Flames Loan Theo Stockselius To SHL
While the Flames signed prospect Theo Stockselius back in May, he won’t be making his debut in North America just yet. Instead, SHL Djurgarden announced that the forward will be loaned back to them for the upcoming season. They indicated in their release that Stockselius’ desire was to stay and play at home for another year and Calgary has obliged that request.
The 18-year-old was a second-round pick back in 2025, going 54th overall. Stockselius spent the draft year playing in Djurgarden’s junior system, the bulk of that time being played at the under-20 level where he had 51 points in 40 games. He also suited up for Sweden at the World Under-18s, collecting five points in seven contests.
Stockselius spent last season split between Djurgarden’s under-20 system and the SHL. In the former, he had 16 points in 11 regular season games (plus 20 more in 11 playoff outings) but in the latter, Stockselius managed just one assist in 19 games between the regular season and playoffs. It seems likely that he will be split between those two levels once again next season, allowing him to get more exposure to higher-end competition in the SHL but also an opportunity periodically to play top-line minutes against players his own age.
Assuming he stays in Sweden for the full season and doesn’t play with Calgary, his contract will slide and still have three seasons left on it heading into 2027-28. He could be a candidate to play in North America once Djurgarden’s season comes to an end but whether that’s with the Flames or the Wranglers in the AHL will depend on the time of year that happens.
CHL Notes: Mitchell, Satan, Tkach-Tkachenko
Long-time NHL veteran John Mitchell is getting his first significant coaching opportunity. QMJHL Charlottetown announced that they’ve hired him as their new head coach. Mitchell was a fifth-round pick by Toronto back in 2003, making his NHL debut five years later, getting into 548 career games over parts of nine seasons. He then spent parts of two seasons in Germany before calling it a career after the 2018-19 campaign. To this point, Mitchell’s only coaching experience has come in Colorado’s AAA system (starting in 2020-21) but that will soon be changing.
Other news from the junior ranks:
- Capitals prospect Miroslav Satan won’t be staying in the CHL for 2026-27. HK 32 Liptovsky Mikulas in Slovakia announced on their Facebook page that the winger has joined the team for the upcoming season. Satan was a seventh-round pick back in 2024 out of Slovakia’s junior system, giving Washington four years of team control. The son of a long-time NHLer by the same name, Satan split last season between OHL Saginaw and QMJHL Chicoutimi, tallying six points in 53 games between the two teams. At this point, it seems rather unlikely that he’ll be signed over the next couple of years, barring a significant improvement in his play and production.
- Mammoth goaltender Ivan Tkach-Tkachenko is on the move as OHL Sarnia announced that they’ve signed him for the 2026-27 season. The 19-year-old was a fifth-round pick back in 2025 and has spent the past two seasons with Tolpar in Russia’s junior league. Last season, Tkach-Tkachenko posted a 2.80 GAA and a .894 SV% in 27 games. With the Sting’s starter in 2025-26 moving onto college, Tkach-Tkachenko could have a pathway to some significant playing time in short order.
Sharks Notes: Celebrini, Allan, Barracuda
While Sharks center Macklin Celebrini didn’t take home a gold medal in international action this year, he’s taking home an end-of-year international award. The IIHF announced that Celebrini has been voted the IIHF’s Male Player of the Year for the 2025-26 season. Carolina’s Sebastian Aho (Finland) finished second in voting while Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck (USA) was third. On top of finishing fourth in NHL scoring last season with 115 points, Celebrini had 10 points in six games at the Olympics, adding 14 more in 10 appearances at the Worlds, finishing second in scoring in both events. That earned him a spot on nearly 41% of the ballots which was enough to take home the award.
More from San Jose:
- Assistant GM Joe Will met with reporters today to discuss the team’s farm system. He noted to reporters including Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News (Twitter link) that he expects Nolan Allan to make a push for a roster spot with the Sharks in the fall. Acquired midseason as part of the Laurent Brossoit trade, the 23-year-old will be waiver-eligible for the first time in 2026-27 which could help his chances of breaking camp with the big club. Allan has 43 career NHL contests under his belt with Chicago and had 14 points in 35 games with the Barracuda after being acquired. He signed a two-year, minimum-salary contract last month.
