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2025 NHL Opening Night Rosters

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The deadline to submit cap-compliant opening night rosters, which must be at or below the 23-player limit, is Monday at 4:00 p.m. Central. As teams confirm their final moves, we’ll be listing each team’s initial roster for the 2025-26 campaign as announcements come in:

Last updated Oct. 7, 11:27 a.m.

Anaheim Ducks

Roster size: 23/23
Link to team announcement

Forwards (14): Leo Carlsson, Sam Colangelo, Cutter Gauthier, Mikael Granlund, Ross Johnston, Alex Killorn, Chris Kreider, Mason McTavish, Nikita Nesterenko, Ryan Poehling, Beckett Sennecke, Ryan Strome, Troy Terry, Frank Vatrano

Defenseman (6): Radko Gudas, Drew Helleson, Jackson LaCombe, Pavel Mintyukov, Jacob Trouba, Olen Zellweger

Goaltenders (3): Lukáš Dostál, Ville Husso, Petr Mrázek

IR: F Jansen Harkins (upper body, proj. return Nov. 22)

SOIR: F Coulson Pitre (upper body, indefinite)

Boston Bruins

Roster size: 23/23
Link to team announcement

Forwards (14): Viktor Arvidsson, John Beecher, Michael Eyssimont, Morgan Geekie, Tanner Jeannot, Mark Kastelic, Marat Khusnutdinov, Sean Kuraly, Elias Lindholm, Fraser Minten, Casey Mittelstadt, David Pastrňák, Jeffrey Viel, Pavel Zacha

Defensemen (7): Jordan Harris, Henri Jokiharju, Hampus Lindholm, Mason Lohrei, Charlie McAvoy, Andrew Peeke, Nikita Zadorov

Goaltenders (2): Joonas Korpisalo, Jeremy Swayman

Buffalo Sabres

Roster size: 23/23
Link to team announcement

Forwards (14): Zach Benson, Justin Danforth, Josh Doan, Mason Geertsen, Tyson Kozak, Peyton Krebs, Jiri Kulich, Beck Malenstyn, Ryan McLeod, Joshua Norris, Jack Quinn, Tage Thompson, Alex Tuch, Jason Zucker

Defensemen (6): Jacob Bryson, Bowen Byram, Rasmus Dahlin, Ryan Johnson, Mattias Samuelsson, Conor Timmins

Goaltenders (3): Colten Ellis, Alexandar Georgiev, Alex Lyon

IR: F Jordan Greenway (lower body, week-to-week), D Michael Kesselring (undisclosed, week-to-week), G Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (lower body, week-to-week), D Owen Power (undisclosed, day-to-day)

SOIR: F Carson Meyer (undisclosed, indefinite)

Calgary Flames

Roster size: 23/23
Link to team announcement

Forwards (13): Mikael Backlund, Blake Coleman, Matthew Coronato, Joel Farabee, Morgan Frost, Matvei Gridin, Samuel Honzek, Nazem Kadri, Justin Kirkland, Adam Klapka, Ryan Lomberg, Yegor Sharangovich, Connor Zary

Defensemen (8): Rasmus Andersson, Kevin Bahl, Jake Bean, Joel Hanley, Daniil Miromanov, Brayden Pachal, Zayne Parekh, MacKenzie Weegar

Goaltenders (2): Devin Cooley, Dustin Wolf

IR: F Jonathan Huberdeau (undisclosed, day-to-day), F Martin Pospisil (undisclosed, day-to-day)

Carolina Hurricanes

Roster size: 23/23
Link to team announcement

Forwards (13): Sebastian Aho, Jackson Blake, William Carrier, Nikolaj Ehlers, Taylor Hall, Mark Jankowski, Seth Jarvis, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Jordan Martinook, Eric Robinson, Jordan Staal, Logan Stankoven, Andrei Svechnikov

Defensemen (7): Jalen Chatfield, Shayne Gostisbehere, K’Andre Miller, Alexander Nikishin, Mike Reilly, Jaccob Slavin, Sean Walker

Goaltenders (3): Frederik Andersen, Pyotr Kochetkov, Brandon Bussi

SOIR/non-roster: F Juha Jaaska (undisclosed, indefinite)

