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Free Agent Focus: Seattle Kraken

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Free agency is less than a month away and teams are looking ahead to when it opens.  There will be several impact players set to hit the open market in July while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign as well.  We continue our look around the NHL with an overview of the free agent situation for the Kraken.

Key Restricted Free Agents

F Kaapo Kakko – After joining the Kraken in a mid-season trade from the New York Rangers, Kakko seems to have found his stride in Seattle. While he recorded just 14 points in 30 games with the Rangers, he flourished in 40 games with the Kraken, scoring 10 goals and totaling 30 points. That level of production over 82 games would equate to a 50-point season. Given that the former second-overall pick is still just 24 years old, he may be finally finding his footing in the league. A continued partnership appears to make good sense for both parties.

F Tye Kartye – If the Kraken and new head coach Lane Lambert prioritize bottom-six forwards with a physical presence, bringing Kartye back into the fold would be a logical move. While the forward saw his offensive numbers slightly dip from his rookie campaign, Kartye finished second on the team with 175 hits despite skating in just 63 games. The 24-year-old put up 11 goals and 20 points during the 2023-24 season, showcasing some offensive upside.

D Ryker Evans – While there weren’t many positives for the Kraken during the 2024-25 season, the emergence of Evans as a bona fide NHLer was one of them. Frequently paired with veteran Brandon Montour, Evans posted solid numbers in his first full NHL season, registering 25 points, 123 hits, and 106 blocked shots. His hit total ranked first among the team’s defensemen and third overall, while his blocked shots also finished third. A long-term deal could pair Evans and Montour for years to come.

Other RFAs: D Cale Fleury, D Peetro Seppala

Key Unrestricted Free Agents

F Michael Eyssimont – Acquired by the Kraken as a part of the Yanni Gourde trade, Eyssimont made a moderate impact in Seattle. In 20 games, he contributed four goals and six points while averaging 10:26 of ice time per game. Eyssimont, 28, has skated in over 200 NHL games and will provide whichever team he lands with a reliable bottom-six depth piece. However, he was simply a secondary addition to the first-round picks Seattle received the Gourde deal. A veteran of four NHL seasons, Eyssimont has already played for four different franchises and could add a fifth when free agency begins. He represents the team’s only non-roster player set for unrestricted free agency.

Other UFAs: F Brandon Biro, F Luke Henman (Group6), D Gustav Olofsson, D Maxime Lajoie, D Nikolas Brouillard, G Ales Stezka

Projected Cap Space

With minimal players set to hit free agency, the Kraken, president of hockey ops Ron Francis and GM Jason Botterill find themselves with plenty of spending room. According to PuckPedia, Seattle has nearly $20MM in cap space. While some of that will likely go towards retaining restricted free agents like Kakko and Evans, Botterill and company should still have plenty of wiggle room to make a splash in free agency if they choose to do so. Now that the team has finalized its coaching staff, they can turn their attention to the future of the roster. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman recently said on his 32 Thoughts podcast that he feels the Kraken could play a factor in outbidding other teams for restricted free agents.

“I think Seattle is really eager to take a step this year. They have a lot of cap room, a lot of draft picks, and a lot of flexibility. I don’t know how Jason Botterill or Ron Francis feel about offer sheets, but it was pointed out to me that Seattle has the flexibility to go down that route if they wanted to. So, that’s another team people should be watching,” he said.

Seattle Kraken Announce Assistant Coaching Hires

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The Seattle Kraken are no longer one of the few remaining teams with numerous vacancies on their coaching staff. The Kraken announced they’ve hired Aaron Schneekloth and Chris Taylor as assistant coaches, and Colin Zulianello as the team’s new goaltending coach.

Schneekloth’s hiring comes with little surprise, as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman linked him to the Kraken’s assistant coaching vacancy a few days ago. Schneekloth was serving as the head coach of the AHL’s Colorado Eagles, taking over as the main bench boss upon Greg Cronin’s departure after the 2022-23 campaign. He coached the Eagles to an 83-46-10-5 record over two years, guiding the team to become regular season champions of the Pacific Division and advancing to the Division Finals in the Calder Cup playoffs.

