In a recent article on The Athletic, Corey Pronman ranked 173 players under the age of 23 who are currently on NHL teams’ reserve lists. This means that these players may not be playing for their respective teams just yet. In a major snub to the reigning Calder Memorial Trophy winner, Pronman ranked Montreal Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson 34th on that list, lower than eight other defensemen.
Canadiens Rumors
Snapshots: Price, Prokhorov, PHR Chat
The Canadiens are reportedly intent on moving the contract of LTIR-bound goaltender Carey Price as it enters its final season, a feat that becomes astronomically more achievable after they pay out a $5.5MM signing bonus today. Today, Marco D’Amico of RG confirms that the Sharks are the most likely trade partner for Montreal, but that a move would require some maneuvering on San Jose’s behalf since they’re one contract shy of the 50-player limit. Given that, the framework of any deal would involve the Sharks sending a few AHL depth pieces back to the Canadiens to free up some flexibility, while taking on Price’s deal to ensure they stay above the salary cap floor throughout the season. Montreal still has seven open contract slots, per PuckPedia, so it’s a non-issue for them to take some two-way deals on in a Price trade.
More things to keep an eye on throughout the hockey world:
- Late last month, Islanders 2025 second-rounder Daniil Prokhorov signed a two-year contract with Dynamo Moscow in his native Russia to continue his development. Unlike with other Russian players, though, that won’t necessarily delay his North American arrival until 2027, Stefen Rosner writes for The Elmonters. His deal has a formal out-clause that could allow him to report to the Islanders or their AHL affiliate in Bridgeport if he’s offered an entry-level contract before his KHL obligation ends. The gargantuan 6’6″, 218-lb power winger scored 20 goals in 43 junior games for Dynamo St. Petersburg’s MHL club last year.
- With preseason looming, PHR’s Josh Erickson will host a holiday edition live chat today at 1pm CT. You can click here to ask a question in advance, join in live when the chat begins, or stick around to read the transcript when it’s finished.
Canadiens Likely To Move Carey Price’s Contract
Despite not having played since the 2021-22 season, goaltender Carey Price and his contract continue to weigh down the Montreal Canadiens’ salary cap flexibility. With just one year remaining on his deal, which carries a $10.5MM cap hit, the franchise may be close to moving the contract in the coming days, per Marco D’Amico of RG.org.
While Price’s playing days are long behind him, the Canadiens will look to trade his contract to a team looking to hit the salary cap floor. That market may be thinning out, but the Anaheim Ducks, Chicago Blackhawks, and San Jose Sharks may fit the bill. If the Habs can swing a deal, they too would become cap compliant, as they currently sit approximately $6MM over the limit, according to PuckPedia. Moving Price’s contract could also provide the team with the flexibility needed to make another move to solidify the current roster. While Price carries a $10.5MM cap hit, he is set to receive just $7.5MM in actual salary for the final year of his contract. Of that amount, $5.5MM will be paid out as a signing bonus on September 1.
As D’Amico notes, TVA Sports’ Jean-Charles Lajoie reported that the Habs are in the market for a center, and the cap savings from Price’s deal could help facilitate that addition. However, a slow market could force the Canadiens to wait well into the season before pulling the trigger on this kind of addition. Canadiens Executive Vice President Jeff Gorton noted as much, previously stating, “We don’t look at it like opening day as the end of when you can change your roster.” As D’Amico notes, there seems to be a standoff between GMs trying to add quality forwards and those unwilling to budge on steep return demands.
For his part, Price’s legendary career came to an end due to lingering knee issues. Price appeared in just 30 games over his final two seasons and unofficially retired following the 2021-22 season to focus on his overall quality of life. Over his 15-year career, Carey Price recorded 361 wins and 19,304 saves, both of which are all-time records for the Canadiens. He also ranks first in minutes played and third in shutouts with 49. Selected fifth overall in the 2005 NHL Draft, Price consistently proved why he was taken so high and is widely expected to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Poll: Who Is The Early Favorite To Win The 2026 Calder Trophy?