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Oilers Extend Connor McDavid, Jake Walman

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Edmonton’s biggest piece of offseason business is done on the eve of opening night. They’ve announced a two-year, $25MM extension to keep captain Connor McDavid off next year’s unrestricted free agent market. That’s a $12.5MM cap hit, the same as his current eight-year deal signed back in 2017 carries. It’s not just the Oilers’ generational talent inking a new deal, either. Defenseman Jake Walman has agreed to terms on a long-term extension, according to Sportsnet’s Mark Spector. That deal will be a seven-year, $49MM contract with a $7MM cap hit, per Friedman.

According to PuckPedia, McDavid’s new deal will be largely paid out in signing bonuses as expected. In 2026-27, he’ll earn an $850K salary with a $13.4MM signing bonus, and in 2027-28, he’ll make a $900K salary with a $9.85MM signing bonus. He’ll have full no-movement protection in each year of the deal.

Meanwhile, a few hours later, PuckPedia shared that Walman’s contract breaks down as follows:

  • Year 1: $1.24MM salary, $6MM signing bonus, full no-movement clause
  • Year 2: $2.5MM salary, $5MM signing bonus, full no-movement clause
  • Year 3: $4MM salary, $4MM signing bonus, full no-movement clause
  • Year 4: $2.565MM salary, $4MM signing bonus, full no-movement clause
  • Year 5: $5.565MM salary, $1MM signing bonus, 15-team no trade clause
  • Year 6: $5.565MM salary, $1MM signing bonus, 15-team no trade clause
  • Year 7: $5.565MM salary, $1MM signing bonus, 15-team no trade clause

In his first two years on the job, Edmonton general manager Stan Bowman has now been successful in renewing his two franchise cornerstones well before unrestricted free agency became a real threat. He went through a similar song and dance with Leon Draisaitl last year. However, unlike McDavid, Draisaitl’s commitment was long-term – an eight-year, $112MM extension in September 2024 that, at the time, carried the league’s highest cap hit at $14MM.

Draisaitl’s decision to extend came before the Oilers dropped a second straight Stanley Cup Final to the Panthers. Now 28 and entering his 11th NHL season, the context surrounding McDavid’s negotiations was markedly different as a result. The team has been knocking on the door for quite some time, but is now years deep into a contention window without a championship to show for it. With a bottom-five prospect pool and spending flexibility limited in recent seasons, there was an expectation that McDavid wanted the option to reach free agency in a few years, while still in his prime, if he hadn’t yet won a Cup with the Oilers.

But at least for the next few years, Edmonton’s contention window remains wide open with today’s news. McDavid is coming off an underwhelming regular season by his standards, one that saw him miss significant time with an injury for the first time since a fractured collarbone stole nearly half of his rookie season. He still managed to hit the 100-point mark in 67 appearances, but only 26 of them were goals, also his lowest output since his rookie year and one of the worst per-game efforts of his career.

That was all put to bed by another dominant postseason run that would have earned him MVP honors had Edmonton emerged victorious this time around – an honor he managed to win anyway in 2024 despite being on the losing end as well. In the Oilers’ back-to-back Final runs, McDavid has led the league in playoff scoring both times for a cumulative 15-60–75 line in 47 games. He’s established himself as one of the top playoff performers of all time in the process. He’s got 150 points in 96 games across seven trips to the postseason, making his 1.56 points per game third in league history behind Wayne Gretzky’s 1.84 and Mario Lemieux’s 1.61.

The regular-season numbers are similarly fantastic. Only twice in McDavid’s career has he managed not to hit the century mark – his rookie season and the 2019-20 campaign that COVID cut off with weeks left in the season. He enters Year 11 with 361 goals, 721 assists, and 1,082 points in 712 career games. That’s good for 1.52 points per game, also third all-time behind Gretzky (1.92) and Lemieux (1.88).

He and Draisaitl remain the co-headliners of a forward group that’s lost a bit of depth punch due to cap constraints, but still has Zach Hyman signed through 2028 and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins through 2029. McDavid’s deal coincides with the expiry of Hyman’s contract. It also marks an immense discount on his market value, which was close to – if not the max salary ($20MM-ish per season) – in order to help facilitate a long-awaited championship. If that doesn’t happen, it’s hard to envision a world in which McDavid doesn’t head elsewhere in the offseason of 2028.

