The players in this ranking do not have extensive NHL experience and are all 23 and under. Therefore, players like Jimmy Snuggerud, Dalibor Dvorsky, and Logan Mailloux, among others, won't feature in this ranking for those reasons.
The order of these rankings reflects a mix of their ceilings and potential, as well as how they've performed over the past year with their respective clubs.
Kaskimaki is a 22-year-old, left-handed Finnish center who occasionally plays on the wing as well. Drafted by the Blues in the third round (73rd overall) in the 2022 NHL draft, Kaskimaki is a reliable two-way forward with a strong shot that he demonstrated plenty in his sophomore season in the AHL.
Kaskimaki is at his best with the puck on his stick in transition. He utilizes shot angles and uses the defenders as screens to put the puck on net. His strong second AHL season earned him a call-up to the NHL, where he skated in five games.
The Blues were at a low point in their season, playing poor hockey and dealing with a plethora of injuries, resulting in Kaskimaki not standing out and failing to record any points in those games. But earning the call-up was the goal Kaskimaki needed to achieve at that point in his career. Now, it's to earn another and force the coaching staff to keep him up in the NHL.
Kaskimaki's chances of earning a roster spot out of pre-season and training camp are very slim. The team's center depth is projected to be Robert Thomas, Mason McTavish, and Dalibor Dvorsky in the top nine, with Pius Suter and Dillon Dube battling for the fourth-line role.
With injuries throughout an 84-game season, there could be opportunities for Kaskimaki to earn a call-up.
The Espoo, FIN native likely won't ever amount to more than a bottom-six NHLer, but those are still valuable pieces to winning hockey teams. With a six-foot frame, positional versatility, and a trustworthy game, Kaskimaki could be a valuable piece of the Blues lineup very soon.
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On Monday night, the Victoriaville Tigres announced that winger Alexey Vlasov had been invited to the Montreal Canadiens’ rookie camp. The 5-foot-9, 176-pound left winger is 18 years old and has played two seasons in North America. In 2024-25, he skated in the USHL, scoring 23 points in 51 games with the Sioux Falls Stampede before moving to the QMJHL for 2025-26. With the Tigres, he put up 80 points in 64 games.
While Vlasov doesn’t have the size element the Canadiens desperately need, it’s an interesting invite from the Habs. The youngster is talented, has a knack for scoring goals, and was ranked 102nd among North American skaters ahead of the 2026 draft. With 44 goals, he was the highest-scoring rookie in the QMJHL this past season. He was a constant scoring threat, skating on an all-Russian line completed by Egor Shilov and Kornei Korneyev.
It’s not hard to know why he was passed over in the draft, given his size and the fact that his skating isn’t quite up to par. However, the Canadiens have excellent development coaches, and he could greatly benefit from rookie camp. This will be an exceptional opportunity for the youngster to show he can measure up to drafted players.
Rookie camp invites do not always lead to contract offers, of course. Still, some players seize the opportunity and turn it into something more, like Arber Xhekaj, who was undrafted but forced the Canadiens to offer him an ELC in October 2021.
Despite the Montreal Canadiens desperately in need of depth forwards and scoring, they have remained very patient in negotiations with former St. Louis Blues first-round pick Zachary Bolduc.
Bolduc was dealt to the Canadiens last off-season in a one-for-one deal that sent Logan Mailloux to the Blues.
Both 23-year-olds have had up-and-down seasons, but they occurred at different points. For Mailloux, the season started very poorly and resulted in a brief stint in the AHL. Upon returning, Mailloux was a different player and locked down a role on the top pairing alongside Philip Broberg.
The goal for Mailloux is to start the season strong and prove that he is worthy of keeping his role on the top pairing.
For Bolduc, he started his Habs career with a bang, scoring in three consecutive games and finding time on the top line and top power play unit. That scorching start faded relatively quickly, resulting in a 12-goal, 30-point season in 78 games.
Both his goals and points were down from his previous season with the Blues, where he posted 19 goals and 36 points in 72 games.
In the playoffs, Bolduc's ice time dipped further down to 11:23, compared to the 13:38 he averaged during the regular season.
But despite his inconsistencies, Bolduc has the tools to be an effective middle-six winger, capable of bringing a physical edge and winning his minutes. With players like Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky, and Ivan Demidov leading the front lines, and soon-to-be-added Michael Hage and Alexander Zharovsky, the Habs need players like Bolduc who will bring depth scoring while understanding their role.
The expectation remains that Bolduc and the Canadiens come to an agreement before the season starts, but the clock is ticking.
"I'd love to play in Montreal for several seasons," said Bolduc to RDS. "But on the other hand, management has to make their own decisions too. Like I said, I'm not going to get ahead of myself on anything, but I trust my agent on that end and I'm confident that good things are coming."
The Canadiens have been almost scarily quiet this off-season. Could that mean a bigger move is on the horizon, and Bolduc could be going the other way? Time will tell, but what remains is that Bolduc will be a solid winger for any NHL club.
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In one of the 2025 offseason’s biggest surprises, the Anaheim Ducks parted ways with then-head coach Greg Cronin after just two seasons on the job and improving by 21 points in the NHL standings between years one and two.
