The 2025-26 NHL season is underway, which means trades, signings and other moves are taking place.
Already this season, last year’s rookie of the year, Montreal Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson, received a lucrative eight-year extension. The Los Angeles Kings traded for a goalie and the Vegas Golden Knights brought another one into their organization.
In the latest news, the Utah Mammoth’s Logan Cooley and Dallas Stars’ Thomas Harley received eight-year extensions.
Follow this tracker for the latest moves from the 2025-26 NHL season.
Oct. 29: Mammoth’s Logan Cooley gets 8-year extension
Cooley, 21, will average $10 million in the extension, making him the team’s highest-paid player next season. He has a base salary of $950,000 in the final year of his entry-level contract. The third-year forward has a team-best eight goals for the Central Division-leading Mammoth. He scored 65 points last season. The Mammoth, in their second year in Salt Lake City, have Cooley, Clayton Keller, Dylan Guenther, Jack McBain, Mikhail Sergachev, Sean Durzi, Karel Vejmelka and others locked in long term. Nick Schmaltz, who will be a coveted unrestricted free agent, will be another priority to re-sign. He’s tied for second in league scoring.
Oct. 28: Stars’ Thomas Harley gets 8-year extension
Harley, 24, will average $10.587 million in the deal, which kicks in next season. That puts him behind only Mikko Rantanen ($12 million). The extension, which will make Harley the NHL’s fourth highest paid defenseman next season, is a recognition of his rapid ascension. He had a career-best 50 points last season and joined Canada’s victorious 4 Nations Face-Off team as an injury replacement. He is off to another strong start this season with eight points in 10 games.
Harley is signed through 2034. Fellow defensemen Miro Heiskanen and Esa Lindell are signed through 2029 and 2030, respectively.
Oct. 25: Canucks acquire Lukas Reichel from Blackhawks
The Blackhawks get back a fourth-round 2027 pick. The Canucks had been dealing with injuries, particularly to Filip Chytil. Reichel, named to Germany’s Olympic team, had four points in five games with Chicago this season.
Oct. 16: Carter Hart joins Golden Knights roster
Goalie Carter Hart, one of five players acquitted in the Hockey Canada sexual assault trial, is joining the Vegas Golden Knights organization. He won’t be able to play in the NHL until Dec. 1. Hart, Michael McLeod, Dillon Dube, Cal Foote and Alex Formenton were found not guilty by a judge on July 24. Justice Maria Carroccia ruled she didn’t find the accuser’s testimony about what allegedly happened in a London, Ontario hotel room in June 2018 to be ‘credible or reliable.’ Hart hasn’t played since going on leave in January 2024 to address the charges.
Also: The Sharks claimed defenseman Vincent Iorio off waivers from the Capitals.
Oct. 15: Kings bring back Pheonix Copley in trade
Pheonix Copley is returning to the Kings organization in a trade with the Lightning, who had claimed the goalie earlier on waivers. The Kings made the move with Darcy Kuemper day-to-day with a lower-body injury. The Lightning get future considerations in the deal.
Oct. 15: Blackhawks’ Nick Foligno goes on leave
The team and their captain announced that Nick Foligno will take a brief leave of absence as his daughter ‘undergoes follow-up surgery related to her congenital heart disease.’ Milana, 12, had her first heart procedure when she was three weeks old, per NHL.com.
Oct. 13: Canadiens’ Lane Hutson gets 8-year extension
Montreal’s Lane Hutson is the latest young NHL defenseman to cash in with a major contract extension.
The Canadiens announced that Hutson, 21, will average $8.85 million in the eight-year deal. The $70.8 million contract will start next season and run through 2033-34.
Hutson won rookie of the year in 2024-25 after recording six goals and 60 assists. He tied the all-time NHL record for assists by a rookie defenseman (Larry Murphy in 1980-81), and his 66 points set a record for a Canadiens rookie defenseman.
Devils defenseman Luke Hughes reset the market with a seven-year, $63 million contract on Oct. 1. Ducks defenseman Jackson LaCombe matched his $9 million cap hit in an eight-year extension the following day.
