Predators Sign Aiden Fink To Entry-Level Deal
The Nashville Predators have signed 2023 seventh-round pick Aiden Fink to a three-year, entry-level contract. Fink began his pro career earlier in the month, signing an AHL tryout contract after the end of his junior season at Pennsylvania State University. He has since scored three goals and 10 points in his first six AHL games. Fink’s entry-level deal will begin this season, offering him a chance to make his NHL debut in the coming days.
On the heels of a red-hot start, Fink could now get the call to the NHL. The Predators have two games left in their season, just enough opportunity to give the young winger his first shot at NHL ice time. While Fink’s pro start has been exciting, it is far from a surprise to see him scoring at a top rate. The 21 year old scored 10 goals and 38 points in 30 NCAA games this season, good for third on the Penn State Nittany Lions in scoring. He racked up 23 goals and 53 points in 40 games of the 2024-25 season, finishing the year with the fourth-most points in college hockey. Through three seasons at Penn State, Fink’s confidence while driving the puck and ability to make fast-moving plays spoke volumes. In a small sample, it seems that hot scoring has continued into the pro level.
A breakout collegiate career has raised the attention around the Predators’ right winger. He flew under radars during two years in the AJHL, even after posting an impressive 97 points in 54 games during his draft season. Entering the draft class with proven scoring, two AJHL championships, and one AJHL MVP title wasn’t enough for the undersized winger, who had to wait until one of the final picks of the 2023 NHL Draft to hear his name. Now, an entry-level contract will give him a chance to prove that Nashville found a diamond in the rough. Fink becomes Nashville’s sixth 2023 draftee to sign his first NHL contract.
Avalanche’s Cale Makar Returns To Full Practice
The Colorado Avalanche received an expected, but exciting, update at Monday morning’s practice. Star defenseman Cale Makar was back on the ice in a regular, practice jersey per Avalanche play-by-play announcer Connor McGahey. This marks the next step in Makar’s return from an upper-body injury sustained on March 30th. He has missed six games since.
Colorado has expected Makar to return before the start of the postseason, head coach Jared Bednar said the day after Makar was injured. He will have three more chances to meet that expectation before the end of Colorado’s regular season. The Avalanche have posted a 3-2-1 record and seen their goals-per-game average dip from a league-leading 3.70 to 3.00 since Makar was knocked out of the lineup.
There is no doubt about the impact that Makar brings. He is a perennial candidate for the Norris Trophy honoring the league’s best defenseman. Playing behind an Avalanche squad that led the league in goals-scored and goals-against should be enough to put Makar back in contention for the trophy this year. The 27 year old scored 20 goals and 75 points in 73 games this season. Those marks sit below the career-year Makar posted with 30 goals and 92 points in 80 games last season, which earned him the 2025 Norris Trophy, but are nonetheless impressive. Makar averaged nearly 25 minutes of ice time each game through this season, a mark only five other players outperformed. He will immediately step back into Colorado’s top defense role when he is back to full health, which could be soon after his return to full practice.
The Avalanche did not provide an update on fellow injured defenseman Josh Manson. The team recalled Jack Ahcan to serve as an extra defenseman with Manson out on Saturday. The return of either Makar or Manson should be enough to bump Ahcan back to the AHL and either Nick Blankenburg or Brett Kulak to the press box.
Brad Treliving, Jason Spezza To Manage Team Canada At 2026 World Championships
Hockey Canada has announced the management team for the 2026 World Championships. The group will be led by Brad Treliving and Jason Spezza. Treliving was recently ousted from his role as the Toronto Maple Leafs general manager while Spezza serves as an assistant GM for the Pittsburgh Penguins. The duo will be supported by Penguins GM Kyle Dubas and Scott Salmond, Hockey Canada’s senior vice-president of hockey operations. Dubas served as the GM of Canada’s 2025 World Championship squad, with support from Salmond.
This news will most notably represent another step up in Spezza’s managerial career. He is a veteran of 19 seasons and 1,248 games in the NHL. His career concluded with three seasons under Dubas’ management with the Toronto Maple Leafs, after Dubas signed Spezza to a one-year contract in 2019. Spezza retired in 2022 and joined Toronto as a special assistant to the GM on the same day. Dubas was let go from his role with Toronto one year later and brought Spezza with him through a move to Pittsburgh. Now, Dubas will hand off international, managerial duties to his protege after leading Canada to a quarterfinal loss at the 2025 World Championship.
