Canucks Give Agent Of Evander Kane Permission To Facilitate Trade
1/26/2026: CHEK TV’s Rick Dhaliwal reported today that the Canucks have given Kane’s agent, Dan Milstein of Gold Star Hockey, permission to help facilitate a trade for his client. There is no firm indication as to how close Kane is to actually being traded, but today’s report indicates that momentum is growing towards a deal.
1/23/2026: The Vancouver Canucks are once again busying up with the Trade Deadline around the corner. A focal point this year could be moving winger Evander Kane, who joined Vancouver in a trade from the Edmonton Oilers at the 2025 NHL Draft. After not clicking in the Canucks lineup, Kane could be headed across the Western Conference, with the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche currently the favorites to make a trade per NHL.com’s Kevin Weekes.
Despite spending his junior hockey days in Vancouver, Kane hasn’t found much spark in his return to the city. He has nine goals, 57 penalty minutes, and a minus-18 in 49 games with the Canucks. He’s filled an important role in the lineup – averaging 16:55 in ice time each game, sixth among Canucks forwards – but Kane has ended up one of a few sputtering tires on Vancouver’s flanks. The club traded cornerstone defenseman Quinn Hughes earlier this season and could soon do the same with top center Elias Pettersson. With a teardown in progress, a part with the veteran Kane seems only natural.
Just as fitting are the teams in the mix for landing the former Atlanta Thrasher top pick. Both Dallas and Colorado have proved to be a comfortable spot for aging veterans. The Stars have continued to get the most out of franchise icons Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn, while Colorado has leaned on big impacts from Jonathan Drouin and Brock Nelson in recent years. Kane’s game has noticeably slowed down on the other side of 30 but still plays a professional style that could click in the right system. He has offered reliable goal-scoring throughout his career, netting at least 20 goals in nine of his last 13 seasons in the league. He has also recorded at least 80 penalty minutes in seven seasons.
That mix of grit and shooting – as well as Kane’s 979 games of NHL experience – will be what the Central Division rivals eye as they try to find a trade. Kane is set to hit unrestricted free agency this summer, which should keep his price low. Dallas has two second round picks, and one third round pick, in the next two drafts, while Colorado only has two second-round picks in 2027. Those could end up the bartering chips in a deal and Dallas holds the taller stack.
Colorado’s advantage comes in the finance books. The Avalanche will have roughly $5.089MM in cap space at the Trade Deadline, while the Stars will only have $3.267MM in space per PuckPedia. That means that Colorado will only need some cap juggling to afford adding Kane, while Dallas will need to move a minor contract.
Acquiring Kane will surely fit into a larger scheme for both teams, who seem set to buy at the Deadline after hot starts to the season. Kane will step in as a middle-six winger wherever he ends up. Joining a team headed for playoff success may even spark a final hoorah for Kane. He proved to be a hard playoff opponent in four years with the Edmonton Oilers, where he recorded 42 points and 164 penalty minutes in 68 games. That grit, and the spark of a recent move, could make Kane a timely addition in the second half.
Minnesota Wild Open To Trading Jesper Wallstedt
The Minnesota Wild “would be open to dealing” top young netminder Jesper Wallstedt “if the right deal comes along,” The Athletic’s Michael Russo reported today. On Sportsnet’s 32 Thoughts podcast today, Elliotte Friedman echoed Russo’s report, adding that Wild GM Bill Guerin may have already attempted to deal Wallstedt as part of his longstanding efforts to acquire a top-six center.
As part of Russo’s report, he indicated that “the right deal” to include Wallstedt, from the Wild’s perspective, would be one that brings a pivot capable of filling the No. 1 center role to Minnesota. The Wild are, according to Russo, “aggressively looking” to add a top-six center to their lineup. 
That isn’t exactly fresh news, nor is it something that would come as any real surprise to anyone who takes a look at the Wild’s current depth chart at the position. But what is new are these concrete reports that the Wild are willing to include Wallstedt in a deal that fills their longstanding need.
On one hand, the Wild’s reported willingness to deal Wallstedt is somewhat surprising. That’s largely because of how excellent he’s been this season, which has supercharged his stock league wide. Wallstedt has a .914 save percentage through 21 games this season, and while he’s slowed down a little bit, he earned some votes in NHL.com’s midseason poll of Vezina Trophy candidates.
This breakout season has been a long time coming for Wallstedt, who has long been considered one of the game’s best prospects at the position. The 2021 first-round pick had a tough 2024-25 campaign, but impressed in his first two seasons in the AHL, posting .908 and .910 save percentages in 2022-23 and 2023-24, respectively. Under contract through next year at a $2.2MM cap hit, Wallstedt looks to be an emerging starting goalie, and one that could provide a significant amount of surplus value if given the right workload.
