Montreal Canadiens star Nick Suzuki was undoubtedly a major reason why the Habs got into the playoffs this past spring. He simply thrived for the Canadiens in 2024-25, as he scored 30 goals and led the team with an impressive 89 points in 82 games. With this, it was the best year of the Canadiens captain's career so far. 

With Suzuki having such a strong offensive season in 2024-25, he is now inching closer to a new notable milestone. The 2017 first-round pick is only 25 points away from recording the 400th point of his NHL career. When noting that he is only 455 games into his NHL career, it is certainly impressive that he is already close to recording career point No. 400.

Assuming Suzuki stays healthy next season, he should be able to record his 400th career NHL point fairly early on into the 2025-26 campaign. This is especially so when noting that he has really hit a new level offensively over the last few seasons, as he has recorded 166 points in 164 games over his last two seasons alone.

Nevertheless, it is going to be fascinating to see what kind of season Suzuki can have after his career year, but he certainly should get his 400th career NHL point. 

Canadiens Star Missing From NHL Top Winger's ListMontreal Canadiens winger Cole Caufield had his best NHL season so far during the 2024-25 campaign. In 82 games with the Habs on the year, the 2019 first-round pick set new career highs with 37 goals, 33 assists, and 70 points. With numbers like these, he played a role in the Canadiens getting into the playoffs this spring. 

Welcome back to The Hockey News - Vancouver Canucks site’s Coaches as Players series. Last time, we looked at Canucks skills and skating coach Jason Krog’s NHL career with the New York Islanders, Anaheim Ducks, Atlanta Thrashers, New York Rangers, and Canucks. Today, let’s recap assistant coach Scott Young’s career with the Hartford Whalers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Québec Nordiques/Colorado Avalanche, the Ducks, St. Louis Blues, and Dallas Stars. 

Young was a former first-round pick, taken 11th overall by the Whalers in the 1986 NHL Draft. While he had spent time as a defenceman before joining the NHL, according to Elite Prospects, Young played his entire NHL career as a forward. He spent two seasons with Boston College of the NCAA before joining the Whalers, putting up 31 goals and 34 assists in 71 games. He also played for Team USA at the IIHF U-20 World Junior Championship for three consecutive seasons and was named captain in his final stint. 

The 1987–88 season was Young’s first in the NHL, during which he played a total of seven games. He made his NHL debut on March 2, 1988, against the Chicago Blackhawks. For the reast of the season, he played with Team USA’s National Team alongside players such as Tony Granato, Craig Janney, and Mike Richter. He finished his 56-game stint with 11 goals and 47 assists. He joined the Whalers for a postseason run, scoring his first NHL goal in Game 2 of a four-game series loss to the Montréal Canadiens.

In 1988–89, Young saw an increase in playing time with the Whalers, finishing the regular season with 76 games played. He potted his first NHL assist in the season opening game against the Nordiques and went on a seven-game point streak (nine points) only a couple of games later. Young followed this up with a nine-game point streak in November that saw him score two goals and 11 assists. By the end of the season, he recorded 19 goals, 40 assists, and 13 multi-point games, with two of these being three-point efforts. He also represented the USA at the World Championship, putting up seven assists in 10 games. In yet another first-round playoff loss to the Canadiens, Young put up two goals. 

The 1989–90 season was Young’s last full season as a member of the Whalers. This year, he scored 24 goals and 60 assists in 80 games, continuing his run of offensive skill and multi-point matches (including three three-point games). In this postseason, the Whalers made it to seven games, but were still eliminated in the first round — this time by the Boston Bruins. 

Young’s career with the Whalers came to an end in 1990–91, as the forward was traded to the Penguins in exchange for Rob Brown. Prior to this move, Young played 34 more games with Hartford, scoring six goals and nine assists. He played the remainder of the season with the Penguins, putting together an 11-goal, 16-assist campaign in 43 games, and joining the team for 17 games of their first of two consecutive Stanley Cup wins. 

