Capitals’ Rasmus Sandin Will Miss Start Of 2026-27 With Knee Injury
The Capitals will not have defenseman Rasmus Sandin available at the start of next season due to the right knee injury he sustained at the tail end of the regular season, general manager Chris Patrick told reporters today (including Tom Gulitti of NHL.com). His absence will be significant enough to “impact their offseason planning,” Patrick said, so a quick return later into October may not be in the cards, either.
That means Sandin is looking at a recovery timeline in the six-month range as a best-case scenario. During last week’s locker cleanout, Sandin said that he could walk under his own power with a brace but had “quite a bit of rehab” ahead of him this summer. That implied he wasn’t anticipating surgery being required, but after additional evaluation, such a lengthy timeline up front suggests they’ve gone in another direction.
Washington’s defense is in flux for next season, particularly on the right side. They sent longtime #1 John Carlson to the Ducks at the trade deadline and have Timothy Liljegren and Trevor van Riemsdyk hurtling toward unrestricted free agency this summer. That leaves Matt Roy as the only everyday right-shot option signed through next season, alongside press-box fixture Dylan McIlrath. Sandin, of course, is a lefty, but played a fair amount on his offside for Washington this season and stood out as a stopgap option to shift over to make room for rookie Cole Hutson in the Caps’ top four.
That won’t be an option, at least for the first several weeks of the campaign. Perhaps the urgency to re-sign Liljegren will be turned up. As the Caps considered shopping van Riemsdyk at the trade deadline, it became apparent they didn’t expect to extend him, though Sandin’s status could change their minds.
Sandin just wrapped up year two of the five-year, $23MM extension he signed with Washington in 2024. Acquired from the Maple Leafs the year prior, he’s now averaged over 20 minutes per game across 202 regular-season contests for the Caps with a 15-82–97 scoring line and a -4 rating. He’s coming off a 2025-26 campaign that saw him finish third among Caps defensemen in points (29), fourth in shots on goal (90), third in blocks (127), and third in hits (88). He didn’t see a ton of special teams deployment, but is a fine stopgap on a second-unit power play or penalty kill.
That’s a notable hole to fill for a Washington team intent on returning to playoff contention next season. A reunion with Carlson seems unlikely given how abrupt his tenure ended in March, but other high-powered right-shot options like Rasmus Andersson and Darren Raddysh are still ticketed to hit the open market this summer. With over $36MM in cap space for next season and Connor McMichael sitting as their only pending restricted free agent set to really cash in, they’ll have the flexibility to compete with any offer.
Predators To Interview Tom Fitzgerald For GM Vacancy
The Predators have an interview scheduled with former Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald this week, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports. That fit was first explored immediately after Fitzgerald’s firing earlier this month, but it’s clear now he’s a serious candidate as Nashville’s search process for Barry Trotz’s successor nears its final stages.
Aside from Fitzgerald’s lengthy and recent executive experience, his personal connection to Nashville always made him a leading contender for the role the minute he became available. He spent four of his 17 NHL seasons as a player in Tennessee, was the franchise’s first-ever captain and chose the team as a free agent upon their inception in 1998, not as an expansion draft choice.
Nashville’s decision will come by the end of the month, Pagnotta said. While Fitzgerald had been the Devils’ GM since midway through the 2019-20 season, that’s not where his resume begins. Shortly after wrapping up his playing career in 2006, he was hired as the Penguins’ director of player development. He was part of the organization’s back-to-back Stanley Cup Final trips in 2008 and 2009 before being promoted to assistant general manager, a role he held until following former Pens GM Ray Shero to New Jersey to fill the same role in 2015.
The Predators have made it clear that experience is a prerequisite, per multiple reports. Their field has mostly consisted of highly-touted AGMs from around the league looking to take the next step, including Rangers assistant Ryan Martin, but Fitzgerald’s six-plus years of top-level experience could end up being too appealing to turn down.
Ducks Sign Roger McQueen To Entry-Level Deal
April 18th: As expected, the Ducks have announced McQueen’s entry-level contract, beginning next year. He’ll continue with the AHL San Diego on an amateur tryout agreement through the Calder Cup playoffs. McQueen has scored one goal and three points in six games with a -1 rating with the Gulls so far.
