Blues Won’t Retain Assistant Coaches Claude Julien, Mike Weber
The Blues will not renew the contracts of assistant coaches Claude Julien and Mike Weber, per a team announcement Friday.
Neither was hired under the current head coach, Jim Montgomery, who was brought in early in the 2024-25 campaign. The Blues obviously weren’t keen on making any coaching changes are taking the President’s Trophy-winning Jets to the brink in the first round last year, but a playoff miss this year understandably has them re-evaluating their staff.
Now, they’ll give Montgomery the chance to bring in his own hires. Julien, a veteran head coach in his own right, joined the Blues in a scouting role back in 2022 and was added to the bench ahead of the 2024-25 season as a veteran complement to fresh-faced head coach Drew Bannister, who St. Louis quickly moved on from once Montgomery became available. When Julien stepped back behind the bench at the beginning of last season, it was his first non-international coaching duties since being fired by the Canadiens in February 2021.
Julien is now 65 years old. He’d actually never been an assistant coach at the NHL level up to this point and was last an assistant at any level with the QMJHL’s Hull Olympiques in 1996. He’s coached parts of 19 seasons as a head man with the Habs, Bruins, and Devils, winning a Stanley Cup with Boston in 2011 and an Eastern Conference title in 2013, along with Coach of the Year honors with them in 2009. He has a lifetime record of 667-445-162 (.587), ranking 16th all time in wins and tied for 19th all time in games coached with 1,274. Retirement wouldn’t be a surprising outcome.
As for Weber, this was the former Sabres and Capitals defenseman’s first NHL coaching job. He was hired back in 2023 under Craig Berube – two head coaches ago – after spending the prior three seasons as an assistant in Buffalo’s organization with AHL Rochester.
Maple Leafs Reassign Easton Cowan
As other teams have done in the past few days, the Maple Leafs reassigned their end-of-season call-ups back to the AHL to aid in their affiliate’s playoff run. Joining that contingent for Toronto will be rookie Easton Cowan. He was briefly assigned to the Marlies at the trade deadline to make him eligible for Calder Cup participation. He’ll be flanked by forwards Luke Haymes, Jacob Quillan, and Ryan Tverberg, defenseman William Villeneuve, and goaltender Artur Akhtyamov as part of today’s reassignments, the team announced.
Cowan will be quite the high-powered reinforcement. The 2023 first-round pick has only played twice for the Marlies in the regular season, recording an assist way back at the beginning of the schedule as the Leafs needed to do some roster shuffling to get him back up to the NHL full-time.
But since Nov. 14, Cowan has been a Maple Leaf, not a Marlie, aside from that paper demotion on deadline day. The 28th overall selection finished his rookie season with 11 goals and 18 assists for 29 points in 66 games with a -5 rating. He spent the year bouncing up and down the Leafs’ struggling forward core but got a lengthy run in the top six to end the year after Auston Matthews‘ injury, skating on the left side of a top line with John Tavares and William Nylander.
A natural center, he can play all three forward positions. His possession numbers this season weren’t ideal – a Corsi share of just 45.7% at even strength – but the same could be said for virtually every other Leaf.
The other five had all been recalled in the days and weeks following the trade deadline as the selling Leafs wanted to get some fresh faces in the rotation down the stretch. None of them jumped out in a notable way, though. Quillan was the only one to receive a real look this year, suiting up 23 times, but was limited to a 1-2–3 scoring line while going 42% on faceoffs. His two hits per game ranked sixth on the team (min. 10 GP) and were the most impactful feature he brought to the table as his possession play struggled.
Haymes, Tverberg, and Villeneuve all combined for one assist in nine games, belonging to Haymes, as they each got a few reps down the stretch. Akhtyamov started two of the Leafs’ final four games with Anthony Stolarz sidelined and allowed 11 goals on 76 shots for a .855 SV% in a pair of losses. Including a relief appearance back on Dec. 13, Akhtyamov conceded 0.6 goals above expected through his first three career outings, per MoneyPuck.
