“New Jersey Devils GM Sunny Mehta has been extremely active in his first off-season managing the team. While the roster is cheaper, deeper, and there are plenty of bodies to fill out a 23-man squad, it still feels like there is meat on the bone as far as movement goes. Let’s take a closer look at a few reasons why I believe more activity is to come.” [Infernal Access ($)]
“General manager Sunny Mehta has made some improvements to the roster. But he still has work to do if the Devils want to enter next season at the level of the Carolina Hurricanes and Washington Capitals. Let’s project the Devils’ roster as it stands today and see what else Mehta may have to do over the next few weeks.” [Devils on the Rush ($)]
“Matthew Tkachuk is genuinley sad to see his former teammates leave for the New Jersey Devils. The Florida Panthers star pulled no punches when reflecting on Evan Rodrigues and Jesper Boqvist during a recent episode of his podcast. As both forwards head to the Devils in the trade for goaltender Jacob Markstrom, Tkachuk made it clear just how much he values them—not only as players but as people. His words carry extra weight because they include a direct message he delivered to Jack Hughes about one of the new arrivals.” [New Jersey Hockey Now]
Hockey Links
Macklin Celebrini is the NHL 27 cover athlete:
The next generation is here. Macklin Celebrini is the youngest NHL cover athlete in history.
“Star center Macklin Celebrini said he has considered taking less than market value on a contract extension to give the San Jose Sharks more financial flexibility to build a winner. ‘Yeah, 100%. I mean, that’s why all of us play. We want to win. We’re competitive and we want to win,’ Celebrini told ESPN last week while promoting EA Sports’ ‘NHL 27’ reveal.” [ESPN]
If you’d like to weigh in on The Athletic’s NHL fan survey, which takes a look at the state of the league broadly, you can do so right here: [The Athletic ($)]
A good step for players post-retirement:
“Make tomorrow better than today”
That’s the motto of Glenn Healy, Executive Director & President of the NHL Alumni
Today at their golf tournament, Healy discussed the recent NHL/NHLPA CBA, where the league and union agreed to contribute north of $4M combined towards a… pic.twitter.com/vrCrFJbpbu
Every year, The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler compiles a list of the players he deems the top 100 prospects who have been drafted but are not yet fully established in the NHL. To be considered, prospects must also be under 23 years old. Back in 2024, when Wheeler did this exercise, the Montreal Canadiens had five players on the list: Ivan Demidov in first place, David Reinbacher (24), Michael Hage (35), Logan Mailloux (58) and Joshua Roy (82). Last summer, the Habs had three players on the list: Ivan Demidov (3rd place), David Reinbacher (39th place) and Michael Hage (51st), and by the time Wheeler did the exercise again last April, Hage was number 11, Alexander Zharvosky had entered the ranking at 17, Reinbacher was 35th, and Bryce Pickford just made the cut at number 98.
Fast forward three months, and the Sainte-Flanelle now has three players in Wheeler’s ranking: Michael Hage is at number 21, a 30-place jump; Alexander Zharovsky is at number 33; and David Reinbacher has fallen to number 48. As for Pickford, he has fallen off the Top-100 but is mentioned as one of the final cuts.
Wheeler sees Hage as a second-tier prospect and notes that the youngster, once believed to be better suited to a wing role in the NHL, may stick at center. He describes him as having top-six potential and being gifted with the ability to be both a passing and a scoring threat. He wraps up the description by adding:
His blend of skating, skill, scoring, playmaking and sense is hard to come by and noticeable in every game he has played this year. I’m a big fan.
That’s a very fair assessment and represents everything Hage showed at development camp. Paired up with Logan Sawyer, the center created a lot of opportunities for his side but was often let down by his teammates' lack of finish. Still, he scored two goals and added an assist on a Sawyer goal before scoring with a nifty move in the shootout session.
Hage’s presence and performance at development camp are why Canadiens fans shouldn’t panic about Kent Hughes not yet finding a top-six center on the trade market. The organization clearly thinks very highly of Hage, and when his season is over in the NCAA, hopefully with a national title in his back pocket, all eyes will be on him to make his NHL debut.
Zharovsky lands in the third tier of Wheeler’s list, and the journalist’s main qualm about him seems to be that he is quite lean, although he concedes he has started to put on some weight and muscle. He mentions that he set a scoring record for an under-19 player in the KHL last season, overtaking the likes of Evgeny Kuznetsov, Vladimir Tarasenko and Kirill Kaprizov, which is no small feat.
Wheeler labels him a slick puck carrier with the skills to take it wherever he wants; he also calls him a decent skater despite his lack of strength and wraps his description by conceding that it’s rare to get such a talented player outside the first round.
There’s no arguing there; his hands definitely caught eyes at the training camp, and he made it clear that he can beat his man one-on-one and even make him look silly in the process. Another year in the KHL, adding some more strength and muscle, certainly won’t hurt and given Montreal’s shortcomings when it comes to size, one has to hope that he will have a bigger frame when he makes the jump to North America.
Finally, Reinbacher lands in the third tier, and while Wheeler notes he’s not convinced he’ll live up to his selection, he believes the right-shot defenseman will become a good second-pairing blueliner with a long NHL career.
He calls him a two-way defenseman and praises him for knowing when to pick his spots and not getting out of position to gamble on big plays. He also reports that the blueliner has good vision and that his head is always on a swivel, keeping an eye on everything going on at both ends of the ice.
Given the fact that the Canadiens have Noah Dobson locked up for years, if Reinbacher does become a reliable top-four defenseman, the organization should be satisfied. It will be interesting to see whether the blueliner makes the jump to the NHL this season and can finally leave Wheeler’s lists behind.
One of the Pittsburgh Penguins' top needs right now is another left-shot defenseman. The left side of their blueline needs improvement, as they traded Parker Wotherspoon and lost Ryan Shea to the Edmonton Oilers in free agency this off-season.
