Canadiens Notes: Bolduc, Mantha, Khanin
The Canadiens still have some work to do on the RFA front this offseason. After re-signing Kirby Dach earlier this week, they still have six players in need of new deals. Among those is winger Zachary Bolduc, whose entry-level contract has now expired. Speaking with Guillaume Lefrancois of La Presse, the 23-year-old indicated that he’s not worried that a deal isn’t done yet. Lefrancois reports that the team has floated a pair of concepts to him, a two-year bridge pact and a longer-term five-year agreement.
Bolduc is four years away from UFA eligibility so a five-year framework is a little puzzling – teams typically like to add more than one year of control – although it would keep the price tag under control. Bolduc had 12 goals and 18 assists in 78 games last season but fared a little better in 2024-25 with St. Louis, tallying 19 goals and 17 helpers in 72 contests. AFP Analytics projects a bridge pact would cost around $3.6MM per season while their long-term projection is a seven-year agreement worth a little over $6MM per campaign.
Montreal has a little under $10MM in cap room at the moment, per PuckPedia. While there are six RFAs still needing new deals, four of those are likely AHL-bound with Bolduc and defenseman Arber Xhekaj the only ones who will cut into that cap space. That means that as their roster stands, they easily have the flexibility to work out either type of agreement with Bolduc.
More from Montreal:
- New Jersey winger Anthony Mantha met with the media yesterday (video link) to discuss his new two-year, $9.5MM deal. During that session, he acknowledged that the Canadiens showed some interest in him early on in free agency. However, no offer was formally made with his camp waiting for a week to see if one would come in. While Montreal is believed to be looking to add to their forward group, it looks like their interest in the 31-year-old was rather tepid despite the fact he was coming off a career year that saw him score 31 goals and 33 assists with Pittsburgh.
- One of Montreal’s prospects is on the move as the VHL announced this week that Makar Khanin has joined AKM Tula Region. The 21-year-old was a seventh-round pick back in 2024, going 210th overall following a promising VHL year with St. Petersburg where he had 27 points in 35 games. However, he hasn’t had that many points combined since then and is coming off a campaign that saw him notch just two goals and five assists in 19 appearances. This will be Khanin’s third VHL team in the last seven months as he looks to get back on track in his development.
Devils Sign Anthony Mantha To Two-Year Deal
One of the better remaining free agents is off the board. According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the New Jersey Devils have signed Anthony Mantha to a two-year, $9.5MM ($4.75MM AAV) contract.
Clearly, Mantha’s market didn’t develop as he hoped. Despite coming off the best offensive output of his career, Mantha didn’t find the longer-term deal he was looking for as an unrestricted free agent. It was never expected that he would land a max-term deal, but it was widely reported that Manth was looking for a four-year deal.
Given his injury history, that was unlikely to happen. In his 11-year career, Mantha has only crossed the 70-game threshold three times. Two years ago, playing on the first of two consecutive one-year prove-it contracts, the former first-round pick finished with four goals and seven points, being limited to only 13 games due to undergoing ACL surgery.
Still, there’s no question his 2025-26 campaign was exceptional. Mantha finished the season with 33 goals and 64 points in 81 games with a +10 rating, averaging 15:11 of ice time per game. He played a crucial role in the resurgent Penguins team and led the team in goals, which is impressive considering that Pittsburgh has Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. However, both of them faced significant injury issues.
Even with his regular-season output, Mantha was again a ghost in the playoffs. Throughout his career, whether with the Washington Capitals, Vegas Golden Knights, or the Penguins, teams have often opted to scratch Mantha instead of giving him meaningful postseason minutes. Throughout his career in the postseason, Mantha has tallied only seven assists in 20 games.
Without a doubt, his injury history and lack of postseason performance led to today’s outcome. A $4.75MM salary is nothing to shake your head about, but it must be somewhat disappointing considering that it’s not even the largest payday of Mantha’s career. In 2020, the Detroit Red Wings signed Mantha to a four-year, $22.8MM contract worth $5.7MM per season.
