Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is throwing his hat into the ring for the Conn Smythe Trophy, with his two primary assists in game four to bring him to nine points in the four-game series against the Stars. Corey Perry also hit the scoresheet twice with a goal and an assist. 

Skinner stopped 28 of 29 shots in the win to continue his sparkling streak.

Calvin Pickard returned to the lineup, but only as the backup goaltender. Even if he was 100% then I doubt the Oilers would make the switch, with how Skinner (their #1 all season) is playing at the moment. At some point you have to live or die with your "best" goalie. 

Mattias Ekholm wasn't quite ready to return, though I wonder if he would have played if this was a do-or-die game. It seems like he's getting close, and he will be a huge addition for the Oilers when he returns.

The Oilers will be looking to close out the series on Thursday.

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The Memorial Cup is underway, and we're just about done the round robin, where the London Knights are unsurprisingly dominating. Compared to the other three teams, they are doubly loaded with NHL drafted prospects, and they have the higher end set of players as well, between Easton Cowan, Sam Dickinson, Kasper Haltunnen, and a boatload of others. They also have Henry Brzustewicz, a two-way defenceman who I'm keeping my eye on for a big pop in his draft+1 season once Dickinson, Oliver Bonk, and maybe a few other defencemen move on, handing Brzustewicz the reigns to be the all-situations workhorse. 

The most fun player to watch at the Memorial Cup though has to be Gavin McKenna, the favourite to go first overall in 2026, and already leading his Junior team to the highest of levels. I don't condone tanking, but if your dynasty/keeper league team is going to finish near the bottom of the standings next year, then he would be a wonderful consolation prize for you. It's tough to project the career of first overall picks even before their draft year, but he does seem on track to be one of the more productive ones offensively of the last decade. 

The other player to watch is Caleb Desnoyers, who is projected as a possible top-five selection in this June's draft. From what I have read, he's a strong, do-it-all centre that NHL teams covet and are very difficult to acquire. It wouldn't surprise me to see him going a tad earlier than his numbers might indicate he should, just because of those intangibles. He has been held pointless through two games thus far, but those have been the tougher matchups against London and Medicine Hat. 

The round robin concludes tonight with Desnoyers' Moncton Wildcats against the Rimouski Oceanic. There is still one spot in the semi-final against London, to be filled by the winner of tonight's game between the two winless teams. 

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Puckpedia (the site I use for in-depth salary cap details now that Capfriendly is gone) has just in the last few days transitioned the site over to the 2025-26 season, so I have been poking around with a few different cap and lineup questions that I have: 

What does Columbus do with their D-core?

This is a good young team with tons of cap space, the goal to start moving up the NHL standings, and a few free agent questions to consider about how they want to approach not just next year, but maybe their entire competitive window. 

The Blue Jackets have five solid defencemen under contract already, more in the pipeline, and both Ivan Provorov and Dante Fabbro as options to re-sign. Fabbro was especially valuable to the team as a perfect fit for Zach Werenski, and that would likely be tough for the team to give up. On paper, it would hurt to let Provorov walk as well, but he does seem to be more likely to be let go as signing him until he's 35 seems excessive, especially when it would block Denton Mateychuk. 

On the horizon, there's Daemon Hunt, Luca Marelli, Corson Ceulemanes, Charlie Elick, Stanislov Svozil, and more, so locking up non-elite players into their mid-30s when Damon Severson is already signed for too long would be a questionable decision. However, the team also has a ton of cap space, and they certainly can't use it all on forwards, so I could see them convincing themselves that pouring money into the D-core is the way to go. Hopefully for Werenski’s sake, Fabbro sticks around. Meanwhile, Provorov leaving would likely benefit the rest of the group. 

How will the Leafs use their cap space?

This is a fun one, as the Leafs haven't really had an abundance of cap space in a long time, and when they have had some, they've used it on old defencemen and second line wingers who came in and played like third-line players. If they let Mitch Marner walk, and re-sign John Tavares at half of his previous cap hit, then they're looking at $20 million to spend on 3-4 forwards, and only Matthew Knies to sign that will take up any large portion of that. The only issues are that the free agency pool is shallow this year, and the only playoff performers that might be available to add there would be Sam Bennett and Brad Marchand – somehow it doesn't feel like they will be Leafs this fall. 

