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Pacific Notes: Woodcroft, Klingberg, Perry

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Although he failed to find a new role as a head coach in this summer’s coaching carousel, Jay Woodcroft will return to the NHL next season. According to Frank Seravalli of the Daily Faceoff, the Anaheim Ducks are expected to hire Woodcroft as an assistant coach to serve on Joel Quenneville’s staff.

It’ll be a few days before the Ducks formalize Woodcroft’s hire. His previous contract with the Edmonton Oilers runs through July 1st, so an announcement should be coming then. Woodcroft hasn’t coached in the NHL since the 2023-24 season, when he was fired as the Oilers’ head coach on November 12th.

As valuable as the Ducks likely perceive Woodcroft’s previous head coaching experience, they likely targeted him to help improve the team’s offense. The Toronto, Ontario native coached Edmonton to a 79-41-13 record in 133 games (64.3% win percentage), while the team finished eighth in GF/G at the end of the 2021-22 season, and first in the league during the 2022-23 season.

Other notes from the Pacific Division:

  • After a largely successful return to the NHL this past season with the Oilers, it doesn’t appear that defenseman John Klingberg will return to the team this summer. Speaking on the Chris Johnston Show, host Chris Johnston reported that Klingberg is likely to become an unrestricted free agent. That doesn’t necessarily mean he won’t return to Edmonton, but he may find more lucrative offers elsewhere. Although injuries limited his return during the regular season, Klingberg finished the postseason on a high note, scoring one goal and four points in 19 games with a +3 rating, averaging 19:08 of ice time per game.
  • Unlike Klingberg, the same doesn’t appear to be true regarding veteran Corey Perry. In today’s episode of Sportsnet’s Around the NHL with Elliotte Friedman, a segment on Sportsnet 590, Friedman shares that Perry and the Oilers are working towards a new deal. Assuming a relatively cheap deal for Perry, there’s little to lose for Edmonton. The 40-year-old veteran is coming off his 20th NHL season, scoring 19 goals and 30 points in 81 regular-season contests, with another 10 goals and 14 points in 22 postseason games.

Hurricanes Sign Juha Jääskä To Two-Year Contract

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The Carolina Hurricanes have gotten some early work done with one of their depth forwards from the 2024-25 season. According to a team announcement, the Hurricanes have re-signed forward Juha Jääskä to a two-year contract worth $1.55MM. Per the team’s announcement, Jääskä’s contract will transition from a two-way agreement in 2025-26 to a one-way deal in 2026-27.

After quality back-to-back campaigns with the Finnish Liiga’s HIFK, the Hurricanes signed Jääskä as an international free agent toward the back half of the 2023-24 NHL season. In those two seasons, Jääskä scored 22 goals and 67 points in 113 games, with another five goals and 11 points in 13 postseason contests.

A little old to be considered a true prospect (27), Carolina first deployed Jääskä with their AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves. He quickly reaffirmed the Hurricanes’ decision to sign him, scoring 12 goals and 33 points in 53 AHL contests. His scoring output was good for fifth on the team, and sat second among wingers behind prospect Bradly Nadeau.

Carolina rewarded Jääskä’s quality transition to North American hockey this past season. Spending all of January at the NHL level, Jääskä tallied three assists in 14 games with a +3 rating in a fourth-line role. Adding four more games played by the end of the campaign, Jääskä finished the 2024-25 season with four assists in 18 contests, averaging 8:56 of ice time.

It’s hard to make any assessment of Jääskä’s game at the NHL level in his brief stint. He responded well to head coach Rod Brind’Amour’s system as evidenced by his 61.7% CorsiFor% at even strength, but he was deployed rather safely with 61.7% of his shift starts coming in the offensive zone. Depending on whether the Hurricanes rearrange their bottom-six this offseason, Jääskä is destined for a similar role with the organization next season.