PuckPedia shared the year-by-year breakdown of McQueen’s entry-level deal:
| Year | NHL Salary | Signing bonus | Potential performance bonuses | Minors salary |
| 2026-27 | $922.5K | $102.5K | $550K | $85K |
| 2027-28 | $967.5K | $107.5K | $800K | $85K |
| 2028-29 | $1.0125MM | $112.5K | $1MM | $85K |
April 1st: The Ducks are working to finalize an entry-level contract for top center prospect Roger McQueen beginning next season, PuckPedia reports on Wednesday. He is also expected to sign an amateur tryout with the AHL’s San Diego Gulls to make his pro debut in the coming days.
McQueen, 19, was one of last year’s most polarizing prospects. His 6’6″, 198-lb frame was of significant intrigue, plus the fact that he’d tallied nearly a point per game for the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings in his pre-draft year.
A power forward with great puck skills, he only ended up getting into 17 games last year. He missed most of his pivotal draft season because of a fracture in his lower back known as spondylolysis that was initially misdiagnosed as a bulging disc. The symptoms that accompanied had stretched as far back as August 2023, McQueen told Adam Kimelman of NHL.com last year, but were finally completely resolved by the end of the season, allowing him to participate fully in the draft combine.
Some viewed McQueen as a top-five talent. Obviously, with his injury concerns, that didn’t happen. Still, after managing a 10-10–20 scoring line in 17 games for the Wheat Kings in his difficult age-18 campaign, the Ducks had seen enough to take him 10th overall.
The latest addition to a deep stable of first-round forward talent in Anaheim that includes Leo Carlsson, Beckett Sennecke, and Cutter Gauthier, McQueen opted not to return to juniors for 2025-26 and instead committed to Providence College, taking advantage of the new development path for players who came up through top-level Canadian juniors. The Saskatoon native hit the ground running and was among the Friars’ top talents this year, finishing with an 11-16–27 scoring line in 36 outings to rank third on the team.
In doing so, McQueen took home a Hockey East regular-season championship and won the conference’s Rookie of the Year Award. The team was upset by UConn in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament before bowing out to Denver in the regional semifinals of the national tournament.
The right-shot McQueen’s standout freshman year solidified him as Anaheim’s #1 prospect, Scott Wheeler of The Athletic writes. Last offseason, NHL.com had him at #3 behind the since-graduated Sennecke and defenseman Stian Solberg, so there’s been some real upward movement in his stock over the last 10 months.
In all likelihood, McQueen will still need a bit of AHL seasoning next season before he’s ready for an everyday NHL role. All four of the Ducks’ centers are either signed or under team control through next season, so there’s no huge rush to incorporate him, either – although it wouldn’t be surprising to see Mikael Granlund or Mason McTavish shift to the wing if McQueen does force his way onto the roster with a strong training camp.
Jets Sign Cole Koepke To Two-Year Extension
The Winnipeg Jets are retaining some of their bottom-six depth for a few more seasons. The Jets announced that they’ve signed forward Cole Koepke to a two-year, $2.9MM ($1.45MM AAV) extension through the 2027-28 season.
Truth be told, many believed Koepke would sign a similar deal last summer. The 27-year-old was coming off the best season of his career with the Boston Bruins, scoring 10 goals and 17 points in 73 games, averaging 11:15 of ice time. The Bruins’ fourth line of Koepke, Mark Kastelic, and John Beecher was arguably the most dominant on the team, averaging a 61.6% xGoals% according to MoneyPuck.
Despite the solid season, Koepke settled for a one-year, $1MM contract with the Jets for the 2025-26 campaign. Fortunately, Koepke proved that his 2024-25 season wasn’t a flash in the pan, and instead, his baseline. He finished this season with eight goals and 17 points in 66 games, averaging 10:28 of ice time. Additionally, he marginally increased his physicality from last season, leading the team in hits with 186.
At the very least, as they look to retool this summer and get back to contention, the Jets know Koepke will bring some energy and toughness to the team’s bottom-six. Although he’s not much of a fighter, teams will have their heads on a swivel when Koepke is on the ice, which should benefit prospects such as Brad Lambert or Brayden Yager if they crack Winnipeg’s roster out of training camp next season.
NHL Executives Pick Avalanche, Stars As Stanley Cup Favorites
The race to get in final brackets before the start of round one isn’t exclusive to the fans. Some NHL front office staff and executives also have fun with predicting the Stanley Cup Champions recently captured by Harman Dayal and Chris Johnston of The Athletic. They polled nine anonymous NHL front office executives and senior staff to find their playoff favorites. Even when prompted to include three-or-four Stanley Cup favorites, many of the voters had two teams that stood out from the rest – the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars.
