Alex DeBrincat's exit from the Ottawa Senators appears to have stemmed from his desire to be higher on the team's depth chart than the cornerstone of the franchise.

DeBrincat didn't like his role as a second-line winger behind Brady Tkachuk, sources told Postmedia's Bruce Garrioch.

On Friday, Senators star Tim Stutzle strongly hinted at DeBrincat's apparent disgruntlement when asked about convincing players to stay during an appearance on Sportsnet's "32 Thoughts" podcast.

"If he doesn't want to be there, I don't want to make him have to be there," Stutzle said. "That's fine to us. I think the whole group, we've been saying it, we want him to stay. We want him to be part of this group and he's a great guy, great player.

"If you don't want to be there, then good luck on your way."

Tkachuk, the team's captain, posted 35 goals and 48 assists while playing all 82 games last season. He also ranked among the league leaders with 242 hits. DeBrincat collected eight fewer tallies and nine fewer helpers while also suiting up for every regular-season contest.

The Senators traded DeBrincat to the Detroit Red Wings in July, and he instantly signed a four-year contract with his hometown squad.

Ottawa acquired the previously productive forward from the Chicago Blackhawks at the 2022 draft with one year remaining on his contract. He was a restricted free agent this summer but reportedly wasn't interested in inking an extension with the Senators.

DeBrincat racked up 41 goals and 37 assists with Chicago in 2021-22, tying the career high in tallies he established with the Blackhawks in 2018-19, his second NHL season. His 78 points were a personal-best at the highest level, and the 39 helpers he registered last season represented his best total since he entered the league.

The 25-year-old poured in 32 markers over 52 contests during the abbreviated 2021 campaign. He's been durable as well, playing every regular-season game in four of his six seasons and all but four contests in that same campaign that was shortened due to COVID-19.

Tkachuk is a two-time 30-goal scorer, setting career highs in all three primary scoring categories last season. The Senators signed him to a seven-year, $57.5-million contract in October 2021 after he led the team in points and ranked second in the NHL in hits during the previous campaign.

Ottawa named Tkachuk captain not long after the two sides agreed on the extension, handing him the "C" in November of that year. He's now the club's second-highest-paid player behind Stutzle, who signed an eight-year, $66.8-million pact with the Sens in September 2022.

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The Pittsburgh Penguins are inviting Colin White to training camp on a professional tryout, the club announced Saturday.

White spent last season with the Florida Panthers after playing his first six with the Ottawa Senators. The 26-year-old forward suited up for all 21 of the Cats' playoff games this past spring on their improbable run to the Stanley Cup Final.

He collected eight goals and seven assists over 68 games during the regular season, adding a pair of postseason helpers. White averaged a career-low 9:38 of ice time prior to the playoffs, and that figure dipped to 7:25 in the postseason.

The Senators drafted the Boston College product 21st overall in 2015. He signed a one-year deal with the Panthers as a free agent in July 2022 and was a pending restricted free agent heading into this summer. The Cats opted not to issue him a qualifying offer, putting him on the open market.

White tallied a career-best 14 goals and 27 assists across 71 contests in 2018-19. He then inked a six-year, $28.5-million pact with Ottawa in August 2019, but the Sens placed him on unconditional waiviers and bought him out of the final three years on July 5, 2022.

He won gold with the United States at the Under-18 World Championship in 2015, as well as the World Junior Championship two years later. White also helped the U.S. claim bronze at the World Championship in 2018.

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The Tampa Bay Lightning placed forward Josh Archibald on unconditional waivers for the purpose of terminating his contract, the team announced Saturday.

"Yesterday, I was informed by Josh's agent, and by Josh himself in a subsequent conversation, that he was not planning on playing hockey for the time being and that he would not be reporting to training camp," general manager Julien BriseBois said in a statement.

The Lightning signed Archibald to a two-year deal with a cap hit of $800,000 on July 1. He won't count against Tampa Bay's salary cap.

In a corresponding move, the Bolts brought in forward Tyler Motte on a one-year, $800,000 deal Saturday. Motte, 28, split last season between the Ottawa Senators and New York Rangers, chipping in with eight goals and 19 points in 62 games.

Archibald played out the 2022-23 campaign with the Pittsburgh Penguins, registering six goals and 12 points in 62 games while averaging almost 10 minutes of ice time per contest.

