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Offseason Checklist 2025

Offseason Checklist: Columbus Blue Jackets

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The offseason has arrived for half of the league’s teams that aren’t taking part in the playoffs plus those already eliminated through the first couple of rounds.  Accordingly, it’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months.  Next up is a look at Columbus.

This past season for the Blue Jackets was a whirlwind, to put it lightly.  After moving Patrik Laine to Montreal, they then lost Johnny Gaudreau who died after being struck by a car a little before training camp, resulting in them briefly being under the salary floor.  Accordingly, expectations for on-ice success were quite low but instead, Columbus was in the mix for a Wild Card spot until the very end of the season.  As a result, instead of escalating their rebuild, GM Don Waddell’s to-do list this summer will likely revolve around trying to upgrade his group.

Shore Up The D

Columbus cut down on their goals allowed by 31 this season, a nice improvement but one that still left them near the bottom in that department.  Adding to that concern is that two of their better blueliners are eligible to hit the open market in July.

Heading into the season, it felt like a matter of when, not if, Ivan Provorov would be moved.  Unable to come to terms on an extension at various times in the year, it seemed like the Blue Jackets would move him closer to the trade deadline.  But with the team staying in the playoff mix, Waddell held onto him.  Provorov is coming off a deal that paid $6.75MM per season (30% of which was being paid down by Los Angeles) and as one of the better blueliners available in this UFA class, it stands to reason that he’s going to be able to command more than that on the open market.  Waddell is either going to have to find a way to bring him back or replace him with a similarly impactful defender and there aren’t going to be many of those available.

Dante Fabbro was an early-season waiver pickup and the fit couldn’t have been better.  After struggling to crack Nashville’s lineup, he came in and logged over 21 minutes a night while setting new career highs in goals and points.  Basically, he became the reliable top-four defender he was projected to be for years with the Predators.  All of a sudden, instead of having his next deal come in close to the $2.5MM he was previously making, it wouldn’t be shocking to see him pass the $4MM mark, especially as a coveted right-shot player.  Again, re-signing or replacing him will be necessary.

On top of those moves, Waddell would be wise to look for another upgrade at some spot on the roster.  Jordan Harris appears likely to be non-tendered while it’s unlikely Jack Johnson returns.  At least one of them could be replaced by an improvement, giving them better depth if nothing else.

There’s also the Damon Severson situation to potentially address.  A big addition two years ago, he was a healthy scratch for the final nine games of the season.  With six years left at $6.25MM, a buyout isn’t likely but is there a way to move him for another high-priced option to reshape the back end?  That will need to be examined as well.

Early Extension Talks

In terms of this year’s restricted free agent class, Waddell only has one headliner to contend with, RFA Dmitri Voronkov.  After a solid 23-goal, 47-point effort and having arbitration eligibility, he’s heading for a significant raise on his entry-level salary.  But beyond that, there really isn’t much.  As a result, the Blue Jackets can also turn their focus toward some extension-eligible players on July 1st.

The most prominent of those has to be Adam Fantilli.  After an injury-plagued rookie year, his sophomore year was quite solid as he tied Kirill Marchenko for the team lead in goals without being highly used on the power play.  The third-overall pick in 2023, Fantilli looks like he is going to become the legitimate high-end center that they envisioned.  That means they’re going to be handing him a significant raise within the next year or so.

A lot of the comparables in recent years have ranged from the high $7MM range to the low $8MM range.  However, with the salary cap going up by $7.5MM this summer and then a projected $8.5MM for 2026-27, those comparable price tags seem low.  Similar players have a cap hit percentage in the 9% to 10% range which, in 2026-27, would put his possible price range on a long-term deal between $9.36MM and $10.4MM per year.  If things are trending in that direction, it might make sense to try to do something now over running the risk of the price tag being even higher if Fantilli finds another gear offensively next season.

Another center of note will also be extension-eligible this summer, captain Boone Jenner.  He has been playing at a team-friendly $3.75MM cap charge for the last eight years, one that he outperforms when he’s healthy.  Of course, staying healthy has been a challenge for the 31-year-old who hasn’t played a full 82-game season since 2016-17.  Still, if Jenner posted another season around the 0.6 points-per-game mark with his faceoff prowess, he’d be highly sought after on the open market in 2026.  Given the injury history, his earnings ceiling might not be the highest but still could start with a five on a multi-year deal.  If Jenner is willing to give Columbus a bit of a discount on that coming off a particularly injury-ravaged season, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the two sides work something out this summer.

Add Veteran Firepower

Columbus ranked seventh in the NHL in goals this season despite having a group on paper that largely went under the radar.  All things considered, they still have a very young group up front and a lot went right from a development perspective, there’s far from a guarantee that they’re all going to stay on that same trajectory in 2025-26.

There’s one way Waddell can try to hedge against that concern and that’s by making a big splash to add some proven firepower on the wing.  Beyond adding James van Riemsdyk and Kevin Labanc in training camp, they didn’t really replace Laine or Gaudreau.  They got better than expected production out of van Riemsdyk with 16 goals while Mathieu Olivier moved up to the third line and scored 18 after having a previous personal best of five.  Those were great outcomes but whether they’re repeatable remains to be seen.

The Blue Jackets have pretty much the cleanest books in the league from a cap perspective.  The team enters the summer with over $41MM in cap space, per PuckPedia.  A good chunk of that will go to the back end re-signings or replacements but there’s more than ample room to work with, even if they are working on a budget closer to the $70.6MM floor than the $95.5MM Upper Limit.

With their center situation in good shape, they can focus strictly on adding wingers.  If they want to really aim big, Mitch Marner would certainly add to this roster.  If they want more of a first or second-liner, Brock Boeser and Nikolaj Ehlers are out there.

If they want to go with a shorter-term option knowing that Fantilli, Kent Johnson, and Marchenko (possibly Cole Sillinger too) are heading for expensive raises in the next few years, then there are players like Patrick Kane, Reilly Smith, and Kyle Palmieri that could either fit on the second or third lines.  They could also take a pricey player on in a trade, the inverse of what they did with Laine last summer.

There are lots of options for the Blue Jackets to take and while they could rest on their laurels with how things turned around offensively under Dean Evason, they can also help their chances of staying at that level by making a key addition on the wing in the coming weeks.

Search For Goalie Upgrades

To say it has been a rocky tenure for Elvis Merzlikins in goal would be an understatement.  There have been impressive flashes where he has played like a legitimate starter.  Unfortunately for Columbus, there have been plenty more struggles where he has played like an AHL starter at best.  He hasn’t been able to put up a save percentage starting with a nine in the last three years; he actually lost five points off his .897 mark from 2023-24 this season which also was a contributing factor to the Blue Jackets being near the top of the league for most goals allowed once again.

With two years at $5.4MM, this is around the time when a buyout could start to look more feasible.  Doing so this summer would save them $3.9MM next season and $2.6MM in 2026-27 before adding $1.65MM to the books for two years after that.  Cap space isn’t an issue for Columbus but as a team that typically operates with budgetary restrictions, freeing up some money in the short term doesn’t hurt.

Of course, for a buyout (or a trade where he’s included to balance the money) to be feasible, they’d have to secure another starting goalie first in a marketplace that doesn’t feature many starters available either in free agency or in a trade.  But if one of those options don’t materialize, there could still be a way to upgrade their situation between the pipes.

Daniil Tarasov was once viewed as the goalie of the future for Columbus but he struggled mightily this season.  Owed a $1.26MM qualifying offer, it’s far from a given that he receives one.  Meanwhile, Jet Greaves was quite impressive down the stretch but he has just 21 career NHL appearances under his belt.  Still waiver-exempt for another year, would they be better giving him one more year with AHL Cleveland and opening a spot for a backup upgrade?

This isn’t something that the Blue Jackets necessarily have to do.  If the back end winds up getting reshaped to a more structured unit, that could allow Merzlikins to bounce back somewhat.  But this is an avenue Waddell would be wise to explore either way.

Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images.

Offseason Checklist: Detroit Red Wings

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The offseason has arrived for all but four clubs.  Accordingly, it’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months.  Next up is a look at Detroit.

After losing out on the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs on a tie-breaker, the Detroit Red Wings finished five points worse in 2024-25. Detroit made a much-needed coaching change partway through the year, and competed for a postseason spot for some time, but their areas of need were too much to overcome. Fortunately, the problem areas are clear after watching even one Red Wings game, and they can all be addressed this offseason.

Concentrate The Defensive Core

The Red Wings entered the 2024-25 offseason with too many defenders. After sending defenseman Jake Walman to the San Jose Sharks before the start of last summer’s free agency in one of the most lopsided trades in recent memory, and moving Olli Määttä to the then-named Utah Hockey Club, Detroit managed to pare their defensive core down to seven regulars, with William Lagesson as a sparsely used option.

They’ll enter the 2025-26 offseason with a similar issue. That’s not to say Detroit doesn’t have good options; they do. Moritz Seider, Simon Edvinsson, Albert Johansson, and prospect Axel Sandin-Pellikka should all have spots locked down on next year’s roster, meaning they’ll only have two full-time roles for the trio of Ben Chiarot, Justin Holl, and Erik Gustafsson, who carry a combined cap hit of $10.15MM.

