Panthers’ Jack Devine Returning To University Of Denver
The Panthers will have to wait until next year to see right wing prospect Jack Devine turn pro. The University of Denver announced Wednesday that the 20-year-old is returning for his senior season in 2024-25.
Devine slipped to the late seventh round in 2022, where Florida happily picked him up with the 221st overall pick. A few public scouts expected him to go closer to the midway point of the draft after a solid freshman season at Denver, but the October-born forward garnered less interest than expected.
Not only has he outpaced his actual billing over the last two years, but he’s likely worked his way up to first- or second-round status in an early redraft. Devine’s collegiate resume was made more impressive this year with a second NCAA championship, but his individual stat sheet in his junior year was quite impressive, too. He was easily the Pioneers’ best player, leading them in scoring with 27 goals and 56 points in 44 games with a +29 rating. That showing earned him a nomination for the Hobey Baker Award for the top player in collegiate hockey, as well as First All-American honors for the NCAA’s West Region.
The Illinois native will now likely join the Panthers on an entry-level contract as soon as his senior season ends, assuming he intends to sign with Florida and not test free agency. The Cats will likely burn the first year of his ELC in 2024-25, allowing him to make his NHL debut down the stretch of the regular season or in the playoffs. Devine was ranked fifth in the Panthers’ prospect system by The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler in February.
Senators Retain Seventh-Overall Pick, Defer Penalty To 2025 Or 2026
The Senators have opted to retain the seventh overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft after failing to win either draw during Tuesday night’s lottery, general manager Steve Staios confirmed today (via Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch). Ottawa is now required to forfeit either their 2025 or 2026 first-round selection as a result of failing to properly inform the Golden Knights of winger Evgenii Dadonov‘s no-trade clause in a July 2021 trade.
As was the case this year, the Senators will need to inform the league within 24 hours after the 2025 NHL Draft Lottery if they wish to retain their 2025 first-round choice or surrender their 2026 top pick. With Ottawa planning on challenging for postseason action after another difficult campaign this season, choosing to retain this year’s choice – likely the highest-value pick – was widely expected.
There will be a multitude of high-ceiling talents for the Sens to choose from in what’s billed as one of the deeper top 10s in recent memory. Checking in at seventh overall in TSN’s Bob McKenzie’s recent polling of NHL scouts is dynamic defenseman Zayne Parekh, who lit up the Ontario Hockey League this season with 33 goals and 96 points in 66 games for the Saginaw Spirit. Both those figures led all OHL defensemen, continuing to take leaps and bounds forward in his development after earning All-Rookie Team honors with Saginaw the year before. The Toronto-area native is a right-shot blue liner and is ever-so-slightly undersized at 6’0″ and 181 lbs, but they should almost definitely step into the NHL by 2025-26 if not next season. He’d be a welcome addition to a Sens defense prospect pool that lacks much NHL upside outside of shutdown D-man Tyler Kleven.
Other options potentially available in the Sens’ range are two-way blue-liner Sam Dickinson, offensive defenseman Zeev Buium, Finnish forward Konsta Helenius, and quickly-rising winger Tij Iginla. All would likely be top-five locks in weaker drafts.
Oskar Lindblom Signs With SHL’s Brynäs IF
Sharks pending unrestricted free agent left wing Oskar Lindblom won’t return to the club as expected, instead opting to return to Sweden on a two-year deal with Brynäs IF of the SHL. Lindblom’s new agreement with his hometown team also carries a three-year extension option for a maximum total of five seasons.
Lindblom, 27, spent the last two seasons in San Jose after being bought out by the Flyers in 2022, subsequently signing a two-year, $5MM agreement with the Sharks in free agency. The three-time 10-goal scorer was limited to only six snipes and 15 points in 73 games last year, though, and he failed to crack the Sharks’ opening-night roster last October.
He spent nearly the entire season on assignment to AHL San Jose, where the Ewing’s sarcoma survivor had six goals and 18 points in 41 contests. Lindblom’s lone NHL appearance this season came on November 10 against the Golden Knights, recording a -1 rating and one hit in 11:56 of ice time.
Brynäs, which plays in Lindblom’s hometown of Gävle, receives significant reinforcement after earning promotion back to the SHL from the HockeyAllsvenskan a few weeks ago. Lindblom played all of his youth hockey in the Brynäs organization and was selected from them by Philadelphia in the fifth round of the 2014 draft.
