Juraj Slafkovsky is having a productive series, with six points through six games. What’s impressive is that he has managed strong outputs while scoring only once on 3.13 expected goals and 21 chances. He’s deserving of better.
Open ice will be hard to come by in a Game 7, with every puck hotly contested in a meat-and-potatoes style of game. Slafkovsky’s ability to get to the net and operate in tight spaces will serve him well.
Game 7 Prop #2: Rasmus Dahlin Over 2.5 shots
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Rasmus Dahlin is a one-man shooting gallery for the Buffalo Sabres. He has generated 3+ shots in eight of the last nine games and five straight in Buffalo.
He’s been more productive at home, especially in this series. Dahlin combined for 12 shots on 21 attempts through three home dates, a stark contrast to the eight on 11 he mustered up over three games in Montreal.
Nobody on the Sabres has generated more attempts or shots than Dahlin at home. Likely to play 25+ minutes in Game 7, the volume should remain quite strong.
Game 7 Prop #3: Nick Suzuki Over 0.5 assists
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Cole Caufield leads the Montreal Canadiens with 22 scoring chances against Buffalo, and right behind him is Slafkovsky at 21.
What do those two have in common? They're centered by Nick Suzuki at 5-on-5 as well as on the power play.
Suzuki is the best facilitator the Canadiens have up front and, clearly, he's helping create plenty of looks for his linemates. Given how much of the offense runs through Suzuki and the talented finishers on his wing, he's as likely as anybody to pick up a helper.
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The Oilers' head-coaching role is also vacant, as they fired Kris Knoblauch one day after the Leafs fired Berube.
Knoblauch was Edmonton's bench boss for three seasons, hired in November 2023. He led the Oilers to two straight trips to the Stanley Cup final, but also a first-round exit to the Anaheim Ducks in this past campaign.
As for Berube, he coached the Maple Leafs for two whole seasons.
In his first year, Berube was able to push Toronto to Game 7 of the second round of the playoffs, which is the furthest the Buds have gone in the post-season for quite some time.
In his second year, the team's direction started to change course. The Leafs went from 52 wins and Atlantic Division champions in 2024-25, to 32 wins and finishing at the bottom of the division one year later.
Outside of Berube's contributions in Toronto, he was a Stanley Cup champion in 2019 with the St. Louis Blues, and the following year, they finished first in the Central Division, albeit after playing 71 games due to COVID-19 ending the regular season early.
TSN's Edmonton reporter, Ryan Rishaug, reported that "a formal interview with Berube is expected after some initial conversation" between him and Oilers GM Stan Bowman.
In terms of Leafs GM John Chayka and his search for a new bench boss, on the 32 Thoughts podcast, Friedman name-dropped Jay Woodcroft, David Carle and Manny Malhotra as three candidates that could be in the mix, or had initial conversations.
He further noted that Toronto's search will be very broad, and that it's too early to tell what kind of coach will be coming in.
For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.
DENVER, COLORADO - MAY 05: Cale Makar #8 of the Colorado Avalanche skates against the Minnesota Wild in Game Two of the Second Round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Ball Arena on May 05, 2026 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Michael Martin/NHLI via Getty Images) | NHLI via Getty Images
Colorado Avalanche News
That painful night in Dallas still fuels this Avalanche team: ‘You never totally get over it’. [Denver Post]
Avalanche finding ‘emotional balance’ ahead of Western Final. [NHL]
Avs head coach Jared Bednar thinks all players will be available for Game 1. [Denver Sports]
Sidney Crosby’s decision to play at worlds surprised Team Canada leaders. [Toronto Sun]
Gigantic Oilers goalie prospect crushing it in playoffs, but is his NHL path blocked? [Edmonton Journal]
Game 6 couldn’t have gone much worse for the Canadiens. The Sabres score seven unanswered goals in a commanding 8-3 win to force a deciding game. [Montreal Gazette]
Wild vets Brodin, Eriksson Ek each had broken foot that kept them out of playoff series loss to Avs. [TSN]
Sunday Overreactions: Wild need clarity from Hughes as soon as possible. [Sportsnet]
A list of suspensions and fines issued so far during the 2026 playoffs. [The Hockey News]
Golden Knights lose pick and coach John Tortorella is fined for boxing out media. [ESPN]
This offseason, the Philadelphia Flyers will be spending the bulk of their finances re-signing their own free agents, rather than those coming from other teams.
