Luostarinen’s 4-Point Night Lifts Panthers to Second Round
The Florida Panthers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-3 in Game 5 to win the series and punch their ticket to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The…
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Penguins Draft Prospect Profile: Jake O'Brien
With the 2025 NHL Entry Draft approaching fast, POHO and GM Kyle Dubas and the Pittsburgh Penguins have their work cut out for them.
With a total of 30 picks over the next three drafts, including 11 this year - which could reduce to 10 if the conditional first-round pick from the New York Rangers defers to 2026 - there will be plenty of opportunity for the Penguins to add impact players. Of their 11 picks in 2025, six of them are in the first three rounds.
And, as of now, the Penguins will select ninth overall. The draft lottery will take place on Jun. 5th - Pittsburgh has a five percent chance of getting the first overall pick - while the draft itself will be on Jun. 27-28.
Assuming they stay put at ninth, however, we have compiled a list of potential draft prospects that should fall around the Penguins' selection.
First up? Center Jake O'Brien.
2025 NHL Draft Lottery Day Announced: How It Works, And What Are The Odds?The 2025 NHL draft lottery is scheduled for Monday, May 5, when we will know which team has the top pick in June.
Jake O'Brien
DOB: Jun. 16, 2007
Position: Center
Shoots: Right
Height: 6-foot-2
Weight: 170 pounds
Team: Brantford Bulldogs (OHL)
After bursting onto the scene as the Canadian Hockey League's (CHL) Rookie of the Year in 2024, O'Brien followed that up with an impressive sophomore campaign. The 17-year-old two-way center finished eighth in CHL scoring during the regular season, registering 32 goals and 98 points in 66 games.
The only draft-eligible players more productive this season than O'Brien? Porter Martone and Michael Misa, who are both projected to be drafted in the top-five.
Even though several draft projections still have O'Brien being selected somewhere in the teens, it's also worthwhile to acknowledge how much his draft stock has risen. He's certainly put himself into the conversation to be drafted in the top-10, and what seemed like a far-fetched thing feels more and more like it's going to happen.
Not a day that goes by that I don't have someone tell me how much the Penguins have been around/interested in Jake O'Brien this year. Lots of people I respect who are in that arena a lot have told me the Penguins are all over this kid. https://t.co/ehIUWWqXKT
— Jesse Marshall (@jmarshfof) April 9, 2025
O'Brien's playmaking acumen, patience, and hockey-IQ are near the top of this draft class, and there are a lot of details present in his game that should translate well to the NHL level. He's good in the hard and the soft areas of the ice, and his creativity and vision aid in his playmaking and space creation ability.
His passing game is excellent, and his two-way game is strong. OBrien is effective in all three zones with his stick details and puckhandling ability, and he's especially proficient in the offensive zone. He is able to expose the danger areas and has a knack for being in the right place at the right time around the net-front.
Like Penguins top forward prospects Rutger McGroarty and Ville Koivunen, O'Brien's defining characteristic is his hockey sense. He is elusive to defenders, he goes to the net fearlessly, and the deception in his game makes him a threat every time he possesses the puck.
2025 NHL Draft Spotlight: Jake O'Brien's Elite Playmaking Ability Heating Up Down The StretchTop prospect for the upcoming NHL draft, Jake O'Brien, has helped push the Brantford Bulldogs up the Eastern Conference standings with his incredible play.
O'Brien's skating is average, and a lot of his production comes on the power play. In fact, 50 of his 98 points in 2024-25 came with the man advantage, so it's fair to question whether his even-strength production is a concern. He also needs to fill out his frame and add some size.
However, O'Brien is arguably one of the most complete players in this draft class. Most of the deficiencies in his game are areas that can be addressed as he develops, his all-around toolset is already impressive, and his details in all three zones
Given the Penguins' glaring need for center depth in their system, O'Brien is certainly a player worth taking a good look at. He has a ceiling as an effective second-line center at the NHL level, and his rise in stock is becoming harder and harder to ignore.
O'Brien will certainly be one to watch as a potential first-round selection by the Penguins in 2025.
NHL comparables: Mason McTavish, Martin Necas, Ryan O'Reilly
'We Have To Stick To A Very Concise Plan And Then Execute Our Butts Off': Dubas Clarifies Penguins' Summer PlansTo close out the 2024-25 season, Pittsburgh Penguins president of hockey operations and general manager Kyle Dubas spoke with the Pittsburgh media on Monday.
