The rumor mill is continuing to swirl as we reach the slowest part of the offseason. Former San Jose Sharks forward Evander Kane is currently a name popping up consistently, as he's now been linked to a move to Russia for the second time in his career.
According to Russian news outlet Sport-Express, Ak Bars Kazan is "considering signing" Kane. Beyond that, they didn't add many additional details.
A controversial figure throughout his career, Kane hit the free agent market this summer after a single season with the Vancouver Canucks. Given his agent Daniel Milstein's close ties to Russia's hockey system and players, it's certainly not overly surprising that there would be at least discussions with the Kontinental Hockey League regarding his services.
Kane, 35, spent parts of four seasons with the Sharks during the late 2010s and early 2020s. He spent five games with the Sharks' American Hockey League affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda during the 2021-22 season before the Sharks voided his contract due to a breach of contract pertaining to the COVID-19 protocols at the time.
During the 2012 NHL lockout, Kane played 12 games in the KHL with Belarussian club Dynamo Minsk. He scored just a single goal and two points in 12 games.
The Chicago Blackhawks have one of the best farm systems in the National Hockey League. When Kyle Davidson took over as the full-time GM in 2022, it was his goal to rebuild the organization through the draft.
Since then, they have made 11 first-round picks and countless selections in the second round or later. Not every one of them is going to pan out, but a certain percentage of them becoming full-time NHL players is what will make the rebuild successful.
As the off-season enters the later stages, meaning free agency is mostly done, there aren't many more trades to go, and things will quiet down for a few weeks before camps start to begin, this is a look at the top-10 prospects in Chicago's system:
1. Anton Frondell, FWD
Anton Frondell played a handful of games for the Chicago Blackhawks down the stretch in 2025-26, but not enough to come off the list as the top prospect in the organization. The former 3rd overall pick is still trying to figure out if he is a center or a wing in the long term, but it's becoming obvious that he has the potential to be a star two-way performer either way. Frondell has a booming shot to complement his playmaking ability, and he never takes a shift off of doing the right thing when it comes to his defensive responsibilities.
2. Roman Kantserov, FWD
Roman Kantserov is going to play in the NHL this season. There is also a high likelihood that leading the KHL in goals last year earned him a spot in the top six right off the bat. Whether it's with Connor Bedard or somewhere else, he is expected to be a high-end rookie goal scorer right away. Chicago hopes that Kantserov and Frondell take Calder Trophy votes away from each other.
3. Nick Lardis, FWD
Nick Lardis, like Frondell, played in the NHL last season. He played more than Frondell, but not enough to graduate off this list just yet. He did score at a 20-goal pace as a rookie, however, which suggests he will be a big part of Chicago's attack. After scoring an OHL-leading 71 goals one year before his rookie pro season, he made a name for himself as a high-end goal-scoring prospect. Now, there is an expectation that he will be a part of the Blackhawks' core.
4. Xavier Villenueve, D
The Chicago Blackhawks selected Xavier Villenueve in the second round of the 2026 NHL Draft. He fell farther than most would have thought, as he entered the event with a first-round grade. The Blackhawks managed to grab him, and now he is one of their top prospects. He may be number one on this list by this time next year, as long as he has a good d+1 year. Villenueve profiles like some of the young small defenseman who are elite playmakers to come before him. Lane Hutson is the obvious comparison, but that is a high bar. For the Blackhawks, they need him to have a big year at Boston University as their number-one point-producing defenseman.
5. Sacha Boisvert, FWD
Sacha Boisvert is a hard prospect to dissect. He was a dominant freshman at the University of North Dakota. Then, he transferred to Boston University because of a coaching change at North Dakota, and injuries/inconsistancies slowed him down. After his season ended, he signed with Chicago and played a handful of games. He scored a goal, made some plays, and had a fight, but it was clear that a lot of work was ahead of him before he would play in the NHL full time. A start in Rockford will be perfect for him. A lot has been made about the weight he's put on this off-season, which should help him elevate his playstyle.
6. Vaclav Nestrasil, FWD
Vaclav Nestrasil had a great year at UMass with his 31 points in 34 games played. It was an unexpected jump for a freshman coming into a much harder league. Where he really raised his stock, however, was at the 2025-26 World Junior Championships. He was the best player on Team Czechia, and that allowed them to capture a Silver Medal. After another crack at the NCAA season and World Juniors this winter, expect him to sign and play with Chicago at the end of the 2026-27 college season.
7. Marek Vanacker, FWD
Marek Vanacker was one of the OHL's leading goal scorers this past season, which was important to see after injuries derailed him one year prior. Now, the Blackhawks see him as one of the top goal scorers in their system. It was once thought that he could be a full-time NHL player in 2026-27, but additions to the team block that path for now. He will start with the Rockford IceHogs, which is actually best for his development. If things go well, he will get minutes in the NHL sooner rather than later. When he does get there, think of him as someone who could be the third forward on a line that snipes lots of goals because of the work done by two other playmakers.
8. Drew Commesso, G
Drew Commesso signed a contract extension this off-season. The first year is a two-way deal, which is Arvid Soderblom's final year on his current contract. If Commesso has a good year, he is in line to become the full-time backup in 2027-28, as that year is a one-way contract. If Soderblom lights the world on fire and Commesso struggles, that will change the plans, but Commesso has proven that becoming a starter in the NHL is a real possibility for him. He just has to work his way up.
9. Mason West, FWD
When the Blackhawks traded up to select Mason West, it was a bit of a risk. He was committed to playing out his senior year of football. He felt that he owed it to his community and teammates to attempt to win the Minnesota State Championship with Edina High School. He did just that. Now, the quarterback and multi-sport state champion is committed to hockey, which he hopes will lead him to the NHL. After finishing the hockey season in the USHL, he is set to play for Michigan State in 2026-27. A good year will skyrocket him up this list.
10. Adam Gajan, G
With Spencer Knight locked in as the starter for a long time ahead, the Blackhawks have Arvid Soderblom and Drew Commesso fighting for the role of permanent backup. Everyone wants to be a starter, but they all have to prove their worth as a backup first. Eventually, if they are great, another organization will make a play to bring them on as a full-timer. Adam Gajan is blocked for now, but his pedigree shows he will be in the mix eventually. He was the third-string for Team Slovakia at the Olympics, which came in the middle of an incredible year he had in college.
