St. Louis Blues defenseman Torey Krug will be re-evaluated in six weeks due to a lower-body injury, the club announced Tuesday.

The veteran will be placed on long-term injured reserve, and the Blues recalled blue-liner Tyler Tucker from their AHL affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds, in a corresponding move.

Krug was quarterbacking St. Louis' power play, which ranked 12th in the NHL entering Tuesday. The 31-year-old has collected 17 points in 31 games this season and was on a four-game point streak in which he posted five assists.

The Michigan-born rearguard is in his third campaign with the Blues after signing a seven-year, $45.5-million contract as a free agent in October 2020. Krug played his first seven full seasons with the Boston Bruins. They signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2012. Krug was a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award (the NCAA's top individual honor in men's hockey) that same year.

Krug is one of the most consistent point producers among defensemen. He's registered at least 39 points in eight of his previous nine full campaigns and 49 or more in four of them.

St. Louis was already off to a disappointing start to this campaign. The Blues enter Tuesday's clash with the Toronto Maple Leafs sitting in sixth place in the Central Division by points percentage with a record of 16-16-2. Their minus-19 goal differential ranks eighth-worst, and their 46.87 expected goals for percentage is the ninth-worst mark in the league, according to Natural Stat Trick.

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One of the best things about the World Junior Championship is watching future NHL stars and top prospects test their skills on the international stage. Some surefire talents confirm their abilities, while other players' weaknesses are illuminated in the process.

A number of skaters who flashed their potential at the tournament in the last few years haven't taken long to become difference-makers at the NHL level. The league is loaded with young talent, and some of those burgeoning stars foreshadowed their future success with strong showings at the world juniors.

Here are five recent world junior standouts from no earlier than the 2019 tourney who've wasted little time cementing themselves as key players in the pros.

Trevor Zegras

Before Zegras was a viral play-producing Calder Trophy finalist with the Anaheim Ducks, the Bedford, New York-born forward was a fixture in the U.S. program. He collected nine assists in five games for the Americans at the 2020 world junior tournament, showing plenty of promise despite his country's sixth-place finish.

Zegras broke out in the next year's event, racking up seven goals and 11 assists in seven games. He also scored his side's second goal in a 2-0 victory over Canada in the gold-medal game. Anaheim's ninth overall pick in 2019 was snubbed by the tournament brass for best forward in 2021, but the media named him tournament MVP and one of the top three forwards.

The Ducks phenom showed flashes of skill and creativity in 24 games with Anaheim and 17 more with the team's AHL affiliate in 2020-21 before sticking in the NHL the following campaign. If not for Detroit Red Wings defenseman and 2021-22 Rookie of the Year Moritz Seider, Zegras would've cruised to the Calder with 23 goals and 38 assists over 75 contests.

The now-21-year-old is producing at around the same clip for the Ducks in 2022-23. Zegras should only improve in the years to come, but let's not forget that his play at the world juniors helped to establish him as a future star.

Tim Stutzle

Stutzle - the beneficiary of the Zegras snub in 2021 - had himself quite a tournament. He joined his American counterpart as one of the media's top three forwards, producing five goals and five assists in five games. The German center helped his country reach the quarterfinals by building on his five-assist performance over five contests at the 2020 event.

Stutzle has made a fairly smooth transition to the NHL since debuting for the Ottawa Senators in January 2021. The 2020 third overall pick finished ninth in Calder voting in 2020-21 after registering 29 points in 53 games. He took another step forward in 2021-22, tallying 22 goals and 36 assists across 79 contests, and he's been even better this season, notching nearly a point per game.

Stutzle, who'll turn 21 next month, stood out at the world juniors before becoming an instrumental piece of the Senators' promising, young core and a key building block for the franchise.

Spencer Knight

Knight has gone from being the future in the Florida Panthers' crease to very much the present this season. But before he arrived on the NHL scene, the talented goaltender played a major part in the United States' 2021 gold-medal victory.

The Connecticut-born netminder went 6-1-0 with three shutouts in that tourney, allowing only nine goals for a .940 save percentage. He would've surely been named goaltender of the tournament had Canada's Devon Levi not also gone 6-1-0 with a save percentage of .964.

