Victor Soderstrom Signs With EHC Biel-Bienne
May 21st: According to a team announcement, Soderstrom has officially signed a two-year deal with the NL’s EHC Biel-Bienne. It is expected that the deal will include an NHL opt-out clause. However, it is unlikely that Soderstrom will return to North America, as this marks the second time in three years that he has sought a different opportunity overseas.
April 18th: When the Bruins acquired and signed Victor Soderstrom, the defenseman was hoping that he would get that elusive extended NHL opportunity. However, that hasn’t been the case as he has once again spent most of the season in the minors. As a result, he’s eyeing a return overseas as Expressen’s Johan Svensson and Mattias Persson report that the blueliner is expected to sign with EHC Biel-Bienne in Switzerland for next season.
The 25-year-old was a first-round pick by Arizona back in 2019 but after seeing limited opportunities with the Coyotes, he opted to head overseas at the end of his entry-level contract, returning to SHL Brynas. Arizona retained his NHL rights and ultimately flipped them to Chicago at the 2025 trade deadline with Boston acquiring those rights three months later and signing him to a two-way deal.
But Soderstrom went through waivers unclaimed in training camp and outside an eight-game stint in Boston in December (where he had an assist and averaged 13:41 per game), he has played exclusively with AHL Providence. Soderstrom has done well in the minors, tallying nine goals and 21 assists in 57 games and should be set for a long playoff run with Providence guaranteed to finish the season with the AHL’s top record, earning them the Macgregor Kilpatrick Trophy.
Soderstrom is set to become a Group Six unrestricted free agent this summer and could have entertained offers to see if a better opportunity was out there. But with how this year has gone, he’d likely be viewed as a recallable depth player elsewhere as well so instead of repeating this season, it appears he’ll try his hand in the Swiss league next season.
Breaking Down Possible Destinations For Jordan Binnington
The St. Louis Blues are no longer in win-now mode, but they have some promising young players in their NHL lineup and on the way up. However, one player who doesn’t figure into their future contention window is veteran goaltender Jordan Binnington. The 32-year-old is set to enter the final year of his contract, and given his age and uneven play, it doesn’t make much sense for the Blues to keep him around if he isn’t part of their plans beyond next year. St. Louis isn’t going to compete next season, and with many of their veterans already moved out and several teams desperate for help in goal, the time is right for St. Louis to trade Binnington.
Binnington is clearly beloved in St. Louis for helping the city win its first Stanley Cup in 2019. He did so as a 25-year-old rookie and continued his strong play through his first few NHL seasons, earning Vezina Trophy consideration in several of those years. He then inked a long-term deal in March 2021, giving him a $6MM AAV over six years.
Binnington would remain an above-average netminder for most of the next three seasons before his play began to decline during the 2024-25 season and carried into this past year. It was then that the Blues reportedly became interested in moving Binnington at the NHL Trade Deadline, though they ultimately kept him. Now, with Binnington in the final year of his deal and most of his trade protection removed, the likelihood of a trade is high.
The Edmonton Oilers feel like the logical fit for Binnington, given their ongoing struggles to find solid netminding during the Connor McDavid era. The Oilers thought Tristan Jarry would be the answer after a mid-season trade this past December, but it was clear at the time that the Jarry experiment was a panic move, and the results were tepid, to put it generously. Binnington’s big-game history is a complete 180 from Jarry’s track record in big games, but both veterans have lacked consistency over the past two years, so it’s tough to call Binnington an upgrade for the Oilers. That said, Binnington has performed well for Team Canada over the past couple of years, but behind poor defense, his numbers haven’t been good, and that would likely be the experience in Edmonton as well.
Another potential suitor could be the Florida Panthers, who could lose Sergei Bobrovsky to free agency. Bobrovsky is five years older than Binnington and is likely seeking his last big payday. While his relationship with the Panthers has been highly productive, anything can happen in free agency, and his departure is possible. Binnington would offer Florida a big-game goaltender at a low cost, with a chance to play behind a solid defensive team. This would be of interest to the Panthers, since the only other realistic option would be Stuart Skinner, whom the Panthers twice defeated in the Stanley Cup Finals while he was with the Edmonton Oilers.
