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Derek Ryan Announces Retirement

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Center Derek Ryan has decided on retirement, he told Bob Stauffer of Oilers Now on 880 CHED yesterday.

“I’m retiring. We, my family, are back home in Spokane,” he told Stauffer. “The kids started at their new school here today. I didn’t actively look for a job this off-season. Europe could’ve been an option, maybe other NHL teams, but if it wasn’t going to be Edmonton, I didn’t want to move the family again. As the kids get older that gets harder. We had good roots in Edmonton, and, shoot, I’m almost 40. It’s nice to settle in here in Spokane. We have our house, friends, and family. It’s nice to be home.”

Not only is Ryan from Spokane, but it’s where he began his junior career with the WHL’s Spokane Chiefs all the way back in 2004. His three-year run there preceded one of the most unique pathways to becoming an NHL fixture in recent memory.

Undrafted, Ryan opted to enter the Canadian university system when his junior eligibility ran out in 2007. That’s not uncommon in and of itself, but it’s not a pathway many future NHLers undertake. Those who do rarely spend a full four years there, but that’s exactly what Ryan did. He played for the University of Alberta from 2007 to 2011, leading the CIS West in scoring in his senior season with a 17-30–47 line in 28 games.

Ryan, already 25 years old at the time, then decided to make the jump overseas instead of pursuing a professional career stateside. It was in Europe that the 5’10”, 185-lb center unlocked offensive dominance. He spent three years in the EBEL (now ICEHL), Austria’s top league, playing with Villacher SV (2012-14) and Hungarian club Fehérvár AV19 (2011-12). He recorded 199 points in just 158 EBEL games over that span, including a spectacular 2013-14 campaign that saw him lead the league with 38 goals in 54 games to earn MVP honors.

He then made the jump to higher-level European pro hockey in Sweden, a decision that finally put him on the NHL’s radar. He spent one year with the SHL’s Örebro HK, where he erupted for a 15-45–60 line in 55 games to lead one of Europe’s top leagues in assists and points, being named the SHL’s MVP and Forward of the Year.

Ryan finally landed a two-way deal with the Hurricanes – inking his first NHL contract at age 28 – the following summer. He was immediately named the captain of the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers, their minor-league affiliate at the time, and was an AHL All-Star with 55 points in 70 games. He also got his first taste of NHL hockey late in the season, scoring his first goal in his first game of a six-game call-up.

That trial run kicked off an NHL career spanning over 600 games, most of which were played after his 30th birthday. He quickly established himself as a defensively responsible third-line pivot in Carolina, scoring 69 points in 153 games for the club while averaging over 15 minutes per night. He reached unrestricted free agency in 2018 and got rewarded by the Flames, signing a three-year, $9.375MM contract to return to the province where he played college hockey.

Ryan’s first season in Calgary was arguably the best of his career. He recorded a 13-25–38 scoring line in 81 games and, while he saw a reduction in ice time, won a team-high 58.2% of his faceoffs and added a +21 rating. That earned him Selke Trophy consideration, landing a fifth-place vote for the only time in his career.

While Ryan’s productivity and usage declined steadily over the course of his tenure with the Flames, that didn’t mean he was in an unfettered downward spiral. He still landed a multi-year deal in free agency from the cross-provincial rival Oilers in 2021, signing a two-year, $2.5MM pact to round out their fourth line.

That kicked off a four-year run for Ryan in Edmonton, the longest of his three NHL stops and a run that concluded just a few months ago. He was a regular from 2021 to 2024, appearing in at least 70 games for his first three years there, but was relegated to the press box for a good chunk of last season and even landed on waivers. He totaled 29 goals and 60 points in 261 games for Edmonton, appearing in 19 games in their run to the 2024 Stanley Cup Final but no playing time last postseason. He scored one goal and six points in 36 NHL games last season and also had eight points in 13 games for AHL Bakersfield after clearing waivers, his first minor-league action in nearly a decade.

