Martin is not expected to play on Thursday but he will travel with the team to Carolina, so he may not be sidelined for too long. With Martin out, Ross Johnston is expected to draw into the lineup.
Varlamov is expected to miss the start of the season but will travel with the team on their lengthy road trip, which is a good sign that he isn’t far. With Varlamov out, Ilya Sorokin should start almost every game with Jakub Skarek as his backup.
Boqvist was the No.8 overall pick in 2018 and enjoyed some success in his first full NHL season in 2021. The 20-year-old had two goals with 14 assists (16 points) in 35 games with the Blackhawks last year and will likely see a massive workload increase in 2021-22. Boqvist could replace Jones on the Blue Jackets' top-pairing with Zach Werenski.
DeAngelo's future with the Rangers ended after a reported physical altercation with Alexandar Georgiev in January. He was officially bought out on Saturday and will save the Rangers $4.4M in 2021-22 but cost them $883K in 2022-23.
Duclair signed a one-year deal with the Panthers last year and enjoyed a really nice season, posting 32 points (10G / 22A) in 43 games. It was good enough to earn him a three-year deal and a $1.3M AAV raise to be a member of the Panthers' top-9.
