The Florida Panthers are adding a familiar name to their prospect pipeline.
On Tuesday, the American Hockey League’s Charlotte Checkers announced the signing of 22-year-old forward Kasper Lundell to a one-year, two-way AHL contract.
Lundell is the younger brother of Panthers center Anton Lundell.
The Checkers have signed forward Kasper Lundell to a one-year, two-way AHL contract.
— Charlotte Checkers (@CheckersHockey) July 28, 2026
Over the past three seasons, Lundell has been sharpening his skills with HIFK in Liiga, the top professional league in Finland.
He’s played in 101 games with HIFK, accumulating 16 goals and 26 points to go with 24 penalty minutes and a minus-4 on-ice rating.
The Helsinki-based club has been a bit of a breeding ground for the Lundell family, as it’s where Anton was playing when he was drafted by the Panthers in 2020 and its also where Anton and Kasper’s father, Jan Lundell, was lauded for his excellence as a goaltender for many years.
Jan Lundell is currently HIFK’s Director of Goaltending after serving as the club’s goaltending coach for over a decade following his retirement.
Additionally, HIFK’s current head coach is former Panthers star forward Olli Jokinen.
The younger Lundell could join his older brother for the start of training camp in Fort Lauderdale, which typically features several players on the Checkers roster who eventually make their way up to Charlotte for AHL camp.
Photo caption: Nov 26, 2025; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers centerAntonLundell(15) enters the ice during player introductions before the game against the Philadelphia Flyers at Amerant Bank Arena. (Sam Navarro-Imagn Images)
Former Winnipeg Jets goaltender Michael Hutchinson has played his last game in the NHL.
The 36-year-old is retiring after 11 seasons in the league, the Jets confirmed Monday, closing the book on a career that began, and was defined, in Winnipeg. Hutchinson will return to the city this October, when the Jets host him at their Alumni Game.
Hutchinson's NHL journey started with Winnipeg in 2013, after he signed with the club as an unrestricted free agent following three seasons splitting time between the AHL and ECHL in the Boston Bruins' system, the team that had originally drafted him in the third round of the 2008 NHL Draft.
He made his NHL debut with the Jets that year and went on to spend five seasons with the franchise, the longest stretch of his career with any team. Those five years in Winnipeg produced Hutchinson's best professional numbers, serving as a reliable backup netminder with a 43-39-11 record, a 2.65 goals against average and a .910 save percentage in 102 games. Hutchinson was named the NHL's Rookie of the Month in December of 2014.
He served behind then Jets starter Ondřej Pavelec before eventually settling in as the backup to Connor Hellebuyck, giving the Jets a dependable presence in net as the franchise built toward its playoff runs later in the decade.
After leaving Winnipeg, Hutchinson entered a well traveled stretch of his career, suiting up for the Florida Panthers, Toronto Maple Leafs, Colorado Avalanche, Columbus Blue Jackets and Detroit Red Wings.
The signature moment of Hutchinson's career outside Winnipeg came during his time with Colorado, inside the 2020 NHL postseason bubble. With Avalanche starters Philipp Grubauer and Pavel Francouz both sidelined by injury in the second round against Dallas, Hutchinson was thrust into a Game 5 start with Colorado trailing 3-1 in the series.
He stopped 31 shots to pick up the first playoff win of his career, then backstopped the Avalanche to a Game 6 victory to force a decisive Game 7, making him just the seventh goaltender in NHL history to win his first two career starts while facing elimination.
He closed out his playing days overseas, joining SaiPa Lappeenranta of Finland's Liiga in November 2024, where he appeared in 24 games and posted a .886 save percentage and a 3.02 goals-against average in what proved to be his final professional season.
Across six organizations, Hutchinson built a career on consistency and trust, and it was in Winnipeg, where it all started, that he found his most productive years, and where he'll be welcomed back this fall.
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The Chicago Blackhawks hit their fans with a hint of nostalgia over the last week as they have signed Patrick Kane to a two-year contract. He is coming back to contribute to winning and the future of the team, more than it being some "ride off into the sunset" moment, but it will surely bring back great memories for him and the fanbase.
