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Bruins Sign Victor Soderstrom

June 14, 2025 at 12:06 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 5 Comments

Boston didn’t waste any time getting their newest blueliner under contract.  After acquiring the rights to Victor Soderstrom on Friday, the Bruins announced that they’ve signed the defenseman to a one-year, two-way contract.  The NHL portion of the deal will pay the minimum salary of $775K while the AHL salary was not disclosed.

The 24-year-old was a first-round pick back in 2019 when Arizona drafted him 11th overall.  However, his development has not quite gone as well as the then-Coyotes would have hoped.

While Soderstrom saw NHL action in four straight seasons from 2020-21 through 2023-24, he only got into 53 games overall.  Instead, he spent most of his time in North America in the minors, spanning 170 contests.  His 2023-24 performance was arguably his best as he had 32 points in 62 games with AHL Springfield but that didn’t yield much in the way of a chance in Arizona as he played just three times with them that year, leading him to voice his frustration with his lack of opportunity.

As a result, Soderstrom didn’t want to re-sign with that organization (which moved to Utah last offseason) while, at the time at least, Utah didn’t want to trade him.  At an impasse, the blueliner decided to go back home, signing a two-year deal with SHL Brynas.  With one year left on that agreement, it’s clear that the agreement had an NHL out clause.

Soderstrom had a solid season in Sweden, posting nine goals and 28 assists in 49 regular season games with Brynas while logging over 22 minutes a night of playing time.  While he didn’t post points at the same level in the playoffs, he chipped in with eight points in 17 outings in a little more than 23 minutes per game of ice time.  Along the way, Chicago acquired his rights as part of the move that saw them add Shea Weber’s contract to their books and the thought was that the Blackhawks might try to sign Soderstrom themselves this summer.

Clearly, that didn’t happen and Chicago’s prospect depth on the back end might have had something to do with that, leading to Friday’s trade.  Boston’s right-shot defensive depth isn’t as deep as Charlie McAvoy and Andrew Peeke are the only two regular blueliners who shoot from that side.  As a result, there could be an opportunity for Soderstrom to push for a roster spot with the Bruins although a lot can change between now and the start of training camp that could affect that chance.  Either way, Soderstrom will be getting a second opportunity to play in North America this season.

Boston Bruins| Transactions Victor Soderstrom

5 comments

Metropolitan Notes: Jones, Soucy, Poulin

June 14, 2025 at 11:42 am CDT | by Brian La Rose 1 Comment

The Rangers have had contract discussions with pending RFA defenseman Zac Jones, reports Mollie Walker of the New York Post (subscription link).  The 24-year-old expressed frustration with his usage earlier in the season; while he set a new career-high in games played, he still only suited up 46 times, recording 11 points in a little over 17 minutes per night of playing time.  His camp had permission to explore trade options during the season but nothing materialized in terms of a move.  He’s owed a qualifying offer of just over $866K but also has arbitration eligibility which is something New York would likely prefer to avoid.  That might explain the early discussions as if the two sides can’t find a suitable deal, Jones could be a non-tender candidate at the end of the month to avoid the risk of a possible arbitration award that’s higher than they want to pay.

More from the Metropolitan:

  • While the future of K’Andre Miller with the Rangers remains murky, Arthur Staple of The Athletic suggests (subscription link) that clearing out the final year of Carson Soucy’s contract is something else New York will be looking to do on the left side of their back end. The 30-year-old was acquired from Vancouver near the trade deadline as a buy-low addition with the hopes that a change of scenery could give him a boost.  Instead, that didn’t happen and Soucy was even briefly scratched.  He had 13 points, 106 hits, and 113 blocks in 75 games this season but with a year and $3.25MM left on his contract, GM Chris Drury likely feels that money could be better spent elsewhere.  Soucy has a full no-trade clause until July 1st when that protection drops to a 12-team no-trade list.
  • This season wasn’t a great one for Penguins winger Samuel Poulin. He cleared waivers during training camp and outside of a seven-game stint with Pittsburgh (six of which came in November), playing time at the top level was hard to come by.  Even so, Seth Rorabaugh of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review feels that the 24-year-old still has a chance to be in Pittsburgh’s plans.  With the team planning to get younger, the fact that he had a career-best 41 points with AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton this season, and his size as the heaviest player in the organization, Poulin could very well find himself in the mix with the big club next season.  If not, he’ll have to pass through waivers again and could be a candidate to be claimed with his stronger showing in the minors this year.

