Five Key Stories: 7/21/25 – 7/27/25
While the quiet part of the NHL offseason is well underway, there was still some notable news around the NHL, especially on the contract front with several deals being featured in our key stories.
Three For Kakko: Kraken winger Kaapo Kakko was the first of the scheduled salary arbitration hearings but it didn’t get that far. Instead, the two sides worked out a three-year contract that carries a cap hit of $4.525MM per season. Seattle acquired the 24-year-old midseason from the Rangers and the change of scenery gave him a boost as he had 30 points in 49 games down the stretch, propelling him to a career-high 44 points for the season. The contract gives Kakko a raise of more than $2MM per season while Seattle gets two extra years of club control, a sign that they feel he could be part of the longer-term solution moving forward.
Not Guilty Verdicts: More than three months after their trial began after being charged in connection with sexual assault, Carter Hart, Michael McLeod, Dillon Dube, Alex Formenton, and Cal Foote were all found not guilty by Justice Maria Carroccia in London, Ontario. The allegations became public back in 2022 with charges being laid in January 2024; none of those players have played in the NHL since then. They won’t be eligible to return right away either as the league indicated that they will be “reviewing and considering the judge’s findings” to determine next steps. The NHLPA has already indicated that they are addressing this with the league, citing that the NHL’s declaration is inconsistent with the discipline procedures set forth in the CBA.
Blake Gets Eight: Hurricanes winger Jackson Blake had a solid rookie season, notching 17 goals and 17 assists in 80 games during the regular season. Management clearly feels that he’s a part of the long-term plans, as they signed him to an eight-year, $45MM contract extension that will begin in 2026-27. While the normal AAV of that deal would be $5.625MM, the deal has $15.9MM in deferred signing bonus payments that won’t be paid until the day after the contract expires, July 1, 2034. In doing so, the AAV and cap charge is lowered to $5.117MM. Deferred compensation contracts have been outlawed in the CBA extension but until that kicks in (in mid-September 2026), they’re fully legal; it’s now the third such contract on Carolina’s books, joining Jaccob Slavin and Seth Jarvis.
Zacha In Play? Center help has been something that many teams are seeking but few options have been available. It’s possible that the Bruins could have one, however, following a report from David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period who notes that Boston is mulling the possibility of moving Pavel Zacha. The 28-year-old is coming off a small dip in production, notching 14 goals and 33 assists last season after tallying 57 and 59 points in the previous two seasons. However, he has been above average on draws in four of the last five years, has had his three best offensive years in the last three seasons, and is signed at a reasonable $4.75MM through the 2026-27 season. If the Bruins do make him available, they should be able to generate strong interest in his services.
More Arbitration Settlements: More players reached contract settlements before the arbitration submission process began. The Islanders agreed to a two-year, $4.5MM contract with winger Maxim Tsyplakov after a solid rookie year that saw him record 10 goals and 25 assists along with 140 hits. Meanwhile, Arvid Soderblom’s bounce-back year with Chicago last season earned him a two-year, $5.5MM pact. He put up a 3.18 GAA and a .898 SV% last season, a significant improvement on his 2023-24 numbers. Lastly, new Sabres defenseman Conor Timmins received a two-year, $4.4MM contract. He split last season between Toronto and Pittsburgh, picking up 15 points in 68 games and was acquired from the Penguins on the second day of the draft. All three players will be unrestricted free agents when these deals expire in 2027.
Photo courtesy of Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images.
Minor Transactions: 7/27/25
As the summer moves along, the volume of transactions has been slowing down. However, there have been some transactions at lower levels with an NHL connection; we’ll run through those here.
- Veteran forward Peter Mueller has decided to retire, his now former Czech team announced. The 37-year-old was the eighth overall pick by Phoenix back in 2006 and spent parts of five seasons in the NHL, notching 63 goals and 97 assists in 297 games before heading overseas in 2013. After that point, he spent time in Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, Germany, and Czechia, with a one-year stint with Boston’s AHL affiliate in Providence in between. He spent last season with HC Kometa Brno, scoring the game-winner in the final game of the playoffs for them. Mueller re-signed with them back in May but decided to hang up his skates due to lingering back trouble.
- Former NHL defenseman Jakub Jerabek has signed a one-year deal with HC Plzen in his native Czechia, per a team release. The 34-year-old played in parts of two NHL seasons, spending time with Montreal, Washington, and St. Louis where he had eight points in 37 games and 26 points in 69 AHL contests. Jerabek spent the last three seasons with HC Ocelari Trinec but injuries limited him to just 23 games last season where he had eight points.
