Category: NHL

As the anticipation for the 2026-27 NHL season grows, TheHockeyNews.com will be taking a look at the top 10 prospects in the St. Louis Blues' system, with skilled, two-way right-handed defenseman Adam Jiricek coming in at the third spot.

The players in this ranking do not have extensive NHL experience and are all 23 and under. Therefore, players like Jimmy Snuggerud, Dalibor Dvorsky, and Logan Mailloux, among others, won't feature in this ranking for those reasons.

The order of these rankings reflects a mix of their ceilings and potential, as well as how they've performed over the past year with their respective clubs. 

The top-rated defenseman in the St. Louis Blues prospect pool is none other than Adam Jiricek. Up until the 2025-26 season, injuries had hampered Jiricek's ability to shine, but he was healthy throughout the entire campaign and looked every part of the 16th overall pick of the 2024 NHL draft.

Jiricek played his second season with the OHL's Brantford Bulldogs, scoring 19 goals and 59 points in 55 games. His 59 points ranked fourth among defensemen in the OHL, and his 19 goals ranked third. When the playoffs rolled around, Jiricek kept his pace, notching seven goals and 22 points in 15 games, ranking third in goals and points on the Bulldogs.

While his offensive numbers shone, his defensive game never wavered, as evidenced most clearly by his exceptional performance at the 2026 World Junior Championship.

Jiricek and Jakub Fibigr skated together on the top pairing for Team Czechia and were dynamite. Jiricek finished the tournament with five goals and six points in seven games, earning best defenseman honors as Czechia won silver. But Jiricek and Fibigr were tasked with playing heavy minutes against opponents' top lines, routinely shutting them down. 

Although Jiricek has had several brilliant tournaments, it was his best two-way display of his career up until that point.

St. Louis Blues NHL Prospect Rankings: No. 4, Otto StenbergComing in at No. 4 in our top 10 St. Louis Blues prospects is Otto Stenberg, a skilled and aggressive forechecking winger.

The 20-year-old's season ended early when the Bulldogs, who were favorites to win the OHL Championship for most of the season, were eliminated from the playoffs. The Blues took that opportunity to bring him to the Springfield Thunderbirds, where he skated in six post-season games. He failed to record any points, but the fact that coach Steve Ott trusted a rookie defenseman to play in six playoff games is impressive in itself. 

Jiricek is now poised to participate in his rookie season in the AHL, with high expectations. Standing 6-foot-3 and 185 pounds, Jiricek boasts a strong frame for an NHL defenseman. His size should allow him to defend the front of his net and deal with the physicality of the AHL, but where he'll thrive is in his puck-moving.

Jiricek is a mobile defenseman who can retrieve dump-ins and quickly initiate breakouts. Whether it's with a heads-up first pass or by taking the puck solo, Jiricek is very effective at moving the puck in a positive direction. 

New Role, New Expectations; Can Blues' Joel Hofer Overcome Challenges In An Important Personal NHL Season?Joel Hofer enters the 2026-27 NHL season with aspirations of locking down the No. 1 goaltender role for the St. Louis Blues, but the 26-year-old faces several challenges, some he can control and others he can't.

When in the offensive zone, Jiricek showed more confidence in the OHL and at the world juniors to jump into play, whether off the rush or on the cycle. With the puck on his stick at the blueline, he is a threat to feather a pass to a teammate or fire off a heavy shot. He possesses a strong slap shot, especially off a one-timer. 

His offensive skill set should allow him to quarterback a power play at the NHL level, but whether it's on a top unit or second unit remains to be seen.

In all, Jiricek is capable of handling heavy minutes at 5-on-5, can quarterback a power play, and can be a catalyst on the penalty kill. Jiricek has true top-four upside, and if he continues to develop at this rate, he could become a top-pairing defenseman alongside Philip Broberg very soon. 

St. Louis Blues Prospect Rankings:

4. Otto Stenberg

5. Maddox Dagenais

6. Theo Lindstein

7. Milton Gastrin

8. Dmitri Buchelnikov

9. Colin Ralph

10. Aleksanteri Kaskimaki

Honorable Mentions: Love Harenstam, Marcus Gidlof, Juraj Pekarcik, Zach Dean, and Lukas Fischer

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The Top 25 Under 25 is a collaboration by Mile High Hockey staff members. Seven writers have ranked players under the age of 25 in the Colorado Avalanche organization as of September 1, 2026. Now, we’ll count down each of the 25 players ranked.

Of all the recent additions, center Fedor Svechkov has the best chance of making an impact for the Colorado Avalanche. Acquired in June as part of the Jack Drury trade from the Nashville Predators along with Zach L’Heureux, Svechkov brings a notable amount of NHL experience over two seasons. That total number of 122 games, including 70 last season, is the most of anyone on our ranking and helped catapult the 23-year-old into our top five.

