Anze Kopitar Officially Retires After 20 Seasons
April 26th: Kopitar’s career has officially ended following a four-game sweep by the Colorado Avalanche in Round One of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The Slovenia-born center finishes his career with 452 goals and 1,316 points in 1,521 regular-season games. He retires first in games played for the Kings, first in assists, first in points, and third in goals. Additionally, Kopitar scored 27 goals and 89 points in 106 career playoff games, helping Los Angeles win two Stanley Cup championships in 2012 and 2014.
Sept. 18th: Kings franchise center Anze Kopitar will retire following the 2025-26 campaign, he said in a press conference Thursday. He confirms what he alluded to last month as he enters the final season of the two-year, $14MM extension he signed in 2023.
It’s a trying day for L.A. sports fans, who also saw MLB’s Dodgers announce future Hall of Fame pitcher Clayton Kershaw will retire at the end of the 2025 campaign. “This will be my last year in the NHL,” Kopitar said. “[My family has] been by my side for 20 years. They now deserve a husband and a dad. I want to get this announcement out of the way now, so it’s not a distraction. I don’t want the attention on me. The moves we made made us better. I can’t wait to start.”
Like his baseball counterpart, Kopitar was a first-round pick by his club and spent his entire career in Los Angeles. The 11th overall pick of the 2005 draft from Sweden’s Södertälje SK wasn’t only the first player from Slovenia to be drafted in the first round, he was the first to even make his NHL debut when he arrived in North America one year later. He hit the ground running in 2006-07, breaking camp with the Kings and immediately stepping in as their top-line center with 61 points in 72 games while seeing north of 20 minutes per game as a rookie. That wasn’t enough to make him a Calder Trophy nominee in a stacked class that included Evgeni Malkin, Paul Stastny, and Jordan Staal, though.
That marked the beginning of what will be a 20-year career, one of the most consistent of its kind. Kopitar continued to flirt with the point per game mark in his second year, making the All-Star Game after tallying 77 points in 82 appearances. He spent a few years struggling to carry the burden of a Kings club that was exiting a rebuild, but after he made the playoffs for the first time in 2010, he finished top 15 in Selke Trophy voting for eight consecutive seasons, cementing himself alongside Patrice Bergeron as the best two-way forward of the 2010s.
While the Kings have had some star power in their lengthy franchise history, Wayne Gretzky notwithstanding, it was Kopitar who first managed to bring the Stanley Cup to Hollywood. The Kings advanced to three straight Western Conference Finals from 2012-14 and ended up converting those into championships on the first and last occasion. During that three-year run, Kopitar’s 188 points in 211 regular-season games ranked 12th in the league, and his +60 rating ranked ninth. No one had more playoff points than Kopitar’s 55 in 64 games during that span.
L.A. had rewarded Kopitar nicely coming off his entry-level deal, giving him a seven-year, $47.6MM commitment following his sophomore season. Before that deal was due to expire in the summer of 2016, the Kings extended him on his big payday – an eight-year, $80MM contract that coincided with him assuming the captaincy from Dustin Brown. While the Kings’ team success dipped in the latter half of the 2010s, that contract saw Kopitar have his career year in 2017-18. He posted a 35-57–92 scoring line in 82 games, remarkably his only time over the point-per-game threshold, with a +21 rating to take home his second Selke Trophy and finishing third in MVP voting, his highest-ever finish for the Hart.
Even as Kopitar enters his age-38 season, he remains an effective top-six center. The slow signs of decline are there, though. His 21 goals and 67 points in 81 games last season tied for his lowest output since 2019, and his usage has ‘dwindled’ to a few ticks under 19 minutes per game. He’s still one of the league’s best faceoff men, winning 57.2% of his draws last year, and has continued to rattle off four consecutive top-10 Selke finishes. One noticeable dropoff is his willingness to deliver and take contact. While never an overtly physical center, he recorded a career-low 31 hits in 2024-25. The tradeoff is durability – he’s only missed four games in the last eight seasons.
