Monday Morning Ramblings featuring big Czechia goalies drafted by Philly. Cossa and Varlamov set to back up next season.

Detroit GM Steve Yzerman made a move to get into the first round by shipping out former 1st Rd pick Sebastian Cossa. Cossa had wanted out after being passed on the depth chart by Michael Postva.

Utah GM Bill Armstrong says that Sebastian Cossa is ready to be a backup in the National Hockey League. He paid the Red Wings a first round pick, which Detroit used to select forward JP Hurlbert. His 97 pts in 68 games placed him 4th in WHL scoring behind the Ruck twins (drafted by the Penguins this year) and Cam Schmidt (drafted in round 3 by the Stars last year).

Carter Bear (1.45) another Red Wings prospect, Tij Iginla (1.88) Utah pick last year, and Bryce Pickford (1.51) Canadiens prospect and CHL defenseman of the year, had a higher points per game than JP Hurlbert (1.43).

Speaking of CHL defenseman of the year, RFA Olen Zellweger was traded to the Sabres for the 45th overall pick and Anton Wahlberg (39th pick, 2023 draft). Essentially, the Sabres replaced B.Byram with O.Zellweger, L. Crevier, and D.Rudolph. Rudolph was the first defenseman drafted this year. He was 3rd amongst all WHL defensemen with 78 points.

Cossa heads to Utah to give a little more rest to Vejmelka who led the league in minutes played last season.

Isles GM Darche noted that they are aiming for 25-30 starts by Varlamov this coming season, but that they do have to sign another goalie as a safety net.

This would be a fantasy situation to avoid as Sorokin is more than capable of handling the starters net, whereas Varlamov is getting older and may be rusty after missing essentially all of last season.

Everyone is shedding RFAs: Drury, Zellweger, Dorofyev, Samsokevich were all dealt within the last week. Perhaps by the time this is published, the biggest RFA of them all, Jason Robertson, might be on the move as well.

There were a few bargain deals to be had with teams willing to shed salary. This phenomenon will continue post July 1st, as players get signed and teams need to trim their cap situation.

RHD Brandon Carlo (3.49M x 1 year) was acquired for pennies on the dollar, requiring only two 3rd round picks in the 2026 NHL Draft (#73 and #76). Carlo is the reason the Leafs don't have a 1st round pick next year. They also lost Fraser Minten in that deal with the Bruins.

The Ottawa Senators acquired Andre Burakovsky ($5.5M x 1 year) from the Chicago Blackhawks for a 6th round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft.

Both Burakovsky and Carlo have one year left remaining on their contract. Meaning that the Sens and the Blues can retain half and flip them at the deadline for a much higher return. Great foresight and asset management by GMs in Ottawa (Staois) and St.Louis (Armstrong/Steen).

Another cheap acquisition was by the Columbus Blue Jackets who nabbed Valeri Nichushkin from the Colorado Avalanche. The Avs seemed to be freeing up money for a Cale Makar extension. It only cost Columbus a 2nd round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft (#43), a 3rd round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft and a 5th round pick in the 2028 NHL Draft.

Not giving up a 1st round pick for a productive winger with cost certainty ($6.13M x 4 years) is a win in my opinion.

The much lauded JJ Peterka trade from a year ago, ended up as a failed experiment by the Mammoth. Utah traded him to the Boston Bruins for a 1st round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft (#23) and a 1st round pick in the 2028 NHL Draft.

The former (#23 overall) was then swapped for goaltender Sebastian Cossa, who was discussed above.

Peterka should be given better deployment in Boston and so his numbers are expected to rise. Peterka was rarely given a chance on the top power play unit in Utah. Both him and Clayton Keller are left wingers, which limited Peterka's exposure to Utah's best player.

In Boston, Peterka plays under fellow countryman Marco Sturm. Furthermore, Pastrnak plays right wing so Peterka will likely be linemates with Pastrnak both on the top line and the first power play unit.

Mike Grier and the Sharks were big winners at the draft, where they were able to select I.Stenberg, K.Verheoff, and R.Lin all in the first round. Both right handed defenseman, Verheoff and Lin, fell slightly from where they were projected to go.

This was a direct result of Mike Grier's fantastic wheeling and dealing, which began two years ago:

On June 25, 2024 the Sharks acquired Jake Walman AND a 2024 second-round pick (which was used to select Leo Sahlin-Wallenius, LHD) from the Red Wings for future considerations (ie a 2nd round pick was included as a sweetener to take on the Walman contract).

After rehabbing Walman's value, the Sharks then sold him to the Edmonton Oilers for prospect Carl Berglund and a 2026 1st round (pick #20).

The #20 overall pick was then used to grab RHD Michael Kesselring and the #27 overall pick.

On Draft Day that #27 pick was packaged with a 2nd round pick in 2026 (#62) and a 4th round pick in 2026 (#120), to acquire the #21 overall pick, which was used to select RHD Ryan Lin.

If your head is spinning, don't worry I'll summarize it all in a bit.

The Flyers used those two picks to select big Czech goalies: 6'5" Martin Psohlavec (pick 62), and 6'3" Marek Sklenicka (pick 120). More on these two later.

Lastly, GM Grier also acquired the #9 overall pick in exchange for William Eklund, Kasper Halttunen and Brandon Svoboda.

So if we cancel out the assets that went in and out from the Sharks organization (Walman, pick #27, pick #20) we are left with a combined trade of:

Eklund, Halttunen, Svoboda, Psohlavec, and Sklenicka for Kesselring, Verheoff, Lin, Berglund, and Sahlin-Wallenius.

This is absolutely incredible bartering. The Sharks might have taken care of the right side of their defense for years to come. Michael Kesselring just signed a 3 year deal at $4.5 million per year, making him the Sharks defenseman signed for the longest term.

There was likely a Flyers scout watching Czechia closely at the U18 World Juniors. Philadelphia was one of 6 teams that drafted 2 goalies at the draft.

15 goaltenders went in rounds 3 (7) and 4 (8) combined. A total of 32 goalies were drafted on Saturday, the most since 2004.

Psohlavec and Sklenička both finished in the top 5 in save percentage at the U18 World Juniors where Czechia won bronze.

Psohlavec posted a 1.68 GAA and a .926 SV%. Sklenička had a 1.91 GAA and a .921 SV%.

Psohlavec was the 17th ranked European goaltender and Sklenička was the 6th ranked North American goaltender by central scouting.

Sklenička played in 42 games with the Seattle Thunderbirds, where he posted a 3.21 GAA and a .902 SV%.