Stars Sign Nils Lundkvist To Two-Year Extension
The Stars announced that they’ve signed defenseman Nils Lundkvist to a two-year extension worth $1.75MM annually. That’s a total value of $3.5MM for the righty, who could have gone to arbitration this summer.
Lundkvist, 25, just wrapped up his fourth regular season in Dallas. The offensive-minded Swede was the 28th overall pick by the Rangers back in 2018. After finally coming over from Luleå in the Swedish Hockey League three years later, he had a rocky first season in New York that saw him split time between the NHL and AHL without having great results in either. Without a clear path to a full-time NHL job, Lundkvist quickly requested a trade and ended up in Dallas for his second NHL season.
Lundkvist got his wish and has remained in the Stars’ NHL rotation ever since, albeit in a depth role. His development has been a slow burn, routinely getting long looks in regular-season action before falling out of the picture come playoff time. While Dallas has now made the playoffs all four seasons during Lundkvist’s tenure, he didn’t log a single appearance for them in either the 2023 or 2025 postseason, although the latter was due to shoulder surgery.
However, as team radio analyst Bruce LeVine relays, the organization is extremely pleased with Lundkvist’s work this season. He hasn’t been a healthy scratch at any point – his 52 games played on the year were the result of missing time with a lower-body injury early in the season – and put up 11 points with a +12 rating while averaging a career-high 16:29 per game. He’s far from a physical threat and doesn’t factor in on either special teams unit, but he’s used his great skating acumen to work his way up the even-strength depth chart.
Lundkvist actually spent most of this season on the club’s second pairing with Thomas Harley, playing as their #2 right-side D-man with Miro Heiskanen on his offside on the top pairing. Trade deadline pickup Tyler Myers has slotted in behind Lundkvist at even strength. In over 500 minutes together, Harley and Lundkvist controlled 52.9% of expected goals and outscored opponents 27-17. Among pairings with at least 500 minutes together, Harley and Lundkvist ranked fifth in 5-on-5 goal share at 61.4%, per MoneyPuck.
Even if the Stars aren’t getting much point production out of him due to a lack of power-play time, he’s proven to be a valuable complement at even strength to help advance the play to their forwards. At a sub-$2MM cap hit, they’ll be getting spectacular value out of Lundkvist for the next two seasons if he can keep that up.
That’s important, as the Stars’ cap situation is in a tough spot for the second offseason in a row. With Lundkvist’s deal registered, they’re down to $13.19MM in projected space with four roster spots to fill, per PuckPedia. Virtually all of that will need to go to pending RFA and leading scorer Jason Robertson, who’s projected to cost nearly $12MM annually on an eight-year extension, according to AFP Analytics.
That’ll leave space for just one more contract as things stand – likely a bridge deal for Mavrik Bourque. However, he’s arbitration-eligible, so lowballing him from the jump comes with significant risk. Even still, that leaves Dallas with next to no flexibility to start the season, and they wouldn’t be able to carry a full roster. It’s likely that at least one cap-clearing move – likely ridding themselves of #7 defender Ilya Lyubushkin‘s $3.25MM cap charge – will be incoming.
Image courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images.
Maple Leafs Interviewing Mats Sundin For Hockey Operations Role
The Maple Leafs will be interviewing Mats Sundin, the franchise’s all-time leading scorer, for a role in their hockey operations department as soon as today, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. It doesn’t appear he’s being considered for either Toronto’s general manager or the president of hockey operations vacancy. However, he could be brought on board in an advisory role, “or something along those lines,” Friedman writes.
Sundin hasn’t been technically affiliated with the Leafs since the penultimate season of his playing career in 2007-08. An unrestricted free agent the following summer, he took several weeks into the 2008-09 season to decide on his future before ultimately signing a one-year deal with the Canucks. He retired the following offseason.
Since then, Sundin’s management resume has only gained some footnotes. He has no club experience in the front office and has only worked with Sweden’s men’s national team as a consultant on two occasions – first for the 2013 World Championship and again for the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. That 2013 team, led by the Sedin twins, an in-his-prime Loui Eriksson, and a young Gabriel Landeskog, landed Sweden its first gold medal at the tournament in seven years.