It is no surprise to see Colorado top the list after an unstoppable regular season. The Avalanche finished the year with the most wins (55), most goals scored (298), and fewest goals allowed (197), in the NHL. Star Nathan MacKinnon won the scoring race with 53 goals and ranked third with 127 points in 80 games played. His winger, Martin Necas, wasn’t far behind with the first 100-point season of his career. Goaltender Scott Wedgewood also led the NHL with a .921 save percentage. He backstopped a roster that was strong from top-to-bottom and only got better with the addition of Nazem Kadri, one executive told Dayal and Johnston. The Avalanche will start their playoff race against the Los Angeles Kings and stand as the team-to-beat in the Western Conference.
The only team to rival Colorado’s season was Dallas. The Stars were the only other Western Conference team to reach 50 wins and finished the year with the second-fewest goals allowed (222). They were well-rounded all year long under the lead of returning head coach Glen Gulutzan and surging forward Jason Robertson and Wyatt Johnston. Robertson finished the year with 45 goals and 96 points while Johnston had a breakout season with 45 goals and 86 points. The duo dominated momentum when they were on the ice, supported by speedy winger Mavrik Bourque in a top-six role. That was the kind of depth that helped Dallas stand out, with Sam Steel and Justin Hryckowian also offering effective roles throughout the lineup. Starter Jake Oettinger also finished third in the league with 35 wins but coupled it with a .899 save percentage that was closer to league average. With every lineup spot filled and healthy, Dallas could be a dangerous playoff team. Unfortunately, they might also face the toughest path to the Stanley Cup Finals – likely having to go through both the Minnesota Wild and Avalanche to get out of the West.
The red-hot Buffalo Sabres topped The Athletic’s tier of dark horse candidates in their return to the postseason. Buffalo is hot at the right time – having posted a 15-4-3 record since March 1st. Their .750 win percentage is second to only the St. Louis Blues’ .761 in that span. The Sabres have also ranked third in goals-per-game (3.64) in that timeframe, behind the Philadelphia Flyers (3.88) and Carolina Hurricanes (3.83). Their run to the playoffs has been spearheaded by Gold Medal-forward Tage Thompson and captain Rasmus Dahlin, who finished with 81 and 74 points respectively. Buffalo’s offense stocked every line this season, marked by 43 points from Zach Benson and 39 points from Peyton Krebs. They also found stability in net thanks to a .910 save percentage from Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen in 35 games and a .907 from Alex Lyon in 36 games. That might be enough to spark a Cup run. First, Buffalo will have to prove their place back in the postseason with their first round-one win since 2007.
Photo courtesy of Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images.
At Least Eight Teams To Carry Overage Penalty Into 2026-27
The NHL adds contract performance bonuses to the salary cap hit of each team at the end of the season. Any price over the salary cap is carried over to the team’s cap hit in the following season. Performance bonuses are broken up into two categories. A-level bonuses are paid out for reaching set numbers of goals, assists, points, plus-minus, or time on ice per-game. End-of-season accolades, such as an All-Star or All-Team nomination, are also A-level bonuses. B-level bonuses are worth up to $2MM and can include leaderboard rankings, minimum stats reached, or award wins. More details about performance bonuses can be found on PuckPedia.
At least NHL teams will carry an overage penalty into the 2026-27 season per PuckPedia. That number is down from 11 in the 2025-26 season and 15, an NHL record, in the 2024-25 season. This year’s list includes:
New York Islanders: $3.5MM
The Islanders paid out every last bit of rookie phenom Matthew Schaefer‘s potential $3.5MM performance bonus. He was awarded $1MM for his per-game scoring and ice time, then earned an additional $2.5MM by finishing in the top-10 of defensemen scoring. The Islanders utilized long-term injured reserve to exceed the salary cap at the end of the season. That will leave all of Schaefer’s performance bonus as overage headed into next season.
Colorado Avalanche: $2.29MM
Colorado lands an overage penalty thanks to Brent Burns‘ performance on an age-35+ contract. Burns had a potential for $4MM in performance bonuses on his deal and earned $3MM of that by playing in 10 games this season. Colorado utilized LTIR earlier in the year but finished the season with a little more than $700K in cap space. That space will help offset the cost of Burns’ bonuses just a bit, though Colorado will still carry a penalty into 2026-27.
