Atlantic Notes: Red Wings, Girgensons, Joshua

The Point

Help on the injury front is not on the horizon for the Red Wings. Max Bultman of The Athletic relays (Twitter link) that center Marco Kasper and winger Mason Appleton are a couple of weeks away from returning to action. Kasper was sidelined in Detroit’s season opener with an…

Timeline

Oct 29
Atlantic Notes: Red Wings, Girgensons, Joshua
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Key numbers

11 games
LTIR
training camp
2025-26
55 games

Context

kasper
Detroit Red Wings
Toronto Maple Leafs
Trade
Injury

LTIR: Long-Term Injured Reserve — allows a team to exceed the cap while a player is out long-term.

Full reporting

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Help on the injury front is not on the horizon for the Red Wings. Max Bultman of The Athletic relays (Twitter link) that center Marco Kasper and winger Mason Appleton are a couple of weeks away from returning to action.

Kasper was sidelined in Detroit’s season opener with an upper-body injury and was given a week-to-week designation. As it turns out, that will wind up keeping him out for more than a month overall.

Appleton, meanwhile, has missed more than three weeks with an undisclosed injury sustained in the second game of the season. For both players, it’s not an ideal start to a contract year.

Meanwhile, Bultman adds that defenseman Albert Johansson will miss Thursday’s game with an undisclosed injury of his own that was sustained on Saturday against Calgary. The 25-year-old is in his second full NHL season and had secured a regular spot on the third pairing for the Red Wings.

He has an assist in 11 games so far this season in a little under 16 minutes per night of playing time.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic:

Lightning forward Zemgus Girgensons won’t play on Thursday due to an undisclosed injury, notes Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times.

He sustained the injury on Saturday against Utah. The 32-year-old has played in 11 games so far this season, picking up a goal and one assist in 13:33 per game of playing time.

Meanwhile, Encina adds that winger Brandon Hagel is a game-time decision on Thursday as he’s dealing with an undisclosed injury as well.

As expected, after recalling Dakota Joshua from his conditioning stint, the Maple Leafs have activated him off LTIR, relays David Alter of The Hockey News (Twitter link). He missed training camp due to a core muscle injury, an issue that was believed to be bothering the forward at times last season.

Joshua was held off the scoresheet in four games in the minors with the Marlies and had a quiet debut season in Toronto in 2025-26 when he had 18 points in 55 games. His availability for tonight’s game was believed to be dependent on his equipment arriving in time for puck drop.

In a corresponding move, Alter adds (Twitter link) that winger Miles Wood was moved to LTIR, opening up the cap room needed to activate Joshua.