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Gabriel Dumont Announces Retirement

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According to a team announcement, longtime captain for the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch, Gabriel Dumont, has announced his retirement from professional hockey. Dumont, 34, recently completed his 15th professional season.

Dumont’s entrance into professional hockey came in the fifth round of the 2009 NHL Draft, when the Montreal Canadiens selected him with the 139th overall pick. He subsequently had a promising year with the QMJHL’s Drummondville Voltigeurs, scoring 51 goals and 93 points in 62 games with an impressive +43 rating.

Unfortunately, that was the last of Dumont’s high-scoring days for quite some time. He spent the next six years buried in the AHL in the Canadiens organization, scoring 92 goals and 203 points in 389 AHL contests, while managing one goal and three points in 18 NHL games.

After the 2015-16 season, Dumont finally reached free agency and chose to sign a one-year agreement with the Tampa Bay Lightning. This was Dumont’s largest opportunity to play at the top level, scoring two goals and four points in 39 games for the Bolts, while averaging 9:40 of ice time per night. After a brief stint with the Ottawa Senators after being claimed off waivers, Dumont later returned to the Lightning organization, again via waivers, a few months later.

Despite posting a solid 15 goals and 43 points in 59 games for the Crunch in his first year as captain during the 2018-19 campaign, Dumont chose to leave the following summer, signing a two-year agreement with the Minnesota Wild. Dumont largely played in the AHL with Minnesota, scoring 20 goals and 46 points in 68 AHL contests, and going scoreless in three NHL appearances over two years.

The beginning of the 2021-22 season signified Dumont’s last move in his professional career and ended his NHL tenure. Syracuse’s former captain returned, again taking on the same leadership role, for the next four years. Unfortunately, Dumont couldn’t lead the Crunch very deep into the Calder Cup playoffs, but did have the best individual season of his career in 2021-22, scoring 30 goals and 62 points in 75 games.

The former fifth-round selection in the 2009 NHL Draft concluded his AHL career with a total of 202 goals and 459 points across 747 games, playing for the Crunch, Iowa Wild, Hamilton Bulldogs, and St. John’s IceCaps. In addition, he recorded four goals and nine points in 90 NHL appearances with the Canadiens, Lightning, Senators, and Wild. PHR congratulates Dumont on a quality professional career and wishes him the best in retirement.

Offseason Checklist: Winnipeg Jets

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The offseason has arrived for everyone with the Stanley Cup Final in the rearview.  Accordingly, it’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months.  Next up is a look at Winnipeg.

Expectations were mixed heading into the season for the Jets, who didn’t do a lot to reshape their roster after a 110-point season in 2023-24 while losing some key free agents as well. They managed to beat that record on the backs of continued dominance from their veterans, progress from young forwards, and an MVP-winning season from goaltender Connor Hellebuyck. Despite the best regular season in franchise history, though, they were dispatched by the Stars in the second round and have now won only two playoff series in the last seven years. General manager Kevin Cheveldayoff now needs to get them over the hump with the high-end core he’s already established.

Re-Sign RFAs

At first glance, the Jets are well-positioned to be major players in free agency this summer with $26.43MM in cap space, per PuckPedia. That’s because multiple key pieces are on expiring contracts, though. Two of them, top-line winger Gabriel Vilardi and top-four defenseman Dylan Samberg, are under team control and need new deals sooner rather than later so the Jets know how much of that cap space they can devote to free-agent pickups.

Vilardi is 25 years old and only has one season of team control remaining. That makes a bridge deal improbable and a long-term contract, even a max-term one, all the more appealing for a player who scored a career-high 27 goals and 61 points in 71 games this season. However, Vilardi’s lengthy injury history likely rules that out. Those 71 games played were also a career-high for the 2017 No. 11 overall pick, coming off his sixth NHL season. He’s missed 20-plus games in a year twice and has only cracked the 60-game mark twice as well. As such, the Jets are likely looking at a four-year commitment for Vilardi around $6.8MM per season, according to AFP Analytics. If he’s amenable to that price, they’d do well to get an agreement around there quickly to remove the threat of arbitration or an offer sheet.

