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Arbitration Schedule For Remaining Cases Finalized

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The arbitration hearing dates for the few remaining unsettled cases have been finalized, PuckPedia reports:

F Kaapo Kakko, Kraken: July 25

G Arvid Soderblom, Blackhawks: July 28

F Maxim Tsyplakov, Islanders: July 29

D Dylan Samberg, Jets: July 30

D Conor Timmins, Sabres: Aug. 2

F Nicholas Robertson, Maple Leafs: Aug. 3

D Jayden Struble, Canadiens: Aug. 3

There are only seven out of this year’s initial 11 player-elected arbitration cases still without a resolution as the hearings approach. Winnipeg had three of the players on that list and has settled with two of them, reaching a two-year, $3.7MM settlement with Morgan Barron and a substantial six-year, $45MM deal for Gabriel Vilardi.

The Ducks also had two arbitration cases on that list, but settled with both of them in the past few days. Depth defenseman Drew Helleson got a two-year, $2.2MM contract, while emerging star goaltender Lukas Dostal signed a five-year, $32.5MM deal.

There were two team-elected arbitration cases this year, the Sabres’ Bowen Byram and the Mammoth’s Jack McBain, but both have been settled.

As for the seven players above, they can continue talks with their clubs on a new deal until the hearing begins. After that, they’re bound to the arbitrator’s decision.

Players who reach an arbitration hearing are only eligible to sign a one or two-year contract. Since the player filed for arbitration in all seven cases above, the team gets to choose the contract length after receiving the arbitrator’s decision on the AAV. However, only Robertson, Soderblom, and Struble would be eligible for two-year contracts. Everyone else is one year away from being eligible for unrestricted free agency status, so they can’t receive a multi-year arbitration award.

If the arbitration award exceeds $4.85MM in any case, the team can decline it and allow the player to become an unrestricted free agent.

Jaroslav Halak Announces Retirement

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Veteran goalie Jaroslav Halak is ending his playing career, telling Tomas Prokop of the Slovak website Dennik Sport that he’s officially retired.

Halak, 40, hasn’t played anywhere in the last two seasons aside from a brief tryout with the Hurricanes that didn’t result in game action early in 2023-24. A ninth-round pick in the 2003 draft, his 17-year NHL career included time with the Canadiens, Blues, Capitals, Islanders, Bruins, Canucks, and Rangers, last playing in New York’s final game of the 2022-23 regular season.

Montreal was the team that drafted him 271st overall from the QMJHL’s Lewiston MAINEiacs, and that’s where Halak got his start in the NHL three years later. He emerged as another young complement in the Canadiens’ pool alongside young star Carey Price, even taking over the starter’s role in the 2009-10 season and backstopping the team to a surprise run to the Conference Finals before being traded to St. Louis for Lars Eller the following summer.

Halak never spent more than four years with a club in his prime and was prone to year-to-year inconsistency, but he was an arguable top-10 goalie in the league at his absolute peak with multiple seasons of save percentages above .920. He was always more of a 1A option than a true starter, only playing more than 50 games four times, but he ends his career as a one-time All-Star, two-time Jennings Trophy winner, and he finished top-10 in Vezina Trophy voting twice.

After serving as the 1A option for the Blues from 2010-14 and on Long Island from 2014-18 with a brief post-deadline stop in Washington in between, Halak spent the twilight years of his career as one of the league’s better backup options for Boston (2018-21), Vancouver (2021-22), and the Rangers (2022-23). He’s been an unrestricted free agent since then, with no items of note on his NHL future since being released from his aforementioned PTO with Carolina in November 2023.

In 581 regular-season appearances, the Bratislava native posted a 2.50 GAA and .913 SV% with a 295-189-63 record and 53 shutouts. One of the best undersized netminders (5’11”, 189 lbs) of his generation, he posted an even better .919 SV% and 2.48 GAA in 39 playoff games in six trips to the Stanley Cup playoffs.

All of us at PHR wish Halak the best in retirement.

Image courtesy of Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images.

Former NHL Goaltender Wayne Thomas Passes Away At Age 77

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Wayne Thomas, a long-time NHL executive and eight-year playing veteran as a goaltender, has passed away at age 77, “following a long battle with cancer,” according to a press release from the Sharks.

