- Longtime NHL veteran Joe Pavelski appears to be moving quickly onto his next plans after retirement. The Pittsburgh Penguins TV play-by-play announcer, Josh Getzoff, reported today that Pavelski was at the team’s training camp with general manager Kyle Dubas and assistant general manager Jason Spezza. There has been no indication since the Penguins are considering Pavelski for a role in their front office but it may be a small insight into Pavelski’s future in the NHL.
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Penguins Rumors
Metropolitan Notes: Ovechkin, Sandin, Mayfield, Karlsson
While Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin avoided a new injury when he left an informal skate earlier this week, he’s still not 100%. Washington head coach Spencer Carbery said Thursday that Ovi is still “a little bit nicked up” from a minor injury he sustained while training over the summer and was slightly limited during the Caps’ first full camp practices yesterday (via NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti).
The 39-year-old isn’t concerned about it as he enters a campaign that could cement him as the NHL’s all-time goals leader. “You just have to be smart, and we talked about it with our trainers and the coaching staff,” he said. “So, I went [out] there just to see how I feel, and I feel nice out there. I was skating normal.”
Ovechkin needs 41 goals to tie Wayne Gretzky’s record of 894 career snipes and 42 to break it. Before dropping to 31 tallies last season, Ovechkin had 42 goals in 2022-23 and 50 in 2021-22 – putting some April 2025 history well within reach.
More from the Metropolitan Division:
- Sticking with the Caps, defenseman Rasmus Sandin is still absent from camp festivities Friday due to issues with his U.S. work visa, reports Sammi Silber of The Hockey News. The 24-year-old Swede had 23 points (3 G, 20 A) with a -13 rating in 68 games during his first entire season in Washington after being acquired from the Maple Leafs before the 2023 trade deadline. He projects to start the year as Washington’s No. 2 left-shot defenseman behind offseason trade pickup Jakob Chychrun after averaging a career-high 21:07 per game last season. Without a full slate of practices, Sandin appears unlikely to be able to play in the Caps’ preseason opener against the Flyers on Sunday.
- As expected, Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield is full go as training camp kicks off. He told Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News that his ankle “feels fine” after undergoing season-ending surgery to repair a fracture in March. Mayfield, 32 in October, sustained the break in the 2023-24 regular-season opener but played through it as best he could, posting five points and a -7 rating in 41 contests. It was an underwhelming start to the seven-year, $24.5MM contract he signed to stay an Islander for likely the rest of his career in July 2023.
- Penguins star defenseman Erik Karlsson is absent for the third straight day of camp with an upper-body injury, relays Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He remains labeled as day-to-day but should now be considered doubtful for Saturday’s preseason opener against the Sabres. The 34-year-old played in all 82 games last season in his first campaign as a Penguin, finishing fourth on the team in scoring with 56 points (11 G, 45 A).
Jaromír Jágr To Retire Following 2024-25 Season
The 2024-25 season will be 52-year-old Jaromír Jágr’s last playing professional hockey. The all-time great will retire following the 2024-25 season, he told Rob Rossi of The Athletic over the phone Thursday.
It’s been over six years since the Flames assigned Jágr to Rytíři Kladno in Czechia, his hometown club, to play out the back half of a one-year deal he signed with Calgary for the 2017-18 season. That marked the end of his 24-year, 1,733-game NHL career, but it didn’t signal the end of his days playing at the professional level.
Jágr has been Kladno’s majority owner since 2011. The Penguins’ fifth overall pick in 1990 played his first two professional seasons with the club in the Czechoslovak top league before being drafted. He also played there during NHL lockouts in 1994, 2004-05, and 2012.
But by the time Jágr returned during his age 45 season, Kladno had been demoted from the top-level Czech Extraliga to the country’s second-tier pro league. Since his return, though, Kladno has stayed in the Extraliga for five out of the last eight seasons. Jágr was a force in helping them gain their initial promotion back to the top level, scoring 10 goals in 11 qualification games in 2019 to boost them back to the Extraliga for the 2019-20 campaign.
Now in his 37th season of professional hockey, Jágr is understandably no longer a premier force on the ice. The right-winger was limited to 15 regular-season appearances for Kladno last year, posting four assists and a -4 rating. He was in the lineup for Kladno’s Extraliga regular-season opener Wednesday, though, posting an assist and a -1 rating in 14:26 of ice time. It was a promising showing after tearing his hamstring less than a month ago, putting his availability for yesterday’s game in doubt.
