The Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender, who died in a fireworks accident on July 4, sacrificed his own life to save others, Merzlikins said.
Kivlenieks died due to chest trauma from a fireworks mortar blast. The mortar tube tilted and started firing toward a hot tub. Merzlikins and his pregnant wife were nearby.
"He saved, not just many lives, but when it happened, I was standing 20, 30 feet back of him," Merzlikins said at Kivlenieks' memorial service on Thursday. "And I was hugging my wife. He saved my son, he saved my wife, and he saved me. My son's second name is going to be Matiss.
"If that wasn't me or my wife or son, that would be 50 other people. He died a hero. And that's not me saying it. That was the doctor saying it. If he would just sit, it wouldn't have happened. As Sabrina said, he saved his last puck. I just wanted to let you know that he was a hero. He saved a lot of lives."
Kivlienieks lived in Merzlikins' guest room, and the two Latvian netminders formed a tight bond.
"Matiss, he wasn't my friend. Matiss was my little brother," Merzlikins said.
The incident occurred at goaltending coach Manny Legace's house in Michigan to celebrate his daughter's wedding. Kivlienieks first lived with Legace during the summers after joining the Blue Jackets organization.
"I love you. I always will love you," Legace said. "You were my son. And you were a great friend to everybody here."
The contract carries an annual cap hit of $2.66 million, according to TSN's Pierre LeBrun.
Forsling registered five goals and 12 assists in 43 games this past season while averaging 19:57 per contest. He was a favorite of head coach Joel Quenneville after the two spent parts of three seasons together with the Chicago Blackhawks.
The 25-year-old posted strong underlying numbers this past year and projects to fill a top-four role with the Cats moving forward:
Yandle had two seasons remaining on his contract with an average annual value of $6.35 million. He signed the seven-year, $44.45-million deal with Florida in 2016.
"While a decision of this kind is never an easy one to make, we believe that this shift is necessary as we look towards the 2021-22 season and our club's future," Panthers general manager Bill Zito said.
Here's a breakdown of the salary-cap implications of Yandle's buyout, according to CapFriendly:
Season
Initial cap hit
New cap hit
2021-22
$6.35M
$2.34M
2022-23
$6.35M
$5.39M
2023-24
$0
$1.24M
2024-25
$0
$1.24M
The 34-year-old appeared to fall out of favor with the Panthers at times this past season. It was reported in January that he wasn't in the team's plans moving forward and would begin the campaign as a healthy scratch. But he ended up playing in all 56 regular-season games, recording 27 points.
Florida scratched Yandle for two games during its first-round loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Yandle owns the second-longest ironman streak in NHL history, having played in 922 consecutive regular-season games. The blue-liner has 600 points in 1,032 career contests.
It appears Zach Hyman's time in Toronto is coming to an end.
The Maple Leafs have granted the pending unrestricted free-agent forward permission to speak to other teams so the club can explore trading his rights, sources told TSN's Darren Dreger.
Hyman, 29, is coming off the best two-year stretch of his career after tallying 36 goals and 70 points over his last 94 games. He's also proven to be an effective play-driver and a responsible two-way forward over the last three seasons.
Evolving-Hockey.com
Toronto has less than $10 million in projected cap space, according to CapFriendly, and may not be able to pay Hyman his market value while addressing other needs.
Evolving-Hockey is projecting Hyman will sign a four-year deal with a $5.325-million annual cap hit this offseason.
Hyman has spent the majority of his Maple Leafs tenure playing alongside elite talent. The workhorse winger has played almost exclusively on the club's top line with some combination of Auston Matthews, William Nylander, John Tavares, and Mitch Marner.
Hyman was originally a fifth-round pick of the Florida Panthers in 2010. The Maple Leafs traded for him in 2015 in exchange for Greg McKegg. The native of Toronto has played 345 games across six seasons with his hometown club.
The dust has settled on the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and the NHL is rapidly approaching an avalanche of transactions, with the entry draft, expansion draft, and free agency all occurring before the end of July.
With so much action on the horizon, we ask five pressing questions surrounding key talking points for what promises to be a high-octane offseason.
1. Will Jack Eichel be dealt?
Sara Schmidle / National Hockey League / Getty
Regardless of what may occur this offseason, no event will be as seismic as a potential trade involving the Buffalo Sabres captain. It's highly unlikely to happen before the expansion draft, but until Eichel pulls a Sabres jersey over his head again, the hockey world will be wondering when and where he's playing next.
The state of Eichel's neck injury is still largely unknown, and while he and the team are working towards a solution - whatever that may mean - the forward's incendiary comments towards the organization at the end of the year led many to believe bridges have been burned for good. And as much as it may sting for Buffalo and its loyal fans, now is the best time to trade him. Eichel's market will shrink considerably after the coming season, as a full no-move clause kicks in for the final four years of his contract starting in 2022-23.
