Детройт Ред Уингс болон Виннипег Жетийн гол тоглогчид багаа орхих хүсэлт гаргаснаар багуудын бэлтгэлд хүндрэл үүсээд байна.
Детройт Ред Уингс багийн ахлагч Дилан Ларкин солилцоо хийхийг хүсэж, ахлагчийн үүргээсээ татгалзсан бол багийн ерөнхий менежер Стив Айзерман хоёр сарын өмнө ажлаасаа чөлөөлөгджээ. Хэдийгээр багийн дотоод нөхцөл байдал тогтворгүй байгаа ч Алекс Дебринкет багийн сэргээн босголтын үйл явц хэвийн үргэлжилж байгааг онцолсон байна. Тэрээр өнгөрсөн улиралд 41 гоол, 44 оновчтой дамжуулалт хийж, нийт 85 оноо авч хувийн дээд амжилтаа тогтоосон юм.
Виннипег Жетийн хаалгач Коннор Хеллебайк солилцоо хийх хүсэлт гаргасан нь багийн бэлтгэлд хүчтэй нөлөөлж байна. Марк Шайфле энэхүү шийдвэр гэнэтийн зүйл байсан хэдий ч багийнхаа төлөө хичээх болно гэдгээ мэдэгдэв. 2024-2025 оны улиралд “Presidents’ Trophy”-г хүртсэн Виннипег Жетийн хувьд энэ нь томоохон сорилт болж байна.
Торонто Мэйпл Лифс багийн хувьд шинэ хаалгач Сергей Бобровскийг эгнээндээ нэгтгэсэн нь ирэх улирлын гол өөрчлөлт болж байна. Мөн Нью-Йорк Айлендерсийн хамгаалагч Мэттью Шэфер өнгөрсөн улиралд 82 тоглолтод оролцож 23 гоол, 36 оновчтой дамжуулалт гүйцэтгэсэн амжилтаа ахиулахаар бэлтгэлээ хангаж байна. Нэшвилл Предаторс багийн хувьд Люк Евангелистаг Нью-Жерси Девилс рүү солилцсон нь багийн ирээдүйн бодлогын томоохон өөрчлөлтийг харууллаа.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
↓Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
LAS VEGAS — Hockey players crave routine and sameness. They eat the same meals, take the same naps, get to the rink at the same time and do the same warmup routine day after day after day. They’re creatures of habit who thrive on constancy.
Understandably, Detroit Red Wings players might be reeling a bit right now.
Their longtime captain, Dylan Larkin, has asked to be traded and will no longer wear the “C” until he is. The Red Wings don’t have a general manager, with franchise fixture Steve Yzerman fired two months ago. Their rising star defenseman, Simon Edvinsson, still doesn’t have a contract with training camp days away. Things are very much in flux.
“You don’t really like change,” Alex DeBrincat said at the NHL/NHLPA player media tour this week. “It feels uncomfortable for a bit.”
The Winnipeg Jets know the feeling. Connor Hellebuyck’s trade request has also sent shockwaves through that organization. Jets players are entering training camp not knowing whether one of the best goaltenders in the world will be on their team, or if their roster might look completely different with whatever haul general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff can acquire in a prospective trade.
It’s a kick in the gut for both franchises. Neither is far removed from unbridled optimism about the future. Winnipeg won the Presidents’ Trophy in 2024-25, and Detroit sat atop the Atlantic Division more than halfway through the 2025-26 season.
Still, both teams are putting on a brave face while being all but left at the altar.
“We want Connor to be our goalie. He’s a fantastic goalie, probably the best in the world, so that is what would be best,” said Mark Scheifele, who said Hellebuyck’s request was “out of the blue,” despite his worrying comments at the end of the season.
“But at the end of the day, that’s the nature of the beast. I love our group, I love the guys that I play with, and I’m very lucky, so I don’t feel left at the altar at all,” Scheifele said.
DeBrincat, meanwhile, bristled at the idea that Larkin’s trade request and the front-office turmoil has stunted the long-brewing momentum of a rebuild nearly a decade in the making.
