Longtime Player Agent Steve Reich Passes Away
O2K Sports Management has announced that legendary player agent Steve Reich has passed away. Reich worked in hockey for more than 30 years, and served as president of RBRT Sports Group from 1993 to 2000. He has represented legendary and Hall-of-Fame talents like Mario Lemieux, Ron Francis, Chris Chelios, and Luc Robitaille – as well as all-time winningest coach Scotty Bowman. He was also a must-know name when it came to player marketing and endorsements.
Reich’s journey through the hockey world was a fascinating one. He entered the world of sports management soon after college, following in the footsteps of his uncle Tom Reich, who represented baseball legends like Sammy Sosa, Ken Griffey Jr., and Dock Ellis. All-time-great Lemieux was in need of new representation around the same time, and was connected to the Reich family. With that, the group moved forward – with Tom negotiating contracts and Steve handling endorsements. Eventually, that split faded and allowed Steve to step into a bigger partnership with some of the best players in NHL history.
In his early days of representing Lemieux and RBRT Sports Group, Reich also hired on a young Pat Brisson, who now represents some of the league’s best players, including Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin – shares Mike Colligan of The Hockey Writers. In addition to his headlining talents, Reich also represented Scott Gomez, Daniel Briere, Tom Barrasso, Kevin Stevens, and Brad Stuart – among many others. He was even listed as the signing agent on Vincent Trocheck‘s current contract with the New York Rangers: a seven-year, $39.38MM deal signed in 2022.
Reich was equal parts sharp-and-strategic, and happy-and-easy-going. His enthusiasm, selflessness, and calming energy are often the first things mentioned by people reflecting on their experience with the all-time great. He was at the front lines of multiple monumental points in NHL history, including opting to step down from RBRT Sports Group in 2000 to support Lemieux in his return to the NHL. Pro Hockey Rumors sends our condolences to the Reich family, friends, and entire family at O2K Sports Management.
Snapshots: Nugent-Hopkins, Malkin, Marner
Edmonton Oilers centerman Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is expected to stick in the lineup for Game 6 despite missing Monday’s practice, head coach Kris Knoblauch told Daniel Nugent-Bowman of The Athletic. His off-day will instead be chalked up to rest, after Nugent-Hopkins appeared in 20 minutes of action in Game 5.
Nugent-Hopkins appeared in 24 minutes of ice time and scored two points in Edmonton’s 5-4 win over Florida in Game 4. He ranks third on the Oilers’ offense in ice time (19:44) and postseason scoring (20 points in 21 games) behind only Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. It’s the expected pecking order, but Nugent-Hopkins’ role has still been a crucial part of Edmonton’s postseason success. They’ll rest assured knowing he’s expected to appear in a must-win game on Tuesday.
Other notes from around the league:
- Retirement winds are beginning to blow around Pittsburgh Penguins legend Evgeni Malkin. It remains unclear exactly when the Russian forward is expecting to retire, though sources around the team say Pittsburgh is unlikely to offer him a new contract next summer, per Josh Yohe of The Athletic. Malkin will enter unrestricted free agency after the 2025-26 season after riding out a four-year, $24.4MM contract. He posted the lowest scoring pace of his career this season, with 50 points in 68 games equating to 0.74 points-per-game. That mark surpassed his previous career-low of 0.82 set last season, when he scored 27 goals and 67 points in 82 games. Those numbers are still mighty impressive, and could earn Malkin a few more years even as he slows down. He could also be a candidate to leave the NHL with a few good years left, and finish his playing career in Russia’s KHL. Mettalurg Magnitogorsk continue to hold Malkin’s KHL rights. He previously appeared in 169 games and scored 156 points with the club.
- Top free agent Mitch Marner may take his time deciding on a new landing spot when the market opens on July 1st, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman shared on his latest 32 Thoughts podcast. Friedman adds that Marner could have plans to establish meetings throughout multiple cities before he signs his next deal. Negotiations for Marner’s last contract – a six-year, $65.41MM deal signed in 2019 – notoriously dragged on through September. He posted multiple career-years on the deal, including breaking the century mark for the first time this season with 102 points in 81 games. Marner is likely to rival records with a lengthy and expensive deal this season. Taking time to ensure it’s with the right fit will be a helpful bit of due diligence.