As for Walman, it’s hard to find a player whose fortunes have changed as dramatically since last offseason as his. The 29-year-old is entering the final season of a three-year, $10.2MM contract extension he signed with the Red Wings back in 2023. Despite Walman averaging nearly 20 minutes per game in the first year of that deal and managing a 12-9–21 scoring line in 63 appearances – fine value for the money – Detroit opted to clear his contract. They even paid a second-round pick to the Sharks to take him on.

On a thin San Jose blue line, Walman quickly emerged as their No. 1 option. He averaged north of 23 games for the Sharks and responded with an offensive breakout, notching a 6-26–32 line in 50 appearances with a highly respectable -1 rating on a club that ended up finishing the season with a -102 goal differential. San Jose parlayed the lefty’s breakout by trading him to the Oilers at the deadline, netting a 2026 first-round pick in return in addition to the second-rounder they received from the Wings for taking on his contract in what remains one of the more puzzling trades in recent memory.

Walman’s production barely even took a hit despite slotting in as Edmonton’s No. 4 behind Evan Bouchard, Mattias Ekholm, and Darnell Nurse. He spent most of his time last year anchoring a third pairing with John Klingberg, but is now getting a look in the top four to start 2025-26, moving to his offside to play with a fellow lefty in Nurse. In 37 combined regular-season and playoff games with the Oilers after the move, Walman had a 3-15–18 scoring line with a +14 rating while still averaging north of 20 minutes per game.

A seven-year extension keeps the pending UFA under contract through the 2032-33 season, so Walman now carries the longest remaining term of any Oiler alongside Draisaitl and Trent Frederic. He’s also due to be their fifth-highest-paid skater next season behind Draisaitl, McDavid, Bouchard ($10.5MM), and Nurse ($9.25MM). With McDavid and Walman in tow, the Oilers now have $81.3MM committed to 14 players for 2026-27, per PuckPedia. That still leaves at least $22.7MM in flexibility to fill nine roster spots, a number that could grow if the salary cap exceeds its $104MM projection. They do still have a few notable UFAs left unsigned past this season, a class headlined by Ekholm and starting netminder Stuart Skinner.

Frank Seravalli of Bleacher Report and Victory+ was first to report notable progress on McDavid talks today. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet was first to report the deal had gotten signed. TSN’s Ryan Rishaug was first on the two-year term.

Image courtesy of Perry Nelson-Imagn Images.

Logan Cooley’s Camp Reportedly Rejects Eight-Year, $77MM Offer

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The Utah Mammoth are struggling to extend their top center. According to insider Frank Seravalli, Logan Cooley and his representation turned down an eight-year, $77MM ($9.6MM AAV) contract extension offer from the Mammoth this offseason.

It’s an interesting development considering a $9.6MM AAV would make Cooley the highest-paid forward on the team by more than $2MM margin, and the highest-paid player on the team by over $1MM. Still, given his career trajectory up to this point, there’s no question why Cooley would want to wait for a larger offer.

As the third overall pick from the 2022 NHL Draft, expectations were high for Cooley coming into his rookie campaign. Then, with the Arizona Coyotes, Cooley scored 20 goals and 44 points in 82 games, averaging 15:49 of ice time per night with a 38.0% success rate in the faceoff dot. He did finish with a slightly disappointing 47.9% CorsiFor% at even strength, but his defensive metrics were good with a 90.5% on-ice save percentage at even strength.

Much of his defensive poise at such a young age can be attributed to his time at the University of Minnesota, which put together one of the best collegiate rosters of all time during the 2022-23 season. All in all, although he slipped to fifth in Calder Trophy voting, Cooley’s rookie season was largely considered a success.

Fortunately, Cooley completely avoided the dreaded ’sophomore slump’ in 2024-25. Showing off much more playmaking ability, he finished with 25 goals and 65 points in 75 games — good for second on the team in scoring. Much of that can be attributed to his bump in ice time, jumping to 17:52 on average while centering the first line.

