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Metropolitan Notes: Severson, Penguins, Snowden

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Blue Jackets defenseman Damon Severson has popped up in recent trade discussions, relays Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli.  The 30-year-old still has six years left on his contract with a $6.25MM cap charge.  He logged over 19 minutes a game this season and posted 25 points in 70 appearances but notably, he was a healthy scratch down the stretch as Columbus made their late push for the playoffs.  Given that limited usage late, it’s not too surprising that the Blue Jackets appear to be exploring if there are any trade options with Severson even though they’re set to potentially lose two key blueliners in pending UFAs Ivan Provorov and Dante Fabbro.  Notably, Severson has a full no-trade clause so even if a trade gets agreed on, the veteran will have the final say on if it happens.

More from the Metropolitan:

  • While the order for the draft has now been set, there is still one pick whose status is in flux. That would be the 12th overall selection, presently held by the Rangers, who have until Wednesday to decide if they’re conveying it to the Penguins or keeping it, allowing Pittsburgh to get New York’s 2026 unprotected pick.  Josh Yohe of The Athletic notes (subscription link) that at this moment, the belief inside the Penguins organization is that the Rangers will keep the selection and defer ceding the first rounder until next year.  Even if that happens, Pittsburgh will have a late-lottery pick as they already have the 11th selection.
  • It appears as if the Flyers could be promoting from within when it comes to their AHL head coaching vacancy. Kevin Kurz of The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that the frontrunner is Phantoms assistant coach John Snowden.  He has spent the last two years in that role after spending the previous two as an assistant with AHL Toronto.  Snowden, if ultimately promoted, would take the place of Ian Laperriere who was reassigned in the organization back in the spring.

Flyers Recap Trevor Zegras Trade, Eyeing More Moves This Off-Season

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As has become custom in the wake of big roster trades, Philadelphia Flyers general manager Daniel Brière sat down with the media to discuss the team’s acquisition of Trevor Zegras on Monday morning. Brière most notably shared that the Flyers had already engaged the Ducks in talks around a trade for Zegras, shares ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski. Brière went on to share that previous talks fell through because of Philadelphia’s lack of assets and Anaheim’s lack of desire to rush a move.

That sentiment will ring loud as the Flyers spark their off-season with a big swap. Ryan Poehling – the only skater featured in the return package – filled an important third-line role for the Flyers this season. He scored a career-high 31 points in 68 games and was often the champion of the simple tasks, supporting Philadelphia’s jump up the ice or surge to regain possession. It’s possible that the team couldn’t be pried away from their impactful depth forward until after the season concluded, and they had a full summer to properly assimilate Zegras into his new role.

But what that role will look like still remains a glaring question mark. Brière spoke candidly about the team’s lack of depth down the middle and shared that he hopes Zegras can eventually return to his role at center. But he made sure to note that the final decision will rest with new head coach Rick Tocchet, per Charlie O’Connor of PHLY Sports.

Zegras looked more comfortable on the wing in the time leading up to his first-round selection in the 2019 NHL Draft, but Anaheim invested significant development into shifting the skillful forward over to the middle lane. The center role supported Zegras to the two highest-scoring seasons of his career, when he combined for 46 goals and 126 points in 156 games. But the Ducks had to bear through his dismal 40.6 percent faceoff success rate in that span – a mark that ultimately landed him back on the flanks in the last two seasons.

Brière acknowledged that Zegras’ dip in scoring is why he was available on the open market. The recently turned 24-year-old winger fell to just 32 points in 57 games this season, far off his career-high mark of 65 points set in the 2022-23 campaign. In the end, Brière says that the bet on Zegras returning to strong scoring is a risk the Flyers are willing to take, even if it was difficult to give up Poehling.

Even more exciting, Brière went on to say that the acquisition of Zegras is meant to be just one piece of a big puzzle this summer, shares O’Connor. The team wants to improve through shrewd additions on the trade or free agent market. But they’ll make those decisions with caution, and particularly don’t want to part with any of their three first-round picks in Friday’s 2025 NHL Draft, per Jordan Hall of NBC Sports Philadelphia. The club could land an impactful player in each of the three position groups in this year’s first round, and was predicated to draft center Jake O’Brien, defender Kashawn Aitcheson, and goaltender Joshua Ravensbergen in PHR’s 2025 Mock Draft. All three players have warranted plenty of attention for their explosive and reliable performances this season.

