Week In Review

While activity across the NHL has certainly slowed down compared to a few weeks ago, there was still some notable news around the league over the past seven days which is recapped in our key stories.

Four For Colton: Avalanche forward Ross Colton currently has just under $3MM in career earnings, per CapFriendly.  That will be going up in a hurry as the two sides agreed to a four-year contract to avoid salary arbitration with the deal carrying a cap hit of $4MM per season.  The 26-year-old was acquired from Tampa Bay before the draft for a second-round pick that was part of the package they picked up when they moved Alex Newhook to Montreal.  Colton saw his numbers dip slightly last season but he still managed 16 goals and 16 assists in 81 games during the regular season despite averaging just over 12 minutes a night while recording 188 hits and winning over 56% of his faceoffs.  Colorado has shaken up their bottom six group with Colton being the centerpiece acquisition on that front and he should get a bigger opportunity to produce than he did with the Lightning.

Hakstol Extended: Last season was a successful one for the Kraken as they locked down their first-ever playoff berth in their sophomore year.  On top of that, they knocked out the defending Cup champs in the first round before falling to Dallas in seven in a hard-fought second round.  That performance certainly reflected well on head coach Dave Hakstol who was rewarded for his efforts with a two-year contract extension that gets him under contract through the 2025-26 campaign; financial terms were not disclosed.  Hakstol will be entering his seventh year as an NHL head coach next season (he also spent four years in Philadelphia) and is now one of ten coaches known to be signed through 2026.

Four For Dunn: The biggest settlement of the arbitration process thus far was done by Seattle and defenseman Vince Dunn.  The two sides worked out a four-year, $29.4MM front-loaded contract, buying out his final year of arbitration eligibility while giving the Kraken three extra years of club control.  The deal, which makes Dunn their highest-paid player, also carries some form of trade protection in the final three seasons.  The 26-year-old had a breakout showing last season, notching 14 goals and 50 assists in 81 games while logging nearly 24 minutes a night.  That performance put him tenth in the NHL in scoring by a blueliner while helping him finish 11th in Norris Trophy voting.

Arbitration Awards: While most players that filed for arbitration so far have settled, two made it to a hearing.  First, Blackhawks forward Philipp Kurashev was awarded a two-year, $4.5MM contract with Chicago electing for a two-year award instead of the one-year agreement Kurashev requested.  The 23-year-old set new benchmarks last season, notching nine goals along with 16 assists and should have a chance to improve on those numbers in 2023-24.

Meanwhile, Maple Leafs goaltender Ilya Samsonov received a one-year, $3.55MM award, nearly doubling his salary from 2022-23.  The 26-year-old had by far his best NHL season, posting a 2.33 GAA with a .919 SV% in 42 games but was only eligible for a one-year award since it was his final season of UFA eligibility.  Toronto now has nearly $96MM in commitments on the books per CapFriendly against an $83.5MM salary and will be deep into LTIR with Jake Muzzin for next season while some have suggested that buyout candidate Matt Murray could also land on there.  Even with those two on there, some roster trimming would still need to occur.

More Settlements: There were two other contracts of some note that were done to avoid salary arbitration.  The Golden Knights settled with forward Brett Howden on a two-year, $3.8MM contract after the 25-year-old took a step back offensively last season, recording just six goals and seven assists in 54 regular season games.  Notably, the deal will walk Howden straight to UFA eligibility in 2025.  Winnipeg also got in on the settlement fun, reaching a two-year, $6.875MM agreement with forward Gabriel Vilardi.  Arguably the centerpiece of the Pierre-Luc Dubois trade, the 23-year-old had his best showing in 2022-23, collecting 23 goals and 18 assists in 63 games with the Kings last season.  Vilardi will still have one more RFA year remaining in 2025.

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With the NHL electing to cram as much offseason activity as possible into a few short days, it was quite a busy week around the NHL.  We’ll recap the biggest stories here which are much too plentiful to summarize in just five headlines.