When looking at trade candidates around the NHL, Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Alexander Nikishin is a player who immediately stands out as a potential target for the Penguins.
At 24 years old, Nikishin would have the potential to be a perfect fit on the Penguins' blueline. The 2020 third-round pick has great upside and just had a strong rookie season with the Hurricanes. In 81 games with Carolina this past season, he recorded 11 goals, 22 assists, and 33 points. With numbers like these, he has already proven that he can provide solid offense from the point.
If the Penguins acquired Nikishin, he would become their new top left-shot defenseman. With the Penguins being in a retool, Nikishin is exactly the kind of young defenseman that they should be making a push for. This is because he would have the potential to be a long-term part of their core.
It will be interesting to see if the Penguins try to acquire Nikishin, but the fit looks great on paper.
TORONTO, ON - May 13 - Maple Leafs forward Nick Robertson during an optional practice at the Ford Performance Centre in Toronto, May 13, 2025. The Maple Leafs are tied 2-2 in their best-of-seven second-round matchup with the Florida Panthers Andrew Francis Wallace/Toronto Star (Andrew Francis Wallace/Toronto Star via Getty Images) | Toronto Star via Getty Images
The Pittsburgh Penguins and forward Nick Robertson have avoided the player’s upcoming arbitration hearing after agreeing to a two-year contract on Tuesday. The deal carries an average annual value of $3.25 million.
The new contract with his new team sees Robertson get quite the raise from the $1.82 million cap hit he had with the Toronto Maple Leafs last season.
General manager Kyle Dubas, who drafted Robertson in the second round of the 2019 NHL draft, clearly sees untapped potential with the 24-year-old, who recorded career highs last season with 16 goals and 16 assists for 32 points in 78 games.
In 234 career NHL games, Robertson has tallied 48 goals, 40 assists, and 88 points along with a career 12.5 shooting percentage. Yet he’s only averaged 11:52 of ice time over that span, in line with bottom-six deployment.
With this new contract in place, we have a better idea of what kind of player Dubas envisions Robertson to be: a top-nine forward and perhaps the latest successful reclamation project in Pittsburgh.
That kind of money won’t sit in the press box as the 13th forward, even with a skyrocketing salary cap.
Had the Penguins viewed Robertson as merely a depth winger, they could have sought a shorter or cheaper bridge contract. Instead, agreeing to terms before the hearing at that cap hit suggests Pittsburgh expects Robertson to play meaningful minutes.
Could this be another classic “change of scenery” trade that propels Robertson to new heights? He has been viewed as someone whose production hasn’t matched his opportunity.
His goals/60 at 5v5 was 0.96 last season, per Natural Stat Trick, an impressive rate given his average ice time, indicating his efficiency as a finisher.
Nick Robertson, acquired by PIT, is a depth scoring winger who has shown some finishing touch and 5v5 scoring efficiency but hasn't been able to establish himself higher in the lineup. pic.twitter.com/O6IuNLZb5O
However, he’s historically logged limited minutes, never getting consistent top-six ice time or looks on the power play. Robertson spent much of his career buried behind established wingers like Matthew Knies, William Nylander and Mitch Marner. Even after Marner’s departure, Gavin McKenna is expected to occupy a prominent role on the wing.
Robertson’s numbers may not jump off the page, but they become more compelling when viewed alongside his limited usage.
Dubas has repeatedly targeted players who possess NHL tools but haven’t found stable roles elsewhere.
Rather than paying premium prices in free agency, the Penguins have increasingly targeted younger players who have flashed NHL ability but lacked opportunity. Justin Brazeau arrived from Boston looking for a larger role, while Egor Chinakhov represented another gamble on a talented winger whose development had stalled in Ohio’s capital city.
As of this way-too-early off-season projection, Robertson figures to slot into the third line flanking Ben Kindel with Andrei Kuzmenko.
Whether Robertson ultimately becomes a 20-goal scorer or simply another depth forward remains to be seen. But Tuesday’s contract makes one thing clear: Dubas sees far more in Robertson than the role he was given in Toronto.
Across the street from the Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh is the shell of the Consol Energy Center and you won’t find anybody there leaning on a shovel, no siree. There’s always noise and a whole bunch of guys in hard hats running around doing stuff. The steel girders are pretty much in place, and the way it’s coming up, it’s hard to fathom the Penguins still have to play another full season in their quaint but decrepit digs at Mellon, where minor hockey outfits from Ust-Kamenogorsk have better dressing room facilities than the visiting teams.
Not far from the cornerstone, the foundation of the franchise and the building hangs from the girders on the east side. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are not actually welding the steel together, but they might as well be. There is no doubt the new arena is The House That Sid and Geno Are Building, with a big assist from Mario Lemieux and the good folks at Majestic Star Casino.
If you look at the banner quickly enough and from a certain angle, it looks as though both heads are coming out of the same body. Sid and Geno – the two-headed monster with the steely resolve that is hugely responsible for both the steel that forms the Penguins’ future and the silver that defines their present.
When Crosby hoisted the Stanley Cup on a bad knee the night of June 12 in Detroit after a dramatic seven-game triumph, he became the youngest captain ever to do so in NHL history. When Malkin lifted the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP just minutes before, he became the second-youngest skater to win the trophy behind Bobby Orr – and the fourth-youngest player of all-time to take the bauble. He’s also the first Russian Conn man.
“They’re superstars and they’re 21 and 22 years old and we have them signed for a bunch more years,” gushed Penguins GM Ray Shero as the Penguins celebrated on the ice after Game 7. “It’s hard not to be excited. I’m glad I decided to come here.”
