Atlantic Notes: Peterka, Woodcroft, Panthers
In his new trade board entering the offseason, Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff opines that Buffalo Sabres forward JJ Peterka is the top trade target. Peterka tied for second in scoring among Sabres players this season and will become a restricted free agent on July 1st.
Seravalli writes that several teams put together offers at the trade deadline for Peterka, but Buffalo General Manager Kevyn Adams had no interest in trading him. Despite Seravalli’s claim that a ‘change of scenery’ is in order, it’s difficult to imagine the Sabres moving on from one of their top forwards this summer.
Still, Peterka has come into his own over the last two years, scoring 55 goals and 118 points in 159 games, with 93 of those points coming at even strength. It is reasonable to assume that Buffalo would receive a generous offer for Peterka, but he seems like a player the team should want to keep around for the long term. According to PuckPedia, the Sabres will have more than $23MM entering the offseason, giving them plenty of flexibility to seek a long-term contract with Peterka.
Other notes from the Atlantic Division:
- Despite Washington Capitals assistant coach Mitch Love and Ontario Reign head coach Marco Sturm being labelled as the finalists for the Boston Bruins head coaching vacancy, Jimmy Murphy of RG has heard otherwise. Murphy posited that the Bruins have already begun ‘talking money’ with coaching candidate Jay Woodcroft, but admits that Love and Sturm are still in the mix. There have not been other specific indications that the Bruins are negotiating a deal with Woodcroft, as the situation regarding the Bruins’ head coaching remains very uncertain.
- In a humorous and candid quote, Florida Panthers head coach Paul Maurice describes the contrast between his team’s behaviour on the ice and off the ice. Giving most of the credit to captain Aleksander Barkov, Michael Russo of The Athletic writes about the Panthers’ tenacity, and sometimes dirty play during games, and their stout humility and respect in between puck drops. Recognizing this, Russo quoted Maurice, saying, “Have you ever shotgunned a beer? Have you ever been to church? Would you shotgun a beer in church? That doesn’t make you a hypocrite. There’s a context and a place for all things.“
Oilers Notes: Bowman, Ekholm, Hyman
In an interview with Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic, Edmonton Oilers General Manager Stan Bowman, spoke highly of the Oilers’ two defensive additions throughout the regular season, John Klingberg and Jake Walman. Bowman had always believed that the Oilers’ defense was the most glaring issue, saying, “That was something that struck me early in the season.”
The relationship between the Oilers and Klingberg began in November. Bowman articulated that Edmonton needed a capable puck-moving defenseman to play behind Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, and that was the reason the team went after Klingberg. Bowman said, “We started talking to him in November, knowing he wouldn’t be back (from injury) for a while. But that was the style of player that I thought would really complement our group. Of course, you think of the defensive side, but I thought we defended well as a team.”
That was largely the same reasoning he used for pursuing Walman at the trade deadline. LeBrun quoted Bowman saying, “Walman is along the same lines, because I believed in the group we had on the defensive side. I felt if we could add to it, this was sort of the look that I was hoping would come to be.” The two have been instrumental in the Oilers’ run to the Western Conference Finals, combining for seven points in 27 games with a +19 rating, averaging more than 19 minutes of ice time per game.
More notes from the Oilers:
- Staying on Edmonton’s blue line, Daniel Nugent-Bowman of The Athletic recognized the strong play of defenseman Troy Stecher and the harsh reality eventually coming his way. In five games this postseason, Stecher has averaged an exceptional 100.0% on-ice save percentage at even strength, allowing Edmonton to play him without hesitation. Unfortunately, given the other pieces on the blue, Stecher will be the one removed from the blue line once Mattias Ekholm returns. Still, thanks to his play over the last several games, the Oilers won’t hesitate to put him back in the lineup should there be another defensive injury.
- As noted in a new article from Mike Zeisberger of NHL.com, one player who’s stepped up his game in the postseason after a difficult regular season is Zach Hyman. In the article, which our readers are encouraged to read in its entirety, he blamed concussion issues and the fact that he wasn’t considered for Team Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off as the reason he scored half as many goals as he did during the 2023-24 campaign. Still, he’s been phenomenal in the postseason, scoring five goals and 11 points in 14 games with 109 hits.
Lukas Rousek Signs Two-Year Deal With HV71
May 27: HV71 finalized Rousek’s signing today, per a team release. It’s a two-year contract.
