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Latest On Penguins Coaching Staff

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The Penguins have not received any formal requests to speak with head coach Mike Sullivan about other league vacancies, general manager Kyle Dubas told The Athletic’s Rob Rossi. However, that doesn’t mean they’re not internally debating the future of the rest of their coaching staff, as Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reports internal discussions about the future of their assistants have “contributed to noise” about Sullivan and increased other teams’ interest in his services. Rossi added that the Devils are interested in Sullivan to succeed Lindy Ruff, who they fired and replaced with interim boss Travis Green midseason, but haven’t submitted a request to speak with him.

While there’s no concrete indication yet that the Penguins are considering moving on from Sullivan, it does appear the futures of associate coach Todd Reirden, assistants Ty Hennes and Mike Vellucci and goaltending coach Andy Chiodo are uncertain. Reirden and Vellucci have either held NHL head coaching roles or generated interest in head coaching roles in the past and may get interviews for the five-plus vacancies around the league if Pittsburgh opts not to bring them back. They both signed two-year deals in 2022 that finished up in 2023-24 and will no longer be under contract with the Pens as of July 1.

The Penguins have already made one coaching change this summer, opting to part ways with a pair of AHL coaches, including bench boss J.D. Forrest. It was an unexpected choice, as a middling WBS squad finished ninth in the AHL with a 39-24-8-1 record.

The NHL club, meanwhile, fell short of the postseason for the second straight season despite a 42-goal, 94-point campaign from captain Sidney Crosby. It’s their first time missing the playoffs in back-to-back years since they were out of postseason contention from 2002 to 2006.

Firing Sullivan would mean Pittsburgh is still on the hook to pay him a reported total of $16.5MM over the next three seasons, thanks to an extension signed under previous GM Ron Hextall in 2022 – that certainly qualifies as a deterrent.

Kraken Fire Head Coach Dave Hakstol

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The Kraken are firing head coach Dave Hakstol, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports. Assistant coach Paul McFarland will also not return to the team next season, the team confirmed.

Speaking to reporters early last week, general manager Ron Francis declined to confirm whether Hakstol would be back with the team in 2024-25 despite a two-year extension kicking in on July 1. Francis released a statement on Hakstol’s firing today:

I thank Dave for his hard work and dedication to the Kraken franchise. Following our end-of-the-season review, we have decided to make a change at our head coach position. These decisions are never easy, but we feel this is a necessary step to help ensure our team continues to improve and evolve. Dave is a good coach and a terrific person. We wish him and his family all the best. We will begin our search for the Kraken’s next head coach immediately.

Hakstol, now 55, was hired as the first head coach in Kraken history in June 2021, four months before the puck dropped on their inaugural season. The former Flyers bench boss had been working on Sheldon Keefe’s bench in Toronto as an assistant after getting fired by Philadelphia in 2018-19, partway through his fourth season with the club.

While the Kraken weren’t able to catch lightning in a bottle like their older expansion siblings, the Golden Knights, they’ve still reached a competitive standard of play in short order. They were nowhere near contention in their inaugural season, finishing with a 27-49-6 record, but the understaffed roster managed decent possession results at even strength in Hakstol’s system and was largely doomed by below-average seasons from goalies Chris Driedger and Philipp Grubauer.

Goaltending didn’t improve much in 2022-23 with Martin Jones entering the fold, but another season of above-average 5-on-5 possession and a second-place 11.6 shooting percentage earned Seattle a 100-point season and, with it, their first playoff berth. Despite missing 40-goal scorer Jared McCann for nearly half of their playoff games, the Kraken upset the defending champion Avalanche in the first round and took the 108-point Stars to seven games in the second before finally bowing out. It showed what the team could do against strong competition with even just average goaltending, supported by Grubauer’s .903 SV% and 2.7 goals saved above expected in 14 games, per MoneyPuck. Hakstol earned a nomination for that year’s Jack Adams Award as a result.

This season saw Joey Daccord give the club some much-needed stability between the pipes, but a major drop in offense (289 GF in 2022-23, 217 GF in 2023-24) doomed the club to a finish just below the .500 mark, 17 points back of a playoff spot. The drop in offense was mainly due to a 2.5% drop in their finishing to 9.1%. Seattle still managed solid possession numbers across the board at 5-on-5, controlling 51.8% of shot attempts, 51.2% of scoring chances and 50.6% of high-danger chances despite top defenseman Vince Dunn and top-six winger André Burakovsky missing significant time with injuries.

