The Detroit Red Wings have recalled defenseman Erik Gustafsson from the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins, a move that could signal a potential injury on the backend that we're waiting to hear about or a possible last-ditch effort to generate trade interest ahead of the NHL trade deadline.
With Detroit continuing to evaluate its options, the recall appears to be an opportunity to get Gustafsson into the lineup for a few games and showcase his value to potential buyers. The veteran defenseman has drawn increasing attention in recent months, with multiple reports linking him to the New York Rangers as they search for help on the blue line.
Sportsnet insider Elliotte Friedman has reported that the Rangers are in the market for a power play quarterback while Adam Fox remains out on long term injured reserve. Friedman included Gustafsson among the players New York has checked in on, noting that his familiarity with the Rangers’ system and his affordable contract make him a logical short-term option. If Gustafsson can perform well in Detroit, the Red Wings could benefit by boosting his trade stock in the remaining weeks before the deadline.
Gustafsson has been a productive and steady presence in Grand Rapids this season. In 22 games with the Griffins, he has recorded two goals and 18 assists for 20 points, establishing himself as one of the team’s most reliable veteran players and a key contributor on the power play.
He has already appeared in one NHL game for Detroit this season. In that outing, Gustafsson logged 17 and a half minutes of ice time, registered two shots on goal, and finished minus one in a loss to the Nashville Predators. While he did not record a point, he showed the puck-moving ability the Red Wings were expecting when they signed him.
Gustafsson played 76 games for the Rangers during the 2023-24 season, finishing with six goals and 25 assists for 31 points. Over the course of his ten NHL seasons, he has appeared in 516 games. His most productive year came with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2018-19, when he posted 60 points and emerged as one of the league’s more dynamic offensive defensemen.
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The 18-year-old, who has since emerged as the club's No. 1 defenseman skating alongside Ryan Pulock while averaging 23:56 minutes per game, was still skating on the third pairing alongside Scott Mayfield when the Islanders won 4-2 against Edmonton at UBS Arena.
At 5-on-5, with head coach Patrick Roy able to control matchups, Schaefer only played 2:06 against McDavid -- Islanders were outshot 2-0 -- and 3:01 against Draisaitl -- Islanders were outshot 3-1. He played a total of 17:38 minutes, the third fewest minutes he's played this season.
Things will be much different when the puck drops at 9 PM ET on Thursday.
While Edmonton head coach Kris Knoblauch is going to try to have his stars not on the ice against Schaefer, the rookie phenom plays too many minutes to be able to avoid him -- as do the Oilers' stars.
Schaefer, who powered through a jab to the ribs and a puck off the outside of the right knee in a 5-4 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday, recorded his 13th goal and 30th point on the season.
While Schaefer has passed every test he's had and doesn't need to prove anything anymore, a successful game against McDavid and Draisaitl will show exactly how much growth he's shown in his game from the start of the season to now.
Vancouver Canucks - 16-25-5 - 37 Points - 1-7-2 in the last 10 - Lost 5 Straight- 8th in the Pacific
Columbus Blue Jackets - 20-19-7 - 47 Points - 5-4-1 in the last 10 - Won 2 Straight - 7th in the Metro
Blue Jackets Stats
Power Play - 19.0% - 20th in the NHL
Penalty Kill - 74.6% - 29th in the NHL
Goals For - 136 - 20th in the NHL
Goals Against - 155 - 28th in the NHL
Canucks Stats
Power Play - 19.6% - 16th in the NHL
Penalty Kill - 73.1% - 30th in the NHL
Goals For - 121 - 27th in the NHL
Goals Against - 165 - 31st in the NHL
Series History vs. TheCanucks
Columbus is 26-33-2-9 all-time, and 15-15-2-3 at home vs. Vancouver.
The Blue Jackets has won 5 straight games at home against the Canucks.
The CBJ went 1-1-0 vs Vancouver last season.
Who To Watch For TheCanucks
Elias Pettersson leads the Canucks with 28 points.
Filip Hronek leads Vancouver with 24 assists.
Goalie Thatcher Demko is 8-10-1 with a SV% of .897
CBJ Player Notes vs.Canucks
Zach Werenski has 8 points in 15 games vs. the Canucks.
