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Kraken Hire Zac Dalpe, Adam Purner To Development Team

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The Seattle Kraken have announced two late-summer hires. Recently retired pro Zac Dalpe will join the club as a Player Development Consultant, and Adam Purner will take on the role of Video Analyst, in the 2025-26 season. Dalpe played through over 15 years between the NHL and AHL lineups, while Purner has spent the last three seasons as the video coach for the AHL’s Hershey Bears.

Dalpe will waste no time in continuing his career in the hockey world, as he lands this role just over a month after announcing the end of his playing days. He was once a top center prospect, originally drafted in the second-round of the 2008 NHL Draft by the Carolina Hurricanes. Dalpe followed his draft with two seasons at The Ohio State University, where he emerged as a key part of the offense – netting 70 points in 76 games before turning pro in 2010. He seemed to be set for much of the same success at the pro flight, with 64 points in his first 70 games in the AHL.

But Dalpe struggled to maintain his scoring into the NHL flight. His career was defined by lofty scoring in the minors, but minimal scoring in the majors. Despite that, the reliable center was able to work his way to 168 appearances at the NHL level over the course of 12 seasons. He played with six clubs over that period, including four years in Carolina’s pipeline and three years with Columbus. He totaled 32 points in those appearances. Dalpe’s spot starts in the NHL were rounded out by an impressive 392 points in 574 games, and 15 seasons, in the AHL. He was a true pillar of any lineup he joined, and spent the last six seasons of his career serving as a team captain – broken up as two years wearing the Cleveland Monsters ’C’, and four years leading the Charlotte Checkers.

Dalpe’s career was defined not by lofty stats or many accolades, but instead true year-over-year reliability and a willingness to fill any role his teams needed. He’ll now use those attributes to support Seattle’s young guns as they ramp into the NHL.

Joining Dalpe will be acclaimed video coach Purner, who supported the Hershey Bears in their run to Calder Cup Championships in two of the last three seasons. Purner’s career began with five seasons as the video coach for the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks. He followed that stint with two years in a minor-league role with the New Jersey Devils’ organization, split between one year with the Binghamton Devils and one year with the Utica Comets. Purner will now receive his first NHL opportunity just a few hours away from where his career began.

Bruins’ James Hagens To Return To Boston College

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Boston Bruins top prospect James Hagens has announced he will return to Boston College for his sophomore season. In a brief interview with Scott McLaughlin of Boston’s WEEI 93.7, Hagens shared that he’s in no rush to advance to the next step, acknowledging that development is a, “marathon, not a sprint”. Hagens revealed the news while participating at the Bruins’ 14th annual back-to-school celebration, alongside current Bruins Mason Lohrei and John Beecher.

Few announcements will shake the college scene as much as the news of Hagens’ return. He was among the best freshmen in college last season, tracking to 37 points in 37 games. That scoring earned him a unanimous selection to Hockey East’s All-Rookie team – an accolade he shared with teammate Teddy Stiga and Boston University rival Cole Hutson. Hagens reached those heights while filling an interesting role with the Eagles, stepping in between wingers Gabe Perreault and Ryan Leonard after the two spent their last three years centered by San Jose Sharks prospect Will Smith.

Each of Perreault, Leonard, and Hagens scored fewer points than the Eagles’ top-line managed in 2023-24, though it seemed that was more the cause of a low-scoring year across Hockey East. The top unit recorded points on 36 percent of BC’s goals this season, an ever-so-slight improvement over the 34 percent contributed by Smith, Leonard, and Perreault in 2024.

But while Hagens faced questions of his scoring upside relative to other top draft-eligible talents in the NCAA, it was hard not to be impressed by his on-ice results. He’s long been a dynamo among his age group, with an innate ability to predict movement and put himself in position to make a play. Hagens is strong on the puck – with an ability to use finesse moves and bulky shoulders to force his way into the dangerous areas of the ice. More than that, he showed clear signs of improvement as the year went on – developing his physical presence and ability to make a difference even when he wasn’t the first man in on a play.

