Stars, Oskar Bäck Agree To Two-Way Deal
The Stars have agreed to a one-year, two-way deal with center/right wing Oskar Bäck, per a team release. It carries a $775K cap hit and pays him $120K in the minors with a $135K guarantee, PuckPedia reports. He’ll return for his fourth season in the Dallas organization after wrapping up his entry-level contract this year.
Dallas is the only NHL home Bäck has known. The Stars picked up the Swedish forward in the third round of the 2018 draft, signing him to an entry-level contract three years later. He played out the entirety of the deal with the AHL’s Texas Stars, where he’s put up 88 points (19 goals, 69 assists) in 196 games.
2023-24 was a high point for Bäck, who recorded career highs with 29 assists and 36 points despite making only 59 appearances, his fewest since joining the AHL club. He’s a good-skating pivot with NHL size at 6’2″ and 205 lbs, but his lack of goal-scoring ability means he’s yet to receive an NHL call-up. The Karlstad, Sweden native is a skilled playmaker, though, and could be a depth NHL option at some point in the right situation.
Given he’ll be 25 next summer, Bäck will almost certainly reach UFA status early as a Group VI free agent. He’ll have accumulated enough professional seasons to hit the open market early while playing fewer than 80 career NHL games. Therefore, it’s an important season for Bäck to try and at least earn a recall to earn another big-league opportunity in 2025-26 and avoid heading back to Europe.
The Stars are up to 33 out of a maximum 50 contracts signed for 2024-25 after re-upping Bäck, per CapFriendly.
2024 Hockey Hall Of Fame Inductees Announced
Another slate of hockey legends has received their call to the Hall. Forwards Pavel Datsyuk, Jeremy Roenick, and defenseman Shea Weber comprise the NHL players entering this year. On the women’s side, former Team USA fixture and PWHL Minnesota general manager Natalie Darwitz has been inducted along with Team USA teammate and current Penguins amateur scout Krissy Wendell-Pohl. Longtime NHL vice president of hockey operations Colin Campbell has been inducted as a builder, as has longtime Capitals and Predators GM David Poile.
NHL all-time games played leader Patrick Marleau was eligible for induction for the first time this year but was not chosen. Meanwhile, Datsyuk and Weber gain entry on their first try, while Roenick gets in after a 12-year wait.
Datsyuk began his NHL career as a sixth-round pick of the Red Wings in 1998 out of the Russian top league. It took a while for him to come over, though, finally debuting with Detroit in his age-23 season in 2001-02. He put together a decent rookie season for the Dead Puck Era, logging 11 goals and 35 points in 70 games, finishing fourth in Calder Trophy voting before lifting the Stanley Cup as part of perhaps the best roster in NHL history. Datsyuk is the tenth player from that team to become a Hall of Famer, joining Chris Chelios, Sergei Fedorov, Dominik Hašek, Brett Hull, Igor Larionov, Nicklas Lidström, Luc Robitaille, Brendan Shanahan, and Steve Yzerman.
He went on to play 14 years in the show, all in a Red Wings uniform. Datsyuk lifted another Stanley Cup as part of the Red Wings’ championship team in 2008, a year that saw him post 97 points and a +41 rating in 82 games en route to his first of three straight Selke Trophies. He didn’t crack the 1,000-game mark, opting to return to his native Russia after the 2015-16 season, but still had 314 goals and 918 points in 953 career NHL games while arguably serving as the best defensive center of his time with some incredible breakaway/shootout moves to boot. He played five seasons in Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League after leaving Detroit, including three with top-flight side SKA St. Petersburg and two with his hometown Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg.
Datsyuk was also one of the most well-regarded and sportsmanlike players in the league, winning four Lady Byngs. He was named one of the NHL’s 100 greatest players of all time as part of the league’s centennial celebration in 2017-18.
Roenick may not have the awards résumé of a normal Hall-of-Famer, but he was still one of the league’s premier offensive talents over a career that spanned 20 seasons. The Boston native was the eighth overall pick of the Blackhawks in the 1988 draft and made his debut the following season, recording 18 points in 20 games without burning his rookie eligibility.
He arrived in full in 1989-90, posting 26 goals and 66 points in 78 games while earning himself a nomination for the Calder Trophy. That would be his last year without recording at least a point per game until 1997. Over 1,363 games with Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Phoenix and San Jose, he tallied 513 goals and 703 assists for 1,216 points while playing through one of the league’s lowest-scoring eras. On the league’s all-time list, Roenick ranks 42nd in goals, 59th in assists, 47th in points, and 54th in games played.
