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Nicklas Bäckström To Attempt Resuming Playing Career In Sweden

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Capitals franchise legend Nicklas Bäckström hasn’t played since October 2023 after undergoing hip resurfacing surgery and was expected to retire when his contract expires this summer. While the center’s NHL days are still set to be over, it doesn’t look like he’s ready to hang up the skates entirely. He’s planning on signing a one-year deal with Brynäs IF of the Swedish Hockey League and slowly get back into game action, per Tomas Ros and Hans Abrahamsson of Aftonbladet.

“The dream comeback,” Ros and Abrahamsson wrote (translated from Swedish by Chris Cerullo of Russian Machine Never Breaks). “What we hear now is that he is signing a one-year contract with Brynäs and is treading very carefully. Maybe only playing half the games until Christmas. Then it will be more and more.”

Brynäs was Bäckström’s youth club and first professional team back when he made his SHL (then called Elitserien) debut in the 2004-05 campaign. He scored 66 points in 110 games for Brynäs before coming to Washington in 2007.

Bäckström’s hip problems limited him to 94 total regular-season appearances over what will stand as his final three NHL seasons. Now 37, Bäckström was long one of the league’s top two-way centers and breached the 70-point mark on eight occasions as Alex Ovechkin’s primary setup man throughout his career. The fourth overall pick in the 2006 draft, he ranks second from that year’s selections in career points behind Claude Giroux (although he can still be realistically usurped by Brad Marchand). His 762 assists are a Capitals franchise record, and he and Ovechkin are the only two players to record 1,000 points for Washington.

Bäckström hasn’t played for Brynäs since his pre-NHL days. He instead opted to play in Russia with Ovechkin during the 2012-13 lockout.

It would be quite the morale boost for a Brynäs club that’s already authored an impressive story over the last year or so. A top-flight fixture in Swedish hockey since the 1950s, Brynäs was demoted to the second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan for the 2023-24 campaign but won promotion back to the SHL in their first year back down. The club returned with a vengeance, finishing first in regular-season play and advancing to the playoff final, losing to Luleå HF. Their roster next year is highlighted by a few former NHLers including Jakob Silfverberg and includes defenseman Christian Djoos, who was briefly teammates with Bäckström in Washington.

Capitals’ Ryan Chesley Signs Entry-Level Deal

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May 16, 4:29 p.m.: Chesley’s deal pays him a $775K base salary, a $95K signing bonus, and up to $80K in games-played bonuses next season, per PuckPedia. For 2026-27 and 2027-28, those figures jump to an $855K base and a $95K signing bonus with no GP bonuses.

May 16, 11:45 a.m.: It took over a month, but Chesley has signed his entry-level contract, the Caps announced. The three-year deal runs through the 2027-28 season and will carry a cap hit of $923.3K. He had a goal and two assists in four games with Hershey on his tryout.

March 31: Capitals defense prospect Ryan Chesley is turning pro. The team announced the 21-year-old has signed a tryout with AHL Hershey for the remainder of the season while they work out the details of his entry-level contract.

Washington selected Chesley early in the second round (No. 37) of the 2022 draft with a pick they acquired in the Vítek Vaněček trade with the Devils. A 6’0″ righty, the two-way defender was coming off a standout season with the U.S. National Development Team Program. He’s suited up at the University of Minnesota for the three seasons since, continuing to play an extremely sound game despite a lack of flashy point totals.

That’s not to say Chesley can’t produce. After being limited to eight points in 39 games last year, he served as one of many team captains for the Golden Gophers in 2024-25 and put up a career-high 8-12–20 scoring line in 40 games. He finished fifth on the team with a +17 rating. Over his trio of collegiate campaigns, he totaled 12-26–38 with 80 PIMs and a +34 rating in 115 appearances.

Scott Wheeler of The Athletic regards Chesley as a relatively safe bottom-pairing fixture long-term, although he likely has some upside in top-four deployment as a complementary defender to a more skilled partner. He’s the No. 8 prospect in Washington’s system and the second-ranked defenseman behind Boston University standout Cole Hutson (No. 3).