The hockey world was treated to a true gift by the race for the 2025 Calder Trophy, awarded annually to the NHL’s top rookie. The class lived up to years of expectations, headlined by Montreal Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson tying Larry Murphy for the most assists by a rookie defender. He took home the Calder ahead of San Jose Sharks top center Macklin Celebrini and Calgary Flames starting goaltender Dustin Wolf – who both managed star-studded and historic performances of their own. The heap of talent left players who could have won the trophy outright in seemingly any other year – options like 26-goal-scorer Matvei Michkov. A rookie class so strong will be impossible to follow up, but the group in 2025-26 seem to have a great chance to come close.
Early predictions will have the Calder Trophy staying put through in 2026. The Canadiens are set to award star rookie Ivan Demidov with his first NHL season, after he led KHL super-club SKA St. Petersburg with in scoring with 49 points in 62 games last season. He was a sheer force at Russia’s top level, showing a pace, strength, and finesse that was unmatched by his competition. Demidov finished the year with five points in six Gagarin Cup Playoff matchups, before scoring four points in his first seven games with Montreal.
Demidov is now set to assume a key role in the Canadiens’ lineup. It’s hard to imagine he won’t play true top-line minutes. He offers the in-tight skill and low-zone grit to perfectly complement spot-shooter Cole Caufield and playmaking, two-way center Nick Suzuki. The stars will be Demidov’s ceiling if he gets a full year to such talented players. He nearly recorded a 20-30-50 season in the KHL – a league often lauded as near-equal to the NHL. That standing could set him up for 60, or even 70, points in his first year with Montreal.
It will be a tight race to catch up to, and overcome, Demidov. A slew of star collegiate players signed their entry-level contracts at the end of the season, and could easily be set for major minutes of their own. Sam Rinzel fills a need for right-shot defense for the Blackhawks and Oliver Moore seemed to bring his slick-passing to Chicago, Gabe Perreault looked like a strong utility player with the New York Rangers, and Ryan Leonard showed an ability to match the Washington Capitals’ pace.
And yet, all four could be outdone by Minnesota Wild defenseman Zeev Buium, who managed an impressive 98 points in 83 games at the University of Denver. He appeared in four Stanley Cup Playoff games, but only managed one assist. Also atop the defense charts is top KHL defender Alexander Nikishin, who ended a stalemate when he finally joined the Carolina Hurricanes for the playoffs. Nikishin ranked second on SKA St. Petersburg with 46 points in 61 games, and matched Buium’s postseason statline.
Even still, the OHL could emerge. Sam Dickinson served as the star of the 2025 Memorial Cup-winning London Knights, and seems well-primed for a big role with the desolate San Jose Sharks. He could be joined by the reigning ’OHL Player of the Year’ Michael Misa, who managed an incredible 62 goals and 134 points in 65 OHL games last season. Misa was drafted second in this year’s class, with New York Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer the only selection before him. The smooth-moving, sharp-eyed Schaefer could be another Calder candidate, though he hasn’t played a season-game since sustaining a broken collarbone during the World Junior Championships last December.
It will be hard for any player to rival the record-breaking heights that Hutson reached last season, but the list of candidates looking to follow him up seems endless. Any one of the aforementioned players could find their way into a star role, or the award could go to someone entirely different – like 2025 Hobey Baker Award-winner and Edmonton Oilers winger Isaac Howard.
With so much talent on the board, who do you think will win the 2026 Calder Trophy? If you choose ’Other’, comment your pick below!
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Canadiens’ Kirby Dach Nearing Recovery From Knee Surgery
Canadiens center Kirby Dach practiced in full gear during an informal skate today as he skates off the rust following yet another extensive knee surgery back in February, per Marc-Olivier Cook of Dans Les Coulisses.
Montreal never issued a specific recovery timeline for the 24-year-old after he had the surgery, just that he wouldn’t return in 2024-25. There was never any official word on whether he was expected to be ready for training camp, either, so today’s news is the first real indication of his progress in more than six months.
The Habs acquired the 2019 No. 3 overall pick from the Blackhawks in 2022, hoping that he could be a long-term second-line option behind captain Nick Suzuki. While he spent a good portion of his first season in Montreal on the wing, early returns were at least strong with 38 points in 58 games.
His first major knee injury came just two games into 2023-24, tearing his ACL and MCL in his right knee simultaneously. That threw away the rest of the season, and the extended time off certainly showed when he returned to action for 2024-25. He spent more time down the middle with more limited offensive output – 10 goals and 22 points – in 57 games before the second right knee injury ended that year as well.
