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When the Montreal Canadiens were bounced from the playoffs at the end of April by the Washington Capitals, GM Kent Hughes had a couple of challenging tasks ahead of him—finding an experienced right-shot defenseman and a second-line center. If he was unable to check the latter of his to-do list, he wasted no time in accomplishing the former, acquiring Noah Dobson from the New York Islanders on the first day of the draft.

In a sign-and-trade deal, Dobson signed an eight-year pact with a $9.5 million cap hit, instantly becoming the highest-paid active player for the Canadiens. Carey Price still has the highest cap hit with $10.5 M, but he’s finally entering the final year of his contract. Once his signing bonus is paid on September 1, it’s even possible that Hughes could entertain trading his contract to become cap compliant and give himself some much-needed wiggle room.

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With his new contract, Dobson comes to town with a lot of expectations. This market is an intense one, and it’s not very forgiving for players who have a hefty price tag but bring little result. One can think of Scott Gomez, for instance, or of Karl Alzner, who were both subject to much abuse from fans.

The red-shot defenseman was a first-round pick for the Islanders at the 2018 draft, the 12th selection overall, and he has shown what he can do in the league already. In 388 games, he has put up 230 points. In 2023-24, he had a wonderful year, putting up 70 points in 79 games, but things weren’t as smooth last season.

From playing an average of 24:31 in 2023-24, he went down to “only” 23:16 this past year, his first and only full season under head coach Patrick Roy and could only manage 39 points. According to RDS’s Eric Leblanc, there was tension between the coach and the star defenseman, and that would have prompted his departure from Long Island. An interesting twist of events, given the fact that tensions with coach Mario Tremblay prompted Roy’s departure from the Canadiens back in the day.

Une source bien informée a confirmé à @RDSca que la relation entre Noah Dobson et Patrick Roy n'était pas bonne. L'avenir dira si cette situation a aidé le Canadien. pic.twitter.com/vE80LrEqeM

— Eric Leblanc (@eleblancRDS) June 27, 2025

The Canadiens are no doubt hoping that Dobson will blossom under Martin St-Louis’ tutelage; the coach has a reputation for being a players’ coach. If you give St-Louis a constant effort, he will be fair with you. That might be just what the doctor ordered for Dobson; not having a strained relationship with his coach will allow him to focus on his play on the ice solely. If he comes out of the gate flying, he could become a fan favourite quite quickly.

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The Philadelphia Flyers are certainly hoping that young stars Matvei Michkov and Porter Martone will be top 30 NHL players five years from now, but there are some who would push back on that.

Fresh off a 26-goal debut campaign that paced all rookies, Michkov, 20, was surprisingly left off Daily Faceoff's projected list of players who will be amongst the top 30 in the NHL in 2030.

The Russian phenom at least earned some recognition as a lousy honorable mention, but Martone was surprisingly left off altogether.

In fact, no player picked in the 2025 NHL Draft made the cut, including No. 1 and No. 2 overall picks Matthew Schaefer and Michael Misa and No. 8 overall pick James Hagens.

Macklin Celebrini, the No. 1 overall pick in 2024 who finished level with Michkov in scoring this past season with 63 points, placed third on the list of 30 players ahead of Jack Hughes, Quinn Hughes, Connor Bedard, Gavin McKenna, and more.

Celebrini will be only 24 years old on Oct. 7, 2030, but that's a bold bet, especially when Michkov doesn't make the cut in comparison.

Some other forwards whose placements or inclusions might be questionable include Leo Carlsson, Seth Jarvis, Wyatt Johnston, and Matt Boldy.

I'd wager Michkov has a higher offensive ceiling than all of them, and approached 70 points in his rookie year while playing just 16:41 a night, getting benched and healthy scratched, and without speaking hardly any English.

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Defensively, the 2023 No. 7 overall pick only stands to get better, but how much better is the question.

Still, Connor Bedard had a dreadful sophomore season in the NHL, and still struggles defensively, but placed sixth overall on the list, right behind Jack Hughes and Quinn Hughes.

