Brian La Rose

Senators Re-Sign Nick Cousins

June 30, 2025 at 6:09 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 1 Comment

The Senators will be keeping Nick Cousins in the fold for one more year. In a deal first reported by Lalime’s Martian on Twitter and subsequently confirmed by Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch (Twitter link), Ottawa has signed Cousins to a one-year, $825K contract.

The 31-year-old had to wait until close to the start of training camp to get a contract last year, ultimately signing a one-year, $800K agreement with the Sens in late August. Now, he’ll forego testing the open market and will get a small raise for doing so.

Cousins played in 50 games for Ottawa this past season while also missing more than two months with a serious knee injury that had his availability for the playoffs in question but he was able to return late in the season. In those outings, Cousins collected six goals and nine assists along with 85 hits in a little under 12 minutes a night of playing time. In their first-round exit to Toronto, he was held off the scoresheet in five appearances.

A veteran of 642 career NHL outings during the regular season over 11 seasons, Cousins has bounced around, seeing time with seven different organizations. Instead of testing the market to see if he could get a bit more money, he has decided to stay put in a situation that works for both sides.

With the signing, Ottawa now has a little over $7MM in cap space, per PuckPedia. However, with both GM Steve Staios and owner Michael Andlauer cautioning that the team doesn’t intend to spend to the Upper Limit and a possible $2.75MM in bonuses on the books for Claude Giroux’s new deal, it’s unclear how much of that cap room is spendable at the moment although, at a minimum, they’ll have to add a depth forward or two to the roster in the coming days and weeks.

Kings Sign Andrei Kuzmenko To One-Year Extension

June 30, 2025 at 4:18 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 11 Comments

The Kings will be keeping their trade deadline acquisition away from the open market. The team announced they’ve signed winger Andrei Kuzmenko to a one-year extension worth $4.3MM.

The 29-year-old took the NHL by storm in his first season in 2022-23, notching 39 goals and 35 assists in 79 games with Vancouver. However, there was a bit of a red flag considering that his shooting percentage came in at 27.3%, well above the NHL average and a rate that wasn’t going to be sustainable. Unable to agree on a long-term commitment, the two sides eventually settled on a two-year, $10MM bridge deal to keep him in the fold with the Canucks.

Unfortunately for Kuzmenko and Vancouver, his second season didn’t go anywhere near as well as the first. After a quiet first half, he was included as salary ballast in the trade that sent Elias Lindholm to the Canucks. With a bigger opportunity in Calgary, Kuzmenko made the most of it, putting up 25 points in 29 games down the stretch with the Flames, providing some optimism that he could be a key contributor for them heading into 2024-25.

But things didn’t go that way this past season. Instead of picking up where he left off, Kuzmenko languished, notching just four goals and 11 assists in 37 games to start the year, resulting in him once again being included as salary ballast in a swap, this time to Philadelphia as part of the move that saw Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee go to Calgary. Kuzmenko did well in seven games with the Flyers before being flipped again, this time to Los Angeles at the trade deadline in a move aimed at giving the Kings some extra scoring.

Kuzmenko was indeed able to provide that, tallying five goals along with a dozen assists in 22 games down the stretch before averaging a point per game in six playoff outings. That performance was enough to land him the 19th spot in our Top 50 UFA ranking but instead, he won’t test the open market and will stay in a spot where things went well over the last few months. Perhaps with a full-season performance like he finished 2024-25 with, Kuzmenko will be in better shape to command a longer-term pact on the open market next summer.

With the signing, the Kings are down to a little under $20MM in cap space, per PuckPedia. As things stand, GM Ken Holland will be set to try to make a splash either in free agency or the trade market although that number could still come down if he’s able to work out an agreement with pending UFA blueliner Vladislav Gavrikov in the coming hours.

Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images.

Devils Expected To Qualify Cody Glass

June 30, 2025 at 2:00 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 10 Comments

June 30: New Jersey has changed its mind and will indeed grant Glass his $2.5MM qualifying offer, per PuckPedia.

June 21: Cody Glass proved to be a useful addition for the Devils down the stretch. However, it appears that won’t be enough to keep him in the fold as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that New Jersey is not expected to tender a qualifying offer at the end of the month which would make him an unrestricted free agent in July.

