Headlines

Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Transactions

Canucks Hire Brett McLean, Scott Young As Assistant Coaches

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Vancouver Canucks are nearing the finalization of their coaching staff for the 2025-26 NHL season. The organization announced that it has hired Brett McLean and Scott Young as assistant coaches, and confirmed a report from a few days ago, indicating that Kevin Dean would also be joining the staff.

McLean earns his first stint back in the NHL since his time as an assistant coach with the Minnesota Wild from 2020 to 2023. He’s spent the last two years serving as the head coach for the AHL’s Iowa Wild, managing a 54-74-10-6 record in 144 games.

Young is the only one of the trio who’s not an outside hire. He’s spent the last three years as the organization’s Director of Player Personnel, after joining Rick Tocchet’s staff during the 2022-23 campaign. Before his tenure in Vancouver, Young had served as the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Director of Player Development, joining the team the year after Tocchet had departed in 2017.

Although the Canucks’ on-bench coaching staff is taking shape around Adam Foote, some non-bench coaches aren’t expected to return next season. According to Rob Williams of Daily Hive Vancouver, development coach Sergei Gonchar and video coach Dylan Crawford won’t be a part of Foote’s staff.

It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Gonchar join Tocchet’s staff with the Philadelphia Flyers in a similar role. The two have inconsistently coached together since the 2015-16 season in Pittsburgh, with Gonchar joining Tocchet upon his move to Vancouver in 2022-23.

Canadiens’ Gustav Lindström Signs Five-Year Contract In SHL

at CDT | by 1 Comment

Djurgårdens IF of the Swedish Hockey League has signed Canadiens pending RFA defenseman Gustav Lindström to a five-year deal, the club announced. He’s now set to play in his home country through the 2029-30 season.

Lindström, a depth piece on the Red Wings’ blue line after they drafted him in the second round in 2017, was first picked up by Montreal ahead of the 2023-24 season in exchange for Jeff Petry. He was claimed off waivers by the Ducks mid-season, but after Anaheim didn’t issue him a qualifying offer, he returned to Montreal as a UFA signing at the beginning of the 2024-25 campaign.

The Canadiens waived Lindström to begin the year, and that was his most recent transaction. He spent the entire season in the minors for the first time since arriving in North America in 2019, recording a 4-7–11 scoring line with 28 PIMs and a +18 rating in 42 games for AHL Laval. Understandably, he’ll opt for more opportunity overseas in a more familiar environment.

Montreal can still issue Lindström a qualifying offer to retain his signing rights, but doing so would only keep him on their reserve list through June 30, 2026. Unless he desires an NHL return one year into his multi-year commitment to Djurgården, doing so would only take up a reserve list spot unnecessarily. It’s more likely they’ll non-tender him and let his exclusive NHL signing rights lapse.

The 6’2″ Lindström heads back home after posting a 5-30–35 scoring line with a -21 rating in 174 NHL games for Anaheim, Detroit, and Montreal between 2019-20 and 2023-24. He averaged 15:34 per game during his tenure with the three clubs.

Lindström’s only previous SHL experience came with Frölunda HC in the 2018-19 campaign, when he posted six points and a minus-five rating in 40 games while playing a depth role on the league’s championship club that year. He now joins a Djurgårdens team fresh off promotion following three years in the second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan. He’s the second pending NHL RFA they’ve picked up in the last few weeks, joining Predators winger Jesse Ylönen.

Jere Innala Returning To Sweden’s Frölunda HC

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Avalanche pending UFA winger Jere Innala won’t re-sign with the club and will instead return to Frölunda HC of the Swedish Hockey League, where he still had a valid contract through 2025-26, per a team announcement.

Innala, 27, joined Frölunda for the 2022-23 campaign. He put up a 26-28–54 scoring line in 94 games there, as well as 11 goals in just 14 playoff games in 2024, before landing an entry-level contract with Colorado as an international free agent last summer.

The 5’9″ Finn got a fair amount of reps with the big club, particularly mid-season when injuries ravaged their forward group. But despite making 17 appearances, he never got on the scoresheet and averaged just 7:09 per game with a minus-three rating. He managed eight shots on goal, and the Avs were outchanced 42-39 when he was on the ice at 5-on-5.

