The Chicago Blackhawks have brought in multiple new players this off-season. Among the Original Six club's newcomers is Ian Cole, as they signed the left-shot defenseman to a one-year, $4 million contract in free agency.
While Cole may not be the flashiest of players, it is clear that he is going to have a very important role with the Blackhawks during this season.
It is no secret that the Blackhawks have a young blueline. Due to this, Cole is going to be expected to be a mentor for the Blackhawks' young defensemen as they continue to adjust to the NHL level.
Every young team needs veterans players like Cole as leaders, and the Blackhawks will be expecting him to be a valuable mentor in their room. He is certainly not a bad player to have around in this role, as he is entering his 17th NHL season and has played in 990 career games. It also does not hurt that he has won the Stanley Cup twice.
It will now be interesting to see how much of an impact Cole can make for the Blackhawks' young defensemen this season. In 82 games last season with the Utah Mammoth, the 37-year-old posted three goals, 20 assists, 23 points, 73 hits, and a plus-16 rating.
5 New Jersey Devils forwards were revealed on EA Sports NHL 27's list of the 300 highest-rated players in the game. Three of them, Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt, and Nico Hischier, were in the top-100. Hughes, in particular, is the 16th-best player and 8th-best center in the game.
Timo Meier and Anthony Mantha were the other two revealed, giving the Devils five forwards that could be considered above average.
On Wednesday, EA Sports revealed the ratings for the game's top defensemen and goaltenders. There are no current Devils goalies listed among the top 300 players, which is obviously a real-life concern for the team right now. Former Devils with rankings revealed include Scott Wedgewood (87), Mackenzie Blackwood (86), and Jacob Markstrom (84).
On defense, Brett Pesce's 87 overall rating makes him the best defenseman on the New Jersey Devils in the game. This also ranks him as the 10th-best right defenseman in NHL 27. According to the game's ratings, left defense is much deeper, but Pesce is still getting some great respect.
After Pesce comes Luke Hughes, Dougie Hamilton, and Jonas Siegenthaler at 86. The youngest Hughes brother is the fastest Devil in the game, with a 93 speed rating. Of all the defensemen, Luke Hughes has the highest probability of getting a higher rating in the future.
Brenden Dillon and Jonathan Kovacevic round out New Jersey's top 300 players with an 85 overall rating. Most teams don't have more than three defensemen ranked with an 85 or higher, and the Devils have 6. NHL 27 believes that they could be a solid team on that side of the puck in 2026-27.
EA gave no respect to Jake Allen or Nico Daws, which is something that can only be earned through future improvement, especially with Daws, but having this pedigree on defense could help mask that issue.
All in all, it seems like playing as the New Jersey Devils in EA Sports NHL 27 will give players an opportunity to control a good team filled with good players.
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 on the article below on THN.com or by creating your own post in our community forum.
On Tuesday, the Montreal Canadiens announced their theme nights for the season, and as we speculated in our article last month, November 10 will be the Carey Price celebration night ahead of a game against the Minnesota Wild. The former face of the franchise has been selected for the Hockey Hall of Fame this year in his second year of eligibility and will be inducted on Monday, November 9. Just like they did when former captain Shea Weber was inducted into the Hall, the Canadiens will then honor Price with an on-ice ceremony and add him to the Bell Center’s Ring of Honor.
The Ring of Honour was inaugurated in October 2008 and pays tribute to members of the organization who have entered the Hall. There, Price will join a long list of Canadiens players and builders, along with the most recent inductees: Shea Weber (2024), Pierre Turgeon (2023) and Guy Carbonneau (2019). The fact that the Canadiens’ announcement does not mention that Price’s number 31 going up in the rafters does not necessarily mean that he never will. The rafters and the Ring of Honours are not mutually exclusive. For instance, Patrick Roy, whose number 33 was sent up to the rafters on November 22, 2008, is also on the Ring of Honour.
The Canadiens are never quick to retire a number. Roy retired from the NHL after the 2002-03 season, and he had to wait five years before he was sent up to the rafters, 13 years after his bitter departure from the organization. Guy Lapointe only saw his number 5 go up to the rafters in 2014, even though he retired back in 1983-84. That was a 30-year wait. Granted, the 5 was already in the rafters to honor Bernard “Boom Boom” Geoffrion, but until your name is on a banner up there, your number hasn’t been retired.
Carey Price’s NHL contract only just ended at the end of the season, and he held his retirement weekend celebration this summer, even though he didn’t make an official retirement announcement. He played the last game of his career in April 2022, just four years ago, and chances are the jury is still out on whether his jersey should be retired.
Those who advocate against the idea will tell you that he has never won a Stanley Cup and therefore shouldn’t be sent up to the rafters, especially when players like Jacques Lemaire (eight Stanley Cups), Steve Shutt (five Stanley Cups) and Guy Carbonneau (two Stanley Cups) have been bestowed with that honour.
