A former Vancouver Canucks forward has won an award named after a former Canucks head coach. On Thursday, Jayson Megna was named the winner of the 2026 Bruce Boudreau award. As per the AHL, the award "honors the most outstanding American Hockey League player not playing on an NHL contract, recognizing their leadership, consistency, and impact on the league."
Megna is currently in his second season with the Colorado Eagles. The 36-year-old has served as Colorado's captain for the last two years, during which he has recorded 102 points in 134 games. The Eagles are currently in the second round of the playoffs and are getting ready to begin their series with the Henderson Silver Knights.
As for his time with Vancouver, Megna spent two seasons split between the NHL and AHL. He played 59 games for the Canucks, where he recorded four goals and eight points from 2016-18. Megna also played 29 games for the Utica Comets, where he recorded 16 points.
Feb 9, 2017; Columbus, OH, USA; Vancouver Canucks right wing Jayson Megna (46) skates with the puck against the Columbus Blue Jackets during the third period at Nationwide Arena. Vancouver shutout the Blue Jackets 3-0. Mandatory Credit: Russell LaBounty-USA TODAY Sports
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After a short and disappointing playoff run that ended in a four-game sweep at the hands of the Carolina Hurricanes, Ottawa Senators fans may be looking for something, anything, to cheer for over the next month and a half.
For those fans who like to keep an eye on the players who used to wear the Centurion crest, there are still a number of former Senators in play to win a Cup this year.
Brady Tkachuk says the dialogue about his NHL future has become a frustrating distraction.
Dallas vs. Minnesota
It’s hard to believe Matt Duchene has been gone from the Senators for seven seasons now and is easily the most productive player on this list. He has eight points in five playoff games, good for a share of third in the league. Duchene was traded to Columbus back in 2019 for Vitaly Abramov, Jonathan Davidsson, and a first-round draft pick that would turn out to be Lassi Thomson.
For Minnesota, a pair of former Senator veteran wingers are still plugging away. Nick Foligno and Vladimir Tarasenko both have one point in five games. Goalie Filip Gustavsson has had a front-row seat to this series. He has been on the bench for every game, wearing the ball cap, while 23-year-old Jesper Wallstedt has played every minute for the Wild.
Edmonton vs. Anaheim
The only former Senator in this series is Ottawa’s former first-round draft pick, Curtis Lazar, who has no points in four games for the Oilers. Lazar was once seen as a real blue-chip prospect, and though he never quite lived up to his first-round billing here or anywhere else, he deserves credit for carving out a solid NHL career with over 600 games and counting.
Montreal vs. Tampa Bay
The Lightning have a pair of former Senators playing in this series. "Nick Paul does it all," but he hasn’t gotten on the scoresheet in this series, with no points in four games. Tough guy Scott Sabourin has no points in two games.
Paul was traded away by Ottawa in 2022 for Mathieu Joseph and a fourth-rounder that would turn into Blake Montgomery, who just started his pro career playing a few games at the end of the season with the Belleville Senators.
Buffalo vs. Boston
Former Senator Josh Norris is back in a familiar spot to Sens fans, and unfortunately, that is the injured list. He’s missed the last three games with injury and has no points in two games, but he is expected to return for Game 6 of the Bruins-Sabres series. Of course, Norris was famously traded away at the deadline last year in a multiplayer deal that saw the Senators land Dylan Cozens.
For Boston, three players have former Senator ties. Mark Kastelic, who brings toughness to the fourth line, just as he did here, has one point in five games in this series and 11 penalty minutes. He was sent to Boston from Ottawa in the Linus Ullmark deal, as was goalie Joonas Korpisalo, who has only played 13 minutes in the series in relief of Jeremy Swayman.
Jonathan Aspirot has been a revelation for the Bruins. After four years in Ottawa's organization with Belleville and then two more AHL seasons with Calgary, he ended up with the Bruins this season. And when they had a rash of injuries, Aspirot got his shot. He's played in all five games for Boston and has two assists.
Vegas vs. Utah
Mark Stone has four points in five games for Vegas. Stone has certainly been injury prone with Vegas, routinely missing significant time during the regular season. However, he always seems to find a way to be ready for the playoffs, and while probably held together with bubble gum and binder twine, Stone has four points in five games for Vegas so far.
Since he was once property of the Senators for less than a week, we also need to include Utah defenseman Ian Cole on this list. He has 2 points in five games for the Mammoth. In 2018, Cole was traded to Ottawa when the Sens dealt Derick Brassard to Pittsburgh in a multi-player deal for Filip Gustavsson and a first-rounder.
Three days later, Cole was shipped to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Nick Moutrey and a third. The Sens might have held out for a little more if they knew that Cole was going to play another eight years in the league.
So there it is. If you're looking for a reason to stay invested this spring, those are the familiar names still chasing the Stanley Cup. Live vicariously, my friends.
Steve Warne The Hockey News
This article was first published at The Hockey News Ottawa. Check out more great Sens features from The Hockey News at the links below:
For the 10th consecutive season, the Detroit Red Wings are watching the Stanley Cup Playoffs from home.
Their fate was officially sealed after yet another late-season collapse, in which a once-comfortable lead above the playoff cut line vanished, culminating in a disappointing 5–3 loss and a chorus of boos from frustrated fans at Little Caesars Arena on April 11.
