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Canucks’ Alexander Edler Announces Retirement

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The Vancouver Canucks have announced that they’ll sign defenseman Alexander Edler to a one-day contract on October 11th, allowing him to retire in the city he spent 15 seasons in. Edler is a veteran of 1,030 NHL games, spending all but 105 of those in a Canucks jersey.

Edler holds a case as the draft day steal of 2004, originally going in the third round but since totaling the seventh-most NHL games of anyone in the class. He earned a top-pair role in Vancouver as a rookie in 2007, immediately flashing reliable two-way play and modest scoring. He’d become known for his consistency, emerging as one of Vancouver’s most utilized defenders through the bulk of the  Sedin era and routinely challenging the 35-point mark. Edler’s career year came in the 2011-12 season, when he tallied 11 goals, 38 assists, and 49 points in 82 games – career-highs in all four stats, and the only time that Edler played in a full season. His 409 points in 925 games with Vancouver both rank as all-time highs among Canucks defenders.

Edler continued playing over 20 minutes a night through his final season in Vancouver in 2021. But the addition of superstar Quinn Hughes challenged Edler’s role, leading him to sign with the Los Angeles Kings, where he’d close his career on a pair of one-year contracts. His scoring took a hit in his final years – falling from a per-game average of 0.44 points in Vancouver (409 points in 925 games) to just 0.29 in Los Angeles (30 points in 105 games). He was one of only a few 2004 draft picks still playing in the NHL last season, joining Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, Blake Wheeler, and Alex Goligoski.

The Canucks will honor their longtime top-defender with a pre-game ceremony during their October 11th matchup against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Snapshots: CHL/NTDP, Brind’Amour, Bruins

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The Canadian Hockey League’s top draft-eligible players will take on the U.S. National Development Team’s U-18 tier for the first time this November, the junior league announced Tuesday (via TSN). The pair of contests, which will take place in London and Oshawa, Ontario, on Nov. 26 and Nov. 27, will be the first installment in an annual “CHL-USA Prospects Challenge.”

It’ll run for at least three years, with sites rotating between OHL, QMJHL, and WHL hosts. The CHL and NTDP will have the opportunity to re-up the initial deal securing the event in 2027.

It will serve the purpose of an early-season showcase for draft-eligible talent, so don’t expect to see CHL superstars coming back for their post-draft seasons or beyond. The NHL’s Central Scouting Bureau will select most of the CHL’s roster for the series, Darren Dreger of TSN reports.

Thus, this year’s event will be headlined by 2025 draft-eligible talent. The rosters will likely include forwards Porter Martone, Michael Misa, and Roger McQueen as the CHL’s most notable names, and center William Moore and defensemen Logan Hensler and Charlie Trethewey should highlight the U.S. squad.

Other notes from around the league:

  • Forward Skyler Brind’Amour is reportedly planning to terminate his AHL contract with the Charlotte Checkers and sign a deal with the Carolina Hurricanes. The move – which is not yet official – was first reported by AHL.com’s Tony Androckitis and seconded by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Brind’Amour played in his rookie AHL season with the Checkers last year, netting eight points in 54 games. He took the step to the pros after four years with Quinnipiac University, where he supported the school’s 2023 National Championship win. He ended his collegiate career with 76 points in 145 games. He’ll look to rediscover that production in the Hurricanes organization, likely set on a role with the Chicago Wolves – who Carolina announced an affiliation agreement with in May.
  • The Boston Bruins have scheduled a press conference for 12 P.M ET tomorrow, where both head coach Jim Montgomery and general manager Don Sweeney will speak with media. They’ll most likely be speaking on the team’s first day of training camp, though Ty Anderson of Boston radio outlet 98.5 The Sports Hub reports that contract talks are picking up with RFA goaltender Jeremy Swayman. Swayman was left off of Boston’s initial training camp roster as he continues a contract standoff. He’ll be in for a major role when he does sign, with Boston dealing Vezina Trophy winner Linus Ullmark to the Ottawa Senators earlier this summer.

Canucks’ Dakota Joshua To Miss Start Of Camp After Surgery

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Vancouver Canucks forward Dakota Joshua has announced that he won’t be healthy for the start of training camp, after undergoing surgery to address a cancerous lump earlier this summer.

The top concern will be Joshua’s health, though a strong lineup role could await him when he returns. He clawed his way up Vancouver’s depth chart last season, scoring a career-high 18 goals and 32 points in 63 games – an 82-game pace of 42 points. He made an even bigger impact in the postseason, adding eight points and 74 hits in 13 games. Joshua became the go-to option when Vancouver’s stars weren’t on the ice. The Canucks put a price to their faith in him this summer, signing Joshua to a four-year, $13MM extension.