His underlying metrics were more mixed, as his CorsiFor% took a step forward, while his on-ice save percentage took a step back. Still, even at 20 years old, Cooley proved he could shoulder first-line minutes at the center position on a relatively competitive team.

Unfortunately, even if Cooley takes another leap in his on-ice production, he doesn’t have much bargaining power if he waits until next summer. Given that he’ll become a 10.2(c) restricted free agent, he’s ineligible for an offer sheet from an opposing team. Still, given that New Jersey Devils defenseman Luke Hughes was in a similar boat and landed a $9MM salary for the next seven years, Cooley may have an opportunity to become the first $10MM player in franchise history for the Mammoth.

Utah has plenty of financial flexibility moving forward, largely due to the shrewd extension of JJ Peterka and Dylan Guenther. At any rate, although he has reportedly rejected their most recent offer, the news indicates that the Mammoth are more than willing to invest in Cooley and retain him for the foreseeable future.

Islanders Reassign Isaiah George, Matthew Schaefer Will Make Team

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The Islanders have reassigned defenseman Isaiah George to AHL Bridgeport, Stefen Rosner of NHL.com reports. As a result, their active roster now stands at 23 players and is cap-compliant for opening night.

Since the club didn’t place anyone on waivers yesterday, their options to get down to the 23-player limit for their active roster by this evening’s deadline were limited. Only three waiver-exempt players remained on their roster: George and a pair of rookies in winger Maxim Shabanov and defenseman Matthew Schaefer, the first overall pick in this year’s draft. Shabanov, an international free agent signing out of Russia’s Traktor Chelyabinsk in July, has been a virtual opening-night lock since the beginning of camp, meaning today’s decision essentially came down to George and Schaefer.

Schaefer was the widely expected winner on the heels of a spectacular preseason showing for the mobile lefty, who’s only one month removed from his 18th birthday. He made four exhibition appearances and averaged north of 22 minutes per game, recording two assists, eight shots on goal, and four hits. While the Isles were outscored 3-1 with Schaefer on the ice at 5-on-5, his possession metrics were strong – controlling 59.1% of shot attempts, 60.5% of expected goals, and 56.3% of high-danger chances, according to Natural Stat Trick.

George, a 2022 fourth-rounder, unexpectedly made his way into 33 NHL games for the Isles last season, his first taste of NHL action in his first professional campaign. The 21-year-old lefty only averaged 15:39 per game and had five points with a -3 rating, but the club liked what he brought to the table and was expected to give him a long look for an opening-night job this year.

He didn’t show out nearly as well as Schaefer did in training camp, though. His possession impacts were middle-of-the-pack; he only got into two games and was held off the scoresheet.

It’s rare that a No. 1 pick doesn’t break camp with his club, but when it does happen, it’s almost always a defenseman. It last happened with the Sabres’ Owen Power, who opted for another year of college in the 2021-22 campaign before turning pro. Schaefer was ineligible to go the NCAA route after signing his entry-level contract, but there was an argument to be made that he could have used additional conditioning in a more familiar junior environment. His preseason action was his first gameplay in nine months after sustaining a season-ending collarbone injury in December that limited him to 22 points in just 17 appearances with the OHL’s Erie Otters. After proving he’s back up to speed, though, the spot was his to lose.

Schaefer is expected to make his NHL debut in the Isles’ first game of the year against the Penguins on Oct. 9, likely in third-pairing duties with veteran Scott Mayfield. Those two have been partners for the vast majority of camp.

Chicago Blackhawks To Sign Matt Grzelcyk

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The Chicago Blackhawks will be signing defenseman Matt Grzelcyk to a one-year NHL contract, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Grzelcyk, who is repped by Quartexx’s Sean Coffey, had been with the Blackhawks for their preseason and training camp on a PTO. He has now earned a deal to remain there on a full-time basis. The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun reports that the deal is worth $1MM over its one-year term. The Blackhawks have now officially confirmed the signing.

Grzelcyk played in three preseason contests for the Blackhawks, though he did not register a point. It was somewhat surprising to see Grzelcyk sign a PTO in Chicago, as his performance in 2024-25 suggested he would not have an issue finding another NHL contract.