Across the board, those results suggest the Kraken are what they’ve been in all three seasons – a solid two-way team without a truly game-breaking offensive talent. It’s hard to fault Hakstol for a roster construction issue, but as Seattle is set to graduate prospects like Ryker Evans and Shane Wright to full-time NHL roles, it’s evident Francis wants a different voice to oversee the club as they shift their aim toward becoming more consistent playoff challengers. They’ll add to an already solid prospect pool with the eighth overall pick in this year’s draft, although that position may change based on the results of next week’s draft lottery.

Luckily for Hakstol, there are plenty of vacancies on the market that he could be considered for. The Blues, Devils, Kings, Senators and Sharks either fired their coach after the season ended or finished the campaign with interim bench bosses without a full-time replacement named.

For Seattle, it’s fair to wonder if Hakstol’s replacement may come from within. Assistant Jay Leach has drawn documented interest for head coaching vacancies in the past and will do so again with multiple positions open. If not, though, the recent rash of coach firings leaves Francis with an experienced list to pick from, as well as multiple up-and-coming candidates like University of Denver head coach David Carle.

Like Hakstol, McFarland had been with the Kraken since their inception. He was previously the GM and head coach of the Ontario Hockey League’s Kingston Frontenacs and has held assistant roles with the Maple Leafs and Panthers.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Morning Notes: USA Hockey, Milano, Lomberg

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USA Hockey has rounded out its coaching staff for the upcoming IIHF World Championship, announcing four assistant coaches to serve behind head coach John Hynes. The new additions include Detroit Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde, Ottawa Senators associate coach Jack Capuano, Pittsburgh Penguins assistant coach Ty Hennes, and U17 NTDP head coach Greg Moore.

This is, most notably, a big step in Lalonde’s ever-growing involvement with USA Hockey. He made his World Championship debut as an assistant coach for last year’s squad, serving as a part of Team USA’s fourth-place finish behind leading scorer Rocco Grimaldi. Lalonde’s only international appearances before that tournament were at the World Junior-A Challenge in 2013 and 2014, first serving as an assistant and then taking on the head coaching role. USA took home Gold in both of those tournaments, on the back of strong performances from Vinnie Hinostroza and Nick Schmaltz. Lalonde will look to rekindle that success as he heads to the main stage for the second year in a row, regrouping with his Detroit starter Alex Lyon on the Team USA lineup.

This news also marks the first time that Hennes and Moore have coached for the Men’s National Team. Both are young coaches who have climbed the ranks of the coaching circuit over the last few years. Success at the World Championship would only provide more wind behind their sails.

Other notes from around the league:

  • Winger Sonny Milano shared that he’s good to go for Game Three, after missing Thursday’s practice with an undisclosed injury, shares NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti (Twitter link). Gulitti also shared that Capitals rookie Ivan Miroshnichenko is expected to make his Stanley Cup Playoffs debut on Friday. Miroshnichenko played in the first 21 NHL games of his career this season, recording two goals, six points, six penalty minutes, and a -4. He also recorded 25 points in 47 AHL games. He’ll step in for Nicolas Aube-Kubel, who hasn’t scored through Washington’s first two playoff games. The Capitals trail the New York Rangers 2-0 in the Round One series.
  • Florida Panthers bruiser Ryan Lomberg is still feeling under the weather after missing the team’s last two games to illness. He is expected to remain out of the lineup in Game Four, with Kyle Okposo remaining on the fourth-line in his place, head coach Paul Maurice shared with Colby Guy of Florida Hockey Now (Twitter link). Okposo played in his first playoff game since 2016 on Thursday, recording one assist in a game where the fourth line stood out. It was the first point of Okposo’s seven-game career with the Panthers. He now gets a chance to continue making an impact, and might even solidify his spot in the lineup with another strong performance.

Senators Linked To Craig Berube, Dean Evason

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The Senators are hunting for a new head coach this summer after firing D.J. Smith in December after an 11-15-0 start. Former Sens coach Jacques Martin stepped in as interim the rest of the way, and longtime captain Daniel Alfredsson joined his staff as an assistant, but it was clear neither name was expected to be the long-term solution as Ottawa tries yet again to exit their years-long rebuild.