Those who follow the Penguins are thanking their lucky stars for the circumstances that landed two of the best players on the planet in their laps. In four successive drafts from 2003 through ’06, the Pens drafted Marc-Andre Fleury first overall (’03), Malkin second (’04), Crosby first (’05) and Jordan Staal second (’06). That’s four star-to-superstar players. (They also added Kris Letang, Tyler Kennedy and Alex Goligoski in those drafts.) It certainly does nothing to dispel the notion you have to be putrid before you can be great, as long as you’re all right with your team almost leaving town a couple of times and being plunged into Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
But those days are long behind the Penguins now. They’re preparing to move into their revenue-rich digs in the fall of 2010 and look every bit the perennial Stanley Cup contender with Crosby and Malkin leading the way. Ovechkin might have the Hart Trophy and the cover of NHL 2K10, but Crosby and Malkin have the Stanley Cup. And they don’t appear ready to give it back anytime soon.
The Penguins have their three top centers – all younger than 23 – under contract for the next four years and Fleury committed until 2015. This will afford the Penguins every opportunity to be a force for years to come.
“We went to the cap two years before we were supposed to without our revenues in the new building,” Shero said. “But we’ve got those two signed long term and I think that says something about our ownership. They want to win and it’s great for the city of Pittsburgh.”
On and off the ice, Crosby and Malkin are a study in contrasts. After living with Sergei Gonchar for two years, Malkin cut ties and moved into his own house this year. He’s all on his own, not with standing the extended visit from his parents Vladimir and Natalia, who became almost as famous as their son during the playoffs, when fans clamored to have autographs and pictures taken with “the Genos.” Crosby, on the other hand, continues to live at Lemieux’s house and there appears to be no signs the tenant will be evicted anytime soon.
“No, I think we’ll keep him around,” said Lemieux when asked whether it was time for Sid to, you know, maybe get his own space. “He’s great for our family and our four kids – they love him. He’s pretty easy to take care of. He sleeps and he plays hockey and that’s all. He eats once in a while, too.”
Both Malkin and Crosby are consumed by all things hockey. Malkin’s parents once said that when Evgeni was a youngster, they would often find him in bed wearing his skates and clutching his hockey stick.
“I knew when his dad brought him to the ice and put skates on him for the first time,” said Natalia Malkin the day her son was drafted. “At that moment, we both said to each other, ‘He’ll be a great player one day.’ We saw it right away.”
When Crosby played junior hockey for the Rimouski Oceanic, the team would often hide his skates to prevent him from going out at night and playing outdoor pick-up hockey with the neighborhood kids. Crosby’s father Troy relayed a story that once when Sidney was in midget hockey, a fierce snowstorm cancelled school for the day, but the local arena in Cole Harbour, N.S., stayed open. Crosby showed up in the morning to play pick-up hockey and all day players came and went, but Crosby was still there playing eight hours later.
“He’s competitive in everything he does,” said Troy Crosby of his son. “And he’s stubborn. When he goes fishing, he won’t stop fishing until he catches something. He could be out there for eight hours. When he plays tennis or golf, he won’t stop until he wins.”
Both are brilliant players in different ways – Crosby with the determination to match his skill and a player who displayed a penchant during the playoffs for making breathtaking plays in tight and with little time or space. Perhaps not exactly what was originally advertised, but dangerous nonetheless.
Malkin, on the other hand, has the ability to dominate with sheer physical skill. He swoops through the offensive zone with authority and while he’s more physical and less skilled, there are similarities to No. 66.
“I do see some of myself in the way he carries himself on the ice,” said Lemieux of Malkin. “The way he carries the puck and the way he dekes and sees the ice.”
The similarities certainly don’t end there, though. For starters, both Crosby and Malkin come from humble surroundings. And they’re both scheduled to make $9 million next season when Malkin’s 1,000-percent raise kicks in. They were both born to fathers who were good hockey players, but not quite good enough to make a living from it. Troy Crosby played two years as a goalie for the Verdun Jr. Canadiens and was drafted 240th by the Montreal Canadiens in 1984, 189 spots after the Habs selected Patrick Roy. Vladimir Malkin played one year as a winger with Magnitogorsk in the Soviet Elite League and claims that while he doesn’t possess his son’s physical skills, he likes to think Evgeni inherited his ability to read the play from his father.
Vladimir Malkin worked as a machine inspector for Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works, which has provided the mother country with much of its steel since it was established by Josef Stalin in 1929. Troy Crosby was a building superintendent for a local law firm and his wife, Trina, worked at a local newspaper until she stayed home to raise her children.
“We were below middle class when Sidney was growing up,” Troy Crosby said. “He had some tough times growing up and that’s why I think he appreciates everything, because of how hard it was when he was a kid. He didn’t go without anything, but it wasn’t easy. He had to work for it. He would deliver fliers on weekends to pay for skates and tournaments. We weren’t a well-to-do family by any means and we struggled at times.”
Perhaps it was the humble beginnings that have made Crosby the person he is. He is not perfect, to be sure, but there is no doubt he is remarkably grounded for a millionaire superstar. Yeah, he took too long to shake hands with the Red Wings while he celebrated on the ice after winning the Cup, but he’s 21, an age when many of us were too irresponsible to get to our college classes on time.
When Crosby was 16 and he won the Quebec League’s rookie-of-the-year award, he was so embarrassed about his lack of ability to speak French that he vowed to his agent he would accept his awards the next season in French.
He not only did it, but he now speaks the language with Maxime Talbot in the next stall when the two of them don’t want other people to know what they’re talking about.
When Crosby was just a wisp of a kid at Colby Elementary and later at Astral Drive Junior High in Cole Harbour, N.S., he forged a bond with another student by the name of Scottie Joseph. When Scottie was born, he weighed 1-½ pounds and bleeding on the right ventricle of his brain caused a series of strokes that left him developmentally handicapped. Doctors told his mother he would never walk or talk, but 23 years later, he does both incessantly.
Joseph and Crosby remain friends, years after Crosby began to look out for him at school. Scottie knows almost nothing about hockey and is vaguely aware that Crosby won the Stanley Cup, only because his mother went to his room to tell him the Penguins had won.
