Category: NHL

The NHL preseason was shorter this year, and I'm sure there weren't many fans complaining about that.

Everyone had four games to get through, make their cuts and start playing meaningful hockey. Sounds pretty good when you're sitting at home waiting for the regular season to start.

What about the players though?

The Edmonton Oilers lost 6-5 in overtime to the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday night, and Tristan Jarry brought up the shortened preseason afterward, albeit without making it an excuse.

“It's the first game of the season. It's always always tough,” Jarry said. “It was a short preseason, so I think just learning from every game, whether it's the ups, the downs, and just being better every single game.”

Well, it was definitely short.

The NHL cut the preseason to four games this year as part of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, extending the regular season going from 82 games to 84. The league's preseason schedule lasted eight days, beginning Sept. 19 and ending Sept. 26, before the regular season started three days later.

That left the Oilers with four games and a handful of practices to prepare for game No. 1.

Veteran players weren't necessarily playing all four of those games either. Under the new CBA, players with at least 100 games in the NHL are restricted to two exhibition games, meaning some players entered the regular season with two preseason games and a few weeks of practice together.

Oilers Lose Another Key Forward as Zach Hyman Not With Team In VancouverEdmonton’s mounting injury crisis hits a breaking point as the star winger joins five other sidelined forwards, forcing a depleted lineup to face the Canucks without reinforcements.

Jarry also spent the entire offseason working on his game with goalie coach Pete Aubry. Babcock talked prior to Tuesday night about Jarry improving his conditioning and stabilizing his game, but even he only got five periods of preseason before the games started counting.

That's not a lot of hockey before somebody asks you to start an NHL season. The same goes for everyone trying to learn Babcock's system. Edmonton has a new head coach, players moving around the lineup and several injuries that forced Babcock to spend camp trying different combinations. Then suddenly it's Sept. 29 and Vancouver is in town.

The old preseason certainly had its problems, though, don't get me wrong. Nobody needed weeks of random hockey, and fans weren't exactly sitting around in June counting down the days until preseason started.

Oilers Not Where They Thought They'd Be For Game No. 1The <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/edmonton-oilers">Edmonton Oilers</a> lost 6-5 in overtime to the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday night, so does that make them almost as bad as the Canucks?

So fans got what most of us wanted. Preseason ended quickly and the regular season started sooner.

Four exhibition games might sound like plenty when nobody cares about the score. That said, it might feel a little different for the guys expected to have everything figured out the second those games start counting.

However, it is up to the team itself to maximize it's preseason, and if the Oilers failed to properly prepare their players for this season, they can hardly blame the CBA.

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At the beginning of training camp, Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek stated that they were going to react quicker when it came to their players approaching restricted free agency. They’ve done just that by tying down Tim Washe and now Tristan Luneau to long-term contracts.

Luneau’s case is a bit different from Washe’s, as the former has played just 14 NHL games over three seasons while the latter spent the second half of last season in the NHL and was an essential part of the team’s playoff performance. Luneau appeared in one NHL game last season, the last game of the regular season against the Nashville Predators, scoring a goal and helping the Ducks enter the postseason on a high note.

With the exoduses of Jacob Trouba, Radko Gudas and John Carlson, in addition to current injuries to Drew Helleson and Ian Moore, Luneau has now been handed the biggest opportunity of his NHL career. The extension that he signed on Thursday morning validates that.

“My agent called me not too long ago, saying that (the Ducks) wanted to move forward with an extension,” Luneau said. “I said I want to be part of this group, and I’m ready to get things going, too.”

This extension does carry its fair share of risk. The organization is investing $43.2 million dollars in a player who has played in less than 20 NHL games. When Jackson LaCombe signed his big-money extension prior to the 2025-26 season, he had already shown signs of becoming one of the league’s top defensemen and has now appeared in over 200 NHL games. The Ducks are hoping to get ahead of the curve by signing Luneau before his breakout has even occurred.

Luneau has been preparing for this opportunity, having made the Ducks’ opening night roster twice before only to have his NHL season cut short by both injury and a demotion. With two successful AHL seasons under his belt, both the organization and player feel that he is ready to take the next step.

