Category: Ice Hockey

Saku Koivu has made his mark on the Montreal Canadiens’ history, but he hasn’t done enough to see his number 11 go up to the rafters. Still, he did enough for TPS Turku in Finland for the SM-Liiga team to announce that it will retire his number on October 24.

Koivu was playing for TPS Turku when the Canadiens drafted him in 1993. In his first season with the Finnish side, he put up only 10 points in 47 games, but his progression in year two was spectacular. In the 1993-94 campaign, fresh off being drafted, he put up 53 points in 47 games before making another formidable jump in his final year with 74 points in 45 games.

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He made the jump to the NHL at the start of the 1995-96 season and immediately made an impact with the Canadiens, putting up 45 points in 82 games in his rookie season. When the NHL lost a season to a lockout in 2004-05, Koivu headed back home and skated in 20 games for TP Turku, scoring 16 points.

In 13 seasons with the Habs, Koivu put up a total of 641 points in 792 games before joining the Anaheim Ducks as a free agent in the 2009 offseason. That summer, then Montreal GM Bob Gainey decided to give the Habs a facelift ahead of their centennial year, bringing in Scott Gomez, Mike Cammalleri, and Brian Gionta, to name a few.

More than the points he put up, though, Koivu will always be remembered in Montreal for his courage in the face of adversity. Six years into his NHL career, he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and after winning that battle, he returned to the ice on April 9, 2002 and was given an ovation for the ages by the Canadiens faithful.

You can see Koivu learn about his number retirement in a TPS Turku social media post, and even if you don’t speak Finnish, it’s easy to see how much the decision meant to the former Canadiens captain. The former Hab may have more good news in the future if son Aatos Koivu, who was drafted 70th overall by the Canadiens at the 2024 draft, makes the NHL.

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Former members of the Vancouver Canucks will take the spotlight in this off-season article series. From those skating with new NHL teams heading into the 2026–27 season to those who are now playing for international clubs, these featured players have skated in at least one game at the NHL level as a member of the Canucks. 

Today’s segment will take a look at the former Canucks that are expected to play in the AHL’s Western Conference during the 2026–27 season. 

As it stands, 20 ex-Canucks are projected to be playing in the AHL for the 2026–27 season. The Central and Pacific Divisions are each expected to have four ex-Canucks in them. 

Central Division

Grand Rapids Griffins: 

Sheldon Dries: Skated in 74 games for Vancouver from 2021–22 to 2022–23 but played the bulk of his time with Abbotsford. Set a new franchise-high in goals scored for Abbotsford with 65. Signed with the Detroit Red Wings in 2024 and has remained a part of the Red Wings organization since.  

Texas Stars: 

Kyle Burroughs: Signed with Vancouver in 2021 and played in 42 games through his first year with the Canucks. Skated in 48 games with Vancouver in 2022–23, signing with the San Jose Sharks in free-agency the season after. Signed a one-year contract with the Dallas Stars for the 2026–27 season.  

Manitoba Moose: 

Ashton Sautner: First joined the Canucks organization via the Utica Comets in 2015–16. Made his NHL debut for Vancouver on March 25, 2018, and skated in a grand total of 23 NHL games for the Canucks throughout his tenure. Departed from the organization via free agency in 2022, signing a deal with the Winnipeg Jets.  

Rockford IceHogs: 

Derrick Pouliot: Traded to the Canucks from the Pittsburgh Penguins in October of 2017. Skated in 133 games with the Canucks through 2017 to 2019 before departing in free-agency, signing with the St. Louis Blues. Acquired by the Chicago Blackhawks via trade with the New York Rangers. 

Pacific Division 

Bakersfield Condors: 

Riley Stillman: Sent to Vancouver via trade for Jason Dickinson in 2022. Played in 32 games for the Canucks during the 2022–23 season before quickly being traded to the Buffalo Sabres. Skated with the Carolina Hurricanes, Chicago Wolves, and Edmonton Oilers before ending up in Bakersfield.  

Ontario Reign: 

Lane Pederson: Acquired via trade with the Hurricanes in 2022–23. Split time with Vancouver and Abbotsford, skating in 11 and 18 games respectively, putting up an impressive 24 points in his time with the AHL Canucks. Claimed off waivers by the Columbus Blue Jackets in January of 2023. Signed with the Los Angeles Kings during the 2026 free-agency period. 