As for his landing spot, the Devils make sense. The team finished 27th in scoring last season, which is unacceptable with players like Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt, and Nico Hischier in their top six. They, too, have had injury concerns, to say the least, but New Jersey should be more offensively inclined than they have been.
Assuming he remains healthy, which is a big assumption, Mantha should have a fairly consistent role in New Jersey’s top six. Acquiring Mantha will enable the Devils to shift Connor Brown or Dawson Mercer to the bottom six, enhancing scoring depth in New Jersey’s forward lineup.
Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire of Imagn Images.
Free Agent Profile: Anthony Mantha
Most years, the leading scorer to actually make it to the open market in a UFA class is typically highly coveted. Generally, within hours of the market opening up, that player has secured a long-term contract and a nice raise on whatever he was making the season before.
That is not the case this year, however. We’re a week and a half into free agency and this year’s top scorer remains unsigned. That would be winger Anthony Mantha, whose stock has bounced up and down frequently over the past few seasons.
Early in his career, the former Detroit first-round pick looked like a potential power forward in the making. He put up a pair of 48-point seasons within his first three NHL campaigns and it looked like he was well on his way to being an impactful top-six piece for a long time.
However, things went sideways for quite a while after that. Injuries became a near-annual issue while his production went in the wrong direction. It took five years for him to get back to the 40-point mark but he did so in 2023-24, splitting time between Washington and Vegas. The timing seemed fitting, too, as Mantha was slated to hit the open market that summer.
But a long-term contract didn’t materialize. After being scratched in four first-round playoff games, Mantha wound up settling for a one-year, $3.5MM pact with Calgary in 2024 with the hopes that a bigger role with a team starting to rebuild would allow him to rebuild some value. While he started off well with seven points in 13 games, the injury bug bit again as he tore his ACL in November, ending his season prematurely.
That made Mantha eligible for a one-year, bonus-laden contract last summer, a route he wisely took. He signed with Pittsburgh for a $2.5MM guarantee plus $2MM in games played bonuses, which were all met. He had a career year offensively, surpassing 30 goals, 30 assists, and 60 points for the first time. With a market rather bereft of impactful top-six players, this was thought to be the springboard to make him a very highly coveted free agent.
But that hasn’t happened, at least on the surface. There hasn’t been much in the way of speculation involving the 31-year-old. Right now, it looks like his camp is hoping to land him a longer-term pact with a nice raise, one that the type of season he just had would normally yield. For now, at least, it appears teams aren’t willing to bite, knowing his overall inconsistency and injury history.
Stats
2025-26: 81 GP, 33 G, 31 A, 64 PTS, +10, 43 PIMS, 152 shots, 15:11 ATOI, 49.5 CF%
Career: 588 GP, 179 G, 188 A, 367 PTS, -3, 320 PIMS, 1,295 shots, 16:05 ATOI, 52.4 CF%
Potential Suitors
Some of the potential fits for Mantha will be determined by the term of the contract that he ultimately decides to accept. If he continues to push for a longer-term agreement, his options will probably be somewhat limited. However, if he is willing to do another short-term pact (even a one-year agreement with a higher cap hit), more opportunities should present themselves.
In the East, the Flyers have ample cap flexibility now with Leo Carlsson’s offer sheet being matched. Even after they re-sign their current restricted free agents, they have enough to afford Mantha on a short-term or long-term pact although he wouldn’t really solve their need down the middle. The Blue Jackets have lost some firepower this summer and given their challenges at times attracting talent, they may not be as worried about a longer-term agreement. The Red Wings could definitely afford him if they want a reunion with their former draft pick.