Dmitri Voronkov has 5 points in 5 games.
Sean Monahan has 29 points im 40 career games against Vancouver.
Injuries
Erik Gudbranson - Upper Body - Missed 38 Games - IR - Skating with team, but there is no timeline for a return to the lineup.
Isac Lundeström - Lower Body - Missed 10 Games - IR
Brendan Smith - Lower Body - Missed 8 Games IR - Out 3-4 months after having knee surgery.
Miles Wood - Lower Body - Missed 7 Games - IR - Week-to-week.
Mason Marchment - Upper Body - Missed 5 Games - Week to week.
TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 122
How to Watch & Listen: Tonight's game will be on FANDUEL SPORTS NETWORK. Steve Mears will be on the play-by-play. The radio broadcast will be on 97.1 The Fan, with Bob McElligott behind the mic doing the play-by-play.
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The Philadelphia Flyers are in a bad way after losing their fourth straight in addition to losing Dan Vladar to injury. The silver lining, however, is that now is as good a time as any to evaluate a prospect who's completely turned his career around in one season.
Vladar, 28, exited the Flyers' 5-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres with an unspecified injury and did not return, even as a backup in an emergency capacity.
Vladar surrendered two goals on five shots, and Sam Ersson, who has struggled mightily this season, made six saves on eight shots in relief.
The Flyers, who were already reportedly considering alternatives to Ersson, now have no choice but to turn to prospect Aleksei Kolosov, who's had an excellent first real season in the AHL with the so-so Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
Kolosov, 24, has posted a 9-9-1 record in 19 games for the Phantoms to the tune of a 2.54 GAA, .908 save percentage, and his first two shutouts on North American ice.
The numbers aren't amazing, no, but neither are the Phantoms, who have experienced a ton of player turnover and have a number of first-time pros occupying significant roles on the team, led by Alex Bump, Carson Bjarnason, Denver Barkey, Karsen Dorwart, and Devin Kaplan.
Kolosov, now in the last year of his entry-level contract with the Flyers, has earned himself at least one more opportunity to show his stuff at the NHL level.
The Belarusian has played well in the AHL, and on the other hand, it would be almost impossible to play worse than Ersson has for the Flyers this season; Ersson has been beaten 14 times on the last 57 shots he's faced and currently boasts a .855 save percentage and 6-7-4 record on the year.
Kolosov, as bad as he looked at times last season, still managed a .884 save percentage and 5-6-1 record.
It should ease the Flyers' minds, too, that Kolosov has a .929 save percentage across two NHL appearances for the club this season.
He's looked the part and played his role at both levels, and with he and Ersson both set to become free agents at the end of the season, the Flyers need to use Vladar's injury as an opportunity to evaluate and draw conclusions on both players, deciding who, if either, they will retain this summer.
Kolosov, at least for now, has the edge, if for no reason other than Ersson all but playing himself off the team, just as Egor Zamula had earlier in the season.
The 2005-06 NHL season was a disaster for the Boston Bruins.
They traded away superstar center and captain Joe Thornton to the San Jose Sharks early in the campaign for a lackluster return package. The team lacked talent and toughness, and it finished with the fifth-worst record in the league.
The franchise, which hadn’t been a real Stanley Cup contender since the late 1980s and early 1990s, appeared to be light years away from ending its championship drought, which in 2006 stood at 34 years.
It was, essentially, rock bottom for the Bruins.
And then everything changed July 1, 2006.
That’s when the Bruins, who were not big spenders at the time, splashed the cash to sign star defenseman Zdeno Chara to a five-year, $37.5 million contract. It’s without question the best free agent signing in league history.
“I’m willing to lead by my example of hard work, dedication, discipline and drive,” Chara said in his introductory press conference in July of 2006.
He also made it clear in that press conference what the objective was for him and the team: “I think the only thing we care (about) is the final goal and to win at the end.”
The Bruins will retire Chara’s No. 33 to the TD Garden rafters Thursday night before the B’s play the Seattle Kraken. It’s a fitting honor for a player who transformed the Bruins back into a Stanley Cup contender.
But it didn’t happen overnight. Playoff setbacks in 2008, 2009 and then blowing a 3-0 series lead in the second round to the Philadelphia Flyers in 2010 created some doubt over whether the Bruins had what it took to be champions.
