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Kraken Reportedly Open To Moving Jared McCann

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After a breakout 40-goal effort in 2022-23, Kraken forward Jared McCann has taken a small step back offensively since then.  While he has still surpassed 20 goals in each of the last two years, it appears that might not be enough to make his roster spot secure.  In a recent appearance on the Sekeres and Price Show (video link), David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period relayed that Seattle is open to moving McCann.  Meanwhile, Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic suggested on his podcast earlier this week (video link) that the Kraken might be compelled to move McCann.

The 29-year-old has spent the last four seasons in Seattle after being selected from Toronto (a team he never played for) in the expansion draft.  McCann has led the Kraken in scoring in each of those four seasons which certainly makes it puzzling that there are suggestions that he could be available.

Last season, he had 22 goals and 39 assists in 82 games, while amassing 118 goals and 125 assists in 315 games over his four seasons with the Kraken.  After never reaching 40 points with any of his former teams, McCann has reached the 50-point mark at a minimum each year in Seattle.  Meanwhile, his goal-per-60 rate at that time is sixth-best in the NHL over that stretch, a number inflated obviously by that 40-goal campaign.  Nonetheless, that’s an impressive spot to be in.

McCann has two years left on his contract with a $5MM price tag, one that stands out as a team-friendly pact in an inflationary salary cap environment with two more big jumps to the Upper Limit expected over the next two years.  It’s a contract that many teams can afford or would be willing to make other moves to be able to afford although it’s worth noting that McCann would have some say in any possible trade as he has a 10-team no-trade clause.

A natural center coming up, McCann has primarily played on the wing in Seattle and with the center depth they’ve amassed, especially among their younger players, it’s unlikely that they’d need to move him back down the middle for an extended period of time.  But given the extremely high demand for centers right now, that would only strengthen his trade value.

Seattle has a new GM in Jason Botterill plus a new head coach in Lane Lambert and has done more buying than selling so far this summer.  They’ve added Mason Marchment in a trade from Dallas along with Frederick Gaudreau in a swap with Minnesota and signed Ryan Lindgren to one of the bigger blueline deals in free agency while their main subtraction was Andre Burakovsky in a cap-clearing move to Chicago.  Those moves suggest that they are hoping to get back into the playoff picture and moving their top scorer would completely run counter to that objective.

However, in a free agent market that’s completely bereft of impact forwards now, the Kraken would be able to command a significant trade return if they were to move McCann and perhaps their reported willingness to deal him stems from that.  It would be a case of taking a step back to potentially take a couple of steps forward depending on the return and while Seattle has shied away from that approach early in their franchise’s history, perhaps they’ll get an offer that’s too good to pass up to push them in that direction now.  Either way, McCann becomes a player to keep an eye on over the next couple of months on the trade front.

Morning Notes: Comtois, Kuznetsov, AHL

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Back in the spring, Max Comtois was believed to be receiving some interest to return to North America.  However, it appears the offers weren’t to his liking, relays Sport-Express’ Mikhail Zislis, who notes that the winger is expected to sign a two-year deal to remain with Dynamo Moscow of the KHL.  Comtois was quite productive with them last season, picking up 21 goals and 29 assists in 62 regular season games while adding 13 points in 15 playoff contests.  He has 87 points in 211 career NHL contests but it appears he won’t have a chance to add to those totals for another couple of years at least.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • While the Canadiens are known to be searching for center help, they are not among the teams pursuing Evgeny Kuznetsov. His agent, Shumi Babaev, told Louis-Andre Lariviere of La Page Sportive that Montreal has informed him that they won’t be offering Kuznetsov a contract.  The 33-year-old had 37 points in 39 games with SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL last season where he was teammates with Canadiens winger Ivan Demidov who is expected to play his first full NHL season in 2025-26.  Kuznetsov has 575 points in 743 games at the NHL level over an 11-year career but managed just 23 points in 64 games in 2023-24 between Carolina and Washington.
  • On Thursday, the AHL released its end-of-season Excellence Awards. Avalanche defenseman Jacob MacDonald was the winner of the President’s Award for player excellence after setting a league record for most goals by a blueliner with 31, helping earn him the Eddie Shore Award as the league’s outstanding defenseman.  Meanwhile, the newly established Bruce Landon Award for the most outstanding hockey operations executive went to Canadiens assistant GM John Sedgwick, who also serves as the GM of AHL Laval.

