Devils’ Arseny Gritsyuk Seeking Multi-Year Extension
According to a report from James Nichols of New Jersey Hockey Now, New Jersey Devils winger Arseny Gritsyuk is seeking a multi-year extension with the club. Nichols added that the interest is mutual, and the two sides are progressing well toward a new contract.
It’s safe to say that Gritsyuk’s first year with the Devils went well. New Jersey drafted Gritsyuk with the 129th overall pick of the 2019 NHL Draft, but had to wait a few years for him to play with the team, as he spent multiple seasons in the KHL. In his final KHL season, he had a solid performance, scoring 17 goals and earning 44 points in 49 games, while boasting a +22 rating with SKA St. Petersburg.
Entering the 2025-26 season, New Jersey had a significant need for additional scoring depth, which made the decision to bring Gritsyuk over to North America a relatively easy one. Additionally, his one-year, $925K contract made it a low-risk option for the Devils.
Despite some injury concerns, Gritsyuk provided the secondary scoring the Devils needed this season. In 66 games, the Krasnoyarsk, Russia native scored 13 goals and 31 points while averaging 15:10 of ice time per game. It wasn’t enough to turn New Jersey into a competitive team, but it was enough to finish eighth on the team in scoring.
The biggest concern with Gritsyuk’s play is his work on the defensive side of the puck. He finished with the highest CorsiFor on the team, but his defensive metrics were toward the bottom. That shows New Jersey controls the shot attempts more when he’s on the ice, but he doesn’t do much to stop the opposition from getting high-danger chances.
Still, the Devils’ lack of production in their middle-six is so severe that the front office is likely willing to overlook his defensive shortcomings if he continues to produce the way he did. If Gritsyuk can get to the 40-point mark consistently while being on New Jersey’s third line, it makes the extension an easy decision.
Assessing The Oilers Options For Tristan Jarry
Heading into the summer of 2025, many hockey pundits and commentators were discussing the Pittsburgh Penguins’ options for goaltender Tristan Jarry. For his part, Jarry had just cleared waivers in early 2025, and it appeared the Penguins would be boxed into the remaining three years of his contract, which carried a $5.375MM cap hit. He seemed unmovable, and the Penguins were more than willing to move him, offering him to the entire league for nothing on multiple occasions. This wasn’t the first season in which the chatter around Jarry was negative, as the sentiment to move him was the same at the start of the 2024-25 season. Now, the Jarry problem has become an Edmonton Oilers problem after the team paid a premium in December for a trade that was disastrous, to put it generously. The Oilers need better goaltending, but they have a massive black cloud in Jarry’s contract, which remains nearly unmovable. The team needs to find a path forward for Jarry, but their options are limited.
The first option is a buyout, which, according to PuckPedia, would save Edmonton $666,667 this season and $1,166,667 next season, followed by a $458K cap penalty over the next two seasons. Effectively, the Oilers would still carry a $4.7MM cap hit this year and a $4.2MM cap hit next season, making a buyout a silly proposition and one Edmonton is unlikely to use.
The team would be better served by simply burying Jarry in the AHL for the season, which would provide more relief. The formula next season would be the NHL league minimum ($850K) plus $375K, resulting in $1.225MM in cap relief for the Oilers, a better number than a buyout, which would carry an additional two years of cap penalty. Pittsburgh used this tactic on multiple occasions, with Jarry playing 12 AHL games during the 2024-25 season.
Then there is the trade option, which at this point doesn’t look like an option at all. Stranger things have happened, and no one expected Jarry to be moved this past year. Jarry started last season fairly well in Pittsburgh, giving the Penguins 14 games of above-average goaltending before GM Kyle Dubas leveraged that to send Jarry to the Oilers in a trade. Edmonton sent Stuart Skinner, Brett Kulak and a 2029 second-round draft pick back to Pittsburgh in return for the 31-year-old Jarry in what was a heavility criticized transaction from the Oilers perspective. There isn’t a trade like that out there for the Oilers, and even if Jarry were to start hot again this season, too many teams have seen this movie before, as it’s been common for Jarry to start seasons well and end them poorly. After all, Jarry is a two-time all-star and has even garnered Vezina Trophy talk in some seasons prior to the Christmas break, but it’s almost an annual occurrence for him to fall apart in the second half, which is alarming to put it mildly.
