Jan 16, 2025; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Nashville Predators left wing Filip Forsberg (9) takes a shot on goal against the Chicago Blackhawks during the first period at Bridgestone Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images

As disappointing as the 2024-25 season was for the Nashville Predators, there were some milestones and positive moments that, albeit briefly, put smiles on the faces of Preds fans.

Here’s a look at three great moments from last season.

Forsberg Gets No. 300

Jan. 16, 2025, was a great night all around for the Predators.

Filip Forsberg’s 300th career goal came in a 3-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks at Bridgestone Arena.

Forsberg’s goal tied the score at 2-2 with less than three minutes left in the third period, as he fired a slapshot home from the right side.

After overtime came and went without a tally from either side, the Predators got scores from Gustav Nyquist, Ryan O’Reilly and Steven Stamkos in the shootout to secure the victory. It was the Preds’ first shootout of the season.

Forsberg’s milestone wasn’t the only thrill that night. The team honored the inaugural class of its Preds Golden Hall. David Poile, Shea Weber and Pekka Rinne dropped the ceremonial puck before the game got underway. It was also the Predators’ 1001st victory in franchise history.

Saros Notches Career Win Milestone

On March 25, 2025, Preds goalie Juuse Saros earned his 200th career victory in a road triumph over the Carolina Hurricanes at LenovoCenter.

Saros stopped 34 shots in the win, while Luke Evangelista helped the cause with two goals. The victory also gave Nashville a sweep of the season series with the Canes.

Michael Bunting put the Predators in front 1-0 on a power-play goal, his second as a member of the Preds.

Evangelista’s backhander made the score 2-0 before Carolina narrowed the gap on a second-period goal by Taylor Hall.

Saros was tested throughout the game, particularly in the middle frame, but made some clutch saves to keep his team in front.

Evangelista added some insurance after tipping in a Marc Del Gaizo shot in the third.

Saros became the sixth Finnish-born goaltender in NHL history to reach the 200-win milestone. Rinne tops that list with 369.

Preds End Season With Win Over Dallas

Playoffs wouldn’t be in the cards for the Predators, but pride still mattered as they took on the Dallas Stars in the final game of the regular season Apr. 16 at Bridgestone Arena.

It was Fan Appreciation Night, and the home crowd definitely appreciated the send-off. Five different Preds skaters scored in a 5-1 victory over the Stars, who ultimately got to the Western Conference Finals.

Jordan Oesterle, Jakub Vrana, Justin Barron, Jonathan Marchessault and Ryan O’Reilly all tallied for the Preds, while Juuse Saros made 29 saves in goal to conclude the season.

The game didn’t start in Nashville’s favor. Mason Marchment scored just 16 seconds in to give the Stars a 1-0 lead.

That was all the visitors would get, however, as the Preds reeled off five unanswered goals for a 5-1 lead after 40 minutes.

Saros took care of the rest, and the Smashville faithful gave their team a final ovation after the game.

The San Jose Sharks have an abundance of prospects who will be battling for spots in the NHL and the American Hockey League this coming season.

While there will be other prospects playing in a variety of leagues, today we’re going to focus on prospects who are expected to start the season with the San Jose Barracuda. Let’s take a look at some first-year professionals (in North America) whom head coach John McCarthy will be able to count on to push the Barracuda forward and further their development.

Quentin Musty had a strange 2024-25 season. It started with a holdout, as he refused to report to the Sudbury Wolves of the Ontario Hockey League to start the season. Eventually, he’d return to the team, but it did prevent him from participating in the Wolves’ first 12 games.

Less than a month after reporting to Sudbury, Musty broke his hand against the Oshawa Generals. Not only did that knock him out of OHL action, but it also prevented him from participating in the IIHF World Junior Championship.

All things considered, he had a pretty strong season for the Wolves but did take a step backward production-wise. During the 2023-24 season, he averaged 1.92 points-per-game, a number that dropped to 1.79 in his most recent outing. While there are many factors that contributed to that occurring, it wasn’t ideal to see from one of the Sharks’ top young prospects.

Musty made his debut with the Barracuda after the Wolves’ season came to an end. He played three games in the AHL, but failed to record a point. Once he gets a full professional training camp, though, things will likely be different for the 20-year-old winger.

The Sharks’ second-round selection in the 2023 NHL Draft, Kasper Halttunen, has been successful at any level he’s played. He’s played at essentially every level of Finnish hockey, including a 27-game stint with HIFK in Liiga. Although he only recorded a single assist during that stretch, playing at that level as a teenager was an impressive feat in its own right.