Nikolai Kovalenko Signs With CSKA Moscow

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A couple of years ago, it looked like winger Nikolai Kovalenko was going to have a chance to become an impactful NHL player.  Instead, he is effectively one-and-done in North America as CSKA Moscow of the KHL announced on its Telegram page that they’ve signed Kovalenko to a two-year contract.

The 25-year-old was a fifth-round pick by Colorado back in 2018, going 171st overall.  While it took some time, Kovalenko became a key scoring threat back home, putting up 87 points over his last two seasons with KHL Torpedo, earning himself an entry-level contract along the way.

Once Kovalenko’s KHL season ended in 2024, he was brought up by the Avs and even got into a pair of playoff contests that spring for his first taste of NHL action.  The hope was that he’d be well-positioned to upgrade Colorado’s bottom-six group heading into last season with potentially showing enough to move into the top six whenever injuries crept up.

Unfortunately, things didn’t quite go as planned on that front.  Kovalenko was limited to just four goals and four assists in the first 28 games of the season while logging just 12 minutes a night of playing time.  Instead of being an upgrade on some of the question marks the Avalanche deployed at the back of their forward group, he simply became another one of them.

As a result, Colorado opted to trade Kovalenko to San Jose in early December as one of the key pieces of the return for Mackenzie Blackwood who was brought in to shore up their goaltending (and later signed a five-year extension).  With the Sharks firmly in rebuilding mode, it seemed like Kovalenko would get a longer leash and potentially develop into the type of player the Avs were hoping he’d become.

But that didn’t happen.  Kovalenko found himself primarily in the same role he had with Colorado and even found himself as a healthy scratch at times.  He got into 29 games with San Jose, notching just three goals and nine assists while his ice time ticked up only slightly to 12:40 per game.  With the Sharks looking to shake things up roster-wise this summer, they elected to non-tender Kovalenko last month, making him an unrestricted free agent.

While Kovalenko was believed to prefer to stay in the NHL, evidently the offers weren’t to his liking so he has decided to return home after just one full season across the pond.  Given his age, it’s quite possible that he’ll be able to get himself back on the radar if he immediately goes back to being a top performer at the KHL level so this might not be the last we see of him in North America.

Photo courtesy of Stan Szeto-Imagn Images.

West Notes: Sharks, Lord, Prosvetov

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The Sharks have been busy in recent days, adding Ryan Reaves and Jeff Skinner up front.  Those moves came after the back end was shaken up last week with the additions of John Klingberg, Dmitry Orlov, and Nick Leddy while other depth moves were made this summer as well.  Speaking to reporters today including Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News (Twitter link), GM Mike Grier indicated that San Jose is probably finished with their offseason movement but that they’d definitely look into other trade scenarios that could pop up before the season starts.  With all of the moves they’ve made, more than one-third of their roster has been changed up this summer, a percentage that could go higher depending on if other prospects make a push for a roster spot in training camp.

More from out West:

  • As expected, the AHL’s Ontario Reign, affiliate of the Kings, announced today that Andrew Lord has been named as the fourth head coach in team history. He takes the place of Marco Sturm who held the post the last three seasons before being named as Boston’s head coach earlier this offseason.  Lord was the head coach with QMJHL Halifax last season after spending the previous four years as the coach and GM (for three seasons) of ECHL Greenville.
  • Goaltender Ivan Prosvetov signed a one-year, $950K contract with the Flames early in free agency. Speaking with reporters including Championat’s Nastya Vinnik, the 26-year-old acknowledged that he had an offer for more money on the table but picked Calgary instead since there was a pathway to a potential NHL spot.  Prosvetov had a 2.32 GAA and a .920 SV% in 38 games last season with CSKA Moscow in the KHL and will battle Devin Cooley to serve as the backup to Dustin Wolf next season.

Erik Karlsson Open To Being Traded To A Handful Of Teams

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With the Penguins known to be sellers this summer, there has been plenty of speculation about the future of some of their veterans.  While wingers Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell have been generating a lot of attention, one other veteran that seemingly could be in play is blueliner Erik Karlsson.

The 35-year-old has two years left on his contract with the Penguins responsible for $10MM of his $11.5MM cap charge and San Jose covering the remainder.  Notably, a $5MM signing bonus this summer has already been paid, meaning his total cash compensation remaining is $11.5MM over the final two years combined, $1.5MM of which again is covered by the Sharks.