To make it easy, the Red Wings could buy out one of Chiarot or Holl, leaving a cap hit of $2.83MM or $2.27MM for the next two years, respectively. Despite having a down year offensively compared to his recent production, Detroit shouldn’t have any issues finding a trade partner for Gustafsson and his $2MM salary. By removing two of the three, Detroit would have the flexibility to keep one for the bottom-pairing, and add a top-four option on the free agent or trade market.

Find Even Strength Goals

After finishing the 2023-24 season with 179 goals for (8th) at even strength, the Red Wings’ 5-on-5 offense collapsed this year, falling to 28th place with 143. Winger Alex DeBrincat sat tied for 18th in the league with 22 even-strength goals, with their next highest being Lucas Raymond, tied for 57th with 16. The falloff becomes even more dramatic after them.

However, this issue can only be answered if there are options available. Fortunately for Detroit, there are. After hinting at a new contract for months, the Chicago Blackhawks still haven’t extended forward Ryan Donato, who finished 17th in the league with 23 even-strength goals. Donato’s track record may raise some concerns, but the Red Wings could provide a more competitive environment than Chicago.

The importance of even-strength scoring can’t be overlooked. 14 of this year’s 16 playoff contestants finished in the top half of the league in even-strength goals, with the Florida Panthers and Montreal Canadiens being the only exceptions. Donato isn’t the only option either, but there will be more on that later.

Find Competent Penalty Killers

Detroit’s penalty kill was only 1.9 percentage points away from tying a record. No, it’s not a good record, as this year’s penalty kill was close to being the worst in NHL history with a 70.1% success rate.

To be fair, the team performed better with a man down after replacing Bob Boughner with Trent Yawney on December 26th, but not by much. Under Boughner and Derek Lalonde, the team averaged a 68.8% success rate on the kill, and 71.4% under Yawney and Todd McLellan.

Still, a 71.4% would have finished last in the league anyway, meaning the Red Wings will need different on-ice personnel to address the issue. The Carolina Hurricanes and Dallas Stars, which had two of the top five penalty kill units this year, will have some cap constraints entering the offseason. This would provide a perfect avenue for Detroit to pursue left-shot defenseman Dmitry Orlov (after weeding out their defensive core) on the free-agent market, or offer the Stars some cap relief by acquiring freshly extended Sam Steel in a low-cost trade.

Trade For A Second-Line Center

Now it’s time for the area of need that has plagued the Red Wings for a few years. After signing Andrew Copp and J.T. Compher in back-to-back offseasons, and sparingly using top-10 draft selection Marco Kasper as a center this year, it’s apparent that Detroit still needs a legitimate second-line center.

For better or for worse, the Red Wings will use Dylan Larkin as their first-line center. There is a valid argument that his ceiling is that of an above-average second-line center, but with six years left on his extension and the unlikelihood of Detroit finding a better option, his role is likely secured for the foreseeable future.

There won’t be much for them to choose from on the free-agent market. Matt Duchene may become a target, given that he finished 37th in goals at even strength this season with 19, and the Stars are unlikely to re-sign him. The Red Wings may only need a one-to-two-year stopgap, too, assuming Kasper appropriates the role as his game matures.

Still, there appear to be better options on the trade market. Detroit should steer clear of Vancouver Canuck Elias Pettersson and his $11.6MM salary, and New York Ranger Mika Zibanejad and five years remaining on his deal. However, Jared McCann of the Seattle Kraken and Trevor Zegras of the Anaheim Ducks represent quality options the Red Wings could pursue via trade this offseason.

Photo courtesy of Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images.

Offseason Checklist: New York Rangers

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The offseason has arrived for half of the league’s teams that aren’t taking part in the playoffs plus those already eliminated through the first couple of rounds.  Accordingly, it’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months.  Next up is a look at the Rangers.

What a difference a year makes.  In 2023-24, the Rangers won the Presidents’ Trophy with a 114-point effort and made it to the Eastern Conference Final.  With the bulk of the core intact heading into this season, expectations were high and they were a popular Stanley Cup pick.  Instead, things went off the rails early and they never recovered.  GM Chris Drury has already made one big change with Mike Sullivan taking over behind the bench for Peter Laviolette but he has several other things to address in the coming weeks and months.

Make First-Round Pick Decision

As part of the trade to bring center J.T. Miller in for his second stint with the team, the Rangers parted with a first-round pick to get him.  While the expectation and hope was that they’d be a playoff team, Drury was able to get some light lottery protection on the selection before making the swap.  That turned out to be prudent as, of course, New York wound up missing the playoffs.

The protection on the pick was if it fell in the top 13.  While the Rangers weren’t one of the big winners in the draft lottery, their selection wound up 12th, meaning New York still has control of it.

Drury now has two options.  He can elect to keep this pick but doing so means that their 2026 pick would be moved instead without any protection on it.  Alternatively, even though this year’s pick fell into the protected range, the Rangers can still choose to convey it this year but that means handing a top-12 pick to a division rival as Pittsburgh now holds the selection after acquiring it from Vancouver soon after the Miller swap was made.

It’s not necessarily an easy call to make.  If Drury truly believes the Rangers can turn things around under Sullivan with the bulk of the core intact, it’s a question of weighing the 12th pick this year against something in the high-teens or early-20s next year.  Using that framework, keeping the pick and dealing next year’s pick would make sense.  But if there’s any uncertainty about their status as a playoff team for 2025-26, letting an unprotected pick go to a division rival would be risky.  Either way, a call on this will need to be made in the near future.

Create Cap Space

While the Rangers got rid of Barclay Goodrow last summer and former captain Jacob Trouba early in the year to create cap space for next season, that money was spent quite quickly on Miller’s addition and long-term extensions given to Igor Shesterkin and Alexis Lafreniere.  As a result, they enter the cap space with less than $9MM in cap space, per PuckPedia, and their RFA class (more on some of them shortly) alone will eat that up.  Accordingly, if Drury wants to add to his roster, he’s going to have to open up some cap room first.

Early in the season, the Rangers made it known that veteran winger Chris Kreider was available but in the midst of a down year that saw him miss time with injury, suitors weren’t lining up for his services.  He has two years left on a deal that carries a $6.5MM price tag and a 15-team no-trade clause that could limit New York’s options.  It’s unlikely he’d yield a high-quality return but it’s possible that there’s a move out there that could bring a player back and open up at least a bit of cap flexibility.

The other veteran who found himself in trade speculation in-season was center Mika Zibanejad.  With Miller being signed through 2030 and Vincent Trocheck through 2029, some have wondered if Zibanejad could be expendable.  But he’s also coming off a quiet year (though he still managed 20 goals and 62 points) and is signed at $8.5MM per season through 2030.  He’s also 32 with a full no-move clause which takes the threat of waivers off the table.  It’s possible that there could be some interest from teams not looking to get into the free agent market or from some who struck out on that front.  Again, assuming there’s a move he would approve, the Rangers probably wouldn’t clear the full salary but would likely get a player or two back and at least some cap relief.

On a smaller-scale front, defenseman Carson Soucy also feels like a possible candidate.  Just acquired before the trade deadline, he’s now on an expiring deal worth $3.25MM and his trade protection drops to just 12 teams in July.  If New York wants to do something else on the back end and there’s a team looking for just a short-term addition, a move could be made there as well.

Drury has shown he’s willing to be aggressive in moving players out to open up salary cap flexibility.  He’s going to have to be similarly aggressive to do so again in the weeks ahead.

Make A Decision On Miller

Let’s talk about one of those restricted free agents now, defenseman K’Andre Miller.  Two years ago, New York’s cap situation forced them to only focus on a bridge contract with the belief that, like Lafreniere, a long-term deal would await him at the end of it.

However, his output dipped last year after his breakout effort in 2022-23 and it dropped again this season to seven goals and 20 assists in 74 games although he did average a career-high-tying 21:57 per night of ice time.  He also had more than his fair share of defensive struggles.

Miller has two years of team control left, both of which are arbitration-eligible.  He’s also owed a $4.646MM qualifying offer, one that matches his salary from this season but represents a jump of nearly $800K on his cap hit.

Do they look to do another bridge deal, one that could very well be trying to get him to accept his qualifying offer?  That would help the most from a salary cap standpoint this season but would also put him a year away from UFA eligibility where if he wanted to test the market, he could simply file for arbitration next summer, take the award, and hit free agency.  Generally speaking, teams try to avoid that scenario.  A two-year bridge would cost more and walk him right to UFA eligibility so that’s probably out of the question while a three-year pact would cost even more but could be more palatable from a longer-term perspective.

Or, if Drury wants to be aggressive, he could take Miller to arbitration where he could ask for a 20% drop on the qualifying offer which means they could offer $3.72MM on a one-year deal.  That has its risks as well, however, as Miller would then be eligible to ask for a two-year award, taking him right to UFA eligibility.  Plus, such a move could sour relations between the two sides.  But Drury has been ruthless before so this option should at least be noted.

The other two alternatives would be a long-term deal, one that would probably push past $6MM per season and require a cost-cutting move.  The other one would be cutting bait altogether and trading him outright.  Given that Miller is a key cog on the back end, that doesn’t feel like a probable outcome but their hand could be forced if they their cap situation necessitates such a move.  Suffice it to say, Miller’s contract is a key domino this summer.