Honorable Mentions: AJ Spellacy, Jiri Felcman, John Mustard, Ryan Roobroeck, Julius Sumpf, Nathan Behm, & Gavin Hayes
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According to sports media insider Jonah Sigel, former NHL enforcer Kevin Sawyer is expected to take over as the Flames' color commentator on Sportsnet's regional broadcasts.
“I am told [Kevin Sawyer] is your Kelly Hrudey replacement,” Sigel reported Friday. “He will for sure be on the Calgary Flames regional games.”
Sawyer has spent the past several years working on Winnipeg Jets regional broadcasts with TSN, a role he has held since the 2017-18 season. The 52-year-old British Columbia native would now make the move from TSN to Sportsnet and take on a prominent role covering the Flames.
Before getting into broadcasting, Sawyer spent parts of six NHL seasons as an enforcer. He appeared in 110 games with the St. Louis Blues, Boston Bruins, Phoenix Coyotes and Anaheim Mighty Ducks, accumulating 403 penalty minutes. His professional playing career ended during the 2002-03 season.
The reported move comes just days after Hrudey announced that he was leaving Sportsnet after the network opted not to renew his contract.
Hrudey, 65, had been one of the most recognizable analysts on Hockey Night in Canada since retiring from professional hockey in 1998. He also began appearing on national broadcasts during the latter part of his playing career, making his departure another significant change for Sportsnet's hockey coverage.
For the Flames, Sawyer would become the latest addition to a broadcast team that has undergone considerable turnover in recent years.
The Calgary Flames appear to have found the next voice to join their regional television broadcasts following the departure of longtime analyst Kelly Hrudey.
Rick Ball left Calgary in 2024 to join the Chicago Blackhawks, with Jon Abbott taking over as the team's play-by-play voice. Ryan Leslie then departed for the Toronto Maple Leafs last year, leading Brendan Parker to step into the hosting role.
Now, Hrudey is out and Sawyer is reportedly on his way in.
The changes extend beyond television, too.
The future of Flames radio broadcasts remains unclear after Rogers shut down Sportsnet 960 The Fan in Calgary and relinquished the radio rights to Flames games. Rogers retained radio rights for the Vancouver Canucks and plans to air those games on an FM station in the city, but Calgary was left without a similar arrangement.
For now, though, the biggest question surrounding the Flames' broadcasts appears to have an answer.
If Sigel's report proves accurate, Sawyer will be the newest addition to a Calgary broadcast booth that looks considerably different from the one Flames fans knew just a few years ago.
Noah Philp was standing in the Edmonton Oilers’ dressing room during his first season in the NHL when he was asked what he had taken from his time with the University of Alberta Golden Bears.
"Just to enjoy hockey,” Philp said.
“You’re taking classes, you’re doing everything together. Just really finding the love for hockey.”
That was less than two years ago, when Philp had returned from a season away from the sport and finally reached the NHL after taking one of the more unusual routes to get there.
Now, at 27, he’s walking away from hockey again.
Philp has retired despite having signed with HV71 of the Swedish Hockey League earlier this summer, ending a professional career that included 32 NHL games between the Oilers and Carolina Hurricanes. He scored two goals and five points in those games after making his NHL debut with Edmonton in October of 2024.
Philp arrived at the University of Alberta after going undrafted out of the WHL and played 36 games for the Golden Bears over parts of three seasons.
He did not win a national championship there, and he didn’t even stick around long enough to win the Canada West title his teammates captured months after he left for professional hockey.
But when Philp reflected on his time with the Bears after reaching Edmonton, those things didn’t appear to matter much.
“It was so much fun being there, and all the guys are great,” he said. “You get to really band together, because you know nobody’s leaving, everyone’s there together.”
That environment helped Philp turn himself from an undrafted junior player into someone the Oilers were willing to sign.
Philp played his first professional season with the Bakersfield Condors in 2022-23 before announcing he was stepping away from hockey that summer because he decided there were things outside of hockey that needed his attention and took the 2023-24 season away from the sport.
Philp made his NHL debut with Edmonton, played 15 games during the 2024-25 season and recorded two assists while spending most of the year in Bakersfield.
When I spoke with him during that season, he wasn't concerned about where things were going, when he would get there, or if he would ever become a full-time NHL player.
“I had no expectations,” he said of getting his opportunity with the Oilers. “I just put in a good summer, I felt ready to play, and I was just trying to come in and play as hard as I could. Basically put my best foot forward every day. I think that when that’s all I focus on, that usually [gets] results.”
Philp eventually found himself sharing a dressing room with Corey Perry, watching a player with more than 1,300 NHL games to his name from a few stalls away.
“[Perry’s] knowledge of the game is incredible, just to watch how he does things out there,” Philp said. “I’ve tried to pick his brain and learn from him.
“And I commend him. He’s seen so many players, and then another young guy comes in. For him to treat me the way that he does, it means a lot to me.”
He was 26 during his rookie season, had already spent years in junior and university hockey, played professionally, stepped away from the game and then worked his way back into it.
“I’m kind of an old young guy but it’s good,” he said. “It’s sort of the same process. Maybe for myself, it’s a little different, maybe a little bit more mature, in terms of just seeing how the game flows and [the] risk-reward. I think that’s something that is beneficial about being older, you’ve just seen a little bit more.”
He played another 17 NHL games in 2025-26, scored the first two goals of his NHL career and added an assist before his time in Edmonton ended. He finished his NHL career with two goals and three assists in 32 games.
That’s not the career Philp would have imagined when he was playing for the Golden Bears and he probably couldn’t have imagined much of what followed.
Philp was undrafted, came through U Sports, signed with his hometown NHL organization, left professional hockey entirely, returned a year later and still managed to reach the league.
And somewhere in there, the resources he found at Alberta helped make it possible.
“They had lots of resources and lots of extra things you could take advantage of,” Philp said. “And a lot of the time it’s up to the player, and I felt like I did a decent job of finding what I could to try to improve. I think it definitely helped me develop.”
But Philp also found the for hockey again there. He found enough of it again after leaving the sport the first time to come back and make the NHL.
And after getting there, Philp has decided 32 games were enough.
It’s long enough for the anger of a playoff loss to fade, for players to leave town, for coaches to watch the film over and over again and for a front office to separate what actually went wrong from what was simply bad luck.
For the Colorado Avalanche, that should be enough time to know the difference.
The four-game sweep at the hands of Vegas in May exposed problems that had been hiding beneath an extraordinary regular season. Poor puck management. Defensive-zone mistakes. An inconsistent power play. An offense that became too dependent on its stars when the Golden Knights took away the middle of the ice.