Draft Night: It was a draft that was supposed to feature plenty of intrigue, especially on the trade front.  Instead, not a single swap materialized.  However, there was a surprise at the beginning of the draft.  While Chicago picked Connor Bedard first as expected, Anaheim opted to not go with the consensus second choice, instead selecting Leo Carlsson.  That freed up Columbus to grab that consensus second choice, Hobey Baker Award winner Adam Fantilli.  The full results of the draft can be found here.

Chicago Adds Veterans: Following the addition of Bedard, the Blackhawks decided that they needed to bring in some quality veterans to help take some pressure off him (and also to get to the cap floor).  They did that by acquiring Taylor Hall and Nick Foligno from Boston in exchange for defensemen Alec Regula and Ian Mitchell.  Hall has two years left on his deal with a $6MM AAV and will give Bedard a legitimate top-six winger to play with.  Foligno, meanwhile, was a pending unrestricted free agent but quickly inked a one-year, $4MM deal to stick around; Chicago handed that same agreement to Corey Perry days later.  Boston, meanwhile, used that freed-up cap space to sign several players to short-term contracts early in free agency.

Busy Buyout Market: The buyout market started with a splash when Vancouver bought out Oliver Ekman-Larsson.  It ended with one too as Winnipeg was unable to find a taker for Blake Wheeler, instead buying out the final year and $8.5MM on his contract, taking on $2.75MM in dead cap charges for the next two years.  That wasn’t the priciest one of the week either as Nashville somewhat surprisingly bought out the final three years and $24MM of Matt Duchene’s contract, taking on more than $19MM in dead cap charges spread out over the next six seasons.  Detroit (Kailer Yamamoto) and Boston (Mike Reilly) also executed buyouts on the final day.

Dubois Traded: After many months of speculation, Pierre-Luc Dubois is on the move.  However, it wasn’t to Montreal where it was believed his preference would be to play.  Instead, he was dealt to Los Angeles in exchange for Gabriel Vilardi, Alex Iafallo, Rasmus Kupari, and a 2024 second-round pick; as part of the trade agreement, Dubois signed an eight-year, $68MM contract.  Dubois will team up with Anze Kopitar and Phillip Danault to form one of the deepest center groups in the NHL while serving as Kopitar’s eventual replacement when the captain calls it a career.  As for Winnipeg, they get a pair of top-six forwards headlined by the 23-year-old Vilardi who put up 41 points in 63 games last season.  They’re looking to stay in the playoff mix and while they don’t have a top-end talent in Dubois anymore, their forward group is certainly deeper now.

Eight For Meier: The Devils were in a situation where they skirted the $10MM qualifying offer owed to Timo Meier by filing for club arbitration but it put some pressure on them to get a long-term deal done before the hearings came around.  They did just that, signing the winger to an eight-year deal that carries an $8.8MM AAV, making him the highest-paid forward on the team.  Meier reached the 40-goal mark for the first time in his career last season with New Jersey making a big move to acquire him at the deadline.  They have found a way to fit in max-term deals for both Meier and Jesper Bratt now while they also quietly picked up Tyler Toffoli from Calgary to give them more firepower for next season.

Free Agent Frenzy: Buoyed by the addition of more than 100 players to the open market after a busy non-tender deadline, July 1st represented a very busy day on the NHL calendar with more than $650MM in contract commitments to 166 players.  The biggest signings by position in terms of AAV were the Hurricanes picking up Dmitry Orlov on a two-year deal with a $7.75MM price tag, a sizable overpayment in money to get a short-term agreement that better fits their pay structure.  Up front, Alex Killorn wasn’t able to work a deal out with Tampa Bay, instead landing a four-year pact worth $6.25MM per season with Anaheim, a surprise day-one spender.  Meanwhile, in goal, the biggest contract given to a UFA was Pittsburgh re-signing Tristan Jarry to a five-year agreement that carries a $5.375MM AAV, one of three contracts handed to goalies that saw NHL action last season.