Svechkov is another new face to the organization with first round pedigree taken at 19th overall in the 2021 draft and he arrived to the Predators organization with high hopes after spending two seasons playing for various teams at multiple levels in Russia. In the 2023-24 season the young center began his North American career in the AHL with the Milwaukee Admirals where he scored 39 points in 57 games. After that he was on a path to big league graduation spending 52 and then 70 games in the NHL with Nashville scoring 17 points in each season. Svechkov might have left the AHL behind entirely but the Olympic break sent him back to Milwaukee to play 10 games in early 2026 where he scored eight points in that brief sojourn.

If there’s one player on our ranking that has a spot penciled onto the current Avalanche roster it’s Svechkov. It’s easy to see him as a direct Jack Drury replacement in the lineup at fourth line center and GM Joe Sakic even said so after acquiring the Russian. Svechkov has a little experience with the penalty kill and was drafted with scouting reports pointing towards attributes he possesses of a well-rounded two-way forward. He will have to improve on his 40% career faceoff win rate but most young centers need development in that area.

It’s easy to see Svechkov will spend significant time with the Avalanche because he’s no longer waiver exempt and also the fact that by taking on the contract Svechkov signed earlier in the year with Nashville, the Avalanche will owe him $1.25 million each year over the next two seasons. There’s a lot of incentive for both parties to make this opportunity work, which is why Svechkov lands at number four with a chance to take over the consensus top spot if this year goes well.

2026 Top 25 Under 25

#25 Nikita Novosyolov

#24 Axel Eloffson

#23 Teddy Lechner

#22 Ivan Yunin

#21 Luka Cloutier

#20 Matthew DiMarsico

#19 Shawn Carrier

#18 Domenick Fensore

#17 Tory Pitner

#16 Jake Fisher

#15 Beckett Hamilton

#14 Linus Funck

#13 Alex Gagne

#12 Egor Shilov

#11 Zach L’Heureux

#10 Fabian Lysell

#9 Sean Behrens

#8 Nikita Prishchepov

#7 Francesco Dell’Elce

#6 TJ Hughes

#5 Christian Humphreys

The NHL’s salary landscape is changing quickly, and the Vegas Golden Knights may have found themselves on the right side of that curve.

When Kelly McCrimmon committed more than $25 million annually to Jack Eichel and Mitch Marner, the contracts were viewed as massive investments in two of Vegas’ most important players. A year later, they suddenly look like bargains.

According to projections from AFP Analytics, Eichel’s current $13.5 million annual salary could have climbed to roughly $17.7 million if he were negotiating the same contract today. Marner, meanwhile, could command approximately $15.3 million annually — more than $3 million above the $12 million AAV attached to his eight-year deal with Vegas.

Combined, that is a projected $33 million per season for two players who currently cost the Golden Knights $25.5 million.

That difference illustrates just how dramatically the NHL’s financial landscape has shifted. A rising salary cap has created more room at the top of the market, while a new wave of superstar contracts has pushed the ceiling even higher. Macklin Celebrini and Leo Carlsson have helped elevate the center market, Kirill Kaprizov has reset expectations for elite wingers, and Cale Makar’s recent $20.4 million AAV extension is another striking example of what the league’s best players can now command.

For Vegas, it also offers a reminder that timing can be everything.

McCrimmon and the Golden Knights made their commitments before the latest wave of contracts reset the market. What looked expensive at the time now looks considerably more manageable — and potentially one of the more important pieces of business the organization has done to keep its championship window open.

Eichel’s eight-year, $108 million extension officially begins this season and keeps him under contract through 2033-34. The deal made him the highest-paid player in franchise history when it was signed.

But Eichel has done little to make that price tag look excessive.

The 29-year-old center is coming off his second consecutive 90-point season, finishing last year with 27 goals and 63 assists for 90 points in 74 games. He has become the offensive centerpiece Vegas envisioned when it acquired him from Buffalo in 2021, and his production continues to place him among the NHL’s elite centers.

The timing of his extension now looks particularly significant.

Celebrini and Carlsson have helped push the center market into unprecedented territory, meaning Eichel would have entered negotiations with an entirely different financial landscape had Vegas waited.

Marner’s situation is similar.

Vegas acquired Marner from Toronto in a sign-and-trade last summer, immediately committing to him for eight years at $12 million annually. The move came with enormous expectations after nearly a decade in Toronto, where Marner established himself as one of the league’s most productive forwards.

His first regular season in Vegas was, by his standards, somewhat quieter.

Marner finished with 24 goals and 56 assists for 80 points in 81 games after recording 102 points in his final season with the Maple Leafs.

Then came the playoffs.

Marner produced 10 goals and 19 assists for 29 points in 22 games, delivering the best postseason performance of his career as the Golden Knights reached the Stanley Cup Final.

Vegas ultimately fell to Carolina in six games, but Marner’s playoff run offered a glimpse of exactly why the organization was willing to make such a significant investment in him.

It also makes the projection particularly interesting.

If Eichel and Marner were entering negotiations today, Vegas could be looking at approximately $33 million annually for the pair rather than the $25.5 million it is currently committed to.

That is roughly $7.5 million in annual savings. Over seven years, the difference would exceed $52 million. That’s the kind of money that can fundamentally change the construction of an NHL roster.

It also changes the way McCrimmon’s contract decisions should be viewed.

