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Canucks Agree To Terms With Anri Ravinskis On Entry-Level Contract

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4:30 p.m.: According to PuckPedia, Ravinskis will make an NHL salary of $775K in each year of the deal, with a signing bonus of $97.5K, and an unspecified games-played bonus of $102K, bringing his cap hit to $872.5K and his AAV to $975K.

2:09 p.m.: The Canucks announced today they’ve agreed to terms with undrafted forward Anri Ravinskis on a two-year, entry-level contract starting in 2025-26. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Ravinskis, 22, just wrapped up representing his native Latvia at the World Championship. He registered a goal and an assist in all seven group stage games as the Latvians failed to qualify for the quarterfinals for the second year in a row after winning bronze in 2023.

A 6’3″, 201-lb winger, Ravinskis isn’t a stranger to North American hockey. He played U18-level hockey in the Toronto area in the 2019-20 season before returning home when COVID hit. He returned to play at the major junior level with the QMJHL’s Blainville-Boisbriand Armada in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 campaigns, recording a 29-25–54 scoring line in 98 games. He was also on the Latvian Division IA World Juniors team in 2022 that won promotion to the top-level WJC, where the country remains through at least 2026.

Since heading back to Europe following the conclusion of his junior career with Blainville-Boisbriand, he’s spent time in Finland in the HPK organization. After splitting the 2023-24 season between the junior level and the professional second-tier Mestis, he made his top-level Liiga debut this season and impressed with an 8-9–17 scoring line in 27 games. Over the last two seasons, he’s also scored 22 goals and 51 points in 68 games with Kettera, HPK’s Mestis affiliate.

Ravinskis was under contract for two more years with HPK. It’s unclear if his deal carries a European assignment clause that would force the Canucks to loan him back to HPK if he spends too much time in AHL Abbotsford without an NHL call-up. Regardless, it’s unlikely he’ll go straight from logging significant time in second-tier European professional hockey to even limited NHL minutes the following season.

Ravinskis will be a restricted free agent when his deal expires in the 2027 offseason. Vancouver will control his rights through the 2029-30 season.

Maple Leafs Won’t Renew Brendan Shanahan’s Contract

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The Maple Leafs will not be renewing the contract of team president Brendan Shanahan, the club announced.

In the announcement, MLSE President and CEO Keith Pelley wrote:

          “Over the past 11 seasons, Brendan Shanahan has made countless contributions to the Toronto Maple Leafs on the ice, off the ice, and in the community. Brendan is one of the most respected leaders in the game, and he has instilled many of the traits that were the signature of his Hall of Fame career throughout the organization, uniting this storied franchise in the ‘Honour, Pride and Courage’ that it was founded on. Our responsibility and driving motivation, however, is to add a new chapter to the Maple Leafs’ championship history, and it was determined that a new voice was required to take the team to the next level in the years ahead. The franchise will be forever grateful for Brendan’s contributions and wishes him and his family every success and happiness in the future.”

In a follow-up statement provided by Jonas Siegel of The Athletic, Shanahan said, “While I am proud of the rebuild we embarked on starting in 2014, ultimately, I came here to help win the Stanley Cup, and we did not. There is nothing more I wanted to deliver to our fans, and my biggest regret is that we could not finish the job.”

Although the Maple Leafs never advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals under Shanahan’s leadership, the organization embarked on a meaningful return to relevancy. Before Shanahan took on the role as team President, the Maple Leafs had only qualified for the postseason once in the previous decade.

Shanahan helped put the pieces in place for the development of the ’Core Four’ in Toronto, although the team selected William Nylander a year prior to Shanahan’s hire. The quartet has combined for a plethora of individual hardware, and has pushed the Maple Leafs to the postseason in nine consecutive years.

Still, as Shanahan mentioned, the team hasn’t had much success in the postseason. Toronto has only made it out of Round One twice during that span, and has accumulated a playoff record of 31-39 under his stewardship.

Outside of Shanahan, all signs indicate that the Maple Leafs aren’t localizing this summer’s changes in the executive suites. There’s expectation that the team will let winger Mitch Marner walk during this year’s free agency, opening up financial room to explore other options.

Shanahan shouldn’t be available for long. Reports yesterday indicated that the New York Islanders have already been granted an interview with Shanahan for their top leadership position.

Lightning Sign Wojciech Stachowiak To Entry-Level Deal

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The Lightning have signed left-winger Wojciech Stachowiak to an entry-level contract, the team announced today. It’s a one-year deal, but financial terms weren’t disclosed.

