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Snapshots: Samsonov, KHL, Evason

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Nearly two months into free agency, veteran goaltender Ilya Samsonov finds himself still looking for a team to play with this season.  It appears at least one KHL team investigated the potential of bringing him back home as KHL Metallurg Sports Director Evgeny Biryukov told Match TV’s Nikita Maximov that he talked to the 28-year-old about playing for them but Samsonov’s intention is to remain in the NHL for the upcoming season.  Samsonov posted a 2.82 GAA and a .891 SV% in 29 starts last season with Vegas, numbers that weren’t too much of an improvement over 2023-24 when he was in Toronto.  At this point, he may have to settle for a training camp PTO and hope to land a second-string option from there.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • Still with the KHL, player agent Darryl Wolski relayed (Twitter link) the top-five KHL salaries for the upcoming season. Long-time AHL winger Rocco Grimaldi has the highest base salary, checking in around $1.19MM US.  Meanwhile, winger Daniel Sprong has the highest potential pay day when factoring in performance bonuses.  After making $975K last season, his base salary this year is close to that while if he reaches his incentives, he could ultimately wind up with a raise compared to a year ago.  Former NHL winger Dmitrij Jaskin is the only other player with a seven-figure USD salary in that league this season.
  • Dean Evason had a solid first year in Columbus, helping lead the Blue Jackets to an improbable late-season playoff push that ultimately came up just short. It turns out he very nearly didn’t have the opportunity to join them as Michael Arace of The Columbus Dispatch noted in a thorough profile of the bench boss that it looked like he was going to land the head coaching job in Seattle until they decided to promote Dan Bylsma from the AHL to the top job instead.  Bylsma, of course, was let go back in April after just one season behind their bench.

PHR Originals: 8/25/25 – 8/31/25

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With the end of August typically being very quiet around the NHL, we had plenty of original content here at PHR over the past seven days.  Here’s a recap of those columns.

When July 1st came, the unrestricted free agent defenseman with the most points was Matt Grzelcyk.  He was coming off a career-best 40 points while also logging more than 20 minutes a night for the first time.  In a market bereft of top-four defenders, he was an exception.  And yet, nearly two months into free agency, he’s still looking for a contract.  Josh Cybulski examined Grzelcyk’s situation, noting the rarity of a player coming off a “show me” contract, performing better than expected, and remaining in free agency this late.  While his play was worthy of a raise from the $2.75MM he made last season, it’s looking less likely that he’ll actually beat that.

Our Summer Synopsis series continued with our writing team taking looks at Toronto, Tampa Bay, and St. Louis.  The Maple Leafs lost one of their top players this summer with Mitch Marner heading to Vegas while the team added some extra grit and defensive acumen up front.  Meanwhile, the Lightning largely had a quiet summer with their biggest move being the re-signing of 33-year-old center Yanni Gourde to a six-year contract, one that carries a team-friendly $2.33MM AAV.  Meanwhile, the Blues had plenty of trade speculation over the summer but made just one move, a swap of 2021 first-round picks while they shored up their center depth in free agency.

Meanwhile, our Salary Cap Deep Dive series continues its tour through the Central Division as I examined the situations for Colorado and Dallas.  Last season, the Avs weren’t able to re-sign a key pending UFA winger and they could be in a similar situation this year with Martin Necas, especially with Cale Makar due a significant raise two years from now.  Meanwhile, Dallas is a year away from an intriguing summer with both Jason Robertson and Thomas Harley in line for significant raises without a ton of cap room.  This season, both teams have limited room below the Upper Limit so making moves of significance won’t be easy unless they’re sending a key piece out as part of the swap.

With training camps fast approaching, one of the early storylines is always about trophy contenders.  It’s an impressive-looking field for Rookie of the Year, headlined up front by Canadiens winger Ivan Demidov, Capitals winger Ryan Leonard, and 2025 Hobey Baker winner Isaac Howard, acquired by Edmonton this summer, among others.  It’s arguably even more crowded on the back end with the group including Islanders first-overall pick Matthew Schaefer, Minnesota’s Zeev Buium, Chicago’s Sam Rinzel, and Carolina’s Alexander Nikishin.  Will one of them take home the Calder Trophy or someone else?  You can make your prediction here.

While the Flyers haven’t had a ton of success as of late, their latest attempt at rebuilding kicked off a couple of years ago.  Josh took a look at how things have gone so far with a prospect pool that is improved but still not among the NHL’s best while their roster isn’t particularly young for a team that’s in rebuilding mode.  Still, GM Daniel Briere has made some progress as he continues to reshape Philadelphia’s group.

Our latest mailbag was posted, wrapping up the series of questions from a few weeks ago.  Topics in this one included my predictions on some teams who could find themselves back in the playoff picture this season if all goes well, a possible breakout candidate, and rounding out Toronto’s top-six forward group.

