Senators’ Thomas Chabot Could Return Ahead Of Schedule
The Ottawa Senators’ injury situation turned from bad to worse when Thomas Chabot was sidelined with a broken arm six games before Jake Sanderson returned from his own month-long absence. Chabot underwent surgery to address the injury and was expected to be out six-to-eight weeks, which would have placed his return in the Eastern Conference Finals if the Senators were still playing. Roughly two weeks later, it appears Chabot’s recovery is going better than expected. He has already returned to practice and could return ahead of his original window, head coach Travis Green told TSN’s Bruce Garrioch.
Ottawa’s blue-line has faced a long string of injuries since the start of March. The Senators were forced to lean on their few healthy veterans – Tyler Kleven, Jordan Spence, and Artem Zub – in the few games where both Chabot and Sanderson were out. They didn’t leave that plan unscathed, with Kleven sustaining a potential season-ending injury of his own. Sanderson has averaged over 25 minutes of ice time in his two games since returning to the lineup, similar to the deployment Chabot carried before his injury.
Ottawa has fought a war of attrition in their attempt to seal an Eastern Conference Wild Card. Battling through injuries, the Senators have managed the sixth-most wins in the NHL (11) since March 1st. That comes largely thanks to the offense’s scoring ability, with Ottawa also ranked eighth in total goals in that span (61). Even then, the Senators have totaled a measly 10-11-1 record in games without Chabot this season. His absence leaves a major hole in Ottawa’s top-four. He has 31 points in 55 games, second-most on the Senators’ blue-line behind Sanderson’s 49 points. He has also kept up his strong play away from the puck while usually facing opponents’ top players.
Adding Chabot back into the lineup will reinstill the Senators’ one-two punch on defense, no matter when it happens. While news of a quick recovery is an exciting boost, it seems Ottawa may still have to finish the season down a top defender. The Senators currently hold onto the second Wild Card spot with 90 points and five games left. They sit one point ahead of the New York Islanders, with a game in hand, and two points ahead of the Detroit Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets.
Capitals Recall Ilya Protas
The Washington Capitals have recalled top center prospect Ilya Protas from the AHL’s Hershey Bears. It is a headline that Capitals fans have waited all season for and comes just two days after a six-point night in the AHL. Protas leads Hershey, and all AHL rookies, with 28 goals and 62 points in 66 games this season. He could make his NHL debut as soon as Wednesday per NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti.
Washington could give one of their top prospects a look with four games left in the season. All four games are against Eastern Conference and will be must-win contests with the Capitals sat one point outside of the second Wild Card. Protas could be an X-factor addition at the perfect time. He has continued a breakout performance that began with a move to the OHL in 2024.
Protas moved from his home country of Belarus to the USHL’s Des Moines Buccaneers for the 2023-24 season. He was an immediate, top-six impact and finished the year with 51 points in 61 games. The majority of that scoring came late in the season, helping the 6-foot-5 Protas slide under the radar enough to land in the third round of the 2024 NHL Draft. He followed the selection with a move to the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires, where his offensive skill quickly boomed next to New York Rangers prospect Liam Greentree. Protas led the Spitfires, and ranked second in the OHL, in scoring with an incredible 50-goals and 124 points in 61 games. His scoring was the second-most ever recorded by a European in the OHL behind compatriot and six-year NHL veteran Sergei Kostitsyn, who scored 131 points in 2006-07.
That hot scoring hasn’t left in Protas’ first pro season. Neither has his talent for creating chances, made evident by his five-assist performance in Hershey’s Saturday night win over the Hartford Wolf Pack. Protas has shown a strong ability to drive the puck into the slot. He offers an impressive amount of stickhandling ability and playmaking focus in a big frame. They’re the same traits that have helped his older brother, Washington’s Aliaksei Protas, notch a career-high 30 goals and 66 points in 76 games last season. The older Protas has 49 points in 72 games this year.