It’s not clear the exact extent to which Brière wants to build up the Flyers this summer. They ranked dead last in the Eastern Conference last season and have already undergone multiple layers of change this summer. It may be overeager to push the team towards playoff contention next season, though a few more high-upside and young additions like Zegras could go far towards catapulting Philadelphia’s rebuild forward. That momentum, spurred by a trio of top prospects, could push the Flyers into closer contention with future standouts like the San Jose Sharks and Columbus Blue Jackets.

Image courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images.

Bruins Sign Mason Lohrei To Two-Year Extension

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4 PM: The details of Lohrei’s contract have been revealed. He will make a $2.95MM salary, and carry a $250K signing bonus, in the first year of his deal. In year two, the signing bonus will be lumped into his salary, earning him $3.2MM on the year. Contract details come courtesy of PuckPedia.

10 AM: The Bruins signed pending RFA defenseman Mason Lohrei to a two-year extension on Monday, per a club announcement. He’ll count $3.2MM against the cap for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 campaigns for a total contract value of $6.4MM.

Lohrei, 24, lands a bridge deal coming off his first full NHL season. The 2020 second-round pick has shown promise as a puck-mover and a potential top-four option on Boston’s left side to complement Hampus Lindholm, but he’s not fully there yet.

A knee injury that ended Lindholm’s season in November meant Boston had to play Lohrei in more minutes than they would have liked. He was always meant as a longer-term project with some raw defensive details in his game, and that was extremely apparent in 2024-25. Averaging over 19 minutes per game, Lohrei actually led Boston defensemen in scoring with 33 points (5 G, 28 A) in 77 appearances but earned the distinction of having the worst plus-minus mark in the league this year, checking in at a gnarly -43 mark. While that figure is a bit exaggerated due to poor goaltending, he still only managed a 47.5 xGF% at 5-on-5 according to Natural Stat Trick – a pedestrian figure, even compared to his Bruins teammates.

Lohrei wasn’t Calder-eligible because he split 2023-24 somewhat evenly between Boston and AHL Providence. He put up a 4-9–13 scoring line with a minus-two rating in 41 games in his first taste of NHL action last year, averaging a hair under 17 minutes per night.

He’s shown the ability to be more of a two-way threat at the collegiate and AHL levels, and the Bruins are banking on him discovering how to translate that to the NHL in what they hope can be more sheltered minutes next season. That’s where virtually all of his upside lies – despite boasting a 6’5″, 220-lb frame, he’s not a particularly physical defender. He only logged 25 hits this year. If he can’t become a well-rounded enough player to convert into a top-four fixture, they’re not taking much of a risk today by only making a short-term commitment with a reasonable qualifying offer upon expiry in 2027.

The extension takes Lohrei up to his last summer of team control. A one-year extension on the end would walk him right to unrestricted free agency in 2028. As for Boston’s cap situation, they still have over $23MM left to spend, but still have another notable RFA to sign in breakout forward Morgan Geekie. They also have only 27 standard contracts signed throughout the active roster and non-roster lists for 2025-26.

Image courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images.

Wild Hire Greg Cronin To AHL Head Coach Role

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The Minnesota Wild have announced they’ve hired Greg Cronin to be the next head coach of the AHL’s Iowa Wild. Cronin will move to the role after spending the last two seasons as the coach of the Anaheim Ducks. The move was made official by Iowa general manager Matt Hendricks, who shared that the club is eager to add Cronin’s thorough hockey experience into their minor-league ranks.

Cronin is no stranger to minor-league roles. Prior to his time in Anaheim, all seven of Cronin’s years as a pro head coach came in the NHL – through a two-year stint with the Bridgeport Islanders from 2003 to 2005, and a five-year stint with the Colorado Eagles from 2018 to 2023. He intercut those tenures with prolonged roles as a college head coach or NHL assistant coach. In almost every year since 1995, Cronin has found coaching experience at one of those levels. His journey has taken him through time behind the bench at the University of Maine and Northeastern University, as well as with the New York Islanders and Toronto Maple Leafs.

For all of his years at the helm, Cronin has yet to take a team to much postseason success. A second-round exit in the 2021 and 2022 Calder Cup Playoffs marked the furthest playoff runs of Cronin’s coaching career at either a collegiate or professional level. He has posted a cumulative record of 107-117-31 in the NCAA, 242-165-51 in the AHL, and 62-87-15 in the NHL.

Rangers Sign Adam Edstrom To Two-Year Extension

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The Rangers and pending RFA forward Adam Edstrom have agreed to terms on a two-year extension, the team announced Monday. The deal is worth $975K per season for a total value of $1.95MM, according to Mollie Walker of the New York Post.