- Lightning prospect Everett Baldwin will have a new team next season as QMJHL Saint John announced that they’ve signed the blueliner. The defenseman was a fifth-round pick last month out of St. George’s School while also briefly seeing action in the USHL. Baldwin made a college commitment to play at his hometown Providence College back in 2023 but it remains to be seen if his QMJHL commitment will push that back or if he’ll be a one-and-done player at the major junior level.
Andrew Poturalski Signs In KHL
In late May, the Sharks and winger Andrew Poturalski agreed to mutually terminate the final season of his contract, allowing him to pursue an option overseas. That opportunity has now come to fruition as Avangard Omsk of the KHL announced (Twitter link) that they’ve signed Poturalski to a one-year contract.
The 31-year-old has been a prolific scorer at the AHL level but it has not translated into many NHL opportunities. Last season, Poturalski was the top point producer in the AHL with 30 goals and 43 assists in just 59 games with AHL San Jose but he only got a chance to play in three games with the Sharks, something he voiced some frustration about after the season.
For his career, Poturalski has played in 527 AHL games over parts of ten seasons, notching 161 goals and 332 assists. The bulk of that production has come over the last five years when he led the league in scoring three times. That included a 101-point showing in 2021-22, the first player at that level to crack 100 points since the 2009-10 campaign when a pair of Hershey players reached that plateau.
But for all that production in the minors, Poturalski has seen action in just nine NHL contests over four seasons where he has a trio of assists. Instead of continuing to be a top threat in the AHL and hoping for a chance at some point in the NHL, he walked away from a guaranteed $500K payment from the Sharks and will try his hand at something different as he makes the jump overseas for the first time.
Pacific Notes: Miromanov, Phillips, Cholach
The Flames haven’t done much this summer on the back end. Joel Hanley was re-signed after he became an unrestricted free agent, Kevin Bahl received a long-term deal, and Rasmus Andersson has not been moved despite plenty of trade speculation. The expectation is that 2024 first-rounder Zayne Parekh will be on the roster as well; he remains ineligible to be sent to the AHL. As a result, Postmedia’s Daniel Austin suggests that Daniil Miromanov could be the odd man out on the back end barring any further movement. The 28-year-old played in a career-high 44 games last season, notching nine points and 55 blocked shots while averaging 17:41 per contest. A right-shot defender signed for one more year at $1.25MM, there’s a good chance Calgary would be able to generate some trade interest in him in training camp if he does wind up being on the outside looking in at a roster spot.
More from the Pacific:
- Still with the Flames, prospect Mace’o Phillips has decided where he will be playing this season. Green Bay of the USHL announced on its Instagram page that the blueliner has committed to playing for them in 2025-26. Phillips was a third-round pick last month by Calgary, going 80th overall after spending last season with the U.S. National Team Development Program. It should be one-and-done with the Gamblers as Phillips is expected to suit up for the University of Minnesota in 2026-27. By delaying going to college, the Flames could have up to five years to sign him to his entry-level contract.
- While now-former Golden Knights prospect Artur Cholach didn’t sign by the June 1st deadline leading to his rights being relinquished, he will remain with the organization as their AHL affiliate in Henderson recently announced that the blueliner had signed a one-year contract for the upcoming season. The 22-year-old was a sixth-round pick back in 2021 and played his first professional campaign last season, getting into five games with Henderson and 54 with ECHL Tahoe where he had seven goals and 16 assists.
Avalanche Sign Daniil Gushchin
It didn’t take long for the Avalanche to come to terms with their newest acquisition as PuckPedia reports that Colorado has signed winger Daniil Gushchin to a one-year, two-way deal. The agreement will pay $775K in the NHL, $150K in the minors, and has an overall guarantee of $200K.
The 23-year-old is coming off a strong year in the minors with AHL San Jose, one that saw him post 28 goals and 23 assists in 56 games, surpassing the 50-point mark for the second straight year. However, that level of success didn’t yield much in the way of an NHL opportunity as Gushchin played in just a dozen games with the Sharks in 2024-25, bringing his career total to 18.
Accordingly, Gushchin acknowledged earlier this month that he was undecided about re-signing with San Jose or if he’d be open to accepting one of the offers he was receiving from back home in Russia. It appears the two sides found a solution that worked for both sides as Gushchin wasted little time signing with his new team while the Sharks added Oskar Olausson from the Avs to likely take the spot earmarked for Gushchin with the Barracuda, pending waiver clearance.
Colorado has had a lengthy rotation of fourth liners in recent years with Jared Bednar struggling to find a few players that he’s comfortable with in that role. That played a big role in the Avalanche dressing no fewer than 30 forwards for at least two games, 11 of those logging an ATOI of under 10 minutes per game, or fourth-line minutes. They haven’t done much in the way of adding extra low-cost depth this summer so Gushchin – now waiver-eligible for the first time – should get a legitimate chance to land a spot on the fourth line at some point next season.
