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San Jose Sharks Re-Sign Jack Thompson

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12:45 p.m.: According to PuckPedia, the Sharks will pay Thompson an NHL salary of $800K and an AHL salary of $115K, with $135K guaranteed.

12:03 p.m.: Despite loading up their defensive core this offseason, the San Jose Sharks are additionally retaining some of their depth from last year. The Sharks announced they’ve signed defenseman Jack Thompson to a one-year, two-way contract for the 2025-26 season. The team did not disclose any financial information.

Thompson has been a difficult defenseman to project since coming to San Jose from the Tampa Bay Lightning in the deadline deal for Anthony Duclair a few years ago. During his time with the Lightning organization, the former 93rd overall pick of the 2020 NHL Draft played particularly well with their AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch, scoring 13 goals and 56 points in 118 games.

His scoring output and overall play have dropped since joining the Sharks organization. However, much of that can be blamed on his inconsistent use within the organization. Thompson hardly plays when he’s on the Sharks roster, being an oft-healthy scratch when the team has a healthy blue line. Given that he’s only 23 years old, the Sharks may benefit from Thompson spending the entire 2025-26 campaign with the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda to ensure consistent reps to aid in his development.

He’s performed well for the Barracuda when on the roster, scoring four goals and 23 points in 43 games. Extrapolated over a full season, Thompson is pacing out for seven goals and 36 points in 72 games for the Barracuda, which would have been good for second on the team in scoring among defensemen for the 2024-25 campaign.

Throughout his brief play in the NHL with the Sharks, Thompson has shown flashes of quality hockey. From October 20th to November 23rd this past season, Thompson scored two goals and five points in 13 games for San Jose with 20 blocked shots. From March 1st to April 13th, he scored another two goals and five points in 11 contests with 26 blocked shots. There were some rough months in between, but Thompson has proven his quality two-way play at times.

Ultimately, any true opportunity at the NHL level for the Courtice, Ontario native came and went this summer. The Sharks added Dmitry Orlov, John Klingberg, and Nick Leddy to a blue line that already had Mario Ferraro, Timothy Liljegren, Vincent Desharnais, and Shakir Mukhamadullin. As mentioned, to give the best possible opportunity for development, the Sharks should consider keeping Thompson in the AHL for the 2025-26 season, and only recall him in case of injuries to the defensive core.

Edmonton Oilers Make Multiple Coaching Changes

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Some changes are coming to the Edmonton Oilers’ coaching staff for the 2025-26 campaign. The Oilers announced they’ve hired Paul McFarland as an assistant coach, Peter Aubry as a goaltending coach, and Conor Allen as a skills coach. Making room for McFarland as an assistant, Edmonton also shared that legendary defenseman Paul Coffey will return to his previous role as a special advisor to ownership and hockey operations.

It’ll mark a return to the NHL for McFarland. He’s had three brief trips through the NHL, spending two years as an assistant coach for the Florida Panthers, one year as an assistant coach for the Toronto Maple Leafs, and three years as an assistant coach for the Seattle Kraken.

The Richmond Hill, Ontario native spent last season serving as the head coach of the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen, guiding them back into the WHL postseason. McFarland coached the Hitmen to a 45-17-3-3 record with a +83 differential. Unfortunately, their success ended relatively early, losing in the second round of the WHL playoffs to the Lethbridge Hurricanes in seven games.

Meanwhile, Aubry replaces Dustin Schwartz as the Oilers’ goaltending coach, who had been serving in the role since the 2014-15 season. Schwartz had presided over some strong play from Cam Talbot, Mikko Koskinen, and Stuart Skinner over the last decade, but the team’s performance in the crease over the past two years warranted a change in mentorship.

Despite serving as the associate coach for the NCAA’s University of Nebraska-Omaha for the past two years, Aubrey has plenty of professional experience to fall back on. He served as the developmental goaltending coach for the Chicago Blackhawks from 2015 to 2023, helping graduate prospects such as Anton Forsberg, Kevin Lankinen, and Collin Delia to the NHL level. Unfortunately, since the Blackhawks had Corey Crawford for much of Aubrey’s time, none of his proteges had a real opportunity to flourish in Chicago.

