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Devils Recall Nick DeSimone

December 27, 2024 at 9:19 am CDT | by Josh Erickson Leave a Comment

The Devils announced that they have recalled right-shot defenseman Nick DeSimone from AHL Utica. He fills one of two open spots on their active roster, so no corresponding move is necessary.

DeSimone returns to the New Jersey roster after spending a good chunk of the last two months as an extra defender, frequently sitting in the press box but not seeing any playing time. He was booted to Utica on Dec. 11 in favor of Colton White, who the Devils recently loaned to Team Canada for the ongoing 2024 Spengler Cup. With White in Switzerland and thus unavailable to serve as injury insurance if needed, DeSimone will return to a familiar press-box role coming out of the holiday break.

Now 30, DeSimone is coming off a career-high seven points in 34 NHL appearances in 2023-24, split between the Flames and Devils. Selected off waivers from Calgary in late January, the minor-league mainstay inked a one-way, $775K extension to remain a Devil in late June but hasn’t seen any NHL ice in 2024-25. The Union College product has been the victim of an impeccably healthy New Jersey defense over the past couple of months, providing little opportunity for him to insert himself ahead of one of the most dynamic defense corps in the league.

DeSimone has looked rusty while on assignment to Utica this season, with only three assists and a -10 rating in 12 appearances. However, he’s historically been a good power-play option in the AHL, posting 179 points in 353 career AHL games over nine seasons and a +25 rating.

DeSimone last cleared waivers at the beginning of the regular season. He’s close to spending a cumulative 30 days on the active roster since then, after which point he’ll need them again to return to the AHL.

New Jersey Devils| Transactions Nick DeSimone

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Flyers Recall Olle Lycksell

December 27, 2024 at 9:08 am CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

Dec. 27: Lycksell has been recalled from Lehigh Valley again with the holiday break soon to be in the rearview mirror, the team announced. He’ll be on hand for the Flyers’ West Coast road swing over the next week. Philadelphia’s active roster is full again with $2.31MM in current cap space, per PuckPedia.

Dec. 22: Philadelphia announced they’ve reassigned Lycksell to their AHL affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. He skated in 10:58 of last night’s win over the Columbus Blue Jackets, registering three shots on net.

Dec. 21: The Flyers have added a bit of forward depth to their roster heading into tonight’s game against Columbus.  Jordan Hall of NBC Sports Philadelphia relays (Twitter link) that Philadelphia has recalled winger Olle Lycksell from AHL Lehigh Valley.  They are now carrying the maximum of 23 players on the roster.

This move comes on the heels of center Sean Couturier not being at the morning skate today.  It’s unknown if Lycksell’s recall is related to that or if someone else’s availability for tonight is in some question.

The 25-year-old has had plenty of offensive success in the minors but it hasn’t translated to much production with the Flyers.  Last season, Lycksell had 19 goals and 20 assists in 38 games with the Phantoms which earned him 18 appearances in Philadelphia.  However, he wasn’t able to muster up much with them, collecting just one goal and four helpers in those outings while logging just 9:57 per game.  That lack of production contributed to Lycksell clearing waivers back in October.

This season, it has been more of the same for Lycksell in Lehigh Valley as he has nine goals and 15 assists in 25 appearances which has helped him earn his first promotion of the season, even if it’s likely to be a brief one with the holiday break fast approaching.

AHL| Philadelphia Flyers| Transactions Olle Lycksell

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Canadiens Recall Jakub Dobes For NHL Debut

December 27, 2024 at 8:22 am CDT | by Josh Erickson Leave a Comment

The Canadiens have recalled goaltender Jakub Dobes from AHL Laval for his NHL debut, reports Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports. There’s no injury to the Habs’ current NHL duo of Sam Montembeault and Cayden Primeau, but the club has an open roster spot and will use it to carry three goalies for its Florida back-to-back over the weekend.

The 23-year-old Dobes was the No. 136 overall pick in the 2020 draft, heading to Montreal in the fifth round. After impressing in United States Hockey League action in his post-draft season, he went on to have a strong two-year run at Ohio State University, where he posted a .926 SV% in 75 appearances. The transition to pro hockey has gone fairly well for Dobes too, taking over as Laval’s starter last year in his first look in AHL action, logging a 2.93 GAA, .906 SV%, and one shutout in 51 games.

While Dobes has been battling injuries this season, he’s gotten into 14 AHL games, posting a 2.44 GAA and .910 SV% with a 9-3-1 record. He’s split time evenly with veteran offseason addition Connor Hughes thanks to his health, posting slightly better numbers than his 28-year-old Swiss counterpart.

