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Canadiens To Sign Kevin Mandolese To PTO

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The Canadiens are bringing goaltender Kevin Mandolese to training camp on a professional tryout, reports Frank Seravalli of Bleacher Report. He was scouring the KHL market for a guaranteed deal earlier in the summer but never landed one.

Mandolese, fresh off his 25th birthday, is a former Senators sixth-round draftee who’s since emerged as a steady minor-league presence. He’d spent his entire career in the Ottawa organization until last summer, when the Sens issued him a qualifying offer but ended up trading his signing rights to the Avalanche a couple of weeks later.

The Quebec native’s only NHL action came in 2022-23 amid a rash of injuries in Ottawa’s crease. He made three starts in February and March, performing above expectations with a .916 SV% and 3.29 GAA – only allowing 10 goals despite facing nearly 40 shots per game. For whatever reason, that strong initial showing never landed him another NHL opportunity.

Mandolese also didn’t play very much in the Colorado system last year. He made 19 appearances for the AHL’s Colorado Eagles, where he served as the primary backup to No. 3 option Trent Miner and had an 11-6-0 record in 19 showings with a .903 SV%, 2.87 GAA, and one shutout. The Avs did not issue him a qualifying offer at the end of last year, making him an unrestricted free agent.

Montreal is likely looking for a more experienced AHL option to have under contract. Starter Sam Montembeault is set in stone, but youngster Jakub Dobes will be battling with veteran free-agent pickup Kaapo Kähkönen for the No. 2 job in camp. If Kähkönen doesn’t make the team and is lost on waivers, that would leave Montreal with just three goalies under contract and top prospect Jacob Fowler without much help in AHL Laval as he kicks off his first professional season. As such, Mandolese will take a PTO with the Habs to start while they sort out whether they want to offer him a two-way NHL contract or only extend him a minor-league offer.

Panthers To Sign Tyler Motte, Ben Harpur To PTOs

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The Panthers are in agreement with forward Tyler Motte and defenseman Ben Harpur on professional tryouts, according to Frank Seravalli of Bleacher Report. They’ll get the chance to compete for NHL jobs or at least a minor-league safety net with AHL Charlotte.

Motte, 30, is entering the second decade of his professional career. A 2013 second-round pick of the Blackhawks, he debuted with them in his first full pro season in 2016-17 and has appeared in every NHL season since. He’s become a true journeyman in the process. Outside of spending parts of five seasons with the Canucks from 2018-22, he’s also logged time for the Blue Jackets, Rangers, Senators, Lightning, and Red Wings – never playing more than 70 total games for anyone other than Vancouver.

If signed, it could be Motte’s fourth straight one-year deal. He’s also no stranger to sitting on the open market for long periods, waiting until September to sign deals in 2022 and 2023. But he picked up a one-year, $800K commitment from Detroit early in free agency last summer, prefacing a campaign that saw him serve as a rather nondescript No. 13/14 forward. He averaged 11:19 per game over 55 appearances – his lowest total in a season since the shortened 2020-21 campaign – and scored four goals and five assists for nine points.

The Michigan native has never been a high-end offensive producer, only recording double-digit points three times in his nine-year career. He’s a pure energy winger with enough versatility to slot in down the middle, although his career 42.8% success rate on faceoffs isn’t terribly ideal.

He’ll join a Panthers training camp that will have stiff competition for depth forward roles. They’ve made Luke Kunin a late-summer signing while also extending a PTO to Noah Gregor just yesterday. Those names will compete alongside a group of returnees in Jesper Boqvist, Jonah Gadjovich, A.J. Greer, and Tomas Nosek for fourth-line and press box spots.

As for Harpur, he doesn’t have much chance of landing an NHL roster spot. That’s likely not the intent of having him in camp, though. The 30-year-old would bring nearly 200 games of NHL experience and over a decade of pro time in general to Florida’s depth contingent on a two-way deal. That’s an archetype the Cats are missing on their depth chart. Of their six projected non-roster defenders, according to PuckPedia, none are over the age of 25. He’d be a veteran body for AHL Charlotte, should clear waivers without issue if signed, and would be a safer, more experienced recall option in case of an injury to the NHL group.

