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Metro Notes: Kochetkov, Stillman, Sillinger

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Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov is out day-to-day (as per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet) . The 25-year-old will not play tomorrow night against the New York Rangers but could play this weekend depending on his status. Kochetkov suffered a concussion on Saturday night after he collided with teammate Sean Walker and entered concussion protocol yesterday.  Hurricanes’ head coach Rod Brind’Amour didn’t have a timeline as of yesterday, noting that concussion recovery is hard to predict.

Kochetkov has been solid this season for Carolina, posting a 10-2-0 record with a 2.42 goals against average and a .904 save percentage. His underlying numbers have been terrific in 13 games, with a goals saved above expected of 3.9 (as per MoneyPuck).

In other Metropolitan Division notes:

  • The Hurricanes have recalled defenseman Riley Stillman from the Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League (Twitter link). The 26-year-old hasn’t appeared in an NHL game since the 2022-23 season and will likely be Carolina’s seventh defenseman tomorrow night when they take on the Rangers. Stillman spent all of last season in the AHL with the Rochester Americans and has suited up in four games this year, tallying a single assist. Stillman has played parts of five seasons in the NHL, registering four goals and 22 assists in 158 games.
  • Aaron Portzline of The Athletic is reporting that Columbus Blue Jackets forward Cole Sillinger will miss tomorrow night’s game against the Montreal Canadiens with an upper-body injury. Sillinger took a skate to the head halfway through Columbus’ victory over Carolina on Saturday night, but the Blue Jackets haven’t officially stated the reason for Sillinger’s absence. His loss will be a big one for the team as the 21-year-old is fifth in team scoring with three goals and nine assists in 20 games. He also plays on both the power play and the penalty kill, which will leave Columbus shorthanded on both sides of their specialty teams.

Poll: Who Will Win The 2025 Jack Adams Award?

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Of all of the trophies in hockey, the Jack Adams Award has become the most debated. Meant to award the coach determined to have most contributed to their team’s success, the trophy has instead become a way to award coaches that tally extended win-streaks, resilient comebacks, or unexpected runs to the postseason. Recent winners include Vancouver’s Rick Tocchet, Boston’s Jim Montgomery, and now-replaced Calgary head coach Darryl Sutter. All three kicked off their award-winning year with hot starts in the first two months, making now a great time to check in on this year’s early favorites.

The easy early choice has to be Winnipeg Jets head coach Scott Arniel, who’s inspired an incredible 13-1-0 record to start the new year. Arniel was promoted to replace Rick Bowness full-time this summer, after covering for the 800-game pro coach at multiple points last season. The hire was hotly debated at the time, with Jets fans split between whether Arniel’s role as the team’s penalty-kill coach would push slow-paced defense onto a roster that clearly needed to lean into fast-paced offense. But that hasn’t proven a worry on the ice, with Winnipeg’s 63 goals and +11 goal-differential both proudly leading the league. That’s been inspired by the usual suspects playing well – with Kyle Connor, Mark Scheifele, Nikolaj Ehlers, and Josh Morrissey rightfully leading the team in scoring. But the depth of production is perhaps the biggest testament to Arniel’s impact. Winnipeg has 10 players with at least 10 points, including Cole Perfetti and Mason Appleton – who both struggled to find their scoring consistency under Bowness. Arniel’s Jets also boast the best power-play in the league (42.1 percent) and a league-average penalty-kill (80 percent success).

Arniel headlines a long list of first-year head coaches finding immediate success. John Hynes has led his Minnesota Wild to a second-place 10-2-2 record, and Sheldon Keefe has made the New Jersey Devils the playoff-favorites that many expected them to be last year. But it’s the mentality shift of Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube that seems to be making the biggest ripples in a new setting. The hard-nosed former pro has led a defensive charge in Toronto, with the team allowing their fewest goals-against per-game since 2020-21 under Berube’s reign. That’s helped along by summer additions like Chris Tanev and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, but the team as a whole has shifted towards a grittier, dump-and-chase style. The downside of that shift has been Toronto’s drop from averaging 3.63 goals-per-game last year, to just 3.07 this year – though the team has still managed a hardy 8-5-2 record through their first 15 games. Berube may not be inspiring as much as his other first-year peers, but the culture shift he’s instilled could make him a strong Jack Adams candidate if the Leafs find another layer.

