On Monday, exciting news dropped ahead of the release of the newest entry in the EA Sports NHL series, with NHL 27 set to arrive in early September.

The new game brings back several fan-favorite elements, including the return of GM Connected franchise mode, along with more detailed, customized arena presentations across all 32 NHL teams, meaning Canada Life Centre will finally look and feel more like the true home of the Winnipeg Jets.

The bigger headline, though, is that the NHL series is borrowing a concept from other EA Sports franchises like Madden and EA FC. NHL 27 is introducing a 99 Club, reserved for the handful of players considered the very best in the sport, distinguished by a perfect 99 overall rating.

EA announced the first member of that club on Monday with Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid, who becomes the first player in the history of the NHL video game series to carry a 99 overall.

The news kicked off plenty of speculation, including who might become the first player in Jets history to crack the 99 Club. McDavid is the first to join the list, but more additions are expected to follow, and it would make sense for Winnipeg's superstar goaltender, Connor Hellebuyck, to be next in line. 

Hellebuyck, a three-time Vezina Trophy winner and a recent Olympic gold medalist, is coming off a season that fell well short of the standard he set in his back-to-back Vezina-winning campaigns. He finished 2025-26 with a 23-23-11 record, a 2.86 goals-against average and a .895 save percentage, a career-worst mark, while trade speculation followed him for much of the summer.

Even so, Hellebuyck has already proven he belongs in 99-overall territory, especially over the two seasons prior, when he won back-to-back Vezina Trophies. During that stretch, he went a combined 84-31-7, posted a 2.19 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage, and led all goaltenders in wins by a wide margin. 

If anyone joins the 99 Club after McDavid, there's a strong case that Hellebuyck will be the next name called.

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The Penguins’ already stacked forward group could be getting even deeper with potential options. Filip Hallander lost most of the 2025-26 season due to a puck strike causing a blood clot in his leg. A translated Swedish interview (shoutout Reddit) gives an update for how he’s doing, titled “Hållander on the tough year: “I thought I’d be doing something else”. We ran it through a google translator so we won’t take every word for gospel, but one can kind of get the general point.

First, he suffered a blood clot in his leg. Then, something was discovered in one of his lungs. Now, Filip Hållander is back on the ice and opening up about the tough year he endured.

“Right then and there, I just felt: ‘Damn, maybe there won’t be any more hockey for me?'” he tells ST. Filip Hållander is back home training with Timrå IK, following a difficult season in the US with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Filip Hållander suffered a blood clot In November 2025, he received the news that he had a blood clot in his leg. He returned in February but managed only a few games in the AHL before being sidelined again.

“I played a few games and picked up some minor issues. We ran some new tests as a precaution. Some of the readings weren’t quite right, and they wanted to play it safe. So, I went back to Pittsburgh for more tests, and that’s when we found something in my lung,” says Hållander.

Exactly what was found in his lung remains unclear, but Filip Hållander feared his hockey career might be over. Today, the 26-year-old is back and 100 percent healthy. Now, he is aiming to secure a spot in the NHL this coming autumn.

“I have one final test when I get there, since I haven’t taken medication for a while, but after that, everything should be fine. Then there’s a month of hard training before camp starts. My goal is to earn a spot and be a key player. After everything I’ve been through this past year, I find it hard to imagine anyone more motivated than me to step out onto the ice,” Hållander says firmly.

This article also goes to give a little explanation for what happened last season. The blood clot treatment routine involves a 90-day cycle of blood thinner medication that takes a person out of a contact sport like hockey, but careful side-training can be conducted while on that treatment. When that first course of medicine was completed to treat the clot, Hallander was eventually cleared to go to Wilkes-Barre and play three games on a rehab stint in the AHL.

After that, Hallander came back from the AHL but quietly was phased down and the Penguins never had much of a substantive comment about his status. From this interview, it seems some complication in the lung was discovered. Obviously that’s never a good thing, and part of what has ended careers for players like Pascal Dupuis (and Chris Bosh in the NBA, though his condition wasn’t caused via injury). Hallander’s season was more or less quietly shutdown at that point with the emergence of the complication, we now have a little more information on exactly what it was.

A blood clot isn’t always a career-ender for high-level sport stars, players like Chris Kreider, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Brock Boeser and Kimmo Timonen have gone onto enjoy long careers after dealing with the issue.

Hallander will hope to join that list, but boy it’s going to be a tough climb to get there based on numbers alone. Ironically it could take injuries (to teammates this time) to help clear the path for Hallander to get some NHL games this season. It’s a long year, the Penguins do tend to use a lot of forwards so it is likely Hallander will get a crack at playing time at some point during the season. It would be a great story if he comes all the way back.

