Canadiens In The Market For First-Line Winger
The Canadiens have begun to softly position themselves in the market for a right-winger to complement Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki on the top line ahead of the trade deadline, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period said on Daily Faceoff’s “The Sheet with Jeff Marek” podcast last Friday. Pagnotta speculatively tied them to the Blues’ Jordan Kyrou, who the Habs were more firmly linked to last offseason, but didn’t have any other specific targets to offer.
For the past several seasons, the second-line center slot has been viewed as both a long-term and short-term position of need for Montreal as it transitioned from rebuilder to playoff contender. As Pagnotta mentioned, Oliver Kapanen‘s emergence this season has largely quieted that noise. The 22-year-old rookie is beginning to flourish between fellow youngsters Ivan Demidov and Juraj Slafkovsky, on pace for 26 goals and 45 points. They’ll want more scoring out of him long-term, but it’s a promising first step for a second-round pick still at the midway point of his development curve.
Slafkovsky had spent his first couple of seasons up with Caufield and Suzuki. Moving him down the depth chart to give Montreal a formidable secondary scoring line hasn’t affected his production much and has been a net positive for the club this season, but they’ve yet to find a stable solution to replace him on the top unit.
Since Slafkovsky’s early-season “demotion,” it’s largely been an alternating mix of Zachary Bolduc and Alexandre Texier riding shotgun on the right side. Together, they’ve averaged under half a point per game this season. They haven’t been a huge drag on the line’s possession impacts – in fact, they’ve controlled 61.6% of expected goals when Texier’s the third man – but it’s not the type of production they need from a top-line winger if they have serious aspirations of cutting through a crowded Eastern Conference field in the playoffs.
If Kyrou is amenable to a move, it could be a fit. He’s hit the 70-point mark three times in the last five years. A down year in 2025-26 means his $8.125MM cap hit through 2030-31 might be tough to swallow at first glance, and he has to waive his no-trade clause to facilitate it. There’s also the question of how the Habs would facilitate such a deal with just $1.5MM in projected cap space on deadline day. Moving out pending UFA Patrik Laine and his bloated $8.7MM cap hit is the clear path forward, but whether St. Louis would be open to taking it back in the deal or if they’d have to shed him in a separate transaction remains to be seen.
Montreal was tied to the Flames’ Blake Coleman last month. He would be a slightly longer-term solution as he’s signed through 2026-27. A respected all-around versatile winger, his offensive ceiling isn’t as tantalizing as other options, though. He’s only hit 50 points once in his career. Giving him premier minutes would obviously give him a better shot at being productive, though, and it would allow the Habs to throw out a more formidable bottom-six group as a result.
Of course, there’s also the option of not making any move at all. They still have some tantalizing names on the come-up, like 2025 second-rounder Alexander Zharovsky, a 6’1″ right winger who’s broken out for 36 points in 44 KHL games this season with a couple of weeks still to go before his 19th birthday. The hold-pat outcome is something Pagnotta relays general manager Kent Hughes remains comfortable with as the Habs carry a comfortable seven-point cushion on a playoff spot.
Trade Deadline Primer: Tampa Bay Lightning
With the Olympic break now upon us, the trade deadline is less than a month away. Where does each team stand, and what moves should they be looking to make? We begin our look around the league with teams that have clear plans at the extremes of the standings, this time with the Lightning.
An aging core with extensive injury issues usually isn’t a recipe for success. No one’s told that to the Lightning, who’ve been one of the most consistent clubs in the league after starting the year on a 1-4-2 skid. They’ve lost nearly 70 man-games just from star players like Andrei Vasilevskiy, Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, Anthony Cirelli, and Victor Hedman, but still rank top-five in both goals for and goals against while allowing the seventh-fewest shots per game in the league. In a wide-open Eastern Conference, they have as good a chance as anyone to make their fourth Stanley Cup Final appearance in seven years.
Record
37-14-4, 1st in the Atlantic (99.92% playoff probability)
Deadline Status
Buyer
Deadline Cap Space
$3.84MM on deadline day, 0/3 retention slots used, 47/50 contracts used, per PuckPedia.
Upcoming Draft Picks
2026: TBL 2nd, TBL 3rd, SEA 5th, TBL 5th, TBL 6th, TBL 7th
2027: TBL 2nd, TBL 3rd, TBL 4th, TBL 6th, TBL 7th
Trade Chips
Unlike in years past, the Bolts’ arsenal of draft picks isn’t completely drained. They don’t have their firsts for the next two years, but they do still have one in 2028. With the Artemi Panarin trade potentially setting a precedent for a buyer’s market, that may not matter too much if the Bolts follow their usual M.O. of opting for depth over flash at the deadline. The firsts they’re missing, though, went to acquiring players who are still contributing this season – Oliver Bjorkstrand and Yanni Gourde.
General manager Julien BriseBois was seemingly interested in landing a big fish this time around in Panarin, though. However, with Tampa’s player acquisition approach usually centering around a hyper-specific approach, it’s unrealistic to expect that eagerness to apply to just anyone.
High-value, middle-six forwards with term will remain attractive. In doing so, they’ll need to put forth a package in which the most attractive asset is worth more than a mid-to-late second-round pick. If they were in anything close to legitimate talks to acquire Panarin, even as a rental, they had to at least breach the subject of flipping their new top prospect. Tampa acquired center Sam O’Reilly from the Oilers last summer in a swap of late first-round picks last offseason. The 32nd overall pick in the 2024 draft, O’Reilly is in his final junior season in the OHL and was recently traded by the London Knights to the Kitchener Rangers. He hasn’t shown overwhelming offensive development since his draft year, but he was always touted as a safe, two-way third-line agitator with good vision.