That would make him essentially a direct replacement for Jaycob Megna, who made eight appearances down the stretch for Florida last season but signed with the Golden Knights in free agency. Harpur hasn’t played in the NHL since the 2022-23 season, when he had six points in 42 appearances for the Rangers in a bottom-pairing role. He’s remained in the New York organization since then, but injuries have limited him to just 36 games over the last two seasons with AHL Hartford.

Injury Notes: Sharks, Power, Seguin

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There was some concern for Sharks up-and-comer William Eklund’s health over the summer after he sustained a wrist laceration while playing in a pre-tournament game for Sweden at the World Championship. He needed surgery, and while the skate cut didn’t damage any vital nerves, it did carry a lengthy three-month recovery window. During that time, he also inked a three-year, $16.8MM extension.

Since Eklund’s injury occurred in May, the expectation was that he’d be ready for training camp. That looks to be the case as he was on the ice for an informal skate Monday and was taking contact, Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now relays. That’s great news ahead of what could be even more of a breakthrough season for Eklund. He turns 23 next month and carried a 17-41–58 scoring line through 77 appearances in his sophomore year in 2024-25, up from 45 points in 80 games as a rookie (with a horrifying -45 rating) the year prior.

With the 2021 No. 7 overall pick on the mend, another first-rounder in their system also skated after ending last season on injured reserve. Defenseman Shakir Mukhamadullin was on the ice yesterday “without obvious limitation,” Peng wrote. The 23-year-old had shoulder surgery in the closing days of the regular season after logging nine points and a -7 rating in 30 regular-season appearances, a career-high. The 2020 first-rounder, previously acquired from the Devils, will be in a tight battle with fellow first-rounder Sam Dickinson and depth righty Jack Thompson for a roster spot in camp. He’ll need waivers to head to AHL San Jose, likely a matter of high concern to the Sharks’ front office.

Other injury updates as players begin to return to their team bases for training camp:

  • Sabres defender Owen Power is fully healthy after rehabbing a lower-body injury that ended his 2024-25 season prematurely, telling the team’s Justin Alpert he’s “back to doing everything” and is “ready to go.” He said he’s looking forward to how the increased time in the gym over the summer due to his rehab affects his game as he heads into his fourth full NHL season. The 2021 top pick hit a career-high in points with 40 last year, but also saw career lows in plus/minus (-13) and time on ice (21:19 per game).
  • After telling reporters following the Stars’ playoff elimination that he was dealing with a shoulder injury, Tyler Seguin is 100% after some “relatively easy” rehab, he tells Robert Tiffin of D Magazine. He told Tiffin the injury was caused by a hit from Oilers defender Darnell Nurse in Game 1 of the Western Conference Final. Seguin had 29 points in 38 combined regular-season and playoff games last year, losing most of his regular season to a significant hip procedure.

2025 Professional Tryout Tracker

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Pro Hockey Rumors will be keeping a running list of all players attending training camps on professional tryouts. A came back in August, and many more will be announced in the coming weeks as unsigned veterans look to find homes and free agent up-and-comers look to get some stability in the lower levels of an organization.

This tracker can be found at any time under the Flame menu for mobile users and under the “Pro Hockey Rumors Features” menu on the right-hand desktop sidebar. It will be updated as new PTO signings come in, as well as when players are released or signed.

This list will not include players already under contract with their club’s respective AHL affiliate who need a PTO to skate in NHL camp or other tryouts that are clearly targeted for a club’s minor-league team. Click the date of the PTO signing to read our full breakdown.