Lastly, there was certainly an expectation of a busy summer in terms of transactions.  The increase to the salary cap was supposed to open up more flexibility, leading to an active free agency and trade period.  Instead, it has been much quieter.  Josh looked into why the frenzy that was widely expected turned largely into a flop.  As it turns out, the extra cap flexibility allowed more teams to keep the core they had, leading to less player movement than expected.

Summer Synopsis: St. Louis Blues

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With training camps now less than a month away, the bulk of the heavy lifting has been done from a roster perspective.  Most unrestricted free agents have found new homes, the arbitration period has come and gone, and the trade market has cooled.  Accordingly, it’s a good time to take a look at what each team has accomplished this offseason.  Next up is a look at St. Louis.

Last summer, the Blues were relatively quiet early on before striking with a pair of successful offer sheets to bring in a couple of potential core players.  A second-half push helped propel them into the playoffs, and in his final summer at the helm as GM, Doug Armstrong largely elected to keep the status quo with only a few moves of consequence.

Draft

1-19 – F Justin Carbonneau, Blainville-Boisbriand (QMJHL)
5-147 – F Mikhail Fyodorov, Magnitogorsk (MHL)
6-179 – G Love Harenstam, Skelleftea (Sweden U20)

If this section feels a little light, there’s a good reason for that.  The silver lining for St. Louis is that most of the missing draft picks turned into established players.  The second rounder went in the offer sheet for Philip Broberg after being reacquired from Pittsburgh.  Broberg showed lots of promise in his first full NHL season.  The third rounder went in the offer sheet for Dylan Holloway.  He finished third on the team in scoring.  Even the fourth rounder yielded a roster regular as it went for Alexandre Texier.  His first year wasn’t great, but he still has one more year left on his contract to turn things around.  With the thought that a draft class should ideally yield two NHL players, they already got there before even drafting anyone.  Not too shabby.

Carbonneau was one of the better offensive wingers in this year’s class and isn’t just a one-trick pony as he’s a deft playmaker with an above-average shot.  There was some talk that he might make the jump to college hockey this season, but he decided to return to QMJHL Blainville-Boisbriand, although he notably hasn’t signed his entry-level deal yet, keeping his NCAA options on the table.  Carbonneau is a few years away from being NHL-ready, but he has legitimate top-six upside.  Fyodorov is a late-round project as he finds himself still in the Russian junior ranks, while Harenstam did okay in Sweden’s junior level last season and will now look to make the jump to the second-tier Allsvenskan.  Both players are longer-term development pieces.

Trade Acquisitions

D Logan Mailloux (trade with Montreal)

While there was a lot of trade speculation surrounding the Blues, including one of their top-paid players in Jordan Kyrou, there was only one trade made.  And while the Canadiens were one of the teams believed to be interested in Kyrou, the two sides made a much different deal, one that we don’t see occur too often with the teams swapping fairly recent first-round picks, with St. Louis dealing from their winger surplus to bring in an intriguing blueliner.

Mailloux has played the bulk of his two-year professional career in the minors, where he has been quite productive for a blueliner, recording 80 points in 135 regular-season games.  With five points in eight NHL contests, he has done well in the offensive zone at the top level as well.  There remain questions about his overall defensive game and how he’ll adapt to playing against tougher competition, but Mailloux should be able to be a capable secondary producer from the back end while likely starting in a depth role as he gets his first taste of extended NHL action this season.  The ceiling is enticing, though if he can put everything together.

UFA Signings

F Nick Bjugstad (two years, $3.5MM)
F Milan Lucic (signed to PTO)
F Matt Luff (one year, $775K)*
F Pius Suter (two years, $8.2MM)

*-denotes two-way contract

Shoring up their center depth was the theme of Armstrong’s summer signings.  Suter picked the perfect time for a breakout year last season, really boosting his stock heading into a free agent period that was lacking in terms of impactful middlemen.  After being more of a middle-six player for the first few seasons of his career, Suter was able to produce at a much better rate, earning himself a near-permanent spot in Vancouver’s top six on the heels of a 25-goal, 46-point effort.  While there are some reasonable questions as to whether he can repeat that performance, the Blues aren’t necessarily paying him to be that player.  If he settles in behind Robert Thomas and Brayden Schenn and helps anchor the third line while helping out on the penalty kill, he’ll fit in pretty well even if the production reverts closer to the usual high 20-point mark.

Bjugstad is only a year removed from a 45-point effort in Arizona, but he wasn’t able to sustain that production following the move to Utah.  His playing time fell by more than five minutes per game as he was deployed pretty much exclusively in their bottom six.  That’s about the same role he’ll have with St. Louis, but having him as a fourth center is a nice luxury to have, while he could also move up and play alongside Suter on the third line, where the two could only focus on strong-side draws, with their overall faceoff success rate being limited.

Lucic is one of the more intriguing PTO candidates this fall.  Between injuries, charges that were later dropped, and a stint in the Player Assistance Program, he hasn’t played in the better part of two years.  While he’s far from the top-six power forward he was in his prime, he could come in and give St. Louis some extra grit on the fourth line if all goes well, giving them a bit more depth to work with.

