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Lightning Claim Pheonix Copley Off Waivers From Kings

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The Lightning have claimed goaltender Pheonix Copley off waivers from the Kings, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.

Copley, 33, had signed a one-year, one-way, league minimum extension with L.A. in June to continue serving as a No. 3/4 option for them this season. The longtime fringe NHLer has spent the last three years in the Kings organization, including a one-off 2022-23 campaign that saw him emerge as the Kings’ starter for a bit until Joonas Korpisalo was acquired at the trade deadline. Since recording a 24-6-3 record and .903 SV% in 37 appearances that year, though, the Alaska native has only nine NHL games to his name.

Part of the lack of playing time was due to an ACL injury that ended his 2023-24 season in December, but he’d already slipped to third on the Kings’ depth chart by that point after regressing to a .870 SV% through eight starts. He ended up on waivers at the beginning of last year and cleared, spending the vast majority of the season in AHL Ontario aside from making one early-season NHL relief appearance. The 6’4″ netminder was serviceable in the starting role for Ontario, making 42 appearances with a .904 SV%, 2.49 GAA, two shutouts, and a 24-17-1 record.

The Lightning, in need of goaltending depth, make sure he won’t clear waivers this time around. They’ve been dealing with limited availability from star starter Andrei Vasilevskiy in camp, although Erik Erlendsson of Lightning Insider reported today that he’s likely to make his preseason debut this weekend. Even if Vasilevskiy’s health wasn’t a concern, the Lightning were likely on the lookout for another depth option between the pipes.

They have one of the more underwhelming No. 2 options in the league in Jonas Johansson, who’s only managed a .892 SV% and 3.27 GAA behind a stout Tampa defense over the past two years. The backup position in Tampa hasn’t been much of a concern with Vasilevskiy shouldering a 60-start workload, but with the club looking to lighten the pressure on him this year, it makes sense to bring in another experienced option who might be an upgrade on Johansson.

Copley wasn’t going to be an NHL factor for the Kings unless injury struck their NHL tandem of Darcy Kuemper and Anton Forsberg, although that’s a likely outcome given their histories. They have just four goalies signed in the organization without him, and one, 19-year-old Carter George, is still ineligible for a full-time AHL assignment and has already reported to OHL Owen Sound for the year. That leaves 25-year-old Erik Portillo, who struggled to the tune of a .889 SV% in 24 AHL contests last year, as their lone recall option. As such, expect a free-agent pickup or corresponding waiver claim to try to give them more insurance and more cushion for Portillo in the minors.

If the Lightning begin the season with three goalies, they’d only be able to carry two extra skaters instead of three. In any event, the claim doesn’t put them in any sort of cap bind. They’ll have the flexibility to open the season with a full 23-player roster with Nick Paul counting against the cap on injured reserve if they choose. Paul underwent surgery last month and is expected to make his season debut in early November.

Ducks Sign Jackson LaCombe To Max-Term Extension

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The Ducks have handed out the largest total-value contract in franchise history to pending RFA defenseman Jackson LaCombe, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. It’s an eight-year deal worth $9MM per season for a sum of $72MM. The contract is paid out entirely in base salary with no year-to-year variation, per PuckPedia. It includes a full no-trade clause from 2028-31, a 15-team no-trade clause from 2031-33, and a 10-team no-trade clause in the final year of the deal in 2033-34.

It’s an astronomical pay bump for the 24-year-old, who emerged as Anaheim’s No. 1 defenseman just last season. LaCombe, a 2019 second-round pick, signed a two-year deal as an RFA following his rookie season in 2023-24 that pays him $1.85MM in total – one-fifth of what he’ll be making per year on his new deal. He’s entering the final year of that deal, which costs $925K against the cap and would have left him arbitration-eligible next summer.

LaCombe’s emergence wasn’t entirely out of nowhere – he’d been viewed as a higher-end prospect for quite some time – but it was a more explosive breakout than most expected after his rookie campaign fell flat. Coming off four years with the University of Minnesota, LaCombe turned pro in 2023 and broke camp with the Ducks the following fall.

