With the 61st overall pick at the 1991 NHL draft, the Montreal Canadiens drafted left wing Yves Sarault. The Valleyfield, Quebec native wouldn’t make his NHL debut until the 1994-95 season, and he would have very limited success. He played 22 games with the Canadiens across two seasons, and he only managed to pick up one point before he was traded to the Calgary Flames alongside Craig Ferguson for a 1997 eight-round pick who would become Petr Kubos, a right-shot defenseman who played junior hockey in the WHL before returning to Czechia and never coming back.
Meanwhile, Sarault played only 106 NHL games, spent time in the AHL and IHL, and played several seasons overseas in Switzerland, Germany, and Austria before wrapping it up in the LNAH. When he played for the Grand Rapids Griffins of the IHL in 1999, his better half gave birth to a little girl, whom they named Courtney. In 2022, she competed in her first Olympic Games in Beijing but finished 11th in both individual races and lost two ranks while skating for the relay team, which led to Canada failing to make the podium—a heartbreaking experience.
Four years later, while most hockey fans have forgotten Sarault’s name, his daughter has put the family name in the headlines in Milano-Cortina, winning three medals in speed skating. She was part of the mixed team relay, which claimed silver. She then won a bronze medal in the women’s 500m and added a silver medal in the women’s 1000m on Monday.
With three medals, the Moncton, New Brunswick resident may have done enough to be on the country’s shortlist of flagbearers for the closing ceremonies as the Olympics will come to a close on Sunday, February 22.
The Bruins were reportedly in on now Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Rasmus Andersson, but the deal fell through. The Bruins were uninterested in making a deal without an extension, and although they believed Andersson would sign an extension after completing a trade, things changed within a 24-hour span.
Without Andersson, the Bruins have to pivot, and now their sights seem to be set on Faulk.
Similar to the situation with the Red Wings, Faulk would join the Bruins and serve as a top-four defenseman, playing behind Charlie McAvoy as the second-best right-handed defenseman.
Faulk could also quarterback either the first or second power play unit and provide two-way versatility. With 11 goals and 30 points in 57 games, the 33-year-old defenseman would rank second in points and first in goals among Bruins defenseman.
“They have been talking for a while now,” an NHL source close to the situation told RG Media. “Sweeney and Armstrong have been together a lot, and I’m told they’ve talked a lot on Faulk. He fits that void Sweeney’s been trying to fill, and you saw that with the way he went after Andersson before he was traded to Vegas.”
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The two-time NHL All-Star is set to become an unrestricted free agent, which gives him the opportunity to sign with any team.
The Sharks signed Skinner to a one-year, $3 million contract in July, but ultimately, things did not work out for the 16-year NHL veteran in San Jose.
The 33-year-old Skinner played in 32 games this season with the Sharks, tallying six total goals and 13 points with a career-low ice time average of 12:21 per game.
San Jose will look to push for a playoff spot for the remaining 27 games of the 2025-26 NHL season, with the younger forwards such as Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith leading the charge.
The Montreal Canadiens are in a good spot right now. At the time of this writing, they sport a 32-17-8 record and are second in the Atlantic Division with 72 points. With this, they are setting themselves up to be buyers ahead of the 2026 NHL trade deadline.
One of the Canadiens' top needs is another highly skilled center, and they are being connected to one of the NHL's most notable trade candidates because of it.
In part four of The Athletic's NHL trade matchmaker series, NHL insider Chris Johnston predicted that the Canadiens will be the team that acquires Calgary Flames star forward Nazem Kadri.
"Kadri is a competitor who would immediately raise the ceiling in Montreal. While there’s legitimate concern around how well his contract will age, with another three seasons remaining after this one, the fact he would be in favor of a move to the Habs, according to league sources, should bring a measure of comfort. Kadri has a 13-team no-trade list, and Montreal isn’t on it," Johnston wrote.
This is not the first time that the Canadiens have been viewed as a potential landing spot for Kadri, and it is easy to understand why. The Canadiens could use another top-six center, and acquiring Kadri would undoubtedly provide them with just that.
Kadri would also give a rising Canadiens club another good veteran to help mentor their younger players. This could come in handy for the Canadiens, and this is especially so when noting that he has won the Stanley Cup before.
With Kadri having multiple years on his contract, there is no question that he has good trade value. Thus, the Canadiens would need to offer a significant trade package to land him, but it would be worth it if he helps them take that next step as true contenders.
In 56 games this season with the Flames, Kadri has recorded 10 goals, 29 assists, and 39 points.
“That was probably the best team I played on in my time in the NHL.”
As the words flowed from Chris Kelly’s mouth, a measured perspective was offered with a smile, then a pause. It lasted only a brief moment, but to anyone watching, it was easy to see a flood of memories wash over the Boston Bruins’ assistant coach.
It was high praise from a well-respected veteran who went to three finals and won a Stanley Cup.
The Ottawa Senators of the late 1990s and early 2000s were characterized by strong two-way play. Strong two-way play and heartbreak. The kind of unmistakable, soul-sucking anguish that left fans questioning whether their faith in sport will ever be rewarded.
THN's Steve Warne and Gregg Kennedy discuss how the Olympic hockey tournament format could use some work.
The 2005-06 iteration was no different.
Twenty years later, with the Olympic Winter Games ironically being held in Italy again, this is the story of the 2005-06 Ottawa Senators, one of the deepest and most talented teams in franchise history that ultimately fell short of winning hockey’s ultimate prize.
The groundwork for the Senators’ emergence as an Eastern Conference power was laid over the better part of the previous decade. Strong amateur scouting and player development were the hallmarks of a small-market team that had to allocate its limited resources efficiently.
The Senators could not spend at the level of a Detroit, a Toronto, or the New York Rangers to bring in established, expensive, high-end talent, so they relied exclusively on mechanisms to acquire young, cheap talent who also offered the organization years of team control.
Under the tutelage of Jacques Martin, an excellent ‘X’s and O’s’ coach, the Senators' head coach ushered in an era of structure and defensive accountability, preaching a message of taking care of your own end first before creating offence off of it.
Between clinching their first playoff spot in the 82nd game of the 1996-97 season and winning the Presidents' Trophy with 113 points in 2002-03, it always felt like the organization was naturally building towards a championship.
Unfortunately, three agonizing defeats to the provincial rival Maple Leafs were interspersed in between those seven seasons, so that when the heavily favoured Senators bowed out to Toronto in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal, changes had to be made.
The sale of the Senators out of bankruptcy to Eugene Melnyk was finalized in August 2023, and with it brought about a confidence and swagger the organization had never known.