Now, the brothers could seek to make one final heave towards the playoffs together. It is not clear where the younger Protas will line up if he does make his NHL debut. He could step onto the third-line left-wing over Anthony Beauvillier or take on a center role and bump Justin Sourdif to the wing. Either move would likely bump Ethen Frank out of the lineup, after he posted no scoring and a minus-one in his last two games.
Canucks Recall Jiri Patera, Kevin Lankinen Out Day-To-Day
The Vancouver Canucks have recalled depth goaltender Jiri Patera under emergency conditions. His recall comes after Kevin Lankinen sustained a day-to-day, upper-body injury during Monday’s morning practice per Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK News. Patera will likely backup Nikita Tolopilo in Tuesday’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights if Lankinen is not ready to return.
Lankinen has been Vancouver’s de facto starter since usual starter Thatcher Demko sustained a season-ending injury in January. Lankinen recorded just one win to go with a .885 save percentage in 11 games during the month of March. That performance brought his year-long totals up to nine wins and a .875 Sv% in 44 appearances. It is the second-most Lankinen has ever played in a single NHL season after he posted 25 wins and a .902 Sv% in 51 games last season. Tolopilo hasn’t yet topped Lankinen’s performance from the backup role, with only five wins and a .880 Sv% in 18 games this season.
Those performances will set a low bar for Patera if he needs to fill out Vancouver’s roster. The 27 year old has appeared in nine NHL games before, including one this season – his only appearance with Vancouver. He has three wins and a .892 Sv% in those appearances. Patera has also recorded 11 wins and a .907 Sv% in 29 AHL games this season. He has planted his feet as a career minor-league goalie after being drafted by the Vegas Golden Knights in the sixth-round of the 2017 NHL Draft. Patera’s stint on Vancouver’s roster will likely be limited to backup duties until Lankinen is back to full health.
Avalanche Still Big Winners In Martin Necas Acquisition
True NHL dynasties are often defined by more than their roster. It takes confident management decisions to stick at the top of the NHL year-over-year. The Colorado Avalanche proved their willingness to make a big swing in their handling of Mikko Rantanen‘s trade ahead of the 2025 Trade Deadline. Facing a costly contract extension, Colorado opted to trade Rantanen to the Carolina Hurricanes in late-January. The sudden deal wouldn’t stick for Carolina – who flipped Rantanen to Dallas. The fruits of the move were much more direct for Colorado, who took a homerun swing on Martin Necas‘ ability to replace Rantanen’s role. One season later, as Necas rivals the first 100-point season of his career, it seems the Avalanche hit it well out of the park.
Necas was an instant impact for the Avalanche in the second-half of last season. He scored 11 goals and 28 points in 30 games to close out the regular season, bringing his year-long totals up to 83 points in 79 games. Even through a cloud of trade drama, that performance was a career-year for Necas, whose previous career-high was 71 points. A full summer to adjust to Colorado’s system has quickly made both of his previous heights look slim.
Necas has racked up 36 goals, 94 points, and a plus-46 through 72 games this season. All three of those stats are new personal-bests – eight goals, 11 points, and plus-21 higher than his previous bests. That success comes alongside a league-best performance from the Avalanche roster, led by superstar Nathan MacKinnon, Necas’ new batterymate. MacKinnon’s all-out energy and control over play has allowed Necas to focus on his strengths – but his improvements stand out apart from the top-tier support. Necas has looked explosive off the rush and added a goal-scorer’s ability to bury chances through traffic. He has been there to finish the chances that MacKinnon creates, one of the roles that Rantanen filled in his back-to-back 100-point seasons in 2022-23 and 2023-24. With only four games left on Colorado’s schedule Necas likely won’t reach the 105 points that Rantanen scored in his best year – but he nonetheless brings century-scoring capability to the lineup.