Canadiens EVP Jeff Gorton said during exit meetings that the team still had hope in Dach, but certainly wasn’t banking on him returning to a top-six role out of the gate this fall after another lengthy absence. They may not have much of a choice, though. Montreal didn’t make any significant moves at forward this summer besides losing depth veteran Christian Dvorak and acquiring promising youngster Zachary Bolduc from the Blues in exchange for defense prospect Logan Mailloux. Bolduc played center in his junior days but has only seen time on the wing through his two NHL seasons in St. Louis. After scoring 36 points in 72 games last year, though, he would be their best option as a No. 2 pivot from the standpoint of last year’s offensive output if he can make the adjustment.
Players Who Could Start The Season On LTIR
While only a handful of teams project to need cap relief via long-term injured reserve to open the season, multiple candidates across the league might technically qualify for a placement. Doing so would bar the player from returning until Oct. 31 at the earliest – 24 days from the season start date of Oct. 7.
Avalanche: Logan O’Connor
O’Connor underwent hip surgery in early June. Given the five-to-six-month projected recovery window, he won’t be available until early November at best, putting him past the 10-game/24-day threshold required for LTIR. Colorado, which has $2.10MM in current cap space, will likely place O’Connor on standard IR if they don’t make any other cap-affecting moves between now and October. If they need the relief, though, they could create up to O’Connor’s $2.5MM cap hit in cushion for the first few weeks of the season if they need it.
Blues: Torey Krug
St. Louis general manager Doug Armstrong announced in May that Krug’s career is done because of pre-arthritic conditions in his left ankle that surgical intervention only slowly corrected. Since the Blues only have around $625K in cap space, Krug and his $6.5MM cap hit will be going on LTIR as soon as they need the flexibility for a call-up.
Canadiens: Carey Price
What’s certain is that Price won’t play this season or ever again. He’s entering the final season of his contract at a $10.5MM cap hit after confirming nearly two years ago that his knee injury would prohibit him from suiting up again. What’s uncertain is whether or not he’ll begin the season on LTIR. Montreal isn’t in a great position to optimize its LTIR relief, either by matching his cap hit in excess or getting down to $0 in space before placing him on the list. That’s made his contract a trade chip for teams who might need the relief more.
Devils: Johnathan Kovacevic
Kovacevic underwent knee surgery in early May and won’t be ready for training camp and likely opening night as well. Whether that stretches past Oct. 31 and makes him eligible for an LTIR placement if New Jersey needs cap relief early on remains to be seen.
Flyers: Ryan Ellis, Rasmus Ristolainen
Ellis’ career is over after sustaining a wide-ranging muscular injury in his pelvis just four games into his Flyers tenure in 2021. Ristolainen underwent a procedure on his right triceps tendon on March 26 with a six-month recovery time, putting him right on the edge of potential LTIR eligibility. Philly will have a better idea of the latter’s LTIR deployment potential after he undergoes his training camp physical. With $370K in cap space, they’re in a good position for near-max LTIR capture and will almost certainly at least place Ellis there to begin the year to give them call-up flexibility.
Golden Knights: Alex Pietrangelo
Pietrangelo is already on offseason LTIR, meaning the Knights actually still have to add an additional $1.2MM to their roster before opening night to optimize his capture and unlock his full $8.8MM cap hit’s worth of relief for this season. The team confirmed he requires multiple undisclosed but significant surgeries that will likely mark the end of his playing career, but it’s unclear if he’s actually had them done yet.
Jets: Adam Lowry
Lowry underwent hip surgery in late May and won’t be available until after Thanksgiving at the earliest. Winnipeg likely won’t be formalizing an LTIR placement with nearly $4MM in cap space, though.
Mammoth: Juuso Välimäki
Välimäki underwent ACL surgery in early March. He likely won’t end up on LTIR given Utah’s current cap flexibility ($6.68MM), but he’ll be out until at least early November so he’ll be there as an early-season option in case they need relief for whatever reason.
Oilers: Zach Hyman
Hyman’s inclusion here is on the speculative side. The winger could very well be ready for the start of the season. However, there hasn’t been much clarity on how much recovery he still needs after undergoing surgery to repair a severe wrist injury that kept him out of the Stanley Cup Final. A report in early June indicated there was uncertainty about his status for training camp, with no meaningful updates since then.