Those hoping for Kopitar to be a part of the Kings’ bench or front office next year will be disappointed. He’s planning on moving his family back to Slovenia after the season ends and isn’t leaving the door open to change his mind on retirement, he told Dennis Bernstein of The Fourth Period. Nonetheless, he’ll retire sitting right alongside Gretzky, Marcel Dionne, and Luc Robitaille as the most impactful players in franchise history, and he’s the only one to spend his entire career in California. His 1,278 career points rank second in franchise history behind Dionne’s 1,307, so he’ll end up as the franchise’s all-time leading scorer barring a highly disappointing sendoff campaign. With two Cups, two Selkes, and likely over 1,300 career points when all is said and done, he’s a virtual lock to be inducted into the Hall of Fame when he’s eligible in the class of 2029.
Kopitar now looks to deliver at least a playoff series win in his final season, something the Kings haven’t accomplished since winning the Cup 11 years ago. He’ll do so as his successor as the club’s leading offensive producer, winger Adrian Kempe, is also a pending unrestricted free agent.
All of us at PHR congratulate Kopitar on a spectacular career.
Image courtesy of Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images.
Bruins’ Viktor Arvidsson Leaves Game With Injury
Game 4 wasn’t the only thing the Boston Bruins lost today. Before the end of the game, the Bruins announced that veteran winger Viktor Arvidsson had left the game with an upper-body injury.
Arvidsson informally left the game with only a few minutes remaining in the first period. After the Buffalo Sabres had already taken a commanding lead, defenseman Mattias Samuelsson landed a hard hit on Arvidsson along the boards, which seemingly shook the winger up. The hit wasn’t dirty by any stretch of the imagination, and likely just caught Arvidsson in the wrong spot.
Already on the brink of elimination, the possibility of being without Arvidsson in Game 5 certainly lowers the Bruins’ chances of staving off the Sabres any longer. The 33-year-old forward was electric in Boston’s only win of the series thus far, scoring two goals with a +1 rating in Game 2 in 13:52 of ice time.
If Arvidsson is unable to go when the series continues in Buffalo, the Bruins will have to sort out the top six of the forward group. Head coach Marco Sturm will likely move Marat Khusnutdinov to the top line alongside Elias Lindholm and David Pastrnak, while moving Morgan Geekie down to the second line to take Arvidsson’s spot. Regardless, it puts the Bruins in an even bigger hole after getting embarrassed on their home ice.
Flyers Expected To Scratch Matvei Michkov In Game 5
While the Philadelphia Flyers had a successful regular season and playoffs, it has not been a good year for Matvei Michkov. According to Charlie O’Connor of PHLY Sports, Michkov was practicing on the Flyers’ fifth forward unit this morning, meaning he’ll likely be in the press box for Game 5.
This has largely been the status quo all season for the former seventh-overall pick. During the regular season, it became clear that head coach Rick Tocchet was purposefully cutting Michkov’s ice time. The organization cited an off-season ankle injury and his poor physical condition during training camp.
There’s no indication his loss of ice time motivated him to play better, either. After scoring 26 goals and 63 points in 80 games under John Tortorella during the 2024-25 season, Michkov fell to 20 goals and 51 points in 81 games this season. Although it’s not uncommon to go through a “sophomore slump” at the professional level, no underlying metrics indicate Michkov took meaningful steps elsewhere.
Additionally, while his teammates were ready for the pressure, Michkov looked totally unprepared for postseason hockey. He is one of only two Philadelphia forwards, the other being Tyson Foerster, to have not registered a point in the series against their intrastate rivals, and has the lowest PDO on the team.
Through the first four games of the series, Tocchet was only putting Michkov out there for approximately 10 minutes of ice time per night. Now, Tocchet is apparently of the belief that not having Michkov will give the Flyers a better chance to close out the series in Pittsburgh, or is trying to send the youngster another message.
Assessing Egor Chinakhov’s Next Contract
The Pittsburgh Penguins and forward Egor Chinakhov are in the honeymoon stage of their relationship, basking in the early success of a late-December trade that brought Chinakhov from the Columbus Blue Jackets to the Steel City. Playoffs aside, Chinakhov was a revelation during the regular season after arriving in Pittsburgh in a trade that sent a 2026 second-round pick (from St. Louis), a 2027 third-round pick (from Washington), as well as Danton Heinen to Columbus. The 25-year-old had struggled with the Blue Jackets and had asked for a trade, which ultimately led to the move to Pittsburgh. With Chinakhov’s fit in Pittsburgh, a summer contract negotiation is set to take place and will be one of the more interesting and perhaps more complicated negotiations.