The Los Angeles Kings did not get the goaltending they hoped for from starting netminder Darcy Kuemper, who posted a 19-14-15 record with a 2.78 GAA and an .891 SV%. The 36-year-old is entering the final year of his contract and may not be the answer for a Kings team hoping to finally make noise in the playoffs after years of first-round exits. Binnington wouldn’t be the Kings’ long-term answer, but in the short term, he could be an upgrade over Kuemper and is four years younger.
Finally, a handful of other teams could use an upgrade in goal for this upcoming season. The San Jose Sharks and New Jersey Devils have both gone through difficult rebuilds and are at different stages of emerging from them. The Devils have had a failure to launch after their rebuild, making a couple of playoff appearances and even winning a series, but they haven’t been a playoff team in two of the last three years, and their one appearance was a five-game exit. Those years in which the Devils missed the postseason have largely been due to poor goaltending, including this year, when Jacob Markstrom played poorly after signing a two-year extension. Markstrom’s play coincided with the Devils’ fall, and it’s fair to wonder whether the Devils trust him to be the guy as they try to get some traction after their rebuild. Binnington has a better resume than Markstrom, in terms of playing in big games and winning, but it’s hard to imagine the Devils moving out one inconsistent veteran for another. That being said, the Devils’ goaltending has been inconsistent, and given that the team has struggled to find stability in net, they may be open to making a change for the sake of making a change.
Lastly, the Sharks are trying to move beyond their rebuild and took some small strides this year, competing for a playoff spot but ultimately falling short. The Sharks have Yaroslav Askarov, whom they hope will be their goalie of the future, but last year showed the team that he wasn’t ready to be a full-time NHL starter. The Sharks have a capable backup in Alex Nedeljkovic, whom they re-signed to a two-year, $6MM deal. The jury is still out on Askarov, but at the moment he simply needs NHL reps behind a competent defense to further develop. The Sharks appear set to go hunting for defensemen this summer, which should be exactly what the doctor ordered for Askarov. Given the Sharks’ depth at the position in the NHL, acquiring Binnington makes little sense unless Askarov struggles to start the season and San Jose looks like a team that could challenge for a playoff spot. If that were to happen, it would make sense for the Sharks to look for an in-season upgrade, which is where Binnington could be an option given his contract status and capabilities, but for now it doesn’t make sense for San Jose.
One last option for St. Louis is to wait until the season starts to find out which contending team has a goaltender injury to start the year, or which team is unhappy with their goaltending and looking for an upgrade. Last season, the Pittsburgh Penguins entered the year with Jarry as their starter, and after less than two months of above-average play, they were able to trade him for a massive haul to the Edmonton Oilers. They did this despite the fact that Jarry had been on waivers less than a year prior, but Pittsburgh GM Kyle Dubas was fortunate to find a team desperate enough to take Jarry off his hands. A similar play could be the Blues’ best option for Binnington if they can’t find reasonable trade offers in the summer.
Snapshots: Lehkonen, Zary, Malhotra
A welcome addition has returned to the Avalanche lineup, as Artturi Lehkonen is back tonight for Game 1 against Vegas as they’re missing superstar Cale Makar.
The last time the forward played, his Avalanche dropped Game 3 to Minnesota, at the time looking like a series which could have been much more interesting than it eventually became. While he was out Joel Kiviranta slotted in, a scratch tonight as he did not find the score sheet in limited usage.
Always a dependable role player who excels in every area, Lehkonen joins the second line, centered by Brock Nelson and opposite Nicolas Roy. Colorado handled business while he was away dealing with an upper-body injury, but with six points in seven playoff games, Lehkonen is a key factor who steps up consistently in the playoffs. This will be the third time the 30-year-old skates in the Conference Final, first doing so with Montreal, and in both times his team moved along to play for the Stanley Cup.
