As the postseason moves along, it seems as though the San Jose Sharks are focusing on getting some of their own things done this offseason as they look to improve on what was a rough 2024-25 campaign. In a recent report, it seems as though they will be signing Yegor Afanasyev for the 2025-26 season.
Per Artur Khairullin, Yegor Afanasyev will sign with @SanJoseSharks for the 2025-26 season. His KHL contract was mutually terminated with CSKA.
Afanasyev, who is 24 years old, was acquired from the Nashville Predators in June of 2024, but signed in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) after becoming a restricted free agent (RFA). This season with CSKA Moskva, he scored seven goals and added 14 assists for 21 points through 53 games.
Afanasyev was drafted in the second round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft by the Predators at 45th overall after a strong showing in the United States Hockey League (USHL) with the Muskegon Lumberjacks, where he had 62 points in 58 games.
For the 2019-20 season, he joined the Windsor Spitfires in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), where he scored 31 goals and added 36 assists for 67 points through 62 games. He made the jump to the professional level in the 2021-22 season.
Through 19 games in the NHL over two seasons, he has one goal. Through 187 games in the American Hockey League (AHL), he scored 52 goals and added 61 assists for 113 points, which comes out to a 0.60 points-per-game average.
There aren't any details on what a contract looks like for next season, but if the report is accurate, details should come out on his new contract soon.
Two years ago, former Buffalo Sabres captain Jack Eichel and the Vegas Golden Knights eliminated the Edmonton Oilers in the second round on their way to their first Stanley Cup championship, but history did not repeat itself in the second-round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs, as the Oilers turned the tables on Vegas and eliminated them in five games with a 1-0 overtime victory in Game 5.
Kasperi Kapanen scored at 7:19 of the extra frame to give Edmonton the win and advance them to their second straight Western Conference Final to face the winner of the Winnipeg-Dallas series, in which the Stars lead 3-1. Eichel led the Golden Knights in scoring with 10 points (1 goal, 9 assists) in 11 games, while ex-Sabre Victor Olofsson finished his first post-season appearance with four points (2 goals, 2 assists), and Brayden McNabb had four assists in 11 games.
The Oilers, last year’s Stanley Cup runners-up, are back in the Western Conference Final as they eye the franchise’s first championship since 1990. Connor McDavid and Co. dropped their first two games of this postseason, but have only suffered one loss since.
The Hurricanes, meanwhile, are making their second Eastern Conference Final appearance in three years. Carolina, the Metro Division’s No. 2 seed, needed just five games to bounce both the No. 3 New Jersey Devils and the East-leading Washington Capitals. Frederik Andersen has been stellar between the pipes for Carolina, boasting a 1.36 goals-against average and a .937 save percentage in nine playoff starts.
So, when will the conference finals start and who has home-ice advantage? Here’s what to know:
When do the NHL Eastern, Western Conference Finals start?
The NHL hasn’t yet announced when the conference finals will get underway. This story will be updated as schedule details emerge.
For what it’s worth, the final second-round game that’s currently scheduled is a possible Game 7 between the Jets and Stars on Monday, May 19.
What are the NHL Eastern, Western Conference Final matchups?
Eastern Conference Final: Carolina Hurricanes vs. winner of Florida Panthers-Toronto Maple Leafs
Western Conference Final: Edmonton Oilers vs. winner of Dallas Stars-Winnipeg Jets
Who has home-ice advantage in the Eastern, Western Conference Finals?
The team with the superior regular-season record gets home-ice advantage in the conference final round.
The Oilers won’t have home-ice regardless of opponent, as both the Jets and Stars finished ahead of them in the standings. The Hurricanes will have home-ice advantage if they face the Panthers, but will start the conference final on the road should they see the Leafs.
The Dallas Stars and Edmonton Oilers will square off in a Western Conference Final rematch in the 2025 NHL playoffs, while the defending champion Florida Panthers and the Carolina Hurricanes meet in the Eastern Conference Final for the second time in three years.
The Oilers, last year’s Stanley Cup runners-up, are also eyeing a return trip to the Cup Final in search of the franchise’s first championship since 1990. Connor McDavid and Co. dropped their first two games of this postseason, but have only suffered one loss since.