- Speaking of the Barracuda, Will indicated (via Sharks Hockey Digest’s Max Miller) that a pair of veterans aren’t expected to return next season in Colin White and Oliver Wahlstrom. White spent the last two seasons in San Jose, playing primarily in the minors. The 29-year-old is coming off a strong showing, notching 48 points in 46 games but appears to be moving on. As for Wahlstrom, he notched 24 goals and 18 assists in 62 games last season, his first in the organization after coming over from Boston. The 2018 first-rounder had to settle for an AHL contract for 2025-26 and could be facing that same fate again heading into next season.
- Lastly, the Barracuda will be losing another netminder as AHL Hartford announced the signing of Gabriel Carriere. The 25-year-old played in 31 games for the Barracuda last season, posting a 2.76 GAA and a .896 SV%. Meanwhile, Hartford also revealed that they’ve inked forward Lucas Vanroboys for next season. The 26-year-old had seven points in 33 AHL contests last season.
Maple Leafs Name Steve Sullivan As AHL Head Coach
A long-time NHL winger is getting his first professional head coaching opportunity. On Thursday, the AHL’s Toronto Marlies, affiliate of the Maple Leafs, announced that Steve Sullivan has been named as their new head coach. He takes the place of John Gruden, who was promoted to an assistant role with the Maple Leafs earlier this week.
Sullivan was a veteran of over 1,000 NHL games as a player and got his off-ice career started with the Coyotes, one of the teams he played for. He started as a development coach but eventually moved into the front office, at one point working alongside GM John Chayka before briefly replacing him upon Chayka’s departure from the organization.
Sullivan decided to get back into coaching, joining Toronto’s organization two years ago as an assistant with the Marlies. He started in that role last season before being added to Craig Berube’s staff in the same role in late December. Now, he’ll get a chance to run the bench of the defending Calder Cup champions.
Meanwhile, the team also announced that long-time NHL blueliner (himself a veteran of over 1,000 NHL games as well) Mark Giordano has been added as a full-time assistant coach. He started last season as a development coach with the organization but was moved onto the Marlies staff to fill Sullivan’s spot on an interim basis in December. It’s clearly a role that both sides were comfortable with him continuing as he’ll now get set for his first full season of coaching.
Blues Sign Oskar Sundqvist
The Blues are bringing back a familiar veteran. The team announced today that they’ve signed unrestricted free agent center Oskar Sundqvist to a one-year, two-way contract. The deal will pay $850K in the NHL and $300K at the AHL level. PuckPedia adds (Twitter link) that the deal has a $350K guarantee.
The 32-year-old played in 52 games with St. Louis last season, picking up five goals and 12 assists in just under 13 minutes per night of ice time. While he was a healthy scratch at times, he also missed 11 games with a trio of injuries.
Over his 11-year NHL career, Sundqvist has 67 goals and 114 helpers in 545 appearances. The bulk of those outings have come over his two stints with the Blues; his best showing offensively also came with them back in 2018-19 when he had 31 points.
A fourth liner for most of last season, Sundqvist has likely dropped a spot or two on the depth chart now. St. Louis added Mason McTavish in a draft day trade while also converting Dillon Dube’s minor-league deal last season to an NHL pact for the upcoming season. Winger Ross Johnston was also added in free agency, covering a spot on the fourth line that could have been available otherwise.
Accordingly, while it’s certainly quite possible that Sundqvist breaks camp as a depth forward, it’s also possible that he finds himself on waivers for the purpose of AHL assignment in the fall. If that happened and he passed through unclaimed, it would be his first time playing at the minor league level since the 2017-18 campaign when he played in six games with AHL San Antonio, the former affiliate of the Blues.
Canucks Finalize Coaching Staff
While Manny Malhotra took over as the head coach of the Canucks a little more than a month ago, the rest of his coaching staff remained largely uncertain, aside from Ryan Mougenel coming over from AHL Providence. That uncertainty has concluded as the team announced that they have finalized their staff for the upcoming season.
Joining the group as assistant coaches are Mougenel, Jordan Smith, and Jason Krog. Meanwhile, Andrew Shaw (not the former NHLer) will serve as an assistant video coach, a role he held in the minors in Vancouver’s system last season. None of these hires have any behind-the-bench coaching experience at the NHL level, meaning that the rebuilding Canucks will also have the most inexperienced group when the puck drops in late September.