Dobes’ relatively seamless transition from level to level throughout his development bodes well for his performance on his first NHL recall. But while he deserves a look, today’s transaction isn’t all about him. It also has much to do with Primeau’s poor play in a backup role this season. The 25-year-old has established himself as nearly unplayable, logging a .836 SV%, 4.70 GAA, and remarkable -16.0 GSAA in just seven starts and four relief appearances, “good” for a 2-3-1 record. He’s posted a league-average save percentage in just one of those seven starts, a 33-save performance on 36 shots in a shootout loss to the Islanders back on Oct. 19.

It stands to reason that we’ve seen the last of Primeau for a while, although the Habs likely can’t afford to jeopardize Dobes’ development by keeping him up as Montembeault’s backup for the rest of the year. Whether Montreal parts ways with Primeau via trade or waivers, they’ll likely bring in a cheap option to replace him to give Dobes a little more time in Laval. The 6’4″ Czechia native will be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights next summer.

Montreal Canadiens| Transactions Jakub Dobes

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Wild Recall Brendan Gaunce, Devin Shore

December 27, 2024 at 8:13 am CDT | by Josh Erickson Leave a Comment

Dec. 27: Both Gaunce and Shore are back on the Wild roster ahead of their road trip, the team announced Thursday night. Their active roster now stands at 22 players.

Dec. 24: The Wild announced Tuesday that they’ve reassigned forwards Brendan Gaunce and Devin Shore to AHL Iowa. Their spots on the active roster will remain open over the holiday break, and the pair of demotions will allow them to exit their LTIR pool and begin accruing cap space again over the next few days. One or both could find themselves back on the roster for Friday’s game against the Stars, depending on the health of injured forwards Joel Eriksson Ek and Jakub Lauko.

Gaunce inked a two-year, two-way deal in free agency and was recalled from Iowa last week after clearing waivers during training camp. He has no points in three appearances with an unsightly -3 rating given his limited ice time. The veteran Gaunce has also fallen a tad short of expectations in the AHL, posting eight goals, six assists, 14 points, and a -10 rating in 21 games. He’s producing just 0.67 points per game after clicking at 0.83 over the past three seasons in Cleveland while with the Blue Jackets organization.

Throughout his career, the now-30-year-old Gaunce has been an expert top-six producer in minor-league action but has never carved out anything above a fringe fourth-line role at the NHL level. In 180 appearances in parts of nine seasons with Vancouver, Boston, Columbus, and Minnesota, Gaunce has 13 goals, 15 assists, 28 points, and a -16 rating while averaging 10:43 per contest. He had a career-high five goals and seven points in 30 games with the Jackets in 2021-22.

Shore, 30, signed a two-way deal over the summer and, like Gaunce, failed to secure a depth role out of camp. He’s passed through waivers twice this season without being claimed and has one assist in 16 games for Minnesota over the past month or so, locking down a more steady fourth-line role for the time being with injuries affecting their forward group. He’s averaged 8:14 per contest and has 19 hits, but he has been a pretty apparent defensive liability. The Wild only control 37.6% of shot attempts with Shore on the ice at 5-on-5.

Minnesota Wild| Transactions Brendan Gaunce| Devin Shore

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Tim Stützle Emerging As Next Senators Superstar

December 26, 2024 at 8:46 pm CDT | by Gabriel Foley 11 Comments

The 2020 NHL Draft checked off a lot of tropes – a clear No. 1, Alexis Lafrenière, a clear power-forward, Quinton Byfield, and a healthy battle for top defense between Jake Sanderson and Jamie Drysdale – but it lacked a clear top European. Swedish pro Lucas Raymond, OHL import Marco Rossi, and generational German Tim Stützle fought over the title, each with different things to love and hate.

For Stützle’s part, he had grown up a superstar of German youth hockey – challenging scoring records and captaining Team Germany at every level between U16 and U20. He spent the 2019-20 season playing out his rookie year in the DEL – Germany’s pro league – where he scored an admirable 34 points in 41 games. But his scoring wasn’t fantastic – it didn’t rival any DEL records or even rank in the top five of his team. Many agreed he was worth a top 10 pick, but whether it should be #2 or #8 was argued in depth, not helped along by his base in an uncommon hockey country.

