2025 NHL storylines include Panthers, Ovechkin and Olympic hockey
The 2025-26 NHL season gets under way on Oct. 7. Sam Cardona-Norberg shares some key storylines.
Josh Norris will miss a “significant amount of time” after suffering his second major injury since being acquired at the 2025 NHL trade deadline.Norris has been limited to four games since arriving to the Sabres because of two injuries.Here are other injury updates around the NHL.
Buffalo Sabres forward Josh Norris’ bad luck with injuries continues.
He will miss a “significant amount of time,” coach Lindy Ruff told reporters, after suffering his second major injury since being acquired at the 2025 NHL trade deadline.
“I don’t know what that amount is,” Ruff said on Saturday, Oct. 11. “He’s still being evaluated.”
Norris missed the remainder of the 2024-25 season with an oblique injury in his third game after arriving from the Ottawa Senators in the Dylan Cozens trade in March.
This season, he suffered an upper-body injury in a loss to the New York Rangers in the Sabres’ opener. He was hurt while taking a faceoff and was slow getting to the bench.
Ruff said this season’s injury is different from last season’s. Norris also had shoulder issues earlier in his NHL career.
He has been limited to four games by separate injuries with the Sabres. He had a goal and an assist last season with Buffalo and no points in his lone game this season.
He had 90 goals and 156 points in 236 career games in five-plus seasons with the Senators before the trade.
The Sabres are trying to end a 14-year playoff drought and are dealing with other injuries, including goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
Carson Soucy injury update
Rangers defenseman Carson Soucy left Saturday’s game and won’t return after he crashed headfirst into the boards. He was trying to check Pittsburgh’s Rickard Rakell when he lost his balance.
The Rangers said he had an upper-body injury.
Other NHL injury updatesMaple Leafs forward Steven Lorentz left Saturday’s game with an upper-body injury after an open-ice hit by Red Wings defenseman Ben Chiarot.Penguins forward Bryan Rust was activated from the injured list and the team assigned Ville Koivunen to the American Hockey League.Rangers forward Vincent Trocheck is week-to-week with an upper-body injury.Colorado Avalanche defenseman Samuel Girard is week-to-week with an upper-body injury.Carolina Hurricanes goalie Pyotr Kochetkov is out at least a week with a lower-body injury.