Should that be the ultimate factor in deciding whether a player should see his number retired? It’s more than debatable. The Canadiens haven't won a Stanley Cup since 1993, and with 32 teams in the NHL, it’s much harder to capture hockey’s ultimate prize. Furthermore, being a Cup champion doesn’t necessarily mean that you occupy a special place in the team’s history. Lemaire and Shutt might have won Cups, but they weren’t necessarily the main reason behind those Cup wins. They had Guy Lafleur, Ken Dryden and Serge Savard playing alongside them.
Price might not have won the Cup, but he is the goaltender who has the most wins in franchise history with 361; that’s nearly 50 more than second-place Jacques Plante, who had 314, and that’s 72 more than third-place Patrick Roy. Furthermore, the British Columbia native finished his career with a 2.51 goals-against average, a .917 save percentage and 49 shutouts. In comparison, Roy had a 2.78 GAA with the Canadiens, a .904 SV and 29 shutouts.
Whichever way you look at it, Price was the guiding light through very dark times for the Canadiens. Had it not been for his spectacular play and imposing presence, not much would have happened in Montreal for the last 20 years. He also won the Hart, Ted Lindsey, Vezina, William M. Jennings, and Bill Masterton Trophies over the course of his career. He was repeatedly named the hardest goalie to play against in NHL player polls.
More than anything, though, he accomplished what he did in an era in which the Habs had very little offense. The most talented offensive player he played with was Alexei Kovalev, who put up 84 points in 2007-08 when Price was in his first NHL season and 65 points the following year, his last with the Sainte-Flanelle. After that, only Tomas Plekanec and Max Domi recorded 70 points or more in a season with the Canadiens during Price’s career.
If the netminder had played with the current Canadiens’ core, chances are he would have been a Stanley Cup champion. Still, management never surrounded him with as good an offensive group as Martin St-Louis has at his disposal right now. Instead, management preferred to put all its eggs in Price’s basket and hope that he could lead them to the promised land despite a lack of offensive production. That prevented Price from winning the Cup, but it shouldn’t prevent him from getting the ultimate individual honor. He did everything humanly possible with the cards he was dealt and bled red, white and blue for 15 seasons. He was not only the face of the franchise, but its heart, too.
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.
Ralph completed his NCAA career after two seasons, one with St. Cloud State University and another with Michigan State University. His two seasons combined saw him score two goals and 19 points in 72 games.
But Ralph's game isn't built on offense; it's built on the defensive side of the puck.
Drafted in the second round (48th overall) by the Blues in the 2024 NHL draft, Ralph is a 6-foot-4, 216-pound left-handed defenseman. His size is his calling card on the defensive end, using it to clear out space in front of his net, separate opponents' bodies from the puck, and close gaps and break up plays.
He effectively uses his stick to poke-check, but also to deflect passes and intercept them whenever the opportunity presents itself.
When Ralph's sophomore season in college ended, he signed his entry-level contract and began his professional career in the AHL with the Springfield Thunderbirds. The 20-year-old participated in six regular-season games, notching two assists while also finding himself playing in eight post-season games.
Heading into the 2026-27 season, Ralph is projected to play a key role on the Thunderbirds blueline, which is projected to roster fellow rookies such as Adam Jiricek and Lukas Fischer, as well as fellow youngsters like Michael Buchinger, Quinton Burns, Arseni Koromyslov, and possibly, if he doesn't make the NHL roster, Theo Lindstein.
Ralph possesses the size the Blues love in a blueliner. The opening-night projected roster will feature six defensemen, all 6-foot-2 or taller. When defenders like Cam Fowler, Colton Parayko, and Brandon Carlo move on from the Blues, Ralph will have the size and dependable defensive game to replace them.
The Maple Grove, MN, native may never be a top-pairing defender scoring 50 points a season, but Ralph can be used in a defensive situation on the bottom pair while being a solid penalty killer.
Those players aren't the most fun to watch, but they are essential in building a Stanley Cup roster.
For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free.
See more of The Hockey News on Google and save us as a preferred source.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.
PITTSBURGH, PA - APRIL 20: Pittsburgh Penguins fans cheer against the Philadelphia Flyers in Game Two of the First Round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs at PPG PAINTS Arena on April 20, 2026 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Joe Sargent/NHLI via Getty Images) | NHLI via Getty Images
The Pittsburgh Penguins will be getting new “Hometown Remix” uniforms this fall — with details expected after the upcoming NHL season gets underway.
The NHL announced Wednesday that the Hometown Remix program, through the league’s partnership with Fanatics, will be kicking off later this year.
Something new is coming to all 32 NHL cities this season. 👀
The countdown is on for the first-of-its-kind Hometown Remix program by the @NHL and @Fanatics. More details to come after the puck drops on the 2026-27 season next month. pic.twitter.com/zX1uBNLNZn
“More details to come after the puck drops on the 2026-27 season next month,” the NHL said.
The league gave a brief description of what fans can expect from the Hometown Remix uniforms, saying that the special edition jerseys will “uniquely and authentically” celebrate the city and local culture of all 32 NHL teams.
There’s no clear design that Penguins fans can expect to see yet, but the rumor mill has been churning over the past couple of months will many expecting that Pittsburgh will wear a blue uniform, similar to the Winter Classic uniforms the team wore during the 2010-11 season.