The 26-year-old was the sixth overall pick back in 2017 but has not yet lived up to his draft billing and has bounced around the league a bit, seeing action with four different teams over his first six NHL seasons.

It looked like Glass was turning a corner with Nashville when he put up 35 points in 72 games in the 2022-23 season, earning himself a two-year, $5MM contract along the way. But after his production slipped to just 13 points in 41 games the following year, the Preds shipped him with a pair of draft picks to Pittsburgh to open up some cap flexibility after their summer spending spree in free agency.

With the Penguins, Glass produced at a largely similar rate, tallying four goals and 11 assists in 51 games. But with the Devils looking for some insurance down the middle heading into the playoffs, they moved prospects Chase Stillman and Max Graham along with a 2027 third-round pick for Glass and forward Jonathan Gruden.

The change of scenery seemed to get Glass going offensively as he picked up two goals and five assists in 14 games following the swap while seeing an uptick in playing time to 14:31 per game. However, he was held off the scoresheet in their first-round playoff exit at the hands of Carolina.

To retain his RFA rights, the Devils would need to tender Glass a $2.5MM qualifying offer that would also carry salary arbitration rights. While his career numbers of 35 goals and 58 assists in 252 games aren’t lofty by any stretch, there’s a chance that an arbitration would award a higher amount than that. It appears that’s a risk New Jersey isn’t willing to take at this time. While the two sides could discuss a cheaper deal than that beforehand (his agent told The Hockey News’ Kristy Flannery earlier this week there had been preliminary talks between the sides), it doesn’t look like that’s in the cards, meaning that Glass appears to be set to hit the open market less than two weeks from now.

Five Key Stories: 6/23/25 – 6/29/25

June 29, 2025 at 9:30 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 1 Comment

With the NHL condensing the bulk of its offseason activity in a matter of just a few days this summer, this past week promised to be a busy one and it was. The annual entry draft was held with the Islanders selecting Matthew Schaefer first overall while the Hockey Hall of Fame announced its annual induction class. Meanwhile, some big trades and contract extensions highlight the rest of our key stories.

A Mammoth Acquisition: Pun aside, Utah made a splash on the trade front for the second straight offseason, acquiring winger JJ Peterka from Buffalo in exchange for winger Josh Doan and defenseman Michael Kesselring. Additionally, Peterka signed a five-year, $38.5MM contract as part of the move. Peterka’s point total increased by 18 for the second straight season as he collected 68 in 77 games, good for a share of second in scoring for the Sabres. Meanwhile, Kesselring gives Buffalo the right-shot defender they’ve long been coveting at a club-friendly $1.4MM price tag next season while Doan has shown some upside over his first 62 games of NHL action. He has one year left on his entry-level deal at a $925K price tag, meaning that Buffalo also opened up a lot of cap flexibility for next season with this move.

CBA Extension: While the current CBA doesn’t expire until September 2026, there will be labor peace beyond that. The NHL and NHLPA announced that they’re in agreement on a Memorandum of Understanding that, once ratified by both sides, would constitute a four-year extension to the CBA. Full details haven’t been disclosed yet but among the changes are a change to LTIR rules (including in the playoffs), a more streamlined system for draft rights, an increase in the minimum salary, the elimination of paper transactions (a player will have to play in a game in the AHL before being eligible for recall in the new deal), the elimination of salary deferrals, and a 75-day minimum timeframe before a player who was traded with salary retention will be eligible to be traded with retention for a second time. More changes are expected beyond these as well.

Dobson Dealt: The biggest trade of the draft was one that happened well before the draft started (even if they waited until the middle of the first round to make it official). The Islanders dealt defenseman Noah Dobson in a sign-and-trade agreement to Montreal for winger Emil Heineman plus the 16th (Viktor Eklund) and 17th (Kashawn Aitcheson) picks in the draft. As part of the move, Dobson signed an eight-year, $76MM contract. Dobson is coming off a quieter year offensively but still managed 10 goals and 29 assists after putting up 70 points in 2023-24; he and Lane Hutson will give Montreal a strong one-two punch offensively from the back end for the foreseeable future with Hutson under club control through 2031. Meanwhile, the Islanders get a winger who had a solid rookie year in Heineman and while the thought was they’d try to package those picks to move up, they wound up getting a pair of players who were viewed as being closer to top-ten picks that wound up slipping. While they have a big hole to fill on the back end now, their prospect pool is also much deeper.

