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Lightning Return Sam O’Reilly To Juniors

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Center Sam O’Reilly, the Lightning’s No. 1 prospect, is among the training camp cuts announced by the club today. He’ll return to the OHL’s London Knights for a third full season in the major junior ranks.

While there were some who believed O’Reilly could challenge for a nine-game trial with a strong training camp, an early return to juniors isn’t a huge surprise. The 19-year-old pivot was the last selection of the first round by the Oilers in last year’s draft, but Edmonton traded him to the Bolts in July in exchange for the signing rights to reigning Hobey Baker Award winner Isaac Howard.

Howard was previously Tampa’s top prospect, but a disagreement over the role he would play in 2025-26 led him to decide not to sign with the club – essentially forcing a trade unless they wanted to lose him for nothing in free agency next summer. O’Reilly was a shrewd consolation prize, albeit a younger one who needs a little more runway before he’s ready to make an NHL impact. The 6’1″, 190-lb pivot projects squarely as a bottom-six piece long-term. He’s a strong playmaker, registering 79 assists in 130 games for the Knights over the past few years, but his top calling cards are his physical involvement and defensive acumen.

That boosts his opportunities for making an NHL transition – unlike some young first-round talents, a fourth-line workload wouldn’t be detrimental to his development if that’s where he first lands upon cracking the Bolts’ roster. Nonetheless, more junior development isn’t the worst thing in the world to see if he can improve his offensive skillset as well and gain the tools necessary to push for a more sound middle-six role in Tampa long-term.

O’Reilly will be turning pro in 2026-27. Whether that’s because he cracks the NHL roster out of camp next fall or starts in AHL Syracuse remains to be seen. Assuming O’Reilly does not reach 10 NHL games this season – an overwhelmingly likely scenario given the early nature of today’s cut – his entry-level contract will slide for a second consecutive campaign. Tampa Bay will still owe him his $96K signing bonus. As a result, his ELC will carry a decreased cap hit of $900,333 when it does go into effect for 2026-27, down from its initial cap hit of $964K had O’Reilly been in the NHL since signing the deal with Edmonton back in October 2024. He’ll be a restricted free agent at age 23 in the 2029 offseason.

Ville Koivunen Expected To Make Penguins’ Roster

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Rookie winger Ville Koivunen “is a lock to start the season” on the Penguins’ opening night roster, Josh Yohe of The Athletic reports Tuesday. The 2021 second-round pick was always a strong candidate to land a job after impressing in a short call-up down the stretch last season, but his waiver-exempt status made the roster math not in his favor with the Pens holding onto more veterans than expected over the summer.

Where exactly he fits on the depth chart is still in question. During last year’s eight-game call-up, during which the 22-year-old went nearly point-per-game with seven assists, he split time equally in Pittsburgh’s top six on the left wing with either Sidney Crosby and Bryan Rust or Evgeni Malkin and Rickard Rakell. Daily Faceoff’s most recent lineup projection has him sticking with Malkin, but this time with free-agent pickup Anthony Mantha on the right flank while Rakell and Rust slot in as Crosby’s wingers.

His path to minutes got clearer when Rutger McGroarty, the organization’s top forward prospect and a 2022 first-rounder, reported to camp with an upper-body injury that has him out indefinitely. One of the Pens’ top young forwards was always likely going to get a crack in the top six to begin the season as the retool begins to accelerate; it was more a question of whether that would be Koivunen, McGroarty, or a wildcard name when the dust settled. More will be in competition for those premier minutes when names like Rakell and Rust are presumably offloaded in trades, but for now, it’ll be Koivunen coasting to those minutes with McGroarty not currently a factor.

Koivunen was the crown jewel of the Penguins’ haul they received from the Hurricanes in exchange for winger Jake Guentzel at the 2024 trade deadline. The 6’0″ Finn has developed like a dream since his draft year, peaking with an excellent 56-point showing in 59 games for Liiga’s Kärpät in the 2023-24 season. He came to North America last year and fit like a glove in AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, leading the Pens’ farm team with a 21-35–56 scoring line in 63 games. He still slots in as their No. 2 prospect to McGroarty for now, at least according to NHL.com, but has a legitimate case to claim the No. 1 throne – or work his way out of “prospect” designation entirely this year.

