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Blues Not Expected To Retain Ryan Suter

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The Blues informed defenseman Ryan Suter they’re not planning to offer him a contract extension before he becomes an unrestricted free agent on July 1, general manager Doug Armstrong told reporters Monday (including NHL.com’s Lou Korac).

Suter signed a league-minimum contract with St. Louis with an additional $2.25MM in potential performance bonuses nine days into free agency last year. He was coming off a buyout of the final year of his previous contract with the Stars, who themselves had picked Suter up after they bought out the last four years of his megadeal in 2021. He appeared in all 82 regular-season games for the Blues, earning all of his potential bonuses, scoring two goals and 15 points with a plus-seven rating. That extended his ironman streak, which began in the 2018-19 season, to 535 games, 21st all-time.

The 40-year-old did not play in all of the Blues’ postseason games, perhaps foreshadowing today’s news. He was a healthy scratch twice in their seven-game loss to the Jets in the first round, sitting out Games 3 and 4 in favor of Tyler Tucker. He averaged 19:28 per game in the regular season but saw just 16:54 of ice time per game in his brief playoff appearance, the 16th trip to the postseason of Suter’s 20-year NHL career.

While he proved he can still be a serviceable bottom-pairing piece and was a regular penalty-killer for the Blues, they don’t have the roster space to bring him back with names like Tucker and Matthew Kessel looking for more regular NHL minutes in 2025-26. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Suter, who’s still getting a paycheck of $833K from the Wild and $1.43MM from the Stars next season, to take another league-minimum deal elsewhere instead of retiring. He previously said he didn’t anticipate retiring this summer.

Flames, Justin Kirkland Agree To Extension

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The Flames and pending UFA forward Justin Kirkland have agreed to a one-year extension worth $900K, the team announced. It’s a one-way deal for the pending UFA.

Kirkland, 28, has played exclusively on one-year contracts since being non-tendered by the Predators when his entry-level deal expired back in 2019. The long-time minor-league depth piece hasn’t spent back-to-back years with the same club since his first stint in Calgary, when he signed three straight two-way contracts to cover the 2019-20, 2020-21, and 2021-22 seasons.

The 6’3″ Kirkland had historically been an AHL fixture and had just nine games of NHL experience entering 2024-25, so he was waived and assigned to AHL Calgary to begin this year as a result. He was recalled to the NHL roster before the AHL season even started, though, getting summoned in early October after an early-season injury to depth center Kevin Rooney. He stepped into the lineup and immediately grabbed hold of a spot, becoming a reasonably productive fourth-line piece with eight points in 21 games. While he averaged just 9:42 per game, he quickly developed somewhat of a cult following after going three-for-four in shootout attempts and playing a physical brand, registering 45 hits.

Unfortunately, Kirkland’s momentum came to a grinding halt when he sustained a knee injury in a Nov. 29 game against the Blue Jackets. He required season-ending ACL surgery as a result. He was still named the club’s nominee for the Masterton Trophy, awarded to the “player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to ice hockey,” for grabbing hold of an NHL spot after eight professional seasons spent almost entirely in the AHL.

As such, Kirkland should be in a good position here to land the first one-way contract of his career. A third-round pick by Nashville in 2014, he also made one-year stops in the Ducks (2022-23) and Coyotes (2023-24) organizations in addition to his time with the Preds and Flames. He’s got a career 75-125–200 scoring line in 408 AHL games with 287 PIMs and a -62 rating. He also won a WHL championship in his junior days with the Kelowna Rockets in 2015.

The Flames have their forward group mostly fleshed out, though, and still have RFAs Morgan Frost and Connor Zary to sign. While Kirkland should start the year on the opening night roster, whether he’ll be in the lineup or in the press box remains to be seen. He’ll need to fend off competition from other veteran depth pieces like the recently extended Dryden Hunt as a result.

Pat Steinberg of Sportsnet 960 was first to report the Flames and Kirkland were nearing an extension.