Unlike Schneekloth, Taylor won’t be a rookie coach at the NHL level. After spending eight years as the assistant coach and head coach of the AHL’s Rochester Americans, Taylor was hired by the New Jersey Devils as an assistant coach ahead of the 2020-21 season under then-head coach, Lindy Ruff. Taylor survived New Jersey’s transition from Ruff to Travis Green, and then from Green to Sheldon Keefe.

Ultimately, the Kraken decided to hire their next goaltending coach from within the organization. Zulianello has been in the same role for the AHL’s Coachella Valley Firebirds for the last three years. He had plenty of experience with Seattle’s current starting netminder, Joey Daccord, from the 2022-23 season, and aided in the Firebirds allowing fewer than 200 goals against in two out of his three years as the team’s goaltending coach.

Boston Bruins Announce Development Camp Roster

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Today, the Boston Bruins announced their preliminary roster for the upcoming development camp as the offseason approaches. The 22-player roster will surely grow, especially after the Bruins make their seven selections in the 2025 NHL Draft, if not more. The current iteration of the roster is as follows, and will include where each player was rostered during the 2024-25 campaign, and their draft ranking:

Forwards

Dalton Bancroft (Cornell University, undrafted)
Andre Gasseau (Boston College, 213th overall, 2021)
Beckett Hendrickson (University of Minnesota, 124th overall, 2023)
Dean Letourneau (Boston College, 25th overall, 2024)
Bret Link (Colorado College, undrafted)
Jonathan Morello (Dubuque Fighting Saints, 154th overall, 2024)
Logan Morrell (Arizona State University, undrafted)
Casper Nässén (Miami University (Ohio), 214th overall, 2023)
Chris Pelosi (Quinnipiac University, 92nd overall, 2023)
Ryan Walsh (Cornell University, 188th overall, 2023)
Ethan Whitcomb (University of Connecticut, undrafted)
Will Zellers (Green Bay Gamblers, 76th overall, 2024)

Defensemen

Jackson Edward (Providence Bruins, 200th overall, 2022)
CJ Foley (Dartmouth College, undrafted)
Ty Gallagher (Colorado College, 217th overall, 2021)
Elliott Groenewold (Quinnipiac University, 110th overall, 2024)
Loke Johansson (Moncton Wildcats, 186th overall, 2024)
Kristian Kostadinski (Boston College, 220th overall, 2023)
Ben Robertson (Cornell University, undrafted)

Goalies

Albin Boija (University of Maine, undrafted)
Cameron Korpi (University of Michigan, undrafted)
Philip Svedebäck (Providence College, 117th overall, 2021)

Chris Driedger Signs With KHL’s Traktor Chelyabinsk

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Pending UFA goaltender Chris Driedger signed a one-year contract with Russia’s Traktor Chelyabinsk of the Kontinental Hockey League on Tuesday, per a team release.

Driedger, 31, didn’t see NHL ice in 2024-25 for the second time in three seasons. The longtime No. 2/3 netminder was signed by the Panthers last offseason, his second tour of duty with the club, to serve as an insurance option behind backup Spencer Knight. He wasn’t needed due to the young netminder’s emergence, and even though Florida traded Knight to the Blackhawks in the Seth Jones deal, they acquired Vítek Vaněček from the Sharks to be their new backup shortly thereafter and didn’t need Driedger’s services. They then sent him to the Jets for Kaapo Kähkönen in a swap of experienced third-stringers at the trade deadline.

Between Florida’s and Winnipeg’s AHL affiliates, the Charlotte Checkers and Manitoba Moose, Driedger logged a highly underwhelming 3.03 GAA and .877 SV% with an 11-9-4 record in 25 appearances. It was the worst save percentage he’d put up over that large a sample of his entire career, both professional and junior. It’s unsurprising to see the 6’4″ netminder head overseas in search of career and financial stability as a result with an NHL offer far from guaranteed this summer.