This month period could be crunch time, Hallander will need a strong final month of the offseason to prepare. The numbers the Pens have mean there are limited spots right now for a ton of forwards in the realm of the Justin Brazeau, Hendrix Lapierre, Rutger McGroarty, Avery Hayes, Ville Koivunen level. In what could be good news for Hallander, as Kyle Dubas has said, the Penguins do like competition and they proved last year they would keep young players who earned it.

Last training camp broke with Ben Kindel, Harrison Brunicke and even Hallander himself on the NHL opening night roster with veterans veterans that didn’t quite have it in Danton Heinen, Valtteri Puustinen and Ryan Graves getting waived and sent to the AHL for the start of the year. The numbers alone make it an uphill climb, and Hallander’s performance to edge out similarly-skilled players is to be determined as well, but the team certainly wouldn’t be upset about another strong performer joining the ranks next month and helping to push the rest of the club to find our who the best bets to keep around will be.

After a tough and uncertain 2025-26, it could be seen as a victory enough that Hallander’s even back in the conversation.

Although it is the middle of August, there are still a good amount of unrestricted free agents (UFA) left. 

A former Montreal Canadiens defenseman is among them, as Jeff Petry is still not signed at this stage of the summer. 

Petry remaining a free agent comes after he split this past season between the Florida Panthers and Minnesota Wild. In 67 games last season, he recorded nine assists, 65 blocks, and 66 hits. This was after he posted one goal and eight points in 44 games with the Detroit Red Wings in 2024-25.

Teams looking for more defensive depth and experience could consider taking a chance on Petry. He could be a serviceable pickup for an NHL club as an extra defenseman.

With that, it would be understandable if we saw Petry land a professional tryout (PTO) agreement with an NHL club before training camp. That is assuming that the 38-year-old blueliner wants to continue his career, of course. 

Petry spent eight of his 16 NHL seasons with the Canadiens, where he recorded 70 goals, 178 assists, 248 points, and 1,072 hits in 508 games. It will be interesting to see he can land a new home before the start of the season from here. 

Russian winger Mikhail Ilyin climbs into the Top 10 ahead his fourth year with the Penguins organization as PensBurgh’s annual Top 25 Under 25 countdown continues.

Catch up on the previous entries for this year:

Pensburgh Top 25 Under 25: Graduates and Departed players in 2025
Top 25 Under 25: The best of the rest
#25: Chase Pietila, D
#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, RW/LW

2025 Ranking: No. 14

Age: 21 (February 15, 2005)

Acquired Via: 2023 NHL Draft, 5th round, 142nd overall

Height/Weight: 6’3”, 191 pounds

Elite Prospects resume:

Ilyin is the top remaining player in Dubas’ first draft with the Penguins back in 2023 now that Brayden Yager and Emil Pieniniemi are no longer with the organization.

After seeing his ice time and production steadily increase over his three full seasons in the KHL, Ilyin got his first chance to make a major impact in North America during Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s playoff run.

Ilyin signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Penguins last May before rejoining the Severstal Cherepovets, for which he recorded a career-high 14 goals and 44 points through 68 games in Russia’s top league.

He was reassigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton after Severstal was eliminated from the first round of the KHL playoffs.

A backhand-wraparound in OT! Wow, Mikhail Ilyin! pic.twitter.com/ABY0Naw4mz

— KHL (@khl_eng) January 21, 2026

Ilyin contributed in his AHL debut with a secondary assist on Atley Calvert’s goal against the Bridgeport Islanders.

He recorded seven points (one goal, six assists) in his first seven Calder Cup Playoff games.

Often while playing on a line with Tristen Broz and Ville Koivunen, Ilyin went on to tie Koivunen and Rutger McGroarty for second in the team scoring race with nine points (two goals, seven assists) across 15 playoff games.

His playmaking and speed were evident while setting up some key goals for his teammates during the Baby Penguins’ run to the Eastern Conference Finals.

Calvie sends it home!

Donzo hits 40 points with the assist, and Mikhaïl Ilyin collects his first AHL point with the secondary! pic.twitter.com/ZnIcnnAvfg

— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) April 10, 2026

Ilyin’s first goal in North America is a big one!! pic.twitter.com/QbGX05kMjP

— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) May 5, 2026

BROZER STRIKES EARLY IN THE SECOND pic.twitter.com/NornaXVXwx

— Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (@WBSPenguins) May 15, 2026

Mikhail Ilyin gets Game 5 of #WBSvsTOR started👀@WBSPenguins | #CalderCup

📺💻📲: https://t.co/xslzIvekI0pic.twitter.com/swOR6tmxY6

— American Hockey League (@TheAHL) June 6, 2026

Ilyin, who turned 21 in February, already established himself as one of the most productive young wingers in the KHL.