Islander Spending Spree: The biggest contract of the first day of the new league year came from the Islanders who handed goaltender Ilya Sorokin an eight-year, $66MM extension that will begin in the 2024-25 season.  The 27-year-old has been nothing short of stellar since coming to the NHL in 2020-21, posting a 2.34 GAA with a .924 SV% and 16 shutouts in his first three seasons.  His deal ensures that the Islanders will have top-level goaltending for the long haul.  They also brought back veteran Semyon Varlamov on a four-year, $11MM agreement to serve as Sorokin’s backup.  The 35-year-old was one of the better options on the open market although few expected him to get four years.  Few also expected GM Lou Lamoriello to hand out a pair of seven-year contracts to keep Pierre Engvall ($3MM AAV) and Scott Mayfield ($3.5MM AAV) in the fold.  Both players are quality role pieces but it’s fair to say there’s some sticker shock on the length of those contracts.  All told, nearly 19% of the $650MM in commitments from Saturday came from the Isles.

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With the draft and free agency almost upon us, activity around the league has started to pick up with an expectation of plenty more to come, including resolutions to trades that are reportedly in the works.  Here’s a rundown of the top stories from the past seven days.

Middlemen Off The Market: This isn’t the greatest free agent crop for centers and the crop got considerably thinner over the past week with four players coming off the market.  First, Montreal re-signed Sean Monahan to a one-year contract that’s worth $2MM if he meets his games played bonus, giving the veteran a chance to prove he has recovered from his injuries this past season.  Then it was Buffalo’s turn as they inked long-time Sabre Zemgus Girgensons to a one-year, $2.5MM deal to keep him as a fixture in their bottom six.  Erik Haula made it known that he wanted to remain with New Jersey and he got his wish, signing a three-year contract that carries a $3.15MM AAV.  Then, following reports that contract talks were stalling out, Carolina and Jordan Staal were able to reach a new four-year contract, one that carries an AAV of $2.9MM and has a full no-move clause for the first three seasons.

Coyotes Make Moves: In recent years, the Coyotes have willingly taken on unwanted contracts in exchange for future assets with those players either staying on the roster or landing on injured reserve.  Now, the team is changing course as they’ve parted ways with a pair of those unwanted deals, buying out defenseman Patrik Nemeth and winger Zack Kassian.  The moves result in $1.833MM in dead cap for next season and $1.983MM in 2024-25.  Then, Arizona opted to trade away one of their surplus selections, sending Montreal’s 2024 second-round pick to Los Angeles to acquire defenseman Sean Durzi.  The 24-year-old had 38 points in his sophomore year for the Kings and could be part of the back end for the Coyotes for several years.  After that, they re-upped goaltender Connor Ingram to a new three-year deal with a cap hit of $1.95MM.  In 17 appearances in 2023, the 26-year-old put up a .922 SV% and if he can stay even close to that level, it could wind up being a club-friendly deal.

Johansen To Colorado: The Avalanche decided to get a head start on their center shopping as they acquired Ryan Johansen from Nashville in exchange for the rights to pending UFA forward Alex Galchenyuk.  As part of the move, the Predators are retaining half of Johansen’s $8MM for the final two seasons of his contract.  The 30-year-old is coming off a down season that saw him put up just 28 points in 55 games before missing the last couple of months after undergoing emergency leg surgery.  However, he’s just a year removed from a 63-point campaign so Colorado is hoping that a change of scenery could give him a spark.  In a move that basically amounts to acquiring him for future considerations, it’s certainly a worthwhile chance to take for them while Nashville settles for simply clearing half of his contract off their books.

