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League Notes: 2026 Olympics, Men’s U18s, 2024 Draft

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On today’s edition of TSN’s Insider Trading, Darren Dreger dove into some more details surrounding a potential NHL return to Olympic participation in 2026. With the next edition of the Winter Olympics set to commence in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, it would be the NHL’s first time letting its players participate in the international event since 2014 in Sochi, Russia. After electing not to participate in the 2018 event, the NHL was on track to return to the Olympics in 2022 before concerns around travel and COVID insurance could not be resolved, leading the league to pull the plug on Olympic participation for a second straight cycle.

They appear on track to change that, with the NHL set to attend tomorrow’s IIHF meeting in Portugal with discussions around travel costs for 2026 on the agenda, per Dreger. Both the NHL and NHLPA have expressed a renewed vigor for international participation in recent months after former United States Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh assumed the lead post at the players’ association, quickly identifying a return to best-on-best international play as one of the players’ highest short-term priorities.

Some more administrative notes from the Insider Trading crew:

  • The NHL/IIHF partnership remains a topic of discussion, as Dreger also reports the league is stepping up to host an IIHF tournament for the first time. In conjunction with USA Hockey, the NHL will host/sponsor the 2025 edition of the Men’s U18 World Championships, the last major showcase tournament for draft-eligible prospects in a yearly cycle. Normally held in mid-to-late April, it’s unclear in which American city the tournament will be hosted at this time. The United States last hosted the tournament in 2021 in Frisco and Plano, Texas, and captured their record 11th gold medal at the tournament in 2023. 2025 will be the fourth time the US has hosted the tournament since its inception in 1999.
  • Lastly, Chris Johnston adds that the NHL is continuing to sort out logistical concerns regarding a venue for the 2024 NHL Draft, which is expected to take place in Las Vegas along with the 2024 NHL Awards. With the Vegas Golden Knights’ T-Mobile Arena seemingly unavailable for the Draft due to scheduling conflicts, Johnston reports the NHL has explored hosting next year’s draft at Sphere, the rather eye-drawing concert venue which boasts the largest LED screen in the world, newly opened by Madison Square Garden Company and New York Rangers majority owner James Dolan. It would certainly be a departure from normal procedure for the league, which has opted to host the Draft exclusively at team arenas, hotels and league offices throughout the event’s history.

Ottawa Senators Appoint Steve Staios As President of Hockey Operations

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The Ottawa Senators have made a big move at the top of their hockey operations department, naming former NHLer Steve Staios to be their new President of Hockey Operations.

According to the team announcement, Staios will report directly to new owner Michael Andlauer, and “will preside over the Senators’ hockey department.” A statement on the hire was given by Andlauer, which reads:

I am so excited that Steve is joining me in Ottawa to lead our hockey operations. I have worked with Steve for many years and know first-hand that he will strengthen our team with his hockey acumen, attention to detail, commitment to excellence and enthusiasm for the game and its players. In hockey you can never accumulate too much talent. Having Steve and Pierre leading our hockey department gives us a formidable team.

This move isn’t one that comes as a complete surprise, in large part due to the deep existing ties between Andlauer and Staios. Before he became a special assistant to the GM for the Edmonton Oilers, Staios served as President and General Manager for the Hamilton Bulldogs (Andaluer’s OHL franchise) starting in 2015-16.

Staios’ NHL experience extends beyond his year in Edmonton, as he also worked in player development for the Toronto Maple Leafs and does bring 1,001 NHL games of experience from his playing days.

What this addition means for the Senators is that it’s a first look at how an Andlauer-managed hockey operations department could differ from how the Senators’ hockey operations have been organized for many years. For years, GM Pierre Dorion has been at the top of Senators hockey operations, the unequivocal leader of that department.

Now, there’s another voice of importance there, and one that reports directly to ownership rather than Dorion. While it’s unclear whether this change will materialize into any concrete hockey operations decisions in the near future, this is a hire with significant long-term implications for the Senators franchise.

Five Key Stories: 9/18/23 – 9/24/23

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The preseason is underway so activity across the NHL should start to pick up in the near future.  There was some news of note before the puck dropped which is recapped in our key stories.

New Captains: Two of the eight teams that had been without a captain filled that vacancy over the past few days.  The Bruins promoted Brad Marchand to the role as expected, becoming the 27th captain in team history.  He’s set to enter his 15th season with the team and is the longest-tenured player in the organization following the retirement of Patrice Bergeron.  Meanwhile, Brayden Schenn was named the new captain in St. Louis, taking the place of Ryan O’Reilly who was traded before the deadline last season.  Schenn is heading into his seventh season with the Blues and is the 24th captain in club history.