Those problems can't follow Colorado into 2026-27.
And they won't have exactly the same team trying to fix them.
Jack Drury and Ross Colton are now in Nashville. Joel Kiviranta returned to Dallas. Fedor Svechkov is expected to step into Drury's spot at center, while veteran Jaden Schwartz, who won a Stanley Cup with the St. Louis Blues in 2019, arrives on a three-year deal.
Colorado also took another reclamation swing on Fabian Lysell, acquiring the former first-round pick from Boston for Ivan Ivan after moving Valeri Nichushkin to Columbus.
There has been plenty of change around a core that remains very much intact.
But the biggest challenge isn't rebuilding Colorado's identity.
It's making that identity harder to beat.
The Avalanche spent most of last season overwhelming teams with speed. When that worked, they looked nearly impossible to stop. But Vegas showed what happens when an opponent is willing and capable of clogging the middle of the ice.
Colorado has to become better at recognizing when the aggressive play is worth the risk and when the smart play is simply getting the puck out.
Not every shift needs to end with a highlight-reel banger. Sometimes winning means making the boring play, or whacking away for a garbage goal in vintage Artturi Lehkonen fashion.
That's especially important in the defensive zone, where too many unnecessary mistakes turned into dangerous chances throughout the season. Colorado's talent allowed it to survive those mistakes for most of the season. The Golden Knights were ready and executed their gameplan.
The Avalanche also need more answers when Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar can't take over a game.
MacKinnon going scoreless against Vegas wasn't the problem by itself. Superstars have bad series. The problem was that the depth of the team, which had been one of Colorado's strengths all season, couldn't make Vegas pay enough for focusing its attention elsewhere.
It wasn't as if the secondary players simply disappeared.
Nichushkin scored in Game 1. Colton scored the opening goal of Game 2. Then came Game 3.
Nazem Kadri and Drury scored to give Colorado what looked like an insurmountable lead. The Avalanche had the game exactly where they wanted it.
Then Vegas scored five unanswered goals.
That was the moment the series changed. Colorado had opportunities to put the Golden Knights away, but when Vegas punched back, the Avalanche couldn't deliver another response.
The five-goal collapse put Colorado in a 3-0 hole and ultimately spelled the end of what had been a magical campaign.
But there's another layer to that problem heading into next season.
Several of the players who did contribute offensively in the Western Conference Final are no longer in Colorado. Nichushkin, Colton and Drury are all gone, meaning the Avalanche have to replace production that was already important when the games mattered most.
That's where players such as Schwartz, Svechkov and Lysell could become important. None of them should be expected to single-handedly solve Colorado's depth-scoring problem, but the Avalanche will need their new additions — along with the returning players — to make sure the offense doesn't become overly dependent on MacKinnon and the rest of the stars when opponents find a way to take them away.
The power play needs to become a weapon again, too.
Kadri's return to Colorado via trade provided the power play with a temporary jolt, but that boost didn't last long. Kadri suffered a broken finger shortly afterward. While he eventually returned to the lineup, he never really looked like himself again.
And perhaps most importantly, Colorado has to learn how to respond when things stop going according to plan.
That was the most troubling part of the Vegas series.
The Golden Knights erased leads in Games 2 and 3, and Colorado never really recovered. The confidence seemed to disappear. The swagger disappeared with it.
A championship team doesn't have to avoid adversity.
It has to know how to answer it.
The Avalanche have spent the offseason changing the supporting cast. Now they have to change what happens when the punches start landing.
The Presidents' Trophy proved this team can dominate for 82 games. This season, the Avalanche will have 84 opportunities to prove they've learned from what happened in May.
The goal isn't simply to be the best team in the regular season again. It's to become the team nobody wants to face when everything is on the line.
SUN VALLEY, IDAHO - JULY 09: NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman attends the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference at the Sun Valley Lodge on July 9, 2026 in Sun Valley, Idaho. Every year, some of the world's wealthiest and most powerful figures from the media, finance, technology, and political spheres converge at the Sun Valley Resort for the exclusive week-long conference hosted by boutique investment bank Allen & Co. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Well, it seems to be that time again. Despite being the least lucrative of the four major North American sport leagues, the NHL appears to be committed to being the first such league to expand to 34 teams. Allan Walsh, an outspoken NHL player agent, has claimed that the NHL is committed to expanded to Houston and Atlanta.
The exact timeline of when this may happen is unclear, but there has been plenty of noise surrounding this for quite awhile. Really, the Seattle Kraken had hardly played a game before people were asking when the NHL would expand next. But today, I want to look at whether it’s really a good idea for the NHL to expand again.
The Historical Success of Modern Expansions
Since the Post-Merger Expansion Era began in 1991, the NHL has seen 11 new franchises join the league. The first was the San Jose Sharks in 1991, and the most recent was the Seattle Kraken in 2021. Combined, this is how the expansion teams have fared in the 35 seasons played since the Sharks joined the league (with W-L-T-OTL record):
138 combined playoff appearances (47.62% of possible appearances)
16 Stanley Cup Finals appearances
9 Eastern (four expansions) to 7 Western (seven expansions)
7 Stanley Cup victories (20% of total Stanley Cup wins since Sharks joined league)
5 Eastern to 2 Western
Expansions account for 4 of 6 teams to never reach the Stanley Cup Finals since 1981 (85 combined expansion team seasons
Expansions account for 7 of 10 teams to never win the Stanley Cup Finals (155 combined expansion team seasons to 159 non-expansion team seasons)
6 of 7 expansion team Stanley Cup victories are associated with no state income tax
3 — Tampa
2 — Florida
1 — Vegas
1 of 7 expansion team Stanley Cup victories strongly associated with Scott Niedermayer and Jean-Sebastien Giguere’s giant shoulder pads (Anaheim)
In all, post-merger expansion teams have not really been all that successful relative to the rest of the league, with only a few teams reaping benefits over the last 35 years. More often than not, expansion teams flounder and settle somewhere between perpetual bottom feeding and inescapable mediocrity. Will the Minnesota Wild ever make a Conference Finals again? Will the Seattle Kraken make the playoffs a second time? Will the Columbus Blue Jackets make the playoffs again? Are the Winnipeg Jets entering another long playoff drought? Will the Ottawa Senators or Nashville Predators ever get back to consistent playoff appearances? What success do fans of expansion teams really have to look forward to?
