{"id":413306,"date":"2026-01-17T22:26:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T22:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/413306\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T22:26:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T22:26:14","slug":"stolarz-kesselring-ullmark-poitras-pro-hockey-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/413306\/","title":{"rendered":"Stolarz, Kesselring, Ullmark, Poitras \u2013 Pro Hockey Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"byline\">\n  By <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prohockeyrumors.com\/author\/brianlarose\" title=\"Posts by Brian La Rose\" rel=\"author nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Brian La Rose<\/a> |<br \/>\n  at January 17, 2026 10:27 am  <\/p>\n<p>Maple Leafs goaltender <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/s\/stolaan01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.prohockeyrumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-17_hr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Anthony Stolarz<\/a> has missed more than two months with an upper-body injury with little known beyond that.\u00a0 The netminder told reporters yesterday (<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nhl.com\/mapleleafs\/video\/anthony-stolarz-practice-january-16-2026-6387831901112\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">video link<\/a>) that he has been dealing with a nerve issue, one that simply needed time to heal but no one knew at the time how long he\u2019d be out for.\u00a0 Stolarz was a top performer last season which earned him a four-year, $15MM extension in training camp.\u00a0 However, he struggled mightily before being shut down, posting a 3.51 GAA and a .884 SV% in 13 starts.\u00a0 He indicated that he still needs to get into a few practices with the team before he could potentially return which could put him in line to see game action at some point toward the back of their upcoming five-game homestand.<\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere in the Atlantic:<\/p>\n<p>The Sabres will welcome back a defenseman today against Minnesota. Matthew Fairburn of The Athletic notes (<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MatthewFairburn\/status\/2012548562236694539\" rel=\"nofollow\">Twitter link<\/a>) that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/k\/kessemi01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.prohockeyrumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-17_hr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Michael Kesselring<\/a> will return to the lineup after missing the last seven games with a high ankle sprain.\u00a0 Kesselring has been quiet in his first season with Buffalo after being acquired from Utah in an offseason trade.\u00a0 He\u2019s still looking for his first point with his new team after being held off the scoresheet through 16 games while he\u2019s averaging a little over 15 minutes a night on the third pairing.\u00a0 While Buffalo will get him back, that won\u2019t be the case for center <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/n\/norrijo01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.prohockeyrumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-17_hr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Joshua Norris<\/a> who remains listed as day-to-day.<br \/>\nSenators goaltender <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/u\/ullmali01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.prohockeyrumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-17_hr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Linus Ullmark<\/a> skated with the team on Friday for the first time since stepping away on a leave of absence last month, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/ottawacitizen.com\/ottawa-senators\/linus-ullmark-returns-leave-practice\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">relays Postmedia\u2019s Bruce Garrioch<\/a>. However, there remains no timetable for him to return to Ottawa\u2019s lineup.\u00a0 The 32-year-old struggled through the first two and a half months of the season, posting a save percentage of just .881, a career low by a considerable margin.\u00a0 For now, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/m\/merille01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.prohockeyrumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-17_hr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Leevi Merilainen<\/a> and recent signee <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/r\/reimeja01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.prohockeyrumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-17_hr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">James Reimer<\/a> will continue as their goaltending tandem.<br \/>\nBruins center <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/p\/poitrma01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.prohockeyrumors.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-17_hr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Matthew Poitras<\/a> has changed agents, TSN\u2019s Darren Dreger reports (<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/DarrenDreger\/status\/2012270540099051943\" rel=\"nofollow\">Twitter link<\/a>). After being represented previously by John Walters from The Will Sports Group, the 21-year-old has signed with Newport\u2019s Wade Arnott.\u00a0 Poitras has played in 33 games with Boston in each of the last two seasons but has played exclusively with AHL Providence in 2025-26.\u00a0 So far, he has six goals and 14 assists in 33 games in the minors.\u00a0 This is the final season of his entry-level deal and he will be a restricted free agent without arbitration rights next summer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Brian La Rose | at January 17, 2026 10:27 am Maple Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz has missed&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":214723,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[54,95,229,5,19171,539,13113,1523,4,25,31],"class_list":{"0":"post-413306","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-anthony-stolarz","9":"tag-boston-bruins","10":"tag-buffalo-sabres","11":"tag-hockey","12":"tag-joshua-norris","13":"tag-linus-ullmark","14":"tag-matthew-poitras","15":"tag-michael-kesselring","16":"tag-nhl","17":"tag-ottawa-senators","18":"tag-toronto-maple-leafs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413306\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}