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The Buffalo Sabres 5-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday was merely a distraction to the big story to emerge from the club’s final preseason game. Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who started his first exhibition game, left the contest for precautionary reasons after feeling some lower-body discomfort.

"UPL felt good getting into the game, and then after he made a couple saves, just didn't feel quite right," Ruff said after the game.  "We took him (as a) precaution....(we)didn't want to really risk anything.....We don't to take a chance."

The 26-year-old has been dealing with pain since tweaking something in ramping up for training camp in late August / early September. Concerns over the lower-body injury forced Sabres GM Kevyn Adams to sign veteran Alexandar Georgiev to a one-year deal just before the start of camp.

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 Adams said last month that Luukkonen went through tests and that it came out clear, but after rehabbing and a week of practice leading into the start against Pittsburgh, the discomfort came back after facing 12 Penguins shots in the opening 20 minutes. On Thursday, Ruff indicated that Luukkonen was undergoing further testing, that is possible that the injury is different than the one that made him miss the start of camp, but that it is possible that he could miss the season opener against the NY Rangers one week from today.

Defenseman Michael Kesselring, who was playing elevated in the in the lineup due to injuries to Bowen Byram and Owen Power, left the game in the second period. Ruff stated that the blueliner has been dealing with an injury since the start of camp and that he is also undergoing further testing.   

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Former St. Louis Blues defenseman Niko Mikkola has signed an eight-year, $5 million AAV contract extension with the Florida Panthers.

Mikkola has been a key cog in the Panthers' blueline in their back-to-back Stanley Cup triumphs and was rewarded with a massive extension. The 2024-25 season witnessed the 29-year-old set career highs in goals and points with six goals and 22 points in 76 games.

“Niko has proven himself to be a dependable defenseman who uses his speed and physicality to impact both ends of the ice,” said Panthers GM Bill Zito. “He was an indispensable piece of our past two championship campaigns, and we are thrilled that Niko will be continuing his career with the Florida Panthers.”

The 6-foot-6 defender was a fifth-round pick (127th overall) in the 2015 NHL Draft by the Blues. His team with St. Louis wasn't great, recording four goals and 20 points in 139 games. Mikkola tended to have defensive mishaps and took far too many ill-advised penalties. 

With the Panthers, that's all changed. He's defensively reliable, a more than capable puck mover and has cut down on the needless penalties while maintaining a physical nature. 

Mikkola and Seth Jones built solid chemistry in their short time together, and they'll be a key pairing for the Panthers for years to come.

Panthers Agree To Eight-Year Contract Extension With Niko MikkolaThe Florida Panthers have handed Niko Mikkola an eight-year, $5 million average annual value contract extension.

With each passing day, the Pittsburgh Penguins' roster is coming more and more into focus. 

And on Thursday, it got a little bit closer to the finish line.

Following practice at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry, Pa., the Penguins announced a series of roster moves. Forward Bryan Rust and defenseman Jack St. Ivany were both placed on injured reserve, there were five players cut from the training camp roster, and six players were sent to the waiver wire.

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The five players re-assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton's (WBS) AHL training camp are:

- D Scooter Brickey
- F Mathieu De St. Phalle
- G Taylor Gauthier
- F Aidan McDonough
- D Chase Pietila

Penguins' Pre-Season: Prospects Lead Way As Penguins Defeat Sabres, 5-3The Pittsburgh Penguins continued their winning ways in the pre-season on Wednesday when they visited the Buffalo Sabres.

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The six players sent to the NHL's waiver wire are:

- D Sebastian Aho
- F Danton Heinen
- D Philip Kemp
- F Joona Koppanen
- G Filip Larsson
- F Valtteri Puustinen

Penguins' Defenseman Out Six Weeks, Adds To Growing Injury ListThe bad news keeps piling up for the Pittsburgh Penguins on the injury front. 

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The biggest surprise among the group is veteran forward Danton Heinen, who was re-acquired by the Penguins as part of the deal that sent defenseman Marcus Pettersson to the Vancouver Canuncks in January. The journeyman forward is on his second stint with the Penguins' organization, and in those two stints combined, he has registered 29 goals and 66 points in 169 games. 

Also among the waiver group is Larsson, who was in competition with Tristan Jarry, Arturs Silovs, Sergei Murashov, and Joel Blomqvist - up until Blomqvist's lower-body injury - for one of the two NHL goaltending posts. Larsson had an impressive start to his AHL season last year with WBS, but a late injury and inconsistency following that injury put him in a tough spot with Murashov and Blomqvist.

Larsson, 27, went 12-9-3 with a 2.84 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage in 26 AHL games last season.

Penguins Forward Bryan Rust Out Week-To-WeekThe Pittsburgh Penguins will be without one of their best players to start the 2025-26 season.

