Rangers Sitting Artemi Panarin For Roster-Related Reasons
6:42 PM: Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic reports that Panarin is seeking a contract extension before he’ll sign off on any trade. With the Rangers committed to holding him out through the Olympic break if needed, Panarin now has ample time to try to work out a deal with his next team.
5:28 PM: According to Mollie Walker of the New York Post, the New York Rangers are healthy-scratching Artemi Panarin for roster-related reasons. Not only will Panarin sit tonight against the New York Islanders, but Walker shared that he won’t be back in the lineup before the upcoming Olympic break.
That means, at least in the short-term future, that Panarin will miss the next four games for the Rangers. In all likelihood, he has played his last game for the Rangers.
Still, there’s no indication that a Panarin trade is particularly close. Because of the no-movement clause included in his contract, Panarin would have to greenlight any trade out of New York. It is believed that the Rangers have asked Panarin to provide a list of teams he would be willing to join, and today’s news suggests that Panarin has at least offered them a few options.
It’ll be interesting to see how long New York is willing to keep Panarin on the sidelines. Because there’s no indication a trade is close, and not every team linked to Panarin has sufficient cap space to acquire Panarin (though they would by the time the trade deadline rolls around), there’s a possibility that a deal won’t materialize until closer to the deadline. It would be unlikely, but that worst-case scenario could have Panarin without game action for over a month.
Regardless, if he has already played his last game with New York, he has finished as one of the organization’s best offensive players ever. Since joining the Rangers ahead of the 2019-20 campaign, Panarin has scored 205 goals and 607 points in 482 games with a +68 rating. He has consistently maintained a CorsiFor% above 50.0% at even strength and was a top-five scorer in the league as recently as the 2023-24 season.
Much of the concern regarding Panarin’s tenure with the Rangers has stemmed from a perception that he “disappears” during the playoffs. This claim is wholly unfounded.
Although Panarin hasn’t maintained his regular-season scoring pace in the postseason, he has recorded 19 goals and 53 points in 62 playoff games since joining the Columbus Blue Jackets before the 2017-18 season. Exclusively with the Rangers, he’s registered 12 goals and 35 points in 46 games while averaging more than 20 minutes per night, helping the team reach two Eastern Conference Finals.
It’s an evolving situation, but Panarin should be with a new team relatively soon.
Red Wings Sign Ben Chiarot To Three-Year Extension
12:45 p.m.: Chiarot will earn a flat $3.85MM salary each season of the deal, PuckPedia reports. The contract includes a full no-trade clause from 2026-27 until 28 days prior to the 2028 trade deadline, when it converts to a 10-team no-trade list. That 10-team no-trade list remains through 2028-29, the final season of the deal.
8:06 a.m.: The Red Wings announced they’ve signed defenseman Ben Chiarot to a three-year extension worth $3.85MM per season. That’s a total value of $11.55MM for Chiarot, who was set to be an unrestricted free agent this summer.
Chiarot could have tested the market as one of the top left-shot defensemen available in what looks to be a paper-thin class. It would have been his third trip through unrestricted free agency, previously landing a three-year, $10.5MM commitment from the Canadiens in 2019 and then his current four-year, $19MM contract with Detroit in 2022. He’s one of the last few Thrashers draft picks sticking around the league, selected in the fourth round by Atlanta in 2009 before eventually breaking into the league with the Jets after they relocated to Winnipeg.
While the Thrashers didn’t reap the rewards, it’s safe to say they’ve gotten great value out of a mid-round pick. He’s been a lineup staple for Winnipeg, Montreal, Florida, and Detroit since first emerging as a full-time option in the 2014-15 season, often serving as the complementary defensive-minded piece on a pairing with Dustin Byfuglien.
It wasn’t until signing in Montreal that he began to be viewed as a bona fide top-pair piece, though. He quickly averaged over 23 minutes per night for the Habs as his all-around usage expanded, and he ended up playing a significant role in their underdog run to the 2021 Stanley Cup Final. His surface numbers that season were uninspiring – just nine points and a -22 rating in 63 combined regular-season and playoff games – but the fact that he averaged over 25 minutes per game in the postseason and his physical brand of play ended up boosting his stock significantly around the league. He was valued highly enough to net Montreal a first-round pick when they flipped him to the Panthers as a rental at the following season’s trade deadline.
