Week In Review

The calendar has flipped to June with just two teams now having a shot at the Stanley Cup.  One of those saw a key player get injured this week which is one of the highlights in our key stories.

Islanders Re-Sign Two: Before the Islanders moved on from Lou Lamoriello as GM, he was working on signing a pair of players to extensions before their contracts were set to expire in July.  Those deals have now been finalized under new GM Mathieu Darche.  The team re-signed winger Kyle Palmieri to a two-year, $9.5MM deal and blueliner Adam Boqvist to a two-year, $1.7MM pact.  Palmieri has stayed healthy the last two seasons, chipping in with 54 goals along the way but still wound up taking a small cut in pay from the $5MM per year he had on his last deal.  As for Boqvist, he fit in well after being claimed off waivers from Florida.  Just 24, he would have been arbitration-eligible as a restricted free agent but a lock to be non-tendered with more than 240 NHL games under his belt so the two sides had to get something done in advance.

Going Under The Knife: While the Oilers are moving on to their second straight Stanley Cup Final, one key winger won’t be as Zach Hyman is out for the final round after undergoing wrist surgery.  After a breakout 54-goal effort last season, he managed just half of that total this year in 73 games but had a solid 11 points in 15 playoff outings as a key secondary scorer.  Meanwhile, the Jets won’t have their captain available to them when the 2025-26 season gets underway in October after Adam Lowry underwent hip surgery which carries a recovery period of five to six months.  Lowry had a career-high 16 goals this season before chipping in with four more in the first two rounds of the playoffs despite the injury.

New Coach In Seattle: After a long coaching search, the Kraken have found their new head coach, naming Lane Lambert to the position.  He will take the place of Dan Bylsma who only lasted one season in the role with a disappointing 76-point effort that saw them finish seventh in the Pacific Division.  This will be Lambert’s second stint running an NHL bench after coaching the Islanders for 127 games before being replaced by Patrick Roy in 2024 but he is highly experienced, working at the top level since 2011 in either an assistant or associate coaching role.  This season, he held the latter title with Toronto.  Lambert is the third coach in Seattle’s young franchise history after Dave Hakstol was in charge for the first three years.

Bridge For Foerster: The Flyers have mostly gone with bridge deals in recent years, the opposite of the general league-wide trend of signing young players to long-term pacts quickly.  They continued their strategy with their latest contract, a two-year, $7.5MM deal given to winger Tyson Foerster.  The 23-year-old has been a regular in Philadelphia for the last two seasons and had a solid sophomore year, scoring 25 goals along with 18 assists in 81 games while logging nearly 17 minutes a night of ice time.  His 43 points were good for a tie for fifth in team scoring.  While it’s clear that Foerster is viewed as a long-term puzzle piece in Philadelphia, he’ll have to wait a couple more years now before having a shot at a long-term contract.

Sabres Hire Kekalainen: It has been well known that the Sabres were looking to add some experience to their front office.  They’ve done just that after announcing the hiring of Jarmo Kekalainen as a senior advisor.  Kekalainen was the GM in Columbus for more than a decade before being let go a little more than 15 months ago.  He also has an extensive scouting background going back to his time with Ottawa and St. Louis.  The 58-year-old has held some sort of title with an NHL team for almost every year since 1995 and certainly will bring a lot of experience to a front office that doesn’t have a lot of it.

Photo courtesy of Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports.

As the playoffs role on, most teams are onto their offseason to-do lists.  Not surprisingly, the bulk of the key stories from the past seven days come from the contract front beyond the United States picking up their first World Championship gold medal since 1933.

Extension For Sweeney: After executing Boston’s biggest selloff at the trade deadline in quite a while, Don Sweeney will get a chance to build the Bruins back up after he signed a two-year contract extension.  Originally signed through next season, he is now under contract through the 2027-28 campaign.  Sweeney has been at the helm in Boston since 2015 and this is only the second time in his tenure that Boston missed the playoffs.  The Bruins have more than $26MM in flexibility this summer, per PuckPedia, putting Sweeney in a position where he can be more aggressive than usual in terms of adding to his roster in the coming weeks.

Blue Jackets Open To Moving Top Picks: After narrowly missing the playoffs, it appears that the Blue Jackets are willing to make a splash on the trade front.  GM Don Waddell revealed that he is 100% willing to move both of his first-round picks in the right deal.  Columbus holds the 14th selection (their own) and the 20th pick (previously acquired from Minnesota).  That gives them some ammunition to try to move up closer to the top ten or perhaps to try to acquire a player who fits within the age of their core group that still has some club control remaining.  If they don’t find a trade fit, one of the NHL’s deeper prospect pools will get a lot stronger.