Established core players like Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale are pending restricted free agents in need of new contracts, and it's possible the Flyers retain the likes of Nikita Grebenkin (upper-body), Sam Ersson, and Emil Andrae.
The Flyers already re-signed Aleksei Kolosov, so that is one piece of relevant business done for the summer. Now, they won't have to worry about AHL goaltending for the 2026-27 season.
As for the names above, though, their contracts are going to be less straightforward than Kolosov's one-year deal worth $850k.
In regards to Zegras and Drysdale specifically, those two players are going to be the talk of town in terms of contract value and length.
We can all expect the Flyers' exciting duo to sign for another couple of years, though what a "couple of years" means depends on the person.
NHL analytics mavens Evolving-Hockey have made their widely anticipated contract projections for the 2026 offseason available, and we can reference their data model to see what kind of contracts we can expect for all the Flyers' free agents.
To establish some precedent, Evolving-Hockey projected Kolosov's most likely contract to be two years for $866.5k. The Belarusian was assessed to have a 48% chance to sign for two years, and a 42% chance to sign for one. So, they were pretty close to the mark on this one.
At the time of this writing, Zegras is given a 23% chance to re-up with the Flyers for four years, which Evolving-Hockey predicts to come with a $7.589 million annual cap hit.
Notably, their model also gives Zegras a 19% chance to sign for five and eight years, and those lengths would then carry cap hits of $7.919 or $9.654 million, respectively.
Personally, I would expect Zegras and the Flyers meet somewhere in the middle, like seven years and $8.5 million annually, give or take.
However, the Flyers will have a smaller margin for error with Drysdale's next deal, especially given that this past season was the best, and objectively the only good, season of his NHL career.
The 24-year-old defenseman's most likely contract comes in at five years and a $6.155 million annual cap hit, which will certainly carry some sticker shock.
A number in the $5 million range would be more reasonable for Drysdale, though Evolving-Hockey's model says the Flyers will have to offer between two and four years to get the price down to that level.
As it stands for the other relevant pieces, Ersson is projected to land a two-year, $2.762 million AAV contract if he re-signs with the Flyers, which seems unlikely at this stage.
Andrae and Grebenkin are given whopping 56% and 58% chances to land two-year extensions themselves, accompanied by modest cap hits of $1.462 and $1.127 million, respectively.
Grebenkin's is just about what I personally expected, though a one-year deal feels like the smartest move for Andrae.
He only has a 16% chance to sign one of those, but he is no longer waivers-exempt and won't be an unrestricted free agent until 2029.
If Andrae does remain with the Flyers, it would be surprising if it was for more than a season, even with the team's lack of left-shot defensemen coming up through the pipeline.
The Flyers will have a ton of cap space this summer with Kevin Hayes, Cam Atkinson, and Scott Laughton all coming off the books, so it will be interesting to see how aggressive they get with re-signing their own players as well as with targeting new ones.
The date May 18 this year marks Victoria Day for most provinces and all of Canada's territories. This day last year, however, consisted of a franchise-altering result for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
That result was when the Florida Panthers came to town for Game 7 of the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. With hope from Leafs fans that Toronto was going to see the third round of the post-season for the first time since 2002, the Panthers steamrolled the Maple Leafs with a 6-1 scoreline.
That humiliating loss for Toronto at Scotiabank Arena turned out to be more than just a defeat or elimination from the Stanley Cup playoffs. What came to fruition in the aftermath of that loss changed the immediate future of the organization.
What many will remember from that night is that, in addition to being the Maple Leafs' final contest of the campaign, it turned out to be the end of Mitch Marner's tenure in Toronto - and it wasn't memorable in a good way.
In the final moments of that game, fans began to boo Marner whenever he got control of the puck. They would also throw jerseys and garbage onto the ice during play.
This loss marked the seventh straight Game 7 that the Maple Leafs dropped dating back to the 2012-13 post-season.
Florida would go on to win its second consecutive Stanley Cup, defeating the Edmonton Oilers in six games. The Maple Leafs were actually the toughest series that the Panthers had in those playoffs in terms of the length of the series.
