Maple Leafs Assign Ben Danford To AHL
The Toronto Maple Leafs are bringing one of their top prospects to the professional ranks. According to an announcement from their AHL affiliate, the Toronto Marlies, the Maple Leafs have assigned defenseman Ben Danford to the AHL for the Calder Cup playoffs.
Despite having one of the worst prospect pools in the NHL, Danford is generally regarded as Toronto’s top prospect, especially since Easton Cowan became a full-time NHL player this season. The Maple Leafs selected Danford 31st overall in the 2024 NHL Draft.
Since then, the 20-year-old native of Madoc, Ontario, has been playing for the OHL’s Oshawa Generals and Brantford Bulldogs. Still, his development path hasn’t necessarily gone as the Maple Leafs may have liked. After registering 33 points with a +27 rating in 63 games with the Generals during his draft season, Danford dropped to 25 points and a +5 rating through 61 contests the following season.
It is important to highlight that Oshawa has gotten worse around Danford over the past few seasons. After being traded to the Bulldogs during the 2025-26 campaign, Danford improved his game, scoring two goals and accumulating 16 points in 37 games, along with a +12 rating. Furthermore, he added three more points in 13 postseason games during the OHL playoffs.
Although his offensive output decreased, Danford has remained a quality player on the defensive side of the puck. He’s rarely caught out of position and holds tight gaps, giving opposing forwards little room to get around him.
Unfortunately, if he draws into the postseason lineup for the Marlies, things aren’t going to get any easier for Danford in the short term. Toronto is coming off a hard-fought battle against the AHL’s Laval Rocket and has drawn a date against the Cleveland Monsters, a team that made it to the Eastern Conference Final last season.
Devils Hire Braden Birch As Assistant General Manager
The New Jersey Devils have made their first front office hire under new General Manager Sunny Mehta. According to a team announcement, the Devils have hired Braden Birch to serve as the team’s Assistant General Manager and General Manager of the AHL’s Utica Comets.
Like Mehta, Birch is departing from the Florida Panthers organization to work in New Jersey. The Panthers hired the 36-year-old ahead of the 2016-17 season as a special assistant to General Manager Bill Zito. After his lone season as a special assistant, he was promoted to the team’s Director of Hockey Operations with a specialization in salary cap management.
Aside from that, the only connection he has to the Devils organization is through Mehta. Given that Mehta had been Florida’s Assistant General Manager for the last several years, it’s more than likely that the two worked closely together in their roles and have a good working relationship.
In the announcement, Mehta said, “Braden will be an extremely valuable addition to our senior hockey operations group. His blend of on-ice experience, management background, and intellect will serve him well in his new role. Braden will work to bolster all areas of our operation, and I look forward to him joining our existing front office, where his personality and work ethic will fit in excellently.”
Regarding Utica, Birch will have his work cut out for him. The Comets haven’t qualified for the Calder Cup playoffs since the 2022-23 season, losing on the last day of the regular season to the Rochester Americans this year. The team did a quality job on defense, but Utica was one of only six teams to not register 200 or more goals throughout the regular season. Birch will likely target offense this offseason on the free agent market to ensure that the Comets find their way back to the postseason in 2026-27.
Theorizing A Draft Day Trade For The Sharks
After winning the lottery last week, the San Jose Sharks have arguably the top trade chip leading up to the draft. According to recent reports, particularly from The Fourth Period, the Sharks are giving serious thought to moving the second overall pick for the right move.
This isn’t to say that San Jose wouldn’t love to have Gavin McKenna or Ivar Stenberg, but they already have a glut of high-level forward prospects and only so many spots for them on the roster. Given their dire need for defensive help, it would make far more sense for the Sharks to draft one of Chase Reid, Keaton Verhoeff, or Carson Carels. Still, by all accounts, any of those defenseman would be considered a reach at second overall, given the drop-off in talent after McKenna and Stenberg.
Unfortunately, there aren’t many defensemen available on the trade market that would satisfy the immense value of the second overall pick this season. Dougie Hamilton of the New Jersey Devils and Morgan Rielly of the Toronto Maple Leafs are already known trade candidates heading into the offseason. Still, it’s highly unlikely that New Jersey and Toronto would add the necessary assets to get a trade over the finish line. Furthermore, there’s no chance that top-level defensemen like Zach Werenski, Quinn Hughes, or Cale Makar will be on the move anytime soon, if ever.