Stachowiak, 25, is the second undrafted player today to earn an NHL deal after a strong showing at the World Championship. Latvian winger Anri Ravinskis also landed one with the Canucks.

While Polish-born, Stachowiak is a German national as well and has played the vast majority of his career there, outside of a three-year run in North America, including two years with Michigan State from 2018 to 2020. After wrapping up his collegiate career with just four goals and one assist in 40 games, he returned home to Germany to make his professional debut with ERC Ingolstadt of the DEL, Germany’s top league.

The 6’1″, 187-lb winger has remained with Ingolstadt ever since, aside from a pair of brief loans to second-league club Ravensburg Towerstars a few years back. He has a 42-64–104 scoring line in 239 career DEL games, including 10 goals and 30 points in 52 games this season.

Stachowiak’s signing is more related to his performances on the international stage, though. He’s been one of Germany’s best players over the last three World Championships, recording a 7-14–21 scoring line in 25 games with a plus-five rating in three straight tourney appearances. He helped his country to a silver medal at the 2023 edition and was named a top-three player on the 2024 team, when he tied for the team lead with nine points in eight games.

With six years of professional experience in Europe, he arrives as a bit more of a polished product than the 22-year-old Ravinskis and stands a much better chance at making a surprise bid for an opening-night roster spot in Tampa in the fall. Tampa will hold Stachowiak’s signing rights through the 2026-27 campaign, so he’ll be a restricted free agent when his deal is up next year.

Blackhawks, Kevin Dean Part Ways

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Blackhawks assistant coach Kevin Dean will not return to the club next season, reports Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff.

In fact, it doesn’t appear any of the assistants, including Derek King and Derek Plante, will be back next season after the club announced the hiring of new head coach Jeff Blashill today. Reports indicate longtime NHL center Michael Peca, most recently an assistant coach with the Rangers, is joining Blashill’s staff. Anders Sorensen, who finished the season as Chicago’s interim head coach, has reportedly accepted an offer to stay with the club in an assistant role, while David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period added they’re expected to bring in a third fresh assistant, likely Penguins assistant coach Mike Vellucci.

Dean and King were named assistants simultaneously in the summer of 2022, shortly after the club hired Luke Richardson, whom Blashill succeeds, to be their head coach. The former had spent the previous five seasons as an assistant with the Bruins and, working with an understaffed blue line in Chicago, has furthered his reputation as a high-end defensive coach during his time with the Blackhawks. He’s gotten better-than-expected results with developing names like Alex Vlasic and, at least in smaller samples this past year, Ethan Del Mastro and Wyatt Kaiser.

Dean is currently in Europe as an assistant with the United States at the World Championship, so an official announcement on his and the rest of the aforementioned names’ departures likely won’t come until the tournament concludes. Before jumping into coaching as an AHL assistant with the Devils back in 2006, Dean logged over 300 games as a defenseman in the NHL with the Devils, Blackhawks, Thrashers, and Stars from 1995 to 2001.

Bruins Have Interviewed Jay Leach, Mitch Love, Luke Richardson For Head Coach Job

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The Bruins have had several external candidates linked to their head coaching vacancy for several weeks since the regular season ended. Today, Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic confirmed they’ve held initial interviews with most of the names already mentioned. Still, he added that they’d also considered promoting assistant coach Jay Leach to the head job. They’ve also interviewed Capitals assistant Mitch Love and former Blackhawks bench boss Luke Richardson, LeBrun adds.

LeBrun’s report comes after general manager Don Sweeney told Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald earlier this week that they’re entering the final stages of their search and are narrowing their list of candidates to make a hire in the next couple of weeks. Other previously known candidates who haven’t been snapped up elsewhere are former Bruins winger and current AHL Ontario head coach Marco Sturm, ex-Oilers bench boss Jay Woodcroft, and interim head coach Joe Sacco, LeBrun confirms.

It’s not the first time the Bruins have interviewed Leach to be their head coach. He was a finalist for their vacancy in 2022 before they ended up hiring Jim Montgomery, but they got him anyway last summer as an assistant after he spent three years in the same role with the Kraken.

Boston faces competition from the Penguins on many of the names here. Pittsburgh has also reportedly interviewed Leach, Love, and Woodcroft throughout their process. That’s likely a factor in the Bruins wanting to get their search wrapped up sooner rather than later, so they can ensure the Pens don’t take their first choice.