Blashill To Blackhawks: One of the head coaching vacancies has been filled with the Blackhawks hiring Tampa Bay assistant Jeff Blashill as their next bench boss.  He takes over for Anders Sorensen who finished the season in an interim role although it’s expected he’ll remain on the staff as an assistant moving forward alongside Michael Peca who comes over from the Rangers.  This is Blashill’s second stint as an NHL head coach after spending seven seasons in that role with Detroit.  The Red Wings were at the end of their long playoff run at the time and Blashill’s teams only made the postseason once while playing to a 204-261-72 record overall.  With Chicago looking to take a step or two forward toward becoming more competitive, Blashill should be able to do just that over the next few years.

Sabres Gauging Byram’s Market: Sabres blueliner Bowen Byram has been in trade speculation off and on over his brief tenure with Buffalo and it appears that talk is on again following a report that suggests they’re gauging what his trade value might be.  The 23-year-old is coming off a career year offensively that saw him put up 38 points while also playing in all 82 games for the first time.  The timing of that was great for him as he’s a restricted free agent this summer with arbitration eligibility, putting him in line for a significant increase on the $3.85MM per year he made on his bridge deal.  Accordingly, it appears the Sabres are looking to see if a trade might be a better option over making the third high-paid defender behind Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power.

Islanders Hire Darche: The Islanders have found their replacement for Lou Lamoriello as they have named Mathieu Darche as their next general manager and executive vice president of hockey operations.  Darche had been part of Tampa Bay’s front office for the past six years, including spending the last two as an assistant GM.  He’ll now be tasked with reshaping a New York group that has been near the middle in recent years, either just making or missing the playoffs.  They also spoke to Brendan Shanahan about a role in their front office before Toronto officially announced that they won’t be renewing his contract but with Darche getting the dual title, it doesn’t appear that Shanahan will be joining the Isles.

Photo courtesy of Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports.

The regular season has come to an end with half the teams going home and half going on to the playoffs, which are now underway.  As a result, there was plenty of notable news over the past seven days, which is recapped in our key stories.

Hanging Them Up: A pair of veterans are calling it a career.  Sharks captain Logan Couture revealed that he will be ending his playing career after being unable to return from Osteitis Pubis.  He wasn’t able to play this season and was limited to six games in 2023-24 because of the issue.  Couture, who won’t officially retire until his contract expires in 2027, will hang up his skates with 701 points in 933 games, putting him fourth in franchise history in scoring.  Meanwhile, Canadiens blueliner David Savard indicated that he will retire after Montreal’s playoff run.  The 34-year-old was set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer but will instead call it a career following 870 regular season appearances and a 2021 Stanley Cup title.

Jets Extend Two: Following winning the Presidents’ Trophy for the team with the best record in the regular season, the Jets took care of a pair of pending unrestricted free agents.  First, they re-signed winger Alex Iafallo to a three-year, $11MM contract, representing a small cut in pay from the $4MM he made on his current deal.  The 31-year-old had 15 goals and 16 assists in 81 games during the regular season.  Second, they took one of the top pending UFA defensemen off the market, signing Neal Pionk to a six-year, $42MM extension.  The 29-year-old tied his career high in goals this season with 10 while surpassing the 30-point mark for the sixth straight season.  He had 39 points in 69 games while logging over 22 minutes a night, earning himself a raise from the $5.875MM he made since 2021-22.

Laviolette Fired: After winning the Presidents’ Trophy last season, the Rangers were widely expected to be a strong team again this year or at least be in the playoffs once again.  However, things went off the rails early and they never got back on track.  That has resulted in a coaching change as head coach Peter Laviolette was fired along with associate coach Phil Housley.  New York had 29 fewer points in the standings this season, ultimately missing the playoffs by six points.  Laviolette departs the Rangers after just two years behind the bench but he has plenty of head coaching experience as his 1,594 regular season games coached rank ninth in NHL history.

Ducks Also Make A Change: Despite a 21-point improvement from last season, the Ducks are making a coaching change as they’ve dismissed head coach Greg Cronin after just two years with the franchise.  This was Cronin’s first NHL head coaching job after a long career at the college and AHL levels along with time as an assistant with the Islanders and Maple Leafs.  Brought in to work with a young roster, Anaheim struggled mightily last season, recording just 59 points but jumped to 80 this season, good for sixth in the Pacific Division.  But goals were hard to come by with the Ducks ranking 30th each season in that department; GM Pat Verbeek listed improving the offense as a priority in searching for his new bench boss.