Among teams that might become more interested on a short-term pact, Montreal comes to mind. While they need a second-line center, they also need a second-line winger but GM Kent Hughes has noted he doesn’t want to necessarily block some of his prospects long-term. The Canadiens have enough cap space to afford a one-year deal but may not be inclined to go much longer. Depending on what happens with some of their other free agent pursuits, the Sabres could be in that boat as well. Devils GM Sunny Mehta doesn’t seem like the type to commit a long-term contract to Mantha given his history but on a short-term pact, they could be more willing to take a flyer as well.
Out West, the Blackhawks haven’t done much this summer to add firepower. While Connor Bedard needs a pricey contract, they still have the long-term or short-term flexibility to try to bring Mantha in. The Kraken are believed to be looking to get back to the playoffs and were willing to take a big swing to add a top talent. While those fell through, Mantha could be a serviceable, though nowhere near as impactful, option. The Jets still need to sign Cole Perfetti but they need more top-six help as well and, like Columbus, may not be as deterred by a longer-term deal given their challenges in attracting players as well.
On the shorter-term side, the Canucks could make some sense along the lines of Mantha’s strategy when he signed in Calgary. Play a big role, try to show the uptick in points wasn’t a fluke, and hope to be moved to a contender at the trade deadline. The Oilers could make sense with a similar idea, play him with one of their top centers and try to get a short-term boost. But with Connor McDavid needing a new deal soon, Mantha isn’t the type of player they’d probably want to sign long-term, only on a short-term pact.
Projected Contract
Mantha was fourth on our Top 50 UFA list, with our projection being a four-year, $24MM contract. It’s still possible that he holds on long enough to get something in that range but it also could work against him if some of the teams open to signing him longer-term pivot elsewhere. Accordingly, it’s also quite possible that he flips to a one-year (or shorter-term strategy), something that should open up his list of suitors considerably and perhaps still land him in the $5MM to $6MM range. That probably isn’t his preferred option but at this point, it might be his best one.
Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images.
Buyer Beware When It Comes To Anthony Mantha
Forward Anthony Mantha has all the tools to be an NHL star. He has size, can skate, and has good hands and vision. But for much of his career, he has been maligned for never playing with a ton of heart and for disappearing when games matter most. He did nothing to dispel that notion this past year, as he had an incredible regular season with the Penguins, posting 33 goals and 31 assists in 81 games, but completely disappeared in the playoffs, posting just a single assist in six games and being at fault for the overtime goal that knocked the Penguins out of the playoffs. Now, the 31-year-old is set to enter one of the weakest free agent markets in recent history and could sign one of the riskiest free agent contracts in recent memory. That is, if you are the team signing the checks.
Teams are about to line up in a bidding war for Mantha, as he is one of the top available wingers and is projected by AFP Analytics to receive a four-year deal worth $6.35MM per season. That type of contract likely means teams will focus more on his career-high goal totals this past season than on his overall body of work. That sort of tunnel vision is almost certain to lead to buyer’s remorse when it comes to Mantha, but the question is how soon a team feels the pain of his contract and for how long they will have to deal with it.
Plenty of players sign crazy contracts on July 1st every year. But Mantha is a unique case, as teams have long known what he is and have twice resisted the urge to pay him big money long term. Couple that with the typical decline that happens to bigger forwards, and it is easy to see that whoever gives Mantha his big-money deal is likely to feel the sting at some point during the deal.
Mantha isn’t the only contract that could age like milk, but he does exemplify GM’s tendency to fall into the trap of recency bias when handing out big money on July 1st. It’s a tale as old as the league. A player gets hot for one season or a short period, and teams line up to pay them big money long term, only to see their investment turn into a pumpkin when midnight hits. Think Ville Leino or Fernando Pisani. Those men got paid big money for short runs, but in Mantha’s case, he’s had a lengthy career as an average scorer, and this season will likely not be the norm, especially given how power forwards age into their 30s.