With promises to spend and a penchant for taking public shots at the Toronto market, no owner in Senators history conducted themselves the way that Eugene Melnyk did. Thanks to the sensitivities that naturally form when a city is wedged between two major Canadian markets like Ottawa is, the owner’s bravado and brashness were a welcome change.
A fourth consecutive postseason defeat, though, was unacceptable to Ottawa’s new Toronto-based owner.
The first order of business was to fire Jacques Martin in April. Two months later, they replaced him with Shawville’s Bryan Murray, who resigned from his general manager’s role in Anaheim to come home.
"I wanted very badly to come back to coach," Murray told reporters at the press conference to announce his hiring. "I wanted to come back to a hockey country where hockey meant something. I'm very, very excited.
"Today, there are 10 or 12 teams that think they have a chance to win the Stanley Cup. We have to be one of them. The core is here.”
The core was there, but the hockey was not.
Following the expiration of the NHL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement on September 14, 2004, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman announced two days later that the start of the season would not proceed, pointing to a stalemate in negotiations with the NHLPA.
On February 16, 2005, he announced that the season was formally cancelled.
At the heart of the issue was a dispute between the owners and players regarding how much money the owners were losing and how a large share of the league’s gross revenues was tied to paying player salaries. To address those problems, the owners adamantly demanded the introduction of a hard salary cap, which aligned with their goal of employing a mechanism linking league revenues to player salaries.
Five months later, a new CBA was ratified in late July, announcing the return of NHL hockey. As part of the new agreement, a hard cap was established, with lower and upper limits that teams had to abide by.
Heading into the labour stoppage, fewer teams in the league needed a salary cap more than the Ottawa Senators. The irony is that the introduction of the $39-million cap ceiling may have inadvertently cost the organization its first Stanley Cup.
Few teams in the league boasted as much talent as the Ottawa Senators had, and at least in the first few formative years of Eugene Melnyk’s stewardship of the franchise, there was a willingness and ability to spend on the roster.
The first casualty of the new cap system was Marian Hossa.
The Senators were put into a difficult spot with the talented forward.
“We realized you can only keep so many people with a hard cap,” stated Roy Mlakar, former president and CEO of the Ottawa Senators. “We had so many good young players that were coming to the point where we're going to have to plan for the future, and John Muckler was no rookie, as far as being the general manager was concerned, and having the ability to work alongside Peter Chiarelli, who had tremendous knowledge of the CBA and of the way it was going to work, we knew we had to make some hard decisions.”
During the 2003-04 season, the Senators had a payroll of $39.5 million. Even with the NHL and NHLPA agreeing to a 24 percent salary rollback, which was applied to all existing player contracts for the 2005-06 season, it would still be challenging to fit in more expensive contracts.
As a restricted free agent with arbitration rights, the winger tallied 36 goals and a career-high 82 points during his 2003-04 season while providing strong two-way play.
Marian Hossa was going to get paid.
Hours before Hossa’s arbitration hearing was scheduled to begin, general manager John Muckler signed the winger to a three-year, $18 million contract. A few short hours later, Muckler traded Hossa with defenceman Greg de Vries to the Atlanta Thrashers for Dany Heatley. As part of the trade, the Senators announced that Heatley had inked a three-year, $13.5 million contract of his own.
It was a back-pocket deal that devastated an unsuspecting Hossa.
“The fact of the matter is, Don (Waddell), the general manager of Atlanta was in that hotel (where Hossa’s arbitration hearing was taking place),” explained Mlakar. “He had talked about a (Hossa contract) with John under the terms and conditions that Donnie could deliver Dany Heatley. He agreed to pay the money that John negotiated. We knew the term and Don Waddell accepted it, and when the contract was signed by Hossa, we had a deal. In (Hossa’s) defence, he thought he was coming back to Ottawa on a new deal. But, John Muckler had him traded for Heatley if he could agree to the contract.”
Jan 26, 2008; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Thrashers forward Marian Hossa (18) takes a shot during the accuracy shooting event of the NHL all star skills competition at Philips Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images
For Heatley, Ottawa represented a blank slate.
“It was just a fresh start for me, personally,” admitted Heatley. “I had a lot to prove coming off my situation.”
Weeks earlier, the 24-year-old requested a trade through his agent, Stacey McAlpine. Two years earlier, he was sentenced to three years probation for his involvement in a car accident in September 2003, which claimed the life of teammate Dan Snyder. Heatley suffered an ACL, MCL and meniscus tear to his knee from that accident.
During the lockout, the winger was struck in the face with a puck while playing for HC Bern in the Swiss League. The impact broke an orbital bone in his face, necessitating surgery and ultimately leaving Heatley with a permanently dilated eye.
“There was pressure coming off some injuries that people were questioning,” said Heatley, explaining how he felt pressure to perform upon arriving in Ottawa. “Of course, you're in a Canadian hockey market. You're traded for a pretty good player who did a really good job in Ottawa before he left. There were huge expectations. I had a lot to prove.”
It was the kind of trade that could send shockwaves through a dressing room, but if the lockout had an unanticipated positive impact, it might have mitigated any possible feelings felt by Hossa’s teammates.
“I think the trade was made a little bit easier by the fact that we were coming out of a lockout,” Chris Phillips stated while describing the impacts the trade had on the team. “Some of us were not in the city, and the league wasn't going on. We hadn't played in months, and we weren’t going to play for another few months. So it was not the normal course of business when it happens in-season or during the offseason, when you are connected and know everything that's going on.”
Jan. 1, 2008; Washington, DC, USA; Ottawa Senators left wing Dany Heatley (15) and Washington Capitals left wing Alexander Ovechkin (8) share a moment during the Capitals 6-3 win at Verizon Center in Washington, DC. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
Heatley was not the only significant change to the roster. The other was in goal.
During the 2004 offseason, the Senators signed Dominik Hasek to a one-year, $2-million deal that included an option. Ottawa’s underlying talent allured the goaltender.
“I was motivated, above all, by how good that team was in Ottawa,” Hasek explained. “I also felt that with my performances, I could help them win the Stanley Cup.”
The then 39-year-old had already amassed a Hall of Fame resume, winning a Stanley Cup, the Hart Trophy and six Vezina Trophies.
Ottawa also represented an opportunity to reunite with John Muckler, the former general manager of the Buffalo Sabres, with whom Hasek enjoyed success during his tenure there.
“Of course, he played a big role,” stated Hasek. “(Muckler) knew me very well, not only as a goalie, but also as a person. We had a very good relationship from our time in Buffalo.”