If Edmonton wants to trade for Jarry, it will need to pursue one of two strategies. It will either need to move Jarry for an equally undesirable contract, of which there are a lot, or attach assets to Jarry and move him in a trade package, similar to the way the Dallas Stars traded defenseman Matt Dumba to Pittsburgh last summer. The Penguins received a second-round pick for their troubles, a steep price for Dallas to pay to rid itself of one season of Dumba’s $3.75MM cap hit. In another transaction the year prior, the Blues paid Pittsburgh a second-round pick to take on the final two years of forward Kevin Hayes’s contract, which carried a cap hit of $3.571MM.
Now, the salary cap environment has changed dramatically in recent seasons, meaning that teams have more cap space and more teams might be willing to take on a contract like Jarry’s, which could bring the price down. However, one of the teams with ample cap space is Pittsburgh, and they probably aren’t keen to bring him back into the fold, even if they are compensated to do so. Jarry also has a 12-team no-trade list, which will further complicate things, but it does leave 18 teams available to work with if Edmonton is willing to part with some assets to move him. Jarry makes quite a chunk of money for a player who might not be NHL caliber anymore, meaning that if Edmonton wants to dump his contract, they might have to pay a second-round pick or more. There is also the issue of Edmonton’s desperation, which could drive the price even higher if they paint themselves into a corner and have no choice but to get him off their books.
The other strategy mentioned earlier might be the best for the Oilers: trading Jarry for another bad NHL contract. Would Pittsburgh consider taking back Jarry if it meant they could send Ryan Graves to Edmonton? Unlikely, but there are plenty of Graves-type contracts around the league, and plenty of teams motivated to get out from under them.
An option could be to move Columbus netminder Elvis Merzlikins, who has one year left on his deal and a cap hit near Jarry’s ($5.4MM). Merzlikins hasn’t been an average goaltender for nearly five years and was below average again this year, posting a -7.3 goals saved above expected (as per MoneyPuck). Acquiring him would shorten the window during which Edmonton is on the hook for a high-priced, below-average goaltender, although Columbus might ask for a small asset to take on the extra year on Jarry’s contract.
There is also a possibility that Jarry is packaged with another bad contract on the Oilers, such as Trent Frederic or Darnell Nurse, to facilitate a swap for a higher-priced bad contract from another team. At some point, one of those swaps is going to take place, given the sheer volume of NHL teams carrying high-priced, bonus-laden, unmovable contracts.
Submit Your Questions For The #PHRMailbag
The calendar has turned to June and only two teams remain in the playoffs, Carolina and Vegas. Beyond them, everyone else is in full offseason planning mode. The draft is less than four weeks away and free agency right on the horizon after that. With that in mind, it’s a good time to open up the mailbag once again.
Our last call for questions yielded enough queries to fill three columns. Topics in the first included the Draft Lottery, possible fits for a Connor Hellebuyck trade, and impressive late-season rookie performances. In the second, there were questions about Winnipeg’s second-line center situation, Chicago’s goaltending situation, and the President’s Trophy ‘curse’. Meanwhile, in the third, topics included an ideal offseason for the Rangers, a Robert Thomas to Detroit trade scenario, and trying to find data to support the challenges presented offensively for teams in back-to-back games.
You can submit a question by using #PHRMailbag on Twitter/X or by leaving a comment down below. The mailbag will run on the weekend.
Canadiens Nearly Acquired Matthew Knies At Deadline
Around the trade deadline, it was reported that the Montreal Canadiens had completed a significant trade with an unidentified team; however, the other team was unable to file the trade by the 3 pm ET deadline. According to David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period, the trade partner is now known, with the outlet reporting the Canadiens and Maple Leafs had agreed to a trade for Matthew Knies back in March.
Pagnotta had the details on the proposed return package, too. The Canadiens were prepared to send Alexander Zharovsky, who recently won Rookie of the Year in the KHL, another top prospect, and two first-round selections to the Maple Leafs. It has been confirmed that neither Michael Hage nor David Reinbacher was the other prospect in the deal.
Had the trade been completed, it would have sent ripples around the league. For one, although he had been involved in trade rumors leading up to the deadline, it’s relatively shocking that the Maple Leafs would actually entertain trading Knies, and not building around him. He’s only 23 years old, is signed long-term, and has had two consecutive productive years with Toronto.
