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Pacific Notes: Gavrikov, Kuzmenko, Jeannot, Dorofeyev

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Yesterday, the Los Angeles Kings mutually parted ways with their former General Manager, Rob Blake. Despite this change, the team is reportedly looking to secure contract extensions for defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov and forward Andrei Kuzmenko, who are set to become unrestricted free agents this summer (Tweet Link).

Gavrikov has emerged as a top-four option in the Kings’ defense, especially during the Kings’ period without Drew Doughty during the 2024-25 season. In early January, the Kings’ defensive leader in +/- and blocked shots expressed his desire for a long-term contract, saying, “When I got to L.A., I needed time to decide if my family and I wanted to stay. That’s why we agreed on a short-term contract with the Kings. Now we know what we want, and we can sign a long-term deal here.” The most recent comparable for Gavrikov is the six-year, $33.3MM contract extension defenseman Kaiden Guhle signed with the Montreal Canadiens last July. 

Meanwhile, Kuzmenko was acquired from the Philadelphia Flyers in March 2025, with the Flyers retaining 50% of his salary. Known for his net-front presence and power-play contributions, he performed positively in Los Angeles, scoring five goals and 17 points in 22 games. Due to his inconsistent play over the past year, it is challenging to estimate Kuzmenko’s asking price for his next contract.

Other Pacific Division notes:

  • According to John Hoven of Mayor’s Manor, the Los Angeles Kings have not yet initiated extension negotiations with forward Tanner Jeannot. Despite facing injury concerns, Jeannot had a better season than the previous year, scoring six goals and recording 13 points in 67 games, along with 211 hits. If he requests a salary close to his current $2.665 million or lower, there should be mutual interest between him and Los Angeles for an extension in a fourth-line role.
  • Pavel Dorofeyev will not be in the lineup for the Vegas Golden Knights tonight due to an injury sustained in Game 5 of their opening-round matchup against the Minnesota Wild, causing him to miss the remainder of that game and Game 6 (Tweet Link). His status is considered day-to-day as the team monitors his recovery. Despite losing their fourth-highest-scoring forward from the regular season, the Golden Knights still possess ample depth on the wing.

Central Notes: Bennett, Bednar, Wild, Predators

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At least one change is coming to the Colorado Avalanche’s bench for the 2025-26 NHL season. President of Hockey Operations Joe Sakic and General Manager Chris MacFarland (via Meghan Angley of Guerrilla Sports) shared that the team is moving on from assistant coach Ray Bennett.

Bennett had been an assistant coach for the Avalanche since the 2017-18 season, primarily running the team’s power play. It’s somewhat of a surprise, given Colorado’s powerplay never finished outside the top-10 (outside of the 2019-20 season), and finished their Round One loss to the Dallas Stars with a 30.4% success rate. Given his success with the Avalanche, the Boston Bruins, Philadelphia Flyers, New York Islanders, and Anaheim Ducks could all look to Bennett for additional help with a man advantage.

Bennett is likely the only coach departing Colorado’s bench this offseason. Surprisingly, the pair of front office leaders were asked about head coach Jared Bednar’s status, to which MacFarland replied, “100% confident Jared (Bednar) is our head coach.” Bednar has managed a 390-246-64 record in 700 games as the Avalanche’s head coach, including a Stanley Cup championship in 2022.

Other notes from the Central Division:

  • Although the Minnesota Wild became the first professional team in North American sports to lose in the opening round of the playoffs for the eighth time in ten years, no changes are coming to their coaching staff. According to Michael Russo of The Athletic, General Manager Bill Guerin doesn’t expect any coaching changes for the Wild this offseason, which extends to their head coaching situation for their AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild.
  • Passing along a statement from their Director of Scouting, Alex Daugherty of The Tennessean, reiterated that the Nashville Predators want to select one or two goaltenders during this summer’s draft. The news is surprising, given that Nashville relatively recently extended starting netminder Juuse Saros to an eight-year extension and traded heir-apparent Yaroslav Askarov to the San Jose Sharks. Although some netminders could be taken in the first round, any of them would be a reach for the Predators with the fifth overall selection.

Blues Notes: Fowler, Holloway, Faksa

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If he has his way, defenseman Cam Fowler won’t let the expiration of his current contract be the end of his time as a St. Louis Blue. Earlier today, Fowler told Lou Korac of NHL.com that he’d be interested in signing a contract extension with the Blues this offseason.

To be exact, Korac quoted Fowler saying, “Yeah, absolutely. Those decisions and those conversations will have to be something that we go through over the summer with Doug and the whole group here. I would love to be around as long as they’d like me here.” If he doesn’t sign an extension with St. Louis, Fowler’s eight-year, $52MM contract originally signed with the Anaheim Ducks will expire after the 2025-26 season.