Spezza will be supported by Treliving, who brings 11 years of NHL GM experience to the tournament. Treliving last supported the World Championships in 2016, when he served as a co-GM alongside George McPhee. Canada took home the Gold Medal that year, completing back-to-back championship wins thanks to a strong tournament from forward Derick Brassard. Treliving also supported the World Championships as an assistant GM in 2014, the summer before his first promotion to an NHL GM chair.
Together, the experienced Team Canada managerial group will be tasked with putting together a strong roster in a year where many World Championship stars will be in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Canada will likely not be able to bring Sidney Crosby, Travis Konecny, Tyson Foerster, or Noah Dobson to the start of this year’s tournament. They will have access to budding stars Macklin Celebrini, Connor Bedard, and Matthew Schaefer – though how ready the trio will be for even more games is yet to be seen. Canada could also bring John Tavares, Bo Horvat, Ryan O’Reilly, Brandon Montour, and Jordan Binnington back for another tournament. Horvat and Binnington joined Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympics, alongside Tom Wilson and Sam Reinhart – who also sit outside of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The roster could boast a lot of NHL talent, though without as much World Championship experience, under their new management this summer.
Dallas Stars To Activate Radek Faksa
The Dallas Stars are inching toward full strength heading into the postseason. According to Lia Assimakopoulos of the Dallas Morning News, the Stars are expected to activate forward Radek Faksa from the injured reserve, and he’ll make his return to the lineup this evening. Additionally, forward Michael Bunting is expected to return to the lineup, too, though he was never placed on the injured reserve.
Faksa’s return has been a long time coming. He first suffered an upper-body injury during the Olympics playing for Team Czechia. The injury wasn’t believed to be serious at the time, and Faksa was only expected to miss a game or two.
Unfortunately, that mild prognosis has turned into a multi-week return. During his rehabilitation, Faksa suffered a lower-body injury, which kept him out until now. A few reports indicated that Faksa may be done for the season, but he has managed to make a fairly quick recovery.
Although he hasn’t been a reliable point-producer for the Stars for many years, he has been one of the most reliable fourth-line forwards in the league. After his one-year hiatus with the St. Louis Blues, Faksa has scored two goals and 17 points in 56 games with Dallas this season, averaging 11:41 of ice time per game.
That doesn’t paint the whole picture with Faksa. He’s a steady penalty killer, owns a career 52.4% success rate in the faceoff dot, and starts more than 70% of his shifts in the defensive zone. He’s the epitome of a shutdown forward, and Dallas feels comfortable playing him against opponents’ best players, which will be a boon for them in the upcoming playoffs.
Meanwhile, Bunting returns to the lineup after missing the first few weeks of April with a lower-body injury. Before the injury, he had struggled with the Stars after being acquired at the trade deadline, scoring one goal and two points in 11 games with a -7 rating.
Devils Reassign Lenni Hameenaho, Place Brian Halonen On Waivers
The New Jersey Devils are sending some reinforcements to their AHL affiliate for one final postseason push. The Devils announced that they’ve reassigned Lenni Hameenaho to the AHL’s Utica Comets and have placed Brian Halonen on waivers to do the same.
Hameenaho, 21, has had a quality first year of professional hockey in North America. New Jersey selected the Kajaani, Finland native with the 58th overall pick of the 2023 NHL Draft, and he spent his two post-draft years with the Finnish Liiga’s Ässät.
He was more than successful over that stretch, scoring 34 goals and 82 points in 104 games with a +17 rating, proving to the Devils that he was ready for the jump to the AHL.
Although he has been unable to sustain the level of scoring he showed in Finland, Hameenaho has still registered nine goals and 22 points in 34 games for the Comets this season. He’s unlikely to finish as Utica’s top rookie, though he’s nearly there with nearly 30 fewer games played.
His NHL debut hasn’t been as promising, in contrast. Hameenaho has played in 33 games for the Devils this season, scoring two goals and eight points while averaging 12:11 of ice time in a third-line role. His 48.8% CorsiFor hasn’t provided much confidence, either, though he’s still young and has plenty of time for more development.
Meanwhile, Halonen is a much more experienced veteran and should head to Utica tomorrow. Although a team could technically claim him, he’s unable to play in the postseason and has never been considered a quality prospect. Still, he’s been a solid performer for the Comets, scoring 19 goals and 32 points in 48 games this season.
