With the 2024-25 season in full swing, things were a bit quieter away from the ice but there was still some news of note from the past seven days which is recapped in our key stories.
Calling It A Career: Veteran defenseman Anton Stralman has hung up his skates at the age of 38 and has retired. A seventh-round pick by Toronto back in 2005, Stralman played in 938 career NHL contests over parts of 16 seasons for seven different teams. He wasn’t a big offensive producer although he did manage 293 points to his name but Stralman was known for being a solid defensive blueliner who was capable of logging 20 minutes a night. He’s now slated to begin his coaching career but not necessarily in the sport you might be thinking of; he has joined the coaching staff of Swedish women’s soccer club Skultorps IF.
Injuries For Defensemen: Utah HC made some moves to shore up their back end this summer but they’ll have to wait a while for one of their newcomers to debut as John Marino is set to miss multiple months due to an upper-body injury. The 27-year-old has averaged over 20 minutes a game in his first five NHL seasons and was poised to play a big role for them but that’s now on hold. Sean Durzi, their top blueliner from last year, is also set to be out for a while due to an upper-body injury of his own. Meanwhile, Wild rearguard Jared Spurgeon will be out for a few more games at least as he’s dealing with issues from the back and hip surgeries he had last season. While the soreness and stiffness were expected and this isn’t a setback, it means Minnesota will be without a key piece for a while and it wouldn’t be surprising if this is something that creeps up again later in the season.
Eight For Oettinger: Goalies have been getting paid in recent weeks and the latest to land a new contract was Stars netminder Jake Oettinger. He received an eight-year, $66MM deal that begins next season. If those figures sound familiar, it’s the exact contract that Boston gave Jeremy Swayman earlier this month. In fact, aside from Oettinger having one extra year eligible for a no-move clause, the structure of the contracts is identical. Oettinger is in his fifth NHL season and has already established himself as one of the upper-echelon netminders. He now will be one of four goalies with that AAV (joining Sorokin, Linus Ullmark, and Ilya Sorokin) and will be tied for the fourth-highest cap hit among goaltenders in 2025-26.
Flames Looking To Add…
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