Avalanche Want To Hold In-Season Extension Talks With Martin Necas
For some pending UFAs, the beginning of the regular season can be a stop-and-drop regarding extension negotiations. That doesn’t appear to be the case between the Avalanche and Martin Necas.
“Colorado has communicated clearly to the Necas camp that it wants to extend him at some point this season,” Pierre LeBrun writes for The Athletic, but those discussions “haven’t yet gotten into the nitty-gritty of exchanging offers and counteroffers.” The belief is they’re waiting to let Necas extend his sample size in Colorado into this regular season “before taking those discussions to the next level.”
Necas’ extension talks carry a different context than those of his peers for the 2026 UFA class. There’s arguably more pressure on the Avalanche to find a way to retain him than almost any other big-name free agent. He was the only high-end asset acquired when they dealt Mikko Rantanen to the Hurricanes in last January’s blockbuster deal – letting Necas walk will amount to them losing two top-line talents for almost nothing aside from depth center Jack Drury.
These talks also come at a time when Necas’ value is at an all-time high. The 2017 No. 12 overall pick has been prone to some significant season-to-season point swings in recent years, but he popped in a considerable way in 2024-25 by breaking the point-per-game threshold for the first time. He finished the year with a 27-56–83 scoring line in 79 appearances, closing out the year with 28 points in 30 games after arriving in Denver.
With that in mind, along with a quickly rising salary cap, Necas’ extension is projected to net him nearly $10MM per season on a seven-year deal, according to AFP Analytics. He, along with others like Adrian Kempe and Alex Tuch, is waiting for some of the A-list names like Connor McDavid and Kirill Kaprizov to sign deals and set the market for the 2026 class, LeBrun writes. With Kempe and Tuch also angling for eight-figure cap hits, Necas will as well. The Avs then run into the same problem they did with Rantanen – being hesitant to register such a large contract with franchise defenseman Cale Makar set to potentially double his $9MM cap hit when he becomes a free agent in 2027. Of course, that Rantanen deal was made before the league released official salary cap projections that were in significant excess of expectations.
Even for 2026-27 accounting, a $10MM cap hit for Necas could be something of a tight squeeze. Doing so would leave them with roughly $16MM in space to account for eight roster spots, according to PuckPedia. Outside of Necas, though, they don’t have any high-impact expiring names, so filling out those jobs with an average salary of $2MM might not be too much of an obstacle.
Oilers’ Vasily Podkolzin Takes Leave Of Absence
Oilers winger Vasily Podkolzin will be taking an indefinite leave of absence from the club after his father, Alexander, “suddenly and tragically passed away last night,” the team said in a press release. He’s returned to his native Russia in the interim.
Whenever Podkolzin is ready to return – an understandably wide-ranging timeline – he’ll be walking into a top-nine role in Edmonton. The 24-year-old played in all 82 games for the Oilers last year and saw notable deployment alongside Leon Draisaitl as a checking winger, putting together an 8-16–24 scoring line while averaging 13:13 of ice time per night. He also led Edmonton in hits by a wide margin with 211.
That was enough to earn him a three-year extension with a $2.95MM cap hit, a deal he signed just yesterday. He otherwise would have been a restricted free agent with arbitration rights next summer after inking a two-year, $2MM deal with the Canucks in April 2024. Edmonton acquired him from Vancouver via trade before he played a game under that contract.
If Podkolzin does not return to the Oilers before the beginning of the regular season, he can be designated as a non-roster player and will not count against their 23-player roster limit. His current $1MM cap hit, however, would still count against their books. If he’s expected to miss at least 10 games and 24 days from the start of the campaign, they can place him on long-term injured reserve for potential salary relief if necessary.
All of us at PHR extend our condolences to the Podkolzin family.
Rangers Considering Noah Laba For Opening-Night Spot
The Rangers are leaving the door open for center prospect Noah Laba to crack the opening night roster, head coach Mike Sullivan told reporters Wednesday, including Vince Z. Mercogliano of The Athletic.
