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Flames Sign Dustin Wolf To Seven-Year Extension

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The Calgary Flames have signed reigning Calder Trophy finalist Dustin Wolf to a seven-year, $52.5MM extension, per a team release. The deal will carry a yearly cap hit of $7.5MM. That price tag will pull Wolf into the upper echelon of goalie contracts, making him the eighth-highest-paid goalie in the NHL.

Calgary is clearly confident after Wolf’s unprecedented play on his entry-level contract. He was once an overlooked goaltender, falling to the seventh round of the 2019 NHL Draft largely thanks to his slight 6-foot, 160-pound frame. Wolf was playing with the WHL’s Everett Silvertips at the time of his draft. He returned for a fourth season in Everett in the following year, and wrapped up his  WHL career with a staggering .935 save percentage in 149 games – the highest save percentage ever recorded across multiple WHL seasons.

Wolf moved to the AHL’s Stockton Heat in 2021-22 and earned the starter’s crease within just a few months. He was flashy and energetic, even as a first-year pro, and worked his way to a phenomenal 33-9-4 record and .924 Sv% in 47 games. That mark was enough to earn Wolf the AHL’s Baz Bastien award, handed out annually to the league’s top goalie. Not to be outdone, Wolf managed an even better record (42-10-2) and better save percentage (.932) in more games (55) in his second pro year, again taking home the Baz Bastien Award. With that, he became just the third goalie to ever win the award twice, and just the second to win it in back-to-back years.

That gave Wolf an incredible amount of momentum headed into last season. He played 18 games in the NHL between 2022 and 2024 – and managed a stout 8-7-1 record and .923 save percentage. But fans knew more was to come when Wolf finally broke into the Flames’ roster full-time. New Flames general manager Craig Conroy cleared the path for that to happen when he traded Jacob Markstrom to the New Jersey Devils in 2024. The lights were shining bright and trained solely on Wolf, headed into last season.

Wolf wasted no time proving he belonged in an NHL role. He won his first three games of the season with a .936 save percentage and managed his first shutout in his ninth game of the year. By the end of December, Wolf was touting an impressive 12-5-2 record and a .914 save percentage. Those numbers slipped slightly as Wolf worked his way up to 53 starts on the season – the 17th-most in the league. He finished his rookie season with a 29-16-8 record and .910 Sv% – tying Stuart Skinner, Pekka Rinne, and Andrew Raycroft for the eighth-most wins by a first-year starter.

It was a truly electric performance. Calgary’s chances to win rose significantly when Wolf took the net, and his athleticism and confidence were both unwavering. Advanced stat site Evolving Hockey estimates that Calgary received five wins-above-replacement (WAR) from Wolf – the fifth-most in the NHL, just narrowly behind Vezina Trophy finalist Darcy Kuemper and above Ilya Sorokin. That’s an incredible mark, and one that Calgary will quickly reward with a long-term extension. Teams have been duped in the past by strong rookie seasons. Hockey fans will surely remember the short-lived peak of Steve Mason. But Wolf seems well set to earn the starting role in every season of his new deal. He boasts all of the skill, speed, and sharp thinking to play at the top level, and will look to vindicate a great rookie year and hefty extension with a growing performance this season.

Photo courtesy of Brett Holmes-Imagn Images.

Extending Jack Eichel Will Be A Top Priority For Golden Knights

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The Vegas Golden Knights find their back to summer fireworks every single year. They pulled off a sign-and-trade deal for Mitch Marner this year, complete with an eight-year, $96MM contract for the superstar winger. Now, they face the looming task of signing top center Jack Eichel before he reaches free agency next July. Golden Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon said that Eichel’s deal will be a top priority for the club in a recent conversation with Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic. LeBrun further added that, while the two sides still have a long way to go, he’d be surprised if a deal didn’t get done.

Extension conversations between Eichel and Vegas began back in May, and the team began to work out contract estimates following their July acquisition of Marner. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman suggested that Vegas was ready to hand Eichel an even heftier deal than what Marner received – and with talks continuing at a strong cadence, it doesn’t seem that bar has created any barriers.

