Dominik Kahun Signs Three-Year Deal In Switzerland
Swiss National League club Lausanne HC has signed veteran winger Dominik Kahun to a three-year deal, per a team announcement. While he spent the beginning of the season with rival SC Bern, he’s been released from his deal there and will join Lausanne immediately.
The news all but rules out an NHL return for Kahun, who’s played exclusively in Switzerland since his three-year run in the NHL from 2018 to 2021. In 186 games with the Blackhawks, Penguins, Sabres, and Oilers, Kahun produced a solid 34-49–83 scoring line in bottom-six minutes. After going non-tendered by Edmonton in the 2021 offseason, Kahun opted for a starring role overseas instead of a depth one in the NHL and inked a three-year deal with Bern.
That contract started off on a high note. Kahun immediately led Bern in scoring with 16-28–44 in 42 games during his first season in the NL, and the move overseas allowed him to pot a goal and two assists at the 2022 Winter Olympics for his native Germany. The performance led Bern to sign Kahun to another three-year extension with two years remaining on his current deal, set to keep him with the club through the 2026-27 season. Injuries limited him to four goals in 23 regular-season games in 2022-23, but he still managed 21 points and scored six times in nine postseason games. A healthy Kahun took things to new heights last season, leading the league with 35 assists in 47 games.
Unfortunately, he’s fallen off the map in 2024-25. He last played for Bern in late January, ending his tenure there with 2-7–9 with a minus-seven rating in 24 games. The 5’11” winger, who won three straight DEL titles before coming over to the NHL and was a member of Germany’s silver-medal winning effort at the 2018 Olympics, now hopes to revitalize his career on a league-leading Lausanne club that’s the only NL side so far to clinch a postseason berth. They also recently added ex-NHLer Brendan Perlini and are captained by 590-game NHL veteran Michael Raffl.
List Of NHL-Affiliated Prospects In The Ontario Hockey League
The Canadian Hockey League trade deadlines are in the rearview mirror. That makes it a good time to take stock of where NHL teams have their prospect pool skating ahead of the big league deadline. We’re taking a look at how many prospects each team has in the world’s top junior association, starting with the Ontario Hockey League:
Anaheim Ducks
F Ethan Procyszyn (North Bay Battalion)
F Beckett Sennecke (Oshawa Generals)
D Konnor Smith (Brampton Steelheads)
F Carey Terrance (Erie Otters)
Buffalo Sabres
G Ryerson Leenders (Brantford Bulldogs)
F Ethan Miedema (Kingston Frontenacs)
Calgary Flames
F Jacob Battaglia (Kingston Frontenacs)
D Henry Mews (Sudbury Wolves)
F Luke Misa (Brampton Steelheads)
D Zayne Parekh (Saginaw Spirit)
Chicago Blackhawks
D Ty Henry (Erie Otters)
F Nick Lardis (Brantford Bulldogs)
F Martin Misiak (Erie Otters)
F Alex Pharand (Sudbury Wolves)
F Jack Pridham (Kitchener Rangers)
F A.J. Spellacy (Windsor Spitfires)
F Marek Vanacker (Brantford Bulldogs)
Colorado Avalanche
F Christian Humphreys (Kitchener Rangers)
F Calum Ritchie (Oshawa Generals)
Columbus Blue Jackets
G Nolan Lalonde (Soo Greyhounds)
D Luca Marelli (Oshawa Generals)
F Luca Pinelli (Ottawa 67’s)
Dallas Stars
D Tristan Bertucci (Barrie Colts)
F Brad Gardiner (Barrie Colts)
F Emil Hemming (Barrie Colts)
F Angus MacDonell (Brampton Steelheads)
Detroit Red Wings
G Landon Miller (Soo Greyhounds)
Edmonton Oilers
D Beau Akey (Barrie Colts)
F Connor Clattenburg (Flint Firebirds)
G Nathaniel Day (Flint Firebirds)
F William Nicholl (London Knights)
F Sam O’Reilly (London Knights)
F Brady Stonehouse (Peterborough Petes)
F Dalyn Wakely (Barrie Colts)
Los Angeles Kings
G Carter George (Owen Sound Attack)
F Liam Greentree (Windsor Spitfires)
D Matthew Mania (Flint Firebirds)