In the summer of 2024 Grzelcyk signed a one-year, $2.75MM deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and that was coming off of the least productive season of his NHL career, one in which he scored just 11 points in 63 games.

So after a season in which Grzelcyk found his way onto the Penguins’ power play and scored a career-high 40 points in 82 games, it was generally believed that Grzelcyk would have no issue finding an NHL deal for 2025-26. But that proved not to be the case, as Grzelcyk lingered on the open market and settled for a PTO with the Blackhawks

Perhaps the 2023 free agency of Erik Gustafsson can be pointed to when evaluating why Grzelcyk had such a difficult time on the open market, despite his 40 points of production. Like Grzelcyk, Gustafsson is also an offensively-oriented defenseman without penalty-killing ability or much shutdown value. And like Grzelcyk, Gustafsson entered his unrestricted free agency in 2023 coming off of a season where he produced quite well – 42 points in 70 games.

But just as Grzelcyk experienced this past summer, offers for Gustafsson were softer than some may have expected, and he chose to sign a one-year, $825K contract with the New York Rangers, a far lower number than most expected for a blueliner with his production. We even noted in our coverage at the time our surprise at the relatively low cost of the contract despite Gustafsson’s production.

Of course, things ended up working out for Gustafsson as he parlayed a 31-point season with the Rangers (one that included a deep playoff run) into a two-year, $2MM AAV deal with the Detroit Red Wings. Although a similar long playoff run is highly unlikely for the Blackhawks, Grzelcyk will likely be hoping that he can continue to follow Gustafsson’s trajectory and have a strong year that prompts stronger leaguewide interest next summer.

Grzelcyk will be competing with some talented young defensemen in Chicago for a spot on the team’s power play, and 2022 first-rounder Sam Rinzel appears to be, at this stage, his most significant barrier to obtaining the role of first-unit puck distributor. But the path to at least a second-unit deployment is far clearer, which means this is a somewhat ideal situation for Grzelcyk. And seeing as this contract is just for one year at a limited cap hit, strong performance for the still-rebuilding Blackhawks could, later in the season, even earn the veteran blueliner a trade to a contender in need of defensive reinforcement.

Photos courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

Predators Re-Sign Luke Evangelista To Two-Year Deal

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Oct. 4, 11:02 AM: The Predators have officially announced the signing, confirming the $3MM AAV.

Oct. 4, 9:28 AM: Evangelista’s deal pays him $2.25MM in 2025-26 and $3.75MM in 2026-27, according to PuckPedia. That backloaded structure results in the maximum possible qualifying offer of $3.6MM, or 120% of his cap hit.

Oct. 3: The list of players who saw NHL action last season and remain restricted free agents is down to just two.  That number is soon set to be cut in half.  David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports (Twitter link) that the Predators and Luke Evangelista are making progress tonight on a contract; TSN’s Darren Dreger adds (Twitter link) that an agreement is expected to be reached soon while Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic indicates (Twitter link) that it should be a two-year deal worth $3MM per season.

The 23-year-old was a second-round pick by Nashville back in 2020, going 42nd overall.  Evangelista spent a good chunk of his first full professional season in the minors back in 2022-23.  However, following a 24-game stint that season that saw him record 15 points in a late-season recall, he has been a full-time player with the Predators ever since.

Evangelista’s first full NHL campaign saw him pick up 16 goals and 23 assists in 80 games despite averaging less than 14 minutes a night of playing time.  That earned him some down-ballot support in Calder Trophy voting for Rookie of the Year as he finished ninth in balloting that season.  He was limited to just one goal in the playoffs that season but expectations were high that Nashville had a legitimate middle-six contributor that could be relied upon.

Last season, Evangelista had 10 goals and 22 helpers in 68 games, producing at pretty much the same clip as the year before.  While it would be fair to say they were hoping he’d take a step forward offensively, staying at almost the exact same point-per-game rate was notable in a season that saw a lot of Predators underwhelm offensively as an early-season speculative contender wound up missing the playoffs altogether and not by a small margin.