Less than one month later, the Ducks hired the second-winningest head coach in NHL history, Joel Quenneville, with a mandate to qualify for the 2026 playoffs. With Quenneville inserted behind the bench, the Ducks achieved their goal, improving from 80 points in 2024-25 to 92 in 2025-26 and finishing third in the Pacific Division.
Anaheim won their opening round of the playoffs against the defending Western Conference Champion Edmonton Oilers in six games but were defeated in the second round by the eventual Conference Champion Vegas Golden Knights, again in six games.
After finishing among the final eight teams in the NHL playoffs, the Ducks are expected to build off their performance and continue their evolution into sustainable Cup contenders. With several of their young players having solidified themselves as NHL stars and foundational pieces, coupled with veteran experience on the roster, the Ducks’ contending window could be considered presently open.
The Ducks were unable to make many significant moves to improve the roster in the 2026 offseason due to sudden, unexpected salary cap constraints and parting with several key roster pieces such as Mason McTavish, Jacob Trouba, John Carlson, Radko Gudas, and Olen Zellweger.
Quenneville (67) will have his work cut out for him in the upcoming 2026-27 season to build on his club’s efforts from a year ago and return to the playoffs while continuing to develop the Ducks’ core and secondary young pieces.
An interesting wrinkle to Quenneville’s short tenure thus far in Anaheim is the fact that he’s now on an expiring contract, per reporting from TSN’s Pierre LeBrun.
To Anaheim, Quenneville brought with him a resume that included 1768 games as an NHL head coach, 969 wins, three Stanley Cup rings, and (to some) a stained reputation due to his role in the scandal surrounding the 2010 Chicago Blackhawks.
He’ll be 68 years old when the 2026-27 season starts. The upcoming season will be his 27th as an NHL head coach, he’s now the second head coach in history to eclipse the 1000-win mark, and his reputation seems to have rebounded as much as it possibly could have. The questions now become: how much longer does he want to coach? And what more does he have to prove?
Quenneville brought the Ducks back to the playoffs on the backs of a young core that includes Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier, Beckett Sennecke, Jackson LaCombe, and Lukas Dostal, and in theory, they’ll only continue to grow and improve. However, expectations of truly competing for a Stanley Cup seem multiple years down the road, beyond the length of Quenneville’s current contract, at least.
It’s clear Quenneville’s passion for the sport and coaching remains. To the Ducks locker room and bench, he’s brought an even-keeled demeanor throughout the highs and lows of an 82 (soon to be 84) game schedule, but he also outwardly displays fiery emotions behind the bench, “going to bat” for his players and pressing proper buttons when needed.
For the most part, he’s done well to nurture and guide his most talented young roster players, coaching them through and eventually erasing predictable mistakes while allowing them to grow and flourish on their own without fear of elongated time on the bench or healthy scratches. That area of his coaching prowess will continue to be ever-important in the upcoming season, where the Ducks will rely on an even greater influx of youth on the roster in prominent roles.
Quenneville has a lot left to give the Ducks organization and roster as their head coach, and with another successful season, it can be expected that a contract extension would be on the horizon. However, at the start of the 2026-27 season, he’ll be the second-oldest in the NHL, three years younger than Rick Bowness of the Columbus Blue Jackets, and he’d be 69 years old at the start of his potential new contract. The Anaheim job seems to be his as long as he wants it, especially if he repeats or improves on the successes of a year ago.
The Ducks are in a position of luxury, as despite the ever-circulating NHL head coaching carousel, they maintained the services of their offense/power play assistant coach and one of the most sought-after candidates for the past two summers: Jay Woodcroft.
In less than three seasons as the head coach of the Edmonton Oilers, Woodcroft was let go after posting a 79-41-13 record and three NHL playoff series wins. With two seasons in the Ducks organization and a deep familiarity with the roster, Woodcroft seems the heir apparent if Quenneville were to call it a career or exit for greener pastures following the upcoming season.
The Hockey News ranked Quenneville as the NHL’s fifth-best current head coach, and the work he’s done to overhaul the systems, on-ice philosophy, and off-ice philosophy in Anaheim cannot be understated. His current contract is yet another layer to yet another all-important transition season for the Anaheim Ducks franchise in 2026-27.
Connor Hellebuyck has fallen one spot in the NHL Network’s annual ranking of the league’s top goaltenders.
But by the time the Winnipeg Jets open training camp in less than a month, where he ranks might be considerably less important than where he physically is.
Whether he will remain the Jets' No. 1 backstop much longer is the million-dollar question.
NHL Network unveiled its annual list of the league's top goaltenders this week, with Tampa Bay Lightning star Andrei Vasilevskiy overtaking Hellebuyck for the No. 1 position.
Photo by Charles LeClair/USA Today
Hellebuyck, who topped the list one year ago, fell just one spot to second, ahead of Igor Shesterkin, Ilya Sorokin and Jeremy Swayman.
On its own, the change isn't particularly surprising.
Hellebuyck endured one of the most difficult statistical seasons of his NHL career in 2025-26, going 23-23-11 with a 2.86 goals-against average and career-worst .895 save percentage.
Vasilevskiy, meanwhile, captured his second Vezina Trophy after going 39-15-4 with a 2.31 goals-against average and .912 save percentage for Tampa Bay.
But Hellebuyck's placement at No. 2 is another reminder of the enormous question hanging over Winnipeg with training camp now less than a month away.