Those signs of growth give Boston a prospect to be excited over. Hagens was lauded as the clear first-overall talent in the 2025 draft class, prior to the beginning of the 2024-25 season. Much of that claim came from his command of the U.S. NTDP over the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons, where he served as the team’s top-line center and snappy playmaker next to electric goal-scorer Cole Eiserman. With Eiserman’s help, Hagens was able to become the fifth-highest scoring player in NTDP history, with 187 points in 118 games. He also set the scoring record at the World U17 Hockey Challenge in 2023, with 21 points in seven games, and the World U18 Championship in 2024, with 22 points in seven games.

Hagens will be returning to a fresh-faced Boston College lineup next season. Both Leonard and Perreault signed their NHL entry-level contracts at the end of last season, leaving the Eagles with vacancies on both wings on their top-line. One of those spots will be occupied by Stiga, who has shown years of chemistry playing next to Hagens. The other spot will be closely contested, but could land in the hands of transfer forward Ryan Conmy, or fellow Bruins draft pick William Moore. Hagens and Moore will be two of six Bruins prospects on next year’s Eagles squad, providing local fans with plenty of reasons to walk to Conte Forum when the puck drops.

Patrick Thoresen Announces Retirement

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Former Edmonton Oilers forward Patrick Thoresen has announced his retirement from professional hockey, via a social media post from the SHL’s Djurgårdens IF. Thoresen has spent the last 17 years marching around European pro leagues. He has played with teams in four different countries, and eight different leagues, in that span. Now, after winning a HockeyAllsvenskan championship with Djurgårdens last season, the 41-year-old left-winger has decided to hang up his skates.

Thoresen’s history in the NHL is rather brief. He went undrafted through eligibility in the 2002, 2003, and 2004 NHL Drafts – falling through a combined 27 rounds in the old nine-round format – despite recording a combined 191 points in 131 QMJHL games during his draft-eligible years. Thoresen returned to Europe for in the 2003-04 season and quickly stood out as a pro. He scored 41 points in 38 games in Sweden’s top minor league, then continued to produce for Djurgårdens in the SHL (then the SEL) with a combined 50 points in 80 games over the next two seasons.

The strong performances in Sweden were enough to catch the eye of the Edmonton Oilers, who signed Thorsen to his first NHL contract in May of 2006. He was a major standout during the team’s 2006-07 training camp and earned a spot on the opening night roster. But he struggled to maintain the momentum into his first NHL season, and recorded just 16 points and 52 penalty minutes in 68 games of his rookie season. He returned to Edmonton in the next year, but was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers mid-season after scoring just three points in 17 games with the Oilers. He added five more points in 21 games with the Flyers – a slowdown that seemed to clearly paint a mismatch between Thoresen’s style and the NHL. His action with the Oilers and Flyers was intercut by 34 games and 32 points in the AHL.

With two years of struggles behind him, Thoresen opted to return to Europe via a move to Lugano of the Swiss National League in 2008. He instantly bounced back to form, recording 63 points and 48 games of the 2008-09 season, then signing with the KHL’s Ufa Salavat in the following summer. Thoresen maintained his point-per-game scoring in Russia, and served as a crucial piece of Ufa’s run to the league championship in 2011 – the most recent title-win in club history. He moved to SKA following his championship run, continued to score, and eventually led SKA to their own championship run in 2015. In total, Thoresen managed 358 points in 375 games in the KHL between 2009 and 2015.

The next three seasons were spent in one-year stops with Djurgårdens, Zurich SC, and SKA – before Thoresen opted to become the face of the Norwegian league in 2018. He continued on through various levels of Norwegian pros until this past season, when he returned to Djurgårdens to support their surge back to the SHL. With 41 points in 48 games from Thoresen, Djurgårdens was able to lean on a long-time veteran in their push to a league promotion.

Thoresen was a fixture of Norway’s Men’s roster from 2003 to 2025. He appeared with the team in every year, even through international moves, and has served as one of the club’s captains since 2012. Like he did in every league he played in, Thoresen emerged as a star scorer for the Norway squad, and even recorded five points in three games of this year’s Olympic Games Qualifiers, at the age of 40. He retires as Norway’s leader in goals (47) and points-per-game (0.98) through 131 international games.

Thoresen will hang his skates up with a strong bid for being the greatest Norwegian pro of all time. His accomplishments spanned borders, and include two championships in the KHL, two in Norway, one in the HockeyAllsvenskan, and a former SHL MVP award. While he’ll move on from his playing career, it’s hard to imagine a veteran of more than 20 pro seasons will stay away for long.

Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports.

Arbitrator Rules In Favor Of Flyers In Ryan Johansen’s Grievance

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An arbitrator has ruled in favor of the Philadelphia Flyers in a grievance filed by veteran centerman Ryan Johansen, over the team’s termination of his contract prior to the 2024-25 season, shares TSN’s Darren Dreger.

The Flyers acquired Johansen alongside a conditional 2025 first-round pick at the 2024 Trade Deadline, in exchange for sending defenseman Sean Walker to the Colorado Avalanche. Philadelphia placed Johansen on waivers immediately after the trade, with the intentions of assigning him to the AHL and potentially flipping him before the deadline. When no trade manifested, Johansen refused to report to the minor leagues, instead claiming that he was limited by a nagging hip injury. The NHL sided with Johansen, and reversed his AHL assignment after a failed physical exam.

Johansen spent the remainder of the 2023-24 season on injured reserve. There was a clear wedge between him and the Flyers’ top brass – one that only rooted deeper as the 2024 summer went on. By August, Philadelphia decided to place Johansen on unconditional waivers for the purposes of contract termination – citing the player’s delay in notifying them of the injury, and failure to pass physicals or report to his assignment.

Johansen passed through waivers and became an unrestricted-free agent. He filed a grievance with the NHLPA soon after, claiming the Flyers had wrongly terminated his contract. Now, a full year later, it seems the NHL will side with Philadelphia in their handling of the situation.

The implications of this decision aren’t immediately clear. Johansen had one year remaining on an eight-year, $64MM contract originally signed with the Nashville Predators in 2017 – though Philadelphia was only due $4MM in cap hit, after Nashville retained half of the contract when they traded Johansen to Colorado. The range of outcomes seems far-reaching – from Philadelphia being due that full $4MM price tag, to a settlement with the player, to no cap implications on the team’s side at all. Details on the exact impact against the Flyers will likely be revealed in the coming days.

The NHL’s last contract termination to reach headlines over a material breach came in 2015, when the Los Angeles Kings terminated forward Mike Richards’ contract with five years remaining. He was still due $22MM on the deal. Richards also filed a grievance with the NHLPA, and would end up settling with the team for an undisclosed amount before becoming a free agent. He signed for one season with the Washington Capitals following the dispute, but would retire from hockey in 2016.

It seems less likely that Johansen will return to the NHL. His play gradually dwindled throughout the 2020s – falling from 63 points in the 2021-22 season to just 23 points in 2023-24. He slowed down in all aspects, likely due to what was proven to be a very real and long-running hip injury. That slow-down pushed Johansen to Colorado’s fourth-line in his final few games with the team. With a decision in place on his grievance with the Flyers, he would realistically have time to sign a short contract, or try-out agreement, before the 2025-26 season. But those chances hinge on the 33-year-old’s recovery, and willingness to return, after a full season away from the league. If he does call his career to a close, the former fourth-overall selection will finish with 578 points in 905 games in the NHL.

Rocco Grimaldi, Joseph Blandisi Sign In KHL

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Former New Jersey Devils forward Joseph Blandisi has signed a two-year contract with SKA St. Petersburg of Russia’s KHL. Blandisi will be joined in the move by fellow AHL veteran Rocco Grimaldi, whose contract details haven’t yet been revealed, per Pavel Panyshev of Russia’s Championat. This will mark the first overseas move of both player’s careers, after years of rooted roles in the minor leagues.

Grimaldi boast the slightly richer career of the two, accumulating 203 NHL games and 499 AHL games over his nine-year career. He was originally drafted with the 33rd-overall pick in the 2011 NHL Draft by the Florida Panthers. Grimaldi followed his draft selection with three seasons at the University of North Dakota. He found great success in college, despite a freshman year derailed by injury, and entered the pros with wind behind his sails in the 2014-15 season.

Grimaldi scored a hot 42 points in 64 games of his AHL rookie season. That was enough to earn the first seven games of his NHL career, though he only managed one goal in those appearances. He spent the next four years firmly rooted in the rut of hot AHL scoring and meager NHL totals, until the 2018-19 Nashville Predators opted to reward Grimaldi with his first full year in the NHL. He scored just 13 points in 53 games with the club, but shined through enough to cement a bottom-six role for the next three seasons. But after not finding another gear at the top flight, Grimaldi was relegated back to the minors in 2022. His role was defined as a top AHL scorer with limited upward mobility – a sentiment that’s kept Grimaldi from receiving any NHL games in three years, despite scoring 256 points in 252 games since 2022.

