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Offseason Checklist: Colorado Avalanche

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The offseason has arrived for all but two teams now with the playoffs nearing an end.  Accordingly, it’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming weeks with free agency fast approaching.  Next up is a look at Colorado.

The Avalanche set a franchise record with three straight 100-point regular seasons in 2023-24 and extended that streak in 2024-25, although their .622 points percentage was still their worst in six years. That record was influenced by one of the biggest in-season resets in recent memory, carried out by general manager Chris MacFarland, who managed to give his club a new goaltending tandem and swap out a large portion of their forward group between opening night and the postseason. While the team had an excellent record down the stretch, winning 16 of their last 23 games, they lost a seven-game heartbreaker to the Stars in the first round. With a brand-new support staff for Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar in tow, Colorado has a few items to tend to this summer to extend their championship contention window.

Solidify Nečas’ Future

Star winger Mikko Rantanen was a pending unrestricted free agent last summer; extension talks for him were an item on their 2024 offseason checklist. They now enter the same situation with Martin Nečas, the centerpiece of their return when they sent Rantanen to the Hurricanes in January following unproductive contract negotiations. He’ll become a pending UFA on July 1 as he enters the back half of the two-year, $13MM bridge deal he signed with Carolina as a restricted free agent in 2024.

Nečas’ trade value had never been higher than when Carolina dealt him. The Czech forward was on pace to break the point-per-game mark for the first time in his career with a 16-39–55 line in 49 games at the time of the trade. Even though 55 points was his career average per 82 games entering the season, the Avs hoped that might be sustainable if they plopped Nečas in Rantanen’s spot next to MacKinnon, a higher-caliber center than he had in Raleigh-Durham.

Instead, things went about as expected for Nečas in Colorado. He saw his minutes increase, skating over 20 minutes per game after averaging 17-18 during his time in Carolina, but his production tapered off slightly from his early-season tear. He still managed 11 goals and 28 points in 30 games to end the year, which still would have been a career-high 0.93 points per game pace over a full season on their own, but predictably didn’t click at the well above a point per game rate Rantanen had over the last five years in Denver.

Nečas will still be one of the Avalanche’s better-value contracts last season at a $6.5MM cap hit if he can play a full season, something he’s had no trouble doing, and remain around that 75-80 point pace. However, unlike waiting until after the season started to have aggressive extension talks with Rantanen, they’ll look to kick Nečas’ discussions off earlier to avoid a repeat and force another in-season blockbuster to avoid losing him for nothing next summer. Yet with a rising cap, he’s due a considerable raise. AFP Analytics projects a Nečas extension with a $9.9MM cap hit for seven seasons, considering the salary cap’s projected jump to $104MM for the 2026-27 campaign. MacFarland needs to begin weighing if that’s a price he’s willing to pay with Makar becoming extension-eligible in the summer of 2026.

Create Cap Flexibility

Outside of Nečas, the Avs don’t have much in the way of major contract business to attend to. They’ve had a busy past few weeks, keeping new second-line center Brock Nelson in the fold on a three-year extension with a $7.5MM cap hit. They also got their new starting goaltender, Mackenzie Blackwood, signed to a five-year extension shortly after acquiring him from the Sharks in December.

The good news is they already have 19 of 23 roster spots locked in for next season as a result. The bad news is that they have just $1.2MM in cap space, per PuckPedia, only enough to sign one league-minimum player and carry a roster with no healthy extras. At present, they stand no chance of re-signing their two top UFAs, winger Jonathan Drouin and defenseman Ryan Lindgren. Even one cap-dump trade likely won’t be enough to bring back one of them, but it would at least allow them to add more cheap pickups (or re-sign a few of their own) while having in-season flexibility in case short-term injuries arise.

