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International Notes: Petan, Heatherington, Wilson, Keeper

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Longtime NHL and AHL depth piece Nic Petan is coming off his first season overseas in 2024-25. While the 30-year-old won’t be staying with Russia’s Ak Bars Kazan, with whom he produced 44 points in 47 games, he isn’t making an NHL return, either. He’s staying on the other side of the Atlantic after Swiss club HC Ambrì-Piotta announced Monday they’ve signed him to a two-year contract.

Many would ask how a player with 120 points in 71 WHL games in their draft year wasn’t a first-round pick. It appeared that NHL teams were onto something. While the 2013 second-rounder has gone on to become an elite minor-league scorer, his lack of size (5’9″, 174 lbs) ended up proving prohibitive in making him a full-time NHLer. While Petan has recorded 35 points in 170 NHL games with four clubs in parts of nine seasons, he has only topped 20 games in a season twice and big-league opportunities were becoming increasingly few and far between for him over the past few years.

After appearing in just six games with the Wild in the 2023-24 season and not receiving a call-up after the Rangers acquired him before the trade deadline, Petan opted for more stability overseas following a nine-year pro career that saw him log NHL and AHL time each season. The move to Switzerland is somewhat closer to “home” – while Petan was born in British Columbia, he also holds Italian citizenship and will now play in an Italian-speaking region of the country.

Petan, 30, joins ex-NHLers Christopher DiDomenico, Tim Heed, Gilles Senn, and Chris Tierney on Ambrì-Piotta’s roster for 2025-26. The club finished 10th in the National League this past season, continuing a run of top-league appearances that began with their promotion from the NLB (now called the Swiss League) in 1985.

There’s more international news to pass along:

  • Former NHL defenseman Dillon Heatherington has signed a two-year contract with EHC Munich of Germany’s DEL, the club announced. It marks the 30-year-old lefty’s second time playing overseas after spending the 2020-21 season in Kazakhstan with Barys Nur-Sultan (now Barys Astana) of the Kontinental Hockey League. The former second-round pick of the Blue Jackets played this past season on an AHL contract in San Diego, serving as an alternate captain for the Ducks’ top minor-league affiliate while recording seven points and a minus-three rating in 59 games. He last appeared in the NHL with the Senators, playing three games in the 2022-23 season.
  • Forward Scott Wilson, a member of the Penguins’ 2017 Stanley Cup championship team, has signed a two-year deal with the KHL’s Sibir Novosibirsk, the league relayed. The 33-year-old has played exclusively in Russia since his last North American contract, an AHL deal in the Panthers organization, expired in 2022. He’s put up a 53-46–99 scoring line in 164 KHL games with Vityaz Moscow Region, Metallurg Magnitogorsk, and Salavat Yulaev Ufa over the past three years.
  • 29-year-old defenseman Brady Keeper has agreed to a one-year deal with the Glasgow Clan of the United Kingdom’s Elite Ice Hockey League. The 6’2″ righty did not play in 2024-25 after recording four points in 22 games the prior season with AHL Laval while on a two-way deal with the Canadiens. The Manitoba native played two regular-season games and one playoff game for the Panthers between 2019 and 2021.

Predators Hire Luke Richardson As Assistant Coach

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The Predators have added an assistant coach to Andrew Brunette’s staff, confirming Tuesday in a press release that they’ve hired Luke Richardson. He’s replacing Todd Richards, whom the club said will not return to Nashville in 2025-26.

Richardson, who was the Blackhawks’ head coach for parts of three seasons from 2022-23 until his firing in December and also has previous head coaching experience in the AHL, also had stints as an assistant coach with the Senators (2008-12), Islanders (2017-18), and Canadiens (2018-22). Alex Daugherty of The Tennessean notes Richardson will oversee the club’s defense corps, although Darby Hendrickson will likely remain in charge of the penalty kill after replacing Dan Hinote on the bench last offseason.