The Minnesota native won bronze with the United States at the 2023 World Juniors before winning gold at the 2024 tournament, playing top-pairing minutes while posting 1-3–4 in seven games. His pending ELC will be three years, regardless of whether it starts this season or in 2025-26.

Golden Knights, Jack Eichel Have Had Preliminary Extension Talks

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The Golden Knights and star center Jack Eichel had “loose, unofficial discussions at various points this season” in advance of him becoming eligible to sign an extension with Vegas on July 1, per David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period.

Official talks between Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon and Eichel’s camp should begin in short order after Vegas’ season came to an end this week at the hands of the Oilers in the second round. It wouldn’t be surprising to see a max-term deal for the 28-year-old come across the wire when the new league year begins – Pagnotta went so far as to call an Eichel extension the top priority for Vegas this summer over the futures of any of their pending free agents.

The deal will undoubtedly be the richest in franchise history when signed, topping captain Mark Stone’s eight-year, $76MM extension doled out in 2019. Eichel will be entering the final season of the eight-year, $80MM deal he signed with the Sabres before his entry-level contract expired – of course, Vegas acquired him midway through that deal in a blockbuster swap in 2021.

The 2015 No. 2 overall pick will enter talks well-equipped, coming off the best season of his career by a significant margin. An all-situations center for Vegas, he recorded new career highs in assists (66), points (94), and rating (+32) while playing the most of any Knights forward and leading the team in scoring. Now over three years removed from artificial disk replacement surgery in his neck – the first NHLer to undergo the procedure – he’s back to being the well-above-a-point-per-game producer he hinted at before the injury in Buffalo.

With the salary cap’s projected aggressive rise over the next few seasons, there’s a case for Eichel to earn a multi-million-dollar raise over his current $10MM cap hit. A potential comparable is Leafs winger William Nylander, who signed an eight-year extension with an $11.5MM cap hit midway through the 2023-24 season. Both players have scored at a 90-point pace over an 82-game schedule over the last three years combined. Nylander signed for just over 13% of the cap – with next year’s $95.5MM figure set in stone, that would translate to a $12.5MM AAV for Eichel on a max-term deal.

Unfortunately for the Knights, they don’t have any big-ticket contracts coming off the books before Eichel’s extension would go into effect in 2026-27. Stone’s ($9.5MM cap hit) and Alex Pietrangelo’s ($8.8MM cap hit) deals, the next two richest on the team, both expire in the summer of 2027.

Image courtesy of Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images.

Penguins Have Interviewed Jay Leach, David Quinn, Jay Woodcroft For Head Coaching Vacancy

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The Penguins have obtained permission to and completed an interview with Bruins assistant Jay Leach for their vacant head coaching job, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet said on Friday’s 32 Thoughts podcast. Friedman added that they’ve also considered promoting assistant David Quinn to the head job and talked to former Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft.

Those names get added to a list that includes former Blues bench boss Drew Bannister, Capitals assistant Mitch Love, and Kings assistant D.J. Smith. Out of the six, Bannister is the only one who hasn’t been confirmed to have an interview.

David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reported back in April that the Bruins were receiving calls on Leach for teams interested in interviewing him for head coaching roles, but it’s been quiet since on who’s talked to him. He’s not a complete newcomer to the organization. His first coaching job in North America was as an assistant with the Pens’ AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the 2015-16 season. The Bruins plucked him the following year for their AHL squad, and he’s remained in the Boston organization since, aside from a two-year stint with the Kraken as an assistant in their first two seasons in the league.

