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Donnie Marshall Passes Away At Age 92

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Longtime member of the Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers, Don Marshall, has passed away at the age of 92. The Canadiens organization revealed his passing in a team release. Marshall was the final living member of the 1950s Montreal dynasty that won five straight Stanley Cups from 1956 to 1960.

His career got off to a slow start in the 1951-52 campaign with the Canadiens suiting up in only one contest. It wasn’t until the 1954-55 season that Marshall became a consistent forward scoring three goals and eight points in 39 regular season games.

Marshall and the Canadiens lost in Game Seven of the Stanley Cup Final that season to the Detroit Red Wings but it brought in a wave of unprecedented success. Marshall chipped in with 64 goals and 136 points in 344 games for Montreal from 1956-60 with another four goals and 13 points in 49 postseason contests. The Canadiens went 20-5 over that stretch in the Stanley Cup Final with five consecutive championships which still stands as an NHL record.

The Verdun, Quebec native played another three years in Montreal before joining the Rangers for the 1963-64 NHL season. He enjoyed a second prime of his career in the Big Apple scoring 129 goals and 270 points in 479 games over seven years with New York. He bounced around the last two years with the Buffalo Sabres and Toronto Maple Leafs before finally hanging up his skates after the 1971-72 season.

Marshall retired with 265 goals and 589 points in 1176 games including seven All-Star Game appearances*. He and the rest of the Canadiens dynasty from the 1950s will continue to live as a special part of our game’s history. PHR extends our condolences to Marshall’s friends, families, and the four organizations he played for.

*Readers note: From 1947-1968, the All-Star Game included the respective season’s defending Stanley Cup champions facing All-Stars from other clubs. Marshall played only once as a member of the All-Star team in 1967-68. 

Santeri Hatakka Undergoes Shoulder Surgery, Out Indefinitely

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The New Jersey Devils will be without one of their depth defensemen for the foreseeable future. The organization announced Santeri Hatakka underwent shoulder surgery related to an injury suffered in their September 24th preseason matchup against the Montreal Canadiens without providing a timeline for his return.

New Jersey has again been dealing with injuries on the blue line. Luke Hughes is out with a shoulder injury, and free-agent pickup Brett Pesce is out with a leg injury. Hatakka would have been the next defenseman in line to fill in, but the strong play of youngster Seamus Casey to start the year has softened the blow.

The Riihimäki, Finland native was drafted 184th overall by the San Jose Sharks in the 2019 NHL Draft and found his way to the East Coast in the 2023 Timo Meier trade. He’s primarily played with the Devils’ AHL affiliate, the Utica Comets, but has managed 12 regular season contests with New Jersey up to this point.

The Devils organization should offer a recovery timeline for Hatakka in the coming days. This is the first major injury of his career at the professional so it will be interesting to see how he responds to a prolonged absence. He will likely start the season in Utica when fully healthy and look to expand upon his five goals and 20 points in 48 AHL games from a year ago.

Blackhawks Activate Wyatt Kaiser, Reassign Isaak Phillips

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As alluded to a few days ago, Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Wyatt Kaiser will start his season against the Winnipeg Jets tomorrow night. The Blackhawks announced they have activated Kaiser off of injured reserve while reassigning defenseman Isaak Phillips to their AHL affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs.

Wyatt Kaiser missed Chicago’s regular-season opener against the Utah Hockey Club on Tuesday night due to an illness. Fortunately, he didn’t miss much, as the Blackhawks lost decisively to the league’s newest team.

It may take some time for Kaiser to catch up to speed with the Blackhawks as the former 81st overall pick of the 2020 NHL Draft failed to play in the preseason thanks to an undisclosed injury suffered early on in training camp. He’s coming off a 2023-24 regular season tallying seven assists in 32 games while averaging 17:19 of ice time per game. He should slot into the left side of the bottom pair next to veteran Connor Murphy when he’s fully ready to play.

Phillips stayed with the Blackhawks after clearing waivers on the last day before the regular season. He did not skate with Chicago in their opening night loss and will now look to play more consistently in Rockford. Phillips has been a reliable player for the IceHogs since transitioning to professional hockey in 2020-21 scoring 22 goals and 71 points in 171 contests.

Penguins Notes: Malkin, Karlsson, Rust

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There’s some reminiscing in Pittsburgh today with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin starting their 20th and 19th years with the team, respectively. In his age-38 season, Malkin has retirement on his mind but rest assured it will be on his terms.