Richards, meanwhile, had been with the Preds since the 2020-21 season and even took over as interim head coach for a few games late this year when Brunette was on leave. It’s unclear whether the 58-year-old initiated the departure himself or if Nashville made the decision not to retain him. Regardless, he should have no trouble landing on his feet. He was previously the Wild’s head coach in the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons and also managed the Blue Jackets’ bench from 2012 to his firing early in the 2015-16 season. He has a career record of 204-183-37 (.525) and also had stops as an assistant coach with the Sharks (2008-09) and Lightning (2016-20) before arriving in Nashville.

“Luke brings a wealth of NHL experience as both a player and coach to our staff, and we are excited to welcome him and his family to the organization,” general manager Barry Trotz said. “With that experience, we believe he will be a valuable new voice and set of eyes – not just for our defensemen, but for our coaching staff. His strong character, leadership, perspective as a former NHL head coach and ability to connect with both young and veteran players will elevate our team on and off the ice.”

While the Preds had a highly disappointing 2024-25 campaign, ending up with a top-five draft pick despite beginning the season with aspirations of a deep playoff run after multiple high-profile free agent signings, they won’t be making any more coaching changes. Trotz told reporters last month that Brunette would be back behind Nashville’s bench next year.

Bruins’ Daniil Misyul Signs With KHL’s Lokomotiv Yaroslavl

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Bruins pending RFA defenseman Daniil Misyul has opted to return to his native Russia for the 2025-26 season. He’s signed a one-year deal with the Kontinental Hockey League’s Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, per a league release. Boston can retain Misyul’s NHL rights through 2027-28 if they issue him a qualifying offer by the June 30 deadline.

Misyul did not appear in an NHL game for the Bruins after being acquired from the Devils in exchange for depth forward Marc McLaughlin at the trade deadline. He played out the season with AHL Providence, recording a goal, 27 PIMs, and a minus-two rating in 11 appearances. He totaled a 1-8–9 scoring line with a -10 rating in 58 AHL games on the year across Providence and Utica.

A third-round pick by the Devils in 2019, Misyul just completed the two-year, entry-level contract he signed with New Jersey in 2023. The 6’3″, 196-lb lefty made his NHL debut for New Jersey this season before the trade. He logged a minus-one rating, one shot attempt, one block, and one hit in 12:23 of ice time in an 8-5 loss to the Lightning on Oct. 22.

The Belarus native had spent his entire professional career in Russia with Lokomotiv before coming to North America two years ago. He recorded 21 points and a +28 rating in 184 games with the club throughout five seasons and won a silver medal with Russia back at the 2020 World Juniors. Yaroslavl is coming off its first Gagarin Cup title and first championship since winning the Russian Superleague in 2003. Their 2025-26 roster includes former NHLers Byron Froese, Mac Hollowell, Alexei Melnichuk, Alexander Radulov, and Alexander Yelesin in addition to Predators 2024 first-round pick Yegor Surin.

Sabres Notes: No. 9 Pick, Peterka, Samuelsson, Coaches

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While the Sabres are interested in multiple names as they hold the No. 9 pick in Friday’s draft, they’re also far more open to trading their top pick for immediate help than they have in years past, general manager Kevyn Adams told reporters during his media availability Tuesday (via Paul Hamilton of WGR Sports Radio 550).

They’re far from the only team willing to move a top-10 pick in what’s viewed as a weaker-than-normal 2025 class. The Mammoth (No. 4) and Bruins (No. 7) are the two clubs that have been thrown out there the most in public speculation, but the only true untouchables are likely the Islanders and Sharks at first and second overall.

Immediate help is an immediate priority for the Sabres, especially as they look to replace and improve upon a pair of potential departures in the form of pending RFAs Bowen Byram and JJ Peterka. While they should be able to recoup legitimate value to their NHL roster in those deals while adding a bit to their pipeline, they won’t likely be able to replace their current impacts directly. That means leveraging another asset in their system to help bolster their group after a highly disappointing 79-point finish in 2024-25, their 14th consecutive season without playoff hockey.

If they can’t or don’t anticipate being able to land a top-four caliber right-shot defenseman in return for Byram or Peterka, they’ll presumably try to leverage the ninth overall pick to land one. Jacob Bernard-Docker and Connor Clifton are the only NHL-caliber righties under team control for next season, and the former is a pending RFA.