The year ended with many considering Stützle’s dazzling puck skills and speed too much to argue, and he ended the year as Bob McKenzie’s second-overall prospect and the top European off the board headed to Ottawa at third-overall. It was a bold reach for upside from a usually meager Senators team, and Stützle would quickly vindicate it by making the NHL roster out of camp. He benefited from a late start to the 2020-21 season – with the January start giving him the chance to heal from an October arm surgery.

His rookie NHL season was as quiet as his rookie DEL year – marked by 29 points in 53 games. But he’s grown exponentially over the years. He improved to 58 points in his sophomore year, just enough to earn a routine top-line role – setting Stützle up for a true breakout. He took full advantage of the opportunity in the 2022-23 season, totaling 39 goals and 90 points at just 20 years old.

Looking at U21 seasons in the NHL, Stützle’s 2023 totals rank in the top 30 of all time and made him the third-highest-scoring European behind just Alex Ovechkin and Jaromír Jágr. It was incredible company, and while he returned to earth a bit last year – with just 18 goals and 70 points – he seems back on pace this year. Stützle currently leads the Senators with 39 points in 34 games. That’s an 82-game pace of 94 points, which would tie Alexei Yashin’s 1998-99 campaign for fourth-highest in Senators history. It’d also couple Stützle with Dany Heatley, Daniel Alfredsson, and Jason Spezza as the only player with multiple top-10 scoring seasons in Ottawa’s record books.

At just 22 years of age, the young German is finding himself among incredible company, which has some breaking out the word “superstar”. 13-year NHL veteran Jason York, who himself spent five years in Ottawa, joined Daily Faceoff’s All 32 segment to discuss its veracity. He said, “This is, to me, what I classify a superstar as: Can you bring fans out of their seats? Are you worth the price of admission? How many guys are really worth the price of admission like “wow”? … I’ll put Tim Stützle in that category.”

York went on to speak highly of Stützle’s hockey talent and his ability to get fans out of their seats. His comments ring loud for a Senators team that hasn’t had a clear superstar in nearly a decade. Brady Tkachuk will certainly go down as an all-time great – already captaining the team and posting 382 points in 474 games – but he’s more an era-defining piece than a generational talent. Ottawa hasn’t seen that kind of ability since Erik Karlsson broke records in the 2010s. Before him, it was Alfredsson, Heatley, and Spezza running court from 2005 to 2012.

Now, Stützle seems to be the one set to define Ottawa’s 2020s. As it stands, he’s scored 286 career points: the ninth-most points of any NHLer before turning 23 years old. He’s among the elite company in the top 10 – sandwiched between Mitch Marner (291 points) and Auston Matthews (285 points). Stützle’s current scoring pace has him adding 11 more points before his January 15th birthday, passing Marner and stepping just behind seventh-ranked Nathan MacKinnon (303 points).

The rest of Stützle’s company in that top 10 are also true superstars who each found ways to become leaders of incredible teams. With this degree of offensive performance, Stützle could soon be doing the same – and already seems well worthy of the label as a true, all-time superstar for the Senators.

NHL| Ottawa Senators| Team Germany Tim Stutzle

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International & Minor Transaction Notes: Chartier, Gosselin, Johnson

December 26, 2024 at 4:59 pm CDT | by Brennan McClain Leave a Comment

Rourke Chartier has been traded for the first time in his professional career albeit in the Kontinental Hockey League. Derek O’Brien of The Hockey News wrote earlier that the KHL’s Kunlun Red Star had traded Chartier to CSKA Moskva for cash considerations.

The centerman played admirably with the Red Star, scoring eight goals and 17 points in 37 games, but Kunlun has fallen in the KHL’s Western Conference Standings with only 11 wins on the year. Chartier will join third-place Moskva alongside former NHL talents such as Ivan Prosvetov, Nikita Nesterov, and Denis Gurianov.

Chartier suited up in the NHL as recently as last year with the Ottawa Senators. He spent three years within the Senators organization collecting two goals and three points in 43 NHL contests with another 37 goals and 66 points in 82 games with AHL Belleville. Chartier spent the first three years of his professional career with the San Jose Sharks scoring 30 goals and 74 points in 121 AHL contests and one goal in 13 games for the Sharks during his lone NHL season with the club in 2018-19.

