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2025 NHL Training Camp Rosters

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Originally published Sep. 4

We’re less than a week away from the NHL’s 32 clubs beginning their full training camps ahead of the 2025-26 regular season. In the coming days, teams will begin to announce their full camp rosters – a list that most will need to chop in half in order to get to the 23-player roster limit by the time opening night rolls around on Oct. 7.

Players who are attending via PTOs and those who aren’t participating due to injury are listed in the total counts. Eventually, this page will house all 32 camp rosters and will be updated as cuts are made – a new feature here at PHR for the 2025-26 season. This article will be continually updated as more announcements come in.

Boston Bruins

Roster size: 50/23
Last updated Sep. 15, 9:08 a.m.

Forwards (28): Joey Abate (PTO), Viktor Arvidsson, Dalton Bancroft, John Beecher, Matej Blumel, Patrick Brown, Riley Duran, Michael Eyssimont, John Farinacci, Morgan Geekie, Brett Harrison, Tanner Jeannot, Mark Kastelic, Marat Khusnutdinov, Sean Kuraly, Elias Lindholm, Dans Locmelis, Fabian Lysell, Georgii Merkulov, Fraser Minten, Casey Mittelstadt, David Pastrnak, Matthew Poitras, Jake Schmaltz (PTO), Alex Steeves, Riley Tufte, Jeffrey Viel, Pavel Zacha

Defensemen (17): Jonathan Aspirot, Frederic Brunet, Michael Callahan, Jackson Edward, Colin Felix (PTO), Ty Gallagher, Jordan Harris, Loke Johansson, Henri Jokiharju, Hampus Lindholm, Mason Lohrei, Charlie McAvoy, Andrew Peeke, Victor Soderstrom, Billy Sweezey, Max Wanner, Nikita Zadorov

Goaltenders (5): Luke Cavallin, Michael DiPietro, Joonas Korpisalo, Jeremy Swayman, Simon Zajicek

Columbus Blue Jackets

Roster Size: 56/23
Last Updated Sep. 15, 10:52 AM

Forwards (30): Roman Ahcan, Zach Aston-Reese, Riley Bezeau, Yegor Chinakhov, Charlie Coyle, Luca Del Bel Belluz, Jordan Dumais, Adam Fantilli, Hudson Fasching, Brendan Gaunce, Owen Griffin, Boone Jenner, Kent Johnson, Oiva Keskinen, Isac Lundestrom, James Malatesta, Kirill Marchenko, Max McCue, Hunter McKown, Sean Monahan, Ryland Mosley, Mathieu Olivier, Luca Pinelli, Mikael Pyyhtia, Cole Sillinger, Owen Sillinger, Nicholas Sima, Dmitri Voronkov, Jack Williams, Miles Wood

Defensemen (20): Ole-Julian Bjorgvik-Holm, Corson Ceulemans, Jake Christiansen, Charlie Elick, Dante Fabbro, Erik Gudbranson, Daemon Hunt, Christian Jaros, Marcus Kearsey, Caleb MacDonald, Will MacKinnon, Luca Marelli, Denton Mateychuk, Dysin Mayo, Ivan Provorov, Guillaume Richard, Damon Severson, Brendan Smith, Stanislav Svozil, Zach Werenski

Goaltenders (6): Ivan Fedotov, Evan Gardner, Jet Greaves, Nolan Lalonde, Elvis Merzlikins, Zach Sawchenko

Dallas Stars

Roster size: 65/23
Last updated Sep. 10, 10:13 a.m.

Forwards (39): Francesco Arcuri, Oskar Back, Nathan Bastian, Jack Becker (PTO), Jamie Benn, Colin Blackwell, Mavrik Bourque, Sean Chisholm (PTO), Matt Duchene, Adam Erne (PTO), Justin Ertel, Radek Faksa, Jaxon Fuder (ATO), Brandon Gorzynski, Cross Hanas (PTO), Emil Hemming, Roope Hintz, Justin Hryckowian, Arttu Hyry, Cameron Hughes, Wyatt Johnston, Kole Lind, Angus MacDonell, Ayrton Martino, Kyle McDonald, Curtis McKenzie (PTO), Charlie Paquette, Kaleb Pearson (PTO), Mikko Rantanen, Jason Robertson, Tyler Seguin, Cameron Schmidt, Harrison Scott, Matthew Seminoff, Dawson Sharkey, Artem Shlaine (PTO), Sam Steel, Antonio Stranges, Chase Wheatcroft

