NHL Articles - Page 16

The Calgary Flames are making progress. They did not make the playoffs last season, but head coach Ryan Huska has seen his team make significant progress. The Flames and St. Louis Blues both finished the 2024-25 with 96 points, but the Blues were awarded the eighth and final position in the Western Conference playoff structure […]

The Buffalo Sabres are hoping to break one of the most ignominious streaks in the NHL. The Sabres have not made the Stanley Cup playoffs since the 2009-10 season, and their long-suffering fans are hoping that this is the year they can get back to the postseason. The Sabres finished last season in sixth place […]

The Seattle Kraken are looking to continue their retool and enter the playoff conversation again after missing the dance for the past two seasons. Seattle made splashes in the 2024 offseason, bringing in Stanley Cup champions Chandler Stephenson and Brandon Montour to add to a stout core that was competitive for most of the team’s […]

Rumors are swirling that the Chicago Blackhawks are in the market to trade former first-round pick Lukas Reichel ahead of the 2025-26 season. Reichel, who Chicago selected 17th overall in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft, had a letdown of a season in 2024-25. The 23-year-old netted just eight goals and 22 points in 70 games […]

The Minnesota Wild made headlines on Saturday morning when they signed starting goaltender Filip Gustavsson to a five-year, $34 million contract. It was the second contract they agreed to in less than a week after the Wild inked Kirill Kaprizov to a record-setting deal on Tuesday, Gustavsson’s $6.8 million annual cap hit would pin him as […]

With his entry-level contract nearing a close, Montreal Canadiens star Lane Hutson may not make as much money as some of his other peers on the blue line have in recent weeks. In the days before the start of the 2025-26 season, the New Jersey Devils inked young defenseman Luke Hughes to a massive contract […]

2024-25 was a continuation of the slow decline that the Pittsburgh Penguins have been on over the last few seasons. Since bowing out of the first round of the 2021-22 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Penguins have gone from 103 to 91 to 88 to 80 points over the last few seasons. GM Kyle Dubas looks […]

The Utah Mammoth may have just missed out on securing a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs in what was their first season in Salt Lake City following their relocation from Arizona and their former identity as the Coyotes, but they’ve already made an indelible impression on fans in the area. Every game at Delta […]

The Minnesota Wild continue to solidify their roster after already giving Kirill Kaprizov the richest contract in the league earlier this week. The Wild also agreed to a contract extension with starting goaltender Filip Gustavsson on Saturday morning, via Michael Russo. Gustavsson will receive $6.8 million annually over five years, with the deal commencing in […]

The Los Angeles Kings are preparing for a very important 2025-26 NHL season. Los Angeles has a new general manager in Ken Holland after four straight first-round exits. More than this, the team is about to undergo a changing of the guard. Anze Kopitar is retiring from the NHL after the 2025-26 campaign. Kopitar has […]

The Chicago Blackhawks are going to need a lot of help if they want to dig themselves out of their lengthy rebuild. And it is going to need to come from more than just Connor Bedard. Bedard did take a step back after showing generational potential in his 2023-24 rookie season. After scoring 22 goals […]

The Nashville Predators are going to need some help from all sorts of places to bounce back from a disappointing 2024-25 campaign. And they have to look further than just Steven Stamkos after he had arguably the worst season of his career. Stamkos was a disappointment in his first season with the Predators after signing […]

The Philadelphia Flyers are aiming to return to the postseason for the first time since the COVID-shortened 2019-20 season. If they are going to do it in 2025-26, they are going to need help from this X-Factor — and it is not second-year forward Matvei Michkov. Michkov will be an important piece of the Flyers’ […]

Wing Luke Evangelista and the Nashville Predators finally ended the 23-year-old forward’s holdout with an agreement on a brand new contract. Evangelista inked a two-year contract with the Predators, carrying a $3 million annual price tag, and will promptly join the team to finish out the preseason, per The Athletic’s Chris Johnston. The then-restricted free […]

The Florida Panthers have designs on joining the elite teams in NHL history that have won at least 3 consecutive Stanley Cup championships when the 2025-26 season comes to a conclusion. The Panthers have won the title twice in a row, beating the Edmonton Oilers in the Stanley Cup Finals each time. However, the third […]

The Vegas Golden Knights are heading into the 2025-26 season with Stanley Cup expectations. They signed Mitch Marner to an eight-year deal worth $12 million per season, which will impact another deal they have coming. The Minnesota Wild also signed Kirill Kaprizov to a deal worth $17 million per year, taking one of the biggest […]

Mitch Marner is just five days away from playing his first ever National Hockey League game not as a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Vegas Golden Knights’ marquee offseason addition is preparing for life on the strip, and he admitted to The Athletic’s Dan Robson that he’s looking forward to the different expectations […]

It was a difficult pill for fans in the Twin Cities to swallow as they had to watch their beloved Minnesota North Stars relocate from one of the hockey hotbeds in the United States to The Lone Star State. The North Stars were relocated to Dallas, where they dropped the “North” from their name and […]

Toronto Maple Leafs forward Scott Laughton will miss the team’s 2025-26 regular-season opener after suffering a lower-body injury in a 3-1 preseason loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night, the team announced. Laughton is considered week-to-week and could begin the campaign on injured reserve. The 31-year-old is entering his first full season in […]

The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo will be a unique event. In the hockey world, it will mark the first time NHL players from all over the world will compete since 2014. Among the top teams will be Canada, the United States and Sweden. Speaking of Sweden, former Blues player and current […]

