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Devin Shore Signs With HC Sparta Prague

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After spending his entire career in North America, pending UFA forward Devin Shore is heading overseas. He signed a one-year deal with HC Sparta Prague of the Czech Extraliga today, the club announced.

Shore, 31 in July, spent this season on a two-way deal with the Wild. He was meant to be a top-six piece for AHL Iowa, but a never-ending list of injuries to Minnesota’s forward group meant he spent most of the season up with the big club.

Outside of throwing the body with 76 hits, he wasn’t particularly effective in fourth-line minutes. Averaging 8:39 of ice time over 55 games, Shore recorded a 1-4–5 scoring line, a minus-eight rating, and some of the worst even-strength possession metrics on the team (40.9 CF%, 38.1 xGF%).

Shore was once an everyday NHL contributor and even had back-to-back 30-point seasons with the Stars in 2016-17 and 2017-18 to kick off his career, but he hasn’t held down a consistent role since. His 55 appearances this season were his most since the 2018-19 campaign, and he hasn’t hit double digits in goals since then, either.

A second-round pick by Dallas in 2012, he’s appeared in parts of the last 10 NHL seasons and has also made stops in Anaheim, Columbus, Edmonton, and Seattle. He heads overseas after recording 52 goals and 144 points in 498 NHL games, a career that’s unlikely to extend at his age.

He’ll head to Czechia to link up with other ex-NHLers like Roman Horák, Michal Kempný, and Mark Pysyk on Sparta’s 2025-26 roster.

Joe Sacco Out Of Running For Bruins’ Head Coaching Job

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It isn’t yet clear who the Bruins will name as their next head coach in the coming days. However, it won’t be Joe Sacco, who ended the year as interim head coach after the club fired Jim Montgomery early in the season, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet said on the 32 Thoughts podcast earlier this week.

“I believe Joe Sacco was told he will not stay as the head coach of the Boston Bruins,” said Friedman. He’ll likely depart the organization entirely, with the pending hire presumably having a say in their assistants.

General manager Don Sweeney said shortly after the season ended that he’d include Sacco in his list of candidates for the full-time job. It’s not particularly surprising to see him not land the gig, though. Increased goal-scoring is a stated priority for the club for next season, and it’s not something they did well under Sacco. From Nov. 21 onward, Sacco’s first game as interim head coach, Boston’s 2.81 goals per game ranked 24th in the league, and their 26.3 shots per game ranked 29th.

The Bruins also had a worse points percentage under Sacco (25-30-7, .460) than under Montgomery (8-9-3, .475). It’s worth considering Sacco’s tenure overlapped with Boston’s post-trade deadline slide, an understandable one after trading away Brandon Carlo and Brad Marchand for futures.

Nonetheless, it’s likely Sacco will pursue a high-level assistant job elsewhere. That club could be the Maple Leafs, Friedman speculated. They’re on the hunt for a new top assistant/associate coach under Craig Berube after Lane Lambert recently left the post to accept the Kraken’s head coaching job.

The Bruins and Penguins are the only two remaining teams with a head coach vacancy.

Pacific Notes: Brown, Dean, Suter

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While it originally appeared Connor Brown would return to the Oilers’ lineup for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final on Wednesday, his availability is again in question. Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch told reporters Tuesday that Brown is now a game-time decision for the contest due to an illness, reports Chris Johnston of The Athletic.

Brown missed the last two games of the Western Conference Final after being hit in the head by Stars defenseman Alexander Petrovic during Game 3 of the series. During the regular season, Brown posted 13 goals and 30 points while skating in all 82 games. He’s contributed a strong five goals and eight points over 14 playoff games.

Elsewhere in the Pacific Conference:

  • The Vancouver Canucks and new head coach Adam Foote continue to overhaul the coaching staff and are expected to hire Kevin Dean as an assistant coach, per Thomas Drance of The Athletic. Dean, a former assistant for the Chicago Blackhawks and Boston Bruins, is known for his ability to coach defense, something that Foote is clearly familiar with as well. With Vancouver having a host of young, talented defenders, it makes sense that they would go after Dean, who Drance notes was highly sought after this spring.
  • While defensively responsible forwards like Yanni Gourde and Noah Cates are landing lucrative deals around the league, there appears to be no progress between the Canucks and pending free agent Pius Suter on a new contract, Drance reports. Suter, who recorded a career high 25 goals and 46 points this season, is perhaps best known for his strong defensive play, highlighted by receiving Selke Trophy votes for the first time in his career. Coming off his first 20-goal season, Suter now brings the kind of versatility that could make him one of the more sought-after names on the open market. While Vancouver has a little more than $12 million in cap space (per PuckPedia), they will likely have to cut that figure in half if they hope to retain Suter.