Injury Updates: A pair of Central Division rivals received injury updates on their wingers.  In Colorado, Gabriel Landeskog was recalled from his conditioning stint and has been cleared to play in their first-round series against Dallas.  The 32-year-old hasn’t played in an NHL game since June 2022 due to continued knee trouble.  On the other side of the series, the Stars will be without winger Jason Robertson on a week-to-week basis due to a lower-body injury.  That’s a key loss for Dallas with the 25-year-old leading the team in goals with 35 while finishing second in points with 80.  They at least got Tyler Seguin (hip) back from LTIR for the final game of the regular season.  Meanwhile, Pittsburgh blueliner underwent successful surgery to repair a hole in his heart, a procedure that carries a recovery time of four to six weeks.  Letang has missed time due to strokes in the 2013-14 and 2022-23 seasons and the hope is this procedure will help reduce the risk of more moving forward.

Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images.

The playoffs are almost upon us and we’re starting to see an uptick in activity around the hockey world, particularly on the signing front.  Several contracts are highlighted in our key stories.

Playoff Reinforcements? Several teams could be getting a boost to their late-season playoff push or for the postseason.  The Canadiens signed top prospect Ivan Demidov to an entry-level deal beginning this season.  The 19-year-old was the fifth pick back in June and had 49 points in 65 games with SKA St. Petersburg, who released him to accommodate the move.  SKA also released defenseman Alexander Nikishin, permitting him to join Carolina right away on an entry-level pact.  The 23-year-old has been viewed as the top defenseman outside the NHL for a few seasons now; he had his third straight year of at least 46 points this season.  Meanwhile, the Wild will add a top college defender to the mix, inking Zeev Buium to an entry-level deal that starts right away.  Buium, the 12th pick last June, collected 98 points in 83 games at the University of Denver in the last two years.  Lastly, the Avalanche could be getting some playoff help via a different route as captain Gabriel Landeskog has started a conditioning stint with AHL Colorado, getting into two games so far.  The Avs can’t activate him before the end of the season for cap reasons but this is a promising next step in Landeskog’s recovery; he hasn’t played since 2022.

Calling It A Career: A pair of players have announced their retirements but are on opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of their career.  Veteran defenseman Alec Martinez revealed that Saturday was his final NHL game as he won’t suit up in Chicago’s final two contests.  The 37-year-old will hang up his skates with 862 career regular season appearances between Los Angeles, Vegas, and Chicago.  Martinez also won three Stanley Cup titles in 2012, 2014, and 2023.  On the opposite end is now-former Jets prospect Chaz Lucius.  He announced his retirement at the age of 21 following a diagnosis of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome.  Lucius was the 18th overall pick back in 2021 and his career ends with just 54 professional games, all at the AHL level.

Testing The Market: Canucks winger Brock Boeser is no stranger to the rumor mill.  After rejecting an extension offer believed to be worth five years and $40MM earlier in the season, he was in plenty of trade speculation but ultimately stayed at the trade deadline.  However, it doesn’t appear as if the extra time in Vancouver will help get a deal done as the 28-year-old indicated that it’s unlikely that he’ll return to the Canucks next season.  Boeser had a breakout effort last season, notching 40 goals and 33 assists, setting the stage for that extension offer from management.  But he hasn’t produced at a similar level this year, collecting 25 goals and 24 assists, numbers that are closer to his normal year-to-year output.  But even with the down performance this season, Boeser projects to be one of the top unrestricted free agents this summer which will have him well-positioned to benefit from the big jump coming to the salary cap.

Top Prospect Not Signing: For a while now, it was expected that the Lightning would sign prospect winger Isaac Howard knowing that it might have to wait until late in the year when they had the cap space to do so.  However, the two sides are not on the same page regarding Howard’s future so the 2022 first-round pick has decided to return to Michigan State next season.  The 21-year-old had a dominant year for the Spartans, notching 26 goals and 26 assists in 37 games, earning him the Hobey Baker Award as the NCAA’s Player of the Year.  Now, Tampa Bay will have to decide if they want to try to sign him next season when he’ll be months away from being able to test unrestricted free agency or if they’d be better off trading his rights in the coming months.