It was Archibald's second stint in Pittsburgh, which selected him in the sixth round of the 2011 NHL Draft.

The 30-year-old also suited up for the Arizona Coyotes and Edmonton Oilers, amassing 83 points in 305 career outings.

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The Winnipeg Jets' two biggest trade chips appear to be off the market - at least for now.

When asked about Connor Hellebuyck on Friday, general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff said he expects the Jets goaltender to be in the opening-night lineup and isn't seeking to deal him or fellow pending unrestricted free agent Mark Scheifele.

“The narrative took on a life of its own,” Cheveldayoff said, according to The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun and Michael Russo. “Obviously we made some changes to our organization and we think we’re situated to be in a real good, competitive spot."

The GM also said the team and the two players in question have talked over the summer and plan to meet in-person when training camp opens later in September.

In June, it was reported Hellebuyck wasn't interested in signing an extension with Winnipeg. Not long after that, another report indicated the Jets had a conversation with the New Jersey Devils about the three-time Vezina Trophy finalist and 2019-20 recipient of the honor.

The organizational change Cheveldayoff is referring to began later that month, when he signed and then shipped disgruntled forward Pierre-Luc Dubois to the Los Angeles Kings for Gabriel Vilardi, Alex Iafallo, Rasmus Kupari, and a second-round pick in next year's draft. A few days later, the Jets bought out former captain Blake Wheeler's contract.

“Our singular focus is winning,” Cheveldayoff said Friday. “That’s what we’re all about. So every challenge that we approach, every opportunity, or every time we get a chance to look at a different situation, it’s about putting us in the best perspective, the best place to win. That hasn’t changed and it won’t change for our organization.”

Hellebuyck has spent his entire eight-year career with the Jets, who drafted him 130th overall in 2012. The 30-year-old American has been Winnipeg's unquestioned starter since 2016-17. He's been a model of consistency and elite play for much of that time, posting a .916 career save percentage in addition to his frequent appearances on Vezina ballots.

Scheifele has been one of the most reliable offensive centers in the league for years in his own right. The Canadian, who's also 30, racked up a career-high 42 goals and added 26 assists over 81 games last season.

Hellebuyck's cap hit is $6,166,666, while Scheifele is on the books at $6.125 million, according to CapFriendly.

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Matt and Blake discuss the signs pointing to Quinn Hughes as the Canucks next captain, the shredded shape and stakes at hand for new defenceman Filip Hronek, and Jonathan Lekkerimäki continuing his fine play in Sweden. Other topics include: whether the captaincy matters on SvP, Canada losing to Serbia but playing the USA for a medal at the FIBA World Cup, the unlikelihood of a repeat wild card series between the Jays and Mariners, and the Detroit Lions' stunning victory over Kansas City in the NFL opener. John Shannon stops by to talk about Hughes as captain and the move towards leadership groups, the season at-hand for Hronek and how he should be motivated, whether Tanner Pearson can be counted on coming back from injury, plus the future of 2018 Canadians world junior hockey players amid police and league investigations, as well as when the former Chicago Blackhawks duo of Joel Quenneville and Stan Bowman could be reinstated. Gregg Bell previews the Seahawks season from Geno Smith's chances of an encore, a superior group of skill position players, another wondrous secondary, the return of Bobby Wagner and Jarran Reed, and still concerns about the line of scrimmage and their physicality vis-a-vis San Francisco. Presented by Applewood Auto Group.

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Ottawa Senators superstar Tim Stutzle made his stance on Alex DeBrincat's desire to leave Canada's capital crystal clear in a recent appearance on Sportsnet's "32 Thoughts" podcast.

"If he doesn’t want to be there, I don’t want to make him have to be there," Stutzle said. "You know, like, that’s fine to us. I think the whole group, we’ve been saying it, we want him to stay. We want him to be part of this group and he’s a great guy, great player.

"If you don't want to be there, then good luck on your way."

DeBrincat entered the offseason as a restricted free agent but was reportedly unwilling to sign an extension with the Senators. He was ultimately traded to the Detroit Red Wings and signed a four-year, $31.5-million contract.