Jágr’s NHL résumé needs no introduction. He may have never lifted the Stanley Cup in his prime, only winning it back-to-back with Pittsburgh in his first two NHL campaigns, but he was a game-changing threat in the NHL’s most offensively challenging era. Jágr won five scoring titles, including four straight from 1998 to 2001, and also won the Pearson Award (now the Ted Lindsay Award) as the most outstanding player as selected by their peers on three occasions (1999, 2000, 2006).
On the NHL’s all-time leaderboard, Jágr ranks fourth in games played, fourth in goals (766), fifth in assists (1,155), and second in points (1,921). He’s also a member of the Triple Gold Club, powering the Czechs to a gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics and winning a pair of World Championship gold medals (2005, 2010).
While Jágr donned the sweater of nine NHL teams – the Penguins, Rangers, Capitals, Panthers, Devils, Flyers, Bruins, Stars, and Flames – he’ll always best be remembered for his peak years in Pittsburgh. That’s where he’ll likely return after his playing days are done next year. Rossi reported in May that the club was working to hire Jágr in a front-office role whenever he was ready to transition to the next chapter of his hockey career.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Penguins Sign Luke Richardson To PTO
The Pittsburgh Penguins have signed goaltender Luke Richardson to a professional try-out agreement, per Seth Rorabaugh of Tribune-Review Sports. Rorabaugh points out that Kain Tisi – the current goalie coach of the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton – coached him during his time with the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers.
Richardson, 25, is five years removed from his years in Kitchener, since spending three years at Queens University, signing with the AHL’s Belleville Senators at the tail-end of the 2022-23 season. That made last year Richardson’s first full pro season, though he only managed to slot into 12 games for the ECHL’s Greenville Swamp Rabbits. However, he won in seven of those appearances, while saving 298 of the 320 shots he faced (.931). That’s a strong way to start a career and continues Richardson’s reliability from college. He posted a combined .922 save percentage through 62 games and three seasons, per HockeyDB.
Richardson will now look to truly sink his teeth into a pro career under his former coach. He’ll step into a crowded Penguins goaltending room – joining Joel Blomqvist, Sergei Murashov, Taylor Gauthier, and Filip Larsson in the fight for AHL ice time. Winning out minutes over that bunch could be difficult, though even a full season as the ECHL backup could provide Richardson with an uptick in games. He’s stood tall in his pro appearances so far and may even end up a surprise of training camp if he stays locked in.
Erik Karlsson Out Day-To-Day With Upper-Body Injury
- The Pittsburgh Penguins were without top defenseman Erik Karlsson on the first day of training camp due to an upper-body injury (X Link). Head coach Mike Sullivan indicates the absence of Karlsson was only precautionary according to Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Karlsson is looking to rebound from a 56-point campaign during the 2023-24 NHL season and his offensive output should improve with David Quinn taking over the team’s powerplay coaching duties.
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Metropolitan Notes: Crosby, Ovechkin, Broz
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.
Metropolitan Notes: St. Ivany, Tuomaala, Duclair
Jack St. Ivany has the inside track at landing the third pairing right defense spot that will be up for grabs during Penguins training camp, opines Josh Yohe of The Athletic.
St. Ivany, 25, was a fourth-round pick of the rival Flyers in 2018 but didn’t sign with them following his senior season at Boston College in 2022. He instead landed in Pittsburgh as a free agent, signing a two-year, entry-level contract.
The California native reached the NHL last season after spending his first pro campaign entirely in the minors, recording an assist while averaging 13:42 per game over 14 contests over a late-season call-up. He didn’t have many visible mistakes, only logging three giveaways, although his overall defensive impact was questionable, with a -6.5 relative CF% at even strength in tough but not overwhelmingly difficult minutes.
But as Yohe points out, St. Ivany doesn’t have many legitimate challengers for the role, at least among right-shot defenders. Free agent addition Sebastian Aho could flip to his off-side and be a higher-upside option offensively if the Penguins wish, though.
St. Ivany signed a three-year, league-minimum extension back in May and has a two-way salary structure this year and next. He’s also still waiver-exempt, so if he falls behind off-handed competition like Aho and Ryan Shea during training camp, there’s nothing stopping Pittsburgh from assigning him to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton without incident.