Ryan ends his rather remarkable pro career with 82 goals, 127 assists, and 209 points in 606 NHL regular-season games with a +14 rating. He was also one of the better faceoff-takers of the last decade, winning 55.3% of his draws.

PHR congratulates Ryan on his persevering career and wishes him the best in his post-playing future.

Image courtesy of Walter Tychnowicz-Imagn Images.

Poll: Who Is The Early Favorite To Win The 2026 Calder Trophy?

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The hockey world was treated to a true gift by the race for the 2025 Calder Trophy, awarded annually to the NHL’s top rookie. The class lived up to years of expectations, headlined by Montreal Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson tying Larry Murphy for the most assists by a rookie defender. He took home the Calder ahead of San Jose Sharks top center Macklin Celebrini and Calgary Flames starting goaltender Dustin Wolf – who both managed star-studded and historic performances of their own. The heap of talent left players who could have won the trophy outright in seemingly any other year – options like 26-goal-scorer Matvei Michkov. A rookie class so strong will be impossible to follow up, but the group in 2025-26 seem to have a great chance to come close.

Early predictions will have the Calder Trophy staying put through in 2026. The Canadiens are set to award star rookie Ivan Demidov with his first NHL season, after he led KHL super-club SKA St. Petersburg with in scoring with 49 points in 62 games last season. He was a sheer force at Russia’s top level, showing a pace, strength, and finesse that was unmatched by his competition. Demidov finished the year with five points in six Gagarin Cup Playoff matchups, before scoring four points in his first seven games with Montreal.

Demidov is now set to assume a key role in the Canadiens’ lineup. It’s hard to imagine he won’t play true top-line minutes. He offers the in-tight skill and low-zone grit to perfectly complement spot-shooter Cole Caufield and playmaking, two-way center Nick Suzuki. The stars will be Demidov’s ceiling if he gets a full year to such talented players. He nearly recorded a 20-30-50 season in the KHL – a league often lauded as near-equal to the NHL. That standing could set him up for 60, or even 70, points in his first year with Montreal.

It will be a tight race to catch up to, and overcome, Demidov. A slew of star collegiate players signed their entry-level contracts at the end of the season, and could easily be set for major minutes of their own. Sam Rinzel fills a need for right-shot defense for the Blackhawks and Oliver Moore seemed to bring his slick-passing to Chicago, Gabe Perreault looked like a strong utility player with the New York Rangers, and Ryan Leonard showed an ability to match the Washington Capitals’ pace.

And yet, all four could be outdone by Minnesota Wild defenseman Zeev Buium, who managed an impressive 98 points in 83 games at the University of Denver. He appeared in four Stanley Cup Playoff games, but only managed one assist. Also atop the defense charts is top KHL defender Alexander Nikishin, who ended a stalemate when he finally joined the Carolina Hurricanes for the playoffs. Nikishin ranked second on SKA St. Petersburg with 46 points in 61 games, and matched Buium’s postseason statline.

Even still, the OHL could emerge. Sam Dickinson served as the star of the 2025 Memorial Cup-winning London Knights, and seems well-primed for a big role with the desolate San Jose Sharks. He could be joined by the reigning ’OHL Player of the Year’ Michael Misa, who managed an incredible 62 goals and 134 points in 65 OHL games last season. Misa was drafted second in this year’s class, with New York Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer the only selection before him. The smooth-moving, sharp-eyed Schaefer could be another Calder candidate, though he hasn’t played a season-game since sustaining a broken collarbone during the World Junior Championships last December.

It will be hard for any player to rival the record-breaking heights that Hutson reached last season, but the list of candidates looking to follow him up seems endless. Any one of the aforementioned players could find their way into a star role, or the award could go to someone entirely different – like 2025 Hobey Baker Award-winner and Edmonton Oilers winger Isaac Howard.

With so much talent on the board, who do you think will win the 2026 Calder Trophy? If you choose ’Other’, comment your pick below!

