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Five Key Stories: 9/1/25 – 9/7/25

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The calendar has turned to September and preseason games are only a few weeks away.  As a result, there was a bit more activity on the transactions front around the NHL over the past seven days, the most notable of which is recapped in our key stories.

Rule Changes Starting This Season: The CBA extension that was agreed upon back in the spring called for some notable changes starting in 2026-27.  But as it turns out, some will be in effect for this season instead.  Chief among those is the changes to LTIR that will see the pool limited to the NHL average salary unless the player is out for the season and the institution of a playoff salary cap.  Additionally, contracts with deferred compensation will only be allowed until October 6th, players assigned to the minors must play in one game before being recalled (to try to dissuade paper moves), a player can only have his contract retained on a second time after 75 regular season days have passed from his original trade, and post-deadline recall limits being expanded from four to five.

Price’s Contract Traded: After the Canadiens paid Carey Price’s signing bonus on Monday, it was widely expected that they’d move him to get out of using LTIR, a position they’ve been in since 2021.  They did just that, sending the injured netminder to San Jose with a 2026 fifth-round pick in exchange for defenseman Gannon Laroque.  Price hasn’t played since 2022 but has carried a $10.5MM AAV during that stretch, causing Montreal to have carryover bonus penalties each season since then which is why they were willing to part with a draft pick to avoid being in that spot this season.  Meanwhile, the Sharks will only be responsible for paying 40% of his $2MM salary (insurance will cover the rest), meaning they’ve effectively bought a draft pick for $800K.  As for Laroque, he has played in just 22 games over the last three years and didn’t suit up at all last season and his playing future remains in question.

Three For Zary: One of the few remaining restricted free agents reached an agreement on a new contract as the Flames re-signed forward Connor Zary to a three-year deal that will carry a $3.775MM AAV.  The 23-year-old was a first-round pick by Calgary back in 2020 but he hasn’t seen a ton of action at the NHL level thus far, just 117 outings over two seasons.  Last season, Zary was limited to just 54 games due to a pair of knee injuries but when he was in the lineup, he was reasonably productive with 13 goals and 14 assists.  The deal is a sign that the Flames feel he still has another level to get to offensively.  When this contract expires in 2028, Zary will be arbitration-eligible with one year of RFA eligibility remaining.

Calling It A Career: After parts of ten NHL seasons, veteran center Derek Ryan has called it a career, announcing his retirement at the age of 38.  A free agent this summer, he acknowledged that he wasn’t actively pursuing a contract although he would have been open to returning to Edmonton.  Ryan took the long route to the NHL, not getting his first contract until 28, that coming after stints in Canada’s college system and three seasons in Austria, hardly a common route.  But Ryan eventually became a quality bottom-six center for several years, chipping in with 209 points and a 55.3% success rate on faceoffs in 606 games between Carolina, Calgary, and Edmonton.

Dryden Passes Away: Early Saturday, the Canadiens announced that their long-time goaltender and Hall of Famer Ken Dryden passed away at the age of 78 after a battle with cancer.  He was an elite netminder for Montreal in the 1970s, winning six Stanley Cups and five Vezina Trophies over eight seasons and is tied with Dominik Hasek for the highest save percentage in NHL history (among goalies with at least 100 games) at .922.  Dryden retired in his 20s but remained in the game as an announcer, an author, and later, as team president in Toronto for several seasons before pursuing a career in Canadian politics.  Dryden was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983.

Photo courtesy of Sergei Belski-Imagn Images.

Afternoon Notes: Thompson, Reichel, Ovechkin

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It has been an up-and-down year for Buffalo Sabres star Tage Thompson. He was excluded from Team USA’s roster at the Four Nations Face-Off in February, prompting a monster run through the rest of his games last season. He scored 33 goals in 57 games following the mid-year break, then added nine points in 10 games at the summer’s World Championship, including the decisive goal to earn the United States their first Gold Medal in recent history. As part of an extended interview, Thompson told Michael Russo of The Athletic that he’s hoping that goal can advance his spot on the watchlist as the USA prepares for the Olympics. He said:

I would hope scoring that goal would make a difference, but it’s also one play. It doesn’t define me as a player or mean that I had a great tournament or anything by that means… I want to be an Olympian, but getting the Sabres back into the playoffs is always at the forefront.