Hall Of Famers: Away from the rink, the next group of Hockey Hall of Famers was announced.  A total of seven people will enter the Hall next season, including builders Ken Hitchcock and Pierre Lacroix (posthumously), goaltenders Mike Vernon, Tom Barrasso, and Henrik Lundqvist, plus forwards Pierre Turgeon and Caroline Ouellette.  Of the seven inductees, only Lundqvist was named in his first year of eligibility.  Meanwhile, it’s the second Hall of Fame honor of the year for Ouellette who was also named to the IIHF Hall of Fame earlier this year.

Departures In Calgary? Last week, there was a belief that defenseman Noah Hanifin would be on the way out in Calgary.  He might not be the only one.  First, reports emerged that center Elias Lindholm hasn’t accepted a long-term extension offer from the Flames while fellow middleman Mikael Backlund may also be leaning toward leaving the team.  Then, another report suggested that Tyler Toffoli isn’t likely to re-sign either.  All four players are eligible for unrestricted free agency next summer but if they’re not willing to stick around, GM Craig Conroy could be busy in the coming days and weeks by sending those players to teams that they might be willing to ink new deals with.

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The curtain has closed on the 2022-23 season with Vegas taking home its first Stanley Cup, beating Florida in five games.  (The Panthers, as it turns out, had several key injuries to contend with, some of which will carry over into next season.)  Away from the rink, there was plenty of notable news, recapped in our key stories.

Coaching Hires: The final two vacancies behind the bench have been filled.  After going internal for their GM hire, Calgary did the same for the head coaching position, promoting assistant Ryan Huska to the top job, replacing Darryl Sutter.  Huska is no stranger to the organization having been an assistant with them for five years after serving as their AHL head coach for the four previous years.  This will be his first head coaching position in the NHL.  The same can’t be said for the new coach of the Rangers with them hiring veteran Peter Laviolette as their new bench boss, taking over from Gerard Gallant.  The 58-year-old spent the last three seasons with Washington before parting ways back in April.  This will be his 22nd season behind the bench and he will crack the top ten for games coached in NHL history sometime in November.

Max-Term Deal For Bratt: After inking a pair of short-term deals after his entry-level contract expired, the Devils and winger Jesper Bratt put pen to paper on an eight-year, $63MM contract.  The 24-year-old followed up his breakout 73-point campaign in 2021-22 with another 73-point effort this past season including a career-best 32 goals, solidifying himself as a key cog on New Jersey’s top line in the process.  With one key RFA locked up, GM Tom Fitzgerald can turn his focus to his other one, winger Timo Meier.  The team chose to file for club-elected salary arbitration, giving them a chance to submit an offer that’s $1.5MM below what would have been his $10MM qualifier.  That will give both sides about six weeks to try to work out a long-term agreement before the hearings end in early August.

First Buyout Done: The buyout window opened up on Friday and Vancouver wasted little time making the first move, buying out the final four seasons of Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s contract.  The move frees up more than $7MM in cap room for the Canucks this season but does put more than $20MM in dead cap on their books over the next eight years.  That’s hardly the outcome then-GM Jim Benning was hoping for when he acquired the 31-year-old at the draft two years ago, moving the ninth-overall pick as part of the package.  Meanwhile, as Arizona retained salary in the trade, they too have a dead cap charge over the next eight years totaling $2.8MM.  Notably, one of their three retained salary slots will be encumbered for that entire stretch, running through the 2030-31 campaign.  Ekman-Larsson becomes an unrestricted free agent but will not be able to sign with his new team until July 1st.

Senators Sold: After a very long and drawn-out process, the Senators will have a new owner as it was announced that Michael Andlauer was the successful bidder for the team with an offer of $950MM.  The purchase is subject to the approval of the Board of Governors but that shouldn’t be an issue, especially with Andlauer being familiar to them as an alternate governor with Montreal.  Andlauer will need to sell his minority stake in the Canadiens before the sale can be finalized.  He won’t officially take over the franchise until these things occur so it’s unlikely he’ll be able to have any sort of impact regarding off-ice (or on-ice) personnel for a little while yet.

