Category: Sports News

It’s been a little over a month since the trade with Edmonton sent Tristan Jarry for Brett Kulak, Stuart Skinner and a second round pick. To add a little more commentary on what was touched on earlier on this website today, the trade has been aging better by the day for the Penguins. What started out as a nice escape to clear the troubling contract of Jarry (who went back to the IR soon after the trade) turned out to enhance the Pens quite nicely so far on the ice.

There’s the future second round pick, which has no short-term relevance besides beefing up the reserves. Kulak’s addition to Pittsburgh has finally provided them with a second top-four caliber left-side defenseman and served to make Kris Letang look the best he has looked in…quite a while. Much has been made of Letang’s decline — and to be fair, time waits for no one and the 38-year old has looked every bit of his age recently. Then again, last season Letang’s most common defense partner was Matt Grzelyck, this season it was Ryan Shea prior to Kulak joining the team. It’s about 14 months overdue, but finally Pittsburgh has a partner for Letang with an above-average defensive impact, so it’s probably no wonder that the results the Pens have seen on the ice out of Letang have drastically improved once the blueline was addressed.

That alone would probably make the Edmonton trade enough of a success, but the headline-grabbing focus is naturally going to be on the goalie-for-goalie swap. It’s not every day in the NHL these days that you see two teams exchange starting goalies for one another. Skinner can a polarizing figure, although so far the Pens have to be thrilled. Skinner has five quality starts out of eight per hockey-reference, so far easily out-pacing Jarry’s one quality start for Edmonton. Jarry does have that IR stint working against him there, but as Beau Bennett taught us the best ability is availability and that’s another point in favor of the deal working out favorably.

Skinner can tend to ride extreme highs and lows, right now he’s caught a groove with a 4-1-0 record since the Christmas break that features a .941 save% and only allowing seven goals in those five games. In that stretch, the Penguins have commanding wins over three division rivals (Philadelphia last night, New Jersey last week, Carolina back on 12/30). In all of those games Skinner was not only one of their best players on the ice, he was a driving factor in every victory.

Trades often live on in relitigation for months and years afterwards so it surely is early to plan a parade or anything, but what a short-term boost that deal has provided for the Penguins to this point. The Oilers, despite Jarry’s injury, are 9-5-2 since the deal in their own right, so they’re probably not too mad about how things have gone lately either — since in an indirect way the move served to open a path for Connor Ingram’s return to the NHL where he has looked fairly sharp.

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Speaking of decisions paying instant dividends, Kyle Dubas has to feel assured about locking Blake Lizotte up for three more seasons earlier this week, not that he likely had many doubts about it in the first place. The length of the term isn’t back-breaking but it’s still a sizeable and notable one for a 28-year old with fourth line upside. It’s well-worth the commitment when a player is as capable as Lizotte to make an imprint on a game like he did last night against Philadelphia.

Lizotte scored a goal that ended up standing as the game winner and later threw a massive clean hit that triggered a response fight where he handled himself nicely (albeit, against a non-fighter in Matvei Michkov).

The supporting cast players for the Pens has been a massive issue dating back to the start of this decade. In 2021, perhaps Pittsburgh’s last best season where they won their division, Pittsburgh saw a +18 mark in goals for vs goals against at 5v5 when neither Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin were on the ice. By 2022-23, the first time they missed the playoffs, the Ron Hextall built team had slumped to -24 in that same category.

This season, the Pens are back strongly in the playoff hunt over halfway through the season and thanks to players like Lizotte and his frequent fourth linemates of Noel Acciari and Connor Dewar who have been on the ice for more goals for than against. When a team’s fourth line is not getting outscored despite the harsh defensive starts, that’s a good sign that they are going to be doing at least alright. Overall in the 5v5 category the Pens still have some work to do to with the performance of their mid-lines (players like Ben Kindel, Justin Brazeau, Kevin Hayes, Rutger McGroarty and Ville Koivunen have all been out-scored at 5v5) but so far they’ve definitely found something to work with and some major improvements from their depth, to which Lizotte will continue to be a key piece for the foreseeable future.

