As they fight to keep their series with the Carolina Hurricanes competitive, the Philadelphia Flyers are walking a fine line managing a myriad of untimely injuries.
Most notable of all is that of Owen Tippett, who has not played for the Flyers since their 1-0 Game 6 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on April 29.
After morning skate, head coach Rick Tocchet told attending media that Tippett will again be unavailable for the Flyers ahead of Game 3 against the Hurricanes on Thursday night.
But, Tippett isn't the only important Flyers forward dealing with some issues.
Top-six center Christian Dvorak is a game-time decision, according to Tocchet, but the general expectation is that the 30-year-old will be available for the Flyers.
Dvorak is one of many forwards who could benefit from a greasy goal at some point; he has zero goals in eight playoff games despite his 15 shots on goal and three assists.
Dvorak had four goals in his previous 14 playoff games with Arizona and Montreal, so he's due for some positive regression in front of goal.
As we now know, the Flyers are going to be without center Noah Cates for the remainder of this series, so now is as good a time as any for Dvorak to step up with some offensive production.
The Flyers could also turn to top prospect Jett Luchanko, but inserting him into the lineup fresh off the end of his OHL season would be a tall task. Perhaps he is called on to gain some experience if the team loses Game 3 and falls into a 3-0 series hole.
At the Hurricanes' morning skate, it was reported that Nikishin skated on a defense pair with former Flyers defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere, with his replacement, Mike Reilly, getting bumped down to a makeshift fourth pair with forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi.
The 24-year-old Russian sat out the previous two games after absorbing a massive hit from Ottawa Senators defenseman Tyler Kleven in Game 4 of Round 1 of the playoffs.
On paper, the Flyers are getting weaker, while the Hurricanes are getting stronger and healthier. Philadelphia sorely misses Tippett's speed and physicality, but it was clear even before his absence that he was not particularly close to 100%.
That kind of speed helps to create chances against an aggressive Carolina forecheck, but the Flyers will have to come up with some other solutions to keep the series alive on Thursday night.
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Sabres forward Ryan McLeod didn’t mind fielding questions about Buffalo’s power-play production.
A unit that converted just 1 of 24 opportunities in its six-game first-round playoff series against Boston went from being anemic to prolific in a 4-2 second-round series-opening win against Montreal.
Buffalo finished 2 of 3 with the man advantage against the Canadiens. McLeod scored on the Sabres’ second opportunity before setting up Bowen Byram’s goal on the next one to build a 4-1 lead.
“Maybe keep asking, if we’re going to keep scoring now,” McLeod said with a laugh to reporters. “Sometimes they go in, sometimes they don’t. But it’s a process of building it and getting your look. So I think, we got them tonight.”
The Sabres host Game 2 of the series.
Buffalo’s power play was so bad in the first round, the Sabres’ 4.2% conversion rate was tied for 865th out of 897 teams that had 20 or more opportunities in a playoff series since 1978. The struggles actually carried over from the final seven regular-season games during which the team went 0 for 22.
“It was hit or miss throughout the last couple of games there, and tonight was one of those nights where we had to get more pucks back in retrievals,” Josh Doan said.
Though Buffalo’s top unit, featuring Tage Thompson and Rasmus Dahlin, had difficulty generating offensive-zone pressure against Montreal, the second unit delivered.
Doan played a key role in setting up McLeod’s power-play goal to put Buffalo ahead 2-0 with a power-play goal 13:26 into the first period.
Doan won a puck battle in front of the Canadiens’ net by pushing the puck into an open spot to the left, where teammate Zach Benson immediately fed a pass through the crease to set up McLeod.
Then it was McLeod’s turn, setting up Byram’s goal 9:01 into the second period. After batting down Mike Matheson’s clearing attempt, McLeod chased down the puck and fed Byram, who scored from between the circles.
“Just trying to keep it in the zone any way I could,” McLeod said. “I just kind of get a little lucky sometimes, but it was nice to get that one.”
A change in opponent may have benefited the Sabres.
Montreal finished the regular season ranked 18th with a 78.2% penalty-killing rate. And the Canadiens were coming off a seven-game, first-round series win over Tampa Bay in which the Lightning converted 5 of 29 power-play opportunities.
Montreal coach Martin St. Louis chalked up Buffalo’s power-play success to fortunate bounces.
“I felt like we killed pretty well on entries and stuff, and didn’t feel like they beat us with some of the looks that they like, so that’s a positive,” St. Louis said.
Sabres coach Lindy Ruff liked what he saw.
“We took advantage of some good breaks, made a couple of good plays,” Ruff said, noting Dahlin hit the crossbar on one opportunity.
The 2025-26 season has been nothing but positive for Florida Panthers winger Sandis Vilmanis.
The 22-year-old earned his first call-up to the NHL and locked down a role on the fourth line for 19 games while other Panthers forwards dealt with injuries. In his NHL stint, he notched three goals and five points, showing potential promise as a bottom-six winger.
Outside of the NHL, Vilmanis followed up his successful AHL rookie season in 2024-25 with a solid showing in his sophomore campaign. He finished with 17 goals and 38 points in 48 games.
The youngster also earned a spot on Latvia's Olympic team, but was unable to record any points in the four games he skated in.
Now, the former fifth-round pick in the 2022 NHL draft will represent Latvia at the 2026 IIHF Men's World Championship.
In a pre-tournament game, Vilmanis won player of the game, scoring two goals in a 3-2 win over Norway.
In his international career, Vilmanis has played for Latvia at the U-18s, World Junior Championship, and the Olympics. He is now set to add the World Championships to an already impressive resume.
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DENVER — The Colorado Avalanche are both deep and dynamic, and that unusual combination has the Minnesota Wild searching for answers to their opponent’s offensive onslaught.
“It’s one game at a time,” Wild forward Matt Boldy said after the Avalanche’s 5-2 win put Minnesota in a 2-0 hole in this second-round series. “It’s coming into the next game ready to go. Make our adjustments and be better. You don’t win a series with two wins. That’s our mind-set. You go in, we’re going to make adjustments.”
