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Snapshots: Nugent-Hopkins, Malkin, Marner

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Edmonton Oilers centerman Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is expected to stick in the lineup for Game 6 despite missing Monday’s practice, head coach Kris Knoblauch told Daniel Nugent-Bowman of The Athletic. His off-day will instead be chalked up to rest, after Nugent-Hopkins appeared in 20 minutes of action in Game 5.

Nugent-Hopkins appeared in 24 minutes of ice time and scored two points in Edmonton’s 5-4 win over Florida in Game 4. He ranks third on the Oilers’ offense in ice time (19:44) and postseason scoring (20 points in 21 games) behind only Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. It’s the expected pecking order, but Nugent-Hopkins’ role has still been a crucial part of Edmonton’s postseason success. They’ll rest assured knowing he’s expected to appear in a must-win game on Tuesday.

Other notes from around the league:

  • Retirement winds are beginning to blow around Pittsburgh Penguins legend Evgeni Malkin. It remains unclear exactly when the Russian forward is expecting to retire, though sources around the team say Pittsburgh is unlikely to offer him a new contract next summer, per Josh Yohe of The Athletic. Malkin will enter unrestricted free agency after the 2025-26 season after riding out a four-year, $24.4MM contract. He posted the lowest scoring pace of his career this season, with 50 points in 68 games equating to 0.74 points-per-game. That mark surpassed his previous career-low of 0.82 set last season, when he scored 27 goals and 67 points in 82 games. Those numbers are still mighty impressive, and could earn Malkin a few more years even as he slows down. He could also be a candidate to leave the NHL with a few good years left, and finish his playing career in Russia’s KHL. Mettalurg Magnitogorsk continue to hold Malkin’s KHL rights. He previously appeared in 169 games and scored 156 points with the club.
  • Top free agent Mitch Marner may take his time deciding on a new landing spot when the market opens on July 1st, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman shared on his latest 32 Thoughts podcast. Friedman adds that Marner could have plans to establish meetings throughout multiple cities before he signs his next deal. Negotiations for Marner’s last contract – a six-year, $65.41MM deal signed in 2019 – notoriously dragged on through September. He posted multiple career-years on the deal, including breaking the century mark for the first time this season with 102 points in 81 games. Marner is likely to rival records with a lengthy and expensive deal this season. Taking time to ensure it’s with the right fit will be a helpful bit of due diligence.

Flames Promote Peter Hanlon To Assistant General Manager

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The Flames are promoting Peter Hanlon to an assistant general manager role, the club announced Monday. He isn’t replacing an existing AGM, instead, he’s augmenting Craig Conroy’s current AGMs in Dave Nonis and Brad Pascall.

Saying the promotion is a long time coming for Hanlon would be an understatement. He’s been with the Flames for nearly three decades, all in the Vice President of Communications role he was hired into in the 1997-98 season. A move from the communications team to the GM suite is unconventional, but Flames’ President of Hockey Operations Dan Maloney emphasized Hanlon’s 30 years of experience in the sport.

Hanlon worked very closely with all levels of the Flames organization in his role, including serving as the liaison between players and media or fans for many years. Now, GM Craig Conry shares Hanlon will focus on all aspects of hockey operations, including player evaluation, recruitment, and strategic planning.

The VP of comms role was just the second front-office job in hockey Hanlon landed in hockey. He’d previously been the Maple Leafs’ AHL team manager between 1991-92 and 1995-96. He joined the Leafs on their two most recent runs to the Eastern Conference Finals in that span, and worked closely with players like Doug Gilmour, Dave Andreychuk, Mats Sundin, and Larry Murphy. Hanlon graduated from that role into a job with the NHL’s central office for a year.

While an assistant general manager role will mark new opportunity, Hanlon’s roots in hockey are plain to see. He’ll assume his new role beginning on July 1st, right as Calgary looks to start spending their wealth of $26.9MM in projected cap space.