Knight has blossomed into an above-average NHL puck-stopper since then. Most impressively, he's carved out a significant chunk of playing time despite competing for starts with Sergei Bobrovsky, who Florida handed a mammoth contract in the summer of 2019, less than two weeks after they drafted Knight 13th overall.

Pyotr Kochetkov

Kochetkov is one of the NHL's early breakout stars this season, but some may forget how well he played at the world juniors. The Carolina Hurricanes netminder went 4-1-0 with a .953 save percentage for Russia at the 2019 event. He helped his country claim bronze while surrendering only seven goals in total.

The IIHF brass named him goaltender of the tournament for his efforts, and the now-23-year-old continued his upward trajectory after that. Kochetkov further displayed his potential in the KHL and AHL before being forced into action for Carolina due to injuries to Frederik Andersen and Antti Raanta during the playoffs last spring.

Kochetkov has taken another leap in 2022-23 amid yet another Andersen injury, providing stability in the crease and grabbing the Canes' No. 1 job in the process. His dominance at the world juniors provided a glimpse of what he'd accomplish years later in the pros.

Dylan Cozens

Cozens is in the midst of a breakout campaign of his own with the Buffalo Sabres. He's posting nearly a point per game and playing a big part in his club's surprising transformation into the NHL's best offense (yes, that still feels weird to write). But before he arrived on the scene at the highest level, the "Workhorse from Whitehorse" was one of the most productive Canadian players in world junior history.

The now-21-year-old racked up 10 goals and 15 assists over 14 games in his two world junior tournaments (2020 and 2021), including eight tallies and eight helpers over seven contests in the latter event.

Cozens helped Canada win gold in his first go-around and then served as a Canada co-captain in 2021 following Kirby Dach's injury. That squad settled for silver, but the media named Cozens one of the top three forwards along with Zegras and Stutzle. Cozens' international pedigree surely helped set him up for NHL success.

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Logan Cooley, Cutter Gauthier, and Luke Hughes are among the 25 players the United States will have at its disposal for the upcoming World Junior Championship.

USA Hockey revealed its final roster for the 2023 tournament Friday. Only 23 players can be registered to play at a time, and if someone is injured or ill, they can be replaced by one of the credentialed extras but can't return to the tourney after that, a USAH official told FloHockey's Chris Peters.

This differs from the last two years, in which all 25 players on a team's roster were eligible, with 22 dressing for each game.

Here's the roster, listed alphabetically by position:

Forwards

The Coyotes drafted Cooley third overall in July. He ranks fifth in NCAA point production this season with 25 in 19 games. The Flyers chose Gauthier two picks later. He has as many goals (10) as Cooley along with six assists across 13 contests in 2022-23.

Cooley, Savage, and Stramel played in the rescheduled world junior tourney in August.

Defensemen

The Devils drafted Hughes - whose brother, Jack, is currently starring for New Jersey - with the fourth overall pick in 2021. Hughes, Behrens, and Peart are returning after suiting up for the American junior squad in August.

Goaltenders

Mbereko and Oke are back after representing the U.S. at the summer tournament.

The 2023 World Junior Championship begins Dec. 26, 2022, in Halifax and Moncton. The United States will face Finland, Latvia, Slovakia, and Switzerland in Group B during preliminary-round play in New Brunswick.

The Americans will play two pre-tournament tilts in Canada - against Sweden on Monday and versus Finland on Wednesday. The U.S. opens its tournament against Latvia on Dec. 26.

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The Los Angeles Kings inked forward Trevor Moore to a five-year contract extension at an average annual value of $4.2 million, the club announced Thursday.

Moore, who was a pending unrestricted free agent, is in the final season of a two-year pact carrying a cap hit of $1.875 million.

The 27-year-old collected seven goals and 11 assists across 32 games entering Thursday's action. He established career highs with 17 tallies and 31 helpers over 81 contests in 2021-22.