But what makes Wallstedt’s name surfacing in trade rumors less of a surprise is the wider situation Minnesota finds itself in at the goalie position. While Wallstedt could indeed provide a considerable amount of surplus value due to his $2.2MM cap hit, Minnesota isn’t positioned to truly take advantage of that. Wallstedt currently operates in a tandem with 27-year-old Filip Gustavsson, who has been one of the league’s better goalies since arriving in the Twin Cities. He has a .908 save percentage in 33 games this season, and is likely to be Minnesota’s go-to option in the playoffs, even if Wallstedt isn’t dealt.
Not only is Gustavsson Minnesota’s No. 1 netminder at this moment, his contract positions him to occupy that role for the foreseeable future, without much room for that to change. The $6.8MM AAV contract extension Gustavsson signed in October 2025 carries a full no-move clause for the first two years of its duration, before morphing into a 15-team no-trade clause. That NMC means the Wild are essentially locked into keeping Gustavsson as their starter for the next few years, a reality that makes trading Wallstedt all the more logical.
Wallstedt has long been projected to eventually become an impactful NHL goalie; As a result, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Gustavsson’s agent, Kurt Overhardt, negotiated the NMC into the first two years of Gustavsson’s deal with an eye towards warding against the possibility that his client could be dealt in order to pave the way for Wallstedt to take the reins as an undisputed No. 1 goalie in Minnesota.
Considering all of those factors, it becomes clear why the Wild are considering dealing Wallstedt, even though they likely know they’d be trading away a player who could be one of the league’s top goalies through the 2030s. The logic behind trading Wallstedt becomes even clearer when one considers how singularly focused the Wild are on maximizing their window to win as long as Quinn Hughes remains a Wild player.
Hughes’ contract is set to expire at the end of the 2026-27 season, and he has not given Minnesota any assurances that he’ll extend his deal and remain there. Consequently, it is in Minnesota’s best interests to not only maximize their chances of winning for the two playoff runs they have Hughes under team control for, but also to try to win as much as possible with Hughes in order to help convince him to sign an extension to remain in Minnesota.
Hughes had to play through some lean years as a member of the Vancouver Canucks, something he acknowledged weighed on him considerably. It’s likely, therefore, that whether or not a team is positioned to legitimately compete for a Stanley Cup will hold a great degree of influence over their odds of signing Hughes. And with Kirill Kaprizov now 28 years old, it’s clear the Wild’s competitive aspirations lie in players more around Gustavsson’s age (late twenties) than Wallstedt’s (early-to-mid twenties.)
As for who the Wild might target in any Wallstedt deal, that becomes more difficult to ascertain. The team is reportedly very interested in New York Rangers pivot Vincent Trocheck. But it’d be surprising to see New York trade Trocheck for a goalie seeing as the team already has star Igor Shesterkin locked into their starting role for the rest of the decade and beyond.
A hypothetical three-team trade could land Trocheck in Minnesota and send Wallstedt to a goalie-needy team, with that third team sending skater prospects to New York. But including a third team is a major hurdle to clear, and one that makes it so Minnesota is likely to need to leverage other assets if they want to acquire Trocheck.
Considering teams that might covet Wallstedt, or at least have a more pressing need in net, a few other potential candidates emerge. On the most recent trade board made by The Athletic’s Chris Johnston, there were five centers listed that most would reasonably consider to be of the top-six caliber Guerin is seeking: Nazem Kadri, Elias Pettersson, Robert Thomas, Ryan O’Reilly, and Trocheck.
Unfortunately for the Wild, nobody in that group appears to be a real candidate to be traded in a deal involving Wallstedt. The Calgary Flames and Nashville Predators (employers of Kadri and O’Reilly, respectively) each have goalies (Dustin Wolf for Calgary, Juuse Saros for Nashville) whose presence would likely limit their interest in Wallstedt. The goalie situation of the Vancouver Canucks and St. Louis Blues are more up in the air, but Minnesota may not want to take on Pettersson’s hefty $11.6MM cap hit, and the Blues are unlikely to have much interest in dealing their No. 1 center to a divisional rival.
Among teams who would stand to benefit most from adding Wallstedt, the New Jersey Devils are a clear candidate. While backup Jake Allen has performed admirably, starter Jacob Markstrom has endured a brutal campaign. Adding Wallstedt might stabilize the Devils at a position that has caused them so much trouble in recent years, but it’s not a clean fit. Markstrom signed a two-year, $6.5MM extension in October, and has a full NMC through the end of the season. Allen has a full NTC through 2026-27, and is under contract (at an affordable $1.8MM AAV) through 2029-30. Fitting Wallstedt into that picture might not be realistic.
The Ottawa Senators have a clear need in net, but trading away a key center such as Shane Pinto or Dylan Cozens may be a less optimal route for the team to improve than simply attempting to get incumbent starter Linus Ullmark‘s game back on track.
The Montreal Canadiens have a clear immediate need in net due to the struggles of Sam Montembeault and Jakub Dobes, but the looming presence of top prospect Jacob Fowler could scuttle the possibility of a deal. While Montreal would certainly benefit from adding Wallstedt, trading away the kind of center Minnesota would demand in return (such as promising rookie Oliver Kapanen) might not be in the team’s best interests with Fowler so close to being NHL-ready.
