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Kings Retaining Marc Bergevin As Senior Advisor

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After coming up short for the Islanders’ GM vacancy, Marc Bergevin will remain in his role with the Kings as a senior advisor, John Hoven of Mayor’s Manor reports.

Los Angeles hired Bergevin, 59, midway through the 2021-22 campaign. He’s remained with the team since as one of the top input men for former GM Rob Blake. He’ll now continue to do the same for Ken Holland, whom the Kings installed as the 10th general manager in franchise history earlier this month.

Bergevin’s time with L.A. kicked off shortly after he was relieved of his duties as general manager by the Canadiens, his hometown team. The longtime NHL defenseman spent nearly a decade in the GM’s chair in Montreal after he was hired in advance of the 2012-13 season. He nearly ended up landing the second GM role of his executive career this week. He was one of two finalists for the New York job but was passed over today in favor of Mathieu Darche.

As for the Kings, there are no other indications of any staff changes outside of the Blake/Holland swap. Luc Robitaille remains in his post as team president and alternate governor while the rest of the hockey operations staff, including Bergevin and assistant GM Nelson Emerson, will remain in their posts.

Islanders Name Mathieu Darche General Manager

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2:01 p.m.: Darche has been given the title of general manager and executive vice president of hockey operations, the Islanders announced. Giving him a dual title suggests they won’t be hiring another person for oversight, at least not yet – Darche will report directly to ownership. Minority owner John Collins had the following statement:

Mathieu is the perfect choice to lead our hockey operations. He will be given every resource available to put the Islanders first-in-class on the ice, with our business initiatives, and in the community. Mathieu has served as a key member of the Tampa Bay Lightning and has a diverse background in top-level business models. He is a proven winner and is committed, as is our ownership group, to building a group that will be highly competitive next season and beyond.

11:33 a.m.: The Islanders are expected to name Mathieu Darche as their new general manager later today, sources tell Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic. The now-former assistant GM of the Lightning was one of two finalists for the role alongside Kings senior advisor and former Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin, per multiple reports.

Darche, 48, steps into the GM’s chair for the first time. He has some big shoes to fill, succeeding Hall-of-Fame executive Lou Lamoriello in the role after the Isles announced last month they wouldn’t be renewing his contract.

It’s a quick ascension for Darche, who’s only been in front-office roles for six years. After ending his playing career as an NHL/AHL tweener in 2013, he worked in the private sector before joining the Lightning, where he played a career-high 73 games in the 2007-08 season, as their director of hockey operations for the 2019-20 campaign. Darche kept the role until his departure from the organization today, although the organization added the AGM title to his duties beginning with the 2022-23 campaign.

The Quebec native has gotten plenty of experience as part of the management team of a perennial contender. He was involved in the Lightning’s three straight trips to the Stanley Cup Final from 2020 to 2022 and won on his first two tries. While playoff success has evaded Tampa in the years since, they’ve remained a consistent threat in a tough Atlantic Division and have navigated some seismic roster changes like the departure of franchise fixture Steven Stamkos, continually retooling to stay just young enough to extend their championship contention window.

Darche won’t be the only front-office hire the Islanders announce in the coming days. They’re also looking for a president of hockey operations to oversee Darche, hiring two people to replace the dual roles Lamoriello held. That could very well be former Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan, who’d been granted permission to interview with the Isles before Toronto announced they wouldn’t extend his contract.

He’ll be charged with steering the ship through a retool on Long Island that started in the final months of Lamoriello’s tenure. He jettisoned top-six staple Brock Nelson to the Avalanche at the trade deadline but gave their limited prospect pool a huge boost in the form of center Calum Ritchie, a star playmaker with OHL Oshawa whom Colorado drafted 27th overall in 2023, and a 2026 first-round pick. The lottery balls also bounced the Isles’ way to vault them from 10th to first overall in this year’s draft, giving Darche his pick between dynamic two-way defender Matthew Schaefer or star offensive center Michael Misa as the cornerstone of his retool.

Image courtesy of Eric Bolte-Imagn Images.