In an article from Josh Yohe of The Athletic (Subscription Required), Malkin explained that the final two years of his four-year, $24.4MM contract may be his last in the NHL. He said, “If I’m not playing right, if I’m not real happy with how I’m playing, then yes, these probably are my last two years. But I can’t say for sure that I’ll be done in two years. If I play well this year and next year, if I’m happy with how I’m playing, then maybe I’ll play a little more after that. That would be nice“.

Despite how his body may feel, he isn’t content with where the team has finished the past two seasons. Malkin explained that he wouldn’t retire before playing in the playoffs again saying, “I love the playoffs so much and I love our fans so much. I need to feel it again. I couldn’t leave if I never play in the playoffs again. Not until then“. Given where the Pittsburgh Penguins are in their contention window — the next time they make the playoffs may be the last they see of a franchise legend.

Other Penguins notes:

  • The organization received positive news on the injury front as Seth Rorabaugh of Tribune-Review Sports reports defenseman Erik Karlsson is medically cleared to play tonight. Karlsson missed most of Pittsburgh’s preseason nursing an upper-body injury. He’s primed for a big season, particularly on the team’s powerplay, with coach David Quinn taking over the team’s tactics with a man advantage.
  • On the flip side of the ’injury coin’, the Penguins will be without forward Bryan Rust for their regular season opener (X Link). He’s been on the team’s injured reserve retroactive to September 29th and was originally designated as day-to-day. He recently skated with the team in practice in a non-contact jersey indicating his imminent return.

Atlantic Notes: Maple Leafs, Tavares, Benson, Peterka

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The Toronto Maple Leafs recalled goaltender Dennis Hildeby earlier this morning with Joseph Woll missing the next few days due to “lower-body tightness“. It’s official the latter goaltender will miss at least the next three games with PuckPedia reporting the organization has placed him on injured reserve.

PuckPedia also shared that the organization has moved forward Connor Dewar to long-term injured reserve which puts their available cap space at $337K after today’s moves. Dewar has been nursing a shoulder injury suffered at the end of last season but did skate during training camp in a non-contact jersey.

The news doesn’t bode well for the organization as injury concerns have plagued Woll since he became the full-time goaltender last season. An ankle injury suffered last year lost him nearly two months of the regular season limiting him to only 25 games played. The Maple Leafs brought in a solid insurance option this summer in Anthony Stolarz but the team prefers to have both netminders healthy and available.

Other Atlantic notes:

  • Although many of the headlines will be taken by Mitch Marner’s extension negotiations, the Maple Leafs have another big one to focus on. Pierre LeBrun writes in The Athletic that the organization has begun contract talks with center John Tavares who will become an unrestricted free agent next summer. LeBrun shares that there’s mutual understanding between Tavares and Toronto that there will be a pay cut upon his $11MM salary but the scale factor of change is still up in the air. That will make the extension negotiations more delicate but there is still a desire between both parties to extend their relationship.
  • The Buffalo Sabres shared a report from the team’s practice earlier today showing forwards Zach Benson and John-Jason Peterka were back on the ice. They are both options for the team tomorrow night in their regular season opener in North America after sustaining minor injuries in the team’s games in Prague against the New Jersey Devils.

Panthers Recall Spencer Knight, Reassign Chris Driedger, MacKenzie Entwistle

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As expected, Spencer Knight will start the year with the Florida Panthers. The organization announced they recalled Knight from their AHL affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers while sending goaltender Chris Driedger and forward MacKenzie Entwistle back the other way.

The move was primarily made for salary cap implications thanks to Knight’s $4.5MM salary. The organization signed him to a three-year, $13.5MM extension in 2022 while Knight was in the midst of the best season of his young career. The deal would prove premature with Sergei Bobrovsky taking back the net and Knight exclusively seeing AHL action last season.

He still carries significant prospect pedigree as the 13th overall pick of the 2019 NHL Draft. He holds a 32-17-6 record in 49 starts since the start of the 2020-21 NHL season with a .906 save percentage and 2.91 goals-against average. The numbers may look fairly solid for an NHL backup but according to HockeyReference, Knight has a .421 quality start percentage, a 100 GA%-, and a -0.7 goals saved above average showing him as fairly pedestrian at the NHL level.

Last season with the Checkers didn’t do much to inspire confidence either with a 25-14-5 record in 45 games with a .905 SV%. He’s still the best option for the Panthers behind Bobrovsky despite being fairly expensive.

Driedger will immediately become the starting netminder in Charlotte after an impressive season with the Coachella Valley Firebirds. He finished with a 24-7-7 record in 39 games with a .917 SV%. He backstopped the Firebirds to a second straight Calder Cup final on the heels of a .906 SV% in 18 postseason contests.

