Heading into the 2025-26 season, the Pittsburgh Penguins have shifted the focus to youth and development.
With more talent in the system than Pittsburgh has had in years - and 13 picks in the 2025 NHL Draft - top prospects lists are becoming more competitive and more difficult to discern. Since the prospect pool is deepening, The Hockey News - Pittsburgh Penguins takes a look at the top-20 prospects in the organization.
Next on our list is No. 14, and this is where we cover one of the Penguins' three first-round picks this year in forward Bill Zonnon.
#14: F Bill Zonnon
Zonnon was selected 22nd overall by the Penguins in this year's draft, and he had a great year for the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies of the QMJHL. He registered 28 goals and 83 points in 64 regular season games as well as eight goals and 16 points in 13 playoff games.
There's no doubt that Zonnon, 18, can produce, but where his value really shines is in his all-around game. The 6-foot-2, 187-pound center has a power forward-like toolset and a ton of versatility to boot, playing in all situations and capable of filling many different roles in a lineup.
He can skate and has great edgework, he is a high-IQ playmaker, he's an elite forechecker, he's deceptive, and he works relentlessly to stay on the puck and keep plays alive. He has a physical edge to his game as well, and he has a shot with some pop.
🍎 Dyllan Gill (#10 in white) picks up the primary assist on this goal. He gets the puck from Daniil Bourosh (‘04), takes the shot and the rebound is put home by Bill Zonnon (‘06). -@HuskiesRnpic.twitter.com/4hSDtcKYdp
One of the most intriguing things about Zonnon is that he's a high-floor player. If he can maximize his offensive skillset and continue to grow and round out his overall game, he has the potential to be an effective top-six player who can rotate between center and the wing. Even if he doesn't, he's more than likely going to be a higher-profile bottom-six player who can play some tough minutes and produce enough to be an important piece on a third line.
There isn't much Zonnon can't do, and Penguins fans - as well as the organization - should be excited by his upside. And, honestly, he probably should be higher in this ranking, but as is the case with some others in this range, the Penguins simply have a lot more talent in their system than they have in recent years, making some of these decisions tough.
It's very possible that at this time next year, he will be sniffing the top-five. For now, we Zonnon him at 14, and there is a ton of room for him to continue to develop into a future impact NHL forward.
Edgardo Henriquez, delivering a pitch during Game 4 of the NLCS against the New York Mets at Citi Field, has held opponents to a .120 batting average in seven appearances this season. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Edgardo Henriquez has a gift. He can throw a baseball faster than all but a few humans in history.
Yet he prefers to think of it as something he and God created together, not something that was just given to him.
“We’ve worked for that,” said Henriquez, who frequently uses the plural pronoun when talking about himself. “All the work, the effort, the physics. And God's reward, most of all.”
Wherever the lightning in his right arm came from, he’s making good use of it. Of the 83 pitches he’s thrown this season entering Wednesday's game, 28 have topped 101 miles per hour. The fastest hit 103.3 mph on the radar gun last Saturday, making it the hardest-thrown pitch by a Dodger since Statcast began tracking speed in 2015 and likely the fastest pitch in franchise history.
“Now we have to stay consistent,” he said in Spanish. “Even growing up in Venezuela, I always threw hard.”
What he didn’t do in Venezuela was pitch because when he signed as a 16-year-old in 2018, Henriquez was a catcher. The Dodgers moved him to the other side of the plate a year later, when they got him to their Dominican academy.
The process was not a smooth one. The right-hander allowed 22 runs in 30 innings in his first season. Then, after sitting out the summer of 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, he came to the U.S. a year later and went 2-3 with a 4.93 ERA in 13 games split between the Arizona Complex League and Single A Rancho Cucamonga.
The Dodgers projected him as a starter but after Henriquez missed the 2023 season to Tommy John surgery, he came back throwing gas and the team moved him to the bullpen. The results were spectacular, with Henriquez climbing four levels, from Low A Rancho Cucamonga to the majors, in six months to make his big-league debut in the final week of the regular season.
And he announced his presence with authority, topping 101 mph twice to earn the save in his third game.
Henriquez grew up in Cumaná, a historic beach city of about half a million people wedged between the Manzanares River and Venezuela’s Caribbean coast, 250 miles east of Caracas. The oldest continuously inhabited Spanish settlement in South America, it has been the birthplace of poets and presidents. But baseball players? Not so much.