Golden Knights, Penguins Interested In Maxim Shabanov

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Maxim Shabanov has been tabbed as one of the crown jewels of this summer’s international free agency period, although it appears he’s still in the courting stage of NHL offers and isn’t close to a deal. That’s because his season in Russia just recently ended with Traktor Chelyabinsk of the Kontinental Hockey League, who advanced to the Gagarin Cup Final but lost to Lokomotiv Yaroslavl. Today, Sergey Demidov of RG and NHL.com reports the Golden Knights and Penguins are two of the clubs that have “closely monitored” Shabanov throughout the season in hopes of landing him on an entry-level contract in the coming weeks.

There’s a natural fit for Shabanov, a 24-year-old right winger, in both organizations. The Golden Knights could use more cost-effective depth scoring with wingers Victor Olofsson, Tanner Pearson, Brandon Saad, and Reilly Smith all slated to become unrestricted free agents this summer. The Penguins, on the other hand, simply want to acquire younger, higher-upside talent to fill out their roster as they retool in the final stages of Sidney Crosby’s and Evgeni Malkin’s careers.

There are understandable concerns about Shabanov’s 5’8″, 157-lb frame that almost certainly makes him a winger at the NHL level despite being tested at center in Russia, but he’s coming off a spectacular season with Traktor. He led the team in scoring in the regular season with a 23-44–67 line in 65 games before leading the Gagarin Cup Playoffs with 10 goals and a +14 rating in 21 games.

The Penguins aren’t the only Metropolitan Division team that has an eye on Shabanov. After he got off to a hot start in the early weeks of the 2024-25 KHL season, the Islanders quickly displayed interest in his services, Ethan Sears of the New York Post said at the time. The Isles have had quite recent success with undrafted KHL pickups, hitting on one just last year with winger Maxim Tsyplakov. With a strong Russian presence on the Island in the form of Tsyplakov, Alexander Romanov, and Ilya Sorokin, there’s likely mutual appeal there for Shabanov as he adjusts to the NHL. He’d have Malkin in Pittsburgh, of course, and Pavel Dorofeyev in Vegas as well to help him with the transition.

Cap constraints likely won’t come into the picture, at least not immediately. Shabanov is only eligible for a one-year entry-level contract, so teams know they’ll have to reserve a chunk of change to re-up him in 2026-27 if he pans out for them next season.

The Anatomy Of A Stanley Cup Champion

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A lot has been made of the Toronto Maple Leafs’ elimination from the playoffs this week, with fans stating that ownership should tear the core apart. However, winning in the NHL has never been more challenging as parity has become the norm, creating a league where the line between winning and losing is razor-thin. The introduction of the salary cap in 2005 effectively eliminated the age of the dynasty. Still, the Pittsburgh Penguins, Chicago Blackhawks, and Tampa Bay Lightning managed to win multiple Cups, using a similar formula that relied on a mix of homegrown stars, bold and aggressive trades, and savvy free-agent signings. Looking back on the past decade, a clear pattern emerges, revealing a common thread that links all the Stanley Cup Champions from 2015 to 2024. These teams were built from the ground up and relied on similar roster construction to chase their championships, and could serve as a template for teams such as the Maple Leafs to follow.

Every Stanley Cup roster between 2015 and 2024 had an elite center running the first line, from Jonathan Toews in Chicago to Sidney Crosby in Pittsburgh and Jack Eichel in Vegas. These champions built their dominance from the center of the ice out. That dynamic point producer anchoring the top unit set the tone for teams, allowing them to drive play at five-on-five and usually run an elite power play. Oftentimes, these centers were two-way players who didn’t skimp on their defensive game or shy away from physicality. Crosby and Toews have consistently demonstrated this, as well as many other intangibles that set the tone for their respective teams.

Outside of an elite center, the champions have all had a strong 2C that could operate as a first-line center on most other NHL teams. The ability to roll out two top centers has given teams the ability to overwhelm their opponents by essentially running two first lines. There is no better example of this than Pittsburgh with Crosby and second-line center Evgeni Malkin. During their runs to the Stanley Cup, Pittsburgh was able to get more out of Malkin on the nights that Crosby didn’t have his game and vice versa.

