Florida Panthers defenseman Gustav Forsling has been awarded Guldpucken (The Golden Puck) as the best Swedish hockey player for the 2024-25 season. Forsling led Florida’s blueliners in goals (10), assists (29) and points (39), while also topping the NHL with a +56 plus/minus rating in 79 games. In the playoffs, the 28-year-old added four goals and nine assists and ended the Boston Bruins season by scoring late in Game 6. Great job by Bill Zito in making sure we get to enjoy the Guldpucken-winner for the next eight seasons.
According to NHL insider Darren Dreger, the Toronto Maple Leafs are expected to name Auston Matthews captain on Wednesday. Current Maple Leafs captain John Tavares fully supports the change and has been heavily involved in the process with general manager Brad Treliving. Will shaking things up by changing the head coach and the captain help the Buds to deep playoff run? We shall see…
The Calgary Flames re-signed defensemen Yan Kuznetsov to a one-year, two-way contract for the league minimum. Kuznetsov, 22, spent most of the 2023-24 season in the AHL with the Calgary Wranglers (63 games) and made his NHL debut on January 9, against the Ottawa Senators.