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Islanders, Jets Explored Brock Nelson Trade At Deadline

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The New York Islanders landed a Trade Deadline steal when they sent aging veteran Brock Nelson to the Colorado Avalanche for top prospect Calum Ritchie, defenseman Oliver Kylington, and draft picks in the 2026 first-round and 2028 third-round. But new reports have shared that New York could’ve found a jackpot return even if their offer with Colorado fell through. Marco D’Amico of Responsible Gaming reports that the Winnipeg Jets were also aggressive in their pursuit of acquiring Nelson – and were ready to offer a package very similar to Colorado’s. D’Amico specifies that Winnipeg would have offered up one of Brad Lambert, Brayden Yager, or Colby Barlow in the return, in addition to future draft capital.

New York can rest happy with how things ended up, but acquiring one of Winnipeg’s top names would have been just as lucrative. All three prospects offer their own upside, led by 2023 14th-overall pick Brayden Yager, who scored 82 points in just 54 WHL games this season. He also chipped in 14 points in 16 playoff games – but fell short of the championship run he went on with the Moose Jaw Warriors last season. Yager is likely headed for the pros next season, and could rapidly rise up Winnipeg’s depth chart with a hot start to his career.

Lambert is another top prospect, though expectations around him have cooled slightly after he scored 35 points in 61 AHL games this season – 20 fewer than he managed in 64 games last year. Lambert’s a dynamic and skilled forward, but is still a bit small for pro competition. He offers plenty of upside, but will need to first rediscover the scoring he posted last year.

Barlow is perhaps the most unheralded of the bunch after wrapping up his age-20 season in the OHL. He scored 32 goals and 61 points in 62 games this year. That mark continued his quiet slide down the OHL leaderboard – after he posted 40 goals and 58 points in 50 games last year, and 46 goals and 79 points in 59 games of his draft year in 2022-23. But Barlow intercut that with three points in three AHL games at the end of last season, and could translate as a hard-nosed scorer with pro-level physicality.

But while all three prospects carry reason for upside and reason for question, D’Amico specified that a deal with the Jets fell through because Nelson was unwilling to waive his no-trade clause to head to Canada. He instead waived it to land in Colorado, earning the Islanders the rights to Ritchie just a few months after he made the NHL roster directly out of training camp. Ritchie played in seven games and scored his first NHL goal before returning to the OHL for a dominant season. He posted 70 points in 47 regular season games, and 25 points in 21 playoff games, while serving as the clear-cut top center on an Oshawa Generals lineup that made it all the way to the OHL Championship.

Jets’ Adam Lowry Underwent Hip Surgery, Out 5-6 Months

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Jets captain Adam Lowry won’t be available at the start of the 2025-26 season after undergoing successful hip surgery on Tuesday, per a club announcement. The procedure carries a five-to-six-month rehabilitation timeline, meaning he’ll likely make his season debut sometime in November.

While it could be a tough start to Winnipeg’s season without their top matchup and penalty-killing center, a roughly month-long absence shouldn’t impact the Jets’ offseason planning too much outside of adding a depth piece down the middle to give them additional insurance through the first few weeks of the campaign. A potential late October return doesn’t guarantee Lowry will miss enough time to qualify for a long-term injured reserve placement at the beginning of the season. Winnipeg general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff must presume Lowry counts against the salary cap to start the year.

The Jets’ center core of Lowry, Mark Scheifele, Vladislav Namestnikov, and Morgan Barron are all signed or under team control for next season, so there likely weren’t going to be many moving parts down the middle for Winnipeg this summer anyway outside of finding a potential upgrade on Namestnikov for the second line. However, Lowry’s absence for the first few weeks will likely allow the Jets to evaluate the readiness of their potential internal long-term replacements for Namestnikov in a top-six role. There’s 2023 first-rounder Brayden Yager, who’s primed to land an opening-night roster spot after scoring 25 goals and 82 points in 54 games with WHL Moose Jaw and Lethbridge this year. 2022 first-round Brad Lambert has gotten a couple of NHL reps over the last two years and might be a candidate as well, although he’s coming off a highly disappointing season with AHL Manitoba (7-28–35, -30 rating in 61 GP).