“Now he thinks because he won the Stanley Cup, Sid is finished with hockey forever and now he can come home,” said Scottie’s mother Becky. “We’ll have a Montreal-Toronto game on and Scottie will walk by the television and say, ‘Go, Sid.’ He doesn’t want anything from Sid and Sidney just thinks he’s a hoot.”
Just as Becky is speaking on the telephone about Crosby, Scottie comes into the house. Becky asks her son if he wants to say anything about Crosby.
“Just tell him I love him,” is the response.
For all we know, there could be stories just as heartwarming about Malkin. Maybe he helps old ladies across the street in his spare time. It’s just the language barrier makes it difficult for anyone to truly get to know Malkin very well. We do know Malkin can have quite a sense of humor, as he did after Game 3 of the final when he said of linemate and eventual Game 7 hero Talbot: “Little bit bad hands. He has lots of scoring chances, not score. Just empty net. It’s OK, he learns over the summer.”
We learned Malkin can play very, very well in crucial situations, unlike last spring when he essentially disappeared during the Stanley Cup final. We learned he is willing to get as goofy as most other players, as evidenced by the fight he started with Zetterberg late in Game 2 before his “automatic” one-game suspension was inexplicably rescinded and he responded with three assists in Game 3. If you look at him closely, you learn that he might just have the longest fingers in the history of the human race. We learned that Malkin at 22 is much more mature and battle-tested than he was at 21.
“‘Solid’ is the best word I can use for him,” said Bill Guerin, who came to Pittsburgh at the trade deadline. “He has gotten much better with his decision-making with the puck. He’s always great with the puck and he can try things, but he’s trying it at the right time now. He’s been more and more responsible as the playoffs have gone on.”
Back on Feb. 15, the Penguins were five points out of a playoff spot and seemed firmly ensconced in 10th place in the Eastern Conference. That’s when Shero fired coach Michel Therrien and replaced him with a relative unknown in Dan Bylsma. Both Crosby and Malkin bought into Bylsma’s north-south system, predicated on getting the puck at the defensive blueline and sending it back up the ice as soon as possible.
“There was risk in doing it,” said Shero of the coaching change. “But I always say there was more risk in not doing it.”
Crosby had 31 points down the stretch despite missing five games with a groin injury and Malkin had 33 points as the Penguins rattled off a record of 18-3-4 under Bylsma and entered the playoffs as one of the hottest teams in the league. They became the first squad in NHL history to win the Stanley Cup after going down 2-0 in two playoff series and became the first team to win Game 7 on the road since the 1971 Montreal Canadiens. They also became the first team in any sport to do that since the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates.
“When (the coaching change) happened, the players had to look at themselves in the mirror and say, ‘You know what? We’re at fault here,’ ” said assistant coach Tom Fitzgerald, who also joined the coaching staff in February.
Included in that group were Crosby and Malkin, even though both were doing their parts offensively. By the time the playoffs came around, the Penguins’ two best players were, in hockey vernacular, their two best players. And it showed.
Crosby proved in the post-season that he could be more net-directed and selfish (in a good way) when necessary, while Malkin showed a continued maturity and an ability to play like a superstar in games that matter most.
The day before the pivotal seventh game, Malkin spoke about his dreams of winning hockey’s biggest prize.
“The Cup is all I want. I will give everything. One win, the Cup,” he said to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “I think about it a lot, especially in these last weeks. It’s my dream. Me and Sid, just like that.”
Malkin pointed to a picture of Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr celebrating the Penguins’ 1992 Stanley Cup in the visitor’s dressing room at the old Chicago Stadium.
Seventeen years later, Crosby and Malkin are living the dream far earlier than they, or almost anyone else, expected they would. Now after watching them over the past two months, the big question is, who is going to be able to take it away from them?
It isn't exactly a secret that the Montreal Canadiens could use help at the center position. Their second-line center spot, in particular, is in need of an upgrade.
Because of this, the Canadiens are now being viewed as a potential fit for one of the NHL's most interesting center trade candidates.
In a recent article for Bleacher Report, Lyle Richardson named the Canadiens among the potential landing spots for Seattle Kraken young center Shane Wright.
"The Canadiens have reportedly pursued wingers Matthew Knies of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Kirill Marchenko of the Columbus Blue Jackets" Richardson wrote. "Nevertheless, the Canadiens could change their minds if their pursuit of those wingers proves fruitless, perhaps enough to consider circling back on Wright after passing him over four years ago."
With the Canadiens needing help down the middle, it would be understandable if they made a push for Wright. While the 22-year-old has not broken out as a true top-six center at this point in his career, he is still plenty young enough where that could change.
Wright also already has a solid offensive NHL season on his resume. In 79 games during the 2024-25 season with the Kraken, he set career highs with 19 goals, 25 assists, and 44 points. While he followed that up by recording just 12 goals and 27 points in 74 games last season, he has the potential to turn things back around.
Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see if the Canadiens make a run at Wright. He could be a great fit on a young, exciting team on the rise like the Habs.
The Atlantic Division is going to look a little different next season following a massive trade between the Florida Panthers and Ottawa Senators.
In the deal, Ottawa sent their now-former captain Brady Tkachuk to the Florida Panthers in exchange for three first-round picks and a second-round pick.
Nearly a month has passed since news of the trade came down, with teams across the league now mostly settled into their rosters for next season following the NHL Draft and start of free agency.
We’ve heard plenty from the Tkachuk brothers in the time since, as Brady was formally introduced in South Florida a few days after the trade, and he and Matthew have said plenty on their Wingmen podcast about becoming NHL teammates.
Center Shane Pinto, who has played all six of his NHL seasons with Tkachuk and the Senators, said he was caught off-guard by the trade when the news broke on Father’s Day.
“It took everyone by surprise,” Pinto said during the interview. “He’s been such a big part of this organization, obviously the face of it, and he’s obviously one of my good buds too, so to see him go, it sucks. I think he just wanted to go down a different path, and I totally understand that. We have a bunch of guys here that have been here for a while, I think we’re all growing together. We just wish him all the best and I know we’ll see him down the road. He’s going to be in our division, so I’m sure we’re going to see him a lot.”