Hockey World Loses Three: It was a tough week in the hockey world as two long-time NHL fixtures passed away.  First, Greg Millen died at the age of 67.  A 14-year NHL goaltender, Millen played in over 600 games across six different teams before beginning a broadcasting career that spanned more than three decades, spending time with Ottawa, Toronto, and Calgary while being on Hockey Night in Canada for nearly 30 years.  Just two days later, long-time NHL executive Ray Shero passed at the age of 62.  Shero was the former GM of Pittsburgh and New Jersey and had been working for an NHL team for every year but one since 1993.  Shero had been with Minnesota as a senior advisor for the past four seasons.  Lastly, former Toronto GM Gerry McNamara passed away at the age of 90.  He served as the GM for them for eight seasons after spending six previous campaigns with them in a scouting capacity.

Photo courtesy of Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images.

The final full week in March is in the books and it was an eventful one around the NHL with a pair of big events drawing plenty of attention.  Those are among the headlines in our key stories.

Done For The Year: This hasn’t been a great year for Wild blueliner David Jiricek.  Mired in a limited role in Columbus, he was acquired by Minnesota at the end of November and the thought was that he’d be up with the big club after that.  Instead, he wound up being a frequent scratch with the Wild sending him down recently to get some more playing time.  However, those plans are out the window as the 21-year-old suffered a lacerated spleen upon his return, ending his season prematurely.  He finished up the year with just a dozen NHL appearances split between Columbus and Minnesota while he struggled in Iowa, notching just seven assists in 27 games with them.  All in all, a tough finish to a tough season for the prospect.

Back In The Lineup: The Golden Knights welcomed back a key part of their back end when they activated defenseman Shea Theodore off LTIR.  Theodore was expected to be a key player for Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off but his tournament action was short-lived as he suffered an arm injury in the opener, causing him to miss more than a month of games.  Despite missing 15 games this season, Theodore still sits in the top ten for points by a defenseman, tallying seven goals and 44 assists through 58 appearances while logging nearly 22 minutes a night.  Returning now gives him plenty of time to get back into top form heading into the playoffs.

Big Change In Philadelphia: The Flyers were in the midst of their worst stretch of the season, losing 11 of 12 games since early March with some frustration happening behind the scenes as well.  That resulted in GM Daniel Briere electing to make a coaching change, dismissing John Tortorella while elevating associate coach Brad Shaw to the interim head coaching role for the rest of the season.  Tortorella was in his 23rd season running an NHL bench and his third with Philadelphia; he had one year left on his contract.  Teams looking for an experienced head coach this spring may look his way or Tortorella might opt to call it a career.  Meanwhile, this is Shaw’s second time stewarding an NHL team as he previously served as an interim head coach for 40 games with the Islanders back in 2005-06 when he took over for Steve Stirling.

First Contracts For First Rounders: With college seasons coming to an end, several prominent first-round prospects have turned pro, inking deals that start this year, allowing them to play for their respective clubs down the stretch.  The Blues got a deal done with 2022 first-rounder (20th overall) Jimmy Snuggerud, signing him away from the University of Minnesota.  That same school lost three other first-rounders, as Matthew Wood (15th overall in 2023) signed with Nashville and Sam Rinzel (25th overall in 2022) inked a deal with Chicago.  Rinzel wasn’t the only Blackhawks prospect to sign, as they also signed Oliver Moore (19th overall in 2023).  Suffice it to say, the Golden Gophers won’t be anywhere near as strong on paper next season.  All four players have either already made their NHL debuts or will do so in the near future.

Staying In Washington: One of the more prominent pending unrestricted free agents is off the market early after the Capitals signed defenseman Jakob Chychrun to an eight-year, $72MM contract extension.  The $9MM AAV nearly doubles the $4.6MM cap charge he has been playing on since the 2019-20 campaign, one that has become quite a bargain.  The 26-year-old has fit in quite well after being acquired from Ottawa last summer as Chychrun already has new career-highs in goals (18) and points (44) while logging just shy of 21 minutes a night of playing time.  With John Carlson already 35 and likely nearing the finish line on his career, Chychrun appears to be well-positioned to move into the top role when the veteran hangs up his skates.

Photo courtesy of James Carey Lauder-Imagn Images.

The stretch run is now in full swing with the playoffs just a little more than a month away.  Even with the trade deadline in the rearview mirror, there was still some news of note which is recapped in our key stories.

One More Year: Jonathan Quick’s career isn’t coming to an end just yet.  The Rangers are keeping the goaltender around for another year after they signed him to a one-year contract extension.  The deal will carry a cap hit of $1.55MM while it contains an additional $300K in performance incentives tied to starts, games played, save percentage, and wins.  Quick earns a raise for the second straight year as his initial year in New York saw him make $825K before bonuses while his guaranteed salary this season is $1.275MM.  The 39-year-old has a 3.14 GAA with a .896 SV% in 21 appearances in 2024-25, a notable drop-off in his numbers from a year ago.