Chinakhov was the 21st overall pick in 2020 and made his debut with the Blue Jackets in October 2021, going scoreless in his first five NHL games before recording two assists in his sixth game. He would go on to post seven goals and seven assists in 62 games as a 20-year-old, giving the Blue Jackets hope that the young Russian was just scratching the surface of his offensive potential.
2022-23 saw Chinakhov start strong with 13 points in 30 games before an ankle injury in mid-December sidelined him for 29 games. Chinakhov returned late in February 2023 and was loaned to the AHL, where he posted eight points in seven games.
2023-24 began with more of the same, as Chinakhov dealt with a back injury, missing six games before being sent to the AHL. He would miss significant time again throughout the season, finishing the year with 29 points in 53 games. This became the narrative around Chinakhov, a talented skater with offensive capabilities but unable to stay healthy, as he missed half of the 2024-25 season with a back injury.
Therein lies the issue with Chinakhov’s negotiations. While he has been terrific for Pittsburgh, he’s dealt with many injuries in his short career, and the Penguins have a long history of being an injury-prone team. Chinakhov also never scored in Columbus the way he has in Pittsburgh. In 204 games with the Blue Jackets, Chinakhov recorded 37 goals and 40 assists, roughly a 31-point pace per 82 games, while in Pittsburgh, he has scored at a 69-point pace.
The dichotomy makes for a very complex and confusing contract negotiation. If you are Pittsburgh, which version of the player are you getting if you extend him for five or six years? But the flip side of the coin is that you offer a bridge contract for a year or two, and he continues his breakout and takes you to the cleaners in a year or two when his bridge deal expires. Teams have been burned by that before; however, it might be better than the alternative, which is locking a player in long term who went on a heater and outscored his own abilities.
Penguins’ general manager Kyle Dubas has been bold in acquiring talent over the past two years. Given that he scouted Chinakhov and made an aggressive trade to acquire him, even as other teams, such as the Toronto Maple Leafs, were also in pursuit of him, Dubas may be the best person to negotiate Chinakhov’s contract. It’s an important negotiation for him, as it represents an opportunity to show the naysayers that he can, in fact, lock up young players without having to cave to their every demand. That, of course, was the knock on Dubas in Toronto, where fans felt he gave the Maple Leafs’ young stars too much say and too much money in their contracts, and allocated too much of the salary cap to them.
It’s hard to argue with that narrative, given that Dubas never seemed able to get Toronto’s young stars to concede anything on their deals, and he has done little to turn that around in Pittsburgh, although he hasn’t really had the chance in the past two years. Dubas’ early negotiations in Pittsburgh were rough, as he signed Ryan Graves and Tristan Jarry to disastrous contracts that handcuffed the Penguins until Jarry was dealt late in 2025. The Graves contract remains on the books and could either be dealt for another bad contract or be buried in the AHL for the remaining three years.
Back to Chinakhov: he is arguably the first of the “future” Penguins to ink a long-term deal. If the Penguins get it right, it could set the tone for future deals with potential cornerstones such as Benjamin Kindel, Harrison Brunicke, and Sergei Murashov. But if the Penguins get it wrong and overpay Chinakhov, they will have a tougher time signing their other core pieces to discount extensions, which plagued Dubas in Toronto and eventually led him to pay his core four forwards about half of his salary cap allocation. Dubas is certainly aware of this, and it will be fascinating to see how he approaches the negotiations. Does he lean on the experience he had in Toronto and figure out a better approach to signing young players long term, or does he commit the same errors?
There is one other factor to consider that should be interesting: keeping the players happy, particularly with Chinakhov, who requested the aforementioned trade out of Columbus. If the contract talks go sour, will it sour Chinakhov, and how much does he enjoy playing in Pittsburgh? Will it affect the other young players who know they have deals to be made? These are all factors Dubas must consider when negotiating this summer on what should be a complex contract.