The Jets have one of the two best goaltenders in the NHL, according to NHL Network. They just don't know whether he'll be there when camp opens.
Hellebuyck's future has remained uncertain since Winnipeg's disappointing 2025-26 season came to an end.
The 33-year-old made no secret of his frustration following a year in which the Jets missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs, just one season removed from winning the Presidents' Trophy.
General manager Kevin Cheveldayoff later acknowledged publicly that the Jets were willing to listen to trade offers for their longtime starter, although he stopped short of saying Hellebuyck had formally requested a trade.
The situation has gone relatively quiet since the NHL Draft and opening of free agency, but that shouldn't necessarily be mistaken for a resolution.
Sportsnet insider Elliotte Friedman recently reported that there has been little movement on the Hellebuyck front of late, while maintaining his belief that the three-time Vezina Trophy winner will eventually be traded.
There also remains an expectation around the situation that Hellebuyck may not be present when the Jets gather for training camp next month.
That would turn what has largely been an offseason storyline into an immediate problem for Winnipeg.
The Jets have already provided themselves with some insurance in goal.
Winnipeg signed Stuart Skinner to a two-year, $7.5-million contract on July 1, giving the club an experienced NHL starter should Hellebuyck ultimately be moved. A move that Skinner surely wouldn't sign up for if he anticipated serving solely as Hellebuyck's backup (15-20 games a season maximum) for the next two years.
Oh, and Skinner also shares an agent with Hellebuyck and former Jets backup Eric Comrie. So he clearly has some inside info on the situation.
Cheveldayoff has maintained that Hellebuyck's uncertain future was not the reason for Skinner's addition and, technically, there is nothing forcing Winnipeg into making a deal.
Hellebuyck has five years remaining on the seven-year, $59.5-million contract he signed with the Jets in October 2023.
That contractual control gives Winnipeg considerably more leverage than it had during the last round of Hellebuyck trade speculation three summers ago, when he was approaching unrestricted free agency.
But there is a difference between having contractual control and having certainty.
The Jets are coming off a 35-35-12 season in which they finished seventh in the Central Division. They have made changes around the edges of the roster this summer and have repeatedly maintained that the goal remains to win.
Doing so becomes considerably more difficult without Hellebuyck.
Even following the worst statistical season of his career, NHL Network still considers him the second-best goaltender in the sport. One year earlier, Hellebuyck captured both the Hart and Vezina trophies after a remarkable 2024-25 campaign.
Across his back-to-back Vezina-winning seasons, Hellebuyck went 84-31-7 with a 2.19 goals-against average and .923 save percentage.
That is not a player Winnipeg can simply subtract and expect to replace. It also justifies why Cheveldayoff can afford to remain patient.
If the Jets ultimately move their franchise goaltender, the return will need to help reshape a roster that still intends to compete. Winnipeg has long sought additional help among its top-six forwards, and a Hellebuyck trade represents its most significant opportunity to acquire an impact player (preferably a centreman) without entering a full-scale rebuild.
The difficulty is finding a team with the need, cap flexibility and assets required to make such a massive deal work.
For now, Hellebuyck remains a Winnipeg Jet. On paper, anyway.
NHL Network's latest ranking confirms that his standing among the game's elite hasn't disappeared after one down season.
Whether the No. 2 goaltender in hockey actually takes the ice with the Jets when training camp opens is another matter entirely.
But for those keeping score back home, Hellebuyck has been wearing his Winnipeg Jets branded practice gear while skating during the offseason back home in Michigan. And to no surprise his Lake of the Woods Sports Headquarters outdoors gear.
Does it mean anything substantial? No. But it doesn't scream, "I'm ditching this place forever," either.
The Columbus Blue Jackets have 44 days until opening night at Nationwide Arena. Today we look at the history of jersey #44.
Let's take a look.
Rostislav Klesla - 2001-2004 - Klesla was drafted 4th overall in the 2000 NHL Draft.
Klesla's scouting report went like this: "Klesla is a very physical, defensive defenseman. Has solid hockey sense and positional skills. Doesn't score as many points as he possibly could. Also, he is rather prone to injury." Despite that last part about injuries, former GM Doug MacLean drafted Klesla at #4 anyway.
Klesla made his NHL debut in 2000 before he was sent back to Junior. He would come up in the next season and be there full-time. He would then go on to play in 515 games for the Jackets over the course of 10 seasons. On February 28, 2011, he was traded to the Phoenix Coyotes and played the next four years.
In 2014, he would return to his home country of Czechia and play the next two years for HC Oceláři Třinec. After a four-year break from playing to coach for HC Vítkovice, he would play a season in Czechia's fourth-tier league before finally retiring.
Peter Sarno - 2006 - Sarno was drafted in the 6th round of the 1997 NHL Draft by Edmonton
Sarno played a single game for the Blue Jackets during the 2005-06 season. He also played 39 games for the Syracuse Crunch that season.
After his year with Columbus, he left for Europe, where he would play until 2010.
Aaron Johnson - 2003-07/2011-12 - Johnson was drafted in the 3rd round of the 2001 NHL Entry Draft.
Johnson played 172 games for the Jackets over two stints. Scouts said of Johnson was "A puck-moving defenseman, Johnson is a very good skater. Has good offensive instincts and can quarterback the power play. Can play a tough and physical game. Needs to improve his play in his own end."
