On this day in 1997, just weeks after ending a 42-year Stanley Cup drought, the Detroit Red Wings made another franchise-defining move, promoting Ken Holland to general manager.
Holland replaced Jimmy Devellano in the role after seven years as the club's director of amateur scouting and three seasons as assistant general manager. The move ensured continuity for a team already sitting atop the hockey world, and it helped turn Detroit into the NHL's model franchise for more than two decades.
Over Holland's 22 seasons as general manager, the Red Wings enjoyed remarkable success. Detroit won three Stanley Cups (1998, 2002 and 2008), reached another Final in 2009, captured four Presidents' Trophies, 10 division titles and multiple regular-season conference championships.
The Red Wings also posted 13 seasons of at least 100 points and made the playoffs every year of Holland's tenure, extending a franchise playoff streak that stretched to 25 consecutive seasons before finally ending in 2016-17.
From the time Holland took over on July 18, 1997, no NHL franchise won more combined regular-season and playoff games than Detroit did under his leadership. Among Holland's most notable moves were acquiring defenseman Chris Chelios from the Chicago Blackhawks in 1999, trading for Dominik Hašek before the 2001-02 season, and adding veterans Brett Hull and Luc Robitaille to bolster Detroit's 2002 championship roster.
He also retained homegrown stars Nicklas Lidström, Steve Yzerman, Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg, while keeping Detroit's pipeline for international talent among the best in the league.
One of Holland's greatest strengths was sustaining success through major shifts across the league. After the NHL introduced a salary cap in 2005, he quickly retooled the roster without losing competitiveness, leading Detroit to a Presidents' Trophy in 2005-06 before building the team that won the 2008 Stanley Cup.
Holland had spent 36 years with the organization as a player, scout and executive, capping one of the most accomplished front-office careers in NHL history. Nearly three decades after his promotion, Holland's hiring remains one of the most significant moments in Red Wings history.
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Chicago Blackhawks star Connor Bedard has a contract in hand as he rehabs from shoulder surgery.
The team announced on Saturday, July 18, that the 2023 No. 1 overall pick has agreed to a five-year, $75 million contract with a $15 million cap hit.
That puts him third in the league behind Anaheim Ducks center Leo Carlsson, whose $18 million cap hit came via an offer sheet, and Minnesota Wild winger Kirill Kaprizov ($17 million).
Bedard, 21, has 203 points in 219 career NHL games with Chicago in three seasons from 2023-26. He set career highs last season with 30 goals, 45 assists and 75 points in 69 games.
The only drawback has been injuries. He had surgery on his left shoulder on July 8 after being injured while training in Vancouver and will miss more than a month of the 2026-27 regular season. He injured his other shoulder last season and suffered a broken jaw in his rookie year.
"Connor has continuously defied our expectations since being drafted, and has quickly established himself as an elite player in the NHL,” said Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson. “He utilizes all aspects of his game to not only be a constant threat, but to make the players around him better every time he steps on the ice. Connor’s strong work ethic and determination to always improve his game has set an extraordinary standard for our young core, and we’re excited for the incredible impact he’ll have in this next chapter of Blackhawks hockey.”
Connor Bedard contract details
According to puckpedia.com, Bedard's contract includes five signing bonuses of $9.8 million each. Bedard wears No. 98. The contract is also front-loaded. Here are the details:
The #Blackhawks signed 21 y/o F Connor Bedard to a 5 year $15M cap hit contract
Yr 1: $7.2M Salary, $9.8M Signing Bonus Yr 2: $6.2M/$9.8M Yr 3: $5.2M/$9.8M Yr 4: $4.2M/$9.8M Yr 5: $3.2M/$9.8M
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On Saturday, the Chicago Blackhawks announced that they have come to a contract extension with forward Connor Bedard. It will carry a cap hit of $15 million per season over the five years.
This contract has been a hot topic, especially with the recent offer-sheet drama that has taken place in the NHL. Based on that, this contract is a bit of a bargain.
𝐄 𝐗 𝐓 𝐄 𝐍 𝐃 𝐄 𝐃 🏠
from draft night to his first goal on UC ice and every moment in between, here’s to 𝟓 more years of 𝟗𝟖 in Chicago ❤️ pic.twitter.com/Cvad2ECxbC
Bedard is being paid partially for what he has proven in the NHL with the Blackhawks, but also because of what the future holds for him. As a former first overall pick in the draft, there are expectations that he is going to be a top-flight superstar.
In 219 games played, Bedard has 75 goals and 128 assists for 203 points. He had somewhat of a breakout in 2025-26, as he scored 30 goals and 45 assists for 75 points in 69 games played.
Bedard is currently injured, as he just had shoulder surgery last week. He is expected to recover over the next four months, which gives him a mid-November target for a return. By that point, he will be hoping to provide a boost to the team that only he can.
For the player and the team, this is a great deal. Bedard is one of the highest paid players in the NHL, and the Blackhawks technically got him below market value. Together, they have five years to take their rebuild to the next level.
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As the Detroit Red Wings continue to navigate the ongoing Dylan Larkin trade request saga, more and more reports are starting to back up the notion that a rift developed between the local Michigan native and organizational leader Steve Yzerman.
One report from reliable MLive reporter Ansar Khan suggested that shortly after Henrik Zetterberg retired, the wait from 2018 to 2020 to name a new captain was an intentional choice by Yzerman.
Khan noted he believes the decision to hold off on naming Larkin captain for those two seasons shook him. It was only two seasons that the Red Wings went without a captain, but it may have felt like a much longer stretch to Larkin.
It's been quite some time since any official statement has come from Larkin's camp regarding the trade request and it's starting to feel like a shift is coming.
Ansar Khan: Re Dylan Larkin trade request/Red Wings: I think this whole thing started...years ago when Henrik Zetterberg retired, everybody thought...Larkin makes sense...except Yzerman who went a couple years...no captain; I think that shaked Larkin - Jason Gregor Show (7/15)
— NHL Rumour Report (@NHLRumourReport) July 18, 2026
The hockey world was stunned in early June when NHL insider Elliotte Friedman reported that captain Dylan Larkin, coming off a career-high 34-goal season, had requested a trade.
A list of preferred destinations soon emerged, with Larkin naming the Minnesota Wild, Vegas Golden Knights and Florida Panthers as teams he'd consider waiving his no-trade clause for, before reports later added the Dallas Stars to the list as well.
Plenty of holes have been poked in Larkin's list and the difficulty each team would face in acquiring him.
