USA Hockey announced Wednesday that Chicago Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman has been added to the U.S. Men's National Team Advisory Group, which is charged with leading the selection of players for the International Ice Hockey Federation World Championship.

"We're excited to have Stan join our advisory group," said Jim Johannson, assistant executive director of hockey operations at USA Hockey. "His experience evaluating players and his passion for international hockey will be a great asset."

Bowman, in his third season as Blackhawks GM, was at the helm in 2010 when Chicago won the Stanley Cup to end a 49-year championship drought.

"I'm honored for the opportunity to contribute to this group, and to the continued success of the U.S. Men’s National Team on the international stage," Bowman said. "Thanks to the efforts of NHL teams in their local markets, and USA Hockey on a national level, the game has never been stronger in this country."

Bowman will join Brian Burke (Toronto Maple Leafs), Paul Holmgren (Philadelphia Flyers), Dean Lombardi (Los Angeles Kings), David Poile (Nashville Predators), Ray Shero (Pittsburgh Penguins), Dale Tallon (Florida Panthers) and Don Waddell on the advisory committee.

The 2012 World Championship will take place from May 4-20, in Helsinki, Finland, and Stockholm, Sweden.

Dallas Stars captain Brenden Morrow suffered an upper-body injury in Saturday's game and has been placed on injured reserve retroactive to Jan. 21, while Mike Ribeiro was activated off the IR on Monday.

The Stars released the following statements earlier in the day from coach Glen Gulutzan through their official Twitter account:

"Morrow out, not a long term issue there, and (Stephane) Robidas will be a game player for us tomorrow."

"Ribeiro is close and we will reevaluate him after morning skate tomorrow. (Matt) Fraser will be a go for us tomorrow."

Morrow, in his 12th NHL season, is fifth on the team in scoring with 8 goals and 22 points in 41 games.

Ribeiro is fourth on the team in scoring with 10 goals and 31 points. He hasn't played since Jan. 7, when he was involved in a knee-on-knee collision in a game against the Oilers. Ribeiro was on a hot streak before he went down, scoring twice in each of his last two games.

Fraser, an undrafted, 6-foot-1, 204-pound right wing, is set to make his NHL debut after being called up from the AHL Texas Stars, where he had 21 goals and 35 points in 40 games.

The Nashville Predators made a pair of roster moves Thursday, claiming forward Brandon Yip off waivers from the Colorado Avalanche and activating forward Jerred Smithson off injured reserve.

Yip was scoreless in 10 games for the Avalanche this season while missing time due to arm and groin injuries. An eighth-round pick by Colorado in the 2004 Entry Draft, he has 23 goals and 41 points in 113 games over parts of three seasons with the Avs.

A 6-foot-1, 195-pound right wing, Yip recorded 45 goals and 108 points in 139 games with Boston University from 2005-09, helping the Terriers win the 2009 NCAA national championship on a team that also included current Predators forward Colin Wilson.

Smithson, who was out with a lower-body injury, has 1 goal and 4 points in 41 games this season.

The slumping Minnesota Wild will have to move forward for the time being without captain Mikko Koivu, who suffered what the team is calling an upper-body injury in Saturday's loss to the Blues.

The Wild are terming Koivu "week-to-week," but a report in the Minneapolis Star Tribune indicates Koivu has a shoulder injury that will keep him out for at least a month.

Koivu appeared to suffer the injury on a hit by the Blues' Vladimir Sobotka.

"It's pretty frustrating right now," Koivu told the team's website on Monday. "Especially the time of the year. We play a lot of games and we're right in the middle of it, and so yeah. But there's nothing you can do about it, and you just got to move on and try and get better."

Koivu has a team-leading 24 assists and 33 points for the Wild, who led the Northwest Division for much of the first half, but are currently clinging to the eighth and final playoff spot after winning just two of their last 15 games.

"It'd be foolish of us to try and get anybody to be him," first-year coach Mike Yeo told the team's website. "It's a big challenge for us and we have to view it as such, and get excited about the opportunity to rise to it. A lot of people are probably writing us off right now … but the one thing I know is this team has a lot of character, and we need a lot of that right now."

The Philadelphia Flyers released a statement Saturday from defenseman Chris Pronger, his first public comments since it was announced he would miss the remainder of the 2011-12 season with a concussion.

Via the team's official Twitter account, Pronger's statement read: "It is very, very tough right now. I don't feel well and it hurts so much not to be playing."

The Flyers announced in mid-December that after meeting with two concussion specialists, it was recommended that their captain not play again this season. He assisted on a pair of goals in his final game of the season, a Nov. 19 loss in Winnipeg.

"After consultation with respected concussion specialists Dr. Joseph Maroon and Dr. Micky Collins, it is the opinion of both doctors that Chris is suffering from severe post-concussion syndrome," general manager Paul Holmgren said on Dec. 15. "It is the recommendation of Drs. Maroon and Collins that Chris not return for the remainder of the 2011-12 season or playoffs.

"Chris will continue to receive treatment and therapy with the hope that he can get better."

Pronger played only 13 games this season, scoring a goal and adding 11 assists. He was out of the lineup for six games and 16 days after suffering an eye injury on Oct. 24 when he was hit in the face by the stick of Toronto's Mikhail Grabovski. He eventually rejoined the team and maintained his usual defensive role.

In his last game against the Jets, Pronger actually played a season-high 26:41. In addition to his eye injury and concussion, Pronger also underwent arthroscopic surgery to clean out his left knee in the summer.

On Dec. 9, Holmgren told reporters that Pronger "has struggled with other issues that are concussion-like symptoms."