Furthermore, given Montreal’s lack of scoring depth became their Achilles heel in the Eastern Conference Final, Knies certainly would have changed their outlook. The Canadiens boast one of the best first lines in the league; however, their lack of a strong second line turned them into a one-dimensional team, and the Hurricanes dispatched them easily.
Having Knies, a young winger who has scored 52 goals and recorded 124 points in 157 games for the Maple Leafs over the past two years, would have provided Montreal with a significant asset to place alongside Ivan Demidov. Additionally, Knies was relatively productive in Toronto’s playoff run last year, scoring five goals and seven points in 13 games, while also delivering 31 hits.
While trade talks may potentially resume this summer, it is unlikely that they will do so. Brad Treliving, the Maple Leafs’ General Manager at the time, agreed to that trade. The Maple Leafs have since transitioned to a different regime under John Chayka.
Chayka has a mandate to keep captain Auston Matthews happy, or risk him asking for a trade out of town if Chayka can’t turn the team around. Trading Knies away for futures wouldn’t be conducive to that goal.
While it’s unlikely that the Canadiens will be able to pursue Knies this summer, it is clear that the team intends to be aggressive in reaching their next competitive stage. Given that they’re willing to trade with divisional opponents, Montreal may already be in touch with the Detroit Red Wings about their captain, Dylan Larkin, who requested a trade from the team earlier today.
Photo courtesy of John E. Sokolowski of Imagn Images.
Flyers Sign Jacob Gaucher To One-Year Contract
According to a report from PuckPedia, the Philadelphia Flyers have signed forward Jacob Gaucher to a one-year, $850K contract for the 2026-27 season. Gaucher was scheduled to become a restricted free agent this summer with arbitration rights.
Gaucher, 25, was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Flyers back in 2024. The Longueuil, Quebec native spent most of his QMJHL days with the Val-d’Or Foreurs before spending his final season with the Baie-Comeau Drakkar while also serving as the team’s captain.
Unfortunately, Gaucher didn’t produce enough in the QMJHL to warrant a draft selection. He scored 35 goals and 68 points in 66 games during his final season in 2021-22, but he already turned 21 by that point.
In fact, it wasn’t until a successful campaign in the ECHL that any team became interested in giving him an NHL contract. Before the 2022-23 season, Gaucher signed an AHL deal with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, yet he spent the entire year with the Reading Royals, scoring 22 goals and 61 points in 71 games with a +22 rating.
After that year, the Flyers felt comfortable giving him a two-year, two-way contract, but he’s still spent much of his time in the AHL since. He’s been a solid secondary scorer, registering 48 goals and 90 points in 198 games with the Phantoms, but has zero points to show for in eight NHL contests with the Flyers.
His next contract should offer him a similar role. The Phantoms didn’t have the best season, finishing four points shy of a spot in the Calder Cup playoffs, but Gaucher finished fourth on the team in scoring, and the organization likely has an interest in retaining the handful of players that performed well this season.
Maple Leafs Interview Dallas Eakins For Head Coaching Vacancy
The Toronto Maple Leafs interviewed former Anaheim Ducks and Edmonton Oilers head coach Dallas Eakins earlier this week, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports.
Toronto’s new hockey operations leadership – GM John Chayka and executive advisor Mats Sundin – appear to have zeroed in on coaches with previous head coaching experience in this stage of their coaching search.
Yesterday, we covered reports indicating that the Maple Leafs entered the interview stage with former New York Islanders head coach Patrick Roy, and former New York Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette. 
Like Roy and Laviolette, Eakins would bring experience as an NHL head coach at multiple stops if he were to be hired as head coach in Toronto. Eakins is currently the head coach and sporting director of Adler Mannheim, a club in the DEL, the top division of professional hockey in Germany.
He has been in the role since the 2023-24 season. Mannheim have made steady progress under Eakins’ leadership. They lost in the DEL quarterfinals in his debut campaign, the semifinals in his second season there, and the DEL finals in 2025-26. One of Eakins’ top players in Mannheim, two-time DEL Defenseman of the Year Nicolas Mattinen, is a former member of the Maple Leafs organization.
Before he left to begin his career in European pro hockey, Eakins had a lengthy career as a coach in North America. It began just a season removed from the end of his playing career in 2005-06, as an AHL assistant coach for the Toronto Marlies on the staff of future Florida Panthers head coach Paul Maurice. Maurice was promoted to the head coaching job in Toronto for 2006-07, and Eakins followed him to the NHL.
