\u201cWe\u2019re already seeing it to a degree,\u201d said Keator, who recently added son Ryan as a partner in his Boston-based Win Hockey Agency<\/a>. \u201cSome of the deals signed late in the season, or even July 1 or later, now look modest. We keep telling our clients to wait, just be patient, the numbers will only get bigger.\u201d <\/p>\n Some of what happened in recent days was exacerbated by an added pressure point, the Sept. 15 phase-in of the NHL\u2019s reworked collective bargaining agreement that reduced maximum player contract term length from eight years to seven. The reduction, in theory, will spare clubs at least that one year of being stuck with an underperforming roster asset \u2014 a factor clearly in play, too, in this nascent trend of long, rich deals lavished on young twentysomethings. <\/p>\n Barring injuries, Leonard, 21, and Gauthier, 22, most likely will be delivering at peak performance at the time their deals expire \u2014 meaning they\u2019ve been assured prime pay during their prime earning years. <\/p>\n Long gone are the days when proven NHL veterans, with high-production years on their resumes, found themselves being told they had aged out when it came time to be rewarded with deserved payouts in their early-30s. The \u201cnew reality,\u201d as termed by Keator, is that baby-faced kids will be rich men years before the first strands of gray hair pop out from under their helmets. <\/p>\n The Senators<\/a>, meanwhile, assumed the underlying risk of an underperforming-asset-to-be when extending right winger Drake Batherson for eight years, $86 million ($10.75M average) on Wednesday. <\/p>\n Batherson (career-best 33-38\u201371 last season) is 28 years old, and has a year remaining on an expiring contract. He is a big, strong, proven performer. He also will be age 37, and likely three years or more past prime performance, when the new deal expires. The Senators factored that latter reality into the average layout, and also were influenced by a unique challenge: convincing high-end talent to make Ottawa a chosen long-term workplace. Exhibit A: not all 32 franchises deal with the same market variables.<\/p>\n Earlier this month, the Bruins faced head-on the reality of Carlsson\u2019s paradigm-shifting deal when rewarding promising center Fraser Minten with a seven-year, $50.4 million extension<\/a> that kicks in next season. The sturdy, steady 22-year-old fits the paid-on-promise model to a T. <\/p>\n After only one full season, he brought a modest 20-20\u201340 career line to the bargaining table. Whether he grows into a No. 1 center remains to be seen. If not, he\u2019ll be paid as such with $7.2 million per season on a deal that will expire on the cusp of his 30th birthday.<\/p>\n The added new reality here for all 32 teams is that front offices, including top-tier management and their amateur and pro scouting staff, have very tight windows to separate the haves from the have-nots. The pressure is greater than ever to be correct with their forecasting.<\/p>\n Most players are drafted at age 18. The creme de la creme reach the league by age 20. The trend established this summer saw the prime kids rewarded with fortunes as their entry-level contracts expired. It\u2019s a costly model that, as noted here upon Carlsson\u2019s landmark deal<\/a>, will force teams to fill out rosters with a greater number of lower-wage stick carriers \u2014 a group that will grow on a percentage basis with each new megadeal a club places at the top of the pay pyramid.<\/p>\n The near future likely will see a majority of teams relegating upward of 50 percent of their payroll to maybe three or four elite players, then fill their rosters out by dime-a-dozen contributors. <\/p>\n It can work. It forces management to be right when identifying the truly elite performers for those big paychecks. But even one miss up top, a $15-million-a-year boo boo, could lead to a disaster. Trimming back maximum-length deals from eight years to seven won\u2019t make the pain go away.<\/p>\n TRADE WINDS<\/p>\n Hellebuyck leaves Jets grounded<\/p>\n The Jets, as expected, opened camp sans franchise goalie Connor Hellebuyck, the ex-UMass Lowell stopper triggering a suspension when choosing not to report after months ago requesting a trade out of Manitoba<\/a>.<\/p>\n Winnipeg general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff said he has been underwhelmed with the offers he has received for the 33-year-old, who in 2025 won the most recent of his three Vezinas (and was named NHL MVP), and earlier this year backstopped Team USA to Olympic gold.<\/p>\n \u201cI have to get this right,\u201d said Cheveldayoff.<\/p>\n No doubt about that. The proof: Montreal\u2019s trade of Patrick Roy in December 1995.<\/p>\n The surrounding circumstances are somewhat different, but a lot of what is at play is reminiscent of the Canadiens\u2019 hasty, now long-regretted trade of Roy. GM Rejean Houle, only months on the job as Serge Savard\u2019s successor, made an emotional decision (in hand with Savard) to wheel Roy, then 30, to the Avalanche along with forward Mike Keane.