Targeting a deal richer than Marner’s will almost certainly land the value of Eichel’s next deal north of $100MM. That would put him among a limited, but growing, group of NHL stars to sign a nine-figure deal. Only seven players have signed such contracts – the most recent being Leon Draisaitl’s record-breaking $112MM contract with the Edmonton Oilers. That deal – which carries a $14MM cap hit for eight seasons – could be where Vegas begins conversations with Eichel. The 28-year-old centerman hasn’t yet crossed the century mark in scoring, but he’s planted deep roots in Vegas’ top forward role and seems set for a big year with Marner’s support.

Aside from the importance of signing your lineup star, Vegas will need to cement Eichel’s deal before they even think of budgeting for the 2026-27 season. The salary cap is expected to rise to $104MM – nearly $9MM more than next season’s limit – which should give Vegas plenty of space to give Eichel a raise of $4MM or $5MM per year. The Golden Knights will be pushing up against the cap ceiling this next season, and will only manage any cap relief by placing top defenseman Alex Pietrangelo on long-term injured reserve.

No matter where his salary ends up, Eichel’s next deal seems all-but-certain to carry through the bulk of his 30’s. They could be the best years of the one-time Stanley Cup winner’s career as well, as Vegas continues to load up on blue-chip talent through free agency and the draft. The Golden Knights will be as competitive as ever next season – with Marner’s debut, Pavel Dorofeyev’s follow-up, and Trevor Connelly’s push up the minor-leagues each providing plenty of sparks.

Hurricanes Sign Kevin Labanc To Professional Tryout

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The Hurricanes signed winger Kevin Labanc to a professional tryout ahead of training camp kicking off in the next several days, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports Sunday.

Labanc will opt to try and stay stateside after being targeted by Russia’s CSKA Moscow earlier in the summer. His agent refuted at the time that Labanc had any interest in heading overseas, evidenced by his willingness to take a PTO instead of opting for more stability overseas.

It’s also the second straight season Labanc, who had a career-high 56 points back in the 2018-19 season with the Sharks, has had to settle for a camp tryout. He landed one with the Devils after the Sharks let him become an unrestricted free agent last summer. It didn’t end up working out in New Jersey, but his performance in their camp was strong enough for the Blue Jackets to pick him up on a one-year, league-minimum deal after he got released.

Labanc wasn’t much more than a fourth-line piece by the end of his tenure in San Jose. Nothing really changed on that front in Columbus, either. He was a serviceable depth forward for the Jackets, providing decent depth scoring – two goals and 12 points – in 34 games while averaging a career-low 10:30 per game. That was all before shoulder surgery ended his season in February.

The 29-year-old certainly isn’t the offensive presence he once was. He only has four goals and 21 points in 80 appearances over the last two seasons. Nonetheless, it’s clear to see why Carolina targeted him to fill a depth role for them.

Despite some eye-popping plus/minus figures on the Sharks over the years, Labanc has actually graded out as a high-end two-way piece lower in the lineup. He was arguably one of the Jackets’ best defensive forwards last season, posting a raw CF% of 52.6 at even strength despite only starting 42.9% of his shifts in the offensive zone. Columbus controlled nearly 4% more shot attempts with Labanc on the ice than without him, a stark contrast for anyone, let alone a player primarily deployed in defensive roles.

Ideally, Labanc can demonstrate enough utility in training camp to earn another cheap one-way deal with the Canes and start the season in a No. 13/14 role. There isn’t a ton of room for him to work his way into an opening-night job. Carolina’s rather full on the wings with their addition of Nikolaj Ehlers, pushing names like Jordan Martinook and Eric Robinson back down to fourth-line projections. There’s also William Carrier in the picture; he’s entering the second year of a six-year deal at a $2MM cap hit. It’s unlikely he ends up on waivers. That means Carolina has a tough competition for a second extra forward spot between Labanc, fellow PTO addition Givani Smith, Tyson Jost, and younger names like Ryan Suzuki.

Flames Sign Connor Zary To Three-Year Contract

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Saturday: The Flames officially announced the contract with the $3.775MM AAV as reported.  PuckPedia reports that the deal carries a $500K signing bonus with a $3.275MM salary for the upcoming season with the salaries in 2026-27 and 2027-28 being a flat $3.775MM.

Friday: The Flames are getting their final RFA under contract. They’re putting the finishing touches on a three-year contract with forward Connor Zary worth just under $3.775MM per season, per Sportsnet’s Eric Francis. The deal was first reported by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. It will check off the last major item on Calgary’s off-season list.