During his time with Columbus, he also spent three years with the AHL Syracuse Crunch, where he had 73 points in those three seasons.
In 2016, he left North America and signed on with Adler Mannheim of the DEL in Germany. He then left for England, where he played for the Sheffield Steelers of the EIHL. In 2021, he became a Player-Asst. Coach for a season.
He came back home to Columbus in 2021 and joined the Jackets as a Team Consultant. He's been the Team Relations Specialist for the Jackets for a few seasons now.
Aaron Rome - 2008 - Rome was drafted by the LA Kings in the 2002 NHL Draft.
Rome played 25 games over the course of two seasons for Columbus after being traded from the Ducks on November 15, 2007. He totaled 1 goal and 3 points. He spent most of his time in Syracuse that season, playing 41 games. Rome would leave for the Vancouver Canucks in the summer of 2009 as a free agent. Rome would retire in 2014.
Rome went on to spend three seasons as a skills coach for the
Brandon Wheat Kings of the WHL.
Grant Clitsome - 2010 - Clitsome was drafted in the 9th round of the 2004 NHL Draft by the CBJ.
Clitsome played in 93 games and had 36 points for Columbus. In 2012, he was placed on waivers in order to be sent to Springfield of the AHL. But he was claimed by the Winnipeg Jets and would play the next three seasons for the Jets.
He announced his retirement from professional hockey on June 1, 2016, after undergoing back surgery.
Justin Falk - 2015-2016 - Falk was drafted by the Minnesota Wild in the 4th round of the 2004 draft.
Falk played 29 games for the Blue Jackets and totaled 6 points.
On March 2, 2015, Falk requested a trade that sent him and a fifth-round pick in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Jordan Leopold. The following summer in 2016, he would sign with the Buffalo Sabres.
After retiring in 2019, Falk went into coaching and is a scout for the Sabres.
Taylor Chorney - 2018 - Edmonton drafted Chorney in the second round of the 2005 draft.
Chorney would play a single game for Columbus after being picked up on waivers on February 21, 2018. After that one game, he left for Europe, where he played until 2021. He retired after the 2021 season.
Vladislav Gavrikov - 2019-2022 - Gavrikov was drafted in the 6th round of the 2015 NHL Draft.
Gavrikov played 256 games for the Jackets over 4 seasons. He totaled 15 goals and 73 points. Gavrikov is widely considered one of the best late-round picks to ever play for the Jackets, despite his short time in Columbus. He played great defense and would always seem to show up on the scoreboard.
After he signed a three-year, $8.4 million contract extension with the Blue Jackets in November of 2020, former GM Jarmo Kekäläinen decided to trade Gavrikov to the LA Kings in March of 2023. A decision that a lot of CBJ fans hated and wondered why it happened. Kekäläinen knew Gavrikov was going to want a hefty raise and didn't want to pay him.
Gavrikov signed a two-year extension with LA just a couple of months after the trade. In the summer of 2025, Gavrikov would get his big contract. He signed a 7-year, $49 million deal with the New York Rangers, which will take him into his mid-30s.
Erik Gudbranson - 2023-2025 - Gudbranson was drafted 3rd overall in the 2010 NHL Draft by the Florida Panthers.
Gudbranson is more than just a defenseman; he's a protector and intimidator. Gudbranson rarely fights but will when he has to. Mainly, he'll just stare at guys until they back down from him.
Gudbranson just finished a 4-year deal he signed with Columbus back in July of 2022. He has played 201 games and has 46 points. Despite his final two seasons with Columbus being riddled with injuries, Gudbranson was re-signed to a one-year contract for the 26-27 season.
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On Monday, exciting news dropped ahead of the release of the newest entry in the EA Sports NHL series, with NHL 27 set to arrive in early September.
The new game brings back several fan-favorite elements, including the return of GM Connected franchise mode, along with more detailed, customized arena presentations across all 32 NHL teams, meaning Canada Life Centre will finally look and feel more like the true home of the Winnipeg Jets.
The bigger headline, though, is that the NHL series is borrowing a concept from other EA Sports franchises like Madden and EA FC. NHL 27 is introducing a 99 Club, reserved for the handful of players considered the very best in the sport, distinguished by a perfect 99 overall rating.
EA announced the first member of that club on Monday with Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid, who becomes the first player in the history of the NHL video game series to carry a 99 overall.
The news kicked off plenty of speculation, including who might become the first player in Jets history to crack the 99 Club. McDavid is the first to join the list, but more additions are expected to follow, and it would make sense for Winnipeg's superstar goaltender, Connor Hellebuyck, to be next in line.
Hellebuyck, a three-time Vezina Trophy winner and a recent Olympic gold medalist, is coming off a season that fell well short of the standard he set in his back-to-back Vezina-winning campaigns. He finished 2025-26 with a 23-23-11 record, a 2.86 goals-against average and a .895 save percentage, a career-worst mark, while trade speculation followed him for much of the summer.
Even so, Hellebuyck has already proven he belongs in 99-overall territory, especially over the two seasons prior, when he won back-to-back Vezina Trophies. During that stretch, he went a combined 84-31-7, posted a 2.19 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage, and led all goaltenders in wins by a wide margin.
If anyone joins the 99 Club after McDavid, there's a strong case that Hellebuyck will be the next name called.