RFA Re-Signings

F Nikita Alexandrov (one year, $775K)*
G Joel Hofer (two years, $6.8MM)
D Hunter Skinner (one year, $775K)*
G Vadim Zherenko (one year, $775K)*

*-denotes two-way contract

Despite the lack of prospect pedigree, Hofer is quickly becoming the heir apparent to netminder Jordan Binnington, making him the most important RFA for the Blues this summer. The new two-year pact will run through the 2026-27 season, the same time that Binnington’s six-year, $36MM extension expires.

As Binnington ages the next two years, Hofer should have access to additional playing time. In the past two years, Hofer has achieved a record of 31 wins, 20 losses, and 4 overtime losses in 61 games, with a .909 SV%, a 2.65 GAA, and 11.0 goals saved above average while serving in a backup role.

Outside of Hofer, Alexandrov is the only recent RFA that should feature on the Blues’ roster next season. Throughout the past two years, although he has typically played in the AHL, Alexandrov has scored three goals and nine points in 51 games in a bottom-six role.

Departures

F Corey Andonovski (unsigned)
F Zachary Bolduc (trade with Montreal)
F Tanner Dickinson (signed in Slovakia)
F Radek Faksa (signed with Dallas, three years, $6MM)
D Nick Leddy (waivers, claimed by San Jose)
F Mackenzie MacEachern (signed with Vancouver, two years, $1.55MM)*
D Anton Malmstrom (signed in Sweden)
D Ryan Suter (unsigned)

*-denotes two-way contract

St. Louis didn’t lose too much on the offensive side of the puck this offseason, but the jury is still out on whether they’ll be kicking their butts about trading Bolduc. In their defense, the Blues have sufficient depth in their top six, and prospects like Jimmy Snuggerud and Dalibor Dvorsky are ready to make an impact.

Still, Bolduc is one year removed from a solid sophomore campaign, scoring 19 goals and 36 points in 72 contests, typically situated in a middle-six role. In contrast, Mailloux is the same age as Bolduc, and although it usually takes defensemen longer to develop, he only has eight games of NHL experience.

Outside of Bolduc, the Blues lost solid, albeit replaceable, veterans in Leddy and Faksa. It didn’t take long for the team to replace either, as Leddy’s minutes will be replaced by one of the multiple young defensemen on the roster, while the Blues signed Suter and Bjugstad to balance out their center depth.

Salary Cap Outlook

As things stand, St. Louis projects to have around $625K in cap space to start next season, per PuckPedia.  That doesn’t make for much wiggle room when the minimum salary is $775K.  However, that number does not include potential LTIR flexibility.  After missing all of last season due to an ankle injury, Armstrong noted this offseason that he doesn’t expect Krug to play again, meaning his $6.5MM is eligible to land on LTIR.  The exact amount of cap space that would provide depends on their roster at the time they place him on there, but it’s safe to say they’d be able to use around $6MM of that if they have to go that route.  There’s more wiggle room here than it might appear at first glance.

Key Questions

How Will Snuggerud Fare In His Rookie Season? As one of the more exciting prospects coming up through the Blues’ system, Snuggerud will have every opportunity to make a positive impact on St. Louis this season. Finishing off the 2024-25 campaign, Snuggerud scored one goal and four points in seven contests before matching that total (two goals, two assists) in seven games in the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs. There were a few instances, especially during the postseason, where Snuggerud’s lack of experience showed. Still, if Snuggerud can match his brief scoring pace from last season, he may compete for the Calder Memorial Trophy by the end of the campaign.

Will The Penalty Kill Improve? Without a doubt, one of the biggest weaknesses for the Blues last year was their penalty kill. St. Louis finished with a 74.35% kill rate, ranking 27th in the NHL, and was the second-lowest among playoff teams. Retaining most of their team from last season, it begs the question of whether the additions of Suter and Bjugstad will be enough to change their fortunes. Suter has maintained an impressive on-ice save percentage throughout his career, while Bjugstad displays his skill in the faceoff dot and with his physicality. Hopefully, for the penalty kill’s sake, the combination of the two can prove beneficial.

PHR’s Brennan McClain also contributed to this post.

Photos courtesy of James Carey Lauder and Walter Tychnowicz-Imagn Images

PHR Mailbag: Maple Leafs, Senators, Breakout Player, Playoffs, Salary Floor

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Topics in this edition of the PHR Mailbag including a prediction for a breakout player, potential teams to make and miss the playoffs, and more.  If your question doesn’t appear here, check back in our last two mailbag columns.

Spaced-Cowboy: Who do you expect to be the top 6 forward group for the Leafs come opening night or perhaps the deadline?

Let’s get the easy ones out of the way first.  The top two centers will continue to be Auston Matthews and John Tavares.  On the wing, William Nylander and Matthew Knies, fresh off a new deal this summer, are sure bets to play similar roles as they did last season.

