Canadiens’ Lane Hutson Faces Another Unprecedented Season
Montreal Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson cemented himself in hockey history with his Calder Trophy-winning rookie season last year. His 60 assists tied Larry Murphy for the most ever recorded by a rookie defender, while his 66 total points ranked fifth in history. Hutson’s company on the leaderboards is full of Hall-of-Fame talent, including Chris Chelios (50 A, 56 TP as a rookie), Nicklas Lidstrom (49 A, 60 TP), and Ray Bourque (48 A, 65 TP). But despite the warm company, Hutson still faces a task unlike any of his highly-touted peers. He has to show he can follow it up.
Many former high-scoring, rookie defenders have earned their keep on both ends of the ice. Hutson breaks that mold. He is the first to ever cross the 60-point – or, even the 50-point – mark while recording a negative plus-minus. The only players to manage similar feats were Phil Housley, Quinn Hughes, and Moritz Seider – who each finished their rookie campaigns short of both the 50-point mark and positive plus-minus. That certainly speaks to the high-event ice time Hutson experienced, but it shouldn’t come as a direct attack on his defensive acumen.
Instead, it’s a testament to Hutson’s deeply unique style. He’s a hyper-mobile defender, who uses crafty stickhandling and skillful skating to sneak into the tightest spaces between opponents. Many defenders have excelled with those talents, but few are rarely look as gifted as Hutson. That degree of finesse helps Hutson make up for an otherwise scrawny frame – though one not lacking any physical gumption – in a way that seems reminiscent of former greats like Housley.
But where Housley went on to net 1,232 career points, the next highest-scoring defenseman under the height of 5’11” was Randy Carlyle, who finished his career with 647 points. That’s an extreme gap, not helped by the fact that Carlyle weighed in at over 200-pounds.
The NHL is not built to support nimble and skillful offensive-defensemen. It’s too heavy and physical of a league. And yet, Hutson showed no signs of struggling as he stomped his way to Montreal’s top defender role last season. He blazed that path with the same agility, instinct, and cool-headedness that’s made him successful as far back as youth hockey.
Then again, NHL game planning is better than ever as teams begin to lean on video tracking and analytics to support their pre-game prep. Many of Hutson’s break-ins came on the outskirts of the offensive zone, and his scoring chances from creative passes after working into space on the boards or behind the net. As teams adjust for that, Hutson will face the imposing question of if he can adjust his game too. Putting on more weight and continuing to improve at getting back on defense could go a long way towards building the full, all-three-zones ability that could push Hutson’s game to a truly special level. But if teams catch on to how to stop him before he has time to take the next step, he could quickly struggle to make the same plays he always has.
That will be the task that faces Hutson next season – and its result could define Montreal’s blue-line for years to come. Hutson is up for a new contract next summer, and could sign an extension at any point now that July 1st has passed. Of the nine other defensemen to score at least 60 points in their rookie year, seven have gone on to play in over 1,000 NHL games. The other two still managed hundreds of games of their own (Reed Larson, 904; Barry Beck, 615). And yet, it’s hard to think any have deviated from the view of average NHL defender quite like Hutson.
He’s among tremendous company, and seems headed for many years of incredible hockey after such a strong start. But it seems that the true, special aspects of Hutson’s career will be defined by how his sophomore season goes. In proving he can continue to perform at all-star levels, Hutson will not only earn what’s sure to be a lofty contract next summer, but could cement his spot in Montreal’s top role for the next seven or eight seasons. He’s now joined by fellow, flashy company in Noah Dobson – and could get the support from more defensively-focused peers like Kaiden Guhle, Alexandre Carrier, and Mike Matheson.
The extent to which that supporting cast can boost Hutson to an encore performance will make his 2025-26 campaign much-watch hockey, even after he’s earned the ‘Rookie of the Year’ title in a special Calder Trophy race.