Andrew Mangiapane Switches Agents, Not Expected To Re-Sign With Capitals

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The Capitals don’t have many notable pending free agents. The ones with the most name value among them, Nicklas Bäckström and T.J. Oshie, spent the entire season on injured reserve and, in the latter’s case, have since retired. As such, it’s widely believed Washington will let most of them test the open market without much pushback while using the open cap space to pursue bigger fish in free agency.

That will be the case with one of their higher-priced ones. Winger Andrew Mangiapane will test free agency and isn’t expected to re-sign with the Caps, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports Monday. He’s also switched his representation from Raze Sports’ Ritchie Winter to RSG Hockey’s Allain Roy, Pagnotta adds. Winter is only the agent for two other regular NHLers, Oilers goaltender Calvin Pickard and pending Jets UFA Mason Appleton. On the other hand, Roy is responsible for 44 active contracts with another 28 pending free agents he manages – 29 now with Mangiapane.

The 29-year-old winger will hit the open market with his stock arguably at its lowest point since he entered the league. Things in Washington didn’t go anywhere the way he wanted them to after the Caps acquired the Flames fixture from Calgary for a second-round pick last June. While nearly every other Capital had some form of a breakout or resurgence en route to their 111-point regular season, Mangiapane’s 28 points in 81 games were his lowest output since his 44-game rookie season in Calgary in 2018-19.

A sixth-round pick back in 2015, Mangiapane has settled in as more of a consistent 10-to-20-goal producer. He’s only topped the latter mark once, erupting for 35 goals in the 2021-22 season. Even with that outlier skewing the sample, he still averages 20 goals and 40 points per 82 games for his career. That’s naturally where Washington expected his production to fall, but he was passed over for top-six/nine minutes early in the season by names like Connor McMichael, Aliaksei Protas, and even Brandon Duhaime to some extent. He averaged only 13:02 per game with his production suffering as a result, limited to 14 goals and 14 assists despite shooting slightly above his 14.4% career average. Mangiapane’s 1.17 shots on goal per game were the lowest of any qualified season in his career.

A repeat of his usual 40-to-50-point production might have positioned him to recoup most of his previous $5.8MM AAV on the open market this summer. Now, his open-market projection is at $3.8MM per season on a two-year deal, according to AFP Analytics. Even that may be unrealistically high with a bevy of middle-six wingers available this offseason coming off better platform years.

The Caps, despite looking to add, still have some quality young internal replacement options for Mangiapane in a worst-case scenario. Recent first-rounders Ryan Leonard and Ivan Miroshnichenko are both legitimate candidates to be on their opening night roster next fall, even if the latter has less of a case.

Teams Announce Preliminary Six Players For 2026 Olympics

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12:00 p.m.: Updated to include the United States’ roster.
11:01 a.m.: Updated to include Canada’s roster.
10:32 a.m.: Updated to reflect France’s roster.
9:18 a.m.: Updated to reflect Denmark’s roster.
8:23 a.m.: Updated to reflect Slovakia’s roster.

7:49 a.m.: Throughout Monday, the IIHF is announcing teams’ preliminary rosters for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina, Italy. It’s the tournament’s first edition with NHL participation since 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Like the NHL did with the 4 Nations Face-Off, teams must lock in six players to their final roster well in advance. Of course, the field is now set after the IIHF confirmed a few weeks ago that Russia would not participate in the event, even under a Russian Olympic Committee banner as they did in 2018 and 2022, due to the country’s military aggression in Ukraine.

European teams’ preliminary six players were announced early in the morning, while those looking for North American teams must wait until later Monday. Here’s each team’s initial roster for the tournament, which will run from Feb. 5 to Feb. 22, 2026:

Group A

(1) Canada

F Sidney Crosby (Penguins)
F Nathan MacKinnon (Avalanche)
F Connor McDavid (Oilers)
F Brayden Point (Lightning)
F Sam Reinhart (Panthers)
D Cale Makar (Avalanche)

(2) Czechia

F Martin Nečas (Avalanche)
F Ondřej Palát (Devils)
F David Pastrňák (Bruins)
F Pavel Zacha (Bruins)
D Radko Gudas (Ducks)
G Lukáš Dostál (Ducks)