It wasn't just Kane who contributed to three Stanley Cups in six years, the greatest in the history of the franchise. Many were a big part, and none were bigger than former captain Jonathan Toews.
Toews was away from the game for a few years after his final season with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2022-23. In 2025-26, he came back to the NHL and played one year with his hometown Winnipeg Jets.
Following the conclusion of that campaign, Toews announced his retirement from the National Hockey League. The Winnipeg Jets held a presser for him to do so on his own terms.
Now, it is time for the Blackhawks to give him the proper send-off that he deserves. Eventually, he will have his number retired, be inducted into the Hall of Fame, and possibly get a statue, but a ceremony should be a must for the 2026-27 season.
In the past, the Blackhawks have brought back former players for "one last shift". A moment like that for Toews would be unlike any other that came before him, as he was so beloved as the captain of the team.
"Nothing is set in stone or anything, but I think it's likely we'll go down [that path]," Davidson said when asked about the possibility of Toews getting a moment like that during the upcoming season. He all but confirmed that it's in the works.
"Having him back and having him back with [Kane] back in a Blackhawks sweater would be a pretty exciting thing, too. But, again, much like I’ve said in the past with Patrick, Jonathan, he’s a Blackhawk for life.”
Is it possible that Toews comes back as an employee someday? He hasn't confirmed or denied being interested in coaching or a front office role in the NHL since retiring, but the way he played the game makes it clear that he might have the wisdom to consider a job like that.
Scouting or player evaluation could be in his future as well, if he chose to do so. For now, he deserves a proper send off as a player, and he's going to get it.
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As we rapidly approach the end of July, it's reaching a point in the summer where action lulls and rosters are mostly set for the 2026-27 season. With that being said, when training camp approaches this September, there will be a number of players fighting for a job on the San Jose Sharks.
There are three categories of player on each team at this point in the summer: the locks, the bubble players, and the long shots. Over the next three days, we'll take a look at where each player falls and get a rough idea of what the San Jose Sharks should look like on Opening Night. Today, kick things off with the forwards.
Locks: Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith, Mason Marchment, Kiefer Sherwood, Tyler Toffoli, Alexander Wennberg, Michael Misa, Zack Ostapchuk, Barclay Goodrow
Of the 12 forwards that will take the ice on October 1, nine fall directly into the "lock" category. The reasoning behind some are obvious, Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith, and Michael Misa are the long-term stars of the Sharks and should be expected to play a big role in the long run.
Others, like Mason Marchment, Kiefer Sherwood, Alex Wennberg, and Zack Ostapchuk, are in the first year of big-money contracts and it would make zero sense for the Sharks to sign the deals if they weren't going to use them on their everyday roster.
That accounts for seven of the nine players in the lock category, but what about Tyler Toffoli and Barclay Goodrow?
Toffoli is one of the most well-liked figures in the Sharks' locker room. Although his play did regress a bit last season, the Sharks are hoping he'll be able to bounce back this fall. With that being said, even if he doesn't, there's not much they can do since he has a full no-trade clause. They could, of course, do what the New York Rangers did to Goodrow and place Toffoli on waivers for someone else to claim, but it's hard to imagine that would go over well in the locker room. As a result, he seems to be here to stay for at least one more season.
Goodrow, on the other hand, is seemingly a favorite of both Mike Grier and Ryan Warsofsky. He was one of only four players to appear in all 82 games, despite Warsofsky constantly rotating players in and out of the bottom-six forward group. While many fans likely don't feel that Goodrow should be guaranteed a roster spot this season, and there is some merit to that with his on-ice performance, it seems very unlikely that he'd be taken off of the Opening Night roster.
On the Bubble: Collin Graf, Ivar Stenberg, Igor Chernyshov, Ty Dellandrea, Adam Gaudette
If Collin Graf's contract were done and we had an idea of what term he's going to be signed to, he'd easily be a lock for the Opening Night roster. He finished third on the Sharks in goals last season and played very well alongside Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith. While he does have the versatility to play a bottom-six role, at this stage, it seems like a waste of his talent.