Panthers Acquire Daniil Tarasov From Blue Jackets

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The Florida Panthers are making quick work to fill in their hole at backup goaltender. According to TSN’s Pierre LeBrun, the Florida Panthers have acquired netminder Daniil Tarasov from the Columbus Blue Jackets. In response to LeBrun’s report, Aaron Portzline of The Athletic shared that the Blue Jackets are acquiring a late-round draft pick in the trade. Columbus confirmed the trade, announcing they’ve acquired Florida’s 2025 fifth-round pick (160th overall) for their former backup.

As a potential non-tender candidate heading into the offseason, the Blue Jackets did decent work in not letting Tarasov leave for nothing. After being surpassed toward the end of the 2024-25 campaign by youngster Jet Greaves, there was little chance Tarasov would remain in Columbus for next season. Now, he’ll attempt to revive his career behind fellow countryman Sergei Bobrovsky.

There was a time when Tarasov was believed to be the future of the crease for the Blue Jackets. Columbus selected Tarasov with the 86th overall pick of the 2017 NHL Draft, and he quickly impressed a year later with the MHL’s Tolpar Ufa. After spending a few years in the Liiga and KHL, including a strong 2020-21 season with Salavat Yulaev Ufa, where Tarasov recorded an 11-3-2 record in 16 games and achieved a .925 save percentage, the Blue Jackets brought Tarasov to North America.

Unfortunately, his professional career in North America got off to a slow beginning. In his first two years with the Blue Jackets and their AHL affiliate, the Cleveland Monsters, Tarasov participated in just 43 games, which limited his development opportunities.

It wasn’t until the 2023-24 season that Tarasov became a full-time member of Columbus’ goaltending tandem. He managed an 8-11-3 record in 24 games with a .908 SV% and 3.18 GAA. His underlying metrics were strong, including 3.9 goals saved above average (GSAA) and a .565 quality start percentage, indicating that his development had returned to the right track.

Alas, this past season undid most of the positive steps he took a year ago. After starting the year as the backup again, Tarasov ended with a 7-10-2 record in 20 games, posting a .881 save percentage and a 3.54 goals against average, which caused his GSAA to drop to -10.5, resulting in the loss of his roster spot.

Given that Bobrovksy started 54 games for the Panthers during the 2024-25 season, and hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down, Tarasov should garner similar deployment next season. He’ll benefit from a stronger defensive core in front of him and may see his earning power grow before he becomes an unrestricted free agent before the 2026-27 NHL season.

Seattle Kraken Acquire Frédérick Gaudreau

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11:17 a.m.: Both teams have confirmed the trade.

10:32 a.m.: The Seattle Kraken are making their forward core tougher to play against.. According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Kraken have acquired forward Frédérick Gaudreau from the Minnesota Wild for a draft pick. Frank Seravalli of the Daily Faceoff quickly added that the Kraken are sending their 2025 fourth-round pick (102nd overall) to the Wild.

For a second time since the Stanley Cup Final ended, the Kraken have taken advantage of a team looking to clear salary from their roster. Similarly to the trade that brought Mason Marchment to Northwest Washington, Seattle has procured a quality middle-six option on the cheap.

Gaudreau is coming to the Kraken on the heels of one of the better campaigns of his career. He finished the 2024-25 campaign fifth on the Wild in scoring with 18 goals and 37 points in 82 games. Although he’s best in a third-line role, Gaudreau spent much of the year in Minnesota’s middle-six due to injuries at the top of their forward hierarchy.

Although he showed more thump in his offensive output this past season, there is reason for pause. Gaudreau finished the campaign with a 16.4% shooting percentage, nearly double his career percentage leading up to the season.

On the defensive side of the puck, he was largely a net-zero. He had a dismal 44.2% CorsiFor% at even strength, but maintained a palatable 48.2% success rate in the faceoff dot with a 90.4% on-ice save percentage at even strength while starting 53.7% of his shifts in the defensive zone. It’ll be interesting to see if Seattle deploys Gaudreau as a center, given they’ve got Matty Beniers, Shane Wright, Chandler Stephenson, and Joe Veleno down the middle already. Either they’re planning on shifting Gaudreau or one of the aforementioned players to the wing, or the Kraken are planning another trade from their forward core, similar to trading away André Burakovsky.