New York Rangers| Pittsburgh Penguins Carson Soucy| Samuel Poulin| Zac Jones

1 comment

Hurricanes Linked To Amir Miftakhov

June 14, 2025 at 10:28 am CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

With veterans Dustin Tokarski and Spencer Martin set to be unrestricted free agents next month, the Hurricanes are expected to make a move to add some depth at the goaltending position.  That move could be coming soon as Championat’s Rustam Imanov reports that netminder Amir Miftakhov has rejected extension offers from KHL Ak Bars Kazan and is in the final stages of talks with Carolina about a contract for the upcoming season.

The 25-year-old was a sixth-round pick by Tampa Bay in 2020, going 186th overall.  He signed an entry-level deal with them the following year and split the 2021-22 season between AHL Syracuse (22 games) and ECHL Orlando (five appearances).  However, Miftakhov wanted to return home instead of staying in the minors and had the final two years of his contract terminated in July 2022.

Since then, Miftakhov has played in the KHL.  This past season, he played in 30 games with Kazan, posting a strong 2.18 GAA and a .927 SV% along the way.  Those were largely in line with his career numbers of a 2.19 GAA and a .922 SV% in 82 outings over parts of five seasons at that level.

While that performance probably isn’t going to be enough to give him a shot at a full-time spot with the Hurricanes (assuming a deal gets finalized), it could give him a chance to be the starter at AHL Chicago, putting him in line to be the first goalie recalled if injuries arise to Frederik Andersen or Pyotr Kochetkov.  It appears that opportunity might be enough for Miftakhov to give playing in North America another shot.

Carolina Hurricanes| KHL Amir Miftakhov

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Brandon Gignac Signs In Swiss League

June 14, 2025 at 9:23 am CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

Rather than test free agency next month, pending UFA Brandon Gignac has decided to head overseas.  EHC Kloten in Switzerland announced that they’ve inked the center to a two-year contract.

The 27-year-old was originally drafted by New Jersey in the third round back in 2016.  However, playing time was hard to come by at the top level as he made just one NHL appearance with them before being non-tendered in 2021.

That brought him to Montreal’s farm team on a minor-league deal, one that he was able to convert to a two-year, two-way NHL pact in 2023-24.  When that happened, Gignac got into seven games with the Canadiens, scoring once while logging a little under 12 minutes a night of playing time.  Meanwhile, he had a career year in the AHL with Laval that season, notching 55 points in 61 games.

Coming off that season, there was some thought that Gignac could push for a back-of-the-roster spot with Montreal this year or at least be in line for a recall when injuries arise.  However, after clearing waivers in training camp, Gignac suffered a long-term injury that caused him to miss 53 games, putting an end to any hopes of a promotion.  He returned for the playoffs and had just three points in 12 games.

Knowing that an NHL opportunity likely wasn’t going to be on the table this summer, Gignac’s options likely would have been limited to two-way offers next month.  Instead of taking another one of those, he’ll now try his hand in a new league altogether.

Montreal Canadiens| NLA| Transactions Brandon Gignac

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Offseason Checklist: St. Louis Blues

June 12, 2025 at 7:55 am CDT | by Brian La Rose 8 Comments

The offseason has arrived for all but two teams now with the playoffs nearing an end.  Accordingly, it’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming weeks with free agency fast approaching.  Next up is a look at St. Louis.

It was an eventful year for the Blues who made an early-season coaching change and wound up going on a significant late-season run to propel themselves into a playoff spot before being ousted by Winnipeg in the opening round.  GM Doug Armstrong doesn’t have a lot of salary cap flexibility to work with but he will be tasked with making at least some tweaks to his group this summer.

Continue To Reshape The Defense

A good chunk of the back end for the Blues has been around for quite a while now with three veterans being around for at least the last four years.  While they made a key addition early in the season with the acquisition of Cam Fowler following the summer signing of Philip Broberg, there’s still some work to be done.

Colton Parayko isn’t going anywhere.  Neither is Broberg.  Fowler is heading into the final year of his deal but at this point, he’s more of an extension candidate than a trade candidate.  After that, there are some question marks.

Justin Faulk is no stranger to trade speculation and was even in some recent speculation heading into the trade deadline when it looked like St. Louis would be selling, not standing pat.  He has two years left on his contract with a $6.5MM cap charge.  Originally, it looked as if those last couple of seasons could be tough from a cap perspective but he’s still logging 22 minutes a night and is above-average offensively.  With the UFA class not exactly being deep, he’s a viable trade chip not just to clear money but to get real value in return.  With Broberg, Fowler, and Parayko being capable of playing the offensive roles, Faulk could become expendable.