Penguins Re-Sign Bokondji Imama To One-Year Contract
The Pittsburgh Penguins have signed depth forward Bokondji Imama to a one-year, two-way contract that carries a league-minimum $775K salary at the NHL level. Imama split the 2024-25 season between the NHL and AHL rosters, and appeared in a career-high 16 games with the Pittsburgh lineup.
Imama blazed his style at the top flight this season. After years of establishing himself as a minor-league bruiser, he showed the control needed to maintain that title at the top level – with 30 penalty minutes and a plus-two in his NHL appearances. He also chipped in 47 penalty minutes and a minus-one in 24 AHL games – a modest total relative to seasons past. Imama led the Belleville Senators in PIMs last season, with 115 through 53 appearances. He held the same title with the 2021-22 Tucson Roadrunners, where he racked up a daunting 178 PIMs in 54 games played.
Through eight seasons in the AHL, Imama has averaged just over nine points a year. He’s a low-scoring, low-minutes depth forward with the smooth skating and pest tendencies to continue finding work at a pro level. A one-year deal will keep him in Pittsburgh’s depth charts as the team looks to move into a new era, with a much younger lineup. That fact could earn Imama even more ice time at the NHL level next season, though any minutes are likely to come in an extra-forward role.
Jaromir Jagr Hopes To Play 38th Professional Season
Enough will never be enough for former NHL superstar Jaromir Jagr. The two-time Stanley Cup Winner, five-time Art Ross Trophy winner, and future first-ballot Hall-of-Famer called an end to his NHL career in 2017-18, after 24 years in the league. But he’s continued his journey in pro hockey through this season, spending the last seven years with Rytíři Kladno in the Czechia Extraliga. Now, after completion of his 37th season in pro hockey, the legendary Jagr committed to one more year on TNT’s pre-game broadcast for Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals.
Jagr will extend his career after previously stating the 2024-25 season would be his last. But he performed well throughout the year, netting five goals and 16 points in 39 appearances. He told the TNT broadcast crew:
“I still love the game. I love to practice. I don’t want to get fat. I lost some weight right now, like 20 pounds, so I feel a little bit better… I just do it just to be healthy, and I just enjoy the existence…”
That sentiment will launch Jagr one step closer to spending four decades in pro hockey. He’s now 53 years old and no longer holds the majority ownership stake in Kladno’s hockey club – selling an 80 percent ownership stake in January, after previously serving as a rare combination of club player and owner for 14 years. It was under that title that Jagr supported Kladno’s surge back to Czechia’s top pro league in 2018, and then again in 2021. The team has stayed at the top level in the three seasons since.
Jagr’s physical upkeep seemed to be declining through last season. He only appeared in 15 games on the season, and – for the first time in his life – didn’t record a goal all season long. But he bounced back to form this year, appearing in more games than he has since the 2021-22 campaign, when he scored 19 points in 43 games.
With health back on his side, Jagr will look to continue Kladno’s surge at the top flight. The club finished second-to-last in the Extraliga last year, though they avoided relegation by four wins. Aside from Jagr, they were led by Eduards Tralmaks, who recently signed with the Detroit Red Wings after netting 51 points in 48 Czech games last season.
Jagr’s trophy cabinet has been filled beyond capacity. He’s a member of the Triple Gold Club – a winner of Gold Medals at the World Championship, Olympic Games, and a Stanley Cup winner – on top of taking home hardware at truly every level he’s appeared in. He may fall shy of repeating that in Czechia next season, but one more year will push Jagr even closer to the illustrious, unheralded feat of playing 40 years in pro sports.
