Mailbag: Kucherov among trophy favorites; Flyers headed in right direction

NHL.com's weekly Over the Boards mailbag is in full swing this season. Every week, senior writer Dan Rosen sifts through your questions sent to him on X and answers them.

To participate in future mailbags, send your questions to @drosennhl on X and use #OvertheBoards.

Who do you see as the Hart Trophy winner? Who is your favorite for the Vezina Trophy? Calder Trophy, I think it's safe to say that Matthew Schaefer is going to win it. The toughest question: Norris Trophy? Do you still see Cale Makar as No. 1? Or Evan Bouchard? Zach Werenski? -- @Haldol25

Nikita Kucherov is my favorite to win the Hart Trophy voted as the League's most valuable player. The forward is carrying the Tampa Bay Lightning along with goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy and could win the Art Ross Trophy as the leading scorer too.

Ilya Sorokin is my favorite for the Vezina Trophy as top goalie. He is as much to credit for the New York Islanders' identity and success this season as Schaefer, who you are correct is the favorite and should win the Calder Trophy given to the League's top rookie. 

Zach Werenski would get my vote for the Norris Trophy as best defenseman. The do-it-all Werenski is doing it all for the Columbus Blue Jackets, leading their charge up the standings and contending for a Stanley Cup Playoff berth in the Eastern Conference.

The Philadelphia Flyers seem stuck in rebuild purgatory again with fans and media questioning the process while Danny Briere and Keith Jones publicly urge patience and staying the course. Give Flyers fans some reasons to get excited. Another mid-teens draft pick looks likely, and a late playoff push isn't out of reach, but is that truly best for the organization long term? Is Rick Tocchet on the hot seat? Is Danny Briere? Fans are clearly tired of waiting, especially with their future superstar appearing to be in a sophomore slump. There's a lot to unpack here. -- @theashcity

There is definitely a lot to unpack here. 

Let's start with Tocchet and Briere. Their seats are not even warm. It's too early. Tocchet is in his first season as the Flyers coach and, honestly, they're better than expected, especially with forward Tyson Foerster (arm) out for the season and Matvei Michkov having a tough second season. Briere, who was named general manager March 10, 2023, is executing the plan that the Flyers were honest about when he and president Keith Jones took over. 

As for Michkov, the future superstar you referenced, he has been honest about his conditioning, that it wasn't up to NHL standards coming into this season and he has said he will remain in Philadelphia to work on his conditioning to be better prepared next season. Give him the benefit of the doubt. He's 21 years old.

The Flyers have Porter Martone coming. The No. 6 pick in the 2025 NHL Draft is 6-foot-3 and 208 pounds, and you can watch him play for Michigan State in the NCAA tournament against UConn on Thursday (1:30 p.m. ET; ESPN2). Martone, a 19-year-old forward, leads the Spartans as a freshman with 24 goals and 47 points in 33 games. He likely will be in Philadelphia next season, if not at some point this season depending on how Michigan State fares in the tournament.

The Flyers have more prospects on the rise including Oliver Bonk, who's with Lehigh Valley in the American Hockey League, and Jack Nesbitt and Jett Luchanko, playing in the Ontario Hockey League for Windsor and Brantford, respectively. Denver Barkey has shown some promise this season and there's also Jack Berglund, the captain for gold-medal winning Team Sweden at the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship. 

It also looks like the Flyers have found their No. 1 goalie in Dan Vladar.

The Flyers' biggest need is a No. 1 center. It's not easy to get one without drafting one, but that is priority No. 1 in the offseason. It will require a trade and with Martone coming, the Flyers could look to include either Owen Tippett or Travis Konecny in a deal for a center. That's to be determined, obviously, but there's enough reason for fans to feel comfortable with where the team is now and where it's going.

Do you think the Penguins will give Evgeni Malkin another year? He's been an anchor of our team, and I doubt we could have won the Cups without him, but I'm skeptical if he can be productive next season. We love him here in the 'Burgh, but we know it's a business decision. -- @penzphan

If Malkin wants to play another season, which he has indicated is his desire, and the contract is fair to him and the Penguins, there's a good chance he will play at least one more in Pittsburgh. Time will tell, but it makes sense because even though he'll be 40 when next season starts, Malkin is still an effective player at the end of a four-year contract that carries a $6.1 million average annual value. He's a point-per-game player this season with 52 points in 50 games and did not play against the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday because of an upper-body injury. 

