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Ales Stezka Signs Three-Year Deal With Czechia’s HC Kometa Brno

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After spending the last two seasons with the Kraken, goaltender Ales Stezka is headed back to his native Czechia. The Extraliga’s HC Kometa Brno announced a three-year contract for the netminder on Wednesday.

Stezka, 28, was set to be an unrestricted free agent on July 1. He was a fourth-round pick of the Wild back in 2015 but never signed with them, spending his entire professional career in Czechia until landing an entry-level contract with Seattle in 2023.

The 6’4″ netminder spent his first season on the West Coast as the No. 4 option on the depth chart and the backup in AHL Coachella Valley to veteran Chris Driedger, logging a strong 2.48 GAA, .914 SV%, two shutouts, and an 18-6-2 record in 27 appearances. While he could have been a UFA last summer as well, the Kraken liked what they saw and wanted to keep him around for another season, especially since they didn’t plan to re-sign Driedger. He accepted a rather rich two-way extension for 2024-25 as a result, paying him a $300K minors salary.

2024-25 wasn’t as smooth a campaign for Coachella Valley as a whole, particularly in the goaltending department. Stezka’s numbers regressed to a 3.07 GAA, .899 SV%, and 9-12-9 record in 26 games as he lost the starter’s crease to 21-year-old Niklas Kokko. He still got his first NHL start, though, and spent a couple of weeks on the roster while veteran Philipp Grubauer was sent to the minors in an effort to jumpstart his game. He allowed three goals on 23 shots in a 4-1 loss to the Lightning on Feb. 23, which will likely stand as his lone career NHL appearance when all is said and done.

With some other young goalies in the Seattle system looking for more AHL time next season, there wasn’t a logical fit for Stezka moving forward. He’ll return to the Extraliga, where he was named the league’s best goalie in 2022-23 following a 2.14 GAA and .924 SV% with HC Vítkovice in 39 games, instead of pursuing another NHL contract. He has a career 2.45 GAA, .913 SV%, six shutouts, and a 49-42-0 record in 92 games in the top Czech league.

Full 2025 NHL Draft Order

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June 18: Updated post-Stanley Cup Final.

June 9: Updated post-Conference Finals.

May 15: Now that the NHL’s draft lottery results are in, most of the 2025 draft order has been set. There’s still some wiggle room near the bottom. Still, with the Oilers securing a bottom-four pick in each round by advancing to the Western Conference Final last night and all other second-round series in elimination game territory, it’s time to look at how the picks will shake out as things stand.

Many of these picks could still change hands leading up to and at the draft on June 27 and 28 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. It will be the first (and likely only) decentralized draft in recent memory. This list will be updated as picks are confirmed or traded.

Here’s the whole 2025 NHL draft order:

Last updated 6/27/25, 3:41 p.m.

First Round:

  1. New York Islanders
  2. San Jose Sharks
  3. Chicago Blackhawks
  4. Utah Mammoth
  5. Nashville Predators
  6. Philadelphia Flyers
  7. Boston Bruins
  8. Seattle Kraken
  9. Buffalo Sabres
  10. Anaheim Ducks
  11. Pittsburgh Penguins
  12. Pittsburgh Penguins (from Rangers)
  13. Detroit Red Wings
  14. Columbus Blue Jackets
  15. Vancouver Canucks
  16. New York Islanders (from Flames)
  17. New York Islanders (from Canadiens)
  18. Calgary Flames (from Devils)
  19. St. Louis Blues
  20. Columbus Blue Jackets (from Wild)
  21. Ottawa Senators
  22. Philadelphia Flyers (from Avalanche)
  23. Nashville Predators (from Lightning)
  24. Los Angeles Kings
  25. Chicago Blackhawks (from Maple Leafs)
  26. Nashville Predators (from Golden Knights)
  27. Washington Capitals
  28. Winnipeg Jets
  29. Carolina Hurricanes
  30. San Jose Sharks (from Stars)
  31. Philadelphia Flyers (from Oilers)
  32. Calgary Flames (from Panthers)

