Cal Clutterbuck Announces Retirement
Longtime agitator Cal Clutterbuck, who spent 17 years in the NHL, has confirmed the end of his playing career. Clutterbuck published a reel on Instagram today announcing his retirement after going unsigned for the 2024-25 season.
“After 17 years, it’s time to hang up the skates,” Clutterbuck wrote. “I’m beyond grateful for every teammate, coach, fan, and moment along the way. Hockey gave me everything — a purpose, a brotherhood, and a lifetime of memories.”
“To Matt and Casey — it was an honor to go to war with you night in and night out. What we built together means more than words can say. And to the Islanders faithful — your passion, loyalty, and love made Long Island home. Thank you all. On to the next chapter.”
Matt and Casey, of course, refer to longtime linemates Matt Martin and Casey Cizikas on Long Island. The trio has essentially served as the Islanders’ fourth line ever since they acquired Clutterbuck from the Wild in 2013, aside from Martin’s two-year stint with the Maple Leafs from 2016 to 2018. One of the more recognizable and feared checking units of the millennium, Clutterbuck certainly played his part. He retires as the league’s all-time hits leader with 4,029, 93 ahead of the second-place Martin.
While Clutterbuck will be most remembered for his time in Nassau County, his NHL career began as a third-round pick by the Wild in 2006, after he dominated junior hockey with 68 points and 139 penalty minutes in 66 games with the OHL’s Oshawa Generals. He returned to Oshawa the following year, but thanks to his November birthday, was able to spend the 2007-08 season in the AHL with Minnesota’s affiliate, the Houston Aeros. He didn’t make much of a splash offensively in his first taste of pro hockey, perhaps a sign of things to come, but still managed to make his NHL debut across a pair of early-season contests.
Despite only managing 24 points in 73 AHL games out of the gate, the Wild liked Clutterbuck’s physicality enough to make him a bottom-six fixture as a 21-year-old in the 2008-09 campaign. His 11-goal, 356-hit rookie season meant he never touched minor-league ice again aside from a conditioning stint in 2019-20. A few years into his Minnesota tenure, Clutterbuck looked like he might be able to stick as a true top-nine power forward when he scored 19 goals and 34 points in the 2010-11 campaign while averaging nearly 16 minutes per night, but those numbers would stand as career-highs. Clutterbuck only hit double-digit goals in a season three more times.
Nonetheless, Clutterbuck still carved out a bottom-six niche and played 1,064 games – 718 of which came after the Isles acquired him for then-struggling top-five pick Nino Niederreiter in the 2013 offseason. Niederreiter blossomed into a legitimate two-way top-six winger in Minnesota. Still, Clutterbuck stuck around far longer with his new team, even earning a five-year, $17.5MM extension from the club in 2016, despite his relatively minimal offensive impact.
An alternate captain in New York for the last decade of his career, Clutterbuck retires at 12th on the Isles’ all-time games played list in the regular season. He also added 11-7–18 and 340 hits in 76 games across seven playoff appearances on the Island. The Ontario native recorded a 143-150–293 scoring line with a -19 rating and 698 PIMs in 1,064 career games. All of us at PHR wish Clutterbuck the best in the next phase of his hockey career.
Photo courtesy of Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images.
Blackhawks Assign A.J. Spellacy To AHL
The Blackhawks have assigned forward prospect A.J. Spellacy to AHL Rockford to finish his season in the Calder Cup Playoffs, the latter club announced.
Spellacy’s Windsor Spitfires of the OHL were eliminated last night in the second round after blowing a 3-0 series lead against the Kitchener Rangers. The 19-year-old missed Games 2 through 5 of that series with injury and only managed to play in five of the Spitfires’ 12 playoff games as a whole, recording a goal and two assists.
Selected in the third round of last year’s draft, Spellacy’s post-draft season was remarkably similar to his draft year. The 6’3″, 205-lb winger is a great skater and heavy forechecker but doesn’t have a particularly high offensive ceiling. He scored 18-19–37 in 62 games with Windsor this year after posting a 21-17–38 scoring line in 67 games last year, slightly upping his points per game pace.