Do the Los Angeles Kings dip into their deep pool of assets to accelerate their rebuild with a new No. 1 center? Is there a contender, say Vegas or Boston, lurking for Eichel's services? It's hard to predict now, but one thing is clear: Once the Seattle Kraken's draft concludes and the initial wave of free agency is wrapped up, Eichel watch will be in full force.
2. Who will be Seattle's biggest get?
Brian Babineau / National Hockey League / Getty
The Kraken will have their fair share of depth options to choose from, but will they end up with any stars? The Vegas Golden Knights targeted skilled, cost-effective players with upside when they picked their squad in 2017, and they have since blossomed into foundational pieces. But Marc-Andre Fleury - easily the biggest name available in that draft - instantly became the face of NHL's 31st franchise.
Could P.K. Subban be that guy in Seattle? The Devils are likely to expose Subban, and the defenseman would instantly provide the Kraken with a recognizable household name. The 32-year-old's $9 million cap hit would also help reach the cap floor and is easily affordable for one season.
After winning back-to-back Stanley Cups in unprecedented circumstances, the Tampa Bay Lightning are facing a significant roster reset. This isn't to say the club is approaching a full-scale rebuild - Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos, Brayden Point, Victor Hedman, and Andrei Vasilevskiy remain a formidable core. However, the depth that played such a crucial role in each championship is going to take a major hit.
The Lightning were a well-documented $18 million over the salary limit in the playoffs, and they now carry a combined $85 million hit heading into the 2021-22 campaign, according to Cap Friendly. The financial squeeze likely means goodbye for pending unrestricted free agents David Savard, Barclay Goodrow, and Blake Coleman, and more bodies will have to go for Tampa to become cap compliant.
The Bolts are bound to lose a key player in the expansion draft regardless of the format they choose. If the franchise protects seven forwards, it risks losing Ryan McDonagh or Erik Cernak on the back end. If Tampa chooses to keep the blue line intact and protect eight total skaters, Johnson, Yanni Gourde, Alex Killorn, and Ondrej Palat will likely be available for the Kraken.
Will Julien BriseBois be able to swing a trade to minimize damage, or are the defending champs going to have to face this offseason head-on as the unit navigates a retooling?
4. Is Dougie Hamilton done in Carolina?
Jamie Sabau / National Hockey League / Getty
The Carolina Hurricanes put the NHL on notice by permitting Hamilton to explore the free-agent market shortly after their playoff run ended. Carolina's unorthodox move could result in an enormous loss for a team that appears on the cusp of a major playoff run. There's a reasonable chance the Canes retain the star defender, but Hamilton deserves a hefty payday regardless of who provides the contract.
Hamilton ranks first among all defensemen with 42 goals and third with 609 shots since joining Carolina in 2018. The 28-year-old is also a possession monster, pacing every blue-liner that has at least 2,500 minutes logged with a 57.73 expected goals rate at five-on-five, according to Evolving Hockey. There are plenty of clubs across the league that could use his presence in their top four.
The seven-year, $61.6 million ($8.8 million average annual value) contract Alex Pietrangelo inked as last season's prized UFA defenseman is a fair comparison for Hamilton to shoot for, given he's younger and more productive offensively. If that's too steep for the Hurricanes, the Hamilton sweepstakes should be one of the stories of the summer.
It's fair to assume Makar will come out of the negotiating period with the most lucrative contract, as he's the most established youngster of the group. Evolving Hockey predicts he could earn a whopping $10.34 million per season on an eight-year commitment, and it's tough to deny he's worth every penny. While Makar's impending negotiations with the Colorado Avalanche seem relatively straightforward, there's far less certainty with the rest of the crop.
How much can the Minnesota Wild afford to pay Kaprizov with Ryan Suter's and Zach Parise's bought-out cap hits handcuffing the club for the next four campaigns? And is the young Russian dynamo willing to sign long-term if there's limited flexibility to surround him with good players?
Can the Vancouver Canucks find a way to bridge both Pettersson and Hughes? Or will the franchise sink the majority of its cap space into the two young stars before their value inflates down the road?
These scenarios cover just the tip of the iceberg in what could be a monumental summer for some of the game's brightest young guns.
Shea Weber's future is suddenly uncertain as he continues to deal with several ailments.
The Montreal Canadiens captain may not play in 2021-22 due to knee, ankle, and thumb injuries, reports TSN's Pierre LeBrun, who adds the Habs haven't decided whether to protect Weber in the upcoming expansion draft.
