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Sharks Re-Sign Shakir Mukhamadullin

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The Sharks announced they’ve re-signed defenseman Shakir Mukhamadullin to a one-year, $1MM contract. He was set to become a restricted free agent this summer.

Mukhamadullin, 23, just wrapped up his second full season in the Sharks organization. He was a first-round pick (No. 20 overall) by the Devils in 2020 but was traded to San Jose in the 2023 Timo Meier deal before he could make his NHL debut. He’s split the following two years between the NHL and AHL as he climbs up the organizational depth chart.

He has 33 games of NHL experience, 30 of which came this past season. The lefty has always carried intrigue based on his high-end skating ability coupled with his 6’4″, 200-lb frame, and he’s flashed his upside as a potential long-term top-four piece in San Jose. He averaged over 21 minutes of ice time across a three-game stint to open his NHL career in January 2024 amid a strong debut season in the North American minors with the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda, whom he led in scoring among defensemen in 2023-24 with 27 assists and 34 points in 55 games.

His 2024-25 campaign started on the non-roster list due to a lower-body injury, and he was returned to the minors when cleared to play in late October. He’d get his first NHL recall of the season in early December, and he stuck with the big club for the majority of the balance of the campaign. Mukhamadullin put up a 2-7–9 scoring line with a minus-seven rating while averaging 18:04 per game, also contributing 51 blocks and 25 hits. He graded out quite well defensively, sitting near the high end of the Sharks’ Corsi leaderboard at a 48.0 CF% at even strength. San Jose also allowed 2.7 goals against per 60 minutes with Mukhamadullin on the ice at even strength, the best figure among Sharks defensemen with at least 10 games played. It’s worth noting that Mukhamadullin also averaged north of a minute per game on the penalty kill.

The Sharks still have Mario Ferraro, Henry Thrun, and Marc-Édouard Vlasic penciled in as their three left-shot defenders for 2025-26, but there’s still upward mobility there for Mukhamadullin. Ferraro could end up as a trade candidate, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see the 38-year-old Vlasic, who played just 27 games in 2024-25, relegated to the press box more consistently. There’s also the possibility that fellow lefty Sam Dickinson, whom San Jose drafted 11th overall in 2024, lands an opening-night role next fall after being named the OHL’s Most Outstanding defenseman in 2024-25.

A seven-figure commitment certainly indicates the Sharks plan on Mukhamadullin making the opening night roster and playing more of a regular NHL role as he continues on what’s been a promising development path thus far. He’ll start requiring waivers next year if San Jose wants to send him to the minors anyway, something they won’t be willing to expose him to.

Capitals Walk Back Message Regarding Alex Ovechkin’s Retirement

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11:44 a.m.: Silber clarified for DC Backcheck that the team alleges no email was sent at all, not just that Ovechkin’s decision was unconfirmed. “An email was sent from an individual with the corporate sales department that mistakenly alluded to next year being Alex Ovechkin’s final year,” the team later said in a statement.

11:03 a.m.: The Capitals indicated in an email to season ticket holders that the upcoming 2025-26 season will be Alex Ovechkin’s last in the NHL, relays Tony Wolak of The Hockey Writers. The organization relayed to Sammi Silber of The Hockey News that no official decision has been made on his future, but Washington appears to at least be operating under a strong assumption that Ovechkin will announce his plans to retire from the NHL next offseason.

Next year is Ovechkin’s last one under the five-year, $47.5MM extension he signed in 2021. He told reporters during locker clean-out day earlier this month that he fully intended to honor the final year of his contract but was unsure of his future beyond that, saying he hadn’t given any thought to whether or not he’d be open to extension talks with the Caps as soon as he becomes eligible to sign one on July 1.

There’s not much left for the 39-year-old to accomplish in his career. He’ll walk away as the greatest left-winger of all time and one of the most impactful players in the league’s history, breaking Wayne Gretzky’s goal-scoring record in the regular season’s final weeks. He now sits at 897 career tallies entering what should be his 21st and final NHL campaign, all spent with the Capitals.

Oilers’ Mattias Ekholm Expected To Return For Game 5

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Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm took line rushes in his usual top-pairing spot alongside Evan Bouchard at morning skate and is expected to make his 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs debut in Game 5 of the Western Conference Final tonight, Tony Brar of Oilers TV relays.

It’s huge news for the Oilers, who have a 3-1 series lead over the Stars and can lock in a Cup Final rematch against the Panthers with a win tonight. Ekholm has not played since reaggravating an undisclosed injury on April 11 against the Sharks. Due to that injury and an earlier illness, the 35-year-old blueline staple only played in five of Edmonton’s final 20 regular-season games.