Lastly, Allen is making the long trek from Plymouth, MI, to Alberta after being an assistant coach for the U.S. National U17 team last season. He’s a veteran of 284 games at the AHL level, scoring 22 goals and 93 points with a -37 rating, and of seven NHL contests with the New York Rangers from 2013 to 2015.

Jeff Marek of Daily Faceoff was the first to report that the Oilers were expected to hire McFarland. 

Jets Re-Sign Morgan Barron To Two-Year Deal

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According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Winnipeg Jets have taken one of their restricted free agents off the board. Friedman reports that the Jets have re-signed Morgan Barron to a two-year, $3.7MM contract, with an AAV of $1.85MM.

As expected, Winnipeg and Barron came to an arrangement relatively quickly after the latter filed for salary arbitration on July 5th. The two parties were less than a week away from the start of arbitration hearings. Still, by filing for arbitration, Barron eliminated his opportunity to negotiate with other teams about an offer sheet, meaning both sides were in a comfortable spot.

The deal seems like a fair compromise for both sides. Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Free Press reported that Barron will earn a $1.7MM salary in the first year of the deal, and $2MM in the second. It’s only a moderate bump in pay from Barron’s previous $1.35MM salary, but the two-year structure will walk him into unrestricted free agency after the 2026-27 campaign.

It’s also a fair price for a center that is destined for a fourth-line role. After extending Vladislav Namestnikov and inking Jonathan Toews to a contract, the Jets effectively eliminated any chance for Barron to move up on the depth chart, assuming a healthy roster.

He’s a quality defensive center to have in a fourth-line role, despite having some noticeable flaws. He’s chipped in at times offensively, scoring 27 goals and 54 points in 224 games for Winnipeg over the last three years, averaging 11:19 of ice time per game. He’s averaged a strong 93.3% on-ice save percentage at even strength in Manitoba, but his 48.8% success rate in the faceoff dot leaves a lot to be desired, especially considering that he starts a majority of his shifts in the defensive zone.

Still, given his defensive prowess and the physicality he brings to the bottom of the lineup, the Jets have been willing to overlook a slightly subpar faceoff percentage from Barron. They’ll retain some continuity in their lineup, and Barron’s offensive contributions may increase next season, given the Jets’ additions of Gustav Nyquist, Tanner Pearson, and Cole Koepke this summer.

Photo courtesy of Walter Tychnowicz-Imagn Images.

Lightning Sign Scott Sabourin

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The Lightning have added some grit up front for their system as the team announced that they’ve signed winger Scott Sabourin to a one-year, two-way contract.  Financial terms were not disclosed but PuckPedia reports (Twitter link) that it’s worth $775K in the NHL, $250K in the minors, and has a guaranteed payout of $350K.

The 32-year-old has seen NHL action in five of the last six seasons but it has been minimal, to say the least.  Sabourin played in just one game last season with the Sharks, an outing in late January.  Over his career, he has made 47 appearances at the top level, picking up two goals and six assists along with 103 hits and 58 penalty minutes.

Sabourin has been much more of a factor in the minors, however.  Last season, he notched 10 goals and 15 assists plus 111 penalty minutes in 68 games with San Jose’s AHL affiliate, the Barracuda.  That extended his streak of consecutive seasons with double-digit goals and at least 100 penalty minutes to three.  Overall, he has 88 goals, 93 assists, and 1,223 penalty minutes in 532 AHL contests over parts of 12 seasons.

Originally signed as an undrafted free agent back in 2013, Sabourin has now signed eight NHL contracts across six different organizations.  He’s likely to begin next season with AHL Syracuse while being a recall option if Tampa Bay decides that they want some extra physicality in the lineup for certain matchups.

Penguins Acquire Arturs Silovs From Canucks

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The Pittsburgh Penguins have acquired goaltender Arturs Silovs from the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for forward prospect Chase Stillman and a 2027 fourth-round pick.