Quinn hasn’t been linked to coaching vacancies outside the Pittsburgh organization in this hiring cycle. Of the six candidates mentioned, he has the most experience as an NHL head coach. The 58-year-old took an assistant role in Pittsburgh last summer after being fired by the Sharks. Also, he served on the United States’ bench at the 4 Nations Face-Off as an assistant under Mike Sullivan, whom he’s now considered a potential replacement for with the Pens. The Rhode Island native has a 137-185-50 (.435) record in 372 regular-season games as a head coach with San Jose and the Rangers since 2018. His only playoff appearance was in the 2020 qualifying round, and the Hurricanes swept his New York club.

This is the first mention of Woodcroft in connection with the Pens’ vacancy. He’s been considered for two other jobs this summer – the Ducks and the Bruins. While the former opted to hire Joel Quenneville instead, he’s still a legitimate possibility in Boston and likely has a better chance of landing that gig with a smaller field of known candidates. The 48-year-old had a 79-41-13 (.643) record over three seasons as bench boss in Edmonton. His Pittsburgh connection is fragile – he helped defeat the Pens in the 2008 Stanley Cup Final as a video coach with the Red Wings.

Don’t expect news on a hiring until later this month, with general manager Kyle Dubas out of the country, Josh Yohe of The Athletic said yesterday. He’s GMing Canada at the World Championship.

Offseason Checklist: Pittsburgh Penguins

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The offseason has arrived for half of the league’s teams that aren’t taking part in the playoffs plus those eliminated in the first round.  Accordingly, it’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months. Next up is a look at Pittsburgh.

The Penguins missed the playoffs for the third straight year, and the team has pivoted from being a perennial playoff participant to a below-average squad with an old and expensive roster. The question in Pittsburgh has now become, are they in a rebuild or a retool? General manager Kyle Dubas spoke about wanting to get back into contention quickly earlier in the year, but has spoken more recently about finding sustained success. Still, the Penguins’ recent split with head coach Mike Sullivan suggests that they may not be planning to compete anytime soon. Josh Yohe of The Athletic has speculated that the Penguins will try to make a big splash in the summer of 2026, which means this upcoming season could be rough in the Steel City. The Penguins hired Dubas nearly two years ago. They paid him very handsomely to navigate a complicated situation in Pittsburgh, and this could be the summer when Dubas has to earn his hazard pay. The Penguins are about to enter what can best be described as a transitional summer as they continue to shed older, more expensive players in favor of younger, controllable ones who will be part of the franchise’s future.

Hire A New Head Coach

Sullivan coached the Penguins for nearly a decade and is the most successful coach in franchise history. His presence always gave the Penguins a confident swagger, even when they shouldn’t have had one. While Sullivan didn’t have much success in recent years, they probably overachieved given the poor roster construction and inconsistent goaltending.

Now, with Sullivan in New York, Pittsburgh must pivot and hire a coach for a job that is as undesirable as an NHL coaching job can be. The Penguins aren’t close to competing, and don’t have any truly upper-echelon prospects that will be gracing the ice at PPG Paints Arena anytime soon. However, the Penguins remain a prestigious franchise and still boast one of the game’s greatest players in Sidney Crosby.

Whoever is the Penguins’ next coach will likely be the last head coach of Crosby’s career and will need to be okay with taking on a team that will underwhelm next season. This could force the Penguins to look outside the regular NHL coaching carousel, which might be a positive, given the rate at which NHL coaches are recycled. Pittsburgh will probably be looking for a coach who preaches defense first, which would be a significant pivot for a franchise that has made offensive firepower its calling card. But the Penguins barely have any outside their top line (Crosby, Bryan Rust, and Rickard Rakell), and their top prospects won’t exactly fill the scoresheet.

If the Penguins can find a head coach who can scheme a solid defensive structure and Pittsburgh can get some goaltending, they could surprise people next season. But even then, it’s hard to imagine them being anything more than a middle-of-the-pack team.