Ranking as one of Wilkes/Barre’s top playmakers during the team’s postseason run indicated he could be ready to make a full-time move to the AHL next season.

As McGroarty told King Jemison of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about Ilyin during Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s playoff run, “He makes plays that I don’t even see when I’m watching from the bench.”

Penguins assistant general manager Jason Spezza said last year the organization expected Ilyin to come to the AHL in 2026, although director of player development Tom Kostopolous noted around the same time Ilyin would need to work on his skating first.

That improvement was seemingly visible in Wilkes/Barre’s playoff run, during which Ilyin was at times one of the fastest players on the ice.

There isn’t a clear path to Ilyin making a jump to the NHL in the near future because of the Penguins’ logjam at forward.

After signing Koivunen to an eight-year deal, the Penguins currently don’t have any immediate spots available for roster hopefuls like McGroarty, Broz, Avery Hayes or Ilyin.

Whether the Penguins make any more moves this offseason will impact the likelihood any of these AHL forwards get called up to the NHL at the start of the season. Until then, Ilyin could expect to start the second campaign of his entry-level deal in Wilkes/Barre.

The start of the NHL season is now just 44 days away, and as we inch closer to puck drop, we’ll take a closer look at each of the Montreal Canadiens’ players and what’s to be expected from them this season. We’ve already covered Nick Suzuki, Kaiden Guhle, Juraj Slafkovsky, Ivan Demidov, Phillip Danault, Jayden Struble, Cole Caufield, Oliver Kapanen, and Alex Newhook, so today we’ll look at 30-year-old centerman Jake Evans.

Evan will be playing the second year of a four-year contract extension, which carries a $2.85 million cap hit per season. After putting up 36 points in 82 games in his contract year (0.44 points per game), Evans put up 24 points in 68 games last season (0.35 PPG). After playing in all 82 games in the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons, the right-shot pivot was forced to miss four weeks of action after sustaining a knee injury in a December 20 game against the Pittsburgh Penguins when he was the victim of a knee-on-knee collision with Justin Brazeau. Thankfully for the Canadiens, they acquired Danault from the Los Angeles Kings earlier that day.

Canadiens Dobes Makes NHL Network Top 10 Goalies List
Canadiens Players Enjoyed Some Tennis Action
Canadiens Can Forget About Hage, For Now

Evans is and has always been a good depth forward for the Habs; when he finds himself playing on the top six, you know things aren’t going according to plan. While he will tell you that he doesn’t mind playing on the top six and that the way he plays doesn’t change when he does so, it’s easy to see that he doesn’t have the offensive instinct and the finishing touch of a real top-six NHL player. He did remarkably well in the postseason, playing alongside Demidov and Newhook, gathering 10 points in 19 games, but don’t expect him to start the season in that spot.

After scoring 22 goals in his rookie season, Kapanen should be given every opportunity to pick up where he left off when he “hit a wall” in the second part of the season, as often happens with rookies. As a result, Evans is likely to land on the third or fourth line, depending on how things play out at training camp. He will be battling it out with Danault for the third-line center role, and he should logically come out on top. Evans still has another two years on his contract, while the 33-year-old Danault is entering the final year of his.

When the Canadiens are a contending team, Evans should be on the fourth line with Kapanen patrolling the third line and Michael Hage pivoting the second line. Since Hage is unlikely to join the Habs until the very end of the season, the Toronto, Ontario native should spend at least another season on the third line, given that he’s likely to still be around for another two seasons, unlike Danault.

As always, Evans will be playing a key role on the penalty kill, but Danault should still be the one tasked with the end-of-game, lead-protecting missions alongside Suzuki, just like he was in the playoffs; that’s how Martin St-Louis will be able to provide both Evans and Danault with sufficient ice time.

It’s hard to project how many points Evans will be able to put up, as his role, providing everything goes according to plan with the Canadiens, should be more of a defensive one, but anything around 30 would be satisfying if he stays in the bottom six.

Last season, he had his best year faceoff percentage-wise, winning 55.9% of his draws, and that’s one area where he’ll be expected to keep on improving or, at the very least, remain as efficient. As the young Habs progress, his role should diminish, but since Hage opted to return to the NCAA for another year, Evans has another year to play an important role.