Bad News For Hamilton: The week-to-week injury that Devils defenseman Dougie Hamilton is dealing with may be better off being termed as month-to-month.  It was revealed that the veteran will miss the remainder of the regular season and at least the first round of the playoffs due to a lower-body injury sustained earlier this month.  That means he’ll miss at least two months with the issue.  The 31-year-old had an injury-riddled campaign last season that saw him play in just 20 games.  This season, Hamilton made it into 63 contests, notching 40 points in a little under 20 minutes a night of playing time.  With Jack Hughes also out for the year, New Jersey’s push for the playoffs will see them have to get in without two of their top-five scorers.

Ekblad Gets 20: Aaron Ekblad’s 2024-25 regular season came to an end much earlier than expected.  However, it wasn’t due to an injury.  Instead, the Panthers blueliner was given a 20-game suspension for testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance.  The length of the suspension is fixed at 20 games for a first offense.  Ekblad released a statement indicating that the positive test stemmed from taking something to help him recover from recent injuries that he didn’t clear with team personnel first.  He will miss the final 18 games of the regular season as well as Florida’s first two playoff appearances.  Ekblad finishes the first part of the campaign with 33 points in 56 games as he gets set to test unrestricted free agency for the first time this summer.

Kovalchuk Calls It A Career: Veteran winger Ilya Kovalchuk has hung up his skates, announcing his retirement at the age of 41.  In his prime, he was an elite winger with Atlanta before signing a long-term contract with New Jersey; the original 17-year agreement was deemed cap circumvention but a revised 15-year pact was approved.  (New Jersey’s final cap charge for salary cap recapture comes off the books after this season.)  But he left that contract after three seasons, going to the KHL for six seasons before a brief NHL return.  All told, Kovalchuk collected 443 goals and 423 assists in 926 NHL games over parts of 13 years along with 352 points in 334 contests in eight KHL campaigns.

Hill’s Sticking Around: The goaltending position in Vegas has been solidified for the long haul as the Golden Knights signed Adin Hill to a six-year, $37.5MM contract extension.  The deal, which carries a $6.25MM cap charge, is a nice raise from his current $4.9MM AAV while it also checks in a little ahead of former teammate Logan Thompson, who signed for $5.85MM per season in Washington on a new deal that starts next season.  Initially acquired as injury insurance back in 2022, Hill has worked his way from being a platoon netminder to a full-fledged starter and has posted a .910 SV% in his three seasons with the Golden Knights.  Hill received a partial no-trade clause as part of the contract, one that kicked in immediately.

Photo courtesy of Imagn Images.

The trade deadline has come and gone and as is always the case, deadline week was a whirlwind across the NHL.  We’ll compile as much of the news as we can into our key stories.

Busy Week For Utah: While Utah wasn’t overly active on the trade front aside from unloading Shea Weber’s contract to Chicago to open up cap space for next season, they were the busiest team in the league on the contract extension front.  They went into the week with five full-time regulars as pending unrestricted free agents and came out of it with just one.  Getting new deals were center Alexander Kerfoot (one year, $3MM), defensemen Ian Cole (one year, $3MM including bonuses) and Olli Maatta (three years, $10.5MM), plus goaltender Karel Vejmelka (five years, $23.75MM).  As a result of their moves, Utah now has over $22MM in cap room for next season, per PuckPedia, with only a few roster spots to fill.  The team also lost goaltender Connor Ingram to another stint in the Player Assistance Program; he will be out indefinitely.

Atlantic Shuffle: The top three teams in the Atlantic Division already have some separation from the pack in the standings and all three made moves to shore up their rosters.  After adding blueliner Seth Jones from Chicago last week, the team moved winger Matthew Tkachuk to LTIR for the rest of the season and used that cap space to add winger Brad Marchand for a second-round pick that could become a first-round selection depending on Florida’s playoff success and Marchand’s usage in those games.  Meanwhile, their cross-state rival in Tampa Bay paid a pair of first-round picks and more to Seattle to pick up winger Oliver Bjorkstrand and center Yanni Gourde, making their forward group a lot deeper in one swap.  Toronto elected to make a pair of moves to keep pace, first sending a first-rounder and winger Nikita Grebenkin to Philadelphia for center Scott Laughton and a pair of later-round selections.  They then dealt a first-round pick and center Fraser Minten to Boston for blueliner Brandon Carlo while flipping rearguard Conor Timmins and center Connor Dewar to Pittsburgh to clear up the salary cap space to make the move.