<\/p>\n The return was risible: Andrei \u201cThe Empty Tank\u201d Kovalenko, Martin Rucinsky, and Jocelyn Thibault \u2014 all of it a deep pocketful of next-to-nothing. Rucinsky, then 24, proved to be a decent, though not impactful, winger in Montreal for a few years.<\/p>\n Roy, then with two Stanley Cup wins under his belt with the CH, was in his 12th season in Montreal. He went on to win another two Cups in Colorado en route to the Hockey Hall of Fame<\/a>. In his final game in Montreal, he was hosed at the Forum by the Red Wings, allowing nine goals before coach Mario Tremblay hooked him midway through the second period. A stomping, steaming Roy could be seen yelling at Tremblay at the bench as Pat Jablonski took the net.<\/p>\n The emotional St. Patrick demanded a trade right after the game, a deal that Savard labeled as necessary.<\/p>\n \u201cThe team revolved far too much around him,\u201d noted Savard. And Savard was right \u2014 oh man, was he right. Roy was in net for their last Cup win in \u201993. Now, 33-plus years later, they\u2019re still waiting for their next one (as is every other team in Canada). <\/p>\n Cooler heads in the front office would have told Roy to pipe down, take a five-day vacation, and come back feeling refreshed. It would have been possible, even in hockey-crazed Montreal<\/a>.<\/p>\n This would have been Hellebuyck\u2019s 12th season with the Jets, and the third year of the seven-year, $59.5 million, no-trade deal that he now has chosen not to honor. Like Roy in Montreal, he wants out, albeit without yet making clear what convinced him he no longer wants to be a Jet for life.<\/p>\n The path to a deal indeed looks narrow for Cheveldayoff. Buffalo and defending Cup champ Carolina both look like ideal landing spots. Cheveldayoff might have to convince another GM into swapping out an established No. 1 in favor of Hellebuyck. <\/p>\n One example would be Florida, where GM Bill Zito in June obtained Jacob Markstrom, 36, from the Devils. Hellebuyck is younger, and would be an upgrade, which would mean the Jets would need more in a deal.<\/p>\n Or, if the Roy scenario proves valuable, perhaps Cheveldayoff can coax Hellebuyck in from the trade ledge. Keeping him in the Jets net would be by far the best deal. CBA rules prevent the Jets from tossing him more money, so the appeal would have to be crafted around other factors \u2014 related, no doubt, to the reasons Hellebuyck have not made public. <\/p>\n ETC.<\/p>\n Making a good first impression<\/p>\n Unknown, undrafted right winger Tom Zocco arrived in Buffalo last weekend as an unsigned invitee to the Bruins\u2019 prospects camp<\/a>. He played in both games, including ample time in the top six and on the power play, against the Sabres hopefuls and made a solid impression among the Boston cognoscenti. <\/p>\n Within an hour of his last Black and Gold shift Monday, he hustled to catch a prearranged car for a three-hour drive to London, Ontario. <\/p>\n Zocco, who grew up on Staten Island, N.Y. (home to one indoor rink, the Staten Island Skating Pavilion<\/a>), will play this season for Dale Hunter\u2019s OHL London Knights<\/a>. A year from now, he\u2019ll be a 21-year-old freshman for NCAA Division 1 Quinnipiac, hoping his circuitous, unconventional career path one day leads to NHL work. <\/p>\n \u201cYou know what? I liked him,\u201d said new AHL Providence coach Trent Whitfield<\/a>, bench boss for the two games in Buffalo. \u201cWhen he gets into higher-level situations where he has to dig in defensively, that\u2019ll help [his game]. Offensively, you know, he\u2019s off the charts \u2014 great shot, makes plays, slick through the neutral zone.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s many miles to tread for Zocco on that narrow career path, but that\u2019s high praise for a kid who three times went through the NHL draft without hearing his name called. He scored but one goal in the rookie tournament \u2014 in part because there is only one puck, which prospect James Hagens buried six times in the two games<\/a>. But Zocco clearly made an impression.<\/p>\n Zocco was unaware the Bruins had any interest in him after his year playing for USHL champion Sioux Falls, where he led the Stampede offense (60 games: 22\u201348\u201370). Then the phone rang a couple of weeks ago.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd it was my agent [George Bazos] with this random call, asking, \u2018Hey, do you want to go to the Bruins\u2019 rookie camp?\u2019 \u201d recalled Zocco. \u201cAnd I was like, \u2018Uh, yeah.\u2019 I mean, why wouldn\u2019t I want to go there?!\u201d<\/p>\n With but that one rink on Staten Island, Zocco played some of his early-teen years in New Jersey. He also played three seasons with the Triple-A Long Island Gulls, one of Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy\u2019s<\/a> career-building stops. Prior to his USHL season in Sioux Falls, he played a season for the BCHL Coquitlam Express. He led them in scoring, too (19-34\u201353 in 49 games). Notice a trend here?