Mitch Marner's move to the Vegas Golden Knights, Nikolaj Ehlers’ potential impact with the Carolina Hurricanes and Gavin McKenna's gamechanging decision to go to Penn State are all part of the new episode of the "NHL @TheRink" podcast presented by SKIP.
Co-hosts Dan Rosen and Shawn P. Roarke got together for their first summer check-in Wednesday and went over all the major news in the hockey world since the 2025 Upper Deck NHL Draft.
They dove deep into Marner heading to the Golden Knights and why the forward will benefit. They also talked about the fallout in Toronto and why they think there will be regret about how things ended for Marner, the Maple Leafs and their fans.
Roarke and Rosen also discussed Ehlers, a forward, and defenseman K'Andre Miller going to the Hurricanes.
Rosen said he thinks acquiring those two players certainly makes Carolina better and makes it the closest competitor to the Florida Panthers in the Eastern Conference. Roarke sort of laughed at that, saying being close to the best is not the goal.
McKenna's landmark decision to leave the Medicine Hat of the Western Hockey League to attend Penn State this season was a big part of the second half of the episode.
The co-hosts offered opinions on why the 17-year-old forward -- the leading candidate to be the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NHL Draft -- is making the right decision to go the college hockey route, the reasons why his decision is historic, what it says about Penn State as an NCAA Division I program and the future of the development path for hockey players.
Rosen and Roarke also offer thoughts on why they're disappointed in the offseasons of the Buffalo Sabres and Detroit Red Wings so far, on forward Brock Boeser re-signing with the Vancouver Canucks and the New York Rangers choosing defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov over Miller.
The "NHL @TheRink" podcast presented by SKIP is free and listeners can subscribe on all podcast platforms. It is also available on NHL.com/multimedia/podcasts and the NHL app.