Following a 4–3 overtime loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the penultimate game of the season, they were then throttled 8–1 in the regular-season finale by the Florida Panthers.
Head coach Todd McLellan was nothing short of incensed afterward and, during what was his shortest postgame media availability session of the campaign, said bluntly that the entire team should be embarrassed.
It was McLellan who decried what viewed as "jerseys" on the ice, or players who weren't making a difference and weren't giving a complete, total effort.
“Right now, for us, I think we have some players that are playing well and playing hard, and then we have some guys that are just jerseys,” McLellan said on February 28. “What I mean by that is they’re wearing jerseys. They’re skating around, they’re eating up some minutes, but we need more. We just flat out need more."
Which players, especially during the final third of the season, was McLellan referring to?
Jersey No. 1: Michael Rasmussen
There may be no player who better embodies Todd McLellan’s “jersey” critique than Detroit’s former first-round pick (ninth overall) in the 2017 NHL Draft
Built like a prototypical power forward at 6'6" and 220 pounds, Michael Rasmussen instead shies away from physical contact, is routinely knocked off the puck, and rarely ventures into the dirty areas of the ice. To see him drive to the net is about as rare as a solar eclipse.
He’ll occasionally show flashes of the player Detroit envisioned when they made him a first-round pick in 2017. Perhaps the most notable example came when he leveled Jack Hughes of the New Jersey Devils after scoring an empty-net goal, then stood over him in a pose reminiscent of Muhammad Ali towering over Sonny Liston.
Rasmussen appeared in 64 games this past season, and his 14 total points were the lowest of his career aside from the shortened 2020–21 campaign, in which he recorded 12 points in 40 games. Additionally, his hit total was less than half of what it was just a season ago.
He appeared to be coming into his own in 2021-22 and for much of 2022-23 before his season was ended because of a broken kneecap as the result of a shot block.
Since then, Rasmussen has resembled anything but the kind of power forward that his size affords him the opportunity to be.
He remains under contract for two more seasons carrying a salary cap hit of $3.2 million.
If GM Steve Yzerman makes good on his offseason outlook of improving the club's five-on-five scoring while making their bottom-six tougher for the opposition to face, don't be surprised to see Rasmussen be a roster casualty in the form of a trade or buyout.
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The Florida Panthers have had some very positive experiences on April 30.
Twice over the past several years, Florida has emerged victorious during the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs on the final day of April.
Back in 2023 came one of the biggest and perhaps most surprising playoff wins not only in Panthers postseason history, but in the history of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
That’s because the eighth-seed Panthers, who snuck into the playoffs at the end of the regular season, took down the historically-good Boston Bruins in a seven-game shocker.
Boston not only won the Presidents’ Trophy that season, but they also finished with more wins and more points than any other team in the existence of the NHL.
Unsurprisingly, the Bruins jumped out to a 3-1 series lead on the Panthers, shipping back up to Boston after winning Games 3 and 4 in Florida by a combined score of 10-4.
A gritty overtime win in Game 5 was followed up with a comeback victory at home in Game 6, setting up the seventh game showdown at TD Garden.
The Panthers jumped out to a 2-0 lead, but by the first TV timeout of the third period, the Bruins had re-taken the lead and were trying to put the clamps down on Florida.
With goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky on the bench for an extra attacker, former Cats defenseman Brandon Montour fired a shot that snuck between the post and Bruins netminder Jeremy Swayman, sending the game to sudden death overtime.
It took less than nine minutes for Florida to finish off the Bruins.
Picking up a loose puck at the side of Boston’s net, Sam Bennett found Carter Verhaeghe in the right circle, and he wired a wrist shot that zoomed past Swayman’s left ear and into the top of the net.
Ballgame. Series over.
Florida, as we all remember, went on a hell of a run that postseason, marching all the way to the Stanley Cup Final after reeling off wins in 10 of 11.
Fast forward a couple of years and we arrive at last season.
During the Cats’ 2025 run to the Stanley Cup Final, they dispatched their cross-state rival, the Tampa Bay Lightning, in a quick five-game series.
That Game 5 was played on April 30 at Amalie Arena in Tampa.
Defending the first Stanley Cup victory in franchise history, the Panthers entered the 2025 postseason as the third seed in the Atlantic Division.
Florida quickly jumped out to a 2-0 lead, winning the first two games in Tampa by a combined score of 8-2.
After a split in Sunrise, the Cats headed back up to Tampa with a chance to knock out the Bolts and advance to round two.
The Panthers and Lightning went toe-to-toe for first half of the game, with each putting up three goals, before Florida slowly started to take over.
A goal by Bennett moments after the Panthers finished killing off his slashing penalty gave Florida a 4-3 lead late in the second period, one they would never relinquish.
Eetu Luostarinen fourth point of the night was a goal that put the Cats up by two, and a Sam Reinhert empty-net goal sealed the deal.
Following the five-game win over Tampa Bay, the Panthers went through familiar playoff foes – the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games and the Carolina Hurricanes in five – en route to their third consecutive Stanley Cup Final appearance and second straight championship.
So yeah, April 30 has become a good day to recall some Panthers playoff success.
We’ll have to wait and see if they can add to that list in the coming years.