Panthers: Matthew Tkachuk
Tkachuk told ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski earlier this month that he’s still deciding whether he wants to undergo surgery to address the adductor issue that hampered him down the stretch and in the playoffs after sustaining it at the 4 Nations Face-Off. All signs point to him opting for it and spending the next two to three months on the shelf as a result, though. Placing him on LTIR is the only way the Panthers, who currently have a cap exceedance of $3.725MM, can be compliant to start the season without shedding a significant contract, something they aren’t keen to do.
Wild: Jonas Brodin
Minnesota has $9.41MM in cap space, but that number will shrink once they re-sign restricted free agent Marco Rossi (or add salary while trading his signing rights). Neither scenario will likely push them into a situation where they need to use LTIR relief, but they might have Brodin and his $6MM cap hit as an option for some short-term flexibility if required. He underwent an upper-body procedure in early June and is questionable for the beginning of the season, so it’s not yet clear if he’ll miss enough time to qualify.
Morning Notes: Hutson, Papaioannou, Rodrigue
Extension talks between the Canadiens and pending 10.2(c) RFA Lane Hutson are still in their preliminary stages but have been “very amicable,” sources tell RG’s Marco D’Amico.
D’Amico deep dives into a couple of peculiarities impacting Hutson’s next deal, the first of which is his inability to receive an offer sheet next summer due to his lack of professional experience. That takes significant pressure off the Canadiens to rush things with the reigning Calder Trophy winner while also somewhat limiting Hutson’s leverage to command north of $10MM per season on a mid-to-long-term deal, as some have speculated.
After erupting for 60 assists and 66 points in all 82 games in his first crack at the NHL, Hutson will be up for his first standard contract at just 22 years old with five years of team control remaining. That means a long-term deal may not be in the cards – a four-year contract would give them one more try at negotiating with Hutson under team control and would allow him to land a payday at age 26 amid his peak.
That could result in a more conservative cap hit in the $8.8MM to $9.5MM range when an extension does get done eventually, D’Amico writes, citing other 10.2(c) comparables in the past few years like Brock Faber, Quinn Hughes, and Jake Sanderson. They’re also likely keeping talks quiet until another 10.2(c) RFA defenseman, Luke Hughes, signs his next deal with the Devils to give Hutson’s camp a more recent comparable to work with.
More from around hockey today:
- The ECHL’s Wheeling Nailers have named Ryan Papaioannou as their new head coach, their NHL parent Penguins announced. Papaioannou, 41, had been the GM and head coach of the junior ’A’ Brooks Bandits since 2009-10, spending nearly all of that time in the Alberta Junior Hockey League until they moved to the British Columbia Hockey League last season. He guided the Bandits to five AJHL titles, one BCHL title, and won AJHL Coach of the Year honors three times (2013, 2019, 2022). He succeeds Derek Army, who left to become an assistant coach with the AHL’s Colorado Eagles, as Pittsburgh’s second-tier affiliate bench boss.
- Former Oilers depth netminder Olivier Rodrigue has signed a one-year contract with Kazakhstan’s Barys Astana in the KHL, per a club announcement. The 25-year-old had spent the last five years in Edmonton’s system, primarily with AHL Bakersfield, but was not given a qualifying offer this summer following a tough campaign. He was limited to a .897 SV%, 3.12 GAA, and an 18-16-8 record in 41 showings for Bakersfield. He also made his NHL debut, allowing four goals on 29 shots across one start and one relief appearance.
Canadiens Gauging The Market For Carey Price's Contract
Despite not having played since the 2021-22 campaign and being unofficially retired, Carey Price’s contract could become a trade chip for the Montreal Canadiens in a few weeks. In a new report from RG Media, the Canadiens are already gauging interest in Price’s $10.5MM cap hit, especially for teams looking to create a significant gap between themselves and the salary cap floor, with any hypothetical deal taking place after September 1st.
How The Canadiens, Golden Knights, And Panthers Will Use LTIR
At the time of writing, the Canadiens, Golden Knights, and Panthers are the only three teams that have negative projected cap space to open the season, per PuckPedia.