The Panthers have very little cap space to work with, while the Golden Knights and Wild are thin on high-end prospects and draft capital. Even the Stars, Larkin's more recent addition to the list, face similar issues in putting together a workable offer.
A trade involving Larkin looks even more uncertain now that Yzerman has reportedly stepped down from his role as Red Wings general manager and vice president of hockey operations.
He will move into more of a senior advisory role going forward, with Detroit now searching for a new voice in the GM chair, a change that could open the door to a rebuilt relationship between Larkin and the front office.
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The Buffalo Sabres snapped their 15-year postseason drought, winning the Atlantic Division and advancing to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but after an offseason that saw Bowen Byram and Alex Tuch being dealt, the task of repeating as division champion or finishing in the top three of the Atlantic could be significantly more difficult.
This week, we will look at the seven other teams in the Atlantic to see where they stand in comparison to where they were at the end of last season and see where they potentially stack up as competition with the Sabres.
The Detroit Red Wings looked to be a lock for a playoff spot prior to the Olympic break, but an injury to team captain Dylan Larkin in March contributed to their 8-12-4 record in March and April, which saw them fall out of the postseason mix. The Wings slow rebuild under Steve Yzerman has resulted in Larkin asking to be traded, and last week the Wings legend stepping down as GM.
Peyton Krebs signs a four-year contract extension with the Sabres
Additions
Viktor Arvidsson - signed a two-year, $10 million deal after scoring 54 points with Boston.
Keegsn Kolesar - acquired from Vegas for two draft picks, has two years remaining at a $2.5 million AAV.
Daniil Tarasov - signed a one-year, $2 million deal to backup starter John Gibson.
Subtractions
Patrick Kane - scored 57 points (16 goals, 41 assists) in 67 games last season
James van Riemsdyk - 15 goals in 72 games
Outlook
The Wings have a young core group with Moritz Seider and Simon Edvinsson on defense (Edvinsson is currently an RFA), and Lucas Raymond up front, but does not have enough depth and weapons to surround them. The Yzerplan did result in adding youngsters like Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, Marco Kasper, Axel Sandin-Pellika, and Emmitt Finnie, but they have not succeeded (as the Sabres have) in bringing in building blocks to help Detroit get back to respectability.
As currently constructed, the Wings have a slight advantage in goal over Buffalo with John Gibson and Tarasov, but the 33-year-old has had a history on injury problems. Defensively, the Sabres were weakened by the departure of Byram, but are still deeper and more talented than Detroit, and offensively, Buffalo is significantly better overall.
Even if Larkin stays, the Wings have taken a step back and are likely to be near or at the bottom of the Atlantic Division next season.
During the past five seasons, the Kings have been eliminated in the first round. From these five seasons, this is how the teams rank from worst to best.
Number Five: 2026
Coming in last place is the Kings team from just this past season, who had an unproductive offense. Los Angeles tallied 2.68 goals per game, which was the fourth worst in the entire league.
Yet, the offense still wasn’t the biggest weakness for the Kings. The special teams were even worse. Los Angeles had 17% power-play, which was the fifth worst in the league. The Kings also recorded a 74.6% penalty kill, which was third worst.
A bottom-five offense along with a three penalty kill and a bottom five power play was a recipe for disaster. Especially going up against the Presidents Cup winner Colorado Avalanche in the first round.
It was clear that the Avalanche would make quick work of the Kings, as they proceeded to do in a four-game sweep. Throughout the entire season, it was a question about whether they would even make the playoffs. So it was no surprise the Kings couldn't even win a single playoff game.
Number Four: 2024
Unlike the 2026 team, the Kings were actually effective on special teams in 2024. Los Angeles held an 84.6% penalty kill, the second-best penalty kill in the league. The Kings also held a 22.6 power-play, the eleventh best in the NHL.
Despite the quality of special teams play, the Kings were far from looking like a contender. What really held this team back was the lack of offensive firepower to keep up with elite teams. The Kings had the sixteenth ranked offense with only 3.10 goals per game.
In the first round, this pedestrian offense would go up against the explosive Edmonton Oilers. Superstars Conor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl were the backbone of the offense, as they both recorded over 105 points throughout the season.
Not only did the Oilers have two players in the 100 point category, they had Evan Bouchard and Zach Hyman hit over 75 points. Edmonton had four players who recorded more than the highest point leader for the Kings. The Oilers had too much firepower and dismantled the Kings in five games.
The 2026 and 2024 Kings were heavily outmatched in the first round
The biggest anomaly from the past five seasons, was the 2023 Kings, since the style of playing was so different. The Kings identity is usually defense first, but this season the offense was actually better.
After acquiring Kevin Fiala from the Minnesota Wild, the Kings' scoring took another level. Los Angeles recorded 3.34 goals per game, which ranked in the top 10. It also ranked as the highest goal average of the Kings in the 2020s.
While the offense was at its best in 2023, the tradeoff was the goaltending and defense was worse. Los Angeles had the bottom five goaltending with a .892 save percentage and a mediocre defense. The Kings gave up 3.10 goals per game. This ranked outside the top 15 in goals allowed.
Lack of defense and goaltending would be put to the test against the Oilers, who held the best offense this season. Edmonton and Los Angeles went firepower for firepower and the Oilers had the better offense. The Kings were eliminated in six games in the first round once again by the Oilers.
Number Two: 2022
Finally making their first playoff appearance since 2018, the Kings had something together. Los Angeles racked up a top 10 defense that allowed 2.79 goals per game.
Come playoff time, this was actually the closest the Kings had gotten to making the second round these last five years. The Kings were up 3-2 in the first round against the Oilers and just one win away.
However, Edmonton stormed back to take games 6 and 7, to eliminate Los Angeles. While the Kings had good team defense, all their weaknesses were exploited against the Oilers.
Save percentage, goaltending, power-plays, and penalty kills were all categories that the Kings ranked outside the top 15. There were too many foundational flaws with the Kings to secure a spot in the second round.
If the Kings had beaten the Oilers, they would've likely made the Stanley Cup Finals in 2025
There was one team that had a real shot at making a deep run in the playoffs, and they completely blew it. The 2025 Kings were by far the most talented and complete team they had in this five-year stretch.
Defensively, the Kings were elite, allowing 2.48 goals per game, the second-fewest in the league. Darcy Kuemper was also rock solid with a .922 save percentage, the third highest amongst all goaltenders. Kuemper also allowed 2.02 goals per game, which was the second-fewest.
Los Angeles initially seemed equipped to make a playoff run as they jumped out to a 2-0 lead against the Oilers. As everything seemed to go the Kings way, coaching completely got in their way.
