On July 1, the day free agency opened and following the announcement of the signing of veteran forward Mikael Granlund, the Anaheim Ducks announced they had filled out their coaching staffs at both the NHL and AHL levels.

As had been reported the week prior, Jay Woodcroft (48) was hired to run the forwards and power play. He entered the 2025 offseason as one of the NHL’s top head coaching candidates, even interviewing for the Ducks vacancy, but after a second consecutive summer missing out on the coaching carousel, he joined Joel Quenneville’s staff in Anaheim.

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“Jay and I have a long history. He was in Detroit when I was there with the Detroit Red Wings, he was the video coach there,” Pat Verbeek said after the hiring announcements. “He’s really grown as a coach. He ran the power play when he was in San Jose, and had a top-ten power play when he was there.

“What I like is how he teaches progressions, whether it’s the breakouts, whether it’s the plays that get made in the zone to create chances. I really love that part about his coaching and his presentation.”

On the other side of Quenneville, opposite Woodcroft, will be Ryan McGill (56) to run the defensemen and penalty kill. McGill has been a head coach at both the CHL and AHL levels. He was an assistant with the Vegas Golden Knights from their inception in 2017 until 2022, whereafter he joined the New Jersey Devils, where he’d been an assistant for the past three seasons.

“Ryan’s going to run the defense,” Verbeek stated. “In New Jersey, I think this year, he was top-two in the league as far as the penalty kill. We went through the last three years with him, so his first year there, he was top-four, fell to top-ten, and then last year, second overall. If we get anywhere close to that, I’ll be ecstatic.”

McGill’s Devils had the second-best PK in the NHL in 2024-25 (82.7%), the tenth-best in 2023-24 (80.7%), and the fourth-best in 2022-23 (82.6%).

Both Woodcroft and McGill will be expected to flip one of the Ducks’ greatest areas of weakness, special teams, into an area of strength. In 2024-25, they had the 29th-ranked PK, killing at a 74.2% clip, and the 32nd-ranked PP, converting at a horrendous 11.8% clip. With the talent on both sides of the puck on the roster, those numbers were clearly viewed as unacceptable. Merely raising both units to league average will contribute to an improvement in the league standings in 2025-26.

The Ducks also added Andrew Brewer (39) to the coaching staff. Brewer was Hockey Canada’s video coach from 2011-2014, the Detroit Red Wings video coach in 2014-15, and the Florida Panthers video coach from 2020-2022. He has experience as an NHL assistant, coaching the Toronto Maple Leafs from 2016 to 2020. It’s unclear what his day-to-day responsibilities will look like.

“We just really focused in on quality quality coaching,” Verbeek continued. “I feel very, very fortunate that we got the guys we got. Mixed in with Joel, I think we’ve got an outstanding staff.”

The NHL club wasn’t the only team in the organization to round out its coaching staff on July 1. The San Diego Gulls hired Dave Manson and Michael Babcock to be assistants to head coach Matt McIlvane.

Manson (58), father of eight-year Ducks defenseman Josh Manson, most notably coached alongside Woodcroft both with the Bakersfield Condors in the AHL from 2018 to 2021 and the Edmonton Oilers of the NHL from 2021 to 2023. He was let go when Woodcroft was, just six games into the 2023-24 season.

Manson played for 16 years and 1103 games in the NHL from 1986 to 2002 for the Chicago Blackhawks, Dallas Stars, Edmonton Oilers, and Phoenix Coyotes/Winnipeg Jets.

It is presumed Manson will run the defensemen and penalty kill for the Gulls.

Michael Babcock (30), son of longtime NHL coach and former Ducks head coach Mike Babcock, joins the Gulls after spending the last two seasons in the St. Louis Blues organization as a skills coach.

As a player, Babcock played prep school hockey in Michigan, for the Fargo Force of the USHL, and Merrimack College for four seasons in the NCAA, before playing a season overseas in France’s top professional division.

Babcock will presumably run the forwards and power play in San Diego.

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Photo Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

Last Friday, the Montreal Canadiens elected not to submit a qualifying offer to Rafael Harvey-Pinard. This didn’t necessarily mean they were done with him; they could have wanted to sign him again, but at a lower price. Still, the absence of a qualifying offer made him a UFA, and he didn’t stick around to find out if the Canadiens would throw a bone his way.

The 26-year-old Saguenay native signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins on July 2. A seventh-round pick at the 2019 draft, Harvey-Pinard has played 84 games in the NHL so far, all with the Canadiens, recording 17 goals and 14 assists for a total of 31 points. He made a name for himself during the 2022-23 season when he made the most of the opportunity he got when several regulars were injured for the Canadiens. He found himself skating alongside Nick Suzuki on the first line and scored 14 goals and 20 points in just 34 games. In 185 regular season games in the AHL, he has gathered 126 points, the second highest total in team history.

