Kraken Recall Nikke Kokko, Matt Murray Away From Team
The Kraken announced that goalie prospect Nikke Kokko has been recalled from AHL Coachella Valley under emergency conditions. He’s replacing third-stringer Matt Murray, who’s taken a leave of absence for a family matter. He will serve as the #2 behind Joey Daccord, potentially for all of Seattle’s five remaining games if Murray is away for that long. Usual backup Philipp Grubauer is unavailable after leaving his start on Tuesday with a lower-body injury.
Kokko was a second-round pick in 2022 and is in his second season with Coachella Valley after logging parts of three seasons in Finland’s Liiga with Kärpät and Pelicans. He made his first NHL appearance in relief last season but allowed two goals on six shots against the Blues in an eventual 7-2 loss. He’s spent all of this season in the AHL, where he’s split the crease evenly with undrafted 25-year-old Victor Östman. Kokko’s come out with the worst numbers of the two, logging a .903 SV%, 3.10 GAA, two shutouts, and an 18-10-2 record in 34 outings.
The 22-year-old Kokko is the #15 prospect in Seattle’s pool and the second-ranked goalie behind #13 Kim Saarinen, per Scott Wheeler of The Athletic. He’s had flashes of elite play here and there in Finland and in the minors, but his year-to-year inconsistency to date and subpar one-on-one reads mean he could very well top out as a third-string option long-term.
Murray’s absence will, for now, prevent him from getting back between the pipes for the first time since November. He missed over half the season with a lower-body injury before being activated from injured reserve back on March 10, but he’s yet to see game action since, with Daccord and Grubauer handling all of the starts and relief appearances. The 31-year-old veteran was excellent in a brief look at the beginning of the season, earning a .922 SV% and 2.21 GAA in five appearances despite a 0-2-1 record, which should be enough to land the pending unrestricted free agent another offer this summer.
Devils To Interview Sunny Mehta For GM Vacancy
The Devils have received permission from the Panthers to interview Sunny Mehta, one of their assistant general managers, for New Jersey’s GM vacancy, Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic reports.
Florida also formally granted permission to the Maple Leafs, who Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman linked to Mehta last weekend, to speak with him. It doesn’t appear they’re denying any requests for their assistant staffers to interview elsewhere for better opportunities, something general manager Bill Zito is intent on doing after benefiting from such a practice during his days as an AGM with the Blue Jackets, LeBrun writes.
New Jersey is still in the early stages of its search for Tom Fitzgerald‘s successor. They made the decision to move on from him on Monday. TSN’s Chris Johnston said on “First Up” the following day that, much like the Leafs, they’re looking for an analytically inclined name to take over the chair.
As has been discussed with the Leafs’ interest, there’s perhaps no better name to satisfy that than Mehta. One of the biggest names in NHL clubs’ early acceptance of advanced analytics in scouting and roster decisions, Mehta’s first full-time job in the NHL came back with the Devils in 2014. After a four-year run in New Jersey during their mid-2010s rebuild, Mehta was picked up by the Panthers as a hockey strategy and intelligence analyst in 2021 before eventually being promoted to AGM under Zito two years later.
Senators’ Thomas Chabot Returning To Lineup
Senators defenseman Thomas Chabot will dress tonight against the Panthers, just two weeks after having surgery to repair a fracture in his right forearm, he told reporters this morning (including Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia). He practiced in a regular jersey today for the first time since the injury, so it’s obviously a rushed return, one that comes at least two weeks ahead of schedule.
Chabot last played on March 23 against the Rangers. He took a cross-check from New York captain J.T. Miller that knocked him out of the game late in the first period and, within a couple of days, was expected to end his regular season. At the time, the Senators were two points out of a playoff spot with a game in hand and had won three in a row. Without Chabot and multiple other defenders, they’ve gone 4-3-1 in their last eight.
That’s been enough to keep pace in the race as their competitors have largely cooled off as well. Entering play tonight, they sit two points clear of the ninth-place Blue Jackets for the second wild-card spot, and none of the teams chasing them have games in hand. They’ve also already clinched tiebreakers over the Jackets, Islanders, and Red Wings, so Ottawa is now in full control of its destiny.
There will be no bigger emotional boost over their final four games than a rather shocking return from Chabot, the team’s longest-tenured skater. The 29-year-old is now in his second decade in the organization, initially brought in with the 18th overall pick in 2015. He served as the team’s #1 for several seasons and, although he’s now dropped to the second pairing on the left side behind Jake Sanderson, is still playing at a high level despite a relative lack of power play time. Through 55 games this season, he’s tallied a 7-24–31 scoring line with a +6 rating while averaging 22:34 per night.
