NHL Rumours: Nylander Concern, Vegas’ Downfall & Bowness Confidence

For most of the season, Nylander has been the team’s best producer, with 67 points through 56 games. The concern about that is how streaky he has been. With only 14 goals in 35 games since the turn to 2026, his elite goal-scoring ability hasn’t been on display.

Nylander has often been a volume shooter. He is on pace for his lowest shots per game total of his career, and Berube had taken notice of that, too.

On Mar. 20, after a three-game goal-less streak, Berube told the media, “I spoke to him today. “I don’t know if you are a playmaker now, or are you going to shoot?” He needs to shoot the puck, and he understands that. That is on the power play, too. He understood, and he agreed. Be more direct and shoot the puck. He scores goals. We need him to shoot the puck.”

Nylander hit the ice in practice and during a drill, shot, and scored. He then skated to Berube with his hand around his ear, showing that he was listening to what Berube had to say about his shooting.

After practice, Nylander told reporters that it was all fun and games. Berube agreed. Nylander then made his comments on the season.

The relationship between him and Berube seems complicated. Tensions are high with the amount of losing the team is doing, and for one of the top players on the team to say he is going to keep his comments to himself indicates that he is frustrated, but won’t air the dirty laundry.

Vegas’ Future as Contender at Risk

The Vegas Golden Knights have reached the point in the season where they cannot finish with more wins than losses. This will be the first time since joining the league that they finish with a negative win/loss ratio.

It is no secret that the Golden Knights have been a cutthroat franchise. They are in the league to win, and will do whatever it takes to give them their best chance at winning.

Some of these harsh decisions include trading nearly all of their prospects taken in the first round, moving plenty of picks, their relationship with Marc-Andre Fleury, and others. This Reddit thread has even more examples. There are countless.

With Vegas heading into their final nine games of the season, they sit with just 36 wins and 79 points. This will be their lowest total ever, outside of the shortened seasons in 2019-20 and 2020-21.

They have the third-oldest team in the league, a very difficult cap situation, and plenty of free agents they will need to bring back. As Connor McDavid said, the Pacific Division is a pillow fight this season. He was right about teams being fortunate to be in that division, and Vegas is no exception. They haven’t scored as well as before, their defense is weaker, and their goaltending hasn’t held up.

If Alex Pietrangelo goes back in long-term injured reserve next season, that will leave them with just under $12 million in cap space this offseason. With that money, they will have to make decisions on their expiring contracts, which include Pavel Dorofeyev, Brandon Saad, Reilly Smith, Rasmus Andersson, and other depth players. It will be interesting to see what direction they go.

With a weak prospect pool and missing two first-round picks, a second-round pick, and two third-round picks between now and 2028, things may not look promising for the future.

Blue Jackets’ Bowness Confident in Team for Playoffs

One of the biggest conversations this season has been about the Eastern Conference playoff race. It has been one of the more entertaining races to watch over the last number of seasons, and there are plenty of teams in the mix. The Atlantic Division has been fighting hard over the wild card spots, but the second and third spots in the Metropolitan Division have been a bloodbath, too.

The Pittsburgh Penguins sit second in the division with 88 points, while the Blue Jackets and New York Islanders sit with 87 points each, taking the third divisional spot and a wild card spot.

The Blue Jackets still have a game in hand over the Islanders, but when it comes to the tie-breaker, they sit last among the teams in the playoff race with just 27 regulation wins.

Since Bowness took over after Dean Evason was fired, the team has a 19-4-4 record and has played like one of the best teams in the league.

Despite that record, Bowness told the media, “I’m not going to hide behind the analytics. Expected goals, shots on goal, that’s not winning games for us. We’re going to have to get a little nastier here to compensate for that.”

Bowness isn’t afraid of the truth, either. He stated, “The next 10 games are going to be the hardest 10 games we’ve played all year, and when we get in, and we’re going to get it in, it’s going to get even harder.”

It isn’t very often that a coach oozes that much confidence when deep within the race for a playoff spot. The Blue Jackets are just one loss away from potentially being outside the playoff picture, but with how the team is playing and that kind of support upheld by their coach, they have to be feeling good.