The few inefficient contracts on Colorado’s books will be under scrutiny as a result. They sent Casey Mittelstadt to the Bruins at the trade deadline to acquire veteran Charlie Coyle to serve as their new third-line center, but he carries a $5.25MM price tag. With MacKinnon and Nelson, their top two centers, now making a combined $20.1MM against the cap, that’s not an affordable number for a No. 3 – even if he ended the year strong with 13 points in 19 games. With only one year left on his deal and one year removed from a career-high 60 points with Boston, they wouldn’t have much trouble moving him at first glance. However, they’d need to convince Coyle to waive his no-movement clause, something he may not be eager to do again after waiving it to join a championship contender in Colorado.

There’s also Ross Colton, whose $4MM cap hit is fine value in a vacuum but, again, a tad pricey for a third-line winger. Moving Coyle and saving an additional $1.25MM in space would be far preferable, but it would be easier to move Colton, who only has a modified no-trade clause and had a 16-13–29 scoring line in 61 games last season. Injury-prone depth winger Miles Wood, who’s less expensive at $2.5MM per season, could also be someone Colorado looks to ship out, but that could also prove semi-challenging with four years left on his contract. He also has a six-team no-trade list.

That might mean Colorado turns to their defense, where their depth is far weaker, as a necessity to free up space. They wouldn’t be looking to deal either of their major trade candidates, second-pairing fixtures Samuel Girard and Josh Manson, purely as a cap dump as a result, particularly without many suitable options to replace them in free agency. They’d be looking to attach an asset to them to gain a more cost-efficient roster player back, even if they’re getting a worse overall player, to be able to spread the wealth a little more behind their elite top pairing of Makar and Devon Toews. Girard has two years left on his contract at $5MM per season with a nine-team no-trade list, while Manson has one year left at $4.5MM with a 12-team no-trade list.

Find A New Power Play Coach

While the Avalanche continued to boast a top-10 power play in the regular season as they have for many years, they converted at just a 13.6% clip against Dallas in the first round. That was 14th out of 16 playoff teams and enough of a margin of error to cost assistant coach Ray Bennett, who had been responsible for the man-advantage unit under head coach Jared Bednar for the last eight seasons, his job.

Bennett has since landed with the Isles, but the Avalanche, who only operate with two assistants (not including a goalie coach) under Bednar instead of the standard three anyway, have yet to name his replacement. That means Nolan Pratt currently serves as Bednar’s lone assistant. This arrangement obviously won’t stretch into the regular season, but for a team with scoring talent of Colorado’s caliber, they need to find their desired option as Bennett’s successor quickly amid other teams filling their AC vacancies.

One name to speculatively watch out for is former Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft. He was a finalist for a few head coach vacancies this offseason but was passed over for all of them. There’s now a potential new opportunity for him in Dallas after the Stars fired Pete DeBoer, but if he’s not considered for the gig, he has experience managing a wealth of high-end scoring talent in Edmonton with good results and could be a natural fit.

Add Defensive Depth

As alluded to earlier, the Avs simply need more behind Makar and Toews on the blue line. This item is a bit of a TBD based on how they handle any potential Girard or Manson trade.

Assuming they manage to open up a bit of flexibility somehow, they still need some third-pairing upgrades even if Girard and Manson remain on next year’s roster. Big lefty Keaton Middleton is a fine press-box option at his peak but not a legitimate everyday third-pairing option on a contender. Righty Sam Malinski played 76 games this season and, while a pending RFA, should be cheap to re-sign and would be a good value piece as Colorado’s 3RD if so. They need a more competent two-way partner for him than Middleton at the very least, though.

That will presumably be the focus of their likely minimal activity in free agency. While not particularly inspiring, there are affordable pending UFAs like Marc Del Gaizo, Joel Hanley, and Jonathon Merrill who can comfortably average more than the paltry 11:29 per game of deployment Middleton received in his 41 games this season. If they manage to clear up more considerable cap space, they could begin to consider some higher-caliber lefties like Brian Dumoulin, Matt Grzelcyk, or Nate Schmidt to play sheltered minutes behind Toews and Girard on the left side, or potentially even bring back Lindgren.

Image courtesy of Jerome Miron-Imagn Images.