Free Agent Focus: Dallas Stars

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Free agency is now under 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 Stars.

Key Restricted Free Agents

F Mavrik Bourque – The Stars don’t have many restricted free agents, but one forward they may want to retain long-term is Bourque. The 23-year-old Quebec native enjoyed a solid rookie showing in 2024-25, posting 11 goals and 24 points in a bottom-six role. However, while he suited up in 73 games during the regular season, he only saw action in three playoff contests, with no points to show for it. Still, the arrow seems to be pointing up for the team’s 2020 first-round selection. Bourque has excelled in the AHL, posting 47 goals and 129 points in 147 games for the Texas Stars, and has the potential to make an impact in the NHL. For a team with limited cap space, signing a young forward with high upside makes sense.

D Nils Lundkvist– For a team that has five defenders set to make more than $3MM next season, the Stars may not want to shell out much more cap space to blueliners. With that said, the team should have some interest in retaining Lundkvist, a former first-round selection of the New York Rangers. The 24-year-old skated in 39 games this past season, posting five assists, a plus-four rating, 34 blocked shots, and 23 hits. Although his offensive output declined from the 2023–24 season, in which he tallied 19 points and a plus-13 rating, Lundkvist saw an increase in average ice time, rising to 15:01 from 14:06 per game. With only six defensemen under contract for next season (excluding non-rostered players), re-signing Lundkvist could be a cost-effective option for the team’s third pairing.

Other RFAs: F Antonio Stranges, G Remi Poirier, G Benjamin Kraws

Key Unrestricted Free Agents

F Jamie Benn – The team’s most notable pending unrestricted free agent, at least from a nostalgic point of view, is longtime captain Jamie Benn. For the first time in his career, Benn is heading for the open market. Benn has played all 1,192 of his games in Dallas, and the soon-to-be 36-year-old ranks second only to franchise legend Mike Modano in several key categories, including games played, points, goals, and shots on goal. Benn also recently discussed his desire to re-sign with Dallas. This past season, Benn showed he can still be productive in a bottom-six role, finishing with a solid 16 goals and 49 points. And while the Stars may have a mutual desire to retain their captain, the issue now may be the team’s limited cap space. Should the team resign Benn or use this opportunity to get younger?

F Matt Duchene – Duchene showed last season that he can still perform at a high level, finishing with an impressive 30–52–82 stat line in 82 games. However, the well dried up for the 34-year-old in the playoffs, where he posted just one goal and six points in 18 games. That reality may leave a sour taste for GM Jim Nill and the front office as they consider whether to re-sign Duchene. Either way, Duchene’s strong regular season may generate enough interest on the open market to price him out of Dallas. He will certainly see a sizeable raise on his previous $3MM AAV deal.

F Evgenii Dadonov – Like Duchene, Dadonov is coming off a resurgent season that will likely lead to a pay raise in free agency. While he didn’t share the statistical success of Duchene, Dadonov posted 20 goals and 40 points on the year, his most points since the 2021-22 season. However, Dadonov also struggled in the playoffs, posting four points and a minus-three rating in 13 games. Still, 20-goal scorers don’t grow on trees and Dadonov is sure to draw interest from teams seeking depth scoring.

F Mikael Granlund – Perhaps no pending free agent’s market is harder to gauge than Granlund’s, who has been a wildly inconsistent contributor throughout his career. Still, he appeared to find instant success after being traded to Dallas last season, posting 21 points in 31 games. He finished the year with 66 points between San Jose and Dallas, his most since the 2017-18 season. He also posted a solid 10 points in 18 playoff games. The pass-first forward just turned 33 and may be seeking one more significant contract on the open market.

D Cody Ceci – One of the more unusual stats from the 2024–25 season was that Cody Ceci appeared in 85 regular season games — 54 with the Sharks and 31 with the Stars. He tallied 24 points overall, including nine assists during his time in Dallas. Ceci also logged a notable 20:14 of ice time per game with the Stars, a number that increased to 21:31 in the playoffs. The Stars are sure to have interest in retaining Ceci’s services, but the veteran of 871 career games will have plenty of suitors if he reaches the open market. Like Granlund, Ceci may be looking for one final large, multi-year agreement.