Samberg, 26, is in a better position to command a longer-term deal. He’s just beginning his prime as a high-end second-pairing option with good defensive acumen, posting 20 points and a +34 rating in 60 games last season while averaging north of 21 minutes per game alongside Neal Pionk as Winnipeg’s No. 2 left-shot option behind Josh Morrissey. He’s shown linear development over his first few NHL seasons, and Winnipeg should be comfortable keeping him in his current role for the rest of the decade without much fuss. AFP Analytics projects a five-year deal with a cap hit in the $5.25MM range for him. Those projections still leave Winnipeg somewhere in the $14MM-$15MM range to spend on five roster spots this summer.

Backup Plan For Ehlers

The door isn’t closed on pending UFA winger Nikolaj Ehlers staying in Winnipeg, but it doesn’t look like they’ll be able to entice him with an eighth year on an extension. He’ll test the open market to see what’s out there for him, and the Jets will have to wait in line like everyone else.

That means Winnipeg might have to offer Ehlers a seven-year deal north of $8.5MM, potentially even in the $9MM range, per season to avoid him leaving for an environment with more opportunity for him in a first-line role or somewhere more financially advantageous for the 29-year-old Dane. He’s well-positioned to cash in on the heels of a 63-point season in 69 games, the former standing as one short of a career-high. If the Jets aren’t willing to push into that range to keep his services – a likely bet considering he continues to inexplicably average south of 16 minutes per game – they need to quickly identify targets in free agency who can either replace his output directly or help do so by committee.

Their cap flexibility means they should be able to do that relatively easily, but the Winnipeg market is routinely a hard sell to players who have multiple comparable options on the table. They’ll have to pick and choose their desired players and be quite aggressive with them. They don’t have prospects ready to step directly into Ehlers’ shoes, but perhaps someone like 2022 first-rounder Brad Lambert could at least step into a top-nine role and produce a 30-to-35-point rookie season (third-line fixture Mason Appleton is a pending UFA as well).

They could also opt to be aggressive in pursuit of a second-line center and keep Vladislav Namestnikov and Cole Perfetti, usually Ehlers’ center/winger combo in some capacity last year, as wingmen for a new middleman. There aren’t a ton of options out there, though, particularly after today’s Matt Duchene extension with the Stars. They’ll be trying to land some names in the next tier of UFA forwards like Brock Boeser, Jonathan Drouin, Mikael Granlund, and Pius Suter as a result, without much worry about what forward position they play.

Add Center Depth

Winnipeg’s relative weakness down the middle behind Mark Scheifele will be exacerbated to begin the season. Captain Adam Lowry will spend the first couple of months of the season on the shelf after offseason hip surgery, and frequent fourth-line center option Rasmus Kupari is off to spend the next two seasons in Switzerland.

The prospects of a big move are unlikely unless they’re willing to be aggressive on the trade front for someone like Wild center Marco Rossi, but they haven’t been mentioned in connection with his availability, and it’s exceedingly unlikely Minnesota would consider trading him to a divisional rival anyway. That leaves them with pursuing stopgap solutions like the aforementioned Granlund and Suter, who have top-six mobility, but they need another name or two for added bottom-six depth as well.

One of those could very well be Jonathan Toews. The former Blackhawks captain has spent the last couple of years out of the league as he deals with Chronic Immune Response Syndrome, but has been connected to Winnipeg ever since he publicized his desire for an NHL return last year. The interest is mutual, Cheveldayoff said in January, and it appears the Jets are on the Winnipeg native’s small list of finalists as he nears a decision in the coming days. At worst, he’s a fine fourth-line swap for Kupari.

They’d still like to add another name, presumably a sub-$1.5MM player like Sean Kuraly or Nico Sturm are expected to be, to help shoulder the load in the early going and take pressure off young players to take on center roles out of the gate. Even with a potential high-priced Ehlers contract, all of this should be doable under Winnipeg’s cap structure if they’re responsible with their RFA deals.

Connor Extension Talks

If the Jets aren’t careful, they’ll have back-to-back summers where big-name wingers could depart Winnipeg. Kyle Connor is entering the final year of his seven-year contract, which carries a team-friendly $7.14MM cap hit, and becomes eligible to sign an extension on July 1.

