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Metro Notes: Sillinger, Foerster, Flyers Rookies, Kolosov

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Columbus Blue Jackets center prospect Owen Sillinger is expected to return from a February knee surgery early into the 2025-26 season, per Aaron Portzline of The Athletic. The Blue Jackets will hold him out of contact throughout the preseason to help ensure that target, general manager Don Waddell told Portzline.

Waddell’s wording suggests that Sillinger will begin ramping up his contact at practice beginning in the regular season. That timeline could make a return in the final week of October, or early November, a feasible target. He is almost certain to start the year on the AHL roster, after potting 11 goals and 29 points in a top-six role with the Cleveland Monsters last summer. That will be no slight to Sillinger though. He has served an important role on the Monsters throughout the last three seasons – and scored 11 goals in each year, despite fewer games every seasons. There will be a spot in the top-six held for Sillinger when he returns, and a hot return could quickly push him up Columbus’ call-up chart. If he gets moved to the NHL, he’ll regroup with younger brother Cole Sillinger, who has filled a role in the Blue Jackets’ top-nine for the last four seasons. Owen made his NHL debut last season, in a game that Cole sat out of due to injury.

Other notes from around the Metropolitan Division:

  • Philadelphia Flyers forward Tyson Foerster is still on pace to be ready for the start of the season, president of hockey operations Keith Jones shared with Charlie O’Connor of PHLY Sports. Foerster sustained an elbow injury that got infected and required surgery while playing for Team Canada at the 2025 IIHF World Championship. He was the second-highest goal-scorer on the Flyers last season, with his 25 goals in 81 games falling one short of Matvei Michkov’s team-leading total. Foerster seems set to return to a top-six role throughout Philadelphia’s 2025-26 season. With this news, the Flyers can rest assured that he’s tracking to begin making that impact right out of the gates.
  • The Philadelphia Flyers are confident that rookies Oliver Bonk, Denver Barkey, and Jett Luchanko will be ready for the start of training camp despite summer injuries, per Jackie Spiegel of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Spiegel points out that Luchanko faced a groin injury, Barkey faced a high ankle sprain, and Bonk faced bumps and bruises after a long 2024-25 season. All three players could have shots at making the 2025-26 roster. Luchanko made the Flyers out of training camp last season before returning to the OHL, while Barkey and Bonk went on runs to a Memorial Cup championship with the London Knights last season.
  • During his press conference, “Jonesy” also shared that the Flyers are confident they’ll have goaltender Aleksei Kolosov at training camp this year, again captured by O’Connor. Kolosov spent the 2024-25 season split between the NHL and AHL rosters, after playing through his fourth and final season in the KHL in the year prior. Kolosov posted an .867 save percentage in 17 NHL games, and an .884 in 12 AHL games. He posted five wins in both leagues. It seems he’d be a reasonable bet to start the season as the AHL starter, though O’Connor points out that there’s no telling where his camp performance could land him. He’ll likely be competing with Samuel Ersson and Daniel Vladař for NHL minutes.

Blues’ Zach Dean Enters NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program

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St. Louis Blues prospect Zach Dean has entered the NHL/NHLPA Player’s Assistance Program and will be out indefinitely, per a release from the NHL Public Relations department. The announcement mentions that Dean will not be eligible to return to the ice until he is fully cleared by program administrators. This will likely hold him out of the duration of St. Louis’ training camp and the start of the regular season.

Dean is a former first-round pick, hearing his name called by the Vegas Golden Knights with the 30th pick in the 2021 NHL Draft. He was coming off a promising, albeit shortened, QMJHL season that he spent the next two years vindicating. Dean graduated from the QMJHL’s Gatineau Olympiques after the 2022-23 season, having accrued 188 points in 177 games, and four seasons, in the league. By that time, Vegas had traded Dean to the Blues in a one-for-one exchange for NHL winger Ivan Barbashev.

That move pushed Dean to start his career in the Blues’ minor-league system. He joined the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds for the 2023-24 season, and began a slow process of climbing his way up the organization’s depth chart. He only scored one point in his first 11 pro games, but managed to pull things together enough to total 14 points in 49 games by the end of the year. That was just enough to push the Blues to call-up Dean for the first nine games of his NHL career towards the end of a lost season. He didn’t manage any scoring in the spot starts, and returned to the minors for the 2024-25 season.