For a brief period, Driedger was one of the better backups in the league. During his first stint with the Panthers, he had a 21-8-4 record, .931 SV%, 2.07 GAA, and four shutouts in 35 appearances in the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons. While he was set to be an unrestricted free agent the following summer, the Kraken selected his signing rights in their expansion draft and promptly signed him to a three-year, $10.5MM deal. He dealt with frequent injuries in his first year though, and after managing a .899 SV% in 27 games in Seattle’s first season, he had ACL surgery that robbed him of most of the 2022-23 campaign. Upon returning, he was played almost exclusively with the Kraken’s AHL affiliate in Coachella Valley.

The Winnipeg native’s NHL career is now likely behind him. If that’s the case, the 2012 third-rounder wraps it up with 67 games to his name, during which he posted a 31-24-5 record, five shutouts, a 2.45 GAA, .917 SV%, and saved 16.0 goals above average. He also has a .910 SV% in 217 AHL games across 10 seasons.

Driedger will likely form a platoon in Chelyabinsk with 25-year-old Sergei Mylnikov, who posted a .920 SV% in 21 games for Traktor last year. Driedger is the replacement in Chelyabinsk for former NHLer Zachary Fucale, who spent the last two seasons with the club and led the KHL with nine shutouts this year but signed a two-year contract with Belarusian side Dinamo Minsk earlier this month.

Meanwhile, the Jets will look to add a different veteran depth option behind Connor Hellebuyck and Eric Comrie for 2025-26. They have youngsters Thomas Milic and Domenic DiVincentiis under NHL contract next year, but neither has the track record to confidently be penciled in as a No. 3 option/AHL starter.

Stars Sign Ben Kraws To Two-Way Extension

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The Stars have signed goaltender Ben Kraws to a two-way extension for the 2025-26 campaign, the team announced Tuesday. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Kraws was slated to be a restricted free agent in two weeks after completing his first NHL contract, a one-year entry-level deal he signed with Dallas as an undrafted free agent in March 2024. The 6’5″, 194-lb netminder was coming off a strong showing in his fifth collegiate season at the time, posting a 2.49 GAA and .919 SV% in 37 games for St. Lawrence University. He played all but two games during the season and was easily the school’s top player, earning a Hobey Baker Award nomination as a result.

While the 24-year-old has seen a few games of action with AHL Texas since signing his deal 15 months ago, most of his short time in the pros has been spent down a level with ECHL Idaho. He was the Steelheads’ starter this year while sitting No. 5 on the Stars’ goalie depth chart behind their NHL duo of Jake Oettinger and Casey DeSmith and the AHL tandem of Magnus Hellberg and Rémi Poirier. He did quite well in his first professional audition, posting a 2.88 GAA, .910 SV%, five shutouts, and a 23-12-5 record in 40 games.

Hellberg won’t be back with the organization next season after signing in Sweden, while Poirier re-upped with the Stars on a two-year, two-way deal just yesterday. The latter outplayed Hellberg anyway and is likely slated to take over as the AHL starter next year. Kraws’ landing a second contract from Dallas indicates they may be penciling him in as Poirier’s backup in the AHL next year.

Still, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Dallas add another name to the mix in net, even if it’s on an AHL-only contract. Kraws has a more pedestrian .896 SV% and 2.87 GAA in seven career AHL showings for Texas. There’s certainly room for improvement on that small sample size, and the Stars would do well to add a more experienced call-up option in case an injury sidelines DeSmith or Oettinger for any significant length of time.

Penguins Re-Sign Joona Koppanen To Two-Way Deal

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The Penguins have re-signed forward Joona Koppanen for the 2025-26 campaign, the club announced Tuesday. It’s an implied two-way deal with a $775K cap hit if he’s in the NHL.

After turning 27 in February, Koppanen was slated to become a bona fide unrestricted free agent for the first time. A Bruins sixth-round pick in 2015, Koppanen departed Boston for Pittsburgh in 2023 via Group VI UFA status, signing a two-year deal with only a partial two-way structure.

This season marked Koppanen’s third straight campaign with NHL ice time after playing the first five seasons of his professional career in North America without a call-up. He recorded an assist in five games for Boston in his NHL debut in 2022-23 before suiting up 15 times for the Pens over the last two years, including 11 showings late in 2024-25. The 6’5″, 215-lb Finn scored his first NHL goal in his first game of the season against the Islanders on March 18 but failed to get on the scoresheet the rest of the way.