In Game 3, there was a controversial challenge for goalie interference. The challenge was unsuccessful. This allowed the Oilers to score on the power-play and shift momentum in the series. In game 4, the Kings gave up a goal to Evan Bouchard in the last 30 seconds, which led to an Oilers' victory in overtime.
Then the most interesting sequence was for the Kings to get outplayed on the forecheck. The Oilers pressured in their Ozone, while the Kings sat back on defense. This allowed the Oilers speed and offense to collect more shots on goal.
Edmonton went on to make it to the Stanley Cup Finals after defeating Los Angeles in six games. The Kings actually put up a closer series against the Oilers than both the Vegas Golden Knights and Dallas Stars. Both of those teams lost to the Oilers in five games. This means the Kings could’ve won the next two rounds and make the Stanley Cup Finals.
For what could’ve been a run to the Stanley Cup Finals instead ended up as a first-round exit for the Kings. The 2025 season was still the best Kings team during this stretch and a missed opportunity for a deep playoff run.
We’re now just 75 days away from the San Jose Sharks hosting the Florida Panthers to kick off the 2026-27 season on October 1.
The most recent, and likely most relevant, player to wear the number 75 for the Sharks was Ryan Reaves.
A journeyman enforcer, Reaves started his career with the St. Louis Blues after being selected in the fifth round of the 2005 NHL Draft. He spent three seasons at the American Hockey League level, and even had a stint in the ECHL, before making his NHL debut with the Blues during the 2010-11 season. While he split time between the NHL and AHL that season, he became a full-time NHLer, except for a lockout stint in the ECHL, beginning in the 2011-12 season.
Reaves remained in St. Louis through the 2016-17 season, then was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins ahead of the 2017-18 campaign. He only spent 58 games in Pittsburgh before he was on the move again, this time to the Vegas Golden Knights. During this time, he became despised by Sharks fans for his physical, tough style of play as well as his rivalry with then-Shark Evander Kane.
After three seasons with Vegas, Reaves had stints with the New York Rangers, Minnesota Wild and finally the Toronto Maple Leafs. During his time in Toronto, he was sent down to the AHL for the first time in a decade and a half, and his career seemed like it may be coming to an end.
Then, in the summer of 2025, Reaves was traded to the Sharks in exchange for defenseman Henry Thrun. While his reputation from Vegas remained, it didn’t take long for him to move from a hated figure to a fan favorite player for his off-ice contributions to the young team. While his on-ice play was still oft-criticized, his leadership role was massively valuable to a team looking to move out of a rebuild.
Currently, Reaves remains an unrestricted free agent, and it’s unknown if his playing career will continue. The Sharks did have talks to bring him back for a second season, but the signing of Mason Marchment put an end to those discussions.
Whether it’s on the ice, behind a bench, or in a press box as a broadcaster, it seems fair to see that we’ve yet to see the last of Ryan Reaves in the NHL.
Daniil Gushchin, Danil Yuraykin, and Freddie Hamilton also wore the number 75 for the Sharks.
One of the most surprising storylines heading into last season was the trio of rookies who made the Detroit Red Wings' roster out of training camp, and Michael Brandsegg-Nygård was one of them.
The 20-year-old Norwegian power forward wasted little time trying to make his mark. Through his first nine games with Detroit, he recorded an assist and tied for the team lead in hits with 28, while averaging roughly 12 and a half minutes of ice time per night.
He would go on to play five more games with the Red Wings to close out the season, but the bulk of his year was spent in the AHL with the record-breaking Grand Rapids Griffins.
Brandsegg-Nygård experienced his share of highs and lows in his first full North American professional season, but he found his footing as the year went on. He finished with 20 goals and 24 assists for 44 points in 60 games with Grand Rapids, and carried that momentum into the postseason, posting four goals and four assists for a point-per-game pace during the Griffins' disappointing eight-game playoff run.
Elite Prospects currently projects Brandsegg-Nygård to make the Red Wings roster again next season. After spending this past year learning alongside fellow power forward James van Riemsdyk, the hope is that he can put it all together, arrive at training camp and preseason with solid work behind him, and crack the lineup on a full-time basis, finally making his impact felt at the NHL level.
A bottom-six role with similar minutes to what he saw in his brief NHL stint, somewhere around 12 minutes a night, could suit him well, with the goal of producing a campaign in the neighborhood of the roughly 30-point season van Riemsdyk had in Detroit this past year. If he can get there, he'd represent a valuable, cost-controlled option for the Red Wings.
— Red Wings Prospects (@LGRWProspects) May 9, 2026
Time will tell what role awaits the former 15th-overall pick from the 2024 NHL Draft. But after making the team out of camp once already, there's a good chance Brandsegg-Nygård can do it again heading into next season.
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The Buffalo Sabres could go a number of different ways as the NHL is in the midst of trade season following the NHL Draft and the opening of free agency on July 1. With the departure of winger Alex Tuch and defenseman Bowen Byram, GM Jarmo Kekalainen is expected to seek out offensive reinforcements to make up for the 44 goals lost by their departures.
Over the next few weeks, we will continue to look at potential options for the Sabres. Some of the possibilities are not going to match Tuch’s stats, but any additions could provide some relief to the pressure that youngsters Konsta Helenius, Jiri Kulich, or Noah Ostlund will be under to make up the deficit.
Kekalainen ideally would like to make up as much of the 60-to-70 point production that he lost with Tuch, but also someone who can fill the leadership gap. Someone who may be readily available because of the Anaheim Ducks matching the offer sheet to center Leo Carlsson is veteran winger Alex Killorn. The 36-year-old is a two-time Stanley Cup winner who played 11 seasons in the Atlantic Division. Killorn was a victim of the Lightning’s cap crunch and found a landing spot in Southern California, signing a four-year deal with the Ducks.
Will the Sabres add a veteran forward, like Patrick Kane?
With one year remaining at a cap hit of $6.25 million, Ducks GM Pat Verbeek may be looking to clear out a salary or two to get the 41-goal scorer Cutter Gauthier signed to a long-term deal. Killorn is no longer a top-six option, but has scored 18, 19 and 15 goals with Anaheim.
Adding Killorn would make perfect sense for the Sabres, since they have a group of young forwards who will be taking on most of the scoring burden created by the departure of Tuch. His 15-team no-trade list could be a hurdle, but there have been indicators that Buffalo is not being blocked as much recently with their recent success.
