dlbalr

Not so much NHL games but games in enough seasons. As he signed out of college and burned a year right away, he didn't play in the required 10 games in 2022-23 to accrue a year toward offer sheet eligibility. That same rule prevents both Hutson and Demidov from getting one when their deals are up as well.

Samoskevich isn't eligible for an offer sheet so they won't have to worry about that.

It'd be a reach at 16/17 for sure. At 41, that's just taking a big swing and would make some sense.

The Rangers dumped Kreider in part to have enough cap space to protect against their own guys getting offer sheets. I doubt they're going to turn around and then turn around and sign a bigger offer sheet of their own. Also, they owe Pittsburgh a first-round pick. If they keep the pick this year (12), they have to give up next year's which would take any offer sheet with first-round compensation off the table.

I believe he (and Volokhin, for that matter) will be at Development Camp next month. But I'd put either of them being at Rookie Camp as highly unlikely as they'll be getting ready for their seasons back home.

I seem to remember Niemi being erratic for a true starter but year in, year out, the numbers were pretty good. Even with Montreal, his two seasons were one extreme to the next - one really good, one really bad.

That's also if Malkin decides to waive his full no-trade/no-move clause. A long time ago (and I mean probably more than a decade ago), I seem to remember reading that he said something along the lines that he'd be okay with the Rangers or Montreal if he ever was to move on from Pittsburgh (something about wanting to play in a major hockey market) but for years now, he has made it clear that he only wants to play for the Penguins. I'm not sure an appeal of 'do you want to play for one last Cup' will make him change his mind.

Upon further review, third-stringer might be more likely. Both the starter and backup from last season are under contract for next season. I wonder if there's a trade coming to move one of those out then.

Yevgeni Volohkin has been traded in the KHL from Sochi to Spartak. Notably, that means he goes from a perennially terrible team to one that's a lot more competitive. After basically being thrown to the wolves this season, it'll be interesting to see what happens with a better team in front of him.

It's an option and Carolina I think is a team that has traded back under this management group. I think they may move a pick or two in a move for a player and then will trade out for a 2026 pick with one or two of them, making around nine selections overall.

It's one thing when you have one of the first couple of picks of the second round and you're only moving up a few spots. It's a bit different when the best pick you're offering is 41. 41 and 49 isn't as appealing as 34 and 50. I wouldn't rule out a team saying yes to that for 30-32 but that'd probably be the ceiling of how high they could get with those picks.

Yeah, he signed his ELC about three weeks after the draft. It slid the first two years and this past season was Year 1 of 3.

The Habs have signed prospect Vinzenz Rohrer to a three-year, entry-level contract. He's in the same situation as Oliver Kapanen was this season; he'll go to camp with the Habs but can't be sent to Laval if he doesn't make it; he'd have to go back to Zurich in the Swiss league in that case. https://www.habsworld.net/2025/06/habs-sign-vinzenz-rohrer/

Brandon Gignac won't be back next season as he has signed a two-year deal with EHC Kloten in the Swiss league.

I think they are but they're going to go about it by trying to sign free agents or acquire veterans on the cheap as they did with Trouba and Kreider, not by trading away core young talent. Verbeek also seems to have a type, so to speak, basically anyone who hits at a high level seems to be his preferred type of acquisition.

It's one thing to be interested in Mailloux for a player like Zegras, a player whose value is decreasing. It's another to want him as a core part of a deal for a player who they probably still value as a 1C, even with Carlsson likely holding that role for them long-term. Just because McTavish would be their long-term 2C doesn't mean the asking price in a trade will be at a 2C level. Anaheim's prospect pool is quite deep (some might argue deeper than Montreal's, even) so a quantity-for-quality trade is something they have no reason to do. I'm not sure a trade that was widely panned when it was made 20 years ago is the proper comparison when assessing the value of an offer. Beating that is a low bar to clear but doesn't make it fair value.

Given that it's two weeks away, if they had to pull it from that venue, they'd probably be going to a virtual format as the odds of finding a theatre/arena with ample hotel capacity on virtually no notice would probably be asking too much let alone refunding all the LA tickets and selling thousands of new tickets in a matter of days.

So in other words, as long as the Habs get the best player and give up lesser pieces, you're fine with it. What's in it for Anaheim then? Matheson as a rental does little for a rebuilding team and the 16th pick + Mailloux isn't worth a centre not far removed from being a top-three pick. If you're going to acquire a player of McTavish's calibre, the return is going to hurt in a big way. Otherwise, the Ducks have no reason to do it.

Is it really goodbye though? He goes from a team the Habs play three times a year to a team they play twice. That's not really much of a difference.

From Pierre LeBrun: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6420007/2025/06/11/nhl-trades-free-agency-kreider-marchand-tavares/?source=emp_shared_article - Habs not believed to be seriously in on Rossi - Islanders have told Horvat and Barzal they won't be dealt (so cross them off the wish list)

Full who voted for who results are here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1C-JDy4cwlOEjexViUtzXgwUY8JeQNJEd/view

All of it seems like a steep overpay. In this move, you're sacrificing a ton of future cap flexibility to add an aging centre who is better off as a winger now whose per-game numbers were close to Laine's and a winger that the Habs backed out on last summer once the bidding got to five years. One year later, they probably still don't want that much term. So we're looking at a pair of overpaid players on the decline. In return, you're giving up Laine who isn't anything special but the per-game numbers were close to Stamkos so the net gain might not be as much as it might seem. Dach is a wild card but if he's healthy, he could put up reasonable numbers in a contract year. It wouldn't shock me if he and Newhook combined outproduce Marchessault next year so again, there isn't a big net gain. On top of that, you're throwing in one of Kapanen/Struble in plus a first-round pick plus a first-round pick swap. Let me put it this way, if you really wanted Marchessault, any one of Dach, Newhook, Kapanen, or Struble probably does it, let alone three of them. Nashville would happily get out of a long-term contract that doesn't look like it's going to age well while getting a younger piece and additional cap flexibility. And on the Stamkos side, if the offer was Laine, 16, and 17 for Stamkos and 23, I'm not sure the Habs do that move. As I've said before, if they're parting with quality assets like that, I don't think an overpriced veteran is going to be the target. Stamkos looked old and slow this year and that's probably not turning around at the age of 35. I wouldn't want to be paying him $8M into his age-38 year (the last year of the contract), let alone giving up first-round capital for the ability to do so. No-trade clauses aside, I think Nashville would happily take all elements of this trade and Montreal would get a lot of grief for it for trying to fast-track the rebuild by adding a pair of players that probably won't move the needle all that much in terms of boosting their offence.

A couple of little things from Friedman in here: https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/nhl-rumour-roundup-canadiens-looking-for-forward-to-pair-with-demidov/ - Montreal is interested in finding a forward to pair with Demidov moving forward - He acknowledges the linking of Hague and says he could see that happening

He is a pending UFA, yes, as he has reached seven years of service even though he's not yet 27. Buffalo wound up moving him for a draft pick at the deadline as they were selling but it's a bit of a red flag that his development largely stalled out with them. On the other hand, he's still a pretty young blueliner with considerable NHL experience so I think his market will be relatively strong this summer.

Updated heights/weights from the combine for a bunch of the higher-rated players: https://thehockeywriters.com/2025-nhl-combine-heights-weights/