NHL Player News

Oettinger was the first goalie off during Friday's morning skate, Stars radio analyst Bruce LeVine reports, indicating that he'll draw the home start during the Stars' regular-season opener against the Blues.

After dealing with a lower-body injury late in the preseason, Oettinger was recently deemed available for the start of the regular season, and he'll officially be in the net for the Stars' Opening Night matchup. The 27-year-old should reprise his role as the Stars' primary goaltender during the 2026-27 campaign after he went 35-12-6 with a 2.59 GAA and .899 save percentage across 54 regular-season appearances last year.

Sorokin is expected to start at home against the Devils on Saturday, Stefen Rosner of NHL.com reports.

Sorokin defended the road crease during Wednesday's Opening Night matchup against the Maple Leafs, and he turned aside 24 of 26 shots in the 2-1 loss. He was the first goalie off during Friday's practice session, signaling that he's slated to draw a second consecutive start to begin the regular season.

Bussi will start Friday's home game against the Capitals, Ryan Henkel of The Hockey News reports.

The 28-year-old was in the starter's crease during Friday's morning skate, and head coach Rod Brind'Amour confirmed that Bussi will draw a second consecutive start to begin the regular season. During Tuesday's Opening Night matchup at home against the Panthers, Bussi turned aside 19 of 20 shots in an overtime loss. The Hurricanes also play on the road against Philadelphia on Saturday, which will likely give Pyotr Kochetkov an opportunity to make his regular-season debut.

Saros made 27 saves in Thursday's 3-1 loss to the Wild.

The veteran netminder got little help from his offense or his defense, as the Predators got out-shot 30-20 on the night. Saros has seen his ratios decline the last few years along with his team's fortunes, but he still figures to get a big enough workload to win 20-plus games for a seventh straight season. Nashville doesn't play back-to-back games until Oct. 24-25, so Saros could get leaned on heavily over the first few weeks of the schedule.

Wallstedt turned aside 19 shots in Thursday's 3-1 win over the Predators.

Roman Josi spoiled his shutout bid with a one-timer midway through the second period, but otherwise Wallstedt had an answer for everything Nashville fired his way. The 23-year-old netminder figures to see a heavy workload over the first month of the season while Filip Gustavsson is recovering from hip surgery, but Wallstedt should be up to the task after a breakout 2025-26 that saw him deliver a 2.61 GAA and .915 save percentage over 35 regular-season games.

Wolf stopped 26 of 32 shots in Thursday's 6-1 loss to the Kraken.

Wolf endured a difficult season debut as Seattle scored three times on just six first-period shots. He settled down to stop all 12 shots he faced in the second, including an excellent recovery save that denied Jordan Eberle, but the Kraken broke through three more times in the third. Wolf ultimately surrendered six goals for just the third time in his NHL career and finished with an .813 save percentage in this woeful season opener.

Daccord stopped 24 of 25 shots in Thursday's 6-1 win over the Flames.

Daccord came within 3:25 of opening the season with a shutout before Ryan Strome beat him from the left circle. The 30-year-old had already received plenty of offensive support by then, with Seattle building a 3-0 first-period lead before adding two more goals early in the third. Daccord also contributed offensively, picking up the secondary assist on Chandler Stephenson's goal. This was a strong debut for Daccord, who posted an .896 save percentage across 47 regular-season appearances in 3025-26.

Greaves made 23 saves in Thursday's 6-3 win over the Sabres.

The 25-year-old did get beaten twice in the second period while the outcome was still in doubt, but Greaves slammed the door on Buffalo in the third as Columbus pulled away. Greaves is locked into the No. 1 spot in the crease after a breakout 2025-26, but an unusual early-season schedule for the Blue Jackets that sees them get a five-day layoff next week before playing back-to-back sets each of the following two weekends will allow him to ease into the new campaign. He should be between the pipes Saturday for a home tilt against the Mammoth, however.

Luukkonen stopped 17 of 22 shots in Thursday's 6-3 loss to the Blue Jackets, with Columbus' final goal getting scored into an empty net.

The Sabres grabbed an early 1-0 lead on a Mattias Samuelsson tally, but the Jackets stormed back with three goals before the end of the first period to go ahead for good, and Luukkonen couldn't stem the tide. Two of the pucks to get past the 27-year-old netminder came on power plays, but it was still a rough way to start the new season. With Alex Lyon (upper body) on the shelf, Luukkonen could see a heavy workload out of the gates -- Buffalo doesn't play back-to-back games until Oct. 12-13.

Merilainen stopped 10 of 11 shots in relief of Kevin Lankinen in Thursday's 9-7 loss to the Oilers.

Merilainen did his part in the latter half of the game, almost allowing the Canucks to put together a comeback. Lankinen has struggled heavily to start the campaign, though it's tough to expect Merilainen to do any better behind a roster that will be outmatched most of the time. Both goalies should get a start this weekend since the Canucks will host the Flames on Saturday and the Golden Knights on Sunday.