It wasn’t just the contenders who were making moves.  On top of moving Marchand and Carlo, Boston’s sell-off continued as they swapped centers with Colorado, acquiring Casey Mittelstadt and a second-round pick from the Avs in exchange for Charlie Coyle (other smaller pieces were also in the swap).  Lastly, Buffalo and Ottawa got in on the fun, making a rare in-division swap of core centers.  The Senators picked up Dylan Cozens, defenseman Dennis Gilbert, and a second-round pick for Josh Norris and blueliner Jacob Bernard-Docker.  Both Cozens and Norris are 25 or younger and on long-term contracts with a cap hit starting with a seven.  Ottawa then used the cap space to make a literal last-minute move (agreed to 27 seconds before the deadline) that saw them pick up winger Fabian Zetterlund from San Jose as part of a six-piece swap that saw winger Noah Gregor, center Zack Ostapchuk, and a second-round pick go the other way.

Rantanen Moves Again: After Colorado struck a deal to make a big splash up front when they added Brock Nelson from the Islanders for a first-round pick and prospect Calum Ritchie, the Stars found a way to make an even bigger splash.  After the deal was off-and-on throughout deadline day, Dallas picked up winger Mikko Rantanen from Carolina in exchange for winger Logan Stankoven, two first-round picks, and two third-round selections.  As part of the swap, Rantanen immediately agreed to an eight-year, $96MM contract extension, the richest contract given to a winger in terms of AAV in NHL history.  Rantanen wasn’t able to agree to terms with Colorado on a new deal which saw him flipped to Carolina in late January.  He didn’t seem to be willing to sign with them before the deadline so the Hurricanes made sure they didn’t lose him for nothing while a deep Dallas squad just got even better, landing the top player available.

More Extensions: Rantanen’s extension wasn’t the only big one Dallas gave out.  While they were initially trying to sign center Wyatt Johnston to an eight-year deal, they had to pivot following Rantanen’s acquisition, ultimately settling on a five-year, $42MM agreement.  Meanwhile, many other extensions were agreed on throughout the week.  In terms of rentals signing to be pulled off the trade market, Montreal inked center Jake Evans (four years, $11.4MM) while Buffalo signed wingers Jordan Greenway (two years, $8MM) and Jason Zucker (two years, $9.5MM).  Other notable deals from teams that weren’t likely to move the players had an agreement not been reached included Washington signing goaltender Charlie Lindgren (three years, $9MM), Columbus re-signing winger Mathieu Olivier (six years, $18MM), and New Jersey re-upping defenseman Johnathan Kovacevic (five years, $20MM).

Bad News for New Jersey: While they were happy to get Kovacevic’s deal done, not much else went right for the Devils this past week.  First, they lost star center Jack Hughes for the remainder of the season and playoffs after he underwent shoulder surgery.  He was immediately moved to LTIR to give the club more cap flexibility although they weren’t able to use much of it.  Next, defenseman Dougie Hamilton was listed as out week-to-week with a lower-body injury.  Lastly, they learned that blueliner Jonas Siegenthaler’s lower-body injury will keep him out for at least the rest of the regular season.  Those three key absences will make locking down a playoff spot considerably tougher.  New Jersey made a handful of moves to add some extra depth before the deadline with the more notable moves being the acquisitions of defenseman Brian Dumoulin from Anaheim and center Cody Glass from Pittsburgh.

Photo courtesy of Imagn Images.

The trade deadline is now less than a week away.  Not surprisingly, several of the key stories from the past seven days are on the trade front with a handful of teams looking to get a jump on bringing in some help.

Wild Bring Back Nyquist: For the second time in just over two years, the Wild acquired winger Gustav Nyquist before the deadline.  In 2023, they gave up a fifth-round pick to get him but this time, the cost was higher as they had to part with a 2026 second-round selection to get him from Nashville.  As part of the move, the Predators are retaining half of the $3.185MM cap charge.  The 35-year-old had a career year last season, tallying 75 points in 81 games but hasn’t been able to produce anywhere near the same level this year with 21 points in 57 contests before the swap.  However, Nyquist had some success with the Wild in 2023 and he should be able to help give them some extra scoring depth for their playoff push.

Done For The Year: After missing almost all of last season after undergoing knee surgery, Canadiens center Kirby Dach will miss roughly the final two months of this year after once again having knee surgery on the same knee.  The former third-overall pick had a quiet year, tallying 10 goals and 12 assists in 57 games and will now have lots of rehab on his knee for the second straight year.  Meanwhile, the Red Wings will be without a key veteran for the rest of the year after Andrew Copp underwent surgery to repair a torn pectoral muscle.  He had 10 goals and 13 helpers in 56 games this season while also seeing regular time shorthanded.  Detroit, did, however, free up some cap space to replace him when they dealt Ville Husso to Anaheim for future considerations, opening up lots of flexibility for GM Steve Yzerman heading into Friday’s deadline.