Stamkos Not Happy: Speaking of captains, Lightning captain Steven Stamkos is entering the final year of his contract and is eligible for an extension.  However, he noted that there have yet to be discussions on that front and that he’s not particularly happy about being in this situation knowing how often Tampa Bay has extended its players early.  GM Julien BriseBois indicated he wants to see how this season plays out before deciding on Stamkos’ future with the club.  The 33-year-old has spent his entire 15-year career with the Lightning after being the first-overall pick in 2008 and he has fared quite well, notching over 500 goals in 1,003 games and has surpassed the point-per-game mark in six of the last seven seasons.

Canucks/Canadiens Swap: With Tanner Pearson being cleared to come off LTIR, Vancouver needed to trim some payroll.  They did just that, sending Pearson and a 2025 third-round pick to Montreal in exchange for goaltender Casey DeSmith.  The deal saves Vancouver $1.45MM in cap space for the upcoming season (more if you factor in the savings from their original projected backup going to the minors) while upgrading Thatcher Demko’s backup option.  Meanwhile, Montreal continues to stockpile draft picks and now has an extra selection in each of the first four rounds in 2025.  They will likely look to try to build up Pearson’s value during the season if he can stay healthy in the hope of flipping him closer to the trade deadline.

Fleury Undecided About Playing Future: Wild goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury is set to play his 20th NHL season in 2023-24.  Will it be his last year?  He hasn’t decided just yet, stating that he will play out the year and then assess his future.  The 38-year-old made 45 starts last season but is likely heading for a lighter workload with Filip Gustavsson emerging as a strong performer last year.  Fleury enters this season just 15 games shy of 1,000 for his career, a mark that only three other netminders have hit.  He’s also seven wins shy of passing Patrick Roy for second all-time in victories.  Both of those marks are definitely achievable this season and if it winds up being his final campaign, it’d be a nice way to cap his career.

Talks Not Going Well: This is the time when unsigned restricted free agents start to become more notable as most have signed by training camps.  There are four remaining league-wide, two of them in Anaheim – center Trevor Zegras and defenseman Jamie Drysdale.  It appears as if the sides are not close on new deals although it’s believed Zegras and Anaheim have settled on a three-year term, leaving just the money to haggle over.  Considering that Drysdale missed most of last season due to injury, he’s almost certainly heading for a bridge deal as well.  Cap space isn’t an issue for the Ducks as no team has more of it at the moment so that certainly isn’t a factor in talks.  There’s still time for both players to sign and be ready for the regular season which will be the next pressure point of discussions.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Vancouver Canucks Sign Sawyer Mynio To Entry-Level Contract

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The Vancouver Canucks have announced that Sawyer Mynio has been signed to a three-year entry-level contract, the financial terms of which were not disclosed.

Mynio, 18, was a third-round pick of Vancouver at the 2023 draft. A member of the WHL champion Seattle Thunderbirds, the six-foot-one left-shot blueliner was ranked 62nd among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting. He scored 31 points in 68 games last year, solid points production to go alongside a massive +50 plus/minus rating.

With some significant names graduating from Seattle, Mynio is set to play a larger role on their blueline moving forward. This entry-level deal is likely to end up sliding for two years, as Mynio will probably end up playing out two more years of major junior eligibility before joining the pro ranks in the Canucks organization.

Snapshots: Stamkos, Backlund, International Games

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Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman shared on his 32 Thoughts podcast that the Tampa Bay Lightning “wouldn’t be crushed” if Steven Stamkos didn’t sign an extension with the team. This comes in the wake of a surprising lack of discussion around Stamkos’ next contract, with the veteran center saying he was disappointed the team didn’t reach out this summer.

While the front office might not mind a Stamkos departure, Lightning fans may have a different stance. Stamkos has played all of his 1003 career NHL games with Tampa, netting 515 goals and 1056 points along the way. His performances have led him to two Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophies and a spot on the Hart Trophy ballot seven times, including being the runner-up to Evgeni Malkin’s Hart win in 2012. Stamkos even won the Mark Messier Leadership Award just last year. All of these accolades sit beside two Stanley Cup wins in Stamkos’ theoretical hardware cabinet, making it clear why his departure would be harder to stomach than these reports describe. Still capable of scoring over 30 goals and 80 points, Stamkos will be a luxury addition to any team in the league, if his time with the Lightning really is counting down.