The Ohio native had a strong camp showing with the Hawks last fall and will now get his first taste of professional hockey with Rockford as the IceHogs begin their play-in series against the Chicago Wolves tonight. He’ll presumably head back to Windsor next season for a fourth and final season of major junior hockey unless he makes a surprise run at a Blackhawks roster spot. He’ll still be too young for a full-time AHL assignment in 2025-26. His entry-level contract, which Chicago signed in January, carried a $906,667 cap hit at signing, but that will decrease since his $97.5K signing bonus for 2024-25 was paid out. The deal is slide-eligible for both this year and next if he plays fewer than 10 NHL games in 2025-26.
Canada To Name Dean Evason Head Coach For World Championship
Blue Jackets head coach Dean Evason will get to extend his season as the bench boss for Canada at this year’s World Championship, according to Darren Dreger of TSN. His staff will include Flames head coach Ryan Huska, although the other names are yet to be announced.
Evason gets the call for Team Canada at the Worlds in back-to-back years after serving as an assistant under Utah coach André Tourigny in 2024’s bronze game loss. That was his first time serving on the bench for the national team in any capacity, coming nearly three decades into his coaching career. The former NHL center has been behind the bench at the NHL, AHL, and junior levels in every season since 1998-99 as an assistant or head coach.
He’ll oversee a Canadian squad looking to win the gold medal for the second time in three years after a season with Columbus that’s almost certainly going to make him a Coach of the Year finalist. His Blue Jackets, whose preseason odds pegged them to finish with just 66 points, ended up being the last team eliminated from postseason contention in the Eastern Conference and won 40 games in a season for the first time since Columbus orchestrated one of the greatest playoff upsets in league history against the Lightning in 2019.
Canada has yet to announce its roster for the tournament, but centers Adam Fantilli and Sean Monahan are expected to be strong candidates to join Evason in Stockholm next month. Both set career-high marks in points per game under Evason during the 2024-25 season.
As for Huska, this will mark his first time behind the bench for the senior national team. It’s not his first time coaching for Hockey Canada, though. He was an assistant coach for the 2011 and 2012 World Junior teams, which won silver and bronze medals, respectively. His Flames were also the last team eliminated from playoff contention in the West and finished with their best record since the 2021-22 campaign.
Bruins Will Consider Removing Interim Tag From Joe Sacco
Bruins interim head coach Joe Sacco will be given the opportunity to interview for the full-time position as the organization casts a wider net over the offseason, general manager Don Sweeney said Wednesday during his end-of-season media availability (via Conor Ryan of the Boston Globe).
Boston has already begun the interview process, Sweeney said, although it is not clear who else they have considered or spoken to. One thing is clear: the Bruins’ top offseason priority is bolstering their offense (via Ryan), and they will name a head coach who they believe can lead a system capable of generating more scoring from their group. Boston’s abysmally poor overall offense (2.71 goals per game, 28th in the league) and power play (15.2%, 29th) were the primary reasons they missed the postseason for the first time since 2016. Those results weren’t due to poor finishing luck; Boston still finished 29th in the league in shots per game with 26.5.
Sacco, 56, had been with the team since the 2014-15 season as an assistant coach before being elevated to interim head coach in the wake of Jim Montgomery‘s firing in November. Boston finished the season with a worse points percentage (.460) under Sacco than they did in their first few weeks under Montgomery (.475) and even fell behind the Sabres for last place in the Atlantic Division. Their overall points percentage of .463 was their worst season since the 2006-07 campaign, also the last time they finished last in their division. The flip side – Boston’s lottery odds give them a 41.9% chance at a top-five pick in this year’s draft, something they haven’t held since selecting Tyler Seguin No. 2 overall in 2010.