This is all to say that as things currently stand, Wallstedt is one of the most interesting trade candidates heading into this year’s deadline. They have many different factors to contend with when deciding not only whether or not to trade him, but also what kind of deal to construct if he’s indeed traded. The numerous different considerations the club will need to navigate are fascinating, and make Wallstedt a clear player to watch moving forward.
Photos courtesy of John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images
Flyers Activate Rasmus Ristolainen, Reassign Hunter McDonald
1/26/2026: The Flyers reversed these moves in advance of their game tonight against the New York Islanders, sending McDonald down to AHL Lehigh Valley and activating Ristolainen.
Ristolainen ended up missing six games as a result of his upper-body injury. The Flyers went 2-3-1 in Ristolainen’s absence.
Returning to the AHL after a little over a week at the NHL level is McDonald. McDonald didn’t dress for any games during his most recent recall, instead serving as a healthy scratch for four contests.
Although he didn’t play, this recall wasn’t without benefit for McDonald. Not only did he get to practice with the team and get some face time with the Flyers’ NHL coaching staff, he also got a significant pay raise for the duration of his recall. McDonald, who is still waiting on the chance to make his NHL debut, is playing out the final year of the two-year entry-level contract he signed in April 2024. The deal carries a $950K NHL salary, which dwarfs its AHL salary of $82.5K by a considerable margin.
The sizable pay bump McDonald enjoyed likely softens the blow of being reassigned before he could get the chance to make his NHL debut.
1/17/2026: The Philadelphia Flyers will embark on a three-game road trip without one veteran defender. Rasmus Ristolainen won’t be healthy for the road trip after missing the last two games with an upper-body injury. He has been placed on injured reserve to open a spot for Philadelphia to recall Hunter McDonald from the AHL.
Ristolainen’s IR designation can be made retroactive to his last game on January 12th. That means he has already missed five of the seven days required and could join Philadelphia on their road-trip after the first game. Ristolainen has carried a day-to-day designation through the last week. His absence isn’t expected to be long term, head coach Rick Tocchet told NHL.com’s Bill Meltzer.
The 31-year-old defenseman is again having a tough time staying healthy. He missed the first 31 games of the season while recovering from a ruptured tricep tendon suffered in March. Ristolainen played in 13 games after making his season debut in mid-December and before sustaining this upper-body injury. He recorded three assists, a minus-three, and four penalty minutes in those appearances.
Injuries have become routine for Ristolainen. He has missed 127 games across five seasons with the Flyers and only averages 49 appearances each year. In total, Ristolainen has posted 10 goals, 62 points, and a minus-19 in 247 games with the Flyers. His best season in Philadelphia came in 2022-23 when he scored 20 points in 74 games played.
The Flyers will brace for a road trip without Ristolainen by rewarding McDonald with the first in-season call-up of his career. The 2022 sixth-round pick is in his second full season in the AHL, after playing an 11-game sample at the end of the 2023-24 season. He has recorded 26 points and 172 penalty minutes in 115 AHL games – carrying forward the hard-hitting and antagonistic style he carved out through three seasons in the USHL and two seasons at Northeastern University.
McDonald will serve as Philadelphia’s extra defenseman for at least one game, while Noah Juulsen hangs onto his role in the lineup. Juulsen has two points in his last five games and seven points in 33 games on the season.
Vancouver Canucks Recall Victor Mancini, Jonathan Lekkerimaki
The Vancouver Canucks announced today that defenseman Victor Mancini and forward Jonathan Lekkerimaki have been recalled from the team’s AHL affiliate, the Abbotsford Canucks. In a pair of corresponding moves, the Canucks placed forward Brock Boeser and defenseman Zeev Buium on injured reserve. Both IR placements were made retroactive to Jan. 25.
In the Canucks’ loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday, Boeser took a high hit from Penguins forward Bryan Rust, which appears to have left Boeser with an injury. The NHL Department of Player Safety announced that Rust will have a hearing tomorrow for the hit, while Boeser now figures to miss at least three games. The earliest Boeser can return is for Vancouver’s contest against the Utah Mammoth on Feb. 2. There also appears to be a chance Boeser will not return until after the league’s Olympic break, though a more detailed recovery timeline for the forward was not disclosed by the club.
Buium was struck with a puck to the face early in Vancouver’s contest against the Canucks, and after missing some time in the game, returned wearing a bubble cage for the rest of the contest. A more detailed recovery timeline for Buium was also not made available, but like Boeser, he will miss at least three games due to his injury.
While the Canucks’ season, as far as playoff contention is concerned, is all but over already, the loss of both Buium and Boeser for these few games is nonetheless unfortunate.
