Latest On Vince Dunn, Chandler Stephenson, Jared McCann
Seattle Kraken defenseman Vince Dunn is currently being evaluated for an injury and is considered out at this time on a day-to-day recovery timeline, per Kraken head coach Lane Lambert. (via team reporter/analyst Alison Lukan) Dunn did not practice today after suffering an injury in the team’s preseason contest yesterday against the Calgary Flames. At this moment, whether Dunn will be ready for the team’s season-opening game on October 9th is unclear.
Dunn, 28, is one of Seattle’s most important players. The blueliner led the team in time-on-ice per game in both 2022-23 and 2023-24, before this past summer’s signing of defender Brandon Montour. He also ranks second in points scored for the franchise all-time. Should Dunn end up missing regular-season time during this injury, his spot in the team’s lineup is likely to be taken by depth defenseman Josh Mahura. Alongside Dunn, Lambert also issued updates on the status of injured Kraken forwards Jared McCann and Chandler Stephenson, saying each is “progressing in the right direction.”
McCormick To Undergo Hip Surgery, Out For The Season
- Veteran center Max McCormick’s season is over before it even began. AHL Coachella Valley, affiliate of the Kraken, announced that the 33-year-old will undergo hip surgery and that he is expected to miss the entire 2025-26 season as a result. McCormick was limited to just 19 games with the Firebirds last season where he had 13 points. He’s in the final season of a two-year pact with Seattle and will be an unrestricted free agent next summer.
Training Camp Cuts: 9/27/25
We are now 10 days away from opening night, now that training camp has reached its second Saturday. Over the next few days, teams will have some of their biggest cuts of the preseason, while also putting additional players up for claim on the waiver wire. Each team’s current roster can be found at our Training Camp Roster Tracker. Here is the list of today’s cuts:
Buffalo Sabres (per team release)
D Isaac Belliveau (to AHL Rochester)
F Matteo Costantini (released from PTO to AHL Rochester)
F Riley Fiddler-Schultz (to AHL Rockford)
D Aidan Fulp (released from PTO to AHL Rochester)
F Konsta Helenius (to AHL Rochester)
F Jagger Joshua (released from PTO to AHL Rochester)
F Tyler Kopff (to AHL Rochester)
D Vsevolod Komarov (to AHL Rochester)
F Trevor Kuntar (released from PTO to AHL Rochester)
D Noah Laaouan (released from PTO to AHL Rochester)
G Topias Leinonen (to AHL Rochester)
G Devon Levi (to AHL Rochester)
D Zach Metsa (to AHL Rochester)
F Olivier Nadeau (to AHL Rochester)
F Viktor Neuchev (to AHL Rochester)
D Nikita Novikov (to AHL Rochester)
D Jack Rathbone (to AHL Rochester, pending waiver clearance)
G Scott Ratzlaff (to AHL Rochester)
F Isak Rosen (to AHL Rochester)
F Redmond Savage (released from PTO to AHL Rochester)
F Graham Slaggert (released from PTO to AHL Rochester)
D Peter Tischke (released from PTO to AHL Rochester)
F Brendan Warren (released from PTO to AHL Rochester)
F Anton Wahlberg (to AHL Rochester)
Chicago Blackhawks (per team release)
D Cavan Fitzgerald (released from PTO to AHL Rockford)
D Taige Harding (to AHL Rockford)
D Dmitry Kuzmin (to AHL Rockford)
F Paul Ludwinski (to AHL Rockford)
D Ryan Mast (to AHL Rockford)
D Andrew Perrott (released from PTO to AHL Rockford)
F Brett Seney (released from PTO to AHL Rockford)
Colorado Avalanche (per team release)
F Alex Barre-Boulet (to AHL Colorado, pending waiver clearance)
F Tye Felhaber (to AHL Colorado, pending waiver clearance)
F Jason Polin (to AHL Colorado, pending waiver clearance)
F T.J. Tynan (to AHL Colorado, pending waiver clearance)
D Sean Behrens (to AHL Colorado)
F Ivan Ivan (to AHL Colorado)
F Jayson Megna (to AHL Colorado)
F Tristen Nielsen (to AHL Colorado)
Columbus Blue Jackets (per team release)
F Roman Ahcan (to AHL Cleveland)