Defensemen (20): Tommy Bergsland (PTO), Tristan Bertucci, Lian Bichsel, Kyle Capobianco, Anthony Cristoforo (ATO), Thomas Harley, Miro Heiskanen, Aidan Hreschuk (PTO), Michael Karow (PTO), Vladislav Kolyachonok, Christian Kyrou, Esa Lindell, Kyle Looft (PTO), Nils Lundkvist, Ilya Lyubushkin, Niilopekka Muhonen, Alexander Petrovic, Connor Punnett, Trey Taylor, Gavin White

Goaltenders (6): Antoine Bibeau (PTO), Casey DeSmith, Ben Kraws, Jake Oettinger, Remi Poirier, Arno Tiefensee

Nashville Predators

Roster size: 55/23
Last updated Sep. 9, 2:03 p.m.

Forwards (29): Michael Bunting, Daniel Carr (PTO), David Edstrom, Luke Evangelista, Filip Forsberg, Dylan Gambrell (PTO), Hiroki Gojsic, Erik Haula, Joakim Kemell, Zachary L’Heureux, Kalan Lind, Jake Lucchini, Jonathan Marchessault, Kyle Marino (PTO), Brady Martin, Michael McCarron, Navrin Mutter, Cole O’Hara, Ryan O’Reilly, Austin Roest, Ryder Rolston, Reid Schaefer, Cole Smith, Steven Stamkos, Fedor Svechkov, Oazis Wiesblatt (PTO), Ozzy Wiesblatt, Joey Willis, Matthew Wood

Defensemen (19): Justin Barron, Nick Blankenburg, Andreas Englund, Andrew Gibson, Kevin Gravel, Nicolas Hague, Zack Hayes (PTO), Alex Huang, Roman Josi, Jack Matier, Tanner Molendyk, Chad Nychuk (PTO), Jordan Oesterle, Nicklaus Perbix, Cameron Reid, Brady Skjei, Spencer Stastney, Ryan Ufko, Adam Wilsby

Goaltenders (7): Justus Annunen, Magnus Chrona, Ethan Haider, Jakub Milota, Matt Murray, Juuse Saros, T.J. Semptimphelter (PTO)

Seattle Kraken

Roster size: 58/23
Last updated Sep. 4, 1:24 p.m.

Forwards (33): Jon-Randall Avon, Matty Beniers, Berkly Catton, Jordan Eberle, Jagger Firkus, Oscar Fisker Molgaard, Frédérick Gaudreau, David Goyette, John Hayden, Justin Janicke, Kaapo Kakko, Tye Kartye, Andrei Loshko, Mason Marchment, Jared McCann, Max McCormick (inj.), Ian McKinnon (PTO), Jacob Melanson, Ben Meyers, Julius Miettinen, Logan Morrison, Jani Nyman, Jake O’Brien, Carson Rehkopf, Lleyton Roed, Eduard Sale, Jaden Schwartz, Mitchell Stephens, Chandler Stephenson, Eeli Tolvanen, Nathan Villeneuve, Ryan Winterton, Shane Wright

Defensemen (19): Alexis Bernier (inj.), Lukas Dragicevic, Vince Dunn, Ryker Evans, Jakub Fibigr, Blake Fiddler, Cale Fleury, Kaden Hammell, Tyson Jugnauth, Adam Larsson, Ryan Lindgren, Josh Mahura, Brandon Montour, Ty Nelson, Jamie Oleksiak, Gustav Olofsson (PTO), Ville Ottavainen, Caden Price, Will Reynolds

Goaltenders (6): Joey Daccord, Philipp Grubauer, Niklas Kokko, Jack LaFontaine (PTO), Matt Murray, Victor Ostman

St. Louis Blues

Roster size 58/23
Last updated Sep. 10, 11:01 a.m.

