Articles in NHL Teams

Watch the incident below.

via TSN's YouTube page,

TSN’s Hockey Insiders discuss Pierre Dorion’s challenge of making cap room to sign Shane Pinto, the latest on Elias Lindholm and the Flames, why teams are hoarding goalies, how Kent Johnson is targeted in a culture change in Columbus and a former Oiler aiming for an NHL return this season.

* Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad and Igor Shesterkin each had big performances Thursday to help the Rangers open their 2023-24 season with a victory at KeyBank Center.

* Jack Hughes was one of a trio of Metropolitan Division skaters that shone during their respective team’s season opener, picking up two points and accomplishing a franchise-first in the process.

* An 18-year rivalry recommences during a two-game Friday as Penguins captain Sidney Crosby and Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin go head-to-head at 7:30 p.m. ET, exclusively on ESPN+ in the U.S. and Sportsnet and TVA Sports in Canada.

Coach Luke Richardson says Hall will be out a bit with an upper-body injury.

The Bruins are celebrating their centennial year in the NHL.

from Mark Spector of Sportsnet,

The much anticipated season opener turned out to be, as Brett Kulak so eloquently described, “Sh**y.”

An Edmonton Oilers team that vowed to be better defensively was indeed excremental in its own zone.

Jack Campbell had turned it around, until he was left watching from the far end of the bench in his season-opening start, wearing the ball cap of shame.

The best power play in hockey history went one-for-four, while the penalty kill was eviscerated on a three-goal night by the Canucks power play.

And the mighty Oilers began their season with an 8-1 paddling at the hands of the Vancouver Canucks.

You picked who to win the Stanley Cup this season…?

“I saw us lose a ton of battles. Things that normally are hallmarks of our game did not show up. It was a preseason level of intensity, a preseason level of execution,” said head coach Jay Woodcroft. “There are a lot of things wrong with what we just saw out there. You saw it. Our players saw it. The coaches saw it. Our managers saw it. Not good enough.

“We laid an egg.”

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Game highlights are below.

* Connor Bedard buried the first goal of his NHL career just one day after making his League debut and did so against the Bruins, the same franchise his great-great uncle also tallied against nearly 73 years ago.

* Auston Matthews, one of the few No. 1 picks that required fewer games than Bedard to score his first career marker, had another season-opening hat trick and became the fastest U.S.-born player in NHL history to reach the 300-goal milestone. Brock Boeser scored one more than Matthews did Wednesday as the Canucks matched their franchise mark for most goals in a season-opening game.

* Thursday’s schedule is highlighted by Jack Hughes and the Devils looking to build off their perfect preseason when they open the campaign against Moritz Seider and the Red Wings, who acquired a pair of notable Michiganians during the offseason. The contest marks the first ESPN+/Hulu exclusive of the season and is also available on TVA Sports.

* The seven-game slate also features 109-point scorer Matthew Tkachuk contesting his first regular-season game since helping the Panthers reach the Stanley Cup Final as well as No. 3 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft Adam Fantilli making his League debut with the Blue Jackets while celebrating his 19th birthday.

from Jourdon LaBarber of the Buffalo website,

Buffalo Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams made his intentions clear regarding the long-term futures of defensemen Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power when he spoke to the media at the end of last season.

“There’s a process that you go through,” Adams said. “But I couldn’t imagine those two not part of us long-term.”

The process came to its conclusion Wednesday. The Sabres signed Power to a seven-year contract extension worth an average annual value of $8.35 million, two days after Dahlin signed an eight-year deal that will keep him in Buffalo through the 2031-32 season.

The Sabres now have five core players under the age of 26 on long-term contracts. In addition to Dahlin and Power, forwards Tage Thompson and Dylan Cozens and defenseman Mattias Samuelsson all signed seven-year extensions last season.

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from Jeff Rimer at the CBJ website,

It has been an amazing ride!

To have the privilege of a broadcast career in radio and television for parts of six decades, including 47 years in the National Hockey League as a pre-, intermission and post-game host before moving into the play-by-play chair, I am truly a lucky man. But as they say, “all good things must come to an end.” It is time for me to spend more time with my family so the upcoming Blue Jackets season will be my last in the broadcast booth.

Through all my years in the NHL - 10 seasons with the Washington Capitals, 11 years with the Florida Panthers (including one year in which I called games for BOTH teams) and two decades with the Columbus Blue Jackets – I can easily say the highlight of my time in this wonderful league is my 20 years as a Blue Jacket!

The reasons are many: the wonderful ownership group led by the McConnell family, all my Blue Jackets teammates that I’ve had the honor of working with over the years, my Bally Sports family and last, but certainly not least, the great Jackets fans known as “The Fifth Line.”

I’d like to offer my special thanks to the late Blue Jackets Founder John H. McConnell. I was fortunate enough to know Mr. Mac during my early years in Columbus and have never lost my admiration for him and the desire and vision that he had to bring major league professional sports and the Blue Jackets to this great city.

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from Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic,

So if we were going read between the lines here, I suspect the Lightning will try to hang in there for now with what they have in net, but if they need to re-visit that before Vasilevskiy returns, they certainly have the cap flexibility to do so.

