Devils Sign Arseni Gritsyuk To Entry-Level Deal
May 6: The team confirmed a one-year deal for Gritsyuk today. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
April 9: The Devils are expected to land 2019 fifth-round pick Arseni Gritsyuk out of Russia on an entry-level deal for the 2025-26 season, Daria Tuboltseva of Responsible Gambler reports. The 24-year-old winger remains under contract with Kontinental Hockey League club SKA St. Petersburg through May 31, so an official announcement could still be weeks away.
While closer in theory to a free-agent pickup than a prospect arrival, he’s still on the right side of 25 and tracks as an impactful addition to the New Jersey roster next year. The 6’0″, 194-lb right winger has quite the resume in his home country. He had a breakout year with Avangard Omsk in 2021-22, winning the KHL’s Rookie of the Year Award with 16-12–28 in just 39 games. That was enough for him to be included on the country’s roster for the 2022 Winter Olympics, where he posted three points in six games en route to a silver medal.
Gritsyuk transferred to SKA in the 2023 off-season and has spent the last two seasons there. He saved his best for last. If not for an injury that sidelined him for about a third of the year, he would have led St. Petersburg in scoring. He did lead the team with a +22 rating and recorded 17-27–44 in 49 games. His 0.90 points per game ranked 12th in the KHL among qualified skaters. Gritsyuk also added five points in six playoff games as SKA dropped their first-round series to Dynamo Moscow.
His pending departure adds to a mass exodus from one of Russia’s largest clubs. Their leading scorer, 19-year-old Ivan Demidov, has already terminated his contract and is on his way to Montreal to join the Canadiens for the remainder of the season. They’ve also mutually terminated their deal with ex-Capitals center Evgeny Kuznetsov and are widely expected to lose top defenseman and captain Alexander Nikishin to the Hurricanes, who drafted him 69th overall in 2020 – although whether that deal gets done in time for him to join Carolina this season remains to be seen.
As for New Jersey, they’re likely penciling Gritsyuk into a top-nine right-wing spot for opening night in October. It’s realistic to expect output in the 40-to-50-point range from the smooth-skating winger next season, potentially even higher if he’s given first-unit power play deployment. He should be a crucial cost-effective contributor for the Devils as they enter the 2025 offseason with under $14MM in cap space for next season and star defenseman Luke Hughes in need of a new deal.
Gritsyuk will pause his KHL career after recording 68-84–152 in 216 regular-season games over the past five seasons. He’ll be a restricted free agent next summer and the Devils maintain team control over his signing rights through 2028.
New York Islanders, Utah Hockey Club Win 2025 NHL Draft Lottery
The New York Islanders have won the 2025 NHL draft lottery, jumping up from No. 10 in the pre-lottery order to No. 1. The Utah Hockey Club won the second draw but only moved to pick No. 4, as teams were only able to improve 10 spots from their pre-lottery odds. That means the San Jose Sharks, who entered the night with the top odds, will pick second overall.
The Islanders had a 3.5 percent chance of claiming this year’s top pick. After the lottery and the end of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the 2025 draft is locked in as follows:
- New York Islanders
- San Jose Sharks
- Chicago Blackhawks
- Utah Hockey Club
- Nashville Predators
- Philadelphia Flyers
- Boston Bruins
- Seattle Kraken
- Buffalo Sabres
- Anaheim Ducks
- Pittsburgh Penguins
- New York Rangers (must send either 2025 or 2026 first to Penguins, yet to decide)
- Detroit Red Wings
- Columbus Blue Jackets
- Vancouver Canucks
- Montreal Canadiens (from Flames)
- Montreal Canadiens
- Calgary Flames (from Devils)
- St. Louis Blues
- Columbus Blue Jackets (from Wild)
- Ottawa Senators
For the first time since 2009, the Islanders will call the first name of the NHL Draft. It’s an incredible consolation prize for the squad after missing the postseason for just the second time in the last seven years. In picking first, New York could have a chance to repeat fate and draft an exceptional status OHL center on the heels of a red-hot season. That, of course, refers to Saginaw Spirit center Michael Misa, who led the OHL with a dazzling 62 goals and 134 points in 65 games this season.