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The 1991–92 season saw Young head to Italy to play with HC Bolzano, as well as at the Olympics for Team USA. He didn’t see any NHL time this year due to the 1992 NHL strike, and was later traded to Québec in exchange for Bryan Fogarty. He made his return to the league in the 1992–93 season, putting up 30 goals and 30 assists in 82 games, as well as four goals and one assist in six playoff games. However, it wasn’t long until Young left the NHL yet again, as two years after the strike in 1992 came the 1994 NHL lockout. During this time, he played with the Frankfurt Lions and EV Landshut of the DEL. 

By Young’s next NHL season, the Nordiques had made the move to relocate, now going by the Avalanche based out of Colorado. Individually speaking, Young had yet another solid season offensively, scoring 21 goals and 39 assists in 81 games. He put up three goals and 12 assists in 22 postseason games, helping the Avalanche to their first Stanley Cup in franchise history. He followed this up with an 18-goal, 19-assist season and a Conference Final loss for Colorado. 

Before the start of the 1997–98 season, Young was traded yet again, this time to the Ducks. He only spent one season with Anaheim, scoring 13 goals and 20 assists in 73 games. Things changed when he joined the Blues, who he signed with in free agency in 1998. In his first season with St. Louis, he scored 24 goals and 28 assists in 75 regular season games, as well as four goals and seven assists in 13 playoff games. His most offensively prolific NHL season came when he was a member of St. Louis, as he posted a career-high of 40 goals and also added 33 assists in 81 games during the 2000–01 season. The Blues made the playoffs in every season of Young’s first stint with them, but were unable to advance past the Conference Finals. 

In 2002, Young signed with the Stars in free agency, marking the end of a four-year stretch with St. Louis. He spent two seasons with Dallas, scoring 23 goals and 19 assists in 2002–03 and eight goals and eight assists in 2003–04. He left the league for the third time in his career in 2004–05 due to the lockout, playing in three games for the Memphis RiverKings of the CHL. After the NHL resumed operations in 2005, he signed another contract with the Blues, returning for one more season before departing from the NHL for good. 

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The Philadelphia Flyers may have temporarily patched up their goalie issues for now, but even GM Danny Briere admitted that won't always be the case.

Assuming the Flyers are rolling with Dan Vladar and Sam Ersson as their tandem in the 2025-26 season, Ivan Fedotov will join prospect Carson Bjarnason and, perhaps, Aleksei Kolosov in the AHL with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

Of the five, though, Vladar and Bjarnason are the only ones signed beyond this season, and Bjarnason is still a teenager.

Given how the last year has gone, it's safe to assume neither Fedotov nor Kolosov have futures in the NHL with Philadelphia, so there's room for opporunity here.

One goalie in need of an opportunity of his own is Nico Daws, who plays up the turnpike for the Metropolitan Division rival New Jersey Devils.

But, why would the Flyers want a third goalie? And why would the Devils trade away a 24-year-old prospect?

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Briere has already said what we're all thinking: the Flyers are, more than likely, going to make use of a third goaltender at some point this season, whether it be due to injury or a dip in performance.

Vladar, 27, has never started 30 games in an NHL season before. While Ersson has, he's had to grapple with injuries and a workload he hasn't yet proven capable of handling.

And, if Briere and the Flyers are out on Fedotov and Kolosov, why give them the NHL reps?

This is where an option like Daws makes some sense.

The Devils are already set in goal for the foreseeable future after re-signing Jake Allen, Jacob Markstrom's backup, this summer.

Daws, a former third-round pick, is no longer waivers-exempt, meaning the Devils will likely lose him for free if he doesn't make the NHL roster or get traded before the season starts.

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The Munich-born netminder already has 52 games of NHL experience, posting a 22-23-1 record, a 2.98 GAA, a .898 save percentage, and one shutout while making 47 starts.

Daws saw his most extensive NHL stints come in the 2021-22 and 2023-24 seasons, when the Devils struggled badly with injuries, health, and level of play at the goalie position.

When the Devils are good, though? It's a different story, albeit in a small sample size.

Last season, when Markstrom went down with a knee injury, Daws filled in behind Allen, playing in six games and starting four.