D Jared Woolley (London Knights)
Minnesota Wild
D Stevie Leskovar (Brampton Steelheads)
Montreal Canadiens
D Owen Protz (Brantford Bulldogs)
Nashville Predators
D Andrew Gibson (Oshawa Generals)
F Joey Willis (Kingston Frontenacs)
New Jersey Devils
F Cole Brown (Brantford Bulldogs)
New York Islanders
F Jesse Nurmi (London Knights)
New York Rangers
F Nathan Aspinall (Flint Firebirds)
Ottawa Senators
D Matthew Andonovski (Kitchener Rangers)
D Gabriel Eliasson (Barrie Colts)
F Lucas Ellinas (Kitchener Rangers)
D Tomas Hamara (Brantford Bulldogs)
F Blake Montgomery (London Knights)
Philadelphia Flyers
F Denver Barkey (London Knights)
D Oliver Bonk (London Knights)
F Jett Luchanko (Guelph Storm)
F Noah Powell (Oshawa Generals)
Pittsburgh Penguins
F Cooper Foster (Ottawa 67’s)
D Finn Harding (Brampton Steelheads)
D Emil Pieniniemi (Kingston Frontenacs)
San Jose Sharks
F Igor Chernyshov (Saginaw Spirit)
D Sam Dickinson (London Knights)
F Kasper Halttunen (London Knights)
F Quentin Musty (Sudbury Wolves)
Seattle Kraken
D Jakub Fibigr (Brampton Steelheads)
F Andrei Loshko (Niagara IceDogs)
F Carson Rehkopf (Brampton Steelheads)
F Nathan Villeneuve (Sudbury Wolves)
St. Louis Blues
D Quinton Burns (Kingston Frontenacs)
D Lukas Fischer (Sarnia Sting)
D Adam Jiříček (Brantford Bulldogs)
D Matthew Mayich (Ottawa 67’s)
Tampa Bay Lightning
F Ethan Hay (Kingston Frontenacs)
F Kaden Pitre (Flint Firebirds)
Toronto Maple Leafs
F Easton Cowan (London Knights)
D Ben Danford (Oshawa Generals)
F Sam McCue (Flint Firebirds)
Utah Hockey Club
F Owen Allard (Soo Greyhounds)
F Cole Beaudoin (Barrie Colts)
F Noel Nordh (Soo Greyhounds)
Vancouver Canucks
F Vilmer Alriksson (Brampton Steelheads)
F Riley Patterson (Barrie Colts)
F Anthony Romani (Barrie Colts)
Vegas Golden Knights
F Trent Swick (Kitchener Rangers)
F Tuomas Uronen (Kingston Frontenacs)
Washington Capitals
D Cam Allen (London Knights)
F Ilya Protas (Windsor Spitfires)
F Patrick Thomas (Brantford Bulldogs)
Winnipeg Jets
F Colby Barlow (Oshawa Generals)
F Kevin He (Niagara IceDogs)
F Jacob Julien (London Knights)
F Kieron Walton (Sudbury Wolves)
Trade Deadline Primer: New York Islanders
With the 4 Nations Face-Off break here, the trade deadline looms large and is less than three weeks away. Where does each team stand, and what moves should they be looking to make? We continue our look around the league with the New York Islanders.
Against all odds, the Islanders have a fighting chance at a sixth postseason berth in the last seven years. Despite organizational pillars Mathew Barzal, Noah Dobson, and Ryan Pulock all missing significant time due to injuries – and they all remain out as of the break – they’ve put together an 8-3-0 run and sit four points back of the Red Wings for the final playoff spot in the East. That will likely motivate general manager Lou Lamoriello to focus on extending his veteran pending UFAs, but will he be willing to lose them for nothing if talks aren’t productive?
Record
25-23-7, 6th in the Metropolitan Division
Deadline Status
Retooler
Deadline Cap Space
$1.95MM on deadline day + $7.775MM LTIR pool, 0/3 retention slots used, 49/50 contracts used, per PuckPedia.
Upcoming Draft Picks
2025: NYI 1st, NYI 2nd, NYI 3rd, NYI 4th, NYI 5th, NYI 6th, NYI 7th
2026: NYI 1st, NYI 3rd, NYI 4th, NYI 6th, NYI 7th
Trade Chips
Despite ongoing preliminary extension discussions, veteran center Brock Nelson remains the best New York has to offer as arguably the most valuable rental asset still available on the market. He’s currently championship-bound with the United States at the 4 Nations, but in league play, the steady 33-year-old has contributed 17-18–35 in 55 games with a plus-one rating. While he’s on pace to fall short of the 30-goal mark for the first time since the shortened 2020-21 campaign, he’s still a veritable top-six talent.
