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Submit Your Questions For The #PHRMailbag

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The playoffs have arrived while half of the teams in the NHL have started their offseason.  Several teams will have a viable chance to win the Stanley Cup while several others will be embarking on some big changes in the coming months, some of which have already started in the form of coaching changes.

With all that in mind, it’s a good time to open up the mailbag once again.  Our last call for questions yielded enough for three separate columns.  Among the topics in the first were Devon Levi’s time with Buffalo and if he can one day live up to expectations and going over the big changes for the Rangers and what moves could be coming this summer.  The second included Joel Hofer’s strong season in St. Louis and Nashville’s season that was anything but strong.  Lastly, the third included thoughts on the thin goalie market this offseason, Detroit’s back end, and the possibility of Mackie Samoskevich being an offer sheet candidate in July.

You can submit a question by using #PHRMailbag on Twitter/X or by leaving a comment down below. The mailbag will run on Saturday.

Team USA Announces 2025 World Championship Roster

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Team USA has announced the first 18 players on their World Championship roster. The lineup contains all three goaltenders, six of seven defensemen, and nine of 13 forwards. The roster is led by American stars like Clayton Keller, Tage Thompson, and Brady Skjei. That trio will look to take a mixed group of experience to Team USA’s first gold medal appearance since 1960.

The American roster notably features top young players like Frank Nazar, Mason Lohrei, Cutter Gauthier, Logan Cooley, Jackson LaCombe, and Matty Beniers. Beniers offers the most experience on the Men’s Team, having joined USA at the 2021 World Championship and 2022 Winter Olympics. He scored two points in each tournament. Team USA will also continue their trend of bringing collegiate goaltending by adding Los Angeles Kings prospect Hampton Slukynsky to the roster. Slukynsky led the Fargo Force to a USHL championship last season, then won Western Michigan’s starting role and carried the school to their first NCAA National Championship as a freshman this season.

Team USA will still need to add four forwards and one defenseman. The World Championship will run from May 9th to May 25th in Herning, Denmark – giving the Americans a chance to add some more firepower after playoff exits. Jeff Kealty is serving as USA’s general manager, while San Jose Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky heads a coaching staff that also features Pittsburgh Penguins assistant coach Mike Vellucci, Chciago Blackhawks assistant Kevin Dean, and Michigan State University head coach Adam Nightingale.

The current roster is as follows:

F Tage Thompson (Sabres)
F Drew O’Connor (Canucks)
F Frank Nazar (Blackhawks)
F Michael McCarron (Predators)
F Clayton Keller (Hockey Club)
F Cutter Gauther (Ducks)
F Conor Garland (Canucks)
F Logan Cooley (Hockey Club)
F Matty Beniers (Kraken)

D Alex Vlasic (Blackhawks)
D Brady Skjei (Predators)
D Andrew Peeke (Bruins)
D Mason Lohrei (Bruins)
D Jackson LaCombe (Ducks)
D Michael Kesselring (Hockey Club)

G Joey Daccord (Kraken)
G Jeremy Swayman (Bruins)
G Hampton Slukynsky (Kings)

Utah Signs Michal Kunc to One-Year Contract

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The Utah Hockey Club has signed Czech forward Michal Kunc to a one-year, two-way contract for the 2025-26 season. The move will send Kunc to North America after six seasons in the Czech Extraliga. Kunc’s Olomouc just survived relegation with a 4-0 sweep of Jihlava.

The 24-year-old Kunc was the top forward for Olomouc this season. He tied for second on the team with 13 goals, and led the team outright with 35 points, scored in 49 games. The marks were both career-highs for Kunc, lapping the 11 goals and 23 points he posted in 48 games last season.

Kunc made his pro debut with Brno Kometa in the 2019-20 season. He spent 25 games and scored two points with the club before a mid-season move to Olomouc in 2020-21. Kunc quickly found a scoring groove with the move – netting seven points in his first 17 games in the new setting – but he wasn’t able to keep it up through the next two seasons. That’s what has helped his performances since 2023 stand out so proudly – as the young, bottom-of-the-lineup finds his pro footing.

Kunc is a sturdy forward who plays responsibly in all three zones. He brought a physical presence to play along the boards, and a hard-working motor to drives into the low-slot. Those attributes – and his ability to fill the pest role – should help Kunc earn a strong role in a Utah organization that’s already found ways to utilize bump-and-grind forwards out of Czechia.