The Ottawa Senators brought on veteran NHL center Sam Gagner for the next phase of his hockey career.
Gagner is now the director of player development for the Senators after a 1,043-game NHL career.
“Sam had an incredible career as a player, and we look forward to launching his next chapter,” Senators GM Steve Staios said in a news release. “A true character individual, Sam has contributed to the success of his organizations, both on and off the ice.”
Gagner recently played for the AHL’s Belleville Senators in the 2024-25 season after signing a professional tryout with the team. He made 19 appearances and recorded 10 assists for Belleville up until the NHL trade deadline.
He spent most of his career with the Oilers, which selected him sixth overall in the 2007 NHL draft. He played 10 seasons with Edmonton in three different stints. Gagner’s first seven years in the NHL were with Edmonton, followed by another two seasons from 2018 to 2020.
He also played his last NHL season with his draft team in 2023-24, featuring in 28 games, scoring five goals and 10 points.
Gagner’s career high in points came in the 2016-17 season with the Blue Jackets, when he had 18 goals and 32 assists for 50 points in 81 games. He also has seven 40-point campaigns in his career.
While Gagner only appeared in 11 NHL playoff games in his career – six games with Philadelphia in 2015-16 and five with Columbus the following year – he does have some championship hardware.
In 2012, Gagner won the Spengler Cup with Team Canada, recording three assists in four games. He was part of a star-studded Canadian squad that year during the 2012-13 NHL lockout, playing with Matt Duchene, Patrice Bergeron, John Tavares, Jason Spezza, Tyler Seguin and more.
Gagner also won gold with Canada at the 2006-07 world juniors, the same season he made the CHL’s all-rookie team with 118 points in 53 games on the OHL’s London Knights.
The Senators also hired Matt Turek as the new GM for Belleville. He’s been a GM and scout in the OHL for the last decade, and he was an amateur scout for the Montreal Canadiens from 2017 to 2022.
Turek played a key role in the former Hamilton Bulldogs’ OHL championship wins in 2018 and 2022 as the director of player personnel before becoming their GM from 2022 to 2025, including during the squad’s move to Brantford.
Senators owner Michael Andlauer owned the Bulldogs up until midway through this season, when he sold the team to the family of Edmonton Oilers left winger Zach Hyman. The Bulldogs announced Thursday that Spencer Hyman will take over as GM.
“Matt has managed a successful Ontario Hockey League team, and he has gained a critical management skills and experience at that level,” Staios said. “In addition to his experience, Matt will bring passion and leadership to our organization.”
These additions come after the Senators parted ways with associate GM Ryan Bowness earlier in May.
The 61-year-old was in Philadelphia for three seasons, mostly as the Flyers’ associate coach. He served as the club’s interim head coach for the final nine games of this season after John Tortorella was fired.
Shaw had an uphill battle at landing the Flyers’ full-time job. This was a huge decision for general manager Danny Briere and president of hockey operations Keith Jones. It was their first head coaching hire, one that could define their rebuild, so it felt likely that they would ultimately bring in their handpicked guy.
The Flyers went 5-3-1 with Shaw running the bench and scored an impressive 3.89 goals per game. But they also allowed 3.56 per game.
As Tortorella’s right-hand man, Shaw was in charge of the back end and penalty kill. A number of the Flyers’ defensemen improved under Shaw’s watch, while the team’s penalty kill was a top-five unit in 2023-24 and scored an NHL-leading 16 shorthanded goals.
“He has meant so much to my game personally,” Travis Sanheim said at his end-of-the-season press conference. “I think a lot of guys on the D core could probably say the same thing. We don’t know what’s going to happen, time will tell. In saying that, I’m just super thankful for where he has taken my game and I really enjoyed my time working with him, so it would obviously be a disappointment if I didn’t get to continue that.”
A little over three weeks ago, the Flyers parted ways with three assistants, including power play coach Rocky Thompson. Goaltending coach Kim Dillabaugh, who isn’t on the bench for games, was not among the subtractions.