Prior to this season, Mantha had topped 40 points on three separate occasions and was a three-time 20-goal scorer. However, only one of those high-end seasons had come in the last six years, and Mantha had dressed for three different teams in the previous five years. That kind of instability had become par for the course for Mantha before the Penguins signed him to a low-risk one-year deal last July. Mantha proved to be a good soldier for Pittsburgh during the regular season, but his inability to step up when the games got hard showed in the playoffs, when the Penguins were dropped by the Philadelphia Flyers.
All of that is unlikely to sway NHL general managers from opening their chequebooks and writing Mantha a contract offer they will regret in a few years’ time, if they are still employed by the team that signs him. Mantha will be 32 by the time the season starts, meaning the team that signs him to a projected four-year deal will be paying him into his age-36 season.
At this point, Mantha’s consistency issues have persisted since he was scouted as a junior player in 2013. At the time, the belief was that if he added grit and aggressiveness to his game, he could become a solid top-six NHL forward. While he has done that at times, there are also long lapses when Mantha seems either disengaged or overwhelmed by the moment, leading to him becoming a ghost in those games.
The Flyers series in the first round of this year’s playoffs was a perfect example. PHR wrote in the spring that Mantha’s performance in those six games could have hurt his playoff stock, but we will only know for sure once free agency opens on July 1st. In 20 career NHL playoff games, Mantha has yet to score a goal, though he has seven assists. Some teams might view this as a case of bad luck, with Mantha shooting 0% in the playoffs instead of the 13.8% he shoots in the regular season.
But if that is a metric GMs are using, there is perhaps one more they should consider, namely the 21.7% Mantha shot last season with the Penguins. It’s unlikely he reaches that number again, and even if he does, it will not be sustainable over the full term of a four-year contract.
Anthony Mantha, Penguins Reunion Unlikely
The Pittsburgh Penguins might lose a huge piece of their forward group this summer.
As first reported by Josh Yohe of The Athletic in his offseason writings, Penguins forward Anthony Mantha “was clear with his plans” after meeting with General Manager Kyle Dubas; it appears unlikely that Mantha will return to Pittsburgh. The 31-year-old is projected to eye free agency and capitalize on a career year.
Mantha was one of the most cost-effective players in the entire NHL based on scoring this past season. On a one-year, $2.5MM contract, he finished the 2025-26 season with a career-high 33 goals for 64 points in 81 games played. Crossing the 80-game threshold this season earned him an extra $2MM in performance bonuses per PuckPedia.
That production was fourth on Pittsburgh outside of Sidney Crosby, Erik Karlsson, and Bryan Rust. Most notably, it only cost the Penguins $39K per point that Mantha registered this season, the eighth most cost-effective UFA forward on the market this summer. In six playoff games against the Philadelphia Flyers, he added an assist in the first round.
He was also recognized as the Penguins’ Masterton Trophy nominee, which is given to the player “who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to ice hockey”. This nomination stems from his bounceback career-year that blossomed after suffering a right ACL injury that limited Mantha to just 13 games with the Calgary Flames in 2024-25.
Mantha has been a bit of a journeyman recently, with Pittsburgh being his fourth stop in the last four seasons of his 11-year NHL career. As a former first-round pick of the Detroit Red Wings, he spent six years wearing the winged wheel, three on an entry-level deal before signing a two-year, $6.60MM extension that took him through 2020.
The first year of a newly signed four-year, $22.8MM ($5.7MM AAV) deal, the Red Wings traded the 6-foot-5 forward to the Washington Capitals in April of 2021. He spent three seasons with the Capitals before being dealt to the Vegas Golden Knights in the final year of that deal in March of 2024.
The offseason for Dubas feels opportunistic, but in the Penguins’ end-of-season press conference, the message was clear that the front office is looking to internal and external options to grow their current roster, whether it be through young up-and-coming talent or via a trade. Pittsburgh has around $42MM in cap space to make further decisions on several expiring player deals after extending with Connor Dewar and Blake Lizotte in their forward group.