Not much has worked for the Wild so far as the Avalanche have pummeled both of their goaltenders, Jesper Wallstedt for eight goals in a 9-6 Game 1 and Filip Gustavsson for four more in Colorado’s Game 2 dominance.
The Avalanche’s 14 goals are the most in the first two games of a playoff series since the Calgary Flames scored 15 against the Los Angeles Kings in 1988.
Twelve Colorado players have scored so far, an NHL record for the first two games of a series, and 10 Avalanche players have multiple points in the series that resumes in St. Paul.
“It’s great. I mean, right now, that’s what you need,” defenseman Cale Makar said. “You need everybody contributing and we’re finding ways to do that. There’s a lot of jelling minds right now.”
Colorado coach Jared Bednar was asked if he realized he had this much firepower and depth.
“I was hoping we did,” Bednar said. “We’re getting it now, right, and it doesn’t mean we’re always going to get the depth scoring. But I think all of our lines and players are capable of producing. Players are going to go through hot streaks, cold streaks, but I also feel like playoff time when everything’s on the line, that could drag the best out of your group at times, and sometimes it can drag the worst out in your group.
“So it’s a consistency thing for me, but it’s all up in between the ears for me.”
After sweeping the Los Angeles Kings, who slowed things down and turned the high-flying Avs into defensive-minded stalwarts, Colorado has flashed its goal-scoring prowess against the Wild.
Scott Wedgewood set the tone for the rebound after allowing a half dozen goals in Game 1. He made 29 saves as he improved to 6-0 in his inaugural playoff run as a starter.
“Means we’re winning hockey games,” Wedgewood said. “I think, statistically, like I said, if we win 9-6, as long as we win, that’s all that matters this time of the year. It’s not always going to be pretty, like the other night, but just keep winning games, putting pucks on our board and go after the main thing.”
Great goaltending. Prolific scoring. Speed. Finesse. Physicality. It’s all working for Colorado.
“They’re a great team,” Boldy said. “They play super-fast, super-dynamic. Obviously they have some incredible players. The biggest thing is just staying above them and not giving them those odd-man rushes because obviously their pretty special players make special plays.”
Especially Avs captain Gabriel Landeskog and forward Nathan MacKinnon.
Landeskog is looking like his old, pre-injury self of 2022 before a right knee injury robbed him of three seasons. He had a goal and and assist in Game 2. MacKinnon scored a goal and assisted on two others.
MacKinnon joined some exclusive company with his third straight three-point playoff game. The only players to accomplish that feat over the last 40 years are Mikko Rantanen (2025), Leon Draisaitl (2022), Joe Pavelski (2010), Joe Sakic (1997) and Dennis Maruk (1986), according to NHL Stats.
“Just excited to play playoff hockey,” said MacKinnon, whose team has scored five or more goals in three straight postseason games for the fifth time in franchise history. “Obviously, the best time of year.”
Landeskog knows that feeling.
What brings out the best in him this time of year? That’s easy.
“It’s playoff hockey. It’s what you play for,” Landeskog said. “It’s what you think about through the dog days of the season. It’s what you think about when you’re training in the offseason. This is what it comes down to, so I think it’s about just leaving it all out there, really.”
The Pittsburgh Penguins announced two new contract extensions on Thursday morning.
They first announced that they had re-signed forward Connor Dewar to a two-year extension before announcing that they had brought back defenseman Ilya Solovyov on a one-year extension.
Solovyov's deal will run through the 2026-27 season and has an average annual value of $850K.
Solo secured 🤝
The Penguins have signed defenseman Ilya Solovyov to a one-year contract extension.
Solovyov started the 2025-26 season with the Colorado Avalanche and played in 16 games with them before he was traded to the Penguins. He played in 30 total games this season, compiling one goal and eight points.
He also played in three Stanley Cup Playoff games for the Penguins and skated on the third pair.
At the very least, Solovyov is a solid seventh defenseman and will have an opportunity to push for more playing time when the 2026-27 NHL season starts in October.
Game 1 of their second-round series didn’t go how the Montreal Canadiens hoped, as they lost the first game by a score of 3-2, despite only allowing 16 shots on net. Those who didn’t see the game and only checked the scoreline would be forgiven for thinking that Jakub Dobes had an off night, but that wasn’t the case.
The truth of the matter is, there wasn’t much the Czech goalie could have done on any of those goals. The first goal came on a three-on-one, and he certainly wasn’t to blame for that play. The second goal came on the power play after the Habs had broken the Buffalo Sabres' play, but the puck still got to Zach Benson’s stick, who easily found Ryan McLeod by the side of the net for an easy goal.
In the second frame, the Sabres scored early after fourth liner Jordan Greenway found himself with a golden opportunity when Alex Carrier failed to close him down and effectively screened his goaltender, just like Mike Matheson and Tyler Kozak, who were tangled in front of the net. Dobes couldn’t see a thing as the puck literally went through Carrier. If you’re going to take your goalie’s line of sight away, you need to block that puck. The final goal came on the power play from a great shot by Bowen Byram after Mike Matheson attempted to clear the puck through the middle of the ice.
Despite surrendering four goals on just 16 shots, Dobes battled all night to get a visual on the puck, and he wasn’t panicking. There’s a reason why Martin St-Louis didn’t replace him with Jacob Fowler. It wasn’t the time to do that; pulling him would only have messed with his confidence. Since claiming the number one job, Dobes hasn’t faltered, and the coach not pulling him was his way of showing him that he is their top guy and that he’s behind him. Asked about Dobes after the game, the coach said:
If you look at the first two goals, those are two goals he can’t do anything about. Dobes competed as he always does.
- St-Louis on Dobes
That’s a fair assessment. The goaltender was one of the most combative players for the Canadiens on Wednesday night, even if the scoreline suggests otherwise.