Nick Leddy is entering the final year of a four-year, $16MM deal.  The first two years weren’t bad but he battled injuries this season and struggled when he was in the lineup.  It would be surprising if they could offload the final year of the deal but if they wanted to retain salary or take a player back in a change-of-scenery type of swap, there might be a chance to move him as well.

Torey Krug seems unlikely to play next season which could give them some extra flexibility.  They have around $5MM in cap space per PuckPedia although Krug landing on LTIR could give them up to $6.5MM in additional spending room.  Meanwhile, Matthew Kessel and Tyler Tucker have shown they can be useful players in a depth role but aren’t ready for top-four duty just yet.

In a perfect world, Armstrong would add a top-four defender, one who is a bit more geared toward filling a shutdown role.  If Faulk is still around, they’d be in a good spot of having five top-four blueliners.  Or if that acquisition makes Faulk expendable, they’d have a chance to cash in on a solid trade chip.  Broberg and Fowler have helped reshape the back end but there’s still some work to be done there.

Extension Talks For Bridge Deals

The Blues went with bridge deals for the two players they signed on offer sheets from Edmonton (Broberg and Dylan Holloway).  Both will be entering the final year of their respective contracts on July 1st, making them extension-eligible.  While getting both of them signed would be a tall task, getting a sense of what those next deals might cost would be worthwhile for long-term planning as Alex Steen gets set to take Armstrong’s spot as GM next year.

Broberg was a wild card coming over from Edmonton.  After not locking down a regular spot in the lineup in 2023-24 during the regular season, he played a little more often in the playoffs but even with that, his $4.581MM offer sheet was still a wild overpayment based on what he had to that point of his career.

But Broberg managed to not only live up to that deal this season but even make it look at least a little bit like a team-friendly pact.  He quickly became a top-four threat, logging over 20 minutes a night and did pretty well offensively considering the low power play time he had.  Basically, he lived up to his eighth-overall billing.  Now, it’s fair to say that an extension is going to be a step or two above this rate.  Broberg has two RFA years left after next season so this will be the contract they’ll want to go long-term on.  With the anticipated jump coming to the Upper Limit and the projection that Broberg can build off the year he had, that type of agreement could conceivably push past the $7MM threshold, if not a little higher.

As for Holloway, he was the bigger bargain of the two, taking a $2.29MM contract and finishing third in the team in scoring with 26 goals and 37 assists, numbers that seemed unfathomable given his usage with the Oilers previously.  We saw Calgary’s Matthew Coronato get seven years at $6.5MM without hitting the 50-point mark, a plateau that Holloway already has gone through.  Like Broberg, he’ll have two RFA years left after this contract and it wouldn’t be surprising to see his camp asking for something starting with an eight on a long-term deal.

It would be surprising to see either player sign this early after just one year.  But even knowing how much extra money they’re going to need to set aside for 2026-27 could affect how they approach this summer.

Find A ‘200-Foot Offensive Player’

If this seems like an oddly specific category, there’s a reason for that.  At the end of the season, when Armstrong was asked what he’d like to add to his roster, this was his answer.  With that being a stated goal, it’s fair to say they’re going to go out and try to add one of those pieces.

The Blues finished 13th in offense this season so this type of player doesn’t necessarily have to be a high-producing one, just one that can play a two-way game and move around the lineup when needed.  Speculatively, a 40-to-50-point player fits the bill, preferably a center to give them some extra depth while also giving them options if Brayden Schenn were to find his way back into trade talks.

Of course, this is not necessarily the easiest profile of player to find.  There are only six UFA forwards in that particular point range and realistically, only two of those profile as two-way players, winger Reilly Smith and center Pius Suter.  Each of them would likely take up the bulk of their remaining base cap space, forcing them back into using LTIR for Krug.

With that in mind, it wouldn’t be shocking to see Armstrong try to land this type of player on the trade market.  While his second-round picks are off the table for the next three years, they still have all of their first-round selections and boast a prospect pool that has been improved as of late.  That should be enough trade capital for him to work with if he wants to swing a deal to add to his group up front.

Re-Sign Hofer

Joel Hofer has been one of the better bargain goalies in the NHL over the last couple of seasons.  Signed to a league-minimum contract, he has been an above-average backup to Jordan Binnington over that span, posting a 2.65 GAA and a .909 SV% in 65 games over that span.  It’s safe to say that the bridge contract worked for both sides; St. Louis got a team-friendly deal while Hofer got a chance to prove himself and did exactly that.