He’s bounced between wing and center over the course of his career but has settled in down the middle. Faceoffs have routinely been a struggle for Nelson, but not this season. He’s winning draws at a career-best 53.2% clip, is averaging a career-high 19:10 per game, and should expect more goal-scoring down the stretch after finishing at 11.6%, nearly three points south of his career average, so far.
Nelson’s longtime linemate, winger Kyle Palmieri, is a pending UFA in the same boat. There’s been less said about extension negotiations there, but if Nelson isn’t sticking around for a playoff rate, there’s little use in not getting value out of Palmieri as well. The 34-year-old is still a bonafide top-six talent, tying Bo Horvat for the team lead in assists with 21 while tallying 37 points in 18:15 of ATOI. He’s one year removed from the second 30-goal campaign of his 15-year career, and while his $5MM cap hit may require a small bit of salary retention to get a deal across the finish line, he’ll net a significant return.
Outside of those two, there won’t be many Islanders drawing trade interest if they do decide to sell off assets and commit to a roster retool. All of their top talents (including Nelson and Palmieri) have some form of trade protection, and they’ve already tried and failed to move on from deals with term left like Jean-Gabriel Pageau‘s $5MM AAV through 2025-26. They’ve also gotten their blue line work out the way early, acquiring veteran Tony DeAngelo and pending RFAs Adam Boqvist and Scott Perunovich to weather the storm in the absence of Dobson and Pulock.
It’s worth noting Dobson is a pending RFA who’s recently changed his representation, but rumors of him being on the trade market were again squashed by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on Friday’s 32 Thoughts podcast.
Team Needs
1) Offensive Needle-Mover: The Islanders’ offensive struggles aren’t a new or unforeseeable phenomenon. They rank 26th in goals per game with 2.73, the seventh year in a row they’ve been decidedly in the bottom half of the league. They’ll need to offload significant assets to make it happen – potentially even Dobson, whose name was reportedly discussed in a lone scenario for a first-line forward – but a bonafide 90-point player would give New York the offensive centerpiece they haven’t had on the Island since John Tavares‘ departure.
2) Backup Goaltender: Ilya Sorokin has had to handle the lion’s share of starts since veteran backup Semyon Varlamov exited the lineup with a lower-body injury in early December. He was initially ruled as day-to-day but is now on LTIR and remains out indefinitely. No. 3 option Marcus Högberg did well in limited usage after being called up from AHL Bridgeport, notching a .947 SV% in seven appearances, but he’s now on IR and leaves the organization without a reliable option to relieve Sorokin as they look to stay in the race.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Trade Deadline Primer: Minnesota Wild
With the 4 Nations Face-Off break upon us, the trade deadline looms large and is less than a month away. Where does each team stand, and what moves should they be looking to make? We continue our look around the league with the Minnesota Wild.
The Minnesota Wild find themselves in an interesting situation as they have been a pleasant surprise this season and are likely bound for the playoffs, barring a collapse. The Wild have done this despite having nearly $15MM of dead money counting against the salary cap and their top player missing significant time due to injury. While the Wild have overachieved, they may be limited by their cap situation. However, they could also use some of their draft capital or promising prospects to move out some money if they find a player that they feel can help them.
Record
33-19-4, 3rd in the Central Division
Deadline Status
Buyers
Deadline Cap Space
$1.4MM on deadline day*, 0/3 retention slots used, 47/50 contract slots used, per PuckPedia.
*Since Kirill Kaprizov is on long-term injured reserve but is expected to return before the end of the regular season, we’re not including his LTIR pool here. They may have some added flexibility at the deadline if he remains on LTIR but they would still need to remain cap-compliant down the stretch by making subsequent roster moves.