Thompson is undoubtedly one of America’s biggest scoring threats. His 120 goals in 225 games is the second-most from any American in the NHL since 2022, behind only Auston Matthews (142 goals in 222 games). Thompson has managed that feat despite playing for the only team to score more than 800 goals, and still get outscored, in the same timeframe. He’s the standing pillar of a struggling team, a point made literal by Thompson’s 6-foot-6, 220-pound frame. The United States tied Canada for the most goals (10) during their three games at the 4-Nations Face-Off. Adding a player of Thompson’s caliber to the lineup could be enough to will the Americans over their rival on the biggest stage next February.

Other notes from around the NHL:

  • Chicago Blackhawks winger Lukas Reichel told Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun Times that he hasn’t been able to dodge trade rumors – even hearing them on the streets of his native Germany. Despite that, Reichel emphasized that his focus is squarely on carving out a big role with the Blackhawks next season. He scored a career-high eight goals and 22 points in 70 games last season, but still seems well capable of achieving more. The Blackhawks will have plenty of new faces challenging Reichel for minutes next year, including newcomer Andre Burakovsky and rookies Oliver Moore and Landon Slaggert. That competition will push Reichel to a breaking point. If he can show his might in the NHL, he’ll earn a strong role in the middle-six. If not, he could soon find a path away from the Blackhawks organization.
  • NHL legend Alex Ovechkin has departed from his native Russia to return to the United States for the 2025-26 season, shares Sammi Silber of The Hockey News. Ovechkin will kick off his 21st season in the NHL when he lands back in Washington D.C. That mark will make him one of just 42 NHL players to appear in at least 21 seasons. The future Hall-of-Famer broke the league’s record for all-time goals last season, en route to an incredibly 44 goals and 73 points in just 65 games. It will be hard to relieve those numbers as he inches as he prepares to play in his age-40 season. Even then, managing even half of that scoring pace would put Ovechkin on pace for the highest-scoring age-40 season since Teemu Selanne posted 80 points in 2010-11.

Extending Jack Eichel Will Be A Top Priority For Golden Knights

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The Vegas Golden Knights find their back to summer fireworks every single year. They pulled off a sign-and-trade deal for Mitch Marner this year, complete with an eight-year, $96MM contract for the superstar winger. Now, they face the looming task of signing top center Jack Eichel before he reaches free agency next July. Golden Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon said that Eichel’s deal will be a top priority for the club in a recent conversation with Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic. LeBrun further added that, while the two sides still have a long way to go, he’d be surprised if a deal didn’t get done.

Extension conversations between Eichel and Vegas began back in May, and the team began to work out contract estimates following their July acquisition of Marner. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman suggested that Vegas was ready to hand Eichel an even heftier deal than what Marner received – and with talks continuing at a strong cadence, it doesn’t seem that bar has created any barriers.

Targeting a deal richer than Marner’s will almost certainly land the value of Eichel’s next deal north of $100MM. That would put him among a limited, but growing, group of NHL stars to sign a nine-figure deal. Only seven players have signed such contracts – the most recent being Leon Draisaitl’s record-breaking $112MM contract with the Edmonton Oilers. That deal – which carries a $14MM cap hit for eight seasons – could be where Vegas begins conversations with Eichel. The 28-year-old centerman hasn’t yet crossed the century mark in scoring, but he’s planted deep roots in Vegas’ top forward role and seems set for a big year with Marner’s support.

