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Poll: Who Is The Early Favorite To Win The 2026 Calder Trophy?

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The hockey world was treated to a true gift by the race for the 2025 Calder Trophy, awarded annually to the NHL’s top rookie. The class lived up to years of expectations, headlined by Montreal Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson tying Larry Murphy for the most assists by a rookie defender. He took home the Calder ahead of San Jose Sharks top center Macklin Celebrini and Calgary Flames starting goaltender Dustin Wolf – who both managed star-studded and historic performances of their own. The heap of talent left players who could have won the trophy outright in seemingly any other year – options like 26-goal-scorer Matvei Michkov. A rookie class so strong will be impossible to follow up, but the group in 2025-26 seem to have a great chance to come close.

Early predictions will have the Calder Trophy staying put through in 2026. The Canadiens are set to award star rookie Ivan Demidov with his first NHL season, after he led KHL super-club SKA St. Petersburg with in scoring with 49 points in 62 games last season. He was a sheer force at Russia’s top level, showing a pace, strength, and finesse that was unmatched by his competition. Demidov finished the year with five points in six Gagarin Cup Playoff matchups, before scoring four points in his first seven games with Montreal.

Demidov is now set to assume a key role in the Canadiens’ lineup. It’s hard to imagine he won’t play true top-line minutes. He offers the in-tight skill and low-zone grit to perfectly complement spot-shooter Cole Caufield and playmaking, two-way center Nick Suzuki. The stars will be Demidov’s ceiling if he gets a full year to such talented players. He nearly recorded a 20-30-50 season in the KHL – a league often lauded as near-equal to the NHL. That standing could set him up for 60, or even 70, points in his first year with Montreal.

It will be a tight race to catch up to, and overcome, Demidov. A slew of star collegiate players signed their entry-level contracts at the end of the season, and could easily be set for major minutes of their own. Sam Rinzel fills a need for right-shot defense for the Blackhawks and Oliver Moore seemed to bring his slick-passing to Chicago, Gabe Perreault looked like a strong utility player with the New York Rangers, and Ryan Leonard showed an ability to match the Washington Capitals’ pace.

And yet, all four could be outdone by Minnesota Wild defenseman Zeev Buium, who managed an impressive 98 points in 83 games at the University of Denver. He appeared in four Stanley Cup Playoff games, but only managed one assist. Also atop the defense charts is top KHL defender Alexander Nikishin, who ended a stalemate when he finally joined the Carolina Hurricanes for the playoffs. Nikishin ranked second on SKA St. Petersburg with 46 points in 61 games, and matched Buium’s postseason statline.

Even still, the OHL could emerge. Sam Dickinson served as the star of the 2025 Memorial Cup-winning London Knights, and seems well-primed for a big role with the desolate San Jose Sharks. He could be joined by the reigning ’OHL Player of the Year’ Michael Misa, who managed an incredible 62 goals and 134 points in 65 OHL games last season. Misa was drafted second in this year’s class, with New York Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer the only selection before him. The smooth-moving, sharp-eyed Schaefer could be another Calder candidate, though he hasn’t played a season-game since sustaining a broken collarbone during the World Junior Championships last December.

It will be hard for any player to rival the record-breaking heights that Hutson reached last season, but the list of candidates looking to follow him up seems endless. Any one of the aforementioned players could find their way into a star role, or the award could go to someone entirely different – like 2025 Hobey Baker Award-winner and Edmonton Oilers winger Isaac Howard.

With so much talent on the board, who do you think will win the 2026 Calder Trophy? If you choose ’Other’, comment your pick below!

Who Is The Early Favorite To Win The 2026 Calder Trophy?
Ivan Demidov, Canadiens 57.40% (477 votes)
Alexander Nikishin, Hurricanes 15.88% (132 votes)
Zeev Buium, Wild 14.68% (122 votes)
Matthew Schaefer, Islanders 12.03% (100 votes)
Total Votes: 831

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Hurricanes Sign Oliver Kylington, Givani Smith To Professional Tryouts

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The Carolina Hurricanes have signed forward Givani Smith and defenseman Oliver Kylington to professional tryouts. Both players appeared in NHL games last season.