He graduated to a full-time fixture for them in the SHL in 2014-15, spending three seasons there before leaving for the Flyers in 2017. Lindblom totaled 38 goals and 87 points in 141 games in parts of five seasons for Brynäs in SHL competition during his first stint, including a 22-goal, 47-point showing in 52 games in 2016-17 that earned him Swedish Forward of the Year honors.
Lindblom is the third NHL transfer Brynäs has picked up already this offseason, joining former Ducks winger Jakob Silfverberg and ex-Maple Leafs and Devils depth netminder Erik Källgren. Their brief stay in the HockeyAllsvenskan last season was their first season outside of the Swedish top division since 1959-60.
If it’s the end of Lindblom’s time in the NHL, he concludes his career with 56 goals and 56 assists for 112 points and a -1 rating across 337 games with the Flyers and Sharks.
Blues Sign Hugh McGing To Two-Year Extension
The Blues have signed forward Hugh McGing to a two-year, two-way contract extension, general manager Doug Armstrong announced Wednesday. He’ll earn $775K at the NHL level and $250K at the AHL level each season, per the team.
McGing, 25, spent most of last season on assignment to AHL Springfield. He led the Blues’ primary minor-league affiliate with 31 assists, adding eight goals for 39 points in 51 games with 40 PIMs and a +5 rating. In doing so, he matched his career-high points total set last season despite playing 20 fewer games. His 0.76 points per game were his highest since recording a point per game in his senior season with Western Michigan University in 2019-20.
The undersized forward also earned his second career NHL call-up on Dec. 9, remaining on the St. Louis roster for 11 days before being returned to Springfield. He made five appearances in that time, struggling mightily with no points, a -5 rating, poor possession metrics and going 1 for 7 on faceoffs. McGing averaged only 8:23 per game and was given advantageous offensive zone usage at even strength.
McGing was a fifth-round pick of the Blues back in 2018. While he hasn’t provided anything in his limited NHL time that suggests he can handle a major-league role, the Chicago native has turned into a good role player with Springfield with above-average playmaking skills. He served as an alternate captain for the Thunderbirds this year and is a good fit in their top six, providing the Blues organization with a quality linemate for some of their younger, higher-ceiling prospects.
He was set to be a Group Six unrestricted free agent this summer, as he’d played fewer than 80 NHL games while completing three or more professional seasons. His new deal earns him a $90K raise annually over his previous $140K minors salary, perhaps more if he spends additional time earning the $775K league minimum while on the NHL roster. McGing will be eligible for true unrestricted free agency when his extension ends after the 2025-26 season.
The Blues have one other Group Six UFA to deal with before July 1 – 25-year-old winger William Bitten, who posted 17 goals and 33 points in 68 games for Springfield this year. After McGing’s extension, they’re now at 36 of the maximum 50 standard player contracts signed for next season.
Hurricanes Sign Joel Nystrom To Entry-Level Deal
The Hurricanes have signed defense prospect Joel Nyström to a two-year, entry-level contract, per a team announcement Tuesday night. The 21-year-old Swede will earn a $832.5K base salary and $80K AHL salary for both seasons, with a $92.5K signing bonus each year for a $925K cap hit.
Selected with the sixth-to-last pick in the 2021 draft, the right-shot Nyström has been a promising offensive talent over his three full seasons with Färjestad BK in the Swedish Hockey League. He had his best campaign yet in 2023-24, totaling eight goals and 18 assists for 26 points in 51 games with a +12 rating.
That made him the highest-scoring defender for the SHL’s best regular-season squad, an impressive feat for a player still so early on in his development. He wasn’t deployed in terribly difficult minutes and rarely played more than 20 minutes in a game, but he was still an incredibly important contributor in a second and third-pairing role at even strength while seeing significant power-play usage.
Nyström fell into the Hurricanes’ laps in his draft year. Some public rankings, including Elite Prospects, had him tabbed as a late second-round talent. Early on, the last few picks of the 2021 draft mostly look to be gems. Nyström’s teammate with Färjestad this season, goaltender Carl Lindbom, was selected by the Golden Knights with the 222nd overall pick and is on track to have an NHL future after logging a solid .911 SV% in 26 SHL appearances this season. Utah forward prospect Sam Lipkin and Lightning right wing prospect Niko Huuhtanen were the final two picks after Lindbom and have also both exceeded the normal development curve of a seventh-rounder.