A top-six center is a widely publicized desire for the Sabres as well. They could offer the Wild the pick straight-up for 2020 No. 9 overall selection Marco Rossi, whom they’ve been linked to, but that doesn’t fit Minnesota’s desire to land an NHL-ready piece in return for the pending RFA center instead of futures.

There’s more on the Sabres from Adams today:

  • Adams wouldn’t comment on any trade discussions surrounding the pending RFA Peterka, according to Michael Augello of The Hockey News. He declined to confirm or deny speculation that Peterka had submitted a formal trade request. Regardless, there has been no reported progress on a new contract. While the Sabres are in no rush to part ways with the 23-year-old winger, the lack of productive negotiations means the Sabres are at least legitimately listening to the offers they receive for him.
  • Mattias Samuelsson will not be bought out this summer, Adams confirmed (via Hamilton). While they’re reportedly listening to trade offers for the underperforming 25-year-old defenseman, there was never even a consideration of triggering a buyout that would have cost the team an even $714.3K per season over the next 10 years.
  • Adams said that assistant coaches Seth Appert, Matt Ellis, and Marty Wilford, as well as goaltending coach Mike Bales, remain under contract for 2025-26 (via Hamilton). There’s still flexibility for head coach Lindy Ruff to make changes to his support staff if he desires, though. Adams said he’d be open to Ruff requesting any subtractions or additions to the bench.

Bruins Sign Mason Lohrei To Two-Year Extension

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4 PM: The details of Lohrei’s contract have been revealed. He will make a $2.95MM salary, and carry a $250K signing bonus, in the first year of his deal. In year two, the signing bonus will be lumped into his salary, earning him $3.2MM on the year. Contract details come courtesy of PuckPedia.

10 AM: The Bruins signed pending RFA defenseman Mason Lohrei to a two-year extension on Monday, per a club announcement. He’ll count $3.2MM against the cap for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 campaigns for a total contract value of $6.4MM.

Lohrei, 24, lands a bridge deal coming off his first full NHL season. The 2020 second-round pick has shown promise as a puck-mover and a potential top-four option on Boston’s left side to complement Hampus Lindholm, but he’s not fully there yet.

A knee injury that ended Lindholm’s season in November meant Boston had to play Lohrei in more minutes than they would have liked. He was always meant as a longer-term project with some raw defensive details in his game, and that was extremely apparent in 2024-25. Averaging over 19 minutes per game, Lohrei actually led Boston defensemen in scoring with 33 points (5 G, 28 A) in 77 appearances but earned the distinction of having the worst plus-minus mark in the league this year, checking in at a gnarly -43 mark. While that figure is a bit exaggerated due to poor goaltending, he still only managed a 47.5 xGF% at 5-on-5 according to Natural Stat Trick – a pedestrian figure, even compared to his Bruins teammates.

Lohrei wasn’t Calder-eligible because he split 2023-24 somewhat evenly between Boston and AHL Providence. He put up a 4-9–13 scoring line with a minus-two rating in 41 games in his first taste of NHL action last year, averaging a hair under 17 minutes per night.

He’s shown the ability to be more of a two-way threat at the collegiate and AHL levels, and the Bruins are banking on him discovering how to translate that to the NHL in what they hope can be more sheltered minutes next season. That’s where virtually all of his upside lies – despite boasting a 6’5″, 220-lb frame, he’s not a particularly physical defender. He only logged 25 hits this year. If he can’t become a well-rounded enough player to convert into a top-four fixture, they’re not taking much of a risk today by only making a short-term commitment with a reasonable qualifying offer upon expiry in 2027.

The extension takes Lohrei up to his last summer of team control. A one-year extension on the end would walk him right to unrestricted free agency in 2028. As for Boston’s cap situation, they still have over $23MM left to spend, but still have another notable RFA to sign in breakout forward Morgan Geekie. They also have only 27 standard contracts signed throughout the active roster and non-roster lists for 2025-26.

Image courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images.