F Riley Bezeau (to AHL Cleveland)
D Ole Julian Bjorgvik-Holm (to AHL Cleveland)
D Caleb MacDonald (to AHL Cleveland)
D Will MacKinnon (to AHL Cleveland)
D Dysin Mayo (to AHL Cleveland, pending waiver clearance)
F Hunter McKown (to AHL Cleveland, pending waiver clearance)
F Ryland Mosley (to AHL Cleveland)
D Guillaume Richard (to AHL Cleveland)
G Zachary Sawchenko (to AHL Cleveland, pending waiver clearance)
F Owen Sillinger (to AHL Cleveland, pending waiver clearance)
Edmonton Oilers (per team announcement)
D Josh Brown (to AHL Bakersfield, pending waiver clearance)
F Roby Jarventie (to AHL Bakersfield, pending waiver clearance)
G Samuel Jonsson (to AHL Bakersfield)
F Viljami Marjala (to AHL Bakersfield)
New York Islanders (per team announcement)
G Tristan Lennox (to AHL Bridgeport)
F Eetu Liukas (to AHL Bridgeport)
D Jesse Pulkkinen (to AHL Bridgeport)
F Gleb Veremyev (to AHL Bridgeport)
D Marshall Warren (to AHL Bridgeport)
New York Rangers (per team announcement)
F Nathan Aspinall (to OHL Flint)
Philadelphia Flyers (per team release)
D Spencer Gill (to QMJHL Blainville-Boisbriand)
F Jack Nesbitt (to OHL Windsor)
Pittsburgh Penguins (per team release)
F Raivis Ansons (to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton)
D David Breazeale (to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton)
D Tommy Budnick (to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton)
F Kyle Criscuolo (to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton)
F Brayden Edwards (to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton)
F Zach Gallant (to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton)
F Max Graham (to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton)
D Brent Johnson (to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton)
F Jordan Kaplan (to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton)
F Gabe Klassen (to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton)
D Daniel Laatsch (to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton)
F Brett Murray (to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton)
G Maxim Pavlenko (to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton)
D Emil Pieniniemi (to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton)
F Zach Urdahl (to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton)
Seattle Kraken (per team announcements)
F JR Avon (to AHL Coachella Valley)
D Lukas Dragicevic (to AHL Coachella Valley)
F Jagger Firkus (to AHL Coachella Valley)
F David Goyette (to AHL Coachella Valley)
D Kaden Hammell (to AHL Coachella Valley)
F Justin Janicke (to AHL Coachella Valley)
D Tyson Jugnauth (to AHL Coachella Valley)
G Niklas Kokko (to AHL Coachella Valley)
G Jack LaFontaine (to AHL Coachella Valley)
F Andrei Loshko (to AHL Coachella Valley)
F Ian McKinnon (to AHL Coachella Valley)
F Jacob Melanson (to AHL Coachella Valley)
F Logan Morrison (to AHL Coachella Valley)
D Ty Nelson (to AHL Coachella Valley)
D Gustav Olofsson (to AHL Coachella Valley)
G Victor Ostman (to AHL Coachella Valley)
D Caden Price (to AHL Coachella Valley)
F Carson Rehkopf (to AHL Coachella Valley)
F Lleyton Roed (to AHL Coachella Valley)
F Eduard Sale (to AHL Coachella Valley)
F Nathan Villeneuve (to OHL Sudbury)
Vegas Golden Knights (per team announcement)
F Braeden Bowman (to AHL Henderson)
F Jakub Brabenec (to AHL Henderson)
F Mathieu Cataford (to AHL Henderson)
D Artur Cholach (to AHL Henderson)
D Jeremy Davies (to AHL Henderson)
F Jakub Demek (to AHL Henderson)
F/D Joe Fleming (to AHL Henderson)
F Jackson Hallum (to AHL Henderson)
F Ben Hemmerling (to AHL Henderson)
D Brandon Hickey (to AHL Henderson)
D Lucas Johansen (to AHL Henderson)
D Viliam Kmec (to AHL Henderson)
D Samuel Mayer (to AHL Henderson)
F Riley McKay (to AHL Henderson)
F Mitch McLain (to AHL Henderson)
F Devon Paliani (to AHL Henderson)
F Matyas Sapovaliv (to AHL Henderson)
D Christoffer Sedoff (to AHL Henderson)