If his production this year is any evidence of what’s to come, there should be mutual interest from the Blues. After being acquired from the Ducks on December 14th for a 2027 second-round pick and a low-level prospect, Fowler scored nine goals and 36 points in 51 games with St. Louis, averaging 21:42 of ice time per game. Furthermore, even though they lost in a hotly-contested opening round matchup to the Winnipeg Jets, Fowler led the way in scoring with two goals and 10 points in seven postseason contests.

Other notes from the Blues organization:

  • In their Round One matchup against the Jets, two of St. Louis’ losses were by one goal, and there’s no denying forward Dylan Holloway could have played a part in rectifying those outcomes. Unfortunately, even though he was given a week-to-week recovery timeline, General Manager Doug Armstrong (via Lou Korac) had little belief Holloway would return for the playoffs. Still, Holloway is expected to fully recover in time for next year’s training camp and look to build upon his 26-goal, 63-point effort this past season.
  • Fowler isn’t the only player interested in an extension with the Blues. According to Korac, there’s mutual interest in extending bottom-six forward Radek Faksa, and St. Louis has already begun those conversations. Although he doesn’t add much on the offensive side of the puck, Faksa has plenty of value defensively. He won 57.0% of 758 faceoffs for the Blues this season and finished the year with a 91.2% on-ice save percentage at even strength.

Team Sweden Announces 2025 World Championship Roster

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Team Sweden has announced their roster for the upcoming 2025 IIHF World Championships. The ’Tre Konor’ will look to finish higher than third place in the international tournament for the first time since 2018.

The team will look similar to the one Sweden brought to the 4 Nations Face-Off in February. Filip Forsberg, Lucas Raymond, and Mika Zibanejad will reprise their roles as Sweden’s top forwards, while Rasmus Andersson and Jonas Brodin will lead the defensive core.

Unfortunately, the team will be without forward William Eklund for the tournament due to offseason wrist surgery. Sweden is expected to announce Eklund’s replacement in the coming days. The rest of Team Sweden’s roster is as follows:

F Mikael Backlund (Flames)
F Anton Bengtsson (Rögle BK)
F Leo Carlsson (Ducks)
F Christoffer Ehn (Linköping HC)
F Filip Forsberg (Predators)
F Max Friberg (Frölunda HC)
F Jesper Frödén (ZSC Lions)
F Marcus Johansson (Wild)
F Elias Lindholm (Bruins)
F Isac Lundeström (Ducks)
F Lucas Raymond (Red Wings)
F Alexander Wennberg (Sharks)
F Mika Zibanejad (Rangers)

D Rasmus Andersson (Flames)
D Jonas Brodin (Wild)
D Gabriel Carlsson (EV Zug)
D Simon Edvinsson (Red Wings)
D Adam Larsson (Kraken)
D Marcus Pettersson (Canucks)

G Samuel Ersson (Flyers)
G Jacob Markström (Devils)
G Arvid Söderblom (Blackhawks)

Bruins Sign Patrick Brown To One-Year Extension

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The Boston Bruins are getting some of their offseason planning out of the way a few months early. The Bruins announced they’ve signed depth forward Patrick Brown to a one-year extension for the 2025-26 NHL season with a salary of $775K.

Brown’s new salary will be $25K less than he’s been paid in the NHL with Boston over the last two years. He joined the Bruins organization on the opening day of free agency in 2023, signing a two-year, $1.6MM agreement.

The Bruins have used Brown sparingly at the NHL level. Since joining the team for the 2023-24 NHL season, Brown has tallied two assists in 26 games, averaging 9:50 of ice time a night in a fourth-line role. He hasn’t been very noticeable in Boston outside of being a physical depth piece.

Still, Brown has had exceptional value with the Bruins’ AHL affiliate, the Providence Bruins. The Bloomsfield, MI native scored 11 goals and 32 points in 42 games in his first year with the club before managing 17 goals and 46 points in 56 contests this season as the team’s captain.

Despite having a bye through the first round the last two years, Providence had not won a playoff series since the 2017 Calder Cup playoffs. Fortunately, that reality changed recently, as Brown and the AHL Bruins defeated the Springfield Thunderbirds in the First Round of the 2025 Calder Cup playoffs. Providence will need to mount a serious comeback in the Division Semifinals to knock off the Charlotte Checkers, but the organization is comfortable keeping Brown in place as captain next season, regardless.

Senators Part Ways With AGM Ryan Bowness

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The Senators have informed teams they won’t be keeping assistant general manager Ryan Bowness, sources tell Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia. He’s free to pursue front office vacancies elsewhere.

The son of longtime NHL head coach Rick Bowness has been with Ottawa since the 2022-23 campaign, with most of his duties revolving around managing their AHL affiliate in Belleville. He was previously a team manager and pro scout with the Thrashers/Jets from 2009 to 2016 and also with the Penguins from 2016 to 2022, spending his last three years in Pittsburgh as the team’s director of professional scouting.