The near-seamless replacement can make it easy to forget the rest of Colorado’s return. The Avalanche also brought in feisty, depth forward Jack Drury and draft capital from the Rantanen trade. They packaged one of those picks – a 2025 second-round pick – alongside William Zellers and Casey Mittelstadt to acquire Charlie Coyle and a pick from the Boston Bruins at the 2025 Trade Deadline. Colorado went one step further after the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs, trading Coyle and Miles Wood to the Columbus Blue Jackets for prospect Gavin Brindley, a 2027 second-round pick, and a 2025 third-round pick used on defense prospect Francesco Dell’Elce. Drury and Brindley have already shored up Colorado’s depth chart, while the additional capital boosted a bare Avalanche prospect room.
Reliable depth and future upside are fantastic additions to the value that Necas has brought to the top-line. Colorado also signed Necas to a deal $500K cheaper, and one year longer, than Rantanen landed in Dallas. The Avalanche have won every bet they made in a confusing, and surprising, trade of a top-line star. Even if the 2025-26 season stands as Necas’ career-year, his impact next to MacKinnon could help Colorado stick in Stanley Cup contention through the end of the 2020’s. The Avalanche sit confidently on top of the league – six points ahead of the second-place Hurricanes – with the end of the season nearing. They will enter the Stanley Cup Playoffs as the favorite out of the Western Conference, offering a chance to build on their 2022 Cup win.
Senators’ Tyler Kleven Out Indefinitely
The Ottawa Senators added top defenseman Jake Sanderson back to the lineup on Saturday – but their luck with injuries isn’t on the upswing yet. Sanderson’s return filled in for Tyler Kleven, who is out indefinitely with an upper-body injury per Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen. This is the sixth injury that Ottawa’s blue-line has faced in the last month.
Kleven sustained the injury while blocking a shot just seven minutes into Thursday’s win over the Buffalo Sabres. The puck appeared to hit him in the face. Kleven will be re-evaluated on a week-to-week basis, a designation that could end his season with only six games left on Ottawa’s schedule.
Kleven stepped into a major role while Ottawa looked to make up for injuries to Sanderson and Thomas Chabot. He has averaged nearly 24 minutes of ice time over the last eight games, supporting Ottawa to a 4-3-1 record in that stretch. Kleven has contributed five assists, four penalty minutes, and a plus-three across that stretch. It has been a clutch performance from the usual third-pair defenseman as Ottawa fights to hang onto an Eastern Conference wild card. Kleven is up to 18 points, 53 penalty minutes, and a plus-two in 70 games this season. All three of those stats are new career-highs after Kleven posted 10 points, 27 penalty minutes, and a minus-11 in 79 games as a rookie last season.
Cameron Crotty stuck in the lineup in Kleven’s absence. Saturday marked the fifth NHL game of his career, and the second of his season. He has failed to score at the top level yet. Crotty has found a bit more production with the AHL’s Belleville Senators, where he has recorded 10 points, 29 penalty minutes, and a minus-four in 49 games this season. The 26 year old is in his sixth season in North American pros and could hang onto a bottom-pair role for the rest of the season if he can stick in Kleven’s spot.
Mammoth’s Jack McBain, MacKenzie Weegar Out
The Utah Mammoth announced two changes to the lineup just before Saturday’s game against the Vancouver Canucks. Center Jack McBain missed the game with a lower-body injury that has him designated out week-to-week. Defenseman MacKenzie Weegar is also out as he nurses a day-to-day, upper-body injury. The pair of injuries prompted a few lineup moves, including Liam O’Brien and Nick DeSimone coming down from the press box.
McBain leaves behind an important hole in Utah’s bottom-six. He leads the Mammoth with 271 hits – 73 more than Lawson Crouse in second place. McBain has also notched 25 points, 84 penalty minutes, and a 51.3 faceoff percentage. He brings a physical presence and two-way impact that will be tough to replace.
The Mammoth promoted Alexander Kerfoot to the third-line in McBain’s absence, a nice reward after Kerfoot scored five points in his last five games. O’Brien will make up for some of McBain’s physical presence. He has racked up 93 hits – fourth-most on the team – in just 32 games, despite averaging only nine minutes of ice time a game. His physical presence, across from Brandon Tanev on the fourth line, could help balance a Mammoth third line that will be more geared towards speed with a tandem of Kerfoot and JJ Peterka.