Nyström’s ELC contains a European assignment clause, per CapFriendly, so he’ll likely be loaned back to Färjestad next season instead of suiting up for AHL Chicago. Another strong season in Sweden should put him in consideration for NHL duties as soon as 2025-26. The Karlstad native will be a restricted free agent upon expiry and becomes the 27th player under contract for Carolina next season.
West Notes: Henrique, Marchment, Hakanpää
Oilers forward Adam Henrique has been downgraded to doubtful for tomorrow’s Game 1 of their second-round series against the Canucks, The Athletic’s Daniel Nugent-Bowman reports.
Henrique, 34, has been dealing with a lower-body injury for at least the past few days, missing a practice last Friday. It wasn’t believed he would miss any time until today, and he’s now been officially listed as day-to-day by head coach Kris Knoblauch.
The trade deadline pickup from the Ducks was solid in Edmonton’s dispatching of the Kings in the first round, posting a goal and an assist in five games while averaging 15:52 per game. His lone goal, coming in the first period of Game 1, set an NHL record for the longest period of time between postseason goals for a player. His last came with the Devils in the 2012 Stanley Cup Final – also against Los Angeles.
The domino effect of Henrique’s absence will force depth winger Mattias Janmark into a first-line role with Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman, per Nugent-Bowman. He’s averaged only 10:27 per game against the Kings but still managed two assists. Edmonton’s other trade pickup from Anaheim, Sam Carrick, has been a healthy scratch since Game 4 in L.A. and isn’t expected to re-enter the lineup.
Elsewhere in the West:
- As the Stars set to get their second-round series kicked off tonight against the Avalanche, they’ll again be without the services of winger Mason Marchment. He remains sidelined with the undisclosed injury he sustained back in Game 2 against the Golden Knights in the first round, head coach Pete DeBoer told Lia Assimakopoulos of the Dallas Morning News. DeBoer did say Marchment isn’t too far away from returning, meaning he could return before the series stretches into elimination territory. After recording a career-high 22 goals and 53 points in the regular season, Marchment scored once against Vegas before exiting the lineup.
- Further away from returning is defenseman Jani Hakanpää, DeBoer added. Both he and Marchment are skating but he’s behind the winger in his recovery. The 32-year-old has missed a significant chunk of time with a lower-body injury, a blow to their defensive depth, although trade pickup Chris Tanev has replaced his top-four shutdown role and excelled while doing it. Hakanpää, a pending unrestricted free agent, last played against the Kings on March 16.
Blackhawks Extend Lukas Reichel
The Blackhawks have signed forward Lukas Reichel to a two-year, $2.4MM contract extension, per a team announcement Tuesday. The deal carries an average annual value and cap hit of $1.2MM.
Reichel, 21, was slated for restricted free agency this summer after completing his entry-level contract. He was Chicago’s first-round pick in the 2020 draft, selected 17th overall after their most recent playoff appearance, a first-round elimination at the hands of the Golden Knights.
The German forward is yet to cross the 100-game plateau but will do so next season. Since making his NHL debut in the 2021-22 campaign, he’s tallied 12 goals, 20 assists, 32 points and a -45 rating in 99 contests.
After lighting up the AHL for nearly a point per game with Rockford last season, as well as 15 points in 23 games across multiple stints on the Blackhawks’ roster, most expected Reichel to challenge for a consistent top-six role in 2023-24. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to hold down the second-line role at center he was given behind Connor Bedard to begin the year, eventually demoted to a third-line role on the wing. He ended the season with just five goals and 16 points in 65 games, having the most disappointing season of a promising group of Blackhawks youngsters in Bedard and defensemen Kevin Korchinski and Alex Vlasic.
Thus, it’s not particularly surprising to see Reichel ink an extension not terribly far above the maximum buriable threshold if he’s assigned back to Rockford at any point over the next two years. If he’s able to get his development back on track by the summer of 2026, he’ll be a restricted free agent again in line for a more significant commitment, both in yearly salary and term, at age 23.
Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson still has a few weeks to work on extensions for the rest of his pending RFAs before qualifying offers are due on June 30. Among players who ended the season on the NHL roster, four other forwards – Joey Anderson, Mackenzie Entwistle, Reese Johnson and Taylor Raddysh – are headed for restricted free agency. Unlike Reichel, that group is eligible for salary arbitration.