If, for example, Tampa were to pursue a reunion with Flames winger Blake Coleman, they’d likely need to leverage O’Reilly to get him. The retooling Flames are under no imminent pressure to move him, since his deal runs through next season at a $4.9MM cap hit, and their ask from Tampa would likely be higher anyway, since Calgary would need to retain money on Coleman if they’re not taking a roster player back. They gave up a first-round pick to get him from the Devils back in 2020 and, while they don’t have a close one to spare this time around, O’Reilly could hold similar value.
Any trade the Bolts make is unlikely to involve a roster player of any consequence going the other way. They’ve been hanging on by a thread due to injuries for most of the campaign anyway and, while some expert coaching from Jon Cooper has kept their underlying numbers on the up-and-up throughout, making any meaningful subtraction from their depth – unless they’re bringing in multiple pieces like last year’s Bjorkstrand/Gourde pickup from Seattle – is antithetical to the Bolts’ usual preferences. One name they could have more comfortably leveraged, center Jack Finley, was just claimed off waivers by the Blues.
Behind O’Reilly, Tampa’s prospect pool was regarded as one of the weakest in the league entering the season. Years of contention will do that. That notion has been somewhat salvaged by an incredible breakout from 2025 fourth-rounder Benjamin Rautianen, though. In his native Finland, the 20-year-old center has exploded for 17 goals and 61 points in 46 games with Tappara, leading the Liiga in scoring. Expecting the Bolts to be willing to lose both O’Reilly and Rautianen in one trade deadline might simply be too much risk for a team without much else in the pipeline, though.
Team Needs
Third-Line Piece: It just so happens that Tampa’s preferred deadline target continues to make too much sense this time around. A down year for Point and injuries to him and Cirelli make their depth chart look thin down the middle at the moment, but at full strength, that’s not a concern. Finding someone to bump a more offensively limited name like Gage Goncalves out of a top-nine role on the wing, though, would be a legitimately helpful addition to an offense that already ranks fourth in the league at the Olympic break. Coleman makes sense, as could pending UFA Michael Bunting out of Nashville.
Right-Shot Depth On Defense: Tampa doesn’t need a needle-mover on the blue line. Darren Raddysh‘s breakout this season has ensured that. Still, he and Erik Černák are the only two righties in the system capable of playing NHL minutes in the postseason on a regular basis. Maxwell Crozier is a fine depth option, but expecting him to step into the top four in case Černák or Raddysh gets hurt – or dealing with some chemistry issues by icing so many lefties – isn’t a great thought. An experienced rental 3RD option for a mid-round pick, like Connor Murphy or a reunion with Luke Schenn, might be a shrewd move.
Image courtesy of Perry Nelson-Imagn Images.
Five Key Stories: 2/2/26 – 2/8/26
The Olympic break is now upon us with the men’s tournament set to start in a few days. Meanwhile, there was certainly some news of note around the NHL over the past seven days which is recapped in our key stories.
Bjugstad To Devils: The fact that New Jersey is currently out of a playoff spot didn’t stop them from buying as they acquired center Nick Bjugstad from St. Louis in exchange for minor leaguer Thomas Bordeleau and a fourth-round pick. The 33-year-old hasn’t had a great year and has been limited to 36 games due to injuries and healthy scratches; he has six goals and one assist in those outings. Still, Bjugstad is only two years removed from a 45-point season and gives them some extra center depth and grit for their fourth line. He has one year left on his contract after this one at $1.75MM, meaning he’s not a rental player for them. Meanwhile, Juho Lammikko lost his roster spot with New Jersey after the move. He declined to go to the minors and was subsequently released and has since signed in Switzerland.
Done For The Season: With the playoffs out of reach, the Flames have decided to shut down veteran winger Jonathan Huberdeau for the rest of the season to allow him to undergo hip resurfacing surgery. The injury is one that he has been dealing with all season and there’s no confirmation at this time that he’ll be available for training camp. He had been struggling before being shut down as he had just 10 goals and 15 assists in 50 games, a point total well below the 62 he had last season. Huberdeau still has five years left on his contract, one that carries a $10.5MM cap charge and has not aged particularly well since his career year with Florida back in 2021-22.
Panarin On The Move: With Artemi Panarin being sat out for future trade purposes, the Rangers were able to get a deal done just before the trade freeze. The veteran was dealt to the Kings (with 50% retention on his expiring contract) in exchange for winger Liam Greentree along with a 2026 conditional third-round pick that upgrades to a second-round selection if Los Angeles wins a round. If the Kings win two, New York adds an extra 2028 fourth-rounder. Panarin, who quickly signed a two-year, $22MM extension (spurning much bigger offers), gives the Kings a legitimate top-line scoring threat on a team that has struggled mightily offensively this season, ranking 31st in the league in goals scored. Panarin made it known that Los Angeles was the only team he’d waive his trade protection for, hindering New York’s ability to get a top return. Still, in Greentree, they add an intriguing big winger who was a first-round pick in 2024 and has been quite productive in the OHL, giving them a big add to their prospect pool.