The Canadiens, NHL, NHLPA, and Weber are all looking into the longtime defenseman's medical status and its implications, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.
The soon-to-be 36-year-old played through the recently concluded Stanley Cup Playoffs with a thumb injury, which forced him to miss time at the end of the regular season.
Weber has also dealt with nagging left foot damage that previously kept him out of action. The 16-year veteran was originally projected to miss four-to-six weeks in February 2020, but he returned after just a two-week absence. Weber underwent surgery to repair tendons in his foot in March 2018.
Based on the situation, the league wants to determine the appropriate status for the blue-liner's contract, according to Friedman. Weber is on Montreal's books through 2025-26 at a cap hit of about $7.86 million, according to CapFriendly.
The team only has to pay out $12 million in cash due to his deal's front-loaded nature, but Weber's former club, the Nashville Predators, would be on the hook for a significant bill should he hang up his skates. The Canadiens' cap recapture penalty would be much more reasonable in that scenario.
If Shea Weber were to retire (instead of going on LTIR) this summer with 5 years left on his deal, the recapture penalties would be:#Preds - $4.9M/year for 5 years#GoHabsGo - $543K/year for 5 yearshttps://t.co/BPJuXT6Do2
Montreal could also place Weber on long-term injured reserve, which would provide the organization with financial relief while he's out of the lineup. However, the NHL has to approve of that designation, and those talks surrounding the gritty rearguard are still in progress, according to Friedman.
Weber helped the Canadiens make an improbable run to the Stanley Cup Final this season. Montreal named him captain in 2018-19, and he's played the last five campaigns with the Habs after spending his first 11 with the Predators.
One day after Pat Maroon was seen holding a damaged Stanley Cup, the Tampa Bay Lightning forward confessed to being the culprit.
Maroon, who won his third consecutive title last week, blamed the weather for the incident, which occurred during the team's championship celebration Monday.
"It was obviously raining and it was wet," he told St. Louis-based radio station 101 ESPN on Tuesday. "I went to lift it and I went ... backwards with it. I slipped, (my brother) Phil held me up, and the Cup went back on its end."
Maroon defended the Lightning's treatment of the trophy.
"People were saying we disrespected the Cup," he said. "(That's) such B.S., because if they had half a brain, you know it's wet outside. You think we'd be throwing the Cup around? No, we didn't disrespect it. It was a complete accident, and we both got hurt. My back has been hurt all day (Tuesday). But yeah, that's what happened. Nothing crazy."
The 33-year-old added that Phil Pritchard, the Hockey Hall of Fame's "Keeper of the Cup," reassured Maroon that it wasn't an issue.
"(Pritchard) said, 'It's OK, don't worry about it.' I'm sure way worse things have happened to the Cup besides me just falling," Maroon said. "So they said it's an easy fix."
He added that the Cup will be back in Tampa on Thursday.
A Lightning fan first posted a screenshot of Maroon holding the dented Cup from a video of Monday's festivities.
It was reported Monday that the trophy was being shipped back to Canada to be repaired.
The Lightning defeated the Montreal Canadiens in five games to repeat as champions last Wednesday. Maroon was a member of both title squads, and he also claimed Lord Stanley's mug with his hometown team, the St. Louis Blues, in 2019.
The 23-year-old sat out for nearly half of the Jackets' 3-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Feb. 8. His last shift came with just over six minutes remaining in the second period, and he missed all of the final frame.
Former head coach John Tortorella didn't get into the specifics of the reason for the benching at the time, instead emphasizing that all Blue Jackets players need to understand the "culture."
Tortorella and the Jackets agreed to part ways at the end of the season, with Larsen taking his place to become a first-time NHL head coach.
Though Larsen declined to comment about whether he's patched up his relationship with Laine, a source told Hedger the incident was dealt with swiftly.
In January, the Winnipeg Jets traded Laine and center Jack Roslovic to the Jackets for star forward Pierre-Luc Dubois and a third-round pick in 2022. Laine then produced just 10 goals and 11 assists over 45 games with the Jackets, a far cry from the Finnish sniper's typical output. He's enjoyed 30-plus goal seasons three times during his young career.
Laine shouldered the blame for his offensive woes in May, but in a recent interview with Finnish publication Aamulehti, he seems to have changed his tune.
"Tortorella did not give freedom to anyone. Forwards want to create offensively," Laine said, as translated by The Columbus Dispatch.
“I do not even want to be like everyone else," he continued. "I am who I am and I do things my way. Everyone should be given the opportunity to be themselves. Then, of course, you have to play within the team's system. I think it’s stupid not to use my potential."
Laine added that he understands the need for a "tight system," and the winger did as he was told in Tortorella's scheme, which prioritized responsible two-way play.
