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Sharks Re-Sign Shakir Mukhamadullin

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The Sharks announced they’ve re-signed defenseman Shakir Mukhamadullin to a one-year, $1MM contract. He was set to become a restricted free agent this summer.

Mukhamadullin, 23, just wrapped up his second full season in the Sharks organization. He was a first-round pick (No. 20 overall) by the Devils in 2020 but was traded to San Jose in the 2023 Timo Meier deal before he could make his NHL debut. He’s split the following two years between the NHL and AHL as he climbs up the organizational depth chart.

He has 33 games of NHL experience, 30 of which came this past season. The lefty has always carried intrigue based on his high-end skating ability coupled with his 6’4″, 200-lb frame, and he’s flashed his upside as a potential long-term top-four piece in San Jose. He averaged over 21 minutes of ice time across a three-game stint to open his NHL career in January 2024 amid a strong debut season in the North American minors with the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda, whom he led in scoring among defensemen in 2023-24 with 27 assists and 34 points in 55 games.

His 2024-25 campaign started on the non-roster list due to a lower-body injury, and he was returned to the minors when cleared to play in late October. He’d get his first NHL recall of the season in early December, and he stuck with the big club for the majority of the balance of the campaign. Mukhamadullin put up a 2-7–9 scoring line with a minus-seven rating while averaging 18:04 per game, also contributing 51 blocks and 25 hits. He graded out quite well defensively, sitting near the high end of the Sharks’ Corsi leaderboard at a 48.0 CF% at even strength. San Jose also allowed 2.7 goals against per 60 minutes with Mukhamadullin on the ice at even strength, the best figure among Sharks defensemen with at least 10 games played. It’s worth noting that Mukhamadullin also averaged north of a minute per game on the penalty kill.

The Sharks still have Mario Ferraro, Henry Thrun, and Marc-Édouard Vlasic penciled in as their three left-shot defenders for 2025-26, but there’s still upward mobility there for Mukhamadullin. Ferraro could end up as a trade candidate, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see the 38-year-old Vlasic, who played just 27 games in 2024-25, relegated to the press box more consistently. There’s also the possibility that fellow lefty Sam Dickinson, whom San Jose drafted 11th overall in 2024, lands an opening-night role next fall after being named the OHL’s Most Outstanding defenseman in 2024-25.

A seven-figure commitment certainly indicates the Sharks plan on Mukhamadullin making the opening night roster and playing more of a regular NHL role as he continues on what’s been a promising development path thus far. He’ll start requiring waivers next year if San Jose wants to send him to the minors anyway, something they won’t be willing to expose him to.

Capitals Walk Back Message Regarding Alex Ovechkin’s Retirement

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11:44 a.m.: Silber clarified for DC Backcheck that the team alleges no email was sent at all, not just that Ovechkin’s decision was unconfirmed. “An email was sent from an individual with the corporate sales department that mistakenly alluded to next year being Alex Ovechkin’s final year,” the team later said in a statement.

11:03 a.m.: The Capitals indicated in an email to season ticket holders that the upcoming 2025-26 season will be Alex Ovechkin’s last in the NHL, relays Tony Wolak of The Hockey Writers. The organization relayed to Sammi Silber of The Hockey News that no official decision has been made on his future, but Washington appears to at least be operating under a strong assumption that Ovechkin will announce his plans to retire from the NHL next offseason.

Next year is Ovechkin’s last one under the five-year, $47.5MM extension he signed in 2021. He told reporters during locker clean-out day earlier this month that he fully intended to honor the final year of his contract but was unsure of his future beyond that, saying he hadn’t given any thought to whether or not he’d be open to extension talks with the Caps as soon as he becomes eligible to sign one on July 1.

There’s not much left for the 39-year-old to accomplish in his career. He’ll walk away as the greatest left-winger of all time and one of the most impactful players in the league’s history, breaking Wayne Gretzky’s goal-scoring record in the regular season’s final weeks. He now sits at 897 career tallies entering what should be his 21st and final NHL campaign, all spent with the Capitals.

Oilers’ Mattias Ekholm Expected To Return For Game 5

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Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm took line rushes in his usual top-pairing spot alongside Evan Bouchard at morning skate and is expected to make his 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs debut in Game 5 of the Western Conference Final tonight, Tony Brar of Oilers TV relays.