But then it starts to get interesting.  I’d pencil in Matias Maccelli for one of the remaining winger spots.  It’s not that Toronto paid a high price to get him that warrants a look in a key role, nor does his performance from last season which left a lot to be desired.  But he’s a pure playmaker and with Mitch Marner departing, Maccelli could plausibly slide into that same role alongside Matthews and Knies to try to keep the same general line structure intact.  He showed enough skill in Arizona to make me think that he can have some success in that role.

The other winger might be Max Domi, more by process of elimination.  I expect head coach Craig Berube to put a third line together that will have some size and defensive acumen with a trio of newcomers Dakota Joshua and Nicolas Roy with possibly Bobby McMann on the other wing.  Domi doesn’t fit on that line, nor is he a great fit on the fourth line either.  At this point, Toronto’s preference is probably to keep him on the wing anyway so his spot on the second line feels like a mixture of fit and convenience.  Easton Cowan could play his way into the mix but starting with the AHL Marlies feels like the likeliest outcome.

Forecasting the trade deadline is a little difficult as like many, I don’t think Toronto is done yet this summer.  We know they want to move out David Kampf and Calle Jarnkrok and doing so would greatly change their salary cap forecast, unless that money is going to Jack Roslovic who has been linked to them for a while now (but might not supplant Domi in that top-six spot anyway).  If they wind up opening up more room before the season and hold it heading into the deadline, they could afford a top-end acquisition while if they can only move one and spend those savings plus more on Roslovic, they could be shopping in more of the secondary market.  How they operate these next few weeks could materially impact their plans in March.

sluggersdad: What is Ottawa’s next move in upgrading their roster? Thanks…

This is a hard one to project.  They have nearly $4.3MM in cap space per PuckPedia which has them in a good spot in theory to add before the season starts.  However, we also know that they are a ‘cash over cap’ team as owner Michael Andlauer alluded to back in June.  Why that matters is that because of that status, GM Steve Staios acknowledged that he wasn’t going to have the green light to spend to the cap ceiling this summer.  So, while they have close to $4.3MM in cap room, how much budget room do they have left?

There’s also the matter of bonuses, of which they have $3.75MM between Claude Giroux and Lars Eller.  Some of them are pretty easy to reach based on games played while others will require some playoff success as well.  But for a cash over cap franchise, any achieved bonuses become payable when reached.  Honestly, I’m not sure they have much, if any, wiggle room in the budget right now to upgrade their roster.

I’d like to give you a specific answer here but in the short term, I don’t think they’re going to do anything.  I could see them sniffing around the PTO market a little bit, especially on the back end if it looks like Nick Jensen is indeed going to miss some time to start the season even though he’s ahead of schedule in his recovery and maybe there’s a minimum-salary contract that comes out of that.  But beyond that, their next move might be at the trade deadline when they have a better sense of their revenue situation that will dictate if they can actually go ahead and add to their player cost budget.  At that point, it would be assess the team’s biggest need and go from there.

NhaTrang: Training camp looms soon, so it’s time for me to come out with my annual “Tage Thompson” question for Brian: who is the guy who comes out of absolutely nowhere to be a significant impact player this season?

Unfortunately, my track record continues to go in the wrong direction.  Thompson was a great pick the first time.  Taylor Raddysh had 20 goals the year I picked him but wasn’t a big breakout player.  I was a year early on Morgan Geekie as it turns out; I picked him in his 39-point year, not his 33-goal effort last season.  And last year’s was arguably the worst one as Kirby Dach battled injuries, as did his projected linemate in Patrik Laine.  The end result was 22 points in 57 games so that one’s a whiff.

For 2022-23, I put in a self-imposed criterion that a player couldn’t be in the top 300 in scoring.  Otherwise, that player wouldn’t exactly be coming out of nowhere.  Given my recent track record, it’s tempting to change it but I’ll continue to stick with it for this year.

I had my best pick with Buffalo so it’s time to go back to that well with winger Zach Benson.  Yes, his sophomore year wasn’t really any better on paper than his rookie campaign but 28 points in 75 games is still respectable for someone who still could have been playing at the major junior level.  And the underlying numbers were pretty solid.  Benson should have a top-six role this season (possibly even playing with Thompson) and I expect him to have a breakout effort.  If all goes well, doubling last year’s point total could be doable and that would be a nice rebound after last year’s pick.

Breakaway: 4-in and 4-out.

Name one team from each division that made the playoffs last year that will not make the playoffs this year. And what four teams replace them?

Atlantic: I would say Toronto and Tampa Bay remain safe bets to get back in.  Florida should be unless Matthew Tkachuk’s absence proves to be a big problem and they start out how they played down the stretch last season before flipping the script in the playoffs.  Ottawa is more or less the same and on the way up so I’m pretty comfortable penciling them in as well.  By process of elimination, that would mean my pick would be Montreal.  They had some good luck on the injury front last year and their underlying numbers weren’t great.  I could see a scenario where they actually play a bit better this season but instead of just making the playoffs, they just miss them.