Forwards (33): Nikita Alexandrov, Sam Bitten (PTO), Nick Bjugstad, Pavel Buchnevich, Justin Carbonneau, Zach Dean, Antoine Dorion, Dalibor Dvorsky, Dylan Holloway, Adam Jecho, Mathieu Joseph, Aleksanteri Kaskimaki, Jordan Kyrou, Milan Lucic (PTO), Matt Luff, Hugh McGing, Jake Neighbours, Matthew Peca (PTO), Juraj Pekarcik, Dylan Peterson, Simon Robertsson, Brayden Schenn, Jimmy Snuggerud, Jakub Stancl, Sam Stange (ATO), Otto Stenberg, Oskar Sundqvist, Pius Suter, Alexandre Texier, Robert Thomas, Alexey Toropchenko, Chris Wagner (PTO), Nathan Walker

Defensemen (19): Philip Broberg, Michael Buchinger, Quinton Burns, Justin Faulk, Lukas Fischer, Cam Fowler, Marc-Andre Gaudet, Adam Jiricek, Samuel Johannesson, Anthony Kehrer (PTO), Matthew Kessel, Theo Lindstein, Leo Loof, Logan Mailloux, Will McIsaac, Colton Parayko, Corey Schueneman, Hunter Skinner, Tyler Tucker

Goaltenders (6): Jordan Binnington, Will Cranley, Colten Ellis, Joel Hofer, Matthew Koprowski (ATO), Vadim Zherenko

Winnipeg Jets

Roster size 55/23
Last updated Sep. 12, 3:00 p.m.

Forwards (30): Jaret Anderson-Dolan, Colby Barlow, Morgan Barron, Nikita Chibrikov, Jacob Cloutier (PTO), Kyle Connor, Phillip Di Giuseppe, Walker Duehr, Samuel Fagemo, Parker Ford, David Gustafsson, Kevin He, Alex Iafallo, Jacob Julien, Cole Koepke, Brad Lambert, Owen Martin (PTO), Vladislav Namestnikov, Nino Niederreiter, Gustav Nyquist, Tanner Pearson, Cole Perfetti,  Mark Scheifele, Mason Shaw, Jonathan Toews, Gabriel Vilardi, Fabian Wagner, Kieron Walton, Brayden Yager, Danny Zhilkin

Defensemen (18): Dylan Anhorn, Dawson Barteaux, Tyrel Bauer (PTO), Kale Clague, Dylan DeMelo, Edison Engle (PTO), Haydn Fleury, Ethan Frisch, Ville Heinola, Colin Miller, Josh Morrissey, Isaak Phillips, Neal Pionk, Elias Salomonsson, Dylan Samberg, Ashton Sautner, Luke Schenn, Logan Stanley

Goaltenders (6): Eric Comrie, Domenic DiVincentiis, Connor Hellebuyck, Thomas Milic, Isaac Poulter, Alex Worthington 

Injured Reserve (1): Adam Lowry (hip surgery, proj. return: October or November)

Canadiens Expect Kirby Dach To Be Ready For Start Of Season

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The Canadiens are banking on having center Kirby Dach available for their opening night lineup after he underwent surgery on his right knee in February, EVP of hockey operations Jeff Gorton told Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports. Sportsnet’s Eric Engels adds he’s recovered enough to participate in training camp when it starts later this week, although it’s unclear if that’s in a contact capacity.

By all indications, the 24-year-old’s recovery from a second major surgery on his right knee in as many years has been as smooth as can be hoped. He was on the ice late last month for an informal skate in full gear, although that didn’t subject him to the pace and veracity of a formal camp session. Still, being back on the ice at around the five-month mark should be a good omen.

Montreal hopes a healthy Dach is also an improved one. He’s now entering his fourth season with the Habs after they acquired the 2019 third overall pick from the Blackhawks at the 2022 draft. He still hasn’t reached the heights and promise he offered during his first year north of the border, when he managed a 14-24–38 scoring line and averaged a hearty 18:30 per game despite injuries limiting him to 58 appearances.

In the last two years, his right knee issues have limited him to 59 games, scoring only 10 goals and 24 points with a -27 rating. He produced at a 54-point clip per 82 games back in 2022-23 but has only scored at a 33-point pace since. He also had some of the worst defensive impacts on the team last year before his season ended prematurely. Despite receiving the most sheltered even-strength minutes of his career by a wide margin, starting over 63% of his shifts in the offensive zone, Montreal controlled only 44.8% of shot attempts and 46.0% of expected goals with him on the ice. Posting below team-average possession numbers with that degree of sheltering is a rather significant red flag.