Mac Hollowell Signs In Russia

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June 11: Yaroslavl made Hollowell’s addition official today, announcing a one-year deal for the defender on their Telegram channel.

May 29: Pending Group VI unrestricted free agent defenseman Mac Hollowell “is in the final stages of negotiations” to join Russia’s Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the Kontinental Hockey League, Andrey Pchelintsev of Sovsport.ru relays.

Hollowell, 26, hasn’t played in the NHL since receiving a six-game trial with the Maple Leafs in the 2022-23 campaign. He spent this season on a two-way deal with the Penguins after also becoming a Group VI UFA last summer, but he cleared waivers during training camp and went the entire year without a call-up.

The 5’10’, 176-lb righty thus played out his sixth minor-league season with AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, leading their defensemen in scoring with 31 points (1 G, 30 A) in 56 games along with a minus-three rating. Pittsburgh was his third NHL organization. He was initially drafted by current Penguins GM Kyle Dubas in 2018 in the fourth round when he was at the helm in Toronto, playing four years in their system before being non-tendered in 2023. He signed a two-way deal with the Rangers that summer but was stashed with their AHL affiliate in Hartford for the entirety of the campaign before inking his most recent two-way agreement with Pittsburgh.

Without a clear pathway to NHL minutes, the Ontario native will look for an expanded role in one of the top leagues in the world. Lokomotiv is fresh off its first Gagarin Cup championship in franchise history. However, they’ve already lost a piece of their back end to the NHL in the form of 2023 No. 6 overall pick Dmitri Simashev, who signed his entry-level contract with the Mammoth yesterday. Hollowell, an adept puck-mover with a career 0.56 points per game rate in 244 AHL games, would be an impact pickup for a club with just three defenders under contract for next season at the time of writing.

Max Pacioretty Interested In Extension With Maple Leafs

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June 10: Despite concerns raised earlier in the spring, it appears there’s progress toward a reunion between Pacioretty and Toronto. He’s “leaning toward a return after the Leafs expressed considerable interest in keeping him following a terrific postseason,” James Mirtle of The Athletic wrote yesterday. Whether that means a guaranteed contract or another PTO agreement while the Leafs figure out some salary cap considerations remains to be seen.

May 20: Veteran winger Max Pacioretty will become an unrestricted free agent again this summer after completing a one-year deal with the Maple Leafs. Whether he intends to sign another deal remains to be seen. He told reporters today, including Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic, that he isn’t sure if he’ll entertain the idea of an 18th NHL season.

The 36-year-old called this season a “very difficult” one for him due to being away from his family. The Connecticut native still managed to put together a second partial season in a row after undergoing three surgeries on his Achilles tendon in 2022 and 2023.

A training-camp catch-on after inking a tryout with the Leafs, Pacioretty was limited to 13 points in 37 regular-season contests because of various injuries unrelated to his Achilles issues. That didn’t stop him from being one of the most effective producers of the postseason, though. He ranked fourth on the Leafs in playoff scoring despite serving as a scratch for a pair of games in the first round, tallying three goals and five assists for eight points in 11 appearances, including the series-clincher in Game 6 over Ottawa. He did so while averaging just 12:51 per game, the lowest of anybody in the playoffs with multiple games played and at least 0.7 points per game.

Pacioretty, a slam-dunk 30-goal scorer in his prime, will likely get at least a few offers if he’s open to continuing his career. It’s unclear if Toronto would be interested in re-upping him, but it appears the feeling isn’t mutual, even if they did.

He’s still clicking at a 35-point pace per 82 games since resuming his career with the Capitals in 2023-24 following the Achilles tears. He doesn’t have the shooting talent he once did, finishing at just 5.5% over the last two campaigns, but he’s carved out a more physical checking role for himself in a team’s middle six while still managing to contribute some offense.

