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Trade Notes: Rossi, Marchment, Romanov

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In an article by Michael Russo and Joe Smith from The Athletic, which was later confirmed by Patrick Johnston of The Province, there is a growing consensus that the Vancouver Canucks have made a formal offer to the Minnesota Wild for Marco Rossi. While the complete trade offer remains unclear, the trio of writers believes the Canucks proposed the 15th overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft along with a player.

Johnston elaborated in his article stating that it’s unclear whether the player offered to the Wild was a prospect, or one currently rostered with the Canucks. Still, the news confirms that Vancouver is being aggressive in their pursuit of upgrading their second-line center.

While it’s essentially understood that the Canucks and scoring winger Brock Boeser will be parting ways this summer, Vancouver has over $12MM in salary cap space for the offseason. That means the Canucks could comfortably offer Rossi his desired seven-year, $49MM contract, while leaving room for a few further upgrades.

Other trade notes:

  • After signing center Matt Duchene to a new four-year, $18MM contract earlier today, the Dallas Stars only have a projected $455K in salary cap space entering the offseason. Given this, the Stars are looking to move salary off the roster, and forward Mason Marchment has found his name in the center of the rumor mill. According to David Pagnotta of TheFourthPeriod, Dallas is receiving interest in Marchment’s services, particularly from the Toronto Maple Leafs and Utah Mammoth. Marchment already has some familiarity with the Maple Leafs, appearing in four games for the Original Six franchise during the 2019-20 season.
  • In a new report from Stefen Rosner in Responsible Gambling, he suggests that the New York Islanders are garnering trade interest in defenseman Alexander Romanov from the Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers. Rosner provided context for the report by stating that he anticipates the Islanders will begin contract negotiations with Romanov in a few weeks. However, he noted that some teams expect these negotiations to take longer since the Islanders also need to sign Noah Dobson, Simon Holmström, and Maxim Tsyplakov, all while managing a cap space of only $21 million.

Free Agent Focus: St. Louis Blues

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Free agency is less than 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 have key restricted free agents to re-sign as well.  We continue our look around the NHL with an overview of the free agent situation for the Blues.

Key Restricted Free Agents

G Joel Hofer – If the Blues play out Hofer’s trip through restricted free agency the right way, Hofer will have a two-year deal by the end of the summer. The expiry of a new two-year agreement would line up exactly with the end of Jordan Binnington’s contract, giving Hofer and St. Louis an avenue for him to assume the role of starting netminder should he continue to improve. Hofer is coming off an impressive two-year stint as the Blues’ backup, managing a 31-20-4 record in 61 games with a .909 SV%, 2.65 GAA, 11.0 goals saved above average.

Other RFAs: F Nikita Alexandrov, F Mikhail Abramov, F Tanner Dickinson, D Hunter Skinner, D Anton Malmström, G Vadim Zherenko

Key Unrestricted Free Agents

D Ryan Suter – There’s a decent chance the Blues won’t have a decision to make for Suter this offseason. The 40-year-old veteran recently completed his 20th season at the NHL level, and despite indicating in March that he’d like to continue his playing career through the 2025-26 season, there may not be a robust market for him this offseason. After finishing the 2024-25 campaign with a 43.5% CorsiFor% at even strength, Suter’s best bet will be to wait out the market through the offseason and sign a league minimum deal as a seventh defenseman on a competitive roster should he continue his playing career.

F Radek Faksa – There’s a decent chance the Blues will look to retain Faksa this offseason. He’s a quality fourth-line center, winning 57.0% of faceoffs while starting 73.4% of his shifts in the defensive zone. St. Louis has a few young players looking to crack the roster for the 2025-26 campaign, but none of them are likely to affect Faksa’s role with the team. In early May, a report from Lou Korac of NHL.com suggested that Faksa and the Blues had already begun negotiations on a new deal, but nothing has come of them so far.

Other UFAs: F Mackenzie MacEachern, F Corey Andonovski

Projected Cap Space

Because they are projected to lose a small handful of players this offseason, the Blues won’t have much cap space entering the summer months. The Blues have just over $5 million in cap space, ranking fourth-lowest in the league, according to PuckPedia. Aside from re-signing Hofer, St. Louis already has a full roster for the 2025-26 season, and they could bank on their prospects filling in the remaining gaps. However, the Blues could use the upcoming buyout window to release Nick Leddy from the roster, saving them an additional $2MM, since they won’t be able to buy out the injured Torey Krug.

