Jaroslav Halak Announces Retirement
Veteran goalie Jaroslav Halak is ending his playing career, telling Tomas Prokop of the Slovak website Dennik Sport that he’s officially retired.
Halak, 40, hasn’t played anywhere in the last two seasons aside from a brief tryout with the Hurricanes that didn’t result in game action early in 2023-24. A ninth-round pick in the 2003 draft, his 17-year NHL career included time with the Canadiens, Blues, Capitals, Islanders, Bruins, Canucks, and Rangers, last playing in New York’s final game of the 2022-23 regular season.
Montreal was the team that drafted him 271st overall from the QMJHL’s Lewiston MAINEiacs, and that’s where Halak got his start in the NHL three years later. He emerged as another young complement in the Canadiens’ pool alongside young star Carey Price, even taking over the starter’s role in the 2009-10 season and backstopping the team to a surprise run to the Conference Finals before being traded to St. Louis for Lars Eller the following summer.
Halak never spent more than four years with a club in his prime and was prone to year-to-year inconsistency, but he was an arguable top-10 goalie in the league at his absolute peak with multiple seasons of save percentages above .920. He was always more of a 1A option than a true starter, only playing more than 50 games four times, but he ends his career as a one-time All-Star, two-time Jennings Trophy winner, and he finished top-10 in Vezina Trophy voting twice.
After serving as the 1A option for the Blues from 2010-14 and on Long Island from 2014-18 with a brief post-deadline stop in Washington in between, Halak spent the twilight years of his career as one of the league’s better backup options for Boston (2018-21), Vancouver (2021-22), and the Rangers (2022-23). He’s been an unrestricted free agent since then, with no items of note on his NHL future since being released from his aforementioned PTO with Carolina in November 2023.
In 581 regular-season appearances, the Bratislava native posted a 2.50 GAA and .913 SV% with a 295-189-63 record and 53 shutouts. One of the best undersized netminders (5’11”, 189 lbs) of his generation, he posted an even better .919 SV% and 2.48 GAA in 39 playoff games in six trips to the Stanley Cup playoffs.
All of us at PHR wish Halak the best in retirement.
Image courtesy of Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images.
Alex Ovechkin Could Play Beyond 2025-26
All-time leading goal scorer Alexander Ovechkin dismissed reports of a possible retirement next season as ‘nonsense,’ and previously noted that he plans to continue playing as long as his love for the game remains strong, reports Sammi Silber of DC Backcheck.
He told reporters during locker clean-out day that he fully intended to honor the final year of his contract but was unsure of his future beyond that, saying he hadn’t given any thought to whether or not he’d be open to extension talks with the Caps as soon as he becomes eligible to sign one on July 1. However, as Silber notes, speculation about Ovechkin’s potential retirement following next season was actually sparked by the Capitals themselves, when a social media post mistakenly referred to next season as the captain’s last. With one year left on his current deal and the goal-scoring record secured, the puzzle pieces were in place to assume next year would be Ovechkin’s last.
However, speaking with Russian-based Sport-Express, Ovechkin dismissed any retirement rumors as ‘pure nonsense.’ He also hinted that anything could happen regarding his career, including a potential return to Russia to finish his playing days. That echoes comments Ovechkin made to Silber back in February, where he expressed his interest in playing for as long as his love for the game remains intact, which could include extending his NHL career.
Ovechkin, 39, proved last season that he isn’t slowing down. Not only did he break Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goal-scoring mark, but he also scored 44 goals and 73 points in just 65 games. He added five goals in 10 playoff games this last season. Over the last four seasons (age 36-39), he has produced 167 goals and is just three away from 900 for his career.
Although Ovechkin has nothing left to prove in the NHL, he could reach the 1,000-goal milestone if he stays in the league. Remarkably, he continues to perform at a high level despite playing a physically demanding style throughout his career. Not only does Ovechkin have the most goals in league history, but is also third all-time in hits, trailing leader Cal Clutterbuck by less than 300.
Russia Notes: Babcock, Gallant, Tortorella, Kuznetsov, Obvintsev
The KHL’s Kunlun Red Star is making an aggressive push to land a high-profile name as its next head coach. They’ve made attempts to land longtime NHL coaches Mike Babcock, Gerard Gallant, and John Tortorella this summer, reports Dmitry Erykalov of Sport24.ru.