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TORONTO, CANADA - NOVEMBER 03: Filip Hallander #11 of the Pittsburgh Penguins skates against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on November 03, 2025 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Chris Tanouye/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Penguins’ already stacked forward group could be getting even deeper with potential options. Filip Hallander lost most of the 2025-26 season due to a puck strike causing a blood clot in his leg. A translated Swedish interview (shoutout Reddit) gives an update for how he’s doing, titled “Hållander on the tough year: “I thought I’d be doing something else”. We ran it through a google translator so we won’t take every word for gospel, but one can kind of get the general point.
First, he suffered a blood clot in his leg. Then, something was discovered in one of his lungs. Now, Filip Hållander is back on the ice and opening up about the tough year he endured.
“Right then and there, I just felt: ‘Damn, maybe there won’t be any more hockey for me?'” he tells ST. Filip Hållander is back home training with Timrå IK, following a difficult season in the US with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Filip Hållander suffered a blood clot In November 2025, he received the news that he had a blood clot in his leg. He returned in February but managed only a few games in the AHL before being sidelined again.
“I played a few games and picked up some minor issues. We ran some new tests as a precaution. Some of the readings weren’t quite right, and they wanted to play it safe. So, I went back to Pittsburgh for more tests, and that’s when we found something in my lung,” says Hållander.
Exactly what was found in his lung remains unclear, but Filip Hållander feared his hockey career might be over. Today, the 26-year-old is back and 100 percent healthy. Now, he is aiming to secure a spot in the NHL this coming autumn.
“I have one final test when I get there, since I haven’t taken medication for a while, but after that, everything should be fine. Then there’s a month of hard training before camp starts. My goal is to earn a spot and be a key player. After everything I’ve been through this past year, I find it hard to imagine anyone more motivated than me to step out onto the ice,” Hållander says firmly.
This article also goes to give a little explanation for what happened last season. The blood clot treatment routine involves a 90-day cycle of blood thinner medication that takes a person out of a contact sport like hockey, but careful side-training can be conducted while on that treatment. When that first course of medicine was completed to treat the clot, Hallander was eventually cleared to go to Wilkes-Barre and play three games on a rehab stint in the AHL.
After that, Hallander came back from the AHL but quietly was phased down and the Penguins never had much of a substantive comment about his status. From this interview, it seems some complication in the lung was discovered. Obviously that’s never a good thing, and part of what has ended careers for players like Pascal Dupuis (and Chris Bosh in the NBA, though his condition wasn’t caused via injury). Hallander’s season was more or less quietly shutdown at that point with the emergence of the complication, we now have a little more information on exactly what it was.
A blood clot isn’t always a career-ender for high-level sport stars, players like Chris Kreider, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Brock Boeser and Kimmo Timonen have gone onto enjoy long careers after dealing with the issue.
Hallander will hope to join that list, but boy it’s going to be a tough climb to get there based on numbers alone. Ironically it could take injuries (to teammates this time) to help clear the path for Hallander to get some NHL games this season. It’s a long year, the Penguins do tend to use a lot of forwards so it is likely Hallander will get a crack at playing time at some point during the season. It would be a great story if he comes all the way back.
This month period could be crunch time, Hallander will need a strong final month of the offseason to prepare. The numbers the Pens have mean there are limited spots right now for a ton of forwards in the realm of the Justin Brazeau, Hendrix Lapierre, Rutger McGroarty, Avery Hayes, Ville Koivunen level. In what could be good news for Hallander, as Kyle Dubas has said, the Penguins do like competition and they proved last year they would keep young players who earned it.
Last training camp broke with Ben Kindel, Harrison Brunicke and even Hallander himself on the NHL opening night roster with veterans veterans that didn’t quite have it in Danton Heinen, Valtteri Puustinen and Ryan Graves getting waived and sent to the AHL for the start of the year. The numbers alone make it an uphill climb, and Hallander’s performance to edge out similarly-skilled players is to be determined as well, but the team certainly wouldn’t be upset about another strong performer joining the ranks next month and helping to push the rest of the club to find our who the best bets to keep around will be.
After a tough and uncertain 2025-26, it could be seen as a victory enough that Hallander’s even back in the conversation.
Although it is the middle of August, there are still a good amount of unrestricted free agents (UFA) left.
A former Montreal Canadiens defenseman is among them, as Jeff Petry is still not signed at this stage of the summer.
Petry remaining a free agent comes after he split this past season between the Florida Panthers and Minnesota Wild. In 67 games last season, he recorded nine assists, 65 blocks, and 66 hits. This was after he posted one goal and eight points in 44 games with the Detroit Red Wings in 2024-25.
Teams looking for more defensive depth and experience could consider taking a chance on Petry. He could be a serviceable pickup for an NHL club as an extra defenseman.
With that, it would be understandable if we saw Petry land a professional tryout (PTO) agreement with an NHL club before training camp. That is assuming that the 38-year-old blueliner wants to continue his career, of course.
Petry spent eight of his 16 NHL seasons with the Canadiens, where he recorded 70 goals, 178 assists, 248 points, and 1,072 hits in 508 games. It will be interesting to see he can land a new home before the start of the season from here.