The Buffalo Sabres did not repeat the same mistakes they displayed in the opener of their first-round series against Boston late last month, struggling to find their energy until late in the third period, before scoring four goals in the final 10 minutes. The Sabres were energetic from the drop of the puck, put the Montreal Canadiens on their heels for the entire game, took an early 2-0 lead and remained in control in a 4-2 win in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semi-Final on Wednesday.
Josh Doan, Ryan McLeod, Jordan Greenway, and Bowen Byram scored for Buffalo, Zach Benson had assists on both first-period markers. Alex Lyon made 26 saves in his fourth win of the postseason.
"I think we wanted to emphasize on getting to their D early and trying to force turnovers, (Zach Benson) does an unbelievable job of that throughout every game," Doan said after the game. "(It was a) great start by him and it got the building on their feet."
Another trait from the first round that Buffalo did not repeat was their struggles with the man advantage. Although their top unit was still ineffective after going 1 for 24 against Boston, the Sabres second unit cashed in twice on three opportunities.
"It was one of those nights where we had to get more pucks back in retrievals. We were losing too many battles and too many easy one and dones," Doan said. "One series is over, off to the next, and we have two in this series already. So it's going well."
The pace of the series and the difference between the tight checking Bruins and the Canadiens seemed to be to Buffalo’s benefit in Game 1. Montreal never seemed to gather their equilibrium at any point during the game, even after Nick Suzuki cut the margin in half at the end of the first. The most glaring difference from their series victory over Tampa Bay was the mere mortality of Montreal goalie Jakub Dobes, who had a .923 save percentage and 2.03 GAA in seven games against the Lightning.
In Game 1, the Habs netminder allowed four goals on just 16 shots. Montreal’s top line of Suzuki, Cole Caufield, and Juraj Slavkovsky did combine for a power play marker, but did not have much of an impact at five-on-five, which might prompt Montreal coach Martin St. Louis to shake up his lines for Game 2 on Friday.
Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff indicated after the game that team captain Rasmus Dahlin, who was injured blocking a shot late in the third period, was fine after the game.
PITTSBURGH, PA - MARCH 31: Connor Dewar #19 of the Pittsburgh Penguins fights Jacob Bernard-Docker #25 of the Detroit Red Wings at PPG PAINTS Arena on March 31, 2026 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Joe Sargent/NHLI via Getty Images) | NHLI via Getty Images
The Penguins announced a pair of contract extensions on Thursday. Connor Dewar and Ilya Solovyov are impending free agents no longer with the news both have signed with Pittsburgh.
Dewey doubles down ✍️
The Penguins have signed forward Connor Dewar to a two-year contract extension.
The Pittsburgh Penguins have signed forward Connor Dewar and defenseman Ilya Solovyov to contract extensions, it was announced today by President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Kyle Dubas.
Dewar’s two-year contract extension runs through the 2027-28 campaign and his contract carries an average annual value of $2.25 million. Solovyov’s one-year contract extension runs through the 2026-27 season and carries an average annual value of $850,000.
Dewar, 26, had a career year with the Penguins in 2025-26, recording career highs across the board in goals (14), assists (16), points (30) and plus/minus (+16). His career-best plus-16 led all Penguins forwards and ranked third overall on the team. Dewar also added two goals in six playoff games, the first Stanley Cup Playoff goals of his career.
The 5-foot-10, 187-pound forward led all Penguins this season in total shorthanded time on ice (209:23) and on a per-game basis (2:41), helping the Penguins to the league’s sixth best penalty kill in 2025-26 at 81.4%. Dewar was also one of six players to score a shorthanded goal for Pittsburgh. No Penguins forward recorded more hits this season than Dewar’s 144, which also ranked third overall on the team.
Dewar has played five seasons in the NHL, split between Pittsburgh, Toronto and Minnesota from 2021-26. In 316 career games, he has registered 37 goals, 46 assists and 83 points.
Prior to his professional career, Dewar spent four seasons in the Western Hockey League from 2015-19 with the Everett Silvertips.
A native of The Pas, Manitoba, Dewar was originally drafted by Minnesota in the third round (92nd overall) of the 2018 NHL Draft.
Solovyov, 25, played in 30 NHL games in 2025-26 split between Colorado and Pittsburgh. He tallied three points (1G-2A) in 16 games with the Avalanche and had five assists in 14 games with the Penguins. His games played (30), goal (1), assist (7) and point (8) totals were all career highs. The 6-foot-3, 208-pound defenseman also made his Stanley Cup Playoffs debut in 2026, skating in three games for Pittsburgh.
The Mogilev, Belarus native has played parts of two seasons in the NHL, tallying 12 points (1G-11A) in 45 career regular-season games. In the AHL, he has skated in 232 career games split between the Calgary Wranglers and Colorado Eagles, recording 69 points (18G-51A). Solovyov has four points (2G-2A) in 22 career games in the Calder Cup Playoffs.
Dewar’s contract matches the cap hit ($2.25 million) for that of Blake Lizotte, who received a three-year extension earlier in the year. It’s a tidy raise off the $1.1 million that Dewar played under in 2025-26 season following a career-best season of scoring 14 goals and 30 points. Dewar also was one of the best players on the team in the playoffs, scoring two goals in the six games.
Solovyov will be back for depth and potentially to push for a regular lineup spot on the blueline next season. The defender showed an ability to play on either the left or right side and offers some size and puck moving ability for the team.
The Penguins still have more impending unrestricted free agents, including forward Evgeni Malkin, Anthony Mantha, Noel Acciari. Malkin’s camp was expected to reach out this week to the Penguins about when a meeting could be setup to discuss the star forward’s future.
PITTSBURGH, PA - DECEMBER 30: Ben Kindel #81 of the Pittsburgh Penguins skates against the Carolina Hurricanes at PPG PAINTS Arena on December 30, 2025 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Joe Sargent/NHLI via Getty Images) | NHLI via Getty Images
Nothing about the 2025-26 Pittsburgh Penguins went as anybody expected it to go.
When offseason began early in the summer of 2025, there was a belief that the team would not only be bad, but that it would be one of the worst teams in the NHL. There was a common theme nationally that there was only one team trying not to win this season, and the Penguins were it.
There was also an expectation that the Penguins were going to go extremely young with their roster and really kickstart a rebuild and youth movement.
As it turns out, the team actually won a lot. It more than a lot of the teams that were supposedly trying to win, and it won enough games that it made the playoffs for the first time in three years.
They also did not go as young as many people expected, still relying on a lot of players in their 30s to win games and get through the season.
It was not a traditional rebuilding year in that sense.
That does not mean it was not a rebuilding year, and it does not mean they did not attempt to go younger in a lot of areas with their roster.
They used more young players than at any point over the past five years, and received significantly more contributions from them than they have in recent years.
Some of them proved they were worthy of getting more playing time.
Some of them did not.
Some of them still have some work to do.
But a lot of young players got a look and had their opportunities.
First, let’s just look at how many “younger” players the Penguins used this season. I am counting “younger” players as anybody that was age 24 or younger when the 2025-26 season began.
The Penguins used 14 such players that totaled 289 man-games. Those players scored 51 goals, including 17 from Ben Kindel and the 18 that Egor Chinakhov scored following his addition from the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Here is how those numbers compare to the rosters the Penguins were using over the previous five seasons.
Season
Total Players
Total Man Games
Total Goals
2025-26
14
289
51
2024-25
8
132
13
2023-24
7
191
14
2022-23
8
200
19
2021-22
6
115
5
That is a lot more players, a lot more games, and especially a lot more goals. Considering where the Penguins farm system was as recently as a year-and-a-half ago, those might even be somewhat surprising numbers.
While that may not be as young as many people may have expected (or wanted … or hoped), there were a lot of variables that went into that.
They opened the season with two teenagers on the roster. One was ready for a full season in the NHL (Kindel) and one was not (Harrison Brunicke).
Rutger McGroarty’s season got off to a delayed start due to injury.
Ville Koivunen was on the opening night roster and received several extended looks, and instead of building on his strong finish to the 2024-25 season, he slowly morphed into a more modern-day version of Dominik Simon with elite possession-driving numbers but absolutely zero offense created.
With all of that said, let’s take a little closer look at the young players that contributed to the Penguins this season (in order of games played).
1. Ben Kindel (Age: 18, 77 games, 17 goals). By far the most significant development of the 2025-26 season for the Penguins. I am not sure we are giving his rookie season enough attention for how good it was and how promising it was for the long-term. Since the start of the 2007-08 season, here is the list of 18 or 19 year olds that played in at least 50 games, scored at least 15 goals, and had a shot attempt share of better than 52 percent.
Look at that list of players. Every single one of those guys developed into a top-line, high-level player. The worst player on there is Pierre-Luc Dubois. He basically had the Aleksander Barkov and Andrei Svechnikov 18-year-old rookie seasons. Those two guys were top-three picks. Kindel was the No. 11 overall pick. We still do not know what his actual ceiling is, but a two-way center that is already playing this sort of game at this age is something you can dream on. If you are not going to get a top-three pick you need to find some unexpected home runs somewhere else. This ball has not cleared the wall yet, but it looks and sounds really promising coming off the bat. The outfielders are moving back to the warning track and the wall, and they are not slowing down.
2. Egor Chinakhov (Age: 24, 43 games, 18 goals). The benefit of accumulating so many mid-round draft picks is it gives you the flexibility to roll the dice and take chances on players like this. Chinakhov arrived in Pittsburgh as a fascinating talent that looked lost in his previous environment. Getting a chance to play real minutes in Pittsburgh, around winning players, immediately unlocked something big in his game. Is he going to score on 17.3 percent of shots on goal over a full season? Probably not. But even if he gets down into the 12-15 percent range (which is not unthinkable given his shot) that is still a potential 25-30 goal-scorer over 82 games. You need that. That will play. I think I was even more impressed with his play away from the puck than his play with it, because that was supposed to be a problem. It was not. It would have been nice to see more from him in the playoffs, but I thought he was close to getting that breakthrough.
3. Ville Koivunen (Age: 22, 39 games, 2 goals) Not sure there was a bigger disappointment among the young players than Koivunen. I had high hopes for him at the start, especially given where he was starting in the lineup and what he did at the end of the 2024-25 season. I like the possession numbers he displayed. I like that when he was on the ice the play generally moved in the right direction. But too often he just seemed a split second too slow in getting his shot off, turning countless good looks into blocked shots that harmlessly went off the glass or into the netting above the glass. That’s not great. It may not seem like much, but that split second is the difference between dominating in the AHL and contributing in the NHL. Not giving up on him, but some of these guys are not going to pan out. He needs to show more next season. A lot more. He is more suspect than prospect right now.
4. Arturs Silovs (Age: 24, 39 games, .887 save percentage). What a weird year. It started with him getting a shutout on opening night in Madison Square Garden against Mike Sullivan in the New York Rangers. It ended with him giving the Penguins a fighting chance in the playoffs, thanks to him playing three consecutive mostly magnificent games. In between there were some wild highs and lows that had you alternating between, “Maybe this guy is a player,” to “how is this guy in the NHL?” No idea what he is or what he will be, but he is intriguing. Him and Sergei Murashov seem likely to share the next next season
5. Rutger McGroarty (Age: 21, 24 games, 3 goals). As mentioned above, his season started off poorly with him being sidelined due to injury. It was an uphill battle back from that. I actually really liked what we saw from him when he played and I figure he opens next season with a full-time NHL roster spot. I still like him a lot, and I think if you were going to argue for a young player to have received more of a look, this is the guy.
6. Elmer Soderblom (Age: 24, 20 games, 5 goals). Similar to Chinakhov in the sense that he is a talented player that did not seem to fit in his previous spot. The Penguins rolled the dice, and they may have found a useful bottom-six player. He arrived with little in the way of expectations (two goals in 39 games with the Red Wings will do that), and then tallied five goals and 10 total points in 20 regular season games with the Penguins, before adding a goal in the playoffs. When he realized he is bigger and stronger than every player on the ice on most shifts things really turned around for him.
7. Avery Hayes (Age: 23, 16 games, 5 goals). Given Noel Accairi seems to be on his way out I would suspect that Hayes is going to have the inside track on a fourth-line spot next season. He made an immediate impact with two goals in his NHL debut and was a bit hit-and-miss offensively after that. What was not hit-and-miss was the effort and his willingness to rattle cages. He at least put himself on the radar. Good first impression and something to build on.
8. Philip Tomasino (Age: 24, 9 games, 0 goals). When you take a chance on players like this you sometimes get Egor Chinakhov, and you sometimes get Philip Tomasino.
9. Harrison Brunicke (Age: 19, 9 games, 1 goal). Great first impression. He was not ready for the NHL just yet, and that is okay. He is a 19-year-old defenseman. It happens. Matthew Schaefer is the exception, not the rule. But he got a taste of life in the NHL, showed the potential, and is one of the prospects in the organization that you should be excited about.
10. Sergei Murashov (Age: 21, 5 games, .897 save percentage). If there is a young player in the organization that has superstar, franchise-changing ability, this is the guy. That is due both to the nature of his position (goalie) and the impact that can have on a team, as well as his talent and upside. I am not going to pretend to know what he is going to do next season because trying to guess or project goalie performance, and especially young goalie performance, is almost impossible. But the upside …. the upside is enormous. He only played five games in Pittsburgh, but we saw flashes of it. He has dominated the AHL the past two years. He is ready for his chance next season.
11. Owen Pickering (Age: 22, 4 games, 0 goals). I fear we are on bust watch. Given the makeup of the defense this season the fact this guy couldn’t even get any sort of look is discouraging. He seems to be way off the radar.
12. Samuel Poulin (Age: 24, 2 games, goals). Officially a bust. At least here. He was part of the Stuart Skinner-Tristan Jarry trade with the Edmonton Oilers.
13. Tristan Broz (Age: 23, 1 game, 0 goals). Other than McGroarty, I think this is the one young player in the organization that Penguins fans expected to see more of this season. He just never got a look in the NHL. Understandable given the forward depth, as well as the unexpected emergence of Kindel. Another strong year in the AHL, however.
14. Jake Livanavage (Age: 21, 1 game, 0 goals). He joined the organization so late in the season that there is really nothing to evaluate here. Intriguing prospect due to his skating.
It was not as young of a team as we expected, but they definitely worked in some players and found at least a couple of players that should have a future here.
For the first time since 2012, the Flyers will host a second-round playoff game.
The last time the Flyers made the second round was 2020, but those playoffs were in the bubble because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Rick Tocchet’s club faces the Hurricanes on Thursday at Xfinity Mobile Arena for Game 3 of this best-of-seven matchup. The Flyers trail Carolina 2-0 in the series.
“We’ve got to physically invest tonight,” Tocchet said, “and I think the crowd will help us physically invest.”
Coverage begins at 7:30 p.m. ET with Flyers Pregame Live on NBC Sports Philadelphia+. Puck drop is scheduled for around 8 p.m. ET on TNT. Flyers Postgame Live will follow immediately after the game on NBCSP+.
Rick Tocchet has really liked Denver Barkey at center, said he hasn’t been a liability at all defensively. Has liked his offensive smarts.
When Flyers needed help at center a few weeks ago, Keith Jones told Tocchet to not be afraid to try Barkey there. They’ve liked it so far. pic.twitter.com/SndrNp6h7P
There’s more space on the ice in the Montreal Canadiens’ series against the Buffalo Sabres than there was against the Tampa Bay Lightning. It showed on Wednesday night. Ivan Demidov was more visible and created interesting plays at even strength, but there was no one to complete the plays.
While Jake Evans is a good player, he is not, and should not be used as a second-line center. Of course, the fact that he won nine of his 13 faceoffs for a 69.2% success rate allowed the line to get puck possession, but he doesn’t have the finishing touch needed to play with the Russian rookie.
The top six might have failed to produce last night, but both lines showed that they are more suited to that brand of hockey than to the one played against Tampa. I don’t believe taking Juraj Slafkovsky away from the top line would be the way to go, not yet, anyway. The Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki, and Slafkovsky line generated nine shots on net.
For now, it could be a good move to bring Oliver Kapanen back in the lineup and have him play alongside Demidov and Alex Newhook. Granted, the Finn didn’t do much in his five games against Tampa, but it could be interesting to see what he can do against Buffalo in a speedier kind of game. Whichever way you look at it, the rookie had 22 goals in the regular season, two of which were scored against the Sabres.
Of course, bringing Kapanen back in the lineup would mean scratching someone to make room, but at this stage, with what Demidov is showing, it’s time to give him the linemates he was comfortable with and piled up the points with in the regular season.
While Joe Veleno had a good first game in these playoffs with five hits, I believe it’s important to get the second line going in a series that promises to be all about the offense.
After what seemed like a very long wait for everyone in town, well, in both towns, the Montreal Canadiens and Buffalo Sabres finally kicked off in the state of New York on Wednesday night. As expected, there was plenty of speed, plenty of skills, and plenty of attacking play.
Martin St-Louis wasted no time in showing that he wanted to get his top line back together, having Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki, and Juraj Slafkovsky take the series’ opening faceoff. It didn’t exactly start the way the coach would have hoped, but throughout the first period, it was easy to see that the line felt more at ease than it did against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Canadiens’ sophomore defenseman Lane Hutson didn’t have the kind of start he would have liked to this series. After just 30 seconds of play, he found himself heading to the penalty box after he was unable to spot a puck that had taken a weird bounce and ended up having to trip Zach Benson.
Four minutes later, he lost his footing at the red line, allowing the same Benson to take off with the puck and create a three-on-one, which led to the first goal of the series. The winger fed Josh Doan on the doorstep of Jakub Dobes’ net, and it was an easy tap-in.
A little over nine minutes later, Hutson had a front row view of the Sabres’ second goal scored on the power play as he was part of the penalty killing unit that was beaten.
In the second period, as the Canadiens were trapped in their own zone, Hutson was caught on the ice for two consecutive shifts of over two minutes. As energetic as he is, even he has his limits, and he was lucky not to be called for holding at the end of his second long shift, as he was holding on to his man for dear life.
Still, Hutson finished the game with five shots on goal, more than anyone else on the team, and three blocked shots.
Can’t Forget About The Backcheck
St-Louis likes his team to play hard on the forecheck, but with an opponent as speedy as the Sabres are, you have to be careful. Get caught with too many players too deep, and they will make you pay. Pinch at the wrong time? They will make you pay as well.
Buffalo goes from defence to attack in a matter of seconds, and they won’t wait for you. St-Louis has often spoken about the need to play the game that’s in front of you, and that’s going to be even more important in this series. Unnecessary risks should be avoided when playing against a side that feeds on odd-man rush opportunities.
Dach Attack
With the Canadiens down 4-1 late in the second frame, Kirby Down came up clutch to give the Canadiens a bit of hope after Zach Bolduc put him through on a Tage Thompson turnover. He took the first shot, which Alex Lyon stopped, but, as he fell on the ice, Dach took his own rebound and backhanded it past the Sabres' goalie.
At a time when the Canadiens were struggling to create much of anything, the big forward really came through to allow the Habs to go back to the dressing room with a bit of optimism.
It set up Montreal for a good third period, which they dominated in shots 11-1, but they were unable to solve Lyon. The Sabres took a 2-1 series lead despite being outshot 28-16. After their Game 7 win over Tampa, though, the Canadiens can hardly complain about that. The two teams will be back at it on Friday at 7:00 PM for Game 2.
Yeah, the Philadelphia Flyers may still be alive and well in the Stanley Cup playoffs, but the NHL draft is still important for them taking a rebuilder and making it a well-oiled machine in the long run.
When we talk about the Flyers, the center position is the one that comes up most often, due to the team's lack of overall talent at the position.
With Jett Luchanko, Jack Berglund, Heikki Ruohonen, Jack Nesbitt, and Cole Knuble in the fold, depth isn't an issue. But it's unclear if any of those names will develop into a top-six pivot that can match or exceed the impact and offensive production of Trevor Zegras.
One position in the Flyers organization that lacks both depth and talent, though, is left defense.
The Flyers do currently boast a capable NHL top-four with Travis Sanheim and Cam York leading the way, but they don't have a premium offensive defenseman like many of the Stanley Cup contenders do.
York, Jamie Drysdale, and Emil Andrae were all drafted to be those types of players, but have settled in at the NHL level as analytics darlings who are positives in transition.
And behind York and Andrae on the left, the Flyers don't have much youth coming their way.
Hunter McDonald is a pending restricted free agent, and Ty Murchison may be capable of becoming a bottom-pair guy to replace the aging Nick Seeler. These prospects are solid for their playstyles, but not inspiring or exciting.
Fortunately, we are here to solve that with our first Flyers mock draft, getting ahead of the offseason early, as we are used to this time of year.
At the time of this writing, Tankathon has the Flyers drafting defenseman Xavier Villeneuve with the 21st overall pick; I concur with this selection.
With the 21st overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft, the Philadelphia Flyers select...
Xavier Villeneuve, left-shot defenseman, 5-foot-11, 157 pounds, Blainville-Boisbriand Armada (QMJHL)
The Flyers have missed out on undersized dynamo defenders before. Everyone passed on Lane Hutson in 2022, and the Flyers went with Luchanko ahead of Zeev Buium in 2024.
Now that they won't be in a position to select any of the top centers (or forwards in general), they should feel comfortable again going with the best talent available.
Villeneuve, 18, has been regarded as a top-10 talent, but his size, of course, is a major detractor. It also doesn't help that the Canadian blueliner was limited to just 37 QMJHL games this season, missing nearly three months due to injury.
At the end of the day, though, Villeneuve has 18 goals and 100 points in his last 98 regular season games, and he added 14 points in 17 playoff games for the Armada upon his return.
The Flyers should already be familiar with this player, given that 2024 second-round pick Spencer Gill played with Villeneuve this season, although he dealt with a significant injury of his own.
Gill, 19, is a 6-foot-4 right-shot who added 10 points in 17 playoff contests, and I think these two could be an interesting pairing down the road.
Villeneuve is a bit on the older side for this class, too, as he turns 19 in September, so it won't be long before he's in the pro ranks with Gill.
And if the Flyers can land him in the 20s this summer? They are going to be a scary team to play against in the coming years in many different ways.
BOSTON, MA - MARCH 24: Anthony Stolarz #41 of the Toronto Maple Leafs makes a save on the penalty kill during a game between the Boston Bruins and the Toronto Maple Leafs on March 24, 2024, at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Welcome to Thursday/Friday, folks!
As we move into the offseason, we’ll try to cover any relevant news and put up new threads every couple of days for open discussion, then eventually start with the player reviews, recaps, and all that fun stuff.
For now, we’re still in the immediate aftermath of the Bruins’ playoff elimination, but there’s plenty going on around the team.
The mysterious Toronto draft pick
The most intriguing point of conversation right now is the fate of the first-round pick the Bruins received from Toronto in the Brandon Carlo trade, which was thrown into chaos when Toronto won the draft lottery on Tuesday.
Top 5 protected, slides to 2027. The 2027 pick goes to Philadelphia (as part of Laughton trade) if it is outside the top 10, which converts this pick to Boston to a 2028 unprotected 1st Round Pick. If this Pick slides to 2027 and is in the top 10, TOR can either transfer it to BOS to satisfy this trade and then give PHI the 2028 unprotected, or transfer it to PHI and give BOS the 2028 unprotected 1st Round Pick.
However, Chris Johnston had an article in The Athletic on Wednesday that made things appear considerably more murky, saying that the league still hasn’t settled on a formal interpretation of the trade.
He suggests that the league may allow next season to play out before determining the fate of the pick, which seems pretty unfair to both the Bruins and the Flyers — if you’re considering moving that asset this summer for more immediate help, you’re not going to get top dollar if the year of the pick is just listed as “TBD.”
Johnston eventually settles on there being thought around the league that the Flyers will get the 2027 pick, even if it falls in the top ten, with the Bruins getting an unprotected 2028 pick.
Then there’s this caveat around the “Toronto picks who gets the 2027 pick,” which seems completely ridiculous:
That would create a potentially fascinating dynamic next offseason, if Toronto was left with the choice of determining whether Boston or Philadelphia ended up with a prized pick. In theory, the Leafs might be able to use that power as a way to coax a favorable return in a subsequent trade from one of those teams.
I have no idea how the league would allow Toronto to extract capital from a team with whom they’ve already completed a trade just to get them a more favorable outcome, but nothing with the NHL shocks me at this point.
Anyways, it’s best for all of our sanity if the league issues some kind of edict on this soon, as it will end the speculation and let each team know what kind of asset they have on their hands.
Providence is on the brink
After a historic regular season the AHL Bruins are on the verge of crashing out of the playoffs in the first round.
The P-Bruins trail their best-of-five series with Springfield two games to one, with Game 4 in Springfield on Thursday night.
The AHL said it was “taking responsibility” for that gaffe after the game, which…does absolutely nothing for Providence, so here we are.
It reminds me of the Billy Madison scene with “well sorry doesn’t put the delicious Triscuit crackers in my stomach, now does it, Carl?”
If the P-Bruins win Thursday night and extend the series to a deciding Game 5, that will be in Providence on Saturday night.
Money talks
The NHL confirmed the salary cap for the 2026-2027 season on Wednesday, with an upper limit set at $104 million.
Per BruinsCapSpace, the B’s will head into the offseason with a little more than $16 million in space, which isn’t a bad spot to be in when you consider there are no glaringly obvious “re-sign him right now” UFAs to deal with.
(They have decisions to make on guys like Viktor Arvidsson and Andrew Peeke, but I guess my point is it’s not like they have a million empty roster spots to fill with that space.)
We heard about the desire to add talent and speed at yesterday’s leadership press conference, so we’ll see how that goes.
Among the teams still playing, Buffalo won its series-opener against Montreal on Wednesday night, while the Ducks evened their series against the Golden Knights.
Thursday night will feature Game 3 of Hurricanes-Flyers, followed by Games 2 and 3 of Buffalo-Montreal and Anaheim-Vegas, respectively, on Friday night.
PITTSBURGH, PA - APRIL 04: Sergei Bobrovsky #72 of the Florida Panthers makes a save in front of Tommy Novak #18 of the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG PAINTS Arena on April 4, 2026 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Joe Sargent/NHLI via Getty Images) | NHLI via Getty Images
Before the season started, I wrote about five players I was most curious to see. Now that the dust has settled, let’s check in on how that all went.
Owen Pickering
It was nice to see Pickering earn some NHL time (to the tune of 25 games) in his rookie season, but his NHL stint ended in January getting some tough love in a hard practice from Sidney Crosby working him over and then struggling in his last handful of games. That was in January, now nine months and ago Pickering hasn’t been seen since on this level. How much has the 21-year old used that to grow and improve? The vaunted leap from Year 1 to Year 2 is a big deal and it will be critical for Pickering to show some development based off of where he was previously. And, besides, the Penguins need someone to play on the left side of their defense. It would be a great development if Pickering can raise his level.
Pickering only played four NHL games early in the season from October 28th through November 3rd. It didn’t go well, especially towards the end and he’s been back in Wilkes-Barre for the rest of the season with the team choosing to use other options to fill out their defense, most notably picking up Ilya Solovyov in a trade with Colorado for depth.
By all accounts, Pickering has settled into being a quality AHL player. He scored a key power play goal in Game 1 of the playoffs against Hershey and set AHL-highs in goals, assists and points. While only being 22-years old, Pickering has completed four seasons since his draft and is far from established in the NHL. The list of mid-round first round picks to not have made an NHL impact by draft+4 is not a good indicator for the future. By this point, you know if you have a K’Andre Miller/Jakub Chychrun/Travis Sanheim or a prospect trending towards P.O. Joseph/Tobias Bjornfot/Jacob Bernard-Docker, Who knows what that might hold, but at this point it’s getting late in the development curve for a first round pick. Pickering is under contract for 2026-27, but at this point there won’t be too much curiosity around him unless he takes a big step forward.
Arturs Silovs
Silovs’ last work was being great in the AHL playoffs, helping Abbotsford win the Calder Cup and being named the AHL’s playoff MVP. The AHL isn’t the NHL, but that’s a pretty good launching point for the future. Silovs needs waivers to be sent to the AHL, the whole reason Vancouver went in the direction to trade him for a draft pick to get something out of him, therefore we can probably expect him to make Pittsburgh’s NHL team out of camp as the backup goalie. It hasn’t been smooth sailing in the NHL level for Silovs, so we might not really want to see him for that long if it doesn’t go well, but right off the bat he will be a very interesting character to track.
It was an up and down season for Silovs, who played well at times and struggled for other stretches. One such tough stretch in March may have had something to do with a knee injury suffered at that point and revealed during breakdown day. Silovs led the Penguins in starts (40) this season and was excellent in the playoffs. His personal stats aren’t a lot to write home about (19-12-8 record, 3.02 GAA, .888 save%) but he weathered the storm and gained a lot of experience to put together his first full season as an NHL netminder.
Not sure I’d say the future is extremely bright, but there is some sort of future there. It says something that Silovs has been at his best in the most important moments (playing for Team Latvia, the AHL playoffs last year, the NHL playoffs this year), he has that admirable quality to perform when it matters.
Tommy Novak
Many have mostly forgotten about Novak, and there’s not much fault in that considering he only played two games with the Penguins last season before getting injured. Novak will draw attention once he gets back out there, though. He can do things like this:
And he’s also a very busy player with a great analytical profile. Novak sets up teammates for chances with frequency, he is great at forechecking.
Yet, Novak’s former GM had a less than glowing review about Novak’s recent play:
“When (Novak) was a fourth-line, league-minimum guy and scoring while getting some sheltered minutes, that fit him just fine. When you move up the lineup, it’s harder to find your space and be productive. If you want to move up the lineup, and get paid more, there’s more responsibility.”
“There’s a reason that guys get the higher salaries, because most nights, they’re getting the harder matchups and they’re expected to produce,” Trotz explained.
Trotz, of course, hasn’t been the most savvy manager but his words can’t be totally dismissed. Novak still has to prove himself and bring an added level of consistency. It’ll be interesting to see how that goes in Pittsburgh, is he playing on the second line with Evgeni Malkin? Centering a third line of his own, perhaps with good friend and longtime teammate Phil Tomasino?
Novak was indeed a curious case. There were times where he was invisible, starting the season with no goals and one assist in six games then going through a zero goal, two assists stretch over the last 13 games of March. There were teams when he turned hot, like an 11 point in 14 game effort in December. He found a niche with Malkin and Egor Chinakhov in a high-flying line that was generating rush chances like no other in the second half of the season.
Below the point line, Novak was one of the team’s best players in terms of zone entries, puck carries and neutral zone efficiency. He has enough skill to be a perfect player in a complimentary role to support skilled linemates. Useful player and a nice season.
Ville Koivunen
Koivunen was great in Finland in 2023-24, scoring 56 points in 59 games. He followed that up with his first full season in North America by putting up 56 points in 63 games in the AHL and then getting a little taste of the NHL at the end of the season, which also went well with seven points in eight games.
It’s one thing to play out the string at the end of a season, it’s another thing to go through the full grind. By this time about six months from now, we’ll know a lot more about Koivunen and how big a piece of the puzzle he could be moving forward. His vision and passing ability are legit, it’s already apparent this is a special player in terms of how he sees the game and thinks the game. The curiosity will come in how he handles long stretches of play, can he get to the net? Can he keep up with his feet? Will he be effective and fit in longterm? So far there’s a lot to feel confident about and be impressed with, but Koivunen might not be a top-6 player for the next 5-10 years for the Penguins, there’s still a lot to prove and see out of him.
Koivunen’s seven points in the last eight games of the season looks now to be the product of teams not playing extremely hard against a non-playoff Penguin team and Koivunen getting an 18 minute per night role to put up points down the stretch. As mentioned in the writeup, the grind of the full season proved to be deeper water than the young player could swim, only generating 0.40 points per 60 minute – a figure that ranked just 464th out of 468 forwards across the league that played 200+ minutes this season.
Optimism for Koivunen has turned for concern, his skating stats and speed bursts are among the lowest in the league. Though listed at 184 pounds, he was easily knocked off pucks constantly in battles. Koivunen has mastered the AHL level (41 points in 34 games this season in Wilkes) but was rendered completely ineffective in the show. It’ll be interesting to see if he’s able to add any tangible gains to his skating and strength this summer, the clock is going to start ticking loudly on his future for anything beyond AHL/Europe quality player.
Avery Hayes / Tristan Broz
I’m going to stick these two together, because very strangely enough both of these players were born on the exact same day — October 10, 2002. What are the odds of that? (Also in states that border each other, though their listed hometowns of Westland, MI [Hayes] and River Falls, WI [Broz]) are about 650 miles away via automobile). Despite that common bday, they’ve taken very different paths to get here: Broz was heralded as a top player in his age range and made a second round pick in 2021, Hayes went undrafted and had to earn an NHL contract the hard way. They have some similarities too, Hayes won two OHL championships (in 2022 with Hamilton, in 2023 with Peterborough), Broz was a national champion at the University of Denver. Both are on the upswing and have a sort of knack for coming through and winning observers over.
So it’s only fitting to combine them as they look to make their NHL debuts in the same season. This might be better subtitled “players I’m curious to see in training camp” because that is more applicable or accurate for the time being. Still, it will be interesting to see what kind of opportunities players like Broz and Hayes get this season. Do the Pens continue to call-up players from Wilkes that are only warm body space fillers (Boko Imama, Joona Koppanen, Valtteri Puustinen, Emil Bemstrom, etc). Bemstrom is out of the organization now, but it would be nice to see players in the Broz/Hayes mold push up the organizational rankings beyond the type of vanilla and exceedingly limited type of forwards that tend to get recalled that aren’t going to provide a lot of contribution to the NHL on their best day. Of course, the Broz/Hayes level guys have to hold up their end of the bargain by impressing and performing well themselves, which will be another area to watch.
Both players had excellent camps and made run at NHL roster spots, only to have the suddenly flush forward depth chart bump them back to the AHL. Broz continued to have some rotten injury luck, being unavailable at points where he would have gotten called up. Hayes made the most of his NHL debut by scoring two goals in the first period of his first game against Buffalo on February 5th. He played a total of 16 NHL games and scored five goals, setting himself up nicely for what could be a full-time graduation to the NHL as soon as next training camp.
Broz’s path forward appears much less certain. He is under contract next season but the Pens signed Blake Lizotte to a contract extension. Broz has been working mostly as a center, the number of center spots that Pittsburgh will have available for an AHL player look extremely limited.
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In the end, the Penguins had no shortage of players to be curious about this year. Midseason pickups that we didn’t even know about at the time like Chinakhov, Elmer Soderblom, Brett Kulak, Sam Girard and Stuart Skinner provided no shortage of intriguing players to watch over the course of the year as they came (and sometimes went almost as quickly). You always have to stay on your toes when it comes to this team.
David vs. Goliath: Flyers May Need Jiricek to Defeat Mighty HurricanesThe Philadelphia Flyers desperately need David Jiricek to infuse some skill into an uninspiring defense corps in order to outlast the Carolina Hurricanes.