The most important factor is that the Lightning don’t want to dig a hole early. Having a good start to the season is paramount.

“We need to bank points early,” BriseBois said. “To set ourselves up to, at some point, try to secure a playoff spot. That’s first and foremost. We need a good start.”

And if the Lightning can do that, they hope to be in a position to add closer to the trade deadline.

In the meantime, and no doubt influenced by the Vasilevksiy injury to some degree, the Lightning have been a fashionable pick by some pundits to slide right out of a playoff spot. Some see their window closing.

I asked BriseBois if his team had taken notice of those takes.

“I think ultimately it’s irrelevant whether people pick us to win the Stanley Cup or pick us to miss the playoffs,” he said.

more ($) on the Lightning

from the New Jersey Devils,

The New Jersey Devils announced today that the team has re-signed head coach Lindy Ruff to a multi-year contract extension. The announcement was made by Executive Vice President/General Manager Tom Fitzgerald.

“This young, exciting team has developed and thrived under Lindy’s stewardship since he joined the Devils organization,” said Devils’ Managing Partner David Blitzer. “Lindy is one of the winningest coaches in NHL history and his extension is well deserved. I’m looking forward to continued team success this upcoming season and beyond.”

“We’re incredibly fortunate as an organization to have Lindy Ruff behind the bench to guide this group, who’ve made significant strides under his leadership,” said Fitzgerald. “I’ve always believed that Lindy was, and continues to be, the right man behind the bench for this team. From the beginning, he’s done a tremendous job piloting our young group, and we’re excited to see this team’s continued success under his watch as we take the next steps.”

“I’m thrilled to commit here to this situation and couldn’t be prouder of the great progress that our group made last season,” said Ruff. “We have a special group in Jersey and there’s an opportunity to accomplish long-term success, make a lot of positive memories and give our fans a lot to cheer about – because our Devils’ fan base is one of the best in the League and they deserve to see a winner.”

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from Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet,

It wasn’t the concept of leadership that spurred Quinn Hughes to assert himself within the Vancouver Canucks. It was the other L-word: losing.

"It wasn't even that I had to push myself,” Hughes explained Sunday of his evolution last season. “I'm just so sick of losing that if this is what we have to do or this is what I have to do. . . that's easy compared to losing and the toll of the season. Looking at the schedule (last season) and we have, like, 30 games left but we're out of the playoffs, that's really hard. I would say anything is easier than having that toll on you. So if I need to speak up or do whatever, that's easy.”

He needs to speak up. Hughes said he needs to step up, too.

Four years ago, in the first game of his rookie season in the National Hockey League, a 19-year-old Hughes was sent out with defence partner Chris Tanev, Hughes’ Obi-Wan Kenobi, for the season-opening faceoff in Edmonton against Connor McDavid.

Seeing who they were matched against, Hughes asked Tanev before the draw if they would stay out for the shift or quick-change. Tanev told them they were staying. Hughes said, “OK, let’s go.”

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from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet,

- At this time, Ottawa will not place Josh Norris on long-term injury. There’s hope he could play by next week. But it’s a guessing game, because, as head coach DJ Smith repeated on Tuesday, “I never expected Josh would not play game one.”

The easiest thing is to put Norris on LTIR so they have the freedom to sign Shane Pinto; punt your cap problems for at least 24 days. But if the player or doctors don’t agree, it’s not going to happen. The Senators and Pinto aren’t anywhere in the same galaxy on a one-year contract, but not far apart on a multi-year deal. You know how it gets. Each side feels they’ve conceded enough, so it’s hard to punch it over the goal line. Adding to the equation: Ottawa’s cap-tightness and a player’s frustration at not being able to go at the start of a season.

- There was never any doubt Rasmus Dahlin would extend with Buffalo. The bigger question was term. After Auston Matthews signed for four seasons, there was talk Dahlin would copy that plan, go shorter term and leave room for one more massive contract. The Sabres pushed hard for eight years from the beginning. Ultimately, Dahlin, very happy in Buffalo, agreed. It’s a win-win. I’ll bet on that contract aging very well.

Buffalo undoubtedly wanted to announce both Dahlin and Owen Power at the same time. Again, there’s nothing to worry about for Sabres fans, it will happen. But a recent push to try and get both done at once fell short.

- One player said something very interesting: that he feels many of his peers are quicker to take extensions now because of how tight the cap’s been. If you’re a super-duperstar, you don’t have to worry. But for many others, it’s nowhere near as certain. Things are going to open-up next summer, so we’ll get a real test of this overall feeling.

- I'm not sure the pride-tape ban is enforceable, and there are players thinking about ignoring it. Initially, teams wondered if Hockey Fights Cancer ties were also banned.

more Thoughts...

* Connor Bedard collected a point in his NHL debut against his childhood idol with an assist 35:37 into the game – nearly 10 minutes less than it took Sidney Crosby in his first contest – to help Chicago rally to a multi-goal comeback victory. Bedard will have another chance to collect his first NHL goal when the Blackhawks visit the Bruins on Wednesday – the club Crosby scored his first NHL goal against when Bedard was 83 days old.