Since signing in Detroit, though, the shine has largely worn off. What were once passable, if not downright promising, under-the-hood numbers have faded. Chiarot has long struggled to produce good two-way results in what’s been a difficult possession environment in Detroit, controlling under 45% of shot attempts at even strength through the first three seasons of the deal. He quickly lost out on a top-pairing job alongside Moritz Seider to Jake Walman and, now, Simon Edvinsson, although he’s temporarily back up in top-pairing deployment with Edvinsson hurt.
Chiarot’s game has recovered to some degree this year. With a +1 rating and 11 points in 54 games, his on-ice results are the best they’ve been since signing with the Wings. That’s with him averaging 21:07 per game, third on the team behind Seider and Edvinsson, and he ranks second on the Wings in both blocks (113) and hits (109).
His possession numbers still leave much to be desired, though, and they can’t be explained by aggressive defensive zone deployment at even strength. In fact, Chiarot’s 51.9 dZS% is the second-most favorable number among Detroit defensemen behind rookie Axel Sandin Pellikka. Those two have formed Detroit’s second pairing for much of the year, controlling 45.9% of expected goals but still managing to outscore opponents 24-22, per MoneyPuck.
All that suggests Chiarot’s brief resurgence could be more mirage than longer-term promise. With that in mind, a three-year commitment seems aggressive to retain the 34-year-old. The dearth of potential UFA replacements, though, didn’t leave the Wings with many other options. Most of their defensemen in the pipeline with legitimate promise have already graduated to NHL roles, and the ones that haven’t wouldn’t be ready to succeed Chiarot in top-four duties next season. Save for a trade pickup, retaining him at a reasonable cap hit – even if the multi-year term will raise some eyebrows – was the easy move to make.
The Wings are still in a great spot, cap-wise, for next season. They have $38.8MM in space with 15 roster spots already accounted for, per PuckPedia. A good chunk of that money will need to be earmarked for Edvinsson, a pending RFA, but that’s still plenty of spending money.
Image courtesy of Brian Bradshaw Sevald-Imagn Images.
Islanders Acquire Ondrej Palat
6:45 PM: As expected, Ondřej Palát has been traded, as the New York Islanders acquire the veteran along with draft picks. Maxim Tsyplakov is headed to New Jersey, while the Islanders also bring in a third-round pick in 2026, as well as a sixth-round pick in 2027, according to TSN’s Pierre Lebrun.
There is no salary retention involved, as the Islanders inherit Palát’s full $6MM cap hit, reported by David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period.
After long-standing efforts from New Jersey to move on, Islanders general manager Mathieu Darche brings in a familiar face in Palát, having spent several years together in Tampa Bay. The veteran shows a willingness to join the nearby club, being dealt despite a no-movement clause, where he will now try to help New York secure a spot in the postseason this spring.
Meanwhile, the Devils can finally turn the page, coming away with just under $4MM off the books, in what could prove to be a first step in more moves to come. Along with surrendering the draft picks, the team brings in Tsyplakov’s $2.25MM cap hit, which runs through next season. The 27-year-old has just two points in 27 games this season, originally coming over in 2024 after a 31-goal campaign in the KHL.
Tsyplakov, 6’3″, was effective in his first North American season, notching 35 points in 77 games in 2024-25, serving as an energy winger with some skill. The Russian finished the season ranked second on the team in penalty minutes, with 39, but has shown considerable improvement this year in avoiding infractions. However, due to the additions of Maxim Shabanov and Jonathan Drouin, New York had limited opportunites for Tsyplakov to showcase his offensive ability, needing him to be a more physical power forward, a role which proved not to be a fit.