(3) Switzerland

F Kevin Fiala (Kings)
F Nico Hischier (Devils)
F Timo Meier (Devils)
F Nino Niederreiter (Jets)
D Roman Josi (Predators)
D Jonas Siegenthaler (Devils)

(4) France

F Pierre-Édouard Bellemare (Ajoie/NL)
F Jordann Perret (Mountfield/Czechia)
F Alexandre Texier (Blues)
D Yohann Auvitu (Vítkovice/Czechia)
D Jules Boscq (HPK/Liiga)
D Hugo Gallet (Tappara/Liiga)

Group B

(1) Finland

F Sebastian Aho (Hurricanes)
F Aleksander Barkov (Panthers)
F Mikko Rantanen (Stars)
D Miro Heiskanen (Stars)
D Esa Lindell (Stars)
G Juuse Saros (Predators)

(2) Sweden

F Adrian Kempe (Kings)
F Gabriel Landeskog (Avalanche)
F William Nylander (Maple Leafs)
F Lucas Raymond (Red Wings)
D Rasmus Dahlin (Sabres)
D Victor Hedman (Lightning)

(3) Slovakia

F Martin Pospisil (Flames)
F Juraj Slafkovsky (Canadiens)
F Tomáš Tatar (Zug/NL)
D Erik Černák (Lightning)
D Martin Fehérváry (Capitals)
D Simon Nemec (Devils)

(4) Italy

F Diego Kostner (Ambrì-Piotta/NL)
F Daniel Mantenuto (Bolzano/ICEHL)
F Tommy Purdeller (Pustertal/ICEHL)
D Thomas Larkin (Schwenninger/DEL)
D Luca Zanatta (Pustertal/ICEHL)
G Damian Clara (Ducks)

Group C

(1) United States

F Jack Eichel (Golden Knights)
F Auston Matthews (Maple Leafs)
F Brady Tkachuk (Senators)
F Matthew Tkachuk (Panthers)
D Quinn Hughes (Canucks)
D Charlie McAvoy (Bruins)

(2) Germany

F Leon Draisaitl (Oilers)
F Lukas Reichel (Blackhawks)
F Nico Sturm (Panthers)
F Tim Stützle (Senators)
D Moritz Seider (Red Wings)
G Philipp Grubauer (Kraken)

(3) Latvia

F Rodrigo Abols (Flyers)
F Teddy Blueger (Canucks)
F Zemgus Girgensons (Lightning)
D Uvis Balinskis (Panthers)
G Elvis Merzļikins (Blue Jackets)
G Arturs Silovs (Canucks)

(4) Denmark

F Oliver Bjorkstrand (Lightning)
F Nikolaj Ehlers (Jets)
F Lars Eller (Capitals)
F Jonas Røndbjerg (Golden Knights)
D Jesper Jensen Aabo (EC-KAC/ICEHL)
G Frederik Andersen (Hurricanes)

Kings Re-Sign Pheonix Copley

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11:59 a.m.: It’s a one-way deal for Copley, per the team’s Zach Dooley. That could be an indication the team is open to him starting the season as Kuemper’s backup.

11:31 a.m.: The Kings have re-signed pending UFA goaltender Pheonix Copley to a one-year deal that will pay him the league minimum of $775K next season, per a club announcement. It’s unclear whether it’s a one-way or two-way commitment.

The upcoming season will mark Copley’s fourth in Los Angeles. He was initially brought in for the 2022-23 season to serve as the No. 3 option/AHL starter behind Jonathan Quick and Calvin Petersen, a role he’d held for many years with the Blues and Capitals. Instead, Quick and Petersen both put up unplayable numbers, leading Copley to get the call-up and the lion’s share of the starts. In a career-high 37 appearances, he was more than serviceable with a .903 SV%, 2.64 GAA, and one shutout, helping L.A. to a 24-6-3 record in games he received the decision for. He was supplanted as the starter in the playoffs by trade deadline pickup Joonas Korpisalo, but he at least did enough to establish himself as a full-time NHL option.

