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Capitals Recall Clay Stevenson, Charlie Lindgren Questionable

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10:00 AM: The Capitals’ optional morning skate revealed a bit more about their call-up of Stevenson. Expected Game 5 backup Charlie Lindgren is dealing with a personal matter that could hinder his ability to suit up on Thursday, per NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti. If that’s the case, Washington will run with Thompson starting and one of Stevenson or Mitchell Gibson in the backup role.

9:00 AM: The Washington Capitals have recalled goaltender Clay Stevenson from the AHL in preparation for Thursday’s Game 5 matchup against the Carolina Hurricanes. Washington is one loss away from being eliminated. With the Hershey Bears not playing until Friday, AHL backup Stevenson will join the Capitals as an emergency third-string goalie for the must-win contest.

It’s unlikely that Stevenson will get near the lineup with Logan Thompson holding a firm grip over the starting role. Thompson is expected to receive his 10th-straight playoff start on Thursday. He was red-hot against the Montreal Canadiens in Round One, posting a 0.923 save percentage and 2.00 goals-against-average as Washington bounced Montreal in five games. Thompson’s numbers have slipped slightly against Carolina – down to a .913 and 2.75 goals-against-average, even despite only allowing three goals on 61 shots through the first two games of the series. But even with the dip, Thompson’s numbers are strong – and will keep him unwavering in the starter’s crease.

Stevenson has served behind Hunter Shepard through the start of the AHL’s Calder Cup Playoffs. He posted a .875 save percentage and 6-4 win in the sole appearance he’s made so far – though hasn’t been able to get over the .850 save percentage and 2-2 record of Shepard. Stevenson posted an 18-8-5 record, .888 save percentage, and 2.94 goals-against-average through the AHL regular season. He also made his NHL debut this season – and recorded five goals on 33 shots and a loss. Stevenson will likely be reassigned before Hershey’s next game on Friday, though that could change should Washington hold onto their season for one more game.

Evening Notes: Lamoriello, Marchenko, Garland, Lightning

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Although longtime General Manager Lou Lamoriello was spotted at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport, it’s unrelated to any rumors of him joining the Buffalo Sabres organization. However, TSN’s Darren Dreger reported that the Sabres would be interested in adding the veteran front office magnate in some capacity.

Lamoriello has spent his entire professional career in the New York/Niagara area, starting as the New Jersey Devils’ President and General Manager in the 1987-88 NHL season. He spent the next 27 years in that role before becoming the Toronto Maple Leafs’ General Manager in 2014-15. Lamoriello only spent three years in Toronto before joining the New York Islanders organization in 2018-19 as the team’s President of Hockey Operations and General Manager.

It’s improbable that the Sabres will dismiss Kevyn Adams as General Manager, particularly with the 2025 NHL Draft and free agency approaching. Still, the team doesn’t have a President of Hockey Operations, meaning Lamoriello could be interested in that role.

Other evening notes:

  • In a long-ranging interview with Sergey Demidov of Responsible Gambling, Columbus Blue Jackets’ winger Kirill Marchenko reaffirmed his commitment to the organization. Now, Marchenko is a few years away from contemplating a move, as he just completed the first season of a three-year, $11.55MM contract. Still, given his responses in the interview, which our readers are encouraged to read, Marchenko makes clear that he has no intentions of leaving Columbus even when his current contract expires after the 2026-27 season.
  • Vancouver Canucks winger Conor Garland believes this year was a fluke, and thinks the Canucks will compete for a playoff spot next season (Article Link). Garland tied for first with Brock Boeser in scoring among Vancouver forwards with 19 goals and 50 points in 81 games. In his view, the Canucks should add a few forwards this offseason, saying, “We need some additions up front; we were thin. We had a hard time scoring down the stretch.“
  • The Tampa Bay Lightning are leaving the FanDuel Sports Network after only one season. In an article from Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times, he explains that the Lightning have signed a new broadcast agreement with E. W. Scripps Company through Scripps Sports. The broadcast firm allows Lightning games to be broadcast directly to any consumer with an antenna, with other viewing options available via the Scripps app.

Mark Stone Out For Game 5

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8:20 p.m.: Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that Stone is not taking warm-ups for Vegas, indirectly confirming he won’t play tonight.

3:50 p.m.: Golden Knights captain Mark Stone is tracking toward being held out of a must-win Game 5 tonight against the Oilers due to an undisclosed injury, SinBin.vegas relays. He’s presumably still dealing with the effects of the upper-body injury he sustained early in Game 3 that made him a game-time decision for Game 4.