Flyers Acquire Trevor Zegras From Ducks

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The Flyers are nearing a deal to acquire forward Trevor Zegras from the Ducks, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. Anaheim will receive center Ryan Poehling, the Blue Jackets’ 2025 second-round pick (No. 45 overall), and Philadelphia’s 2026 fourth-rounder in return, Friedman adds. The Flyers have since made the trade official.

That’s a relatively quick ascent from Friedman’s report under two hours ago that the Ducks were in deep talks with multiple clubs on a Zegras move. While it didn’t appear anything was particularly imminent at the time, that’s now changed.

While Zegras has spent the past two seasons mostly on the wing, he’ll presumably shift back to his natural center position in Philadelphia. The Flyers have been on the hunt for a young, established NHL center with a top-six projection for a while now. They were previously connected to pending Wild RFA Marco Rossi, but his cost uncertainty and desire for a long-term deal made those talks stall. Instead, they’ll opt for a player with a slightly riskier projection in Zegras, but land someone signed through next season at a cheaper cap hit than what a Rossi contract would have cost them.

Injuries have robbed Zegras of nearly half his potential workload over the past two seasons in Anaheim since signing a three-year, $17.25MM contract in 2023. He’s had just an 18-29–47 scoring line in 88 games during that time, but still averaged over 17 minutes per game and saw his defensive performance improve significantly this past season with positive relative possession numbers in less sheltered offensive deployment at even strength.

That offensive regression was still highly disappointing considering how Zegras burst onto the scene. In his first two full NHL campaigns, Zegras hit the 20-goal and 60-point marks on both occasions and finished as the Calder Trophy runner-up to Moritz Seider in 2022. It looked like he was fully set to hit on the upside the Ducks thought he had when selecting him ninth overall in 2019, but his subsequent injuries and contract stalemate two years ago threw that plan off course.

He now gets a fresh start in Philly for an acquisition cost that Flyers general manager Daniel Brière certainly won’t lose any sleep over. While Poehling was a high-end fourth-line piece for them, they have plenty of internal replacement candidates for that role and still have three second-round choices in this year’s draft after dealing away the Columbus pick.

While it’s an underwhelming return for the Ducks considering where his value and projection were two years ago, it’s presumably more than they could’ve gotten him had they cut bait following Zegras’ 15-point showing in just 31 games in 2023-24. They also gain $3.85MM in cap space and more roster flexibility among their top-nine forwards as they pursue a major free agent addition this summer.

Giving Zegras top-six minutes will allow names like Bobby Brink and Noah Cates to serve in more comfortable third-line minutes in Rick Tocchet’s first season as head coach. Whether the high-ceiling playmaker gets deployed on a unit with 2023 No. 7 overall pick Matvei Michkov out of the gate remains to be seen, but his pickup suddenly offers Tocchet a much more offensively dynamic center-winger duo than he could have otherwise constructed.

While Zegras is entering the final year of his contract, he’ll be a restricted free agent in 2026 and still has another year of team control left after that. Swapping out Poehling for Zegras does drop the Flyers to a still-comfortable $15.1MM in available cap space with notable RFAs Jakob Pelletier and Cameron York still to sign and two other roster spots to fill, per PuckPedia.

Poehling actually had a standout offensive showing in 2024-25, posting a career-best 12-19–31 scoring line in 68 games while averaging 13:53 per game. He was nonetheless expendable with Cates recently receiving an extension and 2024 first-rounder Jett Luchanko pushing for an NHL job next year. He also shot at a 16.9% rate that will presumably regress in Anaheim.

He’s still a solid bottom-six pickup for the Ducks, even if the futures they’re receiving are underwhelming. He’s a 2026 UFA at a cap hit of just $1.9MM and could be flipped at the deadline for a decent return if things don’t pan out the way Anaheim hopes they will next year. He’s a short-term upgrade down the middle over a name like pending RFA Isac Lundeström and could push him or someone like Ryan Strome to a spot on the wing.

Image courtesy of Jeff Curry-Imagn Images.