L.A. brought him back on a one-year, $1.5MM deal for 2023-24 as a result. He started the year as UFA pickup Cam Talbot’s backup, but after going 4-1-2 with a .870 SV% and 3.16 GAA in just eight appearances, his season came to an end in December after undergoing ACL surgery.

The Kings still wanted to keep him around as an insurance option for this past season, though, signing him to another one-year deal after free agency opened. While Copley was back to full health, he’d slipped behind David Rittich on the depth chart and was back to serving in a more familiar No. 3 role. He allowed two goals on 12 shots in a relief appearance against the Maple Leafs early in the year, otherwise spending the campaign with AHL Ontario after clearing waivers. In his first extended minor-league stint in three years, the 33-year-old Alaskan was good with a 2.49 GAA, .904 SV%, two shutouts, and a 24-17-1 record in 42 games.

His numbers were far better than what top prospect Erik Portillo (.889 SV%, 2.82 GAA) put up as his backup. As a result, with Rittich slated to hit the open market this summer on the heels of an underwhelming 2024-25 performance, Copley might get another chance in training camp to be the Kings’ No. 2, this time behind 2025 Vezina Trophy finalist Darcy Kuemper.

Maple Leafs’ Roni Hirvonen Signs With Liiga’s Kärpät

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Maple Leafs center prospect Roni Hirvonen is returning home to Finland on a one-year contract with Liiga’s Kärpät, per a team announcement Monday. Hirvonen is a pending restricted free agent after completing his entry-level contract. Toronto can retain his NHL signing rights through the 2028-29 season if they issue him a qualifying offer.

A second-round pick by the Leafs in 2020, Hirvonen has been a serviceable middle-six forward in Finland and the AHL, but hasn’t seen much forward progression in his game. His point-per-game rates in his five seasons since being drafted are strikingly similar: 0.39 in 2020-21 with Ässät, 0.57 in 2021-22 and 0.49 in 2022-23 with HIFK, and 0.35 in 2023-24 and 0.36 in 2024-25 with Toronto’s AHL affiliate.

While the 5’10”, 179-lb Hirvonen is only 23 years old and likely still has upside as a fourth-line piece, the lack of offensive progression indicates nothing else in the tank. Unsurprisingly, his play style was always that of a more defensively-minded forward. Nonetheless, he’s dealt with some injuries. He hasn’t played close to a full AHL schedule since arriving in North America two years ago, posting a 17-17–34 scoring line for the Marlies while playing in 96 of 144 possible regular-season games.

Hirvonen likely wanted more opportunity to develop his two-way game and, as a result, will return to a more familiar environment and, ideally, more consistent playing time, before attempting a return to North America next offseason or further down the line. Notable players selected after Hirvonen in the 2020 draft include Will Cuylle (one spot after at No. 60 overall), Alex Laferriere (No. 83), and Nils Åman (No. 167).

Dante Fabbro, Blue Jackets Discussing Long-Term Extension

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The Blue Jackets have progressed in extension talks with pending unrestricted free agent defenseman Dante Fabbro, Andy Strickland of FanDuel Sports Network reports Monday. Strickland adds that it’s expected to be a long-term deal if finalized.

Fabbro isn’t Columbus’ top pending UFA in terms of market value, even among defensemen. That honor goes to the minute-munching Ivan Provorov. Yet getting a commitment from Fabbro is a highly important piece of business as well.

Perhaps no pending UFA saw their stock rise in-season as much as Fabbro. The soon-to-be 27-year-old was claimed off waivers from the Predators early in the season after failing to land a regular job in their lineup in his sixth full NHL season. Initially, the only hope was that Fabbro could provide some needed right-side depth on the Jackets’ blue line after losing veteran Erik Gudbranson for most of the season early on due to a shoulder injury.