Buium was the centerpiece of the Quinn Hughes trade from the Canucks’ perspective, as one of the game’s top blueliner prospects. The 20-year-old former college hockey star has averaged 20:24 time on ice per game as a Canuck and has six points in 20 contests. Boeser, 28, is one of Vancouver’s core players, signed through 2031-32 at a $7.25MM AAV. While his 25 points in 50 games certainly represents a scoring decline compared to prior years, his presence in Vancouver’s forward lineup nonetheless helps give some of the team’s younger, developing players an experienced, accomplished veteran to line up next to. Because of this injury, the Canucks lose that presence for the next few games.
Replacing Boeser in the lineup is Lekkerimaki, who was the 15th overall pick at the 2022 draft and is among the club’s top prospects. The 21-year-old has scored 16 points in 16 AHL games this season, and added two points in his eight games of NHL experience in 2025-26. There’s a chance he could slot directly into Boeser’s vacated spot on the Canucks’ second line, putting him in a trio with Filip Chytil and Drew O’Connor. That would be a significant opportunity for a forward who has thus far averaged 10:53 time on ice per game this season.
Taking Buium’s spot on the Canucks roster is another young player: Mancini. The 23-year-old was acquired from the New York Rangers last season as part of the J.T. Miller trade, and has had an up-and-down stint in the Canucks organization thus far.
He’s excelled at times, both in spurts at the NHL level and more consistently at the AHL level, where he helped Abbotsford win the Calder Cup last spring. So far this season, he’s only skated in nine games at the NHL level, averaging just 13:12 time on ice per game with little usage on special teams.
This recall places Mancini in a position to push young blueliner Tom Willander, who missed Sunday’s game with an illness, for a regular spot on the right side of the Canucks defense. Filip Hronek and Tyler Myers, the two veterans on that side of the blueline, are unlikely to be going anywhere, meaning Willander, the 11th overall pick at the 2023 draft, represents the clearest candidate from whom Mancini might try to win a lineup spot.
While it’s likely Willander has a clear leg up in terms of his chances of dressing in head coach Adam Foote’s nightly lineup, this recall is still a significant opportunity for Mancini as he tries to stake his claim to a spot in the Canucks’ future plans. At this point, Mancini’s place in Vancouver’s long-term strategy is unclear.
Three days ago, The Athletic’s Harman Dayal wrote that “the lack of improvement in his NHL play is becoming a bit concerning,” adding that “the clock is ticking for Mancini to make meaningful strides and prove he’s still an important piece of the organization’s future.” While he might not receive a significant amount of NHL time on this current recall, making the most out of whatever opportunities he receives will be imperative for the pending RFA.
Photos courtesy of Chris Jones-Imagn Images
Oilers Recall Josh Samanski, Assign Isaac Howard
The Edmonton Oilers have swapped forward prospects on the NHL roster. Winger Isaac Howard has been assigned to the minors and, in his place, Edmonton has awarded forward Josh Samanski with the first call-up of his career. Samanski is in his first AHL season after joining the Oilers as an undrafted free-agent this summer. He spent the last four seasons in the DEL, Germany’s top league.
Samanski has been a quick revelation down the Oilers’ depth chart. He ranks fourth on the Bakersfield Condors in scoring with seven goals and 28 points in 39 games. He is also tied for third on the offense in plus-minus with a plus-eight. After a standout start to his career in Germany, Samanski is proving his responsible, two-way presence can stick on North American ice.
Samanski was born in Germany and emerged as a star youth player in the Jungadler Mannheim program. He scored 106 points in 36 games of his age-14 season, while playing on Mannheim’s U16 club. After that breakout, Samanski and family moved to Canada, where he was able to pursue one year of youth hockey and one year in the OHL.
After that, Samanski returned to Germany and made a quick splash in the DEL-2. He scored 22 points in 41 games as a 17-year-old rookie. That performance, and four points in seven DEL-2 games to start the next year, earned Samanski a spot on the Straubing Tigers’ DEL roster in 2021-22. He only scored eight points in 42 games as a rookie, but has seen his scoring rise in every season since. He climbed all the way to 14 goals and 40 points in 52 games last season, while serving as one of Straubing’s alternate captains.
Samanski made a return to North America to test his chance in an NHL depth chart this summer. In the midst of his rise to prominence in the AHL, he was also named to Team Germany’s roster for the 2026 Winter Olympics. The 23 year old will have to try and put that tournament in the back of his mind for the short term, with his NHL debut set for Monday night. He will step onto the third-line wing previously occupied by Howard.
Meanwhile, Howard will return to the minors having recorded two assists in 11 games on his latest recall. He is now up to five points and a minus-six in 28 NHL games this season. He’s struggled to emerge at the NHL level but has proven to be a conduit of offense for the Condors. His 23 points in 16 games leads the team in points-per-game while his plus-12 leads in plus-minus. Howard will be an exciting addition to the AHL lineup, where he’ll look to rediscover a scoring touch before his next call-up to Edmonton.
Penguins Recall Melvin Ferstrom From Loan, Assign To AHL
The Pittsburgh Penguins have opted for a change of scenery for a recent acquisition. Forward Melvin Fernstrom has been recalled from his loan to the SHL’s Orebro HK and assigned to the AHL, per a team release from Orebro and Tony Androckitis of Inside AHL Hockey.
