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Hurricanes Trialing Logan Stankoven As Second-Line Center

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Instability at the second-line center position has been a hallmark for the Hurricanes organization in recent years. After not adding a middleman via trade or free agency this offseason, they’re looking at some higher-ceiling internal solutions. That includes shifting forward Logan Stankoven from the wing over to center a second line between Jackson Blake and Andrei Svechnikov, head coach Rod Brind’Amour said today (via Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News & Observer). Brind’Amour wouldn’t commit to Stankoven starting opening night down the middle, but said it was something they’ve discussed as far back as exit interviews last year.

Stankoven, 22, arrived in Carolina from the Stars as the centerpiece of the return for Mikko Rantanen at last year’s trade deadline. He had 14 goals and 38 points in 78 games last year – technically his rookie season after making 24 appearances for Dallas in 2023-24 – to finish seventh in Calder Trophy voting. He had a 5-4–9 scoring line in 19 games to close out the regular season for the Canes before posting a similar 5-3–8 line in 15 postseason appearances. He averaged north of 15 minutes per game in both the regular season and the playoffs.

The British Columbia native played center in juniors and has always been viewed as a high-potential offensive prospect, touted as a potential top-15 pick in his draft year. Yet concerns over his 5’8″, 165-lb frame led to him slipping to Dallas midway through the second round. He’ll never play the most physical brand, but he hasn’t shied away from contact entirely, recording 48 hits and 33 blocks last year.

His performance on faceoffs has been acceptable for a player still in the early stages of his career, having just over 100 games of experience. He’s averaged about two draws per game while playing mostly on the wing thus far, going 98-112 for a 46.7% win rate. That isn’t as much of a concern for the Canes as having someone in the 2C slot who can properly support Svechnikov and Blake offensively. While their first line is getting loaded up with UFA splash Nikolaj Ehlers flanking Sebastian Aho and Seth Jarvis, getting Svechnikov going after a trying 2024-25 campaign is also a clear goal for Brind’Amour out of the gate. The 2018 No. 2 overall pick had his worst offensive showing since his rookie year last season, limited to 20 goals and 48 points in 72 games.

That’s partially because Svechnikov bounced between lines last year as Brind’Amour looked to keep him and Aho on separate units. A good idea in theory to give the Canes some more secondary scoring, that meant pairing him with checking center Jordan Staal or Jesperi Kotkaniemi, who’s only averaged 33 points per 82 games for his career. Understandably, his scoring dipped.

If Stankoven can’t gel with Svechnikov out of the gate, that would presumably make general manager Eric Tulsky aggressive in looking to patch that hole as soon as possible. Cap space won’t be an issue if they need to make a pickup – they still have north of $10MM in flexibility, per PuckPedia, along with four first-round picks in the next three drafts to leverage. But whether at center or wing, the organization is committed to Stankoven as a long-term fixture in their top nine. He inked an eight-year, $48MM extension this summer that kicks in for the 2026-27 campaign.

Islanders Notes: Varlamov, Engvall, Duclair

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While Islanders goaltender Semyon Varlamov resumed skating last month following a season-ending knee surgery last December, there’s still no timeline for his return to the lineup, the team told reporters, including Ethan Sears of the New York Post. Varlamov said at last season’s exit interviews that he felt he would be ready for training camp, so this amounts to yet another setback in a saga that’s left the 37-year-old out of playing action for nearly 10 months now. He only made 10 appearances last season before going under the knife, posting a 3-4-3 record and a .889 SV% with a 2.89 GAA. With his health a point of concern, the Isles inked experienced backup David Rittich to a one-year, $1MM deal when free agency opened to give Ilya Sorokin a capable No. 2 option regardless of Varlamov’s status.