Pitcher Armando Galarraga, who was robbed of a perfect game by an umpire’s call in 2010, is probably the best known of Cumaná’s big leagues while Maracay, on the other end of the country, has produced more than two dozen players, among them All-Stars Bobby Abreu, Miguel Cabrera and Elvis Andrus.
“Maracay, yes. They say that is the birthplace of baseball in Venezuela,” Henriquez said. “But the truth is it’s Cumaná.”
Henriquez took to the game at an early age, playing on local fields and sandlots. And because he was among the biggest of the neighborhood kids, he was put behind the plate. The Dodgers liked his size — he looks much bigger than the 6-foot-4 and 200 pounds he’s credited with on the roster — and arm so they offered him $80,000 to sign as an international free agent with the intention of making him a pitcher.
Before the elbow-reconstruction surgery, Henriquez touched 101 mph with his fastball. But he came back throwing even harder, averaging 99 mph and reaching 104 in the minors last summer. That earned him a September promotion and a spot on the roster for the Dodgers’ first two postseason series.
He was also in line for a spot on the opening day roster this season before a metatarsal injury in his left foot landed him in a walking boot, sidelining him for most of spring training.
Neither the Dodgers nor Henriquez will talk about how the injury happened.
“I'd rather keep that to myself,” the pitcher said this week.
Yet that setback proved just another obstacle for Henriquez to overcome, and after striking out 36 batters in 23 2/3 innings for Triple A Oklahoma City, he was summoned back to the Dodgers a month ago.
In some ways, he was a different pitcher.
“He looks much more confident,” manager Dave Roberts said. “I think he was confident last year, but there was like a fake confidence, understandably. He knows his stuff plays here, so it's good to see.”
His record-setting pitch came in his sixth of seven scoreless appearances when he struck out pinch-hitter Ryan O’Hearn on a four-seam fastball in the seventh inning of a win over the San Diego Padres.
His parents, Edgar and Erika, were visiting from Venezuela and in the stands at Dodger Stadium for the pitch to O’Hearn, one that has generated a lot of attention on social media. As a result, Roberts said pitching coach Mark Prior and bullpen coach Josh Bard are making sure Henriquez understands there’s more to pitching that just lighting up the radar gun.
As good as the four-seamer is, however, it may not be Henriquez’s best pitch. His cutter, which sits in the mid-90s, can be all but unhittable and he also has a devastating slider. He’ll need every bit of that repertoire to succeed in the majors, said Chris Forbes, the senior director of player development for the Colorado Rockies, because the number of hard-throwers is growing.
“If there isn’t deception, there isn’t ride, [hitters] can catch up if you don't have something else that they can think about,” he said.
So far the hitters aren’t catching up: In seven innings this summer entering Wednesday, Henriquez has allowed just three hits and walked one while striking out four. Opponents are hitting .120 against him.
It’s been a rapid rise for Henriquez, who has gone from teenage catcher to big league reliever, surviving a global pandemic, Tommy John surgery and a fractured bone in his foot to pitch for a World Series champion.
But there’s still one goal left, albeit one he talks about only grudgingly.
On a team without set bullpen roles, Henriquez wants to be a closer, using his blazing fastball not just to demoralize hitters but to shut down games as well.
“Whatever God has in store for me. We'll work wherever and keep going,” he said. “But yes, I'd like to be a closer.”
Shortly before Missouri State and Delaware announced their jumps to Conference USA, the NCAA Division I Council in October 2023 increased what had been a nominal $5,000 fee to join the FBS to an eyebrow-raising $5 million. The schools decided it was worth it anyway.
Outfielder Jose Siri hasn’t suited up in a game for the Mets since April 12, when he fouled a ball off his leg and fractured his left tibia against the Athletics.
But it sounds like there’s a chance he could be back for the Mets before the season is over.
Speaking to reporters ahead of Wednesday’s matchup with the Washington Nationals, Carlos Mendoza said that 30-year-old could begin a rehab assignment next week.
“Siri is doing a lot of baseball activity, so hopefully he starts playing minor league games next week,” said Mendoza.
The speedy Siri was acquired by the Mets in a November trade with the Tampa Bay Rays, sending right-hander Eric Orze to Tampa. The Mets clearly planned on playing Siri often in center field, as he started eight of the Mets’ first 14 games in center.