After two years as an assistant coach with the Maple Leafs, Eakins returned to the AHL. He served as head coach of the Marlies from 2009-10 through 2012-13, reaching the Calder Cup Final in 2012. Eakins’ success in Toronto earned him his first shot to become an NHL head coach, hired for the 2013-14 season by the Oilers. But the early 2010s Oilers were not an easy place for a young coach to begin his career, and Eakins was fired 31 games into his second season with the club. Across approximately one and a half seasons in Edmonton, Eakins’ Oilers went 36-63-14.
Eakins returned to the AHL for what would become a four-year stint with the San Diego Gulls, the AHL affiliate of the Anaheim Ducks. Eakins’ Gulls posted a winning record in every season he coached, making runs in the playoffs in three of four campaigns. Once again, Eakins’ success as an AHL coach – in terms of both winning games and developing players – earned him another NHL head coaching job.
But just like in Edmonton, Eakins joined a Ducks organization lacking the kind of talent to make a serious push for playoff contention. Eakins coached in Anaheim during the bulk of the early portion of the Ducks’ rebuild, going 100-147-44 in his four seasons there.
While Eakins was an NHL head coach for 404 games, he has not had the chance to coach a team in a true contention phase. That could change if he receives the job in Toronto.
While the Maple Leafs endured a nightmarish 2025-26 season, the organization intends on returning to contention very quickly. Chayka has indicated the club believes it can make the necessary changes to return to the playoffs quickly – and their ability to retain star center Auston Matthews may depend on the front office delivering on that belief.
While Eakins doesn’t have a playoff track record in the NHL to this point, he’s put together an impressive resume at the AHL level and over the past three years in Germany. He also has experience in the ever-demanding Toronto market, which can be a factor working to his benefit.
If he’s hired in Toronto, the hope will be that the level of talent the Maple Leafs have to will allow him to reach greater heights compared to what he had access to in Anaheim or Edmonton.
Photos courtesy of James Carey Lauder-USA TODAY Sports
Draft Notes: Ruck Twins, Belchetz, Cali
Liam Ruck and Markus Ruck, two top WHL scorers who expect to go in the first two rounds of the upcoming NHL draft, will return to the WHL for the 2026-27 season. (Via NHL.com’s Mike Morreale) In doing so, they will bypass opportunities to spend the season playing college hockey. Many of the Ruck twins’ peers among the elite draft prospects in the CHL have elected to make college commitments over the past week. The Rucks have decided that remaining with the Medicine Hat Tigers for an additional campaign is the best path for their development en route to the NHL.
The Ruck twins enjoyed a rapid rise up draft boards over the course of the 2025-26 season as they tore up the WHL as leading scorers for the Medicine Hat Tigers. Both Rucks stand 6’0″, while Liam is a winger and Markus a center. Liam scored 45 goals and 104 points in 68 games last season, while Markus scored 21 goals and 108 points. Neither brother came close to the point-per-game mark the previous year, making 2025-26 quite the breakout season for each player. Of the two, Liam is considered by most public-facing scouts to be the superior prospect. In the poll of 10 NHL scouts conducted by Cam Robinson of Elite Prospects, Liam slotted in as the No. 24-ranked prospect, while Markus ranked No. 33.
Other notes from the NHL Draft Combine in Buffalo, NY:
- Ethan Belchetz, one of the draft’s top prospects from the OHL, appears to have recovered well from his season-ending injury, per Scott Wheeler of The Athletic. Belchetz’s season ended in March after he suffered a broken clavicle. Belchetz told Wheeler that he could play and feel “close to 100 percent” if there was a game tomorrow, and is participating in all of the fitness testing at the combine outside of the pullups and bench press. A Michigan State commit, Belchetz has a chance to be a top-10 pick. The 6’5″, 228-pound winger scored 34 goals and 59 points in 57 games for the Windsor Spitfires last season, and was ranked as the No. 9 prospect in the class by Elite Prospects.
- OHL prospect center Ryder Cali has generated some buzz recently, and Morreale reported from the combine that he is set to interview with 29 of the league’s 32 clubs. The 6’2″, 219-pound center is one of the draft’s youngest players (born September 6, 2008) and scored 16 goals and 36 points in 47 games for the North Bay Battalion as an OHL rookie. Cali recently committed to play NCAA hockey at Providence College and has a somewhat wide range of rankings by public-facing scouts. He generally sits somewhere on the bubble of the first-round, such as No. 33 (McKeen’s Hockey) or No. 37 (Wheeler), but as low as No. 68 (The Hockey News’ Tony Ferrari).