After the re-injury against San Jose, the Oilers were quick to rule Ekholm out for the entirety of the first round. They made a similar announcement about his second-round status shortly after they dispatched the Kings in six games to advance. He resumed skating late in their series against the Golden Knights, though, indicating he’d likely be an option at some point during the West Final if they advanced. After they did, Ekholm was ruled out for Games 1 and 2, but his status for the remainder of the series was left open.

He’s been labeled as “close” by the team over the past few days, but never quite upgraded to game-time decision status. He may very well bypass that tonight and be declared as being in the lineup, depending on what head coach Kris Knoblauch has to say when practice concludes.

The veteran is a significant boost to an Edmonton blue line that’s overperformed expectations in his absence. While the trade deadline acquisition of Jake Walman from the Sharks has paid its expected dividends, it’s been an unheralded depth piece, Brett Kulak, getting the lion’s share of minutes alongside Bouchard at even strength in Ekholm’s absence. He’s stepped up to the task and then some. The Kulak-Bouchard pairing has controlled a staggering 65.1% of expected goals in 127 minutes of ice time together, per MoneyPuck, outscoring opponents 7-1. That plus-six goal differential is second among defense pairs at 5-on-5 this postseason behind the Panthers’ Niko Mikkola and Seth Jones, who are outscoring opponents 12-5 for a plus-seven differential.

After finishing 12th in Norris Trophy voting last season, Ekholm scored 33 points in 65 games this year with a +11 rating. He and Bouchard were similarly dominant together in last year’s run to the Stanley Cup Final, outscoring opponents 22-12 at 5-on-5 while controlling 61.3% of expected goals.

Kulak will get bumped down to second-pairing duties with Darnell Nurse while Troy Stecher heads to the press box, according to Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal. The Oilers’ third pairing of Walman and John Klingberg, also one of the best duos of the playoffs thus far, will remain unscathed.

Islanders Fire Assistant Coaches John MacLean, Tommy Albelin

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Speaking to reporters this morning, new Islanders general manager Mathieu Darche confirmed the club will retain head coach Patrick Roy (via the team). The bench on Long Island will look different next season, though. Darche said the team won’t be bringing back assistant coaches John MacLean or Tommy Albelin, per Arthur Staple of The Athletic. The club has also relieved AHL Bridgeport head coach Rick Kowalsky of his duties, Darche said (according to Ethan Sears of the New York Post). It sounds like the entire minor-league coaching staff will be overhauled as well, per Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News.

Roy’s status for next season was briefly doubtful after the Isles parted ways with GM Lou Lamoriello last month. However, after Darche’s hire, it became clear that the appetite for a coaching change wasn’t strong, especially with three years remaining on Roy’s contract. The Islanders may have missed the playoffs in 2024-25, Roy’s first full season behind the bench, but the team’s possession metrics indicated he deserved another shot. Poor special teams and finishing luck were the primary limiting factors regarding New York’s record last season, not overall 5-on-5 possession play. Under Roy, the team controlled a slight majority of shot attempts, scoring chances, and high-danger chances at even strength.

It’s unsurprising to see new ancillary voices brought in as the franchise aims for a fresher identity under Darche. The Islanders’ combined special teams success rate of 84.8% was the worst in the league, ranking 31st out of 32 clubs in both power-play and penalty-kill conversion rate.

MacLean was in charge of that power play. He’s been with the club as an assistant since the 2022-23 season, and only the Ducks and Flyers have performed worse with the man advantage than the Isles’ 16.4% success rate over those three years. The 60-year-old oversaw the NHL debut of his son, Kyle MacLean, on Long Island during his tenure.

Albelin’s time in New York ends after just one season. The longtime NHL rearguard oversaw the Isles’ defense and penalty kill, the latter of which actually saw a 0.7% improvement from their league-worst finish in 2023-24. The team’s 5-on-5 defense also improved from year to year under Albelin, ranking 21st in the league in scoring chances allowed at 5-on-5 after placing 28th last year. Nonetheless, they’ll look to get a new name in there that both Darche and Roy agree upon.

The Bridgeport coaching staff overhaul comes across the wire as one of the least surprising news items of the offseason. The Baby Isles made history as the worst home team in AHL history in 2024-25 with just four wins in 36 games. Overall, Bridgeport finished last in the league by a huge margin with a 15-50-4-3 record. Kowalsky, who’s worked closely with the outgoing Lamoriello throughout his coaching career in the Isles and Devils organizations, also oversaw a last-place finish in their division in 2023-24.