He’s now got over 15 years of experience in NHL front offices, quite a high number for a 41-year-old. While he doesn’t appear to be a candidate for the Islanders’ GM vacancy, he could be a name the Kings want to talk to in their search for Rob Blake’s successor. Even if he doesn’t land that gig, he shouldn’t have much trouble finding an AGM role elsewhere as teams continue to make minor staff alterations over the summer.

The B-Sens posted a respectable 103-86-27 record over the last three seasons under Bowness’ management, but only made the Calder Cup Playoffs once in a stacked North Division. Notable trade pickups the Penguins made while Bowness was their director of pro scouting included Jason Zucker, Jeff Carter, and Rickard Rakell.

Blues’ Torey Krug Not Expected To Resume Playing Career

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Blues defenseman Torey Krug isn’t expected to play again due to his ankle surgery last summer, general manager Doug Armstrong told reporters today (including Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic).

Krug, 34, was diagnosed with pre-arthritis in his left ankle last summer. After several weeks of evaluation, the Blues and Krug agreed on season-ending surgery. His issues stem from a fractured ankle he sustained seven years ago in the second round of the 2018 playoffs while a member of the Bruins, ending his season and causing him to miss the beginning of the following campaign.

As with any form of arthritis, without surgical correction, Krug could have lost mobility in his ankle entirely. Even with the procedure, Armstrong said Krug had just recently resumed his normal day-to-day activities (via Puck Report on X).

Krug’s career will draw to a close after playing the first four seasons of the seven-year, $45.5MM deal he signed with the Blues in free agency in 2020. Brought in as a replacement for captain Alex Pietrangelo, who signed a much richer long-term contract with the Golden Knights that summer, he was coming off a lengthy run of play as a top-four fixture in Boston and had twice finished top 20 in Norris Trophy voting. At the time of signing, he’d averaged over 20 minutes per game for five straight seasons and recorded at least 40 points every year in that period.

While Krug kept up his consistent offensive production after the move westward, the defensive warts in the 5’9″ lefty’s game began to outweigh his benefits over the past couple of years. Krug’s combined -57 rating across the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons was sixth-worst in the league and third-worst among defensemen, trailing only Cam Fowler and Mario Ferraro – minute-munchers on the worst defensive teams in the league (Ducks, Sharks) during that period.

Still, Krug averaged 40 assists and 47 points per 82 games as a Blue, with most of his production coming at even strength. That wasn’t quite the level he clicked at in Boston, but still legitimately helpful output from the back end.

An undrafted free agent signing out of Michigan State by the Bruins back in 2012, Krug burst onto the scene with four goals in 15 games in the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs to help Boston to its second Finals appearance in three years, although they ultimately lost to the Blackhawks. In a couple of years, he was the team’s No. 2 left-shot rearguard behind Zdeno Chára and led their defense corps in scoring on multiple occasions, including a career-high 14-goal, 59-point season in 2017-18. Krug totaled 337 points in 523 regular-season games for Boston before leaving in free agency, ranking fifth in Bruins franchise history in points among defensemen.

Krug will likely remain on long-term injured reserve for the final two years of his contract at a $6.5MM cap hit before presumably officially retiring upon expiry in 2027. If St. Louis doesn’t want to deal with his contract, they could trade it to a team needing an LTIR cushion to stay cap-compliant.

The Michigan native steps away from his playing days after posting an 89-394–483 scoring line in 778 games, 14th in the league among defensemen since he debuted in the 2011-12 season. He was routinely an electric playoff performer for Boston, including posting 12 points in just 11 games in the 2018 postseason and leading them with 16 assists a year later in their loss to St. Louis in the 2019 Stanley Cup Final. His career 0.70 points per game in the postseason matches Hall-of-Famers Nicklas Lidström and Chris Pronger.

All of us at PHR wish Krug a smooth, continued recovery as he looks to get back to normalcy.

Image courtesy of Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports.

Islanders Prefer Ken Holland For GM Vacancy

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Former Oilers and Red Wings general manager Ken Holland is the Islanders’ top choice to fill their GM vacancy, Arthur Staple of The Athletic reports.

Holland hasn’t worked with a team since his contract with Edmonton as their GM and president of hockey operations wasn’t renewed following their run to the 2024 Stanley Cup Final. He’s still been working with the league as a hockey operations consultant, though, so he hasn’t been out of work entirely.

The belief was that the four-time Stanley Cup-winning GM likely wouldn’t resurface in an everyday role – he will turn 70 in November. It’s still unclear whether he is interested in stepping back into the GM’s chair and if he’d entertain a role with the Islanders, but the job will likely be his if he wants it. They’re on the hunt for a GM and a POHO, as another elder statesman of managerial roles, Lou Lamoriello, was let go last month. They’d likely prefer Holland fills both of those roles.