Snapshots: Flames, Pridham, Humphreys
The Calgary Flames have signed a multi-year extension with the Rapid City Rush, their ECHL affiliate. The exact terms of the deal were not disclosed. This will continue a partnership that began in the 2022-23 season. Rapid City has finished sixth in the ECHL’s Mountain Division, and missed the postseason, in all three of their seasons under Calgary’s organizational roof.
The Rush are among the middle siblings of the ECHL, entering the league as an expansion team ahead of the 2008-09 season. They had a stunted inaugural season, but managed to blaze their way to a Kelly Cup Championship win in 2010. That kicked off a string of playoff appearances that continued through 2015. Rapid City announced their first NHL affiliate, a partnership with the Arizona Coyotes, on the heels of those six consecutive postseason appearances. They’d stay with Arizona for two seasons, only to be dropped by the club for two years, and then reaffiliated from 2019 to 2022. Rapid City was once again dropped by Arizona ahead of the 2022-23 season, opening the door for a quickly-organized partnership with the Flames. While the club hasn’t found much league success under Calgary’s guard, they have managed to promote 14 players to the AHL and NHL lineups over the course of three seasons. That includes top Flames prospect Rory Kerins, who scored 37 points in 38 games with the Rush in 2022-23.
Other notes from around the league:
- Chicago Blackhawks forward prospect Jack Pridham has announced he will stay with the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers for one more season, rather than moving to Boston University, per Josh Brown of The Waterloo Region Record. Pridham scored 27 goals and 54 points in 48 games with Kitchener last season. His marks led the team in both goals and points per game. It was his first year in the OHL, after spending all of last season and the start of this season with the BCHL’s West Kelowna Warriors. Pridham ranked second in scoring on the Warriors with 48 points in 54 games last season, prompting Chicago to select him in the third round of the 2024 NHL Draft. He’s a burly winger with a heavy, physical frame and hard shot. He’ll look to step into a starring role with the Rangers next season, then continue his career with the BU Terriers in 2026-27.
- Joining Pridham in a return to Kitchener will be Colorado Avalanche prospect Christian Humphreys, per Brown. Humphreys began the season at the University of Michigan, but opted to move to the OHL after scoring just one assist in the Wolverines’ first 10 games of the season. He went on to score 11 goals and 33 points in 28 games with Kitchener, and added 10 more points in 13 playoff games. Humphreys formally entered the NCAA transfer portal earlier this summer, but will instead opt to stay in juniors in hopes of joining Pridham on Kitchener’s top-line. He was a seventh-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, following two seasons with the U.S. National Team Development Program, where he spent time on the wing of James Hagens and Brodie Ziemer, or centering Teddy Stiga and Max Plante.
Jets Sign Parker Ford To Two-Year Contract
The Winnipeg Jets have signed forward Parker Ford to a two-year, two-way, $1.625MM contract. The deal will carry an $812.5K salary at the NHL level. Ford entered restricted free agency this summer after spending the last three seasons on an entry-level contract.
Ford went undrafted through his years of eligibility in 2019, 2020, and 2021. Those years spanned his final year in the USHL and first two seasons at Providence College. He didn’t catch NHL attention until his upperclass seasons with the Friars, where he became known for his endless motor and strong play in the dirty areas of the ice. He looked like a true coach’s favorite, made impacts in all three zones, and worked his way to 53 points in 75 games over his junior and senior seasons.
Those marks were enough to earn Ford a three-year, entry-level contract at the end of the 2022-23 season. He joined the AHL’s Manitoba Moose for their final eight games of the regular season, and jumped to scoring with four points, only to go without any points in five postseason games. Ford found better balance in the lineup as an AHL rookie last season. He finished the year with 18 goals and 41 points in 72 games, good for sixth on the Moose in scoring. That carved him out a hardy role in Manitoba’s top-six this season – a role Ford vindicated with 14 goals and 21 points in 41 games. He also earned his NHL debut this season, and scored one goal in three games with the Jets lineup.