Upcoming Draft Picks
2025: MIN 2nd, TOR 4th, CBJ 5th, MIN 6th
2026: MIN 1st, MIN 2nd, MIN 3rd, MIN 4th, SJS 5th, MIN 5th, BOS 6th, MIN 6th, MIN 7th
Trade Chips
Minnesota traded their first-round pick earlier this season as part of a large package to the Columbus Blue Jackets for defenseman David Jiříček. While Jiříček hasn’t contributed much this season, he looks like a long-term fixture for the Wild, which will ultimately make the trade worthwhile. However, it added a barrier to improving this year’s club (coupled with the lack of salary cap space) and leaves them with few trade chips to part with. As mentioned earlier, the Wild could move future draft picks or promising prospects, but they probably don’t have an appetite for that right now unless they can acquire a player with term who will fit in their plans. The Wild hold just four draft picks this year. However, they have all of their picks next season plus two additional late-round picks.
As far as pieces that could be moved for help this season, Marco Rossi is a name that can’t seem to escape trade rumors. The 23-year-old has emerged as a solid offensive contributor this season for Minnesota, registering 19 goals and 28 assists in 56 games. Rossi was selected by the Wild 9th overall in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft and has started to show why teams were so high on him. If Minnesota were to move on from the undersized forward, they would create a hole in their forward group that Rossi has been filling for most of this season. Although, given his age and production, he would net the Wild a significant return that they could then use to fill other holes. Rossi is a restricted free agent this summer and is making just $863,334 this season.
The Wild don’t have many other pieces that could be moved off of their NHL roster in a deal, as they have several forwards who are underperforming offensively. However, they do have several prospects who are almost NHL-ready and could be part of a massive deal if Minnesota has the appetite and cap space to facilitate a move. Forward Liam Ohgren is a name that comes to mind; the 2022 first-round pick (19th overall) is still finding his way but has had a run in the NHL this season, posting a goal and three assists in 19 games. While those offensive numbers are underwhelming at first glance, they are distorted by an incredibly low shooting percentage of just four percent.
Another forward the Wild could potentially part with is Riley Heidt, who was their second-round pick in 2023 (64th overall). Heidr is currently the captain of the Prince George Cougars of the Western Hockey League and is having a terrific season, posting 25 goals and 41 assists in 43 games. Heidr is a bit undersized, but he more than makes up for it with his physical play. Teams will covet his enthusiasm for getting to the dirty areas of the ice and playing a disruptive game, but Minnesota may not be willing to part with a player who could very well be their captain one day.
Team Needs
1.) A Top Six Forward: The Wild have been operating with a patchwork forward group since Kaprizov went down with injury and were further depleted when Joel Eriksson Ek was also missing time. On paper, The Wild’s forward group looks like a mishmash of journeymen forwards and young skilled forwards, but in reality, they’ve been a middle-of-the-road offensive team (17th out of 32). Minnesota could benefit from an additional top-six forward who could displace some of the forwards who are punching above their weight class at the moment. However, the cost to acquire and the additional salary will likely make this kind of addition a difficult one. Minnesota has just $1.4MM in deadline day cap space, meaning they would likely need other teams to retain salary if they were to bring in a veteran. Local boys Brock Nelson and Brock Boeser would make a lot of sense for Minnesota as they would represent major upgrades to the top six. However, both men have salaries north of $6MM and will likely be too rich for Minnesota’s tastes this year.
2.) Depth Scoring: The Wild would benefit immensely from more depth scoring from the likes of Ryan Hartman; however, the next best option might be to find more scoring on the trade market. Ryan Donato of the Chicago Blackhawks could be a good option with his $2MM cap hit and the potential to be a lower-cost acquisition. However, it’s always tricky when a player is having a career year and then gets traded, and there is no guarantee that Donato would carry that momentum over in a trade. However, given the Wild’s predicament, Donato may be their best option. Another good depth option could be Jake Evans of the Montreal Canadiens, who has also put together a career year and is a pending unrestricted free agent (just like Donato). At 28 years old, Evans has never topped 30 points in a season, but with 11 goals and 16 assists in 56 games this year, he will most certainly set career highs and should get a nice payday this July.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports.
PHR’s Josh Cybulski contributed to this article.
Blues, Penguins Swap Mathias Laferrière, Corey Andonovski
The Penguins announced this afternoon that they’ve acquired minor-league forward Mathias Laferrière from the Blues in exchange for similarly-cast depth winger Corey Andonovski. Both will report to their new affiliate clubs in AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Springfield, respectively.