Gary Bettman’s Tendency to Support No-State Income Tax Teams and TV Market Impact
Of the six current teams in the National Hockey League that play in states with no state income tax, five are post-1979 expansions: Tampa Bay, Nashville*, Florida, Vegas, and Seattle. The other, the Dallas Stars, moved from Minnesota to Texas in 1993, just six seasons prior to winning their one and only Stanley Cup.
*Tennessee only recently abolished the state income tax, while the other teams here have played their entire existences under no tax
Now, with Allan Walsh reporting that Houston and Atlanta will receive expansion teams in the near future, the NHL will gain one more no-tax state team in Houston while Atlanta will play under a flat-tax rate of 5.49%, which is on the high end for low to middle income earners but more of a medium ground for high-income earners such as professional athletes. In his Tweet, though, Walsh is also responding to a report that the NHL is valuing large television markets in their decision. With Houston and Atlanta being the largest television markets without an NHL team and both being among the 10 largest markets in the country, it certainly looks like a good idea to target them for expansion.
However, the fate of the Atlanta Thrashers should not be ignored. Atlanta struggled with attendance issues despite playing in one of the largest cities in the United States. Georgia does not have a strong presence in hockey, with their one of their only professional hockey teams being the Atlanta Gladiators of the ECHL. They have been one of the worst teams in the ECHL since once making a Cup Final in 2006, and they have not made the second round of the ECHL playoffs since 2013, and they have broadly seen attendance decline since a high in 2005. Generally, it follows that Houston, whose AHL team saw significantly higher attendance prior to being moved in 2013, would have an easier time supporting a hockey team. Georgia has no top-level college hockey, it has no teams above ECHL level, and it already has a failed NHL franchise under its belt.
In an age of widespread streaming and sports cable channel issues, a more reliable marker of viability may be state hockey presence. Wisconsin strikes me as a better area for expansion, with Madison serving as a small market within driving distance of the larger Milwaukee market. This could follow the Buffalo Sabres model of popularity, which combines Buffalo with several smaller television markets throughout upstate and western New York to form a devoted fanbase. Madison to Milwaukee is a comparable distance to the Buffalo to Rochester drive.
Diluting Talent and Expansion Drafts and Alternatives to NHL Expansion
While the NHL is not expanding as rapidly as they did in the 1990s, there are considerations for the effects expansion may have already had on the league.
League save percentage has dropped from .913 in 2017 to .908 in 2021 to .896 in 2026.
Total players have jumped from 983 in 2017 to 1,011 in 2021 to 1,038 in 2026.
Hockey fans can probably identify the issues that are difficult for teams to overcome in today’s NHL. It’s difficult to find good goaltending. It’s even harder to roll four good centers. 32 NHL teams losing another set of middle six forwards, second pairing defensemen, and backup goaltenders is only going to exacerbate those issues, and the gap between the average top-line player and fourth-liner is going to expand. I do not think this will be good for the quality of product on the ice, as fans are more interested by close, tense games than high-scoring blowouts.
An issue lingering in my mind over the past few weeks with Sunny Mehta and Braden Birch’s overhaul of the Utica Comets is the AHL’s Veteran Rule, which restricts AHL teams from having “too many” older players on the team to protect the AHL’s status as a developmental league. I think this cross-identity for the AHL as simultaneously a professional and developmental league may be serving to hold it back a bit in terms of quality of play, and eliminating the AHL’s Veteran Rule would prevent the loss of North American hockey talent to leagues such as the KHL, where 18 of the top 50 scorers in 2025-26 were North American. By boosting AHL teams, NHL clubs would have access to a higher level of talent in players who would be near the top of AHL scoring and could serve as better NHL call-up depth than the league currently has.
Expanding the ECHL’s veteran rule in turn could establish the league as a center for younger player development, giving it a better calling card for attendance. In this sense, I think to the Minor League Baseball system, where the AA league has emerged as a top player development league, while AAA baseball has morphed over time into more of a veteran holding league and last step for prospects. With leagues having distinct identities, AAA baseball attracts higher attendance and AA baseball is a center for developmental coaching. If the NHL, AHL, and ECHL took more steps to improve the quality of depth hockey in North America, I think they would be in a better place to support expansion to 34 teams. As of now, though, any expansions would be more likely to go the way of the Columbus Blue Jackets or Seattle Kraken than the way of the Vegas Golden Knights or Tampa Bay Lightning, as Houston and Atlanta will just be picking from whatever scraps have been left by the most recent expansions in a league with very little precious depth. And if one of them is allowed to draft years before the other like Vegas was before Seattle, the gap between them may be similar.
Your Thoughts
What do you think about the rumors of expansion? Do you think the league is ready? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.
The Los Angeles Kings have announced that they will retire former captain Anze Kopitar’s number this upcoming season, and they will do it on February 24, 2027, when the Montreal Canadiens come to visit. On top of retiring Kopitar’s number 11, LA will also be unveiling a bronze statue of the most productive scorer in team history. The artwork will join those depicting Wayne Gretzky, Luc Robitaille, and Dustin Brown, which was unveiled in 2023. Kopitar’s number will be the eighth the franchise retires after Rob Blake (4), Marcel Dionne (16), Dave Taylor (18), Robitaille (20), Brown (23), Rogie Vachon (30) and Gretzky (99).
It’s no surprise that the Kings elected to retire his jersey with the Canadiens in town, as the newly retired forward revealed in an interview with Elliotte Friedman earlier this year that if he ever had to play for another team, it would have been the Habs. The former Kings’ captain explained that he enjoyed the city of Montreal and playing there. Kopitar hung up his skates as the Kings’ all-time scoring leader with 1,316 points in 1,521 games played. He surpassed LA legend Marcel Dionne on March 14, 2026, in a game against the New Jersey Devils.
The Slovenian centerman could very well have been a Canadiens had the Habs made a different choice at the 2005 draft. The 6-foot-3 and 225-pound pivot was picked 11th overall by Los Angeles. That year, the Canadiens had the fifth overall pick, and they used it to select franchise cornerstone Carey Price. That first-round was an excellent one since it also included Sidney Crosby, Bobby Ryan, Jack Johnson, Mark Staal, Tuukka Rask, and TJ Oshie.
