Submit your Canadiens questions for Arpon Basu's mailbag
This is the calm before the NHL's annual storm.
The Stanley Cup will be awarded this week. Next week, the Montreal Canadiens have the Nos. 16 and 17 picks in the NHL Draft. Days later, on July 1, free agency opens.
The Canadiens will look to improve their roster so they can build on this season's playoff appearance when the 2025-26 season opens in the fall.
What's on your mind? Submit your questions here, and Arpon Basu may answer them in an upcoming Canadiens mailbag.
Arpon Basu June 16, 2025 10:55 am EDT
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CBS News
2 hours ago
- CBS News
Charlie McAvoy named to Team USA roster, one of three Bruins set to participate in 2026 Winter Olympics
Charlie McAvoy has always dreamed about playing in the Olympics. The Bruins defenseman will get his wish in 2026. On Monday, McAvoy was one of the "first six" players named to the preliminary Team USA roster for the Milano Cortina games. He'll make up the top defensive pairing with Vancouver's Quinn Hughes, while Vegas' Jack Eichel (who like McAvoy is also a Boston University alum), Toronto's Austin Matthews, Florida's Matthew Tkachuk, and Ottawa's Brady Tkachuk round out the initial roster. While this will be the first time McAvoy skates in the Olympics, he is no stranger to the international stage. He served as an alternate captain for Team USA at the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off, though it ended up being a nightmare for McAvoy after he had to deal with an infection following a "significant" shoulder injury during the tournament. It derailed his 2024-25 season with Boston and limited him to just 50 games, but McAvoy remained eager to represent his country in the future. The 27-year-old Boston blue liner was also on the United States roster for two International Ice Hockey Federation World Championships in 2017 and 2018. McAvoy helped the Stars and Stripes win a bronze medal in 2018 when he tallied nine points over six games. He also competed in the IIHF World Junior Championships in 2016 and 2017, where he won bronze and gold medals, respectively. He earned gold medals for Team USA at the 2014 World U-17 Hockey Challenge and the 2015 IIHF Under-18 World Championship as well. Team USA's local connections to Massachusetts aren't limited to the players on the ice. Marshfield native and former Bruins head coach Mike Sullivan (now head coach of the New York Rangers) will lead the way on the bench. He's also McAvoy's father-in-law, which should make for some interesting locker room chats between the two. Team USA general manager Bill Guerin is a Wilbraham native who played two seasons for the Bruins during his NHL career. He is currently the general manager and president of hockey operations for the Minnesota Wild. Pastrnak, Zacha named to 2026 Olympic roster McAvoy won't be the only Bruins player heading to the Olympics in February. David Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha were both named to the Czechia roster on Monday. Pastrnak is coming off a 43-goal, 63-assist season for Boston, when he finished tied for the third-most points in the NHL with 106. He is currently third all-time among Czech-born NHL players in goals (391) and points (833) and leads all active Czech skaters in goals, assists (442) and points. Pastrnak has represented his home nation in six IIHF World Championships (2016, 2017, 2018, 2022, 2024, 2025), and took home gold in 2024 and bronze in 2022. In the 2025 tournament, Pastrnak led all players in scoring with 15 points over eight games. Zacha had 14 goals and 33 assists for Boston in 2024-25, when he appeared in all 82 games for the Bruins. He also won gold with Team Czechia at the 2024 IIHF World Championship.