Training Camp Cuts: 9/23/25

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We’re nearly through the first week of training camps. Teams are still making initial cuts, trimming amateur invites and AHL-contracted players as they inch closer to their final 23-player opening night rosters. You can keep track of full training camp rosters here. We’re keeping track of all of today’s trimmings here:

Calgary Flames (via team announcement)

F Jacob Battaglia (to Kingston, OHL)
D Axel Hurtig (to Calgary, WHL)

Columbus Blue Jackets (via team announcement)

G Evan Gardner (to WHL Saskatoon)
F Owen Griffin (to OHL Oshawa)
D Marcus Kearsey (released from ATO to QMJHL Charlottetown)
F Nicholas Sima (released from ATO to OHL Saginaw)

Dallas Stars (via team release)

F Jaxon Fuder (to WHL Red Deer)

Florida Panthers (via team release)

F Shea Busch (to WHL Everett)
D Carson Cameron (released from ATO to OHL Peterborough)
D Dennis Cesana (to AHL Charlotte)
F Riley Hughes (to AHL Charlotte)
D Cole Krygier (released from PTO)
F Josh Lopina (released from PTO to AHL Charlotte)
F Robert Mastrosimone (to AHL Charlotte)
F Shamar Moses (to OHL North Bay)
D Eamon Powell (to AHL Charlotte)
G Michael Simpson (to AHL Charlotte)
F Christophe Tellier (to AHL Charlotte)
D Mitchell Vande Sompel (to AHL Charlotte)
F Daniel Walcott (released from PTO to AHL Charlotte)
D Phip Waugh (released from PTO to AHL Charlotte)
D Andy Welinski (released from PTO to AHL Charlotte)
F Nicholas Zabaneh (to AHL Charlotte)

Pittsburgh Penguins (via team announcement)

F Travis Hayes (to OHL Soo)

Toronto Maple Leafs (via team announcement)

D Owen Conrad (to QMJHL Charlottetown)

Washington Capitals (via team announcement)

F Grant Cruikshank (to AHL Hershey)
G Seth Eisele (to AHL Hershey)
D Nick Leivermann (to AHL Hershey)
D Jon McDonald (to AHL Hershey)
F Justin Nachbaur (to AHL Hershey)
F Miroslav Satan (to OHL Saginaw)
F Maxim Schäfer (to QMJHL Chicoutimi)
F Dalton Smith (to AHL Hershey)
F Luke Toporowski (to AHL Hershey)

Martin Fehervary Trending Toward Playing In Preseason

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It’s looking highly likely that the Capitals will have defenseman Martin Fehervary available for their opening night lineup. Head coach Spencer Carbery told reporters today, including Sammi Silber of The Hockey News, that he’s an option to play preseason contests as soon as this week .

Fehervary has been present at camp but skating in a non-contact jersey as he deals with some inflammation in his knee, the final remnants from season-ending meniscus surgery he underwent back in April. The 25-year-old regular in the Caps’ top six group of defenders sustained the corresponding injury in Washington’s penultimate game of the regular season, keeping him sidelined for their playoff run that came to an end in the second round against the Hurricanes. After spending the vast majority of the regular season as either John Carlson or Matt Roy’s left-hand man in Washington’s top four, his absence meant a regular role for former first-rounder Alexander Alexeyev, who subsequently left for the Penguins in free agency.

His health is an important storyline for the Caps, who have one of the deepest everyday defense lineups in the league but are lacking an excess of organizational depth past their top six. Fehervary’s absence lingering would have meant Washington was one injury away from having to give veteran minor-league mainstays Dylan McIlrath or Calle Rosen regular minutes, or giving another chance to still-developing prospects like Vincent Iorio. The Caps did make a move this summer to give themselves a more capable two-way option to have in their press box with everyone healthy, picking up Declan Chisholm from the Wild via trade.

But with Fehervary in the mix, he won’t be much of a factor, at least to start. His presence gives the Caps one of the more well-rounded left sides in the league with Jakob Chychrun and Rasmus Sandin manning the other two pairs. As far as Fehervary’s value goes, the 2018 second-rounder has been a quietly rock-solid top-four piece for a few years now. He recorded a career-high 25 points and a +18 rating in 2024-25, averaging 19 minutes per game while logging 150 blocks and 139 hits to rank second and third on the team, respectively. He’s arguably Washington’s most physically involved defender and signed a seven-year, $42MM extension at the beginning of free agency.

Oilers Sign Vasily Podkolzin To Three-Year Extension

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The Oilers and Vasily Podkolzin will avoid restricted free agency next summer. The club announced it has signed him to a three-year extension carrying an AAV of $2.95MM for a total value of $8.85MM. The deal breaks down into a $1MM signing bonus and $1.95MM base salary each season, Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports.