Second Round:

  1. San Jose Sharks
  2. Chicago Blackhawks
  3. Nashville Predators
  4. Philadelphia Flyers
  5. Washington Capitals (from Bruins)
  6. Seattle Kraken
  7. Buffalo Sabres
  8. Philadelphia Flyers (from Ducks)
  9. Montreal Canadiens (from Penguins)
  10. New York Islanders
  11. New York Rangers
  12. Detroit Red Wings
  13. Anaheim Ducks (from Blue Jackets)
  14. Utah Mammoth
  15. Vancouver Canucks
  16. Philadelphia Flyers (from Flames)
  17. Montreal Canadiens
  18. New Jersey Devils
  19. Boston Bruins (from Blues)
  20. Minnesota Wild
  21. San Jose Sharks (from Senators)
  22. Calgary Flames (from Avalanche)
  23. Nashville Predators (from Lightning)
  24. Tampa Bay Lightning (from Kings)
  25. Seattle Kraken (from Maple Leafs)
  26. Vegas Golden Knights
  27. Pittsburgh Penguins (from Capitals)
  28. Anaheim Ducks (from Jets)
  29. Boston Bruins (from Hurricanes)
  30. Chicago Blackhawks (from Stars)
  31. New Jersey Devils (from Oilers)
  32. Toronto Maple Leafs (from Panthers)

Third Round:

  1. Vancouver Canucks (from Sharks)
  2. Chicago Blackhawks
  3. Nashville Predators
  4. Philadelphia Flyers
  5. Boston Bruins
  6. New York Rangers (from Kraken)
  7. Buffalo Sabres
  8. Anaheim Ducks
  9. Pittsburgh Penguins
  10. New York Islanders
  11. Detroit Red Wings (from Rangers)
  12. Detroit Red Wings
  13. Colorado Avalanche (from Blue Jackets)
  14. Utah Mammoth
  15. Montreal Canadiens (from Canucks)
  16. Calgary Flames
  17. Montreal Canadiens
  18. Montreal Canadiens (from Devils)
  19. Edmonton Oilers (from Blues)
  20. Pittsburgh Penguins (from Wild)
  21. Pittsburgh Penguins (from Senators)
  22. Toronto Maple Leafs (from Avalanche)
  23. Carolina Hurricanes (from Lightning)
  24. Los Angeles Kings
  25. New York Rangers (from Maple Leafs)
  26. New Jersey Devils (from Golden Knights)
  27. Vegas Golden Knights (from Capitals)
  28. Winnipeg Jets
  29. Washington Capitals (from Hurricanes)
  30. Dallas Stars
  31. San Jose Sharks (from Oilers)
  32. Ottawa Senators (from Panthers)

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Key 2025 Offseason Dates

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After the 2025 Stanley Cup Final ended last night, making the Panthers the third back-to-back Stanley Cup champion of the salary cap era, the offseason is now officially in full swing with some notable items in quick procession. Here are some key dates to look out for as the news cycle begins to heat up:

June 19

4 p.m. CT – Deadline for first club-elected salary arbitration notification
4 p.m. CT – First buyout period begins

June 27

6 p.m. CT – First round of the 2025 NHL Draft

June 28

11 a.m. CT – Rounds 2-7 of the 2025 NHL Draft

June 30

4 p.m. CT – First buyout period ends
4 p.m. CT – Deadline to issue qualifying offers to pending RFAs

July 1

11 a.m. CT – 2025-26 league year officially begins, free agency opens

July 5

4 p.m. CT – Deadline for player-elected salary arbitration notification

July 6

4 p.m. CT – Deadline for second club-elected salary arbitration notification

July 15

4 p.m. CT – Qualifying offers expire (unless extended by team in writing)

July 20

First potential salary arbitration hearing

August 4

Last potential salary arbitration hearing

August 6

4 p.m. CT – Deadline for salary arbitration decisions to be rendered

Chris Driedger Signs With KHL’s Traktor Chelyabinsk

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Pending UFA goaltender Chris Driedger signed a one-year contract with Russia’s Traktor Chelyabinsk of the Kontinental Hockey League on Tuesday, per a team release.

