Tyson Barrie Announces Retirement
Amid his participation in yesterday’s Avalanche alumni game, defenseman Tyson Barrie confirmed to Nathan Rudolph of the DNVR Avalanche podcast that he’s retired.
A third-round pick of the Avalanche in 2009, Barrie was a highly intriguing offensive option out of the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets and quickly looked like he could be something of a steal. He led the league in assists by a defenseman in his post-draft year and was named the WHL’s top defenseman as a result, but concerns about the righty’s size and defensive acumen meant he returned for a fourth and final season of junior hockey before making the jump to the pro ranks in 2011-12. Even then, he spent most of that year in the minors and only received 10 NHL games.
He slowly worked his way up the Avs’ depth chart, seeing less and less AHL time each season before earning his final recall in November 2013, early in his age-22 season. While he checked in as a fringe top-four option at even strength, he overtook Erik Johnson as Colorado’s top power-play quarterback and ended up recording a 13-25–38 scoring line in 64 games over the balance of the campaign. Those 0.59 points per game placed him inside the top-15 among NHL rearguards that year.
The 2014-15 campaign marked Barrie’s true coming of age. He broke the 50-point plateau – the first of four times he’d end up doing so in his career – while serving as Colorado’s de facto No. 1 option for a good portion of the season with Johnson injured. He would continue averaging north of 21 minutes per game for the remainder of his Colorado tenure, twice earning fringe votes for year-end All-Star honors.
Colorado didn’t have a ton of team success during Barrie’s six-year run as a full-timer there, though, only making the playoffs three times and winning a round once. His struggles away from the puck played a significant role in that. Only once, his final season in Denver, did Barrie manage to record a positive expected rating based on shot quality generated and allowed when he was on the ice at even strength. He posted a negative actual plus/minus rating in his last four years for Colorado, including a league-worst -34 mark in the Avs’ disastrous 22-win season in 2016-17.
Entering the 2019-20 season, Barrie was a pending unrestricted free agent and had been made redundant with Cale Makar‘s emergence in the preceding postseason. That kicked off the latter journeyman phase of his career, beginning with a July 1 blockbuster that sent him to the Maple Leafs in exchange for Nazem Kadri. It didn’t work out all that well for Barrie or Toronto. He was no longer his club’s top power play option, sitting behind Morgan Rielly on the Leafs’ power play pyramid, and his offensive output declined to a more pedestrian 5-34–39 scoring line in 70 games as a result.
With Barrie’s point production his only real calling card, the fit in Toronto obviously wasn’t going to be a long-term one. They let him become a free agent during the COVID-laced 2020 offseason, and he proceeded to land a one-year, $3.75MM “prove-it” deal with the Oilers.
Barrie was plopped onto a top power-play unit in Edmonton with the two-headed monster of Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid – the league’s two leading scorers in the shortened 2021 season – and responded with the best campaign of his career. He recorded 48 points in the truncated 56-game schedule, leading the NHL in scoring among defenders. His defensive deficiencies remained quite visible, though. He only managed a +5 rating compared to regular partner Darnell Nurse‘s +27 mark, and as Edmonton was swept in the first round of the playoffs, Barrie became the first defenseman in league history to lead the position in scoring while not receiving a single Norris Trophy vote.
While Barrie remained a fine puck-mover for the Oilers, his production never quite found that gear again. His minutes began to drop back below the 20-minute mark, and at the 2023 deadline, he was sent to the Predators in the deal that landed Edmonton two-way dynamo Mattias Ekholm.
Nashville marked the last real turning point in Barrie’s career, and it wasn’t for the better. While he was still quite effective for the Preds down the stretch after the trade, recording 12 points in 24 games, that didn’t last very long. In 2023-24 – the final year of a three-year, $13.5MM extension he signed with Edmonton – Barrie tumbled down Nashville’s depth chart and ended up becoming a routine healthy scratch by the time the season ended. As such, he was limited to just one goal and 15 points in 41 games and only drew into the Preds’ playoff lineup once in their first-round loss to the Canucks.
