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Five Key Stories: 6/3/24 – 6/9/24

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The Stanley Cup Final is now underway and although there typically isn’t a lot of activity around the NHL during the final series, there was still some notable news and notes from the past week which is recapped in our key stories.

Salary Cap Set: With the players’ share of the overage they received during the pandemic-shortened season now repaid, the salary cap is getting a nice boost heading into next season.  The league has set the Upper Limit of the cap at $88MM, an increase of $4.5MM from 2023-24’s number.  The cap had been going up by just $1MM per year while the escrow portion was paid off.  Meanwhile, the increase at the top end means that the minimum cap expenditure is also going up, from $61.7MM this season to $65MM in 2024-25.  Many teams have been cap-strapped in recent years and while this increase won’t solve all of that, it will provide at least a bit of flexibility moving forward.

Kekalainen Linked To Hurricanes: With Don Waddell leaving Carolina for Columbus, the Hurricanes now have a GM vacancy to fill.  It appears one of the contenders for the role is former Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen.  While Columbus didn’t fare well over the last few years of his tenure, Kekalainen would add some experience to an organization that’s planning to go with a by-committee approach when it comes to decision-making, a process that will also involve owner Tom Dundon.  In the meantime, one of the decisions the Hurricanes have to make is what to do with pending UFA winger Jake Guentzel who appears intent on testing free agency.  For the time being, it appears Carolina has made his negotiating rights available for a draft pick.

Pavelski Expected To Retire: While he stressed that this was not an official retirement announcement, Stars forward Joe Pavelski said that he believes that he has played his final NHL season.  The 39-year-old spent the first 13 years of his career in San Jose before moving to Dallas in 2019-20 after not being able to secure a multi-year agreement with the Sharks.  The change of scenery worked out quite well for both sides as Pavelski had his two best seasons with Dallas and even managed 67 points this season.  If this is indeed it for him, Pavelski finishes up with 476 goals and 592 assists in 1,332 regular season games while chipping in with 143 points in 201 playoff contests.  He reached the top-25 in all-time playoff appearances last round against Edmonton.

Lottery Picks Available: Teams looking to move up in the draft order could have some options in the coming weeks as reports suggest that the Devils and Sabres are open to moving their first-round selections, slotted at 10th and 11th respectively.  Both teams are looking to rebound from disappointing seasons and aren’t believed to be looking for a pick swap but rather are dangling the selection to make an impact addition that can help them win now.  We’ll find out over the coming weeks if they get an offer to their liking to part with a lottery selection.

Ehlers Not Interested In Extension: Nikolaj Ehlers has been a key part of Winnipeg’s forward group for the past nine years but it appears he would like his time with them to end sooner than later.  He is believed to have indicated that he is not interested in signing an extension with the Jets and would welcome a trade.  Ehlers has one year left on his contract at $6MM and will be UFA-eligible in 2025.  Coming off a 25-goal, 61-point campaign, he’s likely in line for a raise on that price tag and if Winnipeg is open to allowing extension talks to occur prior to a trade, they could get a better return for Ehlers over dealing him strictly as a rental player.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Evening Notes: Saros, CapFriendly, Dillon

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Star Nashville Predators goaltender Juuse Saros has been deeply entrenched in trade rumors for much of the season, largely thanks to the emergence of top goalie prospect Yaroslav Askarov in the minor leagues. But the two sides might not be set for the departure many are expecting, with Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman sharing that, “the player wants to stay and the team wants him to say,” in the latest episode of the 32 Thoughts Podcast. Friedman added that a source close to the team has expressed optimism in Nashville’s chances of extending Saros.

Saros has one year remaining on the four-year, $20MM contract he earned following a breakout 2020-21 season. Manning the net in the last year of Pekka Rinne’s career, Saros posted 21 wins and a .927 save percentage through just 36 appearances. Saros has fully taken the reigns from Rinne on his new deal, recording at least 64 games in each of the three seasons he’s played on the deal so far. He’s posted a combined 106 wins and .915 save percentage in 195 games since 2021. Saros has remained an unquestioned starter in Nashville, even as he posted a career-worst .906 save percentage and 2.86 goals-against-average in 64 games this season.