Sign Cuylle Quickly

With the big increases coming to the Upper Limit of the salary cap, there has been more speculation about an uptick in offer sheets.  There remains some skepticism about that notion but one thing St. Louis showed with their successful offers to Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg is that teams can be leveraged with their cap situation.  Based on the above sections, the Rangers are a team who could be leveraged on the offer sheet front.

They also have a young player exiting his entry-level deal, just like Broberg and Holloway last year.  That would be winger Will Cuylle whose sophomore year was a good one.  The 23-year-old finished sixth in the team in points after notching 20 goals and 25 assists along with a whopping 301 hits, good for a tie for third overall in the league in that category.  While it won’t directly affect negotiations, he’s also off to a solid start at the Worlds for Canada.

Power forwards are always in high demand.  A chance to get a still young one who has now shown that he can score at the NHL level is going to be appealing for teams to kick the tires on.  Speculatively, it wouldn’t be shocking to see a team go as high as the top of the second-round tier, a $4.68MM offer on a short-term deal.  Going higher on a longer-term deal (a $7.02MM offer would cost a first-round pick and a third-rounder) is also a possibility but a short-term route to try to follow what St. Louis did is the likelier outcome.

Drury needs to ensure he has some leftover cap flexibility into mid-July to try to reduce that potential leverage.  By then, Miller’s RFA situation could be settled or it could be arbitration-bound and still in flux for a little while longer.

To guard against that, it might be worth Drury prioritizing Cuylle’s RFA case and get him signed before restricted free agency opens up.  That might require them to take a leap of faith that they can free things up cap-wise later on but it might be worth that to take any chance of an offer sheet off the table.  Oftentimes, restricted free agents without arbitration rights can be delayed with other cases getting the priority.  Here, it could very well be the opposite if they have concerns about an offer sheet coming their way.

Photo courtesy of Danny Wild-Imagn Images.

Offseason Checklist: New York Islanders

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The offseason has arrived for half of the league’s teams that aren’t taking part in the playoffs plus those eliminated in the first round.  Accordingly, it’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months.  Next up is a look at the Islanders.

Things were optimistic for the Isles heading into 2024-25 after adding Anthony Duclair in free agency to bolster the top line and having a full season of Patrick Roy behind the bench as head coach. Things went awry almost instantly out of the gate, though, and injuries and other factors ended the Isles’ brief postseason streak at two years. After flopping around in mushy middle territory since back-to-back Eastern Conference Final appearances several years ago, a front-office shakeup resulted from this year’s disappointments with general manager Lou Lamoriello’s contract not being renewed. That’s the leadoff subject in this checklist as the Isles attempt to use this summer to rediscover their identity and direction.

Reshape The Front Office

After seven years and a pair of General Manager of the Year awards, the Lamoriello era is over on the Island. While the 82-year-old leaves New York with some solid building blocks, he’s also saddled them with some ill-advised long-term contracts for depth players that quickly appear headed for buyouts or waivers (Pierre Engvall, Scott Mayfield). They’re now looking for a new face – or two – to fill their GM and president of hockey operations roles.

Per multiple reports, they’ve been connected to various candidates but have lost out on their two preferred ones. Hall-of-Fame executive Ken Holland would have been a similarly-minded hire to Lamoriello’s in 2018, but he spurned the Islanders’ interest to take over the Kings’ GM vacancy. Canadiens executive VP of hockey operations Jeff Gorton declined to speak with the Islanders when they called Montreal about interviewing him.

There are more than enough candidates to choose from in their absence. Regarding NHL GM experience, they interviewed former Blue Jackets executive Jarmo Kekäläinen. They are also said to be interested in L.A. senior adviser Marc Bergevin, who ended up being second fiddle to Holland in the Kings’ search for a new GM. Neither has the track record of managing contenders that Holland has nor the expert drafting record Gorton boasts. Still, they’ve navigated similar situations to what the Isles find themselves in now. Bergevin helped some goalie-reliant Habs teams in the mid-2010s make deep playoff runs and even got them to a Stanley Cup Final appearance in 2021. Kekäläinen also built Columbus into a consistent playoff contender in the late 2010s, the only time they’ve qualified for the postseason in consecutive seasons.

More under-the-radar options they’ve interviewed include Lightning assistant GM Mathieu Darche and Devils AGM Kate Madigan. Both would be first-time GMs at the NHL level. It would be a tad surprising to see them go in those directions, considering the NHL experience their first choices for the position had. But the former has been in GM conversations for years and is the most appealing first-time target.

Whatever the choice is, they’ve got to make it before the draft, where they hold the first overall pick for the first time since selecting John Tavares in 2009 after winning the lottery. While 2025 is a weaker draft, the Isles’ next GM is getting a significant jumpstart to a long-lagging prospect pool that also received a lovely parting gift from Lamoriello in the form of Avalanche first-rounder Calum Ritchie in this year’s Brock Nelson deadline deal.

Get Ilya Sorokin More Help

Some eyebrows raised when the Isles signed a then-35-year-old Semyon Varlamov to a four-year, $11MM deal two summers ago to continue as countryman Ilya Sorokin’s backup. While the veteran has provided the Isles some solid goaltending in his tenure there, concerns about giving him such a lengthy commitment emerged aggressively this season.

Varlamov’s season ended in December after undergoing a knee procedure. While he anticipates being ready for training camp in the fall, he struggled to a .889 SV% and 3-4-3 record in 10 starts before going under the knife. That resulted in Sorokin making 55-plus starts for the third straight year, during which his numbers have steadily declined. It’s clear he needs more rest, and it’s becoming even more clear that Varlamov can no longer help him with that.

Entering this year, Varlamov had logged a SV% above .910 in five consecutive campaigns. With only two years left at a $2.75MM cap hit, he’d draw significant trade interest if the Islanders opted to shop him amid a relatively weak UFA market. That trade could look like a backup-for-backup swap that allows the Isles to get someone more comfortable making 30 starts behind Sorokin, or it could be a cap dump that will enable them to hedge their bets on one of the few UFA options capable of shouldering that workload.

Shoring up their minor-league depth should be a priority, too. AHL Bridgeport has iced some highly underwhelming rosters over the past few years, including between the pipes. A high-end No. 3 option to complement Varlamov and allow Sorokin not to increase his workload if the former gets injured could also be another solution here.

Make Decisions On Defense

The Islanders only have three defensemen signed to one-way deals for next season. One of those is Mayfield, who may not even be in the opening night lineup. That leaves Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock as the only current certainties for 2025-26.

The most pressing decisions are regarding the length of deals to pursue with pending restricted free agents Noah Dobson and Alexander Romanov. The former is still just 25 and erupted for a 70-point campaign last year but took a significant step back in 2024-25. Could that be enough to convince the Isles’ new GM to pursue another bridge agreement and risk losing him in unrestricted free agency in just a few years? It seems likely – his profile likely commands him at least $8.5MM per season on a max-term extension. The Islanders’ appetite to dole that out after a season in which he had 39 points and a -16 rating in 71 games probably isn’t very strong. If they opt to select defenseman Matthew Schaefer first overall, Dobson could become expendable altogether and net them a trade return that allows them to put more work into reshaping their forward group.

They’d be more amenable to a long-term deal at a mid-range cap hit with Romanov, who’s emerged as a solid top-four complementary piece on the Island. Injuries limited him to 64 games this year but he managed 20 points for a career-high 0.31 points per game mark while averaging over 22 minutes per game and leading the club with 165 blocked shots. Now fully proven as a stable partner for Dobson moving forward, he’ll get a definite raise on his current $2.5MM cap hit.

Their other RFAs on the back end are Adam Boqvist and Scott Perunovich, a pair of puck-moving in-season pickups. Qualifying offers for either one are uncertain, but Boqvist is more likely to stick around. The 2018 No. 8 overall pick found more stable footing in New York after they claimed him off waivers from the Panthers, finishing the year with eight points in 17 games in bottom-pairing minutes and fringe power-play usage. He could stick around as a No. 6/7 option to help out the Islanders’ beleaguered goal production. Perunovich, meanwhile, suited up just 11 times after being acquired from the Blues in January. That doesn’t bode well for his chances of sticking around on the NHL roster as the Isles look to reload with more established names.

It could be they decide both Boqvist and Perunovich are expendable if they reach an extension with pending UFA Tony DeAngelo. The much-maligned offensive rearguard came over from Russia midseason to fill the void left by injuries to Dobson and Pulock and provided solid offense from the point, finishing the year with 19 points and a -11 rating in 35 games. He certainly won’t see over 23 minutes per game next year, but he got a larger sample than either Boqvist or Perunovich and is more likely than either to start next year as the No. 3 righty behind Dobson and Pulock.

Restart Kyle Palmieri Extension Talks

The Isles didn’t move Palmieri at the trade deadline, mostly because they had an extension mostly in place. With Lamoriello gone and no deal signed, Palmieri’s next deal plunges into uncertainty. The 34-year-old has played 82 games in back-to-back years and finished third on the team in scoring with 24 goals and 48 points this season. Still a very good middle-six scorer, can the incoming GM bring him back at a slight discount compared to his current $5MM cap hit?