Now is the time for him to cash in.  That is, at least in theory.  Knowing their desire to add a 200-foot offensive forward and the speculated desire to continue to build up their back end, it’s fair to wonder how much they’re going to have left for the backup goalie position.

Armstrong probably wouldn’t mind working out a long-term deal with Hofer, giving the Blues at least some stability with Binnington only having two years left on his contract.  But the longer the contract, the higher the price tag will be, cutting into what they can spend elsewhere.

With that in mind, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Blues pursue a second bridge deal with Hofer.  He has three RFA-eligible seasons remaining and though they’re all arbitration-eligible, they can use the extra club control to kick this one down the road.  A two-year deal would see him expire at the same time as Binnington and should cost around $3MM per season while a one-year pact would see the price tag go a bit lower, potentially around the $2.5MM mark.  Hofer is the lone NHL RFA St. Louis has so Armstrong can push this past the start of free agency and potentially let what happens there dictate what they do with Hofer.

Photo courtesy of John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images.

Offseason Checklist 2025| Pro Hockey Rumors Originals| St. Louis Blues

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Golden Knights Not Shopping William Karlsson

June 11, 2025 at 9:00 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 7 Comments

In recent weeks, there has been speculation that the Golden Knights would like to free up some salary cap flexibility heading into free agency next month.  While that may still be the case, one of the speculated potential casualties is actually not in play; Danny Webster of the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that Vegas is not looking to move center William Karlsson.

Karlsson is one of the few remaining original members of the team after joining them in the 2017 Expansion Draft.  Throughout his time in Vegas, he has been a reliable two-way center and has signed two separate deals with the team.

However, the 32-year-old is coming off a rather quiet season.  Limited to just 53 games during the regular season due to injuries, Karlsson put up just nine goals and 20 assists while seeing his playing time drop to 17:01 per night.  His point total and ATOI were both the lowest they had been since he joined the Golden Knights.

With Jack Eichel entrenched as the number one center and a stated desire to sign him to a long-term extension this summer and Tomas Hertl in the fold for another five years, it’s understandable why some wondered if Karlsson could be in play.  And with just two seasons remaining on his contract with a $5.9MM price tag plus a strong track record, Vegas would have been in a great position to command a strong return for his services.

But center depth is difficult to part with if you can afford to keep it.  Both Eichel and Hertl have a track record of dealing with injuries themselves so having three top-six-caliber middlemen is a great luxury to have while keeping Nicolas Roy and Brett Howden in the bottom six.

Speaking of cap space, the Golden Knights presently have around $9.6MM in room, per PuckPedia.  However, they have several players to spend that money on with wingers Reilly Smith, Victor Olofsson, Brandon Saad, and goalie Ilya Samsonov all set to become unrestricted free agents next month, with Nicolas Hague, frequently mentioned in trade speculation himself, becoming an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent in July.  But while it’s understandable that Vegas wants to open up extra cap space heading into free agency, it appears it won’t be coming from one of their longest-serving players.

Vegas Golden Knights William Karlsson

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Snapshots: Islanders, Andersson, Hrabal, Jedlicka

June 11, 2025 at 8:31 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

With the Islanders missing the playoffs this season, some wondered if new GM Mathieu Darche might look to make a big shakeup on the trade front.  If he does, their two top forwards won’t be involved.  In his latest column for The Athletic (subscription link), Pierre LeBrun relays that Darche has told forwards Bo Horvat and Mathew Barzal that they will not be moved this summer.  Horvat would have been an intriguing name on the center market while Barzal, who has been more of a winger lately but is a natural middleman himself, also would have drawn a lot of interest but instead, they’ll remain the focal points of a New York group that Darche feels can get back into the playoff mix next season.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • Extension talks between the Flames and defenseman Rasmus Andersson are expected to continue this week with the two sides exchanging numbers for the first time, reports Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli. Andersson is eligible to sign a new deal as of July 1st and it’s one that should carry a significant increase on his current $4.55MM price tag.  While he’s coming off a bit of a down year, he still managed 31 points in 81 games and as a right-shot rearguard who plays in all situations, he’ll be highly sought after should he hit the open market in 2026.
  • The Mammoth tried to sign goaltender Michael Hrabal after this season, his college head coach Greg Carvel stated in a recent Sick Podcast appearance (video link). The 20-year-old was the 38th overall pick back in 2023 and has spent the past two seasons at the University of Massachusetts.  Hrabal posted a 2.37 GAA with a .924 SV% in 36 games for the Minutemen which seemingly was enough for Utah to want to turn him pro.  Instead, Hrabal has decided to return for his junior year and seems like a strong candidate to sign after that.
  • While the Avalanche relinquished the rights to prospect Maros Jedlicka on June 1st, he’ll be remaining with the organization for now. Colorado’s AHL affiliate announced that they’ve signed the forward to a one-year contract for next season.  Jedlicka started this year playing at home in Czechia, collecting two assists in a dozen games for HC Kometa Brno before coming to North America in mid-November.  Jedlicka played in 18 games for the Eagles this season, picking up three goals and two assists and while that wasn’t enough to earn an NHL contract, it was enough for the Avs to keep him around in their system at least.