Minor Transactions: 6/10/25

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With the European transaction wire looking much busier than the NHL one at this point in the calendar, it’s worth taking a look at some former NHLers on the move overseas at Pro Hockey Rumors:

  • Former Blue Jackets first-rounder Gabriel Carlsson has signed a three-year contract with Färjestad BK of the Swedish Hockey League. It’s a return to his home country for Carlsson, who departed the NHL for the SHL’s Växjö Lakers in 2023 but spent last season in Switzerland with the National League’s EV Zug. The 6’5″, 205-lb lefty recorded 18 points in 81 NHL games, mostly for Columbus, aside from a six-game run with the Capitals in his most recent NHL campaign. He spent most of that year with AHL Hershey, where he won a Calder Cup championship. Considering that stands as the defender’s most notable career accomplishment, he’s likely set to play the remainder of his career in Europe. The 28-year-old had 11 points, 40 PIMs, and a plus-four rating in 39 games for Zug this year.
  • Power forward Darren Archibald, who got a cup of coffee in the NHL in the late 2010s with the Canucks and Senators, is headed to Hungary to suit up for Fehérvár AV19 in the Austrian ICEHL. Now 35 years old, the Ontario native has spent the last four seasons in Germany with Grizzlys Wolfsburg, where he had a 70-60–130 scoring line with 117 PIMs in 196 DEL games. Archibald scored six goals, eight assists, and 14 points in 55 NHL games with Vancouver and Ottawa in the 2013-14, 2017-18, and 2018-19 seasons before heading to Europe in 2020. He previously logged 16 points in 15 ICEHL games with the Vienna Capitals in 2020-21.

This page will be updated throughout the day.

Canadiens’ Lane Hutson Wins 2025 Calder Trophy

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Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson has been voted the 2025 Calder Memorial Trophy winner as the NHL’s Rookie of the Year, the league announced Tuesday.

It’s a fitting honor for Hutson, whose historic first season helped fuel Montreal to its first playoff berth in four years. His 60 assists and 66 points broke Hall-of-Famer Chris Chelios’ franchise records of 55 and 64, respectively, by a Canadiens defenseman in his first NHL season.

That offensive dominance by the 5’9″ rearguard, who fell to Montreal with the 62nd overall pick of the 2022 draft due to some overreactionary concerns about his diminutive frame, made him a clear No. 1 ROTY in voters’ eyes. While he wasn’t a unanimous first-place vote, 165 of 191 (86.4%) of ballots had him in the top slot, relays Curtis Pashelka of the Bay Area News Group. No one else received first-place votes out of the other finalists for the award, Flames goaltender Dustin Wolf (15) and Sharks center Macklin Celebrini (11).

There was a clear demarcation between the top four and the rest of the pack. Outside of the finalists, only Flyers winger Matvei Michkov (eight second-place votes, 26 third-place votes) landed a top-three spot on voters’ ballots. The full voting breakdown, which involves a 10-7-5-3-1 points allocation as standard, is as follows:

  1. Hutson – 1,832 (165-26-0-0-0)
  2. Wolf – 1,169 (15-96-59-17-1)
  3. Celebrini – 1,104 (11-61-106-12-1)
  4. Michkov – 645 (0-8-26-151-6)
  5. F Cutter Gauthier (Ducks) – 92 (0-0-0-6-74)
  6. F Will Smith (Sharks) – 62 (0-0-0-2-56)
  7. F Logan Stankoven (Hurricanes) – 22 (0-0-0-2-16)
  8. F Zachary Bolduc (Blues) – 20 (0-0-0-1-17)
  9. F Jackson Blake (Hurricanes) – 9 (0-0-0-0-9)
  10. F Marco Kasper (Red Wings) – 7 (0-0-0-0-7)
  11. F Mackie Samoskevich (Panthers) – 2 (0-0-0-0-2)
  12. D Drew Helleson (Ducks) – 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
    D Denton Mateychuk (Blue Jackets) – 1 (0-0-0-0-1)

Hutson hitting the 60-assist plateau also tied him with Larry Murphy for the all-time record for most assists by a rookie rearguard and helped tie him for sixth in the league in scoring among all defenders this year with Lightning star Victor Hedman. He was the most efficient point-producer of the top nine highest-scoring defenders, averaging the lowest time on ice of the group at 22:44 per game.

