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Robert Hagg Signs In SHL

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May 29: Hagg is indeed heading to Brynas on a one-year deal, per a team announcement.

May 17: After seeing very limited NHL action this season, pending unrestricted free agent defenseman Robert Hagg is heading home.  The blueliner confirmed to Expressen’s Gunnar Nordstrom that he will be playing in the SHL next season; SportBladet’s Hans Abrahamsson adds that Hagg is expected to sign a one-year deal with Brynas.

The 30-year-old signed a one-year deal with the Golden Knights last summer but he once again spent the bulk of the season in the minors with AHL Henderson where he had six goals and 21 assists in 54 games, his best offensive showing at that level.  However, his improved play didn’t give Hagg much of an opportunity with Vegas as he suited up just twice with them in late November.

Having cleared waivers for two straight years now while then spending the bulk of those campaigns in the AHL, the writing is clearly on the wall for Hagg.  He’s now viewed as more of a depth defender than someone that can be counted on to be a regular contributor in the NHL.  Accordingly, at this stage of his career, heading back home makes a lot of sense.

If this winds up being the end of the road for Hagg in North America, he’ll finish up with 345 career NHL appearances over parts of nine seasons across six organizations although more than two-thirds of those outings were with the Flyers.  Overall, Hagg has 63 points, 532 blocks, and 1,017 hits at the top level while logging 16:28 per game on average.

Brock Nelson Could Explore Extension With Avalanche

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The Colorado Avalanche won a sweepstakes for veteran winger Brock Nelson at this year’s Trade Deadline. It took a massive trade package that included top prospect Calum Ritchie and a first-round draft pick, but Colorado was able to convince both Nelson and the New York Islanders’ brass to make the move – bringing an end to Nelson’s 12-year tenure with the Islanders. He flashed strong play as he rounded out the regular season, netting 13 points in 19 games with Colorado, but then recorded no goals and four assists in the club’s seven playoff games. The sour end to the season seemed to set Nelson up to enter unrestricted free agency this summer. But with June rolling around, mutual interest in signing an extension is beginning to grow, shares David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period.

Re-signing Nelson would go far in supporting Colorado’s 2025-26 campaign. Not only would it give the team a chance to reaffirm their blockbuster swap at the deadline, but Nelson would also nicely meet the team’s need for depth at left-wing. The Avalanche have been void of a consistent, top-six left-winger as captain Gabriel Landeskog and vet Jonathan Drouin battled routine injuries over the last few seasons. Landeskog played in his first games since 2022 during this year’s postseason and managed an impressive four points in five games – but the extent of his availability for next season is still hard to gauge. The same can be said for Drouin, who posted another strong year – 37 points in 43 games – with Colorado but is currently set to enter unrestricted free agency this summer.

Nelson would be the perfect player to hedge Colorado’s bets on the open market. Combining his statlines from New York and Colorado, Nelson managed 26 goals and 56 points in 80 games this season – an impressive mark for a 33-year-old wing. Even more notable is the fact that 2024-25 marked a down year for Nelson – and the first since the shortened 2020-21 season that he didn’t challenge a 35-goal season. He found a new groove with New York over the last few years, and posted a career-high 75 points in 82 games as recently as 2022-23. Nelson also has ample playoff experience and – save for his performances this year – always seems to come through in the clutch. He’s scored 54 points, split evenly, in 85 playoff games over the course of his career.

The downside of a new deal will inevitably be Nelson’s price tag. He just wrapped up a six-year, $36MM contract originally signed in New York – and is almost certainly due for a pay raise after netting three seasons near or above 60 points in just the last four years. He’s projected to earn up to a three-year, $21MM extension on his next deal by CapWages. An annual cap hit of $7MM would take up nearly all of Colorado’s $8.7MM in available cap space this summer, and could limit the team’s ability to re-sign their six other pending-UFAs. That could require Colorado to get savvy in negotiations, and may potentially push Nelson closer to the door as he anticipates getting to choose a home away from New York for the first time in his career.

Islanders’ Bo Horvat Out Four To Six Weeks With Ankle Injury

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New York Islanders assistant captain Bo Horvat sustained a lower-body injury in the sixth game of Team Canada’s run through the World Championship. The injury ended his tournament early and required Horvat to return immediately to New York for further evaluation. Now, just over a week after he sustained the injury on May 19th, it’s been revealed that Horvat’s recovery likely won’t take as long as previously thought. Freshly-hired Islanders general manager Mathieu Darche told the media that Horvat is expected to miss four-to-six weeks with injury and that the team has no concerns, per Ethan Sears of the New York Post.