Other UFAs: D Brendan Smith, G Magnus Hellberg, F Colin Blackwell, F Cameron Hughes, F Kole Lind (UFA-Group6), F Emilio Pettersen (UFA-Group6), F Matej Blumel (UFA-Group6)

Projected Cap Space

Nill and the front office will have to get creative if they want to make any sort of waves in free agency, or even to simply retain a few of their pending free agents. According to PuckPedia, the team currently has just south of $5 million in cap space. With over $60 million committed to their top seven players, the team is top-heavy with contracts and faces tough decisions regarding the future of their pending free agents, including Benn.

Contract info courtesy of PuckPedia.

Metro Notes: Hurricanes, Burns, Muse

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All signs indicate that the Carolina Hurricanes will take a page from the Nashville Predators’ book from last offseason. A new report from The Fourth Period suggests that the Hurricanes will be aggressive this offseason and look to weaponize their nearly $30MM in cap space.

Understandably, General Manager Eric Tulsky didn’t address specific targets, but indicated he’ll revamp his team through free agency, saying, “People always like to say, ‘we’re not gonna make a move just for the sake of making a move,’ and of course, we’re not. That goes without saying. But if there’s any chance to get better, we’re gonna take it. We have the full buy-in to spend to the cap, if there are ways to do it to get better. We have so much space and such a strong team, there’s no guarantees we can find ways to spend all that money, but we’re going to spend all summer trying.”

Carolina has already tried to take a swing at this year’s top target, Mitch Marner. Marner did not approve the proposed trade at that time, but the Hurricanes are expected to revisit the idea this offseason and entice Marner with a competitive, yet smaller media market in Raleigh.

Other notes from the Metropolitan Division:

  • According to Greg Wyshynski of ESPN, Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour would like Carolina to use some of their cap space to retain veteran defenseman Brent Burns. Burns has already indicated he’d like to remain with the organization, but it could be a difficult sell for Tulsky’s analytical mind. The 21-year veteran has plenty to offer via experience and leadership, but his on-ice play took a dramatic hit this season, finishing with 14 fewer points than the 2023-24 season, with a 2.6% decrease in his CorsiFor% and a 2.0% decrease in his on-ice save percentage.
  • Larry Brooks of the New York Post reports that New York Rangers assistant coach Dan Muse remains a candidate for the Pittsburgh Penguins head coaching vacancy. Muse has no head coaching experience at the NHL level, but has served as the Rangers assistant coach for two years, and served in the same role with the Nashville Predators from 2017 to 2020. There’s no update on whether Muse will remain with the Rangers should he not be offered the job with Pittsburgh.

Central Notes: Mammoth, Kupari, Desiderio

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Late last week, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period released his list of major talking points heading into the offseason. One of the more interesting reports was that the Utah Mammoth are open to moving the fourth-overall pick of the 2025 NHL Draft.

It’s understandable from the Mammoth’s perspective. They’re a team that is planning on contending for a playoff position in the 2025-26 season, and there won’t be a player available at fourth overall to help them achieve that goal. In his report, Pagnotta shares that they’d be looking for a young, top-six, proven forward.

The idea is similar to the nixed trade that would have sent a package including Martin Nečas to the Columbus Blue Jackets for the fourth overall pick in last summer’s draft. The deal didn’t happen, but the Blue Jackets weren’t as interested in trading the draft pick as the Mammoth appear to be.

Other notes from the Central Division:

  • Earlier today, Winnipeg Jets forward Rasmus Kupari signed a two-year deal with the NL’s HC Lugano. If the Jets issue Kupari a qualifying offer before the June 30th deadline, they’ll retain his signing rights through the 2026-27 season, which Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Free Press expects them to do. Although Kupari’s recent deal had an AAV of $1MM, the Jets will have to issue a $1.1MM qualifying offer to Kupari this summer, given the backloaded nature of his salary.
  • According to Mark Divver of the New England Hockey Journal, Matthew Desiderio is expected to join the Jets for their development camp. Desiderio has already committed to Brown University for the 2025-26 NCAA season. He’s coming off a solid year with the USHL’s Dubuque Fighting Saints, scoring 14 goals and 38 points in 62 games.

Vancouver Canucks Sign Derek Forbort To One-Year Deal

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The Vancouver Canucks will have some added continuity to their defensive core next season. Vancouver announced they’ve re-signed defenseman Derek Forbort to a one-year, $2MM contract.

Forbort’s new deal won’t have any negative side effects on other defensemen on the roster, but it likely spells the end of Noah Juulsen’s tenure in British Columbia. The Canucks now have seven defenseman signed through the 2025-26 season, including youngsters like Victor Mancini and Elias Pettersson.