Speaking of on-ice personnel, the Senators also filed for club-elected arbitration on pending RFA Alex DeBrincat, allowing them to offer as low as 85% of his $9MM qualifying offer.  However, unlike Meier, there’s a belief that DeBrincat would like to be moved and this filing won’t prevent that process from playing out.

Leaving Calgary? Flames defenseman Noah Hanifin is entering the final year of a six-year, $29.7MM contract that has been quite a bargain for Calgary.  However, it appears that he’ll be following in the footsteps of former teammate Matthew Tkachuk as he has reportedly told the team that he does not want to sign a new deal with them.  As a result, it’s expected that he’ll be traded.  The 26-year-old has found his offensive touch the last two years, picking up 86 points in 182 games while logging nearly 22 minutes a night.  He’ll be 27 when his new contract begins which means, wherever he goes, he’ll be in line for a max-term extension that’s worth at least a couple million more than his current $4.95MM AAV.

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In some years, teams wait until the end of the Stanley Cup Final before announcing big news.  This is clearly not one of those years as there were several key moves made around the NHL which is recapped in our key stories.

Three-Way Trade: The first big trade of the 2023 offseason is in the books in a three-team swap involving the Flyers, Kings, and Blue Jackets.  Needing to clear salary, Los Angeles moved goaltender Calvin Petersen and defenseman Sean Walker to Philadelphia, sending them a 2024 second-round pick and defensive prospect Helge Grans as an incentive for them to do so.  Meanwhile, Ivan Provorov is on his way to Columbus in exchange for a first-round pick and a second-rounder with the Kings retaining $2.025MM of Provorov’s contract for the next two years.  Los Angeles also picked up a pair of AHLers in the swap, Hayden Hodgson and Kevin Connauton.

For Columbus, they added a top-four blueliner that started off his career strong but has plateaued as of late.  Defense was an issue for the Blue Jackets last season and they feel his addition will go a long way toward fixing that under eventual head coach Mike Babcock.  Philadelphia, meanwhile, adds three good draft picks to aid in their rebuild plus an intriguing prospect in Grans while they’ll hope to rebuild Petersen’s value.  As for Los Angeles, the purpose of the trade was to free up cap space and they spent it quickly, re-signing defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov to a two-year deal that carries a $5.875MM AAV and a full no-move clause.  Gavrikov became a key cog in their back end after coming over from Columbus at the trade deadline – for the first-round pick that was flipped for Provorov, no less – but his preference was a short-term contract to allow him to test the market a couple of years from now in a more favorable cap environment.

Severson To Columbus: The Blue Jackets weren’t done adding to their back end with Provorov’s addition.  After receiving permission from the Devils to negotiate with pending UFA Damon Severson, a contract was agreed upon.  New Jersey inked the blueliner to an eight-year, $50MM contract and then traded him to Columbus for a third-round pick.  The move was done as a true sign-and-trade, just the second of those in history (the other being the Matthew Tkachuk trade last summer).  Severson saw his offensive numbers dip a bit this season but he still managed 33 points in 81 games despite a near-four-minute drop in playing time.  He’ll give Columbus another capable offensive player on the back end, joining Provorov, Zach Werenski, and Adam Boqvist as defensemen that are capable of putting up some offense.

Eight For Caufield: One of the top restricted free agents was taken off the board as the Canadiens signed winger Cole Caufield to an eight-year contract that carries an AAV of $7.85MM and has partial no-trade protection in the final three years, the only ones he was eligible to receive that protection.  The deal is the second-highest given to a forward in franchise history and checks in just $200K total behind captain Nick Suzuki.  Caufield got off to a strong start offensively this season with 26 goals in 46 games before undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery.  The 22-year-old has just 123 regular season games under his belt so it’s a contract that certainly carries some risk.  However, if Caufield is able to become a consistent 40-goal scorer, the deal could become a team-friendly one down the road as well.