While Karlsson has a no-move clause, Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic recently reported in his latest podcast (audio link) that he is willing to be moved.  However, he adds that there are only a few teams the veteran is willing to move to; Johnston didn’t identify any of the potential landing spots Karlsson would be amenable to going to.

While Karlsson hasn’t been able to come close to the 101 points he put up just two seasons ago, he’s still an above-average offensive blueliner, notching 56 and 53 points over the last two years while logging over 23 minutes a night.  While he’s never been elite on the defensive side of things, he’s still a legitimate impact player.

To that end, Johnston notes that Pittsburgh isn’t viewing Karlsson as merely a cap dump.  If he is to be moved, GM Kyle Dubas will be expecting a positive-value return and in the current environment, he has a good chance to land that.  The UFA market for blueliners is largely dried up now while more than one-third of the league has the cap space to take on the remainder of his contract outright without salary retention.  Meanwhile, if Pittsburgh were to retain some money or take players back, several more teams could get into the mix as well.

Depending on which teams Karlsson is willing to move to, Pittsburgh actually might have more realistic options than San Jose did two summers ago when very few teams had the ability to add the bulk of his contract.  Despite the drop in production, that should have Dubas in decent shape in terms of trying to build some sort of market for his defender’s services, especially if there are suitors that value the cap hit being higher than the remaining cash outlay.

But, even in a salary cap environment that’s set to jump again considerably next summer, moving Karlsson for even close to full value will be a challenge.  That said, the Penguins didn’t pay close to full value for him two summers ago when he was coming off his third Norris Trophy win.  So, while Pittsburgh is in decent shape to get something of value for Karlsson, it’s unlikely they’ll get a key element to their rebuild in a package.  And with Karlsson holding the cards with a full veto if he doesn’t want to go to a specific team, the Penguins could yet lose some leverage in discussions.

While it might make sense to wait for an in-season move if injuries strike, the summer is generally considered an easier time to make bigger moves work on the salary cap side.  With that in mind, Karlsson is a player to keep an eye on in the coming weeks with teams still looking to add to their rosters in a market where demand greatly outweighs supply.

Minor Transactions: 7/11/25

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While the frequency of signings has certainly dried up as of late, there are still some free agents at the lower levels looking for new homes.  Some of those have inked recent contracts; we’ll run down those moves and other minor transactions here.

  • The Blackhawks’ AHL affiliate in Rockford announced that they’ve signed defenseman Andrew Perrott and forward Connor Mylymok to one-year AHL contracts. Perrott split last season between Washington’s AHL and ECHL affiliates, tallying 140 penalty minutes between the two levels.  Mylymok, meanwhile, was held off the scoresheet in eight games with AHL Calgary while posting 23 points in 40 outings with ECHL Rapid City.
  • Winger Robert Mastrosimone has signed with AHL Charlotte, an affiliate of the Hurricanes, per a team release. The 24-year-old was a second-round pick by Detroit back in 2019 but didn’t sign with them, ultimately becoming a free agent where he spent the last two seasons on a minor league deal with Toronto.  Mastrosimone played in 50 games for the Marlies in 2024-25, collecting 10 goals and four assists.
  • The Marlies announced that they’ve re-signed forwards Cedric Pare and Sam Stevens to one-year AHL deals. Pare was a capable secondary scorer last season for the Maple Leafs’ affiliate, notching 12 goals and 14 assists in 59 games.  Stevens, meanwhile, was limited to just 21 games with the Marlies in his first professional season, picking up two goals and two assists.
  • Earlier this week, Rangers prospect Artyom Gonchar has committed to play for OHL Sudbury next season, the junior team announced. The defenseman, who is the nephew of long-time NHLer Sergei Gonchar, was a third-round pick last month, going 89th overall.  Gonchar spent last season with MHL Magnitogorsk, tallying 25 points in 50 games.

Submit Your Questions For The #PHRMailbag

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It has been a busy few weeks across the NHL.  We have a repeat Stanley Cup champion, the draft has come and gone, and many players find themselves on new teams following some big trades and plenty of free agent signings with the bulk of the heavy lifting now finished on the offseason.

With that in mind, it’s a good time to reopen the mailbag.  Our last call for questions yielded enough topics for three columns.  The first discussed Connor Hellebuyck’s playoff struggles, Florida’s playoff proficiency, and more.  Topics in the second included an assessment of the Avalanche, ideal second center options for Montreal, and some offseason predictions.  The third included some talk about the Blackhawks, a Noah Dobson prediction (that didn’t quite hold up), and what Detroit needed to do this summer to have a successful offseason.