Weegar has stepped into a top-pair role since joining the Mammoth at the Trade Deadline. He has scored four points and averaged 21 minutes of ice time in 13 games with the Mammoth. That scoring brings Weegar up to 25 points in 73 games on the year, well below the 47 points he put up in 81 games last season. Sean Durzi moved up Mikhail Sergachev‘s flank in Weegar’s absence. Durzi has 25 points in 54 games this season, including three in his last six games. While he looks to spark his scoring in elevated minutes, DeSimone will look to build on seven points in 37 games, both career-highs.
Utah also recalled top prospect Dmitriy Simashev before Saturday’s game. He could be an option should Utah need a spark with Weegar out of the lineup. The AHL rookie ranks second in scoring among Tucson Roadrunners defensemen with 35 points in 40 games. That scoring hasn’t yet translated to the top flight, though, with Simashev only boasting one point in the first 25 games of his NHL career. He will fill the role of extra defenseman on Saturday night and will compete with Ian Cole and DeSimone if he sticks on the roster through Utah’s upcoming three-game homestand.
Kings Sign Henry Brzustewicz To Entry-Level Contract
The Los Angeles Kings have signed 2025 first-round pick Henry Brzustewicz to a three-year, entry-level contract set to begin in the 2026-27 season. He will complete the 2025-26 season on a professional try-out contract with the AHL’s Ontario Reign. This news will shift Brzustewicz to the pro level after the OHL London Knights’ season came to an end on Friday.
Brzustewicz stepped into London’s top defender role this season, following Sam Dickinson’s move to the pros at the end of last season. He filled the role seamlessly and finished the season with a team-leading 54 points in 59 games. Brzustewicz also scored 19 goals, tied with St. Louis Blues prospect Adam Jiricek for the third-most among OHL defensemen. Brzustewicz’s stat line was rounded out with 57 penalty minutes and a minus-15.
All together, Brzustewicz’s 2025-26 campaign was another gradual step up from his previous year. He scored 10 goals, 42 points, and 77 penalty minutes in 67 games on the OHL championship-winning London Knights last season. It was a major improvement over the six points he scored in 52 games of his rookie OHL season. That performance, complimented by Brzustewicz’s knack for physical hockey, helped him earn the 31st selection in the 2025 NHL Draft. He earned that spot despite not appearing in any junior-level, international tournaments. Brzustewicz, an American playing Canadian hockey, was left off of Team USA’s roster at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup and World U18 Championships, two tournaments that his older brother, Hunter Brzustewicz, appeared in during his junior career.
Despite a slimmer resume than his peers, the younger Brzustewicz will bring an exciting and well-rounded profile to the Kings’ depth chart. The right-shot defenseman plays a 200-foot game with impressive strength, smooth passing, and reliable skating. His game is best suited for the defensive side of the puck, where his quick reactions help spark breakouts and keep play out of the defensive end. That style will be welcome on a Kings blue-line that has found roles for styles like Michael Anderson, Joel Edmundson, Cody Ceci, and Brian Dumoulin. With the right development, Brzustewicz could begin to test his own footing in those roles next season, with hopes of one day serving as the defensive-punch behind Brandt Clarke‘s offense.
First, Brzustewicz will look to be an X-factor addition to an Ontario Reign club that leads the AHL’s Pacific Division. The Reign haven’t generated much offense from the blue-line this season, with the defense led in scoring by Samuel Bolduc‘s 21 points in 56 games. Brzustewicz will compete with Otto Salin and Jack Millar for minutes on Ontario’s right-side.
PHR Mailbag: Flyers, Pacific Division, Devils, Blues, Capitals
Topics in this edition of the PHR Mailbag include a tour around the Pacific Division, potential captains in St. Louis, and more. If your question doesn’t appear, check back in our last two mailbag columns.