Pittsburgh will move to acquire a goalie just a few weeks after trading Alex Nedeljkovic to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for a 2028 third-round pick. In turning to Silovs, Pittsburgh finds a goalie who is both five years younger than Nedeljkovic, and more experienced in the playoffs.

Silovs stepped into the Canucks’ starting role during the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs with only nine games of NHL experience under his belt, following an injury to Thatcher Demko. He posted one shutout, but otherwise managed a 5-5-0 record and .898 save percentage.

He found his way back to a split role in a crowded Abbotsford Canucks goalie room this season – but fought back into the role of playoff starter after posting a team-best .908 save percentage in 21 games. Back at the helm, Silovs drove Abbotsford to a Calder Cup Championship with a .931 save percentage and 16-7-0 record. He’s a red-hot hand with upside, who will seem to settle in between the role of AHL starter and NHL backup next season. That’s exactly the support Pittsburgh could use, allowing the team to bump Joel Blomqvist up to number-two on the depth chart while still maintaining competition for the backup role.

On the other side, Vancouver invest further into their depth forward group. Stillman was a first-round selection in the 2021 NHL Draft, after a weird draft year where eight games in Denmark’s U20 league, and seven games at the World U-18 Championship, was his only gametime. He returned to the OHL for two seasons following his draft selection, and totaled 97 points in 158 games split between the Sudbury Wolves and Peterborough Petes. He served as an assistant captain for both clubs.

Stillman turned pro with the AHL’s Utica Comets in the 2023-24 season. He recorded a modest 14 goals, 24 points, and 72 penalty minutes in 54 games as a rookie, but struggled to fight his way into a routine, top-end role in the lineup. Those challenges reached a peak on a caved-in Utica lineup this season. Stillman started the year with just nine points in 46 games with the Comets, prompting a move to the Penguins organization at the Trade Deadline. He was traded alongside Max Graham and a 2027 third-round pick in the deal that landed New Jersey Cody Glass and Jonathan Gruden.

Stillman continued to struggle in his move to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. He scored just three points in 21 games with the club, and will now find himself on the move once again. Luckily, he could be headed for a golden opportunity with Abbotsford, who will be looking for a replacement for Sammy Blais’ top-six role. Blais scored 59 points across 74 games with the AHL’s Canucks last season, and his mix of grit and finesse was a major boost in the team’s run to a league title. Stillman will look to grab hold of that important role, while Silovs tries to find enough footing to jump to the NHL.

DEL’s Straubing Tigers Sign Tyler Madden

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Once a promising prospect in the Kings’ pool, Tyler Madden is off to Germany on a one-year deal with the Straubing Tigers of the DEL, the team announced.

Madden, 25, heads to Germany’s top league on the heels of a few years of stagnation in the minors. The son of longtime NHL center John Madden was a third-round pick of the Canucks in 2018 and quickly made a name for himself in college at Northeastern, turning pro after a sophomore season in which he had 37 points in only 27 games.

A few weeks before leaving college, Madden’s signing rights were sent to Los Angeles in the trade that sent Tyler Toffoli to Vancouver. He quickly signed his entry-level contract, but the pandemic delayed his professional debut.

After playing just 14 games with AHL Ontario in 2020-21 as a result, Madden looked like he was well on his way to a full-time NHL role the following season when he put up 31 points in 48 games for the Reign. Unfortunately, that was the peak of the New York native’s production.

Madden’s AHL points per game totals went from 0.65 in 2021-22 to around 0.46 over the following two seasons, resulting in him never getting an NHL call-up. Midway through last season, the Kings traded him to the Wild in exchange for minor-league defenseman Joseph Cecconi.

He finished the season with two goals and 10 points in 20 games for AHL Iowa, not enough to convince Minnesota to give him a qualifying offer. He became an unrestricted free agent on July 1 as a result and presumably didn’t receive any NHL two-way offers that intrigued him.

The 2019 World Juniors silver medalist now heads to Straubing, where he’ll potentially look to fuel a return to North America with a strong performance. If not, it might be the start of a lengthy European career.