Driedger, 31, didn’t see NHL ice in 2024-25 for the second time in three seasons. The longtime No. 2/3 netminder was signed by the Panthers last offseason, his second tour of duty with the club, to serve as an insurance option behind backup Spencer Knight. He wasn’t needed due to the young netminder’s emergence, and even though Florida traded Knight to the Blackhawks in the Seth Jones deal, they acquired Vítek Vaněček from the Sharks to be their new backup shortly thereafter and didn’t need Driedger’s services. They then sent him to the Jets for Kaapo Kähkönen in a swap of experienced third-stringers at the trade deadline.

Between Florida’s and Winnipeg’s AHL affiliates, the Charlotte Checkers and Manitoba Moose, Driedger logged a highly underwhelming 3.03 GAA and .877 SV% with an 11-9-4 record in 25 appearances. It was the worst save percentage he’d put up over that large a sample of his entire career, both professional and junior. It’s unsurprising to see the 6’4″ netminder head overseas in search of career and financial stability as a result with an NHL offer far from guaranteed this summer.

For a brief period, Driedger was one of the better backups in the league. During his first stint with the Panthers, he had a 21-8-4 record, .931 SV%, 2.07 GAA, and four shutouts in 35 appearances in the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons. While he was set to be an unrestricted free agent the following summer, the Kraken selected his signing rights in their expansion draft and promptly signed him to a three-year, $10.5MM deal. He dealt with frequent injuries in his first year though, and after managing a .899 SV% in 27 games in Seattle’s first season, he had ACL surgery that robbed him of most of the 2022-23 campaign. Upon returning, he was played almost exclusively with the Kraken’s AHL affiliate in Coachella Valley.

The Winnipeg native’s NHL career is now likely behind him. If that’s the case, the 2012 third-rounder wraps it up with 67 games to his name, during which he posted a 31-24-5 record, five shutouts, a 2.45 GAA, .917 SV%, and saved 16.0 goals above average. He also has a .910 SV% in 217 AHL games across 10 seasons.

Driedger will likely form a platoon in Chelyabinsk with 25-year-old Sergei Mylnikov, who posted a .920 SV% in 21 games for Traktor last year. Driedger is the replacement in Chelyabinsk for former NHLer Zachary Fucale, who spent the last two seasons with the club and led the KHL with nine shutouts this year but signed a two-year contract with Belarusian side Dinamo Minsk earlier this month.

Meanwhile, the Jets will look to add a different veteran depth option behind Connor Hellebuyck and Eric Comrie for 2025-26. They have youngsters Thomas Milic and Domenic DiVincentiis under NHL contract next year, but neither has the track record to confidently be penciled in as a No. 3 option/AHL starter.

Stars Sign Ben Kraws To Two-Way Extension

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The Stars have signed goaltender Ben Kraws to a two-way extension for the 2025-26 campaign, the team announced Tuesday. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Kraws was slated to be a restricted free agent in two weeks after completing his first NHL contract, a one-year entry-level deal he signed with Dallas as an undrafted free agent in March 2024. The 6’5″, 194-lb netminder was coming off a strong showing in his fifth collegiate season at the time, posting a 2.49 GAA and .919 SV% in 37 games for St. Lawrence University. He played all but two games during the season and was easily the school’s top player, earning a Hobey Baker Award nomination as a result.

