Kyle Okposo Announces Retirement
Kyle Okposo, a longtime New York Islanders and Buffalo Sabres winger, made NHL news when he announced his retirement via an open letter from his agency, CAA Hockey. This ends a decorated career where he played 17 NHL seasons, where he totaled 242 goals and 372 assists for 614 points in 1,051 NHL games, with a Stanley Cup under his belt.
Originally drafted 7th overall by the Islanders in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, he came into the pros having won a USHL Clark Cup with the Des Moines Buccaneers and back-to-back years where he was a top point producer with the University of Minnesota, with 51 points in 58 games, before going to the pros entering the 2009 season. After 28 points and 35 games with AHL Bridgeport, he got his first trip to the majors, and he didn’t look back. He quickly became a top six forward, where he was routinely challenging the 20-goal, 50-point mark, even notching a career-high 27 goals and 69 points in 2014.
After helping the Islanders win their first playoff series in 23 years, he carried his top six forward duties with the Buffalo Sabres on a seven-year deal. The team, however, was in rock bottom, and they missed the playoffs during his eight years with the club. Even when concussions were derailing his seasons, he challenged 45 points when he was playing a full season with the Sabres. And it was that persistence in which it got him the captaincy in 2022, where he wore the “C” for the next two seasons. But as he got older, his role diminished to a fourth line role, but continued to bring a consistent impact on in all three zones.
With the Sabres essentially out of the running for the playoffs, they traded him to the Florida Panthers to give him his first true legitimate shot at the Stanley Cup. He was essentially an extra forward for Florida, only playing six regular season games and not recording a point, but it was his leadership and his energy that was valuable in the playoffs, where he played 17 games, and made a huge impact despite just two assists. The hard work has paid off for him, and on June 24th, 2024, exactly 18 years to the day he was drafted by the Islanders, Okposo became a Stanley Cup champion.
NHL News: Matt Boldy Out Week-to-Week with Lower-Body Injury
There’s no clarity on when Boldy sustained his injury, but he is listed as week-to-week on his recovery timetable, but he is expected to be ready for opening night.
It’s very tough NHL news for the Wild, as they were out of the playoff picture for just the second time since 2012. Though the poor record for them was largely because of a lack of depth and injuries to the team. However, Boldy has grown into a core piece for the club, setting career-high last season with 40 assists and 69 points in 75 games, second in point scoring on the team behind franchise centerpiece Kirill Kaprizov.
He is a heavy shooter, having fired 595 shots since he made his NHL debut on January 6th, 2022. His strong offensive showing is also backed up by his solid possession metrics, with the Wild controlling 53.2% of shot attempts and 56.1% of expected goals whenever he is on the ice at five-on-five. His importance is emphasized when the team doesn’t have a lot of high-end scoring threats. With him potentially missing the season opener, that means added pressure to Kaprizov, Mats Zuccarello and Joel Eriksson Ek in the scoring department.
There are very few options that can fill in his place. Ryan Hartman spent the majority of last season on the third line, where he was the highest point producer on the bottom six, with 21 goals and 45 points, though top forward prospect Liam Öhgren is another intriguing option. He made his NHL debut last season, with a goal and an assist in four games. This could be a good opportunity to fill in the hole left behind by Boldy’s injury. Last season, he had 12 goals and 19 points in 26 games while on loan to Färjestad BK in the Swedish Hockey League.
NHL News: Thatcher Demko Suffers Setback in Knee Injury Recovery
All the concerns around Demko have been intensified, after reports that the team was looking for external goalie depth options made NHL News this week. Demko’s knee was recovering at a slower rate than anticipated, and now his availability for the start of the season is officially in question. Vancouver is still hopeful he will be ready for the start of the regular season, but with how things are going, they can’t really count on that happening.
Demko suffered the injury in Game 1 of the Canucks’ first round series against the Nashville Predators, with Casey DeSmith and Arturs Silovs taking over the crease as the playoffs progressed. That injury kicked off the speculation about his recovery. Early, it appeared that he would only miss one round, then multiple rounds, and then later the whole players if the Canucks made a deep run. Officially, he was listed as out week-to-week.
Initially, the plan was that Silovs would serve as the backup to Demko, with Jiri Patera replacing Silovs with the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks, which implied that Demko would be ready for the start of the season. Instead, with the recent news, they have decided to sign Kevin Lankinen to a one-year, $875,000 contract in the wake of the situation. After spending the last two seasons as the backup to Juuse Saros, where he posted a 2.79 GAA and a .912 save percentage in 43 games, he gets the opportunity to compete for the starting job with Silovs if Demko isn’t available for opening night. If he is, then the two will compete for the backup job.
NHL News: Blue Jackets Promote Rick Nash to Director of Hockey Operations
The Columbus Blue Jackets made the NHL news circuit when they named Rick Nash as their Director of Hockey Operations, as announced by general manager Don Waddell. They also have hired former Carolina Hurricanes manager of hockey operations Zach Abdou in the same role, and have also named Basil McRae as their director of professional scouting.
For Nash, he takes another step towards becoming a general manager in the NHL. The Blue Jackets’ all-time leader in every offensive category has been with the team’s front office ever since he announced his retirement in 2019. At first, he was the assistant to previous GM Jarmo Kekäläinen, serving the role through the 2021 season before he was promoted to director of player development.
He was also an assistant GM for Hockey Canada in the 2022 World Championship and returned as a GM this year, but the team didn’t medal for the first time since 2018 despite going undefeated in the group stage.
“Rick Nash is an extremely bright guy who has become an important part of our hockey operations leadership group,” said Waddell. “He is very passionate about the Columbus Blue Jackets and this community and has been a great resource for me since I arrived here in late May. Rick made a significant impact on this organization as a player and will continue to do so in his role as director of hockey operations.”
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