Previous NHL head coaching experience won’t be a prerequisite, but they will limit their search to names who have served on an NHL bench before, Sweeney said (via Greg Wyshynski of ESPN). They have a quartet of recently-fired names to consider in John Tortorella, Peter Laviolette, Greg Cronin, and Dan Bylsma. However, only the last name on that list jumps out as a team looking to jumpstart their scoring. While the Kraken were not close to the postseason picture, Bylsma managed to take their offense from 29th in the 2023-24 season under Dave Hakstol to 16th in the league this past year.
The Unleashed 2025: Group VI Unrestricted Free Agents
Although most players must wait until after their 27th birthday to become an unrestricted free agent, able to sign with any team in the league without compensation, there are a few other ways to reach the open market. Players who complete seven full seasons in the NHL are eligible for UFA status, as are restricted free agents who do not receive qualifying offers.
There is another option, however, available to players who don’t receive many opportunities in the NHL but have spent several years at the professional level: Group VI unrestricted free agency.
PuckPedia has a complete list of players who will become free agents through this category. To refresh your memory on how a player qualifies for Group VI free agency, they must meet three requirements:
- The player is 25 years or older (as of June 30 of the calendar year the contract expires).
- The player has completed three (3) or more professional seasons, qualified by 11 or more professional games (for an 18/19-year-old player), or one (1) or more professional games (for a player aged 20 or older). This can include NHL, minor league, and European professional league seasons played while under a Standard Player Contract (SPC).
- The player has played fewer than 80 NHL games, or 28 NHL games of 30 minutes or greater for a goaltender.
The entire list of players hitting the open market early can be found below. For more detailed information, please visit PuckPedia.
Anaheim Ducks
(none)
Boston Bruins
Buffalo Sabres
Brett Murray
Jack Rathbone
Lukáš Rousek
Calgary Flames
Carolina Hurricanes
(none)
Chicago Blackhawks
Colorado Avalanche
Columbus Blue Jackets
Dallas Stars
Matěj Blümel
Kole Lind
Mathias Emilio Pettersen
Detroit Red Wings
(none)
Edmonton Oilers
Florida Panthers
(none)
Los Angeles Kings
Minnesota Wild
Cameron Crotty
Dylan Ferguson
Tyler Madden
Montreal Canadiens
(none)
Nashville Predators
Marc Del Gaizo
Grigori Denisenko
Jake Livingstone
New Jersey Devils
New York Islanders
New York Rangers
Benoit-Olivier Groulx
Jake Leschyshyn
Ottawa Senators
Wyatt Bongiovanni
Angus Crookshank
Cole Reinhardt
Filip Roos
Philadelphia Flyers
Pittsburgh Penguins
Mac Hollowell
Jimmy Huntington
Filip Král
Mathias Laferrière
San Jose Sharks
Seattle Kraken
St. Louis Blues
Tampa Bay Lightning
Toronto Maple Leafs
Nicholas Abruzzese
Alex Steeves
Utah Hockey Club
Travis Barron
Egor Sokolov
Jaxson Stauber
Samuel Walker
Vancouver Canucks
Vegas Golden Knights
Washington Capitals
Winnipeg Jets
(none)
Panthers Activate Matthew Tkachuk From LTIR
April 22: As expected, Tkachuk is off LTIR ahead of tonight’s Game 1. He’s officially a game-time decision.
April 17: The Panthers will have all their injured players in the lineup for Game 1 of their first-round series against the Lightning, head coach Paul Maurice told reporters today (via George Richards of Florida Hockey Now). As such, star winger Matthew Tkachuk will come off long-term injured reserve in the next few days before Florida begins their Stanley Cup defense on Sunday or Monday.
Tkachuk, 27, will return to the Panthers’ lineup after a two-month absence. He missed the final 25 regular-season games due to a groin injury he sustained while playing for the United States at the 4 Nations Face-Off.
