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Archives for August 2025

Marc-Edouard Vlasic Intends To Play This Season, Comments On San Jose Buyout

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With training camps now around a month away, there should start to be an uptick in signings relatively soon as veterans look to find places to play for the upcoming season.  Veteran blueliner Marc-Edouard Vlasic was a late entrant to the free agent market and indicated to Stephane Cadorette of Le Journal de Quebec that he fully intends to play in the NHL in 2025-26.

The 38-year-old was a core piece on San Jose’s back end for the better part of a decade and a half before his role started to diminish significantly in recent years.  Last season, he spent time both on injured reserve and as a healthy scratch, limiting him to just a goal and two assists in 27 games with his average ice time dropping to 14:38, the lowest of his career.

In his prime, Vlasic was one of the top defensive blueliners in the NHL.  In particular, he has been quite adept at blocking shots as he’s the all-time league leader in that regard, per QuantHockey although it should be noted that the statistic has only been tracked for around the last two decades.

Vlasic had one year left on his deal before free agency opened up with the Sharks apparently deciding very last minute to execute the buyout.  The veteran voiced some frustration about how that came about, noting that in the exit interview back in April that they wanted him to continue to provide the veteran leadership they were seeking.  Then, a few days before the end of June, they informed him that they’d be buying out the final year of his deal after 19 seasons.

From the outside, the move could have been reasonably foreseeable given his $7MM AAV and the very limited role he had been filling.  Rather than string along a player who was once a franchise pillar with minimal ice time for yet another year, they opted to pay his $2MM signing bonus plus two-thirds of his $3.5MM salary over the next two seasons to move on.

GM Mike Grier wasted little time filling Vlasic’s spot on the roster.  He brought in Dmitry Orlov in free agency while claiming fellow lefty Nick Leddy off waivers while John Klingberg adds some depth to their group of right-shot options as well.  With what they had planned, there was clearly no room to keep Vlasic around.

As for Vlasic, given how limited his role was last season, it would be surprising to see him land a contract of any significance on the open market as it’s likely teams will envision him as a depth option similar to how he was deployed in San Jose rather than a full-time player.  Several of those players will be signing tryout agreement in the weeks to come and it wouldn’t be shocking to see Vlasic need to go that route as well as he looks to extend his NHL career to a 20th season.

Adam Ruzicka Re-Signs In KHL

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August 15: While Ruzicka was hoping to return to the NHL, it won’t be happening.  His agent told RIA Novosti’s Andrey Senchenko that Ruzicka has signed a new two-year deal with Spartak.

August 5: Free agent forward Adam Ruzicka turned to the KHL last season and had a solid showing in Russia with Spartak but notably hasn’t signed a new deal there yet.  Spartak advisor Valeri Kamensky told Alexander Abustin of Sport-Express that the reason Ruzicka hasn’t re-signed yet is because he’s holding out hope to get another NHL opportunity.

The 26-year-old was a fourth-round pick by Calgary back in 2017, going 109th overall.  He spent parts of four seasons with the Flames before being claimed off waivers by Arizona in early 2024.  However, a month later, Ruzicka and the Coyotes agreed on a mutual contract termination a month later, making him an unrestricted free agent.  After another NHL chance didn’t materialize in short order, he ultimately signed with Spartak in late May 2024.

Ruzicka was certainly productive in Russia, notching 26 goals and 19 assists in 65 regular season games, good for fifth in team scoring.  He was even better in the playoffs, picking up seven goals and five helpers in 12 postseason contests, making the most of his opportunity to play a more offensive role after being more of a depth player in the NHL.

Over his four NHL seasons, Ruzicka has played in 117 games, picking up 14 goals and 26 assists.  However, a good chunk of that production came in 2022-23 when he recorded 20 points in just 44 games with Calgary before his output tailed off the following year.  Basically, he’s not too far removed from being a legitimate depth contributor at the top level.

Kamensky acknowledged that discussions are underway with Ruzicka so if he doesn’t get another NHL look, he’ll simply re-sign.  But, for now at least, it appears he’s hoping to get another chance at the top level first.