Weber spent his entire career with just two teams, playing 11 seasons with the Predators before a 2016 blockbuster trade for P.K. Subban sent him to the Canadiens for the final five years of his career. The Habs were hoping he’d be with them longer—he’s still under contract for two more seasons, now with Utah—but various injuries ended his days as a player after he captained Montreal to the Stanley Cup Final in 2021.
In his 1,038 career games, he tallied 589 points, including 224 goals and 365 assists. He never won the Norris Trophy but was a finalist for the award on three occasions with Nashville (2011, 2012, 2014). He made four year-end All-Star teams and took home the Mark Messier Leadership Award in 2016. He consistently logged heavy minutes throughout his career, averaging 24:03 per game.
Darwitz and Wendell-Pohl also take their rightful places in the Hall as they continue to make headway in recognizing the greats of the women’s game. Darwitz, now 40, is one of the most decorated Americans of all time, winning eight World Championship medals (three gold, five silver), three Olympic medals (two silver, one bronze), and multiple other international honors. Her junior season with the University of Minnesota in 2004-05 was one of the best performances in college hockey ever, racking up 42 goals and 114 points in just 40 games. After her playing career wrapped up in 2010, she spent various years coaching before taking over as GM of PWHL Minnesota in their inaugural season, building this year’s Walter Cup-winning team.
Wendell-Pohl, a Minnesota native like Darwitz, was also a member of the 2002 and 2006 Olympic teams for the US and served as their captain at her final World Championship appearance in 2007. She was unstoppable in Worlds action, totaling 21 goals and 59 points in 29 games over six appearances at the tournament. She’s been with the Penguins as a scout for three years.
Images courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Sharks Acquire Jake Walman
The Sharks have acquired defenseman Jake Walman from the Red Wings and the Lightning’s second-round pick in this week’s draft (53rd overall). Detroit will receive nothing in return aside from future considerations, signaling this as a cap dump for a bigger move from general manager Steve Yzerman.
The Red Wings acquired the second-round pick they’re sending to San Jose in a trade with the Predators earlier today, in which they swapped defense prospect Andrew Gibson for the signing rights to winger Jesse Kiiskinen.
Unlike most deals involving future considerations, this swap doesn’t involve a decidedly overpriced contract. Walman, who’s broken out as a serviceable top-four defender since arriving in Detroit in 2022, costs $3.4MM against the cap through 2025-26. That’s about what his market value would be if he were to reach free agency this summer, if not under it.
That makes this arguably the best trade in general manager Mike Grier‘s tenure at the helm of the Sharks, purely from a value standpoint. Walman will immediately challenge Mario Ferraro for top-pairing minutes in the Bay Area, although he hasn’t been much of a special teams option in Detroit. He averaged just under 20 minutes per game the past two seasons despite spending most of his time on their first pairing alongside Moritz Seider.
Injuries limited Walman to 63 games this season, but they didn’t stop him from recording a career-high 12 goals and 21 points. He and Seider had some of the most difficult minutes in the league, though, which correspondingly tanked his possession numbers. After controlling 50.1% of shot attempts and 54.8% of expected goals when on the ice at even strength in 2022-23, Walman controlled only 45.3% of shot attempts and 41% of expected goals this year, per Hockey Reference.
The 28-year-old Walman adds some much-needed depth to a paper-thin San Jose blue line that got even thinner yesterday with the news that they won’t be qualifying power-play specialist Calen Addison. He’s the sixth Sharks defenseman signed to a one-way deal next season, joining Ferraro, Kyle Burroughs, Nikolai Knyzhov, Jan Rutta and Marc-Édouard Vlasic. Ty Emberson and Henry Thrun are pending RFAs but are expected back in the picture next season.
The Wings do increase their projected cap space next season to $32.77MM with the move, but they lose a quality minute-munching piece of their roster in the process. After remaining in the playoff race until the final days of the regular season, it’s clear Yzerman is moving money around to add impact pieces this summer to push them over the hump. He’s also gearing up to offer rich extensions to Seider and Lucas Raymond, both of whom are slated to become RFAs next week.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Red Wings Trade Andrew Gibson To Predators
The Red Wings have sent defense prospect Andrew Gibson to the Predators in exchange for the signing rights to right winger Jesse Kiiskinen and a second-round pick (53rd overall) in this week’s draft, according to a team announcement. Both players were selected by their respective clubs less than one year ago in the 2023 NHL Draft.