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With camp numbers dwindling, the Penguins' roster is now down to 39 players. They are:

Forwards (22)
- Noel Acciari
- Justin Brazeau
- Tristan Broz
- Sidney Crosby
- Connor Dewar
- Robby Fabbri
- Filip Hallander
- Rafael Harvey-Pinard
- Avery Hayes
- Danton Heinen*
- Boko Imama
- Ben Kindel
- Ville Koivunen
- Joona Koppanen*
- Blake Lizotte
- Evgeni Malkin
- Anthony Mantha
- Tommy Novak
- Sam Poulin
- Valtteri Puustinen*
- Rickard Rakell
- Philip Tomasino

Penguins' Pre-Season: Final 23-Man Roster Prediction EditionA few days ago, we had our Mailbox Monday, and I gave my final predictions for the Pittsburgh Penguins' final 2025-26 roster.

Defensemen (13)
- Sebastian Aho*
- Alexander Alexeyev
- Harrison Brunicke
- Connor Clifton
- Matt Dumba
- Ryan Graves
- Caleb Jones
- Erik Karlsson
- Phil Kemp*
- Kris Letang
- Owen Pickering
- Ryan Shea
- Parker Wotherspoon

Goaltenders (4)
- Tristan Jarry
- Filip Larsson*
- Sergei Murashov
- Arturs Silovs

Injured Reserve (8)
- G Joel Blomqvist
- F Kevin Hayes
- F Tanner Howe
- D Jack St. Ivany
- D Peyton Kettles
- F Rutger McGroarty
- F Bryan Rust
- F Bill Zonnon

Should Ben Kindel Get The Nine-Game Trial? The Case For And AgainstThere are a lot of stories coming out of Pittsburgh Penguins' training camp this year. Many of them involve young players making an impression and pushing for the NHL roster.

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The Penguins will play one final pre-season game when the Buffalo Sabres come to town on Friday before making final roster decisions.

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After a much-deserved day off in which they went golfing in the Quebec City suburbs, the Montreal Canadiens were back on the Centre Videotron ice for a practice open to the public on Thursday morning.

Habs fans everywhere let out a collective sigh of relief when Ivan Demidov jumped on the ice, confirming that there was no lasting damage from Ottawa Senators’ forward Nick Cousins’ slash. Martin St-Louis was probably wise enough to pull him out of the game to prevent any other attempts on the youngster once his most gritty players were out of the game.

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Clearly, the bench boss liked what he saw in Quebec, as those were the lines deployed at practice:

Cole Caufield-Nick Suzuki-Juraj Slafkovsky

Zack Bolduc-Kirby Dach-Brendan Gallagher

Alex-Newhook- Oliver Kapanen-Ivan Demidov

Joe Veleno-Owen Beck-Patrik Laine

Samuel Blais- Jack Evans (Florian Xhekaj)- Josh Anderson

The last line was the one wearing a dark blue jersey, perhaps indicating that they won’t be in the lineup on Saturday night. Should that be the case, it would mean that Blais didn’t get to play either of the last two preseason games. That may mean the organization already knows what he can bring to the table and which role he should have on the team.

On the blueline, St-Louis reverted to the pairing that started camp; it seems he doesn’t feel like change is needed there:

Mike Matheson-Noah Dobson

Kaiden Guhle-Lane Hutson

Arber Xhekaj-Alex Carrier

Jayden Struble-Adam Engstrom

In all likelihood, this means that the Guhle and Dobson’s tweaked groins are now fine, and the coach is looking to give them another game to click with their partner. Yet another indication that even though Jayden had an audition alongside Carrier on Tuesday night, A. Xhekaj still leads in the fight for the sixth defenseman spot.

For those worrying about the fact that the Senators recalled eight AHL players from the Belleville Senators’ camp, do not worry, Ottawa is dressing them tonight for a game against the Saint-Louis Blues. Just like the Canadiens, the Senators will be playing their last preseason game on Saturday night and will be looking to get in these previous few reps for their regular players, at least that’s the hope.

Both Cousins and Hayden Hodgson were fined following the events that occurred in the last game between the two teams. Given the fact that Cousins’ slash came after the Xhekaj brothers were ejected from the game, chances are that if the Sens’ player is in the lineup, he could have to face the consequence of his actions.

The Canadiens will stay in Quebec until Friday afternoon and hold another public practice at the Centre Videotron on Friday morning before returning to Montreal. Then, on Saturday, they’ll be having their morning skate at the Bell Center for the first time since the start of the camp.

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The Calgary Flames today announced that head coach Ryan Huska has signed a two-year contract extension, solidifying his role behind the bench through the 2026–27 NHL season.