Devils Recall Seven Black Aces

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Since the Devils’ AHL affiliate in Utica failed to make the Calder Cup Playoffs, New Jersey is beefing up its postseason roster with seven Black Aces. The team announced they’ve recalled forwards Brian Halonen, Mike Hardman, Nathan Legare, Marc McLaughlin, defensemen Topias Vilen, Colton White, and goaltender Isaac Poulter as practice players for the remainder of their playoff run.

While the group is technically available to play postseason games for the Devils if need be, that’s never the purpose behind Black Ace recalls during the postseason. Instead, they’ll skate with the team to extend their season since they’re not getting any AHL action.

The four forwards each got into NHL games for New Jersey in 2024-25. It marked Legare’s NHL debut and Hardman’s and McLaughlin’s Devils debuts. Halonen, an undrafted free agent signing out of Michigan Tech in 2022, made a couple of appearances in January amid a strong minor-league showing. Halonen led Utica in goals (27) and ranked second in points (40) in 62 showings. He signed a two-year, two-way extension last May, so he’ll be back with the club next season, barring a trade.

Hardman also logged a pair of appearances for New Jersey, one in December and one in April. They were his first in the NHL since March 2023 as a member of the Blackhawks. A depth free agent pickup last summer, he’s also under contract through 2025-26. The 26-year-old scored 18-17–35 in 57 AHL games and had a team-high +11 rating.

Legare, 24, made his NHL debut in December with a trio of appearances and recorded a minus-one rating. He’s already on his third NHL organization. A third-round pick of the Penguins in 2019, he was traded to the Canadiens in August 2023 as part of the Erik Karlsson three-team deal. He spent under a full season in Montreal’s system before they traded him to New Jersey in a minor-league swap ahead of last year’s AHL trade deadline. He’s a restricted free agent this summer and is eligible for arbitration.

McLaughlin arrived in Newark at the trade deadline, acquired from the Bruins for defenseman Daniil Misyul. He played in the Devils’ final two games of the regular season and recorded an assist and a minus-one rating. The 25-year-old center had six assists in 16 games for Utica after the trade and will be a Group VI unrestricted free agent this summer, so this could be the end of his short stint as a Devil.

Vilen, 22, has yet to make his NHL debut. New Jersey drafted the rearguard in the fifth round of the 2021 draft and he’s coming off his second full season with Utica. The 6’1″, 194-lb lefty had 1-23–24 with a plus-two rating in 58 games this year and has one season remaining on his entry-level contract.

White was a Devils draft pick back in 2015 and returned to the organization last summer after a two-year stint with the Ducks. He hasn’t played in the NHL since logging a career-high 46 appearances for Anaheim in 2022-23. The 27-year-old depth piece rediscovered his game in Utica after a tough second year with Anaheim’s affiliate in San Diego, posting 4-17–21 in 61 games with a plus-one rating.

Poulter has been on the Devils’ roster more than a few times over the past two seasons as an emergency recall and, despite dressing as a backup for regular-season action, hasn’t touched the ice. He posted a .898 SV%, 2.86 GAA, one shutout, and a 16-13-7 record in 36 showings for Utica this year.

Injury Notes: Cirelli, Pacioretty, Siegenthaler, Thomas, Protas

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Lightning center Anthony Cirelli is a game-time decision for Game 2 vs. Florida tonight after departing Game 1 early with an undisclosed injury, tweets Colby Guy of the Palm Beach Post. It’s not yet certain whether Cirelli will participate in warm-ups. He initially left the game early in the second period after awkwardly landing a hit and only came back for a couple of shifts before sitting out the third period. If he’s not able to go for Game 2, it doesn’t look like he’ll carry anything more serious than a day-to-day designation and shouldn’t be ruled out when the series shifts to Sunrise for Game 3. Cirelli was a minus-two with just one shot on goal in 6:21 of action Tuesday, a rare statline for one of the league’s best two-way centers. Now in his eighth year in Tampa, Cirelli had a career-best +30 rating, 27 goals, and 59 points in the regular season.