Instead, Fabbro was given a trial in top-pairing duties at even strength alongside Norris Trophy finalist Zach Werenski and never left. The Werenski-Fabbro pairing was just one of seven league-wide to play over 1,000 minutes together at 5-on-5. Among the seven, they were the fifth-best at controlling play with a 54.4% share of expected goals, per MoneyPuck. It was Werenski’s best play-driving season with his primary partner since his second year in the league, when he and Seth Jones posted a 54.9 xGF% back in 2017-18.

Individually, Fabbro solidified himself as one of the best right-shot options available on the open market this summer behind Panthers pending UFA Aaron Ekblad. He made 62 appearances for Columbus after the waiver claim, posting a 9-17–26 scoring line and a +23 rating while averaging 21:39 per game. All were career highs, even when including his brief six-game sample with Nashville before the move. He also featured alongside Provorov on Columbus’ top penalty kill unit for most of the season, aside from when Gudbranson was healthy.

He would have been an extremely desirable target if he decided to test free agency as virtually the only defensively responsible righty with legitimate puck-moving ability and a recent history of substantial possession impacts in a top-four role. Instead, he’ll likely continue to play a key role with the Blue Jackets as they enter 2025-26 well-armed with the tools to enter a playoff contention window and end a five-year postseason drought.

Fabbro was projected to land a four-year deal worth around $4.5MM per season on the open market, according to AFP Analytics. A long-term deal that eats up more of the 2016 first-rounder’s prime will likely come in closer to the $5MM-$6MM range, though. With over $40MM in cap space to burn this summer, that shouldn’t impact their ability to make a competitive offer to retain Provorov while also leaving space to acquire one of the market’s top forwards.

Islanders Name Ryan Bowness Assistant General Manager

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The Islanders have named Ryan Bowness as an assistant general manager and their director of player personnel, the team announced Monday.

Bowness, 41, arrives on Long Island after serving in a similar role for the Senators over the past three seasons. He was an AGM there under Pierre Dorion and Steve Staios, and his principal responsibilities included managing the club’s AHL affiliate in Belleville.

He will not hold the same role under new Isles GM Mathieu Darche, Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News reports. That’s an important distinction. Outgoing GM Lou Lamoriello signed his AGMs, including his son Chris Lamoriello, to contract extensions shortly before the club informed him his contract would not be renewed for next season, according to David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period. The younger Lamoriello had served as AHL Bridgeport’s GM since the 2017-18 season, during which time they’ve made the playoffs just twice and finished 2024-25 with a league-worst 15-50-7 record.

There was understandable speculation that Darche might opt to fire Lamoriello anyway, or at least reassign the AHL GM duties to someone else in the front office, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. Bowness will instead augment the existing support staff of Lamoriello and Stephen Pellegrini, another longtime Lamoriello assistant, as the team looks for a new direction at the top while adding some much-needed organizational depth to aid in prospect development.

The Nova Scotia native and son of longtime NHL coach Rick Bowness began his front office career in 2009 after just a handful of professional games as a right-winger, although he was an eighth-round pick of the Blue Jackets back in 2001. He started out as a team manager for the Thrashers/Jets franchise from the 2009-10 to 2012-13 campaigns before being promoted to Winnipeg’s pro scouting department. After three more years in Manitoba, Bowness joined the Penguins’ scouting department from 2016-17 to 2021-22. His last three years in Pittsburgh were spent as their director of professional scouting.

Five Key Stories: 6/9/25 – 6/15/25

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With a maximum of just two games remaining in the playoffs, activity around the NHL is set to pick up considerably in the very near future.  In the meantime, there was still some news of note over the past seven days which is recapped in our key stories.

Calling It A Career: After missing all of the 2024-25 season due to a lingering back injury, veteran winger T.J. Oshie has officially announced his retirement at the age of 38.  A first-round pick by St. Louis back in 2005, he spent the first seven years of his career with the Blues before being traded to the Capitals back in 2015.  From there, Oshie became a long-term fixture of Washington’s top six, spending a lot of time on their second line.  Overall, he played in 1,010 career regular season NHL games between the two teams, scoring 302 goals and 393 assists.  Oshie picked up 69 points in 106 playoff contests while winning a Stanley Cup with Washington back in 2018.