The 2024-25 First Team All-Star at left wing enters his contract year coming off a 41-goal showing, his second time hitting the 40-snipe mark. They have a strong appetite to get something done this summer and avoid the situation they find themselves at present with Ehlers. Considering the more bountiful success Connor has enjoyed in top-line minutes in Winnipeg, it’s likely he’d be more amenable to a long-term commitment.

Finding what the “right” number should be won’t be particularly tricky. He’s a slam-dunk 35-goal man with an extended run of success and even finished top 20 in Hart Trophy voting this season. There’s no question he’ll become Winnipeg’s new highest-paid player on an extension, one that AFP Analytics projects to be eight years at $12MM per season. Amid the rising cap and names like Mitch Marner expected to sniff $14MM on the open market this summer, the Jets shouldn’t have too many qualms about dealing out that big of a raise.

Image courtesy of Connor Hamilton-Imagn Images.

Capitals Grant Ethan Bear Permission To Speak With Interested Clubs

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The Capitals will not be re-signing pending unrestricted free agent defenseman Ethan Bear and have given him permission to discuss a contract with other clubs before the opening of free agency on July 1, Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK TV reports.

This was the expected outcome for Bear, whom Washington signed to a two-year, $4.13MM contract in December 2023 after offseason shoulder surgery. The signing was a puzzling one at the time. Washington already had six surefire NHL defensemen under contract, and although they dealt with injuries on the blue line throughout that season, the multi-year term raised eyebrows.

By the time Bear signed with the Capitals, he’d established himself as a legitimate everyday NHLer. The 5’11” righty was coming off one of the better seasons of his career with the Canucks, although they opted to non-tender him amid a roster crunch and an unwillingness to pay his $2.2MM qualfying offer. He averaged 18:32 per game while posting 16 points in 61 appearances, also logging a plus-six rating with good possession impacts (51.0 CF%, 51.6 xGF% at even strength).

Bear settled in as Washington’s seventh defenseman after signing, only playing 24 games over three months before entering the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program in March 2024 and missing the remainder of the season. He averaged a career-low 14:54 per game over that stretch, recording four points and a minus-five rating with some of the worst possession numbers of his career.

As a result, Bear was on the outside of the Caps’ regular lineup when he returned to the club for training camp last fall. He cleared waivers at the beginning of the season and headed to AHL Hershey, where he spent the entirety of the season until being recalled as a healthy extra for Washington’s playoff run amid Martin Fehérváry’s injury.

Bear, 28 next week, was expectedly among the AHL’s best defensemen in 2024-25. He was a second-team All-Star after recording 46 points in 62 games. His two-way impact was arguably the best in the minors – his +33 rating was more than twice that of any other skater on Hershey. As such, there’s strong optimism around the league that he can return to being an above-average option as a third-pairing right-shot defender if deployed somewhere with more upward mobility. That place obviously won’t be Washington, where the Caps already have seven defensemen signed to one-way contracts for next season, not including pending RFA Alexander Alexeyev.

The 2015 fifth-round pick even had fine results in top-four deployment earlier in his career. While a rookie with the Oilers in the 2019-20 season, he averaged nearly 22 minutes per game while skating almost exclusively with Darnell Nurse on Edmonton’s second pairing. He had a career-high 21 points – 19 of which came at even strength – and helped the Oilers control 2.5% more shot attempts compared to when he wasn’t on the ice.

Amid a thin free agent market behind the top few players, particularly among right-shot defenseman, Bear aims to make a return to full-time NHL minutes at the right time for his market value. He likely won’t command a multi-year deal, but his past track record and strong AHL showing this past season will likely be enough to secure him a one-way pact and a legitimate shot at everyday minutes out of the gate.