While the 24-year-old has seen a few games of action with AHL Texas since signing his deal 15 months ago, most of his short time in the pros has been spent down a level with ECHL Idaho. He was the Steelheads’ starter this year while sitting No. 5 on the Stars’ goalie depth chart behind their NHL duo of Jake Oettinger and Casey DeSmith and the AHL tandem of Magnus Hellberg and Rémi Poirier. He did quite well in his first professional audition, posting a 2.88 GAA, .910 SV%, five shutouts, and a 23-12-5 record in 40 games.

Hellberg won’t be back with the organization next season after signing in Sweden, while Poirier re-upped with the Stars on a two-year, two-way deal just yesterday. The latter outplayed Hellberg anyway and is likely slated to take over as the AHL starter next year. Kraws’ landing a second contract from Dallas indicates they may be penciling him in as Poirier’s backup in the AHL next year.

Still, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Dallas add another name to the mix in net, even if it’s on an AHL-only contract. Kraws has a more pedestrian .896 SV% and 2.87 GAA in seven career AHL showings for Texas. There’s certainly room for improvement on that small sample size, and the Stars would do well to add a more experienced call-up option in case an injury sidelines DeSmith or Oettinger for any significant length of time.

Penguins Re-Sign Joona Koppanen To Two-Way Deal

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The Penguins have re-signed forward Joona Koppanen for the 2025-26 campaign, the club announced Tuesday. It’s an implied two-way deal with a $775K cap hit if he’s in the NHL.

After turning 27 in February, Koppanen was slated to become a bona fide unrestricted free agent for the first time. A Bruins sixth-round pick in 2015, Koppanen departed Boston for Pittsburgh in 2023 via Group VI UFA status, signing a two-year deal with only a partial two-way structure.

This season marked Koppanen’s third straight campaign with NHL ice time after playing the first five seasons of his professional career in North America without a call-up. He recorded an assist in five games for Boston in his NHL debut in 2022-23 before suiting up 15 times for the Pens over the last two years, including 11 showings late in 2024-25. The 6’5″, 215-lb Finn scored his first NHL goal in his first game of the season against the Islanders on March 18 but failed to get on the scoresheet the rest of the way.

The large, versatile winger doesn’t have much upside in the tank at this stage, but he remains a decent plug-and-play piece if injuries necessitate it and is sound organizational depth. He consistently hovers around the half a point per game mark in the AHL and had an 8-15–23 scoring line in 56 showings for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins this season, including 24 PIMs and a plus-five rating.

It’s commonplace to see a foreign-born player of Koppanen’s caliber return to Europe at this stage of his career, but he evidently likes the fit in Pittsburgh. With the club potentially looking to sell off additional pieces this summer, there could be more of an NHL opportunity for him in 2025-26 than he’s had in the past. It’s also worth noting that he’ll be taking a pay cut if he’s assigned to the minors at any point next year. His contract had a one-way structure in 2024-25, so he earned his full $775K league-minimum salary despite only spending a small portion of the season on the NHL roster. While his new two-way deal likely carries a high AHL salary and an even higher guarantee, it could still mean a reduction in Koppanen’s take-home pay if he logs more minor-league action.

Since arriving in the North American pyramid with Boston’s top minor-league affiliate in Providence in 2017-18, he has a 53-84–137 scoring line with 114 PIMs and a +32 rating in 359 AHL games. His signing brings Pittsburgh to having 39 out of 50 standard contracts on the books for next year.

Free Agent Focus: San Jose Sharks

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Free agency is now two weeks 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 continue our look around the NHL with an overview of the free agent situation for the Sharks.

Key Restricted Free Agents

F Nikolai Kovalenko – Kovalenko split a rocky rookie season between the Avalanche and the Sharks. San Jose acquired him in December in the Mackenzie Blackwood trade. The Colorado 2018 sixth-rounder had been an increasingly highly-touted prospect in recent years amid an emergence as a top-line winger in Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League, and he was even thrust into NHL minutes with the Avs in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs. However, he only had eight points in 28 games with Colorado before the trade, making him expendable for a win-now team. The 25-year-old fared better with the Sharks, putting up a 3-9–12 scoring line in 29 contests, but only averaged 12:40 per game – not as much playing time as he hoped nor expected on a team with as thin of a forward group as San Jose was dealing with this year. That led to reports shortly after the season ended that he was eyeing a KHL return. He hasn’t signed there yet, though, indicating he remains open to returning to the Sharks. Considering his backup options overseas, Kovalenko will likely be San Jose’s most well-compensated RFA if he stays with them despite only 57 games of NHL experience, potentially a two-year deal around $2MM per season.