But Chara, with his leadership and determination, kept the B’s moving forward. One thing about Chara is he never backs down from a challenge. He looks at the impossible as very much possible.
The Bruins’ 2011 playoff run, which culminated with the franchise winning its first Stanley Cup in 39 years, was one of the most exciting three-month periods in the history of Boston sports. There were so many ups, downs, and memorable moments.
There were many heroes during those four playoff series. Tim Thomas set a record for playoff save percentage and won the Conn Smythe Trophy as postseason MVP. David Krejci led the playoffs with 23 points. Brad Marchand scored a then-rookie record 11 playoff goals, including five in the Cup Final. Nathan Horton scored two OT-winning goals and the only goal in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final.
Chara was also at the top of his game. When the Bruins needed it most, their captain stepped up with elite play at both ends of the ice on the sport’s biggest stage.
Chara played an astounding 37:06 of ice time in Game 5 of the first-round series versus the Montreal Canadiens. The Habs did not score and tallied only 14 shots when Chara was on the ice. The Bruins ended up winning in double overtime to take a 3-2 series lead. They won the series in overtime of Game 7.
In the second-round sweep against the Flyers, Chara helped tilt the ice heavily in the Bruins’ favor. Boston outscored Philadelphia 13-4 and generated more than 60 percent of all scoring chances during Chara’s 113:58 of ice time over four games.
In Game 7 of the East Final against the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Bruins had a 16-7 advantage in shots, a 12-5 edge in scoring chances and allowed zero goals during Chara’s 26:43 of ice time. The Lightning only tallied two shots on net when Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis and Steven Stamkos went up against Chara in that game. The B’s won 1-0 to clinch their first Stanley Cup Final appearance since 1990.
Dave Sandford/NHLI via Getty Images
Canucks superstar Henrik Sedin struggled to score against Zdeno Chara in the 2011 Stanley Cup Final.
The 2011 Cup Final against the Vancouver Canucks is where Chara’s defensive excellence really played a key role for the Bruins. He put on a defensive masterclass against a Canucks team that won the Presidents’ Trophy, scored the most goals of any team and had the No. 1 ranked power play. Daniel Sedin led the league with 104 points. His brother and linemate, Henrik, had 94.
Neither of those two superstar forwards made a profound impact in the Final. Daniel tallied four points in the series but was held without a point in five of the seven games. Two of his points were garbage time assists in Game 6. Henrik was completely invisible. He scored a meaningless goal late in Game 6. It was his only point of the series.
They couldn’t escape the physicality, long reach and towering presence of Chara. He played about 70 even-strength minutes against the Sedins in that series, per Natural Stat Trick, and Boston outscored Vancouver 5-2 and had a .960 save percentage in those minutes. Chara winning that matchup so decisively was pivotal in the outcome.
The Sedins were power-play maestros, too. Daniel led the league with 42 power-play points in the 2010-11 regular season. Henrik had 35. But in 28 minutes of power-play ice time against Chara in the Cup Final, the twins could only muster one goal — a garbage time tally in Game 6. Vancouver’s potent power play, which was supposed to tip the scale in its favor, was bottled up by the Bruins’ 6-foot-9 defenseman. The Canucks ended up going 2-for-32 on the power play in the series.
Overall, the Bruins outscored the Canucks 15-6 in Chara’s ice time over the seven games. He made a huge impact all over the ice versus a Vancouver team that many experts picked to win the series.
And when the final buzzer sounded in Game 7 and commissioner Gary Bettman brought the Stanley Cup onto the Rogers Arena ice and gave it to Chara, the greatest trophy in sports was lifted higher in the air than it ever had, or ever has been.
Winning the ultimate prize didn’t come easy, but those Bruins teams never did anything easy. There were many times throughout that journey toward winning the Stanley Cup that the B’s could have folded and given up. But Chara was never going to let that happen.
He set an example of hard work and dedication that was contagious. No challenge or setback was going to keep him from delivering on the goal he set during his introductory press conference in 2006. This is why the Bruins had the mental toughness to withstand a lot of challenges against the Canucks in the 2011 Cup Final.
