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Evening Notes: Karlsson, Granlund, Bratt

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Dave Molinari of Pittsburgh Hockey Now is reporting that Pittsburgh Penguins star defenseman Erik Karlsson will play for Sweden in the IIHF World Championship in Czechia. The tournament, which goes from May 10th – May 26th will extend the 33-year-old’s season after the Penguins were eliminated from playoff contention six days ago.

Karlsson had a disappointing first season in Pittsburgh but played very well down the stretch which coincided with Pittsburgh’s final push to try and make the playoffs. Although they ultimately fell short of securing a playoff spot, the Penguins’ late run gives reason for optimism as Karlsson finally seemed to find his offensive rhythm with the team posting three goals and seven assists in the final eight games of the regular season.

In other evening notes:

  • San Jose Sharks forward Mikael Granlund will reportedly play for Team Finland at the World Championship (via Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now). The 32-year-old was a salary dump when he was traded as part of the Erik Karlsson move to Pittsburgh last summer but had a bounce-back season with the Sharks tallying 12 goals and 48 assists in 69 games. While his possession numbers continued to be poor, he demonstrated strong work on the Sharks’ powerplay posting a goal and 22 assists with the man advantage. Granlund looked like a buyout candidate last year, but with one year left on his contract at $5MM, he could potentially fetch the Sharks an asset at next year’s trade deadline if they don’t move him this summer.
  • James Nichols of New Jersey Hockey Now is reporting that New Jersey Devils forward Jesper Bratt turned down Sweden’s invitation for him to play at the World Championships due to injury. The 25-year-old dressed in all 82 games for the Devils this season and had a career year posting 27 goals and 56 assists. Despite the ailment, it is not expected that Bratt will miss an extended period, which is good news for New Jersey as he enters the second year of his eight-year $63MM contract.

Atlantic Notes: Luukkonen, Imama, Tkachuk

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Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News is reporting that Buffalo Sabres goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen won’t play for Team Finland at the upcoming IIHF World Championship. The 25-year-old is a restricted free agent on July 1st and without an extension in place has elected to not play in the event. The news is not surprising given that Luukkonen would be risking injury without the security of a long-term deal in place. It will be a blow to Finland’s roster for the tournament.

Luukkonen’s future looked murky at the start of the season, but the native of Espoo, Finland put up terrific numbers on a weak Sabres team registering a record of 27-22-4, along with five shutouts, a 2.57 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage. His underlying numbers were also strong as he posted 9.4 goals saved above expected in 54 games. His contract negotiations will be interesting to watch as the Sabres will have to make a bet on whether or not Luukkonen can carry his strong play into the next few seasons.

In other Atlantic Division notes:

The Ottawa Senators have re-assigned forward Bokondji Imama to their AHL affiliate in Belleville. The 27-year-old was recalled two weeks ago by Ottawa and registered zero points and 7 PIM in six games while averaging 5:35 of ice time. He suffered an upper-body injury in Monday’s game against the Rangers and missed the Senators season finale against Boston on Tuesday. The Montreal, Quebec native is a former sixth-round pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning and has registered a single goal in 15 career NHL games. Imama has spent the bulk of his seven-year professional career in the AHL where he has 29 goals and 43 assists in 310 career AHL games.

Bruce Garrioch of The Ottawa Sun reports that Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk will represent Team USA at the upcoming IIHF World Championships. A day after being nominated for the King Clancy Memorial Trophy, the 24-year-old spoke with the Ottawa media and talked about the disappointment with his team’s season but expressed excitement about representing his country on the world stage. The former fourth overall pick had another strong season for the Senators, posting 37 goals and 37 assists in 81 games to lead the team in scoring for the second time in three years.

IIHF Bars Russian, Belarusian National Teams Through 2024-25

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The International Ice Hockey Federation announced Monday that all Russian and Belarusian national and club teams will remain barred from IIHF-sanctioned competitions for the 2024-25 championship season. As such, the two countries will not field squads at the upcoming Men’s World Championships this spring, at the 2025 World Juniors, and, more importantly for Belarus, the final qualification round for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.

This decision does not mean that Russia will be barred from the 2026 Olympics, which will be the first edition that NHLers are permitted to attend in 12 years. The IIHF Council cited current safety risks for their decision and will review each country’s status again in May 2025.

