Category: Sports News

St. Louis Blues defensemen Cam Fowler and Colton Parayko played just over half of the NHL season together. Although their time together has been limited, they've shown excellent results and have the potential to be among the best defensive pairings in the NHL. 

Parayko, standing 6-foot-6, 228 pounds, is one of the best defensive defenseman in the NHL, but he quietly moves around the ice with efficiency, and is more than a capable puck-mover. The 32-year-old set a career-high in goals with 16 and points with 36, despite playing just 64 games.

The full package of Parayko was on display last year, averaging 23:45 while affecting the game on both sides of the puck. 

While Parayko's play was stellar even before Fowler joined the team, it skyrocketed when he began playing alongside the smooth-skating, offensive-minded Fowler. 

Fowler played 51 games with the Blues last year after he was acquired from the Anaheim Ducks for defenseman Jeremie Biakabutuka and a second-round pick in 2027. In those 51 games, the 33-year-old notched nine goals and 36 points, including two goals and 10 points in seven playoff games, a Blues franchise record. 

Fowler and Parayko are both all-around defenseman, without many glaring weaknesses in their game, but their strengths improve their partners' game. 

Fowler stands 6-foot-2, 213 pounds; by no means is he small, but the physical aspect of his game isn't something he is looking to show all that frequently. Parayko, on the other hand, loves to be engaged physically, using his weight to move opponents away from his net and in puck battles around the boards.

Although Parayko showed more initiative to jump into the play, Fowler excels at it. He can kick-start transition opportunities or sneak in as the third or fourth player, firing a shot on goal or making a pass for a better chance. 

The duo quickly gelled, and the results followed. In 484 minutes together, the Blues' top pairing recorded an expected goals percentage of 55.5 percent, according to MoneyPuck.com. In the post-season, they clicked at 60.4 percent, playing 113 minutes together.

After Fowler's three-year, $6.1 million average annual value contract extension that he signed on Saturday, Fowler and Parayko will have four more seasons to continue to build chemistry and improve on their already very positive results. With youngsters like Logan Mailloux, Tyler Tucker, Adam Jiricek and Theo Lindstein all in the lineup or looking to crack through within the next couple of seasons, the duo might see their minutes diminish, but their value to the team won't.

“I’m going to have to give that (credit) to the coaches,” GM Doug Armstrong said of the Fowler Parayko pairing. “What I like about them is they both have excellent feet, they can both skate, they have a massive wind span, so they kill a lot of plays down low with their stick and then they have the ability to get to loose pucks. And then again, moving forward, you have the size of Broberg that can do that, and Mailloux can do that. I think having reach and skating ability is an asset, and now I think we have four guys, some of them under contract, and some of them restricted free agents, so we’re in a good spot.”

“Once it went together, the way they are able to shut down top lines and contribute offensively, I think both of them had almost career years in the sense of that,” assistant coach Steve Ott said. “The rebirth of ‘Fowls’ basically since he came on the trade and ‘Pary,’ he scored 15-16 goals last year, and they became a duo that played a 200-foot game. The trust level that we have as a coaching staff, we know when they go over the ice, the job gets done."

Fowler and Parayko will be a staple on the blueline for the Blues, and the organization is in great hands with those two at the helm. 

If he’s being honest, Ottawa Senators goalie Linus Ullmark probably would have preferred a tougher workload in his second preseason game. Ullmark and the Senators defeated the New Jersey Devils 2–0 on Sunday afternoon in Quebec City, and if you just looked at the scoreboard, you might assume Ullmark is already in mid-season form.

But you could almost place an asterisk beside this result. Ullmark faced only 14 shots from a Devils squad that, at a glance, barely met the league's preseason rule requiring a minimum of eight NHL veterans on the roster. Most of New Jersey’s opening-night roster was back home in Newark, playing the Capitals at the same time.

Still, Ullmark won’t ever complain about a shutout.

“I thought we did a pretty good job. Speaking about me, there are some things to clean up, but I’m not surprised that it’s like that as well. First (full) game of the season, you’re playing a team away, and here in Quebec as well. There were a lot of variables. But I’m always happy when I don’t have to look behind me and grab a puck and throw it up into the middle. And on top of that, you get a win.”

Ullmark admits it can be tough to stay sharp when he isn’t seeing much rubber, but he’s learned over the years how to handle it.

“Now I have a little bit easier time of relaxing when the play is not really in our zone. I’m better at dialling it in when things are actually coming my way. Because that’s something as well. You can’t just stand there and be on and on and on for 60 minutes. You have to find times to relax, breathe, and just kind of dial it in when it’s needed. And it’s easier when you get 30, 35 shots because you kind of constantly have a feel for it, you know all the pucks are.”

