It is not a good time to be an NHL team in need of a goaltender.
Fewer than a dozen who played in the league last season were available as unrestricted free agents, Detroit acquired John Gibson from Anaheim over the weekend after years of trade rumors and that left a handful of veteran backups to sign Tuesday.
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FILE - Calgary Flames goaltender Dan Vladar (80) looks on during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Washington Capitals, Feb. 25, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass, File)
FILE - Los Angeles Kings goaltender David Rittich deflects a shot during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Calgary Flames, April 17, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File)
FILE - New Jersey Devils' Jake Allen plays during an NHL hockey game, Jan. 27, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)
FILE - Vancouver Canucks goaltender Thatcher Demko (35) watches a shot go wide of the net as Conor Garland (8) helps against pressure from Dallas Stars right wing Evgenii Dadonov (63) in the first period of an NHL hockey game in Dallas, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)
New Jersey kept Jake Allen, Thatcher Demko stayed in Vancouver, Philadelphia added Dan Vladar and the New York Islanders signed David Rittich.
“Really, you sort of take a look at the landscape and see what’s out there,” said Allen, who re-signed with the Devils for $9 million over five years. “Yeah, there were some spots, but at the same time, my situation in Jersey was good."
Two-time defending Western Conference champion Edmonton might have lost out in the game of musical goalies and could have little choice but to stick with Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard. They combined for a save percentage of .888 in the playoffs, ranking 13th out of 16 teams, dropping to .866 in the Stanley Cup Final loss to Florida.
Allen was not really an option for the Oilers because he wanted to stay on the East Coast regardless. They signed 31-year-old hometown product Matt Tompkins for two years at the league minimum $775,000.
The Canucks have a rare surplus at the most important position in hockey after extending Demko for $8.5 million a year through 2029. They also have Kevin Lankinen under contract at $4.5 million annually through 2030, and Arturs Silovs backstopped Abbotsford of the American Hockey League to the Calder Cup after playing well in the playoffs for Vancouver last year.
Demko is a franchise No. 1, so he's not going anywhere.
“Probably we have the best goalie tandem in the league,” said winger Conor Garland, who also signed a long-term extension with the Canucks. “For Demmer just coming back being healthy and the presence he is in the room, what a competitor he is. He has kind of an aura about him of just being one of the top goalies in the league and how hard he practices and what that does for our room on a day-to-day basis having a guy like that, it’s a huge impact.”
Vladar, who turns 28 in August, signed for $6.7 million over the next two years to join the Flyers' mix. He figures to split time with Samuel Ersson.
Rittich joins the Islanders as depth behind unquestioned starter Ilya Sorokin. Semyon Varlamov is under contract for two more seasons but has been injured, and general manager Mathieu Darche got some insurance with the soon-to-be 34-year-old nicknamed “Big Save Dave.”
“You can never have enough goalies,” Darche said. “(Varlamov's) rehab is going well, but we still have to prepare in case something happens. David is a veteran around the NHL. He’s a very capable NHL goalie, so we’re excited to have him.”
Elsewhere in the Metropolitan Division, Carolina signed 25-year-old Amir Miftakhov after he put up some strong numbers in the KHL. With Frederik Andersen and Pyotr Kochetkov already in place, Miftakhov is a potential low-risk, high-reward addition at the league minimum of $775,000 and the chance for him to play with AHL Chicago if needed.
“Amir has put together a number of solid seasons in the KHL and is ready to return to professional hockey in North America,” general manager Eric Tulsky said. “It’s important to have goaltending depth, and we look forward to having him in our organization.”
The Panthers signed recently acquired Daniil Tarasov for $1.05 million, with Vitek Vanecek heading to Utah for $1.5 million. Buffalo signed well-traveled Alex Lyon to a two-year deal worth $3 million, and Seattle added two-time Cup champion Matt Murray for $1 million for next season.
San Jose got Alexander Nedjelkovic from Pittsburgh for a 2028 third-round pick, with the goal of him pushing and helping young starter Yaroslav Askarov.
Gibson was the most proven netminder available, and he has two years left on his current contract at an annual cap hit of $6.4 million. Days after changing places, he's not sure why the goalie market became so thin, but he's happy to be going to the Red Wings to perhaps revitalize his career at 31.
“It’s a new chapter, fresh start, kind of going in excited to prove myself,” Gibson said. “It’s just an exciting opportunity to go to a team and an organization that really wants to get back and to playoff hockey.”
AP Hockey Writer John Wawrow contributed.
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
FILE - Calgary Flames goaltender Dan Vladar (80) looks on during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Washington Capitals, Feb. 25, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass, File)
FILE - Los Angeles Kings goaltender David Rittich deflects a shot during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Calgary Flames, April 17, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File)
FILE - New Jersey Devils' Jake Allen plays during an NHL hockey game, Jan. 27, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)
FILE - Vancouver Canucks goaltender Thatcher Demko (35) watches a shot go wide of the net as Conor Garland (8) helps against pressure from Dallas Stars right wing Evgenii Dadonov (63) in the first period of an NHL hockey game in Dallas, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — A day after the audacious U.S. military operation in Venezuela, President Donald Trump on Sunday renewed his calls for an American takeover of the Danish territory of Greenland for the sake of U.S. security interests, while his top diplomat declared the communist government in Cuba is “in a lot of trouble.”
