Vancouver Canucks Coaches' Playing Careers: Henrik Sedin
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New York Times
32 minutes ago
- New York Times
Will Artemi Panarin sign a contract extension? Burning Rangers questions for 2025-26
From a hockey perspective, the New York Rangers' signing of Artemi Panarin as a free agent in July 2019 has gone about as well as they could have hoped. He's led New York in scoring each of his six seasons and ranks first in franchise history in points per game (1.28). The team has made the Eastern Conference final twice with him as its top offensive producer. He's twice finished in the top five in Hart Trophy voting for the league's most valuable player. Advertisement Now only one year remains on the seven-year deal, worth $11.6 million in average annual value, that brought him to New York. This leaves the Rangers at a massive crossroads. What comes next with Panarin is perhaps the team's biggest question entering the 2025-26 season. 'He's not going to sign if he's not paid as a premier player,' one Western Conference executive said. 'That's what they're going to have to decide.' Of course, there is more to the Panarin decision than just hockey. In April, The Athletic reported that Panarin and Madison Square Garden paid financial settlements to a Rangers employee last year after she alleged that Panarin sexually assaulted her in December 2023. The Rangers did not publicly discipline Panarin, who played in every game in 2023-24 and missed only two games in 2024-25, both because of an upper-body injury. Panarin is coming off a 37-goal, 89-point season, the second-most goals of any season in his career, but it's his lowest rate of point production since coming to New York. 'His top game is fantastic,' said an NHL scout based in the East. 'But the consistency, of course, wasn't there, along with the rest of the team, too. Definitely doesn't all fall on him. I haven't seen much of a regression in terms of his overall talent.' Evolving-Hockey projects Panarin's next contract to come in at three years with a $10.1 million average salary. That lines up with Panarin's projected market value for the coming years, according to colleague Dom Luszczyszyn's model. New York has $29.6 million of projected cap space in the 2026 summer, according to PuckPedia. If Panarin re-signs with the Rangers, his cap hit will eat into that, as will the next contracts for multiple restricted free agents, namely Braden Schneider. There is a loaded class of pending unrestricted free agents in 2026, headlined by Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel and Kirill Kaprizov. Still, it's also a real possibility that none of those stars reach the open market. If those players start signing extensions, Panarin's camp could potentially gain instant bargaining leverage. Advertisement Though a dominant offensive player in the regular season, Panarin's production has not always translated to the playoffs. In 73 postseason games, he has 21 goals and 61 points — a paltry 24-goal, 69-point pace for a full season, well below his career average of 33 goals and 95 points. Though he delivered a Game 7 overtime winner against Pittsburgh in 2022 and an overtime goal against Carolina in 2024, he has never been better than a point-per-game player in the playoffs for the Rangers. That will have to factor into general manager Chris Drury's thinking, too. The Rangers' top-six forward group is full of players over 30. Mika Zibanejad, Vincent Trocheck and J.T. Miller are all 32 and under contract for at least four more seasons. The age of those players, as well as Panarin, will play into all of the Rangers' decisions. 'The team wants to be a contender soon,' said the East-based NHL scout. 'It's not like they're wondering, philosophically, 'are we going to rebuild or are we going to pay him?' It's, 'we want to win now.' ' Scouts believe Panarin could continue to produce at a high level, even as he enters his mid-30s. 'Especially if you put him with the right guys, he's a really dangerous player,' the Eastern-based scout said. 'A smaller, more skilled shifty guy like Panarin, I feel like he could play for a good handful more years.' 'I do think his game will age just because of how smart he is and his skill level,' a Western Conference scout added. 'That's a very rare find, and I think that he will be able to adapt even as maybe his legs fall off a little bit.' Panarin identified the Rangers as the team he wanted to play for when he was a free agent in 2019, and he likely passed up money to join. Would he do the same to stay? 'The luxury is guys love playing in New York,' said the Western Conference executive. Advertisement New York would presumably love it if he were to take a deal similar to the one John Tavares signed with Toronto this summer. Coming off a 38-goal season at 34, the same age as Panarin will be next summer, the Maple Leafs center extended on a four-year, $4.389-million-AAV deal. That's a lot to ask, though, from a player of Panarin's stature. He had 49 goals and 120 points in 2023-24, after all. 'He's getting older, so he's probably not going to continue at a crazy level, but you never know,' one Eastern Conference executive said. 'It's a critical year for the whole organization. Looking at that team and what they have and what they're doing and where they're going, I think it's an incredibly important year.' Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