The Vegas Golden Knights were shut out by the Edmonton Oilers in Games 4 and 5 as their season ended disappointingly.
Offence was hard to come by against the Oilers despite the high-scoring opening-round series they played against the Los Angeles Kings. In five games, the Golden Knights scored just 10 goals and gave up 16. In back-to-back must-win games, the Golden Knights managed just 47 shots.
“Discipline. We only had one power play, that can usually get you going,” said HC Bruce Cassidy about what made the Oilers so difficult to score on. “Both teams checked well, not easy to get the the front of the net, so second chances were at a premium. We’re not a team that shoots first anyways. I think that cost us a little bit last year as well in lack of production. We’ll have to look at changing our mindset.”
Although the final results were far from what Cassidy and the Golden Knights were expecting, he felt the team played well and liked their game yesterday.
“I liked our game,” said Cassidy. “I thought we competed hard physically, we wanted to win puck battles, we wanted to take care of the puck, and we knew we couldn’t give up any easy goals. That’s going to take away some of your offence in the risk part, but it’s getting inside, getting second chances that was tough for both teams, and they got one in the end."
It's hard to avoid facts, and the most obvious one is that the Golden Knights roster has multiple key players over the age of 30. Outside of Jack Eichel, Pavel Dorofeyev, Noah Hanifin and Shea Theodore, many of their players showed fatigue or signs of aging.
Other contributors over the age of 30 include Tomas Hertl, Brayden McNabb, Brandon Saad, Reilly Smith and soon, Ivan Barbashev. The Golden Knights have maintained their stance that they can continue to add talent to their roster, but the fear was always that they could run into this problem.
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The Ottawa Senators didn’t take long to replace Ryan Bowness as their AHL General Manager in Belleville.
Senators GM and president of hockey operations Steve Staios announced on Thursday that the club has hired former Brantford Bulldogs GM Matt Turek to take over the same role with the AHL's Belleville Senators. He’ll also oversee a player personnel role with the Sens organization.
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Turek is part of that Hamilton/Brantford connection, working for Staios and former Bulldogs owner Michael Andaleur.
Turek joined the Bulldogs during the 2015-16 season as a scout. He moved up in the organization and took on the role of director of player personnel ahead of the 2018-19 season. He took over as the club’s GM in 2022 when Staios left for a hockey ops job with the Edmonton Oilers.
After three seasons at the helm, Turek left the Bulldogs late last month, which started the rumour mill turning that he might reunite with Andlauer and Staios. When Bowness parted company with the club 11 days ago, that added more fuel to the fire.
“Matt has managed a successful Ontario Hockey League team and he has gained a critical management skills and experience at that level,” Staios in a club press release. “In addition to his experience, Matt will bring passion and leadership to our organization.”
As for the Bulldogs, now owned by Oilers forward Zack Hyman and his family, they announced on Thursday they've replaced Turek with Zack’s brother, Spencer Hyman. Former NHL player Gary Roberts also joined the Bulldogs as one of their directors of player development.
Meanwhile, his stop in Belleville has turned out to be the swan song for Sam Gagner.
Gagner has ended his long NHL playing career and was named Ottawa's director of player development. Gagner has a fine connecton to Staios as well. They were teammates in Edmonton for three and a half years. Staios was even teammates with Sam father's, Dave, during their time with the Vancouver Canucks.
“Sam had an incredible career as a player and we look forward to launching his next chapter,” Staios said in the release. “A true character individual, Sam has contributed to the success of his organizations, both on and off the ice.”
Gagner played 1043 NHL games and is the only man in the past 36 years to score 8 points in a single NHL game.
As we continue to consider potential offseason reinforcements for the Detroit Red Wings, two compelling candidates had their fingerprints all over the Florida Panthers 6–1 demolition of the Maple Leafs in Toronto. That would be Sam Bennett and Brad Marchand, both of them pending unrestricted free agents.
The broad case for acquiring each player is the same. Both Bennett and Marchand could bring hard skill and championship experience. Whether in February for Team Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off or this spring in the playoffs as the Panthers fight toward a second straight Stanley Cup, both players clearly have the skillset and mentality to thrive in hockey of the highest stakes.