Rangers Sign Adam Edstrom To Two-Year Extension

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The Rangers and pending RFA forward Adam Edstrom have agreed to terms on a two-year extension, the team announced Monday. The deal is worth $975K per season for a total value of $1.95MM, according to Mollie Walker of the New York Post.

Edstrom took over full control of New York’s fourth-line center role as a rookie this season. His responsible and physical play in a 6-foot-7 frame was a perfect compliment to the all-out bruiser role of 6-foot-9 Matt Rempe on his wing. Edstrom earned nine points, 27 penalty minutes, and a minus-five through the first 51 games of New York’s season – until a lower-body injury ended his season on February 1st. He underwent surgery soon after sustaining the injury, and plans to be fully healthy before next season’s training camp.

Edstrom appeared in the first 11 games, and scored the first two goals, of his NHL career last season – after posting a hardy 11 goals and 16 points in 40 AHL games. He spent the five seasons prior filling a depth role throughout Sweden’s SHL, including netting 19 points in 42 games with Rogle BK in the 2022-23 season. The Rangers originally drafted him out of the Mora IK program with a sixth-round pick in 2019.

With a new contract in place, Edstrom should be well set on returning to his spot on New York’s fourth-line. He hasn’t yet found much of a scoring stride throughout pro hockey. But at just 24-years-old, he could be due for a small breakout with his feet under him in an NHL role.

Blue Jackets, Hurricanes Interested In Rasmus Andersson

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The Blue Jackets and Hurricanes are among the teams calling the Flames to have trade talks surrounding defenseman Rasmus Andersson, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports. Pagnotta mentioned the Senators as well – it’s not the first time in the past few months they’ve been tied to Andersson – but Ottawa is also reportedly on his six-team no-trade list.

Calgary and Andersson have already begun preliminary talks on an extension. He’s entering the final year of his contract at a highly team-friendly $4.55MM cap hit and becomes eligible to sign a new deal on July 1 to keep him in Calgary past 2025-26. However, those talks haven’t been particularly productive in their initial stages, according to Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff last week. As a result, they’re listening to trade interest, but as has been the case for a while now, they’re in no particular rush to move him and could wait until next season’s trade deadline to get the value they want if they’re no closer to an extension.

That means defense-needy teams, particularly those looking for added puck-moving depth, will have Calgary general manager Craig Conroy on speed dial until Andersson’s situation is resolved. Carolina and Columbus fit that bill, with Andersson’s cheap initial cap hit before a potential extension kicks in still providing both clubs a fair amount of flexibility to pursue other avenues of roster improvement this summer.

The Hurricanes’ defensive depth will have a few notable changes next season, regardless of whether they successfully land Andersson or not. They’re not offering pending UFA Dmitry Orlov a new contract, and it remains to be seen if veteran Brent Burns, a top-pairing staple alongside Jaccob Slavin in recent seasons, will be back with the club. If he is, it’ll presumably be in a reduced role after a tough 2024-25 campaign for the 40-year-old. Rookie Alexander Nikishin has likely been penciled in as Orlov’s replacement on the left side with Slavin and Shayne Gostisbehere after looking good in limited postseason action, but rookie righty Scott Morrow is a less surefire insurance option for Burns, at least out of the gate. If they’re not yet ready to entrust the 22-year-old with regular NHL minutes, it would make sense to pursue Andersson.

Unlike the Blue Jackets, the Hurricanes might be willing to make a deal without a guarantee of an extension, particularly if it’s done this summer. They have Morrow coming eventually, even if it’s not next season, and are still firmly entrenched in win-now mode.

Columbus’ interest similarly stems from the unknown future of a pending UFA. While things appear close on a deal for top-pairing righty Dante Fabbro, the same can’t be said for lefty Ivan Provorov, who might be forced over to his off-side if he stays anyway with up-and-comer Denton Mateychuk positioning himself for top-four minutes in the near future. Andersson, a legitimate needle-mover, would give the Blue Jackets a highly intriguing right side with Fabbro and Damon Severson in the mix as well while coming in at a much cheaper cost than a new deal for Provorov would require, at least initially.