The Golden Knights have occasionally been criticized for spending aggressively and handing out large contracts. But in this case, the timing appears to have worked decisively in their favor.

McCrimmon isn’t the only general manager who deserves credit for recognizing where the market was headed, either.

Former Colorado Avalanche general manager Chris MacFarland made a similar bet last season when he signed Martin Necas to an eight-year, $92 million extension worth $11.5 million annually. At the time, the contract represented a significant commitment to a player who had never recorded a 100-point season.

Then Necas broke through.

In his first full season with Colorado, Necas reached the 100-point mark for the first time, making the contract look considerably more favorable in hindsight. As the NHL’s elite market continues to climb, that $11.5 million AAV could become another example of a team paying for star talent before the price of star talent skyrocketed.

McCrimmon didn’t necessarily have to predict exactly where the salary cap would go or which players would eventually reset the market. He simply had to recognize that elite talent was becoming more expensive and act before the next wave arrived.

He did.

So did MacFarland.

Now Vegas has two of its most important players locked into long-term contracts that would cost significantly more if negotiated in today’s market, while Colorado may have done something similar with Necas.

And that could become one of the biggest advantages for teams that recognized the changing financial landscape early.

What looked like a massive financial commitment when Vegas made it may eventually be remembered as a timely one. The same could be true of Colorado’s investment in Necas.

The NHL’s market is moving.

The Golden Knights, and teams like the Avalanche, may have moved before it did.

The SHL's Brynas announced that they signed Calle Jarnkrok to a three-year contract on Monday, ending his 13-year NHL tenure. In the last four seasons of his NHL career, the right winger was a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs, playing a total of 200 regular-season games for the club from 2022-23 to 2025-26.

The final two years of that stint were particularly challenging for the veteran. He played just 75 games in that final pair of campaigns, scoring six goals and eight points in 56 appearances this past year, while his season prior was shortened due to a groin and sports hernia injury.

"I've had two tough years, and it feels a bit sad not to be able to finish over there the way I wanted," Jarnkrok told hockeysverige.se in Swedish. "That's maybe why the decision took a little longer. But now it feels good to have made up my mind."

One common denominator for those two disappointing seasons for Jarnkrok was that the team was under the guidance of former head coach Craig Berube.

Jarnkrok further opened up about the frustration of those last two seasons with the Maple Leafs in the NHL.

Craig Berube Admits The Crucial Mistake That Cost Him His Job With The Maple Leafs"If I had to do it all over again, I would never have done that.": Inside the final meeting and the tactical concessions that ultimately forced the Maple Leafs to cut ties with Craig Berube.

"Two years ago I couldn't play at all," Jarnkrok recalled. "But last year I came in and felt in really good shape, I scored goals...and then (Berube) put me in the stands. It was a little weird."

The 34-year-old is referencing his hot start to the 2025-26 campaign. In the first three outings of the season, Jarnkrok scored a goal in each game. At that point, he was second on the team in scoring, all while averaging 10:31 of ice time in that span. It was a very short sample size of what was to come, but a great start nonetheless.

After playing another two games for the Leafs and not continuing his scoring streak, he was scratched for game No. 6 of the regular season. He would come in and out of the lineup, but ended up featuring in 18 of Toronto's first 25 games of this past season.

Calle Jarnkrok’s Maple Leafs Tenure Reaches Official End With New Signing.After four seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs and 13 in the NHL, Calle Jarnkrok is going back to Sweden to play for the SHL's Brynas.

Regardless, Jarnkrok wasn't pleased with how he was managed after the great start he thought he had and coming over the injury from the season before.

"I was very surprised," he said. "I understand that if I don't get to play when I score in every game like I did in the beginning...then it will be tough. It's the GM and the coach who decide, but it was an uphill battle. I did well but wasn't allowed to play. It was tough to motivate myself and keep going.

"It was a lot of fun playing in Toronto, even though the last year wasn't that fun. The whole city loves hockey, just like here in Gavle, and there's pressure with that. I think everyone who plays wants it that way," he added.

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The Columbus Blue Jackets have 30 days until opening night at Nationwide Arena. Today, we look at the history of jersey #30. 

Let's take a look at today's edition, which is all about goalies. 

Marc Denis - 2001-2006 - Drafted by Colorado in 1995. 

On June 7, 2000, Denis was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Over the course of five years, he played in 266 games, going 84-146-25.  On June 30, 2006, Denis was traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning for Fredrik Modin and Fredrik Norrena. He set the then-NHL record for most minutes in a season with 4,511, playing 77 regular-season games for Columbus in 2002-03. 

After the 2008-09 season, Denis retired after playing for the Montréal Canadiens and the AHL's Hamilton Bulldogs. He is currently working as a color analyst for the Canadiens on RDS. 

Fredrik Norrena - 2007-2009 - Drafted by Tampa Bay in 2002. 

On June 30, 2006, Norrena was traded to the CBJ for Marc Denis. He would play in a total of 100 games, starting 35 of them. He finished his time in Columbus with a record of 35-45-11. 