F Sloan Stanick (to AHL Henderson)
F Trent Swick (to AHL Henderson)
F Kai Uchacz (to AHL Henderson)
F Tuomas Uronen (to AHL Henderson)
G Jesper Vikman (to AHL Henderson)
F Kevin Wall (to AHL Henderson)
G Cameron Whitehead (to AHL Henderson)
Washington Capitals (per team announcement)
F Zac Funk (to AHL Hershey)
G Mitch Gibson (to AHL Hershey)
F Ryan Hofer (to AHL Hershey)
F Lynden Lakovic (to WHL Moose Jaw)
D Aaron Ness (to AHL Hershey)
F Ludwig Persson (to AHL Hershey)
D Calle Rosen (to AHL Hershey, pending waivers)
F Spencer Smallman (to AHL Hershey, pending waivers)
F Matt Strome (to AHL Hershey)
F Alexander Suzdalev (to AHL Hershey)
Kaapo Kakko Out Six Weeks With Broken Hand
It has been a busy day for the Kraken today. After making 21 cuts from their training camp roster earlier today, they will now be without a key forward when the regular season gets underway. The team announced (Twitter link) that winger Kaapo Kakko is expected to miss the next six weeks due to a broken hand.
Kakko was acquired midseason from the Rangers last season in exchange for defenseman William Borgen, plus 2025 third and sixth-round picks. The move worked for New York as they quickly locked up Borgen to a long-term deal while it also worked quite well for the Kraken.
Before the swap, Kakko had just four goals and 10 assists in 30 games but the change of scenery helped him rediscover his offensive form. He picked up 10 goals and 20 helpers in 49 games with Seattle while his playing time went up by nearly four minutes per game to a little over 17 minutes a night as he became a regular in their top six. He also had a pair of assists in two games in this month’s preseason action.
In the 2024 offseason, Kakko looked like a possible non-tender candidate before effectively accepting his $2.4MM qualifying offer before it was even officially tendered. But the way he finished up with Seattle gave him much more leverage heading into an arbitration-eligible summer and he was able to ink a three-year, $13.575MM pact that gives him some security and the Kraken two extra years of club control.
It’s a tough blow for the 24-year-old as that second-half positive momentum is now on hold since he’ll miss at least the first month of the season. While Seattle shouldn’t need to put him on LTIR given that they have plenty of cap flexibility at the moment, Kakko will be eligible to go on there if necessary as he’ll miss at least 10 games and 24 days. From there, he’ll hope to pick up where he left off as Seattle will be counting on him to be a top-six piece for them upon his return.
Injury Updates To McCann, Villeneuve
- The Seattle Kraken issued injury updates to two players today: forward Jared McCann is listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury, while center Nathan Villeneuve will miss the rest of training camp with his own lower-body ailment. This development is particularly unfortunate for Villeneuve, 19, as he’s lost the ability to impress team brass in advance of his final season in the OHL. According to the Kraken’s official camp blog, Villeneuve “made a lasting impression” in last year’s preseason process before being cut, and now due to this injury he won’t have the opportunity to do that again in 2025. A 2024 second-round pick, Villeneuve scored 34 goals and 70 points in 57 games for the Sudbury Wolves last season.
Montour Out A Couple Of Weeks Plus Other Injury Updates
The Kraken announced (Twitter links) that defenseman Brandon Montour is set to miss the next two weeks after undergoing a procedure to remove a bursa on his ankle. The 31-year-old fit in rather well in his first season with Seattle, notching a career-best 18 goals while his 41 points were the second-most he’d had in a single season. The timeline suggests that he still should be available to start the season but he might not get into any preseason action.