However, there may be an opportunity for San Jose to acquire one of the top defensive prospects available in this year’s draft, and a younger top-four defenseman in the same trade. Enter the New York Rangers.
The Rangers already have six defensemen signed through next season, with Scott Morrow also looking to crack next season’s opening night roster. Seeking a decent raise this summer, Braden Schneider was a blue liner that New York peddled at the deadline, and will presumably be available again this summer.
Obviously, Schneider wouldn’t come close to having the value in his own right for the second overall pick. However, the Rangers have the fifth overall pick in this year’s draft, which would give the Sharks a pathway to having a guaranteed shot at Reid, Verhoeff, or Carels (assuming McKenna and Stenberg are taken with the first two picks).
As previously mentioned, given the drop-off in talent after McKenna and Stenberg, it’s likely the Rangers would have to add a few more pieces to the trade to get it across the finish line, but not by much. Center Adam Edstrom, who hasn’t exactly worked out with the Rangers so far, could benefit San Jose by giving them more size on their fourth line. Additionally, New York has four third-round picks in the upcoming draft. Including one of those four may be enough to satisfy the Sharks’ demands.
The hypothetical trade, at least on paper, appears to be a win-win for both teams. The Rangers would have the ability to draft a new face of the franchise, especially one that can jump into the roster next season, and the Sharks could add a right-handed defenseman who is already ready to go, and one of the best defensive prospects available in this summer’s draft.
Regardless, there will be a lot of movement leading up to the draft, as is the case every year, and the Sharks could very well retain the pick and select either McKenna or Stenberg to put their offensive firepower over the top.
Hockey Canada Releases World Championship Roster
One day after USA Hockey announced the preliminary group that they would be bringing to Switzerland for the 2026 IIHF World Championship, Hockey Canada followed suit. Instead of their preliminary roster, Hockey Canada revealed the final group they’ll bring to the international tournament. It consists of three goalies, eight defensemen, and 12 forwards and is as follows:
Goaltenders
Jet Greaves (Blue Jackets)
Jack Ivankovic (Predators)
Cam Talbot (Red Wings)
Defensemen
Evan Bouchard (Oilers)
Dylan DeMelo (Jets)
Sam Dickinson (Sharks)
Denton Mateychuk (Blue Jackets)
Darnell Nurse (Oilers)
Morgan Rielly (Maple Leafs)
Zach Whitecloud (Flames)
Parker Wotherspoon (Penguins)
Forwards
Mathew Barzal (Islanders)
Connor Brown (Devils)
Macklin Celebrini (Sharks)
Dylan Cozens (Senators)
Emmitt Finnie (Red Wings)
Dylan Holloway (Blues)
Fraser Minten (Bruins)
Ryan O’Reilly (Predators)
Mark Scheifele (Jets)
John Tavares (Maple Leafs)
Robert Thomas (Blues)
Gabriel Vilardi (Jets)
As is typically the case with any iteration of Team Canada, the team will be led by offensive firepower. Celebrini, 19, is a major addition to the team after scoring 45 goals and 115 points in 82 games for the San Jose Sharks in his sophomore campaign. Additionally, Celebrini brought the same talent to the Olympics, where he registered five goals and 10 points in six games. Even being under 20 years old, there’s a worthwhile argument that Celebrini will be the best player at the World Championship.
Sticking to the forward corps, the Canadians are bringing a lot of experience to the team. O’Reilly, Scheifele, and Tavares are all considered longtime veterans at this point and are still producing like top-tier players. Furthermore, Barzal, Cozens, Holloway, Thomas, and Vilardi will not only give Canada a formidable top six but also the ability to put out three strong scoring units.
The questions for Team Canada begin to arise on the blue line. Bouchard will likely be treated as the top option, but he has too many flaws in his defensive game to warrant ice time in all situations. Nurse and Rielly have plenty of experience, but have each seen their play drop off considerably in recent years. Unlike their forward corps, the Canadians may be led by younger defensemen rather than veteran talent.
