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Jets’ Rasmus Kupari Signs Two-Year Deal With Switzerland’s HC Lugano

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Jets pending RFA center Rasmus Kupari has agreed to terms on a two-year deal with HC Lugano of Switzerland’s National League, the club announced today. While Kupari obviously does not intend to return to the NHL next season, Winnipeg can still retain his signing rights through the 2026-27 season with a qualifying offer before the June 30 deadline.

Kupari, acquired from the Kings in 2023’s Pierre-Luc Dubois trade, was a regular on the Jets’ fourth line this year until the trade deadline. The acquisition of Brandon Tanev from the Kraken pushed him down the depth chart, plus concussion symptoms limited his availability for a good chunk of the remaining regular season. He was cleared to return for Game 2 of Winnipeg’s first-round series against the Blues but remained out of the lineup for the entirety of the postseason.

All told, the 25-year-old played 87 games for the Jets over the last two regular seasons combined. He was a frequent healthy scratch in the first year of his tenure, although he did miss nearly two months with a shoulder issue as well, leading to just 28 appearances that year.

A first-round pick by Los Angeles in 2018, Kupari has rarely been elevated out of a fourth-line role during his five NHL seasons and hasn’t sniffed his offensive ceiling as a result. He had a career-high 15 points in 66 games with the Kings in his final year there before the trade. After signing a two-year, $2MM contract with the Jets following his acquisition, Kupari mustered a 5-4–9 scoring line with a minus-six rating over the life of the deal while averaging just 9:54 of ice time per game.

What Kupari lacks in offensive production, he’s somewhat compensated for in other areas of his game. He’s averaged 97 hits per 82 games over his career, wins over 50% of his faceoffs, and had good possession metrics in heavy defensive deployment in 2024-25 (49.0 CF%, 50.0 xGF%, 76.1 dZS%) at even strength.

That’s not Kupari’s calling card, though. He’s flirted with the point per game mark in the AHL before and had 33 points in 43 games for Kärpät in Finland’s top league back in 2018-19 before coming over to North America. It’s sensible that he’d look for more opportunity than he’ll realistically land in Winnipeg or anywhere else in the NHL next season by heading back to Europe.

A two-year deal with Lugano will walk Kupari to unrestricted free agent status in the 2027 offseason unless the Jets reach a deal to bring him back to the NHL before July 1 of that year. He was owed a $1.1MM QO this summer, though, making him a legitimate non-tender candidate given his limited deployment.

Image courtesy of James Carey Lauder-Imagn Images.

Re-Examining The Conference Finalists’ Trade Deadline Acquisitions

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The trade deadline is always an interesting time to reflect on with the benefit of hindsight. Several massive trades were made leading up to it, including two trades involving star forward Mikko Rantanen. With the playoffs down to just two teams, and a bit of a break coming, an opportunity has presented itself to re-examine the deadline and look back at some winners and losers, some two months later.

Looking back at the biggest deal between the Dallas Stars and Carolina Hurricanes, it is interesting in retrospect, given that both teams lost in their respective Conference Finals. The deal involved Rantanen going to Dallas in return for Logan Stankoven, a 2026 first-round pick, a 2026 third-round pick, a 2027 third-round pick, and a 2028 first-round pick. Rantanen was later signed to an eight-year $96MM contract extension by the Stars, and now it looks like an absolute win for Dallas. Rantanen had come as advertised, posting nine goals and 13 assists in 18 games during the NHL Playoffs, with no games bigger than Game 7 of the first round when the 28-year-old had a hat trick to knock out his former team, Colorado. The trade for Rantanen solidified the Stars’ forward group. It gave them another high-impact forward to position them as a top Stanley Cup contender for the foreseeable future.

It’s hard to call Carolina a loser in the deal, given the haul that they got for Rantanen. Still, looking at their roster, they certainly lacked a gamebreaker in these playoffs and could have used Rantanen in the Conference Finals. Carolina fans will wonder what could have been had Rantanen stuck around. Still, Carolina probably did the right thing by recouping assets for Rantanen rather than letting him walk for nothing.