Nonetheless, there were a couple of changes to the team in that off-season, highlighted by the departure of Marner, who was signed and traded to the Vegas Golden Knights just one day before free agency kicked in.
Marner's departure marked the end of an era. For the previous nine seasons, Marner, along with Auston Matthews and William Nylander, were the team's top players. But with a third of that trio now gone, the Maple Leafs were always going to be a different team going into the next campaign.
Still with the off-season additions of Matias Maccelli, Dakota Joshua, and Nicolas Roy - who arrived with the Marner deal - the difference was glaring, and not in a positive way.
Toronto ended up missing the playoffs for the first time in nine years and became a lottery-winning franchise for the first time since the Leafs drafted Matthews in 2016.
That Game 7 loss to the Panthers isn't solely responsible for the downfall of the 2025-26 regular season, of course. But it certainly played a role in the organization's trajectory.
Now, exactly one year later, Brendan Shanahan, Brad Treliving, Craig Berube, and some other members of the front office are no longer a part of the franchise.
At any rate, May 18, 2025 was certainly a day for Leafs fans to remember, for all the wrong reasons.
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NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - APRIL 02: Dougie Hamilton #7 of the New Jersey Devils celebrates his goal with teammates on the bench during the first period against the Washington Capitals at Prudential Center on April 02, 2026 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Here are your links for today:
Devils Links
“Everybody knows the Hughes brothers want to play together. Maybe Jack wants to come to Minnesota now to join forces with Quinn rather than wait or have it the other way around. It would be complicated, though, because it’s hard to believe Jack would leave their youngest brother, Luke, behind with the New Jersey Devils. That may be why, per league sources, the Wild made a pitch to former Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald to acquire Luke this past season.” [The Athletic ($)]
“While he’s still young enough to improve, it stands to reason Nemec may not be looked at as a long-term core piece by Mehta. If that’s the case, here are a few landing spots that could make sense:” [Infernal Access ($)]
What should the Devils do about Dougie Hamilton?
Hockey Links
Hurricanes have had a long break:
The Carolina Hurricanes will have 12 days off between games, the longest layoff in NHL playoff history 🤯
By the time the Eastern Conference Final begins, Carolina will have played just eight games in 36 days. pic.twitter.com/GaAWqsRszz
Quinn Hughes on the idea of resigning in Minnesota: “I can say that I really like it here. I love the team. I love the city and the fans. Just being in that locker room, it’s a special group. Would definitely be open to re-signing here with the guys that we have in the room and just the people we have in the room. A lot of trust with Billy, as well, and love (coach John Hynes) and (associate coach Jack Capuano) and the coaching staff.” [The Athletic ($)]
“The Vegas Golden Knights have been stripped of their second-round pick in this year’s draft, with coach John Tortorella also receiving a $100,000 fine, for ‘flagrant violations’ of the NHL’s Stanley Cup playoff media regulations, the league announced Friday.” [ESPN]
“It’s safe to say the ‘Yzerplan’ has not worked out. And as the Detroit Red Wings enter a critical off-season, they need to change up their methods, even if that doesn’t include Steve Yzerman.” [The Hockey News]
Feel free to discuss these and any other hockey-related stories in the comments below.
PITTSBURGH - MAY 18: Sidney Crosby #68 of the Pittsburgh Penguins celebrates a goal by teammate Ryan Malone #12 , surrounded by goaltender Martin Biron #43, R.J. Umberger #20 and Lasse Kukkonen #28 of the Philadelphia Flyers at 11:42 of the second period of game five of the Eastern Conference Finals of the 2008 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Mellon Arena on May 18, 2008 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Eighteen years ago today, the Pittsburgh Penguins punched their ticket to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 1992.
The Penguins, full of a mix of youth and grizzly veterans, had made their return to the postseason a year prior, quickly dispatched in five games by the Ottawa Senators.
Now a year later, Pittsburgh had seemed to have learned a lot from their loss, storming through the 2008 Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 4-0 sweep of the Ottawa Senators and a 4-1 series win against the New York Rangers.
Up next were the Penguins’ cross-state rivals from Philadelphia, but the series shifted heavily towards Pittsburgh from the start.