Trotz To Retire: It has been an eventful few years for Barry Trotz as the GM of the Predators. Taking on that role for the first time following a long and successful coaching career, he went on a big spending spree in the 2024 offseason, adding Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault, and Brady Skjei in an effort to turn his team into a contender. Instead, they’ve floundered and after missing the playoffs last season, they’re on the outside looking again at the break. Meanwhile, Trotz announced this week that he has decided to retire from the role, though he will remain on the job through the trade deadline and until a successor is found. The team had hoped to use CAA Executive Search to help find a replacement but as CAA Hockey has 153 NHL clients, it was deemed a conflict of interest and CAA has since withdrawn from that engagement. The search will now be done in-house.
Suspended For 20: Penguins defenseman Caleb Jones has been sidelined for the better part of the month after being injured on a conditioning stint (to wrap up recovery from a separate injury). Now, he won’t be in the lineup no matter what for the bulk of the rest of the season as the NHL gave him a 20-game suspension for violating the terms of the NHL/NHLPA Performance Enhancing Substances Program. Additionally, he has been referred to the Player Assistance Program for evaluation and possible treatment. Jones is in the first season of a two-year deal with Pittsburgh and barring a late-season return after the suspension is lifted, he’ll wind up with just seven games with the Penguins and the one brief appearance in the minors.
Photo courtesy of Brad Penner-Imagn Images.
PHR Mailbag: Stars, Jets, Mammoth, Blackhawks, Fourth Lines, Playoffs, Draft
Topics in this edition of the mailbag include the types of moves Utah should look to make, the top fourth lines in the NHL, and much more. If your question doesn’t appear here, check back in one of our last two mailbag columns.
bottlesup: With what the Avalanche are doing right now and with Vegas acquiring Rasmus Andersson, is there a world in which my Stars can possibly make the Stanley Cup Final?
At this point, I wouldn’t be as concerned about Vegas. Yes, they’re better, but they’re a third-round opponent (Dallas isn’t dropping to a Wild Card spot and lining up with the Pacific Division) and with shaky goaltending this season, they’re beatable in a seven-game series. Not saying the Stars would for sure win but they’d have a solid chance.
Now, assuming they get past Minnesota in the first round, Colorado is its own unique test. Yes, they slumped before the break but let’s face it, teams that have a runaway first half tend to take their foot of the gas a little, so to speak. That doesn’t worry me. The Avs would be the favorites in that series but they’re also not unbeatable. I’d say that Jake Oettinger would need to be sharper than he has been this season for them to have a chance.
For Dallas to get the best chance to make it through to the Cup Final, they need to add defensive help. They have a strong top three but then are piecing it together from there with iffier options that you might not want to rely on for 16-plus minutes per game in the postseason. A solid defensive second-pairing blueliner that can help the penalty kill and take some pressure off the third pairing would help. A bit more firepower in the bottom six would help their chances as well. Once they get a better sense of whether Tyler Seguin can return (keeping their LTIR pool intact) or not (an SELTIR placement would add nearly $6MM to that pool), they’ll see how feasible those acquisitions could be.
Long story short, there’s definitely a world in which Dallas gets there. They’re one of the top teams in the league for a reason. They have a strong, experienced core group that has had some playoff success before. They’re not the favorite to come out of the West today but someone has to survive the gauntlet and it could very well be them.
Cla23: The Winnipeg Jets always claimed to be a draft-and-develop team. Meanwhile, they are one of the oldest teams, the Moose are not very good, and a lot of young players want out as they feel they are not getting a chance with the big club; their drafting is poor as well.
Do you think it is time to shake up the management and scouting staff? Scott Arniel should be safe as he doesn’t have much to work with.
It’s fair to say that Winnipeg’s drafting and development hasn’t been great as of late. Part of that is not having some of their better picks as a result of making win-now trades. Losing a first-round pick to retirement at 21 due to a hereditary tissue disorder was something out of their control. But, in general, if you look at their draft history (HockeyDB has a quick snapshot), the results aren’t pretty. And the end result is a system that’s certainly toward the bottom of the league.
As to whether an overhaul is needed, that’s a little harder to answer. We know the Jets are one of the stricter-budget teams in the league and their scouting group is on the smaller side. So is their player development group. Is this a case of simply needing more eyes that could aid on the drafting side and a bigger development team to help those prospects? It’s definitely possible. I’d like to think that could fix at least some of the problem without overhauling things.
I think the only way that an overhaul would be considered is if ownership decided that the current core has gone as far as they can and that it’s time to commit to a multi-year rebuild. At that time, maybe you bring in some new decision makers in management and scouting. I’m not sure the market could survive any sort of extended rebuild from an attendance and revenue standpoint and the fact they’ve re-signed all the veteran players they have suggests that’s not even being considered. So, for now, the more realistic hope would be that the front office gets a bigger budget to work with to rectify some of the drafting and development issues and hope that over time, that gets things back in the right direction.
GBear: The Mammoth seem to be a legit threat to make the playoffs, what move(s) do you foresee them making near the trade deadline? I’ll hang up and listen for the answer. ☎️
I’ll start with a question of my own. Where does GM Bill Armstrong feel his team is within the rebuilding cycle? Are they in the ‘happy to be here’ phase or aiming higher? The answer to that dictates the answer to your question.
I have them in the former. They’re not a top-three team in the loaded Central Division and I don’t think they beat Vegas or Edmonton if they wind up crossing over. I suspect Armstrong feels the same way so it’s probably not the time to swing big.
