Ekholm Resumes Skating But Still Not Close To Returning
Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm has resumed skating as he works his way back from an undisclosed injury, relays YEG Sports Talk’s Tom Gazzola (Twitter link). However, it’s still believed that he’s still weeks away from returning. Already ruled out for this round, it appears that the 34-year-old might be in tough to suit up in the Western Conference Final if Edmonton were to make it there. Ekholm is a critical cog on their back end, playing a key shutdown role while also being a solid secondary contributor after notching 33 points in 65 games this season. However, it looks like he’s still not particularly close to returning.
Oilers Recall Collin Delia
With Calvin Pickard remaining unavailable for the Oilers due to an undisclosed injury, they’ve opted to bring up some extra depth. Per the AHL’s transactions log, they’ve recalled netminder Collin Delia from AHL Bakersfield.
The 30-year-old spent the season with the Condors after signing a one-year, two-way deal last summer, not getting any recalls to Edmonton. Delia played in 25 games with Bakersfield, putting up a 2.81 GAA and a .905 SV%, a significant improvement on the 3.55 and .872 marks he had with AHL Manitoba last season.
Delia also has 52 career NHL appearances under his belt over parts of five seasons. The first four of those came with Chicago but his most significant opportunity at the top level came back in 2022-23 with Vancouver when he got into 20 games, posting a 3.28 GAA and a .882 SV%.
Delia is now the fourth goalie up with the Oilers, joining Pickard, Stuart Skinner, and Olivier Rodrigue, who was Delia’s netminding partner with Bakersfield this season. Delia will likely serve as the emergency third goalie in case of injury until Pickard is cleared to return.
Calvin Pickard Day-To-Day With Undisclosed Injury
Sunday: Pickard has been ruled out for Monday, relays Daniel Nugent-Bowman of The Athletic (Twitter link). Skinner will get the nod between the pipes for the second straight game.
Saturday: The Oilers will be making a lineup change heading into tonight’s third game versus Vegas. However, it’s not one they’d prefer to make as goaltender Calvin Pickard did not take part in the morning skate today. Following the skate, head coach Kris Knoblauch told reporters including Jesse Granger of The Athletic (Twitter link) that Pickard is listed as day-to-day and that Stuart Skinner will get the nod tonight. Olivier Rodrigue will serve as the backup.
Skinner returns between the pipes after two very rocky starts to start the playoffs against Los Angeles. In those outings, he allowed 11 goals on just 57 shots in 108 minutes of playing time for a .810 SV% to go along with a 6.10 GAA. Edmonton lost both of those games, leading them to turn to Pickard for the third game of that series.
Since then, Pickard has played well, winning all six of his starts despite a below-average save percentage of his own, checking in at .888 but he hasn’t allowed more than four goals in any of his outings, allowing Edmonton’s high-octane offense to help lead them on this winning streak. However, Tomas Hertl fell into him late in Thursday’s second game and it’s possible that’s where this injury came about.
Skinner is no stranger to playing in high-pressure games as he was Edmonton’s starter for the bulk of their run to the Stanley Cup Final last year but got off to a slow start in that run as well. Overall, he had a 2.45 GAA and .901 SV% in that postseason. He also made 50 starts for the Oilers this season, posting a 2.81 GAA and a .896 SV%. He now has a second chance to try to reclaim his number one spot while trying to lead Edmonton to a commanding three-game lead in the series.
Golden Knights’ Nicolas Roy Receives Fine
8:00 PM: The Department of Player Safety made its ruling and it’s a fine of $7,812.50 for Roy, the maximum allowable under the CBA,
12:44 PM: The NHL’s Department of Player Safety announced today they’re reviewing Golden Knights’ forward Nicolas Roy‘s cross-checking penalty in overtime of last night’s Game 2 loss for a potential suspension. Roy will have his hearing tonight after being assessed a major penalty and a game misconduct for the initial infraction.
Vegas killed off the five-minute penalty, which Roy committed just over five minutes into the extra frame. After engaging in a board battle with Oilers winger Trent Frederic, Roy lifted his stick for a cross-check and hit Frederic directly in the mouth/jaw area (video via Sportsnet). Frederic left the game for repairs but did return for a shift before Leon Draisaitl secured a 2-0 series lead for Edmonton.