The Flyers held off being eliminated in Game 4, but all things went Pittsburgh’s way in Game 5 at the Mellon Arena.
Ryan Malone scored twice along with goals from Evgeni Malkin, Marian Hossa, Jordan Staal, and Pascal Dupuis as the Penguins cruised to the Stanley Cup Final with a 6-0 win.
Montreal Canadiens (48-24-10, in the Atlantic Division) vs. Buffalo Sabres (50-23-9, in the Atlantic Division)
Buffalo, New York; Monday, 7:30 p.m. EDT
LINE: Sabres -122, Canadiens +102; over/under is 5.5
NHL PLAYOFFS SECOND ROUND: Series tied 3-3
BOTTOM LINE: The Montreal Canadiens visit the Buffalo Sabres in game seven of the second round of the NHL Playoffs. The teams meet Saturday for the 11th time this season. The Sabres won 8-3 in the last meeting. Jack Quinn led the Sabres with two goals.
Buffalo is 50-23-9 overall and 23-10-5 against the Atlantic Division. The Sabres are seventh in the league serving 9.7 penalty minutes per game.
Montreal has a 23-13-3 record in Atlantic Division games and a 48-24-10 record overall. The Canadiens have a 49-9-9 record when scoring at least three goals.
TOP PERFORMERS: Tage Thompson has scored 40 goals with 41 assists for the Sabres. Rasmus Dahlin has three goals and nine assists over the last 10 games.
Cole Caufield has 51 goals and 37 assists for the Canadiens. Lane Hutson has 10 assists over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Sabres: 6-3-1, averaging 3.5 goals, 5.8 assists, 5.3 penalties and 14.8 penalty minutes while giving up 2.7 goals per game.
Canadiens: 5-4-1, averaging 3.1 goals, 5.3 assists, 6.1 penalties and 19 penalty minutes while giving up 2.7 goals per game.
INJURIES: Sabres: Noah Ostlund: out (lower body), Jiri Kulich: out for season (ear), Justin Danforth: out for season (kneecap).
Canadiens: Patrik Laine: out (abdomen).
___
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
After admitting that his team still had a "long way to go" to match the likes of the Carolina Hurricanes - the gold standard in the Metropolitan Division - he explained that they needed difference-makers in that age range to reach that level.
“I think what we really lack are those players in their later 20s that are really true difference makers. Or mid-20s, late 20s, that are true difference makers," Dubas said.
After explaining that Pittsburgh should be a favorable destination for such players - and doubling down on that - he went on to reaffirm that he and the Penguins will “investigate all those [players] as they go into the summer.” While he did mention acquiring players similar to the likes of Egor Chinakhov, who broke out for 18 goals and 36 points in 43 games after being traded from Columbus to Pittsburgh in late-December, there’s also the possibility that he was thinking a bit higher in terms of impact names.
"I think if we're going to take really big steps next year that [are] sustainable, it's going to be by using the cap space that we have, but [also] the assets that we have, the draft picks, the prospects, etc, to go and acquire somebody," Dubas said. "Is that going to be possible? We're sure going to find out. But I'm being open with you because that's the path ahead.”
So, if Dubas is truly considering “big-game hunting” this summer, let’s go big.
As a disclaimer, it typically takes a lot for bigger names to actually be on the market, and it’s also going to take a lot - a whole lot - for the Penguins to be in on those names if they are, especially in a rising-cap environment. Players like Brayden Schenn and Justin Faulk - talented but aging players - fetched first-round picks plus roster and prospect talent at the deadline.
But some of the NHL’s most elite players are at that level for a reason, and the cost will be much steeper than that. So, if some of these acquisition costs seem like overpays, well, that’s probably because they are.
With the lack of true blue-chip prospects, the Penguins would have to send a lot the other way in any “big fish” trade scenario. With that, what would it - theoretically - cost to acquire who could be three of the biggest players not named Connor McDavid (at least, not yet) on the market this summer?
Estimated cost: F Bryan Rust, D Harrison Brunicke, F Bill Zonnon, F Rutger McGroarty, G Joel Blomqvist, 2026 and 2027 first-round picks, 2026 second-round pick, 2028 third-round pick
Let's get this one out of the way because Matthews would, most certainly, cost more than any big name potentially on the market this summer - assuming McDavid isn’t on it.
