Category: Sports News

The Buffalo Sabres have been considered to have one of the deepest prospect pools in the NHL, which is in part due to them selecting high in recent drafts because of their not qualifying for the playoffs. The Sabres have displayed an eye for talent, but the organization’s developmental model has not yielded enough results. 

Leading up to the opening of training camp in mid-September, we will look at the club's top 40 prospects. All are 25 years old or younger, whose rights are currently held by the Sabres or are on AHL or NHL deals, and have played less than 40 NHL games. 

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#9 - Luke Osburn  - Defense (Youngstown - USHL)

Osburn was the Sabres fourth-round pick at the 2024 NHL Draft in Las Vegas. The Plymouth, MI native is a product of the Compuware youth hockey system and played for Youngstown of the USHL in his draft year. After scoring 23 points for the Phantoms as a 17-year-old, the offensive-minded blueliner broke out last season,  scoring 41 points (10 goals, 31 assists) in 55 games and was named the USHL’s Defenseman of the Year.

Elite Prospects says that Osburn’s “activation looks instinctive; he instantly joins the play at the right moments and stays inside passing lanes. From the point, he uses stop-starts and heel-to-heel skating to pull in defenders before slipping down the boards. In the rush, he manipulates defenders with crossovers, weight shifts, and fakes, then walks inside for a scoring chance.”

The 18-year-old impressed at the 2025 World Junior Summer Showcase for Team USA and is considered in the mix for a spot for the 2026 IIHF WJC in Minneapolis this December, but that will depend on how he performs as a freshman for the University of Wisconsin this fall. 

Follow Michael on X, Instagram, and Bluesky @MikeInBuffalo

The Seattle Kraken have acquired forward Jon-Randall Avon from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for Tucker Robertson.

Avon is a 22-year-old center/winger who has spent the past two seasons playing in the AHL with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. In 125 games, Avon has scored 16 goals and 35 points. 

Listed at six feet, 174 pounds, Avon was an undrafted prospect who signed with the Flyers in September of 2021.

Heading to the Flyers is Robertson, a 22-year-old center who the Kraken drafted in the fourth round (123rd overall) in the 2022 NHL Draft. Robertson has also spent the previous two seasons in the AHL, racking up 10 goals and 19 points in 77 games. 

Listed at 5-foot-10, 190 pounds, Robertson's game revolves around his defensive work. He anticipates the game very well and uses sound positioning to win the puck back for his team. 

The move at the moment is currently an AHL-based deal, as neither of these players shows much NHL potential, but with a change of scenery, anything can happen.

Dennis Hildeby is excited for the upcoming season after signing a rather unique three-year, $2.53 million extension with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The reason it’s an interesting deal? The first two years are a two-way contract, with Hildeby earning $841,667 in the NHL and $350,000 in the AHL in the first year (and $450,000 the next season), before it shifts into a one-way deal in the third year.

“I’m aware it’s a rare deal for a guy in my position,” Hildeby told reporters on Thursday afternoon. “I got notice that it was on the table and I liked it instantly. I thought it gave me three more years, as I said. I like it here, so I was very pleased with that.”

The 24-year-old goaltender is entering his third season with the Maple Leafs since coming over from Sweden in the spring of 2023. Hildeby finished his first year in Toronto with a .913 save percentage in 41 AHL games before putting up a .908 in 30 games with the Marlies last season.

He also hit a massive milestone early in the year, making his NHL debut with the Maple Leafs on Oct. 22 against the Columbus Blue Jackets. He allowed six goals on 38 shots, with Toronto losing 6-2.

Hildeby played five more games with the Maple Leafs, winning three and returning to the Marlies with an .878 save percentage through six NHL appearances.

“It was kind of a rollercoaster of a season. A little bit up and down,” Hildeby said.

“There was a lot of new stuff I tried to implement into my game that maybe didn’t work out at first. I tried a lot of new stuff and kind of figured out my game more. This season is more about back to trying to take all this new stuff and make it come together into a way it works for me.”