For Lowry, the hip rehab will mark an inauspicious start to the final season of the five-year, $16.25MM extension he signed in 2021. With Kyle Connor and Cole Perfetti also eligible to sign extensions on July 1, it’s unclear how quickly Cheveldayoff intends to start those talks with his captain. However, it should be expected that they’ll do everything in their power to keep the 11-year veteran in the only NHL city he’s ever known.

If they do opt to engage in extension discussions this summer, AFP Analytics projects the 32-year-old to receive a two-year deal in the $4MM range per season. He’s coming off his third straight 30-point campaign and has averaged at least 15 minutes per game for five straight seasons.

Lowry’s injury also puts a small dent in his climb up the Jets franchise’s all-time leaderboard. His 775 games played are fourth in Winnipeg/Atlanta franchise history, and he needs 69 games to leapfrog Bryan Little for third – that’s still doable next year if he returns at the early end of his timeline and stays healthy the rest of the way. His 121 goals are 10th all-time for the Jets, his 152 assists and 273 points rank ninth, while his +50 rating ranks fourth.

Multiple Teams Showing Interest In Marco Rossi

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The Blackhawks, Kraken, Flyers, Penguins, and Sabres are among the teams that have shown interest in acquiring Wild pending restricted free agent center Marco Rossi, according to RG’s James Murphy. While general manager Bill Guerin has refuted trade speculation surrounding the 2020 ninth overall pick in the past, there hasn’t been much noise around progress in contract talks so far this offseason, especially after he had his minutes slashed in the playoffs by head coach John Hynes.

For a team considering parting ways with a young player, it’s never a good sign when virtually every club with a need at the position with the assets to make an appealing trade work steps up to the plate. Minnesota’s deployment of Rossi, particularly this season, has been puzzling. The Austrian pivot finished sixth in Calder Trophy voting in 2023-24 and took strides in 2024-25 to prove his floor as a second-line center, notching a 24-36–60 scoring line in all 82 games despite missing star wingman Kirill Kaprizov for most of the campaign. He averaged north of 18 minutes per game in the regular season but played just 11 minutes per night in the playoffs, although that didn’t stop him from still contributing a pair of goals and an assist in the Wild’s first-round elimination at the hands of the Golden Knights.

With Rossi posting those point totals on a bottom-10 offensive team, it’s easy to see why many clubs are optimistic about his ability to slot into their top-six immediately and, at worst, replicate his performance from last year. From Minnesota’s standpoint, assuming their internal projection of him is as pessimistic as his late-season role reduction indicates, it makes sense they wouldn’t want to commit to a long-term deal that will likely cost north of $7MM per season. For Rossi, it makes little sense for him to sign a bridge deal in Minnesota if he feels he won’t get the minutes there to maximize his earning potential a few years down the line.

If the Wild can’t work out a trade for Rossi, an offer sheet threat looms. A long-term deal for Rossi will likely end up at seven years at around $7.4MM per season, AFP Analytics projects. That would require a team to surrender their 2026 first, second, and third-round pick as compensation if the Wild decline to match. As such, they’ll likely set their price around there in trade talks, at least in terms of comparable value. Considering their increased salary cap flexibility this summer and intact core, it makes sense they’d rather pursue trade options to land a more NHL-ready asset in place of a return largely centered around draft picks.

Of the five teams mentioned by Murphy as having interest in Rossi, all but the Sabres have the picks to acquire Rossi in the $7.02MM to $9.36MM range for an offer sheet. Buffalo would need to reacquire their 2026 second-rounder to do so. They sent it to the Senators in this year’s Dylan Cozens/Joshua Norris swap.

Mammoth Sign Daniil But To Entry-Level Contract

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Defenseman Dmitri Simashev isn’t the only top Mammoth prospect to get his entry-level deal today. His teammate with Russia’s Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, winger Daniil But, also put pen to paper on his three-year entry-level contract, the club announced.

