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Lane Lambert Emerging As Frontrunner For Kraken Coaching Vacancy

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The Kraken are one of three teams yet to complete a head coaching change this offseason, alongside the Bruins and Penguins. They might be getting closer to a decision, though. Former Islanders bench boss Lane Lambert has emerged as Seattle’s preferred candidate after his recent interview with the team “went well,” Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet said on Monday’s 32 Thoughts podcast.

Lambert was part of a recent round of interviews in the state of Washington that also included Capitals assistant Mitch Love and Penguins assistant David Quinn. They were previously linked to Rick Tocchet before he accepted a five-year offer from the Flyers. David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period added that they completed an interview with Jeff Blashill before he was named the Blackhawks’ new head coach last week.

A name with previous head coaching experience is presumably desirable for the Kraken. They’re looking for more structured play from their entire skater group after the club’s possession numbers nosedived under Dan Bylsma last season, leading to his firing after one year behind the Seattle bench.

While Quinn fits that criteria too, Lambert’s year-and-a-half stint in New York as the lead man carries a more impressive resume in the areas they’re looking at. In his only full season behind the Islanders bench in 2022-23, Lambert elevated a club that missed the playoffs the year prior in the final season of Barry Trotz’s tenure by nine points in the standings, enough to get them back in the postseason. They did so with improved two-way play, still below-average defensively but boosting their scoring chance production enough to remain above water at 5-on-5.

Of course, the Islanders fired Lambert and replaced him with Patrick Roy midway through the 2023-24 season after a 19-15-11 start to the campaign. He spent last year in Toronto as Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube’s associate coach, managing the forward group that helped produce the league’s seventh-ranked offense.

Lambert would be the third head coach in the Kraken’s five-year franchise history if hired. Dave Hakstol served behind the bench for their first three seasons in the league before being fired and replaced with Bylsma last summer.

Image courtesy of Brad Penner-Imagn Images.

Maple Leafs, Matthew Knies Made Progress On Extension Talks In-Season

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The Maple Leafs don’t expect many hiccups getting a contract for pending restricted free agent winger Matthew Knies across the finish line this offseason. On today’s 32 Thoughts podcast, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said the two sides had preliminary talks around the trade deadline and the Leafs “know what a deal would look like.”

Any wiggle room remaining in talks is likely concerned with contract length, not annual compensation. David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period relayed last month that the Leafs were pushing for a long-term deal while Knies’ camp was going for more of a three-to-five-year bridge agreement.

AFP Analytics projects a short-term agreement for Knies to come in at two years for $4.2MM annually, while a long-term agreement is projected to cost the Leafs roughly $7.25MM per year for seven years. The end result will presumably come closer to the latter number, possibly with a similar AAV for a year or two less than AFP’s projection.

Knies enters his first round of non-entry-level contract negotiations after a breakout sophomore campaign. In a consistent first-line role with Auston Matthews, the 22-year-old finished fifth on the team in scoring with 58 points (29 G, 29 A) in 78 games and saw over 18 minutes of ice time per game. His 182 hits finished third on the team and were second among forwards behind fourth-line winger Steven Lorentz.

Some have posited that, on the heels of that performance, Knies would be one of the top offer sheet targets this summer, especially since he doesn’t have arbitration eligibility to fall back on. It’s looking unlikely he’ll reach that stage, though. With Mitch Marner expected to test the UFA market, they’re not going to need to set aside cap space for a mega-extension. They’re also likely aware of what it will take to get an extension across the finish line with pending UFA center John Tavares. With significantly increased clarity on next season’s financial picture compared to a few months ago, they’ll presumably prioritize a Knies extension before he becomes eligible to sign offer sheets after officially becoming an RFA on July 1.

Erik Brännström Signs Three-Year Deal With Lausanne HC

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5/26: One month after rumors swirled, defender Brannstrom has officially signed a three-year contract in Switzerland, per a press release from the team. The official move was first reported by TSN.