---

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The NHL’s annual summer team-by-team look has now rolled around to the Islanders. I’m not linking the fantasy outlook, but here are their posts about the non-fantasy team and prospects:

• The “inside look” includes quotes from Bo Horvat like, “I think Pete [DeBeor]’s going to be very good for us structure-wise and kind of laying the foundation. The buy-in from everybody’s just got to be there.” [NHL]
• Their “three questions” bit addresses the captaincy, Semyon Varlamov’s health and DeBoer’s impact. [NHL]
• Some “EDGE” stats: Matthew Schaefer is fast and dangerous, Ilya Sorokin is good at mitigating the dangerous, and Bo Horvat and Emil Heineman have been successful shooting from areas of less danger. [NHL]
• And the Islanders’ top prospect listing now includes single Malte, of course. [NHL]
• Sooo…we’ve got a navy lighthouse and a navy arched “ISLANDERS” in the finals for the third-jersey vote. Voting begins Tuesday, Aug. 18. I think in the interest of self-promotion I’m supposed to vote for the former, but even aside from that…arched letters within a straight horizontal bar is jarring. [Isles]
• More on the semifinals vote, with a booster clip from Barzal. [Isles]
• Islanders legend and former Senator and Bruin Zdeno Chara will hold a charity farewell game back home in Slovakia, in Pavol Demitra Arena. Ziggy Palffy and Jaroslav Halak will be there. [NHL]

Elsewhere

• Brad Marchand won’t be able to play in that testimonial (shame, shame) due to offseason surgery that may delay the start of his season. [TSN]
• Brandon Bussi, the first Suffolk County-born Cup champ, brings the Cup back home. [Post]
• Five teams facing intriguing salary cap decisions in the near future. [Sportsnet]
• Zach Werenski reiterates that Columbus is where he wants to be, making him a welcome outlier. [Sportsnet | NHL]
• Drake Batherson would still like an eight-year extension to remain in Ottawa, but the CBA deadline for that length is under a month away. [TSN]

Most of this year's top unrestricted free agents have been signed at this point of the summer. While this is the case, there are still some pretty notable UFAs left looking for new homes.

Among the top UFA forwards left at this stage of the off-season just so happens to be a former Penguins winger: Reilly Smith. 

Smith remaining unsigned comes after he posted 16 goals, 10 assists, and 26 points in 69 games with the Vegas Golden Knights last season. Overall, while he scored his most goals since the 2022-23 season, his point production was noticeably lower than in recent years. This is because from 2022-23 to 2024-25, he recorded at least 40 points. 

Although Smith's offense was lower than usual this past season, it is certainly possible that he could land a contract from an NHL team before the season is here. A team could consider taking a gamble on him if they feel that he can bounce back. Yet, at a minimum, he could be a solid addition for a team needing more offense in their bottom six.

Smith spent the 2023-24 season with the Penguins, where he posted 13 goals, 27 assists, and 40 points in 76 games. This would be his only season in Pittsburgh, as he was traded to the New York Rangers during the 2024 NHL off-season. 

At some point, overlooking Scott Wedgewood stops being an oversight and starts becoming a pattern.

The NHL Network’s latest ranking of the league’s top 10 goaltenders somehow managed to leave the Colorado Avalanche netminder off the list entirely, despite Wedgewood putting together one of the best seasons of his career and finishing fifth in Vezina Trophy voting.

And honestly, what more does the man have to do?

There is a legitimate argument for leaving Mackenzie Blackwood off the list.

Blackwood was still good for Colorado during what was an up-and-down season by his standards, finishing 23-10-2 with a .904 save percentage. He remained an important part of one of the NHL’s best goaltending tandems, but if someone wants to argue that Blackwood isn’t among the league’s 10 best goaltenders, that’s defensible — for now. 

Wedgewood is different.

There is an argument about whether he should be No. 4, No. 5 or No. 8.

There is no legitimate argument that he shouldn’t be in the top 10.

And there is a very strong argument that he should be in the top five.

The Numbers Are Impossible To Ignore

Wedgewood wasn’t merely a reliable veteran who benefited from playing behind an excellent Avalanche roster.

He was one of the best goaltenders in hockey.

Wedgewood finished the regular season tops in nearly every category with a 31-6-6 record, a .921 save percentage, a 2.02 goals-against average and four shutouts.

Those are elite numbers.

More importantly, the people who actually voted on the Vezina Trophy recognized it.

Wedgewood finished fifth in the voting and received two first-place votes, three second-place votes, and two third-place votes finishing ahead of several established goaltenders who routinely receive far more recognition than he does.

So when NHL Network releases a top-10 list and Wedgewood isn’t even on it, the obvious question becomes:

What exactly are we missing here?