Moore has been a key component of the Kings' solid second line alongside Viktor Arvidsson and Phillip Danault. Moore has been versatile, too. He plays on the team's second power-play unit as well as its top penalty-killing group. Moore's averaging a career-best 17:40 of ice time as a result.

The California-born winger came into Thursday's slate boasting commendable underlying figures as well. Los Angeles controlled 55.69% of the expected goals with Moore on the ice at five-on-five and 55.17% of the scoring chances in the same situations over those 32 games, according to Natural Stat Trick.

Moore is in his third full season and fourth campaign in total with the Kings. They acquired him from the Toronto Maple Leafs in the trade that sent goaltender Jack Campbell north of the border in February 2020. Moore debuted with the Leafs in 2018-19. He was an undrafted development camp invitee who ultimately cracked Toronto's roster.

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Alex Ovechkin joined Wayne Gretzky and Gordie Howe as the only NHL players to score 800 career goals when he completed a hat trick against the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday night.

Ovechkin is now one goal behind Howe and 94 behind Gretzky for the all-time record.

The 37-year-old tallied his total in 462 fewer games than Howe played.

Ovechkin has buried 20 goals in 31 contests this season. The nine-time Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy winner produced three other multi-goal games in 2022-23 - including one less than a week ago - but Tuesday night's effort was his first hat trick of the campaign.

It was the 29th three-goal game of Ovechkin's career, moving him ahead of Marcel Dionne and Bobby Hull for sixth on the all-time list. Gretzky also tops that group with 50.

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The Edmonton Oilers have only played two games this season, but head coach Jay Woodcroft is already concerned about their performance following a 4-3 loss to the Calgary Flames on Saturday.

"We're not near where we're capable of," the Edmonton bench boss said postgame of his team's five-on-five play after the Oilers dug themselves an early hole for the second straight contest.

"I'm not going to put a percentage on it or anything like that, but certainly there are areas we've got to get better at, and we've got to get better at (them) quickly," Woodcroft continued. "I think the teams that are finding some early success in this young year, they're the ones that are a little bit cleaner and a little bit more assertive in their own end."

Leon Draisaitl pointed to his club's slow starts as an area in which it needs to improve.

"You can't spot a team three goals in back-to-back nights, so it's something that we have to address, obviously," Draisaitl said. Woodcroft pulled goaltender Jack Campbell after he allowed four goals in under 11 minutes to begin the contest, but Draisaitl was quick to shift any blame away from the netminder.

"No, that's on us. That has nothing to do with him," the star forward said. "He was amazing the other night. This is 100% on us."

Edmonton fell behind by three goals Saturday for the second time in four nights after overcoming a 3-0 deficit in a 5-3 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday. This time, the Oilers trailed 4-1 after 20 minutes in a game that was far more lopsided than its final score suggested.

The Flames held a 16-11 edge in shots on goal after the first period, but the underlying numbers showed it was much worse for Edmonton. Calgary dominated the opening frame in terms of Corsi For percentage (62.96 to 37.04), scoring chances for percentage (58.33 to 31.67), and expected goals for percentage (70.6 to 29.4), according to Natural Stat Trick.

Flames forward Mikael Backlund was left wide-open in the slot when he buried the game's first goal less than two minutes in. Under seven minutes later, Oilers defenseman Brett Kulak fell over and allowed Nazem Kadri to score uncontested. Andrew Mangiapane added Calgary's fourth tally less than a few minutes after that.

Edmonton is off until Tuesday night when the team will host the Buffalo Sabres before facing the Carolina Hurricanes, St. Louis Blues, and Pittsburgh Penguins in consecutive contests.

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The Toronto Maple Leafs are getting Jake Muzzin back before the start of the playoffs.

Head coach Sheldon Keefe said Muzzin is in the lineup for Tuesday's game against the Detroit Red Wings, according to TSN's Mark Masters.

The defenseman missed the last six games for an undisclosed reason.

Muzzin has been limited to 45 contests this season. He's sustained two concussions - one in January and then another in February, only six games after he recovered from the first one.

