During the St. Louis Blues' April 15 contest against the Utah Hockey Club, top prospect Jimmy Snuggerud scored his first career NHL goal. It was a significant one, too, as it gave the Blues a 3-0 lead in the first period. 

JIMMY SNUGGERUD!

That's his first NHL goal! 💥 pic.twitter.com/c5SvDSiI3y

— NHL (@NHL) April 16, 2025

Snuggerud certainly worked hard to score his first NHL goal, as the 2022 first-round pick jammed in front of the net before getting the puck past Utah goaltender Karel Vejmelka.

Before this goal, Snuggerud already was making an impact in this contest against Vegas. Earlier on in the first period, the promising youngster was denied on a breakaway attempt, but Blues forward Pavel Buchnevich scored on the rebound. As a result, Snuggerud recorded an assist on this play. 

Snuggerud is one of the Blues' most exciting young players, and he certainly showed off his offensive potential against Utah with this multi-point game. 

Exciting Blues Goalie Prospect Continuing To ThriveSt. Louis Blues goalie prospect Colten Ellis is enjoying an excellent season down in the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Springfield Thunderbirds. In 41 appearances, the 24-year-old netminder has a 22-13-3 record, a 2.62 goals-against average, and a .922 save percentage.  However, what's more encouraging about Ellis' strong play is that he is only continuing to thrive as the campaign carries on. In his last appearance against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on April 12, he stopped 40 out of 43 shots, which equates to a .930 save percentage. Furthermore, he has had a .900 save percentage or better in six out of his last seven appearances. This includes a 36-save shutout against the Iowa Wild on March 28. Blues Star Is Heating Up In A Big WaySt. Louis Blues forward Pavel Buchnevich is one of the team's most important players. When playing at his best, the 29-year-old is a big difference-maker because of his high offensive skill.  Former Blues Star Struggling With New TeamDuring this past off-season, former St. Louis Blues forward Vladimir Tarasenko signed a two-year, $9.5 million contract with the Detroit Red Wings. This was after he appeared in 76 games split between the Ottawa Senators and Florida Panthers last season, posting 23 goals and 55 points in 76 games. He also won his second career Stanley Cup with Florida that spring.

On Monday, Quinn Hughes celebrated a special milestone. The Vancouver Canucks captain recorded his 350th career assist, becoming just the seventh player and first defenceman in franchise history to achieve the feat. Over his 432-game career, Hughes has developed into one of the best passers in the NHL and now finds himself in elite company alongside some of the best players ever to play in the NHL.

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With his assist on Monday, Hughes became the 21st player in NHL history to record at least 350 assists before turning 26. The list includes many Hall of Famers, including Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemiux, as well as current NHLers in Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby, Mitch Marner and Nathan MacKinnon. Hughes is currently tied with MacKinnon for 20th on the list and will have one final chance to move past the Colorado Avalanche superstar before his 26th birthday as Vancouver battles the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.

As for defensemen, Hughes is the fifth defender to record 350 assists before turning 26. The other four are Bobby Orr (522), Paul Coffey (460), Phil Housley (380), and Ray Bourque (366). Hughes also ranks 11th in all-time points by a defenceman before turning 26, while his 409 points are the most by any defender currently playing in the NHL. 

To wrap things up, the 2024-25 season was also the fourth time in Hughes' career he has recorded at least 60 assists. That ranks tied for sixth with Jaromír Jágr, Joe Sakic, Lemieux and Denis Savard for the most by any skater before their 26th birthday. As for the players with more, those would be Gretzky (7), McDavid (6), Bryan Trottier (6), Orr (5) and Coffey (5).

While Hughes still has a ways to go, he is on pace to become one of the highest point-producing defensemen in NHL history. His .95 points per game ranks sixth among defenders in NHL history who have played at least 200 games, while he leads all defensemen in points since the start of the 2018-19 season, during which he only played five games. Ultimatley, if Hughes can keep up this production, and be signed to a long-term contract, he could very well finish his career as the greatest player in Canucks history.

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Konnor Smith becomes the latest Ducks draft pick to officially join the organization after signing his entry-level contract (ELC) on Tuesday. He will report to the AHL and play with the San Diego Gulls on an amateur tryout (ATO) for the rest of the 2024-25 season, with his ELC beginning at the start of the 2025-26 season.