Ultimately, it became clear that Tkachuk wanted to continue his career outside of Ottawa, and playing in Florida with his brother was the ideal landing spot.
Pinto showed an understanding for Tkachuk’s position, which makes sense as players don’t often criticize one another on how they handle their respective careers.
“At the end of the day, you just want guys who want to try to win for the Ottawa Senators, and that’s that,” Pinto said. “You want everyone on the same page and everyone going for the same goal, and that’s all you want. On a personal level, he’s still going to by my bud. There’s always going to be a business side of hockey, so you just leave that out of it.”
As Pinto mentioned, he’s going to see plenty of his former captain when hockey season rolls around.
In addition to the likely extensive media coverage of the Tkachuk brothers, Florida and Ottawa will also face off four times during the season, as is customary for divisional opponents.
Considering the amount of fireworks we’ve seen in matchups between the Cats and Sens in recent years, Tkachuk switching sides should only spice things up even more.
Nov 28, 2025; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Ottawa Senators center Shane Pinto (12) is congratulated by teammates after scoring against the St. Louis Blues during the second period at Enterprise Center. (Jeff Curry-Imagn Images)
Much of the dialgoue around the Vancouver Canucks as of late has been which players the team should trade. Veterans such as Jake DeBrusk, Elias Pettersson, and even Brock Boeser have been mentioned in trade talks throughout the 2026 off-season thus far, though it feels as though no one on the roster is truly safe from the rumours.
In a similar vein, Vancouver has also been named in recent trade talks surorunding players from other markets. Reports indicated that Seattle Kraken forward Shane Wright would welcome a trade to Vancouver, while Brendan Gallagher was connected to the Canucks for a while before being dealt to the team ahead of free agency opening. Whether they roll the dice on them or not would depend on what Vancouver has to give up.
But what counts as too much to give up?
As little a list as it may be, there are some players that the Canucks should not be trading under any circumstances for the time being. With the team entering a rebuild that will keep fans invested based on the future potential rather than current play, the Canucks will want to prioritize keeping the players that will likely be around, or even entering their prime, come the time Vancouver’s contention window opens. These five players are the ones that the Canucks should not trade under any circumstances.
Zeev Buium
One of four pieces acquired in the Quinn Hughes trade back in December, it’s looking more and more like Buium could be the cornerstone of Vancouver’s future blueline. The Canucks opted to select only one defenceman during this year’s draft — Samuel Eriksson in the sixth round — leaving their defensive prospect pool with little change. This could change come next year’s draft, of course, though at the current moment it appears that Buium will be a big part of the future.
Offensively, Buium showed some flashes of intrigue in his 45 games with the Canucks this year. Aside from the three goals and nine assists he scored, the defenceman gave fans things to cheer about when making the occasional slick play to advance offence for his team. Adding to this is the commitment Buium seems to have towards building a better future alongside his teammates — something that always helps a player’s case in staying.
From a rebuild perspective, Buium fits the Canucks’ timeline well. With the 2025–26 season being his first year in the NHL, the defenceman can now approach the next couple of seasons the way he should be able to — as a learning experience. Given Vancouver’s status as a rebuilding team, there will be more room for young players like Buium to make mistakes and learn from them.
Of course, there is still currently a timeline on Buium’s long-term future with the Canucks. The defenceman’s entry-level contract is set to expire after the 2026–27 season, with Buium becoming an RFA after that. If the Canucks are set on a long-term fit with Buium, they’ll want to lock him down as quickly as possible.
Tom Willander
Despite Vancouver’s dark moments this year, Willander has shown he wants to be part of a solution in Vancouver. Having been selected 11th-overall by the Canucks in 2023, Willander very quickly shot his way up Vancouver’s defensive depth chart after a call-up in October that lasted the remainder of the season. He finished the season with 21 points in 70 games.
A candid, calm competitor, Willander impressed this season with his offensive capabilities as well as his quick adjustment to the NHL level. Injuries, as well as changes to Vancouver’s roster as a whole, resulted in Willander averaging nearly 17 minutes per night throughout his rookie NHL season. While there will always be things to work on, as a whole, the defenceman took the season with stride — all while emphasizing his desire to continue improving.
There’s more to keeping a player like Willander around than just the on-ice element. While 2025–26 was still his rookie season, the defenceman showed a keen sense of responsibility and level of accountability that would make him a valuable leader in the long run. As it stands, he, along with good friend Buium, appear primed to headline the Canucks’ next young D-core.
Tom Willander vs. Zeev Buium. 🎳
Watch the latest All-Access, presented by @Rogers.
It’s still extremely early to tell how his career will pan out, but so far, things look very positive for Novotný. The 24th-overall pick in this year’s draft was highly-coveted by Vancouver and is already looking to be an important piece of the team’s offensive depth when looking towards the future.
At the heart of his game, Novotný is a goal-scorer. The forward can shoot — evidenced by his 34 goals in 58 games for the Peterborough Petes this season. He can play hard and throw his body around in order to help gain possession and create offence.
Braeden Cootes
While it could be bold to say that Cootes will be the future captain of the Canucks, it wouldn’t be surprising. The center seemed like a shoe-in to take on the role the minute Vancouver drafted him 15th-overall in 2025, especially given his pedigree as former captain of Canada’s U-18 national team (2024–25) and the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds.
What may make Cootes even more well-suited to be a future captain is his impressive work-ethic. He made such a strong impression at training camp in 2025 that he made his NHL debut soon after at the start of this season, and even continued that run of determined play during Vancouver’s development camp in 2026. While these camps aren’t always an indicator of a player’s strong performance in the long run, the fact that Cootes put in the effort and made it count in times that not every player needs to isn’t unnoticeable.