SAINT PETERSBURG, RUSSIA - 2026/02/18: Mikhail Ilyin (99) of Severstal Hockey Club seen in action during the Hockey match, Kontinental Hockey League 2025/2026 between SKA Saint Petersburg and Severstal Cherepovets at the Ice Sports Palace. Final score SKA Saint Petersburg 2 : 3 Severstal Cherepovets. (Photo by Maksim Konstantinov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Russian winger Mikhail Ilyin climbs into the Top 10 ahead his fourth year with the Penguins organization as PensBurgh’s annual Top 25 Under 25 countdown continues.
Ilyin is the top remaining player in Dubas’ first draft with the Penguins back in 2023 now that Brayden Yager and Emil Pieniniemi are no longer with the organization.
After seeing his ice time and production steadily increase over his three full seasons in the KHL, Ilyin got his first chance to make a major impact in North America during Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s playoff run.
Ilyin signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Penguins last May before rejoining the Severstal Cherepovets, for which he recorded a career-high 14 goals and 44 points through 68 games in Russia’s top league.
He was reassigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton after Severstal was eliminated from the first round of the KHL playoffs.
Ilyin contributed in his AHL debut with a secondary assist on Atley Calvert’s goal against the Bridgeport Islanders.
He recorded seven points (one goal, six assists) in his first seven Calder Cup Playoff games.
Often while playing on a line with Tristen Broz and Ville Koivunen, Ilyin went on to tie Koivunen and Rutger McGroarty for second in the team scoring race with nine points (two goals, seven assists) across 15 playoff games.
His playmaking and speed were evident while setting up some key goals for his teammates during the Baby Penguins’ run to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Calvie sends it home!
Donzo hits 40 points with the assist, and Mikhaïl Ilyin collects his first AHL point with the secondary! pic.twitter.com/ZnIcnnAvfg
— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) April 10, 2026
Ilyin, who turned 21 in February, already established himself as one of the most productive young wingers in the KHL.
Ranking as one of Wilkes/Barre’s top playmakers during the team’s postseason run indicated he could be ready to make a full-time move to the AHL next season.
As McGroarty told King Jemison of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about Ilyin during Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s playoff run, “He makes plays that I don’t even see when I’m watching from the bench.”
Penguins assistant general manager Jason Spezza said last year the organization expected Ilyin to come to the AHL in 2026, although director of player development Tom Kostopolous noted around the same time Ilyin would need to work on his skating first.
That improvement was seemingly visible in Wilkes/Barre’s playoff run, during which Ilyin was at times one of the fastest players on the ice.
There isn’t a clear path to Ilyin making a jump to the NHL in the near future because of the Penguins’ logjam at forward.
After signing Koivunen to an eight-year deal, the Penguins currently don’t have any immediate spots available for roster hopefuls like McGroarty, Broz, Avery Hayes or Ilyin.
Whether the Penguins make any more moves this offseason will impact the likelihood any of these AHL forwards get called up to the NHL at the start of the season. Until then, Ilyin could expect to start the second campaign of his entry-level deal in Wilkes/Barre.
Evan will be playing the second year of a four-year contract extension, which carries a $2.85 million cap hit per season. After putting up 36 points in 82 games in his contract year (0.44 points per game), Evans put up 24 points in 68 games last season (0.35 PPG). After playing in all 82 games in the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons, the right-shot pivot was forced to miss four weeks of action after sustaining a knee injury in a December 20 game against the Pittsburgh Penguins when he was the victim of a knee-on-knee collision with Justin Brazeau. Thankfully for the Canadiens, they acquired Danault from the Los Angeles Kings earlier that day.
Evans is and has always been a good depth forward for the Habs; when he finds himself playing on the top six, you know things aren’t going according to plan. While he will tell you that he doesn’t mind playing on the top six and that the way he plays doesn’t change when he does so, it’s easy to see that he doesn’t have the offensive instinct and the finishing touch of a real top-six NHL player. He did remarkably well in the postseason, playing alongside Demidov and Newhook, gathering 10 points in 19 games, but don’t expect him to start the season in that spot.
After scoring 22 goals in his rookie season, Kapanen should be given every opportunity to pick up where he left off when he “hit a wall” in the second part of the season, as often happens with rookies. As a result, Evans is likely to land on the third or fourth line, depending on how things play out at training camp. He will be battling it out with Danault for the third-line center role, and he should logically come out on top. Evans still has another two years on his contract, while the 33-year-old Danault is entering the final year of his.
When the Canadiens are a contending team, Evans should be on the fourth line with Kapanen patrolling the third line and Michael Hage pivoting the second line. Since Hage is unlikely to join the Habs until the very end of the season, the Toronto, Ontario native should spend at least another season on the third line, given that he’s likely to still be around for another two seasons, unlike Danault.
As always, Evans will be playing a key role on the penalty kill, but Danault should still be the one tasked with the end-of-game, lead-protecting missions alongside Suzuki, just like he was in the playoffs; that’s how Martin St-Louis will be able to provide both Evans and Danault with sufficient ice time.
It’s hard to project how many points Evans will be able to put up, as his role, providing everything goes according to plan with the Canadiens, should be more of a defensive one, but anything around 30 would be satisfying if he stays in the bottom six.
Last season, he had his best year faceoff percentage-wise, winning 55.9% of his draws, and that’s one area where he’ll be expected to keep on improving or, at the very least, remain as efficient. As the young Habs progress, his role should diminish, but since Hage opted to return to the NCAA for another year, Evans has another year to play an important role.