His deal includes a yearly base salary of $855K and a $95K signing bonus for a $950K cap hit, per PuckPedia. He’s eligible for up to $750K in Schedule “A” performance bonuses in 2025-26 and up to $1MM in 2026-27 and 2027-28. Unlike Simashev, it doesn’t appear that But’s contract contains a European Assignment Clause, meaning he could be stashed with AHL Tucson without being loaned back to the Kontinental Hockey League.

But, selected six spots after Simashev at 12th overall in the 2023 draft, lands his first NHL deal after landing a Gagarin Cup championship with Lokomotiv alongside Simashev earlier this month. The heavyweight 6’6″, 216-lb left-winger set career-highs in the regular season with 19 assists, 28 points, and a +13 rating in 54 games, ranking seventh on Yaroslavl in scoring.

His playoff performance was less impressive. He tallied just one assist in 13 games and was demoted to the press box as Lokomotiv’s postseason run extended. That small of a sample size won’t be much of a concern for Utah, though. His frame and his puck-handling skills mean he could be ready to step into the lineup as soon as next season. His more well-rounded skillset means he’s deployable up and down the lineup, although he’ll likely be most effective as a middle-six piece long-term.

But is the No. 4 prospect in the Mammoth’s system behind forward Tij Iginla, Simashev, and defenseman Maveric Lamoureux, Scott Wheeler of The Athletic wrote earlier this year. He comes over after posting a 21-30–51 scoring line in 124 KHL games in the past three seasons.

Mammoth Sign Dmitri Simashev To Entry-Level Contract

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11:31 a.m.: Simashev’s deal includes a base salary of $855K, a signing bonus of $95K, and up to $1MM of Schedule “A” performance bonuses each season for a cap hit of $950K, per PuckPedia. Notably, the contract includes a European Assignment Clause, meaning Simashev could trigger a loan back to Yaroslavl next season if he’s not on the NHL roster.

11:04 a.m.: The Mammoth announced today they’ve signed their top defense prospect, 2023 sixth overall pick Dmitri Simashev, to a three-year entry-level contract. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Simashev was technically selected by the Coyotes two years ago but had his signing rights transferred to Utah when Arizona’s hockey operations assets were sold to Smith Entertainment Group last summer to establish the Mammoth franchise. A 6’5″, 207-lb stay-at-home defender, he was widely expected to sign his entry-level deal with Utah shortly after his season in his native Russia ended.

This season was his second full professional campaign with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the Kontinental Hockey League, and it ended in a Gagarin Cup championship for the 20-year-old. He was a bottom-pairing fixture for Lokomotiv, averaging just under 16 minutes per game in the regular season, and suited up in all 21 postseason contests for them while recording one assist and a minus-one rating.

While Simashev may have a future in Salt Lake as a high-end shutdown piece in the top-four, he doesn’t have the offensive upside we’ve come to expect out of defensemen selected that high in the draft. Over the last two regular seasons in Yaroslavl, he’s been limited to a 5-6–11 scoring line in 122 games. His +19 rating during that time is promising, though, especially considering his limited minutes.

In his 2025 prospect pool rankings, The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler labeled Simashev as the second-best prospect in Utah’s system and called him “a potential top-four defenseman who can play minutes and drive results with his defensive play, length and skating.” Whether the lefty makes the immediate jump to the NHL next season remains to be seen – but at his peak, he’s likely averaging north of 20 minutes per game for the Mammoth with heavy penalty-kill deployment.

At first glance, it seems likely he’ll start his professional career in North America with the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners. The Mammoth have their left side on defense locked in for next season with Mikhail Sergachev, Olli Määttä, and Ian Cole, with Juuso Välimäki still in the mix as a potential healthy extra as well. Cole and Välimäki are slated for unrestricted free agency in 2026, though, paving the way for Simashev to graduate to full-time NHL minutes a year from now after a season of adjustment in the minors.