Gibson, 19, spent this season on loan to his junior team, the Soo Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League. There, he scored 12 goals and 32 assists for 44 points in 68 games with a +36 rating, all of which were significant steps forward from last season.
It’s rare to see teams move on from prospects this early in their development, especially after going so far as to sign them to an entry-level contract. Detroit inked the Ontario native to his ELC less than two months ago. But the 6’3″ right-shot defender risked being lost in the shuffle behind a deep group of up-and-coming defensemen in Hockeytown that includes 2021 sixth-overall pick Simon Edvinsson, Swedish compatriots Albert Johansson and William Wallinder, as well as 2023 first-rounder Axel Sandin-Pellikka. Despite being an early second-round choice last year at 42nd overall, he was already becoming expendable in Detroit’s prospect pool.
He’ll be a good fit in a Preds system that lacks any real impact prospects on the back end. In fact, Gibson immediately becomes the second-highest-drafted defender in Nashville’s pool, trailing 2023 first-round choice Tanner Molendyk.
In return, Detroit picks up Kiiskinen, who helps add depth to a thinning pool of wing prospects. Selected 26 picks after Gibson last year, the skilled Finn spent most of last season in the top-level Liiga with Pelicans, where he had four goals and six assists for 10 points in 38 games. When he wasn’t logging minutes in the pros, he was beyond electric when on assignment to their U-20 club, where he had 14 goals and 21 points in only eight games.
He has not yet signed his entry-level deal, which the Wings must do before June 1, 2027, to avoid losing his signing rights. Kiiskinen will turn 19 in August and is expected to remain in Finland next season, albeit with a new team. He transferred to HPK last month, signing a two-year deal.
With Kiiskinen being the slightly lower-valued prospect, Detroit recoups a second-round pick that nearly splits the difference between the two players’ draft spots. As it stands, it’s their second pick of the second round – they still have their own pick – and brings their total number of selections later this week to nine.
Utah Re-Signs Vladislav Kolyachonok To Two-Year Deal
The Utah Hockey Club and left-shot defender Vladislav Kolyachonok have agreed to a two-year contract, per a team release. Financial terms weren’t disclosed. Per PuckPedia, it’s a two-way deal in 2024-25 before converting to a one-way agreement in 2025-26. It carries a cap hit of $775K and will pay him a $125K AHL salary next season.
Kolyachonok, 23, split the 2023-24 season between the Coyotes – who picked him up in a trade with the Panthers in 2021 – and their AHL affiliate, the Tucson Roadrunners. He was strong in a four-game call-up near the end of the season, posting a goal and three assists in four games with a +5 rating in third-pairing minutes.
In 36 games on the farm with Tucson, Kolyachonok logged 11 points (eight goals, three assists) with 14 PIMs and a +2 rating. He went without a point and had a -3 rating in the Roadrunners’ brief appearance in the Calder Cup Playoffs, a two-game dispatching in the first round at the hands of the Calgary Wranglers.
Kolyachonok was drafted by the Panthers in the second round in 2019 from the OHL’s Flint Firebirds. He was coming off his first season in North America after spending most of his development in his native Belarus. His professional showings don’t indicate he’ll ever have particularly strong point totals at the highest level, but he does have the skating ability and overall awareness to prevent him from being an offensive liability. He’d managed two goals and seven points across 39 games for the Yotes over the past three seasons.
If Kolyachonok had reached restricted free agency next week, he wouldn’t have been eligible for arbitration. He’s only accumulated three of the four professional seasons required for eligibility since he signed his entry-level contract at 18. If he fails to bring his NHL games played total to 80 over the next two seasons, he could be eligible for Group VI UFA status when his deal is up in 2026. Otherwise, he’ll remain under Utah’s control as an RFA.
Notably, Kolyachonok is no longer waiver-exempt. If he doesn’t make Utah’s inaugural opening-night roster, they’ll need to expose him to the league’s other 31 teams on his way back to Tucson.
Canada Names Jon Cooper Head Coach For 4 Nations Face-Off, Winter Olympics
Hockey Canada has announced two-time Stanley Cup champion coach Jon Cooper as its bench boss for both the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off and 2026 Winter Olympics.