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Last season, he played only one game with the Canadiens, spending the rest of his campaign in the AHL, where he collected 19 points in 40 games. Injuries have played a considerable role in Harvey-Pinard’s fate. Last Summer, he had to undergo surgery after suffering a broken leg while training. As a result, he was on the sidelines for four months, meaning he missed training camp and spent the entire season playing catch-up.

While he may not be a big point producer in the NHL, he is as intense and devoted as a player can be. In Laval, he was often nicknamed Lavallagher, because his style and intensity were similar to that of alternate captain Brendan Gallagher.

With the Penguins set to undergo a bit of a rebuild, Harvey-Pinard may have a better chance to make the NHL there than he would have had with the Canadiens who have now turned a corner in their rebuild and are focussing much more on results than development, as evidence by Kent Hughes’ moves so far this offseason.

The Pens also signed another Quebecer on the same day when they added Anthony Mantha to the fold. The former Detroit Red Wings first-round pick has struggled to find a home since leaving Detroit and will be on his fifth team. While these signings might have prompted part of the Canadiens’ fan base to lament the fact that the Habs didn’t sign the Quebecers at one time, Hughes has ensured it wouldn’t happen this year by acquiring Zach Bolduc in a trade and signing Samuel Blais as a free agent.

Photo credit: David Kirouac-Imagn Images

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Pontus Holmberg spoke to the media on Wednesday for the first time since signing a new two-year contract worth $1.55 million per season with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Although he seemed happy to be getting a raise with his new NHL team, he did describe the emotions of the past few days that saw his former club not tender him a qualifying offer.

"First, it was tough," Holmberg told reporters in a Zoom call on Wednesday. "I'm happy to come to Tampa for a bit of a restart of my career."

Holmberg had seven goals and `12 assists in 68 games last season. Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube liked Holmberg's game to the point where the player saw some key minutes at times on the second line during their 2025 playoff run. 

Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving said they liked Holmberg, but they couldn't agree on a number for a new contract. The Leafs could have tendered Holmberg a qualifying offer of $866,000 to retain his rights, but Toronto was concerned about the money the player could get in an arbitration award. Any AAV under $4.85 million, the Leafs must honor, and there was fear the player could get a number they weren't comfortable paying.

In many ways, Holmberg was a success story for Toronto's scouting department. A sixth-round pick (156th overall) in the 2018 NHL Draft, the Swedish forward established a reputation for being a tough player to knock away from the puck. 

Although Holmberg played in 12 playoff games, he managed just one assist and has just one point in 19 career playoff games. The player admitted that he hasn't been able to demonstrate his offensive skills as much as he would like to at the NHL level, but hopes to get that opportunity in Tampa. Projected to play in the bottom six, Tampa appears to be enthusiastic about the player's defensive ability and speed. The Lightning will also like the player's ability to draw penalties, where he led all Leafs with 28 and was 21st in the NHL. 

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He told The Hockey News that he was good at drawing penalties his entire career, including the SHL where the player helped the Vaxjo Lakers HC win an SHL championship in 2021. Holmberg took SHL Playoffs MVP that year and also won Swedish Forward of the Year honors.

(Photo credit: Tampa Bay Lighting YouTube Channel)

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Sharks sign Dmitry Orlov, claim Nick Leddy to surpass NHL's $70.6M salary floor originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

The Sharks have been busy filling out their roster since NHL free agency opened Tuesday, and they made two more important moves Thursday.

Veteran defenseman Dmitry Orlov signed a two-year contract with the Sharks worth $6.5 million annually.

San Jose also claimed 34-year-old defenseman Nick Leddy off waivers from the St. Louis Blues.

NHL insider Elliotte Friedman first reported news of Leddy being claimed.

Leddy has a $4 million AAV for the 2025-26 season, meaning the Sharks added $10.5 million in salary Thursday, putting them above the $70.60 million salary floor.

Per PuckPedia, the Sharks currently have $72.55 million in salaries — second-lowest in the NHL — for next season.

Orlov is a 13-year NHL veteran, having spent time with the Washington Capitals, Boston Bruins and most recently, with the Carolina Hurricanes.

In 76 games with the Hurricanes last season, Orlov scored six goals and recorded 22 assists. He has 327 points in 867 career NHL games.

“Dmitry is a strong, two-way defenseman who brings physicality and versatility on the ice,” Sharks general manager Mike Grier said in a statement released by the team. “He has a wealth of NHL experience, both in the regular season and playoffs, and his Stanley Cup championship pedigree is a valuable addition to our team. We are happy to have him.”

Leddy brings even more experience to the Sharks, having played for the New York Islanders, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings and Blues during his 15-year NHL career.

He appeared in just 31 games for the Blues last season, registering two goals and three assists. In 1,042 career NHL games, he has 416 points.

The Sharks are building an exciting young core, but the downside of that strategy is that they have one of the NHL’s youngest teams.

Adding Orlov and Leddy, both of whom have won the Stanley Cup, gives the Sharks two much-needed veteran leaders.

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