At six-foot-six and 216 pounds, Smith is a big boy. Naturally, he uses his size and strength to his advantage and is a very physical player. Smith played parts of three seasons with the OHL's Peterborough Petes and had a crucial role in the Petes' playoff run as a shutdown defenseman en route to an OHL championship. In 2023-24, he was traded mid-season to the Owen Sound Attack and appeared in four playoff games that season before finishing the year with the Gulls on an ATO. He appeared in six games and scored in his AHL debut.

After being named captain of the Attack for the 2024-25 season, Smith played in just eight games before being traded to the Brampton Steelheads. He had 18 points in 32 games, setting a new career-high. Smith and the Steelheads faced off against fellow Ducks draft pick Beckett Sennecke and the Oshawa Generals in the first round of the OHL Playoffs. Sennecke missed part of the series due to injury, but the Generals still came out on top in six games.

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Smith could play a large role for the Gulls next season. Behind Stian Solberg and Tyson Hinds, there are currently few left-handed options. It's uncertain if Rodwin Dionicio will return from Biel in Switzerland and Dillion Heatherington's AHL contract is up at the end of this season. On the right side are Noah Warren and AHL veteran Roland McKeown, and recently-signed Ian Moore will likely spend most of next season in the AHL as well.

To elevate his game, Smith must continue to improve his discipline. He tends to toe the line between being physical and outright destructive at times. While physicality is his killing card, it will do him no good if he's spending more time in the penalty box than on the ice. Continuing to improve his puck skills and skating is also a necessity as the game continues to trend toward mobile, puck movers versus prototypical stay-at-home defensemen.

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The Colorado Avalanche are set to take on the Dallas Stars in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. But on Tuesday, the Avalanche made big news when they recalled veteran star Gabriel Landeskog -- and Landeskog's return to action after nearly three calendar years on the sidelines with a catastrophic knee injury could be the best story of the post-season.

Landeskog returned to on-ice action this week when he played two games with the American League's Colorado Eagles. Landeskog posted a goal and two points in his second game, a performance that had to infuse him with confidence that he could do great things after more than 1,000 days between NHL games. And certainly, Landeskog's teammates fully believe Landeskog still can contribute in hockey's top league.

"It was awesome," Avs superstar Nathan MacKinnon told NHL.com in regard to Landeskog's two AHL games. "I [didn't] know what to expect, obviously, but I thought every shift he looked better. I thought Game Two, he looked a lot better as well...He's Gabe Landeskog at the end of the day, and, obviously, there's going to be some rust. Three years is a crazy amount of time off, and he hasn't really been practicing that much either...But I think he looks great, and in game situations, you can still see those instincts are there. He's still got it, for sure."

Hockey fans always enjoy a great comeback story, and Landeskog's fight to overcome adversity is one of the NHL's best human interest stories in recent memory. The 32-year-old Swede has played 738 regular-season NHL games and 69 playoff games, but if and when he suits up for the Avs in the current post-season, he's going to give his teammates a huge inspirational boost.

Landeskog was a key factor in the Avalanche's most recent Cup victory, and now, he has a chance to help push them to another Cup win. We shouldn't expect him to be a difference-maker -- at least, not right away -- but it's hard not to root for someone who probably felt at some point like his on-ice career was at an end.

Gabriel Landeskog Set to Play in His First Professional Game Since 2022Loveland, Colo. - The Colorado Avalanche and Colorado Eagles (AHL) announced this morning that Gabriel Landeskog will dress for the Colorado Eagles in their match tonight against the Henderson Silver Knights. This will be his Eagles debut.

Landeskog will have scores of Avs fans cheering him on, and just getting back to the NHL is a massive achievement for him. We'll all be watching him and hoping for the best -- and if he does deliver a memorable performance, Landeskog will carve out a particularly special place in hockey history.

The 2024–25 season will be remembered in these parts as the year the Ottawa Senators finally returned to the playoffs. By doing so, the Senators are about to remove themselves from an NHL Top 10 List they wanted no part of.

Heading into this season, the Senators had missed seven straight playoffs, the third-longest playoff drought among active NHL teams. At the moment, they are the only team in the top 10 in this category that's guaranteed to drop off this list, having clinched the first wild card spot in the East. 

