New York Islanders starting goaltender Jaroslav Halak may not be ready for the season opener next Friday, coach Jack Capuano told Newsday.

Halak, who has been sidelined with an upper-body injury, left practice early Thursday.

"We don't know yet," Capuano told the newspaper. "Until we go through a full practice and I can talk to the trainers and see what they have to say, we don't know what's going to happen."

Detroit Red Wings defenseman Danny DeKeyser sustained an injury to his lower left leg late in the third period of a preseason game against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday.

DeKeyser wore an immobilizing boot on his left foot Thursday and walked on crutches as he made his way to the team bus in downtown Pittsburgh, according to the Red Wings website, which said he had further testing and an MRI after returning to Detroit.

Los Angeles Kings defenseman Jake Muzzin said Thursday he expects to play in the season opener.

Muzzin sustained an upper-body injury in a preseason game against the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday. He has missed four full-team practices, the Orange County Register reported, but has skated and performed shooting drills three days in a row.

Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara skated Thursday prior to the start of practice, the fourth straight day he's been on the ice for conditioning and drills.

The veteran defenseman has been day-to-day because of an upper-body injury sustained during a preseason game against the New York Rangers on Sept. 24.

"Today was better than it was yesterday," Chara said Thursday in comments tweeted by the Bruins. "I'm hoping that tomorrow is better than today. If it keeps improving, we'll see where it's going to be next week. As of right now, trying to obviously skate on my own and be in a situation where I can jump in with the team."

The Minnesota Wild claimed forward Chris Porter off waivers from the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday.

Porter was drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks in the ninth round (No. 282) of the 2003 NHL Draft and played 173 games over parts of six seasons with the St. Louis Blues before coming to training camp with the Flyers. He had a goal in their 4-2 preseason loss to the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday.

"I'm really excited," Porter told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "In the summer, Minnesota was the team I was really interested in signing with. I can't wait to get started and I'm really looking forward to the opportunity."

Elias, 39, who has a sore right knee, has not played in any preseason games and has not been on the ice during training camp. No timetable was given for his return.

Hynes also said that right wing Kyle Palmieri, who sustained an unspecified injury in the second period of a preseason game against the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday, is day-to-day.

The Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday released veteran defenseman Andrej Meszaros from his professional tryout contract as they pared their roster to 26 players.

Meszaros, 29, has 63 goals and 238 points in 645 NHL games during his 10-season career. He spent 2014-15 with the Buffalo Sabres and had seven goals and 14 points in 60 games.

The Avalanche also sent forwards Patrick Bordeleau and Marc-Andre Cliche, as well as defenseman Zach Redmond, to their American Hockey League affiliate in San Antonio.

Earlier Wednesday, the Avalanche assigned forwards Joey Hishon, Andrew Agozzino and Andreas Martinsen, goaltender Calvin Pickard and defensemen Chris Bigras and Maxim Noreau to San Antonio. They also returned forward Conner Bleackley to his junior team.

The San Jose Sharks will name a captain before their season-opener against the Los Angeles Kings on Oct. 7, first-year coach Peter DeBoer told CSNBayArea.com on Wednesday.

When that captain will be named is still unknown, although "it won't be the morning of the [Kings] game," DeBoer said. "I'll give [the media] a little more notice."

DeBoer has had a number of players serve as alternate captains during preseason games, among them forwards Joe Pavelski, Joe Thornton, Logan Couture and Patrick Marleau, and defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic. Marleau and Thornton previously have been Sharks captains.

St. Louis Blues center Jori Lehtera will make his preseason debut Thursday against the Chicago Blackhawks (8 p.m. ET, NHLN).

Lehtera had surgery on his right ankle Aug. 4 and the expectation was he would need 6-8 weeks to recover.

"I think I'm good to go," Lehtera said Wednesday, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "For sure I want to play one game before the season starts and tomorrow is the last one. I feel good about it. I didn't believe when I had the surgery I would get even one game in."

The Florida Panthers released forward David Booth from his professional tryout contract when they reduced their training camp roster by four players Wednesday.

Booth, 30, was a three-time 20-goal scorer for the Panthers who had career-highs of 31 goals and 60 points in the 2008-09 season. He also played for the Vancouver Canucks and Toronto Maple Leafs, where he had seven goals and 13 points in 59 games last season.