Ottawa’s defense, which boasted righties Jordan Spence and Artem Zub as its only two regulars for a brief stretch just last week, is now much closer to full health. After Sanderson returned from his upper-body injury last weekend, their top four is now essentially intact. They’re without Nick Jensen due to a meniscus tear for the rest of the regular season, but Spence had leapfrogged him on the depth chart anyway by the time Jensen went under the knife.
They’re also missing third-pairing lefty Tyler Kleven – a big depth loss, no doubt. However, their makeshift third pairing of Nikolas Matinpalo and Lassi Thomson has produced spectacular results in their small sample, controlling 70.4% of expected goals in 28 minutes together at 5-on-5. With three of Ottawa’s remaining four games against teams already eliminated from the playoffs, their postseason chances have climbed up to nearly 85%, per MoneyPuck.
Image courtesy of Daniel Kucin Jr.-Imagn Images.
Wild Sign Viking Gustafsson Nyberg To Entry-Level Deal
April 9: The Wild announced a two-year, entry-level deal for Gustafsson Nyberg that begins immediately. He’ll be on the NHL roster for the rest of the season and will be a restricted free agent in 2027. He is now ineligible to be returned to Iowa until next year, nor can he log playoff action for Minnesota, but he will be a regular-season option for the final few games. He had an assist and a +1 rating in two outings for the AHL club this week. Per PuckPedia, his contract carries a $975K cap hit that breaks down into an $877.5K salary, $97.5K signing bonus, and a $85K minors salary in both seasons (prorated for 2025-26).
April 6: The Wild are on the verge of signing UConn defenseman Viking Gustafsson Nyberg to an entry-level contract that begins this season, Michael Russo of The Athletic reports Monday. In the interim, the team announced they’ve signed him to an amateur tryout that will allow him to make his pro debut this week for AHL Iowa.
Having Gustafsson Nyberg sign a tryout first will allow him to get minor-league action in while still allowing him to be an NHL option for at least one game in the regular season, while burning a year off his contract. Since he’s not a Wild draft pick and wasn’t on their reserve list at the trade deadline, he would not be eligible to play in the AHL this year once he signs an NHL contract.
The 22-year-old Swede will check into the pro ranks after a three-year collegiate career. The hulking 6’6″ lefty committed to Northern Michigan as a freshman but entered the transfer portal the following year, landing in Connecticut for his sophomore season.
Gustafsson Nyberg has been a shutdown standout for the Huskies. His offensive utility is limited; he’s scored just three goals with 22 assists for 25 points in 110 career NCAA games. However, his +18 rating this year led UConn while serving as an alternate captain.
He’ll turn 23 during training camp next year, but he’ll still be 22 on Sep 15, so that’s his signing age for the purposes of his entry-level contract. That means it’ll be a two-year deal when he puts pen to paper, so even if the contract starts now, he’ll have to wait until 2027 to test restricted free agency. It seems unlikely he’ll be in serious contention for an NHL roster spot in the fall but should be a welcome defensive presence for Iowa as the Wild look to replenish their cupboards after dealing away a significant amount of prospect capital this season.
Devils Shut Luke Hughes Down For Season
The Devils have shut down defenseman Luke Hughes for their final four games so he can undergo an undisclosed surgery, the team announced Thursday.
Hughes has dealt with a variety of shoulder issues over the past two seasons. It wouldn’t be surprising in the slightest if the corresponding wear and tear required some clean-up work. The team didn’t issue a timeline for his recovery but said the reason for having the surgery now was to “get a head start on rehab for the off-season,” so it doesn’t appear his availability for next season’s training camp is in jeopardy.
Per James Nichols of New Jersey Hockey Now, the procedure is related to the most recent of those shoulder injuries, a dislocation he suffered back on Jan. 19 against the Flames. He missed the next 10 games but was back in the lineup shortly after the Olympic break without undergoing surgery. Despite that, he played some solid hockey down the stretch. Across his last 19 games, the Devils have improved, going 12-6-1. That’s been accompanied by a 1-8–9 scoring line and a +4 rating from Hughes while averaging nearly 24 minutes per night, seeing clear-cut deployment now ahead of Dougie Hamilton as their #1.