Ducks Hire Cronin: The Ducks have found their new head coach as the team announced the hiring of Greg Cronin.  The 60-year-old has plenty of experience behind the bench and got his start in the NHL back in the 1998-99 season with the Islanders.  Cronin also has lots of experience working with younger players, highlighted by six seasons as the head coach at Northeastern while spending the last five in charge of Colorado’s AHL team.  This will, however, be his first crack at running an NHL bench.  Anaheim is a team that is embarking on a full-scale rebuild and is a team that will be integrating several prospects into an already young core group.  Accordingly, going with a coach that is well-versed in working with younger players makes a lot of sense for GM Pat Verbeek.

Trouble In Winnipeg: Jets center Pierre-Luc Dubois has one year of RFA eligibility remaining but he has made it known that he doesn’t want to spend it in Winnipeg as he has requested a trade.  His desire to not sign with the team long-term is well-known but it seemed possible that he’d wind up on another one-year contract and at least start 2023-24 in Winnipeg but his camp has made it clear that doing so is not a desirable outcome.  Accordingly, with the draft less than three weeks away, expect his name to come up frequently in trade speculation.

Meanwhile, he won’t be the only one in that situation following a report that goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, a year away from being UFA-eligible himself, also appears to be unwilling to sign an extension.  The veteran has been one of the top goalies in the league for the past several years and would undoubtedly command strong interest on the trade front should Winnipeg decide to make him available now.  Hellebuyck is signed for next season at a $6.167MM AAV.

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As expected, the turn of the calendar has resulted in an uptick of activity around the NHL, the bulk of it coming away from the ice, including an early extension for Seattle GM Ron Francis and surgery for pending UFA Patrick Kane.  We recap the most notable news in our key stories.

Treliving To Toronto: After parting ways with Kyle Dubas a couple of weeks ago, the Maple Leafs have found their new GM, hiring Brad Treliving for the role.  The 53-year-old had been in the same role with Calgary for the last nine seasons before stepping aside at the end of the regular season.  Treliving is no stranger to roster shakeups after making several changes of note for the Flames last year and will be tasked with determining if a core move needs to be made plus the future of head coach Sheldon Keefe.  While Treliving is in charge now, it’s worth noting that he will not be permitted to be at the draft table later this month, a stipulation they agreed to before receiving permission to interview Treliving, whose deal with Calgary ran until the end of June.

Dubas To Pittsburgh: It didn’t take long for Dubas to find his next team as he has joined Pittsburgh as their President Of Hockey Operations.  The term of the deal wasn’t officially released but Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (video link) that it’s a seven-year agreement.  Dubas had been GM in Toronto for the past five seasons, building a team that has been quite strong during the regular season but has struggled in the playoffs with just a single series victory.  He’ll be asked to try to get the Penguins’ core back in the playoff picture after the team came up just short this season, resulting in the departures of Ron Hextall and Brian Burke.  Dubas will hold GM duties as well for the time being but is expected to hire one later this summer.

Changes In Nashville: After a long review and search of the coaching options available, incoming Predators GM Barry Trotz opted to make a change behind the bench, firing John Hynes while hiring Andrew Brunette as their next head coach.  Hynes spent a little over three seasons with the Preds, compiling a 134-95-18 record during the regular season but the team won just three of 14 playoff contests.  The 48-year-old has just over 600 games under his belt including his time in New Jersey and if he doesn’t land a job this summer, his name will likely come up in midseason openings.  As for Brunette, this will be his second time running an NHL bench after he coached Florida for the bulk of the 2021-22 campaign.  Brunette was passed over for the full-time spot with the Panthers that summer, sending him to New Jersey as an associate coach.  Trotz indicated that he’s hoping that Brunette can bring more of an offensive focus to the team, a stark contrast to his own philosophies when he was behind the bench.