The 28-year-old forward has a resume that speaks for itself, as he has notched two 60-plus goal seasons, has scored 30 or more goals in nine of his 10 NHL seasons, has scored 40 or more six times, and has 428 goals and 780 points in 679 games. He is also currently sixth all-time in goals-per-game at .621, which is outpacing all-time goals leader Alex Ovechkin at .591.
Injuries are the primary reason he’s unlikely to beat Ovechkin’s goal record - whatever it ends up being - and they have been a concern for him throughout his career, as he plays a gritty game despite his high-level skill and he’s only played five seasons of 70 or more games. The other thing that may drive down his value a bit is the fact that his contract - which pays him $13.25 million annually through the end of 2027-28 - has a full no-movement clause, meaning Matthews controls if he goes and where he goes.
That said, we’re talking about someone who is legitimately one of the greatest goal-scorers of all-time.
In order for the Penguins to have any kind of shot at Matthews, they would have to be willing to surrender pretty much anything. Rust seems like a given in this deal, as Toronto could either keep him or flip him again for a first-round pick and more if they choose to tear it down (which is likely if Matthews departs). There could even be a third team involved for the Rust portion of it.
And if the Penguins are married to keeping Kindel, well, they’re going to have to sacrifice at least two of their next-best prospects in Brunicke and Zonnon. Heck, Murashov might even be a requirement over Blomqvist, as Toronto never has any shortage of goaltending needs.
So, acquiring him will cost an arm and a leg - and rightfully so - and even this proposal could fall short. However, that doesn’t mean that the Penguins are primed to even target someone like this quite yet, especially since they’re still in the middle of their rebuild and are banking on some of their current assets to pan out.
Still, if Matthews is available, Dubas - like every other GM - should be picking up the phone to poke around. He and Matthews have a good relationship, and he’s a game-changing superstar worth paying up for.
Estimated cost: F Bryan Rust, D Harrison Brunicke, F Tristan Broz, 2026 first-round pick, 2028 conditional first-round pick, 2027 third-round pick
Thomas may not be quite on the same level as Matthews. But, a few tiers below Matthews is still a pretty darn good player.
It’s not as if first-line centers grow on trees and become available very often. But that’s exactly what was rumored to happen prior to the trade deadline, when the Blues were reportedly engaging on Thomas.
And one of the teams rumored to be in on Thomas was the Penguins, with the apparent asking price involving Kindel, per Elliotte Friedman on his '32 Thoughts' podcast. Of course, Kindel wouldn’t have been the only piece headed the other way, though, as acquiring first-line centers doesn’t come cheap. Plus, Thomas’s team-friendly salary of $8.125 million through 2030-31 is a coveted commodity.
Since the Blues aren’t exactly in teardown mode quite yet, they’ll probably want NHL or near-ready NHL talent in return. Rust fits the bill as a veteran scoring top-line scoring replacement on the cheap, but St. Louis also needs right defensemen and centers, making the ask of Brunicke and someone like Broz reasonable. And if that, plus the picks, can’t get a deal across the finish line, the Penguins could maybe add some salary retention for Rust or an additional pick or NHL roster player with some upside like an Avery Hayes or Elmer Soderblom.
However, Dubas and the Penguins should tread carefully here. Sure, Matthews is a talent worth selling the farm for, but is Thomas? Thomas is a solid first-line center, and he will be for at least another handful of years. But his career production doesn’t necessarily warrant the Penguins giving up more than one of their very best prospects, plus all that draft capital.
The Blues have all the time in the world, too, even if Thomas has a no-trade clause, so they can drive up the price however much they’d like to. Again, the Penguins should absolutely be in on Thomas if he’s still available since he helps a lot in the near-term, but they shouldn’t overpay significantly to win a bidding war here.
Estimated cost: F Rickard Rakell (30 percent retained), F Will Horcoff, F Rutger McGroarty, D Owen Pickering, 2026 first-round pick, 2027 second-round pick, 2026 third-round pick
If you're noticing a pattern here, yes, the Penguins - since they, again, don't have any bona fide "blue chip" prospects - would need to keep tacking on extra players in order to get a deal for a superstar player across the finish line.