Dallas addressed other key areas at the Trade Deadline by acquiring forward Mikael Granlund and defenseman Cody Ceci from the San Jose Sharks for a first-round pick and a conditional third-round pick in 2025. Granlund provided some offense, but his skating was an issue at times against some of the quicker Edmonton Oilers players, and defensive issues have also been a problem. Granlund did have five goals and five assists in 18 games during the playoffs, but that is off the offensive pace he set in the regular season, and he has benefited from good deployment and a solid PDO.

Ceci, on the other hand, hasn’t been great, as his underlying numbers are arguably the worst of any of the Stars’ regulars. Ceci’s acquisition was a bit of a headscratcher at the time, but Dallas has used him heavily (probably too much) in the playoffs, playing him over 21 minutes a night. Ceci had three assists in 18 games, but to his credit, he had some of the most challenging assignments nightly, contributing to his poor analytics.

Ceci’s former team, the Edmonton Oilers, didn’t have the capabilities of making a big splash at the deadline. Still, they did make a handful of acquisitions that have solidified key positions in their march to the Stanley Cup Finals. The Oilers’ big moves were for forward Trent Frederic and defenseman Jake Walman.

Frederic was acquired to provide some sandpaper in the bottom six and chip in the occasional goal. It took a while for him to get going, thanks to a high ankle sprain, but he seemed to hit his stride in the second round against Vegas. Frederic hasn’t provided much offense, with just a goal and three assists in 16 playoff games, but he has been a physical threat anytime he’s on the ice, with 59 hits thus far. Frederic’s underlying numbers aren’t good, but he has been handed complex deployments and tough matchups as a member of the Oilers’ bottom six.

The Walman acquisition by Edmonton was a tidy piece of business, as the 29-year-old has helped stabilize the Oilers’ bottom pairing and has chipped in some offence as well. Walman has been given a very favourable deployment, which has allowed him to use his puck-moving ability and skating to contribute to Edmonton’s playoff success. Edmonton paid San Jose a steep price to acquire Walman, and while his results have been okay, it does feel like an overpay for what he brings.

The Florida Panthers were another team that was busy around the Trade Deadline, making a massive trade for defenseman Seth Jones on March 1st. The Panthers sent goaltender Spencer Knight and a conditional first-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft for Jones, who also came to Florida along with a fourth-round pick in 2026. Jones was dramatically overpaid in Chicago at $9.5MM annually, but with retained salary, is at a $7MM cap hit with Florida, which is much more in line with his play. Jones has been great since coming over to Florida, eating up a ton of minutes and providing above-average play in almost every aspect of the game. Jones struggled at times with the speed of the game, but has been an overwhelmingly positive presence for the Panthers; his acquisition has given Florida a very formidable defensive core that has brought them to a second straight Stanley Cup Final.

Jones wasn’t the only splash that Panthers general manager Bill Zito made at the Trade Deadline, as he also acquired forward Brad Marchand from the Boston Bruins. Marchand has been everything the Panthers were hoping he could be and more, playing a pivotal role in the series against the Toronto Maple Leafs with three goals and five assists in seven games. Marchand’s acquisition cost Florida a conditional second-round pick in 2027 that has now become a first-rounder. Still, given his impact, Florida would likely pay it again if given the choice.

Lastly, we look at the moves the now-eliminated Carolina Hurricanes made at the Trade Deadline. As part of the Rantanen trade, Carolina was able to acquire forward Taylor Hall, who is no longer a Hart Trophy contender but remains a good player. The 33-year-old was the first overall pick in 2010 and had a decent offensive season this year with 18 goals and 24 assists in a bounce-back year after he was injured for most of the previous season. While Hall was a good acquisition for Carolina, it wasn’t enough to move the needle, and ultimately, their lack of meaningful additions cost them, as they didn’t have the horses necessary to get by the Panthers.