Leach spent a few years in the Boston organization in the NHL and AHL during his playing days, and is now in his second stint with the club as a coach. He was previously the head coach of AHL Providence from 2017 to 2021.

Love, meanwhile, is now connected to all three remaining head coach openings, including the Kraken, after the Blackhawks concluded their search with the hiring of Jeff Blashill today. After receiving some interest for head coach openings in the 2023 hiring cycle but ending up in an assistant role in Washington, he’s one of the top candidates this time around. The 40-year-old would be a first time head coach in the NHL but has experience in the top coaching role with the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades (2018-2021) and the AHL’s Stockton Heat/Calgary Wranglers (2021-2023), where he won Coach of the Year honors in each of his two seasons behind the bench.

They’re not facing any known competition on Richardson, though. It’s the first time he’s been linked to a head coaching job since the Blackhawks fired him in December following an 8-16-2 start to the campaign. The 56-year-old compiled a 57-118-15 (.339) record in parts of three seasons behind the bench for a rebuilding Chicago club.

Blackhawks Hire Jeff Blashill, Michael Peca

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11:12 a.m.: Chicago had made Blashill’s hiring official. They’re also bringing in Rangers assistant Michael Peca to serve in the same role on Blashill’s staff, Arthur Staple of The Athletic reports. Peca, 51, had been working under Peter Laviolette in New York for the past two years. He’s also worked as a development coach for the Capitals and an assistant coach for AHL Rochester. Sorensen will be on Blashill’s staff as an assistant as expected, while Penguins assistant Mike Vellucci is a strong candidate for the third and final assistant job on Blashill’s bench, per David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period.

10:26 a.m.: The Blackhawks will announce Lightning assistant Jeff Blashill as their next head coach later today, per Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff.

Blashill was the only name to be publicly linked to Chicago’s vacancy throughout their search aside from University of Denver bench boss David Carle, who opted to stay in his NCAA role. The Hawks have had nearly a month to explore other options after Carle withdrew his name from consideration for the position, and while there were some other unknown candidates they were considering as recently as a few days ago, Blashill has been positioned as the favorite for the role ever since his name first emerged.

Chicago will be Blashill’s second stop as an NHL head coach. His first, a seven-year run as head coach of the Red Wings, was a tough assignment as the team slowly entered a full teardown with him at the helm. That understandably led to a poor record – a 204-261-72 (.447) mark in the regular season with just one playoff series and one playoff win to his name, coming in Game 3 of the 2016 first round against the Lightning in his first season behind the Detroit bench.

There are legitimate reasons for optimism that Blashill can be a more effective head man with a Blackhawks club in the latter stages of their rebuild rather than with a Detroit club in the early stages. Since being let go by the Wings in 2022, he’s served as Jon Cooper’s top assistant in Tampa for the last three years. He also put together a strong minor-league resume with Detroit’s AHL affiliate in Grand Rapids before being promoted to the top role there, guiding the Griffins to a Calder Cup championship in 2013 and being named the league’s Coach of the Year the following season.

Blashill will take over for interim head coach Anders Sorensen, who was behind the Chicago bench for most of this year after the team dismissed Luke Richardson in early December. Sorensen, who coached the team to a 17-30-9 (.384) record in the season’s final 56 games, is expected to remain with the Blackhawks in some capacity.

The 51-year-old Blashill will likely have a significantly bolstered roster to manage come opening night compared to how the Hawks are beginning the offseason. Not only do they have the No. 3 overall pick in this year’s draft that could potentially slot into Blashill’s first-year lineup, they’re expected to be one of the most aggressive clubs in free agency this summer with nearly $31MM in cap space and no high-priced pending RFAs to re-sign.

While Blashill may not be the person behind Chicago’s bench when they’re a consistent playoff team again, he’ll at least be tasked with helping the club exit its years-long rebuild. He’ll do with a stacked group of under-25 players that includes forwards Connor Bedard, Oliver Moore, and Frank Nazar, defensemen Artyom Levshunov, Sam Rinzel, and Alex Vlasic, as well as goaltender Spencer Knight.

With Chicago making Blashill’s appointment set in stone, only three head coaching vacancies remain: the Bruins, Kraken, and Penguins.

Image courtesy of Kim Klement-Imagn Images.

Sabres Gauging Bowen Byram’s Trade Market

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After his name sat low on trade burners throughout the 2024-25 campaign, the Sabres are now more seriously gauging what might be available on the trade market for pending restricted free agent defenseman Bowen Byram, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet said on yesterday’s 32 Thoughts podcast.