The Vezina Argument Doesn’t Cut It

There was a legitimate debate surrounding Wedgewood and the Vezina Trophy finalists.

He wasn’t one of the three finalists, and there was a reasonable argument that his overall workload worked against him. He didn’t play as many games as some of the other elite goaltenders in the league.

That’s fine. 

But NHL Network isn’t announcing the Vezina finalists.

It’s ranking the top 10 goaltenders in the NHL.

Those are two very different things.

If Wedgewood finishing fifth in Vezina voting doesn’t guarantee him a spot in the top five, fine.

But how does it result in him being outside the top 10?

That’s the part that doesn’t make sense.

Then There Was The Olympic Snub

Wedgewood was also left off Canada’s Olympic roster.

Again, there were reasons to understand the decision. International hockey is different, experience matters and roster construction isn’t simply about picking the three goaltenders who had the best NHL seasons.

But his Olympic omission was another reminder that Wedgewood’s performance wasn’t receiving the recognition it probably deserved.

Now NHL Network has done it again.

This time, there isn’t a tournament roster to construct. There isn’t a three-goaltender limit.

It’s simply a list of the 10 best goaltenders in the NHL.

And Wedgewood isn’t there.

What’s the excuse this time?

Disrespect

Scott Wedgewood was one of the best goaltenders in the NHL last season. And you could legitimately argue that he has been outstanding for much of his two seasons with the Colorado Avalanche.

After arriving in Colorado via trade with the Nashville Predators in exchange for Justus Annunen on Dec. 1, 2024, Wedgewood went 13-4-1 with a 1.99 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage in 19 games.

If you’re looking at that season alone, sure, you can make the sample-size argument. Maybe we needed to see more before declaring Wedgewood an elite goaltender.

But if you’re still clinging to the sample-size argument at this point, you’re running out of excuses.

Maybe Wedgewood isn’t better than Andrei Vasilevskiy. Maybe Connor Hellebuyck, Igor Shesterkin, Ilya Sorokin and Jeremy Swayman deserve to be ranked ahead of him.

That’s a legitimate debate.

But ranking Dan Vladar and Jesper Wallstedt ahead of Wedgewood is a different story.

Wallstedt allowed 16 goals against the Avalanche in Colorado’s second-round Stanley Cup Playoff series, which ended in a five-game defeat for the Minnesota Wild.

If we’re talking about the best goaltenders in the NHL, leaving Wedgewood out of the top 10 is difficult enough to defend.

Putting him behind those names?

That’s a joke. Scott Wedgewood deserves better. 

This past Friday, DetroitFree Press reporter Carlos Monarrez reported the Detroit Red Wings actually had an agreement in place to bring winger Anthony Mantha back to Detroit, only for the deal to collapse while owner Chris Ilitch deliberated on approving it. 

According to Monarrez, interim assistant GM Shawn Horcoff had the framework of the deal ready on the very day Steve Yzerman's removal as general manager was announced. NHL Rumor Report since indicated Detroit's offer was in the range of one year at $5 million.

Instead, fresh off a 33-goal breakout season, Mantha signed with the New Jersey Devils on a two-year, $9.5 million contract carrying a $4.75 million annual cap hit. The move raised some eyebrows given the season Mantha was coming off. Playing on a prove-it deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins, the winger set new career highs with 33 goals and 31 assists for 64 points in 81 games.

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Mantha, originally selected 20th overall by Detroit in the 2013 NHL Draft, spent six seasons with the organization, totaling 95 goals and 99 assists for 194 points in 302 games and stringing together four straight seasons of at least 36 points before the Red Wings moved on. Detroit sent him to the Washington Capitals in April 2021 in a trade that returned a 2021 first-round pick, a 2022 second-round pick, and forwards Jakub Vrana and Richard Panik.

From there, Mantha's career took him from Washington to Vegas to Calgary before he landed in Pittsburgh last summer on a modest, incentive-laden contract. He cashed in on that bet in a big way, delivering the best offensive season of his career and helping fuel a resurgent Penguins team down the stretch.

Had the reunion gone through, Mantha could have slotted into Detroit's middle six, served as a contingency plan if Patrick Kane doesn't return, or simply added scoring depth to a top nine that could use it. 

Whether the front-office turmoil played any role in how things unfolded is unclear, but the timing stands out. Detroit announced Yzerman's transition out of the GM role the same morning Mantha's signing with New Jersey became official.

Whatever the reason behind it, for the price the Devils ultimately paid to land a forward coming off a career year and carrying a proven 40-point floor, it's a missed opportunity that could sting for the Red Wings as the season unfolds.

