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.
Evening Notes: Bahl, Rasmussen, Roadrunners
The Calgary Flames revealed mid-game that Kevin Bahl would not return in Dallas due to a lower-body injury. Bahl went in to deliver a routine check on Thomas Harley, catching an edge badly on his right leg. He completed the hit but immediately favored his knee.
The 25-year-old is hardly a household name, but he’s been a steady presence in Calgary all year. Bahl leads all Flames skaters in ice time at 22:13 a night, serving as a top pairing minute-eater, playing in 75 games and missing just one to this point. His efforts are worthy of a long term extension in Calgary which was inked last June.
Hardly expected to drive offense, Bahl has set a career high with four goals as part of his 18 points across the campaign. His 46.8% corsi for at five-on-five is respectable considering the 6’6” lefty’s workload on a bottom feeding team.
Calgary will hope he’s back for a tall task on Thursday in Colorado, but firmly in the basement, the priority will be Bahl reaching full health as they look ahead to 2026-27.
Elsewhere across the league:
- Detroit Red Wings forward Michael Rasmussen left against Columbus with a lower-body injury and won’t return, per the team. It’s not immediately clear what happened, but his night ended after 10 shifts at 7:57. Turning 27 in 10 days, it’s abundantly clear that the 6’6” center won’t live up to his 9th overall selection billing. However, Rasmussen has also struggled in a grinder role, even point totals (14) aside. With his Red Wings facing the likely disappointment of another year missing the playoffs, they could benefit from exploring a change of scenery for Rasmussen, but he’s signed for two more years at $3.2MM per season. Regardless, the British Columbia native will hope to be back for the team’s four remaining regular season games.
- The AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners, affiliates of the Utah Mammoth, announced that their lease with the City of Tucson has been extended through 2027-28. Next season will mark a decade for the franchise in Arizona, coming over from Springfield, Massachusetts in 2016. Of course, the Roadrunners’ neighboring NHL club unfortunately departed their state two years ago. However, they thankfully remain as the primary professional hockey organization in Arizona, still adoring the classic former Coyotes color scheme as they develop the next members of the Mammoth, an NHL team also not far away geographically. The Roadrunners are currently 19th in the AHL this season, led by Ben McCartney, and supplemented by several standout prospects from Utah such as Dmitri Simashev.
Capitals Recall Ilya Protas
The Washington Capitals have recalled top center prospect Ilya Protas from the AHL’s Hershey Bears. It is a headline that Capitals fans have waited all season for and comes just two days after a six-point night in the AHL. Protas leads Hershey, and all AHL rookies, with 28 goals and 62 points in 66 games this season. He could make his NHL debut as soon as Wednesday per NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti.
Washington could give one of their top prospects a look with four games left in the season. All four games are against Eastern Conference and will be must-win contests with the Capitals sat one point outside of the second Wild Card. Protas could be an X-factor addition at the perfect time. He has continued a breakout performance that began with a move to the OHL in 2024.
Protas moved from his home country of Belarus to the USHL’s Des Moines Buccaneers for the 2023-24 season. He was an immediate, top-six impact and finished the year with 51 points in 61 games. The majority of that scoring came late in the season, helping the 6-foot-5 Protas slide under the radar enough to land in the third round of the 2024 NHL Draft. He followed the selection with a move to the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires, where his offensive skill quickly boomed next to New York Rangers prospect Liam Greentree. Protas led the Spitfires, and ranked second in the OHL, in scoring with an incredible 50-goals and 124 points in 61 games. His scoring was the second-most ever recorded by a European in the OHL behind compatriot and six-year NHL veteran Sergei Kostitsyn, who scored 131 points in 2006-07.
That hot scoring hasn’t left in Protas’ first pro season. Neither has his talent for creating chances, made evident by his five-assist performance in Hershey’s Saturday night win over the Hartford Wolf Pack. Protas has shown a strong ability to drive the puck into the slot. He offers an impressive amount of stickhandling ability and playmaking focus in a big frame. They’re the same traits that have helped his older brother, Washington’s Aliaksei Protas, notch a career-high 30 goals and 66 points in 76 games last season. The older Protas has 49 points in 72 games this year.