More Coaching Moves: The Capitals were actually the first team to bring in their new bench boss, bringing in Spencer Carbery on a four-year contract.  It’s the second stint with Washington for the 41-year-old who was the head coach for their AHL affiliate in Hershey for three years before leaving to serve as an assistant with Toronto for the last two seasons.  He is the fourth first-time hire out of Washington’s last six head coaches.  Meanwhile, the Blue Jackets appear to have their next coach as veteran Mike Babcock is set to return behind an NHL bench for the first time since 2019-20.  The 60-year-old has a 700-418-183 record over parts of 17 seasons and will be tasked with turning around a Columbus franchise that improved on paper last summer but dropped to the bottom of the Eastern Conference.  The hire is expected to be made official next month once his contract with Toronto expires.

Gibson Hoping For A Trade: The goaltending market this summer just got a bit more interesting following a report that Ducks netminder John Gibson indicated to the team last month that he’d like a change of scenery.  The 29-year-old was one of the top goalies in the league a few years ago but as Anaheim has struggled, so has he as he posted a 3.99 GAA with a .899 SV% this season while leading the league in goals allowed and losses.  However, on a more competitive win-now franchise, there’s reason to hope that he could turn things around.  Gibson has four years left on his contract at a $6.4MM cap charge so the Ducks may have to retain salary or take a contract back to help facilitate a move.

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As May comes closer to an end, off-ice activity should start to pick up around the league in the coming days.  While it was a relatively quiet week, there was still some news of note which is highlighted in our key stories.

Two For Benn: Facing elimination after losing the first three games of the Western Conference Final, the Stars found themselves without captain Jamie Benn as he received a two-game suspension from the Department of Player Safety.  The ban came as a result of a cross-check on Vegas winger Mark Stone early in the third game of the series, earning him a five-minute major and a game misconduct at the time.  Dallas was able to rebound without their captain, winning two elimination games to stay alive in the series.  Benn will be eligible to return for another must-win game contest on Monday.

Conroy Promoted: Throughout Calgary’s search for a new general manager, long-time assistant Craig Conroy was viewed as the speculative favorite.  In the end, the former Flame was promoted to the job, becoming the eighth GM in franchise history.  Following a season that saw the team just come up short of a playoff spot, Conroy will be tasked with changing up the core while needing to free up cap space in the process.  Additionally, he needs to find a new head coach following the dismissal of Darryl Sutter while Don Maloney was serving as interim GM.  It’s quite possible that the hire will be an internal promotion as well with assistants Kirk Muller and Ryan Huska plus two-time AHL Coach of the Year winner Mitch Love all in the organization already.

Staying With The Sabres: Kyle Okposo took some time to determine his plan for his playing future and it involved staying with Buffalo as the captain signed a one-year extension, avoiding unrestricted free agency this summer.  He’ll be taking a sizable pay cut to do so, going from a $6MM AAV on his last deal to a $2.5MM salary plus a potential $500K bonus if the Sabres win the Stanley Cup.  The 35-year-old saw his production dip this season, going from 45 points to 28 while seeing his playing time shaved by more than two minutes a night as some of Buffalo’s younger players have grabbed a hold of a regular spot in the lineup.  However, he can still fill a spot in their bottom six while players and management have lauded his off-ice contributions, ones that will continue now for another year.

Flyers Open To Changing Goalies: In an interview over the weekend, Flyers GM Daniel Briere indicated that while he believes Carter Hart is their goalie of the future, he isn’t in a position to turn down anything and would listen to offers for the 24-year-old.  Hart made an immediate impact when he debuted in 2018-19 but hasn’t been able to duplicate his level of performance in his first two seasons in the following three campaigns.  Hart is signed for one more season at a $3.979MM cap hit and is eligible to sign a contract extension as early as July 1st.  He’s under team control through restricted free agency through the 2024-25 season.