The New York Rangers have re-signed defenseman Scott Morrow to a one-year contract extension.
It’s a two-way contract worth $850,000 at the NHL level and $125,000 at the American Hockey League level.
The Rangers acquired Morrow from the Carolina Hurricanes last summer as part of the K’Andre Miller sign-and-trade package.
Despite coming into the 2025-26 season with some promise and expectations, the 23-year-old defenseman was unable to carve out a consistent role with the Rangers, bouncing between the NHL and the American Hockey League.
Morrow played in 29 NHL games this past season, recording six points while averaging 15:40 minutes.
In 34 games with the Wolf Pack, Morrow tallied five goals, 14 assists, and 19 points.
With the additions of Sean Durzi and Marcus Pettersson, as well as the re-signing of Braden Schneider and the emergence of Matthew Robertson, it will be an uphill battle for Morrow to carve out a roster spot with the Rangers out of training camp.
On Tuesday, the rankings and overalls for forwards were released for NHL 27, which included Nathan MacKinnon tied for the second-highest overall at 97, and four other Colorado Avalanche forwards with their ranks and overalls shown.
Today, the overalls for both defensemen and goaltenders were revealed, leading to the final rankings among all top players, including Cale Makar and Avalanche goaltenders Scott Wedgewood and MacKenzie Blackwood.
Makar In A Three-Way Tie For First
Makar, Zach Werenski, and Quinn Hughes have all been revealed to be 95 overall this season. The only advantage Makar has is that he is the highest-rated right-shot defenseman, with the second-highest overall going to Evan Bouchard at 91 overall. Both Hughes and Werenski are left-shot defensemen and are tied, with second place also being a tie with Rasmus Dahlin and Miro Heiskanen at 93 overall.
Though, according to the EA Sports NHL 27 Player Ratings, Makar is ranked the fifth-highest player, only behind Leon Draisaitl at four, Nikita Kucherov at three, MacKinnon at two, and Connor McDavid at 1. Behind him are Werenski at six and Hughes at 9.
Makar is coming off a season in which he finished with 20 goals and 59 assists for 79 points in 75 games played, earning him All-NHL Second Team honors and finishing second in Norris Trophy voting behind Werenski. Obviously, comparing last season to his 2024-25 season, which saw him score 30 goals and 96 points, it's a “down” season, but really, you can say it was.
While he played five fewer games, he also shot the puck less, dropping from 246 shots on goal to 199, and his shooting percentage from 12.2 to 10.1. He wasn’t a liability on the ice and still created so many scoring chances like usual, but alongside some cold streaks and the power play not helping the team out, it really hurt his production, which is still crazy to say when 29 of his 79 points came from the power play.
The Lumberyard Cracks The Top-20
The goaltender rankings have also been revealed, and both Wedgewood and Blackwood have cracked the top 20 list of goaltenders. Wedgewood has been given an 87 overall, which is a good ninth, just above guys like Lukas Dostal, Dustin Wolf, and Spencer Knight, but right behind guys like Jesper Wallstedt, Jake Oettinger, and Jeremy Swayman.
Blackwood was revealed with an 86 overall, ranking him 17th among goaltenders. That puts him above guys like Jet Greaves, Linus Ullmark, and Karel Vejmelks, but behind guys like Filip Gustavsson, Jakub Dobes, and Brandon Bussi.
It's a fair ranking for both goaltenders. It rewards and highlights the excellence Wedgewood showed last season, finishing with career stats across the board, including a 31-6-6 record, a .921 save percentage, and a 2.02 goals-against average in 45 games played. Both of those stats were the best among all qualified goaltenders last season.
Even for Blackwood, who started the season hurt and didn’t have a great season overall, but still managed to finish with a 23-10-2 record, with a .904 SV% and a 2.51 GAA, helping Wedgewood secure the William M. Jennings Trophy.
While Florida doesn’t have anyone in the prestigious 99 Club (congrats, McJesus), there are three Panthers forwards whose overall rankings are in the 90s, and two just outside, coming in at 89.
Leading the way for the Cats is their captain, Sasha Barkov, whose overall ranking was 95, which placed him as the 8th forward on the list. This comes as no surprise, with Barkov known far and wide as arguably the best two-way forward in the world.
While Barkov missed the entirety of the 2025-26 season after tearing up his knee during training camp, the Finnish superstar took the ice during May’s IIHF World Championships and looked like he never missed a beat.
Barkov led Finland to a gold medal while pacing the team with 11 points in 10 games.
Next up on EA’s list is Florida’s scoring specialist Sam Reinhart. His overall ranking is 91, closely followed by Matthew Tkachuk at 90 overall, then his brother Brady Tkachuk and Brad Marchand, each with 89 overall rankings.
Last season, it was Reinhart and Marchand who kept the Panthers afloat scoring-wise while both Barkov and Tkachuk, among others, were out with injuries.
It’s not hard to see any of those players reaching or exceeding point-per-game status next season.
