Week In Review

The turning of the calendar to 2025 created a long list of players who are now eligible for extensions, a couple of which already have already done so.  Those new deals aren’t in our key stories but some other recently-signed contracts are in our top stories from the last seven days.

Three For L’Heureux: Predators winger Zachary L’Heureux received a three-game suspension from the Department of Player Safety for his slew foot on Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon; the blueliner hasn’t played since then due to a leg injury.  It’s the first NHL suspension of his career with the 21-year-old in his first taste of NHL action.  However, L’Heureux has a long suspension history with two separate bans last season in the minors and nine more in the QMJHL.  He has nine points and 106 hits in 33 games so far this season and will be eligible to return to the lineup on Saturday.

Three For Kastelic: Bruins center Mark Kastelic wasn’t the most prominent piece going to Boston in last offseason’s Linus Ullmark trade but he has made a positive impact for them.  He was rewarded for his efforts with a three-year, $4.7MM contract extension.  The deal gives Boston two extra years of club control and buys out his final year of arbitration.  Kastelic has already equaled his career high in points with 11 and has set a new personal best in assists with seven in his first 40 games with the Bruins.  He also leads the team in hits with 154 and is winning nearly 55% of his faceoffs.

Toews Not Ruling Out A Comeback: While Jonathan Toews hasn’t played since the 2022-23 season as he continues to battle through Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome, he never officially announced his retirement.  This past week, he indicated that he still has the desire to play in the NHL and is going to give it his best shot in terms of trying to make a comeback.  The 36-year-old has played in 1,067 career NHL games over parts of 16 seasons, all with Chicago, becoming a premier two-way pivot along the way.  If he decides to try to play this season, it stands to reason that it would be in a limited role given how long he has been off.  Alternatively, he could look to catch on somewhere for 2025-26, giving himself a longer window to train and potentially a larger pool of suitors for his services.

Three For Vatrano: Frank Vatrano won’t be leaving the Ducks for a while now.  The winger has signed a three-year, $18MM contract extension, one that further pushes the boundaries of deferred salary.  Vatrano will make $3MM in each of the three years of the contract, then receive $900K for ten years beginning in 2035.  In doing so, the cap charge of the deal drops to $4.67MM (based on the net present value) instead of the $6MM average.  It’s interesting that Anaheim, a team that isn’t remotely close to the Upper Limit of the salary cap, is taking this route but it clearly helped them get this contract done.  Vatrano is struggling a bit this season with nine goals and 20 points in 37 games but is only a year removed from 37 goals and 60 points which undoubtedly played a big role in securing this contract.

Canucks Listening On Top Forwards: Amidst speculation that top forwards Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller have a rift and the fact both players are struggling, the Canucks appear to be open to listening to offers for both of them.  Pettersson is in the first season of his max-term deal that will see him make $11.6MM per year through the 2031-32 campaign but he hasn’t lived up to the contract early on.  After putting up 102 points in 2022-23, he dipped to 89 points last year and has 28 points in 34 games this year.  Miller, meanwhile, had a career year last season with 103 points but has just six goals in 28 contests this season and his only two goals since October have been empty-netters.  With them scuffling, Vancouver is narrowly holding onto the final Wild Card spot so it appears management is open to a bigger shakeup to get the team going.

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Generally speaking, the week leading up to the roster freeze (a freeze that still allows for a lot of roster movement) in the NHL isn’t particularly busy.  That wasn’t the case as there was plenty of news of note across the league which is recapped in our key stories.

Johnson Released: Veteran Tyler Johnson was patient while waiting for his opportunity to play in Boston as his preseason PTO extended nearly a month before he inked a one-year, $775K contract.  However, his time with the Bruins was short-lived.  After getting into just nine games with them, Johnson and the team mutually agreed to terminate his contract and after he cleared unconditional waivers, he became a free agent.  A veteran of 747 career games at the NHL level, Johnson is hoping to still play in the NHL and intends to speak to teams after the holiday break.  Speculatively, considering he was on a league minimum deal and no one claimed him, this could be a situation where he needs to wait for an injury or until closer to the trade deadline in March before inking another deal.