Halttunen made the jump to North America immediately after being drafted, joining the OHL’s London Knights, where he’d play alongside fellow Sharks prospect Sam Dickinson.

Under head coach Dale Hunter, Halttunen made an instant impact for the Knights. In his first year, he scored 32 goals and totaled 61 points in 57 games while learning to adapt to the North American style of play.

After training camp last season, general manager Mike Grier faced a decision regarding Halttunen. As a European, Halttunen was eligible for the American Hockey League as a 19-year-old, but they also had the option to send him back to London alongside Dickinson and allow them to develop together.

Ultimately, Halttunen was given a stint in the AHL to start the season, but it didn’t last long. In six games, he scored two goals and added two assists before Grier decided to send him north of the border to rejoin the Knights in London.

From there, Halttunen had a decent showing with the Knights; however, he didn’t take the jump forward that the Sharks were likely hoping for during the regular season. He finished with 21 goals and 41 points in 38 games for the Knights, but he truly found his game in the playoffs.

During the postseason, Halttunen was a key contributor to the Knights’ run to the Memorial Cup. He scored 15 goals in 17 games, while adding six more assists for a total of 21 points. When all was said and done, Halttunen would end the season as a Memorial Cup champion and was named MVP of the OHL playoffs.

Now, he gets the opportunity to show what he can do as a full-time professional. The 2025-26 season will undoubtedly be crucial for Halttunen’s development, and if he’s not a key player for the Barracuda, that could indicate some issues ahead.

Like Halttunen, Igor Chernyshov does have a decent amount of professional experience. He played a total of 39 games in the Russian Kontinental Hockey League before making the jump to North America for the 2024-25 season. However, he has only played three professional games on North American soil. He made his debut for the Barracuda late last season and scored his first goal in May against the Colorado Eagles in his only postseason appearance under McCarthy.

The Sharks’ second-round pick in 2024, Chernyshov, brings size and powerful skating to the team, but also much more. According to Elite Prospects’ 2024 Draft Guide, “Chernyshov excels at anticipating openings and exploiting them. He beats defenders consistently by properly setting up his dekes, building up speed below the puck, and then attacking with a speed advantage and working give-and-goes.”

Although the Sharks will have an abundance of high-end talent at the AHL level, the Barracuda’s rookies should be some of McCarthy’s most dominant players. If that's not the case, it could be cause for some concern.

Photo Credit: David Reginek-Imagn Images

The Chicago Blackhawks have made some impactful draft picks since Kyle Davidson took over as the General Manager. A lot of the notable ones are the most talented. Players like Connor Bedard, Frank Nazar, and Anton Frondell come to mind as the high-end, skilled players in the organization. 

With that said, you need depth to make deep runs in the NHL. Not every prospect is going to reach the highest level and become a superstar. Being a high-end offensive producer isn’t needed out of every player on a playoff-worthy roster. The top teams have a balanced lineup. 

Nothing is set in stone, but the foundation of a solid bottom six may already be in Chicago’s pipeline. A free agent or acquired player via trade is likely to join the mix more than once, but the Blackhawks have a lot of young talents who could form great 3rd and 4th lines. 

Oliver Moore, Ryan Greene, AJ Spellacy, and Colton Dach are your prototypical bottom-six forwards who can play with speed and physicality. There are also players like Sacha Boisvert, Nick Lardis, and Marek Vanacker who have top-six ceilings with bottom-six abilities. 

What is it you look for from guys who play this role? Forechecking, winning face-offs, and producing offensively here and there is a great start. 

When you think back to Chicago’s championship years, guys like Dave Bolland, Michael Frolik, Marcus Kruger, and Viktor Stalberg made a huge impact in the bottom six. Players like Andrew Shaw and Bryan Bickell were those guys who could play anywhere in the lineup. They’re all important complements to stars like Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Marian Hossa, and Patrick Sharp. 

Not all of these prospects are going to end up with the Chicago Blackhawks. Not all of them will even be NHL players for long. The ones who accept their role and execute it the best will stick around.

Chicago still has some work to do to add/develop star power at the top of their forward group, but the organizational depth gives them a chance to build a great bottom-six. 

Visit The Hockey News Chicago Blackhawks team site to stay updated on the latest news, game-day coverage, player features, and more.

Quinten Byfield is officially on Team Canada’s roster for the 2026 Winter Olympics. 