The comments from Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio after the ouster of Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro underscore that the U.S. administration is serious about taking a more expansive role in the Western Hemisphere.
With thinly veiled threats, Trump is rattling hemispheric friends and foes alike, spurring a pointed question around the globe: Who's next?
“It’s so strategic right now. Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place," Trump told reporters as he flew back to Washington from his home in Florida. "We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it.”
Asked during an interview with The Atlantic earlier on Sunday what the U.S.-military action in Venezuela could portend for Greenland, Trump replied: “They are going to have to view it themselves. I really don’t know.”
Trump, in his administration's National Security Strategy published last month, laid out restoring “American preeminence in the Western Hemisphere” as a central guidepost for his second go-around in the White House.
Trump has also pointed to the 19th century Monroe Doctrine, which rejects European colonialism, as well as the Roosevelt Corollary — a justification invoked by the U.S. in supporting Panama’s secession from Colombia, which helped secure the Panama Canal Zone for the U.S. — as he's made his case for an assertive approach to American neighbors and beyond.
Trump has even quipped that some now refer to the fifth U.S. president's foundational document as the “Don-roe Doctrine.”
Saturday's dead-of-night operation by U.S. forces in Caracas and Trump’s comments on Sunday heightened concerns in Denmark, which has jurisdiction over the vast mineral-rich island of Greenland.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in a statement that Trump has "no right to annex" the territory. She also reminded Trump that Denmark already provides the United States, a fellow member of NATO, broad access to Greenland through existing security agreements.
“I would therefore strongly urge the U.S. to stop threatening a historically close ally and another country and people who have made it very clear that they are not for sale,” Frederiksen said.
Denmark on Sunday also signed onto a European Union statement underscoring that “the right of the Venezuelan people to determine their future must be respected” as Trump has vowed to “run” Venezuela and pressed the acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, to get in line.
Trump on Sunday mocked Denmark’s efforts at boosting Greenland’s national security posture, saying the Danes have added “one more dog sled” to the Arctic territory’s arsenal.
Greenlanders and Danes were further rankled by a social media post following the raid by a former Trump administration official turned podcaster, Katie Miller. The post shows an illustrated map of Greenland in the colors of the Stars and Stripes accompanied by the caption: “SOON."
“And yes, we expect full respect for the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark,” Amb. Jesper Møller Sørensen, Denmark's chief envoy to Washington, said in a post responding to Miller, who is married to Trump's influential deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller.
During his presidential transition and in the early months of his return to the White House, Trump repeatedly called for U.S. jurisdiction over Greenland, and has pointedly not ruled out military force to take control of the mineral-rich, strategically located Arctic island that belongs to an ally.
The issue had largely drifted out of the headlines in recent months. Then Trump put the spotlight back on Greenland less than two weeks ago when he said he would appoint Republican Gov. Jeff Landry as his special envoy to Greenland.
The Louisiana governor said in his volunteer position he would help Trump “make Greenland a part of the U.S.”
Meanwhile, concern simmered in Cuba, one of Venezuela’s most important allies and trading partners, as Rubio issued a new stern warning to the Cuban government. U.S.-Cuba relations have been hostile since the 1959 Cuban revolution.
Rubio, in an appearance on NBC's “Meet the Press,” said Cuban officials were with Maduro in Venezuela ahead of his capture.
“It was Cubans that guarded Maduro,” Rubio said. “He was not guarded by Venezuelan bodyguards. He had Cuban bodyguards.” The secretary of state added that Cuban bodyguards were also in charge of “internal intelligence” in Maduro’s government, including “who spies on who inside, to make sure there are no traitors.”
Trump said that “a lot” of Cuban guards tasked with protecting Maduro were killed in the operation. The Cuban government said in a statement read on state television on Sunday evening that 32 officers were killed in the U.S. military operation.
Trump also said that the Cuban economy, battered by years of a U.S. embargo, is in tatters and will slide further now with the ouster of Maduro, who provided the Caribbean island subsidized oil.
“It's going down,” Trump said of Cuba. “It's going down for the count.”
Cuban authorities called a rally in support of Venezuela’s government and railed against the U.S. military operation, writing in a statement: “All the nations of the region must remain alert, because the threat hangs over all of us.”
Rubio, a former Florida senator and son of Cuban immigrants, has long maintained Cuba is a dictatorship repressing its people.
“This is the Western Hemisphere. This is where we live — and we’re not going to allow the Western Hemisphere to be a base of operation for adversaries, competitors, and rivals of the United States," Rubio said.
Cubans like 55-year-old biochemical laboratory worker Bárbara Rodríguez were following developments in Venezuela. She said she worried about what she described as an “aggression against a sovereign state.”
“It can happen in any country, it can happen right here. We have always been in the crosshairs,” Rodríguez said.
AP writers Andrea Rodriguez in Havana, Cuba, and Darlene Superville traveling aboard Air Force One contributed reporting.
In this photo released by the White House, President Donald Trump monitors U.S. military operations in Venezuela, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (Molly Riley/The White House via AP)