After weeks of anticipation, Zary will put pen to paper on a bridge contract that will keep him in the Saddledome. The 2020 first-round pick has emerged as a top option in Calgary’s retooled offense, after two years of high-end play in the AHL. Zary made his pro debut in February, 2021 – taking advantage of the delayed start to the WHL season due to COVID-19. He looked pro-ready right out of the gates, netting seven points in his first nine AHL games before returning to captain the Kamloops Blazers through the end of the season. He scored 24 points in 15 games with the Blazers and turned pro full-time the following year, concluding his junior career at 206 points in 203 games.

After a hot start, Zary stuttered a bit in his first full AHL year. He scored just 13 goals and 25 points in 53 games, and struggled to maintain a role near the top of the Stockton Heat lineup. Those fortunes turned around when the Heat relocated to Calgary for the 2022-23 season. Zary blossomed with the heat of the NHL that much closer. He looked more engaged across the board, and worked to an impressive 21 goals and 58 points in 72 games as a result. That performance wasn’t enough to earn an NHL role outright, but Zary forced the Flames’ hand with 10 points in six AHL games – including one four-assist night – at the start of the 2023-24 season.

Calgary has provided Zary plenty of opportunity to plant his feet in the NHL lineup in the two seasons since. He debuted in the team’s top-six, and cemented his spot with six points through his first six NHL games. The scoring continued through the year – and he wrapped up his first season with 34 points in 63 games, the sixth-highest scoring pace of any rookie. He was comfortably fluctuating between the second and third line by the end of the year, and even capped off his rookie year with four points in his final five games.

This season started much the same. Zary scored five points in the first four games of the season – but quickly fell into the rut of scoring in bursts, with long scoring droughts in between. He struggled to maintain a top-line role as a result, and ultimately fell out of the lineup entirely when he suffered an injury to his left-knee in a January matchup against the Anaheim Ducks. The injury held Zary out of the lineup for a month and a half – and he struggled to find his footing after returning. He scored just two points in his first nine games back. Right as he was returning to form in late-March, Zary sustained another injury to his left-knee. This one ended his season early, limiting him to just 27 points in 54 games on the year.

The 23-year-old center faced the first free agent negotiations of his young career on the heels of those untimely injuries. He was undoubtedly impressive at his brightest moments, but was kept from showing full-season consistency by routine injury – making a bridge deal all but guaranteed. With short-term control, the Flames will be able to hedge their bets in the event that Zary continues to bounce in and out of the lineup, or face extended scoring lulls. On the same coin, the young centerman could soon earn much more than his $3.775MM cap hit – if he can show an ability to hold down a top-six role through an entire 82-game season. He has averaged 43 points per 82 games through his first two seasons in the NHL – but seems capable of achieving 50, or even 60, points at his peak based on talent alone. On this new deal, Calgary will test whether that talent can exist above, or through, the challenges that Zary faces as a young speedster in the NHL.

Photo courtesy of Sergei Belski-Imagn Images.

Ken Dryden Passes Away At 78

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Early Saturday morning, the Canadiens announced that their long-time goaltender and Hall of Famer Ken Dryden passed away Friday at the age of 78 after a battle with cancer.  Team owner Geoff Molson released the following statement:

Ken Dryden was an exceptional athlete, but he was also an exceptional man. Behind the mask he was larger than life. We mourn today not only the loss of the cornerstone of one of hockey’s greatest dynasties but also a family man, a thoughtful citizen and a gentleman who deeply impacted our lives and communities across generations. He was one of the true legends that helped shape this Club into what it is today.

Drafted by Boston back in 1964, he was traded to the Canadiens that same offseason.  He spent three seasons at Cornell, posting a sterling 76-4-1 record before turning pro and entering Montreal’s farm system, a place he didn’t spend much time in before getting the call to the NHL.

Dryden was a crucial member of Montreal’s dynasty in the 1970s.  He played in eight seasons with the Canadiens during that stretch, compiling a 2.24 GAA and a .922 SV% in 397 games, winning the Calder Trophy in 1972 along with five Vezina Trophies for the NHL’s best goaltender.  In the playoffs, he was similarly dominant, helping lead Montreal to six Stanley Cup victories in that span.  Dryden was also a key contributor in Canada’s victory over the Soviet Union in the 1972 Summit Series and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1983.