Back in April of 2024, Podkolzin had agreed to a two-year, $2MM deal with the Canucks that looked to keep the former top-10 pick in Vancouver for another couple of years. He never played a game for the club on that contract, though. After the Oilers lost winger Dylan Holloway to an offer sheet four months later, they moved to recoup some forward depth and acquire Podkolzin from the ’Nucks in exchange for a fourth-round pick. That was a buy-low price for the 2019 draft choice, who had two years of term and four years of team control remaining. He was set to have arbitration rights next summer, but instead will walk to unrestricted free agency in 2029 with this extension.

In Edmonton, Podkolzin reestablished himself as an NHL regular after spending his final few seasons in Vancouver watching his playing time dwindle. He skated in all 82 games for the first time, supplying an 8-16–24 scoring line with a +1 rating while averaging a career-high 13:13 per game. He spent a good portion of the year up in the top six as a checking presence on Leon Draisaitl’s line, although he more routinely moved to bottom-six duties when the postseason rolled around. The 6’1″, 190-lb Russian led the club with 211 hits in the regular season and finished second among Edmonton forwards with 53 blocks.

Podkolzin, now 24, no longer has the offensive ceiling Vancouver hoped for when they selected him 10th overall six years ago. He’s nonetheless solidified himself as a reasonably valuable middle-six checking presence, although his point production still leaves much to be desired given how much time he saw along Draisaitl at even strength last year. He did score 14 goals in 79 games in his rookie campaign with Vancouver back in 2021-22, though. If he can rediscover that shooting touch, his nearly $3MM cap hit over the next few years should be more palatable as the cap continues to rise. If not, that’s a bit of a gamble the Oilers are taking on a type of talent that could be easily replaceable for a lower salary on the free agent market.

The Oilers now have nearly $62MM in salary commitments to just 12 players for their 2026-27 active roster. That leaves them with over $42MM in space to fill up to 11 jobs – a relatively reasonable target, but a number that will also drop quickly if they manage to extend franchise center Connor McDavid in the near future.

Stars Sign Jaxon Fuder To Entry-Level Deal

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The Stars have signed undrafted forward Jaxon Fuder to a three-year entry-level contract, the club announced. He had been in training camp as an amateur tryout invite. As part of the move, he’s also been formally cut from Dallas’ roster and loaned to WHL Red Deer.

Fuder, 19, was initially eligible for selection in the 2024 draft. At the time, he wasn’t on anyone’s radar. He spent his draft year in the junior ’A’ BCHL, recording 16 points in 31 games for the Cranbrook Bucks and Powell River Kings. Only last season did he make the jump to high-level junior hockey, slotting in as a top-nine presence with Red Deer and notching an 11-15–26 scoring line in 46 games.

Dallas has had their eyes on Fuder all summer long. He was also invited to their development camp in July. His performance there and in the Stars’ rookie camp games earlier this month – he scored twice in two games against the Red Wings’ prospect group – has been enough to land him a deal.

Since Fuder will still be 19 on September 15 of this year, his entry-level contract is eligible for one slide. Since he won’t hit 10 NHL games played in 2025-26, he’ll earn his initial signing bonus but nothing else, and the deal will slide to 2026-27. He’ll be a restricted free agent following the 2028-29 season.

The Stars have three open contract slots. All of those will remain open because players subject to an entry-level slide do not count against the 50-contract limit.

Joseph Woll Taking Indefinite Leave Of Absence

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Maple Leafs goaltender Joseph Woll has taken a personal leave of absence to attend to a family matter, general manager Brad Treliving told reporters Tuesday, including David Alter of The Hockey News. There’s no timeline for his return, and he may be unavailable for the start of the regular season as a result.

That could be a potentially significant blow to the Leafs to start the season. After working his way into the NHL full-time in 2023-24, Woll delivered a good showing as Toronto’s 1B option behind Anthony Stolarz in 2024-25, posting a .909 SV% and 2.73 GAA while compiling a 27-14-1 record in 41 starts and one relief appearance. That’s the fourth time in four NHL seasons that the 27-year-old has posted comfortably above-average stats. He’s got a .910 SV% and 2.74 GAA in 78 career appearances, translating to 19.8 goals saved above average.

“No additional details will be provided at this time, and we ask that [Woll’s] privacy be respected,” the club said in a statement. Treliving specified that Woll’s absence is not a substance abuse-related matter, Alter said.

The starter’s load could be squarely on the injury-prone Stolarz’s shoulders to begin the season as a result. Performance isn’t a concern – he’s led the league in save percentage in back-to-back years – but availability is. Stolarz’s 34 starts last year marked a career high. The pending unrestricted free agent missed 24 games in the middle of the season due to knee surgery.

