We have a fight on day one of Toronto Maple Leafs development camp.

Maple Leafs 2025 seventh-round pick Matthew Hlacar and Toronto Marlies signed Rhett Parsons dropped the gloves three-quarters of the way through the first day of Toronto's development camp. Each of the players got in a few punches before they had to be separated by other camp invitees.

"Just compete," Parsons said of why the two dropped the gloves. "Just going into a battle drill, that's what I pride my game after. I know we're all teammates off the ice and love the guy, love every teammate here, but when you're in a battle drill, just stuff like that happens. But total respect to him, no hard feelings off the ice."

Parsons, a defenseman with the ECHL's Cincinnati Cyclones last season, gave a few cross-checks to the back of Hlacar before both players dropped the gloves. "I kind of like to get under guys' skin, but no hard feelings, and like I said, these are all my teammates, I'm not trying to hurt anyone out there," added Parsons.

"It was just two guys going hard," said Hlacar after the first session of Toronto's development camp. "Tempers flare, and it happens. But it's all good. I talked to him after and we're fine. It is what it is."

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Hlacar was Toronto's seventh-round selection (217th overall) in the 2025 NHL Draft. He spent last season with the OHL's Kitchener Rangers, scoring seven goals and one assist in 43 games. The 19-year-old calls himself someone who plays hard and tries to do his own thing, adding, "I don't really try to be an enforcer, tough. I just kind of play hockey, play hard, and whatever happens, happens."

Born an hour outside of Toronto in Binbrook, Ontario, Hlacar grew up a Maple Leafs fan. His favorite player when he was younger? Phil Kessel. After being drafted by Toronto, Hlacar said he received a few text messages from current players, like John Tavares and Auston Matthews.

"I was just like, wow, this is for real now," he chuckled when asked what it was like when he saw those messages pop up.

No New Contract From Maple Leafs Was ‘Tough,’ Says Pontus HolmbergPontus 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.

Toronto's development runs from Thursday to Saturday, with a total of 48 players participating in the three-day-long event. The prospects have already spent several days in Toronto doing off-ice activities and are now beginning the on-ice portion of the camp.

From Claude Giroux to J.G. Pageau, or from Marc Methot to Mark Borowiecki, Ottawa Senators fans have always had a soft spot for the hometown players who go to battle for their local NHL team.

After a brilliant career with the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers, Embrun’s Jackson Parsons still has a long way to go, but the 2025 CHL Goaltender of the Year is now officially part of his hometown team. Parsons has signed a three-year, entry-level deal with the Senators, and was all smiles on Wednesday at day one of development camp.

"It's unbelievable," Parsons said on the club's website. "Obviously, I played a lot of minor hockey here, so it's bringing back old memories. It's the coolest feeling in the world, putting this jersey on.

"Obviously, I grew up a Sens fan. All my buddies were Sens fans. So it's unbelievable."

Parsons went undrafted last weekend, despite going 37-12-3 with a 2.24 goals-against average, a .920 save percentage, and being named the CHL and OHL Goaltender of the Year.

Parsons played his local AAA hockey with the Eastern Ontario Wild, CIHA Voyageurs, and the Cornwall Colts. He even played a few games with the Eastern Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Char-Lan Rebels. Parsons now joins Kitchener teammates Matt Andonovski and Luke Ellinas as young players trying to make a splash in the Sens' prospect pool.

If everything goes according to plan, his next step will be the American Hockey League, trying to win the opening alongside the B-Sens' probable number one, Mads Sogaard.

“I had a pretty good end to my junior career in Kitchener,” Parsons said. “Obviously, we couldn't get it done against London. But I mean, moving on to here, obviously, the goal is to play pro hockey and play at a high level. So obviously, I'm looking to make a name for myself in the AHL and go from there.”

Parsons says as far as the development camp goes this week, he’s just trying to soak everything in with a new organization, learning some of their key terms and putting them to work.

Finally, when asked about his favourite all-time Senators memory growing up, he didn’t hesitate, picking his answer out of the air like a one-timer from the high slot.

“Oh, probably, like, The Hamburglar. I was like 10 years old when that stuff was happening and it was like, this is crazy. Like, this is so cool. Like, I wanna be there. So, it's sweet.”

It's often said that for hockey fans, the golden age of hockey is whoever you were watching when you were 10 years old. For Parsons, his golden age may have kick-started a future NHL career.

By Steve Warne
The Hockey News Ottawa
Image credit: Ottawa Senators website

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The Rangers continue to reshape their roster, signing defenseman Derrick Pouliot to a two-year contract.

Pouliot, 31, has played 226 games at the NHL level, including 67 games with Pittsburgh to start his career, followed by a two-year run in Vancouver in which he played in 133 games.

The veteran has also made stops in St. Louis, Las Vegas, Seattle, San Jose, and most recently with Dallas, though he spent the 2024-25 season playing with the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL, scoring seven goals with 46 assists in 70 games.