Chicago also has six pending RFAs at the minor-league level, four of whom logged NHL time this season – center Cole Guttman and defensemen Louis Crevier, Isaak Phillips and Filip Roos. Among them, only Guttman and Roos are eligible for arbitration.
Reichel was solid in limited playoff action with Rockford last week, scoring twice and adding two assists as the IceHogs were bounced in four games by Grand Rapids in the Central Division Semifinals. He’s now likely off to Czechia to play with Germany at the 2024 World Championship, although he hasn’t officially been added to their roster yet.
The Blackhawks still have $33.84MM in projected cap space for next season, per CapFriendly. They still need to add around $15MM in combined cap hits for 2024-25 to meet next year’s lower limit.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Devils Re-Sign Maxwell Willman, Nathan Légaré
The Devils announced Tuesday that they’ve re-signed forwards Maxwell Willman and Nathan Légaré to one-year, two-way deals with matching $775K cap hits and NHL salaries. Per the team, Willman will earn a $275K AHL salary with $300K guaranteed, while Légaré will earn an AHL salary of $85K.
Willman, 29, returns for his second season in New Jersey. He played in 18 games last season in fourth-line call-up duties, scoring three goals and adding an assist while averaging a minuscule 8:20 per game. It was his first extended NHL action since appearing in 41 games for the Flyers in 2021-22.
He spent a solid chunk of the season on assignment to AHL Utica, where he had arguably his best offensive season as a professional. The former Brown and Boston University forward had 12 goals and 22 points in 32 contests with Utica, reaching a career-high 0.67 points per game in the AHL. The Massachusetts native was only used as injury insurance this season, though, and likely isn’t in consideration for a spot in next season’s opening night lineup. It’s still a nice bit of financial insurance for the veteran, who lands his highest guaranteed salary to date.
Like Willman, Légaré is almost definitely headed for Utica next season. The 23-year-old was a third-round pick of the Penguins back in 2019 but is already on his third NHL organization, heading to the Canadiens in last summer’s Erik Karlsson three-way trade before landing with New Jersey in a minor-league swap in March. The Montreal native was wrapping up his entry-level contract and received just a $15K bump in his minors salary. In 57 games with AHL Laval and Utica this season, the right winger struggled to produce, limited to eight goals and 12 points with a -10 rating.
Willman will be an unrestricted free agent in 2025, while the Devils will retain control over Légaré as a restricted free agent. Both will need to clear waivers to head to Utica if cut from the roster during training camp.
Hockey Canada Releases 2024 World Championship Roster
May 7: Celebrini and Fantilli have returned home from Czechia, TSN’s Darren Dreger reports. The former will participate in tonight’s 2024 NHL Draft Lottery, while Fantilli’s reasons for departing are undisclosed. It’s unclear whether they’ve been removed from the roster entirely. In a corresponding transaction, the team added Kings center Pierre-Luc Dubois and Lightning forwards Brandon Hagel and Nick Paul to the roster.
May 3: Hockey Canada has released its roster of 22 players who will wear the maple leaf at the 2024 World Championship, which begins next week in Ostrava and Prague, Czechia. There are three open spots left to be filled throughout the tournament as more teams are eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Much like the initial World Championship roster that USA Hockey released weeks back, it’s almost completely made up of NHL talent – a rarity for the top-level countries at this tournament recently. The return and promise of future best-on-best international tournaments in the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off and the 2026 Winter Olympics has players and front offices looking at this year’s Worlds as a tune-up and initial evaluation for those events.
In fact, the only non-NHL player on Canada’s tournament-opening roster will be in the league next season. That’s presumptive 2024 first-overall pick Macklin Celebrini, who continues his 2023-24 campaign after taking home the Hobey Baker Award for the top collegiate player in his freshman season with Boston University. Their offense is highlighted and led by Blackhawks rookie phenom Connor Bedard and Kraken sniper Jared McCann, while Sabres defenders Bowen Byram and Owen Power highlight the back end. Blues netminder Jordan Binnington is expected to serve as the team’s starter.