Evan Cormier Remaining In Panthers Organization On AHL Deal

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The Panthers organization is retaining goaltender Evan Cormier on an AHL contract with the Charlotte Checkers, per a team release. Cormier has spent the last two seasons on AHL deals with the Checkers, signing NHL contracts with Florida at each trade deadline to give them an emergency backup option down the stretch and in the postseason. He cleared waivers each time to play out the regular season in the minors.

Cormier, 27, was a fourth-round pick by the Devils in 2016 but saw his signing rights expire following the 2017-18 season. The team nonetheless signed him to his entry-level contract midway through the following year, bringing him out of the University of Guelph to make the jump to the pros. He spent the next three years in the organization with AHL Binghamton and ECHL Adirondack before being non-tendered following the 2021-22 season.

From 2021 to 23, Cormier primarily played in the Jets organization under contract with AHL Manitoba. Like he has the past two years with Florida, he inked a two-way NHL deal with Winnipeg at the 2023 trade deadline to give them a playoff EBUG option.

Cormier has still never played an NHL game, though, and last season was his first without AHL time since he turned pro. The 6’3″ Ontario native instead spent the year with Florida’s second-tier affiliate, ECHL Savannah, where he struggled with a 3.38 GAA, .887 SV%, one shutout, and a 17-13-4 record in 36 appearances.

With the Cats having Cooper Black, Brandon Bussi, and Kirill Gerasimyuk all signed to two-way deals for the upcoming campaign, their AHL goaltending situation is set. Cormier will likely reprise the same ECHL role for them next season, and the likelihood of him getting another late-year NHL deal is slim with Florida entering the season with five contracted options between the pipes.

Jakub Zboril Signs With Czechia’s HC Vitkovice

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Left-shot defenseman Jakub Zbořil has signed on with HC Vítkovice of the Czech Extraliga, per a team announcement. It’s a one-year deal.

Zbořil, 28, was the first of the ill-fated stretch of three first-round picks the Bruins held in the 2015 draft. He would play another two full seasons of junior hockey with QMJHL Saint John before making his pro debut for AHL Providence in 2017, and his NHL debut with Boston came one year later.

The 6’1″, 201-lb rearguard went pointless in two games before returning to his minor-league role. But when the COVID pandemic struck, he spent the early part of the 2020-21 season on loan back to his home country of Czechia with HC Kometa Brno, and his stint there was evidently enough for Boston to finally make Zbořil a roster lock when play resumed with the shortened schedule.

Zbořil played in 42 of 56 games for the Bruins in 2021, the most he’d ever log in a single season. While touted as a mobile, two-way prospect, he never rose above the No. 7/8 position on the Bruins’ depth chart and ended up back on waivers and in Providence to begin the 2023-24 season.

It took Zbořil until the 2022-23 season to record his first and only career NHL goal, and he only managed 76 appearances in parts of four seasons with the B’s with a 1-15–16 scoring line and an even rating while averaging 15:38 per game. The Bruins did control a respectable 52.6% of shot attempts and 51.1% of expected goals with him on the ice at even strength, however.

After being waived and assigned to Providence out of camp in 2023, his time in the organization was short-lived. He was sent to the Blue Jackets at the trade deadline in the deal that brought Andrew Peeke to Boston, finishing the season with no goals and 13 assists in 46 AHL games split between Providence and Cleveland. The Jackets – nor any other NHL team – brought him in when he reached unrestricted free agency the following summer.

Zbořil instead returned home on a long-term deal with HC Dynamo Pardubice that was initially supposed to keep him there through the 2028-29 season. Neither side was particularly happy with his performance last year, though – he had 14 points and a +4 rating in 30 games and was released at the end of July. After a couple of weeks without a deal, he’ll look to reestablish himself on a Vítkovice team that employs former NHLers Yohann Auvitu, Marek Hrivík, and Samuel Knazko.

Hurricanes Open To Reunion With Jack Roslovic

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As noted by independent insider Frank Seravalli for Bleacher Report earlier this week, the Hurricanes have maintained interest in bringing UFA Jack Roslovic back to the club, but they “don’t really have a spot for him at the moment.”