4/21: Sabres pending restricted free agent defenseman Erik Brännström has agreed to terms on a three-year contract with Swiss National League club Lausanne HC, Johan Svensson of Expressen reports. Svensson said earlier this month he was expecting Brännström to head to Switzerland; now it looks like the deal is done.

The move isn’t surprising after a tumultuous 2024-25 campaign for the 25-year-old Brännström. The 2017 first-rounder wasn’t tendered by the Senators last year and signed a one-year, $900K contract with the Avalanche early in free agency, but he didn’t even make it through training camp in Colorado. The Avs, in need of salary cap flexibility to begin the season, traded him to the Canucks for the contract of LTIR-bound defender Tucker Poolman and a fourth-round pick.

While Vancouver was in need of some puck-moving defensive depth, they opted to immediately waive Brännström. He cleared and began the season in AHL Abbotsford, but the Canucks still gave him a multitude of NHL opportunities and jockeyed him between leagues for the majority of the campaign. He played limited minutes (14:56 per game), and his results were underwhelming in sheltered usage. A 3-5–8 scoring line in 28 appearances was fine for the rearguard, but his even-strength possession metrics (48.8 CF%, 48.3 xGF%) were disappointing considering his consistent offensive-zone deployment.

The Canucks waived Brännström again in January. After he cleared, that was the last we saw of him in the NHL in 2024-25. He was traded two more times ahead of the deadline – first to the Rangers in the J.T. Miller trade, and again to the Sabres for depth winger Nicolas Aubé-Kubel on deadline day – but only suited up for those teams’ AHL affiliates.

Brännström was quite productive in the minors, totaling 8-15–23 with a +14 rating across 27 appearances for Abbotsford, Hartford, and Rochester in the regular season. He’s still got some track left in the Sabres organization as he suits up for Rochester in the Calder Cup Playoffs, but it’s clear that will be the end of his stay.

One of Vegas’ three first-round picks in their inaugural 2017 draft class and later a key portion of the trade that sent Mark Stone from the Senators to the Golden Knights, Brännström has never been able to capture anything above a bottom-pairing role. Across 294 games with Ottawa and Vancouver over the last seven years, he’s averaged just 16:41 per game and has a 10-67–77 scoring line with a -17 rating. His possession metrics were historically average with a career 51.2 CF% in heavy offensive deployment, but not enough to suggest a meaningful two-way impact given his sheltered usage.

Buffalo could retain Brännström’s signing rights until 2027 by issuing him a qualifying offer, but he’ll be old enough for unrestricted free agency in the NHL when his contract with Lausanne expires in 2028. If he opts to attempt an NHL return when his Swiss deal is up, he’ll do so with the ability to sign anywhere.

Roope Hintz Unavailable For Game 3

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2:03 p.m.: Hintz is out for Game 3, the Stars’ Bruce LeVine relays. Back will re-enter the lineup in his place.

1:01 p.m.: The Stars may have center Roope Hintz in their lineup for today’s matinee Game 3 of the Western Conference Final against the Oilers after all. He’s a game-time decision after taking a slash to the left skate from Edmonton defenseman Darnell Nurse that prematurely ended his Game 2, head coach Pete DeBoer told reporters today (including Lia Assimakopoulos of the Dallas Morning News).

Hintz needed assistance getting off the ice after the slash from Nurse early in the third period, which initially yielded a major penalty but was reduced to a minor upon review. Nurse was also not subject to supplemental discipline for the play.

After a tough postseason showing in last year’s run to the WCF, Hintz has looked more like his usual self in the 2025 playoffs. He’s put up a 5-6–11 scoring line through 15 games, tied for second on the team in scoring with Thomas Harley, and is tied for the league lead in playoff power-play goals with three alongside teammate Mikael Granlund. Only Mikko Rantanen and Wyatt Johnston are seeing more ice time per game among Stars forwards than Hintz, who’s logging 17:47 on a nightly basis.

Most of Hintz’s scoring came in the first round against the Avalanche, though, namely a four-point effort in Game 6. He’s managed just one assist in his last five games dating back to Game 4 of the second round against the Jets. They’d prefer him healthy and effective to break a true deadlock so far in the West Final, which is tied 1-1 with the Oilers and Stars also tied in aggregate scoring at 6-6.

If Hintz can’t play, either Mavrik Bourque or Oskar Back will enter the lineup in his stead. Bourque hasn’t played since Game 4 of the first round, while Back has just three appearances in the second round and WCF combined – he did play in Game 1 before being replaced by Colin Blackwell in Friday’s loss.

Panthers Notes: Jones, Reinhart, Mikkola, Greer

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Seth Jones has played up to his ceiling as a top-pairing defenseman in the Panthers’ playoff run. On the verge of advancing to their third straight Stanley Cup Final, Jones has six points and a +11 rating in 15 games while averaging the most minutes per game of any Florida skater, by far, at 25:20 per night.

Rejuvenated after being acquired from the Blackhawks before the deadline, Jones’ game is back to where it was during the heights of his career several years ago with the Blue Jackets. He spoke to Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times last week about the transition from being the minute-munching option on a rebuilding Hawks team to being back in a competitive environment in Florida.

“It definitely feels like there’s some pressure off [me] after the trade,” Jones told Pope. “In Chicago, I was just forcing things and trying to do too much – out of my realm, to be honest. It was always hopefully for the betterment of the team, in my opinion, [even though] it didn’t always turn out that way or look that way. But here, I can just play my game.”

“This system forces the defensemen to get up, gap up, be tight and force [opposing] wingers to make plays under pressure,” Jones continued – all obvious strengths of his game throughout his 12-year career. “Everyone is responsible and understands their job.”

There’s more out of Florida as they gear up for a potential series-clinching Game 4:

  • Winger Sam Reinhart’s status for Game 4 remains in the air after he missed Game 3 due to a lower-body injury, head coach Paul Maurice told reporters (including NHL.com’s Dan Rosen). His day-to-day designation hasn’t changed, and he’s been neither cleared nor ruled out for tomorrow’s contest. He’s been limited to four goals and 11 points through 14 games – significantly below pace compared to last year’s 10 goals in 24 playoff games and this year’s 81 points in 79 regular-season games. Still, he remains Florida’s leader in average time on ice among forwards at 20:07 per game.
  • Rangy defender Niko Mikkola is expected to be available for tomorrow’s game after sustaining an apparent upper-body injury last night, Maurice said (via Eric Engels of Sportsnet). After scoring a goal in the third period, Mikkola appeared to injure his shoulder in a collision with the boards and didn’t play the final 12 minutes of the 6-2 win. Skating primarily as Jones’ partner in the postseason, the 28-year-old has five points and a plus-six rating through 15 contests while averaging 19:19 per game.
  • The “should be good to go” status is the same for winger A.J. Greer, Maurice said (per the team’s Jameson Olive). It’s unclear what ailed him, but he left the bench with just over four minutes left in the game. The fourth-line heavyweight has played in eight straight games after starting the playoffs as a healthy scratch. He’s got two goals and an assist, all coming in his last six games.

Free Agent Focus: Anaheim Ducks

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Free agency is just over a month away, and teams are looking ahead to when it opens. There will be several impact players set to hit the open market in July, while many teams also have key restricted free agents to re-sign. We start our look around the NHL with an overview of the free agent situation for the Ducks.

Key Restricted Free Agents

G Lukas Dostal – Dostal had been viewed as Anaheim’s goalie of the future for some time now. He rewarded the franchise’s faith in spades with a breakout 2024-25 campaign. Now entirely supplanting John Gibson as the team’s No. 1 option between the pipes, his numbers slipped a bit down the stretch but still managed a 23-23-7 record, a .903 SV%, a 3.10 GAA, and one shutout in a career-high 54 appearances behind one of the league’s worst defensive teams. He’s owed a qualifying offer of just $892.5K coming off a cheap partial two-way deal, but will land much more than that on his coming deal, especially with arbitration rights in his back pocket. A one-year bridge likely keeps Dostal in the $4MM range, but for a Ducks club with ample salary cap flexibility, general manager Pat Verbeek could award him something in the $5MM-$6MM range on a mid-term deal if they’re unprepared to go eight years.