Smith is someone who Malhotra is quite familiar with as he served as an assistant with AHL Abbotsford for the last two seasons while Malhotra was head coach there. Smith also has head coaching experience in the NOJHL and was an associate coach for five seasons in the OHL.
As for Krog, his name may be a little more familiar as he played in over 200 games in an 18-year playing career, his final four outings coming with Vancouver. This will be his first behind-the-bench coaching opportunity in the pros but he has spent the last two seasons working as a skills coach with Vancouver and Abbotsford.
This group joins the lone holdover from last season’s staff, goaltending coach Marko Torenius.
Multiple Teams Pursuing Claude Giroux
Veteran Claude Giroux remains unsigned past the opening few days of the free agent period. However, it’s not from a lack of interest. Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports that there are several teams that have shown interest in the forward while Giroux not having decided just yet on where to sign.
Among the teams believed to have registered interest in the 38-year-old are the Senators, Flyers, and Maple Leafs. Garrioch noted that the Oilers also made a pitch but Sportsnet’s Mark Spector relays (Twitter link) that Edmonton isn’t in the mix for Giroux’s services now.
Ottawa being interested shouldn’t come as any surprise. Giroux spent the past four seasons with them, putting up 242 points in 327 games over that stretch. His output last season was largely steady with the year before, as he tallied 14 goals and 35 assists in 82 games while winning more than 63% of his faceoffs. The Sens tried to re-sign him before he hit the open market but Giroux decided he wanted to see what was available on the open market. Ottawa GM Steve Staios indicated that a big reason why the team hasn’t done much so far in free agency is that they’re holding a spot if the veteran wants to return.
Philadelphia is another team that Giroux is plenty familiar with. He spent the first 15 seasons of his NHL career with them after being drafted in the first round back in 2006. Of course, the Flyers’ salary cap situation is now somewhat in flux as they await Anaheim’s decision on whether they will match Leo Carlsson’s five-year, $90MM offer sheet. If they don’t, the Flyers may have a hard time affording Giroux, especially knowing that Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale are among their remaining restricted free agents. Garrioch notes that the sense around the league is that the Flyers are Giroux’s likely landing spot but nothing is finalized at this point.
Toronto is an interesting fit if the money can work. New GM John Chayka has overhauled their bottom six but beyond Jack Roslovic (who replaces Nicholas Robertson), very little has been done in terms of adding offensive upside to his group. Giroux could give them some needed secondary scoring. However, they’re $2.75MM over the cap at the moment, per PuckPedia, and while Max Domi’s injury could land him on LTIR to start the season, it feels like another domino would need to fall before the Maple Leafs could make Giroux a competitive offer.
Garrioch suggests that part of the reason that Giroux is taking more time than usual is that this is likely to be his final season. In that case, he won’t be pursuing a multi-year contract which means a one-year agreement with bonuses could be on the table. Giroux played on that structure last season, taking a $2MM base salary with another $2.75MM in incentives, $1MM of which were reached. That structure allows for greater short-term cap flexibility which would be especially appealing to some cap-strapped franchises. It wouldn’t be surprising for Giroux to receive a deal like that, regardless of where he winds up signing over the coming days or weeks.
Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images.
East Notes: Bruins, Luchanko, Sabres
While Darnell Nurse wound up being traded to San Jose on the opening day of free agency, that may not have been Edmonton’s initial plan for him. The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta recently reported on the DFO Rundown (video link) that there was a deal in place to send him to the Bruins but that one of the other players involved in the swap wouldn’t waive their trade protection. As a result, the Oilers moved on to the offer from the Sharks and got that trade finalized. Meanwhile, Boston then turned around and was able to make another move to address their back end, acquiring Will Borgen from the Rangers for a pair of draft picks.
Elsewhere in the East:
- Flyers center Jett Luchanko did not take part in their recent development camp. Jackie Spiegel of the Philadelphia Inquirer relays that the youngster underwent surgery to repair a lingering core muscle injury last month. The injury shouldn’t keep him out for too much longer as the expectation is that he will be able to resume on-ice activities within the next week. Luchanko spent most of last season in junior but got into four regular season games with Philadelphia plus one playoff appearance. GM Daniel Briere recently indicated that the expectation is that Luchanko will start next season with AHL Lehigh Valley.