The Tigers have been in Germany’s top league since gaining promotion from the second division in 2006, but have largely been a middle-of-the-pack team over the last two decades. They’ll hope Madden offers them an offensive infusion after their top scorer last season, Josh Samanski, left to sign an entry-level contract with the Oilers.

Nikolai Kovalenko Signs With CSKA Moscow

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A couple of years ago, it looked like winger Nikolai Kovalenko was going to have a chance to become an impactful NHL player.  Instead, he is effectively one-and-done in North America as CSKA Moscow of the KHL announced on its Telegram page that they’ve signed Kovalenko to a two-year contract.

The 25-year-old was a fifth-round pick by Colorado back in 2018, going 171st overall.  While it took some time, Kovalenko became a key scoring threat back home, putting up 87 points over his last two seasons with KHL Torpedo, earning himself an entry-level contract along the way.

Once Kovalenko’s KHL season ended in 2024, he was brought up by the Avs and even got into a pair of playoff contests that spring for his first taste of NHL action.  The hope was that he’d be well-positioned to upgrade Colorado’s bottom-six group heading into last season with potentially showing enough to move into the top six whenever injuries crept up.

Unfortunately, things didn’t quite go as planned on that front.  Kovalenko was limited to just four goals and four assists in the first 28 games of the season while logging just 12 minutes a night of playing time.  Instead of being an upgrade on some of the question marks the Avalanche deployed at the back of their forward group, he simply became another one of them.

As a result, Colorado opted to trade Kovalenko to San Jose in early December as one of the key pieces of the return for Mackenzie Blackwood who was brought in to shore up their goaltending (and later signed a five-year extension).  With the Sharks firmly in rebuilding mode, it seemed like Kovalenko would get a longer leash and potentially develop into the type of player the Avs were hoping he’d become.

But that didn’t happen.  Kovalenko found himself primarily in the same role he had with Colorado and even found himself as a healthy scratch at times.  He got into 29 games with San Jose, notching just three goals and nine assists while his ice time ticked up only slightly to 12:40 per game.  With the Sharks looking to shake things up roster-wise this summer, they elected to non-tender Kovalenko last month, making him an unrestricted free agent.

While Kovalenko was believed to prefer to stay in the NHL, evidently the offers weren’t to his liking so he has decided to return home after just one full season across the pond.  Given his age, it’s quite possible that he’ll be able to get himself back on the radar if he immediately goes back to being a top performer at the KHL level so this might not be the last we see of him in North America.

Photo courtesy of Stan Szeto-Imagn Images.

Jeff Skinner Signs With Sharks

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Free agent winger Jeff Skinner has signed a one-year deal worth $3MM with the Sharks, according to a team press release. He was one of the few of our top 50 unrestricted free agents who remained unsigned heading into the second week of the new league year.

Skinner, 33, has averaged 0.65 points per game for his career and is a skilled shooter, finishing at an 11.2% clip in 1,078 career regular-season games. His lengthy career has been plagued by peaks and valleys that ultimately resulted in the Sabres buying out the final three seasons of his eight-year, $72MM extension last summer.

He quickly landed with the Oilers on an identical contract to this one when the market opened last year, but the fit wasn’t great. He spent most of his time in a bottom-six role, not particularly conducive to his offensive skillset, and turned out just 16 goals and 29 points in 72 games as a result. Those were his lowest offensive totals in three years, accompanied by the lowest deployment of his career at 13 minutes per game.

He’ll hope for better results with the Sharks, who needed another veteran forward for multiple reasons. Not only did they need another body in case they decide fringe youngsters like Collin Graf or Cameron Lund would be better served with AHL time out of the gate, but they needed to add salary to ensure they stay above the cap floor while debating what to do with their logjam of depth defensemen.

Skinner accomplishes both those objectives while hopefully adding an infusion to the league’s worst offense in 2024-25 in expanded minutes. The Sharks averaged 2.54 goals per game last season but now add a six-time 30-goal threat on a virtually zero-risk deal, even if he’s coming off a disappointing campaign in Edmonton.