Ahead of his age-33 season and with his value at an all-time low, Barrie ended up needing to settle for a professional tryout with the Flames to participate in an NHL training camp last fall. He did convert that into a $1.25MM contract in early October, but the fit wasn’t quite what Calgary hoped for. He only logged 13 appearances for the club and even ended up on waivers and cleared, seeing his first AHL action in over a decade with the Calgary Wranglers.
Barrie was a free agent this summer, and there was no reported interest in him on the open market. He hangs up his skates with 822 games played in 14 seasons, 23rd among his rather stacked draft class. He scored 110 goals and added 398 assists for 508 points, 10th in the league among defensemen since he debuted back in the 2011-12 season. He averaged just over 21 minutes per night for his career and made $47.85MM in estimated total earnings, per PuckPedia.
All of us at PHR congratulate Barrie on his fine career and wish him the best in his next steps.
Image courtesy of Sergei Belski-Imagn Images.
Matthew Tkachuk Underwent Surgery, Aiming For January Return
Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk‘s health entering the season has been a topic of conversation after he returned early from an adductor injury sustained at the 4 Nations Face-Off to suit up in Florida’s run to a second straight Stanley Cup. David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period now relays that Tkachuk indeed opted for surgery to repair it, undergoing the procedure “a few weeks ago,” and could miss as much as the first four months of the campaign.
It’s still not clear what caused the right-winger’s injury during the 4 Nations tournament, but he missed the balance of the regular season and wasn’t cleared to return until Game 2 of the Cats’ first-round win over the Lightning. Opting for non-surgical rehab initially to accelerate his return timeline, he still managed to rattle off a point per game as he marched to his third straight Stanley Cup Final and second straight win, although his 17:24 average time on ice was a noticeable drop from his previous usage.
His projected return timeline makes him LTIR-eligible and offers the Panthers a pathway to cap compliance to begin the season, but it’s not that simple. They’re now $4.5MM over the cap and, on top of shuffling their roster to optimize his LTIR relief, they have to figure out a way to reinstate him on the active roster when he’s ready to return while staying below the $95.5MM upper limit. They likely won’t concern themselves with the first bit too much, as he’s not a season-long absence and their roster is full, but their roadmap to a compliant roster and a healthy Tkachuk is still murky.
Tkachuk, 27, has averaged 99 points per 82 games since arriving in Florida in 2022 via the blockbuster trade with the Flames that sent Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar the other way. He also has 25 goals and 69 points in 67 playoff games for the Panthers over the last three years, ranking fourth and third in franchise history, respectively.
In the interim, the Panthers can expect 2021 first-rounder Mackie Samoskevich to play a pivotal role in their early-season success. The 22-year-old winger filled in for Tkachuk down the stretch last year and finished his rookie campaign with a 15-16–31 scoring line in 72 games. He’ll now get more opportunity out of the gate after essentially being forced to sign a league-minimum contract this summer thanks to Florida’s cap crunch and his 10.2(c) status prohibiting him from signing an offer sheet.
Wild Sign Marco Rossi To Three-Year Deal
1:36 p.m.: The Wild have made Rossi’s new deal official in a team release.
10:36 a.m.: After months of trade speculation, restricted free agent center Marco Rossi is signing a new deal in the State of Hockey. PuckPedia reports the forward will sign a three-year deal with the Wild worth around $15MM in total, working out to a cap hit around $5MM. The backloaded deal will pay Rossi $4MM in 2025-26 and increase by $1MM increments each season, giving him a $6MM qualifying offer when he can become an RFA again upon expiry in 2028, reports Michael Russo of The Athletic.
It’s a welcome increase for Rossi as he comes off his entry-level contract, but it’s still significantly less than he was hoping for. The 2020 ninth overall pick took major strides in his development last season, posting a career-high 24 goals and 60 points for Minnesota in first-line deployment despite missing star wingman Kirill Kaprizov for more than half the season. As a result, he entered talks this summer looking for a long-term deal in the $7MM range annually.