The news is far from unexpected. Maurice said earlier this week that Tkachuk would return to practice with the team after skating on his own. He wouldn’t commit to Tkachuk being available for Game 1 but said his return would be early in the first round in a worst-case scenario. Now, it looks like he’ll be available as soon as the Cats hit the ice for the fourth Battle of Florida in the last five years. Maurice adds that Tkachuk won’t skate during Florida’s practice tomorrow but will do so Monday, indicating that’s when Game 1 will take place (via Colby Guy of The Palm Beach Post).
Florida underwhelmed without Tkachuk down the stretch, posting a 13-11-1 record and a plus-two goal differential coming out of the 4 Nations break. That was enough to keep them in the playoff race, but not enough to keep them atop the Atlantic Division, where they were tracking to finish for a good portion of the season. Instead, they were lapped by the Maple Leafs and Lightning and lost home-ice advantage in their matchup with the latter. Of course, Tkachuk wasn’t the only player missing for an extended stretch. Trade deadline pickup Brad Marchand and defenseman Dmitry Kulikov each missed more than four games at a time, and top right-shot defenseman Aaron Ekblad hasn’t been available since early March while serving a 20-game suspension for consuming a performance-enhancing substance. Of course, that discipline will keep him out for the first two games of the first round.
Before the injury, Tkachuk clinched his fourth consecutive season above a point per game. The 6’2″, 202-lb pot-stirrer posted 22-35–57 in 52 regular-season contests, leading the Panthers in points (1.10) and shot attempts (6.08) per game. Only one Florida skater shot at a higher rate than Tkachuk’s 14.1% – that was Sam Reinhart at 18.3%.
A minus-three rating indicates a poor defensive outing for Tkachuk at face value, but that’s not the case. He continued to boast elite two-way impacts, logging a 59.9 CF% and 58.6 xGF% at even strength. The former ranked second on the team behind Aleksander Barkov.
Of course, the two-time All-Star has been instrumental in Florida’s back-to-back Stanley Cup Final appearances. He’s scored 17-29–46 with a +12 rating in 44 postseason games as a Panther, ranking fourth in the NHL in playoff scoring over the last two seasons. They’ll look for a repeat performance, presumably in a familiar second-line role at even strength with Sam Bennett and ex-rival Marchand on his opposite wing, to help them get over the first-round hump against a highly formidable Tampa squad in their quest for a repeat.
Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro-Imagn Images.
Canucks Interested In Re-Signing Derek Forbort
The Canucks have held preliminary extension talks with defenseman Derek Forbort, Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK reports. The pending unrestricted free agent is coming off surgery on his orbital bone after breaking it in a fight with Wild forward Yakov Trenin, ending his season earlier than planned on April 12.
Forbort, 33, landed a one-year, $1.5MM commitment from Vancouver last summer. He was coming off a three-year deal with the Bruins that ended poorly. His 2023-24 campaign was sidetracked by multiple lower-body injuries and he only made 35 appearances as a result. He didn’t draw into the postseason lineup, either, as Boston reached the second round against the eventual champion Panthers.
A stay-at-home defender only capable of depth minutes at this stage of his career, Forbort struggled with knee issues this year but was able to record 2-9–11 in 54 games with a minus-seven rating. He averaged 17:06 per game with Vancouver, roughly in line with his usage in Boston but technically the lowest deployment of his NHL career since his 14-game rookie trial with the Kings in 2015-16. He contributed 77 blocks and 65 hits and, while his even-strength minutes were limited, was one of the team’s most frequently-used penalty killers alongside Marcus Pettersson, Filip Hronek, and Tyler Myers.
Possession metrics aren’t always the best judge of defensive specialists, given their deployment. That’s true in Forbort’s case, considering he started 62.1% of his shifts in the defensive zone at even strength. His 46.4% Corsi share and 43.4% expected goals share are still underwhelming but not as damning as they would be for a defender deployed in more two-way situations.