Key Injuries: Maple Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz was off to a strong start to his first season in Toronto with a 2.15 GAA and a .927 SV% in his first 17 games.  However, he had to undergo knee surgery that will keep him out of the lineup for the next four to six weeks, meaning Joseph Woll will be the undisputed starter for a while.  Meanwhile, the Lightning won’t have blueliner J.J. Moser available to them for at least the next two months due to a lower-body injury.  Acquired as part of the Mikhail Sergachev trade, Moser has 10 points in 27 games while logging nearly 20 minutes a night on their back end.  Lastly, Sabres winger Jordan Greenway is set to undergo mid-body surgery that will keep him out long-term although he’s expected back before the end of the season.  Greenway was doing relatively well when healthy with seven points and 54 hits in 20 games but an extended absence won’t help his cause as he heads toward UFA eligibility for the first time in July.

Kakko To Kraken: After being made a healthy scratch last weekend by the Rangers, winger Kaapo Kakko expressed some frustration with the situation.  Soon after, New York moved the 2019 second-overall pick to Seattle in exchange for defenseman William Borgen plus a 2025 third-round pick and a 2025 sixth-rounder.  Kakko had a career-best 40 points last season but the Rangers weren’t ready to commit a long-term deal to him, instead giving him a one-year, $2.4MM deal for this year, avoiding arbitration.  He’ll hope for a strong second half with the Kraken that could help him earn that long-term commitment.  Meanwhile, Borgen will help replace some of the physicality that Jacob Trouba used to provide but he’s eligible for unrestricted free agency next summer.  The move is more of a win-now one for a Rangers team who has plummeted down the standings in recent weeks and it’s possible one or both of the draft picks they landed could be flipped in the coming weeks.

Eight For Rempe: With Kakko being traded, the Rangers used his roster spot up front to bring back Matt Rempe from AHL Hartford.  However, he wound up getting ejected in his first game back with the big club following a hit on Dallas blueliner Miro Heiskanen.  The hit drew the ire of the Department of Player Safety who handed Rempe an eight-game suspension.  Rempe has been ejected four times in his first 22 regular season games and this is the second suspension of his young career.  As he’s considered a repeat offender, the financial cost is considerably higher; he’ll forfeit $80K in salary for the infraction.  As it’s greater than five games, Rempe has the right to appeal this suspension but won’t be eligible to play during any potential appeal process.

Swapping Blueliners: The Canadiens and Predators swapped right-shot defenseman with Montreal picking up Alexandre Carrier in exchange for Justin Barron.  Carrier was off to a bit of a tough start to his season but played well enough to earn a three-year, $10.25MM deal last summer, one the Canadiens will absorb in full.  Barron, meanwhile, is a former first-round pick who was unable to secure a full-time spot on Montreal’s blueline.  He has another year left after this one at a $1.15MM price tag, giving Nashville $2.6MM in cap savings this season and next with the move and they’ll hope to help him reach his potential.  Meanwhile, the Canadiens add some experience to a young back end while giving them some insurance should they choose to move David Savard closer to the trade deadline.

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The first full week of December is in the books and it was a busy one across the NHL.  The biggest news is recapped in our key stories.

4 Nations Rosters Set: While the 4 Nations Face-Off is still more than two months away, the four countries participating – Canada, Finland, Sweden, and the United States – all released their rosters for the event.  Players can still be substituted as injury replacements until the event begins so it wouldn’t be shocking if most (if not all) will have one or two different players in the lineup when it gets underway on February 12th.  In terms of NHL representation, the Panthers lead the way with eight players participating while the Golden Knights have seven.  Florida is one of only two teams to have a player for each different country with Toronto being the other.  Meanwhile, the Kraken and Metropolitan-leading Capitals do not have a single representative.

Trouba To Anaheim: After being unable to move him during the summer, the Rangers had made it known recently that defenseman Jacob Trouba was still available.  Eventually, they had enough prospective deals lined up that they went to the blueliner and asked him to pick one he liked or else he’d potentially land on waivers.  He accepted a trade to Anaheim in exchange for blueliner Urho Vaakanainen and a fourth-round pick (the earlier of Detroit’s or Boston’s).  Notably, the Ducks assumed the entire $8MM cap charge on Trouba for this season and next and while they get an upgrade on the back end (and potentially a flippable player with retention down the road), the Rangers picked up some significant cap space.