The Ducks are in a position where they might have to include a draft pick to have a club take on a contract, but with the Sabres having only around $5 million in cap space, it might be necessary for Verbeek to retain 20 to 25% of Killorn’s cap hit, or to take a salary like Justin Danforth back in a deal.
Throughout their 2026–27 season, Vancouver will take part in a variety of entertaining matchups, ranging from welcoming back former players to potentially seeing NHL legends for the final time in their careers. Here are five must-watch Canucks games taking place in the 2026–27 season.
September 29 @ Edmonton Oilers
While there will still be pre-season and training camp to take in prior to the season-opener, this game will serve as the first-look of a rebuild-committed Canucks team featuring new management staff (Ryan Johnson, Daniel and Henrik Sedin) as well as their new coaching staff (Manny Malhotra, Ryan Mougenel, Jordan Smith, and Jason Krog). This will also be many fans’ first-look at Brendan Gallagher, Jamie Oleksiak, and Paul Cotter in Canucks uniforms.
October 8 @ Carolina Hurricanes
The Canucks will face the defending Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes on October 8, making this the first time Vancouver will face them since they won back in June. The biggest change to Carolina’s roster since they won the Stanley Cup is the departure of goaltender Frederik Andersen, who signed a one-year deal in free-agency with the Oilers.
October 25 vs. Minnesota Wild
Quite possibly the biggest game for Canucks fans heading into the 2026–27 season is October 25, which is when former captain Quinn Hughes will return to Rogers Arena with the Minnesota Wild for the first time since being traded in December of 2025. Lots has changed surrounding fans’ perception of the defenceman since his departure, and while he’s undoubtedly still the best blueliner the Canucks have had, for the most part it appears the fanbase has soured on him. It will be interesting to see how the crowd reacts to Hughes’ return on October 25.
Dec 6, 2025; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Vancouver Canucks center Linus Karlsson (94) tips the puck in front of Minnesota Wild defenceman Jared Spurgeon (46) at Rogers Arena. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Morris-Imagn Images
December 7 vs. Washington Capitals
The status of legendary goal-scorer and Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin is undetermined past the 2026–27 season. While there were musings of the forward’s potential retirement at the end of the 2025–26 season, Ovechkin ended up signing a one-year deal with the Capitals to extend his career by one more season. As it stands, Ovechkin has not vocalized whether he plans to play past this year or not, making his next trip to Vancouver potentially his last.
March 6 @ Montréal Canadiens
One interesting Canucks road game to catch will be when Vancouver takes on the Montréal Canadiens at the Bell Centre on March 6. This will be the first time that new Canuck Gallagher will return to Montréal after being traded to Vancouver ahead of the 2026 free-agency period. Prior to joining Vancouver, the forward spent the entirety of his 14-season NHL career with the Canadiens, including taking part in eight playoff runs with the team. Gallagher is certain to get a positive reception from Canadiens fans when he returns to Montréal.
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It seemed like the perfect homecoming for the Detroit Red Wings in April 2019, when it was announced that beloved legendary captain Steve Yzerman was returning to the franchise he helped bring back from the dead in the early 1980s.
Considering what Yzerman was able to accomplish as general manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning, which included uncovering several gems in the NHL Draft that turned into elite talents, the understandable thought was that it was only a matter of time before he did so in Detroit.
Upon his arrival back in Detroit, he undertook a massive rebuilding process after the prospect cupboards were left essentially barren by former GM Ken Holland, who also left behind several bloated contracts of underperforming players.
And while Yzerman did select a handful of top-tier talents in his first two Drafts as Red Wings GM in Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond, the club never fully put things together.
Yzerman officially stepped down from his role on Wednesday morning following what was the seventh straight year of missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and the third straight that his club was in prime striking position in March, only to stumble and tumble out of the race.
The club is also in the midst of a standoff with captain Dylan Larkin, who requested to be traded not long after the season; his request was made public in early June.
Needless to say, this is not how even the most skeptical of fans and analysts would have guessed Yzerman’s tenure as GM would have ended.
There were several questionable decisions Yzerman made along the way, not the least of which was attaching a second round draft pick to Jake Walman and shipping him out of town for nothing in return.
While it’s true that the Red Wings suffered abysmal luck in the NHL Draft Lottery, Yzerman was also hesitant to pull the trigger on bold trades aside from Michigan native Alex DeBrincat, who only wanted to come to his hometown team.
Fans were also growing frustrated with the lack of any kind of timeline as to when they could expect a return to the postseason.
Little Caesars Arena, which opened in the fall of 2017, has yet to host a single postseason hockey game.
Yzerman and the Red Wings seemed perfect for one another. Unfortunately, his tenure as GM wasn’t anything like how events unfolded in Tampa Bay.
While the Red Wings are in a considerably better position now than when he took over, they’re still faced with several roster holes and questions about when they can realistically compete for the Stanley Cup again.
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TORONTO, ON - APRIL 29: NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly, with Colorado Avalanche's Rick Pracey, Director of Amateur Scouting, with the "golden ticket" which gives the Avalanche the 1st overall pick in the NHL Draft, at the TSN studios in Scarborough. (Rick Madonik/Toronto Star via Getty Images) | Toronto Star via Getty Images
The past thirty years of Avalanche hockey have featured incredible highs, and some very, very dismal lows.
As an avid fan of The Simpsons, I’ve witnessed plenty of “best of times” moments, but also been subjected to a smattering of unpleasant “blursts” of times. In this latest edition of an ongoing off-season series, I take a look back through the past thirty years, highlighting one moment that stands among the best, and comparatively, the worst (or blurst, if you will) each season.
Here are the best and blurst moments from another five years of Colorado Avalanche history.
2015-2016
The Best: NHL Stadium Series Weekend (February 26-27, 2016)
Ever since the initial announcement was made over a year ago, both Avs and Red Wings fans were chomping at the bit for this weekend to finally arrive.
Since the inception of both the NHL Winter Classic and Stadium Series, the present-era Red Wings had participated twice in outdoor contests, having played the Chicago Blackhawks and the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2009 and 2014 Winter Classic, respectively.
The Avs, on the other hand, would be first-time hosts and first-time participants in an outdoor contest.
Although the real game would be played on February 27, the alumni game between both clubs the day before drew significant interest. Both franchises assembled a who’s who of Hall of Fame talent, eager to lace up the skates in one final curtain call for the greatest hockey rivalry in the modern era.
Although the animosity had considerably cooled down over the years, the competitive nature on both sides was still as strong as ever.