Gabriel Dumont Announces Retirement

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According to a team announcement, longtime captain for the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch, Gabriel Dumont, has announced his retirement from professional hockey. Dumont, 34, recently completed his 15th professional season.

Dumont’s entrance into professional hockey came in the fifth round of the 2009 NHL Draft, when the Montreal Canadiens selected him with the 139th overall pick. He subsequently had a promising year with the QMJHL’s Drummondville Voltigeurs, scoring 51 goals and 93 points in 62 games with an impressive +43 rating.

Unfortunately, that was the last of Dumont’s high-scoring days for quite some time. He spent the next six years buried in the AHL in the Canadiens organization, scoring 92 goals and 203 points in 389 AHL contests, while managing one goal and three points in 18 NHL games.

After the 2015-16 season, Dumont finally reached free agency and chose to sign a one-year agreement with the Tampa Bay Lightning. This was Dumont’s largest opportunity to play at the top level, scoring two goals and four points in 39 games for the Bolts, while averaging 9:40 of ice time per night. After a brief stint with the Ottawa Senators after being claimed off waivers, Dumont later returned to the Lightning organization, again via waivers, a few months later.

Despite posting a solid 15 goals and 43 points in 59 games for the Crunch in his first year as captain during the 2018-19 campaign, Dumont chose to leave the following summer, signing a two-year agreement with the Minnesota Wild. Dumont largely played in the AHL with Minnesota, scoring 20 goals and 46 points in 68 AHL contests, and going scoreless in three NHL appearances over two years.

The beginning of the 2021-22 season signified Dumont’s last move in his professional career and ended his NHL tenure. Syracuse’s former captain returned, again taking on the same leadership role, for the next four years. Unfortunately, Dumont couldn’t lead the Crunch very deep into the Calder Cup playoffs, but did have the best individual season of his career in 2021-22, scoring 30 goals and 62 points in 75 games.

The former fifth-round selection in the 2009 NHL Draft concluded his AHL career with a total of 202 goals and 459 points across 747 games, playing for the Crunch, Iowa Wild, Hamilton Bulldogs, and St. John’s IceCaps. In addition, he recorded four goals and nine points in 90 NHL appearances with the Canadiens, Lightning, Senators, and Wild. PHR congratulates Dumont on a quality professional career and wishes him the best in retirement.

Seattle Kraken Announce Assistant Coaching Hires

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The Seattle Kraken are no longer one of the few remaining teams with numerous vacancies on their coaching staff. The Kraken announced they’ve hired Aaron Schneekloth and Chris Taylor as assistant coaches, and Colin Zulianello as the team’s new goaltending coach.

Schneekloth’s hiring comes with little surprise, as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman linked him to the Kraken’s assistant coaching vacancy a few days ago. Schneekloth was serving as the head coach of the AHL’s Colorado Eagles, taking over as the main bench boss upon Greg Cronin’s departure after the 2022-23 campaign. He coached the Eagles to an 83-46-10-5 record over two years, guiding the team to become regular season champions of the Pacific Division and advancing to the Division Finals in the Calder Cup playoffs.

Unlike Schneekloth, Taylor won’t be a rookie coach at the NHL level. After spending eight years as the assistant coach and head coach of the AHL’s Rochester Americans, Taylor was hired by the New Jersey Devils as an assistant coach ahead of the 2020-21 season under then-head coach, Lindy Ruff. Taylor survived New Jersey’s transition from Ruff to Travis Green, and then from Green to Sheldon Keefe.

Ultimately, the Kraken decided to hire their next goaltending coach from within the organization. Zulianello has been in the same role for the AHL’s Coachella Valley Firebirds for the last three years. He had plenty of experience with Seattle’s current starting netminder, Joey Daccord, from the 2022-23 season, and aided in the Firebirds allowing fewer than 200 goals against in two out of his three years as the team’s goaltending coach.