Colorado Eagles: 

Christian Wolanin: Signed with the Canucks in 2022 and put together a career-high AHL season shortly after with 55 points in 49 games with Abbotsford. Played in 16 games with Vancouver in 2022–23 and spent the rest of his time with the organization in the AHL. Won the Calder Cup in 2025 before heading to the Providence Bruins. Signed a one-year deal with the Colorado Avalanche in 2026. 

Jayson Megna: Joined Vancouver via free-agency in 2016, playing in 59 games with the Canucks through the 2016–17 and 2017–18 seasons. Signed with the Capitals in 2018 before heading to Colorado for four seasons. Spent time with the Anaheim Ducks and Boston Bruins organizations before returning to the Eagles in 2024–25 and being named captain. 

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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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The Chicago Blackhawks are coming into the 2026-27 season with mixed expectations. They made some significant additions to their roster through their farm system, trades, and free agency. They are also depending on the development of many young players who already have NHL experience. 

Will it be enough to make them a playoff team? That remains to be seen. If they do end up in the dance, it is likely to be helped by players unexpectedly exceeding expectations. 

There are plenty of players on the roster with pressure to be one of those players. If they don’t, their trajectory going into future years will trend down. Of all the rostered Blackhawks, these four are facing the most pressure: 

Artyom Levshunov

The Chicago Blackhawks have a lot of faith in Artyom Levshunov. They selected him with the second overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft. With that comes a lot of pressure, especially when you look at some of the names selected after him. 

Levshunov isn’t unlike other first- or second-year defensemen to come before him. There is a lot of skill, especially in terms of skating and overall strength, but there have been issues in the decision-making area of his game. 

It is one thing to have all of the talent that earned Levshunov that second overall pick; it is another to use those skills to become a winning player. He is still working on the latter. It isn’t like Levshunov will have no future if 2026-27 isn’t a great year, but there is pressure on him to show improvement.

There are a lot of young players in the organization, or even in future drafts, who will pass him up on the depth chart if he doesn’t take steps in his development. 

Bowen Byram

Bowen Byram is coming to the Chicago Blackhawks with a chance to be their number one defenseman. This comes after years of playing in the shadow of elite players like Cale Makar and Rasmus Dahlin. 

Now, he has the pressure of being a team's top option in all situations. He should have no problem getting his points on the power play, but impacting the game at even strength from a defensive perspective will be part of his responsibilities as well. 

Byram has one year left on his deal that will carry a cap hit of $6.25 million. After that, it jumps to $12.5 million, which is currently slated to be the highest AAV for a defenseman in the league. Others will pass it soon, but it doesn't take away from the financial commitment that the Blackhawks have to him. 

With big contracts come expectations to live up to them. The Hawks don't need him to be Quinn Hughes or Cale Makar, but they need him to be a winning player who leads what should eventually be a great young defense. 

Teuvo Teravainen

Teuvo Teravainen saw a drop in production last season. Part of that was less ice time as a result of more talent being inserted into the top six, but he mostly didn't play up to par. 

His ice time is not going to increase, and he's not getting any younger, but he can be much better in a supporting offensive role.

With one year left on his contract with the Blackhawks, he must have a good year if he wants his next contract (with the Hawks or someone else) to be more lucrative with good length. 

Arvid Soderblom

Arvid Soderblom has one year left on his contract. It also lines up with Drew Commesso's deal going from a two-way deal to a one-way deal. If he wants to maintain his spot with the Blackhawks beyond 2026-27, he must take a step. 

Even if he does take a step, Spencer Knight is the long-term starter, so they may let him walk if they want Commesso in the NHL. 

With that, Soderblom wants to come off a good year so he can use that to get himself another job in 2027-28 with another team. Most of the league is often looking for backup goalies, and sometimes a string of luck can land one of them a starting position. The pressure is on Soderblom to be good for his future's sake. 

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After being selected eighth overall by the Atlanta Thrashers in the 2010 NHL Draft, Russian center Alexander Burmistrov is making his return to North America 16 years later, signing an ECHL deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs organization that will see him join their affiliate, the Cincinnati Cyclones.