The 21-year-old Los Angeles Kings Forward was one of 42 NHL players invited to Hockey Canada’s Olympic orientation camp, boosting his status as a young rising star prospect to join a legitimate national team contender. 

Hockey Canada has invited 42 NHL players to orientation camp in preparation for the 2026 Italy Olympics:

26 Forwards: Bedard, Bennett, Byfield, Celebrini, Cirelli, Crosby, Hagel, Horvat, Hyman, Jarvis, Johnston, Konecny, MacKinnon, Marchand, Marner, McDavid, Nugent-Hopkins,…

— NHL News (@PuckReportNHL) August 1, 2025

Byfield, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2020 NHL draft, has taken significant steps in the last two seasons, posting career-high numbers in goals, assists, and points while lifting the Kings to playoff contention. 

In a camp that includes veterans like Sidney Crosby and Conor McDavid alongside emerging stars like Connor Bedard and Macklin Celebrini, Byfield will get to learn a lot from these veteran players, ushering in the next generation. 

For the Kings, it’s another payoff on their long-term investment. After patiently developing Byfield through injuries and early struggles, Los Angeles now sees him evolving into a core piece of their future — and potentially one of the youngest players on Canada’s Olympic roster.

After just 139 games in the NHL, the former Minnesota Wild forward Jakub Lauko is heading to Europe to play for Dynamo Pardubice, in the Czech Extraliga League. 

He signed a three-year contract with the team. He had spent the previous three seasons in the NHL with the Boston Bruins and the Wild. 

Lauko, 25, was traded to the Wild from the Bruins before the 2024-25 season in a deal for forward Vinni Lettieri. He played 38 games with the Wild where he recorded three goals, six points, 27 penalty minutes and 69 hits. 

After an injury-riddled season, the Wild decided to move Lauko back to the Bruins at the deadline along with Marat Khusnutdinov in exchange for forward Justin Brazeau. Lauko recorded two goals, five points and 50 hits in 18 games with the Bruins following the trade. 

He now returns home to play for Dynamo after 139 career NHL games. He recorded 11 goals, 17 assists, 28 points, 90 penalty minutes and 339 hits.

Other Wild News

Wild's Marco Rossi Training With Hall Of Famer Joe Thornton The offseason is in full swing and players have begun to start training with training camp and preseason just under two months from now.  Who's In Charge? Wild's Power Play Has Three CommandersST. PAUL, Minn - The Minnesota Wild enter the 2025-26 season with a good problem on its hands. Who runs the top power play? In previous years, the Wild never really had a sure-fire number one type of defenseman who could run the top unit.  Minnesota Wild Youngster Is Having A Big OffseasonThe 2025-26 season will be a big one for the Minnesota Wild youngsters. Guys like David Jiricek, Danila Yurov, Liam Ohgren, and Zeev Buium will all be a big part of the upcoming season's success. 

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Betting On Hockey: Numbers Don't Lie - Oct. 19 2021 - Vol. 75, Issue 05 - W. Graeme Roustan

I placed a bet that I would love hockey at the age of three when I first stepped onto the ice at the outdoor rink in Notre Dame de Grace park in Montreal, and has it ever paid off handsomely.

Placing a financial or barter bet on the outcome of a hockey game has been done since the very first game more than a hundred years ago. Until recent years, many billions of dollars of bets were made between friends, coworkers, teammates and family, usually on a face-to-face basis. Bets placed with strangers were done through third parties, which has been the subject of investigations into organized crime, gangs and offshore illegal activity. The numbers are staggering.

On Nov. 20, 2019, I sat down with Ted Leonsis, the owner of the Washington Capitals, who has been a leading advocate for the legalization of single-game betting on NHL games. Ted has always been a visionary when it comes to big ideas and is always clairvoyant when it comes to being on the cutting edge of technology and trends. Here is an excerpt from my Q&A with Ted from two years ago:

Isaac Howard Offers Serious Value in NHL Rookie Props on Loaded Oilers LineRookie winger Isaac Howard could be the value play bettors are searching for if he sticks on Edmonton’s top line with Connor McDavid.

GRAEME: “I was in Las Vegas learning about gaming and what impact it’s going to have on the league. How do you see gambling coming into, not just hockey, but professional sports?”

TED: “First, you’re in this big, beautiful building. We spent $40 million last off-season reinvesting in the building, the previous off-season we did over $100 million, we pour money into this building. And it’s an iconic building, we have about three million people come in for all of our events and we’ve got the dumbest business model in real estate I’ve ever seen. We own the building and it’s shut down until six o’clock on a game night. 