Oilers Looking To Trade Darnell Nurse
Veteran defenseman Darnell Nurse is “headed for a breakup” with the Edmonton Oilers, Mark Spector of Sportsnet reported today. Spector cited conversations with “several current and former [Oilers] employees” that have indicated the Oilers “are ready and willing to trade Nurse as soon as they are able.” 
Spector also reported that Oilers GM Stan Bowman will meet with Nurse in the coming days to discuss his future plans. Nurse holds full control over whether or not he’ll be traded this summer.
The $9.25MM AAV contract Nurse signed on August 2021 contains a full no-movement clause for its first five seasons, meaning Nurse can block any transaction that would send him to another team through the end of next season.
As a result, Spector noted that if Nurse indicates to Bowman in their upcoming conversation that he would like to remain an Oiler for another year, “trade talk will be shelved and the team will welcome him back for one more year.”
But the Oilers’ preference is to trade Nurse before the start of next season. According to Spector, this is not a sudden development, but rather something the Oilers have been quietly laying the groundwork to do for more than a year.
Spector reported that the Oilers have been “open to moving Nurse since the conclusion of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final” and that Nurse’s form had become such a concern during the 2024 Stanley Cup Final that there were even discussions of healthy scratching him during the series. The Oilers fell into a 3-0 hole against the Florida Panthers that year, but rattled off three straight wins to tie the series before falling in a close seventh game.
Edmonton is entering an extremely important offseason after a disappointing first-round playoff exit. Comments to the media made by franchise center Connor McDavid after the team’s loss to the Anaheim Ducks shed some light on the task Bowman faces: he simply has to make substantial upgrades to the team’s roster, or they risk losing the confidence of the face of their franchise. McDavid signed a two-year contract extension in October, meaning he is only committed to the Oilers through the end of the 2027-28 campaign.
Unfortunately for Bowman, he doesn’t have a huge amount of financial flexibility to work with this summer. The team is projected to have just over $14.5MM in space according to PuckPedia, but that number is likely to decline quickly if the Oilers re-sign some of their pending free agents, such as Jason Dickinson or Connor Murphy.
Moving Nurse alone would clear $9.25MM off the Oilers’ books, creating a substantial amount of cap space for Bowman to work with. But the fact that Nurse has full control over his playing future for one more season will make finding a deal difficult – if not impossible.
The issue for Nurse and the Oilers isn’t that Nurse is in any way a bad player. He was Edmonton’s No. 2 defenseman in terms of ice time last season, averaging just under 21:00 per game. The 31-year-old is a big, athletic defenseman (6’4″, 215 pounds) who pairs mobility with physicality and the ability to provide secondary offense – around 35 points per season but as many as 43. Nurse’s offensive numbers declined this past season, as his 24 points were his lowest in a season since 2017-18. But he still played significant minutes for the team, minutes that would need to be replaced if the Oilers trade Nurse.
The bet Bowman would be making in any Nurse deal would be that he could replace the tough minutes Nurse soaks up for the Oilers with another defenseman, at a cheaper rate. There’s no guarantee he can do that, of course, but with limited options to create cap space, it seems the Oilers have identified trading Nurse as a path they want to try to go down.
If Nurse does block a deal this summer, it seems overwhelmingly likely that the Oilers would pursue trading him next summer, when his NMC becomes a 10-team no-trade list. So, while Nurse does have the leverage of being able to block a trade, he may only end up postponing his exit from Edmonton.
The Oilers could therefore argue that he is better-served working with the team to facilitate a trade this summer, where he would be able to exercise control over the process and select a preferred landing spot.
Next summer, a little over two-thirds of the league would open up as possible destinations to receive Nurse. But he may also be willing to accept the risk of being traded next summer to a sub-optimal destination in exchange for the chance to stay in Edmonton. With one more year in Edmonton, Nurse could push for a Stanley Cup with McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and the other teammates he has shared the ice with for more than a decade.
It’s not clear what Nurse will choose, or what route he’ll elect to take with his playing future. What is clear is what the Oilers want, which according to Spector’s report is a divorce from one of the long-term staples of their blueline.