There’s also Washington Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery, who won a tight race for the Eastern Conference’s second Wild Card last season. And while Washington didn’t inspire much in the postseason – getting swept by the New York Rangers – they’ve clearly used the appearance as motivation in the new year. Washington is red-hot, sat with a 9-4-0 record and ranked in the top 10 of goals-for, goals-against, and penalty kill percentage. The Capitals’ season is undeniably headlined by Alexander Ovechkin’s chase for Wayne Gretzky’s scoring record – only 34 goals away! – but Carbery has pulled together a quietly-thriving team in the backdrop. It’s a record more inspired by emerging lineup pillars – like Dylan Strome, Aliaksei Protas, and Connor McMichael – more than being led by individual stars. The Capitals still need to squeeze more out of new additions like Andrew Mangiapane and Pierre-Luc Dubois. A spark in net wouldn’t hurt either. But the momentum that Carbery has built up in his second year has Washington looking much more the part of a strong playoff hopeful than they did last year, even despite an injured blue-line.

The NHL season has hardly begun, but plenty of new and inexperienced head coaches have found their groove right out of the gates. Their momentum could spell out the Jack Adams finalists far ahead of an official announcement, or they could soon be uprooted by settled veterans like Florida’s Paul Maurice, Carolina’s Rod Brind’Amour, or Vegas’ Bruce Cassidy. All have started strong, providing plenty of options for who could run away with this year’s Jack Adams Award. Who do you think will keep their hot start going and take home this year’s ’Coach of the Year’ trophy?

Who Will Win The 2025 Jack Adams Award?
Scott Arniel 51.07% (143 votes)
Spencer Carbery 21.79% (61 votes)
Sheldon Keefe 11.79% (33 votes)
Craig Berube 10.71% (30 votes)
John Hynes 4.64% (13 votes)
Total Votes: 280

Mobile users, click here to vote.

Predators Could Test Young Prospects, Trust Andrew Brunette Amid Struggles

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The Nashville Predators are far from where they want to be after spending a heap to sign Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, and Brady Skjei this summer. The team sits at the bottom of the Central Division with a 4-7-1 record – one less win than the notably-rebuilding Chicago Blackhawks. That led general manager Barry Trotz to hint that a complete teardown would follow continued failure, saying in an interview on Nashville’s 102.5 The Game on Tuesday, “I’m trying to do some things right now. We will be limited a little because of the contracts that we have… but if we don’t get it going, then I’m going to start our rebuild plan.”

Trotz went on to clarify the comments to Alex Daugherty of The Tennessean earlier today, emphasizing that the team won’t, “burn it down to the studs”. Instead, any “rebuild” would be focused around finding space for the team’s young core. Trotz said, “if it doesn’t work, I’ve still got to buy the time for those young players.”

He went on to name roughly 10 players that he identifies as the team’s next-up. Per Daugherty, that list includes forwards Teddy Stiga, Reid Schaefer, Joakim Kemell, and Matthew Wood; and defenders Tanner Molendyk and Andrew Gibson. Trotz pointed out that the team is walking a fine line between trying to be competitive and trying to properly develop their youngsters, and pointed out that they could take out veterans down the depth chart to give prospects more of a chance. Most notably, Nashville is searching for a productive second-line center – a role that could one day be filled by Schaefer, Kemell, or Zachary L’Heureux.