That’s not exactly the type of player a team with playoff aspirations wants centering their second line, particularly with a rookie Ivan Demidov likely to start the year on his flank. Nonetheless, their lack of offseason activity at forward hasn’t left them with many other options. It’ll be some combination of him, trade pickup Zachary Bolduc, and Alex Newhook – all promising young players with spotty or non-existent track records at center – competing for that 2C slot. Might bottom-six staple Jake Evans get a look at an expanded role coming off a career-high 36 points?

2025 Summer Synopsis Series

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PHR’s annual Summer Synopsis series breaks down what each of the NHL’s 32 teams accomplished – or didn’t accomplish – over the summer. This landing page will contain links to all 32 of our posts for easy reference and to track when your favorite team’s post is online. This can be found by navigating to the “Pro Hockey Rumors Features” sidebar on our desktop site or under the Flame menu on our mobile page.

Metropolitan Division

Atlantic Division

Central Division

Pacific Division

Transactions Notes: Poolman, Allison, Malmquist

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Unrestricted free agent defenseman Colton Poolman has signed with the Glasgow Clan of the United Kingdom’s Elite Ice Hockey League, the team announced.

While Poolman doesn’t have an NHL game to his name, he’s spent the last five seasons on two-way deals. The 29-year-old was initially an undrafted free agent signing by the Flames out of the University of North Dakota in 2020. He switched teams in free agency last summer, signing with the Sabres. He was then traded to the Penguins in a minor-league swap in January.

Injuries significantly limited Poolman’s playing time last season. He made just five appearances for AHL Rochester while in Buffalo’s organization before the trade to the Penguins. He got slightly more playing time with AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton after the swap, recording four points and a +12 rating in 15 appearances.

The 6’0″, 201-lb lefty has long been a stable defensive presence at the minor-league level. While not a point producer by any stretch, he does have 44 of them with a career +45 rating in 233 AHL appearances since making his professional debut five years ago.

He joins the Clan as presumptuously one of the better shutdown defenders in the EIHL, which isn’t on par with Europe’s other top-division national leagues. The team’s two career games of NHL experience come from former Avalanche depth netminder Sami Aittokallio.

More minor moves from around the sport:

  • Former Flyers winger Wade Allison has signed a one-year deal with the Straubing Tigers of Germany’s DEL, according to a team release. Allison headed overseas last summer after being a Group VI unrestricted free agent and signed with Kazakhstan’s Barys Astana in the KHL, but he only had two goals in 12 games before being released in November. He hasn’t played since and will now stage a comeback with Straubing. The 27-year-old power forward had a 13-9–22 scoring line in 75 appearances for Philadelphia from 2020 to 2023.
  • While there was some speculation that University of St. Thomas product Liam Malmquist might be in line for an NHL deal coming out of college this offseason, that won’t be the case. The 24-year-old Minnesota native has signed in the Stars organization with ECHL Idaho, the club announced. Malmquist was the Tommies’ leading scorer in his senior season with 20 goals and 45 points in 38 outings. He scored his first two professional goals with AHL Manitoba in a five-game tryout to end last season.

Flyers Trade Ivan Fedotov To Blue Jackets

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The Blue Jackets announced they’ve acquired goaltender Ivan Fedotov from the Flyers in exchange for their sixth-round pick in the 2026 draft. No salary is retained in the deal, according to The Athletic’s Kevin Kurz.

Columbus will acquire Fedotov after his first NHL season came in well below expectations. The 28-year-old had a long road to NHL minutes – including a years-long contract saga that involved mandatory military service in Russia and IIHF sanctions imposed on him over conflicting contracts with Philadelphia and CSKA Moscow – but finally arrived in North America in April 2024. He made his first three NHL appearances for the Flyers before signing a two-year extension with a $3.275MM cap hit. That theoretically locked in their goaltending tandem with Samuel Ersson also in the picture through at least this upcoming season.