It was how Rossi ended the season that set the stage for a rather sour offseason. After cooling off down the stretch, posting nine points and a -11 rating in 20 games after the trade deadline, he was demoted to fourth-line deployment in their first-round loss to the Golden Knights. He still managed two goals and 11 shot attempts in the six-game battle, but averaged only 11:08 of ice time per game.
In most cases, that would be seen as only a minor roadblock for a high-potential pick. But Rossi, who was Bill Guerin‘s first draft pick as the Wild’s general manager, had been the subject of trade speculation for some time – to the point where Guerin said outright last December that he was highly impressed with Rossi’s forward progress and wasn’t looking to move him. The Wild’s hesitancy to offer a long-term deal remained, though, leaving the two sides at an impasse for most of the offseason and forcing Guerin to explore trade packages, none of which were appealing enough to get a deal done despite wide-ranging interest.
The contract itself is likely bang-on for his market value. AFP Analytics projected a long-term pact for Rossi to come in at seven years at $7.4MM per season and a short-term one to be two years at $4.5MM annually. With an extra year thrown in on top of that shorter projection, it makes sense that the AAV comes up a notch as well.
After trade interest quieted in July, the Canucks and Kraken had reportedly resurfaced in talks in recent days, with Rossi’s contract situation still unresolved. Whether that was a significant impetus for Rossi’s camp to agree to a bridge remains to be seen – either to solidify his future in Minnesota or to make himself a more palatable trade asset with cost certainty.
Rossi’s long-term projection as a legitimate top-six center remains optimistic. After losing a good chunk of his development due to a serious bout with COVID, he’s steadily upped his offensive production each year since turning pro. He’s improved on draws as well, going from a 44.7% win rate in his rookie season to 46.8% last year. He was significantly more involved in the forecheck in 2024-25 compared to 2023-24, nearly doubling the amount of hits he laid, and he has had strong relative possession impacts in each of his two full NHL seasons.
The Wild now end up with a full roster and north of $4.4MM in cap space to open the season, per PuckPedia. The club projects to have much more financial flexibility to make in-season adds than they have in the last couple of years as a result. He’ll enter camp as the odds-on favorite to start next season alongside Kaprizov again despite how his minutes were cut in last year’s playoffs, firming up a familiar center corps of himself, Joel Eriksson Ek, Ryan Hartman, and Nico Sturm.
Image courtesy of Nick Wosika-Imagn Images.
Panthers Sign Luke Kunin
The Panthers have signed versatile forward Luke Kunin to a one-year deal, the team announced. It’s a one-way, league minimum contract, according to PuckPedia.
This will be the fifth NHL stop for Kunin, who began his career as the 15th overall pick in the 2016 draft by the Wild. He turned pro the next year after two collegiate seasons at Wisconsin and got his first taste of NHL action after making Minnesota’s opening night roster in 2017-18. Over his first three years in the NHL with the Wild, he developed rather quickly and recorded a 23-29–52 scoring line in 131 games – including an optimistic 31-point showing in 63 games in 2019-20.
Minnesota traded Kunin to Nashville in the 2020 offseason in exchange for Nick Bonino. The move brought both an ice time reduction and injury troubles. He recorded a career-high 0.50 points per game in his first year with the Preds, scoring 10 goals and 19 points in the COVID-shortened 2021 season, but was limited to 38 games with a lower-body injury. His production pace dropped to 22 points over a full 82-game schedule the following year before he was traded during the offseason again, this time to San Jose for John Leonard.
Kunin returned to a regular top-nine role with increased penalty-killing responsibility for the rebuilding Sharks, but ACL surgery ended his first season in the Bay Area after recording 13 points in 31 games.
