Raw Charge
Summary
Lightning News: The Lightning will sit back the next few days as the rest of the NHL drops the puck on the new season. The Panthers head to Raleigh to face the Stanley Cup winning Carolina Hurricanes at 5 p.m. today while the Lightning won’t start their season until Thursday night at Madison Square Garden against the Rangers. The Lightning made their final roster cuts and as they finalize their opening night roster. [ Raw Charge ] One of the last cuts this year was forward Benjamin Rautiainen. The 21-year-old will be returning to Tappara of the Finnish Liiga where he had a record setting season last year. His shootout winning goal against the Panthers was the closing moment of the preseason and quite a memorable one. He’s poised for another great year with Tappara. [ Tampa Bay Times ] Hopefully Nikita Kucherov’s play this upcoming season will be what sports pundits will be writing about before too long. Until then, the stories about his looming UFA status next summer will be prevalent. Genereal Manager Julien BriseBois believes a deal will get done. Hopefully that happens sooner rather than later. [ Sports Illustrated ] League News: There was a massive trade in the NHL yesterday as Toronto and Columbus made a splash before the season begins. Kirill Marchenko was traded to Toronto while Matthew Knies will now call Columbus his home. Elvis Merzlikins(G) and Miles Wood(LW) were also included and heading to Toronto while Emil Andrae(D), Steven Lorentz(C) and Columbus’s 2027 2nd Round pick were part of the package to Columbus. The Jackets also retained $972k of Merzlikins’ cap hit. The 2nd Round pick was originally traded from Columbus to Seattle, then Seattle to Toronto, now back to Columbus. Lots to unpack in this trade. [ NHL ] From our friends up north. [ Pension Plan Puppets ] The Jackets perspective. [ Jackets Cannon ] Marchenko immediately re-signed for 6 years, $75 million ($12.5M cap hit) [ TSN ] NHL Network named their top-10 players this upcoming season. Hard to argue against these rankings (besides #7). Nikita Kucherov came in at number three while Nathan MacKinnon and (of course) Connor McDavid rounded out the top three. [ NHL ] The Stanley Cup champs will start their season without one of their top young players. Defenseman Alexander Nikishin has yet to sign a contract or get the trade he requested. Nikishin recently switched the agency representing him, but the result has remained the same. [ ESPN ] As is tradition, the Hurricanes recently received their Stanley Cup rings and their hardware was displayed on their socials. Here’s what they look like: Champs has a nice ring to it 🏆 pic.twitter.com/qTGqLj7Xzc — Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) September 28, 2026