Cooper, 56, will enter his 13th season behind the Lightning bench in the fall. The longest-serving head coach in the league will return to the international stage for the first time since 2017 when he coached Canada at the World Championship. He also assisted for Team North America at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
The future Hall-of-Fame coach has been one of many affected by the NHL’s lack of participation in international events for the last decade, leading to a surprising lack of accolades for Canada on the world stage. A British Columbia native, Cooper has also routinely led the Lightning deep into postseason play, including three straight Stanley Cup Final appearances from 2020 to 2022. That’s hampered his availability to serve on the Canadian bench for less star-studded tournaments like the World Championship.
In his lone showing for Canada internationally, Cooper led a Canadian roster led by Nathan MacKinnon, Mitch Marner and Ryan O’Reilly to a silver medal at the Worlds. It was their third straight year making the gold medal game after back-to-back wins in 2015 and 2016, but they lost to a Sweden contingent led by Henrik Lundqvist and William Nylander.
Canada hasn’t filled out the rest of their coaching staff for the upcoming tournaments, although those announcements should come before the end of the year. Their first six players for the inaugural 4 Nations tournament, which takes place in February 2025, will be announced this week. They do have their management group in place, though. Blues GM Doug Armstrong will be their principal hockey ops decision-maker for the upcoming best-on-best events, with the Bruins’ Don Sweeney and the Stars’ Jim Nill serving as his assistants.
Avalanche Sign Casey Mittelstadt To Three-Year Extension
The Avalanche have signed center Casey Mittelstadt to a three-year extension with a cap hit of $5.75MM, per a team announcement.
Mittelstadt had two years remaining under team control, so his new deal buys one UFA year. He’ll be 28 years old at the end of his deal, putting him in the middle of his prime when he’s able to cash in a long-term bet as a UFA.
The Minnesota native entered the season as a Sabre, beginning his sixth full NHL campaign. Buffalo’s eighth-overall pick in 2017 had been largely underwhelming through the first few years of his development, failing to crack the 30-point mark through his first four seasons. But 2022-23 signaled a breakout for Mittelstadt, who contributed 15 goals and 59 points while playing in all 82 games to help the Sabres’ offense rocket up to third in the league. Although they missed the playoffs by one point, it was an important step forward for the pivot, who now looked to be part of a long-term one-two-three punch down the middle in Buffalo with Dylan Cozens and Tage Thompson.
But the Sabres’ forwards failed to carry over their forward momentum into 2023-24. An injury-plagued campaign from Thompson and regression from key pieces like Cozens, Jeff Skinner and Alex Tuch canceled out their strongest goaltending performance in quite some time. Mittelstadt was one of the few immune to a step back in scoring, though. In fact, he was arguably Buffalo’s best center last season. He put up the best possession metrics of his career, controlling 51.9% of expected goals at even strength, and added 14 goals and 47 points through 62 games. He averaged 18:16 per game as well, a career-high.
That also meant Mittelstadt was setting himself up for a significant raise in the final season of a three-year, $2.5MM bridge deal signed with Buffalo in 2021. Cozens and Thompson had previously been signed to long-term deals by general manager Kevyn Adams, and the Sabres had plenty of prospects still to come down the middle. That made him expendable and thrust him into trade rumors ahead of this year’s deadline.
Colorado pounced, parting ways with promising but injury-plagued defenseman Bowen Byram to acquire Mittelstadt. The fit was clear. The Avs have had a gaping hole at the second-line center position since Nazem Kadri left for the Flames in free agency in 2022, one of the biggest factors preventing them from repeating as Stanley Cup champions. J.T. Compher tried admirably to shoulder those minutes after Kadri’s departure, but, like Kadri, he converted his breakout year into a richer deal in free agency elsewhere.
Ross Colton and Ryan Johansen also tried and failed to be effective as stopgap solutions behind Colorado’s primary option behind Nathan MacKinnon down the middle. The Avs were especially banking on Johansen, who they acquired from the Predators at a half-reduced $4MM cap hit over the summer, to be Compher’s replacement. But after the veteran struggled to produce with only 23 points in 63 games, Avs general manager Chris MacFarland had to make a move.
He found a willing partner in Adams, swapping Byram for Mittelstadt in an increasingly rare one-for-one deal. It immediately paid dividends. It took a little while for Mittelstadt to adjust to Denver, but he didn’t look out of place and added four goals and six assists for 10 points in 18 games to close out the season in an Avalanche uniform.