Elsewhere across the league:
- In an article where he looked into Calgary Flames trade candidates this summer, Anthony DiMarco of The Daily Faceoff wrote on forward Connor Zary’s unhappiness within his role, playing on the wing instead of down the middle. The 24-year-old, a first round selection back in 2020, on paper fits into the Flames plans as they move into what could be an aggressive rebuild over the next few years. However, posting just 25 points on the season, his development has stalled out in Alberta, raising the need for a fresh start elsewhere. There’s no shortage of similar players who offer a potential 1-1 swap, perhaps even a young defenseman for Calgary’s needs, but Zary’s $3.78MM AAV, carrying through the 2027-28 season, would be a factor in any discussion.
- The Vancouver Canucks reportedly rejected a team from interviewing their AHL head coach Manny Malhotra, according to TSN’s Mike Johnson on yesterday’s edition of OverDrive. After much speculation ended in an internal promotion for their general manager position (Ryan Johnson) it could be the same behind the bench, after Adam Foote was fired yesterday. Let go after just one year, of course it was a brutal season, but the decision suggests that the Canucks have somebody in mind who they’d not be willing to lose this summer. Assuming Johnson’s suspicions to be true, it very well might be the longtime NHLer who played as a Canuck from 2010-2013. An assistant at the NHL level with Vancouver as well as the Maple Leafs, Malhotra took over in AHL Abbotsford in 2024, leading them to their first Calder Cup title alongside Johnson. Connections not ending there, his son, Caleb Malhotra, is gathering noise as a possible selection of the team at third overall in the draft next month should they target a center.
Evening Notes: Nurse, Vladar, Wedgewood
On yesterday’s edition of Daily Faceoff Live, Jeff Marek speculated on a trade scenario for the Edmonton Oilers to move on from Darnell Nurse. Marek suggested that San Jose, known to be seeking a defenseman, could offer up one of their several young forwards, such as Collin Graf in a hypothetical deal.
Western Conference foes who could eventually meet in the playoffs, it begs the question if San Jose would do such a favor to take on Nurse’s $9.25MM cap hit, running through the 2029-30 season, when he’ll be 35. Not only that concern, it would simultaneously give the Oilers a real asset such as Graf. Somewhat quietly amidst a group full of more widely recognizable young talent, the 23-year-old Graf tucked away 21 goals last year for the Sharks, a huge step for the undrafted 6’1” winger who enters restricted free agent status this summer and will command a big increase from his entry level deal.
With declining metrics in terms of possession, and no longer likely to break the 40-point mark in a season again anytime soon, Nurse leaned more into a physical role, surpassing the 100 penalty minute mark for the first time. What’s going for the 30-year-old is that he is highly durable, playing in all 82 games and eating minutes at just under 21 a night. Only Dmitry Orlov and Mario Ferraro skated more for the Sharks this year in that metric.
In theory, Nurse presents an upgrade over Ferraro, but by no means is the longest tenured Shark a top 10 highest paid blueliner in the league, allowing San Jose to allocate those funds elsewhere. The team will have over $14MM to burn with practically their entire defense core hitting free agency this summer, but General Manager Mike Grier will be cautious as he puts the finishing touches on a rebuild which is set up for a decade of noise ahead.
Elsewhere across the league:
- With breakout goaltender Dan Vladař showing preference to remain in Philadelphia long term, Anthony DiMarco of The Daily Faceoff looked into what an extension would look like. A huge part of their resurgence, Vladar’s 2.42 goals against average was third in the entire league this year. One has to go back to 2019-20 as the last time the Flyers got that level of goaltending, coming from who was a second-year-pro Carter Hart, results the now Golden Knight has been chasing ever since. Luckily for the Flyers, they’ll retain the 28-year-old for another year at his steal of a $3.35MM AAV, but the sooner they handle business for the future, the better. DiMarco reported that the Flyers would be willing to give him five years of term with a contract hovering around $6MM per season. If it gets done, the former Flame would join the likes of Travis Konecny and Owen Tippett as the longest signed players on the team, fully signifying their belief that he’s the netminder they’ve been long searching for.