Needless to say, the Canadiens’ center line wouldn’t have had a giant hole down the middle had they elected to go for Kopitar instead of Price, but the Habs’ fate in net would have been quite different. Although if they had picked Kopitar, they could have used the second-round pick, the 45th overall, they used on Guillaume Latendresse to select goaltender Jonathan Quick, who was only picked in the third round by which team? Well, the Kings, of course. Or they could have just stuck with Jose Theodore for much longer, since the Laval native was only 29 years old back then and had already won the Vezina and the Hart Trophy in 2001-02.
The Columbus Blue Jackets have only had two players wear #54, and none since 2019.
Today we'll look at who has worn it, what they did, and where they are now.
Scott Harrington - Harrington played 185 games for the Blue Jackets after being traded to Columbus by Toronto with a conditional pick in the 2017 NHL Draft for Kerby Rychel on June 25, 2016. Those 185 games would be spread out over six seasons, with 2018-19 being the year he played the most games at 73. He scored 7 goals and totaled 37 points in his career with Columbus, with the 18-19 season being his most productive with 17.
During his time in the Columbus organization, he would also play 52 games for the Cleveland Monsters, scoring 7 total points.
Harrington would sign with San Jose in 2022 and then be traded to New Jersey in February of 2023. New Jersey would then put him on waivers a few days later, where he would be picked up by Anaheim and play 17 games.
In 2023, Harrington would leave for Europe and play for the ZSC Lions of the Swiss League. After playing just 14 games in 23-24, he would return to North America for the 24-25 season to play for the Springfield Thunderbirds of the AHL.
He played for the Belleville Senators last season, and is signed on to play for them again this year. He had 19 points in 69 games last season.
Adam McQuaid - Columbus originally drafted McQuaid in the 2nd round of the 2005 NHL Entry Draft. McQuaid would never play for the CBJ, though. While he was still in the OHL, he was traded to Boston by Columbus for Boston's 5th-round pick in the 2007 NHL Draft on May 16, 2007. The pick the Jackets sent to Boston turned out to be Jamie Benn.
After playing nine years in Boston, he was traded to the Rangers in 2018. But in 2019, McQuaid was traded from New York to Columbus to help the Jackets with their playoff push. He played in 14 games before the season ended, suffering an injury that would ultimately end his career.
On March 28, 2019, Montreal’s Andrew Shaw gave McQuaid a nasty blindside shot that took him out of the game and his career. McQuaid told The Athletic, “I definitely wasn’t in a good place physically. Then it weighed on me mentally. I wasn’t feeling like myself. I had many injuries throughout my career, unfortunately. That became part of my story. I look at it more as having overcome different injuries, come back, try to play the same way, and not have it affect my outlook on playing. But I was probably at a point where I had the most going on. I had so many different things that were really nagging me. I felt like I wanted to give more. But you hear guys say that they’re asking their bodies to do things and just not getting the response they want.”
McQuaid would finish his career 73 points and one Stanley Cup.
Who was your favorite #54?
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SUNRISE, FL - OCTOBER 23: Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby (87) skates with the puck during the pre game warm up prior to the the game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Florida Panthers on Thursday, October 23, 2025 at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, FL.(Photo by Chris Arjoon/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
After Ville Koivunen’s massive eight-year contract, an already crowded Pittsburgh Penguin forward depth chart is now bursting at the seems. However, Kyle Dubas didn’t paint Koivunen as a lock to make the NHL roster coming out of training camp.
“He will still have to earn everything,” Dubas said. “As we have shown over the last few years, a long-term contract does not mean you are given anything in Pittsburgh. He will need to earn his roster spot and opportunity in training camp. He will need to finish the summer strong, show gains in power and speed on the ice in training camp and exhibition games.”
Koivunen would require waivers to be sent down, and that long-term deal just might be a poison pill for other organizations (then again, if they see the contract from a different perspective, it might not be that prohibitive).
Either way, the Pens signed Koivunen long because there is a belief he will have something to offer to the NHL team in the future. Whether that future is now, to Dubas’ point, is dependent on how Koivunen performs at training camp.
The problem is that there isn’t a lot of space for him due to a huge roster crunch right now.
Top-nine forwards, locks (9)
Sidney Crosby, Bryan Rust, Rickard Rakell, Evgeni Malkin, Egor Chinakhov, Ben Kindel, Tommy Novak, Andrei Kuzmenko, Nick Robertson
These nine players, it sounds safe enough to say, will all be in the lineup in a featured spot if they are healthy when the season starts on September 30th. What line some of them may be on to configure everything just right is up for grabs as far as who plays where, but this is the base of the forward group for next season.
Fourth line forwards, locks (2)
Blake Lizotte, Connor Dewar
Lizotte and Dewar were two-thirds of a great fourth line last season, both have limited wiggle room to move up the lineup and placed perfectly in the heavy lifting for d-zone starts and PK duty that the role requires.
The blender (6 for one lineup spot, up to two more roster spots)
Justin Brazeau, Elmer Soderblom, Hendrix Lapierre, Ville Koivunen, Rutger McGroarty, Avery Hayes
All six of these players have strong cases for belonging on an NHL roster in 2026-27, though space is running short. At this point, it seems easiest and most likely to boot McGroarty and Hayes to WBS for the start of the season and count on them getting opportunities as mid-season injury replacements when and as needed. That still would require some tough choices on how to figure the rest.
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Ultimately, one trade announcement could go a long way towards fixing the numbers. One wouldn’t think that recently re-signed players like Lizotte, Dewar or Novak will be going anywhere soon, but then again no one saw an eight-year contract to a fringe player either.
Brazeau looks to be the most obvious candidate to drop – he was a healthy scratch for much of the playoffs and the additions of players like Kuzmenko, Robertson and Lapierre could push Brazeau out of a spot in the lineup next year too. No such trade has happened just yet, though the off-season isn’t the only time to make trades. The Pens have traded players like Lars Eller and Mark Friedman away in previous October/November’s.
Another area to keep an eye on is Rakell and Rust in their mid-30’s. The team has been hesitant to move these important players but if there ever was a time where they are prepared to withstand the trade of one of them it would be now. Are the Pens beefing up numbers to brace for that? It remains unknown but could also be pre-planned.
Yet another possibility is there could be an off-season surgery that hasn’t yet been announced or even happened yet. Crosby had a wrist surgery in September 2021 that came out of the blue to the public after his efforts to rehab and deal with the issue proved to not be enough. Something similar happened with McGroarty and an unmentioned summer surgery that kept him out at the beginning of the year and was only announced on the first day of camp.