A two-year deal will reward Ford’s carved out role in the AHL. He’ll likely head straight back to Manitoba’s top-six next season, but could find his way into a fourth-line, NHL role after fellow Jets depth forward Mason Appleton signed with the Detroit Red Wings this summer. Ford is a hard-working, well-rounded winger who is still largely undefined at the top flight, with only a few games in his NHL career and 121 games in his AHL career.
Jets Sign Gabriel Vilardi To Six-Year Contract
The Winnipeg Jets have signed forward Gabriel Vilardi to a six-year, $45MM contract extension. The deal was first reported by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. It will carry an annual cap hit of $7.5MM. As Friedman points out, Vilardi will avoid salary arbitration with the Jets with this contract. He had filed for arbitration earlier in the summer, after entering restricted-free agency with a $3.6MM qualifying offer a the start of the off-season.
PuckPedia reports that the deal carries a $3.5MM salary and a $3.5MM signing bonus for next season with a straight $7.6MM salary in each of the remaining five years. There is no trade protection in the contract.
Winnipeg will check a big box off of their summer list with this move. Vilardi was Winnipeg’s second-highest scoring free agent this year. The other, Nikolaj Ehlers, signed a six-year deal with the Carolina Hurricanes on July 3rd. Winnipeg had more control over RFA Vilardi, who will commit to a long-term deal with the club after spending the last two seasons on a short-term, prove-it contract.
The Jets acquired Vilardi’s negotiating rights alongside Alex Iafallo, Rasmus Kupari, and a 2024 second-round pick in the trade that sent Pierre-Luc Dubois to the Los Angeles Kings in the summer of 2023. It put the Jets in the awkward position of rewarding Vilardi for scoring 23 goals and 41 points in 63 games of Los Angeles’ 2022-23 season, after scoring 37 points in 69 career games in the prior three seasons. Winnipeg landed on a two-year, $6.88MM bridge contract.
With a new deal in place, the Jets honed in on adjusting Vilardi to the top-six, winger role that he began to take on in his latter years with the Kings, after entering the NHL as a center. Vilardi took on the role well, and scored 22 goals and 36 points in his first 47 games with the Jets. Unfortunately, those performances were spread around numerous injuries that forced Vilardi out of much of October, November, and March during the 2023-24 season.
An injury-shortened season to kick off a bridge contract swelled the pressure around Vilardi’s 2024-25 season. He entered the year not only playing for a contract, but looking to vindicate multiple seasons of promising scoring cut short by injuries. Vilardi jumped at the opportunity right out of the gates, scoring eight points in 10 games of October and 14 points in 14 games of November. His scoring carried through the extent of the season, and he finished the year with career-highs across the board – including 27 goals and 61 points in 61 games. He added four more points in nine playoff games.
Vilardi will be rewarded for a hot year with a contract in line with many high-scoring wingers entering their prime. The Utah Mammoth recently signed 23-year-old winger JJ Peterka to a five-year, $38.5MM contract; and the Toronto Maple Leafs signed 22-year-old Matthew Knies to a six-year, $46.5MM deal. Vilardi is older than both Peterka and Knies, but earns a richer annual salary than an older peer like Brock Boeser, who just inked a seven-year, $50.75MM contract in Vancouver.
A new, long-term deal will commit Vilardi to a major role in Winnipeg. Ehlers leaves behind a hardy, second-line role and routine power-play presence. Some of those minutes will be eaten up by summer signing Gustav Nyquist, and potentially prospects like Brad Lambert, but Vilardi could still see a boost from the 18 minutes of ice time he averaged this season. He has totaled 138 points in 181 games over the last three seasons — an 82-game pace of 33 goals and 63 points. With that scoring pace, and good health, on his side; Vilardi could be set to start his new deal with another breakout this season.
Photo courtesy of Terrence Lee-Imagn Images.