Meanwhile, the Wild’s take on the trade is fairly obvious. Trading Gaudreau relieves another $2.1MM from their 2025-26 salary cap table, giving them $17.7MM in available space leading up to July 1st. Now, even if they were to sign Marco Rossi for his asking price of $7MM per season, the Wild would have more than $10MM left to bring more quality pieces into the fold.

Still, it’ll be interesting to see how they re-work their options down the middle if they were to trade Rossi. Top free agent options such as Brock Nelson and Matt Duchene have already been taken off the table, while John Tavares is still expected to re-sign with the Toronto Maple Leafs. As of now, if they trade Rossi without acquiring a prominent center in return, they’d likely enter the season with Joel Eriksson Ek and Ryan Hartman as their top two options down the middle.

Dallas Stars, Jamie Benn Agree To One-Year Extension

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10:04 a.m.: The Stars have confirmed the signing. Johnston expanded on the bonus structure, reporting that Benn would receive a $500K bonus for 20, 30, 50, and 60 games played, $500K for a Western Conference Final win, and $500K for a Stanley Cup Final win.

9:05 a.m.: According to TSN’s Pierre LeBrun, the Dallas Stars are close to re-signing their captain, Jamie Benn, on a one-year contract. LeBrun added that the contract should be completed today, while TSN’s Darren Dreger shares that the contract is bonus-heavy. According to Frank Seravalli of the Daily Faceoff, Benn’s contract will be a one-year deal worth $1MM, featuring performance bonuses similar to other contracts for players over 35. TSN’s Chris Johnston reports that the contract can become a $4MM deal, meaning Benn will have $3MM available to him in performance bonuses.

Once completed, the new deal will leave the Stars with under $1MM in cap space entering the offseason. It effectively eliminates any chance Dallas will retain trade deadline acquisitions such as Mikael Granlund and Cody Ceci, or forward Evgenii Dadonov. Still, there was little expectation the Stars would pursue extensions with those players anyway, and they have effectively brought back the team’s core with some shrewd moves from General Manager Jim Nill over the last week. 

Benn may no longer be a high-scoring power forward who can contend for the Art Ross Trophy, but he remains a crucial leader in the Stars’ locker room and a valuable secondary scorer. His scoring has declined significantly in recent years, dropping from nearly a point-per-game average in 2022-23 to 60 points in 2023-24 and 49 points in 2024-25.

Like any aging player, Benn’s foot speed has also declined in recent years. Although he has never been known for his speed, Benn ranked in the 76th percentile with 504 bursts of 18-20 mph during the 2021-22 season, while the average was 300. In comparison, he recorded 383 bursts in the 2024-25 season, with the average at 326, according to NHL EDGE data.

Still, what he’s lost in offensive capabilities and speed, he’s made up for on the defensive side of the game. For the first time since the 2021-22 campaign, and only the fourth time of his career, the Stars deployed Benn in the defensive zone more than the offensive zone. He responded as well as he ever had, earning a 90.6% on-ice save percentage at even strength, while maintaining an 11.7% team on-ice shooting percentage while he’s on the ice at even strength, the second-best output of his career regarding the latter category.

Effectively, even with the potential of the contract becoming a $4MM agreement, Benn’s new contract appears to be a steal if he continues his defensive prowess. The bonus structure of the contract allows Dallas to push most of the overtures to their 2026-27 salary cap table, when the salary cap rises to $104MM.

Photo courtesy of Jerome Miron-Imagn Images.

Detroit Red Wings Re-Sign Antti Tuomisto

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A few hours ago, the Detroit Red Wings announced that they’ve re-signed pending restricted free agent defenseman Antti Tuomisto to a one-year contract. Detroit has yet to share Tuomisto’s salary for the 2025-26 season, but it’ll likely be a $775K, league minimum deal.

It wasn’t all that long ago that Tuomisto was regarded as one of the better prospects in the Red Wings’ pipeline. Detroit drafted the Pori, Finland native with the 35th overall selection of the 2019 NHL Draft from Ässät U20 of the U20 SM-liiga. One year after being drafted, Tuomisto scored 15 goals and 49 points in 48 games for the same team with a +18 rating.

