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Offseason Checklist 2025

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 $2.1MM 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.

Offseason Checklist: Nashville Predators

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

After a strong showing in the second half last season to make the playoffs, Predators GM Barry Trotz was a big spender in free agency, handing out long-term deals to forwards Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault along with blueliner Brady Skjei.  Accordingly, expectations were quite high heading into 2024-25.  Instead, the team struggled mightily, becoming one of the worst teams in the NHL.  As a result, it could be a busy summer for Nashville once again.

Add Scoring Help

For a team that added two quality offensive threats in Stamkos and Marchessault that’s run by a coach whose teams were pretty high scoring in his two years behind a bench, offense was not supposed to be a problem for the Predators this season.  Instead, they went from being in the top ten in goals scored in 2023-24 to finishing second-last league-wide in that department with a drop-off in tallies of 44 or more than half a goal per game.

Assuming that Andrew Brunette is back behind the bench next season, he’ll be tasked with trying to turn things around on that front.  Objectively, there’s cause for optimism that some of the veterans should be poised to rebound; can they all have down years a second year in a row or will at least some of them bounce back?

But relying on internal improvement probably isn’t going to be enough to turn their fortunes around.  They’re going to have to look outside the organization to add someone.  More specifically, they need to add an impact center.

Ryan O’Reilly had a decent season overall but he certainly is not a true number one center.  They hoped that Thomas Novak would take on a bigger part of the scoring load.  Instead, he struggled and was shipped to Pittsburgh with Michael Bunting coming the other way.  A full season with Bunting will help offensively but the move further exacerbated how weak the center spot is.  Fedor Svechkov has some potential and could help in that regard down the road but counting on him to be a full-time top-six middleman next season would be asking for a lot.

It’s something that’s generally much easier said than done given that many other teams will be looking to add an impact center this summer, either through trade or free agency.  But the Predators certainly need to do just that unless they’re convinced that Stamkos can be a full-time middleman moving forward after spending considerable time on the wing the last two seasons.

Bring In An Impact Defenseman

When you think about the rosters the Predators have had over the years, they’ve been fortunate to have a steady supply of high-quality blueliners.  They had enough of them that they were able to move some out to fill other holes on the roster.  Unfortunately for them, that is no longer the case.

Roman Josi remains the mainstay on the back end and while he’s coming off a down year offensively like many others, he has three years left on his contract and there’s little reason to think he’s going anywhere.  Skjei had some ups and downs in his first year with Nashville but he is certainly a legitimate top-four defenseman and will be around for the long haul as he’s signed through 2031.  That’s a good start defensively.

The problem is that things go downhill from there.  Alexandre Carrier was a top-four regular but was moved to Montreal for Justin Barron, a youngster who has shown flashes of top-four skill but his consistency has been an issue.  Jeremy Lauzon was hurt for most of the year and is probably best suited for the third pairing.  Adam Wilsby and Nick Blankenburg showed some flashes but neither is a lock to be a top-four guy down the road while Marc Del Gaizo, Spencer Stastney, Jordan Oesterle, and Andreas Englund are more depth pieces.

Is it possible that one player from that group can emerge as a legitimate top-four down the road?  Sure.  But even if that happens, they’re still missing one impact blueliner at a minimum.  Long-term, prospects Tanner Molendyk and Ryan Ufko have shown some upside but they’re probably not NHL-ready yet; Molendyk has yet to play professionally.  There is a real need to add at least one top-four piece this summer.

It’s worth noting that Nashville is well-positioned to try to add impact players in the coming months.  They have over $17MM in cap room, per PuckPedia, giving them ample space to try to add multiple impact players for the second straight year.  They also have three first-round picks at their disposal and while they could use all three to really bolster their future depth, at least one of those could be dangled to add a key blueliner or fill the opening down the middle.

Re-Sign Evangelista

Almost all of Nashville’s roster is already under contract for next season, making their list of free agents about as small as can be.  A pair of depth players (Del Gaizo and Jakub Vrana) are pending UFAs while there’s only one full-timer who is slated to become a restricted free agent, winger Luke Evangelista.