Now, the brothers could seek to make one final heave towards the playoffs together. It is not clear where the younger Protas will line up if he does make his NHL debut. He could step onto the third-line left-wing over Anthony Beauvillier or take on a center role and bump Justin Sourdif to the wing. Either move would likely bump Ethen Frank out of the lineup, after he posted no scoring and a minus-one in his last two games.
Canucks Recall Jiri Patera, Kevin Lankinen Out Day-To-Day
The Vancouver Canucks have recalled depth goaltender Jiri Patera under emergency conditions. His recall comes after Kevin Lankinen sustained a day-to-day, upper-body injury during Monday’s morning practice per Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK News. Patera will likely backup Nikita Tolopilo in Tuesday’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights if Lankinen is not ready to return.
Lankinen has been Vancouver’s de facto starter since usual starter Thatcher Demko sustained a season-ending injury in January. Lankinen recorded just one win to go with a .885 save percentage in 11 games during the month of March. That performance brought his year-long totals up to nine wins and a .875 Sv% in 44 appearances. It is the second-most Lankinen has ever played in a single NHL season after he posted 25 wins and a .902 Sv% in 51 games last season. Tolopilo hasn’t yet topped Lankinen’s performance from the backup role, with only five wins and a .880 Sv% in 18 games this season.
Those performances will set a low bar for Patera if he needs to fill out Vancouver’s roster. The 27 year old has appeared in nine NHL games before, including one this season – his only appearance with Vancouver. He has three wins and a .892 Sv% in those appearances. Patera has also recorded 11 wins and a .907 Sv% in 29 AHL games this season. He has planted his feet as a career minor-league goalie after being drafted by the Vegas Golden Knights in the sixth-round of the 2017 NHL Draft. Patera’s stint on Vancouver’s roster will likely be limited to backup duties until Lankinen is back to full health.
Ducks Assign Damian Clara, Lucas Pettersson To AHL
The Anaheim Ducks have announced a pair of additions following the end of Brynäs IF’s season in the SHL. Anaheim has assigned forward Lucas Pettersson and goaltender Damian Clara to the AHL’s San Diego Gulls. The duo will join San Diego as they make a final push for the 2026 Clarke Cup playoffs with six games left on the schedule. The Gulls currently sit in the final spot of playoff contention in the AHL’s Pacific Division.
Clara served as Brynäs’ starter for much of the year. He finished the year with17 wins and a .887 save percentage in 33 games. The performance was a slight uptick from the .879 save percentage he posted in 21 SHL games last season. He boosted his stat line with a transfer to Finland’s Liiga at the end of last season, where he posted one shutout and a .910 save percentage in 10 games.
Clara garnered plenty of attention while starting for Team Italy at the 2026 Winter Olympics. He played in four games before sustaining a leg injury that knocked him out of the rest of the tournament. Clara faced an average of 33 shots per game at the Olympics and still left the tournament with a .911 save percentage. That is the fourth-highest save percentage ever recorded by a U22 goalie with three-or-more appearances in an Olympic tournament.
Pettersson rotated throughout Brynäs’ middle-six this season and finished the year with 20 points in 41 games. He was a red-hot scorer in tournament play this season, netting four goals and six points in six games at the 2026 World Junior Championship and seven points in 10 games during the Champions Hockey League tournament. The 2024 second-round pick has long been praised for his confident puck-movement and strong shot. He racked up 57 points in 44 U20 games during his draft year but had a slow start to his pro career last year. Pettersson racked up 19 points in 26 HockeyAllsvenskan games and one assist in 29 SHL games as a first-year pro. He vastly improved on that production this year and could bring an interesting boost in skill to San Diego’s lineup.
Clara will offer another starting option while Ville Husso is on the NHL roster. He will compete with Calle Clang and Tomas Suchanek for minutes. Clang has notched 17 wins and a .896 save percentage in 33 games this season, while Suchanek has five wins and a .883 save percentage in 14 games. Meanwhile, Pettersson will look to pull some minutes away from Judd Caulfield and Sam Colangelo in the Gulls’ middle-six.
