Category: Sports News

It’s never easy for a professional athlete to announce his retirement, especially when they are forced to do so because of injuries. On Monday, Stefan Matteau, the son of former NHLer Stephane Matteau, announced his retirement.

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The son was drafted 29th overall by the New Jersey Devils at the 2012 draft and only played 44 games in the organization before being traded to the Montreal Canadiens in 2016 in return for Devante Smith-Pelly.

Matteau played 12 games with the Canadiens registering a single assist before spending the following season with the St. John’s Ice Caps. In 67 games with the Habs’ AHL affiliate picking up 25 points.

He then signed a contract with the Vegas Golden Knights as a free agent, but couldn’t establish himself there either. In the end, he played with their AHL affiliates, the Chicago Wolves before spending time in the Columbus Blue Jackets and Colorado Avalanche organisations.

He spent the 2022-23 season in Europe playing in both the Swedish and the German leagues, before returning to North America where he played two more seasons with the Jackets’ AHL club, the Cleveland Monsters.

In his last two seasons, he was limited to 15 games because of various injuries. He was the Monsters’ captain this past season but couldn’t even play in the post season as he couldn’t get healthy.

His retirement message sounds a bit like Carey Price’s message when he decided to hang them up, Matteau wrote:

“After 13 seasons in professional hockey, I’ve made the difficult decision to retire. As hard as it is to step away from the game I love, nothing is more important to me than being healthy and able to play with my kids for many years to come.”

Hopefully, he can now stay healthy and enjoy retirement with his family. 

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Tocchet, Flyers a match? Coach's decision reportedly could come soon originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

If Rick Tocchet is Danny Briere’s top target, the Flyers might be close to finding out if the feeling is mutual.

TSN’s Darren Dreger reported Tuesday that “strong indications” point to Tocchet “soon” landing another NHL head coaching job. Per the report, the Flyers, Bruins and Kraken are “believed to be among the top contenders.” Also, according to the report, the Flyers “want to be aggressive.”

Tocchet became a free agent two weeks ago when his tenure ended with the Canucks. Vancouver president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford said Tocchet wanted to be closer to his family on the Eastern part of the United States.

That and many other connections made the Flyers look like a clear-cut spot for Tocchet. The 61-year-old adores the city and franchise. He’s in the Flyers Hall of Fame. He and Briere were teammates with the Coyotes and he was a Flyers teammate with president of hockey operations Keith Jones.

“I’m sure the players will tell you, there’s no better place to play,” Tocchet said in November 2021 at his Flyers Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

We’ll see if that place becomes Tocchet’s NHL home again. We profiled his candidacy for the Flyers’ job here.

Other coaching candidates

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• Shaw’s sample size enough to win Flyers’ coaching job?

• After 79-41-13 run with Oilers, could Woodcroft be option for Flyers?

• Laperriere offers Flyers solid internal candidate for head coaching job

• Rising assistant with championship pedigree would be intriguing for Flyers

• A junior coach and former Briere teammate linked to Flyers’ job

• An assistant coach with Berube ties would be real dark-horse hire for Flyers

As the Vancouver Canucks continue their search for a new head coach, one name that continues to pop up for the position is Manny Malhotra. The 44-year-old is currently the head coach of the Abbotsford Canucks, and has led the AHL farm team to their best season in franchise history. Even though he has only been a bench boss for one season, his lack of head coaching experience should not be a deterrent for the Canucks. 

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While Malhotra has only been an AHL head coach for one season, he has plenty of experience behind an NHL bench. He was an assistant coach with Vancouver from 2017-20 before spending four seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs in the same position. Even though he wasn't a head coach, he still would have had plenty of time to learn and work with NHL players in two of the most scrutinized markets in the NHL. 

One challenging aspect of being the Canucks head coach is talking to the media on a daily basis. This should not be a problem for Malhotra, as he not only played in Vancouver but also spent time with both the New York Rangers and Montréal Canadiens. Unlike an outside candidate who has never been part of the organization, Malhotra has experienced the pressure of this market and should be able to adapt if named head coach. 

While Malhotra's record in the AHL this season is impressive, his management of the bench during games has stood out. It is clear he has a good sense of his team, as he isn't afraid to change lines or even play styles to kick-start his team. With momentum playing such an important role in the NHL, having a coach who can read and react based on how the game is developing is crucial to having long-term success. 