D Jack Thompson – A 2020 third-round pick by the Lightning, Thompson made his NHL debut with Tampa Bay one season ago before being sent to the Sharks as the principal piece of the deal that sent Anthony Duclair to the Bolts as a deadline rental. The puck-moving righty has bounced between the Sharks and the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda ever since, but has looked good in the NHL minutes he’s received. While he only averaged 15:47 of ice time per game in his 31 NHL appearances in 2024-25, he managed a 4-6–10 scoring line with a respectable minus-nine rating on a club with a -105 goal differential. His possession impacts in limited even-strength deployment, a -0.5 relative CF% and a 50.4 xGF%, were impressive. He got a handful of power-play reps, too. The 23-year-old also posted a 3-11–14 line in 27 minor-league games. He won’t necessarily command a seven-figure cap hit on a deal for 2025-26 since he’s not quite established as a full-timer, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see him land it anyway if the Sharks have him penciled into their opening-night lineup.

F Noah Gregor – Gregor returned for his second stint in the Bay Area as a result of the deadline deal that sent Fabian Zetterlund to the Senators. A fourth-round pick of the club back in 2016, the speedy depth forward hasn’t found the 10-goal/20-point production he had his first time around in San Jose. He totaled a 4-3–7 scoring line in 52 games on the year and only had one assist in 12 games with the Sharks after the move. He’s a potential non-tender candidate as they look to create flexibility for names like Thomas Bordeleau and Daniil Gushchin to compete for NHL jobs in training camp while leaving the door open for potential free-agent signings and potentially making a spot for a forward they select No. 2 overall in this year’s draft.

F Klim Kostin – Put Kostin in the potential non-tender camp as well. The 2017 first-rounder looked like he was finally getting his feet under him in San Jose last year after they acquired him from the Red Wings at the trade deadline, finishing 2023-24 with 10 points in 19 games while climbing his way into top-nine minutes. The Russian grinder didn’t receive that kind of deployment from the get-go this year, though, and spent much of the year injured or in the press box. He was limited to seven points in 35 games as a result. Now 26, the Sharks will look to replace his role with either a more established NHL option or a younger winger with more upside.

Other RFAs: F Carl Berglund, F Thomas Bordeleau, F Nolan Burke, F Brandon Coe, F Daniil Gushchin, F Mitchell Russell, G Gabriel Carriere, G Georgi Romanov

Key Unrestricted Free Agents

G Alexandar Georgiev – The Sharks already have clarity in the net next season. Top prospect Yaroslav Askarov is expected to take the reins as their starter or at least a 1A option in a tandem with a free-agent or trade acquisition. It won’t be Georgiev in the No. 2/1B role, though. The Sharks told him at the end of the regular season that they wouldn’t be offering him a new contract. Included for salary-matching/roster management purposes in the Blackwood deal, Georgiev logged a highly underwhelming .875 SV% and 3.88 GAA in 31 appearances with San Jose after the trade – “good” for -17.9 goals saved above expected on the season, including his time in Colorado, per MoneyPuck. A thin goalie market and his top-10 finish in Vezina Trophy voting two years ago could mean he gets an NHL opportunity elsewhere, but the 29-year-old Bulgarian native won’t be back in San Jose.