Along with his 155 games of playoff experience, leading the team by a considerable margin, the Islanders are bringing in a winger more capable of bottom six contributions. As is well known to this point, Palát is not the player he once was, with 10 points in 51 games, but the 34-year-old has remained healthy this season and remains a solid utility winger.
Criticizing poorly-aging free agent deals of the past with the benefit of hindsight is a tired point, however, from the beginning, questions were raised on how Palát would age into his five-year deal. At the time, the Stanley Cup winner was expected to help along Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier, but the wear-and-tear of three straight deep postseason runs with the Bolts played a factor into his Devils tenure. Dealing with injuries, the former seventh-round pick has seen his role gradually diminish, and concludes his time in Newark with a season-best of just 31 points. Palát was unable to adequately compliment the likes of Hughes and Hischier, which was a must at such a price point.
Tsyplakov figures to be a useful bottom-sixer for the Devils moving forward, now seeking to turn the page under Head Coach Sheldon Keefe and return to his form from last year.
Darche and the Islanders have been busy over the past few days supplementing their group. Just yesterday, he swung another deal with his other nearby rival, acquiring defenseman Carson Soucy from the Rangers for a 2026 third-round pick. Now with today’s move, the club replinishes their lost selection, also bringing in a motivated veteran.
Palát joins the Islanders at an exciting time, as they’re slated to have a home-and-home with the Rangers tomorrow and Thursday. On the other hand, Tsyplakov could debut for New Jersey as soon as Thursday, as his new club hosts the Predators.
5:30 PM: It appears the Devils are close to finding a trade partner for winger Ondřej Palát. The team is holding him out of tonight’s game against the Jets for “roster-related reasons,” per the team’s Amanda Stein.
The Devils’ efforts to shed Palát and his $6MM cap hit have dated back to last summer. Those only intensified into the season as New Jersey was close to the cap and attempting to make a splash on the trade market – widely assumed to be Quinn Hughes – but ended up not being able to pull the deal off. Not only does finding a willing taker for the declining veteran’s contract prove difficult, but he can block most moves with his 10-team no-trade list and no-movement clause.
Evidently, Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald has now found a team that’s not on Palát’s no-trade list and is willing to take on all or most of his deal, which expires after next season. The 34-year-old inked a five-year, $30MM deal with N.J. in free agency back in 2022 on the heels of three straight Stanley Cup Final appearances with the Lightning. He was also coming off three straight 40-point seasons, but never managed to hit that mark in a Devils sweater.
From the start, his production simply wasn’t there. Injuries took away nearly half of his first season in Newark, and last year, he only averaged 13:45 of ice time per game with 15 goals and 28 points in 77 contests. He averaged 55 points per 82 games during his 10 years in Tampa, but that number is down to 30 in Jersey. This year, he’s mustered 10 points in 51 games for a career-worst pace.
With that in point, Palát’s contract comes across as squarely a negative-value one that the Devils will be offloading an asset to move, even if they’re retaining a little bit of cash. While his possession impacts were something of a saving grace over the first two years of the deal, those, too, have now declined. New Jersey has controlled under 50% of shot attempts with Palát on the ice at 5-on-5 dating back to last year.
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet was the first to officially break the deal.
Image Credit: John Jones-Imagn Images
Pro Hockey Rumors’ Bradley Keith also contributed to this article.
Thatcher Demko Out For Season
12:01 p.m.: The Canucks are shutting Demko down for the season to undergo hip surgery, the team announced. He ends his year with an 8-10-1 record in 20 appearances with a .895 SV% and 2.90 GAA – both strong numbers behind a lax Vancouver defense.
8:35 a.m.: The Vancouver Canucks have been without starting netminder Thatcher Demko since January 10th, and his absence could extend even further. According to TSN’s Darren Dreger, the Canucks are expected to provide clarity on Demko’s injury later today, and he may be done for the 2025-26 campaign.
Speculation regarding his availability for the remainder of the season came from Vancouver’s head coach, Adam Foote, who admitted that Demko’s season may be over. The nine-year veteran has been dealing with chronic knee issues for the last few years and was out with a groin ailment earlier this season.