May 24: Sabres center Lukas Rousek’s season was extended by at least one more game following AHL Rochester’s victory on Friday in Laval but it appears his time in North America will soon be coming to an end. Expressen’s Johan Svensson reports (subscription link) that Rousek will be joining HV71 of the SHL next season.
The 25-year-old was a sixth-round pick by Buffalo back in 2019, going 160th overall. After spending the following two years in the Czech Extraliga, Rousek came to North America and has spent the last four seasons in Buffalo’s system, primarily at the AHL level.
This season, Rousek played in all 72 games with AHL Rochester, notching seven goals and 35 assists, seeing his per-game numbers dip for the second straight year. He has been more productive in the playoffs though, collecting two goals and six helpers through six games thus far.
Rousek didn’t see any NHL action this season but does have 17 games at the top level with the Sabres during his time with them. In those outings, he has a goal and three assists in 10:42 of ice time per game. Between his age and lack of experience in the NHL, Rousek qualifies for Group Six unrestricted free agency this summer.
Instead of looking to try his hand in another organization to see if he could land a little higher on the depth chart to get another NHL chance, Rousek instead will try his hand with HV71 where he should have a chance to play a prominent role and a good showing with them could boost his stock in North America should he decide to give playing there another push.
Flyers Retain Ian Laperriere As Hockey Operations Advisor
The Flyers announced today that Ian Laperriere will rejoin the organization as an advisor to the club’s hockey operations department.
For the last four seasons, Laperriere, 51, had served as the head coach of Philadelphia’s AHL affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. NHL.com’s Bill Meltzer reported last week that he wouldn’t be back in the role next season, although at the time it seemed he would look elsewhere for coaching roles with an easier pathway to an NHL job.
That changed over the weekend when Anthony Di Marco of The Fourth Period said Laperriere would remain with the Flyers in an off-ice capacity. The Montreal native previously served in Philly’s front office as their director of player development in the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons before transitioning to coaching roles for the next decade.
Regardless, Laperriere extends his stay in the organization he’s called home since signing his last contract as a player with the Flyers in 2009. He retired in 2012 after spending his final two seasons under contract on long-term injured reserve due to lingering concussion symptoms and immediately transitioned into a front office role.
The Flyers have yet to name a replacement for Laperriere as Lehigh Valley’s head coach, but they said in today’s release that one will begin immediately.
“I want to thank Ian for his tireless work in Lehigh Valley for the last four seasons,” said general manager Daniel Brière. “He not only led the Phantoms in a return to the playoffs, but provided crucial development to several of our prospects. I am excited to welcome him back to the Flyers so he can continue to provide his insight in helping our team as we enter the next phase of the rebuild.”
Devils Hire Brad Shaw As Assistant Coach
May 27: The Devils confirmed Shaw’s hiring this morning. He’ll join the club officially on July 1 after his contract with the Flyers expires.
May 21: The Devils are expected to hire former Flyers associate/interim head coach Brad Shaw in some capacity, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports. He’ll likely serve as Sheldon Keefe‘s top assistant instead of landing any of the four remaining head coach vacancies around the league.
Shaw, 61, nearly had his interim tag removed after taking over for John Tortorella in the final weeks of the regular season but fell to second in the pecking order when former Canucks bench boss Rick Tocchet became available. The possibility of Shaw remaining on Tocchet’s staff remained open for a couple of days after the latter signed a five-year contract, but the club confirmed last week that he wasn’t going to return.
Long regarded as one of the better defensive-minded coaches in the league, he’ll now head to a New Jersey club that already fared well in that department at even strength last season. In the Devils’ first year under Keefe, they ranked highly in limiting shot attempts against (7th), expected goals against (6th) and scoring chances against (9th). New Jersey also had the league’s second-best penalty kill in the regular season at 82.7%. Less impressive was their ability to limit high-danger chances, ranking 13th in the league at 5-on-5 in HDCA – one spot below Shaw’s Flyers.
That will likely be Shaw’s main area of focus in the Garden State, along with helping youngsters like Seamus Casey, Luke Hughes, and Simon Nemec emerge with more well-rounded skillsets defensively. But with few on-ice personnel changes expected and another strong season from starting goaltender Jacob Markström, Shaw’s addition to the ranks should only boost New Jersey’s already well-tuned team defense that had the club rank fifth in the league with 2.68 goals against per game in 2024-25.
It won’t be Shaw’s first time coaching in the New York metro area. He spent one year on the Islanders’ bench as an assistant and even took over as their interim head coach when the club fired Steve Stirling midway through the 2005-06 campaign.
