Sam Gagner has a new challenge.
On Friday afternoon, Team Canada’s roster for the annual Spengler Cup was announced, with the former Oiler making the roster.
It will mark Gagner’s second time playing for Canada at the Spengler Cup, having drawn in for four games in 2012 during the NHL lockout, scoring three assists. He was joined by a number of other locked out NHL’ers in Ryan Smyth, Devan Dunyk, Tyler Seguin, Patrice Bergeron, Jason Spezza, Matt Duchene, Jason Demers, Carlo Coliacovo, Cam Barker and Jonathan Bernier.
Canada would win its 12th title that year.
Gagner was drafted sixth overall in the 2007 draft by the Oilers. In his first stint with the team from the 2007-08 season until the 2013-14 season, he scored 101 goals and 295 points in 481 games. He was then traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning for Teddy Purcell, with the Lightning trading him to the Arizona Coyotes almost immediately.
That started the journeyman portion of his career, as he played for the Coyotes, Philadelphia Flyers, Columbus Blue Jackets, and Vancouver Canucks from the 2014-15 season until partway through the 2018-19 season. In 2019, the Oilers traded Ryan Spooner to the Canucks to bring back the fan-favourite.
Gagner played 61 games with the Oilers in 2018-19 and 2019-20, scoring 10 goals and 22 points. However, the Oilers once again traded him, this time to the Detroit Red Wings for Andreas Athanasiou before the 2020 trade deadline.
The right-shot centre spent parts of three seasons with the Wings, scoring 21 goals and 47 points in 129 games with the rebuilding team, including scoring his third career hat trick during the 2020-21 season. Gagner spent the 2022-23 season with the Winnipeg Jets, before returning to the Oilers for the 2023-24 season.
At the time of his call-up, the Oilers were struggling, as they had a 2-5-1 record. In his first game back since 2020, Gagner scored twice in a game against the Dallas Stars. He finished the season playing 28 games, scoring five times with 10 points.
The Spengler Cup is an annual tournament held in Davos, Switzerland. The invitational tournament features teams from across Europe and Team Canada. Last season, HC Davos won their 16th tournament, tying Team Canada for the most titles in the history of the tournament.

The QMJHL will return to St. John’s

On Friday, it was announced by the Québec Maritime Junior Hockey League that the Acadie-Bathurst Titan will be relocating to St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador to begin the 2025-26 season.
After spending their first 20+ seasons in the Montréal area, the franchise relocated to Bathurst, New Brunswick to begin the 1998-99 season. The following season, the team won their first Gilles-Courteau Trophy to play in the 1999 Memorial Cup.
While they didn’t win that tournament, they were also the best team in the 2017-18 season, winning their second Gilles-Courteau Trophy. Shortly after winning that, they won their second Memorial Cup, defeating the Western Hockey League’s Regina Pat.
Tons of great players have played for the Titan, such as Roberto Luongo and Patrice Bergeron. Before moving to Bathurst, Mike Bossy, Mario Lemieux, and former Oiler Vincent Damphousse played for the franchise.

Ryan Leonard named Team USA’s World Junior captain

On Friday morning, USA Hockey announced its leadership team for the upcoming World Junior Championship.
Washington Capitals prospect Ryan Leonard was named as the captain, while Zeev Buium, Oliver Moore, Danny Nelson, and Gabe Perreault were named as alternate captains. Team USA comes into the 2025 WJC as the defending champions, dethroning Team Canada who won back-to-back Gold Medals in the 2022 and 2023 tournaments.
Only one Oiler prospect is on Team USA’s roster, defenceman Paul Fischer whom the Oilers acquired in the summer from the St. Louis Blues. The only other Oiler prospect to make a roster was their 2023 second-round pick, Beau Akey.
Interestingly, this is the first time since 2009 that the tournament returns to Ottawa. One of the most memorable goals in the tournament’s history was scored that season, as Oiler prospect Jordan Eberle scored in the dying seconds of the semifinal game. This goal kept Team Canada’s hopes of winning their fifth consecutive Gold Medal alive, which they would eventually achieve.

Alexander Ovechkin is close to returning

The Washington Capitals are going to get their franchise legend back soon.
On Friday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk discussed Alex Ovechkin’s imminent return to the lineup.
Tyler Yaremchuk: Surprise surprise, Ovechkin could potentially return earlier than expected. You reported on this the other night, tell us what you know.
Frank Seravalli: Ovechkin was a full participant in practice on Thursday for the first time since fracturing his fibula. He’s ruled out for Friday’s game, but there’s a decent enough chance and possibility that with the two games the Caps have next week, that he could be in action.
It would be awesome to get a little stocking stuffer, a nice last-minute Christmas gift if you’re the Capitals to get Ovechkin back in the lineup to resume that chase. The pace he was on, 15 goals in 18 games, was unbelievable. Everyone is waiting to see if he can pick up where he left off.
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