First thing’s first: Robertson is probably not going anywhere, as Dallas would, quite frankly, be crazy to let a player of his caliber get away, especially since they’re one of the league’s best teams in win-now mode. Folks are more likely to see names like Tyler Seguin, Matt Duchene, Roope Hintz, Mavrik Bourque, and even Esa Lindell get jettisoned before the 26-year-old Robertson would.
But, the reality is that Dallas is cap-strapped, as they are only projected to have $10.99 million in cap this summer, according to PuckPedia. If they sign Robertson, they’d still have to shed some bigger salaries and fill out the rest of their roster, which is easier said than done.
So, if he is, somehow, on the way out, Dubas should be breaking through the door to acquire one of the league’s best wingers.
Rakell, 33, makes sense here. He may not be a three-time 40-goal scorer like Robertson, but he is a three-time 30-goal scorer, and he has scored at a respectable point-per-game rate for the past two seasons and can man the middle. He would be a nice short-term solution in terms of a scoring stopgap for losing Robertson, and he’s on a team-friendly deal at $5 million. If there’s salary retention involved, that helps Dallas even more.
McGroarty and Pickering are also cheap, NHL-ready-as-can-be options with upside that could help them in both the short- and long-term. Plus, a scorer like Horcoff - who would be a little farther off in terms of readiness - is a promising piece for their future, and they’d be fairly compensated in terms of draft capital, too, that they can either flip for more talent or keep to draft talent.
If the price is driven up, the Penguins can offer another mid-late pick. They can offer to take on another salary dump from Dallas to free up even more space, too, which would likely be part of any deal for Robertson. There is flexibility in how they can build a package here, which works to their advantage. Robertson should command a fair bit more than what Jake Guentzel did two years ago, so this seems pretty reasonable as far as acquisition cost, especially since the Penguins will want a sign-then-trade in this case.
Robertson is the one superstar who makes sense for a lot of reasons, and his acquisition cost shouldn’t be quite as high in terms of asset value as the other two, since centers come at a premium and since he is an RFA. It would cost a lot, but he’s probably the most realistic “big fish” on this list, should he hit the market.
Stan Bowman might need to find a starting goaltender this summer, but the UFA market has looked him dead in the eyes and shrugged.
This year's free agent market could've been one for the ages. Stars like Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel, and Kirill Kaprizov were all eligible for UFA status. Then they all signed extensions, and what was once a promising class became one of the weakest in years. Nowhere is that more apparent than in net.
Sergei Bobrovsky is the biggest name potentially available, a two-time Vezina winner and two-time Stanley Cup champion who has certainly become one of the more interesting storylines of the summer. But he's 37, the Panthers may still re-sign him, and even if he hits the market, he's not going to be a long-term answer for anyone.
Cam Talbot is also expected to reach free agency, but turns 39 on July 5. Frederik Andersen, who has been in and out of the lineup in Carolina for two seasons, is another name that might surface.
So: a 37-year-old coming off a down year, a 39-year-old, and a 36-year-old whose body has made his retirement decision for him twice already. For a team that needs its goaltender to carry a real workload next October, this is not exactly a buyer's market.
There is, however, one intriguing option. A 27-year-old pending UFA with two Stanley Cup Final appearances on his résumé, a .902 career save percentage, and a cap hit that won't break the bank. A guy who knows Rogers Place, knows the dressing room, knows how to play behind McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
His name is Stuart Skinner. You may have heard of him.
Skinner split his season between Edmonton and Pittsburgh after the mid-December trade, posting an .891 save percentage with the Edmonton Oilers and .885 with the Penguins. Nearly identical numbers on two very different rosters.
Pittsburgh isn't expected to bring him back, with younger options like Arturs Silovs and Sergei Murashov in the pipeline. He's projected to command somewhere in the $3.8 million range on his next deal.
The circular nature of it all is almost poetic. Bowman traded Skinner away in December to acquire Tristan Jarry, a move that did not go well for anyone involved. Jarry had an .858 save percentage in 19 games with the Oilers and started just once in the playoffs. Now Jarry is still owed $5.375 million a year for two more seasons, Skinner is a free agent, and Edmonton is back at square one.