Misa’s scoring is the most from an OHL draft-eligible player since Patrick Kane scored 145 points in 58 games before going first overall in the 2007 Draft. Misa’s 2.06 points-per-game are the sixth-most from an OHL draft-eligible since 2000, sandwiched between Jason Spezza (2.07) and Mitch Marner (2.00).
But for all of his scoring acclaim, Misa isn’t often considered the top player in this class. That title has instead been bestowed upon defenseman Matthew Schaefer, who hasn’t played since December after sustaining a collarbone injury at the World Junior Championship. Schaefer quickly underwent surgery and lost his draft season, but his performance before injury was strong enough to establish his case.
Schaefer recorded 22 points in 17 OHL games, two points in two World Juniors games, and six points in five games as Team Canada’s captain at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup before the start of the season. All the while, he looked cool, calm, and collected, making very smooth and deliberate plays in his own end and showing great jump on offense. The NHL’s top defensemen are playing an increasingly rangy, 200-foot style of offense that Schaefer mirrors well, with strong passing and a killer instinct for scoring goals.
Behind the pair of OHL stars is America’s top representation in the class – Boston College centerman James Hagens. Hagens stepped into the center role between Gabriel Perreault and Ryan Leonard this season, filling the gap after Will Smith, who centered the duo for three straight years, opted to sign his entry-level contract. And despite some early stumbles, Hagens managed to fill the role seamlessly, netting 37 points in as many games and helping to grow the total goals from BC’s top line by four percent compared to last season.
He’s a diligent playmaker with a keen hockey sense, and one who can’t be second-guessed in this draft. Hagens proved as much at the 2024 World U18 Championship, where his 22 points in just seven games broke the tournament record, previously held by Nikita Kucherov. Hagens also grew up in Hauppauge, New York, and idolized the Islanders growing up. If that wasn’t incentive enough, Hagens was also the set-up man to Cole Eiserman during his years at the U.S. National Team Development Program. The Islanders drafted Eiserman with the 20th-overall pick last year.
Lane Hutson, Macklin Celebrini, Dustin Wolf Named Calder Trophy Finalists
The NHL announced the finalists for the Calder Memorial Trophy ahead of the 2025 Draft Lottery. The award is handed out annually to the NHL’s Rookie of the Year. This year’s finalists will be Montreal Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson, San Jose Sharks centerman Macklin Celebrini, and Calgary Flames goaltender Dustin Wolf.
The 2025 Calder Trophy race has been anticipated for years. Celebrini headlined a class full of rookie talent, and seemed deadset on a bid for the award after going first-overall in the 2024 NHL Draft. But his rookie year exceeded even optimistic expectations, as Celebrini managed to lead the Sharks in scoring with 63 points in 70 games – an 82-game pace of 74 points. He also recorded 25 goals on the year, making him the second rookie to reach that mark since Kirill Kaprizov in the 2020-21 season alongside Philadelphia Flyers rookie Matvei Michkov, who recorded 26 goals.
Celebrini managed that scoring despite playing for a dismally low-scoring Sharks roster. San Jose ranked dead-last in scoring this season, with just 208 total goals – four fewer than the dismal Nashville Predators. It was the seventh-fewest total goals scored by a team since 2021, though a slight bump over the 180 goals San Jose totaled last year. That difference – 28 goals – can largely be chalked up to the impacts Celebrini made by seamlessly entering San Jose’s top center role. The Vancouver native won the Hobey Baker Award as college hockey’s MVP last season, and both the MVP and ‘Rookie of the Year’ awards in the USHL the year before. A title win here would continue his streak of lifting hardware at every single stop.
But a smooth and successful rookie flight won’t win Celebrini the award outright. Hutson offers formidable competition after scoring the fifth-most points from a rookie defenseman in NHL history. More impressive than that, Hutson’s 60 assists tie with Larry Murphy for the most ever recorded by a rookie defender. That is Hall of Fame company for the young Canadiens defenseman – an incredible mark given the fact that he wasn’t a first-round draft pick just three years ago. Hutson instead went 62nd overall in the 2022 NHL Draft, nearly out of the second round as well. He followed his draft selection with two standout seasons in college hockey, where he was named a Hobey Baker finalists in both seasons.