Tomas Tatar Signs Two-Year Deal With Switzerland’s EV Zug
After 14 years, Tomas Tatar‘s NHL career has likely drawn to a close. The pending unrestricted free agent winger has signed a two-year contract with EV Zug of the Swiss National League, the club announced.
Once a consistent 20-goal scorer and one of the game’s better defensive forwards, the Slovakia native’s game declined sharply two years ago. After posting 20 goals, 48 points, and a career-high +41 rating in 82 games for New Jersey in 2022-23, he mustered just 24 points in 70 games split between the Avalanche and Kraken the following year before returning to New Jersey on a one-year, $1.8MM contract last summer.
The return to the Garden State didn’t work out nearly as well as either side would have hoped for. He was limited to a 7-10–17 scoring line in 74 appearances, a career-low 0.23 points per game pace over a full season, and averaged just 11:06 per game. He was a healthy scratch at times throughout the campaign before going pointless with a plus-one rating in the Devils’ first-round elimination at the hands of the Hurricanes.
Tatar’s jump to Europe doesn’t come out of nowhere. There were rumors of him potentially heading overseas in the summer of 2023 when he had trouble finding a fit in free agency. He eventually signed a contract with Colorado just before training camp. This year, Zug made their interest in Tatar clear even before the regular season ended and said he was atop their list of offseason targets.
Zug, which has been more of a middle-of-the-pack club in the NL since winning back-to-back titles in 2021 and 2022, gets their man. While the 34-year-old has exclusively played on the wing since making his NHL debut for the Red Wings back in 2010, he’ll shift to center as he takes his career to Europe, Zug GM Reto Klay said in the team’s announcement of his signing.
Detroit picked up Tatar with the penultimate pick of the second round in the 2009 draft. Among the class, he ranks 13th in games played (927), 11th in goals (227), 14th in assists (269), 15th in points (496), and 12th with a career +43 rating. He’ll easily jump 40 or so spots in any redraft.
As such, teams looking for experienced wing depth on the open market this summer will need to scratch Tatar’s name off their list. Zug’s press release made no mention of an NHL out-clause next summer if the first year of his deal goes quite well, so all indications are he’ll remain in Switzerland through the 2026-27 campaign.
Connor Brown Out For Game 4, Calvin Pickard Questionable
The Edmonton Oilers are confirmed to be without one forward as they look to take a commanding lead in the Western Conference Final in Game 4. According to TSN’s Ryan Rishaug, head coach Kris Knoblauch shared that Connor Brown won’t be in the lineup tomorrow, but netminder Calvin Pickard may return in a backup role.
Brown left the Oilers’ Game 3 victory on Saturday after being hit by Dallas Stars defenseman Alexander Petrovic in the second period. Edmonton listed Brown as having an upper-body injury, but it was clear from the hit that the injury could be isolated to the head. The 10-year veteran had been enjoying the best playoff run of his career, scoring five goals and eight points through the Oilers’ first 14 games of the postseason.
Luckily, Edmonton has a few effective options to replace Brown in the lineup. One of Viktor Arvidsson or Jeff Skinner could get the call, with the former being the likeliest option. Arvidsson has already appeared in nine games for the Oilers this postseason, scoring one goal and four points while averaging 11:06 of ice time per night.
Meanwhile, Pickard could get his first opportunity since Game 2 of Edmonton’s Round Two matchup against the Vegas Golden Knights. Although he wasn’t great, Pickard was exactly what the Oilers needed when starting netminder Stuart Skinner began to falter, managing a 6-0-0 record in seven games with a .888 SV%.
Still, it’s unlikely the Oilers will need Pickard to hurry back from injury if Skinner’s recent play continues. He’s been exceptional since reprising his role as the team’s starter in Game 3 against the Golden Knights, posting a 4-2-0 record in six games with a .936 SV%, including three shutouts.
Russia To Be Barred From 2026 Winter Olympics
Sammi Silber of The Hockey News relays that the International Olympic Committee will officially bar the Russian Federation from participating in the 2026 Winter Olympics. It’ll mark the second consecutive Winter Olympic Games that Russia has been barred from due to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Silber included a few quotes from IIHF President Luc Tardif regarding the decision. Tardif said, “The IOC is the organizer – we only deal with the competition (the hockey tournaments) itself. We have been pressuring them to make a decision, one way or another, because we’re getting closer to the Olympics and we need to know. Recently, they asked us to send them a schedule without Russia, so that’s where we are. The official statement is pending but the IOC has told us that they are informing the Russian Olympic Committee that they are not participating in the Olympics.”