As someone who has overcome the odds numerous times to even reach this point in his career though, Graf will find a way to make it work regardless of what happens.
The re-signing of Kiefer Sherwood followed by additions of Mason Marchment and Ivar Stenberg have made it tough to find a spot for Graf in the top-six, or even the top-nine for that matter. While Graf should undoubtedly be on the ice when the Florida Panthers come to town on October 1, it's hard to tell what the Sharks are planning on doing with him at this point and as a result, he fell to the top of the bubble.
Speaking of Stenberg, while many will likely pencil him in as a lock on the Opening Night roster, the Sharks are at a point where there's no need to rush him. While he was incredible in the Swedish Hockey League last season, some players struggle to adapt to the tighter confines of a North American rink which could hinder his performance in training camp and during the preseason.
Since he's coming out of Europe, Stenberg would be eligible to report to the American Hockey League right out of the gate if he were to struggle early on. It seems more likely than not that he'll take the ice on October 1, but it doesn't seem guaranteed just yet.
Igor Chernyshov is another player who has been hampered by the Sharks' additions over the summer. He seemed like a strong contender to earn his first full-time NHL role this season, but now there's even less room for him. If he's not going to be on the ice regularly, sending Chernyshov back to the AHL would be the right call, but it could lead to some frustration in the long run.
Lastly, Adam Gaudette and Ty Dellandrea are in an odd spot. On paper, they'd likely slot in as the Sharks' 12th and 13th forwards. However, it seems more likely that they're competing strictly for the 13th forward role. Whoever wins out the battle will likely play very little in the coming season, while the other could be placed on waivers, and likely claimed, when the time comes.
The Longshots: Quentin Musty, Filip Bystedt, Ethan Cardwell, Patrick Giles
Of these four, Quentin Musty has the highest NHL upside at this point in time, which ironically makes him the least likely to earn a spot with the Sharks this season as he'd be better suited to playing top-six minutes at the AHL level.
Filip Bystedt's odds of ever getting an opportunity with the team in teal seem slim at this stage, as I discussed in detail earlier this week.
Meanwhile Ethan Cardwell and Patrick Giles are slightly different. They're never going to be counted on as top-nine forwards at the NHL level at this stage, but they could fill a depth role if the Sharks opted to move any of their bottom-six wingers like Gaudette and Dellandrea for example. It's very unlikely to happen, but if both players were moved, Cardwell or Giles could sneak into the 13th forward role with a strong performance at training camp.
There's certainly a lot to consider for Mike Grier and Ryan Warsofsky when training camp gets underway this fall. One thing is for sure though; they'll have to make at least a couple of difficult decision.
Earlier today, Rogers Communications and Prime Video announced a 12-year agreement that will see the latter gain rights to Wednesday Night Hockey broadcasts and three playoff series per season in Canada, with the deal beginning in 2026–27. Prime Video was previously home to Monday Night Hockey in Canada since the 2024–25 season, with this deal replacing their previous position.
“Over the past two years, Prime Video has been a valuable addition to the NHL’s media lineup in Canada, joining Rogers in bringing marquee NHL games to Canadian fans,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said of the deal in a press release. “We’re excited that Prime Video and Rogers are deepening their relationship through this long-term agreement, reflecting our shared commitment to serving English and French-language hockey fans across Canada with premium NHL content for years to come.”
While no official schedule has been released, as it stands, the Vancouver Canucks are set to play in eight Wednesday games during the 2026–27 season. Vancouver’s first Wednesday game of the upcoming season takes place on November 25 in Detroit against the Detroit Red Wings, while their first home Wednesday game is on December 30 against the Seattle Kraken.
Here are the eight Canucks games that could potentially be broadcasted on Prime Video in 2026–27.
Apr 14, 2026; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Vancouver Canucks defenseman Victor Mancini (90) handles the puck in warm up prior to a game against the Los Angeles Kings at Rogers Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bob Frid-Imagn Images
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With the general manager's chair now open in Hockeytown, speculation continues to swirl around who will take over the coveted role for the Original Six franchise.