Stars Sign Matt Duchene To Four-Year Extension

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The Stars have signed center Matt Duchene to a four-year extension, per a team announcement. It’s worth $4.5MM per season for a total value of $18MM. His deal carries a no-movement clause through 2026-27 before decreasing to a five-team approved trade list for the 2027-28 and 2028-29 seasons, per PuckPedia. The yearly breakdown is as follows:

2025-26: $3MM base salary, $3MM signing bonus
2026-27: $1.8MM base salary, $3MM signing bonus
2027-28: $3.6MM base salary
2028-29: $3.6MM base salary

Duchene could have tested the market as one of the top unrestricted free agent centers available, but he’ll instead opt to stay in a Dallas market where he’s excelled as a key top-six contributor over the past two years. In doing so, he takes a significant discount on his market value, at least on a per-year basis. A four-year offer at a much higher price may not have been out there for the 34-year-old, but AFP Analytics projected a three-year deal for Duchene to fall in the $7MM range per season if he hit the open market.

The 2009 No. 3 overall pick is coming off a spectacular 2024-25 campaign. While the Stars scored the third-most goals in the league, their offense was largely generated by committee. Duchene was the only Dallas player who played at least 25 games that hit the point-per-game mark, leading them in scoring with a 30-52–82 line while playing in all 82 games. Averaging over 17 minutes per game, it was the second time Duchene had hit 80 points in his 16-year NHL career and the fourth time he had hit 30 goals.

Duchene initially arrived in Texas on a one-year, $3MM contract for 2023-24 following a surprise buyout by the Predators with three years left on his contract. He posted 25 goals and 65 points in 80 games last year before taking a repeat of that deal to stay with the Stars last summer. It was a significant discount then, and he takes another significant discount now, locking in some highly-desired security through the rest of his mid-30s as well.

The Stars need any help they can get to ice a cap-compliant roster for 2025-26. Duchene’s steep discount certainly helps, but they still find themselves in a position to clear multiple salaries in order to even ice a full roster, let alone re-sign any other pending UFAs. Dallas now has just $455K in cap space with a roster of only 17 players, per PuckPedia. They need to open at least $1.9MM cap space at an absolute minimum via trades to be able to sign three league-minimum players for a bare-bones 20-man roster. In reality, they’ll move at least two of Mason Marchment ($4.5MM), Mathew Dumba ($3.75MM), and Ilya Lyubushkin ($3.25MM) to open up far more than that to give them some in-season flexibility while not taking a catastrophic hit to their forward depth. Jamie Benn, Evgenii Dadonov, and Mikael Granlund remain as pending UFAs up front.

For Duchene, he’ll still be getting compensated more than his contract with Dallas indicates. The expiry of his new deal following the 2028-29 season lines up with when his buyout paychecks from the Predators will end. He’s still set to receive $6.56MM from Nashville in 2025-26 and then $1.56MM annually through 2028-29.

Image courtesy of Jerome Miron-Imagn Images.

Fabian Zetterlund Signs Three-Year Extension With Senators

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8:41 a.m.: The Senators confirmed Zetterlund has signed a three-year extension as reported.

6:48 a.m.: Senators pending RFA winger Fabian Zetterlund has agreed to a three-year extension with the club, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. The deal is worth $12.825MM with a cap hit of $4.275MM. He’ll be a UFA upon expiry in 2028. The contract does not include trade protection, per PuckPedia. They were also the first to report that the two sides were nearing an agreement on Wednesday night. Zetterlund’s extension will be paid out entirely in base salary and will earn him $3.8MM in 2025-26, $4.3MM in 2026-27, and $4.725MM in 2027-28.

Zetterlund, 26 in August, was acquired by the Sens from the Sharks quite literally at the trade deadline for a package that included a second-round pick and center prospect Zack Ostapchuk. It was surprising to see San Jose part ways with him. He had looked promising in a top-six role since being acquired from the Devils in the Timo Meier swap a few years ago, posting a 20-goal, 44-point campaign in 2023-24. He was on track to do so again with a 17-19–36 scoring line in 64 games at the time of the trade, but they either valued the offered return from Ottawa higher than Zetterlund’s on-ice value or believed they wouldn’t be able to come to an agreement as he reached free agency.

The tail end of 2024-25 saw Zetterlund struggle to find consistency in Ottawa. He bounced around the lineup upon arrival, logging significant time in top-six usage with Tim Stützle but also seeing some deployment as low as the fourth line with Adam Gaudette and Matthew Highmore. His offensive production underwhelmed, only managing two goals and five points in 20 games in a Sens jersey, averaging 14:18 per game after seeing nearly 17 minutes per game in San Jose.