F Mason McTavish – McTavish’s game has steadily improved since being drafted third overall in 2021, and this season was no different. While the 22-year-old was robbed of a full 82-game schedule due to a few here-and-there injuries, he still set career-highs with 22 goals, 30 assists, and 52 points in 76 appearances. Now a legitimate top-six center with still room to grow, he’ll significantly outpace the $874,125 qualifying offer he’s owed as he comes off his entry-level deal. A deal in the $4MM range on a shorter-term commitment seems apt if the Ducks are still uncertain about his ceiling. Still, with his linear development so far, he could earn a long-term deal approaching the $7MM mark to lock him in as Anaheim’s No. 2 center behind Leo Carlsson long-term.

F Isac Lundestrom – A first-round pick back in 2018, Lundestrom’s role hasn’t fluctuated much since establishing himself as a full-timer in the shortened 2020-21 campaign. His ice time has steadily decreased as the player they once thought could be a long-term, defensively responsible third-line pivot hasn’t produced the level of offense they’d like for that role. 2024-25 was Lundestrom’s worst offensive performance of his five-year run as a full-time NHLer at just 0.19 points per game (4-11–15 in 79 GP). That’s not to say he’s not valuable – he’s one of the Ducks’ top penalty killers, and his possession metrics this season were passable given his extended defensive zone deployment at 5-on-5. Still, he’s likely more of a high-end fourth-line option long-term than a third-line one. It wouldn’t be surprising to see him accept his $1.5MM qualifying offer as a result, or take a multi-year deal in that range annually to gain some added stability in Anaheim if he desires.

F Brett Leason – Claimed off waivers from the Capitals at the beginning of the 2022-23 season, Leason capped off his third year in Anaheim with nine healthy scratches in 12 games. He was still serviceable in bottom-six minutes, scoring 17 points in 62 games with a minus-two rating in similarly heavy defensive deployment to Lundestrom. Still, he’s at risk of being non-tendered for the second consecutive year. Of course, he signed a one-year, $1.05MM contract on the first day of free agency to return to the Ducks despite not receiving a qualifying offer, but his willingness to do so again may be diminished after his lack of usage to end the campaign.

D Drew Helleson – Helleson, 23, somewhat surprisingly emerged as a roster fixture this year. He didn’t play anywhere close to a full schedule, suiting up 56 times, but remained on the Ducks’ roster for the balance of the season after being recalled from AHL San Diego in mid-November. The 6’3″, 214-lb righty did better than most would have expected given his limited minor-league success, posting 13 points and a plus-six rating in bottom-pairing minutes (16:21 ATOI). A 2019 second-round pick of the Avalanche who was acquired for Josh Manson in 2022, Helleson’s likely earned an opening-night job in the fall. He could even challenge Jacob Trouba for top-four minutes next year since the latter was a non-factor after his early-season acquisition from the Rangers.

Other RFAs: F Judd Caulfield, G Calle Clang, F Sam Colangelo, F Josh Lopina, F Jan Mysak, F Nikita Nesterenko, F Tim Washe

Key Unrestricted Free Agents

F Robby Fabbri – When healthy, Fabbri has been a decent secondary scorer throughout his nine-year NHL career. However, injuries have been a constant, and this year was no different. Knee surgery and a hand injury took away nearly half of his 2024-25 campaign, and he ended the year with an 8-8–16 scoring line in 44 contests. The 29-year-old has still hit at least 30 points twice in the last four years despite significant absences, which should help his case on the open market. With 2024 No. 3 overall pick Beckett Sennecke pushing for an opening-night job and the Ducks likely to be active in free agency, though, there may not be a fit for him on next year’s team. If they want to retain him, his injury concerns should make him a low-cost pickup around $1MM.

F Brock McGinn – From one injury-prone winger to another, McGinn’s season ended back in December due to ACL reconstruction. His recovery timeline may stretch into next year’s training camp, so his hope will likely be for a PTO opportunity somewhere, which could still be Anaheim, instead of searching for a guaranteed contract. Still, the defensive-minded winger has made just 50 appearances over the last two seasons combined with 11 points and a minus-four rating. They could still want to keep him in the fold with his over 500 games of experience, though, compared to some more unknown quantities in the system as a 13th or 14th forward.