Although the lockout meant that Hasek would return to play as a 40-year-old, together with Dany Heatley, the pair of newcomers brought something observers believed the Senators lacked.
Swagger.
“It was pretty awesome when (Hasek) came to town,” said Wade Redden, recalling the excitement he had at the time. “Everyone was so excited and pumped. Obviously, we'd seen lots of him from his days in Buffalo and been on the wrong side of his games. But it was exciting. We had a really good team, and then to add a guy like that. It was like, ‘Okay, let's do this. Let's go!’”
“If you actually think about it, who are you going to get for Marian Hossa?” asked veteran centre Bryan Smolinski. “You get Dany Heatley, an unbelievable personality who came into the room and walked with swagger coming from Atlanta, because he was a goal scorer. He walked in and made his presence known just by how he worked, how he practiced, and his love of being with the guys.”
“(Heatley) had a confidence to him that I think was good for our group,” stated Redden. “He just had a swagger, and he was a perfect fit to play with Spez, too, who loved passing, and Heater loved shooting everything. I can’t remember if it was early in the year or at the end of training camp, but a Toronto fan came up to him at the bar and bought him a drink. He mentioned something about the Leafs, and Heatley took it and threw it in the corner, and said, ‘We’re going to go 8 and 0 against them.’ That was a funny story, but he just had that confidence and swagger that fit in great with our group. He was a big piece for us.”
“Yeah, I won't deny that,” Heatley responded. “But, I'm not going to comment further.”
The Senators would only win seven of their eight games against the Leafs that season, but that confidence bled into the group.
“I think we had more of a group swagger or confidence than any individual,” stated Heatley, while downplaying the confidence he brought to the group. “We fed off each other. We fed off each other's confidence more than we did our own. That's how I felt. I felt confident being on the ice with anybody. You felt confident that those guys were going to do their job, and they were confident players as well.
“It was more of a group confidence in swagger. We were a tight group. When we were on the road, we'd all go to dinner together a lot. It was fun to be a part of. There were times when you'd be driving to the rink, and as a scorer, you know you're going to get, like, four or five good looks. That doesn't happen very often with teams.”
When the 2005-06 Senators arrived at the rink, it was never a question of whether they could win; it was a matter of asking by how much.
But, to get to that point, the Senators needed the right person pulling the strings, and that individual was Bryan Murray.
The 63-year-old Shawville native was overseas at the World Championships in Prague when he learned from the Disney Company, owners of the Ducks, that the Ottawa Senators had called wanting permission to talk to Murray about their vacant head coaching position.
When he debated the merits of the job, he obviously understood how talented the assembled group in Ottawa was.
The core of the 2002-03 Presidents' Trophy team was still in place, and strong amateur scouting had put the team in a great position. The draft produced 15 players who appeared in 30 or more games for the Senators in 2005-06, including seven first-round picks.
Several other first-round selections like Alexei Yashin, Marian Hossa, and Jakub Klepis were used as trade capital to land Jason Spezza and Zdeno Chara, Dany Heatley, and Vaclav Varada, respectively. Coupled with the fact that the lockout allowed the Senators to play and develop many prospects during the work stoppage, who they had designs on being NHL regulars at the resumption of NHL play, it put the organization in a really advantageous spot.
Talent notwithstanding, the Senators’ head coaching position offered an unmistakable element that could not be addressed elsewhere.
“There’s a sense of pride,” Murray told Chris Stevenson, author of 100 Things Senators Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die. “I’m the coach of the local NHL team. I know there will be days when you don’t win a hockey game, when you will be analyzed and criticized. That’s part of our game. There’s a chance here for a real sense of pride for the whole area if this team could ever be a champion.”
It certainly helped that Murray had a strong resume to call on.
Before arriving in Ottawa, Murray was the seventh-winningest head coach in NHL history.
“He was just a great human being,” described Heatley. “Bryan was an old school guy, and obviously a local Ottawa guy. He knew a lot of things about the league and the game, but he was definitely a player's coach, an old school players' coach. He would jump, and he'd make fun, but he was serious about winning and hockey, and I really enjoyed it.
"He treated you like a man. He treated the team like men and just let us do our thing. If something needed to be said, he would say it, but for the most part, he knew how to manage our group. We had some guys that obviously accomplished things, some veterans and some young guys, but he managed us really well.”
The contrast between Jacques Martin and Murray was readily apparent.
“Bryan was different, definitely compared to Jacques,” emphasized Martin Havlat. “He would give his offensive players more freedom. When he got to the team (after the lockout), we had so many great players. It was so much fun for him.”
“It was two different styles,” echoed Chris Neil. “Bryan inherited a team that was well-structured and well-coached on the defensive side of the puck, and Bryan gave us a little more leeway to be more offensive, with a harder forecheck, which paid dividends for me and my game. I love being physical, getting in on the forecheck. Bryan loved it. They'd flush guys out behind the net, and I could catch them in the trolley tracks. He opened up for the offensive horses, but we still had that defensive mindset in our own end, which Bryan inherited from Jacques.
One of the best decisions Murray made occurred in the preseason.
After scoring six goals in seven preseason games, the unheralded Brandon Bochenski was making a name for himself. Born in Blaine, Minnesota, Bochenski was Ottawa’s seventh-round pick (223rd overall) from the 2001 NHL Draft. He followed up an impressive three-year collegiate career at the University of North Dakota by recording 34 goals and 70 points in his first professional season during the lockout in Binghamton.
Bochenski was one of eight Binghamton products who were looking to make the jump from the AHL to Ottawa’s lineup as regulars. During the preseason, he looked comfortable riding shotgun on a line with Heatley and Spezza. Bochenski benefited directly from the organization's effort to build chemistry between Spezza and Heatley by playing them together as much as possible.
Spezza (3 goals, 16 points) and Heatley (six goals, 15 points) finished the preseason as the first and second-highest scorers. Bochenski would open the season on the Senators' roster, but it was Murray’s decision to use Alfredsson in certain situations during the preseason that would pay dividends.
In the season opener and his team trailing in the third period, Alfredsson replaced Bochenski on the team’s top line and scored twice in the final frame, with Heatley assisting on Alfredsson's second goal, to send the game to overtime. Overtime failed to produce a goal, so the game proceeded to the first shootout in NHL history, where Alfredsson recorded the first goal, and Heatley got the shootout winner.
That initial success carried over to the next few games, leading to the infamous ‘Pizza Line’ moniker.