Shesterkin’s Sticking Around: New York wasted little time putting the cap space freed up for 2025-26 in the Trouba trade to use, signing goaltender Igor Shesterkin to an eight-year, $92MM contract extension that begins next season; the deal contains a no-move clause while the majority of the deal will be paid out as signing bonuses.  The $11.5MM AAV is a new NHL record for a netminder.  Shesterkin has been one of the top goaltenders in the NHL since coming to the league in the 2019-20 season and it was widely expected that he’d top Carey Price’s $10.5MM price tag in this agreement.  While his camp was believed to be seeking more than Artemi Panarin ($11.643MM), that didn’t wind up happening.  With the signing, the goaltending position is now sealed up for the better part of the next decade.

Hip Surgery For Seguin: Stars center Tyler Seguin is set to miss the next four to six months due to hip surgery.  It’s a big blow for Dallas as the 32-year-old was off to one of his best starts in recent years, tallying nine goals and 11 assists in his first 19 outings.  On the short end of the timeline, it’s possible that Seguin could return in early April, the likeliest scenario is that he misses the rest of the regular season.  While Dallas has cap space for now and doesn’t need to move Seguin to LTIR, they could look to do so closer to the trade deadline.  While the exact amount they could spend is dependent on their roster composition at the time of placement, they could potentially use a big chunk of his $9.85MM AAV to add to their roster.

Coaching Change In Chicago: The Blackhawks became the third team to make a coaching change this season (joining Boston and St. Louis) when they fired Luke Richardson.  Taking his place will be now-former AHL Rockford bench boss Anders Sorensen who has been named as interim head coach, a role he’ll hold for the rest of the year.  Richardson was in his third season with the rebuilding Blackhawks and his team played to a 57-119-15 record, good for a points percentage of just .338.  That said, the team was selling off assets early in his tenure so the poor overall record isn’t surprising.  However, GM Kyle Davidson brought in several veterans over the summer to try to give the team a better foundation but it didn’t result in on-ice success with the team recording just 18 points in 27 games before the change.

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The first full week of November is in the books as we’ve now passed the one-month mark of the 2024-25 NHL season.  While it was relatively quiet on the transaction front, there was still some news of note which is recapped in our key stories.

Back To Seattle: Winger Daniel Sprong has bounced around in recent years despite some pretty good offensive seasons including back-to-back 40-point-plus campaigns.  He had to settle for a one-year deal with Vancouver this summer and after a sluggish start, he was on the move again as Seattle acquired him in exchange for future considerations.  The 27-year-old had his best year with the Kraken in 2022-23 when he had 21 goals and 25 assists in just 66 games but was still non-tendered that summer.  Now with a cap hit of just $975K, he’s an affordable low-cost pickup to try to a group that sits in the middle of the pack offensively.

Expanded NCAA Eligibility: As expected, the NCAA’s Division I Council has voted to allow players with previous involvement with professional teams to play collegiately.  Notably, this includes CHL players who were previously ruled ineligible.  We’ve already seen some junior players announce which NCAA school they plan to go to and many more will make commitments in the weeks and months ahead.  There are still some questions to be answered regarding when CHL players will be allowed to go the NCAA route and if there will be any changes to the rights of CHL-drafted players who go to college.  Meanwhile, players already signed to an NHL contract will remain ineligible.  The change doesn’t officially come into effect until August so there is bound to be more information clarifying these and other matters between now and then.

Fabbro To Columbus: It was a tough start to the season for defenseman Dante Fabbro who was a healthy scratch several times.  The Predators decided that it was time to shake things up, electing to waive a player who was viewed as a possible key fixture on the back end just a few years ago.  Despite a $2.5MM cap charge, he didn’t last too long on waivers with Columbus picking him up off the wire.  The 26-year-old has more than 300 NHL games under his belt and will get a chance to boost his value heading into his first time through unrestricted free agency next summer.  The Blue Jackets are now carrying eight blueliners for the time being but David Jiricek is waiver-exempt and could be sent down to AHL Cleveland down the road.

Key Injury In St. Louis: Blues defenseman Philip Broberg was off to a very strong start with his new team, notching nine points (already a career-high) in 12 games while logging close to 20 minutes per night.  However, he’ll now miss the next four to six weeks with a lower-body injury.  It’s a big blow to a back end that’s also without Torey Krug for the season while Nick Leddy has missed close to four weeks now with a lower-body issue of his own.  However, there was some good news on the injury front as well.  Although winger Dylan Holloway was taken to the hospital after taking a puck to the neck that eventually saw the game paused to get him immediate medical attention, he was able to return for their next game.