D Oliver Kylington – Acquired at the deadline in what was effectively a three-team deal with the Avalanche and Islanders involving Brock Nelson, Kylington didn’t get much of an opportunity down the stretch in Anaheim. He averaged just 10:48 per game in six appearances, including his time in Colorado, where he spent most of the year in the press box with only 19 appearances to his name. The 28-year-old is now three years removed from his 31-point, +34 campaign with Calgary, and hopes of returning to those heights as a No. 2 left-shot option are slimmer than ever. He’s ticketed for a league-minimum or even two-way deal this summer, and it likely won’t be with the Ducks, who have plenty of young defenseman still to rotate/graduate into NHL minutes.

G Ville Husso – Husso began the season with the Red Wings, where he’d tumbled down to No. 3 on the depth chart and had cleared waivers in the final season of a three-year, $14.25MM contract. Anaheim, who had injuries to their AHL netminders and Gibson missing significant chunks of action, picked him up down the stretch to serve as a veteran backup option for Dostal. He did quite well in the few starts he received, posting a .925 SV% and 2.99 GAA in four appearances. While it’s a small sample size, that could go a long way toward earning Husso a chance at a No. 2 job next year on the open market instead of settling for a two-way deal and likely lengthy AHL assignments.

Other UFAs: F Justin Bailey, G Oscar Dansk, F Carson Meyer

Projected Cap Space

Few teams have more cap space than the Ducks this summer. They check in at $38.7MM, including $2.5MM worth of retention on the final season of Cam Fowler’s contract. A good amount of that will get eaten up by new deals for Dostal and McTavish, but they’ll still have over $25MM to spend after getting those deals done. As a result, expect them to be active on both the trade and free agent markets this summer as they aim to end their playoff drought at seven years.

Photos courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images (Dostal) and Brian Bradshaw Sevald-Imagn Images (Fabbri). Contract information courtesy of PuckPedia.

Offseason Checklist: Utah Mammoth

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The offseason has arrived for half of the league’s teams that aren’t taking part in the playoffs plus those already eliminated through the first couple of rounds.  Accordingly, it’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months.  Next up is a look at Utah.

A year ago today, the Utah franchise didn’t even have its initial Hockey Club moniker, nor was the sale officially giving Smith Entertainment Group ownership of the deactivated Coyotes franchise hockey operations assets formally complete.  They gave their new fans in Salt Lake City an entertaining inaugural season in the Beehive State, but some notable injuries on defense early in the season put them in a hole they couldn’t get out of, and they finished seven points out of a playoff spot. However, with a young core and high-end possession numbers to build on, general manager Bill Armstrong will be looking to add once again to thrust the Mammoth franchise out of its years-long rebuild that started in Arizona. Here’s what he’ll look to do to make that happen.

Start Working On Extensions

While Utah has a mammoth amount of salary cap space to work with this summer (more on that later), it’s never too early to start looking ahead, especially when your No. 1 center is entering the final season of his entry-level contract. That’s the case with 21-year-old Logan Cooley, who took a demonstrable step forward for Utah in the second year of his NHL career this season. There’s no real rush – Cooley is a restricted free agent in the summer of 2026 and won’t be arbitration-eligible. Still, it may be advantageous for all parties involved for the two sides to come to terms on a long-term agreement shortly after he becomes eligible to sign an extension on July 1.

Cooley finished the year second on Utah with 65 points in 75 games and averaged nearly 18 minutes per game, up almost two minutes from his rookie deployment. After a corresponding 0.33 points per game improvement between his sophomore and freshman years, there’s reason to believe he can be a point-per-game threat alongside star winger Clayton Keller or sniper Dylan Guenther in 2025-26. It’s worth noting he did operate at a point-per-game pace over the final 18 games of the campaign with Utah in a playoff race.