Doing so would give them the flexibility to move on from some less desirable contracts, namely Engvall’s and Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s, as they look to reload their forward group. That forward corps could include a name like James Hagens or Michael Misa on opening night next year, depending on how they use their top pick, making cap flexibility even more attractive to build around one of them while they’re still on their entry-level deals.

Regardless of all that, Palmieri’s the type of player the Isles should look to retain on a short-term deal if they’re serious about quickly reloading for next season. He’s been remarkably consistent over his four full years on the Island – his 24-24–48 scoring line actually matched his 82-game average during his New York tenure. He’s more of a known commodity to them than UFA replacements that would cost the same (or even more) for similar rates of scoring production.

Image courtesy of Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images.

Offseason Checklist: Pittsburgh Penguins

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The offseason has arrived for half of the league’s teams that aren’t taking part in the playoffs plus those eliminated in the first round.  Accordingly, it’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months. Next up is a look at Pittsburgh.

The Penguins missed the playoffs for the third straight year, and the team has pivoted from being a perennial playoff participant to a below-average squad with an old and expensive roster. The question in Pittsburgh has now become, are they in a rebuild or a retool? General manager Kyle Dubas spoke about wanting to get back into contention quickly earlier in the year, but has spoken more recently about finding sustained success. Still, the Penguins’ recent split with head coach Mike Sullivan suggests that they may not be planning to compete anytime soon. Josh Yohe of The Athletic has speculated that the Penguins will try to make a big splash in the summer of 2026, which means this upcoming season could be rough in the Steel City. The Penguins hired Dubas nearly two years ago. They paid him very handsomely to navigate a complicated situation in Pittsburgh, and this could be the summer when Dubas has to earn his hazard pay. The Penguins are about to enter what can best be described as a transitional summer as they continue to shed older, more expensive players in favor of younger, controllable ones who will be part of the franchise’s future.

Hire A New Head Coach

Sullivan coached the Penguins for nearly a decade and is the most successful coach in franchise history. His presence always gave the Penguins a confident swagger, even when they shouldn’t have had one. While Sullivan didn’t have much success in recent years, they probably overachieved given the poor roster construction and inconsistent goaltending.

Now, with Sullivan in New York, Pittsburgh must pivot and hire a coach for a job that is as undesirable as an NHL coaching job can be. The Penguins aren’t close to competing, and don’t have any truly upper-echelon prospects that will be gracing the ice at PPG Paints Arena anytime soon. However, the Penguins remain a prestigious franchise and still boast one of the game’s greatest players in Sidney Crosby.

Whoever is the Penguins’ next coach will likely be the last head coach of Crosby’s career and will need to be okay with taking on a team that will underwhelm next season. This could force the Penguins to look outside the regular NHL coaching carousel, which might be a positive, given the rate at which NHL coaches are recycled. Pittsburgh will probably be looking for a coach who preaches defense first, which would be a significant pivot for a franchise that has made offensive firepower its calling card. But the Penguins barely have any outside their top line (Crosby, Bryan Rust, and Rickard Rakell), and their top prospects won’t exactly fill the scoresheet.

If the Penguins can find a head coach who can scheme a solid defensive structure and Pittsburgh can get some goaltending, they could surprise people next season. But even then, it’s hard to imagine them being anything more than a middle-of-the-pack team.

Trade Erik Karlsson

The Erik Karlsson experiment has been a trip. It was worth trying, and Dubas did well to acquire the three-time Norris Trophy winner using multiple veterans on bad contracts and several premium draft picks. The first-round pick they traded for Karlsson is a loss that stings, but the move made sense at the time, as the Penguins were hopeful that their veteran group had one more run in them, and the belief was that Karlsson could elevate the older stars. But it didn’t work out that way, and Karlsson has been just okay offensively, and downright dreadful defensively. Karlsson was never a master class in defense, but this past season, his shortcomings were undeniable, so much so that Kyle Dubas had some harsh words about Karlsson’s game at the end of the season (as per Pittsburgh Hockey Now).

Karlsson isn’t impossible to move, but the last time he was available two years ago, he was two years younger and coming off a 100-point Norris Trophy-winning season. He’s older, slower, and has significantly less trade value this time. The Penguins might have to take a bath on this one if they want to move on from the soon-to-be 35-year-old. The other issue they will face is that Karlsson controls his fate through a no-movement clause.

While it will undoubtedly be more challenging to trade Karlsson this year from a performance perspective, it should be easier to facilitate contractually. Karlsson has two years left on his deal with a $10MM cap hit thanks to $1.5MM of retention by the Sharks. Karlsson has $16.5MM left on his contract in hard cash, but after his bonus for next season is paid out on July 1, he will be owed just $11.5MM in absolute dollars for the final two seasons. That could interest a team more concerned with actual dollars than cap space, such as one of Karlsson’s previous teams, the Ottawa Senators.

So, what kind of trade can Penguins fans expect? It’ll be something similar to what he was traded for previously, minus a first-round pick. There won’t be many teams willing or able to take on Karlsson’s full cap hit, so the Penguins will either need to retain a significant portion of Karlsson’s salary for the next two seasons or take back another team’s undesirables to allow the money to match.

Suppose the Penguins opt to retain significant money. In that case, they will allow themselves the best potential return, as teams would probably line up if Karlsson’s cap hit were reduced to something closer to half of the $10MM he is currently costing. It’s hard to speculate what that kind of return would be, but it would probably not be insignificant given that Karlsson can still put up points and play in a team’s top four.

Now, if the Penguins opt for the route where they retain no money or very little, it will require them to take back contracts of underperforming players. There wouldn’t be much of a market for this type of trade, but Detroit would certainly have interest, and they have several players on low-value contracts and would be happy to ship them out to bring in Karlsson.

In any event, Karlsson is among several Penguins players who need fresh starts, and he is the most impactful Pittsburgh player who could be on the trading block.

Acquire Younger Roster Players

Many people panned the Jake Guentzel trade in March of 2024, as Dubas elected to go for quantity over quality regarding the Penguins’ best trade chip. Guentzel was dealt to Carolina for forward prospects Vasily Ponomarev and Ville Koivunen, Cruz Lucius, a conditional first-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft and a conditional fifth-round pick in the 2024 draft. Now, the first-round pick ended up falling back to a second pick, and Dubas was heavily criticized for not obtaining a first-round pick, but the trade has been a massive win for the Penguins just a year later. Pittsburgh drafted defenseman Harrison Brunicke with the second-round pick, and he appears to be developing into a long-term fixture in the Penguins’ top four. Koivunen looks like he will start next season in the top six for the Penguins, and Ponomarev may be playing on the third line.

Now that Dubas has started building some depth in the Penguins’ pipeline, they must find higher-end young players to lead their newly acquired prospects. Pittsburgh has a handful of nice forward prospects, but they do not have any high-end prospects they can build around. Those players are the most difficult to acquire, but that is the project that Dubas will need to figure out to get the Penguins back into contention.

The Penguins have a couple of solid veterans on value contracts that they could flip out for picks and prospects, but with so many draft picks in the subsequent three drafts, Pittsburgh might be best served to try to move those players out for young NHL roster players. It’s easier said than done, though, as teams are more forward-thinking these days and better understand the importance of young controllable roster players in a salary cap league.

Dubas might not be able to accomplish this goal without some draft lottery luck next year. Still, he he’ll have plenty of draft picks over the coming years to try and catch some value in the Entry Draft, or use those picks to make trades to a team that is up against the salary cap and has to move out an RFA who has priced himself out of a cap strapped organization.

Move Out Rickard Rakell

Rakell had a career year playing alongside Crosby on the Penguins’ top line, posting 35 goals and 35 assists in 81 games. For Rakell, it was the third time he had topped 30 goals and the first time since 2017-18. Rakell can play, there is no doubt about that, but he is just a year removed from arguably the worst season of his career and at 32 years of age, his value isn’t going to be higher. Rakell will likely be 33-35 years old by the time the Penguins are set to contend, and while trading him might upset Crosby, Rakell isn’t helping this team when they are ready to win unless he is traded for future help.

Dubas talked about the need to maintain a winning culture in Pittsburgh, but to be perfectly honest, the Penguins haven’t had a winning culture since Rakell arrived, missing the playoffs in three of the four years he has been there. So, moving on from him isn’t exactly going to wipe the slate clean, as Rakell was never in Pittsburgh when the Penguins were contenders. The best course of action with Rakell is to move him this summer and add to the prospect pool to turn things around quickly.

Rakell has three years left on his contract at $5MM annually and should be able to fetch the Penguins a first-round pick, if not more.

He will not be the easiest player to trade, but with an increasing salary cap and teams always desperate for offence, Rakell could be a solid depth addition for a team that views itself as a Stanley Cup contender. He has a modified eight-team no-trade clause, which shouldn’t be prohibitive but might block the Penguins from trading to some potentially interested parties, depending on how strategic Rakell plans to be with his contractual right.

Some folks might make a case for trading veteran forward Rust, and there is an excellent case for it, given his play last season. But, if the Penguins do genuinely care about maintaining a winning culture, Rust is one of a handful of remaining carryovers from the Penguins’ Stanley Cup Championships in 2016 & 2017 and has a deep connection with Crosby and the Penguins organization. Many people make the case that Rust should be the next captain of the Penguins, but given Crosby’s play in his late 30s, Rust and Crosby may retire simultaneously.

Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

Offseason Checklist: Anaheim Ducks

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The offseason has arrived for half of the league’s teams that aren’t taking part in the playoffs plus those eliminated in the first round.  Accordingly, it’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months.  Next up is a look at Anaheim.

After a rocky showing in 2023-24, the Ducks bounced back relatively well this year with a 21-point jump in the standings.  However, that still left them well short of a playoff spot and GM Pat Verbeek acted quickly, firing Greg Cronin and two assistant coaches while Joel Quenneville has taken over behind the bench.  Even with that big item checked off, Anaheim has a lot to accomplish this summer.

Make A Decision On Zegras

This was a topic in last year’s checklist and frankly, not a lot has changed since then.  Coming off an injury-riddled year that saw him struggle when he was healthy, Trevor Zegras was in all sorts of trade speculation last summer.  There were some more intensive talks at the draft but nothing got across the finish line, giving Zegras a chance to make a better second impression on Cronin and his staff.

Unfortunately, this season was largely more of the same.  He missed more than 20 games with a knee injury and potted 12 goals and 20 assists in the 57 games he played, only a small uptick in points-per-game compared to the year before.  For a player with two 60-plus-point seasons under his belt already, it’s fair to say this was another underwhelming year.

That means the trade speculation is likely to pick up once again in the near future.  Zegras now has just one year left on his bridge deal, one that carries a $5.75MM qualifying offer in 2026 when he’ll be a year away from UFA eligibility.  An early extension makes no sense for either side so Verbeek has two choices here, hold again and hope things will improve under Quenneville or pull the trigger on a trade over the coming months.

Of course, with the way the last two years have gone, Zegras isn’t exactly at peak trade value.  Teams will view him as more of a buy-low candidate and will likely structure their offers accordingly.  However, is Anaheim in a spot where a positive-value return that isn’t the best better than running the risk of him having another down year and seeing his value degrade further or even fall into non-tender or club-elected arbitration territory?  That’s what Verbeek will be looking to weigh over the next little while.

Bridge Or Long-Term Deals?

The Ducks have two of their intended future core players up for new deals this summer.  Armed with more than $38MM in cap space per PuckPedia, Verbeek is in a spot where he can choose which direction to take with them rather than having their cap situation dictate those plans.  That cap space largely insulates them from being a target for an offer sheet as well, given their easy ability to match.

The first is center Mason McTavish.  The 22-year-old was the third-overall pick in 2021 with the hopes that he could become their top center of the future.  (Leo Carlsson was picked a year later and now holds that particular distinction.)  Over his first three seasons, his development has largely been gradual but he did set career highs across the board this year and finished second on the team in scoring with 20 goals and 32 assists on a team that had an awful lot of trouble scoring.  Still just 22, McTavish is certainly tracking to be at least a core player even if he doesn’t wind up as the high-end number one center his draft status might have suggested.

Having said that, this could be a bit of a trickier negotiation.  With the year McTavish had, he wouldn’t want to sign a long-term deal on the basis of him being a 50-point player; he’s going to expect that there’s still more improvement on that front and will want to be paid accordingly.  Meanwhile, Verbeek might not want to pay that type of price tag until he sees more from McTavish.  He pushed for the bridge deal for Zegras and that decision looks particularly wise at the moment.  If it is a shorter-term agreement, it should check in around the $4MM mark.

Then there’s goaltender Lukas Dostal.  This was the year when the label of the goalie of the future changed to goalie of the present as he took over as the primary starter.  On the other hand, his overall numbers were still relatively pedestrian (3.10 GAA and a .903 SV%) but he was playing behind a relatively weak defensive group.  He’s two years away from UFA eligibility so it’s hard to see a two-year deal being the solution here even if it might be the safer way to go normally.

Verbeek’s options here are probably opt for a one-year contract if he needs to see more from Dostal or to pay him like a secondary-tier starter even though his career numbers might not warrant it just yet.  In that instance, deals like ones signed by Karel Vejmelka (five years, $4.75MM AAV), Joey Daccord (five years, $5MM AAV), and Mackenzie Blackwood (five years, $5.25MM AAV) look like the range for Dostal’s next price tag.

Find A Trade For Gibson

Another theme from last year’s column, not a lot has changed here either.  For years now, Gibson has been in trade speculation and while there have been times when it looked like one might be possible, it hasn’t happened yet.  But the environment might be more favorable for a move this time around.

For starters, Gibson quietly had a solid season.  His .911 SV% was his highest mark since 2018-19 while his 2.77 GAA was his best since 2017-18, numbers that were better than Dostal.  After putting up numbers that were below the NHL average for several years, this was a big step in the right direction and should help quell some concerns that he isn’t capable of playing at that level anymore.  That should open up a couple more potential trade avenues at least.

The contract is also more manageable.  Yes, his $6.4MM AAV is still on the high side (ranking 11th as things stand for next season) but there are only two years left on the contract.  It should be more palatable for Anaheim to hold back at least some money on that deal.  If they retained even 20% ($1.28MM), his revised cap hit would be $5.12MM which would be 21st league-wide.  That’s more the range he should be in and the Ducks wouldn’t have to eat a lot of dead money to get him there now.

Then there’s the free agent market.  Aside from Jake Allen, it’s a particularly weak class, making Gibson more enticing as a trade candidate.  If you’re looking for a short-term goalie upgrade, it might be more palatable to trade something for Gibson than commit to a likely lesser option on the open market.

Is this enough to make a trade likely?  Probably not, and it should be noted that there is a 10-team no-trade list to contend with as well.  But there’s a path to a suitable trade this offseason which hasn’t been the case too often.  And if it doesn’t happen, this could very well make another appearance on next spring’s checklist.

Add Some Firepower

Offense has been hard to come by for Anaheim lately.  This season, they were 30th in the league with just 217 goals.  That was actually an improvement on the previous year when they were also 30th but with only 203 tallies.  In 2022-23, they were 31st with 206 goals.  If you want to go back to the last time the Ducks were even in the top 20 league-wide in that department, it was the 2017-18 season.  If we change that to the last time they were in the top half of the league in goals, that came back in 2014-15.

Suffice it to say, this has been a long-standing issue for Anaheim and one that hasn’t really been addressed, even in spite of some decent additions in Frank Vatrano and Ryan Strome in recent years.

If you’re in the glass-half-full category, there’s reason for optimism.  With so many young players in key roles, there’s hope that there will be some internal improvement from all of them which should give them a boost.  Playing for a more proven coach in Quenneville might also give them a bit of a lift.  But expecting that alone to be enough to get them closer to even being league average would likely be foolhardy.

Anaheim has had one of the more restrictive budgets in recent years with the team trying to spend much closer to the floor than the cap.  But last week, team owner Henry Samueli indicated that Verbeek won’t have to penny pinch as much as he did before.  That’s especially noteworthy with their favorable cap situation.

At this point, Verbeek shouldn’t be too picky when it comes to searching for potential offensive upgrades.  But after spending big on Alex Killorn as a culture-building pickup two years ago and striking out on his targets last summer, Anaheim needs to be a lot more successful in its recruitment class this time around and add some much-needed scoring help to this group.

Photo courtesy of Jason Parkhurst-Imagn Images.

Offseason Checklist: Seattle Kraken

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The offseason has arrived for half of the league’s teams that aren’t taking part in the playoffs plus those eliminated in the first round.  Accordingly, it’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months.  Next up is a look at Seattle.

Expectations were high for the Kraken heading into 2023-24, perhaps a bit too lofty after an impressive second season.  The team struggled, resulting in a new coach and some big free agent splashes.  That didn’t move the needle, however, as the struggles continued, leading to another coaching search while the front office has been shaken up.  Accordingly, new GM Jason Botterill has plenty on his checklist in the weeks and months ahead.

Find A New Coach

After Dave Hakstol was let go last year, the Kraken promoted from within, naming veteran Dan Bylsma as their new head coach.  Considering that he had some NHL success in the past with Pittsburgh and had fared quite well with AHL Coachella Valley, it was a reasonable decision.  But now, they’re on the lookout for a new bench boss again following the decision to move on from him quite quickly.

It would be a bit surprising to see recent history repeat itself with another promotion from the Firebirds.  Derek Laxdal took over from Bylsma this season in the minors and while he has a decent track record as a head coach there (and in the OHL where he was Coach of the Year last season), it feels like this is a situation where they’re going to be looking for someone more experienced that can get them back to the playoffs next season.

Rick Tocchet’s name has surfaced as a strong candidate.  He’s more than familiar with the division having been with Vancouver the last couple of years and he also has some familiarity with Botterill dating back to their days in Pittsburgh.  Last year’s Jack Adams Award winner, Tocchet is also a strong candidate for several other openings.  On the other side of the front office, Ron Francis has worked with Peter Laviolette before from their days in Carolina which could help his cause when it comes to being considered.

One under the radar option that has some ties to Seattle is Jay Leach.  He was one of the finalists for the top job last year and was an assistant with them until this season.  It would be a little surprising to see a first-time head coach get the job but Leach having worked with a lot of the team before could give him a leg up in discussions.  If management wants to go with a younger coach with some experience, Jay Woodcroft could be a fit as well.