Laferrière, 24, was a sixth-round pick by the Blues in 2018 and hasn’t made his NHL debut. He’s now in his fourth season of professional hockey, almost all of which has been spent in Springfield, aside from a three-game assignment to ECHL Worcester in 2020-21. He’s been a versatile depth piece in that time, recording 21-49–70 with 62 PIMs and an even rating in 207 games. The 6’2″ forward can line up at both center and right-wing and posted 2-8–10 through the first 33 games of this season with Springfield.
Because Laferrière is set to turn 25 in late June, he will be narrowly eligible for Group VI unrestricted free agency this summer. He’s thus ineligible for a qualifying offer and can sign anywhere he chooses if he doesn’t agree to an extension with the Penguins before July 1. He’s on a one-year, two-way deal he signed last June to avoid a bout with restricted free agency in St. Louis, paying him $100K in the minors.
Like Laferrière, Andonovski arrives in the Blues organization without NHL experience. Pittsburgh signed the 25-year-old as an undrafted free agent out of Princeton in 2022, and he’s spent the last three seasons and change suiting up for the Baby Pens in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. The 6’1″, 209-lb winger was a capable secondary scorer as recently as last year when he recorded a career-high 30 points in 63 games. He’s fallen on hard times in 2024-25, though, limited to 3-2–5 in 27 games with 15 PIMs and a plus-one rating.
Andonovski has also accrued enough professional experience to be eligible for Group VI unrestricted free agency this summer. He earns $5K less than Laferrière at the AHL level, saving St. Louis an insignificant amount of cash.
Neither player is expected to factor into NHL minutes down the stretch, and the likelihood of them seeing the game’s highest level at all in their careers seems slim. They’ll instead serve as minor-league depth for the next few months before having the opportunity to find new life this summer in another organization or overseas.
Ducks Could Make Ryan Strome Available At Deadline
The Ducks are one of the apparent sellers heading into deadline season, but they don’t have many obvious desirable assets outside of pending unrestricted free agent defenseman Brian Dumoulin and goaltender John Gibson, whose rebound season could finally land Anaheim the trade return they’ve desired for years. However, in Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic‘s latest trad board, he tossed center Ryan Strome into the mix for a deadline move. Strome is signed through the 2026-27 season at a $5MM cap hit.
While Anaheim has a thin center market going for them if they are indeed shopping Strome, there isn’t much else. As Johnston profiles, he’s a “decent middle-six option on a competitive team” but lacks much of any defensive acumen and often struggles in the faceoff dot. In terms of pure secondary offensive production, though, Strome is a more established and safer option than a breakout player like Ryan Donato, although he’ll provide most of his point production via assists and costs more than twice the money and has two years left on his deal.
There’s also the question of how aggressively the Ducks will push to offload him. Opting to sign veteran winger Frank Vatrano to a three-year extension last month muddies Strome’s role in the future as the Ducks continue to graduate prospects to the NHL past the halfway point of their rebuild. Strome’s money is likely better used elsewhere to land more impactful talents in free agency to support their young core, but with the Ducks operating closer to the cap floor than the cap this year with significant cap increases coming, that’s not much of a concern.
Moving Strome for a sizable return will almost certainly require general manager Pat Verbeek to retain some salary. Whether he views that as a prudent use of one of his two open retention slots through next season remains to be seen. Anaheim’s already used up one of their three on defenseman Cam Fowler, who will count against their books at a $2.5MM cap hit through 2025-26 after they traded him to the Blues in December.
The 31-year-old Strome is now in the third season of the five-year, $25MM pact he signed with Anaheim in free agency in 2022. The ex-Rangers pivot has clicked at a decent 0.52 points per game rate since arriving in Orange County, boosted by increased production in 2024-25. He’s recorded 7-23–30 through 54 games, and while those seven goals are on pace for his lowest total in nine years, his playmaking production means his overall production is coming at its best per-game basis since joining the Ducks. He’s also amid an uncharacteristically strong defensive campaign, recording a minus-four rating and 47.6 CF% at even strength that both check in as his best, by far, in Anaheim.
Canada’s Shea Theodore To Miss Remainder Of 4 Nations Face-Off
10:45 a.m.: Theodore is expected to be out week-to-week due to the upper-body injury, the Golden Knights said Thursday. Whether he’ll remain out through the trade deadline remains to be seen, but it’s clear he won’t be ready to go when Vegas resumes its schedule on Feb. 22 against the Canucks.