But despite the strong stats, Nashville has shared they’re not in a rush to re-sign the former Vezina Trophy finalist. Instead, they’ll monitor how the goalie market develops under a growing cap, specifically watching for how extension talks between the New York Rangers and Igor Shesterkin play out. That patient approach should give time for trade candidates like Jacob Markstrom, John Gibson, and Linus Ullmark to be moved as well, giving the Predators a sense of what a return for Saros may look like.

Other notes from around the league:

  • The Washington Capitals have moved to purchase the website CapFriendly, per Friedman. CapFriendly has become a central repository for information on NHL player and staff contracts, fantasy hockey tools, and lineup information among many other uses. The move will give Washington full access to CapFriendly’s extensive toolkit, though it will also force the site to publicly shut down on July 5th – keeping it active through the NHL Draft and beginning of free agency. Friedman shared that other NHL teams who had access to CapFriendly’s data were recently told their contracts would be termminated, suggesting a buyout was imminent.
  • Winnipeg Jets defenseman Brenden Dillon is expected to test free agency, shares Friedman in 32 Thoughts. Dillon concluded his third year with the Jets this season, joining the team via trade in 2021 – with Winnipeg sending the Washington Capitals the draft picks used to select Seamus Casey and Carson Rehkopf, though neither player was drafted by Washington. Dillon, 33, will be looking for a new home after recording 63 points across 238 games with the Jets.

Latest On Jacob Markstrom

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The Calgary Flames are trying to move former Vezina Trophy runner-up Jacob Markstrom as discretely as possible, shares Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on the latest 32 Thoughts podcast. Friedman adds that the team was aware of the theatrics brought on by Markstrom’s trade rumors earlier this season. Markstrom publicly expressed his frustration with the team over his pre-Deadline speculation, amidst rumors of a pending move to the New Jersey Devils being reversed after Calgary went 9-3-0 throughout February. Markstrom posted a .928 save percentage while appearing in 10 games during the hot streak. He’d go on to post a measly .869 save percentage in 10 games following the strong stretch, floundering on a Flames lineup that went on to miss the postseason by 17 points.

The second half of season felt like an encapsulation of Markstrom’s play over the last few years – with dramatically up-and-down stretches culminating in a modest stat line. He posted 23 wins and a .905 save percentage in 48 games this year – finding the same number of wins and a stronger save percentage than he did last season, despite playing in 11 fewer games.

Markstrom has been a no-doubt starter for much of the last eight seasons, after joining the Vancouver Canucks in 2014 in the trade that sent Roberto Luongo to the Florida Panthers. Markstrom would make his first stand as a full-fledged starter in the 2017-18 season, posting 23 wins and a .912 save percentage in 60 appearances with Vancouver. He’s played in 40 or more games in every season since, totaling a .910 save percentage in 376 games. And while last season’s sub-.900 save percentage – and a tally this year that came close –  have caused some to pause, it’s hard to think Markstrom isn’t bound for the lion’s share of games with whoever he may suit up for next season.

That could be the New Jersey Devils, who have Markstrom as one of their top trade targets this summer, but Friedman notes they’re not the only teams involved. Friedman specifically named the Toronto Maple Leafs as a strong candidate for trade, largely thanks to Toronto now being manned by Brad Treliving, the general manager who signed Markstrom to the six-year, $36MM contract he’s currently on with the Flames. The price of a Markstrom trade could quickly test Toronto’s budget – especially as they approach a summer with just $18.83MM in cap space and 12 pending free agents. The Leafs are also woefully juxtaposed by a Devils team willing to move the 10th-overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft for lineup improvements. That offer could be tantalizing for a Calgary team looking for a breadth of young talent. At the very least, it’s an exciting bar in a goalie market that, per Friedman, has plenty of invested teams.

Boston, Montreal To Host 2025 4 Nations Face-Off

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The NHL has announced that the inaugural 2025 4 Nations Face-Off – a best-on-best tournament featuring Canada, America, Sweden, and Finland – will be hosted in Boston’s TD Garden and Montreal’s Bell Centre (Twitter link). The festivities will include a rivalry day on Saturday, February 15 – with Team Finland and Team Sweden squaring off in the afternoon and Team USA set to face Team Canada that evening. The tournament will kick off in Montreal on February 12th, while Boston will host the tournament’s championship game on February 20th.