“It might be too early to have that conversation at this point, but [Laba] certainly has performed extremely well in this early part of camp,” Sullivan said. He added Laba is “one of” the players in the mix to hold down a third-line center job for the Blueshirts, along with leading contender Juuso Pärssinen, whom the club acquired from the Avalanche in last season’s Ryan Lindgren trade.
Laba, 22, certainly has pro-ready size at 6’2″ and 192 lbs. A 2022 fourth-round pick, his offensive ceiling will be the biggest concern about rushing him to major-league minutes. He signed his entry-level contract this year after wrapping up three seasons at Colorado College. While he had a standout sophomore campaign in 2023-24 with a 20-17–37 scoring line in 36 games to lead the team in every offensive category, he cooled off somewhat last year with a 10-16–26 line in 29 appearances. He was still the team’s focal point offensively, but he didn’t receive the laundry list of accolades he got the year prior, including being a Hobey Baker nominee and earning Best Defensive Forward and First All-Star Team honors from the NCHC.
After signing Laba in March – a deal that didn’t begin until this season anyway – he finished out the year with AHL Hartford on a tryout. He didn’t look particularly out of place there, recording a 3-2–5 scoring line in 11 games.
A third-line pivot piece is likely Laba’s long-term ceiling as a moderately productive but primarily defense-conscious center. Getting him a taste of what could be a long-term role for him wouldn’t be without precedent. The Rangers haven’t been afraid to graduate under-the-radar rookies virtually straight from college to the NHL. They did so last year with defenseman Victor Mancini, selected one round after Laba in 2022. He broke camp with the club and bounced between the NHL and AHL before being sent to the Canucks in the J.T. Miller deal. The same fate could befall the waiver-exempt Laba. Mancini made 15 NHL appearances and 23 in the AHL with Hartford before getting sent to the Canucks.
Outside of Pärssinen, Laba, and potentially veteran Jonny Brodzinski, the Rangers aren’t overflowing with depth center options who have the offensive utility to play a top-nine role. Even the leading contender comes with a fair amount of question marks. Pärssinen, 24, impressed with 25 points in 45 games in his first NHL stint with Nashville two years ago but hasn’t flashed that upside since. He had a 6-10–16 scoring line in 48 appearances with three different clubs last year, including a 2-3–5 line in 11 games to end the season in New York while averaging just 9:46 per game. With under $800K in cap space, though, their options to make a free-agent add to lock down the role are somewhat limited.
Felix Sandstrom Signs With Liiga’s Oulun Karpat
Free agent goaltender Felix Sandström has signed on with Finnish powerhouse Kärpät, according to a team release. It’s a short-term deal with quite a few exceptions – the contract is only valid until Nov. 2 and includes an NHL out-clause, the team said.
Sandström, now 28, was a third-round pick by the Flyers in 2015 and was once a relatively promising prospect in their system. He ended up playing a career-high 20 games for them in the 2022-23 campaign, splitting backup duties with Samuel Ersson, but struggled with a .880 SV% and a 3.72 GAA. He spent most of the following season with AHL Lehigh Valley after clearing waivers and was unplayable in his brief call-up, recording a .823 SV% and -7.7 GSAA in a five-game window in March.
Along with an uninspiring .884 SV% in the minors that year, the Flyers had no qualms about letting him become an unrestricted free agent in the 2024 offseason. He landed a two-way commitment from the Sabres on the open market to serve as the No. 4 on their depth chart behind Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, James Reimer, and Devon Levi. He passed through waivers unclaimed at the beginning of the season and never saw a recall. He did see improved AHL numbers in Rochester, though, logging a .899 SV% and 2.86 GAA with a 12-5-2 record in 19 games.
That still didn’t lead to much interest in his services this summer, not even on a PTO for training camp. There may have been AHL-only offers out there but he held out for the hope of a more financially lucrative agreement to return to Europe. So far, not much of anything has panned out and he’ll now take a short-term deal in Finland with the hopes of impressing there and landing a two-way contract with an NHL team in need of goaltending depth.