As he had done in the first-ever Avs game in 1995, Valeri Kamensky opened the scoring for the Avs in the first period. Both alumni captains would also score in the period, with Detroit’s Steve Yzerman tying the game, then Joe Sakic putting the Avs alumni ahead 2-1.
Milan Hejduk scored the only goal of the second period to increase the lead for the Avs alumni. Craig Billington relieved Patrick Roy in goal for the third period. Raymond Bourque scored to make it a 4-1 lead, which Billington preserved after stopping a penalty shot attempt for Detroit’s Tomas Holmström. Brendan Shanahan would score the second goal for the Detroit alumni, cutting the Avs’ alumni lead in half, but Stéphane Yelle would put the game out of reach, securing a 5-2 victory for the Avs greats of yesteryear.
Both teams would shake hands after the game, then pose together at center ice, a sight that was unfathomable nearly twenty years earlier.
The next night, the modern-era Avs weren’t so fortunate. Despite having a 2-1 lead in the first period off goals from Nathan MacKinnon and Tyson Barrie, Detroit scored two goals in the third period to take the lead. Alex Tanguay tied the game moments later, but Detroit would score another pair of goals (including one on an empty net) to defeat the Avs by a 5-3 score.
Both teams came together for another handshake line at the end of the contest. The Cold War between the Avs and the Red Wings was now over, but the ending lived up to all the hype.
The best moment of the season, and certainly a memorable one, no matter what side you were on.
The Blurst: Patrick Roy Rips Matt Duchene’s 30th Goal Celebration (April 03, 2016)
The Avs were chasing down the final wild card spot in the Western Conference as the calendar flipped to April. They trailed the Minnesota Wild by five points in the standings, and failed to gain ground with losses in four of their previous five games. Coming into a key matchup against division rival St. Louis (who defeated the Avs at Scottrade Center three nights earlier), they needed a strong start to turn their luck around.
That turn of luck didn’t pan out exactly as the Avs hoped.
Gabe Landeskog put the Avs on the penalty kill early in the first period, and David Backes made them pay for it. Goals by Magnus Pääjärvi and Colton Parayko followed later in the period, and the Avs trailed by a 3-0 margin after the first twenty minutes. Both teams made goalie switches in the second period: Calvin Pickard replaced Semyon Varlamov, and Anders Nilsson came into relieve an injured Jake Allen.
The switch in goal didn’t improve the Avs’ fortunes on offense, as Alex Pietrangelo scored the only goal in the second period, and the Avs failed to register any offense through forty minutes.
With under five minutes to play in the third period, Avs forward Mikhael Grigorenko passed the puck to Mikkel Bødker in the slot. He fired the puck towards Nilsson, and Matt Duchene got just enough of his blade to graze the puck before it eluded the Blues goaltender to give the Avs their first goal of the game.
The goal was Duchene’s 30th of the season, the first time he had hit the milestone. He pumped his arms excitedly in the air, and Bødker retrieved the puck amid the cheers from the Pepsi Center crowd.
Less than 90 seconds later, and with Pickard on the bench, St. Louis forward Troy Brouwer scored into an empty net. The Avs lost by a score of 5-1, their third loss in a row and second to St. Louis in their past three games.
Head coach Patrick Roy used his postgame comments to air his frustration, taking issue with Duchene’s celebration. “It’s a four-nothing goal. Big cheer. Are you kidding me? What is that? I mean, it’s not the reflect we want from our guys, not at all. We need to change the mindset; I think we have a losing mindset right now. I think we have to find ways to believe more in ourselves, and sometimes things aren’t going to go our way.”
Duchene offered his own perspective on the game, which focused more on the lost opportunity to inch towards a playoff berth instead of his own personal achievement. “Maybe it’s something [when] I look back at the season after, you know, enjoy it on a personal level, but, I mean, you play and you try to score goals, and make the playoffs, and if you’re not in the playoffs, you know, it doesn’t really mean as much as you want it to mean. No one remembers that, and no one cares.
“Everyone just cares who’s in the playoffs and that’s all we care about,” Duchene continued, “and that’s all I care about. Obviously, it’s a nice milestone, but I’m not thinking about it at all right now. I’m just very disappointed in this loss tonight.”
“We talked, we had a good chat yesterday,” Duchene said. “I totally understand where he’s coming from, what he’s trying to do. I’m on board with it; I think we all are. It was one of those things where right away, I certainly knew it wasn’t the right thing, the right reaction. I kind of buried my head after that, even going back to the bench. I understood it wasn’t the right thing. We had a good talk, and it’s all good.”
“I think Matt Duchene is a great person, ” said Roy, “and I think when you’re willing to learn, like I was when I was young, I think that goes a long way. That does not mean becoming a leader comes overnight. Experience makes you a better leader. I made many mistakes. I got slapped in the fingers by vets in my first years.”
The Avs lost their final three games of the regular season, missing the playoffs for the second year in a row.
Four months later, Roy would one-up his outburst (outblurst?) by giving the Avs the finger on his way out the door.
For all we know, it was one of the fingers that got slapped by the vets in his first years of playing.
2016-2017
The Best: Jared Bednar Hired as Head Coach (August 25, 2016)
Believe it or not, Avs fans, something good did happen this year!
When Patrick Roy tendered a very abrupt resignation on August 11, he threw the entire front office—not to mention Avs fans—for a loop.
“I have thought long and hard over the course of the summer about how I might improve this team to give it the depth it needs and bring it to a higher level,” Roy said in a release that day. “To achieve this, the vision of the coach and VP-hockey operations needs to be perfectly aligned with that of the organization. He must also have a say in the decisions that impact the team’s performance. These conditions are not currently met.”
With less than a month to go in the off-season, and training camp on the horizon, Avs general manager Joe Sakic had his work cut out for him. Many of the top coaching candidates were already off the market, but that didn’t faze Sakic. Two weeks later, he had his man: Lake Erie Monsters head coach Jared Bednar. Bednar, then a spry 44 years young, had already compiled a promising coaching resume in the minors.
Through parts of fourteen seasons, Bednar was a head coach for eight of those years, and spent six as an assistant. He amassed a 251-148-42 record, culminating in a sweep of the Hershey Bears (the AHL affiliate of the Avs until 2005) that June, securing the first Calder Cup trophy in Lake Erie’s history. He had also won the ECHL’s Kelly Cup with the South Carolina Stingrays in 2009, where he also spent several seasons as a player prior to beginning his coaching career.