It will be interesting to see how concrete the announcement will be and whether the United States and European Union’s ongoing peace efforts will impact Russia’s participation. There has been plenty of conjecture from all parties involved about the peace efforts, and there doesn’t seem to be an agreement on the horizon. Still, that could change before the Olympic torch is lit in Milan.
The news impacts the NHL and its players quite heavily. The 2026 Olympic Games were likely the last time NHL legends such as Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin would have participated as active players.
Each player’s last time participating in the illustrious international competition came more than a decade ago, in their home country. Still, Russia didn’t make it past the quarterfinals of the playoff round, losing to Team Finland. Ovechkin scored one goal and one assists in five games, while Malkin scored one goal and two assists in five games.
There’s a small chance that each player could still participate in the 2030 Winter Olympics after their NHL careers have concluded. Regardless, two of the game’s best players of all-time won’t participate in the next one.
Snapshots: Canucks, Bruins, Viro
It could be a long summer for the Vancouver Canucks. After a disappointing 2024-25 campaign in which they fell short of the Stanley Cup playoffs, the team lost their head coach and could have a few key players leave via free agency. It seems they will struggle to find suitable replacements on the free agent market.
Earlier today, Rick Dhaliwal of The Athletic passed along a note from Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman articulating why top free agents don’t seem interested in joining the Canucks. Friedman points out that the internal rift between Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller has steered players away in recent years, and captain Quinn Hughes‘ pending unrestricted free agency in a few years is the other reason.
Any top free-agent signing in Vancouver would undoubtedly want Hughes to be part of the team for the long term. He has proven to be one of the best defensemen in the NHL and would significantly enhance the competitiveness of any team. Unfortunately, the Canucks are unable to provide a definitive answer this summer, as they cannot negotiate an extension with Hughes for another year. Additionally, there has been no indication of whether Hughes is interested in extending his contract with Vancouver.
Other snapshots:
- As one of the few remaining teams still seeking a head coach, the Boston Bruins have reportedly made some headway in their search. According to Anthony Di Marco of Daily Faceoff, the Bruins have completed their first round of interviews and have significantly narrowed down their pool. At the time of writing, and of the remaining coaches on the market, the Bruins have only been connected to Jay Leach, Mitch Love, and Luke Richardson.
- A report out of Sweden suggests that the Detroit Red Wings could lose one of their defensive prospects in a few days. The report indicates that defenseman Eemil Viro will join the SHL’s Malmö Redhawks for the 2025-26 campaign. Viro, the 70th overall selection of the 2020 NHL Draft, had spent the last three years with the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins, scoring three goals and 19 points in 142 games with a -17 rating.
Carolina Hurricanes Lineup Updates For Game 4
The roster for the Carolina Hurricanes won’t look much different for Game 4. Earlier today, the team (via Walt Ruff) shared that defenseman Jalen Chatfield and Sean Walker remain out with undisclosed injuries, meaning Alexander Nikishin and Scott Morrow will maintain their spots in the lineup.
Unfortunately, neither defenseman has filled in well for the flailing Hurricanes. Morrow, who’s only postseason experience came through the first three contests of the Eastern Conference Final, has gone scoreless with a -5 rating, averaging 12:04 of ice time per night. Meanwhile, who’s only two games into his NHL career, has also gone scoreless with a -4 rating.
That’s not to say Carolina’s current predicament rests solely on their shoulders. The Hurricanes have struggled through the series’ first three games, having been outscored by 12. There is an argument that some bounces haven’t gone Carolina’s way, but it doesn’t account for that deficit. Carolina has nearly half the penalty minutes of the Panthers, has won 56.3% of the faceoffs, and is scoring at a 27.3% clip on the power play.
Head coach Rod Brind’Amour hopes that another goaltending switch will reignite the team. Passing along a note from Brind’Amour, Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News & Observer reports that Frederik Andersen will reprise his role as the team’s starter tonight.
Many will credit Andersen for the Hurricanes’ run to the Eastern Conference Final. The veteran netminder had managed a .937 SV% against the New Jersey Devils and Washington Capitals through his first nine games of the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs.
Still, Carolina didn’t get that same netminder through the first two games of the Eastern Conference Final. The Panthers were calculated in their offense against Andersen, limiting the netminder to only 27 saves on 36 shots for a .750 SV%. No matter the case, there’s no more room for the Hurricanes, as they enter tonight’s contest one loss away from elimination.