While several names from around the league's upper management ranks have surfaced as possible in-house or external hires, one name that has generated buzz because of his deep roots in Detroit, Jim Rutherford, appears to be a non-starter, according to at least one prominent NHL insider.
Appearing on Tuesday's episode of Daily Faceoff's "The Sheet," Jeff Marek addressed the chatter surrounding Rutherford, the three-time Stanley Cup-winning executive and former Vancouver Canucks president of hockey operations. Marek said that, to his knowledge, there has been no traction between the Red Wings and Rutherford regarding the GM opening, and that he had heard nothing to suggest Rutherford is part of Detroit's search.
The connection between Rutherford and the Red Wings runs deeper than most may think. Detroit selected Rutherford 10th overall in the 1969 NHL Draft, and he went on to play 457 career NHL games over 13 seasons, with 314 of those starts coming in a Red Wings sweater across 10 seasons.
He posted a 97-165-43 record with a 3.69 goals-against average and an .876 save percentage during an offensive-heavy era of the league.
Jeff Marek: Re Red Wings management search: To my knowledge there is nothing between the Red Wings and Jim Rutherford; to my knowledge not part of the process - The Sheet (7/28)
— NHL Rumour Report (@NHLRumourReport) July 28, 2026
Rutherford's front-office career also has ties to the Windsor-Detroit corridor as he landed his first job in hockey management as general manager of the Ontario Hockey League's Windsor Spitfires from 1984 to 1988.
He would go on to then served as president and GM of the Detroit Compuware Ambassadors, later renamed the Detroit Jr. Red Wings, from 1990 to 1994. That role set up his biggest career leap, joining the ownership group of the Hartford Whalers as a minority owner, president and GM, his first NHL job since his playing days ended.
Rutherford held those three titles through the franchise's relocation to Carolina, remaining in charge of the Hurricanes through the 2014-15 season before departing to become general manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
He stayed on as a Hurricanes owner through the end of the 2015-16 season before fully stepping away. Rutherford remained with the Penguins until resigning in January 2021, after which he joined the Canucks' front office as president of hockey operations, briefly holding the interim general manager title as well before it passed to someone else.
Now 77, Rutherford appears to be entering a new phase of his hockey journey, shifting into a senior advisor role with Vancouver, stepping back from day-to-day decision-making after a career that has spanned 45 years in the sport.
Rutherford's career has been a decorated one, winning three Stanley Cups as an executive, one with Carolina in 2006 and back-to-back titles with Pittsburgh in 2016 and 2017, and earned the Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award in 2016.
In 2019, he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in the Builder category, cementing his standing as one of the most respected hockey minds of his generation.
Given that résumé and his stated desire to scale back, Marek's report that the Red Wings and Rutherford have shown no real interest in each other for the vacancy is likely a mutual sentiment.
Rutherford appears poised to enjoy a lighter workload in Vancouver while remaining connected to a game and a league he has now been part of for nearly half a century, leaving Detroit's search for its next general manager to play out among a different field of candidates.
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A second
former Montreal Canadiens player has had his day with the Stanley Cup after the
Carolina Hurricanes won Lord Stanley’s mug last June. About 10 days ago,
Nicolas Deslauriers got to spend some quality time with the Stanley Cup. On
Monday, Jesperi Kotkaniemi got his turn as he took the most highly sought
trophy in hockey back home, in Finland.
According
to the former third-overall pick's Instagram account, he took the Cup back to
where it all started for him: the arena where he played with Assat Pori in the
SM-Liiga. Pori’s also his hometown, so it was a real homecoming for the
centerman.
While
Kotkaniemi didn’t get to play a single game in the playoffs, he still met the
requirements to have his name on the Stanley Cup since he played 41 regular-season
games with the Hurricanes in the regular season. It was probably not the fashion
in which he dreamt of winning the championship growing up in Finland, but at
the end of the day, he still has his name on the precious trophy and can check
winning a Stanley Cup off his bucket list.
Photo credit: Jesperi Kotkaniemi Instagram
The pivot
is under contract for another four years with the Canes at a $4.82 M cap hit.