It’s huge news for the Oilers, who have a 3-1 series lead over the Stars and can lock in a Cup Final rematch against the Panthers with a win tonight. Ekholm has not played since reaggravating an undisclosed injury on April 11 against the Sharks. Due to that injury and an earlier illness, the 35-year-old blueline staple only played in five of Edmonton’s final 20 regular-season games.

After the re-injury against San Jose, the Oilers were quick to rule Ekholm out for the entirety of the first round. They made a similar announcement about his second-round status shortly after they dispatched the Kings in six games to advance. He resumed skating late in their series against the Golden Knights, though, indicating he’d likely be an option at some point during the West Final if they advanced. After they did, Ekholm was ruled out for Games 1 and 2, but his status for the remainder of the series was left open.

He’s been labeled as “close” by the team over the past few days, but never quite upgraded to game-time decision status. He may very well bypass that tonight and be declared as being in the lineup, depending on what head coach Kris Knoblauch has to say when practice concludes.

The veteran is a significant boost to an Edmonton blue line that’s overperformed expectations in his absence. While the trade deadline acquisition of Jake Walman from the Sharks has paid its expected dividends, it’s been an unheralded depth piece, Brett Kulak, getting the lion’s share of minutes alongside Bouchard at even strength in Ekholm’s absence. He’s stepped up to the task and then some. The Kulak-Bouchard pairing has controlled a staggering 65.1% of expected goals in 127 minutes of ice time together, per MoneyPuck, outscoring opponents 7-1. That plus-six goal differential is second among defense pairs at 5-on-5 this postseason behind the Panthers’ Niko Mikkola and Seth Jones, who are outscoring opponents 12-5 for a plus-seven differential.

After finishing 12th in Norris Trophy voting last season, Ekholm scored 33 points in 65 games this year with a +11 rating. He and Bouchard were similarly dominant together in last year’s run to the Stanley Cup Final, outscoring opponents 22-12 at 5-on-5 while controlling 61.3% of expected goals.

Kulak will get bumped down to second-pairing duties with Darnell Nurse while Troy Stecher heads to the press box, according to Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal. The Oilers’ third pairing of Walman and John Klingberg, also one of the best duos of the playoffs thus far, will remain unscathed.

Islanders Fire Assistant Coaches John MacLean, Tommy Albelin

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Speaking to reporters this morning, new Islanders general manager Mathieu Darche confirmed the club will retain head coach Patrick Roy (via the team). The bench on Long Island will look different next season, though. Darche said the team won’t be bringing back assistant coaches John MacLean or Tommy Albelin, per Arthur Staple of The Athletic. The club has also relieved AHL Bridgeport head coach Rick Kowalsky of his duties, Darche said (according to Ethan Sears of the New York Post). It sounds like the entire minor-league coaching staff will be overhauled as well, per Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News.

Roy’s status for next season was briefly doubtful after the Isles parted ways with GM Lou Lamoriello last month. However, after Darche’s hire, it became clear that the appetite for a coaching change wasn’t strong, especially with three years remaining on Roy’s contract. The Islanders may have missed the playoffs in 2024-25, Roy’s first full season behind the bench, but the team’s possession metrics indicated he deserved another shot. Poor special teams and finishing luck were the primary limiting factors regarding New York’s record last season, not overall 5-on-5 possession play. Under Roy, the team controlled a slight majority of shot attempts, scoring chances, and high-danger chances at even strength.

It’s unsurprising to see new ancillary voices brought in as the franchise aims for a fresher identity under Darche. The Islanders’ combined special teams success rate of 84.8% was the worst in the league, ranking 31st out of 32 clubs in both power-play and penalty-kill conversion rate.

MacLean was in charge of that power play. He’s been with the club as an assistant since the 2022-23 season, and only the Ducks and Flyers have performed worse with the man advantage than the Isles’ 16.4% success rate over those three years. The 60-year-old oversaw the NHL debut of his son, Kyle MacLean, on Long Island during his tenure.

Albelin’s time in New York ends after just one season. The longtime NHL rearguard oversaw the Isles’ defense and penalty kill, the latter of which actually saw a 0.7% improvement from their league-worst finish in 2023-24. The team’s 5-on-5 defense also improved from year to year under Albelin, ranking 21st in the league in scoring chances allowed at 5-on-5 after placing 28th last year. Nonetheless, they’ll look to get a new name in there that both Darche and Roy agree upon.

