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The Pittsburgh Penguins’ trade for Matt Dumba in a salary dump from the Dallas Stars was the first domino to fall, and the Penguins’ trade only spurred more trade chatter. We’ve got full coverage, analysis, and video. PHN also tackled an emerging topic regarding what is the best development route for the Penguins’ prospects as new options are available. Elsewhere, there is a new wrinkle in the NHL’s CBA regarding 19-year-olds and the AHL, the Maple Leafs traded Ryan Reaves, Ilya Sorokin’s agent slammed recent trade rumors, and TSN has declared off-season winners.

Greetings from Wellsboro, PA. The Dan’s day off curse was in full effect on Thursday. Sure, I wrote a couple of articles Thursday morning, but I planned for a good ride through the PA forests up to the northern rim for a couple of days to decompress. As I rolled north through the Sinnemahoning State Park, in which there isn’t the faintest hint of cell service, the news began to break as Dumba was listed on the Penguins roster, but no announcement was forthcoming.

We got it all done. Shelly was on news duty, and she knocked that out. I pulled over somewhere in Cherry Springs State Park to make calls to confirm the deal and get more background on Dumba’s disastrous 2024-25 season. I pulled over at a rest stop outside the Pennsylvania Lumber Museum in Sweden Valley (between Coudersport and Wellsboro) to begin writing the analysis, but a surprise thunderstorm rolled over the mountain, and I had to go … quickly.

All’s well that ends well. I got to my final destination–the absolutely charming Penn Wells Hotel in Wellsboro. We got the analysis up in an acceptable time frame from the hotel’s turn of the 20th century lobby. Of course, I planned for all hell to break loose and packed my podcast mic, which came in handy for the analysis video/Live Chat. And then, dinner. Whew.

Also–I had a great lunch. If you roll through Ridgeway, PA, where Rts. 120 and 219 intersect, there’s Joey’s Bakery and Restaurant. It’s a little diner with HUGE hot roast beef sandwiches (When you’re in a small town diner, you get the hot roast beef and mashed potatoes, and cover it all in gravy. Always).

I breathed easier later Thursday night. I do love Wellsboro. It’s a MUST-visit if you need a weekend or a quick road trip.

Hot roast beef at Joey’s in Ridgeway

Away we go.

Pittsburgh Penguins

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Let’s start with the trade. Here are the particulars for the Penguins acquiring defenseman Matt Dumba.

Now then, the full analysis. From the superficial to the more intricate and detailed scenarios of what is to come for both Dumba but also the Penguins. Yes, this signifies more trades are coming. Here is the detailed Penguins trade analysis.

And we got the Live Chat to work! No hitches, no sound mishaps, though you will never again see me wearing only a T-shirt. Collars. Always. We did the video version, and then it rolled into a live chat (with a high water mark of 950 people watching at once?!). The Penguins video chat.

Now then, back to life, back to reality. What should the Penguins do with a few of their prospects? There are new doors open that could accelerate their development, but that’s also debatable. It’s time to discuss the Penguins’ prospects.

Pittsburgh Baseball Now: Brick-Gate is finally over. Rightfully embarrassed by their obtuse and careless discarding of memorialized bricks outside PNC Park, the Pittsburgh Pirates have announced plans for a bronzed memorial for all of the names on those bricks.

NHL Trade Talk, News, & National Hockey Now

Sportsnet: Let’s start with this because it broke last night, and it could affect the Penguins. Frank Seravalli reports there is a new provision in the CBA that allows teams to place one 19-year-old in the AHL.

I love this story. It’s kind of funny timing–as some really weird trolls were angry or offended that I tweeted Pitt should start a D1 hockey program and take on Penguins prospects–the historically black college, Tennessee State, is launching a D1 hockey program!

Godspeed, TSU.

It’s a shame Pitt doesn’t start a hockey program, play at PPG, and ask the Penguins to send them their draft picks so that the prospects could be close by, and Pgh fans could see them.
Or, you know, RMU could upgrade conferences/facilities and do the same.

— Dan Kingerski (@TheDanKingerski) July 10, 2025

As for the trolls and people who take things too seriously, relax. It wasn’t a 2000-page study on the feasibility and central urban planning. Sheesh. Get a grip.

San Jose Hockey Now: Trade! Henry Thrun is headed to the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the San Jose Sharks are getting Ryan Reaves.

TSN Overdrive: From Utah to the New York Islanders, the boys grab a shovel and dig into the 2025 off-season winners.

NYI Hockey Now: Stop the insanity. Russ Macias put the ball on the tee and swung from the heels regarding the recent Ilya Sorokin, Islanders trade talk.

Philly Hockey Now: I think Penguins fans are going to wistfully watch their cross-state rivals all season and get a little salty. They are different situations, but take a look at Will James projecting the Philadelphia Flyers’ opening night lineup.

Chicago Hockey Now: One of the top picks in the NHL Draft, but also some intrigue. Greg Boysen looks at what to do with Anton Frondell this season.

The Florida Panthers capped off the 2022 NHL Entry Draft in Montreal by selecting American forward Jack Devine in the seventh round with the 221st overall pick. And this point, the selection looks like it has the chance to turn out to be a steal.

A product of the U.S. National Development Team Program, the 18-year-old appeared in 36 games with the NCAA’s Denver Pioneers during his draft season, producing three goals and 19 points, which ranked 11th on the team. He blocked 18 shots, amassed 16 penalty minutes, had four multi-point outings and finished his freshman campaign with a plus-12 rating.

Devine scored his first career goal and added an assist on December 3, 2021 in a road game against the Arizona State Sun Devils. He registered a career-high three points (1G/2A) on New Year’s Day versus Alaska Fairbanks and was named NCHC Rookie of the Week two days later. Devine played in all four of Denver’s contests in the NCAA Tournament and had an assist in the national championship game vs. Minnesota State on April 9 as the Pioneers claimed the college crown.

Devine was ranked 75th in Neutral Zone’s 2022 NHL Draft Final Rankings Top 305 and carried a B grade (Low probability of playing NHL games before 22-years-old; some NHL potential).

Neutral Zone had this to say on Devine:

To be: He had 19 points as a true freshman playing for Denver University averaging 12:45 TOI as they won the National Championship. He won 54% of his puck battles. Although slight at 176 pounds, he understands how to use his body to protect the puck thus extending the cycle.  

Not to be: As right shot forward he is most comfortable attacking the offensive zone outside the right dot lane. To be effective in professional hockey he will need to learn how to feel comfortable attacking the offensive zone between the face-off dots. He was not used very often as a penalty killer during his freshman year.

After attending Panthers Development Camp in July and taking part in USA Hockey’s National Junior Evaluation Camp in August, Devine returned to the Pioneers for his sophomore season.

He jumped from three to 14 goals and finished the year with 31 points. His 14 goals and six power-play tallies were each the third-highest mark on the team, and his point total placed him sixth on the roster. He registered 90 shots on goal (up from 61 as a freshman), notched four game-winners, and posted a plus-18 rating.

After starting off the season slowly, Devine finished it strong. He collected his first multi-goal game in the NCAA by scoring twice and adding an assist in 6-2 win over Minnesota-Duluth on February 24. A day later, he scored a goal and assisted on three others to establish a new collegiate-best in points in a single game in a 6-5 loss to the Bulldogs. On March 10, he produced another four-point outing by pouring in four goals in a 6-2 rout of the Miami RedHawks to open the 2023 NCHC Tournament. He scored his final goal of the season a day later as the Pioneers beat Miami 7-2 to advance to the quarterfinals where they were eliminated 1-0 by Colorado College. Devine registered three shots on goal in Denver’s 2-0 NCAA Tournament-opening loss to Cornell.

Given top line minutes, Devine absolutely exploded offensively during his junior season, leading the Pioneers with 27 goals and 56 points. His goal total was fourth-highest in the nation while his point total was seventh. His 142 shots on goal, nine power-play goals and 16 power-play points were also team-highs. He was named an All-American (West First Team) for the first time in his career and was a top-10 finalist for the Hobey Baker Award.

Devine served notice early that a big campaign was in the cards by scoring twice and adding two helpers in the season-opener against Alaska Fairbanks. He followed that up by scoring twice against the Nanooks a day later. While Devine didn’t register any hat tricks, he put up nine multi-goal games. His biggest performance of the season, and NCAA career, came on January 19, when scored twice and assisted on three goals against the Omaha Mavericks. Devine did go a bit cold towards the end of the season, collecting just three assists over Denver’s last seven games. He registered three shots on goal in the NCAA championship game as the Pioneers shut out Boston College 2-0, making him a two-time title winner.

Devine attended his third development camp in South Florida in the summer of 2024 and decided to forego turning pro to return to Denver for his senior season. After pouring in the goals as a junior, he completely flipped the script statistically as a senior, leading the nation in both assists (44) and scoring with 57 points. He finished his NCAA career as the highest-scoring player in the modern era of Denver hockey with 163 points (57G/106A). Although he only scored 13 times during his senior campaign, 11 of his goals came after the New Year and he put up seven goals during a nine-game stretch from February 14 to March 14.

He began the season with a career-long eight-game point streak that ran from October 5 to November (1G/15A), which was also the longest assist streak of the year by a Pioneer skater. Devine started the streak off by racking up four power-play assists in the season-opener at Alaska Anchorage. He matched the streak with second eight-game run from November 9 to December 13 that saw him score once and collect ten helpers. His final NCAA point was an assist in the 3-1 victory over No. 1 Boston College in the NCAA Northeast Regional Final on March 30 to secure Denver’s spot in the Frozen Four for the second-straight season, where they were bounced by Western Michigan.

On April 12, 2025, Devine signed a three-year, entry-level contract with Panthers, which will start during the upcoming 2025-26 campaign. He also signed a professional tryout with the Charlotte Checkers for the remainder of the season.

He made his pro debut for the Checkers on April 16, and assisted on Charlotte’s first two goals in a 3-2 road win over the Hartford Wolf Pack. He played two more regular season games, a back-to-back against the Springfield Thunderbirds, registering just one shot on goal.

Devine made seven appearances in the Calder Cup Playoffs, producing two goals and three helpers. He picked up an assist in both Game 4 and Game 5 of the final series against the Abbotsford Canucks and scored Charlotte’s final goal on the season in the 3-2 Game 6 loss that saw the Canucks win the championship at Bojangles Coliseum.

With the Panthers’ roster seemingly locked and loaded as the franchise guns for a three-peat, expect for Devine to get a full season marinating with the Checkers. If he continues to adapt to the pro game quickly, injury call-up duty could be in the cards.

The new agency in charge of regulating name, image, likeness deals in college sports sent a letter to schools Thursday saying it had rejected deals between players and donor-backed collectives formed over the past several years to funnel money to athletes or their schools.

Those arrangements hold no “valid business purpose,” the memo said, and don’t adhere to rules that call for outside NIL deals to be between players and companies that provide goods or services to the general public for profit.

The letter to Division I athletic directors could be the next step in shuttering today’s version of the collective, groups that are closely affiliated with schools and that, in the early days of NIL after July 2021, proved the most efficient way for schools to indirectly cut deals with players.

Since then, the landscape has changed yet again with the $2.8 billion House settlement that allows schools to pay the players directly as of July 1.

Already, collectives affiliated with Colorado, Alabama, Notre Dame, Georgia and others have announced they’re shutting down. Georgia, Ohio State and Illinois are among those that have announced plans with Learfield, a media and technology company with decades of licensing and other experience across college athletics, to help arrange NIL deals.

Outside deals between athlete and sponsor are still permitted, but any worth $600 or more have to be vetted by a clearinghouse called NIL Go that was established by the new College Sports Commission and is being run by the auditing group Deloitte.