Those clubs also have high-priced LTIR candidates. Montreal’s Carey Price and Vegas’ Alex Pietrangelo are either retired or ruled out for the season and have cap hits higher than the amount their respective clubs are in the hole. Florida is likely to have Matthew Tkachuk miss significant time to start the year as he continues to get back to full health from last season’s adductor injury. While they won’t have a whole year’s worth of LTIR relief for him, they still have a clear pathway to compliance to start the season without making a cap-shedding trade.
But while these teams have a pathway to cap compliance, it’s not as simple as making an LTIR placement and calling it a day. LTIR usage isn’t blanket cap relief based on the cap hit of the injured player – the amount of financial relief a team gets is tied directly to how well a team optimizes its roster before making the placement.
There are two methods of going about this. The first, and more common one, is waiting until the start of the season to place a player on LTIR.
That means a club needs to, even if it’s for a matter of minutes via paper transactions, be cap-compliant without LTIR usage before making the placement and using their newfound flexibility to restore their roster. The difference between the LTIR player’s cap hit and the cap space available when making the placement will be the relief pool amount the team has to work with – hence why teams using LTIR to start the year try to get as close to $0 in cap space as possible to unlock the player’s full cap hit in relief.
The second involves the usage of offseason LTIR. If a team opts to place a player on LTIR before the season starts, the relief amount is equivalent to their cap excess. In that case, it behooves a team to spend more to boost the amount they exceed the cap by as close as the injured player’s cap hit as possible.
That second method is almost certainly what Vegas will use. Their roster is currently set to exceed the cap by $7.64MM, per PuckPedia, roughly $1.16MM shy of Pietrangelo’s $8.8MM cap hit.
With the rest of their offseason business done and one roster spot open, the Knights still haven’t signed restricted free agent winger Alexander Holtz to a new contract for 2025-26. Signing him to a one-year deal worth exactly $1,161,429 would allow them to have a perfect LTIR capture when opening-night rosters are due, allowing them the full $8.8MM relief amount throughout the season. That figure is above Holtz’s market value anyway, so it’s unlikely they’d have any trouble convincing him to ink that contract.
At first glance, Florida’s pathway to making things work is more likely the first option, if for no other reason than the fact they’ll need the flexibility to activate Tkachuk in-season when he’s cleared to play. They’re also much closer to no cap exceedance than $9.5MM, Tkachuk’s cap hit, worth of exceedance.
Wouldn’t the Panthers thus look to clear exactly their projected exceedance of $3.725MM via paper transactions that can be reversed after Tkachuk’s LTIR placement? Not exactly.
Usually, teams in that situation have a few young waiver-exempt players on their roster that they can briefly send down to the AHL to achieve the intended result. The Panthers have no waiver-exempt players on their projected 22-player roster, and the likelihood of a claim for highly-regarded Cup-winning depth talent like Jesper Boqvist, Jonah Gadjovich, or A.J. Greer is almost 100%.
With the Cats prioritizing continuity between last year’s championship team and this one above all else, it stands to reason they might simply take severely reduced LTIR flexibility out of the gate. Making no other moves before LTIRing Tkachuk would leave them with only $3.725MM in flexibility to open the season, compared to their potential $9.5MM if they tried to optimize his relief. Still, as they’d need to activate him later in the year, they wouldn’t take full advantage of that $9.5MM even if they had it.
As for the Canadiens, they’re stuck in the mushy middle. Price’s cap hit is $10.5MM, and their projected exceedance is $5.93MM. That means they’d either need to shed nearly $6MM in cap space or add over $4.5MM worth of cap hits to take advantage of his placement fully.
For a team on the rise with playoff aspirations and some holes in their middle-six forward group, the latter outcome is the likelier one. They still only have $4.5MM in flexibility if they decide to go that route, though, pricing them out of a new deal for top centers on the trade market like RFAs Mason McTavish and Marco Rossi without sending a significant salary – potentially Kirby Dach’s $3.36MM cap hit or Alex Newhook’s $2.9MM cap hit – back the other way to help make up the difference.
Brady Keeper Announces Retirement
He spent the next few years moving from the Panthers to the Vancouver Canucks, before finally landing in the Montreal Canadiens organization in the 2023-24 season. Outside of an additional game with Florida, he’s only played in the AHL, finishing his career with 10 goals and 31 points in 129 games with a -2 rating and 208 PIMs. Unless he changes his mind on retirement in the next few years, his last professional hockey contest will have come with the AHL’s Laval Rocket in 2024.