Edstrom took over full control of New York’s fourth-line center role as a rookie this season. His responsible and physical play in a 6-foot-7 frame was a perfect compliment to the all-out bruiser role of 6-foot-9 Matt Rempe on his wing. Edstrom earned nine points, 27 penalty minutes, and a minus-five through the first 51 games of New York’s season – until a lower-body injury ended his season on February 1st. He underwent surgery soon after sustaining the injury, and plans to be fully healthy before next season’s training camp.

Edstrom appeared in the first 11 games, and scored the first two goals, of his NHL career last season – after posting a hardy 11 goals and 16 points in 40 AHL games. He spent the five seasons prior filling a depth role throughout Sweden’s SHL, including netting 19 points in 42 games with Rogle BK in the 2022-23 season. The Rangers originally drafted him out of the Mora IK program with a sixth-round pick in 2019.

With a new contract in place, Edstrom should be well set on returning to his spot on New York’s fourth-line. He hasn’t yet found much of a scoring stride throughout pro hockey. But at just 24-years-old, he could be due for a small breakout with his feet under him in an NHL role.

Blue Jackets, Hurricanes Interested In Rasmus Andersson

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The Blue Jackets and Hurricanes are among the teams calling the Flames to have trade talks surrounding defenseman Rasmus Andersson, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports. Pagnotta mentioned the Senators as well – it’s not the first time in the past few months they’ve been tied to Andersson – but Ottawa is also reportedly on his six-team no-trade list.

Calgary and Andersson have already begun preliminary talks on an extension. He’s entering the final year of his contract at a highly team-friendly $4.55MM cap hit and becomes eligible to sign a new deal on July 1 to keep him in Calgary past 2025-26. However, those talks haven’t been particularly productive in their initial stages, according to Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff last week. As a result, they’re listening to trade interest, but as has been the case for a while now, they’re in no particular rush to move him and could wait until next season’s trade deadline to get the value they want if they’re no closer to an extension.

That means defense-needy teams, particularly those looking for added puck-moving depth, will have Calgary general manager Craig Conroy on speed dial until Andersson’s situation is resolved. Carolina and Columbus fit that bill, with Andersson’s cheap initial cap hit before a potential extension kicks in still providing both clubs a fair amount of flexibility to pursue other avenues of roster improvement this summer.

The Hurricanes’ defensive depth will have a few notable changes next season, regardless of whether they successfully land Andersson or not. They’re not offering pending UFA Dmitry Orlov a new contract, and it remains to be seen if veteran Brent Burns, a top-pairing staple alongside Jaccob Slavin in recent seasons, will be back with the club. If he is, it’ll presumably be in a reduced role after a tough 2024-25 campaign for the 40-year-old. Rookie Alexander Nikishin has likely been penciled in as Orlov’s replacement on the left side with Slavin and Shayne Gostisbehere after looking good in limited postseason action, but rookie righty Scott Morrow is a less surefire insurance option for Burns, at least out of the gate. If they’re not yet ready to entrust the 22-year-old with regular NHL minutes, it would make sense to pursue Andersson.

Unlike the Blue Jackets, the Hurricanes might be willing to make a deal without a guarantee of an extension, particularly if it’s done this summer. They have Morrow coming eventually, even if it’s not next season, and are still firmly entrenched in win-now mode.

Columbus’ interest similarly stems from the unknown future of a pending UFA. While things appear close on a deal for top-pairing righty Dante Fabbro, the same can’t be said for lefty Ivan Provorov, who might be forced over to his off-side if he stays anyway with up-and-comer Denton Mateychuk positioning himself for top-four minutes in the near future. Andersson, a legitimate needle-mover, would give the Blue Jackets a highly intriguing right side with Fabbro and Damon Severson in the mix as well while coming in at a much cheaper cost than a new deal for Provorov would require, at least initially.

Regardless, it might behoove the Flames to wait until the season starts to see if Andersson can bump his value. He’s coming off his worst offensive campaign in four years, although he did still produce 31 points in 81 games while averaging 24 minutes per night. His -38 rating paired with career-worst possession impacts doesn’t do much to help his case either, although a few teams could have confidence in that showing being an outlier from the 28-year-old.

Blues Not Expected To Retain Ryan Suter

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The Blues informed defenseman Ryan Suter they’re not planning to offer him a contract extension before he becomes an unrestricted free agent on July 1, general manager Doug Armstrong told reporters Monday (including NHL.com’s Lou Korac).