There’s obviously no outward indication that Crosby or anyone else is dealing with a lingering issue , but there’s always a chance that around training camp that a player considered a ‘lock’ could actually be IR bound at the beginning of the season. There’s also no guarantee that all the presumed locks make it to the start of the season. Last preseason alone all of Bryan Rust, Kevin Hayes, Joel Blomqvist and Jack St. Ivany got injured before Game 1 and were on the IR at the beginning of the season because of it, along with McGroarty.
Not all of those were key players but it goes to show that the injury bug is random and always just around the corner to pop up and potentially turn 17 forward candidates into a more manageable figure to find 14 healthy ones.
Whether or not that includes Koivunen and if his new contract will help him find a spot on the team remains to be seen. The Pens have too many numbers up front for the moment, though it can change in a moment’s notice.
In the doldrums of the 2026 offseason, the Philadelphia Flyers appear to be done adding to their roster, though training camp can and will throw wrenches into the plan, be it through injury or otherwise.
For instance, this time last year, we all had prospect defenseman Helge Grans penciled in as the No. 6 defenseman to play on the third defense pair, but the Swede had a training camp and preseason performance so bad that the job was decidedly handed to Noah Juulsen, who had a slow camp himself working back from a season-ending hernia.
On defense, especially, that scenario could play out for the Flyers again in some way, as Rasmus Ristolainen, perpetually a trade candidate, has only one year left on his contract, as does newcomer Simon Benoit.
No. 3: Oliver Bonk, RHD
Rather quickly, 2023 first-round pick Oliver Bonk is showing signs of NHL potential, recording a goal and assist in his NHL debut against Montreal on April 14, then making his Stanley Cup playoff debut against the Hurricanes in the 3-2 overtime loss in Game 4 on May 9.
The Flyers organization is clearly bullish on the 21-year-old; they aren't the types to hand out debuts in important games just because.
If Bonk is able to continue to perform well, add more strength and play speed, and stay healthy this time around, the former 22nd overall pick should have no issues inserting himself into the conversation for an NHL roster spot.
Last year, the competition between Juulsen and Grans had been so uninspiring that Bonk, if healthy, likely had a legitimate chance to make the roster, especially given that the Flyers technically weren't a playoff team with expectations at the time.
That context makes things a bit more challenging this year, but a strong showing from Bonk could earn him a roster spot at the expense of someone like Ristolainen, or even David Jiricek.
No. 2: Hunter McDonald, LHD
Continuing with the theme on defense here, Hunter McDonald, the Flyers' last remaining unsigned restricted free agent, is running out of time to make an NHL impact.
McDonald, 24, made his NHL debut, like Bonk, against the Canadiens on April 14, recording his first NHL point--an assist--with a sparkling +3 rating and a McDonald classic four penalty minutes.
The hulking 6-foot-4 defenseman will be 25 years old at the end of next season, and it's up to him to prove to the Flyers that he can replace the older, more expensive veterans in Benoit and Nick Seeler and take over the roles they play for the team.
Drafted as an overager in 2022, McDonald is another prospect who is an in-house favorite, but he will know that Ty Murchison also played well in his cameo for the Flyers last year, and the organization just allocated a first-round pick to selecting Maksim Sokolovskii, another bruiser, at the 2026 NHL Draft two months ago.
With Seeler getting older and no longer shielded by trade protection, and with Benoit only under contract for one year, this could be McDonald's best shot at landing an NHL roster spot with the Flyers.
He's got some wind in his sails after making his NHL debut, but that must now carry over into training camp for the real push ahead.
No. 1: Devin Kaplan, RW
I'm sure many of you were probably expecting Jett Luchanko to be the player representing the forwards here, but the Flyers want him to play as many minutes as possible if he isn't one of the 12 best forwards on the roster... in other words: an established every-night NHLer.
Instead, I wanted to acknowledge Devin Kaplan, a 6-foot-3 right winger who made his NHL debut for the Flyers at the end of that dreadful 2024-25 season in a 5-4 loss to Buffalo.
Kaplan, 22, played his first full pro season in the AHL for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms last year, scoring five goals, eight assists, and 13 points in 49 games before suffering a season-ending injury.
Heading into a contract year, and with the Flyers' logjam of wingers, Kaplan needs a strong camp to keep himself on the radar, and further embracing the grinder playstyle will help him do that.
The Flyers had re-signed Carl Grundstrom earlier this offseason to a one-year, $1 million deal, but they would assuredly be thrilled with the development of another one of their young prospects beating out a veteran for a roster spot, just as Nikita Grebenkin did last year, and Denver Barkey and Alex Bump did later in the season.
After signing Noel Acciari, the Flyers don't really need Grundstrom's versatility to fill in at center, which opens the door a wee bit more for a winger like Kaplan to come in and make a splash.
Plus, the Flyers traded away Garnet Hathaway this offseason, so they'll be missing their fourth-line sandpaper right wing. With Kaplan, the hope is that he can continue to grow into that kind of player, and what better time than the present to prove yourself?
The Toronto Maple Leafs had one of the busiest off-seasons in the NHL this summer, signing an abundance of UFAs as well as a few notable trades from GM John Chayka.
However, in terms of internal business, such as signing significant players to contract extensions, the organization wasn't so occupied on that front. Aside from trade acquisitions like Darren Raddysh and Emil Andrae, they re-signed defenseman Troy Stecher.
For the next little while, the Maple Leafs will remain relatively quiet with expiring contracts on the roster. In fact, no player on Toronto's roster will have an expiring contract within the next two seasons, according to PuckPedia. Some players will be eligible to sign contract extensions next off-season, but none of those deals will be officially expiring until 2027-28 is completed.
It's a unique position to be in for the Maple Leafs, especially considering that no other team in the NHL is in the same situation. The team closest to having all their players locked up for the next two campaigns is the Florida Panthers, with Lars Eller and Garnet Hathaway becoming UFAs following 2026-27.
With the Maple Leafs not having to worry about contract negotiations for NHL players for a little while, is that a good thing or a bad thing? There are two ways to look at it.
On one hand, the players or staff members wouldn't be distracted by negotiations or contract disputes, allowing the team to focus on hockey and results. On the flip side, not having the option to walk away from a player or two at the end of the year can handcuff Chayka and the roster potentially. In other words, there is a lack of flexibility.
Four of the six players that Chayka brought in through free agency were inked to two-year contracts. Jack Roslovic, Colton Sissons, Teddy Blueger and Zack MacEwen are all under contract through 2027-28.