Dallas Stars: $2.08-$3.08MM
The Dallas Stars paid out $80K in bonus to Justin Hryckowian for reaching 70 games this season. Captain Jamie Benn also earned $2MM of a potential $3MM in bonuses for playing in 50 games. That includes appearing in the season finale, which netted him $500K on its own. Benn has the potential to earn an additional $1MM in bonus – $500K each if Dallas wins the Western Conference Finals and Stanley Cup. That will sit the Stars with just over $2MM in overage currently and the potential for $3MM if they win it all.
Montreal Canadiens: $1.93-2.07MM
The Montreal Canadiens finished the year with less than $50K in cap space, in part thanks to their mid-season acquisition of Phillip Danault. Rookie Ivan Demidov landed $1MM in bonuses, of a potential $2MM, for his per-game scoring and ice time totals. Oliver Kapanen also earned $250K in bonuses for his per-game totals. He could earn an additional $137.5K if he is named to the NHL All-Rookie Team – a feat that seems unlikely with rookie forwards like Demidov, Beckett Sennecke, Benjamin Kindel, and Jimmy Snuggerud also in the running. Montreal also paid out $400K in bonuses to star defenseman Lane Hutson for a variety of reasons and $80K to rookie goalie Jacob Fowler for reaching 10 games. They will sit just shy of $2MM in overage penalty and could crest that mark if Kapanen earns all-team honors.
Ottawa Senators: $0-1.41MM
The Ottawa Senators will have to sign some big checks if they go on a playoff run. They have already paid out $1MM to Claude Giroux, and $750K to Lars Eller, for playing in 60 games and reaching the postseason. Giroux will earn an additional $500K if Ottawa wins in the first round – a cost that would be absorbed by their end-of-year cap space. But Giroux and Eller will also be eligible for $250K in bonuses if Ottawa wins the second round, and Giroux can net an additional $500K for wins in each of the Eastern Conference Finals and Stanley Cup Finals. That will leave Ottawa with four potential outcomes: no overage penalty, $414K in overage penalty (third-round loss), $914K in overage penalty (Stanley Cup Final loss), or $1.414MM in overage penalty (Stanley Cup win).
New Jersey Devils: $1.25MM
The Devils paid out two bonuses that pushed them into the red. Young defenseman Simon Nemec earned $750K in bonuses for his scoring, plus-minus, and ice time per-game totals. Winger Evgenii Dadonov landed $500K for scoring at least one point, $250K for playing in 10 games, and an additional $250K for reaching 20 games. He did not play in his 20th game of the season until March 29th, earning the 37 year old a late-season chip. Now, the Devils will carry more than $1MM in overage penalty into next season.
San Jose Sharks: $918.7K
The San Jose Sharks finished the year with $4.8MM in cap space but still land on the list of overage penalties. Much of that is thanks to their young stars. Macklin Celebrini earned every bit of his $3.5MM in potential bonuses with his franchise record-setting scoring. Will Smith earned $1MM, and William Eklund earned $450K, in bonuses for their scoring and ice time per-game. Those marks also earned Sam Dickinson $250K and Collin Graf reached his contract cap of $500K in bonuses. That amounts to $5.425MM, pushing the Sharks into the red for next season.
Edmonton Oilers: $250K
The Edmonton Oilers will face their second-straight season with $250K in overage penalty next year. This time, it is a result of rookie Matthew Savoie, who earned $250K with his ice time per-game. Edmonton finished the year utilizing LTIR to exceed the salary cap.
Florida Panthers: $150K
Defenseman Jeff Petry earned $150K in bonuses for reaching 50 games played with the Florida Panthers before the Trade Deadline. He earned an additional $60K for reaching 60 games, though that bonus came after his trade to the Minnesota Wild.
Photo courtesy of Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports
Stars Sign Nils Lundkvist To Two-Year Extension
The Stars announced that they’ve signed defenseman Nils Lundkvist to a two-year extension worth $1.75MM annually. That’s a total value of $3.5MM for the righty, who could have gone to arbitration this summer.