As the Sens enter a long summer, it appears they’d like to get their coaching vacancy sorted out sooner rather than later. Multiple reports suggest they’ve started the interview process, with Bally Sports Midwest’s Andy Strickland reporting the team has “legit interest” in former Blues bench boss Craig Berube for the role. The team has also been granted permission to talk to and subsequently interviewed ex-Wild coach Dean Evason for the role, per The Athletic’s Michael Russo. Berube and Evason were sacked by their respective teams during the 2023-24 campaign.

Ottawa would be Berube’s third try leading an NHL bench. His first stint was brief, coming with the Flyers for nearly two full seasons over the 2013-14 and 2014-15 campaigns. It came after nearly a decade of working in the organization as an assistant and AHL head coach. Let go after failing to make the postseason in 2015, Berube returned to coaching after a season off in the Blues organization, manning their AHL affiliate for a year before being upgraded to associate coach on the NHL bench. The rest was history, taking over for Mike Yeo in the 2018-19 season and guiding St. Louis to its first Stanley Cup on the back of breakout goalie Jordan Binnington.

A below .500 season in 2022-23 and a below .500 start this year cost Berube his job in December, a month after the same fate befell Evason in Minnesota. Plagued by injuries and poor goaltending to start the season, Evason’s Wild sputtered to a 5-10-4 start despite being viewed as a playoff contender in the Central Division for the fifth straight season. Even after the club named John Hynes as his permanent replacement, though, they couldn’t rebound quite enough to squeak into a playoff spot. Minnesota was Evason’s first job as an NHL head coach, compiling a strong 147-77-27 record over parts of five seasons.

Like the Sabres bringing back familiar face Lindy Ruff earlier this week to replace Don Granato behind the bench, Ottawa’s front office is going for a more aggressive, veteran coach to instill accountability across the board. Coaching wasn’t their primary issue by any stretch this season, though. Despite finishing seventh in the Atlantic, the Sens had the possession numbers of a much better team. At 5-on-5, they controlled 51.0% of shot attempts, 50.2% of all scoring chances and 51.4% of high-danger chances. Unfortunately, their 9.6 shooting percentage was a tad below the league average. Big free-agent pickup Joonas Korpisalo crashed and burned between the pipes, conceding nearly 21 goals above average with his .890 SV% in 55 appearances. It was the exact same story as last season when they put up almost identical possession, shooting, and SV% numbers across the board.

Whoever their next hire is will be their third full-time head coach since 2016, a surprisingly low turnover rate for a club that’s fallen short of expectations multiple times in the past few years.

Sharks Fire Head Coach David Quinn

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The Sharks have relieved head coach David Quinn of his duties, per a team announcement Wednesday. San Jose’s head athletic trainer Ray Tufts will also not return next season, per Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News.

GM Mike Grier issued the following statement:

After going through our end of the season process of internal meetings and evaluating where our team is at and where we want our group to go, we have made the difficult decision to make a change at the head coach position. David is a good coach and an even better person. I would like to personally thank him for his hard work over these past two seasons. He and his staff did an admirable job under some difficult circumstances, and I sincerely appreciate how they handled the situation.

Quinn, 57, lasted two seasons behind the San Jose bench. His 41-98-25 record was poor but not much worse than expected for the rebuilding club. He’d signed a three-year contract with the club in 2022 to replace Bob Boughner, who was canned after guiding the club to three straight seasons under the .500 mark, the franchise’s longest such stretch since their first season above the mark in 1999-00.

This season was exceptionally difficult for Quinn and the Sharks. With a 19-54-9 record, San Jose became the first team in the salary cap era not to reach 20 wins in an 82-game season. Despite having near league-average goaltending from Mackenzie Blackwood and Kaapo Kähkönen, who combined for 68 starts, the Sharks allowed 326 goals – the third most in the salary cap era behind last year’s Blue Jackets and Ducks squads. Considering their top four defenders by average time on ice this season were Mario Ferraro, Henry Thrun, Jan Rutta and Kyle Burroughs, though, it’s difficult to make an argument that Quinn’s coaching was the primary cause.

Quinn’s lone previous role leading an NHL bench was with the Rangers from 2019 to 2021, leading their retool in the first few seasons of Alexis Lafrenière’s and Kaapo Kakko’s careers. The team hovered around the .500 mark throughout his time there, posting a 96-87-25 record, including two COVID-shortened seasons. After missing out on a playoff spot by 11 points in 2020-21 in the temporary East Division, the Rangers sacked him with two years left on his contract. He was earning cashflow from both New York and San Jose last season.