"I just didn't feel well, I didn't know what it was," Pronger said that day. "I never felt like that before with headaches and nausea, and that stuff. I had a concussion baseline test and passed that … I got lightheaded, had headaches, you're nauseous."

The Columbus Blue Jackets have claimed left wing Colton Gillies off waivers from the Minnesota Wild.

Gillies, 22, has registered 2 assists and 10 penalty minutes in 37 games with Minnesota this season and has 3 goals, 10 points and 30 penalty minutes in 89 career NHL games with the Wild.

In 2010-11, he notched 11 goals, 26 points and 82 penalty minutes in 64 games with the Houston Aeros, Minnesota's American Hockey League affiliate. He added 7 goals, 12 points and 32 penalty minutes in 24 playoff games, helping Houston reach the Calder Cup Final.

Minnesota's first pick (No. 16) in the 2007 Entry Draft, Gillies played four seasons with the Saskatoon Blades of the Western Hockey League. He also scored a goal in seven games to help Canada win the gold medal at the 2008 World Junior Championship.

New York Islanders goaltender Rick DiPietro is headed for another operation that could once again cut his season short.

The Islanders on Friday confirmed a report in Newsday that the injury-plagued goalie will have surgery Tuesday to repair a sports hernia and may not play again this season. DiPietro hasn't played since leaving the Islanders' game in Dallas on Dec. 3 with a groin injury. The paper says the injury nagged him long enough that the more serious sports hernia was discovered by the team's medical staff.

"This is something I thought would just heal up and go away, and instead it got more and more debilitating," DiPietro told Newsday on Thursday from Boston, where he will have the surgery. "I'm almost bionic at this point."

GM Garth Snow told the paper the best-case scenario for DiPietro's return would be the beginning of April. The regular season ends April 9.

It's the latest in a series of health problems for the 30-year-old goaltender, who was the first player taken in the 2000 NHL Draft and signed a 15-year contract in the summer of 2006.

DiPietro had the best season of his career in the first year after signing the contract, going 31-29-9 with a 2.58 goals-against average, a .919 save percentage and five shutouts in 2006-07 despite missing a month after suffering a concussion in March. He was superb again in the first half of the 2007-08 season, earning the start for the Eastern Conference in the All-Star Game.

But DiPietro injured his hip during the skills competition the night before the game in Atlanta and struggled in the second half before being shut down for the season in March and undergoing hip surgery.

Since then, he has played only 47 games -- just eight this season -- while undergoing a myriad of surgeries. He had another on his hip and one on his left knee in the summer of 2008, a second knee operation in January 2009 and surgery to repair facial fractures after a fight with Penguins goaltender Brent Johnson last February. He has also battled numerous groin and knee problems that have kept him off the ice for lengthy stretches of time.

DiPietro still has nine years left on his contract and told Newsday he has no plans to retire. "Nothing like that has even crossed my mind," he said. "Knock on wood, the doctors have said this is something you can come back from, lots of athletes have. I know I still want to play."

Snow told the paper neither he nor owner Charles Wang has broached the issue of retirement with DiPietro.

"I have confidence he can get through this," Snow said. "He'll have the surgery and in a few weeks, hopefully, he'll be back on the ice."

DiPietro is 3-2-3 this season with a 3.73 goals-against average and a save percentage of just .876. In 315 regular-season games, he is 130-133-8-31 with a 2.86 goals-against average, a .903 save percentage and 16 shutouts.

"This isn't something I ever thought would happen again," he said of the latest surgery. "I'm going to do whatever it takes to come back healthy, as fast as possible."

Chicago Blackhawks forward Daniel Carcillo, who received a seven-game suspension earlier this month for an illegal hit on Edmonton Oilers defenseman Tom Gilbert in which he was also injured, will miss the rest of the season after it was announced Friday he will need reconstructive knee surgery.

The following statement was issued by Blackhawks Head Team Physician Dr. Michael Terry:

"Daniel Carcillo will undergo anterior cruciate ligament reconstructive surgery on his left knee on Tuesday, Jan. 17. This decision was made today after much evaluation and consideration of various options. We anticipate a full return in six months."

Carcillo, 26, finished his first season with the Blackhawks with 2 goals, 11 points, 82 penalty minutes and a plus-10  rating in 28 games.

Over parts of five NHL seasons with Phoenix (2006-09), Philadelphia (2009-11) and Chicago, the King City, Ontario, native has registered 38 goals, 84 points and 1,068 penalty minutes in 310 regular-season games, as well as 5 goals and 11 points and a plus-6 rating in 33 Stanley Cup Playoff contests.

The Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday placed center Jeff Carter on injured reserve.

Carter suffered a shoulder injury Jan. 8 in a 7-4 loss to Anaheim.

The 27-year-old Carter has 10 goals, including a team-leading five on the power-play, and 17 points in just 30 games with the Blue Jackets this season. It's the second major injury Carter has suffered this season -- he broke his foot in mid-October and missed a month.

Pavel Datsyuk will not be in the Red Wings lineup Tuesday night against the Islanders at Nassau Coliseum and is considered day-to-day, according to Detroit GM Ken Holland. The nature of his injury was not revealed.

The Red Wings are expected to skate with 11 forwards and seven defensemen.

Detroit coach Mike Babcock is also giving Ty Conklin a second straight start. Conklin made 29 saves in the Red Wings' 3-2 overtime win over Chicago on Sunday.

Jimmy Howard, who leads the NHL with 24 wins, is expected to play Thursday against Phoenix, according to MLive.com.