Hughes, 22, concludes the first season of the seven-year, $63MM deal he signed with the Devils near the end of training camp after spending most of last summer as a restricted free agent. Considering the $9MM price tag he held out for, New Jersey likely hoped for more production out of their new top offensive weapon on the blue line this season. He finishes his campaign with six goals, 29 assists, 35 points, and a -4 rating in 68 outings. That was good enough to lead the Devils’ defensemen but was the worst point-per-game output (0.51) of his three full NHL seasons.
The fourth overall pick in 2021, the younger brother of teammate Jack Hughes and Wild star Quinn Hughes quietly had a good run in the possession department this season. He’s prone to some high-visibility turnovers but has otherwise been a consistent playdriver from the drop, notching a 53.8% shot attempt share and 49.7% expected goals share at 5-on-5 this season, per Natural Stat Trick. That’s indicative of the quantity-over-quality approach he takes defensively, but it’s worth noting Hamilton was the only Devils defender better at controlling shot share and expected goals across the board this season.
Hughes should be able to hit the ground running again in the fall as New Jersey’s #1 lefty. For now, it will be veteran tweener Dennis Cholowski stepping into the lineup as the Devils finish out their season. They’re mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, missing the postseason for the sixth time in eight years. Cholowski was recalled at the trade deadline after Brett Pesce sustained a lower-body injury, but has been a healthy scratch in 16 consecutive games. That streak tonight will end against the Penguins. He had one assist and a -5 rating in 15 outings for the Devils in the front half of the year.
Image courtesy of Thomas Salus-Imagn Images.
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Flyers Sign Jack Berglund To Entry-Level Deal
The Flyers announced Thursday that they’ve signed center prospect Jack Berglund to his entry-level contract. Financial terms were not disclosed. It’s a three-year pact that will begin next season, but he’s signed on with AHL Lehigh Valley on an amateur tryout to finish the 2025-26 campaign in North America. He had been playing in his native Sweden with Färjestad BK of the Swedish Hockey League.
Anthony Di Marco of Daily Faceoff reported Tuesday that the Flyers were at least trying to get Berglund over to Lehigh Valley for the stretch run. Berglund, who turns 20 tomorrow, still has another year left on his contract with Färjestad. As a non-first-round pick under 24, the NHL’s transfer agreement with Sweden’s leagues stipulated that the Flyers would have to loan Berglund back to Färjestad next season if he didn’t make the team out of camp, unless Färjestad consented to Berglund staying in North America with Lehigh Valley.
The 6’4″, 209-lb pivot is coming off a season he won’t soon forget. Selected 51st overall by Philly in the 2024 draft, the physical, two-way-minded centerman excelled for the Swedes as their captain in what will be his first and only performance at the World Juniors. He posted three goals and seven assists for 10 points in seven games, including a tournament-high +9 rating, as Sweden marched to its first WJC gold medal since 2012.
In league play, Berglund’s offensive output was more measured. In 40 games with Färjestad, serving mostly as a fourth-line piece with some penalty-kill time, he had seven goals and five assists for 12 points with an even rating. That’s to be expected, especially for a player essentially skating in his first full season at the pro level. He split last year between Färjestad’s main club and its under-20 unit.
There’s a lot to like about Berglund’s defensive game, writes Scott Wheeler of The Athletic, who ranks him as the #9 prospect in Philly’s pool. He’s a good forechecker, especially around the perimeter, but it’s likely his subpar skating will limit his utility outside of a bottom-six role. Outside of that, there’s a highly projectable talent in Berglund that the Flyers will now get to see in the North American circuit for the first time as Lehigh Valley fights to stay in the playoff race, trailing Springfield by four points with five regular-season games remaining for the final playoff spot in the Atlantic Division.
Berglund will be up for restricted free agency in 2029. With Philly’s current bottom-six centers, Noah Cates and Sean Couturier, locked up through 2029 and 2030, respectively, there won’t be any rushing Berglund’s development. He may not get a real NHL shot until his second contract, or at least until the end of his entry-level deal, with so many Flyers forwards either signed through the end of the decade or soon-to-be RFAs projectable as long-term top-nine talents.
Bruins Sign James Hagens To Entry-Level Contract
5:00 p.m.: The team over at PuckPedia revealed the details of Hagens’ three-year, entry-level contract:
| Year | NHL Salary | Signing bonus | Potential performance bonuses | Minors salary |
| 2025-26 | $877.5K | $97.5K | $12.5K | $85K |
| 2026-27 | $877.5K | $97.5K | $1MM | $85K |
| 2027-28 | $877.5K | $97.5K | $1MM | $85K |
3:00 p.m.: The Bruins signed top center prospect James Hagens to a three-year, entry-level contract on Wednesday, per a team press release. The contract begins immediately and carries a prorated cap hit of $975K.