The playoffs saw Mittelstadt fully arrive, though. In his first-ever postseason showing, Mittelstadt flourished offensively with three goals and nine points in 11 games, getting 24 shots on goal and averaging 17:25 per game. The Avs had strong shot attempt numbers with Mitteltsadt on the ice at even strength in both the regular season and playoffs, signaling he has the two-way competency necessary for a top-six pivot on a contending roster.
Now, Mittelstadt will hold that second-line center role in Colorado through at least the 2026-27 season. It comes in just around market value, too. Evolving Hockey projected a three-year scenario as the most likely deal for Mittelstadt this summer at a cap hit of $5.8MM, $500K richer per season than what he’s ended up signing for.
With Mittelstadt locked up, the Avs have $10.5MM in projected cap space remaining with a roster size of 15, per CapFriendly. That figure includes the cap hit of injured captain Gabriel Landeskog, who’s expected to return next year after missing two seasons recovering from multiple knee surgeries. However, it doesn’t account for the $6.125MM cap hit of winger Valeri Nichushkin, who will begin the season on the non-roster list while he remains in Stage 3 of the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program. He’ll be unavailable for at least a month as he serves a six-month suspension assessed in May. Colorado still has a handful of notable pending UFAs in Jonathan Drouin, Yakov Trenin and Sean Walker.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Full 2024 NHL Draft Order
Updated 6/28/24. Originally published 6/7/24.
With the draft lottery behind us (spoiler alert: there were no changes) and all but the most important playoff series decided, the final order for the 2024 NHL Draft has come into clear view.
We’ll likely see some of these picks change hands on June 28 or 29 or in the days before the draft. We’ll be sure to update the list below if and when picks are traded.
Here’s the full 2024 NHL draft order:
First Round
1. San Jose Sharks
2. Chicago Blackhawks
3. Anaheim Ducks
4. Columbus Blue Jackets
5. Montreal Canadiens
6. Utah Hockey Club
7. Ottawa Senators
8. Seattle Kraken
9. Calgary Flames
10. New Jersey Devils
11. San Jose Sharks (from BUF)
12. Philadelphia Flyers
13. Minnesota Wild
14. Buffalo Sabres (from PIT)
15. Detroit Red Wings
16. St. Louis Blues
17. Washington Capitals
18. Chicago Blackhawks (from NYI)
19. Vegas Golden Knights
20. New York Islanders (from TBL)
21. Montreal Canadiens (from LAK)
22. Nashville Predators
23. Toronto Maple Leafs
24. Colorado Avalanche
25. Boston Bruins
26. Los Angeles Kings (from WPG)
27. Carolina Hurricanes
28. Calgary Flames (from VAN)
29. Dallas Stars
30. New York Rangers
31. Anaheim Ducks (from EDM)
32. Philadelphia Flyers (from FLA)
Second Round
33. San Jose Sharks
34. Chicago Blackhawks
35. Anaheim Ducks
36. Philadelphia Flyers (from CBJ) (Note: CBJ has until after the first round to decide whether they’re sending their 2024 or 2025 second-round pick to PHI)
37. Winnipeg Jets (from MTL)
38. Utah Hockey Club
39. Ottawa Senators
40. Seattle Kraken
41. Calgary Flames
42. Buffalo Sabres (from NJD)
43. Buffalo Sabres
44. Pittsburgh Penguins (from PHI)
45. Minnesota Wild
46. Pittsburgh Penguins
47. Detroit Red Wings
48. St. Louis Blues
49. Utah Hockey Club (from WSH)
50. Chicago Blackhawks (from NYI)
51. Philadelphia Flyers (Note: compensatory pick for not signing 2018 first-round pick Jay O’Brien)
52. Washington Capitals (from VGK)
53. San Jose Sharks (from TBL)
54. New York Islanders (from LAK)
55. Nashville Predators
56. St. Louis Blues (from TOR)
57. Los Angeles Kings (from COL)
58. Anaheim Ducks (from BOS)
59. Nashville Predators (from WPG)
60. Carolina Hurricanes
61. New York Islanders (from VAN)
62. Calgary Flames (from DAL)
63. Seattle Kraken (from NYR)
64. Edmonton Oilers
65. Utah Hockey Club (from FLA)
Third Round
66. Anaheim Ducks (from SJS)
67. Chicago Blackhawks
68. Anaheim Ducks
69. Columbus Blue Jackets
70. Montreal Canadiens
