Hey everyone, hope you are doing well. We are back at it tonight for another great Episode 5 Season 7 of Two Guys & Hockey Talk, where we dive into the stories around the world of hockey. It’s been a busy few days as the NHL season is well underway and we have some stories from the pat week
- Kyle Connor stays a Jet – The Winnipeg Jets have locked in their top winger Kyle Connor to an 8-year, $96 million contract extension (with an AAV of $12 million). It is one of the richest deal in Jets franchise history, and coming off a great season for Kyle Connor, who 41 goals, 56 assists in 82 games last season. This is a good deal and another UFA for next year off the board, and shows his commitment to the team, to winning and to the Winnipeg organization.
- Artūrs Šilovs Shines in Penguins Debut – The NHL season is underway where the Florida Panthers faced off against the Chicago Blackhawks and had their banner raised, but the highlight of the night was in the season openered between the Pittsburgh Penguins versus the New York Rangers, where goaltender Artūrs Šilovs recorded a shutout (25 saves) in a 3–0 win over the Rangers. This came after some new additions like Justin Brazeau and Blake Lizotte also made an impact, while veteran Evgeni Malkin added two assists. The LA Kings also faced off against the Colorado Avalanche with chrome helmets that really stood out on the ice. Tonight we have even more games and it proves that this is going to be an exciting season.
- Gustavsson Gets Long-Term Stability in Minnesota – The Minnesota Wild wasted no time in doing more business and re-signed their goaltender Filip Gustavsson to a 5-year, $34 million contract extension (with an AAV of $6.8 million).The deal comes after resigning their young star Kirill Kaprizov, and also after a strong 2024-25 campaign by Gustavsson, where he had a .914 SV% and a 2.56 GAA in 58 games. It appears that he will be their starting goaltender, sharing duties with Jesper Wallstedt, who will also be expected to take a step forward.
- Connor McDavid Commits to Oilers – The Edmonton Oiler finally announced this week that their star and captain Connor McDavid has resigned to a shocking 2-year, $25 million extension (with a $12.5 AAV). This is the exact amount he was previously on, and reaffirms his belief in the team’s short-term window to contend. This is an insanely low cap given his level of impact and being the best player in the game. This is probably the best value contract in the NHL.
- Mattias Ekholm Re-Signed in Edmonton -Speaking of singing business, the Oilers also extended their veteran defenseman Mattias Ekholm to a 3-year, $12 million (with AAV of $4 million). In 65 games last season, he had 9 goals and 24 assists and often played top minutes in the game.
- NHL Rosters are starting to form – We are now as fans starting to see the final forms of the rosters of all 32 teams and who will play and who is being dropped down to the AHL. We will see how each team looks as the games begin and we start playing meaningful games. We will also see a lot of movement, transactions and call ups all throughout the league as injuries do happen and teams try to stay within the cap.
- Pietrangelo ruled out for 2025-26 season – The Vegas Golden Knights have officially declared that Pietrangelo will not play in the 2025-26 regular season or playoffs due to a chronic hip injury. The move was approved by Vegas, the NHL, and the NHLPA and due to the new (or updated) Long-Term Injured Reserve rules, he is now ineligible to return even for the playoffs and in doing this, Vegas can receive full salary cap relief for his $8.8 million cap hit to make more moves.
- Long-term commitment to Florida – The Florida Panthers have locked up Niko Mikkola, to an 8-year, $40 million dollar contract extension (with an AAV of $5 million). The extension begins in the 2026-27 season as he is still under his current 3-year deal, Mikkola, 29, he has been an underrated part of their blue line, as he recorded a career-high 6 goals and 16 assists in 76 games this past season. This is another piece locked up for long term as the team tries to 3-peat this season.
- Some outstanding/ongoing reports – It sounds like there are some other movements happening in the league with possibly Jack Eichel extending with Vegas, Jack Roslovic looking for a home and multi-year contract to play this season, and Easton Cowan being a healthy scratch for the Toronto Maple Leafs in tonight’s game.
Thoughts? Questions? Suggestions? Then remember to tune in each week to get all the latest news in the world of hockey as we start up Season 7 of the Podcast each Wednesday night at 7pm MST, where we dive into some of these great topics, interview many in the game and so much more. For more hockey news, different takes or if you want to chat about anything hockey give me a follow @hockey_two & @revinev on X and give us a follow (subscription) on YouTube, and check out our website for articles that we share regularly at https://twoguysandhockeytalk.com/.
Pawel ‘The Cat’