Holland is far from the first candidate linked to the Isles’ vacancy in the past few weeks. The first was Devils assistant GM Kate Madigan, whom Andrew Gross of Newsday reported would at least get an initial interview. There hasn’t been much reporting on her in connection with the vacancy since.

Staple adds that the Islanders contacted the Canadiens requesting permission to speak to executive VP of hockey ops Jeff Gorton, although it’s unlikely it was granted. Kings senior advisor, Marc Bergevin, is the frontrunner to succeed Rob Blake in their GM role, but is “in the mix” for a role on Long Island as well, per Staple. Some other speculative targets in former Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekäläinen and Blues VP of hockey ops Peter Chiarelli don’t seem to have much of a chance.

Image courtesy of Gerry Angus-USA TODAY Sports.

Filip Král Signs Three-Year Deal In Czechia

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Defenseman Filip Král’s return to North America was short-lived. The Penguins’ pending Group VI unrestricted free agent has opted to return home to Czechia on a three-year deal with HC Kometa Brno, the club announced.

The 25-year-old Král thus returns to the club where he’s spent the overwhelming majority of his European professional career. He played his youth hockey in Brno before opting to cross the Atlantic to play junior hockey with the Western Hockey League’s Spokane Chiefs in the 2017-18 campaign. That decision helped him get drafted by the Maple Leafs in the fifth round the following summer. He played an additional pair of seasons in Spokane before turning pro with the Leafs, first on a loan back to Brno at the beginning of the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season before reporting to their AHL affiliate.

Král spent parts of three years in the NHL and AHL with Toronto, including making his NHL debut in a pair of contests in October 2022. That was it for the 6’2″ lefty, though. After injuries limited him to six points in 24 AHL games in the 2022-23 campaign, the Leafs didn’t tender a qualifying offer when his entry-level contract expired and he became an unrestricted free agent. With no NHL offers, he spent 2023-24 in Finland with the Pelicans of the top-level Liiga. It was a prudent decision for Král, who put himself back on NHL clubs’ radars with a 37-point, +28 campaign in 46 games en route to being named a Liiga All-Star.

Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas, who made Král part of his first draft class at the helm of the Maple Leafs six years ago, brought him back on a two-way deal last summer. He didn’t make the team out of camp, though, and didn’t get a call-up until the final days of the season after clearing waivers in October. That call-up didn’t result in an appearance, so he finished the regular season with a 7-22–29 scoring line and a -16 rating in 61 showings for AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Without a clear path to the NHL next season, it’s not surprising to see Král opt for a more familiar environment in his home country. He has 6-17–23 with a +16 rating in 75 previous Extraliga games with Brno.

Oilers’ Roby Järventie Signs In Finland

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Oilers pending restricted free agent winger Roby Järventie has signed a three-year contract with Finland’s Tappara, the team announced.

An early second-round pick by the Senators in 2020 (No. 33), Edmonton acquired Järventie last summer in a swap sending 2021 first-rounder Xavier Bourgault the other way. Bourgault had failed to pop offensively in the minors in the Oilers’ system, while Järventie had injury troubles and hadn’t landed an NHL role despite some promising offensive trends in the minors.

Unfortunately for Järventie and the Oilers, he barely got a chance to play this season. He sustained an offseason knee injury that kept him out of training camp. Upon returning to health in late October, he reported to AHL Bakersfield but played just two games before sustaining another injury and remaining out for the season.

The offensive potential is still there with the 6’3″, 209-lb 22-year-old. He posted a pair of assists in his two games with Bakersfield and had 50 points in 62 AHL games in the Sens’ system over the prior two seasons. Still, he only has seven games of NHL experience – all with Ottawa, all in the 2023-24 season – recording an assist and a minus-five rating.

While Järventie won’t be signing in the Oilers organization next season, Edmonton can still retain his signing rights through the 2029-30 season if they issue him a qualifying offer. It’s clear he doesn’t factor into Edmonton’s immediate future, but it would be surprising to see them non-tender him because they’ll still hold his NHL signing rights when his contract with Tappara expires in 2028. If his pre-injury trajectory holds, he could very well be an NHL-caliber player at that time and could walk into a richer one-way deal with Edmonton down the road.

Järventie played 53 games across two seasons in Finland’s top-level Liiga, just not with Tappara. He suited up with Ilves in the 2019-20 and 2020-21 campaigns before touching down with the Sens in North America, scoring 15 goals and 26 points. The two-time World Juniors medalist will now reunite with his younger brother, Penguins prospect Emil Järventie, as well as former NHLers Daniel Brickley and Jyrki Jokipakka on Tappara’s roster next year.

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