This is great news for the Islanders, all things considered. Horvat was an integral piece of both the New York and Team Canada rosters this season. He chipped in 28 goals and led the team with 57 points in 81 games this season – operating as the clear top forward on an injury-riddled Islanders lineup. He continued to serve a pivotal role on Canada’s World Championship roster, and even ranked fifth on the team in scoring before his injury. Horvat earned that standing with four goals and eight points in just six games. The performance lapped his last international appearance in 2018, when he recorded seven points in 10 World Championship appearances.

This news sets Horvat up to be fully healthy by the start of the 2025-26 season. He’ll enter the year ready to resume his role as New York’s top center – hopefully this time bolstered by a wave of good health and improved prospects. Islanders’ star Mathew Barzal missed all but 30 games of last season due to battles with two separate injuries. Over the course of the year, New York also landed top center prospect Calum Ritchie, who made the Colorado Avalanche roster out of training camp last year, and the first-overall selection in the 2025 NHL Draft. All three options could support Horvat’s reign over the Islanders’ offense, and give the 30-year-old vet a chance to resign into a more defense-first role.

Flyers Sign Tyson Foerster To Two-Year Extension

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2:16 p.m.: Foester’s two-year extension is official as reported, the club announced Thursday afternoon.

12:13 p.m.: The Flyers are closing in on a two-year extension with pending RFA winger Tyson Foerster, according to Anthony Di Marco of Daily Faceoff. It’s a $7.5MM contract worth $3.75MM per season, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. Foerster will earn $3.5MM in base salary next season and $4MM in 2026-27 with no signing bonuses, per Kevin Kurz of The Athletic.

Philadelphia’s decision to bridge Foerster instead of giving him a long-term deal is an interesting one that bucks the league-wide trend. Foerster, 23, just finished a strong sophomore season after an impressive rookie campaign, particularly considering his defensive play. The right-shot winger posted 33 points, an even rating, and 102 hits for the Flyers in 77 games in his first year, placing him seventh in Calder Trophy voting for the league’s top rookie and even earning him some outside consideration for the Selke Trophy as the league’s top defensive forward. He got heavy deployment, averaging over 17 minutes per game, and controlled 54.1% of shot attempts at even strength – this after recording seven points through his first eight NHL games the year prior.

Things only improved for him in 2024-25. He was healthy scratched once early in the season by former head coach John Tortorella after a slow start, but quickly regained his top-nine role and didn’t miss a game the rest of the way. He scored 25 goals and 43 points in 81 appearances, the former of which ranked second on the team behind star rookie Matvei Michkov’s 26 tallies. While his possession numbers took a small hit, his on-ice shot suppression impacts were still third on the team at 24.19 SA/60 at 5-on-5, according to Natural Stat Trick.

Foerster had not accrued enough NHL experience to be eligible for salary arbitration if he didn’t have a new deal by July. His deal comes across as slightly shorter and a tad pricier per season than the three-year, $3.3MM AAV deal AFP Analytics projected him to receive. The 2020 23rd overall pick will be an RFA again with one year of team control left when his extension expires in 2027.

The Philadelphia forward group remains lacking outside of the high-end offensive upside that Michkov, Travis Konecny, and, to some degree, Owen Tippett offer. Strong two-way play from their secondary forwards has always been a hallmark of the club’s identity, though, and it’ll presumably stay that way with head coach Rick Tocchet now at the helm. Foerster fits that bill expertly with an above-average finishing touch as well, and he’s also one of their stockier forwards at 6’2″ and 214 lbs.

Bridging Foerster does leave some more financial flexibility for the Flyers now to be aggressive on the trade and free agency markets in an effort to end their five-year playoff drought. The club still has nearly $23MM in cap space after Foerster’s deal, per PuckPedia, but there are still notable RFAs to sign in Noah Cates, Jakob Pelletier, and Cameron York.

Image courtesy of Jeff Curry-Imagn Images.