Since returning for 2023-24, Kunin has taken on more of a pure checking role with significantly decreased offensive success. He posted identical 11-7–18 scoring lines in each of the last two seasons, along with an eye-popping cumulative -58 rating, although playing mostly on the league’s worst team during that time will obviously exaggerate poor defensive impacts. San Jose understandably wasn’t keen on re-signing him this summer and instead flipped him to the Blue Jackets at the trade deadline for a fourth-round pick. He went pointless with a -5 rating in 12 games for Columbus before reaching the open market for the first time this year.
As such, a spot in Florida’s opening night lineup is far from guaranteed. He was receiving NHL interest, but he enters the Panthers organization after a tough stretch and now must compete with names like Jonah Gadjovich, A.J. Greer, and Tomas Nosek – each of whom has proven effective fourth-line pieces on a Stanley Cup champion – for ice time.
The Panthers already have a projected cap exceedance of $3.725MM, but with star winger Matthew Tkachuk likely headed for adductor surgery soon, he’ll be LTIR-eligible and allow the Cats to be compliant to begin the season.
Blackhawks Sign Frank Nazar To Seven-Year Extension
The Blackhawks have officially announced a seven-year extension for pending RFA forward Frank Nazar. The deal will pay him an AAV and cap hit of $6.59MM for a total value of $46.13MM. The deal is paid entirely in base salary and is as follows, per PuckPedia:
2026-27: $9.1MM
2027-28: $8.66MM
2028-29: $6.6MM
2029-30: $5.46MM
2030-31: $5.46MM
2031-32: $5.46MM + 20-team no-trade clause
2032-33: $5.46MM + 20-team no-trade clause
It’s a gargantuan commitment to the 21-year-old Nazar considering his lack of NHL experience. The 2022 No. 13 overall pick lands the richest total-value contract in league history for someone with 56 or fewer career appearances, which is Nazar’s tally entering the 2025-26 campaign.
Nazar, who still has one year left on his entry-level contract before his extension will kick in for 2026-27, has yet to spend an entire season on the NHL roster. Last year was his first full run in the pros after two years at the University of Michigan, although he made his NHL debut in the final three games of 2023-24 after signing his ELC. He did not make the Blackhawks’ opening night roster but, after recording 11 goals and 24 points in 21 games for AHL Rockford, was recalled in mid-December shortly after Chicago’s coaching change and never looked back.
He faltered out of the gate, recording only one assist and a -5 rating through his first 10 appearances while averaging 14:44 of ice time per game. But under interim head coach Anders Sörenson, who had overseen his early-season success in Rockford, he was extended some patience. That paid off in the long run as Nazar built confidence, including a four-game point streak in January and a run of nine points in eight games in April to end the season.
All told, Nazar finished the season with a 12-14–26 scoring line 53 games – ninth on the team – and averaged nearly 16 minutes per game. While size concerns (5’10”, 190 lbs) created some detractors about his ability to hold down his natural center position in the NHL, he saw a fair amount of time as Chicago’s second-line middleman behind Connor Bedard. His most common deployment (107 minutes) amid an astronomical 91 different line combinations used by the Hawks last year was at 2C between Tyler Bertuzzi and Teuvo Teräväinen, although he did also see some time up on Bedard’s wing.
Nazar was seen as a top-10 threat in the 2022 class, but after slipping to Chicago and missing most of his freshman year at Michigan due to injury, there were warranted doubts about his development path. He silenced them quickly with a point-per-game sophomore showing for the Wolverines and has made about as good an adjustment to pro hockey as can be expected, given the lack of quality veteran support on the Hawks’ NHL roster.
A long-term bet at what’s even now a conservative second-line price point in 2025 could pay incredible dividends for the Blackhawks if he remains a long-term top-six piece, even if it’s on the wing, as the cap increases and they reward the other pieces of their young core with long-term deals. There’s also an incredible risk factor for someone still relatively early on their development track with less than a full season’s worth of NHL experience.
The only recent comparable for someone with his experience is Wild superstar Kirill Kaprizov, who signed a five-year, $45MM contract after his rookie season (55 GP). Kaprizov, however, had far more professional experience after coming up through Russia’s KHL and was two years older than Nazar is now, making him a more projectable player. Kaprizov also took home the Calder Trophy that year and had twice the offensive output Nazar did.