Photo caption: Apr 30, 2023; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Florida Panthers left wing Matthew Tkachuk (19) reacts on the winning goal during overtime in game seven of the first round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden. (Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images)
The Pittsburgh Penguins' season came to a heartbreaking end with their 1-0 overtime loss to the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 6. The Penguins worked hard to try to force a Game 7 after going down 3-0 in the series, but they fell just short.
While the Penguins lost in Game 6, Arturs Silovs certainly cannot be blamed. The 25-year-old goaltender gave the Penguins everything he had, as he stopped 31 out of 32 Flyers shots he faced. Unfortunately, the Penguins were unable to solve Flyers goalie Dan Vladar.
Silovs was excellent for the Penguins throughout the series, too. After taking over Pittsburgh's crease in Game 4, Silovs helped lead the Penguins to two straight wins due to his strong goaltender. In Game 4, he stopped 28 out of 30 shots he faced. He then stopped 18 out of 20 shots in Game 5.
With this, Silovs finished the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 1.52 goals-against average and a .939 save percentage in three games. There is no question that the young Penguins goalie had a strong postseason, and he certainly should build off this for next season.
Silovs demonstrated during this postseason that he has good upside. It will be interesting to see what kind of campaign that he can put together next season, but it seems that the 2019 sixth-round pick may not have hit his ceiling just yet.
The Dallas Stars are set to face off against the Minnesota Wild in Game 6 on Thursday. This is a must-win game for the Stars, as a loss would officially knock them out of the playoffs.
A former Buffalo Sabres defenseman won't be on the ice for this contest, as the Stars are expected to scratch blueliner Tyler Myers in Game 6.
Myers being a healthy scratch for Game 6 is undoubtedly notable news. The Stars acquired him from the Vancouver Canucks ahead of the 2026 NHL trade deadline in exchange for a 2027 second-round pick and a 2029 fourth-round pick.
Myers has had a tough start to the playoffs for the Stars, as he has zero points and a minus-5 rating in five games. Now, he will be sitting out for Game 6 because of it, and the Stars will be hoping that this decision pays off.
Myers appeared in 73 regular-season games split between the Canucks and Stars in 2025-26, where he had one goal, 10 assists, 11 points, 85 hits, 121 blocks, and a minus-23 rating.
Myers was selected by the Sabres with the 12th overall pick of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. In 365 games over six seasons with the Sabres, the 6-foot-8 defenseman had 45 goals, 106 assists, 151 points, and 485 hits.
The Golden Knights' offense continues to keep them alive and with another thrilling win, they're on the brink of eliminating the Utah Mammoth from the opening round of the playoffs.
Pavel Dorofeyev scored the game-tying goal with 53 seconds left in regulation to complete a hat trick, Brett Howden scored the game-winner 5:28 into the second overtime, and the Golden Knights won 5-4 to take a commanding 3-2 series lead over the Mammoth.
Vegas can wrap things up and move into the Western Conference semifinals with a win Friday night in Salt Lake City.
Shea Theodore also scored for the Knights, while goaltender Carter made 34 saves, including 10 in the first overtime.
Theodore's goal late in the second period gave the Knights a 3-2 lead, but Utah scored two within the first 12:42 of the third period to take a 4-3 lead.
Jack Eichel had two assists, while a total of nine Knights registered at least one point in the game.
KEY MOMENT
It's easy to say Dorofeyev's goal with 53 seconds left was the key moment, but that goal doesn't happen if Game 4 hero Theodore doesn't save the puck from leaving the zone with 58.2 seconds after his former teammate Nate Schmidt, now with the Mammoth, sent the puck around the boards from behind the net. Theodore then fed Eichel, who one-timed a shot to create the rebound for the game-tying goal. Theodore's glove save was the key moment.
KEY STAT
In NHL history, per OptaSTATS, there have been 29 instances of a team trailing in the third period in each of the first five games of a playoff series.
Of those 29 teams, 28 were behind in the series or had already lost the series after five games.
The lone exception is this year's Golden Knights.
WHAT A KNIGHT
Dorofeyev's hat trick takes the spotlight, obviously, as he turned the fourth of his career and second of this season. Last year's goal leader for the Knights came through with his biggest performance at the right time. Dorofeyev's first two goals tied the score - in the first at 1-1 and in the second at 2-2. After the Mammoth took a 4-3 lead in the third, he positioned himself perfectly for the game-tying goal with 53 seconds left to send the game to overtime.
UP NEXT
The Golden Knights will look to close out their series in Salt Lake City in Game 6 on Friday night.
PHOTO CAPTION
Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Shea Theodore (27) was named Third Star of the Game after the Golden Knights defeated the Utah Mammoth 5-4 in the second overtime period of game five of the first round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs at T-Mobile Arena.
Can the Bruins force a Game 7 with a win on Friday?
The Buffalo Sabres have the advantage of leading their first round series with the Boston Bruins 3-2 heading into Game 6 on Friday, but to say that the younger Sabres do not have any pressure on them would be inaccurate, since a loss would force a seventh and deciding game at KeyBank Center on Sunday. The series has been decidedly to the advantage of the visitors, as four of the five games in the series the road club has come out victorious, and the one game the home team won was Game 1’s improbable four-goal comeback late in the third by Buffalo.