In 2008, the Jackets put him on waivers and reported to Syracuse. On December 20, he signed a deal in the KHL and left North America for good. After playing for years in Sweden and Finland, he would retire. After retiring, he would go into coaching, where he would coach in Finland from 2014 to 2023. He became an asst. coach for Kölner Haie in the DEL in 2024 and will be coaching Tappara in Finland for the upcoming season.  

Dan LaCosta - 2009 - Drafted by Columbus in 2004. 

LaCosta played a total of four NHL games for Columbus. After Columbus, he played two years for the Univ. of New Brunswick and then a year for the Cardiff Devils in the EIHL. He was also a goaltending coach for Cardiff. 

LaCosta played in four games from 2007 to 2009. He spent the majority of his time playing for the AHL's Syracuse Crunch. He also played for the Dayton Bombers of the ECHL. 

He retired in 2014 after playing a single season in England for the Cardiff Devils. He was also the goaltending coach for Cardiff.

Curtis Sanford - 2012 - Undrafted out of Owen Sound, Ontario.   

Sanford signed a one-year contract with Columbus for the 11-12 season. He appeared in 36 games, going 10-18-4. 

After his one year in Columbus, he left for Russia, playing for Lokomotiv Yaroslavl for three seasons. He would retire on March 7, 2015. He spent the last few years as the goaltending coach for the Toronto Maple Leafs. 

Mike McKenna - 2014 - Drafted by Nashville in 2002. 

On July 5, 2013, McKenna signed with Columbus, appearing in four games. He spent the bulk of the year playing for the Springfield Falcons of the AHL. 

He would go on to play for the Arizona Coyotes, Florida Panthers, Dallas Stars, Ottawa Senators, Vancouver Canucks, and Philadelphia Flyers. On August 27, 2019, McKenna retired. He also spent two years as a studio analyst for the Vegas Golden Knights and three years as a Volunteer Goaltending Coach at St. Lawrence Univ.

Curtis McElhinney - 2015-2017 - Drafted by Calgary in 2002.

McElhinney could have been listed as the player who wore #31 the best. He started 66 games for the Jackets and came in to relieve the starters another 19 times. His career record with Columbus was 26-33-8. He went on to win a pair of Stanley Cups for the Tampa Bay Lightning, backing up starter Andrei Vasilevskiy. He retired on September 25, 2021.

He was the Toronto Maple Leafs Dir. of Goaltending from 2023 to 2025. 

Jean-François Bérubé - 2022 - Drafted by the LA Kings in 2009. 

On June 27, 2018, Bérubé was traded by the Blackhawks to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for Jordan Schroeder. He would play in 6 games for Columbus and go 3-2. 

He would leave Columbus after that season and play two more AHL seasons. He is not officially retired. 

Spencer Martin - 2024 - Drafted by Colorado in 2013. 

On September 29, 2023, the Columbus Blue Jackets claimed Martin off waivers from the Vancouver Canucks. He would play in 13 games and go 3-8-1. 

On January 19, 2024, he was put on waivers by Columbus and claimed by the Carolina Hurricanes. He left for CSKA Moskva of the KHL for the 25-26 season, but returned later in the season to play for the New York Rangers. 

He is signed to the AHL's Hartford Wolfpack for 26-27. 

With 30 days until opening night at Nationwide Arena, the anticipation for the season is in full swing. 

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After last week’s look at our 2024 outlook about predicting the 2026 Penguins, let’s take the impossible stab at looking at what the 2028 Penguins could be working with.

This task is tough, since barely any players are under contract for the future. Pittsburgh only has six players under contract for 2028-29 as of right now. There’s a decent enough chance that two of them (Ryan Graves and Ville Koivunen) could be bought out or otherwise removed from the roster despite the current contractual status.

That roster buildup is by design by Kyle Dubas and the front office. The current version of the Pens is built to finish out the Crosby/Malkin era, as soon as its over the plug could get pulled in a major way to lean into a full franchise restart. Dubas has often said his goal is to continue to build in order to be strong in the short and long term, but there’s little doubt his talent pipeline lacks a lot of high-end, elite options. That could be coming and the 2028-29 Penguins might be a reason why.

The big question with this is whether or not Sidney Crosby will still be playing hockey in 2028-29. He’ll be 41-years old at that point and it would be a 24th season if he does come back. Crosby appears to still have the drive and desire to play now as much as ever, but sooner or later age and Father Time are going to end his playing career. Does he have three (or more) seasons left in him? At this point, it would be nothing more than a guess either way. There’s a good chance Crosby is still playing in 2028-29, realistically there’s also a good chance he hangs up the skates by that point. Clarity could come with Crosby’s expected upcoming contract extension – two years would commit him to playing 2028-29 and answer the question early. It sounds more likely it could be only a one-year extension.

Onto the roster projection, for now we will include Crosby (because it’s not like the team has a lot to the point of excluding him).

Top-six forwards: Sidney Crosby, Yegor Chinakhov, Ben Kindel, Tommy Novak, ?, ?

-Would love to include Koivunen here, but we haven’t seen it yet from him at the NHL level. If bought out, Koivunen would only carry a $479k cap penalty for the 2028-29 season. Ideally the Pens’ bet on him pays off, if not, then he becomes the footnote.