Regardless, it might behoove the Flames to wait until the season starts to see if Andersson can bump his value. He’s coming off his worst offensive campaign in four years, although he did still produce 31 points in 81 games while averaging 24 minutes per night. His -38 rating paired with career-worst possession impacts doesn’t do much to help his case either, although a few teams could have confidence in that showing being an outlier from the 28-year-old.

Blues Not Expected To Retain Ryan Suter

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The Blues informed defenseman Ryan Suter they’re not planning to offer him a contract extension before he becomes an unrestricted free agent on July 1, general manager Doug Armstrong told reporters Monday (including NHL.com’s Lou Korac).

Suter signed a league-minimum contract with St. Louis with an additional $2.25MM in potential performance bonuses nine days into free agency last year. He was coming off a buyout of the final year of his previous contract with the Stars, who themselves had picked Suter up after they bought out the last four years of his megadeal in 2021. He appeared in all 82 regular-season games for the Blues, earning all of his potential bonuses, scoring two goals and 15 points with a plus-seven rating. That extended his ironman streak, which began in the 2018-19 season, to 535 games, 21st all-time.

The 40-year-old did not play in all of the Blues’ postseason games, perhaps foreshadowing today’s news. He was a healthy scratch twice in their seven-game loss to the Jets in the first round, sitting out Games 3 and 4 in favor of Tyler Tucker. He averaged 19:28 per game in the regular season but saw just 16:54 of ice time per game in his brief playoff appearance, the 16th trip to the postseason of Suter’s 20-year NHL career.

While he proved he can still be a serviceable bottom-pairing piece and was a regular penalty-killer for the Blues, they don’t have the roster space to bring him back with names like Tucker and Matthew Kessel looking for more regular NHL minutes in 2025-26. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Suter, who’s still getting a paycheck of $833K from the Wild and $1.43MM from the Stars next season, to take another league-minimum deal elsewhere instead of retiring. He previously said he didn’t anticipate retiring this summer.

Flames, Justin Kirkland Agree To Extension

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The Flames and pending UFA forward Justin Kirkland have agreed to a one-year extension worth $900K, the team announced. It’s a one-way deal for the pending UFA.

Kirkland, 28, has played exclusively on one-year contracts since being non-tendered by the Predators when his entry-level deal expired back in 2019. The long-time minor-league depth piece hasn’t spent back-to-back years with the same club since his first stint in Calgary, when he signed three straight two-way contracts to cover the 2019-20, 2020-21, and 2021-22 seasons.

The 6’3″ Kirkland had historically been an AHL fixture and had just nine games of NHL experience entering 2024-25, so he was waived and assigned to AHL Calgary to begin this year as a result. He was recalled to the NHL roster before the AHL season even started, though, getting summoned in early October after an early-season injury to depth center Kevin Rooney. He stepped into the lineup and immediately grabbed hold of a spot, becoming a reasonably productive fourth-line piece with eight points in 21 games. While he averaged just 9:42 per game, he quickly developed somewhat of a cult following after going three-for-four in shootout attempts and playing a physical brand, registering 45 hits.

Unfortunately, Kirkland’s momentum came to a grinding halt when he sustained a knee injury in a Nov. 29 game against the Blue Jackets. He required season-ending ACL surgery as a result. He was still named the club’s nominee for the Masterton Trophy, awarded to the “player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to ice hockey,” for grabbing hold of an NHL spot after eight professional seasons spent almost entirely in the AHL.

As such, Kirkland should be in a good position here to land the first one-way contract of his career. A third-round pick by Nashville in 2014, he also made one-year stops in the Ducks (2022-23) and Coyotes (2023-24) organizations in addition to his time with the Preds and Flames. He’s got a career 75-125–200 scoring line in 408 AHL games with 287 PIMs and a -62 rating. He also won a WHL championship in his junior days with the Kelowna Rockets in 2015.

The Flames have their forward group mostly fleshed out, though, and still have RFAs Morgan Frost and Connor Zary to sign. While Kirkland should start the year on the opening night roster, whether he’ll be in the lineup or in the press box remains to be seen. He’ll need to fend off competition from other veteran depth pieces like the recently extended Dryden Hunt as a result.