While undrafted, Thomas managed to appear in 243 NHL games between 1972 and 1981, compiling a 103-93-34 record for the Canadiens, Maple Leafs, and Rangers, with a 3.34 GAA and a .891 SV%. He earned an All-Star Game appearance in 1976 as Toronto’s starter, a season in which he saved 20.8 goals above average in 64 appearances.

Immediately after ending his playing career, Thomas transitioned into a coaching role with the Rangers. He later held goaltending/assistant coaching roles for the Blackhawks, Blues, and Sharks, as well as multiple minor-league clubs. Midway through the 1995-96 season, San Jose promoted him from assistant coach to assistant general manager, a role he held until he retired from the league following the 2014-15 campaign.

“While he achieved great success as a member of several NHL front offices, Wayne’s core passion was his daily work on and off the ice with NHL goaltenders throughout his coaching career, too many to list here, and he continued fruitful relationships with many of them up until his passing,” the Sharks wrote.

All of us at PHR send our condolences to Thomas’ family and friends, as well as the Sharks organization with whom he spent so many years.

Montreal Canadiens Sign Joe Veleno

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According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Montreal Canadiens are closing in on a contract for center Joe Veleno. It’ll be a coming-home party for the former first-round pick, who’s from Montreal and spent his junior days with the QMJHL’s Saint John Sea Dogs and Drummondville Voltigeurs. The Canadiens confirmed it is a one-year, $900K contract for Veleno.

Veleno has had an unexpected path through the NHL. He was drafted 30th overall by the Detroit Red Wings in the 2018 NHL Draft, using one of the picks acquired from the Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for Tomáš Tatar. It was a relatively steep fall in draft stock for Veleno, who had been projected as a top-10 talent on most boards before the 2017-18 season.

Still, his prospect pedigree grew a year after being drafted, putting together an impressive showing with the Voltigeurs, scoring 42 goals and 104 points in 59 games with a +63 rating. He was relatively successful throughout his time for Team Canada during the World Junior Championships, scoring one goal and eight points in 11 tournament contests over two years.

Unfortunately, he began to stagnate upon joining the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins. Veleno remained a quality defensive player, but the scoring capacity he showed at the junior level didn’t follow him into professional hockey.

Throughout his time in Detroit, Veleno was largely utilized in a bottom-six role, averaging 13:05 of ice time over five and a half seasons. He finished his tenure as a Red Wing with 35 goals and 74 points in 288 games with a dreadful -56 rating.

Still, his defensive metrics paint a different picture and prove he has some value on that side of the puck. He averaged a 90.3% on-ice save percentage throughout his time in Detroit, while starting 54.0% of his shifts in the defensive zone. His faceoff percentage (46.6%) is subpar for a defensive-minded center, but Veleno continued to hold his own.

Considering that the Red Wings were a lethargic defensive team throughout Veleno’s tenure, he proved to be one of the few bright spots defensively. His time with Detroit ended last season, when the team traded him to the Chicago Blackhawks at the trade deadline for Petr Mrázek and Craig Smith.

Unsurprisingly, with a need to graduate more prospects to the NHL level, Veleno’s time in Chicago lasted 18 games. He was traded to the Seattle Kraken this offseason for André Burakovsky and was subsequently bought out by the Kraken.

In Montreal, it may be an opportunity for Veleno to become a full-time winger. Having Nick Suzuki, Kirby Dach, Alex Newhook, and Jake Evans on the roster for next season, Veleno doesn’t serve as an objective improvement over any of their available options.

There’s a decent chance Veleno will become a fourth-line left wing in Montreal, while serving as a center option if the team runs into injury trouble.

Montreal Canadiens Wish To Retain Mike Matheson

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After acquiring defenseman Noah Dobson from the New York Islanders shortly before the start of free agency, the Montreal Canadiens solidified the top four of their defensive core for the foreseeable future. Montreal has Dobson and Kaiden Guhle signed to long-term contracts, is one year away from having the option to do the same with phenom Lane Hutson, and has former fifth-overall pick David Reinbacher waiting in the wings.

With the need for ample salary cap space to sign Hutson next offseason, speculation has arisen that the Canadiens might consider trading blue liner Mike Matheson for center help or allowing him to become an unrestricted free agent next summer. However, it doesn’t appear that the organization believes they have to lose Matheson, nor do they want to.