The upcoming World Juniors in Ottawa will be the fourth straight in which the Russian and Belarusian contingents have been expelled due to the former’s invasion of Ukraine and corresponding safety risks. Russia’s last appearance at the tournament came in the zero-spectator 2021 tournament held in the Edmonton bubble due to COVID-19, in which Predators prospect Yaroslav Askarov backstopped the team to a bronze-game loss. Belarus won promotion at the Division 1A tournament in 2022 and was slated to appear in the 2023 World Juniors, but was barred from competing by the IIHF. Belarus’ last top-division World Juniors showing was in 2018, where a team that featured Flames forward Yegor Sharangovich failed to avoid relegation.

While Belarus will miss the 2026 Olympics by default, given they won’t participate in the qualification tournament, Russia has automatic entry into the tournament via their world ranking – if the IIHF lifts their sanctions on the country by then. Russian teams have won gold and silver medals at the previous two Olympics without NHL participation.

International Notes: Russia, Insurance, Rink Size, 4 Nations Face-Off, World Cup

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NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman confirmed today that NHL players will participate in the 2026 and 2030 Winter Olympics. Along with NHLPA Executive Director Marty Walsh and IIHF President Luc Tardif, Bettman oversaw a press conference during All-Star weekend in Toronto and offered some clarifying notes about Olympic participation in 2026 in Milan, Italy.

Tardif confirmed to reporters that Russia’s standing in the tournament has not yet been decided. The IIHF council will meet next week to determine whether the country will be eligible to return for the 2025 Men’s World Championship, at which point they will issue additional updates. Russia has been barred from IIHF competition since its early 2022 invasion of Ukraine for geopolitical reasons. If deemed eligible for Olympic play in 2026, Russia will qualify automatically based on their current world ranking.

The security of players will be the driving force behind the IIHF’s decision to reinstate a Russian contingent, said Tardif. Both the 2025 World Championship and 2026 Winter Olympics will be held in Western European countries.

Other updates regarding the Olympics and future international tournaments:

  • One of the driving forces behind the NHL’s barring of players from attending the 2018 and 2022 Winter Olympics dealt with uncertainty over insurance and travel costs for players. That’s been settled as part of today’s announcement, Bettman said. Those costs, plus other travel-associated costs, will not be fronted by the league – instead, individual Olympic committees and the IIHF will provide funding for players to travel and stay at the overseas events.
  • Tardif also added that for the first time, the Olympic tournament will be played on smaller NHL-sized ice in 2026. This downsizing from the standard international-sized rink was not contingent on the NHL’s participation in the event, per Tardif, and it did not play a factor in today’s announcement. Previous IIHF specifications dictated that rinks must be 197 by 98 feet, while NHL rinks are narrower at 200 by 85 feet.
  • The league also confirmed today’s reported news that a 2025 best-on-best tournament between Canada, Sweden, Finland, and the United States will occur next February in two unnamed North American cities, one in Canada and one in the United States. The tournament, called the 4 Nations Face-Off, will be comprised of 23 NHL-rostered players from each country selected by each nation’s governing association. Interestingly, despite the NHL hosting the tournament, the round-robin portion will adopt the more internationally-recognized 3-2-1-0 points system. There will be no multi-round playoff; instead, the best two teams in the round-robin schedule will play a one-game final match.
  • Bettman said the league’s plan is to return to a regular World Cup of Hockey schedule after Olympic participation resumes. Time constraints limited the size of the 2025 best-on-best tournament, but World Cups are expected to run in 2028 and 2032 and will feature expanded participation from countries not included in the 2025 tournament.

NHL To Allow Players To Attend 2026, 2030 Winter Olympics

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12:35 p.m.: Commissioner Gary Bettman confirmed an agreement has been reached with the IIHF to send players to the 2026 and 2030 Winter Olympics to media today. Bettman added the league has been given “assurances” that the venue under construction for ice hockey in Milan will be completed on schedule.

9:56 a.m.: The NHL and IIHF have reached a deal to allow players to participate in both the 2026 and 2030 Winter Olympics, ESPN’s Kevin Weekes said Friday. An official announcement is expected from the league later today after the IIHF quickly posted and deleted a post confirming the news on X, formerly known as Twitter, this morning.

Also expected Friday afternoon is an announcement confirming the NHL’s plans to hold a best-on-best international tournament in 2025 between Canada, Finland, Sweden, and the United States, per Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff. The tournament will be hosted in Boston and Montreal and will result in no All-Star Game being held next year.

2026 will mark the first time NHL players participate in the Olympics since the 2014 edition held in Sochi, Russia. Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, have already been tabbed as the 2026 hosts, although concerns about the construction timeline for the Olympic rink in Milan may force the ice hockey competitions to be moved to Turin, which hosted the Winter Olympics in 2004.

