One of the NHL offseason’s biggest names is no longer sitting out there on the board. Jason Robertson signed a one-year deal last night, avoiding his upcoming arbitration date and accepting the Stars’ ask.
That leaves the league right back where it seems to end up every summer: with Connor McDavid trade rumors bubbling again. The chatter is back, and a few teams in the Eastern Conference are apparently getting ahead of themselves.
There was more movement around the league, too. A Mass. native landed a long-term deal and will remain in Utah through 2035, while the Blue Jackets are headed toward arbitration with one of their goaltenders. The Rangers, meanwhile, are keeping Jonathan Quick in the organization in a development role.
For the Bruins, the offseason continues to roll on in a few different directions. The prospect rankings moved forward yesterday with Nos. 10-6, and the final five are still to come. Some of those players have already reached the AHL and are either pushing for more or only a year removed from that level, while others are still developing in Europe and college.
Boston also released its 2026-27 theme night schedule, including Hockey Fights Cancer night on October 22 against Nashville and Patrice Bergeron’s jersey retirement on December 1 against Colorado.
Elsewhere in the league, John Marino signed an eight-year extension with Utah carrying a $6.75 million cap hit. The deal begins next summer, and Marino will be 38 when it expires in 2035. He posted a career-high 36 points last season, finishing with 4 goals and 32 assists.
In Columbus, Jet Greaves and the Blue Jackets are set for arbitration on Thursday, with the two sides $4.7 million apart. Columbus filed at $2.8 million, while Greaves countered at $7.5 million. He went 26-19-9 with a 2.60 GAA and .908 SV% last season.
Marco Kasper is back on the ice after dealing with a knee injury that kept him out of the IIHF World Championships. He skated at a high-level training camp in Austria, where new Bruin JJ Peterka was also spending part of his summer in Europe.
Nathan MacKinnon’s cap hit is going up slightly over the next five seasons because of a quirk in the CBA that adds an extra $20,000 to his contract. And in Florida, the Tkachuk brothers are back together, adding another sibling pair to the long list of NHL brothers who’ve played on the same team.
For the Bruins, the offseason calendar is already filling in. Rookie camp opens on Friday, September 11 at Warrior Ice Arena in Brighton, followed by training camp on Wednesday, September 16. Boston’s first preseason game is Sunday, September 20 at TD Garden, and the home opener comes Tuesday, September 29.
In Other News...
Joonas Korpisalo Just Changed The Bruins Conversation Before His Exit
Joonas Korpisalos run in Boston ended the way a lot of goalie stories do, with the Bruins moving on after a season that at least gave them something useful. Acquired from Ottawa in June 2024, Korpisalo got into 31 games last season and helped steady the crease enough for Boston to keep itself in the playoff picture, a reminder that even an uneven year can still matter in the standings.
His departure now shifts the depth chart behind Jeremy Swayman, with Michael Dipietro positioned to step into the backup role next season. For the Bruins, it is another small but meaningful roster change in a position where stability is always at a premium, and it leaves the organization sorting out what it wants the next layer of its goaltending to look like. [Read more 🡒]
Bruins Just Lost Another Providence Standout Without Getting An Answer
Another familiar Providence name is off the Bruins board, and this one stings a little because Georgii Merkulov had become one of the more reliable offensive drivers in the organizations pipeline. He spent the past four seasons as a steady scoring presence for the Providence Bruins, giving Boston a skilled call-up option and a player who seemed to keep forcing his way into the conversation whenever the prospect pool came up.
Now the Bruins have to sort through what his departure means for a system that is still being evaluated heading into 2026-27. Merkulovs next step comes after a long run in Providence and a brief NHL look, and Boston is left with the same frustrating question that follows a lot of these losses: how much more runway might there have been if the fit had been different? [Read more 🡒]
Bruins Offseason Could Get Even More Painful If Atlantic Rivals Strike
After another first-round playoff exit, the Bruins front office has already made clear that the work ahead is not just about tinkering. President Cam Neely and GM Don Sweeney have both acknowledged the need to add more talent for the 2026-27 season, and while the club has brought in JJ Peterka, there is still a long list of needs to sort through before Boston can feel better about where it stands.
The problem is that the Bruins are not operating in a vacuum. Buffalo and Detroit are both positioned to make meaningful offseason moves of their own, and if either Atlantic Division rival lands the kind of upgrade that changes its ceiling, Bostons path back up the standings only gets tougher. For a team that still needs help down the middle and on the blue line, the margin for error is already thin, and the rest of the division may be about to make it thinner. [Read more 🡒]