Key Extensions: Several players signed contracts to avoid testing the open market on Tuesday. Included among them were two of the top-four-ranked players on our Top 50 UFA list. The Panthers re-signed Conn Smythe Trophy winner Sam Bennett to an eight-year, $64MM contract. He just reached the 50-point mark for the first time this season but he was a very impactful player in the playoffs and was likely to get more than that had he made it to the open market. Meanwhile, after a long negotiation, the Maple Leafs and John Tavares were able to work out a four-year, $18MM agreement. $2MM of that money is deferred, meaning the cap hit of the agreement comes in at $4.388MM. Tavares will be entering his age-35 year next season but is coming off a 38-goal, 74-point season and easily would have landed considerably more had he made it to July 1st. Toronto also agreed to terms on a six-year, $46.5MM contract with pending RFA winger Matthew Knies. Knies only has two full NHL seasons under his belt but it’s fair to say that the Peterka contract served as a strong comparable for this deal.

Still with Toronto, one possible extend-and-trade option is winger Mitch Marner. The Maple Leafs and Golden Knights have been discussing a sign-and-trade for Marner that could see at least one player come back to Toronto. Meanwhile, there is speculation that should a trade not get worked out with Marner signing with them quickly in free agency, a tampering charge could be filed by the Maple Leafs. As for how the Golden Knights could even afford to sign Marner at market value, it looks like Alex Pietrangelo and his $8.8MM contract will be landing on LTIR following the report that he is heading for multiple surgeries that will put his playing career in jeopardy.

More Trades: There were plenty more trades before or during the draft, including a trio of notable swaps. The Ducks gave forward Trevor Zegras a fresh start, sending him to the Flyers for center Ryan Poehling, the 45th pick (Eric Nilson), and a 2026 fourth-round pick. Zegras has two seasons of more than 60 points under his belt but has struggled over the last two years, failing to reach 50 points combined. Philadelphia clearly feels that they can help get him back to his old form. The Canucks added some grit on the wing, acquiring Evander Kane from Edmonton for a fourth-round pick (David Lewandowski). The Oilers needed to clear salary and Kane will get a chance to play in his hometown and add some extra scoring on the wing with Brock Boeser likely to leave in free agency. Lastly, after years of speculation, the Ducks finally moved goaltender John Gibson. He is now a member of the Red Wings who acquired him in exchange for veteran netminder Petr Mrazek, a 2027 second-round pick, and a 2026 fourth-round selection. Gibson posted a 2.77 GAA and a .911 SV% in 29 games for Anaheim this season and will have a pathway to much more playing time on a Detroit team that got a combined .896 SV% from its five netminders in 2024-25.

Photo courtesy of Wendell Cruz, Imagn Images.

Bruins Agree To Terms On Extension With Morgan Geekie

June 29, 2025 at 9:00 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 14 Comments

It appears that the Bruins are getting close to getting their top pending restricted free agent under contract. Chris Johnston of TSN and The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that Boston is finalizing a contract with forward Morgan Geekie. David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports (Twitter link) that it will be a six-year, $33MM deal, carrying a $5.5MM AAV.

The 26-year-old was eligible for salary arbitration this summer in his final season of RFA eligibility. That would have been a much different outcome than the last time he was a pending restricted free agent as he was two years ago. At that time, Seattle didn’t want to give Geekie the right to a hearing so they ultimately non-tendered him, sending him to the open market where he quickly signed a two-year, $4MM contract with the Bruins.

It’s fair to say that the contract worked out well for both sides. In 2023-24, Geekie set new career highs across the board, notching 17 goals and 22 assists in 76 games while getting to play regularly in the top six for the first time in his career, primarily down the middle. That alone was good value on the deal.

But this season, Geekie found a new gear entirely. Moved to the wing for the bulk of the season, he found some chemistry with David Pastrnak and as a result, he had 33 goals and 24 assists, finishing second to Pastrnak in both goals and points despite only having nine points with the man advantage. With numbers like that, he wound up being one of the better bargains in the NHL this season. His playing time also jumped to just under 17 minutes a night.

