Accolades are becoming old hat for Buffalo Sabres top prospect Konsta Helenius. The 20-year-old played nine games for the Sabres during the regular season, stepped in during the Stanley Cup Playoffs in impressive fashion, and scored the golden goal for Finland at the 2026 IIHF World Championships in Switzerland last month. On Wednesday, the American Hockey League named Helenius to their 2025-26 Top Prospects Team.
The young center was named to the 2024-25 Top Prospects after making his Noreth American debut with 35 points (14 goals, 21 assists) in 65 games with the Rochester Americans. This season, he led the Amerks with 62 points (21 goals, 41 assists) in 63 games, tying for ninth in AHL scoring and setting a franchise record for scoring by a teenager.
For the second straight year, Konsta Helenius is an @TheAHL Top Prospect! 🤩🎉 Helenius enjoyed a standout season with the Amerks in 2025-26, leading the team with 63 points (21+42) in 63 games and tying for ninth in scoring in the AHL. Helenius, who was one of four Amerks… https://t.co/yqbsJB0xDgpic.twitter.com/M6lLqhWjIR
Alex Tuch and his contract situation with the Sabres
Forwards Michael Brandsegg-Nygard (DET), Ilya Protas(WAS), defensemen Carter Yakemchuk (OTT) and Adam Engstrom (MON), and goaltender Sergei Murashov (PIT) were also selected.
The Sabres were fortunate at the 2024 NHL Draft in Las Vegas two years ago after trading down three slots with the San Jose Sharks the day before the draft to garner an extra second-round pick. Helenius was thought of by many draft analysts as the most pro-ready forward next to top pick Macklin Celebrini after playing last season in the Finnish SM-Liiga, and for Finland at the Under-18’s, World Junior Championships and World Championships.
After two full years in the AHL, it is highly likely that Helenius will not be seeing any time in the minors going forward. With the likely departure of Alex Tuch and possibly Beck Malenstyn in free agency, GM Jarmo Kekalainen will look to internal options like Jiri Kulich, Noah Ostlund, and Helenius in part to fill the void up front. It is also possible that the Sabres GM may be involved in what is expected to be a brisk trade market this summer, which might necessitate trading one or more of those prospects.
It would have surprising however, to see the Sabres move Helenius, who seems very capable at a young age to make an impact in the NHL.
Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final comes to us live from Lenovo Center in Raleigh tonight, with the Vegas Golden Knights and Carolina Hurricanes knotted at 2-2.
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Josh Inglis' expert pick: Jordan Staal Over 0.5 points
Price: +120 at BET99
Jordan Staal has been an issue for the Vegas Golden Knights all series, and the longer this Cup Finals goes, the more of an impact he will have.
He has six points in two games and multiple points in back-to-back matches. His 5-on-5 line is better with the addition of Seth Jarvis, and there is a case to be made that he is playing among the most offensively talented wingers on the team.
Staal also gets PP1 looks until the puck is cleared, and he changes. Carter Hart is giving up goals in bunches, and Staal is getting some Conn Smythe love for a reason
Neil Parker's expert pick: Brandon Bussi Over 21.5 saves
Price: +100 at BET99
While the Golden Knights have been on the losing end of the 5-on-5 possession battle with a 42.0 Corsi For percentage, they’ve consistently pushed back, and their 47.5% shot share paints a far clearer picture of how the series has played out through four games.
As a result, I’m anticipating the Golden Knights showing up on time and with an emphasis on testing Carolina Hurricanes rookie goalie Brandon Bussi in Game 5.
Bussi has only faced 22.76 shots per 60 minutes since taking over the crease in Game 3, and Vegas has recorded 25.2 shots per 60 this postseason, so a slight uptick from the Golden Knights is all it will take for Bussi to clear this low total.
I recommend this to -110 odds.
Todd Cordell's expert pick: Taylor Hall Over 0.5 points
Carolina has controlled better than 68% of the expected goals during Hall’s 5-on-5 minutes. No other player is above 58%. He’s full value for it, leading the way in shot attempts, scoring chances, and sitting tied for first in Grade A opportunities.
Brett Howden has quickly made a name for himself in the playoffs. He leads the Vegas Golden Knights with 14 goals in just 20 games and has already scored four times in the Stanley Cup Final. The center has generated 22 individual high-danger chances this postseason, including 14 on the road.
In the Final alone, Howden has produced 12 individual Fenwick attempts, ranking third on Vegas. The veteran continues to put himself in dangerous scoring areas, and the underlying chance generation suggests more opportunities should follow.
Odds are correct at the time of publishing and are subject to change. Not intended for use in MA. Affiliate Disclosure: Our team of experts has thoroughly researched and handpicked each product that appears on our website. We may receive compensation if you sign up through our links.
Golden Knights vs Hurricanes goal scorer predictions for Game 5
Player to score a goal
Odds
Jackson Blake
+275
Jordan Martinook
+540
Brett Howden
+270
💲Goal scorer parlay
+3500
Goal scorer pick: Jackson Blake (+275)
Jackson Blake has been a revelation in these playoffs, scoring six goals and adding 12 assists. The youngster netted his first goal of the Stanley Cup Final in Game 4 and has recorded five shots on goal across the last two contests. Blake has also generated five individual high-danger chances in the series.
Looking at the postseason as a whole, Blake leads the Carolina Hurricanes with 29 individual high-danger chances. He's consistently putting himself in dangerous scoring areas, and the volume of quality opportunities continues to support another goal-scoring performance.
I'll play this pick to +200.