July 25: Conor Sheary, Rangers – Result: TBD
August 11: Jack Johnson, Wild – Result: released Oct. 3
August 19: Milan Lucic, Blues – Result: TBD
August 19: Brendan Smith, Blue Jackets – Result: TBD
August 27: Oliver Kylington, Hurricanes – Result: released Sep. 30
August 27: Givani Smith, Hurricanes – Result: SIGNED to two-way deal Oct. 3
September 5: Brett Leason, Wild – Result: released Sep. 30
September 5: Luke Glendening, Devils – Result: TBD
September 5: Georgi Romanov, Devils – Result: TBD
September 5: Kevin Rooney, Devils – Result: TBD
September 7: Kevin Labanc, Hurricanes – Result: released Sep. 30
September 8: Dylan Gambrell, Predators – Result: TBD
September 9: Noah Gregor, Panthers – Result: TBD
September 10: Tyler Motte, Panthers – Result: TBD
September 10: Ben Harpur, Panthers – Result: released Oct. 2
September 10: Kevin Mandolese, Canadiens – Result: released to AHL camp Sep. 28
September 10: Adam Erne, Stars – Result: TBD
September 10: Antoine Bibeau, Stars – Result: released to AHL camp Sep. 28
September 12: Andrej Sustr, Rangers – Result: TBD
September 12: Brett Murray, Penguins – Result: released to AHL camp Sep. 27
September 12: Josh Lopina, Panthers – Result: released to AHL camp Sep. 23
September 12: Daniel Walcott, Panthers – Result: released to AHL camp Sep. 23
September 12: Marc-Andre Fleury, Penguins – Result: TBD
September 16: Matt Grzelcyk, Blackhawks – Result: TBD
September 17: Robby Fabbri, Penguins – Result: TBD
September 17: Scott Harrington, Predators – Result: released Sep. 26
September 17: Isaac Ratcliffe, Predators – Result: released to AHL camp Sep. 29
September 26: James Reimer, Maple Leafs – Result: TBD

Ducks, Rodwin Dionicio To Terminate Contract

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Sep. 9: Unsurprisingly, Dionicio has returned home. He essentially resumed his previous contract with EHC Biel-Bienne, which runs through the 2026-27 campaign, the team announced.

Sep. 3: Dionicio has cleared waivers, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. He will now have his contract terminated.

Sep. 2: The Ducks placed defense prospect Rodwin Dionicio on unconditional waivers Tuesday, per PuckPedia. It’s for the purpose of a mutual contract termination, which can occur tomorrow if he clears.

Dionicio, 21, only has one season of professional experience and still had two years left on his entry-level deal, which he signed with Anaheim in May 2024. The Swiss rearguard was a fifth-round pick in 2023 from the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires and had a spectacular final junior season in 2023-24, erupting for 73 points (and 108 PIMs) in just 60 games split between Windsor and Saginaw en route to a Memorial Cup championship.

Things quickly turned sour for Dionicio upon beginning his professional career, though. He struggled to land a regular role for Anaheim’s AHL affiliate in San Diego and managed nine points in 24 games for the Gulls. By the time January rolled around, the Ducks and Dionicio agreed that a return to Europe was in his best interests, and they loaned him to EHC Biel-Bienne of the Swiss National League. He only got into nine regular-season games with the club, recording six assists and a +2 rating.

Given the offensive ceiling he displayed just one year ago, it’s surprising to see him now headed for unrestricted free agency. The Ducks only have 13 other defenders in the organization under contract, so it’s not like there was a huge logjam for him to work through again to win a roster spot in San Diego.

Usually, a mutual termination precipitates a move to Europe. In Dionicio’s case, though, there’s a higher likelihood than normal of someone making a claim and picking up the remainder of his entry-level deal, considering his offensive upside.

Flames Notes: Wolf, Andersson, Parekh

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The Flames announced a seven-year, $52.5MM extension for premier young netminder Dustin Wolf this morning ahead of the final season of his entry-level contract. The deal, which carries a cap hit of $7.5MM, will make him among the league’s 10 highest-paid goalies when it takes effect in 2026-27.