Utah’s already shown a willingness to give max-term extensions to their foundational pieces early on. Armstrong did so with Guenther last offseason, awarding him an eight-year, $57.14MM extension after just 78 career appearances over two seasons. He rewarded the club with a 60-point effort in 70 games this season. With Cooley entering his first extension-eligible offseason with more than twice the career games played, it stands to reason Armstrong will have no hesitation in pushing for an eight-year contract.

With the salary cap projected to jump to $104MM for 2026-27, it will likely be pricey. AFP Analytics projects a long-term extension for Cooley at a $9.5MM price tag per season for seven years if signed this offseason. Waiting well into next year, if Cooley continues his upward trajectory, could very well mean he demands a price tag in the $10MM range. It’s likely better for the Mammoth to commit now and get a deal across the finish line to ensure any big free-agent spending this summer is amicable toward their long-term salary cap picture.

Stabilize The Goalie Tandem

2024-25 was a pivotal season for Karel Vejmelka. The 28-year-old netminder was inconsistent over his first three NHL seasons in Arizona but emerged as a legitimate No. 1 for Utah this season, starting 55 games with a .904 SV% and 2.58 GAA and ranking 18th in the league with 14.2 goals saved above expected, per MoneyPuck. He earned a five-year extension in March for his work, which included a stretch of 23 straight starts at the tail end of the season with a playoff spot on the line.

The same can be said for Connor Ingram, but not in the same light. After tying for the league lead in shutouts last year, he started just 22 games and regressed to a .882 SV%, 3.27 GAA, and an -11.6 GSAx that ranked 98th out of 103 NHL goalies this season despite his limited workload. The fallback was understandable. He battled through injuries early in the campaign and also lost his mother. He entered the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program in March, and he remains there today with his status for the beginning of 2025-26 uncertain until the program’s doctors clear him.

With Ingram under contract through next season at $1.95MM, it would make sense for the Mammoth to pursue another backup option in free agency to supplement Vejmelka. Ingram can’t be traded or waived while in the program, although he could be placed on long-term injured reserve to begin the season if he’s expected to miss at least the first 10 games and 24 days of the campaign.

If Ingram returns and plays closer to his 2023-24 form, the UFA pickup can be waived or traded. They already have three minor-league goaltenders signed through next year in Jaxson Stauber, Anson Thornton, and Matt Villalta, so there isn’t a need for another name in the mix with everyone healthy.

Consider Moving Underperforming Forwards

The Mammoth’s first season in Utah was marked by near across-the-board improvement. Wingers Lawson Crouse and Matias Maccelli were notable exceptions to the rule. Crouse, who’s been with the Arizona/Utah skater group for his entire NHL career and had established himself as a consistent 20-goal, 40-point force, dropped off the map entirely in 2024-25. The 6’4″, 214-lb power forward had just 12 goals and 18 points in 81 games and had his ice time slashed along the way. His 13:44 worth of deployment per game was his lowest in five years.

Maccelli’s regression was also quite disappointing. The 24-year-old Finn looked well on his way toward being a top-nine fixture for the franchise after scoring at a 60-point pace over the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons. He scored just eight goals and 18 points in 55 games this year, though, spending most of the last few months of the campaign as a healthy scratch due to his limited effectiveness in a checking role compared to Crouse.

Both are making significant cash. Crouse is signed through 2026-27 at a $4.3MM cap hit, while Maccelli has one year left on his deal at $3.425MM. The latter is probably worth keeping around and hoping for a bounceback. Trading him now would mean parting ways at the lowest point of his market value, and his signing rights will still be under team control as an RFA in 2026 if they still want to recoup an asset for him. Crouse, who has a much lower offensive ceiling but boasts a more consistent track record, may draw more interest.

Even with the Mammoth expected to be aggressive in free agency this summer, there isn’t a substantial financial urge for them to move either player. It might be more prudent to hope for rebounds for both next year. They have $21.2MM in cap space to fill just three roster spots, per PuckPedia, enough for them to potentially land the top UFA available in Mitch Marner, re-sign their lone notable RFA in Jack McBain, and land another serviceable depth piece on the open market. Mulling a trade for either Crouse or Maccelli would purely stem from fit and roster construction as the motivating factor.