Behind that, top teams almost always have substantial center depth beyond their top six, and in many cases, they can play matchup minutes against the other team’s top players. Pittsburgh had Nick Bonino, who centered the HBK line (with Phil Kessel and Carl Hagelin) that became a force during the Penguins’ 2016 run, while the Washington Capitals of 2018 had Lars Eller, who could match up against an opposing team’s top line or contribute offensively if played against similar level competition.

Beyond the middle of the ice, championship teams had one game-breaking winger. Pittsburgh had Kessel, Chicago had Patrick Kane, and Tampa Bay had Nikita Kucherov. Even in the past two years, the Champions (Vegas and Florida) have been able to deploy Mark Stone and Matthew Tkachuk, respectively. Having a winger who can take over a game gives the elite centers a pressure valve if they are having a bad game or are being tightly checked. Crosby had some off nights during the Penguins’ runs, but Pittsburgh was fortunate to have Kessel around to pick up the pieces. In Game 2 of the 2017 Eastern Conference Finals against Ottawa, the Senators did a phenomenal job checking Crosby and Malkin. However, Kessel was there to score the game’s only goal as the Penguins won 1-0.

Slipping back to the defense, nearly every team has had a top-pairing defenseman that is at or close to Norris-caliber over the past decade. This defenseman can play at a high level for 25-plus minutes per night and drives play at even strength while running an effective top power play unit. The one exception here might be the 2017 Penguins, who had Kris Letang, but he was sidelined due to injury and missed the entire playoffs. However, running it back to 2015, teams have had that minute-eating star defenseman who dominates at both ends of the rink. The list of players is elite: Cale Makar (Colorado 2022), Victor Hedman (Tampa Bay 2020 & 2021), Alex Pietrangelo (2019 in St. Louis and 2023 in Vegas) and John Carlson (Washington 2018), to name a few.

The depth is also essential for these Cup-winning rosters, as the bottom six can play a critical role depending on matchups and how many teams can roll four lines. Teams that can throw out a strong forechecking bottom two lines can wear down their opponents over a seven-game series using a mix of speed, grit and defensive reliability. The Penguins won two cups with this style, as did the Tampa Bay Lightning, who could deploy the likes of Pat Maroon, Tyler Johnson and Ross Colton on their bottom two lines during their back-to-back Stanley Cup championships. Teams that can keep sending over fresh legs shift after shift can eventually overwhelm their opponents in a seven-game series as the top players on the opposing team start to wear down from being relied upon to carry the water for a weaker team.

The teams that can build out depth can keep their core players together for a long time, which is also a massive piece of building out a Stanley Cup-winning roster. Most of the teams that won a title over the past decade did so by having a core that was largely intact for over a few years, which built chemistry, resilience, familiarity and a buy-in from the players who remained in that organization. The core continuity allowed all those components to grow and mature, eventually becoming an advantage when the games matter the most. Teams that lacked that stability often would have difficulty competing year after year, which happened to Pittsburgh after 2017, as the organization became a revolving door for the past decade.

Lastly, goaltending is always a significant factor in playoff success, but it isn’t always about who has the best goaltending; it is more about which team has the timeliest goaltending. Most of the teams that have won championships have done so without a Vezina Trophy winner and simply had a goaltender who got hot at the right time of year and carried the team through a round or two. In some cases, teams relied on two goalies who heated up when the games mattered most and were able to get the job done, or in the case of Vegas in 2023, they relied on upstart Adin Hill, who was fantastic in his 11 wins on the way to the franchise’s first Stanley Cup. In rare cases, teams didn’t even need average goaltending to win the cup and could get the job done despite poor netminding (Colorado 2022).

So, to recap, using the last ten Stanley Cup Champions: a team must acquire an elite first-line center, a strong second-line pivot, solid bottom-six depth up front, a Norris Trophy-calibre defenseman, and a goaltender that can get hot at precisely the right time. The ability to acquire the right mix of players at the right time is incredibly complicated and is something that Toronto has had to grapple with over the past decade; it isn’t easy to win in today’s NHL, and even the greatest of plans can be foiled by that reality. The Maple Leafs will be in tough to turn this era into a Stanley Cup, even if their blueprint isn’t far off from past winners.

