Jets Sign Garrett Brown To Two-Year Deal
The Winnipeg Jets have added a collegiate national champion to their ranks. Defenseman Garrett Brown has signed a two-year contract with the Jets following the end of his junior year at the University of Denver. Winnipeg drafted Brown in the 2022 fourth-round after his first season with the USHL’s Sioux City Musketeers.
Brown, 22, has long been regarded as a mobile, two-way defenseman. He grew up through the San Jose Sharks AAA program, where he played alongside fellow NHL prospects including Calgary Flames forward Cade Littler and Vancouver Canucks defenseman Aiden Celebrini. Brown was a third-round selection in the 2020 USHL Futures Draft and debuted with the Musketeers at the end of the following season. He joined Sioux City full-time in the 2021-22 season and left his rookie USHL year with 17 points in 72 games. More notably, he left his rookie season with a USHL championship, filling a third-pair role on a Sioux City squad that featured seven other NHL prospects. Brown took on an assistant captain role with Sioux City, before a mid-year move to the Waterloo Black Hawks, in his second USHL season. He finished the year with 18 points in 54 games.
Winning tendencies followed Brown to the college level. He was an extra defenseman for much of the 2023-24 season but did manage four points in the eight games he stepped into. More than that, he helped spread some luck on a Denver Pioneers squad that went on to win the 2024 National Championship. Brown earned a full-time role in 2024-25 and scored eight points in 42 games, a mark that grew to 14 points in 34 games in another Championship-winning year this season.
Through it all, Brown has stood out for his fundamental defense and active stick. He has never finished a season with a negative plus-minus and found his way into routine minutes with the Pioneers. Brown will now push into the pro flight hoping that his strong stick and ability to defend tempo will be enough to cement a role in the AHL. The Manitoba Moose are headed for the Calder Cup Playoffs and have already added late-year additions Alfons Freij and Lukas Gustafsson to the blue-line. Brown will be the right-handed compliment to those lefty additions, and should compete with bruiser Tyrel Bauer for minutes.
Panthers’ Aleksander Barkov To Play At World Championship
Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov missed the entirety of the 2025-26 season with a knee injury sustained during training camp. On the other side of a losing year for the Panthers, Barkov is finally nearing a return to game action. The star center is expected to play for Team Finland at the 2026 World Championship, Florida head coach Paul Maurice told George Richards of Florida Hockey Now.
Barkov is a cornerstone piece of every lineup he’s apart of. The 30 year old scored 20 goals and 71 points in 67 games of the 2024-25 NHL season. He capped the year off with 22 points in 23 games en route to a 2025 Stanley Cup championship, the same point total and outcome that he reached in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Barkov was the first European captain to lead his team to back-to-back Stanley Cups.
Routine playoff appearances have kept Barkov from appearing in many of Finland’s international tournaments as of late. He captained the Finns at the 2025 4-Nations Face-Off and scored two points in three games. Outside of that, his last appearance with Finland was at the 2017 World Cup, where he posted no scoring in three games. Barkov has played in two World Championships – marked by 16 points in 17 games – and the 2014 Winter Olympics where he had one point in two games.
Each of those international appearances were on the other side of Barkov’s ascension towards superstardom. He has won three Selke Trophies as the league’s best defensive-forward and consistently earned votes for the Hart Memorial Trophy and Lady Byng Memorial Trophy since his 2017 World Cup appearance. Barkov also won the 2025 King Clancy Memorial Trophy, awarded on the basis of leadership and humanitarian contribution. He also became a franchise owner of the Liiga’s Tappara, part of Finland’s top pro league, in 2020. Barkov has grown into a face of Finnish hockey in North America and routinely rivals point-per-game scoring in the NHL.