The challenge is that I have to pick one of the other three to replace them, something I’m not overly confident in.  I expect Boston’s lack of offense to be their downfall and as much as I think Buffalo is capable of improving, their annual self-destruction makes it hard to actually predict that happening.  So I guess it’s Detroit by default with John Gibson giving their goaltending enough of a boost.  But really, this side of the bracket could largely remain the same next season.

Metropolitan: Carolina is always a top regular season team and they’ve improved so they’re in.  New Jersey slipped down the stretch due to injuries but I still think they’re on the way up so I’d have them in.  On the one hand, Washington won the division last year and didn’t change their roster up much but on the other hand, many felt they were a bubble team at best heading into last season.  Did they overachieve?  I guess since I have to pick one to fall out of the race, it’s them.

On the other end, I don’t expect Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, or the Islanders to be real threats.  Columbus is on the way up but as I noted in a recent mailbag, I don’t trust their goaltending to be good enough to get them in there.  That leaves the Rangers.  Things have to be better for them this season, doesn’t it?  Odds being odds, some of their underachievers will turn things around which might be enough to get them back in.

Central: I see no reason to take Dallas or Colorado out.  Winnipeg may very well drop a bit but as long as Connor Hellebuyck remains one of the top netminders, they should be fine.  That leaves St. Louis and Minnesota.  I could make a case for either one making or missing but I’ll go with the Blues continuing their strong play under Jim Montgomery and getting a Wild Card spot and the Wild missing.  For all the cap space they had this summer, they didn’t get a whole lot better unless Vladimir Tarasenko has a resurgence.  A full season from Kirill Kaprizov would help but given Jesper Wallstedt’s struggles in the AHL last year, their goaltending is more of a question mark than they probably hoped.

As for who gets in, Chicago is a safe no.  I think Nashville will be better than last year and they have the veteran talent to surprise and get back in.  But I’ll go with Utah, a team that’s slowly getting better and just added a top-six talent in JJ Peterka.  That, coupled with continued improvement from their young core, means that this could be the year for them to get back in.

Pacific: There’s no reason to think Edmonton and Vegas won’t get back in.  I have no reason to think the Kings won’t get back in either but since I have to pick one who made it to miss, I guess it’s them as the third-place team.

San Jose isn’t ready to push for a playoff spot yet.  Anaheim is better and a bit of a Wild Card but I think they’re still on the outside for one more year.  Seattle can’t stop treading water with a core group that’s not good enough so they’re probably in the same boat as a year ago.  That leaves Calgary and Vancouver.  I feel Dustin Wolf made the Flames more competitive than they actually were so them taking a step back wouldn’t surprise me.  That would mean Vancouver, a team that struggled mightily last year, finds a way to turn it around.  Having said that, five Central teams and three Pacific teams might be what happens again.

SirCobblestone: How do you think teams with low cap hits (San Jose, Chicago) will navigate the ELC of players worthy of staying in the show while respecting the cap floor? (23 roster player limit also.)

This cap part of this question shouldn’t be overly difficult this season.  All 32 teams are already above the $70.6MM floor and once Anaheim eventually signs Mason McTavish, every team should be $5MM clear of that floor.  Eventually, once they start selling, they’ll open up some space but there will surely be salary retention on some players while if they wait until closer to the trade deadline to make those moves, they should be able to comfortably stay above the floor.  Any achieved bonuses from their entry-level players would also count on the books this season, also helping them stay above that minimum spending amount.

As to the roster element, most of the lower-spending teams have veteran fillers on their roster that aren’t really part of their plans.  They’re placeholders, if you will, until those entry-level prospects show they’re ready.  And when they’re ready, they’ll get the spot and the veteran will either be traded or waived and demoted to the minors.

I’ll use a San Jose example since you brought them up.  Let’s say Sam Dickinson shows in training camp that he’s ready for NHL duty, or at least a look with the Sharks to start.  Yes, they already have eight blueliners on their roster but someone like Vincent Desharnais is clearly not part of their long-term plans.  He was acquired as a low-cost roster filler before they knew they’d be adding three veteran blueliners over the summer.  If they have to trade or waive him to open up a spot for Dickinson, they’re not going to think twice about it, they’ll just do it.  And if it’s the latter with him passing through unclaimed, the net savings to San Jose would only be just over $200K, barely enough to make a difference from a cap perspective while a player in and a player out keeps them in compliance with the roster limit.

I think you might be ahead of the game with this question.  A few years from now when the cap is much higher and more teams are operating with an internal budget that’s closer to the floor than the ceiling, I could see this question being asked as those teams might not have pricey placeholder veterans anymore but rather lower-cost ones.  Perhaps at that point, this could be an issue but for the upcoming season, teams should be able to navigate through this just fine.

Photo courtesy of Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images.