Bennett can play at center or on the wing. He's an excellent defender. Marchand is the league's most infamous agitator but also a gifted playmaker, adept at pulling pucks off the wall and snapping them into dangerous areas. Like everything else about Paul Maurice's Panthers, both are perfectly suited to playoff hockey.
That's clearly what the Red Wings are after this summer, at least in part. The challenge is that those are two profiles every team in the NHL would also covet. Both players fit the mold of July 1 UFA overpays, especially if Florida can pull off another Cup run, the price tag will only go up. As it stands, AFP Analytics projects Marchand at a two-year, $5.1 million AAV contract and Bennett at a six-year $6.64 million a year deal.
There is some reason for doubt about splurging on either player. With Bennett, it's fair to wonder whether a player with a career high of 51 points ought to command such a robust contract. Meanwhile, at 37, Marchand is not just on the back nine of his career but a long way through it. Presumably he will be signing his last contract this summer.
However, there's ample reason to see past those drawbacks. In Bennett's case, value obviously stems from a lot more than just scoring (which could be acquired more cheaply elsewhere in the free agency), and Marchand is clearly showing that his scoring touch remains potent in a complementary role.
Both would be worthy free agent targets to help Detroit, if Steve Yzerman can get them at the right price.
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The Oilers, last year’s Stanley Cup runners-up, are back in the Western Conference Final as they eye the franchise’s first championship since 1990. Connor McDavid and Co. dropped their first two games of this postseason, but have only suffered one loss since.
The Hurricanes, meanwhile, are making their second Eastern Conference Final appearance in three years. Carolina, the Metro Division’s No. 2 seed, needed just five games to bounce both the No. 3 New Jersey Devils and the East-leading Washington Capitals. Frederik Andersen has been stellar between the pipes for Carolina, boasting a 1.36 goals-against average and a .937 save percentage in nine playoff starts.
So, when will the conference finals start and who has home-ice advantage? Here’s what to know:
When do the NHL Eastern, Western Conference Finals start?
The NHL hasn’t yet announced when the conference finals will get underway. This story will be updated as schedule details emerge.
For what it’s worth, the final second-round game that’s currently scheduled is a possible Game 7 between the Jets and Stars on Monday, May 19.
What are the NHL Eastern, Western Conference Final matchups?
Eastern Conference Final: Carolina Hurricanes vs. winner of Florida Panthers-Toronto Maple Leafs
Western Conference Final: Edmonton Oilers vs. winner of Dallas Stars-Winnipeg Jets
Who has home-ice advantage in the Eastern, Western Conference Finals?
The team with the superior regular-season record gets home-ice advantage in the conference final round.
The Oilers won’t have home-ice regardless of opponent, as both the Jets and Stars finished ahead of them in the standings. The Hurricanes will have home-ice advantage if they face the Panthers, but will start the conference final on the road should they see the Leafs.
May 15th, 2025, marks 99 years since the city of Chicago was awarded a team in the National Hockey League. That marks the berth of the Chicago Blackhawks.
The 2025-26 season will be the centenial season for the Blackhawks and they are ready to celebrate in a big way.
It started with an informal revealing of a new logo that features their traditional "Chief Blackhawk" with a gold trim around it. There is also a secondary logo with the years 1926 and 2026 over a big 100 sign and of course, the new look Chief Blackhawk.
In addition to this, the Blackhawks announced that they are finally going to have a "Blackhawks Hall of Fame". This is long overdue. Two players will be inducted via a vote each year.
The players who have their numbers retired will automatically be put in. That includes Glen Hall, Pierre Pilote, Keith Magnuson, Chris Chelios, Bobby Hull, Denis Savard, Stan Mikita, Tony Esposito, and Marian Hossa.
The players who can be voted in for 2025-26 will come from one of two ballots. The Modern Era Ballot includes players who completed their Blackhawks career in 2000-01 or later. They must also be three years removed from retiring from the NHL.
This year, the Modern Era ballot includes Tony Amonte, Brian Campbell, Corey Crawford, Eric Daze, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Patrick Sharp, Andrew Shaw, Steve Sullivan, Jocelyn Thibault, and Alexei Zhamnov.