The large, versatile winger doesn’t have much upside in the tank at this stage, but he remains a decent plug-and-play piece if injuries necessitate it and is sound organizational depth. He consistently hovers around the half a point per game mark in the AHL and had an 8-15–23 scoring line in 56 showings for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins this season, including 24 PIMs and a plus-five rating.

It’s commonplace to see a foreign-born player of Koppanen’s caliber return to Europe at this stage of his career, but he evidently likes the fit in Pittsburgh. With the club potentially looking to sell off additional pieces this summer, there could be more of an NHL opportunity for him in 2025-26 than he’s had in the past. It’s also worth noting that he’ll be taking a pay cut if he’s assigned to the minors at any point next year. His contract had a one-way structure in 2024-25, so he earned his full $775K league-minimum salary despite only spending a small portion of the season on the NHL roster. While his new two-way deal likely carries a high AHL salary and an even higher guarantee, it could still mean a reduction in Koppanen’s take-home pay if he logs more minor-league action.

Since arriving in the North American pyramid with Boston’s top minor-league affiliate in Providence in 2017-18, he has a 53-84–137 scoring line with 114 PIMs and a +32 rating in 359 AHL games. His signing brings Pittsburgh to having 39 out of 50 standard contracts on the books for next year.

Free Agent Focus: San Jose Sharks

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Free agency is now two weeks away, and teams are looking ahead to when it opens. There will be several impact players set to hit the open market in July, while many teams also have key restricted free agents to re-sign. We continue our look around the NHL with an overview of the free agent situation for the Sharks.

Key Restricted Free Agents

F Nikolai Kovalenko – Kovalenko split a rocky rookie season between the Avalanche and the Sharks. San Jose acquired him in December in the Mackenzie Blackwood trade. The Colorado 2018 sixth-rounder had been an increasingly highly-touted prospect in recent years amid an emergence as a top-line winger in Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League, and he was even thrust into NHL minutes with the Avs in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs. However, he only had eight points in 28 games with Colorado before the trade, making him expendable for a win-now team. The 25-year-old fared better with the Sharks, putting up a 3-9–12 scoring line in 29 contests, but only averaged 12:40 per game – not as much playing time as he hoped nor expected on a team with as thin of a forward group as San Jose was dealing with this year. That led to reports shortly after the season ended that he was eyeing a KHL return. He hasn’t signed there yet, though, indicating he remains open to returning to the Sharks. Considering his backup options overseas, Kovalenko will likely be San Jose’s most well-compensated RFA if he stays with them despite only 57 games of NHL experience, potentially a two-year deal around $2MM per season.

D Jack Thompson – A 2020 third-round pick by the Lightning, Thompson made his NHL debut with Tampa Bay one season ago before being sent to the Sharks as the principal piece of the deal that sent Anthony Duclair to the Bolts as a deadline rental. The puck-moving righty has bounced between the Sharks and the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda ever since, but has looked good in the NHL minutes he’s received. While he only averaged 15:47 of ice time per game in his 31 NHL appearances in 2024-25, he managed a 4-6–10 scoring line with a respectable minus-nine rating on a club with a -105 goal differential. His possession impacts in limited even-strength deployment, a -0.5 relative CF% and a 50.4 xGF%, were impressive. He got a handful of power-play reps, too. The 23-year-old also posted a 3-11–14 line in 27 minor-league games. He won’t necessarily command a seven-figure cap hit on a deal for 2025-26 since he’s not quite established as a full-timer, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see him land it anyway if the Sharks have him penciled into their opening-night lineup.

F Noah Gregor – Gregor returned for his second stint in the Bay Area as a result of the deadline deal that sent Fabian Zetterlund to the Senators. A fourth-round pick of the club back in 2016, the speedy depth forward hasn’t found the 10-goal/20-point production he had his first time around in San Jose. He totaled a 4-3–7 scoring line in 52 games on the year and only had one assist in 12 games with the Sharks after the move. He’s a potential non-tender candidate as they look to create flexibility for names like Thomas Bordeleau and Daniil Gushchin to compete for NHL jobs in training camp while leaving the door open for potential free-agent signings and potentially making a spot for a forward they select No. 2 overall in this year’s draft.