West Notes: Kaprizov, Armia, Sharks

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The future of Kirill Kaprizov with the Wild beyond this season has garnered plenty of attention with the winger now extension-eligible.  But nearly two months into that eligibility, no agreement has come to fruition just yet.  Speaking in a recent KFAN appearance (Twitter link), GM Bill Guerin seemed confident that a deal eventually will get done:

We’ve been talking all summer. Things are good. Things are in a good spot. I’m comfortable with where everything is. I’m confident. Kirill loves Minnesota. I know he loves Minnesota. I know he believes in the team. These things just take time.

When healthy, Kaprizov has been one of the top-scoring wingers in the NHL.  He’s reached the 40-goal mark three times in his five-year career and was producing at a 50-goal pace last year before he ultimately missed half the season due to injuries.  The Wild’s top priority this summer was trying to get a new deal in place for him, we’ll see soon enough if they’re able to get something across the finish line with training camps now just a few weeks away.

More from the Western Conference:

  • As part of their July 1st spending spree, the Kings added winger Joel Armia on a two-year, $5MM contract. Zach Dooley of LA Kings Insider wonders if the 32-year-old might wind up as their best value signing.  It’s expected that he’ll line up on the fourth line at even strength which means his playing time and production might drop from a year ago (14:18 and 29 points) but his ability to kill penalties should take some of the pressure off their top-line penalty killers from a year ago, freeing them up to focus a bit more on their offense.
  • Earlier this month, the Sharks and the City of San Jose reached a tentative agreement on a plan that would see their arena undergo a seven-year upgrade with the team committing to stay through 2050-51, pending ratification from City Council. Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News relays that the approval was made official earlier this week, ensuring that the team won’t be going anywhere for a long time.

Nick Jensen Ahead Of Schedule In Recovery From Hip Surgery

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When Senators defenseman Nick Jensen underwent hip surgery after Ottawa’s playoff appearance, it was unclear how long he’d be out for.  While a firm timeline remains unknown, Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports that the blueliner’s recovery appears to be ahead of schedule.

Back in May when he had the procedure, GM Steve Staios stated his intent “to address the club’s defence after learning the extent of Jensen’s ailment.”  That was a clear suggestion that the initial assessment would be that he’d miss some time at the start of the upcoming season.  He indeed addressed the right side of their back end at the draft with the acquisition of right-shot blueliner Jordan Spence from Los Angeles, shoring up their depth on Jensen’s side of the ice.

Jensen’s first season with the Senators was solid despite the fact he played through the injury in the second half of the year as well as the playoffs.  Acquired as part of the return for Jakob Chychrun last July, he got into 71 games during the regular season, picking up 21 points while logging over 20 minutes per contest for only the second time in his nine-year career.  He was held off the scoresheet in their six playoff outings against Toronto while averaging a little less than 21 minutes per contest.

Suffice it to say, Jensen is a key part of Ottawa’s top four on the back end while the upcoming season is also notable for him as he’s in the final year of his contract that carries an AAV of $4.05MM.  He’ll be wanting to demonstrate that he’s fully recovered and worthy of a new agreement that could push past the $5MM mark but as Garrioch notes, hip surgeries generally carry a recovery time of four to six months.  If things went absolutely perfectly, he could be ready by the end of training camp but given Jensen’s importance to the team, erring on the side of caution and not rushing him back might make the most sense in the long run, even if he is ahead of schedule in his recovery.

Minor Transactions: 8/30/25

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With international and junior leagues starting to get their preseasons underway, there have been a lot of minor moves in recent days.  Here’s a rundown of those with some NHL ties.

  • Capitals prospect Miroslav Satan has changed teams as OHL Saginaw recently announced that they’ve signed him for the upcoming season. The 19-year-old forward was a seventh-round pick by Washington in 2024, going 204th overall but struggled considerably at the USHL level last season in his first taste of playing in North America.  In 45 games combined between Sioux Falls and Omaha, Satan managed just three goals and one assist while he also suited up in three games for the Slovaks at the World Juniors.  Washington has until June 1st, 2028, to sign him so there’s still lots of time for Satan to turn things around; he’ll hope a different league will help make that happen.
  • After spending the last decade in Tampa Bay’s organization (primarily in the minors), UFA winger/defenseman Daniel Walcott announced (Twitter link) that he will not be returning to Syracuse. The 31-year-old played in 494 games for the Crunch over 10 seasons while also getting into one game with the Lightning.  The AHL has a restriction on how many veterans a team can dress and that is likely playing a role in Walcott not returning for an 11th year with the team.
  • While the Sabres non-tendered forward Bennett MacArthur in June, he’ll technically remain affiliated with the organization as their ECHL affiliate in Jacksonville announced that they’ve signed him to a one-year deal. The 24-year-old split last season between the ECHL affiliates of Pittsburgh and Buffalo, notching 10 goals and 20 assists in 64 games.
  • Meanwhile, another non-tendered Sabres UFA this summer has also secured a place to play for the upcoming year as Dynamo Moscow of the KHL announced that winger Alexander Kisakov’s tryout was successful and that he has been given a one-year deal. The 22-year-old was a second-round pick in 2021 but struggled in the AHL, notching just 25 points in 93 games over the course of his three-year, entry-level contract.