Getting back to the NHL 27 rankings, you don’t have to look much further down the list to find the next group of Panthers players.
In fact, there are four more Cats who are all ranked in the 80s.
They are Sam Bennett, coming in with an overall ranking of 86, Anton Lundell, also at 86, Carter Verhaeghe overall ranked 85 and Eetu Luostarinen at 84.
When diving into the breakdown of each player, some interesting tidbits jump out.
First, of all the aforementioned Panthers on the list, the ones with the highest rated speed at 89 were Marchand and Verhaeghe, followed by Bennett at 88 and Barkov at 87.
Marchand was also an 89 at acceleration, as was Bennett, followed by Verhaeghe at 88 and Reinhart at Brady Tkachuk at 87. For those wondering, Matthew Tkachuk was given an 85 for both speed and acceleration.
In the deking category, which is kind of important for forwards, Barkov came in highest with a 93 ranking. Next-highest was Reinhart at 91 and Marchand at 90.
Barkov and Marchand led the way with 94 rankings in the passing category, but also in the 90s were Matthew Tkachuk (93), Reinhart (92) and Brady Tkachuk (90).
The Panthers player deemed to have the hardest, or best I suppose, slapshot was Brady Tkachuk, the only player ranked in the 90s in that category (right at 90).
Brady Tkachuk also had Florida’s highest wrist shot ranking (91), followed by Reinhart at 90.
To check out the full Panthers forward rankings for NHL 27, click here.
This year’s version of EA Sports’ NHL game has fans excited for some new features, including a brand-new broadcast duo of John Buccigross and Darren Pang.
It’s always been a cool feature of playing videos games when you can lead your team to a championship, but that must have a different feel for Panthers fans lately.
You know…now that they know what it feels like to have the Panthers win the actual Stanley Cup.
Let us know what you think of Florida's NHL 27 rankings in the comments below.
Photo caption: Dec 5, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Florida Panthers center SamReinhart(13), center AleksanderBarkov(16) and left wing Matthew Tkachuk (19) against the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center. (Eric Hartline-Imagn Images)
It’s that time of year when every publication is scratching its head to find hockey content to discuss, and, as is often the case, multiple prospect rankings are coming out. In an earlier article, I discussed Corey Pronman’s take on Jacob Fowler, and in this one, I will take a look at NHL.com’s top five Montreal Canadiens prospect rankings.
Last Saturday, Adam Kimelman, NHL.com Deputy Managing Editor, published the list of what he believes to be the Canadiens’ top 5 prospects right now. To be honest, it was a surprising one, as it went like this:
First and foremost, I cannot agree with the idea of having Reinbacher as the organization’s top prospect right now. Back when he was drafted fifth overall in 2023, maybe, but since then, he has lost some of his shine. When the Habs selected Reinbacher with that pick, they hoped he would be a top-pairing defenseman and Lane Hutson’s partner, but three years on, it seems highly unlikely. It’s not Reinbacher’s fault, but he's suffered a few injuries that have slowed his development, and as things stand right now, he’s not the Habs’ top prospect. While the organization hasn’t given up on him, I believe they have revised their expectations, given not only his injury history but also what he's achieved so far in Laval.
Right now, for the Canadiens, an organization that desperately needs a top-six center, Michael Hage must be the top prospect. He’s the one who could fill a pressing need and the one who Kent Hughes is probably asked about most often. Even though he passed on making the jump to the NHL at the end of last season, the organization’s enthusiasm for the youngster hasn’t wavered, and Jeff Gorton made that clear by discussing his situation and trying to keep the hope of his arrival this season alive.
Fowler would be a worthy choice as the second-place prospect. The netminder has already proven that he can perform well at the NHL level, and the calm and technique he displays in net are already making him look like an NHL pro. Whether it’s in Montreal or not, it seems clear to me that Fowler will one day be an NHL starting goaltender.
In third place, I would put Zharovsky. He may only have been picked in the second round, but the Canadiens had him down as a first-round pick and judging by the chatter around the league, he was a real steal. He was the rookie of the year in the KHL last season, and he looks set for a bright future. He’s still raw, but he showcased some great ends at development camp, and while his skating wasn’t all that impressive, the Canadiens have the right personnel to work on that with him. Even Ivan Demidov’s skating wasn’t great when he joined the Habs; he had a very strange skating stance, but that’s now been fixed, and he’s improved by leaps and bounds in that department.
Reinbacher’s right spot is in fourth place, not because he is a bust or anything of the sort, but because he has simply been overtaken by other members of the organization. It will be up to him to prove me wrong at training camp, but I believe that, when all is said and done, he’ll spend yet another season in Laval. He’s missed so much time over the last few years that it only makes sense.
Finally, I would put Pugachyov in fifth place, not only because he’s the youngest of the bunch, but also because we’ve been told he projects as a middle-six forward, which means that he’s not labelled as a definite top-six forward and he has yet to play a full season against grown men. His season in the MHL was good, but before he can be parachuted up in the prospect rankings, he needs to show more.