Blandisi has fallen into a similar rut over recent years. After bearing through split AHL and NHL minutes between 2015 and 2020, the former sixth-round selection landed a full-time role in the minors in the 2020-21 season. He’s since found upside as both a scorer and bruiser, a role best highlighted by his 59 points and 110 penalty minutes in 70 games with the Toronto Marlies in the 2023-24 season. He followed that performance with 35 points and 82 penalty minutes in 58 games last season, bringing his career-long totals up to 321 points and 664 penalty minutes in 448 games and 10 seasons in the AHL. He also has 31 points in 101 NHL games.

Both players will look to escape middling roles in North America with a move to Russia’s top squad. They’ll join a rich squad in SKA, headlined by returning scorers Sergei Plotnikov and Marat Khairullin. Grimaldi and Blandisi should have no trouble finding hardy middle-six minutes, following SKA’s loss of Evgeny Kuznetsov and Mikhail Grigorenko this off-season. SKA finished second in their division, and got bumped from the conference quarterfinals, last season.

Snapshots: Tkachuk, Cozens, Red Wings

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The Tkachuk family has dominated late-summer headlines, leading to plenty of opportunities for the three NHL players – retired pro Keith Tkachuk, Florida Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk, and Ottawa Senators star Brady Tkachuk – to sit down with media from across the hockey world. The one throughline from each conversation has been Brady’s desire to stick with the Ottawa Senators. He told as much to ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski, sharing that the team’s push into the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs went far towards proving what the young core is capable of.

The Senators entered the 2024-25 season with one of the youngest rosters in the league – eighth-youngest, to be exact. They blazed through an incredibly successful season despite that, finishing the year with the top Eastern Conference Wild Card and just one point behind the eventual Cup-winning Panthers. Ottawa’s surge was spearheaded by young studs like Tim Stutzle, Drake Batherson, and Jake Sanderson. Those three were the only ones to score more than Tkachuk’s 29 goals and 55 points in 72 regular season games. But Tkachuk showed his importance to the squad when he led the team with four goals and seven points in six postseason games. Ottawa will return a fairly similar squad next season, and with a bode of confidence from their captain, may be able to find their way out of Wild Card standing or beyond the first round.

Other notes from around the league:

  • A key focus of the Senators’ 2025-26 season will be the performance of second-line center Dylan Cozens, who the team acquired from the Buffalo Sabres in a swap for Joshua Norris last Spring. Julian McKenzie of The Athletic shares that Cozens only needs to reach 20 goals, and maintain his all-around impact, to earn find a successful season. Cozens has only crossed the 20-goal mark once in his career – when he pushed for 31 goals and 68 points in the 2022-23 season. But he’s come close at other points, with 18 goals in 2023-24 and 16 goals last year. In fact, Cozens’ five goals in 21 games with the Senators perfectly paces him for a 20-goal performance across 82 games. That should be an achievable step for the 24-year-old centerman, though his goal will certainly be to further prove he can return to the heights of his 2023 scoring. Doing so could give Ottawa an ace up their sleeves as they look to one-up their performance from last year.
  • Years of stocking the prospect pool should begin to pay off for the Detroit Red Wings next season. They can expect three key prospects to emerge in the NHL per Max Bultman of The Athletic, who names forwards Nate Danielson and Carter Mazur, and goaltender Sebastian Cossa, as the young guns likely to break into the Detroit lineup next season. That should be an easy feat for Mazur and Cossa, who have both continuously shown their might at the AHL level. Mazur finished an injury-shortened season with 15 points in 20 AHL games, to go along with 37 points in 60 games in 2023-24. His hard-nosed style caught the eyes of Detroit’s top brass, but a freak injury cut his season down before he could play through a full NHL game. While he returns to the lineup, Cossa will aim to finally make the full-time jump, after serving as a pillar of consistency in the minor-leagues. He posted a .911 save percentage in 41 games last season, well in-line with the .913 save percentage he posted in 40 AHL games in 2023-24, and again in 46 ECHL in 2022-23. Among the bunch, it will be frail playmaker Nate Danielson who will have to show he can pop. Danielson played his first pro season last year, and scored an encouraging 39 points in 71 games. But on a Red Wings roster pushing for all they can get, he’ll need to show he can hold up to increasingly-challenging roles.