At the time, the Senators had a sponsorship deal with Pizza Pizza wherein if the Senators scored five or more goals in a home game during the regular season, ticket holders would be entitled to a free slice of pizza. After the Senators surpassed that threshold in each of the team’s first three home games, the pizza chain moved quickly to alter the conditions of the giveaway, raising the required goal total from five to six.
From the preseason to the regular season, the goals and points kept coming for Heatley.
Heatley would put up 17 goals and 38 points in the Senators’ first 22 games. It represented the second-longest point streak to begin a career with a new team in NHL history, trailing only Wayne Gretzky’s 23-game mark with the Los Angeles Kings.
It was a stretch of greatness that we may never witness again.
The Senators’ record during Heatley’s 22-game point streak was a resounding 19-3-0. It still stands as the greatest start to a season in franchise history.
During this span, Jason Spezza led the NHL in scoring with 11 goals and 41 points, while Daniel Alfredsson was second with 20 goals and 40 points. As a team, the Senators scored 102 goals while allowing 45, averaging 4.64 goals and 2.05 goals against per game.
They were a wagon.
Nov 8, 2006; Atlanta, GA, USA; Ottawa Senators forward (19) Jason Spezza forward (15) Dany Heatley and forward (11) Daniel Alfredsson have a discussion prior to a face off against the Atlanta Thrashers in the first period at Philips Arena. The Thrashers defeated the Senators 5 to 4. Mandatory Credit: Photo by Dale Zanine Imagn Images Copyright (c) 2006 Dale Zanine
“We never talked about how well we were playing,” Spezza recalled. “One of the things that I liked, that Bryan Murray always talked to me about, was that as long as the three of us were going to play together, we could never complain about secondary scoring or worry about getting help from the lineup. If we were going to play together, we had to produce. And if we were going to be a line, then we had to drive the offence.
"I thought it was a great coaching job by him, because often you hear when teams go through struggles, they lean on secondary scoring. He right away, kind of squashed that and said, ‘All right, if we're going to play you guys together, you have to carry the load of it.’ It put a good pressure on us and also an expectation that we were fortunate to get a chance to play together. We never talked about it, but we knew our roles and responsibilities. If we didn't win our matchups every night, we probably wouldn't win games. And we went into every game thinking we had to win our matchup with whoever we were playing against.”
The ‘Pizza Line’ never had to worry about secondary scoring because it showed up in droves.
The Senators' offence was bolstered by the combination of Peter Schaefer, Bryan Smolinski and Martin Havlat. Mike Fisher and Chris Neil provided a mix of physicality and secondary scoring, while Antoine Vermette immediately brought speed and two-way aptitude to the group. The fourth line of Vaclav Varada, Chris Kelly and Brian McGrattan played reliably while offering a layer of physicality and pugilism that head coach Bryan Murray believed in.
It is not often that a rookie centre tallies 10 goals and 30 points while playing exclusively in a fourth line capacity, but that was exactly what happened to Chris Kelly.
“I think a lot of times, because we got up so much, that I probably got more ice time than most fourth line guys normally do,” said Kelly as he described reasons for his unlikely production. “We played Toronto eight times that year, and my first NHL goal was in Toronto. I think it was our seventh goal, and I couldn't even celebrate it. But it was fun being on that team. I got more ice time than most fourth line guys would have because of our offence.”
Ten players on the Senators scored 15-plus goals that season and likely would have had more had Martin Havlat not been suspended for kicking Hal Gill during the October 15th game against Boston. In the second period with Havlat below the goal line, the Bruins defenceman pinned the Senators forward’s back to the Boston goal.
“Kicking was the only option I had left,” Havlat explained. “I was trying to defend myself. The only part of me that was free was my foot that was hanging there. I wasn’t penalized on the play, but I got suspended, and nobody was really happy about that. I got a five-game suspension, actually, because it wasn't the first time.”
In his return game, Havlat popped off, recording a four-goal performance against the Buffalo Sabres. The only thing more impressive than ‘Mach-9’s’ offence was captain Daniel Alfredsson’s third period hat trick that allowed him to finish with four goals and six points in the Senators’ 10-4 win.
“Alfie had to catch up in the last period,” recalled Havlat while laughing about his team’s performance. “He stole the show at the end, but we scored 10 goals. It was a special night for me, after the suspension, and I was so serious that game. Everything I touched went in, but then I got hurt against Montreal, and everything changed.”
In that November 29th game against the Canadiens, Havlat suffered a separated shoulder. It was an injury that would require surgery, putting the rest of his season in doubt.
After scoring 31 goals and 68 points, Havlat was expected to shoulder that secondary scoring burden, but his injury afforded the organization the opportunity to elevate another rookie, Patrick Eaves, to absorb some of Havlat’s minutes. The winger would go on to become the fourth player in franchise history to record 20-plus goals as a rookie.
“It was at the point as a franchise that is hard to get to,” said Spezza, the team’s number one centre. “We had a young fourth line. And our third and fourth line guys had the capability to be more, and they all became more. Antoine Vermette became more. (Kelly) became more.
"Our depth was just incredible. It was a four-line team playing in an era where not as many teams were that deep. We definitely felt going into every game that we were going to win. To get that kind of swagger, you have to earn it, but by being a young team, we were probably a little bit naive about things, and it worked in our favour.”
“We had very high swagger,” Bryan Smolinksi acknowledged. “We knew in our locker room; I don't think many others realized that we had four lines. We had a very good (blue line), and we played a heavy game, like we weren't going to get pushed around. We had a legit heavyweight in Brian McGrattan, but we had team toughness. And I think everyone realized that, you know, throughout the year. And that was one thing that we really took to heart. The knock was that Ottawa was easy to push around. If you just beat us up a little bit, we were going to cave. We took that perception and tried to be really tough throughout the year with physicality and speed. There were not a lot of teams that could play with us.”
The Senators strived towards team toughness, but it was a game in late October that helped set the tone.
Senators rookie Brian McGrattan was nine games into his NHL career when he faced the Maple Leafs on October 29th. It was the third meeting of the season between the Senators and Maple Leafs, with the first two decided by shootout. The scores in those games were too close for there to be much on-ice acrimony, but with Ottawa staked to a 4-0 lead in the early stages of the second period, an aging Tie Domi challenged the young McGrattan to fight.
One right hand and Gene Simmons-like tongue protrusion later, McGrattan single-handedly let everyone know there was a changing of the guard in the Battle of Ontario. After those years of bullying, it was like a weight had been lifted. All of Ottawa channelled years of frustration through McGrattan’s one haymaker into a moment of pure cathartic bliss.
“It was another defining moment,” said Wade Redden, while recalling the fight. “It was a key moment, organically, that you look back on that kind of gives everyone a sense of belief of, ‘Here we are.’”