Anaheim was bullish on the three-time Big 10 All-Star, and he spent most of the year in a top-pairing role alongside Cam Fowler. The duo really struggled to control play, though, even for the Ducks’ lowered standards as one of the league’s worst defensive squads. Averaging 19:23 per game, LaCombe had 17 points and a -24 rating in 71 appearances. In 55 games where he was paired with Fowler, they controlled just 39.5% of expected goals – the worst mark of Anaheim’s seven D pairings to log more than 150 minutes together that year, according to MoneyPuck.

LaCombe’s chemistry was much better in more limited usage with captain Radko Gudas on his right side. The Ducks took note of that and made that their new top pairing heading into 2024-25, a move that was only solidified when Fowler was dealt to the Blues a couple of months into the campaign. LaCombe flourished, getting an ice time bump to 22:18 per game while recording a 14-29–43 scoring line in 75 games, posting an even rating on a team with a -44 goal differential to boot. His 49.1% Corsi share at even strength led Ducks defenders, as did all of his offensive metrics.

League-wide, LaCombe quietly moved into consideration as a top-25 rearguard. His 33 even-strength points were tied for 18th, and his 0.57 points per game were 27th – above other established No. 1 guys like Drew Doughty, Colton Parayko, Moritz Seider, and even Miro Heiskanen.

The lack of sample size as a No. 1 will be cause for concern. Still, as the salary cap sharply increases, a $9MM AAV falls more into the “top-pair” category for defenders than “true No. 1.” It’s a matching cap hit to Devils rearguard Luke Hughes, who signed a new deal yesterday after posting comparable offensive stats last year. While there’s some sticker shock compared to what his extension projection would have been at the beginning of the offseason, it’s an in-line response to the recent spike in market values for premier defensemen.

Getting LaCombe’s contract done now is an important piece of business for general manager Pat Verbeek, who still has four other high-profile pending RFAs to contend with. Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier, Pavel Mintyukov, and Olen Zellweger are all entering the final years of their entry-level contracts. LaCombe was likely the highest-priority target as the only one of the group who had enough professional experience to qualify for arbitration.

The Ducks now have LaCombe, Lukáš Dostál, Mason McTavish, and Troy Terry signed through at least 2030 as their new core continues to take shape. The club still has over $40MM in cap space to burn and 10 open active roster spots for 2026-27, according to PuckPedia.

Image courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images.

Jack St. Ivany Out Six Weeks With Lower-Body Injury

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Penguins defenseman Jack St. Ivany will miss six weeks with a lower-body injury, the team announced Thursday. As a player on a two-way deal who played fewer than 50 games last season, he will be eligible for season-opening injured reserve. His $775K cap hit will be prorated down to around $200K as a result, offering some relief to Pittsburgh while they’re unable to waive him because of his injury.

St. Ivany left last night’s 5-3 exhibition win over the Sabres midway through the first period, but it wasn’t apparent what caused him to exit, Seth Rorabaugh of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review noted. His hopes of cracking the opening night roster for the second year in a row have now been dashed.

The 26-year-old was a free agent signed out of Boston College back in 2022 after the Flyers, who selected him with a fourth-round pick in 2018, opted not to sign him. He spent the next year and a half playing exclusively for AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, but a breakout defensive showing in 2023-24 ended up getting him a call-up to the Pens for the last few weeks of the season. He impressed in a bottom-pairing role in his first big-league look, recording an assist with an even rating and 30 hits in 14 appearances while averaging 13:42 per game. He parlayed that performance into a unique three-year extension that carried a two-way structure for the first two years before becoming a one-way deal for 2026-27.

That also carried St. Ivany through to an opening-night job for the 2024-25 season, but it didn’t stick. He had a lone assist and a -3 rating in 19 appearances before being returned to the AHL in early December. He remained there for the rest of the season aside from an emergency recall in March that didn’t result in any playing time.