As such, the Blackhawks are betting hard on Nazar being a long-term solution, either as a wingman for Bedard or as a second-line center behind him. There’s certainly reason for optimism – he’s developed well and is coming off a spectacular World Championship showing with the United States that earned him a spot at their Olympic orientation camp. He’ll be under contract through the 2032-33 season and can walk to unrestricted free agency upon expiry.
Getting Nazar’s extension out of the way now isn’t just about him, though. Chicago has two other big-ticket RFAs next summer – Bedard and new No. 1 goalie Spencer Knight – who will take serious resources to extend. They still have barely over $40MM in allocated cap hits for 2026-27, though, leaving them with virtually unlimited spending power under a projected $104MM cap.
Image courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images.
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet first reported the Blackhawks were signing Nazar to a seven-year extension. Bleacher Report’s Frank Seravalli reported a more accurate cap hit in the $6.6MM range.
Wild Making Progress In Contract Talks With Marco Rossi
One way or another, it looks like RFA center Marco Rossi won’t be in limbo for much longer. After reports this morning indicated the Canucks and Kraken had shown renewed interest in trading for his signing rights, the Wild now made “significant progress” in talks to re-sign him and keep him in Minnesota, according to Michael Russo of The Athletic.
It’s not expected to be a long-term pact of any sort if it gets across the finish line, Russo relays, indicative of the two sides’ hesitancy to commit to each other over the past few months. After breaking out for 60 points and playing all 82 games in 2024-25, upping his rookie season production by 50%, Wild head coach John Hynes demoted Rossi to fourth-line duties during their first-round playoff loss to the Golden Knights. That prefaced a summer where general manager Bill Guerin‘s focus was seemingly set on trading the young pivot rather than keeping him in the fold, looking to leverage him for a more experienced middleman.
There was an effective months-long moratorium on actual contract negotiations between Guerin and Rossi’s camp, led by The Will Sports Group’s Ian Pulver, with new talks likely kicking off only within the last couple of weeks. Rossi can only sign a deal up to three years in length to remain a restricted free agent upon expiry – a four-year commitment would make him UFA-eligible at the earliest possible point in 2029.
The Wild haven’t had many forwards in Rossi’s age range come up through their system in recent years, so it’s hard to gauge precedent. In applicable situations, Guerin and the Wild have tended to go long-term with who they perceive as core pieces, so zeroing in on a bridge pact is a notable departure that continues to signify his long-term future in Minnesota is anything but guaranteed. Minnesota’s other top-six center, Joel Eriksson Ek, was an RFA at age 24 coming off a two-year bridge and signed an eight-year pact. Defenseman Brock Faber got an eight-year extension last summer, before he even wrapped up his entry-level deal.
If there’s a desirable trade still to be had for the Wild involving Rossi, applying some cost certainty to him for the next year or two could end up boosting their odds of getting the deal across the finish line. Earlier in the summer, Rossi’s desire for a long-term contract in the $7MM range annually was the principal hold-up in talks, along with only a limited number of teams being willing to part with a top-six forward piece in kind to acquire him.
Locking in a bridge deal would remove one of those factors. It’s still up to Guerin to decide whether playoff success this season is a more realistic endeavor with Rossi in the fold compared to any of his potential replacements via trade, but the obstacles to finding the 2020 No. 9 overall pick a long-term home would be easier to overcome.
Mammoth’s Connor Ingram Cleared By NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program
August 20th: Goaltender Connor Ingram has been cleared by the NHLPA to return to the NHL per Belle Fraser of the Salt Lake Tribune. He will return to the Utah roster looking to earn the advantage back from Karel Vejmelka, who posted a 9-6-3 record and .889 save percentage in 18 games after Ingram stepped away. Both goaltenders have years of NHL experience behind them, and strong cases for manning Utah’s starting role next season.
