East Notes: Maple Leafs, Mehlenbacher, Berglund
Tonight’s game was a tough one for the Maple Leafs. The team announced (Twitter links) that goaltender Anthony Stolarz (lower body), defenseman Brandon Carlo (lower body), and forward Dakota Joshua (upper body) all exited their game against Washington due to injuries.
Stolarz went down just 2:34 into the game after extending to make a save and dropped to the ice in pain. He was helped off and couldn’t put any weight on his leg while Joseph Woll took over for the rest of the game. Carlo made it through two periods, playing into the final minute of the second but didn’t come out for the third while Joshua was injured on a hit from Rasmus Sandin in the back half of the middle frame. The Maple Leafs have a quick turnaround as they’re set to play against the Islanders on Thursday; it wouldn’t be surprising to see several recalls before that contest. One of those will be netminder Artur Akhtyamov as TSN’s Mark Masters relays (Twitter link) that the youngster will be brought up and make his NHL debut against New York.
Elsewhere in the East:
- Red Wings prospect Owen Mehlenbacher is entering the NCAA transfer portal, reports Mark Divver of the New England Hockey Journal (Twitter link). The 22-year-old center was a seventh-round pick by Detroit back in 2022 and has played three college seasons so far. The first two were spent at Wisconsin where he managed 10 points in 51 combined games. This season, Mehlenbacher played at UMass after going through the portal last offseason, tallying three goals and six assists in 32 appearances. At this point, it seems unlikely that Detroit would want to sign Mehlenbacher based on how things have gone so far so he’ll be banking on finding a landing spot where he can have a big senior season.
- The Flyers are attempting to bring prospect Jack Berglund to North America to get him some action with AHL Lehigh Valley, relays Anthony DiMarco of Daily Faceoff. The 19-year-old forward was a second-round pick back in 2024, going 51st overall. Berglund had seven goals and five assists in 40 games with SHL Farjestad this season and has another year under contract with them. Kevin Kurz of The Athletic adds (Twitter link) that Philadelphia would like to have Berglund in training camp with them next season which suggests they intend to sign him to an entry-level deal for next season.
Dmitry Kulikov Out For The Season; Panthers Recall Two From AHL
An already long injury list in Florida has gotten even longer. Speaking with reporters following Tuesday’s game against Montreal (video link), Panthers head coach Paul Maurice indicated that defenseman Dmitry Kulikov sustained a broken finger and will not return this season.
Kulikov, who was already playing with a broken nose, returned to the lineup at the beginning of March after missing nearly five months following an upper-body injury sustained in the second game of the season. As a result, Kulikov winds up with just 19 appearances on the 2025-26 campaign. He was held without a point in those outings along with an ATOI of 18:02. The 35-year-old has two years left on his contract with a $1.15MM AAV.
In corresponding moves, Florida has recalled defensemen Mikulas Hovorka and Ludvig Jansson from AHL Charlotte, per the AHL’s transactions log. As a result of these promotions, the Panthers are down to just two contracted blueliners who aren’t on their active roster: prospects Marek Alscher and Evan Nause.
It’s the third recall of the season for Hovorka and the second of the month. The 24-year-old has played in three games with Florida this season, his first taste of NHL action. Hovorka is still looking for his first point at the top level while he has averaged 13:30 per night in his three outings. Meanwhile, he has played in 53 games with the Checkers, recording four goals and 12 assists, besting his 10 points in 60 contests last season.
Jansson, meanwhile, is getting his first promotion. The 22-year-old is in his first season in North America after signing an entry-level deal with Florida last May. So far, Jansson has 10 points in 29 games which is more production than his final two years in Sweden combined. As the injuries continue to pile up, he may get a chance to make his NHL debut over the next few games.
Central Notes: Blues, Mustard, Megna
As St. Louis continues its front office shakeup, a pair of executives have received additional duties. The Blues announced today that assistant GMs Ryan Miller and Tim Taylor will take on co-GM duties for their AHL affiliate in Springfield. Miller (no relation to the former goalie with the same name) has been with the team since 2010 and is currently in charge of contract negotiations, CBA compliance, and other similar functions. Taylor, meanwhile, will continue to oversee player personnel. The two will replace Kevin Maxwell who departed the team last month to join the Rangers. Veteran Peter Chiarelli also departed last month while Alex Steen will take over as GM from Doug Armstrong in July as the front office will be structured differently in 2026-27.
