NHL Roundup: Letang leg injury to be evaluated
Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Kris Letang will stay off the ice this weekend due to a lower leg injury and will be evaluated when the team returns home, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Saturday.
Letang was apparently injured during practice Friday. He did not practice Saturday.
The Penguins are at the U.S. Military Academy for practices. They are scheduled to return to Pittsburgh on Monday.
Coach Dan Bylsma said it has not been determined if Letang will be out for the short term or long term. Letang will not practice Sunday.
Letang was a finalist for the Norris Trophy as the NHL's top defenseman last season.
Pittsburgh opens the season Thursday against the New Jersey Devils.
---The New Jersey Devils traded forward Krys Barch and a seventh-round pick in 2015 to the Florida Panthers for forward Scott Timmins and a sixth-round pick in 2014.
Barch, 33, spent part of the 2011-12 season with the Panthers. He had no points and 41 penalty minutes in 22 games for the Devils last season. Over his NHL career, he has 12 goals, 31 points and 713 penalty minutes in 326 games.
Barch is in the final year of a two-year, $1.5 million contract, while Timmins is on a one-year, two-way deal worth $600,000 if he spends the entire season in the NHL.
Timmins, 24, was a sixth-round pick in the 2009 draft. He played 24 games for the Panthers, including five last season, with one goal and no assists. He had 11 goals and 13 assists for San Antonio of the American Hockey League last season.
The seventh-round pick acquired by Florida is the St. Louis Blues' selection that New Jersey picked up in a trade for Matt D'Agostini in March.
---The Chicago Blackhawks announced Saturday that they recalled goaltender Antti Raanta from the Rockford IceHogs of the American Hockey League.
Raanta, 24, played one preseason game with the Blackhawks, getting a 5-4 shootout win over the Washington Capitals on Sept. 20. He made 26 saves and stopped all three shootout attempts in the victory.
The Rauma, Finland native went 21-10-11 with five shutouts, a 1.85 goals-against average and a .943 save percentage in 45 games last season with Assat Pori of SM-liiga (Finland).
Raanta led the league in goals-against average and save percentage, and ranked fifth in shutouts, while leading his team to the 2013 SM-liiga championship. He was named to the league's All-Star team, and was honored as the best goaltender and Most Valuable Player of the regular season and playoffs.
Raanta went 48-27-16 over five seasons with Lukko Rauma and Assat Pori of SM-liiga from 2007-12.