Huska, who became the 24th head coach in franchise history in June 2023, has guided the Flames to a 79-66-19 record over his first two campaigns. Most recently, he led Calgary to within a single point of a playoff berth in 2024–25, marking steady progress for the club under his leadership.

“We’re thrilled to extend Ryan for two more years,” said Flames GM Craig Conroy.

Huska’s connection to the Flames organization spans more than a decade. He first joined in 2014–15 as head coach of Calgary’s AHL affiliate in Adirondack before guiding top prospects in Stockton, where he compiled a 135-118-27 record across four seasons.

Promoted to the Flames’ NHL coaching staff in 2018, Huska served as an assistant coach for five years before earning the head coaching role in Calgary.

The Tampa Bay Lightning claimed goaltender Pheonix Copley off NHL waivers on Thursday, the team announced.

Copley joins the Lightning as depth while starter Andrei Vasilevskiy practises while recovering from an injury. Copley could potentially challenge backup Jonas Johansson for backup duties.

The 33-year-old Copley spent the last three seasons with the Los Angeles Kings organization. In 2022-23, he played a career-high 37 games, putting up a 24-6-3 record, 2.64 goals-against average and .903 save percentage.

Despite that, Copley only played eight games in 2023-24 due to an ACL injury and then spent most of last season in the AHL, going 24-17-1 with a 2.49 GAA and .904 SP in 42 games for the Ontario Reign.

The rest of the players on Wednesday's NHL waiver wire cleared and are eligible to go to the minors. Christian Jaros, meanwhile, cleared unconditional waivers, and his contract can be terminated.

Eight teams placed 22 players on waivers on Thursday, according to PuckPedia. Here they are:

• Columbus: Daemon Hunt
• Calgary: Rory Kerins, Ivan Prosvetov, Ilya Solovyov
• Edmonton: Cam Dineen, Riley Stillman
• Pittsburgh: Sebastian Aho (defenseman), Danton Heinen, Philip Kemp, Joona Koppanen, Filip Larsson, Valtteri Puustinen
• Seattle: Ben Meyers, Mitchell Stephens
• Utah: Ben McCartney, Scott Perunovich
• Vancouver: Vitali Kravtsov
• Vegas: Dylan Coghlan, Tanner Laczynski, Raphael Lavoie, Jaycob Megna, Cole Schwindt

Hunt, a 23-year-old defenseman, joined the Blue Jackets in a trade that sent prospect David Jiricek the other way in November 2024. He had an assist in four pre-season games.

Prosvetov, 26, signed with Calgary in July after recording a 2.32 GAA, .920 SP and four shutouts with CSKA Moscow last season. The goaltender went 1-2-0 with a .875 SP and 3.96 GAA in parts of three pre-season games. This means Devin Cooley has earned backup duties behind Dustin Wolf for now. Cooley has gone 0-2-0 with a 4.08 GAA and .846 SP in parts of three games.

Stillman, a 27-year-old D-man, signed with the Oilers in July, and he has 163 games of NHL experience. He scored once in one pre-season game.

Heinen, 30, played 79 games last season between the Canucks and Penguins, scoring 29 points. The veteran left winger has 96 goals, 145 assists and 241 points in 566 career games. Heinen was held without a point in four pre-season contests, taking three shots on goal.

Kravtsov, 25, rejoined the Canucks after spending two seasons with KHL Chelyabinsk, recording 58 points in 66 games last year. He didn't record a point in two pre-season games.

Lavoie, 25, was the talk of last October's waiver wire. The Golden Knights claimed the 2019 second-rounder off waivers from the Oilers on Oct. 7, 2024. Edmonton reclaimed the center on Oct. 9, and then Vegas got him again on Oct. 11. After all that, he played nine NHL games, and in 16 career contests, he has yet to record his first career point.

For each player, the rest of the NHL's clubs can submit a claim before 2 p.m. ET on Friday.

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On Thursday, at 10:27 a.m., Luke Hughes smoothly skated onto the ice at RWJBarnabas Health Hockey House, marking his first day on the ice at New Jersey Devils training camp. 

Skating as an extra along with Kurtis MacDermid and Stefan Noesen (lower body), during the team's morning skate, Hughes worked through each drill, with a determined expression. 

He chose to particpate in both the club's 10:30 a.m. skate and 11:45 practice that ran for approximately 45 mintues. 

"It feels great (to be back)," Hughes shared. "Obviously, I was waiting a little bit, but really excited to be back and happy that I am in New Jersey for the next seven years."

Stick taps for #NJDevils Luke Hughes as he takes center circle. pic.twitter.com/uoubIPacD6

— Kristy Flannery (@InStilettos_NHL) October 2, 2025

On Oct. 1, the 22-year-old restricted free agent signed a seven-year, $63 million extension to remain in New Jersey through 2032.