Sandström last played in Europe in his native Sweden during the 2020-21 season. He had a .921 SV% in five games while on loan to Västerviks IK of Sweden’s second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan. He has never played in Finland before.
Kärpät has been the main producer of Finnish NHL players in recent years and has won seven Liiga titles since 2004, but none since 2018. They also finished below .500 last year and failed to make the playoffs for the first time since last being promoted to Finland’s top flight in 2000. They’re now dealing with an injury to starting netminder Niklas Rubin, who was off to a great start with a .934 SV% in four games. In the interim, Sandström will serve in tandem with Kraken prospect Visa Vedenpää, whom they selected in the sixth round in 2023.
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Nicolas Hague Out Four To Six Weeks With Upper Body Injury
Predators offseason acquisition Nicolas Hague won’t be available for around the first month of the regular season after sustaining an upper-body injury in Sunday’s preseason split-squad game against the Panthers. The team issued a four-to-six-week recovery timeline for him today, according to Max Herz of 102.5 The Game.
That creates an opening on the Preds’ top pair to begin an important season for the club, looking to shed off the rust from an incredibly disappointing 2024-25 campaign that saw them finish with the third-worst record in the league. Hague, acquired from the Golden Knights for a package including Colton Sissons and Jeremy Lauzon in June, had taken early reps alongside captain Roman Josi in camp. While both lefties, Josi played a good chunk of last year on his off side on a pairing with Brady Skjei.
When Hague returns the lineup, Nashville is banking on a breakthrough season from the 26-year-old. Acquired as an RFA, the Preds promptly signed him to a four-year extension with a $5.5MM cap hit. The 6’6″, 245-lb rearguard had been an impressively staunch depth presence throughout his first six NHL seasons with Vegas, managing a 20-63–83 scoring line with a +20 rating in 364 career appearances while averaging 110 blocks and 129 hits per 82 games. That output came in almost exclusively bottom-pairing duties behind a combination of Brayden McNabb, Alec Martinez, and Noah Hanifin on the left side of a stacked Vegas defense group, though. He’s averaged 17:33 per game for his career – including some significant penalty killing time. That number is likely to jump to the 20:00 range when his season gets underway.
For a Preds team looking to get off to a strong start, there are suddenly renewed concerns about their defensive depth. Hague being a big piece of the puzzle on the back end was a huge part of general manager Barry Trotz’s offseason strategy, allowing the club to move Skjei down to a more comfortable second-pairing role and spread the wealth in their top four. That’s still an option, but not a particularly appealing one. With Hague gone, that could mean forcing someone like Adam Wilsby into top-pairing minutes for a small stretch if they decide to keep Josi on the right side. Aside from Skjei, there aren’t any NHL-experienced options that have proven capable of shouldering top-pair minutes for any length of time.
Thus, his absence could provide a break for 2023 first-rounder Tanner Molendyk to break camp with the NHL club. The 20-year-old lefty was the 24th overall selection two years ago and will be transitioning to the pros this fall, whether in Nashville or AHL Milwaukee, after five years of major junior play. He split last season between WHL Saskatoon and Medicine Hat, continuing his strong offensive output with 47 points in 49 regular-season games and a 4-16–20 scoring line in 18 playoff contests as he guided the Tigers to a league championship.
Since Molendyk is two years post-draft, burning a year of his entry-level contract isn’t a concern – it’ll go into effect this season regardless of how much NHL action he sees. Unfortunately, the Preds haven’t gotten a look at him in preseason yet. He’s been dealing with a minor lower-body injury since the beginning of camp, although he did skate today for the first time, per Herz. He’ll have all the more motivation now to kick things into high gear with a clear path to his NHL debut on the line.