Five Key Stories: 8/4/25 – 8/10/25

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With training camps now a little more than a month away, a lot of teams are in summer vacation mode while there’s still time.  Although that has resulted in much more limited activity around the hockey world, there was still some news of note which we’ll cover in our key stories.

Schaefer Signs: The top pick in this year’s draft is now under contract as the Islanders signed defenseman Matthew Schaefer to a three-year, entry-level deal.  The agreement pays him $975K per season in the NHL plus another $3.5MM in potential bonuses.  Schaefer was limited to just 17 games with OHL Erie last season and was sidelined for the final few months after suffering a fractured clavicle in the second game of the World Juniors.  That said, he was dominant enough in his two-plus months of action to move him up the draft rankings, making him the consensus number one selection in this year’s class.  By signing now, Schaefer is no longer NCAA-eligible should he not make New York’s roster.

Vesey Heads Overseas: Veteran winger Jimmy Vesey had strong interest in free agency, just not from NHL clubs.  Teams from several leagues tried to sign him and in the end, he decided to sign in Switzerland, inking a two-year deal with Geneve-Servette.  The 32-year-old had a limited role with both the Rangers and Avalanche last season, notching eight points in 43 games.  Originally drafted by Nashville back in 2012, he decided not to sign with them, kickstarting a rarely seen process that saw him reach August 15th free agency and meet with many teams before joining the Rangers.  Overall, Vesey has played in 626 career NHL games over parts of nine seasons, tallying 101 goals and 93 assists.

Panthers Unlikely To Move Rodrigues: With Florida sitting $3.725MM over the salary cap per PuckPedia, many have been waiting for the other shoe to drop; who would be moved to get them back into compliance?  The answer is, for now at least, no one, as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that the Panthers are unlikely to move forward Evan Rodrigues, the one player they could part with to get close to being cap-compliant.  Instead, it appears their intention is to start the season using LTIR with winger Matthew Tkachuk acknowledging that surgery is likely needed to fully repair the adductor injury he dealt with in the playoffs.  If that happens, he’d be expected to miss multiple months, allowing Florida to keep the rest of the group intact for at least a little while longer though they’d have to get compliant whenever Tkachuk was cleared to return.

Winger Signings: While Vesey signed overseas, two other UFA wingers found NHL contracts.  First, the Avalanche agreed to a one-year, $1.25MM deal with Joel Kiviranta.  The 29-year-old had a surprising 16 goals with Colorado last season after his previous career high in points in a single season was 11.  The deal gives Kiviranta a well-deserved raise while still being a reasonable enough price tag should his production drop back to normal levels.  Meanwhile, the Stars dipped their toes into the market as well, signing Nathan Bastian to a one-year, $775K contract.  The 27-year-old had 10 points and 138 hits in 59 games with New Jersey last season.  He’ll battle for a spot on the fourth line in training camp.

Varlamov To Resume Skating: Islanders goaltender Semyon Varlamov didn’t play at all last season after November due to a lingering knee injury.  They felt it was necessary to add some insurance in free agency when they signed David Rittich to a one-year deal.  However, it appears that Varlamov could be ready for training camp as he’s expected to resume skating in the near future.  The 37-year-old still has two years left on his contract at a $2.75MM AAV and while he’s coming off a down (injury-riddled) year, he has been one of the better backups in recent years.  Getting him back to form would be a nice boost heading into the season.

Photo courtesy of Jim Rassol-Imagn Images.

Poll: Who Will Be The Next RFA To Sign?

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The summer is winding down across the NHL, but a rich group of remaining restricted-free agents are keeping multiple teams from closing their books just yet. There are still multiple top, young players awaiting contracts for the 2025-26 season – including top-line features like Luke Hughes, Marco Rossi, and Mason McTavish. Pending any holdouts, it seems hard to imagine any of the top names not finding a new deal before the start of the season. But who will get the assurance next?