Cootes can play well on both sides of the ice but showed a particular surge in offence throughout 2025–26. Long-term, it’s likely the center would slot into Vancouver’s middle-six, assumedly behind the next player mentioned on this list. Center depth has been an issue for the Canucks as of late, though Cootes will be one of a couple to help negate that heading towards the future.
Oct 13, 2025; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Vancouver Canucks forward Braeden Cootes (80) skates against the St. Louis Blues in the third period at Rogers Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bob Frid-Imagn Images
Caleb Malhotra
Malhotra immediately shot up to number-one on the Canucks’ prospect depth chart list the minute he was drafted third-overall back in June. The center will fill a gap that Vancouver has been looking to remedy since things fell-through after the team moved on from centers Bo Horvat, Elias Lindholm, and J.T. Miller.
An offensively-prolific season with the Brantford Bulldogs of the OHL in 2025–26 will likely only be a stepping-stone in Malhotra’s development. The center will be heading to Boston University for the 2026–27 season, with his play throughout then likely determining his fate for 2027–28.
Malhotra will be a key part of Vancouver’s future regardless of when he makes a full-time jump to the NHL.
Honourable mentions: Liam Öhgren, Elias Pettersson (D), Brooks Rogowski, and Niklas Aaram-Olsen
Make sure you bookmark THN's Vancouver Canucks site and add us to your favourites on Google News for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns, and so much more. Also, don't forget to leave a comment at the bottom of the page and engage with other passionate fans through our forum. This article originally appeared on The Hockey News.
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Two Philadelphia Flyers prospects were among the players listed on Scott Wheeler's top 100 NHL drafted prospect rankings for The Athletic. This is because Porter Martone and David Jiricek both made the cut.
Martone was given the No. 3 spot on Wheeler's rankings. Seeing Martone be ranked so high is entirely understandable, as he has all the tools to become a star power forward in the NHL.
After posting 25 goals and 50 points in 35 games with Michigan State University as a freshman last season, Martone signed his entry-level contract with the Flyers. He made an immediate impact with the Flyers after this, posting four goals and 10 points in nine regular-season games.
Marte also had two goals and five points in 10 playoff games for Philadelphia. With numbers like these, he has already shown a lot of promise in the NHL and should only get better.
Jiricek, on the other hand, just made the cut at the No. 97 spot. The 2022 sixth-overall pick is still looking to break out and become a full-time NHL defenseman. It would not be surprising if he takes that next step with the Flyers next season.
Jiricek was excellent for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms last season after being acquired by the Flyers from the Minnesota Wild. In 15 games with the AHL club following the move, he posted two goals and 13 points. It will be interesting to see if he can translate some of this play over to the Flyers next season.
Now, it's not a free-for-all, upload-any-design kind of situation. Fans must use the available templates, as they have been approved by the league for trade marks and all that fun stuff.
Follow the link below to upload your creation:
A jersey made for the fans, designed by the fans.
This is your chance to design the #Isles Third Jersey for the 2027-2028 Season!
It makes you wonder, with how popular New York Islanders' star defenseman Matthew Schaefer has become since being selected first overall at the 2025 NHL Draft, if he's destined to find himself on the cover of the NHL video game in the near future.
If Schaefer is named the cover athlete for NHL 28, he'd surpass Celebrini as the youngest to ever do it.
Schaefer turns 19 on Sept. 15, so he'd still be 19 when the announced comes out, around the same time next season.
As mentioned in the story above, the plan, since we spoke with Gustafsson at the podium on night one of the NHL Draft, was for him to return to the SHL for a second season with SV71 before coming over to join the organization.
The Hockey News has been told, despite signing his ELC, that plan has not changed.
Gustafsson is eligible to come over and join the Islanders organization, whether that's at the AHL or the NHL level, when his season comes to an end, like we saw with Victor Eklund this past season.
Like with Eklund, though, don't expect Gustafsson to take part in Islanders training camp this fall.
We’ve already reached the middle of July, and Samuel Montembeault is still a member of the Montreal Canadiens. As things stand, it is conceivable that for a second year in a row, the Canadiens will have three NHL-caliber goaltenders on their payroll.
Last season, Montembeault’s struggles led to Jacob Fowler being called up much earlier than expected, and the Melbourne, Florida native proved that he was up to the task and didn’t look out of place for a second. He may just be 21 years old, but he manned the crease like a seasoned vet and quickly earned his teammates’ trust. In 17 games, he posted a 9-6-2 record with a 2.43 goals-against average and a .908 save percentage, and picked up a shutout along the way.
Meanwhile, the man who was a seasoned vet had only a 10-8-4 record, a 3.43 GAA, and an .872 SV. As for Jakub Dobes, he was in net for most of the Canadiens’ wins and ended the year with a 29-10-4 record, a 2.78 GAA, and a .901 SV. While he did struggle at one stage in the season when he couldn’t seem to win over the coaching staff’s trust, he blossomed when Montembeault was cast aside, and by the time the playoffs came around, he was the undisputed number one choice.
Earlier this month, the Canadiens rewarded the Czech netminder with a three-year contract extension which has a $5,357,575 AAV. That was a clear endorsement of the 25-year-old’s work, and while a contract doesn’t guarantee playing time, as Dobes said himself in his media availability, it at the very least lets him know that he’s got the inside lane right now.
Having three goalies on the roster is far from an ideal situation, especially when two of them are 25 or younger. At that age, goaltenders need to see a lot of action to develop properly, and GM Kent Hughes has been clear: if Fowler stays with the big club this season, he will need to see plenty of action.
The days of the clear-cut number one choice in net seem to be a thing of the past. Nowadays, it seems like teams prefer to bet on a two-goalie system, which allows them to avoid overworking their top guy while also providing the backup with enough playing time.
As things stand, the Canadiens are in win mode; the results matter. They are no longer in rebuilding mode, with the focus being almost exclusively on development. Given Montembeault’s performance last season, one has to wonder whether he could earn the team’s trust back if he were to spend the season in Montreal.