In a new interview with James Murphy of RG Media, Montreal’s Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations, Jeff Gorton, spoke highly of Matheson, saying, “If you look at Mike’s body of work since he came to Montreal, he’s been a really good player. So, sure, he takes criticism once in a while, but he might play upwards of 25 minutes a game sometimes, right? He’s been huge right now, and we all realize that. So, there are no decisions made on Mike right now. Obviously, he’s got a year left on his contract, but he’s been a very, very, solid player for us. He’s a very good penalty killer; he plays against the best players every night, and there’s not much he doesn’t do.”

There’s plenty of truth to Gorton’s vote of confidence. After scoring 138 points in 417 games through the first seven years of his career between the Florida Panthers and Pittsburgh Penguins, Matheson has become a legitimate top-four defenseman in Montreal, scoring 25 goals and 127 points in 210 contests, averaging 25:07 of ice time per game.

Matheson leaves something to be desired in his underlying metrics as he’s averaged a 45.6% CorsiFor% at even strength and 89.6% on-ice save percentage at even strength since coming to Montreal. Still, it’s important to note that, like Gorton said, Matheson typically lines up against the opposing team’s top forwards, giving more context to those numbers.

The 10-year veteran will assuredly seek a healthy increase on his $4.875MM salary next offseason, especially with the upper limit of the salary cap continuing to rise. Thankfully, even with the pending contract for Hutson, the Canadiens should have the financial flexibility to extend him if they desire. Including Matheson’s expiring contract, Montreal has another $19.2MM coming off the books next summer from Patrik Laine’s and Carey Price’s contracts, although the latter has been stashed on LTIR for several years.

Still, if the Canadiens truly want to keep Matheson beyond the 2025-26 campaign, it serves as something they’ll want to get completed sooner rather than later. With more teams looking to become competitive and with more available dollars floating around, Matheson could get a premier payday on the open market next summer, and there are certainly other teams that may be willing to outspend Montreal for his services.

Canadiens Won't Sign Kuznetsov; Sedgwick Wins Bruce Landon Award

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  • While the Canadiens are known to be searching for center help, they are not among the teams pursuing Evgeny Kuznetsov. His agent, Shumi Babaev, told Louis-Andre Lariviere of La Page Sportive that Montreal has informed him that they won’t be offering Kuznetsov a contract.  The 33-year-old had 37 points in 39 games with SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL last season where he was teammates with Canadiens winger Ivan Demidov who is expected to play his first full NHL season in 2025-26.  Kuznetsov has 575 points in 743 games at the NHL level over an 11-year career but managed just 23 points in 64 games in 2023-24 between Carolina and Washington.
  • On Thursday, the AHL released its end-of-season Excellence Awards. Avalanche defenseman Jacob MacDonald was the winner of the President’s Award for player excellence after setting a league record for most goals by a blueliner with 31, helping earn him the Eddie Shore Award as the league’s outstanding defenseman.  Meanwhile, the newly established Bruce Landon Award for the most outstanding hockey operations executive went to Canadiens assistant GM John Sedgwick, who also serves as the GM of AHL Laval.

Canadiens Still Have Work To Do This Summer

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The Canadiens have had a fantastic summer so far as they aim to build on their first playoff appearance since 2021. The Habs lost some forwards but have been busy improving their defence and fixing other gaps in their roster.

The team is expected to once again fight for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, and with these additions, some Canadiens fans are wondering if the team can contend for a place at the top of the Atlantic Division. The Florida Panthers will have something to say about that, but it’s fair to ask if Montreal has leapfrogged Ottawa, Toronto, and Tampa Bay. Even if the Canadiens are among the top three teams in the Atlantic Division, the path to the Stanley Cup will go through Florida, and Montreal still has a long way to go to catch the Panthers.

The Canadiens started their summer with a significant acquisition, bringing in defenseman Noah Dobson from the New York Islanders. The Canadiens traded forward Emil Heineman and two first-round picks in 2025 back to the Islanders in exchange for Dobson, igniting a summer that has Canadiens fans excited for the upcoming season.