Now, PuckPedia has the full breakdown of the contract. The deal will be paid out almost entirely in base salary, with only one up-front $2MM signing bonus in the first year. That will be paired with a $6MM base salary to give him $8MM in total compensation out of the gate. From 2027-28 through 2031-32, he’ll earn an even $7.5MM per year. The difference between his first-year compensation and the $7.5MM average annual value will be made up in the contract’s final year in 2032-33, when he’ll take a small pay cut to $7MM.

Wolf’s deal also includes relatively limited trade protection. He’s not eligible for it until 2028-29, when he’d otherwise be eligible for unrestricted free agency. From that point forward, he’ll have a 10-team no-trade list, but no full movement protection is included in the deal.

There’s more out of Calgary today:

  • While all parties have acknowledged pending UFA Rasmus Andersson will be traded at some point this season, the defender rebuked claims over the offseason that he was only willing to extend with one team – believed to be the Golden Knights. That would obviously have handcuffed Calgary from moving him elsewhere or even landing market value from Vegas, something Andersson said he’d never do, according to Pat Steinberg of Sportsnet 960.
  • Top defense prospect Zayne Parekh isn’t fully recovered from the lower-body injury he sustained earlier this summer, general manager Craig Conroy told Steinberg. “The hope is that he’ll be ready for training camp,” Conroy said, indicating he likely won’t participate in any rookie camp activities in the days leading up to full camp beginning at the end of next week. He did skate today, Conroy confirmed, a welcome sign ahead of a pivotal camp that could lead to him carving out a roster spot. The 2024 No. 9 overall pick scored in his NHL debut last year and has led the OHL in scoring among defensemen in back-to-back years, although he’s still ineligible for a full-time assignment to AHL Calgary.

Oilers Cleared Of Wrongdoing Regarding Last Season’s LTIR Usage

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The NHL’s investigation into the Oilers’ usage of long-term injured reserve last season regarding winger Evander Kane has been closed, deputy commissioner Bill Daly tells Ryan Kennedy of The Hockey News. The league found Edmonton did not circumvent the salary cap, and the organization will not face any resulting penalties, either retroactive or for the upcoming 2025-26 season.

Back in June, Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reported the league was extending its inquiry regarding Kane’s eligibility for long-term injured reserve. The league routinely examines teams’ manipulation of the cap-offsetting outlet to ensure that all placements are medically valid and aren’t solely being used as vehicles to allow the club to carry over-the-cap rosters in the postseason – a ’loophole’ that’s getting closed this year anyway.

It’s never been formally reported as to why the league was unsatisfied with the initial documentation they’d received from Edmonton about Kane’s LTIR placement. There may have been scrutiny about the timing of the multiple procedures he underwent, both during last offseason and in-season, that forced him to sit out the entirety of the 2024-25 regular season. The Oilers and Kane waited until days before training camp to have him undergo a wide-ranging surgery to repair a sports hernia and hip/abdominal issues that had plagued him the previous year, and he then had an initial knee surgery in January to repair a congenital defect that delayed his recovery timeline past the end of the regular season.

Yet, Edmonton only barely dipped into the additional flexibility Kane’s LTIR placement afforded them. They didn’t move him there from standard IR until just before the trade deadline, and he wasn’t cleared to return at the very beginning of the playoffs. His 2025 postseason debut for Edmonton had to wait until Game 2 of their first-round win over the Kings.

That last stipulation could be why the league is coming away satisfied with their assessment – either that, or they’re now assured the reasons for the seemingly delayed timing of his surgeries were medically valid.

Kane had six goals and 12 points in 21 playoff games for the Oilers. The team parted ways with him days later, dealing the final year of his contract at a $5.125MM cap hit to the Canucks for a mid-round pick.

Panthers To Sign Noah Gregor To PTO

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Free agent left-winger Noah Gregor will attend Panthers camp on a professional tryout, according to his dad, Jason Gregor of Edmonton’s Sports 1440.