Outside of the trades involving Hall and Rantanen, the Hurricanes’ acquisition of Stankoven was a tidy little move that should pay dividends long term, as the 22-year-old was a steady point producer down the stretch with five goals and four assists in 19 games with Carolina. Despite being undersized, the Kamloops, British Columbia native also had a good playoff showing, with five goals and three assists in 15 games and should be a key contributor for the Hurricanes for a long time. His presence won’t lessen the sting of not being able to keep Rantanen in Carolina, but the Hurricanes didn’t walk away empty-handed and will have some other pieces of that trade in the fold very soon.

All that being said, the lack of a game-breaker badly hurt the Hurricanes, and they may look back on the move to trade Rantanen with a bit of regret, given that they lacked that player who could take over a game in the Florida series. Carolina continues to struggle to overcome the hump that is the Eastern Conference and probably should have been more aggressive at the Deadline given the state of their roster and their position in their competitive window.

Carolina made one other move for depth center Mark Jankowski. The 30-year-old finished the regular season strong with eight goals in his final 19 games but was used sparingly in the playoffs as he dressed in just seven games and had a single point. His move offered some depth, but it just wasn’t what Carolina needed to take down the formidable Panthers.

Image courtesy of Perry Nelson-Imagn Images.

Offseason Checklist: Tampa Bay Lightning

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The offseason has arrived for all but two teams now with the playoffs nearing an end.  Accordingly, it’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months.  Next up is a look at Tampa Bay.

The Lightning have been consistently strong for more than a decade now and this season was no exception with a solid third-place finish in the Eastern Conference.  However, they were ousted in the first round of the playoffs for the third straight year.  GM Julien BriseBois now has some work to do to reshape his roster but with very limited salary cap flexibility, their checklist is focused more on the back half of the roster.

Clear Sheary’s Contract

Finding cap space has long been an issue for the Lightning and today’s six-year, $14MM extension given to Yanni Gourde only further cements that although it also took the biggest to-do item off the original version of this list.  Now, the team has less than $3.5MM in flexibility, per PuckPedia, the lowest amount of cap space of any team in the league.  With multiple roster spots to fill and a likely desire to keep at least a little bit of flexibility for in-season roster movement or injury insurance, they don’t have a lot of wiggle room to work with.

One thing that BriseBois could try to do to create a bit of spending space revolves around Conor Sheary.  Signed to a three-year, $6MM contract two years ago, that deal simply hasn’t worked out as planned.  After scoring just four goals in 57 games in his first season with the Lightning, the 32-year-old cleared waivers and spent all but five games this year with AHL Syracuse.  While he was better than a point per game player there, that’s not a great return on a $2MM AAV overall.

Sheary has one year left on his contract at that price tag and at this point, he feels like a speculative candidate to be sent back to the Crunch if he’s still on the roster come training camp.  Doing that would clear $1.15MM off their books.  When you consider that $775K of that (at a minimum) would need to be spent on a replacement player on the roster, that wouldn’t save them much.  Meanwhile, a buyout would cost $1MM this season and $500K in 2026-27.  Again, by the time you factor in a replacement player, the savings are minimal at best.  Trading with retention doesn’t open up a lot of room either.

However, if they could find a way to clear the contract outright, that would free up much more money, even accounting for a minimum-salaried replacement player.  Doing that would give the Lightning an extra $1.225MM in space.  They’d still have the lowest cap space in the league but at least a little more flexibility.  Of course, that would require parting with an asset on a team that’s not exactly flush with draft picks and prospects to get a team to take on that final year but with them being this limited cap-wise, it’s a move they’d be wise to make.

Find A Howard Trade

What a difference a few months can make sometimes.  In the case of prospect Isaac Howard, the difference was quite substantial.  A 2022 first-round pick, he didn’t get off to the best start to his college career but after transferring to Michigan State, things started looking up.  And then he found an entirely new gear offensively this season, notching 26 goals and 26 assists in just 37 games, good for fifth overall in Division I scoring, earning him the Hobey Baker Award along the way.  All season long, the expectation was that he’d wrap up his college career early and sign with the Lightning to play down the stretch and potentially in the playoffs.

However, as his college season came to an end, there was no contract in place for Howard.  Part of that was Tampa Bay’s cap situation as their deadline activity left it to the point where they’d only be able to sign him with a couple of days left in the season.  Before it got to that point, he indicated he’d be returning for his senior year, a move that few saw coming.  By the end of the playoffs, BriseBois all but confirmed that they won’t be able to sign Howard.