Kylington’s NHL action was split between the Colorado Avalanche and Anaheim Ducks. He only totaled 19 games, and five points, on the year after sustaining a string of injuries throughout the 2024-25 season. Kylington stepped away from the NHL from October 2022 through January 2024 to focus on his mental health. He returned for 33 games of the Calgary Flames’ 2023-24 season and won the 2024 Bill Masterton Trophy.

Kylington is now 28 and looking to reinstate his spot in the NHL. He bounced back and forth between the major and minor leagues from 2018 to 2021 – but broke out with 31 points in 73 games of the Flames’ 2021-22 season. At his best, he looked like a smooth-moving, two-way defenseman capable of holding both blue-lines. That talent could be enough to fill the in-between role vacated by Scott Morrow when he was traded to the Rangers in June. First, Kylington will need to prove he can still play at NHL pace.

Meanwhile, Smith will look to flex his might as a bottom-of-the-lineup bruiser. He has fluctuated between the NHL and AHL for the last few seasons, and averaged at least one penalty minute per game everywhere he goes. Last season, Smith recorded no scoring and 18 PIMs in 13 NHL games, and three points and 21 PIMs in 16 AHL games. Those performances brought his career totals up to 22 points and 268 PIMs in 168 NHL games, and 55 points and 287 PIMs in 167 AHL games. He could be a candidate for an AHL contract, if he doesn’t earn a deal with the Hurricanes out of camp.

NCAA Grants Eligibility To Two Former Pros

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In another milestone decision for collegiate hockey, the NCAA has granted eligibility to two players with experience in the AHL and ECHL. Forward Connor McClennon and defenseman Hudson Thornton will both suit up for the Bemidji State University Beavers, per Jared Rubado of The Bemidji Pioneer. This decision goes against the NCAA’s previous rule that stated any players who have signed pro contracts were ineligible from playing NCAA-sanctioned sports.

The future implications, or even the present justification, for this decision aren’t entirely clear. Bemidji State head coach Tom Serratore told Rubado that the team wanted to “throw some darts” after seeing the NCAA allow former pros to participate in other sports. They worked with both players to submit request to the NCAA Eligibility Center, formerly the NCAA Clearinghouse. Both McClennon and Thornton pointed towards their reinstated eligibility for U Sports – Canada’s collegiate league – as one of the reasons why they should be granted a move to the NCAA.

Bemidji also pointed towards the NCAA’s extension of eligibility to pros in both basketball and football. As pointed out by Rubado, the NCAA allowed Ethan Burg to join the University of Tennessee’s men’s basketball team on July 24, despite Burg’s participation in the Israeli Basketball Super League.

The NCAA is also currently facing a U.S. District Court ruling that challenges how the NCAA counts years of eligibility. Previously, the collegiate association would include years in JUCO, or Junior College, against a player’s maximum five years of NCAA eligibility. This new antitrust lawsuit would look to reverse that decision, and extend additional eligibility to three players at West Virginia University, as well as players at Vanderbilt University, Rutgers University, and Memphis University.

The NCAA has released a statement challenging the court ruling, though they may face a tougher task overturning it after extending eligibility to two pro hockey players. McClennon played nine total games between the AHL and ECHL, scoring just one point in the former league. He spent last season at the University of Alberta. Thornton’s pro experience is much more extensive. He appeared in 49 ECHL games, and scored 14 points, this past season, in addition to making his AHL debut. Thornton has never played at the collegiate level, though he previously expressed interest in joining the University of Saskatchewan for next season.

