moved to IR after being “whacked a whole bunch on one play” and is just “not right anywhere up there.” The Ducks are also without Chad Johnson right now, so Ryan Miller will return as the backup for Kevin Boyle, who will be making his NHL debut.
Gibson was crunched in a collision with his teammate Jaycob Megna late in the second period. Gibson remained in goal for the final 1:52 of the period but was replaced by Chad Johnson for the third. The way the Ducks are playing right now, Gibson isn’t a good option regardless. Consider him questionable for Saturday’s game in Philadelphia.