Other updates as training camp gets underway on Long Island:

  • Winger Pierre Engvall had offseason hip surgery that will delay his arrival at training camp. The team told Andrew Gross of Newsday that they expect him on the ice in two to three weeks, ruling him out for the preseason and threatening his availability for their season opener on the road against the Penguins on Oct. 9. Any hope he had of cracking the opening night lineup after clearing waivers twice last season has been significantly slashed, regardless of if he’s medically cleared to play. The 6’5″ lefty had an 8-7–15 scoring line in 62 appearances last season, just the second year of an oft-chastized seven-year, $21MM commitment made to him in 2023.
  • As expected, winger Anthony Duclair has reported to camp and is skating today after ending last season on a leave of absence, according to Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News. He left the team in the last few days of the 2024-25 campaign after some harsh criticism from head coach Patrick Roy, although that relationship has evidently been repaired. Duclair said this week that he returned too early from the lower-body injury he sustained in his first few games as an Islander last year, saying he “basically played on one leg” after sustaining a rather significant groin tear.

Blackhawks’ Laurent Brossoit Underwent Hip Surgery

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Sep. 18: Brossoit’s continued absence isn’t related to his knee injury after all. The goaltender underwent yet another surgery during the offseason, this time on his hip, which will continue to leave him out long-term, according to Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times.

Sep. 16: Blackhawks goaltender Laurent Brossoit will not participate in training camp as he continues to deal with a right knee injury that already cost him the entire 2024-25 season, the team said when announcing their training camp roster today. Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times relays that Brossoit’s absence will be “likely a lot longer than [camp].”

A second missed season would result in Brossoit never playing a game for the Hawks after landing a two-year, $6.6MM commitment from them in free agency last summer. He was initially brought in to challenge veteran Petr Mrázek for the starters’ crease or, at the very least, provide veteran insurance in case the younger Arvid Söderblom continued to falter after an underwhelming showing in 2023-24. While a career backup option, Brossoit was coming off an excellent showing behind Connor Hellebuyck in Winnipeg with a .927 SV% and 2.00 GAA in a career-high 22 starts and capitalized on a weak goaltending market as a UFA.

Then, the injury hit. Brossoit underwent meniscus surgery in late August 2024 and was only initially expected to miss five to seven weeks, eating into his training camp but putting him on track to be available for the beginning of the regular season. The team was still optimistic about his return timeline as the season opener came and went. The team then abruptly downgraded him from day-to-day to indefinite in November. He had a second surgery that was supposed to have him on track to make his season debut in January or February, but the team ended up shutting him down for the season at the trade deadline.

The team was noncommittal about Brossoit’s availability for camp even at the beginning of the offseason, expressing hopefulness but not going so far as to make any official declarations on his status. They kicked the can even further down the road today.

Even if he was healthy, Brossoit would be something of an afterthought in Chicago by now. Söderblom established himself as a legitimate NHL option last season, making 36 appearances and logging a respectable .898 SV% and 3.18 GAA to represent massive upgrades from his prior-year performance. The club then picked up 2019 first-rounder Spencer Knight from the Panthers before the trade deadline as the main piece of the return for defenseman Seth Jones. He enters camp as the undisputed starter and recently put pen to paper on a three-year, $17.5MM extension.

Cap space is of no concern for the Blackhawks, who are closer to the floor than the limit. They’ll have no issue leaving Brossoit’s $3.3MM cap hit on injured reserve for the balance of the 2025-26 campaign if he can’t stage a comeback.

Brossoit’s absence means that offseason free agent signing Stanislav Berezhnoy, a 22-year-old out of Russia, should be the other half of their tandem with Drew Commesso in AHL Rockford. If Brossoit was healthy and ended up heading to the minors, Berezhnoy might have been pushed to an ECHL role to get him playing time to start the year.