Hildeby will enter this next season as the Maple Leafs’ third goaltender, behind Anthony Stolarz and Joseph Woll. He’ll likely spend a lot of this year with the Marlies again, unless Toronto needs someone up in the NHL.

The Jarfalla, Sweden-born netminder had a down year last year, in terms of statistics (though he was an AHL All-Star), but as he said, he’s looking forward to a new season where he’ll again try to show the Maple Leafs what the future could look like with him in net.

“I’m super excited about camp to get going here and try and prove myself and see where it goes from there.”

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Former Montreal Canadiens defenseman Marco Scandella announced his retirement from professional hockey. The St. Louis Blues, another one of Scandella's previous teams, announced the news through a post on X. 

Scandella last played in the NHL during the 2023-24 season with the Blues, where he had two goals, eight points, 70 hits, and a plus-2 rating in 65 games.

A steady presence on and off the ice, who always repped the 'Note with pride.

Congrats on a great career and enjoy retirement Scandy 👏 pic.twitter.com/gTPwiMo1xJ

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) September 4, 2025

After being acquired by the Canadiens from the Buffalo Sabres in 2019-20, Scandella recorded one goal, three points, 25 hits, and a plus-1 rating in 20 games with Montreal.

However, Scandella's time with the Canadiens was very brief, as the Habs traded him later on in the 2019-20 season to the Blues. From there, Scandella would play each of his final five NHL seasons with St. Louis. 

In 784 games over 14 NHL seasons split between the Minnesota Wild, Sabres, Canadiens, and Blues, Scandella recorded 51 goals, 119 assists, 170 points, and a plus-11 rating. 

Canadiens' Goalie Tandem Receives New RankingIn a recent article for Bleacher Report, Joe Yerdon ranked each NHL team's goalie tandem. The Montreal Canadiens' tandem of Samuel Montembeault and Jakub Dobes at the No. 20 spot. 

The Philadelphia Flyers have traded forward prospect J.R. Avon to the Seattle Kraken in exchange for forward prospect Tucker Robertson, the team announced Thursday.

Robertson, 22, was drafted 123rd overall by the Kraken in the fourth round of the 2022 NHL Draft, but has yet to see his pro career achieve liftoff.

The Toronto, Ont., native scored four goals, five assists, and nine points in 38 AHL games with the Coachella Valley Firebirds last season, and went scoreless in three postseason contests.

In parts of three seasons, Robertson has 10 goals, nine assists, and 19 points in 77 AHL games.

Notably, he and Avon were teammates at the OHL, spending parts of four seasons with the Peterborough Petes.

Avon, 22, went undrafted, but signed an entry-level contract with the Flyers during the Chuck Fletcher era on Sept. 21, 2021.

The skilled 6-foot winger has been slightly more productive in the AHL than his old teammate, scoring 16 goals and 35 points in 125 AHL regular season games with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms over the last two seasons.

Avon, like Robertson, has yet to progress much beyond that, though, making this trade one that sees two young players finding a change of scenery and hoping it helps their careers and development path.

Neither player appeared in an NHL game for their respective clubs prior to the trade.

According to a report, former Philadelphia Flyers goalie Anthony Stolarz has begun contract extension negotiations with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

On Tuesday, NHL Network and The Fourth Period NHL insider David Pagnotta reported, "In Toronto, after going the summer without negotiating, sources tell me the Maple Leafs have now started contract extension discussions with goaltender Anthony Stolarz."

Stolarz, 31, has one year remaining on his current contract with the Maple Leafs at a $2.5 million cap hit, and also carries an eight-team no-trade list.

The former Flyers draft pick would have made an ideal free agent target for the 2026 offseason, provided that players like Sam Ersson, Ivan Fedotov, and Aleksei Kolosov can't establish themselves alongside or behind newcomer Dan Vladar.