He still spent a good portion of the season in the minors with AHL Colorado, where he was a solid scoring presence but not dominant. He logged 17-11–28 in 43 games, which could presumably be the only AHL appearances of his professional career.

After failing to lock down an NHL job, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Innala remain in Europe for the remainder of his career. Doing so would provide him more opportunities to play internationally, where he’s won a gold and silver medal for Finland at the World Championships in the past few years. He also won a Liiga title with HPK back in 2019.

Mark Friedman Signs Two-Year Deal In Sweden

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

June 5: Friedman is heading to Sweden but not with either of the two clubs mentioned. He signed a two-year contract with Rögle BK instead, according to a club announcement.

May 29: Veteran defenseman Mark Friedman has spent the bulk of his playing time in the minors over the last couple of seasons so it appears that he may be looking to try something different next season.  Mattias Persson of Hockeynews.se reports that the blueliner will be signing in the SHL with Farjestad and Orebro believed to be the two teams vying for his services.

The 29-year-old has seen NHL action in seven straight seasons.  However, he has largely been in a depth or reserve role over that time as he has suited up in just 93 games at the top level with three different teams.  Overall, Friedman has four goals and nine assists in those outings while logging a little over 13 minutes a night.

Friedman started the season with Vancouver but after getting into 23 games with them last season, that number dropped to just five this year.  After clearing waivers, he spent 20 games with AHL Abbotsford before being moved to Nashville for future considerations back in February.  Despite the Predators having injuries on their back end down the stretch, Friedman didn’t see any more NHL action and got into 21 regular season games with Milwaukee.  All told, he had three goals and 16 assists between the two teams before adding three points in ten playoff contests.

A pending unrestricted free agent, Friedman now qualifies for full veteran status in the AHL moving forward; teams can only dress five players with more than 320 professional games played, a mark he eclipsed this season.  Accordingly, that could have limited his market this summer.  Instead, it appears that Friedman has decided to get out ahead of that with a deal in Sweden on the horizon.

Avalanche Sign Brock Nelson To Three-Year Extension

at CDT | by 15 Comments

The Avalanche have signed pending UFA center Brock Nelson to a three-year extension, per a team announcement. The deal carries a $7.5MM cap hit for a total value of $22.5MM, reports Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.

In doing so, Colorado takes one of the top pivots off this summer’s open market. They paid a steep price to acquire the longtime Islander from New York at the trade deadline, surrendering their 2026 first-round pick along with center Calum Ritchie, their No. 1 prospect, along with some smaller assets to land him. Losing him for nothing, especially after the Avalanche suffered a first-round playoff loss to the Stars, would have been quite the blow.

Instead, they’ll get parts of four seasons out of the 33-year-old, assuming he plays out the rest of his deal. It’s an eye-popping price tag, especially since he’s coming off somewhat of a down season with 26 goals and 56 points in 80 games split between Denver and Long Island, and a noticeable raise over his previous $6MM cap hit. Nonetheless, he’ll be the solution to fill the second-line center gap for the next few years after searching for a consistent producer following Nazem Kadri’s departure in free agency in 2022.

Nelson’s point production this season didn’t shift considerably from team to team. He posted 43 points in 61 games for the Islanders (0.70 per game) before logging 13 in 19 for Colorado down the stretch (0.68 per game). Nelson added four assists and a plus-two rating in seven playoff games for the Avs, averaging a shade under 17 minutes per game in the postseason.

Notably, the contract he signed with the Avalanche is the same one offered to him by the Islanders before they opted to trade him, Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News reports. Amid a retool with new general manager Mathieu Darche at the helm, New York is likely still happy with the move to jumpstart what was one of the worst prospect pools in the league.

Nelson’s contract will be an important comparable as other top pending UFA centers like Sam Bennett and John Tavares continue to pursue extensions with their current clubs. The deal he ended up signing came in a fair amount above the roughly $7MM AAV projected for him on a three-year deal on the open market, according to AFP Analytics.