Speaking to reporters last weekend, Grier didn’t tip his hand either way regarding Quinn’s future, saying he was still in the evaluation process. He said Quinn and his staff “did a good job communicating and motivating the players throughout the year” and “they should be proud of” their efforts behind what he admitted was a banged-up, understaffed roster (via Pashelka).

Those comments weren’t dissimilar to what Kraken GM Ron Francis said Monday about the future of head coach Dave Hakstol, saying they were still evaluating his future after the club missed the playoffs. He’s already inked a two-year extension that kicks in next season.

The Sharks were expected to finish 32nd in the league entering the season. Most betting markets set the over/under on their points at 67.5 during the preseason. Still, a historically bad campaign rarely results in coaches being brought back. Anaheim and Columbus parted ways with their head coaches after their sieve-like seasons last year. However, the Red Wings notably retained Jeff Blashill behind the bench for a few more years after finishing with a .275 points percentage in the stunted 2019-20 season, still the worst in the salary cap era.

Those odds were set before captain Logan Couture was lost for nearly the whole season due to osteitis pubis, though. Considering star center Tomáš Hertl also played just 48 games before being shipped to the Golden Knights at the trade deadline, there was incredibly little for Quinn to work, especially for the back half of the campaign.

There were some things Quinn should be applauded for. He helped coax a bounce-back season out of center Mikael Granlund, who led the team with 60 points and 69 games and averaged 20:58 per game, a career-high. His 0.87 points per game tied his 2017-18 showing with the Wild for the best offensive performance of his career. He also oversaw a strong rookie campaign from 2021 seventh-overall pick William Eklund, who had 16 goals and 45 points in 80 games, including 15 points in his last 14 appearances.

Nevertheless, the Sharks will move on from Quinn with one season remaining on his contract. They’ll scour the market for his replacement for 2024-25, a squad they hope will be led by presumptive 2024 first-overall pick Macklin Celebrini.

The organization also parts ways with Tufts, who held his role with the club for 26 seasons. The 59-year-old also served as the head athletic trainer for Team USA at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Bruins Recall Mason Lohrei With Andrew Peeke Out

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The Boston Bruins have recalled rookie defenseman Mason Lohrei from the Providence Bruins (Twitter link). This move comes after head coach Jim Montgomery designated defender Andrew Peeke as week-to-week with an undisclosed injury suffered in Game Two, shares Joe Haggerty of the Boston Sports Journal (Twitter link). Peeke left Game Two with seven minutes left in the second period after blocking a Tyler Bertuzzi shot with his left hand. Peeke isn’t expected to travel with the team when they head to Toronto for Game Three and Four.

Despite Lohrei’s recall, it’s Parker Wotherspoon who is expected to gain a role in Peeke’s absence. Wotherspoon played in half of Boston’s games this season, recording eight assists and 31 points. The matches brought his career totals to nine assists in 53 career games, though the 26-year-old defender is still searching for his first goal. He’ll be stepping into his first career Stanley Cup Playoff game if he does fill in for Peeke.

Lohrei will instead provide exciting depth for Boston, having scored four goals and 13 points in the first 41 games of his NHL career this season. He added 16 points in 21 AHL games. The flashy 23-year-old is off to a hot start in his first full year of professional hockey and even got a glimpse of pro playoffs when he appeared in three Calder Cup Playoff games last season. He’ll join Wotherspoon and Derek Forbort as Boston’s extra defenders, with the latter being recalled from a conditioning stint yesterday. Forbort has the most experience of the trio, having played in 496 regular-season games and 32 playoff games across his nine-year NHL career.

The trio will compete for Peeke’s third-pair role on the blue line. The Trade Deadline acquisition played in 17 minutes of ice time in Game One but was limited to just 10 minutes in Game Two as a result of his injury. He’s playing in the first Stanley Cup Playoff games of his career as well, still searching for his first postseason point. Peeke had a strong stint in Boston’s last 15 games of the season, where he looked entirely the part of the stout defender Boston wanted at the Deadline. The Bruins will have a few options to replace him over the next two games, though making the wrong decision could prove costly against a daunting Maple Leafs offense.