“I honestly wouldn’t even call it derailed,” he said. “I think we have a majority of our team coming back. Obviously, (Patrick Kane’s) gone, but we got a couple of additions that are really going to help us out. So going into the year, we’re looking essentially the same as we were last year. … I think it’s a fresh start. We can get our minds set and get confident again and learn from our mistakes last year.”
Still, that doesn’t take away the hurt when a friend and teammate wants out.
“It sucks,” DeBrincat said. “Doesn’t really change what we think of him. He’s still a great player. He’s been a great friend and a great teammate to me, and we obviously love him here. That’s kind of for him to answer: what’s next for him. But for us, I think it’s all the same. We’re happy to see him at the rink and happy to get started.”
DeBrincat — Detroit’s leading scorer last season with 41 goals and 44 assists for a career-high 85 points — notched his third career 40-goal season, and he’s only 28. He’s entering the last year of his contract, however, and not long ago he flexed his way out of an uncomfortable situation in Ottawa. Might he do it again if the Red Wings take a turn for the worse, the rebuild topping out with a near miss?
Alex DeBrincat is well aware of what teammate Dylan Larkin is going through as he engineered a trade out of an undesirable situation in Ottawa. (Vitor Munhoz / NHLI via Getty Images)
“Winning is very important to me,” he said. “I think we’re a lot closer than people are giving us credit for. For being in Detroit, I’ve said it all along, I love it here. Ultimately, that’s where I want to end up. But there’s a lot of things that go into that, so we’ll see what happens when a new GM comes in. But overall, I love the guys, I love the team, love playing for the Red Wings.”
Scheifele and Hellebuyck signed matching seven-year deals to stay in Winnipeg on Oct. 9, 2023, after hearing out Cheveldayoff’s pitch for the Jets’ long-term future. Scheifele, for one, still believes in it.
“My focus is more on myself and what I can do better to help the Winnipeg Jets win, and then be there as a friend for Connor,” he said.
What’s old is new again in Toronto
The Toronto Maple Leafs, as they always are, were a hot topic of conversation as players shuffled through their interview assignments in Las Vegas. New GM John Chayka has drastically remade the roster after the Leafs missed the postseason, giving new coach Jim Hiller plenty of options, including defenseman Darren Raddysh and forwards Jack Roslovic, Nick Paul, Colton Sissons, Brandon Duhaime and Teddy Blueger.
Still, it’s the new goalie — who’s an old goalie — who might be the biggest factor in whether the Leafs contend for a playoff spot in the brutal Atlantic Division. Two-time Stanley Cup champion Sergei Bobrovsky is the new man in the crease for Toronto. Of course, Bobrovsky is coming off perhaps the worst season of his career (he was 90th of 91 goalies with minus-23.66 goals saved above average) and turns 38 years old this month.
Nobody in Las Vegas doubted he’d bounce back, though.
“I’m pretty fired up,” Leafs center John Tavares said. “Played against him for a long time. At times, I’ve had success. A lot of times, I’ve had some trouble against him. As he’s aged, and how he takes care of himself, has become kind of legendary, and who he is as a goaltender and an athlete. Really excited to be around him because of his skill set, the pedigree, what he’s going to bring to the team and the quality of goaltender he is. But also the leadership aspect, because of how he goes about his business and what he invests and what the sport means to him.”
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Bobrovsky’s work ethic is what made him so successful and so popular with the Florida Panthers. And it’s why so many expect him to play for years to come.
“There’s no one like him,” Panthers star Aleksander Barkov said. “The way he was (in Florida) for seven seasons, it was just incredible. We’re gonna miss him a lot as a person. As a goalie and a person, he was a great person, really that type of guy who you look up to every single day, what he does. Me personally, I learned so much from him just watching him, just looking at him, just seeing what he does day to day, how he tries to get better. Even at his age. I think he’s what, 37, 38? He feels like and looks like he’s early 30s, maybe even late 20s. That’s what you want to be, as a perfect human being and athlete.”