You go to Las Vegas, it’s open 24 hours a day, there’s no clocks, it’s really bright, they’re pumping in oxygen, the last thing they want you to do is leave the resort, the casino. You eat there, you’re entertained there. What do we do in pro hockey? We put a cage up to lock our fans out, ‘We don’t want you in.’ Six o’clock the cage rolls out, thousands of people go in, then the game ends and we hustle people out, ‘We don’t want you in here!’

“It’s nuts when you think about it. Sports gambling will be soon legal here in Washington and we want to be the first arena that has a sportsbook right in the building. And it’ll make our building come alive. When we were in the Stanley Cup final, we opened the building and 20,000 people came and watched the game in the arena and outside there were 50,000 people. 

That was a wonderful community-building experience, but they’ll be able to do that and eat and gamble, right? It seems farfetched for us, but all you have to do is look to Europe. There are more William Hill and Ladbrokes betting parlors in Britain than there are Domino’s Pizzas and Starbucks, right? It’s a socially accepted industry there. It’s not legal yet here. It probably will be next year, and we’ll do it next season. I go, ‘OK, we’ll be patient, we want this to be regulated the right way.’ But do you think…the Caps are in first place, best record in the NHL, the Nationals just won the World Series, the Mystics just won the WNBA championship, do you think no one was gambling? 

We know there’s $100 billion bet illegally offshore and the bookies. So all we did was empower and activate more illegal gambling. It’s illegal, so that means you aren’t paying taxes. If you’re a consumer, you’re a criminal. There’s no jobs being created, there’s no regulatory body on what are fair odds. There’s no curation of, ‘You’ve got a problem, we’re not going to accept your bet, let us get you some help.’ There’s nothing good that’s happening on the dark web and offshore. 

So I go, ‘What are we afraid of? It’s happening.’ We know in Washington, D.C., we have this great social responsibility to do it the right way, but if it can work here and it promises, for the players, for the union, for the league, another revenue stream and more importantly, when you have skin in the game, when you’re doing fantasy gaming, when you’re gambling, you’re watching the whole game. 

When you have prop bets, every moment matters. How many power plays will there be? Will Alex Ovechkin score on the power play? These are things that can happen once we put in 5G and do real-time prop betting. The television partners, they want that. That guarantees them much higher levels of engagement. So what do we want as a league? 

We want bigger deals from our media partners. If we get bigger deals, then the salary cap goes up, half the money goes back to the players and the union, and the pie expands. So I say, ‘Wouldn’t you rather have the money go to the players and to the owners who built the buildings and own the teams than to the mafia, right?’” (laughs)

Ted knew a decade ago that the day would come when it would be legal to place a bet on an NHL game, and he prepared his team and the NHL for this day’s arrival. By bringing betting out from the shadows and into a regulated and taxed environment, society is better off, as will be the owners’ profits as numbers don’t lie.

NHL Division Odds Breakdown: Panthers, Hurricanes, and Golden Knights Lead the PackSportsbooks release betting odds for NHL divisional races for 2025-26 season. 

Since the 2003 Heritage Classic, outdoor games have become a yearly event, happening multiple times over in the NHL. 

Nearly every NHL team has had the opportunity to play in an outdoor game over the last 22 years, including the Nashville Predators twice at the 2020 Winter Classic against the Dallas Stars at the Cotton Bowl and the 2022 Stadium Series against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Nissan Stadium. 

With Bristol Motor Speedway, located four hours east of Nashville in Bristol, Tennessee, hosting its first MLB game against the Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds on Saturday, there is the potential that the NHL could be next to host a game inside the nearly 150,000-seat venue. 

In an X/Twitter post by Sports Business Journal's Adam Stern, NHL officials will be in Bristol on Saturday to check out the venue, as Speedway Motorsports wants to bring NHL games and WWE events to Bristol. 

Depending on the rink's layout, a game at Bristol could potentially set a record for the most attended game in league history.

Professional sports at Bristol are nothing new, as the venue has a long history.

It has hosted an NFL game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Redskins in 1961. 

In 2013, it hosted two college football games between Tennessee and Virginia Tech and East Tennessee State and Western Carolina.

The record belongs to the 2014 Winter Classic between the Detroit Red Wings and Michigan Wolverines, which was held at Michigan Stadium and had a crowd of 105,491. Saturday's setup for the MLB Speedway Classic is expected to sell over 85,000 tickets. 