The noise he created overseas earned him some recruitment offers from the NCAA, and he eventually committed to the University of Denver for the 2020-21 season. Unfortunately, injuries and limited ice time led to a disappointing college experience. Despite winning the National Championship with the Pioneers in the 2021-22 NCAA season, Tuomisto finished his collegiate career with eight goals and 44 points in 117 games with a +6 rating.

Leaving after his sophomore year, Tuomisto returned home to Finland, this time with the Liiga’s TPS. He rebounded well, scoring five goals and 20 points in 60 games with a -6 rating. Feeling he had turned a corner after spending another year in Finland, the Red Wings signed Tuomisto to a two-year entry-level contract after his season concluded.

His first year with the team’s AHL affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins, wasn’t nearly as poor as his time in the NCAA, but Detroit was likely hoping for more. He scored five goals and 17 points in 50 games, and even spent some time with the organization’s ECHL affiliate, the Toledo Walleye. In Tuomisto’s defense, the Griffins were a relatively low-scoring team during the 2023-24 campaign and didn’t generate much offense from the blue line.

Fortunately, he took multiple steps in the right direction this past season. Leading the team’s defense in scoring, Tuomisto finished the 2024-25 campaign with three goals and 27 points in 67 games. Still, if Tuomisto expects to make the jump to the NHL anytime soon, he’ll want to increase his scoring efficiency.

In the NHL, defensemen typically have a shooting percentage ranging from 4% to 7%, though some may fall outside this range. Given that Tuomisto finished the 2024-25 AHL season with a 2.8% shooting percentage, that won’t be enough to cut it at the top level if he continues shooting at such a high volume. The Red Wings are expected to have some turnover on their blue line this summer, but it remains to be seen if Tuomisto will be a part of that transition.

Mammoth Acquire, Extend J.J. Peterka

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The Buffalo Sabres are reportedly close to finalizing a deal that would send winger JJ Peterka to the Utah Mammoth in exchange for forward prospect Josh Doan and defenseman Michael Kesselring, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. It’s been further announced that Peterka has agreed to a five-year, $38.5MM extension with the Mammoth, per Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic. The Mammoth later confirmed the trade and signing. It’s a late-night blockbuster, and a rare three-player swap with no additions.

Utah has now completed the franchise’s biggest trade under its new moniker. In Peterka, the Mammoth have acquired a consistent goal-scorer they can plug into their top six without having to part with too many quality assets. Kesselring and Doan filled important needs for the team last season, but they didn’t replicate what Peterka can bring to their offense.

The German-born winger was selected by the Sabres as the 34th overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft, coming from EHC München in the DEL. A year later, after scoring nine goals and 20 points in 30 DEL contests and 10 points in only five World Junior Championship games, the Sabres knew that it wouldn’t be long before Peterka debuted in North America.

He did just that the following season. Primarily playing for the team’s AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans, Peterka gave an impressive rookie performance, scoring 28 goals and 68 points in 70 games. Despite being named to the All-Rookie Team and finishing 10th in AHL scoring, Peterka lost out on the Dudley “Red” Garrett Memorial Award as the league’s most outstanding rookie to teammate Jack Quinn.

Despite playing in two games during the 2021-22 campaign, Peterka made the full transition to NHL hockey in 2022-23 and never looked back. Being a capable tertiary scorer during the 2022-23 campaign with limited ice time, Peterka became a full-fledged top-six winger the last two seasons, scoring 55 goals and 118 points in 159 games played.

Peterka has some defensive shortcomings to work on, which is to be expected of any young winger. Still, he brings a wealth of offensive capabilities and possession quality to plug into a similarly styled offense in Salt Lake City. Peterka will join the likes of Logan Cooley, Clayton Keller, Nick Schmaltz, Dylan Guenther, and Barrett Hayton and the Mammoth’s top-six, with every player falling under the age of 30.