Why Matthew Schaefer is poised to avoid sophomore slump
Now that he’s Matthew Schaefer: Calder Trophy winner, rising megastar, paradigm shifter and television darling, it’s difficult to imagine the New York Islanders defenseman feeling unsure of himself. Yet, a year ago this month, that’s exactly how he felt.
“You go into your first year, you don’t know what to expect,” he said. “You’re at training camp, rookie camp, and you’re a little nervous, because you don’t know many guys there. You’re coming in and it’s different.”
Those nerves have given way to an indefatigable enthusiasm and confidence as Schaefer takes his place among the game’s elite. He had 23 goals and 36 assists in 82 games and didn’t turn 19 until last week, a staggering performance for a defenseman so young. Still, Schaefer believes he’s just getting started.
After rattling off who helped him get comfortable in his rookie season — the coaches, his teammates, the staff, and, of course, his landlords, the family of Matt Martin — Schaefer said he’s poised for an even bigger sophomore campaign.
“I will always have the highest expectations. Last year was good, but I think I can be even better this year. I’ve learned a lot in the summer and I’ve gotten bigger, stronger, faster and I’ve put on some weight, which is awesome,” Schaefer said. “It took me the first little bit of the season to get going. I want to come out the gates going right away and carry it through the whole season.”
And because this has been the summer of soaring salaries, Schaefer’s future earning potential also increased significantly. He’s not eligible to sign an extension until next July, but could he become the NHL’s next $20 million-a-year man before he’s even 20?
“That’s great for the league,” he said of the changing economic landscape. “But I’m a player; I’m not an agent. At the end of the day, my agent can worry about that. Math was fun, but it’s not what I’m good at.”
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Filip Forsberg trusts the process despite prospect of lengthy rebuild
NHL veterans never want to see a productive teammate dealt for distant futures, and Nashville Predators general manager Chris MacFarland’s decision to trade Luke Evangelista to the New Jersey Devils for two 2028 draft picks shocked Nashville players as much as it shocked the rest of the hockey world.
Evangelista had 12 goals and 44 assists in 81 games last season and had a year left on his contract. Instead of entrenching himself in the Predators’ top six, however, the 24-year-old was dealt away, signaling just how long a rebuild Nashville might be in for.
“Yeah, it was a surprise,” Filip Forsberg said. “I thought he took a big step last year, becoming a top-six forward consistently for us and playing great, especially down the stretch with (Steven Stamkos) — they had a great run there at the end. … (Those) first- and second-round picks aren’t going to play for our team this year and replace those minutes that Vange had, but who knows what’s coming? Probably not the last turn to be turned in this whole thing, you know? That’s what’s exciting, in the same way. Chris has a vision and executed a lot of it right away, trading a couple players, signing a couple free agents. Hoping this is one of the moves that makes us better at the end of the day.”
Forsberg knows the Predators could face a long road, but he said he trusts the plan MacFarland has after he left Colorado for Nashville.
“There’s zero reason not to at this point,” Forsberg said. “We’ve only had a couple months of him, but his resume speaks for itself, with what they built in Colorado.”
Silver Cup beats Olympic gold
It’s a question precious few hockey players have ever had the privilege of being asked. What’s better, winning an Olympic gold medal or winning the Stanley Cup?
The Carolina Hurricanes’ Jaccob Slavin, who won both in four months, didn’t have much trouble choosing. Not after spending more than a decade pushing that boulder up that hill in Raleigh.
“I’ve been asked that a lot,” Slavin said. “I would say they were both amazing in their own ways. Winning a gold medal, representing the country; it’s such an honor to do that. … But I would say the Cup was better in a sense that I’ve spent 11 years in Carolina now building the community, the culture, the organization. Just the process of it. Having the relationships that I do in Carolina, whether it’s (Rod Brind’Amour, Jordan Staal, Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov), people within the organization, (Eric) Tulsky’s been there the whole time. There are so many relationships that make it meaningful, and more meaningful than the gold medal.”