Known primarily for his defense and speed, Siri was just 1-for-20 at the plate with one RBI before going down with his injury, though he did steal a pair of bases and walked four times.
Jesse Winker Update
Meanwhile, it doesn’t seem like Jesse Winker is getting any closer to a return.
The veteran outfielder and DH missed time due to an oblique injury, and then came back and played just two games before a back ailment landed him on the IL once again.
“With Wink, he’s still not doing much,” Mendoza said. “…Some good days, then he’s having a hard time recovering at times, so it’s kind of like we’re still playing it slow with him.”
The 31-year-old Winker has played in just 26 games for the Mets this season, and despite the less-than-positive update from Mendoza on Wednesday, the skipper is still hopeful that Winker can return before the end of the season.
“That’s the plan as of right now,” Mendoza said. “The goal is that he can be a player for us at some point, but we’ve just got to wait.”
Boise State has a second-year starter in quarterback Maddux Madsen, who threw for more than 3,000 yards with 23 touchdowns, and a deep offensive line returning 10 players who started a game.
The New York Rangers essentially swapped K’Andre Miller for Vladislav Gavrikov this offseason.
Shortly after signing Gavrikov to a seven-year, $49 million contract, the Rangers traded K’Andre Miller to the Carolina Hurricanes, who ultimately signed an eight-year, $60 million contract.
The change from Miller to Gavrikov marks a drastic shift to the Rangers’ blueline and shaping of their top-four defensemen.
While Miller is younger than Gavrikov, the Rangers should gain more stability with Gavrikov and will likely be better off this upcoming season.
Gavrikov is known for his shutdown presence and defensively minded game, traits that the Rangers desperately needed.
Despite having an extraordinary amount of potential, Miller struggled to defend in his own zone and was prone to committing costly turnovers.
From a defensive standpoint, the Rangers certainly improve having Gavrikov as opposed to Miller.
“We’ve liked Gavvy for a long time, watching him play for Columbus and LA and the attributes he’s going to bring to our D-corps for many years to come have us very excited,” Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury said.
Rutta was one of the top unrestricted free agent (UFA) defensemen still available for the taking. Due to this, it certainly seemed possible that he could have landed a contract or at least a professional tryout (PTO) from an NHL club. However, based on this report, Rutta will instead be continuing his career overseas.
Rutta spent the 2022-23 season with the Penguins, where he posted three goals, six assists, nine points, 70 blocks, 71 hits, and a plus-3 rating. His time with the Penguins ended when he was traded to the San Jose Sharks in the deal that brought star blueliner Erik Karlsson to Pittsburgh.
In 417 career NHL games split between the Chicago Blackhawks, Tampa Bay Lightning, Penguins, and Sharks, Rutta recorded 23 goals, 75 assists, 98 points, and a plus-25 rating.
After paying his dues in Czechia for a long time, Jan Rutta finally earned an NHL opportunity. In 2017-18, Rutta made his NHL debut in his age-27 season with the Chicago Blackhawks.
During his "rookie season", he played in 57 games for Chicago where he tallied six goals and 14 assists for 20 points. After that, he put together a respectable NHL career.
Midway through the next season, 2018-19, Rutta was traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning. There, he won the Stanley Cup twice. He was a solid depth piece on a team loaded with talent on the back end.
Rutta had one year with the Pittsburgh Penguins after leaving Tampa, followed by two years with the San Jose Sharks, coming into this off-season.
Now, it sounds like Rutta, 35, will end his NHL career and take his talents to Europe. According to a report from Blick, a Swiss media outlet, Rutta will sign with Genève-Servette of Switzerland’s National League.
This Swiss pro team is loaded with former NHL players, so they will have a chance to win a league title in 2025-26 with Rutta joining the squad.
If this comes to fruition, it will end a nice NHL career for the Czech defender with 23 goals, 75 assists, and 98 points in 417 games.
For some time, Rutta was impactful enough to be a part of championship-caliber teams in Tampa Bay, which he should be proud of. He will now play overseas to end his hockey-playing career on his terms.
