The Buffalo Sabres are facing a massive amount of pressure as they try to end the team's 14-year Stanley Cup playoff drought. And every Sabres player will have to contribute something positive to the cause, or the lack of playoff games in Buffalo could continue. 

In that regard, this is the latest file for THN.com's Sabres site's series projecting the expectations for each Buffalo player in 2025-26. In this file, we're focusing on second-year NHL center Jiri Kulich. The 21-year-old showed promise in his first year as a Sabre last year, but more will be expected of Kulich as he begins the year on Buffalo's third line.

But we're here to ask you -- what do you think expectations for Kulich should look like in '25-26? You can let us know with a comment below. And while you're doing that, you can always feel free to register as a Sabres community member on THN.com and heighten your connection to Buffalo with news and views on the Sabres every day. Your voice counts, and we want to hear it.

The Toronto Maple Leafs’ prospects had a better result after losing their first game of the Prospect Showdown in Montreal to the Ottawa Senators.

Toronto opted for an 11-forward and seven defensemen lineup for Sunday’s game against the Montreal Canadiens. Easton Cowan was among the players not in the lineup for game two as he prepares for Maple Leafs training camp beginning next week.

Ryan Kirwan and Luke Haymes each found the back of the net for Toronto. Both had a goal in their first game against the Senators on Saturday. Ryan Tverberg scored the Maple Leafs’ third goal, off a pass from Jacob Quillan. Tverberg added an empty-netter, giving Toronto the 4-1 win.

Vyacheslav Peksa stopped 36 of 37 shots, giving the prospects something to be happy about as they head home. 

Despite the split weekend, there were a bunch of players who stood out. Here are a few of my takeaways from the Maple Leafs’ second game of the Prospect Showdown:

Landon Sim brings the bang

The AHL-signed forward was quite engaged in Toronto’s first game against Ottawa, and upped the energy against Montreal. 

Sim fought twice during the pair of games this weekend and was a part of a couple of extended shifts in Montreal’s zone. I didn’t have many expectations for the forward coming into the tournament as a Marlies-signed player, but he caught my eye a lot.

Landon Sim (42) puts in a strong shift for the Maple Leafs in Montreal's end. pic.twitter.com/rJ1krdeIsQ

— Nick Barden (@nickbarden) September 14, 2025

He had a shift in the offensive zone midway through the second period, where he worked tirelessly for the puck. Sim threw his body around, too, which will obviously bode well for how his teammates see him ahead of his first pro season.

After 12 goals and 15 points in 17 games with the OHL’s London Knights during the playoffs in the spring, Sim appears to be an intriguing project for the Maple Leafs’ development staff entering the 2025-26 season.

Luke Haymes’ consistency

Haymes added more points to his total before heading back to Toronto for Maple Leafs training camp next week.

The 22-year-old tallied another two points (a goal, as mentioned) and an assist on Kirwan’s first-period goal. After he won the faceoff, Maple Leafs 2025 fifth-round pick Harry Nansi fed Kirwan the puck, and he wired a shot into the back of the net.

Here's the full clip: Tyler Hopkins wins the faceoff on the 5-on-3 before Chas Sharpe finds Haymes for the goal. https://t.co/VSuH6HgKTlpic.twitter.com/z6ve3ttqb0

— Nick Barden (@nickbarden) September 14, 2025

It feels as though Haymes’ play rose along with the competition. He did it in the AHL — scoring two goals and six points in his first nine games of pro — and he’s done it again at the prospect tournament.

Haymes finished with two goals and two assists, making him one of the top-producing Maple Leafs prospects, alongside Kirwan, at the Prospect Showdown this weekend.

Vyacheslav Peksa's great first game back

After struggling in his first season of North American hockey in 2023-24 with the Newfoundland Growlers, Peksa appeared to find his footing with the ECHL’s Cincinnati Cyclones this past season.

The 23-year-old Russian-born goaltender had 12 wins and a .904 save percentage through 32 games with Cincinnati. He also had a cup of coffee in the AHL with the Marlies, registering an .878 save percentage in two AHL games.

Vyacheslav Peksa with a couple of nice saves as Montreal applies pressure late in the second period. pic.twitter.com/kf5WEJPLqM

— Nick Barden (@nickbarden) September 14, 2025

There was excitement when the goaltender first came to Canada, following a career season with Bars Kazan of the VHL (Russia’s version of the AHL). A strong showing against the Canadiens’ prospects on Sunday, which included several great stops, should set him up to be confident heading into Maple Leafs training camp before likely heading back to the ECHL for his third season.