Sundin’s franchise records could stand for a while yet, pending Auston Matthews‘ long-term future in Toronto. The first-ballot Hall-of-Fame center and one of the NHL’s 100 all-time greatest players according to their centennial list in 2017, he was the first European ever to go first overall in the draft when the Nordiques selected him in 1989. He ended up in Toronto five years later in a blockbuster deal and, over the next 13 years, put up 420 goals, 567 assists, and 987 points in 981 games in a Leafs sweater. A perennial All-Star, Matthews has passed him in the goals department but still has 207 points to go before taking that crown away from him.
Teams taking this path to get a well-respected player but inexperienced executive into higher-leverage front office roles is becoming more commonplace. The Blues laid out their succession plan for outgoing GM Doug Armstrong several years ago, appointing Alexander Steen as a special assistant under Armstrong in 2024 with him scheduled to replace him in the GM’s chair this offseason. There’s a real chance an initial advisory role for Sundin could lead to something bigger in a few years, if he’s open to it.
Image courtesy of Per Haljestam-Imagn Images.
Canucks Fire Patrik Allvin
The Canucks have relieved general manager Patrik Allvin of his duties, per a team announcement. Darren Dreger of TSN was first on it this morning after Thomas Ros of Sweden’s Aftonbladet said overnight that the Canucks made the decision around last night’s season finale to let him go.
For now, that’s the only change. The futures of first-year head coach Adam Foote and president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford are also up in the air after a woeful season in Vancouver finally came to an end last night with a 6-1 loss to the Oilers. Vancouver’s 25-49-8 record left them as the worst in the NHL by a 14-point margin, with their .354 points percentage serving as the franchise’s worst result since the 1998-99 campaign that rewarded them with the assets to draft franchise cornerstones Daniel Sedin and Henrik Sedin.
Ideally, the trials of this season will yield another franchise forward for the Canucks – whether that’s Gavin McKenna or another Swede in Ivar Stenberg. However, Allvin won’t be the one entrusted to steer the team through the early stages of that next era.
Allvin just finished his fourth full season in the GM’s chair in Vancouver and fifth overall. After Rutherford was hired as POHO midway through the 2021-22 season in the wake of Jim Benning‘s firing, he served as interim GM for a few weeks before eventually hiring Allvin to fill the role. The duo had worked together previously with the Penguins, where Allvin had served as director of various scouting departments from 2012 to 2021 before being promoted to assistant GM.
Since Allvin’s appointment on Jan. 26, 2022, the Canucks have a record of 173-150-45 (.531). That’s 23rd out of 33 NHL franchises (the Coyotes are tracked separately from the Mammoth) during that time.
The tinge of disappointment in Allvin and Rutherford’s tenure will be most felt by a roller-coaster graph in team success. A rebuild that failed to get off the ground in several years under Benning finally seemed to do so under Allvin’s direction in 2023-24. After hiring a new bench boss in Rick Tocchet and largely staying the course with his group, the Canucks exploded for a 50-win, 109-point season and their first division title in 11 years. That also yielded just their third playoff berth in that span, driving the eventual conference champion Oilers to seven games in the second round despite injuries forcing them to ice third-string goaltender Arturs Silovs from Game 4 of the first round onward.
Yet the Canucks have been in a free fall ever since. They failed to retain multiple key unrestricted free agents the following offseason, and while they netted some solid depth replacements like Jake DeBrusk, the team couldn’t recover. Their All-Star starter, Thatcher Demko, being limited to 43 starts over the last two seasons certainly didn’t help matters, but a slow degradation in their defensive structure – followed by a full-blown collapse once they failed to work out an extension with Tocchet and let him go following the 2024-25 season – destroyed any hope of being able to compensate for Demko’s absence.
