The Pittsburgh Penguins have called up forward Beau Bennett from their American Hockey League team, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. He could make his NHL debut Friday when the Penguins face the Winnipeg Jets.

In 35 AHL games this season, Bennett has 18 assists and 25 points, and was selected to play in the AHL All-Star Game.

A native of Gardena, Calif., Bennett was the 20th player taken at the 2010 NHL Draft, making him the highest-drafted California-born player in NHL history.

New Jersey Devils forward Dainius Zubrus will have surgery on his injured wrist Thursday, the team said on its website.

General manager Lou Lamoriello said Zubrus could be out from two to eight weeks.

Wednesday, the team acquired forward Alexei Ponikarovsky in a trade with the Winnipeg Jets and recalled forward Andrei Loktionov from Albany of the American Hockey League, according to reports.

The injuries continue to pile up for the Colorado Avalanche.

The team learned Wednesday that defenseman Erik Johnson is out indefinitely after suffering a head injury during Monday’s 3-2 overtime loss to the Phoenix Coyotes at the Pepsi Center.

Johnson would have been paired with Matt Hunwick, who returned to practice Wednesday after missing Monday’s loss with an injured torso.

Colorado is winless in its past three games. The Avalanche face the Minnesota Wild at the Xcel Energy Center on Thursday night.

The Orange County Register is reporting the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday will return Rickard Rakell to his junior team, the Plymouth Whalers of the Ontario Hockey League.

Rakell has no points and three shots on goal in four games, but hasn't played since Jan. 29. He's been a healthy scratch in seven straight games.

The 19-year-old center, taken with the 30th pick of the 2011 NHL Draft, made the team out of training camp and centered the fourth line on opening night, playing 9:49.

Rakell had 30 points in 32 games with Plymouth at the start of the season.

By playing Rakell in fewer than six games this season, it delays the start of his three-year, entry-level contact to next season.

The Detroit Red Wings will be without first-line forward Johan Franzen on Wednesday night against the St. Louis Blues.

General manager Ken Holland said Franzen will miss the game due to a hip flexor.

"It's day-to-day and has progressively gotten worse," Holland told Ansar Khan of MLive.com. "We're going to give him a day off and see how he feels tomorrow."

Franzen will be replaced in the lineup by Patrick Eaves.

The Toronto Maple Leafs announced Wednesday forward Matt Frattin will miss a minimum of a week with a knee injury.

TSN is reporting Frattin had a flare-up of MCL issues requiring a procedure on his knee.

Frattin has been a revelation for the Maple Leafs during their fast start, posting seven goals and 10 points in 10 games. He had the game-winning goal Monday night against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Tuesday, the Maple Leafs announced goaltender James Reimer also will miss at least a week with an MCL strain suffered Monday against the Flyers.

The Toronto Maple Leafs announced Tuesday that goaltender James Reimer sustained a mild MCL strain during the second period of Monday night's game against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Reimer is expected to be out for a minimum of one week.

Ben Scrivens replaced Reimer in the 5-2 win and stopped 32 of 33 shots.

The big surprise coming out of the Edmonton Oilers' morning skate is that forward Ryan Smyth will be a healthy scratch for Tuesday's game against the Dallas Stars.

Smyth, second all-time on the Oilers' list of games played (864) and fifth in goals (285), has two points in 12 games, and has 22 penalty minutes in his past four, including three minor penalties Sunday against the Columbus Blue Jackets. His ice time also has gone down; he's played fewer than 15 minutes in three of the past four, including 11:25 on Sunday.

The 36-year-old, who has spent 14 of his 18 NHL seasons with the Oilers, chose not to talk to reporters after the team's morning skate.

Oilers coach Ralph Krueger said sitting Smyth out was an "extremely difficult" decision, but one he feels is best for the team ahead of Tuesday's game.

"The decisions I need to make, that are my responsibility, are the ones I believe are best for the team on a given day," he said. "Whether people are going to like it or not, or whether I'm popular or not is not the driving force."

Here's how the lines could look when the San Jose Sharks visit the Nashville Predators on Tuesday night:

SHARKS

Ryane Clowe – Joe Thornton – Joe Pavelski

Patrick Marleau – Logan Couture – Martin Havlat

James Sheppard – Michal Handzus – Tommy Wingels

Andrew Desjardins – Scott Gomez – Adam Burish

Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Dan Boyle

Brad Stuart – Brent Burns

Jason Demers – Justin Braun

Antti Niemi

Thomas Greiss

PREDATORS

Sergei Kostitsyn – Mike Fisher – Martin Erat

Colin Wilson – David Legwand – Gabriel Bourque

Brandon Yip – Nick Spaling – Craig Smith

Rich Clune – Paul Gaustad – Hal Gill

Scott Hannan – Shea Weber

Roman Josi – Kevin Klein

Jonathon Blum – Ryan Ellis

Pekka Rinne

Chris Mason