Drake Batherson Questionable For Start Of Season
The Senators could be without top-nine winger Drake Batherson for their regular-season opener against the Lightning on Oct. 9 and potentially even longer. He’s out “at least” two weeks with a pulled muscle in his upper body, head coach Travis Green told reporters, including Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia.
Batherson sustained the injury in yesterday’s practice and left the session early, according to TSN’s Claire Hanna. There’s no video of the incident. At the very least, Batherson’s exhibition schedule comes to an end after one appearance. He suited up in the club’s first preseason game of the year against the Maple Leafs, recording two assists in a 4-3 loss while logging 18:01 of ice time last Sunday.
A short-term absence isn’t the end of the world, but it is a tough kickoff for the ever-consistent Batherson. He set a career-high mark in assists (42) and points (68) last year, his third straight campaign above the 60-point mark. He also hasn’t missed a game since an ankle injury swallowed up a good portion of his 2021-22 season, which was otherwise his most successful offensive campaign with a 0.96 points-per-game rate (44 in 46 GP).
An IR stint could be a possibility if his recovery pace makes the Sens believe he’s set to miss at least the first seven days of the regular season. That would allow them to kick the can down the road on their decision to waive fringe forwards like Arthur Kaliyev, Olle Lycksell, and Zack MacEwen, opening up an extra roster spot for one of them to stay (or even slot in the lineup in Batherson’s place) in the meantime.
Kaliyev, signed to a league-minimum deal in free agency after being non-tendered by the Rangers, could be an intriguing beneficiary. The skilled but inconsistent 24-year-old is two years removed from a 13-15–28 scoring line in 56 appearances for the Kings. He’s bounced between units in camp so far, but has gotten some reps higher up in the lineup and has remained with the obvious NHL-laden training group as camp progresses. However, he was relegated to 13th forward duties at practice today while Michael Amadio got a crack at Batherson’s projected top-nine role alongside Ridly Greig and Shane Pinto, according to Garrioch.
Islanders Notes: Lee, Tsyplakov, Varlamov
Islanders captain Anders Lee will miss one to two weeks with an upper-body injury, the team announced. That puts the latter end of his return timeline one day ahead of the team’s regular season opener against the Penguins on Oct. 9. It doesn’t look like that will be much of a concern, though. While he could be done for the preseason, the team told the beat (including Stefen Rosner of NHL.com) that the issued timeline is precautionary and that his injury is “very minor.” Lee will skate on his own tomorrow, head coach Patrick Roy said (via Andrew Gross of Newsday).
His regular-season availability isn’t a legitimate concern at this stage as a result. Starting on a strong note is a must-have to set up an encore performance to last year’s resurgent campaign from Lee, who posted a 29-25–54 scoring line in 82 games to total the second-best offensive numbers of his career. He must do so in a contract year, although the lack of extension talks thus far isn’t of much concern to either side.
The Isles also said that winger Maxim Tsyplakov is banged up and has been given a day-to-day designation, although he did skate this morning. After averaging nearly 15 minutes per game in his rookie season last year, the 27-year-old looks ticketed for a fourth-line role to start the year after the free-agent additions of Jonathan Drouin and Maxim Shabanov this summer pushed him down the depth chart. He’s factored in on a line with Casey Cizikas and Emil Heineman so far in camp after recording a 10-25–35 scoring line in 77 appearances last year.
It’s also looking more and more as though free-agent pickup David Rittich will remain safe from waivers and start the season as Ilya Sorokin‘s backup between the pipes. Semyon Varlamov‘s return from a knee surgery that’s kept him out for over nine months is still quite far off, Roy reaffirmed today (via Gross). He continues to skate on his own as he has for a few weeks now, but is not expected to join full team skates anytime soon.
Lightning Return Sam O’Reilly To Juniors
Center Sam O’Reilly, the Lightning’s No. 1 prospect, is among the training camp cuts announced by the club today. He’ll return to the OHL’s London Knights for a third full season in the major junior ranks.