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On Monday, exciting news dropped ahead of the release of the newest entry in the EA Sports NHL series, with NHL 27 set to arrive in early September. 

The new game brings back several fan-favorite elements, including the return of GM Connected franchise mode, along with more detailed, customized arena presentations across all 32 NHL teams, meaning Little Caesars Arena will finally look and feel more like the true home of the Detroit Red Wings.

The bigger headline, though, is that the NHL series is borrowing a concept from other EA Sports franchises like Madden and EA FC. NHL 27 is introducing a 99 Club, reserved for the handful of players considered the very best in the sport, distinguished by a perfect 99 overall rating.

 EA announced the first member of that club on Monday with Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid, who becomes the first player in the history of the NHL video game series to carry a 99 overall.

Bookmark The Hockey News Detroit Red Wings team site to stay connected to the latest news, game-day coverage, and player features.

For the first time in EA SPORTS NHL history, there is a 99 Club. 🏆

And there could only be one first member.

Welcome to the Club, @cmcdavid97

Pre-order #NHL27 Deluxe Edition to play 7 Days Early on September 4th ➡️ https://t.co/RA3sJZHGhVpic.twitter.com/oG99czDYTH

— EA SPORTS NHL (@EASPORTSNHL) August 17, 2026

The news kicked off plenty of speculation, including who might become the first player in Red Wings history to crack the 99 Club. The most obvious candidates are two players expected to be pillars of the franchise for years to come with defenseman Moritz Seider and winger Lucas Raymond. 

Both have drawn increasing attention from fans this offseason, with Seider earning wide praise for his continued development and Raymond, still just 24, producing at a near point-per-game pace.

Seider looks like the more obvious pick of the two as he was recently ranked the ninth-best defenseman in the league by NHL Network, and if his trajectory continues, the German blueliner could eventually take over the Red Wings' captaincy and become the face of the franchise, both in Detroit and potentially as the club's first-ever 99 Club member in the game.

Detroit won't be short on honorable mentions down the line, either. Prospects like Emmitt Finnie, Trey Augustine, Nate Danielson, Max Plante and Michael Brandsegg-Nygard could all develop into future candidates as the organization builds around its next wave of talent.

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Despite the New York Rangers’ struggles over the past two seasons, Igor Shesterkin is still widely considered to be one of the premier goaltenders in the NHL.

Shesterkin ranked No. 3 on NHL Network’s top 10 goalies list heading into the 2026-27 season. 

The only two goaltenders to be ranked ahead of Shesterkin are Andrei Vasilevskiy and Connor Hellebuyck. 

The other goaltenders on this list include Ilya Sorokin, Jeremy Swayman, Logan Thompson, Jake Oettinger, Dan Vldar, Jesper Wallstedt, and Jakub Dobeš. 

This past season, the 31-year-old goaltender recorded a 25-19-6 record, a .912 save percentage, and a 2.50 goals against average. 

“I could play way better, for sure,” Shesterkin said of his 2025-26 performance. “I was a little bit shocked when I checked my numbers. I was a little bit upset about it, but still it was top-four, top-five (in save percentage). I cannot say that’s pretty good, but still.”

During the 2024-25 season, Shesterkin signed an eight-year, $92 million contract extension with the Rangers, making him the highest paid goalie in the NHL, which still stands today.

The Montreal Canadiens have many promising young players. Among them is forward Zachary Bolduc, as the 23-year-old has had a nice start to his NHL career.

Bolduc has shown promise early on during his NHL career. During the 2024-25 season with the St. Louis Blues, he recorded 19 goals, 17 assists, and 36 points in 72 games. He followed that up by posting 12 goals and 30 points in 78 games during his first season with Montreal in 2025-26. 

Overall, in his first two full NHL seasons, Bolduc has shown that he can provide solid secondary offensive production and grit. Yet, it would not be surprising if he takes another step forward this campaign.

Bolduc has the tools to emerge as a top-six winger, and the Canadiens have a spot to fight for on their second line. With that, it would be huge if the 2021 first-round pick sees an increase in offensive production this campaign.

It is going to be very interesting to see what kind of season Bolduc can have for the Habs in 2026-27. There is a lot to like about his game, and it would be great for Montreal if he breaks out and becomes a true top-six forward. 

With how controversial their drafting has been, and with how little they have added externally this offseason, the Philadelphia Flyers are relying almost solely on internal development to take the next step in their rebuild.

That, in turn, places a lot of pressure on the young players the Flyers already have. Matvei Michkov, for example, is heading into a contract year, and expectations for Tyson Foerster will be greater after signing an eight-year contract extension earlier this offseason that will carry a $7.1 million cap hit once it kicks in.

Elsewhere in the system, though, the Flyers will hope for (and need) development from their less-established prospects.

Recent trade acquisition David Jiricek is now playing for this third organization since being drafted by Columbus in 2022, and while he is the favorite to secure an NHL job with the Flyers this season, that could change with even a minor slip-up in preseason or training camp.

Kareem Elshafey of EliteProspects put together his list of 10 former first-round picks who are under the most pressure to perform next season, and Jiricek made the cut as the only defenseman of the group.

"There’s a reason why he was drafted so high – he’s a right-handed defender with size, offensive ability, and can defend in tight spaces well. However, the shortfalls in his game have been such a hindrance that it has caused those features to become irrelevant for the most part. His much-discussed skating deficiencies aren’t exaggerated and are the source of lots of issues Jiricek has," Elshafey said of Jiricek.

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"In space, he’s vulnerable to getting beat by opposing skaters because of the concerns regarding his acceleration, lateral quickness, and transitions in and out of pivots. It shrinks the margin of error dramatically, as one wrong step or decision isn’t something he can easily recover from. Similarly, his defensive sense and decision-making have only compounded the problems in his own zone." 

Now, Elshafey did note that Jiricek, despite being only 22 years old, can't keep bouncing around teams hoping for an opportunity based on his talent forever, but the Flyers have done well with this kind of thing before.

Ryan Poehling was a directionless former first-round pick before becoming a legitimately good bottom-six center in Philadelphia, and the Flyers were able to flip him and a draft pick for Trevor Zegras, who scored a career-high 67 points last season after becoming an outcast in Anaheim.

Jamie Drysdale was hurtling towards bust territory even after the Flyers traded for him, but steady, large gains year over year have made him one of the better two-way defenders in the NHL.

Sean Walker was a throw-in in the Ivan Provorov trade, but the Flyers turned him into a machine before eventually flipping him for a first-round pick at the 2024 NHL trade deadline.

Dan Vladar was an unproven, injury=prone backup before last year, and now he is considered a top-10 goalie in the NHL by national media. Travis Sanheim would be a St. Louis Blue if it weren't for Torey Krug. The list goes on.

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Another Flyer on Elshafey's list is center prospect Jett Luchanko, who finds his way here under very different circumstances.

The 2024 first-round pick was widely considered a reach when he was drafted 13th overall two years ago due to his perceived lack of offensive ability and the availability of other options, namely Konsta Helenius and Zeev Buium, on the draft board.

Luchanko is likely to be a full-time NHLer at some point, but the arrow is pointing more towards bottom-six forward than top-six forward, and the young speedster is running out of time to show that this trend will shift.

"There are flashes of playmaking, and to a much lesser extent goal-scoring, but those plays are largely built on his skating, meaning there’s not a whole bunch of variety in how he creates plays or space. Though Luchanko made the Flyers roster out of camp just a few months after being selected, it was clear that he wasn’t quite ready for that. The same thing happened the following season, and since then, he’s been just fine in the OHL and in a depth role at the World Juniors," Elshafey said of Luchanko.

"It would be a surprise if Luchanko didn’t become an everyday NHLer in some role due to his skating and never-ending motor, but whether he can produce enough offence to become a top-six forward is an entirely different question. Realizing that upside hinges on how much he can expand his offensive arsenal, and he’ll have to take steps in that direction this season."

The Flyers do not expect to have Luchanko back in the NHL again unless, or until, he proves that he is one of their 12 best forwards. Meaning, he isn't going to stick on the roster as an extra who will rotate in on occasion.

The 19-year-old is turning pro this season and is more than likely going to spend the year with the AHL Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

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In 2025, Luchanko managed three assists in nine regular season games with the Phantoms, then added six assists in seven Calder Cup playoff games.

But, between those 16 AHL games, eight NHL regular season games, and an NHL playoff game, Luchanko has yet to score a goal, and that is the de facto biggest weakness in his game right now.

If he couldn't do it against players his age or younger at the junior level, it's unlikely Luchanko will flip a switch and do it against bigger, stronger, better, and more experienced players in the NHL, but time will have the final say.

Both Jiricek and Luchanko have clear paths to making a massive impact for the Flyers in the long run, but what happens next will ultimately be decided by them.

Heading into the 2026-27 San Jose Sharks season, a number of players will be chasing various milestones. Some of those milestones will be major, career-defining ones, while others will mark an important stepping stone for future accomplishments. 