Who Is The Early Favorite To Win The 2026 Calder Trophy?
Ivan Demidov, Canadiens 57.40% (477 votes)
Alexander Nikishin, Hurricanes 15.88% (132 votes)
Zeev Buium, Wild 14.68% (122 votes)
Matthew Schaefer, Islanders 12.03% (100 votes)
Total Votes: 831

Mobile users click here to vote.

Hurricanes Tried To Sign Miftakhov Two Years Ago

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  • Carolina’s signing of goaltender Amir Miftakhov this summer came as a bit of a surprise since he’s only a few years removed from terminating his entry-level contract to return home to Russia. However, he noted to Evening Kazan’s Dmitry Yashkin that the Hurricanes actually attempted to bring him back to North America in 2023, only one full season after leaving Tampa Bay’s organization but he decided that staying in the KHL a little longer made sense.  He also noted that there is no European Assignment Clause in his contract and that he won’t be looking to head home midseason again if he winds up in the minors as expected with AHL Chicago.

Hurricanes Sign Oliver Kylington, Givani Smith To Professional Tryouts

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The Carolina Hurricanes have signed forward Givani Smith and defenseman Oliver Kylington to professional tryouts. Both players appeared in NHL games last season.

Kylington’s NHL action was split between the Colorado Avalanche and Anaheim Ducks. He only totaled 19 games, and five points, on the year after sustaining a string of injuries throughout the 2024-25 season. Kylington stepped away from the NHL from October 2022 through January 2024 to focus on his mental health. He returned for 33 games of the Calgary Flames’ 2023-24 season and won the 2024 Bill Masterton Trophy.

Kylington is now 28 and looking to reinstate his spot in the NHL. He bounced back and forth between the major and minor leagues from 2018 to 2021 – but broke out with 31 points in 73 games of the Flames’ 2021-22 season. At his best, he looked like a smooth-moving, two-way defenseman capable of holding both blue-lines. That talent could be enough to fill the in-between role vacated by Scott Morrow when he was traded to the Rangers in June. First, Kylington will need to prove he can still play at NHL pace.

Meanwhile, Smith will look to flex his might as a bottom-of-the-lineup bruiser. He has fluctuated between the NHL and AHL for the last few seasons, and averaged at least one penalty minute per game everywhere he goes. Last season, Smith recorded no scoring and 18 PIMs in 13 NHL games, and three points and 21 PIMs in 16 AHL games. Those performances brought his career totals up to 22 points and 268 PIMs in 168 NHL games, and 55 points and 287 PIMs in 167 AHL games. He could be a candidate for an AHL contract, if he doesn’t earn a deal with the Hurricanes out of camp.

Hurricanes Sign Ivan Ryabkin To Entry-Level Contract

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The Carolina Hurricanes have signed 2025 second-round pick Ivan Ryabkin to a three-year, entry-level contract. The deal carries $235K in signing bonuses and a $85K salary at the AHL level. The NHL salary grows each year – from $775K, to $850K, to $895K. Ryabkin is expected to delay the start of the contract by moving to the QMJHL’s Charlottetown Islanders this season, though rumors suggest he could make a push for the AHL roster out of training camp, per Elite Prospects’ Cam Robinson.

Ryabkin was once lauded as the top Russian in the 2007 birth year, and even considered a potential top-20 prospect after his age-17 season. That standing took a tumble over the course of his draft season, as concerns over his workout regiment and discipline grew with Russian club Moscow Dynamo. The resulting split prompted Ryabkin to the move to the USHL’s Muskegon Lumberjacks in January, after he scored just one goal and 12 points in 15 MHL games.

The mid-season move proved instantly profitable for both Ryabkin and Muskegon. The high-volume winger totaled 26 goals, 46 points, and 100 penalty minutes over a combined 41 games in the USHL. His scoring presence was the final heave that pushed Muskegon to their first Clark Cup Championship in franchise history. Ryabkin filled the sniper role to a tee, perfectly complimenting high-energy playmaker Tynan Lawrence and nifty power-forward Vaclav Nestrasil Jr..