Other international and minor transactions:

  • According to the AHL transactions page, the Utica Comets, the top affiliate of the NHL’s New Jersey Devils, added some defensive depth to the lineup. The team signed defenseman Kurt Gosselin on a professional tryout agreement and he could play in his first AHL contest since the 2018-19 season. Gosselin has spent the last four years hopping around numerous ECHL franchises playing for the Cincinnati Cyclones, Toledo Walleye, Kalamazoo Wings, Reading Royals, Orlando Solar Bears, and the Adirondack Thunder. He’s scored 24 goals and 61 points in 167 ECHL contests while managing a -4 rating.
  • Mathieu Sheridan of The Hockey News reports former AHL forward Isaac Johnson has signed a contract with the Finnish Liiga’s Jukurit. Johnson has only managed 30 AHL games between the Manitoba Moose and Toronto Marlies since joining the professional ranks in the 2021-22 season scoring three goals and eight points overall. He has a much better track record in the ECHL — scoring 64 goals and 139 points in 125 games for the now-defunct Newfoundland Growlers while managing a solid +31 rating.

AHL| Liiga| New Jersey Devils| Transactions Isaac Johnson| Kurt Gosselin| Rourke Chartier

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PHR Chatter: Hypothetical 2025 All-Star Game Rosters

December 26, 2024 at 1:20 pm CDT | by Josh Erickson 5 Comments

There won’t be an All-Star Game this season due to the two-week break in the schedule for the 4 Nations Face-Off. Just as well – with how much the format has changed in recent years, it’s hard to know what the event would have even looked like.

But roster debate is always fun, and just because there’s no actual event this year doesn’t mean it’s worth looking at who would have been worthy selections. For this exercise, I went back to the division-based format as compared to 2024’s player-led fantasy draft for obvious reasons. I kept the likely 3-on-3 play in mind and went for nine skaters and three goalies for each division, just like how last year’s rosters shook out. I also tried to keep defense selections to a minimum in line with how things have trended over the past few years. The one-player-per-team rule was also kept intact.

Who would be on your teams? Any glaring omissions or bad inclusions on the list below? Discuss in the comments.

Atlantic Division

F – Aleksander Barkov (Panthers)

F – Nikita Kucherov (Lightning)

F – Mitch Marner (Maple Leafs)

F – David Pastrňák (Bruins)

F – Brayden Point (Lightning)

F – Sam Reinhart (Panthers)

F – Nick Suzuki (Canadiens)

F – Tage Thompson (Sabres)

D – Victor Hedman (Lightning)

G – Anthony Stolarz (Maple Leafs)

G – Cam Talbot (Red Wings)

G – Linus Ullmark (Senators)

Metropolitan Division

F – Jesper Bratt (Devils)

F – Sidney Crosby (Penguins)

F – Jack Hughes (Devils)

F – Travis Konecny (Flyers)

F – Anders Lee (Islanders)

F – Martin Nečas (Hurricanes)

F – Alex Ovechkin (Capitals)

F – Artemi Panarin (Rangers)

D – Zach Werenski (Blue Jackets)

G – Jacob Markström (Devils)

G – Igor Shesterkin (Rangers)

G – Logan Thompson (Capitals)

Central Division

F – Connor Bedard (Blackhawks)

F – Kyle Connor (Jets)

F – Matt Duchene (Stars)

F – Filip Forsberg (Predators)

F – Kirill Kaprizov (Wild)

F – Nathan MacKinnon (Avalanche)

F – Mikko Rantanen (Avalanche)

F – Robert Thomas (Blues)

D – Cale Makar (Avalanche)

G – Filip Gustavsson (Wild)

G – Connor Hellebuyck (Jets)

G – Karel Vejmelka (Utah)

Pacific Division

F – Macklin Celebrini (Sharks)

F – Leon Draisaitl (Oilers)

F – Jack Eichel (Golden Knights)

F – Jonathan Huberdeau (Flames)

F – Anže Kopitar (Kings)

F – Connor McDavid (Oilers)

F – Mark Stone (Golden Knights)

D – Quinn Hughes (Canucks)

D – Shea Theodore (Golden Knights)

G – Joey Daccord (Kraken)

G – Lukáš Dostál (Ducks)

G – Adin Hill (Golden Knights)

PHR Chatter| Pro Hockey Rumors Originals| Uncategorized

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Red Wings Fire Derek Lalonde, Hire Todd McLellan

December 26, 2024 at 11:13 am CDT | by Josh Erickson 37 Comments

The Red Wings have made a long-awaited change behind the bench. The team announced Thursday that former Kings head coach Todd McLellan has been signed to a multi-year deal to become the 29th bench boss in Detroit franchise history. Head coach Derek Lalonde and associate coach Bob Boughner have been relieved of their duties.