The bright side? All five of Zetterlund’s points came in his final 12 games as he was bumped up the lineup, and he had four points in six games to end the regular season. He didn’t manage to log a point in their first-round loss to the Maple Leafs, though. He ended the year with a 19-22–41 scoring line in 84 games, landing a few extra appearances thanks to the trade. It was south of the 20-goal mark he was on pace for with his start to the season in the Bay Area, but he still managed to crack 40 points for the second year in a row.

If Zetterlund gets more consistent top-six deployment out of the gate in 2025-26, he should be able to return to his San Jose levels of production and be a valuable top-nine winger for the Sens at that price point. The Swedish forward also had good possession impacts this past season, posting positive relative Corsi shares at even strength with both the Sharks and Senators. He also posted a decent 52.4 xGF% in his even-strength minutes with Ottawa, understandably seeing a spike there from his San Jose numbers on a much more competent two-way club. He’ll aim to turn those figures into more noticeable offensive numbers en route to being a key secondary scorer for the Sens.

The contract comes in a bit north of his three-year, $3.92MM AAV projection from AFP Analytics, but still seems like a reasonable bet based on the offense he’s provided on the whole over the past two years. It does reaffirm their cap crunch, though, and likely turns up the urgency on a money-clearing move a bit with top UFA Claude Giroux still without an extension. The Sens have $10.75MM in space with six roster spots still to fill after Zetterlund’s new contract, according to PuckPedia. With Giroux projected to land north of $5MM on his next deal, that means they’d only have around $5.5MM to allocate to five roster spots to round out the club, limiting them to depth adds only in free agency.

Image courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images.

NHL Continuing Inquiry Into Oilers’ LTIR Usage

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When teams have big-money players stashed on long-term injured reserve for significant portions of the season, it’s become commonplace for the NHL to direct additional scrutiny toward their medical records to ensure they’re not circumventing the salary cap. It’s become a hot-button issue in recent years with star players missing most or all of the regular season with injuries, only to return at the beginning of the playoffs when the upper limit is no longer in effect.

In every case in recent memory, the league has been satisfied with the documentation they’ve received, and those inquiries have been closed during the postseason. However, that isn’t the case with the Oilers and winger Evander Kane, Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff writes. The league’s investigation on that matter is still ongoing, and the potential remains for the Oilers to have a retroactive penalty if they conclude Edmonton violated the CBA.

It’s not clear what aspect of Kane’s LTIR usage the league isn’t satisfied with. He didn’t return immediately as the playoffs started – he was only cleared for Game 2 of the first round against the Kings, not Game 1, and didn’t receive an AHL conditioning stint leading up to his return. Edmonton also didn’t dip into the cap flexibility that Kane’s LTIR placement afforded them until the trade deadline, when team doctors confirmed he wouldn’t be cleared to play before the end of the regular season.

Speculatively, the issue could be the nature and timing of the second surgery Kane underwent. The power winger played through a sports hernia at the tail end of last season and finally ended up undergoing a wide-ranging procedure that repaired multiple hip and abdominal muscles in September 2024. Waiting until training camp to undergo the procedure was already eye-raising, but it only carried a four-month timeline that would have had him back in the lineup before the trade deadline anyway.

Then, Kane underwent an unrelated surgery on his knee in January, pausing his rehab from his earlier surgery and effectively ending his regular season. The team didn’t disclose details on the procedure at a time. Yesterday, Seravalli reported the surgery removed a “congenital tumor-like growth.” With the knee issue being present for his entire life and career, the league could be questioning why the Oilers chose that specific window to have Kane undergo surgery, particularly so late in his recovery from another procedure.

Ducks Re-Sign Nikita Nesterenko To Two-Year Deal

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The Ducks announced yesterday that they’ve extended left winger Nikita Nesterenko on a two-year contract. He was set to become a restricted free agent but will stay with the Ducks, receiving a one-way commitment worth $775K in 2025-26 and $800K in 2026-27 in the process, according to PuckPedia. He’ll carry a cap hit of $787.5K as a result.