Kings Sign Henry Brzustewicz To Entry-Level Contract
The Los Angeles Kings have signed 2025 first-round pick Henry Brzustewicz to a three-year, entry-level contract set to begin in the 2026-27 season. He will complete the 2025-26 season on a professional try-out contract with the AHL’s Ontario Reign. This news will shift Brzustewicz to the pro level after the OHL London Knights’ season came to an end on Friday.
Brzustewicz stepped into London’s top defender role this season, following Sam Dickinson’s move to the pros at the end of last season. He filled the role seamlessly and finished the season with a team-leading 54 points in 59 games. Brzustewicz also scored 19 goals, tied with St. Louis Blues prospect Adam Jiricek for the third-most among OHL defensemen. Brzustewicz’s stat line was rounded out with 57 penalty minutes and a minus-15.
All together, Brzustewicz’s 2025-26 campaign was another gradual step up from his previous year. He scored 10 goals, 42 points, and 77 penalty minutes in 67 games on the OHL championship-winning London Knights last season. It was a major improvement over the six points he scored in 52 games of his rookie OHL season. That performance, complimented by Brzustewicz’s knack for physical hockey, helped him earn the 31st selection in the 2025 NHL Draft. He earned that spot despite not appearing in any junior-level, international tournaments. Brzustewicz, an American playing Canadian hockey, was left off of Team USA’s roster at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup and World U18 Championships, two tournaments that his older brother, Hunter Brzustewicz, appeared in during his junior career.
Despite a slimmer resume than his peers, the younger Brzustewicz will bring an exciting and well-rounded profile to the Kings’ depth chart. The right-shot defenseman plays a 200-foot game with impressive strength, smooth passing, and reliable skating. His game is best suited for the defensive side of the puck, where his quick reactions help spark breakouts and keep play out of the defensive end. That style will be welcome on a Kings blue-line that has found roles for styles like Michael Anderson, Joel Edmundson, Cody Ceci, and Brian Dumoulin. With the right development, Brzustewicz could begin to test his own footing in those roles next season, with hopes of one day serving as the defensive-punch behind Brandt Clarke‘s offense.
First, Brzustewicz will look to be an X-factor addition to an Ontario Reign club that leads the AHL’s Pacific Division. The Reign haven’t generated much offense from the blue-line this season, with the defense led in scoring by Samuel Bolduc‘s 21 points in 56 games. Brzustewicz will compete with Otto Salin and Jack Millar for minutes on Ontario’s right-side.
Penguins Assign Harrison Brunicke To AHL
Penguins defenseman Harrison Brunicke was a pleasant surprise heading into this season as he secured a roster spot with the big club despite still being a junior-aged player. He was eventually sent back to the WHL with a full-time assignment to the minors not an allowable option. Now that Brunicke’s junior team has been eliminated, that’s no longer the case and today, the Penguins announced (Twitter link) that they’ve reassigned the blueliner to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
The 19-year-old has played in nine games with Pittsburgh this season, picking up a goal along with 13 blocked shots in 15:43 per night of ice time, certainly respectable numbers for a rookie. They sat him for an extended stretch to allow for an AHL conditioning stint where Brunicke was productive, picking up four assists in five games. He was recalled in early December and was immediately loaned to Canada’s World Junior team.
In that tournament, Brunicke didn’t stand out in the way that NHL defensemen often do. He notched two assists in seven games and averaged 16:07 per night, fifth among Canada’s blueliners. Pressed with a decision after the tournament to either recall Brunicke or send him back to junior, the Penguins opted for the latter.
Brunicke suited up in 24 regular season games for WHL Kamloops in the second half of the season, notching two goals and 22 assists, his first point-per-game junior campaign. But with the Blazers being swept in the opening round of the playoffs, he became eligible for reassignment to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton where it’s likely that he’ll play a regular role down the stretch. He remains eligible for recall to Pittsburgh as well but with his next game officially starting his contract, it’s unlikely that he’ll see more NHL action until next season.