But hockey wasn’t Dryden’s only passion.  He was in law school in the early part of his career and famously didn’t play in 1973-74 while articling at a Toronto law firm after the Canadiens wouldn’t rework his contract.  Then, following the 1978-79 season, he decided to retire altogether at the age of 31.

Dryden got into broadcasting and wrote multiple books to stay involved in the game of hockey and then joined the Maple Leafs in 1997, serving as their team president through 2004.  Toronto had a pair of Conference Final appearances during that stretch, a plateau they have not reached since.

Dryden then stepped away from hockey to serve in politics, becoming a Canadian Member of Parliament from 2004 through 2011.  Soon after, he was awarded the Order of Canada for contributing to the sport of hockey and to public life.

We here at PHR join the hockey world in mourning Dryden’s passing and send our condolences to his family, friends, and loved ones.

Sharks Acquire Carey Price’s Contract From Canadiens

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The Montreal Canadiens have traded Carey Price’s contract and a 2026 fifth-round pick to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for minor-league defenseman Gannon Laroque. Price has not played since 2021, after undergoing surgery to repair a serious meniscus injury. He carries a $10.5MM cap hit through the end of this season.

Price has received a $5.5MM signing bonus on September 1st of each year of his contract. The Canadiens paid that tab earlier this week, opening the door for his lofty cap hit to be moved out. With no bonuses to worry about, San Jose will only have to pay Price $2MM in base salary, while reaping the benefits of a $10.5MM cap hit. That mark brings San Jose’s cap utilization up to $86.23MM – still $9.24MM below the cap ceiling. Montreal, meanwhile, will move forward with roughly $4.57MM in cap space.

The trade makes sense financially for both sides. The Sharks now distance themselves from the cap floor, while Montreal will be able to enter the season without utilizing long-term injured reserve. That latter point will prove particularly beneficial for Montreal, as they’ll now have the flexibility to bring in almost $5MM in lineup talent – rather than being forced to enter the season at the cap ceiling, since they exceeded the ceiling with Price’s contract on the books.

Montreal is planning to take full advantage of that newfound flexibility, per Marco D’Amico of Responsible Gaming. D’Amico shares that – whether it’s before the season or closer to December – the Habs have expressed interest in building out their roster. The team is noticeably lacking depth at the center position, with little to offer behind clear-cut, top center Nick Suzuki. That could make the Canadiens a strong candidate for a player like Jack Roslovic, who surprisingly remains on the free agent market despite scoring 22 goals and 39 points in his ninth NHL season last year.

The Canadiens will also receive an interesting prospect in this swap. Laroque has fallen victim to substantial injuries throughout each of the last few seasons. He had to undergo surgery on both hips in 2022, forcing him to sit out of all but four games of his final WHL season. He scored five points in those games. Recovery from the hip surgery continued through the 2023-24 season, though Laroque was able to play nine games, and record two points and eight penalty minutes, in both the AHL and ECHL. He seemed well-set to formally begin his pro career, before being pulled out of the 2024-25 season entirely by an undisclosed injury. It wasn’t revealed if this new injury was related to his previous hip surgeries. He was a productive, right-shot defender when he appeared at the junior level. Spending the better parts of two seasons with the WHL’s Victoria Royals, Laroque was able to record 59 points in 84 games.

Meanwhile, San Jose will move forward with balanced books and a clearer outlook of their expenses this season. This move drops San Jose from having the second-most cap space in the league, to the ninth-most. They also now carry 49 contracts, out of a possible 50. Sharks fans will zero in on how the team chooses to move forward with superstar prospect Michael Misa – the second-overall selection in this year’s NHL Draft. Misa scored an incredible 62 goals and 134 points in 65 OHL games this season, but still remains unsigned despite seemingly accomplishing everything he could at the junior flight. He’ll be a name to watch closely, and could even find his way onto the Sharks’ opening night roster, now that the team has a bit more financial security.

Photo courtesy of Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports.

Derek Ryan Announces Retirement

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Center Derek Ryan has decided on retirement, he told Bob Stauffer of Oilers Now on 880 CHED yesterday.