However, he should also want to reward his roster with some reinforcements, albeit more of the depth variety. An upgrade over Nick DeSimone and Olli Maatta is a small move that can give the back end a bit of help. There should be several of those players on the move that would only cost the Mammoth one of their previously-acquired selections. Up front, getting Logan Cooley back should be enough of an upgrade down the middle so I’d look at the wing. Someone like Michael Bunting makes a lot of sense. With the right fit, he can play basically on any line, allowing them to deepen the lineup. He plays with some jam which should appeal to Andre Tourigny. And he’s only 30; it’s plausible that they’d want to give him a multi-year deal if things went well so he feels like a fit on that front as well. And, again, their surplus picks should cover a big chunk of the acquisition cost.
Even if they wind up shoring up their group for an early playoff exit, a team can learn a lot from that short series by getting that taste. That’s worth using some assets to try to help solidify while also being restrained knowing that the bigger moves (that we know Armstrong will sniff around on) will likely come in the offseason.
Unclemike1526: With Frondell and Kantserov coming late this year in all likelihood, and Murphy and maybe Dickinson too being moved, Name the one guy (under 30) the Hawks could get in a trade that can put the puck in the net? A flat-out scorer. They need that more than anything. Frondell can take Dickinson’s spot eventually and Del Mastro can take Murphy’s; there has to be somebody out there, right? I don’t want to move Mikheyev or Grzelcyk and would rather re-sign them. Grzelcyk is solid and Mikheyev is too valuable as a PK guy. They need a scorer, right? The time for draft picks is over. Thanks.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the time of year when a lot of under-30 impact scorers tend to be moved. But if St. Louis is ready to shake things up, making a run at Jordan Kyrou makes sense. He’s not having a great year this season but before that, he had three straight 30-plus-goal seasons so that should fit the bill for what you’re looking for. He’s 27 and signed for five more years after this one at $8.125MM, a price tag and term the Blackhawks can afford. It’d take parting with a key youngster and a quality pick or prospect but if the goal is to get an upgrade to help take the next step, he might be it. Admittedly, I’m not sure he’s a great fit with Connor Bedard but talent is talent and he’d be a big upgrade.
On a smaller scale, they’re the type of team I could see wanting to take a look at Patrik Laine. It’s starting to sound like Montreal is willing to retain money to move him and take a negligible at best return for him to open up cap space for themselves. Chicago has loads of cap space and a six-week flyer to see how the 27-year-old might fare with a fresh start and if he might be a short-term solution for a couple of years after this. It runs counter to them being a seller but if the cost is next to nothing (or nothing), it’s a dart throw that might be worth making.
Daniel M: Blake Lizotte’s recent re-signing has me wondering if the Penguins have the best 4th line in the NHL right now. Their underlying numbers look really good, even though they start a ton of their shifts in the defensive zone. They contribute offensively too. What are some of the NHL’s best 4th lines?
Pittsburgh’s trio would be right up there. They’ve really impressed and have been together enough to show that it’s not just short-term good luck. Right now, they may very well be the best.
I pushed this question to the last mailbag so I could watch some games with this question in the back of my mind. Two fourth lines, in particular, stood out. One was Buffalo’s with Jordan Greenway and Beck Malenstyn being centered by Peyton Krebs. It’s a line with a lot of size and physicality but some solid defensive play and a bit of offensive upside to go along with a cycle game. Greenway’s continuing injury woes are certainly a concern moving forward, however.
The other one that caught my eye was Boston’s trio of Tanner Jeannot, Sean Kuraly, and Mark Kastelic. A little penalty-prone, sure, but that’s an energy line with some defensive acumen, a bit of offensive touch, and an ability to cycle a team to death in the attacking zone. That type of line can do some damage as the checking gets a little tighter down the stretch and into the playoffs and I could see it being more successful in the coming weeks.
One of the challenges in evaluating fourth lines is that they’re forever fluid. It’s rare to find a combination that works for an extended period of time. Players get hurt, shuffled in and out of the lineup, or moved up if things are going well. Per MoneyPuck, Pittsburgh’s fourth line of Connor Dewar, Noel Acciari, and Lizotte, is the 18th-most-used line in the league. Not just among fourth lines, that’s all lines. That type of consistency is extremely rare for a fourth line and probably gives it a leg up on the rest overall.
Rasmus Andersson Discusses His Trade
The long trade saga for Rasmus Andersson finally came to an end last month when the Flames moved him to Vegas in exchange for a first-round pick, a second-round selection, defenseman Zach Whitecloud, and prospect blueliner Abram Wiebe.
Of course, while this was the time that the trade got over the finish line, it looked like deals were all but done on multiple occasions beforehand. Speaking with Sportsnet’s Eric Francis earlier this week, the blueliner discussed some of those failed moves that ultimately preceded his departure from Calgary.
Over the summer, it was widely reported that the framework of a trade was in place to send him to Los Angeles. Andersson confirmed as much but acknowledged that he wasn’t ready to sign a long-term deal with the Kings which was a condition of the swap. As a result, it ultimately fell through.
Soon after that, word emerged that Andersson had given the Flames a shortlist of teams he would sign with. It turns out that the list wasn’t all that short as there were seven teams on it.
Andersson noted that a couple of times, it looked like something was in place with some of those other teams, without going into specifics about who they were. In the end, the acquiring team couldn’t figure out how to fit him in beyond this season (where he has a team-friendly $4.55MM AAV) which ultimately scuttled the discussions.
To his credit, Andersson came back to the Flames for this season and didn’t let the constant discussion about his future faze him. Instead, he had a strong first half, notching 10 goals and 20 assists in 48 games before the swap while logging over 24 minutes a night of ice time, narrowly surpassing his career high in that regard.