“It’s a lot of trust,” he said. “(I’ve) got to live up to the expectations and trust that they put in you, and I’m ready to do that.”

Based off recent practice line combinations, Luneau will play alongside LaCombe on the top defensive pair to start the season. Both players will be entrusted to play big minutes throughout the season in all situations.

An interesting controversy has emerged from the Vancouver Canucks' season-opening 6-5 overtime win against the Edmonton Oilers. On Vancouver's first goal, many believe that Kevin Lankinen should have received an assist. Instead, Paul Cotter was credited with an unassisted goal.

According to John Shannon of the 100% Canucks With Woodley & Shannon podcast, the Canucks did submit a request to the NHL to add a Lankinen assist to Cotter's season-opening goal. The potential assist in question occurred when the 31-year-old stopped Leon Draisaitl with his blocker and deflected the puck, which led to a shorthanded marker. Shannon said, "The league reviewed it and what happened was, the league feels that if a goaltender makes a save but does not have the intent of passing the puck to a teammate than it is not a pass and therefore not an assist." 

One major issue with scoring is that the same rules don't seem to apply when awarding assists to skaters versus goaltenders. For example, if a puck bounces off a skater's skate and their teammate scores, the skater gets credit for the goal. This rule applies to almost every body part as long as the play is not an intentional hand pass. 

The same can't be said about goaltenders. As mentioned, Lankinen deflected the puck with his blocker, and it went to Cotter, resulting in a goal. There was also no change of possession and no additional players touching the puck during the play. 

FIRST GAME AS A CANUCK.
FIRST GOAL AS A CANUCK.

That's a shorthanded goal for PAUL COTTER❗️ pic.twitter.com/b6vsyXM1jZ

— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) September 30, 2026

In the end, the NHL needs to review how they award goaltender assists. If a skater can be awarded an assist because a puck bounced off them unintentionally, than so should a goalie. Ultimately, there is a case to be made that the league robbed Lankinen of an assist, which would have been the eighth of his NHL career. 

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The New York Islanders released their official 2026-27 Hometown Remix Jersey scheduled games for the 2026-27 season.

The Islanders will, according to rumors, be wearing a white or crème based jersey, as multiple opponents have revealed they'll wear their Hometown Remix jerseys while on the road against the Islanders, implying New York will be in white.

The #Isles will rock their Hometown Remix jerseys 11 times this season, including 10 games at home!

Check out the full schedule and mark your calendars.

— New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) October 1, 2026

New York will wear the jersey 11 times this season, with 10 of the dates coming for home games.

The jersey makes its debut against the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Carolina Hurricanes, on November 5, a Thursday night game.

The Islanders will then wear it for marquee games against the New York Rangers, Boston Bruins, and Montreal Canadiens, with its final appearance slated to be April 1 on the road against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The official jersey is expected to be released in the coming weeks as teams continue to build excitement for the league-wide promotions of the Hometown Remix jerseys.

With the 2026-27 season here, two Montreal Canadiens are continuing to create chatter in the rumor mill as potential trade candidates. 

This is because Kirby Dach and Samuel Montembeault were both featured on Lyle Richardson's latest NHL trade board for Bleacher Report.

When noting that questions about Dach and Montembeault's futures have come up for a while now, it is understandable that they have made Richardson's trade board.

Dach was given the No. 4 spot on Richardson's trade board. The big forward is a pending unrestricted free agent after signing a one-year contract with Montreal during the off-season. Due to this, if the Canadiens do not view him as a long-term part of their plans, it would be understandable if they traded him this campaign. 

Dach recorded an assist in his first game of the 2026-27 season for Montreal. This is after he posted eight goals and 15 points in 37 games during the 2025-26 campaign with the Canadiens. 

Montembeault, on the other hand, was ranked at No. 6 on Richardson's trade board. This is another one that makes a lot of sense.

Not only is Montembeault a pending unrestricted like Dach, but the Canadiens also have exciting young goalie Jacob Fowler waiting in the wings. Montembeault was also a very popular name in the rumor mill this summer, so it would be surprising in the slightest if he ended up getting dealt. 