In Tocchet’s second and final season, the team was salvageable. The loss of finishing talent in free agency was felt in an already defense-heavy system, but improved goaltending could have steered the Canucks back toward the playoff picture. Under Foote, though, a roster that was designed for Tocchet’s defense-first system imploded. The team allowed the most goals per game (3.83) by a wide margin, had the league’s worst penalty kill at 71.5%, and the second-most expected goals against per 60 at 5-on-5 at 2.80, per MoneyPuck.
Despite acquiring several young assets when the team was essentially forced into trading franchise defender Quinn Hughes to the Wild amid this season’s free-fall, Allvin’s middle-of-the-road drafting has only left the Canucks with a league-average prospect pool, Scott Wheeler of The Athletic opines. That will obviously get a jumpstart with the best odds at the first overall pick this June, plus three other selections they’ve accumulated through the first two rounds, but there’s still some work for Allvin’s successor to do before exiting their retool becomes a viable strategy.
As for who that successor might be, there’s a strong feeling it could be an internal promotion. The Canucks have denied other teams permission to speak to their assistant/AHL GM, longtime NHL center Ryan Johnson. He’s been with the organization since 2013, first as a development coach, before working his way up the ladder over the next decade-plus.
Panthers Reassign Six To AHL
The injury-plagued Panthers sent significant reinforcements back to their AHL affiliate in Charlotte last night after their season came to an end with an 8-1 win over the Red Wings on Wednesday. Per the AHL’s transactions log, the Cats reassigned forward Wilmer Skoog and defensemen Marek Alscher, Michael Benning, Tobias Björnfot, Mikulas Hovorka, and Ludvig Jansson to the Checkers as they prep for the Calder Cup Playoffs.
Most of these names has only been summoned in the last few days as even more injuries piled up in Sunrise, although Benning and Björnfot were around for longer. The former potted his first two career NHL goals against Detroit en route to being named the first star of the game in his season finale.
In a Panthers pool light on prospects, Benning is among the more intriguing. A fourth-round pick in 2020, he was a dominant offensive threat over three years at the University of Denver. He hasn’t quite had the point output expected of him since turning pro, meaning he didn’t get an NHL look until late in his third season in the organization. Recalled back on March 12 in the wake of an Uvis Balinskis injury, Benning played in 18 straight to end the season and recorded a 2-4–6 scoring line with a -4 rating.
Benning, 24, may have done enough to work himself into the conversation for a roster spot in the fall if the high-spending Panthers need somebody cheap. All six of their regulars on the blue line when healthy are signed through next year, plus likely #7 Donovan Sebrango is under team control as a restricted free agent, so the math isn’t in his favor. His underlying numbers over the last few weeks were strong enough to cement him as one of the Cats’ primary recall options, though.
While he only laid the body four times (the 5’9″ righty will never be mistaken for an imposing defensive threat), Florida controlled 52.1% of shot attempts and 49.4% of expected goals with him on the ice at even strength. He surprisingly didn’t receive a very long look on the power play, only averaging 16:54 of ice time per game in total, but didn’t receive sheltered deployment in those conservative minutes.
Björnfot, a pending restricted free agent with arbitration rights, could also be retained with a qualifying offer to give the Cats a more experienced recall option to lean on. The former Kings first-rounder is now 25 years old with 153 games of NHL experience, 19 of which came this season. That was his highest workload since appearing in a career-high 70 games with L.A. in the 2021-22 campaign.
A good skater with some positioning lapses, the defensive-minded Björnfot recorded four points, a +1 rating, 23 blocks, and 14 hits for the Cats this year while skating 14:11 per night. His possession impacts weren’t great – a relative Corsi share of -2.6% at even strength and an expected goals share of 43.9% – so Florida may want to think twice about giving him another look down the line over someone like Benning. Björnfot also carries a tad more excess in his role as a lefty – just like five of Florida’s seven projected regulars heading into next season.
The rest of the list only just made their NHL debuts this month as Florida’s entire defense corps and about half its forward group ended up on the injured list by the time Game 82 rolled around. Skoog, 26, is a pending RFA after signing as an undrafted free agent out of Boston College in 2023.