Jonathan Toews Will Pursue NHL Contract In Free Agency

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Four-time All-Star center Jonathan Toews informed his agent yesterday he’s “100 percent committed to coming back to the NHL next season,” reports The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun. Toews, who hasn’t played since 2023 due to Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome and long COVID, opened up about his absence last December and said he remained hopeful about making an NHL return. He’s been working out in Arizona for the past few months as he determined whether he could handle a return.

Toews turned 37 last month. He’s only played two of the last five years, as his health issues also caused him to sit out the entirety of the 2020-21 campaign. Upon returning, he was understandably nowhere close to the elite two-way center he’d been for most of his career. He scored 68 points in 124 games with a -45 rating across the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons before stepping away from the game when his contract expired two summers ago.

The earlier stages of his career need no introduction. The third overall pick of the 2006 draft was named Chicago’s captain in just his second year in the league and led them to three Stanley Cups in six years, scoring 383 points in 419 games with a +148 rating across the Hawks’ six-year championship window from 2009-10 to 2014-15. He was one of the league’s top faceoff men, winning 57.3% of his draws over his 15-year career, and won the Conn Smythe trophy in Chicago’s first Cup win in 2010 after leading the playoffs with 22 assists in 22 games.

While Toews’ most recent seasons on a rebuilding Chicago roster were underwhelming, there are still reasons for optimism in a potential return to play. The extended time off and altered rehabilitation schedule likely have him in better physical shape than he was in his last comeback in 2021. Despite the gnarly plus/minus rating, his raw possession impacts were still positive in those 2021-22 and 2022-23 campaigns as well. He posted Corsi shares of 48.5% and 44.4% at even strength on clubs that posted Corsi shares of 46.0% and 43.9% on the whole, respectively. He remained elite on draws, too, including a career-best 63.1% win rate in his most recent season.

He’ll almost certainly receive one-way offers as a result. Since he’s not currently under contract, he doesn’t need to wait until July 1 to sign a contract for 2025-26 and can start talking with teams now. Given his age, he’s eligible for performance bonuses in his deal. That’s certainly an important consideration for a cap-strapped team, which could acquire him at a low cap hit initially and not take a big financial risk if he can’t be a full-time contributor.

Likely to be the most aggressive among his suitors are his hometown Jets, especially after they received news that captain Adam Lowry will miss the beginning of next season after undergoing hip surgery. Winnipeg was linked to Toews back in January when he alluded to making a comeback for 2025-26. While there’s no guarantee Toews will be able to handle anything above fourth-line deployment next year, he would at least give Winnipeg some added depth at a position of weakness down the middle, especially with Lowry unavailable for a stretch.

Mammoth Sign Nick DeSimone To Extension

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The Mammoth announced they’re retaining depth defenseman Nick DeSimone on a one-year deal worth $800K for next season. It’s a one-way deal, per PuckPedia. He was slated to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1.

DeSimone, 30, has 58 games of NHL experience. The right-shot defenseman has appeared in parts of three NHL seasons with three teams. That included six points in 20 games with the Mammoth this year after they selected him off waivers from the Devils in January.

DeSimone has put up above-average numbers when given the chance to play in limited minutes. He boasts a 3-10–13 career scoring line – an 18-point pace over 82 games – with a plus-three rating while seeing 14:03 of ice time per game. He’s put up good offensive numbers in the minors in the past, including 46 points in 65 games while in the Flames’ system two years ago.

While DeSimone was a serviceable depth presence for Utah down the stretch and received a guaranteed salary as part of today’s deal, there’s no guarantee he doesn’t end up on waivers again to start the season. He’s already the eighth Mammoth defenseman signed to a one-way contract for 2025-26, and that doesn’t consider potential opening-night jobs for 2022 first-round pick Maveric Lamoureux or the recently signed top prospect Dmitri Simashev.

Sharks Re-Sign Shakir Mukhamadullin

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The Sharks announced they’ve re-signed defenseman Shakir Mukhamadullin to a one-year, $1MM contract. He was set to become a restricted free agent this summer.

Mukhamadullin, 23, just wrapped up his second full season in the Sharks organization. He was a first-round pick (No. 20 overall) by the Devils in 2020 but was traded to San Jose in the 2023 Timo Meier deal before he could make his NHL debut. He’s split the following two years between the NHL and AHL as he climbs up the organizational depth chart.