Boston Bruins Announce Development Camp Roster

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Today, the Boston Bruins announced their preliminary roster for the upcoming development camp as the offseason approaches. The 22-player roster will surely grow, especially after the Bruins make their seven selections in the 2025 NHL Draft, if not more. The current iteration of the roster is as follows, and will include where each player was rostered during the 2024-25 campaign, and their draft ranking:

Forwards

Dalton Bancroft (Cornell University, undrafted)
Andre Gasseau (Boston College, 213th overall, 2021)
Beckett Hendrickson (University of Minnesota, 124th overall, 2023)
Dean Letourneau (Boston College, 25th overall, 2024)
Bret Link (Colorado College, undrafted)
Jonathan Morello (Dubuque Fighting Saints, 154th overall, 2024)
Logan Morrell (Arizona State University, undrafted)
Casper Nässén (Miami University (Ohio), 214th overall, 2023)
Chris Pelosi (Quinnipiac University, 92nd overall, 2023)
Ryan Walsh (Cornell University, 188th overall, 2023)
Ethan Whitcomb (University of Connecticut, undrafted)
Will Zellers (Green Bay Gamblers, 76th overall, 2024)

Defensemen

Jackson Edward (Providence Bruins, 200th overall, 2022)
CJ Foley (Dartmouth College, undrafted)
Ty Gallagher (Colorado College, 217th overall, 2021)
Elliott Groenewold (Quinnipiac University, 110th overall, 2024)
Loke Johansson (Moncton Wildcats, 186th overall, 2024)
Kristian Kostadinski (Boston College, 220th overall, 2023)
Ben Robertson (Cornell University, undrafted)

Goalies

Albin Boija (University of Maine, undrafted)
Cameron Korpi (University of Michigan, undrafted)
Philip Svedebäck (Providence College, 117th overall, 2021)

Senators Sign Lassi Thomson To One-Year Deal

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According to a team announcement, the Ottawa Senators have signed defenseman Lassi Thomson to a one-year, two-way contract for the 2025-26 NHL season. Shortly before, TSN’s Bruce Garrioch had reported that the Senators were closing in on a new deal with Thomson.

Given that it’s a two-way deal and paying Thomson a league minimum at the NHL level, the contract indicates Thomson will play in a familiar depth role next season. The former 19th overall selection of the 2019 NHL Draft is coming off a one-year deal with the SHL’s Malmö Redhawks in which he scored 17 goals and 29 points in 50 games.

There’s little expectation that Thomson will match or get close to that goal-scoring pace at the NHL level. He’s achieved a 10-goal campaign in the 2021-22 season with the AHL’s Belleville Senators, but his career minor league production sits at 24 goals and 93 points in 202 games.

His production has understandably been worse at the NHL level. Thomson played in 18 games for the Senators from 2021 to 2023, hardly enough to make a judgment call on his future worth in the sport’s top league. Still, Thomson left nothing but a poor impression in those games, tallying five assists and a -10 rating with a dreadful 84.5% on-ice save percentage at even strength.

Ottawa is hoping that a strong season overseas will help Thomson to regain some confidence as he re-enters the North American landscape. The Senators desperately needed more depth on the right side of their defensive core, and Thomson gives them a readily available option to stash in the AHL for much of the year.

Jackson Smith Commits To Penn State University

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One of the projected top 10 selections for the 2025 NHL Draft has found a new home in the NCAA’s Big Ten Conference. According to Scott Wheeler of The Athletic, defenseman Jackson Smith has committed to Penn State University for the 2025-26 NCAA season.

Smith isn’t a consensus top 10 prospect in the upcoming draft, as he’s ranked as high as sixth by Elite Prospects, and as low as 13th among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting. Still, he’s widely recognized as the third or second-best North American defenseman behind Matthew Schaefer and likely behind Radim Mrtka, who’s coming from Czechia, but plays in the Western Hockey League (WHL).

Like Mrtka, Smith is coming from the WHL; however, he played with the Tri-City Americans instead of the Seattle Thunderbirds. Smith recently completed his sophomore campaign with the Americans, scoring 11 goals and 54 points in 68 games with a +2 rating.

Smith projects as an offensive-oriented defenseman at the NHL level. He has demonstrated strong skating and stick-handling skills from the point, but he needs to mature in the defensive zone. The NCAA, and the Big Ten Conference specifically, should help tremendously with the latter.

Although the Nittany Lions finished fifth in the Big Ten Conference, and 13th in the entire NCAA during the 2024-25 season, they made some noise in the National Tournament. After knocking out the University of Maine, and stunning the University of Connecticut in overtime, Penn State reached the Frozen Four for the first time in program history.