Other notes from around the league:

  • Elliotte Friedman also spoke to Mikael Backlund’s contract situation on the 32 Thoughts podcast, sharing that talks may be tied to the idea that Backlund is Calgary’s natural leader. Friedman said, “I think the players believe that Backlund is the true captain of the team, and I’m sure the organization is not blind to it.” This could be the spark that ignites talks between Backlund and the Flames, two sides that haven’t come together yet.
  • ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski spoke to the NHL’s hope (article behind paywall) to build on the momentum brought on by the Australian pre-season games. More specifically, the league is considering holding an outdoor game in Mexico City. There have been, or are scheduled to be, 42 regular-season NHL games played outside of North America. Playing a game in Mexico would bring the total number of countries the NHL has played in up to 10 (USA, Canada, Sweden, Finland, Czechia, Australia, Denmark, Japan, Great Britain, Mexico*).

Five Key Stories: 9/11/23 – 9/17/23

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With training camps now less than a week away, there was a bit of an uptick in activity around the NHL.  As always, we recap the biggest news in our key stories.

Third Time’s A Charm? Things didn’t go particularly well the first two times the NHL set up shop in Atlanta.  Despite that, the league appears to be open to the idea of giving that market another opportunity should they decide to expand beyond 32 teams.  Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly feels that the demographics in Atlanta have changed enough since the Thrashers left in 2011 and that a better-placed arena could give that market an opportunity to succeed the next time around.  Despite this, expansion isn’t believed to be at the top of the priority list for the league right now but when the time comes, it might be a familiar city that gets another chance.

Latest Round Of PTOs: As expected, there was another sizable batch of veteran players accepting training camp tryout offers in the hopes of eventually landing a guaranteed contract for the upcoming season.  Adam Erne will look to catch on with Edmonton while Zach Aston-Reese is one of many tryouts in Carolina.  The Ritchie brothers inked tryout agreements on the same day; Nick Ritchie is heading to St. Louis while Brett Ritchie will look to crack Florida’s roster.  Josh Bailey was linked to Ottawa earlier this summer and is indeed now taking part in their camp while defenseman Olli Juolevi is one of many players getting an opportunity with Arizona.  Dozens of PTOs have been signed around the league and there are still more to come.

Tatar To Colorado: It was a busy summer for Avalanche GM Chris MacFarland as he had already brought in five new forwards to his group.  Make that six now as Colorado signed winger Tomas Tatar to a one-year, $1.5MM deal.  It’s a considerable pay cut for the 32-year-old who made $4.5MM in each of the last two years and $5.3MM for the four before that.  Tatar is actually coming off a pretty good season in New Jersey, one that saw him record 20 goals and 28 assists although he struggled considerably in the playoffs, managing just a single point in 12 games.  Tatar adds to what should be an interesting battle on the left side in training camp with Gabriel Landeskog out for the regular season (but returning for the playoffs is a possibility).

Wright AHL-Eligible: It was looking like Kraken center Shane Wright was going to be facing another year of either playing in the NHL or returning to major junior.  However, that’s no longer the case as the NHL and OHL has granted Wright an exemption that allows him to suit up with AHL Coachella Valley this season if Seattle elects to send him down.  CHL players are typically ineligible to play in the minors unless they are 20 years old on or before December 31st and Wright doesn’t turn 20 until January 5th.  The other way to get out of that situation is to play four CHL seasons.  Wright wasn’t able to do so as the OHL didn’t play at all in the 2020-21 campaign.  However, they’ve basically decided that since he would have done so had the league taken to the ice, they’ll grant him the year of service time, enabling him to become AHL-eligible this season.  That’s an ideal outcome for one of Seattle’s top prospects.

Coaching Change In Columbus: Mike Babcock’s tenure as head coach in Columbus is already over before he stepped behind the bench for a single game.  Following a joint NHL/NHLPA investigation spurred by allegations that Babcock asked to view phones and/or photographs of several Blue Jackets players, it was mutually decided that Babcock would resign.  Babcock had been out of the league since 2019 and after what transpired here, it would be surprising to see him back behind an NHL bench.  Meanwhile, Columbus has looked to an internal candidate to take over, promoting associate coach Pascal Vincent to the top job while giving him a new two-year deal.  Vincent has seven years of NHL coaching experience between Columbus and Winnipeg but this will be his first time as the head coach at the top level.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Carolina Hurricanes Sign Zach Aston-Reese To PTO

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The Carolina Hurricanes have signed a seventh, and according to team reporter Walt Ruff, final player to a PTO for this preseason and training camp: Zach Aston-Reese.