Hughes seems like a confident bet. There’s no denying the warm relationship between his family and the New Jersey Devils organization, and both team and player have already expressed interest in locking up a long-term contract. But that desire has been the exact hang-up in contract negotiations, as the Devils sit with just over $6.1MM in available cap space, per PuckPedia. Hughes scored 44 points in 71 games last year, and 47 points in 82 games in the year prior. That scoring is the second-most from any U23 defender in the NHL over the last two seasons, just behind Jake Sanderson (95 points) and ahead of Brock Faber (76 points).

Both Sanderson and Faber have already found their contracts for the future – each signing eight-year deals with cap hits north of $8MM. That seems to set a clear market for what Hughes, but it’s a price tag that New Jersey is currently priced out of. Landing a new deal with Hughes will seemingly take a gentleman’s agreement, or a supplemental move like parting with the $1.15MM cap hit of Kurtis MacDermid.

New Jersey’s holdups could pave way for Anaheim Ducks center McTavish to land a deal first. McTavish is another undeniable talent, who worked his way to a lofty 22 goals and 52 points in 76 games last season – good for second on the Ducks in scoring. He seems well set up for another big step next season, on an improved Ducks lineup with a new head coach. But McTavish’s continued divide with a rich Ducks team – currently wielding $20.54MM in cap space – has many speculating about what the two sides could be disagreeing on. That dialogue has made McTavish a top option for any team considering a late-summer offer sheet, though Anaheim’s rich cap space would make it tough to successfully buy McTavish. Instead, it seems the two sides will be tasked only with deciding between a short-term bridge deal or a deal that carries McTavish through his prime.

The Minnesota Wild will be facing a similarly challenging question with top center Marco Rossi. Rossi is another player who managed a true breakout last year, with 24 goals and 60 points in 82 games. He stepped into a prime role with the Wild in the second-half of the year, taking on the top-line center role with Joel Eriksson Ek out with injury and routinely earning north of 20 minutes of ice time. Rossi looked up to the task, but then was surprisingly relegated to a fourth-line role for Minnesota’s six postseason games. The Wild are clearly at ends with the question of whether Rossi’s 5-foot-9 frame can stand up to a true #1 role. That hang-up has made Rossi’s situation perhaps the most likely to drag through the pre-season. And still, it’s hard to imagine Minnesota will give up easily on their most recent top-10 draft pick. Rossi could be a strong candidate for a short-term, prove-it contract – which would give Minnesota the time to figure out his lineup role. The Wild sit with just over $9.4MM in cap space.

There are plenty of strong candidates to sign next outside of the big three names. The gap between the Calgary Flames and impressive center Connor Zary has been revealed as narrow. Multiple players have already carved out lineup roles with their signing team, and now only need the deal to prove it – players like Seattle’s Ryker Evans and Nashville’s Luke Evangelista. And other teams are merely one contract away from a full book, like the Vegas Golden Knights with winger Alexander Holtz. Any of those situations could quickly cave, and land another promising young player with the ramp they need for next season.

Who do you think will sign next? Answer in the poll below and let us know why in the comments:

Which RFA Will Sign Next?
Luke Hughes 39.39% (269 votes)
Mason McTavish 22.69% (155 votes)
Connor Zary 14.93% (102 votes)
Marco Rossi 12.15% (83 votes)
Luke Evangelista 10.83% (74 votes)
Total Votes: 683

Mobile users click here to vote.

Morning Notes: Roslovic, Bonk, Avalanche

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The free agent market for centerman Jack Roslovic is growing richer by the day. In addition to garnering interest from multiple teams across the league, Roslovic has also received multiple offers from teams in Russia’s KHL, per Dylan Griffing of EliteProspects. Those offers will likely ring on deaf ears for a centerman who has spent the last nine seasons in the NHL, but they will ramp up the pressure on NHL clubs to get a deal in place.

Roslovic is certainly worth the late-summer intrigue. He’s filled the role of gritty and responsible bottom-six center through multiple stops in the league. His career began with the Winnipeg Jets, who drafted Roslovic at 25th-overall in the 2015 NHL Draft. The Jets provided a chance for Roslovic to plant his feet in the NHL, but he didn’t find a true breakout until a 2021 move to the Columbus Blue Jackets. He scored 34 points in 48 games of the shortened 2021 season with Columbus – or, an 82-game pace of 58 points – then followed it up with 45 points and 44 points in two full seasons. He’s since toured through stops with the New York Rangers and Carolina Hurricanes, and continues to offer a mix of gritty physical and near-40 points each season. That standing will make him a desirable asset for all leagues, though a stay in the NHL seems all-but-guaranteed.