Therefore, if one of those players didn't fit in with the roster, or head coach Jim Hiller's play style, or just underperforms, the simplest solution is unavailable, which would be to let that player go when the deal expires. Instead, if one of those acquisitions struggles in their first year with the team and can't really find a groove in Toronto, the franchise is stuck with him, unless they can find a trade partner.
Speaking of trades, not only could these contracts be a short-term freeze to the roster, but they might hinder any desire to add when it comes to the trade deadline, or at any other point during the season when a clear need or hole in the lineup emerges.
Making a trade will always be possible one way or another, but with the Maple Leafs' roster pretty much filled up, there isn't much room for new opportunity or adjustment.
To combat that argument, this could be a drama-free season in terms of contract negotiations, particularly with star players.
Auston Matthews is the star player with the most recent expiration date, as his deal is done after 2027-28. But even then, he isn't eligible to sign a contract extension until next off-season.
As for the others, William Nylander is locked in through 2031-32, which is six years remaining on his deal. Also, John Tavares and Matthew Knies signed their contract extensions two days apart in late June 2025. Tavares' expires the soonest, in three more seasons.
Even the youngsters in Easton Cowan and Gavin McKenna won't be occupied by contract negotiations for the next couple of years. Cowan has two more years left on his entry-level contract, while McKenna, of course, will be beginning his entry-level deal this coming season as he inches closer to making his NHL debut.
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EDMONTON, CANADA - JANUARY 22: Ryan Shea #5, Sidney Crosby #87 and Bryan Rust #17 of the Pittsburgh Penguins celebrate a first-period goal against the Edmonton Oilers during the game at Rogers Place on January 22, 2026, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. (Photo by Leila Devlin/Getty Images) | Getty Images
There’s still a while before training camp starts but August is the final month without hockey. Let’s take the chance to set the stage now for the first part of the Penguins’ upcoming season by breaking down what they’ll be facing in the first three calendar months of the season.
The activities start even earlier than this, the Pens will be sending prospects out to Detroit from September 11-14, a departure from the recent past when Pittsburgh went to Buffalo to scrimmage. Typically the full camp has officially started right after, which should mean camp will open on or around September 14th, though many of the NHL players will trickle back and participate in informal skates prior to that.
Preseason is quick this year, just four games spread across six days from Sep 21-26. The NHL has cut out two preseason games to account for tacking on two more regular season games, boosting the total back to 84 for the first time in over 30 years. Usually the star players don’t go on the road for exhibitions, but it’s at least a quick trip to Buffalo for the final preseason game if the team wants to use that as a final tuneup before the year starts.
The regular season for the Pens kicks off in Philadelphia on September 30th. This will mark the first time Pittsburgh has played a game that counts in the month of September in franchise history.
October
The Pens get their first heavy stretch of games early in the year – playing five times in eight days from Oct 3-10. This stretch includes two games against division opponents (WSH, CBJ) but don’t get used to it – Pittsburgh doesn’t play Washington again until January 18th. The NHL has loaded up on the out-of-conference games early on in the year, giving just a little taste of these division opponents early. Overall, the Pens will play Western Conference teams eight times out of their 13 October games, including knocking out the entire season series with Utah over a 10-day stretch.
October also includes the first long road trip out west for four games in Chicago, Colorado, Vegas and Utah. Overall, Pittsburgh travels about the fewest miles of anyone in the league this season, they’ll get a chunk of that down in the early going.
A trade-off to the low miles is a frequency for back-to-back games. The Pens ease into it here with just two b-2-b’s in October. Another theme for the club will be playing on Saturday’s – they don’t get a Saturday without a game until December 19th.
Only five games are against 2026 playoff teams, but that could be misleading to assume an easy start with teams like the Caps, Mammoth and Panthers all looking to take steps forward this year, while also playing Western powers like Colorado, Vegas and Dallas.
November
November features a reprieve in the scheduling at the start of the month, with only five games in the first 18 days. That figure includes a significant amount of travel with the annual California trip against the trio of teams out west. That break erodes away a little with seven games in the last 12 days of the month, though five will be at home – including the near-annual Thanksgiving Eve home game where Calgary will be the opponent this year.
This is also shaping up to be a tricky month scheduling-wise with three instances of back-to-back games, including a weekend stint in Nashville followed by a quick turn to get to Dallas the next day. Games outside the conference continue to be the early-season trend with eight of the first 11 games of the month coming against Western teams.
By the time November ends, the Pens will have visited 9/16 of the West, virtually knocking out all their far games to go to, aside from a February road trip that will knock six out. The worm starts to turn after Thanksgiving where the Pens shift to playing more Eastern teams.
At this point, Pittsburgh will have played 27 of their 84 games, completing nearly one-third of their schedule. There’s usually a statistical to-do about the of teams in a playoff spot at this point and the perceived correlation of making the playoffs, though that will be put to the test this year since the Pens will still have 24 more games against Metropolitan Division opponents still to play and plenty of hockey left to play to make or break their season.
When the San Jose Sharks take the ice for training camp next month, there will be likely two jobs up for grabs on the blue line. The bottom-pairing role will likely go to a young player like Luca Cagnoni, Nolan Allen, or Eric Pohlkamp. While theoretically one of the two who miss out on that job could be used as the Sharks' seventh defenseman, it would make much more sense to let them get more playing time under their belt at the American Hockey League level.
In order to allow a younger defenseman to get sent down, the Sharks would then need to find a player who can step in and out of the lineup as needed. On paper, there's no better fit for that role remaining than former Colorado Avalanche and Nashville Predators defenseman Nick Blankenburg.
Despite being undersized at 5-foot-9, Blankenburg has proven himself with multiple different teams as an effective depth player. While he's not the type of player who should likely be playing for a contending team on a day-to-day basis, the 28-year-old has the ability to play both sides of the blue line and does so effectively when his number is called. There's a reason that the Colorado Avalanche went out of their way to add him to their roster at the 2026 NHL Trade Deadline.
Blankenburg is often more regarded for his offensive capabilities from the blue line, although he's not a one-dimensional player. He's effective on both ends of the ice, considering he's still a free agent, he'd likely be a cost-effective option, and he's a right-shot which is often a plus for depth defensemen.
With that being said, Blankenburg isn't the type of player who the Sharks would likely want to slot in on special teams. He's not an overly effective penalty killer, nor is he a game-changer on the power play. He could fill the role if needed, but it would be less than ideal.