While the long-term impact of this decision hasn’t had time to settle, it marks another boom to the ever-changing junior hockey landscape. It seems unlikely that the NCAA will officially acknowledge changes to their eligibility until after they conclude multiple lawsuits and court cases, leaving questions of who teams can recruit up in the air for now. On the other side, NCAA eligibility could begin mirroring U Sports. Currently, AHL or ECHL players are eligible to join U Sports programs, but must sit out for a season of competition if they are on a pro roster after January 10th. Even those guidelines seem uncertain, though, as U Sports commits to future changes and expansions of their own.

NHL To Organize 2028 World Cup Without IIHF Involvement

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The NHL appears set to move forward with their plan on organizing a World Cup of Hockey. They’re ready to reach out to international clubs directly, rather than work with the IIHF, per TSN’s Darren Dreger. This news doubles down comments that NHL commissioner Gary Bettman made in February.

The tournament will be an eight-country event and take place during the 2027-28 season – the year of the next summer Olympics – shares David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period. Pagnotta adds that preliminary matches will be split between one North American, and one European, city – while semi-final and final rounds will be hosted in North America.

This news answers the question of what the NHL will do in the Olympics’ off-years. The World Cup will feature a wider cast than the 4-Nations Face-Off that took place this February, though the exact list of countries isn’t quite clear. In addition to the four countries that suited up this winter, both Czechia and Slovakia seem like locked-in options. The NHL could also bring in any one of Germany, Switzlerand, Austria, and Latvia – who have each reached varying levels of international success over the last few years.

But Russia will stand as the big uncertainty. Both Russia and Belarus have been barred from participation in IIHF events since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The IIHF upheld that decision for the 2025-26 season and 2026 Winter Olympics. The NHL deciding to go around IIHF involvement does open the door to Russia – one of the world’s top hockey countries – getting back into the swing of best-on-best competition. That would likely give aging stars like Andrei Vasilevskiy, Igor Shesterkin, Nikita Kucherov, and Artemi Panarin a chance to show their might in their prime years. Commissioner Gary Bettman declined comment when asked, back in March, about if the NHL would entertain playing against Russia in the near future.

The World Cup tournament itself will serve as an exciting shove into the future for the world’s top hockey talents. High-potential young players like Connor Bedard, Macklin Celebrini, Lane Hutson, and Juraj Slafkovsky will be just entering their prime years in 2028, and certainly looking for a chance to prove their country’s might at the top stage. The event will be a great run-up to the 2032 Winter Olympics, where all four players seem ready to play big roles.

The NHL will intercut the World Cup with All-Star games. Bettman has shared that he knows the All-Star matchup will need to live up to high expectations, after the popularity garnered by the 4-Nations Face-Off earlier this year. In an interview with NHL.com’s Dan Rosen, Bettman said that everything will be on the table for the next All-Star event. That will set a high bar for the mid-season breaks next season, though many fans will be looking ahead to an even bigger best-on-best tournament only three seasons away.

Rocco Grimaldi, Joseph Blandisi Sign In KHL

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Former New Jersey Devils forward Joseph Blandisi has signed a two-year contract with SKA St. Petersburg of Russia’s KHL. Blandisi will be joined in the move by fellow AHL veteran Rocco Grimaldi, whose contract details haven’t yet been revealed, per Pavel Panyshev of Russia’s Championat. This will mark the first overseas move of both player’s careers, after years of rooted roles in the minor leagues.

Grimaldi boast the slightly richer career of the two, accumulating 203 NHL games and 499 AHL games over his nine-year career. He was originally drafted with the 33rd-overall pick in the 2011 NHL Draft by the Florida Panthers. Grimaldi followed his draft selection with three seasons at the University of North Dakota. He found great success in college, despite a freshman year derailed by injury, and entered the pros with wind behind his sails in the 2014-15 season.