More from the Metropolitan Division:
- Flyers prospect Samu Tuomaala remains absent from rookie camp and is listed as day-to-day with an undisclosed injury, per Jordan Hall of NBC Sports Philadelphia. The 21-year-old right-winger has two years remaining on his entry-level contract and is coming off an impressive first season with the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms, where he finished third in scoring with 43 points (15 G, 28 A) in 69 games. The 2021 second-round pick is destined for the Phantoms once again to open the season but should put himself under consideration for an NHL call-up and corresponding debut over the course of the season.
- The Islanders will indeed kick off camp with free agent signing Anthony Duclair riding shotgun on the top line with Mathew Barzal and Bo Horvat, head coach Patrick Roy told reporters today (via Stefen Rosner of NHL.com and The Hockey News). The 29-year-old Duclair did quite well in a similar role in a limited time for the Lightning after they acquired him from the Sharks at last year’s deadline, posting 15 points in 17 games next to their star-powered duo of Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov. The Isles signed Duclair, who’s averaged 21 goals and 43 points per 82 games throughout his career, to a four-year, $14MM deal on July 1.
Penguins Sign Sidney Crosby To Two-Year Extension
The Penguins have signed captain Sidney Crosby to a two-year, $17.4MM contract extension, the team announced. It carries a cap hit of $8.7MM.
Crosby’s deal will be paid out mostly in signing bonuses, per PuckPedia. He’ll earn $780K in base salary with a $9MM signing bonus in 2025-26 and a $1.09MM base salary with a $6.53MM signing bonus in 2026-27. As suspected, his contract includes a full no-move clause.
In an instant, a giant cloud that would have loomed over Pittsburgh’s training camp later this week dissipated. The two-year pact ends an unexpected extension saga that began two months ago after reports that Crosby and the Pens were finalizing a deal went unfulfilled.
Some anxiety returned when Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet said on the “32 Thoughts” podcast earlier this month that Crosby was still weighing multiple extension offers from the Penguins but had yet to put pen to paper because he wasn’t sure whether he’d be able to “handle” missing the playoffs on a retooling club while still performing at an elite level. The 37-year-old told Friedman last week that he was “pretty optimistic” an extension would be done before training camp.
The two-year length shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. It allows the Penguins more salary cap flexibility in the future should the aging curve finally come for Crosby, as alluded to by Friedman on Friday, and it also gives him another opportunity to move on from Pittsburgh in 2027 should the Penguins’ record not return to a meaningfully competitive level.
Entering his 20th season, Crosby is still the heart and soul of hockey in Pittsburgh. The 2005 first-overall pick finished ninth in both Hart and Selke Trophy voting last season after leading the Penguins in goals (42), assists (52), points (94), and shots on goal (278).
“There are no words to properly describe what Sidney Crosby means to the game of hockey, the city of Pittsburgh and the Penguins organization,” said general manager Kyle Dubas. “Sidney is the greatest player of his generation and one of the greatest players in the history of the game. His actions today show why he is one of hockey’s greatest winners and leaders. Sid is making a tremendous personal sacrifice in an effort to help the Penguins win, both now and in the future, as he has done for his entire career.”
Crosby could have become an unrestricted free agent for the first time next summer without an extension. The three-time Stanley Cup champion is entering the final season of the 12-year, $104.4MM mega-deal with an $8.7MM cap hit he signed in 2012. The first deal he signed following the expiry of his entry-level contract, a five-year, $43.5MM pact that covered from 2008-09 to 2012-13, also had an $8.7MM AAV.
He is still playing at a superstar level, yet this is a much more cost-effective contract for Pittsburgh than his previous ones. That first extension cost 15.34% of the cap when it went into effect in 2008, while today’s deal takes up just 9.89% of the salary cap at its start. That’s not to say his previous deals weren’t bargains, though – The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn estimates Crosby has left roughly $43MM on the table throughout his career by taking deals lower than market value.
Assuming a $92MM salary cap for 2025-26, the Pens have $23.3MM in projected cap space for next season with seven open roster spots, per PuckPedia. They only have one notable pending RFA, fresh trade pickup Cody Glass. But there’s a decent slate of pending UFAs on Pittsburgh’s books, headlined by defenseman Marcus Pettersson. Those extension talks are expected to shift into high gear with Crosby’s deal becoming official.