Photos by Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports & Perry Nelson-Imagn Images

Ivan Prosvetov Eyeing NHL Return

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CSKA Moscow of Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League has released goaltender Ivan Prosvetov from the final two years of his contract to pursue NHL opportunities, according to Pavel Panyshev of Championat. They will retain his KHL rights through the time his deal was initially set to expire in May 2027 if he opts to return home before then.

Prosvetov, 26, will try again to land a full-time NHL roster spot as a backup on an opening-night roster in the fall. A fourth-round pick of the Coyotes in 2018, he spent four pro seasons there before being claimed off waivers by the Avalanche at the beginning of 2023-24. After failing to capture the No. 2 job there and finishing the year in the minors, he returned to his hometown on a three-year deal upon becoming a Group VI unrestricted free agent.

The 6’5″ netminder’s NHL work to date leaves much to be desired. In 19 starts and five relief appearances across four seasons with Arizona and Colorado, he posted an 8-9-2 record with a 3.70 GAA and .881 SV%. His below-average save percentage equates to 15.3 goals allowed above average during that time. His best work came in his longest leash with the Avs one year ago, posting a .895 SV% in 11 appearances before being sent to the minors in January. After the demotion, he also looked like an elite AHL option for the first time with a 2.33 GAA, .921 SV%, two shutouts, and an 11-7-2 record in 21 games for the Colorado Eagles.

Prosvetov’s move to Russia gave him some more momentum. He started the lion’s share of games for CSKA this season and earned KHL Goaltender of the Month honors in November en route to finishing 2024-25 with a 2.32 GAA, .920 SV%, four shutouts, and a 20-16-2 record in 38 games. Those are still above-average numbers in the goalie-friendly KHL and, considering his upward momentum to end his last NHL campaign in the Avs’ system, it makes sense there would be some interest in bringing him back stateside.

Colorado no longer holds his signing rights, so he’s free to talk with any team regarding a one-way or two-way contract for next season and beyond. If he doesn’t find a suitable offer, he’ll presumably return to CSKA for 2025-26.

NHL Announces General Manager Of The Year Finalists

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The Jets’ Kevin Cheveldayoff, the Stars’ Jim Nill, and the Panthers’ Bill Zito are the three finalists for this year’s Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award, the league announced today.

Unlike most other major league awards, GMOTY honors take playoff performance into account. Voting for the award is also done by a jury of their peers – all 32 NHL GMs, plus a panel of NHL executives, print and broadcast media, comprise the voting, which takes place after the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs concludes.

Cheveldayoff is the relative newbie of the trio in terms of being included among the finalists. It’s his second time making the cut – he previously finished second in GMOTY voting after Winnipeg had its then-best season in franchise history in the 2017-18 campaign. That club had 114 points, a mark this year’s Jets beat by two en route to winning their first Presidents’ Trophy in franchise history. This year’s notable moves included promoting Coach of the Year finalist Scott Arniel to the head role last offseason following Rick Bowness’ retirement as well as acquiring winger Brandon Tanev and defenseman Luke Schenn at the deadline.

His nomination stems more from identifying his core and sticking with it through ups and downs. Most of Winnipeg’s driving forces – namely Connor Hellebuyck, Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor, and Josh Morrissey – have been there for years and were all drafted under Cheveldayoff.

Nill, meanwhile, is going for a three-peat. He’s already one of just two GMs to win the award twice, alongside former Islanders boss Lou Lamoriello. While he’s wholly responsible for the Dallas core that’s now advanced to three straight Western Conference Finals, his in-season moves may have him well-positioned to take home the honors yet again.