It is with the weight of a missed NHL season – and a missed Olympic Games – that Barkov will now enter the 2026 World Championship. He will be among the Finns’ biggest scoring threats and could challenge the most ice time on the team each game. Finland will also lean on Florida’s Anton Lundell and Seattle Kraken winger Kaapo Kakko to bolster their lineup, with much of the country’s top NHL talent headed towards the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Either way, Barkov’s return will be far more than the addition of one more player. It will also give the reigning Cup captain a chance to get back to full speed before the 2026-27 campaign is underway.
Evening Notes: Canucks, Ducks, Psenicka
The Vancouver Canucks will need to reconsider much of their roster after a last-place finish this season. Winger Evander Kane and defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph are not expected to be a part of the plans moving forward per Thomas Drance of The Athletic. Both players will enter unrestricted free agency on July 1st.
Kane played a full season after missing the entirety of the 2024-25 campaign. He recorded 13 goals, 31 points, and 92 penalty minutes in 71 games. He proved capable of filling an every-night role in the NHL but still underperformed his $5.125MM cap hit. The silver lining of Kane’s season was the 1,000th game of his NHL career, played on March 30th. He has 339 goals and 648 points in 1,001 career NHL games.
Joseph has fought to move out of an extra defender role for much of the last three seasons. He recorded six points and a minus-16 in 31 games this season. That is a slight boost from three points and a minus-23 in 47 games, split between the St. Louis Blues and Pittsburgh Penguins, last season. He will eye a cheap contract, and promise of NHL minutes, should he hit free agency this summer.
Other notes from the Western Conference:
- The Anaheim Ducks have signed San Diego Gulls head coach Matt McIlvane to a multi-year extension per Patrick Present of The Hockey News. McIlvane posted his best record in three years as San Diego’s head coach with a 33-24-12 finish this season. That performance has pushed the Gulls into their first Calder Cup Playoff appearance since 2022. McIlvane, an Illinois native, coached five seasons with EHC Salzburg, in Austria’s IceHL, before being hired by San Diego in 2023. He led the team to two IceHL championships. He also won three DEL championships as an assistant coach with EHC Munchen from 2014 to 2019. That role also earned McIlvane an assistant coach role on Germany’s Men’s Hockey team at the 2018 Winter Olympics. He helped lead the country to a Silver medal finish, their first men’s hockey medal in modern Olympic history.
- Utah Mammoth defense prospect Max Psenicka has signed an amateur try-out contract with the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners. Psenicka is coming off his second season with the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks. He recorded eight goals, 30 points, and 67 penalty minutes in 53 games – and no scoring and a minus-10 in four playoff games. He brings some pro experience to the AHL level, having played 16 games and scored two goals in Czechia’s Extraliga at the start of last season. Psenicka should bring an impactful, defensive presence to Tucson’s lineup as they approach the final three games of their season.
Islanders Assign Victor Eklund, Calum Ritchie, Isaiah George, Liam Foudy To AHL
The New York Islanders have loaded up their AHL affiliate with the Stanley Cup Playoffs out of sight. Forwards Victor Eklund , Liam Foudy, and Calum Ritchie, and defensemen Isaiah George have all been assigned to the minor-leagues with the Islanders’ season now over. Eklund made his NHL debut in New York’s season finale. He recorded one assist. Ritchie has spent nearly the full season in the NHL, while Foudy and George spent most of their years in the minors.
Ritchie and Eklund could be X-factor additions for the Bridgeport Islanders’ playoff run. Eklund made his AHL debut in late-March, following the end of his season in Sweden. He has been an immediate impact with nine points in his first seven AHL games. It has been a boom in scoring after Eklund notched six goals and 24 points in 43 games of the SHL regular season and three points in three playoff games. He was a difference-maker for Djugardens in their promotion from the HockeyAllsvenskan last season and finished the 2024-25 season with 31 points in 42 games.