Through dazzling paths to the show, neither Hutson nor Celebrini had a tougher path to a starring role than Dustin Wolf did. Wolf was a seventh-round pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, selected just four picks before the end of the draft. Like Hutson, many docked his size and ability to play the position at a top role. But Wolf quickly began to silence critics when he turned pro in the 2021-22 season. He set a fantastic 33-9-4 record and .924 save percentage in the AHL that season, good enough to land the ‘Baz Bastien‘ Award as ‘AHL Goalie of the Year’ in his rookie season. Even more impressive than that, Wolf improved on the feat in his sophomore season – recording a 42-10-2 record and .932 and again winning ‘Goalie of the Year’. He became just the third goaltender to ever win the award twice, and the first to do it in back-to-back seasons.
Wolf split time between the NHL and AHL lineups last season, hampering his chances for a three-peat of the AHL title. But he could make up for that by winning NHL ‘Rookie of the Year’ this summer. Calgary’s success this season seemed to hinge on Wolf’s ability to perform on a nightly basis – and their finish as the highest-scoring team to ever miss the postseason is a testament to his prowess. He finished the year with 0.224 goals-saved above-expected per-60. That’s to say, on a nightly basis, Wolf’s appearance in net afforded Calgary a 0.224 goal advantage – 21st highest in the league between Mackenzie Blackwood (0.248) and Jake Oettinger (0.188). While Celebrini’s impact on a desolate Sharks lineup, or Hutson’s rival of the record books, may warrant more acclaim – Wolf’s rookie year will cement his spot in the Flames lineup all the same.
Sharks’ William Eklund Undergoes Surgery, Will Miss World Championship
Team Sweden had a scary start to their pre-tournament friendlies ahead of the World Championship, when top forward William Eklund has his wrist cut by a skate blade. Eklund very quickly left the ice and received medical attention. Shortly after, his agent, Todd Diamond, told Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey News that Eklund was in stable condition and that the cut seemed to avoid any major tendons or nerves. Now, Diamond has also told Peng that Eklund has undergone surgery to address his laceration and will spend the next three months recovering from the procedure. His recovery isn’t expected to interfere with Eklund’s preparation for next season’s training camp – but he will be forced to miss the entirety of the World Championship.
All things considered, Sharks fans can breath a sigh of relief with this news. Eklund’s injury was scary for many reasons, but the budding star should be able to mount a full recovery before his third full NHL season. Eklund was one of the few bright spots on the Stars roster last season, ending the year second on the team in scoring with 58 points in 77 games. He also recorded 41 assists in a full season next to superstar Macklin Celebrini, making Eklund the first Shark to break the 40-assist mark since Tomas Hertl in 2022-23 and Timo Meier in 2021-22. That’s certainly welcome company for the dynamic Eklund, especially as San Jose eyes adding another franchise-definer with a top pick in the 2025 NHL Draft.
This year marked Eklund’s first opportunity to participate with Sweden’s Men’s team on an intercontinental level. Unlike many top prospects, Eklund didn’t get any chance to participate in the World U18 Championship, and only appeared in two World Junior Championship games, due to the COVID-19 Pandemic and an early COVID infection. He’ll now have to wait even longer before he can make an impact on Sweden’s trophy cabinet – though a feature on the World Championship roster, and a 40-assist season in the NHL, should give Eklund a good shot at making the 2026 Winter Olympics roster.
Senators Sign Nikolas Matinpalo To Two-Year Extension
The Senators announced they’ve signed defenseman Nikolas Matinpalo to a two-year extension worth $1.75MM. He was set to be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights this summer. He’ll carry a cap hit of $875K for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 seasons.