Meanwhile, Buffalo adds a young, right-handed defenseman whom they’ve been coveting for some time. The team was oversaturated on the left side last season, with all four of the team’s highest-paid blue liners shooting from the left. Even at 25 years old, Kesselring has already proven to be a capable puck-moving defenseman who can hold his own in the defensive zone.

It’s hard to imagine the Mammoth thought Kesselring would become the player he is. The Arizona Coyotes acquired Kesselring from the Edmonton Oilers in 2023 as part of the Nick Bjugstad trade, whom they later re-signed the following offseason. They quickly assigned him to the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners.

Since then, Kesselring has scored 12 goals and 50 points in 147 NHL contests, jumping into a top-four role with the formerly named Utah Hockey Club last season. The scoring totals may not stand out, but his possession and defensive metrics are impressive. He finished the 2024-25 campaign with a 53.7% CorsiFor% at even strength, and a on-ice save percentage of 92.2%. His positive possession quality should help the Sabres dramatically, as they finished the 2024-25 campaign as the league’s 17th-best possession team.

Lastly, Doan, the son of former Coyotes icon Shane Doan, comes to the Sabres organization without having made his mark on the NHL level. The former 37th overall pick in the 2021 NHL Draft has been a productive AHL scorer since his draft year, accumulating 40 goals and 78 points in 104 games.

Still, that talent hasn’t yet translated to the NHL level, and much of that can be explained by a lack of ice time. Doan finished the 2024-25 campaign with seven goals and 21 points in 51 games, averaging 13:31 seconds of ice time in a third-line role. Unfortunately, given the talent that the Sabres have on the wing in their top-six, Doan is likely destined for the same role in New York.

PHR’s Brennan McClain contributed significantly to this article.

Photo courtesy of Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images.

Goalie Jake Allen May Command $5MM Annually

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Pending free agent Jake Allen could be the top goalie available in this year’s free agent class, and he’s certainly approaching it as such. According to Anthony Di Marco of the Daily Faceoff, Allen is believed to be seeking a multi-year deal in the “$5MM AAV range.”

As Di Marco notes, Allen and the New Jersey Devils continue to discuss a potential extension ahead of free agency. However, it appears Allen is seeking at least a two-year deal and a large raise on his previous $3.85MM AAV deal. With the clock ticking and Allen set to be the top available goalie, the Devils will need to act quickly if they hope to retain him.

Allen, 34, is coming off a solid showing during the 2024-25 season. Despite his 13-16-1 record, Allen produced a .906 save percentage and 2.66 goals against average. His save percentage actually exceeded that of starter Jacob Markström, who posted a .900 mark, and the two goalies finished tied with four shutouts each, despite Markström starting 20 more games.

The Athletic’s Pierre Lebrun also recently made note of Allen’s strong position given the limited availability at the position in free agency. While Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald has expressed interest in re-signing last year’s backup, Allen is already drawing interest from other teams, with the Flyers, Oilers, and Sharks having been linked to the netminder.

While Allen was previously projected to land a two-year deal worth $3.5MM per season on the open market, according to AFP Analytics, both the term and annual value could exceed those expectations as teams scramble to secure his services. With this in mind, it will be interesting to see where Allen ends up next season. With the Devils holding just over $14MM in cap space (per PuckPedia), they may not be inclined to sign Allen for an AAV much higher than his last deal.

If the Devils are unable to come to an agreement with Allen, they could look to pair Markström with Nico Daws next season. While the 24-year-old Daws only appeared in six contests last season with the Devils, he impressed with a .939 save percentage.

Pacific Notes: Kane, Demko, Turcotte

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Although recently traded Evander Kane has just one year remaining on his four-year, $20.5MM contract, the Canucks are eyeing him as a potential long-term asset beyond this season.

Per Thomas Drance of The Athletic, GM Patrik Allvin stated that in his estimation, Kane has matured over the past few years in Edmonton and is a candidate for a long-term deal in Vancouver. NHL.com’s Chris Faber adds that Allvin believes Kane’s physical presence will make the Canucks hard to play against.

“Every team is looking to be harder to play against and for us, with the group we have here, when a player like this comes available [at this] cost, we felt we have a chance to upgrade our top-nine [and] middle-six, and become a harder team to play against,” said Allvin.

