Welcome back everyone, it’s a steady week in the world of hockey. Some of the news from the past week is:
- The NHL is hosting its first ever 4 Nations Cup that will start tonight where Team Canada will face off against Team Sweden tonight, followed by Team Finland taking on Team USA tomorrow. It will be interesting to see how the tournament goes as they unveiled the trophy today. It was announced that defenceman Quinn Hughes will not play for Team USA due to an undisclosed injury and so he will be recovering as the Vancouver Canucks make a push for the playoffs. But this begs the question, which Nation will take it all?
- Forward Loui Eriksson has announced his retirement after 16 NHL seasons. Selected in the 2nd round of the 2003 draft by the Dallas Stars, Eriksson put up 253 goals and 613 points in 1,050 career games. In his last season, he put up 3 goals and 16 assists in 73 games with the Arizona Coyotes. Eriksson, 39, who hails from Gothenburg, Sweden, played for the Dallas Stars, Boston Bruins and Vancouver Canucks. We wish him all the best in his future.
- The Nashville Predators have signed defenseman Adam Wilsby to a two-year, $1.55MM contract extension with the team (with an AAV of $775,000). It will be a two-way contract in the 2025-26 season and a one-way deal in the 2026-27 season. Wilsby, 24, has played in the first 23 games of his NHL career this season with Nashville, putting up 1 goal and 4 assists, and being a +3 -three while averaging just over 18 minutes of ice time. He was originally drafted in the 4th round of the 2020 NHL Draft out of Sweden’s HockeyAllsvenskan, the country’s second-tier pro league, before joining the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals. This is a good depth piece for the Predators as they look to refocus on next year.
- Speaking of a busy front office, the Nashville Predators have acquired One minor trade to defenceman Mark Friedman from the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for future considerations. Friedman, 29, has spent the majority of the 2024-25 season with the Abbotsford Canucks, where he put up 1 goal and 5 assists in 20 games. Friedman was originally the 86th pick by the Philadelphia Flyers in 2014 and has played 93 NHL games with the Flyers, Canucks and Pittsburgh Penguins.
- The Canucks also solidified their back end by signing Marcus Pettersson to a 6-year, $33 million contract (with an AAV of $5.5 million) to begin next season. Petterson, 28, has put up 3 goals and 15 assists in 49 games this season, and was selected by the Anaheim Ducks in the second round (No. 38) of the 2014 NHL Draft.
- Last week, we also reported the suspension for Ryan Hartman, and since then, Hartman has filed an appeal. This will now go to NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman to make a final ruling. We will keep an eye out for the report.
- Finally, it sounds like Hockey Quebec will be banning smelling salts for young players citing some concerning health risks associated with it. This is an emerging story that we will be keeping an eye on.
- As always, there is a lot more news so make sure to tune in for our aired Season 6, Episode 21 of Two Guys & Hockey Talk next Wednesday. We dive into some of these great topics, and so much more.
Thoughts? Questions? Suggestions? Then remember to tune in each week to get all the latest news in the world of hockey. For more hockey news, different takes or if you want to chat about anything hockey give me a follow @hockey_two on TWITTER and give us a follow on YouTube, or at https://twoguysandhockeytalk.com/.
- Pawel ‘The Cat’