Fernstrom had recently been assigned from the SHL to AIK of the HockeyAllsvenskan, Sweden’s second-tier league. He grew up playing in AIK’s youth hockey program before shifting to Orebro, and debuting with their U18 squad, at the age of 15. Now, Fernstrom will change teams once more, before he has a chance to debut with AIK’s top club.
Fernstrom racked up three goals, four points, and a minus-10 in 36 appearances with Orebro’s SHL lineup. This was his second season in the top league, after posting 17 points and a minus-10 in 48 games as a rookie last year. He settled into a third-line role this season and often faced a barrage of shots against on an Orebro club that’s allowed the fourth-most goals-against in the SHL. Fernstrom’s impact was often limited to shutting play down on one end and creating fastbreak chances on the other – though that posed an uphill battle for the pass-first center.
He was lauded ahead of the 2024 NHL Draft as a nimble playmaker capable of controlling the middle of the ice. That claim was enough to convince the Vancouver Canucks to draft Fernstrom in the third round, though his rights were traded in a package to Pittsburgh in exchange for Marcus Pettersson and Drew O’Connor last year. The Penguins signed Fernstrom to his entry-level contract this summer and will now take advantage of the AHL elgibility it grants him.
The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins currently rank second in the AHL’s Atlantic Division. They are tied for the fifth-most goals in the league, largely thanks to hot performances from Penguins prospects Tristan Broz and Avery Hayes. Fernstrom will add a responsible, two-way touch to shore up Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s center depth. He is likely to be eased into the lineup and sits on the outside of NHL hopes this season, pending a quick breakout in North American minors.
Blues Will Enter New Era If Robert Thomas Leaves
Trade rumors are kicking up as the March 6th Trade Deadline draws near. Central to recent discussion is St. Louis Blues top center Robert Thomas, who appears set to enter the prime years of his career on a team that’s falling short. That rift has opened discussions around Thomas’ future in St. Louis. The Blues would be open to moving their star, only if they receive an offer they can’t refuse or a younger, top-six forward, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on the January 23rd episode of 32 Thoughts: The Podcast. It’s no surprise that St. Louis would need a convincing offer – moving on from Thomas would quickly thrust the franchise into its next era.
The search for a true top-center is a race every team must run. St. Louis has historically done well at making sure that role is locked down at all times. Hall-of-Famer Pierre Turgeon passed the title to Doug Weight in the early 2000’s, only for Keith Tkachuk to take over before the 2010’s. By then, St. Louis had promoted David Backes into a daily lineup role. He would go on to captain the team until 2016, when he moved to the Boston Bruins. That decision left St. Louis with a vacancy – briefly filled by Brayden Schenn – that they didn’t fully fill until acquiring Ryan O’Reilly ahead of their Stanley Cup-winning 2018-19 season.
O’Reilly separated from the Blues in 2023. By then, Thomas had reached 23 years old and nearly 300 games of NHL experience. He was ready to take on a true starring role, made evident by the 65 points he scored in 73 games of the 2022-23 campaign – then, a stout follow-up to the 77 points he scored in 2021-22. Thomas began receiving 20 minutes of ice time routinely following O’Reilly’s departure. He stood up to St. Louis’ top role – once filled by current and future Hall-of-Famers – with glowing results.
Thomas scored 26 goals and 86 points while playing all 82 games of the 2023-24 season, his first year as St. Louis’ unimpeded #1. He became the first Blue to reach the 60-assist mark in the 2000’s, and the first since Craig Janney in 1994. Like Janney, Thomas went back-to-back with the accolade, recording 21 goals and 81 points in 70 games last season.
The consecutive performances were more than lightning striking twice. Thomas became the central core of St. Louis’ offense in the top role. His versatility was invaluable as the Blues figured out how to deploy north-south scorer Jordan Kyrou, and youngsters like Jake Neighbours, without getting burned. Thomas did it all, showing just as much flash in puck battles against the end-boards as he did in open space at the tops of the circles.
Thomas’ success became a forgone conclusion after another statement year last season. With a faceoff percentage consistently north of 50 percent, and plenty of intangibles, the Blues had molded another well-rounded star into their top center role. But the 2025-26 season has disappointed. St. Louis ranks dead-last in the NHL in goals scored (126) which has cut Thomas’ scoring down to 33 points in 42 games – still the most on the team by five points.
At 26, Thomas is stepping into the golden years of his career. He has already won one Stanley Cup in St. Louis but may not have too many more chances to chase another with the club’s current trajectory. The Blues are set to turn over their general manager position to rookie manager Alexander Steen this summer. Once a candidate for St. Louis’ top-center role himself, Steen will face the task of pushing the Blues forward after – presumably – their third playoff miss in the last four seasons. The prospect cupboards are stocked – with top prospects like Dalibor Dvorsky, Dylan Holloway, and Jimmy Snuggerud already making a splash in the NHL.