Interestingly enough, the Canadiens don’t look too bad between the pipes. Greaves was underappreciated in the national spotlight this season, managing a 26-19-9 record with the Blue Jackets with a .908 SV%, 2.60 GAA, and 18.6 Goals Saved Above Average. Although Cam Talbot has played for Team Canada once before, the Canadians may lean on Ivankovic as the backup, who backstopped the University of Michigan to the top team in the NCAA regular season this year.
Latest On Vancouver Canucks GM Search
It appears that the Vancouver Canucks are down to their two finalists for the next General Manager of the organization. According to Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK TV, Vancouver has begun to tell prospective candidates that they are no longer under consideration, and the team is down to Ryan Johnson and Evan Gold as the finalists.
Johnson, 49, is an obvious choice to take over the Canucks front office, especially considering that the team denied the Nashville Predators permission to interview him. Even if they didn’t consider him a candidate, Vancouver can refuse any team’s interest in their staff, as is their right, but it likely would have lowered their credibility around the league if they denied Nashville and didn’t give Johnson a fair shot.
That’s not to say the Canucks ultimately have to promote Johnson, but he has been with the team for more than a decade and has dramatically improved the state of their AHL affiliate. After his playing career ended following the 2010-11 campaign, Johnson was hired by the Canucks as a development coach in 2013-14. He served in that role for two years before being promoted to the Assistant Director of Player Development in 2015-16.
Since the 2017-18 campaign, Johnson has served as the General Manager of their AHL affiliate and the Assistant General Manager of Vancouver. He spearheaded the transition from the Utica Comets to the Abbotsford Canucks for the 2021-22 campaign and oversaw the team that won the Calder Cup last season.
Meanwhile, Gold would be an outside hire if the Canucks landed on him. Gold has served as the General Manager of the AHL’s Providence Bruins and the Assistant General Manager of the Boston Bruins for several years, being considered more analytical than Johnson. Before that, he served in the legal affairs team in Boston for the Hockey Operations department after obtaining his law degree from the University of Toronto. Unlike Johnson, Gold doesn’t have any professional or even semi-professional playing experience to speak of.
Regardless, today’s update from Dhaliwal shows how much things can change. Only a few days ago, reports indicated that the Canucks had settled on Pierre Dorion as the team’s next General Manager, only to have today’s news indicate he’s no longer under consideration. Considering the lengthy duration of the process and Dhaliwal’s assertion that finalists have been selected, a definitive hiring decision is expected within the next few days.
Nikita Kucherov, Nathan MacKinnon, Connor McDavid Named Hart Trophy Finalists
According to an announcement from the league, Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche, and Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers are the three finalists for the Hart Memorial Trophy. The award is given annually “to the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team.”
Although he hasn’t won the award since the 2018-19 campaign, Kucherov becomes a finalist for the league-MVP for the third consecutive year. Despite not leading the league in scoring this season, it’s hard to argue that Kucherov isn’t deserving of the award. Given the number of injuries the Lightning dealt with this season, especially to the defensive corps, there’s no telling how bad the season could have gone if they didn’t have Kucherov’s point-producing offense (although a significant argument can be made that it was Andrei Vasilevskiy doing the heavy lifting).
Most impressively, Kucherov managed his fourth consecutive season in which he managed to register more than 80 assists. His final scoring line was 44 goals and 130 points in 76 games with a +43 rating, averaging over 20 minutes of ice time per game. In some of the major scoring categories, Kucherov ranked eighth in goals (44), second in assists (86), second in points (130), third in goals created (46.3), fourth in even-strength goals (35), fourth in goals per game (0.58), first in assists per game (1.13), first in points per game (1.71), and second in goals created per game (0.61).
MacKinnon, on the other hand, has a strong case, being the most dominant player on the most dominant team. Like Kucherov, he has become synonymous with the award over the last several years, finishing in the top five in voting for four consecutive years, and winning the award in the 2023-24 campaign.
He’s already won one major award this year, taking home the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy as the highest-scoring player. MacKinnon finished with 53 goals and 127 points in 80 games with a +57 rating, averaging north of 22 minutes of ice time per game. Compared to the other finalists, MacKinnon finished first in goals (53), third in assists (74), third in points (127), second in goals created (48.0), first in even-strength goals (42), first in goals per game (0.66), fifth in assists per game (0.93), third in points per game (1.59), and third goals created per game (0.60).
