Jets Recall Five Black Aces
With their AHL affiliate’s season over, the Jets announced they’ve recalled five players from the Manitoba Moose to serve as extras for the remainder of their playoff run. Forwards Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, Mason Shaw, and defensemen Dylan Coghlan, Isaak Phillips, and Elias Salomonsson will travel with the Jets and practice with the club while technically being available for game action if necessary.
Jonsson-Fjallby did not appear for Winnipeg in the regular season, his first campaign without an NHL appearance since 2020-21. The 27-year-old Swede was on a one-way deal this year so he still received his league-minimum $775K salary, but the pending unrestricted free agent seems unlikely to remain with the Jets beyond this playoff run as a result. The fifth-round pick of the Capitals back in 2016 struggled to produce with Manitoba this year as well, limited to 12-15–27 in 65 games after posting 30 points in only 41 AHL contests last year. He last saw NHL ice for Winnipeg in the 2024 postseason and has 23 points in 99 career NHL games across three seasons.
Shaw also did not make an NHL appearance in 2024-25. It was his first professional season outside the Wild organization, which drafted him in the fourth round in 2017 but did not tender him a qualifying offer last summer after he recovered from his fourth ACL surgery (twice in each knee). After landing a two-way deal with Winnipeg a few days later, Shaw cleared waivers at the beginning of the season and reported to Manitoba. The 26-year-old posted a 17-20–37 scoring line with 114 PIMs and a -21 rating in his first non-injury plagued season since 2021-22. Winnipeg can retain the 26-year-old’s signing rights with a qualifying offer this summer, but he’s eligible for salary arbitration.
[RELATED: NHL Arbitration-Eligible Free Agents For 2025]
Coghlan is the only member of the group to appear in a regular-season game for the Jets this year. He skated in six games in December and January after spending the first two months of the season as a healthy scratch. After clearing waivers, he was assigned to Manitoba for the rest of the season in mid-January. While he went without a point in his six big-league games, the two-way righty lit up the minors with a 12-16–28 scoring line in just 36 appearances for the Moose. He’s one year removed from leading the AHL in goals by a defenseman but sits firmly in the No. 10 spot on Winnipeg’s defense depth chart behind names like Ville Heinola, Colin Miller, and Logan Stanley.
Phillips played early in the season with the Blackhawks but didn’t see a recall to the Jets’ roster after they acquired him via trade in January. The 2020 fifth-rounder has 2-10–12 with a -37 rating in 56 career appearances with Chicago over the past four years. A pending RFA with arbitration rights, the young shutdown blueliner had 3-5–8 with a -11 rating in 39 appearances for Manitoba after the trade.
Salomonsson has yet to make his NHL debut but is likely Winnipeg’s top prospect at this point. The 20-year-old rearguard adjusted well in his first season in North America in 2024-25, logging heavy minutes for Manitoba and finishing second among their defensemen in scoring behind Coghlan with 5-22–27 in 53 games. The smooth-skating 6’2″, 185-lb righty is a long shot to make next season’s opening night roster but is likely to at least make his big-league debut within the next 12 months.
Connor Hellebuyck, Darcy Kuemper, Andrei Vasilevskiy Named Vezina Trophy Finalists
Connor Hellebuyck of the Jets, Darcy Kuemper of the Kings, and Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Lightning have been selected as the NHL’s Vezina Trophy finalists as the league’s top goaltender for the 2024-25 season, the league announced today (X link).
Hellebuyck backstopped a Jets roster that faced some question marks at the beginning of the season to the franchise’s first Presidents’ Trophy, posting a league-best 47-12-3 record in his 62 starts and one relief appearance. It’s Hellebuyck’s third consecutive Vezina nomination, and it comes in conjunction with his second straight Jennings Trophy for tending the goal of the league’s stingiest defensive team on the whole.
Playoff performance so far notwithstanding, Hellebuyck’s regular-season numbers have him as the clear favorite to win the Vezina for the second year in a row and the third time in his career. That’s certainly a long way off from Jacques Plante‘s record of seven, but he could be the first one to join the three-time club since Martin Brodeur won his third of four in 2007.
Hellebuyck led the league in goals against average (2.00), shutouts (eight), and goals saved above expected (39.6, per MoneyPuck). That’s the best figure a goalie has posted in a season since Juuse Saros posted a remarkable 46.7 GSAx in the 2022-23 campaign. Hellebuyck’s .925 SV% also ranks second among goalies who played 25 or more games, just one tick behind the Maple Leafs’ Anthony Stolarz. He’s not a finalist, but he will almost certainly be in the top 10 when the voting results are announced next month.