Three For Jeannot: The Kings are currently without winger Tanner Jeannot after he received a three-game suspension for an illegal check to the head against Canucks winger Brock Boeser.  He initially received a match penalty on the play, automatically triggering a league review.  Jeannot will forfeit over $41K in salary as a result of the suspension; he’ll be eligible to return on November 16th against Detroit.  Meanwhile, Boeser did not return following the hit and hasn’t played since as he’s still being assessed for an upper-body injury.

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As we approach the one-month mark of the 2024-25 season, we saw some activity pick up around the NHL with a couple of trades and a notable contract extension.  Those are among the topics recapped in our key stories.

Scorers On The Shelf: Three teams lost key offensive contributors to injuries over the past few days.  Edmonton will be without star center Connor McDavid for two to three weeks with an ankle injury.  The defending Western Conference champs have been slow out of the gate against this season and missing a high-end scorer won’t help on that front.  Meanwhile, Colorado will miss Ross Colton for six to eight weeks due to a broken foot.  Not known as a key goal-getter (he only has reached 20 goals once before), Colton was off to a strong start on that front, leading the Avs with eight tallies before the injury.  Lastly, offense has been hard to come by for the Islanders this season and it will be harder now with Mathew Barzal landing on LTIR with an upper-body injury.  The forward is expected to miss four to six weeks.

Liljegren To Sharks: With Timothy Liljegren barely playing this season and Toronto needing to open up some cap space, it was only a matter of time before he was on the move.  That swap came this week with the Maple Leafs moving him to San Jose in exchange for a 2025 third-round pick, a 2026 sixth-rounder, and defenseman Matt Benning (who they’re already looking to flip elsewhere).  Liljegren was a first-round pick by Toronto in 2017 but spent a lot of his time with the team in a third-pairing role.  Still just 25, it’s a low-cost pickup for the Sharks who will get to see how he fares in a new environment with potentially a bigger role as they look to reshape their back end in their rebuild.

Five For McCabe: The Liljegren trade wasn’t the only move Toronto made with their back end.  The Maple Leafs also signed defenseman Jake McCabe to a five-year extension worth $23.5MM.  However, thanks to some deferred money in the second and third years of the deal, the cap hit will check in at $4.51MM instead of the $4.7MM face value per season.  The 31-year-old is a veteran of 12 NHL seasons and is in his third season with Toronto after being acquired in 2022 from Chicago with the Blackhawks paying down half of his $4MM contract.  McCabe has emerged as a key cog in Toronto’s top four defensively and this price tag for someone in that role is a fair one while giving him some long-term stability as he’ll be 36 when this deal ends.

Utah Adds A Blueliner: With Utah HC missing both John Marino and Sean Durzi due to long-term injuries, they wanted to add some help on the back end.  They did just that, acquiring Olli Maatta from Detroit in exchange for a 2025 third-round pick (from the Rangers, previously acquired).  The 30-year-old has nearly 700 career games of NHL experience under his belt and while he’s not known for his offensive skill-set, he’s capable of logging some minutes in a shutdown role and will be asked to do just that to try to help stabilize things.  Maatta is in the final year of his contract, one that carries a $3MM cap charge with Utah picking up the full cost of that, giving the Red Wings some extra cap flexibility for potential in-season trade activity.

Toropchenko Gets A Raise: Rather than wait to see what contract might await him in restricted free agency, Blues winger Alexey Toropchenko opted to sign early, inking a one-year, $1.7MM extension.  The deal gives the 25-year-old a $450K raise while also walking him directly to unrestricted free agency in 2026.  Toropchenko has reached the double-digit goal mark in the last two seasons and averaged more than two hits per game last season.  For a useful bottom-six contributor, this is certainly a reasonable price for St. Louis, especially since Toropchenko would have had arbitration eligibility this summer.

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With the 2024-25 season in full swing, things were a bit quieter away from the ice but there was still some news of note from the past seven days which is recapped in our key stories.

Calling It A Career: Veteran defenseman Anton Stralman has hung up his skates at the age of 38 and has retired.  A seventh-round pick by Toronto back in 2005, Stralman played in 938 career NHL contests over parts of 16 seasons for seven different teams.  He wasn’t a big offensive producer although he did manage 293 points to his name but Stralman was known for being a solid defensive blueliner who was capable of logging 20 minutes a night.  He’s now slated to begin his coaching career but not necessarily in the sport you might be thinking of; he has joined the coaching staff of Swedish women’s soccer club Skultorps IF.