The other takeaways

- Harry Nansi utilized his size and playmaking ability in what was his only game of the Prospect Showdown. He, of course, had an assist on Kirwan’s goal, but also found Tyler Hopkins later in the game for a scoring chance. He appears to be a more confident player since watching him at development camp earlier this summer.

Harry Nansi finds Tyler Hopkins in front for a scoring chance. pic.twitter.com/XZKLoFT6yI

— Nick Barden (@nickbarden) September 14, 2025

- Miroslav Holinka had another strong showing in game two. The forward was on the top line with Quillan and Tverberg, and had plenty of opportunity to showcase his hands and puck protection. He began the play on Quillan’s goal, keeping the puck away from Adam Engstrom, before dishing it up to the point. Holinka is a fascinating project for Toronto, and could be someone who sees the NHL in the future.

- Quillan and Kirwan had strong games again. Quillan, of course, had a strong back half of the year with the Marlies, which likely gave him confidence coming into prospect camp. The confidence definitely went up a notch after these two games, just in time for him to try and impress Toronto’s coaching staff at training camp. Kirwan, similar to a few of the other prospects mentioned, could be an interesting prospect to keep an eye on.

Ryan Kirwan gets on the board for the Maple Leafs, with an assist from Harry Nansi and Luke Haymes.

Kirwan and Haymes each have three points through two games this weekend. pic.twitter.com/mH2jU3Jdl9

— Nick Barden (@nickbarden) September 14, 2025

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Takeaways From Maple Leafs' First Game Of Prospect Showdown Against Senators

We’re about to kick off the NHL’s 2025-26 season, and here on THN.com’s Buffalo Sabres site, we’re moving through our player-by-player series in which we analyze every Buffalo players’ expectations this coming season.

We began this series by looking at the Sabres’ goalies and defensemen, and their third line – including today’s focus: center Jiri Kulich – looks like a bit of a dog’s breakfast of up-and-coming talent (Kulich and left winger Jack Quinn) and gritty, low-scoring right winger Jordan Greenway. So the expectations on Kulich should be reasonable as to what he can accomplish. But here’s our best guess as to what is reasonable for Kulich in ‘25-26:

Player Name: Jiri Kulich

Position: Center

Age: 21

2024-25 Key Statistics: 62 games, 15 goals, 24 points, 14:48 average time on ice

2025-26 Salary:$886,666

2025-26 Expectations: Kulich is entering his sophomore NHL season, and while his first year wasn’t worthy of the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s rookie-of-the-year, the 21-year-old Czechia native did get to the 15-goal mark – with all the goals coming at even-strength – in very limited minutes in only 62 games. That’s something to build on this coming season, but Kulich is going to be starting the year centering Buffalo’s third line.

We can see Kulich and Quinn having success on offense. Greenway – a tougher player who doesn’t contribute many goals or assists – is another story. So it’s going to be on Quinn and Kulich to generate offense for the Sabres and start to challenge upper-tier Sabres players for playing time on the line above them in Buffalo.

That said, Kulich has only dipped his toe in hockey’s top league. He’s nowhere close to his prime, but a season in which Kulich produced, say, 20-25 goals and 30-40-point next season would be considered an enormous success. 

Sabres 2025-26 Player Expectations: Young Winger Quinn Must Make Most Of His OpportunitiesThe NHL’s 2025-26 season has just about arrived, and here on THN.com’s Buffalo Sabres site, we’re continuing our player-by-player series in which we break down the expectations for each Buffalo player in the coming season.

So long as he’s able to get near those areas, Kulich’s status as a Sabre isn’t going to be challenged no matter how Buffalo does in the standings. He’s young, he’s not making very much money (less than $867,000 per year), and he’s under team financial control for this year, next year and his RFA years after that. 

Thus, Kulich will likely survive any change in Sabres coaching or administration. He needs to put forth at least as many points as he did last year, but he also needs to make Buffalo’s third line a legitimate danger. That’s what the Sabres are going to need to be a playoff team.

Unfortunately, making the third line an above-average group has been a tall task for many Sabres players before him, but Kulich can’t be properly judged until there’s a decent sample size to judge him by. And that means he deserves the benefit of the doubt entering his sophomore season. But make no mistake – there’s pressure there for Kulich to take a step forward in ‘25-26. If he reacts positively to it, the pressure on Buffalo’s top two lines will diminish, and it will take some of the heat off their defense as well.

Sabres 2025-26 Player Expectations: Staying Healthy A Key Concern For Rugged Winger GreenwayThe Buffalo Sabres need all hands on deck if they're to end their `14-year Stanley Cup playoff drought. And that means everyone on the roster is going to have to pull their weight. What will expectations for every Sabres player look like? That's the focus of THN.com's Sabres site series.