Stone ended up playing Monday’s contest but hasn’t practiced with the team since. He departed Game 3 in the first period shortly after appearing to take Oilers winger Corey Perry’s skate to his left wrist.

After eclipsing the point per game mark in the regular season for the third time in his career, Stone has remained a pivotal top-line piece for Vegas in the playoffs. He’s played all 10 games thus far and leads the team with four goals. His four assists give him eight points, second on the team behind Jack Eichel’s nine. He’s the only Knights winger averaging over 20 minutes per game, although his usually high-end two-way impacts haven’t held up. Vegas is still controlling 50.6% of shot attempts with Stone on the ice at even strength, but that’s only 14th out of 20 Knights skaters to suit up in the postseason.

Victor Olofsson will take Stone’s spot on Eichel’s right wing as the Knights, down 3-1 in the series, look to avoid their season ending tonight, per Jesse Granger of The Athletic. They’ll be joined by Brett Howden on the top line while usual Eichel/Stone linemate Ivan Barbashev gives them some scoring depth on the third line with William Karlsson and Reilly Smith.

They’ll also remain without in-season pickup Brandon Saad, who had two assists through eight playoff games but missed Games 3 and 4 with a lower-body injury. According to SinBin.Vegas, he’s not expected back unless the Knights rally back and advance to the Western Conference Final.

Central Notes: Rantanen, Wallstedt, Svechkov

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Mikko Rantanen’s reaction to being traded from the Colorado Avalanche was noticeable on the ice. He scored two goals and six points in 13 games with the Carolina Hurricanes and appeared as uninterested in an extension as he did during the games. Since joining the Dallas Stars, Rantanen is enjoying hockey again.

That’s evidenced by Rantanen’s torrid start in the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs. He’s the Conn Smythe Trophy favorite, scoring nine goals and 19 points in 11 games. In a recent article, Peter Baugh of The Athletic explored Rantanen’s pathway to the Stars organization this season.

Baugh even spoke to one of Rantanen’s family friends, Sauli Mattila, who said, “We’re getting back to ‘same old Mikko’ in his face. The smile is coming back.” The Stars are happy to reap the rewards of Rantanen’s new spark, as he may become the first player to be acquired at the trade deadline to become the postseason’s MVP.

Other notes from the Central Division:

  • Now that Marc-Andre Fleury has shut the door on his playing career, Minnesota Wild netminder prospect Jesper Wallstedt has a clear pathway toward NHL minutes. Still, he’s not coming off a promising season, as injuries limited him to 27 games in the AHL, leading Wallstedt to a 9-14-5 record with a .879 SV% and a 3.59 GAA. In an interview with Joe Smith of The Athletic, Wallstedt reaffirmed his confidence in himself, saying, “I know I’m a great goalie. I know I can save the puck. I’ve done it for so many years. I’ve done it at so many different levels. I’ve done it at the AHL. So it’s more that I’m asking myself, ‘Why am I not doing it right now? What has changed?’ I just need to get a clean slate.”
  • In an interview with Dave Kallmann of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Nashville Predators prospect Fedor Svechkov spoke about transitioning back to AHL hockey for the Milwaukee Admirals’ pursuit of the Calder Cup. Svechkov, the team’s first-line center, is second on Milwaukee in postseason scoring with two goals and five points in five games. When pressed on re-joining the Admirals roster, Svechkov said, “It was so easy because I knew almost all the guys, and I’ve been here last year, start of this year, and I know the coaches, know all the stuff. And it was pretty easy, like I just came back to my family.“

Metro Notes: Smith, Crosby, Shaw, Shanahan

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David Pagnotta from The Fourth Period reports that the Pittsburgh Penguins have contacted coach D.J. Smith regarding their head coaching vacancy. Smith, an associate coach with the Los Angeles Kings, has reportedly interviewed for multiple head coaching vacancies around the league.

It hasn’t been long since he’s been a head coach. Smith was the head coach of the Ottawa Senators from the 2019-20 season until he was fired on December 18 of last year. He finished his tenure in Ottawa with a 131-154-32 record in 317 games without ever leading the team to the postseason. Under Smith’s stewardship, the Senators never finished higher than 18th in GF or 20th in GA.