As for the NHL staff, the only returning assistant will be Benoit Desrosiers, whom Roy worked closely with as head coach of the QMJHL’s Quebec Remparts. He joined the Isles’ staff shortly after Roy did, midway through the 2023-24 season.

Mammoth Sign Daniil But To Entry-Level Contract

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Defenseman Dmitri Simashev isn’t the only top Mammoth prospect to get his entry-level deal today. His teammate with Russia’s Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, winger Daniil But, also put pen to paper on his three-year entry-level contract, the club announced.

His deal includes a yearly base salary of $855K and a $95K signing bonus for a $950K cap hit, per PuckPedia. He’s eligible for up to $750K in Schedule “A” performance bonuses in 2025-26 and up to $1MM in 2026-27 and 2027-28. Unlike Simashev, it doesn’t appear that But’s contract contains a European Assignment Clause, meaning he could be stashed with AHL Tucson without being loaned back to the Kontinental Hockey League.

But, selected six spots after Simashev at 12th overall in the 2023 draft, lands his first NHL deal after landing a Gagarin Cup championship with Lokomotiv alongside Simashev earlier this month. The heavyweight 6’6″, 216-lb left-winger set career-highs in the regular season with 19 assists, 28 points, and a +13 rating in 54 games, ranking seventh on Yaroslavl in scoring.

His playoff performance was less impressive. He tallied just one assist in 13 games and was demoted to the press box as Lokomotiv’s postseason run extended. That small of a sample size won’t be much of a concern for Utah, though. His frame and his puck-handling skills mean he could be ready to step into the lineup as soon as next season. His more well-rounded skillset means he’s deployable up and down the lineup, although he’ll likely be most effective as a middle-six piece long-term.

But is the No. 4 prospect in the Mammoth’s system behind forward Tij Iginla, Simashev, and defenseman Maveric Lamoureux, Scott Wheeler of The Athletic wrote earlier this year. He comes over after posting a 21-30–51 scoring line in 124 KHL games in the past three seasons.

Mammoth Sign Dmitri Simashev To Entry-Level Contract

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11:31 a.m.: Simashev’s deal includes a base salary of $855K, a signing bonus of $95K, and up to $1MM of Schedule “A” performance bonuses each season for a cap hit of $950K, per PuckPedia. Notably, the contract includes a European Assignment Clause, meaning Simashev could trigger a loan back to Yaroslavl next season if he’s not on the NHL roster.

11:04 a.m.: The Mammoth announced today they’ve signed their top defense prospect, 2023 sixth overall pick Dmitri Simashev, to a three-year entry-level contract. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Simashev was technically selected by the Coyotes two years ago but had his signing rights transferred to Utah when Arizona’s hockey operations assets were sold to Smith Entertainment Group last summer to establish the Mammoth franchise. A 6’5″, 207-lb stay-at-home defender, he was widely expected to sign his entry-level deal with Utah shortly after his season in his native Russia ended.

This season was his second full professional campaign with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the Kontinental Hockey League, and it ended in a Gagarin Cup championship for the 20-year-old. He was a bottom-pairing fixture for Lokomotiv, averaging just under 16 minutes per game in the regular season, and suited up in all 21 postseason contests for them while recording one assist and a minus-one rating.

While Simashev may have a future in Salt Lake as a high-end shutdown piece in the top-four, he doesn’t have the offensive upside we’ve come to expect out of defensemen selected that high in the draft. Over the last two regular seasons in Yaroslavl, he’s been limited to a 5-6–11 scoring line in 122 games. His +19 rating during that time is promising, though, especially considering his limited minutes.

In his 2025 prospect pool rankings, The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler labeled Simashev as the second-best prospect in Utah’s system and called him “a potential top-four defenseman who can play minutes and drive results with his defensive play, length and skating.” Whether the lefty makes the immediate jump to the NHL next season remains to be seen – but at his peak, he’s likely averaging north of 20 minutes per game for the Mammoth with heavy penalty-kill deployment.

At first glance, it seems likely he’ll start his professional career in North America with the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners. The Mammoth have their left side on defense locked in for next season with Mikhail Sergachev, Olli Määttä, and Ian Cole, with Juuso Välimäki still in the mix as a potential healthy extra as well. Cole and Välimäki are slated for unrestricted free agency in 2026, though, paving the way for Simashev to graduate to full-time NHL minutes a year from now after a season of adjustment in the minors.