Lundkvist, 25, just wrapped up his fourth regular season in Dallas. The offensive-minded Swede was the 28th overall pick by the Rangers back in 2018. After finally coming over from Luleå in the Swedish Hockey League three years later, he had a rocky first season in New York that saw him split time between the NHL and AHL without having great results in either. Without a clear path to a full-time NHL job, Lundkvist quickly requested a trade and ended up in Dallas for his second NHL season.
Lundkvist got his wish and has remained in the Stars’ NHL rotation ever since, albeit in a depth role. His development has been a slow burn, routinely getting long looks in regular-season action before falling out of the picture come playoff time. While Dallas has now made the playoffs all four seasons during Lundkvist’s tenure, he didn’t log a single appearance for them in either the 2023 or 2025 postseason, although the latter was due to shoulder surgery.
However, as team radio analyst Bruce LeVine relays, the organization is extremely pleased with Lundkvist’s work this season. He hasn’t been a healthy scratch at any point – his 52 games played on the year were the result of missing time with a lower-body injury early in the season – and put up 11 points with a +12 rating while averaging a career-high 16:29 per game. He’s far from a physical threat and doesn’t factor in on either special teams unit, but he’s used his great skating acumen to work his way up the even-strength depth chart.
Lundkvist actually spent most of this season on the club’s second pairing with Thomas Harley, playing as their #2 right-side D-man with Miro Heiskanen on his offside on the top pairing. Trade deadline pickup Tyler Myers has slotted in behind Lundkvist at even strength. In over 500 minutes together, Harley and Lundkvist controlled 52.9% of expected goals and outscored opponents 27-17. Among pairings with at least 500 minutes together, Harley and Lundkvist ranked fifth in 5-on-5 goal share at 61.4%, per MoneyPuck.
Even if the Stars aren’t getting much point production out of him due to a lack of power-play time, he’s proven to be a valuable complement at even strength to help advance the play to their forwards. At a sub-$2MM cap hit, they’ll be getting spectacular value out of Lundkvist for the next two seasons if he can keep that up.
That’s important, as the Stars’ cap situation is in a tough spot for the second offseason in a row. With Lundkvist’s deal registered, they’re down to $13.19MM in projected space with four roster spots to fill, per PuckPedia. Virtually all of that will need to go to pending RFA and leading scorer Jason Robertson, who’s projected to cost nearly $12MM annually on an eight-year extension, according to AFP Analytics.
That’ll leave space for just one more contract as things stand – likely a bridge deal for Mavrik Bourque. However, he’s arbitration-eligible, so lowballing him from the jump comes with significant risk. Even still, that leaves Dallas with next to no flexibility to start the season, and they wouldn’t be able to carry a full roster. It’s likely that at least one cap-clearing move – likely ridding themselves of #7 defender Ilya Lyubushkin‘s $3.25MM cap charge – will be incoming.
Image courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images.
Maple Leafs Interviewing Mats Sundin For Hockey Operations Role
The Maple Leafs will be interviewing Mats Sundin, the franchise’s all-time leading scorer, for a role in their hockey operations department as soon as today, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. It doesn’t appear he’s being considered for either Toronto’s general manager or the president of hockey operations vacancy. However, he could be brought on board in an advisory role, “or something along those lines,” Friedman writes.
Sundin hasn’t been technically affiliated with the Leafs since the penultimate season of his playing career in 2007-08. An unrestricted free agent the following summer, he took several weeks into the 2008-09 season to decide on his future before ultimately signing a one-year deal with the Canucks. He retired the following offseason.
Since then, Sundin’s management resume has only gained some footnotes. He has no club experience in the front office and has only worked with Sweden’s men’s national team as a consultant on two occasions – first for the 2013 World Championship and again for the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. That 2013 team, led by the Sedin twins, an in-his-prime Loui Eriksson, and a young Gabriel Landeskog, landed Sweden its first gold medal at the tournament in seven years.
Sundin’s franchise records could stand for a while yet, pending Auston Matthews‘ long-term future in Toronto. The first-ballot Hall-of-Fame center and one of the NHL’s 100 all-time greatest players according to their centennial list in 2017, he was the first European ever to go first overall in the draft when the Nordiques selected him in 1989. He ended up in Toronto five years later in a blockbuster deal and, over the next 13 years, put up 420 goals, 567 assists, and 987 points in 981 games in a Leafs sweater. A perennial All-Star, Matthews has passed him in the goals department but still has 207 points to go before taking that crown away from him.