Stars Sign Kole Lind To Two-Way Extension

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The Stars are keeping depth forward Kole Lind around for 2025-26 on a two-way deal, the team announced Monday. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Lind, 26, will return for a second season in the Dallas organization instead of testing Group VI unrestricted free agency in back-to-back summers. A second-round pick by the Canucks back in 2017, he’s firmly settled into the tweener archetype. He’s long been among the AHL’s most productive and consistent scorers, but the 6’1″ winger has just eight points in 31 career NHL games.

None of those appearances came with Dallas last year. He spent the entire season with AHL Texas after clearing waivers. While his offensive output there was his worst on a per-game basis in a while, he still managed a strong 23-29–52 scoring line in 71 games to finish fourth on the team in scoring. He added 15 points in 14 Calder Cup Playoff games as well.

Amid a cap crunch in the Lone Star State, Lind stands a decent chance of seeing NHL action next year as a call-up or extra forward thanks to what will presumably be a league-minimum $775K cap hit. Even if not, there was evidently mutual appreciation of his production in the minors, and he’ll stick around as an important veteran piece to complement the Stars’ younger prospects. Lind has 111 goals, 173 assists, and 284 points in 384 AHL games (along with 449 PIMs) since making his professional debut in 2018.

Of course, he’ll need to clear waivers again during preseason if the Stars want to send him back to Texas. He’ll also be eligible for standard UFA status next summer since he turns 27 in October. After signing Lind, the Stars only have nine open contract slots throughout the organization.

Trevor Zegras Trade Talks Gaining Momentum

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The likelihood of a change of scenery for Ducks forward Trevor Zegras during draft week is growing, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports Monday. Anaheim is in “significant discussions” with multiple teams on a trade for the 24-year-old, and it appears one of those talks will get across the finish line before or during the draft on Friday and Saturday.

Zegras’ name has popped up in trade rumors and speculation ever since semi-contentious contract negotiations upon reaching restricted free agency in 2023. He ended up settling for a three-year, $17.25MM contract off the back of two straight 60-point seasons, carrying what looked like a team-friendly cap hit of $5.75MM at the time while also giving the Ducks, who were lukewarm on Zegras’ ceiling as a first-line piece on a contending team, the flexibility of not making a long-term commitment.

Those talks resulted in Zegras missing a good portion of training camp, an important one with a new head coach in Greg Cronin. The ensuing 2023-24 campaign was nightmarish. He had just two points through his first 12 games before a lower-body injury took him out of the lineup for 20 games. He only returned for a few weeks before requiring ankle surgery. He was limited to a 6-9–15 scoring line in 31 appearances on the year, seeing his points per game decline from 0.80 to 0.48 while averaging 1:45 less per game than he did in 2022-23.

Injuries continued to plague Zegras this past season, limiting him to 57 games. He at least rebounded somewhat offensively, posting 12 goals and 32 points, but that still doesn’t sniff the 60-point ceiling he demonstrated earlier in his career. The 24-year-old still averaged around 17 minutes per game, was deployed almost exclusively on the wing after starting his career as a center, but was notably trusted by Cronin in some tougher defensive matchups without a meaningful hit to his possession impacts. That was a promising sign for the Ducks moving forward, but after making a coaching change and looking to make a significant splash in free agency this summer, Zegras’ future in a top-six role in Anaheim remains cloudy.

The Ducks weren’t realistically going to trade Zegras last summer, when he had two years left on his deal and his trade value was at a low point. His value has now rebounded somewhat after his improved two-way showing in 2024-25, and there are likely teams out there that still view him as having everyday second-line upside, whether at center or on the wing. If it’s the former, he’ll at least need to be paired with a winger who’s competent in the faceoff circle. Zegras has won only 40.1% of draws over his five-year NHL career and won a career-low 36.6% of them in 2024-25.

Anaheim, which drafted Zegras ninth overall in 2019, will presumably look for at least a first-round pick or equivalent asset in return. Considering the dearth of impact center pickups in free agency or on the trade market aside from names like Mikael Granlund, Marco Rossi, and John Tavares, they should be able to get it.