71. Utah Hockey Club
72. Chicago Blackhawks (from OTT)
73. Seattle Kraken
74. Calgary Flames
75. New Jersey Devils
76. Buffalo Sabres
77. Philadelphia Flyers
78. Montreal Canadiens (from MIN)
79. Anaheim Ducks (from PIT)
80. Detroit Red Wings
81. St. Louis Blues
82. Washington Capitals
83. Washington Capitals (from NYI)
84. Calgary Flames (from VGK)
85. San Jose Sharks (from TBL)
86. Columbus Blue Jackets (from LAK)
87. Nashville Predators
88. Seattle Kraken (from TOR)
89. Utah Hockey Club (from COL)
90. Washington Capitals (from BOS)
91. New Jersey Devils (from WPG)
92. Carolina Hurricanes
93. Vancouver Canucks
94. Nashville Predators (from DAL)
95. St. Louis Blues (from NYR)
96. Utah Hockey Club (from EDM)
97. Florida Panthers
Fourth Round
98. Utah Hockey Club (from SJS)
99. Nashville Predators (from CHI)
100. Anaheim Ducks
101. Columbus Blue Jackets
102. Montreal Canadiens
103. Utah Hockey Club
104. Ottawa Senators
105. Seattle Kraken
106. Calgary Flames
107. Calgary Flames (from NJD)
108. Buffalo Sabres
109. Buffalo Sabres (from PHI)
110. Minnesota Wild
111. Pittsburgh Penguins
112. Ottawa Senators (from DET)
113. St. Louis Blues
114. Washington Capitals
115. New York Islanders
116. San Jose Sharks (from VGK)
117. Ottawa Senators (from TBL)
118. Los Angeles Kings
119. Nashville Predators
120. Toronto Maple Leafs
121. Colorado Avalanche
122. Boston Bruins
123. Winnipeg Jets
124. Carolina Hurricanes
125. Vancouver Canucks
126. Detroit Red Wings (from DAL)
127. New York Rangers
128. Tampa Bay Lightning (from EDM)
129. Florida Panthers
Fifth Round
130. Montreal Canadiens (from SJS)
131. San Jose Sharks (from CHI)
132. Colorado Avalanche (from ANA)
133. Columbus Blue Jackets
134. Montreal Canadiens
135. Utah Hockey Club
136. Ottawa Senators
137. Colorado Avalanche (from SEA)
138. Chicago Blackhawks (from CGY)
139. New Jersey Devils
140. Minnesota Wild (from BUF)
141. Florida Panthers (from PHI)
142. Minnesota Wild
143. San Jose Sharks (from PIT)
144. Detroit Red Wings
145. St. Louis Blues
146. Washington Capitals
147. New York Islanders
148. Philadelphia Flyers (from VGK)
149. Tampa Bay Lightning
150. Philadelphia Flyers (from LAK)
151. Toronto Maple Leafs (from NSH)
152. Toronto Maple Leafs
153. New Jersey Devils (from COL)
154. Boston Bruins
155. Winnipeg Jets
156. Carolina Hurricanes
157. Toronto Maple Leafs (from VAN)
158. Dallas Stars
159. New York Rangers
160. Edmonton Oilers
161. Buffalo Sabres (from FLA)
Sixth Round
162. Vancouver Canucks (from SJS)
163. Chicago Blackhawks
164. Anaheim Ducks
165. Columbus Blue Jackets
166. Montreal Canadiens
167. Utah Hockey Club
168. Carolina Hurricanes (from OTT)
169. Seattle Kraken
170. Calgary Flames
171. New Jersey Devils
172. Buffalo Sabres
173. Philadelphia Flyers
174. Minnesota Wild
175. Pittsburgh Penguins
176. Detroit Red Wings
177. Philadelphia Flyers (from STL)
178. Washington Capitals
179. New York Islanders
180. Vegas Golden Knights
181. Tampa Bay Lightning
182. Los Angeles Kings
183. Edmonton Oilers (from NSH)
184. Carolina Hurricanes (from TOR)
185. Colorado Avalanche
186. Boston Bruins
187. Winnipeg Jets
188. Carolina Hurricanes
189. Vancouver Canucks
190. Utah Hockey Club (from DAL)
191. New York Rangers
192. Edmonton Oilers
193. Florida Panthers
Seventh Round
194. San Jose Sharks
195. Tampa Bay Lightning (from CHI)
196. Edmonton Oilers (from ANA)
197. Vegas Golden Knights (from CBJ)
198. Los Angeles Kings (from MTL)
199. Utah Hockey Club
200. Toronto Maple Leafs (from OTT)
201. Seattle Kraken
202. Seattle Kraken (from CGY)
203. Detroit Red Wings (from NJD)
204. Buffalo Sabres
205. Philadelphia Flyers
206. Tampa Bay Lightning (from MIN)
207. Pittsburgh Penguins
208. Detroit Red Wings
209. St. Louis Blues
210. Montreal Canadiens (from WSH)
211. St. Louis Blues (from NYI)
212. Vegas Golden Knights
213. Nashville Predators (from TBL)
214. Los Angeles Kings
215. Colorado Avalanche (from NSH)
216. Toronto Maple Leafs
217. Colorado Avalanche
218. Edmonton Oilers (from BOS)
219. Winnipeg Jets
