The calendar has flipped to June with just two teams now having a shot at the Stanley Cup. One of those saw a key player get injured this week which is one of the highlights in our key stories.
Islanders Re-Sign Two: Before the Islanders moved on from Lou Lamoriello as GM, he was working on signing a pair of players to extensions before their contracts were set to expire in July. Those deals have now been finalized under new GM Mathieu Darche. The team re-signed winger Kyle Palmieri to a two-year, $9.5MM deal and blueliner Adam Boqvist to a two-year, $1.7MM pact. Palmieri has stayed healthy the last two seasons, chipping in with 54 goals along the way but still wound up taking a small cut in pay from the $5MM per year he had on his last deal. As for Boqvist, he fit in well after being claimed off waivers from Florida. Just 24, he would have been arbitration-eligible as a restricted free agent but a lock to be non-tendered with more than 240 NHL games under his belt so the two sides had to get something done in advance.
Going Under The Knife: While the Oilers are moving on to their second straight Stanley Cup Final, one key winger won’t be as Zach Hyman is out for the final round after undergoing wrist surgery. After a breakout 54-goal effort last season, he managed just half of that total this year in 73 games but had a solid 11 points in 15 playoff outings as a key secondary scorer. Meanwhile, the Jets won’t have their captain available to them when the 2025-26 season gets underway in October after Adam Lowry underwent hip surgery which carries a recovery period of five to six months. Lowry had a career-high 16 goals this season before chipping in with four more in the first two rounds of the playoffs despite the injury.
New Coach In Seattle: After a long coaching search, the Kraken have found their new head coach, naming Lane Lambert to the position. He will take the place of Dan Bylsma who only lasted one season in the role with a disappointing 76-point effort that saw them finish seventh in the Pacific Division. This will be Lambert’s second stint running an NHL bench after coaching the Islanders for 127 games before being replaced by Patrick Roy in 2024 but he is highly experienced, working at the top level since 2011 in either an assistant or associate coaching role. This season, he held the latter title with Toronto. Lambert is the third coach in Seattle’s young franchise history after Dave Hakstol was in charge for the first three years.
Bridge For Foerster: The Flyers have mostly gone with bridge deals in recent years, the opposite of the general league-wide trend of signing young players to long-term pacts quickly. They continued their strategy with their latest contract, a two-year, $7.5MM deal given to winger Tyson Foerster. The 23-year-old has been a regular in Philadelphia for the last two seasons and had a solid sophomore year, scoring 25 goals along with 18 assists in 81 games while logging nearly 17 minutes a night of ice time. His 43 points were good for a tie for fifth in team scoring. While it’s clear that Foerster is viewed as a long-term puzzle piece in Philadelphia, he’ll have to wait a couple more years now before having a shot at a long-term contract.
Sabres Hire Kekalainen: It has been well known that the Sabres were looking to add some experience to their front office. They’ve done just that after announcing the hiring of Jarmo Kekalainen as a senior advisor. Kekalainen was the GM in Columbus for more than a decade before being let go a little more than 15 months ago. He also has an extensive scouting background going back to his time with Ottawa and St. Louis. The 58-year-old has held some sort of title with an NHL team for almost every year since 1995 and certainly will bring a lot of experience to a front office that doesn’t have a lot of it.
Photo courtesy of Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports.