NHL insider Chris Johnston has made his latest trade board for The Athletic, and it featured two Chicago Blackhawks: defenseman Connor Murphy and goaltender Laurent Brossoit.

Seeing Murphy make Johnston's trade board is not necessarily surprising. The veteran blueliner is a pending unrestricted free agent (UFA), and the Blackhawks have a ton of young promising defensemen in their system. Due to this, it certainly is possible that the Blackhawks could shop Murphy as we inch closer to the trade deadline. 

Murphy should generate interest from contenders, as he is a big right-shot defenseman with who is reliable and has plenty of experience. In 33 games this season, Murphy has posted three assists, 29 hits, and 46 blocks. 

As for Brossoit, it is no secret that the Blackhawks have been working to find him a new home. The veteran goaltender recently cleared waivers, but Johnston noted that Brossoit still could generate trade interest, especially if the Blackhawks are willing to retain some of his $3.3 million salary. In three games this season with the Rockford IceHogs, he has posted a 2-1-0 record, a .900 save percentage, and a 3.39 goals-against average. 

Brossoit could be a nice pickup for a team that needs help at the backup position if he stays healthy. 

ST. PAUL, Minn - The Minnesota Wild (20-9-5) returned to the ice on Tuesday against the Washington Capitals (18-11-4). 

There was a record that was broken in that game.

Kirill Kaprizov has now set a Wild franchise record in the win over the Capitals. He entered the game with zero goals and zero career points in five games against the Capitals but walked out with a record.

With his power-play goal in the second period, Kaprizov now has 70 career power-play goals. It was his 21st goal of the year and his eighth power-play goal this season. 

Kirill Kaprizov is the new @mnwild franchise leader in power-play goals! 💚 pic.twitter.com/5QgelsZKSQ

— NHL (@NHL) December 17, 2025

Since entering the NHL in 2020-21, Kaprizov and Alex Ovechkin were tied for the most goals by a Russian skater. Kaprizov broke that tie in a game against Ovechkin.

Kaprizov: 206 goals in 353 games

Ovechkin: 205 goals in 372 games

Since it was his 206th career goal, Kaprizov passed Mikko Koivu (205) for the second most in franchise history. He sits 13 back of Marian Gaborik (219) for the franchise record.

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The big story of the day in town on Tuesday was the Montreal Canadiens’ decision to send Samuel Montembeault down to the Laval Rocket on a conditioning stint, which was no doubt prompted by the fact that Jacob Fowler has shown he can already do the job with the Habs. As a result, the 21-year-old netminder got his first home start against the Philadelphia Flyers.

That development took some of the spotlight away from the fact that Mike Matheson would be missing the game with an upper-body injury, but that came back to the forefront when Jayden Struble was slotted in to play on the top pairing alongside Noah Dobson.

Canadiens: Montembeault Sent Down To Laval For Conditioning Purposes
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A Golden Opportunity

As is always the case in pro sports, one man’s injury is another one’s opportunity. With Matheson sidelined, Arber Xhekaj was back in the lineup, joining Struble and Adam Engstrom. That was an opportunity for the three defensemen to show that they deserve to be in the lineup when the injured players return, but not everyone seized it.

Xhekaj looked nervous on the ice, and 12 minutes into the first frame, he made an ill-advised pass, which turned into a giveaway. Nothing came of it, but it didn’t go unnoticed. On his next shift, he was unable to handle a routine pass, and it turned out to be his last shift of the period. Every other defenseman saw some ice time on the penalty kill, but not Xhekaj.

While he does bring something special to the lineup with his grit and physicality, he cannot rely solely on that to ensure his presence in the lineup. He really needs to clean up those mistakes that keep happening too often. Since being called up, Engstrom has played a cleaner game than the young veteran, and with 2:49 left in the first frame, he got to play a first shift with Lane Hutson. It might have been because Xhekaj was sitting, but it does show that the coach appreciates his work.

That being said, I don’t believe Struble is having a better season than Xhekaj; his mistakes are not as obvious or frequent.

Late Goals Are Gut Punches

Whoever is in net, one thing that never helps a team is to let in late goals. Through 40 minutes, the Flyers were leading 3-1, and two of their goals came with less than a minute left in the first two frames. That’s a momentum killer if there ever was one, especially when it comes 40 seconds after taking the lead. That Carl Grundstrom goal was the result of yet another defensive snafu, though, so it’s not entirely on Fowler, but the goaltender is there to stop the pucks and to fix mistakes as well.

As for the goal that made it 3-1, that one was on Fowler; he came out of his net to handle the puck behind the goal line and just left it, thinking his defenseman would collect it, but he hadn’t seen Matvei Michkov coming. The Russian fed Bobby Brink in front of the net, and just like that, the Habs were down 3-1. Of course, one could say there was a breakdown in communication between the goaltender and his defensemen, but still, Fowler cannot do that. That’s a mistake he’s not likely to repeat anytime soon.

Lil rookie mistake by Fowler leads to a Flyers goal 😅 pic.twitter.com/DaEqdndSdH

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) December 17, 2025

Not The Same Without Matheson

The Canadiens better hope that the veteran blueliner isn’t out long-term, because they missed him greatly tonight. Lane Hutson had to shoulder much of the load and spent over 27 minutes on the ice, which is a lot even by his standards. However, in his post-game press availability, coach Martin St-Louis explained he felt his team’s attack struggled tonight because it didn’t use its blueliners enough:

I felt like we died with the puck in the offensive zone because we weren’t using our defensemen. It’s a team that plays really tight in front of the net, and if you don’t use your blueliners, you’re playing three-on-five. It’s something we talked about before the game as well; we had trouble sending the puck up the zone. When you do that, you force those teams that are compact in front of the net to deploy themselves, and then you can attack more on the inside.

That’s a fair point, and it may go some way toward explaining the lack of shots in the first two periods, but this has now become a trend. You’re rarely going to win a game when you’ve had a total of 10 shots on net after 40 minutes.

Asked for his thoughts on Adam Engstrom, whom he’s now seen in a few games, the bench boss said:

Obviously, he’s a great skater. I just think he plays the game that’s in front of him. I don’t think he’s intimidated by the NHL; he just plays the game. I think he’s a confident kid, and he can do a lot on the ice. He doesn’t seem too worried out there, so not only has he got a lot of tools, but he’s also got the confidence behind the tools.

The pilot was very pleased with his ability to make reads at high speed, which bodes well for the young man’s future.

The Canadiens will practice in Brossard at 11:30 on Wednesday before leaving for their traditional children’s Christmas hospital visit at 1:30 PM. They'll play their next game on Thursday night at home against the Chicago Blackhawks, who will be without injured star Connor Bedard.

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The Detroit Red Wings owed the New York Islanders for their previous two losses in which they were outscored 12-2. 

Forward Alex DeBrincat, one of the hottest goal scorers in the NHL right now, made sure that New York wouldn't enjoy a third straight win over Detroit. 

He scored his 19th and 20th goals of the season, both on the power-play, in the third period of what would ultimately be a 3-2 Red Wings victory at Little Caesars Arena on Tuesday evening. 

Not only did DeBrincat reach the 20-goal mark for the sixth consecutive season, but he also became the fastest Red Wings player to reach the plateau since Henrik Zetterberg in 2007-08, the most recent season in which they won the Stanley Cup. 

What's been going right for him? As the old adage goes, just get pucks on net. 

"Just shooting the puck a lot, I think," DeBrincat said. "Obviously playing with great players who get me the puck in good situations, and I'm just trying to pull the trigger as much as I can. Luckily, two went in today and hopefully it keeps going." 

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The Red Wings have not had a 40-goal scorer since Marian Hossa reached that mark during his first and only season in Detroit in 2008–09.

Following their devastating Game 7 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2009 Stanley Cup Final, Hossa signed with the Chicago Blackhawks and went on to win the Stanley Cup three times alongside current Red Wings forward Patrick Kane from 2010 to 2015.

Kane later developed an instant chemistry with DeBrincat during their time in Chicago, a special bond that they now share as members of the Red Wings. 

Head coach Todd McLellan made no secret about the fact that he appreciates the competitive nature of DeBrincat, and that it rubs off on the rest of his teammates. 

“His competitiveness rubs off on everybody else and his ability to shoot it into the net is second to none, so that combination is great," McLellan said. "He does so many other things that he almost drags the rest of the group into the game. That’s a good thing for us.”

Currently, DeBrincat is on pace to reach 48 goals, which would be the highest number by a Red Wings player since Brendan Shanahan scored 46 goals following his trade to Detroit in October 1996. 

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