Could Bowman actually re-sign the goalie he traded away six months ago? Stranger things have happened, though not many. The optics would be awkward. The price would be modest. And in a market this thin, modest and available might be the best offer on the table.
Skinner has always said he has no regrets about his time in Edmonton. Whether he'd want to come back is a separate question. Whether Bowman has the nerve to ask is another one entirely.
The Rangers have two new role models to copy in their hopes for retool-rebuild-renaissance: the Buffalo Sabres and Montreal Canadiens.
Originally picked by The Hockey News Yearbook to finish seventh in the Atlantic Division, the Sabres could make it to the Conference Final with a win in Game Seven tomorrow night.
Their stunning – and it was STUNNING – second half rush was fueled by speed up and down the line, excellent leadership by captain Rasmus Dahlin and Lindy Ruff's sag coaching.
Not much difference with the Habs led by the equally astute Marty St. Louis except for goaltending. The difference last night was between the pipes. Buffalo has it and the Canadiens can't rely on their trio of rubber-stoppers.
By contrast, the Rangers have the goaltending and not much else!
One of the Philadelphia Flyers' top objectives this off-season should be to add another impactful defenseman. When looking at trade candidates around the NHL, Boston Bruins blueliner Mason Lohrei stands out as an interesting potential option.
Questions about Lohrei's future in Boston came up often during this season, and it should carry over to the summer. The 6-foot-5 defenseman notably was scratched by the Bruins multiple times during the playoffs and simply could use a change of scenery. With the Flyers needing an offensive defenseman, he would be an intriguing buy-low target for them to consider.
If the Flyers acquired Lohrei, he could compete for a spot in their top four due to his ability to play both the left and the right side. However, even if he played on their bottom pairing and was often used on their power play, he would have the potential to provide the Flyers' blueline with a real boost.
Lohrei appeared in 73 games this season with the Bruins, where he recorded seven goals, 26 points, and a plus-17 rating. This is after he had five goals and 33 points in 77 games with the Bruins in 2024-25. Overall, the 25-year-old defenseman has shown that he has the potential to produce decent offense from the point.
Yet, with Lohrei still being young, it is fair to wonder if he could hit a new level if given a change of scenery. Perhaps joining an exciting team on the rise, like the Flyers, could help him do just that.
Game 6 was a nightmare for the Montreal Canadiens, as they fell to the Buffalo Sabres by an 8-3 final score. While this is the case, the Canadiens now have the opportunity to get their revenge against the Sabres in Game 7.
If the Canadiens pull things back together and win Game 7 against the Sabres, Jakub Dobes would join some elite company.
According to NHL Public Relations, Dobes would join Ken Dryden, Carey Price, Patrick Roy, and Jaroslav Halak as the only Canadiens goalies with multiple Game 7 wins in their franchise history.
This would undoubtedly be a major accomplishment for Dobes in what has been a strong post-season for the 24-year-old netminder. Despite having a tough start in Game 6, he still has a .906 save percentage and a 2.59 goals-against average in 13 games this post-season.
It will now be interesting to see if Dobes can lead the Canadiens to a victory in Game 7 from here.
The Buffalo Sabres defeated the Montreal Canadiens by an 8-3 final score in Game 6. With this, the Sabres have kept their playoff run alive and have forced Game 7.
Former Pittsburgh Penguins forward Jason Zucker contributed to the Sabres' victory, as he had a strong game for the Atlantic Division club in Game 6.
Zucker scored a goal and recorded an assist in the Sabres' Game 6 victory over the Canadiens, and both were important moments.
With the Sabres down 3-1 in the first period, Zucker scored to cut the Canadiens' lead to 3-2. This was the first of seven unanswered goals scored by the Sabres, so Zucker's goal undoubtedly helped spark Buffalo's dominance in Game 6.
Zucker's assist in Game 6 was also important, as it was the primary one on Konsta Helenius' second-period goal that gave the Sabres a 5-3 win.
With this clutch game, Zucker now has two goals and four points in 12 playoff games so far this spring. This is after the former Penguins forward had 24 goals and 45 points in 62 games for the Sabres this regular-season.
Juraj Slafkovsky
Rasmus Dahlin 