News of his first NHL contract will make Ryabkin a must-watch player as training camps roll around. He still measures at a hefty 5-foot-11, 205-pounds, and stood out as an unpoised hitter on what was a heavily penalized Lumberjacks lineup. His scoring prowess at the junior level is unquestioned, but the 2025-26 season will be about proving his competition, drive, and level-headedness both on and off of the ice. Breaking into the minor-leagues at 19 would go a long way towards showing that growth. Ryabkin made his debut in the KHL and VHL – Russia’s top pro leagues – early into the 2024-25 season.

Hurricanes Hire Jesper Fast As Development Coach

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After confirming his retirement in June, former Hurricanes winger Jesper Fast is returning to the organization as a development coach, the team announced.

Fast’s career was truncated by a neck injury he sustained in Carolina’s final game of the 2023-24 regular season. He required surgery that sidelined him for the playoffs and kept him on injured reserve for the entirety of 2024-25 before his retirement announcement came a couple of months ago.

As such, 2025-26 will mark Fast’s sixth season affiliated with the organization in some capacity. The 33-year-old initially joined the Canes on a three-year, $6MM contract in free agency in 2020. He then signed a two-year, $4.8MM extension in 2023 that covered the end of his playing career.

The 6’1″ winger was one of the league’s best skaters when active, and he’ll look to bring that mentality to Carolina’s prospect pool in his new role. A sixth-round pick by the Rangers in 2010, he totaled 91 goals and 248 points in 703 career games while routinely serving as an adept penalty killer thanks to his great pace and above-average hockey sense.

Fast joins Daniel Bochner and Kevin McCarthy to round out the Canes’ group of development coaches. The trio serves under former NHL defenseman Peter Harrold, their director of player development.

Hurricanes' Alexander Nikishin Talks Preparation For Rookie Season

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  • In a new interview with Daria Tuboltseva of RG Media, Carolina Hurricanes Alexander Nikishin spoke at length about his preparation for what’s expected to be the first full season in the NHL this upcoming year. Up to this point, Nikishin only has four postseason games under his belt from the 2024-25 Stanley Cup playoffs, but he did play the entire regular season with the KHL’s SKA St. Petersburg. In the interview, he spoke about how seriously he’s taking his preparation for the upcoming campaign, saying, “I want to train properly. My first NHL experience was a lesson – I realized what I need to work on. Now it will be easier because I already know the guys, the staff, the locker room, how practices go. I can’t wait for the season, but preparation is the key. I want to be as useful for the team as possible, without being the weak link.“

    [SOURCE LINK]

Hurricanes Open To Reunion With Jack Roslovic

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As noted by independent insider Frank Seravalli for Bleacher Report earlier this week, the Hurricanes have maintained interest in bringing UFA Jack Roslovic back to the club, but they “don’t really have a spot for him at the moment.”

Things have continued to be relatively quiet on the market for Roslovic, who’s held the title of top remaining UFA for well over a month now, aside from rumblings that he’s receiving overseas offers from KHL clubs. Roslovic, 28, landed a one-year, $2.8MM commitment from Carolina on the open market last summer and repaid them by tying his career high of 22 goals. That was quite the resurgence after he was limited to nine tallies in 59 games split between the Blue Jackets and Rangers in 2023-24.

While the Hurricanes could use another middle-six option – preferably one with a higher offensive ceiling than current projected second-line center Jesperi Kotkaniemi – Roslovic likely isn’t their first-choice option. Seravalli’s comment that there isn’t a clear spot for Roslovic in their lineup as things stand stems from how last season ended. Despite that regular-season production, he ended up sitting in the press box for a good portion of the postseason, including the final three games of their Eastern Conference Final loss to the Panthers. He scored a goal and three assists in nine playoff games but was a healthy scratch on six occasions, although his average ice time didn’t change significantly.