Of course, there was one more failed move, that coming just days before the move to the Golden Knights. It briefly looked as if Andersson was on his way to Boston with a seven-year, $63MM extension in tow but the 29-year-old noted that the Bruins made some tweaks to the offer in terms of structure and trade protection that weren’t to his liking. Then, after three days without any communication, he ultimately decided to pull the plug on signing an early extension with anyone for the time being. With an extension being a prerequisite to make the Boston trade happen, that took them out of the equation as well.
In the end, that decision ultimately facilitated a move as Vegas stepped up with their offer mere hours after that announcement and the long-awaited swap going back the better part of a year was finally completed. Andersson has since played in eight games since the move, picking up a goal and three assists and now is with Sweden for the Olympics so his break will be a short one compared to most of the league.
Speculated as a preferred landing spot for Andersson in the summer, the Golden Knights were indeed one of the seven teams on his list dating back to the offseason so both sides should be confident that an extension can be worked out. The near-miss Boston contract should act as a reasonable barometer for what that agreement should ultimately cost. It may wind up taking a lot longer than originally anticipated and hoped but Andersson appears set to get one of the outcomes he wanted, a trade to and a contract with a team of his choosing. The first half is done, now we’ll see how long it takes for the second half to be completed.
Switzerland Hoping To Climb International Ladder At Olympics
Next week, NHL players will take the ice at the Winter Olympics for the first time since 2014. As much has changed in the 12 years since, the medal odds have remained the same. This year’s tournament is expected to be – above all else – a showdown between Team Canada and Team USA rosters stocked to the brim with NHL stars of past and present. Sweden and Finland fall in naturally behind the North American countries, rounding out the usual four-headed fight to leave with a medal. But thanks to some injuries to the top dogs, one underdog seems to stand out from the rest of the pack.
No – it’s not Czechia, which won the 2024 World Championship on the backs of the same players who will anchor their Olympic roster. Lukas Dostal, David Pastrnak, Martin Necas, and Tomas Hertl will pose major threats on Olympic ice – but injuries to Pavel Zacha and Filip Chytil may have irreparably damaged their depth chart. Instead, this year’s underdogs could be the Swiss, who have honed a roster of veterans into the perfect mix of reliability and explosivity.
Switzerland is led by one-time Norris Trophy winner Roman Josi, who continues to bring a dominant impact to both ends of the ice, even after losing 29 games of last season to injury. Josi poise, control, and perspective needed to lead a surging lineup. In speaking about Switzerland’s approach with NHL.com’s Dan Rosen, Josi said:
We know the teams that are coming here, the players that are here, but I think we can have a lot of confidence in our game. Obviously, this is a different beast than World Championships, but we’ve played some really good World Championship tournaments and got some momentum.
Josi added that this is the first time that Switzerland’s stars have had a chance to play at full strength. This is only the second time in the last five years that Switzerland has had each of Roman Josi, Nico Hischier, Kevin Fiala, and budding top-defender J.J. Moser on an international lineup. The other instance was at the 2024 World Championship, where the Swiss went on a mad dash to the Gold medal game, only to lose to the aforementioned Czechia. While Josi didn’t return for the 2025 tournament, Switzerland still managed to repeat as Silver medalists, this time losing to Team USA in their first World Championship win of the 2000s.
Back-to-back silver medal wins brought Switzerland up to four second-place finishes across the last 13 years. Before then, the Swiss hadn’t medaled in 14 years, not since their trifecta of medals won between 1994 and 1997.
Now, Switzerland faces the ultimate test. They have never medaled at an Olympic game with NHL talent – but this year offer an interesting mix of talent. Josi and Hischier offer stalwart reliability at both positions, capable as both playmakers and defenders. They’re complimented by Kevin Fiala, an electric scorer who seems to bring a bit extra to international competition. Fiala has led Switzerland’s last three World Championship rosters in points-per-game scoring and should continue to pop next to stars.
More than their top-end, Switzerland is bringing the fifth-most NHL talent in the tournament – the most outside the typical big-four. That standing has been propped up by injuries to other clubs but Switzerland’s flanks bring a lot of heft. Moser looks capable of standing up to the ever-important #2 role, while Jonas Siegenthaler‘s upside as a shutdown defender should hedge the team’s second pair. They’ll get similar support from Timo Meier and Nino Niederreiter on offense. Meier has 28 points in 52 NHL games and Niederreiter has 19 points in 55 games, down years for both players though they’ve also shown some extra spark in past international games.
The Nati will be rounded out with some shreds of upside. Philipp Kurashev was having a career-year before running into injury at the end of 2025. He has totaled 17 points and a plus-three in 34 games – notably his first NHL season with a positive plus-minus. Former Colorado Avalanche winger Sven Andrighetto has stepped up as a star scorer in Switzerland’s top pro league in his post-NHL days. He is one of five players scoring at a point-per-game pace in that league, with 35 points in as many games. Also on that list is former Florida Panthers and Toronto Maple Leafs forward Denis Malgin, who has 41 points in 41 games. That duo will stand as potential X-factors who can score important goals ,even if their point totals don’t pop.
These strengths are built on what is, still, a lineup far away from the strength of the top-four. Switzerland is rolling out Akira Schmid as their starting goaltender. He has played a career-high 29 NHL games this season and has 16 wins and a .895 save percentage to show for it – stout marks behind a strong Vegas Golden Knights club. But goaltending will still be Switzerland’s biggest weaknesses, not supported by a similarly shaky defense behind their three NHL talents.