Photos courtesy of Perry Nelson-Imagn Images
Dylan Larkin Requests Trade From Red Wings
Detroit Red Wings captain and No. 1 center Dylan Larkin has requested to be traded from the team, reports Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. Darren Dreger added that “this move has been in the works for a while.”
According to Friedman, that neither Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman nor Larkin’s agent Pat Brisson would comment on the report, but cited a “frosty relationship” between Larkin and Yzerman as potential factor that have contributed to Larkin’s decision, alongside the team’s inability to reach the postseason at any point beyond the center’s rookie campaign. 
Larkin made headlines at the end of the Red Wings’ season when he criticized Yzerman and the team’s hockey operations department for not adding enough talent at the trade deadline.
In his end-of-season media availability, Larkin told reporters “it was hard that we didn’t do anything,” and “we didn’t gain any momentum from the trade deadline. Guys were kind of down about it. So it would have been nice to add something and bring a little bit of a spark on the ice.”
The Red Wings traded first and second-round picks to the St. Louis Blues to acquire veteran Justin Faulk at the trade deadline. The club also traded a fourth-rounder to the Ottawa Senators for veteran forward David Perron. Those additions were not enough to halt the Red Wings’ second-half slide out of playoff position.
Per Emily Kaplan of ESPN, the issues between Larkin and the Red Wings’ front office “[date] back at least to testy contract negotiations in 2023,” meaning beyond just Larkin’s unhappiness with the team’s work at the trade deadline.
If his request is fulfilled, a Larkin trade would mark the end of the player’s decade-long tenure in Detroit. The Waterford, Michigan native has spent his entire hockey career in the state. He spent his amateur career at the U.S. National Team Development Program in Plymouth, Michigan, his collegiate career at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, his very brief minor-league career in Grand Rapids, and his NHL career in Detroit. That Larkin is not only willing to move on from the Red Wings, but is actively pursuing the move, suggests something in his relationship with the team has become fractured – though it is important to stress that is just speculation.
What’s clear is that this will not be an easy trade to complete. That is not because there will not be league-wide interest in Larkin, of course. Roster building in the NHL is defined by scarcity at the center position, and in-their-prime No. 1 centers are very rarely ever available on the trade market. Those factors alone will mean there is likely to be a massive amount of interest in Larkin from across the league. Rather, the path to an eventual Larkin trade will be a difficult one because of the two key parties involved at its outset, and the varying degrees of control and leverage each party has.
Larkin, 29, signed an eight-year contract extension with the Red Wings in March 2023. The deal carries an $8.7MM AAV (which may be below market-value for No. 1 centers at this point) and crucially carries a full no-trade clause through next season. That will allow Larkin to hand-pick what teams he is willing to be traded to.
In the past, players empowered by no-trade protections have been able to severely constrict how many teams their clubs are able to negotiate with, often dramatically reducing what the acquiring team needs to surrender in order to acquire the player. Notable examples of this include this past season’s Artemi Panarin deal, or the trade that brought Taylor Hall to the Boston Bruins from the Buffalo Sabres.
Although the no-trade clause gives Larkin the ability to exert a significant amount of control over the trade process, there are limits to his leverage. Larkin is under contract through the 2030-31 season, a factor that gives Yzerman and the Red Wings a considerable amount of their own leverage. Larkin has requested to be traded, but the Red Wings have zero obligation to acquiesce to his request. He is contracted to the team, and will remain so until his age-34 season. They are fully capable of retaining Larkin through what could be the end of his prime playing years.
That could limit the extent to which Larkin is able to wield his no-trade clause. If he wants to hand-pick his destination, leaving Detroit in a position where they would need to accept a sub-optimal return package for their No. 1 center, it’s likely the Red Wings would simply elect to keep Larkin. But if Larkin does want to be traded as his No. 1 priority, he may need to allow the Red Wings to open up the trade process and allow for as many bidders as possible. His best chance of securing a trade from Detroit could very well be Yzerman simply receiving an offer he can’t refuse – something that is unlikely to happen if he exercises his contractual right to severely restrict what teams he can be traded to.
There is also the chance that Detroit very simply will not entertain a Larkin trade, regardless of the player’s wishes. Teams typically only want to roster players who actually want to play there, but Larkin would not be the first player to make a trade request that goes unfulfilled. While Friedman called the relationship between Larkin and team management “frosty,” it may not be an irreparable fracture. For both Larkin and the Red Wings, the best course of action could very well be staying the course.