Ducks Sign Lucas Pettersson To Entry-Level Contract
The Anaheim Ducks have signed 2024 second-round draft pick Lucas Pettersson to a three-year, entry-level contract. Pettersson split his season between Sweden’s SHL and HockeyAllsvenskan, and is expected to return to the SHL’s MoDo Hockey next year.
Pettersson had a quiet introduction to the pro flight. He earned a call-up to the SHL after netting eight points in eight games in Sweden’s U20 league – but struggled to find a clear groove in a fourth-line SHL role. Recognizing the struggles following numerous lineup changes, MoDo opted to send Pettersson to the HockeyAllsvenskan (HA) for the entirety of January. Having his feet under him launched Pettersson’s performance. He scored a hat trick in his first game on assignment, then proceeded to net 14 points in 12 HA games throughout January and early February.
Pettersson followed his hot streak in the HA with a quartet of international friendlies with Sweden’s U20 club. He scored three points in the four games, but didn’t stay lit when he returned to league play in mid-February. By the time he rediscovered his pace – with four points in three HA games to end February – MoDo opted to bring the dynamic forward back to the top flight.
When all was said and done, Pettersson ended his season with 19 points in 26 HA games, one assist in 29 SHL games, and eight points in eight J20 (U20) games. His 0.73 point-per-game scoring pace in the HA fell just behind 2025 NHL Draft stars Anton Frondell (0.86) and Victor Eklund (0.74) on the league’s U19 leaderboards. The trio posted the highest scoring paces since Noah Ostlund (0.70, 2022-23), Lucas Elvenes (0.95, 2017-18), and Elias Pettersson (0.95, 2016-17).
Lucas Pettersson earned high-end consideration for much of the 2024 draft season. He earned a second-round bid after posting 27 goals and 57 points in 44 J20 games, though some outlets had him ranked as high as an early-20s talent. He’s a flashy, agile forward with strong puck-skills and sharp offensive instinct. Those traits will need to become consistent and refined as he eyes a move to North America, but another year in the SHL could go far in preparing Pettersson to join an often Swede-friendly Ducks lineup.
Blackhawks Trade Rights To Victor Soderstrom To Bruins
The Chicago Blackhawks have traded the rights to Swedish defenseman Victor Soderstrom to the Boston Bruins in exchange for defense prospect Ryan Mast and a seventh-round pick, per Scott Powers of The Athletic. Soderstrom made a return to Sweden’s SHL this season, after spending the last four years muddling through the Arizona Coyotes depth chart. Chicago acquired his rights alongside the rights to depth forward Aku Raty and retired defender Shea Weber at the 2025 Trade Deadline. In return, the now-Utah Mammoth received a 2026 fifth-round pick.
It’s an apt time to buy high on Soderstrom’s NHL rights. He had a true breakout year in the SHL, netting nine goals and 37 points in 49 appearances. Those marks ranked Soderstrom second on the Brynas IF blue-line in scoring, two points behind Charle-Edouard D’Astous. Soderstrom had no shortage of flashy plays over the course of Brynas’ season, using deceptive stickhandling and instinctive offense to blow by opponents and set up his teammates. One of his favorite targets was former Anaheim Ducks winger Jakob Silfverberg, who led Brynas in scoring with 47 points in 52 games.
But despite the strong return to Swedish pros, Soderstrom’s tenure in North America is still one to forget. He was originally drafted 11th-overall in the 2019 NHL Draft, but quickly struggled to find a role in the Arizona pipeline. He joined the AHL’s Tuscon Roadrunners in 2020-21 and scored 10 points in 32 games played, good enough to also earn the first four games of his NHL career, where he potted two points. But Soderstrom then ran cold, and didn’t manage any scoring through 16 NHL appearances in the following year. He did bolster his minor-league scoring, though, with 19 points in 32 games – just enough to earn another trip to the NHL in 2022-23. That tenure proved a bit more promising – headlined by nine points in 30 games – but Soderstrom again struggled to make it stick. He completed two more productive seasons in the minors, but closed his trip through North America with a measly 11 points in 53 NHL games, despite 82 points in 170 AHL games.