The 23-year-old’s entry-level contract is coming to an end and it’s fair to say that Nashville got strong value on it with a cap hit just below $800K.  His first full season was in 2023-24 when he had 16 goals and 23 assists in 80 games and followed that up with 10 tallies and 22 helpers in 68 outings this season while logging a little under 14 minutes per game in both years.  In terms of secondary production from the middle six, he did relatively well all things considered.

Evangelista has four RFA-eligible seasons remaining which gives Trotz some options.  Given that he’s more of a role player at this point, a long-term contract seems unlikely although considering Nashville gave Colton Sissons a seven-year deal while being a role player, it can’t entirely be ruled out either.  More likely is that Trotz opts for a bridge contract between one and three years, ensuring he’ll still be a restricted free agent at its expiry where they could then determine if the time is right to sign him long-term.  With how he fared over his first couple of seasons, a two-year deal could land around $2.25MM while a three-year pact could run closer to $2.6MM with the extra year being an arbitration-eligible year.

Make Some Room

This was a stated goal by Trotz as the season went on and we saw the idea of it in the Carrier-for-Barron swap although they also gave up on Juuso Parssinen and Philip Tomasino.  It runs counterintuitive to the idea of adding impact veterans but both things can be done this summer.

Up front, Svechkov is ready for full-time duty after spending some time with AHL Milwaukee.  Matthew Wood showed some promise in a late-season stint and has the size and physicality to play the gritty game they’re looking for from their bottom six.  Ozzy Wiesblatt had a solid year with the Admirals and could be ready to make the jump as well.  If they want more offense, Joakim Kemell could get into the mix.  To make room, someone like Michael McCarron could be expendable while Sissons will be entering the final year of his deal and should have some trade interest from teams looking to add to their bottom six.  One or two moves like that would allow for a youngster or two to stick will still leaving room to add either via the trade market or free agency.

On the back end, there’s some work that needs to be done to open up a spot for an impact addition at a minimum, more if Ufko or Molendyk make a push for a top-six spot.  Beyond Josi and Skjei, Wilsby is the only other one signed beyond next season so there is some flexibility on that front.  Englund and Oesterle have been on waivers multiple times before and could land there or they could look to flip one for a late-round pick if there’s enough trade interest.  They’ve compiled some depth when it comes to depth defenders but some of that needs to be cashed in if they want to make room for upgrades.

Photo courtesy of Steve Roberts-Imagn Images.

Offseason Checklist: Chicago Blackhawks

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

Last summer, Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson upped his spending, bringing in several veterans with an eye on raising the floor of the current group while allowing some of their prospects to get more time in with AHL Rockford.  It accomplished the latter but not the former as they finished second last for the second straight year while being in the bottom three overall for the third consecutive campaign.  As a result, there’s another busy to-do list for Chicago this offseason.

Hire A Head Coach

One of the first items that Davidson will need to do is get his coaching situation sorted out.  Following a slow start to the season, Luke Richardson was let go after the team played to just an 8-16-2 record.  Anders Sorensen was then promoted from AHL Rockford on an interim basis but couldn’t get much more out of the group as Chicago was 17-30-9 the rest of the way while former Blackhawk blueliner Seth Jones bemoaned the lack of progress the team had made just a few days before he was dealt to Florida.

While Sorensen is expected to receive consideration for the full-time head coaching position, it would be a surprise to see him get the role given the lack of improvement following Richardson’s dismissal.  More likely is that he remains with the organization either as an assistant or returning to the IceHogs.

There are a couple of options that Davidson can go here.  He can opt for another first-time head coach that can focus on player development or look for a more experienced one to try to give them a short-term boost to get them out of the basement in the standings.

On the first-time coach front, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reported last week on CHSN (Twitter link) that Denver University head coach David Carle sits atop their wish list of candidates.  Carle’s coaching experience is predominantly limited to his time with Denver (spanning more than a decade) aside from a brief assistant coach role with USHL Green Bay previously and running USA Hockey’s World Junior team the last two seasons.  While that’s not necessarily the typical route for a coach to take before going to the NHL, Carle is widely considered to be one of the top options available this year.  They could also look to some AHL bench bosses if they want to go with more of a development coach.

But after three years of being in the bottom three, there’s an expectation that Chicago should be starting to move to the next phase of its rebuild, one that makes them much more competitive.  In that case, they could be inclined to look toward a more experienced coach, one with a track record of getting more out of their team quickly.  This wouldn’t necessarily have to be the long-term hire for the rebuild but rather someone to help take them through the next phase of being more competitive.  With other teams having openings now, Davidson will have to move fairly quickly if he has a top target or two to try to land.