It’s worth noting that St. Ivany had a great stretch of play in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton after the demotion. He was one of the AHL club’s best two-way defenders and finished the year with 16 points and a +9 rating in 37 games. The bevy of depth additions Pittsburgh made on the blue line in free agency this summer, plus wanting to keep paths open for youngsters like Harrison Brunicke and Owen Pickering to grab spots, made an opening-night job a problematic task for St. Ivany to achieve this time around, though.

He’ll now look to make his season debut sometime in November. Whether that’s in Pittsburgh or WBS remains to be seen. He’s waiver-eligible for the first time this season, so he’ll need to pass through them unclaimed if it’s the latter.

St. Ivany is the third player projected to carry a prorated cap hit on SOIR for the Penguins, per PuckPedia. They’ll have around $700K in cap space tied up in him, Joel Blomqvist, and Rutger McGroarty, all of whom are expected to miss a significant chunk of time. They’ll also likely have veterans Kevin Hayes and Bryan Rust on standard injured reserve, the latter of whom was just ruled out today for two weeks with an undisclosed injury.

Panthers Release Ben Harpur From PTO

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Ben Harpur’s NHL comeback attempt is over, for now. The Panthers announced today that they released the veteran defenseman from his professional tryout. He was not assigned to AHL Charlotte’s camp, so it’s a clean cut that results in him still searching for a home for 2025-26.

Harpur, 30, last appeared in the NHL with the Rangers in the 2022-23 campaign. He played 42 games that year, spending most of the season as the Blueshirts’ No. 7. He’d remained in the New York organization since on a two-way deal but played exclusively with AHL Hartford, where injuries have limited him to 36 appearances over the last two years combined.

The 6’6″, 231-lb lefty has never been an offensive threat at any level in his pro career, but was once an intriguing shutdown option with the Senators in his younger years. He quickly settled in as a fringe NHLer through most of his prime, sitting anywhere between No. 6 and No. 10 on his club’s depth chart in any given season.

He could have been an appealing veteran recall option for the Cats this year, even if he wasn’t in legitimate competition for an NHL job. Nonetheless, it appears they’re comfortable with Tobias Björnfot and Michael Benning as their top recall options from Charlotte on the blue line this year, assuming the former clears waivers in the coming days.

Bryan Rust Out Two Weeks Due To Undisclosed Injury

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Penguins winger Bryan Rust will be sidelined for the start of the regular season after sustaining an undisclosed injury in practice on Wednesday, per Seth Rorabaugh of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. He’ll miss at least two weeks, with his earliest return date set for Oct. 16 against the Kings. That’s a minimum absence of four games. He will be eligible for an injured reserve placement when opening night rosters are due.

Any trade talks that may still be ongoing for the top-six forward will now take a brief pause. Coming off the first 30-goal, 60-point season of his career, the 33-year-old Rust was in trade rumors all offseason long as the Penguins descended deeper into rebuild territory. Like fellow trade candidates Erik Karlsson and Rickard Rakell, though, he’ll be remaining with the organization to begin the regular season.

With on-ice expectations for the Penguins quite low this season, at least externally, the primary impact of Rust’s absence lies not with his missing offense, but with Pittsburgh’s opening night roster composition. Stashing Rust on IR for a week or two will allow general manager Kyle Dubas to punt some tough decisions for the final few roster spots down the road. The club has multiple young talents at both forward and defense looking to break camp, and leaving Rust off the 23-man limit will make life easier for some of them.

In fact, Rust’s injury could be the final straw for the Pens to decide to give No. 11 overall pick Benjamin Kindel a nine-game trial before returning him to WHL Calgary. Some viewed the 5’11” winger as a reach on draft day in June, but he’s averaged over 17 minutes per game in five preseason contests while registering a goal and an assist. If not him, Rust’s absence could be a pathway for a name like Filip Hallander or Samuel Poulin to avoid waivers, at least for a few extra days.