Zach Hyman Unsure He’ll Be Ready To Start The Season

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Back in late May, Oilers winger Zach Hyman suffered a dislocated wrist in the Western Conference Final, resulting in surgery that kept him out for the rest of their playoff run.  The veteran told NHL.com’s Dan Rosen that while his recovery is on track, he’s unsure if he’ll be cleared by the time the regular season gets underway in early October.

Unlike 2019, when he was working his way back from a knee issue, Hyman has been able to skate regularly but still needs a brace on his wrist.  His ability to build up strength on that wrist will go a long way toward determining if he’ll be cleared for opening night.  He has one more meeting scheduled with the surgeon as well.

In 2023-24, Hyman surprised many with a 54-goal season after reaching the 30-goal plateau for just the first time in his career the year before.  That meant expectations for him were quite high heading into last season.  However, he wasn’t able to produce anywhere near that level.  In 73 games, he notched 27 goals (still tied for the third-best mark in his career) along with 17 assists and produced at a somewhat similar clip in the playoffs before the injury, tallying six goals and five helpers in 15 contests.

As things stand, Edmonton projects to have less than $226K of cap space heading into the season, per PuckPedia.  That doesn’t give them much in the way of wiggle room for injury insurance if Hyman isn’t available to start the season; the minimum salary is $775K.  Meanwhile, for Hyman to become LTIR-eligible (which would open up some short-term flexibility), he’d have to miss at least the first 10 games and 24 days of the season and at this point, there’s no guarantee he’d need to miss that much time if he’s not available on opening night.  Accordingly, Hyman’s availability (or lack thereof) will be one of the key storylines heading into training camp next month for the Oilers.

Salary Cap Deep Dive: Dallas Stars

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Navigating the salary cap is one of the most important tasks for a front office.  Teams that can avoid total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful.  Those who don’t often see struggles and front office changes.

PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation for the 2025-26 season.  This will focus more on players who are regulars on the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL.  All cap figures are courtesy of PuckPedia.  We’re currently covering the Central Division, next up are the Stars.

Dallas Stars

Current Cap Hit: $95,094,916 (below the $95.5MM Upper Limit)

Entry-Level Contracts

D Lian Bichsel (two years, $918K)

Potential Bonuses
Bichsel: $500K

Bichsel split time between Dallas and AHL Texas last season before being a regular for them in the playoffs, albeit with limited playing time.  He should crack the roster on a full-time basis this year but still in a third-pairing role, which doesn’t bode well for reaching his bonuses.  Given their longer-term cap situation which we’ll get into as we go along, it would be surprising if his next deal isn’t a short-term bridge contract, likely around the $2MM range.

Signed Through 2025-26, Non-Entry-Level

F Nathan Bastian ($775K, UFA)
F Jamie Benn ($1MM, UFA)
F Mavrik Bourque ($950K, RFA)
D Thomas Harley ($4MM, RFA)
D Nils Lundkvist ($1.25MM, UFA)
D Alexander Petrovic ($775K, UFA)
F Jason Robertson ($7.75MM, RFA)

Potential Bonuses
Benn: $3MM

Robertson’s situation has garnered plenty of attention with his name coming up in trade speculation.  He’s averaging over a point per game for his career and has notched at least 79 points in four straight seasons.  That’s top-line numbers and he’ll be looking for top-line money next summer which should push his cap charge well past the $10MM mark.  Notably, his qualifying offer is $9.3MM with salary arbitration rights.  Benn re-signed this bonus-laden deal to allow Dallas to keep cap-compliant this season, one that is team-friendly even with the bonuses.  $2MM of that is games-played based while the other $1MM is based on team playoff success.  If he wants to remain with the Stars beyond this season, it’s probably going to be on a similarly structured agreement.

Bourque was a speculative offer sheet candidate this summer but agreed to this deal before the draft to take that off the table.  Had he tested restricted free agency, he’d have landed more than this but the one-year term sets him up for arbitration eligibility and a shot to triple this or more next summer if all goes well.  Bastian was a recent signing from the Devils and has been a physical fourth liner throughout his career but his offensive production has largely been limited.  That should keep him around the minimum salary barring a big jump in output.

While Robertson’s case has garnered the majority of the attention for next year’s free agency, Harley’s is arguably just as significant.  He showed last season that his 2023-24 breakout effort was no fluke, taking on an even bigger role and being just as productive.  He is now a legitimate top-pairing player.  As a result, this could be a situation where his pay increase next summer is higher than what Robertson’s is going to be.  Noah Dobson’s eight-year, $9.5MM AAV contract signed this summer looms large as a viable comparable while ticking past $10MM per season is a real possibility as well.  Notably, he’s not UFA-eligible until 2029 so one option that could be considered is another two-year bridge deal more in the $7MM range which could allow their reported desire to work within an internal cap to happen.  That would buy them a bit of short-term flexibility at a time when cap space is going to be tight so GM while Jim Nill likely doesn’t prefer to go that way, he might have to.