Hagens, last year’s seventh overall pick out of Boston College, made the decision to turn pro weeks ago. The B’s didn’t want him to jump straight to the NHL roster, though, so they opted to sign him to an amateur tryout instead so he could report to AHL Providence. If he had signed his entry-level deal with immediate effect at that time, he wouldn’t have been eligible for an AHL assignment. Signing him to the ATO first allowed Boston to give him a run-up period in Providence before joining the NHL squad.
Now that he’s signed, Hagens will remain on the NHL roster for the rest of the season and will be a playoff option for the Bruins if they choose to use him. He didn’t look too out of place with Providence, recording a goal and three assists for four points with a -1 rating through his first six professional games.
Hagens, the Bruins’ consensus #1 prospect by a wide margin and the #8 prospect in the league entering the year according to Steven Ellis of Daily Faceoff, wrapped up his second and final season at Boston College last month when the Eagles failed to make the national tournament. That wasn’t for a lack of trying on Hagens’ part. Once viewed as the likely first overall selection in the 2025 class, he slipped several slots because of concerns about his 5’11”, 193-lb frame and his point-per-game freshman season at BC that left a little to be desired offensively. Most of those concerns have been quieted now as Hagens led the Hockey East conference in scoring with a 23-24–47 scoring line in 37 games, also leading the conference with six game-winners and 133 shots on goal.
While Hagens didn’t finish as a top-three finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, given to the best player in college hockey, he was one of the top 10 names in voting. He was also one of the offensive nexuses of the United States team that took home gold at the 2025 World Juniors back in his draft year, recording five goals and nine points in seven games there.
The Bruins have essentially locked themselves into the first wild-card spot in the East. They haven’t mathematically clinched a playoff berth yet, but only have a 20% chance of dropping to the second wild-card slot and only a 1.2% chance of falling out of the playoff picture entirely, per MoneyPuck. Boston hasn’t won a game this month and is 0-2-2 in its last four, though. They got an offensive burst last night, scoring five in an overtime loss to the Hurricanes, but had only scored one goal each in their prior three contests.
Many of the team’s top support pieces to the ever-reliable David Pastrňák have been on cold streaks. Morgan Geekie‘s hat trick last night was his first goals in 18 games and his first points of the month. Elias Lindholm only has nine points in 18 games dating back to the trade deadline. There was a clear need for a bit of a spark in Boston’s middle six, where Hagens will presumably get a few trials over the team’s final three games to determine whether they should use him in their playoff lineup.
Image courtesy of Kirby Lee-Imagn Images.
Lightning Recall Conor Geekie, Jakob Pelletier, Dylan Duke
April 8th: According to a team announcement, the Lightning have sent Duke back to AHL Syracuse. He skated in 9:22 of action last night against the Senators, earning a -1 rating while going scoreless.
April 7th: The Lightning have added forwards Conor Geekie, Jakob Pelletier, and Dylan Duke on recall from AHL Syracuse ahead of tonight’s game against the Senators, Erik Erlendsson of Lightning Insider reports. They’ve reassigned winger Mitchell Chaffee to Syracuse in a corresponding move, Erlendsson adds.
All the roster shuffling comes on the heels of the Bolts’ banged-up forward corps sustaining another injury last night against the Sabres. Pontus Holmberg was checked into the penalty box door as the attendant was opening it for Buffalo’s Zach Benson to return to play in the third period after his roughing penalty had expired. He sustained an apparent left shoulder/upper arm injury on the play and was seen in a sling postgame, per John Wawrow of the Associated Press.
There’s no timeline for his return yet, although it stands to reason Holmberg will be unavailable tonight. With Anthony Cirelli and Brandon Hagel already sidelined with short-term issues, the trio of recalls plus Chaffee’s demotion leaves them with an extra healthy forward.
Geekie sees his second recall of the season as Tampa looks to remain narrowly ahead of the Sabres and Canadiens for the Atlantic Division crown. The 2022 11th overall pick was acquired from Utah in the Mikhail Sergachev trade in 2024 and remains the Bolts’ top prospect. He’s still scratching the surface at the NHL level, but has been a dominant two-way piece throughout his junior and now minor-league career. This year, he’s lighting it up with a 17-42–59 scoring line in 56 AHL games, along with a +13 rating that ranks sixth on the team.