Whether it was Patrice Bergeron getting bitten by Alex Burrows in Game 1 and Boston losing 1-0 on a late goal, or the Bruins losing in overtime of Game 2, or Nathan Horton getting knocked out of the series in Game 3 by a vicious hit, or the team losing 1-0 again in Game 5, or the B’s playing a must-win Game 7 on the road, Chara’s leadership kept his team laser-focused on the No. 1 objective.
Other legendary Boston athletes might have won more championships, or taken home more individual awards. But very, very few made the kind of transformational impact on their franchise that Chara did for the Bruins.
It’s one of many reasons why Chara will always be regarded as one of the best Bruins of all time. And it’s why the 2011 title will always matter a little more than some of the others that Boston teams have won.
The Los Angeles Kings (19-16-11) played host to the Vegas Golden Knights (22-11-12) in a battle between two playoff hopefuls from the Pacific division. After a rough loss to the Dallas Stars on Monday, the Kings were in desperate need of two points as they are start to slip out of the playoff picture in the West.
Unfortunately, two points isn't easy to come by in the National Hockey League as the Los Angeles was unable to finish the job on home ice and fall to Vegas by a score of 3-2 in overtime.
The silver lining in all of these heart wrenching defeats is that they continue to walk away with the loser point, which could be seen as both a bad, and a good thing. The Kings now have the second most loser points in the NHL with 11, funnily enough, only Vegas has more with 12.
Kings Fail to Capitalize Early
In perhaps one of the biggest games of the season so far, the Kings needed to get off to good start early in order to compete with a Vegas team that has found their footing lately.
Los Angeles did control the majority of the play in the opening frame, while Vegas looked incredibly sloppy and were unable to get virtually anything going, as they struggled to even enter the Kings zone cleanly.
Unfortunately, the Golden Knights were able to weather the storm and get out of the first period with a 0-0 tie. The Kings outshot the Knights 9-5 to end the period but just couldn't beat Akira Schmid.
Golden Knights Get on the Board
After successfully escaping an ugly first period, the Golden Knights looked like an entirely different hockey team in the second period. Clearly, head coach Bruce Cassidy voiced his frustration because it didn't take long for Vegas control the game.
Just under four minutes into the middle frame, rookie forward Braeden Bowman gave his team the lead with his sixth of the season. After a defensive mishap by Brian Dumoulin, Jack Eichel scooped up the loose puck and found a wide open Bowman who ripped the puck past Darcy Kuemper.
Both teams had an opportunity on the power play in the latter half of the period, but neither could capitalize. After 40 minutes Vegas was outshooting L.A. 19-17.
Just like Vegas did in the first period, Los Angeles weathered the storm in the second period and were lucky to be down just 1-0 after 40 minutes.
Through the early stages of the third period the Kings began to look desperate as they were pushing hard to even things up. They were able to generate some quality chances but just couldn't finish.
That was until Kevin Fiala buried his team-leading 17th goal of the season past Akira Schmid was in the midst of a shutout bid. Fiala earned this one as he was stopped on his initial shot, the puck then came to Alex Turcotte in the slot who fired it on goal which led to a juicy rebound right on the tape of the Kings sniper who wasted no time firing it into the back of the net. Fiala, who was probably the most notable Kings prior to his goal gets rewarded for sticking with the play and crashing the net. Turcotte and Andre Kuzmenko register the assists.
Marner Puts Vegas on Top
After a strong first 10-12 minutes of the final frame, the Kings were tested after Adrian Kempe was sent off for hooking.
Just over 40 seconds into their man advantage, Vegas took the lead right back as Mitch Marner scored his 11th of the year with a blistering wrist shot. At this point it looked like Marner shoved the dagger into the heart of the Kings.
When all hope seemed to be lost after yet another Kings third period fumble, the team didn't give up and continued to fight for the game tying goal.
It came down to the final 90 seconds but Brandt Clarke made the building erupt as he slid home his 5th of the season past Schmid to tie the game at 2-2 which meant extra time was needed.
After an electric finish to regulation, the Golden Knights silenced the Kings crowd as they scored just 25 seconds into the overtime period.
In a somewhat broken play that had Kuemper facing the wrong way, Jack Eichel was able to find Mark Stone all alone who was able to put the puck in the wide open cage, giving Vegas the win in a hard fought battle between two divisional foes.