Abbotsford Canucks Advance To The Division Final Of The 2025 Calder Cup Playoffs After 2-0 Victory Over The Coachella Valley FirebirdsFor the first time in franchise history, the Abbotsford Canucks are off to the Division Final, after a 2-0 Game 4 victory over the Coachella Valley Firebirds. Max Sasson scored the winner on the power play, while Linus Karlsson secured the win with an empty-net goal. As for Artūrs Šilovs, he was unbeatable, stopping all 29 shots he faced. 

Another benefit of promoting Malhotra is his track record with young players. Thanks to Malhotra's coaching, the Canucks were able to call up players from the AHL throughout the season who impressed at the NHL level. Based on the way the call-ups played, it is also clear that Malhotra understands the organization's game plan and how to implement it at the AHL level. 

It is also important to note that Malhotra has experience coaching some of the players currently on Vancouver's roster. As mentioned, he was an assistant coach for three years, which means he has experience working with Quinn Hughes, Elias Pettersson, Thatcher Demko, Tyler Myers and Brock Boeser. While these players have changed over the past five years, it shouldn't take long for Malhotra to reintroduce himself if hired. 

Ultimately, experience should not be a deterrent in hiring Malhotra. If need be, the organization can always surround him with experienced assistant coaches to help him next season. In the end, he looks like the right person for the job and deserves the chance to show what he can do as an NHL head coach. 

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ST. LOUIS -- It's amazing what a change of scenery did for Cam Fowler.

After spending the first 14-plus seasons of his career with the only team he ever knew -- the Anaheim Ducks -- that drafted him with the No. 12 pick of the 2010 NHL Draft, there comes a time in a player's career, even after spending it with one organization, that a player needs a fresh start to revitalize one's career.

For the St. Louis Blues defenseman, being traded by the Ducks to the Blues on Dec. 14 wound up being a blessing of disguise for the 33-year-old.

Not only did Fowler revitalize his own career, he helped shape the Blues' defense and helped fuel a run to Game 7 of the Western Conference First Round against the Winnipeg Jets.

Fowler, who had 36 points (nine goals, 27 assists) and was a plus-19 in 51 games with St. Louis after having just four assists in 17 games with the Ducks, talked about his move to the Blues, what it meant for his career and what he's excited about with this team moving forward; he led the Blues with 10 points (two goals, eight assists) in the series against the Jets: 

On not knowing what to expect when you decided to come to St. Louis. Looking back on it, was it the best thing for you and are you excited for what lies ahead?

Yeah absolutely. I've said this a lot, but I'm so grateful and thankful to this organization from top to bottom for giving me this opportunity and making me and my family feel so comfortable here. As scary as that decision was at the time, I'm really happy with how everything's turned out and me and my family have been so happy here and with this team. I'm really excited for the future and I definitely feel like I'm a part of this group now and the way that everyone has welcomed me into the locker room has made that transition easy for me so I'm thankful for that and to all these guys. I'm really excited about our group and what lies ahead in the future.

Would you like to talk about signing here beyond the one year you have remaining on your contract?

Yeah, absolutely. Those decisions and those conversations will have to be something that we go through over the summer with Doug [Armstrong] and the whole group here. I would love to be around as long as they'd like me here. I just honest can't say enough about this team and this city and what it means to be a Blue and what that means for the players and for the fans in the community. It's just something that I've really enjoyed. If those conversations come up, I'd be happy to talk about that and we'll see what the summer brings with all of that.

Why were you able to have so much success when you came to St. Louis?

I think a major part of that was the system that we have in place here with 'Monty' and kind specifically for me how he wants the D-men to approach the game. I just found myself very comfortable in the system and we have amazing players here obviously too that helps make my job a little bit easier. I think it was the opportunity and the way that 'Monty' wants us to utilize our skating ability and jump up in the play offensively and then I had a good opportunity on the power play too with 'Tommer' and 'Buchy', 'Boldy.' We got that clicking pretty good. I think it was just a combination of it all, but the main thing for me was playing in a system that the coaching staff has set in place for us. It was something I was comfortable with and I was able to try and work my game around that as best as I could.

You'd love to forget about what happened in Game 7, but is it OK to carry that forward with you as players to remind of how you don't want to feel again and use it as motivation?