If that young success will be enough to convince St. Louis to separate with their true star is unclear. Thomas has found deep roots with the Blues and offers enough talent to lift a rocky ship, with the right pieces around him. He could lead St. Louis back to the postseason within a couple years just as well as he could fetch them a hefty return on the open market. How the Blues weigh those outcomes could go a long way in showing their long-term trust in smooth-face GM Steen and his ability to find another top center.
Photo courtesy of Robert Edwards-USA TODAY Sports.
Poll: Who Should Win The 2026 Jack Adams Award?
The NHL season is beyond its halfway point and the standings have turned into one of the closest races in recent memory. Teams like the Detroit Red Wings and Buffalo Sabres sit in playoff contention, while the back-to-back Stanley Cup-winning Florida Panthers are on the outside looking in. Such a tight year has brought on a heap of questions. Buried under the team projections and playoff hopes sits an almost-impossibly tough question to answer: who should take home the Jack Adams Award as ‘Coach of the Year’ in a year like this?
The evergreen candidates are certain to be at the top of the list. Jared Bednar has worked out a miracle season with the Colorado Avalanche. Just one week away from February, the Avalanche have only lost six games in regulation and 15 in total. Their 35 wins in 50 games is the third-highest win-percentage (.790) since 2000, behind only the 2022-23 Boston Bruins and the 2012-13 Chicago Blackhawks. Bruins’ head coach Jim Montgomery won the Adams for his record-setting season but Chicago’s Joel Quenneville wasn’t awarded the same honors. That could mean Bednar has more to prove, even as his team decimates a quiet Western Conference.
Jon Cooper, Bruce Cassidy, and Rod Brind’Amour have each continued their own success through a new year. Each of the three – representing Tampa Bay, Vegas, and Carolina – sit in playoff contention on the back of familiar stars and breakout years.
But their success has become routine over recent years. The same can’t be said for the Buffalo Sabres, who have blazed a shocking season thanks to Lindy Ruff in his second year back with the club. Buffalo boasts a 29-17-5 record or .618 win-percentage, miles above the 36-39-7 and .482 win-percentage they set last season. Ruff was the last head coach to lead Buffalo to the postseason, all the way back in 2011. He took the club to eight postseason appearances, and one Stanley Cup Final, over 12 years with the club from 1998 to 2011. After a year to settle back into his spot, it appears Ruff could do it again, and snap the longest-running playoff drought in major men’s sports.
Ruff will lead a class of underdog candidates for the Jack Adams. He’s sat next to rookie NHL coach Dan Muse, a former staple of USA Hockey who brings unique tactics behind the bench. Muse is one of the league’s younger head coaches and has made do with a transforming Penguins lineup, bringing the best out of rookie Benjamin Kindel and second-chance winger Anthony Mantha. If that is enough to win out the Adams in a tight year is yet to be seen – though it’s certainly a statement way to start an NHL career.
Red Wings’ head coach Todd McLellan will hold a flame after leading the club to the top of the Atlantic Division following his usurping of Derek Lalonde last season. Montreal’s Martin St. Louis, Boston’s Marco Sturm, and Utah’s Andre Tourigny could also make the list – thanks to how well they’ve pulled together rosters in flux.
The race for Jack Adams is often closely-followed, but seems to carry a bit more weight in a season split between record-setting winners, drought-enders, and unsuspecting stars. Each candidate holds a strong case for taking home hardware this summer. Who do you think should hear their name called?
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Five Key Stories: 1/19/26 – 1/25/26
With the Olympic trade freeze coming up soon, trade activity is starting to percolate around the NHL. To that end, a swap of significance plus a youngster being in play highlight the key stories from the past seven days.
Seven For Doan: Jarmo Kekalainen wasted little time getting a big contract done after taking over as GM. It just wasn’t with who many thought it would be (Alex Tuch). Instead, the Sabres have signed winger Josh Doan to a seven-year, $48.65MM extension (a $6.95MM AAV). Acquired from Utah as part of the JJ Peterka trade over the offseason, Doan has quickly locked down a top-six spot and has 15 goals and 20 assists in 51 games this season. This extension, which buys Buffalo four more years of club control, is a sign that management feels that Doan has another level or two to get to offensively and if so, this could become a team-friendly pact fairly quickly.
Ullmark Returns: Senators goaltender Linus Ullmark returned to the active roster on Sunday after missing the last four weeks on a leave of absence for mental health reasons. Youngster Leevi Merilainen struggled mightily in Ullmark’s absence, posting a save percentage of just .843 that ultimately resulted in Ottawa signing veteran James Reimer to try to give them a slight boost. Ullmark has had his struggles as well this season but if the Senators are going to turn things around and get back into the playoff race, they’ll need him to have even a chance of doing so.