Atlantic Notes: Pastrnak, Tkachuk, Marchand, Edvinsson

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Yesterday, it looked like Bruins star David Pastrnak would be limited to begin training camp when the team told reporters, including Ty Anderson of 98.5 The Sports Hub, that he wouldn’t be skating for the first few days due to a tendonitis flare-up. That ended up not being the case as he was on the ice this morning skating and shooting by himself, relays Steve Conroy of The Boston Herald. He’s not participating in the full session today, though. Conor Ryan of The Boston Globe reports that trade pickup Viktor Arvidsson is skating as a placeholder in Pastrnak’s spot on the top line alongside Morgan Geekie and Elias Lindholm for the time being. In any event, it doesn’t look like Pastrnak’s ironman streak, which dates back to the 2021-22 season, is in jeopardy as he aims for his fourth consecutive 100-point season.

More from the Atlantic Division:

  • The Panthers put out some contrasting smoke signals yesterday on Matthew Tkachuk’s timeline for returning from adductor surgery. He underwent the procedure in mid-August, and the initial report was that he was targeting a January season debut. General manager Bill Zito was more optimistic about Tkachuk’s timeline yesterday, telling George Richards of Florida Hockey Now that December could be an option, while head coach Paul Maurice gave a more vague “midseason” designation. In any event, Florida will be playing at least the first quarter of their season without the services of one of their many star wingers.
  • Florida winger Brad Marchand also spoke during yesterday’s media availability, telling Alex Baumgartner of Five Reasons Sports that the lack of income tax in the state was one of the main factors in the Cats’ ability to keep all of him, Sam Bennett, and Aaron Ekblad from reaching free agency this summer. “If we were not in a non-tax state, it wouldn’t have worked out probably for two guys. Two guys probably would have been leaving in that situation. So it’s a benefit that this team has, we were able to utilize and make work,” Marchand said. He also cited the term of his extension offer from Florida (six years) as a driving force behind his decision to stay and one of the reasons he opted not to sign an extension with the Bruins, leading to his trade to Florida at the deadline last year.
  • Red Wings defenseman Simon Edvinsson will miss most, if not all, of training camp due to a lower-body injury, general manager Steve Yzerman said yesterday (via Sean Shapiro of DLLS Sports). His return timeline is “around the start of the regular season.” If he’s to miss any time, that’s a crushing early-season blow to one of the league’s thinnest blue lines. The 2021 No. 6 overall pick broke out for 31 points and a +12 rating in 78 contests last season and is one of only two truly top-four-caliber defenders in the organization, alongside Moritz Seider.

Sabres Notes: Luukkonen, Tuch, Greenway

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The injury keeping Sabres starting netminder Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen sidelined to start training camp is a lower-body issue, general manager Kevyn Adams told reporters yesterday, including Matthew Fairburn of The Athletic. He won’t require surgery and “there’s no alarms right now, but there was a tweak where he didn’t feel great,” Adams said. He’s not on the ice today as the Sabres begin the on-ice portion of their camp. That absence is why the club brought in veteran Alexandar Georgiev on a one-year, $825K deal last week to give them added security in the event Luukkonen isn’t ready to go by the time the regular season starts. There’s still little clarity on whether that will be the case. Still, it’s up to their top goaltending prospect Devon Levi, who’s notably still waiver-exempt, to force his way above Georgiev and free agent signing Alex Lyon in camp and start the year with the big club while forcing one of the vets, likely Georgiev, to the waiver wire.

Other updates from Buffalo as training camp gets underway:

  • Star winger Alex Tuch will be limited to start camp with an undisclosed injury, per Paul Hamilton of WGR Sports Radio 550. He’s only day-to-day, and his issue is “nothing significant,” Hamilton said. It remains to be seen if he’ll be cleared for their preseason opener on Monday against the Blue Jackets, a contest he likely wouldn’t play in anyway that early in the exhibition schedule. The pending unrestricted free agent’s availability for opening night of the regular season isn’t currently in doubt.
  • The news isn’t as promising regarding winger Jordan Greenway. Hamilton relays that he sustained a setback in his recovery from the lower-body injury that ended his 2024-25 season in March, requiring a second surgery in mid-July. He’s still on the mend from that and isn’t expected to be available for any preseason games. His projected return timeline is “around” opening night, Hamilton said, so there’s a small possibility of an IR placement for him to begin the year.