Crosby sits 21st in league history in goals (592), 14th in assists (1,004), 10th in points (1,596), and eighth in points per game (1.25) among players with at least 500 appearances. The latter is the most telling stat, with concussions costing ’Sid The Kid’ a good chunk of his prime in the early 2010s. He was rightfully named among the 100 greatest players in NHL history during the league’s centennial celebration in 2017.
The Penguins have missed the playoffs in back-to-back seasons, their first time outside the playoff picture since Crosby’s rookie season in 2006. Both sides hope Crosby’s discount deal helps them return to form.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Snapshots: Crosby, Ullmark, Perfetti
Elliotte Friedman spoke on his 32 Thoughts podcast about Sidney Crosby’s contract negotiations with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Friedman believes that Crosby will sign a short-term deal because he doesn’t want to leave the Penguins in a difficult salary cap situation if his play was to fall off. Friedman adds that he has talked to sources who’ve said that Crosby doesn’t want to do anything that would affect the long-term outlook for the Penguins or his legacy with the team. Crosby is coming off one of the finest seasons ever for a 36-year-old after posting 94 points in 82 games and appears more open to playing into his 40s, however, no one knows if that is his intention.
In other news from around the NHL:
- Elliotte Friedman reported on the 32 Thoughts podcast that the Boston Bruins traded Linus Ullmark to the Ottawa Senators before signing Jeremy Swayman, because they were concerned that if they waited until July, Ullmark could change his no-trade list and put Ottawa on it. Boston did not have to ask the former Vezina Trophy winner for permission to move him to the Senators, however, it did create a situation where they now rely solely on Swayman for starting goaltending this season, which could be problematic if Swayman misses any length of time due to a contract dispute.
- The Winnipeg Jets and forward Cole Perfetti appear to have a gap in the financials regarding the 22-year-old’s contract extension (as per Elliotte Friedman). Perfetti is reportedly negotiating a bridge deal with the Jets, and while they appear to be on the same page with regard to terms, the two sides have room between them when it comes to dollars. Perfetti is coming off his third NHL season and posted 19 goals and 19 assists last year in 71 games while averaging just 13:35 of ice time per game. He was benched down the stretch last season but does seem poised for a breakout this year, particularly if he can continue to generate chances in the offensive zone and post good defensive numbers.
Metropolitan Notes: Howe, Hurricanes, Kolosov
Pittsburgh Penguins forward prospect Tanner Howe will reportedly not take part in the prospect challenge event that is taking place in Buffalo this weekend due to an injury (as per Seth Rorabaugh of Tribune-Review Sports). Howe is dealing with a facial injury that will keep him out of action in the short term, although he is being called day to day. No specifics of the facial injury were released.
Howe was selected by the Penguins in the second round of this year’s NHL entry draft (46th overall) and was quickly signed to an ELC in early July. The 18-year-old will likely return to Regina to captain the Pats once again this season and shouldn’t face any issues with the injury as it isn’t expected to be a long-term concern.
In other Metropolitan Division notes:
- The Carolina Hurricanes unveiled development plans today that are expected to create a Raleigh Sports and Entertainment District that will surround Carolina’s home PNC Arena. Pacific Elm Properties and Gale Force Sports and Entertainment formally announced the plans that will see the redevelopment of the 80-acre site into a $1B mixed-use development. The new area will provide dining and entertainment options for fans of both the Hurricanes and nearby North Carolina State basketball as well as sports tailgating and programming, including a large 4300-seat music venue. Work on the project is expected to begin in December 2025.
- Philadelphia Flyers goaltending prospect Alexei Kolosov will reportedly not be taking part in the team’s 2024 rookie training camp that starts tomorrow (as per Jordan Hall of NBC Sports). The news likely means that the 22-year-old will not be part of the team’s main camp and leaves his status up in the air heading into the 2024-25 season. Reports had leaked earlier in the summer that Kolosov may return to the KHL because of issues adapting to life in North America after he spent a month in the AHL with the Flyers affiliate. Kolosov has signed his entry-level deal with the Flyers and the team expects him to play in North America this season, but his absence from rookie camp further complicates the situation between the player and team.