Dobson was considered for the Norris Trophy just a year ago after scoring 10 goals and 60 assists in 79 games, but his production declined this past year, with only 10 goals and 29 assists in 71 games. Despite the reduced output, Dobson remains a clear top-pairing defenceman capable of generating plenty of offense and leading transition play.

He’s not the most reliable defensively, but he isn’t a complete liability in his zone and should improve his defensive metrics in Montreal. The trade was a smart move for the Canadiens, filling a noticeable gap in their lineup and providing stability on the right side of defense for the next eight seasons.

A few days after the Dobson trade, the Canadiens made another bold move, sending defenseman Logan Mailloux to the St. Louis Blues for forward Zachary Bolduc. Both players were chosen in the first round of the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, but they are at different points in their development, with Bolduc further along than Mailloux.

It’s common for forwards to develop quicker than defensemen, and the Habs are counting on that, hoping to accelerate their path to contention. The 21-year-old Bolduc is expected to add toughness and offense to the Canadiens, as he’s a strong forechecker and scored regularly while playing fourth-line minutes last season for St. Louis. Bolduc recorded 19 goals and 17 assists in 72 games last year and is likely to see more ice time in Montreal next season.

The Canadiens also made a few depth signings on July 1st, signing goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen, forward Sammy Blais, and defenseman Nathan Clurman to one-year contracts, along with several other players in between. These moves were all necessary to strengthen Montreal’s depth, but some gaps have appeared due to free agency.

The Canadiens have seen several players leave this summer, and while none are big stars, they were essential depth players that the Canadiens will need to replace either from within the team or through free agency and trades. The players mentioned, Heineman and Mailloux, were traded away, while defenseman David Savard retired, and forwards Christian Dvorak and Joel Armia found new teams in free agency.

Dvorak now plays for the Flyers, while Armia signed with the Kings. These departures could affect Montreal’s faceoff performance and penalty killing.

All this to say, the Canadiens’ additions have been nice, but there’s still work to be done on their forward group. Their penalty killing seems like a potential weakness, as does their second line with the current setup. If the season were to start today, Montreal’s second line would likely feature Kirby Dach at center along with Patrik Laine and Ivan Demidov on the wings. While the wing options aren’t terrible, Dach playing on a second unit isn’t ideal at this stage, and he would benefit from being bumped down the lineup by a true top-six forward.

That task is not quite as challenging as finding a top defenseman, but it is still a challenge given the limited number of trade options. Jordan Kyrou of the St. Louis Blues has been mentioned as a possibility, and he would be an ideal fit for Montreal in that second-line role.

Kyrou has averaged over 70 points per season over the past four years and would enable the Canadiens to better position forwards like Dach in more suitable roles. The 27-year-old Kyrou has plenty of term remaining on his contract, with six years left at a $8.125MM AAV. If Montreal pursues Kyrou, he will likely not come cheaply and might require more high-end assets — something they might not be willing to give up.

If the Habs can’t land Kyrou, they could always turn to the Pittsburgh Penguins and target Rickard Rakell or Bryan Rust, both of whom could handle top-six minutes in Montreal. The Penguins appear to be seeking young, NHL-ready players, which could be prohibitive to any trade. However, the cost would likely be lower than Kyrou’s, and the difference in impact could be negligible, depending on the fit.

In any event, the options are out there for Montreal to put a bow on this summer and enter next season as one of the top three teams in the Atlantic Division. They have their work cut out for them, though, as nearly every team in the NHL is trying to get better, and the market isn’t exactly flush with top players that can be traded.

Photo by Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images.

Canadiens Interested In Adding To Forward Group

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While the Montreal Canadiens have had a busy start to the offseason and are currently over the cap, they’re still looking to add to their offensive group. According to RG’s Marco D’Amico, the Habs are exploring both free agency and trade options to add a forward.

Among those options, D’Amico reports that the Canadiens remain interested in trading for St. Louis Blues winger Jordan Kyrou — a player Montreal has previously been linked to. Playing all 82 games last season, he posted 36 goals and 70 points. It represented his third consecutive 30-goal campaign, and the 26-year-old added three goals in seven playoff games. Kyrou has five years remaining on his eight-year, $ 65MM contract, which carries a cap hit of $ 8.125 million annually. While Kyrou remains a popular name in trade discussions, any deal would have to overcome the hurdle of his no-trade clause.