If Woll remains unavailable at the start of the regular season, it will be Dennis Hildeby getting a crack at being Stolarz’s backup as things stand. The 24-year-old Swede is entering his fourth season in North America and made his NHL debut last year. He didn’t impress in his six starts, managing a 3-3-0 record but posting subpar individual play with a .872 SV% and 3.33 GAA. He’s coming off back-to-back strong showings with AHL Toronto and was an All-Star in that league in 2023-24, though, so there’s still some evident upside in giving the 6’7″, 224-lb netminder another NHL crack.

Regardless, it’s likely that Treliving would peruse the waiver wire or explore trade acquisitions if Woll’s absence stretches past a few games. There are no other NHL-experienced goaltenders under contract in Toronto other than Stolarz and Hildeby, and adding one should be a preemptive concern, with Stolarz’s durability not a given.

Lightning Sign Dominic James To Entry-Level Deal

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The Lightning have signed college free agent forward Dominic James to an entry-level contract, per a team press release. It’s a two-year deal for the 23-year-old, who was initially a Blackhawks draft pick but became an unrestricted free agent last month after failing to sign with them following his senior season at the University of Minnesota-Duluth.

PuckPedia reports that the deal will carry a $910K cap hit and an AAV of $975K, breaking down as follows:

2025-26: $775K NHL salary, $97.5K signing bonus, $102.5K games played bonus
2026-27: $850K NHL salary, $97.5K signing bonus, $27.5K games played bonus

James, a sixth-round selection in the 2022 draft, had a strong showing for the Bulldogs in 2024-25 after losing most of his junior year to injury. He appeared in 35 games, serving as an alternate captain and leading the team in scoring with a 14-16–30 line. Those numbers brought him to 30 goals, 47 assists, and 77 points in 111 games for his collegiate career.

The Michigan native went undrafted twice before being selected by Chicago. In the 2021-22 campaign that preceded his selection, he worked his way onto the United States’ roster for the World Juniors, scoring one assist in five games at the tournament amid his freshman season in Duluth.

James wasn’t a huge loss for an already deep Blackhawks prospect pool. He didn’t check in as one of the top 15 names in the system to watch when Scott Wheeler of The Athletic did his last round of rankings in February. He could challenge as a top-10 or top-15 piece in a markedly weaker Tampa pool, though. He’s a significant addition for the club in that regard, especially after they lost a college free agent to the Avalanche when 2021 sixth-rounder Alex Gagne signed in Colorado a few weeks ago.

He’ll be ticketed to spend the year with the Bolts’ AHL affiliate in Syracuse. A midseason call-up wouldn’t be out of the question, but expecting him to compete for an NHL job – particularly after not starting camp with the Bolts – isn’t realistic.

Penguins’ Kevin Hayes Shut Down Due To Upper-Body Injury

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Forward Kevin Hayes suffered an upper-body injury during the first day of on-ice work at Penguins training camp yesterday. The Athletic’s Josh Yohe relays word from head coach Dan Muse that he’ll remain out for at least a month before being re-evaluated, putting him out for opening night and around five games after that, at least.

This was an important camp for the veteran Hayes, who is entering the final season of his contract, to prove he can maintain a spot in the lineup ahead of a bevy of younger forwards and higher-ceiling reclamation projects looking to make an impact for the retooling Pens. There’s a marginal chance he ends up on the outside of their top 12 forwards when he’s cleared to return as a result.

Hayes, 33, arrived in the organization in the 2024 offseason as a cap dump by the Blues. The Flyers are still on the hook for the half of his salary they retained when trading him to St. Louis the year prior, so he only costs $3.57MM against the Penguins’ cap as he kicks off the last year of a seven-year, $50MM deal he signed with Philly in 2019. The veteran of nearly 800 NHL games is no longer the consistent top-six presence he once was, now failing to reach 30 points in back-to-back seasons. He was limited to 64 appearances last year – partially due to injury but also due to several healthy scratches – and produced a 13-10–23 scoring line with a -15 rating.

The Penguins were likely looking to get Hayes a bit more playing time out of the gate this year, if for no other reason than to showcase him for a trade. They can knock a further 50% off his salary to make him a $1.79MM player for an interested team, who may be interested in adding a serviceable veteran with his skillset to their bottom-six forward group. If he’s no longer an everyday forward on a team expected to be among the league’s worst this year, though, they presumably won’t be able to fetch anything more than a late-round pick, even at that decreased price point.

Pittsburgh has been feeling the injury bug early in camp, also losing top prospect Rutger McGroarty to an upper-body injury that’s likely to keep him out through the beginning of the season. Both are likely ticketed for IR as a result. Their absences create a clearer path for on-the-fringe forwards like Filip Hallander and Ville Koivunen to nab opening-night jobs.