Things have continued to be relatively quiet on the market for Roslovic, who’s held the title of top remaining UFA for well over a month now, aside from rumblings that he’s receiving overseas offers from KHL clubs. Roslovic, 28, landed a one-year, $2.8MM commitment from Carolina on the open market last summer and repaid them by tying his career high of 22 goals. That was quite the resurgence after he was limited to nine tallies in 59 games split between the Blue Jackets and Rangers in 2023-24.

While the Hurricanes could use another middle-six option – preferably one with a higher offensive ceiling than current projected second-line center Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Roslovic likely isn’t their first-choice option. Seravalli’s comment that there isn’t a clear spot for Roslovic in their lineup as things stand stems from how last season ended. Despite that regular-season production, he ended up sitting in the press box for a good portion of the postseason, including the final three games of their Eastern Conference Final loss to the Panthers. He scored a goal and three assists in nine playoff games but was a healthy scratch on six occasions, although his average ice time didn’t change significantly.

That said, there’s likely a place for another NHL forward in Carolina to push a name like Mark Jankowski or Tyson Jost onto the waiver wire and out of a top-14 spot. Roslovic isn’t and won’t be the needle-mover they have in mind, especially since they still have over $10MM in cap space to burn, but he’s a fine fallback option if his other NHL leads end up not panning out. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet said early this month that Roslovic still had multiple offers on the table but wasn’t rushing to sign any of them.

Pat Maroon Joins USHL’s Muskegon Lumberjacks As Assistant Coach

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After announcing his retirement earlier this year, longtime NHL winger Pat Maroon is making his first foray into coaching as an assistant with the USHL’s Muskegon Lumberjacks, the team announced Friday.

Maroon, 37, jumps behind the bench just a few months after his final NHL game and does so into the United States’ top junior environment – a league he never played in himself despite spending his early development south of the border. The St. Louis native played Tier II juniors in the U.S. for the NAHL’s Texarkana and St. Louis Bandits, where his immense offensive success and physicality made him a sixth-round pick by the Flyers in 2007, before jumping to the OHL with the London Knights.

He’ll now help oversee a Lumberjacks roster that already has a few notable names locked in for 2025-26. Among them is Canadian center Tynan Lawrence, a projected top-10 pick in the 2026 draft, who refuted CHL interest to stay in Muskegon. Also on Muskegon’s roster are NHL-drafted forwards Melvin Novotny (Sabres, 2025, 7-195) and Viktor Nörringer (Predators, 2024, 4-127). Lawrence returns from last season, when he helped the Lumberjacks win their first Clark Cup title since their inception in 2010.

That trio will have the benefit of working with a three-time Stanley Cup champion in Maroon, who turned an odd development path into an NHL career spanning 14 years with over 800 appearances and 300 points.

Blue Jackets Re-Sign Daemon Hunt To Two-Way Deal

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The Blue Jackets have signed defenseman Daemon Hunt to a two-way deal for 2025-26, per a team announcement. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Hunt, 23, was their last remaining unsigned restricted free agent. The Jackets acquired the lefty from the Wild in the David Jiricek trade last November, but he didn’t see any NHL ice for them after the swap.

Instead, the 2020 third-round pick finished the season with the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters, where he recorded a 2-12–14 scoring line in 48 games with a -8 rating. That marked a step back from his offensive production with Minnesota’s affiliate, the Iowa Wild, in 2023-24, when he produced over half a point per game with 29 in 51 contests.

Near the end of his time with the Wild, Hunt had worked his way up to the No. 8-9 range on Minnesota’s defensive depth chart. He has 13 NHL appearances under his belt, 12 of which came in 2023-24. The Manitoba native played sparingly when dressed, though, recording one assist and averaging only 11:14 per game. He still managed to average two shot attempts per game and posted strong possession numbers in his limited deployment (54.6 CF%, 57.1 xGF% at even strength).