Byram, acquired from the Avalanche in exchange for Casey Mittelstadt at the 2024 trade deadline, is coming off his first full season in Buffalo. The 23-year-old had, by basic metrics, the best season of his five-year NHL career. While injury concerns had plagued the 2019 No. 4 overall pick’s likelihood of becoming an everyday top-four piece in recent years, he managed a full 82-game season in 2024-25 in career-high usage. Byram averaged 22:42 of ice time per game, second on the team behind No. 1 defenseman Rasmus Dahlin, and recorded a career-high 31 assists, 38 points, and a +11 rating.

But with fellow lefties Dahlin and Owen Power in the mix, the Sabres have struggled to find the right fit for Byram in their depth chart. As a result, he spent most of the season playing top-pair minutes on his offside with Dahlin. He also had some more unfavorable possession metrics than one would expect, given his plus-minus mark tied for the third-highest on the team. The Sabres only controlled 49.3% of shot attempts and 47.8% of expected goals with him on the ice at even strength. Those are far worse numbers than he had when skating with Dahlin (53.1 xGF%, per MoneyPuck). His possession numbers nosedived when paired with Power or Connor Clifton, his two other usual linemates in 2024-25.

With Byram recently switching representation as his previous two-year, $7.7MM contract expires, Buffalo may have some hesitancy around the likelihood of being able to agree on a long-term contract. While he told reporters during his year-end media availability that he sees a long-term fit with the Sabres, his poor two-way showings away from Dahlin this year may mean the feeling isn’t mutual, especially amid an organizational logjam among left-shot defensemen.

That could lead to Byram, who also co-led the team with 116 blocked shots, landing on his third team in as many seasons in 2025-26. AFP Analytics projects a longer-term extension for the British Columbia native to come in north of $7MM per season with a five-year term. If Buffalo were to pay that, they would have three defenders over a $7MM cap hit and five players in total – a somewhat eyebrow-raising number for a club amid a 14-year playoff drought.

Blue Jackets Shopping First-Round Picks

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The Blue Jackets have made both of their first-round picks in the 2025 draft available for trade, general manager Don Waddell told Mark Scheig of The Hockey Writers.

Columbus enters the draft with the No. 14 and No. 20 overall selections, the latter of which they acquired from the Wild in last November’s David Jiricek trade. It’s the first time since 2022 that the Jackets haven’t held a top-five pick, and the first time since 2020 that they haven’t held a top-10 selection.

Their lower draft position comes as a result of their ninth-place finish in the Eastern Conference, narrowly missing out on the final wild card spot to the Canadiens by two points. Under new head coach Dean Evason, many of the pieces Columbus has assembled with their wealth of top draft picks over the past few years took significant strides in 2024-25 and fueled the club to its first 40-win season since 2018-19. That was the year the Jackets upset the 128-point Lightning in a first-round sweep to win the first of two playoff series in franchise history.

Just two players, Boone Jenner and Zach Werenski, remain from that club. A full rebuild has gone on since, started by former GM Jarmo Kekalainen and guided nearly over the finish line by Waddell. After spending much of 2024-25 in a playoff position despite multiple core pieces missing significant chunks of the season with injuries, a playoff spot will be the expectation for the Jackets next season.

That, plus the fact that they’ve already assembled one of the best prospect pools in the league with their wealth of draft picks so far this decade, makes one – if not both – of this year’s first-round selections expendable, especially since they’re mid-round picks in a weaker draft class. Waddell has plenty of financial flexibility to augment his young core in free agency this summer, boasting $41.3MM in cap space with only six roster spots to fill, but it makes sense he’d consider leveraging his draft capital for a trade pickup amid a thin free agent class outside of the top few names.

If Waddell manages to agree to terms on an extension with pending UFA defenseman Ivan Provorov, the back end won’t be an area of concern for the Jackets entering next year, aside from some depth pickups. An impact top-line forward will be the main goal for the Jackets this summer, ideally to help push the aging Jenner down to a more comfortable middle-six role, as well as taking some pressure off of No. 1 center Sean Monahan to have a repeat performance of his unexpectedly resurgent 2024-25. Nikolaj Ehlers and Mitch Marner are the only two UFA options this summer who are under the age of 30 and are coming off seasons in which they operated at a 60-point pace.