- The Colorado Avalanche are turning back to Scott Wedgewood tonight for Game 1 against Vegas, confirmed by the team. MacKenzie Blackwood meanwhile, of whom he’s split duty with all year, started the last two games of the previous round against Minnesota. However, he was yanked after the first period after letting in three goals of the deciding contest, as Wedgewood backstopped the team to a comeback victory. With all respect to the 33-year-old, whose breakout campaign has shattered his career best statistics across the board, Wedgewood had to stop just seven shots in his 43:14 versus the Wild one week ago. Still, clearly the switch panned out, and he’ll lead the Avs out for the Conference Finals tonight. It’s new territory for Wedgewood who prior to this year had just four playoff appearances across his whole career, none of which were starts.
Sabres Notes: Ruff, Tuch, Kekäläinen
Where does the Wagon go from here?
The Buffalo Sabres’ magical run of 2025-26 came to an end at the hands of a Game 7 loss to the Montreal Canadiens in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. After a stretch where they earned an NHL-best 63 points from a 29-9-5 record since the beginning of 2026, the Sabres ended a drought where they missed the playoffs for 14 years. They won the Atlantic Division for the first time in franchise history, having never finished above 5th in the division before this season. Overall, Buffalo finished with 50 wins and 109 points en route to the postseason.
A huge positive in the right direction for the trending upward Sabres came earlier today during end-of-season press conferences, after the team announced the extension of head coach Lindy Ruff to a two-year deal. Ruff has been with the Sabres before, but in his current stint with the Sabres, he’s 86 wins across two seasons and is a finalist for the Jack Adams Award, an honor bestowed upon him 20 years ago when he won coach of the year behind the same bench in 2005-06.
The biggest headline outside of Ruff saw all eyes on pending UFA forward Alex Tuch. The Syracuse, NY native finished his fifth season with the Sabres, scoring 33 goals for 66 points in 79 games and added seven points in 13 playoff games to cap out the final season of his seven-year, $33.25MM ($4.75MM AAV) contract. Tuch said he has an interest in coming back to Buffalo, and that general manager Jarmo Kekäläinen expressed that he wants him back in exit interviews. Contract talks were put on hold during the playoffs, but we’ll see where things go between the Sabres and Tuch.
Additional notes:
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- Tage Thompson said he was dealing with lower back injuries that had been lingering from the regular season. He also expressed ‘hitting a wall’ throughout this hockey season, a campaign which began for him at the IIHF World Championships, winning gold for the USA in the summer of 2025 and later at the Olympics in February, leading into the playoff push. The 28-year-old forward finished his 2025-26 NHL season with 81 points in 81 games played and had 15 points in Buffalo’s 13 playoff games.
- In terms of injuries, there were a few notable admissions along with Thompson. Owen Power was dealing with a grade-3 ankle sprain that he suffered late in the second round series against the Montreal Canadiens. Logan Stanley was playing with an undisclosed injury, and Sam Carrick was rushed back from a left-arm injury he suffered in the regular season.
- Along with Lindy Ruff being a ‘no-brainer’ extension for Kekäläinen, there are certainly some decisions that will require all parties to take time as Buffalo moves into its first summer where the grass is greener, thanks to a playoff berth. The window is now open, and Kekäläinen has to build on what this team he inherited had been able to accomplish. Buffalo has just $12.9MM in cap space as they enter this summer, and a good chunk of impact players that they’ll want to ensure they can retain before they make additions to the core. Along with Tuch, Buffalo has to address UFA forwards Beck Malenstyn, Tanner Pearson, Joshua Dunne, and defensemen Luke Schenn and Logan Stanley. On the RFA side, three key younger members in Peyton Krebs, Zach Benson, and defenseman Michael Kesselring are expiring this summer. Kekäläinen also said he told defenseman Bowen Byram, who has a year left at $6.25MM, that he’d like to have him back on a long-term deal.