Yet Fedotov, a former KHL Goalie of the Year who was viewed as potentially one of the next wave of high-end Russian netminders, barely held onto an NHL job. The military service that caused him to miss the 2022-23 season entirely was a significant statistical turning point for the 6’7″, 214-lb goalie. He made 26 relief appearances last year, logging a .880 SV% and 3.15 GAA with a 6-13-4 record. His 33.3% quality start rate was quite subpar, especially considering he posted a save percentage below .850 in 10 of his 24 starts. With an expected GAA of 2.58, Fedotov also received the most manageable defensive workload of the Flyers’ three goalies, according to MoneyPuck.

Columbus was looking for an insurance option if starter Elvis Merzlikins’ struggles continue and youngster Jet Greaves’ first chance at a full-time NHL role doesn’t pan out. Fedotov is far from a sure thing either, but they’re betting on his overseas track record as evidence of a potential bounce-back. He boasts a .921 SV% and 2.22 GAA with 10 shutouts in 133 career KHL games and had a 2021-22 season for the record books. He led CSKA to a Gagarin Cup championship with a staggering .937 SV% and 1.85 GAA in 22 postseason games. He was named the league’s best netminder and a First Team All-Star.

The Jackets, who PuckPedia projects to have over $15.5MM in cap space, will have no problem taking on Fedotov’s full salary for a year before he becomes eligible for unrestricted free agency next summer. If he doesn’t make the team over Greaves and Merzlikins, his cap hit is high enough that he should clear waivers without issue and serve as a third-string option in AHL Cleveland. It’s worth noting that Greaves is no longer waiver-exempt. It’ll be an uphill battle for Fedotov to convince the Jackets to risk losing Greaves on waivers, so if he makes the team, it’ll likely mean a three-goalie rotation in Columbus.

Meanwhile, the Flyers clear up a bit of a logjam. With Fedotov in the picture, they had four goalies in the mix for NHL minutes. Ersson and Aleksei Kolosov were still under contract, and they also inked Daniel Vladar to a two-year, $6.7MM deal in free agency to challenge Ersson for the No. 1 job. In trading Fedotov, they clear out the worst-value contract of the four and, with Kolosov remaining waiver-exempt, could now return to a traditional two-goalie setup with only Ersson and Vladar on the opening night roster.

Despite carrying a cap hit above $3MM, Fedotov will only cost the Blue Jackets $775K in actual dollars. His base salary in 2025-26 was only the league minimum. His other compensation came via a $2.5MM signing bonus, which the Flyers have already paid.

Image courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images.

Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet was first to report that Columbus was acquiring Fedotov. The Athletic’s Kevin Kurz was first to report the return.

Maple Leafs, Anthony Stolarz Holding Extension Talks

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Sep. 12th: David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period offered an update today regarding the ongoing extension talks between Stolarz and the Maple Leafs. Unfortunately, Pagnotta indicated that no progress has been made to date, although both sides remain hopeful and are still committed to working something out.

Sep. 3rd: The Leafs have opened extension discussions with goaltender Anthony Stolarz, general manager Brad Treliving tells Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic. He divulged that those talks have been ongoing “for some time” and that they’ve explored multiple options, presumably those with varying term.

Stolarz is a slam-dunk extension target, even with the younger and highly competent Joseph Woll as the other half of Toronto’s tandem. The 31-year-old has been one of the better backups in the league for some time before landing with the Leafs in free agency last year, finishing fifth in Vezina Trophy voting after posting a league-high .926 SV% in a career-high 33 starts and one relief appearance.

That strong play yielded a 21-8-3 record along with a 2.14 GAA and four shutouts. He was incredibly consistent over the course of the season, and by the numbers, no one in the league was more effective on a per-game basis. Among goalies with at least 15 appearances, no goalie saved more goals above expected per 60 minutes than Stolarz’s 0.779 mark, per MoneyPuck. That figure is a whole 0.144 clear of Vezina winner Connor Hellebuyck’s.

Still, that elite level of play combined with his outright lack of track record as a starter or even 1A option makes him something of a unicorn. Stolarz had never even started 25 games in a season entering last year, although his career numbers (.917 SV%, 2.55 GAA, 64-39-12 record in 142 GP) remain well above average since he made his NHL debut with the Flyers back in 2016.

His lack of ice time has been influenced by a variety of reasons, but none more pertinent than his injury history. He would have started the majority of his team’s games for the first time last year if not for midseason knee surgery – his second in the last three years – that kept him out for nearly two months. He began the postseason as Toronto’s starter and guided them to a six-game dispatching of the Senators in the first round, but sustained a concussion in Game 1 of their second-round loss against the Panthers, ending his season.