AHL| Calgary Flames| Colorado Avalanche| New York Islanders| Snapshots| Utah Mammoth Bo Horvat| Maros Jedlicka| Mathew Barzal| Michael Hrabal| Rasmus Andersson

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Senators Expected To Begin Extension Talks With Adam Gaudette Soon

June 11, 2025 at 7:23 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 3 Comments

With free agency now less than three weeks away, the Senators have been busy trying to get their top pending unrestricted free agent, Claude Giroux, locked up before he hits the open market.  It appears that he’s not the only UFA that they intend to try to sign early as Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports that the Sens are expected to start talks on a new deal with Adam Gaudette.

The 28-year-old has largely bounced around his eight-year professional career, spending time with five different organizations.  Gaudette came back for a second stint with Ottawa last summer, inking a one-year, two-way deal with an eye on him being a key contributor with AHL Belleville and coming up for stints with the big club when needed.

That didn’t go quite as planned.  In fact, it went better.  While Gaudette cleared waivers in October, he never actually suited up in the minors this season.  Beyond a few one-day stints with Belleville, he was exclusively up with Ottawa.  Along the way, he played in 81 games, scoring a career-best 19 goals along with seven assists; that goal total is particularly notable considering he averaged just 10:25 per game of ice time.  He added three points in six games in their opening-round playoff loss to Toronto.

While Gaudette had 33 points back in 59 games with Vancouver, this was his first season of being a full-time NHL player.  Overall, he has suited up in 301 contests at the top level, notching 46 goals and 50 assists along the way.  All told, not a bad showing from a fifth-round pick.

However, despite the success he has had at times, Gaudette has yet to earn a seven-figure single-season salary throughout his career.  He should have a chance to do that this time around but he might not beat the $1MM mark by too much considering the limited ice time he had this season and the fact he had primarily been a minor leaguer the previous two years.  It wouldn’t be surprising to see Ottawa, like a lot of teams, try to keep their spots at the end of the roster close to the minimum salary to increase their spending flexibility so it will be interesting to see if an early agreement can be worked out to keep Gaudette off the open market.

2025 Free Agency| Ottawa Senators Adam Gaudette

3 comments

Metropolitan Notes: Orlov, Flyers, Hollowell

June 11, 2025 at 6:45 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 6 Comments

The expectation is that Hurricanes defenseman Dmitry Orlov will test the open market next month, reports Pierre LeBrun in his latest column for The Athletic (subscription link).  The 33-year-old was somewhat of a surprise signing two years ago when he joined Carolina, eschewing a longer-term offer to accept a two-year, $15.5MM deal, one that was above-market at the time.  Orlov averaged 20 minutes a game this season while chipping in with six goals and 22 assists, making it nine straight years that he has eclipsed the 20-point mark.  While he likely won’t beat his most recent price tag, he should generate some strong interest in free agency.

More from the Metropolitan:

  • While the Flyers have been suggested as a possible team interested in Golden Knights defenseman Nicolas Hague, Kevin Kurz of The Athletic relays (Twitter link) word from a team source that this is not the case. Hague is a pending restricted free agent and with the expectation that he’ll be looking for a fair bit more than his $2.7MM qualifying offer, he has become a speculative trade candidate.  Philadelphia already has four left-shot blueliners signed for next season with Cameron York, another lefty, becoming a restricted free agent next month.
  • Pending UFA defenseman Mac Hollowell won’t be hitting the open market to see what North American options he might have. Instead, the 26-year-old has signed with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the KHL, the league announced.  Hollowell has been a productive player in the minors but outside of six appearances with Toronto in 2022-23, his NHL opportunities have been limited so he’ll try his hand overseas now.  He had a goal and 30 assists in 56 games with AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton this season after a 44-point showing with Hartford in 2023-24.