Trade Erik Karlsson

The Erik Karlsson experiment has been a trip. It was worth trying, and Dubas did well to acquire the three-time Norris Trophy winner using multiple veterans on bad contracts and several premium draft picks. The first-round pick they traded for Karlsson is a loss that stings, but the move made sense at the time, as the Penguins were hopeful that their veteran group had one more run in them, and the belief was that Karlsson could elevate the older stars. But it didn’t work out that way, and Karlsson has been just okay offensively, and downright dreadful defensively. Karlsson was never a master class in defense, but this past season, his shortcomings were undeniable, so much so that Kyle Dubas had some harsh words about Karlsson’s game at the end of the season (as per Pittsburgh Hockey Now).

Karlsson isn’t impossible to move, but the last time he was available two years ago, he was two years younger and coming off a 100-point Norris Trophy-winning season. He’s older, slower, and has significantly less trade value this time. The Penguins might have to take a bath on this one if they want to move on from the soon-to-be 35-year-old. The other issue they will face is that Karlsson controls his fate through a no-movement clause.

While it will undoubtedly be more challenging to trade Karlsson this year from a performance perspective, it should be easier to facilitate contractually. Karlsson has two years left on his deal with a $10MM cap hit thanks to $1.5MM of retention by the Sharks. Karlsson has $16.5MM left on his contract in hard cash, but after his bonus for next season is paid out on July 1, he will be owed just $11.5MM in absolute dollars for the final two seasons. That could interest a team more concerned with actual dollars than cap space, such as one of Karlsson’s previous teams, the Ottawa Senators.

So, what kind of trade can Penguins fans expect? It’ll be something similar to what he was traded for previously, minus a first-round pick. There won’t be many teams willing or able to take on Karlsson’s full cap hit, so the Penguins will either need to retain a significant portion of Karlsson’s salary for the next two seasons or take back another team’s undesirables to allow the money to match.

Suppose the Penguins opt to retain significant money. In that case, they will allow themselves the best potential return, as teams would probably line up if Karlsson’s cap hit were reduced to something closer to half of the $10MM he is currently costing. It’s hard to speculate what that kind of return would be, but it would probably not be insignificant given that Karlsson can still put up points and play in a team’s top four.

Now, if the Penguins opt for the route where they retain no money or very little, it will require them to take back contracts of underperforming players. There wouldn’t be much of a market for this type of trade, but Detroit would certainly have interest, and they have several players on low-value contracts and would be happy to ship them out to bring in Karlsson.

In any event, Karlsson is among several Penguins players who need fresh starts, and he is the most impactful Pittsburgh player who could be on the trading block.

Acquire Younger Roster Players

Many people panned the Jake Guentzel trade in March of 2024, as Dubas elected to go for quantity over quality regarding the Penguins’ best trade chip. Guentzel was dealt to Carolina for forward prospects Vasily Ponomarev and Ville Koivunen, Cruz Lucius, a conditional first-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft and a conditional fifth-round pick in the 2024 draft. Now, the first-round pick ended up falling back to a second pick, and Dubas was heavily criticized for not obtaining a first-round pick, but the trade has been a massive win for the Penguins just a year later. Pittsburgh drafted defenseman Harrison Brunicke with the second-round pick, and he appears to be developing into a long-term fixture in the Penguins’ top four. Koivunen looks like he will start next season in the top six for the Penguins, and Ponomarev may be playing on the third line.

Now that Dubas has started building some depth in the Penguins’ pipeline, they must find higher-end young players to lead their newly acquired prospects. Pittsburgh has a handful of nice forward prospects, but they do not have any high-end prospects they can build around. Those players are the most difficult to acquire, but that is the project that Dubas will need to figure out to get the Penguins back into contention.

The Penguins have a couple of solid veterans on value contracts that they could flip out for picks and prospects, but with so many draft picks in the subsequent three drafts, Pittsburgh might be best served to try to move those players out for young NHL roster players. It’s easier said than done, though, as teams are more forward-thinking these days and better understand the importance of young controllable roster players in a salary cap league.

Dubas might not be able to accomplish this goal without some draft lottery luck next year. Still, he he’ll have plenty of draft picks over the coming years to try and catch some value in the Entry Draft, or use those picks to make trades to a team that is up against the salary cap and has to move out an RFA who has priced himself out of a cap strapped organization.