Kraken Notes: Hakstol, McCann, Dunn

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The Kraken haven’t yet decided whether to bring head coach Dave Hakstol back next season, GM Ron Francis said Monday (via Geoff Baker of The Seattle Times). Seattle signed Hakstol to a two-year extension prior to the season, ensuring he’ll be paid by the club through 2025-26.

In 246 games for the Kraken over the franchise’s first three seasons, Hakstol has a 107-112-27 record and a .490 points percentage. Most viewed the Kraken as underachievers in year one, doomed by a nearly unplayable season from goalie Philipp Grubauer, and overachievers in year two, when they were among the best finishers in the league and took the Stars to Game 7 of the second round.

They were somewhere in the middle this season, finishing two games below the .500 mark and seeing their offense come crashing back down to Earth. Goaltending and team defense were a strength – Grubauer, while still below average, wasn’t awful by any means in a 1B role as Joey Daccord took over the Seattle crease. The pair saved 13.6 goals above average this season, and the Kraken were a good possession team at 5-on-5, controlling 51.8% of shot attempts and 51.2% of scoring chances. After shooting 11.6% as a team last season, though, they shot 9.1% this season, more a reflection on luck than coaching style.

Francis said the Seattle front office is evaluating the entire coaching staff, which includes assistants Jay Leach, Dave Lowry, Paul MacFarland and goaltending coach Steve Briere.

Other updates from Francis’ end-of-season availability today:

  • Seattle would prefer to have Jared McCann slot in on the wing long-term, Francis said (via ROOT Sports Northwest’s Alison Lukan). The 27-year-old has flipped between center and wing throughout his tenure with the Kraken, but has struggled in the dot with a 45.3 FOW%. He took less than 100 draws in 2022-23 but took over 300 this season, slotting in more frequently after the club traded away Alexander Wennberg. It should be a feasible accomplishment next season with Matthew Beniers, Yanni Gourde, and now Shane Wright looking to center down their top three lines after the latter had a strong end to the season.
  • The injury star defenseman Vince Dunn sustained late in the season after a hit from Flames winger Martin Pospisil was to his neck, Francis confirmed (via The Seattle Times’ Kate Shefte). He sustained the injury in early March and returned for two games in early April to try and play through it, but decided he wasn’t truly healthy enough to return to game action down the stretch. In the first season of a four-year, $29.4MM extension, his season ended with 46 points and a +8 rating in 59 games while averaging over 23 minutes per game for the second straight season.

Senators Notes: Coaching, Buyouts, Norris

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The Ottawa Senators wrapped up their season with locker cleanout on Friday, giving general manager Steve Staios a chance to share updates with the media. He spent much of his time addressing the team’s coaching situation, saying they have a long list of candidates that they’ll whittle down over the summer, per Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun.

The Senators have been without a long-term head coach since D.J. Smith’s firing on December 18th. Jaques Martin stepped in as interim head coach, leading the Senators to a measly 26-26-4 record and a spot well outside of the playoffs. Staios mentioned that Martin would continue with the team in a consulting role, but isn’t in the race for the vacant head coaching role. Neither is Senators legend Daniel Alfredsson, who Staios says wanted more time before pursuing the coaching path. That likely leaves the Senators looking externally, where they’ll find plenty of strong candidates.

Other notes from Staios’ press conference:

  • Staios added that the team isn’t planning on utilizing any buyouts this off-season, per Sportsnet’s Wayne Scanlan (Twitter link). That’s despite weaker performances from costlier names, like Joonas Korpisalo and Travis Hamonic. Ottawa is projected to have $12.8MM in cap space this off-season, per CapFriendly and an $87.5MM salary cap. With no support from buyouts, that will be all they have to re-sign their six pending free-agents, including Erik Brannstrom, Dominik Kubalik, and Shane Pinto.
  • Staios also shared that forward Joshua Norris is expecting to be ready for the start of next season, shares Garrioch. Norris was limited to just 50 games this season, and hasn’t played since late February, once again dealing with nagging shoulder injuries. Norris was limited to just eight games last season because of shoulder issues, and underwent the third shoulder surgery of his four-year NHL career in March. He’ll look to recover once again, and hope for healthier fortune next season.

Front Office Notes: Bannister, Dubas, Hynes

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The St. Louis Blues have come to a list of finalists for their vacant head coach position, and Drew Bannister is reportedly among the bunch, shares Chris Pinkert of NHL.com. Bannister is St. Louis’ most recent coach, getting promoted from the AHL following Craig Berube’s dismissal in December.