Ritchie began the year in the minors but earned a call-up after just three games, and three points, with Bridgeport. He carved out a middle-six role for much of his rookie season and finished the year with 30 points in 65 games. Ritchie is only one season removed from a 70-point season in the OHL. He was mostly a center at the junior level but played right-wing in his first NHL season. Whether Bridgeport prioritizes Ritchie’s development as a center, or comfort as a pro winger, could add an interesting wrinkle to their playoff push. New York head coach Peter DeBoer said he sees Ritchie as a center moving forward per NHL.com’s Stefen Rosner.
Foudy finished the AHL season second on Bridgeport in goals (25) and points (46). That finish is one point more than he scored in 70 games last year, his first season with Bridgeport. He has rotated between the NHL and AHL level since turning pro in 2020. Foudy’s only full season in the NHL came with the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2022-23. He finished that season with 14 points in 62 games.
George will also have a role carved out for him in the minors. He scored 17 points and a plus-10 in 45 games with Bridgeport this season, in addition to one point and a plus-one in four NHL games. George split last season between the major and minor leagues. He finished the year with five points in 33 NHL games and 14 points in 33 AHL games.
Blues Sign Arseni Koromyslov To Entry-Level Contract
The St. Louis Blues have signed 2022 fourth-round pick Arseni Koromyslov to a two-year, entry-level contract set to begin in the 2026-27 season. This deal will move Koromyslov to North America after four seasons in Russia’s pro leagues. The contract details, per PuckPedia, are:
| Year | NHL Salary | Signing bonus | Potential performance bonuses | Minors salary |
| 2026-27 | $850K | $102.5K | $72.5K | $82.5K |
| 2027-28 | $967.5K | $107.5K | $82.5K |
Koromyslov, 22, filled an important role for the KHL’s Chelyabinsk Traktor this season. He recorded 17 points, 40 penalty minutes, and a plus-four in 61 games this season. This was Koromyslov’s second season in a full-time, KHL role. His 2024-25 season was spread across three teams, with Koromyslov recording five points in 26 games with Lada, two points in seven games with SKA St. Petersburg, and 10 points in 48 games with Traktor including the postseason. He scored one goal with each team, a pattern he kept up through this season.
Despite the low-scoring, Koromyslov has never recorded a negative plus-minus across a full season. He has proved to be a reliable defender at Russia’s junior and pro levels – a knack helped along by just how much Koromyslov has improved his game as he’s moved to higher roles. He was a noticeable physical presence this season, using a long reach and hard checking to stop opponents in the neutral zone. His ability to win puck battles from Traktor’s second-pair went far in supporting a forward group with seven players who scored 35 points or more.
Koromyslov will lean on that defensive prowess to earn minutes with the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds next season. He joins a long list of left-defenders on the Thunderbirds roster but could offer a bit more defensive reliability than Marc-Andre Gaudet, Quinton Burns, or Michael Buchinger. Should that professional defense carry over, Koromyslov could plant his feet behind Leo Loof on St. Louis’ depth chart in the 2026-27 season.
Panthers’ Tomas Nosek Suffers Broken Leg
The end of the season has brought no relief to the Florida Panthers’ injury woes. Winger Tomas Nosek sustained a broken leg in Sunday’s win over the New York Rangers, head coach Paul Maurice told Miami Herald’s Jordan McPherson. Nosek did not play the final three minutes of the game. It is not clear exactly when he suffered the fracture but Nosek specified that the leg he broke is not the same one that he underwent knee surgery on earlier in the season.
Nosek missed the first 60 games of the season with a knee injury sustained during the off-season. He has scored four points and a minus-eight in 21 games on the year, before sustaining another injury in the second-to-last game of Florida’s season.
This injury continues a long run of misfortune for Nosek. He missed the first month of the 2024-25 season with an upper-body injury and ultimately played only 59 games for the eventual Stanley Cup-winning Florida Panthers. Nosek scored nine points in those games, and three more in 16 playoff games. He missed multiple chunks of the 2023-24 season with a variety of injuries, including another upper-body injury, and ultimately only played in 36 games that year. Nosek even broke his foot in the latter-half of the 2022-23 season, only totaling 66 regular season games. In full, the 33-year-old winger has only averaged 55 games and 13 points per season dating back to his first full year in the NHL in 2018-19.