<\/p>\n Following his strong season in Sioux Falls, where he finished fourth overall in USHL scoring, Zocco felt he finally would be selected in this June\u2019s NHL draft.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah \u2026 maybe a late round,\u201d mused Zocco, reached by phone in London. \u201cBut you know, some stuff doesn\u2019t go your way, right? So you just [have to] bounce back and show people what they missed out on.\u201d<\/p>\n Now he\u2019ll have an NHL veteran in Knights coach Hunter helping to build details into his game, followed by at least one season under the keen-eyed Rand Pecknold\u2019s direction with the Bobcats.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019ll learn there; Rand will teach him good,\u201d offered Whitfield. \u201cThey\u2019ll push him in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n Former UMass standout Dans Locmelis<\/a> submitted two solid performances in the Bruins\u2019 rookie tournament, his game showing not a hint of the shoulder (labrum) surgery that cut short his time in Providence last season. \u201cThe best thing is just to play hockey again,\u201d said the Latvian-born centerman. \u201cBut for sure, it\u2019s nice to be healthy again and back to 100 percent. But I\u2019ve been feeling really good all summer, so I was confident going out there.\u201d \u2026 By the weekend, the list of players on NHL camp tryouts had nearly tripled from the previous weekend, but none of the names carried much sizzle. The Lightning brought back versatile veteran pivot Luke Glendening, 37, for a potential redux performance. He played two seasons there (2023-25), just on the far side of their two Cup wins. Ex-of UMichigan, Glendening began his pro career with a short stay with AHL Providence. \u2026 The top USHL scorer last season was Alex Pelletier, a Lincoln Stars forward who posted 48-37\u201385 totals. An Avon Old Farms grad from Granby, Conn., Pelletier is now in Chestnut Hill for his freshman year at BC \u2026 Cooper Simpson, a Youngstown forward and 2025 Bruins third-round pick (74th), was the USHL\u2019s No. 2 scorer (34-40\u201374). Now 19, he\u2019s begun his freshman year at North Dakota \u2026 One potential impediment in moving Helleybuyck is his 24-34 postseason record. He carried the Jets to the Western Conference finals in 2018, but hasn\u2019t moved them beyond Round 2 since \u2026 Bruins GM Don Sweeney would not say at his Wednesday presser<\/a> if he took much of a stab at landing Chris Kreider, who signed on with Montreal for a $2.15 million guarantee. Kreider, a Hub homeboy, was there to be had, his hand up, and the Bruins had plenty of room on the payroll to accommodate him. The read here: Sweeney\u2019s interest was tepid, in part because he wants roster room for a kid or two (Hagens? Locmelis?) to gain a foothold. There\u2019s logic there, if they ascend. A sure bet would have been the big-bodied Kreider making for a better power play (124 career PP goals in 14 seasons, including an NHL-best 26 in 2021-22) \u2026 The NHL will not say that either Houston or Austin are shoo-ins for the next round of expansion<\/a> (at a price of $2 billion or more). In part, that\u2019s because the league office does not want to usurp the last-call rights of the board of governors. Why not add both? Florida (population 23.4 million) has two teams. Why can\u2019t Texas (31.7 million) have three? \u2026 Try as he may, Alex Ovechkin will not easily rid himself of Vladimir Putin\u2019s evil political stench. The game\u2019s greatest goal scorer appeared in a commercial for Putin\u2019s United Russia party, standing right behind foreign minister Sergey Lavrov. \u201cI\u2019m for peace and love,\u201d Ovechkin has been telling the western hockey media, noting to one and all he\u2019ll one day return to live fulltime in Russia. The International Criminal Court in 2023 issued an arrest warrant for Putin<\/a>, following investigations around crimes against humanity related to his ordered invasion of Ukraine. The game\u2019s greatest goal scorer didn\u2019t know where this puck was going on this one?<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/UVTG6DW5EPMBFR75MZNIFBA5WA.jpg\")
The 22-year-old Cutter Gauthier had a breakout season for the Ducks, potting 41 goals, leading to his new 6-year, $13.5 million AAV pact with Anaheim.Kyusung Gong\/AP Photo\/Kyusung Gong<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/PYA3GMHVMC4VMJQEZA4GBIQFD4.jpg\")
The Bruins also got into the latest trend of signing young players to bigger-than-normal contracts, inking Fraser Minten to a 7-year, $50.4 million extension. John Tlumacki\/Globe Staff<\/p>\n![\"Connor](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/NL37FOIYTANZLDB2UD4JX3EYYI.jpg\")
Connor Hellebuyck, the three-time Vezina Trophy winner, says he’s played his last game in Winnipeg, demanding a trade despite his longterm deal with the Jets.Tony Gutierrez\/AP Photo\/Tony Gutierrez<\/p>\n![\"Young](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/KMF24RN2Q6S5LFZ4XRMMPWEYTY.jpg\")
Young Bruins prospect Dans Locmelis is happy to be healthy and back on the ice again.John Tlumacki\/Globe Staff<\/p>\n