Grimaldi scored a hot 42 points in 64 games of his AHL rookie season. That was enough to earn the first seven games of his NHL career, though he only managed one goal in those appearances. He spent the next four years firmly rooted in the rut of hot AHL scoring and meager NHL totals, until the 2018-19 Nashville Predators opted to reward Grimaldi with his first full year in the NHL. He scored just 13 points in 53 games with the club, but shined through enough to cement a bottom-six role for the next three seasons. But after not finding another gear at the top flight, Grimaldi was relegated back to the minors in 2022. His role was defined as a top AHL scorer with limited upward mobility – a sentiment that’s kept Grimaldi from receiving any NHL games in three years, despite scoring 256 points in 252 games since 2022.

Blandisi has fallen into a similar rut over recent years. After bearing through split AHL and NHL minutes between 2015 and 2020, the former sixth-round selection landed a full-time role in the minors in the 2020-21 season. He’s since found upside as both a scorer and bruiser, a role best highlighted by his 59 points and 110 penalty minutes in 70 games with the Toronto Marlies in the 2023-24 season. He followed that performance with 35 points and 82 penalty minutes in 58 games last season, bringing his career-long totals up to 321 points and 664 penalty minutes in 448 games and 10 seasons in the AHL. He also has 31 points in 101 NHL games.

Both players will look to escape middling roles in North America with a move to Russia’s top squad. They’ll join a rich squad in SKA, headlined by returning scorers Sergei Plotnikov and Marat Khairullin. Grimaldi and Blandisi should have no trouble finding hardy middle-six minutes, following SKA’s loss of Evgeny Kuznetsov and Mikhail Grigorenko this off-season. SKA finished second in their division, and got bumped from the conference quarterfinals, last season.

Snapshots: Tkachuk, Cozens, Red Wings

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The Tkachuk family has dominated late-summer headlines, leading to plenty of opportunities for the three NHL players – retired pro Keith Tkachuk, Florida Panthers star Matthew Tkachuk, and Ottawa Senators star Brady Tkachuk – to sit down with media from across the hockey world. The one throughline from each conversation has been Brady’s desire to stick with the Ottawa Senators. He told as much to ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski, sharing that the team’s push into the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs went far towards proving what the young core is capable of.

The Senators entered the 2024-25 season with one of the youngest rosters in the league – eighth-youngest, to be exact. They blazed through an incredibly successful season despite that, finishing the year with the top Eastern Conference Wild Card and just one point behind the eventual Cup-winning Panthers. Ottawa’s surge was spearheaded by young studs like Tim Stutzle, Drake Batherson, and Jake Sanderson. Those three were the only ones to score more than Tkachuk’s 29 goals and 55 points in 72 regular season games. But Tkachuk showed his importance to the squad when he led the team with four goals and seven points in six postseason games. Ottawa will return a fairly similar squad next season, and with a bode of confidence from their captain, may be able to find their way out of Wild Card standing or beyond the first round.

Other notes from around the league:

  • A key focus of the Senators’ 2025-26 season will be the performance of second-line center Dylan Cozens, who the team acquired from the Buffalo Sabres in a swap for Joshua Norris last Spring. Julian McKenzie of The Athletic shares that Cozens only needs to reach 20 goals, and maintain his all-around impact, to earn find a successful season. Cozens has only crossed the 20-goal mark once in his career – when he pushed for 31 goals and 68 points in the 2022-23 season. But he’s come close at other points, with 18 goals in 2023-24 and 16 goals last year. In fact, Cozens’ five goals in 21 games with the Senators perfectly paces him for a 20-goal performance across 82 games. That should be an achievable step for the 24-year-old centerman, though his goal will certainly be to further prove he can return to the heights of his 2023 scoring. Doing so could give Ottawa an ace up their sleeves as they look to one-up their performance from last year.
  • Years of stocking the prospect pool should begin to pay off for the Detroit Red Wings next season. They can expect three key prospects to emerge in the NHL per Max Bultman of The Athletic, who names forwards Nate Danielson and Carter Mazur, and goaltender Sebastian Cossa, as the young guns likely to break into the Detroit lineup next season. That should be an easy feat for Mazur and Cossa, who have both continuously shown their might at the AHL level. Mazur finished an injury-shortened season with 15 points in 20 AHL games, to go along with 37 points in 60 games in 2023-24. His hard-nosed style caught the eyes of Detroit’s top brass, but a freak injury cut his season down before he could play through a full NHL game. While he returns to the lineup, Cossa will aim to finally make the full-time jump, after serving as a pillar of consistency in the minor-leagues. He posted a .911 save percentage in 41 games last season, well in-line with the .913 save percentage he posted in 40 AHL games in 2023-24, and again in 46 ECHL in 2022-23. Among the bunch, it will be frail playmaker Nate Danielson who will have to show he can pop. Danielson played his first pro season last year, and scored an encouraging 39 points in 71 games. But on a Red Wings roster pushing for all they can get, he’ll need to show he can hold up to increasingly-challenging roles.