Injuries For Defensemen: Utah HC made some moves to shore up their back end this summer but they’ll have to wait a while for one of their newcomers to debut as John Marino is set to miss multiple months due to an upper-body injury.  The 27-year-old has averaged over 20 minutes a game in his first five NHL seasons and was poised to play a big role for them but that’s now on hold.  Sean Durzi, their top blueliner from last year, is also set to be out for a while due to an upper-body injury of his own.  Meanwhile, Wild rearguard Jared Spurgeon will be out for a few more games at least as he’s dealing with issues from the back and hip surgeries he had last season.  While the soreness and stiffness were expected and this isn’t a setback, it means Minnesota will be without a key piece for a while and it wouldn’t be surprising if this is something that creeps up again later in the season.

Eight For Oettinger: Goalies have been getting paid in recent weeks and the latest to land a new contract was Stars netminder Jake Oettinger.  He received an eight-year, $66MM deal that begins next season.  If those figures sound familiar, it’s the exact contract that Boston gave Jeremy Swayman earlier this month.  In fact, aside from Oettinger having one extra year eligible for a no-move clause, the structure of the contracts is identical.  Oettinger is in his fifth NHL season and has already established himself as one of the upper-echelon netminders.  He now will be one of four goalies with that AAV (joining Sorokin, Linus Ullmark, and Ilya Sorokin) and will be tied for the fourth-highest cap hit among goaltenders in 2025-26.

Flames Looking To Add Center Help: Over the past 12 months, the Flames have primarily been selling veterans for pieces that will help them in the future.  However, they’re off to a strong start to the season, sitting atop the Pacific Division with a 4-0-1 start.  With that in mind, they appear to be open to being a buyer following a report from Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli that suggests they’re looking to add help down the middle.  Specifically, their desired target is a middle-six player who fits their age group (and preferably shoots right-handed) so this isn’t a case of them looking to target a rental player.  However, it appears that they’re willing to expedite their rebuilding process if they can get a longer-term additional who could step in and play a regular role right away.

Two For Slaggert: While Landon Slaggert didn’t make Chicago’s roster out of training camp, the team feels that he’s going to be part of their longer-term plans.  Accordingly, they elected to sign him to an early extension, signing him to a two-year, $1.8MM contract that begins next season.  Notably, the deal carries a one-way salary in both years, a decent payday for someone who is currently in the minors.  Slaggert was a third-round pick of the Blackhawks in 2020, going 79th overall and had a strong four-year stint at the University of Notre Dame before turning pro last season where he got into 16 NHL games down the stretch.  Slaggert is eligible to be exempt from waivers through 2025-26 though that can change depending on how much NHL action he sees between now and the end of next season.

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The regular season is now underway with plenty of news off the ice as expected.  We recap the most notable in our key stories.

Four For Ullmark: After originally planning to give Linus Ullmark some time to settle in before focusing on a contract extension, the Senators changed course, handing the netminder a four-year, $33MM deal that will begin next season.  Perhaps not coincidentally, the $8.25MM AAV matches the one his former teammate Jeremy Swayman received from Boston not long before that.  Ullmark, the 2022-23 Vezina Trophy winner, was acquired by Ottawa just before the draft in the hopes that landing him would help solve their long-standing struggles between the pipes.  With this agreement in place, the net will be his for the foreseeable future.

Five For Daccord: Another netminder put pen to paper on a new deal this week as the Kraken inked Joey Daccord to a five-year, $25MM extension.  The 28-year-old had his first full-time NHL season last year but it was a strong one.  He quickly passed Philipp Grubauer on the depth chart and wound up getting into 50 games, posting a 2.46 GAA with a .916 SV%, numbers that were well above the league average.  Even so, it’s a bit surprising to see this get done so quickly given his limited track record (just 69 career NHL appearances heading into the season) which suggests that Seattle felt Daccord was going to have another strong showing this year, one that would have only upped his asking price later on.