Joshua was drafted by Toronto in the fifth-round of the 2014 NHL Draft. He’d go onto serve a key role with the 2015 USHL Clark Cup-winning Sioux Falls Stampede, before a full four-year career at The Ohio State University. By the time he had graduated, much of Toronto’s front office had been overturned, leading the Leafs to deal Joshua to the St. Louis Blues for future considerations in 2019. He made his NHL debut one year later, fighting into 12 games on St. Louis’ fourth line. It wasn’t until his breakout year last season that Joshua finally earned a taste of top-nine minutes. He’ll look to continue in that role next season, finally planting his feet a the top level after a long path to the NHL.

Oilers Mutually Part Ways With Assistant GM Brad Holland

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The Edmonton Oilers won’t bring assistant general manager Brad Holland into the 2024-25 season, announcing the two sides have mutually parted ways. Holland was promoted to assistant GM in 2022, joining Keith Gretzky and Bill Scott in supporting Oilers GM Ken Holland, Brad’s father. Edmonton chose not to extend Ken’s contract at the end of the season, ending his five-year tenure as the team’s GM and President of Hockey Operations. They’ve since replaced him with longtime Chicago Blackhawks’ GM Stan Bowman, making his return to the NHL.

Brad started his career in hockey in 2006, joining NHL.com as a writer and video editor while attending Fordham University of Law. He left that role in 2013, briefly practicing law before Toronto Maple Leafs’ president Branden Shanahan convinced him to join the Leafs as a team manager in 2015. Holland signed a two-year deal, using the time to build up a strong understanding of hockey analytics and scouting. He’d go on to work with NHL Central Scouting registry, before ultimately reuniting with his father in 2019, when he joined Edmonton as a pro scout. He continued to support Edmonton’s pro and amateur scouting throughout this season, becoming known for his in-depth, analytical approach to scouting, earning him credit as Edmonton used trades to build up their forward depth and prospect pool.

Holland will now join his father in looking for a new role. Brad offers eight years of experience in front offices, where his unique approach to scouting and team-building left an impact. He’s likely to find a new home soon – and could even be enticed to join Edmonton’s Western Conference foe, the Dallas Stars, where his uncle Dennis serves as an amateur scout.

Panthers Sign John Leonard To PTO

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After inking Matt Luff to a tryout last week, the Panthers aren’t done dipping their toes into the PTO market. They’ve also signed forward John Leonard to a tryout, per their training camp roster released Tuesday.

Leonard, 26, already has a contract for 2024-25 with Florida’s AHL affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers. He’ll remain in the organization even if he doesn’t land an NHL deal from his PTO.

Leonard’s PTO allows the Panthers to get some early looks at him in training camp instead of waiting until after the AHL’s regular season starts to decide whether to rip up his minor-league pact for a two-way NHL deal. He’d settled on joining the Florida organization early in free agency, inking his deal with the Checkers on July 2 instead of holding out hope for a two-way offer from a different NHL team.

A sixth-round pick of the Sharks in 2018, Leonard has bounced around frequently in his brief professional career. He turned pro with San Jose in 2020 following his junior season at UMass, settling into a full-time NHL role in his first professional season.

Leonard didn’t earn any Calder Trophy consideration, but he was a serviceable depth winger for the Sharks, posting 13 points in 44 games with a -7 rating. He failed to lock down a full-time roster spot with the Sharks the following year, though, spending most of 2021-22 with the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda.

Since then, he’s suited up with a different NHL organization every year. He split 2022-23 between the Predators and AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals before spending 2023-24 with the Coyotes and AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners. He’s logged just 26 NHL appearances total since his 44-game rookie season.

The likelihood of him landing a two-way deal with Florida is high, given they have four open contract slots and he’s seen NHL ice in each of the past four seasons. He’s been a serviceable top-six presence in the minors, posting 110 points in 177 career AHL contests. He also has six goals and 17 points in 70 NHL games.

Maple Leafs Sign Jon Gillies To PTO

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Free agent goaltender Jon Gillies will look to land a contract during Maple Leafs training camp on a professional tryout, the team announced Tuesday.

Gillies, 30, has 35 games of NHL experience in parts of four seasons with the Flames, Blues, Devils, and Blue Jackets. He hasn’t appeared in a game at the top level since 2022-23, when he posted a 1-1-0 record, .864 SV%, and a 4.57 GAA in two starts and one relief appearance for Columbus.

A Calgary third-round pick back in 2012, Gillies took last season off after evidently not receiving any NHL or AHL offers. He landed with the Coyotes on a two-way deal in the summer of 2022, posting a subpar .878 SV% in 15 games for their AHL affiliate in Tucson before being traded to the Blue Jackets around the trade deadline.

A fringe No. 3 netminder at best, Gillies owns an 8-16-3 record, 3.39 GAA, and .891 SV% in his NHL minutes. He’s fared significantly better in the AHL, where he has a 2.94 GAA, .904 SV%, nine shutouts, and a 78-71-32 record in 184 appearances across eight professional seasons.