According to Josh Yohe of The Athletic, it doesn’t sound like captain Sidney Crosby will have much say in the Penguins’ next choice for head coach, but that’s by choice. When pressed on why he didn’t want a say in the process, Crosby replied, “Because, ultimately, I’m a hockey player. I’m not out there coaching games. I am not a manager.” The 20-year veteran clarified his statement further, saying, “If he wants my opinion on someone who’s out there, and someone who is out there that I might have had as a coach before or someone I’ve heard about, then sure, then I’ll share my opinion.”

Other notes from the Metropolitan Division:

  • Although the Philadelphia Flyers ultimately hired Rick Tocchet as their next head coach, their most recent head coach was one of the finalists. Pagnotta reported that now-former interim head coach Brad Shaw was nearly hired for the full-time job, and there’s a possibility he remains on Tocchet’s staff as an assistant. Shaw guided the Flyers to a 5-3-1 record in their final nine games of the 2024-25 NHL season.
  • According to The Athletic’s Arthur Staple, Brendan Shanahan could be a name to look out for regarding the New York Islanders’ President of Hockey Operations and General Manager vacancies. Shanahan has served as the Toronto Maple Leafs’ President since the 2014-15 season, and his contract expires on June 30th this summer. Should Toronto fail to reach the Stanley Cup Final or Eastern Conference Final, Staple believes the Islanders could encourage Shanahan to make a lateral move to the East Coast, and hire Toronto’s special assistant to the General Manager, Shane Doan, as their next General Manager.

Senators Opt To Retain 2025 First-Round Pick

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May 14: The Senators have indeed retained their 2025 first-round pick and will push the forfeiture penalty down the road to 2026 in hopes of having the penalty reduced, per PuckPedia.

May 11: After a strong second half of the season, the Senators worked their way into a playoff spot for the first time since 2017.  While they fell in six games to Toronto, it was certainly a step in the right direction for them.

However, they are still required to forfeit their own first-round selection either this year or next.  That stems from failing to disclose Evgenii Dadonov’s no-trade clause when they moved him to Vegas back in 2021.  That was realized less than a year later when the Golden Knights tried to flip him to Anaheim at the 2022 trade deadline, but the Ducks were on his no-trade list which eventually came to light.  Upset about the matter, Vegas asked the league to investigate, eventually leading to the Sens having to forfeit a pick in 2024, 2025, or 2026.

Given that they held the seventh overall pick last year, it made perfect sense to hold onto that one and the Sens used it on blueliner Carter Yakemchuk.  But with their run up the standings, Ottawa is set to pick 21st overall in next month’s draft.  Since it’s the first time since 2017 that their top pick fell in the 20s, there’s a case to make that this might be the right time to pay that penalty.

However, that doesn’t appear to be the case.  Speaking with reporters earlier this week including Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch, GM Steve Staios indicated that it’s “highly likely” that they keep the selection and push the forfeiture penalty into next season.

Late last year, team owner Michael Andlauer publicly admitted he’s hoping that Commissioner Gary Bettman will eventually reduce or eliminate that penalty altogether.  That approach isn’t entirely without precedent as a similar outcome happened with New Jersey’s penalty for the initial 17-year contract they gave Ilya Kovalchuk, one that was ruled as salary cap circumvention.  The deal was later reworked to a 15-year agreement and approved; had that deal been played out in full, it would have expired this summer.

At the time the initial penalty was assessed, New Jersey was required to forfeit a first-round pick over a three-year stretch.  But after not doing so in the first two years, Bettman opted for a lesser punishment, simply moving the first-round pick in the third year to the back of the round instead of parting with it altogether.  Speculatively, Andlauer may be hoping for a similar outcome here although Bettman’s public comments to Garrioch from November indicate that’s not being considered.

Accordingly, it appears the game of chicken, so to speak, will go on into the third and final year as the Sens will hope for a lesser penalty at that time.  In the meantime, barring a change of heart or a strong trade offer, it appears that they’re set on making the 21st selection on the opening night of the draft next month.

Flyers Name Rick Tocchet Head Coach

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3:01 p.m.: The Flyers have made Tocchet’s hiring official. Brière had the following statement:

I am very happy to welcome Rick Tocchet as our head coach. During this process it became clear that Rick was the absolute right coach to lead our team. He has enjoyed the highest level of success both as a player and coach. Rick’s ability to teach and understand his players, combined with his passion for winning, brings out the best in young players at different stages of their development and has earned the respect and confidence of highly talented All-Stars and veteran players alike.