Getting ready for one more farewell. | Getty Images
The NHL’s annual summer team-by-team look has now rolled around to the Islanders. I’m not linking the fantasy outlook, but here are their posts about the non-fantasy team and prospects:
The “inside look” includes quotes from Bo Horvat like, “I think Pete [DeBeor]’s going to be very good for us structure-wise and kind of laying the foundation. The buy-in from everybody’s just got to be there.” [NHL]
Their “three questions” bit addresses the captaincy, Semyon Varlamov’s health and DeBoer’s impact. [NHL]
Some “EDGE” stats: Matthew Schaefer is fast and dangerous, Ilya Sorokin is good at mitigating the dangerous, and Bo Horvat and Emil Heineman have been successful shooting from areas of less danger. [NHL]
And the Islanders’ top prospect listing now includes single Malte, of course. [NHL]
Sooo…we’ve got a navy lighthouse and a navy arched “ISLANDERS” in the finals for the third-jersey vote. Voting begins Tuesday, Aug. 18. I think in the interest of self-promotion I’m supposed to vote for the former, but even aside from that…arched letters within a straight horizontal bar is jarring. [Isles]
More on the semifinals vote, with a booster clip from Barzal. [Isles]
Islanders legend and former Senator and Bruin Zdeno Chara will hold a charity farewell game back home in Slovakia, in Pavol Demitra Arena. Ziggy Palffy and Jaroslav Halak will be there. [NHL]
Elsewhere
Brad Marchand won’t be able to play in that testimonial (shame, shame) due to offseason surgery that may delay the start of his season. [TSN]
Brandon Bussi, the first Suffolk County-born Cup champ, brings the Cup back home. [Post]
Five teams facing intriguing salary cap decisions in the near future. [Sportsnet]
Zach Werenski reiterates that Columbus is where he wants to be, making him a welcome outlier. [Sportsnet | NHL]
Drake Batherson would still like an eight-year extension to remain in Ottawa, but the CBA deadline for that length is under a month away. [TSN]
It's officially another season, another prospects ranking for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
In years past, this has been a bit easier of an exercise, as there used to be a more clear-cut line between prospects with NHL upside and longshots. However, because of the work that general manager and president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas and his staff have put in during the last several years, the line is blurring a whole lot more - and there is a substantially higher volume of talent in the system.
This time around, making a top-20 list was challenging. So, a few criteria were put into place: To make our list, prospects must be under the age of 26 and have played less than 50 NHL games. This excludes names such as Ben Kindel, Filip Hallander, Oliver Okuliar, and Alexander Alexeyev.
At No. 9, we put a spotlight on Liam Ruck, who could continue to climb this list as he moves forward in his development. At No. 8, we look at defenseman who experienced a fair amount of growth in the back half of the 2025-26 AHL season and who the Penguins still believe has a place in their future.
For a while, it looked like Pickering, 22, had hit a wall in his development. The 6-foot-5, 206-pound blueliner has played in 29 career NHL games (one goal, three points), with only four of them last season involving mixed results. After showing some promise as a rookie in 2024-25 at the beginning of his NHL stint that year, he, arguably, started to regress a bit in the time that followed.
But, in the second half of the 2025-26 AHL season and into the Calder Cup Playoffs for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (WBS), he seemed to turn a corner.
Many of the inconsistencies - particularly on the defensive side of the puck - began to iron themselves out over the course of the season. The lack of quick processing that was plaguing his professional game seemed to get up to speed, his skating improved, and he was becoming more of a two-way threat.
The biggest difference is that these things are no longer happening few and far between, and his less-than-ideal performances are happening fewer and farther between. That consistency and reliability is the one sticking point that the Penguins' development staff wanted to see growth in for Pickering, and he managed to accomplish that.
And if Pickering can translate that consistency and reliability to the NHL level, the Penguins will be much better for it, especially on a left side that could use some higher-upside young blueliners.
"We're really happy with how far he came [last season]," WBS assistant general manager Amanda Kessel said during development camp. "Instead of having one good game, one bad game, he's somebody that strung a lot together. There were still moments and times, but those were fewer and far between, and that's really what we're looking for.
"Everything in the gym, too, he came back last summer even better, and [we] thought that he had a good start. And, so, we expect the same thing for him [this season]."
These topics and more covered by Amanda Kessel today at Penguins Development Camp 📷 🎤 pic.twitter.com/sjhEm7BAco
— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) July 2, 2026
Pickering finished the AHL season with seven goals and 28 points in 68 games in addition to a goal and four points in 11 playoff games. He showed capability running the second power play unit in WBS, and he also took on heavy penalty kill minutes. An injury limited him a bit during the playoffs and caused him to miss four games, but he was very good in all three zones during the 11 games that he played in.
Development isn't always linear for defensemen - particularly, for big defensemen, who have to grow into their frame and learn how to use it properly at NHL speed - and the Penguins know this. Dubas, like Kessel, was happy with Pickering's progression last season, and he believes that he can be a contributor for the NHL club moving forward.
"You might say, going back to his time [with the Swift Current Broncos of the WHL], the coordination, balance... all those things that are common when you have a 6-foot-5, 180, then 190, 200-pound guy, it takes some time for that to come together.