Years ago, the now 34-year-old was considered one of the Winnipeg Jets' best and brightest prospects once the franchise relocated from Atlanta to Winnipeg. 

As the eighth overall pick, Burmistrov went ahead of a long list of names who went on to have notable NHL careers, including Mikael Granlund, taken one pick later by the Minnesota Wild, Cam Fowler, who went six picks after him to the Anaheim Ducks, and others from that same draft class like Brock Nelson, Vladimir Tarasenko, Justin Faulk and Charlie Coyle.

By the 2016-17 season, though, it was clear Burmistrov wasn't going to be the impact player the franchise once envisioned. He had settled in as roughly a 20-point player, more of a depth forward than a player taken in the top ten, and Winnipeg ultimately let him go, with the Arizona Coyotes claiming him off waivers.

The following season, he played 24 games with the Vancouver Canucks before heading back home to Russia. Over his six NHL seasons, Burmistrov finished with 37 goals and 64 assists for 101 points in 348 games.

From there, he spent the better part of the last 12 seasons in the KHL, most recently with the Shanghai Dragons, remaining largely a depth forward at that level as well, totaling 46 goals and 108 assists for 154 points in 423 KHL games. He did get a brief taste of North American pro hockey along the way, posting 11 points in 22 AHL games back in 2012-13.

Now, more than a decade later, Burmistrov will look to find that familiar form again, this time a level down from where his North American career began, as he begins a new chapter in the ECHL with Cincinnati.

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The Buffalo Sabres could go a number of different ways as the NHL is in the midst of trade season following the NHL Draft and the opening of free agency on July 1. With the departure of winger Alex Tuch and defenseman Bowen Byram, GM Jarmo Kekalainen is expected to seek out offensive reinforcements to make up for the 44 goals lost by their departures. 

We are continuing to look at potential options for the Sabres, now that veteran Patrick Kane has returned with Chicago.  Some of the possibilities are not going to match Tuch’s stats, but any additions could provide some relief to the pressure that youngsters Konsta Helenius, Jiri Kulich, or Noah Ostlund will be under to make up the deficit.

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Kekalainen ideally is looking for someone who could make up as much of the 60-to-70 point production that he lost with Tuch, or someone who can fill the leadership gap and/or add some snarl and sandpaper to the middle-six, with the trade of Jordan Greenway to Chicago.  

Perron is a well-travelled winger (seven clubs, including three stints with St,. Louis, and two with Detroit) over his 19-year career, who has played over 1200 games and scored more than 20 goals seven times. Last season, he was scoring at over a 40-point pace with the Ottawa Senators, when he was dealt back to the Detroit Red Wings at the trade deadline. 

The Wings slumped at the end of last season, as they have tended to do in recent years, and that slump included the 38-year-old, who scored only three goals in 16 games. Perron’s best years have been with the Blues, where he scored 23 goals in 57 games in their Cup winning season in 2019. 

The veteran winger is not the scorer he was earlier in his career, but most of the veteran forwards still available, he could still play a middle-six role, similar to Jason Zucker and provide double figures in goals, and some insurance if some of the Sabres youngsters are not ready for prime time. 

This late in August, with less than a month before training camp, it is possible that someone with the resume that Perron has would not be open to a PTO, but if he wants to continue his career, he likely would have to sign a one-year deal for significantly less than the $4 million AAV he made last season.  

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On Thursday, The Athletic's Dom Luszczyszyn released his annual survey grading the confidence NHL fans have in each team's front office.

Some results were predictable, with the Carolina Hurricanes topping the list after their Stanley Cup win, while the Detroit Red Wings landed in a spot that surprised no one. They fell all the way down to 30th out of 32 teams, after missing the playoffs for a tenth straight season and firing longtime general manager Steve Yzerman this offseason.

The lack of faith in the franchise's direction is backed up by the numbers. Over the last decade, Detroit has gone 319-366-98, the third-worst record of any franchise that's existed over that stretch. 

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How confident are you in your team’s front office?