F Klim Kostin – Put Kostin in the potential non-tender camp as well. The 2017 first-rounder looked like he was finally getting his feet under him in San Jose last year after they acquired him from the Red Wings at the trade deadline, finishing 2023-24 with 10 points in 19 games while climbing his way into top-nine minutes. The Russian grinder didn’t receive that kind of deployment from the get-go this year, though, and spent much of the year injured or in the press box. He was limited to seven points in 35 games as a result. Now 26, the Sharks will look to replace his role with either a more established NHL option or a younger winger with more upside.

Other RFAs: F Carl Berglund, F Thomas Bordeleau, F Nolan Burke, F Brandon Coe, F Daniil Gushchin, F Mitchell Russell, G Gabriel Carriere, G Georgi Romanov

Key Unrestricted Free Agents

G Alexandar Georgiev – The Sharks already have clarity in the net next season. Top prospect Yaroslav Askarov is expected to take the reins as their starter or at least a 1A option in a tandem with a free-agent or trade acquisition. It won’t be Georgiev in the No. 2/1B role, though. The Sharks told him at the end of the regular season that they wouldn’t be offering him a new contract. Included for salary-matching/roster management purposes in the Blackwood deal, Georgiev logged a highly underwhelming .875 SV% and 3.88 GAA in 31 appearances with San Jose after the trade – “good” for -17.9 goals saved above expected on the season, including his time in Colorado, per MoneyPuck. A thin goalie market and his top-10 finish in Vezina Trophy voting two years ago could mean he gets an NHL opportunity elsewhere, but the 29-year-old Bulgarian native won’t be back in San Jose.

D Jan Rutta – The 34-year-old righty was brought in simply to serve as an NHL-experienced body on a paper-thin blue line when San Jose acquired him from the Penguins in 2023’s three-team Erik Karlsson trade. He’s historically been an above-average third-pairing option and has done well in sheltered top-four minutes as a grounding piece for a high-end partner. Neither of those situations met him in San Jose, where he had to serve as a top-four defender out of necessity. He averaged 18:38 per game over his two seasons with the Sharks and posted 28 points with a -24 rating in 123 games. The shutdown defender could still have a fit in San Jose, considering their lack of organizational depth on the right side, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see him pursue a more conservative role on a more competitive team in free agency.

Other UFAs: F Walker Duehr, F Pavol Regenda (Group VI), F Scott Sabourin, F Colin White, D Jimmy Schuldt

Projected Cap Space

This number still doesn’t mean a whole lot to the Sharks, who will have a ton of players on entry-level deals and aren’t expected to be huge players in free agency as they proceed past the nexus of their rebuild. They’ll still look to add some supporting cast pieces to the roster, though, and will have plenty of room to do so in addition to re-upping any free agents they choose. Their $41.76MM in flexibility is the most in the league, per PuckPedia.

Photo courtesy of Stan Szeto-Imagn Images (Kovalenko) and D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images (Georgiev).

Penguins Listening To Trade Offers For Most 2026 UFAs

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The Penguins are open to trading nearly every name on their roster entering the final season of their contract in 2025-26, aside from franchise center Evgeni Malkin, Josh Yohe of The Athletic writes Tuesday.

That list is comprised of forwards Noel Acciari, Kevin Hayes, Danton Heinen, and Blake Lizotte; defenseman Vladislav Kolyachonok; and goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic. Among that group, Acciari, Hayes, and Nedeljkovic are the ones Pittsburgh general manager Kyle Dubas would most like to extract some value from rather than hanging onto them in the final years of their deals. There is one other soon-to-be pending UFA not included above. That’s depth defenseman Ryan Shea, who signed a one-way extension for 2025-26 a few months ago and is expected to slot into a consistent third-pairing slot next season – if not higher – given the organization’s dearth of blue-liners.