San Jose hasn’t made many offseason moves at forward, although they did pick up enforcer Ryan Reaves in a trade last night and signed depth pieces Adam Gaudette and Philipp Kurashev in free agency. The bulk of their talent-adding has come on the back end, where they’ve added veterans John Klingberg, Nick Leddy, and Dmitry Orlov via signings and waiver claims.

After their recent moves, the Sharks are now $4.36MM above the $70.6MM lower limit with $20.54MM in cap space, per PuckPedia. While they’ll still lean primarily on youngsters like Macklin Celebrini, William Eklund, and Will Smith for offense, they’ve done a better job this summer of insulating their next wave of players with added quality veteran talent.

Image courtesy of Perry Nelson-Imagn Images.

Jets Re-Sign Isaak Phillips To Two-Year Contract

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The Jets have re-signed restricted free agent defenseman Isaak Phillips to a two-year contract, according to a team announcement. It’s unclear if it’s a one-way or two-way deal.

While playing his junior hockey with the OHL’s Sudbury Wolves, Phillips was drafted in the fifth round in 2020 by the Blackhawks. He got an early taste of pro hockey the following season when the OHL suspended operations due to COVID, playing for AHL Rockford in his post-draft year, and was able to remain there the following season thanks to his late September birthday. He bounced between leagues for much of his time with Chicago and successfully cleared waivers for the first time at the beginning of 2024-25.

Phillips, 23, was again shuttled between leagues through the early going of the campaign but was sent to the minors permanently in November. With his spot in the organization uncertain, the Hawks traded him to Winnipeg in January. He didn’t receive a recall after the trade, finishing the season with the AHL’s Manitoba Moose. He made just three NHL appearances in 2024-25, posting an assist and three hits while averaging a paltry 11:54 per game.

While a defensive defenseman first and foremost, Phillips had shown a degree of offensive competency in Rockford in the past that led some to believe he could have the all-around play necessary to become an everyday third-pairing piece. That wasn’t the case last season. He made 67 appearances between Rockford and Manitoba, only managing four goals and 16 points with a cumulative minus-three rating.

The 6’3″, 205-lb lefty may be valuable organizational depth for the Jets with his 238 games of AHL experience, but that lackluster showing in the minors doesn’t inspire confidence that he’ll realistically compete for a roster spot in the fall. Winnipeg has eight defensemen under contract who played at least 39 NHL games last season.

If Phillips doesn’t manage 24 NHL appearances over the next two seasons, he’ll be able to test unrestricted free agency early thanks to Group VI status. If he plays more than that, he’ll remain under Winnipeg’s control as an RFA upon expiry.

Hurricanes Sign Gavin Bayreuther To Two-Way Deal

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The Hurricanes have signed free agent defenseman Gavin Bayreuther to a two-way deal, per a team release. They also confirmed a previous report that winger Noel Gunler had accepted his qualifying offer.

A 6’1″ lefty, Bayreuther has worked out a lengthy professional career for himself after going undrafted. He spent seven seasons bouncing between the AHL and NHL in the Stars and Blue Jackets organizations after ending his collegiate career with St. Lawrence University in 2017.

The 31-year-old spent last season in Switzerland’s National League with Lausanne HC, his first and only overseas season. In 52 games, he posted a 5-18–23 scoring line with 47 PIMs and a plus-five rating, finishing second on the team in scoring among defensemen.

Bayreuther will make the league minimum $775K salary if he’s on the NHL roster or $140K in the AHL with a $150K guarantee, the team said. With Carolina having six defensemen on one-way deals plus top prospect Alexander Nikishin expected to be with the club out of the gate, Bayreuther will likely land on waivers in training camp and head to the AHL’s Chicago Wolves, Carolina’s affiliate, if he clears.

In 122 career NHL games with Columbus and Dallas in parts of four seasons, Bayreuther has five goals and 28 points while averaging 15:14 per night with a -17 rating.

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