LeBron James of the Miami Heat boxes out Danny Green of the San Antonio Spurs during Game 7 of the 2013 NBA Finals. A former Heat employee is said to have admitted in federal court to stealing a jersey worn by James in that game and many other valuable items from the team. (Mike Ehrmann / Getty Images)
Retired Miami police officer Marcos Tomas Perez appeared Tuesday at U.S. Superior Court for the Southern District of Florida and issued a guilty plea to transporting and transferring stolen goods in interstate commerce, after pleading not guilty to the felony count at an initial hearing earlier this month.
Perez's attorney, Robert Buschel, told NBC6 in Florida after Tuesday's hearing that Perez is "depressed, naturally, but he accepts responsibility for his behavior and we're gonna work through this issue in his life."
Perez, 62, faces up to 10 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 31.
"I hope that the judge will consider all factors in his life and his history as a good person," Buschel said. "He was an exemplary police officer in the city of Miami, he's been retired for close to 10 years. This was an unfortunate set of decisions that he made and he's going to accept responsibility for that."
Buschel declined to comment any further when reached by The Times via email Wednesday.
According to a news release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida and the Miami field office of the FBI, Perez has admitted to stealing hundreds of game-worn jerseys and other memorabilia worth millions of dollars belonging to the Heat and selling them to online brokers.
One such item was a jersey that LeBron James wore in Game 7 of the 2013 NBA Finals, during which James and the Heat defeated the San Antonio Spurs 95-88 to win their second consecutive championship. After Perez allegedly sold the jersey for around $100,000, it was sold in an online auction for $3.7 million in 2023.
Giants starting pitcher Landen Roupp was at the center of a scary moment in San Francisco’s game against the San Diego Padres on Wednesday at Petco Park.
In his second start since returning from the injured list Friday, Roupp took a line drive hit by Ramón Laureano off his right leg in the bottom of the third inning. He appeared to injure his left knee, however, as he went down to the ground, and had to be carted off the field.
Landen Roupp was carted off the field after sustaining an apparent left knee injury on this play pic.twitter.com/AloB7aGKhx
The 26-year-old right-hander was reinstated from the IL to face the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday, almost a month after the Giants placed him there on July 25 with right elbow inflammation.
Now, it appears as if Roupp is in danger of returning to the IL after Wednesday’s incident, which came after he gave up five hits in 2 1/3 innings against the Padres. Roupp exited the game with two runners on base and was tagged for five earned runs in the short outing after Joey Lucchesi came in for him and immediately gave up a three-run homer to Gavin Sheets.
But, as NBC Sports Bay Area’s Alex Pavlovic pointed out, the cart could have just been a precaution for Roupp and the Giants after the concerning injury.
Landen Roupp went down hard after taking a line drive off his right leg. They brought a cart out to help get him off the field, although hopefully that was just because there are a lot of stairs in the visiting dugout. Scary moment for the young right-hander.
Much has been written about the Montreal Canadiens’ rebuild and the way the team has progressed over the last few seasons, but the Habs are not the only team in rebuilding mode. The Chicago Blackhawks are as well, and they had the opportunity to draft a generational talent in Connor Bedard in 2023, who instantly became the franchise cornerstone.
A player doesn’t make a team, though, and the Hawks had a tough season, finishing in 15th place in the Western Conference and 31st place in the league. One would have thought the Habs could have taken advantage of the Illinois outfit, but it didn’t happen; Chicago skated away with four points in their two duels with the Canadiens.
The two teams met for the first time of the season on January 3, 2025, in Chicago, and the host team won 4-2. While the Canadiens dominated in the shots department with a 40-26 edge, it was the Hawks who managed to score the most goals, a direct result of the 15 giveaways the Habs committed. Captain Nick Foligno led the charge for Chicago with a pair of goals, and veterans Tyler Bertuzzi and Patrick Maroon also found the back of the net. Meanwhile, Cole Caufield and Emil Heineman were the only Habs able to beat Arvid Soderblom, who finished the game with a .950 save percentage, while Samuel Montembeault had a .846 SV.
The Canadiens were hoping for revenge in the second-to-last game of the season and for a win that would allow them to make the playoffs when the Hawks came to town on April 14th, but it wasn’t to be. Chicago spoiled Ivan Demidov’s debut with a 4-3 shootout win. Frank Nazard, whom the Hawks drafted with the pick the Canadiens sent them to obtain Kirby Dach, got a goal and an assist in the win. Bertuzzi added another goal to his account against Montreal, and Lukas Reichel scored their third regulation goal. The Habs had taken an early two-goal lead through Alex Newhook and Demidov (who also had an assist), but they allowed the visitor to score three unanswered goals to take a 3-2 lead with under 15 minutes left in the game. It was a Juraj Slafkovsky marker that allowed the Tricolore to get a consolation point. In the shootout, Nazar was the sole scorer. Montreal had 18 giveaways in the loss, and Montembeault’s save percentage stood at .880.
