Already starved for goals, 10th-ranked Denver will have to make due without its leading returning point producer from a year ago.

Sophomore forward Dylan Gambrell, who was a second-round pick of the San Jose Sharks in June’s Entry Draft after a 47-point rookie campaign, is expected to miss four to six weeks with an upper-body injury, the school announced.

Gambrell, who played a season of Midget hockey for the Colorado Thunderbirds, likely sustained the injury in last weekend’s Ice Breaker Tournament. DU lost both of its games in the event and scored just three goals total for the weekend. He picked up an assist on Will Butcher‘s power-play goal in a 3-1 loss to then-No. 5 Boston College.

In Gambrell’s absence, the Pioneers will lean more heavily on sophomore forwards Troy Terry, Colin Staub and Jarid Lukosevicius, freshmen Henrik Borgstrom, Liam Finley and Tyson McLellan and seniors Evan Janssen, Matt Marcinew and Emil Romig to chip in.

Butcher leads a defense corps that includes plenty of firepower, but they’ll have their hands full this weekend against high-scoring No. 2 Boston University. The teams play Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday at 7 p.m. at Magness Arena.

Jaillet one to watch

Junior goalie Tanner Jaillet was one of 20 goaltenders selected to the watch list for the 2017 Mike Richter Award, giving annually to NCAA Division I’s most outstanding goaltender.

Jaillet, who started the bulk of DU’s games during the team’s torrid second half last season, went 17-5-5 overall with a .922 save percentage and 2.27 goals-against average. His numbers were even better in NCHC games, as he went 11-2-2 with a .929 save percentage and 2.20 gaa. He was a finalist for the NCHC’s Three Stars Award.

He made 30 saves in a 3-2 loss to Ohio State in DU’s first game of the Ice Breaker Tournament last weekend.

Senior goalie Evan Cowley, who started Saturday’s 3-1 loss to Boston College, was on last season’s watch list.

Welcome to the League

Danton Heinen, who signed with the Boston Bruins in April after leading the Pioneers in scoring during his sophomore season, made the Bruins out of training camp. He is one of nine former Pioneers on opening night NHL rosters.

Heinen, a fourth-round pick by the Bruins in the 2014 Entry Draft, took some One-Timers from us last season, which you can read here. He had 48 points en route to being selected the NCHC’s Forward of the Year last season.

Other ex-DU players in the NHL are: Beau Bennett (New Jersey), Tyler Bozak (Toronto), Matt Carle (Nashville), Joe Colbourne (Colorado), Nick Shore (Los Angeles), Paul Stastney (St. Louis), Patrick Wiercioch (Colorado) and Jason Zucker (Minnesota).