NHL rumblings: Decentralized draft stays, plus latest on Gauthier, Kucherov, Hellebuyck, more

CHICAGO — Summer break is over! Greetings from Chicago, where The Athletic’s hockey writers and editors are meeting this week to kick off the 2026-27 season.

The NHL, meanwhile, held a digital meeting with all 32 head coaches and general managers on Tuesday in advance of the season. After conducting the same meeting in person in Detroit last September, many involved wanted this year’s to be over Zoom, to avoid traveling at a time of year when there’s plenty to do for the coaches and GMs, with camps opening next week.

Because it was on Zoom, the meeting didn’t lend itself to as much interaction as one would expect in person. According to several people on the call, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a meeting that’s not public, it was pretty standard fare, with the league walking GMs and coaches through what to expect this season, especially with the new collective bargaining agreement coming into full effect Sept. 16.

The NHL also has a board of governors meeting slated for Sept. 22 in New York City, at which point there should be an update of the expansion process, including the latest on Houston and Austin.

One thing that wasn’t discussed Tuesday but was confirmed by the league to The Athletic was that the 2027 draft, on June 25 and 26, will be decentralized for a third year in a row. The league didn’t seek feedback from the 32 clubs after the second decentralized draft in June, probably because there wasn’t the same level of outcry as there was with the first attempt in 2025.

So it would appear the decentralized draft is here to stay.

What else is going on around the NHL as things kick into gear post-Labor Day? After catching up with other sources around the league, given anonymity to discuss talks that aren’t public, here’s what I’m hearing.

Gauthier negotiations

Anaheim Ducks forward Cutter Gauthier remains unsigned as training camp approaches, though the sides have kept the dialogue going.

The Ducks have been in a tough place in this restricted-free-agent negotiation from the moment they matched Leo Carlsson’s monster five-year, $90 million offer sheet from the Philadelphia Flyers. Whatever a Gauthier contract might have looked like before the Carlsson deal is very much different from what it will be now, in this new, ever-evolving salary landscape. Connor Bedard’s new five-year, $15 million cap-hit contract has been brought up as a comparable for Gauthier, who scored 41 goals and 69 points in 76 games in his second NHL season.

It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out. The new CBA kicks in Sept. 16 — no more eight-year deals, but also less enticing structure language and rules for players and agents having to do with signing bonus money and limits on front-loading. All of which is to say, if the Ducks want eight years, the clock is ticking, but if Gauthier and agent Kurt Overhardt want the existing structure options before it’s too late, there’s also heat on them.

Kucherov extension

Mum’s the word from all parties involved in the Nikita Kucherov extension talks. For all the attention Quinn Hughes is getting for not having signed an extension with the Minnesota Wild, it’s kind of bizarre how little has been made of the fact that the reigning Hart Trophy winner hasn’t extended with the Tampa Bay Lightning yet.

Kucherov’s agent, Dan Milstein, is normally pretty forthcoming with updates, but in this case, since the very beginning of talks, he has maintained that he will not comment, on or off the record, about extension talks, and he reiterated as much to me Tuesday.

Lightning GM Julien BriseBois also wouldn’t comment. He never will on an active negotiation.

So all we know at this point is that Kucherov, entering the last year of a deal paying him $9.5 million annually, still hasn’t extended. It’s not clear how much Sept. 16 and the new CBA are weighing on this negotiation. Kucherov is 33, and his extension would kick in at age 34, so an eight-year deal might not make sense unless it’s a way for the team to massage the average annual value — and certainly the Bolts have done that in the past.

I do think Kucherov will end up re-signing, but I honestly thought he would have been a July extension. I’m surprised it’s gone this long.

Edvinsson plans to be in camp

The expectation is that RFA Simon Edvinsson will take part in Detroit Red Wings training camp even if he remains unsigned. That’s a little unusual, but I think the player doesn’t want to fall behind, and we’ve seen in the past how missing camp has hurt other players.

Also, shorter training camps under the new CBA offer less of a ramp-up to the regular season. That could be a factor.

So Edvinsson’s plan at the moment is to show up for camp regardless of whether he’s signed.

The holdup in talks, of course, is that the Red Wings still don’t have a GM. Detroit Tigers GM Jeff Greenberg removing himself from consideration might open the search back up. I’m surprised the Red Wings haven’t interviewed Ryan Martin yet, given his longtime work in the Detroit front office before joining the Rangers’ front office. He would seem like a logical candidate to at least speak with. Perhaps that will happen now?

Hellebuyck suitors

The Carolina Hurricanes, Buffalo Sabres and Utah Mammoth are among the possibilities on the Connor Hellebuyck trade front. The Florida Panthers, as we reported at the time, showed real interest in June, but between the assets spent on the Brady Tkachuk blockbuster and the Jacob Markstrom acquisition, that ship has obviously sailed.

The Canes remain interested, it was reiterated to me Tuesday, and one figures any such potential deal would involve unsigned RFA defenseman Alexander Nikishin. The Sabres and Jets had very serious talks, culminating in offers and counteroffers on the Friday of the first round of the draft in late June, but nothing materialized.

The bottom line at the moment, as far as I can ascertain, is that there’s just nothing on the table that would represent a fair deal for Winnipeg. It’s a real tough spot for the Jets to be in, especially after the star Team USA goalie made his trade request public. But the Jets can’t give him away.

I will say this: Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff has found himself in similar spots before with Pierre-Luc Dubois and Jacob Trouba and fared pretty darn well.