Emoney123: Can the Flyers please just lose… they win enough games to be close but just out of the playoffs does nothing but hurt their draft order. They have stumbled into finding a #1 goalie in Vladar… what’s next? Can they sign Vitali Pinchuk and finally just end the rebuild? They have to be able to do better than picking players like Nesbitt R1-#12 and Luchanko R1-#13 the past two years!
Well, since this question was posed, they’ve gone and rattled off a bunch of wins to put them right on the edge of a playoff spot. So, to answer the first thought, no, they’re not going to just lose. And honestly, that’s something I don’t think they’re too worried about. Frankly, with the Blue Jackets and Islanders scuffling, they might get in, even.
They’re a good enough team to not be at the level of the pure rebuilder but don’t seem to have the inclination to tear things down either. That’s why they elected not to sell off parts of their veteran core, either by placing too high an asking price or by simply not entertaining offers for those players. By taking the approach they have, this is going to be the end result. I have to think they’re content with it, too, as otherwise, they’d be modifying it. As for what’s next, it might be more of the same.
I don’t think Pinchuk is the type of piece where they say the rebuild is over either. Yes, he’s a promising prospect. But I don’t think he’s the top center they’re lacking. He might be more of a second or third-line option which is what they already have. That’s not to say that they shouldn’t try to get him – a free NHL piece is a free NHL piece – but he’s not the final piece of the rebuilding puzzle.
There has been an emphasis on high-floor players at the draft in recent years. With that foundation in place now, I’d like to see the Flyers take a swing on skill a bit more in June. While there’s a bigger risk going that way, the potential reward is also higher and the depth they’ve amassed in recent years should give them a chance to be a bit more aggressive in the search for a more impactful piece.
PyramidHeadcrab: Pacific Lightning Round:
- Do the Sharks make the playoffs, and if not, what’s the missing piece?
- How long is Seattle going to keep playing “loves me, loves me not” with Shane Wright?
- Anaheim is having one hell of a year, what’s their X factor?
- Between Cooley and Wolf, Calgary has had a couple of years of stellar goaltending, but they struggle to score. Is there a scenario where they retain at least one good goalie and finally get some reliable scoring?
- How vulnerable is Vegas to the likes of San Jose and Los Angeles pushing them out with their 15 OT loser points(!) barely keeping them in a playoff spot?
- Vancouver’s future is looking dire, do the upcoming draft years have enough to pull them out of the dregs?
- Edmonton had a long string of #1 overall picks for a while there, and not even Nail Yakupov was enough to get them to a Cup. This year, they’re barely hanging on to a playoff spot, and had they been in the East, they wouldn’t even be in the picture. At what point does management look at the situation and decide it’s time to rework the model?
- I honestly don’t know a damn thing about LA this year, they just kind of exist in the background. Tell me something nice about the City of Los Angeles.
1) The Sharks enter play today in a three-way tie for the final Wild Card spot. Few thought they’d be in this situation at this point of the season. That said, I’m still leaning toward them narrowly missing. They have a couple of missing pieces at this point. One is another proven top-six forward to give them more offensive pop. The other is a top-six defenseman (or two). There are prospects who could fill that role down the road but a long-term addition would be great. Failing that, another Dmitry Orlov-esque move could help.
2) If there isn’t a move this summer, they could be playing that for a while. With one year left on his entry-level deal, Wright may have more value now than the 2027 offseason when he’ll be hitting restricted free agency with perhaps less perceived upside if he stays on his current path for another year. In that scenario, Seattle wouldn’t want to sell low, meaning that this could be a storyline for a while.
3) Probably Lukas Dostal. Anaheim is one of the higher-scoring teams this season but goaltending has been an issue, something that’s not entirely uncommon for a young roster. However, Dostal has been a bit too inconsistent this season for someone who is now the undisputed starting goalie. If he can be at his best come the playoffs, they could do some damage. If that’s too obvious a choice, I’ll go with Frank Vatrano. He has all of four goals this season, two years removed from a 37-goal campaign. He has more to give and could be a difference-maker from a secondary scoring perspective.