Aston-Reese, 29, arrives in Carolina after one season spent playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs. A former college hockey star, Aston-Reese has settled into a role as a fourth-line defensive and penalty-killing specialist in the NHL. While his gaudy offensive numbers from Northeastern University never translated to the pro game, Aston-Reese remains a well-regarded player thanks to his defensive contributions.

Last season, Aston-Reese scored 10 goals and 14 points in 77 games while playing 10:55 per night, including just under a minute per night on the penalty kill. Given Aston-Reese’s positive defensive contributions, it’s been somewhat surprising that he’s lingered on the open market for consecutive offseasons. It could be that NHL teams may prefer free agent fourth-liners with more of a physical dimension to their game than Aston-Reese is known for.

In any case, he’ll head to Carolina to compete with their other PTO additions along with incumbent players for a fourth-line role and NHL deal.

The club’s PTO haul includes five other forwards: Kieffer Bellows, Cory Conacher, Brendan Perlini, Nick Shore, and Jayden Halbgewachs, meaning Aston-Reese will have quite a few players to compete with for a job on head coach Rod Brind’Amour’s opening-night lineup.

Five Key Stories: 9/4/23 – 9/10/23

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The first full week of September is in the books and with training camps fast approaching, there was some news of note around the hockey world which is recapped in our top stories.

More Tryouts: The month of September can be colloquially thought of as PTO season as unsigned players look to catch on before camps start.  Last week, several veterans inked tryout deals and several more did so over the past seven days.  Among those with recent NHL experience, Danton Heinen will look to have a second go-round with Boston while Ryan Dzingel will try to do the same with Arizona. Noah Gregor is hoping to catch on with Toronto, Saku Maenalanen is the latest to join Colorado’s camp, while Colin White will be heading to a very crowded forward battle in Pittsburgh.  Quite a few more tryouts are expected to be coming over the next week or two.

Late Moves For Tampa Bay: The Lightning thought they had filled a spot on their fourth line early in free agency when they signed winger Josh Archibald to a two-year deal.  However, after he informed the team that he no longer intends to play this season, Tampa Bay elected to terminate his contract.  They quickly found a replacement though, inking Tyler Motte to a one-year deal worth the same $800K that they were set to pay Archibald.  It could be argued that the moves work out to a net upgrade for the Lightning with Motte being a bit younger and having a slightly better track record of production.

Eight For Sanderson: The Senators haven’t shied away from extending their core players early.  They’ve elected to do so once more, signing defenseman Jake Sanderson to an eight-year, $64.4MM extension that will begin in the 2024-25 season.  The deal buys out Sanderson’s five remaining RFA years plus three seasons of UFA eligibility.  The 21-year-old had a strong rookie year last season, collecting 32 points in 77 games while logging nearly 22 minutes a night.  This deal will make Sanderson, the fifth-overall pick in 2020, Ottawa’s highest-paid defenseman as it checks in just ahead of Thomas Chabot.  Ottawa’s young core consisting of Sanderson, Chabot, Tim Stutzle, Brady Tkachuk, and Josh Norris, are all signed through at least the 2027-28 campaign.

Off-Ice Moves: After handing out extensions to Arizona’s coaching staff, it was GM Bill Armstrong’s turn to receive one as well as he inked an agreement that will keep him in charge of the Coyotes through the 2028-29 season.  Armstrong has been at the helm for four seasons now, embarking on a full-scale rebuild.  This deal means he’ll be the one to take them out of it down the road.  Meanwhile, Bruce Boudreau has a new job but not with an NHL team.  Instead, he has joined Niagara of the OHL as a Senior Advisor.  Boudreau ranks 21st all-time in NHL games coached and wins and it remains to be seen if he’ll one day get a chance to add to those numbers.  Lastly, after not being with a team last season, Doug Wilson is back in an NHL front office as he was hired by Pittsburgh as a Senior Advisor.  He spent over 25 years on San Jose’s management team and will now serve as a member of Kyle Dubas’ new-look front office.

Second Bridge For Frost: With Philadelphia’s cap situation, the only way they could afford to re-sign Morgan Frost was with another short-term bridge contract.  The two sides have now agreed on one as he signed a two-year, $4.2MM deal.  The 24-year-old had a career year last season, notching 19 goals and 27 assists in 81 games, providing quite a nice return on a one-year, $800K deal.  The move gives the Flyers a chance to evaluate if he’s indeed a long-term piece of the puzzle.  If he is, they’ll owe him a $2.4MM qualifying offer in 2025.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Who Will Be The NHL’s Next Highest Paid Player?