Lundkvist looked to be heading toward a non-tender to duck arbitration rights for the second straight year before signing this contract for the same amount he made last season.  Between some struggles and injuries, 2024-25 was largely a write-off so he’s getting near the point of either needing to take that step forward or understanding that he might not be more than the depth player he currently is.  Petrovic spent most of last season in the minors before playing in most of the playoffs in Dallas which should give him a leg up for a full-time spot to start this year.  Even so, his track record has only been that of a depth defender thus far and at 33, that’s unlikely to change.  He should stay around the minimum salary moving forward although a full year in the NHL could flip his next deal to a one-way pact.

Signed Through 2026-27

F Oskar Back ($825K, UFA)
F Colin Blackwell ($775K, UFA)
G Casey DeSmith ($1MM, UFA)
D Ilya Lyubushkin ($3.25MM, UFA)
F Tyler Seguin ($9.85MM, UFA)
F Sam Steel ($2.1MM, UFA)

A hip issue sidelined Seguin for most of last season although he was a little over a point per game in his limited action.  However, he has generally been more in the 50-point range in recent years and this price tag for that type of production isn’t great.  He’ll be 35 when his next deal starts and while a multi-year pact should still be doable then, it’s going to come with a multi-million-dollar drop in AAV.  Steel inked this deal back before the trade deadline in the midst of his fourth straight season with at least 20 points.  Between that and his ability to kill penalties, he should be able to provide decent value on this contract but unless his point production starts to go up, he might not be able to go too much higher than this.

Back had a decent rookie year, getting into 73 games while holding his own in a bottom-six role to secure this deal at a rate that will be below the minimum salary next season.  Assuming he remains a regular in this type of role for them, this should work out just fine while Back should be able to push more into the $1.25MM range on his next deal.  Blackwell fit in nicely in a depth role last season, earning this new contract along the way.  While he had a couple of years in the past with a seven-figure salary, he’s someone who should be staying around the minimum salary on any future contracts.

Lyubushkin was brought in to bring some physicality to the back and stabilize the bottom pairing.  He was able to do that for the most part although this contract is on the higher side for that type of role which led to some speculation about his future when they needed to open up cap space.  It would be surprising to see him beat this by any significant amount two years from now but another contract in this price range might be doable.

DeSmith is certainly at the lower end of the salary scale for backup goalies as he opted for stability and a winning environment over trying to get the highest price tag.  He certainly had a solid first year with numbers that should have him toward the higher end of the backup scale (more in the $3.5MM territory).  He’ll be 36 when this deal expires so it’s unlikely that he’ll find a contract in that range but value-wise, he should double this if he looks for top dollar next time out.

Signed Through 2027-28

F Radek Faksa ($2MM, UFA)

Faksa returns after a one-year stint in St. Louis after Dallas needed to clear his contract last summer.  While he showed some offensive upside early in his career, he has settled into more of a pure checking role in recent seasons.  Between his penalty killing utility and his faceoff skills, he should be able to provide a good return on this contract, even with the points remaining hard to come by.  But unless his production improves, he likely won’t command much more than this moving forward.

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Kiefer Sherwood Changes Agents

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After a breakout showing last season, Canucks winger Kiefer Sherwood is one of the more intriguing under-the-radar potential 2026 unrestricted free agents.  Whenever Vancouver talks about an extension with him, however, they’ll now be dealing with a new agent.  Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK and The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that Sherwood has changed agencies and is now represented by Wasserman after RSG Hockey handled the deal that landed him with the Canucks last summer.

After being more of a role player in Nashville in the first few seasons of his career, the 30-year-old became a regular for the first time in 2023-24 with the Predators.  That season, he put up 10 goals, 17 assists, and 234 hits which made him an interesting target heading into free agency.  As a result, he was able to land a two-year, $3MM contract Vancouver despite his limited track record.

But it turns out that he had another gear to get to.  Last season, Sherwood beat those personal bests from the year before, tallying 19 goals, 21 assists, and a whopping 462 hits, the latter number representing an NHL record since the stat started officially being tracked in 2007-08.  Notably, his playing time jumped to a little under 15 minutes per night.  Instead of being the fourth liner he had been earlier, he was now regularly playing in Vancouver’s middle six.

That has Sherwood well-positioned to earn a fair-sized raise on his next contract.  AFP Analytics projected a three-year deal worth around $2.75MM earlier this summer if he were to sign an extension now while another performance like this next season could push the asking price closer to the $4MM mark next summer.

It’s unknown if discussions have already started between the Canucks and Sherwood with this agent change being a move to try to get discussions rekindled or if it’s just planning ahead for talks later on.  Either way, Sherwood is going to be heading for a nice raise between now and next summer with a new representative involved in those talks.

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