Canadiens’ Alexander Zharovsky Remaining In KHL For 2026-27
The Canadiens’ young lineup still has a few notable pieces on the way. They’ll have to wait at least one more season to see one of them, though. Winger Alexander Zharovsky, last year’s 34th overall pick, confirmed Sunday that he’s remaining with Salavat Yulaev Ufa in the Kontinental Hockey League to honor the final season of his contract in Russia (via Marco D’Amico of RG).
Zharovsky already looks like one of the steals of the 2025 class. Touted as a late-first-round talent by a few, most still expected him to be available with the Habs’ pick at 34.
He responded with a spectacular rookie season in the KHL this year after playing out his draft season in Russia’s junior circuit. Zharovsky was a three-time Rookie of the Month and was named to the league’s All-Star Game. With 16 goals and 42 points in 59 games, Zharovsky ranked third on Salavat in scoring and was second in points per game.
Even with some big-time names graduating over the last two seasons, the Habs still have a top-10 prospect pool in the league. Zharovsky’s standout 2025-26 campaign was enough to elevate him to #3 in the organization, per The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler – ahead of stagnating 2023 fifth overall pick David Reinbacher – and have him well-positioned to be a top-six contributor for Montreal in a couple of years’ time.
But unlike some high-profile Russian names over the past couple of years, it doesn’t appear there will be an early exit from Zharovsky’s overseas contractual obligations. Since the NHL doesn’t have a transfer agreement with the KHL, teams can’t sign their Russian prospects while they’re actively under contract with KHL clubs. Doing so requires the player and club to agree to terminate the deal – often at great cost to the player if not agreed to mutually.
Senators’ Ridly Greig Facing Suspension
Senators forward Ridly Greig‘s season is over following Ottawa’s sweep at the hands of the Hurricanes, which was finished off yesterday. He’ll now be facing a delayed start to his 2026-27 campaign as well. The NHL’s Department of Player Safety announced Sunday that Greig will have a hearing for roughing Carolina defenseman Sean Walker in their Game 4 loss.
Obviously, there’s no rush to make the decision. Still, it shouldn’t be more than a few days until Greig learns his fate. It’s not an in-person hearing, so his looming supplemental discipline won’t be any longer than five games.
Greig wasn’t penalized on the play, which was largely missed in the moment. At the midpoint of the second period in one of the many after-the-whistle scrums on Saturday, Walker and Ottawa winger Warren Foegele were engaged in a pseudo-fight near center ice. Greig, who didn’t have a sparring partner, came over and delivered a sucker punch square to Walker’s chin while he had his head down (video via Sportsnet).
In what was a silent series offensively for the Sens, Greig was one of only seven Ottawa skaters to record a point. His primary assist on Dylan Cozens‘ game-tying goal late in regulation in Game 2 was only the second postseason point of his career. He had a goal in six games against the Maple Leafs last season.
The 23-year-old will be kicking off his fourth full NHL season in the fall, whenever he does end up getting into the lineup. He’s already established himself as one of the Sens’ most physical forwards while posting some remarkably consistent offensive totals. He’s hit exactly 13 goals in each of his three full-time campaigns, with his point totals ranging from 26 to a career-high 35 this season.
Walker didn’t sustain an injury on the play, which certainly contributed to the non-call on the play. Walker took matters into his own hands later in the frame, earning a minor penalty for boarding Greig.
Golden Knights Recall Braeden Bowman, Trevor Connelly
The Golden Knights announced Sunday that they’ve recalled forward prospects Braeden Bowman and Trevor Connelly from AHL Henderson. Both will likely be available for Monday’s Game 4 against the Mammoth if necessary, but they’re likely just getting a few days of playoff practice with the big club before returning to Henderson for its Pacific Division Semifinal series against Colorado, which doesn’t begin until Friday.
Bowman, 22, has quickly become a great story for the Knights. Undrafted, he had to settle for a minor-league deal with Henderson in 2024 when his junior career ended.
The 6’1″, 205-lb right hit the ground running, finishing second on the Silver Knights in scoring last season with 36 points in 68 games en route to quickly earning an entry-level contract. He more than doubled his AHL points per game rate here in 2025-26 and actually spent most of the campaign on the NHL roster in a decently high-leverage role.