At the time, Foote only acknowledged that Demko is dealing with a lower-body injury, and there’s no word on whether it’s related to his previous afflictions. If it is, Demko may need relatively invasive surgery, which could sideline him for months. Dreger confirmed that Demko has been meeting with medical specialists, which would explain the lack of clarity from the Canucks.
Additionally, it wouldn’t be a bad year for Demko to take off to regain his health. Vancouver is currently in the league’s basement with a 17-30-5 record and has no realistic pathway back to contention, even with Demko between the pipes.
Still, even if he does have surgery, there should be significant concern from the Canucks. If he misses the rest of the season, he will have made only 43 starts in the last two seasons. For comparison, Demko made 51 starts during the 2023-24 season alone.
Despite the injuries, Vancouver signed Demko to a three-year, $25.5MM ($8.5MM AAV) extension that begins next season. Considering that they’re already paying Kevin Lankinen $4.5MM through the 2029-30 campaign, that’s a relatively high price to pay for a goalie tandem on a non-competitive team.
Avalanche Sign Sam Malinski To Four-Year Extension
The Avalanche announced they’ve signed defenseman Sam Malinski to a four-year contract extension. It carries an average annual value of $4.75MM for a total commitment of $19MM, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports. He was set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer.
Malinski’s deal is paid almost entirely in base salary aside from a $1MM signing bonus in 2029-30, the last year of the deal, per PuckPedia. His salary breaks down as $5.5MM in 2026-27, $4.5MM in 2027-28 and 2028-29, and $3.5MM in 2028-29. He has a full no-trade clause from 2026-28 before downgrading to a 10-team no-trade list in 2028-29 and a six-team no-trade list in 2029-30.
It’s a big deal amid a big breakout for Malinski, who, at age 27, is in just his third professional season. Colorado signed the 5’11” righty as an undrafted free agent out of Cornell in 2023. He spent his first year in the organization bouncing between the NHL and AHL before obtaining a more stable role as a bottom-pairing threat last season.
This year, he’s still operating as the Avs’ third-pair righty behind Cale Makar and Brent Burns (Josh Manson has shifted to his offside on the second pairing), but his results have been those of a top-four piece. With 24 points in 50 games, he’s tied for 38th in the league in scoring among defenders, and his +26 rating is tied for sixth in the NHL. No one in the league has done more with less – among D-men at or above Malinski’s production, they’ve all averaged at least 19 minutes per game, while Malinski skates just 16:43 per contest.
Colorado’s multiple layers of starpower are impossible to ignore, but it’s the immense success of players near the bottom of the lineup like Malinski this season that have the Avs cruising toward their fourth Presidents’ Trophy in franchise history. Most frequently paired with Samuel Girard, they beat out both Makar’s and Burns’ pairings in expected goals against per 60 minutes at 2.24, per MoneyPuck. They’ve controlled 56.6% of them overall and have outscored 18-10 at 5-on-5.
It’s hard to overstate the uniqueness of Malinski’s path to this point. Initially draft-eligible way back in 2016, he spent the following season with his high school team in Minnesota. Only in his DY+2 did he jump to junior hockey, spending most of the next two seasons in the Tier II North American Hockey League with Bismarck before enrolling at Cornell as a 21-year-old freshman. Players with such a delayed development curve are usually long shots to even get an NHL call-up, let alone become a stable contributor on a Stanley Cup favorite.
Now, he cashes in throughout his prime while the Avs retain a potential succession policy to the 40-year-old Burns, who’s been spectacular after inking a one-year deal last summer. With Makar and Girard set to become UFAs in 2027 and Manson in 2028, Malinski is now the team’s second-longest signed defender behind Devon Toews, whose deal expires in 2031.
Image courtesy of Jerome Miron-Imagn Images.
New York Islanders Acquire Carson Soucy
9:40 p.m.: The Islanders have now officially announced their acquisition of Soucy.