As it stands, Vladar is the only goalie the Flyers have under contract for the 2026-27 season aside from prospect Carson Bjarnason.

Flyers Should Eventually Reunite This Canucks Forward with Rick TocchetThe Philadelphia Flyers are poised for a big free agency period in 2026, and if the last season means anything, they should have one potential signing circled already.

Pagnotta also reported that Carter Hart was of interest to the Flyers, which, if proven to be true, further displays Philadelphia's dissatisfaction with the goaltending situation.

Stolarz played 34 games for ex-Flyers coach Craig Berube and the Maple Leafs last season, starting 33 games, posting a 21-8-3 record, a 2.14 GAA, a league-leading .926 save percentage, and four shutouts, establishing himself as one of the NHL's best '1B' goalies.

Should the 6-foot-6 netminder reach an agreement with the Maple Leafs, another top free agent target for 2026 will be off the board for the Flyers.

Stars winger Mikko Rantanen is poised for a solid season with his new team but don’t count on his goal scoring to lead the way.

The NHL season will be here in no time as we look ahead to some regular season player props that we look to take advantage of just like we did last off-season. We were very successful at finding great values in these player props with some sportsbooks not fully looking into the background or history of some players besides the stats of the prior season. 

We took advantage of the sportsbooks not knowing anything about Connor McDavid and that he's not a goal scorer and easily hit the under for his goal total last season, which was at a shocking 51.5 when he scored more than 44 goals just once in his nine prior NHL seasons. We also hit on nearly all of our other player prop picks like Mitch Marner, Mark Scheifele, Wyatt Johnston, Rasmus Dahlin, Teuvo Teravainen and Connor Hellebuyck to his over in wins plus take home the Vezina trophy.

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Up next for our deep dive on player breakdowns is someone who ended last season red hot with Mikko Rantanen of the Dallas Stars. The Finnish winger completely took over the Stars' series against his former team in the Colorado Avalanche with five goals including a game seven hat trick. He continued his hot streak with four more goals over the next three games versus the Winnipeg Jets in the second round. After this hot streak however, he went eight straight games without a goal and this reminded fans of the eight game scoring drought he had entering the season. 

Going that long without scoring is quite typical for any player but since joining the Stars, Rantanen ended off his regular season with just five goals over 20 games. The sportsbooks are buying a lot into his playoff scoring frenzy and have his over/under for goals at a very high 36.5 (-115 on BetMGM) for the upcoming season. 

Rantanen finished with 32 goals last season after shuffling around and playing for three different teams but this season he'll have a full training camp with the Stars and will likely be featured on a lethal line with star players like Roope Hintz and Jason Robertson. The only problem with this is that neither of them are as lethal as a 70-90 assist player like Rantanen's former linemate in Nathan MacKinnon.

Rantanen will likely see a dip in production, similar to the decline he experienced at the end of last season. While he remains a capable goal scorer, reaching 37 goals is a high benchmark that he’s only hit twice in his nine NHL seasons.

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Not to mention, he won't be the only goal scorer on his line as Jason Robertson is also an elite shooter with two 40-goal seasons and a single 35-goal season. Hintz can also score a lot of goals with 30 goals in three of the last four seasons. 

It will almost certainly limit Rantanen's scoring chances and will likely see him play more of a playmaker role as he's recorded four straight 50-assist seasons. His point totals could look similar to his numbers on Colorado as his linemates will still be elite although I wouldn't count on as many goals as we've seen that be the case on multiple occasions. 

All betting lines are from BetMGM Sportsbook and are subject to change. Hockey is a difficult sport to predict so please gamble responsibly. 

Sign up with BetMGM, make a deposit, and place your first wager on any game using your First Bet Offer token. If that bet with the token applied loses, you’ll get your original stake paid back in Bonus Bets, up to $1,500! Get in the game today with BetMGM.