He has 33 games of NHL experience, 30 of which came this past season. The lefty has always carried intrigue based on his high-end skating ability coupled with his 6’4″, 200-lb frame, and he’s flashed his upside as a potential long-term top-four piece in San Jose. He averaged over 21 minutes of ice time across a three-game stint to open his NHL career in January 2024 amid a strong debut season in the North American minors with the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda, whom he led in scoring among defensemen in 2023-24 with 27 assists and 34 points in 55 games.

His 2024-25 campaign started on the non-roster list due to a lower-body injury, and he was returned to the minors when cleared to play in late October. He’d get his first NHL recall of the season in early December, and he stuck with the big club for the majority of the balance of the campaign. Mukhamadullin put up a 2-7–9 scoring line with a minus-seven rating while averaging 18:04 per game, also contributing 51 blocks and 25 hits. He graded out quite well defensively, sitting near the high end of the Sharks’ Corsi leaderboard at a 48.0 CF% at even strength. San Jose also allowed 2.7 goals against per 60 minutes with Mukhamadullin on the ice at even strength, the best figure among Sharks defensemen with at least 10 games played. It’s worth noting that Mukhamadullin also averaged north of a minute per game on the penalty kill.

The Sharks still have Mario Ferraro, Henry Thrun, and Marc-Édouard Vlasic penciled in as their three left-shot defenders for 2025-26, but there’s still upward mobility there for Mukhamadullin. Ferraro could end up as a trade candidate, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see the 38-year-old Vlasic, who played just 27 games in 2024-25, relegated to the press box more consistently. There’s also the possibility that fellow lefty Sam Dickinson, whom San Jose drafted 11th overall in 2024, lands an opening-night role next fall after being named the OHL’s Most Outstanding defenseman in 2024-25.

A seven-figure commitment certainly indicates the Sharks plan on Mukhamadullin making the opening night roster and playing more of a regular NHL role as he continues on what’s been a promising development path thus far. He’ll start requiring waivers next year if San Jose wants to send him to the minors anyway, something they won’t be willing to expose him to.

Capitals Walk Back Message Regarding Alex Ovechkin’s Retirement

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11:44 a.m.: Silber clarified for DC Backcheck that the team alleges no email was sent at all, not just that Ovechkin’s decision was unconfirmed. “An email was sent from an individual with the corporate sales department that mistakenly alluded to next year being Alex Ovechkin’s final year,” the team later said in a statement.

11:03 a.m.: The Capitals indicated in an email to season ticket holders that the upcoming 2025-26 season will be Alex Ovechkin’s last in the NHL, relays Tony Wolak of The Hockey Writers. The organization relayed to Sammi Silber of The Hockey News that no official decision has been made on his future, but Washington appears to at least be operating under a strong assumption that Ovechkin will announce his plans to retire from the NHL next offseason.

Next year is Ovechkin’s last one under the five-year, $47.5MM extension he signed in 2021. He told reporters during locker clean-out day earlier this month that he fully intended to honor the final year of his contract but was unsure of his future beyond that, saying he hadn’t given any thought to whether or not he’d be open to extension talks with the Caps as soon as he becomes eligible to sign one on July 1.

There’s not much left for the 39-year-old to accomplish in his career. He’ll walk away as the greatest left-winger of all time and one of the most impactful players in the league’s history, breaking Wayne Gretzky’s goal-scoring record in the regular season’s final weeks. He now sits at 897 career tallies entering what should be his 21st and final NHL campaign, all spent with the Capitals.

Oilers’ Mattias Ekholm Expected To Return For Game 5

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Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm took line rushes in his usual top-pairing spot alongside Evan Bouchard at morning skate and is expected to make his 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs debut in Game 5 of the Western Conference Final tonight, Tony Brar of Oilers TV relays.

It’s huge news for the Oilers, who have a 3-1 series lead over the Stars and can lock in a Cup Final rematch against the Panthers with a win tonight. Ekholm has not played since reaggravating an undisclosed injury on April 11 against the Sharks. Due to that injury and an earlier illness, the 35-year-old blueline staple only played in five of Edmonton’s final 20 regular-season games.

After the re-injury against San Jose, the Oilers were quick to rule Ekholm out for the entirety of the first round. They made a similar announcement about his second-round status shortly after they dispatched the Kings in six games to advance. He resumed skating late in their series against the Golden Knights, though, indicating he’d likely be an option at some point during the West Final if they advanced. After they did, Ekholm was ruled out for Games 1 and 2, but his status for the remainder of the series was left open.