A move to Boston will mark another potential home for the flashy puck-handler. The Bruins could sorely use a right-shot defender after trading shutdown man Brandon Carlo to the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Deadline. Soderstrom is still only 24-years-old and could reasonably spend a few more years in Sweden before offering Boston his prime years. That will be the upside Boston hopes for, at least – though it’s a shrewd bet at the cost of just a depth prospect and fifth-round pick.
The other focal piece of the move, defender Ryan Mast, played through his rookie year in the AHL this season. He recorded just five points, 19 penalty minutes, and a plus-seven through 37 games with the Providence Bruins – quaint totals after he posted 16 points in 47 ECHL games last year. Mast is 6-foot-5 and plays his best hockey on the defensive side of the puck, where he uses a long and effective reach to force opponents into the corners and away from the puck. Hot scoring won’t be what many fans remember Mast for, but he could find his way into a small NHL role with a few more years of learning to handle pro offenses. He’ll be a low-risk, low-reward addition to a Blackhawks’ pipeline geared firmly on the future.
Penguins Sign Melvin Fernstrom To Three-Year, Entry-Level Contract
The Pittsburgh Penguins have signed forward prospect Melvin Fernstrom to a three-year, entry-level contract. Fernstrom was originally drafted in the third-round of the 2024 NHL Draft by the Vancouver Canucks. He was traded to the Penguins ahead of this year’s Trade Deadline, alongside a first-round pick and two depth pros in the deal that send Marcus Pettersson and Drew O’Connor to Vancouver.
Fernstrom spent the bulk of the 2024-25 season with Orebro HK of Sweden’s SHL. It was his first full year of professional hockey and he dotted it with eight goals and 17 points in 48 appearances. That stat line doesn’t jump off the page, but Fernstrom’s scoring did lead all U19 skaters in the SHL. In fact, his scoring total falls closely in line with current and former NHL fixtures like Magnus Paajarvi, Adrian Kempe, and Alexander Holtz — who all managed either 16 or 17 points in their own U19 seasons in the SHL.
For his part, Fernstrom earned his pro role on the back of responsible and smooth hockey across the board. He’s a strong skater even despite a lanky frame, and uses that to find his spots and weave between his teammates well. When he can’t, he has a laser wrist-shot that’s dangerous anywhere below the tops of the circles. He may not fall into the clear category of playmaker, but showed an abundance of confidence in handling the puck around pro defenders and finding ways to set up his teammates.
Fernstrom recorded 63 points in 45 games in Sweden’s U20 league – and added eight points in seven games at the World U18 Championship – in his draft year last season. That stat line, and his smooth style, led to a confident third-round selection, though some public scouts like Craig Button had him ranked as a second-round talent. Fernstrom was a priority addition to the Pettersson trade, and Pittsburgh will now take the first step in trying to bank on the upside he offers. Fernstrom is expected to return to the SHL next season, but could be a candidate to join the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins when Orebro’s 2025-26 campaign concludes.
Jets’ Connor Hellebuyck Wins 2025 Vezina and Hart Trophies
The NHL has announced that the Winnipeg Jets’ Connor Hellebuyck will take home both the 2025 Vezina Trophy as the league’s top goaltender and the 2025 Hart Trophy as league MVP.
Hellebuyck beats out Los Angeles’ Darcy Kuemper and Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy for the Vezina award. This marks his third time winning the trophy. For the Hart, he finishes ahead of forwards Leon Draisaitl (Oilers) and Nikita Kucherov (Lightning). He becomes the first goalie since Carey Price in 2014-15 to win both awards.
Hellebuyck posted career-bests across the board this season, with a 2.00 goals-against-average, .925 save percentage, and 47 wins. He led the NHL in all three statistics among goaltenders with at least 35 games played.
Hellebuyck was at his home when he discovered he had won the Vezina. Surrounded by family and teammate Eric Comrie, the Hart Trophy was then brought out as an extra surprise.
“That moment was like putting a little cherry on top… I actually had no idea what this trophy looked like. Looking back, I’ll probably picture this day as one of the greatest of my career,” he said.