“At the time, I was still living at the hotel,” McGrattan told the hosts of the Coming in Hot Podcast. “That fight was somewhere within my first 10 games, and that's the moment that maybe cemented my role. With the rivalry that the teams had leading up to that, the team they had in Toronto, and how soft those Sens teams were. The Sens teams were better, but they were way softer. Just beating Tie there, and it was a pretty decisive win on the scoresheet, too. We beat them either seven or eight to nothing, and then I beat Tie.
"I grew up a die hard Leaf fan, and Tie Domi was one of my favourite Leafs. Being able to fight him and Toronto being my childhood team, and it was a pretty decisive win, which made it better. Fighting is not all about winning or losing, but when you beat a guy of Tie’s stature and the history he's had, it's a pretty big moment for our team and the Ottawa organization, knowing that they were not going to get pushed around.”
The Senators were not pushed around through their first 56 games, cruising to a 37-14-5 record. Not only were they the league's highest-scoring team with 221 goals, but they also allowed the fewest with 133.
A microcosm of the Senators’ dominance was a game in late January against the Montreal Canadiens. Ottawa dictated the play for the entire night, but their puck possession in the second period led to five consecutive penalties to the Canadiens. The Senators’ power play made them pay, with Daniel Alfredsson scoring two goals on the man advantage. By the time the final horn sounded, the Senators held a massive advantage in shots on goal, directing 40 shots at Cristobal Huet, to the Canadiens’ 12.
That mark still stands as a Canadiens' record for fewest shots in a game.
“What can I say about tonight’s shutout?” Dominik Hasek quipped after the game. “It was the easiest shutout I’ve ever had in the NHL. I think I’m embarrassed to get a shutout like that.”
It was the kind of moxie and swagger that the Senators were looking to cultivate, but one month later, that positivity hit a speed bump when Hasek got injured at the Olympics in Turin, Italy...
Coming soon: Part two of The Rise And Fall Of One Of The Greatest Teams In Senators History
MILAN, ITALY - FEBRUARY 15: (EDITOR'S NOTE: Image was captured using a static remote camera behind the goal.) Players of Team Canada and Team France shake hands after the Men's Preliminary Group A match between Canada and France on day nine of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic games at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena on February 15, 2026 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) | Getty Images
It’s do-or-die time in Milan as the Olympic Men’s ice hockey tournament enters the knockout stages of competition, beginning today with four games that will set the Quarterfinal round set to take place on Wednesday. Thus far, Canada, The United States, Slovakia, and Finland have booked places in the quarters based on their performances in the group play. That leaves the remaining eight sides to battle it out in a playoff round to sort out the other four quarterfinalists.
Play begins on Tuesday at 6:10 AM EST with Germany v. France and Switzerland v. Italy. Then it’s Czechia v. Denmark at 10:40 AM EST before Sweden v. Latvia wraps up the day at 3:40 PM EST.
Pens Points…
Three of the Penguins Olympic representatives will be in action on Tuesday, all looking to keep their medal hopes alive and advance to the quarterfinals. Erik Karlsson and Rickard Rakell hope to keep Sweden in contention and set up a showdown with the United States while going up against Arturs Silovs and Latvia. [Pensburgh]
The last time we saw the Pittsburgh Penguins in action, Avery Hayes was making his NHL debut and scoring two big goals in a game against the Buffalo Sabres. Hayes was sent back to the AHL for the Olympic break, but his stay back in the minors may only be temporary. [Pensburgh]
Ville Koivunen has spent time between the AHL and NHL this season as his development continues to progress. Right now he’s in Wilkes-Barre and tearing up the league with 13 points in his last nine games as he helps the Baby Penguins battle for a playoff bye in the standings. [The Hockey News]
In a classic Kyle Dubas move, the Penguins bought (relatively) low on former first round draft pick Egor Chinakhov who was looking for a change of scenery away from Columbus. Since coming to PIttsburgh, Chinakhov has looked every bit of a former first round selection. [The Hockey News]
Another potential Dubas reclamation project came in the form of defenseman Ilya Solovyov, acquired from the Colorado Avalanche in January. After being scratched his first three games after the trade, Solovyov has worked his way into the lineup and is hoping his spot becomes permanent. [Trib Live]
If the Penguins are going to be making move at the trade deadline, it seems the most likely assests they are willing to part with are draft picks, just not their 2026 first round pick unless they are blown away. Given their position in the standings, it seems unlikely any players are on the block. [The Athletic $$]
NHL News and Notes…
Brandon Bussi has been a breakout star for the Carolina Hurricanes this season and they aren’t letting him get away. On Monday, the Hurricanes and Bussi agreed to a three-year contract extension that will keep the former waiver wire pickup in Raleigh long term. [Sportsnet]
Jeff Skinner will be looking for a new home once the NHL resumes play next week. Skinner and the San Jose Sharks have agreed to part ways as the forward was placed on waivers for the purpose of having his contract terminated, making him a free agent. [The Hockey News]
Not that there was much doubt coming into the Olympics, but the United States and Canada will face-off for gold in the women’s tournament after both sides won their respective semifinal contests on Monday. The gold medal game is scheduled for Thursday at 1:10 PM EST. [Yahoo!]
The Philadelphia Flyers may not have the center prospect they thought they did in Jett Luchanko, but that isn't a bad thing.
Since Day 1, Luchanko's skillset and developmental trajectory have been superimposed with those of Zeev Buium, the uber-talented but slight defenseman who was dealt by Minnesota to Vancouver in the Quinn Hughes trade.
The Flyers, of course, could have had Buium, but opted to trade down one spot, acquire a third-round pick, and select Luchanko instead.
Just under two years later, though, the 19-year-old Luchanko has not quite yet made the strides indicative of a future top-six center at the NHL level. There is, however, hope that he could contribute to the top of the lineup in other ways.
After joining the Brantford Bulldogs via trade, Luchanko wasn't exactly blowing the doors off and was quickly buried on the depth chart behind Seattle Kraken prospect Jake O'Brien, the 2025 No. 9 overall pick, and Caleb Malhotra, a top 2026 draft prospect.
But, in the last four games, Luchanko had moved from third line center to first line right wing, flanking O'Brien and 2024 draft classmate Marek Vanacker.
The 5-foot-11 speedster has recorded two goals, six assists, and eight points, racked up a +6 rating, and added 14 shots on goal.
On the season, Luchanko now has 38 points in 33 games, and that eight-point outburst at right wing accounts for 21% of his offensive production this year.