With several openings around the league, the potential exists for this to drag out a bit, especially if teams have their eyes on assistants who are currently still working which could slow the market down.  But if Botterill and company have their eyes on someone who’s available now, they could move relatively quickly to get this hire done.

Decide Grubauer’s Fate

When Seattle signed Philipp Grubauer to a six-year, $35.4MM contract back in 2021, it looked like they might have their goalie situation settled for a while.  While there was some risk in signing someone coming off a career year with Colorado (one that made him a Vezina finalist), his overall track record was still pretty solid with a 2.30 GAA and a .920 SV% in 214 games up to that point.

Let’s just say things have not gone as planned for Grubauer since then.  Over the first half of the deal, he failed to post a save percentage above .899 and ultimately lost the starting job to Joey Daccord.  This season, it got even worse.  His GAA jumped to a career-high 3.49 while his SV% dropped to a career-low .875, numbers that were significantly worse than the league average.  By MoneyPuck’s Goals Saved Above Expected mark, he failed to crack the top-100 league-wide which also says a lot.  Unsurprisingly, he cleared waivers in late January and played in seven games with Coachella Valley where his numbers were a bit better but still below average.

With Daccord beginning his five-year, $25MM contract next season, Seattle is now primed to be one of the top-spending teams in goal.  Given their cap situation (they have over $21MM in space per PuckPedia), they can afford it.  On the other hand, that’s a lot of money to pay a goalie they don’t have much faith in, making a buyout a potential option.

Should Seattle buy Grubauer out this summer, they would take on dead cap charges of $1.983MM in 2025-26, $3.083MM in 2026-27, and $1.683MM in 2027-28 and 2028-29.  Still, that would free up nearly $4MM in space next season and $3MM the year after that before adding on extra money the following two seasons.  Meanwhile, unless he’s being moved as salary ballast to offset a pricey contract coming back the other way, a trade is probably an unrealistic outcome.

Could the Kraken find a better goaltender for the savings from a Grubauer buyout?  Even with a thin UFA market, there’s a good chance they could do so and potentially even free up a bit of space to put toward filling another spot on the roster.  Is that improvement enough to justify adding dead cap money in 2027-28 and 2028-29?  That’s what management will need to decide over the next six-plus weeks.

Re-Sign Key RFAs

A decent chunk of Seattle’s current cap space is going to be required to keep their RFA class intact.  Tye Kartye has earned a small raise off his entry-level deal which is pretty straightforward but their other two restricted free agents of note have a bit more complicated cases.

Last offseason, both the Rangers and Kaapo Kakko opted to kick the can down the road, so to speak, with the winger preemptively accepting what would have been his qualifying offer.  It was a chance for more evaluation time for both sides.  That evaluation eventually led to the 24-year-old getting a fresh start with Seattle, one that did him a lot of good.  After notching just 14 points in 30 games to start the season, Kakko was more productive following the swap, tallying 10 goals and 20 assists in 49 outings with the Kraken.

Notably, this is his final RFA-eligible year.  Kakko could simply opt to file for arbitration, go to a hearing, and probably get a $1MM or so raise from his $2.4MM qualifying offer while setting himself up to hit the open market next summer at the age of 25, an outcome we rarely see.  But if both sides are happy with how things went following the swap, a multi-year agreement could be worked out.  With Kakko’s inconsistency, a long-term deal feels unlikely for both sides but effectively another bridge contract that buys up a UFA year or two might make sense for both player and team.  In that case, the price tag could jump closer to the $4MM per year range.

Then there’s Ryker Evans.  The defenseman played his first full NHL campaign this season and fared quite well, notching 25 points while logging over 19 minutes per game while seeing a bit of action on both special teams units.  Already basically a top-four piece, he’s the type of player Seattle would likely want to sign to a long-term agreement.  A max-term deal could push the AAV past the $6MM range while a six-year pact that only buys out a couple of UFA seasons could start with a five.  Alternatively, if one side wants a bridge agreement, the price tag would probably land in the $3MM territory which would give them a bit more cap flexibility to add pieces this summer although they’d be paying a higher price tag for Evans down the road.  They’ll have to decide which is the better option over the coming weeks.

Look Into Moving A Forward

Considering that it appears the goal for next season is to make the playoffs, this might seem a little odd.  However, there aren’t many open roster spots (once Kakko and Kartye sign, they’ll have 10 forwards locked up) and it seems likely that management will once again try to add a piece or two on the open market.  On top of that, they have some forwards including Jani Nyman and 2024 first-rounder Berkly Catton who are close to being NHL-ready.  Integrating them into the lineup will also require some spots to be opened up.

The way to open up a spot or two will likely have to come through a trade.  Forward Jaden Schwartz is about to enter the final year of his contract and while he’s extension-eligible, it doesn’t feel like the Kraken would want to do an early extension.  He stayed healthy this season and finished third in team scoring with 49 points in 81 games but injuries plagued his first three years with the team.  Given that he has dabbled at center a bit in the past and is on a manageable $5.5MM cap charge, there could be some trade interest in him from a team looking just for a short-term addition up front that doesn’t want to commit to a longer-term deal on the open market.

It wouldn’t be surprising to see Botterill look into moving Andre Burakovsky as well.  He has two years left at $5.5MM and like Schwartz, injuries have been an issue since signing that deal as he missed 33 games in each of his first two seasons.  However, he had a 37-point effort this year and had 39 points in 49 games in 2022-23 with them so there is still some offensive upside to work with.  Similar to Schwartz, a team looking for a shorter-term addition might be more interested in flipping something to get Burakovsky on a short-term deal.

Jordan Eberle and Eeli Tolvanen are on expiring deals but Eberle being their captain probably takes him out of consideration at this point while Tolvanen is someone that they may try to keep around.

Moving out a forward isn’t something they necessarily have to do but with two straight disappointing seasons now, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them try to shake up their forward group while simultaneously making room for some new free agents and a prospect or two.

Photo courtesy of Walter Tychnowicz-Imagn Images.

Offseason Checklist: Buffalo Sabres

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The offseason has arrived for half of the league’s teams that aren’t taking part in the playoffs plus those eliminated in the first round.  Accordingly, it’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months.  Next up is a look at Buffalo.

The question in Buffalo in recent years has been, ‘Is this the year?’ when it comes to ending their playoff drought?  Once again, the answer this season was no and it wasn’t particularly close.  At this point, it appears as if it will be the status quo behind the bench and in the front office, though an experienced addition to the front office could be a possibility.  Either way, GM Kevyn Adams has a lot to do this summer, both in terms of keeping his young core intact while also trying to add to it.  Turning this group into a playoff team might be asking too much but some things can be done to get them closer to that goal.

Add Impact Right-Shot Defenseman

One area that Buffalo is well-stocked in is high-end left-shot defensemen.  Rasmus Dahlin turned the corner a few years ago and has emerged as an all-situations number one defender.  Owen Power, another first-overall selection, is only 22 and likely has another gear to get to while already being a top-four blueliner.  Meanwhile, Bowen Byram, who was acquired at the 2024 trade deadline, had his best NHL season and is a high-quality option himself.  That’s a good spot to be in for that side of the back end.

The problem is that their right-shot options have been nowhere near the same quality, a problem that has hindered them for several years now.  They’ve been unsuccessful at developing an in-house option to play in the top four (they moved out Henri Jokiharju back in March after several years of trying to get him to that level) and veterans they’ve signed to fill a spot (in recent years, Connor Clifton, Erik Johnson, and Ilya Lyubushkin) have been better suited for more limited roles.  They added Jacob Bernard-Docker from Ottawa in the Dylan Cozens trade but again, he’s better off on the third pairing.

The result of this has been having one of their big three playing on their off-side at times while also counting on Mattias Samuelsson to play on the right.  While most blueliners can switch sides, their effectiveness wanes when they do so and as a result, a position that should be a strong one for the Sabres continues to be a question.

It’s much easier said than done given the more limited supply of natural right-side rearguards but Adams needs to find a way to add at least one that can play on the second pairing.  Free agent options aren’t particularly plentiful behind Aaron Ekblad; Dante Fabbro, Brent Burns, and Cody Ceci represent the next wave of players who can play around 20 minutes a night.  Beyond that, for perspective, Jokiharju is in the next tier.  Accordingly, this feels like an area that will need to be addressed by a trade, presenting the opportunity for another big roster shakeup after the Cozens-Josh Norris swap at the deadline.

The point of wanting to address this meaningfully has come and gone.  If the Sabres truly have an intention of trying to push for a playoff spot in the near future, this is now a need, not a want.

Re-Sign Key RFAs

The Sabres are going to enter the offseason with a fair amount of cap space.  That’s the good news.  The not-as-good news is that a significant portion of their money is going to go toward keeping the group they have, not necessarily adding to it.  Byram, JJ Peterka, Jack Quinn, and Ryan McLeod are among those needing new contracts as restricted free agents this summer and all are heading for raises.