As good a teammate as the Quebecer is, the Canadiens cannot afford another season of uncertainty in net. Time and time again last season, he was beaten on his first shot, putting the team in a hole straight from the start. It wasn’t surprising that eventually, his teammates started to play nervously in front of him.
Of course, given how young Fowler is, he could still be assigned to the AHL for the season and get plenty of ice time even if it’s at a lower level. Does he need more time there, though? There are no set rules regarding the time netminders spend in the AHL. Dobes played 65 AHL games before becoming a regular with the Canadiens after Cayden Primeau’s collapse. Carey Price only skated in 12 AHL games before becoming a regular in the NHL. Andrei Vasilevskiy only patrolled the Syracuse Crunch’s crease for 37 games. Jake Oettinger saw 54 AHL games, while Dustin Wolf saw 138 before becoming the man in Calgary.
Fowler has only played 30 games with the Rocket and another eight in the AHL playoffs. Granted, that’s not a lot, but it may just be enough. Granted, Fowler must see a lot of action, but his development may well be better served in the NHL, and, statistically speaking, his presence in Montreal would give the Habs better odds of winning.
However, should the Canadiens decide to go with a Dobes-Fowler tandem and try to send Montembeault down to the AHL, he would no doubt be picked up on waivers, and it’s hard to imagine the Habs’ brass being willing to lose that kind of asset for nothing. While a lot has been said about the Canadiens’ need to improve their top six, it may be an even bigger need to find Montembeault a new home.
Although the Philadelphia Flyers may have missed out on Leo Carlsson and numerous other external targets throughout the start of the offseason, plenty of worthwhile players are still available for the taking.
The Flyers, of course, led with their biggest need, aiming to acquire a top-six center with trade interest in Mavrik Bourque and the attempted offer sheet on Carlsson.
They still have options, like Elias Pettersson, Shane Wright, and Adam Fantilli, but those players do not present as realistic or reasonable options at this point in time.
So where do we go from here? Well, the Flyers still need to re-sign Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale, who have filed for and seem to be heading towards arbitration, as well as Nikita Grebenkin.
The forward position is already a pretty full group in the absence of a true top-tier upgrade, but the defense is an area where the Flyers can still make significant strides without aiming to steal the moon.
Among the remaining restricted free agents, Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Alexander Nikishin is one of the best out there, still just 24 years old, and now comes with Stanley Cup-winning experience after just one year in the NHL.
The 6-foot-3 Russian had been a KHL regular since the 2019-20 season, when he was still a teenager. Making the jump from the KHL to the NHL at the end of last season, Nikishin played in four playoff games for the Hurricanes and recorded one assist.
This season, Nikishin featured in 81 games for Rod Brind'Amour's group, scoring 11 goals, 22 assists, and 33 points in a depth role, occasionally filling in higher when needed due to injuries.
Brind'Amour, of course, reduced Nikishin's role further and leaned on his more experienced, developed players down the Hurricanes' Cup-winning stretch, and as a result, Nikishin registered only one assist and one point in his 17 playoff appearances.
Quietly, though, the 24-year-old has already played in 21 Stanley Cup playoff games, and his first NHL season was very prolific for the role he was given.
Nikishin, a 10.2.c restricted free agent, is not eligible to sign and receive an offer sheet, so the only way he plays for a team other than the Hurricanes next season is if a trade comes to fruition.
That's where the Flyers should come in.
How Nikishin fits with the Flyers
Behind Travis Sanheim and Cam York, the Flyers have a need for an upgrade on defense with age beginning to catch up to Nick Seeler. And, on top of that, Seeler was never especially great with the puck on his stick, which limits how Rick Tocchet's Flyers can attack in transition.
Emil Andrae, arguably the Flyers' best breakout artist, was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs earlier in the offseason in the Joseph Woll deal, and even he couldn't feature regularly enough due to his diminutive 5-foot-9 stature.
Andrae has been replaced on the roster by Simon Benoit, who plays a different brand of hockey and doesn't have that same level of skill.
Nikishin, however, does, and he can play the role of a physical thumper if and when needed, too.
If and when the Flyers trade Rasmus Ristolainen, that presence will be needed on the blue line, and even then, we can easily argue that Nikishin has better puck skills and a higher offensive upside.
And if the Flyers manage to land Nikishin, the offensive upside of the defense would suddenly look quite promising, between him, Sanheim, York, Drysdale, David Jiricek, and/or Oliver Bonk.
Just one ambitious move could change the entire outlook of this team going forward.
That all said, one of the bigger obstacles of this whole idea is what Nikishin will want in regards to money and term on his next contract.
TSN NHL insider Darren Dreger believes that the former third-round pick's contractual demands are a "major factor" in any trade getting over the line.
Few teams are capable of paying the Hurricanes' trade price before offering a prolific contract, but the Flyers are one of them.
After all, the Flyers were prepared to sign Leo Carlsson for $18 million a year on top of paying up four first-round picks as compensation.
But if Nikishin wants $8 million or so on his next contract, the Flyers can do that. In fact, they probably should.
Sanheim still makes a modest $6.25 million against the cap, and it's possible Drysdale gets even more than that on his next deal.
Alexander Nikishin's player card. (Evolving-Hockey)
Nikishin has a higher upside than both, provided he continues to develop and improve as he further adapts to the North American game with a full year of NHL experience under his belt.
Even if Nikishin's offense plateaus at 10 goals and 30 points, that's what Cam York did at his best in 2023-24. And after a 17-point 2024-25, York got $5.15 million annually from the Flyers.
As long as Nikishin's defense comes along, the Flyers could, at worst, be paying about $3 million more for a bigger York, who is also a much better shooting threat.
Honestly, it's hard to see the financial risk here from the Flyers' perspective.
Is this a trap set by the Hurricanes?
The common social media argument against trading for Nikishin is, why would the Flyers target a defenseman in Nikishin that a Stanley Cup-winning team is willing to trade away?