Hellebuyck had a monumental season, highlighted by posting the highest win percentage in NHL history. His 47 wins in 63 games equal out to 0.746 wins-per-game, defeating the previous record 0.727 posted by Braden Holtby in 2015-16. On a grand scale, Hellebuyck’s win total ranks third all-time behind Holtby (48 wins in 66 games, 2015-16) and Martin Brodeur (48 in 78, 2006-07). Hellebuyck also tied Bernie Parent and Roberto Luongo in wins, though he managed the feat in fewer games.
Hellebuyck joins Glenn Hall, Tony Esposito, and George Hainsworth as a three-time winner. Each one of the 12 other goaltenders to win at least three Vezina Trophies went on to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame – save for four-time winner Michel Larocque, backstop of the 1979 Stanley Cup-clinching Montreal Canadiens. Hellebuyck ran away with the Vezina voting, receiving all but one first place vote. MVP voting was much closer, but Hellebuyck edged out Draisaitl 1,346 to 1,209.
Hellebuyck’s prowess has rarely been questioned. He has posted a save percentage at or north of .920 in four of his last six seasons – only interrupted by a .916 and .910 in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons, respectively. Every season, except for 2021-22, was coupled by a win percentage of at least 50 percent. That’s incredible consistency for an NHL starter – a fact that has earned Hellebuyck the third-highest cap hit ($8.5MM) among NHL goaltenders. He carries that price tag on a seven-year, $59.9MM contract signed with Winnipeg in 2023. That deal will carry Hellebuyck through his age-38 season in 2030-31.
Free Agent Focus: New York Rangers
Free agency is now under a month away, and teams are looking ahead to when it opens. There will be several impact players set to hit the open market in July, while many teams also have key restricted free agents to re-sign. We continue our look around the NHL with an overview of the free agent situation for the Rangers.
Key Restricted Free Agents
D K’Andre Miller – No pending free agent played a bigger role in New York’s lineup than K’Andre Miller last season. He played upwards of 24 minutes a night over the course of the year, and averaged out to 22 minutes across 74 appearances. He has now averaged top-pair minutes in all five of his seasons in the NHL, and managed to score or pace for 20 points and a positive plus-minus in every year. Skepticism around Miller’s impact has grown as he’s struggled to return to the 43-point career-high he set in the 2022-23 campaign — this year scoring just 27 points. The Rangers also posted a plus-12 goal differential with Miller off the ice, versus a minus-four when he was on the ice. But even despite that stat, his down year seems more the result of struggles team-wide. At 25 years old and with five years of top-end experience under his belt, Miller will be a player worth spending for this summer. Then again, a lofty asking price could make him a candidate for offer sheet rumors.
F William Cuylle – Closely behind Miller in impact is forward Will Cuylle, who grew into a routine second-line role after beginning the season in the bottom-six. He foreshadowed a strong year from the very start – netting six points in New York’s first six games of the year – and followed up on it with a career-high 45 points in 82 games. He’s now appeared in all but one of New York’s games over the last two seasons, making him one of only four Rangers with so much action. The persistent role led to a breakout performance – and a 24-point increase in scoring – this year. For a Rangers club facing plenty of questions and change this off-season, Cuylle’s lineup role seems like a certainty. The club will likely look to lock the promising 23-year-old up as soon as they can. His early breakout will make him a candidate for a short-term or long-term offer – with the determining factor likely to end up being the Rangers’ budget.
F Adam Edstrom – New York’s remaining RFAs are headlined by bottom-liners and lineup hopefuls. Edstrom served as the team’s diligent fourth-line center for much of the year, until a lower-body injury sustained on February 1st ended his season early. Before then, Edstrom was sporting a bleak nine points in 51 games played, while adding 27 penalty minutes and a minus-five. He was the composed centerpiece on what often ended up a bruising Rangers’ fourth-line. That steadiness, and a glimmer of upside following an early end to his first full NHL season, will make Edstrom an option worth re-signing — but his minimal ice time will keep his cost low.