Dallas Stars Sign Christian Fitzgerald
The Dallas Stars have continued adding to their organizational depth through the college ranks. Dallas has announced the signing of forward Christian Fitzgerald to a one-year contract, beginning in the 2026-27 season. He’ll join the AHL’s Texas Stars for the remainder of the year on an amateur tryout agreement.
According to PuckPedia, Fitzgerald’s one-year, entry-level contract will come with an $850K NHL salary, $102.5K signing bonus, the possibility of a $72.5K games played bonus, and an $85K AHL salary.
Fitzgerald, 23, recently concluded his collegiate career at the University of Wisconsin. Fitzgerald helped the Badgers reach the National Championship for the first time since 2010, ultimately losing to the University of Denver Pioneers.
He began his college tenure at Minnesota State University, scoring 16 goals and 29 points in 38 games, making for an extremely productive rookie campaign. However, when head coach Mike Hastings signed on with the Badgers, Fitzgerald followed him to Madison as a transfer.
Unfortunately, Fitzerald’s production dipped following the move, scoring 13 goals and 41 points in 74 contests, bottoming out with a six-goal, 17-point showing last season.
Still, Fitzgerald rebounded in a big way for his senior season, scoring 16 goals and 31 points in 39 games, finishing third on the team in scoring.
Although far from a top prospect, the Stars have had decent luck with collegiate free agents. Dallas signed Justin Hryckowian out of Northeastern University a few years ago, and he’s become a reliable tertiary scorer for the club in his second professional campaign. Fitzgerald has some maturing to do on the defensive side of the puck, but the Stars clearly trust in their developmental system enough to get as much as they can out of him.
Jonathan Quick To Retire Following Season
As speculated, tonight will be Jonathan Quick‘s last start of his NHL career. Getting the nod against the Florida Panthers, Quick told reporters (via Vince Z. Mercogliano) that he is retiring after the 2025-26 season.
Quick’s professional career began back in 2005, when he was selected 72nd overall by the Los Angeles Kings. After a pair of quality years at the University of Massachusetts, the Kings felt it was time to bring Quick to the professional level.
Unfortunately, his first season didn’t go as well as he had hoped. He was disappointing in a few games with Los Angeles and spent much of the year split between the AHL’s Manchester Monarchs and ECHL’s Reading Royals.
Still, despite again beginning the year in the AHL, Quick was called up when netminder Erik Ersberg went down with an injury, and never looked back.
Throughout the next decade, Quick became one of the most dominant goalies of his era. From his call-up during the 2008-09 season through the 2017-18 season, Quick won 292 out of 553 games (.528 W%) with a .917 SV% and 2.27 GAA. Although he never won the Vezina Trophy, he took home a pair of William M. Jennings trophies in 2014 and 2018.
Additionally, one cannot bring up Quick’s dominant run in Los Angeles without mentioning his playoff performances. In that same decade, Quick backstopped the Kings to two Stanley Cup championships in 2012 and 2014, winning 46 of 85 games (.541 W%) with a .922 SV% and 2.23 GAA. His performance was impressive during the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs, and he was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the postseason’s MVP.
If they hadn’t already, Quick’s performance in 2012 certified that he was the Kings’ goaltender of the future, and they rewarded him with a 10-year, $58MM ($5.8MM AAV) extension.
As it does so often, injuries and age crept up on Quick, and his stability in the crease began to wane during the 2018-19 season. Finishing out his 10-year extension with Los Angeles, Quick found his way to the Vegas Golden Knights after the Kings traded him to Columbus, and the Blue Jackets shipped him to Vegas.
While he didn’t have an integral role with the team, nor did he get his name on the Stanley Cup, Quick won the trophy for the third time with the Golden Knights in 2023. Knowing that his career was coming to an end, Quick signed with the New York Rangers, a team he had grown up idolizing, ahead of the 2023-24 season.
Far removed from being a quality starter, Quick has still managed to be a productive backup for the Rangers. In three years with the club, Quick has managed a 35-29-6 record in 75 games, with a .900 SV% and 2.94 GAA.
Before tonight’s contest, Quick owns a 410-306-90 record throughout his 828-game NHL career. His 410 wins stand as the 12th-most all-time in the NHL, though he won’t have a chance to crack Tony Esposito‘s record with a win tonight. Additionally, his career .910 SV% ranks 59th all-time, just a few points shy of Patrick Roy.
We at PHR congratulate Quick on a Hall of Fame career and wish him the best of luck in his next chapter.