New York Times
2 hours ago
- New York Times
Here's what the Flyers should keep in mind as they build their core group
The old guys can still get it done this time of year. One of the primary takeaways from this year's Stanley Cup Final — other than how enjoyable it's been to watch the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers ferociously go at one another — is that veterans thought to be past their primes can still contribute to championship-level teams when the stakes are highest. The Panthers' Brad Marchand and Oilers' Corey Perry, ages 37 and 40, respectively, have been vital cogs on their clubs for the past two months. Neither team would be where it is without them. Advertisement It reminds me of another team, and player, I covered nearly a decade ago. When the San Jose Sharks made their run to the final in 2016, they were led by a then 36-year old Joe Thornton. It was one of the more remarkable seasons of Thornton's legendary career. After Christmas, Thornton was second in the league in scoring behind only Sidney Crosby, who was then at the height of his powers. He kept it up in the playoffs, too, with 21 points in 24 games during that run. So what's this have to do with the Flyers? Let's first mention that at the conclusion of this past season, Elite Prospects had the Flyers with the youngest roster in the NHL, at just a hair over 26 years old on average. Part of that is because of guys such as Emil Andrae (23), Karsen Dorwart (22) and Devin Kaplan (21) ended the season with the big club, but, regardless, this is one of the youngest teams in the league and it still will be when the 2025-26 season begins. That's encouraging for the future, of course, particularly when you consider the Flyers have some young prospects who will turn pro next season, along with an abundance of picks in the upcoming draft. In another couple weeks, they should have a nice stable of prospects in their system, to go along with that fresh-faced NHL group, which is a solid foundation off which to build. But we also know that the club would like to start being more competitive beginning in 2025-26. And there's little doubt, either, that by 2026-27, the playoffs will be the primary objective. It's an ambitious goal, to be sure, but general manager Daniel Briere has left little ambiguity about his aims. And no team makes the playoffs these days without a healthy sprinkling of veterans who will be counted on to contribute both on and off the ice. In fact, Elite Prospects shows the Oilers with the league's oldest roster (30.07 years), and the Panthers with the fifth-oldest (29.28 years). Advertisement To be clear, Briere's biggest challenge from now until the start of that 2026-27 season remains finding enough talent to make the Flyers a legitimate threat. That can't be glossed over. But just as important is deciding which players already here should remain for the long haul, with age not always the most important factor. And in that sense, what Briere envisions as the Flyers' core group is beginning to congeal. In fact, I don't believe it's all that difficult a task to break down the roster into a few distinct categories. First, there's the group that management envisions will eventually be a part of a winning team: Travis Konecny, Travis Sanheim, Matvei Michkov, Noah Cates and Tyson Foerster — the latter two of whom recently were signed to reasonable contract extensions, Cates for four years at a $4 million AAV, and Foerster for two years at a $3.75 million AAV (and after which he will still be under team control). Michkov isn't going anywhere, of course, but frankly I can't envision a reasonable scenario in which the Flyers part with any of those other four players anytime soon. It's already been well-established that Konecny and Sanheim are perceived as veteran on and off-ice leaders; Cates is at least a solid third-line center and was also brought into the leadership group late in the season, further reflecting how they view him; and the 23-year-old Foerster seems to be developing into an elite two-way winger who should be able to regularly eclipse 30 goals in his prime. Then, there's a secondary group — the players who probably are part of the core, but aren't there quite yet: Owen Tippett, who has a lengthy contract but also a no-trade clause that doesn't kick in for another year, and Cam York, still a restricted free agent without a new deal, who is coming off of a strange season. Both still have plenty of runway to get better. Advertisement Then, there are the players still trying to prove they'll be part of the solution: Jamie Drysdale, Bobby Brink and Ryan Poehling, who all of whom took steps this season — but I'd argue still need to show more — and Samuel Ersson, who management believes is a better goaltender than his numbers reflect. And then there are the older guys, who, yes, could still be around for 2026-27: Sean Couturier, Nick Seeler and Garnet Hathaway. Couturier's future is difficult to predict with his injury history, but it was encouraging that his 2024-25 season was better than his 2023-24 campaign, and he looked rejuvenated after John Tortorella was fired. While it's difficult to predict where Couturier might fit on the club in two years, his $7.75 AAV contract through 2029-30 probably keeps him here for the foreseeable future. His is still the only truly concerning contract on the books. As for the 32-year-old Seeler and 33-year-old Hathaway, a big part of the reason Briere signed both of them to extensions — Seeler through 2027-28, and Hathaway through 2026-27 — was because of how much he values the way they approach the game. Neither would look out of place on a team that plays and competes like the Panthers do. How effective they'd both be in 2026-27 is hard to say, but simply assuming they're going to be gone by the start of the that season would be foolish. There were some eyebrows raised last week when the Anaheim Ducks, who seem to have a promising young core in place, traded for 