Bedard Extension Talks

While Connor Bedard’s first two NHL seasons may not have quite lived up to the lofty expectations that were placed upon him, they were still pretty good.  After putting up 61 points in 68 games in his rookie year, he picked up 23 goals and 44 assists in 82 games this season, leading the Blackhawks in scoring for the second straight season.  Thrown to the wolves in terms of getting top minutes and the toughest defensive assignments, the good more than outweighed the bad even with the 2023 top pick struggling a bit more often than expected.

Nonetheless, there’s no reason to think that Bedard isn’t going to be a significant part of their long-term core.  Even if he doesn’t become the next elite NHL superstar, he appears well on his way to being an impact top liner.  Basically, he’s already there at age 19.  Accordingly, there should be no hesitation in trying to lock him up to an extension as soon as possible.

In this case, as soon as possible is July 1st as that’s when Bedard officially begins the final year of his entry-level contract which makes him extension-eligible.  He has made it clear that he wants to remain with Chicago long-term so both sides will almost certainly be focusing on trying to get a deal done this summer.

As is often the case in these situations, there’s a lot of projecting that will need to be done on both sides in terms of trying to extrapolate how much more Bedard can do offensively.  Based on his output the last two years, his likely AAV would come in around $8.5MM.  But it’s unlikely Bedard would sign for that on a long-term deal at this point; it would make more sense for him to wait and see if he has a big boost in production that could up his price tag considerably in the 2026 offseason.  With that in mind, it’s going to take a fair bit more than that to get something done now.

The projected cap increases make older comparisons a little less usable now but high-end picks were often coming in between 9.5% and 11% of the cap when they were signed.  Bedard should feasibly be in that range.  Based off the NHL’s tentative target of a $104MM Upper Limit for 2026-27, that would put Bedard’s range between $9.88MM and $11.44MM.  Connor McDavid’s second deal was an outlier but checked in at 15.74% which would be $16.37MM in 2026-27 dollars.  That would be the richest deal in league history so Bedard’s unlikely to land there but something toward the top of that 11% range could very well be what’s needed to get something done in the months ahead.

Restart Donato Discussions

Going back to before the trade deadline, one of the discussions going on was with forward Ryan Donato.  The pending UFA was in the midst of a career year and the hope was that they could get a deal done and avoid any speculation of moving him by March 7th.  That didn’t happen but Davidson elected to set a very high asking price, one that no one was willing to meet so Donato stayed put for the stretch run.

Now that the season is over, it’s time for those talks to get rekindled.  Before the deadline, Scott Powers of The Athletic reported (subscription link) that the deal that the team put on the table was a three-year offer worth somewhere around $4MM per season.  Considering the 29-year-old made $2MM the last two years, that’s a fairly significant improvement while giving him some medium-term stability which is notable considering he’s played for five teams in his eight-year career.

However, a price tag around there isn’t exactly commensurate with the season Donato just had.  He finished second to Bedard in team scoring with 31 goals and 31 assists in 80 games while even spending a bulk of the season at center, a position that’s in high demand on the open market.  Other players with a track record of that type of production could command $7MM or more a few months from now.

Of course, Donato doesn’t exactly have that track record of production.  Before this season, he had only reached 30 points twice while his personal bests in goals and assists were 16 and 18, respectively.  As a result, this season was quite the outlier for Donato and that is certainly factored into Chicago’s offer to retain him.  Their offer is a relatively low-risk one given that they have ample cap space and several veterans coming off the books in 2026.

Donato will need to assess if he’s better off staying in a situation that he has clearly had success in or testing the market to see if someone’s willing to make a more lucrative and/or longer-term offer, assuming there isn’t much wiggle room in what the Blackhawks currently have on the table.  There’s still lots of time to get something done but after getting their new head coach in place, this should shift to the top of Davidson’s short-term priority list.