“It feels amazing. I had a goal to win the Gagarin Cup and then go to the NHL and try to be the best player I can be,” Simashev told Utah freelance beat writer Craig Morgan. “I watched highlights of every Utah game. I know every player in Utah and how they play. Coming to Utah, for me, it’s basically like a dream.”

Simashev is too old to be slide-eligible, so his deal goes into effect next season regardless of how many NHL games he plays. He’ll be a restricted free agent following the 2027-28 campaign.

Panthers’ Sam Reinhart, Niko Mikkola, A.J. Greer In For Game 5

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May 28: All three players are returning to the lineup tonight after the Panthers dropped Game 4 by a score of 3-0 without them, Maurice told reporters, including Michael Russo of The Athletic, this morning.

May 26: Panthers star winger Sam Reinhart, who already missed Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final because of a lower-body injury, will remain out for Game 4 tonight, head coach Paul Maurice told reporters (including Eric Engels of Sportsnet). Defenseman Niko Mikkola and winger A.J. Greer, who sustained upper-body and undisclosed injuries in Game 3, respectively, will also miss the potential conference championship-clinching game and are day-to-day, Maurice said.

Reinhart exited Game 2 in the first period due to a hit from Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho and didn’t return. Maurice said yesterday that Reinhart had neither been ruled out nor cleared for Game 4, while Greer and Mikkola weren’t expected to miss time. The latter statements jumped the gun.

Luckily for them, the Panthers have built up a 3-0 cushion in the series to limit the potential effects of their absences (and, if all goes well tonight, allow everyone time to get healthy for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final). They already won once without Reinhart, cruising to a 6-2 win in Game 3 with a third-period scoring explosion. The 29-year-old has been good but not overly dominant in this year’s playoff run, posting four goals and 11 points in 14 games after scoring 10 goals in 24 playoff games in last year’s Stanley Cup win.

But Mikkola played a massive role in that win, scoring a pair of goals, including the game-winner. After the best regular season of his career, the 6’6″ Finn has further solidified his status as a high-end second-pairing option in the playoffs, posting five points and a plus-six rating while averaging north of 19 minutes per game. With the Panthers having fewer quality depth options on the blue line outside of their usual lineup compared to their forward group, his absence will be a little more difficult for Maurice to deal with as he tries to sweep Carolina in the ECF for the second time in three years.

Jesper Boqvist, who’s been the 13th forward this postseason but still has five points in his last three appearances, will remain in the lineup in Reinhart’s stead. Maurice said that rearguard Uvis Balinskis will replace Mikkola in the lineup while depth center Nico Sturm enters the lineup for the fourth-liner Greer.

Oilers’ Zach Hyman Undergoing Wrist Surgery, Likely Out For Season

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10:21 a.m.: Hyman’s surgery will be on his wrist, not shoulder, Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK relays.

10:04 a.m.: Not only is Hyman’s series over, but he likely won’t be back for Edmonton in a potential Stanley Cup Final matchup either. Head coach Kris Knoblauch tells reporters, including Ryan Rishaug of TSN, that Hyman will undergo surgery today to address the upper-body injury and is expected not to return this season.

9:05 a.m.: Oilers top-six winger Zach Hyman will not play in tomorrow’s Game 5 of the Western Conference Final against the Stars and isn’t expected to return if Dallas manages to extend the series with a win, Jason Gregor of Sports 1440 reports.

Hyman left yesterday’s Game 4 win midway through the first period with an apparent upper-body injury and did not return. He left the ice while favoring his right shoulder/upper arm area after an awkward neutral zone collision with Stars winger Mason Marchment. He went to the locker room shortly thereafter (video link).

Now in his fourth playoff run with Edmonton, Hyman has again been a first or second-line constant, although his linemates have remained in flux. He’s recently settled in on the top line alongside Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, which has been the most dominant line of the West Final so far. At 5-on-5, the trio has outscored Dallas 3-0 while outshooting the Stars 20-8 and outchancing them 19-9.

After an underwhelming regular season, Hyman has rediscovered his game in the playoffs. He’s not quite at last year’s level of postseason dominance (16-6–22 in 25 GP), but he’s still tied for fourth on the Oilers with five goals, ranks fifth with 11 points, and sits third with a +10 rating. He’s also logged 111 hits – 41 more than any other Oiler and first in the league by a significant margin.

He’s a significant loss as Edmonton looks to close out the series and secure a second straight Stanley Cup Final appearance in Game 5, and an even more significant one if he’s unavailable for any SCF action. Since signing with the Oilers in free agency in 2021, Hyman has 35 goals, 25 assists, and 60 points in 68 playoff games – eighth in the league over the past four seasons.