Goal scorer pick: Jordan Martinook (+540)
This one may feel like a bit of a long shot, but hear me out. Jordan Martinook has one goal in the Stanley Cup Final and is getting pucks on net, recording seven shots on goal across the last three games.
Despite scoring just twice this postseason, Martinook has generated 17 individual high-danger chances, one of the best marks on Carolina's roster.
Additionally, Martinook has produced 3.64 individual expected goals and 45 individual Fenwick attempts during the playoffs. The opportunities haven't translated into goals as often as he'd like, but the underlying numbers suggest he's been far more involved offensively than his goal total indicates.
I'll play this pick to +400.
Goal scorer pick: Brett Howden (+270)
Brett Howden has quickly made a name for himself in the playoffs. He leads the Vegas Golden Knights with 14 goals in just 20 games and has already scored four times in the Stanley Cup Final. The center has generated 22 individual high-danger chances this postseason, including 14 on the road.
In the Final alone, Howden has produced 12 individual Fenwick attempts, ranking third on Vegas. The veteran continues to put himself in dangerous scoring areas, and the underlying chance generation suggests more opportunities should follow.
I'll play this to +200.
Golden Knights vs Hurricanes anytime goal parlay
Odds are correct at the time of publishing and are subject to change. Not intended for use in MA. Affiliate Disclosure: Our team of experts has thoroughly researched and handpicked each product that appears on our website. We may receive compensation if you sign up through our links.
Should the latest investigation into Mike Babcock ultimately prevent him from becoming the next head coach of the Edmonton Oilers, the organization could find itself in a remarkably awkward position, one that would leave people searching for answers while trying to explain how a process that began with such urgency became so messy.
Because what has unfolded over the last several weeks hasn't exactly projected confidence.
The first target was Bruce Cassidy.
That made sense. He has a Stanley Cup ring. His teams are organized. He commands respect. Perhaps most importantly, he possesses the personality and the résumé required to challenge players like Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl when necessary. Something that has become increasingly important after a disappointing playoff run raised questions about whether too many players became too comfortable.
Unfortunately for the Oilers, Vegas had no interest in helping a conference rival and refused permission to speak with a coach who remains under contract.
Fair enough.
What happened next has become much harder to defend.
Edmonton is aggressively pursuing Mike Babcock, and as concerns from his past resurfaced, the organization appears willing to stand behind him and absorb the criticism that came with it. Fair or unfair, the Oilers seemed convinced that enough time had passed since the Columbus debacle and that the combination of Babcock's track record and his demanding style made the gamble worthwhile.
Now that the latest investigation may reveal conduct more troubling than originally believed, it is possible that Edmonton's second choice may never coach a game.
And if that happens, it doesn't look good.
Not because the Knights said no to Bruce Cassidy.
Not because Mike Babcock may prove impossible to hire.
What doesn't happen very often is a Stanley Cup contender appearing to conduct such an important search without a clear fallback plan.
Which brings the conversation back to Kris Knoblauch.
Perhaps those involved really believed his message had gone stale. Perhaps they wanted more emotion, more accountability and a coach willing to challenge veterans publicly and privately when the situation called for it.
Those are reasonable concerns.
What becomes harder to understand is the timing.
Frankly, they probably shouldn't have fired Knoblauch. At least not yet.
There was no rule saying Edmonton had to make a decision immediately. The organization could have challenged Knoblauch internally, encouraging him to push his players harder when necessary and demanding more urgency from a group that had just suffered a humiliating early exit, all while quietly continuing to explore the market behind the scenes.
Plenty of organizations do exactly that.
Instead, the Oilers removed the safety net before confirming another one was available.
That's a dangerous way to operate because established NHL coaches have egos.
Coaches with Stanley Cups and decades of experience didn't reach that level by accepting the role of consolation prize. They expect to be pursued aggressively. They expect to be wanted. Most importantly, they expect to know that they are Plan A.
Who wants to walk into a room knowing Bruce Cassidy was the first choice and Mike Babcock was the second?
That's not exactly a flattering sales pitch.
Veteran coaches capable of standing up to Leon Draisaitl when he needs to hear uncomfortable truths aren't interested in being the third or fourth name on a list. Those personalities tend to have enough confidence and enough options to simply move on to the next opportunity.
Which leaves Edmonton staring at another possibility.
Perhaps the answer is an inexperienced coach.
After all, Montreal struck gold with Martin St. Louis. A Hall of Fame player with no NHL coaching experience walked behind the Canadiens bench and immediately changed the culture.
The problem with chasing another Martin St. Louis is that history is filled with examples that didn't work out nearly as well.
And besides, how many Martin St. Louis stories are really out there?
How many former stars are sitting around waiting for Stan Bowman to call?
And even if they are available, they know their worth.
Former NHL players with long careers don't necessarily need the money. Many have television opportunities. Others have families and businesses. Some simply enjoy life away from the rink.
Why would they voluntarily jump into a situation that increasingly looks chaotic from the outside?
Because fair or unfair, that's how this entire process has made the Oilers look.
Those aren't words normally associated with winning organizations.
And coaches notice those things.
Agents notice those things.
Players notice those things.
Reputations matter.
Which is why this entire situation has grown beyond Mike Babcock.
The Oilers spent years building credibility. Even after the disappointment of losing to Anaheim, they still employ Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. They still possess one of hockey's most recognizable brands. They should be a destination.
Instead, the events of this summer have left them looking like a franchise scrambling for answers and hoping something sticks.
At this point, those in Oil Country may find themselves in the strange position of hoping the Babcock investigation clears him, because after everything that has transpired, the list of coaches eager to inherit this situation might be considerably shorter than anyone imagined.
That's perhaps the most troubling part of all.
Not that the Oilers could lose Mike Babcock, but that they've allowed themselves to arrive at a point where so many people are asking the same question.
After the early stages of the first round of the NHL draft, the order and projections of when players will be selected get a little looser. That would certainly be the case for the Toronto Maple Leafs and their second-round pick, 60th overall.
Several draft experts have their opinions and projections as to where certain prospects will fall. That includes The Athletic's Scott Wheeler, who listed center Alessandro Di Iorio at 59th in his latest top-100 2026 NHL draft ranking.
Di Iorio plays for the OHL's Sarnia Sting, completing his second season with the team, and is set for a third campaign with the Sting next year.
The 18-year-old Vaughan, Ont., native scored 12 goals and 19 assists for 31 points this past year for Sarnia.
Di Iorio played only 45 games in the OHL regular season because he suffered an elbow injury in Sarnia's pre-season. That kept him sidelined for the opening two months of the 2025-26 campaign.
"He has quick crossovers and room to add muscle," Wheeler wrote. "He can play out wide, and… pick corners from mid-range with his curl-and-drag wrister and facilitate with his good feel as a passer, but he's also sneaky strong on stick lifts and willing to go to inside ice."
Wheeler also noted Di Iorio's defensive instincts and willingness to block shots with the Sting, providing another element to his game as a centerman.
Despite all his time off and missing a total of 23 outings all year, Di Iorio finished with the seventh-most goals on the team and tied for that position on the Sting in points. He also finished third on the team in points per game at 0.69. Only forwards Easton Walos and Beckham Edwards finished with a better rate at 0.71 points per game.
Di Iorio and the Sting didn't see any post-season action as Sarnia finished second last in the Western Conference and was one of the four OHL teams to miss the playoffs.
They missed the playoffs in 2024-25 as well, finishing in the same position in their conference. That was Di Iorio's rookie season in the Ontario League, which saw him provide 11 goals and 27 assists for 38 points.
That was another campaign in which Di Iorio didn't play the entire 68-game season, but he featured in 58 and finished sixth on the team in scoring. He likely would've been a top-five scorer on the Sting if he had played out the entire year.
Di Iorio is registered as a 6-foot center by NHL Central Scouting. Also, at the NHL scouting combine, he finished in the top 10 in the Wingate cycle ergometer test and the left-hand grip test.
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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - JUNE 09: Pavel Dorofeyev #16 of the Vegas Golden Knights and Jordan Martinook #48 of the Carolina Hurricanes battle for the puck during the first period in Game Four of the 2026 Stanley Cup Final at T-Mobile Arena on June 09, 2026 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) | Getty Images
What a series this has been.
Tonight is another chapter of this epic Stanley Cup Finals battle, with the Carolina Hurricanes hosting the Vegas Golden Knights at the Lenovo Center tonight at 8 PM. Carolina is looking to take its first series lead and come within one game of winning the Stanley Cup.
On Tuesday, the Canes were able to tie the series 2-2, in part thanks to captain Jordan Staal, who scored two of Carolina’s five goals on the night. The Canes 5-3 win over the Knights was capped off with a Nikolaj Ehlers empty net goal that took a crazy bounce off the boards.
Staal has now scored in all four Stanley Cup Final games so far, becoming the first player since Mike Bossy in 1982 to accomplish the feat.
After going down 2-1 in Game 3 and seeing their legendary comeback attempt fall just short in double overtime, the Canes did something in Game 4 that they hadn’t done all postseason — start Brandon Bussi.
Bussi was the primary starter for the Hurricanes up until the Olympic break this year, and for much of the year he didn’t disappoint, finishing the season with a 31-6-2 record. But Frederik Andersen took over much of the work late in the season and had started every playoff game prior to Tuesday. After Bussi replaced Andersen in Game 3, which helped jump start a comeback attempt, the Canes have decided to move forward with The Bus as their goaltender.
Rod Brind’Amour’s decision to roll with Bussi — which many fans didn’t think he would do — ended up being the right one. Bussi stopped 18 of the 21 shots he faced on Tuesday, helping the Canes tie the series.
It looks like Bussi will earn his second consecutive start tonight, a good sign for the Canes.
In the past couple games, the offense has come alive for the Hurricanes, led by the second line of Hall-Stankoven-Blake. In Game 4, Stankoven scored his 11th goal of the playoffs and Blake followed suit with his sixth goal of the postseason. Carolina has scored four goals or more in each of the four Stanley Cup games so far.
The one area of concern for the Canes, surprisingly, has been on the defensive end.
Multiple times throughout the series, including in their Game 4 win, there have been uncharacteristic defensive breakdowns. Vegas’ Mark Stone was able to spring loose on a breakaway for the Knights’ first goal of the game after Jaccob Slavin let him get behind Carolina’s defense.
Slavin — who has been one of the best defensive defenseman in the NHL for the better part of the last decade — has not looked like himself this series. Whether it’s an injury or something else, the Canes need to get a little more out of their star defenseman on the defensive end.
But Slavin isn’t the only one, Carolina’s team defense needs to step up and limit a lot of the high danger chances that the Knights have been able to get this series. The offense has come around, which has put the Canes right back in the driver’s seat for the Stanley Cup. It’s now time their defense does the same thing.
With Bussi in net again and Staal playing like his prime self, look for another inspired performance out of the Canes tonight in front of the home crowd, with a chance to come within one game of winning the Stanley Cup.
Here’s how to catch tonight’s action:
Time: 8 PM Eastern
TV/Streaming: ABC, SN, CBC, TVAS
Radio: 99.9 The Fan
Odds: Hurricanes -160 Moneyline, Hurricanes -1.5 at +158
That, of course, makes life a little different for the club’s amateur scouting staff leading up to the 2026 NHL draft. Barring a trade, the Flyers will pick at 21st overall. It’s their lowest first-round spot since 2020.
So the Flyers know the draft is still critical to what they want to do, even when they’re lower in the order.
“We’ve said it for a long time, we wanted to build a team that was going to be here for a long time; not just to go for it for a year or two,” general manager Danny Briere said last month. “That’s still the same approach on my end.”
The Flyers have only five picks in this draft, which will be held June 26-27. The first round is Friday at 7 p.m. ET, while Rounds 2-7 are Saturday starting at 11 a.m. ET.
“I’ll tell you how I feel about drafts and I’ll be totally blunt with you,” TSN director of scouting Craig Button said last Tuesday in a phone interview with NBC Sports Philadelphia. “I think it’s f—ing bulls–t when I hear about, ‘Oh, this draft isn’t as good.’ Here are the numbers. Approximately 45 players from any draft will play 350 games or more in the NHL. It might be 47 one year, 42 another year. That’s the number — you get 45 players that’ll play 350 games or more with varying degrees of success.
“And I know this about the draft. The teams that get good players from the draft say it was a good draft. The teams that don’t get good players from the draft say it wasn’t a good draft. So when people start telling me about a draft ahead of time, I call bulls–t.”
“What you’re trying to do is find a player that you feel has the potential to be an NHL player,” Button said. “That might be a third-line center, that might be a second-line scoring winger. Hey, listen, maybe you get David Pastrnak, who’s a superstar (drafted 25th overall in 2014).
“But the focus has to be on, ‘OK, what type of player do we like, what type of player do we think the guy can be?’ And then get after it and understand what the development path is, and then try to help that player be the best he can be. Put a stake in the ground and celebrate who you’re drafting.”
Before the draft arrives, we’re breaking down first-round targets for the Flyers.
Next up:
Alexander Command
Position: Center Height: 6-foot-1 Weight: 187 Shoots: Left Team: Orebro
Scouting report
There’s a craftiness to Command’s game. The Swedish pivot knows what to do with the puck on his stick. He can shoot it and pass it. He won’t overwhelm you with speed or power, but he just seems to get the job done.
“I see him as a second-line center all day long,” Button, a former NHL GM and scout, said. “The way he plays — he’s smart, he’s competitive.”
Playing at the junior level in his home country, Command led Orebro with 44 points (17 goals, 27 assists) over 30 games this season. He had 96 shots and a plus-10 rating. He added 13 points (five goals, eight assists) and 40 shots in 14 playoff games.
At the 2026 IIHF U-18 World Junior Championship that ended last month, Command had seven points (three goals, four assists), 21 shots and a plus-4 rating in seven games for Team Sweden, which won gold.
Button sees some Joel Eriksson Ek qualities in Command. The Wild center, also from Sweden, was drafted 20th overall in 2015 and has gone on to record 60-plus points twice and 30 goals once.
“Joel has that competitive fire and the smarts,” Button said. “I think Alexander has the same things, I think Command has the same type of elements in his game. He makes other players better.”
In a surprising twist, the Philadelphia Flyers have reportedly turned to the Edmonton Oilers in search of big upgrades to their group of defensemen going forward.
Veteran Nick Seeler is beginning to show signs of wear and tear as he gets older, and pending RFA Emil Andrae is looking increasingly likely to be on another NHL team next season.
That leaves the Flyers in need of another left-shot defenseman, and a solid one with experience, too, after they just made the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time in six years.
One player with such experience is Edmonton Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse, who helped guide the Western Conference titans to back-to-back appearances in the Stanley Cup Final.
Nurse, 31, has four seasons remaining on his contract at a $9.25 million cap hit, which is the major detractor when it comes to both trading him and trading for him.
According to On Pattison's Anthony San Filippo, though, the Flyers could be one of the approved destinations for the Oilers defenseman, who has a full no-move clause, and the Flyers have interest if the price is reasonable.
"A source outside of the Flyers organization said Nurse, who has a full no-trade clause in his contract through the end of next season, has told the Oilers there are a few teams he is willing to be traded to right now. Are the Flyers one of them? It’s unclear, but a separate source told me they would be an approved destination," San Filippo reported.
Logistically, the Flyers could very easily absorb Nurse's full cap hit without much trouble going forward, but that would also be money spent that they could allocate elsewhere.
RFAs Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale need new contracts, Matvei Michkov is eligible for an extension as of July 1, Dan Vladar will sign an extension this summer, and maybe the Flyers sign John Carlson in free agency, too.
Nurse wouldn't stop any of those things from happening, but it would make for an unnecessarily tight ship if an opportunity arose for the Flyers to add, say, a No. 1 center or player-adjacent.
“That’s the difficult part of the conversation,” a Flyers source told San Filippo, saying that there has been internal discussion about how it would have to look for them to be interested enough to pick up the phone. “It depends on what the cost is for them to retain, and how much they would be retaining.”
Nurse is an overall better, more versatile player than someone like Rasmus Ristolainen, who currently carries a $5.1 million cap hit.
So, to make Nurse's contract palatable, the Flyers would have to get his number down to somewhere between that and $7 million.
Salary retention costs a lot these days, and it's a risky move for a contender like Edmonton to pay players to play on another team, but they have little choice with the primes of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl winding down.
As for any potential trade compensation, it is worth noting that the Flyers do not have fourth- or fifth-round picks in the 2026 NHL Draft, though they do have both in 2027 in addition to two third-round picks.
It's also fair to wonder if the Oilers would entertain a straight player swap with retention for someone like Andrae, potentially in addition to another bubble NHLer or useful depth player.
The Flyers have plenty of avenues to explore, and Nurse's $74 million contract is certainly one of them, even with its warts.
Former Columbus Blue Jackets head coach Pascal Vincent has found himself back in the NHL.
The Seattle Kraken have announced that they've added Vincent as an assistant coach for the upcoming season.
Per a Kraken Press Release, “He's been a head coach at every level. He’s been an assistant coach at every level. He's been coaching for 26 years and at the pro level for the last 15 years. In all of the research I did, everything said about him checked all the boxes. Everyone said he is an extremely hardworking and loyal guy who loves to win and loves to develop players. For me, Pascal was the favorite right from the beginning based on his experience and what I was hearing about him. We feel very fortunate to get him into our mix. “
For the last two seasons, Vincent has been head coach for the Laval Rocket, the American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate of the Montréal Canadiens. He was named AHL Coach of the Year in 2025, leading the Rocket to 101 points and a league-leading 48-19-5 record. It was his second AHL coach of the year honor, winning the first in 2017-18 with the Manitoba Moose. He has worked as an NHL assistant coach across seven seasons, five with Winnipeg (2011 to 2016) and two with Columbus (2021 to 2023), before serving one year as head coach with the Blue Jackets in 2023-24. - Kraken PR
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Don Waddell fired Pascal Vincent on June 17th, 2024, after just one season as the head coach. Vincent was hired just before the season started in 2023, after Mike Babcock was fired just before training camp started.
Next Up For Columbus: The NHL Draft is on June 26 and 27 in Buffalo, where the CBJ will own pick #14.
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It’s been reported for quite some time now that the Florida Panthers and goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky are at odds.
Bobrovsky seeks a high-paying contract, while the Panthers are looking for something a bit cheaper that will allow them to continue building their roster without losing key pieces. The 2025-26 season was a massive down year for the 37-year-old, and rumors circulated around the trade deadline that Bobrovsky could be available.
Nothing came to fruition, but we now know the Panthers were seriously considering it.
The Panthers weren’t willing to move on from Bobrovsky very easily, and Hurricanes GM Eric Tulsky was never willing to move a first-round pick for Bobrovsky.
If this deal had gone through, the landscape of the NHL could have looked completely different.
The Hurricanes are currently in the Stanley Cup finals, duelling with the Vegas Golden Knights. The series is currently tied at two games apiece, but the Hurricanes have dealt with their fair share of goalie controversy.
To begin, Frederik Andersen has had several noted playoff mishaps and has built a bit of a reputation for his play faltering in big games and moments. While he was outstanding in the first three rounds, his play has once again declined as the pressure ramps up.
Bussi started Game 4 for the Hurricanes and guided them to a 4-3 win to tie the series.
If the Hurricanes had traded for Bobrovsky, would this controversy have still arisen? Would Bobrovsky have been the undisputed starter? Would he have found his game again behind a healthier team?
So many questions could be asked about this reported trade situation. Whether they win or lose, the Hurricanes are in the Stanley Cup final without top-notch goaltending, and Bobrovsky could have changed that.
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SAN DIEGO, CA – The Stanley Cup banners from 2012 and 2014 still hang in Crypto.com Arena, and, fairly, they always will. But at some point, a franchise has to reckon with whether those banners are a source of inspiration for nostalgic zoom-ins during the national anthem or a set of chains, and for the Los Angeles Kings, the answer in 2025-26 felt uncomfortably close to the latter.
One season ago, this team was 48-25-9, with 105 points, second in the Pacific, and a Simple Rating System score of +0.50, ranking them sixth in the league. The Simple Rating System measures average goal differential per game adjusted for strength of schedule, where 0.0 represents a league-average team. By that measure, the Kings last season were a legitimate contender still figuring out how to win in May.
This past season, they finished 35-27-20, 90 points, good for fourth in the Pacific, eighth in the West, dead last in penalty kill, and ranked 24th in that same metric at -0.32. A 15-point drop in the standings is not just a bad year; it’s a signaling one. A swing of nearly a full point in goal-differential rating, from top-ten to bottom third, is something more systemic. That is a team whose construction stopped working, and the numbers make no attempt to hide it.
Well, even with those numbers, they made the playoffs again; that’s good, right? Colorado swept them, exposing an identity and backend no longer fit in the modern NHL. The Kings stand at the exact same fork in the road they have been staring at for years, except now they have finally run out of excuses not to take it.
A Championship Built for a Different Era
To understand what is wrong with the Kings, you have to understand what was right about them. The 2012 and 2014 championship squads were built on a specific formula: elite goaltending from Jonathan Quick, deep and dominant center play anchored by Anze Kopitar, and a defensive core as physically suffocating as any in the league. That blue line did not just prevent goals; it legitimately controlled games. It wore opponents down, being the backbone of two Stanley Cups in three years, and made Los Angeles one of the most respected organizations in hockey.
The problem is that the formula stopped working league-wide, and the Kings never fully committed to replacing it.
Kopitar retired this past offseason, leaving Drew Doughty as the last remaining player from that 2014 championship roster. Kopitar finished his final season as the team's best plus/minus at +19, which is as fitting a statistical eulogy as any. With him goes one of the most critical supporting pillars of that former championship identity, and the front office has no choice now but to decide what comes next and commit to it.
The Dubois Detour
Before examining where the Kings are, it helps to understand what they spent to get here.
In the summer of 2023, the Kings made their most aggressive move of the post-championship era, trading Gabriel Vilardi, Alex Iafallo, Rasmus Kupari, and a second-round pick to Winnipeg to acquire Pierre-Luc Dubois on an eight-year, $8.5 million AAV deal. The logic seemed obscure: find the post-Kopitar center before Kopitar was gone while developing Quinton Byfield, lock him in long-term, and build the next era of Kings hockey around two young centers with upside.
Dubois produced 16 goals and 24 points in 82 games, finished minus-9, and was moved to Washington the following summer in a one-for-one swap for Darcy Kuemper. That’s bad, akin to Milan Lucic in 2016, Andrej Sekera in 2015.
The return, improbably, looked like organizational competence for exactly one season. Kuemper posted a 31-11-7 record with a .921 save percentage and a career-best 2.02 GAA, earning a Vezina Trophy nomination alongside Connor Hellebuyck and Andrei Vasilevskiy. That performance was the primary reason the 2024-25 Kings tied a franchise record with 105 points. The Dubois detour, for a moment, looked survivable.
On June 19, 2024, the @LAKings acquired Darcy Kuemper from the Washington Capitals for Pierre-Luc Dubois. In his first season back with the #LAKings, Kuemper had a record of 31-11-7, with a .922 SV%, 2.02 GAA, and was named as a finalist for the Vezina Trophy.#GoKingsGopic.twitter.com/eB4dYafXMF
Then Kuemper got hurt in December, in a suspect collision with Mikko Rantanen in Dallas. He never recovered his form, finishing 2025-26 with a .891 save percentage and a 2.78 GAA, both below his backup's. The organizational buffer he had provided disappeared, and the structural weaknesses underneath came fully into view. The assets sent to Winnipeg never came back. Vilardi, Iafallo, and Kupari are all still playing. What the Kings extracted from that transaction was one excellent goaltending season, followed by an injury, followed by a 15-point collapse in the standings.
The League the Kings Didn't Follow
While Los Angeles was busy preserving its defensive culture, the rest of the NHL evolved past it. The modern premium is no longer on blueliners who lock down the defensive zone and move the puck safely. It is on defensemen who can do that and activate offensively, who have the skating ability and hockey sense to transition quickly and become legitimate threats in the attacking end.
Look at the two most successful franchises of the post-COVID era. Vegas built its blue line around players who combine physical play with genuine offensive instinct. Florida followed a similar blueprint with a defensive corps that can defend hard and still generate from the back end. Both teams have won Stanley Cups in the last three years, and both have been in the finals or rotated in for four straight years. Both play a brand of hockey that is big, mobile, and relentlessly transitional.
The Kings play hockey that is heavy, structured, and extremely careful–almost no risk involved from the backend. The blueline has been excellent at preventing goals and nearly useless at generating them, and in a league where the margin between the playoffs and the second round increasingly runs through transition offense and power play execution, careful does not cut it.
The Numbers That Tell the Story
The statistical profile of the 2025-26 Kings is a study in contradiction. They were one of the better defensive teams in the league in terms of raw goals against, finishing seventh at 238. That is a real accomplishment. But their offense ranked 29th in the NHL with 220 goals, their power play converted at 17.0 percent (28th), and their penalty kill operated at 74.6 percent (30th in the league).
A defensive-identity team finishing near last in penalty kill is not a philosophical outcome, but rather, a structural failure. It means the players running the penalty kill lack the skating and stick ability to sustain real pressure, which turns every infraction into an outsized crisis that a 17.0 percent power play couldn’t offset on the other end.
Adrian Kempe led full-season Kings scorers with 36 goals and 73 points, followed by Quinton Byfield at 49, Alex Laferriere at 44, and Brandt Clarke at 40. That 24-point gap between first and second describes a team with one load-bearing wall and not enough supporting structure. The most important asterisk in those numbers belongs to Artemi Panarin. Acquired from the Rangers in early February, he played only 26 games in a Kings uniform, posting 9 goals and 18 assists for 27 points. His 1.04 points-per-game pace with Los Angeles was the best on the roster, and he was the primary offensive engine in both wins against Colorado before the sweep closed out. The Kings have him signed through 2027-28 at $11 million AAV.
That matters because the forward group the Kings have assembled is as talented as any in their franchise’s salary cap era. Kempe, Panarin, Kevin Fiala, Laferrière, and the depth behind them represent a real top-six. But the problem has never been the wings; it has been everything behind them.
The Doughty Problem
The most uncomfortable conversation in Los Angeles right now involves Drew Doughty, and it has to be had.
Doughty is a first-ballot Hall of Famer, with two Stanley Cups, Norris Trophies, Olympic gold medals with Canada, and a career that ranks among the finest any defenseman has assembled in the salary cap era. None of that is in dispute, and none of it makes the current situation easier to navigate.
He is signed at approximately $11 million per year, a contract written for the version of Doughty who was annually in Norris Trophy conversations and driving possession at 5-on-5 through his skating and puck movement. That version of Doughty is no longer playing in the NHL. What remains is a player who can still defend, still reads the game at a high level, but has lost the foot speed and offensive activation that made the contract reasonable in the first place.
Drafted defenseman from the Kings organization and their relative 5on5 rates for the past three seasons. Stats via NS
The spin-o-rama at the blue line is gone. Pulling away from forecheckers and turning defense into offense in a single stride is gone. What you see now is a mouthful: an offensively capable defensive defenseman being paid like one of the best two-way defensemen in the league.
With one year remaining on that contract, Ken Holland faces a decision that is more business than sentiment, and the Kings' ability to address the offensive backend problem will remain constrained as long as that cap number is locked in.
The Clarke Signal
Brandt Clarke is 23 years old and finished this season with 40 points from the blue line. He was the only Kings defenseman generating consistent offense from the back end, and he did it while logging real minutes against real competition despite a plethora of sheltering for most of his young career. A top-10 overall pick, Clarke has moved past that deployment phase. He is showing exactly what the Kings hoped when they drafted him: a puck-moving, skating defenseman with the offensive instinct the rest of the blue line fundamentally lacks.
Despite some promising signs being elevated to the first powerplay unit, the Kings have spent two seasons asking Clarke to be patient in a system not built for him. The next step is building the system around him instead. That means accepting what Doughty is now rather than what he was, committing to Clarke as the number-one defenseman, and finding partners who complement his game rather than pull the group back toward the past.
Side by side comparison of the old era vs the new. Brandt Clarke carries more risk to his game, but the offensive numbers don't lie.
The same logic extends to Byfield. His 49-point season is acceptable for a player still developing into his role, but he should be the unquestioned first-line center and offensive engine going forward. The Kings have two legitimate building blocks in Clarke and Byfield. The question is whether the organizational culture is actually ready to hand them the keys, or whether it will keep hedging toward the veteran identity that has produced five consecutive first-round exits.
Laviolette and What It Means
The Laviolette hire is not a minor adjustment. His 846 career wins rank seventh all-time. His teams have reached the postseason in 11 of the 14 seasons he has finished behind a bench, and he is a Stanley Cup winner with Carolina in 2006. He took Philadelphia to the Final in 2010 and Nashville in 2017. He is comfortable with young rosters, comfortable with veteran leadership, and comfortable with an uptempo style that is, by design, incompatible with the defensive rigidity the Kings have been running for the better part of a decade.
The Kings did not hire Laviolette to maintain what they have. They hired him because what they had stopped working, and because his coaching profile signals a genuine willingness to play differently. The Panarin acquisition points in the same direction, as the star Russian forward had his best statistical seasons under Laviolette in New York. This is a front office that believes it is close and is making moves to prove it, and for the first time in a while, the forward group being handed to a new coach is actually equipped to play a different style.
Whether that belief is fully warranted is a legitimate debate. A team that dropped 15 points in the standings and was swept in four games is not a minor adjustment away from anything. They have a center issue and a defensive core issue that both need to be addressed. The organizational optimism reads partly as ambition and partly as a refusal to acknowledge how much ground was lost in a single season, and how much the Dubois misadventure cost in assets that would have made rebuilding the blue line easier.
The Choice
The Kings are not fixing everything in one offseason. But they are standing at a genuine inflection point, the kind that defines franchises for the next decade. The old identity, built on defensive suffocation and institutional caution, has run its course. Kopitar is gone, and the championship blue line is a dusty afterthought. What is left is Doughty in the final year of a contract that outlasted the player it was written for, and behind him, Byfield, Clarke, Panarin, and a wing group as talented as any in the Western Conference waiting on an organization to actually commit to them.
The losses of Vladislav Gavrikov and Jordan Spence exposed just how thin and homogeneous this blue line became. Five nearly identical defensemen who play the same way and produce the same absence of offense cannot be papered over with a coaching hire. The reconstruction has to be real, with mobility and offensive activation as the criteria rather than defensive familiarity.
Laviolette is the right hire with Clarke being the right bet. Panarin is signed and ready to work with Byfield. The work now is making sure the culture actually changes and not just the name on the office door.
The Montreal Canadiens’ first-round pick at the 2023 draft, David Reinbacher, has not been lucky with injuries so far in his young career, but he still believes that he can be the right-shot defenseman the Habs need, according to TVA Sports’ Anthony Martineau.
The journalist who covers the Canadiens’ daily activities reported that he made some calls recently about the young blueliner and that the ball will very much be in his court come training camp. Martineau explains that when the puck drops in Brossard in September, the Austrian blueliner will no longer be earmarked as a player who needs some more time with the Laval Rocket and that it will be up to him to grab a roster spot with the big club.
Martineau also reports that the organization really liked what it saw from the 21-year-old this season, both in the NHL and the AHL, and is very aware of how rare, good right-shot blueliners are in the league. From that, he believes the rearguard is unlikely to move this summer.
Reinbacher is perfectly healthy right now and spending some time in Switzerland, where he has already begun training for next season. The youngster will head back to Montreal toward the end of July in readiness for the next campaign.
While there’s no denying that good right-shot blueliners are few and far between in the league, what the Canadiens need is a good right-shot blueliner who can step right in a top-four role. The question then becomes, is Reinbacher the kind of player who could do that? When he was drafted, the team believed that he could, and, from what Martineau reports, it still does.
In 57 games with the Rocket this season, Reinbacher put up 24 points and played a big role in a fantastic pairing with Adam Engstrom. However, he was once again bothered by injuries, beginning with a broken metacarpal bone in his hand sustained in a preseason game against the Toronto Maple Leafs in September and ending with his missing the do-or-die Game 5 against the Toronto Marlies, which the Rocket lost, crashing out of the playoffs. In his first two NHL games, the youngster grabbed an assist and took three shots on goal, averaging 13:09 on the ice.
Keeping Reinbacher would make sense for the Canadiens, not just because of how rare his profile is, but also because his value has declined since the 2023 draft, and Kent Hughes is not the kind of GM who likes to sell low; he prefers to maximize asset value. I don’t think Reinbacher should be seen as an untouchable, though. If the Canadiens need to include him in a deal to get a right-shot defenseman who could step right into a top-four role, I don’t think they would hesitate.
When the Senators selected Carter Yakemchuk seventh overall at the 2024 NHL Draft, most people thought he'd eventually need a pinch of seasoning in the AHL before cracking the NHL lineup. Then the young defenseman suddenly changed some minds after almost making Ottawa's roster that fall, and leading the entire team in preseason scoring with 7 points in 4 games.
When the Senators sent him home for his fourth and final year with the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen, people expected him to tear it up, as most top draft picks do. But that didn't happen at all. While working on the defensive side of his game, Yakemchuk's offensive stats plummeted.
The Senators said they weren't concerned, but it was hard for fans not to be. His offensive stats for a big man (30 goals, 71 points, and 120 PIM) are probably the biggest reason why he was drafted so high in 2024.
Last fall, for the second year in a row, he was Ottawa's final cut at training camp. and reported for duty in Belleville.
So how did his first professional season go? Well, there's always some bias when asking the player or the organization about it, but here are some of the views.
“I thought it was definitely a big learning year for myself, but I thought overall improved throughout the year, so I was pretty happy with it,” Yakemchuk told broadcaster David Foote in an interview posted last month on the B-Sens YouTube channel.
One of the biggest moments of his season came when he earned his first NHL recall and got the opportunity to make his NHL debut with Ottawa, putting up a goal and an assist in a huge win in Detroit.
“I think I’d go with that for sure,” Yakemchuk said. “It was awesome. I mean to have my family there, and (for them) to be able to watch that game was awesome. Because obviously, without them, I wouldn’t be where I am today. So just to share that moment with them, it was awesome.”
Yakemchuk only played four games before suffering a concussion on a bad hit from former Senator Noah Gregor. But when the Sens had more injuries, he returned to make his playoff debut and had two assists.
So, make it 4 points in 5 career NHL games so far. Maybe he's one of those players who are better at the higher levels than the lower ones?
Senators' head amateur scout Don Boyd guested on TSN 1200 radio this week and was asked what he thought about Yakemchuk's first pro season.
"Well, he's been able to show the offensive capabilities that he has, and we believed he had," Boyd said. "We've been fortunate enough to be able to have him play and get experience and marinate in Belleville, and that bodes well for a lot of (players)."
"We like what we see, we like the progression, the improvement, and the work ethic that he's shown us to get where we think, or I do anyway, that he's close to being a full-time player."
Hearing his qualifier of "Or I do, anyway" left the immediate impression that maybe not everyone on the Sens staff agrees that Yakemchuk's arrival time is close. But it's also very possible that Boyd just didn't want to speak for everyone or put words in their mouth.
Boyd has good reason for his optimism. Yakemchuk's ability to step up in limited, yet crucial NHL moments this season was a highly encouraging sign.
Whatever the future may hold for Yakemchuk, the Senators are trying to go by their "Best in Class" manual. They aren't focused on getting him to the NHL as quickly as possible or catering to the pressure of proving to people they made a good decision with the highest pick they've had in the last five drafts.
They're focused on nothing more than helping him reach his full potential once he gets here, whenever that may be.
The Philadelphia Flyers took a big step in the right direction this season. This is because they not only made the playoffs but also defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round.
Now, the Flyers will be looking to build on their momentum by having a strong 2026 NHL Entry Draft. The Flyers currently still have their first-round pick for this year and will be looking to land a good prospect with it.
Sokolovskii is one of the most fascinating prospects heading into the 2026 NHL Entry Draft. At 6-foot-8 and 238 pounds, he is a hulking shutdown defenseman who would be an interesting youngster for the Flyers to add to their system.
Sokolovskii spent this season in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) with the London Knights and made an impact with his defense-first style of play. In 44 games with the OHL club on the year, he recorded two goals, six assists, eight points, 49 penalty minutes, and a plus-10 rating.
If the Flyers selected Sokolovskii with their first-round pick, he would give them a big left-shot defenseman with plenty of size in their system. This would not be a bad thing for the Flyers, as he has the tools to become a solid NHL blueliner later down the road. However, with NHL teams always valuing big defensemen, there is certainly a chance that he won't be available when the Flyers are on the clock.
The New York Islanders announced on Thursday morning that they had signed pending restricted free agent forward Daylan Kuefler to a two-year, two-way deal.
#Isles have signed forward Daylan Kuefler to a two-year, two-way (NHL/AHL) contract, per the team.
Kuefler, who the Islanders selected in the sixth round (No. 174) of the 2022 NHL Draft, had battled injuries, playing just 38 games for the Bridgeport Islanders over his first two seasons with the club, which doesn't include the 17 games he played for the ECHL's Worcester Railers.
But this past season, Kuefler, back healthy, played in 67 games for Bridgeport, recording 10 goals with 15 assists for 25 points in a bottom-six role.
The 24-year-old, who just completed the final season of his three-year entry-level deal worth $840,000 at the NHL level and $82,500 at the AHL level, gets a bit of a raise:
Daylan Kuefler's two-year, two-way deal with #Isles, per sources:
Year 1 NHL: $850K Year 1: AHL: $105K Guarantee: $120K
Year 2 NHL: $900K Year 2 AHL: $125K Guarantee: $170K
Kuefler was a pending restricted free agent with arbitration rights, with a qualifying offer worth $813,750 at the NHL level.
The organization really likes the player and after battling some adversity, Kuefler could get a look on the fourth line at some point over the length of this new deal.
Jordan Staal Over 0.5 points
Brett Howden anytime goal scorer