Halliday's Late Power Play Goal Leads Ottawa Senators Past Devils 2-0The Ottawa Senators improved their preseason record to 2–1 on Sunday afternoon with a 2–0 victory over a New Jersey Devils split-squad at the Videotron Centre in Quebec City.

Ulmark admits that his training camp has been a struggle, but he also says, surprisingly, he enjoys the struggle.

“It’s not fun to be struggling in a way, but the satisfaction of understanding yourself and getting to know yourself, and also realizing, 'Oh, this is what I’m doing wrong now, and this is not how I was supposed to do it.' When that clicks, it’s so satisfying.

"And we had one of those days on Saturday where I was not happy really with the practice. I just stayed out there and we just kept shooting, shooting, shooting. And then all of a sudden a light bulb turned on and you start feeling good about it. You get a little bit more swagger into your game and I kind of brought it into (Sunday’s game) as well.”

It was a much different feeling than Ullmark’s first preseason appearance, when he allowed three goals on eight shots in a 4–3 loss to Toronto. The Senators dominated the Leafs in shots, 35–20, but, as in last spring’s playoffs, they couldn’t recover from an early 3-0 hole.

Ullmark, as he does with most things in his life, has kept all of it in perspective.

Shifting Goaltending Picture

Ottawa’s goaltending setup will look a little different this season. Last year, Ullmark split duties with Anton Forsberg. Both are Swedes, both are 32, and both battled injuries last season. That opened the door for 22-year-old Finn, Leevi Meriläinen, to step in and impress. Meriläinen went 8-3-1 with three shutouts, a 1.99 goals-against average, and a .925 save percentage.

While nothing has been made official, Meriläinen is expected to be the full-time backup after Forsberg departed in free agency to sign with the Los Angeles Kings.

Much has been made of Ullmark never playing more than 49 games in a season, but most number one NHL goalies, on average, play roughly 55 games, and no one played more than 63. So he's really not that far off the pace.

Would a platoon situation, or something close to it, provide the best-case scenario? Ullmark thrived in Boston in a three-year timeshare with Jeremy Swayman, winning the 2023 Vezina Trophy in the process. Could a similar partnership with another promising young goaltender bring out the best in him again? Possibly, but at the same time, with Ullmark's new pay grade, you'd like to think you could rely on him to be mostly studly for 55-60 games a season.

Ullmark had stretches of brilliance last season, winning seven games in a row in December and going 9-2-1 in March. But he also dealt with stretches of inconsistency, which may have been influenced by a few bouts with injury. He finished 25-14-3 with a .910 save percentage and 2.70 GAA. Now that he's Ottawa’s second-highest paid player, the expectations are higher than ever. 

If the Senators are going to take another step forward this season, they’ll need Ullmark to do the same.

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Typically, July 1 involves a blizzard of activity as free agency officially opens in the NHL. But this year, I came away wondering what exactly had just happened.

A lot of contracts had been signed, sure, but many of the players signing the most important pacts did so with teams they already played for.

Florida locked up Sam Bennett, Brad Marchand and Aaron Ekblad in late June, taking three of the biggest names off the market before they even got fitted with barcodes.

The Canucks had to wait until July 1 to re-sign Brock Boeser, but the impact was the same. In Boeser, one of the most tantalizing scorers hypothetically available suddenly wasn’t on the market anymore. They also took the chance to lock up Thatcher Demko and Conor Garland, who were set to be 2026 UFAs, the same day.

And not that many teams had a legitimate shot at Mitch Marner in the first place, but Toronto and Vegas killed any glimmer of that dream with a June 30 sign-and-trade that made the gifted winger a Golden Knight for the next eight campaigns.

So, overall, this summer was a bit of a dud.

But next summer, you have an all-world team of UFAs: Connor McDavid, Kirill Kaprizov, Jack Eichel, Kyle Connor, Artemi Panarin and Alex Ovechkin, just to name a few. Simply put, the 2026 UFA class could upend the entire NHL…

But will it?

Probably not. Because the fact of the matter is, almost all those players will re-sign with their respective teams before July 1. Heck, by the time you read this, someone could already be off the market.

The reasons for this are myriad. Most of those players already work for Stanley Cup contenders. Ovechkin, the oldest of the bunch, has played his entire NHL career for the Washington Capitals. And with ‘Ovi’ having won a championship while also becoming the all-time goal-scoring king, he has no real reason to leave. I would assume the only other jersey Ovechkin would ever wear belongs to Dynamo Moscow in the KHL, should he fancy a post-NHL swan song.

There’s another reason we may not see as much movement in the future as we have in the past, however: the rising salary cap. Simply put, teams won’t be as squeezed as they have been in the past. The pandemic forced a lot of teams to make difficult roster decisions when the cap went flat – just ask the Toronto Maple Leafs.