Dean seemed ready to repeat his climb towards an NHL call-up, but ended up outside of the lineup after just three games due to a nagging, undisclosed injury. He returned in late-January, after a three-month absence, but was reinjured after just six games back. That forced Dean out until late-April, and ultimately limited his season to just four points in 11 games. The uptick in scoring was an encouraging sign, but it now seems Dean will need a little longer to get back into the right mindset after a difficult season. He’ll have all the time he needs in the NHL/NHLPA Player’s Assistance Program, and will look to show St. Louis the responsible, two-way playmaking style that earned him a first-round selection on the other side. Dean should return to Springfield’s middle-six at some point this season.

Rangers Hire Ryane Clowe, Promote Jim Sullivan And Ryan Martin

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The New York Rangers have hired former player Ryane Clowe to the role of assistant general manager. He will join the freshly-promoted Ryan Martin and Jim Sullivan in the role of advising and supporting Rangers’ general manager Chris Drury. Martin will continue serving as the general manager of the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack. This announcement comes on the heels of New York also hiring Blake Wheeler, Chris Pryor, Mark Flood, and Darryl Williams to various roles.

This news comes on the heels of Clowe’s sudden, and surprising, resignation from the San Jose Sharks’ assistant GM role. That was the first GM position of Clowe’s career, and one he moved into last summer after serving three years in a consulting and advising role with the Rangers. Now, with his feet wet, Clowe will return for a hardier role in the New York organization. He’s no stranger to the Rangers, having played 12 games with the club in 2012-13 and, more notably, played across from them in his 56 games with the New Jersey Devils from 2013 to 2015. Clowe has been around the NHL for the entirety of the 2000’s, and racked up a lofty resume in and around the league. His playing career ended in 2015 with 309 points in 491 games.

Sullivan also has deep roots with the Rangers. He began his career with the club as their director of hockey technology in 2009. That role evolved into the director of player development from 2014 to 2021. Then, Sulivan earned another promotion to the title of vice president of hockey strategy that he’s served in ever since. Now, he’ll climb one rung further up the ladder, and truly begin building a resume that could land him in a team’s GM chair one day. It’s an impressive climb, especially considering that Sullivan – an economics major – has no history playing professional sports. Still outside of his 50’s, Sullivan will stand as an emerging piece in New York’s front office.

Meanwhile, Martin has been promoted to associate general manager – one rung above both Clowe and Sullivan. Martin has served as Hartford’s general manager since the 2021-22 season. He has led the team to two playoff appearances in four seasons, and presided over the turnover of three head coaches. Martin’s biggest accomplishments came prior to his time in New York. He was once a core piece of the Detroit Red Wings’ front office, and served as GM of the Grand Rapids Griffins from 2012 to 2020. He won the AHL’s Calder Cup in 2013 and 2017 with Grand Rapids, and even joined Detroit on their run to the 2008 Stanley Cup as the team’s director of hockey administration. Martin’s trophy cabinet is rounded out by a Gold Medal at the 2021 World Junior Championships, when he supported Team USA as a scout. He’ll bring that lofty experience back to New York next year, looking to have even more say on a team in the midst of a big turnaround.

Ryane Clowe Steps Down From Sharks’ Assistant GM Role

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In a surprising bit of news, former NHL forward Ryane Clowe has announced he has resigned from the San Jose Sharks’ assistant general manager role. Last season was Clowe’s first in a role with the Sharks front office. In a statement released through the Sharks social media, Clowe said:

I truly loved being back in San Jose and working with Mike Grier and his entire team, but at this point, this decision is in the best interest of my family. The franchise has an exciting future ahead and is set up to be successful for a long period of time…

Last summer, Clowe returned to the Sharks organization for the first time since 2013. His last tenure with the Sharks spanned 12 years, beginning with a sixth-round selection in the 2001 NHL Draft. Clowe moved to the Sharks’ pro ranks two seasons later, joining the AHL’s Cleveland Barons in the 2003-04 season. He was an instant force – netting 102 points and 198 penalty minutes over his first two seasons, and 146 games, in the minor-leagues. That earned him a full-time role in the NHL by 2006, and Clowe quickly became a core piece of the San Jose roster. He rivaled 50 points and 100 penalty minutes in every season between 2008 and 2012 – and served as the club’s assistant captain for the latter three years.