Vasilevskiy will likely finish as Hellebuyck’s runner-up. The Big Cat had a resurgent 2024-25 campaign after an unusually pedestrian showing in 2023-24, logging a .921 SV%, 2.18 GAA, six shutouts, and a 38-20-5 record in a league-high 63 starts. That .921 mark was Vasilevsky’s highest in four years, and the now five-time finalist also finished second in the league behind Hellebuyck with 29.2 goals saved above expected. That’s also a career-high for the 30-year-old.
Kuemper, 34, also exploded for a bounce-back season. After struggling over the first two seasons of the five-year, $26.25MM pact he signed with the Capitals in free agency following his Stanley Cup win with the Avalanche in 2022, Washington traded him to the Kings in a swap of anchor contracts for Pierre-Luc Dubois. Now a clear win-win deal, Kuemper posted a 31-11-7 record in 50 starts for L.A. and posted a .921 SV%, 2.02 GAA, and five shutouts for his best numbers since his Cup-winning campaign. He’s a Vezina finalist for the first time in his 13-year career after finishing fifth and seventh in voting in 2019 and 2020, respectively, while a member of the Coyotes.
Photo courtesy of James Carey Lauder-Imagn Images.
Drake Caggiula Likely To Sign In Sweden
Oilers pending unrestricted free agent forward Drake Caggiula appears likely to head overseas for the first time in his career. He’s received strong interest from Swedish Hockey League clubs Brynäs IF and Djurgårdens IF ahead of the 2025-26 campaign, the latter of which just gained promotion from the second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan (per Tomas Ros and Hans Abrahamsson of Aftonbladet).
The 30-year-old Caggiula has spent the last two years primarily with Edmonton’s AHL affiliate in Bakersfield. It’s his second stint in the Oilers organization after beginning his professional career in Edmonton as an undrafted free agent signing out of the University of North Dakota in 2016. This season, the Ontario native led the Condors with 24 goals in 62 games and added 28 assists for 52 points. He also posted a +20 rating, the highest of his professional career.
Caggiula also saw brief NHL action for Edmonton, posting an assist in seven games over multiple call-ups early in the season. That marked his first NHL games in over a year and a half. He last appeared for the Penguins in March 2023.
A solid bottom-six scorer in Edmonton to begin his career, he hasn’t played more than 40 NHL games in a season since before the COVID-19 pandemic, and his chances of doing so again are slim given his age. It’s not entirely unsurprising to see a starring role in a top-flight European league look appealing to him compared to a more unstable minor-league lifestyle. The 5’10”, 179-lb forward has a 46-46–92 scoring line in 289 career NHL games with a -29 rating.
Penguins, Mike Sullivan Part Ways
The Penguins are moving on from head coach Mike Sullivan, per a team announcement.
“On behalf of Fenway Sports Group and the Penguins organization, I would like to thank Mike Sullivan for his unwavering commitment and loyalty to the team and City of Pittsburgh over the past decade,” said president of hockey operations and general manager Kyle Dubas. “Mike is known for his preparation, focus, and fierce competitiveness. I was fortunate to have a front-row seat to his dedication to this franchise for the past two seasons. He will forever be an enormous part of Penguins history, not only for the impressive back-to-back Cups, his impact on the core of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and Bryan Rust, but more importantly, for his love and loyalty to the organization.”
It’s not a true firing – rather, a mutual decision for Sullivan to pursue another opportunity and for Pittsburgh to find a new identity behind the bench in the twilight of their core’s careers. Sullivan had two years left on a three-year extension. It’s unclear whether the Penguins will still pay him the money owed on that deal.
“A thorough search for the next head coach of the Penguins will begin immediately,” the team said. The Pens join the Blackhawks, Bruins, Ducks, Flyers, Kraken, and Rangers as teams with active vacancies at head coach.
It was another underwhelming 2024-25 season for Sullivan and the Penguins, who continued their slide down the standings and missed the playoffs for the third consecutive season. With a 34-36-12 record, Pittsburgh finished under .500 for the first time since going 22-46-14 in Crosby’s rookie season in 2005-06.
Sullivan has been the Pens’ bench boss for essentially the latter half of the Crosby-Malkin-Letang trifecta era. Promoted from AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton midway through the 2015-16 season after Pittsburgh fired Mike Johnston, he immediately led the team to back-to-back championships in 2016 and 2017. But after beating the Flyers in the first round in 2018, Sullivan’s Penguins have yet to win a playoff series.