Amid a strong AHL showing this season that’s seen him produce 18 goals and 37 points in 59 games for Charlotte, the Swedish forward didn’t look out of place on a line with Jesper Boqvist and Cole Schwindt while handling a couple of special teams shifts as well. He saw 15:01 of average ice time across three nights with a pair of assists, four shots on goal, five blocks, and two hits. That trio of Skoog, Boqvist, and Schwindt also controlled an excellent 70.6% of expected goals in the two games they were matched together, per MoneyPuck.
Alscher was a third-round choice in 2022 but is Florida’s top defense prospect if you deem Benning too old to qualify, as Scott Wheeler of The Athletic writes. The 22-year-old is tracking nicely toward a career as a potential press-box/bottom pairing piece with a standout defensive performance as a second-year pro in Charlotte, logging 11 points and a +18 rating in 51 games. The Czech lefty brings great size at 6’3″ and 205 lbs and got a real look over the last few games, posting three assists, and a +4 rating, and six blocks in four outings while seeing over 20 minutes per night.
The even larger Hovorka (6’6″, 229 lbs) didn’t quite have the same impact. A 24-year-old undrafted free agent pickup from Czechia’s HC Motor Ceske Budejovice in 2024, he’s had success akin to Alscher’s in Charlotte this season but is a couple of years ahead of him on the development curve. He’s now a pending RFA whom Florida must decide whether to qualify. Through his first four NHL outings, Hovorka managed an assist with a -1 rating while averaging 14:55 per night. His possession numbers were particularly underwhelming for his sheltered usage, so if he’s retained for next season, it’ll likely be solely as depth for Charlotte.
Jansson, 22, was selected one round after Alscher four years ago. The 6’0″, 181-lb righty is in his first season stateside. He’s been limited to 29 games with Charlotte by injuries, but hasn’t looked bad at all with a 3-7–10 scoring line and a +1 rating. He notched an assist and a +1 rating with five blocks through his first four NHL games this month.
NHL Releases 2026 First Round Schedule
After last night’s results locked in the two Western Conference playoff series that had yet to be decided, the NHL announced the full schedule matrix for the first round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs after releasing select Game 1 information earlier in the day. Things will kick off Saturday afternoon, with only Friday serving as an off day between the regular and postseason.
Here’s the full day-by-day schedule for the first round, with game times in Central and TV/streaming information in the United States:
Saturday, April 18
2:00 p.m.: Senators at Hurricanes, Game 1 (ESPN)
4:30 p.m.: Wild at Stars, Game 1 (ESPN)
7:00 p.m.: Flyers at Penguins, Game 1 (ESPN)
Sunday, April 19
2:00 p.m.: Kings at Avalanche, Game 1 (TNT, truTV, HBO Max)
4:45 p.m.: Canadiens at Lightning, Game 1 (TNT, truTV, HBO Max)
6:30 p.m.: Bruins at Sabres, Game 1 (ESPN)
9:00 p.m.: Mammoth at Golden Knights, Game 1 (ESPN)
Monday, April 20
6:00 p.m.: Flyers at Penguins, Game 2 (ESPN)
6:30 p.m.: Senators at Hurricanes, Game 2 (ESPN2)
8:30 p.m.: Wild at Stars, Game 2 (ESPN)
9:00 p.m.: Ducks at Oilers, Game 1 (ESPN2)
Tuesday, April 21
6:00 p.m.: Canadiens at Lightning, Game 2 (ESPN2)
6:30 p.m.: Bruins at Sabres, Game 2 (ESPN)
9:00 p.m.: Kings at Avalanche, Game 2 (ESPN)
Wednesday, April 22
6:00 p.m.: Penguins at Flyers, Game 3 (ESPN)