Yet that also paints a picture of Stolarz being an incredibly resilient goaltender, reaching his peak and establishing himself as an elite tandem option 13 years after Philadelphia took him in the second round of the 2012 draft. The 6’6″, 234-lb netminder has now posted a save percentage north of .920 in four of his last six NHL seasons, and his .926 combined SV% over the last two seasons leads everyone with at least 25 starts.

Treliving already made something of an insurance policy for himself by signing Woll to a three-year, $11MM extension as soon as he became eligible to ink one last year. That contract is only going into effect now, meaning Woll, who has a 39-25-2 record and .908 SV% over his first two seasons as a full-time NHL option, is locked in at a $3.67MM cap hit through 2027-28. It would make sense that Toronto opines for a three-year extension for Stolarz, keeping his injury history in mind, but staggering the expiry of his and Woll’s contracts.

His open-market value is hard to predict. Even after excelling in a backup role with the Panthers in 2023-24, he only landed a two-year deal with a $2.5MM cap hit with Toronto in free agency. AFP Analytics projects a two-year extension for Stolarz at just north of $4.25MM per season – that’s with the projected cap jump to $104MM – and the AAV likely wouldn’t differ much with an additional year of term.

That would still make Stolarz and Woll, the latter of whom is just entering his prime, one of the most cost-effective tandems in the league, especially when considering the market set by extensions for names like Logan Thompson ($5.85MM AAV) and Adin Hill ($6.25MM AAV) last season. Without a slam-dunk prospect in the system behind Woll and next summer’s premier UFA options (Sergei Bobrovsky, Filip Gustavsson, Jacob Markström) likely out of their price range, hedging their bets on Stolarz and Woll continuing to split the crease in a more cost-effective manner is likely their best path forward.

Calvin De Haan Signs With SHL’s Rögle BK

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Sep. 12th: As expected, the SHL’s Rögle BK announced they’ve signed de Haan to a one-year contract for the 2025-26 campaign.

Aug. 31st: Veteran defender Calvin de Haan’s NHL days appear to be behind him. His agent has been pitching offers from European clubs to him for the past couple of weeks, and he’s being pursued aggressively by Swedish club Brynäs IF, Johan Svensson of Expressen reports.

Brynäs, the reigning SHL regular-season champions, have de Haan as their “absolute main target” to add defensive depth with two weeks before their regular-season schedule begins, Svensson writes. Their early offseason moves didn’t leave them with a lot of defensive depth to start with, an issue that has been exacerbated by a knee injury to veteran Simon Bertilsson, which will keep him out past New Year’s.

De Haan has no desire to stay in North America if it means a minor-league role, Svensson reports. If he’s only open to a one-way deal with a clear path to an NHL roster spot, his options are slim to none as a result. Svensson didn’t mention his willingness to stake things out on a PTO agreement, but if stability is the reason he’s spurned two-way and AHL offers so far, it stands to reason he wouldn’t have any interest in a tryout, either.

That means an everyday role in a top European league will be the next step in the 34-year-old’s career after 13 NHL seasons and nearly 700 games. Last season was a tough one for the 2009 No. 12 overall pick. He was a frequent healthy scratch and only made 47 appearances, his lowest total since the COVID-shortened 2021 season. He had eight assists with a -4 rating and averaged 14:58 per game while playing a No. 7/8 role for the Avalanche and Rangers, moving between clubs in the Ryan Lindgren trade.

De Haan was clearly displeased with how his tenure in New York went, using some colorful language to articulate his lack of usage down the stretch despite the team continuing to slide out of the playoff picture. He only got into three games for the Blueshirts – his first three after being acquired – and was then benched for the last month-plus of the schedule.

If the move to Brynäs is solidified, he’ll join a club that already likely has the most games of NHL experience on its roster in all of Europe. He would become the seventh player on their roster with at least 200 games of NHL time, joining Nicklas Bäckström, Robert Hägg, Michal Kempný, Johan Larsson, Oskar Lindblom, and Jakob Silfverberg.