The second loss of the season came at the most inopportune time as the Canadiens desperately needed points to punch their ticket to the playoffs, but the occasion seemed to be too big for the young Habs, who were playing with jitters.
If Chicago’s win in the first duel was the result of veteran leadership, it was the team’s youth that stood tall in the second game. Unlike the Canadiens, though, the Hawks were skating in yet another meaningless game.
Chicago made some changes this summer, but wasn’t very active on the free agency market, only signing Dominic Toninato to a two-year, two-way deal. They acquired Andre Burakovsky in a trade with the Seattle Kraken, sending Joe Veleno the other way and Sam Lafferty from the Buffalo Sabres. They bought out veteran defenseman TJ Brodie, and cut ties with Philip Kurashev, but extended Ryan Donato with a four-year contract. Pat Maroon and Alec Martinez both retired, meaning the Hawks will be even younger this year.
Chicago is behind Montreal in its rebuilding process, and the Canadiens need to perform accordingly against Bedard and co. The Atlantic division is set to be even tougher this season, and if the Habs want to qualify for the playoffs for a second year in a row, they need to learn not to play down to the opposition.
Suppose Montembeault can get back to his former form against the Hawks; it would go a long way toward achieving that goal. In both games this season, his SV was below .900; in his three duels with them before, he had .903, .938, and .933. This is the kind of numbers the goaltender of a contending team needs to put up. Soon, there will be real competition for the role of starting goaltender in Montreal, and the Becancour native needs to stake his claim right now. While most pundits believe Jacob Fowler will be the Canadiens’ goaltender by the time the team is ready to contend, he will still need to earn that role, and the Habs brass certainly won’t complain if they end up with two starter-quality goaltenders.
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Top Philadelphia Flyers center prospect Jett Luchanko may be closer to making the NHL full-time than most realize.
Luchanko, still just 18, already played in four NHL games for the Flyers last season. Not making the Flyers' NHL roster again this season and/or failing to stick around longer would objectively be a step backwards in his development.
So, how close is the 2024 No. 13 overall pick to the NHL really?
According to EliteProspects, Luchanko is the 30th-best drafted prospect on their list of the top 100 youngsters, placing ahead of other forward prospects with NHL seasoning, like Jimmy Snuggerud, Oliver Moore, Dalibor Dvorsky, Jonathan Lekkerimaki, and Ville Koivunen.
Given that the Flyers did not use their top 2025 draft selection on a center (RW Porter Martone), a prominent role on the Flyers is still in the cards for Luchanko.
"Jett Luchanko has a clear path to a top centre role in the Philadelphia Flyers’ lineup. Already a mature defensive player, aware passer, and high-end skater, he should be able to build chemistry with some of the team’s more creative players, helping him to further develop his offensive skills," writes EliteProspects director of amateur scouting Mitch Brown.
"Luchanko added more deception to his passing this season. The next step is developing his scoring skills from afar and near the net. A high-floor prospect, he could push his upside over the next season and become a second-line pivot candidate."
As Brown alluded to, Luchanko did feature alongside Matvei Michkov for a good portion of rookie camp this time last year. Playing together in an NHL game with stakes is a different story, obviously, but maybe a year of maturing and learning helps that.
With 21 goals and 56 points in 46 games with the OHL Guelph Storm last season, Luchanko didn't blow the doors off, but Guelph is also one of the least-talented teams in the OHL.
If the key to his further development is all about scoring, like Brown noted above, the 18-year-old would be better suited playing with NHL-caliber players who can create for him and finish the chances he creates.
This is especially prudent given that Luchanko is not yet eligible to be assigned to the AHL full-time. It's the OHL or the NHL, and the AHL can follow at the end of the season like it did just a few months ago.
The good news is that, while Luchanko's stock appeared to drop amongst Flyers fans after a so-so 2024-25 season, the experts have actually gotten higher on the 5-foot-11 pivot over time.