In previous early years of Dubas’s stint with Pittsburgh, a veteran on an expiring contract like Lizotte would have been traded away by the deadline. Whether this re-signing indicates a significant step into a phase of retaining key contributors or is a one-off remains to be seen, though it certainly is a strong piece of evidence that the Penguins are looking to hold what they can instead of defaulting into strictly selling off all parts when the time comes.

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Furthering the theme of improving the current roster, the acquisition of Egor Chinakhov has shown promise as an upgrade as well. Chinakhov’s stat-line with Pittsburgh isn’t overwhelming (three goals and an assist in eight games), his impact has been notable with his speed, shot and even a contribution of a shootout goal. Chinakhov is still something of a reclamation project coming off his stint in Columbus (he only manufactured three goals in 29 games at the start of the season with the Blue Jackets) yet there’s been encouraging early returns with the change of scenery.

In some ways, Dubas and the Pens have to hope this could be a case of “you get what you pay for” when comparing Chinakhov to a similar last year acquisition of Philip Tomasino. Chinakhov cost a fair bit more (a second+third round pick, compared to just a fourth rounder for Tomasino) and that is due to having a little bit more to work with. Last night’s short-side goal on the rush demonstrates an example – Chinakhov has the tools to generate game-breaking ability. Whether or not he has the consistency will be a lingering open question for a while. Finishing ability like this is worth the price, now it’s just about seeing how often he can deliver.

Fit in the frame of the big picture, it might also be pointed out that the move from adding second round picks — which Pittsburgh did under Dubas in every year in a stretch for the 2024-29 drafts (besides jockeying for draft positioning in 2025) — into now sending out a second round pick to bring in an NHL caliber player is some evidence of a sea change in the current organizational strategy. Whether it was trading away Jake Guentzel, Conor Timmins, Anthony Beauvillier, Luke Schenn, Tristan Jarry and Reilly Smith or taking on the bad contracts of Kevin Hayes and Matt Dumba, the Penguins operated for a couple years in a way of strictly accumulating second round picks. Now, in one instance at least, the worm turned the other way and Dubas acted on previously stated intentions to turn a pick into a current contributor.

The takeaway at this point shouldn’t be a drastic shift into an expectation of full-on spending, though it does seem notable that the tide could be starting to change in this regard depending on the inputs of the team. In the end, Dubas might get the best of both worlds where his ample cap space allows him to scour the league for future 22-25 year old players with potential while retaining more draft capital than just about everyone else in the league to use to select more than his fair share for the future too.

Because, ultimately, responding to the team’s inputs has been Dubas’s role in the past few years. He threw some caution to add/retain players like Erik Karlsson, Ryan Graves and Tristan Jarry in year one, when that didn’t work out in the standings, management shifted gears accordingly to pare down on players like Guentzel and Marcus Pettersson who needed new and expensive contracts, without dealing away quality performers like Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell who didn’t. The Pens got younger and suffered a bit to take lumps in losing key contributors without immediate replacement. Now that the team is in the hunt, it makes the situation appropriate for the manager to make moves that dovetail as good for the present while being good for the future, a fitting category for all three of the team’s transactions of the last month.

The Ottawa Senators have pivotal back-to-back games this weekend, with the Montreal Canadiens visiting the Canadian Tire Centre on Saturday night and a quick turnaround to a road game against the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday.

With their backs against the wall in the Eastern Conference playoff race, two wins would do wonders to get back in the mix and push for a wildcard spot. But these matchups are about more than getting points to climb the standings.

The Senators need to prove that they have another gear.

A somewhat nail-biting 2-1 victory over the reeling Vancouver Canucks at home on Tuesday snapped a 4-game losing streak, and the Senators followed it up a night later with a dominant 8-4 beatdown at Madison Square Garden over the lifeless New York Rangers.