Poll: Who Will Be The Next RFA To Sign?

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The summer is winding down across the NHL, but a rich group of remaining restricted-free agents are keeping multiple teams from closing their books just yet. There are still multiple top, young players awaiting contracts for the 2025-26 season – including top-line features like Luke Hughes, Marco Rossi, and Mason McTavish. Pending any holdouts, it seems hard to imagine any of the top names not finding a new deal before the start of the season. But who will get the assurance next?

Hughes seems like a confident bet. There’s no denying the warm relationship between his family and the New Jersey Devils organization, and both team and player have already expressed interest in locking up a long-term contract. But that desire has been the exact hang-up in contract negotiations, as the Devils sit with just over $6.1MM in available cap space, per PuckPedia. Hughes scored 44 points in 71 games last year, and 47 points in 82 games in the year prior. That scoring is the second-most from any U23 defender in the NHL over the last two seasons, just behind Jake Sanderson (95 points) and ahead of Brock Faber (76 points).

Both Sanderson and Faber have already found their contracts for the future – each signing eight-year deals with cap hits north of $8MM. That seems to set a clear market for what Hughes, but it’s a price tag that New Jersey is currently priced out of. Landing a new deal with Hughes will seemingly take a gentleman’s agreement, or a supplemental move like parting with the $1.15MM cap hit of Kurtis MacDermid.

New Jersey’s holdups could pave way for Anaheim Ducks center McTavish to land a deal first. McTavish is another undeniable talent, who worked his way to a lofty 22 goals and 52 points in 76 games last season – good for second on the Ducks in scoring. He seems well set up for another big step next season, on an improved Ducks lineup with a new head coach. But McTavish’s continued divide with a rich Ducks team – currently wielding $20.54MM in cap space – has many speculating about what the two sides could be disagreeing on. That dialogue has made McTavish a top option for any team considering a late-summer offer sheet, though Anaheim’s rich cap space would make it tough to successfully buy McTavish. Instead, it seems the two sides will be tasked only with deciding between a short-term bridge deal or a deal that carries McTavish through his prime.

The Minnesota Wild will be facing a similarly challenging question with top center Marco Rossi. Rossi is another player who managed a true breakout last year, with 24 goals and 60 points in 82 games. He stepped into a prime role with the Wild in the second-half of the year, taking on the top-line center role with Joel Eriksson Ek out with injury and routinely earning north of 20 minutes of ice time. Rossi looked up to the task, but then was surprisingly relegated to a fourth-line role for Minnesota’s six postseason games. The Wild are clearly at ends with the question of whether Rossi’s 5-foot-9 frame can stand up to a true #1 role. That hang-up has made Rossi’s situation perhaps the most likely to drag through the pre-season. And still, it’s hard to imagine Minnesota will give up easily on their most recent top-10 draft pick. Rossi could be a strong candidate for a short-term, prove-it contract – which would give Minnesota the time to figure out his lineup role. The Wild sit with just over $9.4MM in cap space.