The Sabres practiced on Thursday morning before flying to Beantown, where center Josh Norris replaced the injured Noah Ostlund in between Zach Benson and Josh Doan. Head coach Lindy Ruff provided an update on Norris and defenseman Logan Stanley, who was absent from practice.
Sick, (he’s) doing better today, but we held them off.....he was worse yesterday, better today, but then you're missing a couple days and you haven't ate. We're gonna have to judge where the energy level is too at the same time.
Norris was slotted in his old spot, was that just to not disrupt the lineup too much?
For a period of time that line was really good for us, and put him back in his spot. He had a great practice today, skated really well, feeling really good. It's an opportunity where a guy like (Josh) can just step up and he could be a big difference maker for us.
Thompson has not scored since Game 1, and during the regular season, not scoring in four games is not a big deal, but everything in the playoffs is magnified. What have you seen from him in his quest to get back on the scoresheet?
You look at the opportunities in the game. A game ago, (the Bruins) were talking about how they needed more out of (Morgan) Geekie and more out of (David) Pastrnak. This is the time of the year, where I think the attention towards your best players always comes to a highlight. If one guy doesn't have goals for two or three games, no different than McDavid in Edmonton with his start to the playoffs, it's that time of year. I think if you look at the game and you break it down, (Tage) had an unbelievable chance in the third period where (Peyton) Krebs fed him across crease and he didn't finish. If that goes, you're probably not asking me this question today, but it didn't go in. (Our) best players, we're depending on them to be difference makers, but the cool thing about our team all year long has been that if the top guys weren't producing for a few games, we had other guys, whether it was our defense, whether it was (Beck) Malenstyn, guys like that were helping us win hockey games, and it's really what our team has been about the whole year.
Los Angeles Kings forwards Andrei Kuzmenko and Scott Laughton are both due for new contracts this summer as pending UFAs.
On Wednesday, the duo spoke with the media at the end-of-season press conference and were asked about their intentions and future with the Kings organization.
Both Kuzmenko and Laughton gave different answers in terms of their interest in signing a contract extension with Los Angeles, one more encouraging than the other.
"The interest level is high for me, for sure," Laughton told reporters. "The opportunity I was given here, the guys here, the staff, the way I was treated, my family came down and absolutely loved it... so yeah, the interest level is high."
Laughton featured in 21 games for the Kings this year in the regular season. He put up five goals and eight points while averaging 15:46 of ice time in Los Angeles, which is more than two minutes compared to his stint with the Maple Leafs this season.
The veteran center added that "the culture and the players in place" give him a real reason to stay, too.
Furthermore, earlier this week, David Pagnotta believes that the Kings will take a chance at keeping Laughton. The NHL insider also shared that clarity on who the next head coach will be for Los Angeles is a big part of that potential agreement.
Scott Laughton (Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images)
Kings coach D.J. Smith utilized Laughton well, but he was just an interim bench boss for the dismissal of Jim Hiller. The expectation is that Holland will provide an update on whether Smith is staying on board or if the organization will look for a different candidate.
At any rate, the interest is there for Laughton to stay, as he puts it. The 31-year-old just wrapped up a five-year contract that carried a $3-million salary cap hit.
The Russian left winger completed the regular season with 13 goals and 25 points in 52 appearances. He inked a one-year deal with the Kings last summer, at a $4.3-million cap hit.
If Kuzmenko does move on from the Kings to another NHL club, it'll be the fifth team he's suited up for in the past three years.
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The Buffalo Sabres head to TD Garden with another chance to end their series against the Boston Bruins on Friday, May 1, and my top Sabres vs. Bruins predictions and NHL picks are calling for Buffalo to punch their ticket to Round 2 in Game 6.
Sabres vs Bruins Game 6 prediction
Sabres vs Bruins best bet: Pick Sabres moneyline (-115)
Jeremy Swayman stole Game 5 for the Boston Bruins with seven high-danger saves and 2.80 goals saved above expected, and I fully expect a dip from Swayman to allow the Buffalo Sabres to capitalize on enough chances to win Game 6.
Swayman’s scattered just 0.71 GSAx across the other four games of the series, after all.
Buffalo has also dominated the time of possession at 5-on-5 with a 55.6 Corsi For percentage, and the Sabres held the Bruins to just 11 goals and 15.56 expected goals through five games, including only 2.75 xGF at TD Garden.
Sabres vs Bruins Game 6 same-game parlay
Don’t let some of the high scores in this series fool you. Boston has only scored once in the first period through five games, and four of Buffalo’s five first-period goals came in Game 4. With another elimination game on tap, expect to see attention to defensive detail to be on full display.
Turning to the final leg of this same-game parlay, Alex Tuch has been a force for the Sabres. He found the scoresheet in each of the first four games of the series and has been on the ice for an impressive 8.89 expected goals.
The Buffalo Sabres have won 19 of their last 25 away games (+14.25 Units / 50% ROI). Find more NHL betting trends for Sabres vs. Bruins.
How to watch Sabres vs Bruins Game 6
Location
TD Garden, Boston, MA
Date
Friday, May 1, 2026
Puck drop
7:30 p.m. ET
TV
ESPN, Sportsnet 360
Sabres vs Bruins latest injuries
Odds are correct at the time of publishing and are subject to change. Not intended for use in MA. Affiliate Disclosure: Our team of experts has thoroughly researched and handpicked each product that appears on our website. We may receive compensation if you sign up through our links.