While he’ll need to be paired with a strong, defensively grounded partner at even strength to achieve his maximum effectiveness at his peak, something Montreal seems to have found by icing Kaiden Guhle on his off side, he’s set up well to serve as the Habs’ No. 1 defenseman for years to come as they exit their rebuild with their new core. He’s also the first Canadien to win the Calder since Hall-of-Fame goalie Ken Dryden in 1972.

Image courtesy of Marc DesRosiers-Imagn Images.

Penguins Aiming To Reduce Kris Letang’s Minutes

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The Penguins’ retool is in full swing. While the up-and-coming forward group benefits from having a still-effective Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Bryan Rust, and Rickard Rakell to build and develop around, the same can’t be said for the defense corps.

Pittsburgh’s depth issues on the blue line are compounded by the fact that neither of their top two rearguards is expected to return in their current roles next season. In addition to trade talks involving Erik Karlsson likely serving as the dominant storyline of the Penguins’ offseason, the organization is looking to have right-side mainstay Kris Letang slot lower on the depth chart next year as he enters his age-38 campaign, Josh Yohe of The Athletic reports.

As Yohe writes, the Penguins’ front office believes a role reduction is the best way to get value out of the aging defender, who still has three seasons remaining on his contract at a $6.1MM price tag. This season marked Letang’s least effective performance in well over a decade. The lifelong Penguin, known primarily for his elite offensive ceiling, only managed a 9-21–30 scoring line in 74 games. That works out to 0.41 points per game, his worst offensive showing since the 2009-10 season. He only had 14 points in 39 games in the back half of the season, a 0.35 per-game rate.

His point production had already taken somewhat of a hit after the Karlsson pickup, since the latter superseded him on the top power play. That means most of his nosediving point totals had to do with a lack of even-strength output, a more concerning and less variable long-term factor. Letang recorded just 13 even-strength assists in 2024-25 after notching 35 of them, the second-highest mark of his career, the year before.

A reduction in minutes also makes sense for physical reasons. Letang is already fully recovered from the minor heart procedure he underwent in April to address the underlying cause of his two documented strokes, but it’s unrealistic to continue expecting him to shoulder such a high workload.

As Letang’s ice time decreased slightly for the third year in a row, there could be a more dramatic dropoff from the 23-minute range to the 20s next season as a result. He’s already entered the negative value stage that most knew was coming when he signed his six-year, $36.6MM extension in 2022. What wasn’t clear at the time was how the rest of the Penguins’ roster would look when that happened and how they would opt to move forward.

Nearly every scenario still involves Letang finishing his contract in Pittsburgh, Yohe writes. A buyout would be feasible if Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas decided he really needed the roster spot and additional cap space, but that’s rarely an avenue he takes. The negative reputational impact of paying the best defenseman in franchise history to not play for them likely outweighs any positives.

A trade is also out of the question. Letang’s no-movement clause notwithstanding, “it’s believed that no NHL teams are interested in Letang’s services” even if he decides to green-light a deal, according to Yohe.

Assuming Karlsson is moved, their plan for Letang only increases their desperate need for bodies on defense. That could increase their urgency to re-sign pending unrestricted free agent Matt Grzelcyk or put their names in the ring for one of the better free-agent blue-liners on a shorter-term deal while giving prospects like 2022 first-rounder Owen Pickering and 2024 second-rounder Harrison Brunicke a long leash to begin what could be an extremely difficult 2025-26 campaign defensively in Pittsburgh.

Bruins Will Retain Current Assistants, Hire Additional One

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The Bruins won’t see any additional coaching departures this offseason after appointing Marco Sturm as their new head coach last week, general manager Don Sweeney tells Jim McBride of the Boston Globe. Assistants Chris Kelly and Jay Leach, as well as goalie coach Bob Essensa, will comprise the majority of Sturm’s first support staff in Boston.