Panthers Make A Splash: The Panthers decided to go big with their pre-deadline move, acquiring defenseman Seth Jones and a 2026 fourth-round pick from Chicago in exchange for goaltender Spencer Knight and a 2026 first-round pick (that could become a 2027 first).  The Blackhawks are retaining $2.5MM of Jones’ $9.5MM AAV (through 2029-30) as part of the move.  Jones recently indicated an openness to be moved to a contender and he gets his wish.  He’s been in the number one role for Chicago for quite some time but will go to a club where he won’t be counted on quite as much which might work out well for both sides.  Meanwhile, Chicago will get a look at Knight who was once viewed as one of the top young goalies in the league to see if he can be part of their long-term plans while adding another first-round pick and some future cap flexibility as their long rebuild continues.

Suspension Reduced: It’s not often that NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman will step in and reduce a suspension but he did so in Wild forward Ryan Hartman’s case.  After initially receiving a ten-game ban, Bettman opted to lower that to eight games.  In his ruling, he noted that despite a fairly lengthy recent history of supplemental discipline, an increase of seven games from his most recent suspension “is excessive in this case and that the quantum of increase should be reduced.”  As a result of the reduction, Hartman will be eligible to return to the lineup on Tuesday and with the Wild dealing with some other injury woes on their active roster (suspended players count against the 23-player roster), it also may have made it easier to pull the trigger on the Nyquist deal now over waiting a few more days.

Avs Add A Blueliner: The Avalanche added some depth on the back end, acquiring blueliner Ryan Lindgren, winger Jimmy Vesey, and unsigned prospect Hank Kempf from the Rangers in exchange for winger Juuso Parssinen, blueliner Calvin de Haan, and 2025 second- and fourth-round picks.  New York is retaining half of Lindgren’s $4.5MM cap charge in the move.  While Lindgren is in the middle of a down season, he has a track record of being a quality defensive defender which should give Colorado a boost at the fourth or fifth slot on their blueline.  Vesey also is a more experienced option for an Avalanche fourth line that has undergone plenty of turnover this season.  As for New York, they add two more draft picks to the fold and a look at Parssinen, a 24-year-old who had 25 points in Nashville in 45 games just two seasons ago, to see if he can be part of their longer-term plans.

Photo courtesy of Imagn Images.

The 4 Nations Face-Off has hit the halfway mark and with there being no NHL games on the slate, it was a relatively quiet week around the hockey world aside from the four tournament games.  Nonetheless, there was still some news of note which is recapped in our key stories.

More International Hockey: We saw the return of best-on-best hockey (at least for four countries) with the 4 Nations tournament and there will be another event next year with the Olympics.  Another tournament has been added to the calendar as the World Cup of Hockey will make its return in 2028.  The last time this was played was back in 2016 with Canada taking the best-of-three series over Team Europe to win the title.  As is the case with the 4 Nations Face-Off, this event will not fall under the IIHF’s umbrella while it remains to be seen if Russia, who has been excluded from international events in recent years, will be allowed to participate in this one.

Extension For Steel: While transaction activity has been extremely limited over the past week, the Stars took care of one of their pending unrestricted free agents, signing center Sam Steel to a two-year, $4.2MM extension.  The 27-year-old is in his second season in Dallas, returning despite being non-tendered last summer.  Steel hasn’t been able to come close to replicating the type of offensive success that he had at the junior level but he has turned into a reliable checker; he leads all Stars forwards in ATOI shorthanded.  The deal represents a nice raise for the 27-year-old as he will go from making $1.2MM this season to an AAV of $2.1MM for next year.

Theodore Exits 4 Nations: Golden Knights defenseman Shea Theodore was pegged to play a significant role for Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off.  However, his tournament lasted only a handful of shifts as he suffered an upper-body injury in the opener and was quickly ruled out for the rest of the event.  Subsequently, Vegas announced that the blueliner is expected to be out on a week-to-week basis.  The 29-year-old sits fourth among all NHL rearguards in scoring with 48 points in 55 games while averaging over 22 minutes.  His exit comes on the heels of Vegas teammate Alex Pietrangelo withdrawing from the tournament to nurse a nagging injury as the Golden Knights will be dealing with a banged-up back end when the season resumes this coming weekend.  Theodore’s absence resulted in Dallas defender Thomas Harley being put on standby to join the team, something that has since happened with Cale Makar battling an illness.