New York Times
2 hours ago
- New York Times
NHL cap accrual explained, Quinn Hughes' future and more: Mirtle mailbag, part 2
We're back. Part 1 of the summer NHL mailbag came out last week. Now, let's kick off Part 2 as we head into late August with your queries on how salary cap space works for teams that have extra room, the Philadelphia Flyers' rebuild, Quinn Hughes' future and the Florida Panthers' attempts at a threepeat. Do the Flyers make the playoffs, and more importantly, are they finally heading in the right direction? — Brian S. To recap: Philadelphia finished in 29th last season with only 76 points. Offensively, the Flyers were okay, with 2.83 goals per game, but they really got filled in the other way, allowing a whopping 3.45 goals per game, fifth-worst in the league. Bringing in Rick Tocchet behind the bench should help there, and they have some young players I really like. Cam York and Ty Foerster are really solid, developing talents that don't get a lot of attention outside the market. Emil Andrae impressed me in the games he played. I liked the low-risk flier (pun intended) they took on Trevor Zegras, too. Advertisement Nevertheless, this is still a team that's thin down the middle, and more importantly, I don't think they properly addressed last season's biggest weakness with their offseason moves. Statistically, the Flyers weren't that poor of a team defensively, finishing around the top 10 in expected goals against them. They have a lot of smart, two-way players, and they're not an easy team to play night to night. However, they were dead last, by a mile, in goals against above expected, with their goaltenders allowing 46 more goals than expected. The good news is that more than half of that deficit was due to how poorly KHL imports Ivan Fedotov (13.6 goals allowed above expected in just 26 games) and Aleksei Kolosov (nine in 17 games) played. Any replacement should be an upgrade over those numbers. A tandem of Dan Vladar (who received a two-year UFA deal for $3.35 million a season) and Samuel Ersson, however, is fairly underwhelming. Of the 65 goalies who have played the most NHL minutes the past three years, Vladar ranks 59th, and Ersson is 62nd in goals saved above expected. I do think they'll be better than last season, and they'll probably surprise some teams with how well they defend. The 20-plus point jump they'd need to make the postseason feels like a pretty big reach, though, barring something unexpected from the crease. Should the Toronto Maple Leafs enter the season with material cap space, can you explain how it will accrue over the course of the season? How would (the Long-Term Injured Reserve pool) impact this if used? What type of move could the Leafs make with the accrued space, should they hold onto it? — Tom L. I'm glad someone asked this question because it applies to far more than Toronto this season. Including the Leafs, there are 22 teams right now that have around $2 million in cap space or more. Eight of those are listed with $10 million or more. I'll use the Leafs as an example here because they're an interesting case as a contender that lost a star player who they'll be looking to replace in-season. Technically, PuckPedia lists them at the roster limit of 23 players with $1.92 million available, but they could waive Henry Thrun ($1 million cap hit) and trade a forward like David Kämpf ($2.4 million) or Calle Järnkrok ($2.1 million) and bump that up to $5 million-ish at some point. Advertisement Let's start with the lowest figure of $1.92 million, just for illustrative purposes. The way the NHL's cap works is by using a daily accounting formula, so it changes as your roster shifts throughout the year. The cap looks at player salaries as a day-to-day figure, meaning someone like Thrun will cost $1 million divided by the 191 days in the 2025-26 season for every day he's in the NHL. That's about $5,235 and change. In theory, the Leafs could leave that $1.92 million open all season. By the trade deadline, with 41 days left in the season, the amount of cap space available can accommodate an additional player (or players) worth $8.94 million, because by March 7, you only have to pay those new players' salaries for the remaining 21.5 percent of the season. Demote a Thrun to start the year, and that $8.94 million is more like $13.6 million. It's a lot of flexibility, and the Leafs aren't anywhere close to having the most room among potential playoff teams. If we're talking about a team like the Detroit Red Wings, who have $12 million in space, they could effectively add $56 million more in salaries at the deadline. What complicates this a little is that no teams have the same roster all season. There are injuries, call-ups and trades that shift the daily accounting all season. It's why you sometimes see cap-strapped teams send players up and down to the AHL between games or on off days; every practice day someone like Thrun goes to the minors, saves another $5,235 that will grow over time. (That said, these paper transactions will no longer be allowed once the new CBA takes effect in 2026-27.) The benefit for teams using long-term injured reserve is that they can exceed the cap using an injured player's salary. Many, many teams have done this to great effect during the flat-cap era to add key pieces for a playoff run. With so many teams flush with space, though, that's likely to become less of a factor, as those clubs simply won't need to go over the cap anymore. Accrual will also be a very real benefit to the teams that can keep a few million free throughout the year. The downside to LTIR is that you don't accrue the extra space; if you go over the cap by $2 million due to an injury, LTIR only frees up $2 million, so it's definitely better to accrue than to use LTIR, especially once the new playoff salary cap rules kick in for 2027. The challenge in this environment right now is that if everyone has cap space, it becomes a less valuable asset. Plus, the real assets a team like Toronto will want at the deadline — good players — are scarce. I think we could theoretically see some weird things like contending teams with a lot of cap space (the Carolina Hurricanes?) taking on bad money in a deal just to increase the likelihood they get the deadline acquisition they want. Absorbing cap dumps may no longer be only the domain of the rebuilders. Advertisement All of this is to say that cap space is going to be less of a barrier than ever for a lot of teams, and this could be an advantage for Detroit, Carolina, the Ottawa Senators, the Winnipeg Jets, Toronto and maybe a few other plausible playoff teams come the deadline. They won't necessarily need retention to get deals done, and they won't have to worry about sending salaries back the other way. The bigger challenge will be finding the right talent to use that cash on and outbidding all the other teams with plenty of money to spend. Do you honestly see the New Jersey Devils trying to make a deal to acquire Quinn Hughes? I just don't see the timeline fitting in with their cap situation. — Mike S. Let me get into the Vancouver Canucks side of this a bit to start. I feel for fans here, as this is a team in a pickle. They finished 18th overall last year with 90 points. There are scenarios where you can see them getting a bump higher than that this season, but the middle of the pack is likely where they belong. With huge question marks around Elias Pettersson and Thatcher Demko, the ceiling feels too low to compete with the real contenders in the West. If you're Hughes, indisputably now one of the best players in the league and with two years left on your deal, it feels natural to wonder about your future if this Canucks team isn't going to break through and win. Maybe Vancouver surprises and has a huge bounce-back season that convinces their captain to stay. Feels unlikely to me, to be honest, but that's their best-case scenario. Otherwise, they have to start contemplating what a blockbuster trade might look like and whether it's all about futures. For the Devils, if Hughes wants to go there to join his brothers, how do you not make that commitment next summer? By the time he gets a massive new extension in 2027-28, New Jersey has acres of cap room: $62 million, before accounting for a potential RFA deal for Luke. They're going to be out from under Ondrej Palat and Brenden Dillon by then, who combine for $10 million, and Dougie Hamilton will only have one year left on his deal. Plus, the cap will be at least $113.5 million, so I don't see the finances as the barrier here, especially when you consider any potential trade with the Canucks could also involve salary going the other way. Even if Quinn is commanding $15 million-plus in 2027-28, that still fits — and it's not like he's going to be particularly old by then. This is a nice-looking group to try and build around. Obviously this is a team overloaded on the back end even years from now, and I'm not including intriguing prospects Seamus Casey and Anton Silayev, who will be factors by 2027. With how few top four D are making it to free agency every year, there's going to be considerable trade value there for whoever they decide to move. Advertisement The fact that they have Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt on such bargain deals with term gives them the flexibility to add one of the biggest salaries in the league, too. I've left out a new contract for Nico Hischier, which would also be a priority, but with $30 million in cap space, the kids coming on D and the ability to deal someone, it all leaves them a lot of different lanes to go down if Quinn does become available. I don't really see the downside, to be honest; the Devils are fortunate that a perennial Norris Trophy candidate likely has them at the top of his to-go list. It could be a game-changer for a team on the cusp of taking another step. The (Panthers) have almost all of their team back, and most of the core signed long-term. Bobrovsky and Mikkola's contracts expire next year, but the Cats will have plenty of cap space to re-sign them and almost whomever else they want over the next few years. Is anyone a