“It feels amazing. I had a goal to win the Gagarin Cup and then go to the NHL and try to be the best player I can be,” Simashev told Utah freelance beat writer Craig Morgan. “I watched highlights of every Utah game. I know every player in Utah and how they play. Coming to Utah, for me, it’s basically like a dream.”

Simashev is too old to be slide-eligible, so his deal goes into effect next season regardless of how many NHL games he plays. He’ll be a restricted free agent following the 2027-28 campaign.

Panthers’ Sam Reinhart, Niko Mikkola, A.J. Greer In For Game 5

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May 28: All three players are returning to the lineup tonight after the Panthers dropped Game 4 by a score of 3-0 without them, Maurice told reporters, including Michael Russo of The Athletic, this morning.

May 26: Panthers star winger Sam Reinhart, who already missed Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final because of a lower-body injury, will remain out for Game 4 tonight, head coach Paul Maurice told reporters (including Eric Engels of Sportsnet). Defenseman Niko Mikkola and winger A.J. Greer, who sustained upper-body and undisclosed injuries in Game 3, respectively, will also miss the potential conference championship-clinching game and are day-to-day, Maurice said.

Reinhart exited Game 2 in the first period due to a hit from Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho and didn’t return. Maurice said yesterday that Reinhart had neither been ruled out nor cleared for Game 4, while Greer and Mikkola weren’t expected to miss time. The latter statements jumped the gun.

Luckily for them, the Panthers have built up a 3-0 cushion in the series to limit the potential effects of their absences (and, if all goes well tonight, allow everyone time to get healthy for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final). They already won once without Reinhart, cruising to a 6-2 win in Game 3 with a third-period scoring explosion. The 29-year-old has been good but not overly dominant in this year’s playoff run, posting four goals and 11 points in 14 games after scoring 10 goals in 24 playoff games in last year’s Stanley Cup win.

But Mikkola played a massive role in that win, scoring a pair of goals, including the game-winner. After the best regular season of his career, the 6’6″ Finn has further solidified his status as a high-end second-pairing option in the playoffs, posting five points and a plus-six rating while averaging north of 19 minutes per game. With the Panthers having fewer quality depth options on the blue line outside of their usual lineup compared to their forward group, his absence will be a little more difficult for Maurice to deal with as he tries to sweep Carolina in the ECF for the second time in three years.

Jesper Boqvist, who’s been the 13th forward this postseason but still has five points in his last three appearances, will remain in the lineup in Reinhart’s stead. Maurice said that rearguard Uvis Balinskis will replace Mikkola in the lineup while depth center Nico Sturm enters the lineup for the fourth-liner Greer.

Free Agent Focus: Buffalo Sabres

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Free agency is just over 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 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 Sabres.

Key Restricted Free Agents

D Bowen Byram – The Sabres were hoping the 2019 fourth overall pick would fully establish himself as a top-pairing option in 2024-25 after acquiring him from the Avalanche at last year’s trade deadline. On most fronts, that’s what happened. After struggling through injuries in the early seasons of his career, he played a full 82 games for the first time and averaged a career-high 22:42 per game despite not receiving much power-play time. That also means 35 of his career-high 38 points came at even strength, tied for 15th in the league among defensemen. But with poor advanced metrics when lower in the lineup away from Rasmus Dahlin and a highly unbalanced ratio of lefties to righties on Buffalo’s blue line, they’ve been looking at possible trade options. Whether it’s in western New York or elsewhere, a long-term deal this summer for Byram should land him north of $7MM per season.

F JJ Peterka – In his first three seasons, Peterka has steadily upped his offensive output to an impressive 27-41–68 scoring line in 77 games in his first contract year. He did so primarily in top-line deployment with Tage Thompson. Yet with the Sabres still unable to find a postseason-caliber formula and Peterka in line for a huge raise this summer, he also finds himself in some trade speculation. A long-term deal for him will, like Byram’s, at least start at $7MM and could inch closer to $8MM per season given how consistently the 23-year-old has developed offensively thus far.