Stars Shopping A Star? One of the themes of the week was the potential availability of Stars winger Jason Robertson.  With Dallas having less than $5MM in cap space per PuckPedia with several key players on expiring contracts, there were reports that they were at least exploring what Robertson’s market might look like although going this route is not their preference.  Robertson has had at least 79 points in each of the last four seasons and has one year left on his contract with a $7.75MM price tag.  At this point, GM Jim Nill’s preference is believed to be trying to move more intermediate contracts like Mason Marchment, Mathew Dumba, and Ilya Lyubushkin, incrementally opening up spending flexibility along the way.

Kreider To Anaheim: There was one trade of note in the NHL this week.  The Rangers had been trying to move winger Chris Kreider dating back to early in the season but with their cap situation requiring more flexibility, time was more of the essence.  They were able to find a move for him, sending the veteran along with the 104th pick in the draft to Anaheim for prospect forward Carey Terrance and pick 89.  Kreider had been a key part of New York’s forward group for more than a decade and has reached the 20-goal mark in 10 of the last 11 seasons.  However, with GM Chris Drury wanting to shake up his core group, Kreider’s $6.5MM cap charge (of which the Ducks are picking up in full), and his drop to just 30 points this season, the decision was made to move on from him.

Awards Week: The majority of the end-of-season awards were handed out this week.  First, Montreal defenseman Lane Hutson took home the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie following a 66-point effort that broke multiple franchise records.  Colorado’s Cale Makar won the Norris Trophy after being the first defenseman to reach 30 goals and 90 points in the same season since 1988-89.  Los Angeles center picked up the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy as the league’s most gentlemanly player in a particularly close race over several other contenders.  Then, it was Jets netminder Connor Hellebuyck winning a pair of awards, collecting the Vezina Trophy for being the top goaltender along with the Hart Trophy for the player deemed to be the most valuable player to his team.

Sabres Listening On Peterka: Sabres winger JJ Peterka has always had plenty of suitors but Buffalo had been rejecting those overtures.  However, as his first foray into restricted free agent approaches, it appears the team is now more open to listening to offers for the 23-year-old amidst the belief that Peterka’s preference would be to move on.  He had his second straight 18-point jump this season, tallying 27 goals and 41 assists in 77 games and has established himself as a capable top-six player.  A long-term deal for Peterka this summer could push past the $8MM mark, a price tag that Buffalo can afford to give him but if they do opt to move him, they’ll command a significant price tag to part with his rights as well.

Photo courtesy of Danny Wild-Imagn Images.

Free Agent Focus: Pittsburgh Penguins

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Free agency is now barely two weeks away, and teams are looking ahead to when it opens. There will be several impact players set to hit the open market in July, while many teams also have key restricted free agents to re-sign. We continue our look around the NHL with an overview of the free agent situation for the Penguins.

Key Restricted Free Agents

F Connor Dewar – Acquired at the trade deadline from Toronto, the change of scenery worked out rather well for Dewar as he had seven points in 17 games down the stretch while seeing his playing time jump up by more than four minutes a game.  That’s the good news.  The bad news is that he finished the year with just 10 points in 48 outings.  The contract he was on was structured to allow for a lower qualifying offer ($819K) than his AAV ($1.18MM) but arbitration rights loom large as he has 238 career NHL appearances.  If the two sides can agree on a deal before the tender deadline that’s around what he made this season, that would be ideal but if it gets to the point of requiring the qualifying offer, it would be surprising to see it issued, which would allow Pittsburgh to avoid arbitration.

D Pierre-Olivier Joseph – Non-tendered by the Penguins to avoid the risk of an arbitration hearing last summer, Joseph made his way to St. Louis where he struggled, resulting in Pittsburgh bringing him back midseason for extra depth.  He got a few more minutes per game with the Pens but remained more of a depth piece than a full-time regular.  The same issue exists now as it did a summer ago.  He’s owed a $997.5K qualifying offer but with arbitration eligibility, he’s a non-tender candidate if something can’t be worked out before then.