Aside from the importance of signing your lineup star, Vegas will need to cement Eichel’s deal before they even think of budgeting for the 2026-27 season. The salary cap is expected to rise to $104MM – nearly $9MM more than next season’s limit – which should give Vegas plenty of space to give Eichel a raise of $4MM or $5MM per year. The Golden Knights will be pushing up against the cap ceiling this next season, and will only manage any cap relief by placing top defenseman Alex Pietrangelo on long-term injured reserve.

No matter where his salary ends up, Eichel’s next deal seems all-but-certain to carry through the bulk of his 30’s. They could be the best years of the one-time Stanley Cup winner’s career as well, as Vegas continues to load up on blue-chip talent through free agency and the draft. The Golden Knights will be as competitive as ever next season – with Marner’s debut, Pavel Dorofeyev’s follow-up, and Trevor Connelly’s push up the minor-leagues each providing plenty of sparks.

Ryane Clowe Steps Down From Sharks’ Assistant GM Role

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In a surprising bit of news, former NHL forward Ryane Clowe has announced he has resigned from the San Jose Sharks’ assistant general manager role. Last season was Clowe’s first in a role with the Sharks front office. In a statement released through the Sharks social media, Clowe said:

I truly loved being back in San Jose and working with Mike Grier and his entire team, but at this point, this decision is in the best interest of my family. The franchise has an exciting future ahead and is set up to be successful for a long period of time…

Last summer, Clowe returned to the Sharks organization for the first time since 2013. His last tenure with the Sharks spanned 12 years, beginning with a sixth-round selection in the 2001 NHL Draft. Clowe moved to the Sharks’ pro ranks two seasons later, joining the AHL’s Cleveland Barons in the 2003-04 season. He was an instant force – netting 102 points and 198 penalty minutes over his first two seasons, and 146 games, in the minor-leagues. That earned him a full-time role in the NHL by 2006, and Clowe quickly became a core piece of the San Jose roster. He rivaled 50 points and 100 penalty minutes in every season between 2008 and 2012 – and served as the club’s assistant captain for the latter three years.

His time with San Jose came to a close when he was controversially traded to the New York Rangers for a heap of draft picks in 2013. Clowe didn’t find the same groove with the Rangers, and couldn’t rediscover it with a move to the New Jersey Devils later in his career. He played his final NHL game in 2015 and joined the Devils as an assistant coach in 2016.

Clowe worked backwards with his playing days behind him. He served two years on the Devils’ bench, before serving three in a team consultant and senior advisor position with the Rangers, and then moving to the Sharks last summer.

Now, Clowe steps away from important roles with San Jose’s  NHL and AHL rosters. His duties will likely be distributed among fellow assistant GMs Joe Will and Tom Holy, unless the Sharks opt to hire a replacement. At the time, it’s not clear why Clowe chose to step away from the Sharks, though it’d be hard to imagine he stays away from the sport for too long. Clowe recorded 309 points and 618 penalty minutes in 491 games, and 13 seasons, in his NHL career. He’s pushed through six more NHL seasons in a staff position.

Devils Sign Kevin Rooney, Luke Glendening, Two Others To PTOs

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The New Jersey Devils have signed four veterans to professional try-out contracts. The list includes former Devil forward Kevin Rooney, longtime center Luke Glendening, minor-league goalie Adam Scheel, and Russian goalie Georgi Romanov. All four players will report to New Jersey’s training camp when it begins on September 17th.

Rooney will be the most familiar name to Devils fans. He began his pro career with the organization, signing with the Albany Devils as an undrafted free agent in 2016. Within three seasons, Rooney had worked his way up to a hardy, fourth-line role in the NHL. He quickly became known for making gritty and hard-earned plays, but never scored more than 10 points in a single season with the Devils. He moved to the New York Rangers for the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons, and has spent the last three seasons split between the Calgary Flames’ NHL and AHL rosters. Rooney has continued to offer a stout, depth role everywhere he goes – and will now return to New Jersey looking to earn a role at the age of 32. He has totaled 60 points in 330 NHL games.