It's a delicate situation, how to handle franchise icons at the end of likely Hockey Hall of Fame careers on a team that is looking to push forward. Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas deserves a lot of credit for respecting everything Malkin has done and all he means to the organization while also keeping discussions private except for acknowledging that he wants to focus on the rest of this season and will discuss Malkin's future with him after it's over.

With the cap rising and the Penguins loaded with space, there should be a spot for Malkin next season, and maybe in 2027-28 too, though I think the preference would be to go one year at a time with him. He should be allowed to finish his career in Pittsburgh if he is still helping the Penguins win.

With the lack of big names on the free agent market this summer, do you think we'll see more potential offer sheets? -- @punmasterrifkin

I've thought about the same thing, wondering about it for the same reason. With the lack of a big class of unrestricted free agents, the offer sheet is an option for a team to acquire a player at a fixed and known cost of a draft pick or multiple picks depending on the contract if the original team chooses not to match the offer sheet. 

We saw it happen in 2024, when the St. Louis Blues used the offer sheet to get forward Dylan Holloway and defenseman Philip Broberg from the Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers chose not to match and received a second-round pick in 2025 for Broberg's contract (two years, $9.16 million) and a third-round pick for Holloway's contract (two years, $4.58 million).

This was the offer sheet compensation the League released on July 1 last year:

OFFER / COMPENSATION
$1,544,424 or below: None
Over $1,544,424 to $2,340,037: Third-round choice
Over $2,340,037 to $4,680,076: Second-round choice
Over $4,680,076 to $7,020,113: First-round and third-round choice
Over $7,020,113 to $9,360,153: First-round, second-round and third-round choice
Over $9,360,153 to $11,700,192: Two first-round choices, one second- and one third-round choice
Over $11,700,192: Four first-round choices

I hesitate to say we'll see the offer sheet used in abundance because it's still a risky tool, especially because there's a chance you can alienate another team by using it against them. And it's unlikely and unusual for the top players who are offer sheet eligible to change addresses because their current team refuses to match. What I'm saying is I would be shocked if the Chicago Blackhawks didn't sign Connor Bedard, if the Anaheim Ducks didn't sign Leo Carlsson and Cutter Gauthier, and if the Blue Jackets didn't sign Adam Fantilli. They have the cap space to match any offer sheet if one came in.

But what about Jason Robertson and the Dallas Stars? They want him back and the rising cap, up to $104 million next season, means they'll have the space to make it happen, but if a team comes in and makes Robertson an enticing offer, would the Stars consider taking the draft pick compensation instead? Unlikely, but possible.

The same can be said about forward Josh Doan of the Buffalo Sabres, defenseman Simon Nemec of the New Jersey Devils, defenseman Brandt Clarke of the Los Angeles Kings, defenseman Alexander Nikishin of the Carolina Hurricanes, forward Cole Perfetti of the Winnipeg Jets and defenseman Pavel Mintyukov of the Ducks.

The more likely route to improve will be through trades, but the offer sheet, with the lack of a strong UFA class, is an option that I'm sure teams are already thinking about.

What's your take on the Buffalo Sabres game being labeled "river hockey?" Is it justified? -- @MrEd315

I believe you're referring to a quote from an unnamed player in Elliotte Friedman's "32 Thoughts" column for Sportsnet.ca that debuted March 19. It was item No. 17, and Friedman was referring to a question he's been hearing about the Sabres' style and can it work during the grind time of the playoffs. 

"It's river hockey, although they are very good at it," Friedman quoted an opposing player as saying.

That is one player's viewpoint of the Sabres. I don't think it's necessarily a label they're getting. It also sounds like a dis, but you can take it the other way, that the player is saying the Sabres play an entertaining brand of hockey and that they're good at it. 

That said, river hockey refers to a wide-open style of play, the kind you'd find played on a river for obvious reasons. I don't see the Sabres as being a wide-open, trade chances, need to win high-scoring games type of team. 

They have allowed more than two goals in only three of 14 games since the break for the 2026 Winter Olympics. Their 8-7 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning on March 8, while wildly entertaining, falls under the river hockey category, but that's not typical of the Sabres, who are ninth in goals-against per game (2.92) and sixth on the penalty kill (81.9 percent). 

They allow more shots per game than they get (29.5 vs. 28.0), but part of that is attributed to the fact that they're the League's worst face-off team (45.5 percent). But still that doesn't equate to river hockey. 

The Sabres are good this season because they're good at the details of the game. They don't give up a lot off the rush. They don't give up a lot at 5-on-5. They maybe could still be stingier defensively, but river hockey seems like a stretch. They're entertaining.