Elsewhere in the Central:
- While the Blackhawks have brought some prospects up in recent weeks, one player who won’t be joining them is John Mustard. Scott Powers of The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that the 19-year-old intends to return to college for his junior year. Mustard, a third-round pick back in 2024 (67th overall), had a productive year with Providence, picking up 17 goals and 12 assists in 36 games. While he likely wouldn’t have been a candidate to make the jump to the NHL full-time next season, he almost certainly would have been able to lock down a regular role with AHL Rockford. Instead, he’ll return to the Friars and could be a candidate to sign after his 2026-27 season ends.
- Veteran forward Jayson Megna will be sticking around in the Avalanche’s organization for another year. Their AHL affiliate, the Colorado Eagles, announced that they’ve signed the 36-year-old to a one-year extension for next season. Megna has played in 204 career NHL contests over parts of 10 seasons, including 49 games with the Avs. This year, he has 26 goals and 25 assists in 66 games with the Eagles, good for second on the team in scoring.
Ron Francis Leaving Seattle Kraken
The front office changes will continue around the NHL. This time, it’s with the Seattle Kraken, as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that the President of Hockey Operations, Ron Francis, will be stepping down from his role. The Kraken organization later confirmed Friedman’s report, noting that Francis will step aside at the end of the regular season.
Technically, Francis has only been the Kraken’s President of Hockey Operations for one season. Before this year, he was the team’s General Manager for six seasons, even before they began playing in the league. Jason Botterill took over General Manager duties ahead of the 2025-26 campaign.
Although Francis crafted the team that qualified for the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs and subsequently knocked out the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche, it’s been tough going in Seattle ever since. In their five seasons, the Kraken own a 174-187-44 record, without a clear pathway out.
There are several reasons for this. First, Francis invested a lot of money in questionable free agent signings. Philipp Grubauer, Andre Burakovsky, Alexander Wennberg, and Chandler Stephenson were all signed for relatively top dollar at the time, and the Kraken haven’t gotten a solid return on investment on any of those players.
Secondly, Francis built too safe a roster. As previously mentioned, while there could be some game-changing prospects on the way, Seattle’s forward corps is entirely built of middle-six pieces, save a few. The team attempted to acquire Artemi Panarin from the New York Rangers before the Olympic break, but the star Russian player was not interested in moving to the Pacific Northwest.
The fact that Panarin didn’t want to come is evidence of another issue entirely. Despite reasonable complaints about teams in no-income tax states, the Kraken have not been able to take advantage of this benefit like other teams. That’s been an important factor in how this team has become so directionless so quickly.
Regardless, this move will enable Botterill to take full control of the front office’s decision-making process going forward, or it may help Seattle adopt a more aggressive strategy. There should be multiple options available to them, and they’ll have plenty of time to make a concrete decision.
As for Francis’ future, there’s a strong likelihood he’ll be linked to the open position with the Toronto Maple Leafs. At the end of his playing career, the Sault Ste. Marie, ON native, waived his no-trade clause to facilitate a trade to the Maple Leafs, where he finished his 23-year career.
Carolina Hurricanes Recall Four Players
Having already wrapped up the Metropolitan Division title, the Carolina Hurricanes have the opportunity to give their typical players a rest. To that end, according to a team announcement, the Hurricanes have recalled forwards Skyler Brind’Amour, Bradly Nadeau, and Josiah Slavin, and defenseman Charles-Alexis Legault from the AHL’s Chicago Wolves.
Brind’Amour, son of Carolina’s head coach, Rod Brind’Amour, has the chance to play in the third NHL contest of his career tomorrow night. He debuted last year around this time of the season, scoring one goal in two games with a -3 rating, averaging 16:35 of ice time per night. The Quinnipiac University alumnus has scored 16 goals and 34 points in 66 games with AHL Chicago this season.
Although the 26-year-old Brind’Amour isn’t seen as one of the better forward prospects in the Hurricanes’ system, Nadeau is. The former first-round pick of the 2023 NHL Draft has been electric in the AHL, scoring 58 goals and 111 points in 112 games over the past two seasons. Still, he’s been fairly quiet in his NHL opportunities to date, registering one goal and three points in 11 contests since the end of the 2023-24 campaign.