F Matt Rempe – Counter to Edstrom is fan-favorite Rempe. There’s no arguing what Rempe brings to the game at this point. He’s a modern-day enforcer, tasked with throwing huge hits and haymaker punches every chance he can. That may be a proper role with Rempe’s 6-foot-9, 255-pound frame – but his eight points in 42 games casts some doubt on the positives of icing him. Rempe did post a plus-seven – tied for seventh-highest on the team – even despite also recording a team-high 67 penalty minutes. That’s an interesting balance, and sticks New York with the question of whether a towering fighter is part of their vision for the 2025-26 roster. If it is, Rempe’s new deal should come at minimal cost.
D Zachary Jones – Jones took another step towards an everyday lineup role this season. He appeared in 46 games on the year – more than his 31 appearances last year – but was a routine healthy scratch and managed just one goal and 11 points. Jones voiced frustrations about the minimal playing time to Remy Mastey of Yahoo! Sports partway through the year, on the heels of recording seven of his points in 12 games in December. But the public comments didn’t sway his role by much. At 24-years-old, Jones seems reasonably ready to take on a handful more games next year, but with minimal impact his minutes will likely continued to be confined to the third-pairing. He’ll be a low-cost, low-upside, depth option for New York this summer.
F Brendan Brisson – New York acquired prospect Brendan Brisson and a 2025 third-round pick when they sent winger Reilly Smith back to the Vegas Golden Knights at the Trade Deadline. It was a timely move for Brisson, who struggled to break into Vegas’ lineup and had recorded 19 points and a minus-24 in 45 games with the Henderson Silver Knights up to that point. He boosted those numbers ever so slightly with the Hartford Wolf Pack – with six points and a minus-nine in 16 games – though questions about Brisson’s upside still remain. He was a first-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft and is still just 23-years-old. But a breakout will need to come sooner rather than later if he wants to find routine NHL minutes. A contract with a few years of term could do Brisson well, but his eight points in 24 NHL games could confine him to a one-year, two-way, prove-it deal.
F Arthur Kaliyev – Also needing to ‘prove it’ is 23-year-old winger Arthur Kaliyev, who joined the Rangers partway through the year via waivers from the Los Angeles Kings. Fans were excited for the move at the time – hopeful that a move across the league could reignite the spark of upside he showed in his draft year. But Kaliyev wound up a healthy scratch with the Rangers after posting just four points in 14 games. He remains a high-upside, but low-floor player; propped up by his size and wrist shot, but hurt by his motor and positioning. At this point, the once fringe-first round pick will likely need to earn his keep on a dirt-cheap contract before New York commits to him long-term.
Other RFAs: F Jake Leschyshyn, F Lauri Pajuniemi, F Karl Henriksson, F Lucas Edmonds, D Matthew Robertson, G Dylan Garand, G Talyn Boyko
Key Unrestricted Free Agents
F Nicholas Aube-Kubel – Aube-Kubel suffered a lower-body injury in the Buffalo Sabres’ season opener on October 4th. He recovered by the end of the month, but continued to face injuries and minimal ice time throughout the rest of the year’s first half. With routine absences at the forefront of his season, Buffalo opted to waive Aube-Kubel, allowing New York to step up as the hopeful beneficiary. After netting two points in 19 games with Buffalo, the 29-year-old Aube-Kubel tacked on three scoreless games with the Rangers and one goal in three games with the Wolf Pack. It was a year to forget, but New York will hold the right to priority negotiations for a player who was once an impactful fourth-liner on the 2022 Stanley Cup-winning Colorado Avalanche. Aube-Kubel has 80 points in 304 NHL games across his career.
D Calvin de Haan – Defender Calvin de Haan was also limited in minutes this year, starting his year out on the Colorado Avalanche’s bottom-pairing before being moved to the Rangers ahead of the Trade Deadline. He appeared in just three games with New York, and managed one point and a plus-four. De Haan spoke publicly multiple times about his frustrations with not receiving ice time, even as the Rangers sustained multiple losses in a row – but his season nonetheless ended with minimal action. Of all of their pending free agents, de Haan seems like the likeliest to part with the Rangers this summer.