With Geekie only having one RFA year remaining, Boston is gaining five years of club control with the agreement. AFP Analytics projected a four-year pact worth just under $6.6MM per season but it will ultimately check in below that.

With the move, they now have around $16.6MM in cap space at their disposal, per PuckPedia, with John Beecher being the only other RFA to deal with after it was reported earlier today that Boston will non-tender winger Jakub Lauko on Monday with the deadline for qualifying offers being at 4 PM CT. With Beecher’s deal likely to be a short-term bridge pact, GM Don Sweeney will still have considerable cap space at his disposal to try to fill several roster spots in the hope of getting his team back to the playoffs next season after missing the postseason for the first time since 2015-16.

Photo courtesy of Eric Canha-Imagn Images.

College Notes: Howard, Hughes, Sumpf, Medvedev

June 29, 2025 at 8:23 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 11 Comments

It felt like the draft might have been the right time for the Lightning to move prospect Isaac Howard after the 2022 first-rounder indicated that he wouldn’t sign with Tampa Bay. However, GM Julien BriseBois indicated to reporters including Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times that they’re at a bit of a roadblock. While there are teams offering up a strong enough return for his services, they haven’t been able to work out a deal with Howard. Meanwhile, teams that Howard is willing to sign with haven’t offered up enough of a return yet. As things stand, the 21-year-old is set to return to Michigan State for his senior year and if he ultimately becomes a free agent next year, Tampa Bay would receive the 31st pick of the second round (63rd overall) as compensation.

Other college hockey news:

The Kings are expected to sign prospect Jack Hughes to an entry-level contract, Mayor’s Manor reports. The 21-year-old (who has no relation to the New Jersey center with the same name) was a second-round pick by Los Angeles in 2022, going 51st overall. Hughes had 25 points in 40 games in his senior year at Boston University and could have become an unrestricted free agent in mid-August if he waited a little longer to sign. Instead, he’ll become the sixth player from the Kings’ 2022 class to sign a contract, assuming he puts pen to paper on a deal in the coming days.
Blackhawks draft pick Julius Sumpf is expected to play at Providence College next season, reports Mark Divver of the New England Hockey Journal (Twitter link). The 20-year-old was the 98th overall pick on Saturday following a solid season with QMJHL Moncton that saw him pick up 65 points in 58 games. He also had seven points in five games for Germany at the World Juniors.
Canucks draft pick Alexei Medvedev has declined interest from several NCAA schools and will return to OHL London next season, relays Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK and The Athletic (Twitter link). The 17-year-old was a second-round pick on Saturday, going 47th overall following a solid rookie year with the Knights. He put up a 2.79 GAA and a .912 SV% in 34 games during the regular season and with platoon partner and playoff starter Austin Elliott off to college next season, Medvedev should have a path to a much bigger role in 2025-26.

Free Agent Focus: Edmonton Oilers

June 29, 2025 at 6:59 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 3 Comments

Free agency is less than 48 hours away now, and teams are looking ahead to when it opens. There will be several impact players set to hit the open market in July, while many teams also have key restricted free agents to re-sign. We continue our look around the NHL with an overview of the free agent situation for the Oilers.

Key Restricted Free Agents

D Evan Bouchard – The Oilers only have one player who qualifies for this section but Bouchard is certainly a significant one. No, the 25-year-old didn’t match his output from 2023-24 although that was going to be hard to do after he put up 82 points in 81 games that year. But even with a drop-off in production, he still finished fifth among all NHL blueliners with 67 points (14 goals, 53 assists) in 82 games. In the playoffs, he had 23 points in 22 contests, down from 32 in 25 the year before but still extremely impressive. While Bouchard isn’t known as being an elite defender, he has made strides at that end and has now shown himself to be one of the premier point producers from the back end. Arbitration-eligible this summer, it’s quite possible that a long-term contract for him approaches the $10MM mark.

Other RFAs: F Jacob Perreault, F Noah Philp, G Olivier Rodrigue, F Cameron Wright

Key Unrestricted Free Agents

F Connor Brown – After a rocky first year in Edmonton, Brown took a low-cost one-year deal to stay with them last summer and fared much better, putting up 30 points during the regular season plus nine more in 20 playoff outings. As always, he was a capable penalty killer as well. While his days of being viewed as a secondary scorer may be done now, Brown has shown that he can still be an effective bottom-six piece so a multi-year offer at more than double the $1MM AAV he made this season should be doable.