He’s halfway through the puzzling eight-year deal he was signed to by Don
Waddell back in March 2022, months after being poached from the Habs with a
single-year offer sheet that had a $6.1 million cap hit.
Kotkaniemi
never got more than 43 points in a season, despite being a very high draft pick.
It looks like he will never live up to the lofty expectations the Habs had when
they picked him third overall in the 2018 draft, or those the Canes had when
they signed him to both the offer sheet and the eight-year contract extension.
Some
believed the Hurricanes would be buying him out this offseason, but that didn’t
come to be. However, there were reports that Carolina told teams who wanted to
trade for RFA defenseman Alexander Nikishin that they would have to take Kotkaniemi
in the deal. Unsurprisingly, both Nikishin and Kotkaniemi remain part of the
Hurricanes right now.
The Buffalo Sabres could go a number of different ways as the NHL is in the midst of trade season following the NHL Draft and the opening of free agency on July 1. With the departure of winger Alex Tuch and defenseman Bowen Byram, GM Jarmo Kekalainen is expected to seek out offensive reinforcements to make up for the 44 goals lost by their departures.
Over the next few weeks, we will continue to look at potential options for the Sabres, now that veteran Patrick Kane has returned with Chicago. Some of the possibilities are not going to match Tuch’s stats, but any additions could provide some relief to the pressure that youngsters Konsta Helenius, Jiri Kulich, or Noah Ostlund will be under to make up the deficit.
Who will the Sabres bring in to provide some offensive jump?
Kekalainen ideally would like to make up as much of the 60-to-70 point production that he lost with Tuch, or someone who can fill the leadership gap and/or add some snarl and sandpaper to the middle-six.
Someone who became a free agent on July 1 and has extensive experience playing in the Atlantic Division is veteran winger James van Riemsdyk. The 37-year-old was a second overall selection after Patrick Kane in the 2007 NHL Draft, and spent his first 14 seasons with Philadelphia and Toronto. The last three seasons, the New Jersey native has become a journeyman, signing one-year deals with Boston, Columbus, and Detroit for just under or right at a $1 million AAV.
JVR’s skating has decreased significantly in his latter years, but he can still put the puck in the net, especially playing on the power play. With the Wings last season, van Riemsdyk 15 goals averaging under 12 minutes per game, and seven of those goals were on the man advantage. Similar to Patrik Laine, the veteran winger would slot in as a middle-six winger and specialist, and someone that Lindy Ruff would have to avoid using late in games, but he would be able to fill some of the offensive gap created by the departure of Tuch, especially on the power play.
If Kekalainen is reserving his available cap space for a potential Connor Hellebuyck deal, someone like van Riemsdyk, who would likely be willing to sign for a year around $1 million might be all that the Sabres could afford to sign.
The Buffalo Sabres have been considered to have one of the deepest prospect pools in the NHL, which is in part due to them selecting high in recent drafts because of their not qualifying for the playoffs. The Sabres have displayed an eye for talent, and the organization’s developmental model has begun to yield results, with 2023 first rounder Zach Benson making an impact in the playoffs, and 2024 top pick Konsta Helenius appearing as one of the AHL’s top prospects the last two seasons.
Leading up to the opening of training camp in mid-September, we will look at the club's top 40 prospects. These players are all 25 years old or younger, whose rights are currently held by the Sabres or are on AHL or NHL deals, and have played less than 82 NHL games.
38 Norwin Panocha – Defense (Eisbaren Berlin - DEL)
Drafted 205th overall out of the junior level of Eisbaren Berlin of the DEL at the 2023 NHL Draft in Nashville, the 6’2”, 190 lb. defenseman opted to come to North America and play for Chicoutimi in the QMJHL instead of staying in Germany. In his first season, Panocha finished with 15 assists in 52 regular-season games and had one assist in eight playoff games for the Sagueneens, but he was released after the season.
Sabres need to add offense, either via trade or free agency
After being selected in the CHL Import Draft by Prince Albert, Panocha moved to the Western Hockey League to play for the Raiders, but played only three games before he was dropped again. After a brief stop playing with Green Bay in the USHL and playing for Germany in his second straight WJC, Panocha returned home to play for Berlin, where he finished with two assists in 16 DEL games.