March 9th: Utah goaltender Connor Ingram entered the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program today and will be out indefinitely, Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic reports. In a corresponding move, the club recalled netminder Jaxson Stauber from AHL Tucson earlier Sunday.
Ingram, now 27, missed most of the 2020-21 season after entering the program while a member of the Predators organization. He later told NHL.com’s Amalie Benjamin that he sought help after dealing with undiagnosed obsessive-compulsive disorder throughout his career. After moving to the Coyotes in the 2022 offseason, he emerged as their starter for the 2023-24 campaign and won the Masterton Trophy for the “player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to ice hockey” after a 23-win, six-shutout campaign.
Now the No. 2 option to Karel Vejmelka in Utah, Ingram missed over a month with the team initially termed an upper-body injury earlier in the season. Upon his return, he informed reporters his mother had passed away and, understandably, took extended time off (via Belle Fraser of the Salt Lake Tribune).
In 22 starts for the Club this season, Ingram has a 9-8-4 record, .882 SV%, and a 3.27 GAA. The 25-year-old Stauber has done quite well when called upon to elevate from his minor-league starting role, posting a .925 SV% and 2.23 GAA in four appearances earlier this season.
All of us at Pro Hockey Rumors wish Ingram the best as he takes time away from the lineup. He’ll be eligible to return to play upon the determination of program administrators.
Avalanche Sign Victor Olofsson
Aug. 20: Olofsson’s deal will pay him $1.575MM this season, PuckPedia reports. The team quickly confirmed his signing.
Aug. 19: According to a report from PuckPedia, the Colorado Avalanche are zeroing in on a one-year deal with unrestricted free agent forward Victor Olofsson. Olofsson represented one of the few remaining quality scoring options on the free agent market.
It’ll be a second straight one-year contract for Olofsson. He joined the Vegas Golden Knights last summer on his first trip through unrestricted free agency, reuniting with his former linemate with the Buffalo Sabres, Jack Eichel. He didn’t spend much of his time on the top line with Eichel, but he had a much better season than he did a year prior, scoring 15 goals and 29 points in 56 games, averaging 14:30 of ice time per night.
Still, it would’ve been difficult for Olofsson to have a worse season than his final year with the Sabres. In his last year with the club during the 2023-24 campaign, Olofsson mustered seven goals and 15 points in 51 games. It was objectively the worst season of his professional career, including his time in the Swedish Hockey League from 2013 to 2018.
It obfuscated the successful run he had with the Sabres earlier in his career. From 2019 to 2023, Olofsson was one of the better secondary scorers in the league, managing 81 goals and 163 points in 257 games with the Sabres. Furthermore, given that 56 of those points came on Buffalo’s power play, Olofsson was a notable offensive weapon with a man advantage.
The Avalanche have been stockpiling depth assets for the better part of two years now, and it’s easy to understand why. Colorado has dealt with considerable injury issues throughout the last few seasons, necessitating their need for more NHL-ready options. Last season, the Avalanche used 49 different players throughout the regular season, though they still finished the season as one of the better teams.
This means that Olofsson could have more access to playing time than he might otherwise expect. He’s certainly a better option for the Avalanche to use regularly than their recent acquisition, Daniil Gushchin, and is objectively a better option than Ivan Ivan.
USA Hockey Announces Olympic Orientation Camp Roster
Like their northern counterparts, USA Hockey will host an orientation camp later this month as NHLers prepare for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy, the first time they’ll be at the event in 12 years. Their event will take place in their headquarters in Plymouth, Michigan, on Aug. 26 and 27 and is “largely an administrative and team-building event and includes no formal on-ice activity or public component,” the organization said.
Their list is comprised of 44 players – two more than Canada’s – but will need to be reduced to a maximum of 25 (22 skaters and three goalies) by the time final rosters for the event are due. Orientation camp rosters are non-binding – others can still work their way in – but it’s certainly an uphill battle for anyone not viewed as an outside contender six months out from the tournament.