The 33-year-old is averaging 20:48 of ice time in 2021-22. He's collected three goals and 11 assists while authoring an expected goals for percentage of 53.25 at five-on-five, according to Natural Stat Trick.

Toronto acquired Muzzin in a trade with the Los Angeles Kings in January 2019.

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have won the Dryden McKay sweepstakes.

The club signed the reigning Hobey Baker Award winner to a two-year AHL contract.

McKay was named the NCAA's top men's hockey player April 8. The goaltender, who'll turn 25 in November, set a national record for wins in a season and helped Minnesota State-Mankato advance to the national championship game. He produced a .931 save percentage over 43 contests in 2021-22, his senior year.

The netminder became an NHL free agent when the Mavericks lost the title game to Denver.

Earlier in April, just days after winning the Hobey Baker Award, McKay accepted a six-month sanction by the USADA due to a doping violation. He'll be allowed to use the Maple Leafs' facilities as of Aug. 25, and he can play for the Marlies beginning Oct. 11.

McKay could've been subject to a four-year period of ineligibility - despite the completion of his college career - but he was able to prove that the positive test for ostarine resulted from a contaminated vitamin D supplement. He was tested while serving as an alternate for the U.S. Olympic team in January.

The Illinois-born goalie is named after legendary puck-stopper Ken Dryden, who was the Maple Leafs' president from 1997-2003.

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Peter DeBoer knows full well how much his Vegas Golden Knights' late-game letdown against the San Jose Sharks on Sunday could haunt him and his team if they fail to reach the postseason.

"You hope that it doesn't cost us a playoff spot," the Golden Knights head coach said after his club blew a two-goal lead in the final two-plus minutes of regulation before falling in a shootout. "If it does, that's a tough one to sleep on all summer, but I'm going to look at the glass half-full here.

"We found a way to get a point, and hopefully that point is the difference between us making it or not."

Nicolas Roy gave the Golden Knights a 4-2 lead early in the third period, but Sharks forward Nick Bonino scored with 2:06 remaining and teammate Timo Meier tied the game with less than a second left. No one scored in overtime, and San Jose rookie Thomas Bordeleau produced the only goal in a shootout that also featured Logan Couture, Jack Eichel, Meier, and Shea Theodore.

Vegas captain Mark Stone had a chance to seal it late regulation but failed to hit the empty net from inside his squad's offensive zone.

"I don't think anything got away from us, I think it was just missed opportunities," he said. "Game's over if I put that in, so it's tough for me to look back and say we did a ton wrong. We just have to close out games. We can't allow two goals in the last two minutes, and when you get the opportunities, you've got to finish them. So, (it's a) tough one to swallow for me."

Vegas now sits three points behind the Dallas Stars for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference and four behind the Nashville Predators for the first one. All three teams have three games remaining in their regular-season schedules.

The Golden Knights hold the tiebreaker over the Stars with three more regulation wins, but the odds aren't in Vegas' favor.

Sunday's collapse came nearly three years to the day after the Sharks stunned the Golden Knights in Game 7 of their first-round playoff series on April 23, 2019. San Jose stormed back in that contest with four third-period goals en route to a 5-4 victory in overtime.

DeBoer coached the Sharks for four-plus seasons before San Jose fired him in December 2019. Just over a month later, the Golden Knights dismissed bench boss Gerard Gallant and hired DeBoer to replace him.

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Evander Kane netted a hat trick as the Edmonton Oilers punched their postseason ticket for the third consecutive season with a 6-3 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Friday.

The Oilers can finish no higher than second in the Pacific Division because their provincial rivals, the Calgary Flames, clinched first place Thursday. The Flames lead the second-place Oilers by eight points with four games to go, and Calgary holds the tiebreaker with six more regulation wins.

Edmonton improved to 46-26-6 on the season.

The Winnipeg Jets swept the Oilers out of the first round in the 2021 campaign, and the Chicago Blackhawks upset Edmonton in four games of a best-of-five series in the 2020 qualifying round.

The Oilers haven't advanced past the first round since bowing out in the next stage in 2016-17, and they haven't gotten past the second round since losing the Stanley Cup Final in 2005-06.

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