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Auston Matthews recent extension with the Toronto Maple Leafs has earned him the title of highest-paid player in the NHL. His new deal doesn’t kick in until 2024-25, but at that point, he will make an average annual salary of $13.25MM (CapFriendly) per season for four years. Prior to his new deal, Matthews was the fourth highest-paid player in the game behind Nathan MacKinnon, Connor McDavid and Artemi Panarin.

MacKinnon’s new eight-year $100.8MM deal kicks in this season which will make him the highest-paid player in the league at $12.6MM for this year. His actual salary is much higher than his cap hit at $16.5MM, but the final four years of his deal will back-dive to $9.9MM in salary. McDavid has three years left on his current deal with a cap hit of $12.5MM while Panarin’s deal also concludes in three seasons and pays him $11.642MM annually.

With Matthews having topped MacKinnon’s new extension by over $600K annually the question now becomes, who will be the NHL’s next highest-paid player?

Connor McDavid – McDavid is the obvious answer. He is arguably the best player in the game and undoubtedly the best player in the world with the puck on his stick. The Richmond Hill, Ontario native will be 29 years old when he reaches unrestricted free agency and could essentially ask teams for a blank check and fill in the maximum salary under the salary cap. That is if he remains the best player in the world. While it seems hard to believe there is a world in which McDavid isn’t the game’s most explosive player, three years is a long time, and in hockey, it can be an eternity. There is also another Connor who could be the one to top Matthews’ extension.

Connor Bedard – It seems crazy that Bedard has yet to play a minute in the NHL and he could conceivably be the next highest-paid player in the NHL. But it could happen. Bedard signed his three-year entry-level contract with the Chicago Blackhawks on July 17th and should be a lock to make their opening night lineup. He will become a restricted free agent in 2026, the same time that McDavid becomes a UFA. It is fair to wonder how Bedard will produce once he is playing against men in the NHL, especially given that he will be playing on a bad Blackhawks team that will have its struggles. But he dominated the WHL with 71 goals and 72 assists in 57 games and obliterated the competition at the World Junior Championships with nine goals and 14 assists in 7 games. He’s a phenom, and in three years he could be paid like one.

Leon Draisaitl – Draisaitl has been one of the best bargains in the NHL since signing his eight-year $68MM contract back in August of 2017. All he has done during his six years under this contract is score 50+ goals three times, top 100 points four times, and win a Hart Trophy as well as an Art Ross Trophy. At 27-years-old Draisaitl is coming off the best season of his career having posted 52 goals and 76 assists in 80 games.

All things considered, it seems likely that Draisaitl will top Matthews’ contract two seasons from now when he becomes an unrestricted free agent. The native of Cologne, Germany will be 29 years old, and the salary cap should go up substantially between now and then positioning him to cash in big with any team of his choosing. Draisaitl will likely hold onto that distinction for just one season as McDavid and Bedard will be following right behind him and could top Draisaitl to earn the title of the highest-paid player in the NHL.

East Notes: Kessel, Marchand, Reinhart

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Phil Kessel is looking for his next team after winning his third Stanley Cup with the Vegas Golden Knights. Many fans have hoped that his free agency could mean a possible reunion with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Kessel spent four years of his 17-year career in Pittsburgh, winning Cups in his first two years with the club. But Pittsburgh Hockey Now’s Dave Molinari shares that a reunion is less than likely. Molinari shares that Pittsburgh’s current roster building is focused around fleshing out their bottom-six. And while Kessel, who scored 36 points in 82 games last year, may be able to provide some exciting bottom-six scoring, he doesn’t fit the checking-line style that Pittsburgh is targeting. The Hockey News’ Nick Horwat is similarly doubtful that Kessel is set for a Pittsburgh reunion, adding that Kessel doesn’t have the defensive acumen that new Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas has prioritized.

More from the Eastern Conference:

  • Brad Marchand and the Boston Bruins are entering unfamiliar territory as they begin a season without Patrice Bergeron. Marchand spoke extensively about what Bergeron’s absence means for the team. NHL.com’s Eric Russo says that the Bruins winger will need to take on a larger portion of the leadership load. But when asked about the likelihood that he could take on the next captaincy, Marchand said that he’s not thinking about it much and that, regardless of the next captain, the Bruins will need to collectively lift each other up to help match Bergeron’s impact.
  • Sam Reinhart is entering the final year of his contract and beginning to consider his future with the Florida Panthers. Reinhart has never been an unrestricted free agent, signing his most recent deal as a restricted free agent with arbitration rights. But despite the freedom being a UFA provides, Reinhart says he’d like to stay in Florida. Speaking to the expiring contract, he said, “It is not something I stress over or lose sleep over too much. They know I want to be here, I know they want me here.”

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