The Blue Jackets’ defense returns unchanged from last season aside from the departure of veteran Jack Johnson, meaning there’s little chance for Hunt to work his way into an opening-night job. Nonetheless, he and prospect Stanislav Svozil are their clear top recall options from Cleveland should they need help on the left side of the blue line throughout the year. Hunt will need to clear waivers if the Jackets want to assign him to Cleveland, though, something he hasn’t had to do before.

Hunt will be a restricted free agent again next summer. The Jackets now have 43 players under contract for 2025-26.

Red Wings Sign Travis Hamonic

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The Red Wings signed right-shot defenseman Travis Hamonic to a one-year, one-way contract. The Manitoba native will earn $1MM with no potential performance bonuses, as he missed the age cutoff for a 35+ contract by a few weeks.

Hamonic, who turns 35 tomorrow, was a second-round pick of the Islanders in 2008. While he was a top-four fixture out of the gate for them, subsequent stops with the Flames, Canucks, and Senators since his departure from New York in 2017 have seen his game slowly trail off as he aged.

That was especially true over the last two seasons. Ottawa had acquired Hamonic from Vancouver near the 2022 trade deadline and inked him to a two-year, $2.2MM contract in the summer of 2023 after his first full season in the Canadian capital saw him produce 21 points in 75 games while averaging 18:34 of ice time per night.

Immediately after signing the deal, though, Hamonic’s game dropped below replacement level. Over the life of the deal, during which a no-movement clause prohibited the Sens from waiving him, he played 107 games with 13 points, a -26 rating, and averaged only 16 minutes per game. His possession impacts, particularly in 2023-24, were among the worst in the league. That year, he had a -10% relative Corsi impact at even strength despite starting the majority of his shifts in the offensive zone. In total, Ottawa was outscored 77-44 and outchanced 787-635 with Hamonic on the ice at 5-on-5 in the last two years.

Given the Red Wings’ possession struggles, that makes Hamonic a peculiar fit, particularly on a guaranteed deal with a seven-figure cap hit when he was likely approaching PTO territory. Jack Johnson, a veteran lefty with similarly underwhelming impacts in a similar role, recently settled for a tryout with the Wild.

Detroit already has a wealth of No. 5-7 caliber veterans on its roster, including Erik Gustafsson and Justin Holl. Right-shot depth was a bit of a concern for them with Holl and Jacob Bernard-Docker as their only experienced options behind core piece Moritz Seider, but Hamonic presumably slots in behind both of them on their depth chart as he battles for a roster spot in camp. It’s worth noting his $1MM cap hit is below the maximum buriable threshold, so he wouldn’t carry a cap penalty for the Wings if they placed him on waivers for assignment to AHL Grand Rapids.

The wild card on Detroit’s right side is 2023 first-rounder Axel Sandin-Pellikka. The offensive-minded righty will be playing in North America this season, but whether his development would be best served by some AHL time or immediate top-four deployment in the NHL remains to be seen. He’s still only 20 years old and had one assist and a -3 rating in five regular-season and playoff games for Grand Rapids at the end of last season, but given their lack of other top-four capable options, they might not have much of a choice.

Detroit has four standard contract slots remaining after signing Hamonic.

Image courtesy of Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images.

Jake Bischoff, Gage Quinney Sign With KHL’s Shanghai Dragons

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Former Golden Knights defenseman Jake Bischoff and center Gage Quinney were among a multitude of signings announced by the Shanghai Dragons of the Kontinental Hockey League, according to Anton Nekrasov of Championat.

Bischoff, 31, has been with the Golden Knights organization since its inception. Initially a seventh-round pick by the Islanders in 2012, he signed his entry-level contract with them upon graduating from the University of Minnesota in 2017. However, he was traded to Vegas weeks later in a cap dump at the expansion draft before the deal even went into effect.

The Minnesota native initially suited up for the AHL’s Chicago Wolves, who initially served as a temporary affiliate for the Knights until they were able to purchase their development club, the Henderson Silver Knights, which began play in 2020. He played two seasons exclusively for the Wolves before signing an unusual three-year, two-way contract with Vegas upon his ELC expiring to continue serving as a depth farmhand.