- The Sabres were one of the quieter teams in the opening few days of free agency. If GM Jarmo Kekalainen has his way, that will be the case moving forward in future free agent periods. Speaking with Matthew Fairburn of The Athletic, he noted that teams that are usually busy on July 1st in free agency are those that are either desperate or aren’t very good. Instead, his hope is to build from within with the addition of some quality prospects to the mix, banking on internal growth to help keep moving the team forward. Kekalainen also spoke of being ready and willing to use some of his strong prospect pool to make a trade to give his team a boost although clearly, the right move has yet to materialize this summer.
Red Wings Sign Chase Stillman
The Red Wings have added some forward depth to their system. The team announced today (Twitter link) that they’ve signed Chase Stillman to a one-year, two-way contract. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed but PuckPedia reports (Twitter link) that it will pay $850K in the NHL and $90K in the minors.
The 21-year-old was a first-round pick by New Jersey back in 2021 but hasn’t had much success at the professional level as of yet. Stillman played his junior hockey in the OHL but never reached the point-per-game mark in any of his three seasons. Instead, his best efforts were 49 and 48-point seasons after being drafted.
In the pros, Stillman has played exclusively at the AHL level. His best year was his rookie campaign in 2023-24 with Utica where he had 14 goals and 10 assists in 54 games, a respectable showing. But things didn’t go well the following season where he wound up being traded to Pittsburgh near the trade deadline. The change of scenery didn’t help as he managed just three points in 19 games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton following the shot, bringing his total output to just a dozen points in 65 appearances.
That led to another trade for Stillman last summer as he was moved to Vancouver as part of the swap that sent goaltender Arturs Silovs to the Penguins. While Silovs went on to show some promise with his new team, Stillman had an injury-riddled year that limited him to just 24 games, where he put up three goals and six assists. That wasn’t enough to earn a qualifying offer from the Canucks, resulting in him being non-tendered on Monday.
Stillman will now join his fourth team in 16 months as a result of this signing. Barring an unexpected breakout in training camp, he’ll be ticketed to play with AHL Grand Rapids next season, pending waiver clearance. From there, he’ll hope to have a bounce-back performance that gives him a shot at his first NHL appearance at some point next season.
Connor Bedard Suffers Upper-Body Injury In Offseason Training
Blackhawks center Connor Bedard is currently a restricted free agent and now has some bad news to contend with. It’s nothing to do with the contract front, but rather with an injury. As first reported by Blackhawks Up’s Ryan McGregor (Twitter link), Bedard sustained an apparent shoulder injury during offseason training earlier this week.
Notably, the injury appears to be to his left arm. Last season, Bedard sustained a right-shoulder injury, one that kept him out of the lineup for a dozen games and was very limited in taking faceoffs for a while after returning. At a minimum, at least this is not a recurrence of that injury.
A team spokesperson told Mark Lazerus and Scott Powers of The Athletic that there are no definitive updates on the injury as of yet. There isn’t expected to be any official word on the extent of the injury until at least Monday.
Despite the extended absence last season, the 21-year-old put up his best offensive performance in 2025-26. Bedard had 30 goals and 45 assists in 69 games played, setting new benchmarks in both offensive categories while winning the team’s scoring race by 17 points.
Of course, it’s widely expected that the 2023 first overall selection has another level or two to get to from an offensive standpoint. Those expectations will be factored into his next contract, one that is expected to be one of the richest post-entry-level deals in league history. AFP Analytics projected an eight-year deal would come in a little under $12.5MM per season while Friday’s offer sheet to Leo Carlsson, picked one spot behind Bedard in the draft, could ultimately move the goalposts on Bedard’s next agreement.
Assuming this isn’t a long-term injury that will keep him out of the lineup for a significant portion of next season, this injury shouldn’t have much bearing on those contract talks. But any sort of extended period of being unable to do on-ice work certainly isn’t ideal for Bedard or the Blackhawks as they look to emerge from their long rebuild and make a push to try to get back into the playoff picture next season.