8:30 p.m.: Stars at Wild, Game 3 (TNT, truTV, HBO Max)
9:00 p.m.: Ducks at Oilers, Game 2 (TBS, HBO Max)
Thursday, April 23
6:00 p.m.: Sabres at Bruins, Game 3 (TNT, truTV, HBO Max)
6:30 p.m.: Hurricanes at Senators, Game 3 (TBS, HBO Max)
9:00 p.m.: Avalanche at Kings, Game 3 (TNT, truTV, HBO Max)
Friday, April 24
6:00 p.m.: Lightning at Canadiens, Game 3 (TNT, truTV, HBO Max)
9:00 p.m.: Oilers at Ducks, Game 3 (TNT, truTV, HBO Max)
Saturday, April 25
2:00 p.m.: Senators at Hurricanes, Game 4 (TBS, truTV, HBO Max)
4:30 p.m.: Stars at Wild, Game 4 (TBS, truTV, HBO Max)
7:00 p.m.: Penguins at Flyers, Game 4 (TBS, truTV, HBO Max)
Sunday, April 26
1:00 p.m.: Sabres at Bruins, Game 4 (TNT, truTV, HBO Max)
3:30 p.m.: Avalanche at Kings, Game 4 (TNT, truTV, HBO Max)
6:00 p.m.: Lightning at Canadiens, Game 4 (ESPN)
8:30 p.m.: Oilers at Ducks, Game 4 (ESPN)
Times for Games 5-7 TBD
Monday, April 27
Senators at Hurricanes, Game 5
Flyers at Penguins, Game 5
Golden Knights at Mammoth, Game 4 (ESPN)
Tuesday, April 28
Bruins at Sabres, Game 5
Wild at Stars, Game 5
Ducks at Oilers, Game 5
Wednesday, April 29
Canadiens at Lightning, Game 5
Penguins at Flyers, Game 6
Kings at Avalanche, Game 5
Mammoth at Golden Knights, Game 5
Thursday, April 30
Hurricanes at Senators, Game 6
Stars at Wild, Game 6
Oilers at Ducks, Game 6
Friday, May 1
Sabres at Bruins, Game 6
Lightning at Canadiens, Game 6
Avalanche at Kings, Game 6
Golden Knights at Mammoth, Game 6
Saturday, May 2
Senators at Hurricanes, Game 7
Flyers at Penguins, Game 7
Wild at Stars, Game 7
Ducks at Oilers, Game 7
Sunday, May 3
Bruins at Sabres, Game 7
Canadiens at Lightning, Game 7
Kings at Avalanche, Game 7
Mammoth at Golden Knights, Game 7
Snapshots: Mammoth, Avalanche, Omark
Ahead of tonight’s game against St. Louis, the Utah Mammoth shared that both Dylan Guenther and Sean Durzi wouldn’t play. Guenther has been held out for undisclosed reasons, while Durzi was categorized as having an upper-body injury.
Locked in for their first round matchup against Vegas, the first in their team’s history, Utah has no reason to take any chances in an inconsequential game 82 tonight. The dynamic young team will present a real challenge against the Golden Knights, who’ve found their stride under new head coach John Tortorella.
Guenther, 23, broke out this year with a team-leading 40 goals. Tonight marks just the third game he’s missed all year, and he should be all set for the postseason in his spot as a top winger, which will be his postseason debut.
On the other hand, Durzi left against Winnipeg last Tuesday after playing 9:46. Losing time back in the fall from an IR stint stemming from an upper-body issue, he’s played in 60 games this year, averaging 19:16 a night, a dip from previous years. It’s unknown what his status will be for Game 1, but the 27-year-old will be eager to return to the playoffs for the first time since his time as a Los Angeles King three years ago.
Elsewhere across the league:
- Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar told reporters, including Meghan Angley of Guerilla Sports, that he expects the team to be fully healthy for the playoffs. It’s great news for the soon-to-be Presidents’ Trophy winners. A number of notable players have been banged up lately; Brock Nelson, Nazem Kadri, Josh Manson with various injuries. However, the group is expected to be at full strength as they take the ice for Game 1, with their opponent and dates still to be officially determined.