Last season, Panocha split time between Berlin and was loaned out to Lausitzer Füchse in the secondary level of the DEL. According to Elite Prospects, he will be playing for another DEL club, the Iserlohn Roosters, next season.
Panocha was at the Sabres Development Camp earlier this month, and the club has one year remaining of rights before they have to sign him.
All signs pointed toward future Hall of Fame forward Patrick Kane deciding to sign another contract extension with the Detroit Red Wings, despite having finished outside of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for what is now a franchise-record 10th straight year.
Kane spoke glowingly about his time with the Red Wings, pointed to his friendship with longtime teammate Alex DeBrincat, and said he'd love to be part of the solution that finally brings Stanley Cup Playoff hockey to Little Caesars Arena.
However, Red Wings fans won't get to see "Showtime" in playoff action wearing the Winged Wheel. Kane signed a two-year, $16 million contract with the Chicago Blackhawks, returning to the club he helped win the Stanley Cup three times.
So, what happened?
While making an appearance on the Pardon My Take podcast, Kane admitted that he thought he was coming back to the Red Wings, but as he put it, "things happen".
"If you would’ve asked me last year at the end of the season, I thought I would be going back to Detroit. And you know, things happen, and then it’s like, 'Okay, let’s just take our time, see what’s out there July 1st,'" he said. "And (Blackhawks) owner Danny Wirtz called me at, like, 11:03, as soon as free agency opened."
While Kane didn't get specific, it's not hard to guess as to exactly what he was referring to.
Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin requested to be traded, which became public in early June. Larkin and the Red Wings remain in a standoff, as he's still allegedly willing to be dealt to only three teams, greatly handicapping Detroit's ability to get an adequate trade package in return.
Not only that, but GM Steve Yzerman stepped down from his role in mid-July, stunning Red Wings fans and adding another layer of uncertainty to the franchise. As of July 28, the club has yet to name an official successor to Yzerman.
The departure of Kane, who recorded 57 points for the Red Wings last season, leaves a significant void in Detroit’s top-six forward group. Although the team added veteran winger Viktor Arvidsson, who scored 25 goals with the Boston Bruins in 2025-26, replacing Kane’s offensive production will be hard, barring another acquisition.
Additionally, if Larkin is also moved, the Red Wings’ chances of reaching the postseason next spring will take another major hit. Detroit would already face an uphill battle without Kane, but losing both key forwards would make their already slim playoff aspirations even more difficult.
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Former New York Rangers star Ron Duguay, who is being treated for Stage 4 colon cancer, has been hospitalized after collapsing at his home, his daughter announced.
Shay Thomas announced on Instagram on Monday, July 27, that Duguay, 69, had fainted on Friday, was unconscious and suffered facial injuries and lost some teeth. Her post showed Duguay being loaded into an ambulance and being wheeled on a gurney through a hospital corridor.
"After extensive testing, doctors found that he was extremely dehydrated and had been struggling to eat because of how sick he had been feeling," Thomas wrote. "They also discovered varices, portal hypertensive gastropathy, internal bleeding, and an ulcer.
"Because of the cancer in his liver, along with everything his liver has endured from surgery, chemotherapy, and the pump, pressure has built up inside the liver. That pressure can back up into the stomach and cause bleeding. The ulcer still needs further evaluation, but the bleeding and liver pressure are the major concerns right now."
We are now approaching a month since the beginning of the 2026 free agency, and several former Florida Panthers players are without a contract.
The Panthers' lineup is likely full, as the team currently has just $34,286 of cap space with 22 players signed to their NHL roster, according to puckpedia.com.
The Panthers may sign some AHL deals or possibly two-way deals before now and training camp, but for now, the roster is set, which means the players who played for the Panthers last season won’t be returning.
Those players are highlighted by Luke Kunin, Jeff Petry, and Tomas Nosek. Other former Panthers players who remain unsigned include Reilly Smith, Mike Reilly, Evgenii Dadonov, and Vladimir Tarasenko.