Instead of burying a talented player and pigeonholing him into a bottom-six role, Bulldogs head coach Jay McKee, a former teammate of Flyers GM Danny Briere's and a finalist for the head coaching position that went to Rick Tocchet, took a risk and got rewarded.
McKee, Luchanko, and the Bulldogs snapped a two-game losing streak following the position change, and are now winners of four straight on the strength of 17 goals scored across that span.
As it relates to the Flyers, does moving Luchanko to right wing help the rebuild along? No, not really, but it has its merits.
The hallmarks of the 2024 No. 13 overall pick's game are his speed, playmaking, and attention to detail.
It's undoubtedly an asset, too, that Luchanko can play center and win faceoffs doing it; he's 28/58 in his fledgling NHL career (48.3%) and was 11/21 in four games under Tocchet and the Flyers this season (52.4%).
If Luchanko's best offensive hockey comes from playing on the wing, the Flyers ought to roll with it.
We know now that Christian Dvorak has played that hybrid center/wing role paired with Trevor Zegras, but in the future, a hypothetical version of Luchanko could add tons of surplus value in Dvorak's place with his vision and passing and legs in transition.
Dvorak is a solid player, to be clear, and the Flyers need centers, but this is a "puzzle," as Tocchet would call it, and Dvorak lacks the plus traits Luchanko possesses.
Unless Zegras ends up staying at center and sticks, the Flyers cannot say they have any of their center positions sorted for the future, as it's all in flux.
Another way to put it: Zegras plus Luchanko equals one whole center, and maybe a first-line caliber one at that. The talent is there, but the end product is king in the NHL.
The Flyers have three first-round picks in the next two drafts to find at least one more center to complement Luchanko, Zegras, and perhaps Jack Nesbitt and Jack Berglund, as well as a No. 1 defenseman.
Briere and Co. have their work cut out for them still, especially after this latest development with Luchanko, but it's best to make lemonade with the lemons they've been given.
Before the game, Marleau was sporting a shiner he presumably received in a recent game with the Dukes. The 6-foot-1 center was invited to the San Jose Sharks' development camp last summer, where his father served as a coach. The jump to major junior should no doubt help the player carve out his own career.
Given that Patrick is just 46 and suited up with the Leafs as recently as seven years ago, seeing Landon suit up has made many Leafs fans feel the passage of time. Speaking of Landon, the player has 21 goals and 18 assists in 36 games with the Dukes, certainly earning the call-up. Given his massive improvement over last year with the Powell River Kings of the BCHL, there's new debate as to whether or not Landon can forge a path to the NHL and establish a legacy outside of his father's accomplishments.
After the game, Landon spoke to Fronts' team website about the experience, playing his first game against the of the best teams in the OHL in the Bulldogs.
"I thought we played decently. I think there were some time periods where we were struggling, but I think that we came out with a bit of a push decently," Marleay said. "So it wasn't totally bad, but it's definitely a different game compared to the OJ (OJHL), like just all around."
I thought we played decently. I think there were some time periods where we were struggling, but I think that we came out with a bit of a push decently. So it wasn't totally bad, but it's definitely a different game compared to the OJ, like just all around.
Every path to the NHL is unique, and perhaps Landon will find his way. However, it could be a while yet. If he does make it, imagine how old you will feel then.
The elder Marleau originally signed a three-year, $18.75 million contract with the Leafs as a 38-year-old back in 2017. He was later traded to the Carolina Hurricanes in the summer of 2019 as a salary dump. The Leafs traded a first-round pick to the Hurricanes along with Marleau, who was subsequently bought out of the final year of his deal. The Hurricanes eventually selected forward Seth Jarvis with the pick acquired from Toronto.
Four years ago, Juraj Slafkovsky established himself as a dominant force on the international stage, earning the MVP title of the Beijing Olympics hockey tournament. The teenager scored seven goals in as many games as he led Slovakia to a first medal in men’s hockey, the Bronze one. That performance caught the Montreal Canadiens’ eye, and they decided to use the first-overall pick of the 2022 draft on the youngster.
In the run-up to this year’s Olympics, we heard it would be different because the competition would be much better with NHLers being able to take part this time around, but Slafkovsky has been just as dominant, if not more. On the latest edition of the 32 Thoughts podcast, Elliotte Friedman summarized it nicely in this way:
If you’re a Montreal Canadiens fan, your nipples have to be erect, seeing how well Juraj Slafkovsky is doing (at the Olympics).
We’ve said time and time again that the future was bright in Montreal, but we’re slowly starting to see that future come into place, and Slafkovsky’s awakening this season has been one of the best stories in town. Not everyone noticed, though, but now that he’s taking center stage at the Olympics, more people are taking notice.
Former NHLer and Slovak player Marian Gaborik was the highest selected Slovak at the NHL draft until Slafkovsky was claimed first overall by the Canadiens, and he’s one of those who’s been paying attention. The Minnesota Wild draft pick at the 2000 draft played 1035 games in the NHL and gathered 815 points, and he’s spending the Olympics commentating on Slovakia’s games on TV.
Juraj is more mature as a player. We see him accomplishing big things on the Olympic ice. He didn’t have that confidence last year or during his other seasons in Montreal. Four years ago in Beijing, he was dominant for Slovakia with seven goals, but he didn’t play such a complete game. Now, he works as part of a team, he controls the puck, he plays well defensively, and he’s skating with intensity to get back to the bench. He keeps his cool when he’s hit, he doesn’t retaliate, I love the way he handles himself.
- Gaborik on Slafkovsky
A Stanley Cup champion with the Los Angeles Kings in 2014, Gaborik even added that the sky’s the limit for Slavkosky. While he’s progressed by leaps and bounds this season, it still feels like he hasn’t reached his ceiling yet, and one has to wonder what that will look like.
It feels like the youngster becomes more confident with each new Olympic game, and in the NHL, he’s on pace for a career year with 45 points in 57 games, on pace for a 64-point season, and his first 30-goal season. Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes must be incredibly glad not only that they selected him in 2022 but also that they were able to ink him to a very reasonable eight-year contract with a $7.6 M cap hit. As the years go on and the cap goes up, that contract could become an absolute steal.
Olympics hockey, just like the NHL, doesn't allow for ties.
A game will go to overtime if it is tied after 60 minutes and there also is the possibility of a shootout if the game remains tied once an overtime period ends.
But there are differences between NHL rules and Olympic rules on how overtimes and shootouts are conducted. The maximum length of a sudden death overtime depends on the round in which the game is being played. And the shootout format is totally different from the one used by the NHL.