We check on each team’s management group and how their decisions are perceived by not only their own fan base, but the public at large. pic.twitter.com/VRmOzoGWhW

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) August 20, 2026

During that span, the Red Wings have allowed the third-most goals in the league at 2,574 against, while scoring the second-fewest at 2,114 scored, ahead of only the Anaheim Ducks. The rebuild has been long and difficult for Detroit, and entering the 2026-27 season, the team doesn't appear meaningfully closer to ending its playoff drought.

Other franchises that started their own rebuilds around the same time have already come out the other side and are competing again, most notably the Ducks and Montreal Canadiens, both of whom made the playoffs this past season and look to be trending toward genuine Stanley Cup contention.

The lack of trust in Detroit's front office has been building for years without many clear answers. But with the organization now turning the page to a new man in the GM chair, there's a belief that the franchise's luck could finally be shifting. 

With prospects like Nate Danielson and Michael Brandsegg-Nygard beginning to make their way to the NHL, there's at least a case that the end of the rebuild is finally within sight.

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The Buffalo Sabres have been considered to have one of the deepest prospect pools in the NHL, which is in part due to them selecting high in recent drafts because of their not qualifying for the playoffs. The Sabres have displayed an eye for talent, and the organization’s developmental model has begun to yield results, with 2023 first rounder Zach Benson making an impact in the playoffs, and 2024 top pick Konsta Helenius appearing as one of the AHL’s top prospects the last two seasons.  

Leading up to the opening of training camp in mid-September, we will look at the club's top 40 prospects. These players are all 25 years old or younger, whose rights are currently held by the Sabres or are on AHL or NHL deals, and have played less than 82 NHL games. 

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19. Simon-Pier Brunet – Defense (Victoriaville – QMJHL)

Brunet was the Sabres fourth-round pick at the 2024 NHL Draft in Las Vegas. A junior teammate of Rochester Americans defenseman Vsevolod Komarov, the 6’2” 205 lb. defenseman has not shown much of an offensive side thus far in his junior career in the normally high-scoring QMJHL.  

In four seasons in the Q, the defensive-minded Brunet has 77 points (15 goals, 62 assists) in 218 career games. He served as team captain of the Victoriaville Tigres last season, and posted 26 points (2 goals, 24 assists) along with 61 penalty minutes,   

Elite Prospects Draft Guide described the right-handed Brunet as someone who “motors up and down the ice with a sound skating posture for a player of his 6-foot-2 size. With his skating and reach, he denies space from the opposition, closes on them in transition, and guards the front of the net. Attackers can’t go through him. He walls them off from high-danger areas.”

Normally, the Sabres would have had to sign the 20-year-old by June to avoid losing his exclusive rights, but the new CBA allows them to retain his rights if he goes to the NCAA. This fall, Brunet will play for Merrimack College in Massachusetts.  

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On Thursday, the NHL announced a partnership with the league that had never been seen before, one with immediate ties to the Detroit Red Wings. 

The league, unveiled at FC Bayern's Säbener Straße training facility, includes creating a platform for cross-sport collaboration, community engagement, youth outreach and original content development as part of a multiyear agreement designed to accelerate the growth of hockey in Germany and the development of FC Bayern in North America.

The announcement was accompanied by a press conference featuring German NHL stars Leon Draisaitl and JJ Peterka, but notably not Red Wings star Moritz Seider, another prominent German player who captained his country at the recent IIHF World Championships.

Although he wasn't in attendance, the hope is that the partnership brings more German fans into the sport, even if Seider might have preferred a partnership tied closer to his own hometown club FC Zell rather than Bayern. 

Just one minute into the game, Moritz Seider gets past Devin Cooley and scores the opening goal for Germany against Team USA! 🇩🇪🔥#MensWorldspic.twitter.com/4v15lBsdNP

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) May 20, 2026

The two NHLers who did appear were likely there in connection with a related announcement as the Global Series will take place in Cologne and Munich during the 2027-28 season, with the Edmonton Oilers set to play two regular-season games in Draisaitl's hometown of Cologne, while the Boston Bruins and Peterka head to Munich for a two-game set of their own. 

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The 2026 Global Series will already head to Germany in December, with the Chicago Blackhawks and Ottawa Senators playing two games in Düsseldorf, the first NHL games in the country since 2011.

