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It wasn’t easy for the Montreal Canadiens to take on the Toronto Maple Leafs this past season, but it wasn’t solely because of the Big Four. Surprisingly, the Habs managed to keep Auston Matthews to a single point in three games and John Tavares to two points in three games as well. The real thorns in the Habs’ side were the Leafs’ goaltenders.

Montreal kept a 1-2-1 record against Toronto last season and was outscored 12-5, which isn’t a considerable margin. The Canadiens’ only win against their old enemy came in the Habs’ home opener when Samuel Montembeault stood on his head and made 48 saves to secure a 1-0 shutout win. Meanwhile, Cole Caufield’s power play goal was the only one of the team’s 27 shots to get past Anthony Stolarz.

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The Maple Leafs were ready to take their revenge in November when they took on the Canadiens without team captain Auston Matthews. As is often the case when he’s out, Toronto provided a great team effort with Mitch Marner, William Nylander, and John Tavares all finding the back of the net, but their defensive effort was also impressive. The Canadiens could only muster 21 shots, and Brendan Gallagher’s power play marker was their only goal. Goaltender Joseph Woll finished his evening with a .952 save percentage, and Toronto took a 4-1 win.

The third duel was the only one that got away from the Habs when Toronto scored seven goals in a dominating performance, from the 21st minute, that is. The Canadiens had taken a three-goal lead in the first frame, which included two goals in just 11 seconds with less than two minutes to go in the period. Perhaps the Canadiens got a little too comfortable, and the Leafs went on to score seven unanswered goals. Oliver Ekman-Larsson led the charge with a goal and two assists while Mitch Marner registered two assists in this 7-5 Toronto win.

The final duel was the closest one. Through 60 minutes of regulation, nobody had found the back of the net. Marner was the hero in this one, scoring the overtime goal just 36 seconds into the extra frame. Jakub Dobes made 34 saves in the loss; it was a high-stakes affair for the Canadiens, who were desperately trying to qualify for the playoffs.

Throughout the four duels, the Toronto goaltenders stole the show. Woll had a 2.00 GAA and a .929 SV, while Stolartz had a 0.51 GAA and a .976 SV. Offensively speaking, Marner gathered five points and Nylander four.

Both goaltenders will be back this season, and the Canadiens will need to find a way to solve them if they want to start putting up serious points against the Leafs. One player who won’t be back, however, is right winger Marner, who was the most significant departure in Toronto. The right-winger who set a career-high with 102 points was traded to the Vegas Golden Knights on the eve of free agency for forward Nicolas Roy. The third-line center is a good player, but does very little to alleviate the loss of Marner. His career high in points is 41 in 2023-24, but his production dropped by 10 points this past season.

Thankfully for the Leafs, they managed to extend pending UFA Tavares to a four-year contract with a very reasonable AAV of 4.389 M. They also inked Matthew Knies to a six-year contract, Steven Lorentz to a three-year pact, and agreed to a one-year deal with Nicholas Robertson as arbitration was looming.

They traded away Ryan Reaves, who only featured in 35 games last season, putting up two points and 28 penalty minutes. He only dropped the gloves once against Mathieu Olivier from the Columbus Blue Jackets. In return, they obtained 24-year-old defenseman Henry Thrun from the San Jose Sharks. To replace Reaves’ grit, they inked former Canadiens Michael Pezzetta to a two-year contract.

As things stand, the games between the two sides should be pretty interesting this upcoming season. The Leafs haven’t replaced Marner’s firepower yet, and he was a big part of their winning record against the Canadiens. Meanwhile, the Habs brought on Noah Dobson, who has 13 points (including three goals) in 12 career games against Toronto. As for the Canadiens’ departures, Christian Dvorak, Joel Armia, David Savard, Emil Heineman and Michael Pezzetta combined for a two points in the four duels, and the Canadiens’ penalty kill only had a 66% success rate against Toronto.

The wait won’t be long to know how all those changes will affect the rivalry; the Canadiens and Leafs kick off their season in Toronto on October 8.

Photo credit: Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images

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The Toronto Maple Leafs were reportedly interested in unrestricted free agent Jack Roslovic earlier this summer, and it appears the lure may not have gone away.

According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on 32 Thoughts, there are still a few teams interested in Roslovic’s services, adding that the Maple Leafs are still attempting to move money around, potentially to bring the 28-year-old in.