Considering that he had two seasons of similar production under his belt, Evangelista was a safe bet to land a bridge deal; a long-term pact likely wouldn’t have been feasible for either side.  That makes the fact that it has taken this long to get a deal done rather puzzling.  While it’s believed that the two sides briefly explored a three-year agreement, those talks didn’t last long given the gap in expected salary, putting the sides back to a two-year agreement.  Clearly, both sides were pretty dug in with what they thought was fair in terms of money and only the threat of the season starting early next week with him still unsigned was enough to get this across the finish line.

Evangelista will once again be a restricted free agent in the 2027 offseason.  However, there will be one big difference next time, that being his arbitration eligibility.  As long as one of the two sides files for a hearing, the case will be resolved sometime in August that summer, preventing things from getting to this point next time.

Wild Sign Filip Gustavsson To Five-Year Extension

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The Wild have reached a five-year extension with starting goaltender Filip Gustavsson that pays him $6.8MM per season for a total value of $34MM, the club announced. He was set to be an unrestricted free agent next summer but will now remain under contract through the 2030-31 season. The contract carries a no-movement clause that takes effect immediately and lasts through the 2027-28 campaign, according to Michael Russo of The Athletic. After that, it downgrades to a 15-team no-trade clause for the remainder of the deal. His take-home pay is entirely base salary with no signing bonuses, per PuckPedia. He’ll earn $8MM in 2026-27, $8.5MM in 2027-28, $7.2MM in 2028-29, $5.2MM in 2029-30, and $5.1MM in 2030-31.

In just a matter of days before the season starts, Minnesota GM Bill Guerin has removed nearly all anxiety from what was initially shaping up to be a franchise-altering free agent period next July. Both Gustavsson and franchise cornerstone Kirill Kaprizov were set to hit the open market. Guerin took care of business with the latter earlier this week by delivering the largest contract in NHL history for eight years and $136MM in total value. Now, only aging top-nine wingers Vladimir Tarasenko and Mats Zuccarello remain among the notables from the Wild’s 2026 UFA class.

Gustavsson is entering the final season of a three-year, $11.25MM deal carrying a $3.75MM cap hit that he signed as a restricted free agent in 2023. He landed that contract after a dominant platform campaign in which he broke out for a .931 SV%, 2.10 GAA, three shutouts, and a 22-9-7 record in 39 appearances.

His performance the following year, though, indicated the Wild were smart – at least initially – not to give him too much too soon. He regressed under the weight of being a primary tandem option for the first time, logging a more pedestrian .899 SV% and 3.06 GAA with a 20-18-4 record in 45 games. Considering the Wild’s reputation for having a stout defense held up in 2023-24, those numbers translated to a disappointing -4.8 goals saved above expected, according to MoneyPuck, placing him 27th out of 31 goalies who played at least half their team’s games that year. He, along with even worse results from backup Marc-André Fleury, was a significant reason why Minnesota missed the playoffs that year for just the second time since 2012.

The 27-year-old rebounded quite nicely in 2024-25, though. He took on more workload from the aging Fleury and became their true No. 1 instead of just a tandem option. While he didn’t quite reach the heights of that dominant 2022-23 showing, Gustavsson was still a top-10 goalie in the league by nearly every metric. That includes starts (58, t-7th), wins (31, t-6th), save percentage (.914, 6th), GAA (2.56, 10th), and shutouts (5, t-4th). He saved 15.3 goals above expected and ranked sixth in Vezina Trophy voting, leading Minnesota back to the postseason despite injuries to multiple key skaters, including Kaprizov, for significant chunks of the season.

He’ll continue being the Wild’s true starter for the foreseeable future and is set up for another 55-plus start season in 2025-26. He’ll have a new face as his backup, though. With Fleury retired, top prospect Jesper Wallstedt is making the jump to full-time NHL minutes. When Gustavsson signed his last contract, there was hope both internally and externally that Wallstedt would be ready to take over the No. 1 job in the 2026 offseason, one of the contributing factors as to why that deal was somewhat term-limited. After some significant bumps in the road in his development, though, that likely won’t be the case. The 2021 first-round pick’s development was tracking nicely up until last year. His numbers with AHL Iowa took a steep dive, plummeting to a 3.59 GAA, .879 SV%, and a 9-14-5 record in just 27 appearances as injuries limited his availability.