All countries suiting up for men’s hockey had to lock in six players to their roster earlier this summer. For the U.S., that was Jack Eichel, Quinn Hughes, Auston Matthews, Charlie McAvoy, Brady Tkachuk, and Matthew Tkachuk.
Here’s the full orientation camp roster, with an asterisk by each of the six players already locked into the roster:
Forwards
Matt Boldy (Wild)
Cole Caufield (Canadiens)
Logan Cooley (Mammoth)
Kyle Connor (Jets)
Jack Eichel (Golden Knights)*
Conor Garland (Canucks)
Jake Guentzel (Lightning)
Jack Hughes (Devils)
Patrick Kane (Red Wings)
Clayton Keller (Mammoth)
Matthew Knies (Maple Leafs)
Chris Kreider (Ducks)
Dylan Larkin (Red Wings)
Auston Matthews (Maple Leafs)*
J.T. Miller (Rangers)
Frank Nazar (Blackhawks)
Brock Nelson (Avalanche)
Shane Pinto (Senators)
Jason Robertson (Stars)
Bryan Rust (Penguins)
Tage Thompson (Sabres)
Brady Tkachuk (Senators)*
Matthew Tkachuk (Panthers)*
Vincent Trocheck (Rangers)
Alex Tuch (Sabres)
Defensemen
Brock Faber (Wild)
Adam Fox (Rangers)
Luke Hughes (Devils)
Quinn Hughes (Canucks)*
Noah Hanifin (Golden Knights)
Seth Jones (Panthers)
Jackson LaCombe (Ducks)
Charlie McAvoy (Bruins)*
Brett Pesce (Devils)
Neal Pionk (Jets)
Jake Sanderson (Senators)
Brady Skjei (Predators)
Jaccob Slavin (Hurricanes)
Alex Vlasic (Blackhawks)
Zach Werenski (Blue Jackets)
Goaltenders
Joey Daccord (Kraken)
Connor Hellebuyck (Jets)
Jake Oettinger (Stars)
Jeremy Swayman (Bruins)
Blues Sign Milan Lucic To Professional Tryout
The Blues have signed left winger Milan Lucic to a professional tryout, the team announced.
Lucic, 37, last played in the NHL with the Bruins in October 2023. While on injured reserve for an ankle injury, he was arrested in November and charged with assault and battery for a domestic incident. Those charges were later dropped in February 2024, but he remained in the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program throughout the season and did not return to Boston for the balance of the season and became an unrestricted free agent.
Late last offseason, Lucic expressed interest in making an NHL return but said he was still in the assistance program, making him ineligible to play until he was cleared by league medical staff. He was never suspended or disciplined by the league as a direct result of his charges. The Blues confirmed in their press release today that he has been cleared from the program and thus reinstated by the league.
While once one of the league’s top power forwards in his early days with Boston, Lucic took on bottom-six journeyman status as soon as he entered his 30s. The 6’3″, 240-lb lefty hasn’t had 30 points in a season since the 2017-18 campaign. In his last three seasons plus his four-game stint with the Bruins in 2023, he averaged 10 goals, 24 points, a -12 rating, and 198 hits per 82 games while averaging 12:16 of ice time per night. For his career, he’s got a 233-353–586 scoring line in 1,177 games.
The Blues haven’t had any major roster turnover at forward this offseason, and with Lucic not playing in nearly two years, he’s at best battling for a press-box role or a two-way deal out of the gate in camp. It’s unclear if he’d be willing to accept an AHL assignment if it helped facilitate an NHL return. The Vancouver native has never played in the minors – he jumped straight from juniors to Boston when he began his NHL career back in 2007.
Even then, it’s hard to see where he fits in if not in a minor-league role. St. Louis already has its bottom-six forward group filled out, plus two extras with Nick Bjugstad, Mathieu Joseph, Jake Neighbours, Oskar Sundqvist, Pius Suter, Alexandre Texier, Alexey Toropchenko, and Nathan Walker all relatively safe locks for spots. That doesn’t include much room for top prospect Dalibor Dvorsky to land a job, let alone a veteran reclamation project like Lucic.