The full roster is as follows:
F Connor Bedard (Blackhawks)
F Michael Bunting (Penguins)
F Macklin Celebrini (2024 draft-eligible)
F Dylan Cozens (Sabres)
F Adam Fantilli (Blue Jackets)
F Ridly Greig (Senators)
F Dylan Guenther (NHL Utah)
F Andrew Mangiapane (Flames)
F Jack McBain (NHL Utah)
F Jared McCann (Kraken)
F Dawson Mercer (Devils)
F Brandon Tanev (Kraken)
D Bowen Byram (Sabres)
D Kaiden Guhle (Canadiens)
D Jamie Oleksiak (Kraken)
D Colton Parayko (Blues)
D Owen Power (Sabres)
D Damon Severson (Blue Jackets)
D Olen Zellweger (Ducks)
G Jordan Binnington (Blues)
G Nico Daws (Devils)
G Joel Hofer (Blues)
Senators Name Travis Green Head Coach
May 7: Green and the Senators have come to an agreement and he’ll be announced as the Sens’ next bench boss on Tuesday, reports Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch. The Senators did indeed announce the move, confirming a four-year contract that will keep him behind the Ottawa bench through 2027-28.
May 6: The Senators are expected to finalize Travis Green as their next head coach, TSN’s Darren Dreger confirms Monday.
Green finished 2023-24 as the interim head coach for the Devils, who fired Lindy Ruff four days before the trade deadline in a last-ditch effort to make the playoffs. While he remained in consideration for their still-open vacancy, New Jersey granted him permission to speak to Ottawa as late as last week, Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reported. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman also said on today’s “32 Thoughts” podcast that things were trending toward Green landing with the Sens.
It wasn’t a strong finish to the season under Green for the Devils. They managed to drop below the .500 mark despite having a record of 30-27-4 when they fired Ruff, finishing 13th in the Eastern Conference and 10 points behind the Capitals for the second wild-card spot.
Green shouldn’t be faulted for New Jersey missing the playoffs. That was nearly settled well before he took over, with number-one defenseman Dougie Hamilton missing nearly the whole season and the Devils’ five goaltenders cumulatively allowing 19 goals above average. But it is concerning he wasn’t able to at least keep up the pace set under Ruff, especially considering New Jersey received its best goaltending of the season to end the year thanks to deadline pickup Jake Allen‘s .900 SV% in 12 starts.
The 53-year-old has been a part of the NHL back to 1992, when he embarked on a 14-year, 970-game career as a player that involved stops with the Islanders, Mighty Ducks, Coyotes, Maple Leafs and Bruins. He retired in 2008 following one season of play with EV Zug in the Swiss NLA, taking two seasons off before landing his first coaching gig as an assistant with the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League.
Green spent three years in Portland, taking over as interim head coach in 2012-13 when Winterhawks fixture and former Penguins head coach Mike Johnston was suspended for offering improper player benefits and committing various recruitment violations in his dual GM/head coach capacity. He didn’t miss a beat, coaching a high-powered Winterhawks squad led by future NHLers Oliver Bjorkstrand, Seth Jones, Brendan Leipsic, Nic Petan and Ty Rattie to a WHL championship.
That put Green on NHL teams’ radar, and he landed a job in the Canucks organization the following summer as head coach of their AHL affiliate in Utica. He remained there for four seasons, including a Calder Cup Final appearance in 2015, before being promoted to head coach of the Canucks in 2017.
Green’s showing over four and a quarter seasons in British Columbia was underwhelming, compiling a 133-147-34 record and a .478 points percentage. Again, it’s hard to blame Green – the Canucks had questionable roster construction under then-general manager Jim Benning – but there was very little suggesting he was an above-average coach. Vancouver’s lone postseason appearance under Green came in 2020, where they won a qualifying round series against the Wild in the Edmonton bubble and beat the Blues in the first round before falling to the Golden Knights in seven games in the second round. It was a deeper run than expected, although most would rightfully attribute it to the expert goaltending of Jacob Markström (.916 SV%, 8-6 in 14 GS) and Thatcher Demko (.985 SV%, 2-1 in 3 GS).
While he has more NHL experience as a head coach heading into the role than his permanent predecessor, D.J. Smith, it’s not the most exciting hire for an Ottawa team that hasn’t made the playoffs for seven years. Some roster overhauling will be necessary on behalf of GM Steve Staios to aid Green as he assumes control of the room, namely in giving him more offensive weapons to deploy in their bottom six and solidified goaltending.
Ottawa fired Smith amid a December losing streak and managed to go .500 the rest of the way under former bench boss Jacques Martin, who returned to the club to serve as their interim head coach for the last four months of the campaign.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.