Minnesota committed to Wallstedt making the jump to the NHL before last year, though, inking him to a two-year, $4MM extension that’s taking effect for 2025-26. While they may have initially looked at this year as a chance for Wallstedt to take the reins entirely, the goal now is for a smooth NHL adjustment and a rebound to league-average territory. He is, after all, a two-time AHL All-Star and had the top GAA in the Swedish Hockey League as a 19-year-old. With slightly tempered expectations now, though, the Wild are committing to the more established option as they ramp up their championship pursuit.

Image courtesy of Matt Blewett-Imagn Images.

Emily Kaplan of ESPN was first to report the signing. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet was first to report the terms.

Rangers Reassign Scott Morrow, Gabe Perreault

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As Monday’s opening night roster deadline nears, there are set to be some quite newsworthy demotions in the coming days. The Rangers made one this morning, assigning their top two prospects – defenseman Scott Morrow and winger Gabriel Perreault – to AHL Hartford, according to a team announcement.

Perreault and Morrow were the club’s No. 1 and No. 2-ranked prospects by NHL.com this summer. Neither were locks to make the opening night roster, but both were penciled into a good portion of projections at the beginning of camp.

In Perreault’s case, it’s likely a matter of top-six ice time not being available. Alexis Lafrenière has settled back into a top-line role alongside Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck, as new head coach Mike Sullivan looks to jumpstart the former first-overall pick’s production after a down year in 2024-25. The Rangers’ second line has filled up too, with Mika Zibanejad shifting to wing on a more permanent basis and William Cuylle jumping into a left-wing spot beside him and J.T. Miller following his breakout year. New York would be understandably reluctant to risk stunting their most promising young forward’s development by starting him in third-line duties on a team without a ton of bottom-six depth, so he’ll instead look to play a starring role in Hartford to begin his professional career.

Perreault, 20, was the No. 23 overall pick in the 2023 draft and has spent the last two years with Boston College, tearing up the Hockey East conference with 108 points in 73 career NCAA games. He turned pro at the end of last year and got five games with the Blueshirts, although he didn’t get on the scoresheet.

His demotion leaves the Rangers with 15 forwards on their training camp roster and just one cut to make to get down to the 23-player limit by Monday’s deadline. There are two spots up for grabs, meaning the game of musical chairs will leave one of veteran Jonny Brodzinski, rookie Noah Laba, and PTO invite Conor Sheary without a spot. Laba faces the longest odds; he’s waiver-exempt and doesn’t stand much of a chance on the roster unless he usurps Juuso Pärssinen as the Blueshirts’ No. 3 center to open the season.

Morrow’s demotion also comes down to roster math. The 22-year-old righty has Adam Fox, William Borgen, and Braden Schneider ahead of him on that side of the depth chart, meaning he’d either be ticketed for long stretches in the press box or someone would need to shift to their off side to get him playing time. The latter never happened in camp, so he’ll now head to the Wolf Pack to serve as their presumptive No. 1 defenseman until another NHL opportunity comes.

A 2021 second-round pick by the Hurricanes, the offensive-minded Morrow recorded six points in 16 NHL games with Carolina over the last two seasons. He was the headlining piece of the return the Rangers received from the Canes in the K’Andre Miller sign-and-trade this offseason. He had a 13-26–39 scoring line in 52 AHL games last year and will look to build on that in Hartford.

With Morrow gone, seven defensemen remain on the Rangers’ roster. That’s their likely opening-night contingent, meaning Matthew Robertson has all but locked up his first opening-night NHL job. The 6’4″ lefty was a second-round pick in 2019, but the 24-year-old only has bottom-pairing ceiling at this stage of his development. That means a No. 7 role is far less harmful to his development than Morrow’s. Robertson made his NHL debut for New York in a two-game call-up last season and is coming off a career-best offensive campaign in Hartford, where he logged a 1-24–25 scoring line in 60 games with a -5 rating.