A NHL game at the Speedway would also mark the first time a game would be played inside a motorsports venue, the majority of outdoor games have been played at football and baseball stadiums. 

When it comes to the teams that would potentially participate in an outdoor game at Bristol, the Predators would be a clear first choice. Not only are they the closest to the venue, but they would likely have the highest fan contingency. 

It would be the Predators third outdoor game. 

The next most likely regional option would be the Carolina Hurricanes. Not only is it another team located within the Southeast, but the North Carolina border is less than 40 miles from Bristol. You'd get a true Southern Showdown between these two teams in an iconic venue. 

The matchup would be the Hurricanes' second outdoor games, with their first being the 2023 Stadium Series at NC State's Carter-Finley Stadium. 

As of Saturday, the NHL has not made any public comments on whether or not they'd like to host an outdoor game at Bristol.

This season's Winter Classic will be held at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa between the Lightning and Boston Bruins on Jan. 1. The Stadium Series is also in Florida, between the Florida Panthers and New York Rangers on Feb. 1 at LoanDepot Park in Miami. 

 

The Toronto Maple Leafs and Nick Robertson avoided a Sunday arbitration hearing involving the NHL and NHLPA by signing a one-year contract on Saturday.

The deal, worth $1.825 million, leaves the Maple Leafs with about $1.1 million in cap space.

Robertson was the NHL's last RFA with an arbitration hearing scheduled who hadn't re-signed. In 69 games last season, the 23-year-old recorded 15 goals and seven assists.

Last year, Robertson and the Leafs waited until Sept. 10 to agree on a one-year deal worth $875,000. He gets a raise of $950,000. 

On Friday, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reported the Maple Leafs looked for $1.2 million on Robertson's next contract, while the player's camp filed for $2.25 million.

All Arbitration Cases Are Done With No Hearings

In early July, 11 NHL RFAs filed for arbitration, while two players were subject to team-elected arbitration.

All those players and teams would have had an arbitration hearing where they each submitted what they thought the RFA should get. The player's camp, with the NHLPA, then argues why they think they deserve the bigger raise, while the team, with the NHL, argues why that player is not worth that much. An independent arbitrator would have then awarded a contract.

Boston Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman described the experience of an arbitration hearing in 2023.

"I definitely don't wish it upon any of my friends and teammates moving forward, and I don't want to do it ever again as well," he told reporters. 

The 13 players in total avoided what could have been a tense hearing by getting a deal done. Here are those re-signings:

- Jack McBain, C, Utah Mammoth (team-elected): five years, $4.25-million cap hit. Read more

- Bowen Byram, D, Buffalo Sabres (team-elected): two years, $6.25-million cap hit. Read more

- Morgan Barron, C, Winnipeg Jets: two years, $1.85-million cap hit. Read more

- Lukas Dostal, G, Anaheim Ducks: five years, $6.5-million cap hit. Read more

- Drew Helleson, D, Anaheim Ducks: two years, $1.1-million cap hit. Read more

- Gabriel Vilardi, C, Winnipeg Jets: six years, $7.5-million cap hit. Read more

- Kaapo Kakko, RW, Seattle Kraken: three years, $4.525-million cap hit. Read more

- Maxim Tsyplakov, RW, New York Islanders: two years, $2.25-million cap hit. Read more

- Arvid Soderblom, G, Chicago Blackhawks: two years, $2.75-million cap hit. Read more

- Conor Timmins, D, Buffalo Sabres: two years, $2.2-million cap hit. Read more

- Jayden Struble, D, Montreal Canadiens: two years, $1,412,500 cap hit. Read more

- Dylan Samberg, D, Winnipeg Jets: three years, $5.75-million cap hit. Read more

- Nick Robertson, LW, Toronto Maple Leafs: one year, $1.825-million cap hit. Read more

What Comes Next?

Now that all the cases are over, a second buyout window will open for the teams that had players file for arbitration: the Ducks, Sabres, Blackhawks, Canadiens, Islanders, Kraken, Maple Leafs and Jets.

That 48-hour window is expected to open three days after the final arbitration case is settled. In this case, that would be on Tuesday.

Unlike the first buyout window, which lasted from 48 hours after the end of the playoffs to June 30, the second buyout window has more restrictions.

The only contracts eligible to be bought out in the second window must have a cap hit greater than $4 million and must have been on the team's roster at the last trade deadline, according to PuckPedia.

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