They were expected to do exactly what they did and deserve credit for doing so, but most fans likely have a “wake me up when you beat a good team” mentality after a despondent stretch of games. 

That is why these games against the Canadiens and Red Wings are on a platter for the Senators to make a statement. 

Entering play Friday night, Detroit and Montreal are 2nd and 3rd in the Atlantic division, respectively. The Senators are dead last and 7 points out of the second wildcard spot.

Typically, a back-to-back scenario against top teams in the division would be daunting for a team fighting to get back into the playoff hunt. But given the Senators’ recent history with both teams, the expectation this weekend should be 4 points. 

For the last five years, the Senators have built feisty rivalries with the Canadiens and Red Wings. It’s a result of the young cores the teams have been assembling during their respective rebuilds. Each franchise has been desperate to take the next steps to become Stanley Cup contenders, especially after watching an Atlantic division team win it all in four of the last six seasons.

Montreal and Detroit have each taken a significant step so far this season, pacing the East with consistent play and leaving Ottawa in the rearview mirror.

But head-to-head, the Senators have done well against the Habs and Wings.

Ottawa has made two visits to the Bell Centre this season, the first was an overtime loss on a brainfart turnover by Drake Batherson in November, and the second was a convincing win in December to wrap up a 7-game road trip, punctuated by a signature Brady Tkachuk goal on a feed from Tim Stützle.

Saturday will be the first matchup in Ottawa and gives the Senators a chance to take a stranglehold on the season series with the Canadiens.

Sunday will be the second of four games against the Red Wings this season. The first was just last week in Ottawa, in which the Senators dominated but could not buy a save.

Both the Canadiens and Red Wings play a fast and skilled game, but the Senators’ defensive identity should allow them to thrive in both games. All eyes will be on Tkachuk, Stützle and Jake Sanderson, who all seem to step up their games against Montreal and Detroit.

These are good matchups for the Senators on paper. But results trump the process at this point in the season. They desperately need points, and this weekend is a great opportunity to gain significant momentum in the standings while making a statement against two budding rivals.

Jack Richardson
The Hockey News - Ottawa

This story is from The Hockey News Ottawa. You can visit the site here or click on one of their latest articles below:

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The Florida Panthers have locked up one of their defenseman for a couple more years.

On Friday, the team announced they had come to terms with defenseman Uvis Balinskis on a two-year contract extension.

The deal comes with an average annual value (AAV) of $875,000, a slight raise on his previous contract.

The extension will keep Balinskis with the Panthers through the 2027-28 season.

“Uvis has proven his ability to be a dependable NHL blueliner on a consistent basis,” Panthers GM Bill Zito said in a statement released by the team. “He possesses a relentless work ethic and we are excited that he will continue his career with the Panthers.”

Florida initially signed Balinskis out of the Czech Extraliga in 2023.

He was re-signed to a two-year extension in January of the following year that carried an AAV of $850,000.

Balinskis has played 36 games with the Cats this season, accumulating a goal and eight points while racking up 24 penalty minutes and earning a plus-1 on-ice rating.

In his third NHL season, Balinskis has skated in 138 games with the Panthers, accumulating six goals, 29 points and 59 penalty minutes.

He was also named to Team Latvia's Olympic team and will represent his country next month in Milan. 

Florida now has six defensemen signed at least through 2028: Balinskis, Seth Jones (signed through 2030), Aaron Ekblad (signed through 2033), Gus Forsling (signed through 2032), Niko Mikkola (signed through 2034) and Dmitry Kulikov (signed through 2028). 

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Photo caption: Dec 4, 2025; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers defenseman Uvis Balinskis (26) moves the puck against the Nashville Predators during the first period at Amerant Bank Arena. (Sam Navarro-Imagn Images)

The Buffalo Sabres are back on a win streak, as they beat the Montreal Canadiens 5-3 Thursday night to win their second straight game and solidify their hold on a Stanley Cup wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. And the Sabres got the best night of the season from star winger Tage Thompson.