Across those games, the Devils goalie prospect went 3-1-0 with a jaw-dropping 1.60 GAA and a .939 save percentage while earning his first NHL shutout with a 29-save outing against the Nashville Predators on Feb. 23.

And, who can forget when Daws made 45 saves in a 6-3 takedown of the Flyers in the Stadium Series game at MetLife Stadium just over a year ago? As an aside, those 45 saves are an outdoor game record.

Aside from Ersson, the Flyers lack options for an immediate, long-term solution at the goalie position. Bjarnason and Egor Zavragin are still a few years away, while it's unlikely Vladar is a late bloomer waiting to suddenly become an NHL starter.

And, if things don't work out with Daws, he's only under contract for one more year. It's better the Flyers have lots of arrows in the quiver than to have no options to try at all.

For the Flyers, players in their mid 20s are within the ideal age range to be targeting at this time, and the Devils may be forced to give up Daws one way or another.

The Buffalo Sabres have been considered to have one of the best deepest prospect pools in the NHL, which is in part due to them selecting high in recent drafts because of their not qualifying for the playoffs. The Sabres have displayed an eye for talent, but the organization’s developmental model has not yielded enough results. 

Leading up to the opening of training camp in mid-September, we will look at the club's top 40 prospects. All are 25 years old or younger, whose rights are currently held by the Sabres or are on AHL or NHL deals, and have played less than 40 NHL games. 

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#35 - Yevgeni Prokhorov - Goalie (Dinamo-Shinnik Bobruysk - MHL) 

 The Sabres continued their practice of selecting players with longer development windows, since they do not have to sign them within two years. Under the current collective bargaining agreement, players drafted out of the KHL development system have their rights retained by their NHL club until 27 years old,  because there is no transfer agreement between the KHL and NHL.   

After watching recent interviews with Dan Milstein @HockeyAgent1 , the agent for many Russian NHL players, I'm amazed by his simple yet brilliant explanation for why Carolina drafts so many Russian players. pic.twitter.com/bvHXJEcbqj

— Uggg (@Uggg_uggg) July 28, 2025

With the first of two seventh-round picks in the 2025 NHL Draft, the Sabres selected Belarusian goalie Yevgeni Prokhorov. The 18-year-old played 28 games in the junior-level MHL last season for Dinamo-Shinnik Bobruysk, and posted a 2.19 GAA, and .903 save percentage, and went 3-3, with a 1.95 GAA and .943 save percentage in six playoff games. 

With Belarus subject to the ban from the IIHF along with Russia due to the war in Ukraine, Prokhorov will not get any international experience like playing in the World Junior, and will likely play in the MHL again next season, but could see some time in the second-level VHL or KHL depending on his performance. 

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The 2025-26 season is just a few months away. Training camp for the Minnesota Wild will begin in just over a month from now. Wild hockey will be here before we know it.

This means it is time for some players to sign professional tryouts with NHL teams to join them in camp. There are a few good NHL players who are still unsigned right now that could be PTO candidates if they go unsigned. 

Victor Olofsson is one of them. The 5-foot-11 winger spent the 2024-25 season with the Vegas Golden Knights. He was on a one-year contract worth $1,075,000. In 56 games with the VGK, Olofsson recorded 15 goals, 14 assists and 29 points.

He was in and out of the lineup of Vegas' because of how good the Golden Knights' depth was. He recorded six goals on the power play last season.

Olofsson, 30, has spent seven seasons in the NHL and has three 20-goal seasons. His career high was 28 with the Buffalo Sabres in 2022-23. He is a top power play kind of guy who scored 11 power-play goals during the 2019-20 season. He finished that year with 20 goals. 

In his career, Olofsson has recorded 105 goals, 106 assists, 211 points, 41 power-play goals and 28 power play assists in 370 games. 

He has played in nine playoff games in his career. They all came last season with the Golden Knights. In four playoff games against the Wild, Olofsson had a power-play assist. It was a primary assist on Shea Theodore's opening goal in Game 6 which eliminated the Wild from the playoffs.

It is weird to think Olofsson is not signed yet and if he still isn't by training camp, he should be an option as a PTO for the Wild.

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