We can say hockey is back as much as we want, but it truly felt that way when we saw Canucks prospects back in action this past weekend at the Prospect Showcase. But it’s this weekend’s festivities that should really get Canucks fans excited. Training Camp will be the first glimpse into how the team will perform with its new players and coaches for the upcoming season.

But as we approach the new season, we have some extensions, some comebacks and a former NHL coach speaking for the first time since being fired:

Peter DeBoer met with NHL.com’s Mike Zeisberger to discuss various topics, but everybody wants to hear more about DeBoer’s exit from Dallas.

Following their second straight loss to the Edmonton Oilers in the Western Conference Finals, DeBoer let his frustration show in his postgame interviews, when he put most of the blame on his goaltender, Jake Oettinger.

After his team allowed two goals in the first seven minutes of Game 5, DeBoer called a timeout, hoping to simmer down his group. However, he proceeded to display his anger by yelling at his bench. When Oettinger attempted to return to his net, DeBoer yanked him from the game in what the Stars netminder would later describe as embarrassing.

Due to his postgame comments, DeBoer was let go, ending his Stars career with a 149-68-29 record in three seasons. This interview with Zeisberger was the first time he spoke on the incident since he was fired:

“Listen, we were all to blame for coming up short again, and it starts with me,” DeBoer candidly said in an exclusive sitdown with NHL.com, his first public comments since being fired by the Stars on June 6. “It was on me, it was on all the coaches, it was on all the players, it was on the organization as a whole. We all created the disappointment. We were all to blame, not just one guy.

“When all the questions at the postgame press conference were about Jake, I should have redirected the topic to reflect that this wasn’t just about him; this was about all of us. We – and I stress the word ‘we’ – did not get the job done. We were on a run in which we’d lost six of our past seven games against Edmonton in the third round dating back to 2024. In one of my answers, I said he’d lost six of seven to them. But it wasn’t just him. It was all of us. That’s not on just one guy. I should have made that clearer.”

DeBoer has made the Western Conference Finals in five of the last six seasons, but has zero Stanley Cup Final appearances to show for it. He will be a strong consideration for teams needing a new bench boss next offseason.

On Saturday, the Chicago Blackhawks announced that they’ve signed Spencer Knight to a three-year, $17.5 million contract extension, carrying an average annual value of $5.83 million.

Knight, 24, was drafted in the first-round (13th overall) of the 2019 NHL Draft by the Florida Panthers. Looking back on it, this was an odd pick, considering the Panthers would go out and spent big money on Sergei Bobrovsky just a few days later in free agency. Knight has backed up Bobrovsky for four of the last five seasons, but it was clear there wasn’t much room for Knight develop, so they made him expendable.

A March trade saw the Panthers send Knight and a 2026 first-round pick to the Blackhawks in exchange for Seth Jones and a 2026 fourth-round pick. In 15 starts for the Blackhawks since the trade, Knight finished with 5-8-2 record, with 3.12 goals against average and a .896 save percentage. However, the 6’3″ netminder has proven he can be a solid goalie in this league, as he had 2.40 goals against average and a .907 save percentage in 23 starts before the trade.

Chicago still has a few years left in their rebuild; however, locking up their goaltender of the future is a great start for the Blackhawks to turn the ship around.

The Los Angeles Kings provided an update on Corey Perry on Saturday morning.

The 40-year-old forward signed a one-year, $2 million contract with the Kings this past offseason. Perry has spent the last two seasons as a member of the Edmonton Oilers, where, in typical Corey Perry fashion, lost back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals. But Perry has proven that age is just a number, as just last season, he scored 19 goals and 30 points 81 games. He also added 10 goals and 14 points in 22 playoff appearances, playing up and down the Oilers’ lineup.

Unfortunately for Perry, he won’t make his Kings debut for the next 6-8 weeks after undergoing successful knee surgery. The Canucks don’t face off against the Kings until the end of November, where Perry should be back in game action.

The legend of Marc-Andre Fleury in Pittsburgh will continue. Well, for at least one more game, as the longtime Penguins netminder has signed a professional tryout contract with the team that originally drafted him first overall in 2003 – the last goaltender to be selected first overall.

Typically players will sign a one-day contract with their team to retire as a member of the organization. However, Fleury is going to be suiting up in a Pittsburgh uniform one last time in the preseason before officially hanging up the skates.

After 21 NHL seasons split between the Penguins, Vegas Golden Knights, Chicago Blackhawks and Minnesota Wild, Fleury has started over 1,000 games, finishing with a 575-339-97 record, a 2.60 goals against average, a .912 save percentage and 76 shutouts. Fleury sits second in games played and wins in NHL history, narrowly edging out former Canucks netminder Roberto Luongo.

It sounds like Fleury will make his final start on Saturday, September 27 against the Columbus Blue Jackets.