It’s a busy day in the NHL, with three second-round playoff games on schedule. Both the New Jersey Devils and Toronto Maple Leafs are looking to avoid falling in potentially insurmountable 3-0 series deficits, while the Dallas Stars and Seattle Kraken are each looking to take the lead in their series.
In major junior hockey, Kraken prospect Ty Nelson and the North Bay Battalion have the chance to eliminate the Peterborough Petes aFnd reach the OHL finals tonight, possibly ending the seasons of top prospects Brennan Othmann and Owen Beck. Also in the OHL, Logan Mailloux and potential 2023 draft prospect Oliver Bonk reached the OHL finals, with a 5-1 victory over Sarnia sSting team stocked with notable prospects such as Ethan Del Mastro, Christian Kyrou, Luca Del Bel Belluz, Sasha Pastujov, and Ty Voit.
As fans enjoy the hockey on offer today, teams across the hockey world are getting to work on offseason moves. We’ll keep track of those transactions here.
- Former Detroit Red Wing and 221-game NHL veteran Tomas Jurco will not return to the KHL’s Kunlun Red Star for next season. Jurco scored a solid 25 points in 32 games for the KHL’s Chinese club, he was ultimately unable to help them avoid finishing as the second-worst team in the entire KHL, just ahead of HK Sochi. 2022-23 was Jurco’s second consecutive campaign in the KHL, as he spent last season in Kazakhstan with Barys Astana. Before that point, Jurco had settled in as more of an AHLer and even won his second Calder Cup in 2019 with the Charlotte Checkers, notching 18 points in 18 playoff contests.
- Max Gerlach, a 25-year-old former WHL star, is on the move after leading the Slovakian Extraliga in both goals and points this past season. The Flower Mound, Texas native signed with HK Poprad, landing him with a mid-table side after spending last season with last-place finisher HC Presov, who were relegated from the Slovakian top division. It’s been quite the journey for Gerlach to reach the point of stardom in Slovakia, as he had stops in Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, and Italy before signing with Presov last year. He’s scored well at nearly every place he’s played, meaning it’s possible that Poprad have signed next season’s leading scorer in Gerlach.
- Petr Jelinek, a longtime veteran of the Czech Extraliga, signed a two-year contract with HC Plzen, ending a nine-season run with Bili Tygri Liberec that included four seasons as the team’s captain. Jelinek helped the club with the 2015-16 Extraliga title and has in the past been one of the league’s top face-off takers. Jelinek, 38, has seen his offensive production decline in recent years (he scored four goals and 13 points in 49 games in 2022-23) and will now look to help Plzen reach the playoffs after a difficult season.
This page will be updated throughout the day
So are the Maple Leafs choking NOW? Some guy said they weren’t.