D Conor Timmins – Also brought in from Toronto at the deadline, Timmins was more impactful down the stretch than he had been the rest of the year, also picking up seven points in 17 games while averaging a little under 19 minutes per night of ice time.  Like Dewar and Joseph, Timmins is arbitration-eligible as well but this was the only NHL season where he played in at least 35 games; the track record isn’t as much.  Accordingly, the risk of a qualifying offer isn’t as significant.  A one-year deal could earn him a raise closer to the $1.75MM mark but walk him right to UFA eligibility.  Accordingly, a two-year pact might be more desirable for GM Kyle Dubas in which case the offer could land closer to the $2MM range.

F Philip Tomasino – After playing time with Nashville was hard to come by, Pittsburgh acquired the 2019 first-round pick in late November and he largely played a regular role down the stretch.  While he wasn’t able to replicate his rookie-season numbers, he still managed 11 goals and 12 assists in 50 games in a little over 13 minutes a night with no power play time.  That’s worthy of a longer look.  The 23-year-old is owed a qualifying offer of just over $866K and, like everyone else on this list so far, is arbitration-eligible.  A one-year deal that allows both sides more time to evaluate could make sense here with a price tag landing around the $1.5MM mark, a two-year pact would push the AAV closer to the $2MM range.

Other RFAs: F Raivis Ansons, F Emil Bemstrom, G Taylor Gauthier, F Filip Lindberg (signed in Finland), F Vasiliy Ponomarev (signed in KHL)

Key Unrestricted Free Agents

D Matt Grzelcyk – The decision to take a one-year deal with Pittsburgh last summer in the hopes of rebuilding some value seems to have worked out quite well for Grzelcyk.  After a slow start, he found his footing and set new career-highs in assists (39) and points (40), making him the top point-getter among pending UFA blueliners.  Of course, it also needs to be noted that he’s one of the smaller defensemen in the NHL and that almost certainly will affect his market.  Nonetheless, after settling for $2.75MM last summer, he has a good chance of beating that while getting the multi-year deal that eluded him a year ago.  He had a cap hit of just under $3.7MM on his last deal with Boston and with the expectations of some higher prices on the open market this year, Grzelcyk should be able to set a new personal best on that front next month.

F Joona Koppanen – The term ‘key’ here might be a little misleading but Koppanen is just one of three of their pending UFAs to play at least 10 NHL games this season so that lands him a spot here.  He averaged a little under four hits per game in his limited action in 2024-25 and at 6’5, he has the size that some teams may covet for a depth spot in the lineup.  A one-way deal might be hard to come by but the 27-year-old should have several suitors for a two-way pact on the open market.

F Matthew Nieto – Once a valued bottom-six forward, injuries have really derailed Nieto over the past two seasons as he has played in just 54 games combined, managing just seven points.  A veteran of over 700 career appearances at the top level, he may be in tough to add to that by any significant amount next season.  At this point, he looks more like a training camp PTO candidate than someone likely to get a guaranteed deal over the next few months.

Other UFAs: D Nathan Clurman, D Mac Hollowell (signed in KHL), D Filip Kral (signed in Czechia), F Jimmy Huntington, F Marc Johnstone, F Mathias Laferriere, D Colton Poolman

Projected Cap Space

Pittsburgh has the type of salary cap flexibility that they simply haven’t had in quite some time with over $23MM in room heading into the summer.  That number shouldn’t be reduced by too much from re-signing their pending RFAs either.  Normally, this would seemingly position the Penguins to be active in free agency.  But Dubas has stated that he won’t be too active on that front while the hiring of Dan Muse as their head coach suggests they’re heading into more of a rebuild.  With that in mind, they might not be spending that money early this summer and it would be surprising to see them anywhere near the $95.5MM Upper Limit at the start of 2025-26.

Photos courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images (both players).  Contract info courtesy of PuckPedia.

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