That said, there’s likely a place for another NHL forward in Carolina to push a name like Mark Jankowski or Tyson Jost onto the waiver wire and out of a top-14 spot. Roslovic isn’t and won’t be the needle-mover they have in mind, especially since they still have over $10MM in cap space to burn, but he’s a fine fallback option if his other NHL leads end up not panning out. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet said early this month that Roslovic still had multiple offers on the table but wasn’t rushing to sign any of them.

Latest On Mason McTavish

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The Ducks haven’t been actively shopping the signing rights to restricted free agent Mason McTavish, but that hasn’t stopped teams from expressing trade interest, as the center remains without a contract. Fervent interest will presumably be helped along by his essentially dominating the market for young centers. Wild RFA Marco Rossi’s talks have all but dried up with little to no interest league-wide in the long-term contract he desires. The Canadiens, Hurricanes, and Red Wings have all shown serious interest – the last club chief among them, James Murphy of RG writes.

Without much talk of an offer sheet, a notion sources told Murphy to dispel with Anaheim having ample space to match, McTavish has little control over his destiny. Speculation has indicated he’s concerned about his long-term role with the Ducks after their offseason shopping spree added needed depth to their forward group, but there’s little to no appetite from the Ducks’ end to facilitate a trade unless he outright refuses to sign a contract.

All the teams interested have a clear need for a second-line center. Unlike in SoCal, where there’s still a small chance for him to compete with Leo Carlsson for long-term 1C duties, there wouldn’t be that upward mobility there for him with Nick Suzuki in Montreal and Sebastian Aho in Carolina not vacating their posts anytime soon. The Wings have the weakest top pivot out of the group in Dylan Larkin, but he still wouldn’t be walking into Day 1 first-line duties there if that’s his goal.

While McTavish may have the standard profile of a high-motor but not hugely offensively untapped 2C, his performance last season shows there could be more to behold. The 22-year-old posted a team-leading 22 goals in 76 games, and his 52 points finished three back of Troy Terry for the team lead. That’s highly impressive production in an offensively stifled system under outgoing head coach Greg Cronin, and with his 12.2% shooting rate remaining projectable, there’s significant 65-to-75-point breakout potential for him this season as the team presumably adopts a more aggressive style under Joel Quenneville.

If Anaheim begins entertaining offers for the 6’1″ pivot’s signing rights, though, they’ll be looking for a blue-chip right-shot defense prospect as the principal point of the return, Murphy reports. That means names like 2023 first-rounders Axel Sandin-Pellikka would need to be in play in Detroit’s case, or that year’s No. 5 pick David Reinbacher in Montreal’s. Draft-capital-wise, it’s logical from the Ducks’ perspective after using the No. 3 overall pick on McTavish in 2021.

Kochetkov Played Through Injuries Last Year, Juntorp Finds New Team In Sweden

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Hurricanes goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov is coming off a bit of a quieter year after his save percentage went down from .911 in 2023-24 to just .897 last season.  It appears there might be a reason for that as the netminder recently told Sports.ru’s Dmitry Shevchenko that he started playing through some injuries in November with some lingering throughout the season; the only time he missed was due to a concussion.  Kochetkov is set to partner up with Frederik Andersen as the tandem in Carolina once again next season and the Hurricanes will likely be counting on him to play at least 40 games for the third straight year.  They’ll be hoping that a healthier Kochetkov will be a better one between the pipes.

  • Still with the Hurricanes, prospect Nils Juntorp has signed with Boras HC in Sweden’s HockeyEttan, per a team announcement. The 21-year-old was a sixth-round pick by Chicago in 2022 and his rights were moved to Carolina in the Mikko Rantanen and Taylor Hall trade back in January.  Juntorp had 20 points in 33 games with HC Dalen last season while also getting into three games at the second-tier Allsvenskan level.

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