Meanwhile, everything that is true of Kucherov and MacKinnon is true of McDavid. The 29-year-old has already won the award three times and has finished in the top 10 in voting every year of his career after his rookie campaign. As incredible as McDavid has been throughout his career, he quietly had the second-highest scoring season of his career, scoring 48 goals and 138 points in 82 games with a +17 rating, averaging nearly 23 minutes of ice time per game.
Taking home the Art Ross Trophy as the league’s highest-scoring, McDavid finished third in goals (48), first in assists (90), first in points (138), first in goals created (50.5), fifth in even strength goals (34), third in goals per game (0.59), second in assists per game (1.10), second in points per game (1.68), and first in goals created per game (0.62).
Despite each of the three finalists having a strong claim for the award, the conversation can’t be had without mentioning youngster Macklin Celebrini of the San Jose Sharks. The language used by the NHL regarding the award, along with the writers who make up the PHWA’s interpretation of it, has sparked considerable debate in recent years.
The argument regarding MacKinnon doesn’t seem as convincing, considering how dominant his teammates on the Avalanche were this year. However, there is a valid point that the Lightning and Oilers might not have made the playoffs this season if they hadn’t had either player available, though this is likely less applicable to the Lightning.
Even though the Sharks didn’t qualify for postseason play, there’s little rationality that the team would have been in striking distance of a playoff spot without Celebrini. The second-year forward scored 45 goals and 115 points in 82 games for the Sharks this season, with the next closest player, Will Smith, finishing with 59 points (albeit in limited action due to injuries). Furthermore, the gap between Celebrini’s and Smith’s point totals, 115 and 59, respectively, is significantly more than the gaps that Kucherov, MacKinnon, or McDavid had on their teams this season.
Regardless, the votes have already been cast, and we’ll find out in a few short weeks which one of the trio will ultimately be named the league MVP for the 2025-26 season.
Photo courtesy of Steven Bisig of USA TODAY Sports.
Blackhawks To Sign Roman Kantserov
After months of speculation, it’s now confirmed that the Chicago Blackhawks are adding another high-level forward prospect to their roster. According to an announcement from the KHL’s Metallurg Magnitogorsk, prospect Roman Kantserov has terminated his contract with the team and will be signing an entry-level deal with the Blackhawks.
Kantserov, 21, was drafted 44th overall in the 2023 NHL Draft by the Blackhawks. He was coming off an impressive year with the MHL’s Stalnye Lisy Magnitogorsk, registering 27 goals and 54 points in 45 games with a +23 rating.
Since then, it’s been all KHL for the Magnitogorsk, Russia native. He got off to a slow start during the 2023-24 campaign, but he has become one of the league’s top scorers since. Beginning in the 2024-25 campaign, Kantserov has scored 49 goals and 102 points in 110 games with a +21 rating. Over that same timeframe, he has registered four goals and 10 points in 21 postseason contests.
The most prominent development in Kantserov’s game has been his goal-scoring capacity. At the time of his draft selection, Kantserov was known as a pass-first forward with tremendous hand-eye coordination reminiscent of Pavel Datsyuk‘s stickhandling ability. However, not only did Kantserov have more goals than assists this season, he led the entire KHL in goal scoring by a margin of four.
Assuming this trend continues, Chicago will be even more ecstatic about their selection. Regardless, even if Kantserov reverts to being a quick, playmaking forward, the Blackhawks won’t be disappointed in that either.
Furthermore, Kantserov continues the trend of Chicago signing some of their recent draft picks and adding some overwhelming talent up front. Already with young, top-six forwards like Connor Bedard and Frank Nazar, the Blackhawks also added Anton Frondell and Sacha Boisvert toward the end of the 2025-26 campaign.
Despite finishing as one of the worst teams this season, Chicago’s influx of young forward talent, especially over the course of an entire season, could propel the team forward, reminiscent of the San Jose Sharks’ significant step forward this year. The Blackhawks still have plenty of development and kinks to work out on defense, but the forward corps has the talent to overcome those deficiencies.