He’s been labeled as “close” by the team over the past few days, but never quite upgraded to game-time decision status. He may very well bypass that tonight and be declared as being in the lineup, depending on what head coach Kris Knoblauch has to say when practice concludes.

The veteran is a significant boost to an Edmonton blue line that’s overperformed expectations in his absence. While the trade deadline acquisition of Jake Walman from the Sharks has paid its expected dividends, it’s been an unheralded depth piece, Brett Kulak, getting the lion’s share of minutes alongside Bouchard at even strength in Ekholm’s absence. He’s stepped up to the task and then some. The Kulak-Bouchard pairing has controlled a staggering 65.1% of expected goals in 127 minutes of ice time together, per MoneyPuck, outscoring opponents 7-1. That plus-six goal differential is second among defense pairs at 5-on-5 this postseason behind the Panthers’ Niko Mikkola and Seth Jones, who are outscoring opponents 12-5 for a plus-seven differential.

After finishing 12th in Norris Trophy voting last season, Ekholm scored 33 points in 65 games this year with a +11 rating. He and Bouchard were similarly dominant together in last year’s run to the Stanley Cup Final, outscoring opponents 22-12 at 5-on-5 while controlling 61.3% of expected goals.

Kulak will get bumped down to second-pairing duties with Darnell Nurse while Troy Stecher heads to the press box, according to Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal. The Oilers’ third pairing of Walman and John Klingberg, also one of the best duos of the playoffs thus far, will remain unscathed.

Islanders Fire Assistant Coaches John MacLean, Tommy Albelin

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Speaking to reporters this morning, new Islanders general manager Mathieu Darche confirmed the club will retain head coach Patrick Roy (via the team). The bench on Long Island will look different next season, though. Darche said the team won’t be bringing back assistant coaches John MacLean or Tommy Albelin, per Arthur Staple of The Athletic. The club has also relieved AHL Bridgeport head coach Rick Kowalsky of his duties, Darche said (according to Ethan Sears of the New York Post). It sounds like the entire minor-league coaching staff will be overhauled as well, per Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News.

Roy’s status for next season was briefly doubtful after the Isles parted ways with GM Lou Lamoriello last month. However, after Darche’s hire, it became clear that the appetite for a coaching change wasn’t strong, especially with three years remaining on Roy’s contract. The Islanders may have missed the playoffs in 2024-25, Roy’s first full season behind the bench, but the team’s possession metrics indicated he deserved another shot. Poor special teams and finishing luck were the primary limiting factors regarding New York’s record last season, not overall 5-on-5 possession play. Under Roy, the team controlled a slight majority of shot attempts, scoring chances, and high-danger chances at even strength.

It’s unsurprising to see new ancillary voices brought in as the franchise aims for a fresher identity under Darche. The Islanders’ combined special teams success rate of 84.8% was the worst in the league, ranking 31st out of 32 clubs in both power-play and penalty-kill conversion rate.

MacLean was in charge of that power play. He’s been with the club as an assistant since the 2022-23 season, and only the Ducks and Flyers have performed worse with the man advantage than the Isles’ 16.4% success rate over those three years. The 60-year-old oversaw the NHL debut of his son, Kyle MacLean, on Long Island during his tenure.

Albelin’s time in New York ends after just one season. The longtime NHL rearguard oversaw the Isles’ defense and penalty kill, the latter of which actually saw a 0.7% improvement from their league-worst finish in 2023-24. The team’s 5-on-5 defense also improved from year to year under Albelin, ranking 21st in the league in scoring chances allowed at 5-on-5 after placing 28th last year. Nonetheless, they’ll look to get a new name in there that both Darche and Roy agree upon.

The Bridgeport coaching staff overhaul comes across the wire as one of the least surprising news items of the offseason. The Baby Isles made history as the worst home team in AHL history in 2024-25 with just four wins in 36 games. Overall, Bridgeport finished last in the league by a huge margin with a 15-50-4-3 record. Kowalsky, who’s worked closely with the outgoing Lamoriello throughout his coaching career in the Isles and Devils organizations, also oversaw a last-place finish in their division in 2023-24.

As for the NHL staff, the only returning assistant will be Benoit Desrosiers, whom Roy worked closely with as head coach of the QMJHL’s Quebec Remparts. He joined the Isles’ staff shortly after Roy did, midway through the 2023-24 season.

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