Glendening will be another familiar name, if only for his longevity in the league. The now-36-year-old centerman also began his career as an undrafted free-agent, signing with the AHL’s Providence Bruins in 2012 after four seasons at the University of Michigan. Glendening returned to Michigan via a move to the Grand Rapids Griffins in his first full season in the AHL, and played a key, middle-six role during the club’s race to the 2013 Calder Cup. He moved to the NHL in the very next season, and has spent the last 12 years filling a confident, bottom-six role for multiple teams. His career spanned seven years with the Detroit Red Wings, before taking two-year pit stops with the Dallas Stars and Tampa Bay Lightning. He’s proven consistent throughout, and boasts 166 points and 308 penalty minutes in 864 career games. With New Jersey already boasting a full lineup, Glendening could be set to compete with Rooney for the role of veteran depth-forward.

While Glendening and Rooney battle it out, so will depth goaltenders Scheel and Romanov. Scheel spent last season split between the AHL’s Colorado Eagles and the ECHL’s Utah Grizzlies. He managed stout numbers in the higher league, recording a 10-2-2 record and .904 save percentage with the Eagles. But on a weak Utah lineup, Scheel fell to a 5-12-2 record and .884 save percentage. Also an undrafted free agent, he has totaled a .905 save percentage through 101 games, and five seasons, in the AHL. Romanov hasn’t been in North American pros for as long, but posted an encouraging .904 save percentage in 29 games of the 2023-24 season, and a .905 in 21 games last season. Those numbers were enough to earn him a handful of NHL games during the San Jose Sharks’ recent goalie drought. He recorded an 0-6-0 record and .888 save percentage in 10 games with the Sharks. Whoever wins the goalie battle at training camp will likely take on the role of third-string minor-leaguer behind Nico Daws and Jakub Malek.

Photo courtesy of Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images.

Marco Scandella Confirms Retirement

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September 2025: Nearly a year after telling reporters he was retired, Scandella has evidently filed his retirement paperwork. The Blues made an announcement today confirming his retirement.

October 2024: St. Louis Blues defenseman Marco Scandella has retired from his pro playing career, sharing as much with Matthew DeFranks of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Scandella attended the Blues’ morning skate on Saturday, visiting old teammates and affirming to reporters that he’s taken to traveling with his newfound free time. He last played in the final game of St. Louis’ 2023-24 season, though his year as a whole would be limited by routine healthy scratches. Scandella totaled eight points in 65 games in what is now his final season.

St. Louis acquired Scandella from the Montreal Canadiens in 2020, sending a 2020 second and 2021 fourth-round pick the other way. Those picks turned into prospects Jack Finley and William Trudeau, respectively, while Scandella pursued a five-year career in St. Louis. He appeared in 215 games over that span, stepping in as a stout two-way option down St. Louis’ depth chart. However, Scandella was never a prolific scorer with the Blues, reaching a career high of 24 points in 49 games during the 2020-21 season.

The Blues were one of four teams to host Scandella during his 14-year NHL career, which began with the Minnesota Wild in the 2010-11 season.  He played in 20 games and recorded just two assists in his first season, impressing enough with his abilities off-puck to earn 63 games in a routine top-pair role in the following year. Unfortunately, his rise to a prominent lineup role would be coupled with the first long-term injuries of his career.

He’d be limited by finger injuries, concussions, and groin injuries through his first three pro seasons. He kicked the injury bug in 2013 and became one of the most consistent parts of Minnesota’s lineup until a 2017 trade to the Buffalo Sabres. Scandella continued to serve as a low-scoring, high-responsibility defender in Buffalo, even serving as the team’s top defender in the 2017-18 season. That was a career year for Scandella, marking the only time he appeared in all 82 games of a season. He’d record 22 points, one shy of his career-high set in 2015, while averaging over 23 minutes of ice time.