Roy being unavailable is a significant blow to Vegas’ depth forward group. He’s averaged 13:55 per game in the postseason and has a goal and two assists through eight games. The 28-year-old has been the Knights’ best regular faceoff man with a 59.7% win rate. Despite his minus-four rating, Roy’s 57.3% shot-attempt share at even strength ranks fourth on the team.
In the overwhelmingly likely scenario Roy misses at least Game 3, head coach Bruce Cassidy will presumably shift Brett Howden to center and hope winger Pavel Dorofeyev can return after missing the last three games with an undisclosed injury. If not, Cole Schwindt is the only extra forward on the roster who can play center and would presumably enter the lineup in Roy’s place.
Connor Carrick Signs Two-Year Deal In Switzerland
Veteran depth defenseman Connor Carrick is heading overseas for the first time in his professional career. The 31-year-old signed a two-year contract with Swiss National League club HC Lugano earlier this week, the team announced.
Carrick spent 2024-25 on a two-way deal with the Oilers, although he didn’t see NHL ice for the second season in a row. His last big-league appearance came in April 2023 when he was with the Bruins. The 5’11”, 192-lb righty remains a high-end minor-league option, although he’s bounced around a bunch in the last few years. That offers some insight into why the Illinois native has opted for a later-career switch to the high-level European pros for some more financial and personal stability.
This year saw Carrick slot into the lineup 63 times for AHL Bakersfield, finishing second on the team in scoring among defensemen with 18-23–41 in 63 games. His 101 PIMs led the team, and his 18 goals were his highest in a single season at any level since his U14 days.
The Oilers were Carrick’s seventh NHL franchise in his 12-year professional career. A fifth-round pick by the Capitals in 2012, he’s also spent time with the Maple Leafs, Stars, Devils, Kraken, and Bruins organizations. Most of his NHL action came in Toronto, playing 130 of his 242 career games there from 2016 to 2018. The 2016-17 and 2017-18 campaigns were his only ones without a minor-league assignment, including a career-high 4-8–12 scoring line in 47 games for Toronto in the latter year in bottom-pairing minutes.
An unrestricted free agent this summer, Carrick joins a Lugano roster that’s already locked in former NHLers Carl Dahlström, Mirco Müller, Jiří Sekáč, and Calvin Thurkauf for the 2025-26 season.
Oilers’ Roby Järventie Signs In Finland
Oilers pending restricted free agent winger Roby Järventie has signed a three-year contract with Finland’s Tappara, the team announced.
An early second-round pick by the Senators in 2020 (No. 33), Edmonton acquired Järventie last summer in a swap sending 2021 first-rounder Xavier Bourgault the other way. Bourgault had failed to pop offensively in the minors in the Oilers’ system, while Järventie had injury troubles and hadn’t landed an NHL role despite some promising offensive trends in the minors.
Unfortunately for Järventie and the Oilers, he barely got a chance to play this season. He sustained an offseason knee injury that kept him out of training camp. Upon returning to health in late October, he reported to AHL Bakersfield but played just two games before sustaining another injury and remaining out for the season.
The offensive potential is still there with the 6’3″, 209-lb 22-year-old. He posted a pair of assists in his two games with Bakersfield and had 50 points in 62 AHL games in the Sens’ system over the prior two seasons. Still, he only has seven games of NHL experience – all with Ottawa, all in the 2023-24 season – recording an assist and a minus-five rating.
While Järventie won’t be signing in the Oilers organization next season, Edmonton can still retain his signing rights through the 2029-30 season if they issue him a qualifying offer. It’s clear he doesn’t factor into Edmonton’s immediate future, but it would be surprising to see them non-tender him because they’ll still hold his NHL signing rights when his contract with Tappara expires in 2028. If his pre-injury trajectory holds, he could very well be an NHL-caliber player at that time and could walk into a richer one-way deal with Edmonton down the road.
Järventie played 53 games across two seasons in Finland’s top-level Liiga, just not with Tappara. He suited up with Ilves in the 2019-20 and 2020-21 campaigns before touching down with the Sens in North America, scoring 15 goals and 26 points. The two-time World Juniors medalist will now reunite with his younger brother, Penguins prospect Emil Järventie, as well as former NHLers Daniel Brickley and Jyrki Jokipakka on Tappara’s roster next year.