The 27-year-old Gregor adds another name to the competition for bottom-six jobs in Florida, a group that will be stretched a tad thinner to start the season thanks to the domino effect of Matthew Tkachuk’s recovery from adductor surgery. They’ve been active in shoring up that depth after getting their trio of big-name extensions done for Sam Bennett, Aaron Ekblad, and Brad Marchand in the days before free agency began. Center Tomas Nosek was also given a one-year extension hours before the market opened, while they picked up right-winger Luke Kunin on a league-minimum contract last month.

Gregor split the 2024-25 season between the Senators and Sharks, working primarily in a fourth-line role and making 52 appearances. He totaled a 4-3–7 scoring line with a -21 rating, the worst offensive production of his career on a per-game basis since entering the league with San Jose six years ago.

Gregor’s calling card has always been his speed, but that took a hit last year. NHL EDGE data shows Gregor averaged 2.0 speed bursts over 20 mph per game, down significantly from 2.75 the year before. He also had 0.52 fewer hits per game and took 0.6 fewer shots on goal per game than he did in 2023-24, when he turned a PTO with the Maple Leafs into a one-year contract and had 12 points in 63 showings. Possession metrics also weren’t kind to Gregor, who controlled only 43.6% of shot attempts at even strength, despite receiving a significantly more sheltered workload defensively compared to his deployment with Toronto.

For his career, Gregor has 70 points in 293 NHL games. He had semi-productive stretches in San Jose’s top nine earlier in his career, averaging nearly 15 minutes per game for them in 2021-22 while recording a career-high 23 points in 63 games, but has now produced 0.20 points per game or fewer in four of his six NHL campaigns.

Gregor faces an uphill battle to earn a roster spot ahead of a known commodity internally like Nosek or a higher-ceiling offensive option in Kunin, especially with a larger group including Jesper Boqvist, Jonah Gadjovich, A.J. Greer, and Mackie Samoskevich also jockeying for position on Florida’s depth chart. There’s still no harm in seeing if he’s rediscovered his skating, an element that would fit well into the Cats’ heavy-checking system, where he’d be a speedier option than Kunin and Nosek.

If Gregor makes the club, it’ll likely be in a press-box role to start. He could also sign a deal and land on waivers, with the hope that he can either rebuild his stock with AHL Charlotte or be claimed by a team in need of experienced forward depth. After being non-tendered for three years in a row, he’s now old enough to be eligible for unrestricted free agency outright next summer.

Agent Comments On Sidney Crosby’s Future With Penguins

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The agent for Penguins franchise icon Sidney Crosby, Pat Brisson of CAA Sports, spoke to Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic about his client’s future in Pittsburgh ahead of a season that has the Pens positioned as one of the few true sellers in the league. While LeBrun stressed that Crosby “for sure only sees himself as a Penguin for life” entering his 21st NHL season, his camp is giving him plenty of room to change his mind if Pittsburgh’s showing this season is as poor as expected.

When asked directly if a Crosby trade before the end of his deal in 2026-27 is possible, Brisson had this to say:

I mean, I’m answering something that … let’s put it this way, it’s always a possibility, you know? It’s been three years they haven’t made the playoffs. It all depends on how Sid is going to be and how the team is going to do. I maintain the same position that I do believe that he should be playing playoff hockey every year. In my opinion.

There remains virtually no chance of a surprise Crosby blockbuster before the start of the season. The Penguins haven’t even managed to trade one of their three major trade chips, wingers Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust and defenseman Erik Karlsson, in the six-plus months they’ve been available dating back to last season’s trade deadline. Crosby could have both those forwards as his wingmen to open the season, either to squeeze as much production out of them as possible to boost their trade stock or simply to give this Penguins team a fighting chance at being in the mix for the playoffs.

As Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas told LeBrun, that remains the organization’s goal – whether that’s via resurgent veterans or ahead-of-schedule growth from the young talent they’ve been busy accumulating over the past several months. “Our focus is on returning the Pittsburgh Penguins to perennial contender status as urgently as possible, “Dubas said. “Taking away our focus from that task would only slow down from a job that requires our full attention and nothing less.”