Luke Kunin, C
Kunin signed a one-year deal with the Panthers last off-season, hoping to win the role of the fourth-line center.
It didn't pan out for Kunin, as the 28-year-old skated in just 62 games, serving as a healthy scratch for a large part of the season. Kunin mustered just four goals and 10 points and averaged a career low in ice time at just 9:41.
Kunin will likely be required to sign a professional tryout prior to pre-season and will aim to earn a league-minimum contract. He has previously shown he can be a viable player, but the 2025-26 campaign has hurt his stock. With 496 games of NHL experience, Kunin should find an NHL home.
Petry also signed a one-year deal with the Panthers last off-season, looking to serve as the Panthers' sixth defenseman. Unfortunately, Petry couldn't really find his footing with the Panthers and was traded to the Minnesota Wild at the trade deadline.
At 38 years old, Petry is no spring chicken. Petry was once a solid offensive defenseman, but he doesn’t have the foot speed to be reliable and a difference-maker offensively. There is a real possibility that Petry is unable to find a team next season.
Nosek served valiantly for the Panthers in their second Stanley Cup victory, but a knee injury knocked the 33-year-old out for most of the 2025-26 season, and the Panthers ultimately decided to move on.
Lars Eller and Cole Schwindt are expected to take over the roles Nosek and Kunin occupied last season.
Nosek has accumulated 514 games of NHL experience, proving to be an effective fourth-line center. Like Kunin, if Nosek is hoping to continue his NHL career, he'll be required to sign a PTO.
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Along with the Maple Leafs and Jets, Hutchinson also featured in the crease for the Florida Panthers, Colorado Avalanche, Columbus Blue Jackets and Detroit Red Wings. He played a total of 154 NHL games across appearances in 11 different campaigns, playing his final game in the league with Detroit in 2023-24.
As for his time with the Maple Leafs, that's where Hutchinson saw the most action in his career following his early stint with the Jets.
Hutchinson, a Barrie, Ont., native, featured in parts of four years with Toronto, making 30 appearances along the way, 25 of which were starts. In that span, he earned a 10-15-2 record, averaged an .898 save percentage and a 3.18 goals-against average, as well as three shutouts.
His time with the Maple Leafs was divided into two separate tenures. Hutchinson was first acquired by Toronto in December 2018 from Florida in exchange for a 2020 fifth-round draft pick.
After two seasons with the Leafs, he was traded to the Avalanche in return for Calle Rosen. Hutchinson stepped up for Colorado in the 2019-20 playoffs, when he made four appearances, won two games, and posted a .910 SP with a 2.75 GAA.
Once that campaign was complete, he re-joined the Maple Leafs as a free agent for 2020-21 and played another two seasons in Toronto.
Hutchinson's busiest campaign with the Leafs was in 2019-20, when he played 15 games, finishing with an .886 SP and a 3.66 GAA.
The goaltender also played multiple seasons for the Toronto Marlies, appearing in 57 regular-season games and two playoff games over those four years with the Maple Leafs organization.
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Jun 11, 2026; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Vegas Golden Knights head coach John Tortorella after the first period against the Carolina Hurricanes in game five of the 2026 Stanley Cup Final at Lenovo Center. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-Imagn Images
James Guillory/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
John Tortorella hasn’t closed the door on coaching at age 68, some two months after his latest, brief stint ended two wins short of a Stanley Cup and not being rehired by the Vegas Golden Knights.
“Oh, I want to coach,” Tortorella told The Athletic. “I want to coach now. I’m not sure if that happens, and that’s where I am in my career. But I wanted to coach that Vegas team. I told (general manager Kelly McCrimmon) that.”
Tortorella’s tenure in Vegas began with him replacing the fired Bruce Cassidy with eight games left in the regular season. And it ended in mid-June with the Golden Knights losing the Stanley Cup Final in six games to the Carolina Hurricanes.
Though Tortorella pushed for his return, he said he respected McCrimmon’s decision to promote minor-league coach Ryan Craig.
“They’ve been developing (Craig) for a number of years there,” he said. “He’s a good coach and a good man.”