But now, we have forecasts from the NHL for the next three seasons, and they are very rosy. We’re talking a cap of $95.5 million for this year, jumping up to $113.5 million by 2027-28. The lower limit for that season is projected at $83.9 million, which is $400,000 higher than the cap was in 2023-24. Gordie Howe couldn’t give you that much elbow room.

This is all very exciting if you’re a fan of the Edmonton Oilers, where McDavid is king and Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard are already locked up. But it is not so exciting for teams bereft of superstars.

If this is the new normal, then we may be entering an era in which free agency is kinda dead.

What this would mean is that teams who currently don’t have a winning roster will have to draft and develop like never before. Sure, you can trade your way to a Marner or a Mikko Rantanen, but players of that caliber tend to have a major say over where they can be dealt.

So, what we are left with is a ground-up approach, where scouting and player development will be key. When every team can spend enough to keep its top-end talent, the real winners will be those franchises getting the most out of the assets they already have while putting themselves in a position to add those final pieces of the puzzle by having futures other teams crave.

And once you have that foundation, you’d better make sure the supports are there – because players can still demand a trade if the path to glory isn’t clear.

GMs will be able retain players like never before in the cap era, but they still must build an environment in which players want to play. That will distinguish the winners from the losers.

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This article appeared in our 2025 Meet the New Guys issue. The cover story for this issue features the newest Vegas Golden Knight, Mitch Marner, as he looks to shine in the desert. We also include features on new Jets forward Jonathan Toews, Canadiens D-man Noah Dobson and more. In addition, we take a look at the top 'new guys' from each NHL division.

You can get it in print for free when you subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/Free today. All subscriptions include complete access to more than 76 years of articles at The Hockey News Archive.

One of the most controversial coaches in hockey might be looking for a comeback.  

Mike Babcock, who was hired by the Columbus Blue Jackets on July 1, 2023, and then handed in his resignation on September 17, is rumored to be making a possible comeback. 

According to Russian Hockey Insider Artur Khairullin, Ak Bars Kazan of the KHL has listed Babcock as a candidate for their head coaching job. Ak Bars, which is based in Kazan, Russia, is located 519 miles east of Moscow. 

Mike Babcock has an all-time coaching record of 700-418-19-164 coaching for the Ducks, Red Wings, and Maple Leafs. 

Would you support a return of Mike Babcock to the coaching ranks? Many think he's done coaching in the NHL, which is probably true. 

Let us know what you think below.

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On Sep. 28, the Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Minnesota Wild in their latest preseason matchup. Blackhawks rising star Frank Nazar played a major role in the win, as the 2022 first-round pick recorded a hat trick. With Nazar being one of the Blackhawks' brightest young players, seeing him have a dominant performance like this should create excitement.

While Nazar certainly deserves a ton of praise for his big game against the Wild, so does Blackhawks goaltender Drew Commesso. The Norwell, Massachusetts native had a strong performance between the pipes, which is certainly good news.

Commesso showed off his potential in this contest, as he stopped 28 out of 29 shots in the Blackhawks' 4-1 victory over the Wild. With this, there is no question that his strong play was a significant reason why the Blackhawks picked up this preseason victory. 

While Commesso is expected to start this season in the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Rockford IceHogs, a performance like this shows that he could have a bright future with the Blackhawks. The potential for him to blossom into a solid NHL goalie is there, and it will be intriguing to see how he builds off his strong preseason performance from here. 

Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan provided an injury update during a press conference on Monday afternoon.

On Monday, Detroit Red Wings Head Coach Todd McLellan provided an injury update when speaking to the media in the afternoon ahead of their preseason matchup versus the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Some notable names that are already listed as not available for the time being are defenseman Simon Edvinsson with a lower-body injury and winger James van Riemsdyk, who has been dealing with a family issue. A new addition to the list that wasn’t expected was top prospect Nate Danielson, who suffered an undisclosed injury in a recent preseason game. 

McLellan started his press conference by talking about Edvinsson and how he practiced on Monday but not at full capacity. Despite this, McLellan still believes the breakout blueliner from last season will be back in the lineup for opening night. 

"We'll see how his practice went today, he was fully involved, It wasn't a pregame stake, a lot of walk-through, not a lot of action,” McLellan explained “Obviously I'm not out there to see it, but we'll get an update, he's getting close opening night, I don't see any reason why he isn't playing, and we'll make smart decisions with him this week.”

He continued by confirming Edvinsson won’t be in the lineup for Monday’s matchup versus the Penguins and Tuesday’s exhibition game on the road versus the Blackhawks. The 22-year-old Swedish defenseman hasn’t been ruled out for Detroit’s final two preseason games against the Toronto Maple Leafs but the team will likely hold him out until they believe he is feeling fully healthy. Edvinsson is coming off a solid rookie season with seven goals and 24 assists for 31 points while carrying an average ice-time of 21:07 through 78 games. 