If Mantha were to test free agency, it would certainly make Dubas’s ability to keep him in black and gold difficult, not just because of the production, but considering the other members of the team that require addressing. It may not be as easy to allocate a decent portion of that cap space that Mantha would command. But for a player who was a key
Along with Mantha, the Penguins still have unrestricted free agents in forwards Evgeni Malkin, Kevin Hayes, and Noel Acciari, along with back-end expiring deals for Connor Clifton, Ryan Shea, and goaltender Stuart Skinner. As for restricted free agents, Dubas has forward Egor Chinakov and Arturs Silovs in net to figure out.
Did Anthony Mantha’s Playoff Performance Hurt His Free Agency Stock?
The Pittsburgh Penguins were bounced by the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 6 of their first-round matchup in dramatic fashion, losing a 1-0 game in overtime on a Cameron York goal. The seeing-eye shot found its way past Penguins goaltender Arturs Silovs and was a microcosm of the series for one player, Anthony Mantha. York was Mantha’s man on the play, and Mantha was two steps too late covering the point, allowing York to fire the game-winning goal. Mantha was invisible in the series, putting up one assist in six games to go along with a -5 and 20 PIM. The worst part of his play was that Mantha looked disinterested at times, missed assignments, took lazy penalties, and found himself largely chasing the game after a magical regular season. All in all, the playoffs may have cost Mantha millions of dollars.
It was just a month ago that the talk was about Mantha getting a four-year deal, with some folks throwing out numbers in the $5-6MM range. It seemed not only probable a month ago but quite likely after the 31-year-old posted 33 goals and 31 assists this season in 81 games. Mantha had been playing under a one-year, $2.5MM (plus $2MM in incentives) “prove it” contract, in the hopes of securing a lucrative contract this summer. However, those types of numbers ($5MM to $6MM) could very well be off the table after Mantha had a poor playoff showing this year. In fact, in 20 career NHL playoff games, Mantha has never scored a goal, tallying just seven assists. It’s a steep decline in production for a player who has four career 20+ goal seasons and averages 50 points per 82 regular-season games.
Mantha will still get some of his money this summer, as NHL general managers are about to see a windfall of cap space they haven’t seen in close to a decade, and the GM fraternity can never seem to help itself when it comes to overspending on a mid-tier free agent who just happened to get hot at the right time. It’s a tale as old as time in the NHL, with some pretty famous examples of players having a good year in their UFA walk year, or even just a good playoff, before getting paid an amount of money that will never line up with their production.
Fernando Pisani, back in 2006, is a great example of this. After a Cinderella run with the Oilers to the Stanley Cup Finals, in which he scored 14 goals and four assists in 24 games, he was rewarded handsomely with a four-year, $10MM contract that offseason. Unfortunately, Pisani never topped 28 points in a season again in his NHL career. There were health concerns with Pisani later in his career, but in any event, reaching those levels again was not likely.
Ville Leino is another great example of a player heating up and cashing in. He turned a 19-goal, 34-assist season in 2010-11 into a lucrative six-year, $27MM contract that was an absolute disaster for the Buffalo Sabres and was eventually bought out in 2014. Leino had never scored more than 11 points in an NHL season prior to his 53-point breakout with Philadelphia , and would tally just 10 goals and 36 assists in 137 games spaced over three seasons with the Sabres.
Mantha will fall into the camp of players who eventually got paid for having a terrific season, but, unlike the Pisani and Leino examples, Mantha does have a track record of scoring in the NHL. However, there are also injury concerns and concerns about his ability to score consistently. He had some lean years after he was traded from Detroit to the Washington Capitals, including 2022-23, when he posted just 11 goals and 16 assists in 67 games. He followed that up with a 44-point campaign in 2023-24 but still had to sign a prove-it contract with the Flames in the 2024 offseason for just $3.5MM.