Photo courtesy of Jerry Lai of USA TODAY Sports.
Wild Recall Ben Jones, Nicolas Aube-Kubel
After recalling a pair of depth players yesterday, the Minnesota Wild are again adding more reinforcements for their final two games of the regular season. The Wild announced that they’ve recalled forwards Ben Jones and Nicolas Aube-Kubel from the AHL’s Iowa Wild. Michael Russo of The Athletic indicated they would do so in a report earlier this morning.
As Russo alluded to, today’s transaction caps Minnesota at four post-trade deadline recalls, meaning they’ll have to wait until AHL Iowa finishes its season to recall any more Black Aces for the playoffs. Still, since AHL Iowa has already been eliminated from Calder Cup playoff contention, the Wild will have access to whomever they’d like.
Jones, 27, has been an oft-recalled player for the Wild this season. The Waterloo, ON native has been playing professionally for the past seven years with various organizations, although much of his NHL playing time has been spent with Minnesota.
Understandably, he’s performed much better at the AHL level. In 35 games for AHL Iowa this season, Jones has registered 12 goals and 30 points with a +2 rating. In Minnesota, he’s scored one goal and one assist in 26 contests with a -10 rating, averaging 8:36 of ice time per game.
Meanwhile, despite Aube-Kubel having more years of NHL experience than Jones, he has played almost exclusively for AHL Iowa this season. Throughout his first year with the organization, Aube-Kubel has scored 15 goals and 37 points in 60 AHL games, and one assist in four NHL contests.
Carolina Hurricanes Reassign Josiah Slavin
The AHL’s Chicago Wolves are getting their captain back. Yesterday evening, in a team announcement, the Carolina Hurricanes shared that they’ve returned forward Josiah Slavin to AHL Chicago.
Slavin, the brother of Hurricanes alternate captain Jaccob Slavin, was recalled a few days ago in a multi-player call-up. Carolina isn’t dealing with any injuries to their forward corps, but having already captured the top seed in the Metropolitan Division, they had the opportunity to rest some players leading up to the playoffs.
Overall, although he didn’t register any points, Slavin must consider his call-up a success. He skated in two games with Carolina, his first NHL action since the 2022-23 campaign, and earned a +1 rating while averaging approximately 15 minutes of ice time.
Now, Slavin will return to AHL Chicago as they prepare for their own playoff hopes. The Wolves are expected to secure the second seed in the AHL’s Central Division, giving them a first-round bye in the Calder Cup playoffs.
Although the six-year veteran typically doesn’t lead the Wolves on the stat sheet, he’s managed a productive season by all accounts. In 67 games, Slavin has registered six goals and 25 points with a +2 rating. Still, considering he’s only managed one assist in 10 postseason contests throughout his career, he’ll want to increase that production this year to give Chicago better odds at making it deeper into the playoffs.
Islanders Turning Towards Future With Playoffs Out Of Reach
The New York Islanders are officially eliminated from playoff contention. That will remove the organization’s top goal after firing head coach Patrick Roy and hiring Peter DeBoer in a shocking, April decision. Now, DeBoer – who signed a multi-year deal in New York – will shift his attention towards getting a look at who could be future impacts.
That hope could lead to a true full-lineup rotation on Tuesday, offering more chance for depth players with multiple years on their contracts – like Emil Heineman and Kyle MacLean. It could also mean that AHL-eligible center Calum Ritchie will stick with the Islanders despite being eligible for the AHL’s Calder Cup Playoffs, per Rosner.
DeBoer could also be hoping to get a look at some of the Islanders’ top prospects. 2025 first-round pick Victor Eklund has already turned pro and has an impressive nine points in his first seven games with the AHL’s Bridgeport Islanders.
The Islanders could make a few changes to the lineup to fit in their budding prospects. One player who will most definitely sit out is veteran winger Ondrej Palat, who was scratched in a must-win game on Saturday as pointed out by Rosner. Palat has just one point in his last 10 games and five points in 28 games in New York as a whole since joining the team in a January trade. Palat is signed through the 2026-27 season at a $6MM cap hit.
With playoffs out of reach, the Islanders seem to be turning all focus towards the future. The team has pulled off a quick change in direction, largely thanks to the historic breakout of 2025 first-overall pick Matthew Schaefer. With the lead of Schaefer and other emerging prospects, the Islanders may be able to snap back-to-back playoff appearances next year.