- Former NHL forward Linus Omark has retired at age 39, confirmed in an interview posted by Expressen, a news outlet in his native Sweden. Selected in the fourth round by Edmonton in the 2007 draft, Omark debuted with the club in the 2010-11 season, and last played with the Buffalo Sabres in February 2014. The winger’s NHL career was limited, 32 points in 79 games, but he’s still a memorable name, with his highlights making the rounds across the internet years ago and still worth a watch. Omark emerged as an electric prospect for the Oilers, and quickly caught the attention of the league with a one-of-a-kind shootout winning goal, in his NHL debut no less, which went viral and can still be seen on the NHL’s Youtube. Despite his incredible skills, Omark offered not enough defensive capabilities, nor strength, to solidify himself as an NHLer. Playing in a middle-ground era of the NHL also did no favors. Even though it didn’t work in North America, he went on to have a tremendous career overseas, as a top scorer in the KHL with Ufa Salavat Yulayev from 2015-2020. The veteran won a gold medal at the 2017 IIHF World Championships, and recorded seven assists in four games at the 2018 Olympic Games. In 2025 he helped his hometown club Luleå HF take home their first Swedish Hockey League title in 29 years. Omark wrapped up his final season with Luleå putting up 16 points in 29 games.
Red Wings Sign John Leonard To One-Year Extension
The Detroit Red Wings announced that forward John Leonard has inked a one-year contract extension worth $850k, as he’ll avoid unrestricted free agency this summer.
A 27-year-old with 81 NHL games under his belt, the news won’t do much to ease tension within Detroit’s fan base, after another season short of the postseason, which ended with a surprising 8-1 defeat last night. Regardless, Leonard’s scoring touch has played a huge part in their AHL club, the Grand Rapids Griffins’ spectacular campaign, where they’ve posted a 50-15-4 record, good for second behind the Providence Bruins.
Selected in the sixth round by the Sharks in 2018, Leonard was quickly injected into the San Jose lineup right out of college, playing 44 games in his first professional season six years ago. A top collegiate scorer and Hobey Baker finalist with the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, expectations were high. The hope was that the club had snagged a draft steal to supplement a core still in the Logan Couture/Brent Burns era.
Understandably unable to make much offensive impact as a raw rookie receiving limited ice time, Leonard still posted a respectable 48.1% corsi for at five-on-five. That number fell drastically the next year, and as a result, the New Jersey native spent more time in the AHL.
Catching on with the Nashville Predators organization in 2022, Leonard spent most of that campaign with the Milwaukee Admirals, ranking second in team scoring with 44 points in 67 games. He then made stops with the Coyotes, as well as the Charlotte Checkers, breaking out with an eye-popping 36 goals in 72 AHL games with the Checkers in 2024-25, tied for second in the league that year.
The efforts caught the attention of the Red Wings last summer, who quickly scooped him up on July 1 with a one-year contract worth $775k. Leonard has made the most of his presence in Grand Rapids, further solidifying himself as an elite AHLer, where he buried 32 goals in just 46 games, fourth best in the league despite his counterparts playing as many as 20 games more.
First called up in mid-December, Leonard quickly provided a spark with four points in his first six games as a Wing. A role catered to his offensive skill set was harder to find with the roster at full health however, and he was held off the score sheet in his five remaining games with the big club this season.
With veteran forwards James Van Riemsdyk and David Perron‘s contracts set to expire, Leonard should have an opportunity to hold down a full-time NHL role next fall. Even if it’s not meant to be, the winger will continue to be a huge piece in Grand Rapids, capable of spot-call-up duty whenever needed.
Devils Name Sunny Mehta General Manager
This evening the New Jersey Devils shared that Sunny Mehta has been named their new general manager, sixth in franchise history, replacing Tom Fitzgerald.
Mehta, 48, had been serving as Assistant General Manager and Director of Analytics for the Florida Panthers since 2023, helping lead them to a level of unprecedented success with back-to-back Stanley Cups. He returns to Newark, the first NHL job of his career, where he’d been from 2014-2018 as Director of Hockey Analytics.