7:10 p.m.: While no deal has been officially completed to this point, ESPN’s Emily Kaplan reports that the Rangers will receive a 2026 third-round pick from the Islanders in exchange for the veteran defenseman. That’s identical to the price the Rangers paid the Canucks to acquire Soucy in March of last year.
Soucy was held out of the Rangers’ lineup for their game tonight against the Boston Bruins for “roster management reasons,” a source with knowledge of the situation told Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press. Again, while no trade has been officially announced, it appears overwhelmingly likely that Soucy will end up an Islander at some point in the very near future.
The Rangers also made two roster moves today to prepare themselves for the loss of Soucy. New York sent spare forward Anton Blidh back down to their AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack, and recalled veteran blueliner Connor Mackey. Mackey’s recall gives New York a seventh defenseman for its active roster once Soucy is officially transferred to the Islanders.
12:20 p.m.: The Rangers and Islanders are deep in talks on a deal that would send defenseman Carson Soucy across town to Elmont, Vince Z. Mercogliano of The Athletic reports. If the trade doesn’t get materialized today, Soucy has still played his last game as a Blueshirt – he’ll be scratched for tonight’s game against the Bruins to protect him from an injury, Mercogliano said.
Soucy, 31, is purely a shutdown threat at this stage of his career. He was a fifth-round pick by the Wild back in 2013 and took a long development path through college and the minors before emerging as a full-time piece for the 2019-20 season. After two full years in Minnesota, he was plucked by the Kraken in the 2021 expansion draft.
Since then, Soucy hasn’t spent more than two full seasons with an organization. Upon becoming an unrestricted free agent for the first time in 2023, he inked a three-year, $9.75MM deal with the Canucks worth $3.25MM annually. He’s in the final year of that deal now, having waived his no-trade clause last season to facilitate a deal to the Rangers at the deadline. He now finds himself on the move once again, but won’t need to travel very far as the New York clubs complete their first trade with each other since 2010 and just the fourth all-time.
At best, his free-agent splash in Vancouver can be described as fair value. He missed more than half of his only full season in Vancouver with various injuries before posting a career-worst -11 rating in 75 appearances with the Canucks and Blueshirts last season. This year, while his eight points and a +4 rating in 46 games look acceptable enough for a second or third-pairing threat, his underlying numbers show an uglier picture. His two most frequent 5-on-5 pairings, on the left side with William Borgen and Braden Schneider, have both controlled a team-worst 42.4% of expected goals, per MoneyPuck. His 43.8% Corsi share at even strength also ranks last among Rangers defenders despite him seeing easier deployment than Borgen, Schneider, and Urho Vaakanainen.
Soucy was a great two-way piece lower on Seattle’s depth chart during his two-year run there, though, including a career-best 10 goals and 21 points in 64 games during the 2021-22 season. The 6’4″, 211-lb lefty also averages 101 blocks and 129 hits per 82 games for his career, so he brings a physical edge to an Isles blue line that’s lost high-paid shutdown threat Alexander Romanov for virtually the entire season due to a shoulder injury. With righty Ryan Pulock now also dealing with an upper-body injury, Islanders general manager Mathieu Darche won’t play the waiting game as the Isles gun for a playoff berth in the first year of the Matthew Schaefer era.
While Soucy’s acquisition is clearly targeted at ending the third-pairing lefty rotation that’s fallen in the hands of AHL call-ups Isaiah George, Travis Mitchell, and Marshall Warren in Romanov’s absence, there’s value in his versatility – he’s played plenty on the right side in his career with no real adverse effects. There’s also a benefit for the Isles’ budgeters in his contract structure. While he counts for $3.25MM against the cap, he’s only owed $2.5MM in actual salary this season as a result of his frontloaded deal.
Senators Activate Linus Ullmark From Non-Roster List
The Senators have reinstated Linus Ullmark to the active roster for today’s game against the Golden Knights, per Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia. He won’t be getting the start but will serve as the backup to Mads Søgaard.
Tonight will be Ullmark’s first time dressing for a game in nearly a month. After conceding four goals on 14 shots against the Maple Leafs on Dec. 27 and being pulled from the game, he took a personal leave of absence from the team the following day.
