ST. LOUIS -- The St. Louis Blues on Thursday signed Will Cranley to a one-year, two-way contract extension that will pay the goalie $775,000 NHL/$85,000 AHL.

The 23-year-old was originally drafted by the Blues in the sixth round of the 2020 NHL Draft. 

This season, Cranley played in 23 regular-season games for the Blues’ ECHL affiliate, the Florida Everblades, and was 11-9-3 with a 2.71 goals-against average, an .896 save percentage and two shutouts.

Cranley also dressed, but did not play, in two games for Springfield of the American Hockey League.

Cranley, who spent time in St. Louis recently as an extra goalie while the Blues prepped for and have competed in the Stanley Cup playoffs, is 20-24-7 with a 3.31 GAA, an .891 save percentage and two shutouts in 56 ECHL games.   

They actually did it.

One of the best organizations in the Western Conference, the Colorado Avalanche, finally has a great goalie.

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Mackenzie Blackwood is one of the best goaltenders in the NHL today. If you aren’t convinced already, hopefully you can be persuaded by his regular season and early playoff performances.

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Blackwood’s Regular Season Dominance

Blackwood was acquired early in the regular season after Alexandar Georgiev wasn’t getting the job done for the Avalanche. It’s clear now, that trading for Blackwood was the best move made by the organization this year.

In 56 games played, Blackwood recorded a 28-21-6 record between the Avalanche and the San Jose Sharks. He also posted a 2.55 goals against average (GAA), a .912 save percentage (SV%), and four shutouts.

Additionally, he boasted a 13.3 Goals Saved Above Expected (GSAx).

Amongst NHL goalies who played at least 35 games, here is where he ranks in each statistic:

SV% - 5th

GAA - 8th

*Shutouts - 11th

GSAx - 15th

Wins - 13th

*Blackwood was tied with eight other goalies for 7th-place.

Let’s also not forget that Blackwood began the season on the NHL’s worst team, so there’s that to take into consideration.

NHL Public Relations Releases Start Time for Game 6The NHL has officially announced the start times for postseason games set to take place on May 1st.

Blackwood Has Taken It Up A Notch In The Playoffs

As if his regular season play wasn’t enough, Blackwood has elevated his performance in the playoffs. He has been head and shoulders above everyone else on his team game after game.

Blackwood has a 2-3-0 record to go along with a 2.38 GAA, a .909 SV%, one shutout and 4.4 GSAx. He ranks sixth in SV%, sixth in GAA, tied for first in shutouts, and fourth in GSAx.

The only reason why the Avalanche have a fighting chance at winning this series is due to the stellar play of Blackwood.

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Vegas Golden Knights forward Victor Olofsson will rejoin the lineup in place of Pavel Dorofeyev, who suffered an injury in Game 5. 

Olofsson played the first three games of the series before he was taken out of the lineup for veteran Tanner Pearson. In three games, Olofsson failed to record a point and mustered just three shots on goal. 

Although the first three games of his NHL playoffs career haven't gone as he would have liked, he possesses a threat every shift due to his lethal shot. So much so that despite serving as a healthy scratch for the previous two games, he'll step right onto the top power play unit where Dorofeyev was playing. 

He won't, however, take his spot on the top line. Mark Stone will join Jack Eichel and William Karlsson on the first line, with Olofsson joining the second line next to Tomas Hertl and Brandon Saad. 

"Great opportunity for me. It's always tough watching games from the sidelines, so I'm really excited to be back in there," said Olofsson.

At the moment, Dorofeyev has been announced day-to-day with an undisclosed injury. Teams rarely release the ailment a player is suffering from during the playoffs. 

Cassidy did not have any updates on Dorofeyev yesterday, mentioning that the team did not skate and he would find out more soon. The unfortunate information he did find out is that Dorofeyev, the team's leading goal scorer, cannot play Game 6.

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Golden Knights Video Coach The True Star Of Game 5Vegas Golden Knights forwards Jack Eichel and Mark Stone finally introduced themselves into the series in Game 5, but the true headliner was video assistant coach Dave Rogowski detecting a possible offside on a Minnesota Wild goal.

Bruins closer to getting better pick from Panthers due to Marchand trade originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The Florida Panthers are into the second round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs, and Brad Marchand is one of the main reasons why.

That might be a weird sentence for Boston Bruins fans to read, but it’s true.

The Panthers eliminated the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 5 of the first round on Wednesday night with a 6-3 win at Amalie Arena.

Marchand picked up two assists in the victory, giving him four points (four assists) for the series. Florida outscored Tampa Bay 6-2 during Marchand’s 5-on-5 ice time through five games.

Marchand has made a seamless transition to the Panthers lineup since the Bruins sent him to Florida just before the March 7 NHL trade deadline.

He’s giving the Panthers scoring depth, playmaking, toughness, penalty killing and even more playoff experience. Marchand is also teaming up with Matthew Tkachuk to chirp opposing players, which is quite a sight.

The rivalry between the Panthers and Bruins is still a heated one, but Florida’s success this spring does impact Boston in a meaningful way.

When the Bruins traded Marchand to the Panthers, they got a conditional 2027 second-round pick in return. If the Panthers reach the Eastern Conference Final and Marchand plays in at least 50 percent of their playoff games, that second-rounder owed to Boston would become a 2027 first-round pick. The Boston Herald’s Steve Conroy has reported that 2027 first-rounder would be top-10 protected, so if the pick does fall in the top 10, it would convey as an unprotected 2028 first-round pick.

Right now, the chances of the Panthers reaching the conference final and Marchand playing in half (or more) of the games look pretty good. The Panthers will be favored in their Round 2 series, whether it’s against the Toronto Maple Leafs or Ottawa Senators. That means there’s a good chance of Boston landing either a 2027 or 2028 first-round pick from Florida (likely the former).

The Panthers are the best team left in the playoffs thanks to their combination of high-end skill, toughness, experience and quality goaltending. Injuries might be the only factor that could derail this team.