Land A Needle-Moving Forward

Even with Sean Durzi and John Marino missing significant time on defense and their goaltending outside of Vejmelka putting up poor performances, Utah was still league-average defensively in 2024-25. Some natural improvement will come, especially with underlying metrics painting a much rosier picture of their defensive showing at 5-on-5 than their actual goals against indicate.

But the Mammoth, despite boasting five 20-goal scorers, ranked 20th in the league in offense in 2024-25. They have goal-scoring help coming soon in the form of top prospects Daniil But and Tij Iginla, but for a club with cap space to burn and an eagerness to bring postseason hockey to a new market, they’ll be in on the top names on this year’s UFA market.

They’ll consider the top name available in Marner, but landing a center, particularly one with size, might be the priority to serve as a more veritable second-line option behind Cooley. Former top-five pick Barrett Hayton has finally established himself as a quality two-way piece. He hit 20 goals and 46 points this year and averaged north of 16 minutes per game, but he’s likely best served as a No. 3 option long-term on a contending team.

That’s not to say they won’t look at wingers as well. They have an excellent top-three group at present with Guenther, Keller, and Nick Schmaltz, and Iginla and But will likely fill the last second-line winger role in a few years, but their current options of Crouse, Maccelli, or Josh Doan in the 2RW slot leave a little bit of uncertainty. But whether it’s a name like Marner, Sam Bennett, Nikolaj Ehlers, Brock Nelson, or someone else, expect them to have a fresh face near the top end of next year’s lineup to give them an added layer of scoring depth.

Image courtesy of Nick Wosika-Imagn Images.

Kings Retaining Marc Bergevin As Senior Advisor

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After coming up short for the Islanders’ GM vacancy, Marc Bergevin will remain in his role with the Kings as a senior advisor, John Hoven of Mayor’s Manor reports.

Los Angeles hired Bergevin, 59, midway through the 2021-22 campaign. He’s remained with the team since as one of the top input men for former GM Rob Blake. He’ll now continue to do the same for Ken Holland, whom the Kings installed as the 10th general manager in franchise history earlier this month.

Bergevin’s time with L.A. kicked off shortly after he was relieved of his duties as general manager by the Canadiens, his hometown team. The longtime NHL defenseman spent nearly a decade in the GM’s chair in Montreal after he was hired in advance of the 2012-13 season. He nearly ended up landing the second GM role of his executive career this week. He was one of two finalists for the New York job but was passed over today in favor of Mathieu Darche.

As for the Kings, there are no other indications of any staff changes outside of the Blake/Holland swap. Luc Robitaille remains in his post as team president and alternate governor while the rest of the hockey operations staff, including Bergevin and assistant GM Nelson Emerson, will remain in their posts.

Islanders Name Mathieu Darche General Manager

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2:01 p.m.: Darche has been given the title of general manager and executive vice president of hockey operations, the Islanders announced. Giving him a dual title suggests they won’t be hiring another person for oversight, at least not yet – Darche will report directly to ownership. Minority owner John Collins had the following statement:

Mathieu is the perfect choice to lead our hockey operations. He will be given every resource available to put the Islanders first-in-class on the ice, with our business initiatives, and in the community. Mathieu has served as a key member of the Tampa Bay Lightning and has a diverse background in top-level business models. He is a proven winner and is committed, as is our ownership group, to building a group that will be highly competitive next season and beyond.

11:33 a.m.: The Islanders are expected to name Mathieu Darche as their new general manager later today, sources tell Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic. The now-former assistant GM of the Lightning was one of two finalists for the role alongside Kings senior advisor and former Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin, per multiple reports.

Darche, 48, steps into the GM’s chair for the first time. He has some big shoes to fill, succeeding Hall-of-Fame executive Lou Lamoriello in the role after the Isles announced last month they wouldn’t be renewing his contract.