Scandella’s role would decline every year after his peak with the Sabres, save for a 70-game season with the Blues in 2021-22. He played through his age-33 season, totaling 170 points in 784 games and 42 points in 96 AHL games. His career was marked by diligent and responsible defense, which could be enough to earn Scandella a coaching career down the road.

Senators Re-Sign Donovan Sebrango

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The Ottawa Senators have signed defenseman Donovan Sebrango to a one-year, two-way contract extension, per PuckPedia. Sebrango was one of two remaining restricted-free agents in Ottawa’s system, alongside defender Max Guenette.

Sebrango played the first two NHL games of his career with Ottawa last season. He only managed 20:37 minutes of ice time between the two games, and didn’t record any notable stat changes – but the games were still an important step for the 23-year-old. He has otherwise spent the last five seasons in a full-time, AHL role – spread across games with the Grand Rapids Griffins and Belleville Senators.

Sebrango struggled to produce much on either side of the ice through his early career – netting just 18 points in 135 games with the Griffins. The low scoring seemed set to continue after Sebrango recorded just seven assists in 35 games of his first year with Belleville. But the young defender finally found his groove this season, climbing all the way to 20 points in 50 games with Belleville. That jump in offense, complimented by a gritty, two-way style, earned Sebrango quick attention from the Senators. A one-year extension could be exactly what the young blue-liner needs to build on his momentum from the breakout year. Another hot year could earn him even more NHL ice time, and a much more confident contract offer from the Senators next summer. Sebrango was originally a third-round pick to the Detroit Red Wings in 2020 – after managing an OHL career that spanned 56 points in 118 games.

Brandon Yip Announces Retirement

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Former Colorado Avalanche forward Brandon Yip has announced his retirement from professional hockey via a social media post from his team, the KHL’s Shanghai Red Dragons. This news confirms recent speculation. Yip spent seven of his final eight seasons with the Kunlun Red Stars, who relocated to Shanghai this summer. His sole year away from Kunlun in that span came with the Liiga’s Mikkelin Jukurit during the pandemic season in 2020-21.

Yip became a beacon of Chinese hockey in the second-half of his career. He joined Kunlun in 2017, after three years in Germany’s DEL, and earned the captaincy for the top Chinese club after just one season. He would carry the Red Stars’ ’C’ for six more seasons. Residency in China also helped Yip – a Chinese-Canadian – join Team China at the 2022 Winter Olympic Qualifiers. He posted one assist in four tournament games, and six points in four games at the Division-II-A World Championship, that season. His performance was a major part of China’s promotion to the Division-I-B World Championship in 2023, where he scored four points in five games. Yip served as China’s captain in all 13 games he played with the club.

Yip’s career took him across the hockey world before settling in China. He earned an eighth-round selection in the 2004 NHL Draft after scoring 131 points in 99 BCHL games, through two seasons in the league. He followed his draft selection with a four-year tenure at Boston University, where he scored 108 points in 138 games. Colorado promoted Yip to the NHL the year after his collegiate career ended, and he managed a hardy 11 goals and 19 points in 32 games.

That was enough to earn Yip a nightly lineup role for the 2010-11 season – but he wasn’t able to keep the high-tempo offense rolling. He scored just 22 points in 71 games that year, kicking off a slide of underwhelming play that’d carry through the next four seasons. Yip moved to the Nashville Predators in 2012, and Phoenix Coyotes in 2013, but ultimately found himself in a full-time AHL role by 2014. He chose to move away from North America two years later, ending his NHL career at 56 points in 174 games.

Now taking the first step beyond his playing career, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Yip take on a new role with Team China. He boasts the most NHL experience of any player in the country’s brief international hockey history. Currently, 74-year-old Perry Pearn – once a journeyman NHL assistant coach – serves as the head coach of China’s Men’s team and junior team.