The 57-year-old was the second-longest tenured head coach in the league behind the Lightning’s Jon Cooper. His illustrious Pittsburgh era concludes with a 409-255-89 record (.602) in 753 regular-season games, holding the franchise wins record by a considerable margin over Dan Bylsma (252). Including his two-year tenure behind the Bruins’ bench in 2003-04 and 2005-06, Sullivan’s 479 career wins as head coach rank 32nd in NHL history. Since Sullivan assumed his duties in Pittsburgh on Dec. 12, 2015, the Pens rank eighth in the league in points percentage.
While Pittsburgh has significantly overhauled its depth ranks over the past few seasons, the vast majority of its core remains in place outside of Jake Guentzel, whom they traded to the Hurricanes at last year’s deadline. This is a more unexpected major change – Dubas told Wes Crosby of NHL.com last week he was expecting Sullivan back behind the bench for 2025-26. Perhaps today’s news is more at Sullivan’s request than the team’s.
Sullivan will be a person of interest in every active head coaching search. The Rangers have pursued him aggressively in the past, especially before he signed his extension in 2022. There’s no firm enough reporting yet to call them a frontrunner, but with Peter Laviolette out the door and Chris Drury still in his post as general manager, it’s nearly a given they’ll be among the most well-equipped teams to land his services.
Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images.
Ducks Interviewed Joel Quenneville For Head Coach Vacancy
Longtime NHL head coach Joel Quenneville was interviewed by the Ducks for their vacant head coach position, ESPN’s John Buccigross implied. Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff confirmed the report, adding he’s being considered but isn’t necessarily a finalist yet.
Quenneville has not coached since resigning as the Panthers’ bench boss early in the 2021-22 season. He was subsequently suspended from working in the league “as a result of [his] inadequate response upon being informed in 2010 of allegations that Blackhawks’ Player, Kyle Beach, had been assaulted by the Club’s video coach.” Quenneville, along with former Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman and VP of hockey operations Al MacIsaac, had their suspensions lifted by the league last July. Bowman quickly returned to work as GM of the Oilers, but MacIsaac and Quenneville have yet to work another job in the league or for one of its member clubs.
Only one coaching vacancy was open last summer by the time Quenneville was reinstated. That was the Blue Jackets, and they never approached him for an interview. Other teams had interest in his services earlier in the 2024 offseason, but were told by the league he was unavailable for hire.
Quenneville, who coached the Blackhawks to Stanley Cups in 2010, 2013, 2015, and won as an assistant with the Avalanche in 1996, is the first name linked to Anaheim’s coaching vacancy. They fired Greg Cronin earlier this month with one season left on his contract. Cronin recently expressed interest in moving cross-country to fill the Bruins’ vacancy.
Greg Cronin Interested In Bruins Head Coaching Job
Former Ducks head coach Greg Cronin would enthusiastically pick up the phone if considered for the Bruins’ head coaching opening, he told the Boston Globe’s Kevin Paul Dupont.
“Hey, I’m a coach, right?” Cronin told Dupont. “All these openings, I’ll throw my hat in and see what comes back. I mean, heck, I’d be doing handsprings and jumping over rainbows if I got the Bruins’ job. I’m a Boston guy, and for a Boston guy, that’s hitting the lottery times 10!”
Cronin was one of the finalists for Boston’s vacancy in the 2022 offseason when he was the head coach of the Avalanche’s AHL affiliate. General manager Don Sweeney ended up passing him over for eventual 2023 Jack Adams winner Jim Montgomery, whom the Bruins ended up firing in November. Boston finished the 2024-25 campaign with interim head coach Joe Sacco, who is still a candidate to take over the full-time role, Sweeney said last week.
After not landing the Bruins’ job, Cronin only needed to wait one more year to land his first NHL coaching gig. The Ducks signed him to a three-year deal in the 2023 offseason to replace Dallas Eakins, but fired him earlier this month with one year left on his contract. Cronin had a 67-82-15 (.424) record behind the Anaheim bench, although the Ducks’ finish this season was their best since the 2018-19 campaign.