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Washington Capitals To Renew Bad Blood With Carolina Hurricanes In Round 2
As the Washington Capitals beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-1 in Game 5 on Wednesday, the first second-round matchup of the Stanley Cup playoffs is set.
The Capitals eliminated the Canadiens and will face the Carolina Hurricanes, which knocked out the New Jersey Devils in five games.
During the regular season, the Capitals and Hurricanes played each other twice in April, leading up to the playoffs. If those outings showed anything, these two clubs don't like each other.
On April 2, the Canes beat the Caps 5-1 at the Lenovo Center, with two goals from Carolina rookie Jackson Blake. However, it wasn’t the goal-scoring or the high-flying skills that were highlighted from this contest, but the antics between whistles.
This game had a total of 142 penalty minutes between the teams, 74 for Washington and 68 for Carolina. There were eight misconducts from scrums after stoppages.
The bad blood didn’t stop there. At the end of a fight between Connor McMichael and Jalen Chatfield, Chatfield took down McMichael with what was argued as a slew-foot. Despite the arguments and debate across the hockey world, Chatfield didn’t receive any supplemental discipline.
MMA-Style Takedown In NHL Fight Could Have Ended Very BadlyEverything in Connor McMichael's life is going wonderfully at the moment. At the age of 24, the Washington Capitals winger has established himself as a legitimate scoring power forward on one of the best teams in the NHL and has reached the 25-goal mark for the first time in his career.
Eight days later, these teams faced off again, this time at Washington’s Capital One Arena. The Capitals took down the Hurricanes in a shootout, 5-4. There weren’t nearly as many penalties, but it’s not to say it wasn’t a physical match.
Brandan Duhaime came to McMichael’s defense, fighting Chatfield in the first period.
The season series finished 2-2, with Carolina earning the extra point from the shootout. Now, these teams have another chance at beating each other in the second round.
Despite the Capitals and Hurricanes advancing in five games, it wasn’t as easy as it looked, especially for Washington. The young Canadiens refused to go down without a fight and put together some strong performances, even if they are the youngest team in the NHL, according to eliteprospects.com.
The Capitals had some spirited battles with the Canadiens, including heavy hits, warmup antics at center ice, fights on the bench and more moments.
"We knew that they were gonna play kind of cheap and try and get us off our game," Wilson told reporters after beating the Canadiens. "So it got crazy at times. But that's why hockey's so fun, and that's why we all love the sport and we love playing and love competing. So it was a heck of a physical series, but that's what playoffs is all about."
Washington should be ready for the battle Carolina will bring when their series begins.
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Big night by Marchand line helps Panthers eliminate Lightning with 6-3 win in Game 5
The Florida Panthers are moving on.
Fueled by Wednesday’s 6-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 5, Florida is heading to the second round for the fourth consecutive postseason.
They’ll face the winner of the series between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators.
It didn’t take long for the goals to start coming fast and furious on Wednesday night at Amalie Arena.
First it was Gage Goncalves from the doorstep, picking up a Luke Glendening shot and putting it behind a sprawling Sergei Bobrovsky just 2:33 into the game.
Carter Verhaeghe tied the game less than three minutes later, taking a feed from Matthew Tkachuk and backhanding it past Andrei Vasilevskiy.
A great play by Brad Marchand in the corner led to Florida’s next goal, as Marchand’s centering pass went off the leg of Anton Lundell and into the net at the 10:06 mark.
Florida’s lead lasted just over two minutes.
Connor Geekie stole the puck from Lundell in Florida’s zone and the puck went right to Nick Paul in the slot. He quickly spun around and beat Bobrovsky over the glove, knotting the score at two.
The second period had barely gotten going when Florida took the lead for a second time.
Defenseman Gus Forsling fired a one-timer from the point that was deflected by a screening Sasha Barkov to put the Cats up 3-2 just 52 seconds into the period.
A Jake Guentzel power play goal, Tampa’s first in 15 chances, tied the score at three midway through the middle frame.
The Bolts went right back on the power play when Sam Bennett took his second straight penalty, but it would be Bennett that got the last laugh this time
Immediately after Florida killed off the power play, Bennett took a pass from Lundell and went in all alone on Vasilevskiy, beating him to the blocker side to put the Panthers back in front.
Florida’s third line continued their amazing night, picking up a huge insurance goal for the Cats.
A steal by Lundell in the neutral zone led to Marchand collecting the puck in Tampa’s end.
Marchand sent a perfect feed to a cutting Eetu Luostarinen, whose fourth point of the game put Florida ahead 5-3.