Carter Hart, Others Found Not Guilty In Hockey Canada Sexual Assault Trial

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Sept. 11th: According to an update from Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the NHL and NHLPA have agreed that the five players will be suspended until December 1, 2025. However, they will be permitted to sign with any team on October 15th. Friedman clarified that the Commissioner Gary Bettman did not have a formal hearing with any of the players, as all five reportedly waived their right to appeal the Commissioner’s decision.

Jul. 25th: As expected, the five players will not be immediately accepted back into the NHL despite yesterday’s verdict. According to a public announcement, the league released a statement, saying, “The allegations made in this case, even if not determined to have been criminal, were very disturbing and the behavior at issue was unacceptable. We will be reviewing and considering the judge’s findings. While we conduct that analysis and determine next steps, the players charged in this case are ineligible to play in the League.”

Jul. 24th: Carter Hart, the first of five players charged in connection with an alleged sexual assault involving the 2018 Canadian men’s national junior team to hear his verdict, has been found not guilty by Justice Maria Carroccia in London, Ontario, according to reporting from The Athletic. Dillon Dube, Callan Foote and Alex Formenton have also been found not guilty of sexual assault. The fifth player charged, Michael McLeod, has received the same verdict. He was the only player charged with two counts – one of sexual assault and one of being a party to the offense.

The allegations against Dube, Foote, Formenton, Hart, and McLeod first became public in May of 2022, when reports emerged that Hockey Canada had paid to settle a lawsuit with a woman, known in court documents as E.M., who said she was sexually assaulted by eight players “over several hours” in a London hotel room on July 18, 2018. No charges were levied as a result of the initial investigation by local police, which was closed in February 2019, but the case was reopened after the 2022 report.

Formal charges were then brought against the five defendants on Jan. 30, 2024. The trial began on April 22, 2025, and the verdicts were reached solely by Justice Carroccia after two mistrials influenced her to dismiss the jury.

The NHL does not have a formal policy for players accused of or charged with domestic violence, sexual assault, or similar crimes. Instead, the four players who were under NHL contracts at the time – Dube, Foote, Hart, and McLeod – were granted indefinite leaves of absence by their clubs shortly before the charges were announced. All of them were pending restricted free agents on expiring contracts and were not extended qualifying offers, making them unrestricted free agents as of July 1, 2024.

Today’s not guilty verdict indicates the Canadian prosecutorial team “failed to meet its onus on any of the counts before me,” Justice Carroccia said today. She did not find reasonable doubt that any of the players’ contact with E.M. was non-consensual, which was the main point of contention in the trial that could have led to a guilty verdict.

When asked about the playing eligibility of the defendants, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has continually deferred action until after a verdict was reached. While none of the players are formally suspended by the league, similar situations have routinely required some sort of permission from league offices for them to play in or return to the NHL. If teams approach any of them with a contract offer, they will presumably wait for that guidance before registering the deal.

Jets’ Adam Lowry Continues To Recover From Hip Surgery

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Sept. 11th: Pushing back somewhat on last month’s report, Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Free Press spoke with Lowry today and indicated that although his recovery is going very well, he’s still targeting a return in late October or early November. Still, given that a sixth-month recovery would have projected Lowry for a late November return, today’s update indicates he’s on the early end of the recovery timeline.

Aug. 26th: In somewhat of a surprising revelation, given the original recovery timeline, the Jets shared an update of Lowry taking part in an informal skate this morning, donning his full equipment. This doesn’t necessarily mean that Lowry will be ready to start the season on time, but it does indicate he could be available far earlier than expected. An earlier return should prove a boon for Winnipeg, as they’re set to open the 2025-26 season with Namestnikov and the question mark, Jonathan Toews, as their top two center options behind Scheifele.

May 28th: Jets captain Adam Lowry won’t be available at the start of the 2025-26 season after undergoing successful hip surgery on Tuesday, per a club announcement. The procedure carries a five-to-six-month rehabilitation timeline, meaning he’ll likely make his season debut sometime in November.

While it could be a tough start to Winnipeg’s season without their top matchup and penalty-killing center, a roughly month-long absence shouldn’t impact the Jets’ offseason planning too much outside of adding a depth piece down the middle to give them additional insurance through the first few weeks of the campaign. A potential late October return doesn’t guarantee Lowry will miss enough time to qualify for a long-term injured reserve placement at the beginning of the season. Winnipeg general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff must presume Lowry counts against the salary cap to start the year.