Still, Rust’s injury brings the Penguins to three forwards on IR to begin the season who would otherwise be opening-night likelies or locks. Veteran Kevin Hayes was shut down at the beginning of camp and isn’t expected back until late October, while top prospect Rutger McGroarty is out indefinitely with an upper-body issue.

Flames Sign Ryan Huska To Two-Year Extension

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The Flames have signed head coach Ryan Huska to a two-year contract extension, per a team release Thursday. He was entering the final year of his current deal and is now signed through the 2027-28 season, Pat Steinberg of Sportsnet 960 reports.

Huska is entering his third season as Calgary’s bench boss, but his tenure with the organization dates back more than a decade. He joined the AHL’s Adirondack Flames as their head coach for the 2014-15 season, his first coaching job in the pros after a lengthy run with the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets as an assistant and head coach that spanned 12 years. He spent one year in Adirondack before the Flames moved their top affiliate closer to home to Stockton, California, where he served as the head coach of the Stockton Heat for their first three seasons. He was then promoted to the Flames’ NHL bench as an assistant, a position he held from 2018 to 2023, before being elevated once again to his current role.

The 50-year-old replaced Darryl Sutter, who was fired after the team missed the playoffs in 2022-23 despite winning a Pacific Division title the year prior. Sutter was the third head coach Huska has worked under in Calgary, a list that included Bill Peters and Geoff Ward.

Calgary has yet to make it back to the playoffs under Huska, but that’s more attributable to their status as a retooler than a coaching failure. His two-year sample is limited, but he’s notably guided a recent first-round pick to a breakout season despite an underwhelming forward group on both occasions. It was Connor Zary in 2023-24, who finished eighth in Calder Trophy voting after registering a 14-20–34 scoring line in 63 appearances following an early-season callup from the minors. This past year saw Matthew Coronato get the same treatment. He finished third on the team in goals (24) and points (47) in 77 games while stepping into an everyday top-six role, averaging north of 17 minutes per game.

The upcoming season could see Huska oversee the NHL transition for another pillar of Calgary’s future – defenseman Zayne Parekh. The 2024 ninth overall selection is ticketed for an opening-night job after a raucous major junior career that saw him lead the OHL in scoring among defensemen in back-to-back years, including an incredible 33-74–107 line in 61 showings for the Saginaw Spirit last year.

Huska enters Year 3 with Dan Lambert and Cail MacLean serving as assistants, as they have since he took over head coaching duties. He’ll have a new third assistant for the third straight year, though – after Brad Larsen replaced the one-and-done Marc Savard for 2024-25, ex-Flames winger Dave Lowry now steps in after Larsen departed the club for family reasons.

Image courtesy of James Carey Lauder-Imagn Images.

Panthers Sign Niko Mikkola To Max-Term Extension

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The Panthers have reached an agreement with defenseman Niko Mikkola on a max-term, eight-year extension, per a team announcement Thursday. It carries a cap hit of $5MM for a total value of $40MM, Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports. He was ticketed for unrestricted free agency next summer. His new deal now carries him through the 2033-34 campaign.

Mikkola will only earn $1MM in base salary in each season of the deal, according to PuckPedia. The other $32MM will be paid via signing bonuses. He will land $5.5MM bonus checks in 2026 and 2027, $5.2MM in 2028, $4MM in 2029, $3.1MM in 2030, and $2.9MM from 2031-33. The contract carries a no-movement clause from 2026-27 to 2030-31, downgrading to a 20-team no-trade clause for 2031-32 and a 16-team no-trade clause for 2032-33 and 2033-34. The low base salary creates tax advantages for Mikkola, as well as making a buyout near the end of the contract a disadvantageous maneuver for Florida.

Mikkola, 29, will cash in with the biggest deal of his career after breaking out as a legitimate top-four threat in Florida. He signed a three-year, $7.5MM contract with the Cats in free agency in 2023. He’s in the final year of that deal now, which carries a bargain $2.5MM cap hit. At the time, it was a somewhat risky bet for a player who had demonstrated fine defensive skills but little to no offensive utility in his platform year, recording just six points in 81 games split between the Blues and Rangers.