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After scoring two goals or fewer in each of their previous four games, the Senators’ offence finally erupted on Wednesday night. Brady Tkachuk had a four-point night and scored his 200th career goal as the Senators defeated the New York Rangers 8–4 at Madison Square Garden.
The win was Ottawa’s second in as many nights and marked the first time all season the Senators have hit the eight-goal mark in a game. Ridly Greig chipped in with three assists, and Leevi Meriläinen made 18 saves in his ninth straight start.
It looked like it was going to be another night for the 23-year-old goaltender to improve his statistics. However, with Ottawa nursing a 6–1 lead, the Rangers scored three times in the third period, and suddenly, allowing four goals on 22 shots didn’t look quite so flattering.
James Reimer, who suited up for the first time as a Senator on Wednesday night, talked about signing in Ottawa this week.
The Senators came out hard, grabbing a 4–0 lead after 20 minutes on goals from Drake Batherson, Nick Jensen, Brady Tkachuk, and Dylan Cozens. Rangers fans responded by booing their club off the ice at intermission. The home side then gave up two more goals in the second period to make it 6–0, thanks to tallies from Jake Sanderson and Thomas Chabot. That ended the night for Rangers veteran goaltender Jonathan Quick, who allowed six goals on 17 shots.
Gabe Perreault scored twice, once late in the second period and again early in the third, to cut Ottawa’s lead to four. David Perron made it 7–2, scoring from a sharp angle. Noah Laba and Alexis Lafrenière got the Rangers to within three before Tim Stützle put it away with an empty-net goal. The goal was Stützle’s 20th of the season, marking the fourth time in the last five seasons he has reached that milestone.
The Rangers continue to struggle at home. The loss was their 17th in 22 games at Madison Square Garden, dropping their home record to 5-13-4 and leaving them in last place in the Eastern Conference.
The Senators still have a long way to go to climb back into playoff relevance in the East. They stand five points (and six teams) behind the second wild card spot. They'll look to make it three straight wins when they host the Montreal Canadiens (and a lot of their fan base) on Saturday at 7:00 pm, then they'll play in Detroit against the Red Wings on Sunday at 5:00 p.m.
Those will be big divisional games, but based on the position the Senators have put themselves in, they're all big games now.
Steve Warne The Hockey News - Ottawa
This story is from The Hockey News Ottawa. You can visit the site here or click on one of their latest articles below:
NEW YORK (AP) — Brady Tkachuk scored his 200th regular-season NHL goal and had three assists, and the Ottawa Senators handed the New York Rangers a fifth consecutive loss, beating them 8-4 on Wednesday night.
Tkachuk, a St. Louis native who is set to play for the U.S. at the Milan Cortina Olympics, helped set up Drake Batherson’s goal on the power play 2:18 in and Dylan Cozens’ with 5.7 seconds left in the first period. Adding goals from Nick Jensen and Tkachuk in between, the Senators scored four in a period at Madison Square Garden for the first time in their 33-season franchise history.
Home fans booed their team off the ice at the first intermission after a lackluster 20 minutes, and it did not get much better until long after the outcome had been determined. The Rangers lost for the 17th time in 22 games at the Garden and are now in last place in the Eastern Conference.
Jonathan Quick allowed six goals on 17 shots before getting the mercy pull and relieved by Spencer Martin a little past the midway point of the second. Quick was hardly to blame for New York’s eighth defeat in nine games, with mistakes by teammates in front of him putting the veteran goaltender in all sorts of difficult positions.
At the other end of the rink, Leevi Merilainen, making his ninth consecutive start in Linus Ullmark’s absence, had 18 saves and allowed two goals to Gabe Perreault and one apiece to Noah Laba and Alexis Lafrenière.
Jake Sanderson, Thomas Chabot and David Perron also scored and Tim Stutzle had an empty-net goal as the Senators won on back-to-back nights, following up on beating Vancouver at home on Tuesday to snap their losing streak at four.
Up next
Senators: Host the rival Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night.
The Buffalo Sabres have 23 days before the NHL’s trade deadline arrives on March 6. And other than goaltending (which has the most depth), the Sabres can make trades to address their two areas of need – at forward, and on ‘D’.