“I was certainly happy to be considered and I’m ecstatic to have been named head coach and I’m looking forward to getting to work,” said Bednar. “When I started coaching, my ultimate goal was obviously to get to the NHL and to coach at the highest level and getting an opportunity to compete for a Stanley Cup. That was my goal going into it and I worked real hard trying to achieve those goals, and this is another step in that direction.”
Nearly ten years later, Bednar is the franchise leader in regular season games coached (700), wins (390), losses (246), points (864), playoff games coached (81), playoff wins (49-tied with Bob Hartley), and playoff losses (32). With the Avs’ 2-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on June 26, 2022, Bednar became the first (and only) coach to win a Stanley Cup, Calder Cup, and Kelly Cup championship.
It may have taken him six years, but he achieved his goal, and was truly the highlight of what was to come that season, because what lay before him and every Avs fans can be summarized in one word: pain.
The Blurst: EVERYTHING (October 15, 2016 – April 09, 2017)
Jared Bednar’s first step towards competing for the Stanley Cup, in hindsight, may as well have been off a cliff.
After winning a roller-coaster of a season opener against the Dallas Stars by a score of 6-5, which featured an ultra-rare hat trick from free agent signee Joe Colborne (remember him?), the Avs would assemble a 4-3 record in their first seven games.
It was the last time they would be above .500 during the season. They wouldn’t be above the .500 mark again until October 5, 2017, when the Avs would defeat the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
(For those of you keeping score, that’s a total of 356 consecutive days. which probably felt like 356 consecutive years.)
The Avs then proceeded to lose twenty-three of their next thirty-two games—including a season-worst 10-1 beatdown courtesy of the Montréal Canadiens at Centre Bell on December 10—to close out the calendar year.
Not counting the two COVID-shortened seasons (spoilers), the Avs lost fewer than twenty-three games twice in an entire season: 2021-2022 (19), and 2025-2026 (16). This cursed version did that in under three months.
Things went from worse to…even more worse. On January 27, the Avs announced that goaltender Semyon Varlamov would have hip surgery and miss the remainder of the regular season. Varlamov had been dealing with recurring groin issues since December, and with the season all but lost, having him undergo surgery and allowing as much recovery time to prepare for the following season was the sensible move.
Meanwhile, the Avs couldn’t stop the bleeding on the ice.
Prolonged losing streaks were frequent. This team had three five-game losing streaks, one six-game losing streak, one seven game losing streak, and one nine-game losing streak. They never won more than three games in a row at any point during the season.
And then, during a visit to Winnipeg on March 4…the free-falling Avs found out that rock bottom has a basement.
Already trailing 5-0 in the second period and with Winnipeg on the power play, Nathan MacKinnon poked the puck away from Jets defenseman Jacob Trouba. Blake Comeau pounced on the loose puck at center ice, skated in unimpeded on goaltender Connor Hellebuyck and…inexplicably slowed up, then turned to pass the puck back to MacKinnon, only to have Winnipeg’s Patrik Laine intercept his pass and turn the play back towards the Avs zone.
Here’s the sequence, in all its perplexing glory.
The season-long waking nightmare ended on April 9, with the Avs losing to the St. Louis Blues by a score of 3-2 at Scottrade Center. The Avs finished with a League-worst 22-56-4 record and 48 points in the standings. Incredibly, this is the third worst finish in franchise history as the Quebec Nordiques finished with a 12-61-7 record and 31 points during the 1989-1990 season, followed by a 16-50-14 record and 46 points the year after.
On April 29, as teams gathered for the NHL Draft Lottery, one final insult was delivered to the Avs. Despite having the League’s worst record, and therefore, the best possible odds to win the lottery, they wound up with the fourth overall pick, as the New Jersey Devils, Philadelphia Flyers, and Dallas Stars wound up finishing ahead of the Avs in that order.
A franchise-defining blurst that stretched throughout an entire season all but left the Avs for dead, but not for long.
2017-2018
The Best: Game 82 (April 07, 2018)
The expectations for the Avs were virtually nonexistent when the 2017-2018 season began, and for good reason, based on their disastrous regular season campaign a year earlier.
For them to find themselves at the doorstep of the postseason one year removed from their worst season since relocating to Denver was nothing short of miraculous.
They almost didn’t get to this point (spoilers), and when opportunity knocked on that Sunday afternoon at Pepsi Center, the entire roster answered.
Sam Girard got the Avs on the board with a rocket of a shot from the St. Louis blue line past goaltender Jake Allen in the first period. Tyson Barrie would double the lead in the second period with a blue line shot on the power play. St. Louis responded a few minutes later with a power play goal of their own to make things interesting, but Nathan MacKinnon restored the two goal lead late in the period.
Goaltender Jonathan Bernier and the Avs defense held strong in the third period, thwarting every opportunity from St. Louis. Blues head Coach Mike Yeo pulled Allen with over 4:30 left in regulation in the hopes that his team could pull even. Over a minute later, Gabe Landeskog collected a loose puck and launched it across the ice into the empty net to the roar of the entire crowd. His teammates mobbed him in excitement, knowing that they were minutes away from securing a playoff berth.
St. Louis scored a meaningless goal with under a minute to play, but the outcome was certain: the Avs would claim the final wild card spot in the Western Conference and face the Western Conference-leading Nashville Predators in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Avs finished the regular season with a 43-30-9 record and 95 points, nearly doubling their wins and point totals from the previous season (22 wins and 48 points, respectively).
Putting the exclamation point in such a high-stakes game was the defining moment of the season.
The Blurst: The Injury Bug Strikes Again (March 31, 2018)
As the end of the regular season neared, both the Avs and the St. Louis Blues were in a hotly contested battle for the final wild card spot in the playoffs. Both teams were in action on March 30: St. Louis was playing the upstart Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena, and the Avs hosted the Chicago Blackhawks at Pepsi Center.
Vegas defeated St. Louis in overtime, but for the Avs, victory was all but certain. With the Avs leading 5-0 late in the period, things took a turn when Chicago right winger Tomáš Jurčo lost his footing when carrying the puck towards goaltender Semyon Varlamov. He fell to the ice and crashed into Varlamov, resulting in an injury that would take him out for the remainder of the game. Jonathan Bernier held things down until the final buzzer.
The next day, the Avs announced that Varlamov would miss the remainder of the regular season with a lower body injury as a result of the play. In addition to Varlamov, defenseman Erik Johnson would out for six weeks due to a fractured non-displaced patella.
The news was certainly a tough pill to swallow at such a late stage of the season. St. Louis had one extra game to play as the season wound down, putting additional pressure on the Avs to perform at their best. They responded in lackluster fashion, losing their next three games to set up the win-and-get-in scenario on home ice against St. Louis.