Three straight losses heading into the holiday break were the final nail in the coffin for Lalonde, who had been on the hot seat for over a month. Darren Dreger of TSN reported in late November that a three-game homestand, during which they ended up going 1-1-1, was likely Lalonde’s last chance to finish out the season. While he got some grace to continue in his role beyond that, general manager Steve Yzerman’s patience has now run out.

The Wings both expected and needed to take a step forward in 2024-25. They finished with a 41-32-9 record last season, just narrowly missing out on their first playoff berth since 2016 and also marking their first season above .500 since that year. But a horrid campaign offensively so far for the Red Wings, who rank 29th in the league at 2.56 goals per game, has them with a 13-17-4 record at Christmas and eight points back of the Senators for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.

Yzerman hired both Lalonde and Boughner in the 2022 offseason after the Wings cleared out their previous coaching staff, led by Jeff Blashill. It was Lalonde’s first crack at being an NHL head coach after winning two Stanley Cups as an assistant on Jon Cooper’s staff with the Lightning. Earlier in the decade, Lalonde had served as a head coach with the USHL’s Green Bay Gamblers, the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye and the AHL’s Iowa Wild.

The 52-year-old Lalonde’s tenure behind the Detroit bench ends with an 89-86-23 record (.508 points percentage) in 198 games. Since the beginning of the 2022-23 season, the Red Wings’ record ranks 26th in the league, their 3.03 goals per game ranks 19th, and their 3.33 goals against per game ranks 27th.

Unlike last season, keeping the puck out of their net hasn’t been the Wings’ biggest problem. Thanks to veteran Cam Talbot putting up All-Star numbers in his 17 starts, things are likely better than they would otherwise be under a Lalonde system that’s posted below-average numbers at both ends of the ice. Detroit isn’t close to controlling the majority of shot attempts (46.8%), scoring chances (46.7%), or high-danger chances (45.5%) at 5-on-5, nor were they last year or the year before.

It’s also not surprising to see Boughner leave. His responsibilities included overseeing the team’s penalty kill, which clicked at a near-league-worst 68.8% rate this season. The 53-year-old previously served as the head coach of the Panthers (2017-19) and Sharks (2019-22), where he accumulated a 147-147-45 record for an even .500 record and failed to make the playoffs in any of his five seasons behind the bench.

In comes McLellan and assistant Trent Yawney, who have worked together in McLellan’s previous head coaching stops in San Jose, Edmonton and Los Angeles. It’s also a return of sorts for the veteran McLellan, who served as an assistant on Mike Babcock’s staff in Detroit from 2005 to 2008 and won a Stanley Cup.

Detroit is the 57-year-old McLellan’s fourth stop as an NHL head coach, and today’s news ensures he’ll suit up behind an NHL bench for the 20th straight season in some capacity. His last job with the Kings started in the 2019 offseason and ended last February, replaced midseason by Jim Hiller. In 1,144 regular-season games as a head coach, McLellan has a 598-412-134 record (.581) and has made the playoffs nine times. In those nine postseason appearances, he’s fared worse with a 42-46 record and never advancing to a Stanley Cup Final.

McLellan and Yawney will now be tasked with cleaning up the Wings’ possession game and penalty kill, the former of which should ideally lead to an influx of offense as the season progresses. Unfortunately, it may be too little too late for a playoff berth this season. Detroit has less than a one percent chance of ending their postseason drought at the time of writing, according to Dom Luszczyszyn of The Athletic.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Detroit Red Wings| Newsstand Bob Boughner| Derek Lalonde| Todd McLellan| Trent Yawney

37 comments

Maple Leafs Recall Matt Murray, Reassign Dennis Hildeby

December 26, 2024 at 9:56 am CDT | by Brian La Rose 2 Comments

Dec. 26: Murray will get another crack at NHL minutes in the coming days. The team announced Thursday that he’s back on the roster with Hildeby heading back to the minors, indicating that he’ll start either tomorrow against the Red Wings or Saturday against the Capitals.

Dec. 21: Matt Murray’s return to the NHL was short-lived, at least for now.  The Maple Leafs announced (Twitter link) that they’ve returned Murray to AHL Toronto while recalling netminder Dennis Hildeby.

Murray made his first NHL start in more than 600 days on Friday in Buffalo where he turned aside 24 of 27 shots in the win.  The 30-year-old also has a 1.85 GAA and a .939 SV% in eight appearances with the Marlies.