Snapshots: Ducks, Smith, Tracy
Shortly ahead of tonight’s game at San Jose, the Anaheim Ducks revealed that Radko Gudas and Pavel Mintyukov wouldn’t play due to lower body injuries.
For Gudas, it more or less confirms the suspicion that the 35-year-old laced them up not yet healthy in order to answer the bell against the Maple Leafs. It’s a commendable act from the Ducks’ captain, especially as Gudas didn’t throw a punch in his scrap with Max Domi, stemming from the controversial hit which ended Auston Matthews’ season. Nonetheless, the Czech stay-at-home man will look to get healthy in time for the playoffs.
Another defenseman, Mintyukov has dealt with his own lower body issue, keeping him out of the lineup for the second time in the last three games. The 22-year-old has developed nicely in Anaheim, averaging 18:26 a contest and needing just one more game to make a career high 69 appearances in a season. Mintyukov still has untapped offensive upside, offering 20 points so far in 2025-26.
Neither Gudas or Mintyukov figure to have serious issues, but in the meantime, Ian Moore and Drew Helleson have stepped in.
Elsewhere across the league:
- Los Angeles will weigh their coaching options this summer, as insider David Pagnotta suspected that interim head coach D.J. Smith won’t be back, on Monday’s edition of Oilersnation Everyday. After firing Jim Hiller on March 1, Smith’s efforts to provide a spark have proved often ineffective, with a 5-5-4 record. The former Senators head man has a .465 career win percentage, not winning more than 39 games in a season. This summer will bring major change to the Kings with icon Anže Kopitar set to hang up his skates, but still offering a strong core in win-now mode, Los Angeles will seek a long-term solution behind the bench. Smith, 48, came to the Kings as an assistant in February 2024. If it’s indeed the beginning of the end of his tenure, it’s safe to assume another NHL club will come calling with a similiar job offer.
- The Henderson Silver Knights, aptly named affiliates of Vegas, inked goaltender Alexander Tracy to an AHL contract for 2026-27. The undrafted netminder enters the professional circuit after an impressive four year career at Minnesota State University – Mankato. A native of Chicago, Illinois, the 25-year-old got the bulk of starts for three of his four collegiate seasons. He put up an eye-popping .946 save percentage last season, followed by a .927% this year, winning over 20 games in each. Vegas has had three drafted goaltenders who have gotten significant playing time in the AHL, but behind Carl Lindbom, who has played well, neither Cameron Whitehead or Jesper Vikman have been able to stand out. Vikman was dealt to the Capitals organization as part of the Nic Dowd trade. As a result, the 5’11” Tracy will compete for a backup role in Henderson.
Golden Knights Assign Braeden Bowman To AHL
The Vegas Golden Knights announced tonight that Braeden Bowman has been assigned to AHL Henderson.
Undrafted out of the OHL, Bowman caught on with Vegas and has become a solid depth forward at just 22 years old. A team always right against the cap, with injuries also a factor, the winger managed to get into 54 games at the NHL level where he’s come away with eight goals and 26 points on 14:08 a night. Offering a 49.6% corsi for at five on five, respectable for any unsung rookie, Bowman’s shifts were relatively protected by the now-fired head coach Bruce Cassidy, starting just under 60% in the offensive zone.
Either way, Bowman has lit it up in small AHL usage this season, 12 points in as many games, and he’ll be welcomed into 12th-ranked Henderson’s forward corps with open arms.
The trade deadline acquisitions of Nic Dowd and Cole Smith, both defensive specialists, effectively bumped Bowman out of the lineup who naturally was less trusted in such a role. He hadn’t played since March 21, also unable yet to make an impression in-game under new bench boss John Tortorella.
With seven regular season games left after a shocking late-season shift, Vegas will hope the bold move provides a spark, while Bowman will enjoy playing time in the AHL. The Golden Knights have several veterans with expiring contracts, the likes of Colton Sissons, Brandon Saad, Reilly Smith, as well as the other Smith mentioned above. As a result, Bowman will continue to be an appealing depth option in years to come, already putting together an impressive career for an undrafted player.