"There was never a doubt during the negotiations that Luke wanted to remain a Devil," his agent Pat Brisson told The Hockey News. "We looked at his comps and what he has accomplished thus far. Where the cap is going, we felt over seven years, it was a very fair deal for both sides." 

"I know he loves living here, loves playing here," Jack Hughes said on Thursday. "I think it was a mutual fit. He's really excited to be a part of this group for a long time. He is excited with the deal he got, and he is most excited about being a part of the group and getting ready for the season."

The younger Hughes brother said the past few days have been a whirlwind as he spent time in both New Jesey and at home in Michigan. 

"I got here yesterday," he expained. "I was in and out though. I had the NJ charity gala on Monday night. They do great work, and it is really easy to work with them. I was here for that, and then flew out and skated on Tuesday morning with my dad, and then got (the contract) done Tuesday late night. I skated again with my dad in the morning, and then flew out. Kind of whirlwind but really excited to be here, and fired up for the season."

'There Was Never A Doubt That Luke Wanted To Remain A Devil': Hughes Commits To New Jersey On Wednesday morning, the New Jersey Devils announced that restricted free agent Luke Hughes has signed a seven-year contract worth $63,000,000 ($9,000,000 AAV) to remain with the organization long-term. 

Head coach Sheldon Keefe confirmed that Hughes will not appear in Thursday night's preseason game against the New York Rangers. The Devils will practice Friday and play their final preseason game on Saturday afternoon against the Philadelphia Flyers. 

"It is a bit of a unique situation where not only has he missed camp, but he's also coming off of a major shoulder surgery since he played last," head coach Sheldon Keefe said. "We want to make sure we give him the appropriate time to be feeling good, but he looks good. He has been through all the medicals and testing, all the things that guys would normally go through at the beginning of camp, and he is cleared."

On May 5, the Devils announced the defenseman underwent successful shoulder surgery, which Dr. Peter Millett performed at The Steadman Clinic in Vail, Colorado. He was expected to make a full recovery and be available for the start of camp. 

When asked if the blueliner will be ready for the start of the regular season on Oct. 9, Keefe simply said, "I don't see a reason why he wouldn't." 

Make sure you bookmark THN's New Jersey Devils site for THN's latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns, and so much more.

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The Anaheim Ducks signed Jackson LaCombe to an eight-year contract extension on Thursday.

While the Ducks didn't reveal the average annual salary, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reported it's $9 million, which would make the total value a franchise-high $72 million.

LaCombe, a left-shot, two-way defenseman, will have a cap hit that's $2 million higher than center Mason McTavish, who ended a contract standoff last weekend by signing a six-year deal worth $7 million annually.

"We are excited to sign Jackson to a long-term contract and lock up a core player for our future," Ducks GM Pat Verbeek said in a news release. "Getting this deal done early was a priority for us. Jackson has all of the tools to be an anchor on our back end for many years to come."

The 24-year-old LaCombe put up 14 goals and 29 assists for 43 points in 75 games last season, a 26-point increase from his rookie season. He also averaged 22:18 in ice time, the most on the Ducks in 2024-25 and even more than the 21:04 that Cam Fowler played in 17 games before being traded to the St. Louis Blues.

In fact, since the Ducks traded Fowler on Dec. 14, 2024, LaCombe played the fourth-most minutes in the NHL, trailing only the Columbus Blue Jackets' Zach Werenski, Montreal Canadiens' Mike Matheson and Detroit Red Wings' Moritz Seider.

"Today is an exciting day for my family, and I am grateful to the organization for their belief in me," LaCombe said. "It was an easy decision for me to commit my future to the Ducks and Orange County. We are building something special here, and I am excited to do everything I can to help this team win."

LaCombe ranked third on the Ducks in blocked shots, with 129. And on a team that finished sixth in the Pacific Division, he led regular Anaheim defenders at 5-on-5 in expected goals percentage (49.75 percent), scoring chances percentage (48.57 percent) and shot attempt percentage (49.29 percent), according to naturalstattrick.com. He was also the only Ducks defender to be on the ice for more shots-for than against at 5-on-5.

As Friedman noted, Ryan Getzlaf, Paul Kariya and Corey Perry had higher average annual values, but their contracts weren't as long, which means LaCombe set a franchise record for richest contract in terms of total value.

With LaCombe under contract for the long run, the Ducks have four pending RFAs left: Cutter Gauthier, Leo Carlsson, Pavel Mintyukov and Olen Zellweger.

Earlier on Thursday, the Florida Panthers signed defensive defenseman Niko Mikkola to an eight-year contract as well, with a $5-million cap hit.

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