The New York Islanders have used the preseason to see which players could play a crucial part during the year, and one player that has stood out is Cal Ritchie. He was making strides the past few weeks, but that stopped in their preseason finale when he had to exit the game due to a […]

Although the Carolina Hurricanes were considered the frontrunners to sign free agent forward Michael McLeod following his reinstatement into the National Hockey League, that no longer seems to be the case. As The Athletic’s Chris Johnston reported late on Thursday night, the Canes are not interested in any of the former players recently exonerated in […]

The Edmonton Oilers have won the Western Conference in two consecutive seasons, losing to the Florida Panthers in both Cup Finals. They reshaped their depth in the offseason with one big question looming overhead. Connor McDavid is entering his contract year, which could lead to changes in Edmonton. The Oilers made a big move in […]

The Anaheim Ducks enter the 2025-26 season with a new bench boss and playoff expectations. Joel Quenneville is behind the bench in Southern California, leading a group with newly signed Mason McTavish and Lukas Dostal. On Thursday, the Ducks signed Jackson LaCombe to an eight-year contract extension worth $72 million, the richest deal in franchise […]

The Calgary Flames have decided that they are going forward with Ryan Huska as the team’s head coach for the foreseeable future. General manager Craig Conroy announced that the team and Huska have come to an agreement on a two-year contract extension. The Flames have been quite competitive under Huska the past two seasons, and […]

The San Jose Sharks are on the backside of a stretch of 14 playoff appearances in 15 years. During that time, they had several great players up and down their lineup. With players like Joe Thornton, Joe Pavelski, and Patrick Marleau headed to the Hall of Fame, the Sharks’ top 10 list is a star-studded […]

It’s most likely going to be tough sledding for the rebuilding Pittsburgh Penguins in 2025-26 — and the beginning of the season just got even more challenging. Bryan Rust, who was nearly a point-per-game player last year, will be out for at least the first two weeks of the campaign. “Bryan Rust will miss at […]

The current Ottawa Senators, the second franchise to bear the Senators name, began play in the 1992-93 NHL season. The original Senators existed from 1883 to 1954 and competed in the NHL from 1917 to 1934, winning the Stanley Cup multiple times. The original Senators were relocated to Missouri in 1934 due to financial difficulties, […]

A 2-2-1 form through five preseason games isn’t too much to worry about for the Nashville Predators. After going into 2024-25 with high expectations, the Predators cratered, finishing in second-to-last in the Central Division with 68 points. The team needs to get younger. In an effort to do just that, Nashville GM Barry Trotz and […]

The Anaheim Ducks are headed into the 2025-26 season with two core pieces under big new contracts. First, it was Mason McTavish, who ended a lengthy RFA standoff by signing a six-year deal worth $7 million per year. But on Thursday, a teammate blew that deal out of the water, becoming the highest-paid player in […]

The Buffalo Sabres currently hold the longest playoff drought in North American sports. They have never won a Stanley Cup and have only been there twice. Despite their poor team history, they have some of the greatest players in NHL history to their name. The list of the Top 10 Sabres players is full of […]

The Seattle Kraken have a new head coach, Lane Lambert, and are looking for their second playoff appearance in franchise history. They had a quiet offseason, but did pick up Ryan Lindgren on a four-year contract. That put a lot of pressure on their younger players heading into the 2025-26 season. The Kraken got brutal […]

The Florida Panthers are looking to win the Stanley Cup for a third straight year, but are also working on building a long-term dynasty. The team just took another step towards that goal, extending defenseman Niko Mikkola to an eight-year, $40 million contract. At an AAV of $5 million per season, the Panthers and Mikkola […]

The Detroit Red Wings are one of the greatest teams in the history of the NHL. During their existence, they have had players such as Pavel Datsyuk, Steve Yzerman, and Gordie Howe wear the iconic Winged Wheel. Their 11 Stanley Cups are the most for an American franchise and the third-most in league history. Only […]

If one chooses to look at the New York Rangers from the perspective of championships won, it is a rather sad story. The Rangers started doing business in 1926, and they have won just four Stanley Cups since then. When they famously won the title by beating the Vancouver Canucks in seven games in 1994, […]

The Florida Panthers made a lot of waves this offseason after winning their second straight Stanley Cup. They were able to keep Sam Bennett, Brad Marchand, and Aaron Ekblad before they hit unrestricted free agency. With the preseason wrapping up, Florida inked another core member to a long-term contract. According to multiple reporters, the Panthers […]

Kirill Kaprizov just signed a record-breaking contract with the Minnesota Wild. Now, attention has turned to the Edmonton Oilers and Connor McDavid’s contract extension. McDavid could be receiving less money per year than Kaprizov, according to Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic. “He can command whatever he wants in his next contract. It’s a blank cheque […]

The Montreal Canadiens finally made the postseason for the first time since 2021 last season. They pushed in their chips in the offseason, trading two first-round picks for defenseman Noah Dobson. And the Canadiens already have a defenseman with a bright future, as Lane Hutson enters his second season after winning the Calder Trophy. The […]

The Vegas Golden Knights are heading into another season with Stanley Cup expectations. Mitch Marner joined the squad, which could create an elite two-way line with Jack Eichel and Mark Stone. But they are still looking for a goaltending improvement before the season begins. After he was acquitted in the Hockey Canada trial, the Golden […]