News staff and wire services
Alpena’s Emma Gentry was the first player from Michigan selected in Tuesday’s Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) draft on Tuesday in Ottawa.
Gentry, a 5-foot-11 forward with the Colgate Huskies, was the third pick in the second round by the Toronto Sceptres.
In the third round, Anna Segedi of St. Lawrence University was taken by the two-time defending champion Minnesota Frost with the sixth pick.
In the fourth round, Ohio State defenseman Riley Brengman of China, Mich., was selected by the Boston Fleet with the second pick, and Commerce goalie Callie Shanahan of Boston University was drafted by the New York Sirens with the fourth pick.
In the sixth round, Livonia goalie Kaley Doyle of Quinnipiac was selected by the Sirens with the first pick, and Milford goalie Amanda Thiele of Ohio State was taken by Boston with the second pick.
Also Tuesday, Sault Ste. Marie’s Abby Roque was traded from the Sirens to the Montréal Victoire in exchange for forward Kristin O’Neill and their fourth-round pick.
Roque had 12 goals and 18 assists in 54 games in two seasons with the Sirens, who opened the draft by selecting Colgate forward Kristyna Kaltounkova with the No. 1 pick.
Kaltounkova is from the Czech Republic and became the first European-born player to go first in the PWHL draft.
She is reunited with Sirens coach Greg Fargo, who coached her at Colgate. Kaltounkova leaves the Raiders after five seasons as the school’s career-leading scorer with 111 goals and second with 223 points.
Darche weighs Hagens with top pick
Mathieu Darche’s phone keeps ringing as he prepares for his first NHL draft as general manager of the New York Islanders, and he’s sure of only one thing: They are not trading the No. 1 pick.
Beyond that, it’s wide open. While Darche is not saying, the growing consensus is the Islanders are expected to select defenseman Matthew Schaefer on Friday night.
With Long Island native James Hagens also in the mix as a likely top-10 pick, there has been plenty of speculation about them making a splash to trade back into the first half of the first round to get both.
“I’m looking at everything,” Darche said on a video call with reporters Tuesday. “If I feel the opportunity warrants that trade, I’ll try it. … Whether it’s moving up in the draft with another pick, whether it’s acquiring another pick, whether it’s trading another pick to get a player, I’m looking at all options to improve our team.”
Hagens grew up in Hauppauge going to Nassau Coliseum as a kid. He still has the towel from his first playoff game, and his buddies who are Islanders fans were pumped to see them win the draft lottery to get the first pick.
It has started to look increasingly unlikely that Hagens is the top prospect in this draft, but that has not stopped folks in the New York area from rooting for Darche to keep the local boy. Hagens has had people approach him on the golf course and recently saw a bumper sticker reading, “Bring Hagens Home,” at which point he tried to drive by without making eye contact.
“It was cool,” Hagens a bit blushingly acknowledged. “Moments like that, it puts a smile on your face.”
Hagens, a 5-foot-11 center who was a point-a-game player during his freshman season at Boston College, spoke with Darche but also sounds at peace with the possibility he ends up somewhere else.
“I have no idea what’s going to happen on draft day, so it’s just being ready,” Hagens said during the top prospects’ visit to the Stanley Cup Final in South Florida earlier this month. “I know that whatever team does takes the chance on me, I’m a loyal guy so I’d want to stick with them for however long they want me. I just want to be at a spot that wants me the most.”
That still could be the Islanders, though probably not the rival Rangers after they transferred the 12th pick to Pittsburgh on Tuesday to complete an earlier trade and keep their first-rounder next year. Maybe Hagens is playing down I-95 in Philadelphia, up the East Coast in Boston or across New York in Buffalo.
Schaefer and a couple of centers, Canadian Michael Misa and Swede Anton Frondell, are expected to be the top three off the board. San Jose, which took Macklin Celebrini first a year ago, and Chicago, which got Connor Bedard at No. 1 in 2023, have the second and third picks after New York.
“We’re going to keep debating it till the end, keep calling around and getting as much info,” said Darche, who spent seven seasons in Tampa Bay’s front office before getting his first job running an NHL team. “There’s a few guys we like, and do I have an idea at this point because it’s in four days? Probably. But we’re going to keep doing our due diligence all the way through Friday.”
Asked specifically about Schaefer, Darche raved about the maturity of the soon-to-be-18-year-old, who has dealt with the grief of the deaths of his mom and his junior hockey host family mother in Erie and has turned it into a way of helping others.
“He’s an impressive young man,” Darche said. “He’s a hell of a player. He’s a great person. But having said that, there’s a lot of other kids at the draft that we met that are very impressive. That’s why I say, regardless of who we pick on Friday, we’ll get a special player that’s going to help the New York Islanders fairly quickly.”
Marchment excited for fresh start
Seattle – Stanley Cup playoff hockey hasn’t been all that common in Seattle since the Kraken played their first season.
However, Mason Marchment already knows full well what it looks like.
Marchment, who was acquired from the Dallas Stars last Thursday for a 2025 fourth-round pick and a 2026 third-rounder, played in a few of the Stanley Cup playoff games at Climate Pledge Arena in 2023 when the Kraken and Stars faced off.
Dallas won the second-round series in seven games, but Marchment learned firsthand just how rowdy fans in the Emerald City can get.
“It was awesome,” Marchment said Tuesday via Zoom. “For sure, the fan base sticks out instantly. It was rocking in there for three games. It was a hard building to play in, too. So, it’s going to be fun to be on the other side of it.”
The 30-year-old winger tied a career high with 22 goals last season. Marchment is entering the final year of a contract carrying a $4.5 million cap hit, though, which in part prompted the cap-constrained Stars to deal him.
The Uxbridge, Ontario, native played the first half of his six-season NHL career with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers. Marchment was hardly slighted by Dallas trading him three seasons into a four-year deal.
“It’s a business and I get that. I’ve been in it my whole life,” Marchment said. “So, there had to be some changes, and it just so happened to be me. I don’t take it as a knock at all. There’s teams out there that want you, so it’s always a good thing. It’s just part of the business. You go with it as it goes, but I’m excited to start in Seattle and get playing.”
Marchment could be a reliable top-six scorer for the Kraken. Under new coach Lane Lambert, the Kraken not only expect to be a playoff team in 2025-26, but also to be a grittier team that makes better use of the players already on the roster after Dan Bylsma was fired after one year as head coach.
Marchment enjoys getting involved on the forecheck, defending puck-handlers on the backcheck and looks forward to doing it all for Seattle.
“That’s stuff that I take pride in and like to do well,” Marchment said. “So, if I can help out that way, it’s going to be great. But getting to the net front and getting in the goalie’s eyes, that’s huge. So stuff like that, small things like that are things that help win games and help you get (to) the playoffs.”
Months away from training camp, it isn’t clear yet which line Marchment will slot in for the Kraken. However, he is already starting to learn a good deal about Seattle’s roster through defenseman Brandon Montour, who played with Marchment in Florida.
Marchment is also getting to know Seattle. The Pacific Northwest city will no longer just be an occasional stop on a road trip, but rather a new home for Marchment – and one in which he is expected to contribute from the jump.
“I’m definitely excited to get down there and meet everyone,” Marchment said. “But for me, it’s going to be a fresh opportunity and a good start, and that’s always exciting. So, I’m looking forward to that, and hopefully we can get better as a team and make the playoffs.”
Islanders’ Matt Martin retires
Matt Martin announced his retirement Tuesday after 16 NHL seasons, all but two with the New York Islanders, a departure that leaves the league with only a few players who take the ice without a visor.
Martin was one of just five holdovers in the league who played without a visor on his helmet. His move to the front office as special assistant to Islanders general manager Mathieu Darche makes Ryan O’Reilly, Jamie Benn, Zach Bogosian and Ryan Reaves the only visor-less players remaining.
The NHL and NHL Players’ Association agreed in 2013 to mandate visors for newcomers, grandfathering them like helmets were decades earlier.
Asked about it in November 2023, Martin figured it would be a major adjustment to put a visor back on, especially given how much of his job on the ice was fighting. He played his final of 1,075 regular-season and playoff games without one on April 17.
“If they mandated it, I would’ve wore it,” Martin told The Associated Press at the time. “I took it off because of the role I play, and at the time, everybody that played that role didn’t wear it. I got used to that, so I never changed.”
Craig MacTavish, who played until 1997, was the NHL’s last helmetless player. Martin called Benn and O’Reilly “the odds-on favorites” to be the last without a visor.
Predators hire ex-Hawks coach Richardson
Nashville, Tenn. – The Nashville Predators filled out their coaching staff by hiring former Chicago Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson as an assistant on Tuesday.
Richardson joins Derek MacKenzie, Darby Hendrickson and goaltending coach Ben Vanderklok on coach Andrew Brunette’s staff. General manager Barry Trotz said Richardson brings a wealth of NHL experience as both player and coach.
“We believe he will be a valuable new voice and set of eyes – not just for our defensemen, but for our coaching staff,” Trotz said. “His strong character, leadership, perspective as a former NHL head coach and ability to connect with both young and veteran players will elevate our team on and off the ice.”
Richardson replaces Todd Richards who joined Nashville in October 2020. Richardson coached the Blackhawks before being fired Dec. 5, 2024, early in his third season. He coached Connor Bedard and defensemen Kevin Korchinski and Alex Vlasic.
He also has been an assistant coach with Montreal, the New York Islanders and Ottawa. Richardson played 1,417 games as a defenseman in 21 NHL seasons. Nashville’s assistant coaches all have played in the NHL over a combined 3,656 regular season games.
Want to comment on this story? Become a subscriber today. Click here.