8:17 a.m.: Canada defenseman Shea Theodore will be sidelined for the rest of the 4 Nations Face-Off after sustaining an upper-body injury in last night’s overtime win over Sweden, head coach Jon Cooper told reporters postgame (including Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet).
The Golden Knights blue-liner hit the boards awkwardly while being hit by Swedish Kings winger Adrian Kempe early in the second period. He skated off under his own power and appeared to favor his right arm/shoulder area. During the game, TNT’s Jackie Redmond relayed that Theodore was already undergoing X-rays as part of his initial evaluation.
Unfortunately for the 29-year-old, his second appearance for the Canadian men’s national team ends after nine shifts and 6:59 of ice time. Canada cannot immediately replace Theodore on its roster – they can only add replacements if fewer than 18 healthy skaters are available for a game. Travis Sanheim was scratched as their extra defenseman against Sweden but will make his tournament debut on Saturday against the United States.
It’s a tough break for the 6’2″ lefty, who’s produced at an elite clip for Vegas since the turn of the decade but has struggled with injuries over the past few seasons. He hasn’t played more than 60 regular-season games in a single campaign since 2021-22. He was on track to play in all but one regular season game this year after missing a game due to illness back in October, but his availability for Vegas coming out of the two-week break in the schedule is now uncertain.
Theodore wasn’t going to be a top power-play option for Canada – they had Cale Makar and Josh Morrissey to quarterback their two units. But he was arguably their best puck-mover and most offensively gifted blue-liner behind those two, and a much lower-ceiling option in Sanheim now has to fill his minutes.
Vegas is far more concerned about Theodore missing time than the national side, though. He’s inarguably been their top defenseman this season, leading the club’s blue-liners in goals (seven), assists (41), points (48), shot attempts (282), takeaways (27), expected rating (+9.5), and CF% at even strength (52.1). For a team that entered the break on a 5-8-3 skid, that’s tough news.
Theodore’s lone previous appearance for the Canadian men’s national team came in 2019 when he recorded 2-5–7 with a plus-nine rating in 10 games en route to a silver medal at the World Championship. He also suited up for Canada at the 2013 U18 Worlds and the 2015 World Juniors.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Bruins Receiving Interest In Brandon Carlo, Morgan Geekie
The Bruins are receiving inquiries about the availability of defenseman Brandon Carlo and pending restricted free agent forward Morgan Geekie, ESPN’s Emily Kaplan said last weekend (via Scott McLaughlin of WEEI). Kaplan also relayed they continue to field calls on pending UFA Trent Frederic, who’s been garnering interest throughout much of the season. It’s far less likely that Boston will part ways with captain Brad Marchand even if they haven’t worked out an extension by the March 7 trade deadline, Kaplan added.
There’s little surprise that Boston is seeking to part ways with some of their middle-of-the-lineup players amid what’s likely to be a retooling effort over the next few seasons. They just locked in starter Jeremy Swayman to an eight-year, $66MM deal at the beginning of the season and still have six years remaining on superstar David Pastrňák‘s contract, as well as five years remaining on top defenseman Charlie McAvoy‘s deal. The team’s books aren’t conducive to a complete rebuild despite them tracking to miss the playoffs for the first time in nine years.
After losing Jake DeBrusk in free agency last summer and signing Elias Lindholm to a max-term deal to augment their center depth, things haven’t gone to plan for the Bruins offensively. They’re clicking at 2.75 goals per game, 25th in the league and their worst since their 2.55 mark in the 2014-15 season. Marchand and Pastrňák have continued to produce at elite levels, but the latter is still only on pace for 40 goals after notching 61 and 47 in the prior two years. Lindholm has flamed out, limited to 10-19–29 through 57 games – unjustifiable production for his $7.75MM cap hit, no matter how well he grades out defensively (where he’s had average possession impacts this season).
Including Lindholm, five Bruins forwards have produced in the 15-30 point range at this point in the season. Among the pack are Frederic and Geekie, both in their primes and don’t have bonafide top-six ceilings on a championship-contending team. It makes sense they’d at least be talked about by Bruins management as they begin the shift to prioritizing younger, higher-upside pieces in their lineup.