Hurricanes Promote Daniel Bochner Among Multiple Staff Changes
The Carolina Hurricanes have announced multiple staff and structure changes across their hockey operations and management departments. Most notably, they’ve hired Daniel Bochner as a full-time development coach, after he spent the last two seasons in a part-time coaching role with both the Hurricanes and the KHL’s SKA St. Petersburg. Bochner will move to Raleigh, from Russia, for this hire and work with both the NHL and AHL lineups.
Bochner has built up a rich career across the hockey world. He was originally born in Toronto, but began playing for Israel’s U18 club at the age of 15. He joined the club in their debut at the World Junior Championship Division-III tournament in 2001, and debuted with the country’s men’s roster at the World Championship Division-II tournament later that year. Bochner continued to be a fixture of Israel’s national roster through 2011, and racked up three points across 13 total appearances at the World Championship.
Bochner retired from his playing career in 2011, and turned towards head coaching with the Don Mills Flyers’ AAA club in 2013. He led the Flyers’ 2000-birth year through their 14U, 15U, and 16U seasons. Current Utah Mammoth forward Jack McBain served as the team’s captain in all three seasons. Bochner left Don Mills for a youth coach role with the KHL’s Ak Bars Kazan in 2016, briefly returned to coach the Vaughan Kings 14U AAA team in 2017, then moved full-time into a development coach role with SKA St. Petersburg in 2018.
His role with SKA included serving as a development coach for the KHL and MHL (junior) clubs, as well as with Russia’s National Men’s roster. He also served as an assistant coach for the KHL club from 2020 to 2023. Bochner’s role spanned some impressive rosters, and allowed him to work closely with top NHL skaters and prospects – including Yaroslav Askarov, Ivan Demidov, Matvei Michkov, Kirill Marchenko, and Hurricanes prospect Timur Kol. Bochner will now leave seven years with SKA behind to work full-time with Carolina’s top two rosters.
The Hurricanes have also announced that CBA-specialist Earl Schwartz has been promoted to the role of CBA and Salary Cap Analyst. He will the title of Compliance Assistant after three years in the role. Schwartz began his niched career publicly, writing CBA-related analysis for LeafsNation and a personal newsletter. Now, he’ll take another step forward in a Hurricanes organization that’s seen multiple staff take unconventional paths into their roles.
Carolina has further promoted Jorge Alves into the role of head equipment manager. He will take over for Bob Gorman, who has worked with the Hurricanes since 1976 and will continue to support the team in a reduced role. Alves will be joined by Patrick Budds, who has been promoted to assistant equipment manager from his role of equipment assistant. Filling that latter role will be CJ Reif, who worked with the Chicago Wolves last season.
The Hurricanes have also hired Zach Ellenthal and Dennis King as pro scouts. Ellenthal spent the last four seasons with the SHL’s Rogle BK, while King previously served in the Edmonton Oilers’ analytics department. King will join former Oilers peer Tyler Dellow in Carolina.
Carolina rounds out the hires with changes in their athletic training and nutrition rooms. Koryd Lavimoniere will step into an assistant trainer role after serving as the head trainer of the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds last season; and Kristin Pirigyi will move into a newly-created, full-time nutritionist role after previously serving as a nutrition consultant.
Photo courtesy of David Kirouac-USA TODAY Sports.
Sabres Sign Radim Mrtka To Entry-Level Contract
The Buffalo Sabres have signed towering defenseman Radim Mrtka to a three-year, entry-level contract. The team recently selected Mrtka with the ninth overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft. He hails from Czechia, but spent the better half of last season with the Seattle Thunderbirds of the WHL. PuckPedia reports that the deal will carry a cap hit of $975K while Mrtka will be eligible for $1MM in Class A performance bonuses per season, making the AAV $1.975MM.