Kravtsov Back To Russia: It wasn’t that long ago that winger Vitali Kravtsov was viewed as a piece of the future for the Rangers.  After a tough showing with New York this season, he was moved to Vancouver as part of the series of moves needed to afford Patrick Kane.  Things didn’t go much better there and rather than battle for a roster spot with the Canucks next season, the 23-year-old has decided to go home once again, inking a two-year deal with Traktor Chelyabinsk of the KHL.  Kravtsov had just four goals and four assists in 48 games this season between the two teams, not the type of numbers expected from the 2018 ninth-overall selection.  Kravtsov is under team control through 2027 so Vancouver is still likely to issue him a qualifying offer this summer to retain his NHL rights.

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It was an eventful week on the ice in the NHL including one of the longest games in league history and it was even more eventful away from the rink.  We recap that news in our key stories.

Four Bidders For Senators: While there were seven strong expressions of interest in the Senators, in the end, only four of those groups issued a binding bid for the team.  Canadiens minority owner Michael Andlauer heads up one of them, another is a bid from the Kimel brothers (Jeffrey and Michael) who also used to be a minority owner of the Penguins.  The other two bids are from Steve Apostolopoulos, who was a contender in the bidding for the NFL’s Washington Commanders (he lost to Devils owner Josh Harris) and a coalition group led by producer Neko Sparks.  The bids will now be reviewed by Galatioto Sports Partners which is handling the sale of the team with there likely to be some behind-the-scenes negotiating to try to drive the purchase price up more; Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports (Twitter link) that those discussions are currently ongoing.

Holland To Stick Around: Soon after there was speculation that Edmonton might be proactive in terms of trying to keep teams from talking to Steve Staios, a special assistant to GM Ken Holland, Holland confirmed that he wouldn’t be stepping aside as GM of the Oilers next season.  The 67-year-old has one more year remaining on his contract but indicated he’s not sure how much longer he’d like to stay in the top role, citing that he has some unfinished business.  That business might be trying to get Edmonton to the Stanley Cup after the team fell in the second round to Vegas, one year after being swept in the Western Conference Final by Colorado.  (Meanwhile, it appears their long-time rival will be announcing their new GM soon.)

Dubas Out: The Maple Leafs are shaking up their front office as it was announced that the team will not be renewing the contract of GM Kyle Dubas.  The 37-year-old was in the top job for the last five seasons with the team enjoying plenty of regular season success but only one playoff series victory to show for it.  Team president Brendan Shanahan admitted that there had been discussions about a contract extension for Dubas this past week but on Monday, Dubas acknowledged that he was unsure about staying on.  While he confirmed to Shanahan on Thursday that he was ready to continue on with his agent submitting a counter-offer in discussions, Shanahan instead decided to move on.  With Auston Matthews and William Nylander eligible for extensions in July, whoever takes over for Dubas will have two key files to work on quickly.

Back To The Drawing Board: It looked like the Coyotes had found their eventual new home in Tempe that was going to open up in a few years.  However, the public referendum saw voters vote no to all three propositions, tanking that idea and sending the team back to the drawing board.  They’ve since reached out to the City of Mesa to discuss the feasibility on building on the site of a mall that will soon be demolished.  In the meantime, the team confirmed it will remain at Mullett Arena for the 2023-24 season but that won’t do much to quell relocation speculation, especially if they aren’t able to generate much momentum on this site in Mesa in the coming months.

Staying In School: The Coyotes will have to wait a little longer to get their top prospect under contract as Logan Cooley revealed that he will return to the University of Minnesota for his sophomore year.  The 19-year-old was the third-overall pick last year and had a dominant freshman year, finishing second in NCAA scoring with 22 goals and 38 assists in 39 games.  Without much left to prove at that level, the logical expectation was that he’d turn pro now but speaking with reporters including Randy Johnson of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, he indicated that he wanted to take another crack at a title while admitting that Arizona’s uncertain arena situation played into his decision.  Having said that, Cooley could still turn pro late in the 2023-24 campaign and get into a handful of games with the Coyotes down the stretch.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.