As a result, he instantly becomes Tampa Bay’s most prominent trade chip this offseason.  They don’t necessarily have to move him as in theory, he could have a change of heart over the next year although that doesn’t seem likely at this point.  They could also opt not to move him and accept the compensatory pick for not signing him, which would be the 31st pick of the second round in 2027 (63rd overall).  But that doesn’t seem like a fair return for one of the top players in the NCAA, making the possibility of a trade more likely.

Assuming that the acquiring team wants to get him to reverse his commitment to return for his senior year, that means that finding a trade this offseason makes the most sense.  The Lightning could go in any direction with a move – look for a piece that helps them now, a prospect closer to being NHL-ready that has plenty of team control, or even draft picks and unsigned prospects to keep or use as trade chips down the road.  Whichever one they pick, it feels like that move should be coming relatively soon.

Add Defensive Depth

Considering the dearth of right-shot defense options available in free agency this summer, it feels like close to a foregone conclusion that Nick Perbix is going to price himself out of what Tampa Bay can afford to pay him unless he takes less than market value or BriseBois is able to open up some flexibility somewhere.  That means at least one spot on the roster is up for grabs.

Internally, there are a couple of options for the Lightning.  Maxwell Crozier has seen a bit of NHL action the last couple of years and had a strong showing with Syracuse this season and could be in line for a more permanent promotion.  Alternatively, offseason signing Charle-Edouard D’Astous has had two strong years offensively overseas so it wouldn’t be surprising to see the 27-year-old get at least a look in training camp.

But that’s not a lot of depth to work with.  At a minimum, they’ll want to bring in a couple of veterans for the Crunch with some NHL experience in case injuries arise.  As things stand, both Derrick Pouliot and Steven Santini are set to become unrestricted free agents next month so they’ll need to be re-signed or replaced.  But finding a blueliner or two willing to sign for the league minimum with a shot at battling for a seventh spot on the roster would be their best option.

Upgrade Bottom Six Depth

One thing the Lightning have had to do in recent years is sign several veteran forwards on minimum-salary contracts.  It was borne out of necessity with their top-heavy spending and they did the best they could out of the players willing to take early deals at a $775K (or close) price tag.  Zemgus Girgensons, Luke Glendening, and Cam Atkinson are recent examples of those.  It’s likely they’ll try to get pending RFA Gage Goncalves signed in around that range as well.

While those players were all serviceable to varying degrees, there was a reason that Tampa Bay was often a two-line team with a third line that could chip in from time to time; the fourth line was largely there to try to play to a scoreless draw when they were on the ice.  It’s an easier said than done idea but upgrading on that level of talent on the open market would certainly help the cause.  In particular, finding some extra grit in one or two of those signings would probably be worthwhile.

BriseBois has tried to work early in free agency with these types of pickups.  While it would be riskier, waiting until closer to training camp when the asking prices of some unsigned players might come down might be able to net them a better caliber of signing.  It’s picking at the margins here but with most of the heavy lifting done already, working on the margins might be all that’s realistically left for Tampa Bay in the coming weeks.

Photo courtesy of Nick King/Lansing State Journal.

Lightning Sign Ryan Fanti

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A strong showing in the minors this season has landed goaltender Ryan Fanti an NHL contract.  PuckPedia reports (Twitter link) that the Lightning have signed the netminder to a one-year, two-way deal.  The pact pays $775K at the NHL level and $80K in the minors.

The 25-year-old was originally an Oilers prospect after signing with them as an undrafted college free agent back in 2022.  However, he spent the bulk of his tenure with them at the ECHL level, leading to a non-tender last summer.  He eventually caught on with Tampa Bay on a minor-league deal with AHL Syracuse although he spent most of the season in ECHL Orlando, putting up a 2.71 GAA and a .907 SV% in 37 games.  Fanti impressed in limited action with the Crunch as well, posting a 1.33 GAA and a .950 SV% in six outings with them.