4) I don’t expect either goalie to go anywhere so the answer is probably yes. Dustin Wolf is entrenched as the starter while Devin Cooley’s track record is still limited which might limit his trade value; he’d probably not fetch the return they’d deem worthy enough to move him. In theory, they could push in some of their trade capital (picks and prospects) to get a top-six scorer without touching their goalies. I don’t think they will this summer though. But Wolf is going to be there for the long haul so yes, they’ll eventually get scoring help while still having at least one good goalie in the fold.
5) With only a five-point lead on a playoff spot, Vegas absolutely is vulnerable, at least in theory. But with how bad this division has been all season, I don’t trust anyone to go on a long enough winning streak to knock the Golden Knights out. If I have to pick between a bunch of underachieving teams for who is to make the playoffs, I’m going to go with the group that at least has a track record of success. The potential ‘new coach bump’ also works in their favor with John Tortorella being the surprising hire last weekend.
6) It’s not as if there’s a smorgasbord of extra picks in the cupboard. They have one extra first-round pick in the next three years, although three extra second-rounders help. If the ping pong balls go their way in the lottery and they hit on some of these second-rounders, the draft could be enough to turn them around in a few years. That said, their recent draft history doesn’t fill me with a ton of confidence.
7) Not anytime soon. When you have two of the top five or so players in the world on your team, you’re probably not willingly going to deviate from that. The rapid escalation of the salary cap should help them in terms of keeping the core while still maintaining some room to add to it. If they can get the goaltending situation figured out (and that’s a big if), they’ll be just fine in the long run.
8) Without the city of Los Angeles, this very site might not exist. Okay, maybe that’s a bit of a stretch, but the internet was created in Los Angeles on the campus of UCLA back in 1969. Leonard Kleinrock, the architect of the first message, recounted that at the 50-year anniversary in a piece for the Los Angeles Times back in 2019 if you want to read more about it. I think that’s something nice.
DevilShark: What 1C or 2C options between the ages of 24 and 28 could be had in the offseason for picks or prospects to round out the Devils’ top six?
When I first saw this question, my initial thought was no one. If teams have an in-prime top-six center, they’re probably not moving them for draft picks and prospects. Those are the pieces teams should be building around, not moving away. But after looking around, there are two that come to mind, neither of whom should come as much of a surprise.
One is Robert Thomas, someone who the Blues had in play at the trade deadline. The thought at the time was that they were seeking at least three top-15 or equivalent pieces between draft picks in that range plus prospects or young players worth that type of return in a trade. Now, does incoming GM Alex Steen take him off the market? I have to think that he and Doug Armstrong were in lockstep on a plan at the deadline so my assumption would be no. I’d imagine that New Jersey’s first-round pick this year and prospect Anton Silayev would be pieces in that move, while they’d likely have to offload at least some salary the other way. Another high-end part would need to be in there as well to meet their asking price.
The other is a bit more of a wild card, that being Vancouver’s Elias Pettersson. In his first full season as the undisputed number one center on the Canucks, things haven’t gone well. He managed just 45 points in 2024-25 and is scoring at nearly an identical clip this season. That’s not a great return on a cap hit of $11.6MM through 2031-32 (and that’s putting it lightly). There’s also a belief that Vancouver doesn’t want to retain any of that money to facilitate a move. That means that there’s a cap-matching piece or two that would have to move but beyond that, draft picks and prospects might be enough to get him. There would be a ton of risk involved but in a lower-pressure role in the lineup and a new environment, the reward could be considerable as well.
vincent k. mcmahon: Do the Blues have a new captain next season or do they wait until 27-28 to name the next captain?
Assuming Thomas and/or Parayko aren’t traded, could one of them be in line to be the next captain or someone outside the box like Buchnevich, etc?