They will, however, look to hire a third assistant to replace Joe Sacco, Sweeney said. Sacco was promoted to interim head coach early this season following Jim Montgomery’s firing. However, after being informed he wouldn’t stay on, he departed the organization to join Mike Sullivan’s staff with the Rangers.

Still, confirming the retention of their assistants is a notable news item, particularly as it pertains to Leach. He was a candidate to gain promotion to the head coach job, and it isn’t unusual to see assistants depart an organization after not being promoted to head coach after going through the interview process.

The Bruins’ pending hire will presumably be tasked with managing their penalty kill. That’s the role Sacco held for his 11 seasons on Boston’s bench. He did quite a job with it. Only the Hurricanes (84.2%) have been a better club shorthanded than the Bruins (82.8%) over that span. Last season, though, Boston had just a 76.3% success rate on the PK, 24th in the NHL.

That leaves some big shoes to fill for whoever Sweeney and Sturm decide should complement their existing staff. The opening could be a fit for former Ducks head coach Greg Cronin, who took a more involved approach in the club’s special teams than a head coach usually does. He expressed interest in Boston’s vacancy soon after being let go by Anaheim. While he wasn’t identified as a candidate for the top job, there could be a fit for him as a specialist on staff.

Penalty-kill-oriented assistants looking for new homes this summer include Dave Lowry and Brent Thompson, previously of the Kraken and Ducks. Their list is almost certainly more expansive than that, of course.

Islanders Hire Ray Bennett, Bob Boughner As Assistant Coaches

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The Islanders announced Monday they’re hiring veteran coaches Ray Bennett and Bob Boughner to head coach Patrick Roy’s staff as assistants.

The moves complete the first staff changes under new general manager Mathieu Darche. New York created the two vacancies when they relieved Tommy Albelin and John MacLean of their duties over a week ago.

Albelin and MacLean were the Islanders’ primary special teams coaches. It’s a fair assumption that Bennett and Boughner will replace their roles directly, with the former now overseeing New York’s power play and the latter overseeing their penalty kill.

Bennett’s hiring means the 62-year-old will be on an NHL bench for a 25th season. He spent the last eight years with the Avalanche as their power play coach. Colorado relieved him of his duties quickly following their first-round playoff loss to the Stars.

He certainly had loads more firepower to work with in Denver than he will on Long Island, at least to start, but Bennett’s recent track record is strong. Colorado’s 23.0% success rate on the power play since Bennett took it over in 2017-18 is fifth in the league, fourth if you don’t consider Utah’s 24.2% clip last year as a separate franchise from the Coyotes.

Bennett will now look to help jumpstart an Islanders power play that finished 31st in the league last year under MacLean’s watch at just 12.6%. Before his eight-year run with the Avs, Bennett was on the Kings’ staff from 1999 to 2006 and then with the Blues from 2007 to 2017.

Boughner, eight years Bennett’s junior, doesn’t have as lengthy of an NHL track record but has held two head coaching roles, first with the Panthers in the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons and again with the Sharks for parts of three seasons from 2019 to 2022. Since being let go by San Jose in the 2022 offseason, he worked on the Red Wings’ staff as their top assistant, managing their defense and penalty kill. He was fired in Detroit along with head coach Derek Lalonde in December.

His last stop didn’t see him fare particularly well. Detroit’s penalty kill was a bottom-10 unit over Boughner’s tenure, but he was given the unenviable task of managing an undermanned group on a club exiting a rebuild. But when he was running the Sharks’ penalty kill in his two-year run as an assistant in the 2015-16 and 2016-17 campaigns, they were still middle-of-the-pack with an 80.6% success rate.

The changes were necessary and foreseeable ones to jumpstart both special teams units, which, along with poor finishing talent, stripped away any hope of a playoff spot for the Isles last season. They were a slightly above-average possession team at even-strength, though, so Darche will hope some improved special teams coaching will gel well with the returning Roy and assistant Benoit Desrosiers in helping the club get back to relevance in 2025-26.