Trading one of Alex Lyon or Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen would clear up the logjam between the pipes, but goalie depth is important, so Sabres GM Jarmo Kekalainen might decide to hold on to his netminding depth.
"The Big Show"
But Kekalain has to add a strong, experienced and capable defenseman. For instance, would Winnipeg Jets blueliner Luke Schenn be an option? It says here he absolutely should. Schenn is a no-nonsense, physical defenseman who still has stuff left in the tank. There could be other options on ‘D’, but Schenn fits the mold of the type of player Sabres coach Lindy Ruff likes. Oh, and he won’t cost an arm and a leg to trade for.
Meanwhile, up front, there’s also a need Kekalainen should address on the trade market. A veteran winger for Buffalo’s second line would be ideal. And given that Buffalo will have $8.5-million in salary cap space, Kekalainen can and should be able to pluck someone to give his team a different look.
For instance, would Vancouver Canucks winger Jake DeBrusk be a target for the Sabres? DeBrusk does have a full no-trade clause in his contract, but it’s not working out for him in Vancouver, and he looks like a change of scenery will do him good.
Or what about taking a run at another Canuck – winger Kiefer Sherwood? He’s a far less-expensive gamble at $1.5 million, and he’s a UFA at the end of the season, so he could be a pure rental, or you could sign him to an extension.
In any case, we use these examples to show you there’s plenty of talent out there to bid on if you’re Kekalainen. And the boost the Sabres would get from adding one or two of these players would make it worth whatever Buffalo had to give up to get them.
The Sabres are far from a perfect team, and they’ll still have their issues regardless of what happens to them trade-wise. But Kekalainen can send his group of players a message – that message being, “I believe in you, and here’s a gift of a talented player to make the team even better.”
Kekalainen has to act soon, lest he miss out on trades he should’ve been in on. Being proactive is going to get Buffalo the experienced hands they need to make a Stanley Cup playoff push. And if Kekalainen can pull that off, he’s going to get the gratitude of Sabres fans desperate to see this team make it to the post-season.
Pittsburgh Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin continued to climb the NHL's all-time goals list on Tuesday night.
His tying goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning was the 524th goal of his career, good for 38th all-time alongside Bryan Trottier, who won back-to-back Stanley Cups with the Penguins in 1991 and 1992.
Malkin's goal was a perfect shot and it came after a lot of hard work in the offensive zone with the goaltender pulled. The goal secured the Penguins a point before they lost 2-1 in a shootout.
Malkin's next goal would be his 525th and would put him in a tie with Marian Hossa for 37th on the NHL's all-time goals list. Malkin has two goals in his last four games, so it won't be long until he passes Hossa on this list.
Malkin also has three points in his last four games and will try to help the Penguins break their three-game losing streak on Thursday against the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Philadelphia Flyers have announced that goaltender Dan Vladar is out for the remainder of the club's matchup against the Buffalo Sabres due to an injury.
The Flyers also shared that Vladar will be re-evaluated following the team's contest against the Sabres.
Vladar exiting early due to injury against the Sabres is undoubtedly concerning for the Flyers. The 28-year-old netminder has been a notable reason for the Flyers' success so far this season, as he has proven to be an excellent addition to their roster. As a result of this, the Flyers will be hoping that Vladar's injury is not serious.
Vladar has appeared in 27 games so far this season with the Flyers, where he has recorded a 16-7-4 record, a 2.42 goals-against average, and a .907 save percentage. With numbers like these, he has given the Flyers some much-needed stability between the pipes this campaign.
In 132 career NHL games split between the Boston Bruins, Calgary Flames, and Flyers, Vladar has a 65-41-20 record, a 2.88 goals-against average, a .897 save percentage, and four shutouts.
Injury update: Flyers goaltender Dan Vladar will not return to tonight’s #PHIvsBUF game due to injury. He will be re-evaluated after the game.
One of the most beloved former members of the Detroit Red Wings is goaltender Chris Osgood, who has his name on the Stanley Cup three times as a member of the club.
Not only did Osgood back up Conn Smythe Trophy winner Mike Vernon in 1997 despite getting the bulk of starts in the regular season, but Osgood then would lead the Red Wings to the Stanley Cup as a starter ten years apart, both in 1998 and 2008.