However, Mikkola quickly proved not to be a drag when deployed as a stabilizing partner for Florida’s top offensive threat on the blue line – first Brandon Montour in 2023-24, then Seth Jones after the Panthers acquired him from the Blackhawks at last year’s trade deadline. The 6’6″, 204-lb lefty has averaged over 20 minutes per game in both of his seasons in Sunrise, logging a 9-30–39 scoring line with a +23 rating in 158 appearances from 2023-25.

His calling card is still that of a prototypical hard-nosed, shutdown defender, just one with enough offensive utility to maintain being a net positive in a top-four role and not drag down a puck-moving partner’s impact. No Florida defender is more physically involved in the game than Mikkola, who had 88 blocks and 137 hits last year. He would have led the team in the former had he not missed a handful of games with an upper-body injury. Those numbers were still down from 2023-24, when he led the team in both blocks (124) and hits (198).

Oftentimes, a player recording high block/hit totals is a good indicator of individual defensive skills that don’t translate to tangible possession impacts. That’s not the case with Mikkola, who, despite having negative relative Corsi impacts over his two years in Florida, has still managed to control 53.2% of expected goals at even strength, losing the quantity battle but winning the quality one.

With Aaron Ekblad, Gustav Forsling, and Jones all signed through at least 2030, Mikkola was the only long-term question mark in a top-four group that’s helped fuel the Panthers to back-to-back Stanley Cup championships. Even bottom-pairing veteran Dmitry Kulikov is signed through 2027-28, leaving the Cats with very little expected movement among their defense corps over the next few years. Eleven skaters – nearly half of their active roster – are now signed through at least the end of the decade, an unmatched amount of long-term commitment anywhere else in the league.

That’s great news for the Panthers, who have no blue-chip prospects in the organization after graduating Mackie Samoskevich to full-time NHL duties. Their top prospect from an already league-worst pool, winger Justin Sourdif, was traded to the Capitals over the offseason. There are still a couple of intriguing forwards in the system, but the same can’t be said for their defense group – led by the team’s new No. 1 prospect according to NHL.com, 2024 third-round pick Matvei Shuravin, who isn’t expected to make an NHL impact for another few years and likely won’t peak above a bottom-pairing option if he does.

Mikkola was one of two big-name pending UFAs in Florida, the other being starting netminder Sergei Bobrovsky. Getting one done before the start of the regular season only opens up more resources and financial stability to aid in smoothing over negotiations with the other.

Image courtesy of James Carey Lauder-Imagn Images.

Emily Kaplan of ESPN was first to report the two sides were close on a long-term deal.

Los Angeles Kings Finalize 2025-26 Roster

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Zach Dooley, Manager of Editorial Content for the Kings, noted today that Los Angeles’ roster is all set, currently at 23 players, barring any unexpected injuries. Dooley says that fans can expect the full regular group to wrap up the Kings’ remaining preseason games tomorrow and Saturday. 

A well-balanced squad of 13 forwards, 8 defensemen, and 2 goaltenders, the Kings look to climb further than last year’s first round defeat at the hands of the Edmonton Oilers. 

Anze Kopitar will begin his 20th and final season in Los Angeles surrounded by a core forward group mostly the same as last year’s, besides key additions in Corey Perry (currently injured) and Joel Armia. The veteran Perry’s absence likely opened the door for Jeff Malott, a 29-year-old later-bloomer who posted an impressive 51 points for AHL Ontario last year. Otherwise, stars like Kevin Fiala and Adrian Kempe are expected to put up big numbers again. 

Something many franchises struggle with, the Kings have done a great job of supplementing their aging core with young talent in order to give Kopitar and Doughty another window. Many eyes will be on Quinton Byfield, a candidate for a large breakout, and Alex Turcotte, who is starting to face real pressure to live up to his high potential. 