Teams taking this path to get a well-respected player but inexperienced executive into higher-leverage front office roles is becoming more commonplace. The Blues laid out their succession plan for outgoing GM Doug Armstrong several years ago, appointing Alexander Steen as a special assistant under Armstrong in 2024 with him scheduled to replace him in the GM’s chair this offseason. There’s a real chance an initial advisory role for Sundin could lead to something bigger in a few years, if he’s open to it.
Image courtesy of Per Haljestam-Imagn Images.
Canucks Fire Patrik Allvin
The Canucks have relieved general manager Patrik Allvin of his duties, per a team announcement. Darren Dreger of TSN was first on it this morning after Thomas Ros of Sweden’s Aftonbladet said overnight that the Canucks made the decision around last night’s season finale to let him go.
For now, that’s the only change. The futures of first-year head coach Adam Foote and president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford are also up in the air after a woeful season in Vancouver finally came to an end last night with a 6-1 loss to the Oilers. Vancouver’s 25-49-8 record left them as the worst in the NHL by a 14-point margin, with their .354 points percentage serving as the franchise’s worst result since the 1998-99 campaign that rewarded them with the assets to draft franchise cornerstones Daniel Sedin and Henrik Sedin.
Ideally, the trials of this season will yield another franchise forward for the Canucks – whether that’s Gavin McKenna or another Swede in Ivar Stenberg. However, Allvin won’t be the one entrusted to steer the team through the early stages of that next era.
Allvin just finished his fourth full season in the GM’s chair in Vancouver and fifth overall. After Rutherford was hired as POHO midway through the 2021-22 season in the wake of Jim Benning‘s firing, he served as interim GM for a few weeks before eventually hiring Allvin to fill the role. The duo had worked together previously with the Penguins, where Allvin had served as director of various scouting departments from 2012 to 2021 before being promoted to assistant GM.
Since Allvin’s appointment on Jan. 26, 2022, the Canucks have a record of 173-150-45 (.531). That’s 23rd out of 33 NHL franchises (the Coyotes are tracked separately from the Mammoth) during that time.
The tinge of disappointment in Allvin and Rutherford’s tenure will be most felt by a roller-coaster graph in team success. A rebuild that failed to get off the ground in several years under Benning finally seemed to do so under Allvin’s direction in 2023-24. After hiring a new bench boss in Rick Tocchet and largely staying the course with his group, the Canucks exploded for a 50-win, 109-point season and their first division title in 11 years. That also yielded just their third playoff berth in that span, driving the eventual conference champion Oilers to seven games in the second round despite injuries forcing them to ice third-string goaltender Arturs Silovs from Game 4 of the first round onward.
Yet the Canucks have been in a free fall ever since. They failed to retain multiple key unrestricted free agents the following offseason, and while they netted some solid depth replacements like Jake DeBrusk, the team couldn’t recover. Their All-Star starter, Thatcher Demko, being limited to 43 starts over the last two seasons certainly didn’t help matters, but a slow degradation in their defensive structure – followed by a full-blown collapse once they failed to work out an extension with Tocchet and let him go following the 2024-25 season – destroyed any hope of being able to compensate for Demko’s absence.
In Tocchet’s second and final season, the team was salvageable. The loss of finishing talent in free agency was felt in an already defense-heavy system, but improved goaltending could have steered the Canucks back toward the playoff picture. Under Foote, though, a roster that was designed for Tocchet’s defense-first system imploded. The team allowed the most goals per game (3.83) by a wide margin, had the league’s worst penalty kill at 71.5%, and the second-most expected goals against per 60 at 5-on-5 at 2.80, per MoneyPuck.
Despite acquiring several young assets when the team was essentially forced into trading franchise defender Quinn Hughes to the Wild amid this season’s free-fall, Allvin’s middle-of-the-road drafting has only left the Canucks with a league-average prospect pool, Scott Wheeler of The Athletic opines. That will obviously get a jumpstart with the best odds at the first overall pick this June, plus three other selections they’ve accumulated through the first two rounds, but there’s still some work for Allvin’s successor to do before exiting their retool becomes a viable strategy.
As for who that successor might be, there’s a strong feeling it could be an internal promotion. The Canucks have denied other teams permission to speak to their assistant/AHL GM, longtime NHL center Ryan Johnson. He’s been with the organization since 2013, first as a development coach, before working his way up the ladder over the next decade-plus.