The 23-year-old Morrow, a right-handed defenseman who played 29 games for the Rangers last season after being acquired in the K’Andre Miller deal, will enter camp in the running for the seventh defenseman spot.
While Adam Fox, Sean Durzi and Braden Schneider appear locked into the Rangers’ right-handed defense spots, Morrow and Urho Vaakanainen could compete for a backup role.
Matthew Robertson could also be in that mix, but after being a lineup regular last season, looks likely to be on the left side of the third pair.
The Rangers signed defenseman Scott Morrow to a one-year contract. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST
Morrow did not score a goal for the Rangers last season, but had six assists. In 34 games with AHL Hartford, he scored five times with 14 assists.
On Tuesday, EA Sports started to give out more information on their upcoming release and newest addition to the NHL video game series with NHL 27 and the biggest tidbit of news was the released ratings for each player.
This particularly surprised fans of the Detroit Red Wings and where they saw some of their best forwards listed. The defense and goaltender ratings have not yet been released but will likely be released in the coming days.
Detroit's leading top line center in Dylan Larkin did not crack the top ten at the position when it came to the ratings but he did find himself in elite company. Sitting at an 89 overall, EA has Larkin tied with other standout centers around the NHL like Tage Thompson, Nick Schmaltz and Evgeni Malkin, all listed at 89 overall.
Also listed at 89 but finding themselves much higher at their position was Lucas Raymond, who also was listed with an identical 89 overall that had him listed in the top ten at right wing and is tied with fellow Detroit teammate Alex DeBrincat as well as Adrian Kempe, Kirill Marchenko and reigning Stanley Cup Champion Seth Jarvis.
The top of the forward rankings is set in #NHL27 🔥
99 OVR Connor McDavid leads the Centers. Nikita Kucherov leads the Right Wings at 97. Kirill Kaprizov on top the Left Wings at 94.
The trio of Detroit standouts at forward all sit with an 89 overall rating and likely means that defenseman Moritz Seider will garner the top rating on the team in NHL 27.
Also likely to get strong ratings when the rest of the ratings are to be released will be goaltender John Gibson after a strong season as well as rookie breakout Emmitt Finnie, who will likely see a decent rating following a solid 30-point rookie campaign.
Never miss a story by adding us to your Google News favorites!
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.
Back in January, Winnipeg Jets defenceman Logan Stanley appeared to be playing his way toward the biggest payday of his NHL career.
Now, with September fast approaching, the 28-year-old remains unsigned.
And at this point of the NHL offseason, the conversation surrounding unrestricted free agents begins to change. Multi-year contracts are largely replaced by one-year deals, league-minimum offers and, eventually, professional tryouts.
It's quite the fall from where Stanley's stock stood midway through last season.
Photo by Matt Krohn/USA Today
In January, NHL insider Chris Johnston reported that Stanley was in position to cash in as an unrestricted free agent with a contract that could be worth $25 million or more. Other reporting at the time suggested a deal could stretch as long as five years and reach $5 million annually.
It wasn't necessarily as outlandish then as it may sound right now.
Stanley was in the midst of easily the finest season of his NHL career. After scoring just four goals through his first five seasons, the towering six-foot-seven blueliner suddenly found the back of the net nine times in 2025-26 - bringing fans to their feet at Canada Life Centre by using more than just his fists.
His size had always made him something of a unicorn, but for the first time in his career, Stanley was adding legitimate offensive production to the package.
Through 59 games with Winnipeg, Stanley had nine goals and 21 points, both career highs. He was averaging more than 17 minutes per game and had become a regular on the Jets' blueline.
For a pending unrestricted free agent in a relatively thin defensive market, the timing couldn't have been much better. But most who had followed the Jets for some time knew better. Kevin Cheveldayoff sure did. Winnipeg opted to sell high at the deadline.
With the Jets out of the playoff picture, Chevy sent Stanley and veteran Luke Schenn to the Buffalo Sabres at the trade deadline in exchange for forward Isak Rosén, defenceman Jacob Bryson, a 2027 second-round pick and a conditional fourth-round selection in 2026 - what a haul!
The Jets also separately sent Tanner Pearson to Buffalo for a seventh-round pick.
Three pending Winnipeg unrestricted free agents headed to a Sabres team preparing for the postseason for the first time in what felt like a lifetime. Five months later, the deadline dealings look awfully good from the Jets' perspective.
Stanley's offensive surge didn't follow him to Buffalo.
He went goalless in 17 regular-season games with the Sabres, recording five assists while primarily serving in a third-pairing role. His final totals: nine goals, 17 assists and 26 points in 76 games still represented career highs across the board, but the momentum he'd built in Winnipeg had slowed considerably.
Then came the playoffs. Stanley initially remained in Buffalo's lineup, but appeared in just eight of the Sabres' 13 postseason games.
By Game 5 of Buffalo's second-round series against the Montreal Canadiens, with the series tied at two games apiece, Stanley was a healthy scratch. So was Pearson.
Schenn, meanwhile, had dressed for just four regular-season games after the trade before eventually working his way into Buffalo's playoff lineup.