What comes next is up to him, but a top-30 placement is about as good a spot for Luchanko to be as the Flyers could have asked for.
With less than a month before the opening of training camps, there are still a number of unrestricted free agents looking to find a landing spot, either on a professional tryout contract or a one-year deal. Earlier this week, the St. Louis Blues invited veteran winger Milan Lucic in on a PTO, and on Wednesday, former Sabres winger Victor Olofsson signed a one-year deal with the Colorado Avalanche for $1.575 million.
The 30-year-old Swede was a seventh-round pick of Buffalo in 2014 and spent four years in Sweden before coming to North America in 2018. After scoring 30 goals in AHL Rochester in 2019, the winger scored 20 goals as a rookie in the COVID-shortened 2019-20 season, 20 goals in 2022, and a career-high 28 in 2023, when the Sabres came within a point of making the playoffs.
Olofsson’s decline to seven goals in 51 games in his final season with Buffalo was due more to a demotion to a fourth-line role by head coach Don Granato than an inability to score. After signing a one-year deal with former teammate Jack Eichel in Vegas, Olofsson bounced back with an injury-shortened 15 goals in 56 games (which again would average over 20 in a full year).
The signing with Colorado appears to be to fill the role vacated by the departed Jonathan Drouin, who signed a two-year, $8 million contract with the NY Islanders Olofsson can still put the puck in the net, especially on the power play, and may be insurance as a potential top-six forward replacement with the questionable health status of veteran Gabriel Landeskog.
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Montreal Canadiens fans and followers were shocked Lane Hutson isn’t attending USA Hockey’s Olympic orientation camp, to say the least.
"I don't understand this at all," Global TV Montreal hockey analyst Brian Wilde said onThe Sick Podcast with Tony Marinaro on Tuesday. "It's crazy. The Calder winner, the guy in the playoffs that (averaged) 25 minutes is the best Montreal Canadien."
Added Habs fan Dustin Degree on X: "Not inviting Lane Hutson is ridiculous."
With the NHL’s participation in the 2026 Winter Olympic Games less than half a year away, Hutson was not among the 44 players attending the United States' orientation camp. Alex Vlasic and Jackson LaCombe were among the younger blueliners who are attending. Hutson, who ranked third among U.S.-born defenders in scoring last season, with 66 points, isn't.
We have to say to those aggrieved Canadiens fans – chill out. Hutson's absence from the camp is not the end of the world, and even if he doesn't make the actual roster, it won't hinder his development as a budding NHL star.
First of all, USA Hockey noted in its announcement that just because a player isn't attending the camp, it doesn't mean they're automatically removed from consideration for the Olympic roster. This camp is not a tryout; it is mainly happening to cover administrative topics and include some team-building activities.
As Nazem Kadri noted to The Athletic when he wasn't invited to Hockey Canada's camp, there’s still a chance, however remote, that players can sway the opinion of Olympics GMs in their favor. That could easily be a great motivation for Hutson as he kicks off his sophomore NHL season.
That said, look at the defensemen on America’s orientation camp list who are locks to make the team, and tell us who Hutson should be ahead of on the depth chart for the final roster.
For the camp itself, if budding solid NHL blueliners Vlasic and LaCombe are attending, then Hutson should have been as well, unless he was invited but couldn't make it. The same goes with Washington Capitals stalwart No. 1 blueliner John Carlson.
That group is an elite mix of offensive production from the back end and strong defensive play. Unless any of these players are injured, they likely wouldn't get worse enough by roster selection time for Hutson to leapfrog somebody on the Americans' depth chart.
Even if Hutson ultimately fails to make it, does that take away anything from him or his career trajectory? Absolutely not.
He’s the type of generational talent teams crave, and that’s not going to change. This was true of Chicago Blackhawks star center Connor Bedard when he wasn’t named to Canada’s 4 Nations Face-Off squad. They have plenty of time to make the national teams later on when older players age out, and they continue to improve.
Ultimately, not being part of a team’s Olympic roster is definitely a snub, but that doesn’t mean it’s not warranted. The truth is there’s a plethora of talent on the United States, and there are precious few spots to accommodate them all.
Canadiens fans may not be happy that Hutson isn’t on America’s orientation camp list, but he is very much a special player, and nothing that’s happened this summer, nor in the next season, is going to change that.