Dylan Guenther has been the most prolific shooter in the playoffs, leading all players with 55 shot attempts.
My Golden Knights vs. Mammoth predictions see Guenther piling up the shots once again in a win-or-go-home Game 6.
Let’s take a closer look at my NHL picks for Friday, May 1.
Golden Knights vs Mammoth Game 6 prediction
Golden Knights vs Mammoth best bet: Dylan Guenther Over 3.5 shots on goal (-140)
Getting Dylan Guenther the puck in shooting position has been the top priority for the Utah Mammoth in this series, and they’ve done a great job of it.
He has averaged 5.2 shots on 11 attempts through five games, going over his total in each.
Nobody on the Mammoth has come close to that kind of volume. Nick Schmaltz ranks second on the team in attempts, and he is averaging 5.6, just over half of Guenther’s output.
In a do-or-die game on home ice, Guenther should be aggressive while logging a ton of ice.
Golden Knights vs Mammoth Game 6 same-game parlay
The Mammoth have generated 8.09 expected goals and 58 scoring chances with Logan Cooley on the ice, most of any player. That has only translated to six on-ice goals and three points. He deserves more production, and it should come if he continues feeding Guenther.
Pavel Dorofeyev has cleared 2.5 shots in four consecutive games. His two best shooting performances came in Games 4 and 5, which align with a promotion to the Vegas Golden Knights' top line alongside Jack Eichel. He has four goals over those two games and plenty of incentive to keep shooting.
Golden Knights vs Mammoth SGP
Dylan Guenther Over 3.5 shots on goal
Logan Coley Over 0.5 points
Pavel Dorofeyev Over 2.5 shots on goal
Golden Knights vs Mammoth odds for Game 6
Moneyline: Golden Knights -125 | Mammoth +105
Puck Line: Golden Knights -1.5 (+190) | Mammoth +1.5 (-230)
Over/Under: Over 5.5 (+110) | Under 5.5 (-130)
Golden Knights vs Mammoth trend
Logan Cooley has eight points through eight games against Vegas this season. Find more NHL betting trends for Golden Knights vs. Mammoth.
How to watch Golden Knights vs Mammoth Game 6
Location
Delta Center, Salt Lake City, UT
Date
Friday, May 1, 2026
Puck drop
10:00 p.m. ET
TV
ESPN, Sportsnet
Golden Knights vs Mammoth latest injuries
Odds are correct at the time of publishing and are subject to change. Not intended for use in MA. Affiliate Disclosure: Our team of experts has thoroughly researched and handpicked each product that appears on our website. We may receive compensation if you sign up through our links.
When Montreal Canadiens’ GM Kent Hughes went out of his way to acquire Phillip Danault from the Los Angeles Kings for a second-round pick right before the Christmas roster freeze, some wondered if that was a good move. After all, the centerman came with a $5.5 million cap hit and another year left on his contract. Was he going to get in the way of young talent's progression?
Four months later, nobody can argue that it wasn’t an astute move from Hughes. Not only did Michael Hage elect to stay with the Michigan Wolverines for another season, but Danault played a key role in the Canadiens’ 3-2 Game 5 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Martin St-Louis put Danault on his fourth line on Wednesday night, alongside Brendan Gallagher and Alex Newhook. He knew that wouldn’t give him that much ice time, but since both Danault and Newhook play on the penalty kill, they’d get some more ice in case of penalties and as for the centerman, he had another plan for him.
With Cole Caufield struggling to make an impact in this series, St-Louis elected to put Danault on Nick Suzuki’s line at various times during the game. For important defensive faceoffs, it’s always a plus to have two centers on, and once the Canadiens had taken the lead early in the third, Danault spent more time on the ice.
In the final frame, he played for 8:16, across seven shifts. From 16:29 onwards, he was on the ice; he didn’t get off. When the Lightning pulled their goaltender and attacked relentlessly at six-on-five, he was there, taking faceoffs, attempting to block shots and clearing pucks.
In the end, Danault spent 19:40 on the ice, landed two hits and had one takeaway while winning six of the 10 faceoffs he took. Speaking to the media after the game, Kirby Dach explained:
Phil’s been awesome for us all year. Ever since he’s come in, he’s really steadied our lineup. I mean, as a young centerman, there’s so much you learn from him, how good he is on draws and how responsible he is on the ice. He’s definitely a treat to have, his veteran leadership, his presence in the room and on the bench to kind of calm things down, and if we need a shift, he’s willing to go out there and put the puck in deep, and work to create momentum for the next line out there.
- Dach on Danault
Dach also added that even when he’s not on the scoresheet, Danault impacts the game each and every night. What Dach described is exactly why Hughes went out of his way to get Danault, and there’s definitely no buyer’s remorse there.
Former San Jose Sharks forward Klim Kostin will be sticking with CSKA Moscow for the foreseeable future.
On Wednesday, CSKA Moscow announced that Kostin had signed a contract extension that will keep him in the Russian capital through the 2028-29 season.
Kostin spent parts of two seasons with the Sharks, moving to the Bay Area in the middle of the 2023-24 season and staying through the 2024-25 season. He only suited up for the Sharks 54 times in that time span, scoring six goals and 17 points while picking up 42 penalty minutes and going -16.