Anze Kopitar Announces Retirement Following 2025-26 Season

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Kings franchise center Anze Kopitar will retire following the 2025-26 campaign, he said in a press conference Thursday. He confirms what he alluded to last month as he enters the final season of the two-year, $14MM extension he signed in 2023.

It’s a trying day for L.A. sports fans, who also saw MLB’s Dodgers announce future Hall of Fame pitcher Clayton Kershaw will retire at the end of the 2025 campaign. “This will be my last year in the NHL,” Kopitar said. “[My family has] been by my side for 20 years. They now deserve a husband and a dad. I want to get this announcement out of the way now, so it’s not a distraction. I don’t want the attention on me. The moves we made made us better. I can’t wait to start.”

Like his baseball counterpart, Kopitar was a first-round pick by his club and spent his entire career in Los Angeles. The 11th overall pick of the 2005 draft from Sweden’s Södertälje SK wasn’t only the first player from Slovenia to be drafted in the first round, he was the first to even make his NHL debut when he arrived in North America one year later. He hit the ground running in 2006-07, breaking camp with the Kings and immediately stepping in as their top-line center with 61 points in 72 games while seeing north of 20 minutes per game as a rookie. That wasn’t enough to make him a Calder Trophy nominee in a stacked class that included Evgeni Malkin, Paul Stastny, and Jordan Staal, though.

That marked the beginning of what will be a 20-year career, one of the most consistent of its kind. Kopitar continued to flirt with the point per game mark in his second year, making the All-Star Game after tallying 77 points in 82 appearances. He spent a few years struggling to carry the burden of a Kings club that was exiting a rebuild, but after he made the playoffs for the first time in 2010, he finished top 15 in Selke Trophy voting for eight consecutive seasons, cementing himself alongside Patrice Bergeron as the best two-way forward of the 2010s.

While the Kings have had some star power in their lengthy franchise history, Wayne Gretzky notwithstanding, it was Kopitar who first managed to bring the Stanley Cup to Hollywood. The Kings advanced to three straight Western Conference Finals from 2012-14 and ended up converting those into championships on the first and last occasion. During that three-year run, Kopitar’s 188 points in 211 regular-season games ranked 12th in the league, and his +60 rating ranked ninth. No one had more playoff points than Kopitar’s 55 in 64 games during that span.

L.A. had rewarded Kopitar nicely coming off his entry-level deal, giving him a seven-year, $47.6MM commitment following his sophomore season. Before that deal was due to expire in the summer of 2016, the Kings extended him on his big payday – an eight-year, $80MM contract that coincided with him assuming the captaincy from Dustin Brown. While the Kings’ team success dipped in the latter half of the 2010s, that contract saw Kopitar have his career year in 2017-18. He posted a 35-57–92 scoring line in 82 games, remarkably his only time over the point-per-game threshold, with a +21 rating to take home his second Selke Trophy and finishing third in MVP voting, his highest-ever finish for the Hart.

Even as Kopitar enters his age-38 season, he remains an effective top-six center. The slow signs of decline are there, though. His 21 goals and 67 points in 81 games last season tied for his lowest output since 2019, and his usage has ’dwindled’ to a few ticks under 19 minutes per game. He’s still one of the league’s best faceoff men, winning 57.2% of his draws last year, and has continued to rattle off four consecutive top-10 Selke finishes. One noticeable dropoff is his willingness to deliver and take contact. While never an overtly physical center, he recorded a career-low 31 hits in 2024-25. The tradeoff is durability – he’s only missed four games in the last eight seasons.

Those hoping for Kopitar to be a part of the Kings’ bench or front office next year will be disappointed. He’s planning on moving his family back to Slovenia after the season ends and isn’t leaving the door open to change his mind on retirement, he told Dennis Bernstein of The Fourth Period. Nonetheless, he’ll retire sitting right alongside Gretzky, Marcel Dionne, and Luc Robitaille as the most impactful players in franchise history, and he’s the only one to spend his entire career in California. His 1,278 career points rank second in franchise history behind Dionne’s 1,307, so he’ll end up as the franchise’s all-time leading scorer barring a highly disappointing sendoff campaign. With two Cups, two Selkes, and likely over 1,300 career points when all is said and done, he’s a virtual lock to be inducted into the Hall of Fame when he’s eligible in the class of 2029.

Kopitar now looks to deliver at least a playoff series win in his final season, something the Kings haven’t accomplished since winning the Cup 11 years ago. He’ll do so as his successor as the club’s leading offensive producer, winger Adrian Kempe, is also a pending unrestricted free agent.

All of us at PHR congratulate Kopitar on a spectacular career.

Image courtesy of Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images.

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