The Bridgeport coaching staff overhaul comes across the wire as one of the least surprising news items of the offseason. The Baby Isles made history as the worst home team in AHL history in 2024-25 with just four wins in 36 games. Overall, Bridgeport finished last in the league by a huge margin with a 15-50-4-3 record. Kowalsky, who’s worked closely with the outgoing Lamoriello throughout his coaching career in the Isles and Devils organizations, also oversaw a last-place finish in their division in 2023-24.

As for the NHL staff, the only returning assistant will be Benoit Desrosiers, whom Roy worked closely with as head coach of the QMJHL’s Quebec Remparts. He joined the Isles’ staff shortly after Roy did, midway through the 2023-24 season.

Blue Jackets Prospect Nikolai Makarov Remaining Overseas

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May 29: While Makarov intended to sign, it doesn’t look like the Jackets were ready to give him a contract yet. He signed a one-year extension with CSKA today to remain in Russia next season, the club announced.

April 15: The Blue Jackets are set to sign defense prospect Nikolai Makarov to a two-year entry-level contract beginning next season, Daria Tuboltseva of Responsible Gambler reports.

Makarov, 22, is a sleeper prospect in Columbus’ system. A fifth-round pick in 2021, the 6’1″, 194-lb lefty has remained in his native Russia since being drafted. Four years on, though, he’s yet to capture a full-time role in the high-tier Kontinental Hockey League. He remains with CSKA Moscow, the system he’s played in since 2019, but spent most of this season in the second-tier VHL with feeder club Zvezda Moscow.

A couple of years ago, it looked like Makarov was making strides in his development. While he spent the majority of the 2022-23 season in Russia’s top junior league, the MHL, he earned a late-season promotion to CSKA’s main roster and ended up suiting up in all 27 of the club’s playoff games as they won the Gagarin Cup. He also played in all five of their postseason games last year, but CSKA opted not to dress him in their first-round loss against Dinamo Minsk here in 2025.

Down with Zvezda, Makarov logged 4-8–12 with 14 PIMs and a plus-one rating in 41 appearances this season. He hits pause on his Russian professional career with 1-3–4 and a +12 rating in 64 career KHL games over the last five years, adding 4-17–21 in 69 VHL games over parts of five seasons.

A physically aggressive defensive defender, it’ll be interesting to see how Makarov leverages his NHL-average frame in the North American pros. He’ll presumably join AHL Cleveland next season for added development, although the Jackets could always reach an agreement to loan him back to CSKA while keeping his NHL contract active. There’s not much of a realistic path for him to see playing time on a Blue Jackets club with playoff aspirations in 2026, but he could be a name to watch for a call-up in the second season of his deal. He’ll be a restricted free agent upon expiry.

Jets’ Adam Lowry Underwent Hip Surgery, Out 5-6 Months

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Jets captain Adam Lowry won’t be available at the start of the 2025-26 season after undergoing successful hip surgery on Tuesday, per a club announcement. The procedure carries a five-to-six-month rehabilitation timeline, meaning he’ll likely make his season debut sometime in November.

While it could be a tough start to Winnipeg’s season without their top matchup and penalty-killing center, a roughly month-long absence shouldn’t impact the Jets’ offseason planning too much outside of adding a depth piece down the middle to give them additional insurance through the first few weeks of the campaign. A potential late October return doesn’t guarantee Lowry will miss enough time to qualify for a long-term injured reserve placement at the beginning of the season. Winnipeg general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff must presume Lowry counts against the salary cap to start the year.

The Jets’ center core of Lowry, Mark Scheifele, Vladislav Namestnikov, and Morgan Barron are all signed or under team control for next season, so there likely weren’t going to be many moving parts down the middle for Winnipeg this summer anyway outside of finding a potential upgrade on Namestnikov for the second line. However, Lowry’s absence for the first few weeks will likely allow the Jets to evaluate the readiness of their potential internal long-term replacements for Namestnikov in a top-six role. There’s 2023 first-rounder Brayden Yager, who’s primed to land an opening-night roster spot after scoring 25 goals and 82 points in 54 games with WHL Moose Jaw and Lethbridge this year. 2022 first-round Brad Lambert has gotten a couple of NHL reps over the last two years and might be a candidate as well, although he’s coming off a highly disappointing season with AHL Manitoba (7-28–35, -30 rating in 61 GP).