Recalled for the first time in November, Bowman spent a good chunk of the year as a top-line injury fill-in for captain Mark Stone. He was reasonably productive, churning out an 8-18–26 scoring line in 54 outings while averaging a shade over 14 minutes per game, seeing some power-play reps in the process. Bowman’s defensive impacts, though, left much to be desired. He finished with a -16 rating, only controlled 49.6% of shot attempts at 5-on-5 despite starting nearly 60% of his shifts in the offensive zone, and barely throws the body given his stocky frame (he had just 19 hits).
All that contributed to Bowman being left on the outside of the playoff lineup, especially after the Knights moved to add Nic Dowd and Cole Smith at the trade deadline. After a four-game pointless stretch in March, Bowman was scratched on several occasions before eventually being returned to Henderson at the beginning of April.
Bowman finished the AHL regular season on an absolute tear with 14 points in eight games. He also had a goal and an assist in two games as Henderson made quick work of San Jose in a three-game first-round series. If he is plugged into the lineup, he’ll be doing so with plenty of offensive confidence.
As for Connelly, Vegas’ 2024 first-round pick has yet to make his NHL debut. Still viewed as their clear-cut #1 prospect, he made an exceptional transition to pro hockey this year after an underwhelming and injury-plagued one-and-done freshman season at Providence College.
Connelly didn’t play a full season this year, either, only suiting up in 46 out of a possible 72 AHL games. He nonetheless was one of four Silver Knights to exceed the point per game mark in an offensively surging season for the oft-struggling affiliate. He ended up with a 14-35–49 scoring line and had five points in their two-game series in over San Jose last week.
If Connelly dresses, he would be the first player in Golden Knights history to make their NHL debut in the postseason.
Free Agent Stock Watch: Right Wing
With the regular season behind us, player movement between teams is now almost entirely restricted. Teams are in the thick of hotly contested playoff series, and many players with expiring contracts have either concluded their campaigns or are playing crucially important games. The players still in action are playing games that could help determine what magnitude of contract they might receive in the summer.
In a multi-part series, we’ll take a look at each position group of the upcoming free agent class, and do a rundown on how those upcoming unrestricted free agents have performed this year. Which players have increased their odds of scoring a jackpot on the open market? Which players have potentially hurt their earning potential with their play? What are the stakes for these free agents in the playoff games that remain? We’ll break it all down here.
The Marquee Names
Alex Tuch, Buffalo Sabres
As numerous pending free agents have signed extensions to remain with their current team, Tuch has emerged as one of the very best players remaining on the upcoming free agent market. While there is still a chance that the Sabres could come to an agreement with Tuch, who is repped by Brian and Scott Bartlett, the most recent reporting from the regular season indicates there is still a gap in those negotiations.
Unless substantive progress is made in those talks, it appears Tuch, a native of the Central New York region, which is just east of Buffalo, could be playing out his final campaign with the Sabres.
If he does hit the open market, he’d be one of the most in-demand players available. Tuch was a focal point of the Sabres’ return from the Vegas Golden Knights in the Jack Eichel trade, and has blossomed into a legitimate first-line winger for the team. He scored a career-high 36 goals last season and has scored at least 20 goals in each full season he’s played in Buffalo.
He concluded 2025-26 with 33 goals and 66 points in the regular season, and has two goals and two assists in the Sabres’ first three playoff contests.
With the Sabres hoping get past the Boston Bruins and make a deep playoff run, Tuch is in a position where he could author some big moments with the entire league watching.
While Tuch has been in form, there are factors beyond just his play that are contributing to his immense earning potential this summer. Firstly, the number of players who have signed extensions and taken themselves off of the free agent market means Tuch will be one of the few borderline star-level players left on the open market. Secondly, the sharp rise in the salary cap upper limit means there are quite a few teams with cash to burn this summer.
That means more teams will have the financial bandwidth to enter a bidding war for Tuch. The more teams that aggressively pursue an unrestricted free agent, the more money that free agent is often able to make. That bodes well for Tuch.
Patrick Kane, Detroit Red Wings
Like many other aging stars who have already made massive amounts of money in their career, Kane has prioritized on-ice fit and stability over maximizing his earnings in his last few trips to free agency. He found a good fit for himself in Detroit, and the Red Wings would not have come close to ending the league’s longest playoff drought without his efforts.