Forbort may have earned a small raise on a one or two-year extension since he managed to stay in the lineup for over half the year and was a legitimate factor on the Canucks’ above-average PK (82.6%), but likely not enough to push him much over the $2MM mark against the cap. The Canucks already have $23.6MM committed to their top-four group of Hronek, Myers, Pettersson, and Quinn Hughes next year, and youngsters Victor Mancini and Elias Pettersson (the defenseman) will be in competition for opening-night roles. Re-upping Forbort would presumably mean a lack of activity from Vancouver on the UFA defenseman market this summer unless they pursue an unforeseen trade.
Islanders Part Ways With Lou Lamoriello
The Islanders will not renew general manager Lou Lamoriello’s contract, the team announced Tuesday. Minority owner John Collins will lead the search for a new GM on Long Island.
It’s not clear who will handle interim GM duties for the Isles if they don’t have a new GM in place by the draft. For now, Chris Lamoriello (Lou’s son) and Steve Pellegrini remain in their roles as assistant general managers and will presumably handle any minor moves or re-signings until a new top hockey operations decision-maker is appointed.
One of the longest-serving and most accomplished executives in league history, Lamoriello’s tenure with the Islanders ends after seven seasons. They brought him in during the 2018 offseason after his contract to serve as GM of the Maple Leafs expired, initially just as president of hockey operations. He quickly fired then-GM Garth Snow and appointed himself in the role.
The early stages of Lamoriello’s time at the helm were an unequivocal success. He poached head coach Barry Trotz from the reigning Stanley Cup champion Capitals, a decision that immediately helped put the Isles back in the postseason after missing out for two years. Trotz won Coach of the Year honors in 2018-19 as the Islanders rattled off 48 wins, their most in a season since winning 50 games in 1983-84, and swept the Penguins in the first round. While they didn’t advance to the Conference Finals, they would do so in 2020 and 2021, taking the eventual Stanley Cup champion Lightning to six and seven games, respectively.
In the four seasons that followed, the Islanders have won just three playoff games, including two first-round losses to the Hurricanes (2023, 2024). They finished with a .500 record this season and missed the playoffs, failing to secure more wins than regulation losses for the first time in Lamoriello’s tenure. They’ve also now failed to win at least 40 games in back-to-back 82-game seasons since 2010-11 and 2011-12.
It’s not as if Lamoriello’s successor is walking into a five-alarm fire on the Island, but there’s much work to do this summer. Chief among a long list of to-dos is a new contract for No. 1 defenseman Noah Dobson, who’s an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent this summer. Most of their other defenders don’t have deals for next season – only Scott Mayfield, Adam Pelech, and Ryan Pulock are signed for 2025-26 among rearguards who ended the year on the active roster. There has been reported progress on a contract extension for their top pending UFA, Kyle Palmieri, but it’s unclear how the GM change will affect talks there.
One thing is clear – the Islanders’ new GM will come from outside the organization. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports the Islanders won’t be making any coaching changes or hockey operations staff alterations until the new hire is in place. They’ll have a say in determining the future of head coach Patrick Roy, his staff, and the rest of the front office.
Lamoriello was already the oldest-serving NHL GM in history at age 82. Whether it’s the end of the road for him after a 38-year run in NHL front offices with New Jersey, Toronto, and New York remains to be seen. It’s almost certainly his last GM role, but a senior advisor role somewhere may be of interest.
Photo courtesy of Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images.
Sharks Reassign Zack Ostapchuk, Jack Thompson
The Sharks announced they reassigned center Zack Ostapchuk and defenseman Jack Thompson to AHL San Jose on Tuesday. Both were injured to end the regular season last week but will now head to the Barracuda to suit up in the Calder Cup Playoffs.
Ostapchuk was brought in at the trade deadline from the Senators as part of the return for winger Fabian Zetterlund. Ottawa selected the 21-year-old early in the second round of the 2021 draft, the same year San Jose landed cornerstone rebuild piece William Eklund with the No. 7 overall pick. After getting his first taste of NHL action in a seven-game trial late last season, Ostapchuk spent most of 2024-25 in the NHL. He appeared in 56 games for Ottawa and San Jose, but the 6’4″, 212-lb pivot didn’t demonstrate much offensively.