East Notes: Blake, Red Wings, Prokhorov
Late Thursday, the Hurricanes raised some eyebrows when they signed winger Jackson Blake to an eight-year, $45MM contract extension after just one professional season. It was reported at the time that the deal carries some salary deferrals; PuckPedia relays (Twitter link) that a total of $15.9MM in signing bonus money over five seasons in the agreement is deferred to July 1st, 2034, the day after the deal expires. In doing so, the cap hit goes from $5.625MM per season to $5.117MM. As part of the contract, Blake also gets a 10-team no-trade clause starting in July 2031 that will remain in place until 15 days before the 2034 trade deadline. Given that the other years of the deal cover RFA-eligible seasons, he wasn’t eligible for trade protection in those campaigns.
Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference:
- Bob Duff of Detroit Hockey Now speculates that the Red Wings might not be done with moves on the back end this summer. They added Jacob Bernard-Docker and re-signed William Lagesson but with the tendency to carry eight defensemen under GM Steve Yzerman, a bit more depth would be useful so that they don’t necessarily have to bring up a youngster from AHL Grand Rapids at the first sign of injury. Alternatively, they could stand to benefit from trying to upgrade their current top six, a group that largely struggled last season and has pretty much been untouched over the offseason.
- Islanders prospect Daniil Prokhorov has signed a tryout deal with Dynamo Moscow, the KHL team announced. The winger was a second-round pick last month, going 42nd overall after putting up 20 goals in 43 games at the MHL level. A big winger standing six-foot-six, Prokhorov is certainly a project player for New York and will need a few more years back home whether he’s able to crack the KHL roster this season or not.
Oilers Looking To Add Top-Six Help
It has been an eventful summer for the Oilers as they’ve lost some of their forward depth with Connor Brown, Jeff Skinner, Viktor Arvidsson, and Corey Perry all leaving the organization. While they added Andrew Mangiapane in free agency, he’s the only acquisition they’ve had with some level of offensive success in the NHL.
As a result, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period relayed in a recent appearance on Edmonton Sports Talk (video link) that Edmonton is still looking to add some top-six help although he also acknowledged that doing so will be quite difficult.
As a result of their offseason activity (which included a four-year, $42MM contract for defenseman Evan Bouchard), the Oilers only have around $225K of cap space, per PuckPedia. Considering the league minimum salary is $775K, that’s not even enough to add a depth player, let alone an impactful one.
Speculatively, Edmonton’s best bet to add some offensive help might be a one-year, bonus-laden deal which means a player aged 35 or older. Postmedia’s David Staples speculated that winger Max Pacioretty could fit that bill after coming off a similar contract last season with Toronto. While that means a big chunk of the bonuses would likely roll over to 2026-27, it might allow them to add an extra piece for this season to at least give them some extra offensive depth, though not the top-six addition it appears they’re coveting.
Edmonton does have a pathway to open up a bit more flexibility on the cap. With the Oilers adding Curtis Lazar in free agency, there might not be a top-12 spot for spring signee David Tomasek, who inked a one-year, $1.2MM contract back in April. He’s waiver-exempt and $1.15MM of his deal can be cleared with an assignment to the minors. Prospects Matthew Savoie and Isaac Howard are also waiver-exempt and while they’re projected to be regulars next season, they can be papered down on off-days to bank a bit of extra room; restrictions on paper transactions from the CBA extension don’t kick in until the 2026-27 campaign.
Moves like that could give the Oilers enough wiggle room to try to make a later-season pickup of a top-six player, providing them a boost for the stretch run. However, that won’t do much of anything to help them at this point of the offseason, making that top-six desire particularly unlikely as things stand. But Edmonton has gotten creative on that front before so it wouldn’t be surprising to see them try to make at least some sort of depth addition in the coming weeks to help replace some of the secondary scoring that they’ve lost this month.
Blues Re-Sign Nikita Alexandrov
The Blues have taken care of their final remaining restricted free agent. The team announced that they’ve re-signed winger Nikita Alexandrov to a one-year, two-way contract. The deal will pay $775K in the NHL, $300K in the AHL, and has a guaranteed salary of $350K.
The 24-year-old was a second-round pick by St. Louis back in 2019, going 62nd overall after a solid showing with QMJHL Charlottetown that had him hovering at just under a point per game. Alexandrov was able to eclipse that mark the following year with 23 goals and 31 assists in 42 games before turning pro in the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season that saw him spend most of the year in Finland plus a handful of games with AHL Utica.
