Happy Monday y'all! It was nice having the NHL back this week, even if the games aren't as fast and skilled as what the Olympics were. Another thing I miss from the Winter Games are the boards. These video boards for advertising take away from the on-ice product while watching it on the tube.

The Los Angeles Kings fired head coach Jim Hiller yesterday and have brought in DJ Smith as an interim replacement. We can only hope that this loosens the leash on Brandt Clarke and some of the other skill players. The Kings are still in the middle of a playoff push so this should give everyone a little kick in the can in terms of production. We'll keep you updated here at DobberHockey for any new lines Smith wants to put together, but we'll see how their game against the Colorado Avalanche goes tonight and if they make any more trades for reinforcements with the team losing Kevin Fiala for the season and Andrei Kuzmenko for at least a few weeks.

The Kings already traded for Artemi Panarin before the Olympic break so you could say they are still in buyers mode, especially because Anze Kopitar has already announced it is his retirement tour, but they locked up the Russian winger so if they can move some assets for future help, that is their best course of action for this season. This could lead to a guy like Taylor Ward receiving ample opportunities as the team gave him a contract extension last month.

With just a few days until this season's trade deadline, there are a few interesting names that could be dealt. 

The Tristan Jarry experiment has not worked out for Edmonton and they need to add to that goalie room if they want to make another deep playoff run (they also need help on defense and shouldn't have traded Brett Kulak, but that's a story for a different day). Sergei Bobrovsky is on an expiring deal and could be a fun fit for the Oilers. He probably would like a spring and summer off after playing into June the last three years, but I feel like this would be the ideal situation for the Oil. 

McDavid's goalie at the Olympics, Jordan Binnington, could be an option as well. When pressed into high pressure situations, Binnington is a gamer and tends to elevate his play, but that was Stuart Skinner's MO. Safe to say Edmonton is making every phone call they can to keep McDavid happy because the Pacific is a winnable division with a month and a half left.

The Vancouver Canucks sit in a deep hole and keep trading away their core pieces, so is Elias Pettersson next?  Plenty of rumors going around that Vancouver should enter a full rebuild, but the Swedish center has that big contract. 

The Canucks were able to move Keifer Sherwood for a couple of second round picks and it looks like his new team, the San Jose Sharks, are considering moving on already as they are 4-5-1 in their last 10 and fallen out of a wildcard spot.

Many believe Robert Thomas of the St. Louis Blues is going to find a new home before the weekend as he just returned from injury. The Blues have a number of veteran pieces that they could move on from: Jordan Kyrou, Justin Faulk, and other depth players. Alex Steen is in place to take over their general manager role so they may tear it all down and see what he can build.

The Calgary Flames are another squad that is set to trade some veterans and help general manager Craig Conroy towards rebuilding the sea of red into a contender. Skaters like Nazem Kadri and Blake Coleman are top row prizes because of their respective playoff resumes. The Flames have a nice cupboard of young players so if they are able to unload some veterans before Friday, we might be able to find some value on the waiver wire as roles expand for this next generation of Flames players.

The Dallas Stars have ruled out Tyler Seguin for the rest of the 2025-26 season, including all playoffs. An unfortunate injury, but because you now need to be cap compliant even for a playoff game, this is huge news for the Stars as it opens up a lot of cap space for GM Jim Nill to make some moves and hopefully get over that playoff hump.

One of the surprise teams in 2025-26, the Anaheim Ducks (coaching matters, folks!) are in contention to win the Pacific for the first time in 10 years. The Ducks could use one more defenseman to help shore up their blueline and some help down the middle as all of their centers have experienced some sort of injury. They could be a true Stanley Cup dark horse team if they finish top four in the Pacific as they let the Central teams beat up on each other in the first two rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great week!