While legally based in Beijing, Kunlun hasn’t played in China since the pandemic. They’ve operated out of a Moscow suburb called Mystichi in recent years but will now play out of St. Petersburg’s SKA Arena, the largest area in the world built for hockey at a capacity of 22,500. Just a few years old, SKA St. Petersburg played part of last season there but will move back to its old venue for 2025-26 due to underwhelming attendance and “low transport accessibility.”
Erykalov writes that Kunlun has also appointed former Avangard Omsk chairman Alexander Krylov to a hockey operations role ahead of the 2025-26 campaign; he previously approached Babcock about Omsk’s vacancy in 2022. Of the three, Erykalov relays that Gallant would be the most realistic hire for the fledgling club as he’s told KHL clubs he “would not mind working” in Russia. That tracks after he wasn’t firmly connected to any NHL coaching vacancies this offseason.
Kunlun has long been irrelevant in the grand scheme of KHL play, especially with the goal of directly supporting professional hockey in China seemingly abandoned post-Olympics and pandemic. The club made the KHL playoffs in its first season back in 2016-17 but hasn’t since. Their 19-34-9-6 record last season was its best in five years, though.
Other notes from Russia:
- Earlier today, we relayed word that the Canadiens wouldn’t be offering center Evgeny Kuznetsov a contract as he attempts an NHL return despite speculation otherwise. His agent also said to rule out a return to the Capitals, where he spent the vast majority of the first stint of his time in North America. “I don’t see how he could go back,” Shumi Babaev said, after Kuznetsov’s tenure in Washington ended on the waiver wire before being dealt to the Hurricanes for a mid-round pick at the 2023 trade deadline. Kuznetsov, whose 568 points in 723 games rank seventh in Caps franchise history, had 37 points in 39 KHL games last season for SKA in his first season at home in over a decade.
- Maple Leafs goaltending prospect Timofei Obvintsev has signed a one-year deal with Gornyak-UGMK of the VHL, Russia’s second-tier pro league, the league announced. A 2024 fifth-round pick, Obvintsev saw just 11 games of action in Russia’s top junior league last season with CSKA Moscow’s affiliate club, posting a 2.78 GAA, .908 SV%, one shutout, and a 6-4-0 record. The 20-year-old could be in line for a move to North America next season if he impresses in the pro ranks.
Strategic Drafting Will Keep Capitals Competitive
The Washington Capitals seemed well on their way towards reclusion a few seasons ago. They managed to win the first Stanley Cup in franchise history in 2018 – but by 2022, only eight members of the Cup-winning roster were still in Washington. The club fell entirely out of the postseason by 2023, marking their first summer absence since 2015. That miss sparked an upheaval of the Capitals’ coaching staff. The new group – headmanned by rookie NHL head coach Spencer Carbery – has returned the Capitals to the playoffs on the back of a clear ability to develop certain styles.
The Capitals have leaned into Carbery’s vision for the lineup in all aspects of their roster building – but most notably, in their draft selections. A team once honed in on finding the balance between high-offense forwards and all-defense defenders has steadied over the last two draft classes. In doing so, Washington has not only found their way back to the postseason – but also managed to surge to the top ranks of NHL prospect pools.
Their class is undoubtedly led by first-round picks Ryan Leonard, Terik Parascak, and Lynden Lakovic. All three play a chippy, physical style of hockey – with strong shots and a clear ability to find space off of the boards and in the corners. Their physical upside speaks to some layer of certainty in the bump-and-grind Capitals lineup, even if it requires the extra years of development, akin to Connor McMichael and Hendrix Lapierre, the latter of who appeared to come along with a hot year in the AHL.
But the Capitals reach the tops of prospect value with their picks outside of the first-round. Their group may be most truly headlined by defender Cole Hutson, who posted an absurd 48 points in 39 games of his freshman season at Boston University. He was the Terriers’ top defender as they raced to a National Championship loss, and is the younger brother of Montreal’s Lane Hutson, who recorded a record-setting 62 assists in his rookie NHL season this year.