220. Carolina Hurricanes
221. Vancouver Canucks
222. Dallas Stars
223. Pittsburgh Penguins (from NYR)
224. Montreal Canadiens (from EDM)
225. Florida Panthers
Panthers Win Stanley Cup, Connor McDavid Wins Conn Smythe
The Florida Panthers are your 2024 Stanley Cup champions, recovering from blowing a 3-0 series lead by taking Game 7 at home by a score of 2-1. The Conn Smythe Trophy for playoff MVP is going to a skater from the losing club for the second time in NHL history, though. Oilers superstar Connor McDavid receives the honor after recording a postseason-leading 34 assists and 42 points in just 24 games, the former of which is an all-time record.
Among the notables for Florida is captain Aleksander Barkov becoming the first Finn to lead his team to a Stanley Cup. Head coach Paul Maurice, who’s second all-time in games coached with 1,848, also wins for the first time.
The Cup-winning goal came off the stick of Sam Reinhart, who beat Oilers netminder Stuart Skinner for the go-ahead goal with 4:51 left in the second period. He has less than a week to negotiate a contract extension with the Panthers to avoid hitting the open market as the top right wing available next Monday.
Reinhart finishes the postseason second on Florida in goals with 10, one behind Carter Verhaeghe‘s 11. He netted the game-opening goal after going scoreless in Games 2 through 6.
While he lost out to McDavid for the Conn Smythe, Panthers star netminder Sergei Bobrovsky isn’t complaining about his first Cup win, either. The two-time Vezina Trophy winner is up for the award again this year, and with a championship ring, he’s all but solidified his candidacy for the Hockey Hall of Fame.
With the Cup Final over, attention now turns toward an incredibly busy opening to the offseason. The first buyout window opens Wednesday, the NHL Awards are Thursday night, the 2024 NHL Draft is Friday and Saturday, and the qualifying offer deadline is Sunday. That’s a major calendar event for five days in a row before the opening of free agency and the technical start of the new league year on Monday, July 1.
Offseason Checklist: Dallas Stars
The offseason has arrived for all but the two teams who are still taking part in the playoffs. For the rest, it’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months. Next up is a look at the Stars.
A quiet 2023 offseason outside of the addition of Matt Duchene yielded the same results for the Stars – a Western Conference Final elimination. Improvement from their budding stars like Wyatt Johnston and a true breakout season on the blue line from Thomas Harley helped Dallas reach 113 points in the regular season, their second-most in franchise history. They’re already facing one significant loss heading into next season, though, with veteran fixture Joe Pavelski expected to retire. Accordingly, it’s likely another summer of minor surgery for general manager Jim Nill, coming off his second Jim Gregory GM of the Year Award.
Fill A Top-Six Forward Spot
At first glance, this doesn’t seem like a pressing team for a Stars offense that finished third in the NHL last season. But Pavelski and Duchene, who’s a pending UFA, were big parts of that, contributing 52 goals and 132 points between the two of them. They can’t lose both and expect to still be the team they were this season. While the production of one could be replaced by continued improvement from Johnston or strong rookie campaigns from Mavrik Bourque and Logan Stankoven, asking them to offset the loss of both is a tough ask to put on the young future of your franchise.
There’s an easy way to check this box – re-up Duchene, who was more than effective for his $3MM cap hit. He’ll earn a slight raise on it this offseason, but there’s mutual interest in an extension, and he’s expressed a willingness to take a discount on his market value to stay in Dallas. It certainly helps that he’s still receiving $1.56MM per year from the Predators, who bought out the final three seasons of his prior contract last summer, through 2028-29.