Mrtka is, in a lot of ways, a truly rare defender. He was among the tallest in his draft class – third tallest at the NHL combine – but skates with a fluidity and confidence on the puck that’s simply second-to-none. Mrtka has no issue in transitioning from defense to offense, plus the awareness and stickhandling to drive play confidently through all three zones. He was often the flashy perimeter playmaker making passes to Vancouver Canucks first-round pick Braeden Cootes in the slot. That duo helped Mrtka reach 32 assists and 35 points in 43 WHL games this season, after beginning the year with four assists in 10 games of Czechia’s U20 league.
Mrtka was a perfectionist in Czechia’s junior leagues prior to moving to Canada. He scored 11 points in 19 U20 games last season, and earned the first three games of his pro hockey career in Czechia’s Extraliga. He also attended eight games of the World U-17 Hockey Challenge, scoring four points, and five games of the World U18 Championships, with no scoring. He returned to the latter tournament this season, and managed four points in five games.
With news of his entry-level contract, Mrtka will firmly set himself up for a return to the WHL’s Seattle, unless he can make the Sabres roster out of training camp. He’ll use a full year in juniors to continue honing his stocky, puck-moving talent into something that can jump to the NHL in the years to come. It’s rare for defenders with this mix of size and skill to not pan out – and Mrtka seems well on the way to walking in the path of 6-foot-8 defenseman Tyler Myers.
Like Mrtka, Myers returned to the WHL for one season after his draft selection, before breaking into the NHL with 11 goals and 48 points in the 2009-10 season – enough to win out the 2010 Calder Trophy for ‘Rookie of the Year’. Myers has since scored 395 points in 1,066 career games. Mrtka even wore Myers’ #53 when he took the ice for Buffalo’s post-draft development camp, despite spending the season wearing #21 in Seattle.
Latest On Tyson Foerster
The Philadelphia Flyers are at risk to start the season without top winger Tyson Foerster, after an elbow injury he sustained at the World Championships became infected. Foerster underwent surgery earlier this month and will further receive a follow-up MRI next week that should make his timeline clearer, per NHL.com’s Kevin Kurz.
The Flyers would have a major role to fill in Foerster wasn’t ready for the start of the year. He found a comfortable role on the team’s second-line and second-power play unit, but routinely stepped up as an X-factor for the team’s offense. He finished the season with 25 goals and 43 points in 81 games. Only Matvei Michkov (26) scored more goals than Foerster. The two could very well directly compete for top-line minutes next season, though Michkov would assume the runway should Foerster miss time.
Despite a potential top-six hole to fill, Kurz adds that Philadelphia likely won’t turn towards a veteran free agent for insurance. Instead, he expects they’ll lean on some of their young prospects, or a potential professional try-out during training camp. Philadelphia has a long list of top prospects who could win out an NHL role at training camp, headlined by Porter Martone, Jett Luchanko, and Alex Bump.
All three forward could offer interesting upside in Philadelphia’s bottom-six. The Flyers drafted Martone with the sixth-overall pick this year. He’s long been lauded as one of the top wingers in his age group, and managed 98 points in 57 OHL games this season, while serving as the Bramtpon Steelheads’ captain. He also appeared in three games at the World Junior Championship and two at the World Championships. His aggression and puck-handling could warrant a chance to make an immediate impact.
Luchanko did as much last year, making the Flyers’ roster out of camp and playing through his first four NHL games before being reassigned to the OHL. He went on to score 56 points in 46 games as the captain of the Guelph Storm. He finished his year with 16 games, and nine points, in the AHL. Luchanko more often fills the center role, but can be rotated to right-wing. He’d be a hard-nosed addition to Philadelphia’s mix of skill in the bottom-six.
Bump may offer the most unique upside, though. The left-wing is coming off a starring role in Western Michigan University’s run to their first NCAA National Championship. He recorded 23 goals, 47 points, and a plus-11 in 42 games during the run. It was a major step up after Bump scored 36 points in 38 games as a freshman last year. He finished his season with five points across nine games with Lehigh Valley. He’s a former fifth-round pick, compared to first-rounders Martone and Luchanko, but could make the same push with the momentum of a strong season.