Sweden is missing Lucas Carlsson and Jonas Brodin, two hard-hitters who would have filled important roles this tournament. Finland is missing star center Aleksander Barkov. Could those absences leave enough room for Switzerland to push into medal contention? If they bring the might they’ve shown at the World Championships, it could be. Even if the Swiss don’t medal, a standout tournament could put them at the level of, or even above, fellow up-and-comers like Czechia and Slovakia.
Golden Knights’ Jonas Rondbjerg Ruled Out Of Olympics
2/8: Denmark has announced their replacement following Rondbjerg’s injury. They’ve added left-defenseman Malte Setkov, bringing the roster to a conventional 14 forwards and seven defenders after Denmark originally rostered 15 forwards. Setkov has spent the last four seasons in Denmark’s top league. He has 13 goals and 30 points in 39 games this season, a career-high scoring pace.
2/6: Team Denmark will enter the 2026 Winter Olympics without one of their five NHL forwards. Vegas Golden Knights winger Jonas Rondbjerg has been ruled out due to a lower-body injury sustained during Vegas’ Sunday loss to the Anaheim Ducks, Denmark general manager Morten Green told local news channel TV 2 Sport.
Rondbjerg was placed on Vegas’ injured reserve on Monday. He missed the Golden Knights’ last two games before the Winter Olympics break, replaced by rookie forward Kai Uchacz.
Now, Rondbjerg will lose his first chance to represent Denmark at the Olympic Games. He joined the country at the Olympic Game Qualifiers in 2025 and scored one goal in three games. That chip, and his physical presence, helped lift Denmark to the top of Group F.
Rondbjerg was one of only seven NHL players on Denmarks 2026 Olympics roster. His peers include the Hurricanes’ Nikolaj Ehlers, Lightning’s Oliver Bjorkstrand, Senators’ Lars Eller, and Kraken’s Oscar Fisker Molgaard on offense.
That bunch will make up the bulk of Denmark’s top lines, while Rondbjerg was set for a pillaring role in the team’s bottom-six. The 6-foot-2 forward has split the season between the NHL and AHL, netting one point in four games with Vegas and 23 points in 36 games with the Henderson Silver Knights. He offers a reserved, physical presence that could have boosted Denmark’s odds against physical teams like Finland and USA.
Who Denmark will choose to replace Rondbjerg will be an interesting question to answer. Winger Felix Maegaard Scheel, 33, joined Denmark’s national team for three games earlier this season. He has served an extra forward role at the last four World Championships and currently has 11 points in 29 games in Germany’s DEL. Denmark could also opt for Viktors Čubars, who leads the country’s top league in scoring with 57 points in 40 games. Other local options could include Patrick Bjorkstrand or Oliver True, Ehlers’ cousin.
Or, if Denmark wants to maintain their NHL connection, they could opt for former Chicago Blackhawks draft pick (2016 fifth-round) Mathias From, who has 53 points in 42 games in Austria’s IceHL.
Who Could The Penguins Target Before The Trade Deadline?
The Penguins appeared to fall back to earth in December after a strong start had them in playoff contention. A ten-game stretch dropped Pittsburgh to the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings. However, since the Christmas break, the Penguins have been on a tear, going 14-3-3 and climbing to second place in the Metropolitan Division.
No one expected Pittsburgh to be in this spot, but that’s where they are, and it is likely changing general manager Kyle Dubas’ long-term plans. Pittsburgh was expecting to sell at the trade deadline, but now there is talk of potential additions, as Josh Yohe writes in The Athletic.
But what exactly would the Penguins add? The truth is that Dubas probably isn’t looking for short-term answers and isn’t going to give up previous picks and prospects for rentals.
He might send out a late-round pick for a player or two, but his big moves, if he makes them, will not be short-sighted. So, given that he is armed with a ton of cap space and a plethora of draft picks in the subsequent three drafts, who could Dubas target?
Some people might see a player like Blues forward Jordan Kyrou as a fit, but Pittsburgh’s GM has a type. For the past two years, it’s been clear he’s targeting high-ceiling, (mostly) young players who have fallen on hard times, need an opportunity to showcase their skills, and come at a discount.
Egor Chinakhov, Arturs Silovs, Philip Tomasino, Cody Glass, and Stuart Skinner were part of a couple of trades Dubas made to acquire young talent with a ton of upside. Most of those moves have worked out, with Tomasino being the exception.
Then there is the free agency market, where Dubas’s work is very impressive. Justin Brazeau, Parker Wotherspoon, Ryan Shea, and Anthony Mantha were all brought in for a song. Now, they are all contributing significant minutes in key roles for Pittsburgh, and the team is reaping the benefits.
Kyrou could be considered a fit, but given the price tag and the money he is owed, it doesn’t feel like a Dubas target heading into the trade deadline. He has been burned by significant acquisitions before, both in Pittsburgh and Toronto, so he could be tepid when it comes to big-game hunting, especially if he is eyeing the Penguins’ long-term prospects. But like Kyrou, there are many players who have fallen on hard times and are available, with the upside Dubas might be looking for.
What about a Shane Wright in Seattle? Would Dubas be willing to move some of his picks and prospects to acquire the former fourth-overall pick in 2022, or even go so far as to move a player from the Penguins’ current roster?
Wright looked like he’d found his NHL footing last season, but an uneven start to this year has him on shaky ground. Seattle is putting out feelers to gauge the market for the 22-year-old.
