The Vancouver Canucks are coming off one of their biggest wins of the entire NHL season, as they shut out the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-0 on the road after getting stranded in Carolina overnight due to a snowstorm. While it’s easy to get excited about a statement win like that, the Canucks are still barely holding onto the final playoff position in the Western Conference.

However, reinforcements are coming, as Filip Hronek rejoined the team in Winnipeg on Tuesday ahead of their game against the Jets. These games down the stretch will be important as it will be the first time all season that the team will have their full allotment of players in the lineup at the same time.

While the noise around this team has never been louder, believe it or not, there are things going on around the NHL for us to cover today.

Throughout the offseason, there has been much speculation about what next year’s salary cap might look like. After a few years of the dead cap era (2019-2022), when the salary cap stayed at $81.5 million, it significantly jumped over the following two seasons, rising to $88 million for the 2024-2025 season.

There was a report that came out on December 10th that the cap was expected to take another big jump to $92.4 million for 2025-2026. However, player agent Allan Walsh on the Steve Dangle Podcast shared that it might be going up even higher than that:

“I’m telling you right now, you can write it down. I am not divulging any confidence here; I’m not divulging any inside information per se, but I am telling you right now the upper limit of the salary cap next year will be $97 million. Write it down. Put it in the bank. It’s coming. That’s the number. $97 million.”

This would be a massive $9 million cap jump, more than double what it was just last season. Upcoming Canucks free agents Brock Boeser, Kevin Lankinen, Pius Suter, and Derek Forbort must be licking their lips at the sight of this potential and how much more money they could make come this summer.

Cutter Gauthier made his long-awaited return to Philadelphia on Saturday night, and boy, did he get the Philly welcome.

If you haven’t heard the backstory, here it is:

Gauthier was originally drafted fifth overall by the Flyers in the 2022 NHL draft. He would spend his draft plus-one season with Boston College. During the ensuing offseason, he wanted to turn pro, but the Flyers had other plans. They wanted him to take another year of development before joining the Flyers.

So, Gauthier returned to Boston College for a second season and told the Flyers that he did not want to play for their organization after what happened the following summer. He was then traded to the Anaheim Ducks for Jamie Drysdale and a 2025 second-round pick.

Knowing he wouldn’t receive the warmest welcome back to Philadelphia, Gauthier had this to say before the game, per Kevin Kurz of The Athletic:

“I’m anticipating probably a lot of boos, for sure,” Gauthier said. “They’re probably not the happiest fans with me. Excited for tomorrow, and just building our team game.”

And that’s exactly what Cutter got.

He heard from the crowd on his first shift:

After the guy who he was traded for – Jamie Drysdale – scored:

And even from one of the top Flyers players, Travis Konecny:

And the icing on the cake for the Flyers and their fans, they walked away with a 6-0 victory. Gauthier finished the game with a minus-one rating, three shots on goal, and two hits.

The Daniel Sprong carousel continues. He signed a one-year, $975k contract with the Canucks halfway through July. However, his Canuck career did not last long, as after just nine games – scoring one goal and two assists – he was traded to the Seattle Kraken in exchange for future considerations.

His time with the Kraken did not last much longer. He played just 10 games with them, scoring one goal and one assist, before being sent to their AHL affiliate team, the Coachella Valley Firebirds.

Sprong has played just two games with the Firebirds so far and is trying to prove he does not belong there. He has scored three goals and one assist in those two games, with a plus-three rating and six shots on goal.

After scoring two goals and one assist in his Firebirds debut, he met with the media afterwards and shared his mindset on this AHL stint:

“Yeah, I think it’s been a tough couple of days, and I think my mindset here is [I] want to help the young guys; it’s a young team. I’ve been a young guy before, and you know, try to lead by example. Try to help with little things. For myself, I want to prove that I don’t belong here. I think over my last two years in the NHL speak for itself. These are the cards I’m dealt right now, so I think personally, just prove I don’t belong. And for the time here, help the young guys, work hard, and try to fix my game a little bit.”

The 28-year-old winger has proven he can be a consistent offensive option in the NHL. Just two seasons ago with the Kraken, Sprong scored a career-high 21 goals and 25 assists for 46 points. He followed that up with an 18-goal, 43-point season with the Detroit Red Wings last season.

It remains to be seen how long Sprong will spend in the AHL, but if he continues to put up those point totals, he should earn himself a call-up sooner rather than later.