Sam Reinhart added an empty-net goal to seal the victory for the Cats.
On to round two!
QUICK THOUGHTS
Verhaeghe has now scored in consecutive games. He had goals in three straight games and a five-game point streak to close out his regular season.
Also scoring in back-to-back games is Lundell, who has five points over his past two outings.
His buddy Eetu Luostarinen had quite a night, logging a goal and three assists on Wednesday for the first four-point game of his career.
Tkachuk’s assist gave him five points so far during the playoffs.
Barkov is also up to five playoff points after picking up his first goal of the postseason.
Reinhart is also up to six postseason points after logging an assist on Verhaeghe’s goal.
Marchand has picked up assists in back-to-back games and has four so far during the playoffs.
Not one, not two, not three but four assists over his last two games for Eetu Luostarinen after dishing a pair of apples in Game 5.
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The Hockey News Playoff Frenzy Live: Reaction As Capitals Eliminate The Canadiens
Welcome to The Hockey News Playoff Frenzy Live, streaming nightly during the NHL's Stanley Cup playoffs.
After the big game of the night, our experts go live to react to the match that was, break down the key moments and storylines, provide updates on the rest of the night's NHL slate and read your opinions.
On tonight's show, Katie Gaus and Andrew McInnis react to the Washington Capitals beating the Montreal Canadiens 4-1 in Game 5 and advancing to the second round of the playoffs.
Capitals vs Canadiens Game 5 - Playoff Frenzy | The Hockey NewsWelcome to Playoff Frenzy Live by The Hockey News presented by STIX.com, where we give our live reactions and break down the latest news to all the biggest g...They also look at the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning facing off in Game 5.
Share your thoughts in the comments and live chat, and the hosts may discuss your message during the stream.
It's Official: The Flames Will Pick 18th Overall at the 2025 NHL Draft (And We Have Our Guess)
With the Carolina Hurricanes and Washington Capitals eliminating the New Jersey Devils and Montreal Canadiens respectfully from 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Calgary Flames are now officially locked in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft with the 18th overall pick.
Who will they draft?
Let the speculation begin…
The Flames have a problem on the offensive end. They had the fourth-lowest goals scored in the league, and a power play that ranked 19th. But they do get shots on goal with the seventh-most this past season.
The good thing about Calgary is they have two first-round picks this year and the second one is dependent on how far the Florida Panthers end up in the playoffs. The Flames should prioritize their offensive needs with that second pick.
Considering in Elite Prospects top 32 April’s list of prospects for the draft, there are just seven defencemen, it makes the position even more valuable.
And since 23-year-old Wranglers centre Rory Kerins impressed in the AHL with 33 goals and 61 points in 63 games this past season, and even scored four points in five games with the Flames, there is potential he makes the roster and helps with the scoring.
Calgary has depth with right-handed defencemen: Rasmus Andersson (whose future with the organization is cloudy), MacKenzie Weegar, Brayden Pachal, Daniil Miromanov.
Zayne Parekh and Hunter Brzustewicz are RHD prospects that are very likely to make the roster.
With left-handers, the only regulars are Joel Hanley, Jake Bean and Kevin Bahl. Hanley will be an unrestricted free agent in the summer and will turn 34 on June 8th: quite old for the Flames roster whose average age was 27.35 for the 2024-45 season according to Elite Prospects.
Jake Bean is not a game-changing defenceman, and will most likely be headed to the AHL, leaving Bahl as the top pairing left defenceman. That means it should be Craig Conroy’s priority to sign the upcoming restricted free agent.
With that 18th overall pick, the Flames should draft a left-handed defenceman and add depth to their blueline.
Our pick: Kitchener Rangers LD Cameron Reid -
24'-25' OHL Stats: 14 Goals, 40 Assists, 54 Points in 67 Games
Notable Stat: 22 Power Play assists (Team-high, 16th in the OHL)
The Reasons:
- Valuable shutdown defenseman
- Two-way capabilities with great offensive skills
- Leadership experience as alternate captain of Rangers
- Ability to quarterback the man-advantage will help power play woes
- Very physical defender for a Flames roster ranked 19th in hits in the 2024-45 season
Nashville Predators Draft Odds: NHL Announces Lottery Details
The NHL announced that the 2025 Draft Lottery will be held May 5 at NHL Network studios in Secaucus, New Jersey. The event will be broadcast on ESPN in the United States and Sportsnet and TVA Sports in Canada, at a time to be announced.