For three veterans acquired from Winnipeg to bolster a playoff push, none became an indispensable piece for the Sabres.
For Stanley specifically, it was a difficult way to enter what was supposed to be the most lucrative summer of his career.
July 1 came and went. Then the first week of free agency. Then the first month. Now, officially seven weeks into free agency, Stanley remains without a contract.
It's a remarkable development for a player who was once projected to potentially command upwards of $25 million on the open market. There are still reasons to believe Stanley can help an NHL team.
He's only 28. He's six-foot-seven and 231 pounds. He's physical, can kill penalties and just demonstrated that there may be more offensive upside in his game than previously thought. Those players generally find work.
But Stanley's continued availability also suggests NHL teams may have viewed his breakout season with considerably more caution than anticipated.
Nine goals certainly jumped off the page, but Stanley had never scored more than one in an NHL season prior to 2025-26. His foot speed and defensive limitations have long been points of criticism and his reduced role in Buffalo - culminating in healthy scratches during the postseason - didn't exactly provide the strongest final audition before free agency.
Whatever market Stanley and his representatives envisioned earlier in the year clearly hasn't materialized. And the longer he remains unsigned, the fewer options remain.
By mid-August, most NHL teams have their rosters largely assembled and much of their available cap space committed. Players still searching for work increasingly have to decide whether to accept less money, less term or simply an opportunity to earn a contract in training camp.
That doesn't mean Stanley is destined for a PTO. But we are entering the time of year when it becomes a legitimate possibility.
For Winnipeg, meanwhile, the sequence represents an impressive bit of asset management.
Chevy and the Jets resisted the temptation to commit long-term money to a player enjoying an unexpected offensive breakout. Instead, they moved Stanley at what may have been the absolute peak of his value and turned him and Schenn into Rosén, Bryson and two draft picks.
Stanley could still sign tomorrow. He could land a perfectly respectable one-year contract, re-establish himself as an everyday NHL defenceman and take another run at unrestricted free agency next summer.
But whatever happens from here, it's difficult to imagine his market returning to where it appeared to be in January. Let's re-phrase that: his market will never return to the height it reached midway through the 2025-26 season.
At one point, Logan Stanley was staring down the possibility of a $25-million payday. Now seven months later, he's simply looking for a place to play. Talk about fumbling the bag.
PITTSBURGH, PA - MARCH 31: Rickard Rakell #67 of the Pittsburgh Penguins scores against the Detroit Red Wings at PPG PAINTS Arena on March 31, 2026 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Joe Sargent/NHLI via Getty Images) | NHLI via Getty Images
There is still a debate raging as to whether or not the Pittsburgh Penguins are actually trying to rebuild, or if they are instead trying to maintain some level of competition as long as Sidney Crosby is still on the roster. I am still of the belief that they are, in fact, rebuilding, and they are very clearly telling you that with how they are doing business at the moment.
I have made this argument here before, and for the purposes of this article, will make it again.
It’s not a full-scale, tear it all down to the ground tank-job of a rebuild, and maybe you disagree with that and think that it should be. I have grown far more skeptical of those sorts of rebuilds in the current NHL landscape and how successful they can actually be, but that’s another argument for another day.
But it is still very much a long-term approach and rebuild happening right in front of you.
Teams that are not rebuilding do not go into a season with around $10 million in salary cap space. The only teams in the league with more salary cap space this season, as of this moment, are the Columbus Blue Jackets, Philadelphia Flyers, Calgary Flames, Vancouver Canucks, Seattle Kraken, and Detroit Red Wings. The Blue Jackets are going to blow past them in the coming weeks when Adam Fantilli signs his new deal.
The Flyers would have blown past them had they successfully pulled off the Leo Carlsson offer sheet.
Calgary and Vancouver are very much deep into rebuilds.
Seattle and Detroit are both just a mess. I’m not sure what either of those teams are doing, and I’m not sure they know, either.
Teams that are not rebuilding do not make 19 draft picks over the most recent two-year stretch, including seven in the first two rounds and six within the top-40.
Teams that are not rebuilding do not have 10 picks in the first two rounds over the next three years.
Do you know how many other teams in the NHL have 10 picks in the first two rounds of the next three drafts right now?
The answer is zero.
The only other teams that have even as many as eight picks in those rounds are the Calgary Flames, Vancouver Canucks and New Jersey Devils. All three of them have exactly eight picks, while Calgary and Vancouver are, again, very much deep into rebuilds.
The players they are acquiring are either short-term reclamation projects on one-year deals (Anthony Mantha, Andrei Kuzmenko types), veteran players that come with additional draft picks (think Kevin Hayes, Connor Clifton and Matt Dumba type trades), or younger players in their early-to-mid-20s that need a change of scenery or have not yet fully reached their potential. They are lottery tickets.
They are telling you what they are doing without actually coming out and saying it.
One of the most important rules in sports is to believe what teams do, and not what they say.
But the big question that remains with all of this is this: If they are rebuilding, why are there still so many older players on the roster?
As is the case with a lot of situations in life, the most likely explanation is also probably the simplest explanation.
Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang are still here largely because they are legacy players and franchise icons. Whether it’s right or wrong, whether you agree with it or not, the Penguins have decided as an organization that it is important to keep them here. It certainly makes it harder to bottom out for draft position, but as noted above, it does not stop them from focussing on the future in literally every other area.
Even that doesn’t really explain why players like Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust are still here.
That also (probably) has a very likely, and very simple explanation — nobody else wants them.
More accurately, nobody else wants the type of players they are, that are signed to the type of contracts they are currently signed to.
Are they still good players, and productive players? Absolutely they are. Could either one of them help a lot of teams right now? Absolutely they could. If I were a floundering team full of losers and underachievers that can’t break through, I’d probably love to have a guy like Bryan Rust on it given type of player he is and the type of winner he’s been.
But I’m not an NHL general manager.
The problem is that when you trade for a player, or acquire a player, you are not just acquiring their current level of play and current level of production. You are acquiring their age, their injury history, their position, their future production and, perhaps even most importantly out of all of that, their contract. It is the total package.
And that is where I see an issue regarding the trade values for Rakell and Rust.
As good and productive as they still are, look at the type of players they are. Look at where they play. Look at their contracts.
They are fringe first-second line wingers, in their mid-30s, with term remaining on their contracts.
That is not the type of player that teams are trading for right now. It is not the type of player teams are trying to jump through hoops to acquire. And my argument for that is everything we have seen happen across the league over the past two years.
I went back to the 2024-25 trade deadline, up through the current point of this offseason, and looked at every NHL forward that has been traded over that time, and specifically looked for forwards age 32 or older.
Players that fit Rakell and Rust’s player profiles are almost non-existent on the list.
Some numbers and names:
There have been 31 forwards age 32 or older traded over that time period, which does seem like a lot, and should indicate some sort of market for players like Rakell and Rust. But….
Of those 31 forwards, 21 of them were either entering the final year of their contract as an offseason trade, or were already in the final year of their contract as a pending unrestricted free agent or rental. There was no long-term commitment with them. Rust and Rakell both have two full years remaining, and had even more going into last season and into the previous trade deadline. Teams don’t want term on older players.
Of the 10 forwards in that group that were traded, only 10 of them had multiple years of term remaining on their contract. Which, again, might indicate some sort of value. BUT…
Here are the names on that list: Vincent Trocheck, Nazem Kadri, Fredrick Gaudreau, Charlie Coyle, Brayden Schenn, Ryan Strome, Nic Dowd, Nick Bjugstad, Ondrej Palat and Chris Kreider.
Think about that list of names.
Look at them.
Study them.
Picture them in your head.
Imagine for a second where they are playing on the ice.
Find the common denominator.
Look them up if you want to confirm it.
Or just let me tell you that EIGHT of them are primarily … centers.
The only two mid-30s forwards, with term remaining, that are primarily WINGERS, that have been traded over the past two-plus years are Palat and Kreider.
In Palat’s case, it was a strict salary dump that saw the Islanders trade third-and sixth-round picks along with him to get his contract off the books. Is that what the Penguins should be doing? That’s not a rebuilding move.
In Kreider’s case, the Rangers traded a fourth-round pick along with him to acquire a third-round pick (they basically moved up 15 spots in the draft) and a mid-level prospect. Not exactly a meaningful return or one that is screaming with value. That’s probably the type of return you’re looking at here. Is that worth it? Does that make sense?
Positional value matters, and it matters a lot. It’s a lot easier for a contending team to find a veteran player on the wing that can score you 25 or 30 goals than it is to find a center that can play meaningful minutes. You don’t need to trade assets for the former. Or take on term. Not when you can sign a player like, say, Anthony Mantha for two years and keep your other assets.
The center market is dramatically different, both in terms of the impact they can make, and the availability of them.
Looking back at everything regarding Rakell specifically in hindsight, and I would argue they might have given him such an extended run at center this season not only because of injuries on the roster, but also as a means of trying to boost his trade value. Especially when he started getting work at center in training camp and the preseason before the in-season injuries at the position started to build.
It’s a young man’s game, and teams clearly value younger players in trades, whether they are fully proven or not. Just because teams are throwing around multiple first-round picks for players like Mason McTavish or Simon Nemec does not mean they are going to value players like Rakell or Rust the same way, even if the latter players might be (or are) better right now. You’re just not going to get much in a trade for a mid-30s winger signed for multiple years. Nobody is. Nobody does. You can not force another team to take your player just because you might want to move them.
You might not be able to move them until next year.
If at all.
That might just be the nature of the beast in the NHL right now. It might have to be the reality of the Penguins rebuild.
The Calgary Flames were one of the NHL's worst teams last season, finishing near the bottom of the standings and ultimately retaining the sixth overall pick in the NHL Draft. Still in the early stages of a rebuild, Calgary lacks the star power needed to score goals and win games consistently.
Recently, Bleacher Report examined all 16 non-playoff teams and assessed whether their offseason moves were worth "buying" or "selling." The Flames landed in the "sell" category, and the outlet wasn't convinced Calgary did enough to take a meaningful step forward in 2026-27.