Meanwhile, the Brind’Amours won’t be the only familial connection on the team. Slavin, the brother of team captain Jaccob Slavin, will have the opportunity to play in his first NHL contest since the 2021-22 campaign, then with the Chicago Blackhawks. The 27-year-old veteran has had a respectable season in the AHL, scoring six goals and 25 points in 66 games as the Wolves’ captain.
Lastly, Legault, 22, has had the most NHL playing time among the quartet this season. Filling in as an injury replacement earlier in the campaign, Legault has one goal and two points in eight games on his NHL resume. Playing in his first professional campaign, the Montreal, QC native has registered three goals and seven points in 22 games for AHL Chicago.
Bruins Sign James Hagens To Entry-Level Contract
5:00 p.m.: The team over at PuckPedia revealed the details of Hagens’ three-year, entry-level contract:
| Year | NHL Salary | Signing bonus | Potential performance bonuses | Minors salary |
| 2025-26 | $877.5K | $97.5K | $12.5K | $85K |
| 2026-27 | $877.5K | $97.5K | $1MM | $85K |
| 2027-28 | $877.5K | $97.5K | $1MM | $85K |
3:00 p.m.: The Bruins signed top center prospect James Hagens to a three-year, entry-level contract on Wednesday, per a team press release. The contract begins immediately and carries a prorated cap hit of $975K.
Hagens, last year’s seventh overall pick out of Boston College, made the decision to turn pro weeks ago. The B’s didn’t want him to jump straight to the NHL roster, though, so they opted to sign him to an amateur tryout instead so he could report to AHL Providence. If he had signed his entry-level deal with immediate effect at that time, he wouldn’t have been eligible for an AHL assignment. Signing him to the ATO first allowed Boston to give him a run-up period in Providence before joining the NHL squad.
Now that he’s signed, Hagens will remain on the NHL roster for the rest of the season and will be a playoff option for the Bruins if they choose to use him. He didn’t look too out of place with Providence, recording a goal and three assists for four points with a -1 rating through his first six professional games.
Hagens, the Bruins’ consensus #1 prospect by a wide margin and the #8 prospect in the league entering the year according to Steven Ellis of Daily Faceoff, wrapped up his second and final season at Boston College last month when the Eagles failed to make the national tournament. That wasn’t for a lack of trying on Hagens’ part. Once viewed as the likely first overall selection in the 2025 class, he slipped several slots because of concerns about his 5’11”, 193-lb frame and his point-per-game freshman season at BC that left a little to be desired offensively. Most of those concerns have been quieted now as Hagens led the Hockey East conference in scoring with a 23-24–47 scoring line in 37 games, also leading the conference with six game-winners and 133 shots on goal.
While Hagens didn’t finish as a top-three finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, given to the best player in college hockey, he was one of the top 10 names in voting. He was also one of the offensive nexuses of the United States team that took home gold at the 2025 World Juniors back in his draft year, recording five goals and nine points in seven games there.
The Bruins have essentially locked themselves into the first wild-card spot in the East. They haven’t mathematically clinched a playoff berth yet, but only have a 20% chance of dropping to the second wild-card slot and only a 1.2% chance of falling out of the playoff picture entirely, per MoneyPuck. Boston hasn’t won a game this month and is 0-2-2 in its last four, though. They got an offensive burst last night, scoring five in an overtime loss to the Hurricanes, but had only scored one goal each in their prior three contests.
Many of the team’s top support pieces to the ever-reliable David Pastrňák have been on cold streaks. Morgan Geekie‘s hat trick last night was his first goals in 18 games and his first points of the month. Elias Lindholm only has nine points in 18 games dating back to the trade deadline. There was a clear need for a bit of a spark in Boston’s middle six, where Hagens will presumably get a few trials over the team’s final three games to determine whether they should use him in their playoff lineup.
Image courtesy of Kirby Lee-Imagn Images.
Lightning Recall Conor Geekie, Jakob Pelletier, Dylan Duke
April 8th: According to a team announcement, the Lightning have sent Duke back to AHL Syracuse. He skated in 9:22 of action last night against the Senators, earning a -1 rating while going scoreless.
April 7th: The Lightning have added forwards Conor Geekie, Jakob Pelletier, and Dylan Duke on recall from AHL Syracuse ahead of tonight’s game against the Senators, Erik Erlendsson of Lightning Insider reports. They’ve reassigned winger Mitchell Chaffee to Syracuse in a corresponding move, Erlendsson adds.