His time with San Jose came to a close when he was controversially traded to the New York Rangers for a heap of draft picks in 2013. Clowe didn’t find the same groove with the Rangers, and couldn’t rediscover it with a move to the New Jersey Devils later in his career. He played his final NHL game in 2015 and joined the Devils as an assistant coach in 2016.

Clowe worked backwards with his playing days behind him. He served two years on the Devils’ bench, before serving three in a team consultant and senior advisor position with the Rangers, and then moving to the Sharks last summer.

Now, Clowe steps away from important roles with San Jose’s  NHL and AHL rosters. His duties will likely be distributed among fellow assistant GMs Joe Will and Tom Holy, unless the Sharks opt to hire a replacement. At the time, it’s not clear why Clowe chose to step away from the Sharks, though it’d be hard to imagine he stays away from the sport for too long. Clowe recorded 309 points and 618 penalty minutes in 491 games, and 13 seasons, in his NHL career. He’s pushed through six more NHL seasons in a staff position.

West Notes: Golden Knights, Kravtsov, Murphy

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With Alex Pietrangelo’s playing career likely over, the Golden Knights have a big hole to fill on their back end but beyond swapping Nicolas Hague for Jeremy Lauzon (and center Colton Sissons), Vegas hasn’t made any other moves on the blueline.  It doesn’t appear that will change either.  In an interview for The Athletic with Pierre LeBrun (subscription link), GM Kelly McCrimmon indicated that he thinks his roster is set for the upcoming season.  He feels confident that Kaedan Korczak is now ready to step up and be a full-time regular after being more of a depth player through his first few NHL seasons.  He also singled out veteran Ben Hutton, a frequent scratch last season, as someone who is capable of stepping up into a bigger role.  More than $7.6MM over the cap already (before factoring in Pietrangelo’s eventual LTIR placement) per PuckPedia, there just isn’t much wiggle room for the Golden Knights to try to add to their back end even if McCrimmon was inclined to try to make another move.

More from the West:

  • After a successful KHL season, winger Vitali Kravtsov surprised some with his decision to sign a two-way deal with the Canucks over the summer. Speaking with Alexey Shevchenko of Sport-Express, he discussed his departure from Traktor while also noting that he won’t be looking to return home should he make it through waivers unclaimed and be sent to the AHL.  Kravtsov had 27 goals and 31 assists in 66 KHL contests last season.
  • After spending last season on a two-way deal with the Flames before being non-tendered back in June, goaltender Connor Murphy will remain in the organization on a different contract. Their AHL affiliate, the Calgary Wranglers, recently announced (Twitter link) that they’ve signed the netminder to a one-year deal.  The 27-year-old struggled in limited action with the Wranglers last season but had a 2.54 GAA and a .922 SV% in 15 outings with them in 2023-24.  He’ll battle for a spot with them in training camp but could also land with ECHL Rapid City for the upcoming season.

Aidan Hreschuk Signs With AHL Texas

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Defenseman Aidan Hreschuk was among the higher-drafted college players to become eligible for free agency last month. Reporting earlier in the offseason indicated the Blue Jackets, who had acquired his draft rights from the Hurricanes in 2022’s Max Domi trade, had already made up their minds on not offering him an entry-level contract before the Aug. 15 deadline. PuckPedia confirmed a couple of weeks ago that he’d filed the necessary paperwork to become an unrestricted free agent.

After four years at Boston College, the 5’11” lefty will instead need to settle for a minor-league pact. He’s signed a one-year deal with the AHL’s Texas Stars to join the Dallas organization, the team announced Friday.

It’s not particularly surprising to see him go unsigned by Columbus and subsequently struggle to yield NHL offers. Despite his 2021 third-round billing, he never really popped offensively at BC. He only ever cracked the 10-point mark in a season once and finished his run with a 6-32–38 scoring line in 146 contests, a pace of 0.26 points per game.

While that’s not the end-all-be-all for a defender’s effectiveness, offensive production and high-end puck-moving skills are a must in today’s league for a sub-6′ defenseman. While he is relatively mobile and physical and did develop his defensive skills well at BC, particularly in his junior season, NHL teams will be extremely wary about his ability to overcome his lack of height to translate those skills to the game’s top level.