But the answer is more simple than that.
As long as Jaccob Slavin, K'Andre Miller, and Shayne Gostisbehere are healthy, Nikishin will be stuck behind them on the depth chart.
The Hurricanes can instead cash in on a young player that they would be otherwise paying money that far exceeds his role on the team, and get assets in return that they can use to bolster the roster in other ways.
Yes, Slavin, Sean Walker, Gostisbehere, and Jalen Chatfield are all 30 or older, but the Hurricanes just won the Cup. Their window is open now, as we have seen.
And if those players age out and the Hurricanes need to replace Nikishin, they can leverage their prospects and/or draft assets to get it done, as they already did once with Miller last offseason.
Carolina also just drafted a very safe, solid defense prospect in William Hakansson during the 2026 NHL Draft last month.
Entertaining a Nikishin trade is just smart GM'ing by Eric Tulsky; he isn't unnecessarily backing himself into corners and has all of his outs and options mapped out in advance.
The Michkov factor
And then there's the Matvei Michkov connection, which is arguably the Flyers' biggest wildcard in this whole thing.
Michkov and Nikishin were once KHL teammates on powerhouse club SKA St. Petersburg, for whom Nikishin served as captain in 2023-24 and 2024-25.
Artemi Panarin, one of the two captains (Mikhail Sergachev) drafting the all-star teams, drafted both Michkov and Nikishin to his squad, reuniting them for the star-studded charity contest set to be played in St. Petersburg on July 25.
Kirill Kaprizov is also on Panarin's team, but that possibility is long gone. So is Pavel Mintyukov, who recently re-upped with Anaheim.
Naturally, the Flyers can instead hope (or ask) Michkov to recruit Nikishin to Philadelphia, where the team has a big need for his talents and services.
The Athletic's Kevin Kurz recently wrote in a mailbag, "My impression is that the organization, particularly the coaching staff, knows that everyone will have to do more to ensure Michkov is more integrated next season into what has become a tight-knit dressing room. Ultimately, it’s going to be up to Michkov — something that Briere seemed to reinforce at the end of the 2025-26 season — but I would expect a more proactive approach."
In recent seasons, the Flyers have had an exodus, of sorts, of players who were close to Michkov on and off the ice.
Ryan Poehling, who was once Michkov's locker room stall-mate that would trade Russian and English phrases with him, was dealt away in the Zegras trade.
Goalie Ivan Fedotov was traded last offseason, and not long after that, Egor Zamula shared the same fate.
The Flyers do have unsigned free agent Nikita Grebenkin as a fellow countryman for Michkov, but he's as young and inexperienced as his phenom teammate.
Over the course of this past season, the integration of youngsters Alex Bump, Denver Barkey, and Porter Martone helped some, as they are all of similar age, but it's not quite the same when you can't communicate in English the same way you can in Russian.
So, there's that aspect, too, where adding Nikishin would give Michkov another buddy he can really relate to and associate with, and one that the Flyers would presumably have a similar level of long-term investment in, in contrast to Fedotov and Zamula.
It was declared that the Flyers are now swashbuckling risk-takers, pirates who will bowl over anyone in their way, after the Carlsson debacle, but there was little risk involved there. The Flyers were giving away what would have been four late first-round picks for a 21-year-old, point-per-game center whose large contract would have just paid him in advance for what he was on track to become.
Trading for a less proven but talented Nikishin, who plays for a division rival? Now that's a real risk. And the coming months will prove how far the Flyers are willing to go, what bumps and bruises they are willing to accept, and how badly they are willing to be burned, on the road to building a winner.
The center-ice position is important for every NHL team, but with the system the Florida Panthers play, the responsibility on their center-ice men is very high.
Coach Paul Maurice demands excellence both offensively and defensively, attention to detail, and coverage all over the ice. Those demands can’t be achieved by just any center in the NHL, but GM Bill Zito has done an excellent job finding players who fit.
The Panthers’ first three-line center spots are occupied by Aleksander Barkov, Sam Bennett and Anton Lundell, as unless injuries occur, those three players have locked down their roles. But heading into the 2026 NHL off-season, the fourth-line role was vacant.
Throughout the 2025-26 season, several players occupied that role. Cole Schwindt was used quite frequently after he was claimed off waivers, Tomas Nosek skated on the fourth line when he returned from his injury, and even Luke Kunin was used in that role to start the season.
Heading into the 2026-27 season, that role is for veteran Lars Eller.
Eller has a very impressive NHL resume. The 37-year-old won a Stanley Cup with the Washington Capitals in 2018, skating as a third-line center and adding seven goals and 18 points in 24 playoff games. He plays a reliable two-way game, winning over 50 percent of his faceoffs in seven of his last eight NHL campaigns.
He might not give the Panthers double-digit goals and 30-40 points as he did in his prime. Still, the Panthers can feel very comfortable using Ellers in defensive situations against any of their opponents’ lines.
Eller believes he is a perfect fit with the Panthers and remains hungry to add another Stanley Cup.
“I’m as hungry as ever,” said Eller when he first spoke to the Florida media. “I want to say I still have that same hunger as when I came into the league almost two decades ago. Once you’ve had a taste of winning, it doesn’t satisfy that hunger to want to go out and do it again. And I think this team has also proved that they have that hunger in them.”
Originally a 13th overall pick by the St. Louis Blues in 2007, Eller has racked up 1184 games of NHL regular season experience, scoring 193 goals and 439 points. In the post-season, Eller has played 116 games, notching 15 goals and 50 points.
While the ability to chip in offensively is appreciated, it’s how Maurice deploys Eller that will show his value.
Eller can hop over the boards to kill penalties and take timely defensive zone faceoffs, which will allow Maurice to give Barkov and Lundell extra rest and more opportunities to start their shifts in the offensive zone.
With just an $850,000 cap hit for one season, Eller could turn out to be a bargain signing in the regular season and in the playoffs.
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