"But we've been very happy with the way that Owen [came on] in the second half of the year. I don't think you look at it and say it was anything truly dynamic, but it was steady, solid, reliable hockey, and that's what we're looking for him to develop into."
The left side is a bit of a hodge podge for the Penguins right now, as they feature Sam Girard, Declan Carlile, Trevor van Riemsdyk (right-handed but plays both sides), Caleb Jones, and Jake Livanavage as other candidates to see NHL minutes. That said, the battle for positioning there is pretty wide-open considering the lack of true high-end talent on that side.
So, this season could say a lot about both where Pickering is in his development and how soon - or if it all - the Penguins envision him as part of their future. Given his growth in the past year, he may need a bit of time to fully develop, but there is reason to believe he may just turn into a reliable, bottom-four NHL defenseman for them in the years to come.
There was a whole lot that went right for the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2025-26, including a good second half that secured their first playoff berth in four years.
For most, the second half saw individual surges, too, whether in terms of production or, simply, overall growth. But, unfortunately, that wasn't the case for everyone.
One of the players who largely struggled in the back half of the season is big winger Justin Brazeau.
Brazeau, 28, signed a two-year deal with the Penguins last summer after his first full NHL season split between the Boston Bruins and Minnesota Wild. He got off to a raging start in 2025-26, registering 12 of his 17 goals and 20 of his 34 points before Jan. 1 - and, at one point early on in the season, he was the league's leading goal-scorer. His production tailed off pretty significantly in the second half, which resulted in some healthy scratches that extended into the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
And given the way everything panned out on the forward front for general manager and president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas this summer, things aren't about to get any easier for Brazeau.
In addition to giving youngster Ville Koivunen an eight-year, $32 million extension, Dubas and the Penguins also added forwards Nicholas Robertson, Hendrix Lapierre, and Andrei Kuzmenko this offseason, which adds some talent to an already-crowded crop of forwards. That's not to mention the fact that prospects such as Rutger McGroarty, Tristan Broz, Tanner Howe, Avery Hayes, and Bill Zonnon will all be making pretty big pushes, too.
It will be an uphill climb for Brazeau to be able to crack the lineup on a regular basis, and perhaps even a battle for him to avoid the waiver wire at the conclusion of camp. So, can he replicate what he did in the first half last season, or was his start a career anomaly that he probably won't repeat?
For starters, much of his production last season came on a line with center Evgeni Malkin and winger Anthony Mantha, and that line found a lot of success with every player being at least 6-foot-5 and using that size to overwhelm opponents. But with Mantha leaving in free agency and Malkin's days as a center likely over, that line cannot be replicated.
Maybe Brazeau was a product of his line's overall effectiveness, maybe he wasn't. But the one encouraging thing about him is that he has a nice set of hands and is good around the net-front. The 6-foot-6, 232-pound right winger is a master at redirecting pucks, stickhandling in tight spaces, and creating havoc at the net front.
Theoretically, if he could be paired with linemates who excel at puck distribution and getting pucks to the net, he should be able to gain some traction. He is a good enough forehecker that he can be an effective complementary piece on a line with a playmaking center and a primary scoring winger.
Evgeni Malkin with the aggressive face-off win finds Justin Brazeau in front for the goal 👀🔥 pic.twitter.com/XalYXtRkLH
The issue is that, when Brazeau is not showing up on the scoresheet, he offers little else. He's not a particularly standout defensive player, he doesn't have the footspeed to drive the middle of the ice effectively, and he doesn't create all that much on his own. He has the ability and awareness to make some nifty plays, but much of that can be accredited to his long reach and stickhandling.
Basically, Brazeau is a top-nine player, and top-nine minutes are going to be very hard to come by this season. He needs to have a standout camp in order to best the likes of Kuzmenko, Robertson, Koivunen, and Elmer Soderblom, and he needs to maintain consistency throughout the season if he is to hold down an earned lineup spot.
The more forward depth the Penguins, have, the better, and Brazeau finding his form again would be a major development for them. Regardless, this season may be make-it-or-break-it for the late-blooming undrafted forward, as training camp could end up determining his fate for the 2026-27 season and beyond.
Most of this year's top unrestricted free agents have been signed at this point of the summer. While this is the case, there are still some pretty notable UFAs left looking for new homes.
Among the top UFA forwards left at this stage of the off-season just so happens to be a former Penguins winger: Reilly Smith.
Smith remaining unsigned comes after he posted 16 goals, 10 assists, and 26 points in 69 games with the Vegas Golden Knights last season. Overall, while he scored his most goals since the 2022-23 season, his point production was noticeably lower than in recent years. This is because from 2022-23 to 2024-25, he recorded at least 40 points.
Although Smith's offense was lower than usual this past season, it is certainly possible that he could land a contract from an NHL team before the season is here. A team could consider taking a gamble on him if they feel that he can bounce back. Yet, at a minimum, he could be a solid addition for a team needing more offense in their bottom six.
Smith spent the 2023-24 season with the Penguins, where he posted 13 goals, 27 assists, and 40 points in 76 games. This would be his only season in Pittsburgh, as he was traded to the New York Rangers during the 2024 NHL off-season.
St. Louis Blues NHL Prospect Rankings: Honorable MentionsBefore we count down our top 10 St. Louis Blues prospects, we take a look at five honorable mentions who just missed the cut.