Now 37 years old, Kane likely has a place in Detroit for as long as he wants to continue playing. His contracts are loaded with performance bonuses, and it’s likely his next deal, in whatever form it takes, will be laden with bonuses as well. While he’s not as tied to Detroit as other similar free agents are to their teams, such as Alex Ovechkin with the Capitals or Jamie Benn with the Stars, it’s tough to imagine Kane entertaining a full free agency process at this stage of his career.
The Solid Contributors
Bobby McMann, Seattle Kraken
NHL history is littered with offensive players who have changed teams mid-season and had slow starts in their new NHL homes. So much of creating offense is about chemistry, and the inherent challenge that faces these players is the fact that they’re entering lineups with teammates whose styles and tendencies are entirely unfamiliar to them.
With that said, some players change teams and find themselves able to hit the ground running despite those inherent challenges; Bobby McMann is one of those players. In his 18 games in Seattle, he scored 10 goals and 14 points, bringing his full-season production to 29 goals, 46 points.
The 29-year-old was dealt from the Maple Leafs as the team could not reach an agreement with him on a contract extension. It was reported that McMann’s asking price on his next deal, said to be over $5MM per year, was a little above where Toronto was willing to go.
Having authored a second consecutive season with at least 20 goals, it appears McMann has given himself a real chance to earn the kind of contract offer Toronto reportedly wasn’t willing to extend him. While he’s not a one-to-one comparable, the fact that Kiefer Sherwood was able to earn a $5.75MM AAV on a five-year term has helped McMann’s case for his next deal. He’s an endearing winger, a player whose hard-working style allowed him to grab hold of an NHL role.
As an undrafted product of Colgate University, which is a quality ECAC program but not one with an overwhelming record of producing NHL players, McMann faced somewhat long odds of becoming an impactful NHL player. But with his compete level, work ethic, and knack for finding the back of the net, McMann managed to beat those odds and become a valuable NHL goal scorer. After making just over $1MM on his last deal, McMann has positioned himself to land a massive pay raise as a free agent this summer.
Vladimir Tarasenko, Minnesota Wild
While Tarasenko’s star has certainly faded since his trade from St. Louis in 2023, he remains a capable NHL scorer and one of the better offensive options set to be available on the open market this summer. He was a mid-season trade addition in back-to-back years, first with the Rangers and then with the Panthers the following year. In Florida, he showed he could still be a valuable player on a contending team, scoring 14 points in 19 regular-season games and chipping in nine points on the Panthers’ run to their first ever Stanley Cup championship.
Fresh off of the championship, Tarasenko signed a two-year, $4.75MM AAV deal with the Detroit Red Wings. But after he only managed 11 goals and 33 points in Detroit, his lowest scoring total in a healthy season of his career, Tarasenko was dealt to the Wild for future considerations. The Red Wings, it appeared, were content to be rid of Tarasenko’s $4.75MM cap hit without needing compensation from the Wild.
That deal has paid dividends for Minnesota, as the Russian forward finished the regular season with 23 goals and 47 points in 75 games. At 34 years old, though, getting term on his next deal could prove difficult. Going on another deep playoff run – provided the Wild can get past the Dallas Stars in the first round – would certainly help position him to potentially get one.
Mats Zuccarello, Minnesota Wild
When the Wild originally signed Zuccarello, back in 2019 during the tenure of former GM Paul Fenton, the deal was largely criticized. Although most outside observers acknowledged Zuccarello was still a quality player, and the $6MM per year price tag was seen as fair, the length of the deal (five years) was met with concern.
ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski wrote at the time that “there’s simply no defendable reason” why the Wild decided to sign Zuccarello for such a long term. The Hockey News’ Ryan Kennedy echoed the sentiment, adding “Zuccarello will eventually wear down and he will still have term on his contract when that happens.”
That concern from the media was not unreasonable, of course, as Zuccarello was into his thirties at that point. But the deal aged fabulously for Minnesota. Fenton’s successor, Bill Guerin, led the team to a quick turnaround, fueled in large part by the arrival of superstar Kirill Kaprizov from the KHL. Zuccarello found instant chemistry with Kaprizov.