While there were some who believed O’Reilly could challenge for a nine-game trial with a strong training camp, an early return to juniors isn’t a huge surprise. The 19-year-old pivot was the last selection of the first round by the Oilers in last year’s draft, but Edmonton traded him to the Bolts in July in exchange for the signing rights to reigning Hobey Baker Award winner Isaac Howard.
Howard was previously Tampa’s top prospect, but a disagreement over the role he would play in 2025-26 led him to decide not to sign with the club – essentially forcing a trade unless they wanted to lose him for nothing in free agency next summer. O’Reilly was a shrewd consolation prize, albeit a younger one who needs a little more runway before he’s ready to make an NHL impact. The 6’1″, 190-lb pivot projects squarely as a bottom-six piece long-term. He’s a strong playmaker, registering 79 assists in 130 games for the Knights over the past few years, but his top calling cards are his physical involvement and defensive acumen.
That boosts his opportunities for making an NHL transition – unlike some young first-round talents, a fourth-line workload wouldn’t be detrimental to his development if that’s where he first lands upon cracking the Bolts’ roster. Nonetheless, more junior development isn’t the worst thing in the world to see if he can improve his offensive skillset as well and gain the tools necessary to push for a more sound middle-six role in Tampa long-term.
O’Reilly will be turning pro in 2026-27. Whether that’s because he cracks the NHL roster out of camp next fall or starts in AHL Syracuse remains to be seen. Assuming O’Reilly does not reach 10 NHL games this season – an overwhelmingly likely scenario given the early nature of today’s cut – his entry-level contract will slide for a second consecutive campaign. Tampa Bay will still owe him his $96K signing bonus. As a result, his ELC will carry a decreased cap hit of $900,333 when it does go into effect for 2026-27, down from its initial cap hit of $964K had O’Reilly been in the NHL since signing the deal with Edmonton back in October 2024. He’ll be a restricted free agent at age 23 in the 2029 offseason.
Ville Koivunen Expected To Make Penguins’ Roster
Rookie winger Ville Koivunen “is a lock to start the season” on the Penguins’ opening night roster, Josh Yohe of The Athletic reports Tuesday. The 2021 second-round pick was always a strong candidate to land a job after impressing in a short call-up down the stretch last season, but his waiver-exempt status made the roster math not in his favor with the Pens holding onto more veterans than expected over the summer.
Where exactly he fits on the depth chart is still in question. During last year’s eight-game call-up, during which the 22-year-old went nearly point-per-game with seven assists, he split time equally in Pittsburgh’s top six on the left wing with either Sidney Crosby and Bryan Rust or Evgeni Malkin and Rickard Rakell. Daily Faceoff’s most recent lineup projection has him sticking with Malkin, but this time with free-agent pickup Anthony Mantha on the right flank while Rakell and Rust slot in as Crosby’s wingers.
His path to minutes got clearer when Rutger McGroarty, the organization’s top forward prospect and a 2022 first-rounder, reported to camp with an upper-body injury that has him out indefinitely. One of the Pens’ top young forwards was always likely going to get a crack in the top six to begin the season as the retool begins to accelerate; it was more a question of whether that would be Koivunen, McGroarty, or a wildcard name when the dust settled. More will be in competition for those premier minutes when names like Rakell and Rust are presumably offloaded in trades, but for now, it’ll be Koivunen coasting to those minutes with McGroarty not currently a factor.
Koivunen was the crown jewel of the Penguins’ haul they received from the Hurricanes in exchange for winger Jake Guentzel at the 2024 trade deadline. The 6’0″ Finn has developed like a dream since his draft year, peaking with an excellent 56-point showing in 59 games for Liiga’s Kärpät in the 2023-24 season. He came to North America last year and fit like a glove in AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, leading the Pens’ farm team with a 21-35–56 scoring line in 63 games. He still slots in as their No. 2 prospect to McGroarty for now, at least according to NHL.com, but has a legitimate case to claim the No. 1 throne – or work his way out of “prospect” designation entirely this year.