NHL Player News

Vasilevskiy was the first goalie off Friday, Erik Erlendsson of LightningInsider.com reports, indicating he'll start in goal in the team's preseason road matchup against Carolina.

Vasilevskiy also drew the start during Wednesday's home exhibition matchup against the Panthers and turned aside 21 of 23 shots in an overtime loss. The 30-year-old enters the regular season as one of the top fantasy options at goaltender after he posted a 30-20-2 record, 2.90 GAA and .900 save percentage over 52 regular-season appearances last year.

Luukkonen will be between the pipes for Friday's Global Series matchup with New Jersey, Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News reports.

Luukkonen will begin his quest to reach the 30-win mark this season with Friday's matchup. The 25-year-old netminder came up just three victories shy of that threshold last year, finishing the campaign with a 27-22-4 record to go with a career-best 2.57 GAA and five shutouts. With Luukkonen getting the nod Friday, it will be either Devon Levi or James Reimer in the crease versus the Devils on Saturday.

Samsonov allowed two goals on 26 shots in Thursday's 3-1 preseason loss to the Avalanche. The third goal was an empty-netter.

Samsonov put in a fine effort, but he didn't receive much goal support. The 27-year-old netminder has lost both of his preseason outings despite allowing a modest five goals on 56 shots, which speaks to the defensive strength of Vegas' roster. Samsonov will begin 2024-25 in the backup role, while Adin Hill can be expected to work as the starter.

Annunen stopped 21 of 22 shots in Thursday's 3-1 preseason win over the Golden Knights.

Annunen had his best outing of the preseason in this road win, quieting a group mostly consisting of Vegas' NHL players. The 24-year-old has allowed seven goals on 74 shots across three preseason appearances. This may have been his last action before Opening Night, though the Avalanche will have one more preseason game at Utah on Saturday.

Korpisalo made 22 saves in a 4-1 loss to the Kings on Thursday.

This was Korpisalo's first queasy outing of the preseason, mostly at the hand of a red-hot Quinton Byfield who put up a hat trick. Two of Byfield's goals came 25 seconds apart in the second. Korpisalo is the de facto starter in Boston until Jeremy Swayman inks his new deal. Yes, many pundits have said he'll be better inside the Bruins' structure than he was in the porous Sens' approach last season. But Boston brass needs him to be near perfect with Swayman holding out for a new deal. Korpisalo was far from perfect Thursday.

Rittich made 13 saves in a 4-1 win over Boston on Thursday.

The 32-year-old's best season came in 2018-19 when he went 27-9-5 with a 2.61 GAA and .911 save percentage in 42 starts for Calgary. Rittich has been in a back-up role since 2020-21, seeing time with five teams (Calgary, Toronto, Nashville, Winnipeg and now Los Angeles) over the last four years. He will play second fiddle this season to fellow newcomer Darcy Kuemper, but will deliver strong results inside the structure of one of the NHL's best team defenses.

Fedotov stopped seven of eight shots he faced Thursday in the first half of a 5-4 win over New Jersey.

The only puck that got past him was a wrist shot off the stick of Ryan Schmelzer at the mid-point of the first period. Fedotov is a lock as Samuel Ersson's backup this season, and he has the talent to deliver a strong stretch of starts when he gets hot.

Poulter made 24 saves in a 5-4 loss to Flyers on Thursday.

Poulter went undrafted out of junior, but never gave up his dream of a pro career. He inked a two-way deal with Utica (AHL) in June 2022 and went 17-11-5 with a 3.28 GAA and .897 save percentage. That earned him an AHL deal for 2023-24, and he delivered. Poulter went 14-5-1-3 with a 2.54 GAA and .913 save percentage before heading down to the ECHL where he dominated. He posted a 5-0-0 record at the end of the season and then carried his ECHL team all the way to the Eastern Conference Final. Poulter delivered four shutouts in that postseason run tying him for second most in a single playoff in ECHL history. He's a long way from the NHL, but Poulter has a chance to be a part of the Devils' long-term plan in net. He'll be in the minors this year.

Oettinger allowed four goals on 29 shots in Thursday's 4-3 overtime loss to the Blues.

Oettinger allowed a couple of goals in the third period that allowed the Blues to build a 3-1 lead. The Stars rallied back, but Jordan Kyrou's tally at 1:43 of overtime sent Oettinger to his first loss of any type this preseason. The 25-year-old goalie will look to reclaim his status as one of the top netminders in the NHL after posting a 2.72 GAA and a .905 save percentage over 54 games in 2023-24. Even in a down year, he was able to collect 35 wins, and he should have no trouble in that area in 2024-25 as the Stars look to be one of the top teams in the league.

Binnington stopped 17 of 20 shots in Thursday's 4-3 overtime win over the Stars.

The Blues were effective at limiting the Stars' chances. This led to a lighter workload for Binnington, who did just well enough to grab his first win in three preseason appearances. The 31-year-old netminder enters 2024-25 as the Blues' top goalie. He should be projected for around 55 games, with Joel Hofer likely to take the rest of the work as the backup.