Shesterkin Says No: While Ullmark and Daccord signed new deals, another netminder turned one down.  Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin reportedly declined an eight-year, $88MM extension, one that would have made him the highest-paid goalie in NHL history.  However, the cap percentage at that price point would be lower than Price’s back when he signed in 2017 (13.21%) so it wouldn’t be surprising to see Shesterkin’s camp looking to best that while also looking to make him the highest-paid Ranger.  The 28-year-old has been one of the top goalies since coming to the NHL in 2019-20, putting up a 2.43 GAA and a .921 SV% in his first 215 games, bettering those in postseason action.  Accordingly, even if the two sides can’t agree on a record-breaking deal, there’s a good chance other teams will be willing to give one to him in free agency.

Lavoie’s Waiver Wire Adventures: It’s extremely rare for a player to be involved in a waiver-related transaction for six days in a row but that’s what happened with Raphael Lavoie.  Edmonton waived him and he was claimed by Vegas the next day.  However, he went back on the wire the following day with the Oilers taking him back.  However, since another team placed a claim as well, he had to go back on waivers the next day, where Vegas once again put in a claim.  Since the team that put in a claim when Edmonton got him back didn’t claim Lavoie this time around, the Golden Knights were able to send Lavoie to the minors after six days of waiver limbo.

Verhaeghe Sticks Around: It had been expected for a while that the Panthers would work out a long-term agreement with Carter Verhaeghe.  It took until just after their first game to make it official but Florida signed the winger to an eight-year, $56MM extension.  The 29-year-old has surpassed the 70-point mark in each of the last two seasons while finishing one point off the team lead in scoring during their run to the Stanley Cup last spring.  While there is some risk in signing him through his age-38 season, a $7MM cap charge for a 70-point player is good value in this environment, especially with the salary cap projected to rise.  As long as he remains around that level of production, Florida should get some value from this deal.

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With training camps getting underway, it was a busy week around the NHL, particularly on the transactions front with plenty of notable contracts being handed out.  Those are among our key stories from the past seven days.

Red Wings Sign Three: Detroit came into the week with three players left to sign and they ended it with zero.  First, they signed winger Jonatan Berggren to a one-year, $825K contract.  After spending most of last season in the minors, it’s expected he’ll be a full-timer on the Red Wings this season.  Next, winger Lucas Raymond received an eight-year, $64.6MM agreement, one that buys up four extra years of club control.  The fourth-overall pick in 2020, Raymond had by far his best showing last season, notching 31 goals and 41 assists in 82 games.  Lastly, blueliner Moritz Seider inked a seven-year, $59.85MM deal.  The sixth-overall selection in 2019 quickly emerged as a key all-situations blueliner in his rookie year and has played at a similar level since then.  The $8.55MM AAV on this deal checks in just below the $8.7MM for captain Dylan Larkin which was viewed as a ceiling in negotiations.

Utah Makes Another Splash: It has been a busy offseason for Utah HC in their inaugural year after moving from Arizona.  The team swung two big moves to shore up the back end with Mikhail Sergachev and John Marino and now, they’ve handed out one of the richest deals in franchise history to winger Dylan Guenther.  The 21-year-old reached an agreement on a seven-year, $57.14MM extension ($7.142MM AAV), one that puts him just behind Clayton Keller ($7.15MM) for their highest-paid forward.  Guenther started last season in the minors but was quite productive following a midseason recall, notching 18 goals and 17 assists in 45 games.  He has just 78 career NHL games under his belt and has one year remaining on his entry-level contract.

Crosby Finally Signs: It was widely expected that Penguins captain Sidney Crosby would sign a contract extension over the offseason.  Many felt it’d be early on which wasn’t the case.  However, the deal got done as Crosby signed a two-year, $17.4MM deal which kicks in next season.  The deal carries a $8.7MM AAV, meaning that this amount will have been his exclusive cap charge since the 2008-09 season.  Crosby is a franchise icon, leading the team in games played (1,272) while sitting second to Mario Lemieux in goals (592), assists (1,004), and points (1,596).  While he easily could have made a case to command a higher price tag coming off a 42-goal, 94-point season, he’ll remain at the number that’s familiar to him, keeping him on a team-friendly agreement for a little while longer.