It’s going to be very tough to gauge how general managers around the league will value what Mantha brings and what he doesn’t. Mantha is a big man, and GMs always love size. However, he plays small and doesn’t always look like he is working hard, which is often true for big men in the NHL. Mantha has other attributes that make him an attractive free-agent target; he can skate well for a big man, handles the puck well, is a good passer, and can shoot.
All of that is great, but this is the knock that has followed him since he was scouted in junior. He doesn’t always seem engaged, and in many games, particularly the big ones such as the recent playoff series with Pittsburgh, you wonder whether Mantha can find the intensity and determination to reach the next level and become a playoff performer. Mantha was often viewed in his draft year as a boom-or-bust prospect, and now 11 years into his NHL career, he is still fitting that label. Mantha was a bust in Washington after a big trade from the Red Wings sent him there, but in Pittsburgh, he was an under-the-radar signing that was a huge win for the Penguins (minus the playoffs). What his next team gets is anyone’s guess, but the $6MM annual offer on a long-term deal that seemed so likely before the playoffs now feels like a reach for Mantha. However, all it takes is one GM fighting for his job to overpay, and Mantha could be a bust once again.
Assessing The Best Free Agent Signings From Summer 2025
As we move into the final month of the season, it has become quite clear which moves from last summer paid off and which ones did not. While long-term effects of summer trades and signings are always part of the picture, it’s interesting to look back and assess the best free-agent signings to see which teams got value for their money and which did not.
Players don’t always succeed immediately with their new teams; sometimes there’s a settling-in period. However, many moves made last summer in free agency have significantly impacted playoff races this year.
For this exercise, we will focus specifically on players who were unrestricted free agents and moved to new teams. This excludes players like Brad Marchand or John Tavares, who re-signed with their respective teams before July 1.
The first player that comes to mind is the Penguins’ top goal scorer, Anthony Mantha, who signed a one-year, $2.5MM contract (plus $2MM in performance bonuses) with the Penguins after missing most of last season with the Flames due to an ACL tear. Many believed that Mantha would have a chance to improve his free-agent stock in Pittsburgh by playing top-six minutes before cashing in during the summer of 2026.
Last summer, the Penguins seemed like a team that would be selling at the trade deadline, so it made sense that they would give Mantha a one-year deal and then trade him for future assets in February or March. However, that outlook couldn’t have been further from the truth, as Mantha has become a key part of a Pittsburgh team that has surprised the NHL this season and remains competitive in the Eastern Conference. With 30 goals and 28 assists in 75 games, Mantha has provided considerable surplus value to the Penguins and is likely to secure a major contract this summer, particularly among one of the thinnest free-agent fields in the salary cap era.
Last year, much of the talk during free agency was that the goaltending market was incredibly thin, and on paper, it certainly looked that way. But that didn’t stop the Buffalo Sabres from exploring the free agency waters, signing Alex Lyon to a two-year, $3MM contract that has proven to be an absolute steal.
Lyon has split duties with his goalie partner, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and has appeared in 35 games this season, posting a record of 20-9-4 with a 2.69 GAA and a .909 SV%. While those stats are solid, the standout figure in Lyon’s line is his goals saved above expected, which currently sits at 14.8 (according to MoneyPuck). Lyon won’t be winning any awards this year, but considering how much money teams are spending on ineffective goaltending, Lyon has been a real boon for Buffalo.
Sticking with the goalies, another underrated signing that has paid off is Daniel Vladař of the Philadelphia Flyers. The 28-year-old was mainly a backup before this season but has become the Flyers’ starting goaltender, dressing in 45 games while posting a 24-13-7 record, a 2.50 GAA, and a .904 SV%.
Vladař has been excellent value on a two-year deal with a $3.35MM AAV. Not only is Vladař’s save percentage above average, but his goals saved above expected is up to 9.6, suggesting that his underlying numbers indicate a goaltender who has stolen some games for Philadelphia.
A signing that didn’t happen until the fall was forward Jack Roslovic, who again had to accept an under-market one-year deal. Roslovic signed a one-year, $1.5MM contract with the Oilers on Oct. 8 after his second straight unsuccessful free agency run, where he failed to secure a multi-year deal that suited him.