Rounding out the press conference was FC Bayern and Canadian international Alphonso Davies, who grew up playing hockey in the Edmonton area and cheers for the Oilers. Davies has experienced the passion Canada has for hockey during his years around Edmonton and has seen the excitement soccer brings to Germany, and he expressed excitement about linking back up with Draisaitl through the new partnership.

Not much else is known about the scope of the NHL's relationship with Bayern beyond what's already been announced, but with the league taking an increasingly aggressive approach to growing the game in Germany, it's not out of the question that Seider could see his brand continue to grow and could even see him eventually play a Global Series game closer to his own hometown of Zell down the line.

The Red Wings have only played in Europe once in recent memory, back in November 2023, when Detroit faced its rival Toronto Maple Leafs in Stockholm, a game that doubled as a homecoming for Swedish-born Red Wings winger Lucas Raymond.

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In a yearly exercise done by The Athletic, the St. Louis Blues ranked 14th in the latest edition of front office confidence rankings.

"Each front office is graded in six categories: roster building, cap management, drafting and development, trading, free agency and vision," started Dom Luszcyszyn.

"This is the 11th annual version of this project, with this year’s edition seeing over 10,000 responses from fans grading their own favorite team and nearly 500 responses grading every team. The contrast between the two is always fascinating."

In last season's edition, the Blues ranked 10th, dropping four spots heading into the 2026-27 season. 

The drop-off makes sense, as last year's rankings came after the Blues ended the season as one of the hottest teams in the NHL and nearly upset the Presidents' Trophy-winning Winnipeg Jets in the first round of the playoffs.

This time around, the Blues were one of the more disappointing teams in the NHL, missing the playoffs but not poor enough to land a top-five pick in the draft. Despite the disappointment, the Blues made several interesting moves, adding young, established forwards to their lineup. 

While the Stanley Cup might not be an attainable goal this year, the Blues will be far more competitive as they continue building towards the future. 

Will The St. Louis Blues Be Forced Into Exploring A Pavel Buchnevich NHL Trade?St. Louis Blues winger Pavel Buchnevich has struggled the past two seasons, and in the midst of an $8 million AAV contract, is it time for the organization to begin considering trading him away?

The Blues front office received an overall grade of B-, but the fanbase is far more confident in it than the public is. The public gave the Blues a B- grade and is 23 percent less confident than it was last year. The fanbase gave the Blues a B and is only 16 percent less confident. 

In the individual rankings, the fanbase agreed on cap management, giving the Blues' front office a B- grade. The only category in which the public was more confident than the fanbase was free agency, where the public gave a B- grade, and the fanbase gave a C+. 

The fanbase was higher than the public in roster building: C+ from the public and B- from the fanbase; draft and development: B- from the public and B+ from the fanbase; trading: B- from the public and B from the fanbase; and the team's vision: C+ from the public and B- from the fanbase. 

When this exercise is done next year, it'll be very interesting to see where the Blues land. If they bounce back, make the playoffs, and even win a round or two, they'll rocket up the rankings. If they miss the playoffs again, it wouldn't be surprising to see the Blues fall towards the 20s.

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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.

Is there a player with more intrigue for the Colorado Avalanche heading into the 2026-27 season than newly acquired forward Zach L’Heureux? He could either end up spending the majority of the season in the AHL, like he did last year, or he could end up solidifying as one of the missing pieces on the Avalanche roster in a middle-six scoring role. The range in our voting reflects this uncertainty as L’Heureux’s value to the organization is up in the air.

There also isn’t a player in the entire Avalanche organization with a more complicated past than L’Heureux now with Val Nichushkin jettisoned. The 23-year-old has been suspended at every level he’s played including on nine occasions in the QMJHL including once for 10 games, three times in the AHL and one three-game suspension in the NHL for slew-footing Minnesota’s Jared Spurgeon. It’s no secret that the Avalanche lack a little bite in their game and could use someone who toes the line, but is Jared Bednar going to put his trust in that type of player, especially someone who is still trying to establish themselves in the league? The mantra always is it’s better to reign in passion than try to encourage it, but we’ll see how that goes in reality.