The other is the Heritage Era Ballot. It includes Ed Belfour, Doug Bentley, Johnny Gottselig, Dirk Graham, Dennis Hull, Cliff Koroll, Steve Larmer, Chico Maki, Mush March, Pit Martin, Bill Mosienko, Troy Murray, Eric Nesterenko, Jeremy Roenick, and Doug Wilson.
Fans can go to these by visiting Blackhawks.com/HOF. Some of the greatest players in franchise history are going to get the recognition they deserve.
With the slogan "Always An Original", the Blackhawks are going to have four chapters of celebration throughout the 2025-26 season. That will culminate in the fall of 2026 with a fan event which will go with the 100th anniversary of the first game in franchise history. The schedule of themes, chapters, celebrations, and giveaways will come shortly after the schedule is released.
The Blackhawks are set to connect with generations of fans as they celebrate their 100th birthday in the coming year.
In 2024-25, the Flames took a big step forward. After missing last year's postseason, they came up short of the playoffs by a lowly tiebreaker. Instead, the St. Louis Blues entered the playoffs and lost to the Winnipeg Jets.
Regardless of the step forward this past year, the expectation for next year should be a similar, or better, result. In order to achieve that, every player on the team should be pulling their own weight.
Here are three players the Flames should not bring back, in order to make room for better players.
Kevin Rooney
Kevin Rooney is on an expiring deal paying him $1.3 million. While that doesn’t feel like a lot of money, this is one player the Flames need to let ride off into the sunset.
The 6-foot-2, 31-year-old forward collected 10 points and averaged 9:25 of ice time in his 70 games. The Flames could find someone with their AHL club who could provide similar numbers, with similar ice time, at less than half the cost.
Tyson Barrie (CAL), Dennis Cholowski (NYI) on waivers
Tyson Barrie and the Flames were not a fit. He found himself on the short end of the stick when he was placed on waivers on February 20th, 2025. He never returned to the NHL.
The former Edmonton Oilers defender has been on a downward trajectory since his former team traded him to the Nashville Predators for Mattias Ekholm. Unless the Flames want to bring him back at a league minimum two-way deal, they are better off sticking to other players available in free agency.
Anthony Mantha
The Flames should move on from Anthony Mantha mainly because of his injury history. The 10-year NHL veteran has one 80-game season to his credit. However, he remained healthy for the 56-game 2020-21 season.
With the rising salary cap and better offensive options on the table in free agency, Mantha should not return in a Flames uniform for 2025-26.
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Hallander, 24, was selected by the Penguins in the second round (58th overall) of the 2018 NHL Draft. As a prospect, he was actually dealt to the Toronto Maple Leafs in a trade that brought forward Kasperi Kapanen back to Pittsburgh, and he returned to Pittsburgh when Jared McCann was shipped to Toronto prior to the 2021 expansion draft for the Seattle Kraken.
After that, he spent a few years in the Penguins' organization - mostly with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (WBS), Pittsburgh's AHL affiliate - and put up decent numbers. In parts of two seasons with WBS, he registered 25 goals and 61 points in 104 games, and he saw three NHL games in those two years.
After signing a five-year deal with Timra IK in 2023, he was non-tendered as a restricted free agent by the Penguins and spent the last two years in the SHL building back up his game. His offense really took off during the 2024-25 season, but his two-way play has always been a trademark for him.
The 6-foot-1, 190-pound center has the toolset to become an effective power forward at the NHL level, and he somewhat modeled his game after former Penguin and two-time Stanley Cup champion Patric Hornqvist. His combination of offensive talent, defensive details, and physicality should bode well for the Penguins looking ahead.
Given the Penguins' current trajectory, they are prioritizing young talent, and Hallander could very well figure into the middle-six next year for Pittsburgh.
His two-year contract carries an average annual value of $775,000 and will run through the end of the 2026-27 season.
The lights couldn’t be brighter, and the noise couldn’t be any louder after the Toronto Maple Leafs didn’t just lose Game 5, they were humiliated.