It’s an important depth signing for Ottawa. Matinpalo emerged as a regular in the lineup down the stretch, playing in 23 of 25 games coming out of the 4 Nations break. Largely replacing struggling veteran Travis Hamonic‘s minutes, the 26-year-old Matinpalo was used up and down the lineup but mainly in third-pairing duties with Tyler Kleven. He finished the year with four points and a minus-two rating in 41 regular-season games after making just four NHL appearances the year prior, his first in North America after signing with Ottawa as an undrafted free agent the preceding offseason.
While Matinpalo’s regular-season possession impacts were pedestrian and he averaged a paltry 12:37 per game, his performance took off in the playoffs. He played all six games in Ottawa’s first-round loss to the Maple Leafs, and his unit with Kleven was Ottawa’s best defensively out of their three regular pairings at even strength. In fact, they were the Sens’ only pairing to outscore Toronto at even strength (3-2) and controlled 55.3% of expected goals, per MoneyPuck.
Now on his way to represent Finland at the World Championship, the 6’3″, 212-lb righty will be penciled onto Ottawa’s opening night roster in the fall. Whether he’s in the lineup or the press box out of the gate remains to be seen, but he’s done enough to secure an NHL paycheck for the next couple of years. He’ll be a UFA upon expiry in 2027.
Image courtesy of Russell LaBounty-Imagn Images.
Predators Retaining Andrew Brunette
Don’t add the Predators to the list of teams making a coaching change this offseason. General manager Barry Trotz told reporters today, including Alex Daugherty of the Tennessean, that head coach Andrew Brunette will be back behind the bench for a third season in 2025-26.
This was the default and expected outcome. Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reported back in March that Brunette is under contract with Nashville through 2026-27 plus an additional option year, and that a change likely would have been made midseason if one was happening.
A runner-up for the Jack Adams Award for Coach of the Year in his first two seasons as a head man, the wheels came off for Brunette and the Predators in 2024-25. While the longtime NHL winger guided the Panthers to a Presidents’ Trophy in 2022 as their interim head coach and then helped Nashville to a 47-win season last year, Brunette’s Preds had the third-worst record in the league and the second-worst record in franchise history this year.
The regression was also against the expectations Trotz set for this year with his gargantuan spending spree in free agency last offseason. But the two have a long-standing relationship dating back to Brunette’s playing days under Trotz as a coach in the mid-1990s with the Predators and the AHL’s Portland Pirates, and the latter made a long-term commitment when he brought him in as Nashville’s head coach a year ago.
Trotz’s overall vision for the club hasn’t wavered despite the team’s plunging record, something he made clear today during his media availability. He’ll continue trying to retool the roster via trades to push Nashville back into wild-card contention next season, although expect free agency to be quiet (via the team’s Brooks Bratten). It would make sense that his original pick for coach, when he assumed his GM post, would be given the benefit of the doubt in that case.
Marc-André Fleury Joining Canada For World Championship
While his last NHL game is behind him, future Hall-of-Fame goaltender Marc-André Fleury isn’t hanging up the skates just yet. He told reporters during today’s end-of-season media availability that he’s accepted an invite to join Canada at this year’s World Championship (via Michael Russo of The Athletic).
It’s unclear whether he plans on entering any game action, but there’s a decent chance he could. Canada’s only rostered one of three goalies for the tournament so far. That’s Rangers prospect Dylan Garand, who will likely serve as a No. 3 option behind Fleury and another NHL option. The latter could be the Blues’ Jordan Binnington after St. Louis was eliminated in last night’s Game 7 loss to the Jets, but that’s speculation.
As for the 40-year-old Fleury, it’ll be his first time at the Worlds. Despite his lengthy list of accolades, Fleury’s only gotten the call to play for the senior Canadian national team once. That was the 2010 Winter Olympics, and he didn’t get into game action there as the third-stringer behind Roberto Luongo and Martin Brodeur. His unavailability for the Worlds has usually been due to playoff obligations, but with his Wild being bounced by the Golden Knights in the first round, he’s free to join his countrymen in Denmark and Sweden. He did suit up at the World Juniors in 2003 and 2004, though, posting a .923 SV% in 10 appearances en route to back-to-back silver medals.
He’s still technically a gold-medal winner on that Olympic team, so a gold at the 2025 Worlds could make him the first goaltender to gain entry into the Triple Gold Club. The most recent Canadian to enter the ranks was defenseman Jay Bouwmeester, thanks to his 2019 Stanley Cup win with the Blues.