This listing shows the progress, yet continued challenges for Dubas. The good news: within about the last 12-15 months he has found both Kindel through the draft and Chinakhov through a trade. The bad news: Dubas needs to find another few key players in the coming years, ideally both young like he did before. Still a lot of work to do, maybe it means developing Mikhail Ilyin hoping for a big jump by Will Horcoff or Bill Zonnon, more than likely it’s going to have to be external adds.

Bottom-six forwards: Blake Lizotte, Elmer Soderblom, Rutger McGroarty, Bill Zonnon, ?, ?

-The Pens love to churn through a ton of options at the bottom of the lineup, which is almost certain to continue in the near future with various players getting looks and opportunities. Surely there will be unexpected additions from the trade and free agent market joining up. For best results and a healthy organization, it would be great to see as many internal development wins go up the ladder – even for players we didn’t project like Tanner Howe, Atley Calvert or Avery Hayes that certainly have some realisitic chance of being in the NHL picture two years from now.

LeftDefense: ?, ?, ?

-The picture looks bleak here. 2028 is a little too early to project someone like Tomas Galvas going from Czech league to NHL in two seasons in his early 20’s. Perhaps Jake Livanavage is in the picture. Maybe somehow it’s Owen Pickering. More than likely, we’ll just project the team needing completely new options on the left side. We’ll say there’s no Ryan Graves (who actually is under contract in 2028-29 for the final year). We said that in 2024 that he’d be gone by 2026, one of these times it’ll be right.

Right defense: Harrison Brunicke, Kaeden Korczak, ?

-The right side looks more projectable than the left at this point. Ideally a younger option like Chase Pietila or Finn Harding can even matriculate up and round out the group. That’s tough to call out of no where, so for now it’s too hazy to feel confident about projecting.

Goalie: Sergei Murashov, ?

-The Pens will surely be hoping Murashov works his way into being a longterm option in net. What the situation looks like beside him two years from now is up to interpretation. Dubas tends to flip and mix up goalies with some regularity, it stands to figure in a few years’ time there will be a fresh face involved with Murashov.

The New York Islanders play hockey this month.

It's been an incredibly long summer, with Mathieu Darche's squad last playing a game on Apr. 14, a 2-1 loss to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes.

The offseason additions were slim -- that was expected -- with the organization saying goodbye to longtime captain Anders Lee, forward Maxim Shabanov, and backup goaltender David Rittich, bringing aboard forward Matias Maccelli and netminder Vitek Vanecek. 

The Islanders also will be welcoming back forwards Kyle Palmieri and Pierre Engvall, defenseman Alexander Romanov, and backstop Semyon Varlamov from injury. 

The biggest acquisition was the one Darche made with four games to go when he brought Pete DeBoer aboard. The longtime NHL head coach didn't have enough time left in the season to implement exactly what he wanted, but he has had the summer to do just that as we approach the start of training camp.

While we don't have specific dates just yet, the Islanders held their rookie camp on Sept. 11 last season, with training camp beginning on Sept. 18. 

When it comes to rookie camp, just a few reminders:

No NCAA players will be in attendance, as they reported to school in early August. Also, No. 13 pick Matias Gustafsson isn't expected to be there, as his SHL season begins shortly. 

For the first time, the Islanders will play in two prospect showcase games against the New Jersey Devils. The first game will be in New Jersey on Sept. 13 at 2 PM ET, and the second will be at Northwell Ice Center on Sept. 15 at 6 PM ET. 

The Islanders' four preseason games consist of two against the Devils and two against the New York Rangers. 

They'll kick things off in New Jersey against Devils at 1 PM ET on Sept. 20 followed by a game against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Sept. 22 at 7 PM ET. 

Then, their final two preseason games will be a back-to-back at UBS Arena, battling the Rangers at 7:30 PM ET on Sept. 25 before wrapping things up against the Devils on Sept. 26 at 7:30 PM ET. 

The Islanders face the Toronto Maple Leafs north of the border on Sept. 30 for their season opener, a cool matchup as we are likely to see No. 1 pick Gavin McKenna make his NHL debut. 

The Vancouver Canucks are just a few weeks away from kicking off the 2026–27 season. In honour of the upcoming campaign, The Hockey News’ Canucks team will be previewing Vancouver’s Pacific Division opponents. Today’s team is the rebuilding Calgary Flames. 

Calgary Flames 2025–26 Season:

Record: 34–39–9

Division Ranking: 7th

Playoffs: No

Goals For: 208

Goals Against: 256

Power Play: 16.2%

Penalty Kill: 80.4% 

2026 Off-Season Storylines:

Calgary was involved in one of the more notable trades conducted this off-season, intriguing fans when they acquired defenceman Šimon Nemec and forward Maxim Tsyplakov from the New Jersey Devils ahead of the 2026 NHL Entry Draft. The move raised questions about the Flames, who currently look to be in contention for the rights to drafting first-overall in the 2027 NHL Draft, as Calgary gave up two first-round picks, prospect Etienne Morin, and a second-round pick for the two players. 