Smith will have plenty of expectations and competition on a highly competitive Nittany Lions’ roster. Playing in a top-ranked conference should help grow his offensive and defensive talents.

Update On Minnesota Wild’s Marco Rossi

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According to a new article from Joe Smith and Michael Russo of The Athletic, the trade market for the Minnesota Wild’s Marco Rossi may have already come and gone. The two argue that Brock Nelson’s new three-year deal with the Colorado Avalanche took Rossi’s best replacement off the table, and any trade involving Rossi would ultimately make the Wild worse off.

The pair of writers gave arguments against nearly every available free agent center, admitting that John Tavares, Sam Bennett, and Claude Giroux want to stay with their respective teams, while Jonathan Toews and Matt Duchene don’t serve as obvious upgrades despite the latter’s friendly past with Wild head coach John Hynes.

Furthermore, on the trade market, teams have preemptively taken top center targets off the table. The Vancouver Canucks no longer feel comfortable moving Elias Pettersson given the status of the rest of the team’s middlemen, the New York Islanders have shared that they are uninterested in moving Bo Horvat or Mathew Barzal, the Vegas Golden Knights feel the same with William Karlsson, and New York Ranger Mika Zibanejad, and Calgary Flame Nazem Kadri have fairly heavy trade protection.

Minnesota’s remaining available avenues have seemingly narrowed over the last few weeks, and the team may take a note out of the Carolina Hurricanes’ playbook moving forward. The Hurricanes were in a similar situation last summer with forward Martin Nečas.

After several failed attempts to trade him last offseason, Carolina signed Nečas to a two-year, $13MM contract, and traded him six months later to the Avalanche in a blockbuster trade for Mikko Rantanen. That would require a major gamble for the Wild, given there’s no guarantee a player of Rantanen’s ability rarely becomes available on the trade market.

Rossi and his representation haven’t shown much interest in a short-term offer either. Reports from earlier in June indicated that Rossi was demanding a seven-year deal from the Wild and wasn’t interested in the team’s offer for a five-year deal.

Unless another center becomes available in the next few weeks, it’s beginning to make little sense for the Wild to part ways with Rossi. As the summer drags on, the odds of him signing a shorter-term pact become likelier, as it outweighs the idea of not starting the season on time, or holding out for much of the season.

Friedman: Kings Could Consider Trading Jordan Spence

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Although he didn’t specify a specific rumor, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman opined on 32 Thoughts that he believes the Los Angeles Kings could look to move defenseman Jordan Spence this offseason.

Friedman believes that the Kings want to give Brandt Clarke a larger role and do not see the need for three top-four defenders on the right side. Spence should be easy to move if they’d like to, given he’s coming off back-to-back quality years and is making a modest $1.5MM salary.

Los Angeles was able to get away with having Clarke and Spence in large roles for much of the 2024-25 campaign, given regular top-pairing blue-liner Drew Doughty was injured for most of the year. Still, with Doughty entering his age-36 season, and only having two more years on his contract, one could rationalize the Kings retaining Spence and Clarke for when he ultimately retires.

As a counterpoint, and this isn’t a knock on Spence, the Kings shouldn’t have much difficulty finding a similar defenseman in a few years when Doughty hangs up his skates, giving credibility to moving him now for an improvement. Over the past two years, Spence has scored six goals and 52 points in 150 games, averaging 15:40 of ice time per game, registering 132 blocked shots, and racking up 147 hits.

Much of his value can be explained via advanced analytics, as Spence led all Los Angeles defensemen with a 57.1% CorsiFor% and finished third behind Michael Anderson and Doughty in on-ice save percentage with 92.1%. Given his age and relatively low salary, Spence should have a robust market, and allow the Kings to improve their team via trade, especially if they strike out on some of their free agent targets.

NHL Announces 2024-25 All-Star Teams

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Shortly after announcing this year’s All-Rookie Team, the NHL shared this year’s First and Second All-Star Teams. There are few surprises, with several of the recipients receiving votes for major awards around the league. The teams are as follows:

First Team

LW Kyle Connor (Jets) – Connor arguably completed the best season of his career, scoring 41 goals and 97 points, barely eclipsing his 93-point campaign in 2021-22 (although he did score 46 goals). Being the offensive leader for the Presidents Trophy-winning team made him a lock for All-Star Team honors, and he beat out Hagel by 100 votes.