Capitals Sign Timothy Liljegren To Two-Year Extension
According to a team announcement, the Washington Capitals have extended defenseman Timothy Liljegren to a two-year deal worth around $6.5MM ($3.25MM AAV), as first reported by David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period.
The 27-year-old finished this past year with Washington, playing just four games with the Capitals after being traded in exchange for a fourth-round pick in 2026 from San Jose at this past deadline. With the Sharks, Liljegren finished with one goal for 11 points in 43 games in over 20 minutes of average time on ice and had 83 blocks, which was fourth on the team in that statistical category as well by season’s end.
Liljegren was the back end of a two-year, $6MM ($3MM AAV) contract that he originally signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs back in the summer of 2024. In Toronto, he played just one game on that contract before he was traded early in the 2024-25 season to the San Jose Sharks for a package deal. He finished his 2024-25 campaign playing 67 games with the Sharks.
The 6-foot-1 Swede was originally selected 17th overall by the Maple Leafs in the first round of the 2017 NHL Draft and spent his formative six years in Toronto, signing his entry-level contract and later a two-year deal in 2022 worth $2.8MM (1.4MM).
Liljegren’s short stint in Washington saw few games in the lineup, but after top prospect Cole Hutson entered the mix, having finished his NCAA career at Boston University, most of his time was spent in the press box as a healthy scratch.
Washington’s blue line has two other defenseman who have a right handedness under contract. Liljegren is second on the depth chart in that category in terms of the highest average annual value for next season, behind Matt Roy ($5.75MM) and ahead of Dylan McIlrath ($850K). The Capitals have a little over $33MM in cap space and have a few important names to address among expiring contracts. It should be noted that Washington enters next year with the uncertainty of when Rasmus Sandin will return, who is currently healing from his ACL surgery and has been a mainstay for the Capitals defensive group.
Alex Ovechkin is the huge headliner that looms for the Capitals among their UFA players. Add in forwards Brandon Duhaime and David Kampf, as well as restricted free agents in Connor McMichael and Hendrix Lapierre, that will give Chris Patrick some thinking to do. This signing begs the question of what Washington will do about pending UFA Trevor van Riemsdyk, who remains a question mark on the defensive side of expiring deals. As a veteran 34-year old right-shot blue-liner, it’ll be interesting to see if Patrick will opt to run it back with all the familiar names he had in 2025-26 while Sandin heals from his injury and inserts a full campaign of their shiny new toy in Hutson.
Free Agency Notes: Jenner, Laughton, Chrona
The Columbus Blue Jackets may need a new captain for next season, as Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reported yesterday that Boone Jenner may be getting “squeezed out of the mix in Columbus” in advance of the expiry of his contract on July 1. Jenner, who was reported to have recently swapped longtime agent Joe Resnick for Pat Morris of Newport Sports Management, has only played for the Blue Jackets in his 808-game NHL career. He’s the franchise’s all-time games played leader. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet said on today’s 32 Thoughts podcast that Columbus is hoping to find a way to keep Jenner, but Jenner “feels whatever he’s being offered is not anything he’s willing to accept.”
It’s not immediately clear what the Blue Jackets’ offer to Jenner might look like. Head coach Rick Bowness spent much of his time in Columbus utilizing Jenner in the bottom-six. He averaged 16:04 time on ice per game this season, down from 18:00 per game last year. Jenner also lost his grip on a spot on the Columbus power play, after averaging 1:48 time on ice per game there last season. Another factor that could contribute to Jenner’s exit from Columbus is his health. He’s missed significant time due to injuries over the past three years and despite solid production (13 goals, 38 points) in 2025-26, Columbus simply may not be able to offer Jenner the kind of contract he’s looking for given his availability and the amount of money they just committed to another veteran pivot, Charlie Coyle.