Sherwood To Sharks: Going into the season, few would have expected the Sharks to be adding a rental player. However, with the final few playoff spots in the West (and the Pacific Division, in particular) up for grabs and a better-than-expected first half, San Jose is now a buyer. To that end, they dealt a pair of second-round picks along with AHL defenseman Cole Clayton to Vancouver in exchange for winger Kiefer Sherwood. The 30-year-old got off to a great start offensively this season and has 17 goals in 44 games. Meanwhile, after recording a league-record 462 hits in 2024-25, Sherwood has 210 this season, or 4.77 per game. A pending unrestricted free agent, Sherwood is in line for a significant raise from his current $1.5MM cap charge and should be in line for a fairly long-term contract as well.
Help For Florida: It has been a rough year on the injury front for the Panthers but they got some good news on that front. First, winger Matthew Tkachuk returned after missing the first 47 games due to an adductor injury. He has averaged more than a point per game over the last four seasons and gives them their top winger back in the lineup. To make cap room for Tkachuk, Seth Jones was moved to LTIR and was subsequently replaced on Team USA’s Olympic roster by Jackson Lacombe. Meanwhile, Florida also got Brad Marchand back from an undisclosed injury that went from day-to-day to multiple weeks. The veteran was their leading scorer before the injury while being pressed into a bigger-than-expected offensive role due to the injuries. The Panthers are five points out of a playoff spot but now have their top wingers back to aid in their postseason push.
Wright In Play? It wasn’t too long ago that Shane Wright was the projected top pick of the 2022 draft. He ultimately fell to fourth where Seattle was happy to scoop him up. However, the Kraken are now believed to be open to moving him, feeling that they can leverage their center depth to fill another area of need on their roster. The 22-year-old is in his second full NHL season but after a strong showing in 2024-25 where he had 19 goals and 25 assists in 79 games, his output has dipped this year. Through 51 games so far, Wright has just seven goals and 11 helpers while his ice time has dropped under 14 minutes per night. That said, Wright still has one more year left on his entry-level contract and five more seasons of club control so Seattle will justifiably be aiming high if they ultimately decide to move him.
Photo courtesy of Jeff Curry-Imagn Images.
PHR Mailbag: Sabres, Ott, Panarin, Penguins, Lightning, CBA, IIHF
Topics in this edition of the PHR Mailbag include Artemi Panarin’s future which now won’t be with the Rangers, theorizing a possible Nikita Kucherov extension, and much more. We had enough questions from our latest callout for two more columns so if your question doesn’t appear here, watch for it in one of those.
12Kelly: I really think the Sabres should re-sign Tuch and continue to build this team around the core of Tuch, Thompson, Dahlin, etc. The talent is in place to be able to deal from our young players such as Ostlund, Rosen, and maybe even Power to acquire a solid secondary scorer. Thoughts?
I imagine most Buffalo fans want to see Alex Tuch re-signed to a long-term deal. At a time when the team is trying to make the playoffs and emerge from a rebuild that has had several iterations already, losing a top-line winger is going to make that process much more difficult. Yes, it’s going to cost a lot of money (he’s not going to be on a value contract anymore) and with the long-term extension given to Josh Doan this week, it’s not going to leave a lot for pending RFA Zach Benson, among their others who need new deals. But this is a case of sign him and figure it out later.
While I agree philosophically that your other suggestion of moving youth for win-now help makes sense in the long haul, I’m not sure now is the right time for that. Right now, the Sabres are doing so well that it’d be hard to mess with team chemistry. And given how largely inexperienced they are, I’d want to see how their current core fares with the prospect of meaningful games down the stretch and possibly the playoffs. I’d then use those evaluations to help determine how best to proceed over the summer. By then, they’ll know what’s happening with Tuch and whether they’re needing to replace him. Meanwhile, if they do re-sign him, they may be hard-pressed to afford another top-six piece for next season.
I want to highlight Owen Power specifically for a moment. Yes, he’s overpaid for the role he has right now but Bowen Byram is eligible for unrestricted free agency in less than a year and a half. If you trade Power for a scorer and then Byram goes elsewhere in 2027, now the back end is in trouble. If they can extend Byram, then Power looks like more of a viable trade chip. Needing to wait to do an extension (that can’t happen until this July) should take Power off the table for the time being.
vincent k. mcmahon: What are your thoughts on Steve Ott being named the HC of the Thunderbirds for the rest of the season?
Also, do you think this is a potential tryout for Ott to be the next HC if the Blues move on from Jim Montgomery? (which I don’t foresee happening but it’s not completely off the table).
I’m a little surprised it took this long for Ott to get that spot. I thought he’d have landed it a couple of years ago when Steve Konowalchuk took over behind their bench. By all accounts, Ott has done a very solid job behind the bench in St. Louis since ending his playing career to the point where he has been brought up as a speculative head coaching candidate off and on the last two offseasons. This is the next logical step in his coaching career.
If things go well (it’s always a little tough with more veteran-laden teams where the floor is high but the ceiling often low) and things turn around down the stretch, Ott might get serious head coaching consideration this summer. Realistically, it might take another year or two. By then, we’ll know if the Blues are partway through a rebuild or if they’re still trying to win with a veteran core in which case a rookie head coach might not make the most sense for them.