Lightning “Quietly Extended” Jon Cooper This Offseason

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Coaches on expiring contracts have been angling for new deals ahead of the regular season. Up in Alberta, the Flames’ Ryan Huska and the Oilers’ Kris Knoblauch have both signed multi-year extensions this week.

One name who won’t be the subject of an upcoming announcement is Lightning bench boss Jon Cooper. That’s because he put pen to paper on an extension with the Bolts over the offseason without a team announcement, Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports. It’s unclear how many seasons his new deal covers, but the 2025-26 campaign won’t be his last with Tampa, barring a surprising collapse.

It’s the second extension Cooper has signed in as many years. His previous deal was set to expire following last season, but he inked a one-year extension in May 2024. This one is of more importance, quieting brief speculation from earlier in the summer that Cooper might have wanted an option for a quick out, explaining why he only signed a one-year deal last year. His relationship with Mammoth owner Ryan Smith led to rumors that Utah may be his next stop. That may still be the case a few years down the road, but for now, Tampa will remain the only NHL home Cooper’s ever known.

Cooper is a unicorn in today’s NHL. As the league-average coaching tenure dips below three seasons, Cooper enters his 14th season as the Lightning’s head coach, having taken over for Guy Boucher in the 2012-13 season. His resume speaks for itself – four conference champions, two Stanley Cup championships, and a 572-306-83 (.638) regular-season record. This year will mark his 1,000th NHL game as a head coach, and at the end of the year, he’ll sit fourth all-time on the list of most games coached with a single franchise. His number will be 1,043 in April 2026, trailing only Barry Trotz’s 1,196 games with the Predators, Lindy Ruff’s 1,247 games with the Sabres, and Al Arbour’s 1,500 games with the Islanders.

Yet after three consecutive first-round losses, there was a small fire burning under his seat. Today’s news should extinguish it. There’s a multitude of reasons for optimism in Florida’s more northerly NHL market this year, boasting a deeper forward group than they’ve been working with for the past couple of seasons.

That leaves Ruff in Buffalo as the only coach on an expiring contract entering the campaign, LeBrun reports.

Image courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images.

Oilers Sign Kris Knoblauch To Three-Year Extension

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The Oilers and head coach Kris Knoblauch have agreed to terms on a three-year contract extension, per a team announcement. Darren Dreger of TSN was the first to report it.

Dreger confirmed last month that Knoblauch was entering the final season of his current deal. There was no firm extension offer on the table at that time, but things evidently moved quickly and smoothly over the last two weeks. General manager Stan Bowman said Wednesday that talks were productive, with no speed bumps.

So continues a dominant run for Knoblauch, who was brought in early in the 2023-24 season to replace Jay Woodcroft after a slow start. Edmonton has a 94-47-10 record in the 151 games since Knoblauch took over, making his .656 points percentage the best in franchise history – including the club’s WHA days. He’s the first coach since Hall-of-Famer Scotty Bowman to reach the Stanley Cup Final in each of his first two seasons behind the bench, something Bowman achieved in the early days of the expansion era with the Blues in three straight years from 1968-70.

He, of course, benefits from the Western Conference’s most star-studded skater core led by Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Evan Bouchard. The group had extensive regular-season success under previous bench bosses Woodcroft and Dave Tippett, but they didn’t manage to win a game past the second round until Knoblauch took the helm. Edmonton’s only previous Conference Final appearance of the McDavid/Draisaitl era, 2022 under Woodcroft, resulted in a sweep at the hands of the Avalanche.

With playoff success and long-term organizational stability being key to an extension for McDavid, a pending UFA, it’s no surprise the Oilers are moving quickly to secure Knoblauch’s future beyond this season, in the hopes that McDavid will follow suit soon. It was widely believed that McDavid influenced Knoblauch’s hiring two years ago, having played for him in his junior days with the OHL’s Erie Otters.

While Knoblauch has yet to add any NHL honors to his trophy case aside from Edmonton’s two conference championships, he’s been recognized individually during his time at the minor-league and junior levels. He was named the OHL’s Coach of the Year with Erie in 2015-16, despite not having McDavid’s help, and he was also invited to coach at the AHL All-Star Game while with the Hartford Wolf Pack in 2019-20.

Image courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports.

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