* After raising their Stanley Cup banner to the rafters, the Golden Knights claimed victory in their fifth straight season-opening game with the help of Conn Smythe Trophy winner Jonathan Marchessault.

* Nikita Kucherov scored the first goal of 2023-24 and Brandon Hagel became the seventh player in NHL history to convert on a penalty shot in a season opener.

* Tonight’s six-game slate features an NHL on TNT doubleheader and every Canadian team in action during Sportsnet’s first Scotiabank Wednesday Night Hockey telecast of the season.

Vegas style.

All games are on ESPN, ESPN+, Sportsnet and TVA Sports.

5:30pm ET Nashville/Tampa Bay

8pm Chicago/Pittsburgh

10:30pm Seattle/Vegas

Feel free to discuss.

from Alex Meruelo / Owner, Chairman & Governor / Arizona Coyotes,

To our incredible hockey fans:

Challenges. Obstacles. Setbacks. No Defeats.

I have faced and overcome many stumbling blocks in my over 40 years in business. I have fallen down many times, but I take great pride that each and every time I get back up and end up stronger than ever—more resilient, more committed, more determined.

Last April we completed another rebuilding season for our hockey team—a rebuild that I felt was necessary in order to create a sustainable foundation to bring a Stanley Cup to the Valley. In May, we experienced a setback in our effort to build our permanent home—a disappointment to us and to all of our fans that were excited by our proposal to build the first privately funded sports facility in the history of Arizona.

We have faced setbacks but no defeats.

Now is another time to pick ourselves up, recommit, and win.

The Tempe arena proposal was defeated, but we were not. We got right to work. On to other options in the Valley. On to the upcoming NHL season.

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NEW YORK (Oct. 10, 2023) -- Following are NHL club rosters, as of 10 a.m., Eastern time today. The 2023-24 regular season begins tonight with three games, covered by a tripleheader on ESPN, ESPN+, Sportsnet and TVA Sports.

from the Vegas Golden Knights,

The ring’s features include:

• Approximately 12 carats of white and yellow diamonds, with the yellow diamonds used to represent the Golden Knights’ name.
• A detachable top that can be worn as a pendant that, when removed, reveals the interior of the team’s T-Mobile Arena home. The center ice logo looks as it did for the 2023 Stanley Cup Final, and stars denote the location of each of the team’s nine goals in the Cup-clinching Game 5.
• Team mottos “Vegas Born” and “Always Advance” are on each side of the ring, connected by the distinctive Las Vegas skyline.
• An engraving reading “It’s Knight Time” on the back of the pendant and another inside the band of the ring that reads “Cup in Six,” referencing Owner Bill Foley’s bold prediction before his six-year-old expansion team began play.
• 16 stars on the front of the ring representing the team’s 16 playoff victories, while the 67 white diamonds set on to the primary logo’s helmet honor the total wins in the regular season and playoffs. The 32 diamonds on the inner bezel represent the NHL’s 32 teams.
• Six stones surround a diamond Stanley Cup, representing the franchise’s six seasons and set in a star shape that matches the team’s “Vegas Strong” banner that honors the victims of 1 October. The .54 carats of diamonds on the Stanley Cup pay tribute to the team’s 54 all-time playoff wins.

more, with numerous pictures of the ring...

from Ryan Dixon of Sportsnet,

Few, if any, teams in the NHL will be more fascinating to monitor this season than the Winnipeg Jets. Note the word choice of "monitor" there versus "watch." It’s not that the Jets figure to be unwatchable by any means. In fact, there are still very good players dotted throughout this lineup. It’s just that the real drama figures to play out away from the ice, as the futures of two pending UFAs — Mark Scheifele and Connor Hellebuyck — come into focus.

Winnipeg snatched the final playoff berth in the Western Conference last year and was scolded by coach Rick Bowness heading out the door for its uninspired showing during a five-game, first-round loss to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights.

The off-season brought about an end to a couple of lingering subplots, as centre Pierre-Luc Dubois — long destined for a ticket out of town — was traded to the Los Angeles Kings, while Blake Wheeler — stripped of his captaincy at last season’s training camp — was bought out by the team.

Truthfully, the grumbling and snipping surrounding this squad can sometimes obscure the fact there’s still a playoff-worthy roster representing this hockey-crazed city. Of course, if the team is tracking something other than a post-season appearance three months into the season, the off-ice noise is only going to get louder.

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from Jorudan LaBarber of Sabres.com,

Rasmus Dahlin made his feelings about Buffalo clear when asked about the status of his contract at the outset of training camp last month.

“I love the city. I love the team. I love everything,” Dahlin said.

The Sabres cemented his future with the organization on Monday. Dahlin signed an eight-year contract extension worth an average annual value of $11 million, beginning with the 2024-25 season.

Dahlin, 23, joins forwards Tage Thompson and Dylan Cozens and defenseman Mattias Samuelsson – all of whom signed seven-year contracts – as core members of the Sabres who have signed long-term extensions since the start of last season.

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Just over 22 minutes long.