Mattias Ekholm Won’t Play In Second Round
While the Oilers came back from a two-game deficit to beat Los Angeles in the first round, they won’t be getting any reinforcements on the back end for their next series against Vegas. Daily Faceoff’s Jason Gregor relays (Twitter link) that blueliner Mattias Ekholm won’t be available to play in the second round.
The 34-year-old returned to the lineup late in the regular season after missing seven games due to an undisclosed injury. However, he played just three shifts spanning 1:52 in that game before going down with an undisclosed injury that has kept him out of the lineup since then and will evidently hold him out for a couple more weeks at a minimum.
Ekholm’s absence is certainly a significant one. He had a career year last season in his first full campaign with the team, notching 45 points while logging over 21 minutes a night. This year, his output dipped a bit to 33 points in 65 games but his 22:12 ATOI was third on the team.
Notably, Ekholm was their anchor on the penalty kill during the regular season and his absence was certainly felt in the playoffs. The Kings scored on 40% of their power play opportunities during the opening round as Edmonton struggled considerably when shorthanded but they’ll have to make do without their top defender on that unit for a while yet.
In Ekholm’s absence, Brett Kulak has taken on a much bigger role than usual while John Klingberg returned early in the first round and jumped into a top-four spot, a deployment that will likely continue when their series against the Golden Knights opens up next week.
Oilers Sign Alec Regula To Two-Year Extension
The Oilers announced they’ve signed defenseman Alec Regula to a two-year, two-way extension. He’ll make $775K annually if he’s on the NHL roster. His minor league salary wasn’t disclosed.
Regula, 24, missed the entire 2024-25 season due to a knee injury he sustained during training camp with the Bruins. Boston gave him medical clearance to play in December and placed him on waivers to assign him to the AHL, but Edmonton submitted a claim. Upon arrival in Alberta, the Oilers’ medical staff held a different opinion from the Bruins’. Regula occasionally practiced with the club but has remained on the non-roster list since being claimed.
While he was set to be a restricted free agent this summer, he gets some early stability as he looks to get his development back on track following his lost season. The 2018 third-round pick of the Red Wings is now on his fourth organization, but he’s played well in the minors, just not well enough at the right time to get an extended NHL look. He has a 16-61–77 scoring line in 163 AHL games with a +42 rating, including a league-leading +36 rating with AHL Providence last season.
A 6’4″, 212-lb right-shot defender, he should be an intriguing candidate to watch for an opening-night job in Edmonton in the fall. While most of their current defense corps are signed through next season, aside from top pending RFA Evan Bouchard, he could be a cheap, more defensively responsible replacement for pending UFA John Klingberg on the right side. He’ll compete with names like Josh Brown, Cam Dineen, and Troy Stecher for a depth role out of the gate.
Regula will be 26 when his extension expires, technically making him an RFA upon expiry. If he fails to log 80 NHL games by that time, though (he only has 22 career appearances), he’ll qualify for Group VI unrestricted free agency.
Ducks Linked To David Carle, Jay Woodcroft, Joel Quenneville
Anaheim Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek is in the midst of his second search for a head coach after just his third full season in the club’s top role. After failed tenures with Dallas Eakins and Greg Cronin, Verbeek is pulling out all of the stops. Anaheim reportedly interviewed top coaching prospect David Carle and former Edmonton Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft recently, and plan to also hold a second interview with record-holding head coach Joel Quenneville, per Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic. LeBrun added that the trio of heavy-hitters aren’t the only names on Anaheim’s list.
Whoever lands in the Ducks’ head coaching vacancy will have one clear goal for next season: making the postseason. Verbeek put heavy emphasis on that goal in Anaheim’s final press conference of the season, and said he would be aggressive in the coaching circuit and free agency to achieve that goal. The Ducks haven’t made the postseason since 2018, when they closed a six-year run of playoff berths by getting swept by the San Jose Sharks. That Ducks squad leaned on clearly aged veterans – including a 32-year-old Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry, and a 33-year-old Ryan Kesler. Kesler retired and Perry left after the subsequent season, while Getzlaf hung up the skates in 2022. Those departures thrust the Ducks into a rebuild that Verbeek hopes to end with a return to the playoffs in 2026.