He’s been practicing with Ottawa for more than a week to get back into game conditioning, though. He first returned to team skates on Jan. 16 and will likely be ticketed for his first start next Wednesday against the Avalanche without a conditioning stint with AHL Belleville.
Ottawa hasn’t gotten good goaltending out of any personnel they’ve tried this season. It’s toughest to swallow, though, when those numbers are coming from a goalie with the fifth-highest cap hit among active netminders. Even still, Ullmark’s .881 SV% and 2.95 GAA are the best among the five goalies to suit up for the Sens this year, and he’s the only one with a winning record at 14-8-5. Regardless of his struggles, he’s been the Sens’ clear-cut best option this season and will be their best chance to win down the stretch.
While this season looks more and more like a lost one, Ullmark getting his numbers back to last season’s form and retaining his confidence after his reset would bode well for the Sens’ chances of getting back to the playoffs next year. With a .909 SV% and 13.8 goals saved above expected, he was one of the biggest reasons Ottawa ended its eight-year playoff drought in 2024-25.
Image courtesy of John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images.
Maple Leafs Activate Anthony Stolarz
4:23 p.m.: Stolarz has officially been activated from IR with Hildeby headed down, the team announced.
11:54 a.m.: The Maple Leafs will activate goaltender Anthony Stolarz from long-term injured reserve before tonight’s tilt against the Golden Knights, head coach Craig Berube confirmed to reporters (including Mark Masters of TSN). It will be his first start in over two months. The team sent Dennis Hildeby to AHL Toronto to open up a spot, per PuckPedia, but they’re still one over the roster limit as they’ve yet to make a corresponding move for Henry Thrun‘s recall this morning.
The last 32 games of the season provide Stolarz a chance to erase what was a disastrous early going. Entering training camp as the clear-cut No. 1 option for the first time, he landed a four-year, $15MM extension during training camp as a result. It was well-deserved – he backstopped the Leafs to a rare playoff series win last year and finished fifth in Vezina Trophy voting while leading the league with a .926 SV% in 33 starts.
Injuries have consistently been an issue for the skilled 32-year-old, who averaged just 23 starts per season over the last four years. Tandem partner Joseph Woll started the year on personal leave, meaning Stolarz had a much higher-than-normal workload out of the gate. He immediately faltered, posting his worst stretch of hockey as an NHLer with a .884 SV% and 3.51 GAA in 13 starts. High-end goal support from the Leafs meant he still ended up with a 6-5-1 record, but his -8.3 goals saved above expected in such limited action were a noticeable stain on the track record of one of the league’s most consistently analytically sound netminders.
He’s spent the last few days with AHL Toronto on a conditioning assignment as he works his way back from his upper-body issue. He didn’t get into any game action with the Marlies, though.
Now, with Woll healthy, he and Stolarz can return to a more familiar split. Woll has had a fine year in his own right – his .911 SV% and two shutouts in 21 games certainly read as impressive, but he’s only accounted for 0.6 GSAx, according to MoneyPuck, suggesting there still might be some room for growth.
Unfortunately, Toronto’s roster crunch and Hildeby’s waiver-exempt status meant a three-goalie rotation would be unfeasible when Stolarz returned. With no roster limit, the Leafs likely would have opted to experiment with one. Hildeby, 24, has been one of the best stories of the season in Toronto. The 2022 fourth-round pick has spent virtually the entire season on the roster with Woll’s and Stolarz’s long-term absences.
He’s not just been an above-average third-string option; he’s arguably been the Leafs’ best netminder. His raw numbers are slightly under Woll’s, but he carries a wide advantage when accounting for team defense with 8.9 GSAx. Even his .910 SV% and 2.90 GAA in 19 appearances are strong stats for a largely unheralded rookie.
Nonetheless, he may need to wait until the roster limit disappears at the trade deadline to get his next NHL chance if Stolarz and Woll manage to stay healthy until then. Despite just signing a multi-year extension, Stolarz’s race to the finish could impact whether Toronto aims to shop him over the summer in order to open up a spot for the younger, cheaper Hildeby next season.