In case they can’t keep Duchene from going to market, though, they’ll need to find somebody who can slot into a top-six spot on the right wing, preferably for under $5MM a season against the cap. Even at 32, Tyler Seguin still has enough juice in the tank to comfortably handle a top-six role, especially if the center responsibilities are being dedicated to Johnston and Roope Hintz. They will need an upgrade on someone like Evgenii Dadonov, though, who currently projects as their second-line RW but had only 23 points in 51 games this year. If they do need to hit the free agent market for a Duchene replacement, someone like Anthony Duclair, Anthony Mantha or Vladimir Tarasenko could be an appropriately priced option.
Start Oettinger Extension Talks
Things have been a tad up-and-down for Jake Oettinger since he took over the Dallas crease from Anton Khudobin in 2021, but a good playoff showing has him back to being a largely consensus top-ten netminder in the league. Even at his worst, he’s a slightly above-average goalie, evidenced by his career-low .905 SV% this season. Injuries were a bit of a concern, limiting him to 53 starts, but at his peak, he’s a game-altering talent.
He’s shown it multiple times, whether it be his .919 SV% and 37-11-11 record in 2022-23 that earned him fifth place in Vezina Trophy voting or his .954 SV% in a seven-game loss to the Flames in the first round in 2022 that has gone down as one of the better netminding performances in a series loss in league history. He’s worth shelling out for among a current crop of goalies that, aside from the very few elite, tend to have real stinker seasons at least every once in a while.
Now, as he enters the final season of a respectable three-year, $4MM AAV bridge deal, Nill needs to decide how far he’s willing to go on a long-term deal for his star netminder. If he gets it done early this summer – a realistic scenario given his otherwise light free-agent workload – it could come in a tad north of $8MM annually on a long-year deal. That’s a lower percentage of the cap than recent long-term deals for more highly-regarded netminders like Connor Hellebuyck and Ilya Sorokin and a good bit below what it’s expected to take for the Rangers to retain Igor Shesterkin.
New Deal For Harley
While the Stars have only a few impact UFAs to deal with, the list is even smaller for impact RFAs. Only two saw consistent playing time in the playoffs, and only one was deployed in high-usage situations – Thomas Harley.
The 22-year-old isn’t eligible for arbitration but is due a significant raise coming off his entry-level contract. Drafted 18th overall in 2019, Harley dethroned Ryan Suter for top-pairing duties alongside Miro Heiskanen early in the season and never looked back. He finished the campaign with 15 goals and 47 points in 79 games, finishing second among Dallas defenders in average time on ice with 21:01. His possession game with Heiskanen was strong, controlling 55.6% of shot attempts when on the ice at even strength.
He’s a core piece of their team and could very well serve as Heiskanen’s partner for the next decade if their results together this season are any indication. With the Stars in a bit of a cap crunch, though, expect them to opt for a bridge deal while they load up in a continued effort to make their second Stanley Cup Final appearance of the decade. Evolving Hockey pegs his new contract at a two-year term with an AAV close to $4MM, a safe bet for positive value considering his showing this year.
Add RD Depth
The Stars still have Esa Lindell and Suter signed next season behind Harley, so their left side is likely already locked in. But behind Heiskanen, who’s a lefty playing the right side anyway, there’s a lot of uncertainty.
Like Duchene, Nill is expected to make a big push to keep trade deadline acquisition Chris Tanev from heading to market next week. He was stellar in a second-pairing shutdown role alongside Lindell, controlling play well and posting two assists and a +7 rating in 19 playoff games. Even if he comes back, though, there’s a tossup behind him.
Jani Hakanpää is a cheap candidate to re-sign, but he provides much of the same services as Tanev and would likely be ruled expendable if the latter is extended. Nils Lundkvist had 13 points in 59 regular-season games but struggled early in postseason action and was a frequent healthy scratch in the later rounds. It’s fair to assume he won’t be relied upon for much of anything by head coach Peter DeBoer if he’s qualified and brought back next season. Lian Bichsel, while a strong prospect who could challenge for a roster spot out of camp, is also a lefty. Asking him to play his off side, even alongside a veteran like Suter, is an irresponsible ask.
That makes it clear that, even outside of Tanev, adding a right-shot defender will be a priority for Nill when the UFA market opens on July 1.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.