Kulich could be a big-time member of a Sabres renaissance. By the end of last season, he was centering a line with Buffalo’s top scorer, star winger Tage Thompson. But Kulich’s two-way game is what’s most encouraging about his game, and if he’s effective at both ends of the ice, the Sabres are going to have a good shot at ending their playoff drought and giving Buffalonians a team to take pride in again. 

The Dallas Stars have been one of the NHL’s better teams in the past three regular seasons, finishing either first or second in the highly competitive Central Division. But ultimate playoff success has eluded the Stars in the past three years, as they’ve lost in the Stanley Cup playoffs’ Western Conference final for three years running.

Still, it was a notable shock the way veteran Dallas coach Peter DeBoer handled his public relations with the media, as he made particular criticism of Stars No. 1 goalie Jake Oettinger after he pulled Oettinger in the deciding game of the Western final in favor of backup Casey DeSmith. DeBoer’s criticism of Oettinger may have accelerated DeBoer’s eventual parting of ways with the Stars by a handful of weeks, because the bottom line is that DeBoer’s teams haven’t been able to get over the competitive hump. So, unless DeBoer got to the Stanley Cup, his job security in Dallas could’ve been and probably was going to be jeopardized.

DeBoer did damage control Sunday in an NHL.com interview in which he took accountability for the way he went after Oettinger. And he defended his relationship with Oettinger in his first public comments since the Stars fired him just one week after his Game 5 comments.

“I know the stories immediately came out that I’m hard on goalies,” DeBoer told Mike Zeisberger of NHL.com. “But the fact is, I only pulled (Oettinger) once in 57 games in the regular season. That’s a fact.

“The first 30 seconds of that (Game 5) timeout was me blasting our team and, if I could have, I would have blasted myself and our coaches too. I mean, you're mad and disappointed in that moment, at everything, at the team, at the start, at the goalie, at yourself, at everybody. Why are we in this spot? You know, we have this opportunity and we're in this spot. So, it's a scattergun of anger, of bitterness.

“And it was made out to be about Jake Oettinger. But that wasn't the case. I love Jake Oettinger, and Jake and I met after the season ended. He knows how much respect I have for him as a goalie and even more as a person and a family man. And you know, I've said repeatedly throughout our playoff run, we would have never even gotten that far without Jake.”

DeBoer’s words aside, it’s his reputation as a solid coach with a lot of regular-season success that is going to make him a frontrunner option for teams that fire their bench boss either during the 2025-26 season, or next summer. The coaching wheel spins faster than ever, and teams will look at DeBoer’s 1,261 games of NHL coaching experience – and the 662 wins and 814 games in which he got the game to overtime and beyond – and see a viable choice to hire him for what would be his sixth NHL team.

DeBoer does still have hockey responsibilities, as he’s an assistant coach for Team Canada’s team at the upcoming 2026 Winter Olympics. Not having an NHL job leaves DeBoer more time to focus on those responsibilities, but it won’t be long before DeBoer is a candidate for an NHL job opening. And when he does get hired again, the only test he has left is to find a way to win a conference final and earn his first Cup.

If he can’t do that, DeBoer is likely to bounce around between jobs again. But as the 2025-26 season looms large on the horizon, DeBoer has time to reset his focus and find a team that will give him a good shot at making it to the Cup final and winning it all once they get there. You never know when your next shot may be your last shot, but DeBoer is almost certain to get another shot sooner or later, and he’s got to make the most of the opportunity or face future job insecurity with his next gig.

For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com.

Few things weigh more on the minds of Detroit Red Wings fans when reflecting on the final years of former general manager Ken Holland’s tenure (along with director of amateur scouting Tyler Wright) than the decision to draft Filip Zadina sixth overall in the first round of the 2018 NHL Draft. 

Immediately after Zadina was drafted, the Vancouver Canucks selected Quinn Hughes - a local product who starred at the University of Michigan just 40 minutes from downtown Detroit - with the very next pick. Hughes has since become the Canucks’ captain and a Norris Trophy–winning defenseman. 

Zadina never lived up to the hype. He appeared in 190 games for the Red Wings, totaling 28 goals and 40 assists. In July 2023, Zadina and Detroit mutually parted ways with the termination of the remainder of his contract, after which he signed with the San Jose Sharks. 

After scoring 13 goals in 72 games in his first and only season with the Sharks, Zadina departed the NHL and signed with HC Davos of the Swiss National League, effectively signaling an end to his NHL career. 

Meanwhile, at just 25 years old, Hughes has already become the Canucks’ franchise leader in assists by a defenseman, and his 405 career points are tied for the most by a blue liner in team history. 