After scoring 37 points in his debut campaign in the Twin Cities, Zuccarello managed 35 points in 42 games in 2021-22, Kaprizov’s rookie year.
Since Kaprizov arrived, Zuccarello has enjoyed the best, most productive years of his career even as he’s aged deeper into his thirties. He scored a career-high 79 points in just 70 games in 2021-22, which is a 92-point 82-game scoring pace. He scored 67 points the following year, and managed 63 points (in 69 games) in 2023-24.
His scoring rate has fallen a bit below where it once was as other Wild forwards have emerged as key focal points of the team’s attack (namely 2019 first-rounder Matt Boldy) but has still hovered at a clear top-six rate. This season, Zuccarello scored 15 goals and 54 points in 59 games, his games played total limited by upper-body injuries.
Over the course of his tenure with the Wild, Guerin has shown a willingness to invest in keeping his team’s core intact. His faith in this Wild core has been rewarded this season, without question. Given how well Zuccarello has played, it’d be tough to imagine Guerin letting him walk.
It’s unclear what Zuccarello’s expectations might be in free agency. Assuming he wants to continue his career and play his age-39 season, the fact that Zuccarello is able to be signed with performance bonuses means Minnesota has some flexibility in the route they decide to take with his extension.
Eeli Tolvanen, Seattle Kraken
There are many former top prospects who, after losing their spot on their original team and landing on waivers, have begun a downward spiral in their career. That spiral typically ultimately ends with the player leaving for the European pro ranks or the minor leagues. At one point, Tolvanen appeared to be at risk of following that path.
He was ranked as one of the top prospects in the game in 2018, and broke into the NHL in 2020-21 scoring 11 goals and 22 points in 40 games. But he wasn’t able to build on his rookie season in Nashville, and by late 2022, found himself on the waiver wire. The Kraken, in just their second season in franchise history, placed a claim on Tolvanen. The natural opportunity that comes with playing on an expansion franchise allowed Tolvanen to revive his career trajectory.
While he still isn’t the star he was once projected to be, he has finally begun to deliver some of the offensive upside that had tantalized scouts in years past. He scored 16 goals and 27 points in his first 48 games with the Kraken, and added eight points in 14 playoff games.
That first campaign with the Kraken showed what was to come for Tolvanen. He has become a reliable middle-six goal scorer, hitting a career-high 23 goals last season. This year, he scored 12 goals and 36 points.
Tolvanen has taken steps to round out his game this season, which bodes well for him entering free agency. He didn’t sniff the penalty kill when he began his tenure in Seattle, but is now playing over a minute per game short-handed. In a free agent class short on ascending options, Tolvanen, at 27 years old, will represent a relatively rare commodity.
Oliver Bjorkstrand, Tampa Bay Lightning
For much of his NHL career, Bjorkstrand has been a model of consistency as a second-line scoring forward. The Danish winger has been close to a lock to score at least 20 goals and between 45 and 55 points when healthy, but his fit in Tampa Bay hasn’t been perfect. Despite averaging over three minutes of power play time on ice per game, Bjorkstrand’s production has been below the standard he’s set earlier in his career. Bjorkstrand finished the regular season with 12 goals and 32 points, well below the 21 goals and 46 points he managed last season.
A contributing factor to Bjorkstrand’s decline in production has been his role outside the power play. While he was a top player for Tampa on the man advantage in the regular season, he’s often occupied a bottom-six role at even strength. His 10:30 time on ice per game at even strength is below career bottom-sixers such as Pontus Holmberg and Zemgus Girgensons.
The playoffs have not helped Bjorkstrand’s case. He’s been unable to secure a spot in head coach Jon Cooper’s lineup, serving as a healthy scratch for all three contests thus far. Cooper has even elected to play journeyman Scott Sabourin, who at 33 has played in just 73 career NHL games, over Bjorkstrand.
That puts Bjorkstrand on somewhat shaky ground entering free agency. At 30 years old, he is in a position where he could reasonably get a medium or even long-term deal. But with the way his role has declined in Tampa, he could face a challenge trying to reach his current cap hit, $5.4MM, in free agency.