Carolina Hurricanes| KHL| Philadelphia Flyers| Vegas Golden Knights Dmitry Orlov| Mac Hollowell| Nicolas Hague

6 comments

Five Key Stories: 6/2/25 – 6/8/25

June 8, 2025 at 9:00 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 2 Comments

With activity around the league set to pick up in the near future, teams have been busy finalizing their coaching staffs and trying to get some early contract work done.  Unsurprisingly, those two topics dominate the top stories from the past seven days.

Key Center Off The Market: Another prominent pending unrestricted free agent came off the board with the Avalanche signing center Brock Nelson to a three-year, $22.5MM contract.  Colorado acquired the 33-year-old near the trade deadline for a pricey package that included 2023 first rounder Calum Ritchie and a 2026 first-round pick.  Nelson was a little quieter offensively than expected with his new team, picking up 13 points in 19 regular season games while adding four assists in their first-round loss to Dallas.  Despite the struggles, GM Chris MacFarland took full advantage of the chance to solidify the second center position, one that has had a considerable amount of turnover in recent years.  In doing so, one of the top middlemen is now off the market.

Coaching Hires: The week started off with two teams still needing a head coach.  Both of those vacancies were filled with first-time hires.  The Penguins named Dan Muse as their new bench boss while soon after, Boston hired Marco Sturm as their head coach.  Muse has five years of assistant coaching experience at the NHL level but has not been a head coach in the pros; his only head coaching time has been in the USHL and international junior levels.  But with GM Kyle Dubas looking to make his roster younger, bringing in more of a development coach makes some sense.  As for the Bruins, Sturm returns to an organization he spent several years with as a player.  He spent the last seven seasons with the Kings, four as an assistant in Los Angeles and the last three running their AHL affiliate in Ontario.  He also has a handful of years of coaching internationally for his native Germany.  While Boston was a big seller at the trade deadline, it appears they plan to try to get back into the playoff mix in a hurry so Sturm will have some win-now expectations fairly quickly.

Staying In Tampa Bay: Yanni Gourde and the Lightning had mutual interest in getting a new contract done but with limited cap space, they had to find a compromise.  They did just that as the 33-year-old signed a six-year, $14MM deal, one that will lower his cap charge to $2.33MM after making nearly $5.2MM per season on his last contract.  Gourde had his lowest point total since 2019-20 this season when he had 31 points in 57 outings between Seattle and Tampa Bay but he projects to be a capable third-line center for at least a few more years.  His market value may have been closer to $3.5MM per season so this could effectively be a case of a four-year, $14MM pact that both sides agreed to pay out over six to keep the cap charge down.

Big Change In Dallas: While there was a moment where all 32 head coaching jobs were filled, it was short-lived.  Despite making it to the Western Conference Final for the third straight year, the Stars elected to fire head coach Peter DeBoer after three seasons with the team.  Dallas couldn’t muster up much against Edmonton in the Western Conference Final and his handling of goaltender Jake Oettinger was a topic of much debate.  DeBoer’s teams have reached the Conference Final in six of the last seven seasons so it wouldn’t be surprising if another team ponders making a move to hire him relatively quickly but in the meantime, he’ll be paid out the final year of his contract.  Now, GM Jim Nill will have to go through what’s left of the coaching market to evaluate whether he should hire an external candidate or promote from within; assistant Alain Nasreddine has a bit of NHL head coaching experience under his belt.

Four For Cates: Initially, it looked as if Flyers forward Noah Cates was intent on signing a short-term deal this summer that would take him to free agency fairly quickly.  But the two sides were able to do a bit better than that, agreeing to a four-year, $16MM deal that buys out his final RFA year and three UFA-eligible seasons.  Cates set a new career high in goals this season with 16 in 78 games while also adding 21 assists.  Notably, he spent most of the season playing at center which gave him some extra bargaining power heading into talks.  With Cates and Tyson Foerster re-signing recently, Philadelphia is down to one remaining prominent pending RFA in defenseman Cameron York.

Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images.

NHL Week In Review

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    Top Stories

    Ilya Samsonov Signs Two-Year Deal With HC Sochi

    Devils Sign Jacob Markstrom To Two-Year Extension

    Bruins’ Elias Lindholm Out Multiple Weeks

    Avalanche Sign Martin Necas To Eight-Year Extension

    Stars Sign Thomas Harley To Eight-Year Extension

    Blues Recall Dalibor Dvorsky

    Mammoth Sign Logan Cooley To Eight-Year Extension

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