There are plenty of strong candidates to sign next outside of the big three names. The gap between the Calgary Flames and impressive center Connor Zary has been revealed as narrow. Multiple players have already carved out lineup roles with their signing team, and now only need the deal to prove it – players like Seattle’s Ryker Evans and Nashville’s Luke Evangelista. And other teams are merely one contract away from a full book, like the Vegas Golden Knights with winger Alexander Holtz. Any of those situations could quickly cave, and land another promising young player with the ramp they need for next season.

Who do you think will sign next? Answer in the poll below and let us know why in the comments:

Which RFA Will Sign Next?
Luke Hughes 39.39% (269 votes)
Mason McTavish 22.69% (155 votes)
Connor Zary 14.93% (102 votes)
Marco Rossi 12.15% (83 votes)
Luke Evangelista 10.83% (74 votes)
Total Votes: 683

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Big Hype Prospects: DuPont, Verhoeff, Vanhatalo, Rogowski

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The 2025-26 season will kickoff on Monday for hockey’s scouting world, as many of the top U18 prospects from around the world join in Brno, Czechia and Trenčín, Slovakia for the 2025 Hlinka Gretzky Cup. The tournament is one of the top non-IIHF sanctioned events of the hockey season, and features talents from eight different countries — this year from USA, Canada, Czechia, Slovakia, Sweden, Finland, Germany, and Switzerland. It’s often the first chance for top draft picks to show their strength among an increasingly competitive group of peers. That makes now the perfect time to again borrow from MLB Trade Rumors’ Big Hype Prospect series to break down some of the top names to watch when pucks drop this week.

Four Big Hype Prospects

Landon DuPont, RD, Team Canada (Everett Silvertips, WHL)
2024-25 Season: 64 GP, 17 G, 43 A, 60 TP, 26 PIM, +31

There is little question about who the top prospect at this year’s Hlinka tournament will be – and, ironically, it’s not a player eligible for the draft in 2026. Instead it’s 16-year-old Landon DuPont, a true star talent coming off the highest-scoring season from a U16 defender in CHL history — by more than 20 points. DuPont is cut from a different cloth in many ways. He’s fantastically smooth on the puck and uses clean, long, and quick strides to cut through all three zones and create layup scoring chances. His vision is sharp and he’s firm on every decision, creating a player truly capable of taking over games on his own. DuPont has a special drive to succeed that should be put on full display as he gets his first opportunity to represent his country overseas. It would be no surprise to see DuPont – the son of European hockey veteran Micki DuPont – race towards the top of the Hlinka leaderboards and soon the top of the 2027 NHL Draft class.

Keaton Verhoeff, RD, Team Canada (University of North Dakota, NCHC)
2024-25 Season (Victoria, WHL): 63 GP, 21 G, 24 A, 45 TP, 14 PIM, +23

It is a rare and lucky moment when a head coach gets to call Keaton Verhoeff their second defender. He brings every bit of the star-power that Canada has become known for at this tournament. Verhoeff is a towering, beefy defender standing at 6-foot-4 and 212-pounds — and yet, he’s another incredibly smooth puck-handler, with a special instinct for how and when to dip into the offensive zone. He plays a game that thrives on gut calls, but lives on fundamentals – and shows as much talent in defending the rush or blocking out the slot as he does in making flashy, high-speed cuts to the offensive net. Team Canada has already named Verhoeff their captain for this tournament – and among the top questions for the week ahead will be how they wield his physical upside next to DuPont’s snappy creativity. Verhoeff is entering the season as a top-two name in the 2026 draft class. He’ll get his first chance to fortify that standing at this tournament, before heading to the NCAA alongside Victoria teammate and Calgary Flames prospect Cole Reschny for the 2025-26 season.