10:32 a.m.: The Flyers are close to announcing Rick Tocchet as their next head coach, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet confirms Wednesday. ESPN’s John Buccigross implied yesterday that things were moving in that direction.

It’s far from an unexpected move from general manager Daniel Brière and the rest of the front office, who were linked to Tocchet almost immediately after firing John Tortorella late in the regular season. Friedman said Monday that things were moving slower than expected for Tocchet landing a new role after not having his option picked up by the Canucks but that he remained high on the list of Philadelphia’s preferred candidates.

Tocchet returns to some familiar stomping grounds in the City of Brotherly Love. He played parts of 11 of his 18 NHL seasons as a player there, ranking 16th in franchise history in scoring with 508 points in 621 games as a Flyer. His now decades-long coaching career hasn’t yet taken him back to Philly, though.

He walks into a familiar situation with the Flyers, who are not quite out of the woods of their rebuild but have aspirations of being so in short order. As was the case in his most recent stops in Arizona and Vancouver, Tocchet assumes control of a forward group with a young, foundational piece in Matvei Michkov, supplemented by some veteran anchors in Sean Couturier and Travis Konecny.

Tocchet brings nine seasons of experience as an NHL head coach to the Flyers’ bench. He’s posted a career 286-265-87 (.516) record in 638 regular-season games, including a Pacific Division title and Coach of the Year honors with the Canucks just one year ago. He began his career with a year-and-a-half stint with the Lightning in the late aughts before resurfacing as Arizona’s head coach in 2017.

While it’s the first big offseason move for the Flyers, it can’t be their only one if they’re serious about improving their record in 2025-26. Their coaching hire’s impact will be virtually invisible if they can’t find a fix to their goaltending situation, which tanked Philly’s otherwise decent control of scoring chances at 5-on-5 last season. The trio of Samuel Ersson, Ivan Fedotov, and Aleksei Kolosov – all of whom remain under contract for next year – combined to allow a staggering 42.5 goals above expected, per MoneyPuck.

Tocchet’s support staff also remains up in the air. The Flyers also let go of two assistants and their skills coach after the season ended. Brad Shaw, who took over as interim head coach for the final few weeks of the season, is expected to stay on as an assistant, Kevin Kurz of The Athletic said last month.

Image courtesy of Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images.

Canucks Sign Tom Willander To Entry-Level Contract

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The Canucks announced they’ve signed Tom Willander, the organization’s top defense prospect, to a three-year, entry-level contract beginning next season. The deal carries a $950K cap hit with an $855K base salary and a $95K signing bonus each year, per PuckPedia.

It’s been a rocky few months for Vancouver and Willander, whom they selected No. 11 overall in the 2023 draft. After a repeat performance of his strong freshman performance at Boston University in his sophomore year in 2024-25, most expected he’d turn pro with the Canucks as soon as BU’s season ended.

That didn’t happen, and reporting quickly indicated a rift in contract talks related to how much they were willing to give Willander in Schedule A performance bonuses. General manager Patrik Allvin even said shortly thereafter that Willander informed them he planned to return to BU for his junior season. Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK reports Willander’s ELC affords him up to $800K in A bonuses each season, short of the $1MM max but above the $475K they entered talks with, Dhaliwal said last month. PuckPedia confirms his deal averages $800K in A bonuses per season – up to $500K in 2025-26, $900K in 2026-27, and the maximum $1MM in 2027-28.

Willander, 20, will now have the chance to make the Canucks’ roster out of camp in the fall. He’ll begin his professional career with AHL Abbotsford if he doesn’t. Signing his contract prohibits him from returning to college, and since he’s a first-round pick, Vancouver doesn’t have to offer the Swede on loan to the Swedish Hockey League team that owns his rights (Rogle BK) before assigning him to the minors.

A 6’1″, 190-lb righty, Willander has good offensive tools but isn’t an all-out point producer. He plays more of a well-rounded game and racked up a +57 rating in 77 games over two years with the Terriers, including six goals and 43 assists for 49 points. He was named to Hockey East’s Second All-Star Team in each of his two collegiate seasons.

Willander has also done well for his country at the last two World Junior Championships, posting eight points and a +12 rating in 14 games. While Sweden didn’t medal at this year’s tournament, he won a silver medal with them last year. He ranked as the No. 2 prospect in the Canucks’ system behind winger Jonathan Lekkerimaki in Scott Wheeler of The Athletic’s most recent team-by-team breakdown. He’ll first be eligible for restricted free agency in 2028.