The Flames continued to make additions to their prospect cabinet by making five picks within the first two rounds of the draft, including selecting first-rounders defenceman Carson Carels (6th) and forward Jack Hextall (30th). 

Biggest Storyline For The 2026–27 Season: 

Calgary is in a very similar position to the Canucks in the sense that the 2026–27 season will likely be one focused on developing their youth while gunning to add more prospects to their shelves. The Flames are still looking for a break-out superstar to lead their offence, which was rated last in the NHL in 2025–26 with a 208 goals-for. The likeliest way for that to happen will be through the draft. 

Player To Watch:

Given that he was arguably the Flames’ top ready-to-play acquisition during the 2026 off-season, Nemec will likely be the Calgary player on everyone’s radar. He will expectedly slot into one of Calgary’s top-two pairings and potentially make his way onto a power play unit.  

Key Additions:

• Winger Maxim Tsyplakov 
• Defenceman Šimon Nemec 
• Defenceman Jacob Middleton 
• Defenceman Carson Carels 

Key Subtractions:

• Winger Blake Coleman 
• Winger Ryan Lomberg
• Defenceman Olli Määttä

Schedule Against The Canucks

• October 3 vs. Calgary 
• December 26 @ Calgary 
• February 27 vs. Calgary 
• April 10 @ Calgary 

Make sure you bookmark THN's Vancouver Canucks site and add us to your favourites on Google News for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns, and so much more. Also, don't forget to leave a comment at the bottom of the page and engage with other passionate fans through our forum. This article originally appeared on The Hockey News.

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Going into this upcoming season, the Detroit Red Wings will have plenty of players under the microscope, but one storyline may go largely unnoticed. Mason Appleton, a 30-year-old veteran entering the final year of his contract, is set up for one of the more underrated arcs on the roster this season.

Heading into his tenth NHL season and second with Detroit, Appleton will be looking to prove himself ahead of his next contract, ideally with a season that gets him back closer to his career-high 36 points, a mark he set back in 2023-24 with Winnipeg. He's expected to slot into the third line and spend most of the season in Detroit's bottom six.

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Mason Appleton scores against his former team 👀

📺: Jets 🆚 Red Wings live on Sportsnet pic.twitter.com/XAKIFDDbV0

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) January 1, 2026

The Green Bay, Wisconsin native has never signed an NHL deal longer than three years, and his next contract, which would be his fifth as an NHL veteran, could be the one that carries him into his mid-30s if he can put together a strong platform year. 

That won't be easy coming off a rough first season in Detroit as Appleton battled a lower-body injury for much of the year, appearing in just 65 games and finishing with six goals and eight assists for 14 points, his lowest full-season output since 2022-23. He also posted a minus-4 rating, his first negative plus/minus mark in five years.

With a full, healthy season ahead of him, Appleton will be looking to reestablish himself as a reliable NHL depth piece, whether that means a new deal in Detroit or elsewhere around the league.

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At midnight, streaming service Crave dropped the first two episodes of the third season of The Rebuild: Inside the Montreal Canadiens, and fans won’t be disappointed with the first two episodes of the docuseries. Unsurprisingly, the first episode focuses on the start of the 2025-26 season and on the Lane Hutson contract, while the second episode covers the rocky road the Montreal Canadiens’ goaltenders traveled last year.

It’s great to see that the series didn’t shy away from what was the main story of the Habs season last year, although it gives the impression that both goaltenders had issues from the start of the year, which wasn’t really the case. There’s no mention of the fact that Jakub Dobes, who played six regular-season games in October, was flawless in that month.

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Yes, his performance dipped in November, but that came after the team kept going back to Samuel Montembeault, time and time again, despite his struggles. It would have been shocking for Dobes’ confidence not to be rocked by that, to be fair. That’s my sole criticism of the first two episodes; it feels like a bit of revisionist history, going straight into the "neither goaltender can make a save" narrative.

There are a few interesting quotes in those first two hours, especially when GM Kent Hughes is discussing the Becancour native’s struggles:

It’s not about knowing whether Samuel Montembeault can climb Everest; we know he can. The question is whether he can climb it during an avalanche.

- Kent Hughes on Samuel Montembeault's struggles.

That’s quite an accurate way to put it, as the show mentions, playing goalie for the Canadiens is one of the hardest jobs in professional hockey. It even quotes the great Jacques Plante, who once asked how people would feel if every mistake they made at work was highlighted by a huge flashing red light over their head and 15,000 people screamed at them. It then cuts to Montembeault, who adds that it’s now 21,000 people at the Bell Centre.

While there’s no doubt that Montembeault would like to put that nightmarish season in the rearview mirror and never think about it or discuss it anymore, it’s highly unlikely that will be possible. If he had managed to right the ship, it wouldn’t be an issue, but the start of the new season, and even training camp, will still be about seeing if he can climb Everest during an avalanche, because he didn’t do it last season.

I was surprised to see the docuseries give a bit of a behind-the-scenes look at Dobes’ burst of emotion after a November 4-3 overtime loss to the New Jersey Devils. As you’ll no doubt recall, the netminder failed to fight back the tears in his postgame media availability:

It happened last year; it happens this year, losing to those guys in OT. Just disappointed in myself; that’s pretty much it.