For their part, St. Louis was equally inept, losing three straight games as well. They managed to eke out one final win against Chicago before flying to Denver for the Game 82 showdown.
Of course, the Avs managed to overcome a potential blurst-worthy collapse and squeaked into the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in four years. Despite bowing out in six games to Nashville, one can’t help but wonder how they would have fared against them with both a healthy Varlamov and Johnson in the mix.
2018-2019
The Best: Love at First Shot (April 15, 2019)
Out to build upon last season’s accomplishments, the Avs sought their second consecutive playoff berth, a feat that they hadn’t accomplished since 2006. Unlike last year, they didn’t wait for last-minute heroics to punch their ticket to the postseason; an overtime goal by Erik Johnson against the Winnipeg Jets on April 4 at Pepsi Center got the job done.
The Avs drew the Western Conference-leading Calgary Flames as their first round opponent. The Avs split the first two games at Scotiabank Saddledome, and returned home for Game Three with an opportunity to take the lead in the series.
Rumors had been swirling that prized defensive prospect and reigning Hobey Baker winner Cale Makar, whom the Avs drafted fourth overall in 2017, would sign with the Avs once UMass had been eliminated from the NCAA Frozen Four, which had been underway as the playoffs began. As the saying goes, where there’s smoke, there’s fire: Makar signed with the Avs the day after UMass had been eliminated, clearing the way for him to join the team in time for Game Three.
The buzz inside Pepsi Center was palpable as fans waited for their first glimpse of Makar in burgundy and blue. The entire crowd was on their feet as the Avs took pregame warm-ups, laser focused on Makar wearing his now-trademark number 8.
Head coach Jared Bednar didn’t throw Makar into the mix right away. Only after Nathan MacKinnon scored back to back goals to give the Avs a 2-0 lead did he decide to test the waters with Makar.
His patience was rewarded quickly: on his first shift, Makar trailed MacKinnon into the Calgary zone, and after getting the puck from MacKinnon, he flung it towards Calgary goaltender Mike Smith. The puck zipped between Smith’s pads, giving the Avs a 3-0 lead, and marking Makar’s first career goal in the NHL.
Makar was immediately mobbed by Gabe Landeskog, along with MacKinnon, Alex Kerfoot, and Tyson Barrie.
Being in the crowd for that game, I remember being in complete awe as Makar skated into the zone and fired that shot past Smith. The crowd erupted into a frenzy and my jaw fell open at what I just witnessed. After that play, I knew that Makar was really going to be something special.
The Avs would win Game Three by a score of 6-2. Makar’s goal wound up being the game-winner.
Two more victories followed, and for the first time since 2008, the Avs would advance to the second round.
Scoring your first goal with your first shot during your first shift in your first game and it’s the game-winner? Not a bad bit of business.
Indisputably, the best business of the season.
The Blurst: Shark Sandwich (May 08, 2019)
After extinguishing the Flames in the first round, the Avs would face the San Jose Sharks in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. This marked the fifth playoff series between both clubs, and the first time since 2010 that they would meet in the postseason.
Both teams traded victories throughout the series, and Gabe Landeskog’s overtime goal in Game Six would set up the winner-take-all Game Seven back at the Shark Tank.
San Jose would stake a two-goal lead in the first period, but Mikko Rantanen would get the Avs on the board just before intermission. Near the halfway point of regulation, Derrick Brassard knocked the puck away from Sharks forward Barclay Goodrow. Nathan MacKinnon swooped in to gather the the puck and raced down the near boards. His pass found a wide open Colin Wilson, who beat Martin Jones for the game-tying goal.
Or did he?
San Jose head coach Pete DeBoer challenged the call for offside. After the play was reviewed, the officials determined that Landeskog, who was in the San Jose zone prior to MacKinnon’s zone entry, was offside despite the fact that he was heading off the ice as part of a line change. The goal was overturned, and the Avs bench was livid.
Minutes later, San Jose defenseman Brent Burns fired the puck towards the far corner in the Avs zone, where teammate Joonas Donskoi collected it, skated around the back of the Avs goal uncontested, and fired the puck to the left of goaltender Phillipp Grubauer to restore the Sharks’ two goal lead.
In a matter of minutes, the Avs went from being on even footing with San Jose to trailing by a two goal margin.
The Avs fought valiantly, and despite a goal from Tyson Jost early in the third period giving them some hope, they couldn’t find the equalizer (again). They would fall in Game Seven by a 3-2 final score, their playoff dreams once again at an end.
If not for that sequence, and the resulting offside call, this series could have a different outcome for the Avs. Unfortunately, this blurst ensured that it didn’t.
2019-2020
The Best: Nazem Kadri’s Last-Second Heroics Seal the Deal Against St. Louis (August 02, 2020)
In March, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the NHL to suspend the season. Five months later, the NHL rolled out a carefully-controlled playoff format, where the Western Conference teams would play in a playoff “bubble” at Rogers Arena in Edmonton, while the Eastern Conference teams would do the same at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
A play-in round, followed by a short round-robin series of games, determined seeding. In their first round-robin qualifier, the Avs would face the St. Louis Blues in a rematch reminiscent of their regular season finale two years earlier.
David Perron opened the scoring on a first period power play goal for St. Louis. The Avs peppered goaltender Jordan Binnington through the first two periods, but they couldn’t break through.
Early in the third period, St. Louis defenseman Colton Parayko wound up for a shot on Avs goalie Philipp Grubauer, but his botched shot attempt was intercepted by Mikko Rantanen. He carried the puck into the St. Louis zone and passed it over to a wide open Ryan Graves. Graves fanned on his first shot attempt, but made his second one count as he sent the puck past Binnington to tie the game.
The Avs continued their siege of Binnington, but he turned aside everything that came his way. With Alex Steen in the box near the end of regulation, a shot from Gabe Landeskog bounced off the near post. A wide open Nazem Kadri swooped towards the puck and fired it into the net past Binnington as time expired.
As Kadri and the Avs celebrated the goal, the play was reviewed to determine if the puck entered the goal before time expired. Upon further review, the puck crossed the goal line at 0.1 seconds, securing a 2-1 victory for the Avs.
This game had all the drama and excitement of a Stanley Cup playoff game, even if it was a qualifying match. In the uncertain landscape created by COVID, being able to experience the joy of hockey felt almost…normal, if only for a few minutes.
The Blurst: Cale Cuts Down His Captain (September 02, 2020)
It still might be a little too soon for this one.