realistic threat to challenge their potential dominance in the foreseeable future? — Amir C. Well, as they say, Father Time comes for everyone. Sergei Bobrovsky is 37 next month; at some point, there will have to be a succession plan in the crease. Could he have another big year, though, especially in the playoffs? Absolutely. You're right in that the Panthers look formidable again, and they're the betting favorites to take the Stanley Cup with about 7 to 1 odds, depending on where you look. However, that's still only a roughly 12.5 percent chance of winning, making the field the stronger pick. Matthew Tkachuk's injury and absence early in the year is one concern I have for them. The Olympics will also potentially take some energy out of a lot of Panthers players. At some point, the overall fatigue of three runs to the Final has to take a toll, no? As for who could potentially challenge them in the years to come, that's a great question. We can see some new rising potential powers like New Jersey, the Montreal Canadiens, Utah Mammoth and Ottawa starting to show a bit of life, but actually beating a team like Florida in a best-of-seven feels a ways off. That leaves us looking at the teams that have contended the past few years — the Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, Vegas Golden Knights and Edmonton Oilers in the West, and Carolina, the Tampa Bay Lightning and (maybe) Toronto in the East — as the likely candidates. Advertisement None of them really screams Cup winner. No one had a huge transformative offseason, either, although the Golden Knights (Mitch Marner) and Hurricanes (Nikolaj Ehlers) made some nice additions. Still, one thing to keep in mind is that part of why Florida won this past year was the transformational moves they made in-season. Airlifting in Seth Jones and Brad Marchand late in the year was massive, and I don't think they go the distance without general manager Bill Zito pulling off that wizardry. Maybe the Panthers are the deadline winners again, but it could also be one of those next tier of teams, especially with all the cap room floating out there. That could put them on even footing with Florida, at least on paper. Thanks for reading. I should have more of these queued up before training camp, so stay tuned for that. We'll take more questions at some point in the fall, too. Plus, sign up for Red Light, our hockey newsletter, for more similar content from Sean McIndoe and me all year. (Top photo of Quinn Hughes: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images) Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
Forbes
2 hours ago
- Forbes
U.S.-Canada Bridge Nears Completion, Wrapping Up A Decades Old Tale
A new bridge between the United States and Canada is almost complete. Once open for business, it will (or may) end a decades-old soap opera. The Gordie Howe International Bridge, constructed at a cost of C$6.4 billion ($4.6 billion), will be a third crossing between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario. It will be added to a Detroit-Windsor tunnel (connecting the downtowns of the two cities) and the Ambassador Bridge, the main commercial link in the region. The new bridge, named after a famed Detroit Red Wings hockey player, was built by Canada in part to make automotive trade between the two countries easier. The privately owned Ambassador Bridge opened in 1929, according to the Detroit Historical Society. It is the main point of U.S.-Canadian auto trade. Throughout the early 2000s, the Ambassador Bridge owners conflicted with Canada. The Ambassador Bridge owners sought to construct a new bridge next to the existing structure. The idea: The new bridge would take over trade while the old bridge could be used for emergencies. Detroit International Bridge Co., which owns the Ambassador Bridge, purchased houses and land for the replacement bridge, the company said in 2008. Canada had other ideas. The country sought a new structure jointly funded with the state of Michigan. Eventually, Canada moved to finance a new bridge by itself. Tolls charged at the new bridge will be used to pay off costs. The Gordie Howe bridge is about a mile away from the Ambassador Bridge. The Gordie Howe bridge will connect Interstate 75 in Michigan to an extension of Canada's busy 401 highway. The Gordie Howe bridge will have three lanes on each side. The new structure will 'address some really important transportation needs,' Heather Grondin, chief relations officer of Canada's Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority, said during a Society of Automotive Analysts webinar on Wednesday. The Gordie Howe bridge, while almost complete, doesn't have an opening date. The bridge authority says it intends the structure to open this year. Tolls for the bridge have yet to be set. All tolls will be paid on the Canadian side of the bridge. Grondin said during the webinar that less than 2% of the bridge to be built. The official said the Gordie Howe bridge will be the choice for U.S.-Canada trade shipments. All of this is taking place amid a U.S.-Canada trade war. U.S. President Donald Trump repeatedly has said the U.S. should annex Canada. The bridge may yet experience more drama.