Move Out Rickard Rakell

Rakell had a career year playing alongside Crosby on the Penguins’ top line, posting 35 goals and 35 assists in 81 games. For Rakell, it was the third time he had topped 30 goals and the first time since 2017-18. Rakell can play, there is no doubt about that, but he is just a year removed from arguably the worst season of his career and at 32 years of age, his value isn’t going to be higher. Rakell will likely be 33-35 years old by the time the Penguins are set to contend, and while trading him might upset Crosby, Rakell isn’t helping this team when they are ready to win unless he is traded for future help.

Dubas talked about the need to maintain a winning culture in Pittsburgh, but to be perfectly honest, the Penguins haven’t had a winning culture since Rakell arrived, missing the playoffs in three of the four years he has been there. So, moving on from him isn’t exactly going to wipe the slate clean, as Rakell was never in Pittsburgh when the Penguins were contenders. The best course of action with Rakell is to move him this summer and add to the prospect pool to turn things around quickly.

Rakell has three years left on his contract at $5MM annually and should be able to fetch the Penguins a first-round pick, if not more.

He will not be the easiest player to trade, but with an increasing salary cap and teams always desperate for offence, Rakell could be a solid depth addition for a team that views itself as a Stanley Cup contender. He has a modified eight-team no-trade clause, which shouldn’t be prohibitive but might block the Penguins from trading to some potentially interested parties, depending on how strategic Rakell plans to be with his contractual right.

Some folks might make a case for trading veteran forward Rust, and there is an excellent case for it, given his play last season. But, if the Penguins do genuinely care about maintaining a winning culture, Rust is one of a handful of remaining carryovers from the Penguins’ Stanley Cup Championships in 2016 & 2017 and has a deep connection with Crosby and the Penguins organization. Many people make the case that Rust should be the next captain of the Penguins, but given Crosby’s play in his late 30s, Rust and Crosby may retire simultaneously.

Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

Blue Jackets Sign Oiva Keskinen To Entry-Level Deal

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The Blue Jackets announced today they’ve signed center prospect Oiva Keskinen to his entry-level contract. While financial terms weren’t disclosed, the deal begins next season and will make him a restricted free agent in the 2028 offseason.

Columbus selected Keskinen in the seventh round in 2023, one year after he was initially eligible for selection. The 6’0″ pivot didn’t get many cracks at Finland’s top junior league in his draft year but did in the 2022-23 campaign, posting a 20-21–41 scoring line in 38 top-flight junior games with Tappara en route to his selection.

Keskinen has spent the two seasons since in full-time professional roles with Tappara, doing well against older competition in one of Europe’s upper-tier leagues in Liiga. He’s coming off a strong 2024-25 campaign in which he finished fifth on the team in scoring with 17 goals and 35 points in 59 games. He won a Liiga title with Tappara the year prior and recorded nine points in 16 postseason games in their run to the championship. He also had five points in seven games for the Finns back at the 2024 World Juniors.

Needless to say, he’s impressed considering his draft slot and gets rewarded as such. He’ll get a long look in camp before presumably being assigned to AHL Cleveland or being loaned back to Tappara for further development in 2025-26. Keskinen’s deal with the Finnish club runs through next season, so that’s the likeliest possibility.

Wild Sign Danila Yurov To Entry-Level Contract

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The Wild have signed top forward prospect Danila Yurov to his entry-level contract, the team confirmed. The three-year deal starts next season and carries a $950K cap hit, Michael Russo of The Athletic reports. Yurov can also earn up to $2MM in performance bonuses each season ($1MM in Schedule A, $1MM in Schedule B) as part of the deal, Russo adds.

Yurov was released from his contract with Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the Kontinental Hockey League late last month, so he was free to sign with Minnesota before the KHL contract year ends on May 31. Negotiations between Yurov and Wild general manager Bill Guerin have likely been ongoing for the past few weeks, as with most ELCs, the time between becoming eligible to sign and signing likely hinged on performance bonus negotiations.