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For van Riemsdyk, it sounds like the 36-year-old veteran may not be ready in time for the start of the regular season as he still hasn’t joined the team yet after taking a leave of absence to deal with a family matter and will take time to adjust to the new system in Detroit. 

"He needs to be here as soon as he can be but again, we're not on the phone saying, hey, drop what you're doing, because that's not what this is about,” McLellan said “So can he be ready to play on in game one, even based on today, I don't know until he gets here and then we got to get him caught up, and we got to get him skating so, you know, he's going to be part of our team, just whether he can play right off the bat or not but that's okay, we'll deal with him."

After a solid 36-point campaign last season with the Columbus Blue Jackets, van Riemsdyk was brought in by Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman with the hopes that he would add some much needed scoring depth into the bottom six of the lineup. The New Jersey native is a reliable source for points since hitting the back half of his career with 99 goals and 125 assists for 224 points in 407 games since turning 30 years old. His 0.55 point-per-game average over this span projects out to roughly 40 points over 71 games, which he has played in each of the last two seasons. 

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Danielson was a surprising addition to the injury report as many were expecting the 21-year-old center to continue battling for a main roster spot but McLellan explained that he suffered an injury in a preseason game, potentially versus Buffalo. 

“Nate Danielson got injured in Buffalo the other night and he'll be out for a little bit,” McLellan commented “I don't have a time frame whether it's long or short term, but we'll figure that part out over the next few days."

McLellan seemed uncertain when he said the injury occurred during a game against Buffalo, likely because the team played the Sabres last Thursday, then faced the Penguins on Friday. Danielson did not play in Saturday’s preseason rematch against Buffalo, suggesting he may have been injured earlier and tried to play through it on Friday before ultimately sitting out. He logged 19 minutes of ice time and recorded an assist against Pittsburgh, indicating he was playing a significant role, likely too demanding for someone merely testing an injury.

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The Chicago Blackhawks have made another big wave of roster cuts on Monday morning. The team is not practicing, but the Rockford Ice Hogs camp is getting a boost.  

Drew Commesso, Ashton Cumby, Nick Lardis, Samuel Savoie, Aidan Thompson, & Mitchell Weeks have all been assigned to the AHL squad in Rockford. Some of them have had really good showings and will continue their development in pro hockey down there. 

The Blackhawks have also assigned AJ Spellacy to the Windsor Spitfires of the OHL. After some injury trouble during camp, his development should go there and continue working on his game. Spellacy has the potential to be an impactful player in an NHL lineup if he keeps working the way he does. 

Of the AHL guys, Drew Commesso and Nick Lardis could be the first to see NHL time in 2025-26. For Commesso, he will be the third-string goalie behind Spencer Knight and Arvid Soderblom. All of them had a magnificent preseason, and they will all be needed at different points. 

For Lardis, his NHL debut is very likely to happen this season. He scored 71 goals in the OHL last year, had a solid camp, and now will get his first taste of pro hockey with Rockford. If he produces a lot of points early, he could be put on the Frank Nazar plan. 

Now, the Blackhawks roster is at 31 players, including 17 forwards, 11 defensemen, and 3 goalies. Their next preseason game will come on Tuesday evening when they return to the United Center for a match against the Detroit Red Wings. Following these cuts, you can expect a lineup close to what they will have on opening night. 

Visit The Hockey News Chicago Blackhawks team site to stay updated on the latest news, game-day coverage, player features, and more.

The Pittsburgh Penguins are set to play the Detroit Red Wings for a second time during the preseason on Monday. 

The Penguins played them in Pittsburgh on Friday and came back from a 2-0 deficit to win 3-2. Forwards Connor Dewar, Robby Fabbri, and Philip Tomasino scored in the contest. 

Monday's game will take place in Detroit and will feature a similar lineup to the one that was on the ice on Friday. 

Benjamin Kindel, Avery Hayes, Filip Hallander, Ville Koivunen, Robby Fabbri, Boko Imama, Matt Dumba, and Jack St. Ivany are just a few of the players who will play in this game. There are spots available up front and on the backend, and this is another opportunity for the coaching staff to evaluate players competing for those positions. 

Head coach Dan Muse confirmed after the morning skate that Tristan Jarry will play the entire game in net. 

The Red Wings will play some of their veteran players in this game, including Patrick Kane, JT Compher, Alex DeBrincat, Moritz Seider, and Justin Holl. 

Puck drop from Little Caesars Arena will be at 7 p.m. ET and fans can watch the game on the Penguins' official website or listen to it on 105.9 'The X.'

 

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