If he lands a contract with Toronto, it’ll either be a two-way deal or an AHL contract with their affiliate, the Toronto Marlies. At highest, he would slot fifth on their goaltending depth chart behind Joseph Woll, veteran NHLers Anthony Stolarz and Matt Murray, and AHL All-Star Dennis Hildeby.

Atlantic Notes: Seider, Regula, Panthers

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All eyes are now on Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider after his restricted free agent counterpart inked an eight-year, $64.6MM extension on Monday to stick in Detroit long-term. Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman still doesn’t have Seider signed for this season on the eve of training camp but told reporters Tuesday he doesn’t think the two sides “are terribly far apart” on an agreement (via Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press).

Detroit has $8.75MM in projected cap space left for a Seider deal, per PuckPedia. That should be enough to get a long-term deal done, and although it would be a tight fit, they would be cap-compliant with a full 23-man roster.

David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reported earlier this month that the Red Wings were hammering out a long-term deal with Seider, but Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet wrote Monday that Yzerman might be reluctant to hand out an eight-year max deal.

Such a contract would certainly follow the recent league-wide trend of locking up core defenders to long-term deals immediately following their entry-level contract, though. A price tag similar to Raymond’s would put him in company with a pair of Atlantic Division rivals in Buffalo’s Owen Power and Ottawa’s Jake Sanderson while keeping Detroit with some financial wiggle room for now.

There’s more from the Atlantic:

  • The Bruins will be without depth defenseman Alec Regula when training camp opens Wednesday, per Mark Divver of NHL.com and the New England Hockey Journal. The 24-year-old is still recovering from a “lower-body procedure.” He wasn’t expected to contend for an opening-night roster spot, but a full training camp could have helped put him higher on the list of potential in-season call-ups. The 2018 third-round pick had 26 points and a league-leading +36 rating in 55 games for the AHL’s Providence Bruins last season after being acquired from the Blackhawks in the Taylor Hall trade over the summer.
  • The Panthers will be staying in their current Sunrise home for at least the next nine years after reaching a lease extension with Broward County today, the team relayed to reporters (including Colby Guy of Pucks and Palms and the Associated Press). It’s a five-year extension on their current lease at Amerant Bank Arena, which was due to expire in 2028. The agreement also includes two additional five-year extension options that could keep them there through as late as 2043.

Stars, Esa Lindell Agree To Five-Year Extension

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The Stars have signed defenseman Esa Lindell to a five-year contract extension worth $26.25MM, the team announced Tuesday. It will kick in next season and keep him in Texas through the 2029-30 season.

That works out to a $5.25MM cap hit, a slight decrease in average annual pay from the six-year, $34.8MM extension with a $5.8MM cap hit he signed in 2019 to keep him off the RFA market. He’s entering the final season of that deal. His extension carries a no-trade clause from 2025-26 through 2027-28 and a 20-team no-trade list in the 2028-29 and 2029-30 campaigns. The full breakdown is as follows, per PuckPedia:

2025-26: $4MM base salary, $2.5MM signing bonus
2026-27: $4MM base salary, $2.5MM signing bonus
2027-28: $4.25MM base salary, $1MM signing bonus
2028-29: $4MM base salary
2029-30: $4MM base salary

With restricted free agent Thomas Harley still unsigned with one day to go until training camp, it’s not the contract news Stars fans were expecting regarding a top-four defender. But it is a critical piece of business to keep Lindell, one of the league’s premier stay-at-home defensemen for the better part of the last decade, in Dallas past this season.

Despite being 6’3″ and 220 lbs, Lindell isn’t a bruiser by any stretch. In fact, he’s viewed as one of the more gentlemanly players in the league, finishing in the top 25 in Lady Byng Trophy voting in each of the past three years.

His shutdown game is one of awareness and strong skating ability to maintain positioning while defending the rush or back-checking. He was deployed heavily in defensive situations last year at even strength, logging 62.5% of his in-zone starts in his own end, and still managed to control 53.7% of expected goals.

The 30-year-old Finn consistently has below-average shot-attempt shares, but he serves as a prime example of why CF% is rarely an end-all-be-all to determine how well a player controls possession. He may bleed low-danger chances but rarely lets high-danger chances reach the Dallas net.

Lindell isn’t a non-factor offensively, either. He’s logged more than 20 points in each of the past three years, posting five goals and 21 assists for 26 points in 82 games last season. He’s extremely durable, too, having not missed a regular-season game since the 2021-22 campaign.

His ice time has been bumped down to more conservative levels ever since Peter DeBoer took over behind the bench for Rick Bowness in the 2022 offseason, though. After a half-decade of consistently seeing north of 22 minutes per game, Lindell’s averaged 20:12 over the past two seasons.