It was the first NHL gig of Bannister’s coaching career and he made good work with it, leading the Blues to a surging 30-19-5 record. He brought the best out of the team’s special teams – improving the power-play from 8.4% to 23.2%, and the penalty-kill from 78.5% to 79.4%. But the push wasn’t enough to get St. Louis over a sub-.500 start to the year, with the team ultimately falling six points outside of a playoff spot.

Bannister previously served as the head coach for the Springfield Thunderbirds, St. Louis’ AHL affiliate. He found plenty of success in the minors, leading the Thunderbirds to two playoff appearances and even making the 2022 Calder Cup Final. That track record, and his early NHL success, could be enough to land Bannister an assistant coaching job on the Blues bench, even if he does miss out on the head role.

St. Louis general manager Doug Armstrong shared with the media that the team will have a coach before June’s NHL Draft and that their list of candidates has been whittled to a, “very, very small number”. It will be just a little longer before a decision, though, with Armstrong adding that the team is still waiting on some candidates to finish their season.

Other notes from NHL management:

  • Kyle Dubas has been named an associate general manager for Team Canada’s World Championship roster (Twitter link). It will be the first time that Dubas has worked with Team Canada in his six-year career as an NHL GM. The decision was made by Team Canada’s general manager, Rick Nash, with input from Scott Salmond, Doug Armstrong, and Ryan Getzlaf. It’s an exciting announcement that, among many things, could show Canada’s focus on advanced statistics, as they bring in one of the most analytic-savvy GMs in the NHL.
  • Team USA general manager Bill Guerin has named John Hynes as the head coach for the World Championship (Twitter link). It’s Guerin’s second time recruiting Hynes this season, having also hired him into the head coaching role for the Minnesota Wild after the team fired Dean Evason. The duo will look to maintain their momentum with Team USA, after the Wild ranked as a top-15 team in record, goals-for, and goals-against under Hynes’ reign.

Afternoon Notes: Shattenkirk, Dobson, Kopitar, Sharpe

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Boston Bruins defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk has been fined $2,734.38 for unsportsmanlike conduct in last night’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins (Twitter link). It is the maximum allowable fine under the collective bargaining agreement. Shattenkirk earned the fine when he reached over the bench and slashed Bunting on the wrist as he was skating by, after Bunting tripped Linus Ullmark. Shattenkirk wasn’t assessed a penalty during the game and went on to score Boston’s third goal in their eventual 6-4 victory.

This is just the second run-in Shattenkirk has had with the Department of Player Safety in his 950 career games, with his last punishment being a two-game suspension for charging Los Angeles Kings defenseman Kevin Gravel in March of 2017.

Shattenkirk has managed four points across his last five games, heating up at the perfect time. Boston will be glad he avoided suspension, as they chase the top spot in the Atlantic Division with two games left in the season.

Other notes from around the league:

  • The New York Islanders may need to finish their season without top defender Noah Dobson, who is day-to-day with an upper-body injury per head coach Patrick Roy and Newsday’s Andrew Gross (Twitter link). Roy also shared that forward Kyle MacLean felt sick after practice, though he’s still expected to play tomorrow. The Islanders have two games remaining in their season, and could technically still lose their playoff spot – if they drop both games and both the Detroit Red Wings and Washington Capitals win-out. Robert Bortuzzo will step back into the lineup in Dobson’s absence.
  • Los Angeles Kopitar captain Anze Kopitar missed the team’s practice once again, remaining day-to-day with an undisclosed injury that held him out of the team’s Saturday night win over the Anaheim Ducks, per Zach Dooley of LA Kings Insider (Twitter link). Dooley adds that the team doesn’t seem concerned about Kopitar’s availability. That’s certainly good news, with the future Hall of Famer certain to be a main factor in their postseason success, after posting 26 goals and 70 points in 79 games this season. The Kings opted to ice seven defensemen in Kopitar’s absence, returning Jacob Moverare to the lineup. They could continue that approach in their final two games of the season, though Arthur Kaliyev is their extra forward should they want to ice four full lines.
  • The Toronto Marlies have signed defenseman Chas Sharpe to a two-year, minor-league contract set to begin in 2024-25 (Twitter link). Sharpe, 20, joins the team as an undrafted free-agent, having spent the last four seasons with the Mississauga Steelheads. He recorded 19 goals and 53 points in 67 games this season, and served as Mississauga’s captain.

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