In 25 games last season for Montreal, Montembeault had a 10-8-4 record, a 3.43 goals-against average, and an .872 save percentage.

The St. Louis Blues have high expectations for Adam Jiricek, and although he may be entering his NHL career sooner than they anticipated, they aren't going to shelter him completely.

Practice lines indicate he'll start on the third pairing alongside veteran Cam Fowler, but given Jiricek's progress, it wouldn't be surprising to see him earn minutes alongside Philip Broberg.

One thing is certain: coach Jim Montgomery will give Jiricek the reins to run a power play.

"When you have a thoroughbred, you let'em out of the stable."

Jiricek is exactly that. Standing 6-foot-3, Jiricek has the size and skill to be a top defenseman in the NHL. At just 20 years old, Jiricek has proven at countless levels and tournaments that he has the offensive and defensive game of a modern-day NHLer, mixed with the skating and athletic ability to be a high-end player.

With Logan Mailloux out, the Blues need a defenseman to run a power play unit. Broberg will likely quarterback the top unit alongside Robert Thomas, Dylan Holloway, Jimmy Snuggerud and Mason McTavish, but Jiricek should find himself with Jake Neighbours, Connor McMichael, Pavel Buchnevich, and Dalibor Dvorsky.

Last season in the OHL, Jiricek posted 19 goals and 59 points in 55 games. Of Jiricek's 19 goals and 59 points, nine goals and 31 points came on the power play. His 31 points led all OHL defensemen in 2025-26. 

Blues' Justin Barron Was Originally Brought In As Depth, Now There's An Opportunity For MoreOriginally considered a depth addition, long-term injuries to a pair of St. Louis Blues defensemen have made Justin Barron a more important piece of the roster than once thought.

With the vision to distribute the puck and a heavy enough shot to threaten a goaltender, Jiricek is a difference-maker on the man advantage. 

There may be parts of his game he'll have to refine in the NHL, and there will definitely be learning curves, but what Jiricek has shown throughout his hockey life is that he can be a threat offensively. 

Montgomery wants to see Jiricek play his game and be a difference maker. 

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Young NHL players continue to cash in with big contracts based on expectations.

The Ducks, who had to deal with another team's offer sheet this summer to Anaheim's top center, signed defenseman Tristan Luneau to a six-year contract extension on Thursday, Oct. 1. It's worth a reported $43.2 million or a $7.2 million average per year.

Luneau, 22, has played only 14 NHL games, totaling two goals and two assists.

He has spent nearly all of his two-plus-season professional career on the American Hockey League's San Diego Gulls and scored a goal in his lone NHL game last season.

Here are some reasons for such a big payday for a player who has such limited NHL experience:

Tristan Luneau is $43.2 million richer.

The Ducks defenseman scored a historic six-year NHL deal on Thursday worth an average of $7.2 million per year.

Luneau’s contract is the largest ever handed out to a player with just 14 games of NHL experience on their résumé.

“Signing Tristan to a long-term contract was a priority as we see him as a top-four defenseman for years to come,” GM Pat Verbeek said in a statement. “Getting the deal done before the season started was a key part of our planning for now and the future.”

It’s a big bet on the 22-year-old, a 2022 second-round pick in the final season of a three-year, $2.85 million entry-level deal, who has posted a pair of goals and four points in his three-year NHL career.

Over 135 games with AHL San Diego, Luneau has post 19 goals and 95 points while dealing with injuries. He’s set to start the season on the Ducks’ top pairing with Jackson LaCombe.

Anaheim, which snapped a seven-year playoff drought last season, is no stranger to handing out massive contracts to what it believes is rising young talent.

Lacombe, for instance, received an eight-year $72 million extension that kicked in this season, which was the largest deal ever handed out by the franchise at the time.

It was later eclipsed this past offseason by an offer sheet-induced five-year, $90 million deal for 21-year-old Leo Carlsson that, at an $18 million AAV, that will be the largest in the league — only to be outdone at the start of next season when Cale Makar’s eight-year, $163.2 million deal and Macklin Celebrini’s five-year, $94 million extension kick in.