Lassi Thomson Signs Two-Year Contract With HC Lugano
A former first-round pick of the Ottawa Senators is headed overseas for the second time in his professional career. According to a team announcement, the NL’s HC Lugano has signed defenseman Lassi Thomson to a two-year contract through the 2027-28 season.
Thomson, 25, began his professional career in North America in 2019, when the Senators selected him with the 19th overall pick of that summer’s NHL Draft. He was coming off an impressive season with the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets, scoring 17 goals and 41 points in 63 games.
Hoping to keep his development in an upward trajectory and in a comfortable environment, Ottawa loaned Thomson to the Finnish Liiga’s Ilves for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 campaigns. Unfortunately, the transition back to his native Finland wasn’t as smooth as hoped, as Thomson finished his two-year run with seven goals and 15 points in 57 games.
Regardless, the Senators brought Thomson to North America toward the end of the 2020-21 campaign, and he began his playing time with the organization with the AHL’s Belleville Senators. This became the only place Thomson would excel.
Across four seasons, Thomson registered 24 goals and 93 points in 202 games with the AHL Senators, becoming a fairly consistent two-way defenseman, at least on the offensive side of the puck. He managed a -28 throughout that time, which is especially glaring given that Belleville was a playoff team in two out of his four seasons, and would have been in the 2020-21 campaign had the Calder Cup playoffs been held.
He didn’t have many opportunities in Ottawa, either. Between the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons, Thomson registered five assists in 18 games in the NHL with a -10 rating. His defensive metrics became so unsettling that the Senators chose to leave him in the AHL for the entire 2023-24 season.
It was after the 2023-24 campaign that Thomson felt he had more to offer and returned to the Scandinavian Peninsula to continue his professional career, this time with the SHL’s Malmö Redhawks. He played particularly well, scoring 17 goals and 29 points in 50 games with a +2 rating.
Feeling inspired, Thomson returned to the Senators organization this past season, but again spent most of his time in the AHL. Thomson finished the season with 14 goals and 25 points in 55 AHL games, and three assists in 11 NHL contests. Assuming his departure today is for similar reasons, it’s unlikely that Thomson will return to the North American landscape anytime soon.
Dallas Stars Issue Several Injury Updates
There’s no question that the Dallas Stars were severely impacted by injuries throughout the 2025-26 season. The Stars had the fourth-most injuries of any team this season, behind the Florida Panthers, Vegas Golden Knights, and New York Islanders. In today’s end-of-season media availability, the General Manager Jim Nill revealed a laundry list (via Lia Assimakopoulos of The Dallas Morning News) of specific injury information the Stars dealt with throughout the regular season and postseason.
Nill disclosed new injuries or details regarding 18 players on the roster, from the preseason to the present. Some injuries were already known, such as Tyler Seguin‘s ACL tear, Jamie Benn‘s collapsed lung, and Miro Heiskanen‘s torn oblique, but several others were also mentioned.
The biggest news is that star forward Mikko Rantanen suffered a torn MCL in the Olympics. Missing more than a month of action, Rantanen dropped from a 1.27 P/G average before the international tournament to a 0.80 upon his return. His point production went up mildly during the playoffs, but it was clear that Rantanen wasn’t his usual self.
Nill admitted that Rantanen came back as quickly as he could, which likely hurt his recovery process. Fortunately, the Stars aren’t expecting that he’ll need surgery this summer.
Both players that Dallas acquired at the trade deadline were also dealing with injuries. Nill alerted that both Michael Bunting and Tyler Myers were dealing with groin injuries in the regular season. That could be a key reason as to why neither player transitioned well to the team after being acquired by the Stars.
He also offered injury updates on those on the team who suffered longer-term injuries throughout the 2025-26 campaign. Matt Duchene was dealing with a concussion earlier in the season that cost him most of October and all of November.
Roope Hintz, who became ill at the Olympics, suffered a double hamstring tear in his first game back on March 6th. Unfortunately, as he was attempting to make another comeback, Hintz reaggravated the same injury. In a similar vein, Radek Faksa, who was also injured in the Olympics, apparently suffered a concussion. Additionally, while he was recovering from concussion symptoms, Faksa was stepped on by a skate and had a serious laceration in his foot that cut some ligaments. There’s a chance he’ll need surgery again this offseason.
