It appears the NHL is trending toward adding women to its group of on-ice officials.

"The National Hockey League is 100 percent open to it, it's inevitable, it is going to happen," TSN's Darren Dreger said on Thursday's "Insider Trading" segment. "What we don't have is a timeline as to when it is going to happen."

Dreger notes that women have attended the league's officials combine in the past, but the league is taking the initiative to ask them to participate this year.

"I know that the NHL is putting out the invite to college players, national team women, absolutely, come to this combine, go through the experience and if you're up to pace then we'll find a way to get you in," said Dreger.

If a change is made, the NHL will join the NFL and NBA as major North American professional sports leagues to employ women as referees.

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Jonathan Quick is back.

The Los Angeles Kings' star netminder returned to the crease Thursday against the New York Islanders after a five-game absence due to a lower-body injury.

Quick had played in just one game so far this season, stopping 30 of 33 shots in an overtime loss to San Jose in the Kings' opener before suffering the injury in practice and subsequently going on IR.

Backup goaltender Jack Campbell performed adequately in Quick's absence, going 2-3-0 with a .922 save percentage and a 2.69 goals-against average.

Quick is coming off a Jennings Trophy-winning season in which he went 33-28-3 with a .921 save percentage, 2.40 goals-against average, and five shutouts.

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The Calgary Flames appear to have avoided a substantial scare, as star winger Johnny Gaudreau is feeling "no significant effects" Thursday from the hit that led to his removal from Wednesday's game, reports Sportsnet's Eric Francis.

Concussion spotters pulled Gaudreau as a result of this hit by Boston Bruins blue-liner Charlie McAvoy in the third period of Calgary's 5-2 win.

McAvoy won't face any supplemental discipline for the hit, Francis adds.

Prior to his premature departure, Gaudreau buried his third goal of the season, bringing his total to nine points in six games.

Calgary's next game comes Friday versus the Nashville Predators.

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The Pittsburgh Penguins will have their No. 1 netminder back in the crease Thursday against the Toronto Maple Leafs, as Matt Murray has been cleared to start for the first time since being diagnosed with a concussion Oct. 9, head coach Mike Sullivan told reporters after the morning skate, per NHL.com's Mike Zeisberger.

Murray missed nine games with a concussion last season. This time, he was ruled out on a day-to-day basis and has served as the Penguins' backup for each of their past two contests without seeing any action.

In his two starts so far in 2018-19, Murray is 1-1 with a .831 save percentage.

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Johnny Gaudreau was pulled from Wednesday's game against the Boston Bruins by the NHL's concussion spotters, Calgary Flames head coach Bill Peters told reporters postgame, according to The Athletic's Scott Cruickshank.

Gaudreau took a big hit from Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy with under 12 minutes to go in the Flames' 5-2 win.

The Flames star came out for a power-play shift after the hit but went to the dressing room after that, according to The FAN 960's Pat Steinberg.

Gaudreau didn't return to the game, and Peters wasn't sure about the severity of the injury when asked to elaborate.

"Hopefully, it's nothing," the head coach said, according to Postmedia's Kristen Anderson. "Hopefully, it's minor. But we'll see."

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The Anaheim Ducks have lost one of their most dynamic forwards to injury for the time being.

Jakob Silfverberg has a non-displaced broken finger that he suffered against the St. Louis Blues in a 3-2 Ducks win on Sunday, Anaheim general manager Bob Murray announced Wednesday.

The 28-year-old Silfverberg is currently skating but not puck-handling.

He didn't play Wednesday night against the New York Islanders, but Murray said the forward won't be out long term and will try to play through the injury, according to The Athletic's Eric Stephens.

Silfverberg entered Wednesday's contest leading the Ducks in goals (three) and points (seven) through six games.

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The Anaheim Ducks and forward Nick Ritchie have ended their contract stalemate by agreeing to a three-year contract, the team announced Wednesday.

The contract will pay Ritchie $1.2 million this season and $1.4 million next season, and $2 million in 2020-21 for a total of $4.6 million, according to The Athletic's Eric Stephens.

Ritchie's contract holdout has seen him miss the club's first seven games of the 2018-19 campaign.

The 22-year-old is coming off his entry-level contract. In that time, he's tallied 26 goals and 59 points across three seasons. Last season, he put up 10 goals and 27 points in 76 contests.

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Mike Matheson continues to pay a price for his hit and takedown of Vancouver Canucks phenom Elias Pettersson.

The Florida Panthers defenseman told The Athletic's George Richards that he has been a target for death threats and other online harassment in the wake of Saturday's incident, for which Matheson was suspended two games Monday.

His Instagram account, and particularly this post featuring his dog, Hank, was one such venue for hateful, obscene comments from those upset with Saturday's hit.

“I’m trying to stay off it, but it has been very, very disappointing,” Matheson told Richards. “To think that people could be so inhumane about something … sports were made to bring people together, to cheer on teams and have passion about their teams. I fully understand and respect that.

“But there are thousands of people commenting things on my social-media pages — sending me death threats, wishing I would commit suicide or get cancer — that’s bringing things to a whole new level. People have even threatened my dog. If you’re going that far, you might want to look yourself in the mirror. I’m not going to engage in it. It’s definitely not worth it. I know not all Vancouver fans are like that. I’m sure it’s a very small percentage of hockey fans who are doing this."

Matheson insisted earlier Wednesday that he did not intend to hurt Pettersson. The Canucks rookie was diagnosed with a concussion.

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