As an undrafted player, Blankenburg's play is often defined by his work ethic. He's had to overcome the odds due to his size and he's had to overcome being passed on in the NHL Draft on multiple occasions. As a result, his personality could be massively beneficial to some of the Sharks' young defensemen as well.
Given his rapid improvement through his late 20's, it's somewhat surprising that Blankenburg has yet to find a home for the 2026-27 season. Although it's likely not an ideal outcome for him, as he'd hope to someday become an everyday player in the NHL, he could certainly bring a lot to the table for the San Jose Sharks.
It's officially another season, another prospects ranking for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
In years past, this has been a bit easier of an exercise, as there used to be a more clear-cut line between prospects with NHL upside and longshots. However, because of the work that general manager and president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas and his staff have put in during the last several years, the line is blurring a whole lot more - and there is a substantially higher volume of talent in the system.
This time around, making a top-20 list was challenging. So, a few criteria were put into place: To make our list, prospects must be under the age of 26 and have played less than 50 NHL games. This excludes names such as Ben Kindel, Filip Hallander, Oliver Okuliar, and Alexander Alexeyev.
At No. 17, we put a spotlight on playmaking center Zam Plante, as his year-to-year growth has continued to raise his floor and ceiling. For No. 16, we look between the pipes, where a still-valuable goaltender is entering a critical season in his development.
For some, seeing the 24-year-old Blomqvist this low on our list might come as a bit of a surprise. And, really, this is not so much Blomqvist's doing as it is a case of several guys simply surpassing him in terms of NHL potential and intrigue.
That said, the product of Uusikaarlepyy, Finland is at a crossroads in his development, and this season may just determine his future with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
With the emergence of fellow young netminder Sergei Murashov - currently the organization's best bet as its next franchise goaltender - someone else has, likely, surpassed Blomqvist on the depth chart despite some legitimate promise he has shown throughout his professional career up to this point. But that doesn't mean things are over for Blomqvist or that the Penguins no longer see him as part of their future.
In fact, Dubas has mentioned Blomqvist on several occasions, including in his end-of-season press conference when he suggested that either him or Murashov would have an opportunity to seize one of the two NHL roster spots for the 2026-27 season - with the other belonging to the recently re-signed Arturs Silovs. He is very much still in the mix, and for good reason.
After dealing with an injury in the latter part of the 2024-25 AHL regular season and yet another during training camp last season, Blomqvist's luck hasn't exactly been top-notch. But his performance has earned him the opportunity to remain in the NHL conversation. In 26 AHL appearances in a 1B role alongside Murashov in 2025-26, he was 16-5-4 with a .913 save percentage and 2.40 goals-against average, which were comparable numbers to Murashov's .919 and 2.20, respectively.
In addition, his first career NHL stint - which occurred at the beginning of the 2024-25 season when injuries paved the way for him to debut - showed some promise, as he had a .913 save percentage in his first seven NHL appearances before a disaster showing against the Dallas Stars sent him back to the AHL for a bit. His second stint that same year did not go as well, and he was eventually sent back to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (WBS), where he was injured shortly after.
Blomqvist is an athletic, well-positioned goaltender when he is on. The strengths in his game are his quickness post-to-post, his tracking, his rebound control, and his reads. Those should continue to be strengths as he, hopefully, progresses even further in his development this season, which will likely be as the 1A in WBS to Taylor Gauthier's 1B, assuming Murashov shows well in camp.
He did not appear in any Calder Cup playoff games for the WBS Penguins last season, as Murashov played in all 15. But if there's one glaring degree of separation between Murashov and Blomqvist, it's the "big-game" reputation.
In the previous two postseason appearances for WBS, Blomqvist was the goaltender of record, and he posted sub-.895 save percentages in both years within a short, three-game sample size. In order to take the next step in his development, he has to show that he can come up big in the biggest games and in the biggest moments, akin to what Silovs and Murashov have already shown.
Given that he will turn 25 this season - and with two promising young goaltenders ahead of him on the depth chart - this season is the most important of Blomqvist's career to date. Assuming it's the other two in the NHL, he not only needs to assert himself as first in line for a call-up, but he needs to assert himself as a valuable piece of the future with his performance this season.
Winnipeg hockey fans will have an opportunity to get up close and personal with the Stanley Cup on Monday.
Winnipeg product and newly-crowned Stanley Cup champion Seth Jarvis will bring hockey's most famous trophy to the Tuxedo Community Centre on Aug. 10 for a public meet-and-greet from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m.
Photo by James Guillory/USA Today
The community centre announced details of Jarvis' appearance Friday evening, inviting fans to attend the free event at 368 Southport Blvd.
“Come on down and help us congratulate Seth Jarvis as he brings the Stanley Cup home,” the community centre wrote in its announcement.
The event is open to all ages, with attendees encouraged to bring cameras for an opportunity to see Jarvis and the Stanley Cup up close. The community centre noted that Jarvis will only be on site for the two-hour window.
Monday's celebration will cap off a memorable year for the 24-year-old, who helped the Carolina Hurricanes capture the second Stanley Cup in franchise history in June.
Jarvis finished the regular season with 32 goals and 66 points in 71 games, leading Carolina in goals for the first time in his NHL career. It was also his third consecutive 30-goal season.
He then played an important role in Carolina's run through the postseason, which culminated in a six-game Stanley Cup Final victory over the Vegas Golden Knights.
One of Jarvis' biggest moments came in Game 2 of the Final. With Carolina facing the possibility of falling behind 2-0 in the series, Jarvis scored a power-play goal 3:56 into overtime to give the Hurricanes a 4-3 victory and even the series.
For Jarvis, the moment had a particularly fitting connection to Winnipeg.
Earlier in the series, he reflected on growing up shooting pucks in his driveway and imagining himself scoring Stanley Cup-winning goals.
“I might be undefeated,” Jarvis joked of those childhood Cup scenarios. “I might never have lost a Cup in my mind. But this is a little more real now, and way more exciting.”
Less than two weeks later, the Hurricanes defeated Vegas 3-0 in Game 6 to capture the Stanley Cup.
Jarvis was one of several Manitobans featured prominently in the Final. Winnipeg's Mark Stone and Brett Howden and Brandon's Keegan Kolesar suited up for Vegas, while former Winnipeg Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers won the Cup alongside Jarvis with Carolina.