Nesterenko, 24 in September, was drafted by the Wild back in 2019. The sixth-rounder had his signing rights sent to Anaheim in the 2023 John Klingberg deadline trade. He signed his entry-level contract days later after completing his junior season at Boston College.

A two-way forward with good skating ability and historically able to shoulder minutes at center, Nesterenko has taken strides over his two full minor-league campaigns. He notched a 16-21–37 scoring line in 70 games for AHL San Diego in his first full professional season in 2023-24, good for 0.53 points per game. He upped his production to 0.68 points per game here in 2024-25, notching a 13-21–34 line in 50 games. He’s got a cumulative plus-seven rating as well while leveraging his 6’2″, 183-lb frame to play a decently physical game.

That well-rounded performance has led the Ducks to give Nesterenko multiple NHL call-ups over the past couple of years. After skating in nine games with Anaheim to finish off the 2022-23 season post-ELC, he suited up three times for them last year before making a career-high 20 NHL appearances here in 2024-25. He didn’t look out of place at all as a serviceable fourth-line winger, averaging 10:19 per game while scoring four goals and two assists with a minus-four rating. He averaged a shot on goal per game, finished at a likely unsustainable but still intriguing 20% clip, and posted reasonably decent possession numbers in defensively skewed deployment.

His new deal comes in considerably lower than the $917,831 qualifying offer he was eligible for, but that would have only been for one year with a two-way structure. He swaps out the higher one-year earning ceiling for added financial protection if he’s assigned to the minors.

Nesterenko will undoubtedly be in the conversation for an opening-night job, especially since he becomes waiver-eligible for the first time next season. He’ll be a restricted free agent upon expiry in 2027 and will be owed a qualifying offer of $840K.

Conn Smythe Voting Results Revealed

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While Sam Bennett took home the 2025 Conn Smythe Trophy after a historic postseason run that included 15 goals, the voting was closer than many might expect. The Professional Hockey Writers Association released the voting results, with Bennett receiving 76 points and teammate Brad Marchand close behind with 68.

Bennett and Marchand were the only players to receive first- and second-place votes, making them the clear-cut choices among the 18 writers. Others receiving votes included Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky and Gustav Forsling, and Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl. Points were awarded on a 5-3-1 basis, and the deadline to submit ballots to the NHL occurred with 10 minutes remaining in Game 6.

From the start of the playoffs, Bennett established himself as a force. While he was one of five Panthers to record at least 22 points during the playoffs, his 15 goals led the team by a margin of four. He also became just the fourth active player to score at least 15 goals in a single postseason, joining Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, and Zach Hyman. He also joins an elite list of centers to accomplish the feat, including Crosby, Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, and Joe Sakic.

Marchand posted 10 goals and 20 points during the playoffs, but shone brightest in the finals, where he scored six goals, including Game 2’s overtime winner. After going without a goal in the Panthers’ opening series against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Marchand went on to produce 10 goals in the team’s final 18 games. Acquired at the trade deadline from the rival Boston Bruins, Marchand is one of the most pivotal deadline additions in recent memory.

Bobrovsky finished a distant third in voting with 10 points. He delivered his usual steady performance in goal, posting a .914 save percentage and three shutouts over 23 playoff games. He arguably saved his best for last, turning aside 28 of Edmonton’s 29 shots in the cup-clincher. Bobrovsky finished fourth Conn Smythe voting last season.

Claude Giroux, Senators Continue Negotiations

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The Ottawa Senators and pending unrestricted free agent Claude Giroux have reportedly been in contract talks for several weeks. While the two sides remain at a stalemate, they recently met in an effort to close the gap, per Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen.

Garrioch shares his belief that the Sens would like to bring Giroux back on a one-year deal. While Giroux just put up a solid 50-point campaign (and added five points in six playoff contests), it did represent a 14-point decrease from the prior. A one-year deal could protect Ottawa from the potential of the 37-year-old Giroux completely hitting the wall.

Giroux recently completed a three-year, $19.5MM contract with the Senators in which he scored 71 goals and 193 points in 245 games. With 1,263 games played and 1,116 points to his name, Giroux boasts a resume that warrants consideration for the Hall of Fame. He’s also contributed 86 points in 101 playoff games, giving the young Senators a veteran presence as they aim to take the next step. The team ended its eight-year playoff drought this past season, and with key pieces like Tim Stutzle, Brady Tkachuk, Dylan Cozens, Jake Sanderson, and Thomas Chabot locked in for the foreseeable future, Ottawa appears poised to become a legitimate contender.