In Edmonton, the 29-year-old has already achieved his second straight 20-goal season and has been a reliable playmaker for the Oilers. Given his consistent production over the past two seasons, it’s unlikely he’s willing to settle for another one-year deal, especially in a tight free agent market.
Moving to the backend, veteran Brent Burns was a free agent for the first time in his career at age 40. Burns signed a one-year deal with the Avalanche that included a potential $4MM in bonuses, of which he will likely earn $3MM this season.
Burns is no longer an elite offensive defenseman, but he has still scored 10 goals and 19 assists in 73 games this year while playing in every game and averaging almost 19 minutes per game. Burns has benefited from playing on a top team and from a high PDO, but for a veteran right-shot defenseman or a bargain one-year deal, he’s worked out as well as the Avs could have hoped for.
Finally, we return to the Penguins and the skillful work of general manager Kyle Dubas accomplished in the early days of free agency last year. Not only did Dubas sign 30-goal scorer Mantha, but he also secured Justin Brazeau with a two-year deal worth just $3MM, as well as defenseman Parker Wotherspoon on a two-year, $2MM deal. The contracts gave Dubas a top-nine forward in Brazeau and a top-pairing defenseman to play alongside Erik Karlsson, all at a total cost of $2.5MM per season for this year and the next.
Dubas and Penguins Director of Player Personnel Wes Clark did excellent work last summer, finding players with lots of potential who hadn’t been given the chance to succeed. By betting on low-risk, high-upside free agents, Dubas effectively accelerated the Penguins’ retooling plans, which seemed unlikely just a year ago, when the team had missed the playoffs for a third consecutive year.
Earlier this season, there was talk that Penguins captain Sidney Crosby should request a trade because he might not make the playoffs again. However, thanks to Dubas’s bargain shopping, the Penguins now seem to be on track for the playoffs and have plenty of cap space this summer to strengthen their already impressive lineup.
Penguins Recall Avery Hayes, Joona Koppanen
The Pittsburgh Penguins have added two forwards to the roster ahead of Thursday night’s game against the Ottawa Senators. Winger Avery Hayes and center Joona Koppanen have been recalled from the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Hayes’ recall will help the Penguins addresss a day-to-day injury for winger Anthony Mantha, while Koppanen will shore up the center depth per Taylor Haase of DK Pittsburgh Sports.
Hayes could have the clearer path to a lineup role if Mantha need to miss Thursday’s game. The 23 year old scored two goals in his NHL debut in early February but has struggled to keep scoring on the other side of the NHL’s Olympic break. He has no points in 10 NHL games since, though he has scored nine points in his last seven AHL games. That minor-league scoring brings him up to 32 points in 38 AHL games this season, fourth on Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in scoring.
The Penguins will hope Hayes can rediscover his spark as he steps up for Mantha, who has eight points in his last nine games. All of that scoring was managed over a six-game stretch in mid-March, bringing Mantha up to 26 goals and 53 points in 71 games this season – a new career-high in scoring.
Koppanen hasn’t been in the NHL since November, when he played through a 10-game stint on Pittsburgh’s third-line. He recorded one assist, two penalty minutes, and a minus-one in that span. He also won 12 of the 25 faceoffs he took. Koppanen has filled a stout center role in his minor league minutes, netting 19 points and a plus-14 in 37 games. He brings reliable, two-way depth to the lineup and could help the Penguins make up for an injury to veteran Blake Lizotte.
The Penguins have turned towards Connor Dewar to fill a center role in Lizotte’s absence. He is putting together a career-year on Pittsburgh’s bottom line, with 14 goals, 27 points, and a plus-10 in 71 games – all career highs. That production has kept Dewar in a nightly lineup role, though his role as a faceoff-taker is new. With Koppanen on the roster, Pittsburgh will have the option to move Dewar back to the wing, in place of Elmer Soderblom.
