4 Reasons McDavid Will Choose to Re-Sign with Oilers
To no surprise, the entire Edmonton Oilers offseason focus has been on Connor McDavid‘s future. The 28-year-old, despite claiming that he wants to win in Edmonton, has yet to sign…
Monthly Archives: September 2025
Former Canadiens Defenseman Announces Retirement
Former Montreal Canadiens defenseman Marco Scandella announced his retirement from professional hockey. The St. Louis Blues, another one of Scandella's previous teams, announced the news through a post on X.
Scandella last played in the NHL during the 2023-24 season with the Blues, where he had two goals, eight points, 70 hits, and a plus-2 rating in 65 games.
A steady presence on and off the ice, who always repped the 'Note with pride.
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) September 4, 2025
Congrats on a great career and enjoy retirement Scandy 👏 pic.twitter.com/gTPwiMo1xJ
After being acquired by the Canadiens from the Buffalo Sabres in 2019-20, Scandella recorded one goal, three points, 25 hits, and a plus-1 rating in 20 games with Montreal.
However, Scandella's time with the Canadiens was very brief, as the Habs traded him later on in the 2019-20 season to the Blues. From there, Scandella would play each of his final five NHL seasons with St. Louis.
In 784 games over 14 NHL seasons split between the Minnesota Wild, Sabres, Canadiens, and Blues, Scandella recorded 51 goals, 119 assists, 170 points, and a plus-11 rating.
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Flyers Trade J.R. Avon to the Kraken for Former OHL Teammate
The Philadelphia Flyers have traded forward prospect J.R. Avon to the Seattle Kraken in exchange for forward prospect Tucker Robertson, the team announced Thursday.
Robertson, 22, was drafted 123rd overall by the Kraken in the fourth round of the 2022 NHL Draft, but has yet to see his pro career achieve liftoff.
The Toronto, Ont., native scored four goals, five assists, and nine points in 38 AHL games with the Coachella Valley Firebirds last season, and went scoreless in three postseason contests.
In parts of three seasons, Robertson has 10 goals, nine assists, and 19 points in 77 AHL games.
Notably, he and Avon were teammates at the OHL, spending parts of four seasons with the Peterborough Petes.
Avon, 22, went undrafted, but signed an entry-level contract with the Flyers during the Chuck Fletcher era on Sept. 21, 2021.
The skilled 6-foot winger has been slightly more productive in the AHL than his old teammate, scoring 16 goals and 35 points in 125 AHL regular season games with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms over the last two seasons.
Avon, like Robertson, has yet to progress much beyond that, though, making this trade one that sees two young players finding a change of scenery and hoping it helps their careers and development path.
Neither player appeared in an NHL game for their respective clubs prior to the trade.
Ex-Flyers Goalie Reportedly Begins Moving Towards Maple Leafs Extension
According to a report, former Philadelphia Flyers goalie Anthony Stolarz has begun contract extension negotiations with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
On Tuesday, NHL Network and The Fourth Period NHL insider David Pagnotta reported, "In Toronto, after going the summer without negotiating, sources tell me the Maple Leafs have now started contract extension discussions with goaltender Anthony Stolarz."
Stolarz, 31, has one year remaining on his current contract with the Maple Leafs at a $2.5 million cap hit, and also carries an eight-team no-trade list.
The former Flyers draft pick would have made an ideal free agent target for the 2026 offseason, provided that players like Sam Ersson, Ivan Fedotov, and Aleksei Kolosov can't establish themselves alongside or behind newcomer Dan Vladar.
As it stands, Vladar is the only goalie the Flyers have under contract for the 2026-27 season aside from prospect Carson Bjarnason.
Flyers Should Eventually Reunite This Canucks Forward with Rick TocchetThe Philadelphia Flyers are poised for a big free agency period in 2026, and if the last season means anything, they should have one potential signing circled already.
Pagnotta also reported that Carter Hart was of interest to the Flyers, which, if proven to be true, further displays Philadelphia's dissatisfaction with the goaltending situation.
Stolarz played 34 games for ex-Flyers coach Craig Berube and the Maple Leafs last season, starting 33 games, posting a 21-8-3 record, a 2.14 GAA, a league-leading .926 save percentage, and four shutouts, establishing himself as one of the NHL's best '1B' goalies.
Should the 6-foot-6 netminder reach an agreement with the Maple Leafs, another top free agent target for 2026 will be off the board for the Flyers.
Flyers News & Rumors: Luchanko, Camp Battles, & Tank Debate
Philadelphia Flyers hockey is almost back. With training camp and preseason just around the corner, let’s focus on some topics under that umbrella. First, what league is most ideal for…
Stars' Mikko Rantanen Might Have Too High Expectations Heading Into 2025
Stars winger Mikko Rantanen is poised for a solid season with his new team but don’t count on his goal scoring to lead the way.
The NHL season will be here in no time as we look ahead to some regular season player props that we look to take advantage of just like we did last off-season. We were very successful at finding great values in these player props with some sportsbooks not fully looking into the background or history of some players besides the stats of the prior season.
We took advantage of the sportsbooks not knowing anything about Connor McDavid and that he's not a goal scorer and easily hit the under for his goal total last season, which was at a shocking 51.5 when he scored more than 44 goals just once in his nine prior NHL seasons. We also hit on nearly all of our other player prop picks like Mitch Marner, Mark Scheifele, Wyatt Johnston, Rasmus Dahlin, Teuvo Teravainen and Connor Hellebuyck to his over in wins plus take home the Vezina trophy.
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Up next for our deep dive on player breakdowns is someone who ended last season red hot with Mikko Rantanen of the Dallas Stars. The Finnish winger completely took over the Stars' series against his former team in the Colorado Avalanche with five goals including a game seven hat trick. He continued his hot streak with four more goals over the next three games versus the Winnipeg Jets in the second round. After this hot streak however, he went eight straight games without a goal and this reminded fans of the eight game scoring drought he had entering the season.
Going that long without scoring is quite typical for any player but since joining the Stars, Rantanen ended off his regular season with just five goals over 20 games. The sportsbooks are buying a lot into his playoff scoring frenzy and have his over/under for goals at a very high 36.5 (-115 on BetMGM) for the upcoming season.
Rantanen finished with 32 goals last season after shuffling around and playing for three different teams but this season he'll have a full training camp with the Stars and will likely be featured on a lethal line with star players like Roope Hintz and Jason Robertson. The only problem with this is that neither of them are as lethal as a 70-90 assist player like Rantanen's former linemate in Nathan MacKinnon.
Rantanen will likely see a dip in production, similar to the decline he experienced at the end of last season. While he remains a capable goal scorer, reaching 37 goals is a high benchmark that he’s only hit twice in his nine NHL seasons.
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Not to mention, he won't be the only goal scorer on his line as Jason Robertson is also an elite shooter with two 40-goal seasons and a single 35-goal season. Hintz can also score a lot of goals with 30 goals in three of the last four seasons.
It will almost certainly limit Rantanen's scoring chances and will likely see him play more of a playmaker role as he's recorded four straight 50-assist seasons. His point totals could look similar to his numbers on Colorado as his linemates will still be elite although I wouldn't count on as many goals as we've seen that be the case on multiple occasions.
All betting lines are from BetMGM Sportsbook and are subject to change. Hockey is a difficult sport to predict so please gamble responsibly.
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Oilers’ Podkolzin Is an Emerging X-Factor
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