All the roster shuffling comes on the heels of the Bolts’ banged-up forward corps sustaining another injury last night against the Sabres. Pontus Holmberg was checked into the penalty box door as the attendant was opening it for Buffalo’s Zach Benson to return to play in the third period after his roughing penalty had expired. He sustained an apparent left shoulder/upper arm injury on the play and was seen in a sling postgame, per John Wawrow of the Associated Press.
There’s no timeline for his return yet, although it stands to reason Holmberg will be unavailable tonight. With Anthony Cirelli and Brandon Hagel already sidelined with short-term issues, the trio of recalls plus Chaffee’s demotion leaves them with an extra healthy forward.
Geekie sees his second recall of the season as Tampa looks to remain narrowly ahead of the Sabres and Canadiens for the Atlantic Division crown. The 2022 11th overall pick was acquired from Utah in the Mikhail Sergachev trade in 2024 and remains the Bolts’ top prospect. He’s still scratching the surface at the NHL level, but has been a dominant two-way piece throughout his junior and now minor-league career. This year, he’s lighting it up with a 17-42–59 scoring line in 56 AHL games, along with a +13 rating that ranks sixth on the team.
Geekie’s only other recall this season, aside from his brief stint on the roster after making it on opening night, came in early March when Dominic James went down with a leg injury that required surgery. He headed back to Syracuse 11 days later once Nick Paul was ready to come off injured reserve. He managed one assist in five games, bringing his season total up to two and 11, respectively. Even with so many mounting injuries, don’t expect head coach Jon Cooper to use Geekie in high-leverage situations. He hasn’t shown a willingness to recently, averaging only 12:20 of ice time per game last year and just 9:51 this season.
As for Pelletier, the 25-year-old signed one of the more unusual contracts of the 2025 offseason. He agreed to a three-year, league-minimum deal with Tampa after being non-tendered by the Flyers, who had acquired him just months earlier from the Flames in the Morgan Frost/Joel Farabee deal. The 2019 first-round pick is technically on a two-way deal this year before converting to a one-way pact for 2026-27 and 2027-28, but he still has enough pro experience to require waivers.
Pelletier cleared without incident in the preseason, and a handful of teams are likely regretting not putting in a claim. With 28 goals and 75 points in 61 games for Syracuse, he’s well set up to take home the AHL’s scoring crown. It’ll be the second time he’s hit over a point per game in the AHL and has brought his career average there up to 1.03.
Perhaps the most quintessential example of a ‘AAAA’ player in hockey, he still hasn’t managed to latch onto a full-time NHL job. Over the past four seasons, he has a respectable 11 goals and 29 points in 88 games while averaging a shade under 12 minutes per night. His 5’10”, 172-lb frame doesn’t lend him toward being a bottom-six checking threat, though, and his 1.26 career shots on goal per game are low for a player who’s made such a living putting up points in the AHL.
He may get another look tonight as the Bolts face a decision on whether or not to expose him to waivers again in the fall. He could be a natural low-cost replacement for pending UFA Oliver Bjorkstrand, who has essentially transitioned into a power-play specialist for Tampa this season.
Not to be overlooked is Duke, the Bolts’ fourth-round pick in 2021. The former Michigan standout has now had a pair of productive seasons to begin his pro career in Syracuse, upping his production to 31 goals and 55 points in 67 outings this season. This is his first recall of the year, but he did score a goal across a pair of games in his NHL debut late last season.
Given his lack of experience, though, he’s the likeliest candidate to sit in the press box tonight if the Bolts end up having a healthy extra to spare. Their clash with the Senators has a 31-point swing on their chances of finishing first in the division, while it’s got a 29% swing on Ottawa’s playoff hopes. A win for Tampa would move their Atlantic title chances up to 73%, a win for the Senators boosts their playoff odds to 85%, per MoneyPuck.
Canucks Denied Predators Permission To Speak To Ryan Johnson
The Predators had interest in discussing their general manager opening with Canucks assistant GM Ryan Johnson, but were denied permission by Vancouver, Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK reports. As Thomas Drance of The Athletic adds, that stems from a willingness to keep Johnson in the conversation as a promotion candidate to replace Patrik Allvinas the Canucks’ GM if they decide to move in a different direction.
Not to be confused with Sabres defense prospect Ryan Johnson, the Vancouver exec played over 700 NHL games as a center with the Panthers, Lightning, Blues, Canucks, and Blackhawks from 1997 to 2011. After retiring as a player with the Hawks, Johnson returned to B.C. as a development coach two years later. He’s remained in the organization ever since.