Pittsburgh needs young, high-end talent to add to its young core of Benjamin Kindel, Sergey Murashov, Harrison Brunicke, and Rutger McGroarty. Could Wright be a fit? There is nothing to suggest Pittsburgh has interest, but given Dubas’ track record, it’s hard to ignore that there could be a fit there.
What about another top pick, Alexis Lafrenière, who is reportedly not a significant part of the New York Rangers’ retool? The former first overall pick in 2020 looked to have turned the corner two years ago, when he tallied 28 goals and 29 assists in 82 games.
However, last season was a setback offensively, and this season has been an even steeper drop. His assist numbers remain stable, but the finishing just hasn’t been there. He has a two percent drop in his shooting rate and isn’t generating the same shot volume as in 2023-24.
It’s hard to believe the Rangers would trade with the Penguins given the bad blood between the two sides, but they’ve done business before, as recently as 2024, when Pittsburgh sent forward Reilly Smith to New York for two draft picks. This would be different, though, as Lafrenière is in the first year of a seven-year, $52.15MM contract. And make no mistake, that contract could be a barrier to the Rangers moving him, although with a rising cap, it could be worth taking on, given Lafrenière’s potential.
At 24 years of age, Lafrenière has yet to live up to the billing that made him a first-overall pick. He was touted as an offensive wizard, drawing comparisons to another former first-overall pick, Sidney Crosby.
Now, in his sixth NHL season, it doesn’t appear he will morph into an offensive wizard anytime soon, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t value to be had. Lafrenière could be a good long-term option to play on the wing with Kindel in Pittsburgh’s top six.
Lafrenière is a smart player. Like Kindel, he has a high hockey IQ and is an excellent passer who handles the puck well. There could be a match there if the Penguins are looking for younger players who have underperformed.
Given Dubas’s previous connection in Toronto, it’s hard to believe he wouldn’t be interested in right winger Nicholas Robertson, a pending RFA next summer who has been on the trade block for what feels like forever.
Robertson wanted out of Toronto 18 months ago and never got his wish. However, the Maple Leafs have moved him up the lineup this season, with varying results, thanks to the injuries the team has dealt with. Would Toronto move him now? It’s hard to say, but for the right price, anything is possible.
It’s not certain that Robertson would be a fit in Pittsburgh, as he likely wouldn’t be in their top nine. The Penguins’ fourth line of Blake Lizotte, Noel Acciari and Connor Dewar has been highly effective this year, meaning there might not be a place for Robertson with the Penguins. Things could change in the summer, when the Penguins have more slots open up due to departures, but for now, it seems unlikely that they would acquire the 24-year-old forward.
At the beginning of the season, the Penguins were widely regarded as having the worst left-side defensive unit in the league. No one could have predicted the emergence of Shea and Wotherspoon, who have become solid defensive options, while Brett Kulak was still playing in Edmonton with the Oilers.
At the time, Penguins fans were discussing the possibility of acquiring Anaheim Ducks defenseman Pavel Mintyukov, the 10th overall pick in 2022. Reports from Elliotte Friedman at the time indicated that Mintyukov wasn’t happy with his playing time, and Penguins fans rightly saw him as a potential solution to their defensive woes. But now, with the Penguins’ current depth, it’s hard to say whether it would be a move for Pittsburgh to make. Dubas always likes to stockpile NHL defensemen and has at least a dozen of them right now, but would he put together a 22-year-old defenseman who would be a heck of a buy-low option?
Make no mistake, Mintyukov can play and would be a great long-term option for the Penguins alongside Brunicke on the back end. This season, Mintyukov has six goals and eight assists in 48 games, buoyed by a career-high shooting percentage of 12%. Pittsburgh is being cautious about how it spends its future assets and may not want to roll the dice if the price gets too high. But if Anaheim is looking to move on from Mintyukov, the Penguins could likely put together a competitive offer for the pending UFA.
NHL Teams Continue To Avoid Roster Re-Starts
Several NHL teams have been major disappointments this season, particularly the New York Rangers and Vancouver Canucks. While the Rangers have made it clear they intend to retool, the Canucks have refrained from labelling their plans, possibly due to ongoing roster assessments or other internal considerations. Even teams that have entered clear rebuilds have become apprehensive about fully starting over (e.g., the Calgary Flames), for various reasons. PHR had a piece last year that addressed why teams are choosing a retool over a rebuild, but this piece will focus on why teams have shied away from ever starting over.
The reluctance to start over makes sense from the team’s perspective, even if it hinders the team’s long-term prospects of becoming competitive again. The Rangers are a perfect example, having invested a pile of past development years into players such as Igor Shesterkin and Alexis Lafreniere. This is common among NHL teams, who constantly fall into the sunk-cost fallacy of continuing to throw money and time at a player, even though he will never be what they were hoping for or effective enough to justify the costs they’ve paid.
Beyond past costs, teams are also trapped by future expenses from contract extensions given to players who are not performing up to their AAV. This is something the Rangers are arguably dealing with in the cases of Shesterkin and Lafreniere, another bitter pill for management to swallow, as they are now in a position where they feel as though they are throwing both past and future years away on a player they piled so many resources into.
Those extensions were signed by Rangers general manager Chris Drury, and his fingerprints are all over this team. Drury has invested everything into his current club, from draft picks to term to cap space to his public messaging. It’s part of the reason he has recently talked of pivoting to a retool. Walking away completely from this core would signal a massive failure on his part. Even if the pieces in place probably aren’t the ones you’d want to retool around, Drury will likely keep a lot of them, because he staked his reputation on acquiring them.