I’m one of those people who think way too much attention gets paid to captaincies and that the role is largely ceremonial. (I know some would very strongly disagree on this one.) But this is certainly a fair question given that the two logical candidates you suggested could very well be on the move this summer. And if that happens, I’m not sure there’s a great fit for next season.
Jake Neighbours could be a viable candidate at some point. He’s already an alternate captain and, at least at first glance, it doesn’t appear as if he’s among the players that the Blues are open to moving. On the other hand, he’s just about to turn 24 which is still on the younger side to be the designated leader of the team. He might be the long-term internal option but if both Thomas and Parayko go this summer, I could see them going captain-less for a year and then assessing if Neighbours is ready for the role.
letsgonats: What fixes do you see for the Capitals? Top-three scoring winger but 20 teams want that too.
The power play demise and the lowly shooting percentage are fatal. What would be your fix?
Who needs to move in that is getable and who needs to be traded to do so?
I’m going to go a little out of order here and start with the shooting percentage. Entering Saturday’s action, the Capitals had a shooting percentage of 11.1%. Considering the league average is 11.0%, I’m not sure how much cause for concern that is. Ideally, you’d like to see them a little more above average but getting back to first overall in that department as they were last season (12.6%, average 10.7%) isn’t going to happen. If we’re quibbling over half a percent or so (even a full percent), that’s not necessarily a huge concern that necessarily needs to be addressed.
Now, the power play is more of a concern. If you want to be a playoff team, having one of the worst marks with the man advantage (putting them around 3% below league average) isn’t ideal. Beyond adding impactful scoring, one fix there might be shifting up the tactics. Some of the better power plays in the league feature a lot of movement, designed to get the penalty killers out of position with the idea of capitalizing on openings. Washington’s power play setup is a bit more static and traditional. Part of that is having Alex Ovechkin in ‘his office’ and that runs counter to the idea of more positionless forwards. But taking that more modern approach might help. Cole Hutson’s addition should help if they go that route next season (the early returns are promising). And a bit more success with the man advantage would probably boost their shooting percentage too.
I’m not so sure that it’s going to be about who moves out as much as who comes in. Washington has over $35MM in cap space for next season, per PuckPedia, with only a handful of roster spots to fill. They don’t necessarily need to move anyone out. Ovechkin needs a new deal if he wants to keep playing and Connor McMichael is heading for a big raise but even with those, there’s lots of room to add without trading anyone away.
The challenge with the other part of your question is that we don’t know who all was in play at the trade deadline that might be getable so it’s hard to come up with specifics. But if there’s a top-six forward or a top-four defender available, I expect GM Chris Patrick to be going after them. It’s going to be a wide net on that front.
Last season felt like an aberration for Washington, where just about everything went right. This year, not much has. But in the grand scheme of things, they’re a bubble team in a division that appears to have a bunch of bubble teams. There’s a good core in place and more flexibility cap-wise than a lot of teams have. This season hasn’t been great but they’re in a spot to make a few moves and make a push to get back to the playoffs next year.
Photo courtesy of Jeff Curry-Imagn Images.
Panthers Assessing Injuries To Aaron Ekblad, Dmitry Kulikov
The Florida Panthers have even more injuries to sort through after Tuesday night’s win over the Ottawa Senators. Defensemen Aaron Ekblad and Dmitry Kulikov were both injured in the matchup. Ekblad sustained a broken finger after blocking a shot with his right-hand, while Kulikov sustained a broken nose after a puck deflected into his face per George Richard of Florida Hockey Now. Ekblad will be reassessed in 10 days – just three days before the end of Florida’s season – while Kulikov may only need to miss Thursday night’s game against the Boston Bruins, head coach Paul Maurice told Richard.
Ekblad could join a long list of Panthers stars declared out for the rest of the season. Florida’s list of injuries includes Aleksander Barkov, Brad Marchand, and Niko Mikkola – all set to miss the final eight games of the season. Ekblad has filled a heavy role in the wake of their injuries, averaging more than 22 minutes of ice time each night through 15 games in March. He scored five points and a plus-four in those minutes, helping the Panthers piece together a 6-9-0 record despite their heap of star absences.