D Jan Rutta – The 34-year-old righty was brought in simply to serve as an NHL-experienced body on a paper-thin blue line when San Jose acquired him from the Penguins in 2023’s three-team Erik Karlsson trade. He’s historically been an above-average third-pairing option and has done well in sheltered top-four minutes as a grounding piece for a high-end partner. Neither of those situations met him in San Jose, where he had to serve as a top-four defender out of necessity. He averaged 18:38 per game over his two seasons with the Sharks and posted 28 points with a -24 rating in 123 games. The shutdown defender could still have a fit in San Jose, considering their lack of organizational depth on the right side, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see him pursue a more conservative role on a more competitive team in free agency.

Other UFAs: F Walker Duehr, F Pavol Regenda (Group VI), F Scott Sabourin, F Colin White, D Jimmy Schuldt

Projected Cap Space

This number still doesn’t mean a whole lot to the Sharks, who will have a ton of players on entry-level deals and aren’t expected to be huge players in free agency as they proceed past the nexus of their rebuild. They’ll still look to add some supporting cast pieces to the roster, though, and will have plenty of room to do so in addition to re-upping any free agents they choose. Their $41.76MM in flexibility is the most in the league, per PuckPedia.

Photo courtesy of Stan Szeto-Imagn Images (Kovalenko) and D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images (Georgiev).

Penguins Listening To Trade Offers For Most 2026 UFAs

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The Penguins are open to trading nearly every name on their roster entering the final season of their contract in 2025-26, aside from franchise center Evgeni Malkin, Josh Yohe of The Athletic writes Tuesday.

That list is comprised of forwards Noel Acciari, Kevin Hayes, Danton Heinen, and Blake Lizotte; defenseman Vladislav Kolyachonok; and goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic. Among that group, Acciari, Hayes, and Nedeljkovic are the ones Pittsburgh general manager Kyle Dubas would most like to extract some value from rather than hanging onto them in the final years of their deals. There is one other soon-to-be pending UFA not included above. That’s depth defenseman Ryan Shea, who signed a one-way extension for 2025-26 a few months ago and is expected to slot into a consistent third-pairing slot next season – if not higher – given the organization’s dearth of blue-liners.

It’s unsurprising news about a team labeled as the league’s only true seller entering the 2025 offseason. Moving on from the forwards listed above wouldn’t pose much of an issue for the Pens, who have more youngsters available up front who can handle internal promotions next year, whether that’s out of the gate or closer to the trade deadline. Filip Hallander, Ville Koivunen, Rutger McGroarty, and Samuel Poulin are all forwards under 25 years old who can likely handle full-time or fringe NHL duties next season after spending most of 2024-25 in the minors or in Europe.

Of the group mentioned, it appears Lizotte is the only name Dubas would consider extending to continue serving as a depth piece amid what will likely be a years-long retool if no trade materializes. While not “untouchable,” the Penguins like the above-average offense he provided in a fourth-line role this past year (11-9–20 in 59 GP) and could be open to keeping him around for another year or two.

None of those names should be expected to garner the Penguins anything more than a decent mid-round draft pick. Heinen was the best of the bunch offensively for the Pens in 2024-25, producing at a 32-point pace after being re-acquired from the Canucks in the Marcus Pettersson trade. The 29-year-old does have spotty 15-to-20-goal upside and is usually good for around 30 points, so he could be well-positioned to generate the most valuable return, speculatively as high as a late second-round pick or similarly valued prospect.

Moving on from Nedeljkovic would cause the most significant domino effect on the NHL roster, but according to Yohe, that isn’t an obstacle for a move. The team would be perfectly “content” from trading the veteran backup (or higher-priced struggling starter Tristan Jarry instead) while promoting top prospect Joel Blomqvist to a full-time NHL role in 2025-26 and letting 21-year-old Sergei Murashov take over as the minor-league starter in AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Flames Promote Peter Hanlon To Assistant General Manager

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The Flames are promoting Peter Hanlon to an assistant general manager role, the club announced Monday. He isn’t replacing an existing AGM, instead, he’s augmenting Craig Conroy’s current AGMs in Dave Nonis and Brad Pascall.