Calling It A Career: One of the more prominent remaining unrestricted free agents was veteran winger Kyle Okposo.  However, he has decided to go out on top, announcing his retirement at the age of 36.  The winger played in 17 NHL seasons (notching 614 points), splitting time almost identically between the Islanders and Sabres.  Buffalo flipped him to Florida at the trade deadline, giving him a chance to play for a contender and it worked out well for Okposo with the Panthers winning the Stanley Cup.  Meanwhile, while Jaromir Jagr left the NHL in the 2017-18 season, he hasn’t stopped playing, suiting up for Kladno in his native Czechia, the team he owns.  However, he has revealed that this will be his final year at age 52.  Between the regular season and playoffs, Jagr is closing in on 2,500 career professional appearances and is the second-leading scorer in NHL history.

Stars Sign Two Defensemen: Dallas went into the week with a blueliner to sign although their first contract went to a different one as they agreed to terms with Esa Lindell on a five-year, $26.25MM extension.  The deal actually represents a small pay cut as he’ll make $5.8MM this season in the final year of his current pact.  Lindell has averaged more than 22 minutes a night over his career with Dallas, serving as a reliable defender at that time.  He now won’t be UFA-eligible until the age of 36.  Meanwhile, the Stars reached an agreement with the other blueliner they needed to sign later in the day, signing Thomas Harley to a two-year, $8MM deal.  The 23-year-old only recorded 15 goals and 32 assists in 79 games last season while averaging just over 21 minutes a night, earning himself a significant raise from his entry-level deal in the process.  The deal is slightly backloaded, resulting in Harley requiring a $4.5MM qualifying offer with arbitration rights in 2026.

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With training camps on the horizon, PTO agreements were the theme of the week with many veterans taking one to get a landing spot for training camp.  In the meantime, there was some other notable news across the NHL which is recapped in our key stories.

Columbus Adds A Veteran: On Saturday, Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell indicated that he would be looking to add a forward or two heading into training camp.  He wasted little time getting one of them as the team signed veteran winger James van Riemsdyk to a one-year, $900K contract.  The 35-year-old is coming off a decent season in Boston, one that saw him record 11 goals and 27 assists in 71 games despite averaging just 13:30 per night, his lowest ATOI since his rookie campaign in 2009-10.  Columbus is certainly on the lookout for some scoring help following the trade of Patrik Laine and the tragic death of Johnny Gaudreau while forward Justin Danforth is also now injured so it wouldn’t be surprising to see them do something else fairly quickly.

Surgery For Kane: For months now, it has been expected that Oilers winger Evander Kane was going to miss time with the injury that sidelined him late in the playoffs.  We now know the nature of the injury as it was revealed that the veteran will undergo sports hernia surgery within the next week.  Kane played through the injury for a good chunk of the regular season and most of the playoffs but was only able to dress in two games in the Stanley Cup Final.  There’s no word on exactly how long the procedure will keep Kane out for but assuming it’s for more than 10 games and 24 days, Edmonton will be able to place him on LTIR if they need to in order to keep cap-compliant.

Four For Larsson: Veteran defenseman Adam Larsson was picked by Seattle in expansion despite being a pending unrestricted free agent although he was quickly signed to a four-year deal.  The 31-year-old has been a solid defender in his first three seasons with them while even managing a career year offensively in 2022-23.  He was rewarded for his efforts earlier in the week as the Kraken signed him to a four-year, $21MM contract extension which begins in the 2025-26 season.  The deal represents a $1.1MM per season raise from his current deal and carries full trade protection for the first two years before it drops to a 15-team no-trade clause.

Shoulder Injury For Hughes: With this being a contract year for Devils defenseman Luke Hughes, it’s safe to say he was hoping to get off to a strong start to his season.  That won’t be the case now as the team announced that he suffered a left shoulder injury while training, one that will keep him out for six to eight weeks.  That means the 21-year-old will miss all of training camp, the preseason, and the start of the regular season.  Hughes had a promising rookie year, recording 47 points in 82 games last season which helped make him a finalist for the Calder Trophy.  He’ll now have to wait a little longer to try to build off that performance.

Toronto Signs Three: The Maple Leafs were busy finalizing their roster heading into training camp.  First, they took care of their last remaining restricted free agent, re-signing Nicholas Robertson to a one-year, $875K contract.  The 23-year-old had 27 points in 56 games last season but had made it known his preference was to get a change of scenery.  Now, he’ll look to make an impression under new head coach Craig Berube and establish himself higher in the lineup.

