Category Archives: Hockey News

Sabres Adding Organizational Depth With Leschyshyn

The Buffalo Sabres offseason has fizzled, after a flurry of trades around the NHL Draft moved out JJ Peterka, Connor Clifton, and Sam Lafferty, as the expectation of acquiring a top-six forward to replace Peterka in exchange for defenseman Bowen Byram did not come to fruition when the restricted free agent signed a two-year, $12.5 million bridge deal last week. 

GM Kevyn Adams in the minds of many still has a lot of work to do and has not significantly improved the club that missed the playoffs by 12 points last season, but other than former Carolina winger Jack Roslovic, who scored 22 goals with the Hurricanes, the best scoring unrestricted free agent forward available is the familiar name of former Sabre Victor Olofsson.   

Other Sabres Stories

Projecting Sabres Trade Cost - Bryan Rust

Six Former Sabres Who Signed Elsewhere

The club’s most recent addition seems more aimed towards the Rochester Americans, as the Sabres announced earlier this week the signing of former NHLer Jake Leschyshyn to a one-year, two-way contract worth a league-minimum $775,000 and $350,000 at the AHL level. 

The 26-year-old was a draftee of the Vegas Golden Knights in their inaugural season of 2017, and spent five seasons with the Golden Knights organization until he was claimed off of waivers by the New York Rangers in 2023. Leschyshyn played only 14 games for New York and most of his 2 ½ seasons with the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack, where he scored 24 points (13 goals, 11 assists) in 69 games.  

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Canadiens Have Four Of The 23 Top Under-23 Players In The League

The NHL continued its celebration of young stars by polling nine of its writers to work out who the top under-23 players in the league were. Each writer had to make a list of their top 25 players under 23 years old in the league. First-place votes were worth 25 points, and the value decreased by one point for each subsequent rank. The league compiled the votes and issued its list of the 23 best players under 23 years old.

The Montreal Canadiens currently have four players under 23 on their roster, and all four made the list. The Habs are the only team with four players on their roster; the San Jose Sharks and the Anaheim Ducks have three players each, yet further proof that the future is bright in Montreal.

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Without further ado, here are the four Canadiens that made the list:

Lane Hutson

The latest winner of the Calder Trophy came in third in voting and was the player who received the most first-place votes with five. This is hardly surprising considering the historic season he just had. Tying the assist record for a rookie defenseman that was set 45 years ago by Larry Murphy during the 1980-81 campaign. The shifty and slippery defenseman possesses incredible skating and creativity on the ice, and got the Bell Center rocking more than a few times this past season. The only question that remains now is what he will do for an encore in his sophomore season?

Juraj Slafkovsky

The big Slovak winger gets the 10th place on the list. Even though he’s only 21, Slafkovsky has already played 200 NHL games, putting up 111 points, and he’s starting to come into his own from a physicality standpoint. Under Martin St-Louis’ tutelage, the 6-foot-3 and 225-pound winger will soon make a significant impact in the games he plays. Last season, he was fourth on the team in points, posting a career-high in points with 51. This is a nice change of pace for the Canadiens, who haven’t been very big in the past and got somewhat roughed up in the playoffs by the Washington Capitals and Tom Wilson. If he can play consistently from the get-go, he will become a force for the Canadiens.

Ivan Demidov

The Canadiens' rookie has only played two regular-season games with the Habs, but that’s enough to earn him the 14th spot. Granted, we’ve only seen a small sample so far, but in those two duels, he showed impressive poise, surprising shiftiness, and fantastic hands. The Russian wonder is already the favourite in the Calder Trophy race, and if he were to win it, it would be the first time in history that Canadiens’ players have claimed twice in a row.

Zack Bolduc

Last but not least, Kent Hughes' latest trade acquisition, Zack Bolduc, gets the 23rd and final spot. It’s a true testament to Hughes’ skills as a negotiator that he was able to pry Bolduc from St. Louis Blues’ GM Doug Armstrong. Flipping Logan Mailloux, who had minimal experience in the NHL, for a young player who’s already played 97 games in the NHL and has shown to be promising was another coup de maitre. In 72 games last season, he posted 36 points, including 12 on the power play, and that was while only getting 12:49 minutes of ice time. It will be interesting to see where he slots into the lineup.

The Canadiens are stealing the show in the NHL’s young stars week, a sign that their ongoing rebuild is going just as planned.

Photo credit: James Carey Lauder-Imagn Images


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Former Devils Goalie Signs With New Team

A former New Jersey Devils goalie is taking his talents overseas. 

Sibir Novosibirsk of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) has announced that they have signed former Devils goalie Louis Domingue to a one-year contract for the 2025-26 season.

Domingue made one NHL appearance this past season with the New York Rangers, where he stopped 25 out of 27 shots in a win. The 33-year-old spent the rest of the season in the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Hartford Wolf Pack, posting a 7-20-1 record, a .896 save percentage, and a 3.32 goals-against average in 28 games. 

Domingue played in 16 games for the Devils during the 2019-20 season, recording a 3-8-2 record, a .882 save percentage, and a 3.79 goals-against average. He also had a 4-2-1 record, a .912 save percentage, and a 2.45 goals-against average in seven AHL games with the Binghamton Devils that season. 

Domingue's time with the Devils ended when he was traded to the Vancouver Canucks in February of the 2019-20 campaign in exchange for goalie Zane McIntyre. 

In 144 career NHL games over 10 seasons split between the Arizona Coyotes, Tampa Bay Lightning, Devils, Canucks, Calgary Flames, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Rangers, Domingue had a 61-60-10 record, a .906 save percentage, and a 3.01 goals-against average. 

Devils Star Named Among NHL's Best Young PlayersDevils Star Named Among NHL's Best Young PlayersNew Jersey Devils defenseman Luke Hughes is one of the NHL's brightest young stars, and he has now been recognized for it. 

Photo Credit: © Ed Mulholland-Imagn Images