The 33-year-old winger put up 24 goals, 44 points, and a staggering 250 hits in 77 games for the Oilers last season. He currently ranks 20th all-time with 2,216 career hits.

Elsewhere in the Pacific:

  • The Canucks are interested in extending goalie Thatcher Demko, and TSN’s Darren Dreger said on Toronto 1050’s Overdrive that he believes an extension is more likely than a trade at this point. While Demko is coming off his worst NHL season (due in large part to injuries), posting an .889 save percentage in 23 games, he carries a career .910 save percentage and is still on the right side of 30. Demko has one year remaining on his $5MM AAV deal and is set for unrestricted free agency next year. While the Canucks extended goalie Kevin Lankinen to a five year, $22.5MM deal, Dreger believes the team is still interested in getting a deal done with Demko. “It made sense until recently that they would have to consider trading Demko. But I was told by a couple teams today that Demko is more or less off the market,” he said. While Dreger said he wouldn’t call a deal close or imminent, he does feel both sides are getting closer on a multi-year extension.
  • Multiple teams are interested in trading for Los Angeles Kings’ forward Alex Turcotte, per Mayors Manor. While speculation has been ramping up surrounding defender Jordan Spence and forward Trevor Moore, Turcotte is an interesting name to monitor. While Turcotte, a former first-round pick, has underperformed so far in his career, he’s coming off a career-high 68 games played and 25 points, and he’s still just 24. The fifth-overall selection in the 2019 draft could benefit from a change of scenery.

 

Bruins, Henri Jokiharju Having Extension Talks

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The Bruins are making an attempt to sign right-shot defenseman Henri Jokiharju to a new deal before he hits the open market next Tuesday, general manager Don Sweeney told reporters (via Ty Anderson of 98.5 The Sports Hub).

“We have a need on the right side, no doubt about that,” Sweeney said. Boston acquired Jokiharju, 26, from the Sabres at the trade deadline for a 2026 fourth-round pick. It was a peculiar move for a team selling off high-priced assets at the time, but they simply needed NHL-experienced bodies on their blue line to make it through the last few weeks of the season after dealing away Brandon Carlo and losing Hampus Lindholm and Charlie McAvoy to injuries, robbing them of their top three rearguards.

While this offseason will ideally provide enough time for Lindholm and McAvoy to be 100% entering training camp and lead to a reset for the rest of the roster, it makes sense the Bruins would want to at least entertain the idea of retaining Jokiharju after surrendering an asset for him just a few months ago. While the 6’0″ Finn would typically be too young to test unrestricted free agency under non-Group VI status, he came into the league as a teenager with the Blackhawks in 2018-19 and has thus accrued seven years of service time. That puts him to UFA status this summer, regardless of his age.

Jokiharju had a tough year offensively, producing 10 points in 60 games. That tied for the worst points-per-game output of his career at 0.17. He’s more of a two-way threat, though, and the 29th overall pick of the 2017 draft wasn’t projected as a big point-getter in the NHL. Defensively, Jokiharju showed a lot to like after the trade. He closed the year with a plus-seven rating in 18 games for Boston, backed up by a strong 50.7 CF% on an understaffed team in difficult deployment. He averaged 21:22 per game, which would have been the second-highest mark of his career over a full season.

There’s a clear fit for him as a fine second-pairing option to help anchor youngster Mason Lohrei or in more sheltered third-pairing minutes if Boston can make a more notable addition on the right side, too, bumping Andrew Peeke to the press box or waivers. There won’t be many options to replace him on the open market if he walks, unless the Bruins make themselves a legitimate contender for a name like Aaron Ekblad or Dante Fabbro (assuming either even gets to the market). That will give Jokiharju some leverage in talks, though. If he hits the open market, AFP Analytics projects he’ll earn a three-year deal worth $3.6MM per season. That’s a little pricey for a player who struggled to hold down a role on an underperforming Buffalo roster in the past couple of years, but he has shown top-four competency in flashes and might still have some room for growth in his game, unlike his older UFA peers.

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