Here's an explainer on how overtimes and shootouts work in Olympic hockey:
Olympic overtime rules
If the teams are tied after 60 minutes in the preliminary round, a five-minute sudden-death overtime will be played at 3-on-3. Unlike the NHL, teams don't change ends for overtime.
Overtime in a playoff game, along with the bronze medal game, lasts a maximum of 10 minutes. It's also 3-on-3, as opposed to 5-on-5 in NHL playoff games.
In the gold medal game, teams play 20-minute 3-on-3 overtime periods, separated by 15-minute intermissions, until someone scores. Teams don't change sides for the first overtime but do for subsequent overtimes.
Olympic shootout rules
If overtime doesn't settle a game outside of the gold medal game, there will be a shootout. The winner of a coin toss gets to choose whether their team shoots first or second.
The format differs from the NHL, with five shooters per team instead of three. If nothing is settled after five rounds, then each round is sudden death as in the NHL. But there's another difference. Olympic teams can use the same shooters multiple times during the sudden death rounds (think back to TJ Oshie in the 2014 Olympics). They also can change goaltenders.
In the sudden death round, the team that shot second in the first five rounds will shoot first. The rounds continue until one team finishes with one more goal than the other. That team is declared the winner.
With the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Milano-Cortina wrapping up later this week, the NHL season is one step closer to resuming.
And when it does resume on Feb. 25, the chaos will ensue.
The Pittsburgh Penguins may not take the ice again until a day later on Feb. 26, but - as is the case for many other teams across the league - the business side of things figures to pick up right away. And it’s because the NHL trade deadline is just eight days after that on Mar. 6.
As has been widely chronicled this season, the Penguins are in a great position heading into the home stretch, as they sit second in the Metropolitan Division standings with a game in hand on the division-leading Carolina Hurricanes, who they also play three times in March.
But even if they already have a pretty deep roster on the forward front, they could still use some solid depth options on their blue line, especially with veteran right defenseman Kris Letang’s status uncertain for return-to-play after having surgery just prior to the Olympic break. So, if the Penguins are going to add for their playoff push, it will likely be on the blue line, but they probably won’t want to pay and arm and a leg for premium talent right now.
So, that said, here are five potential trade targets for the Penguins to bolster their blue line by the deadline.
Murphy, 32, is obviously not one of the youngest defensive options on the trade market, but Chicago Blackhawks’ blueliner is definitely one of the more reliable ones.
The veteran right defenseman could help bring more stability to Pittsburgh’s third pairing, and he is also a good buffer in case one of Erik Karlsson or Kris Letang goes down. He is solid and steady in his own zone, good at the net front, and uses his 6-foot-4, 214-pound frame to win puck battles in the defensive zone. He also has a touch offensive ability with four goals and 12 points in 57 games this season.
Murphy is on an expiring contract at $4.4 million, meaning the Penguins have plenty of room for him, and they could certainly use some true depth on their right side behind Karlsson and Letang. He will be one of the top right defensemen available on the market, though, so the Penguins may have to throw in a small sweetener to best their competition if they want to land him.
Rentals probably aren’t going to be super enticing for Kyle Dubas and the Penguins, but depending on the cost, Murphy would be worth it.
Another name to potentially keep an eye on is the 29-year-old Whitecloud, who went to the Calgary Flames in the deal that sent Rasmus Andersson to the Vegas Golden Knights earlier this season.
Think a right-side Parker Wotherspoon-lite here: Whitecloud has long been a solid bottom-four presence, as he simply goes about his business doing most of the small things right. He isn’t as unspectacularly spectacular as Wotherspoon, but he boasts a solid enough defensive resume and the track record to make him another attractive depth option on the right side for the Penguins.
He makes just $2.75 million, and he’s under contract for two more seasons. Like Murphy, he would be one of the top right-side defenders on the trade block, so the Penguins won’t be the only ones vying for his services.
Shifting to the younger side of the spectrum, one of the more fascinating cases is 24-year-old New York Rangers defenseman Braden Schneider.
Schneider, like the Rangers, has failed to truly establish consistency in the NHL, even if there is still a lot of upside to consider for the young right blueliner. He has struggled defensively so far this season and still hasn’t quite lived up to expectations set for offensive production, as he has just two goals and 11 points this season - his fourth full season at the NHL level.
With the Rangers transitioning into a rebuild, Schneider - a pending-UFA and former first-round pick (19th overall in 2020) - may be a player they are willing to part with for the right price. He seems to fit the “younger player, change of scenery” situation Dubas has sought lately, and if he shows he fits with Pittsburgh in their stretch run, he could be part of their future on the blue line.
It’s no secret that Dubas leans into familiarity when it comes to both the draft and the trade market. And he has some of that familiarity with Liljegren, who was with the Toronto Maple Leafs for parts of four seasons during Dubas’s time as general manager there.
He, like Schneider, has not quite hit his potential at the NHL level. And like Schneider and Murphy, he is also on an expiring contract at $3 million average annual value. This is another “take a chance” situation on a guy who could pan out and a blueliner who, although a right defenseman, is versatile and capable of playing on both sides.
The Penguins could use all the defensive depth they can get their hands on, and Liljegren should be a relatively low-risk, low-cost option for them. The 6-foot-1, 200-pound defenseman has one goal and 11 points in 42 games with the San Jose Sharks this season.
A few months ago, there was a lot of talk about Mintyukov potentially being a trade chip for the Anaheim Ducks, who - like the Penguins - were not necessarily expected to be pushing for the playoffs. But, as they sit in the second wild card spot in the Western Conference, it’s safe to say that they’ll be making a playoff push in the last month and a half of the season.
Therefore, it’s unclear whether the 22-year-old left defenseman is even going to be on the market. His situation hasn’t changed all that much, since Jackson LaCombe and Olen Zellweger have passed him on the depth chart, and has played the entire season on the third pairing. But he is a pending-RFA, and he has been playing better as the season has bore on - even if he hasn’t matched the production pace of his encouraging rookie season with six goals and 15 points in 51 games this season.
He isn’t someone the Ducks should want to give up on yet, but if Mintyukov wants out, the Penguins and Dubas should be calling. The cost would be relatively high, and there is still a lot to be built on in terms of his defensive game.
But he is a puck-moving, mobile blueliner who helps in transition and has a lot of offensive upside, and he is still very young. If the price is right - and if the Penguins could swing a deal - he could become a cornerstone piece of their future, and perhaps a new system and environment would do wonders.