Here are a few more injury-related notes from around the NHL:

  • Maple Leafs winger Max Pacioretty will draw into the lineup for Game 3 on a line with Game 2 overtime hero Max Domi and Bobby McMann, according to line rushes at morning skate (via Chris Johnston of The Athletic and TSN). He’s been out since the 4 Nations break with an undisclosed injury, but was available if needed for Games 1 and 2. After sitting as a healthy scratch, he’ll come in for Nicholas Robertson, who has an assist in the series but just one shot attempt in over 20 minutes of ice time across the two games. The 36-year-old Pacioretty scored 5-8–13 in 37 regular-season games for the Leafs between injury-related absences.
  • Devils rearguard Jonas Siegenthaler practiced today for the first time since undergoing lower-body surgery in February, tweets the team’s Amanda Stein. Head coach Sheldon Keefe said they’re “getting more aggressive with [his timeline] now to see how we can push it just given the circumstances,” via NHL.com’s Mike Morreale. New Jersey went without defenders Brenden Dillon and Luke Hughes in Game 2 and isn’t expecting to get either back for Game 3 against Carolina tomorrow.
  • Blues star Robert Thomas, who missed practice yesterday for rest/maintenance, was at today’s morning skate and is good to go for tonight’s Game 3, per Tracey Myers of NHL.com. The 25-year-old center is dealing with a minor lower-body injury he sustained in the final game of the regular season. He scored the series’ opening goal but has otherwise gone without a point and has a minus-four rating as St. Louis trails Winnipeg 2-0.
  • Capitals winger Aliaksei Protas is inching closer to a return and will at least travel with Washington for Games 3 and 4 in Montreal, head coach Spencer Carbery said (via Tarik El-Bashir of Monumental Sports Network). The breakout Belarusian hasn’t played since sustaining a skate cut on his foot on April 4. Washington has overcome the loss of his 30 goals and 66 points so far with a 2-0 series lead, but a return would be big news nonetheless to help close the door for Montreal to gain momentum.

NHL Arbitration-Eligible Free Agents For 2025

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Having already created a space to track this offseason’s pool of notable free agents at large, we’re turning our attention today to the restricted free agent class – more specifically, those who have accrued enough professional experience to be eligible for salary arbitration if they don’t reach extensions before July 1.

A player’s age determines arbitration eligibility as of September 15 of the calendar year in which they sign their entry-level contract. For those who sign between the ages of 18 and 20, they must have completed at least four seasons with at least 10 NHL games played. For players signing their first deal at 21, it’s three seasons with at least 10 games in any professional league (including AHL, ECHL, Europe, etc.). The years of experience requirement drops to two for players who signed at 22 or 23, and it drops to one for anyone who signed their first NHL contract at age 24 or older.

When a player is arbitration-eligible, both the player and the team can elect to have a hearing if they enter the 2025-26 league year without a new agreement. The first step in this process is, of course, extending a qualifying offer to the player before the June 30 deadline. Assuming the player opts not to accept their qualifying offer or sign an offer sheet, they can elect for an arbitration hearing by July 5. Doing so makes them ineligible for an offer sheet for the remainder of the offseason.

There are two windows for team-elected arbitration, and a team can only file for a hearing with two players each year. The first window ends on the later of June 15 or 48 hours after the Stanley Cup Final ends. Players who are bound to arbitration hearings by team elections in this window can still agree to offer sheets before July 5 and negate the team-elected arbitration hearing. Teams have a second window to elect arbitration for 24 hours after the player election window closes. Players can’t receive more than one team-elected arbitration hearing in their career, regardless of whether the case made it to a hearing.

There are plenty more nitty-gritty details to delve into regarding the specifics of arbitration rulings, but that information becomes more pertinent when we know which players will be subject to hearings this summer. It’s worth noting the number of players filing for arbitration has steadily declined over the past few seasons – only 14 opted to do so last summer after 20-plus did so in 2022 and 2023.

The list of arbitration-eligible RFAs for 2025 is listed below. This list, which can be found anytime under the “Pro Hockey Rumors Features” menu on the right sidebar on our desktop site or under the Flame icon on our mobile menu, will be updated later this offseason to note whether the player will be subject to arbitration this summer or not.

Each player’s minimum arbitration award (the lowest a team can file for based on the terms of the player’s previous contract) is noted in parentheses, although the actual cap hit of their next deal will almost certainly be higher if a qualifying offer is tendered.

Anaheim Ducks

Boston Bruins

Buffalo Sabres

Calgary Flames

Carolina Hurricanes

Chicago Blackhawks

Colorado Avalanche

Columbus Blue Jackets

Dallas Stars

Detroit Red Wings

Edmonton Oilers

Florida Panthers

Los Angeles Kings

Minnesota Wild

Montreal Canadiens

Nashville Predators

New Jersey Devils

New York Islanders

New York Rangers

Ottawa Senators

Philadelphia Flyers

Pittsburgh Penguins

San Jose Sharks

Seattle Kraken

St. Louis Blues

Tampa Bay Lightning

Toronto Maple Leafs

Utah Hockey Club

Vancouver Canucks

Vegas Golden Knights

Washington Capitals

Winnipeg Jets

Photo courtesy of Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images (Byram) and Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images (Dobson).