NHL Releases 2026 First Round Schedule
After last night’s results locked in the two Western Conference playoff series that had yet to be decided, the NHL announced the full schedule matrix for the first round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs after releasing select Game 1 information earlier in the day. Things will kick off Saturday afternoon, with only Friday serving as an off day between the regular and postseason.
Here’s the full day-by-day schedule for the first round, with game times in Central and TV/streaming information in the United States:
Saturday, April 18
2:00 p.m.: Senators at Hurricanes, Game 1 (ESPN)
4:30 p.m.: Wild at Stars, Game 1 (ESPN)
7:00 p.m.: Flyers at Penguins, Game 1 (ESPN)
Sunday, April 19
2:00 p.m.: Kings at Avalanche, Game 1 (TNT, truTV, HBO Max)
4:45 p.m.: Canadiens at Lightning, Game 1 (TNT, truTV, HBO Max)
6:30 p.m.: Bruins at Sabres, Game 1 (ESPN)
9:00 p.m.: Mammoth at Golden Knights, Game 1 (ESPN)
Monday, April 20
6:00 p.m.: Flyers at Penguins, Game 2 (ESPN)
6:30 p.m.: Senators at Hurricanes, Game 2 (ESPN2)
8:30 p.m.: Wild at Stars, Game 2 (ESPN)
9:00 p.m.: Ducks at Oilers, Game 1 (ESPN2)
Tuesday, April 21
6:00 p.m.: Canadiens at Lightning, Game 2 (ESPN2)
6:30 p.m.: Bruins at Sabres, Game 2 (ESPN)
9:00 p.m.: Kings at Avalanche, Game 2 (ESPN)
Wednesday, April 22
6:00 p.m.: Penguins at Flyers, Game 3 (ESPN)
8:30 p.m.: Stars at Wild, Game 3 (TNT, truTV, HBO Max)
9:00 p.m.: Ducks at Oilers, Game 2 (TBS, HBO Max)
Thursday, April 23
6:00 p.m.: Sabres at Bruins, Game 3 (TNT, truTV, HBO Max)
6:30 p.m.: Hurricanes at Senators, Game 3 (TBS, HBO Max)
9:00 p.m.: Avalanche at Kings, Game 3 (TNT, truTV, HBO Max)
Friday, April 24
6:00 p.m.: Lightning at Canadiens, Game 3 (TNT, truTV, HBO Max)
9:00 p.m.: Oilers at Ducks, Game 3 (TNT, truTV, HBO Max)
Saturday, April 25
2:00 p.m.: Senators at Hurricanes, Game 4 (TBS, truTV, HBO Max)
4:30 p.m.: Stars at Wild, Game 4 (TBS, truTV, HBO Max)
7:00 p.m.: Penguins at Flyers, Game 4 (TBS, truTV, HBO Max)
Sunday, April 26
1:00 p.m.: Sabres at Bruins, Game 4 (TNT, truTV, HBO Max)
3:30 p.m.: Avalanche at Kings, Game 4 (TNT, truTV, HBO Max)
6:00 p.m.: Lightning at Canadiens, Game 4 (ESPN)
8:30 p.m.: Oilers at Ducks, Game 4 (ESPN)
Times for Games 5-7 TBD
Monday, April 27
Senators at Hurricanes, Game 5
Flyers at Penguins, Game 5
Golden Knights at Mammoth, Game 4 (ESPN)
Tuesday, April 28
Bruins at Sabres, Game 5
Wild at Stars, Game 5
Ducks at Oilers, Game 5
Wednesday, April 29
Canadiens at Lightning, Game 5
Penguins at Flyers, Game 6
Kings at Avalanche, Game 5
Mammoth at Golden Knights, Game 5
Thursday, April 30
Hurricanes at Senators, Game 6
Stars at Wild, Game 6
Oilers at Ducks, Game 6
Friday, May 1
Sabres at Bruins, Game 6
Lightning at Canadiens, Game 6
Avalanche at Kings, Game 6
Golden Knights at Mammoth, Game 6
Saturday, May 2
Senators at Hurricanes, Game 7
Flyers at Penguins, Game 7
Wild at Stars, Game 7
Ducks at Oilers, Game 7
Sunday, May 3
Bruins at Sabres, Game 7
Canadiens at Lightning, Game 7
Kings at Avalanche, Game 7
Mammoth at Golden Knights, Game 7