Meanwhile, the team also provided injury updates on several other players. Veteran forward Max McCormick is out indefinitely and won’t participate in training camp. He wasn’t up with the Kraken last season so there won’t be a prorated cap charge while he sits on season-opening IR. Also, winger Lleyton Roed is expected to miss the next two months with an upper-body injury while forward Nathan Villeneuve is out with a lower-body injury that is still pending evaluation. Villeneuve isn’t able to play full-time in the minors this season so he will likely be returned to OHL Sudbury when he’s cleared to return.
Maple Leafs To Hire Mark Giordano
After going unsigned for 2024-25, veteran defender Mark Giordano appears to be putting a bow on his playing career. Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving said today they’ll announce in the coming days that they’ve hired him in a yet-to-be-disclosed role with their AHL affiliate, according to David Alter of The Hockey News.
That would signal the retirement of one of the game’s premier defensemen of the 2010s. He was intent on playing last season and beyond, his agent said last offseason. The Oilers and Sabres had expressed interest in him into training camp in 2024, as well as potential reunions with the Flames and Leafs, but no contract ever panned out. He’ll now make the jump into the next phase of his hockey career.
Giordano is in the running for one of the most fruitful undrafted free agent signings of all time. He landed his first NHL contract during the 2004-05 lockout, signing with Calgary out of OHL Owen Sound and spending the canceled year in the AHL. He made his NHL debut when the league resumed play for 2005-06. He got his first taste of full-time action the following year, making 48 appearances in a depth role. Without a guarantee of expanded playing time from the Flames entering 2007-08, though, Giordano opted not to re-sign with the club when his entry-level contract expired. He instead spent the year in Russia with Dynamo Moscow while remaining a restricted free agent.
He returned to the Flames for the 2008-09 season, more earnestly kicking off his career as a top-four fixture. He was more of a defensive-oriented piece early on but as he entered his 30s, his offensive production began to soar as well. He hit the 40-point mark for the first time in 2010-11 and, beginning with the prior year, averaged north of 20 minutes per game for Calgary for 12 years in a row.
Widely regarded as a top-20 defenseman in the league for most of his prime, Giordano exploded in the 2018-19 campaign for a career year at age 35. He took home the Norris Trophy and finished ninth in MVP voting on a 50-win Flames squad that year, racking up 74 points and a league-leading +39 rating in 78 appearances.
The Flames’ record slipped over the next couple of seasons, though. With Giordano entering the final season of his contract in the 2021 offseason and the Flames wanting to protect younger names like Rasmus Andersson and Noah Hanifin in that year’s expansion draft for the Kraken, the club left their captain exposed. Seattle picked him up, making him their first captain in franchise history, but his tenure in the Pacific Northwest was short-lived. The club was in the basement of the Pacific Division in their first year and, after Giordano scored 23 points in 55 games, traded the pending UFA to the Maple Leafs at the deadline for draft picks.
While the following summer meant the end of the six-year, $40.5MM contract he signed back in 2015, it didn’t mean the end of his time in Toronto. He signed a team-friendly two-year, $1.6MM deal that would see him finish his playing career with the Leafs as a serviceable bottom-pairing support piece. He made 144 regular-season appearances in a Toronto uniform in parts of three seasons, recording a 9-36–45 scoring line and a +49 rating.
Giordano’s 1,093 games in his second NHL stint rank seventh in the league among defensemen since 2008. His 561 points also rank 12th during that time. The Toronto native totaled a 158-419–577 scoring line in 1,148 career regular-season appearances with a +129 rating across 18 campaigns. All of us at PHR wish Giordano the best as he continues his career in the sport off-ice.
Image courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images.
Snapshots: Kraken, Johnson, Dumais
The Seattle Kraken endured another disappointing campaign in 2024-25, going 35-41-6 and finishing seventh in the Pacific Division. The middling season cost head coach Dan Bylsma his job after just one season at the helm of the club, and the team also did some shuffling at the top of their hockey operations hierarchy, promoting Ron Francis to the position of president of hockey operations and Jason Botterill to the position of general manager. On Friday, Botterill spoke to The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun about the state of the franchise heading into his first season as GM.