You can submit a question by using #PHRMailbag on Twitter/X or by leaving a comment down below. The mailbag will run this weekend.

Five Key Stories: 6/30/25 – 7/6/25

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As expected, the past week was extremely busy around the NHL.  There were plenty of signings, re-signings, trades, and even a head coaching hire.  Rather than try to break down just a few important stories in a week that had plenty of them, we’ll break down the week that was in five key themes.

June 30th Activity: In the hours leading up to free agency, many of the top names found themselves off the market.  Mitch Marner agreed to terms on an eight-year, $96MM deal with Vegas, being acquired in a sign-and-trade with Toronto for Nicolas Roy.  The Panthers found a way to keep both Aaron Ekblad and Brad Marchand in the fold, signing Ekblad for eight years and $49MM and Marchand for six seasons and $31.5MM.  Ivan Provorov re-upped with Columbus for seven seasons and $59.5MM, making him the top-paid defenseman from the UFA-eligible players.  The Kings decided to stick with Andrei Kuzmenko, giving him a one-year, $4.3MM contract while Detroit once again signed Patrick Kane in the hours before the market opened up, giving him a one-year, $3MM contract that could jump to $7MM with bonuses.

Trades: There was plenty of activity on the trade front before 11 AM CT on July 1st as well.  Vegas dealt Nicolas Hague to Nashville for Jeremy Lauzon and Colton Sissons (with the Preds retaining half of his contract).  Detroit offloaded the final season and $4.75MM of Vladimir Tarasenko’s deal to Minnesota for future considerations.  Toronto tried to replace some of Marner’s playmaking with the acquisition of Matias Maccelli from Utah for a conditional third-round pick.  Boston opted to buy low on Viktor Arvidsson with Edmonton looking to free up cap space, getting the winger for a 2027 fifth-rounder.  Then, just before the market opened up, Montreal and St. Louis swapped youngsters with the Canadiens getting Zachary Bolduc in exchange for Logan Mailloux.

Extensions: While many contracts for next season were handed out in recent days, some big ones were also signed but won’t start until 2026-27.  Vancouver was particularly active, giving deals to two players.  Thatcher Demko signed a three-year, $25.5MM extension while Conor Garland officially inked his previously-reported six-year, $36MM agreement.  Carolina locked up Logan Stankoven to an eight-year, $48MM deal, ensuring they’ll have at least one long-term piece from the Mikko Rantanen series of trades.  Washington got another important part of their back end signed long-term, signing Martin Fehervary to a seven-year, $42MM deal.  Lastly, early extensions are rarely for bridge contracts but San Jose did just that with William Eklund, handing him a three-year, $16.8MM extension; he’ll still be RFA-eligible at its conclusion.

RFA Re-Signings: While this is the time of year when unrestricted free agents generally dominate the headlines, some of the biggest contracts handed out went to players who didn’t hit the open market or get to the point of having discussions about a potential offer sheet.  After moving Noah Dobson who received a rich deal from Montreal, the Islanders handed out a pricey pact of their own to Alexander Romanov who received an eight-year, $50MM contract.  Edmonton wasn’t able to get a long-term deal done with Evan Bouchard but the four-year, $42MM agreement bought them two extra seasons of club control.  Meanwhile, Toronto inked its top youngster Matthew Knies to a six-year, $46.5MM contract, ensuring that most of its top six group (beyond Marner) will be in place for several more years now.

UFA Period Activity: While some of the bigger moves were already made before free agency got underway, there have still been some notable contracts.  The Canucks ultimately wound up keeping Brock Boeser who received a seven-year, $50.75MM contract.  Vladislav Gavrikov’s linking to the Rangers proved to be true as he got a seven-year, $49MM pact; New York, in turn, dealt K’Andre Miller in a sign-and-trade (eight years, $56MM) to Carolina for Scott Morrow plus first and second-round picks.  Anaheim added a veteran center, inking Mikael Granlund to a three-year, $21MM pact after moving Trevor Zegras to Philadelphia last month.  The Sharks opted to shore up their back end, handing Dmitry Orlov a two-year, $13MM contract while also claiming Nick Leddy off waivers from St. Louis.  Meanwhile, the other top winger on the market (Nikolaj Ehlers) waited a couple of days to determine his future before signing a six-year, $51MM contract with Carolina, giving the Hurricanes a needed boost up front.