Saying the promotion is a long time coming for Hanlon would be an understatement. He’s been with the Flames for nearly three decades, all in the Vice President of Communications role he was hired into in the 1997-98 season. A move from the communications team to the GM suite is unconventional, but Flames’ President of Hockey Operations Dan Maloney emphasized Hanlon’s 30 years of experience in the sport.

Hanlon worked very closely with all levels of the Flames organization in his role, including serving as the liaison between players and media or fans for many years. Now, GM Craig Conry shares Hanlon will focus on all aspects of hockey operations, including player evaluation, recruitment, and strategic planning.

The VP of comms role was just the second front-office job in hockey Hanlon landed in hockey. He’d previously been the Maple Leafs’ AHL team manager between 1991-92 and 1995-96. He joined the Leafs on their two most recent runs to the Eastern Conference Finals in that span, and worked closely with players like Doug Gilmour, Dave Andreychuk, Mats Sundin, and Larry Murphy. Hanlon graduated from that role into a job with the NHL’s central office for a year.

While an assistant general manager role will mark new opportunity, Hanlon’s roots in hockey are plain to see. He’ll assume his new role beginning on July 1st, right as Calgary looks to start spending their wealth of $26.9MM in projected cap space.

Andrew Mangiapane Switches Agents, Not Expected To Re-Sign With Capitals

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The Capitals don’t have many notable pending free agents. The ones with the most name value among them, Nicklas Bäckström and T.J. Oshie, spent the entire season on injured reserve and, in the latter’s case, have since retired. As such, it’s widely believed Washington will let most of them test the open market without much pushback while using the open cap space to pursue bigger fish in free agency.

That will be the case with one of their higher-priced ones. Winger Andrew Mangiapane will test free agency and isn’t expected to re-sign with the Caps, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports Monday. He’s also switched his representation from Raze Sports’ Ritchie Winter to RSG Hockey’s Allain Roy, Pagnotta adds. Winter is only the agent for two other regular NHLers, Oilers goaltender Calvin Pickard and pending Jets UFA Mason Appleton. On the other hand, Roy is responsible for 44 active contracts with another 28 pending free agents he manages – 29 now with Mangiapane.

The 29-year-old winger will hit the open market with his stock arguably at its lowest point since he entered the league. Things in Washington didn’t go anywhere the way he wanted them to after the Caps acquired the Flames fixture from Calgary for a second-round pick last June. While nearly every other Capital had some form of a breakout or resurgence en route to their 111-point regular season, Mangiapane’s 28 points in 81 games were his lowest output since his 44-game rookie season in Calgary in 2018-19.

A sixth-round pick back in 2015, Mangiapane has settled in as more of a consistent 10-to-20-goal producer. He’s only topped the latter mark once, erupting for 35 goals in the 2021-22 season. Even with that outlier skewing the sample, he still averages 20 goals and 40 points per 82 games for his career. That’s naturally where Washington expected his production to fall, but he was passed over for top-six/nine minutes early in the season by names like Connor McMichael, Aliaksei Protas, and even Brandon Duhaime to some extent. He averaged only 13:02 per game with his production suffering as a result, limited to 14 goals and 14 assists despite shooting slightly above his 14.4% career average. Mangiapane’s 1.17 shots on goal per game were the lowest of any qualified season in his career.

A repeat of his usual 40-to-50-point production might have positioned him to recoup most of his previous $5.8MM AAV on the open market this summer. Now, his open-market projection is at $3.8MM per season on a two-year deal, according to AFP Analytics. Even that may be unrealistically high with a bevy of middle-six wingers available this offseason coming off better platform years.

The Caps, despite looking to add, still have some quality young internal replacement options for Mangiapane in a worst-case scenario. Recent first-rounders Ryan Leonard and Ivan Miroshnichenko are both legitimate candidates to be on their opening night roster next fall, even if the latter has less of a case.

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