Anaheim will have some dazzling coaching candidates to choose from. Leading the pack is the coach with the second-most wins in NHL history. Quenneville hasn’t been deemed as a clear front-runner for the vacancy, but a second interview is a mighty bode of confidence for a man who was barred from coaching from 2021 to 2024, due to his involvement in assault allegations from the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs. There was only one coaching vacancy by the time Quenneville was reinstated late last summer, and he reportedly wasn’t considered for the role. That makes attention from Anaheim particularly notable, marking Quenneville’s first chance to prove himself after not coaching a full, 82-game season since 2019-20. He won three Stanley Cups with the dynasty-era Chicago Blackhawks in 2010, 2013, and 2015.
Two strong candidates will headline the competition for Quenneville’s bid. Carle has gained plenty of acclaim from the hockey world after leading the University of Denver to two national championships in 2022 and 2024. Those rings have been intercut by a conference final loss in 2023 and a frozen four loss this season. He also won back-to-back World Juniors gold medals in each of the last two seasons. Carle has staked his claim as one of the most accomplished coaches in college hockey – a remarkable feat considering he is still only 35-years-old, with just seven years of head coach experience under his belt. Carle did withdraw his name from consideration for the Chicago Blackhawks coaching vacancy, and is expected to return to the Denver Pioneers next season – but a strong pitch could convince the burgeoning coach to move to Southern California.
Woodcroft doesn’t have the multiple years of championship pedigree of Quenneville and Carle, though he did lead the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors to a Calder Cup in the shortened 2020-21 campaign. He was promoted to the NHL partway through the following season and led the Oilers to a pair of playoff berths before being axed after a 3-9-1 start to the 2023-24 season. He is another young head coaching candidate with 20 years of experience behind pro benches. That could serve him well as Anaheim looks to strike a balance between winning now and building for their future.
Leon Draisaitl, Connor Hellebuyck, Nikita Kucherov Named Hart Trophy Finalists
Oilers center Leon Draisaitl, Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, and Lightning right-winger Nikita Kucherov have been named the Hart Trophy finalists as the NHL’s most valuable player for the 2024-25 season, the league announced today (via X).
Like most other major awards, the Hart is voted on by members of the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association. It’s one of the longest-running annual honors in the league, first presented in 1924. Each voter submits a five-player ballot with a 10-7-5-3-1 points system. Compared with the Ted Lindsay Award, voted on by the players for best player, Kucherov is the only carryover member in this year’s nominations.
Draisaitl and Kucherov are in the running to win the Hart for the second time in their careers, while Hellebuyck is a first-time finalist after finishing top 10 in voting in 2019-20 and 2023-24. He’s the first goalie to finish as a finalist for the award since the Rangers’ Igor Shesterkin in 2021-22, and he’s aiming to be the first to win it since the Canadiens’ Carey Price in 2014-15.
Draisaitl, 29, has never been nominated for the Hart without winning it. He didn’t receive any votes last year after four straight years in the top 10, but rebounded with a vengeance in 2024-25 with a league-leading 52 goals despite missing 11 games due to injuries. It was the German superstar’s first time leading the league in goals, and his 11 game-winners led the league for the third time.
Hellebuyck wins a nomination in what will likely be an extremely tight vote when results are released following the announcement of the winner. The 31-year-old has continued his dominant run as the league’s best regular-season netminder over the past half-decade, posting a .925 SV% along with a league-leading 2.00 GAA, eight shutouts, 47 wins, and 41.6 goals saved above average – all career-highs, too – in 63 appearances.
As for Kucherov, he secures his second straight Hart nomination, along with the Art Ross Trophy as the league’s leading point-getter, for the second straight season. While his campaign ended in defeat at the hands of the Panthers in last night’s Game 5, he posted 84 assists and 121 points in 78 games in the regular season en route to the 31-year-old’s third career Hart nomination. With a win, the future Hall-of-Famer would join Alex Ovechkin as the only Russian in league history with multiple MVP awards.