Suter signed a league-minimum contract with St. Louis with an additional $2.25MM in potential performance bonuses nine days into free agency last year. He was coming off a buyout of the final year of his previous contract with the Stars, who themselves had picked Suter up after they bought out the last four years of his megadeal in 2021. He appeared in all 82 regular-season games for the Blues, earning all of his potential bonuses, scoring two goals and 15 points with a plus-seven rating. That extended his ironman streak, which began in the 2018-19 season, to 535 games, 21st all-time.

The 40-year-old did not play in all of the Blues’ postseason games, perhaps foreshadowing today’s news. He was a healthy scratch twice in their seven-game loss to the Jets in the first round, sitting out Games 3 and 4 in favor of Tyler Tucker. He averaged 19:28 per game in the regular season but saw just 16:54 of ice time per game in his brief playoff appearance, the 16th trip to the postseason of Suter’s 20-year NHL career.

While he proved he can still be a serviceable bottom-pairing piece and was a regular penalty-killer for the Blues, they don’t have the roster space to bring him back with names like Tucker and Matthew Kessel looking for more regular NHL minutes in 2025-26. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Suter, who’s still getting a paycheck of $833K from the Wild and $1.43MM from the Stars next season, to take another league-minimum deal elsewhere instead of retiring. He previously said he didn’t anticipate retiring this summer.

Flames, Justin Kirkland Agree To Extension

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The Flames and pending UFA forward Justin Kirkland have agreed to a one-year extension worth $900K, the team announced. It’s a one-way deal for the pending UFA.

Kirkland, 28, has played exclusively on one-year contracts since being non-tendered by the Predators when his entry-level deal expired back in 2019. The long-time minor-league depth piece hasn’t spent back-to-back years with the same club since his first stint in Calgary, when he signed three straight two-way contracts to cover the 2019-20, 2020-21, and 2021-22 seasons.

The 6’3″ Kirkland had historically been an AHL fixture and had just nine games of NHL experience entering 2024-25, so he was waived and assigned to AHL Calgary to begin this year as a result. He was recalled to the NHL roster before the AHL season even started, though, getting summoned in early October after an early-season injury to depth center Kevin Rooney. He stepped into the lineup and immediately grabbed hold of a spot, becoming a reasonably productive fourth-line piece with eight points in 21 games. While he averaged just 9:42 per game, he quickly developed somewhat of a cult following after going three-for-four in shootout attempts and playing a physical brand, registering 45 hits.

Unfortunately, Kirkland’s momentum came to a grinding halt when he sustained a knee injury in a Nov. 29 game against the Blue Jackets. He required season-ending ACL surgery as a result. He was still named the club’s nominee for the Masterton Trophy, awarded to the “player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to ice hockey,” for grabbing hold of an NHL spot after eight professional seasons spent almost entirely in the AHL.

As such, Kirkland should be in a good position here to land the first one-way contract of his career. A third-round pick by Nashville in 2014, he also made one-year stops in the Ducks (2022-23) and Coyotes (2023-24) organizations in addition to his time with the Preds and Flames. He’s got a career 75-125–200 scoring line in 408 AHL games with 287 PIMs and a -62 rating. He also won a WHL championship in his junior days with the Kelowna Rockets in 2015.

The Flames have their forward group mostly fleshed out, though, and still have RFAs Morgan Frost and Connor Zary to sign. While Kirkland should start the year on the opening night roster, whether he’ll be in the lineup or in the press box remains to be seen. He’ll need to fend off competition from other veteran depth pieces like the recently extended Dryden Hunt as a result.

Pat Steinberg of Sportsnet 960 was first to report the Flames and Kirkland were nearing an extension.

Flyers Acquire Trevor Zegras From Ducks

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The Flyers are nearing a deal to acquire forward Trevor Zegras from the Ducks, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. Anaheim will receive center Ryan Poehling, the Blue Jackets’ 2025 second-round pick (No. 45 overall), and Philadelphia’s 2026 fourth-rounder in return, Friedman adds. The Flyers have since made the trade official.

That’s a relatively quick ascent from Friedman’s report under two hours ago that the Ducks were in deep talks with multiple clubs on a Zegras move. While it didn’t appear anything was particularly imminent at the time, that’s now changed.

While Zegras has spent the past two seasons mostly on the wing, he’ll presumably shift back to his natural center position in Philadelphia. The Flyers have been on the hunt for a young, established NHL center with a top-six projection for a while now. They were previously connected to pending Wild RFA Marco Rossi, but his cost uncertainty and desire for a long-term deal made those talks stall. Instead, they’ll opt for a player with a slightly riskier projection in Zegras, but land someone signed through next season at a cheaper cap hit than what a Rossi contract would have cost them.