Fanti is now the fifth goaltender the Lightning have under contract next season.  Excluding the NHL tandem, he’ll be battling for playing time with the Crunch with veteran Brandon Halverson along with prospect Harrison Meneghin who just signed his entry-level deal a couple of weeks ago.  Matt Tomkins, who was the backup for the Crunch this season, is a pending unrestricted free agent and may not return.

West Notes: Robertson, Eklund, Ducks, Biro

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As a result of extensions handed out to Wyatt Johnston and Mikko Rantanen, the Stars enter the summer with less than $5MM in cap room, per PuckPedia, with several roster spots to fill.  Obviously, they’ll need to trim some salary somewhere but instead of looking to move some of their pricier role players, Daily Faceoff’s Jeff Marek posits the idea of moving Jason Robertson.  The 25-year-old has one year left on his contract with a $7.75MM cap hit and will be an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent next summer in line for a sizable raise.  While losing him would undoubtedly be a big hit to their roster as an 80-point player for three straight years now, it could also allow them to recoup some of the draft capital they moved out when they loaded up at the trade deadline and add some flexibility to round out their group this summer.

Elsewhere out West:

  • In his latest piece for NBC Sports Bay Area, Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now examines what a William Eklund extension could look like. The winger is eligible for a new deal as of July 1st and after a solid 58-point effort this season, the Sharks will likely want to see if an early agreement can be reached.  In terms of recent comparable long-term deals, he suggests Calgary’s Matthew Coronato (seven years, $6.5MM per season) and Utah’s Dylan Guenther (eight years, $7.14MM per year) could stand as a reasonable starting point in discussions.
  • While the Ducks have a pair of restricted free agents that are popular speculative offer sheet candidates in Mason McTavish and Lukas Dostal, Derek Lee of The Hockey News explains why they shouldn’t be worried about it. With more than $38MM in cap space this summer per PuckPedia and increasingly high offer sheet thresholds, the price point where Anaheim might be inclined not to match a hypothetical offer sheet is likely much higher than any other team is willing to pay.
  • Pending Kraken UFA forward Brandon Biro is expected to sign with KHL Vityaz, relays Mikhail Zislis of Sport-Express. The 27-year-old signed with Seattle in free agency last summer after seeing just five NHL games with Buffalo.  However, Biro didn’t see any time at the top level this season, instead collecting just six goals and 28 assists in 54 games with AHL Coachella Valley.

Justin Poirier Commits To University Of Maine

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A high-scoring winger is headed to the NCAA’s Hockey East Conference. Earlier today, Mark Divver of the New England Hockey Journal reported that Carolina Hurricanes prospect Justin Poirier has committed to the University of Maine.

Being selected with the 156th overall pick of the 2024 NHL Draft, Poirier doesn’t carry the same pedigree as other Canadian junior talent moving to the NCAA. Still, if his tenure in the QMJHL is a sign of things to come, the Black Bears shouldn’t have any issue putting the puck in the net this season.

Poirier has been one of the premier goal-scorers since joining the Major Junior ranks in 2022-23 with the Baie-Comeau Drakkar. He’s scored 122 goals and 210 points in 181 games over the last three years, with another 22 goals and 36 points in 26 postseason contests.

Finishing first in goal-scoring in 2023-24 and fourth in 2024-25 shows that Poirier’s goal-scoring prowess isn’t just a flash in the pan. He’ll make a positive offensive weapon for a stagnant men’s ice hockey program.

Maine is no longer the program that made it to back-to-back Frozen Four appearances in the late 2000s. They haven’t been able to keep pace in a difficult Hockey East Division and have only qualified for the National Tournament twice in the last 15 years.

West Notes: DeBoer, Brown, Caggiula

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A coaching controversy is brewing in Dallas. According to David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period, Dallas Stars players were displeased with Pete DeBoer’s coaching tactics during the Western Conference Final and his postgame remarks after Game 5.

Pagnotta correctly noted that DeBoer’s contract concludes after the 2025-26 NHL season, so it could be some time before they make a move on DeBoer’s future, assuming they turn their players’ feedback into actionable consequences. It seems that much of the frustration is stemming from DeBoer’s treatment of netminder Jake Oettinger, whom he unceremoniously pulled in Game 5 after allowing two goals on two shots.