Further down the forward corps, Nill shared that Oskar Back lost 10 games in October due to a wrist injury, Nathan Bastian broke his finger toward the end of the regular season, Adam Erne sprained his MCL in December, Arttu Hyry suffered a high ankle sprain in the playoffs, and Sam Steel endured a groin injury during the regular season.
On defense, the most notable news was the injury specifics to Thomas Harley and Lian Bichsel earlier in the season. According to Nill, Bichsel fractured his leg and ankle in late November, costing him nearly a third of the regular season. Nill added that Bichsel suffered a shoulder sprain in the playoffs, but that isn’t expected to have any long-term consequences.
Meanwhile, Harley, who lost 12 games of the regular season, suffered a broken foot in November. Nils Lundkvist, who hasn’t played since getting a facial laceration against the Minnesota Wild, was also suffering from concussion symptoms from the same play. Additionally, Nill shared that Lundkvist fractured his leg and ankle earlier in the year, costing him 30 games. Lastly, Nill told the media that depth defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin had a shoulder injury throughout the regular season.
Dallas has reached a point where losing Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final in overtime is considered a disappointing year. Still, given the overwhelming amount of injuries the same faced during the regular season and playoffs, it’s impressive that the Stars managed to win 50 games this season and finish third in the league standings. They’ll want to emphasize rest and recovery for their players this offseason and look to get back for the 2026-27 campaign as a healthy group.
Photo courtesy of Perry Nelson-Imagn Images.
Rasmus Dahlin, Cale Makar, Zach Werenski Named Norris Trophy Finalists
As part of revealing the finalists for major league awards, the NHL announced the Norris Trophy finalists today. According to a league announcement, Rasmus Dahlin of the Buffalo Sabres, Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche, and Zach Werenski of the Columbus Blue Jackets are the three finalists to be named the “defense player who demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-around ability in the position.”
Although he’s earned multiple votes over the last three years, this is the first time that Dahlin, 26, has been named a finalist for the Norris Trophy. Throughout the first four years of his career, there were several questions regarding Dahlin, particularly if he was the top defenseman that the Sabres believed he would be when they drafted him.
Over the last four years, he has proven he is everything Buffalo hoped he would be, if not more. Since the beginning of the 2022-23 campaign, Dahlin has scored 71 goals and 274 points in 379 games, topping out with a 19-goal, 74-point performance this season. Additionally, he’s averaged nearly 25 minutes a night over that stretch, showing he can play in every situation comfortably. He’s physical, he blocks shots, he puts a ton of them on net, and he has captained the Sabres to the playoffs for the first time in 14 years.
Unlike Dahlin, Makar’s name has become synonymous with the Norris Trophy throughout his career. Throughout his career, Makar has been a finalist for the Norris Trophy six times, winning the award twice. Even when he wasn’t a finalist during his rookie campaign, he still finished top-10 in voting.
Still, it’s fair to argue that Makar took a step back offensively this season. After posting back-to-back 90-point campaigns in the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons, Makar dropped back to 20 goals and 79 points this season. Regardless, he sustained more than a point per game on average, blocked over 100 shots, finished with a +32 rating, and was the top defenseman on the top team in the league.
Meanwhile, Werenski finished as a Norris Trophy finalist for the second year in a row, at the very least. The Gross Pointe, MI native finished 22 goals and 81 points in 75 games, averaging over 26 minutes of ice time per night. Although he doesn’t block as many shots as Dahlin or Makar, and didn’t have a double-digit rating, Weresnki played in every situation and led the Blue Jackets in scoring by a 14-point margin, which is extremely uncommon for a defenseman.
Unfortunately, given that each of the finalists’ all-around game, it’s a toss-up who will ultimately come away with the award this season.
Although it’s difficult to argue either Dahlin, Makar, or Werenski out of being a finalist, there are a few other defensemen who easily could have found their way into the top three. Evan Bouchard of the Edmonton Oilers, who finished as the highest-scoring defenseman this season with 21 goals and 95 points in 82 games, has a case, as does Lane Hutson of the Montreal Canadiens, who finished with 12 goals and 78 points in 82 games, with a +36 rating.