All three young forwards would have to earn their jump to the NHL roster with an impressive training camp. Should they underwhelm, the Flyers are hopeful enough about Foerster’s outlook to not look beyond a minor addition. That will set Foerster up for a clear return to the Flyers’ top-six as soon as he’s back to full health. He faces an uphill battle in repeating his 17.6 shooting percentage from last season, but he has a track record of finding more goals than assists. He scored 20 goals and 33 points in 77 games as a rookie in 2023-24, with a 12.0 shooting percentage.
Flyers Promote John Snowden To AHL Head Coach, Hire Two Assistants
The Philadelphia Flyers have promoted John Snowden to the role of Lehigh Valley Phantoms head coach. He will fill a hole opened when Ian Laperrière was appointed an advisor to NHL general manager Daniel Briere in June. The Flyers also announced they’ve hired Nick Schultz and Terrence Wallin as AHL assistant coaches.
Lehigh Valley will move forward under the charge of Snowden, who served as an assistant coach to Lapierre through the last two seasons. He has nine years of experience in various roles throughout ECHL and AHL hockey. That includes one year as the Newfoundland Growlers’ head coach, one year as the club’s Director of Hockey Operations, and two years as an assistant with the Toronto Marlies.
Snowden’s roots as a coach run as far back as his own days as a minor league player. He played through five seasons in both the ECHL and former Central Hockey League (CHL), and stepped up as a player-coach for the Bloomington PrairieThunder during their sole CHL season in 2010-11. He scored 36 points in 66 games, and supported Bloomington to a loss in the first round of the playoffs. Snowden ultimately totaled 239 points in 304 CHL games, and 210 points in 305 ECHL games.
Philidelphia will also promote Schultz into the first bench role of his professional career next season. He has spent the last two seasons as the Assistant Director of Player Development with the NHL club, and has served as a development coach for the club since 2019. Schultz also coached the Philadelphia Flyers Elite AAA club’s 2007 birth-year from 13U to 16U. He led the team to an AYHL 14U championship in 2022.
Schultz is much better known as a former stalwart defender in the NHL. He was the 33rd-overall pick in 2000, and went on to amass 1,066 NHL games across 15 seasons and four clubs. He served as captain for the Minnesota Wild in 2007-08, and an assistant captain role with the Wild and Edmonton Oilers from 2010 to 2014. Schultz closed his career with three seasons in Philadelphia, where he totaled 29 points in 189 games. He opted to stick around the club after retiring in 2017, and will now kickoff the next chapter of his career in the Flyers’ system.
Wallin will also receive his first AHL coaching role on Lehigh Valley’s turned over bench. He was formerly a rooted member of the ECHL, playing through five seasons in the league from 2015-16 to 2019-20. But his club – the Maine Mariners – opted to not participate in the 2020-21 season. When they returned in 2021-22, Wallin had moved from player to assistant coach. He was promoted to the head coach role in 2022, and added the general manager title in 2023. In four years with Wallin on the bench, the Mariners posted a 140-125-23 record and made three playoff appearances.
Penguins Acquire Arturs Silovs From Canucks
The Pittsburgh Penguins have acquired goaltender Arturs Silovs from the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for forward prospect Chase Stillman and a 2027 fourth-round pick.
Pittsburgh will move to acquire a goalie just a few weeks after trading Alex Nedeljkovic to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for a 2028 third-round pick. In turning to Silovs, Pittsburgh finds a goalie who is both five years younger than Nedeljkovic, and more experienced in the playoffs.
Silovs stepped into the Canucks’ starting role during the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs with only nine games of NHL experience under his belt, following an injury to Thatcher Demko. He posted one shutout, but otherwise managed a 5-5-0 record and .898 save percentage.