On home ice at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday, the Leafs delivered one of their worst performances of the season in front of their fans, falling 6-1 to the Florida Panthers. They now trail the second-round series 3-2, with Game 6 set for Friday in Sunrise.
It was the kind of night Toronto fans have come to dread, boos raining down as the team headed to the dressing room trailing 4-0 after two, jerseys tossed onto the ice, and fans heading for the exits with half of the third period still left to be played.
Outside the building, the criticism and noise have understandably gotten louder. Social media can be a double-edged sword, and after Wednesday’s performance, it’s been overwhelmingly negative. Fans have voiced their frustrations – fed up with another no-show in the Stanley Cup Playoffs – basically declaring the series over.
That noise, both inside and outside the city, is nothing new to anyone in the Leafs dressing room. But with the team still alive and fighting to force a Game 7 on home ice Sunday, head coach Craig Berube is urging his players to take a step back and block it all out.
“I always tell them that,” Berube said Thursday when asked about players staying off social media. “Whether they do it or not, that's their choice. If you want to look at things, you look at things. I mean, I can't control what they do, but yeah, what we need to do is they need to stick together tonight as a team and take a breath and stop thinking about the game tonight.”
“Relax, we'll get thinking about the game the next day. When it matters. It boils down to a few things that we need to make sure that we have in the game. Aggressive, compete, puck battles. Enjoying the moment. This is what guys play for, and you have to enjoy it. Don't overthink the game,” he added.
Veteran defenceman Morgan Rielly, the longest-tenured Leaf, said tuning out the noise is something each player handles in their own way. The 31-year-old has been through nearly every version of playoff heartbreak in a Leafs jersey, from blown series leads to Game 7 exits, and he knows better than most how loud the outside noise can get when things go sideways in Toronto.
“Everyone's different. For me, I think it's pretty simple,” Rielly said. “But I think ultimately our group just has to do what we have to do to get ready to play. So, again, for me, I think it's pretty straightforward. I think that our guys are just going to stick together today and just get ready for them all. We're still in a position where we're right in the fight. We've got to go down there. We've got to play our best game.”
Berube, who won a Stanley Cup as a head coach of the St. Louis Blues in 2019, is no stranger to blocking out distractions at this time of the year. The now-Leafs coach is leading the charge in putting his best foot forward, confirming the team would meet later Thursday after arriving in Florida to regroup ahead of a must-win Game 6.
And with the season on the line, Berube wants the Leafs to keep it simple.
“You have to skate. You've got to compete. It's going to be physical. We know that. It's tight. And take the thinking out. Go play. Be aggressive. You can't not be aggressive. You have to be aggressive,” Berube said.
“You've got to get numbers in there. And then, like I said, the system and the structure takes care of the thinking. That's what I want them to do. Like, go out and play hockey. Play with structure, but be aggressive,” he added.
After a no-show in Game 5, Leafs fans have seen this movie before – and one too many times, it seems. A promising start was followed by a sudden collapse in a playoff series, raising familiar doubts about the team’s ability to handle pressure when it matters most.
With that in mind, what’s the message to Leafs fans?
“Well, believe like our team believes,” Berube said. “I think that's all you can do.”
At this point, it’s a tall ask for a fan base that’s been let down before, more than once, but the reality is that the Leafs still have life. And in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, that’s all a team needs.
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Sharks Prospect Kasper Halttunen Dominating OHL PlayoffsSan Jose Sharks prospect Kasper Halttunen has been on fire during the OHL playoffs with the London Knights.
Sharks' Defense Prospect Breaks Another London Knights Record San Jose Sharks defenseman Sam Dickinson continues to break records in the OHL.
Sharks & Shakir Mukhamadullin Reportedly Close To Contract Extension AgreementWith the 2024-25 season gone and the San Jose Sharks having shifted their focus onto the 2025 NHL Entry Draft and the 2025-26 campaign, it sounds like they are closing in on a new contract with one of their pending free-agent defenders.
Sharks Prospect Carson Wetsch Flipped In Blockbuster WHL TradeThe 2025 WHL Prospects Draft has now come and gone, and while there weren't many surprises or much news to report from those couple of days, there was one massive trade that caught some attention.