After leaving the Sharks organization, and the NHL as a whole, following the 2024-25 season, Klim Kostin signed with Avangard Omsk in the Russian Kontinental Hockey League, returning to the team he played for during the 2020-21 season.
Kostin, who has never been a player known for his high point totals, didn't last long in Omsk though. He recorded two points in 21 games, while being a -7, before being traded to CSKA Moscow ahead of the KHL's trade deadline in January.
When he was traded to CSKA, Kostin joined a few former Sharks on the roster. Defenseman Nikita Okhotiuk and forward Nikolai Kovalenko are also currently playing for CSKA.
In Moscow, Kostin's productivity took a step up as he scored two goals and three points in 10 regular season games while being even on plus/minus. He failed to record a point in the playoffs though, and CSKA were eliminated from the Gagarin Cup Playoffs by his former team, Avangard Omsk.
Considering Kostin's contract will expire after he turns 30 years old, this contract extension likely means we're not going to see him back in the NHL, at least not any time soon.
LOS ANGELES, CA — The door has closed on the Los Angeles Kings. Anze Kopitar, the King of Kings, the man who surpassed Marcel Dionne in his final season to become the franchise's all-time points leader, played his last NHL game in a four-game sweep at the hands of the Colorado Avalanche. Whatever you want to call the last several years of Kings hockey, a retool, a transition, a slow-moving rebuild dressed up in playoff appearance clothing, it ended on the ice vs Colorado. There hasn't been a sexy transition to a new hockey model that has found success in LA.
This offseason does not just set the tone for next year. It draws the map for the next five years of Kings hockey, and the organization knows it, considering the tone of the exit interviews.
The contemporary history of the Kings in the wake of its championship era has not been kind. Rob Blake's era had its opportunities and squandered them. After two Stanley Cups, the Kings cycled through the end of the Dean Lombardi regime and into Blake's retool, only to produce a sweep at the hands of the Vegas Golden Knights and four straight first-round exits to the Edmonton Oilers. It was a core that ownership and management publicly refused to admit had aged past its window in a copycat pursuit of the Pittsburgh Penguins split core runs (09’, 16’, 17’).
The rhetoric in LA just never matched the results. Blake stepped down, Ken Holland came in, and the 2025-26 season was supposed to signal something new. It signaled that the problems were much structurally deeper than a change at the top could fix on its own.
Holland's first offseason was a mixed ledger at best. He signed Corey Perry, who was traded to Tampa Bay mid-season, quoted to the media as giving an opportunity to compete for another cup (the irony with Kopitar), recovering a pick in the process, which is the right call made necessary by the wrong call (Blake-esque). He signed Joel Armia, who finished the season as a quality depth forward and an excellent penalty killer, but was a healthy scratch for the penultimate game against Colorado, which is its own kind of verdict.
He added Cody Ceci and Brian Dumoulin to a blue line that historically doesn't generate much offense, a decision that will follow this front office the longest because those contracts do not move easily. On the other side, he brought in Scott Laughton, who was exactly what the roster needed at 3C, and Artemi Panarin. Though crediting Holland fully for that one requires ignoring that Panarin requested a trade out of New York and used his full no movement clause to identify LA as his destination. Holland facilitated it, but the asset chose them.
The result of all of it was a team that scraped into the playoffs on the back of a weak division and a soft back half of the schedule. They got swept by the league’s best and watched Kopitar skate off the ice for the last time. It actually might not get rosier than that. Holland now owns this roster. What he does this summer is his ‘second test’, and the first one did not inspire overwhelming confidence.
Byfield Is the Guy. Now Prove It.
The cleanest and most important thing to come out of this season is that Quinton Byfield is the center of this franchise going forward. DJ Smith sang high praises for the young center at the tail end of their four-game dusting at the hands of the Avs.
In what may be his last pregame avail, LAK interim HC DJ Smith heaped praise on Quinton Byfield. Claims 55 best player in series, drew comparisons to Stutzle, Matthews and Nylander(coached all 3). Believes his best season will be next, when "given the keys" to lead as 1C.
Anyone who watched the last ten to fifteen games of the regular season and the playoff series against Colorado saw it. Byfield carried this team into the postseason. After a quiet game one, he was one of their best players against the Avalanche despite their team being greatly outmatched in every single hockey category, producing only two five-on-five goals across four games. Two.
The criticism around Byfield's offensive output is fair in a vacuum. But it has never existed in a vacuum. This is a player who has spent the better part of his Kings career without a true top-six winger next to him at even strength. Outside the season and a half during which he was groomed alongside Kopitar and Adrian Kempe, Byfield has been handed Tanner Jeannot, Warren Foegele, and Alex Laferriere. Laferriere projects as a useful top-nine forward but not the kind of elite winger that unlocks what Byfield is capable of. He has gone through stretches of real dominance alongside Kevin Fiala, who is legitimately that player, but consistency in linemates and the overall quality have never been a luxury afforded to him.
Some perspective: he’s now had back-to-back seasons with full-time center duties, a career high in points in one and a career high in goals in the other, while managing back-to-back oblique injuries. The runway for next year is clear.