Rutger McGroarty Likely To Start Season On IR

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Penguins top prospect Rutger McGroarty did not appear on Pittsburgh’s training camp roster as the team announced he and a few others were not medically cleared to participate. It appears McGroarty’s absence carries some more weight than the rest, though. General manager Kyle Dubas said today that McGroarty has an upper-body injury and will be out indefinitely, according to Wes Crosby of NHL.com. While not officially ruled out for the start of the season, an indefinite timeline is essentially a guarantee for missed time with less than three weeks until puck drop.

Acquired from the Jets in a rare prospect-for-prospect blockbuster last offseason, McGroarty immediately signed with the Penguins and turned pro after spending the prior two seasons at the University of Michigan. The 21-year-old broke camp with the Pens but didn’t last very long, going pointless in three outings before being sent to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. On the whole, his offensive success was a tad underwhelming. He ended up on a hot streak to end the year, but a difficult adjustment period early on led to a final scoring line of 14-25–39 in 60 minor-league games with a -10 rating. According to Byron Bader’s NHLe model, which tracks how a player’s point production in different amateur/minor leagues translates to the NHL over an 82-game pace, McGroarty’s production dropped from an equivalent of 51 points during his sophomore season at Michigan to just 31 in the AHL last year.

It was a concerning dropoff for a bit, but his hot streak with WBS got him a late-season recall. He looked more comfortable in the NHL that time around, scoring a goal and two assists in five games before a lower-body issue ended his season with a few games left on the schedule. That, plus his collegiate track record and pedigree as a No. 14 overall pick, still has him ranked as the retooling club’s No. 1 prospect according to NHL.com and Steven Ellis of Daily Faceoff.

That momentum will pause here. While there aren’t as many forward jobs in Pittsburgh for young players to compete for as some were expecting – trade chips Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust both remain factors for now – those two are the only top-six locks on the wings with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin to open the year. McGroarty was going to be a leading candidate to grab one of the other two top-six wing openings with a strong camp.

Instead, it’ll be other young names like the 22-year-old Ville Koivunen, who had 56 points in 63 AHL games last year and seven assists in an eight-game NHL call-up, getting that chance. Veteran reclamation projects like Anthony Mantha could get a look alongside Crosby or Malkin as well.

Predators Sign Scott Harrington, Isaac Ratcliffe To PTOs

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The Predators are bringing in defenseman Scott Harrington and winger Isaac Ratcliffe into training camp on professional tryouts, reports Brooks Bratten of NHL.com. Both are likely angling for contracts with their AHL affiliate in Milwaukee for the upcoming season.

Harrington, 32, has over 250 games of NHL experience but hasn’t played in the league since the 2022-23 season, which he split between the Sharks and Ducks. He spent last season on an AHL contract with the Springfield Thunderbirds, the Blues’ affiliate, and made 49 appearances. While historically more of a two-way defender, the offense wasn’t there for Harrington, who only contributed a goal and five points with a -5 rating. The year before, he had four assists in 14 games with Switzerland’s ZSC Lions – the only overseas experience of the lefty’s lengthy professional career.

There’s little downside for the Predators in adding an experienced rearguard to their depth ranks, but the likelihood of him landing an NHL contract – let alone a call-up – isn’t all that high. The team already has 15 defenders signed to contracts for the upcoming campaign, and redundant veteran names like Andreas Englund, Kevin Gravel, and Jordan Oesterle to fill veteran injury replacement roles with more recent NHL experience.

Ratcliffe, 26, only has 10 games of NHL experience back in 2021-22 with the Flyers. He scored a goal and three assists during that call-up. A 2017 second-round pick, Nashville initially acquired him for future considerations midway through the 2022-23 campaign but left him stashed with Milwaukee for the balance of the campaign. He’s spent the last two years on AHL deals, hopping to the independent Chicago Wolves in 2023-24 before returning to Milwaukee for last year. The 6’6″ forward was injury-limited to just 13 games, scoring a goal and two assists. His PTO will serve as an AHL tryout as well, much like Harrington’s, in an effort to extend his playing career.