This demotion isn’t a performance-based one but one that appears to be made with waivers in mind.  Murray cleared waivers in training camp and thus is waiver-exempt until he either plays ten NHL games or is up with the big club for 30 days.  With the holiday break approaching and Joseph Woll likely to start their remaining two games before then, it then makes sense to send Murray down and stop the clock on the number of days he’s up.  With Anthony Stolarz out for four-to-six weeks, Murray would almost certainly become waiver-eligible again if he stayed up the full length of Stolarz’s absence.

As for Hildeby, he has won two of his three NHL starts this season and conceivably could get some work in with Stolarz out as well though he’s likely to be flipped with Murray again before too long.  The 23-year-old also has played six times for the Marlies, posting a 2.73 GAA with a .895 SV%, numbers that are well down from the 2.41 GAA and .913 SV% he had in 41 outings in 2023-24.

AHL| Toronto Maple Leafs| Transactions Dennis Hildeby| Matt Murray (b. 1994)

2 comments

Islanders’ Brock Nelson Unlikely To Sign Extension

December 26, 2024 at 8:51 am CDT | by Josh Erickson 2 Comments

Brock Nelson’s 12-year tenure on Long Island will likely end by the time next summer rolls around. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic writes Thursday that he believes Nelson “intends to test free agency on July 1,” upping the likelihood of the Islanders dealing the pending unrestricted free agent by the trade deadline if they don’t put themselves back in playoff position by then.

Nelson’s production hasn’t been what we’re used to seeing from him in 2024-25. With 10 goals and 20 points through 35 games, he’s on pace for 47 points over an 82-game schedule. On a per-game basis, that would be his worst offensive showing since the 2017-18 campaign. Given he’s now 33 years old, there’s also legitimate concern whether he can recapture the form that led to three straight 30-goal seasons from 2021-22 to 2023-24.

Part of that decline has been fueled by an 11% shooting rate, which would be decent for many players but abnormally low by Nelson’s standards. Throughout his 875-game NHL career, he’s usually hovered around his career average of 14.2% without much variation. He’s tracking to shoot at his lowest success rate since his first two seasons in the league. It’s also been fueled by a 12-game goalless skid, during which he has just three assists. He had 10 goals and 17 points through his first 24 outings before ending up at today’s totals.

But with the Islanders two games back of .500 and coming off perhaps their worst game of the season right before the holiday break, a 7-1 drubbing at home at the hands of the Sabres, whether they’ll be in playoff position by deadline day is becoming less of a debate. MoneyPuck puts the Isles’ playoff odds at 5.8% at the time of writing, Hockey Reference gives them a 10.4% shot, while The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn gives them a far more optimistic 34% chance, boosted by a weak middle-of-the-pack group in this year’s Metropolitan Division.

That means there’s likely too much runway left in the Islanders’ season for general manager Lou Lamoriello to throw in the towel. If history is any indicator, that’s a necessary prerequisite for the club to seriously consider trading Nelson instead of trying to hammer out a deal up until July 1. On the other hand, Nelson said during training camp that he was open to having in-season talks about an extension. Either Those haven’t happened or they haven’t been particularly productive, evidently leading him to focus on his options over the summer.

And if he’s genuinely intent on testing the market, not just finding a new home, that’ll impact his trade value by the deadline. Even at Nelson’s age, Lamoriello won’t be able to land a huge return for him without a team being reasonably confident they’ll retain him for more than just a few months. Nelson also holds a 16-team no-trade list, so if there’s a buyer he’s not interested in joining, he could veto those deals.

LeBrun and Chris Johnston speculated that the Stars and Wild are potential deadline destinations for Nelson. Both also make sense as free-agent landing spots. Minnesota could likely only acquire Nelson at 50% retention ($3MM cap hit) without moving out a salary. Still, they have over $13MM in cap space opening up this summer, thanks to the reduction of the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyout penalties. That figure doesn’t include a projected salary cap increase of at least $4MM, making them well-positioned to have productive extension talks with star Kirill Kaprizov, who’s set to become a UFA in 2026 while being one of the most prominent players on this summer’s UFA market. Nelson, whose age and declining production likely don’t warrant a raise on his current $6MM cap hit on a short-to-mid-term deal, would complement Joel Eriksson Ek and Marco Rossi down the middle quite nicely and would likely have interest in returning to his home state. The Stars, meanwhile, project to have far more financial flexibility at the trade deadline but less so over the summer.

Dallas Stars| Minnesota Wild| New York Islanders Brock Nelson

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