Not Guilty Verdicts: More than three months after their trial began after being charged in connection with sexual assault, Carter Hart<\/a>, Michael McLeod<\/a>, Dillon Dube<\/a>, Alex Formenton<\/a>, and Cal Foote<\/a> were all found not guilty<\/a> by Justice Maria Carroccia in London, Ontario.\u00a0 The allegations became public back in 2022 with charges being laid in January 2024; none of those players have played in the NHL since then.\u00a0 They won\u2019t be eligible to return right away either as the league indicated that they will be \u201creviewing and considering the judge\u2019s findings\u201d to determine next steps.\u00a0 The NHLPA has already indicated that they are addressing this with the league, citing that the NHL\u2019s declaration is inconsistent with the discipline procedures set forth in the CBA.<\/p>\n Zacha In Play? Center help has been something that many teams are seeking but few options have been available.\u00a0 It\u2019s possible that the Bruins could have one, however, following a report<\/a> from David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period who notes that Boston is mulling the possibility of moving Pavel Zacha<\/a>.\u00a0 The 28-year-old is coming off a small dip in production, notching 14 goals and 33 assists last season after tallying 57 and 59 points in the previous two seasons.\u00a0 However, he has been above average on draws in four of the last five years, has had his three best offensive years in the last three seasons, and is signed at a reasonable $4.75MM through the 2026-27 season.\u00a0 If the Bruins do make him available, they should be able to generate strong interest in his services.<\/p>\n More Arbitration Settlements: More players reached contract settlements before the arbitration submission process began.\u00a0 The Islanders agreed to<\/a> a two-year, $4.5MM contract with winger Maxim Tsyplakov<\/a> after a solid rookie year that saw him record 10 goals and 25 assists along with 140 hits.\u00a0 Meanwhile, Arvid Soderblom<\/a>\u2019s bounce-back year with Chicago last season earned him<\/a> a two-year, $5.5MM pact.\u00a0 He put up a 3.18 GAA and a .898 SV% last season, a significant improvement on his 2023-24 numbers.\u00a0 Lastly, new Sabres defenseman Conor Timmins<\/a> received<\/a> a two-year, $4.4MM contract.\u00a0 He split last season between Toronto and Pittsburgh, picking up 15 points in 68 games and was acquired from the Penguins on the second day of the draft.\u00a0 All three players will be unrestricted free agents when these deals expire in 2027.<\/p>\n Photo courtesy of\u00a0Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While the quiet part of the NHL offseason is well underway, there was still some notable news around…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26992,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85,26176],"class_list":["post-26991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nhl","tag-sports","tag-week-in-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26991\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/USATSI_25350454-200x300.jpg\")
<\/a>Blake Gets Eight: Hurricanes winger Jackson Blake<\/a> had a solid rookie season, notching 17 goals and 17 assists in 80 games during the regular season.\u00a0 Management clearly feels that he\u2019s a part of the long-term plans, as they signed him to an eight-year, $45MM contract extension<\/a> that will begin in 2026-27.\u00a0 While the normal AAV of that deal would be $5.625MM, the deal has $15.9MM in deferred signing bonus payments that won\u2019t be paid until the day after the contract expires, July 1, 2034.\u00a0 In doing so, the AAV and cap charge is lowered to $5.117MM.\u00a0 Deferred compensation contracts have been outlawed in the CBA extension but until that kicks in (in mid-September 2026), they\u2019re fully legal; it\u2019s now the third such contract on Carolina\u2019s books, joining Jaccob Slavin<\/a> and Seth Jarvis<\/a>.<\/p>\n