The 21-year-old right-winger arrives in Minnesota nearly three years after the Wild selected him 24th overall in the 2022 draft. He was widely regarded as a top-15 prospect in the class but fell to later in the first round due to concerns over his contract status with Metallurg.

With parts of five seasons of pro hockey in the KHL and a Gagarin Cup championship under his belt, Yurov will now focus on making his NHL debut as part of the Wild’s opening night roster in the fall. The 6’1″, 176-lb forward is one year removed from a spectacular 21-goal, 49-point showing with a +22 rating in 62 games for Magnitogorsk to lead them in scoring as the club won its third championship since the KHL’s inception in 2008.

This year was less impressive offensively for Yurov, who battled injuries and was limited to a 13-12–25 scoring line in 46 games (a 0.54 points per game pace). He still finished second on Metallurg with a +15 rating but was limited to one goal in five playoff games as their postseason came to a quick end.

Yurov is nonetheless the crown jewel of Minnesota’s forward prospect pool, Scott Wheeler of The Athletic wrote a few months back. While a natural winger, he has played a fair bit of center in his home country and could eventually slot in for the Wild. His up-and-down production in the KHL indicates that Yurov’s everyday first-line role may be a tad optimistic. Still, he’s got an excellent chance of settling in as a long-term complementary top-six piece for the Wild, even as soon as out of the gate in 2025-26.

Johnston: “Zero Reason” To Believe Mitch Marner Signs Extension With Maple Leafs

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Regardless of his lack of postseason success, Mitch Marner has done enough to go down as one of the better players in Maple Leafs franchise history. But as the end of his six-year, $65.41MM contract looms, it’s almost a certainty the top pending unrestricted free agent will indeed test the market this summer, writes Chris Johnston of The Athletic.

When Marner reportedly declined to waive his no-movement clause in a deal at the deadline that would have sent him to the Hurricanes for Mikko Rantanen, some believed he did so in hopes of continuing extension talks with Toronto. That wasn’t necessarily the case, Johnston notes. While the Leafs were interested in in-season extension talks, Marner’s camp has refused to negotiate during the campaign.

“There’s been a growing sense that the 28-year-old winger wants a fresh start after enduring an avalanche of criticism for his team’s repeated playoff shortcomings,” Johnston writes. The dynamic playmaker and longtime Auston Matthews linemate is coming off a career-high 75-assist, 102-point performance in the regular season. He’s still over a point per game in this year’s playoffs (2-10–12 in 11 GP), but he’s gone without a point in back-to-back contests in the second round as the Panthers have won three straight to erase and reverse Toronto’s 2-0 series lead. The Leafs now enter a must-win scenario on the road against the defending Stanley Cup champions tonight.

Most believe general manager Brad Treliving’s top offseason priority is reserving cap space for pending restricted free agent Matthew Knies, and for good reason. The 22-year-old power forward had 29 goals and 58 points in 78 regular-season games alongside Matthews and Marner and is averaging nearly 21 minutes per game in the playoffs with five goals. They’d presumably like to get it done quickly to remove the threat of an offer sheet. That leaves the Leafs, who have just five goals from their bottom-six forwards in terms of ice time in the playoffs, with little maneuverability to add scoring depth if big-ticket extensions are handed out to both Knies and Marner (let alone second-line center John Tavares).

As for Marner, it’s not yet clear where he’d be interested in signing this summer. It likely won’t be until after Toronto’s postseason run ends. It’s almost guaranteed he’ll earn a raise of at least $2MM per season on his current $10.9MM cap hit on a max-term deal, though. His 520 assists since he entered the league in 2016-17 are fifth in the NHL behind Connor McDavid, Nikita Kucherov, Nathan MacKinnon, and Artemi Panarin.