Other notes from around the league:

  • Philadelphia Flyers prospect Oliver Bonk shared that his sights are set high for his first professional season in a motivated interview with Jordan Hall of NBC Sports Philadelphia. He shared that his goal will, of course, be to make the Flyers lineup out of training camp – but that he’s putting equal attention towards making sure he keeps his eyes set on the ultimate goal, no matter the outcome of camp. Bonk is coming off an incredibly successful junior hockey career, capped off with a Memorial Cup win with the OHL’s London Knights. He scored 54 points in 69 games this season, and 73 points in 78 games in the 2023-24 campaign. It will be an uphill battle to jump straight to the NHL, but Bonk will have the upper hand as a 6-foot-2, 210-pound defender with speed and puck-moving ability.
  • The Colorado Avalanche could be searching for depth forwards for the extent of another season. A recent breakdown of their roster by Aarif Deen of Colorado Hockey Now reveals a shortage of talent at the center position – a group that the Avalanche have long struggled to stock fully. The Avalanche will have the benefit of getting a full year out of 25-year-old center Jack Drury, who split last season between Colorado and Carolina. But in the mixed year, Drury’s 18 points in 72 games still looks meager. A lack of depth could offer Drury – or a player currently on the outside, like Ivan Ivan – a chance to show his might before the Avalanche have time to bring in another new face. Colorado currently sits with a little more than $2MM in available cap space, per Puckpedia.

Latest On Matthew Tkachuk

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Florida Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk is continuing to work his way back from an adductor injury sustained during the 4-Nations Face-Off tournament in February. The injury ended Tkachuk’s regular season early, though he played through it for all 23 games of Florida’s run to the Stanley Cup. Now, Tkachuk is paying the price of a long-term injury, and faces the often uncomfortable question of whether to undergo surgery to address the ailment. Tkachuk told ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski that surgery would require him to miss the first two-or-three months of the regular season.

That’s a long time for Florida to be without one of their top scorers. Tkachuk finished the year ranked third on the team in points (57) even despite missing the last 30 games of the regular season. Luckily, the St. Louis-native has shown a consistent knack for being able to play through, and above, painful injuries. He tied for Florida’s scoring lead during the postseason, with eight goals and 23 points in as many games. It was an incredibly impressive performance, given Tkachuk entered the postseason having not played a game for three months.

That ability to bounce back to form could make a delayed start to the season a bit easier to stomach. Wyshynski emphasized previous reports that one of Tkachuk’s main goals for next season is to play for Team USA at the 2026 Winter Olympics. A few-month absence would put him back on the ice just weeks ahead of the NHL’s midseason break, and could provide a chance for 10-to-15 games worth of conditioning. That may be a short window for the average player, but Tkachuk’s ability to quickly jump back onto the scoresheet should only be emphasized on the international stage.

He scored three points in three games at the 4-Nations tournament, his first time representing America at a Men’s National tournament. Prior to that, Tkachuk managed 11 points in seven World Junior Championship games in 2016, 12 points in seven games at the World U18 Championship in 2015, and seven points in six games at the World U-17 Hockey Championship in 2014.

Around his spot appearances with Team USA, Tkachuk has managed a star-studded NHL career. He earned his first 100-point campaign in the 2021-22 season – netting 104 points in 82 games with the Calgary Flames – and then one-upped it with 109 points in 79 games with the Florida Panthers in the next season. Tkachuk was also rarely injured, averaging 74 games and 72 points per season before the 2024-25 campaign. Last year’s shortened season brought his career averages down to 71 points in 71 games each season.

That scoring precedent will make Tkachuk a must-include for the Olympic roster, should he be healthy in time for the tournament. He shared that he was “50/50” on undergoing surgery when the season came to a close, and has spent the off-season taking the time to ensure he’s making the right decision. If he does go under the knife, Florida could be due for a big boost of cap space through the first-half of the season.

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