Penguins Prospect Tanner Howe Undergoes ACL Reconstruction Surgery

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2024 second-rounder Tanner Howe’s development will be on hold for quite a while. The Penguins forward prospect underwent ACL reconstruction surgery on his right knee yesterday and will need nine months of recovery time, the team announced.

It’s a terrible blow for Howe, whom Pittsburgh selected with the No. 46 overall pick in last year’s draft. A longtime linemate of Blackhawks phenom Connor Bedard when the two were paired together with the Regina Pats of the Western Hockey League, Howe naturally has a strong scoring track record in major junior play. He’s held his own without Bedard, though, finishing his post-draft season with 18-28–46 in 47 games with Regina and the Calgary Hitmen.

Howe missed a chunk of the Hitmen’s postseason run due to his knee injury but still managed to post 2-7–9 in six games to end the year. Since he turns 20 in November, he was looking to make the jump to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the fall and make his professional debut. That’ll need to get put on hold while Howe misses training camp and at least the first half of 2025-26 recuperating from a serious procedure.

The hope is that by missing precious development time now, Howe isn’t jeopardizing his career by exacerbating his injury. Nonetheless, the high-energy 5’11”, 183-lb winger makes speed a crucial part of his game, making such a significant knee injury this early in his career cause for concern.

Howe ranked as the No. 6 prospect in Pittsburgh’s system when Scott Wheeler of The Athletic did his midseason rankings, placing second among left-wingers behind No. 1 Rutger McGroarty. He’s got a foreseeable path toward being a middle-six fixture for the Pens down the road if he can properly heal from this surgery.

Flyers’ Rasmus Ristolainen Out Six Months Following Triceps Surgery

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Rasmus Ristolainen underwent successful surgery on his right triceps tendon last month, the team confirmed today, following a statement from GM Daniel Brière last weekend. The procedure carries a minimum six-month recovery time, so Ristolainen will miss at least the first few weeks of the 2025-26 season.

The 6’4″ right-shot defenseman missed the last two-plus months of the 2023-24 campaign with the same injury and had surgery to address it in early March, so he got more of a head start last summer. He was healthy out of the gate in 2024-25 and even churned out the best defensive results of his 12-year career, averaging north of 20 minutes per game for the first time in three years while recording a 4-15–19 scoring line in 63 games with a plus-three rating.

The Flyers attempted to move the 30-year-old Ristolainen at the trade deadline to capitalize on his strong season, but there weren’t any takers after setting a first-round pick as their asking price. They will now hope he can replicate his strong performance in a pairing with Egor Zamula next season, as Philly looks to inch closer toward playoff contention.

Undergoing the same surgery in back-to-back years is never a good sign, though, especially for a skater in the latter half of his career. The good news is he was able to rebound nicely from the procedure last year, so there’s plenty of optimism he can do so again.

Ristolainen still has two years left on his contract, carrying a $5.1MM cap hit, as part of the five-year, $25.5MM extension he signed in 2022.

Kate Madigan To Interview For Islanders GM Vacancy

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The Islanders will interview Devils assistant general manager Kate Madigan as part of their search to replace Lou Lamoriello at the helm of the front office, Newsday’s Andrew Gross reports.

Madigan, the daughter of former Islanders scout Jim Madigan, has been in the Devils’ front office since the 2017-18 season. Initially hired as an analyst, New Jersey promoted Madigan to their director of professional scouting in 2019 and again to executive director of hockey operations in 2020. After two years in that role, they made her the sixth woman to serve as an assistant general manager in NHL history in the 2022 offseason.

She’s now spent three seasons in that role, working alongside Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald, and could become the first woman to serve as GM of an NHL club on Long Island. She’s the first candidate to be firmly linked to the vacancy since the Isles announced Tuesday they wouldn’t be renewing Lamoriello’s contract. Since Lamoriello was also the team’s president of hockey operations, minority owner John Collins is the one overseeing the search for a new top hockey decision-maker.

Madigan is likely to face plenty of competition for the role. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet identified Kings senior advisor Marc Bergevin and former Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekäläinen as potential candidates on Wednesday’s 32 Thoughts podcast, although it’s not yet clear if they will be involved in the interview process. If they also opt to hire a separate president of hockey operations – a likely outcome if they choose a first-time NHL GM like Madigan – Friedman speculated that Ken Holland and Eddie Olczyk could be options there.