The dozen players that Trotz mentioned are certainly a strong core to build around. The grouping – save for Wood, Molendyk, and Gibson – are currently driving the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals to clear success. The team is 8-1-0 through their first nine games, spurred by Kemell’s eight points in nine games, L’Heureux’s five points in four games, and Fedor Svechkov’s five points in five games. It’s a trio that’s found success time-and-time-again in Milwaukee, though L’Heureux’s seven appearances this year stand as the only NHL time among them all. The oft-undisciplined winger managed two assists and one penalty in those appearances – just low enough to fall out of Nashville’s lineup, despite being one of only 12 Predators with multiple points this season.

While they all still need to develop NHL-ready traits, Nashville’s prospect pool offers a large array of takeover ability. Molendyk’s ability to create pace and tempo through hard passes in the neutral zone made him a standout at this year’s training camp; while each of Kemell, Wood, and Schaefer have thrived on the back of hard shooting and gritty play along the boards. They’re translatable talents that Nashville should be reaping soon. At least, that’s Trotz’s full intention – as he emphasized to Daugherty that the last thing he wants to do is drag Predators fans through a long-term rebuild.

Trotz also pointed out that the head coach Andrew Brunette isn’t on the hot seat. Brunette led Nashville to a 47-30-5 record and first-round playoff exit last season, and has made his frustrations with the lack of cohesivity in the lineup known to the GM. Speaking on his head coach, Trotz said, “He’s saying ’I’ve got no one going right now.’… Nothing’s really working. You’re trying hard to find the magic potion and you get a little frustrated.”

Nashville’s new additions are struggling in their new setting. The trio of Stamkos, Skjei, and Marchessault are sitting at five, six, and seven points through 12 games respectively – far too little for the prices they were paid this summer. The depth isn’t fairing much better, with Philip Tomasino and Jeremy Lauzon (no scoring) being outscored by starting goaltender Juuse Saros (one assist). That’s led the team to a dismal record, and led Trotz to start turning his attention towards the young bloods. The team likely still sits a few steps away from fully leaning into their promising prospects, but continued struggles will force a hard decision sooner rather than later, and getting a chance to play alongside future Hall-of-Famers in Stamkos and Josi could be a cheeky way to accelerate their development.

Snapshots: Kings, Mukhamadullin, Karlsson, Palat

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The Los Angeles Kings will start the season with some cap juggling, per John Hoven with LA’s Mayors Manor. Hoven shares that the team will begin the year with depth forward Andre Lee on the roster, in an effort to reach cap compliance while they sort out injuries to Drew Doughty and Arthur Kaliyev. Both players could be candidates for long-term injured reserve, though that’d be a last resort as the team considers the juxtaposition of cap versus salary. Making matters even more complicated in Los Angeles’ preference to carry eight defenders, including summer signee Caleb Jones, who’s making his return to the NHL after splitting time between the major and minor leagues last year.

The Kings will have a complicated path to walk. They’re entering the year with just $546.67K in cap space, hardly enough to handle the day-to-day logistics of running a team. That’s largely thanks to their summer acquisition of goaltender Darcy Kuemper, and Quinton Byfield’s five-year extension – two moves that collectively cost the Kings $11.5MM in space. Both players will serve pivotal roles for the lineup in the early going, especially as the team prepares for an extended period without top-defender Doughty.

Other notes from around the league:

  • Top San Jose Sharks prospect Shakir Mukhamadullin has finally made his way into the team’s camp practices, shares Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News, after a lower-body injury held him out of all of the team’s rookie camp and training camp to this point. Mukhamadullin was expected to be one of the top young Sharks pushing for the roster this fall, though new head coach Ryan Warsofsky acknowledged that the injury puts him a step behind. Mukhamadullin made his NHL debut last season, recording one assist in three games to go with his 34 points in 55 AHL games. He’ll be among the many young players fighting for NHL ice time when he has healthy legs back under him.
  • Star Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson is expected to be ready for the team’s season opener after missing much of the preseason with an upper-body injury, shares the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Matt Vensel. Karlsson added that the season opener has always been his target, and that his recovery briefly slowed down in the middle of camp to, “let a few things settle down.” The future Hall-of-Fame candidate is set to enter his 16th NHL season, coming off yet another season of double-digit goals and over-50 points. He’ll look to return to those heights once again, with head coach Mike Sullivan already confirming that he’ll be a fixture of the team’s power-play, per Tribune-Review Sports’ Seth Rorabaugh.
  • New Jersey Devils forward Ondrej Palat missed the team’s second game of the season to attend to the birth of his second child. He is expected to rejoin the team when they return to North America. Palat appeared in nearly 14 minutes of New Jersey’s season opener in his native Czechia, recording one shot, one block, and two hits. He’s continued to find ways to be productive late into his career, netting 11 goals and 31 points in 71 games last season. Palat will continue to serve as a winger New Jersey can lean on as they look to continue their bout of early success.

