The offseason chatter has cooled a bit after Elliotte Friedman’s surprise 32 Thoughts, but there’s still plenty moving around the NHL. One of the bigger themes right now is impact: which moves actually changed the landscape, which ones might still matter later, and which “almost” moves never quite got across the finish line.
Sportsnet took that angle head-on by ranking the top 10 most impactful moves of the summer, stretching from the Capitals’ splash to Leo Carlsson. It’s the kind of exercise that makes sense this time of year, when the biggest transactions are no longer just headlines - they’re starting points for judging how teams handled the offseason.
There was also a heavy note out of Tampa Bay. Victor Hedman said he went through a rough stretch last spring.
He was healthy enough to play, but not healthy enough to be good, and that gap took a toll. It became a mental health struggle and ultimately forced him to step away.
It’s a revealing interview, and it underscores a problem hockey still hasn’t solved: players pushing through injuries that should probably be treated with time and recovery instead. As Hedman’s situation showed, that pressure can do more than affect performance.
In Edmonton, the Oilers announced that several key players are dealing with offseason injuries and will miss training camp, including young winger Mathew Savoie and goalie Frederick Andersen. That’s a rough early hit to the start of camp, especially with important names already on the shelf.
Out in Los Angeles, the Kings are once again part of the goalie conversation. Darcy Kuemper lost his net late last season and did not play in Round One of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and there’s also a prospect goalie in the system. The question now is whether the Kings will move Kuemper soon, and who might be in position to buy.
Back in Pittsburgh, the conversation remains busy in its own right. Pittsburgh Hockey Now’s latest Q&A dug into a range of Penguins topics, including a potential trade, the new owners, and how they may handle certain situations.
One of the standout questions came from Lisa, who offered a different angle on the blocked prospects situation. There were enough strong questions that a second part of the Q&A is coming this morning.
PHN also revisited one of the league’s defining rivalries and storylines with another look at Ovechkin vs. Sidney Crosby, a matchup that, after 22 years of greatness, probably ends this year.
There’s also a note of optimism on the PHN+ front. A new announcement is coming later this morning, and it’s supposed to be good news after a messy stretch caused by last summer’s merger and the tech overhaul that followed. That subscriber setup created a lot of frustration, but the hope is to get PHN+ content back on track.
And if you’ve noticed some strange behavior on the comments board, that’s being dealt with too. Work is underway to block a couple of anonymous users who downvote every comment without posting anything themselves. It’s the kind of noise that adds nothing, and the effort appears to have done the trick.
In Other News...
Penguins Are Taking A Huge Risk In Net This Season
The Penguins are heading into the season with a netminding group that looks a lot different, and a lot less certain, after losing veteran Stuart Skinner in free agency. Instead, Pittsburgh is leaning on Sergei Murashov and Arturs ilovs, a pair of young goalies whose upside is intriguing but whose track record at the NHL level still leaves plenty of room for doubt. ilovs has already gotten a taste of the league, but he has not yet put together the kind of steady run teams usually want from a No. 1 option.
Murashov brings a different kind of hope after strong play in the AHL and a limited NHL look, which is enough to keep the Penguins interested but not enough to calm every concern. Joel Blomqvist sits behind them as a third-string option, giving Pittsburgh some depth on paper, but the larger question remains whether any of the three can handle the job if the season starts to tilt on what happens in the crease. [Read more 🡒]
Crosby And Ovechkin May Be Entering Their Final Chapter
Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin have spent more than two decades defining an era of the NHL, and for Penguins fans, it has always meant more than just a rivalry with Washington. Since both entered the league in the 2005-06 season, they have faced each other 101 times, with their matchups stretching from regular-season meetings to playoff battles that helped shape the sports modern identity. Even now, in their 22nd seasons, both remain production engines at a level that keeps them in the conversation with the games all-time greats.
Crosby has built his case around consistency and playmaking, sitting atop the NHLs assist list, while Ovechkin remains the leagues most prolific goal scorer with 929. Their career averages still read like something from a different generation, and yet the bigger question around them is no longer what they have done, but how much longer this can last. For Pittsburgh, the final chapters of this duel are about more than nostalgia - they are a reminder that the league may be nearing the end of one of its most enduring head-to-head storylines. [Read more 🡒]
Erik Karlsson Trade Talk Just Raised A Bigger Penguins Question
Erik Karlssons future in Pittsburgh is already becoming one of the more intriguing talking points heading into the upcoming season, and it goes beyond what he can still provide on the ice. He is entering the final year of his contract, which naturally puts the Penguins in a familiar spot with a veteran player whose long-term fit is no longer straightforward, especially as the organization weighs where it is headed next.
The latest buzz has only sharpened that uncertainty, with one prediction on Sportsnets 32 Thoughts podcast floating the idea of Karlsson eventually landing with the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2026-27 season. For the Penguins, the bigger question is less about that exact destination than whether Karlssons market, their own performance and the teams direction line up well enough to make a move realistic when the time comes. [Read more 🡒]