Thompson scored a hat trick and added a pair of assists against the Habs, giving him 25 goals and 49 points in 46 games this year. And he’s now on pace for a 45-goal, 87-point season. That would put him close to his career-highs of 47 goals and 94 points, both of which were set in the 2022-23 campaign. And that would be an improvement on the 44 goals and 72 points he generated last year.

But nights like the night Thompson had Thursday are the type of clutch performances Buffalo needs if they’re going to earn a playoff berth this season. You always need your best players to lead the way, and Thompson definitely did that against Montreal. And Sabres coach Lindy Ruff is rewarding Thompson with more ice time, as Thompson has averaged between 20-and-22-minutes in each of his past three games. 

Thus, while it’s also important Buffalo gets strong efforts from their supporting cast – and they got that against Montreal, as young winger Josh Doan had a goal and two points – it’s more important that core components like Thompson and star defenseman Rasmus Dahlin lead the way. 

Dahlin logged a game-high 27:39, while veteran blueliner Bowen Byram played 25:05. Sabres coach Lindy Ruff is leaning on his top players to get his team in the win column, and those players are rewarding him for the trust he’s putting in them.

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But Buffalo has to continue getting strong showings from Thompson in particular. He was picked to be on Team U.S.A. at the 2026 Olympics for good reason, and he’s moving into top gear at the right time of the season. And Thompson needs to ride the good vibes of being an Olympian toward peak play by the time the Olympics arrives a few weeks from now.

It wasn’t a coincidence that Thompson’s sub-par season last year was one reason why the Sabres weren’t a playoff team. They only have a limited number of genuine difference-makers, and Thompson is one of them. So as Buffalo continues its playoff push in the second half of the season, they’re going to need Thompson leading the way.

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Because if they don’t get strong play from Thompson, the Sabres are likely to slide down the standings and miss the playoffs for a 15th consecutive season. Buffalo’s supporting cast can only do so much, and if Thompson doesn’t put them on his back and carry them into the post-season, there’s going to be bigger conversations about Thompson’s future in Western New York. 

The pressure is on Thompson right now, and it will remain on him the rest of the season. But the good news is nights like Thompson had Thursday night show he’s capable of delivering the results Sabres fans have been desperate for.

The wait is over, and we finally have a resolution to the goaltending carousel. The Montreal Canadiens have just announced that Jacob Fowler and Owen Beck were being sent down to the Laval Rocket in the AHL.

There has been a lot of speculation over the last few weeks as to which goaltender would be sent back down to the Rocket, but in the end, the Habs’ brass went with the logical solution. Not that Fowler hasn’t been great in the 10 games he has backstopped the Canadiens in, he’s got a 4-4-2 record with a 2.62 goals-against average and a .902 save percentage, but he’s the least experienced goaltender.

Furthermore, the Canadiens have big plans for the youngster, and logic dictates that playing more games will benefit his development. That’s what he’ll get in Laval: a lot of action and not so much of riding the pine behind another goalie. The Florida native can be proud of what he has accomplished in his first stint in the NHL. He gave the electroshock the Canadiens’ goaltending duo needed. A bit of internal competition has never hurt anyone, and he was part of the reason why Samuel Montembeault finally found his form back.

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As for Owen Beck, he’s been the 13th forward since Josh Anderson came back, and the writing was on the wall, especially with the acquisition of Phillip Danault, which really helped the Canadiens’ depth at center.

In 15 games, the 21-year-old center has scored the first goal of his career, and even though that was his only point, he has still done well in a fourth-line role and has a plus-four rating. There’s a limit to what a player can do when he’s only seeing an average of 9:11 of action every night.

The fact that Beck was sent down might indicate that Kirby Dach is finally ready to return. The Canadiens are set to practice at 1:00 PM. We’ll know then if he has joined the team in Ottawa ahead of its duel with the Ottawa Senators tomorrow night.

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