There’s a legitimate chance Tavares is gone for no return this summer as well, Johnston writes. It’s less likely than Marner’s departure at this stage – after all, he’s been open to in-season extension talks, unlike Marner. Retaining the 34-year-old, who’s coming off a 74-point season, on a short-term deal does allow the Leafs to get more creative by replacing Marner’s scoring by committee on the wings because they don’t have to worry about finding a new second-line anchor, at least for now.

Pacific Notes: Hiller, Canucks, Romani, Pettersson

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Speaking at his introductory press conference today (video link), Kings GM Ken Holland revealed that head coach Jim Hiller will remain with Los Angeles for next season.  Hiller just completed his first full season as head coach of the team with the Kings picking up 105 points in the standings, tying their franchise record set back in 1974-75.  However, they weren’t able to shake their recent playoff struggles, falling to the Oilers in the first round for the fourth straight year, leading some to wonder if Holland would opt to go in a different direction.  However, that won’t be the case and Holland added that he has no intention of rebuilding or retooling this roster, meaning that Hiller should have largely the same group of core players for 2025-26.

More from the Pacific:

  • At his introductory press conference today (video link), new Canucks head coach Adam Foote indicated that they intend to add two new assistant coaches to their staff. One will take Foote’s previous role running the defense while they hope the other will be able to help on the offensive side of things.  The two new hires will join assistant coach Jaroslav Svejkovsky and goalie coach Marko Torenius.
  • Still with the Canucks, prospect Anthony Romani announced on his Instagram page earlier this week that he has committed to Michigan State for next season. The 19-year-old was a sixth-round pick last year, going 162nd overall.  Romani battled injuries this year but picked up 35 points in 35 games between North Bay and Barrie in the OHL before adding 12 goals and 12 assists in 16 playoff contests for the Colts.
  • Ducks prospect Lucas Pettersson has signed a two-year deal with SHL Brynas, per a team release. The 19-year-old was an early second-round pick last June, going 35th overall after a strong showing in MoDo’s junior system.  This season, the center primarily played professionally, splitting time between the SHL with MoDo and Ostersunds of the second-tier Allsvenskan.  At their top level, Pettersson was limited to just one assist in 29 games while his team was demoted to the Allsvenskan for next season.  With Ostersunds, he fared much better with nine goals and ten assists in 26 contests.  By joining Brynas, Pettersson should be able to predominantly play at the SHL level next season, ideally in a more prominent role.

Blackhawks Interview Jeff Blashill For Head Coaching Vacancy

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As Chicago has searched for its next bench boss, they’ve been linked to very few candidates.  Aside from potentially retaining interim head coach Anders Sorensen, the only external candidate they were known to speak with was David Carle who instead is remaining at the University of Denver.

However, another coach has popped up in the search.  Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reports (video link) that the Blackhawks have interviewed Jeff Blashill for their head coaching position.

Blashill has only been the bench boss once at the NHL level but it was a fairly lengthy stint as he spent seven years at the helm of Detroit, running from 2015-16 to 2021-22.  While the Red Wings made the playoffs in his first year with the team, they failed to do so in the other six (and haven’t since he was let go, either).  Under the 51-year-old’s tutelage, Detroit played to a 204-261-70 record, good for a points percentage of just .480.

Blashill has spent the last three seasons as an assistant coach with the Lightning and has been a speculative candidate for other roles before now.  It appears that Chicago isn’t the only team potentially interested in him as Seravalli added that Seattle is believed to be considering him as well.  At this point, it certainly feels like Blashill is going to get another opportunity to run an NHL bench but whether Chicago, a team that’s looking to emerge from its rebuild and become much more competitive in a hurry, is the right fit for his services remains to be seen.

Chicago brought in Luke Richardson as their head coach in 2022 with an eye on more of a development-focused approach.  However, the team struggled mightily with him at the helm, winning just 57 of 190 games, resulting in Sorensen being brought up from AHL Rockford back in early December to take over the rest of the way but the Blackhawks only won 17 of 56 games following the change, resulting in a coaching search that is nearing the one-month mark.

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