Assuming there aren't any hiccups getting Knies signed, then there's likely $10-14 million or so to fill out the final two or three forward slots. The defence core looks to be set, though the Leafs would likely love to add another RD instead of again being LD heavy. Do they then turn to the trade market, and target someone up front to make a difference? It's tough to find a trading partner that makes sense for both sides though, unless you look at the Devils and decide that they might see Dougie Hamilton as an excess piece to move and free up some money to spend at forward. Hamilton would fill a need at RD for the Leafs that they haven't had in a long long time. 

Bringing it back to the initial thought, I think regardless of what the Leafs do this summer, Knies and Nylander are primed for a bit of a step forward, while overall the team may be less of an offensive force than we have become accustomed to as fantasy managers over the last few years. 

Where does Mitch Marner fit?

There was a rumour going around that Marner is not going to be signing anywhere else in Canada, though he hasn't necessarily closed off the option of returning to Toronto. If he's going to command nearly $14 million per season on the open market, then which teams have the combo of being attractive to Marner, wanting to spend big on a free agent winger, and have the cap space to make it all work?

The teams to watch in my opinion are Utah, Columbus, Detroit, and Los Angeles. All four with some good young talent that they're building, and all four could use a 100-point player to either get them into the playoffs, or in LA's case, to help them beat the Oilers in the playoffs. To me, Detroit makes the most sense, being close to home for Marner (and his wife), and the team really needing a big swing to help them take the next step. Now Marner may be a bit redundant as a skilled RW, but they likely have to move on from Vladimir Tarasenko to make the cap work. Does it make sense all the way around? No, but I can poke holes in just about every other theory too. 

In the end, I do think Marner ends up as a 100-point winger on almost any other team, as his underlying numbers are eerily consistent year to year. However, the players that get bumped down the lineup or shuffled around because of him coming in could cause some hiccups in production as a ripple effect. I would be cautious betting big on other wingers from whichever team Marner ends up on.  

Who is going to be the biggest name traded in the offseason?

Aside from Marner, there aren't any real "star" players available in the UFA market, at least not in their prime years. However, there are always a few big names that are discussed, and with the poor UFA class, a potential weaker draft class, and the cap rising quickly, it seems like we're ripe for a few big names to be moved. 

Elias Pettersson and his issues in Vancouver would seem to be the prime candidate, as he would fit on a lot of teams looking for a spark. Quinn Hughes, Mat Barzal, Timo Meier, and maybe a surprise move of Dylan Larkin… there's lots of options floating around there. 

However, in the NHL it’s usually best to bet on stagnancy unless there’s a real reason for someone to be pushed out the door. And the one player I do really think will get moved is Marco Rossi. It feels like the Wild don't value him enough to pay him what he is going to command on a new deal, and as an RFA now is the time for someone else desperately in need of a centre (at least half their league) to jump in and get a top-six guy. If Rossi is traded, then I like his outlook better than being stuck in the middle-six in Minnesota, where he was for his less productive second half. 

Why haven't the Bruins re-signed any of their RFAs yet when they have time and room to do so? 

The Bruins have one of the highest amounts of available cap space in the league, and while part of it is because they have the lowest number of players signed, another part of it is because they sold players off last season and they just have lots of room now. Which makes it curious that none of Morgan Geekie, Marat Khusnutdinov, Mason Lohrei, or Oliver Wahlstrom have contracts yet. 

There's no roster or monetary constraints holding the team back from committing at this point, and going to arbitration just to get a one-year deal for some of these guys seems like the worst outcome. 

Is Boston planning on being a big spender to reset around David Pastrnak, or are they maybe looking to aim for another bottom of the table finish next year so they're taking the roster construction super slow? That question would have massive implications for Jeremy Swayman owners, and also trickle down to some sizeable ripples in the values of the main skater assets. I really don't know which way to lean here, so I'll likely just let someone else take the risk on Boston players this summer. 

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Dobber’s starting a new vlog with player quick hits (60 seconds). This one’s Elias Pettersson. He says you can comment with future player requests (on IG, FB, X, BlueSky, TikTok and YouTube)

TikTok: Link here.

Subscribe to YouTube: Here

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See you next Wednesday, and if you have any fantasy hockey questions or comments you can find me on BlueSky @alexdmaclean, as that's now my primary platform.