C Nathan MacKinnon (Avalanche) – In the closest vote, MacKinnon nearly beat out Draisaitl as the league’s top center from the 2024-25 season, with Draisaitl receiving more First Team votes than MacKinnon. Still, the 2023-24 Most Valuable Player scored 10 more points than Draisaitl this year, while arguably being a larger part of his team’s success without having Connor McDavid as a teammate.

RW Nikita Kucherov (Lightning) – The reigning Art Ross Trophy and Ted Lindsay Award winner was a near-unanimous selection for First Team honors, with only two voters assessing he wasn’t worthy. Although he couldn’t match his 100-assist output from last year, Kucherov was again dominant for the Bolts, scoring 37 goals and 121 points in 78 games.

D Cale Makar (Avalanche) – This year’s James Norris Trophy winner received the most First Team votes of any player on the 2024-25 All-Star Teams with 189. Makar has been on one of the best offensive runs from a defenseman in recent memory, scoring 51 goals and 182 points in his last 157 games, with another six goals and 20 points in 18 postseason contests.

D Zach Werenski (Blue Jackets) – As one of the more unheralded members of the All-Star Team, Werenski came into his own during the 2024-25 campaign. He scored 23 goals and 82 points in 81 games, averaged 26:45 of ice time per game, and finished with 131 blocked shots. Being one of the prime reasons that the Columbus Blue Jackets nearly qualified for the postseason, it’s unsurprising Werenski received so many Norris votes and was named one of the league’s top defensemen.

G Connor Hellebuyck (Jets) – Despite tying with Kucherov with the second-most First Team votes, there was no clearer choice for the league’s top netminder than Hellebuyck. The American netminder secured the Vezina Trophy and Hart Memorial Trophy this season, leading the league in wins (47), GAA (2.00), shutouts(8), Goals Saved Above Average (41.6), and Adjusted Goals Against Average (2.13).

Second Team

LW Brandon Hagel (Lightning) – Hagel narrowly beat out Alex Ovechkin for Second Team honors despite the latter receiving more First Team votes. Regardless of Ovechkin’s impressive season, there’s no question the right decision was made with Hagel. The six-year veteran scored 35 goals and 90 points in 82 games for Tampa Bay this season, besting his career-high last season by 15 points. Additionally, unlike Ovechkin, Hagel finished ninth in Selke Trophy voting as one of the league’s top defensive forwards.

C Leon Draisaitl (Oilers) – As previously mentioned, the vote between Draisaitl and MacKinnon came down to the wire. Draisaitl finished with an equally impressive season, scoring 52 goals and 106 points in 71 games, securing the Maurice Richard Trophy as the league’s top goal-scorer. Furthermore, in a solid argument for Draisaitl, he finished sixth in Selke Trophy voting, far higher than MacKinnon, who placed 29th.

RW David Pastrňák (Bruins) – In another close vote, Pastrňák narrowly bested Toronto Maple Leaf Mitch Marner for the second-best right winger from the 2024-25 campaign. Despite a lackluster year from the Boston Bruins, who finished with the 28th-ranked offense, Pastrňák didn’t notice. The Czech winger scored 43 goals and 106 points in 82 games, and brought up his production over the last three years to 151 goals and 329 points in 246 games.

D Victor Hedman (Lightning) – The captain of the Lightning was also in a close vote, beating Winnipeg Jets’ Josh Morrissey by a few votes. There are arguments for both sides, but Hedman finished the year with more goals (15), assists (51), points (66), blocked shots (133), and CorsiFor% at even strength (53.5%) compared to Morrissey.

D Quinn Hughes (Canucks) – Hughes rightfully received the most Second Team votes of his counterparts. As the primary reason the Vancouver Canucks had any sense of competitiveness this year, Hughes scored 16 goals and 76 points in 68 games, averaging 25:44 of ice time a game. Had Hughes remained healthy for the entire 2024-25 campaign, he likely would have presented a bigger challenge to Makar and Werenski as the league’s top blueliner.

G Andrei Vasilevskiy (Lightning) – After a down 2023-24 campaign (comparatively to his career), Vasilevskiy returned to form in 2024-25. The former Vezina Trophy winner finished with a 38-20-5 record in 63 starts, with a .921 SV% and 2.18 GAA. It wasn’t enough to beat out Hellebuyck, but Vasilevskiy easily would have been named the league’s top netminder in any other year.

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