The Canadiens nearly landed Zegras at the 2024 draft and, since they’re still looking for a long-term solution as their No. 2 center behind Nick Suzuki, should be expected to pursue him again here. Teams like the Blackhawks, Canucks, Flyers, Kraken, Penguins, and Sabres who have shown interest in acquiring Rossi from the Wild are also likely keeping tabs on Zegras as a fallback option.

Maple Leafs Linked To Mikael Granlund, Pius Suter

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The Maple Leafs have displayed interest in centers Mikael Granlund and Pius Suter to bolster their depth at the position after free agency opens next week, according to Kristen Shilton of ESPN.

They’re expected to pursue them for a bigger punch down the middle, even if they agree to a new contract with No. 2 center John Tavares, also a pending UFA. If they can’t extend the latter, though, pursuing one or both of Granlund and Suter this summer immediately becomes their top priority instead of a “nice-to-have” pickup in addition to a partial replacement for Mitch Marner on the wing. That’s an increasingly likely outcome with Tavares and the Leafs not being close on a new deal as of Saturday.

If the Leafs manage to retain Tavares, they’d presumably be more interested in Suter as a minute-munching third-line option while keeping Tavares in favorable offensive deployment with William Nylander on the second line if he’s not moved up to Auston Matthews’ unit in place of the departing Marner. Granlund, on the other hand, is far less of a two-way player than Suter but has a significantly higher offensive ceiling that could, at least feasibly, be a near-direct replacement for Tavares in favorable usage if they can’t re-sign him. The 33-year-old Finn totaled 22 goals and 66 points in 83 games this year, split between the Sharks and Stars. That’s 0.19 fewer points per game than Tavares gave Toronto, but playing with Nylander could help him cover the gap.

Suter would be an expensive third-line piece, but the 29-year-old would be worth the price of admission to give the club its best option at the position since their deadline pickup of Ryan O’Reilly in 2023. The 5’11” Swiss native had a career-high 25 goals and 46 points last year with Vancouver, averaging north of 17 minutes per game and often seeing duties as a matchup forward. He played far more at center than he had in the past, and while faceoffs remain an issue (42.7 FOW%), he had favorable possession metrics in the most difficult defensive deployment of his five-year NHL career. He saw significant time on both special teams units as well, particularly shorthanded, where he averaged 2:17 per game to lead Vancouver forwards.

Shilton named Claude Giroux as a more speculative/tertiary option. He’s not mentioned in the same tier of interest as Granlund and Suter for good reason. The 37-year-old remains in productive talks with the Senators on a contract extension and hasn’t consistently played down the middle in quite some time, although he still takes a good deal of faceoffs and does so quite well. He won 59.1% of his draws over the last three years in Ottawa.

Islanders Name Rocky Thompson AHL Head Coach

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The Islanders have begun the process of rebuilding their minor-league coaching staff, which was cleaned out entirely after general manager Mathieu Darche assumed his post last month. The organization announced they’ve tabbed Rocky Thompson as AHL Bridgeport’s head coach.

Thompson, 47, brings 18 years of coaching experience to the struggling Baby Isles’ bench. He’d spent the past three years with the Flyers as an assistant under John Tortorella, mainly as a power-play coach. After Tortorella was fired with weeks left in the regular season, Thompson was let go as Philadelphia overhauled its support staff after the campaign concluded. The Flyers’ power play clicked at a league-worst 14.1% under Thompson since 2022-23.

While his last job doesn’t inspire much intrigue, his earlier resume does. Thompson served as the head coach of the AHL’s Chicago Wolves from 2017-18 to 2019-20 while they were affiliated with the Blues and Golden Knights, leading them to a Calder Cup Final appearance in 2019. He also coached the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires to a Memorial Cup win in 2017 as the host club, overseeing a roster led by future NHLers Mikhail Sergachev and Gabriel Vilardi.