F Ryan McLeod – After the Sabres gave up high-end center prospect Matthew Savoie to acquire McLeod from the Oilers last summer, he justified Buffalo’s faith in him with a 20-goal, 53-point breakout in 79 games. Nearly all of that production came at even strength, too. He barely saw power-play time but was arguably the Sabres’ best two-way center in 2024-25, posting a +13 rating to rank second on the team while seeing significant penalty kill deployment. Given his all-around impact, he’ll likely land at least double his $2.1MM qualifying offer and could realistically approach the $5MM mark. With Dylan Cozens and Casey Mittelstadt gone in trades over the past few years and Thompson seeing increased time on the wing, they can’t afford to lose McLeod at center.

F Jack Quinn – The 2020 No. 8 pick was looking to get his feet back under him after Achilles surgery and a lower-body injury robbed him of most of his 2023-24 season. It didn’t pan out that way as a slow start led to a string of healthy scratches, but he did heat up with a 6-13–19 scoring line in 27 games after the 4 Nations Face-Off. That should at least help his case to earn another contract in Buffalo and get another chance at being part of the long-term future. Still, with how inconsistent he’s been thus far in his career, he likely isn’t in a position to command much more than $2MM per season on what could be as short as a one-year prove-it deal.

D Jacob Bernard-Docker – Acquired from the Senators in the Cozens/Joshua Norris deadline deal, the 2018 first-rounder looked to establish himself as an everyday lineup option down the stretch after a high ankle sprain derailed the first half of his season in Ottawa. He received strict third-pairing minutes but was quite effective in them, posting four points and a plus-three rating in 15 games for the Sabres with strong relative possession metrics (48.3 CF%, 57.9 xGF%, per Hockey Reference). He’s untested in top-four minutes, but he’s a big, defensively responsible righty the team sorely needed in their system. Expect Buffalo to try to negotiate a mid-term deal as a result, and pay a bit more to do so, potentially upward of the $2MM mark.

Other RFAs: D Erik Brännström, D Ryan Johnson, F Alexander Kisakov, F Tyson Kozak, G Devon Levi, F Bennett MacArthur, F Tyler Tullio

Key Unrestricted Free Agents

G James Reimer – The 37-year-old is the only pending unrestricted free agent who saw anything resembling consistent NHL minutes in 2024-25. After signing a one-year deal over the summer and briefly being lost on waivers to the Ducks for the first month of the season, he spent most of the season as Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen’s backup with the younger Levi struggling in his NHL chances. He made good on the Sabres’ $1MM bet, saving eight goals above expected in 24 appearances, per MoneyPuck. His .899 SV% and 2.90 GAA were far better than either Luukkonen’s or Levi’s numbers, and he was the only Buffalo goalie with a points percentage north of .500 with a 10-8-2 record. There might not be a role for him next year with Levi having another excellent AHL season, but it wouldn’t be surprising if the Sabres wanted to bring him back as insurance.

Other UFAs: D Kale Clague, F Mason Jobst, F Brett Murray (Group VI), D Jack Rathbone (Group VI), F Lukas Rousek (Group VI), G Felix Sandstrom

Projected Cap Space

For the first time in a while, the Sabres don’t have virtually unlimited cap space to work with. Handing out long-term deals to players they hoped would be long-term core pieces over the last few years is starting to take effect. While they do have $23.2MM in flexibility for next season and seven roster spots to fill, nearly all of that could be taken up by deals for Byram, Peterka, and McLeod if they opt to keep the first two and go long-term with both.

Photos courtesy of Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images. Cap information courtesy of PuckPedia.

Oilers’ Zach Hyman Undergoing Wrist Surgery, Likely Out For Season

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10:21 a.m.: Hyman’s surgery will be on his wrist, not shoulder, Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK relays.

10:04 a.m.: Not only is Hyman’s series over, but he likely won’t be back for Edmonton in a potential Stanley Cup Final matchup either. Head coach Kris Knoblauch tells reporters, including Ryan Rishaug of TSN, that Hyman will undergo surgery today to address the upper-body injury and is expected not to return this season.