Snapshots: Mantha, Granato, Rasmussen
Penguins winger Anthony Mantha has been a pleasant surprise this season, having a resurgent campaign. However, that’s now on hold for the time being as the team announced (Twitter link) that he’s listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury. The 31-year-old missed most of last year due to injury, allowing him to sign a one-year deal with incentives this season. He has made the most of it, tallying 26 goals and 27 assists in 71 games, setting new career highs across the board offensively. He has reached the first seven levels of his various games-played bonuses (totaling $1.75MM) but will need to play in nine of Pittsburgh’s 11 remaining games in order to receive an additional $250K, giving him some extra incentive to return quickly beyond their battle for a playoff spot in the tight Eastern Conference.
Elsewhere around the hockey world:
- Former Sabres head coach Don Granato is set to run a bench once again. USA Hockey announced that Granato has been named as their head coach for the upcoming World Championship. The 58-year-old led Buffalo to a 122-125-27 record over parts of four seasons before being dismissed following the 2023-24 campaign. This will be his first coaching opportunity since then. The tournament is set to run from May 15-31 in Switzerland.
- Red Wings center Michael Rasmussen has yet to resume skating as he continues to work his way back from an undisclosed injury, relays MLive’s Ansar Khan (Twitter link). At this point, he’s still in treatment mode according to head coach Todd McLellan, who noted that he’s still probably at least a week away from returning. While Rasmussen hasn’t been particularly productive this season – just 14 points in 61 games – he’s still an important part of Detroit’s bottom six and penalty kill; getting him back would certainly help in their late-season playoff push.
Penguins Want To Keep Erik Karlsson, Anthony Mantha
At the beginning of the 2025-26 season, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that the Pittsburgh Penguins would trade Erik Karlsson and use Anthony Mantha as a half-year rental before dishing him at the trade deadline. Now, according to Josh Yohe of The Athletic, the Penguins want both players on their opening night roster for the 2026-27 campaign, if not longer.
Before this season, Karlsson looked like a shell of himself, far removed from the Norris Trophy campaign during the 2022-23 season with the San Jose Sharks. From 2023 to 2025, Karlsson scored 22 goals and 109 points in 164 games with a -20 rating, averaging 23:45 of ice time per game. Additionally, his 87.2% on-ice SV% at even strength last season was the worst of his career.
Although that’s typically respectable production from a puck-moving defenseman in his mid-30s, it didn’t justify his $11.5MM salary, $1.5MM of which was being paid by the Sharks. It was particularly his drop-off defensively that had the writing on the wall in Pittsburgh.
However, under head coach Dan Muse, Karlsson has found new life. He’ll finish with similar point totals this year, but he’s been much more responsible in the defensive zone. His 53.8% CorsiFor% at even strength is the best he’s had since he was 28, and his 89.7% oiSV% at even strength is right on line with his career average.
According to Yohe, instead of trading Karlsson this offseason, the Penguins may look to extend him for a few more years. It would be an interesting gamble, given that Karlsson will be 37 for his next contract. However, if he maintains his production level and assumes a significantly lower salary, it might not be a bad idea.
Meanwhile, Mantha has made the most of his one-year, $2.5MM prove-it deal in Pittsburgh. After losing much of the 2024-25 season due to an ACL injury, Mantha has rebounded in a big way, scoring 26 goals and 52 points in 67 games for the Penguins.
Furthermore, as Yohe points out, Mantha is only 31, meaning he’s not necessarily old by NHL standards. It’s unlikely that the Penguins will engage in a bidding war if Mantha makes it to the open market this summer, but a four-year deal shouldn’t be out of the question given how he’s played this season.
Regardless, as much as the influx of youth has benefited Pittsburgh this season, its top five scorers are in their 30s. They’re a primary reason that the Penguins are poised for a postseason run for the first time since the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs.