NHL News: Malkin’s final season? / Sabres to move Byram? / Devils moves / Coaching carousel
A lot of action going on with the Stanley Cup playoffs, but certainly no shortage of action elsewhere around the NHL. We’re going to bring you up to speed here on the latest on the fourth period. I’m your host, Kate Person, and Dave Pota joins me to help break all of that down. Dave, let’s start in Buffalo. Kevin Adams. There’s talk of them wanting to add some support for him, but what I’m wondering is, is there going to be additional support added on the ice for this Sabres group? Yeah, Kevin Adams is certainly going to be looking to see what additional moves he can make and what other moves he’s going to make with respect to the roster going into next season. We already know they’ve added Eric Stall uh as a excuse me as an assistant to Kevin Adams and it’s no secret now that they’re looking to add um a veteran executive to the staff as well either in a senior adviser role or at in some other fashion with with some other title. uh but looking to add some support for the management brass and that is going to lead to eventual roster changes that are going to happen in terms of the Sabres looking to add to their roster and possibly moving out some additional pieces. We saw a big move that they made ahead of the trade deadline by shipping out Dylan Cousins, bringing in Josh Norris. Bow and Byron’s name is expected to pop up in trade discussions again at some point later this off season, likely around the draft. That would be my guess. Uh it could prolong into July, but expect to hear Bowen Byron’s name out there again uh in the trade market as the Sabres look to improve. The goal, Kate, next season is to compete for the playoffs. So any moves, any of the moves that they make is going to have that in mind. All right. Well, we’ve talked a lot over the last few weeks about the NHL’s coaching vacancies, and some names have been floated. Marco Sturm, Jeff Blashel, to name a few. Are there any other names that we should be looking out for? Yeah, this is this is the time where everybody’s starting to interview for different positions. We’ve heard Adam Foot, former assistant with um the Vancouver Conucks getting some attention as well. There is belief uh around the NHL that both Kirk Mueller and Mitch Love assistants with the Washington Capitals will get some uh consideration once Washington season is done, whenever that may be. Um, and there are others out there as well that are generating some uh, interest. Bob Buggner being one of them. Derek Lone’s name is starting to float around as well. Blill’s uh, assistant partner in Tampa, Jeff Halpern, we’ve talked about him uh, in the past as well. Uh, and more names. I had a piece earlier today that that illustrates a few of them that are out there as well. Uh, and we do know that the Pittsburgh Penguins will be making some additional changes to their coaching staff. That announcement could drop later today. Okay. Well, in New Jersey, GM Tom Fitzgerald, he said, you know, we weren’t good enough this year. So, expect some moves. Now, what I’m wondering is, are you hearing that these are going to be big moves or more cosmetic, adding some smaller pieces to just beef up the bunch? Uh it certainly seems Kate like New Jersey wants to uh readjust rejig their bottom six and their intangible pieces to this roster. They’ve got a number of free agents in the lower level of the roster in terms of depth pieces and quality depth pieces. That looks like that’s the area of focus primarily for uh Tom Fitzgerald in New Jersey. They’ve got some cap space to play with. Uh they want to be a little bit more physical, add a little bit more grit to the lineup, but also be responsible at at both ends. So certainly the anticipation in New Jersey is that they’re going to make some some moves with that in mind. Uh and hopefully that coupled with a healthy roster next season gets them back into what they believe to be cup contention. All right. Well, you mentioned Pittsburgh already, but today in your column you wrote about Getty Malcin and how next season could be his last in the NHL. know if that proves to be correct. Does this mean that the Penguins are finally entering a real rebuild stage? It, you know, it it sounds like it. It sounds like they’re now moving into that realm uh that that next phase of their um existence. I I guess going back into that into that model. Um obviously Sydney Crosby’s got a couple years left. We know Chris Latang has several years left on his contract as well. Eric Carlson, two years left. Um, and Gino entering the final year of his uh, contract next season. Talking to people around the league, the belief is that this will be his last year in the National Hockey League. Nothing is set in stone at this point. Um but it definitely looks like at least again speaking to people across the national hockey league that that is um where the whispers are are getting louder and louder on which leads me to believe and a number of others that Pittsburgh is going to be moving in towards a full rebuild to a certain extent in in with Sydney Crosby in mind. They have some key pieces on this roster. They want to add a little bit to it, but they’ve already kind of gotten the ball rolling over the last couple of seasons bringing in some young pieces, bringing in additional draft picks. We’ll see uh if they end up with the second first round pick this year. They have the option from the new uh New York Rangers, excuse me, to get the 12th overall pick. New York has 48 hours ahead of the draft to let Pittsburgh know whether they’re getting that pick or if they’re going to get an unprotected pick in the first round next year. So, they’re filling up their cupboards a little bit. But with Malcin looking like this will be a farewell tour for him next season as well as the strong possibility that the Penguins are going to look to trade Eric Carlson this off season as well. It looks like next steps are now evolving within the Pittsburgh Penguins organization. All right. Well, we’ll keep an eye on all of it over the coming weeks. We’ve got a lot of action in the NHL and of course our playoff coverage will continue here on the fourth period as well. Dave, thanks so much for this and thank you to everyone for watching. It’s the latest on the fourth period.
In Monday’s edition of “The Latest” on TFP with @kpettersen & David Pagnotta, Pagnotta talks about the Buffalo Sabres and their search for a veteran executive to add to the team, as well as potential trade talks involving defenceman Bowen Byram.
The duo then discuss the coaching changes across the NHL and who is in the mix for some of the vacancies.
Then, Pagnotta goes over what moves the New Jersey Devils may look to make this off-season.
Finally, with the Pittsburgh Penguins likely entering a rebuild, could the 2025-26 season be Evgeni Malkin’s last season in the NHL?