Tortorella has 24 seasons of NHL head-coaching experience, with the Golden Knights representing his seventh stop — including two separate tenures with the New York Rangers. He enjoyed his longest stint with Tampa Bay, spanning 2000-01 to 2007-08, during which he won his only Stanley Cup in 2004. He also coached in Columbus, Philadelphia and Vancouver.
From Boston, Tortorella is sixth on the NHL list and first among U.S.-born coaches with 1,628 games coached. Tortorella’s 777 career wins rank second among U.S.-born coaches behind Peter Laviolette’s 846. With a 70-72 career playoff record, he’s 20th on the NHL list in wins.
Tortorella lamented coming up short on winning a second Cup.
“I guess the word I’d use is disappointed,” Tortorella said.
“We didn’t finish the job, and I wanted some more time with that club to try to finish the job. That’s not my call. That’s the general manager and president’s call,” he added. “You just get about your business after that.”
It’s quite clear that the Atlantic Division will be the toughest decision in hockey this season. The Florida Panthers will be back at full strength after a campaign lost to injuries, the Tampa Bay Lightning will remain a top team, the Buffalo Sabres will want to prove that last season wasn’t a one off, the Boston Bruins will be holding on for dear life not to slip out of the playoffs picture, just like the Ottawa Senators while the Toronto Maple Leafs will want to prove that last year was a one off. Meanwhile, the Montreal Canadiens will hope to keep moving forward and remain near the top of the division and the league as well, of course.
In a recent article, THN’s Ryan Lambert has given his top-three goalies in what he calls the league’s best goaltending division, the Atlantic. Nobody will argue with his top choice: Andrei Vasilevskiy. The Bolts netminder has got nothing left to prove and has a couple of Stanley Cups to his name already. Last season, he posted a 2.27 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage with a 39-15-4 record. However, in the playoffs, he was 3-2-2 with a 2.18 GAA and a.897 save percentage; the Habs’ Jakub Dobes outdueled him, and Vasilevskiy fell in the first round.
In second place, he has Jeremy Swayman, who finished third in voting for the Vezina Trophy with a 31-18-4 record, a 2.69 GAA and a .908 SV. The Bruins performed much better than most people hoped, and Lambert sees Swayman as one of the main reasons why. It’s hard to argue with that when most believed they would be out of the playoff picture. Of course, Swayman did have that one miserable season in 2024-25 when he was stuck in a contract dispute early on, which led to him missing the preseason, and he never really caught up. He ended the year with a 22-29-7 record, a 3.11 GAA, and a .892. He bounced back perfectly last season and put that year squarely in the rearview mirror.
Finally, Lambert gives the third spot to Swayman’s former partner in Boston and now main guy in Ottawa: Linus Ullmark. The Sens’ masked man ended the season with a 28-12-8 record with a 2.73 GAA and a .891 SV. He helped the Senators scrape into the playoffs but was swiftly dispatched in four games by the champions-to-be Carolina Hurricanes. That wasn’t on him, though; he lost the four games, but he posted a 2.03 GAA and a .932 SV. Ullmark couldn’t have done any better in the postseason.
Meanwhile, Dobes had a 29-10-4 record with a 2.78 GAA and a .901 SV. While he finished the year with respectable numbers, it has to be said that he had some tough stretches during the season as the Canadiens kept trying to get Samuel Montembeault back on track without regard to what going back to the Quebecer time and time again would do to the Czech netminder’s confidence. Once the Canadiens put their chips on Dobes, though, he rose to the occasion and was also great in the playoffs, finishing with a 9-6-4 record, a 2.66 GAA and a .908 SV.
What Dobes did from the moment he was given the reins of the team was enough to convince the Canadiens to sign him to a three-year contract extension even though he still had a year left on his contract. However, it wasn’t enough to convince the rest of the league of what kind of goaltender he would be in the future. That was his rookie season; he was still young and seen as an unproven commodity. He did catch a lot of people’s eyes, though, and if he can perform out of the gate this season as he did at the tail end of last season, he may very well make his way into this top three next offseason.