The first player we're going to spotlight for a potential milestone is veteran forward Tyler Toffoli. Toffoli, 34, has been around the NHL for a decade and a half at this stage, and he's nearing a milestone that not many players are able to hit. Assuming he stays healthy and in the lineup on a nightly basis, he should play his 1,000th career NHL game in the Sharks' 31st game of the season against the New York Rangers on December 3.

A second round pick of the Los Angeles Kings during the 2010 NHL Draft, Toffoli spent the formative years of his career with the Sharks' rival. He spent eight seasons, and 515 games, representing Los Angeles to start his career before he became somewhat of a journeyman. He's gone on to play 119 games for the Calgary Flames, 89 for the Montreal Canadiens, 61 for the New Jersey Devils, 18 for the Winnipeg Jets, 10 for the Vancouver Canucks, and he's currently at 157 games with the Sharks. 

So far, there have been just 421 players in NHL history to record 1,000 career games played. A few active NHLers, namely Ian Cole of the Chicago Blackhawks, Taylor Hall of the Carolina Hurricanes, and unrestricted free agent Reilly Smith, have the possibility of hitting the 1,000 game threshold before Toffoli does though, as they're very close to the milestone themselves.

Toffoli's role with the Sharks heading into the season is a bit up in the air. Although he'll likely be taking a bottom-six spot this time around, he should have no issues being in the lineup enough to play his 1,000th career game.

The Calgary Flames enter the 2026-27 season with plenty of uncertainty, but also plenty of opportunity. This is a young team still searching for its identity, with several players facing important seasons as the organization continues to build toward the future.

There are no shortage of storylines heading into training camp. Some are obvious, while others could ultimately shape the direction of the season. From a veteran looking to get back to his best, to young players trying to establish themselves as part of the Flames’ long-term plans, these are three questions to watch closely as the season gets underway.

Can Jonathan Huberdeau Find His Game Again?

For the Calgary Flames, few questions carry more weight heading into the season than Jonathan Huberdeau.

The 33-year-old is coming off a frustrating 2025-26 campaign that was limited to just 50 games. He began the season dealing with the effects of a concussion suffered in a preseason collision before eventually returning to the lineup. Huberdeau finished the year with 25 points (10g, 15a), but managed four points (2g, 2a) over his final five games before the Flames shut him down for season-ending hip resurfacing surgery.

It was another difficult chapter for a player whose Calgary tenure has been a far cry from the 115-point season he put together with the Florida Panthers in 2021-22.

Over his four seasons with the Flames, Huberdeau has averaged 48.5 points and 72.75 games per season. Calgary needs more from him offensively, but his impact won’t be measured solely by points.

With a young roster taking another step, Huberdeau’s leadership will also be important. If he can return healthy and rediscover some of his offensive game, it could have a significant impact on the Flames’ season.

Can Connor Zary Break Out?

Not long ago, Connor Zary’s name was at the centre of plenty of trade speculation. That noise has quieted considerably in recent weeks, and for now, there doesn’t appear to be anything imminent.

That leaves an interesting opportunity for Zary.

The 24th overall pick from the 2020 NHL Draft finished last season with 12 goals and 25 points in 74 games. The production wasn’t what the Flames would have hoped for, but his usage is an important part of the story. Zary spent much of the season in a checking, fourth-line role rather than playing the top-six minutes he’s capable of handling.

At 24, this is a big season for him.

Whether Zary remains in Calgary or ultimately becomes part of a trade, there is still plenty of offensive upside there. A strong training camp, a little more confidence and a bigger opportunity could give him the chance to show what he can really bring.

For a young Flames team looking for internal growth, Zary becoming a legitimate offensive contributor would be a significant development.

What’s the Next Step for Zayne Parekh?

There was plenty to like about Zayne Parekh’s rookie season, but there was also an obvious area that needed work.

The 20-year-old, selected ninth overall in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft, occasionally looked physically overwhelmed against the pace and strength of NHL competition. That’s not necessarily surprising for a young defenceman, but it will be one of the biggest areas to watch as he enters his second season.

Parekh finished with 9 points (4g, 5a) in 37 games, and while the numbers weren’t eye-popping, his offensive game showed noticeable growth as the season progressed. He looked more confident with the puck and increasingly comfortable making plays at the NHL level.

Now comes the next challenge.

Parekh needs to find the balance between the offensive instincts that made him a ninth-overall pick and the physical strength and defensive reliability required to become a dependable NHL defenceman.

A full summer of professional-level training should help. If Parekh can make that adjustment, the Flames could have another important piece of their young core ready to take a significant step forward.