Who Is The Best Player Currently Playing Outside The NHL?

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With Ivan Demidov recently joining the Montreal Canadiens, Alexander Nikishin joining the Hurricanes for practice, and Zeev Buium debuting with the Minnesota Wild, the list of top prospects playing outside the NHL has shrunk. This raises the question: Who is the top player in the world not playing in the NHL?

Former Toronto Maple Leafs forward Josh Leivo tore up the KHL this season, setting a single-season goal record with 49. The 31-year-old also led the KHL scoring with 80 points in 62 games on his way to a career season, and at one point had four hat tricks in a month.

Leivo is no stranger to the NHL, having played 265 career games over 10 seasons, tallying 42 goals and 51 assists. The Innisfil, Ontario, native last played in the NHL during the 2022-23 season, scoring four goals and adding 12 assists in 51 games with the St. Louis Blues. Since then, Leivo has posted elite numbers in the KHL, but it would be challenging to anoint him as the top player outside the NHL, especially since this was the first season in which he’s played at that level.

Vladimir Tkachev is another KHL star who could make a case for being the best player in the world currently outside of the NHL. The 29-year-old had a cup of coffee in the NHL with the Los Angeles Kings during the 2021-22 season, chipping in two helpers in four games. At the AHL level, Tkachev had seven goals and 22 assists in 41 games with the Ontario Reign that season, before returning to Russia.

Since linking up with Avangard Omsk of the KHL, Tkachev has been an elite scorer, posting a better-than-a-point-per-game average, including last year, when he registered 20 goals and 55 assists in 58 games. This past year, Tkachev missed seven months after suffering a ruptured Achilles and played in just four games. At 29, Tkachev is what he is in his bid to be the best player outside of the NHL. Still, given that his sample size from last season is so small, and he only has one elite professional season under his belt, it is hard to anoint him as the holder of that title now.

Regarding goaltenders outside the NHL, Sharks prospect Yaroslav Askarov is as good as it gets. The 11th overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft has had a terrific AHL career thus far and was dominant this season, posting a .923 save percentage with four shutouts in 22 games. Askarov was a highly touted prospect before being drafted, drawing comparisons to Carey Price. He has good size, tracks the puck well, and has terrific athleticism. He is also very calm in the crease, which explains the comparisons to Price.

Askarov has all the makings of a franchise goalie, but at 22, he has yet to break through to the NHL full-time. He did play well in 13 NHL games this season, registering 1.7 goals saved above expected (as per MoneyPuck), and should leap full-time next year. Which begs the question: Is he the best player outside the NHL? The answer is probably no, but he should be included in the conversation. It won’t be long until he plays NHL hockey full-time, and if he establishes his game at the same time as the Sharks’ other top prospects, he could do some pretty remarkable things in San Jose.

The next name that comes to mind is another former NHLer, Nikita Gusev. The 32-year-old Gusev had a solid rookie season with New Jersey back in 2019-2020, posting 13 goals and 31 assists in 66 games. However, he followed it up with a subpar 2020-21 season, which led him to leave the NHL for the KHL. Since departing for Russia, Gusev has been a point-per-game player, even setting a new KHL single-season scoring record with 89 points in 68 games during the 2023-24 season. Given his consistency in recent seasons, a strong case could be made that Gusev is the top player in the world currently playing outside of the NHL until we discuss the last name on the list.

For many people, the first name that comes to mind is 17-year-old Gavin McKenna, and for good reason. McKenna is the projected first overall pick in 2026 and just finished a phenomenal season with the Medicine Hat Tigers, producing 41 goals and 88 assists in 56 games. McKenna has another season in junior hockey before he is drafted, and he will no doubt draw comparisons not just to recent first-overall selections Connor Bedard and Macklin Celebrini, but also to a decade-defining talent like Connor McDavid, as well.

While he undoubtedly has the highest upside of any player currently playing outside of the NHL, it’s hard to say he is the definitive number one, but it is also hard to dispute it. He isn’t playing against men yet, and all the other players are competing in professional hockey in the world’s second- or third-best leagues. The comparison isn’t exactly apples to apples, but there can’t be one.

The debate likely comes down to Gusev and McKenna for being the best in the world outside the NHL. While the title is unofficial, it was previously held by Gusev before he made the move to the NHL. However, given McKenna’s historic season, he has completed arguably one of the best seasons ever in the CHL for a 17-year-old, and he makes the best case for the best player in the world outside of the NHL.

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