Avalanche GM Chris MacFarland now has his center group of Nathan MacKinnon, Nelson, Charlie Coyle, and Jack Drury all under contract through next season. Coyle and Drury will become eligible to sign extensions on July 1.

Still, the premium they paid to keep Nelson from testing free agency will cause some cap headaches for MacFarland to deal with this summer. They’re down to just $1.2MM in cap space for 2025-26, according to PuckPedia. While they have a mostly full roster, they still have four open spots between them and a cap-compliant 23-man roster.

Barring a significant cap-clearing trade, their notable pending UFAs, winger Jonathan Drouin and defenseman Ryan Lindgren, are not returning. Even if they only signed players to league-minimum deals, they’d only be able to ice a bare-minimum 20-player roster out of the gate with no flexibility for a recall.

Nelson’s deal runs through the 2027-28 season, after which he’ll be able to test unrestricted free agency if he so chooses at age 36. The 2010 first-round pick could play his 1,000th game late next season if he stays healthy. He’s at 920 entering the offseason.

Image courtesy of Talia Sprague-Imagn Images.

Devin Shore Signs With HC Sparta Prague

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

After spending his entire career in North America, pending UFA forward Devin Shore is heading overseas. He signed a one-year deal with HC Sparta Prague of the Czech Extraliga today, the club announced.

Shore, 31 in July, spent this season on a two-way deal with the Wild. He was meant to be a top-six piece for AHL Iowa, but a never-ending list of injuries to Minnesota’s forward group meant he spent most of the season up with the big club.

Outside of throwing the body with 76 hits, he wasn’t particularly effective in fourth-line minutes. Averaging 8:39 of ice time over 55 games, Shore recorded a 1-4–5 scoring line, a minus-eight rating, and some of the worst even-strength possession metrics on the team (40.9 CF%, 38.1 xGF%).

Shore was once an everyday NHL contributor and even had back-to-back 30-point seasons with the Stars in 2016-17 and 2017-18 to kick off his career, but he hasn’t held down a consistent role since. His 55 appearances this season were his most since the 2018-19 campaign, and he hasn’t hit double digits in goals since then, either.

A second-round pick by Dallas in 2012, he’s appeared in parts of the last 10 NHL seasons and has also made stops in Anaheim, Columbus, Edmonton, and Seattle. He heads overseas after recording 52 goals and 144 points in 498 NHL games, a career that’s unlikely to extend at his age.

He’ll head to Czechia to link up with other ex-NHLers like Roman Horák, Michal Kempný, and Mark Pysyk on Sparta’s 2025-26 roster.

Vancouver Canucks Sign Derek Forbort To One-Year Deal

at CDT | by 2 Comments

The Vancouver Canucks will have some added continuity to their defensive core next season. Vancouver announced they’ve re-signed defenseman Derek Forbort to a one-year, $2MM contract.

Forbort’s new deal won’t have any negative side effects on other defensemen on the roster, but it likely spells the end of Noah Juulsen’s tenure in British Columbia. The Canucks now have seven defenseman signed through the 2025-26 season, including youngsters like Victor Mancini and Elias Pettersson.

He was as advertised for the Canucks this season. Injuries limited Forbort to 54 games played, yet he still scored two goals and 11 points, making for one of the better point-per-game metrics of his 10-year career. Despite the increased offensive (for his standards), Forbort missed the playoffs for the first time in five years.

Still, if the Canucks could make a move for another right-handed defenseman, Forbort represents a nice defensive option to place next to Tyler Myers in the bottom-pairing. He’s a like-sized blue liner who takes care of the puck in the defensive zone, as evidenced by his 46.4% CorsiFor% at even strength and 90.6% on-ice save percentage at even strength.

Unfortunately, retaining Forbort won’t help what plagued Vancouver this season. The Canucks boasted one of the top penalty kills, and had a respectable goals-against average, but their lethargic offense cost them dearly. Now that the defensive core is settled, the Canucks can spend the rest of the summer re-imagining their forward core.

Lightning Re-Sign Steven Santini To Two-Year Deal

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Tampa Bay Lightning are keeping around one of their depth defenseman for a few more years. The Lightning announced they’ve re-signed blue liner Steven Santini to a two-year, two-way contract.