Make A Splash

Last summer, the Blackhawks had plenty of cap space, leading some to wonder if they might take a big swing.  Instead, they spent on bringing in plenty of veterans, highlighted by Tyler Bertuzzi and Teuvo Teravainen up front and Alec Martinez on the back end.  There were varying degrees of success with those signings; Teravainen wasn’t far behind Donato for second on the team in scoring while on the other end, T.J. Brodie struggled so much that he might be a buyout candidate in June.

That approach worked with this being another year where expectations weren’t particularly high.  Their prospects got more development time in Rockford, again, to varying degrees of success.  But while they got away with this strategy last summer, it feels like they need to something much more substantial to at least drag the rebuild forward.

Chicago needs to find a way to land an impact talent or two.  In a perfect world, they outbid teams for one of the top players up front, giving Bedard a running mate to see if that helps him take the next step forward toward living up to his lofty potential.  With a little over $30MM in cap space, per PuckPedia, the money is certainly there to spend this summer.  Meanwhile, even with Bedard heading for a big-ticket contract in 2026, it should be affordable with the Blackhawks having a deep prospect pool, allowing them to have most cost-controlled players over the coming years.  The time feels right for Chicago to take a big swing this summer.

Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images.

Offseason Checklist: San Jose Sharks

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The offseason has arrived for half of the league’s teams that aren’t taking part in the playoffs.  Accordingly, it’s now time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months.  First up is a look at San Jose.

As expected, it was another tough year for San Jose.  They integrated two of their top prospects into the lineup in forwards Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith while acquiring their goalie of the future in Yaroslav Askarov.  From a long-term prospect standpoint, they’re doing well.  But the on-ice product this year didn’t yield many points with the Sharks finishing last in the standings once again.  That means that GM Mike Grier has a big checklist to take care of this summer.

Add A Veteran Goalie

While Askarov is their goalie of the future, their goalie of the present has been in flux in recent years.  Mackenzie Blackwood, Kaapo Kahkonen, Vitek Vanecek, and Alexandar Georgiev all had opportunities over the last couple of seasons but none of them were able to get the job done.  The first three have since been traded or let go in free agency while Georgiev won’t be retained either.  Meanwhile, although Georgi Romanov has shown some promise, he’s far from being ready to take on a full-time role in the NHL.  As a result, they’re going to need to look outside the organization to fill this spot.

Askarov will be starting a two-year, $4MM bridge contract next season and while he’s their long-term solution between the pipes, he only has 16 games of NHL experience while injuries have limited him to 35 games so far (though that will go up at least a bit more in the AHL playoffs).  With that in mind, he may not be getting penciled in as their undisputed number one goalie.  That means that they’ll enter free agency as one of the teams potentially looking for a short-term starter.

The good news for the Sharks is that there shouldn’t be too many teams looking for that type of goaltender.  The bad news is that there aren’t many, if any, of those players out there.  Consider that there is just one pending UFA who played more than 41 games (half the schedule) this season.  That was Georgiev and we know he’s not coming back.

Someone like Jake Allen would make sense for the Sharks.  He’s used to being in a rebuilding environment already from his time with Montreal and could theoretically be the strong-side platoon goalie next season before flipping roles with Askarov the following year.  Ilya Samsonov didn’t have a great market last summer but if there’s a shot at a short-term path to being a starter, he could be intrigued by the Sharks while if they want a bit of potential upside, Daniel Vladar is the youngest UFA goalie on the market as he won’t turn 28 until August.  It’s not a deep list to choose from by any stretch but Grier should be able to land a short-term partner for Askarov to get through the next year or two.

Eklund Extension Talks

If it feels like William Eklund has been around for a while, he has.  He saw close to the maximum NHL time without starting his contract in his first two seasons so he already has 174 career appearances at the top level under his belt.  He still has one year left on his deal which means he will be eligible for an extension on July 1st.

In 2023-24, the 22-year-old had his first full NHL campaign and did pretty well, notching 16 goals and 29 assists in 80 games.  Had he been eligible, he likely would have received some down-ballot Calder Trophy voting but by virtue of playing more than six games in the previous two seasons, he was no longer eligible for the award.  He improved on those numbers this year, tallying 17 goals and 41 helpers in 77 appearances, finishing second to Celebrini in team scoring.  Drafted seventh overall in 2021, the hope was that Eklund could become a core center for the Sharks.  Things haven’t gone well when he has played down the middle but he has settled in nicely as a core winger and is someone Grier will likely look to get locked up now.