Even when accounting for age, I couldn't justify leaving David Pastrnak off the list entirely in favor of goalie Filip Gustavsson or players like Carlsson, Moritz Seider, Zeev Buium, and Jake Sanderson, either.

So, there's a strong case to be made for Michkov's inclusion here, given he'd be just 25 on opening night in 2030.

Similarly, Martone would be 23 years old and a few weeks shy of 24 at that time.

If Carlsson can have a career-high of 45 points two years into his NHL career and make the list, surely Martone deserves some consideration as well.

With a large frame, a leader's personality, and a goal-scorer's mentality, there's no reason to believe that Martone can't become a dominant force five years from now.

Time will tell, but the Flyers still haven't quite done enough to earn some overdue recognition from around the league.

Last month we started examining current Florida Panthers players who could eventually have their number retired by the team.

The first players discussed were probably some of the more obvious choices.

They were Panthers captain Sasha Barkov, who has played his entire career with Florida, and goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, the backbone of their back-to-back-to-back trips to the Stanley Cup Final and consecutive championship wins.

Now we’ll take a look at a player who has made a massive impact on the team since his arrival during the summer of 2021.

Florida acquired Sam Reinhart during the 2021 NHL Entry Draft in exchange for their 2022 first-round pick and goaltending prospect Devon Levi.

In his four seasons with the Panthers, Reinhart has become one of the NHL’s premiere scorers while also earning a reputation as one of the league’s top two-way forwards.

He’s racked up 160 goals and 324 points in his 321 regular season games in a Florida sweater.

That includes the eye-popping 57-goal campaign Reinhart put up during the Panthers’ first Stanley Cup-winning season.

He was also selected to participate in the NHL All-Star Game that season, marking his first time playing in the annual superstar showdown.

In each of Reinhart’s four seasons in South Florida he has received votes for the Frank J. Selke Trophy, given annually to the NHL’s top defensive forward.

While the prestigious award has gone to Barkov, Reinhart’s linemate, in each of the past two seasons, it’s clear that Reino’s getting more and more credit for the defensive elements of his game.

Reinhart came in fourth place in Selke voting in 2023-24 and improved to second place this past season.

Looking ahead, the 29-year-old is showing no signs of slowing down.

He’s under contract with the Panthers through 2032 at a team-friendly $8.625 AAV (average annual value).

Considering the talented teammates that Reinhart will continue to be surrounded by, there is no reason to think that he and his fellow felines will fall below the expectations they’ve set for themselves in recent seasons.

The bottom line is that while Reinhart still has some work to do after he crosses into his 30s, he’s got a clear and reasonable path to someday seeing his No. 13 handing above the Panthers ice.

Do you think Reinhart will have his jersey number retired in Florida? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

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Photo caption: Jun 17, 2025; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers center Sam Reinhart (13) hoists the Stanley Cup after winning game six of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final against the Edmonton Oilers at Amerant Bank Arena. (Sam Navarro-Imagn Images)

With the Chicago Blackhawks rebuilding, they now have a ton of promising young players who have the potential to become big parts of their roster. 

In a recent article for The Hockey News' main site, Jared Clinton discussed one breakout candidate for each Central Division club. When it came to the Blackhawks, Clinton went with goaltender Spencer Knight for their top breakout candidate. 

While the Blackhawks have many other fascinating young players on their roster, like Frank Nazar, Artyom Levshunov, and Sam Rinzel, Knight also makes sense as a breakout candidate to watch for Chicago. The 2019 first-round pick has all the tools to become a very good NHL goalie and could very well take a notable step forward with his play in 2025-26 because of it. This is especially so when noting that he is expected to be a true No. 1 starter for the first time in his career, as Clinton notes. 

In 95 career NHL games thus far, Knight has recorded a 49-33-9 record, a 2.83 goals-against average, a .904 save percentage, and five shutouts. Overall, the Darien, Connecticut native has shown that he is a solid NHL goalie, and it will be fascinating to see if he can hit a new level with the Blackhawks in 2025-26 from here. 

Ex-Blackhawks Defenseman Signs PTO With RivalFormer Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Jack Johnson is another step closer to playing in his 20th NHL season.