“I’ve heard there’s still a few teams looking at him. He’s the best available player remaining, and obviously, he hasn’t found anything he 100 percent likes, but there’s definitely a few teams poking around there,” Friedman said. 

“I’ve heard five or six, so he has to get to something he’s comfortable with, and we know with Toronto, they’re trying to move money around.”

Toronto’s reported interest in Roslovic first surfaced on July 6, with Friedman reporting that the right-shot forward would make sense for the Maple Leafs because of his past with Auston Matthews at the United States’ National Development Team.

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Roslovic was drafted by the Winnipeg Jets in the first round (25th overall) of the 2015 NHL Draft. He spent three seasons with the Jets before being moved to the Columbus Blue Jackets with Patrik Laine in January 2021 for Pierre-Luc Dubois.

After four seasons with Columbus, he was traded to the New York Rangers for a 2026 fourth-round pick. Roslovic then signed a one-year, $2.8 million contract with the Carolina Hurricanes last summer on July 4.

Roslovic has appeared in 526 NHL games, split between the Jets, Blue Jackets, Rangers, and Hurricanes, scoring 260 points (102 goals and 158 assists). The Columbus, Ohio-born forward tied his career-high of 22 goals this past year with Carolina, while also tallying one goal and three assists in nine playoff games.

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The Maple Leafs have just $1.919 million in cap space, according to PuckPedia, and they'll need to shed some money if they want to sign Roslovic. Two players whose contracts could be moved out to make room are David Kampf or Calle Jarnkrok. 

Kampf has two more seasons at $2.4 million and appeared in just one playoff game for Toronto this past spring. Jarnkrok was injured for the majority of the season, but returned to the lineup before the playoffs and played a key role on Toronto’s fourth line. He has one more year at $2.1 million.

The Maple Leafs are currently a team full of depth after acquiring Nicolas Roy, Matias Maccelli, and Dakota Joshua via trade. They also just re-signed Nick Robertson, however, reports suggest he could be on the move before next season begins.

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It’ll be a fascinating month of August as the summer begins to wind down and players start to filter their way back into Toronto.

This article originally appeared on The Hockey News: 'They're Trying To Move Money Around': Maple Leafs Reportedly Haven't Closed Door On Signing UFA Jack Roslovic

(Top photo of Roslovic: David Kirouac / Imagn Images)

For the first time in a decade, the Pittsburgh Penguins will have a new head coach behind the bench. They let go of long-time head coach Mike Sullivan in April after the Penguins failed to qualify for the playoffs for a third-straight season. 

It was a shocking decision since Sullivan had told the media right after the season that he was already starting to prepare for next season. The decision wasn’t made lightly, and it was something Penguins general manager and president Kyle Dubas confirmed that he had been considering for a while. 

"I talked to him every day throughout the year, and worked together every day throughout the year, and there were times throughout the year where I started to think that it may just be time for a number of reasons," Penguins general manager and president Kyle Dubas told reporters regarding the decision. "It's a lot to ask of somebody when they've done such a long and successful job here to be managing that and continue to transition the team through."

Sullivan was hired by the New York Rangers less than a week later, before the Penguins hired Dan Muse in June. This is Muse’s first NHL head-coaching gig, and he will be tasked with developing the Penguins’ young players and still getting the most out of their veterans. 

A new coach means fresh, innovative ideas, and Muse will surely bring some to the table during his tenure. It also means there’s an opportunity to really experiment with the line combinations throughout the year. 

Right now, the Penguins have a surplus of forwards, but that can change at a moment’s notice. They are still engaged in trade talks regarding Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust, but haven’t gotten any offers that are good enough to move either player. Kevin Hayes, Noel Acciari, and Danton Heinen are also still on the team even though there’s a chance at least one of them could be moved before the season, too. 

With or without trades, Muse will have ample opportunities to review various lines. We all know how great the Rust-Crosby-Rakell line was last season, but Muse may split them up to give someone like Rutger McGroarty an opportunity with Crosby again. 

McGroarty got time with Crosby at the end of the season, and even though it was only an eight-game sample, the two fed off one another. In eight games as a duo, the two had a 59.8 CF% rate, 61.18% of the expected goals, 57.5% of the scoring chances, 66.6% of the high-danger chances, and 60% of the actual goals. McGroarty scored his first NHL goal against the St. Louis Blues on April 3, and it came during a 6-on-5 situation. He scored right in front of the net with 23.8 seconds left in the third period to force overtime before the Penguins lost. He was a completely different player during his second stint after looking a little out of place earlier in the year. 