Playoff performance will be a factor here – after Nill traded for and signed Mikko Rantanen to a massive eight-year, $96MM extension at the deadline, he’s returned the favor as the Conn Smythe favorite so far with a playoff-leading 9-11–20 scoring line through 14 games. His draft record among mid-to-late first-round picks in recent years, highlighted by Wyatt Johnston, Jake Oettinger, and Jason Robertson, is arguably the biggest reason they’ve been able to enter their lengthiest contention window since winning the Stanley Cup in 1999.

As for Zito, he’d have won one by now if not for Nill’s reign. He’s a finalist for the third year in a row and the fourth time overall during his stint at the helm of the Panthers. His offseason work, with depth pickups like Nate Schmidt performing well in lieu of big-name players who left in free agency following last year’s Stanley Cup win, already had them well set for a repeat. Acquiring stars Brad Marchand and Seth Jones in separate pre-deadline deals, both of whom have been among the Cats’ best postseason players, is the main reason he finds himself on this year’s list, though.

Michael Sgarbossa Signs With Swiss League’s HC Lugano

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Forward Michael Sgarbossa has signed a two-year deal with HC Lugano of the Swiss National League, per a club announcement. He was set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1 after completing his two-year, two-way deal with the Capitals.

Sgarbossa, 33 in July, has carved out a lengthy pro career as an AHL mainstay and frequent call-up option despite going undrafted. He got his first NHL look with the Avalanche back in the 2012-13 season and played for four organizations in his first six pro seasons, including the Ducks, Panthers, and Jets – all in fringe NHL roles (or none at all, as was the case during his lone season in Winnipeg). He played 48 NHL contests over that span and recorded two goals and 10 points, including a career-high 38 appearances split between Anaheim and Florida in the 2016-17 campaign.

While Sgarbossa never found stability as a full-time NHL roster piece, he did at least find organizational stability for the latter half of his career. After spending the 2017-18 season with the Jets’ AHL affiliate, he signed with Washington in free agency the following summer and has remained in the Capitals’ system since.

He played almost exclusively for Hershey over the first couple of two-way deals he signed, but amid a near point-per-game season in the AHL, he did get more of an extended NHL look in the 2023-24 season. The veteran center slotted in 25 times for Washington down the stretch as the Caps fought for and won a wild-card spot, scoring a career-high four goals while averaging nearly 11 minutes per game.

Sgarbossa only got three NHL reps here in 2024-25, though, and injuries limited him to 35 games on the farm with Hershey. He was still extremely productive when healthy, though – the playmaking pivot notched a 7-24–31 scoring line.

He’s been a remarkably consistent first-line producer for Hershey since his arrival in the Caps’ system in 2018, scoring 268 points in 297 games for the franchise (0.90 per game). A two-time AHL All-Star and a Calder Cup champion with Hershey in 2023 (he didn’t play in the playoffs when the Bears won in 2024), he pauses his North American minor-league career after recording a 165-302–467 scoring line in 609 AHL games over the last 13 years. Since Sgarbossa made his pro debut in 2012, only eight players have recorded more AHL points than he has.

He’ll now join a Lugano team that was on the brink of relegation to the second-tier Swiss League but won their play-out series to extend their 42-year stay in the top level. They’ve been active in inking productive veteran AHLers this offseason, also signing defenseman Connor Carrick a few weeks back.

Axel Jonsson-Fjallby Signs Three-Year Deal In Sweden

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Jets pending unrestricted free agent winger Axel Jonsson-Fjallby has signed a three-year contract with Brynas IF of the Swedish Hockey League, the club announced Friday.

Jonsson-Fjallby, 27, didn’t see any NHL time this season after clearing waivers and heading to AHL Manitoba during training camp. He’s wrapping up a two-year, partial two-way deal he signed in free agency with Winnipeg in 2023 and earned the full league-minimum $775K salary this year despite not receiving any callups.

It was the first season that Jonsson-Fjallby hadn’t touched NHL ice since making his debut with the Capitals in the 2021-22 campaign. A fifth-round pick by Washington back in 2016, he was claimed off waivers by the Jets at the beginning of the 2022-23 season and has remained in the Winnipeg organization since.