Byram is likely to be the most expensive of the bunch.  Exiting the bridge contract he signed with Colorado before being dealt, he’s coming off a career year offensively with 38 points, he played all 82 games for the first time, and he logged a career-best 22:42 per game.  These are things that will look quite appealing to an arbitrator as he’s now arbitration-eligible.  After playing on a $3.85MM deal the last two years, Byram’s qualifying offer will be $4.62MM and he’s likely to add at least a couple million more on a long-term deal; a price tag starting with a seven is very realistic.  He’s two years away from being UFA-eligible so another short-term contract won’t be ideal for the team.  That gives Byram a lot of the leverage heading into discussions.

Peterka is coming off his entry-level deal, giving Buffalo some more options.  To give themselves more flexibility this summer, they could opt for a bridge agreement, knowing there’s a jump coming in the cap for a couple of years that would allow them to afford the eventual higher payout.  Coming off a career-best 68 points, that deal could still cost upward of $5MM per year.  On the other hand, Adams could opt to pursue a long-term agreement that buys multiple years of additional club control.  That price would get a fair bit more expensive with the recent seven-year, $45.5MM extension Calgary gave Matt Coronato serving as a starting point.  With Peterka having more success and more experience, a similar deal for him would likely cost another million or so per season.  Long-term agreements for him and Byram would go through the bulk of their remaining cap room.

Another youngster is exiting his entry-level deal, winger Jack Quinn.  The good news is that he stayed healthy this year after a tough 2023-24 campaign but the bad news is that he only got to the offensive level of two years ago.  With that in mind and knowing their cap situation, a bridge deal makes the most sense for both sides, one that should check in around the $3MM range.  Ryan McLeod should come in considerably above that on his deal.  The center will have arbitration rights this time around and had a huge second half, tallying 27 points in 31 games from February on.  That should push his next deal to at least double his $4.2MM qualifying offer.

Knowing who all needs to be re-signed and the other roster holes that need to be filled, Adams will need to navigate his cap situation carefully.  It wouldn’t be surprising to see him try to clear out a bit of money to make sure he can keep these players and leave some wiggle room for elsewhere.

Work On Tuch Extension

While the Jack Eichel trade hasn’t worked out the best for the Sabres, they did get one core piece from it in Alex Tuch.  He has posted his three best offensive seasons the last three years, two of which saw him reach 36 goals.  He has become a legitimate top-line weapon for them while also being a strong contributor defensively.

Tuch is about to enter the final year of his contract and as of July 1st, he will be eligible for a contract extension.  After the season, he indicated a willingness to sign a long-term deal to stick around and it wouldn’t be surprising to see talks on that front get going as soon as possible.

He will be entering his age-30 year in 2026-27 so a max-term agreement of eight years could very well be on the table.  Frankly, Buffalo might want the eight years to allow that final season or two to potentially bring down the AAV.  Tuch is making $4.75MM and it’s not out of the realm of possibility that he could double that on his next contract in a further elevated cap environment.  Today, that number feels a little high but some deals handed out on the open market in July could adjust expectations and reset the pending UFA market fairly quickly.

This isn’t something that Buffalo has to get done right away.  But if the two sides can’t work out an extension, there will undoubtedly be trade speculation that follows which could be an unwanted distraction.  Getting something done would be the preferred outcome but failing that, at least making some progress on extension talks over the summer should be a reasonable goal for the Sabres here.

Examine Goalie Upgrades

Heading into the season, it looked like Buffalo had a reasonable plan in goal.  Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen would be the starter coming off a breakout year, Devon Levi would be the backup, and James Reimer would seemingly be the third-string option waiting in the wings in Rochester, ready to come up if Levi needed a multi-game stint with AHL Rochester.  It didn’t quite go as planned.

For starters, Reimer didn’t make it to the minors as Anaheim scooped him up.  In the meantime, Levi got off to a slow start, eventually getting demoted to the Amerks as soon as Reimer was reclaimed off waivers.  Meanwhile, Luukkonen dropped 23 points off his save percentage and ceded playing time to Reimer down the stretch.  Things couldn’t have gone much worse.

On the one hand, there’s room for optimism.  Luukkonen should bounce back, at least to a point and frankly, it would be hard for Levi to put up worse numbers.  There is a case to be made to go back to the plan from last season while bringing in a veteran third option (or even re-signing Reimer, potentially).

There’s a better case to be made to change things up, at least in the short term.  Levi is still waiver-exempt and while he played well with Rochester this season, he hasn’t even played 70 games at that level yet.  Another season of big minutes would be good for his development.  That would then leave an opening behind Luukkonen.

But instead of looking for a veteran depth option, Adams might be better off looking to bring in someone who can push Luukkonen for playing time.  It’s not a great UFA market but there are some pieces that would fit.  Daniel Vladar would be a bit of an upside add, banking on there still being some development in him.  Jake Allen could work as a platoon partner, a role he has had for a few years now.  Ilya Samsonov might welcome a shot at more playing time as well.  Putting some pressure on Luukkonen might bring out the better version of him more often while they likely wouldn’t give away quite as many points for backup goalie games.

Knowing Levi is still part of the long-term plan, Buffalo might only want to go short-term with this type of goalie but there shouldn’t be too many long-term deals going to UFA netminders.  But with what’s out there, there’s an opportunity here for an under-the-radar improvement that could be worth a few points in the standings and that’s worth putting the longer-term plan on pause for a year.

Photo courtesy of Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports.

Offseason Checklist: Boston Bruins

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The offseason has arrived for half of the league’s teams that aren’t taking part in the playoffs plus those eliminated already in the opening round. Accordingly, it’s now time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months. Next up is a look at Boston.

Last season, the Bruins relied on expert goaltending to mask their decline in 5-on-5 play and continue an eight-year streak of playoff appearances. But everything that could have gone wrong in 2024-25 did, pushing them out of a playoff spot and into their worst record in 18 years. Still led by general manager Don Sweeney, this front office remains an impatient one and got a head start on their retool by trading captain Brad Marchand, stalwart defenseman Brandon Carlo, and feisty bottom-six winger Trent Frederic out of town before the deadline. Now equipped with spending money and the No. 7 overall pick this summer, it’ll surely be an active summer in Boston with a quick return to playoff contention as the goal.

Wrap Up Coaching Search

Few thought that at the beginning of the season, the Bruins would be the first team to make a midseason coaching change. But after an 8-9-3 start to the campaign and a lack of productive extension talks with 2023 Jack Adams winner Jim Montgomery, that’s exactly what happened. Of course, Boston finished the season with a worse record under interim boss Joe Sacco (25-30-7), while Montgomery was scooped up by the Blues five days later and led them to a wild-card berth.

While Sacco will be interviewed as part of an expansive search, it’s hard to imagine the Bruins removing his interim tag with an unexpectedly strong wealth of candidates to choose from on a busy coaching carousel this offseason. Sweeney has been clear about improving their possession and scoring game as 2025-26’s top priority, so coaches with a propensity for low-event styles likely won’t be considered despite whatever interest they may have (looking at you, Greg Cronin).

There’s another thing to consider: unless a dream candidate emerges, don’t expect Boston to hand out a long-term coaching contract this cycle. They were already hesitant to pay one of the top names in the business in Montgomery, and it makes little sense to make a lengthy commitment to a bench boss with a roster that at least begins the offseason without much direction. That’s likely what quickly took them out of the running for Massachusetts native Mike Sullivan’s services – he received and accepted a rich five-year offer from the Rangers.

Those two factors will likely remain paramount over the amount of NHL experience when Boston assesses candidates in the coming weeks. With the Rangers as the only team to fill their vacancy so far, they’re not under a ton of pressure to make an immediate move. They’ll certainly want to have a name installed by sometime next month to help re-instill an organizational identity heading into free agency, though.

Find A Partner For Pasta

For years, the Bruins’ offense revolved around their top two centers, Patrice Bergeron and David Krejčí. They had to adjust to making wingers Marchand and David Pastrňák the cornerstone of their attack when Bergeron and Krejčí retired a few years ago, now just Pastrňák with no clear-cut No. 2 forward behind him. While Pastrňák has continued to produce at an MVP level despite the changes around him, the team’s overall production has yet to recover from the seismic identity shift.

The hope was that free-agent acquisition Elias Lindholm could help bandage that wound. Instead, the 30-year-old already looks like he has an anchor contract after producing just 17 goals and 47 points over a full 82-game schedule in his first season in Boston after inking a seven-year, $54.25MM deal. There’s hope for a rebound after Lindholm told reporters he played through a back injury all season, but he’s also topped the 60-point mark just three times in his career, and his aging curve isn’t conducive to a huge resurgence.

The center market this summer is on the thinner end as well. Aside from striking a trade for a younger, high-upside center, Boston will have to continue building from the wings out.

While someone like top UFA prize Mitch Marner will likely be out of their price range with an average of $2.4MM in cap space per open roster spot (per PuckPedia), the Bruins will presumably position themselves as top suitors for names like Brock Boeser and Nikolaj Ehlers to give Pastrňák some more legitimate secondary scoring and power-play support. If they’re looking to add a layer of depth down the middle, Sam Bennett could be an option as well if he reaches free agency – but, like the names they already have in-house, he’s a good second-line option at best, not a legitimate No. 1 center. Short-term veteran fits to help add depth could come from Dallas, with Jamie Benn, Matt Duchene, and Mikael Granlund all slated for UFA status.