Image courtesy of Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images.
Sabres Sign Josh Doan To Seven-Year Extension
According to ESPN’s Emily Kaplan, the Buffalo Sabres are nearing a contract extension with forward Josh Doan. A few moments later, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that it’ll be a seven-year, $48.65MM ($6.95MM AAV) deal. The Sabres have confirmed the contract.
PuckPedia provided the year-by-year breakdown of Doan’s extension:
- 2026-28: $3.45MM salary, $3.5M signing bonus
- 2028-29: $6.95MM salary
- 2029-33: $6.95MM salary, seven-team no-trade clause
General Manager Jarmo Kekäläinen makes his first major move as the new leader of Buffalo’s front office. Doan’s next extension will keep the forward in upstate New York through the 2032-33 NHL season, when he’ll be 31 years old.
Few would have predicted a mammoth extension for Doan just six months ago. Over the summer, the Sabres acquired Doan and defenseman Michael Kesselring from the Utah Mammoth for JJ Peterka. At the time, Doan was believed to be a long-term fit in the middle six of Buffalo’s forward core.
That’s largely what he showed with his last organization. Throughout the first two years of his career, Doan registered 12 goals and 28 points in 62 games split between the Arizona Coyotes and Utah Hockey Club, averaging 13:18 of ice time with a +4 rating. He had relatively impactful possession and defensive metrics, though nothing would indicate he would break out as he has with the Sabres.
In Buffalo, he’s already surpassed his previous career totals. Throughout 49 games this year, Doan has scored 15 goals and 35 points, averaging 16:04 of ice time per game. That production is good for third on the team in goal-scoring and fourth in total scoring. He isn’t showing any signs of slowing down, either.
Not only has Doan alleviated the concerns of trading a player of Peterka’s offensive caliber, but he actually has three more points than Peterka this season in the same number of games played. According to MoneyPuck, the line of Peyton Krebs, Tage Thompson, and Doan has averaged a 55.1% xGoals% in all situations, which is the 20th best in the league for forward units that have played in 150 or more minutes together.
Additionally, his on-ice Goals% (60.4%) is the highest on the team by a healthy margin, arguably making him the most productive forward on the team this season. He has shown some new shortcomings on the defensive side of the puck, though Buffalo is likely willing to overlook that as long as he keeps tearing it up in the other direction.
Photo courtesy of Eric Hartline-Imagn Images.
Kraken Open To Trading Shane Wright
The Seattle Kraken are reportedly open to trading 2022 No. 4 overall pick Shane Wright as they pursue adding an impactful top-six scorer, according to David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period. Pagnotta wrote yesterday that the Kraken have “been searching for a top-six forward,” and believe including Wright in a deal could be the key to landing a caliber of player that makes a real impact on their team.
That Seattle is even considering trading Wright would have been a stunning development before the start of the 2025-26 season.
Entering the season, Wright looked well on the way to becoming a long-term core piece in Seattle.
His development path in years prior endured a few stops and starts, but 2024-25 was Wright’s first campaign as a full-time NHLer, and he blossomed.
He scored 19 goals and 44 points, the second-most points by a Kraken center and production that was just seven points behind 2022 No. 1 pick Juraj Slafkovsky.
Wright’s encouraging NHL campaign ensured he was viewed as a key cog in the Kraken’s future plans. The Athletic’s Corey Pronman ranked him as a top-25 U23 player in the entire NHL, writing that Wright “has no noticeable flaw in his toolkit” and “could be a second-line center on a top team or a fringe 1C on a lesser team.”
In a league where quality centers are always in high demand, he looked to be an asset for the Kraken that got as close to “untouchable” status as anyone on their roster. The belief was that Wright and 2023 Calder Trophy winner Matty Beniers would form a formidable backbone of two-way centers through whom the Kraken could anchor their forward lineup.