Without Hyman, Edmonton will need to continue receiving solid secondary scoring from names like Evander Kane and Corey Perry and strong goaltending from the resurgent Stuart Skinner, who’s up to a .939 SV% in the series. If the Panthers advance with a Game 5 win over the Hurricanes tonight and the Oilers win tomorrow, the Stanley Cup Final could presumably start as early as Saturday night – and it’s almost a certainty they’ll be without Hyman for that potential Game 1 if he wouldn’t be available for a potential WCF Game 6 that night either.

Image courtesy of Perry Nelson-Imagn Images.

Marco Sturm Not Yet Solidified As Bruins Head Coach

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Contrary to reports Tuesday night, Marco Sturm is not set in stone as the Bruins’ head coaching hire. He’s high on their list and remains a frontrunner, but the club is still going through their final round of interviews with a few candidates, including Sturm, and hasn’t offered the job to anyone, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet said on this morning’s 32 Thoughts podcast.

It was likely too early to expect news on a hire in Boston anyway. They only completed their first round of interviews within the last few days. In addition to Sturm, those interviews included a pair of internal promotions in assistant coach Jay Leach and interim head coach Joe Sacco, Capitals assistant Mitch Love, former Blackhawks head coach Luke Richardson, and ex-Oilers bench boss Jay Woodcroft. A report from RG’s Jimmy Murphy yesterday indicated Love, Sturm, and Woodcroft have emerged as the final three candidates.

Sturm would be a logical hire for a team looking to shake things up offensively while continuing their trend of inserting people in coaching and front office roles who have familiarity with the organization. Sturm was part of one of the most significant trades in franchise history two decades ago. Boston acquired him, along with checking center Wayne Primeau and defenseman Brad Stuart, from the Sharks in exchange for All-Star center Joe Thornton.

The German winger lasted the longest with the Bruins out of the three. He scored 106 goals and 193 points in 302 games with the B’s in parts of five seasons, seeing his tenure end following knee surgery and a trade to the Kings early in the 2010-11 campaign. He hit the 20-goal mark in all four of his healthy seasons in Boston

Until Leon Draisaitl shattered his record several years ago, Sturm was the highest-scoring German player in NHL history. Since heading home to wrap up his playing career in 2013, Sturm began his coaching career with a bang, coaching Germany to a silver medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics in just his third season behind the bench of the national team. That earned him an NHL job with the Kings organization, where he’s remained since. He spent four years on the NHL bench as an assistant before transitioning into a head coaching role for AHL Ontario in 2022. While Boston would be his first NHL head coaching gig, he’s got both NHL bench experience and head coaching experience.

Devils Hire Brad Shaw As Assistant Coach

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May 27: The Devils confirmed Shaw’s hiring this morning. He’ll join the club officially on July 1 after his contract with the Flyers expires.

May 21: The Devils are expected to hire former Flyers associate/interim head coach Brad Shaw in some capacity, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports. He’ll likely serve as Sheldon Keefe’s top assistant instead of landing any of the four remaining head coach vacancies around the league.

Shaw, 61, nearly had his interim tag removed after taking over for John Tortorella in the final weeks of the regular season but fell to second in the pecking order when former Canucks bench boss Rick Tocchet became available. The possibility of Shaw remaining on Tocchet’s staff remained open for a couple of days after the latter signed a five-year contract, but the club confirmed last week that he wasn’t going to return.

Long regarded as one of the better defensive-minded coaches in the league, he’ll now head to a New Jersey club that already fared well in that department at even strength last season. In the Devils’ first year under Keefe, they ranked highly in limiting shot attempts against (7th), expected goals against (6th) and scoring chances against (9th). New Jersey also had the league’s second-best penalty kill in the regular season at 82.7%. Less impressive was their ability to limit high-danger chances, ranking 13th in the league at 5-on-5 in HDCA – one spot below Shaw’s Flyers.

That will likely be Shaw’s main area of focus in the Garden State, along with helping youngsters like Seamus Casey, Luke Hughes, and Simon Nemec emerge with more well-rounded skillsets defensively. But with few on-ice personnel changes expected and another strong season from starting goaltender Jacob Markström, Shaw’s addition to the ranks should only boost New Jersey’s already well-tuned team defense that had the club rank fifth in the league with 2.68 goals against per game in 2024-25.

It won’t be Shaw’s first time coaching in the New York metro area. He spent one year on the Islanders’ bench as an assistant and even took over as their interim head coach when the club fired Steve Stirling midway through the 2005-06 campaign.

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