Examining The Penguins’ Options For Ryan Graves

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When Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas took over the organization just before the draft in 2023, he had little time to do an organizational assessment. But one glaring hole was on the Penguins’ top defensive pairing next to Kris Letang, where long-time fixture Brian Dumoulin was set to depart after a rocky final season in Pittsburgh. Dubas recognized the gaping hole and swiftly signed defensive defenseman Ryan Graves to a six-year contract in free agency worth $4.5MM per season.

The contract immediately became an albatross for Pittsburgh as Graves struggled on the top pairing, fell down the hierarchy to the bottom pair, and was eventually a healthy scratch on many occasions this season. The deal has been a disaster for the Penguins and will be challenging to navigate going forward.

There’s not much Dubas can realistically do to get out from under the Graves deal. Thanks to the signing bonus structure of the contract, it is essentially buyout-proof (per PuckPedia) and would offer the Penguins very little salary cap relief. The only significant reduction would come next season, a year when the Penguins probably need it the least out of the next few years, and it would tack on additional years in which the Penguins would be paying for the buyout.

The next option is probably the likeliest: to bury Graves in the minors and have him play for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the AHL. This situation wouldn’t be unprecedented, as plenty of NHLers on big-money deals have gone to the AHL before. There’s even a recent example in Pittsburgh, where netminder Tristan Jarry had two stints in the AHL this past season. Graves is no stranger to the AHL, having played four seasons in the league before beginning his NHL career with the Colorado Avalanche, but has not played there since the 2018-19 season. This option would allow Pittsburgh to save the league minimum salary plus another $375K, equaling $1.15MM in cap savings for the Penguins.

An option that is less likely to happen, but probably the most interesting, is that the Penguins could try to trade Graves and his brutal contract. That option is sure to generate an audible snicker from readers. Still, bigger contracts to lesser players have been traded before, so it is not impossible. What better time to do it than the summer? The NHL is ripe with bad contracts, and it is very possible that the Penguins could find someone to swap another undesirable contract for a player that hasn’t worked out.

After signing a massive eight-year deal, Damon Severson in Columbus has also been a bust. Pittsburgh isn’t likely to take on two extra years on a player whose numbers have fallen off recently, but this is the type of player the Penguins will have to target if they want to do a one-for-one change-of-scenery trade. There are plenty of players on much bigger cap hits that Pittsburgh could target, but those contracts are mostly more extended than the four years Graves has remaining. The risk would probably be greater for the Penguins, especially given that they could be turning the corner on their retool and still owe on massive deals. Given that Severson is a right-shot, it’s only a realistic scenario if Erik Karlsson is also moved this summer.

If the Penguins want to move Graves’ contract using a sweetener, that could get ugly. Pittsburgh received a second-round pick in exchange for taking on two years of Kevin Hayes’ contract just last summer, and his cap hit was just $3.57MM, nearly a full million dollars less than Graves’ cap hit. Using that as a comparison, there is no doubt that the Penguins would need to use at least a first-round pick to shed Graves’ contract, which is something they simply won’t do at this time.

The Penguins could also keep Graves on their roster and hope he finds his game. It’s not impossible if Pittsburgh hires a more defensive coach who can utilize some of Graves’ strengths, as the Devils did in New Jersey before Graves joined the Penguins. The issue with that is that Graves played on a talented Devils team and was insulated from some of his shortcomings; in Pittsburgh, that is not the case, nor will it be for the foreseeable future. Graves does have a skill set, and although Penguins fans might disagree, he could be sheltered and used in situations that better suit those skills. He can shoot the puck, has good size and reach, and his transition game isn’t horrible. If the Penguins can find the strengths in his game and exploit them, they could build his trade stock up to the point that they could move him without having to retain any of his contract.

The flip side of that coin is that Graves plays poorly next season and is part of a team that falls to the bottom of the standings, something that is very possible. The Penguins could re-evaluate a year from now and look at their options again if they want to get out of under Graves’ contract.

Misses on depth players are what tank roster construction and unfortunately for the Penguins, the Graves deal has been a massive miss. It’s far from the only miss as their roster has been littered with poor depth contracts since Ron Hextall took over GM duties from Jim Rutherford back in the 2020-21 season. The Penguins have missed on almost every mid-range contract since 2021, but they do have options going forward, and while none of them are perfect, there is a choice that exists. The Penguins will have to make the one they feel best serves the organization as they try to turn the corner and compete again.

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