The Senators acquired DeBrincat from the Chicago Blackhawks at the 2022 draft with one year remaining on his contract. His departure bucked a recent trend for the Senators, who have locked up all their core players to long-term contracts as they look to build a contending roster.

The most recent deal given out by general manager Pierre Dorion was for defenseman Jake Sanderson, who earned an eight-year, $64.4-million extension earlier this week. Stutzle signed an eight-year, $66.8-million deal last September.

Along with Sanderson and Stutzle, captain Brady Tkachuk, forwards Drake Batherson and Josh Norris, and blue-liner Thomas Chabot are under contract through at least 2027. The Senators are optimistic their young core can lead them to the playoffs for the first time since 2017.

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Connor McDavid, who gathered the Edmonton Oilers together before the official start of training camp this month, says his teammates are raring to go after a disappointing playoff exit last season.

"I think it says a lot about where our group is at, everybody is dialed in, everybody is super motivated, everybody is determined, and everybody is in it together," McDavid told NHL.com's Derek Van Diest.

He added: "I think that’s kind of the message I’ve been feeling just with guys wanting to come back and make sure we’re all together for a couple of weeks before camp."

The Oilers were one of the league's best teams for the second half of the 2022-23 campaign, but they were eliminated by the eventual champion, the Vegas Golden Knights, in the second round of the playoffs. It was a step back for Edmonton after reaching the Western Conference Final in 2022.

McDavid acknowledged there were tiny margins that cost the Oilers the series.

"Looking back, we're sitting there in Game 5, five minutes left in the second and in a real good place - on the road and up by a goal," he told Sportsnet's Mark Spector. "Feeling good about ourselves. And you find a way to be down two (goals) heading into the third period.

"It's a collection of mistakes throughout the series that add up to a series loss - something that we’ll fix throughout the course of the year."

Leon Draisaitl, who lit up the playoffs with 13 goals in 12 games, echoed his captain's sentiments about the Oilers being ready to take the next step this coming season.

"We’re determined, you can see in the fact that everyone is here working hard and trying to get things going early,” he said. “Obviously there is one goal here, and whether it pans out this way we’ll see, but one thing is guaranteed, is that we’re going to do everything in our power to achieve that goal and get to that point."

Salary-cap restraints limited the Oilers from an overly active summer. The club's offseason was highlighted by the signing of forward Connor Brown and a new deal for burgeoning star defenseman Evan Bouchard.

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The Florida Panthers may have fallen short of winning their first-ever Stanley Cup championship last spring, but captain Aleksander Barkov said his team grew from the experience despite the "very frustrating" defeat.

"I think that whole run, it made us stronger," Barkov said during a recent interview for the "NHL @TheRink" podcast. "The core is pretty much the same with the team, and now we've experienced almost everything. ... We know. When you're experienced in something, you know what to expect."

After a wildly inconsistent 2022-23 regular season, the Panthers eked their way into the playoff picture, claiming the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference by just one point over the Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres.

From there, Florida took the league by storm.

The Cardiac Cats emerged as unlikely victors against the Presidents' Trophy-winning Boston Bruins, defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs, and - in their first Eastern Conference Final appearance since 1996 - swept a perennial contender in the Carolina Hurricanes.

"We played in Toronto - probably the biggest hockey market - during the playoffs. We experienced that," Barkov said. "Carolina, the way they play, we experienced that. Then obviously the finals, I feel like it was just a different animal leading up to it."

The Vegas Golden Knights ended up taking the Stanley Cup Final in five games to dash the Panthers' dreams of lifting the Cup.

Prior to the miracle run, Barkov only had 26 games of playoff experience under his belt and had never made it out of the second round. The 28-year-old was instrumental to Florida's success in 2023, chipping in with five goals and 16 points in 21 postseason games.

Florida won't look too different in 2023-24 - its key departures of the offseason were Anthony Duclair, Radko Gudas, and Marc Staal - but the team will likely be starting the new campaign in a tough Atlantic Division without two of its top defensemen. Both Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour are recovering from offseason shoulder surgeries. The former played through the playoffs with a broken foot and torn oblique.

"Those types of guys are not replaceable at all. ... They were a huge part of our success last year. ... It's a great challenge for us, for everyone to step up," Barkov said.

Puck drops on the Panthers' 2023-24 campaign on Oct. 12 against the Minnesota Wild.

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