Other notes about pending free agents:
- The Los Angeles Kings are holding talks this week with pending UFA center Scott Laughton on a potential contract extension, reports Dennis Bernstein of The Fourth Period. Laughton, who is also repped by Morris, will see the five-year, $3MM AAV contract he signed in 2021 expire on July 1. The 31-year-old was acquired by the Kings as a deadline deal that returned a third-round pick to his former team, the Toronto Maple Leafs. Just one year before that, Laughton’s league-wide stock was high enough for him to return a first-round pick and prospect Nikita Grebenkin on the trade market. Bernstein noted that Laughton was “solid in [head coach] D.J. Smith’s system” after arriving in Los Angeles, so the decision on who the Kings might hire as their permanent bench boss could impact how far the team is willing to go to extend the center. Laughton scored eight points in 21 games with the Kings but has a career-high of 18 goals and 43 points from 2022-23. AFP Analytics projects him to receive a three-year, $4.1MM AAV deal on the open market.
- The SHL’s Brynäs IF have officially announced the signing of goaltender Magnus Chrona to a two-year contract. We first covered reports indicating Chrona would be headed overseas for 2026-27 in January, and today’s announcement has made it official. Chrona, 25, has been a member of the Nashville Predators organization for the last two seasons, originally arriving to the team as part of the Yaroslav Askarov trade in August 2024. In each of his two seasons with the Predators, Chrona served as the No. 2 goalie for the team’s AHL affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals. He posted a .903 save percentage in 2024-25, his debut campaign in Wisconsin, and had an .894 save percentage in 25 games this past year. Although this deal will allow Chrona to return to his home country of Sweden, he has not played there since 2018-19, during his junior hockey days. Chrona backstopped the Denver Pioneers to an NCAA National Championship before beginning his pro career with the San Jose Sharks.
Latest On Mark Stone
Injured Vegas Golden Knights star Mark Stone skated with the team’s scratches this morning. Per Jesse Granger of The Athletic, this is the first time Stone has skated with the team since suffering his lower-body injury. After the skate, head coach John Tortorella was asked about Stone’s status but did not provide any update.
The injury in question was suffered in game three of the team’s second-round series against the Anaheim Ducks. The Golden Knights were still able to fend off the Ducks and win the series despite losing Stone, but the Avalanche present an even greater degree of challenge.
For Vegas to stand the best chance of getting past the Presidents’ Trophy winners to reach their third Stanley Cup Final in franchise history, they’ll likely need Stone back in the lineup.
The 34-year-old winger is among the game’s best all-around forwards when healthy. He has consistently produced around a point-per-game rate since arriving in Vegas, while also playing stellar two-way hockey.
While he has struggled to stay healthy during the regular season – he has hit 80 games played in a season just once in his career – his efforts in the playoffs have helped the Golden Knights make deep playoff run after deep playoff run.
This past season, injuries limited Stone to just 60 games played. But in those 60 contests, Stone reached new heights in terms of impact. He scored 28 goals and 73 points, which is a 38-goal, 100-point 82-game scoring pace.
Stone was also a regular member of the team’s penalty-kill rotation up front. Stone has been a finalist for the Frank J. Selke Trophy twice, and has appeared on Selke ballots nine times throughout his career. His two-way impact is unquestioned – but his availability has been a persistent source of worry.
Vegas will have their hands full stopping the Avalanche’s high-flying attack, especially if star defenseman Cale Makar, who will miss game one with an injury, can return in short order. A healthy Mark Stone would be one of the Golden Knights’ most valuable assets in their fight to slow down the Avalanche, so today’s news is certainly a step in the right direction for the team.
Photos courtesy of Lucas Peltier-USA TODAY Sports
Buffalo Sabres Sign Lindy Ruff To Contract Extension
The Buffalo Sabres announced today that head coach Lindy Ruff has been signed to a two-year contract extension. Ruff’s contract was set to expire this summer, so in signing him, the team has ensured he will return as their head coach for next season and beyond.
Whether Ruff would return behind the bench in Buffalo was never truly in question. While the 66-year-old bench boss could technically have been a candidate to retire, Ruff has shown no indication of slowing down, nor has he expressed even the faintest interest in concluding a coaching career that stretches back to the early ’90s. 