Botterill told LeBrun that he believes the “organization in the next year or two has to take that step to be, I’m not going to say a team that vies for the Stanley Cup, but a team that certainly competes for a playoff spot and is going to be in that mix in a constant way.” He also said he was eager to see new coach Lane Lambert implement his defensive philosophies to help the team shore up its back-end. The Kraken surrendered the ninth-most goals against per game in the NHL last season. While it remains to be seen whether the Kraken will be able to build themselves up to true Stanley Cup contention the way the Vegas Golden Knights were able to early in their franchise’s existence, there is a clear the mandate in Seattle is to take an urgently-needed step forward in 2025-26.
Other notes from across the NHL:
- Defenseman Erik Johnson, 37, is currently deciding between three different PTO offers in advance of the start of training camps, reports Guerilla Sports’ Jesse Montano. Montano added that none of those three offers are from the Avalanche, the team Johnson not only finished 2024-25 as a member of, but also has spent most of his 1023-game NHL career with. The veteran blueliner has settled into more of a reserve role as he’s progressed into his late thirties, though he could still have something to offer NHL teams in need of a defensive specialist with some leadership qualities. At the very least, he’ll get the chance to compete for a role in an NHL camp and most likely play in some preseason games.
- Columbus Blue Jackets prospect Jordan Dumais took part in warmups before the team’s prospect tournament game in Buffalo today, but was ultimately held out of the lineup for the contest. The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline reports that Dumais’ absence relates to a “slight tweak” he felt in his lower-body, and that the club elected to hold him out of the game for entirely precautionary reasons. While his absence is entirely precautionary, this development is notable because persistent injury issues caused Dumais to miss a large chunk of time in each of the last two seasons. Dumais is not considered a likely contender for the Blue Jackets’ season-opening roster, but could position himself for a call-up opportunity down the line if he can remain healthy and put together a strong preaseason and training camp.
Bernier And Miettinen Dealing With Injuries
- The Kraken are without a pair of prospects as their rookie camp begins. The team announced (Twitter link) that defenseman Alexis Bernier is out as he continues to recover from ACL surgery while center Julius Miettinen is dealing with an upper-body injury sustained in training camp with WHL Everett. Bernier had a strong post-draft season with QMJHL Baie-Comeau, collecting 14 goals and 32 assists in 59 games but isn’t eligible to play in the minors this season. As for Miettinen, he notched 39 points in 36 games with the Silvertips and briefly spent time as a reserve with AHL Coachella Valley in the playoffs. However, he also isn’t eligible to play in the minors this season.
Flyers, Kraken Swap Jon-Randall Avon, Tucker Robertson
The Flyers acquired forward Tucker Robertson from the Kraken for forward Jon-Randall Avon, the teams announced. The pair of prospects will now report to their new teams’ training camp in a couple of weeks.
It amounts to a swap of lower-tier prospects who haven’t quite panned out as their clubs hoped. They’re both entering their age-22 seasons, born just a handful of days apart in the summer of 2003.
It’s particularly unsurprising to see the Kraken move on from Robertson. He was a fourth-round pick in 2022 after going undrafted in 2021, a season he missed entirely due to the pandemic. But despite producing over a point per game for the OHL’s Peterborough Petes in 2021-22 and 2022-23, he hasn’t been able to find any sustained offensive success in the pros.
Robertson never graded out as a top-10 or even top-15 prospect in Seattle’s system. He split his first pro season in 2023-24 between AHL Coachella Valley and ECHL Kansas City but found himself on the AHL roster full-time in 2024-25. Unfortunately, that didn’t come with much playing time. He only got into around half of Coachella Valley’s games, recording a 4-5–9 scoring line in 38 games. The 5’10”, 190-lb center now has 10 goals and 19 points in 77 career AHL games over the last two years.
Avon, whom the Flyers signed as an undrafted free agent in 2021, has seen moderately more offensive success. He was teammates with Robertson in junior hockey with Peterborough and made the jump to the pros at the same time. The stepson of former Blackhawks star Steve Larmer has stuck around as a depth piece with Philly’s AHL affiliate in Lehigh Valley for the last two years, putting together a 16-19–35 scoring line with a -22 rating in 125 games. He’s taller but lankier than Robertson at 6’0″ and 174 lbs.
Since Avon’s ELC slid twice before going into effect, both he and Robertson are entering the final seasons of their contracts. They’ll be restricted free agents next summer with neither being eligible for arbitration.