Calling It A Career: Long-time NHL winger Loui Eriksson has called it a career, announcing his retirement at the age of 39.  Eriksson played in 16 seasons at the top level with four different organizations, spanning 1,050 games altogether.  He picked up 253 goals and 360 assists over that time with his best years coming between 2009-10 and 2011-12 with Dallas where he notched at least 71 points in each of those three seasons.  Eriksson also finished in the top five in Lady Byng Trophy voting three times.  After his final NHL campaign in 2021-22, he wrapped up his playing career with Frolunda in the SHL, returning to the program he came up with in his junior days.

Dobson Changes Agents: Islanders defenseman Noah Dobson has been talked about a lot lately.  There was recent trade speculation which was quickly refuted but not long after that, he changed agencies, moving to Wasserman.  Speculatively, the change likely doesn’t relate to the trade speculation but rather to the fact he has a contract negotiation on the horizon.  The 25-year-old had a breakout year last season, tallying 70 points in 79 games while logging 24:31 per night.  He hasn’t been producing at quite the same pace this year though but either way, he’s in for a substantial raise from the $4MM he’s receiving this season.  With arbitration rights, Dobson is in line to more than double that on his next deal, one that will have a new agent working on it.

Photo courtesy of Imagn Images.

Regular season action halted this evening as the league shifted its focus to the 4 Nations Face-Off. Trading dropped significantly compared to last week, but there was no lack of speculation. The league’s 32 general managers will have two weeks off to discuss trades before the regular season resumes on February 22nd. Let’s review some of the key stories from the week before turning our attention to the international best-on-best tournament.

Quick Extension For Pettersson: The Vancouver Canucks are once again in the headlines this week after making a pair of trades last week. They moved quickly on one of the players acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins in last week’s flurry of moves, signing defenseman Marcus Pettersson to a six-year, $33MM extension. The native of Skelleftea, Sweden now has the second-longest active contract on the Canucks’ blue line behind Filip Hronek despite having only played four games. Of course, it shouldn’t be considered a hasty extension given Patrik Allvin and Jim Rutherford’s familiarity with Pettersson dating back to their time in the Penguins organization.

Avs Still Looking To Deal: Despite connecting on the biggest in-season trade in recent memory, the Colorado Avalanche are reportedly still open for business. Multiple reports earlier in the week asserted the Avalanche were one of the teams to propose a trade to the Canucks for J.T. Miller before he ultimately went to the New York Rangers. The trade proposal did not persuade Vancouver away from their eventual deal with the Rangers. However, reports indicated the Avalanche were willing to trade Casey Mittelstadt in the proposal and remain open to moving him for a difference-maker. Aside from adding to their forward core, an additional report linked Colorado to San Jose Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro.

Center Trade Market Heating Up: As the deadline season approaches, there is a strong market for rental centers, and those with multiple years remaining on their contracts are also attracting interest. Dylan Cozens of the Buffalo Sabres has six years and $42.6MM left on his contract and has been in the rumor mill for much of the regular season. On Wednesday, Kevin Weekes from ESPN confirmed that the market for Cozens has specifically picked up with the Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, and Toronto Maple Leafs. Cozens wasn’t the only one as TSN’s Darren Dreger shared his belief that the St. Louis Blues are gauging interest in captain Brayden Schenn. The former Stanley Cup champion may prove more difficult to move with four years and $26MM remaining on his deal with a 15-team no-trade clause.

Hughes Out, Sanderson In For Team USA: A fear has become a reality for Team USA heading into the 4 Nations Face-Off. The Canucks shared this afternoon that defenseman Quinn Hughes has withdrawn himself from Team USA’s roster due to a nagging hand injury. As much as Hughes would have liked to participate in the best-on-best tournament, he’s putting his energy toward helping Vancouver compete for a spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Replacing Hughes on the roster will be Ottawa’s Jake Sanderson, who suited up in one game for the United States during the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China.

Ten For Hartman: The NHL’s Department of Player Safety got involved in the news this week bestowing a whopping 10-game suspension on Minnesota Wild forward Ryan Hartman for roughing Senators’ forward Tim Stützle. Hartman has a history of supplemental discipline throughout his career, leading to a lengthy suspension, but revealed a few days later that he will be appealing the decision. Should commissioner Gary Bettman uphold the suspension, it will be the longest since Radko Gudas, with the Philadelphia Flyers, was suspended for an identical length for slashing Winnipeg Jets’ forward Mathieu Perreault in the neck.

Photo courtesy of USA Sports Images.