GMs who build a team and then have to blow it up are essentially admitting they were wrong in their roster construction. Few NHL GMs want to do that, and most front offices would rather be a consistent disappointment than openly admit they are wrong.
And therein lies a big problem in the NHL. Executives aren’t necessarily rewarded for championships; they are rewarded for not collapsing. Making the playoffs is safe; finishing just outside the playoffs shows stability, but tearing down a roster and rebuilding it is a considerable risk, one that can cost you your job. A full-scale rebuild requires several ugly seasons. It means fans with brown paper bags on their heads attending games, and it means an impatient owner circling the offices, wondering when the team will turn the corner. Rebuilding is brutal and ugly, and it requires patience. Retooling is more manageable, quicker, and often leads to immediate, albeit tepid, results.
Retools can also sell hope, and teams can see it in a retool. Owners prefer hope to being told they have to tear down their team, and hope sells more tickets than telling fans you are going to start over. That matters more to owners: a full building over a full draft-pick ledger. A middle-of-the-pack team with designs on limping into the playoffs is easier to market than a disciplined rebuild with zero guarantees.
So, NHL teams opt for the theatre of optimism over meaningful structural change, and it’s tough to fault them given the incentives at play. One of the most famous examples of this is the Toronto Maple Leafs of the late 2000s, who were managed by Brian Burke. The management group had assembled a promising prospect pool but grew impatient in September 2009 and made the trade with Boston to acquire Phil Kessel. The rest, of course, is history: Tyler Seguin was drafted in 2010 with the Maple Leafs’ first-round pick, and defenseman Dougie Hamilton was drafted a year later with Toronto’s 2011 first-round pick. Had Toronto simply been patient, there is no telling where that iteration of the Maple Leafs would have ended up.
Front offices dread wasting years, and in the early stages of a rebuild, there will be wasted years. It’s also why teams rush rebuilds and mess them up. That is effectively what Drury did. He became impatient and made bold moves to bolster his lineup, which ultimately blew up his prospect system and, eventually, his NHL roster. The Ottawa Senators are guilty of the same thing, taking wild swings early in their rebuild on Alex DeBrincat and Jakob Chychrun. Teams trade their future away and call it supporting the core. They extend players to justify their original bet on a player (see last week’s piece on this). They shift their own goals from winning the Stanley Cup one day to simply not having to start over.
Again, it’s hard to fault GMs for doing this. The NHL’s structure used to encourage full-scale rebuilds, but now the rules discourage them. The draft lottery has made it harder to build through top picks; the salary cap floor requires acquiring veteran players; and some high draft picks take longer to develop. All of that has made the retool, or stated differently, the half-rebuild, safer. Even if the retool leads nowhere, which it often does.
The Pittsburgh Penguins are a prime example of this. In the 2022-23 season, it became clear the Penguins needed to get younger, but general manager Ron Hextall doubled down on his roster, trading for veterans such as Nick Bonino, Mikael Granlund, and others. He also sent Brock McGinn, Kasperi Kapanen, and Teddy Blueger out the door. It was a clear case of doing something now to change the furniture, hoping it would improve. It failed miserably. Hextall had stood still for most of his tenure in Pittsburgh, and while his flurry of moves that year showed urgency, he accomplished nothing and was fired at the end of the season.
The complex reality in the NHL is that teams can’t rebuild under current management, not in any meaningful way, because it would expose all of management’s mistakes. Bad drafting, poor development, bad signings, cultural rot in the dressing room, the list goes on. Starting over requires a top-down reset, from the president of hockey ops and general manager on down to the players, and most teams can’t stomach that kind of carnage or don’t have the humility to admit things aren’t working. This is why teams don’t rebuild until it’s five years too late, and the only choice they have is to start over and wait five to seven years for results.
The Maple Leafs are currently at that point. They can retool around Auston Matthews, William Nylander, and Morgan Rielly, or they could begin the painful teardown and build a whole new culture in Toronto. Given the incentives at play, it’s hard to believe they would choose the latter over the former, even if it might be the better choice for the franchise long term.
2026 Trade Deadline Primer Series
Pro Hockey Rumors continues to contribute to its wealth of free-to-view original content with our yearly Trade Deadline Primer series. In advance of the March 6 trade deadline, we look at how each of the NHL’s 32 teams may look to prioritize their roster construction coming out of the Olympic break. That could be a complete sell-off, an all-in push for the 2026 Stanley Cup Final, or something in between. This page will be updated with links to new articles as they are published.
Atlantic Division
- Boston Bruins
- Buffalo Sabres
- Detroit Red Wings
- Florida Panthers
- Montreal Canadiens
- Ottawa Senators
- Tampa Bay Lightning
- Toronto Maple Leafs
Metropolitan Division
- Carolina Hurricanes
- Columbus Blue Jackets
- New Jersey Devils
- New York Islanders
- New York Rangers
- Philadelphia Flyers
- Pittsburgh Penguins
- Washington Capitals
Central Division
- Chicago Blackhawks
- Colorado Avalanche
- Dallas Stars
- Minnesota Wild
- Nashville Predators
- St. Louis Blues
- Utah Mammoth
- Winnipeg Jets
Pacific Division
- Anaheim Ducks
- Calgary Flames
- Edmonton Oilers
- Los Angeles Kings
- San Jose Sharks
- Seattle Kraken
- Vancouver Canucks
- Vegas Golden Knights