Fleury, a first-overall pick and a three-time Stanley Cup champion with the Penguins, will also get to bookend his career by being teammates with Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby once again. With Fleury’s lack of international experience, they haven’t been on the same side of a matchup since Vegas selected Fleury from the Pens in the 2017 expansion draft.
Kings, Rob Blake Mutually Part Ways
The Kings are mutually parting ways with general manager Rob Blake, sources tell Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman (X link). Los Angeles quickly confirmed the news.
For now, team president Luc Robitaille is staying on. He’ll lead a search for Blake’s successor beginning immediately, the Kings said. They haven’t named an interim GM, but it’s likely Robitaille or director of hockey operations Jake Goldberg will handle day-to-day duties for now. L.A. didn’t have any assistant GMs on Blake’s staff.
Blake’s contract was up after signing a three-year extension in May 2022. That extension came after the Kings ended a three-year playoff drought and pushed the Oilers to seven games in a first-round loss. Fast forward to 2025, and L.A. has now lost four consecutive playoff series – all to Edmonton, all in the first round. This year, they had a 2-0 lead in the series and held home-ice advantage for the first time, but dropped four straight games en route to another early exit.
A Hall-of-Fame defenseman who spent the majority of his playing career in Los Angeles, Blake took a few years off after retiring in 2010 before resurfacing as an assistant GM with the Kings for the 2013-14 season. He’s remained in L.A.’s front office ever since and was promoted to GM in the 2017 offseason following the end of Dean Lombardi’s 11-year tenure in the role.
Blake compiled a 309-238-71 (.557) regular season record in his eight seasons as the Kings’ top decision-maker, 19th in the league during that stretch. In the postseason, the Kings are just 8-20 for a .286 win percentage. Among teams who have made the playoffs since 2018, only the Ducks (0-4) have won a lesser share of their games.
“On behalf of the entire organization, I would like to thank Rob for his dedication to the LA Kings and the passion he brought to his role,” Robitaille said. “Reaching this understanding wasn’t easy and I appreciate Rob’s partnership in always working toward what is best for the Kings. Rob deserves a great deal of credit and respect for elevating us to where we are today. He has been an important part of the Kings and will always be appreciated for what he has meant to this franchise.”
While there wasn’t much advance reporting that Blake’s job was in peril if the Kings failed to advance past the first round again, the change is far from out of the blue. L.A.’s rebuild is far in the rearview now, and the club has exhausted nearly all of the high-end prospects Blake accumulated during his tenure. After peaking as one of the league’s deepest pools a few years ago, the Kings dropped to No. 26 in Scott Wheeler of The Athletic’s prospect pool rankings earlier this year.
Blake leaves his successor with a favorable salary cap structure. The Kings have over $23MM to spend this summer with just four roster spots to fill, per PuckPedia. Their only notable pending restricted free agent is winger Alex Laferriere. They’ll have plenty of room to accomplish that, work toward extending pending UFA defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov, and add some scoring depth via trades or free agent signings.
Image courtesy of Kirby Lee-Imagn Images.
Devils’ Jesper Bratt, Luke Hughes Undergo Shoulder Surgery
Devils winger Jesper Bratt has opted to undergo offseason shoulder surgery and will miss the World Championship, the team announced. Star defenseman Luke Hughes also recently underwent surgery to repair the shoulder injury he sustained in Game 1 of the first round against the Hurricanes. New Jersey expects both to be ready for training camp in the fall.
It’s unknown whether Bratt suffered his injury on a specific play or if he’s got wear-and-tear issues he wanted to correct. He didn’t miss a game all season aside from sitting out New Jersey’s final regular-season contest for rest.
If Bratt was playing hurt for a while, it certainly didn’t show. The 26-year-old led the Devils with a career-high 67 assists and 88 points in the regular season before adding a goal and two assists in five games in New Jersey’s first-round loss.
