The 2025-26 National Hockey League regular season is only a week old. Already there are four significant NHL injuries. Let’s take a look at the four players who will miss significant time from regular season games.
Josh Norris
The native of Oxford, Michigan was injured following a faceoff in the Sabres’s season opener on Thursday against the New York Rangers, a 4-0 Buffalo loss. This was an upper-body injury according to Brian La Rose of Pro Hockey Rumors. It is expected that Norris will miss two months. In the last three years, Norris has had significant shoulder injuries. Ironically, in one particular injury three years ago while with Ottawa, Norris suffered a severe shoulder injury as he fell after losing a faceoff.
This past season while with the Senators and Sabres, Norris had 21 goals and 14 assists for 35 points in 56 games. He was a -6 with 44 penalty minutes, 11 power-play points, four shorthanded points, five game-winning goals, 96 shots on goal, 413 faceoff wins, 47 blocked shots, 135 hits, 13 takeaways and 33 giveaways.
Brady Tkachuk
The current face of the Senators franchise from Scottsdale, Arizona will be out one month with a broken wrist after receiving a body-check from Roman Josi of the Nashville Predators on Monday. Tkachuk bent his wrist awkwardly after landing into the boards. This past season, Tkachuk had 29 goals and 26 assists for 55 points in 72 games. He was a 0 plus/minus rating with 123 penalty minutes, 23 power-play points, five game-winning goals, 296 shots on goal, 178 faceoff wins, 33 blocked shots, 228 hits, 19 takeaways, and 48 giveaways.
Jacob Markstrom
The New Jersey Devils number one goaltender from Gavle, Sweden suffered a lower-body injury on Monday night against the Columbus Blue Jackets in a 3-2 Devils win. The injury happened late in the contest, 21 seconds left in fact, as the Blue Jackets were making a last ditch effort to score. Markstrom is expected to be out two weeks. This past season with the Devils, Markstrom had a record of 26 wins, 16 regulation losses, six losses in extra time, a goals against average of 2.50, save percentage of .900 and four shutouts.
Dmitry Kulikov
Kulikov has the most serious injury of the four as the Panthers blueliner has a labral tear in his shoulder that needs surgery. He will bee out five months. The Florida defenseman from Lipetsk, Russia suffered the shoulder ailment after receiving a body check from Bobby Brink of the Philadelphia Flyers in a 2-1 Panthers win over the Flyers on Thursday. In 2024-25, Kulikov had four goals and nine assists for 13 points in 70 games. He was a +12 with 38 penalty minutes, one power-play point, 64 shots on goal, 71 blocked shots, 114 hits, 32 takeaways, and 78 giveaways. The power-play point came on December 5, 2024 in a 7-5 Panthers win over the Flyers. Kulikov helped set up Matthew Tkachuk with 11 seconds left to complete the scoring.