This will give Florida another injury to monitor as their off-season gets off to an early start. The Panthers are set to miss the postseason for the first time since 2019, on the heels of three-straight appearances in the Stanley Cup Final. Nosek will join many of the team’s stars in nursing an injury, including Brad Marchand, Aleksander Barkov, Gustav Forsling, and Aaron Ekblad. He faces the added wrinkle of entering free agency this summer and will face the challenge of convincing a team to renew the one-year, league-minimum contract he played on this summer with only 21 games to show for it. Nosek has 120 points in 514 career games in the NHL.
Islanders Recall Victor Eklund, Liam Foudy
April 14: The Islanders announced Tuesday that they’ve recalled both Eklund and forward Liam Foudy from Bridgeport. If Foudy plays, it’ll be his first contest since making his Isles debut back in October 2024. The former Blue Jackets first-rounder is now 26 years old and is amid a career year in Bridgeport, where he’s amassed a 25-21–46 scoring line in 58 games for the playoff-bound Baby Isles.
He’s a pending restricted free agent, so today’s bump could indicate they intend to issue him a qualifying offer. They didn’t let him get to restricted free agency last summer, signing him to a two-way extension on June 29. He was initially signed in the 2024 offseason after a non-tender by the Predators, who had claimed him off waivers from Columbus the prior season.
April 13: The New York Islanders are expected to recall top prospect and 2025 draft pick Victor Eklund from the AHL’s Bridgeport Islanders, per NHL.com’s Stefen Rosner. Eklund, the younger brother of San Jose Sharks forward William Eklund, made his AHL debut on March 27 following the end of Djugården’s season in Sweden’s SHL. He has been red-hot ever since, scoring seven assists and nine points in his first seven AHL games.
On the heels of that strong start, Eklund could make his NHL debut in the Islanders’ season finale on Tuesday. New head coach Peter DeBoer spoke about his hopes of incorporating future impact into the lineup for the Islanders’ final game, after the team was eliminated from playoff contention. Eklund will certainly be a part of that group after being drafted by the Islanders with the 16th overall pick last year.
Eklund has a long history of success at the pro level. He scored 19 goals and 31 points in 42 games in the HockeyAllsvenskan, Sweden’s second-tier pro league, as a rookie in 2024-25. He formed a formidable tandem with Chicago Blackhawks prospect Anton Frondell, enough to earn Djurgården a promotion to the SHL in 2025.
The duo stayed hot – Eklund by scoring 24 points in 43 SHL games – to help Djurgården avoid relegation this season. Now, the aggressive forechecker and strong shooter could test his talents in the Islanders’ lineup. His debut may come at the expense of one of the Islanders’ short-term forwards, like Ondrej Palat or Marc Gatcomb. Eklund enters the NHL already boasting a World Juniors gold medal and HockeyAllsvenskan championship.
Mammoth Reassign Matt Villalta
4/13/26: The Mammoth reassigned Villalta back to Tucson today. He backed up Vanecek yesterday during the Mammoth’s 4-1 loss to the Calgary Flames.
4/12/26: The Utah Mammoth recalled forward Kevin Rooney and goaltender Matt Villalta from the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners before last night’s game against the Calgary Flames. Villalta stepped into Utah’s backup role behind Vitek Vanecek with the usual starter, Karel Vejmelka, out with an undisclosed injury. Vejmelka’s injury isn’t expected to be serious, and his absence could be for a night of rest, per Brogan Houston of Desert News Sports. He saved 26 of 30 shots faced in Saturday night’s loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.