Hutson is followed by towering forward Ilya Protas, the younger brother of current Capitals forward Aliaksei Protas. Ilya was drafted out of the USHL, but moved to the OHL for this season. That proved an incredibly lucrative bet, as the 6-foot-5 forward blazed his way to 50 goals and 124 points in just 61 games with the Windsor Spitfires. He improved across the board – adding smoother skating and more confident stickhandling – and seems well set on paving his way into the pros.
But through the top names, it’s winger Eriks Mateiko – a burly Latvian recently dominating the QMJHL – and Swiss-defender Leon Muggli who offer the truest glimpse into what Washington has prioritized. The team has consistently found ways to land not only tall, heavy draft picks — but players who play with a physical edge and truly know how to utilize their size to their advantage. That’s the exact trait that’s elevated players like Protas and McMichael to early-career success. Even the recent resurgence of Dylan Strome and Pierre-Luc Dubois can be attributed to Washington’s unique ability to take a calm and assertive approach to offense, rather the run-and-gun style many teams attempt to skill their way into.
Washington impressively flaunted their ability to land that style of player in the 2025 draft. Lakovic is a hefty winger who could improve his ability to break-through the defense – making him a perfect match in Washington – and fellow top-pick Milton Gastrin is a lumbering and slow centerman capable of making quick plays. But it’s, again, their late picks that define Washington’s potential. They swept up re-entry forward Jackson Crowder in the fifth round, folding in a layer of responsible and physical play in a 6-foot-3 frame. Better than that, Washington managed to land hefty Swedish defenseman Aron Dahlqvist in the sixth round — nearly three rounds later than many pundits predicted. Dahlqvist is a ball of grit and aggression, with powerful strides and fundamental hitting. He digs into opponents – and that physical prowess earned him 16 games in Sweden’s SHL this season, even despite the fact that Dahlqvist didn’t score in any of those appearances.
Both scouts and fans have raised questions with, seemingly, every Capitals prospect. But the team is clearly confident in the style they’re searching for. The focus is squarely on landing physically mature, and capable, players at every group — players that well fit into the development style that Carbery has already utilized on some of the 2024-25 squad’s top players. That should glean multiple NHL roster players, especially given the acknowledgement Washington’s pool has earned from the public sphere. The Capitals are back in the postseason and, with most of the roster locked up for the short-term, seem well positioned to return to their yearly summer hockey. With the boost of smart, situational drafting backing the NHL lineup – Washington, and head coach Carbery, could be well on their way to landing even more successful draft picks, and maintaining their status for many years to come.
Washington Capitals Sign Sheldon Rempal
The Washington Capitals are bringing Sheldon Rempal back to North America. According to a team announcement, the Capitals have signed Rempal to a one-year, two-way contract, paying him $775K at the NHL level and $450K in the AHL.
Rempal is one year removed from playing in the NHL. Last season, he suited up for the KHL’s Salavat Yulaev Ufa, scoring 31 goals and 61 points in 68 games with a +7 rating, finishing fourth in league scoring. He was equally impressive in the 2025 Gagarin Cup playoffs, scoring eight goals and 21 points in 19 contests.
Unfortunately, Rempal’s offensive skills are not widely recognized in NHL circles due to his limited playing time. He’s associated as being a Vegas Golden Knight, but has suited up in a few contests for the Los Angeles Kings, Carolina Hurricanes, and Vancouver Canucks.
Few people are aware of Rempal’s notable success in the AHL over six seasons, as he has not generated much attention at the top level of the game. Beginning in the 2018-19 season, he has been an impressive scorer in the AHL, tallying 108 goals and 252 points in 328 games before moving to Russia.
Given the two-way status on the contract, Rempal is likely expected to play for the Capitals’ AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears. Having sky-high expectations after winning back-to-back Calder Cup championships, the Bears’ offense wasn’t necessarily bad this season, but it was largely by committee. Now that Rempal is in the mix, Hershey could have a high-scoring player leading the pack.
Capitals Sign Milton Gästrin To Entry-Level Deal
July 7: The Capitals have officially loaned to MoDo for the 2025-26 season, the team announced Monday. It’s unclear if he’ll participate in training camp in the fall.