Thompson’s previous coaching stops included an assistant role with the WHL’s Edmonton Oil Kings from 2007-08 to 2009-10 and a stint with AHL Oklahoma City (the Oilers’ former affiliate) from 2010-11 to 2013-14 before making his debut as an NHL coach as an assistant with the Oilers in 2014-15. He also worked with the Sharks as an associate coach in the 2020-21 campaign.

The Calgary native was a third-round pick by the Flames in 1995 and played 25 NHL games across four seasons with them and the Panthers. He never recorded a point but did rack up 117 PIMs – spending more time in the box than on the ice (94:41).

Bridgeport’s coaching change comes after Rick Kowalsky oversaw the club for the last two seasons. He compiled a rather dubious 40-88-16 record, including an AHL-record low four home wins in 2024-25. Expect the Isles to be active in signing high-end minor-league depth this summer as a result to help create a more competitive environment for their younger prospects.

SHL’s Malmö Redhawks Sign Topi Niemelä

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The Malmö Redhawks of the Swedish Hockey League have agreed to a deal with defenseman Topi Niemelä for the 2025-26 season, according to a team announcement. Niemelä, a member of the Maple Leafs organization and a pending restricted free agent, can have his signing rights retained by Toronto until July 2029 if they tender him a qualifying offer.

All of Niemelä’s time with Toronto was spent at the AHL level, where he posted an 11-52–63 scoring line and a minus-eight rating over 135 appearances for the Marlies. That’s decent offensive production but not quite the pop they hoped for from the 6’0″ righty when they signed him to his entry-level contract in May 2022 and brought him over to North America near the end of the following season. Niemelä fell out of a regular role with the Marlies at points this past season, although he did still finish second among Marlies defensemen in scoring and played both of their postseason games in a first-round loss to Cleveland.

A third-round pick for the Leafs in the 2020 draft, there was hope he could outperform his draft slot when he erupted for a 10-goal, 32-point season in 48 games with Liiga’s Kärpät, taking a huge step forward in the top league in his native Finland in his age-19 season. Nonetheless, he had just 18 points in 58 games for Kärpät when Toronto loaned him back there the following season before bringing him over to the AHL.

After that breakout season, most had Niemelä tabbed as the top defense prospect in a Maple Leafs pool without many intriguing names to offer. He’s since been surpassed by shutdown righty Ben Danford, their first-round selection in 2024.

It remains to be seen if Niemelä will ever play for the Maple Leafs, but it stands to reason they’ll at least opt to retain his signing rights if and when he decides to return to North America given their lack of young organizational depth at the position. The 23-year-old will now look to regain some offensive confidence overseas in Malmö, where he joins a blue line headlined by former Islanders depth piece Robin Salo.

Five Key Stories: 6/16/25 – 6/22/25

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The Stanley Cup has been awarded with the Florida Panthers taking home the prize for the second straight year.  With the trophy now handed out, the offseason is in full effect and as is often the case, there was an influx of activity around the hockey world soon after that; the most notable news is recapped in our key stories.

Extensions: Some players have elected to not test free agency and instead signed new deals.  Among those was Blackhawks forward Ryan Donato who accepted a four-year, $16MM contract on the heels of a career year.  He entered the year with a career best of 31 points and finished it with a 31-goal, 31-assist campaign.  Rather than hit the open market, Donato decided to stay where things are going well and if he even comes close to this production moving forward, Chicago will do quite well here.  Meanwhile, Senators pending restricted free agent Fabian Zetterlund inked a three-year, $12.825MM pact.  Acquired from San Jose at the trade deadline, he reached the 40-point mark for the second straight season.  The deal buys Ottawa one more year of club control while Zetterlund will be able to hit the open market as a 28-year-old in 2028.

Coming Home: After missing the last two seasons due to Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome, veteran center Jonathan Toews is returning to the NHL.  He’ll be doing so with his hometown team as he signed a one-year deal with the Jets.  The deal carries a $2MM base salary along with $5MM in potential performance bonuses based on games played and Winnipeg’s playoff success.  Notably, he’ll receive $550K for reaching the 20, 40, 60, and 80 games mark while making $500K for 50 games played and Winnipeg making the playoffs.  Toews spent the first 15 seasons of his career with Chicago, winning three Stanley Cups along the way while notching 883 points in 1,067 games.  It would be unrealistic to expect Toews to be a top point-producer at the age of 37 after being off for two years but he might be able to give Winnipeg a boost on the second line, a spot they’ve continually tried to find someone to fill in recent years.