Santini recently wrapped up his first season with the Lightning organization. After coasting through the New Jersey Devils and St. Louis Blues’ organization for a few years, largely in the AHL, Santini spent one year with the Los Angeles Kings’ AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign, before signing a one-year, $775K contract with Tampa Bay last summer.

Similarly to his previous employers, the Lightning stashed Santini with their AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch, for much of the year. Despite not being regarded as an offensive weapon from the point, Santini had the third-best scoring season of his AHL career, tallying six goals and 17 points in 58 games with a +10 rating.

Still, Santini received an opportunity to play in the NHL for the first time since the 2022-23 season, and his fifth since the 2020-21 season. Due to an injury to Erik Černák, Santini skated in 11:37 of the Lightning’s win against the Calgary Flames on December 12th, going scoreless.

Even with Nicklaus Perbix likely leaving the organization this summer, it’s highly unlikely that Santini will compete for a spot on the roster out of training camp, even as a seventh defenseman. He should be expected to spend a majority of the year with AHL Syracuse, and be a quick injury replacement should Tampa Bay need it.

Red Wings Sign Jesse Kiiskinen To Entry-Level Contract

at CDT | by 5 Comments

The Red Wings announced they’ve signed winger Jesse Kiiskinen to a three-year, entry-level contract beginning next season. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Kiiskinen, a 2023 third-round pick by the Predators whom Detroit acquired in a prospect swap last summer, lands his rookie deal after a massive breakout season in his native Finland, as PHR’s Gabriel Foley outlined last month. The 19-year-old sniper potted a 14-30–44 scoring line in 46 games for HPK of the top-flight Liiga, leading the club in points. He scored the most points in the league among junior-aged players and also racked up six goals and an assist for Finland in seven World Juniors games, helping them to a silver medal while being named a top-three player on the team.

That massive breakout surely has Detroit thrilled about their return when they dealt similarly-touted defense prospect Andrew Gibson to Nashville. While loaning Kiiskinen back to HPK for next season is always an option even after signing him, that level of production stands to reason he’s more than ready to make the jump to AHL Grand Rapids in the fall and even be under outside consideration for an NHL recall late in the year.

Kiiskinen turns 20 in August, so he’s too old to be eligible for an entry-level slide. His contract will go into effect next season, regardless of how many NHL games he plays, and will hit RFA status in the summer of 2028.

Oilers Sign Roby Jarventie To Two-Way Extension

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

When Oilers pending RFA winger Roby Jarventie signed a three-year deal in his native Finland early last month, that indicated he wouldn’t be back with the club for a while. Instead, it appears that his overseas contract is being torn up as he’s landed a two-way commitment from Edmonton for 2025-26, PuckPedia reports. The contract carries the league-minimum NHL salary of $775K with a $125K minors salary and a $200K guarantee.

Jarventie’s 2024-25 sample size was limited to just two games, both with AHL Bakersfield back in October, after sustaining an offseason knee injury. It was the 22-year-old’s first season in the Edmonton system after the Oilers acquired him from the Senators in exchange for 2021 first-round pick Xavier Bourgault last summer.

His NHL resume is, unsurprisingly, limited. He has one assist and a minus-five rating in seven career outings, all with Ottawa in a November 2023 call-up. He averaged just 7:31 per game, though, never getting the opportunity to showcase what he can do offensively higher up in the lineup.

Up until this season, though, Jarventie’s minor-league development in Ottawa’s system with AHL Belleville was promising. In his three seasons spent fully in North America, Jarventie increased his points per game production from 0.47 in 2021-22 to 0.75 in 2022-23 and again to 0.91 in 2023-24. The 2020 second-rounder also had two assists in his two outings with Bakersfield this year and almost certainly would have gotten a call-up to the Oilers had his health held up.

Jarventie was presumably unsure whether he’d receive a contract offer from Edmonton after his injury-plagued season, leading to his decision to land a secure role back home. Instead, he’ll look to hit the reset button this summer and compete for a roster spot in training camp in the fall.

Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

scroll to top