F Kasperi Kapanen – A midseason waiver claim, Kapanen was okay in a limited role but still managed just 14 points in 67 games on the season. He was better in the playoffs with six points in 12 games but found himself out of the lineup somewhat regularly as well. A veteran of more than 500 NHL games now, the 28-year-old should be able to secure a deal at some point this summer but it could wind up being a little later in free agency at a price tag close to the minimum salary.

D John Klingberg – The 32-year-old is one of the bigger wild cards on the open market this summer. He signed a deal midseason after recovering from hip surgery but didn’t play a lot after missing time due to illness and a late-season stint on LTIR. But in the playoffs, Klingberg was in the lineup for all but three games and held his own in more than 19 minutes a night of playing time. He’s not a top offensive threat as he was in his prime with Dallas but he’s capable of still helping out a bit on that end while his playoff performance will undoubtedly bolster his market heading into free agency, especially as a coveted right-shot player. A big-money contract isn’t happening but he might be able to beat the $1.755MM he received when he was a free agent a few months ago.

F Corey Perry – Perry very quietly tallied 19 goals this season and is averaging 15.5 per year over the last four seasons while doing so playing almost exclusively in the bottom six. He then went and added 10 more in 22 playoff contests. Yes, he’s 40 but he has shown an ability to adapt and still contribute which will give him a strong market. If he wants to continue to try to chase another Stanley Cup, he’ll probably have to keep settling for something in the $1MM range plus some bonuses. But if he’s open to expanding his options past that, doubling that amount should be possible.

F Jeff Skinner – After being bought out by Buffalo, Skinner took a one-year, $3MM deal to give Edmonton some more proven secondary scoring while ideally bolstering his market for 2025. That didn’t quite happen. He managed just 16 goals and 13 assists and found himself a scratch at times during the regular season and quite frequently during the playoffs. His track record is still good enough that there will be a market for his services this summer but it might wind up being another one-year deal at a bit of a dip from this season.

Other UFAs: D Ronald Attard, F Drake Caggiula (signed in Switzerland), D Connor Carrick (signed in Switzerland), G Collin Delia, D Travis Dermott, D Philip Kemp, F Lane Pederson, F Derek Ryan

Projected Cap Space

Following a busy week that included Evander Kane being traded to Vancouver and re-signing Trent Frederic to a surprising eight-year contract, the Oilers find themselves with a little over $12MM in cap space. The bulk of that will be needed to get Bouchard under contract while they’ll want to shore up their depth as well. That’s doable enough but if GM Stan Bowman wants to make a bigger splash, he’ll have to find a way to free up some cap space first.

Photos courtesy of Charles LeClaire (Bouchard) and Sam Navarro (Klingberg)-Imagn Images. Contract info courtesy of PuckPedia.

Offseason Checklist: Florida Panthers

June 28, 2025 at 9:00 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 17 Comments

The offseason has arrived with the draft now complete and free agency fast approaching. Accordingly, it’s time to look at what each team needs to accomplish this summer. We wrap up our series with a look at the Stanley Cup-winning Panthers.

Late in the regular season, things weren’t looking great for Florida. The team was banged up and underachieving, slipping to third in the Atlantic Division, finishing just one point ahead of Ottawa who occupied the first Wild Card spot in the East. However, they once again showed that they were a team built for the playoffs, taking care of business to win the Cup for the second straight year. Now, GM Bill Zito has some work to do in the coming days to keep his team intact as much as possible.

Bridge For Samoskevich

While Florida has several pending unrestricted free agents (that we’ll look at in more detail shortly), they have one restricted free agent of some significance in winger Mackie Samoskevich. The 22-year-old is coming off his first full NHL season and needs a new contract although he qualifies as a 10.2 (c) player and is therefore not eligible for an offer sheet. That helps take the pressure off as there won’t be an inflationary offer coming in that could mess up the rest of their plans.

The 22-year-old played in 72 games with the Panthers this season, notching a solid 15 goals and 16 assists despite only averaging 13:19 per game. However, he was used only sparingly in the playoffs, dressing for just four outings, only one of those coming after the first round. With just seven other regular season games to his name from 2023-24, this is a profile that screams bridge contract.