Ruff is a singular figure in the modern history of the Sabres, far and away the franchise’s most meaningful off-ice figure in that time period. He first took charge of the Sabres for the 1997-98 season, and won two playoff series as a rookie head coach. The following year, he led Buffalo to the Stanley Cup final, where they would lose in six games to the Dallas Stars.
After a brief three-year downturn in the early 2000s, Ruff made consecutive runs to the Eastern Conference Final in 2006 and 2007, winning more than 50 games in consecutive regular seasons. He was given the Jack Adams Award in 2006 as the league’s coach of the year.
Now, Ruff could be positioned to win the second Jack Adams Award of his career, in what is his second stint behind the bench in Western New York. In 2024, Ruff took over a Sabres franchise that still had not reached the playoffs since 2011, when Ruff himself was still head coach. It was the longest playoff drought in the NHL. His Sabres overcame a slow start to the season and eventually caught fire, finishing with a 50-23-9 record and an Atlantic Division title.
Ruff had done what had seemed so impossible for much of the late 2010s and early 2020s: turned the Sabres into not just a playoff team, but a legitimate Stanley Cup contender. If not for an Alex Newhook shot in game seven of the team’s second-round series, Buffalo would be in the Eastern Conference Final with a legitimate chance at winning the Prince of Wales Trophy.
Without question, Ruff earned the extension he’s received. With that said, there are still problems for him to sort out. Despite his achievements, Ruff’s work in Buffalo isn’t done yet. He frequently swapped between netminders Alex Lyon and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen in the second round against Montreal, suggesting the team doesn’t yet have a truly reliable No. 1 option in goal. And Ruff’s Sabres were consistently let down by a struggling power play.
But the issues Buffalo now faces are dwarfed by the sheer enormity of the challenges Ruff inherited when he took the Sabres job. The simple fact that the Buffalo market will get to spend the summer discussing improving the power play, or finding more consistent goaltending, rather than the existential crisis of a league-leading playoff drought, is a testament to the magnitude of what Ruff accomplished on his last deal.
Now under contract for an additional two years, Ruff will get the chance to continue coaching this ascendant Sabres team.
Photos courtesy of James Carey Lauder-Imagn Images
Cale Makar To Miss Game 1, Out Day-To-Day
The Colorado Avalanche will be without star defenseman Cale Makar for the first game of their Western Conference Final series against the Vegas Golden Knights, head coach Jared Bednar announced today. Bednar classified Makar’s undisclosed injury as day-to-day and said that he does expect Makar to return relatively quickly – but not in time for game one.
Makar’s health is one of the key storylines to track for the upcoming series given Makar’s importance to the Avalanche as well as his status as arguably the game’s top defenseman.
The status of Makar has been the subject of speculation since game one against the Wild, when he left the ice after taking a big hit from Wild forward Marcus Foligno. He was limited to just 17:11 time on ice per game in the team’s 9-6 win. It’s not known whether the injury Makar is currently dealing with is in any way related to what happened in game one of the previous round.
The loss of Makar – even for just a single game – is very significant for the Avalanche. As mentioned, he is arguably the top blueliner in the world. The 27-year-old is a two-time Norris Trophy winner, and has routinely elevated his game in the playoffs. His heroics in the 2022 postseason, when he scored 29 points in 20 games, resulted in a Stanley Cup championship for his team and a Conn Smythe Trophy win recognizing his individual efforts.
Colorado now sits as the favorites to win another Stanley Cup, but Makar hasn’t been leading the charge in quite the same way. The Avalanche’s power play has struggled all year, and that can partially explain why Makar’s production is down somewhat from prior campaigns. After two consecutive years reaching the 90-point plateau, Makar scored 79 points in 75 games this past season. That’s still exceptional production, of course, but a little shy of the normal standard he’s set. So far in these playoffs, Makar has five points in nine games.
His slight decline in numbers should not diminish the significance of his injury. The Avalanche have lost one of their very best players for the start of this series, and even though they are favored against the Golden Knights, they would surely prefer to navigate game one with one of their best players roaming the blueline.