DeBoer’s comments after the game did nothing to help. Chastising Oettinger to the media after being eliminated from the postseason, DeBoer said, “I didn’t blame it all on Jake, but the reality is if you go back to last year’s playoffs, he’s lost six of seven games to Edmonton. And we give up two goals on two shots in an elimination game. … That’s a pretty big sample size.” Whether DeBoer is correct in his assessment of Oettinger, it was not a professional comment to make publicly, and the Stars players are responding in kind.

Other notes from the Western Conference:

  • The Edmonton Oilers will have one of their depth forwards back for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final. Earlier today, Sportsnet’s Mark Spector passed along a note from Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch, indicating Connor Brown will return on Wednesday. Brown missed the last two games of the Western Conference Final (and much of Game 3) after being hit in the head by Stars defenseman Alexander Petrovic.
  • According to a team announcement, now-former Oiler forward Drake Caggiula has signed a one-year contract with the NL’s Lausanne HC. It’ll be the first time that Caggiula has played abroad in a professional setting. He spent much of the 2024-25 season with Edmonton’s AHL affiliate, the Bakersfield Condors, scoring 24 goals and 52 points in 62 games.

Marco Rossi’s Contract Demand Becoming A Roadblock

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Marco Rossi’s asking price for his next contract is quickly becoming an issue, and not only for the Minnesota Wild. Earlier today, in an article by Anthony Di Marco of Daily Faceoff, he indicates that teams aren’t interested in Rossi if his seven-year, $49MM extension demand remains.

Di Marco indicates that the Philadelphia Flyers had ’lukewarm’ interest in Rossi dating back to 2024. The discussions at that time centered on Morgan Frost, before he was traded in a separate deal to the Calgary Flames. According to a source, the Wild are interested in recently extended Tyson Foerster, along with one of the Flyers’ late first-round picks for the upcoming draft, originally belonging to the Colorado Avalanche and Edmonton Oilers.

Later on, in an article from Michael Russo of The Athletic, Minnesota General Manager Bill Guerin denied Di Marco’s report, saying, “I’ve talked to lots of teams about lots of players — not just Marco — and names come up all the time, but there’s never been any serious discussion with anybody yet.”

According to Russo’s report, the Wild have offered Rossi a five-year, $25MM extension and a shorter-term offer for an undisclosed amount. Regardless, there seems to be a clear disconnect between the team’s assessment of Rossi’s value and his own.

It is unlikely that Minnesota will meet Rossi’s asking price for an extension. The Wild gave the same contract to winger Matt Boldy, who scored 102 points on his entry-level contract, compared to Rossi’s 101. The sticking point is that Boldy did it in 60 fewer games played.

Still, Rossi could make a solid case for himself by comparing himself to Flames forward Matthew Coronato. Coronato signed a seven-year, $45.5MM extension with Calgary a few weeks ago, and he had 13 fewer points than Rossi this past season.

At this point in the negotiation, there doesn’t seem to be a bridgeable gap between Minnesota and Rossi, unless he opts for the shorter-term offer. Russo listed the Buffalo Sabres, Flames, Carolina Hurricanes, Montreal Canadiens, and Vancouver Canucks as suitable candidates should they pivot to trading their former ninth-overall selection.

Kraken Sign Ben Meyers To One-Year Extension

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The Seattle Kraken have announced a one-year extension for forward Ben Meyers. The contract will be one-way and carry a league-minimum salary of $775K. This deal is identical to Meyers’ last two contracts. He was previously set to expire as a Group-Six unrestricted free agent this season, with arbitration eligibility.

Meyers found a strong stride in the minor leagues this season. He led the AHL’s Coachella Valley Firebirds in scoring with 51 points in 57 games – a hardy improvement over the 25 points he scored in 32 games last season. Meyers also appeared in eight games with Seattle this year, but didn’t record any scoring. The stint with the Kraken nonetheless continued his search for a hardy NHL role, which has spanned three clubs and four seasons. He signed his first pro deal with the Colorado Avalanche at the end of the 2021-22 campaign, and joined the NHL ranks part-time in the 2022-23 season. But despite strong scoring in the minors – 24 points in 30 games – and 39 games at the NHL level, Meyers was only able to contribute four goals to the Avalanche’s effort.