Staying In Dallas: Another prominent pending UFA center took himself off the market as the Stars re-signed Matt Duchene to a four-year, $18MM contract.  The 34-year-old is actually coming off one of the best seasons of his career after putting up 82 points in 82 games this season, including a career-best 50 assists.  Had he gone to the open market, he was likely to land offers of several million more per year but he also would have priced himself out of what the Stars can afford.  Instead, Duchene got the long-term security he was seeking after playing on two straight one-year deals while the Stars get to keep the veteran on a below-market deal.  Technically, Duchene will be making more than that over the life of the contract as he’s still owed $1.55MM per season from Nashville for each of the next four years following the buyout of his contract with them back in 2023.

Winger Swaps: Needing to open up money following the Duchene re-signing, the Stars quickly moved winger Mason Marchment to Seattle for a 2026 third-round pick and Dallas’s 2025 fourth-round pick (previously acquired).  Marchment has two years left on his deal worth $4.5MM per season and has put 100 points over the last two years so the Kraken get some solid secondary scoring and some physicality at a pretty low price.  Meanwhile, to make room for him on the wing, the Kraken then flipped winger Andre Burakovsky to Chicago for center Joe Veleno.  Burakovsky has two years on his contract at $5.5MM per season and will look to rebound offensively after failing to notch 40 points in any of his three years with the Kraken.  Veleno, meanwhile, joins his third team in less than four months and is likely to play in Seattle’s bottom six next season if he’s still with them at that time.

First Players Named For Olympics: While the start of the next Winter Olympics is more than seven months away, the first six players for each country needed to be named this week.  Seven of the top ten NHL scorers from this season were among those named with the notable omissions being Canada’s Mitch Marner and USA’s Kyle Connor (Nikita Kucherov led the NHL in points but Russia will not be taking part in the event).  This will be the first time that NHL players play in the Olympics since 2014 and the tournament will begin on February 11th.

Photo courtesy of Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports.

Atlantic Notes: Giroux, Geekie, Tkachuk

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Earlier this weekend, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported in his latest 32 Thoughts column that the Senators and Claude Giroux were battling over the bonus structure of his next deal.  However, Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch adds that at this point, the base salary is still being worked on as well, with the belief that Giroux’s camp is looking for a salary around teammate David Perron’s $4MM; Ottawa is coming in below that.  As long as the 37-year-old signs a one-year contract, Giroux is eligible for performance incentives, including games played, points, and team playoff success.  While his days of being a top-line option are long gone, Giroux still projects as one of the better options available in free agency coming off a 50-point season.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic:

  • Bruins forward Morgan Geekie told Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe that discussions on a new contract have been “pretty preliminary” so far. The 26-year-old was non-tendered the last time he was a pending restricted free agent, signing a two-year, $4MM deal with Boston that proved to be quite a bargain.  Geekie had 39 points in 2023-24 and then followed that up with a 33-goal, 57-point effort this season.  That could push his price tag past the $5MM mark on a multi-year deal this time around.  He’s arbitration-eligible but with hearings generally running from July 20 to August 4, it’s possible that Boston’s plan is to simply let him file for arbitration late next week and then start to have more substantive discussions on a new agreement at that time.
  • After playing through a torn adductor muscle for the entire postseason, Panthers winger Matthew Tkachuk told reporters including Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald that he is 50-50 in terms of whether he’ll need surgery or not. He will take the next few weeks to let the injury heal on its own and then see if he’ll need to go under the knife.  If surgery is needed, it could put Tkachuk’s availability for the start of next season in question.  Despite the injury, he still managed to produce a point per game in Florida’s 23 playoff contests.

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