For his part, Giroux appears to have an interest in returning to Ottawa. However, with fewer than two weeks remaining until free agency, the Senators have just $15 million in cap space (per PuckPedia), and as Garrioch notes, the team has also held discussions with fellow pending free agent forwards Adam Gaudette, Nick Cousins, and Matthew Highmore. They also face key decisions regarding restricted free agents like forward Fabian Zetterlund and goalie Leevi Merilainen. It remains to be seen where Giroux falls in that list of priorities.

If Giroux does hit the open market, Garrioch believes the Montreal Canadiens would have interest in his services. Like Ottawa, the Canadiens have a young, talented core leading the way. However, with just over $6 million in cap space (per PuckPedia), they’d need to get creative to add Giroux and other assets once free agency begins.

Nick Bonino Announces Retirement, Joins Penguins As Assistant Coach

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5PM: As expected, former NHL journeyman center Nick Bonino has coupled his move back to Pittsburgh with a formal retirement announcement. He will end his career with 868 NHL games, 69 AHL games, and 22 IceHL games.

1PM: Former NHL center Nick Bonino spent 2024-25 in Slovenia with HC Olimpija Ljubljana of the ICEHL, and was supposed to spend a second year with the club after re-signing several weeks ago. Instead, he’s decided to end his playing career and will return to the NHL as an assistant coach with the Penguins, the club announced Wednesday on its Facebook page. DK Pittsburgh Sports first relayed word that Bonino could be joining new head coach Dan Muse’s staff yesterday.

Bonino will be the first assistant named to Muse’s staff, which had been wiped clean from last year’s group under Mike Sullivan, except for goalie coach Andy Chiodo. Ty Hennes and David Quinn followed Sullivan to the Rangers to serve on his staff there, while Mike Vellucci left to take an assistant role with the Blackhawks.

The move confirms Bonino’s retirement following a 16-season pro career, 15 of which were spent in the NHL. A sixth-round pick of the Sharks back in 2007, Bonino was a quality top-nine piece until the final few campaigns of his career and ended up suiting up for seven different teams.

One of those clubs was the Penguins. He only spent two years in Pittsburgh, who acquired him from the Canucks in the 2015 offseason. To say they were the most memorable years of his career would be an understatement. He played a key depth role as the Pens marched to back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2016 and 2017, including a series-clinching goal in overtime in the second round against the Capitals in 2016.

While he was usually good for around 35 points in the regular season, Bonino posted an 8-17–25 scoring line in 45 playoff games for Pittsburgh – a 46-point pace over an 82-game schedule. He was especially exceptional in their 2016 run, tying for third on the team in playoff scoring with 18 points in 24 games along with a team-high plus-nine rating, centering one of the best third lines in recent memory with Carl Hagelin and Phil Kessel.

Bonino was still an effective two-way center for a while after, and was quite serviceable for the Predators after landing his big four-year, $16.4MM payday from them in free agency following his second Stanley Cup victory. He finished top 15 in Selke Trophy voting twice during his Nashville tenure.

The Connecticut native had a brief second stint with the Penguins in 2023 after they acquired him from the Sharks at the trade deadline, but played just three games before a kidney laceration ended his season. He last played in the NHL with the Rangers in 2023-24 but had his contract mutually terminated midway through the campaign after falling out of the lineup.

Bonino’s NHL career officially draws to a close with a 159-199–358 scoring line in 868 games. He boasts a career +30 rating and averaged north of 15 minutes per game across stints with Anaheim, Nashville, Pittsburgh, San Jose, Vancouver, Minnesota, and New York. He made an estimated $30.69MM in career earnings, per PuckPedia. He also scored 17 points in 22 regular-season games in his brief stint with Ljubljana last year.

In addition to his Pittsburgh connection, Bonino is also quite familiar with Muse. The latter was an assistant coach overseeing him with both the Predators and Rangers.

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