The host for the 2023 Games has not been named, although Salt Lake City, Stockholm, Switzerland, and the French Alps region have submitted bids. The French Alps bid entered the “targeted dialogue phase” late last year and is the most likely host for the 2030 edition, while Salt Lake City will likely receive the 2034 Games.

Milan will mark the first Olympic appearance for all of the NHL’s next generation of stars, including Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Auston Matthews, Leon Draisaitl, David Pastrňák, Cale Makar, and many others. It’s unclear whether Russia will field a team at the event – they are currently barred from IIHF competition due to the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the 2025 four-nations-style tournament will be the first true exhibition of best-on-best international play involving the world’s highest-ranking men’s hockey countries since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

USA Wins 2024 World Junior Championship

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With their victory over Team Sweden this afternoon, Team USA has officially won the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship, taking home the gold medal for the sixth time since the tournament’s inception in 1977. The game-winning goal would come in the second period, as Michigan State University product, Isaac Howard, put away the deciding marker relatively early on in the game.

Team USA will now move alone into third place in total gold medals in the tournament’s history after being tied with Finland with five since 2021. Team Russia/Soviet Union is in second place with eight gold medals, while Team Canada is in front by a large margin with a whopping 20 gold medals in the tournament’s history.

After leading Team Czechia in scoring in last year’s tournament, Buffalo Sabres’ prospect, Jiri Kulich, would lead the entire tournament this year, scoring six goals and 12 points in seven games. Tied in the lead with Kulich was Philadelphia Flyers’ prospect, Cutter Gauthier of Team USA, scoring two goals and 12 points in seven games.

Outside of Team USA bringing home the gold, and Team Sweden taking home the silver medal, Team Czechia would go on to defeat Team Finland in a high-scoring game this morning, winning their second bronze medal in tournament history. Now, the players from each respective country will return back to their regular teams, before the exciting tournament returns next year in Ottawa.

Morning Notes: Määttä, Celebrini, Zegras

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The Detroit Red Wings have announced that defenseman Olli Määttä will be unavailable for tonight’s game against the New Jersey Devils. Määttä is dealing with an upper-body injury that forced him out of last night’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers. There’s no word on a timetable for Määttä to return to the lineup but that could be provided in the coming days as Detroit gets set to head into the break. The Red Wings won’t be action again until Wednesday against the Minnesota Wild and an update should be provided before that time.

A two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Määttä has settled into a role with the Red Wings since signing with the team as a free agent back in July 2022. Määttä had bounced around to a few teams after being traded away by the Penguins but has since found a home in Detroit. In 27 games this season, the 29-year-old has a goal and six assists and is +6 while playing almost 15 minutes a night.

In other morning notes:

  • The IIHF has announced that Team Canada forward Macklin Celebrini will not face any supplemental discipline for his boarding incident that occurred in Canada’s second pre-tournament game as they get prepared for this year’s World Junior tournament. Celebrini is projected to be the first overall selection in the 2024 NHL entry draft and would have been a huge loss for Canada had he been suspended. The 17-year-old had two assists in the first half of the game against Switzerland before he was given a five-minute major and a game misconduct for boarding. Canada plays their final pre-tournament game today against the United States and will begin the official tournament against Finland on Boxing Day.
  • NHL.com is reporting that Anaheim Ducks forward Trevor Zegras could return to the Ducks lineup tonight as they take on the Seattle Kraken. Zegras reportedly practiced yesterday on the Ducks’ top line alongside Alex Killorn and Troy Terry. The 22-year-old has missed the Ducks’ last 20 games with an upper-body injury and would presumably slide into Leo Carlsson’s spot as the top center as Carlsson is being evaluated for an injury as well. The native of Bedford, New York has had a rough start to his season as he started with just a goal and an assist in his first 12 games before going down to injury.

League Notes: 2026 Olympics, Men’s U18s, 2024 Draft

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On today’s edition of TSN’s Insider Trading, Darren Dreger dove into some more details surrounding a potential NHL return to Olympic participation in 2026. With the next edition of the Winter Olympics set to commence in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, it would be the NHL’s first time letting its players participate in the international event since 2014 in Sochi, Russia. After electing not to participate in the 2018 event, the NHL was on track to return to the Olympics in 2022 before concerns around travel and COVID insurance could not be resolved, leading the league to pull the plug on Olympic participation for a second straight cycle.