Injury Notes: Sabres, Penguins, Ryan, Jarnkrok

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The Buffalo Sabres’ depth will be tested just two games into the season, with top-six wingers John-Jason Peterka (concussion) and Zach Benson (lower-body) both facing injury, per Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News. No timeline was provided for either player. Benson was held out of the team’s Saturday morning game in favor of top prospect Jiri Kulich, while Peterka exited the game after just three shifts. Lysowski added that team captain Rasmus Dahlin also seems unhealthy, despite being the team’s clear-cut top defender through their first two games.

The menagerie of injuries is weighing heavily on the Sabres, who lost both games in the Prague series by a combined score of 7-2. Peterka recorded the primary assist on Buffalo’s first goal of the year – making a strong play behind the net to set up Owen Power in the slot. Those are the hard-nosed plays Peterka has become known for in his early career, a big part of how he managed 28 goals and 50 points last season. Despite being in his age-18 season, Benson wasn’t too far behind – netting 11 goals and 30 points of his own, though he did miss 11 games to injury last year. Both players are not only core pieces of the present Sabres lineup, but pillars of the team’s future. Their healthy and speedy recovery will be paramount as the team looks to find their bearings when they return to America.

Other injury updates from around the league:

  • The Pittsburgh Penguins are also bearing through a pair of injuries, with both Bryan Rust and Vasiliy Ponomarev listed as day-to-day per Tribune-Review Spots’ Seth Rorabaugh. No details or timeline were provided. Rust has missed the bulk of Pittsburgh’s preseasons with what were originally described as maintenance days, before this injury designation. He’ll have his eyes set on the team’s top line when he returns to full health, having posted a commendable 56 points – split evenly – in just 62 appearances last year. Ponomarev doesn’t have the same lineup security, though his 30 points in 43 AHL games last season could be enough to warrant a test in the bottom-six. Any bout with the Penguins would be notable for the 23-year-old Ponomarev, who made his NHL debut with Carolina last season – scoring two points in two games.
  • Edmonton Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch listed forward Derek Ryan as day-to-day with an undisclosed injury, shares Tony Barr of Oilers TV. Ryan has continued skating at the tail end of Edmonton’s practices, though he was held out of the team’s final preseason game on Friday. He’ll be in the mix for fourth-line minutes when he returns, likely set to return to the role that earned him 12 points in 70 games last season.
  • Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube has confirmed Calle Jarnkrok’s lower-body injury is nagging, telling TSN’s Mark Masters that it’s the same injury that limited the forward at the start of training camp. Jarnkrok has only appeared in two preseason games, and continues to miss practices as a result of his injury. He’ll be a bottom-six multitool when he returns, though Jarnkrok first faces the test of overcoming a lingering issue.

Ducks Name Radko Gudas Captain

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The Anaheim Ducks have named veteran defender Radko Gudas as the ninth captain in franchise history. He’ll succeed Ducks legend Ryan Getzlaf in the role, becoming the first to wear Anaheim’s ’C’ since Getzlaf’s retirement in 2022. Gudas also becomes the sixth NHL captain from Czechia, alongside Peter Stastny, Jaromir Jagr, Patrik Elias, Bobby Holik, and Milan Hejduk.