Entering the third season of his eight-year, $63MM contract, Bratt has topped the 70-point mark in four consecutive seasons and has been remarkably durable. That final regular-season game was the first one Bratt missed since the 2021-22 season. Assuming he hits the ground running as expected in 2025-26, he’s got a chance at becoming the first Devil with three straight 80-point seasons in franchise history.
Hughes’ injury was far more apparent. He re-injured his left shoulder in a collision with Hurricanes center Jesperi Kotkaniemi and didn’t play the final four games of the series. He suffered an injury to the same shoulder last offseason but opted not to have surgery to accelerate his recovery timeline and diminish the amount of time he missed at the beginning of 2024-25. Now, with a full summer ahead of him, he goes for more serious intervention.
In need of a new deal this summer as a pending restricted free agent, Hughes has 93 points and a -34 rating through his first 155 NHL games since being drafted fourth overall in 2021. He’s led Devils defenders in scoring each of the past two years and is likely in line for an extension well north of $8MM per season if New Jersey opts to hammer out a long-term deal.
Image courtesy of John Jones-Imagn Images.
NHL Releases Second Round Schedule
This article will be updated as further start times are announced.
After the Jets dramatically saved their season in unprecedented fashion against the Blues last night, the second-round field is set. For the third time in the last four years, all four division champions made it through their first series, and only two series had upsets based on seeding. The league has now announced the full second-round schedule, with action kicking off tonight. Games are listed in Central Time, along with US broadcast details:
Monday, May 5
Panthers vs. Maple Leafs, Game 1: 7 p.m. on ESPN
Tuesday, May 6
Hurricanes vs. Capitals, Game 1: 6 p.m. on ESPN
Oilers vs. Golden Knights, Game 1: 8:30 p.m. on ESPN
Wednesday, May 7
Panthers vs. Maple Leafs, Game 2: 6 p.m. on ESPN
Stars vs. Jets, Game 1: 8:30 p.m. on ESPN
Thursday, May 8
Hurricanes vs. Capitals, Game 2: 6 p.m. on ESPN
Oilers vs. Golden Knights, Game 2: 8:30 p.m. on ESPN
Friday, May 9
Maple Leafs vs. Panthers, Game 3: 6 p.m. on TNT, truTV, and Max
Stars vs. Jets, Game 2: 8:30 p.m. on TNT, truTV, and Max
Saturday, May 10
Capitals vs. Hurricanes, Game 3: 5 p.m. on TNT, truTV, and Max
Golden Knights vs. Oilers, Game 3: 8 p.m. on TNT, truTV, and Max
Sunday, May 11
Jets vs. Stars, Game 3: 3:30 p.m. on TBS, truTV, and Max
Maple Leafs vs. Panthers, Game 4: 6:30 p.m. on TBS, truTV, and Max
Monday, May 12
Capitals vs. Hurricanes, Game 4: 6 p.m. on TNT, truTV, and Max
Golden Knights vs. Oilers, Game 4: 8:30 p.m. on TNT, truTV, and Max
Tuesday, May 13
Jets vs. Stars, Game 4: 7 p.m. on ESPN
Wednesday, May 14
Panthers vs. Maple Leafs, Game 5: 6:00 p.m. on ESPN
Oilers vs. Golden Knights, Game 5: 8:30 p.m. on ESPN
Thursday, May 15
Hurricanes vs. Capitals, Game 5: 6 p.m. on TNT, truTV, and Max
Stars vs. Jets, Game 5: 8:30 p.m. on TNT, truTV, and Max
Friday, May 16
*Maple Leafs vs. Panthers, Game 6: TBD on TNT, truTV, and Max
*Golden Knights vs. Oilers, Game 6: TBD on TNT, truTV, and Max
Saturday, May 17
*Capitals vs. Hurricanes, Game 6: TBD
*Jets vs. Stars, Game 6: TBD
Sunday, May 18
*Panthers vs. Maple Leafs, Game 7: TBD on TNT and Max
*Oilers vs. Golden Knights, Game 7: TBD on TNT and Max
Monday, May 19
*Hurricanes vs. Capitals, Game 7: TBD on ESPN
*Stars vs. Jets, Game 7: TBD on ESPN