Florida signed Entwistle this past summer after being non-tendered by the Chicago Blackhawks. He’ll likely be a bubble player for most of the year in the Panthers organization with 15 goals and 35 points over 193 appearances in four years at the NHL level.

Wild Notes: Leipold, Boldy, Middleton, Chisholm

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The owner of the Minnesota Wild, Craig Leipold, took part in a lengthy interview with Joe Smith and Michael Russo of The Athletic carrying a wide array of topics. Despite not making the playoffs last year and not advancing past the second round since 2003 Leipold assures Wild fans the organization is firmly committed to bringing a Stanley Cup to the State of Hockey.

Leipold shared that Minnesota was never interested in a full-scale rebuild and the organization is now in year two of a five-year plan to win a Stanley Cup. The major factors in this rebuild are extending star player Kirill Kaprizov next summer and bringing in some marquee free agents when they have more financial flexibility.

The longtime Wild owner touched on the importance of the inevitable negotiations with Kaprizov saying, “Am I convinced that we can (persuade him to stay)? No. Am I convinced that we will have a better offer than anybody else can do in the league? The answer is yes. I told you that this five-year plan is not a straight line. He’s the most important piece of our five-year plan. I think I can say that“.

Minnesota is still financially reeling from the buyouts of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter from a few years ago with $14.74MM owed to the players this season. That number will drop to only $1.66MM next summer giving the Wild a ton of room to work with as the cap continues to rise.

Other Wild notes:

  • The injuries that limited forward Matt Boldy and defenseman Jacob Middleton during training camp will not extend into the regular season. Jessi Pierce of the NHL reports that both players are expected to be in the Wild lineup tomorrow for their regular season opener. Boldy was suffering from a lower-body injury and was originally designated as week-to-week on September 23rd before being downgraded to day-to-day on October 1st.
  • One player confirmed to not be in the lineup tomorrow night is defenseman Declan Chisholm who is battling an illness (X Link). There was no guarantee Chisholm would have been in the lineup if healthy as the team may have opted for Jonathon Merrill and Zach Bogosian on the bottom pairing regardless. Minnesota did use Chisholm more than he ever has in his career last season averaging 16:52 of ice time in 29 contests after being claimed on waivers.

Florida Panthers Extend Carter Verhaeghe

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The Florida Panthers have come to terms on an extension with one of their best forwards from their run to a Stanley Cup championship a season ago. The team announces they have agreed to an eight-year extension with forward Carter Verhaeghe beginning next season.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that Verhaeghe will earn $7MM each year of the deal with $46MM of the $56MM being paid out in bonuses. Friedman also adds that Florida gave Verhaeghe a six-year no-move clause that will begin this season and last the first five years of his new deal.

Verhaeghe had an odd pathway toward becoming one of the most consistent forwards on a Stanley Cup championship team. The Toronto Maple Leafs originally drafted him with the 82nd overall pick of the 2013 draft but he would only play two games in the organization by way of two appearances with the AHL’s Toronto Marlies in 2013-14. The Maple Leafs moved on quickly from Verhaeghe despite two solid years with the OHL’s Niagara IceDogs as he was moved in the trade that brought Michael Grabner to Toronto.

His time in the New York Islanders organization was eerily similar to his time with the Maple Leafs playing exclusively in the AHL or ECHL. He failed to move his way up the Islanders’ depth chart and the team moved him to the Tampa Bay Lightning in a minor 2017 trade for Kristers Gudļevskis. His offensive potential was beginning to blossom upon his arrival in Tampa Bay scoring 51 goals and 130 points in 134 games for the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch from 2017-19.

Verhaeghe made his NHL debut over six years after being drafted on October 3rd, 2019. He skated in 52 games for the Lightning that season scoring nine goals and 13 points while averaging 9:22 of ice time. He also played sparingly in Tampa Bay’s run to the Stanley Cup Final that season tallying two assists in eight games while getting his name on the Cup for the first time in his career.

The Bolts were seemingly unimpressed by Verhaeghe’s pedestrian scoring output in his rookie campaign and non-tendered him over the offseason. Their interstate rivals, the Panthers, acted quickly by signing Verhaeghe to a two-year, $2MM contract.

His major breakout happened almost instantaneously with the Panthers. He scored 18 goals and 36 points in 43 games for Florida in the Covid-shortened 2020-21 campaign and quickly became one of the best bargain contracts in the league. Verhaeghe followed up his breakout campaign with another solid year with 24 goals and 55 points in 78 contests which firmly cemented him in the Panthers’ top six.

The last two years have been Verhaeghe’s best with 76 goals and 145 points in 157 games since the start of the 2022-23 NHL season. He’s also been one of Florida’s best playoff performers in the team’s back-to-back runs to the Stanley Cup Final scoring 18 goals and 38 points in 45 postseason contests.