If the Panthers want to leave as much flexibility as possible for next season, a one-year deal might only check in around the $1.25MM range. Alternatively, a two-year pact would likely push the AAV closer to $1.5MM per season. With no true pressure points, this is a case that could drag on a bit but there’s value in getting something done sooner rather than later so they know how much they have to spend on their core free agents.

Keep Key Free Agents

One of Florida’s ‘big three’ potential unrestricted free agents is off the market with the team announcing on Friday that center and Conn Smythe Trophy winner Sam Bennett had signed an eight-year, $64MM contract to remain with the Panthers. That leaves them with $11MM in cap space, per PuckPedia, and two key players to try to keep, defenseman Aaron Ekblad and winger Brad Marchand.

Ekblad has been a fixture on the back end for the Panthers since they made him the first overall selection back in 2014. He has been a full-time NHL player ever since and ranks second to only Aleksander Barkov for games played in franchise history. Between missing a few games due to injury and a 20-game late-season suspension for a violation of the NHL/NHLPA Performance Enhancing Substances Program, Ekblad is coming off a quieter year by his standards but he still had 33 points in 56 games while logging 23:31 per night of ice time. He’s still capable of playing on the top pairing and being an all-situations player for several more years. But with a lot of mileage already, is Florida willing to give him a max-term deal? Meanwhile, Ekblad appears to be in a position to command something around the $7.5MM he made on his expiring eight-year contract as the top right-shot option on a market largely bereft of impactful players on that side which gives him a lot of leverage in talks.

As for Marchand, this was not a situation that either side would be in. When he was acquired at the trade deadline, the expectation was that he’d be a good secondary contributor and then probably move on. But Marchand wound up being an instrumental part of their Cup run, chipping in with 10 goals and 10 assists in 23 games despite primarily playing in Florida’s third line. Coming off a 51-point regular season, his stock is now quite high as well to the point where a raise on the $6.125MM he made on his set-to-expire contract is now doable, something that seemed very unlikely just a few months ago.

Zito has made it clear he wants to keep both of these players but the math simply doesn’t work. One is an option but if they want to keep Ekblad and Marchand in the fold, they’re going to have to get creative and also move a player or two out. Less than 72 hours away from the start of free agency, he’ll have to move fast.

Goalie Work

There’s work to do on a few fronts between the pipes for Florida this summer. None of them necessarily qualify as significantly pressing but will require action at some point.

The first involves starting extension talks with Sergei Bobrovsky. When Florida dealt Spencer Knight in the Seth Jones deal (leading some to believe Jones would replace Ekblad on the back end long-term), their in-house replacement for Bobrovsky went away. Now, instead of potentially handing him the crease in 2026-27, working out a new deal for the 36-year-old seems like the route they’re going to try to take as a short-term solution. It’s fair to say that the price tag won’t come close to the $10MM he’s making now but a two-year pact around the $6MM or so range would buy Zito a little more time to find a longer-term replacement. The sooner they get that deal secured, the more confidence they can have about taking on money for 2026-27. But it’s not necessarily something that has to be done over the next few months.

Florida got ahead of what was the next item on this list when they acquired goaltender Daniil Tarasov from Columbus earlier this week. It’s expected he’ll take the place of Vitek Vanecek, who was acquired at the deadline to take Knight’s vacated spot, as Bobrovsky’s backup next season. Now, they need to get him under contract. He’s owed a qualifying offer of $1.26MM but the offer also carries arbitration rights, something they’d likely prefer to avoid. With that in mind, it’s likely that they’d like to get something done soon or close enough where they could non-tender him and then sign him after that, a strategy that teams have started to employ more often in recent years.

The other thing they need to do is land a veteran third-stringer. That was Chris Driedger’s role for most of the year before he was traded for Kaapo Kahkonen who played a big role in AHL Charlotte getting to the Calder Cup Finals. They have prospect Cooper Black signed for one more year and he did quite well with the Checkers, albeit in limited action. They’ll likely want to give him more action next season so a veteran who can split starts and also be called up to be the backup in a pinch in the NHL is the type of player they’ll likely want. There will be several of those available so they’ll just have to ensure that they’re able to get a deal done with one of them.