Ville Koivunen saw time with both Crosby and Evgeni Malkin down the stretch and was a solid fit with both. We already wrote earlier in the offseason about how Koivunen might be a better fit for Malkin, but that doesn’t mean he can’t work with Crosby. He showed off his playmaking skills at 5v5 and on the power play down the stretch. Malkin will have more consistent linemates this season compared to last year, a point we also discussed earlier this offseason. 

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As for the bottom six, that’s where things get even more interesting. There’s a chance that Muse puts Tommy Novak and Philip Tomasino together on the third, since they showed some chemistry in Nashville a couple of seasons ago. Muse could even put Connor Dewar on that line with Novak and Tomasino since he forechecks his butt off. He’s someone who can cause havoc down low, leading to Novak’s play-making and Tomasino’s finishing. Don’t sleep on Novak’s shot, by the way. 

If Muse isn’t comfortable with Dewar on the third line, then he can bump him down, and all of a sudden, he becomes a pretty good fourth liner. Getting to see him team up with Justin Brazeau, who may become a fan favorite pretty quickly, would be fun. Penguins fans also shouldn’t forget about Blake Lizotte. When healthy, he can take a lot of defensive zone draws, play on the penalty kill, and chip in offensively. 

Anthony Mantha is a bit of a Swiss Army Knife, where he can play anywhere in the lineup. A Mantha-Malkin-Rust/Rakell line would surely work, unless Muse wants to experiment with Mantha on the third line with Novak. Filip Hallander will also be granted an opportunity to make the team since the Penguins were very impressed with what he did in the SHL the previous two seasons. If he makes the team, he’ll start in a bottom-six role. 

There is a lot of intrigue for the Penguins at the forward position, and that's what makes this exercise so fun. Muse has so many options to choose from when it comes to building lines and can make the Penguins tougher to play against, depending on which combos he chooses.

(Data via Natural Stat Trick).

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Featured Image Credit: Kelsey Surmacz - The Hockey News

We’re officially just 67 days away from the San Jose Sharks taking the ice at SAP Center and hosting the Vegas Golden Knights on opening night.

Only one player has ever worn the number 67 for the Sharks, Jacob Middleton. Middleton started his career with the number, making his NHL debut against the Tampa Bay Lightning on January 5, 2019.

Middleton would only play three games for the Sharks that season, also getting opportunities against the Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers that April. He’d record his first career point, an assist, in that final game against the Oilers.

During the 2019-20 season, he’d make ten more appearances for the Sharks while wearing the number 67, recording two points in the process. He’d change his number ahead of the 2020-21 season, though, taking the number 22 for the remainder of his time in San Jose.

He’d play another full season in the Bay Area, then halfway through the 2021-22 season he was traded to his current team, the Minnesota Wild, for a fifth round pick and goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen.

Since then, Middleton has established himself as a regular on the Wild’s blue line and has carved out a respectable NHL career for himself.

Photo Credit: Stan Szeto-Imagn Images

It is no secret that the Montreal Canadiens have a strong defensive group. They only improved upon this off-season, too, as they acquired star blueliner Noah Dobson from the New York Islanders last month.

Now, the Canadiens' strong blueline has received some praise. 

NHL Network's Thomas Hickey recently ranked the top five defensive groups in the NHL, and the Canadiens grabbed the No. 5 spot. The other teams on Hickey's list are the Colorado Avalanche, Florida Panthers, Dallas Stars, and Washington Capitals, in that order. 

What are your thoughts on @Thomas_Hickey14's defensive rankings? pic.twitter.com/ULV3stJyYU

— NHL Network (@NHLNetwork) August 3, 2025

While the Canadiens were at the bottom of the list, it is still notable that they are being viewed as having the fifth-best defense in the league by a former NHL blueliner like Hickey. Yet, when looking at their group, it is also easy to understand why they made the cut. 

The Canadiens are entering next season with Dobson, Lane Huston, Kaiden Guhle, Mike Matheson, Jayden Struble, Alexandre Carrier, and Arber Xhekaj. They also have a fascinating prospect in David Reinbacher, who has the potential to become something special. Thus, there is no question that the Canadiens' blueline is impressive. 

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Photo Credit:  © David Kirouac-Imagn Images