West Notes: Zellweger, Mintyukov, Suchanek, Canucks, Ritchie

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The Ducks received trade interest in young defensemen Olen Zellweger and Pavel Mintyukov, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports in his latest 32 Thoughts podcast (audio link).  The 21-year-olds are believed to be a big part of Anaheim’s future but were in and out of the lineup at times, something that Friedman notes resulted in both players going to management about their playing time.  Zellweger had 20 points in 62 games last season while Mintyukov had 19 in 68, a drop of nine points from his rookie-season performance.  Despite the trade interest, Friedman relays that Anaheim doesn’t have any interest in moving either youngster.

More from out West:

  • Still with the Ducks, prospect goaltender Tomas Suchanek has fully recovered from the torn ACL sustained last summer just after development camp, relays Derek Lee of The Hockey News. The 22-year-old impressed in his first professional season back in 2023-24 where he put up a 2.92 GAA and a .910 SV% in 29 games with AHL San Diego, earning him an entry-level contract along the way.  As things stand, Suchanek seems likely either to be the backup with the Gulls behind Ville Husso or starting at ECHL Tulsa to give him a shot at more playing time.
  • The Canucks showed strong interest in center Christian Dvorak earlier this week, Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK reports (Twitter link). Dvorak ultimately signed a one-year, $5.4MM contract with Philadelphia while Vancouver is believed to have put a three-year pact on the table worth around $4MM per season.  The 29-year-old had 33 points in 82 games with Montreal last season while winning nearly 56% of his faceoffs.
  • Wild prospect Ryder Ritchie announced on his Instagram page that he has committed to play for Boston University for the upcoming season. The 18-year-old was a second-round pick by Minnesota last year, going 45th overall.  Ritchie spent last season with WHL Medicine Hat, collecting 61 points in 53 regular season games and averaging a point per game in 18 playoff outings.  He then capped off the campaign with four goals and an assist in four Memorial Cup appearances.

Blues Re-Sign Vadim Zherenko And Hunter Skinner

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July 7: The Blues confirmed Zherenko’s and Skinner’s contracts while also confirming a two-way deal for winger Matt Luff that was reported when the market opened last week.

July 6: After getting Joel Hofer signed to a new deal late last month, the Blues have re-signed their other restricted free agent netminder.  PuckPedia reports (Twitter link) that St. Louis has re-signed Vadim Zherenko to a one-year, two-way contract.  PuckPedia is also reporting (Twitter link) that defenseman Hunter Skinner has inked a one-year, two-way agreement as well.  Both players will receive $775K in the NHL and $125K in the minors, meaning they took less than their qualifying offers to secure more guaranteed money.

Zherenko was a seventh-round pick by St. Louis back in 2019, going 208th overall and has had a bit of a journey thus far in professional hockey.  The 24-year-old was drafted out of Russia and spent one more year at home, splitting time between the VHL and the MHL before deciding to play in Finland in 2021-22 where he spent the bulk of the year with Ilves at the top Liiga level.  His performance there helped earn him an entry-level contract that spring.

Since then, Zherenko has spent his time with AHL Springfield, save for a brief stint in St. Louis on recall in his rookie year that didn’t yield any NHL playing time.  Last season, he posted a 12-17-5 record in 32 games with the Thunderbirds along with a 3.44 GAA and a .897 SV%.  He played behind starter Colten Ellis who is now waiver-eligible moving forward, leaving his future a little murkier as he’ll have to pass through unclaimed to return to Springfield.  Zherenko, meanwhile, remains waiver-exempt for one more year so it’s safe to say that he’ll be back with the Thunderbirds next season.

As for Skinner, he was a fourth-round pick of the Rangers back in 2019, going 112th overall.  He spent the following season with OHL London before turning pro in 2020-21.  He spent parts of three seasons in their farm system, primarily with AHL Hartford before being traded to St. Louis in 2023 as part of the deal that sent rental players Vladimir Tarasenko and Niko Mikkola to New York to try to aid their playoff run.

Since then, Skinner has played with Springfield and is coming off his best season at the AHL level, one that saw him record eight goals and 14 assists in 69 games along with 98 penalty minutes.  That was enough to earn him a qualifying offer to get another opportunity but unless he becomes an NHL regular and plays in at least 80 games next season, Skinner will become eligible for Group Six unrestricted free agency next summer.

With the signings, the Blues are down to just one remaining restricted free agent to re-sign, forward Nikita Alexandrov.

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