The 2025 4 Nations Face-Off was announced at the 2024 NHL All-Star Game and is intended to serve as a preparatory tournament to the 2026 Winter Olympics and will take place in place of an All-Star Weekend. The tournament will take place on NHL-sized rinks and follow NHL rules. The league also shared its intention to host the 2028 and 2032 World Cups of Hockey – a pre-season tournament that hasn’t been hosted since 2016, when it famously featured Team North America – a team comprised solely of U23 players from the USA and Canada.

While the addition of more international best-on-best tournaments is something fans have clamored for, the increase isn’t coming without controversy. Team Czechia is a notable exclusion from the 4 Nations lineup, after winning the 2024 World Championship. The four countries featured are four of the five most-represented nations in the NHL, joined by Russia, which is excluded from all IIHF competitions.

The early pieces of the 4 Nations tournament are coming into view, with Team USA already naming Mike Sullivan for 4 Nations and the 2026 Olympics. His appointment was made by Team USA general manager Bill Guerin, who is presiding over both events. Guerin is supported by other NHL GMs Chris Drury, Tom Fitzgerald, and Bill Zito as his assistants, and Chris Kelleher as ’Director of Player Personnel’. Team Canada has also named its management staff, announcing that Don Sweeney will serve as GM, with Jim Nill as his associate GM. Fans can expect to see rosters come together soon as well, per TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie, who shares that the first six players of all four rosters will be announced during the NHL Draft’s first round on June 28 (Twitter link).

NHL Announces Salary Cap For 2024-25 Season

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The NHL and NHLPA have announced the Team Payroll Range for the 2024-25 season. The salary cap upper limit has been set at $88MM, with a midpoint of $76.5MM and a lower limit of $65.0MM. This marks a $4.5MM increase in the upper limit for the 2023-24 season – tied for the highest single-season increase of all time – and a $6.5MM increase from the cap in 2019 and 2020. The upper limit also exceeds CapFriendly’s projected upper limit of $87.7MM – a projection mentioned at October’s NHL Board of Governors meeting. CapFriendly continues to project a $92MM salary cap next season – a mark that continues through the 2020s. The minimum salary is expected to remain at $775K, after growing from $750K ahead of this season.

The NHL incurred $1.5B in escrow debt after pausing the 2019-20 season due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The league has been paying off that debt ever since, with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman sharing it was down to $50M at the start of the season. This big step forward in salary cap suggests the league has fully paid off that debt, something Bettman hinted towards in the pre-season Board of Governors meeting. Bettman added in that meeting, “The game is in great shape. Our franchises have never been better owned or stronger, and we’re excited to have the start of another season upon us.” 

The NHL is showing that a healthy league leads to innovation, set to welcome a team in Utah for the first time next season. Utah will boast the most cap space in the league, with a hardy $43.5MM to spend. They’re succeeded by the San Jose Sharks ($37.5MM in cap space) and Chicago Blackhawks ($34.1MM in cap space), per CapFriendly.

Bruins, Hurricanes Could Swap Linus Ullmark and Martin Necas

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The Boston Bruins are continuing to garner more and more interest for their former Vezina Trophy-winning goaltender Linus Ullmark, giving them a chance to be picky about the return. That could exclude much of the league from acquiring the star netminder, with Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman sharing on The Jeff Marek Show that he doesn’t believe teams like the Vancouver Canucks or Montreal Canadiens have the assets to acquire Ullmark. Friedman added that the Carolina Hurricanes could be one of the few teams rich enough for the deal, especially if they involve forward Martin Necas.

Necas has been a recent addition to trade rumors, with Friedman recently sharing that the Hurricanes “prefer” to trade the pending restricted-free-agent rather than re-sign him and that they were eyeing top prospects in return. Necas, the 12th-overall pick in 2017, posted a career-high 28 goals and 71 points in 82 games last season. He succeeded it with a much more modest 53 points this year, though he still managed 24 goals. Necas has totaled 243 points across 362 career games, working his way into a regular role in Carolina’s top-six after growing pains early in his career. At just 25, Necas represents one of the best young scorers on the open market and should be poised for a long-term deal with a yearly price tag of around $7.5MM.