That said, knowing that the shelf life of an NHL head coach is often only a few years, there’s a possibility that the window lines up for Ott and the Blues. But I wouldn’t be shocked if he’s already behind another NHL bench by the time St. Louis ponders its next coaching change down the road.
LA All Day: I’m curious as to where the Artemi Panarin sweepstakes are at, and if the Kings are considered a frontrunner or possible landing spot here. Does Holland’s aggressive nature end up landing the Kings their much-needed scorer, or will another team end up out-bidding LA once again?
Tucsontoro1: Should the Hawks make a serious run at Panarin?
At this point, it’s too early in the process to call anyone a frontrunner for Panarin. By all accounts, his goal was to re-sign with the Rangers. He just wasn’t willing to take a big discount to do so but I believe his and his agent’s expectation was that eventually, something would get done. While he didn’t say much in the aftermath of the letter that GM Chris Drury released a little more than a week ago, I think the confusion he spoke about was genuine. To go from that to having a shortlist of teams to go to in a week seems a little too quick for me.
I don’t expect Panarin to give the Rangers a big list of teams he’d be willing to go to. And with full trade protection, he controls the show. I could see the list only being two or three teams deep. Whoever those are will be the ultimate frontrunners. It might take until after the Olympics for that list to be presented.
As for the Kings specifically, they need offense and Panarin brings a lot of it so from that standpoint, there’s a fit. I’m not sure he necessarily fits in with the way they play but talent is talent and they need more firepower. Sometimes, it’s best not to overthink it. They’re also a big-market team and that mattered to Panarin in free agency. Having said that, given their inability to get past the first round in recent years and that they continue to spin their wheels, so to speak, I’d be surprised if Los Angeles is on that shortlist. If they are, however, they have the cap space and some younger assets that might appeal to the Rangers so they could make a real push for him. I expect GM Ken Holland would go big on an offer, especially if it comes with a contract extension.
Chicago is an interesting idea. Is he too old to fit in with their young core? Probably. But at the same time, they need a legitimate influx of firepower and for all the cap space and young assets they have, they haven’t been able to get a true top liner. They’ve done alright with some in-between fillers (Tyler Bertuzzi, for example) but Panarin’s at another level. But for the fit to be viable, there would have to be a contract extension as part of the swap. Trading for Panarin as a rental isn’t a great idea for a team whose playoff aspirations aren’t the greatest. But if Panarin is willing to return to the Blackhawks for the longer term, putting him as Connor Bedard’s winger (or anchoring a second line) would certainly help get them to the next phase in their rebuild, one that sees them legitimately battling for a playoff spot.
rayk: The NYR now have only $2.26 mill in cap space. Even at the deadline, how can they find teams Panarin okays (has NMC) that can afford him at his big salary, even with some salary retention? Most of the contenders have little cap space also, and will need the max retained.
For the Rangers, that cap space number is with Panarin on the books in full at $11.643MM. Even if they retain the maximum of 50% of that, they’re still freeing up over $5.8MM (in full-season space) so they’re more than fine in that regard. Now, it does limit them a bit in that they can’t take much more back in offsetting salary than what they’re freeing up but it will be more than workable for them to find a suitable trade for him.
A roughly $5.82MM price tag (with max retention) is a lot for some contenders to afford today. But six weeks from now at the trade deadline, it’s a lot easier. A team with around $2.5MM in space today has over $5MM at the deadline, assuming no other roster moves are made between now and then.
Looking at some playoff teams (or close enough teams) that have around $5MM in room at the deadline (per PuckPedia), I see Colorado, Anaheim, Boston, Buffalo, Minnesota, Utah, Carolina, Los Angeles, and Pittsburgh above that threshold. Several others are already there that aren’t playoff threats at the moment but things could change between now and then. Are all of them going to want Panarin? Or, more specifically, how many of those will he want? I wouldn’t be too worried about the cap element, it will be workable enough for New York to get a good return.
Specialist412: Do you think the Pens will be buyers or sellers? Dubas is real quiet right now, I wonder if he has something big up his sleeve.
Kyle Dubas has never been shy about taking swings but I think deep down, he knows this core is not good enough to be a long-term contender. So I don’t see him being a big buyer, at a minimum. If they’re still in the mix six weeks from now, they have extra picks in the second and third rounds for each of the next three years. Flipping one or two of those for short-term help would make sense and could be justified within the context of not significantly affecting their long-term core or depleting their prospect pool. I doubt they’d do more than that, though.
I think his preference would be to capitalize on a seller’s market if they’re out of the race. The parity plays into the favor of whoever decides to sell given that there will be more buyers than sellers so there should be good returns out there, especially for someone like Rickard Rakell who it feels like has been in trade speculation for years now. But the fact they’re in the race will cause them to push pause for the time being and assess things coming out of the Olympic break.