Evening Notes: Laine, Salary Cap, 84-Game Schedule

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Montreal Canadiens winger Patrik Laine has a path to more minutes this season, after averaging a career-low 14:18 in ice time last season. Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes met with Laine to discuss areas he could focus growing in to earn a hardier role in the lineup, shares Sportsnet’s Eric Engels.

Laine finished the season with 20 goals in 52 games, but Montreal was also outscored 17-to-26 when Laine was on the ice at even-strength. Questions about Laine’s effort outside of the defensive zone have existed since his rookie season, but it’s hard not to imagine those are the attributes the Canadiens would like to see more. Finding an added step towards opponents in the defensive zone, and winning more battles in the dirty areas of the ice, would go a long way towards helping the 6-foot-4 Laine fit in with an otherwise undersized top-six. Laine reached the 30-goal mark in each of his first three seasons in the NHL, and could be a real X-factor in the Canadiens lineup should he take the necessary strides.

Other notes from around the league:

  • NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly elaborated on upcoming changes to the league’s use of long-term injured reserve in an interview at the NHL’s pre-season coaches/GM meeting. He received many questions on the league’s new rule that playoff lineups must be cap-compliant. That includes one from Engels, who asked if there would be exceptions made for players working back from injury who are game-time decisions. Daly did not have an answer, other than to say that the league will answer that question in the future. The Stanley Cup playoffs are eight months away, allowing for plenty of time for the league to continue sorting out how they want to carry out changes to the CBA.
  • More light has also been shed on the league’s upcoming shift to an 84-game schedule, set to begin in the 2026-27 season. With that expansion, the season will be slated to begin in late-September and end in mid-June, per Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic. The shift to an earlier start to the season will be welcomed by many hockey fans, though a heavier workload will keep the season’s end tight to the NHL Draft and start of free agency on July 1st. That will be bittersweet news for many, especially NHL front offices, who have recently urged for a longer break between the end of the season and start of free agency.

Carey Price Trade Not A Necessity For Canadiens

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Trade attention has once again zoned in on Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price as the league announces changes to the use of long-term injured reserve and salary cap in the postseason. The future Hall-of-Fame goaltender hasn’t played since 2021, after undergoing meniscus surgery to address a severe knee injury. Montreal has kept him on LTIR, and thus received full relief from his $10.5MM cap hit, in each of the three seasons since. That cap hit and LTIR relief could each be beneficial for teams across the league, but Canadiens’ general manager Kent Hughes told Sportsnet’s Eric Engels that he’s in no rush to find a deal. Hughes said:

We don’t have to trade Carey Price… If we can find a trade to move his contract that makes sense for us and makes sense for another team, we’ll pursue it. But we don’t have to.

The Canadiens are currently $5.93MM over the salary cap, per PuckPedia. Placing Price back on LTIR at the start of the season will bring them up to roughly $4.57MM in cap space, more than enough for next season. That cap relief underlines Hughes’ sentiment of not needing a deal, and would likely force Montreal to bring back another long-term injury in any Price trade. They could balance their budget by swapping Price for a player like Logan Couture from the San Jose Sharks, or even by acquiring Shea Weber’s contract from the Chicago Blackhawks. Both teams sit roughly $6MM over the salary cap floor as things stand, and could get a hardier budget by paying up for Price’s contract.

As for what Montreal could expect in return, the list of comparable IR moves has run a bit thin. Montreal used Weber’s contract to acquire NHL winger Evgenii Dadonov from the Vegas Golden Knights in 2022. He’s moved multiple times since – most recently in a trade to Chicago alongside minor-leaguer Aku Raty and the rights to Victor Soderstrom in exchange for a fifth-round draft pick.

In the year prior to Weber’s original move to Vegas, Chicago used Brent Seabrook’s contract to acquire NHL forward Tyler Johnson and a second-round pick. That could be a better structure to hope for – though it’s hard to gauge if the market remains the same four years later, and with the changes to LTIR. With no rush to make a deal, Montreal will have the luxury of sitting back until a strong offer comes through.

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