Teuvo Teravainen is the only player on the Chicago Blackhawks’ active roster participating in the 2026 Winter Olympic Games, taking place in Milano Cortina. Adam Gajan, who is a Blackhawks prospect playing at the University of Minnesota Duluth, is the third-string goalie for Team Slovakia.
There were a handful of Blackhawks players who could have been chosen to make their respective teams, but only Teravainen earned a spot in the end.
The number of Blackhawks participating is likely to increase by the time the games reach France in 2030. If all goes well, these three players should find themselves earning spots on Olympic rosters by then:
Connor Bedard - Canada
Connor Bedard was on the cusp of making Team Canada this time around, but an injury at the worst time didn’t help his case. At the time of the injury, Bedard was keeping pace with the league’s leading scorers, but missing about a month took him out of that race.
Right now, Bedard is one of the best young players in the NHL. By the time he is in his seventh NHL season, if he stays healthy, Bedard will be one of the best in the world. He is already an All-Star caliber player, but making the hardest team in the world to make is something he will achieve in his career.
Last summer, Bedard was committed to working on some of the deficiencies in his game, and a lot of it appears to be corrected so far this year. Bedard came in faster, stronger, and more willing to play a 200-foot game. All of these skills will only help his Team Canada case down the line.
Spencer Knight - USA
For the 2026 Olympic Games, Team USA just went with the three goalies that they brought to the 4-Nations Face-Off in 2025, which includes Jeremy Swayman, Connor Hellebuyck, and Jake Oettinger. Chances are that they will be looking in another direction by 2030.
Spencer Knight had a case to make it this year, based on his play with an up-and-down Blackhawks team. Knight covers up for a lot of Chicago’s defensive issues, and he’s only 24. When he’s 28 in 2030, he should be at the height of his powers by then.
When you look at the landscape of goaltending around USA Hockey, Knight is right in the middle of it. By that time, he may even be at the forefront of all goalies in the NHL, competing for Vezina Trophies and playoff positioning. Being a part of Team USA in the future must be on his checklist, and rightfully so.
Anton Frondell - Sweden
The Chicago Blackhawks selected Anton Frondell with the 3rd overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft. Frondell’s national team is Sweden, which is one of three countries (United States, Canada) icing an entire roster of NHL players in the 2026 Winter Olympics. However, he could have easily fit in on that team with the skills he possesses.
At the World Junior Championships representing Sweden, Frondell played incredible hockey and led them to a Gold Medal. You’d have to think that more international dominance is in his future.
Frondell is likely to make his NHL debut at some point this season, and he should be a lock for the Olympics by the time 2030 rolls around.
Sweden is deep, but it is hard to see them being deep enough to keep a kid like Frondell off their roster, especially if he is an NHL regular by then.
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MILAN – After player feedback and feedback from the NHL, the banners at Milano’s Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena are expected to be changed to a lighter color, multiple NHL sources confirmed Monday night. ESPN’s Emily Kaplan was the first to report.
The new banners are expected to be pasted on in time for the men’s hockey qualification round Tuesday, the league sources say. Arena staff began removing the current banners immediately following Monday night’s women’s hockey semifinal between Canada and Switzerland.
The banners were going to be changed all along due to wear and tear, but players and NHL officials have pointed out to the IOC how the darker green color specifically in different areas of the boards could be problematic for sight when it comes to finding a black puck.
In the U.S.-Denmark game, United States goalie Jeremy Swayman said he couldn’t see a puck coming at him fired from near the Denmark bench.
“It was a flash screen and it was just the perfect height right between the stands and board level, and I truly lost it,” he said.
The CBC and NBC broadcast crews wondered aloud during the telecast whether Swayman lost the puck because of the color of the boards in the vicinity of where the puck was shot.
To Swayman’s credit, he didn’t use it as an excuse, joking after the game that he was colorblind, so it didn’t matter to him anyway.
“It’s something all of us always have to face and we play in different arenas every night in the NHL, so this is just one, another one, and it’s a challenge that we have to embrace,” Swayman said.
Former Florida Panthers goaltender Brandon Bussi has signed a three-year contract extension with the Carolina Hurricanes.
The 27-year-old will earn $1.9 million annually starting in the 2026-27 season. Bussi has been one of the best stories of the season so far and has earned the job as the No.1 goaltender in Raleigh.
Bussi started the season with the Panthers, signing a one-year deal with the Panthers in the off-season. The goal was for Bussi to serve as the third-string goaltender and spend most of the season with the Charlotte Checkers.
This season, Bussi had posted a .908 save percentage and a 2.16 goals-against average in 27 games. Additionally, he’s posted a 23-3-1 record with two shutouts.
Although the Panthers would have loved to see him remain with the organization, there wasn’t going to be much of an opportunity for Bussi to make such a lasting mark. With Sergei Bobrovsky and Daniil Tarasov remaining relatively healthy through the season, the Panthers would have seen no purpose in recalling Bussi to the NHL.
In all, it’s a happy moment for Bussi, who is a perfect example of never giving up on your dreams and of hard work helping you accomplish what you desire.
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With a little bit of help and guidance from Vladislav Gavrikov, Artemi Panarin pinpointed the Los Angeles Kings as the team he wanted to be traded to.
Panarin and his agent, Paul Theofanous reportedly, spoke to multiple teams about a potential contract extension as the New York Rangers made their intentions not to re-sign Panarin public with the hope to trade him before the March 6 NHL Trade Deadline.
It was Panarin's full no-move clause that allowed him to dictate exactly where he wanted to play and treat this process almost as if he were already a free agent.
Eventually, Panarin gave the Rangers the green light to trade him to Los Angeles, and a deal was finalized with the Kings on February 4.
It’s unclear exactly why Panarin specifically wanted to play for the Kings, but he admitted that conversations with Gavrikov, who played for the Kings from 2023-2025, helped sway his decision.
“I tried to find a team for myself, where I want to be, so it was kind of about feeling,” Panarin said. “Obviously, you look at the players, and then I spoke with Gavrikov the last couple days a lot.
“He introduced me to a great organization, great teammates in there and obviously a great spot to live. I just want to play for these guys, for that organization. Other teams were on the list too, but I actually never wanted to go anywhere else.”
While Gavrikov’s high praise of the Kings organization may not have been the deciding factor in Panarin’s ultimate choice to sign a two-year, $22 million contract extension with the Kings upon being dealt, it certainly helped guide the 34-year-old forward in the direction of Hollywood.
MILAN – After player feedback and feedback from the NHL, the banners at Milano’s Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena are expected to be changed to a lighter color, multiple NHL sources confirmed Monday night. ESPN’s Emily Kaplan was the first to report.