Having grown up in Wyckoff, New Jersey as a young Devils fan, Mehta’s path to leading an NHL franchise is a fascinating one. An analytics wizard, he did play the game, a varsity skater for Ramapo High School in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey. Still, it’s quite different from the previous GM Fitzgerald, and his over 1,000 NHL appearances.
After the long-standing Lou Lamoriello era, which spanned across four different decades (1987-2015), New Jersey experienced more change in their front office than usual, with Ray Shero and Fitzgerald both coming and going since. Now Mehta is back into the fold, bridging the gap having worked with the team back in an entirely different era, where he’ll hope to clean up an impressive roster which has some flaws.
With his playing career over after high school, Mehta attended the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music, studying Jazz Guitar and graduating in 2000. He became a professional musician, also a successful poker player who co-authored successful books on strategy within the card game. Eventually obtaining his Master’s in Data Science from City University of New York, needless to say, Mehta’s background is fully evident of a departure from typical within the National Hockey League.
Guitar or cards aside, Mehta’s hockey resume speaks for itself. Still under age 50, he is a two-time Stanley Cup Champion, spearheading the first full-time analytics department in the NHL. If there’s any doubt on his ability to evaluate talent, Mehta’s input helped New Jersey land one of the biggest draft steals in recent memory. His model ranked Jesper Bratt as third in the 2016 draft, behind just Auston Matthews and Patrik Laine, the top two picks that year. If anyone shrugged off the analytical guru at the draft table a decade ago, Mehta has the last laugh, as New Jersey eventually heeded his advice, choosing the Swedish winger in the sixth round. Since then, he’s blossomed into a top scorer for the Devils, currently ranking fifth in total points out of 2016 draftees, not bad for 162nd overall.
Moving on to Florida, where he worked alongside general manager Bill Zito, Mehta has received much praise for his impact. Florida’s ability to assemble a perfectly-structured team with a number of savvy moves brought them a level of success nobody could have anticipated a decade ago. Earlier this month, Mehta was outlined in an article by TSN’s Mark Masters, where Panther Mackie Samoskevich said “Everything he touches turns to gold”.
Along with a reunion with a prospect he sought out, Mehta inherits a roster which is mostly intact, for better or for worse. Across their entire forward core, only Evgenii Dadonov and Zack MacEwen are pending unrestricted free agents, neither of whom made an impact this year. It’s much the same on the back end, with only Dennis Cholowski having an expiring contract. In net, Jacob Markström and Jake Allen are locked up for the foreseeable future. The former had his worst professional season in a decade, but the hope will be that the towering Swede can turn it around somehow, although he’s now 36 years old.
The situation presents an intriguing challenge for Mehta, who must shake things up after a disappointing campaign, where his Devils came out hot but fell flat after a series of unfortunate events. None of which were more vexing than top scorer Jack Hughes‘ freak hand injury which happened in a restaurant and cost him 25% of the season. There’s little need for some huge free agent spending spree, nor a massive retool, as few teams offer a one-two punch down the middle as young and formidable as the Devils between Hughes and Nico Hischier.
Mehta’s work will be cut out for him in fixing Fitzgerald’s attempts to supplement the young core, which made sense at the time, but proved futile. Finding a way to move on from at least one of Dougie Hamilton and Timo Meier could be the first order of business, but it’s not an ideal scenario given their trade protection and contracts which are worth $9MM and $8.8MM, respectively. Hamilton was most recently linked to Utah, back in February, as there’s always a market for a tall righty with high offensive abilities, contract aside.
He’ll also have the opportunity to consider a change behind the bench, as head coach Sheldon Keefe‘s future seems to be up in the air. However, the 33-year-old has a modern approach to the game which has parallels to Mehta’s mindset, and Keefe deserves some leniency from a year so lost to injury.
With their season coming to an end back on Tuesday, Mehta will get right to work, with the 2026 draft just over a month away. As of now, he’s projected to have the 11th overall pick, which could shift slightly after tonight’s final games, or if he is dealt a favorable hand at the draft lottery on May 5.