It’s unsurprising news about a team labeled as the league’s only true seller entering the 2025 offseason. Moving on from the forwards listed above wouldn’t pose much of an issue for the Pens, who have more youngsters available up front who can handle internal promotions next year, whether that’s out of the gate or closer to the trade deadline. Filip Hallander, Ville Koivunen, Rutger McGroarty, and Samuel Poulin are all forwards under 25 years old who can likely handle full-time or fringe NHL duties next season after spending most of 2024-25 in the minors or in Europe.

Of the group mentioned, it appears Lizotte is the only name Dubas would consider extending to continue serving as a depth piece amid what will likely be a years-long retool if no trade materializes. While not “untouchable,” the Penguins like the above-average offense he provided in a fourth-line role this past year (11-9–20 in 59 GP) and could be open to keeping him around for another year or two.

None of those names should be expected to garner the Penguins anything more than a decent mid-round draft pick. Heinen was the best of the bunch offensively for the Pens in 2024-25, producing at a 32-point pace after being re-acquired from the Canucks in the Marcus Pettersson trade. The 29-year-old does have spotty 15-to-20-goal upside and is usually good for around 30 points, so he could be well-positioned to generate the most valuable return, speculatively as high as a late second-round pick or similarly valued prospect.

Moving on from Nedeljkovic would cause the most significant domino effect on the NHL roster, but according to Yohe, that isn’t an obstacle for a move. The team would be perfectly “content” from trading the veteran backup (or higher-priced struggling starter Tristan Jarry instead) while promoting top prospect Joel Blomqvist to a full-time NHL role in 2025-26 and letting 21-year-old Sergei Murashov take over as the minor-league starter in AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Is This The Year The Ducks Finally Trade John Gibson?

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For Anaheim Ducks goaltender John Gibson, the trade rumors have persisted for years as the team has undergone a deep rebuild. Gibson was once among the NHL’s elite netminders but hasn’t been part of the upper echelon of goaltenders for the past half-decade despite being compensated like one. The Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, native has two years left on his contract with a $6.4MM cap hit, which has long been an obstacle to finding Gibson a new home. Gibson’s name was brought up frequently before the trade deadline, but a weak market for the 31-year-old forced the Ducks to retain him, which begs the question: Will the Ducks trade Gibson this summer?

Anaheim has been out of the playoff picture since 2018 and has experienced a slow turnaround in its rebuild, which appears to be stuck. Gibson played well for the Ducks through some of the early years of the rebuild, which did little to help a team that just wasn’t very good. In recent years, Anaheim has been waiting for a second wave of its prospects to take the next step; however, that just hasn’t been the case, and general manager Pat Verbeek has started to make moves to insulate the younger players with veteran experience. Verbeek added defenseman Jacob Trouba last season and recently added forward Chris Kreider, who should provide veteran leadership to some of the younger Ducks.

These moves, coupled with Anaheim hoping to contend for a playoff spot, would lead one to believe that the Ducks keep Gibson in hopes he can turn back the clock to help the team reach the postseason once again after a seven-year absence. He was the better of their two goaltenders last season (albeit in limited action) and could be an essential piece for the team if they want to make some noise in the Western Conference.

Anaheim has what many believe is the heir apparent to Gibson in netminder Lukas Dostal, who is an RFA this summer and will be looking for a sizable raise on the $812.5K he made last season. Dostal certainly has a lot of upside and was good this season behind a weak Ducks team, registering a 14.3 goals saved above expected (as per Money Puck) and a 23-23-7 record. The issue with Dostal is that he hasn’t played meaningful hockey in the NHL, and there is no certainty he could hold up to the scrutiny if the Ducks find themselves in the hunt for a playoff spot late in the season. Gibson hasn’t played meaningful hockey in nearly a decade, but he has played some big games early in his career. If Anaheim opted to hang onto Gibson, they could let him play out his contract over the next two years before making a long-term decision on Dostal and whether he is the franchise’s goaltender of the future. Anaheim still has plenty of cap space with over $32MM available (as per Puck Pedia) and doesn’t have a financial reason to move him at this time. This could also afford them the ability to wait teams out and hope that someone panics and forces a trade that meets Anaheim’s asking price.