Both Rooney and Villalta were held off the ice in Sunday night’s game. The duo has each carved out productive roles in the minor leagues. Rooney has scored 24 points, split evenly, in 44 games with Tucson to go with one goal in one game with Utah this season. That is the most scoring he has managed in a single campaign since the 2017-18 season, when he scored 34 points in 71 AHL games. Villalta has split starts with Jaxson Stauber for much of the year. He has 16 wins and a .895 save percentage in 33 games, narrowly more wins and a higher save percentage than Stauber (14 wins, .886 Sv%) despite playing two fewer games.
Rooney and Villalta could be options to stick on the NHL roster with two games left in the Mammoth season. Their presence could allow Utah to rest some routine lineup players before the club takes on the franchise’s first appearance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Vejmelka will have the starting role locked in when the postseason rolls around, after he notched 37 wins and a .898 Sv% in 62 games this season. Vejmelka has appeared in the most games of any Mammoth – or Arizona Coyotes – goaltender since 2015, when Mike Smith also played 62 games.
Lightning To Use EBUG With Jonas Johansson Out
The Tampa Bay Lightning took the ice without backup goaltender Jonas Johansson in Monday night’s game against the Detroit Red Wings. Johansson is out day-to-day with an undisclosed injury. In his place, the Lightning will roster emergency backup goaltender Kyle Konin. This is Konin’s third time serving on an NHL bench as an EBUG. He filled in for the St. Louis Blues in 2021 and for the Philadelphia Flyers in 2024.
Konin has been the Tampa Bay-area EBUG since the 2020-21 season. He even wore a mask honoring Tampa Bay Lightning founder Phil Esposito in his 2024 game with the Flyers per Forbes’ Tom Layberger. Konin last took the ice with Grand Valley State University in Division III ACHA club hockey. He played one season in the NA3HL in 2017-18 and recorded a .897 save percentage in 34 games. Konin also played one game of high school hockey with Kimball Union Academy in 2016-17 with teammate and eventual Boston Bruins defenseman Jordan Harris.
While Konin will get to donn the Lightning jersey for the first time, Tampa Bay will hope he isn’t needed behind star starter Andrei Vasilevskiy. The Lightning have two games left in their season, including Monday’s matchup. Johansson’s short-term designation should have him back in the lineup before the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He has recorded 11 wins and a .884 save percentage in 25 games this season and should stick behind Vasilevskiy through the postseason.
Predators Sign Aiden Fink To Entry-Level Deal
The Nashville Predators have signed 2023 seventh-round pick Aiden Fink to a three-year, entry-level contract. Fink began his pro career earlier in the month, signing an AHL tryout contract after the end of his junior season at Pennsylvania State University. He has since scored three goals and 10 points in his first six AHL games. Fink’s entry-level deal will begin this season, offering him a chance to make his NHL debut in the coming days.
On the heels of a red-hot start, Fink could now get the call to the NHL. The Predators have two games left in their season, just enough opportunity to give the young winger his first shot at NHL ice time. While Fink’s pro start has been exciting, it is far from a surprise to see him scoring at a top rate. The 21 year old scored 10 goals and 38 points in 30 NCAA games this season, good for third on the Penn State Nittany Lions in scoring. He racked up 23 goals and 53 points in 40 games of the 2024-25 season, finishing the year with the fourth-most points in college hockey. Through three seasons at Penn State, Fink’s confidence while driving the puck and ability to make fast-moving plays spoke volumes. In a small sample, it seems that hot scoring has continued into the pro level.
A breakout collegiate career has raised the attention around the Predators’ right winger. He flew under radars during two years in the AJHL, even after posting an impressive 97 points in 54 games during his draft season. Entering the draft class with proven scoring, two AJHL championships, and one AJHL MVP title wasn’t enough for the undersized winger, who had to wait until one of the final picks of the 2023 NHL Draft to hear his name. Now, an entry-level contract will give him a chance to prove that Nashville found a diamond in the rough. Fink becomes Nashville’s sixth 2023 draftee to sign his first NHL contract.