Adding young, secondary scoring is a big priority for the Bruins entering this off-season, giving relief to the more surprising pieces of their top-six, like Trent Frederic and Morgan Geekie. On top of his offense, Necas could also support the team’s center depth, after recording a career-high 417 faceoffs last sesaon. He won 45.1 percent of those draws, bringing his career total to 41.5 percent at the faceoff dot. That’s certainly not strong enough to warrant an everyday role at center, but it could be a welcome boost for a Bruins lineup that still hasn’t reloaded their depth chart after Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci retired. Ullmark could be a small price to check off two big boxes for Boston.

But shaping a trade package around Necas and Ullmark will be tricky. There isn’t much precedent for swapping top-end goalies and forwards, though each of Frederik Andersen, Robin Lehner, Cory Schneider, and Semyon Varlamov were traded for first-round picks at some point in their careers. Two of those trades didn’t involve any other pieces, while the other two added a second-round pick onto the pile. That’s a bleak valuation of top goalies on the trade market, made more challenging by Necas’ RFA status making him a much more controllable asset than the 2025-UFA Ullmark. Those factors could put Carolina in a good position to ask for even more Ullmark in a swap, especially as interest in Necas grows across the league.

The Hurricanes would confidently round out their lineup with Ullmark’s addition, while moving out a winger set to command a good deal of cap space. That’d be a fantastic win-win for interim general manager Eric Tulsky, who’s in his first tenure as an NHL GM after Don Waddell left Carolina for the Columbus Blue Jackets. Carolina is also facing contract negotiations with Jake Guentzel, Teuvo Teravainen, Brett Pesce, and Brady Skjei this summer – surely pushing them to want an answer on Necas sooner rather than later.

Photos courtesy of USA TODAY Sports.

Evening Notes: Tanev, Necas, Heinen

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Dallas Stars defenseman Chris Tanev has revealed the injury that forced him out of Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals, documented by NHL.com’s Taylor Baird (Twitter link). Per Tanev, he felt a pop in his ankle in his first shift after blocking an Evander Kane shot. The resulting injury was to his peroneal tendons and won’t require surgery to fix.

Tanev is set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1st, having played the final year of a four-year, $18MM deal signed with the Calgary Flames the last time he hit the market. Tanev has solidified his status as one of the staunchest defenders in the league on the contract – averaging over 20 minutes of ice time across 278 games since 2020 despite totaling just 72 points. Tanev’s played with just three teams over 14 years in the NHL and could continue that loyalty with the Stars, with the team interested in re-signing the veteran before he hits the market on July 1st.

Other notes from around the league:

  • Both the Carolina Hurricanes and Martin Necas are still “preferring” to part ways, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on the Donie and Dhali Show (Twitter link). Friedman adds that the Hurricanes would likely be targeting top prospects for Necas – adding that he doesn’t envision a swap of Necas and Filip Hronek when speaking to Donnie and Dhali’s Canucks theme. Necas has scored 124 points across 159 games in the last two seasons, emerging as a legitimate scoring threat in a Hurricanes lineup full of offensive talent. Carolina will now look to open up cap  space, and reinforce their depth charts, after trading three top prospects and two draft picks for Jake Guentzel at the Trade Deadline.
  • The Boston Bruins are expected to begin talks with Danton Heinen about contract extension soon, shares The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta (Twitter link). Heinen rejoined the Bruins for this season after a three-year tenure split between the Anaheim Ducks and Pittsburgh Penguins. He scored 17 goals and 36 points in 74 appearances in the reunion, offering flexible offense from the bottom of the depth charts. He’ll be set for his eighth NHL season, and his sixth with the Bruins, with a new deal this summer.

Avalanche’s Casey Mittelstadt Filled A Role Worth Re-Signing

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The 2024 Trade Deadline was dominated by the Vegas Golden Knights, who weren’t satisfied with just one blockbuster trade when they acquired Noah Hanifin, so they doubled down by acquiring Tomas Hertl, ending his 11 seasons with the San Jose Sharks. Their antics helped suppress a lot of other big moves around the Deadline, including what could go down as the biggest deal of the season: the swap of Bowen Byram and Casey Mittelstadt between the Colorado Avalanche and Buffalo Sabres. It’s rare to see two former top-10 picks traded before the age of 26, much less in a one-for-one swap, and with such major implications. In this move, the Sabres fought to find Rasmus Dahlin’s dynamic partner of the future, while the Avalanche hoped to solidify their top-six.