9:05 a.m.: Oilers top-six winger Zach Hyman will not play in tomorrow’s Game 5 of the Western Conference Final against the Stars and isn’t expected to return if Dallas manages to extend the series with a win, Jason Gregor of Sports 1440 reports.

Hyman left yesterday’s Game 4 win midway through the first period with an apparent upper-body injury and did not return. He left the ice while favoring his right shoulder/upper arm area after an awkward neutral zone collision with Stars winger Mason Marchment. He went to the locker room shortly thereafter (video link).

Now in his fourth playoff run with Edmonton, Hyman has again been a first or second-line constant, although his linemates have remained in flux. He’s recently settled in on the top line alongside Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, which has been the most dominant line of the West Final so far. At 5-on-5, the trio has outscored Dallas 3-0 while outshooting the Stars 20-8 and outchancing them 19-9.

After an underwhelming regular season, Hyman has rediscovered his game in the playoffs. He’s not quite at last year’s level of postseason dominance (16-6–22 in 25 GP), but he’s still tied for fourth on the Oilers with five goals, ranks fifth with 11 points, and sits third with a +10 rating. He’s also logged 111 hits – 41 more than any other Oiler and first in the league by a significant margin.

He’s a significant loss as Edmonton looks to close out the series and secure a second straight Stanley Cup Final appearance in Game 5, and an even more significant one if he’s unavailable for any SCF action. Since signing with the Oilers in free agency in 2021, Hyman has 35 goals, 25 assists, and 60 points in 68 playoff games – eighth in the league over the past four seasons.

Without Hyman, Edmonton will need to continue receiving solid secondary scoring from names like Evander Kane and Corey Perry and strong goaltending from the resurgent Stuart Skinner, who’s up to a .939 SV% in the series. If the Panthers advance with a Game 5 win over the Hurricanes tonight and the Oilers win tomorrow, the Stanley Cup Final could presumably start as early as Saturday night – and it’s almost a certainty they’ll be without Hyman for that potential Game 1 if he wouldn’t be available for a potential WCF Game 6 that night either.

Image courtesy of Perry Nelson-Imagn Images.

Marco Sturm Not Yet Solidified As Bruins Head Coach

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Contrary to reports Tuesday night, Marco Sturm is not set in stone as the Bruins’ head coaching hire. He’s high on their list and remains a frontrunner, but the club is still going through their final round of interviews with a few candidates, including Sturm, and hasn’t offered the job to anyone, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet said on this morning’s 32 Thoughts podcast.

It was likely too early to expect news on a hire in Boston anyway. They only completed their first round of interviews within the last few days. In addition to Sturm, those interviews included a pair of internal promotions in assistant coach Jay Leach and interim head coach Joe Sacco, Capitals assistant Mitch Love, former Blackhawks head coach Luke Richardson, and ex-Oilers bench boss Jay Woodcroft. A report from RG’s Jimmy Murphy yesterday indicated Love, Sturm, and Woodcroft have emerged as the final three candidates.

Sturm would be a logical hire for a team looking to shake things up offensively while continuing their trend of inserting people in coaching and front office roles who have familiarity with the organization. Sturm was part of one of the most significant trades in franchise history two decades ago. Boston acquired him, along with checking center Wayne Primeau and defenseman Brad Stuart, from the Sharks in exchange for All-Star center Joe Thornton.

The German winger lasted the longest with the Bruins out of the three. He scored 106 goals and 193 points in 302 games with the B’s in parts of five seasons, seeing his tenure end following knee surgery and a trade to the Kings early in the 2010-11 campaign. He hit the 20-goal mark in all four of his healthy seasons in Boston

Until Leon Draisaitl shattered his record several years ago, Sturm was the highest-scoring German player in NHL history. Since heading home to wrap up his playing career in 2013, Sturm began his coaching career with a bang, coaching Germany to a silver medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics in just his third season behind the bench of the national team. That earned him an NHL job with the Kings organization, where he’s remained since. He spent four years on the NHL bench as an assistant before transitioning into a head coaching role for AHL Ontario in 2022. While Boston would be his first NHL head coaching gig, he’s got both NHL bench experience and head coaching experience.

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