He was as advertised for the Canucks this season. Injuries limited Forbort to 54 games played, yet he still scored two goals and 11 points, making for one of the better point-per-game metrics of his 10-year career. Despite the increased offensive (for his standards), Forbort missed the playoffs for the first time in five years.

Still, if the Canucks could make a move for another right-handed defenseman, Forbort represents a nice defensive option to place next to Tyler Myers in the bottom-pairing. He’s a like-sized blue liner who takes care of the puck in the defensive zone, as evidenced by his 46.4% CorsiFor% at even strength and 90.6% on-ice save percentage at even strength.

Unfortunately, retaining Forbort won’t help what plagued Vancouver this season. The Canucks boasted one of the top penalty kills, and had a respectable goals-against average, but their lethargic offense cost them dearly. Now that the defensive core is settled, the Canucks can spend the rest of the summer re-imagining their forward core.

Lightning Re-Sign Steven Santini To Two-Year Deal

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The Tampa Bay Lightning are keeping around one of their depth defenseman for a few more years. The Lightning announced they’ve re-signed blue liner Steven Santini to a two-year, two-way contract.

Santini recently wrapped up his first season with the Lightning organization. After coasting through the New Jersey Devils and St. Louis Blues’ organization for a few years, largely in the AHL, Santini spent one year with the Los Angeles Kings’ AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign, before signing a one-year, $775K contract with Tampa Bay last summer.

Similarly to his previous employers, the Lightning stashed Santini with their AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch, for much of the year. Despite not being regarded as an offensive weapon from the point, Santini had the third-best scoring season of his AHL career, tallying six goals and 17 points in 58 games with a +10 rating.

Still, Santini received an opportunity to play in the NHL for the first time since the 2022-23 season, and his fifth since the 2020-21 season. Due to an injury to Erik Černák, Santini skated in 11:37 of the Lightning’s win against the Calgary Flames on December 12th, going scoreless.

Even with Nicklaus Perbix likely leaving the organization this summer, it’s highly unlikely that Santini will compete for a spot on the roster out of training camp, even as a seventh defenseman. He should be expected to spend a majority of the year with AHL Syracuse, and be a quick injury replacement should Tampa Bay need it.

Free Agent Focus: Columbus Blue Jackets

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Free agency is now under 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 Blue Jackets. 

Key Restricted Free Agents

F Dmitri Voronkov – A number of players had breakout campaigns for the Jackets in 2024-25. Voronkov wasn’t chief among them, but he was up there. After a strong rookie campaign last year, the 24-year-old received loads of top-line deployment at even strength with Kirill Marchenko on his opposite wing and either Adam Fantilli or Sean Monahan down the middle. His 23 goals and 47 points didn’t explode off the page, but it’s still serviceable top-six output and a steady improvement on 2023-24’s 18-16–34 scoring line in two more appearances. Voronkov averaged 16:47 per game, a figure that shouldn’t see much variation heading into next year. The 6’5″, 227-lb winger also played as you’d expect given his frame – 71 hits and quite good defensive impacts. With some room to grow, Columbus is likely looking at a long-term deal in the $6MM range annually. A bridge deal, if they go that route, should be more attainable in the high $3MMs or low $4MMs in terms of AAV.

D Jordan Harris – Harris was picked up from the Canadiens in last summer’s Patrik Laine trade. He’d become a fine bottom-pairing and even fringe top-four option with Montreal last year, but the 24-year-old spent most of the year as the odd man out on the Columbus blue line, even with Erik Gudbranson missing most of the season. After posting just five points and a minus-one rating in 33 games while averaging a minuscule 11:23 per game, there’s reason to believe the Blue Jackets don’t have an appetite to issue him his $1.4MM qualifying offer. The 2018 third-round pick could be on the open market this summer as a result.

G Daniil Tarasov – Like Harris, Tarasov is a non-tender candidate later this month. The 26-year-old Russian could still have some untapped upside, but a roster crunch in net likely means he won’t discover it in Columbus. He was superseded as a top-two option for the Jackets down the stretch by the younger Jet Greaves, who looks to serve in tandem with Elvis Merzlikins next year. He struggled when given the chance to start in 2024-25, posting a 7-10-2 record, .881 SV%, and 3.54 GAA in 20 appearances. He’s also due a seven-figure qualifying offer ($1.26MM) and has arbitration rights, neither of which work in his favor for being retained as a No. 3 option.