It’s a quick ascension for Darche, who’s only been in front-office roles for six years. After ending his playing career as an NHL/AHL tweener in 2013, he worked in the private sector before joining the Lightning, where he played a career-high 73 games in the 2007-08 season, as their director of hockey operations for the 2019-20 campaign. Darche kept the role until his departure from the organization today, although the organization added the AGM title to his duties beginning with the 2022-23 campaign.

The Quebec native has gotten plenty of experience as part of the management team of a perennial contender. He was involved in the Lightning’s three straight trips to the Stanley Cup Final from 2020 to 2022 and won on his first two tries. While playoff success has evaded Tampa in the years since, they’ve remained a consistent threat in a tough Atlantic Division and have navigated some seismic roster changes like the departure of franchise fixture Steven Stamkos, continually retooling to stay just young enough to extend their championship contention window.

Darche won’t be the only front-office hire the Islanders announce in the coming days. They’re also looking for a president of hockey operations to oversee Darche, hiring two people to replace the dual roles Lamoriello held. That could very well be former Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan, who’d been granted permission to interview with the Isles before Toronto announced they wouldn’t extend his contract.

He’ll be charged with steering the ship through a retool on Long Island that started in the final months of Lamoriello’s tenure. He jettisoned top-six staple Brock Nelson to the Avalanche at the trade deadline but gave their limited prospect pool a huge boost in the form of center Calum Ritchie, a star playmaker with OHL Oshawa whom Colorado drafted 27th overall in 2023, and a 2026 first-round pick. The lottery balls also bounced the Isles’ way to vault them from 10th to first overall in this year’s draft, giving Darche his pick between dynamic two-way defender Matthew Schaefer or star offensive center Michael Misa as the cornerstone of his retool.

Image courtesy of Eric Bolte-Imagn Images.

Golden Knights, Penguins Interested In Maxim Shabanov

at CDT | by 2 Comments

Maxim Shabanov has been tabbed as one of the crown jewels of this summer’s international free agency period, although it appears he’s still in the courting stage of NHL offers and isn’t close to a deal. That’s because his season in Russia just recently ended with Traktor Chelyabinsk of the Kontinental Hockey League, who advanced to the Gagarin Cup Final but lost to Lokomotiv Yaroslavl. Today, Sergey Demidov of RG and NHL.com reports the Golden Knights and Penguins are two of the clubs that have “closely monitored” Shabanov throughout the season in hopes of landing him on an entry-level contract in the coming weeks.

There’s a natural fit for Shabanov, a 24-year-old right winger, in both organizations. The Golden Knights could use more cost-effective depth scoring with wingers Victor Olofsson, Tanner Pearson, Brandon Saad, and Reilly Smith all slated to become unrestricted free agents this summer. The Penguins, on the other hand, simply want to acquire younger, higher-upside talent to fill out their roster as they retool in the final stages of Sidney Crosby’s and Evgeni Malkin’s careers.

There are understandable concerns about Shabanov’s 5’8″, 157-lb frame that almost certainly makes him a winger at the NHL level despite being tested at center in Russia, but he’s coming off a spectacular season with Traktor. He led the team in scoring in the regular season with a 23-44–67 line in 65 games before leading the Gagarin Cup Playoffs with 10 goals and a +14 rating in 21 games.

The Penguins aren’t the only Metropolitan Division team that has an eye on Shabanov. After he got off to a hot start in the early weeks of the 2024-25 KHL season, the Islanders quickly displayed interest in his services, Ethan Sears of the New York Post said at the time. The Isles have had quite recent success with undrafted KHL pickups, hitting on one just last year with winger Maxim Tsyplakov. With a strong Russian presence on the Island in the form of Tsyplakov, Alexander Romanov, and Ilya Sorokin, there’s likely mutual appeal there for Shabanov as he adjusts to the NHL. He’d have Malkin in Pittsburgh, of course, and Pavel Dorofeyev in Vegas as well to help him with the transition.

Cap constraints likely won’t come into the picture, at least not immediately. Shabanov is only eligible for a one-year entry-level contract, so teams know they’ll have to reserve a chunk of change to re-up him in 2026-27 if he pans out for them next season.

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