Lindell will be again tasked with anchoring Dallas’ second pairing this season, although there will be a bit of a competition for who ends up as his right-shot partner. UFA signings Mathew Dumba and Ilya Lyubushkin are expected to contend for the role, replacing 2024 trade-deadline rental Chris Tanev.

The Stars now have $37.5MM in projected cap space for the 2025-26 season, per PuckPedia, assuming an upper limit of $92MM. That figure only accounts for 10 players, though, with most of their forward group (and star goaltender Jake Oettinger) slated for RFA or UFA status next summer.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

ESPN’s Kevin Weekes was first to report the signing.

Hurricanes Sign Sam Gagner, Rocco Grimaldi To PTOs

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Sep. 17: The Hurricanes listed Gagner on their training camp roster today, confirming the PTO. They’re also adding veteran depth forward Rocco Grimaldi on a tryout. Grimaldi, 31, has 67 points in 203 career NHL games but hasn’t played at the top level since seeing brief action with Nashville in 2021-22. He spent last season with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves, once again the Hurricanes’ affiliate, after spending last year as an independent club, leading them with 36 goals and 73 points in 72 games.

Sep. 10: The Carolina Hurricanes are expected to sign veteran forward Sam Gagner to a professional try-out, per PuckPedia. Gagner is a veteran of 17 NHL seasons, making his debut with the Edmonton Oilers in 2007 after going sixth overall in the 2007 NHL Draft. He’s gone on to play for seven different NHL clubs throughout his career and will have a chance to add an eighth on this PTO.

Gagner made his NHL debut at 18 –  ultimately earning 13 goals and 49 points as a rookie while filling a consistent second-line role. He proceeded to fill that role and match that production through the next 11 seasons, persisting through tours around the Pacific and Metropolitan Divisions. He was a reliable glue piece for lineups in flux and continued to find NHL relevancy even after his production started to dip. However, injuries have proven fickle throughout his later years, with the 2021-22 campaign standing as Gagner’s only full season since 2016-17. He’s most recently coming off a double-hip surgery in March of 2023 – a deal that ended his 2022-23 season early, though he did manage to appear in 29 games and score 10 points last season.

Gagner is far from his days of a guaranteed lineup spot due to both health and performance. But he brings the experience of a 1,000-game pro who’s played through two decades of NHL hockey. He’s scored 27 points across his last 82 career games, though that stretches back to the 2021-22 season. Still, it’s not unreasonable to think Gagner could manage one more respectable season before facing retirement. He’ll look to begin proving that at Carolina’s training camp if he indeed signs a try-out deal.

Metropolitan Notes: Crosby, Ovechkin, Broz

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Sidney Crosby’s extension structure could help open the door to a trade deadline move in 2027 if the Penguins aren’t competitive in the final year of his new deal, Rob Rossi of The Athletic writes.

The two-year, 35+ extension Crosby signed yesterday will be paid out mostly via signing bonuses – $15.53MM of its $17.4MM total value, to be exact. That means his base salary for the final year of the contract is just $1.09MM, per PuckPedia.

By the time the trade deadline rolls around in March 2027, Crosby would only cost roughly $240K in actual cash to any team hoping to bring the generational talent to their city for a Stanley Cup run. It would also be a relatively cheap proposition for a team to acquire Crosby during the 2026 offseason after his $6.53MM signing bonus is paid out on July 1, especially if the Penguins retained half his salary to reduce his cap hit to $4.35MM, as Rossi points out.

While core piece Kris Letang is signed through 2028, Crosby’s second-in-command at center Evgeni Malkin is now slated for free agency a year earlier than Sid in 2026. “If, after next season, one or both of his dear friends have moved on and the Penguins aren’t closer to winning their first playoff series since 2018, who would begrudge Crosby for wanting what could be his final NHL season to be a shot at the Cup somewhere else?“, Rossi wrote.

More from the Metropolitan Division:

  • Moving to Crosby’s longtime rival, Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin is no worse for wear after appearing to strain a muscle early in Monday’s informal skate, reports Sammi Silber of The Hockey News. Ovechkin, who turns 39 today, participated in another informal skate Tuesday with no apparent restrictions ahead of training camp beginning Wednesday. The 2004 first-overall pick enters the season 41 goals shy of Wayne Gretzky’s all-time record of 894.
  • Back to Pittsburgh, Penguins center prospect Tristan Broz is quickly pushing his way up the organizational depth chart amid a strong rookie camp performance, writes Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The Minnesota native, who turns 22 in October, was a second-round pick back in 2021 and will embark on his first professional season this fall after winning a national championship last season as a junior at the University of Denver. Broz finished fourth on the loaded Pioneers team in scoring with 40 points (16 G, 24 A) in 43 games. A spot on the opening night roster will be difficult to land, but he’s at least putting himself high on the list of potential in-season call-ups from AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

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