Ekblad has been one of Florida’s few consistent lineup pieces this season, so far only missing two games to injury. But that consistency didn’t help him avoid the down year that hit many Panthers. Ekblad has racked up just 26 points and a minus-five in 72 games this season. That is the second-lowest scoring pace (0.36) of Ekblad’s 12-year career in the NHL, behind the 2023-24 campaign that saw him score 18 points in 51 games (0.35). The 29 year old still filled a crucial role on the Panthers blue-line all season long and should continue to hold a core role, even if his season ends with Tuesday’s game.
Kulikov has been much more limited this season. He has only appeared in 17 games on the year thanks to a hip injury that required surgery, and a five-month absence, sustained in Florida’s second game of the season. He was out of the lineup from October 10th to March 1st. Kulikov hasn’t managed any scoring in his few games this season, to go with a minus-five and eight penalty minutes. He has two years remaining on his four-year, $4.6MM contract signed with Florida in 2024. That should help ensure that Kulikov has a chance to return to his bottom-pair role with some more consistency next season. He will face lineup pressure from Donovan Sebrango, who scored four points in 32 games while helping to fill-in for Kulikov’s absence. Sebrango also left Tuesday’s game early due to injury but is expected to be okay, per Richard.
Florida sits well outside of a playoff spot with only a few games left on their schedule. Their disastrous season continues to face blows in the form of star injuries. Kulikov is expected to begin playing through his injury as soon as Saturday. He will be a part of a handicapped Panthers lineup attempting to pull together a few more wins before the year comes to an end.
Golden Knights To Activate Carter Hart From LTIR
The Vegas Golden Knights are expected to activate goaltender Carter Hart off of long-term injured reserve, and award him the start in Thursday night’s game against the Calgary Flames, per Danny Webster of the Las Vegas Review Journal. Hart has sat out of the last 33 games due to an extended lower-body injury sustained on January 8th.
Hart signed a two-year contract with Vegas in October and returned to NHL ice in early-December. He went on to appear in 12 games with the Golden Knights over the next month, posting six wins and a .871 save percentage in the process. Vegas deployed Hart as their starting goaltender through that month, defaulting Akira Schmid to the backup role while Adin Hill worked his way back from a multi-month leg injury. Hill returned to the lineup one week after Hart’s injury.
Vegas has turned towards Hill and Schmid to fill their goaltending room in the near-three months since Hart went down. Hill has carried the bulk of the weight, recording nine wins, one shutout, and a .865 save percentage in 21 games since returning to the lineup. Schmid has recorded four wins and a .889 save percentage in 12 games. Carl Lindbom also stepped into one game – an 18-save win – after Hart’s injury.
With Hart’s return, freshly-cristened Vegas head coach John Tortorella will now have to juggle three goalies at the NHL level. He could have some favor for Hart, who he coached on the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons. Those campaigns stand as some of Hart’s best. He tallied 22 wins and a .907 save percentage in 55 games of 2022-23, and 12 wins and a .906 save percentage in 26 games of 2023-24. His only season with more wins and a higher save percentage came in his breakout 2019-20 season, when Hart tallied 24 wins and a .914 save percentage in 43 games.
A familiar face behind the bench could help Hart turn a disastrous season – marked by court cases, a slow return, and injury – into a positive swing when Vegas needs it most. The Golden Knights ranked in the middle of the league – 17th, to be exact – in goals-against per-game over the month of March. That is despite the team also facing the second-fewest shots-against in the same span. Those struggles led to the firing of Stanley Cup-winning head coach Bruce Cassidy and a turn towards the experienced Tortorella. Now, Vegas will test if they hve found the goaltending needed to hang onto their third-place spot in the Pacific Division, through a trio of Hart, Hill, and Schmid.