One other caveat with Gibson is that he has some trade protection in the form of a 10-team no-trade list, and he has some say over where he goes. Gibson has reportedly been willing to waive his no-trade in the past for specific teams, so it’s not likely to be a major hindrance, but it could come up if one of the teams interested in his services is on that no-trade list.

On the flip side of the coin, the goaltending market this summer is weak; there are no starters available in free agency and the netminders available on the trade market come with massive warts in their game and, in some cases (Philipp Grubauer), they might not even be NHL goaltenders anymore. Anaheim could likely place Gibson on the trade block, and he would instantly jump to the top of the list of available goaltenders, which could allow Anaheim to address other deficiencies in their roster while shedding Gibson’s cap hit.

Gibson has been linked in the past to the Carolina Hurricanes on several occasions, and they would hardly be the only suitor if Anaheim is serious about moving him. The Edmonton Oilers have also been rumored to have interest, and given the way goaltending has failed them in the two previous postseasons, it’s easy to understand why.

There would be no shortage of suitors given the state of the goaltending in Buffalo, Philadelphia, Columbus and Detroit, and there are not many options unless teams want to take a gamble on Pittsburgh Penguins netminder Tristan Jarry, who is a two-time all-star but hasn’t looked like one in quite some time. Gibson comes with his question marks, but as far as goaltenders with a track record, he is the best option, even if that track record came in the last decade.

Anaheim has also faced this distraction within the team since entering a rebuild around 2020, and Gibson began voicing his frustrations with the loss shortly thereafter. He continued to voice his displeasure the following season as the team’s struggles continued, and eventually his play began to drop off behind a weak defence.  The fact that Gibson’s disillusionment goes back nearly half a decade, it’s fair to wonder if the Ducks would like to put a bad situation behind them, with the return in a trade being a secondary concern.

Lastly, Gibson was excellent in 29 games last season, and given the way the previous five years have gone as a whole, he might not ever post those types of numbers again. Gibson registered 15.3 goals saved above expected last season and won’t likely replicate that number again in Anaheim. This type of play is what has opened the door to potentially moving Gibson, and the time to sell might never be better for the Ducks and for Gibson, who would most certainly benefit from a fresh start in a new city.

Photo by Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports

Oilers’ Coach Kris Knoblauch Mum On Game 6 Starting Goalie

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Facing elimination, Edmonton Oilers’ coach Kris Knoblauch still isn’t sure who his starting goalie will be for Game 6. Or, at least, he isn’t making his intentions known.

Knoblauch didn’t commit to either Stuart Skinner or Calvin Pickard, stating the team will go with whichever goalie gives them the best chance to win. When asked how he’ll make the decision, Knoblauch said, “That’s a conversation with the staff. Obviously, our goaltending coach Dustin Schwartz, but with all the assistants and the general manager to weigh how everyone feels and what’s best moving forward.”

Knoblauch acknowledged that the decision is “not an easy one,” pointing out that both goalies have proven they can win games. He added that whichever goalie is chosen, the team believes they’ll be the one to help secure a win on the road in Game 6.

Skinner started the first four games of the Finals but was pulled in two of them, prompting Knoblauch to start Pickard in Game 5. The decision was made in hopes that Pickard could replicate his heroics from Game 4, where he stopped 22 of 23 shots in the overtime win. However, he struggled in Game 5, allowing four goals on 18 shots for a .778 save percentage. Despite the Oilers making it to Game 6 of the Finals, both goalies have put up less-than-stellar statistics throughout the playoffs, with Skinner posting an .891 save percentage and Pickard owning an .886 mark.

While Knoblauch was non-committal on who he’ll start, the team may have tipped their hand during practice today. As TSN’s Ryan Rishaug points out, Skinner was in what was the starter’s net the last time they practiced in Florida. Rishaug added that forward Kasperi Kapanen and defenseman John Klingberg took part in line drills, signaling their potential return. Kapanen was replaced in the lineup by Viktor Arvidsson in Game 5.

 

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