Meanwhile, they added two new players to the team as well.  Veteran Max Pacioretty signed a PTO agreement although his agent, Octagon’s Allan Walsh, quickly noted that they expect to have a contract in place by the start of the regular season.  The 35-year-old has battled injuries the last three seasons but still managed to record 23 points in 47 games with Washington in 2023-24.  Lastly, the team finally inked defenseman Jani Hakanpaa, who they had agreed to terms with on the opening day of free agency.  However, the terms are slightly different.  Instead of a two-year, $3MM agreement, he received a one-year, $1.47MM contract with an eight-team no-trade clause.  Hakanpaa was a physical presence on the back end in Dallas last season but there are concerns over his knee after missing the end of the season and the playoffs due to injury.

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Training camps are almost upon us but beyond an uptick in PTOs as expected, it was a relatively quiet week across the NHL aside from a record-breaking contract which is one of our key stories of the past seven days.

Off To Switzerland: Unable to secure a contract to their liking from an NHL team, a pair of wingers have opted to try their hand in Switzerland.  First, winger Filip Zadina inked a two-year contract with HC Davos.  The 2018 sixth-overall pick spent last season with San Jose after terminating his deal with Detroit in the hopes that a change of scenery would give him a better opportunity.  Instead, he put up just 23 points in 72 games along with a ghastly -44 rating.  Still just 24, a good showing in the NL could get him back on the NHL radar fairly quickly.  A few days later, veteran winger Dominik Kubalik signed a one-year deal with Ambri-Piotta.  The 29-year-old spent last season with Ottawa after being acquired in the Alex DeBrincat deal but struggled considerably, recording a career-low 15 points in 74 appearances.  His deal contains an NHL out clause should an opportunity present itself at the top level by December 15th.

Surgery For Krug: After the rehab period didn’t yield any improvement, Blues defenseman Torey Krug will undergo ankle surgery to address pre-arthritic changes in his left ankle, a procedure that will end his 2024-25 season before it even starts.  The 33-year-old had 39 points last season in 77 games while logging nearly 22 minutes a night and will effectively be replaced by offer sheet pickup Philip Broberg.  Krug will be eligible to be placed on LTIR should St. Louis need to put him there.  Meanwhile, while the hope is that Krug will be able to return next season, GM Doug Armstrong acknowledged that this injury could wind up being a career-ender for the veteran.

Draisaitl Sets A Record: While it may have taken longer than some in Edmonton would have liked, the Oilers and center Leon Draisaitl reached an agreement on an eight-year, $112MM contract extension, one that comes into place for the 2025-26 campaign.  The $14MM AAV is the highest in NHL history while it’s the second-richest contract in league history.  (The highest was Alex Ovechkin’s 13-year, $124MM pact, one that is now illegal with the maximum length being eight seasons.)  The 28-year-old has been one of the top scorers in the league for several years now; only his teammate Connor McDavid has more points than he does over the last five seasons.  That made it quite likely that he’d eclipse Auston Matthews’ record-setting $13.25MM AAV.  Draisaitl won’t hold the record for long, however, with McDavid being extension-eligible next summer.

Three Surgeries For Marchand: It was a busy summer for Bruins captain Brad Marchand but perhaps not in the way you might think.  The winger indicated that he had three separate surgeries over the offseason.  One was to repair a torn tendon in his elbow that he played through for most of the year while later having abdominal and groin surgeries to address injuries sustained late in the season.  Marchand managed to play through those issues, playing in all 82 games in 2023-24, recording 67 points.  It appears he might be limited at the beginning of training camp but he is expected to be ready to suit up when the regular season begins next month.

Veteran Defensemen Retire: A pair of long-time NHL blueliners officially called it a career in recent days.  Marc Staal spent most of his playing career with the Rangers and will begin his post-playing days there as well as it was announced that he has been hired as a player development assistant.  The 37-year-old played 17 seasons in the NHL, the first 13 of which came with New York.  Staal retires with 234 points, 1,448 blocks, and 1,643 hits in 1,136 career games at the top level.  Meanwhile, veteran rearguard Alex Goligoski confirmed that his playing days have come to an end.  The 39-year-old spent the last three seasons with Minnesota, his hometown team and he had no desire to uproot his family to attempt to keep playing.  Goligoski had 475 points, 1,777 blocks, and 1,164 hits in 1,078 appearances over his 17-year NHL career.

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