In its letter to the ADs, the CSC said more than 1,500 deals have been cleared since NIL Go launched on June 11, “ranging in value from three figures to seven figures.” More than 12,000 athletes and 1,100 institutional users have registered to use the system.

But the bulk of the letter explained that many deals could not be cleared because they did not conform to an NCAA rule that sets a “valid business purpose” standard for deals to be approved.

The letter explained that if a collective reaches a deal with an athlete to appear on behalf of the collective, which charges an admission fee, the standard is not met because the purpose of the event is to raise money to pay athletes, not to provide goods or services available to the general public for profit.

The same would apply to a deal an athlete makes to sell merchandise to raise money to pay that player because the purpose of “selling merchandise is to raise money to pay that student-athlete and potentially other student-athletes at a particular school or schools, which is not a valid business purpose” according to the NCAA rule.

Sports attorney Darren Heitner, who deals in NIL, said the guidance “could disproportionately burden collectives that are already committed to spending money on players for multiple years to come.”

“If a pattern of rejections results from collective deals submitted to Deloitte, it may invite legal scrutiny under antitrust principles,” he said.

On a separate track, some college sports leaders, including the NCAA, are seeking a limited form of antitrust protection from Congress.

The letter said a NIL deal could be approved if, for instance, the businesses paying the players had a broader purpose than simply acting as a collective. The letter uses a golf course or apparel company as examples.

“In other words, NIL collectives may act as marketing agencies that match student-athletes with businesses that have a valid business purpose and seek to use the student’s NIL to promote their businesses,” the letter said.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — It wasn’t until last March, when top-notch defenseman Jackson Smith and the Tri-City Americans were nearing the end of the regular season, that Smith started to consider a different path for his future.

Five months earlier, the NCAA changed its long-held rule that players who compete in any of the Canadian Hockey League’s three branches — the Ontario Hockey League, the Western Hockey League, and the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League — were ineligible to play college hockey.

But even that rule change, which was lauded just about everywhere in hockey except the CHL, didn’t register with Smith, who was born and raised in Calgary and elevated his play dramatically in 2024-25, his second season in the WHL.

“When the rule first came out, I didn’t even look at it,” said Smith, a big, two-way defenseman who was selected No. 14 overall by the Columbus Blue Jackets at last month’s NHL draft. “It was maybe not until March when my dad brought it up, like, ‘We should look into this.’

“I was like, school? I wasn’t really thinking about that.”

But over the last few months, it’s all anybody can talk about at the top levels of developmental hockey. And the Blue Jackets are right in the middle of it. Columbus’ top two prospects — Smith and center Cayden Lindstrom, the No. 4 pick in 2024 — have both made the leap from CHL to NCAA this summer.

Smith took only one recruiting visit and decided to play at Penn State in the fall. He was blown away, he said, by the Nittany Lions’ facilities, as well as the opportunity to play against older players over the next two seasons. The majority of NCAA players are between 22 and 24 years old.

Jackson Smith is a Blue Jacket!! #WeAre #HockeyValley #NHLDraft #CBJ pic.twitter.com/ODgEBUK5hK

— Penn State Men’s Hockey (@PennStateMHKY) June 28, 2025

Lindstrom, who missed most of last season following back surgery, was the target of a fierce recruiting battle and ended up choosing Michigan State. The lighter game schedule in the NCAA — 34 regular-season games vs. 68 in junior hockey — will allow more time for off-ice work and recovery and less time traveling.

“I think it’s huge, and I think it’s just the beginning,” Lindstrom said. “It gives players a chance to develop at a higher level against older guys. Say you’re dominating the WHL, that’s kind of your next step as a hockey player and a person and, academically as well.”

Unless Smith is ready to play in the NHL in 2026-27, which seems unlikely, he’ll likely play two years at Penn State before turning pro. On that schedule, he’d be able to play for the Blue Jackets’ American Hockey League affiliate in Cleveland before joining the big club.

Lindstrom, a year old, will likely turn pro after one season at Michigan State.