L’Heureux brings a reasonable resume and pedigree with him to Colorado as a former first round pick taken at 27th overall in the 2021 draft by the Nashville Predators. After finishing his junior career in the QMJHL, he spent his first pro season in 2023-24 entirely in the AHL with the Milwaukee Admirals. There L’Heureux put up 48 points including 19 goals in a 66 game rookie season. The next year “Happy” as they call him only played four games in the AHL and was with the Predators for 62 games where he scored 15 points. He also led all NHL rookies with 198 hits that season showing the physical bite to his game.

The following year Nashville put L’Heureux back in the AHL for the bulk of the season and did well scoring 28 points in 30 games, but the move called in question his future in the NHL. The left winger played 25 games in Nashville, all at the end of the season, and only put up five points with four goals and an assist. It makes sense why a change of scenery was the move now especially with L’Heureux’s waiver exemption having expired. He is signed for two years, though, one-way for $875K cap hit per year, which gives the Avalanche an incentive to make it work. It will be fascinating to see where the experiment goes from here.

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

Zach Benson had a very good 2025-26 season with the Buffalo Sabres. In 65 games with Buffalo, he set career highs with 13 goals, 30 assists, 43 points, and a plus-27 rating. He also made a big impact during the playoffs, posting five goals and nine points in 13 games for the Sabres. 

Overall, Benson took a nice step in the right direction with his development this past campaign. However, he is now being predicted to be even better in 2026-27. 

NHL.com recently ranked Benson as one of the league's top breakout candidates to keep an eye on during this upcoming campaign.

When noting that Benson just turned 21 years old in May, there is no question that he has the potential to become an even better for the Sabres. It would not be too surprising if his offense went up this season, as he has shown a lot of promise. This was especially the case during the playoffs. 

It will now be interesting to see what kind of season Benson can put together for the Sabres in 2026-27. If he can hit the 20-goal and 60-point marks, it would be huge for a Buffalo team that is looking to have another successful season. 

Colton Sissons is one of the newest members of the Toronto Maple Leafs going into this coming season. He was a part of GM John Chayka's haul on July 1, signing a two-year contract with the Maple Leafs for $4.250 million per season.

Sissons, a right-handed and veteran center, is the type of player that you'd imagine would have some interest from other teams when the NHL's free agency period opened. The 32-year-old has played 756 regular-season games across his 12-year NHL career.

With two Stanley Cup final appearances and a specialty in the faceoff dot and penalty kill, many teams would love his services. In the end, the Vancouver native decided to take his talents north of the border.

"I mean, obviously the opportunity to put the Maple Leafs sweater on is probably No. 1," Sissons said on Thursday's edition of TSN OverDrive. "That's a pretty special experience for any player, and it's tough to pass off an opportunity like that and speak with (Chayka) and just hearing what their plans were and the conditions that they were making and saw some of those come across in the morning there. And so that was really exciting too."

As mentioned, July 1 was an incredibly busy day for the Maple Leafs and Chayka. Sissons was one of multiple additions to the roster that day, including Sergei Bobrovsky, Jack Roslovic, Nick Paul, and others.

Jack Roslovic Excited To Reunite With Auston Matthews After Choosing Maple LeafsJack Roslovic is already skating in a Leafs practice jersey and leaning on old friend Auston Matthews for housing tips and locker-room intel ahead of his August arrival in Toronto.

There will always be a challenge to joining a new team, especially for Sissons, who, before being traded to the Vegas Golden Knights for 2025-26, played 11 straight years with the Nashville Predators. 

But with Toronto's unique off-season, the difficulty of getting accustomed to new surroundings and teammates naturally grows. And that's not just the case with the roster, when even the coaching staff and front office have seen overhaul changes.

Morgan Rielly Expected Major Change, Anticipates Big Presence From Gavin McKenna At Maple Leafs Training CampToronto Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly will have several new teammates heading into the 2026-27 NHL season, and he expected as much. With 2026 first overall pick Gavin McKenna among those new teammates potentially next season, he anticipates a big presence from him at training camp.

“Yeah, obviously it's a challenge with all the newness coming in and a lot of new players in the locker room," Sissons said. 

However, with his experience and the veteran that Sissons is, it won't be hard for him to find his role and ways to contribute to his new team on and off the ice during his Maple Leafs tenure.

"I think just coming in, I'm just going to be myself and try to bring guys together and kind of establish just a good vibe in the locker room and obviously put in the work and try to be a leader for us," he added. "Just keep it simple and just try to get everybody on the same page as fast as possible because camp's going to be pretty quick this year and it's going to be a lot to sort out and new systems and all that.

"I think we're going to be able to turn this thing around pretty quick and have a solid year.”

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The Winnipeg Jets are coming off a disappointing season in which they missed the playoffs for the first time since 2022, and according to one prominent prospect evaluator, there may not be a quick fix coming through the pipeline.

The Athletic's Corey Pronman ranked Winnipeg's collection of prospects and players under the age of 23 as the 28th-best in the NHL this week, placing the Jets ahead of just four organizations.

Winnipeg fell three spots from Pronman's 2025 ranking, when the organization came in at No. 25.

It's an assessment that comes at an interesting time for the Jets. After years of regular-season success and three consecutive playoff appearances, Winnipeg took a significant step backwards in 2025-26. The Jets finished 35-35-12 and 12th in the Western Conference, just one season removed from winning the Presidents' Trophy.

With much of the team's established core still built around veterans including Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor, Josh Morrissey and Connor Hellebuyck, the development of Winnipeg's next wave has become increasingly important. Pronman's ranking suggests there are some legitimate pieces on the way. The question is how many.

At the top of the group is 2026 first-round pick Viggo Björck. Winnipeg selected the Swedish centre eighth overall in June, giving the organization the kind of high-end prospect it hasn't had the opportunity to draft in quite some time. Pronman views Björck as an intelligent, highly competitive centre with legitimate top-six NHL upside.

The 18-year-old immediately became one of the most important pieces of Winnipeg's future.

Sascha Boumedienne is another. Selected 28th overall by Winnipeg in 2025, Boumedienne spent the past two seasons at Boston University and helped Sweden capture gold at the 2026 World Junior Championship.

The mobile defenceman has shown an ability to create offence from the blue line, although his development remains a longer-term project. Pronman identified his mobility as one of the stronger attributes within Winnipeg's young group.

Beyond those two, things become less certain. Brayden Yager remains one of Winnipeg's most recognizable prospects after being acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Rutger McGroarty trade in August of 2024. The former 14th-overall selection made the jump to professional hockey last season and remains a potential NHL centre for the Jets.

Elias Salomonsson, meanwhile, has already begun making that transition.

The 21-year-old Swedish defenceman appeared in 32 games for Winnipeg last season, scoring one goal and five points. A second-round selection in 2022, Salomonsson has steadily climbed through the organization after playing professionally in Sweden and spending parts of two seasons with the Manitoba Moose. He could be in position to take another step with the Jets in 2026-27.

There are other intriguing names further down the pipeline. Brad Lambert, Colby Barlow and Nikita Chibrikov have all spent time developing with Manitoba, while Kieron Walton, Kevin He and Alfons Freij represent younger projects still attempting to establish themselves as legitimate NHL options.

But that is where Pronman's primary concern with Winnipeg lies. There is potential at the top of the system, particularly following the addition of Björck, but considerably less certainty behind the organization's best young players.

It's also important to put a bottom-five ranking into context. Winnipeg spent much of the past several seasons operating as a contender, which meant drafting late and occasionally moving future assets to improve the NHL roster.

The Jets traded their first-round picks in both 2024 and 2025 before eventually getting back into the opening round of the 2025 draft, acquiring the 28th selection from Carolina and using it on Boumedienne.

Missing the playoffs last season provided an unusual opportunity. For the first time since selecting Patrik Laine second overall in 2016, Winnipeg held a top-10 pick. Björck was the result. Now comes the important part. The Jets need more of their young players to turn potential into NHL production.

Winnipeg still has one of hockey's premier goaltenders in Hellebuyck, a 100-point centre in Scheifele and an elite scorer in Connor. The veterans at the top of the roster give the organization reason to believe it can rebound quickly. But that core won't remain in its prime forever.

For a franchise that has historically needed to draft and develop its own talent, The Athletic's No. 28 ranking serves as a reminder of just how important the next few years of development will be.

The Jets have some promising young pieces, but they could certainly use a few more.