Pat Steinberg of Sportsnet 960 was first to report the Flames and Kirkland were nearing an extension.

Flyers Acquire Trevor Zegras From Ducks

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The Flyers are nearing a deal to acquire forward Trevor Zegras from the Ducks, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. Anaheim will receive center Ryan Poehling, the Blue Jackets’ 2025 second-round pick (No. 45 overall), and Philadelphia’s 2026 fourth-rounder in return, Friedman adds. The Flyers have since made the trade official.

That’s a relatively quick ascent from Friedman’s report under two hours ago that the Ducks were in deep talks with multiple clubs on a Zegras move. While it didn’t appear anything was particularly imminent at the time, that’s now changed.

While Zegras has spent the past two seasons mostly on the wing, he’ll presumably shift back to his natural center position in Philadelphia. The Flyers have been on the hunt for a young, established NHL center with a top-six projection for a while now. They were previously connected to pending Wild RFA Marco Rossi, but his cost uncertainty and desire for a long-term deal made those talks stall. Instead, they’ll opt for a player with a slightly riskier projection in Zegras, but land someone signed through next season at a cheaper cap hit than what a Rossi contract would have cost them.

Injuries have robbed Zegras of nearly half his potential workload over the past two seasons in Anaheim since signing a three-year, $17.25MM contract in 2023. He’s had just an 18-29–47 scoring line in 88 games during that time, but still averaged over 17 minutes per game and saw his defensive performance improve significantly this past season with positive relative possession numbers in less sheltered offensive deployment at even strength.

That offensive regression was still highly disappointing considering how Zegras burst onto the scene. In his first two full NHL campaigns, Zegras hit the 20-goal and 60-point marks on both occasions and finished as the Calder Trophy runner-up to Moritz Seider in 2022. It looked like he was fully set to hit on the upside the Ducks thought he had when selecting him ninth overall in 2019, but his subsequent injuries and contract stalemate two years ago threw that plan off course.

He now gets a fresh start in Philly for an acquisition cost that Flyers general manager Daniel Brière certainly won’t lose any sleep over. While Poehling was a high-end fourth-line piece for them, they have plenty of internal replacement candidates for that role and still have three second-round choices in this year’s draft after dealing away the Columbus pick.

While it’s an underwhelming return for the Ducks considering where his value and projection were two years ago, it’s presumably more than they could’ve gotten him had they cut bait following Zegras’ 15-point showing in just 31 games in 2023-24. They also gain $3.85MM in cap space and more roster flexibility among their top-nine forwards as they pursue a major free agent addition this summer.

Giving Zegras top-six minutes will allow names like Bobby Brink and Noah Cates to serve in more comfortable third-line minutes in Rick Tocchet’s first season as head coach. Whether the high-ceiling playmaker gets deployed on a unit with 2023 No. 7 overall pick Matvei Michkov out of the gate remains to be seen, but his pickup suddenly offers Tocchet a much more offensively dynamic center-winger duo than he could have otherwise constructed.

While Zegras is entering the final year of his contract, he’ll be a restricted free agent in 2026 and still has another year of team control left after that. Swapping out Poehling for Zegras does drop the Flyers to a still-comfortable $15.1MM in available cap space with notable RFAs Jakob Pelletier and Cameron York still to sign and two other roster spots to fill, per PuckPedia.

Poehling actually had a standout offensive showing in 2024-25, posting a career-best 12-19–31 scoring line in 68 games while averaging 13:53 per game. He was nonetheless expendable with Cates recently receiving an extension and 2024 first-rounder Jett Luchanko pushing for an NHL job next year. He also shot at a 16.9% rate that will presumably regress in Anaheim.

He’s still a solid bottom-six pickup for the Ducks, even if the futures they’re receiving are underwhelming. He’s a 2026 UFA at a cap hit of just $1.9MM and could be flipped at the deadline for a decent return if things don’t pan out the way Anaheim hopes they will next year. He’s a short-term upgrade down the middle over a name like pending RFA Isac Lundeström and could push him or someone like Ryan Strome to a spot on the wing.

Image courtesy of Jeff Curry-Imagn Images.

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