It's a little bit of both in my opinion. You have to learn from it, understand what happened and the way it happened is something that's going to sit with us for a little while. I don't think it's something that you can dwell on. It's nothing that should be used as a negative for next season. I think if anything, it shows us as a group how close we feel like we are and we were in a great position in a great opportunity. Unfortunately, it slipped through our fingers, but I think sometimes you have to go through those moments as a group to learn from them and try and reach the point that you're all trying to get to. I know individually, a lot of us will be thinking about it for weeks to come and using it as motivation, but when we all come back for training camp next year, I think it'll be motivation for us of course, but it's not something that we'll be dwelling on and we'll be excited for the start of next season, where this group can grow and a point that we can get to as a team.

The Chicago Blackhawks had an interesting year. They were slow, lethargic, and not very entertaining in the first half of the season. 

By the campaign's halfway point, the roster started becoming infested with youthful exuberance. That leads them into the summer, where they will look to make the team even better. 

Whether it was on the NHL roster, in the AHL, or from other leagues around the world, the Chicago Blackhawks saw a lot of their best prospects take huge steps. 

The future has been the focus for this organization ever since Kyle Davidson started the current rebuild that they are trying to finish off. Prospects have played a key role. 

Of all these young men who took steps in their development this year, these three stood out the most: 

1. Frank Nazar

Frank Nazar started the season off as a Chicago Blackhawks prospect. He ended the year as one of their most important contributors. 

Nazar was drafted with the hopes of being an offensive player, which is exactly what he's trying to do. What came out of nowhere is his ability to play well in all three zones. 

Defending is usually the hardest part of a young forward's development, but Nazar is on a great track. He even showed the ability to be a high-end penalty killer, which will be a major help when they are trying to win again. 

In the early stages of the 2024-25 season, Nazar was one of the leading scorers of the American Hockey League with 11 goals and 13 assists for 24 points in 21 games played. He forced Chicago to call him up. 

In 53 games with the Blackhawks, a much harder situation, Nazar had 12 goals and 14 assists for 26 points. Most of those points came in the final month of the season when something clicked for him. 

Likely, Nazar will never play in the American League again. Instead, he'll continue to be one of the most relied-on top-six forwards in Chicago's lineup. 

2. Sam Rinzel

The Chicago Blackhawks selected Sam Rinzel with the 25th overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft. He was one of three first-round selections made by Chicago that night. 

Chicago saw something in him. Otherwise, they wouldn't have used a first-round selection on him. However, they have to be even happier with that selection now than they were back then. His development since being drafted is something special. 

Rinzel played college hockey at the University of Minnesota. In 2024-25, he scored 10 goals and 22 assists for 32 points in 40 games played. That is all while playing as sound defensively as a college hockey player could. 

Once Minnesota's season ended, the Blackhawks brought Rinzel (and Oliver Moore) in as quickly as they could. He fit right in. He didn't score his first career NHL goal, but he did have five assists in nine games. 

Rinzel also led the Hawks in time-on-ice more than once over those nine games. His skating, ability to control the play, special teams contributions, and overall skills suggest that he could be a top-pair NHL defenseman. 

Like Nazar, Rinzel went from being a prospect to a key contributor in the long term. With all of the young defensemen in the organization surrounding Rinzel,  there is potential for something special. 

3. Nick Lardis

Nick Lardis was a third-round pick (67th overall) in the 2023 NHL Draft by the Chicago Blackhawks. Since then, Lardis has become one of Chicago's most notable prospects. 

Playing for the Brantford Bulldogs of the Ontario Hockey League, he took a major step forward in 2024-25. Lardis turned into one of the OHL's top goal scorers as he had 71 in 65 games played. He added 46 assists for 117 points in those 65 games. 

Unfortunately, his season ended in the playoffs due to an injury. From that point on, his team wasn't able to recover and was eliminated. If he is healthy going into training camp in the fall, he will be given a chance to play in the preseason and potentially earn a spot. 

Lardis's stock rose a lot more than people expected coming into the year. A sniper like that would look great with playmakers like Connor Bedard and Frank Nazar if he can translate it to the pro game. 

Honorable mentions include Sacha Boisvert, Artyom Levshunov, Ethan Del Mastro, Ryan Greene, and Marek Vanacker. The Blackhawks have one of the best farm systems in the NHL, which gives them hope for the future. 

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