Winger Cutter Gauthier is set to enter the first season of a six-year, $81 million deal when Anaheim kicks off its season on Friday in Vegas.

The Buffalo Sabres continue to proactive in getting their own players signed to long-term extensions prior to them getting close to becoming unrestricted free agents. Previously, GM Jarmo Kekalainen has done so with forwards Zach Benson, Josh Doan, Beck Malenstyn, and Noah Ostlund. On Thursday, prior to the regular season opener in Columbus, the club announced the signing of defenseman Louis Crevier to a four-year, $16 million contract extension. 

The big 25-year-old blueliner was obtained just prior to the NHL Draft from the Chicago Blackhawks along with the fourth overall pick (Daxon Rudolph), and a second round pick (later flipped to Anaheim for Olen Zellweger) for defenseman Bowen Byram. 

The 6’8” 236 lb. righty defenseman was entering the final year of a two-year, $1.8 million bridge deal ($900,000 AAV) after scoring 25 points (7 goals, 18 assists) in 78 games for the Hawks in a top four role, so the new deal with the Sabres will begin at the start of next season.

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“(I’m) just really happy. I think it’s something I’ve worked for a while now, and I’m just super glad that it’s behind me. Just having stability is just going to help me a ton to play hockey.” Crevier said on Thursday. “At the end of the day, we are hockey players, I just want to play hockey. If a team wants me for five more years, I couldn’t really refuse it.”

Crevier had one more year of control before qualifying for unrestricted free agency in 2028, so the new deal buys three UFA years. 

The Sabres take on the Columbus Blue Jackets in their season opener at Nationwide Arena on Thursday. The club got some good news regarding the health of defenseman Mattias Samuelsson, who will start after being listed as week-to-week with a lower body injury during the preseason. 

Blueliner Olen Zellweger was placed on injured reserve on Thursday and Dennis Gilbert was recalled from AHL Rochester. Zellweger according to Ruff on Wednesday has still not cleared concussion protocol, but could be available as soon as Saturday for the home opener against Byram and the Crevier’s former team, the Blackhawks. 

Follow Michael on X, Instagram @MikeInBuffalo 

The Pittsburgh Penguins made a roster move after practice on Thursday. 

They assigned forward Rutger McGroarty to the AHL's Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins after he was a healthy scratch for Wednesday's season opener against the Philadelphia Flyers. 

It also comes after forward Ben Kindel fully participated in Thursday's practice. Kindel is currently week-to-week with an injury that he aggravated during the Penguins' first pre-season game against the Buffalo Sabres.

Forward Rutger McGroarty has been assigned to @WBSPenguins (AHL). pic.twitter.com/EnCtmNQTVg

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) October 1, 2026

McGroarty played in 24 games for the Penguins last year, compiling three goals and six points. He also played eight games in the 2024-25 season, scoring one goal and totaling three points. 

Overall, he has racked up four goals and nine points in 32 NHL games. 

He'll now go down to the AHL to help WBS get off to a strong start to its 2026-27 AHL season. He'll likely be back with the NHL club later this year, especially if he plays well or injuries pile up.

The Penguins will play the Montreal Canadiens in their home opener at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday. 

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Darcy Kuemper’s return to the Kings’ crease could hardly have gone worse.

In Wednesday night’s season opener at Ball Arena, Kuemper surrendered eight goals on 29 shots, including four on the power play, as Los Angeles was overwhelmed by a Colorado Avalanche team that has given it fits for quite some time.

Yes, the Kings didn’t do their goaltender many favors. There were defensive breakdowns throughout the night, and Colorado made them pay for virtually every mistake. But Kuemper’s preseason struggles followed him into the opener, raising an immediate question about head coach Peter Laviolette’s decision to hand him the start.

That decision looks even more puzzling given what happened the last time these teams met.

The Kings were swept by Colorado in the Stanley Cup Playoffs in April, but they were far more competitive than the final result might suggest. A big reason for that was Anton Forsberg, who repeatedly gave Los Angeles a chance to stay in games against a talented Avalanche roster.

Colorado’s power play, meanwhile, was hardly a factor during the regular season despite the Avalanche entering the postseason as the Presidents’ Trophy winners. That clearly wasn’t the case Wednesday.