While Cronin may have an interest in the vacancy, it is unlikely that Boston’s interest will be mutual. When discussing their next coaching hire, Sweeney emphasized an improved offense as their top priority for the offseason. Nothing Cronin did in Anaheim suggests he’ll fit that mold. During Cronin’s tenure, the Ducks’ 2.56 goals per game ranked 31st out of 33 teams (the Coyotes and Utah were counted separately), while their 27.2 shots per game ranked 28th. Their 14.9% success rate on the power play ranked 32nd.
Outside of Sacco, it remains unclear who Boston plans to interview as a full-time hire.
Alexander Nikishin’s Camp Unhappy With Delay In Registering Contract
5:00 PM: Nikishin’s North American-based agent, Ryan Barnes, downplayed Demidov’s comments per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Per Friedman, Barnes shared that Nikishin’s camp continues to work on a deal with the Hurricanes – and chalked Demidov’s comments up to Nikishin’s Russian representation being eager to see him at the top flight. The additional comments may not totally alleviate the tension between Nikishin and a lineup role, but they will ease fans’ worries of a star prospect being traded.
11:30 AM: The relationship between the Hurricanes and star defense prospect Alexander Nikishin is off to a rocky start. While they announced they agreed to terms on an entry-level contract two weeks ago and Nikishin said he was “thrilled” to have the opportunity to join Carolina in the playoffs, general manager Eric Tulsky said Wednesday they’ve yet to register Nikishin’s contract with the league.
There was a fairly simple explanation for that – there’s no rush to insert Nikishin into a lineup that’s dominated through two games against the Devils, and leaving the contract unsigned makes Nikishin eligible to get some AHL postseason action in with their affiliate in Chicago. Nonetheless, the delay in signing has been frustrating to Nikishin and his representation.
“Carolina is behaving incomprehensibly, and not only for us, but for scouts and representatives of other NHL clubs,” agent Alexander Chernykh told Olesya Usova of RB Sport (translated from Russian). “Everyone is shocked and outraged. But, as I was told, this never surprises, because Carolina always behaves like this and with everyone. At the moment, we cannot comment on the situation, because the club’s actions defy common sense. If this continues, Alexander will either go back, or we will ask for a trade.”
That’s certainly a troubling statement regarding the 23-year-old Nikishin, who’s expected to be a key part of Carolina’s defense core next season with Brent Burns and Dmitry Orlov slated to become unrestricted free agents. The 6’4″, 216-lb lefty was a third-round pick in 2020 and has been widely regarded as the top defenseman outside of the NHL over the past couple of years. He dominated his native Russia since his breakout 2022-23 campaign, recording 157 points in 193 games with a +70 rating over the last three years for SKA St. Petersburg.
Tulsky said that there wouldn’t be an issue in registering the contract if Nikishin’s services were needed in short order, but waiting to register the deal delays the payout of his $92.5K signing bonus and, obviously, impedes his ability to earn the $1.038MM performance bonus in his deal for winning playoff MVP honors, however unlikely that would have been.
Devils’ Matyas Melovsky Signs AHL Contract
Devils prospect Matyas Melovsky will turn pro in 2025-26, just not under an NHL deal. He’s beginning his journey in the organization on a minor-league deal with AHL Utica, the club announced.
A sixth-round pick last year, Melovsky was an overage selection who’d spent the last two seasons with the Baie-Comeau Drakkar of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League. He returned to the Drakkar for his age-20 season in 2024-25, exploding to lead the team with a 26-57–83 scoring line in 57 games. The versatile 6’1″, 190-lb forward added a +40 rating, hitting the mark for the second year in a row, and tied for seventh overall in QMJHL scoring.
While passed over in the 2022 and 2023 drafts, the Czech forward has been a high-end offensive producer for Baie-Comeau since coming stateside from the HC Vítkovice organization for the 2022-23 campaign. He led the QMJHL in assists by a rookie (52) in 2022-23 and was a key producer for Czechia at the 2024 World Juniors, helping the team to a bronze medal with a tournament-leading 10 assists in seven games. He was over a point per game in the Czech top junior league in his draft year, too, so he’s got a track record of offensive success.
That makes Melovsky a definite sleeper pick in New Jersey’s system. Scott Wheeler of The Athletic ranked him as the Devils’ No. 7 prospect in January. It’s a tad surprising not to see them reward him with an NHL entry-level contract out of the gate, but since they’re not at risk of losing his exclusive signing rights until June 2026, they can afford to have him play out a year on an AHL deal without taking up a contract slot.
It’s worth noting that while Melovsky is eligible for a three-year ELC if he signs before Jan. 1, 2026, he’ll only be eligible for a two-year rookie deal if New Jersey signs him after. He turns 21 next month, so that’s his signing age for 2025.