However, Carlo’s name is more surprising to see on the list of potentially available players. In past years, his $4.1MM cap hit would have been considered below market value, especially as he’s locked in through the 2026-27 campaign. A tough year from the 28-year-old likely diminishes his trade value slightly, but with a lengthy track record of being a stalwart top-four defender, it’s likely teams will see a down season as a blip, not a trend, from a right-shot defender below 30 years old.
He will immediately rank among the top righties available on deadline day if Boston shifts from just taking calls to shopping him. That said, his all-around numbers this season aren’t inspiring. His 18:40 ATOI is his lowest since arriving in Boston nine years ago, and while he’s not relied upon for offense, his nine points in 56 games is the lowest pace we’ve seen from him in four years. Defensive metrics don’t paint a rosy picture, either. Carlo’s penalty kill time has been eaten into by Nikita Zadorov, and at even strength, his 45.6 CF% and -9.0 expected rating rank worst among the team’s full-time blue-liners. Extremely difficult defensive minutes don’t do him any good there, but with the latter number tracking as a career-worst, it’s a cause for concern.
Submit Your Questions For The #PHRMailbag
The 4 Nations Face-Off will provide a breather from day-to-day transactions, leaving general managers added time to focus on what the next month may entail for their clubs before the March 7 trade deadline. There have been multiple big swaps already, but more are still to come, with Dylan Cozens, Seth Jones, Brock Nelson, and Rickard Rakell among the names who could be on the move.
With that in mind, it’s a good time for our next mailbag segment. Our last one was split into two parts. The first included forward targets for the Lightning, the likelihood of the Panthers retaining both Sam Bennett and Aaron Ekblad, and whether Jakob Chychrun will stick with the Capitals, among other topics. The second discussed offer sheet strategies for the summer, additions the Flyers could make to pair with Matvei Michkov, and whether Zach Werenski can bring a Norris Trophy to Columbus.
You can submit a question by using #PHRMailbag on Twitter/X or by leaving a comment down below. The mailbag will run on the weekend.
Islanders’ Brock Nelson Still Undecided On Extension
Islanders forward and top trade deadline candidate Brock Nelson remains interested in an extension with New York but was otherwise noncommittal when asked about the subject by Ethan Sears of the New York Post on Tuesday following practice with Team USA ahead of the 4 Nations Face-Off.
“There’s a lot of factors that go into [a contract decision],” Nelson said. “I know everybody kind of wants an answer right now. That’s not how the world works. You don’t always get what you want.”
Nelson said that the opportunity retire an Islander, which could result in him becoming the franchise’s all-time games played leader, will be a factor. “Only knowing Long Island, only being an Islander, knowing how much history the team has and the legends that have played there before and what they’ve done plays into it as well.”
Sears references a report from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet on yesterday’s 32 Thoughts podcast that Nelson’s agent, Octagon’s Ben Hankinson, will continue talks with general manager Lou Lamoriello during this month’s downtime while Nelson represents his country. Sources told RG.org last week that the Isles and Nelson had “option for a three-year extension” with a raise over his current $6MM AAV, but a separate report in the same article that the Islanders were beginning to shop around Noah Dobson was scaled back by Friedman yesterday.
Nelson, 33, is undeniably the top center available on the rental market after the Stars snagged Mikael Granlund from the Sharks last month. He’d help the Islanders recoup at least a first-round pick, something they need (even in a weaker 2025 draft) to continue restocking a prospect pool that ranks near the bottom of the league. He’s got 17-18–35 through 55 games, though, down from his 70-point pace over the past couple of years. His 11.6% shooting rate is shy of his career average, but there’s legitimate concern about his aging curve making any multi-year commitment with a raise attached age poorly and inhibit any retooling efforts on Long Island.
The 2010 first-round pick has suited up in 895 regular-season games for the Isles, fifth in franchise history and 228 back of Bryan Trottier for the franchise record. A three-year deal, assuming he stays overwhelming healthy, would get him across the finish line.
But while Nelson has denied speculation recently that him signing with his hometown Wild this summer was all but a formality, the opportunity to join a team deeper into a championship contention window – and one with the superstar scoring talent the Islanders lack – may be too much to turn down. Nelson ranks 13th in Islanders franchise history with 50 points in 78 career postseason appearances, including back-to-back runs to the Eastern Conference Final in 2020 and 2021.