“I’m retiring. We, my family, are back home in Spokane,” he told Stauffer. “The kids started at their new school here today. I didn’t actively look for a job this off-season. Europe could’ve been an option, maybe other NHL teams, but if it wasn’t going to be Edmonton, I didn’t want to move the family again. As the kids get older that gets harder. We had good roots in Edmonton, and, shoot, I’m almost 40. It’s nice to settle in here in Spokane. We have our house, friends, and family. It’s nice to be home.”

Not only is Ryan from Spokane, but it’s where he began his junior career with the WHL’s Spokane Chiefs all the way back in 2004. His three-year run there preceded one of the most unique pathways to becoming an NHL fixture in recent memory.

Undrafted, Ryan opted to enter the Canadian university system when his junior eligibility ran out in 2007. That’s not uncommon in and of itself, but it’s not a pathway many future NHLers undertake. Those who do rarely spend a full four years there, but that’s exactly what Ryan did. He played for the University of Alberta from 2007 to 2011, leading the CIS West in scoring in his senior season with a 17-30–47 line in 28 games.

Ryan, already 25 years old at the time, then decided to make the jump overseas instead of pursuing a professional career stateside. It was in Europe that the 5’10”, 185-lb center unlocked offensive dominance. He spent three years in the EBEL (now ICEHL), Austria’s top league, playing with Villacher SV (2012-14) and Hungarian club Fehérvár AV19 (2011-12). He recorded 199 points in just 158 EBEL games over that span, including a spectacular 2013-14 campaign that saw him lead the league with 38 goals in 54 games to earn MVP honors.

He then made the jump to higher-level European pro hockey in Sweden, a decision that finally put him on the NHL’s radar. He spent one year with the SHL’s Örebro HK, where he erupted for a 15-45–60 line in 55 games to lead one of Europe’s top leagues in assists and points, being named the SHL’s MVP and Forward of the Year.

Ryan finally landed a two-way deal with the Hurricanes – inking his first NHL contract at age 28 – the following summer. He was immediately named the captain of the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers, their minor-league affiliate at the time, and was an AHL All-Star with 55 points in 70 games. He also got his first taste of NHL hockey late in the season, scoring his first goal in his first game of a six-game call-up.

That trial run kicked off an NHL career spanning over 600 games, most of which were played after his 30th birthday. He quickly established himself as a defensively responsible third-line pivot in Carolina, scoring 69 points in 153 games for the club while averaging over 15 minutes per night. He reached unrestricted free agency in 2018 and got rewarded by the Flames, signing a three-year, $9.375MM contract to return to the province where he played college hockey.

Ryan’s first season in Calgary was arguably the best of his career. He recorded a 13-25–38 scoring line in 81 games and, while he saw a reduction in ice time, won a team-high 58.2% of his faceoffs and added a +21 rating. That earned him Selke Trophy consideration, landing a fifth-place vote for the only time in his career.

While Ryan’s productivity and usage declined steadily over the course of his tenure with the Flames, that didn’t mean he was in an unfettered downward spiral. He still landed a multi-year deal in free agency from the cross-provincial rival Oilers in 2021, signing a two-year, $2.5MM pact to round out their fourth line.

That kicked off a four-year run for Ryan in Edmonton, the longest of his three NHL stops and a run that concluded just a few months ago. He was a regular from 2021 to 2024, appearing in at least 70 games for his first three years there, but was relegated to the press box for a good chunk of last season and even landed on waivers. He totaled 29 goals and 60 points in 261 games for Edmonton, appearing in 19 games in their run to the 2024 Stanley Cup Final but no playing time last postseason. He scored one goal and six points in 36 NHL games last season and also had eight points in 13 games for AHL Bakersfield after clearing waivers, his first minor-league action in nearly a decade.

Ryan ends his rather remarkable pro career with 82 goals, 127 assists, and 209 points in 606 NHL regular-season games with a +14 rating. He was also one of the better faceoff-takers of the last decade, winning 55.3% of his draws.

PHR congratulates Ryan on his persevering career and wishes him the best in his post-playing future.

Image courtesy of Walter Tychnowicz-Imagn Images.

Marco Scandella Confirms Retirement

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September 2025: Nearly a year after telling reporters he was retired, Scandella has evidently filed his retirement paperwork. The Blues made an announcement today confirming his retirement.