With the Avs trailing 3-2 in their second round series to the Dallas Stars, Game Six was nothing short of a must-win. As the second period wound down, Gabe Landeskog was preparing to chase down the puck in the Avs zone alongside Andrew Cogliano, who had been playing for Dallas at the time.
As both men skated away from the corner, Cale Makar, who was down on the ice, swung his left leg back as he attempted to regain his footing. His skate blade sliced through Landeskog’s kneepad, giving him a deep cut at the top of his knee. Landeskog stumbled to the ice momentarily, then recognized something was very wrong. He immediately skated to the Avs bench and hobbled his way down the dressing room.
The Avs went on to win Game Six by a 4-1 margin, but were unable to close out the series in Game Seven. In Game Seven, the Avs turned to goaltender Michael Hutchinson once more after backstopping the Avs to two consecutive wins. Landeskog was deemed unfit to play, and an overtime goal from Joel Kiviranta completed the hat trick for the fresh-faced rookie, ensuring yet another Game Seven victory for Dallas, this one by a score of 5-4.
Landeskog would return for the beginning of the 2020-2021 season, seemingly no worse for the wear.
As it would turn out, Landeskog’s injury was more than just a mere flesh wound.
Was there a best (or blurst) from these five years of Avalanche hockey that was overlooked? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
The Chicago Blackhawks made a huge trade before the draft, acquiring defenseman Bowen Byram from the Buffalo Sabres. In the deal, the Blackhawks sent picks 4 and 45 in the 2026 NHL Draft, along with defenseman Louis Crevier.
Forward Jordan Greenway was also part of the package, coming to Chicago alongside Byram. Greenway is not someone who will move the needle for the Blackhawks, but he can be a solid 4th-line player if he remains healthy for the bulk of the 2026-27 season.
Greenway only played in 40 games for Buffalo last year, and he has mostly dealt with injury trouble for his entire career. If the Blackhawks can get 50 games out of him, however, it would be a win as he could rotate in and out with other bottom-six forwards.
Other players like Cole Smith, Sacha Boisvert, Ryan Greene, and AJ Spellacy will all likely get playing time on the fourth line alongside Greenway, which is a nice mix of skilled skaters who can forecheck, move well, and just be overall hard to play against.
Greenway was the second-round pick (50th overall) by the Minnesota Wild in the 2015 NHL Draft before he was traded to Buffalo in March of 2023. Although injuries have plagued him, as mentioned before, he has shown the ability to create chaos in an NHL bottom six.
One of the knocks on the Blackhawks over the last few seasons has been that they are “soft” or “easy to play against”. Part of that has been their youth, but it has also been due to a lack of physical players on the roster.
Well, Jordan Greenway will help with that when he’s in the lineup. If he could find a way to play 80% of the games or more, he may even show some skill from time to time.
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The Canmore native has signed with the Calgary Wranglers for the 2026-27 American Hockey League season, ending his one-year stint in Sweden and bringing the veteran centre back into the Calgary Flames organization.
RMO's Shreejit Shelar was first to report.
The move marks a homecoming for Philp, who spent last season with Färjestad BK after signing with the Swedish club during his honeymoon in Italy. The opportunity gave the 30-year-old his first chance to experience European hockey after spending the bulk of his professional career in North America.
Now, after fulfilling a long-standing goal of playing overseas, Philp has elected to return closer to home as he and his wife, Jaycee, prepare for the next stage of their lives.
A return to Alberta also reunites Philp with an organization he knows well. He began his professional career in the Flames system when the club's AHL affiliate was based in Stockton, California, before later spending time with the Chicago Blackhawks and Washington Capitals organizations.
His familiarity with Calgary's management group and the opportunity to rejoin the organization made the Wranglers a natural landing spot once discussions about a return to North America began.
Philp's path back to the Wranglers has been anything but conventional.
Raised in Canmore, he developed through the local minor hockey system before continuing his progression in Cochrane, Airdrie and Drumheller. He later returned home to suit up for the Canmore Eagles before embarking on a four-year Western Hockey League career with the Kootenay Ice and Red Deer Rebels.
After three seasons at the University of Alberta, Philp turned professional and established himself as a dependable AHL forward. He also reached the NHL during the 2022-23 season, making his debut with the Chicago Blackhawks.
His lone season in Sweden offered a different style of hockey than he had grown accustomed to in North America. The larger international ice surface placed a greater emphasis on skating, puck possession and creating space, contrasting with the faster, more physical transition game typically played in the AHL and NHL.
Philp is expected to relocate to Calgary ahead of Wranglers training camp.
Now that Kent Hughes has put pen to paper with Kirby Dach, the Montreal Canadiens only have two remaining RFAs to sign: Zachary Bolduc and Arber Xhekaj. In a recent article in La Presse, Guillaume Lefrançois reports that both a two-year bridge deal and a long-term (five years) contract have been discussed so far for the promising forward.
Speaking to La Presse, Bolduc indicated that he’s not worried about the negotiations and is confident the matter will be settled in the coming days or weeks. In the meantime, he keeps busy helping friends with their hockey schools or, like on Friday, attending FlexWork’s camp, making kids’ day as a guest. He recalls his own experiences as a kid, meeting NHLers like Philip Danault and Michael Bournival at his hockey camps and enjoying the experience.
It will be interesting to see whether Bolduc’s new deal will be a bridge or a long-term deal. Considering he’s only played two full NHL seasons and a single one with the Canadiens, he still has a lot to show, and it definitely feels like he hasn’t reached his ceiling. In his first full season with the St. Louis Blues, he scored 19 goals in 72 games, showing he has a scoring touch. However, he could only get 12 with the Habs last season.
Given his lack of top power-play unit opportunities and the need to adapt to a new team and system, that’s not surprising. In the playoffs, he also showed he could bring much-needed physicality to the lineup, but he ended up playing on the fourth line's wing.
Have the Canadiens seen enough to make a long-term commitment to the player at a cap hit that will feel appropriate to both parties? It remains to be seen. Bolduc is coming off a 12-goal, 18-assist season for a total of 30 points, which is the scoring pace Dach was on with 15 points in 37 games. He signed a $3.6M one-year contract with the team; chances are Bolduc’s contract will have a higher cap hit than that. If it’s a bridge deal, it could be somewhere around $4- $4.5 million; for a longer deal, he may be aiming for a deal similar to the one Mavrik Bourque signed with the Nashville Predators at $5.5 million for six years, even though the former Dallas Stars had a more productive season at 41 points in 82 games.