In an interview that must have been done a while after the event, Dobes recalls that the day after, a lot of the guys, including Arber Xhekaj, Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky, would start fake crying after he said something; clearly that was all in good fun to help him move past the situation. But before they could tease him, they apparently told him that Caufield had cried in the dressing room too when he was sent down to Laval, and that Slafkovsky had done it in an interview a couple of years ago. The camaraderie is alive and well in Montreal.

The second episode also shows the Canadiens' first game against the Washington Capitals after Alex Ovechkin and co. eliminated them in the spring of 2025. The Habs had to wait until November 20 for an opportunity for revenge, and they weren’t successful. In case you forgot, Washington won 8-4. This season, Montreal won’t have to wait that long to avenge their elimination this year, as the Stanley Cup champions Carolina Hurricanes will be the first visitors at the Bell Centre on October 6, the third game of the season. Will the Habs suffer the same fate? Time will tell.

At the end of the second episode, much is made of a Montembeault bounce-back performance against the Vegas Golden Knights. Still, the series isn't a Hollywood blockbuster with a happy ending, and the preview of episode three shows the netminder being sent down to Laval and Jacob Fowler being called back up. It will be interesting to see just how deep the series goes into the conditioning stint and whether they spoke to Montembeault himself about it.

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Have you ever heard the saying, “I don’t have to be faster than the bear; I just have to be faster than you?”

Because that’s kind of what this is for Devon Levi.

Levi doesn’t have to prove he’s better than Frederik Andersen. He has to prove he’s better than Tristan Jarry, and he’ll have however long Andersen is out to do it. When Andersen returns, the Edmonton Oilers will have three goalies and only two positions available. At some point, somebody will have to go.

This is Levi’s chance. It might be the best chance he’s ever had in his NHL career.

Andersen is expected to miss training camp after suffering an injury during an offseason training session, and the Oilers haven’t given a timeline for his return. That leaves Jarry and Levi as Edmonton’s two healthy NHL goalies entering camp and, presumably, the regular season.

Levi was buried so deep in the Buffalo Sabres prospect pool that he never really got looked at the way he could have elsewhere. He entered the NHL as one of the Sabres’ top prospects and played seven games immediately after leaving Northeastern University in 2023, then started 21 games as a rookie the following season. Buffalo kept adding goalies around him, including Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, which started a series of events that led Levi to spend much of his time in Rochester.

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Levi has appeared in 39 NHL games over three seasons and has a 17-17-2 record with an .894 save percentage. Those numbers don't establish him as an NHL goalie, and his time in Buffalo never established that either. He has spent much of his professional career moving between leagues while trying to get enough NHL starts to show where he belongs.

Edmonton can give him those starts now.

Jarry enters camp with the inside track because of his experience and contract, though his standing with Oilers fans isn't particularly strong after last season. He has been around the NHL for years, has been an All-Star and has handled a starter's workload before. His recent seasons have also included enough poor stretches that fans are not unreasonable for not trusting him.

Once Andersson gets healthy, Mike Babcock and his staff will have seen who should back him up between Levi and Jarry.

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Edmonton has no reason to run Jarry through every preseason game while Andersen is unavailable, and Levi needs to spend time in the NHL at this point in his career. He's 24 years old now. Another season spent waiting for occasional opportunities won't do him much.

Jarry will have the same opportunity, of course, but his job isn't protected simply because he enters camp having been in the NHL longer.

Now, there are fans out fans wondering "what about Connor Ungar."

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Ungar has gotten a lot of attention after his first professional season in the AHL, but he still needs time. Goaltending development rarely benefits from skipping steps, and another season in the AHL gives Ungar more needed time to develop before he makes that next step.

There is no reason to push him into the NHL in September, especially when Levi is already there.

He's played in the NHL before, albeit for fewer games than Jarry, and has reached the point where Edmonton needs to find out whether he can be an NHL goaltender. Buffalo never gave him a long runway to answer that question, and his path kept getting crowded by other goalies.

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For however long Andersen is recovering, the path in Edmonton is open.

Levi doesn't need to beat Andersen, he just needs to outrun Jarry.

With less than a month to go before the official start of the 2026-27 NHL regular season, the Pittsburgh Penguins will have a lot of decisions to make regarding their roster.

Of course, the biggest story during this year's training camp will be which prospects, if any, crack the opening night roster. Lineups and deployment will also be an interesting thing to watch out for, especially since there will be legitimate positional battles at all three junctures for the Penguins.

As intriguing as things will be on the forward and goaltending fronts, though, the blue line will be equally as interesting to keep an eye on. 

With the left side being, pretty much, anyone's game, the right side is a bit of a different story. On the right, two longtime NHL veterans in Erik Karlsson and Kris Letang will populate roster spots - and their respective careers are in much different places right now. 

Karlsson, 36, is coming off his best year as a Penguin, as his 15 goals and 66 points in 75 games as well as his spectacular play down the stretch of the regular season earned him Team MVP honors last season. He is, by all measures, still a top-pairing defenseman who can play at an elite level on a playoff team.