Alexander Nikishin Suffers Concussion
4/26/26: The Hurricanes issued an update on Nikishin’s status Sunday morning, revealing the defenseman was diagnosed with a concussion as a result of Kleven’s hit. Nikishin returned with the team to Raleigh and will continue with the NHL’s concussion protocol there.
Carolina is set to have a decent break before its next game thanks to the team’s first-round sweep, which increases the likelihood that Nikishin won’t have to miss too much time, though it’s impossible to project a return date with exact certainty at this stage.
4/25/26: Despite earning the sweep over the Ottawa Senators earlier today, it’s not all good news for the Carolina Hurricanes. Defenseman Alexander Nikishin exited the game early after being on the receiving end of a huge hit from Senators defenseman Tyler Kleven.
Nikishin finished the game with one shot, two blocked shots, and one hit across 5:16 of ice time. Before leaving today’s contest, he had averaged over 20 minutes through the first three games of the series, although he remained scoreless. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like Nikishin just had the wind knocked out of him. After the game, Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News & Observer shared a note from head coach Rod Brind’Amour that the team fears Nikishin suffered a concussion.
Still, depending on the severity of the concussion, if that’s what it is, Nikishin may have ample time to recover. Unless the Pittsburgh Penguins pull off a miraculous comeback, the Hurricanes will likely play the Philadelphia Flyers in Round Two, a team they would have a significant advantage against, even without Nikishin. Carolina earned seven points against the Flyers this season in four games.
Additionally, although it doesn’t directly concern the Hurricanes at the time of writing, the other two Eastern Conference matchups are in tight series and may prolong the start of Round Two. If any Round One series goes to seven games, that could give Nikishin more than a week-and-a-half to recover.
Regardless, veteran blue liner Mike Reilly should begin getting ready for his first playoff action in some time. He was held out of every game in Round One against the Senators, but he was always the first man up in case of injury. Reilly last played in the postseason in the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs, scoring one goal and two points in five games with the New York Islanders.
Morning Notes: Tkachuk, Kero, Schnarr
The offseason has begun earlier than just about everyone in the Ottawa Senators organization had hoped, with the team swept out of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs last night. With Ottawa’s loss, focus has shifted to the future of the organization – and more specifically, the future of the team’s captain and franchise face: Brady Tkachuk. Sportsnet’s Alex Adams wrote that “next season could even be a last dance of sorts for this core” of Senators players. More specifically, Tkachuk’s “future and the chatter around him will hang over the team until he’s signed to an extension, is traded or walks away from the nation’s capital.”
The 26-year-old is now just two years away from unrestricted free agency, putting a definitive time frame on the Senators’ hopes of competing for a Stanley Cup. As much as Tkachuk struggled to make his mark against Carolina, he remains one of Ottawa’s most important players and a uniquely coveted asset across the league. The team isn’t able to sign Tkachuk to an extension just yet, but once that window opens, every day that passes without his signature will likely only heighten the speculation that he could see his future elsewhere, the way his brother, Matthew Tkachuk, did before being traded from the Calgary Flames to the Florida Panthers. That’s obviously an outcome the Senators will be desperate to avoid, and their planning for this offseason is likely to reflect a level of aggression designed to quickly strengthen the team to show Tkachuk Ottawa is a place where he can win a Stanley Cup.
Other notes from around the hockey world:
- Former Dallas Stars and Chicago Blackhawks forward Tanner Kero will depart the DEL’s Kölner Haie and become a free agent, according to a team announcement. The 134-game NHL veteran has spent the last two seasons playing in Europe, spending 2024-25 with the SHL’s HV71 and this past year with Cologne. He has been solid at each stop, scoring 22 points in 52 games in the SHL and 29 points in 41 games in Germany. He helped Cologne finish in first place in the DEL’s regular season standings but the club fell to Berlin in six games in the league semifinals.
- 2017 Arizona Coyotes third-round pick Nate Schnarr has also decided to depart Cologne and become a free agent after just one year in Germany. The 184-game AHL veteran has spent the last three years playing in Europe, his first two as a top scorer in Finland’s Liiga and this past year as a point-per-game scorer in Germany. He’s proven to be a capable top-six scoring forward in two of Europe’s better leagues, and is likely to receive considerable interest from clubs across the continent this summer.