34-year-old declining veteran winger Chris Kreider, who is signed for two more seasons at a $6.5 million AAV. Kreider joins his former Rangers teammate, Jacob Trouba, who has also slowed down in recent years, with the Ducks, who acquired Trouba in December. Anaheim wants to push for the playoffs next season. And Trouba and Kreider, who have ample league and playoff experience, are going to be counted on to help get them there — and, if they get there, well, Trouba and Kreider strike me as the kind of hard-nosed guys who could help give a playoff team some added juice, just like guys such as Marchand and Perry have given their clubs. Briere, conversely, seems to be trying to avoid having to search for that kind of veteran moxie. Preferably, the Flyers will build that internally — otherwise, guys such as Seeler, Hathaway and maybe even Konecny and Sanheim would be playing elsewhere by now. Will it work? Who knows? But the Flyers' blueprint has at least come into focus over the past two years. Recent happenings around the league suggest the plan has some merit. (Photo of Sean Couturier and Matvei Michkov: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
Miami Herald
2 hours ago
- Miami Herald
5 Florida Panthers players named to initial rosters for 2026 Winter Olympics
The Florida Panthers' focus right now is repeating as Stanley Cup champions. They're one win away from doing that, up 3-2 in the Stanley Cup Final against the Edmonton Oilers. But once this run ends, several Panthers players will already be able to start looking ahead to the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan. The 12 teams that will participate in the Olympics next February announced the first six players for their rosters on Monday. The Panthers were well represented, with five players in Aleksander Barkov (Finland), Matthew Tkachuk (United States), Sam Reinhart (Canada), Uvis Balinskis (Latvia) and Nico Sturm (Germany) among the 72 players announced to rosters. Barkov, who was is the lone repeat Olympian from this group, playing for Finland in 2014 when they won the bronze medal. He appeared in two games as an 18-year-old before sustaining a knee injury that sidelined him the rest of the tournament. Joining Barkov on Finland's initial roster are forwards Mikko Rantanen and Sebastian Aho, defensemen Miro Heiskanen and Esa Lindell, and goaltender Juuse Saros. 'I was fortunate to represent Finland once already at the Olympics, and that's for sure the biggest, biggest hockey tournament for national teams,' Barkov said. 'That was my dream as a kid to be there. I got to experience that for a little bit for two games, and now to be named again is a huge honor.' Tkachuk has become one of the faces of USA hockey, a notion that was amplified after the 4 Nations Face-Off in February. The winger has the blend of scoring prowess, edginess and charisma that makes for a superstar. His stock has risen dramatically over his three years with the Panthers, a time in which he has scored 88 goals in the regular season and has 68 points in the postseason. The other five players named to the United States' preliminary roster: forwards Auston Matthews, Brady Tkachuk and Jack Eichel plus defensemen Quinn Hughes and Charlie McAvoy. Reinhart has quickly become one of the league's top scorers. In four years with the Panthers, he has scored 140 goals in the regular season and another 28 in the playoffs, including the Stanley Cup clincher in Game 7 against the Edmonton Oilers last year. The rest of Canada's initial roster: forwards Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon and Brayden Point plus defenseman Cale Makar. 'It's incredible,' Reinhart said. 'When you're growing up when you're watching as a kid, it's Stanley Cup finals and it's Team Canada. Those are the two things that you dream about playing for. To have that opportunity is pretty exciting.' Balinskis, who has been with the Panthers for two seasons, made his international debut for Latvia at the 2023 World Championships where he helped them win a bronze medal with a 4-3 overtime win over the United States. Balinskis had a pair of assists in that tournament. Latvia's other five players named to its initial roster are goaltenders Elvis Merzlikins and Arturs Silovs as well as forwards Rodrigo Abols, Teddy Blugers and Zemgus Girgensons. 'We had that good year when we won a bronze medal, and I just think that since then, the team has been playing better than before,' Balinskis said. 'A lot of guys are doing better individually too. A lot of guys are signing with NHL. We're just growing as a team every year.' Sturm, who joined the Panthers in a trade deadline deal with the San Jose Sharks, has represented Germany at both the 2023 and 2024 World Championships. Germany won silver in 2023, a run in which Sturm had six goals and eight points, and finished sixth in 2024. The rest of Germany's initial roster announcement includes forwards Leon Draisaitl, Tim Stutzle, and Lukas Reichel, defenseman Moritz Seider and goaltender Philipp Grubauer. 'Being an Olympian is something that not a lot of athletes can say about their careers,' Sturm said. 'It's the best athletes in the world from every sport. It's definitely something that I've marked on my calendar, something that I wanted to achieve in my career.' Florida had a league-high eight players participate in the 4 Nations Face-Off in February, a precursor to next year's Olympic Games that saw the top NHL players from the United States, Canada, Finland and Sweden face each other in a best-on-best tournament. Logic would dictate that all eight of those players — Barkov, Anton Lundell, Niko Mikkola and Eetu Luostarinen for Finland; Tkachuk for the United States; Reinhart and Sam Bennett for Canada; and Gustav Forsling for Sweden — would all make their respective countries' rosters again for the Olympics. The 12 countries taking part in the Olympics for men's ice hockey are Canada, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States.
