Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman will make his return to the lineup against the Ottawa Senators, head coach Jon Cooper confirmed Saturday.

Hedman missed seven games with what the club referred to as an upper-body injury that the blue-liner sustained in a collision with Ryan Reaves of the Vegas Golden Knights on Oct. 26.

The Lighting went 5-2-0 without the reigning Norris Trophy winner, who averaged nearly 21 minutes of ice time through his first nine games of the season.

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Vancouver Canucks forward Brock Boeser is week to week after being sent home to see a specialist for his recurring groin injury, head coach Travis Green announced Saturday.

Boeser was sent back to the West coast in the midst of the Canucks' six-game road trip after missing Tuesday's contest against the Detroit Red Wings. He'd already missed two games with a groin injury earlier in the season before being ruled out again.

In 13 appearances this year, Boeser has notched four goals and seven assists.

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Blake Wheeler had quite the game on Friday night.

The Winnipeg Jets captain had a hand in every one of his team's goals during a 5-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche. He tallied three primary assists, two points on the power play, and an empty-net goal to put the icing on the cake.

Wheeler's first assist was not his prettiest of the night, but it counted.

On his second helper, he fed Mark Scheifele a quick one-touch pass, and the center beat goaltender Semyon Varlamov on the short side. If either Wheeler or Scheifele hesitates at all, Varlamov likely has enough time to get over and hug the post.

On his third point of the night - and his 400th career assist - Wheeler shows incredible patience before setting up Nikolaj Ehlers' goal. After the game, Scheifele described the feed as "dangling that dollar bill in front of the (defenseman)," according to Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Free Press.

Wheeler seemed to get better as the game went on, dishing a beautiful saucer pass to Patrik Laine for his third primary assist.

Wheeler then fittingly sealed the win for his team with an empty-net goal.

The Jets forward showed why he's one of the league's premier playmakers, and an underrated star, on Friday night.

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The class-action concussion lawsuit former NHL players filed in 2016 is close to being settled for $18.9 million, according to Forbes' Mike Ozanian. The players would get $6.9 million as a group, which is $22,000 per player.

The case is about NHL players who say they suffered concussions during their playing careers, whether the league and its teams did enough to ensure player safety at the time, and what responsibility the league has today.

In an email obtained by Forbes, the law firm representing the former players recommends that its clients accept the league's settlement offer.

Dan Carcillo, who played in 429 NHL games, is one of more than 100 former players involved in the lawsuit. Carcillo led the league in penalty minutes twice and suffered numerous concussions during his career.

In March, he talked about his reasons for joining the lawsuit.

"I'm not a bitter guy looking to hurt the NHL," Carcillo said. "I'm not out for money. I'll donate anything I get to research. I just want to put pressure on the NHL and educate and advocate for guys."

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The aftermath of the Ottawa Senators' Uber scandal has taken another turn.

The Ottawa Citizen - the newspaper that posted the video of seven Sens players trash talking assistant coach Marty Raymond while they were unknowingly being recorded during an Uber ride in Arizona - said on Friday that the club banned longtime reporter Ken Warren from the team's charter, according to the Canadian Press.

This comes after the Citizen rejected the team's request to remove the video from its website on Wednesday.

Warren had been given his usual travel itinerary, but upon arriving at the airport was told he couldn't board the team's flight to Tampa Bay.

"I can confirm it happened this morning," said the paper's editor-in-chief Michelle Richardson. "For us, it doesn’t really change our fundamentals. We’re still committed to covering the Senators, both the good and the bad. Our coverage is important to our readers and to their fans and that’s not going to change."

This isn't the first time the Senators have banned a reporter from the team's charter, according to Postmedia's Michael Traikos.

TSN's Brent Wallace also lost his seat on the plane last year after asking owner Eugene Melnyk about a report that suggested he had been withholding bonus money from his employees. Melnyk denied the allegation, but once the cameras were turned off, bystanders saw him turn to Wallace and say, "I’m going to bury you," according to Traikos.

Traikos adds that the Senators are the lone remaining NHL club to allow reporters to travel with the team, but Sylvain St-Laurent of Le Droit is one of the few who still has a seat.

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Dallas Stars defenseman John Klingberg will be out a little longer than initially expected.

The 26-year-old underwent hand surgery Friday and will be out a minimum of four weeks, head coach Jim Montgomery told reporters. He was originally expected to miss three weeks.

Klingberg suffered the injury during his club's 4-3 win over the San Jose Sharks on Thursday, though it's not clear when it occurred.

The blue-liner sits second on the team in scoring with 13 points and paces the club with six power-play points in 16 games.

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James Sparklin, the Uber driver who posted a video of seven Ottawa Senators players criticizing their special teams coach, has spoken for the first time since the incident went viral.

"I was not in the right state of mind," Sparklin said, mentioning he wrestled with the decision and ultimately posted part of the video on YouTube while intoxicated, according to Kelly Egan of the Ottawa Citizen.

Sparklin said he was aggravated about an unspecified incident that happened early in the trip regarding the number of passengers he had to transport, saying he was concerned he wouldn't be covered by his insurance in the event of an accident.

"What really upset me the most was, if I were to get in an accident, I don't believe the insurance would cover it. The million-dollar policy would go very fast," he said.

Uber fired Sparklin for violating its terms of service, and he showed remorse for the incident.

"I didn't think about my actions at all," Sparklin said. "I wasn't trying to get money or anything like that. I got contacted and took it down right away.

"I'm worried about my name getting out, my life being ruined, and my children."

The Senators players involved in the video have since apologized, and the team has gone 1-1 since it was thrust into the spotlight.

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