Thus, Byram immediately rivaled top pairing minutes in Buffalo, while Mittelstadt was awarded the role of Nathan MacKinnon’s understudy on Colorado’s second line. And through the fog of trade debate, the move seemed like a strong recognition of Mittelstadt’s potential. He posted a career-high 59 points in the 2022-23 season, finally living up to his eighth-overall selection in the 2017 NHL Draft after years of bouncing around the Sabres offense. The Avalanche chose to bite on that upside, while also moving out their own promising-but-inconsistent youngster, and they’ve been richly rewarded early on.

Mittelstadt was quickly a great match in Jared Bednar’s system, posting 10 points through 18 regular season games following his trade to Colorado. He looked much more confident and consistent than during his time in Buffalo, even reasonably elevating wingers Artturi Lehkonen and Jonathan Drouin when deployed alongside them. After finding his footing in the NHL with the Sabres, Mittelstadt seemed to take off with the Avalanche – a sentiment he stamped with a powerful postseason performance, scoring nine points in 11 games.

The strong performance was undoubtedly exciting for the Avalanche, who’ve struggled to find consistent center depth behind MacKinnon since losing Nazem Kadri to the Calgary Flames in 2022’s free agency. The duo of Evan Rodrigues and Alex Newhook platooned in the role during the 2022-23 season, to mostly good effect, with Rodrigues posting 39 points in 69 games. That tandem now pales in comparison to Mittelstadt, who totaled 57 points in 80 games this season and could be poised to top the 60-point mark for the first time in his career next year. But nothing can come too easily in the NHL, and the Avalanche will now face re-signing Mittelstadt before they can boast their second-line center of the future.

 

Mittelstadt is likely Colorado’s most expensive free agent entering the summer, though he’ll be rivaled by defenseman Sean Walker, who’s role in the top-four will command a high price tag in itself. Colorado has roughly $15.92MM in cap space entering the summer, with just nine players facing free agency. That should be enough for them to re-sign their choice of pending free agents. But the importance of inking Mittelstadt can’t be understated. Kadri broke out in Colorado’s second-line role during the 2021-22 season, recording 87 points in 71 games – a mark that remains his career-high. He’s since moved to the Calgary Flames on a commendable seven-year, $49MM contract.

After spending the last two seasons without a consistent man in the role, Mittelstadt could finally be the one to succeed Kadri’s strong performance. The Avalanche will certainly hope that’s the case, as they face uncertainty about the future of both Gabriel Landeskog and Valeri Nichushkin. Mittelstadt and veteran winger Jonathan Drouin could be a convenient – albeit unexpected – fill-in for those absences, though both players are in need of new contracts.

The Colorado offense isn’t in need of much help. Superstars MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, and Cale Makar have shown an ability to lead the team through anything – made evident by the Avalanche leading the league in scoring this season. But the team can’t rest on laurels, even if their current core has already won one Stanley Cup. Mittelstadt offers a chance for the Avalanche to fill a much-needed role in the lineup for the forseeable future – which would come well-timed as the team faces a Rantanen extension next summer and a new contract for Makar in 2027. With lucrative contract negotiations, the swap of Byram and Mittelstadt could add yet another pillar to the Colorado lineup – with the added perk of making Landeskog and Nichushkin’s returns a boost, rather than a necessity.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Network.

Afternoon Notes: Jeannot, Parekh, Bourque

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Winger Tanner Jeannot is once again facing trade rumors, as the Tampa Bay Lightning look to clear enough cap space for a serviceable off-season. The team is facing the loss of their franchise player Steven Stamkos with just $5MM in cap space – not nearly enough to afford the services of the future Hall-of-Famer. That could push them to try and move Jeannot’s $2.665MM cap hit, though Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times shares that there’s been no legitimate discussions of a move just yet. Though Encina did speak to the idea being a tantalizing one for the Lightning, with many teams around the league still interested in acquiring Jeannot.

The Lightning acquired Jeannot from the Nashville Predators ahead of the 2023 Trade Deadline, sending the Music City defenseman Callan Foote, the picks that turned into Dylan MacKinnon (2023 third-round, 83rd-overall), Jayson Shaugabay (2023 fourth-round, 115th-overall), and Kevin Bicker (2023 fifth-round, 147th-overall), as well as a second-round pick in 2024 and a first-round pick in 2025 in return. Nashville traded the Shaugabay pick back to Tampa four months later, in exchange for a 2024 fourth-round pick, and moved the Bicker pick to the Detroit Red Wings to move up in the 2023 second-round.