HISTORY FOR HUGHES! 🐳

With his assist on this goal, Quinn Hughes is now the all-time leader in assists by a defenseman for the @Canucks!

📺: @Sportsnet or stream on Sportsnet+ ➡️ https://t.co/4KjbdjVctFpic.twitter.com/BqDdJ5zJLr

— NHL (@NHL) December 1, 2024

Could there soon be a chance to correct that clear mistake from the 2018 Draft? 

According to recent comments from NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman on his 32 Thoughts podcast, Hughes and the Canucks may be approaching a crossroads in their relationship.

"It is very clear the way that Quinn sets this out, and that is that he wants to see improvement on this hockey team," Friedman said. "He wants to win. And two years ago, I don't even think this would be a debate, as Vancouver was taking Edmonton to Game 7 of the second round." 

"But because of the year that they had last year, we're now in the uncertainty zone," Friedman continued. "This is an enormous season in Vancouver. And I think that Quinn, a lot of what he's going to do is going to be determined by how this year goes." 

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

The podcast, which was hosted at US NHL Media Tour in Las Vegas, then featured an appearance from Hughes himself. 

When asked about what the future could hold for him in Vancouver, with whom he still has two seasons left on his current contract, his response was telling.

“I mean, I’ll answer that with my actions next summer," he said. 

The Red Wings boast numerous trading chips in terms of prospects and draft selections. General manager Steve Yzerman confirmed that while there was consideration of using the 13th overall pick in the 2025 Draft as trade bait to land a bigger fish, he decided against it. 

An acquisition of Hughes by Yzerman next offseason would go a long way toward elevating the Red Wings into the upper echelon of the highly competitive Atlantic Division.

While the opportunity to play alongside his brothers Jack and Luke with the New Jersey Devils will be a major factor in Quinn’s decision, the chance to play in Michigan, where his parents still live and where he attended college, could be an equally strong draw.

Ben Chiarot, who carries a $4.75 million cap hit and has often been paired with Moritz Seider, is entering the final year of his contract and is unlikely to receive an extension from the Red Wings. The same can be said about Justin Holl, who is also entering the final year of his deal. 

Erik Gustafsson, signed last offseason to a two-year deal, also isn’t expected to be brought back once his contract expires. The future of Jacob Bernard-Docker, signed in July to a one-year deal, remains up in the air beyond this season. 

Hughes has two years remaining on his contract ($7.85 million cap hit), which means that if the Red Wings were to acquire him, he would soon be in need of a new deal. 

Additionally, Simon Edvinsson is going to need a new deal as he'll be eligible for restricted free agency. Prospect Axel-Sandin Pellikka could also be ready by next offseason to make the jump into the NHL. 

Imagine a top defensive pairing of Seider and Hughes, along with a second pairing of Edvinsson and Sandin-Pellikka. That alone would be enough to make Red Wings fans salivate. 

Yzerman didn't make a major splash this offseason - but could next summer be the time? 

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As reported by Sportsnet's Chris Johnston, Washington Capitals assistant coach Mitch Love has been placed on a team-imposed leave, amid pending results of an investigation by the NHL.

The reason for the league’s investigation has not been provided. Additionally, the Capitals’ organization will not comment on the matter until the NHL concludes its investigation, they announced on Sunday.

Love is coming off his second season as an NHL coach and has been an assistant for the Capitals for two years. With Love’s assistance, alongside head coach Spencer Carbery, the team made back-to-back runs to the post-season. Furthermore, the Caps clinched the Eastern Conference last season. 

Before his days in the NHL, Love was a head coach in the AHL with the Calgary Wranglers and the Stockton Heat (before they became Wranglers). In 2022-23, he led the Wranglers to the Pacific Division final, and the year before that, he took the Heat to the Western Conference final, one round shy of the Calder Cup final.

Love has also experienced the World Junior Championship from behind the bench. In 2019-20 and 2020-21, Love was one of the assistant coaches for Team Canada, who finished with a gold and silver medal, respectively.

The 41-year-old has also spent several years in the WHL, as an assistant with the Everett Silvertips for seven seasons, before becoming the head coach of the Saskatoon Blades for three seasons following his Silvertips tenure.

Earlier in the off-season, Love was considered a top candidate for several head coaching jobs, including for the Pittsburgh Penguins and Boston Bruins.

Love also played five seasons in the AHL for the Lowell Lock Monsters, Albany River Rats, Lake Erie Monsters, Houston Aeros and the Peoria Rivermen during the mid-to-late 2000s. He recorded 808 penalty minutes in 278 minor league appearances.

For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com.