After one full season with AHL Springfield, the Blues thought Alexandrov was ready for an NHL look in 2022-23, giving him 28 appearances in primarily a fourth-line role where he had seven points. The following year, he received 23 contests in St. Louis where he notched a pair of assists, seemingly putting him in the mix for a longer-term NHL chance heading into last season.
However, that wasn’t the case. Instead, Alexandrov was cut with around a week left in training camp and aside from being a Black Ace recall late in the playoffs, he played exclusively with Springfield. He had his best showing in the minors, notching 21 goals and 28 assists in 48 games while also missing nearly two months with a lower-body injury along the way. Over his career in the AHL, Alexandrov has 58 goals and 71 assists in 170 contests.
A return to the minors may be a little more difficult for Alexandrov as he’s waiver-eligible. That means he’ll have to get through waivers unclaimed in order to return to the Thunderbirds. If that happens, he’ll be in line to play a big role in Springfield once again in the hopes of getting recalled while getting more than double his AHL salary from 2024-25. However, a strong training camp performance could also be enough to land him a spot with St. Louis, especially if they’re concerned about him getting claimed off the waiver wire given his offensive success from last season in the minors. Suffice it to say, Alexandrov’s performance in training camp a couple of months from now will go a long way toward dictating what happens to him next season.
Daniel Sprong Signs With CSKA Moscow
July 23: Sprong has signed with CSKA, per a team press release on Wednesday. It’s only a one-year deal.
July 13: Despite putting up two straight seasons of more than 40 points, Daniel Sprong’s free agent market last summer could be described as tepid as best. Now, coming off a year that saw him spend time with three different organizations and an extended stint in the minors, it’s fair to suggest that his market is even weaker this time around.
With that in mind, it appears that another option could be on the table for the 28-year-old. Sport-Express’ Mikhail Zislis reports that Sprong is receiving interest from a pair of KHL teams, CSKA Moscow and Avangard Omsk.
Last season, Sprong started the season in Vancouver after inking a one-year, $975K contract with the Canucks nearly three weeks into free agency last summer. However, after playing sparingly with them over the first month of the season, Vancouver flipped the winger to Seattle for future considerations. Considering that his best NHL campaign came back in 2022-23 with the Kraken, the move made sense for Seattle.
Unfortunately for them, he wasn’t able to rediscover that level of success in his second stint with the franchise. Sprong played in just ten games with them before being placed on waivers in January. He cleared, spending the next two seasons with AHL Coachella Valley before being flipped to New Jersey at the trade deadline with the Devils looking for some low-cost depth heading into the playoffs.
Sprong played in 11 regular season games with them, bringing his 2024-25 total to 30 but he only managed two goals and five assists in those appearances, including just two helpers with the Devils. That resulted in Sprong being scratched in four of five postseason contests, a quiet end to a tough year.
Still, Sprong has had some NHL success, tallying 87 goals and 79 assists in 374 games over parts of nine seasons spread across seven different organizations. He’s someone who at this point profiles as a likely PTO candidate before training camps open up in September with a reasonable chance of landing at least a two-way deal. But if Sprong’s preference is to get something more guaranteed before then, it looks like he’ll have a chance to get a guaranteed deal in Russia in the coming weeks.
West Notes: Rossi, Patera, Johansen
Center Marco Rossi is one of the more prominent remaining restricted free agents around the league. Michael Russo of The Athletic recently was on the DFO Rundown (video link) and reported that the two sides aren’t believed to have spoken in the last few weeks, effectively playing a game of chicken. Rossi is believed to be seeking a long-term contract while the Wild’s preference is a bridge deal, something that Rossi is hesitant to sign after being dropped to the fourth line in the playoffs. An offer sheet is still potentially an option if another team steps up and presents the offer that Rossi’s cap is looking for but this could be a case where he remains unsigned until closer to training camp with the waiting game in full effect on both sides.
Elsewhere out West:
- The Canucks plan to have prospects Nikita Tolopilo and Ty Young as the AHL tandem for next season, notes Thomas Drance of The Athletic (subscription link). They also have prospect Aku Koskenvuo who is likely to start in the ECHL. With Thatcher Demko and Kevin Lankinen entrenched as the tandem in Vancouver, that has Jiri Patera as the odd man out. Patera has NHL experience but was limited to just seven games last season. Drance relays that the Canucks are still determining where they plan to assign the 26-year-old next season assuming he clears waivers which suggests that a loan (or trade) outside the organization could be coming.
- Defenseman Lucas Johansen has signed a one-year deal with AHL Henderson, per a team release. The 27-year-old spent last season with the affiliate of the Golden Knights, but was limited to just 38 games where he had 11 assists and 28 penalty minutes. Johansen was a first-round pick by Washington back in 2016, going 28th overall but has played in just nine career NHL games over parts of three seasons, collecting a pair of assists.