Jeannot scored just four points in his 20 games with Tampa after the trade, though that didn’t dissuade their faith in him, with the Lightning signing Jenanot to a two-year, $5.3MM contract last summer – a deal that avoided the arbitration hearing Jeannot filed for. The rough-and-tumble winger wasn’t able to rekindle his spark on the new deal, though, scoring just 14 points in 55 games this season. He added 75 penalty minutes and a -10 – and tallied just one assist in four postseason games.

There’s still reported interest in Jeannot around the league despite his lacking scoring. Teams like the Calgary Flames have been looped into trade rumors, though Encina emphasized that a trade isn’t likely Plan A. Tampa will need to get a hefty return in any Jeannot trade, if only to hedge their losses from a costly 2023 move.

Other notes from around the league:

  • Saginaw Spirit defenseman Zayne Parekh has won the CHL’s Defenseman of the Year Award, beating out Memorial Cup Finals competition Sam Dickinson. Parekh was dazzling this season, posting a position-leading 33 goals and 96 points in just 66 games this season. He’s just the second OHL defenseman to top 95 points since 2000, joining Ryan Ellis’ 100-point season in 2010-11. But while Ellis was already an NHL draftee, Parekh is headed into his first year of eligibility in the 2024 NHL Draft. He’s seen as one of the top defensemen in the class and should rival a top 10 selection.
  • The Dallas Stars are swapping talented young forwards, with Ty Dellandrea stepping out of the Game 6 lineup in favor of Mavrik Bourque, shares Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman (Twitter link). Bourque won the AHL’s ‘Les Cunningham’ MVP Award this season after posting 26 goals and 77 points in 71 games this season. Bourque formed a dynamic duo with Stars standout Logan Stankoven in the first half of the season. Dallas will look to use that pairing as their X-factor, as they face elimination at the hands of the Edmonton Oilers.

Snapshots: Firkus, McCoshen, Tung

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Seattle Kraken forward prospect Jagger Firkus has won the CHL’s David Branch Player of the Year Award, after posting a Canada-leading 126 points in 63 games with the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors. He was the star of a Moose Jaw team rife with NHL talent, including Pittsburgh Penguins prospect Brayden Yager, who took home the league’s ‘Sportsman Player of the Year’ Award. Firkus and Yager were joined by Columbus Blue Jackets prospect Denton Mateychuk in Moose Jaw, forming a dominant team that won the WHL Championship and recently ranked third in the Memorial Cup.

Firkus signed his entry-level contract with Seattle ahead of the Memorial Cup and will now turn his sights towards pushing for the NHL lineup this off-season. The Kraken boast a strong prospect pool, including Shane Wright, Carson Rehkopf, and Jani Nyman – all players who could vie for an NHL opportunity of their own next season. That’ll mean plenty of competition for Firkus as he looks to adjust his aggressive offense to much tougher competition.

Other notes around the league:

  • Former Florida Panthers defenseman Ian McCoshen has signed a one-year contract with the KHL’s Kunlun Red Star (Twitter link). The move continues McCoshen’s tour across international hockey, after bouncing from a 2022 stint in Finland to a 2023 stint in Czechia, where he scored 12 points in 50 games with Liberec Bili Tygri HC. McCoshen is a veteran of just 60 NHL games, scoring seven points, though he did play in 174 games across five seasons in the AHL. He managed a season-high of just 11 points over his AHL career, a number he’s since topped in both Finland and Czechia. He’ll look to do the same in China next season, though the one-year deal could suggest another move coming soon.
  • BCHL goaltender Callum Tung will be attending both the Calgary Flames and Florida Panthers development camps, shares his Alberni Valley Bulldogs (Twitter link). Tung took over the Bulldogs’ starting role this season, posting 22 wins and a .917 save percentage across 38 regular season games. He managed to get even hotter in the postseason, winning 11 of 18 games and setting a .940 save percentage, though Alberni Valley ultimately fell to the Penticton Vees in the BCHL Championship. Tung remains eligible for the 2024 NHL Draft, after going overlooked in 2022 and 2023.  Tung isn’t currently committed to the NCAA either, suggesting he could be ready for a big challenge should he earn it at an NHL development camp.

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