Islanders Continue To Lean Toward Matthew Schaefer At First Overall

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When the Islanders won the draft lottery to move up from 10th to first overall in the 2025 draft, there was immediate speculation they might draft Long Island native James Hagens with the pick. The 5’11”, 185-lb center was the consensus first-overall pick at the beginning of the season.

Despite having a point-per-game freshman season at Boston College, though, he slipped down draft boards throughout the year. That was partly due to concerns about his size and how much he can truly pop offensively in the NHL, but also because other names simply displayed potential that surpassed his.

One of those names is defenseman Matthew Schaefer. Despite sustaining a season-ending collarbone injury at the World Juniors, the 6’2″ lefty was the consensus top prospect in the draft by the time the December tournament rolled around. Even while sitting on the shelf, his stock hasn’t dipped.

Very few public scouts have Schaefer ranked behind names like Hagens or OHL Saginaw star forward Michael Misa, and NHL Central Scouting labeled him the best North American skater in the class in their final rankings. Schaefer was healthy enough to participate in last week’s draft combine and showed out well enough to reaffirm the near-universal belief he’ll go off the board to the Islanders at No. 1 overall, Scott Wheeler of The Athletic relays.

The Islanders interviewed both Hagens and Misa at the combine as well, likely rounding out the trio of players they’re exclusively considering with the selection. However, the sense following the combine is that Schaefer remains a clear favorite and that “it would come as a bit of a surprise” if he isn’t the pick, Wheeler wrote.

Schaefer is one of the youngest players in the class – he doesn’t turn 18 until Sep. 5 – and hasn’t played organized hockey in nearly six months. That obviously works against his chances of being on the Isles’ opening night roster in the fall, but he did dominate with 22 points and a +21 rating in 17 games for OHL Erie to begin the campaign.

Oilers’ Ryan Nugent-Hopkins Uncertain For Game 3

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June 9: Nugent-Hopkins is still questionable for Game 3 and remains a game-time decision, although Knoblauch told reporters today he’ll take warmups regardless (according to TSN’s Ryan Rishaug).

June 8: The Oilers may be down a crucial top-six forward as the Stanley Cup Final shifts to Florida. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins will be a game-time decision for Monday’s Game 3 due to an undisclosed injury after missing Sunday’s practice session, head coach Kris Knoblauch told reporters (including Tony Brar of Oilers TV).

Nugent-Hopkins didn’t miss a shift in Game 2’s double-overtime loss and didn’t miss a game due to a non-illness-related injury all season long. He’s routinely been starting games on the wing with Connor McDavid and Corey Perry, but he’s also alternated with Leon Draisaitl as the club’s second-line center. When shifted to Draisaitl’s spot between Evander Kane and Kasperi Kapanen later in Game 2, David Staples of the Edmonton Journal relays that Kane was taking faceoffs instead of Nugent-Hopkins, pointing to a speculative upper-body issue.

On the heels of an underwhelming regular season, Nugent-Hopkins has turned up the heat in the postseason. The 32-year-old is operating at a point per game with a 5-13–18 scoring line despite being held off the scoresheet in his last three appearances. He was especially dominant in Edmonton’s Western Conference Final victory over the Stars, posting a 2-7–9 scoring line in Games 1 through 4.

A potential Nugent-Hopkins absence with a 2-1 series lead on the line is exacerbated by the unavailability of usual Connor McDavid/RNH linemate Zach Hyman, who sustained a serious wrist injury in the Dallas series and is done for the year. While depth pieces like Kapanen and Perry have far exceeded expectations when elevated into top-six roles this postseason, there’s rightful concern about eating too deep into their depth in a seven-game series against the defending Stanley Cup champions.

Jeff Skinner, a healthy scratch for all but two games in these playoffs, took line rushes in today’s practice in Nugent-Hopkins’ place alongside McDavid and Perry and will presumably enter the lineup if RNH can’t go. In his first career postseason action, the veteran of nearly 1,100 regular-season games has a goal and an assist over his pair of appearances.

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