The Alberta native averaged just 9:25 per game – still seeing less than 10 minutes of ice time in 13 games down the stretch with the Sharks – and was limited to four points (one goal, three assists) as a result. However, he was decent on draws (48.6 FO%) and was a factor physically with 110 hits on the season. He also helped drive play for the Sharks at even strength in his limited minutes down the stretch. He spent most of his time centering a checking line with Barclay Goodrow and Carl Grundström and helped the trio control 51.4% of expected goals, per MoneyPuck.
Ostapchuk will be making his Barracuda debut when he suits up for them in the postseason. He’s eligible to play in the AHL playoffs because he was on assignment to AHL Belleville when Ottawa and San Jose executed their trade, so he was briefly on the Barracuda’s roster before the Sharks recalled him. He had 2-9–11 in 15 showings with the B-Sens earlier this season.
The 23-year-old Thompson also spent a solid portion of the season on the Sharks’ roster. Acquired from the Lightning in last year’s Anthony Duclair trade, the offensive-minded righty managed 4-6–10 with a minus-nine rating in 31 games while averaging 15:47 per contest. Half of his assists came on the power play, where he was sometimes deployed on the second unit and averaged 1:08 per game.
While not an overly physical one-on-one defender, the 6’1″ rearguard is willing to block shots and had good possession results in his rookie season. San Jose controlled 45.4% of shot attempts and 50.4% of expected goals with Thompson on the ice at even strength, both around or above team averages. Both he and Ostapchuk are candidates to start next season on the opening night roster, particularly the former, although he requires a new contract as a pending restricted free agent. He’ll now aid the Barracuda in the postseason after posting 3-11–14 in 27 regular-season AHL contests.
Danila Yurov Released From KHL Contract
Top Wild prospect Danila Yurov has been released from his contract with Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the Kontinental Hockey League a few weeks ahead of schedule, the league announced. Minnesota is now eligible to sign the 21-year-old to his entry-level deal, although Michael Russo of The Athletic reports no contract is in place yet.
Still, it’s incredibly likely Yurov is in St. Paul for training camp next fall and, if all goes to plan, will be on the Wild’s opening night roster. The No. 24 overall pick in the 2022 draft went lower than most expected given his skill level, largely due to his contract status with Magnitogorsk.
For Minnesota, he’ll be a player worth waiting for. He was the top forward in their system and second-ranked prospect overall behind defenseman Zeev Buium in Scott Wheeler of The Athletic’s midseason rankings, and for good reason. A well-rounded 6’1″, 176-lb right-winger, Yurov has posted 41-47–88 in 209 career KHL games over the last five years with Metallurg. That included a team-leading 21-28–49 scoring line in 62 games in 2023-24 before leading Magnitogorsk to a Gagarin Cup.
This season wasn’t as productive for Yurov. Injuries took a bite out of his campaign, and he was limited to 46 of Metallurg’s 68 regular-season games. His point per game rate dropped off when dressed, and he finished the year with 13-12–25 and a +15 rating, the latter of which ranked second on the team. He was limited to one goal in five playoff games as the defending champions were stamped out of the first round of the KHL playoffs by Avangard Omsk.
If all goes to plan, Yurov should be a cost-effective addition to the top nine that allows more cap space for the Wild to devote toward a new deal for pending RFA center Marco Rossi as well as external additions in free agency. If he doesn’t crack the opening night roster, though, don’t expect him to report to Minnesota’s AHL in Iowa.
Any ELC will likely include a clause that allows the Wild to loan Yurov back to Metallurg, who retains his KHL rights, if he doesn’t make the team. It’s probably for the best. Iowa hasn’t served as a good developmental partner for the Wild in the past few years, finishing well under the .500 mark for the second straight season in 2024-25.