The San Jose Sharks are discussing a potential trade with the Minnesota Wild to acquire veteran netminder Devan Dubnyk, according to TSN's Daren Dreger.

Dubnyk, 34, has one year remaining on his current deal, which carries a cap hit of $4.33 million. He's set to become an unrestricted free agent following the 2020-21 campaign.

Wild forward Ryan Donato could also be part of the trade, according to The Athletic's Michael Russo.

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New Jersey Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald is putting his faith in the team's young core to develop and help create a winning culture rather than relying on bringing in immediate help with big moves.

"I'm not looking for a quick fix here. When this team takes off is when (Jack Hughes) and (Nico Hischier) take off for good," Fitzgerald said, according to NHL.com's Mike Morreale. "They're the type of players that can pull everybody with you.

"I'm going to be true to myself and true to this plan that we're not going to get ahead of ourselves. We're going to do this the right way and we're going to chip away and we're going to find the right support for our young future stars to help them grow, because they're still so young and they're ready to go."

The Devils iced one of the youngest and most inexperienced teams in the league during the 2019-20 season, finishing the year with just three players over the age of 30.

Beyond Hischier and Hughes, New Jersey is backstopped by the 23-year-old MacKenzie Blackwood and has a good crop of young prospects. Fitzgerald is willing to wait for his star players to progress properly.

"(Hischier) is in his fourth year and I know he's ready to take a big step," Fitzgerald said. "(Hughes) is going to take a step, we're just not sure how big that step will be. It's going to be exciting to see how big of a step he takes. We want to allow our kids to grow at their pace without rushing them into the NHL because we need to."

The Devils parted ways with Taylor Hall, Blake Coleman, Sami Vatanen, Andy Greene, and Wayne Simmonds during the 2019-20 season. As a result, they have nine picks in the upcoming draft, including three in the first round.

"It's exciting times," Fitzgerald said. "Sometimes it may be hard to not have an itchy trigger finger and pull things off because they look great, but it just has to make sense for where we're at and where we want to go."

He added: "The only thing I'm looking forward to is helping these young kids like (Hughes and Hischier), the rest of the prospects, the core kids, and watch them develop and grow together. Then whenever that time is, we just watch them create that winning culture. That's what I'm trying to do right now."

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The Los Angeles Kings have fired mascot actor Tim Smith following a sexual harassment lawsuit filed against him earlier this year, the team has said in a brief statement, according to The Associated Press.

A former female member of the club's ice crew sued Smith, who portrayed the mascot "Bailey," along with the Kings and team owner AEG.

Smith allegedly verbally and physically harassed the woman and then fired her after she confronted his behavior, according to the lawsuit.

The Kings had employed Smith since 2007.

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The Toronto Maple Leafs signed forward Denis Malgin to a one-year, $700,000 extension, the team announced Friday.

Malgin, 23, will become a restricted free agent at the end of the 2020-21 campaign.

Toronto acquired the 5-foot-9 pivot from the Florida Panthers in February. He logged 10:21 of average ice time over eight regular-season games with the Maple Leafs.

Malgin has amassed 28 goals and 60 points over 192 career contests.

The Panthers selected the Swiss native in the fourth round of the 2015 NHL Draft.

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The Dallas Stars are hoping to retain the goaltender who carried them to the Stanley Cup Final.

Stars general manager Jim Nill contacted Anton Khudobin's agent, Kent Hughes, on Thursday to convey the club's interest in re-signing him, sources told The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun.

"We plan to speak with Jim and will try to make it happen," Hughes told LeBrun on Friday.

Keeping Khudobin would not necessarily mean trading Ben Bishop, according to LeBrun, as the Stars intend to keep both members of their goalie duo in the fold.

Khudobin excelled throughout the playoffs in place of Bishop, posting a .917 save percentage while facing 71 more shots than his Tampa Bay Lightning counterpart, Andrei Vasilevskiy, in the same number of games.

The 34-year-old puck-stopper is a pending unrestricted free agent coming off the final campaign of a two-year, $5-million contract he inked with the Stars in July 2018.

Dallas also boasts promising rookie Jake Oettinger, who made his NHL debut replacing Khudobin in Game 2 of the Western Conference Final against the Vegas Golden Knights. The 21-year-old also came into Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final, stopping all eight shots he faced over his two appearances.

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The Florida Panthers traded defenseman Josh Brown to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for the 95th overall pick in the 2020 draft, the Sens announced Friday.

Brown played in 56 games with the Panthers last year, recording three goals and five assists while averaging 13:25 of ice time per contest.

The 26-year-old has excelled defensively over the past two seasons, according to HockeyViz's isolated five-on-five impact (blue zones, negatives are good in the defensive end):

At 6-foot-5 and 225 pounds, Brown will also provide a physical presence on the back end and could replace Mark Borowiecki if he departs in free agency. Brown led all Panthers defensemen with 77 hits a year ago. He also shoots right, which is a bonus for Ottawa's lefty-heavy blue line.

Brown is a pending restricted free agent and is eligible for arbitration. He earned $675,000 per year on his previous contract.

The Senators still have 12 picks in the 2020 draft. Florida now has eight selections.

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The Carolina Hurricanes have opened contract talks with talented forward Andrei Svechnikov, general manager Don Waddell confirmed Thursday.

"We started talking," Waddell said. "Andrei's got another year left on his contract, but we have this time in our favor right now ... Our goal is to keep Andrei here for a very long time. Saying that, with the economics the way they are right now around the league, it might make sense to do a bridge deal."

Waddell emphasized the team intends to secure Svechnikov's services, regardless of the contract terms.

"I think the player definitely wants to be here," the GM added. "His representation's been very forthright about that (and) we obviously want Andrei here. So we're keeping it open-minded. There's no timetable if this happens two weeks from now or two months from now, but one way or another, there's no doubt that we'll sign Andrei at some point to some kind of extension."

Svechnikov is entering the final year of the rookie pact he inked with the club in 2018. He'll be a pending restricted free agent beyond that point without a new deal. The 20-year-old winger ranked second on the Hurricanes with 24 goals and third with 61 points in 68 games this past season.

He also captivated the hockey world with a pair of lacrosse-style goals less than two months apart early in the campaign.

The Hurricanes could have some big decisions to make heading into 2021-22, when defenseman Dougie Hamilton, as well as goaltenders Petr Mrazek and James Reimer, could become UFAs.

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