General manager of the Panthers, Bill Zito, spoke highly of Verhaeghe by saying, “Carter is one of our most trusted players. South Florida has watched him evolve into one of the NHL’s most elite goal scorers while also being a relentless forechecker. His willpower and perseverance have allowed him to repeatedly succeed as a critical performer on the biggest stages. He is an integral part of our team now and into the future, and we are thrilled to see him remain a part of our core group“.

Florida is making a major push to lock in their core for the foreseeable future and keep their contention window wide open. Verhaeghe’s extension marks the sixth Panthers’ player with at least six years left on their contract including Gustav Forsling, Sam Reinhart, Aleksander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk, and Anton Lundell.

Central Notes: Rantanen, Nichushkin, Hellebuyck, Crouse

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All signs indicate the Colorado Avalanche will enter the 2024-25 regular season without an extension ironed out with one of their star forwards, Mikko Rantanen. The organization isn’t concerned about Rantanen reaching unrestricted free agency next summer with Meghan Angley of Guerilla Sports reporting general manager Chris MacFarland isn’t worried about the negotiations.

Rantanen has been one of the most underappreciated players in the league over the last several years scoring 242 goals and 579 points in 486 games since 2017-18 with an additional five goals and 25 points in 20 games during Colorado’s run to the Stanley Cup in 2022. He hasn’t received as much attention as teammates Nathan MacKinnon or Cale Makar on the national stage but he’s become an integral part of the Avalanche’s success.

His camp will likely use Edmonton Oilers’ Leon Draisaitl’s new eight-year, $112MM extension as a starting point and work down from there. Draisaitl has averaged 0.16 more points a game than Rantanen since the 2017-18 season with an Art Ross Trophy, Hart Memorial Trophy, and Ted Lindsay Award. He will certainly increase his current $9.25MM salary but Colorado will attempt to keep him under MacKinnon’s $12.6MM salary.

Other Central notes:

  • MacFarland also gave a small update on Valeri Nichushkin who is still away from the team due to his six-month suspension last season (X Link). Nichushkin can return to the ice with the Avalanche on November 13th, 2024 but general manager MacFarland shares that he expects Nichushkin to return to Denver sometime toward the end of October. The team continues to work through his reintegration process back to the NHL but all signs have been positive up to this point.
  • Vezina Trophy-winning goaltender Connor Hellebuyck has been away from the Winnipeg Jets because of personal reasons. The absence isn’t expected to carry over into the regular season with TSN’s John Lu reporting he will return to practice with the team on Wednesday and will be the opening night starter tomorrow night against the Edmonton Oilers.
  • The Utah Hockey Club has already laid out its leadership hierarchy to start the year by naming Clayton Keller the first captain in franchise history. TSN’s Chris Johnston reported earlier the team has named Lawson Crouse an ’associate captain’ for the 2024-25 regular season which is an interesting designation. Most teams refer to players wearing an ’A’ on their jerseys as ’alternate captains’ unlike what Utah has done with Crouse.

Pacific Notes: Kane, Savoie, Wright, Eberle

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As expected the Edmonton Oilers have announced they have placed forward Evander Kane on long-term injured reserve to start the 2024-25 NHL season. He had major surgery in mid-September on two torn hip adductor muscles, two hernias, and two torn lower abdominal muscles which will keep him off the ice for the next four months.

The move gives Edmonton some much-needed financial breathing room and will allow them to safely register Travis Dermott’s one-year, $775K contract. Kane’s LTIR placement gives the Oilers $5.125MM in cap room after starting the year with only $53 of space.

Things will get tricky for Edmonton once Kane returns from surgery in mid-January since his contract will be added back to the active roster. The team will still accrue cap space thanks to a separate transaction today (more on that later) but will still be in a bind when Kane returns.

Other Pacific notes:

  • In the same announcement, the Oilers shared they have reassigned forwards Matthew Savoie and Cameron Wright to their AHL affiliate, the Bakersfield Condors. The two combined for $1.811MM in cap space with the latter signing a one-year, $925K contract with the team yesterday. Coupled with the team officially signing Dermott to a one-year, $775K contract they have opened up another $1.036MM in salary cap space.
  • Before the team’s first game of the regular season against the St. Louis Blues this afternoon, the Seattle Kraken named their second captain in franchise history. Forward Jordan Eberle will now don the ’C’ for Seattle and will be the first player to do so since defenseman Mark Giordano. Eberle was selected by the Kraken from the New York Islanders in the 2021 Expansion Draft and signed a two-year, $9.5MM extension with the club during the 2023-24 regular season.

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