Injuries have robbed Zegras of nearly half his potential workload over the past two seasons in Anaheim since signing a three-year, $17.25MM contract in 2023. He’s had just an 18-29–47 scoring line in 88 games during that time, but still averaged over 17 minutes per game and saw his defensive performance improve significantly this past season with positive relative possession numbers in less sheltered offensive deployment at even strength.

That offensive regression was still highly disappointing considering how Zegras burst onto the scene. In his first two full NHL campaigns, Zegras hit the 20-goal and 60-point marks on both occasions and finished as the Calder Trophy runner-up to Moritz Seider in 2022. It looked like he was fully set to hit on the upside the Ducks thought he had when selecting him ninth overall in 2019, but his subsequent injuries and contract stalemate two years ago threw that plan off course.

He now gets a fresh start in Philly for an acquisition cost that Flyers general manager Daniel Brière certainly won’t lose any sleep over. While Poehling was a high-end fourth-line piece for them, they have plenty of internal replacement candidates for that role and still have three second-round choices in this year’s draft after dealing away the Columbus pick.

While it’s an underwhelming return for the Ducks considering where his value and projection were two years ago, it’s presumably more than they could’ve gotten him had they cut bait following Zegras’ 15-point showing in just 31 games in 2023-24. They also gain $3.85MM in cap space and more roster flexibility among their top-nine forwards as they pursue a major free agent addition this summer.

Giving Zegras top-six minutes will allow names like Bobby Brink and Noah Cates to serve in more comfortable third-line minutes in Rick Tocchet’s first season as head coach. Whether the high-ceiling playmaker gets deployed on a unit with 2023 No. 7 overall pick Matvei Michkov out of the gate remains to be seen, but his pickup suddenly offers Tocchet a much more offensively dynamic center-winger duo than he could have otherwise constructed.

While Zegras is entering the final year of his contract, he’ll be a restricted free agent in 2026 and still has another year of team control left after that. Swapping out Poehling for Zegras does drop the Flyers to a still-comfortable $15.1MM in available cap space with notable RFAs Jakob Pelletier and Cameron York still to sign and two other roster spots to fill, per PuckPedia.

Poehling actually had a standout offensive showing in 2024-25, posting a career-best 12-19–31 scoring line in 68 games while averaging 13:53 per game. He was nonetheless expendable with Cates recently receiving an extension and 2024 first-rounder Jett Luchanko pushing for an NHL job next year. He also shot at a 16.9% rate that will presumably regress in Anaheim.

He’s still a solid bottom-six pickup for the Ducks, even if the futures they’re receiving are underwhelming. He’s a 2026 UFA at a cap hit of just $1.9MM and could be flipped at the deadline for a decent return if things don’t pan out the way Anaheim hopes they will next year. He’s a short-term upgrade down the middle over a name like pending RFA Isac Lundeström and could push him or someone like Ryan Strome to a spot on the wing.

Image courtesy of Jeff Curry-Imagn Images.

Stars Sign Kole Lind To Two-Way Extension

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The Stars are keeping depth forward Kole Lind around for 2025-26 on a two-way deal, the team announced Monday. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Lind, 26, will return for a second season in the Dallas organization instead of testing Group VI unrestricted free agency in back-to-back summers. A second-round pick by the Canucks back in 2017, he’s firmly settled into the tweener archetype. He’s long been among the AHL’s most productive and consistent scorers, but the 6’1″ winger has just eight points in 31 career NHL games.

None of those appearances came with Dallas last year. He spent the entire season with AHL Texas after clearing waivers. While his offensive output there was his worst on a per-game basis in a while, he still managed a strong 23-29–52 scoring line in 71 games to finish fourth on the team in scoring. He added 15 points in 14 Calder Cup Playoff games as well.

Amid a cap crunch in the Lone Star State, Lind stands a decent chance of seeing NHL action next year as a call-up or extra forward thanks to what will presumably be a league-minimum $775K cap hit. Even if not, there was evidently mutual appreciation of his production in the minors, and he’ll stick around as an important veteran piece to complement the Stars’ younger prospects. Lind has 111 goals, 173 assists, and 284 points in 384 AHL games (along with 449 PIMs) since making his professional debut in 2018.

Of course, he’ll need to clear waivers again during preseason if the Stars want to send him back to Texas. He’ll also be eligible for standard UFA status next summer since he turns 27 in October. After signing Lind, the Stars only have nine open contract slots throughout the organization.

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