The winner of Wild Card 2 in the East, Montreal or Columbus, is the only other team that can join the Sens in being stricken from the record.

The Buffalo Sabres are not only the active leaders—now at 14 straight seasons without a playoff appearance—but they also continue to build on the NHL's all-time record in this ugly category.

The Detroit Red Wings used to bill themselves as "Hockeytown" during their glory years. That feels like a long time ago now, especially with the Wings about to mark the ninth anniversary of their last playoff berth. 

The Anaheim Ducks have taken the bronze medal position, bumping the Senators off the podium. As it did for the Sens, the Ducks hope their hunt ends at 7. 

Ottawa's return to the playoffs will be a baptism by fire for many of their young players—especially since it looks like their first-round opponent will be the Toronto Maple Leafs. The hype for the first playoff Battle of Ontario in 21 years will be off the charts, though much of it will be powered early on by fan and media-driven nostalgia. Most of the players on both sides were babies or little kids when this playoff battle last occurred.

But it won't be long before old beefs are replaced by new ones.

That matchup could officially become reality as early as Tuesday night. Unless Toronto loses in regulation in Buffalo and Tampa Bay wins versus Florida, the first-round Battle of Ontario will be locked in.

As for Columbus and Montreal potentially joining Ottawa in excusing themselves from the playoff futility table, the Blue Jackets are making a remarkable late-season push. If they win in regulation in Philadelphia on Tuesday night, they would be able to grab the final Eastern playoff spot with a regulation win over the New York Islanders on Thursday—and a Canadiens regulation loss to Carolina on Wednesday.

Ottawa’s last playoff appearance was in 2017, a Game 7 double overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference Final. After coming that close to winning it all, no one would ever have dreamed their return to the postseason would take this long.

The Carolina Hurricanes have recalled four players from the Chicago Wolves: Bradly Nadeau, Skyler Brind'Amour, Domenick Fensore and Riley Stillman.

Nadeau, 19, is the leading scorer on the Chicago Wolves and paces all rookies with 30 goals.

He's been a point-per-game player since returning from the World Junior Championships and he looks to be developing into a really promising talent.

Brind'Amour, 25, is the son of Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour, and looks to be in line to make his NHL debut.

He's played 121 AHL games over his career and this season has 16 goals and 23 points in 67 games.

Fensore, 23, has put in the work over the last few seasons from the NCAA to the ECHL and then the AHL and now it looks like he's going to be making his NHL debut too.

The 5-foot-9 blueliner has been a force on every side of the puck for the Wolves this year with nine goals and 32 points in 66 games.

Stillman, 27, has spent plenty of time with the Hurricanes this season, having been a consistent callup as the seventh defenseman, although he did get in for three NHL games this season.

The Hurricanes have just two games remaining on their regular season schedule — a back-to-back against the Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators — and because these games pretty much don't matter for anything, the team is going to be resting players.

"Like every team at this time of the year, we've got guys who are nursing stuff and so, is it the right move to keep pushing them through it when they can play or is it, 'Hey, we've gotta be as healthy as can be,'" said Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour on Tuesday. "That's the kind of decisions and I think we're leaning more on, 'Let's get our guys healthy.'"

One such player is Jordan Martinook, who sat out the team's Sunday evening game against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

"He could go, for sure, but it's just that he has this little issue," Brind'Amour said on Martinook. "Just time is on his side and we have it. We're just being real cautious."

With at least another forward and potentially two defensemen that could sit as well, we may have some fairly interesting lineups come tomorrow and Thursday.

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The Buffalo Sabres have announced that they have recalled forward Isak Rosen from their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Rochester Americans.

Rosen's call-up comes with Sabres forward Beck Malenstyn being ruled out for the team's April 15 contest against the Toronto Maple Leafs. With this, Rosen will now look to stand out during this latest opportunity on the NHL roster from here.

Rosen, 22, has played in six games this season with the Sabres, posting one assist and a minus-2 rating. His last appearance with the Sabres was on March 29 against the Philadelphia Flyers, where he recorded two shots and a minus-1 rating in 11:07 of ice time.

Rosen getting another opportunity with the Sabres is understandable, as he has been excellent this season down in the AHL. In 60 games with the Amerks, the 2021 first-round pick has posted 28 goals, 27 assists, and 55 points.

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