The Jets’ center core of Lowry, Mark Scheifele, Vladislav Namestnikov, and Morgan Barron are all signed or under team control for next season, so there likely weren’t going to be many moving parts down the middle for Winnipeg this summer anyway outside of finding a potential upgrade on Namestnikov for the second line. However, Lowry’s absence for the first few weeks will likely allow the Jets to evaluate the readiness of their potential internal long-term replacements for Namestnikov in a top-six role. There’s 2023 first-rounder Brayden Yager, who’s primed to land an opening-night roster spot after scoring 25 goals and 82 points in 54 games with WHL Moose Jaw and Lethbridge this year. 2022 first-round Brad Lambert has gotten a couple of NHL reps over the last two years and might be a candidate as well, although he’s coming off a highly disappointing season with AHL Manitoba (7-28–35, -30 rating in 61 GP).

For Lowry, the hip rehab will mark an inauspicious start to the final season of the five-year, $16.25MM extension he signed in 2021. With Kyle Connor and Cole Perfetti also eligible to sign extensions on July 1, it’s unclear how quickly Cheveldayoff intends to start those talks with his captain. However, it should be expected that they’ll do everything in their power to keep the 11-year veteran in the only NHL city he’s ever known.

If they do opt to engage in extension discussions this summer, AFP Analytics projects the 32-year-old to receive a two-year deal in the $4MM range per season. He’s coming off his third straight 30-point campaign and has averaged at least 15 minutes per game for five straight seasons.

Lowry’s injury also puts a small dent in his climb up the Jets franchise’s all-time leaderboard. His 775 games played are fourth in Winnipeg/Atlanta franchise history, and he needs 69 games to leapfrog Bryan Little for third – that’s still doable next year if he returns at the early end of his timeline and stays healthy the rest of the way. His 121 goals are 10th all-time for the Jets, his 152 assists and 273 points rank ninth, while his +50 rating ranks fourth.

Sharks Sign No. 2 Overall Pick Michael Misa

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The Sharks have signed No. 2 overall draft pick Michael Misa to his entry-level contract, the team announced. Unsurprisingly, he receives close to the maximum allowable compensation. Per PuckPedia, he’ll receive the maximum base salary of $877.5K, signing bonus of $97.5K, and up to $1MM in Schedule “A” performance bonuses each year. His potential Schedule “B” bonuses are up to $2.25MM, $250K short of the max.

Misa was essentially a slam-dunk selection for San Jose after the Islanders took defenseman Matthew Schaefer with the first pick, although there was some smoke that the Sharks were also considering Swedish center Anton Frondell, who ended up going No. 3 to the Blackhawks. Misa, an OHL Saginaw product, was the early favorite for the top choice in the 2025 draft, gaining exceptional status and beginning his OHL career with the Spirit at the age of 15. However, a semi-conservative showing in his pre-draft year had tempered projections for Misa entering last season.

But in 2024-25, Misa looked more like the franchise-level phenom that his early hype awarded him. The left-shot center served as Saginaw’s captain and clicked at nearly a goal per game, totaling a 62-72–134 scoring line in 65 appearances to lead the entire CHL in points and, unsurprisingly, received CHL First All-Star and OHL MVP honors. He was also named the league’s Scholastic Player of the Year. That had him as the consensus No. 2 prospect in the class behind Schaefer, according to every major public ranking, by the time the season came to an end.

There will still be those out there who argue Misa deserved the top selection, especially considering Schaefer’s season ended after just 17 appearances due to a collarbone injury in December. He was the first OHLer to crack 130 points in nearly 20 years, and the last player to score more points in that league as a draft-eligible player was Patrick Kane’s 145 points in 58 games in 2006-07. Elite Prospects’ Lauren Kelly even labeled him the most complete forward in the class in June.

He thus enters his first professional season with a similar level of hype to San Jose’s No. 1 overall pick in last year’s draft, Macklin Celebrini, had 12 months ago. While the Sharks’ flurry of forward pickups in free agency indicates they aren’t necessarily banking on him being on their opening night roster, there’s plenty of flexibility for him to play meaningful minutes or, at the very least, earn a nine-game trial to start the season before burning the first year of his deal.

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