While there are some big-ticket contracts coming in a couple of years from now, San Jose’s cap situation is about as clean as they come; only one player is signed past the 2026-27 campaign.  In other words, there’s ample room for Eklund and the two rookies (Celebrini and Smith) to ink long-term deals without needing to be worried about complicating things cap-wise down the road.

Finding the right price tag will be interesting.  The projected increases to the salary cap for the next few years bring a new element into play that we haven’t seen before and it’s one that’s going to make contracts like this go higher than they have before.  Under the older system that didn’t have projections, an AAV starting with a seven on a long-term deal would seem like a reasonable range for Eklund.  But with the quicker increases, it wouldn’t be surprising to see his camp aim higher than that to get him to put pen to paper on a new deal early.

Leverage Cap Space

Let’s dig into their cap situation a little further.  Per PuckPedia, the Sharks have nearly $44MM in cap room for next season.  Their most expensive pending restricted free agent is Klim Kostin ($2MM) but he’s a non-tender candidate.  Most of their other RFAs are coming off entry-level deals and are likely heading for bridge contracts that won’t be too cost-prohibitive.  They only have a handful of spots to fill on their roster and a lot of spending to do simply to get to the spending floor of $70.6MM, a number they’re nearly $20MM below at the moment.

Unfortunately for San Jose, acting as a third-party retainer in a trade is probably off the table.  Two of their three retention slots are encumbered through 2026-27 (Tomas Hertl’s runs through 2029-30) and while the Brent Burns one will come off the books, that will only happen on July 1st.  The bulk of the heavy trade activity tends to happen before free agency opens up so they probably won’t be able to use it early.  Additionally, they probably will want to keep a spot available to help facilitate a trade in-season closer to the trade deadline as they’re likely to be sellers once again next season.

But teams looking to offload a pricey contract should be calling the Sharks.  They can easily absorb a big-ticket expiring contract or two and pick up some future assets (likely draft picks) for doing so.  They could also look to take on a multi-year deal like they did with Barclay Goodrow last spring if they feel the player can be part of their medium-term plans.  Again, in most of those instances, they’d be compensated for alleviating the other team’s cap concern.  It’s low-hanging fruit, so to speak, but utilizing some of their cap space to take on some unwanted deals will garner them some future assets and assuming the player isn’t injured, the moves would also upgrade their roster as well.

Add A Bridge Center

One area that they might have to turn to free agency to try to fill is center.  Mikael Granlund logged heavy minutes for them to take some pressure off Celebrini while allowing Smith to ease in on the wing.  Following his trade to Dallas, Smith stayed away from his natural position with Alexander Wennberg taking on a bigger role.  Wennberg isn’t a true top-six option at this point while it appears that they weren’t comfortable putting Smith there yet.  We also know Eklund has settled in on the wing so they’d likely prefer to keep him there as well.  Accordingly, there’s a top-six opening to be filled.

The challenge here for the Sharks will be selling themselves in a market where a lot of teams, including some very competitive ones, will be trying to fill that particular role.  This is where their cap space can be an asset as they can comfortably overpay on a shorter-term offer or if they find someone they like longer-term, they’ll be more comfortable than most adding a year or two if it helps get something done.

In terms of who they’d likely consider, the top veterans are probably out of reach.  Granlund makes a lot of sense and he didn’t close the door on a return following his trade to Dallas.  Sam Bennett is one they’d likely be interested in but it would be surprising to see San Jose be the top bidder there if he makes it to the open market.  Ryan Donato could be more of an upside swing if they think his breakout year with Chicago could be repeatable.  Brock Nelson is one they could afford but they might have to overpay on term to get something done.  There are some options out there but they won’t be the easiest to get.

On top of trying to fill that spot, adding a bottom-six option as well would be useful with both Nico Sturm and Luke Kunin being shipped out at the deadline.  Ty Dellandrea and Zack Ostapchuk finished out the year in those spots but it wouldn’t be shocking to see them try to upgrade on the third line at a minimum.  This one could be filled via the trade route but it’s a bit easier to land these types of players in free agency.  Either way, while the Sharks are still in a spot where they don’t need to be loading up with several additions, they will want to look for some help down the middle in the coming months.

Photo courtesy of D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images.

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