Blues Sign Nathan Walker To Two-Year Extension

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The Blues have agreed to a two-year extension with forward Nathan Walker, the team announced. The diminutive lefty earns a $1.775MM commitment that will count $887,500 against the cap in 2026-27 and 2027-28, just above a league-minimum deal covering those campaigns.

Walker, 31, has been a fan favorite wherever he’s played. Either a high-end AHLer or press box piece for most of his career, he’s the only Australian skater in league history and has slowly begun to establish himself as an everyday NHLer over the past few seasons, more than a decade after the Capitals made him an overage choice in the third round of the 2014 draft. He’s now appeared in each of the last eight NHL seasons, but hadn’t breached the 40-game mark until three years ago.

Last season was Walker’s sixth in the Blues organization after signing there as a free agent in 2019. It also marked a considerable breakthrough for the 5’9″ winger, who worked his way into a career-high 73 appearances and recorded an 8-8–16 scoring line in fourth-line minutes. He also became something of a fringe penalty killer for them, averaging a few ticks over 12 minutes per game. His small stature doesn’t mean he doesn’t play a high-energy game – in fact, he led St. Louis in hits by a wide margin last season with 281 and blocked 61 shots, most among Blues forwards.

Walker also had a mini-breakout in the postseason. In his first playoff action since appearing four times for the Blues in 2022, Walker skated in all seven games in St. Louis’ first-round loss to the Jets and had three goals and four points – all coming in Games 5, 6, and 7.

He’ll now fight to keep his regular role in the lineup in training camp. He’ll be challenged by returning depth pieces Mathieu Joseph and Alexandre Texier, free-agent pickups Nick Bjugstad and Pius Suter, and young names like 2023 first-rounder Dalibor Dvorsky for ice time. He’ll do so with some added financial security after signing his second two-year extension with the club in as many years.

Penguins Expected To Sign Robby Fabbri To PTO

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The Penguins are bringing in winger Robby Fabbri to training camp on a professional tryout, reports Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Fabbri spent the 2024-25 season with the Ducks. He played a prominent role when in the lineup, averaging 16:12 of ice time per game, but injuries once again took a significant bite out of his season. He underwent knee surgery in November, which cost him a month, before sustaining a season-ending hand injury in late February. He finished the year with an 8-8–16 scoring line in 44 games. That worked out to 0.36 points per game, his worst production in six years and the second-worst season of his career.

That’s a concerning drop-off for a player whose ability to produce effectively when he’s able to go is his only real calling card. Fabbri has only played more than 60 games in a season three times in his nine-year career. The last time he didn’t miss at least 10 consecutive games in a season was back before the pandemic in 2019-20. Despite him averaging the third-most ice time of his career, Fabbri only recorded 1.48 shots on goal and 2.52 shot attempts per game for Anaheim, both significantly below his career averages of 1.67 and 2.83, respectively.

Understandably, that led to some tampered interest on the open market this summer, especially as he’s set to turn 30 midseason. It’s also worth noting he spent last year in one of the league’s worst offensive environments. Only two teams scored fewer goals than the Ducks’ 217, and they were squarely in the bottom half of every shot and chance generation metric at 5-on-5. Fabbri’s career average is right around 0.50 points per game and, up until last year, he’d been fairly consistent in that regard. From 2019-20 to 2023-24 with the Blues and Red Wings, Fabbri’s points per game stayed between 0.47 and 0.60 each season.

That makes him a buy-low candidate for a rebuilder in Pittsburgh. If they find a spot for him among their myriad young forwards competing for opening-night jobs along with other already-signed reclamation projects like Anthony Mantha, he could end up generating an additional draft pick for them if they sign him to a deal and flip him at the trade deadline. He joins career minor-leaguer Brett Murray as reported PTO attendees to the Pens’ camp.

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