How Can the Flames Change Their Trajectory Next Year?
One of Calgary's biggest long-term challenges remains Jonathan Huberdeau's contract. The veteran forward carries a $10.5 million cap hit through 2030-31, making him the highest-paid player on a rebuilding roster that could once again find itself in the NHL Draft Lottery.
Moving Huberdeau would be extremely difficult without retaining salary or attaching significant assets, but his contract still limits Calgary's flexibility. If the Flames can eventually find a creative solution, it could open both a roster spot and valuable cap space for the next stage of the rebuild.
Connor Zary and Zach Whitecloud have also surfaced in trade rumors. If either player is moved, Calgary could continue reshaping its roster while creating opportunities for younger players management believes can become part of the club's long-term core.
More importantly, the Flames need to support Dustin Wolf more. After emerging as one of hockey's top young goaltenders, Wolf spent last season backstopping a team that struggled near the bottom of the standings. No matter how well he performs, Calgary will only improve if the skaters in front of him generate more offense and the organization's young players take meaningful steps forward.
The End of an Era
The Scotiabank Saddledome is scheduled to close following the 2026-27 season, barring a playoff run that extends its NHL life beyond the regular-season finale. Regardless of where Calgary finishes in the standings, the final season at the Saddledome will carry significance of its own. The rebuild will not be completed overnight, and another difficult season would not necessarily change the organization's long-term direction.
Instead, fans will have one final year to appreciate a building that has housed Flames for more than four decades. There will be a final home opener, a final Battle of Alberta, a final goal, a final save, and eventually a final NHL game in the 43-year-old arena.
For a rebuilding team still searching for its next championship window, the farewell season offers Flames fans something meaningful to embrace even if the climb up the standings remains difficult.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 07: Connor Dewar #19 of the Pittsburgh Penguins is checked by Carson Soucy #24 of the New York Rangers during the first period at Madison Square Garden on October 07, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Veterans looking to latch on and earn an NHL contract via a pro tryout (PTO) are a hallmark event of the NHL preseason. Some clubs will bring players on to see what they have, some use it mostly to fill out requirements for preseason games to make sure they dress a lineup with enough NHL experience, some have legit chances. Often a PTO can be the end of the road and something of a sad footnote. Remember Bill Guerin going to Flyers camp in 2010? No? Well, that’s probably for the best, he didn’t make the club and would retire soon after.
Last year, the Penguins had Robby Fabbri in camp on a PTO. Fabbri performed very well, hung on to the last cut but ultimately Pittsburgh decided against offering him a contract. That wouldn’t be the end of the line for Fabbri, who went through a whirlwind last year that included signing an AHL PTO with Charlotte, followed by an NHL contract with St. Louis, followed by getting claimed on waivers by Minnesota.
Will the Pens have any PTO’s this year? It’s something to watch in the coming weeks as camp rosters come out and news breaks about which vets will try to catch on across the league. Here’s a list of remaining unrestricted free agents via CapWages (we might be able to throw those projected cap hits out the window in most cases), several of which presumably will need to go the PTO route if they are to continue in the NHL.
The Penguins have 48 of their 50 contracts spoken for next season. Teams usually operate in that range, they technically could add another player (or, of course, even two) and be under the limited but adding more could hinder in-season transactions and might be something they stay away from.
That alone could be a good reason to sit this PTO season out, barring adding a player just to have experience for preseason games. Up front, you would certainly think there would be no interest or ability to tryout new players when the team is already more than flush with candidates for jobs.
Defense, however, is a different story. If Pittsburgh could get a player like Logan Stanley or Carson Soucy in the door, that might be an area where a veteran has a realistic chance to make the opening night lineup given the left side defensive chart is composed of Sam Girard, a player who spent time in the AHL last year (Declan Carlile) and then less from there (Ilya Solovyov, Caleb Jones, Owen Pickering, Jake Livanavage) as well as any possible RD that might get played on the left side.
There is a reason that these players don’t have contracts deep into August.
Soucy, 32, has had a couple of rough seasons but was effective as recently as 2023-24. At this point he doesn’t look like much more than a short-term band-aid for a club that doesn’t have a lot of depth.
Stanley, 28, doesn’t stand out on WAR but did score nine goals and add 17 assists last year between Winnipeg and Buffalo. He’s also 6’7”, 230 pounds and you can’t teach that. Still, Stanley was a player that moved down the depth chart for the Sabres, ending up as a scratch at the end of the playoffs after seeing his ice time cut along the way. His performance last year was still above needing to resort to a PTO level, he may yet find a late contract offer and be able to get in for something more firm than a tryout.
Until that happens though, it’s fair to wonder if the Pens will have any interest in a tryout to round out their training camp. Whether it’s been through waivers or trades, this team has been active at looking to add players and see what they have from fringe players. At this point, they made just decide what is on hand (like Solovyov and Jones) is enough for a quicker preseason but if there’s any area out there that makes sense to add a tryout, the blueline looks to be the spot this year in Pittsburgh.