Wright’s 2025-26 season has, unfortunately, appeared to change the team’s calculus looking into the future. While Wright saw real developmental gains under former head coach Dan Bylsma, that momentum appears to have largely stalled under new coach Lane Lambert, even as Lambert keeps the Kraken in the thick of the Western Conference playoff race.
The hope for Wright was that after finishing the year as one of Seattle’s top scorers despite earning just 14:04 time on ice per game, he might be able to earn a greater role in his sophomore campaign, and something that could consequently power an even greater developmental leap.
That has not happened so far. In fact, it’s been the opposite. Wright has struggled to gain a foothold in Lambert’s lineup, averaging just 13:43 time on ice per game, with a second-unit role on the power play and no role on the penalty kill.
For a variety of reasons, including his role, Wright’s production has declined steeply. He’s scored 17 points in 49 games, which is just a 28-point 82-game scoring pace. His shooting percentage appears to be a major culprit, as he converted shots into goals at a nearly 21% rate last season, but is hovering at 9.3% this year.
Wright’s shooting ability was generally assessed by scouts to be his most high-end offensive tool, so the fact that he is struggling to find the back of the net this season only compounds concerns about the current state of his development.
With Wright’s current situation in mind, it can’t be a huge surprise to see his name surfacing in trade rumors. It may have come as a great surprise entering the season, but Wright’s development appears to have stalled to the point where a trade is only a natural thing to consider.
Whether that would be the best idea for the Kraken is, of course, a matter of debate.
On one hand, Wright remains an undeniably talented center on a team still short of high-end pivots. While his struggles this season may have shifted his projection in the eyes of some evaluators, the reality is he is still just 22 years old. There’s still reason to believe he can end up becoming the high-end second-line center scouts have long believed he’d develop into.
Impactful two-way top-six centers don’t grow on trees, and any deal involving one, even a potential future player for that role, becomes a difficult deal to win.
Trading Wright this season would also be, undeniably, “selling low” on a player who was a premium draft pick and high-end prospect. This season has been the low point of Wright’s career since being drafted, so it would be an inopportune time for Seattle to trade him, from a pure value standpoint.
On the other hand, the Kraken could badly use a dynamic offensive creator, and even the high end of Wright’s projection doesn’t include a realistic possibility of him becoming one. Centers are in demand across the NHL to a severe degree, and even with his struggles in 2025-26, Wright still figures to command a significant amount of value if dealt. There’s no doubt that if he were dangled in a trade, the Kraken would have the buying power to be able to land the kind of winger that fits their clear need for a dynamic offensive creator.
When considering what kind of player the Kraken could target if they indeed shop Wright, they could either leverage his age, pedigree, and positional value to land a more established scorer than Wright is at this moment (perhaps even adding other assets to swing a deal for as high-end of a target as possible), or they could target a winger in a similar developmental situation to Wright who happens to better fit the kind of talent profile they’re targeting.
If they elect to pursue the latter tactic, a name such as Columbus Blue Jackets forward Kent Johnson checks a lot of boxes. He was the No. 5 pick of the draft before Wright’s, and like Wright, appeared to be nearing “untouchable” status in his market after 2024-25.
He scored 57 points in 68 games, looking every bit like the hyper-skilled, dynamic offensive creator he was drafted to be. Also like Wright, Johnson’s 2025-26 season has been virtually unrecognizable compared to the year prior.
A player such as Johnson, even with his struggles this season, would require a significant trade asset in order to pry loose — which is where Wright could come into the picture. The idea of a Wright/Johnson deal is entirely speculative, of course, as there have been no firm reports of who Seattle might be targeting specifically.
But when examining the league-wide landscape for players who could be a fit in a Wright deal, his name emerges as an intriguing possibility, as both players look like they could benefit from a change-of-scenery transaction.
Regardless of what player Seattle might target — or if they end up even trading Wright at all — Pagnotta’s report underscores how important Wright is to the Kraken’s future.
He’s either going to get his development back on track and become a valuable two-way pivot in Seattle, or the team will leverage his trade value to acquire an impactful roster addition. Either way, his progress is one of the key storylines to watch in Seattle moving forward.
Photos courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images