Top 20 defenseman in TOI against Byfield during two seasons of center duty-focused campaigns (Courtesy of NaturalStatTrick)Top 20 forwards in TOI against Byfield during two seasons of center duty-focused campaigns (Courtesy of NaturalStatTrick)
The landscape for Byfield changes next year, and it changes significantly. Panarin is there, even at 35, and Panarin at 35 is still a top ten winger in the NHL, even on the skeptical end of the argument. Kempe is right there amongst the better wingers in the league. Fiala will also be back from injury. Run the list, and you have Panarin, Kempe, Fiala, Laferriere, and Trevor Moore rounding out a top nine wing group that is, without exaggeration, as good as any in the league. That also assumes they let Andrei Kuzmenko walk, and judging purely off the exit interviews, it’s a possibility.
Kuzmenko was asked about his future and he lowered his eyes and said "we'll see." #gokingsgo
Byfield has never had that capacity next to him on the ings, and next year he will. He will assume the Kopitar mantle on the powerplay as well. He will also be 24, still ascending, and locked into 20-plus minutes a night as the unquestioned number one center on this roster. This is the season where the offensive question either gets answered or becomes a legitimate concern. Everything around him will finally be set up so he can answer it.
The only scenario that changes is if Holland makes the massive move discussed ad nauseam on social media, packaging Byfield and multiple first-round picks to acquire Auston Matthews from Toronto. That would be removing a Band-Aid to reveal the same wound underneath. You upgrade from Byfield to Matthews, which is a legitimate, real upgrade, and then you are left with Laferriere as your 2C, Scott Laughton, if re-signed as your 3C, a middle of the lineup that is somehow worse than the one you just had in 2025-26. I don't believe the franchise's goal is to marginally improve a team that barely scraped into the playoffs and just got swept.
That is not a trade worth making, and it is certainly not worth gutting the future over. For those already thinking this way, having a roster that houses both Byfield and Matthews remains, at best, a pipedream nested under the guise of running a franchise on a gaming system.
The Center Problem Beneath It All
Byfield is the 1C, whether he is fully ready or not. What is not settled is everything below him, and that is where this offseason gets complicated fast.
Laughton needs to be re-signed. That is not a discussion.
There are rumors that Laughton has expressed interest in returning to Toronto, where former teammates have made clear they want him back, and that is a legitimate threat. But losing Laughton does not just create a vacancy; it exposes how genuinely thin this organization is at center beyond Byfield. If he walks, you are looking at Laferriere as your 2C, a natural winger who has not shown the ability to handle top-line matchups or consistently drive play in that role, or Alex Turcotte, a player with a rich history of injury and playing time inconsistency that has made it impossible to count on him as a full-time option. Samuel Helenius exists in a depth role to terrorize on the forecheck.
That is your center group without Laughton. Even slightly overpaying to keep him is the obvious call this offseason.
Scott Laughton is extremely open to signing with the Kings -
"The interest level is high for me, for sure. The opportunity I was given here, the guys here, the staff, the way I was treated, my family came down and absolutely loved it......so yeah, the interest level is high."
Resign him, and he is your penciled-in 3C who plays that role as well as anyone at that level. He is not a 2C solution, as Danault played into during his early tenure in LA, but he is the floor that makes the rest of the lineup functional. Losing him removes the floor entirely and forces management to reassess the possibility of pivoting towards an actual teardown.
Which brings the real question into focus. This team needs a legitimate 2C, not Laferriere pressed into a role he was not built for, not a project. An actual second-line center who can handle matchups, drive play, and take real defensive zone starts. That acquisition, whether through trade or free agency, is quite possibly the most important move of the offseason. The 2026 first-round pick almost certainly has to be involved to make it happen.
What Holland decides to do with that pick will say more about the direction of this franchise than anything else he does this summer.
However..
The Blue Line Is the Real Problem
Here is the part that does not have a clean answer.
The Kings' defensive core is the structural anchor dragging this franchise, and Holland made it worse in his first offseason. Drew Doughty, Mikey Anderson, Cody Ceci, Joel Edmundson, and Brian Dumoulin make up the bulk of a blue line that struggles to transition the puck in the modern NHL. The anti-fleet-of-foot core is very much a ‘rim it, glass it out, regroup, and force the forwards to chip and chase’. They do not burn teams that overextend in the offensive/neutral zone because they are not built to do so. The Kings finished with a negative goal differential this season; they were not good at five-on-five (a lynchpin of this club), and that blueline was a massive part of that. They have suffocated opponents defensively for the better part of a half-decade, but the Holland era blueline translated into low-scoring losses where the forward group overexterts to support the defenseman, they cannot transition, and the other team eventually finds a way.
Kings' defense group was carried by Clarke, who did have high offensive zone start percentage. Courtesy of (NaturalStatTrick)
The contract situation makes it exceedingly worse. Doughty is owed eleven million dollars in the final year of his deal, a number that understandably had its arc, even if the back half has strained their financial capacity. Anderson, Edmundson, Ceci, and Dumoulin carry modified no movement clauses that give them significant leverage over where they can be moved, and the realistic answer to who is acquiring any of them at their current price tags is essentially no one. What team is lining up for expensive, rather immobile shutdown defensemen who cannot transition the puck in today's increasingly higher pace NHL? That question does not have a good answer, and it is a question Holland created for himself by adding Ceci and Dumoulin in his first offseason.