For Lowry, the hip rehab will mark an inauspicious start to the final season of the five-year, $16.25MM extension he signed in 2021. With Kyle Connor and Cole Perfetti also eligible to sign extensions on July 1, it’s unclear how quickly Cheveldayoff intends to start those talks with his captain. However, it should be expected that they’ll do everything in their power to keep the 11-year veteran in the only NHL city he’s ever known.

If they do opt to engage in extension discussions this summer, AFP Analytics projects the 32-year-old to receive a two-year deal in the $4MM range per season. He’s coming off his third straight 30-point campaign and has averaged at least 15 minutes per game for five straight seasons.

Lowry’s injury also puts a small dent in his climb up the Jets franchise’s all-time leaderboard. His 775 games played are fourth in Winnipeg/Atlanta franchise history, and he needs 69 games to leapfrog Bryan Little for third – that’s still doable next year if he returns at the early end of his timeline and stays healthy the rest of the way. His 121 goals are 10th all-time for the Jets, his 152 assists and 273 points rank ninth, while his +50 rating ranks fourth.

Multiple Teams Showing Interest In Marco Rossi

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The Blackhawks, Kraken, Flyers, Penguins, and Sabres are among the teams that have shown interest in acquiring Wild pending restricted free agent center Marco Rossi, according to RG’s James Murphy. While general manager Bill Guerin has refuted trade speculation surrounding the 2020 ninth overall pick in the past, there hasn’t been much noise around progress in contract talks so far this offseason, especially after he had his minutes slashed in the playoffs by head coach John Hynes.

For a team considering parting ways with a young player, it’s never a good sign when virtually every club with a need at the position with the assets to make an appealing trade work steps up to the plate. Minnesota’s deployment of Rossi, particularly this season, has been puzzling. The Austrian pivot finished sixth in Calder Trophy voting in 2023-24 and took strides in 2024-25 to prove his floor as a second-line center, notching a 24-36–60 scoring line in all 82 games despite missing star wingman Kirill Kaprizov for most of the campaign. He averaged north of 18 minutes per game in the regular season but played just 11 minutes per night in the playoffs, although that didn’t stop him from still contributing a pair of goals and an assist in the Wild’s first-round elimination at the hands of the Golden Knights.

With Rossi posting those point totals on a bottom-10 offensive team, it’s easy to see why many clubs are optimistic about his ability to slot into their top-six immediately and, at worst, replicate his performance from last year. From Minnesota’s standpoint, assuming their internal projection of him is as pessimistic as his late-season role reduction indicates, it makes sense they wouldn’t want to commit to a long-term deal that will likely cost north of $7MM per season. For Rossi, it makes little sense for him to sign a bridge deal in Minnesota if he feels he won’t get the minutes there to maximize his earning potential a few years down the line.

If the Wild can’t work out a trade for Rossi, an offer sheet threat looms. A long-term deal for Rossi will likely end up at seven years at around $7.4MM per season, AFP Analytics projects. That would require a team to surrender their 2026 first, second, and third-round pick as compensation if the Wild decline to match. As such, they’ll likely set their price around there in trade talks, at least in terms of comparable value. Considering their increased salary cap flexibility this summer and intact core, it makes sense they’d rather pursue trade options to land a more NHL-ready asset in place of a return largely centered around draft picks.

Of the five teams mentioned by Murphy as having interest in Rossi, all but the Sabres have the picks to acquire Rossi in the $7.02MM to $9.36MM range for an offer sheet. Buffalo would need to reacquire their 2026 second-rounder to do so. They sent it to the Senators in this year’s Dylan Cozens/Joshua Norris swap.

Mammoth Sign Daniil But To Entry-Level Contract

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Defenseman Dmitri Simashev isn’t the only top Mammoth prospect to get his entry-level deal today. His teammate with Russia’s Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, winger Daniil But, also put pen to paper on his three-year entry-level contract, the club announced.