Geekie’s only other recall this season, aside from his brief stint on the roster after making it on opening night, came in early March when Dominic James went down with a leg injury that required surgery. He headed back to Syracuse 11 days later once Nick Paul was ready to come off injured reserve. He managed one assist in five games, bringing his season total up to two and 11, respectively. Even with so many mounting injuries, don’t expect head coach Jon Cooper to use Geekie in high-leverage situations. He hasn’t shown a willingness to recently, averaging only 12:20 of ice time per game last year and just 9:51 this season.
As for Pelletier, the 25-year-old signed one of the more unusual contracts of the 2025 offseason. He agreed to a three-year, league-minimum deal with Tampa after being non-tendered by the Flyers, who had acquired him just months earlier from the Flames in the Morgan Frost/Joel Farabee deal. The 2019 first-round pick is technically on a two-way deal this year before converting to a one-way pact for 2026-27 and 2027-28, but he still has enough pro experience to require waivers.
Pelletier cleared without incident in the preseason, and a handful of teams are likely regretting not putting in a claim. With 28 goals and 75 points in 61 games for Syracuse, he’s well set up to take home the AHL’s scoring crown. It’ll be the second time he’s hit over a point per game in the AHL and has brought his career average there up to 1.03.
Perhaps the most quintessential example of a ‘AAAA’ player in hockey, he still hasn’t managed to latch onto a full-time NHL job. Over the past four seasons, he has a respectable 11 goals and 29 points in 88 games while averaging a shade under 12 minutes per night. His 5’10”, 172-lb frame doesn’t lend him toward being a bottom-six checking threat, though, and his 1.26 career shots on goal per game are low for a player who’s made such a living putting up points in the AHL.
He may get another look tonight as the Bolts face a decision on whether or not to expose him to waivers again in the fall. He could be a natural low-cost replacement for pending UFA Oliver Bjorkstrand, who has essentially transitioned into a power-play specialist for Tampa this season.
Not to be overlooked is Duke, the Bolts’ fourth-round pick in 2021. The former Michigan standout has now had a pair of productive seasons to begin his pro career in Syracuse, upping his production to 31 goals and 55 points in 67 outings this season. This is his first recall of the year, but he did score a goal across a pair of games in his NHL debut late last season.
Given his lack of experience, though, he’s the likeliest candidate to sit in the press box tonight if the Bolts end up having a healthy extra to spare. Their clash with the Senators has a 31-point swing on their chances of finishing first in the division, while it’s got a 29% swing on Ottawa’s playoff hopes. A win for Tampa would move their Atlantic title chances up to 73%, a win for the Senators boosts their playoff odds to 85%, per MoneyPuck.
Canucks Denied Predators Permission To Speak To Ryan Johnson
The Predators had interest in discussing their general manager opening with Canucks assistant GM Ryan Johnson, but were denied permission by Vancouver, Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK reports. As Thomas Drance of The Athletic adds, that stems from a willingness to keep Johnson in the conversation as a promotion candidate to replace Patrik Allvinas the Canucks’ GM if they decide to move in a different direction.
Not to be confused with Sabres defense prospect Ryan Johnson, the Vancouver exec played over 700 NHL games as a center with the Panthers, Lightning, Blues, Canucks, and Blackhawks from 1997 to 2011. After retiring as a player with the Hawks, Johnson returned to B.C. as a development coach two years later. He’s remained in the organization ever since.
Johnson has seen a ladder of promotions over the years. In 2015, he was promoted to assistant director of player development. Two years later, he had the assistant dropped from his title and also took over as the GM of their AHL affiliate, a role he still holds today. The Canucks made him a special assistant to Allvin in 2022, then formalized him as one of Allvin’s assistants in 2024.
While the Canucks’ AHL farm in Abbotsford is wrapping up a season nearly as dreadful as their NHL parent’s, Johnson did help build them into a Calder Cup winner just last year. Since taking over as the minor-league GM (then affiliated with the Utica Comets) back in 2017, Vancouver’s AHL teams have amassed a record of 309-227-57 (.569) under Johnson.
As for Nashville, they still have several other candidates in the running to succeed Barry Trotz. Several other AGMs around the league are believed to be in contention, plus a new face in the equation after the Devils fired former Predators captain Tom Fitzgerald earlier this week.