Instead, the 22-year-old will get a crack in the Stars’ pipeline and look to convert a strong AHL showing out of the gate into an NHL contract, whether that’s this year or next or further down the road. Dallas already has 15 defenders signed to NHL contracts, so it’s not surprising to see them not offer him an entry-level deal despite some obvious organizational interest.

Senators Re-Sign Donovan Sebrango

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The Ottawa Senators have signed defenseman Donovan Sebrango to a one-year, two-way contract extension, per PuckPedia. Sebrango was one of two remaining restricted-free agents in Ottawa’s system, alongside defender Max Guenette.

Sebrango played the first two NHL games of his career with Ottawa last season. He only managed 20:37 minutes of ice time between the two games, and didn’t record any notable stat changes – but the games were still an important step for the 23-year-old. He has otherwise spent the last five seasons in a full-time, AHL role – spread across games with the Grand Rapids Griffins and Belleville Senators.

Sebrango struggled to produce much on either side of the ice through his early career – netting just 18 points in 135 games with the Griffins. The low scoring seemed set to continue after Sebrango recorded just seven assists in 35 games of his first year with Belleville. But the young defender finally found his groove this season, climbing all the way to 20 points in 50 games with Belleville. That jump in offense, complimented by a gritty, two-way style, earned Sebrango quick attention from the Senators. A one-year extension could be exactly what the young blue-liner needs to build on his momentum from the breakout year. Another hot year could earn him even more NHL ice time, and a much more confident contract offer from the Senators next summer. Sebrango was originally a third-round pick to the Detroit Red Wings in 2020 – after managing an OHL career that spanned 56 points in 118 games.

Brandon Yip Announces Retirement

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Former Colorado Avalanche forward Brandon Yip has announced his retirement from professional hockey via a social media post from his team, the KHL’s Shanghai Red Dragons. This news confirms recent speculation. Yip spent seven of his final eight seasons with the Kunlun Red Stars, who relocated to Shanghai this summer. His sole year away from Kunlun in that span came with the Liiga’s Mikkelin Jukurit during the pandemic season in 2020-21.

Yip became a beacon of Chinese hockey in the second-half of his career. He joined Kunlun in 2017, after three years in Germany’s DEL, and earned the captaincy for the top Chinese club after just one season. He would carry the Red Stars’ ’C’ for six more seasons. Residency in China also helped Yip – a Chinese-Canadian – join Team China at the 2022 Winter Olympic Qualifiers. He posted one assist in four tournament games, and six points in four games at the Division-II-A World Championship, that season. His performance was a major part of China’s promotion to the Division-I-B World Championship in 2023, where he scored four points in five games. Yip served as China’s captain in all 13 games he played with the club.

Yip’s career took him across the hockey world before settling in China. He earned an eighth-round selection in the 2004 NHL Draft after scoring 131 points in 99 BCHL games, through two seasons in the league. He followed his draft selection with a four-year tenure at Boston University, where he scored 108 points in 138 games. Colorado promoted Yip to the NHL the year after his collegiate career ended, and he managed a hardy 11 goals and 19 points in 32 games.

That was enough to earn Yip a nightly lineup role for the 2010-11 season – but he wasn’t able to keep the high-tempo offense rolling. He scored just 22 points in 71 games that year, kicking off a slide of underwhelming play that’d carry through the next four seasons. Yip moved to the Nashville Predators in 2012, and Phoenix Coyotes in 2013, but ultimately found himself in a full-time AHL role by 2014. He chose to move away from North America two years later, ending his NHL career at 56 points in 174 games.

Now taking the first step beyond his playing career, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Yip take on a new role with Team China. He boasts the most NHL experience of any player in the country’s brief international hockey history. Currently, 74-year-old Perry Pearn – once a journeyman NHL assistant coach – serves as the head coach of China’s Men’s team and junior team.

Pacific Notes: McDavid, Patterson, Papirny

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As Canada’s Olympic orientation camp got underway today, plenty of the focus was on Connor McDavid’s contract situation with the Oilers, namely that an extension hasn’t been completed yet.  Speaking with reporters today including Sportsnet’s Eric Francis, the center indicated that he has every intention to win with Edmonton and that is his only focus.  However, when asked if he’d be okay opening the season without a deal, McDavid indicated that all options are on the table.