His deal includes a yearly base salary of $855K and a $95K signing bonus for a $950K cap hit, per PuckPedia. He’s eligible for up to $750K in Schedule “A” performance bonuses in 2025-26 and up to $1MM in 2026-27 and 2027-28. Unlike Simashev, it doesn’t appear that But’s contract contains a European Assignment Clause, meaning he could be stashed with AHL Tucson without being loaned back to the Kontinental Hockey League.

But, selected six spots after Simashev at 12th overall in the 2023 draft, lands his first NHL deal after landing a Gagarin Cup championship with Lokomotiv alongside Simashev earlier this month. The heavyweight 6’6″, 216-lb left-winger set career-highs in the regular season with 19 assists, 28 points, and a +13 rating in 54 games, ranking seventh on Yaroslavl in scoring.

His playoff performance was less impressive. He tallied just one assist in 13 games and was demoted to the press box as Lokomotiv’s postseason run extended. That small of a sample size won’t be much of a concern for Utah, though. His frame and his puck-handling skills mean he could be ready to step into the lineup as soon as next season. His more well-rounded skillset means he’s deployable up and down the lineup, although he’ll likely be most effective as a middle-six piece long-term.

But is the No. 4 prospect in the Mammoth’s system behind forward Tij Iginla, Simashev, and defenseman Maveric Lamoureux, Scott Wheeler of The Athletic wrote earlier this year. He comes over after posting a 21-30–51 scoring line in 124 KHL games in the past three seasons.

Mammoth Sign Dmitri Simashev To Entry-Level Contract

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11:31 a.m.: Simashev’s deal includes a base salary of $855K, a signing bonus of $95K, and up to $1MM of Schedule “A” performance bonuses each season for a cap hit of $950K, per PuckPedia. Notably, the contract includes a European Assignment Clause, meaning Simashev could trigger a loan back to Yaroslavl next season if he’s not on the NHL roster.

11:04 a.m.: The Mammoth announced today they’ve signed their top defense prospect, 2023 sixth overall pick Dmitri Simashev, to a three-year entry-level contract. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Simashev was technically selected by the Coyotes two years ago but had his signing rights transferred to Utah when Arizona’s hockey operations assets were sold to Smith Entertainment Group last summer to establish the Mammoth franchise. A 6’5″, 207-lb stay-at-home defender, he was widely expected to sign his entry-level deal with Utah shortly after his season in his native Russia ended.

This season was his second full professional campaign with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the Kontinental Hockey League, and it ended in a Gagarin Cup championship for the 20-year-old. He was a bottom-pairing fixture for Lokomotiv, averaging just under 16 minutes per game in the regular season, and suited up in all 21 postseason contests for them while recording one assist and a minus-one rating.

While Simashev may have a future in Salt Lake as a high-end shutdown piece in the top-four, he doesn’t have the offensive upside we’ve come to expect out of defensemen selected that high in the draft. Over the last two regular seasons in Yaroslavl, he’s been limited to a 5-6–11 scoring line in 122 games. His +19 rating during that time is promising, though, especially considering his limited minutes.

In his 2025 prospect pool rankings, The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler labeled Simashev as the second-best prospect in Utah’s system and called him “a potential top-four defenseman who can play minutes and drive results with his defensive play, length and skating.” Whether the lefty makes the immediate jump to the NHL next season remains to be seen – but at his peak, he’s likely averaging north of 20 minutes per game for the Mammoth with heavy penalty-kill deployment.

At first glance, it seems likely he’ll start his professional career in North America with the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners. The Mammoth have their left side on defense locked in for next season with Mikhail Sergachev, Olli Määttä, and Ian Cole, with Juuso Välimäki still in the mix as a potential healthy extra as well. Cole and Välimäki are slated for unrestricted free agency in 2026, though, paving the way for Simashev to graduate to full-time NHL minutes a year from now after a season of adjustment in the minors.

“It feels amazing. I had a goal to win the Gagarin Cup and then go to the NHL and try to be the best player I can be,” Simashev told Utah freelance beat writer Craig Morgan. “I watched highlights of every Utah game. I know every player in Utah and how they play. Coming to Utah, for me, it’s basically like a dream.”

Simashev is too old to be slide-eligible, so his deal goes into effect next season regardless of how many NHL games he plays. He’ll be a restricted free agent following the 2027-28 campaign.

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