Decide Forward Personnel

Further to that, Boston now has quite the mushy middle with Lindholm, Casey Mittelstadt, and Pavel Zacha as its top three centers. There was talk of Zacha being moved at the deadline, but the only move they made at center was flipping Charlie Coyle for Mittelstadt.

Therein lies the first question for the Bruins to answer: are all three of them back next year, and are all three of them playing center? Lindholm and Zacha both logged significant time on the wing earlier in their careers. Lindholm is likely too valuable now on faceoffs to entertain a move back to the wing, but Zacha could shift over if the Bruins bring in another depth center and reignite some chemistry with Pastrňák on his opposite flank.

Even if the Bruins re-sign all of their pending RFAs (a likely scenario) and have them all on the opening night roster in the fall, that only accounts for nine forwards. There are three to five open spots up front, leaving Boston to decide how to distribute them among internal up-and-comers (Fabian Lysell, Fraser Minten, Matthew Poitras) and external additions.  That’s also assuming no trades send a member of the current group out of town again.

Instill Goaltending Confidence

Boston’s biggest disappointment in 2024-25 was undoubtedly the play of goaltender Jeremy Swayman. After some testy contract negotiations throughout the summer, he signed an eight-year, $66MM deal days before the regular season but missed all of training camp in the process. He responded to the financial commitment with a 22-29-7 record, .892 SV%, and 3.11 GAA in 58 appearances. After starring with a gargantuan 55.2 goals saved above expected over his first four NHL seasons, he finished 10th-worst in the NHL with a -9.1 GSAx in 2024-25, per MoneyPuck.

Even during their last playoff contention window, the Bruins’ success relied on above-average goaltending. Regardless of what moves they make this summer, there’s little hope of them competing for a playoff spot next year if Swayman doesn’t rebound to at least league average, if not back into his usual top-10/top-15 performance relative to shot quality faced.

The good news – he’s 26 and the track record is there, so there’s plenty of time for him to rediscover his performance. There was very clearly a mental hurdle for Swayman, who faced hesitancy from his organization to commit to him despite finishing as high as seventh in Vezina Trophy voting in 2024 and grading out as one of the league’s best goalies in the early 2020s. A negotiationless offseason, a new coach, and some more positive messaging from the front office could all go a long way toward vaulting him back into consideration as one of the league’s better starters next year.

Image courtesy of Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images.

Offseason Checklist: Philadelphia Flyers

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The offseason has arrived for half of the league’s teams that aren’t taking part in the playoffs plus those eliminated already in the opening round.  Accordingly, it’s now time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months.  Next up is a look at Philadelphia.

A year ago, the Flyers nearly pulled off an improbable run before falling off to finish the regular season.  Unfortunately for them, that slide continued for most of the 2024-25 campaign and they finished tied for last in the Eastern Conference.  While GM Daniel Briere likely knew that expectations were a bit inflated based on their finish last year, dropping back this much wasn’t what he had in mind.  As a result, there’s a lot that they need to accomplish in the coming months.

Hire A New Coach

Heading into the final couple of months, the belief seemed to be that John Tortorella would last the season and then he and the team would sit down to discuss his future.  However, following a sequence that saw them drop 11 of 12 games in the final few weeks of the season, Briere decided to make a decision before the year ended, firing Tortorella in late March while elevating Brad Shaw to the interim head coaching role for the final nine games.

Interestingly, the Flyers turned things around following the change, picking up 11 points under Shaw while averaging four goals per game.  While nine games is a very small sample size and it’s hard to put much stock in playing out the stretch, their performance under Shaw should help the 61-year-old gain some legitimate consideration for the full-time nod.  What might hurt him is that his only other head coaching experience came nearly 20 years ago when he was promoted to an interim role midseason with the Islanders.

It will be interesting to see what Briere will choose to do here.  As a team that’s still rebuilding, a coach focused on development would make some sense.  And in that case, keeping Shaw in the role on a short-term deal could make some sense.  That would allow both sides more time to assess if he’s the coach that could run the team for the longer haul or if he’d be the one who gets them through this next phase before looking for more of a win-now coach after.

Having said that, Briere has talked about this team trying to take a step forward in the near future which could have him leaning toward a more experienced option.  There’s no shortage of veteran coaches on the market now if he wants to go that route.  Either way, if they have a preferred option, Briere will need to move quickly as some of these vacancies will likely be filled before too long.

Find A Goalie Upgrade

The Flyers have been trying to find a legitimate starting goalie for the better part of two generations now.  The hope was that Ivan Fedotov could be their goalie of the future; they held onto that hope for a long time while they waited for him to come over from Russia.  However, after posting a save percentage of just .880 this season, there’s a chance they run him through waivers in 2025-26.  He’s not the long-term solution.

Aleksei Kolosov also had some potential but no desire to bide his time in the minors.  He spent the bulk of the year in Philadelphia, struggled more than Fedotov did, then went back to Russia over returning to AHL Lehigh Valley.  At this point, while he might have some upside, he can’t be counted on as the solution either.

Samuel Ersson has shown some flashes of being a quality goaltender but has also struggled under the weight of being the de facto number one goalie the last two seasons.  It’s possible that he’s part of the longer-term solution as the second option but it would be surprising to see Briere and the Flyers think they have their future starter on their roster today.

With a stated goal to be more competitive next season, this is a position that needs to be upgraded.  Unfortunately for them, that’s something that will be easier said than done this summer.  The UFA market between the pipes doesn’t have a single sure-fire starter available so they can’t go that route.  Meanwhile, legitimate number ones aren’t traded a whole lot although they could make sense as a possible landing spot for John Gibson if this proves to be the summer Anaheim decides to move him.  That said, he’d carry some question marks as well.

At a time when there aren’t as many true legitimate number one goalies out there, finding one becomes that much harder.  But at this point, even an upgrade a tier below that could be enough to give the Flyers a few more wins next season.  Even with all of Ersson, Fedotov, and Kolosov signed, they need to find a way to add one more netminder to the group, one that will see big minutes next season.

Re-Sign Key RFAs

A lot has changed over the last season for Cam York.  This time last year, it looked like he had taken that step forward to cement himself as a core piece on the back end.  However, things didn’t go so well this season, calling that into question.  The 24-year-old is seeing his bridge deal come to an end this summer and while he’s going to land considerably more than $1.6MM either way, Briere is going to need to decide if he’s seen enough to lock York up long-term or push for another short-term contract.

York is three years away from UFA eligibility so they could look for another bridge agreement although they run the risk of him having a breakout and needing a much more expensive contract a couple of years from now.  Or worse, he decides he wants to test the open market and simply opts to take an arbitration award at the end.  On the other hand, if they’re uncertain about his long-term upside, another bridge makes sense.  Meanwhile, if they feel that York for sure is going to be part of the long-term core, then trying to work out a long-term agreement makes some sense although the cost of it will likely seem high relative to his performance this season.

Tyson Foerster is another RFA of note.  He only has two full NHL seasons under his belt but has reached the 20-goal mark each time including a 25-goal showing this year.  If the team feels the 2020 first-rounder has another level to get to, they could look to try to do a long-term agreement, not unlike the pact that former Flyer Joel Farabee received.  Otherwise, a short-term bridge contract will be coming his way, likely somewhere in the $3.5MM range.

Speaking of forwards, Noah Cates also needs a new deal as his bridge agreement will end at the end of June.  Notably, he’s only one year away from UFA eligibility and has arbitration rights this time around.  After a rough first year on his soon-to-expire deal, he bounced back with 37 points this season.  That should be enough to land him a small raise on another short-term contract as it’s unlikely Briere will be comfortable handing out a long-term agreement to someone who has run hot and cold over the last few years.

Flip The Switch

If the plan is to go from asset accumulation to starting to add pieces, the Flyers have a lot of work to do this summer to try to get back into playoff contention.  On top of needing a viable starting goaltender, their back end isn’t the strongest nor is their forward group which finished in the bottom ten in scoring despite the hot finish under Shaw.  It’s the fourth year in a row they’ve landed in the bottom ten in goals scored so this wasn’t a one-off either.

If they’re going to truly get back into the thick of things, they’ll need at least one top-six forward addition coupled with younger players like Matvei Michkov, Foerster, Owen Tippett, and Bobby Brink all taking steps forward offensively to move their attack closer to the middle of the pack.  Defensively, with York struggling a bit last year, Jamie Drysdale being up and down, and Rasmus Ristolainen set to miss the start of next season, there’s a legitimate need for at least one top-four defender if they’re serious about being in the mix in 2025-26.

The good news is that Philadelphia is well-positioned to try to add some core elements.  They have nearly $25MM in cap room per PuckPedia, an amount that can be added to if Ryan Ellis needs to be moved to LTIR.  Yes, new deals for their RFAs will cut into that but there will still be enough left for one or two additions of note.

Meanwhile, the Flyers have three first-round picks at their disposal next month along with four picks in the second round.  Some of those will undoubtedly be kept to add to their prospect pool but some of those selections could be dangled for win-now help, especially if they can add an experienced younger player who fits in age-wise with their current core.  Adding through free agency but they have some decent trade chips to dangle over the coming weeks to try to flip the switch from being a rebuilding team to one looking to make a push.

Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images.

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