Jesse Granger

It wouldn’t surprise me if he has a good workload this season. He and Blackwood should be a strong tandem.

Love what I’ve seen from Scott Wedgewood in the preseason, and so far tonight.

He plays a simple, calm game. He stays in position, challenges and makes himself big, drops into butterfly and lets the puck hit him. He’s looked very under control.

I’m digging these Kings uniforms.

The silver helmets look good and I love the font on the numbers.

Great performance by Arturs Silovs on opening night.

25-save shutout in his Penguins debut.

He has a great opportunity in front of him this season, and that was a perfect start.

Sergei Bobrovsky turned 37 last month, but is still looking as quick and acrobatic as ever on opening night.

The Golden Knights have signed Alexander Holtz to a two-year contract worth an average annual value of $837,500.

Bruce Cassidy says Pavel Dorofeyev is a game time decision tomorrow, but that he expects that he’ll play.

Otter-zilla!

Jake Oettinger’s mask for this season has some sort of monster Otter.

Painted by David Gunnarsson

This designation means he is no longer eligible to play in the playoffs.

Igor Shesterkin was ranked the best goalie in the world by a panel of goalie coaches & retired goalies. He was the only goalie to receive top-tier grades across the board.

Read about what makes Shesterkin great, and 38 other goalies, in Goalie Tiers ⤵️
www.nytimes.com/athletic/668...

Golden Knights place Alex Pietrangelo on season-ending injured list, free up $8.8 million in cap space With the move, Vegas is now eligible for full cap relief from Pietrangelo’s $8.8 million cap hit.

The Golden Knights have placed Alex Pietrangelo on the season-ending injured list, giving them relief from his entire $8.8 million cap hit.

What it means for Vegas, on @theathletic.com ⤵️

The Athletic Hockey Show: A show about the NHL: 10 questions we have entering the NHL season We are officially one day away from the beginning of a brand new NHL season, and with that comes a lot of questions. On the first episode of The Athletic Hockey Show this season, the guys attempt t...

On today's The Athletic Hockey Show, @mbultman.bsky.social, @jessegranger.bsky.social and I take a look at 10 questions that will define the 2025-26 season, from Florida to Edmonton and everywhere in between.

Listen here:
pod.fo/e/337df6

2025-26 NHL Goalie Tiers: Anonymous panel of coaches and goalies rates every starter Let's dive into analyzing 38 NHL goalies, with expert insights into their strengths and weaknesses.

2025-26 Goalie Tiers

An anonymous panel of goalie coaches and retired goalies rates every starter in the NHL (and a few backups in tandem situations)

Grades and over 8,500 words of analysis for 38 different goalies, on @theathletic.com

Hope you enjoy! ⤵️

Yes it’ll be early haha

After Filip Gustavsson's extension, here's a snapshot of the 32 starting goalies and how many years they each have left on their current contract.

Andersen (CAR) 1yr $2.25M
Demko (VAN) 3yrs $25.5M
Dostal (ANA) 5yrs $32.5M
Wolf (CGY) 7yrs $52.5M
Knight (CHI) 3yrs $17.5M
Stolarz (TOR) 4yrs $15M
Gustavsson (MIN) 5yrs $34M

Here are the extensions in chronological order:

Swayman (BOS) 8yrs $66M
Ullmark (OTT) 4yrs $33M
Daccord (SEA) 5yrs $25M
Oettinger (DAL) 8yrs $66M
Shesterkin (NYR) 8yrs $92M
Blackwood (COL) 5yrs $26.1M
Thompson (WAS) 6yrs $35.1M
Vejmelka (UTA) 5yrs $23.75M
Hill (VGK) 6yrs $37.5M

(continued)

NHL general managers are locking down their goalies.

In the last calendar year, 16 of the 32 starting goalies have signed extensions.

All but one (Frederik Andersen) were for 3 years or more, and 11 of them were 5 years or more.

Ethan Cardwell hat trick

Adin Hill made a spectacular pad save, then an even better glove save 1 second later.

Mark Stone has been Vegas' best player tonight.

Not that it's surprising, or that the bar is particularly high, but he's made a few unreal plays with the puck.

Alex Holtz gets Vegas on the board.

There isn't a Golden Knight on the ice tonight playing for more than he is, and that was a laser of a shot.

Zach Whitecloud takes a stick to the face, but he is staying on the bench.

Not a great start to this one for Vegas.

Lauzon misses a puck at the offensive blue line, which leads to a 2-on-1 for SJ and Ethan Cardwell snipes a shot to the far side over Hill's blocker.

Golden Knights pregame line rushes ahead of the preseason finale:

Barbashev—Eichel—Marner
Smith—Karlsson—Stone
Saad—Hertl—Holtz
Howden—Sissons—Kolesar

McNabb—Theodore
Hanifin—Whitecloud
Lauzon—Korczak

Hill
Schmid

Last exhibition of the year

Goalie Tiers won’t run until Monday, unfortunately.

But it’s a beast. More than 8,500 words in total, covering 38 different goalies.

I asked Cassidy about Theodore in this spot, and it’s clear that he’s comfortable with Shea in the right circle, but it also sounds like he’s still considering putting Pavel Dorofeyev there when healthy, so we could still see a 5 forward PP in Vegas.

I asked Cassidy about Theodore in this spot, and it’s clear that he’s comfortable with Shea in the right circle, but it also sounds like he’s still considering putting Pavel Dorofeyev there when healthy, so we could still see a 5 forward PP in Vegas.

Cassidy says Lauzon will play tonight, Pavel Dorofeyev won’t despite skating this morning.