October 2024: St. Louis Blues defenseman Marco Scandella has retired from his pro playing career, sharing as much with Matthew DeFranks of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Scandella attended the Blues’ morning skate on Saturday, visiting old teammates and affirming to reporters that he’s taken to traveling with his newfound free time. He last played in the final game of St. Louis’ 2023-24 season, though his year as a whole would be limited by routine healthy scratches. Scandella totaled eight points in 65 games in what is now his final season.

St. Louis acquired Scandella from the Montreal Canadiens in 2020, sending a 2020 second and 2021 fourth-round pick the other way. Those picks turned into prospects Jack Finley and William Trudeau, respectively, while Scandella pursued a five-year career in St. Louis. He appeared in 215 games over that span, stepping in as a stout two-way option down St. Louis’ depth chart. However, Scandella was never a prolific scorer with the Blues, reaching a career high of 24 points in 49 games during the 2020-21 season.

The Blues were one of four teams to host Scandella during his 14-year NHL career, which began with the Minnesota Wild in the 2010-11 season.  He played in 20 games and recorded just two assists in his first season, impressing enough with his abilities off-puck to earn 63 games in a routine top-pair role in the following year. Unfortunately, his rise to a prominent lineup role would be coupled with the first long-term injuries of his career.

He’d be limited by finger injuries, concussions, and groin injuries through his first three pro seasons. He kicked the injury bug in 2013 and became one of the most consistent parts of Minnesota’s lineup until a 2017 trade to the Buffalo Sabres. Scandella continued to serve as a low-scoring, high-responsibility defender in Buffalo, even serving as the team’s top defender in the 2017-18 season. That was a career year for Scandella, marking the only time he appeared in all 82 games of a season. He’d record 22 points, one shy of his career-high set in 2015, while averaging over 23 minutes of ice time.

Scandella’s role would decline every year after his peak with the Sabres, save for a 70-game season with the Blues in 2021-22. He played through his age-33 season, totaling 170 points in 784 games and 42 points in 96 AHL games. His career was marked by diligent and responsible defense, which could be enough to earn Scandella a coaching career down the road.

Changes To LTIR Will Take Effect For 2025-26, Other CBA Changes Moved Up

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A handful of changes outlined in the CBA extension and new Memorandum of Understanding that were ratified over the summer will go into effect earlier than expected. While the full extent of the agreement won’t take effect until the current CBA expires on September 15, 2026, some of the new rules and regulations in the new agreement will have an effect on league operations for 2025-26.

Chief among them is the major overhaul to long-term injured reserve, PuckPedia and Frank Seravalli report. The new playoff salary accounting rules and in-season LTIR relief rules will cover the 2025-26 regular season, not 2026-27 as initially planned.

In the past, teams have routinely benefitted from having a high-priced player on LTIR for either the entire season or a significant portion of it late in the year, allowing them to replace their cap hit before getting the injured player back for the postseason. That allowed teams to ice playoff gameday rosters that had combined cap hits well over the regular-season upper limit.

Now, prior to each playoff game, teams will need to submit their roster of dressed players (not including scratches or injuries) to the league. The combined cap hit of that roster, plus any dead cap space like buyouts or retained salaries, must be at or under the preceding regular season’s upper limit. For players on 35+ contracts, entry-level deals, or other contracts eligible to include performance bonuses, those bonuses will not be incorporated into playoff cap-counting calculations, per PuckPedia.

The only mathematically complex portion of the new playoff cap situation will be regarding players involved in retained salary transactions. From PuckPedia directly:

For the team that retains cap hit, the retention is pro-rated based on the remaining regular-season days at the time of transaction (e.g. if a team retains 25% of a player’s salary in a transaction, the 25% charged to the retaining team is pro-rated. If that retention occurred halfway through the season, the retaining cap would have a playoff cap hit equal to 25%*50%= 12.5% of the full cap hit). Note that the team that receives the retained player does not have their cap hit pro-rated for the portion of the season the player was on their roster.

For in-season LTIR, the changes are simpler. Teams still have the ability to optimize their captures, but the total relief amount that an LTIR pool can hold will now be limited to the previous year’s average salary. For 2025-26, that means teams can only create up to $3,817,293 in flexibility via LTIR, regardless of the total amount of cap hit a team has on LTIR.