They appear on track to change that, with the NHL set to attend tomorrow’s IIHF meeting in Portugal with discussions around travel costs for 2026 on the agenda, per Dreger. Both the NHL and NHLPA have expressed a renewed vigor for international participation in recent months after former United States Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh assumed the lead post at the players’ association, quickly identifying a return to best-on-best international play as one of the players’ highest short-term priorities.

Some more administrative notes from the Insider Trading crew:

  • The NHL/IIHF partnership remains a topic of discussion, as Dreger also reports the league is stepping up to host an IIHF tournament for the first time. In conjunction with USA Hockey, the NHL will host/sponsor the 2025 edition of the Men’s U18 World Championships, the last major showcase tournament for draft-eligible prospects in a yearly cycle. Normally held in mid-to-late April, it’s unclear in which American city the tournament will be hosted at this time. The United States last hosted the tournament in 2021 in Frisco and Plano, Texas, and captured their record 11th gold medal at the tournament in 2023. 2025 will be the fourth time the US has hosted the tournament since its inception in 1999.
  • Lastly, Chris Johnston adds that the NHL is continuing to sort out logistical concerns regarding a venue for the 2024 NHL Draft, which is expected to take place in Las Vegas along with the 2024 NHL Awards. With the Vegas Golden Knights’ T-Mobile Arena seemingly unavailable for the Draft due to scheduling conflicts, Johnston reports the NHL has explored hosting next year’s draft at Sphere, the rather eye-drawing concert venue which boasts the largest LED screen in the world, newly opened by Madison Square Garden Company and New York Rangers majority owner James Dolan. It would certainly be a departure from normal procedure for the league, which has opted to host the Draft exclusively at team arenas, hotels and league offices throughout the event’s history.

CSKA Moscow Defies IIHF Ruling, Plays Ivan Fedotov

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KHL club CSKA Moscow has opted to start Philadelphia Flyers netminder Ivan Fedotov in their KHL regular-season opener today against Ak Bars Kazan, thereby violating the IIHF sanctions laid out against the club last month, as Szymon Szemberg of the Alliance of European Hockey Clubs reports.

The international governing body had ruled Fedotov’s tolled entry-level contract with the Flyers was valid for the 2023-24 season after CSKA Moscow attempted to sign Fedotov to a two-year deal earlier this summer. Fedotov had originally signed with the Flyers in the summer of 2022 but was barred from leaving Russia to complete required military service.

Shortly after the IIHF ruled, the Russian Ice Hockey Federation announced they’d submitted an appeal. That process has not been completed yet, however, and no follow-up ruling has been adjudicated. The KHL released a statement before today’s game, citing their legal grounds for CSKA to play Fedotov based on the Russian constitution’s grant of a citizen’s right to work. KHL president Aleksey Morozov also claimed the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian government warned the KHL and CSKA “about the inadmissibility of violating the right to work.”

As Szemberg notes, this decision will likely continue to further isolate Russian hockey on the international landscape and could further delay their return to international play, even if the country’s illegal invasion of Ukraine ends. With Russian players and teams already barred from participating in international events, Szemberg believes the KHL has nothing to lose by violating IIHF sanctions, as there’s not much more that could be levied against them.

Russian Ice Hockey Federation Appeals Ivan Fedotov Ruling

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Earlier this week, the IIHF issued its ruling on Flyers goaltender Ivan Fedotov, stating that the tolled contract with Philadelphia is the one that is valid, not the two-year agreement he recently signed with CSKA Moscow of the KHL.  Not surprisingly, Victoria Kravchenko of Sport-Express relays that the Russian Ice Hockey Federation has officially appealed the ruling, submitting it on Friday.

Fedotov originally signed a one-year contract with Philadelphia for the 2022-23 campaign but then was told that he needed to fulfill his one year of mandatory military service which he has now completed.  Philadelphia’s assertion is that since their original deal is still valid since it was tolled, the 26-year-old should be suiting up for them next season.

The IIHF’s ruling clearly saw it that way as they suspended Fedotov from appearing in any “official national and international games during playing periods” from September 1, 2023, through December 31, 2023.  Meanwhile, CSKA also received a significant sanction as they are now prohibited from making any international transfers for one year until August 10, 2024.  CSKA has since stated that they believe the IIHF’s ruling was biased.

The appeal actually goes against what Fedotov’s agent J.P. Barry indicated late last month to TSN’s Darren Dreger (Twitter link) when he issued a statement saying that Fedotov would abide by the ruling whichever way it went.  As it turns out, Fedotov suited up for CSKA today in preseason action which doesn’t qualify as international games under the IIHF’s ruling.  Clearly, even with the IIHF’s ruling in Philadelphia’s favor, this file is far from being settled.

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