Gudas has put together a proud career in the NHL, appearing in 748 games as part of 12 seasons. He’s become a bit of a journeyman over that time, playing with five different clubs after starting his career in Tampa Bay. The Lightning drafted Gudas 66th overall in 2010 and promoted him to the NHL two years later. From there, it wasn’t long before the hard-hitting, stay-at-home defender worked his way into top-line minutes.

That was thanks to an overwhelming physical presence, emphasized in the 2013-14 season when Gudas recorded 273 hits – a franchise record in Tampa Bay but not a career-high for Gudas. He’d go on to top that mark twice with the Philadelphia Flyers, with 304 and 280 hits in the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons respectively – again franchise records among Flyers defenders. Bruising became a core piece of Gudas’ game, and it wasn’t until the 2021-22 season that his physicality would finally hit a peak as he recorded 355 hits with the Florida Panthers, the third-most of any defender since the NHL began tracking hits – interestingly behind Jeremy Lauzon (383; 2023-24) and Mark Borowiecki (364; 2016-17).

Gudas made a move to Anaheim last summer – signing a three-year, $12MM UFA contract and bringing an end to his three-year stint with the Panthers. He once again assumed a confident, second-pairing role with the Ducks, recording 18 points in 66 games – his highest scoring since 2018-19. More than that, Gudas emerged as a clear leader amidst Anaheim’s young lineup. The Ducks have now recognized that leadership by making him the first player to wear the ’C’ on their newly-designed jerseys.

It’s a proud moment for the 36-year-old defender, who shared his thoughts on the news by saying, “I am honored to be named captain of the Anaheim Ducks and lead our team into an exciting era. The trust put in me by Pat, our management, coaches and my teammates is something I take with pride. Leadership is a shared quality amongst our team, and I look forward to representing the Ducks on the ice and also outside of the rink in the community.”

Blue Jackets Hire Scott Ford, Mike Haviland As Assistant Coaches

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The Blue Jackets have hired Scott Ford and Mike Haviland to serve as assistant coaches under new bench boss Dean Evason this season, the team announced Thursday.

They replace the outgoing Josef Boumedienne and Mark Recchi, who Aaron Portzline of The Athletic previously reported would not be returning. The club’s other two assistants from last season, Jared Boll and Steve McCarthy, will be back in 2024-25 as expected.

Ford, 44, will jump behind an NHL bench for the first time. The British Columbia native had spent the last eight seasons in the Predators organization as an assistant coach with their AHL affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals.

Before transitioning to coaching, Ford played 522 AHL games across 10 seasons, 378 of which came with the Admirals. A burly right-shot defenseman in his playing days, Ford had played or coached for Milwaukee in parts of every season since 2008-09.

Ford also spent six seasons with Evason in Milwaukee as a player and coach. He played out the final three seasons of his career with the Admirals with Evason at the helm and began coaching as Evason’s assistant for three seasons before Evason departed in 2018 to take an assistant coaching role with the Wild.

Haviland, 57, brings considerably more coaching experience to the Columbus bench than his new colleague. He’s technically an internal promotion, having spent the last two seasons with their AHL affiliate in Cleveland as their associate coach.

Before that, the Middletown, New Jersey native was named the AHL’s Coach of the Year in 2007 with the Norfolk Admirals and later won the Stanley Cup with the Blackhawks as an assistant in 2010. Prior to joining Cleveland in 2022, Haviland spent seven years as the head coach of Colorado College.

San Jose Sharks Announce Full Coaching Staff

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The San Jose Sharks have announced their full coaching staff for the 2024-25 NHL season as well as a few new hires. Assistant coach Brian Wiseman, goaltending coach Thomas Speer, video coach Nick Gialdini, and assistant video coach Cody Ward will all return to the organization as the team has hired Doug Houda and Jeff Ulmer as assistant coaches.