Not too long ago, it looked like the speedy 6’0″ winger had what it takes to be an everyday bottom-six forward. He appeared in a career-high 50 games with Winnipeg in 2022-23 following the waiver claim, averaging 10:27 per game but still managing to record six goals and eight assists for 14 points. AJF only got 26 NHL games the following year, though, as he passed through waivers unclaimed and bounced between the majors and minors.

His chances of making an NHL comeback likely ended with a poor showing in Manitoba this season. After hovering well north of a 0.7 points per game rate in the prior few years, Jonsson-Fjallby produced an underwhelming 12-15–27 scoring line in 65 showings for the Moose, just 0.42 points per game. As such, it would have made little sense for Jonsson-Fjallby to hold out hope for a two-way deal as a UFA this summer when there was a much more stable offer waiting for him back home in Sweden.

There aren’t many better places for a potential resurgence overseas for Jonsson-Fjallby than Brynas, which just took home the top spot in the SHL in the regular season. His previous top-flight experience in Sweden came with Djurgardens IF from 2016 to 2019, recording an 8-19–27 scoring line in 102 games there as a youngster.

Including his time in Washington, Jonsson-Fjallby has a 10-13–23 scoring line with a plus-five rating in 99 career NHL games.

Daniil Pylenkov Hoping To Sign Entry-Level Deal With Lightning

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Four years after being drafted by the Lightning in the seventh round, Russian defenseman Daniil Pylenkov is ready to come to North America and hopes to land his entry-level contract with Tampa this offseason, he told RG’s Daria Tuboltseva.

The 24-year-old lefty said he’s already had dialogue with Bolts GM Julien BriseBois, but a deal isn’t imminent yet. “He said they’re waiting for me. Nothing specific yet, but we’re in contact,” Pylenkov told Tuboltseva.

Pylenkov was the first of three seventh-round selections BriseBois’ Lightning made in 2021. He’d been passed over twice already – his late September 2000 birthday means he was first eligible for the 2019 draft. But by the time 2021 had rolled around, Pylenkov had two full professional seasons under his belt with the KHL’s Vityaz Podolsk and was coming off a five-goal, 19-point performance for them in 54 games.

The 6’1″, 196-lb rearguard has bounced around the KHL since being drafted, spending time with SKA St. Petersburg, Severstal Cherepovets, and Dynamo Moscow. The latter club is where he’s spent the last two seasons and enjoyed the most success. This year was far and away the best campaign of his career, leading Dynamo defensemen in points with a 6-25–31 scoring line and a +14 rating. He added seven points in 17 postseason games as Dynamo was bounced by Gagarin Cup runners-up Traktor Chelyabinsk in the third round of the playoffs.

“I understand I’ll have to compete fiercely for a spot,” Pylenkov said. “Two years ago, Tampa had a deeper defense lineup. Now there’s an opportunity, but the adaptation will be tougher since the guys who joined last year have already gained experience. It’ll be harder for me to adjust to Tampa’s style than it was for them.”

There is an opportunity for Pylenkov to work his way into NHL games next season, though. His being a left shot doesn’t make him a cut-and-dry replacement for pending UFA righty Nick Perbix, but a strong enough training camp could help him leapfrog or at least find himself on equal footing with third-pairing lefty Emil Lilleberg.

Submit Your Questions For The #PHRMailbag

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The first two rounds of the playoffs are in the books with only four teams remaining in contention for the Stanley Cup while the other 28 await what’s expected to be a particularly busy offseason in terms of activity.  Meanwhile, a handful of teams are still working through their searches for their next head coach while another is in the home stretch for finding their next general manager.

With all that in mind, it’s a good time to open up the mailbag once again.  Our last call for questions had enough for two separate columns.  The first talked about Winnipeg’s attractiveness to players, the Quinn Hughes situation in Vancouver, what could happen this offseason for the Kings, and more.  Meanwhile, topics in the second included discussing the idea of San Jose moving its top draft pick, buyout discussions for the Blues, and what Detroit might be looking to do in the coming weeks.

You can submit a question by using #PHRMailbag on Twitter/X or by leaving a comment down below. The mailbag will run this weekend.

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