At this point, it doesn’t appear as if there have been any substantive conversations between the two sides.  TSN’s Ryan Rishaug reports (Twitter link) that there hasn’t been a back-and-forth between the Oilers and McDavid’s camp regarding either salary or term.  Given that McDavid could plausibly sign a short-term or a long-term deal, it’s not a situation as simple as focusing on an eight-year deal and only worrying about the money.  He’ll carry a $12.5MM AAV for the upcoming season and is expected to beat that by several million per season whenever he puts pen to paper on a new deal.

Elsewhere in the Pacific:

  • A day after his trade request was made public, Canucks prospect Riley Patterson is on the move in the OHL. Niagara announced that they’ve acquired the center from Barrie in exchange for five draft picks.  The 19-year-old was a fourth-round pick in 2024 and has averaged just under a point per game in the past two seasons with the Colts, including a 25-goal, 59-point effort last season.  Vancouver has until June 1st to sign Patterson to an entry-level deal or lose his rights so there will be a lot riding on the upcoming season for him.
  • The Golden Knights’ AHL affiliate announced that they have brought back goaltender Jordan Papirny on a one-year minor-league deal. The 29-year-old has spent the last three seasons in their system but he hasn’t been able to secure an NHL deal.  Last season, Papirny played in 28 games with ECHL Tahoe, putting up a 2.50 GAA and a .920 SV% along with four shutouts while getting into a pair of games with AHL Henderson.

NCAA Grants Eligibility To Two Former Pros

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In another milestone decision for collegiate hockey, the NCAA has granted eligibility to two players with experience in the AHL and ECHL. Forward Connor McClennon and defenseman Hudson Thornton will both suit up for the Bemidji State University Beavers, per Jared Rubado of The Bemidji Pioneer. This decision goes against the NCAA’s previous rule that stated any players who have signed pro contracts were ineligible from playing NCAA-sanctioned sports.

The future implications, or even the present justification, for this decision aren’t entirely clear. Bemidji State head coach Tom Serratore told Rubado that the team wanted to “throw some darts” after seeing the NCAA allow former pros to participate in other sports. They worked with both players to submit request to the NCAA Eligibility Center, formerly the NCAA Clearinghouse. Both McClennon and Thornton pointed towards their reinstated eligibility for U Sports – Canada’s collegiate league – as one of the reasons why they should be granted a move to the NCAA.

Bemidji also pointed towards the NCAA’s extension of eligibility to pros in both basketball and football. As pointed out by Rubado, the NCAA allowed Ethan Burg to join the University of Tennessee’s men’s basketball team on July 24, despite Burg’s participation in the Israeli Basketball Super League.

The NCAA is also currently facing a U.S. District Court ruling that challenges how the NCAA counts years of eligibility. Previously, the collegiate association would include years in JUCO, or Junior College, against a player’s maximum five years of NCAA eligibility. This new antitrust lawsuit would look to reverse that decision, and extend additional eligibility to three players at West Virginia University, as well as players at Vanderbilt University, Rutgers University, and Memphis University.

The NCAA has released a statement challenging the court ruling, though they may face a tougher task overturning it after extending eligibility to two pro hockey players. McClennon played nine total games between the AHL and ECHL, scoring just one point in the former league. He spent last season at the University of Alberta. Thornton’s pro experience is much more extensive. He appeared in 49 ECHL games, and scored 14 points, this past season, in addition to making his AHL debut. Thornton has never played at the collegiate level, though he previously expressed interest in joining the University of Saskatchewan for next season.

While the long-term impact of this decision hasn’t had time to settle, it marks another boom to the ever-changing junior hockey landscape. It seems unlikely that the NCAA will officially acknowledge changes to their eligibility until after they conclude multiple lawsuits and court cases, leaving questions of who teams can recruit up in the air for now. On the other side, NCAA eligibility could begin mirroring U Sports. Currently, AHL or ECHL players are eligible to join U Sports programs, but must sit out for a season of competition if they are on a pro roster after January 10th. Even those guidelines seem uncertain, though, as U Sports commits to future changes and expansions of their own.

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