Houda joins the Sharks organization after spending the last two years in the same role with the New York Islanders. It is interesting to see Houda earn a job as quickly as he has considering his lackluster performance with the Islanders’ penalty kill over the last two seasons. Before being hired in New York to serve as the team’s penalty kill coach, the team sat fourth in the NHL in the 2021-22 season with an 84.19% penalty kill. Since Houda’s hire, the team fell to ninth place in the 2022-23 season with an 82.19% success rate and even further to the league’s worst last year with a 71.49% success rate.

Ulmer earns his first role on an NHL bench after spending the last three years with the AHL affiliate of the Vancouver Canucks, the Abbotsford Canucks. Focused primarily on the team’s powerplay and forward group, the AHL Canucks finished sixth in scoring in the AHL while sitting second in their division with a 23.0% clip on the powerplay.

In the front office, the Sharks also announced the hire of former power forward Ryane Clowe as the team’s new assistant general manager. Clowe assumes his new role after being a special advisor to general manager Chris Drury of the New York Rangers last year. The former player has vast experience with the Sharks organization already as he suited up in 432 games for San Jose between 2005-2013 and scored 101 goals and 217 points in the process.

Islanders Announce Doug Houda Won’t Return

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The New York Islanders have dismissed assistant coach Doug Houda, general manager Lou Lamoriello shared with Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News (Twitter link). Lamoriello added that the team will be retaining fellow assistant coaches John MacLean and Benoit Desrosiers. Lamoriello also shared that they will be announcing Houda’s replacement as soon as Monday.

Houda will be moving away from the Islanders after spending the last two seasons overseeing New York’s penalty kill. He didn’t inspire much, though, with the Islanders boasting the worst-ranked penalty kill in the league this season. It was a sharp fall from their top-10 ranking last year, and has seemingly earned Houda the boot.

Formerly a player, Houda racked up 561 career NHL games across 15 years in the league, spending extended time with the Detroit Red Wings and Buffalo Sabres. He was a heavy, high-event defender who did well in shutdown roles. That’s the mindset he’s brought to his coaching career, which kicked off one year after his retirement, when Houda joined his alma mater Rochester Americans as an assistant coach.

Houda worked his way up to the NHL after just two seasons behind an AHL bench, proceeding to spend 10 seasons on the Boston Bruins’ bench, then six years with the Detroit Red Wings, prior to his pair of seasons in New York. While he certainly didn’t accomplish what he wanted to with the Islanders, Houda’s playing career and reputation as a loyal assistant coach will likely earn him a new role quickly.

Maple Leafs Fire Assistant Coach Guy Boucher

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Guy Boucher’s time behind the bench in Toronto will be short-lived.  The team announced today (Twitter link) that the assistant coach will not return to the team next season.

Boucher had been out of coaching since 2019 before GM Brad Treliving hired him last July to serve as an assistant for the Maple Leafs.  More specifically, they were eyeing him to fill the void created when Spencer Carbery left the team to become the head coach in Washington.

With the firepower that Toronto has, there were high hopes that Boucher could help turn what was already one of the top power play units into an even better one.  Instead, the team suffered a bit in that regard during the season, dropping from second-best to seventh while their success rate dropped a little more than two percent to 23.95% overall.  Things were even worse in the playoffs when they scored just once in 21 opportunities against Boston, playing a big role in their first-round exit.

Boucher has parts of six years of head coaching experience at the NHL level, spending parts of three years each with Tampa Bay and Ottawa.  His teams played to a record of 191-186-46 overall.

It has been a busy few weeks for Treliving and the Maple Leafs when it comes to their coaching staff.  Craig Berube took over as head coach following the dismissal of Sheldon Keefe at the end of the first round.  Meanwhile, Lane Lambert was hired as an associate coach earlier this month, taking the place of Dean Chynoweth who was let go.  Manny Malhotra was also an assistant last year but has since been hired as AHL Abbotsford’s head coach.  Now, they have a second vacancy to fill with Boucher leaving the team.  As things stand, Mike van Ryn will be the only assistant from last season to remain on Berube’s staff.

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