Other UFAs: F Riley Nash, F Alex Belzile, F Bo Groulx, D Chad Ruhwedel, D Ben Harpur, G Louis Domingue
Projected Cap Space
New York will enter the off-season with a projected $14.92MM in cap space. That should be more than enough to sign Miller and Cuylle to hardy deals that ensure their place in the next generation of the Rangers, while still leaving some space to bring back fourth-line fixtures Edstrom and Rempe. But those additions could quickly price the Rangers out of any notable moves on the open market, even after the team traded Chris Kreider‘s full salary cap to the Anaheim Ducks for a no-cost return. That lack of flexibility could push the team to make some more cap-clearing moves before July 1st.
Contract information courtesy of PuckPedia. Photo courtesy of Danny Wild-Imagn Images.
Predators’ Jonathan Marchessault Generating Trade Interest
The Nashville Predators are set for a busy summer. They have multiple first-round picks, over $17MM in projected cap space, and a clear need for some kind of identity after bets on veteran contracts last summer failed to pan out. Nashville could soon find a release valve from one of those contracts, with teams reportedly callinga bout winger Jonathan Marchessault per David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period. Pagnotta adds that Marchessault has not yet been asked to waive his no-movement clause, and that Nashville doesn’t expect to explore a trade.
The Predators signed Marchessault to a five-year, $27.5MM contract last summer, following the first 40-goal season of his career. But his scoring totals fell back down to Earth this season. He scored just 21 goals and 56 points in 78 games, a modest stat line helped along by 35 assists – the most Marchessault has recorded since the 2021-22 campaign. A 20-goal, 50-point season is an impressive mark for a 34-year-old winger, and a $5.5MM cap hit – but Marchessault struggled to takeover a line as Nashville’s season fell over. That fact, and head coach Andrew Brunette‘s insistence on icing his top two lines, led Marchessault to a career-worst minus-29. He was outscored at even-strength 37-to-49, good for a goals-for percentage of just 43 percent.
Marchessault’s numbers don’t come close to being the worst on the Predators’, and his scoring still placed him second on the team and three points ahead of future Hall-of-Famer Steven Stamkos. But his stat line did highlight the shaky ground he walked with the Predators. Just two seasons after winning the 2023 Conn Smythe Trophy and Stanley Cup, Marchessault found himself struggling to lift up a defeated roster. It’s likely that sentiment that teams around the league are recognizing – and with the salary cap rising a record $7.5MM next season, his price tag could be easily budgeted for.
It’s no secret that Marchessault is among the best playoff performers. He was a major contributor to all six of Vegas’ postseason runs, and potted a team-leading 13 goals in 22 games of their 2023 Cup win. Marchessault comes to life in summer hockey, with an impressive ability to stay hot from game-to-game. He recorded 36 goals, 75 points, and a plus-36 in 95 playoff games with the Golden Knights, dating back to their first postseason in 2018. Those performances and a manageable cap hit could make him a tremendous value for teams struggling to break their glass ceilings in the postseason – groups like the Dallas Stars, Carolina Hurricanes, and Toronto Maple Leafs. Even a reunion with Vegas could make sense, after the team managed the second-lowest goals-per-game in the Western Conference this postseason.
His strong contributions have carried over to the regular season as well. Prior to this year, Marchessault had either scored or paced for at least 25 goals in all eight of the full seasons of his NHL career. He made a statement with 27 goals, 48 assists, and 75 points in 77 games of Vegas’ inaugural season, then showed he could still flash with 42 goals and 69 points in 82 games last year. It’s an impressive bout of longevity, though age will seemingly catch up to him sooner or later. He’s entering his age-35 season, and that could drive down his value even despite high goal-scoring upside. Those will be the factors that teams try to balance as they look to convince Nashville to sell their veterans and add $5MM more to their cap space.