That extension saw Bischoff make his NHL debut for Vegas in October 2019, playing in four early-season games but going without a point. He averaged 15:36 per game with eight hits and logged a -2 rating in what will almost certainly end up being the lone big-league contests of his professional career.

Even after his NHL contract with the Knights expired following the 2021-22 season, he continued to sign AHL deals with Henderson. He’s served as their captain for the past two seasons, making a slow return to full-time play after injuries limited him to just seven games in 2020-21 and cost him the entire 2021-22 campaign.

The 6’1″, 194-lb lefty leaves the Silver Knights as one of three players to play in all of the club’s first five seasons. Since making his pro debut on a tryout with AHL Bridgeport to close the 2016-17 campaign, he posted 27 goals, 83 assists, and 110 points in 367 minor-league contests with a -7 rating.

Quinney, 30, has also been with Henderson from the start but didn’t join the Vegas organization until 2018-19, one year after Bischoff. The Knights picked up the Las Vegas native as an undrafted free agent out of AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in free agency that year. He’s remained on two-way deals with them ever since, becoming a UFA this summer after completing a two-year pact signed in 2023.

Like Bischoff, Quinney’s lone NHL experience came in a brief call-up in the 2019-20 season. He registered an assist in a three-game trial, becoming the first Nevada-born player to skate and record a point in league history.

Quinney has long served as an alternate captain for the Silver Knights and finished third on the team in scoring last season with 36 points in 50 games. He leaves Henderson as the team’s all-time leader in goals (64), assists (104), and points (168).

The duo will be joining former Vegas coach Gerard Gallant, who oversaw Bischoff’s NHL debut but was fired before Quinney was called up, with the Dragons. The club will play its home games in St. Petersburg, Russia, this season before aiming to establish a permanent home in Shanghai. Its predecessor, Kunlun Red Star, had not played in China since 2020.

Poll: Which Non-Playoff Team Last Season Will Make It This Year?

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In both conferences, the 2024-25 Stanley Cup playoff race came down to the wire, with the Columbus Blue Jackets missing the cut by two points, and the Calgary Flames tying but losing out via the tiebreaker. Outside of those two, there are a handful of teams that have a legitimate chance to return to the postseason this upcoming season, but the uphill climb isn’t expected to get any easier.

While not entirely impossible (looking at you, 2024-25 Flames), there are a handful of teams we can rule out of the conversation. The Chicago Blackhawks, San Jose Sharks, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Boston Bruins are by no means ruled out of the playoff conversation already, but their odds are nearly insurmountable.

Two of the most popular choices for returning postseason squads come from the Metropolitan Division. Given that it’s hard to expect the Washington Capitals to replicate last season’s unprecedented performance, and the fact that the New Jersey Devils’ competitiveness lies on the shoulders of the health status of Jack Hughes, the Blue Jackets, and the New York Rangers could return to the Stanley Cup playoffs in 2025-26.

Columbus has a major question mark between the pipes, and doesn’t have a true star forward, though they do have a star defenseman in Zach Werenski. Despite a disappointing 2024-25 season, the Rangers are only one year removed from reaching the Eastern Conference Final. They have retooled their roster and hired a new head coach during the offseason.

Although the Flames only missed by a tiebreaker last season, the Utah Mammoth have one of the strongest claims in the West this season. Unfortunately, they play in a difficult Central Division. It’s difficult to pencil in the Mammoth for a top-three spot in the division for 2025-26, but a Wild Card spot shouldn’t be out of the question.

This list is not exhaustive; the Detroit Red Wings, Buffalo Sabres, Philadelphia Flyers, Anaheim Ducks, Nashville Predators, and Vancouver Canucks have all expressed their desire to return to the postseason in 2025-26. Still, there are only so many postseason spots to earn, and none of last year’s participants are eager to give up their postseason positioning from this past season. Now it’s your time to choose: which non-playoff team from last season, if any, has the strongest chance for a playoff spot for the upcoming season?

Mobile users click here to vote.

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