There’s one key exception to that rule – if an LTIR-bound player is expected to miss the entire season, the team can still take full advantage of their cap hit. The league needs to approve each scenario, and the LTIR-bound player in question would then be ineligible to play in the postseason regardless of their health.

That means teams like the Golden Knights and Blues, who are expected to use Alex Pietrangelo’s and Torey Krug’s long-term injuries to stay cap-compliant via LTIR placements, won’t be affected by this change since those players are not expected to resume their careers, at least not this season. Meanwhile, the Panthers will now only be able to unlock that $3.82MM in flexibility compared to the $4.5MM they’re currently projected to need with Matthew Tkachuk expected to begin the season on LTIR with a target return date in January.

Here are the other elements of the CBA extension that will now take effect this season, per PuckPedia and Seravalli:

  • Contracts with deferred compensation will be outlawed beginning Oct. 7 (the first day of the regular season)
  • No more “paper transactions.” When a team assigns a player to the AHL, they must play one game for their respective affiliate before becoming eligible for an NHL recall.
  • Double salary retention on a contract can no longer occur simultaneously. A contract can only be involved in a second retained salary transaction 75 regular-season days after the preceding one, eliminating the possibility for three-team trade deadline deals to effectively allow a team to acquire a player at 25% of their initial salary.
  • Teams can bypass the NHL-CHL transfer agreement and loan one 19-year-old player to their AHL affiliate who would otherwise be required to stay on the NHL roster or return to juniors.
  • The limit of four post-trade deadline standard recalls is expanded to five, although only four of those players can be on the roster simultaneously.
  • Teams can no longer implement a dress code for players.
  • Players may now endorse wine and spirits.

There will also be a slate of new rules that will take effect for the 2026-27 season but before the new MOU goes into effect on Sep. 16, per PuckPedia. Those are as follows:

  • Changes to drafted player rights retention will take effect for the 2026 class (uniform expiry at age 22, regardless of league). Russian players remain exempt and their rights are held indefinitely by the team that drafts them.
  • Increases to maximum minor league compensation on entry-level contracts.
  • Increases to NHL league minimum salary, which will jump from $775K in 2025-26 to $850K in 2026-27.
  • Mandatory neck protection rules begin July 1, 2026.
  • Removing additional entry-level restrictions for European players.

Maple Leafs Sign Dennis Hildeby To Three-Year Deal

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Maple Leafs goaltender Dennis Hildeby had spent most of the summer as a restricted free agent, but he finally has a new contract in hand. The team announced Tuesday that they’ve signed their No. 3 option between the pipes to a three-year deal, keeping him in Toronto through 2027-28.

Hildeby’s deal carries a two-way structure through 2026-27 before converting to a one-way deal in its final season, the team said. He’ll carry a cap hit of $841,667 if he’s on the NHL roster.

The 24-year-old is coming off his first season of NHL action. The towering Swede didn’t fare all that well in his six starts, however, logging a .872 SV% and 3.33 GAA with a 3-3-0 record. Only two of those starts were quality ones, and he conceded 4.3 goals above expected in just over 360 minutes of ice time, per MoneyPuck.

Toronto is betting on there still being better days ahead in Hildeby’s development. He was initially draft-eligible in 2019 but was passed over three times before finally being selected by the Leafs in the fourth round in 2022 following a small but stellar first taste of professional action with Färjestad BK in Sweden’s SHL.

After Hildeby became the first player from the 2022 class to sign his entry-level deal, Toronto loaned him back to Färjestad before bringing him to North America at the end of the 2022-23 season. He’s largely remained on assignment to the AHL’s Toronto Marlies ever since, where he has a .909 SV%, 2.53 GAA, six shutouts, and a 37-21-14 record in 73 appearances for the club in the last three years.

Hildeby was an AHL All-Star in 2023-24 and, since he won’t require waivers for another season, is virtually guaranteed to begin this season as the Marlies’ starting option unless an injury strikes down one of Toronto’s NHL tandem of Anthony Stolarz and Joseph Woll in preseason. He’ll be the Leafs’ only real recall option unless they make another addition. Their other goalies under contract, Russians Artur Akhtyamov and Vyacheslav Peksa, are potentially high-ceiling options but are still too early in their development to warrant an NHL look.

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