Another player the Habs are keeping tabs on, per D’Amico, is NHL veteran Evgeny Kuznetsov, who is eyeing an NHL comeback. Kuznetsov, 33, appeared in 39 KHL games for SKA St. Petersburg last season and scored 37 points. He signed a four-year contract with the club last summer, but his contract was terminated in early April, presumably so he could return to North America.

As a staple for the Washington Capitals, Kuznetsov put up 568 points for the team in 723 games. He added 73 points in 97 playoff games for Washington and was nearly a point-per-game producer in the NHL as recently as the 2021-22 season (78 points in 79 games). However, his production dropped off after that, and Kuznetsov later revealed that his struggles with rheumatoid arthritis — which he says he now manages more effectively — contributed to his decline. He last played in the NHL during the 2023-24 season.

Of note, Kuznetsov served as a teammate and mentor to Ivan Demidov in Russia. Demidov signed a three-year, entry-level deal with Montreal in April, and a reunion with Kuznetsov could provide him with a familiar support system as he begins his NHL career.

No matter who the Canadiens decide to pursue, the team is currently over the salary cap by more than $5MM (according to PuckPedia). Therefore, General Manager Kent Hughes needs to trade away some contracts not only to make new additions but also to ensure the team is compliant with the salary cap.

Canadiens Sign Jakub Dobes To Two-Year Contract

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The Canadiens have re-signed restricted free agent goaltender Jakub Dobes to a two-year, $1.93MM contract, the team announced today in a press release. The deal will carry a $965K cap hit. Dobes was still eligible for an offer sheet after not filing for arbitration yesterday, but instead came to a quick agreement with Montreal.

Dobes, a fifth-round pick in the 2020 draft, spent two seasons with Ohio State as their starter before signing his entry-level deal near the end of the 2022-23 campaign. The 6’4″, 201-lb Czech netminder was one of the Big 10’s top goalies in that span, earning both All-Rookie and First All-Star Team honors in 2021-22 after a standout 2.26 GAA and .934 SV% in 35 games after making the jump from the Tier I junior United States Hockey League.

The Ostrava native spent his first professional season as the full-time starter for AHL Laval in 2023-24, adjusting to the next level relatively well with a 2.93 GAA, .906 SV%, one shutout, and a 24-18-6 record in 51 games, tying for the league lead in appearances despite not carrying a minute of professional experience entering the season.

When NHL backup Cayden Primeau struggled out of the gate last season, posting a .836 SV% and 4.70 GAA in 11 games through the first two months of the 2024-25 campaign behind Sam Montembeault, he was waived around Christmas and Dobes was brought up from Laval in his place. The 24-year-old spent the rest of the season as Montembeault’s full-time backup, looking like a true NHL-caliber goalie in the process. He didn’t storm out of the gates but was certainly an above-average No. 2 option, logging a 7-4-3 record, .909 SV%, 2.74 GAA, one shutout, and eight quality starts in 16 appearances.

While Dobes is presumably the favorite to win the backup job in camp this fall, they haven’t handed it to him on a silver platter. The club also signed veteran option Kaapo Kähkönen to a one-year, $1.15MM contract when free agency opened. While he spent most of last season in the minors, he has 140 games of NHL experience and was an everyday NHLer as recently as 2023-24. He and Dobes will make for the Habs’ most intriguing roster spot battle when training camp opens in over two months.

A two-year deal for Dobes walks him to his last summer of RFA eligibility, so the Canadiens won’t be able to control his signing rights again after their next round of contract negotiations.

Image courtesy of Sergei Belski-Imagn Images.

Eleven Players Elect Salary Arbitration

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Eleven players across the NHL have elected for salary arbitration, per the NHLPA.

Those names include:

The deadline for second club-elected arbitration is Sunday at 5 p.m., with arbitration hearings scheduled from July 20 to August 4. Two seasons ago, 23 players filed for arbitration, and last summer, that number dropped to 14 — a downward trend that continues this year.

As a reminder, not every player is expected to head to a hearing, as negotiations will continue leading into July 20. However, each player who elects for salary arbitration is now prohibited from negotiating with other teams or signing an offer sheet.

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