Vilho Vanhatalo, RW, Team Finland (Tappara, Finland U20)
2024-25 Season (Tappara, Finland U18): 41 GP, 37 G, 21 A, 58 TP, 38 PIM

Prospect chatter surrounding Finland has quieted in recent years, but their 2008 birth year seems well equipped to pull the country back into the spotlight. They’re a heavy-hitting group that features players like Oscar Hemming, Eelis Uronen, adn Anttoni Uronen – all the younger brothers of NHL prospects (Emil Hemming, Dallas; Tomas Uronen, Vegas). But the group is headlined by beefy goal-scorer Vilho Vanhatalo, a ground-and-pound shooter with multiple ways to best his opponents. Vanhatalo is strong with a huge frame – 6-foot-4 and 200-pounds – and an athletic stance. He’s also quick to make decisions and jump to the next play – making him hard to contain in the offensive end. He squares up to passes quickly, and has a true heft behind his shot. That’s helped Vanhatalo reach fantastic goal-scoring heights already, including leading Finland’s top U18 in the stat last season. He also scored a team-leading three points in four games for Finland at the World U-17 Hockey Championship, and continued to lead the country’s U17 squad with 14 points in 17 games in other international tournaments. Where goals need scored, Vanhatalo finds his way – making him an interesting second-tier name for this tournament and the 2026 draft.

Brooks Rogowski, C/RW, Team USA (Oshawa Generals, OHL)
2024-25 Season: 66 GP, 11 G, 12 A, 23 TP, 9 PIM, -3

Brooks Rogowski may not be the true top name on Team USA’s lineup, but he’ll certainly be the hardest to miss. Literally. The 17-year-old stands at 6-foot-6 and 227-pounds, and seems well positioned to take on top-six minutes for an American squad looking for players to step up. Rogowski was relatively unrefined through much of his rookie OHL season last year, but has earned the close attention of scouts – and even a commitment to Michigan State University – since the season has come to a close. That’s largely thanks to a training regiment focused in on making him smoother and quicker driving down the ice, and consequentially strong performances at the USA U17-Selects tournament and Hlinka Gretzky Cup invite camp. Rogowski will play second-string to USA’s stars – like hard-nosed center and 2027 draft prospect Shaeffer Gordon-Carroll and flashy speedster and 2026 prospect Jack Hextall. But when it comes to playing a physically-imposing game geared towards driving the net, head coach Bob Motzko will find all he needs in Rogowski. This tournament will mark the giant’s first chance to rocket up his draft stock.

Predators’ Spencer Stastney Considered Retirement Before 2024-25 Season

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Nashville Predators defenseman Spencer Stastney joined Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas on the 32 Thoughts podcast to speak out about the challenges he’s faced with continuing his hockey career. Stastney opened up about a long struggle with mental health challenges and defeated feelings towards his hockey career. He shared that those feelings peaked at the end of the 2024 Calder Cup Playoffs, and pushed him as far as job-searching and pulling together the paperwork needed to file for retirement. He was just 24 at the time.

Stastney hit that low point amidst some of the brightest moments of his young career. He moved to professional hockey in 2022, following a productive four years at the University of Notre Dame. Stastney stood out in his rookie AHL season thanks to his shutdown defense, even despite scoring just 19 points in 72 games on the full season. His early showings were enough to earn the first eight NHL games of his career, where Stastney chipped in his first two assists.

A strong start at the AHL level earned Stastney great standing headed into the 2023-24 season. He took full advantage of the opportunity – netting 20 points in 44 AHL games, and four points in 20 NHL games before the end of the regular season. But through it all, he shares that his feelings of anxiety towards the sport were growing. Stastney took part of the 2023-24 season off to attend the NHLPA’s Player Assistance Program. He returned in time for the postseason, and appeared in both the Stanley Cup and Calder Cup Playoffs. But Stastney shares that by the time Milwaukee was defeated, he was happy that the season was over.

It was that feeling – relief juxtaposed by his teammates’ anguish over an early exit – that pushed Stastney to consider calling his career to an early close. He shared that he didn’t feel his feelings were fair to his teammates, and that he quickly felt that stepping away from the sport to pursue other work would provide the reset he needed. He moved forward with those feelings, even as his agency filed for contract arbitration and successfully earned a two-year contract extension.