July 3: We have our first signing from last week’s 2025 NHL draft. The Capitals announced they’ve signed forward Milton Gästrin to his three-year, entry-level contract. It pays him a $877.5K base salary, $97.5K signing bonus, and $85K minors salary each season for a cap hit of $975K, per PuckPedia.
Gästrin will be loaned back to his home country and play for MoDo Hockey of Sweden’s second-tier league in 2025-26, the team said. The playmaking forward was the No. 37 overall selection last Saturday, taken with a pick Washington acquired from the Bruins in the 2023 deadline trade that sent Dmitry Orlov to Boston.
Fresh off his 18th birthday yesterday, Gästrin was the No. 3 European skater in the draft as ranked by NHL Central Scouting and was a consensus late first/early second-round pick in public rankings. The 6’1″, 194-lb center won medals with Sweden at both the Hlinka Gretzky Cup (bronze) and the under-18 World Juniors (silver) last season, racking up 11 goals and 32 points in 19 games in international competition for the U-18 squad.
In league play, Gästrin spent most of the season with MoDo’s U-20 squad in Sweden’s top junior league, the J20 Nationell. He served as an alternate captain and finished second on the team in scoring with 42 points in 40 games, tying for the team lead in goals with 18. He also made his professional debut, making eight pointless appearances for MoDo in the SHL. He’ll transition to a full-time professional role this fall, facing easier competition in the HockeyAllsvenskan after MoDo was relegated at the end of the 2024-25 season.
Because Gästrin will be loaned to MoDo and won’t see NHL action this season, his entry-level deal will slide to 2026-27 and won’t count against the 50-contract limit for Washington this year. He will still earn his $97.5K signing bonus for 2025-26, though, decreasing the cap hit of the contract when it goes into effect. He’s young enough that the contract is slide-eligible twice, so the deal won’t go into effect until 2027-28 if he also plays fewer than 10 NHL games in 2026-27.
Capitals Sign Hendrix Lapierre To One-Year Deal
The Washington Capitals and forward Hendrix Lapierre have agreed to the one-year, $850K contract, per PuckPedia. The 23-year-old will be eligible for restricted free agency next offseason, and his minimum qualifying offer then would be $892,500.
Lapierre appeared in 27 games last season for the Capitals, producing zero goals, eight assists, and a minus-three rating while averaging 9:48 of ice time per game. He fared much better in 32 games for the AHL’s Hershey Bears, scoring seven goals and 32 points.
Drafted by Washington with the 22nd overall pick of the 2020 NHL Draft, Lapierre has posted nine goals and 22 points through 84 NHL games. Known for his stick handling and play-making abilities, Lapierre was viewed as a top prospect heading into the draft, but injury concerns allowed him to slip out of the top 20.
While he hasn’t found his footing in the NHL, he has tallied 79 points in 113 AHL games and gained valuable experience as part of two Calder Cup-winning teams for Hershey (2022-23 and 2023-24). What’s more, he earned the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy as playoff MVP in 2023-24 after recording seven goals and 22 points in 20 games.
Lapierre will likely compete for a bottom-six spot in training camp, or at the very least, provide the Capitals with a reliable depth option in the AHL. If he hopes to make the team, he’ll likely need to improve his faceoff percentage, which sits at a paltry 37.4% for his career.
Capitals Notes: Milano, Free Agency, McMichael, Goaltending
After missing all but three games due to an upper-body injury sustained in November, it appears that Capitals winger Sonny Milano will be good to go for training camp. Speaking with reporters today at the end of development camp (video link), GM Chris Patrick indicated that the veteran is now ready to start going through his normal offseason regimen and that he is expected to participate in training camp. This comes six weeks after Patrick wasn’t sure if Milano would be available to start next season. Milano had 15 goals in 49 games back in 2023-24 and could be a useful depth scorer heading into 2025-26. He has one year left on his contract with a $1.9MM cap charge.
More notes from Patrick’s presser:
- While declining to say who he went after, Patrick noted that he tried to do something big to add to their roster but that it didn’t come to fruition. It doesn’t appear to be related to a lower offer than the player was looking for either, as Patrick said that “It didn’t come down to the money or the offer or the term or any of that. It was a player picking what he thought was the best situation both on and off the ice.” There was speculation that the Capitals were one of the finalists for winger Nikolaj Ehlers who ultimately accepted a six-year, $51MM contract with Carolina while Washington brought back Anthony Beauvillier on a two-year, $5.5MM pact soon after. In the meantime, he wouldn’t rule out signing another free agent but noted that there are some prospects who could make a push for a roster spot as well.
- After spending most of last season on the wing, Patrick suggested that Connor McMichael could get another opportunity to line up at center next season. The 24-year-old is a natural center but with Dylan Strome and Pierre-Luc Dubois on the top two lines, the decision was made to put McMichael on the wing over playing him on the third line. It’s unclear if Patrick’s suggestion means that they’ll try that this season or if one of the other two will start on the wing to see how McMichael fares down the middle in the top six. Speculatively, it feels like something they’ll experiment with in training camp. Entering the final year of his contract, McMichael’s value would be higher next summer if he’s able to stay at center for the full season.
- While AHL Hershey starter Hunter Shepard departed in free agency (signing with Ottawa), Patrick indicated that they won’t be bringing in a replacement for him to take over as the starter. Instead, Clay Stevenson will get that role moving forward. Stevenson posted a 2.94 GAA and a .888 SV% in 33 outings with the Bears in 2024-25. At the moment, he would partner with Garin Bjorklund, Mitch Gibson, or prospect Antoine Keller, who is under contract with Hershey but has yet to sign with Washington.
Capitals Sign Lynden Lakovic To Entry-Level Contract
The Capitals have wasted little time getting their top pick under contract. The team announced that they’ve signed winger Lynden Lakovic to a three-year, entry-level deal. The agreement will pay Lakovic $975K in the NHL and $85K in the AHL per season. PuckPedia adds (Twitter link) that the contract contains $250K in Class A bonuses in years two and three, pushing the AAV of the deal to $1.14MM.
The 18-year-old was the 27th pick in last month’s draft, slipping that far after being rated in the top 20 by many scouting agencies.
In his first full season at the WHL level in 2023-24, Lakovic didn’t light up the scoresheet but still managed a solid 18 goals and 21 assists in 68 games with Moose Jaw before adding eight points in 20 playoff contests in the Warriors’ run to the Memorial Cup.
Armed with a bigger role last season after several top players moved on, Lakovic led Moose Jaw in scoring despite missing 21 games due to injury. However, the Warriors struggled mightily, finishing at the bottom of the league standings with just 15 wins. Still, Lakovic, who took over as team captain late in the season, had 27 goals and 31 assists in 47 games along with just four penalty minutes despite his 6’4 stature.
In Washington’s team release, it noted that the expectation is that Lakovic will return to Moose Jaw for the upcoming season. Assuming that happens, his contract will ultimately slide and still have three years left on it heading into the 2026-27 campaign.
Capitals Re-Sign Anthony Beauvillier
The Washington Capitals have re-signed forward Anthony Beauvillier to a two-year, $5.5MM contract extension, per a team release. The contract will carry a $2.75MM AAV.
Last offseason, Beauvillier signed a one-year, prove-it deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins and made the most of that opportunity. Despite skating just 13 minutes per night in a bottom-six role in Pittsburgh, Beauvillier produced 13 goals through 63 games. He was then flipped to the Capitals in a deadline deal that sent a second-round pick back to Pittsburgh.
In 18 regular-season games with the Caps, the 28-year-old scored two goals and five points. However, he elevated his game in the playoffs, recording two goals and six points in 10 games. This continues Beauvillier’s trend of stepping up in the postseason, where he averages 0.57 points per game, notably higher than his career regular-season mark of 0.43.
A former first-round selection of the New York Islanders (28th overall in the 2015 draft), Beauvillier has scored 131 goals and 271 points through 631 games. While he has cracked the 20-goal plateau just once in his career (21 with the Islanders in 2017-18), he has six seasons with at least 15 goals, including last year. Of note, 16 of his 17 goals last season (including playoffs) came at even strength, with the lone exception being a shorthanded goal. He’ll likely slot into a third-line role with the Capitals and can slot up in the lineup if called upon.
With Beauvillier’s signing, the Capitals now have just $4.975MM of available cap space, per PuckPedia.