They’ll face fierce bidding competition on both targets on the open market. While they have the cap space to match any offer they receive elsewhere, banking on certain UFA pickups – or even the assumption they’ll reach free agency – is never 100%. Leveraging what Columbus views as a redundant asset for a trade pickup is an understandably attractive workaround.

If there’s a legitimate starting goaltender to be had on the trade market as the offseason progresses, expect Columbus to make those picks available in a trade framework there as well. 23-year-old Jet Greaves likely solidified an opening-night spot in the fall after posting a sterling .938 SV% and 1.91 GAA in third-string duties last year, but they could look for an upgrade on veteran starter Elvis Merzlikins (26-21-5, .892 SV%, 3.18 GAA in 53 GP) to partner with him.

International Notes: Pysyk, Raffl, Leskinen

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Prague’s HC Sparta of the Czech Extraliga announced they’ve brought in former NHL defenseman Mark Pysyk for the 2025-26 campaign. The 33-year-old hasn’t played in the NHL since the 2021-22 campaign with the Sabres, and, although he was slated to play 2022-23 with the Red Wings after signing there in free agency, missed the entirety of that season due to an Achilles injury. He’s been working his way back to consistent playing time since, spending parts of 2023-24 with the Penguins’ and Flames’ farm teams before heading overseas. He spent this year in Finland with Liiga’s SaiPa, recording nine points and a +11 rating in 36 regular-season games before advancing to the championship series, coming up short to KalPa in the final. With Pysyk’s 521 games of NHL experience with the Sabres, Panthers, and Stars in the fold, Prague rejoins him with a couple of recognizable names, including 2018 Stanley Cup champion Michal Kempny and Mammoth reserve list netminder Josef Korenar.

There’s more from the top-level European leagues:

  • Longtime NHL winger Michael Raffl is heading back home to Austria on a one-year deal with EC Salzburg of the ICEHL, per a club announcement. The longtime Flyers depth scorer last suited up in the NHL with Dallas in the 2021-22 campaign. He’s spent the three years since in Switzerland with the National League’s Lausanne HC, serving as captain for the latter two. Injuries have limited him to just 55 total appearances in that time, but he did well in limited action last year (5-9–14 in 16 GP). He’ll now get to play with his older brother Thomas Raffl in his home country. The latter has been with Salzburg since the 2010-11 season and served as captain since 2019.
  • Luleå HF of the Swedish Hockey League announced they’ve agreed to terms with defenseman Otto Leskinen on a two-year deal. A former Canadiens prospect, the Finnish rearguard had spent parts of three of the last four seasons in his home country’s Liiga with Tappara but now moves to the slightly more competitive Swedish circuit for the first time in his career. The 28-year-old got into six NHL games with Montreal over the 2019-20 and 2020-21 campaigns and last appeared in North America with AHL Laval in 2022-23. A smallish lefty with good offensive instincts, he led Tappara’s defense in scoring this year with 38 points in 52 games.

Hurricanes’ Jalen Chatfield Remains Day-To-Day

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Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said defenseman Jalen Chatfield is progressing with his undisclosed injury but remains day-to-day and is questionable for Game 2 against the Panthers, per Kurt Dusterberg of NHL.com.

Brind’Amour noted over the weekend that he was hopeful that the 29-year-old would be ready for the Eastern Conference Final opener after missing the final game against the Capitals, but Chatfield wasn’t able to go. The last time Chatfield was able to suit up was Game 4 of the second round on May 12. While Chatfield was a full participant at Tuesday’s practice and skated today, Brind’Amour noted Chatfield has not yet been cleared to return to the lineup.

As Brind’Amour stated: “All the athletes want to play; if they’re not capable, they’re not capable. I think today he is better. I would put him more day to day now, so that’s a good sign.”

The Canes appeared to miss Chatfield’s presence in Game 1 against the Panthers, where they gave up five goals in the loss. Chatfield averaged a career high of 18:53 of ice time per game during the regular season, and that figure has climbed to 20:24 during the playoffs. He has contributed one goal and a plus-six rating in nine playoff games thus far. Rookie Scott Morrow filled in for Chatfield in Game 1 but struggled, finishing with a minus-3 rating in just 12:19 of ice time.

The 22-year-old has just 16 NHL games of experience, making the moment a lot to ask of the 2021 second-round pick. However, he has showcased success in his brief experience during the regular season, posting six points and a plus-four rating in 14 games this season. Alexander Nikishin also made his NHL debut in Game 5 against the Capitals, and gives the Canes another talented, yet inexperienced defender to consider.

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