For the Red Wings, it’s difficult to imagine them winning a Larkin trade. As previously mentioned, finding a No. 1 center is extremely difficult in the NHL, let alone one who is under team control and within the prime years of his career. Larkin fits the bill there, having scored at just below a point-per-game rate over the last half-decade. The Red Wings are the owners of the league’s longest playoff drought, and are desperate to return to the playoffs after an extended rebuild.
For as much talent as the team has right now – like young stars Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond – they lack a center at Larkin’s level. J.T. Compher and Andrew Copp are both middle-six types, and top prospects Marco Kasper and Nate Danielson are both considered by most public-facing scouts to have a No. 2 center ceiling. Unless the Red Wings can find a pivot with true No. 1 center upside as part of a return package for Larkin (and the odds of doing that seem long), a Larkin trade could set their franchise back at an extremely important time.
But without question, there will be a lot of interest from around the league to navigate. The Minnesota Wild stick out as a team likely to be proactive in pursuing Larkin. Wild GM Bill Guerin got to see Larkin up close in his position as GM of the U.S. Men’s National Team, and Larkin’s efforts helped the nation secure a gold medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano-Cortina. The Wild believe they have a championship-level roster, just missing a top-line center to pair with No. 2 pivot Joel Eriksson Ek. Larkin immediately surpasses Vincent Trocheck as the top veteran center potentially available via trade, meaning he will be a key target for Guerin.
Other teams, such as the Montreal Canadiens (who need a No. 2 center behind Nick Suzuki) and Los Angeles Kings (who need help at the position in the wake of Anze Kopitar‘s retirement) stick out as potential bidders. But in the former’s case, the Red Wings may be loath to deal Larkin to a division rival. And in the latter’s, the Kings may not be willing to part with the high-end assets necessary to put together a winning offer for Larkin.
In any case, this is an absolutely seismic development, one that has franchise-altering potential for the Red Wings. If the Red Wings do end up seriously considering trading Larkin, his presence on the trade market will likely shape the course of the offseason.
Photos courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
Bruins Sign Navrin Mutter To One-Year Extension
The Boston Bruins announced that AHL forward Navrin Mutter has been signed to a one-year, two-way contract extension. Mutter was a pending UFA through Group VI status, so this contract keeps him from hitting the open market.
Boston did not disclose the full financial terms of the contract beyond that it will contain an NHL cap hit of $850K, the new league minimum for 2026-27. According to PuckPedia, the deal carries a $95K AHL salary. That represents a modest pay bump for Mutter, whose previous contract contained a $70K AHL salary. Mutter is repped by Andrew & Dave Maloney of Maloney & Thompson Sports Management.
Mutter, 25, was acquired by the Bruins in a trade on March 12. The Nashville Predators dealt Mutter to the Bruins in exchange for former University of Denver star Massimo Rizzo and low-scoring winger Dalton Bancroft. Mutter ended up playing in 16 total games for Providence, 12 in the regular season and then four in the playoffs. His production in that span of games was just one goal, no assists, but offense has never been his calling card.
A 6’3″, 213-pound undrafted winger, Mutter has been able to carve out a career in professional hockey as a result of his work ethic and relentless physicality. In a four-year OHL career, Mutter only produced 58 points in 217 games. Mutter has not produced much offense regardless of what level he’s played at, as he has 21 points in 161 career AHL games, and had 11 points in a 33-game stint in the ECHL during the 2023-24 campaign.
But, as mentioned, Mutter has been able to hold down a spot in two NHL organizations thanks to his work ethic, character, and physical play. Players who have a similar value proposition at the professional level often try to refine their defensive game in order to be able to contribute to a penalty kill, but thus far Mutter has not been able to do so. That is the case throughout his professional career, including when he was in the ECHL with the Atlanta Gladiators.
While Mutter is of course a long-shot to have an NHL career, from his perspective, that’s still what he’s working towards and pushing for. And with this new extension, the door on getting into NHL games is technically not closed to him. But for Mutter to have any real prospect of not only earning an NHL call-up, but holding down a role on an NHL roster, he’ll likely need to show a greater level of versatility and defensive ability than he has so far – and bring more than just competitiveness and physicality to the table if offense is out of the question.