Brandt Clarke is the exception and the only real source of optimism on the blue line. Clarke is 22, with genuine puck-moving ability and something the blue line utterly lacks—lateral movement at the point —and he needs to be the number one defenseman on this team now. The problem is that he is still sharing that load with Doughty, who, by all accounts, should be transitioning into a complementary role rather than leading minutes. That correction needed to happen during this season, but it is now thrust upon as a necessity for next.
More importantly, if the organization can find a way to move even one of the anchored contracts and bring in a mobile defenseman who can actually push the puck, the entire blue line conversation shifts. If they cannot, the forward group upgrades will hit the same ceiling they hit this season while dragged down by the blueline.
The Goaltending Problem
Darcy Kuemper had a Vezina nominee season in 2024-25. It was exceptional, and it was also played behind a defensive core that still had Vladislav Gavrikov and Jordan Spence, which matters more than it gets credit for. This season, he suffered an injury in Dallas and was never the same, and the Kings turned to Anton Forsberg down the stretch and into the playoffs. Forsberg, by every metric, is a career backup, but he was exceptional when called upon and made a sweep look marginally better than it was, which is its own kind of commentary.
Forsberg will be 34 next season, and Kuemper will be 36. That is not a sustainable situation for the crease without a clear successor, particularly when the Kings actually have the prospect depth to address the crease's future better than almost any team in the league. Hampton Slukynsky and Carter George have legitimate number one upside. Erik Portillo exists in that pipeline as well, though health has been a recurring issue. The caveat, and it is an important one, is that goaltending prospects are voodoo. Jack Campbell was a first-round pick, 11th overall, in 2010 by Dallas. There are no guarantees. But one of these goalies needs to be in the conversation for the backup role next season at minimum, with a clear line toward taking over the starter role as Kuemper's window closes. The transition has to start somewhere, and the current tandem's age makes it non-negotiable.
The Offseason That Defines the Next Five Years
Put it all together, and here is what you have. A wing group that is genuinely elite and largely intact, that could and should be weaponized. A franchise center tag-test next season in Byfield, who is ascending and will finally have the weapons around him to show what he really is. A center position below him that is one Laughton departure away from being genuinely alarming. A blue line that is the worst transitioning unit in the NHL, locked into expensive contracts with limited mobility, and made worse by Holland's own additions in his first offseason. A goaltending situation aging out in real time, with prospects ready to step in if the organization trusts them. Under all the noise, a 2026 ‘teener’ first-round pick sitting in the middle of all of it as the decision Holland cannot avoid.
There is a window teetering between open and closed. Byfield and Clarke are young enough, the wing group is good enough, and the prospect pipeline, despite its viability and thinness, has enough to grease this organization's wheels forward. But the decisions made this offseason are not just about next year's standings. They are about whether the Kings enter this new era with a coherent plan, or whether they do what this front office has repeatedly done: paper over structural problems with surface-level additions and call it progress.
Resign Laughton and chase a center to play under Byfield. Hand Clarke the number-one role and stop pretending Doughty can carry it at $11 million a year. Move one of the immobile blueline contracts if you can find a taker and use that cap space on someone who can actually skate the puck out of the zone. If not, a buyout should be under consideration. Bring one of the goaltending prospects into the fold before the situation forces your hand. Use the first round as the focal point for implementing the plan.
The Kopitar era is over, and while the player isn't connected to this, the era of excuses should be, too. The pieces are there to pivot back into the conversation. The opportunity cost of getting this wrong is five more years of what you just watched.
If not, there is the easy way out—tear it all down. The hard part is building it back up again.
End of an era? Or just starting their middling ground under this ownership and management structure?
The Montreal Canadiens return to La Belle Province with a chance to eliminate the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday, May 1.
My Lightning vs. Canadiens predictions and NHL picks suggest we could be in for another nailbiter at the Bell Centre, with the Habs continuing to get timely contributions from captain Nick Suzuki.
Lightning vs Canadiens Game 6 prediction
Lightning vs Canadiens best bet: Nick Suzuki Over 0.5 assists (-160)
Since the beginning of the 2024-25 season, only four players have registered more assists than Montreal Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki. His 72 points in 82 regular-season games led the Habs and ranked sixth in the entire NHL.
Suzuki has picked up five apples in as many games this series and has nine in his last nine home contests. He’s as reliable as anyone to hit the scoresheet against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Zachary Bolduc is quietly riding a three-game point streak and leads the team at +6 in this series. He's found encouraging chemistry on the Habs' third line with Texier and Kirby Dach, and they've dominated at five-on-five since the line's formation after Game 2.
Alexandre Carrier's 15 blocked shots trail only teammate Mike Matheson during these playoffs, and he's hit the Over in three of his last four contests. Despite missing nine games during the regular season, Carrier ranked 12th in the NHL in blocked shots.
His 22:50 average ice time marks a significant jump from his 19:05 season average, and Carrier is at plus-odds to record three or more blocked shots in Game 6.
A 3-2 score has decided four consecutive games in this series, and all five have been one-goal games. Find more NHL betting trends for Lightning vs. Canadiens.
How to watch Lightning vs Canadiens Game 6
Location
Bell Centre, Montreal, QC
Date
Friday, May 1, 2026
Puck drop
7:00 p.m. ET
TV
Sportsnet, ESPN2
Lightning vs Canadiens latest injuries
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