Monday LNN: New Hires, Charge Into the Final, and the Third Round
And the league-wide courting for Mitch Marner now begins...
- The PWHL Final is set! With both lower seeds pulling off upsets in 4 games, the Ottawa Charge will have home-ice advantage against the league's inargural champions in the Minnesota Frost. Game 1 will take place tomorrow at TD Place, at 7:00 pm EST.
- Four juggernauts make up the 2025 NHL Conference Finals, in a pair of familiar matchups – The Dallas Stars will look to avenge last year's loss to the Edmonton Oilers, while the Carolina Hurricanes will attempt to do the same after being swept by the Florida Panthers in the third round back in 2023. The action starts tomorrow, with the Cats visiting the Canes at 8:00 pm EST.
- The Senators announced two additions to the front office staff on Thursday. Matt Turek joins the organization as the new general manager of the Belleville Senators, after three years as the GM of the OHL's Brantmilton Bulldogs. Key goals for Turek will include getting the B-Sens back into the playoffs while promoting the development of the club's top prospects, such as Carter Yakemchuk, Stephen Halliday and Blake Montgomery. Speaking of which, the club has also hired Sam Gagner as the director of player development. The 35-year-old finished his professional hockey career in Belleville on an amateur tryout, with 10 points in 19 games. Notably, the position of Assistant GM previously held by Ryan Bowness, remains vacant, so expect more hires as the offseason continues.
- Adam Gaudette and his wife Micaela, as well as Nick and Nina Cousins both welcomed new (and probably extremely temporary) Sens fans. I'm not opposed to a Star Wars reference when naming a child, but naming him after a guy who killed his dad is pretty wild stuff, Adam.
#Sens fans join us in congratulating Adam Gaudette and his wife Micaela on the birth of their child Kylo Greyson Gaudette ❤️#GoSensGo pic.twitter.com/8Mr0oVSdl6
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) May 18, 2025
#Sens baby alert x 2!!
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) May 18, 2025
Sending our congratulations to Nick and Nina Cousins on the birth of their child Max Cousins ❤️ pic.twitter.com/V6xUjIqUMB
- Linked here are the latest mailbags from The Athletic's Julian McKenzie ($$$) and Sportsnet's Alex Adams.
- Lastly, the 2025 Memorial Cup commences on May 23rd between the London Knights, Moncton Wildcats, Medicine Hat Tigers, and the hosting Rimouski Oceanic. Blake Montgomery will look to make an impact on the Knights as the last prospect standing, with their first game taking place on the 24th against Moncton. Montgomery had 10 points in 17 playoff games with the OHL champions.