As for Letang? The 39-year-old has put together an impressive 20-year career in the NHL with the Penguins, registering 178 goals and 806 points in 1,235 career games. His production wasn't bad for a player his age last season, either, with three goals and 34 points in 74 games.

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However, aside from the production falling off with age, it's the other parts of his game that have become a bit of a concern. He no longer has the wheels to be the effective one-on-one defender he used to be, and he can't get himself back in plays on the backcheck like he used to. His defensive zone reads are becoming an issue, the turnovers are a concern, and he isn't quite as effective in transition as he used to be.

Letang's minutes were reduced to 21:41 per game on average last season, which was almost a two-minute dip from the 2024-25 season. According to Moneypuck, he also had the worst mark among Penguins' defensemen in expected goals against per 60 minutes (3.44), and his on-ice expected goals share of 49.4 percent was also the worst mark among the eight Penguins' defensemen with more than 300 minutes of ice time. 

It's understandable to give Letang some benefit of the doubt here, especially since he had a rotating carousel of defensive partners throughout the season. He seemed to have a fair bit of chemistry with Brett Kulak in the short time he spent in Pittsburgh last season, and he did play better with Sam Girard in the last few games of the regular season and into the playoffs. 

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But, at this point, it's reasonable to suggest that Letang and the Penguins may benefit from slowly reducing his minutes. That is not necessarily a suggestion that Letang should be out of the lineup, as sheltered minutes could help maximize his performance in those minutes. Letang still has the capability of being a serviceable NHL defenseman, so as long as he is willing to adapt his game to be a bit more calculated and less risk-averse than it was in his younger years. 

Down the stretch, we did see that a bit with him and Girard. Girard, 28, is a decade younger and plays a comparable style to Letang's at the same age, and as they got used to playing with one another, Letang took a bit more of a backseat to Girard joining the rush and jumping up on the play. 

If he continues to develop chemistry with Girard and can tap into that style of play moving forward, he'll still be a valuable part of the Penguins' defensive corps. But whether he should be doing this in top-four minutes is a different story.

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But things are not really that simple. 

Karlsson will be the top right defenseman for this team, but he is also in the final year of his contract. Depending on how the season goes for the Penguins, he is a potential trade candidate, should he be willing to move. They also just acquired Kaedan Korczak from the Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for left defenseman Parker Wotherspoon, and although the Penguins are intrigued by Korczak, he's still largely a wildcard and has not been tested in a top-four role.

Then, there's Harrison Brunicke - just named Pittsburgh's top prospect on our annual Top-20 Penguins' Prospects list - who will more than likely make a strong case for himself at training camp, just as he has done in the past two years. If both Brunicke and Korczak put on strong camp showings, how will the Penguins manage Letang? Could he potentially play his off-side? Will one of them unseat him for a second-pair role?

To start the season, the last thing is a bit unlikely. But, especially as the season goes on, it's a distinct possiblity, especially if either one of Brunicke or Korczak gain any kind of momentum.

Regardless, the Penguins are set to have some tough decisions to make about their blue line, and Letang's role is going to be one of the biggest questions heading into the 2026-27 season. 

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The 2026-27 season is on the horizon for the New York Islanders, so it's time to preview the season and highlight expectations for the team and each specific player.

Perhaps the single best story in all of hockey right now might just be the return of Semyon Varlamov to the hockey.

Varlamov, 38, underwent a double-knee replacement and has not appeared in the NHL since November 2024. The journey he's gone through since then to work his way back to this point where he's considered healthy and NHL ready is astounding.

He played two rehab games with the team's then-AHL affiliate, the Bridgeport Islanders at the very end of the season, going 2-0 while making 46 saves out of 49.

Varlamov's return also can end the carousel of backups behind Ilya Sorokin, as both David Rittich and Marcus Hogberg struggled behind Sorokin, forcing the Russian into extra starts down the stretch of the last two seasons.

A healthy and strong Varlamov can change all of that and will give the Islanders two goalies they can trust.

While September is just about here, there are still players who remain unsigned at this point in the off-season. 

A former Chicago Blackhawks forward is one of the top unrestricted free agents (UFAs) left with NHL training camps soon getting started: Philipp Kurashev.

Kurashev still being a free agent comes after he spent the 2025-26 season with the San Jose Sharks. In 43 games with the Pacific Division club, he posted seven goals, 13 assists, 20 points, and a plus-1 rating. It was a step in the right direction for the 26-year-old, as he had seven goals, 14 points, and a minus-28 rating in 51 games for Chicago in 2024-25. 

Now that NHL training camps are almost here, it would not necessarily be surprising if Kurashev lands a PTO from an NHL club. He could be a decent player for another team to take a chance on with a PTO to create more competition for their NHL roster. 

Kurashev was selected by the Blackhawks with the 120th overall pick of the 2018 NHL Entry Draft. He spent his first five NHL seasons with the Original Six club, where he posted 42 goals, 82 assists, and 130 points. His best season with Chicago was in 2023-24, as he set career highs with 18 goals, 36 assists, and 54 points.