Overall, Pouliot has tallied eight goals and 46 assists with 91 penalty minutes over parts of nine seasons.

While the Carolina Hurricanes certainly made a splash on the opening day of free agency, it wasn't through the signing of a UFA. 

No, the Hurricanes' biggest move of the week came from a trade for defenseman K'Andre Miller from the New York Rangers (acquired for rookie defenseman Scott Morrow, a 2026 first and a 2026 second).

The Canes have had a couple of UFA signings, but all have been to address organizational depth rather than to improve the roster, but that's to be expected. 

The 2025 UFA class was already a pretty weak one and that was even before most players decided to go ahead and re-sign with their own teams.

Now, the only true top-six upgrade the Canes can pursue is Nikolaj Ehlers, who Carolina is reportedly the top contender for.

"We've had talks with his agent and he's taking his time to field offers," said Carolina general manager Eric Tulsky on Tuesday. "He's obviously a very popular person right now and we're waiting to see where that goes."

Top Pairing Defenseman and Beloved Teammate Brent Burns Finds New Home In ColoradoIt seems that former Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Brent Burns is indeed moving on to a new opportunity, as it was announced that the blueliner has signed a one-year deal with the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday.

While they're waiting on Ehlers to make a decision, the Hurricanes have fortified their depth. 

The first thing the team did was improve their goaltending depth, trading for Montreal Canadiens goaltender Cayden Primeau (in exchange for a 2026 seventh) and signing KHL goaltender Amir Miftakhov.

Carolina had a clear lack of depth at the goaltender position heading into this offseason with Spencer Martin opting to pursue an opportunity in the KHL and Dustin Tokarski well beyond his years.

With no other goalie prospects in the system ready for that next step either, the Canes went out and added two options with potential upside.

"Spencer [Martin's] been really good for us these past couple of years, but he was ready to move on," Tulsky said. "He had another opportunity which he wanted to pursue, so we needed a new person to bring in to be that number three. Dustin [Tokarski] was also great for us in a number four role last year, but we were looking to get a little bit younger and so we brought in two players who we think are both capable of providing that depth and also have upside to grow into more than that and help give us opportunities to keep taking steps forward in the future."

Primeau, 25, has spent time between the NHL and AHL over the last six seasons, but has had very strong AHL numbers throughout.

The 6-foot-3 netminder has a 84-44-18 record and a 0.912 save percentage in 149 AHL games, but just a 0.884 save percentage in 55 NHL appearances.

“Cayden is just 25 and coming off his best AHL season," Tulsky said. "He adds seasoned depth to our organization at the goaltending position."

Miftakhov, 25, had a 13-11-3 record with Ak Bars Kazan last season with a 0.927 save percentage.

The Russian netminder was drafted in 2020 by the Tampa Bay Lightning and spent just one season in North America before returning to Russia.

Over the last three seasons, Miftakhov has had a 0.927 save percentage, 0.930 and a 0.917.

"Amir has put together a number of solid seasons in the KHL and is ready to return to professional hockey in North America," Tulsky said. "It’s important to have goaltending depth, and we look forward to having him in our organization.”

Both netminders are signed to one-year, $775,000 deals.

Carolina also signed defenseman Mike Reilly to a one-year, $1.1 million contract for a bit more defensive depth too.

Reilly, 31, is a journeyman, left-handed defenseman who has some pretty good offensive upside to his game.

He's a veteran of 418 games across 10 seasons and with six franchises and has had 18 goals and 124 points in those games.

 "This is another player who I think should look his best for us ," Tulsky said. "He skates really well, he's effective coming down the wall in the offensive zone and pinching and has the speed to get back and to cover. He can get up all over the ice and we want players taking away time and space through the neutral zone and into the d-zone and he can do that. He has skill with the puck and the ability to transport it and make plays. I think he's going to be really effective for us."

Reilly also had heart surgery last season when testing following a concussion in November, found an undetected heart defect that the veteran had been born with.

“It was picked up through the different echocardiograms that you do for different reasons that you go through with any post-concussion situation," said at-the-time general manager Lou Lamoriello. "It's probably a blessing in disguise of what transpired. They detected this, something that you're sometimes born with but never knew."

Reilly was cleared to return to the ice just two months later and the procedure isn't expected to have any additional impairment to his life or his ability to play.

Finally, the Canes brought back the well-liked Tyson Jost, a versatile forward who played in 39 games with the Hurricanes last season, on a one-year, two-way extension that will pay the forward $775,000 at the NHL level, $300,000 at the AHL and $600,000 guaranteed.

"Tyson was able to contribute to our organization in a number of different ways last year, and we’re happy to keep him here,” Tulsky said. “He’s extremely well-liked and hard-working and capable of playing a number of different roles in the lineup.”

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