It was on this day in 1999 that Osgood picked up the 150th victory of his NHL career, which at that point had been played exclusively in Detroit. The Red Wings picked up a 2-1 win at Joe Louis Arena over the expansion Nashville Predators thanks to the game-winning tally scored by former Russian Five member Slava Kozlov.
In doing so, he became just the third goaltender in Red Wings history to achieve the feat.
Red Wings fans well remember the acquisition of Hall of Famer Dominik Hasek (acquired from the Buffalo Sabres for Kozlov) in the legendary summer of 2001, during which they also brought aboard Luc Robitaille and Brett Hull.
After initially participating in Training Camp and part of the pre-season with the Red Wings, Osgood was exposed on waivers and subsequently claimed by the New York Islanders, whom he would lead not only to the Stanley Cup Playoffs but within a victory of a first round upset of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Osgood, who would later play a stint with the rival St. Louis Blues, returned to the Red Wings as an unrestricted free-agent in 2005. He'd play the rest of his career with the Red Wings, which included not only winning the Stanley Cup in 2008 and coming within a victory of repeating in 2009, but the 400th victory of his NHL career in December 2010, which fittingly came against the Colorado Avalanche.
It's one of the more contested debates in hockey circles as to why Osgood, the second winningest goaltender in Red Wings history and who won the Stanley Cup twice as a starter, hasn't been yet inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
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The Montreal Canadiens are in a good place right now. At the time of this writing, they have a 26-14-7 record and are third in the Atlantic Division standings. They are also only two points behind the first-place Tampa Bay Lightning in the Atlantic.
With the Canadiens being one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference, they should be buyers at the 2026 NHL trade deadline. One area that they could look to address is down the middle, as they could use a legitimate top-six center.
One name who has been floating around the rumor mill who would be an amazing addition to the Canadiens' roster is St. Louis Blues star center Robert Thomas.
The Blues are having a nightmare season, as evidenced by their 18-21-8 record. Due to this, several of their players have entered the rumor mill as trade candidates, with Thomas being the most notable. The 26-year-old was also recently included on NHL insider Chris Johnston's latest trade board for The Athletic.
With Thomas being on the right side of 30, a proven top-six center, and signed until the end of the 2030-31 season, the Canadiens would need to come up with a big trade offer to have any chance of landing him. Yet, he could very well be worth it when noting that he is a legitimate star and could make the Canadiens become top contenders.
Thomas is having a down year for his standards with the Blues in 2025-26, but he isn't getting much offensive support around him. In 42 games, he has a team-leading 22 assists and 33 points. His 11 goals also have him tied for first on the Blues with Justin Faulk and Jake Neighbours.
Thomas' recent seasons also show that he is capable of being a major difference-maker when playing at his best. During this past season with St. Louis, he had 21 goals, 60 assists, and 81 points. This was after he recorded 26 goals and a career-high 86 points in 82 games for the Blues in 2023-24.
With this, there is no question that Thomas would be a fantastic player for the Canadiens to bring in if they want to upgrade down the middle immediately. It will be intriguing to see if they target him from here.
New York Rangers prospect Gabe Perreault is a player who the Original Six club is expecting to be a big part of their future. It is understandable, as the 20-year-old forward undoubtedly has the potential to become a very good NHL player.
Now, Perreault's potential has led to him receiving some praise.
Perreault was the only Ranger who made Corey Pronman's latest NHL players and prospects under 23 rankings for The Athletic. Perreault was given the No. 120 spot on Pronman's list.
When noting that Perreault has the tools to become a top-six forward in the NHL, it makes sense that he has been ranked among the top young players in the sport.
Perreault has shown promise during his first full professional season in 2025-26. In 20 games with the Rangers' AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack, he has recorded 10 goals, seven assists, and 17 points. With numbers like these, he has certainly demonstrated his offensive upside at the AHL level.
Perreault's success in the AHL has also allowed him to get chances on the Rangers' roster this season, too. In 14 games this season with the Rangers, the 2023 first-round pick has recorded one goal, four assists, five points, and an even plus/minus rating.
It will now be interesting to see how Perreault performs as the season rolls on. There is no question that he has a bright future with the Blueshirts.
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