Colorado continued to supply Meyers opportunity through 2023-24, but he wasn’t able to stick as more than a top-end minor-leaguer. That prompted a move to the Anaheim Ducks partway through the year, where he added two assists in 14 more NHL games. In total, Meyers has appeared in 75 NHL games through his career, but only managed eight points.

The winds could soon be shifting, though – evidenced by his starring role with the Firebirds this season. Seattle seems confident that he’ll be an impact player somewhere throughout the organization, and reward him with a one-way deal as a result. Next season will mark a chance for Meyers to return to the star role in Coachella Valley, and hopefully find his first score as a member of the Kraken.

Snapshots: Larionov, Rotenberg, Vellucci, Bjorklund

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Top Russian club SKA St. Petersburg announced on Monday that they’ve relieved head coach Roman Rotenberg of his duties, and hired Igor Larionov as an immediate replacement. The move concludes Rotenberg’s four-year tenure as SKA’s head coach, which began when he took over for Valeri Bragin partway through the 2021-22 season. It is currently unclear if Rotenberg will continue on in his role as SKA’s Vice Chairman, though it’d be hard to imagine the prolific Russian stepping down after 14 years in the club’s front office.

SKA has seemed to fall short in every single season as of late. They lost in the conference finals each year between 2021 and 2023, then followed it up with earlier exits in the last two years. St. Petersburg also finished seventh in the KHL’s Western Conference this season, despite tremendous performances from star youngsters Ivan Demidov and Alexander Nikishin, midseason acquisition Evgeny Kuznetsov, and top goalie prospect Yegor Zavragin. A seventh-place finish is SKA’s lowest since the 2008-09 season, when they finished eighth.

To curb that poor momentum, SKA will turn to Igor ’The Professor’ Larionov. The legendary Russian player served as SKA’s Director of Hockey Operations in 2008-09, but didn’t kick off his coaching career until he began supporting Russia’s U20 club in 2019-20. He moved to KHL club Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod in 2022-23, and has led the club to quaint finishes and conference quarterfinals exits in each of the last two seasons. Larionov was a true star in the NHL. He won three Stanley Cups across his 14-year career, and served as a gut-punch scorer on the Detroit Red Wings at the turn of the century. His career concluded with 644 points in 921 NHL games, sprinkled across tenures with five different clubs.

Other notes from across the league:

  • The Chicago Blackhawks have rounded out their coaching staff with the hire of Mike Vellucci into an assistant coach role. Vellucci has spent the last five seasons with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and served as an assistant on the gold-medal winning Team USA at this summer’s World Championship. He’s a seasoned-in name in the hockey world, having served as the general manager and head coach of the OHL’s Plymouth Whalers from 2001 to 2014, then pursuing an assistant GM and Director oh Hockey Operations role with the Carolina Hurricanes until 2019. Part of his time with Carolina also saw Vellucci serve two years as head coach of the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers, who he led to a Calder Cup championship in 2019. He also served one year as the GM and head coach of the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Vellucci should be another strong veteran voice to help guide Chicago’s young roster to a new era.
  • The Washington Capitals have signed AHL depth goaltender Garin Bjorklund to a one-year, two-way contract for next season. He will make a league-minimum $775K at the NHL level and $110K at the AHL level. Bjorklund spent the bulk of this season with the ECHL’s South Carolina Stingrays, where he posted a .927 save percentage and 21-4-1 record. Those marks stand as the sixth-highest save percentage and wins in the league, despite Bjorklund ranking 35th with 29 total appearances. It was a true breakout year for Bjorklund, capped off by a 2-0-0 record and .942 save percentage in the first two AHL games of his career. A new deal should give the 22-year-old a chance to gain footing in the AHL next season, and potentially eye the starter’s role should he be able to keep up the stonewall performances.

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