Lindstrom and Smith are the Blue Jackets’ only examples of players leaving the CHL for the NCAA, but the Columbus imprint on college hockey next season will be bigger than ever.

The Blue Jackets will have 10 players in the NCAA this coming season, by far the highest number in the franchise’s 25-year history. Ten seasons ago, they had just three players in college hockey, and last season, they had only four.

The others arrived in the NCAA through pipelines that were available before the name change:

• Goaltender Melvin Strahl (Michigan State), forward William Whitelaw (Western Michigan), defensemen Andrew Strathmann (North Dakota), Tanner Henricks (St. Cloud State) all played in the United States Hockey League
• Forwards James Fisher (Northeastern) and Jeremy Loranger (Nebraska-Omaha), and defenseman Luke Ashton (Cornell) played in the British Columbus Junior Hockey League, at the junior-A level
• Defenseman Malte Vass (Boston U.) is a European import

But the moves by Lindstrom and Smith are the ones everybody’s watching. Gavin McKenna, who played with Lindstrom at times the last two seasons with Medicine Hat in the WHL, announced to much fanfare on Wednesday that he’ll attend Penn State with Smith in the fall.

“As we live in the reality of it, it seems like each case is going to be different,” said Blue Jackets director of hockey operations Rick Nash, who has worked extensively on the development side of hockey since he retired as a player in 2018.

“It’ll be interesting to see how it all pans out, but right now I think it’s exciting that some of these kids get to experience both major junior and the NCAA.”

Smith, who turned 18 in May, had 11-43-54 and 48 penalty minutes in 68 games for Tri-City. There are still aspects of the game he could improve at the major-junior level, but nothing could prepare him to play in the NHL quite like playing against older, more developed players.

“The CHL is an unbelievable league,” Smith said during Blue Jackets development camp last week. “I loved my two years in Tri-Cities, like I’ve said a number of times. But having that other option there … (NCAA) is an older league, stronger guys, and the facilities there are pretty great.

“Getting to use those and getting to play against stronger competition gets you a bit more ready for the NHL, which is, ultimately, every hockey player’s dream.”

When the Blue Jackets drafted Lindstrom, it was known that he’d had back issues, but the Blue Jackets believed it could be healed with rest and a patient approach. Ultimately, it was learned that Lindstrom needed back surgery last fall, and after a long, arduous recovery, he’s back on the ice.

The Blue Jackets didn’t sign Lindstrom to an entry-level contract quickly, as many of the other high draft picks typically do, and many wondered if his back injury was the reason.

It wasn’t. Lindstrom and his agent, Daren Hermiston, had college hockey on their radar as his best path to the NHL, and the Blue Jackets agreed. That’s why he still hasn’t signed an ELC — if he had signed a professional contract, he would not be allowed to play in the NCAA.

Two other recent Blue Jackets draft picks could have benefited from this rule change. No longer do parents face a tough decision — CHL or NCAA? — when the player is only 16 years old, because now they can play in both.

Adam Fantilli, the No. 3 by the Jackets in 2023, went to the USHL and later played one year at Michigan rather than play at Saginaw of the OHL. If he had the flexibility to leave after two seasons and still play in college, the decision may have been different.

Denton Mateychuk, the No. 12 pick in 2022, played four full seasons with Moose Jaw of the WHL. The fourth year proved beneficial — Moose Jaw won the WHL and played in the Memorial Cup, and Mateychuk was the captain — but there was concern by the Blue Jackets before the season that he was no longer being challenged at that level.

That’s all changed now. And it will likely lead to further changes, though nobody can say what those will be.

“It’s early, so it’ll settle down and we’ll all settle into what it means probably in three to five years,” Blue Jackets director of player personnel Chris Clark said. “Right now, everybody’s trying to figure it out.

“I think it’s tough for a 15-to-16-year-old kid to make a decision on college or major junior. Well, now you can do both.”

(Photo of Jackson Smith: Kirby Lee / Imagn Images)