Add Defensive Depth

At the moment, the Panthers only have five NHL blueliners under contract for next season. One of those is Uvis Balinskis who was largely a regular during the regular season but was a healthy scratch 18 times in the playoffs. Ekblad returning would make a big difference and shift the focus toward adding some injury insurance and depth above all else.

Nate Schmidt was one of the players signed last year to serve that depth role and he fared quite well to the point where he’ll either have to take a below-market deal to remain with the Panthers or move on. At this point, the goal should be to try to find someone who can fill that type of role on the third pairing (16-17 minutes a night) for around that price tag to, again, maximize their spending room on their top players. An extra one of those players would also be handy in an ideal world.

Internally, Tobias Bjornfot is someone who has been a depth defender but as a pending RFA with arbitration rights and 134 career NHL games, he’s a non-tender candidate to avoid any risk of a higher-than-desired award. He’s the only reserve list defender with some NHL experience although Mike Benning has shown some promise and could be in the mix for a recall at some point. With that in mind, a veteran defender who could start with the Checkers and be injury insurance would also be useful.

Photo courtesy of Timothy T. Ludwig-Imagn Images.

Capitals Notes: Alexeyev, Free Agents, Fehervary, Sourdif

June 28, 2025 at 8:25 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 4 Comments

Following the end of the draft today, Capitals GM Chris Patrick met with the media (video link) and provided updates on several players. While not going out and confirming that the team won’t be tendering Alexander Alexeyev a qualifying offer on Monday, he stated that the team is “going to be as helpful as we can to him to get him the best opportunity to play in the NHL next year.” Alexeyev was limited to just eight games during the regular season with Washington and with their addition of Declan Chisholm earlier today, it’s harder to see a pathway to playing time if he remains with the Capitals. Knowing that a qualifying offer would also carry arbitration rights, the likeliest outcome is that he’s cut loose.

Snapshots: Pageau, Grubauer, Avalanche, Dobson

June 28, 2025 at 7:12 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 12 Comments

While there has been strong trade interest in Islanders center Jean-Gabriel Pageau, it doesn’t appear as if he’s in play. Michael Russo and Joe Smith of The Athletic report (subscription link) that the Isles have informed teams that they won’t be moving the 32-year-old. The 32-year-old is coming off one of his better years offensively after tallying 42 points in 79 games while winning nearly 60% of his faceoffs. A capable checker, Pageau will be entering the final year of his contract next season on a deal that carries a $5MM cap charge. Given the lack of depth in the center market, New York likely would have been well-positioned to land a return of some value for Pageau’s services but it appears now that they’ll hold onto him and potentially reassess his situation closer to the trade deadline in March.

Elsewhere around the NHL:

Kraken GM Jason Botterill confirmed to reporters including Kate Shefte of The Seattle Times that the team will not be buying out goaltender Philipp Grubauer by Monday’s deadline. The 33-year-old had a rocky performance this season, posting a 3.49 GAA with a .875 SV% in 26 starts, resulting in a stint with AHL Coachella Valley after clearing waivers. Grubauer has two years left on his contract that carries a $5.9MM cap charge and while Seattle would have been able to open up nearly $4MM in room this summer with a buyout, Botterill instead will keep him around with the belief that he’ll be able to bounce back next season.
Avalanche pending unrestricted free agents Jonathan Drouin and Ryan Lindgren are expected to hit the open market next week, relays Peter Baugh of The Athletic (subscription link). Drouin reached free agency last year as well before re-signing a one-year, $2.5MM deal. The winger put up 37 points in 45 games this season. Meanwhile, Lindgren was acquired at the trade deadline and put up 22 points in 72 games this year with the blueliner playing on a $4.5MM contract. After yesterday’s trade of Charlie Coyle and Miles Wood to Columbus, the Avs have nearly $9MM in cap space, per PuckPedia, giving GM Chris McFarland more wiggle room to work with in reshaping his roster this summer.
Noah Dobson’s new contract with the Canadiens contains just a 14-team no-trade clause beginning in 2026-27, PuckPedia reports (Twitter link). He was not eligible for any trade protection next season since that was an RFA-eligible year and RFA-eligible players can’t have any trade restrictions. The deal was heavily front-loaded with $33MM in signing bonus money over the first three seasons of the agreement.

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