Colorado scored four times with the man advantage, turning what was already a difficult night for the Kings into a rout.

And while it would be unfair to pin all eight goals on Kuemper, it’s also fair to question why Laviolette went back to him in the first place.

Kuemper struggled through the preseason, and Forsberg had already shown he could handle the pressure against Colorado. Yet when the regular season arrived, Laviolette opted for the more expensive, more established option.

The result was an eight-goal night and a very bad start to the season.

Here’s the bottom line: If you put Forsberg in net, the Kings at least give themselves a legitimate chance to win that game.

Look back at the four-game playoff series against Colorado. Forsberg allowed an average of 3.25 goals per game and, despite the Kings being swept, repeatedly gave them an opportunity to stay within striking distance. Mackenzie Blackwood, meanwhile, gave up four goals in his season debut Wednesday.

You can make the argument that Kuemper had to get the start because he’s the Kings’ $5.25 million goaltender while Forsberg makes $2.25 million. But if that’s the reasoning, fine.

Just understand that when your decision results in an eight-goal embarrassment on opening night, criticism is going to come with it.

Laviolette made the call. Now he has to own this. Either way, the Kings’ goaltending situation has suddenly become one of the biggest storylines of their young season.

The Kings don’t have much time to dwell on the loss. They’ll head to San Jose on Saturday to face Macklin Celebrini and the Sharks, giving Laviolette his first opportunity to respond to what happened in Colorado.

The San Jose Sharks continue to build something special on the ice in California's Silicon Valley. They're coming off the first winning season since 2019 and have established themselves as one of the younger, more promising teams in the NHL despite failing to make the postseason for a seventh consecutive year.

Macklin Celebrini has superstar written all over him and is projected to be an All-Star in the upcoming season. He signed a five-year, $94 million contract extension this offseason to see the organization's turnaround come to fruition. And he will do so as the youngest captain in Sharks history.

The Sharks have built their core through the draft over the years bringing in Celebrini, Will Smith, Michael Misa and Igor Chernyshov. They continued that blueprint in the 2026 NHL Draft with three first round picks selecting Ivar Stenberg with the No. 2 pick, Keaton Verhoeff at No. 9 and Ryan Lin at No. 21.

One of the areas of focus was their defense and the team's physicality. They added Kiefer Sherwood during the 2025-26 season and his impact was felt immediately. They kept on adding guys that fit that mold during the offseason, a necessary move especially after rugged Ryan Reaves announced he's retiring.

They added defenseman Darnell Nurse, Jacob Trouba and Michael Kesselring, but traded forward William Eklund. Collin Graf was another big re-signing over the offseason, inking a three-year extension in San Jose.

Head coach Ryan Warsofsky was signed to a multi-year contract extension with the Sharks, after last season's 34-point improvement. Sharks GM Mike Grier puts a formidable team together. The Sharks are ready to get rolling as the team begins play on Thursday, Oct. 1.

Here's a breakdown of the San Jose Sharks' offseason moves and what to expect from them heading into the 2026-27 NHL season:

The Colorado Avalanche defeated the Los Angeles Kings by an 8-4 final score on Wednesday night, and former Montreal Canadiens forward Artturi Lehkonen certainly played a role in it.

Lehkonen scored two goals for the Avalanche in their season-opening win against the Kings. With this, there is no question that the former Canadiens forward has kicked off his 2026-27 campaign on the right foot for Colorado. 

Seeing Lehkonen have a strong opening night for the Avalanche is not too surprising. He has had plenty of success during his time with the Avalanche and has emerged as one of their key players because of it.

In 70 games during the 2025-26 season with the Central Division club, Lehkonen posted 21 goals, 27 assists, 48 points, and a plus-32 rating. This was after the former Canadiens forward had 27 goals, 18 assists, 45 points, and a plus-36 rating in 69 games for the Avs in 2024-25.

It will now be interesting to see how the former Canadiens forward builds off his strong start to the campaign from here. In 396 games over six seasons with Montreal from 2016-17 to 2021-22, he posted 74 goals, 75 assists, and 149 points.