But a new deal wasn’t going to be what spurred Stastney back into the sport. Instead, he details extensive consultations with the Nashville Predators’ team therapist as the thing that helped him to realize and address the roots of his feelings. Stastney skipped Nashville’s training camp for the 2024-25 season, and didn’t return to the ice until early December. He quickly returned to a top-pair role in Milwaukke when he came back, and earned an NHL call-up after just 10 games in the minor leagues. Stastney would effectively split the 2024-25 season between the major and minor rosters, netting three points in 23 NHL games and 17 points in 26 AHL games.

Those performances, and a renewed sense to continue moving forward with hockey, is where Stastney sits now. He emphasized that he’s still figuring out his relationship with the sport, but intends to move forward as a continued member of the Predators organization. He’s a true shutdown defender, with a great reach and imposing physical presence, even in a lanky build. The Predators have shown clear trust in Stastney’s ability to handle a depth NHL role – and a full season of determination could be all it takes to earn a full-time spot on the NHL roster.

While Stastney figures out his path forward, the Predators will rest assured that their patrol over player’s mental health continues to effectively serve their organization. The 32 Thoughts Podcast harkened back to former Predators Brian McGrattan and Jordin Tootoo, who both worked with Nashville’s therapy team and the NHLPA Player Assistance Program during their own time in the organization. Both went on to have successful, decade-long careers in pro hockey. Their ability to overcome challenges, and a clear focus on prioritizing player health, is a hardy show of resilience for any players facing similar challenges.

Snapshots: Barkey, Samberg, Schaefer

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The Philadelphia Flyers have leaned fully into the rebuild since Daniel Briere was hired as general manager in 2023. They’ve moved out multiple veterans in exchange for draft capital – and built out one of the league’s strongest prospect pools as a result. It’s a group full of blue chips, including star OHL scorer Denver Barkey, who told Jordan Hall of NBC Sports Philadelphia that he’s ready for the challenge of his first pro season, and another attempt to make the NHL roster.

Barkey scored an impressive 102 points in 60 total games this season, good for second among London Knights’ forwards behind Easton Cowan (108). It was an impressive season, capped off by a Memorial Cup win, but Barkey told Hall that he knows pushing into pros will be a tough feat for a 5-foot-9 winger. He received plenty of praise from the Flyers development team, including team consultant Patrick Sharp, despite that.

Another hot hand will raise interesting questions about the Flyers’ deployment next season. Barkey will join players like Alex Bump, Jett Luchanko, and Oliver Bonk in pushing to make the roster. Philadelphia ranked as the third-youngest lineup in the league last season, but could be swayed to lean even further into the youth movement with a couple of strong training camp performances.

Other notes from around the league:

  • More has been revealed about Dylan Samberg’s three-year extension with the Winnipeg Jets. Most notably, the deal will carry a modified no trade clause in its final two years, per PuckPedia. That’s a nice bit of security for Samberg, from a team known for hanging onto their hard-working defenders. Samberg has spent the last four years in Winnipeg. But that’s a junior tenure compared to Neal Pionk and Dylan DeMelo, who have been in Winnipeg for six years, and Josh Morrissey, a Jet for all 10 years of his career. Samberg earned a strong role as a shutdown defender last season, and finished the year with a team-leading plus-34. He’ll look to continue digging his feet into the defensive end with a few more years in Winnipeg.
  • New York Islanders first-overall pick Matthew Schaefer played his first competitive game of the calendar year today – stepping up as Team Canada’s top left-defender in their bout against Team Finland at the World Junior Summer Showcase. Canada lost the matchup by a score of 6-3, with Schaefer recording no scoring. He also played in a split-team scrimmage between Canada Red and White yesterday, with no scoring. Despite that, his show of smooth and confident hockey are a welcome sign of recovery after he sustained a broken collarbone in December’s World Junior Championships. Schaefer scored 22 points in 17 OHL games prior to his injury, and hasn’t yet declared his intentions for next season.

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