Other RFAs: F Hunter McKown, F Mikael Pyyhtia, D Ole Julian Bjorgvik-Holm, D Cole Clayton, D Daemon Hunt, D Samuel Knazko

Key Unrestricted Free Agents

D Ivan Provorov – Some extensions in the back half of the season vaulted Provorov into being the consensus No. 3 UFA available this summer on the blue line behind Aaron Ekblad and former Blue Jacket Vladislav Gavrikov. The 28-year-old has been a fine fit in Columbus since his acquisition two years ago, though, and there could still be a long-term fit on the left side behind Zach Werenski, even with top prospect Denton Mateychuk emerging as an NHL option. He managed a +11 rating and 33 points in 82 games this year, his first time in the black since 2020-21, but his possession metrics (47.9 CF%, 45.6 xGF% at even strength) are still lacking for someone logging over 23 minutes per game. Regardless, a weak UFA market on defense and his usability in heavy minutes likely mean the Jackets will need to offer a long-term deal in the $7MM range per season to keep him around.

D Dante Fabbro – Provorov isn’t the only core member of the Jackets’ top four at risk of hitting the open market. Claimed off waivers from the Predators early in the season, Fabbro was a revelation and quickly stapled himself alongside Werenski in top-pairing duties. It wouldn’t be particularly surprising to see Columbus pour more resources into re-upping Fabbro, who’s their best right-shot option at present ahead of Gudbranson and Damon Severson, than Provorov. His brief track record in extended usage will likely limit his value to under $5MM annually. After the waiver claim, Fabbro had 26 points and a +23 rating in 62 games for the Jackets while controlling 54.4% of expected goals alongside Werenski, per MoneyPuck.

F Sean Kuraly – The Ohio native came home on a four-year, $10MM contract in free agency in 2021. He responded with a career-high 30 points in 77 games, but the checking center’s offense has steadily dwindled since then. While still an alternate captain, his average ice time of 11:46 in 2024-25 was the lowest of his NHL career in a full season. He still managed 17 points and a respectable minus-four rating in heavy defensive deployment, though, and he finished third on the team with 163 hits. The 32-year-old remains a good fourth-line piece and could find a shorter-term deal to stay in Columbus at a slight discount on his current $2.5MM cap hit.

F Justin Danforth – After spending most of his pro career in the minors or overseas, Danforth made his NHL debut with the Jackets in his age-28 season four years ago. Now 32, the diminutive but physical forward posted a 9-12–21 scoring line in 61 games last year while averaging a career-high 14:23 per game. He’s primarily a winger but can flex in at center. Still, he’s the most expendable among their more pertinent UFAs and could be the one out the door to make roster space for a big splash or an up-and-coming prospect making the jump. He’s likely in the market for a multi-year but sub-$2MM cap hit contract this summer.

Other UFAs: F Christian Fischer, F Trey Fix-Wolansky, F Dylan Gambrell, F Luke Kunin, F Kevin Labanc, F Joseph LaBate, F Owen Sillinger, F James van Riemsdyk, D Jack Johnson, G Zachary Sawchenko

Projected Cap Space

Only the Sharks have more cap space for 2025-26 at present than the Blue Jackets. They’ve got $40.4MM to work with despite already having 18 roster players inked for next year, per PuckPedia. Cap space won’t be an obstacle for re-signing anybody with mutual interest in an extension or making competitive offers for some of the top players available on the open market.

Images courtesy of Jerome Miron-Imagn Images (Voronkov) and Marc DesRosiers-Imagn Images (Provorov). Contract info courtesy of PuckPedia.

Red Wings Sign Jesse Kiiskinen To Entry-Level Contract

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The Red Wings announced they’ve signed winger Jesse Kiiskinen to a three-year, entry-level contract beginning next season. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Kiiskinen, a 2023 third-round pick by the Predators whom Detroit acquired in a prospect swap last summer, lands his rookie deal after a massive breakout season in his native Finland, as PHR’s Gabriel Foley outlined last month. The 19-year-old sniper potted a 14-30–44 scoring line in 46 games for HPK of the top-flight Liiga, leading the club in points. He scored the most points in the league among junior-aged players and also racked up six goals and an assist for Finland in seven World Juniors games, helping them to a silver medal while being named a top-three player on the team.

That massive breakout surely has Detroit thrilled about their return when they dealt similarly-touted defense prospect Andrew Gibson to Nashville. While loaning Kiiskinen back to HPK for next season is always an option even after signing him, that level of production stands to reason he’s more than ready to make the jump to AHL Grand Rapids in the fall and even be under outside consideration for an NHL recall late in the year.

Kiiskinen turns 20 in August, so he’s too old to be eligible for an entry-level slide. His contract will go into effect next season, regardless of how many NHL games he plays, and will hit RFA status in the summer of 2028.

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