Johnson has seen a ladder of promotions over the years. In 2015, he was promoted to assistant director of player development. Two years later, he had the assistant dropped from his title and also took over as the GM of their AHL affiliate, a role he still holds today. The Canucks made him a special assistant to Allvin in 2022, then formalized him as one of Allvin’s assistants in 2024.
While the Canucks’ AHL farm in Abbotsford is wrapping up a season nearly as dreadful as their NHL parent’s, Johnson did help build them into a Calder Cup winner just last year. Since taking over as the minor-league GM (then affiliated with the Utica Comets) back in 2017, Vancouver’s AHL teams have amassed a record of 309-227-57 (.569) under Johnson.
As for Nashville, they still have several other candidates in the running to succeed Barry Trotz. Several other AGMs around the league are believed to be in contention, plus a new face in the equation after the Devils fired former Predators captain Tom Fitzgerald earlier this week.
Sabres Reassign Radim Mrtka To AHL
The Sabres have reassigned top defense prospect Radim Mrtka to AHL Rochester to finish the season, per a team announcement. He had been on loan to his junior team, the Seattle Thunderbirds of the Western Hockey League.
Unlike most players making the jump from juniors to the AHL this time of year, Mrtka won’t be making his pro debut, or even his season debut for Rochester when he inevitably suits up. Last year’s ninth overall pick only spent a portion of the season with Seattle, playing the other half with HC Ocelari Trinec in his native Czechia, meaning he isn’t subject to the NHL’s transfer agreement with the Canadian Hockey League. As such, the Sabres had a choice during training camp whether to cut him to Rochester or Seattle.
They initially chose the former. The two-way Mrtka, who checks in at 6’6″ and 218 lbs, ended up with one assist and an even rating through only four games before Buffalo decided a full year of WHL top-pairing deployment and domination would be the better path for his development.
Mrtka’s physical dominance was on full display. Buffalo was likely hoping for more of a production jump out of him, however. After posting a 3-32–35 scoring line in 43 games for the Thunderbirds last season, he had a strikingly similar output of 1-33–34 in 43 outings this time around. He also went without a point in five games for the Czechs at the World Juniors.
Mrtka was still far and away the best defender on a Seattle blue line that didn’t have much else to offer. They’re hoping his relative lack of point production was a result of the Thunderbirds “only” scoring 3.28 goals per game, a pedestrian figure by WHL standards.
He’ll now return to Rochester as they look to wrap up a likely berth in the Calder Cup Playoffs in the coming days. An especially strong training camp could vault him into the conversation for a roster spot in the fall, but it’s more likely he’ll be heading back to Rochester before being a more serious competitor for an NHL job in 2027-28.
NHL Announces 2026 Masterton Trophy Nominees
Each year, the Masterton Trophy is awarded by the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association “to the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to ice hockey.” Voting isn’t done at large; one player from all 32 teams is nominated by their local media chapter. That eventually gets narrowed to three finalists and a winner closer to the awards ceremony, but today, each club announced who they’re putting up for this year’s honor:
Avalanche: F Gabriel Landeskog
Blackhawks: G Spencer Knight
Blue Jackets: F Boone Jenner
Blues: G Jordan Binnington
Bruins: D Charlie McAvoy
Canadiens: D Mike Matheson
Canucks: G Kevin Lankinen
Capitals: F Alex Ovechkin
Devils: D Brenden Dillon
Ducks: G Ville Husso
Flames: G Devin Cooley
Flyers: F Garrett Wilson
Golden Knights: G Akira Schmid
Hurricanes: F Taylor Hall
Islanders: F Kyle Palmieri
Jets: F Jonathan Toews
Kings: F Anže Kopitar
Kraken: F Jordan Eberle
Lightning: D Darren Raddysh
Mammoth: F Clayton Keller
Maple Leafs: D Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Oilers: G Connor Ingram
Panthers: F Brad Marchand
Penguins: F Anthony Mantha
Predators: F Ozzy Wiesblatt
Rangers: D Matthew Robertson
Red Wings: F Dominik Shine
Sabres: D Rasmus Dahlin
Senators: G Linus Ullmark
Sharks: G Laurent Brossoit
Stars: F Jamie Benn
Wild: G Jesper Wallstedt