Two veterans will join Los Angeles’ defense corps led by Doughty, in the form of Cody Ceci and Brian Dumoulin. Ceci, signed to a somewhat questionable four-year deal at $4.5MM per season, will look to slot into a role similar to the one he had in Dallas to wrap up last year. Kings fans will be eager to watch electric youngster Brandt Clarke, as he looks to build off a strong 33-point campaign last year. 

Finally, the Kings bring back veteran Darcy Kuemper in net, paired with newcomer Anton Forsberg, who comes over after four respectable seasons in Ottawa. 

Without a doubt, the group will be motivated to have a strong swan song season for their franchise icon Kopitar. The Kings eagerly await Perry’s return as well, and while it will be a bit strange to see the 40-year-old in the black and silver, his presence is undeniable, as the Kings set their sights on a run next spring. The journey will begin in Colorado on October 7th.

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen Leaves Game Due To Injury

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Tough news came out of Buffalo tonight, as #1 goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has left tonight’s preseason game due to a lower-body injury, confirmed by the team. The 26-year-old appears to have reaggravated the ailment which has limited his participation in camp so far. 

Luukkonen allowed one goal on 12 shots before coming out, however, he played the entire first period, perhaps encouraging for Buffalo. Likely with the ongoing injury in mind, the Sabres picked up Alexander Georgiev earlier this month on a one-year deal, to go with Alex Lyon, who was signed to a two-year contract after establishing himself as a legit NHLer with the Red Wings. 

Even with top prospect Devon Levi having been sent back to AHL Rochester, the Sabres seem to have things covered between the pipes, if Luukkonen is set to miss time. However, a goaltender tandem of Lyon/Georgiev is a bit concerning for a team trying to, finally, take a leap forward in 2025-26. Potentially, Levi could be back on the big club sometime this fall, sooner than later. 

Luukkonen’s status in the coming days will be worth monitoring as Buffalo finalizes their roster, and tries to start October on the right foot.

Evening Notes: Knoblauch, Wood, Miller, Rangers

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Edmonton GM Stan Bowman told Ryan Rishaug of TSN that extension talks with Head Coach Kris Knoblauch continue, with no foreseen issues ahead. Having taken the Oilers to new heights, and with a window still as open as ever, keeping Connor McDavid’s former OHL coach around is a no-brainer. 

Speaking of the Oilers’ mega star, Bowman did not provide any updates on McDavid, other than that they’re happy to play the long game if needed, and talk consistently with his agent, Judd Moldaver. 

Having acquired Connor Ingram earlier today, Bowman touched on the goalie front as well. Apparently, no talks have emerged with Stuart Skinner or Calvin Pickard yet, and that Ingram has been brought in as another good option for the club. 

It’s fair to say that running it back with Skinner and Pickard again this year has been a bit unexpected. Yet it appears Bowman will keep a close eye on each, evaluating their long-term prospects in Edmonton, especially with an intriguing addition coming into the fold.

Elsewhere across the league:

  • Brooks Bratten, Nashville’s beat reporter, shared today that top prospect Matthew Wood is week-to-week with a lower-body injury, an ailment sustained in the team’s Gold Star Showcase scrimmage last week. The 2023 first-round-pick has made a strong case to remain with the big club so far in camp, after a six-game trial fresh out of the NCAA last season. Now set to miss time, eyes turn to fellow key prospects Brady Martin and Joakim Kemell, who become more likely to make the team given Wood’s injury. Additionally, the Predators claimed Tyson Jost on waivers today.
  • Vince Z. Mercogliano of The Athletic updated today that J.T. Miller remains sidelined since an unassuming lower body injury sustained in practice two days ago. Thankfully, the captain’s ailment isn’t thought to be serious, so perhaps the Rangers are content with being patient. Meanwhile, Sam Carrick was seen back in a red no-contact jersey, and Casey Fitzgerald was absent, but due to being waived today rather than injury. The former Sabres defenseman is expected to be a key piece for AHL Hartford for the second straight season. 

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