Wild Sign Riley Mercer To Entry-Level Deal
The Wild announced they’ve signed undrafted free agent goaltender Riley Mercer to a three-year entry-level contract beginning in 2025-26. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Mercer, 21, turns pro after five seasons with the Drummondville Voltigeurs of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League. The 6’2″, 203-lb netminder won a QMJHL championship with the club in 2023-24, posting a 1.89 GAA, .934 SV%, and two shutouts in 19 playoff games. He proceeded to lead the league with a .925 SV% in 46 appearances in 2024-25, although he was injured in the postseason as Drummondville was upset by the Halifax Mooseheads in seven games in the first round.
Minnesota and Mercer aren’t new to each other. The Wild invited him to rookie camp last year, so he’s been on their radar for a while. He opted to return to Drummondville for his overage season instead of signing a professional deal, but he’ll now get an NHL contract out of the gate to give him call-up opportunities as soon as next season.
He’ll presumably report to AHL Iowa out of the gate to join a Wild goaltending group that’s in a bit of flux. Top prospect Jesper Wallstedt is expected to move to a full-time NHL role next year after signing a two-year, $4.4MM extension last October, but he’s coming off a disastrous season that saw him post a 3.59 GAA and .879 SV% in 27 AHL games. But beyond him and Filip Gustavsson, 23-year-old Slovak Samuel Hlavaj was the only other goaltender under contract or team control for 2025-26. He could be in line for the AHL starting job next year after outperforming Wallstedt with a 2.85 GAA, .904 SV%, one shutout, and a 14-14-4 record in 36 AHL appearances this season.
The younger brother of Devils forward Dawson Mercer should be at least ticketed for an AHL backup role out of the gate as a result, although they could also sign a veteran backup for Hlavaj and demote Mercer to ECHL Iowa for more playing time. That’s a common path for goalies, especially undrafted ones making the jump from junior hockey.
Mercer’s contract will run through the 2027-28 season. He’ll be a restricted free agent upon expiry and will be eligible for arbitration if he plays at least 10 games in each season of the deal.
Jonas Siegenthaler Likely Returning For Devils In Game 3
Devils defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler is expected to make an ahead-of-schedule return for the team in tonight’s Game 3 against the Hurricanes (via Peter Baugh of The Athletic).
Siegenthaler was a full participant in this morning’s skate in third-pairing duties alongside Simon Nemec, per the team’s Amanda Stein, but head coach Sheldon Keefe said he’ll have reduced minutes with his conditioning understandably not in playoff form. We noted just yesterday that Siegenthaler practiced for the first time since undergoing lower-body surgery in February.
“He’s feeling good and we’re optimistic that he’ll play,” Keefe said of Siegenthaler (from Mike Morreale of NHL.com). “We’ll give him the day and every opportunity to just feel as comfortable as possible but he’s had the appropriate appointments and his leg, the bone, is healed and that’s [not] a concern at all. The only thing he needed more time with was the conditioning side of it but we’re not able to provide him with that time given our circumstances here so we intend to play him today but it’ll be in a reduced role with reduced minutes and those sorts of things.”
In 55 games this season, the stay-at-home defenseman posted a 2-7–9 scoring line with a plus-nine rating, 92 blocks, and 75 hits while averaging 19:36 per game. Siegenthaler hasn’t played since Feb. 4 against the Penguins but didn’t miss a game all year before going under the knife.
Down 0-2 to the Hurricanes and without fellow rearguards Brenden Dillon and Luke Hughes for a second straight game, Keefe confirmed, the Devils are banking on a boost from the reliable defensive blue-liner, even if his even-strength deployment is limited and he’s mostly dropped in a penalty-killing role. He’ll also look to improve on his only previous playoff showing for New Jersey, when he posted three points and a minus-three rating in 11 games in the 2023 playoffs.
The Devils have been outscored 7-2 in their two playoff games thus far despite receiving expert goaltending from Jacob Markström, who has a .930 SV% and has saved 3.9 goals above expected, per MoneyPuck. New Jersey has been the league’s worst defensive team at 5-on-5 so far these playoffs, allowing 3.78 expected goals against per 60 minutes and 36.5 shots against per game in all situations.
They’re also avoiding a further injury scare with defenseman Brett Pesce. He was absent from this morning’s skate but will be in the lineup tonight, per Stein.
Photo courtesy of Luther Schlaifer-Imagn Images.