The Draft itself will take place from June 27-28 in Los Angeles.
There will be two drawings in the Draft Lottery, one to determine the No. 1 pick and a second to determine the No. 2 pick. No team can move up more than 10 spots in the draft order, and only the top 11 teams in the lottery are eligible for the No. 1 pick. If a team outside of the top 11 wins the draw, the team with the worst record in the NHL will pick No. 1.
The San Jose Sharks (20-50-12), who finished with the NHL's worst record, have the best odds to win the lottery at 18.5%, followed by the Chicago Blackhawks (25-46-11) at 13.5% and the Nashville Predators (30-44-8) at 11.5%.
According to Tankathon, the Predators' odds for their five possible lottery results are as follows:
- No. 1 overall — 11.5%
- No. 2 overall — 11.2%
- No. 3 overall — 7.8%
- No. 4 overall — 39.7%
- No. 5 overall — 29.8%
Regardless of the lottery results, the Predators will select in the top five of the draft order for the first time since 2013, when they selected defenseman Seth Jones at No. 4 overall.
The Los Angeles Kings' Bad Coach's Challenge Is Nowhere Near Why The Oilers Could Eliminate Them Again
The Los Angeles Kings looked on the way to eliminating the Edmonton Oilers for the first time in their four straight first-round series. They’re now on the brink of going home empty again.
The rollercoaster affair had the Kings winning the first two games and leading in Game 3 before the Oilers stormed back to win that night and the next two games,including a 3-1 victory Tuesday night in Los Angeles.
While some people may see one bad coach’s challenge as a turning point in this matchup, the Kings have only a series of blown leads to blame for where they are in the series at the moment.
Without a doubt, Kings coach Jim Hiller coach’s challenge for goaltender interference on Evander Kane’s equalizer in Game 3 was not a good look. The review quickly determined the goal would stand, and the resulting penalty led directly to the game-winning goal being scored on the Oilers’ power play. That’s not up for debate.
That’s not the reason why Los Angeles dropped three games in a row. The key issue for the Kings is that they’ve deviated from their strong regular-season play when they knew how to hang onto their leads.
The Kings were 25-4-3 this season when leading after the first period, and they were even more impressive when leading after two periods at 35-1-2.
But in the first round, Los Angeles is 2-1 when leading after 20 minutes, and they’re 2-2 when leading after two periods. They’re already two-thirds of the way to their blown third-period leads in the regular season.
When you break down the games even further, you’ll see the Kings constantly squandering advantages they managed to carve out.
In Game 3 on Friday, the Kings overcame a 2-0 Oilers lead, scoring three straight goals before Edmonton tied it. Los Angeles again took the lead late in the second period, only to allow the final three goals of the game.
In Game 4 on Sunday, the Kings built a two-goal lead – and after the Oilers cut the lead in half, L.A. restored its two-goal advantage, only to allow the next three goals to Edmonton, including the overtime-winner. And finally, in Game 5, the Kings scored the first goal, then allowed two straight Oilers goals, plus an empty-netter.
Oilers' Evan Bouchard Joins Rare Company With Clutch PerformancesWhen you put Edmonton Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard in the playoff spotlight, he can put up points from the blueline like not many others.
Clearly, one bad coach's challenge is not responsible for L.A. blowing leads time and again. A lost coach’s challenge didn’t help matters, of course. But that’s in one game only.
The Kings’ defensive deficiencies are the real culprit here. And to be sure, Kings goalie Darcy Kuemper isn’t the goat, although his 3.44 GAA and .899 SP aren’t moving the needle in a positive way for his team. It’s the defense in front of Kuemper that’s the root cause of three straight defeats.
In the first two games of this series, the Kings’ offense was the difference in their favor, posting six goals in both games. But Los Angeles has messed around by trying to run-and-gun with Edmonton’s high-octane offensive attack, and they’ve found out that’s not a great idea.
As it stands, L.A. is on the brink of elimination – and once again, the team could be heading home for the summer courtesy of an Oilers team it knows all too well. The stakes are sky-high for them now, as one loss in the next two games could spell the end of the line for Kings GM Rob Blake and could lead to roster changes this summer. You can’t keep running back the same core, lose in the first round four straight seasons to the same team and expect to keep your job.
Ultimately, the Kings can’t say they didn’t know how to build a lead against Edmonton. They just didn’t know how to hold one. And consequently, they’re on the verge of exiting the playoffs and becoming a gigantic disappointment yet again.
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