He found his way back to a split role in a crowded Abbotsford Canucks goalie room this season – but fought back into the role of playoff starter after posting a team-best .908 save percentage in 21 games. Back at the helm, Silovs drove Abbotsford to a Calder Cup Championship with a .931 save percentage and 16-7-0 record. He’s a red-hot hand with upside, who will seem to settle in between the role of AHL starter and NHL backup next season. That’s exactly the support Pittsburgh could use, allowing the team to bump Joel Blomqvist up to number-two on the depth chart while still maintaining competition for the backup role.
On the other side, Vancouver invest further into their depth forward group. Stillman was a first-round selection in the 2021 NHL Draft, after a weird draft year where eight games in Denmark’s U20 league, and seven games at the World U-18 Championship, was his only gametime. He returned to the OHL for two seasons following his draft selection, and totaled 97 points in 158 games split between the Sudbury Wolves and Peterborough Petes. He served as an assistant captain for both clubs.
Stillman turned pro with the AHL’s Utica Comets in the 2023-24 season. He recorded a modest 14 goals, 24 points, and 72 penalty minutes in 54 games as a rookie, but struggled to fight his way into a routine, top-end role in the lineup. Those challenges reached a peak on a caved-in Utica lineup this season. Stillman started the year with just nine points in 46 games with the Comets, prompting a move to the Penguins organization at the Trade Deadline. He was traded alongside Max Graham and a 2027 third-round pick in the deal that landed New Jersey Cody Glass and Jonathan Gruden.
Stillman continued to struggle in his move to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. He scored just three points in 21 games with the club, and will now find himself on the move once again. Luckily, he could be headed for a golden opportunity with Abbotsford, who will be looking for a replacement for Sammy Blais‘ top-six role. Blais scored 59 points across 74 games with the AHL’s Canucks last season, and his mix of grit and finesse was a major boost in the team’s run to a league title. Stillman will look to grab hold of that important role, while Silovs tries to find enough footing to jump to the NHL.
Kieffer Bellows Signs One-Year Deal With SHL’s Brynas IF
Former Nashville Predators winger Kieffer Bellows has decided to take his talents overseas after reaching unrestricted free agency this summer. He has signed a one-year contract with Brynas IF of Sweden’s SHL, per a press release on the team’s website. This will be Bellows’ first stint in European pros after spending the last seven seasons split between the NHL and AHL.
Bellows never found more than a fourth-line role at the top level, and often served more as an injury fill-in through his stints with the New York Islanders, Philadelphia Flyers, and Predators. That role often landed Bellows on the top-line of his club’s AHL roster, where his talents as a high-motor, physical scorer shined through much clearer. He recorded 19 points and a lofty 101 penalty minutes in 73 games of his rookie AHL season, all the way back in 2018-19. He swung the needle back towards scoring in his sophomore campaign – netting 22 goals, 31 points, and 49 penalty minutes in 52 AHL games during the 2019-20 season.
That swing earned Bellows a move to the NHL in 2020 – one that wouldn’t be reversed until the 2022-23 season. By then, he had amassed 95 career games and 28 points at the NHL level – with nearly half of both coming during his 2021-22 season with the Islanders, when Bellows potted 19 points in 45 games. But his game continued to seem better-suited for the minor flight, and Bellows went on to add to his resume with 90 points and 112 PIMs through 108 AHL games between 2022 and 2025. That includes 31 points and 56 PIMs with the Milwaukee Admirals this year – a performance that was intercut by Bellows also racking up four points in 19 games with the Predators.
On the heels of that surge back to AHL success, Bellows will now opt to move to Sweden. He joins a strong Brynas roster that finished first in the league, but lost to Lulea in the championship, last season. Bellows should take up the role of top-six grinder complimenting former NHL names like Jakob Silfverberg, Oskar Lindblom, and Johan Larsson. He’ll also join up with NHL prospects Michal Svrcek (Detroit), Lucas Pettersson (Anaheim), and Gustav Hillstrom (New Jersey).