Crosby himself gave a more in-depth quote on where his mindset is at entering the season to Daily Faceoff’s Matt Larkin:

It’s not something you want to discuss. You’d rather be talking about who we’re getting at the (trade) deadline or, you know, where we’re at as far as, are we one or two or three in the division?. But you know, it’s one of those things. That’s the hard part about losing. I think everybody thinks that the buzzer goes and you lose a game and that sucks, but there’s so much more than that. It’s the (roster) turnover. It’s the unknown, the uncertainty, the question marks — that’s the stuff that’s tough. It makes you appreciate all those years that we were competing and going after the big acquisition every single trade deadline. I don’t think I took it for granted, but I definitely appreciate it that much more now.

Kings In No Rush To Shop Brandt Clarke

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A front-office change in Los Angeles brought sweeping change to the Kings’ blue line this summer. With Hall-of-Fame executive Ken Holland at the helm, the club lost their top left-shot defender in Vladislav Gavrikov to the Rangers in free agency and also traded promising puck-moving righty Jordan Spence to the Senators for futures. Their replacements were a pair of declining but hardened top-four fixtures, Cody Ceci and Brian Dumoulin, on the open market.

But Brandt Clarke, the club’s eighth overall pick in 2021, remains with L.A. as he enters the final season of his entry-level contract. That’s despite reporting that the Kings were open to moving him at last season’s trade deadline in their pursuit of a forward upgrade. They ended up not making a move large enough to require parting ways with him, and of course, those ideations of a trade were under a previous regime.

The 22-year-old’s development has been handled in somewhat of a puzzling manner. The 6’2″ righty always faced a bit of an uphill battle as an OHLer who had his draft year completely upended due to COVID. While most of his peers ended up sitting on the sidelines for the entire season, he was high-end enough of a prospect to play pro hockey overseas. He was thus loaned to HC Nove Zamky of the Slovak Extraliga, where he logged 15 points in 26 games en route to becoming a top-10 selection by the Kings.

Clarke returned stateside and didn’t miss a beat, exploding offensively. He was arguably the best player in major junior hockey in 2022-23 aside from the draft-year phenom Connor Bedard, posting 61 points in just 31 games from the blue line for the Barrie Colts.

He also made his NHL debut that season, posting two assists in a nine-game trial. But as he made the jump to pro hockey full-time in 2023-24, that offensive outburst the prior season wasn’t enough to get him an extended runway in the NHL. He made 16 appearances for the Kings but ended up playing most of the campaign for AHL Ontario, where he clicked at nearly a point per game in his first real taste of high-level hockey and led the league in rookie assists.

That made Clarke essentially an undeniable piece for the Kings’ main roster. While he made the team out of camp and never looked back, he was still used rather sparingly, despite top righty Drew Doughty missing a good portion of the season due to an ankle injury.

Concerns about his individual defensive acumen limited his playing time to just 16:17 per game, although he was still relatively involved physically with 121 blocks. He churned out five goals and 33 points in 78 games – fine production for that limited usage – and posted good possession numbers in sheltered minutes with a +13 rating and 54.0 CF% and 54.2 xGF% at even strength.

As he enters a contract year, there should be more opportunities for him. Even if he doesn’t necessarily slot in above Ceci on the team’s depth chart, he should get the additional power-play minutes that Spence is vacating and, realistically, his general mobility should make him a candidate to leapfrog the newcomer and begin the season as L.A.’s No. 2 option on the right side behind Doughty.

That roster math, plus a new braintrust in place, has likely bought him some time to make a lasting impression on the Kings’ brass. While general manager Ken Holland told RG’s James Murphy that Clarke is “a really talented guy with a bright future,” he neither committed to a change of scenery nor long-term belief. “Now we’ve got to figure out where it’s going. I think the best way is to…I mean, I know him, but I don’t know him. Do you know what I mean?” Holland said.

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