We are starting to get into the top young players in the Pittsburgh Penguins organization, and we continue today with one of the three first-round picks from the 2025 NHL Draft, forward Will Horcoff as he comes off a monster season at the University of Michigan.

Pensburgh Top 25 Under 25: Graduates and Departed players in 2025
Top 25 Under 25: The best of the rest
#25: Chase Pietila
#24: Ryan Miller
#23: Finn Harding
#22: Peyton Kettles
#21: Zam Plante
#21: Brady Peddle
#20: Melvin Fernstrom
#19: Tanner Howe
#18: Tomas Galvas
#17: Pierce Mbuyi
#16: Jake Livanavage
#15: Owen Pickering
#14: Tristan Broz
#13: Avery Hayes
#12: Ville Koivunen
#11: Hendrix Lapierre
#10: Markus Ruck
#9: Mikhail Ilyin
#8: Joel Blomqvist
#7: Liam Ruck

#6: Will Horcoff, RW

2025 Ranking: #5

Age: 19 (January 23, 2007)

Acquired Via: 2025 NHL Draft, 1st round, 24th overall

Height/Weight: 6’5”, 203 pounds

Elite Prospects resume:

If the Penguins are able to rebuild themselves into a contending team at any point in the near future, the 2025 NHL Draft class might be one of the biggest reasons why.

Even though the Penguins did not have a top-five pick that year, they still came away with three of the top-24 picks in the draft thanks to a series of trades, and they might come away with a couple of NHL players as a result.

They already look to have one NHL player in No. 11 overall pick Ben Kindel, while there is a lot of hope for picks No. 22 (Bill Zonnon) and No. 24 (Horcoff). The other two are still ahead in the top-25 under 25 rankings, and now Horcoff is the first of that group to appear on the list.

He does drop one spot from where he was a year ago, but do not take that as a sign of him regressing. It is actually a sign of the improvement within the Penguins farm system and how they actually have some real prospect depth at the moment. It is a night and day difference from where they were even just two years ago.

There was always a lot to like about Horcoff as a prospect, ranging from the fact he is the son of an NHL player (long-time NHL forward Shawn Horcoff), to his massive size, to the fact he is a smart player with a great defensive awareness. He had shown some flashes of goal production going into his draft year that he split between the U.S. National Development Team and the University of Michigan, and he really started to build on that during the 2025-26 season.

In his first full season at the NCAA level, Horcoff absolutely took off offensively, scoring 25 goals in 40 games. That goal total put him into a tie for second place in the entire country, trailing only the 29 goals scored by Dartmouth’s Hayden Stavroff.

That production really stood out to Penguins assistant general manager Jason Spezza, who had this to say about Horcoff’s emergence during the season.

Via The Athletic:

“We were attracted to the qualities that are giving him success now, so I’m not shocked, but I’m also pleasantly surprised,” Spezza said. “It’s a hard league to come into and do what he’s doing at that age. For a big man, he gets inside, but he also knows how to find the quiet areas in the slot. He’s got a nice release. He’s got a natural goal-scoring touch. And I just think he’s a student of the game. He spends a lot of time working on his game, thinking on his game and he’s benefiting from that.”

Along with the 25 goals in the NCAA, he also made the United States World Junior team and scored a goal with an assist in his five games at the tournament.

The big questions around Horcoff now become a matter of upside, and how repeatable his 2025-26 performance may have been.

The other aspects of his game (the size, the physical play, the defensive play) have always been there, and always gave him a chance to be an NHL player, at least in a depth role. But when he adds 25 goals in 40 games at the NCAA level to that package it starts to open your eyes a little bit more. It makes you think there might be a little more potential in there than “just a guy” at the next level.

But he has to show he can not only do that again, but also build on it.

If there’s a potential red flag or “prove it” thing with his performance, it’s that he went on an early season shooting bender that resulted in him scoring on more than 23 percent of shots for the season. That’s a high number. A really high number. And it might not be totally repeatable. The projection around him changes a lot if he’s not scoring goals at that rate on a consistent or even consistent basis.

He is going to have another year at the University of Michigan to prove himself and probably will not become a potential factor in the NHL until 2027-28. If he even comes close to repeating his 2025-26 performance offensively, the Penguins quickly go from having an intriguing prospect to having a very serious power forward prospect.